War and Friendships
Jackie Tweedale
On August 4th 1914, Britain declared war on Germany. On that same day Edward Thomas and his son, Merfyn, arrived in Leddington. Father and son had cycled from Steep on the 3rd, visiting friends on the way, to Oldfields where they were to stay for a month. Edward’s wife, Helen, and their two daughters Bronwen and Myfanwy, followed by train and arrived in the early hours of the 5th after a long, slow journey. They were accompanied by both a Russian boy, Peter Mrosovski, a pupil at Bedales School where Helen taught, and their dog Rags. Peter had been unable to get home to Russia because Germany had already declared war on Russia and it was no longer safe for him to travel.
It was a blazing hot Bank Holiday weekend. All the railway stations were full of holiday makers; soldiers being recalled from leave; and reservists being called up. Mr. Chandler, the owner of Oldfields, was a reservist and he had been called up. Everywhere was chaos. At Oxford they had to leave the train and after a long wait they had a slow journey to Malvern.
After a full day travelling, Helen, her daughters, a young Russian boy and the dog arrived in Malvern at midnight to find there were no more trains that night. A taxi was found and, under a full harvest moon, they arrived at Leddington. Helen describes in her book, “Time and Again” how, “Even in my distress and weariness I was entranced by the beauty of the scene and the silence and mystery of the deserted countryside”.1
In Ledbury the taxi driver had to ask the way from a policeman, who became suspicious of these strangers travelling with a Russian and asking for Robert Frost, who was known to be a ‘foreigner’ and a poet. After a lot of note taking, the policeman sent them on their way and allowed them to finish their journey. A few days after their arrival a policeman came to investigate them. Anonymous reports had been made that there may be ‘spies’ in the area and the poets were under suspicion for their strange ways; talking and meeting late into the night! No further action was taken.
On the 6th August on a long walk on the Malvern Hills, via Bromsberrow Heath and Castlemorton, and back via Eastnor; Thomas and Frost experienced a ‘moon bow’ at dusk. This incident later inspired Frost’s poem “Iris by Night”. During the next few weeks Thomas and Frost met each day crossing the short distance over the fields, often several times a day. The families met up too and talked and sang, explored the countryside, sharing meals and digging vegetable plots.
On August 20th, Eleanor Farjeon, who was a friend of Thomas’, came to stay for 2 weeks at Glyn Iddens which was next door to Little Iddens. She met Abercrombie, Gibson and Frost for the first time and joined the poets on their walks and listened to their discussions about poetry. The men talked about life, marriage, friendship, and the war. They often stopped at stiles or gates to pause and talk again, following the paths and using May Hill as their guide home. These weeks were to help Thomas make the transition from writing prose to begin writing poetry.
The following week on the 26th, Frost and Thomas, on another long walk found themselves walking in the night under a bright moon. Thomas recalls thinking about the men fighting abroad and them seeing the same moon and analysing his thoughts on the war and what he would do to protect this land or would he do anything at all?
1 Helen Thomas. Time and Again. Carcanet. 1978
2 Sean Street. The Dymock Poets. Seren (Poetry Wales Press). 1994.
