This is the Menin Gate at Ypres where the names of those whose bodies were never identified at the Salient in World War 1 are recorded.
This omnibus of 56 posts takes us from the outbreak of war to the closing of the 2nd Battle of Ypres. In the fall of this year, I will publish them all in an eBook, "Noblesse Oblige".
"Noblesse Oblige" will be the first of a 3 book history of the members of the Golden Mile and their experiences in World War 1.
This is a book about people. There are a few chapters about the war to orient us, but most of the book tells the stories of people who are caught up in great events of the time.
I do not confine this story only to men and to the front. We will see the enormous contribution that women brought to the effort. We will move from home in Canada, to life in the UK, to the front, to behind the lines, to hospitals, to being on leave, to being a prisoner, to travel, to the sea and sinkings. We will be with our characters in every part of their lives and deaths.
Above all we will see how they cope with loss. For while they are the elite, they too lose children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends. Some lose their minds. Some lose all they had.
I have done my best to be scrupulous with evidence. But I have also done my best to tell a human story.
They are a remarkable group of people.
4. The Tribe - the Scots Extended family
5.Valcartier and the First Contingent
7. Not just soldiers on the move - Dr's and family
8. The Ritz and My Late Aunt Frances - Her obit is here
9. Harold Cooper - Alec's groom
12. Cousin Martha Allan - Nursing, Emancipation and Women
17. Julia Drummond - Canada's "Mother" sets off
19. Salisbury Plain and the 2nd Brigade CFA
20. Leave and Loneliness - Julia Drummond
21. The PPLCI - The First In France
22. Tipperary - The Girls We Left Behind
25. McGill and Montreal's Hospitals Get Ready
29. Flu - Did this save my grandfather's life in 1918?
30. The First Division Arrives at St Nazaire
31. The Women's War Begins in London - Lady Drummond
32. March 1915 Prelude to Hell - Part 1 - Apprenticing
33. Faithful unto death - The Relationship with Personal Servants
34. Prelude to Hell - April 1915 - The players take their places
35. 2nd Battle of Ypres Part 1 - The starting positions
36. 2nd Battle of Ypres - Trum Warren
37. 2nd Battle of Ypres - Guy Drummond Dies Saving the Apex
38. Sailing the Atlantic Part 1 - Martha Allan makes the crossing - Aunt M closes up her homes
39. The Gunners - 5th Battery and 2nd Ypres
40. Lusitania Part 1 - The Trip from Montreal to New York
41. Lusitania Part 2 - Frances Stephens and "Baby" John
42. Lusitania Part 3 - Setting Sail
43. John McCrae - The Motives behind In Flanders Fields
44. The Price of Devotion Part 1 - PPCLI May 1915
45. Ypres Update May 4- 8 - The PPCLI Move
46. Henry Yates - Sailing into history
47. Lusitania Part 4 - The Sinking
48. Lusitania Part 5 - The Aftermath
49. The "Pats" - Death of the "Originals" and Birth of a Legend
50. Tragedy and Response - Ypres & the Lusitania
51. Tragedy and Response - Love - "Uncle" Montagu Allan
52. Tragedy and Response - Honour - Hugh Allan
53. Tragedy and Response - Devotion - Henry Yates and Martha Allan
54. Tragedy and Response - Guilt and Loss - George Slingsby
55. Tragedy and Response - Loss, Anger and Honour - Hammie Gault
