Turner Donovan Military Books - The world’s finest selection of rare and out-of-print books on British military history from 1800 to 1945
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War Diary and Letters of Captain A. Ellice. 5th Battalion Cameron Highlanders. 1st Ed., 88pp., 198x140mm, portrait frontis. Privately Printed for His Father by Robert Carruthers & Sons, Courier Office, Inverness. 1920  #69375
Alexander Ellice was born in 1894, son of Major Edward E. Ellice D.S.O. and Margaret Ellice, educated at Cargilfield School, Edinburgh, and Rugby. He was working in London when war broke out and obtained a commission (despite poor eyesight) in the newly raised 5th Camerons. Served in France from May 1915, as a Platoon Commander then commanding a Brigade Trench Mortar Battery, until wounded on 6th September 1915. He returned to France in February 1916 and remained there until badly wounded by shrapnel during a relief at Eaucourt l'Abbaye on 13th October the same year. He died in the Casualty Clearing Station at Dernancourt (where he is buried in the Communal Cemetery Extension) three days later. He was twenty-one. Contains descriptive letters written during his first period of active service, a fairly informative diary of his second stint, plus extracts from several letters of condolence. Blue cloth, gilt to front, ltlle stained o/w VG & scarce.   £220
Cecil Barclay Simpson. A Memorial by Two Friends. With A Foreword by The Rev. Prof. H.A.A. Kennedy, D.D. 1st Ed., 37pp., 204x134mm, portrait frontis. Edinburgh: Printed for private subscription. 1918  #69374
Cecil Barclay Simpson was born in 1885 in the Aberdeenshire parish of Monquhitter, where his father, Rev. James Simpson, was minister of the United Free Church. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and the University of Aberdeen, then to Edinburgh University where he was preparing for the Ministry, into which he was accepted in 1914. However, he then joined the Inns of Court O.T.C., received a commission in the Seaforth Highlanders, went to France in April 1917 and was killed by a shell on 7th October while serving with the 4th Battalion. He is buried in Guemappe British Cemetery, Wancourt. Contains a memoir, extracts rom letters and Memorial Verses by A.J. Young. Brown paper covd. boards, gilt tile to front, little marked, generally VG & scarce.   £165
Gilbert Walter Lyttelton Talbot. Born September 1, 1891. Killed in Action, July 30, 1915. Paperback edition, orig. printed wraps., 111pp., portrait frontis. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1917  #69368
[HLMainPic] Walter Lyttelton Talbot was born in 1891 at his father's vicarage in Leeds. His father became Lord Bishop of Winchester and Talbot was educated at Winchester and Christ Church College, Oxford. He was President of the Oxford Union (a family tradition) and his ambition was to enter the political arena, however this and plans for a world tour were frustrated by the outbreak of war. Talbot obtained a commission in the 7th (Service) Battalion Rifle Brigade, one of the earliest New Army battalions to be formed. He proceeded with his unit to Flanders in May 1915 and was killed in action at Hooge on 30th July, 1915, in his Battalion's counter-attack following the German 'liquid fire' attack on the 8th Rifle Brigade. He was twenty-three when he fell and is buried in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. Talbot House, the famous soldiers' club at Poperinghe, founded by his brother Rev. Neville Talbot (formerly of the Rifle Brigade) and Rev. 'Tubby' Clayton, was so named in his memory. Contains a memoir of his life with numerous tributes and eulogies from various friends, also lengthy extracts from his diary in Flanders describing his work in the line, various carrying parties etc., and scenes he observed, e.g. the appearance of Ypres (from his diary entry of 15th June 1915): "I despair of telling you what the place looks like. It beggars description. The suburbs of the town are comparatively intact, though most houses there have been shelled. But the whole inside is simply a desolation. You cannot imagine it being rebuilt. We walked through the streets and found not one house which was not a mere mass of ruins or just a big heap of bricks. Of course there are fragments that remain, some with old familiar advertisements – I saw one of Singer's Sewing Machines. Odder than anything is to go into any of the ruined houses. They nearly all show signs of being abandoned in panic, without their owners waiting so much as to pick up anything: half eaten meals are on the tables: clothes lie in confusion on the floors… And then we came into the famous Place. The Cloth Hall, roofless and ruined, lies all the way down one side… The whole square is covered with loose stones and rubble… there's not a living soul to be seen, apart from passing British soldiers… Nothing has brought home the war to me as has this town. Its people had no connection with the war, no interest in the war, and their lovely home has been gutted until its unrecognizable. I wish everybody in England could see it…" This paperback edition was issued after the original privately printed hardback edition, due to the interest in the subject.   £125
SMITH (Edward, JP) Private 7664: A Faithful Soldier of the Brave Worcesters. 1st Ed., 96pp., portrait frontis., 156x104mm. London: The Religious Tract Society. 1915  #69358
[HLMainPic] Joseph Henry Cox, a regular soldier and a zealous Christian, stated in this volume to be serving with the 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, but in CWGC records as with 3rd Battalion, was Killed in Action at La Quinque Rue (near Bethune) on 28th October 1914. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial. Pre-war correspondence and just one wartime letter from France, dated October 19th, 1914. Printed paper covered boards with title and regimental badge blocked in black to front. Litte rubbed, VG.   £45
SETON (W.) William Howard Lister. 1st Ed., 95pp., portrait frontis., 5 plates. Printed for Private Circulation. 1919  #69356
[HLMainPic] Memoir of Captain William Howard Lister, D.S.O., M.C. (and two Bars), Royal Army Medical Corps, who was Ed. at the Friends' School at Ackworth, Buxton College & University College, London. He served with the Red Cross in the Balkan War 1912-14 then became a House Physician at University College Hospital in July 1914, but before taking up residence the war broke out and he immediately obtained a commission in the R.A.M.C., was posted to the 16th Field Ambulance in France, & was in action at the Marne & Aisne until wounded on 23rd October 1914. Recovering from serious wounds, he joined the 18th Division on the Somme in 1916 & was killed in action in Italy in August 1918 whilst serving with the 21st Field Ambulance. He was 31 & is buried in Magnaboschi British Cemetery on the Asiago Plateau. Orig. blue cloth with white buckram backstrip, gilt, number 85 of 500 copies. See illustration on our website.   £45
Colwyn Erasmus Arnold Phillips, Captain, Royal Horse Guards. Born Dec. 11, 1888, Killed in Action near Ypres, May 13, 1915. 1st Ed., xiii+128pp., 2 portraits. Smith, Elder. 1915  #69355
[HLMainPic] Colwyn Philipps was born in 1888, educated at Farnborough School, Eton and Sandhurst, and commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards in 1908. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1909. He joined his regiment in France at the beginning of November 1914, was killed in action east of Ypres on 13th May 1915 and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. He was twenty-six and was Mentioned in Despatches. Includes poetry and prose compositions by the subject (some with war themes), and forty pages of extracts from letters from the Front, November 1914-April 1915 (mostly written to his mother). During the First Battle of Ypres he wrote: "We are taking part in a most amazing battle: we are holding a V that sticks out into the German lines; the result is that we have two fronts facing different ways and shells come from all directions… all our fighting is in these beastly trenches, forty-eight hours at a time and up to your knees in water. It is not cold but horrid wet… The first thing we learn out here is to forget about 'Glory.' Your regiment is no good when it is dead, and your job is to retire rather than be wiped out… we have no chance of really beating the Germans here, and if we hold on the Russians may win for us…" Orig. mock vellum binding, gilt to front & sp., sp. tanned & a little chipped, generally VG.   £85
ANDERSON (Agnes) "Johnnie" of Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps. 1st Ed., paperback edition, 191pp., 190x128mm, portrait frontis. VG in sl. chipped dw. Heath Cranton. nd (c.1919)  #69354
[HLMainPic] Elizabeth S. Johnston ("Johnnie"), a native of Anstruther, Scotland, became a Post Office telegraphist and later worked in Glasgow for the Western Union Cable Company. She enlisted as a Womens' Auxiliary Army Corps motor driver, later transferring to the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps as a Telegraphist. She died falling – in mysterious circumstances – from St Ouen church tower on Christmas day 1918. She was twenty-seven and is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen. C.W.G.C. records her as No. 18375, rank Telephonist, Q.M.A.A.C. Memoir almost entirely based on letters written from France from December 1917 onwards. Paperback edition, VG in sl. chipped dw.   £35
IRELAND (Lockhart Landels) Pte. John MacLean of the Black Watch and Other Sketches by Lockhart Landels Ireland, Gordon Highlanders. With Memoir by Rev. A.T. Richardson. 1st Ed., 124pp., portrait frontis., plate of grave marker. Kirkcaldy: Fifeshire Advertiser. 1917  #69353
[HLMainPic] No. S/13479 Pte. Lockhart Landels Ireland, 8th/10th Battalion Gordon Highlanders, of Kircaldy, was a son of William L. Ireland and his wife, Ann Heseltine Landels. He was ed. at the High School, Kircaldy and entered his family business. He wrote prose pieces about the imaginary John Maclean, described in the Preface as "miniature word pictures of the effects of the war in humble Fife homes." They were not published in his lifetime but are reproduced here. He enlisted in November 1915 and was killed in action in France on 26th July 1916, aged twenty-nine, and is buried in Flatiron Corps Cemetery, Mametz. A detailed memoir of his life (including extracts from his war letters) followed by his John Maclean stories and other pieces. Orig. blue cloth, gilt to front & sp., little wear, VG.   £45
Keith Lucas. 131pp., 190x142mm, portrait frontis., diagram. Cambridge: Heffer & Sons. 1934  #69352
[HLMainPic] Keith Lucas was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1901. He became a Fellow of Trinity, a lecturer in Natural Sciences at the College and in due course a distinguished physiologist. In 1914 he applied to join the Honourable Artillery Company but was given employment at the Royal Aircraft Factory, undertaking experimental research into bomb sights etc. He was gazetted to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 and the following year was accepted for pilot training at the Central Flying School. He was killed in a flying accident on 5th October 1916, aged thirty-seven, and is buried in Aldershot Military Cemetery. Contains an account of his antecedents, life and achievements, with a list of his scientific writings. This publication, including the work of several contributors, was organized by his widow. Rust cloth, gilt to front and spine, little rubbed & worn, about VG.   £45
Harold Tennyson R.N., The Story of a Young Sailor, Put Together by a Friend. 1st Ed., vii+294pp., 195x146mm. Macmillan. 1918  #69351
[HLMainPic] The Hon. Harold Courtenay Tennyson, son of the Rt. Hon. Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, P.C., G.C.M.G., and a descendent of the famous poet, was commissioned as a Midshipman, Royal Navy, from Osborne in 1913, served aboard the battle cruiser H.M.S. Queen Mary at Heligoland Bight 1914, North Sea 1915 and appointed to destroyer H.M.S. Viking, November 1915. He died of illness on 29th January 1916 and is buried in Freshwater (All Saints) Churchyard near his family home on the Isle of Wight. An appendix contains a short memoir and letters of condolence for his brother, Captain Hon. Alfred Aubrey Tennyson, 9th (Service) Battalion Rifle Brigade, who was killed in action in France on 23rd March 1918. Orig. green cloth, gilt, stained, sound.   £35

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