PREFACE
Reminiscences
of my paternal grandfather, Harold Blake, date from 1961, when he came to live
with us in the West Country, one of the downstairs rooms serving as a bed-sit for
his accommodation. He had retired as a pharmacist
in Worcester some years earlier and had been widowed since 1952. During this time he became a member of the
local Christadelphian church and served as treasurer for a number of
years. He died in 1980 aged 91.
Harold
Blake
and granddaughter, 1961
Photo: H Blake
In those
early years with the family, my brother, sister and I got to know our
grandfather largely through his frequent duty on the school ‘run’ (by foot of
course). Also I recall spending quiet
evenings in his room, he sitting in his armchair making
woollen rugs or
transferring photographic slides to glass mounts, while I leafed through rows
of weighty books. Two volumes that
particularly interested me were Clarence Winchester’s Railway Wonders of the
World and after his death, these were passed on to me.
A memorable
experience occurred in 1971 when my grandfather suggested I join him with a
Christadelphian couple from London, for a three-week car journey to Athens,
returning via Venice and Switzerland.
He made a number of overseas journeys, being particularly keen to visit
locations associated with St Paul. Even
as an octogenarian, his stamina in walking, particularly in hilly terrain, was
always a source of amazement to others.
One of his last public appearances was at his granddaughter’s wedding in
the spring of 1980.
He was also
a first class carpenter and a particular family heirloom is a rocking horse
that he made in the 1920s.
Son Great
granddaughter
Photo: H Blake Photo:
A Blake
It was only
comparatively recently that I came to read my grandfather’s hand written
volumes comprising his WW1 experience, although the books had always been close
to hand. I was immediately struck by
how topical the issues that he raises are today, in fact perhaps more so now
than in the intervening WW2 and cold war years. It was also evident that the detailed accounts, with the
associated anecdotes, of the working of the army barracks and the two London
prisons are of historical value. When I
suggested typing up the work for the benefit of a wider readership, my parents
were readily agreeable. In this I have
found it necessary to simplify the rather ponderous language, which was
somewhat heavy going due the use of over long sentences. However I have endeavoured to preserve the period style and
tried to avoid introducing modern expressions.
There are also a number of lengthy passages associated with biblical
exhortation that I have simplified.
According
to the preface that Harold Blake provided, he began the work of recording this
First World War story in 1921. It had
taken some two years after his discharge from the army, for his mental state to
become sufficiently strong to face the proposed task. Prior to this point he was troubled by distressing dreams that
disrupted sleep and harassed his mind, but gradually with the healing influence
of time and a happier environment, these became less and less insistent.
Harold
Blake says he was able to set down the first seven chapters up to the first
prison sentence with minimal effort, but beyond that point, he found it
increasingly difficult to unravel the tangle of disorderly and confused mental
pictures that had been formed under brutal and repressive conditions. This induced a return of the dreams, with
fits of uncontrolled laughter and others feared that the balance of his mind
would give way. He realised that he
would have to abandon the work, which was thus destined to become another
addition to the multitude of the world’s unfinished efforts.
Harold
Blake’s determination to finish the story was renewed as he saw the war clouds
again gathering across Europe. He felt
that whatever the cost to himself, some attempt must be made to equip others to
meet what he saw as the dangerous evil of militarism. This time there were no adverse effects and the account was
finished in 1937.
A Blake, March 2007.
Revised November 2008.
Whose Image and Superscription?
The story of a First World War conscientious
objector