Author: Julian Grenfell (1888-1915)

Publication: The Suffragette

Published: 18 June 1915

Place of publication: Scotswomen's Publishing Society, 27 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

Publication type: Newspaper/Periodical

No full copy of this poem is available.

Archive/Library: National Library of Scotland
Classmark(s): Q.121
Pages(s): 151

This poem appears in one of the issues of The Suffragette that was printed in Edinburgh in 1915, when the newspaper adopted a pro-war stance.  Mrs Pankhurst stated that ‘if the unthinkable thing happened, and Germany were to win, the women’s movement, as we know it in Europe, would be put back fifty years at least’.  It is not surprising that seveal war poems appear in The Suffragette and, although these do not directly reference 'votes for women', they were most likely chosen to support the war effort, which would ultimately benefit votes for women.  This poem is written by Julian Grenfell, who 'has since died of wounds received in battle', we are told.  The poem, written in four-line stanzas, relates life on the battlefield and considers the nature and animals that surrounds the 'fighting man'.  We are told that this poem was originally printed in The Times, a London newspaper, on May 28th 1915.