page_0003

3

uncommon satisfaction. I daresay he realised (though, if so, it
must have been on general principles) the attitude of dumbly-
reverential hero-worship which a "Heron Exhibitioner" of the
'Nineties from a provincial Grammar School was prone to assume
towards men like Nelson - an attitude that was brought
vividly to mind by the sight of a son so like his Father.

I am reminded of this by your tribute to Lord Minto's
son Esmond who fell at Ypres. My own campaigning - entirely
undistinguished - all took place round about Meteren, Hazebrouck,
& Armentières, & the early part of it - in the spring of 1918 -
alongside the Guards Division; so that that page of your book
(p.341) comes right home to me and is one that I (and
many others I doubt not) will often think of with gratitude, and
turn to again & again. It is such passages that make
one feel that pen and ink, and the printing press, have
their uses after all.

With kind regards, believe me,

Yours sincerely

Percy H. Dumbell

P.S. My "Illustrative Documents" above-mentioned are promised careful
consideration by the Cambridge Univ. Press when the Syndics reassemble in October.
If for any reason they turn the project down, do you think it would be worth while
to submit the typescript to Messrs Nelson? It ought to get published, if at all,
about the time the Simon Commission Report is "released".

3

uncommon satisfaction. I daresay he realised (though, if so, it
must have been on general principles) the attitude of dumbly-
reverential hero-worship which a "Heron Exhibitioner" of the
'Nineties from a provincial Grammar School was prone to assume
towards men like Nelson - an attitude that was brought
vividly to mind by the sight of a son so like his Father.

I am reminded of this by your tribute to Lord Minto's
son Esmond who fell at Ypres. My own campaigning - entirely
undistinguished - all took place round about Meteren, Hazebrouck,
& Armentières, & the early part of it - in the spring of 1918 -
alongside the Guards Division; so that that page of your book
(p.341) comes right home to me and is one that I (and
many others I doubt not) will often think of with gratitude, and
turn to again & again. It is such passages that make
one feel that pen and ink, and the printing press, have
their uses after all.

With kind regards, believe me,

Yours sincerely

Percy H. Dumbell

P.S. My "Illustrative Documents" above-mentioned are promised careful
consideration by the Cambridge Univ. Press when the Syndics reassemble in October.
If for any reason they turn the project down, do you think it would be worth while
to submit the typescript to Messrs Nelson? It ought to get published, if at all,
about the time the Simon Commission Report is "released".