My Boy Jack? by Tonie Holt

Author:Tonie Holt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military History
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2011-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

The Cross was raised on high;

The Mother grieved beside –

But the Mother saw Him die

And took Him when he died ...’

‘Is it well with the child, is it well?’

The watching mother prayed.

For I knew not how he fell

And I know not where he is laid ...’

Rupert, who already knew that he wanted to write himself, was fascinated to be able to watch the master at work. He was amused that he ‘never saw a page of manuscript that he had not decorated with little pictures down the wide margin. “Something my forebears bequeathed to me,” he said one day, for his father, Lockwood Kipling, was a fine draughtsman.’ Carrie would have approved that ‘It was my task to burn the contents of the waste-paper basket. He had an intense dislike of his fame being exploited and took every precaution that none of his manuscripts should fall into the hands of people who would sell them to collectors, nor did he write to anyone who would be likely to sell his letters.’ This was a rule that Rudyard was persuaded to break for his cheeky nephew, Oliver. Earlier that year, when he was still at Eton, Ollie had wheedled some valuable Kipling signatures out of Uncle Rud. On 10 March Rudyard sent him ‘half a dozen of ‘em - beautifully written’, and demanded to know the ‘S.P.R.’ (the selling rate). Ollie obviously overdid it, killing the goose that laid the golden egg. ‘Sorry again but I really haven’t anything suitable for the young - even the young at Eton anonymous or signed. I’ve been rather busy lately and have neglected the claims of pure literature. Ever your affec. Uncle Ruddy.’

His relationship with the more mature Rupert was quite different. ‘He would talk on every kind of subject in his unique way, a spicy mixture of biblical invocation and barrack-room slang. He would take a volume from the shelves and read passages that appealed to him, but his favourite reading was The Book, and his knowledge of it was tremendous.’ Although Kipling was not religious in the traditional manner that would have made him turn to God or even to a priest for comfort, nevertheless the familiar, resonant words of the King James Bible would have offered some reassurance at this painful time. As was manifest in A Nativity and other works written in his grief for John, he often identified with God who had also lost a Son in a cruel manner.

The search continued. Rudyard received a long statement dated 6 November from John Cochrane, who had been Second Sergeant of 6 Platoon and was now in Springburn Red Cross Hospital. It was the most detailed and personal they had yet heard. Cochrane confirmed that his platoon was to the left of John’s, No 5. The two platoons got mixed up in the advance which started at about 4 0’ clock and Cochrane remembered, ‘Mr Kipling took charge of both. He came to us and gave us the range and direction. He directed us to fire at the ground story of some pit head buildings .

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