ALS concerning friends met and lost during WWI

REFFERING TO HIS FRIENDS FROM THE WAR: “THE ONLY SURVIVORS OF THOSE TIMES”

A single sheet of writing paper (13 x 20.5cm) with printed header of New Barracks, Limerick, and beneath an ALS containing twelve lines in Graves’ hand, folded once vertically,with small tear along the horizontal fold; a little edge wear, two small oil stains to the upper left hand edge; very good. 

Dated on the 23rd January, most likely in the year directly following the end of the First World War, this poignant note from Robert Graves to a ‘Vic’ refers to a reunion in Oxford which brings together the surviving members of their group. “How nice to hear you are still alive” he writes, in a rather sardonic way, “Thanks for your congratulations on my family. I am bringing them up to Oxford in a week or two when I am demobilized; so I hope you’ll like them. I’m going in for an agricultural course. Awfully sad about Ralph, wasn’t it. You, Hawke, Thorp, Humphrey & I seem the only survivors of those times. And all coming up to Oxford. What fun! Heard from Thorp today. Yours ever”. The letter is then signed by Graves to the lower edge. 

Graves was one of the first wave of men to enlist during the First World War. He served in the  Royal Welch Fusiliers and was rapidly promoted, before being so badly wounded at the Battle of the Somme that he was reported as having died from his injuries. While recuperating, he met Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, and he continued to write war poetry alongside them. He was first posted to Limerick in 1917, but had left later that year. He was demobilized in 1919, when he moved to Oxford to study English (evidently from this letter, after having initially studied Agriculture as a vocational course). His first child, Jenny, was born later that year. 

It is likely that ‘Vic’ is Vincent Julian Seligman (1886-1972), who saw active service in the Gallipoli campaign and also in Salonika, Greece. ‘Ralph’ is most likely Ralph Rodenhurst, one of Graves’ close friends at Charterhouse who was killed during the conflict. Other mentioned friends may either be from his time in the Fusiliers, or perhaps from earlier, while still students at Charterhouse. 

A fascinatingly insightful letter which appears to capture the ‘stiff upper lip’ sentiment at the time, and offers a unique view into Graves and his comrades before and during the war. 

Unusual thus. 

SKU: 1800176