Posted by RichardG on May 09, 2003 at 13:13:32 from 213.120.148.55 user RichardG.
In Reply to: Bob Blackett - one version anyway... posted by Ed Kiser on May 04, 2003 at 00:59:45:
Regarding the comments about officer classes and military service in the Great War - I believe author H.H.Munro (better known as "Saki") who was undoubtedly of the "officer classes" refused a commission and served in the ranks, until being killed in the trenches. His cousin and fellow author C.W.Mercer (better known as Dornford Yates) was commissioned and sent to, I think, Greece, where he took so ill that he was judged unfit for active military service for the remainder of the war - something that his critics used (unfairly in my opinion) to berate him in later years. However, like Colonel Jolys, he continued to use his military rank in civilian life.
On a more personal note - my grandfather, product of a Midlands public school, volunteered in August 1914 at the age of 18, and was posted as a Private in the 11th Reserve Cavalry. Whether this was intended to lead to a commission I do not know, as after sleeping in a wet tent in October 1914 during a training exercise, he developed crippling rheumatism, and was invalided out in July 1915 without seeing action.
In the autumn of 1917 he managed to re-enlist, this time in the Artist's Rifles, which was widely regarded as a training ground for officers. He spent April to July 1918 in France, during which period he was probably exposed to mustard gas, and had to return to the UK, still ranked as a private soldier.
Although he lived until 1963, the rheumatism, perhaps in combination with the gas, appears to have affected his heart and damaged the mitral valve, which was a contributory factor to his eventual death.
How does this relate to the speculation about Bob Blackett ? Firstly, by no means everyone from the "Officer Class" actually received a commission, either by choice or as a result of events. Secondly, the number of soldiers who were adjudged unfit for active duty due to serious illness contracted during training and service was probably greater than is generally recognised. Thirdly, my own family history makes Ed's story of Bob Blackett's fate all too realistic - although in my grandfather's case he was able to live rather longer than the father of the Amazons (rather to my relief as my father was not born until 1925).