The Quick and the Dead: Fallen Soldiers and Their Families in the Great War

by Richard van Emden

At the end of the First World War more than 192,000 wives had lost their husbands, and nearly 400,000 children had lost their fathers. A further half a million children had lost one or more siblings. Appallingly, one in eight wives died within a year of receiving news of their husband's death. Few people remained unscathed and the effects of the conflict are still with us. The Quick and the Dead will pay tribute to the families who were left to suffer at home while their husband, fathers and sons went off to fight, and the generations that followed. Through the stories in this groundbreaking history, we realise not just what became of our grandfathers but how their experiences influenced the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of a generation that they left at home. Against all the odds some stories ended happily - missing fathers did return, men thought to be dead returned from prisoner of war camps to a joyous reunion. For others the loss, while difficult to bear at the time, gave them an independence, drive and ambition that ensured that their lives were successful and a fitting tribute to those who died. Very few people know that only the first minute's silence on Armistice Day is in memory of the dead of the Great War and all the subsequent wars. The second minute is for the living, the survivors of the war, and the wives and the children they left behind. Through a unique collection of over fifty interviews, private diaries and a remarkable collection of unpublished letters written by the soldiers to their families back home, The Quick and the Dead is a history of those who are commonly forgotten and neglected when the fallen are remembered on Armistice Day.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, War, Military History

344 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Richard van Emden is a British author and television documentary producer who specializes in the First World War.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike most histories of WW1, this book focuses very much more on the families left behind than the experiences of the soldiers at the Front. Inevitably the fighting at the Front plays a role in the narrative, but the focus is very much on the experience of the women left alone to cope at home - ranging from the financial support received from the government, the all-too-brief periods of leave, the heartrending official notifications, the uncertainty of the 'missing', the debates and controversies over the decision not to repatriate the dead, the varying means of grieving.

Like all of van Emden's books, it draws heavily on primary sources and survivor testimony, which, to my mind at least, makes the narrative that much more personal and moving. Reading the words of soldiers' letters home or the memoirs of grieving fathers or the recollections of men and women who scarcely knew the fathers who never came home, makes the soldiers featured here real people, rather than the amorphous grey mass of soldiery that feature in so many histories of WW1.

Unlike WW2, where the Home Front really was a Front in the war and there were no lines to shelter behind, civilians in WW1 were to a large extent cushioned from the horror of Belgium and France; which is not to say that these fathers and mothers and wives and children were not suffering too, in their own way. Van Emden infuses these accounts with real dignity and pathos, highlighting that neither soldiers nor their families could really comprehend the experiences the other went though in wartime, but the pain felt was no less real, and no less lifelong, for that.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is without doubt the saddest book I've ever read and probably one of the best on WW1 too - it highlights the impact to the wives and children of losing a father and husband in a very personal way. It's never taken me so long to read a book but it is very emotional. You may not 'enjoy' it but you will remember it.

[wendy elizabeth jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

Very interesting book, dealing with the legacy of loss and it's affects on the families that remained at home as their men folk went off to war, and did not return. Very emotive, touching, well researched and written.

[Sallie White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic loved every minute cried multiple times throughout but I didn't expect anything else from Richard van emden

[ROBERT · Rating 3 out of 5]

the title says it all. A good addition to the literature of the great war

[Heidi Seary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well researched and thorough examination of the effect of WW1 on the families of the soldiers. I always feel like I know a lot less about this war than WW11 . People were so devastated by this war and although most of the men and their families went into it thinking it would be over quickly and was a kind of adventure, the reality of the horror of this war soon became apparent. I was particularly struck by the decision to leave dead soldiers in the countries they fought in rather than return them to the UK as they wanted to ensure that everyone stayed together irrespective of how much money their families had .

[Caryl Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a dry spell of not reading any Great War related books, this was on my 'to read' list and I finally got around to reading it. Took a Kindle version with me to read on a battlefield trip to the Somme, but didn't get around to reading it until I returned and it was probably not the best time to read it as I was feeling very emotional about it all. Will buy a paper copy at some point as a 'keeper' for my bookshelves

An excellent book about an aspect of the war that has interested me for a while. The effect the war had on those left behind and I can see why the 'pebble in the pond' effect of this terrible period in time has rippled down through the years and had an impact on subsequent generations including family members of mine

Thought I wouldn't be able to get past the part about Lily Baron, the ninety-eight year old lady visiting her father's grave at Bourlon Wood. 'He had been killed during the Battle of Cambrai back in November 1917 when she was just five years old. She left a little note on his grave, "Thank-you for five years of real happiness - I've missed you all my life' That really affected me, as did other accounts and I had to stop reading for a time.

There is a lot of previously unpublished source material from letters and diaries etc.
There is a chapter on The Missing and how so many were lost and remain so today and the heart-rending and fruitless search for family members for the loved ones who never came home.

It's easy to forget while researching individual service personnel that for every name, rank and number there were family members back home who suffered terribly because of their loss and not only emotionally but financially too. This bit sums it up for me, written by Private Stephen Graham '...For dying was not the hardest thing; the hardest thing was plunging one's home into sorrow.'


*We came across the grave of Roland Leighton by chance on a recent trip and the amount of crosses next to it drew our attention to it and then I remembered who he was

[Colin Heber-Percy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Quick and the Dead is about the effects of total war - and the resulting catastrophic loss - on individuals and their families. Rather than a straightforward account of how the Home Front coped during World War One, the book is something of a rag tag, an accumulation of research. The author - more of an archivist or curator - deliberately steps back and lets the first hand material - letters, diaries, memorials, published accounts - speak for itself. The result is sometimes muddling; sometimes disjointed. Family narratives weave in and out of each other in a way that can lead to a sense of incoherence in the structuring. It's only towards the end of the book that the overall historical framing starts to pull everything together.

That said - the first hand accounts themselves (often quoted here at length) are so moving, so extraordinary and so painful to read that the book feels almost like a howl of hundred year old grief. Passages are genuinely hard to read.

Van Emden's decision to remain in the background makes perfect sense as a deeply compassionate and respectful response to the lives and events he's presenting.

An excellent book.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explores the impact of the death of soldiers in the First World War upon their families. From the immediate economic effects to the emotional and psychological effects upon children who, due to the sparse leave given to serving men may not have met their father or who have few memories of them. Richard van Emden skilfully navigates between the personal tragedies, the political and social environment without being over-sentimental. His skill is enabling the voices of those on the Front and home front to speak for themselves and in doing so, illuminate a relatively under-represented area of this conflict.

[Miki Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very special. I hold a great interest in The Great War. I have a collection in my library, of literature, poems, and DVD information on this subject. I have read both fact and fiction, regarding. This book adds another dimension . These are accounts taken by interview from those family members who were as much affected and victims of the conflict as those fighting.
The author visited my Bookclub ..a most interesting and touching experience. It brought the book to life, and enhanced to depth of the tragedy of the Great War.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good four-hanky read about what it was like for the wives, children, sibs and parents waiting for their heroes to come home, trying to cope if they knew they were never coming home, and quietly tearing their hair out if they were waiting to learn the truth. Follows some of the survivors for over eighty years. Incredible stuff. Not to be missed.

[Liz C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very hard to put down and wonderfully constructed. The story paralleled the War but was also separated into chapters revolving around the same topic. It's one of those compelling stories of history presented in a way you have never encountered before, and that you are quite grateful someone took the time to tell that story.

[Fazackerly Toast · Rating 3 out of 5]

all those graceless yahoos who go around urinating on war memorials and otherwise making monkeys of themselves should be forced to read this book - assuming they know how to read - and cringe at how they compare to the men who did their duty and went to their deaths with such courage and nobility.