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As Good As Any Man: Scotland's Black Tommy
The remarkable biography of one of Britain's first black soldiers of World War I, including artwork by the soldier
When the harrowing Great War diaries of one of Britain's first black soldiers were unearthed in a dusty Scottish attic nearly 100 years after they were written, they posed a bit of a mystery. The diary entries, which range from May 1917 until March 1918, were written by one Arthur Roberts while he served with the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB). They went into great detail about what it was like for him during World War I; such as how he survived the Battle of Passchendaele, and one incident where he escaped unscathed when a German shell killed a dozen men around him. Yet Arthur Roberts was an otherwise unknown man, and little else was known about him. Now, Morag Miller and Roy Laycock have painstakingly researched Roberts' life history and filled in the gaps. From his birth in Bristol to his life in Glasgow and time at the front, they provide here much more than just a war memoir, but the unique history of one man's remarkable life.
When the harrowing Great War diaries of one of Britain's first black soldiers were unearthed in a dusty Scottish attic nearly 100 years after they were written, they posed a bit of a mystery. The diary entries, which range from May 1917 until March 1918, were written by one Arthur Roberts while he served with the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB). They went into great detail about what it was like for him during World War I; such as how he survived the Battle of Passchendaele, and one incident where he escaped unscathed when a German shell killed a dozen men around him. Yet Arthur Roberts was an otherwise unknown man, and little else was known about him. Now, Morag Miller and Roy Laycock have painstakingly researched Roberts' life history and filled in the gaps. From his birth in Bristol to his life in Glasgow and time at the front, they provide here much more than just a war memoir, but the unique history of one man's remarkable life.
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 17, 2019
A truly good book!
This is an interesting and fascinating read about a young man from Scotland who volunteered for service during WWI. His diary entries are succinctly written as he gives an almost daily accounting of his first year as a soldier.
The writings are, at times, funny as well as melancholy. He also draws maps, sketches and drawings and photographs are added by the authors who came into a box of his personal effects decades after his death.
The unusual aspect of this endearing man's story is the fact of his race....he was a black man. You would never know this from his writing. Not once does he mention racism or problems related to his race.
Being a history buff, I would love to have met him in-person. You almost feel as if you know him as he describes his life in service to king and country including the highpoint as lowpoints, and you get a good feel for what it must have been like on the western front.
I happened on this book by chance and am very glad I purchased it. I would definitely recommend to readers of history particularly related to WWI.
This is an interesting and fascinating read about a young man from Scotland who volunteered for service during WWI. His diary entries are succinctly written as he gives an almost daily accounting of his first year as a soldier.
The writings are, at times, funny as well as melancholy. He also draws maps, sketches and drawings and photographs are added by the authors who came into a box of his personal effects decades after his death.
The unusual aspect of this endearing man's story is the fact of his race....he was a black man. You would never know this from his writing. Not once does he mention racism or problems related to his race.
Being a history buff, I would love to have met him in-person. You almost feel as if you know him as he describes his life in service to king and country including the highpoint as lowpoints, and you get a good feel for what it must have been like on the western front.
I happened on this book by chance and am very glad I purchased it. I would definitely recommend to readers of history particularly related to WWI.
June 24, 2024
Arthur Roberts was an uncommon Glaswegian in many regards. He was black and a veteran of the First World War. This book represents a curated publication of materials that were left in a trunk until decades after his death. These materials include a diary kept during his time in the trenches and his own commentary on that diary written years later as well as photos and other musings.
The book is fairly brief. Arthur joined just outside what would be the last year of the Great War but he still had time to suffer through the brutal slog of trench warfare, artillery barrages, and gas attacks. He was eventually mobilized to the rear lines as he had pretty bad trench foot which would bother him all his life.
The book is an interesting book but very brief and not terribly in depth. Some of that comes down to Arthur himself. The editors stringently note that it is unthinkable that Arthur did not suffer racist bigotry but he just didn't write up but rarely and even then in terms so oblique it may not have been bigotry he was talking about at all. There could be a lot of reasons for that not the least of which might be that speaking out was just as likely to increase Arthur's troubles but it does take what should be a very unique account and strip it of that information. Most of the editor contributions are adding context in to life of the British soldier of the Great War to explain things Arthur mentions or otherwise add to the reader's understanding of what he's talking about. It doesn't feel very clinical and almost feels a little grossly patriotic in the way it almost lionizes Tommy's suffering and dying by the thousand in the trenches. But it never rises to the level of being actively odious, just a little disappointing.
But, if Arthur didn't want to write about himself as a victim, that's his business. And not focusing on that does allow Arthur to cast himself as the star in his own war narrative without any baggage. Or maybe he didn't experience much or any bigotry. We get Arthur's struggles with the horrendous marches and training before being shipped to the front, as well as lively stories about how ill prepared he was. Arthur arrives at the front and almost laughs at his fellow soldiers who duck and cover at every artillery burst. It's just sound and sound can't hurt you, right? We get his stories as he realizes how wrong he is and finally the triumphant relief at his medical withdrawal from the front. It's not Hemingway, but it's real.
Arthur has the spirit of a poet in his later years, adding a lot of metaphor and verse in to his later annotations of his diary. Arthur lived a very long very fulfilling life. It does beg the question though of what was it coming to? The materials were clearly being prepared for publication and his annotations do not abruptly stop as they might if he suddenly passed away while composing them. It adds up to a fascinating glimpse of a human being who remained relatively unknown in his life but was sitting atop what must have been an endless fount of stories. We only have his service record here but it's accompanied by some incredible maps drawn by Arthur himself and water color paintings. He was a talented artist!
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of it all is that this fascinating well-rounded person is going to be boiled down to their war record because that's what we've got.
The book is fairly brief. Arthur joined just outside what would be the last year of the Great War but he still had time to suffer through the brutal slog of trench warfare, artillery barrages, and gas attacks. He was eventually mobilized to the rear lines as he had pretty bad trench foot which would bother him all his life.
The book is an interesting book but very brief and not terribly in depth. Some of that comes down to Arthur himself. The editors stringently note that it is unthinkable that Arthur did not suffer racist bigotry but he just didn't write up but rarely and even then in terms so oblique it may not have been bigotry he was talking about at all. There could be a lot of reasons for that not the least of which might be that speaking out was just as likely to increase Arthur's troubles but it does take what should be a very unique account and strip it of that information. Most of the editor contributions are adding context in to life of the British soldier of the Great War to explain things Arthur mentions or otherwise add to the reader's understanding of what he's talking about. It doesn't feel very clinical and almost feels a little grossly patriotic in the way it almost lionizes Tommy's suffering and dying by the thousand in the trenches. But it never rises to the level of being actively odious, just a little disappointing.
But, if Arthur didn't want to write about himself as a victim, that's his business. And not focusing on that does allow Arthur to cast himself as the star in his own war narrative without any baggage. Or maybe he didn't experience much or any bigotry. We get Arthur's struggles with the horrendous marches and training before being shipped to the front, as well as lively stories about how ill prepared he was. Arthur arrives at the front and almost laughs at his fellow soldiers who duck and cover at every artillery burst. It's just sound and sound can't hurt you, right? We get his stories as he realizes how wrong he is and finally the triumphant relief at his medical withdrawal from the front. It's not Hemingway, but it's real.
Arthur has the spirit of a poet in his later years, adding a lot of metaphor and verse in to his later annotations of his diary. Arthur lived a very long very fulfilling life. It does beg the question though of what was it coming to? The materials were clearly being prepared for publication and his annotations do not abruptly stop as they might if he suddenly passed away while composing them. It adds up to a fascinating glimpse of a human being who remained relatively unknown in his life but was sitting atop what must have been an endless fount of stories. We only have his service record here but it's accompanied by some incredible maps drawn by Arthur himself and water color paintings. He was a talented artist!
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of it all is that this fascinating well-rounded person is going to be boiled down to their war record because that's what we've got.
February 18, 2021
5 stars for content but c3.5 on style of the commentators who pieced together the story of an unusual Glaswegian private soldier in WWI.
Based on the diaries of Arthur Roberts (King’s Own Scottish Borderers & Royal Scots Fusiliers) found an attic with other personal treasures and amplified by research on his life the book is an insight into war from the point of view of a man who knows nothing of the strategies and politics behind it.
Arthur Roberts is unusual in that he was able to remain in education to the age of 18, uncommon then except for the well-off, even for bright lads like him, and which gave him the ability and perseverance to write his diaries.
He is also unusual (in a Scots regiment at the time) in being black.
Unfortunately his watercolours of war scenes are not reproduced in colour- presumably because of the cost in a book which would not become a blockbuster.
Arthur’s photographs show him to have been a handsome young man- actually he looks healthier and more self-assured than his white Glaswegian contemporaries.
My grandfathers never spoke of their time in Scots regiments so Arthur’s diaries also give me an insight into what they experienced.
Based on the diaries of Arthur Roberts (King’s Own Scottish Borderers & Royal Scots Fusiliers) found an attic with other personal treasures and amplified by research on his life the book is an insight into war from the point of view of a man who knows nothing of the strategies and politics behind it.
Arthur Roberts is unusual in that he was able to remain in education to the age of 18, uncommon then except for the well-off, even for bright lads like him, and which gave him the ability and perseverance to write his diaries.
He is also unusual (in a Scots regiment at the time) in being black.
Unfortunately his watercolours of war scenes are not reproduced in colour- presumably because of the cost in a book which would not become a blockbuster.
Arthur’s photographs show him to have been a handsome young man- actually he looks healthier and more self-assured than his white Glaswegian contemporaries.
My grandfathers never spoke of their time in Scots regiments so Arthur’s diaries also give me an insight into what they experienced.
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