War memorial at Burwash - a photo on Flickriver

Just a few hundred yards from Bateman's, Rudyard Kipling’s 17th century house in the village of Burwash, Sussex, is an elegant sandstone war memorial. There, you will find inscribed the name of John Kipling, the writer’s son. He died in the First World War Battle of Loos at the age of 18.

If that isn’t sad enough, look at the name immediately beneath his: Boy William Langridge, just 16 years old. Utterly tragic – but not uncommon. Many boys lied about their age and signed up for the war, believing it would be a bit of a lark and ‘over by Christmas’. The recruitment officers turned a blind eye and played along with the game.

But back to Kipling. The sadness is that John Kipling had been turned down twice for military service on account of his poor eyesight. But his father, ever one for Patriotism, King and Empire, pulled strings in high places, and John was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant to the Irish Guards.

It was a fatal posting. John was killed in the Battle of Loos, and for ever more Rudyard Kipling would be haunted by guilt. As a consequence, he became closely involved with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. He created the line Known unto God, seen on many an unknown soldier’s headstone. And, from the Book of Ecclesiastes he selected the line Their names liveth for ever more, which is inscribed on the Stone of Remembrance in every Commonwealth war cemetery.

Later, Kipling revised his opinion about imperialism and empire, and wrote this chilling couplet: “If any question why we died, tell them, because our fathers lied.”

Many people at the time, and later, regarded him as one of the lying fathers. Such a terrible, grievous family tragedy.

Taken in: UK / England / Rother District / Burwash (show map)

Taken on: August 2, 2019

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