St Edward's Rhubarb Issue 5

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

13

F E A T U R E S

The Belvedere Quartet Vol III The Voyage of King Roy the First by Timothy Plant (B, 1957-1961) 183rd in line of succession to the Throne of Canute, the young Prince Roy has never imagined that one day he could become king. Then unexpectedly this happens. His novel approach to dealing with the ruling classes and their ossified structures causes general dismay, but earns him the admiration of the people. Eventually he goes too far, decides to resign, and decrees ‘The Person’s Republic of England’. The palace is stormed by royalists and he’s forced to go into exile. He sets sail for America on the ship of his dreams, and that is where the story really begins! Editor's Note: Timothy painted the Wind in the Willows mural at St Edward’s, as featured in the previous issue of r h u b a r b .

Both Brittle and Beautiful by JohnTrotman , (MCR, 1985-1992)

Dashing Dragoon, Anguished Emissary by HughTweed (D, 1955-1960) Dashing Dragoon, Anguished Emissar y is about a former cavalry officer from Bedfordshire in England sent by the British government to southern Africa in the mid-19th century to try to bring about peace in the troubled lands outside the boundaries of Cape Colony. William Samuel Hogge’s crowning achievements, the signing of the Sand River Convention with Boer leaders at the beginning of 1852, and accords with Moshoeshoe I, paramount leader of the Basuto people, brought peace, for a time, to this part of the African continent. The drama is made more poignant by Hogge’s early death in the furtherance of his duties. This story, much of which is told by Hogge himself through letters to his adored wife, is about great personal sacrifice and will appeal to anyone interested in one man’s struggle against adversity as well as to students and followers of Victorian era politics and military history, both in the UK and South Africa.

Unknown Warriers by John Stevens (D, 1950-1954) Kate Luard was one of a select number of fully trained military nurses who worked in hospital trains and casualty clearing stations during the First World War, coming as close to the front as a woman could. She was already a war veteran when she arrived in France in 1914, aged 42, having served in the Second Boer War, and was awarded the RRC and Bar. The book offers a very personal glimpse into the hidden world of the military field hospital nurses fought to save lives and preserve emotional integrity. Through her letters home Kate conveyed a vivid and honest portrait of war. It is also a portrait of close family affection and trust in a world of conflict. In publishing some of these letters her intention was to bear witness to the suffering of the ordinary soldier. where patients struggled with pain and trauma, and

Alyn Shipton, the writer and broadcaster wrote of the poems: ‘In carefully poised language, these poems explore three interwoven themes: the passage of time, travel and the world that surrounds us. John Trotman journeys from childhood to fatherhood (sometimes on the same page) and shares a life’s experience made richer through a sense of place as acute in dark corners of London as in the sunlit uplands of New Zealand. Throughout it all is a keen sense of texture, of objects animate and inanimate, and of the brittle transient beauty of the moment.’