william arthur (ludgate hill) 1894 - 1940

"When lions were being led by donkeys, I led the donkey"

William Arthur (sometimes known as Ludgate Hill), was a Manchester born poet who died in the blitz. He was a stretcher bearer during the First World War and ended up in Rampton Mental Institution in the 1930's. He was also part of a firing squad (see 'The Coward).

When everyone goes on about 'Help the Heroes' nowadays, I think it's the ordinary people like William Arthur that were conscripted in the past who are the real embodiment of heroes. At least the soldiers today are going off to fight through choice, as nobody forces them to join up now (although I do realise it's often the poorer and less well educated members of society that choose to do so).

Here's some of William Arthur's work.

We Gassed Fritz Today (The Somme 1916)

We dropped mustard gas on Fritz today

The wind blew it back in our faces

Mother of God we murdered our own

Lined up dead in old munition cases

And the Padre he blessed all of the bodies

The General he addressed all of the men

Tomorrow the wind would be turning

And we’ll be gassing the Hun again

Mud There Was (The Somme 1916)

Mud there was and more mud to see

Mud there was for the 22’s and me

Mud there was on July the bloody first

And it’s the mud I remember the worst

Mud there was when the whistle blew

Mud there was when cannon shell flew

Mud there was when little Nobby died

Mud there was when he fell by my side

Mud there was and more mud to see

Mud from the front to the infirmary

Mud there was on July the bloody first

And it’s the mud I remember the worst

The Coward (Etaples base camp 1916)

We Shot Harry for cowardice

But I never met a braver man

But I was on the hill that morning

And I saw that Harry ran

They picked a shooting party

They chose at random by lot

And I was chosen to shoot Harry

For something that he was not

And he refused his last cigarette

And he refused his blindfold too

And we shivered behind our rifles

But we aimed them straight and true

And one of the six had a blank

And a target fixed to Harry’s chest

And each man discharged his rifle

And each man earned one day’s rest

We Shot Harry for cowardice

But I never met a braver man

And I sent home all his possessions

And a letter to his Mam

This article would not have been possible without the research of Mike Duff (and United We Stand)

toodle pip