Kitchener's Last Volunteer

Jan 15, 2025 1:03 AM

Author:Henry Allingham,Dennis Goodwin

Henry Allingham is the last British serviceman alive to have volunteered for active duty in the First World War and is one of very few people who can directly recall the horror of that conflict. In Kitchener's Last Volunteer, he vividly recaptures how life was lived in the Edwardian era and how it was altered irrevocably by the slaughter of millions of men in the Great War, and by the subsequent coming of the modern age.

Henry is unique in that he saw action on land, sea and in the air with the British Naval Air Service. He was present at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 with the British Grand Fleet and went on to serve on the Western Front. He befriended several of the young pilots who would lose their lives, and he himself suffered the privations of the front line under fire.

In recent years, Henry was given the opportunity to tell his remarkable story to a wider audience through a BBC documentary, and he has since become a hero to many, meeting royalty and having many honours bestowed upon him.

This is the touching story of an ordinary man's extraordinary life - one who has outlived six monarchs and twenty-one prime ministers, and who represents a last link to a vital point in our nation's history.

Reviews

Allingham, one of the last living links to a terrible time in our nation's history, fills you with admiration and awe

—— Daily Mail

Allingham tells his story simply, fluently and modestly, with Goodwin's commentary providing a useful historical background

—— Daily Telegraph

[Allingham's] 'recollections are more striking for being so understated and unburnished

—— The Times

A fascinating insight into how life has changed over the last 100 years

—— News of the World

We can learn a lot from Henry Allingham: honour, respect, tradition, duty, bravery

—— Navy News

Lively and well-researched

—— Dominic Sandbrook , The Sunday Times

Here Shephard skilfully weaves the story into that of the other armies....and how (it) is richly told

—— Dr David Stafford , BBC History Magazine

Shephard does not seek to draw pat lessons or modern conclusions from any of this. He is content to tell us what happened next, in detail, and often vividly...a riveting and often entirely fresh story, shrewdly assembled, very well told.

—— Peter Preston , Guardian

Ben Shephard's account of his demanding and important subject is a triumph, His has unearthed new and moving testimony by former DPs and has burrowed into official and personal papers without ever letting his deep scholarship get in the way of the riveting story he has to tell...With a sureness of touch he interweaves the personal stories of those who were involved in the allied relief effort at all levels ...For anyone who is curious about the coalition of interests and beliefs which slide across this particularly American see-saw, reading Shepherd's brilliant book is a must

—— Nicholas Stargardt , History Today

Ben Shephard's impressively readable account is replete with detailed personal testimony

—— Tim Kirk , TLS

Ben Shephard's impressively readable account is replete with detailed personal testimony. It is a reminder not only of the real achievements of relief workers in the 1940s, but also of the continuing problem of refugees across the globe, many of whom - as in Iraq - have suffered the consequences of far less satisfactory programmes of relief and reconstruction.

—— TLS

Deeply impressive... Well researched, well-written and often moving

—— New Statesman

Carter deftly interpolates history with psychobiography to provide a damning indictment of monarchy in all its forms

—— Will Self , New Statesmen Books of the Year

A depiction of bloated power and outsize personalities in which Carter picks apart the strutting absurdity of the last emperors on the eve of catastrophe

—— Financial Times Books of the Year

Takes what should have been a daunting subject and through sheer wit and narrative élan turns it into engaging drama. Carter has a notable gift for characterisation

—— Jonathan Coe , Guardian Books of the Year

Facts and figures say a great deal, but the most compelling accounts come from those who featured in the battle. Like any good author, Holland allows the participants to tell the story in their own words

—— The Good Book Guide

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