Alexander Scrimgeour's small scribbling diary

[ulsterlad2]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scrimgeours-Scribb...n/dp/1844860752

"Scrimgeour's Small Scribbling Diary. 1914-1916. The Truly Astonishing Wartime Diary and Letters of an Edwardian Gentleman, Naval Officier, Boy and Son"

Hello.

Was out and about today and I picked up the above book in Stewart Millar's for £3.99 / was £20.00

Thought the navy lads may be interested in it.

[Clio]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scrimgeours-Scribb...n/dp/1844860752

"Scrimgeour's Small Scribbling Diary. 1914-1916. The Truly Astonishing Wartime Diary and Letters of an Edwardian Gentleman, Naval Officier, Boy and Son"

Hello.

Was out and about today and I picked up the above book in Stewart Millar's for £3.99 / was £20.00

Thought the navy lads may be interested in it.

I wondered why it only went up to 1916. Might have known. Invincible. What a pity.

[Jesse]

It is a delightful read, and Scrimgeour pulls no punches in his observances of his contemporaries. The descriptions of Navy life both aboard and ashore give a rare insight into the Great War Royal Navy.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scrimgeours-Scribb...n/dp/1844860752

"Scrimgeour's Small Scribbling Diary. 1914-1916. The Truly Astonishing Wartime Diary and Letters of an Edwardian Gentleman, Naval Officier, Boy and Son"

Hello.

Was out and about today and I picked up the above book in Stewart Millar's for £3.99 / was £20.00

Thought the navy lads may be interested in it.

[Clio]

It is a delightful read, and Scrimgeour pulls no punches in his observances of his contemporaries. The descriptions of Navy life both aboard and ashore give a rare insight into the Great War Royal Navy.

One reviewer said he comes over as a 'nasty little snob' but I am going to get the book.

[SparkyUK]

One reviewer said he comes over as a 'nasty little snob' but I am going to get the book.

Yes, I fear that reviewer may have missed the point. Scrimgeour is, as a well-to-do teenager growing up in Edwardian Britain, inevitably going to be a bit of a 'snob', but I, like many others, feel that this characteristic added to his charm, especially when he's describing his contemporaries and the Germans!

It is a reliable, honest and witty first-hand account of Naval life in the First World War and is a riveting read. I see from Amazon it's out on paperback now, too.

S.

[simonharley]

Yes, I fear that reviewer may have missed the point. Scrimgeour is, as a well-to-do teenager growing up in Edwardian Britain, inevitably going to be a bit of a 'snob', but I, like many others, feel that this characteristic added to his charm, especially when he's describing his contemporaries and the Germans!

It is a reliable, honest and witty first-hand account of Naval life in the First World War and is a riveting read. I see from Amazon it's out on paperback now, too.

S.

"Inevitably" a bit of a snob? How do you come to that conclusion? Read the diary of Oswald Frewen from a few years earlier - from the same sort of well-off background (first cousin of Winston Churchill) but nowhere near as full-of-himself or scathing (and Frewen was no intellectual slouch, as his post-war life suggests).

Scrimgeour's diaries are as reliable as anyone else's - you take them with a pinch of salt and you're doing well when you can corroborate something.

Simon

[SparkyUK]

"Inevitably" a bit of a snob? How do you come to that conclusion? Read the diary of Oswald Frewen from a few years earlier - from the same sort of well-off background (first cousin of Winston Churchill) but nowhere near as full-of-himself or scathing (and Frewen was no intellectual slouch, as his post-war life suggests).

Scrimgeour's diaries are as reliable as anyone else's - you take them with a pinch of salt and you're doing well when you can corroborate something.

Simon

Perhaps indicative of growing up as the scion of a wealthy stock-broking family, Scrimgeour's attitudes and views were, most likely, shaped by an over-bearing and 'snobbish' father... I'm all the more delighted that Oswald Frewin managed to escape this pitfall!

But from a personal point of view, his 'scathing' and 'full-of-himself' attitude is what makes this war diary stand out in a crowded market. There's plenty of action in here that can be corroborated, too. I think if you managed to get on with Scrimgeour, you'd find much of interest here.

[simonharley]

Perhaps indicative of growing up as the scion of a wealthy stock-broking family, Scrimgeour's attitudes and views were, most likely, shaped by an over-bearing and 'snobbish' father... I'm all the more delighted that Oswald Frewin managed to escape this pitfall!

But from a personal point of view, his 'scathing' and 'full-of-himself' attitude is what makes this war diary stand out in a crowded market. There's plenty of action in here that can be corroborated, too. I think if you managed to get on with Scrimgeour, you'd find much of interest here.

The only problem I have with this book is perhaps it and its author are receiving a touch too much hype. I'd be more sympathetic if the diaries hadn't already been published once before. "Crowded market"? There are the proverbial ******-all in the market for First World War naval memoirs, bios and diaries in print at the moment. Richard Bell Davies springs to mind as being in print at the moment. Wragg's new humdrum biography of Fisher as well.

I never said that there was nothing of interest in the diaries, but I do worry that if all people read on the Royal Navy in WWI are the tarted-up diaries of a teenage officer who has a somewhat skewed view of his world, then readers are going to come away with a skewed view of the Royal Navy.

Simon

[SparkyUK]

The only problem I have with this book is perhaps it and its author are receiving a touch too much hype. I'd be more sympathetic if the diaries hadn't already been published once before. "Crowded market"? There are the proverbial ******-all in the market for First World War naval memoirs, bios and diaries in print at the moment. Richard Bell Davies springs to mind as being in print at the moment. Wragg's new humdrum biography of Fisher as well.

I never said that there was nothing of interest in the diaries, but I do worry that if all people read on the Royal Navy in WWI are the tarted-up diaries of a teenage officer who has a somewhat skewed view of his world, then readers are going to come away with a skewed view of the Royal Navy.

Simon

I meant the First World War diaries/memoirs market as a whole. But I take your point that the RN is very much under-represented in this particular genre...

But 'tarted-up' diaries?! I think this is your problem, Simon. You can't look past Scrimgeour's 'snobbery' to gain anything worthwhile from this book and that's a pity. If you were able to (and dare I say remove the chip from your shoulder ), you might just find that his 'skewed view' might have some relevance.