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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Talbot House and Tubby Clayton


The Scorer

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There are two new books out now or soon to be published by Hellion & Company, and I'd like to know what people think of them, please.

The books are:

"A Touch of Paradise in Hell - Talbot House, Poperinge" by Jan Louagie; and

"A Fool for thy Feat -The Life and Times of Tubby Clayton" by Linda Parker.

The first is out now, but the second is due to be published next week (on 15th November).

Does anyone have any thoughts and advice, please?

Thank you.

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maybe there will be a few reviews emerging. I'm interested in TC, who was a curate in Pompey before he went to war, but unlike some of the other curates from the same church (it had 16 in 1914) I don't think any of his letters home feature in the parish magazines. His book "Letters from Flanders" is around second hand, but at a price I am not prepared to pay. I'll be looking for the bargain copies of the second title in a while.

keith

Edit

I couldn't find the second title listed on Amazon yet, who is the publisher?

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maybe there will be a few reviews emerging. I'm interested in TC, who was a curate in Pompey before he went to war, but unlike some of the other curates from the same church (it had 16 in 1914) I don't think any of his letters home feature in the parish magazines. His book "Letters from Flanders" is around second hand, but at a price I am not prepared to pay. I'll be looking for the bargain copies of the second title in a while.

keith

Edit

I couldn't find the second title listed on Amazon yet, who is the publisher?

Like the first one, it will be published by Hellion & Company, whose web site gives a date of 15th November 2015.

I agree that there's nothing on Amazon ... but this is probably why.

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Thanks for that - I had a quick look on their website without spotting it but I was not quite with it at the time.

Keith

Edit - saw a photograph of him today at mass rally of clergy old and new who attended a re-union in 1914 at St Mary's Portsea where he was one of 16 curates before the Great War. In 1918 the parish magazine listed 10 of them as being on active service! he wasn't the only one of the bunch to acquire an MC.

Keith

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The second book is now available on Amazon .... but there was a mistake in the title I gave you above.

It should be "A Fool for thy Feast -The Life and Times of Tubby Clayton" and not "Feat" ... doh!

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Linda's book isn't even launched until Thursday... (19th); I know, as I'm going to the launch to cheer her on. Availability on Amazon is no guarantee; I have contributed to a Helion book which is also...available from 15 November. Not yet, it isn't. "A Touch of Paradise" was launched two weeks ago, with generous support from the Belgian Embassy and the Government of Flanders. The author, Jan, has given over all royalites to support TOC H.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I've bought (or arranged to be bought) both of these books, and they'll be available for me on a certain date later in the month!

I'll let you know what I think when I've read them.

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  • 4 months later...

Well, I've finally finished reading both of these books ... it's taken me a long time, but it has been worth it.

Here's a few notes about what I thought of them.

"A Touch of Paradise in Hell - Talbot House, Poperinge" by Jan Louagie

This is the story of Talbot House, but it's not what I thought that it was going to be. Instead of a straight narration of what happened and when, it's the story as seen through the letters of Tubby Clayton and many others, so it's quite a different book.

That said, though, it's very good. The letters describe the background to the creation of the house and what happened once it was up and running. It then moves on to give details of the closure of the house when Poperinghe was captured and the reopening after the liberation of the town. There's also information on the work that was done elsewhere whilst the house was closed.

I enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

"A Fool for thy Feast -The Life and Times of Tubby Clayton" by Linda Parker.

This is a more conventional biography as it starts at Tubby Clayton's birth and ends with his death.

There is a bit of repetition, but this is inevitable as the stories of Tubby Clayton, Talbot House, Toc H, All Hallows Church are intermingled, albeit in separate chapters. As with the other book, there are extracts from diaries and other publications, which brings home the tremendous work done by Tubby Clayton in these areas.

I'm tempted to (okay, I will) paraphrase the tribute paid to Christopher Wren on his death and say of Tubby: "If you want to see his memorial, look around you" Although I have no first hand knowledge of Toc H, I think that this definitely applies to Talbot House and All Hallows Church.

Again, I enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

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Felt I ought to add a cross-reference here to the Hooge Liquid Fire attack topic, which describes the death of Gilbert Talbot, in remembrance of whom Talbot House was established.

See especially post #4, which includes links out to Andy's wonderful topic on Gilbert Talbot and the topic covering Tubby Clayton and Neville Talbot and the founding of Talbot House/Toc H.

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  • 2 years later...

I'm glad to have found this post - I'd certainly like to read the books you mention.

My grandfather met him in Ypres in ?1917 and they became firm friends. Tubby married my grandparents after the war. I remember him well though I was about 19 when he died.

 

In 1965 or 66 Tubby went on a trip back to the battlefields with my grandfather and a few others I elieve he T kept a diary of this trip

 

does anyone know where it might be ????

thanks

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I have both titles mentioned and found them really interesting, not just for their main content, but also in part because they added some info to my knowledge of Clayton's time at Portsea which is mentioned several times in Jan's book. He was very helpful when I contacted him via Talbot House to request good copies of two Portsea related photographs displayed at Talbot House.

 

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4 hours ago, JulianB said:

I'm glad to have found this post - I'd certainly like to read the books you mention.

My grandfather met him in Ypres in ?1917 and they became firm friends. Tubby married my grandparents after the war. I remember him well though I was about 19 when he died.

 

In 1965 or 66 Tubby went on a trip back to the battlefields with my grandfather and a few others I elieve he T kept a diary of this trip

 

does anyone know where it might be ????

thanks

 

As I said above, I enjoyed both books and would recommend them to anyone; copies are available on Amazon, and probably other book sellers as well.

 

I have no idea where the diary (if it still exists) is now, but a starting point might be Linda Parker and / or Jan Louagie, the authors of the two books above. I don't have any contact details for them, tough, although it looks as if Keith might have for Jan Louagie? Best of luck! 

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