Gilbert Walter Lyttelton Talbot

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I also add these extracts from one or two Winchester friends:

From the Bishop of Southwark, Dr. Burge (formerly Headmaster of Winchester)

Aug. '15

There are many moments that Gilbert and I spent talking of deep and high things.......one seems to stand out amongst them all; the last Saturday of Cloister term '10 - Gilbert's last at school. He and Macandrew (1) talked to me all that evening of their experience, as juniors and leaders, their difficulties, trials, and unexpected victories; and we planned how such victories might be made more certain for those who came after them.... He was so loyal and chivalrous, he lived his life out full of enthusiasm and high hopes and right ambition - the glow of it all had never begun to fade one whit.

From Mr. Beloe (formerly Master at Winchester)

The Headmaster's,

Bradfield, Aug. '15.

.... We at Winchester who loved Gilbert knew he would do something big some day, and now he has done it, and none of us dreamed it would be this. How I did love his ruddy head, his faults, his gifts and himself.

From the Rev. Guy Hanbury.

Portsea, Aug. '15

I have always had a great regard and admiration for Gilbert - and I know in our House at Winchester he had a real force for good....... I know there are many others who, like myself, will never forget, and we will always be thankful for his exaple at school.

(1)Macandrew (New Coll.) was killed early in 1915

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In October 1910 Gilbert went up to Oxford, to Christ Church. He soon became a member of the Union where he was successively elected Secretary, Treasurer, and President. As President he followed a good family tradition - his grandfather, father, and elder brother all preceeding him. His deep interest in politics, his lively way of sharing in the life of the place in many various ways, would, I believe, in any case hindered the keen interest in "Greats" (taken up directly after passing Pass "Mods") which we all looked forward to for him; and also a very early and a very strong and - as it proved - a hopeless attachment came between him and steady, concentrated reading. And though during this time the astonishing vitality of the boy, his high spirits and delight in all forms of life (to outward appearance) unaffected at home and at Oxford by so strong and often so depressing an experience - it must be said that continuous interest in philosophy, classical history, etc., fared badly, and no hard work in the later time at Oxford could overcome the drawback of its absence in the earlier years.

[marina]

I wonder what the attachment was.

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Of his four radiantly happy full Oxford years he writes to his father (1 June 1914):

"I hope you will be able to feel to some extent, what I do - that I can't regret a minute of Oxford in a way. They have been four incomparable years, crammed with interest and good fellowship, and I feel that in all the things I've learnt of all kinds, and in the mass of interesting people I've met, I have been amazingly blessed and lucky. And I wouldn't have missed my Presidency of the Union for ten Firsts.

Gilbert's second brother, Neville, whose time at Balliol as Fellow and Chaplain ran alongside of his own at Christ Church, as undergraduate, has written what follows about this part of his life.

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From Neville Talbot, Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol, 1909-14.

At Oxford we came together of course very much, though I wish now that we had met more. We tried to keep a weekly luncheon together. But both his life and mine were what might be called torrential. Certainly he was caught up at once in little less than a whirpool of interests and experiences. They were by no means merely Oxford experiences. He was one of those modern undergraduates in whose orbit London bulked to an extent I imagine little known to earlier generations. His love affair, the House of Commons and theatres, and latterly Chelsea Hospital drew him often to London. At the same time he managed to drink deeply of Oxford itself. He made many friends, not only in Christ Church, but at other colleges, and especially Balliol. His social life was very full and marked by much conviviality - too much, so it seemed to me as don and dean was grappling with undergraduate incapacity to say "No" - very irregular, and yet saved from its main inherent dangers by a native wholesomeness, a central loyalty to goodness (lit up for him by home association), a real though not fully operative basis of religion, and above all by a longing and determination to take his place on the right side in the conflict for the Kingdom of God.

He was very loyal to me and to what I cared for, and was a great stand-by at such times of crisis at Balliol. Though "we say that shouldn't be," he delighted in his relations. On the other hand, with something of a don's limitations of vision, I think I overlooked the strength and colour of the moral impression which he made on fellow undergraduates. It was, I suppose, a tribute to his character that he was elected secretary and president of Junior Common Room at the House - offices usually held by prominent athletes. I recall the almost brazen way in which as president he summoned a crowded meeting of J.C.R. in order that I might explain about the Bishop of Oxford's Mission, which Ted was helping in and I was helping to organize.

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Politics was the chief door by which he entered into Oxford life. I say the chief door, for there were others. He had time to become a genuine House man, and was particularly fitted to enter into the great diversity of that society. He had in particular one very warm ring of friends, of whom Roger Draper was one. They were fellow contemporaries at the same college, and had no touch with politics. A House man writes: "All the time he was up he was a considerable person - the life of the House." Still politics was the main focus of his life at Oxford. He made his chief friendships through the New Tory Club - which he helped to start, and as treasurer I imagine all but ruined - the Canning and the Union. He soon became the chief figure at the Canning, and was secretary by the end of his first year. He made his mark at the Union as a freshman.

Through seeing public men, and in particular Arthur Balfour, at home, he brought to undergraduate discussions an unusual familiarity with the greater political world. Indeed, at the Union, he had to overcome a natural surprise in others at his mature parliamentary manner.

[marina]

I wonder, had he not been killed, would his future have lain in the Church or the House of Commons?

Marina

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Hi Marina,

Personally I think it would have been politics, some of his debates appear shortly in the book. He was certainly a gifted debater and orator, his Oxford life is certainly a busy time and seemed to be the making of him.

Andy

[marina]

It's that kind of place, isn't it? he certainly seems to relish it.

Marina

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Undoubtedly his distinction as a speaker arose rather from his speaking and debating capacity than from what he had to say. Politically he was feeling his way. Three things only were clear to him:

(1) Attachment to the Tory Party, and an even greater aversion to their opponents

(2) A passionate personal devotion to Mr. Balfour, of which instances are given below.

(3) A great sympathy with ideals of social and democratic betterment, which he believed the younger men of the Tory Party might make it their ambition to realize.

In my experience at the Union there were other wittier and more substantial speakers, but none so really endowed with the capacity for debate. He was much better at joining in a discussion than opening one. He had by nature an advocate's gifts of reply and cross-examnation. Yet he debated neither to score points or for cleverness sake, but rather out of enthusiasm for his own case.

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The occasion I associate most with his debating powers was a meeting of the Canning. He read a rather slight paper on Arthur Balfour and the Conservative Party. The paper was followed by a discussion which went heavily against him. Benison made an exceedingly lugubrious speexh by way of supporting him, and this played into my hands as a Radical critic. One or two new members thought they would side with him best by airing the very crustiest Tory sentiments. Bobby Palmer made a smashing attack from close range, etc., etc., and I kept wondering how he would manage his reply at the end of the discussion. But he arose quite untroubled, and with a very precise recollection of what everyone had said ran all the beads of the discussion on to the thread of supposing that I had carefully plotted beforehand the disastrous course of adverse or fatally-friendly speeches.

He followed me "on the paper" at the Union in a debate on "The Social Policy of the Liberal Government," but the chief rememberance of the occasion which I retain is the vivacious scorn with which he dealt with an interruption of mine.

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As a president of the Union he had the great fun of having Mr. Lloyd George down as a visitor. It was at the height of that statesman's unpopularity. Both young Tory Oxford and some representatives of militant Suffragism hailed the opportunity for a demonstration. There was real risk that proceedings inside and outside the debating-hall might end in tumult and assault. But Gilbert bossed the detectives, and hocussed the crowd and controlled the House with great masterfullness. The manner and success wherewith he crushed a member, who, in asking an insulting question about Marconis, had keyed the whole House up to taut expectancy of a row, is unforgettable. Rising very promptly from the chair, with inimitable gravvitas he said: "I feel sure that I am only expressing the unanimous opinion of this House, of whom the right honourable gentleman is a guest, when I say that we will not tolerate any insulting ......." (the rest drowned in roars of cheering). It was as he prophesied of it, "the evening of his life."

We can leve speculation as to what his Oxford promise would have brought him to. The single and simple summons of war and the exactions of training came, I think, to him with a certain peace after the turbulence of Oxford and its many delights and experiments.

His hands were full as he offered himself, and part of the fullness was thankfulness to Oxford.

He passed on, crowning the stages of his eager growth with achievement. It is terribly dull for us that he is gone.

[marina]

'vivacious scorn' - like that!

Marina

[Greyhound]

"It is terribly dull for us that he is gone."

They were all such masters of understatement, weren't they?

The allusions to the "love affair" are tantalising. I am sure we can assume there was no, er, "uncleanness" ....

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The extracts from letters which follow are those to which references is made above, as illustrating his admiration of Mr. Balfour:

1. After a visit of Mr. Balfour to Farnham.

Apr. 2, 1912

.... The weekend has been intensely interesting. A.J.B. can never have been in better form.......As usual, I was quite overpowered by the charm of the man. It's simply the size of the intellect which first strikes one - in a different class to everybody else's in the room. Then it's a perfectly regulated, beautifully luminous mind, that has no difficulty in giving its thought expression in perfect sequence, without any effort or straining after effect, but with the most absolute grace and charm. At times, when one listens to him talking, one suddenly seems for a second to see what he is seeing and to rise to a whooly different sphere of thought and imagination. And then one loses it, and one feels that he is soaring in regions where one can never follow him. At luncheon on Sunday, when I was sitting next to him, he talked to me eagerly about some new books that had just been written in connection with my work at Oxford. By the mercy of Heaven, I was on the whole tolerably well up in the points he dealt with !

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2. An account of an Open Meeting of the Farnham Field Club, when Gilbert opened the Debate on "Is England Decadent ?" and Mr. Balfour promised to speak.

26th April, 1913. Farnham.

.... The place (Farnham Corn Exchange) was packed. Father was in the chair and gave the whole show a start with a few "charming" remarks. The I arose ! On the whole I felt pleased at holding their attention all through. I lost my nervousness after a while, when I got interested in the subject and felt excited about it. It was a biggish hall and I found I had to shout rather. I wish my voice was more resonant. I tried to avoid making any positive statements, but rather tried to clear the ground of the subject, and suggested one or two possible theories to account for the extraordinary way nations rose and reached a climax and then declined - and asked whether this process could be avoided in the case of England. My chief object was to put some questions which I hoped A.J.B. would take up. Well, as I say, they seemed to listen to the arguement, and Father and A.J.B. were both very jolly about it and seemed pleased. Two speeches followed, one from a very young barrister called Livingstone, who had been president of the Union at Cambridge. He sopke shortly and very well, and made several points which interested A.J.B. Then Mr. Balfour wound up. It was a beautiful bit of argumentative speaking. I've never admired his mind more, or felt it more above any other that I've ever known. I was awfully pleased with the way he took up points in my speech and discussed them.

Well, the whole thing ended most enthusiastically, and we came back to supper, and the A.J.B. sat up talking in the most fascinating and animated way till 12.30. I felt absolutely limp after it all. I've never felt a reaction more. I went to bed worn out......

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The strength and depth of his friendships at Oxford, the enthusiatic belief in his future and the good influence he had among those who knew him well, these letters will show - and they are but a few which it was our great happiness to receive.

From Mr. Sidney Ball, Fellow of St. John's.

The Union Secretary, Oxford. 4th August, 1915.

......I had the greatest admiration for your son's character and aims, and the greatest faith in his ability to make them good. Of all the younger men with whom I have been associated, he seemed to me to have the finest and surest promise. In his sense and understanding of public duty and responsibility, he stood out as few men have done in his generation........His life would have meant much: one dare not think that his death has meant less......

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From J.A.R. Marriott

Worceter College, Oxford.

.......As secretary of the Canning and in other ways, I came in very close touch with Gilbert, and conceived an immense admiration for him. There are few men in the Oxford of late years whose death will be more sincerely mourned by a wider circle.

From Rev. W.J. Carey.

H.M.S. Warspite.

.......I needn't tell you anything about him - you know far better his weaknesses and his strength. What I knew and loved him for was the idealism which underlay his mind and outlook: he was passionately keen on the ideals of a wholesome life.

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From Spencer Leeson

Aug. 1915

..... All his Oxford friends - and they were very many - were quite sure a brilliant career in politics lay before him. We used to think his powers grew immensely from year to year, especially those who heard him each week at the Canning Club, which I think possessed a larger place in his heart than anything else in Oxford of the kind. We frequently spoke on opposite sides to each other there, and I have learnt a very great deal from him. But a brilliant life has nobly ended. His energy and force will always be an inspiration to those who knew him, he had a great gift for stimulating other people, and once or twice he gave me most valued help and encouragement.........

From A.P. Herbert

Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth

19th August, 1915.

......I saw a great deal of Gilbert our last three years at Winchester, and a great deal at Oxford, and more and more loved and admired him the better I knew him. .....He was a most inspiring person to do things with, and we all expected the greatest things of him........Later on, you may like to remember the very deep and sincere admiration and regret of a humble companion of his youth......

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From Eric Benson

(who died a few days after writing this letter)

Breakwater Fort, Weymouth

9th August, 1915.

One of the very last times we met was on a Sunday morning in the winter, when we went together to St. Paul's. What caused it I know not, but the thought stole irresidtibly over my mind that we should never be there toghether again. Day after day as I read the casualty lists it was his name that I feared to find, for of all the men I have ever known and loved it was Gilbert whom I could ill afford to lose. The walks that we walked together in the happy ways of Oxford - the dinners that we held, and the speeches that we made, and not least of all those when I was his vice-secretary in the Canning - return and will return upon my mind. But more even still shall I cherish the memory of those hours we spent in the perfect atmosphere of his room, sometimes reading and talking and sometimes in silence; and, above all, of those when we we listened - as we loved to - to the music of those wonderful choirs. If ever a man influenced another for good, then Gilbert influenced me, and now it only remains for me - still more even than before - to try His works to do. Truly it was said of Mr. Alfred Lyttelton, but not more truly than of my own beloved Gilbert:

"This was the happy warrior - this was he,

Whom every man in arms could wish to be."

[marina]

Poem by AP Herbert:

Beaucourt Revisited

I wandered up to Beaucourt; I took the river track

And saw the lines we lived in before the Boche went back;

But Peace was now in Pottage, the front was far ahead,

The front had journeyed Eastward, and only left the dead.

And I thought, how long we lay there, and watched across the wire,

While guns roared round the valley, and set the skies afire!

But now there are homes in Hamel and tents in the Vale of Hell,

And a camp at suicide corner, where half a regiment fell.

The new troops follow after, and tread the land we won,

To them 'tis so much hill-side re-wrested from the Hun

We only walk with reverence this sullen mile of mud

The shell-holes hold our history, and half of them our blood.

Here, at the head of Peche Street, 'twas death to show your face,

To me it seemed like magic to linger in the place;

For me how many spirits hung around the Kentish Caves,

But the new men see no spirits-they only see the graves.

I found the half-dug ditches we fashioned for the fight,

We lost a score of men there-young James was killed that night,

I saw the star shells staring, I heard the bullets hail,

But the new troops pass unheeding-they never heard the tale.

I crossed the blood red ribbon, that once was no-man's land,

I saw a misty daybreak and a creeping minute-hand;

And here the lads went over, and there was Harmsworth shot,

And here was William lying-but the new men know them not.

And I said, "There is still the river, and still the stiff, stark trees,

To treasure here our story, but there are only these";

But under the white wood crosses the dead men answered low,

" The new men know not Beaucourt, but we are here-we know

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Marina,

Thanks for that poem by A.P. Herbert.

Andy

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From W.F.W. Besley

British Expeditionary Force,

Aug. 1915.

.........I wonder if you knew how horribly I feel Gilbert's death: how we loved him in Long Wall, and what a tremendous elevating influence for the good he had on me in particular. That last will never be effaced. It seems so cruel, after all we talked and planned about his future, and discussed his thoughts all that last great year..........For myself, Gilbert's loss as a friend and as an example can never be repaired. He had the gift of leading men, and he - perhaps unconsciously - was leading and , then God, influencing me. I cannot flinch from a death now that he met his so bravely..... For me something very big is gone: there can never be another Gilbert.

From Walter Monckton.

Aug. 1915.

... Gilbert had the most vigorous, fresh and noble mind of any man I ever knew, and I know that his life has been and will be an abiding influence for good and those of others...... He was the embodiment of youth and life and hope, and his great sacrifice of himself places all three on a higher plane.......

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P.S. 13th August.

I have been thinking so much of Gilbert these last few days, that I will add just a little to my letter before I send it. I have been feeling lost in the knowledge that I can't turn to him for help and advice, for all my plans and hopes and ideas were bound up with his, and I realioze his strength of character and personality more than ever now - also how very near the surface his faults were, and how deep and steady the goodness in him........

He was the very best of friends, and as our intimacy increased so did my joy and pride in it........ He will still be my greatest friend, and I shall often feel the kind critic's hand on my shoulder. And unless all our life is a lie, I know we shall all see him again.....

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The problem of his profession was often a real worry to Gilbert, even in the middle of his Winchester time. He writes, 7 February 1909, from Winchester:

I am worried as to my profession. I want to make up my mind. My dearest ambition is to get into Parliament, and my chief interest is, frankly, politics. But I know that this is impossible for a long time and there is an immense lot to be said for the Bar. I like it, and think it is a profession where as far as I can see I am more or less likely to get on. But then I wonder if it is as good plan to make it a stepping stone, and whether it is possible to do the best in a line in which one's ambitions do not really lie. I should so like to hear what you think.

And again after speaking of various social problems he goes on (January 1912):

......I want to lose myself in all these problems. I would give anything to be able to do something which would an infinitesimal share in the restoring of order and balance to English society. I want to lend a hand in the fight against poverty and misery and wrong. It is this that draws me into politics. The desire to be constructive, to create, is overwhelming. My greatest ambition is to be among the great world problems and to try and give my part to their solution - to forget myself and my own interests.