Woodbine Willie: An unsung hero of World War One by Sheila Johnson

 I have just finished reading 'Woodbine Willie: an unsung hero of World War One', and feel inspired. I purchased the book a couple of years ago at the Cheltenham Christian Arts festival, following a drama performance about his life. I knew him to be a first world war poet which is why I chose to attend the event. I was confused though why so little is known about him, and why his poetry isn't included in the anthology I have on first world war poets. 

It maybe because he is unashamedly Christian. A poet but so much more. The author of the book, Bob Holman, calls him a Social Evangelist. He was a chaplain to the first world war soldiers, but unlike many of them, he insisted on joining the men on the front lines, seeing the same horrors, facing the same challenges they did. His way of reaching the men was often just in offering them a Woodbine cigarette, a popular tobacco brand at the time. This is how the man, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy got his nickname of Woodbine Willie. 

After spending most of the war years away from his wife, Emily, who gave birth to their first son, Patrick during this time, he became an Anglican minister again for a while in St Paul's Worcester. Originally a patriot of the war, his years spent at the front had disillusioned him and he became a pacifist. He saw fighting men not only injured and unable to earn, but brave men who had fought for their country now unable to get a job.

Studdert Kennedy was an advocate for the working man. He spoke directly to them in a way they could understand and didn't always worry about using swear words. Travelling up and down the country speaking to ordinary people he drew vast crowds of people, people he wanted to attract to the Church of England. When he died early in 1929, at only 45 years old, 2,000 people filled Worcester Cathedral, with many more filling the streets around. The entire city stopped and closed down. There were huge gatherings at other places too, and the newspapers of the day eulogised about this national figure, who had become a chaplain to King George V. 

In his own words -: 'If you can rest content, while men are over-worked and under-paid; if you can tolerate the waste and cruelty of war, the degradation of prostitution, you have not seen Him, you have not found your God' 

Challenging words indeed that leave me with a deep sense of unease. Yet, a book worth reading, a challenge worth giving ourselves in these times which are not dissimilar to those of Studdert Kennedy. 

I finish with a short poem by him - : 

The stars are coming out,
My body needs its bed. 
I have no strength for more, 
So it must stand or fall - Dear Lord - 
That's all.