麻豆约拍

Brilliant, dashing, charming and influential; Raymond Asquith was surely destined for a great career in the public eye. Described by his stepmother, Margot Asquith, as 鈥榠ntellectually one of the most distinguished young men of his day鈥� it seemed as if the world was at his feet in the years leading up to 1914. Yet he came to optimise that Edwardian generation of 鈥榖right young things鈥� who had their potential cut short by war.

Born in 1878, Raymond shone at school in Winchester and went on to have a formidable university career at Balliol, winning scholarships, becoming president of the Oxford Union and taking first class honours in classics and law. In 1902 he was elected a Fellow of All Souls and was called to the bar two years later.

Not only was he a talented barrister, an aspiring politician and a powerful orator but he was also a prolific and eloquent writer of letters, hundreds of which survive to this day.

For the vast majority of the British public though, he was known only as the prime minister鈥檚 son. Raymond was the eldest child of Herbert Henry Asquith, the man who declared war on Germany in August 1914. Two years later, in the last months of his premiership, he had to endure the anguish of his own son and heir being killed in the fighting he had sanctioned.

Late in 1914 Raymond joined the 16th Battalion; The London Regiment as a second Lieutenant and the following summer he transferred to 3rd Battalion; Grenadier Guards, becoming a Staff Officer. Despite this he was keen to see action on the Western Front, so he made a request to return to active duty. On 15th September 1916 he led an attack near Ginchy but 鈥榖efore his regiment had been in action 10 minutes鈥� he received a bullet wound to the chest. He was brought back to the British lines and taken to a dressing station but it was too late. Raymond Asquith was 37-years-old and left a wife, Katharine, and three young children.

Margot Asquith would later say that had he lived 鈥渉e would have made the world ring with his name鈥�.

Like all Britain鈥檚 fallen, Asquith鈥檚 remains stayed overseas. Even if his father had privately wanted his son repatriated, he knew it was both insensitive and politically impossible. His grave is in the Guillemont Road cemetery on the Somme. Like all the others there he has an Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission headstone. His alone is inscribed with a poignant Shakespearean quotation from the conclusion of Henry V: 鈥楽mall time but in that small most greatly lived this star of England鈥�. Such was his promise and so great was the impact of his death that 鈥榓 corner of a foreign field鈥� would never be enough.

Mells is a pretty village in an area of Somerset generally overlooked by the summer tourists. It鈥檚 here that Katharine鈥檚 family, the Horners, had lived for generations and where their sorrow would inspire a special place of remembrance. Asquith鈥檚 memorial is not typical of the age. It鈥檚 made up of eleven lines of Latin text, carved into the inner wall of the church tower by the notable sculptor Eric Gill. Above it sits a beautifully intricate brass wreath designed by the leading architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. But like countless numbers of headstones, inscriptions, name plates and simple wooden crosses all over the country and throughout the world, it bears witness to the human cost of war.

Location: Church of St Andrews, Mells, Somerset BA11 3PW
Image shows a brass laurel wreath by the designer and architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, which adorns Asquith鈥檚 memorial

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