Frank James Prewett (August 24, 1893 – February 16, 1962) was a Canadian poet who spent most of his life in the United Kingdom. He was a
war poet
A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a p ...
of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and was taken up by
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
, but after a period of being lionised socially he led a mainly unsatisfactory life, suffering from bad health.
He was born near
Mount Forest, Ontario
Mount Forest is an unincorporated community located at the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 89 in the township of Wellington North, Ontario, Canada. As of the 2011 Canadian census the population of Mount Forest was 4,757 .
History
Prior to ...
, and brought up on a farm near
Kenilworth, Ontario
Kenilworth is an unincorporated rural community in Wellington North Township, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. Kenilworth was located in Arthur Township until 1999.
A post office has operated continuously in Kenilworth since 1848.
History
...
. In 1915 he left his studies at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
and enlisted as a private in the
Canadian Army
The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...
. Later he was offered and accepted a commission in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, serving in the
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...
. He served in France, but was invalided out in 1917 after being injured twice, once having to claw his way out of the earth after being buried alive.
While he was recovering from shell shock in a psychiatric hospital in 1918 he began pretending to be an
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
called Toronto. This was accepted at the time, but was later questioned, and ultimately disproved by
DNA analysis, which found no genetic connection to Iroquois. The claim has been attributed to
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
.
[
At Lennel Auxiliary Hospital, a sister hospital to Craiglockhart War Hospital, he met Sassoon, who later wrote a brief portrait of him in his autobiography, ''Siegfried's Journey''. Sassoon introduced him to Lady Ottoline Morrell and he stayed at Garsington, her estate, while he awaited repatriation to Canada. Prewett later maintained a regular correspondence with Lady Ottoline (Darroch 215) and when he returned to England he was offered a job at Garsington, but "he fell under suspicion of keeping back farm earnings" (Darroch, 233) and was asked to leave.
Prewett had an academic job at an agricultural research institute from the mid-1920s to 1934. He married Madeline Vera Clinkard in 1925, but the marriage failed. On Sassoon's evidence, he suffered from ]clinical depression
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...
.
His poems were recognised by the inclusion of some of them in the final ''Georgian Poetry
Georgian Poetry refers to a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom.
The Georgian poets were, by the strictest ...
'' anthology and in ''Oxford Poetry'', and by publication by the Hogarth Press
The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and now ...
; followed by a collection ''The Rural Scene'' in 1922. In the 1930s he was a BBC broadcaster and did editorial work. A historical novel set in Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
in the times of Captain Swing
"Captain Swing" was a name that was appended to several threatening letters during the rural Swing Riots of 1830, when labourers rioted over the introduction of new threshing machines and the loss of their livelihoods. The name was made-up and ...
, ''The Chazzey Tragedy'' (1933), made little impact. He was married again, to Dorothy Agnes Pollard, who was a colleague on the editorial staff of ''The Countryman'', the magazine where he was working.
During the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he served in the RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, and he stayed on in the Air Ministry until 1954. Retiring because of poor health, he farmed near Abingdon until his death in Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
.
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
, a friend from Oxford days, edited his ''Collected Poems'',[Frank Prewett, Collected Poems (London:Cassell, 1964).] published in 1964. Graves's introduction provides the longest printed account of Prewett's life available. A volume of ''Selected Poems'' was published in 1987.
References
External links
*
Article on Prewett by Andrew Coppolino
Frank Prewett family tree
">A Canadian in the Gasington [sic
/nowiki> Circle: Frank Prewett's Literary Friendships">ic">A Canadian in the Gasington [sic
/nowiki> Circle: Frank Prewett's Literary Friendships* Archives of Frank Prewet
(Frank Prewett fonds, R11792)
are held at Library and Archives Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prewett, FJ
1893 births
1962 deaths
Writers from Ontario
20th-century Canadian poets
Canadian male poets
People from Wellington County, Ontario
20th-century Canadian male writers
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Field Artillery soldiers
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II