Patrick Houston Shaw-Stewart (17 August 1888 – 30 December 1917) was a British scholar and poet of the Edwardian era who died on active service as a battalion commander in the

Royal Naval Division The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who wer ...

during 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 ...

. He is best remembered today for his "Achilles in the Trench", one of the best-known war poems of the First World War.

Life

Patrick Shaw-Stewart was born in Aber Artro Hall, near

Llanbedr Llanbedr () is a village and community south of Harlech. Administratively, it lies in the Ardudwy area, formerly Meirionnydd, of the county of Gwynedd, Wales. History Ancient monuments at Llanbedr include Neolithic standing stones; the St ...

Merionethshire , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

, Wales. He was the son of Major-General John Heron Maxwell Shaw-Stewart (1831–1908), a military engineer, and Mary Catherine Bedingfeld Shaw-Stewart. While Patrick was still young his parents' marriage broke down and he was largely raised by a nanny, who he habitually referred to as "dear". His appearance was quite striking with a shock of bright ginger hair, pale white freckled skin, and a lengthy nose. His career was one of great academic brilliance, matched by a steely determination to succeed. He came first in the Eton scholarship in 1901, a year after his friend,

Ronald Knox Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic priest, Catholic theology, theologian, author, and radio broadcaster. Educated at Eton College, Eton and Balliol Colleg ...

, had come first in the same examination. He won the

Newcastle Scholarship The Newcastle Scholarship is an annual prize awarded at Eton College in England for the highest performance in a series of special written examinations taken over the course of a week. It was instituted and first awarded in 1829 and is the college ...

at Eton in 1905. At Oxford, he won the Craven, the Ireland, and the Hertford Scholarships in Classics as well as taking a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in Classical

Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...

in 1908 and Greats in 1910. Elected to a fellowship of

All Souls' College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

, he instead, due to the prospect of considerable financial rewards, committed his career to

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's List of oldest banks in continuous operation, oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 ...

, where he was appointed one of the youngest managing directors in the bank's history, in 1913. At this time he became devoted to

Lady Diana Manners Diana, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrat ...

and wrote her many intimate letters full of erotic allusions to Greek and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

literature, though it proved to be a case of unrequited love, as Manners was devoted to

Raymond Asquith Raymond Herbert Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son of British prime minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of the fashionable group of intellectuals known as ...

, and after his death married Duff Cooper. He became a leading member of her "corrupt coterie" known as

the Coterie The Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. They also called themselves the "Corrupt Coterie". Members Its members in ...

. Another member of the Coterie,

Julian Grenfell Julian Henry Francis Grenfell (30 March 1888 – 26 May 1915) was a British soldier and a war poet of World War I. Early life Julian Grenfell was born at 4 St James's Square, London, the eldest son of William Grenfell, later Baron Desborough ...

, said of Shaw-Stewart at this time "animals edge away from him, and the more intelligent the animal, the more they edge away from him", and also "I think there is something rather obscene about him, like the electric eel at the zoo.". Raymond Asquith's pithy appraisal was "not long enough in the bottle". Both found his single-minded preoccupation with achieving wealth and status somewhat distasteful. Shaw-Stewart served in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. When war was declared in 1914, he joined the Royal Naval Division, serving with

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...

. Shaw-Stewart was present at Brooke's burial on

Skyros Skyros ( el, Σκύρος, ), in some historical contexts Latinized Scyros ( grc, Σκῦρος, ), is an island in Greece, the southernmost of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC and slightly later, the ...

and commanded the firing party. He was shaken by his prominent role in the young poet's funeral in Greece: "The brilliant and beguiling youth who had never failed in anything, for whom all life's prizes seemed to wait his taking, had little wish to outlive his friends. He now used all his charm and influence in high places to get into the firing line." While he was at

Imbros Imbros or İmroz Adası, officially Gökçeada (lit. ''Heavenly Island'') since 29 July 1970,Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), ''Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1 ...

he seemed to enjoy speaking

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

to the inhabitants of the island; in one of his letters he wrote: "here I am, living in a Greek village and talking the language of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...

to the inhabitants (who are really quite clever at taking my meaning)." Shaw-Stewart was involved in the Gallipoli campaign which was his first experience of real combat. His letters home to friends and relations showed an increasing sense of frustration and disillusionment with the war. After the Allied withdrawal from the Dardanelles, he was posted to

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

in a liaison role with the French. In 1916 the Cross of Chevalier of the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

was conferred upon him "in recognition of valuable services rendered" and, later the same year, he was awarded the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. During 1917 Shaw-Stewart increasingly felt that he was doing very little of any use in Salonika, and was missing the comradeship of his friends in the Royal Naval Division. After having several requests to be moved to France turned down, he effectively absconded while on leave in England, and rejoined his old battalion in France. Promoted to

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

and in temporary command of the Hood Battalion, he was killed in France on 30 December 1917 while making his way up a sunken road just behind the fire trenches. Stewart was struck in the mouth by a shell fragment and died almost immediately. He is buried at

Metz-en-Couture Metz-en-Couture is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Metz-en-Couture is situated southeast of Arras, at the junction of the D7 and the D17 roads. Population Places of interest * The ...

in the British extension to the communal cemetery.

Work

His fame today stems from one of his poems, "Achilles in the Trench", one of the best-known of the

war poem 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 ...

s of the

. It was written while Shaw-Stewart waited to be sent to fight at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

and was on leave on the island of

, overlooking

Hisarlik Hisarlik ( Turkish: ''Hisarlık'', "Place of Fortresses"), often spelled Hissarlik, is the Turkish name for an ancient city located in what is known historically as Anatolia.A compound of the noun, hisar, "fortification," and the suffix -lik. The ...

(the site of the ancient city of Troy), and in the poem, Shaw-Stewart makes numerous references to the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

'', questioning, "Was it so hard,

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

,/So very hard to die?" In the stanza beginning, "O hell of ships and cities," he plays on the similarity of "hell" and "Helen," imitating the similar wordplay in

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

' ''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husb ...

'' 681–690. In the final stanza he evokes the image of flame-capped Achilles screaming from the Achaean ramparts after the death of

Patroclus In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'', Patroclus (pronunciation variable but generally ; grc, Πάτροκλος, Pátroklos, glory of the father) was a childhood friend, close wartime companion, and the presumed (by some later a ...

, and requests that Achilles likewise shout for him during the battle.

Legacy

The first biography of Shaw-Stewart, by

, was published in 1920.

Elizabeth Vandiver Elizabeth Vandiver (born 1956) is an American classical scholar. She is the Clement Biddle Penrose Professor of Latin and Classics at Whitman College, having previously taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received the prestig ...

's ''Stand in the Trench, Achilles'' includes a detailed discussion of Shaw-Stewart. A new biography by Miles Jebb was published in May 2010. A memorial to him was erected at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, on the west wall of the Chapel passage. He is also named on the war memorial in the antechapel at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

and on the

Knockbain Knockbain is a parish on the Black Isle, in the county of Ross and Cromarty in Highland council area, Scotland. It includes the villages of North Kessock, Munlochy and Kilmuir. The parishes of Kilmuir Wester and Suddie were united in the 1750s, ...

parish war memorial in the county of Ross and Cromarty, Scotland.

References

External links

Biography from Balliol College, Oxford

Text of "Achilles in the Trench"

Patrick Shaw-Stewart
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw-Stewart, Patrick 1917 deaths 1888 births 63rd (Royal Naval) Division soldiers Military personnel from Merionethshire Royal Navy officers British World War I poets 20th-century male writers British military personnel killed in World War I Royal Navy officers of World War I People educated at Eton College Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford

Life

Work

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links