Posted by - John Barnes This Little story is really about the name of a street in the once ‘leafy rural’ Delves. Most people know that the first casualty in any war is TRUTH! But to convince the populace that what they hear is their leaders version of the ‘Truth,’ those people within government need, what are commonly called ‘wordsmiths’ in a certain department. To us mere mortals we call it the Propaganda Machine. The early British one at the start of WW1 was known as the ‘War Propaganda Bureau.’ Propaganda is filtered through to newspapers and the media in general. In WW2 The Daily Telegraph and the ‘old’ Daily Express were famous for feeding the public. Bill Deedes was a cabinet minister and also editor of The Telegraph. William Aitken - Lord Beaverbrook was a government minister in WW1 and WW2 and was owner of the ‘old’ Daily Express and a friend of Churchill. Both newspapers were well sold, because that is what ‘YOU’ the public wanted to read – the ‘TRUTH,’ it didn`t matter about it being ambiguous and very slanted! So how did wartime propaganda become associated with a little street in the Delves. After being born at Bloxwich Maternity in 1936, the first twelve or eighteen months of my life was spent at 21 Newbolt Street – hence my interest and this little story about NEWBOLT STREET, Delves. Everyone, I think knows that Newbolt Street was named after the great poet Sir Henry Newbolt, who was actually born in Bilston on June 6, 1862. His father was a vicar Rev Henry Francis Newbolt. After the death of his father the family moved to Walsall and he was educated at Queen Mary`s Grammar School. So if his formative years were in Walsall, he was in my opinión a Walsallian. He moved to Caistor Grammar school and gained a scholarship to Clifton College, Bristol, where he became head in 1881. Among his contemporaries was Douglas Haig who was to become WW1 famous. Newbolt after graduating from Corpus Christi College, Oxford was called to the bar at Lincoln`s Inn in 1887 and practiced until 1899. Newbolt married Margaret Duckworth of the publishing family and had a son Francis and daughter Celia.. In 1914 Celia married Lt Col Sir Ralph Dolignan Furse who was the Head of Recruitment at HM Colonial Service from 1931 until 1948. Much of Newbolt`s poetry had a navy theme about it – he was of course something of an expert about Britain`s navy and also Irish – English affairs. Newbolt wrote two volumes on the history of Britain`s navy. He was very politically astute – something I find hard to believe because he was a bloody ‘sit on the fence’ Liberal! Newbolt`s most famous poem Vitai Lampada ‘the torch of life,’ is a classic - but most of his poems are classics. In Vitai Lampada reference is made to a battle – it was a battle which took place in Sudan in 1885 during a bid to rescue General Gordon – the rescue attempt was not successful. I particularly like The Fighting Temaraire. Probably because it was the only poem I can remember reading at school. Sadly, I have not got a poetry mode – I have to be in the right mood to enjoy the words. At Wolverhampton Road Senior school in those early years after WW2 I look back and wonder how those teachers coped - about fifty to a class. I think it was Joey Groves who ‘tried’ to instil a bit of poetry into us. Even now, I remember the different ways of our teachers and how each one delivered the tawse [toss] [strap] [six of the best]. Prior to WW1 Britain had mass unemployment. Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914 and Liberal Prime Minister Asquith asked the popular Lord Kitchener to appeal to the men of the country to volunteer for the forces. They came forward in droves from every corner of the nation - four million - mostly young men – some very very young, many seeking adventure because there were no jobs, volunteered – because it was regular pay! Now, there was a shortage of men to work in the foundries and dynamite factories because they were in a mainly volunteer and reservist army. So women went to work in the factories and dynamite works on lower pay than men would have received and Asquith was soon able to boast of full employment. Shortly after war was declared, Newbolt, a friend and contemporary of Sir Douglas Haig – now Lt General Haig, was recruited by the head of Britains War Propaganda Bureau (WPB), Charles Masterman along with twenty other men of words to help shape and maintain public opinion in favour of the war effort. Newbolt, was appointed controller of telecommunications during the war. His poems about the war include ‘The War Films,’ printed on the leader page of The Times on October 14, 1916, which seeks to temper the shock effect on cinema audiences of footage of the Battle of the Somme which on the very first day of the Battle of the Somme saw the British Army suffer the highest number of casualties in its history - 60,000 dead in one day!. Newbolt was also part of the inner advisory circle of Herbert Asquiths government and would subsequently advise governments on policy in Ireland. He wrote about warfare over the ages as being a fine and chivalrous calling, emphasising the courage of soldiers and sailors. In the backlash against war that followed the horrors of the Great War of 1914 -18, he was denounced by some critics as a warmonger and a blimp, accusations, very wide of the mark. In politics he was a lifelong Liberal. Very influential in the political world of his day as well as the literary one. In 1921 he had been the author of a government Report entitled ‘The Teaching of English in England’ which established the foundations for modern English Studies and professionalised the forms of teaching of English Literature. It argued that English must become the linguistic and literary standard throughout the British Empire, and even proposed salary rates for lecturers. For many years it was a standard work for English teachers in teacher training Colleges. Newbolt was knighted in 1915, made a Companion of Honour in 1922 and died in 1938.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 06:54:25 +0000
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