‘This doomsday’: the Trevelyans in the First World War

On 27 October, 1918, Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson wrote a postcard to his friend, Robert Trevelyan, the poet, playwright, and classicist, wishing that the war could be resolved as easily as their latest postal game of chess; instead, it still seemed to ‘hang on a razor’s edge’. Trevelyan, whose papers in the Trinity archive are currently …

Dennis Holme Robertson – A Trinity War Poet

“I don’t suppose you like WAR any better than you expected.” -Gerda Robertson to D.H. Robertson, 21 Sept 1917 (Robertson A1/11/21) Dennis Holme Robertson was admitted to Trinity College in 1908. Originally studying Classics, he switched to Economics in 1910. He received scholarships for both subjects and was in the first class of the Classics …

Ludwig Wittgenstein and the First World War

Of course, not all Trinity men were from Britain or the Commonwealth and so found their wartime loyalties lay elsewhere. Bertrand Russell’s most famous student at Trinity College was Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), an Austrian philosopher. After arriving at Trinity in 1911, Wittgenstein had progressed so quickly in his work with logic that Russell declared after …

Bertrand Russell and the Conscientious Objectors

Despite the widespread patriotic support for the Great War, there were many people in Britain who opposed it for moral, economic or political reasons. Some conscientious objectors (COs) were happy to aid the war effort in non-combatant capacities, while others refused to do any work that would contribute to the war effort. Despite being labelled …

Robert Quilter Gilson

“The real strain is the strain of waiting. Always waiting with the knowledge that waiting cannot end the war, and nothing stirring to take our minds away from petty worries. It makes us all grumpy and bad-tempered sometimes, and I know that I am often haunted by the same feeling that I always had in England, that the test …

David Louis Clemetson

Lt. David Louis Clemetson (1893-1918) was one of a very small number of black officers serving in the British military during WWI. Very little information is known about Clemetson apart from his military record, but this is what research by Trinity Library and College staff has uncovered. Born in St. Mary, Jamaica, Clemetson attended Clifton …

“Nevile’s Court a Hospital…”: The First Eastern General Hospital

At the beginning of the War, Colonel Joseph Griffiths, a surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, led plans to build a large open-air field hospital in Cambridge, to be called the First Eastern General Hospital (Territorial Force). Cambridge was an ideal location thanks to its rail connections and the resources available because of the University and Addenbrooke's …

The Master’s Family

“If you return home safely while your old father is living, it will be truly the crowning joy of his long life.” - H.M. Butler to J.R.M. and G.K.M. Butler, 13 August, 1915 Every family in Britain was touched by the Great War and the Butler family was no exception. Henry Montagu Butler (1833-1918), Master of …

The 5th Officer Cadet Battalion at Trinity and St. John’s

From 1803 to 1916, young military officers had been trained in conjunction with University education through the Officers Training Corps (OTC), forming the National Reserve of officers. However, due to the unforeseen number of casualties in the first two years of the War, conscription was introduced in 1916 and in the same year the Officer …

Trinity and the First World War

Welcome to the online edition of the Trinity and the First World War exhibition, being held in the Wren Library from July to October, 2014...