大象传媒

鈥淎nd when this long war is done, we shall have some glorious fun
Moll and Bids and little son, my three kids.鈥�

By the summer of 1914, 40-year-old Robert Smylie had been teaching English, Latin and Maths for more than two decades. He had been headmaster of Sudbury Grammar School for three and a half years. He ran cadet force at the school and saw many of his students go into military careers.

Despite his age and the fact he had a wife and three children, Smylie joined the army at the outbreak of World War I, obtaining a commission in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He joined the first battalion in Flanders. He was well respected by his men, many of them little older than the students he had taught at school.

Lieutenant Smylie was killed at Longueval Ridge in July 1916, during the battle of the Somme. His shrapnel damaged wallet and pocket book were recovered from his body and returned to his wife. As well as photographs of his family, there were sketches and diary entries, and a particularly poignant poem.

鈥楳y Three Kids鈥� was written by Lietenant Smylie in November 1915. In it he explains to his children; Molly, Elizabeth 鈥� or Bids 鈥� and Patrick, what he was doing and expresses his wish to be back with them again.

His pocket book is now in the Imperial War Museum, along with letters written to his wife after his death.

Location: The Old School House, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2HA
Image shows Robert Smylie鈥檚 papers
Photograph courtesy of Imperial War Museums

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