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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 839

'As a personality he was irreplaceable'

Sir Sydney Castle Roberts on Attwater

The remarkable Great War trio to Captain A. L. 'Brains' Attwater, Royal Welch Fusiliers, a prize-winning Cambridge classicist who served alongside Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, convalescing with them at Craiglockhart Hospital after a severe gun-shot wound to the hip

Mentioned repeatedly in Goodbye To All That, Attwater went on to become a renowned Cambridge professor, bequeathing a vast library to Pembroke College and founding its English scholarships

1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. A. L. Attwater. R.W.Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. A. L. Attwater.), good very fine (3)

Aubrey Leonard Attwater was born on 6 September 1892, the son of Thomas Henry Attwater of 4 Percival Terrace, Brighton. Reading Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he became President of the Cambridge Union Society and won the Charles Oldham Shakespeare Prize, receiving a First in his Tripos in 1914. A member of the university's Officer Training Corps, he forwent his promising career as a barrister to commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers on 15 August 1914. He transferred to the 2nd Battalion for service in France, arriving there on New Year's Day 1915.

Advancing to Lieutenant on 2 February, Attwater served alongside the soldier-poet Robert Graves in trenches near the strategic Bois-Grenier crossroads. When out of the trenches, he joined brother officers at the Armentières Riding School. His activities are recorded in The War The Infantry Knew, the authoritative journal written by Captain J. C. Dunn of the 2nd Battalion. Dunn recalled that during one riding exercise, Attwater's horse 'jumped a ditch on the rue de Biez, unseated him in a ploughed field, and was recaptured by a peasant' (Dunn, 111). Famous throughout the Regiment for his intellect, Attwater was affectionately nicknamed 'Brains'. In Good-Bye to All That, Robert Graves fondly recalled:

'The militia majors, who were for the most part country gentlemen with estates in Wales, and had no thoughts in peace-time beyond hunting, shooting, fishing, and the control of their tenantry, were delighted with Attwater's informative talk over the port at mess. Sergeant Malley, the mess-sergeant, would go round with his "Light or vintage, sir?" and the old majors would say to Attwater: "Now, Brains! Tell us about Shakespeare. Is it true that Bacon wrote him?" Or, "Well, Brains! What do you think about this chap Hilaire Belloc? Does he really know when the war's going to end?" And Attwater would humorously accept his position as combined encyclopaedia and almanac.' (Graves, 179).

On 28 March 1915, while fighting in trenches near La Vesée, Attwater received a gun-shot wound to the left thigh (lower groin). His service records paint a terrible picture:

'Leg shortened by 3 1/2". Complete destruction of hip joint, with marked wasting. Impaired function of limb. Permanent injury, equivalent to the loss of a limb.'

Attwater departed Boulogne aboard the steamer St. Patrick on 19 May 1915, and was taken to Craiglockhart Hospital for specialist treatment by the brilliant Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. There he convalesced with the famous war poets Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. He read avidly about the progress of the war; though bed-bound, few Battalion details escaped his notice. On 4 September, his promotion to Captain appeared in the London Gazette.

On 25 July 1916, Attwater was judged fit for 'light duty'. He was appointed Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion at Litherland camp near Liverpool, where he oversaw some 3,000 recruits destined for the front line. The camp was perilously close to Brotherton's munitions factory, which manufactured highly sensitive detonators. Graves recalled that Attwater saw smoke rising from Brotherton's one afternoon. Ordering the camp bugler to sound the alarm, Attwater directed the fire-brigade to the scene, despite his limp, and managed to smother the fire before it reached the explosives. He undoubtedly saved hundreds of lives (Graves, 180-181). The 3rd Battalion moved to Limerick in November 1917. Attwater was discharged in February 1919; due to his wound he received an Army Pension of £50 per annum from 28 March 1921. He resided at 4 Percival Terrace, Brighton.

The Vulcan of Pembroke

After the war Attwater returned to Pembroke College, enthusiastically teaching the new English Tripos. It was largely thanks to him that Pembroke began offering scholarships in English. He was described as an 'exceptional' teacher who created an 'intimate atmosphere of private supervisions, where an infectious enthusiasm and singularly wide learning were directed always to help, not to overwhelm' (Pembroke Gazette 1936, p. 16). Appointed Assistant Tutor, he held the same lodgings in the Hitcham Building, Ivy Court once occupied by Pitt the Younger and the poet Thomas Gray. Attwater organised plays for the Perse Society and compiled the Domestica Pembrochiana, a record of the College's domestic life. He was Director of Studies to Humphrey Jennings, the future film-maker. Jennings' biographer, Kevin Jackson, describes him as:

'a solitary high Tory in a discipline taught mainly by those of Liberal or 'progressive' views, who nonetheless, thanks to his generous and convivial nature, managed to be friends with everyone regardless of their political or intellectual allegiances.'

Attwater enabled so many students to have a happy experience of Pembroke, but his war wound resurfaced, causing him considerable pain. As he hobbled around the quad, ever cheerful, he reminded E. M. W. Tillyard of the figure of lame Vulcan in Homer's Iliad (Jackson, 62). Unable to walk to Cambridge's libraries, he amassed a magnificent personal collection in his lodgings which was bequeathed to Pembroke after his death. Attwater filled the cupboards with sherry and spirits, and had a constant stream of visitors day and night. He founded The Spenser Society, a play-reading group. A regular spectator at Henley, Twickenham and Lord's, he visited Stratford-upon-Avon each year to see the latest productions of Shakespeare. He began writing the official history of Pembroke College.

Unfortunately, in 1934 Attwater was fined after a court summons found him guilty of obstructing a police investigation (Dundee Evening Standard, 23 July 1934). Alongside the Dean, the Rev. H. E. Wynn, he denied the Police access to students' lodgings and was fined 20 shillings plus 25 guineas in policing costs. This incident was widely reported (see Daily Herald, 27 July 1934). The stress of this debacle simply added to Attwater's physical pain, resulting in his premature death in 1935 aged just forty-three. Heartfelt obituaries flooded in, and 1935 was described in the Pembroke Gazette as a 'tragic' year. Attwater's history of Pembroke College was finished by his friend S. C. Roberts, and his name is engraved on a tile in the College Chapel. His book collection and English scholarships continue to inspire students; sold with copied MIC.

Recommended reading:

Attwater, A. L., Pembroke College: A Short History, edited with an Introduction by S. C. Roberts (Cambridge, 1936).

Dunn, Capt. J. C., The War The Infantry Knew 1914-1919, edited by K. Simpson (London, 1987).

Graves, R., Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography (London, 1929).

Jackson, K., Humphrey Jennings: The Definitive Biography of one of Britain's most important Film-makers (London, 2004).

https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/kit-smarts-blog/aubrey-attwater’s-lexicon-guide-college-life-modern-valencian


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Sold for
£1,300

Starting price
£280