WWI – Love Story

Many lovers were separated by the great wars, when the only means of communication was the written word.

Letters and poetry, written from and to the trenches are so poignant that they still resonate with all who read them today.

The love story of Vera Brittain 1893 – 1970 and Roland Leighton 1895 – 1915 has been preserved in their letters, his poetry and her subsequent books about the whole experience.

    • Vera was born in Newcastle Under Lyme, she was a pacifist and feminist and met Roland in 1913, a connection through her brother Edward.
    • Destined to take up a scholarship at Somerville College Oxford, Vera’s life like many others was turned by the course of the war.
    • Roland would have probably joined her at Oxford but he volunteered to join the army and by 1915 he had been posted to the Franco – Belgian border.

Their exchange of letters and poetry where they discuss love, society and aesthetics were kept by Vera.

They were engaged in August 1915, by then Vera had trained as a nurse.

Roland was killed in December 1915 at Louvencourt in France.

Vera continued to nurse but also to write. In 1933 she penned an autobiography, ‘Testament of Youth’, which is a moving and powerful expression of the experience of those times.

The Roland Leighton Collection is part of the Oxford University World War Poetry Digital Archive. A brilliant archive, including biographies and photos.

A collection of works by Vera Brittain can be searched at McMasters University Library

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