The Last Crusade: Henry St.John's journey from Lydiard Park to Gallipoli in 1915

The story of Captain Henry Mildmay St.John's journey from Lydiard Park to Gallipoli as part of the allies ill-fated invasion of Turkey in 1915.

The author, the late Denis Pitcher, was married to Henry's niece Marjory St.John and had access to family letters with which he personalises this detailed account of the Gallipoli campaign.

Henry's letters to his mother, Lady Bolingbroke, are chatty and reassuring from the time he sets sail from Devonport on the 'Transylvania' not knowing where he and fellow officers were bound. Always eager to hear news from home Henry seems preoccupied with the sale of his motorbike which Pitcher records 'was not to be forgotten even in the heat of battle or when he lay gravely wounded.'

In Egypt Henry bumps into men from Swindon and Lydiard while anticipating being sent to the Dardanelles. Meetings with local men from home feature in several of his letters which are quoted.

By July 1915 he is writing from the trenches, appointed to the Worcester Regiment 4th Battalion and experiencing his 'baptism of fire'. As the weeks passed his letters become increasingly nostalgic for Lydiard. '...It makes my mouth water to talk about Lydiard peas. I hope I shall be spared to come back and enjoy some again out of the garden even if I have only one arm or leg....'.

On August 6th Henry took part in an attack at Cape Helles where the allied troops suffered huge losses, largely due to the ineptitude of their leaders. Henry was shot through the thighs in the first moments of the attack, undergoing appalling conditions before reaching hospital in Alexandria where he nearly died.

Pitcher also draws on a few surviving letters from Lady Bolingbroke to her son. These provide an insight into life at Lydiard during the war, including news of local people and the anguish shared by so many on being informed of the death or injury of a loved one.