Frank's first introduction to the war was at Gallipoli. He wrote no poetry during the eight weeks he spent on the campaign but was lucky enough to be included among the 118,000 men who were evacuated from the peninsula. Serbia was the next scene of warfare for Ledwidge and despite the harsh cold and wet weather which afflicted Frank with rheumatism and gave him an attack of "Barney Fitzsimons' back" the poet was in good spirits as he heard news of the publication of his first book Songs of the Fields. He was so delighted with the volume that he described it as "better to him than food and warmth." The poet's spirits would change dramatically. The allies were defeated in Serbia and so the army was forced to retreat. Before the retreating soldiers reached camp Ledwidge collapsed. His back was so badly inflamed that he could not stand up. Eventually Ledwidge reached the Western General Hospital in Manchester, and there he received news of the 1916 Rising in Dublin and the execution by the British of his good friend and fellow poet Thomas MacDonagh. Ledwidge's poem "Lament for Thomas MacDonagh" is widely regarded as one of his greatest works.

Francis Ledwidge in Uniform (standing on the right)

The Rising changed everything. Ledwidge was completely disillusioned and felt he had to get out of the British army as soon as possible. Upon his return to Slane both family and friends found Frank to be a different man. After persistent questioning from his brother, Frank declared:

"If someone were to tell me now that the Germans were coming over our back wall,
I wouldn't lift a finger to stop them. They could come!"

Upon his return for duty to Richmond Barracks Ledwidge was court-martialled for a sharp exchange of words with an officer and lost his lance corporal stripe. This event hardly bothered him as he wrote:

"My mind is not my mind, therefore
I take no heed of what men say,
I lived ten thousand years before
God cursed the town of Nineveh." [After Court Martial, Abriged]

In July 1917 having survived the Battle of Arras, Ledwidge's unit was ordered north into Belgium in preparation for the third Battle of Ypres. Despite the horror of war his love for nature and his home remained unabated. One day during a lull in the bombardment he heard a robin singing which inspired the poem "Home". "This is a song a robin sang This morning on a broken tree It was about the little fields That call across the world to me." [Abriged]

On July 20th he wrote a letter to his friend and fellow poet Katherine Tynan in which he spoke of his longing for home.

"I want to see again my wonderful mother, and to walk by the Boyne to Crewbawn and up through the brown and grey rocks of Crocknaharna. You have no idea of how I suffer with this longing for the swish of the reeds at Slane and the voices I used to hear coming over the low hills of Currabwee. Say a prayer that I may get this leave, and give us a condition my punctual return and sojourn till the war is over."

Unfortunately this prayer would go unanswered as all leave was cancelled until after the battle. On July 31st the 1st Battalion of the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers of which Frank was a member were repairing the road to Pilkem near the village of Boezinghe northwest of Ieper (Ypres). In the afternoon of that day a shell exploded beside them, killing one officer and five enlisted men, among them Ledwidge. Chaplain Father Devas was among the first to arrive on the scene. That night he wrote in his diary:

"Ledwidge killed, blown to bits…"

The men were buried were they fell at Carrefour de Rose (Rose Crossroads) and reinterred later in nearby Artillery Wood Military Cemetery. Lance Corporal Francis Edward Ledwidge is buried in plot 2, Row B, Grave 5.

"And here where that sweet poet sleeps,
I hear the songs he left unsung,
When winds are fluttering the flowers,
And summer-bells are rung"   [At A Poet's Grave]

For more detailed information on the life of Francis Ledwidge please see The Life of Francis Ledwidge by Alice Curtayne.

<< back