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Under the Shadow
Letters of Love and War 1911-1917.
The Poignant Testimony and Story of
Captain Hugh Wallace Mann and Jessie Reid
Compiled and Introduced by Bríd Hetherington.
Foreword by Dr Diana M Henderson,
Research Director, The Scots at War Trust.
Part of the Voices of War series.
ISBN 0953503607 pbk £12.99 £5.00
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Foreword
Under the Shadow is a sad but inspiring story worthy of Grand Opera. A Romeo and Juliet tale of young love, passion, guilt, prejudice, war and death. But this is not Verdi or Shakespeare, it is the Camerons and Shettleston, and as these letters so ably testify, it is true. Typical of thousands of young men at the time, Hugh Mann fell in love. Her name was Jessie. They were both young, attractive, articulate and intelligent. They were however middle class and when Jessie became pregnant the full force of Scottish middle class prejudice and hypocrisy of that time was brought to bear on them. Amongst all the letters, that of Jessie's brother in law, Hector Hetherington, is probably the most telling in its sharp criticism of these attitudes.
The letters themselves are testimony to a different age. Today not only would the reaction be different, but the letters themselves would not exist, and such words as there were would probably be said over the telephone. It is clear from the letters that these are two intelligent, if naive, young people well able to express themselves, but unable or unwilling to break the bonds of family. Set against the background of this story, the whole business of conducting a war appears all the more stark. But war is stark, and today the realities of battle do not fit easily into the same box as the rest of our emotions.
So distant are we now from these realities that we have conveniently forgotten the millions who survived, the joy, relief and pride of victory, the fun, the adrenalin and the good times, some of which Hugh touches on. In the context of events, the war is a delay and a good excuse for not facing up to a real situation. In this respect Hugh's death is virtually inevitable. In Verdi however, the hero gets up from his deathbed to take the curtain calls.
These treasured letters, long preserved by an elderly lady, are a story on many levels and they have a value that was never anticipated by the young people who wrote them. In making them available Bríd Hetherington has rendered a service to history, to literature and to love.
Dr Diana M Henderson Edinburgh 1999 Research Director, Scots at War Trust.
This is a sensitively-handled presentation, with introductions to each chapter giving the background to events.
The Scots Magazine.
Back Cover
"It has come to me," writes Hugh in an early letter to Jessie, "that you and I made our best friendship under the shadow." On 17 October 1914, as he signs his name on the enlistment register for Lochiel's Camerons in Glasgow's West George Street, little does he recognise the prophecy in his words. That same day he hastily weds his beloved Jessie. The following day, he, and many other young professionals and students from The University of Glasgow, enthusiastically follow a piper to the Inverness train. Then, at the Cameron Depot Hugh begins his response to Kitchener's call while Jessie's mother finds a hideaway for Jessie and her baby in a Schoolhouse on the banks of Loch Tay.
The stuff of fiction or Hollywood ? No. It is the true story of a young student minister and his one and only love from the earliest days of their friendship in 1911 when Jessie is just sixteen, to a military hospital bed on the Normandy coast after the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. The "golden days" when they would set up home together were not to be. A few days' leave from camp or from the Western Front was the best fate had to offer. For the rest they had to live "in their letters until the next time".
Hugh survives the Battle of Loos, where the 7th Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders suffers 75% casualties, with "a bullet thro' my sleeve and a bit of shrapnel rapping my hose-top". Nearly eight months of trenches and shelling at Arras leave him bereft of many more companions. In the quagmire of Passchendaele, Hugh "gets his blighty". Hugh's letters take the reader from Shettleston in Glasgow to many scenic parts of Scotland : to Nairn, Dulnain Bridge, Arran and Loch Awe; from the Depot in Inverness to camps south of the border; from billets in the quiet villages of Flanders and France to his final resting place on Les Terrasses at Le Tréport. Hugh evokes the strenuous routine of army camps, the relative calm of billets, the horror, brutality and excitement of trenches and battle. And in writing, he immortalises his love for Jessie.
Notes on the Contributors
Captain Hugh Mann, an Arts graduate of the University of Glasgow, was a student of Divinity at the United Free Church College in Glasgow prior to joining the Cameron Highlanders in October 1914. Injuries received at the Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917 led to his death in a military hospital at Le Tréport on the Normandy coast a month later. The greater part of the letters included in this book were written by Hugh.
Jessie Mann, née Reid, was a first year Arts student at the University of Glasgow prior to the outbreak of the First World War and her marriage to Hugh. The last eight letters written by Jessie to Hugh were returned to her after his death. These, and letters from Jessie to her parents as Hugh fights for his life, form the latter part of this book.
Hector Hetherington (later Sir Hector) married Jessie's older sister Alison in 1914. He was latterly Principal and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Glasgow from 1936 to 1961. Letters written by both Hector and Jessie to Jessie's father in December 1914 are included in Part II.
Dr Diana M Henderson, the author of the Foreword, is Research Director of the Scots at War Trust and the author of a number of books on military history.
Bríd Hetherington, a teacher and college lecturer for many years in Scotland and abroad, comes from Dublin. She is author of the narrative and editor of "Under the Shadow".