ain of fire. The accounts of the awful loss of life and the
discomforts experienced, both by officers and men unused to such
severe climatic conditions, are sometimes heart-rending, and they make
the reading sad.

Touches, however, of his natural cheerfulness relieve the greyness of
the situation, and at times one can almost hear the lightheartedness
of a schoolboy speaking.

Your father cared for his regiment as a father cares for his child,
and was beloved by it. He obtained his commission in 1885 at 18 years
of age, and was, curiously enough, the last officer to enter the
British Army with the rank of a full Lieutenant. Had he lived till the
following September, he would have been 30 years in the Royal Irish
Rifles.

A short sketch of his life and military career is given in this book,
and reference is made to the pleasure he took in being chosen to write
the History of his Regiment, completed in 1914. He was also devoted to
all kinds of sport as a pastime; but I will not write of these things;
rather would I speak of his great wish to win fresh laurels for his
regiment, and of how proud he was when, after the long, dreary winter
in the trenches, the Royal Irish Rifles were the first to enter the
village of Neuve Chapelle. But above all would I counsel you to follow
his example in his faithful attention to duty, fulfilling the French
proverb, "Faites ce que doit advienne que pourra."

He died as a true soldier, leading his men, and what better death
could be desired? He now lies in the British military cemetery of Pont
du Hem, midway between Neuve Chapelle and Estaires, not far from
Bethune in Northern France, and a little wooden cross marks the spot.

F. VERE-LAURIE.

CARLTON HALL,
CARLTON-ON-TRENT, NOTTS.
_May 12th, 1921._

FOREWORD

BY LIEUT.-COLONEL SIR JOHN ROSS OF BLADENSBURG, K.C.B., K.C.V.O.
(_late Coldstream Guards_).

Colonel George Laurie came from a military family. His father a
distinguished General, and his uncle both served in the Crimea and
elsewhere, and many of his near relations joined the army, and were
well-known zealous soldiers of their Sovereign. His elder brother fell
in the Boer War in the beginning of this century, and he himself saw
active service in the Sudan and in South Africa, before he landed in
France to take his share in the great World War. On being promoted to
the command of his battalion, he joined it