• Skip to content
  • Websites in the network
  • Herts Memories
  • Herts Past Policing
  • Our Dacorum
  • Our Hatfield
  • Our Hertford and Ware
  • Our Oxhey
  • Our Stevenage
  • Our Welwyn Garden City
  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind
  • Herts Memories
  • Herts Past Policing
  • Our Dacorum
  • Our Hatfield
  • Our Hertford and Ware
  • Our Oxhey
  • Our Stevenage
  • Our Welwyn Garden City
  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind
 
  • Log in
  • Contact us
Herts Memories
Herts Memories
Gateway to Hertfordshire's community archive network
  • Home
  • About us
  • Herts history
  • Advice and Resources
  • Noticeboard
  • Blog
  • Get involved
  • Follow us on Twitter
You are here: Home>Herts history>Topics>World War One>Julian Grenfell

Julian Grenfell

Julian Grenfell (1888-1915) was a celebrated First World War poet. Born in London on the 30th March, he was a good student, attending Eton and later moving on to Balliol College, Oxford. Though a successful scholar, he was a withdrawn man, often retreating inward with his problems and worries, and suffered a nervous breakdown towards the end of his time at Oxford. The resulting pass mark for his degree was sufficient to gain him a commission in the army. Joining the army had been a long-time ambition for Julian, and during his time at war he wrote extensive letters and kept a diary until he was mortally wounded in combat. These documents form a part of the Panshanger archive. Throughout his writing he treats war with a surprising reverence and admiration; in a letter to his mother on the 24th October, 1914, he proclaimed ‘I adore war. It is like a big picnic without the objectlessness of a picnic. I’ve never been so well or so happy.’ Audio readings of these letters have also been produced by volunteers working for Herts Memories and can be found here.

In 1914, four years into his military service, he received a Distinguished Service Order for excellent reconnaissance. Just one year later, on 13th May 1915, Julian was hit by a splintering shell and died from head trauma within 13 days at 27 years of age.

Today Julian is remembered for just one poem, ‘Into Battle’, which was written on 29th April 1915 and published the day after his death. One of the most popular poems during and after the war, it is now either discarded or condemned. It was an unashamedly patriotic and celebratory poem, exhibiting the same attitude that Grenfell demonstrated in his correspondence. Many critics have argued that, had the poet lived longer, he would have become disillusioned with the war. His poetry, letters and diary represent some of the last writing that considered war a glorious endeavour. Later 20th century writers would turn to dealing with the suffering and sadness it inflicts.

  • Julian Grenfell's Diary
    Julian Grenfell's Diary
    Images taken from his war diary (1915)
  • Julian Grenfell's Distinguished Service Order
    Julian Grenfell's Distinguished Service Order
    Picture of, and information about, the DSO
  • The Poetry of Julian Grenfell: Into Battle
    The Poetry of Julian Grenfell: Into Battle
    Audio footage and explanation of the poem
  • The Poetry of Julian Grenfell: Prayer for those on the staff
    The Poetry of Julian Grenfell: Prayer for those on the staff
    Audio footage and explanation of the poem
  • The Poetry of Julian Grenfell: To a black greyhound
    The Poetry of Julian Grenfell: To a black greyhound
    Audio footage and context of the poem
World War One
  • 'Gunner' Drunk and Disorderly in South Street
  • 1st World War Troops
  • A casualty of Passchendaele, 1917
  • A Cheshunt wedding in 1918
  • A forgotten relative
  • A GRANDFATHER IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
  • A Hitchin Heroine
  • A Legacy from 1919: The Founding of Oaklands College
  • A Letter from the Front
  • A Selection of WW1 Photographs Related to St Albans
  • A Victoria Cross of the First World War - the medal that 'starred' on the silver screen years later
  • After the War
  • Airship Crash at Cuffley
  • Armistice Day - Harpenden 1918
  • Army Cycle Battalion
  • Auxiliary Hospitals in WW1 in Hertfordshire
  • Cheshunt British School 1915
  • Contrasting Tales of Troop Behaviour in Bishops Stortford
  • Cultivation of Lands Orders World War One
  • Entertaining the Servicemen
  • Farming in World War 1
  • First World War
  • First World War
  • First World War Troops
  • Floods in Watford High Street c1915
  • Food shortages 100 years ago
  • Hertford County Constabulary
  • Hertford Heath - 28th November 1920
  • Hertford's Victoria Cross winner
  • Hertfordshire and the Great War
  • Hertfordshire in WW1
  • Hertfordshire War Horses
  • Hertfordshire War Memorials
  • Hitchin Riot 1914
  • Images of the first world war
  • Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary Restriction) Act 1914
  • Ist Hertfordshire Battery
  • Joe Randle
  • John Robert Scales
  • Kings Langley's Victoria Cross Winner
  • More WW1 Pictures
  • Names on the Buntingford Town War Memorial
  • NATIONAL FESTIVAL OF REMEMBRANCE.
  • News from the Front
  • News Snippets from 1913
  • News Snippets from 1914
  • News Snippets from 1918
  • Peace Celebrations
  • Peace Celebrations
  • Peace Celebrations
  • Photo of The War Memorial, Berkhamsted taken from The Court Cinema.
  • Pirton - a Village in Anguish
  • Puttenham is Thankful
  • Recruitment of women farm workers in WW1
  • Schooldays during World War 1
  • Schooldays in 1917
  • Shingle Hall
  • Soldiers' Musings:1914-18
  • The Christmas truce of 1914
  • The experiences of a cavalryman and his sweetheart during the First World War
  • THE GREAT WAR
  • The Hertfordshire Militia
  • The Herts At War Project
  • The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 - 1919
  • The Pride of Pirton
  • The Standing Stag
  • The War Memorial
  • The War Memorial, Redbourn
  • Tring's Victoria Cross Winner
  • War Memorial
  • Wartime Potters Bar
  • Welwyn 1916
  • Welwyn 1917
  • Welwyn in 1914
  • Welwyn in 1915
  • Welwyn War Memorial
  • Wheathampstead in 1918
  • Women and Farmers in WW1 ... and Penguins
  • Women, Food and Farming in WW1
  • WW1 Memories in the Parish of Lemsford
  • WW1 Service of George Thomas Cutler
  • WW1 The Folly Boys of Wheathampstead.
  • WW1 War Memorial
  • Zeppelin Bomb Crater
  • Zeppelin Raid over Hertfordshire, Night of 1st/2nd October 1916
  • Voices of World War I
  • The Autobiography of a First World War Soldier
  • The "Seeing It Through" WW1 Community Project for East Herts
  • Broxbourne: We Will Remember Them Project
  • Julian Grenfell
  • News from the Front
  • Conscientious Objectors
What's new
  • A Discussion about Sources
    There are many sources of information, all with their own benefits and disadvantages. They need to be regarded as complementary. ...
  • Life in Bengeo in Covid-19 Times, Part 10
    Just before Christmas Hertfordshire went from Tier two to Tier four in a couple of days.  A total lockdown may ...
More new pages
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy and cookies
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
Designed and built by Community Sites

Copyright Hertfordshire County Council. All rights reserved.

Heritage Lottery Fund (opens in new window) Hertfordshire County Council (opens in new window)