Alick Lewis Ellis 
Field Dressings By Stretcher Bearer – France – 1916 – 17 – 18 – 19 

Discovered by chance almost 100 years since it was written, the original "Field Dressings by Stretcher Bearer" manuscript contains the poems of Alick Lewis Ellis, a stretcher bearer of the 2/3rd London Field Ambulance, 54th Division, London Regiment. During more than three years active service on the Western Front in World War I his first-hand experience of the horrors of battle at Gommecourt, the Somme, Arras, Ypres and Cambrai, led him to produce a series of compelling poems that will trigger an entire spectrum of emotions in the reader. While many poems reflect the sadness and pain that comes from witnessing so much death and futile suffering, Alick’s work shows he remained full of admiration for his fellow soldiers. In others, the gallows humour of the trenches will make the reader smile at times, while the hope and optimism of his few post-war poems will be tinged with the sadness our historical knowledge allows.