Rank: Lieutenant

Regiment: Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 10th Battalion

Died: 7th June 1917

Age: 31 years old.

Gerald George Samuel was one of the 'Forgotten Poets' of World War One. He wrote most of his poems during the fourteen months he spent in the trenches of France and Belgium.

Born in Marylebone, London on the 6th May 1886, Gerald was the younger son of Lord Marcus Samuel, the 1st Viscount Bearsted and Lady Fanny Elizabeth Samuel (née Benjamin). They had married in Kensington, London on the 19th January 1881. Gerald had two older siblings, Walter and Nellie and a younger sister Ida. Their father was a Banker who ran an import company, trading with the Far East and founded the "Shell" Transport and Trading Company, later known as the Shell Oil Company. The name Shell is a nod to the fact that back in 1833, Marcus Samuel decided to expand his London business. He already sold antiques but decided to try selling oriental seashells as well, capitalising on their popularity in the interior design industry at that time.

In 1891 the family were living at 20, Portland Place, Marylebone where they employed ten servants including a Governess, Butler and Nurse. Lord Viscount Bearsted's brother Samuel was also registered there and both their occupations are recorded as 'Japan Merchants'. In 1891, Gerald's father was an Alderman of one of the London Wards, in 1894/1895 he was Sheriff of the City of London and from November 1902 to November 1903, Lord Mayor of London. The family owned a stately country house called 'The Mote' on a 500-acre estate near the village of Otham in Kent.

Gerald was sent to Eton College to be educated. After he finished his education he entered the family business. In 1912, he travelled to Japan, Canada and the United States. He is last listed in the 'Baltic List of Members' for 1916 working as a Clerk for 'Samuel M., & Co., Shell House, Bishopsgate, London.

In Jewish communal life Gerald was very active being a member of the Board of the United Synagogue and the Jewsih Board of Guardians. He was also Manager of th Stepney Jewish Boys Club. He devoted his life to the welfare of working lads in the East End of London. He was friends with Denzil Alex Myer. Their mission was to befriend and help guide local Jewish boys.

The two of them acquired a property in Stepney which they named 'The Samuel and Myer Home'. They adapted it for use as a home for fatherless boys who they felt needed closer supervision, so that a more direct influence could be given to them. Rather than just being members of a club, they would then have a fair chance in life and an opportunity to develop into worthy members of the community. Both men intended to make it their home so they could father the boys. However, as war broke out they looked forward to furthering this project once they had both hopefully returned safely from the fighting.

When Gerald applied to join the Army he was twice refused entry due to defective eyesight. However, he persevered and was finally granted a commission in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment on the 27th November 1915. In May 1916, he was posted to the Western Front, where he was wounded twice although not seriously. One of those times was on the 24th June 1916 when he received a gunshot wound to his right arm. Promoted to Lieutenant, Gerald was killed leading his men during the Battle of Messines on the 7th June 1917. 

His Commanding Officer in a letter to his parents wrote:

"You must have heard by now how your gallant lad died leading 'A' Company in the attack on a strong position on the night of the 7th June. It is needless to say, I am sure, how very deeply all of us feel the loss of poor 'Sammie', myself in particular. He was dead set on leading his Company for better or worse, and right gallantly he did it, the remainder of the Company taking the position amongst the first there. His platoon adored him, highly so ! He lived for them ever since the war. They have lost the best friend they had, and the Regiment a first-rate Officer."

Gerald was held in great affection by the Jewish boys he had befriended. Under their own initiative, they prepared an address thanking him and telling them of their admiration and gratitude for all he had done for them. They intended to present it to him on his return. After his death, it was given to Gerald's parents to keep.

Before he left for war, Gerald wrote a farewell letter to the boys in his care. This was later read at a Memorial Service for Gerald. Many people felt that the letter should be made known to the public and so a copy was sent to the Editor of the Spectator Magazine. It was published in the Spectator Magazine on the 30th June 1917. Gerald's letter is as follows:

"3 Hamilton Place, W., April 10th, 1916.

My Dear Boys,

I shall be going away shortly to the front, and am going to say a few words of farewell to you, in case I should not return. First of all, I want you all to know that the happiest hours of my life have been spent among you. I like to think that it has not been unpleasant to you to have me among you, and that perhaps you feel certain affection for me, as I do very sincerely towards you. Anyhow, I have done my best to help you, to make life easier for you, and to enable you to grow up honourable and honest Jews and Englishmen. There is nothing of which we can be more proud than our race and religion. It is a great heritage, and it is a duty for every one of us to keep it pure and unaltered, and to hand it down to our descendants, as our ancestors have preserved it for us. If you will let me preach to you for a minute, I should like to say that, to my mind, our pride should be not in our ancient ceremonial and customs, valuable and beautiful as they are, but in the great virtues of unselfishness, sincerity, purity in mind and body, of trust in God, faith in His goodness, the belief in a future life, which are the only solid foundation of our race. I think you all recognize that the Stepney Jewish Lads' Club is a very pleasant place, and you will realize as you grow older, even if you do not do so now, that it has been a great help to you at a time when your characters are being formed and moulded into shape. The years that you spend in the Club are those which have most influence on your future life. While you are growing up you can hedge round your souls with a barrier of steady habits, a love of work because work is good, not because it is necessary, of sincere and honourable and charitable words and deeds. Or you can stain and sully your soul with vices and bad habits that you can never get rid of. I like to think that the Club does really help you, as it certainly can if you let it, to grow up good men and good Jews; and now that I am saying good-bye to you, perhaps it may not be amiss if I assure you that my fervent prayer is that every one of you may be enabled to become an honest and manly Jew and Englishman, upholding the faith and the reputation of our ancestors, having faith in God, unafraid of what may betide you here. What I have written is rather a serious farewell, and possibly it is not quite what I started out to say. Life is certainly serious, but we must not be overpowered by the dark side. Cheeriness and pluck go a long way, and when I am thinking of you in the trenches I shall picture you striving hard and smiling all the time. Be happy always. And as for me, perhaps you may miss me for a time, but, after all, life is for the living, and you must forget me quickly and live on merrily and bravely.

I am, my dear boys, your very sincere friend,

Gerald G. Samuel."

Gerald's body was never recovered and so he is commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium.

Sadly, Gerald's friend Denzil was also killed in the war. Second Lieutenant Denzil Grenville Alex Myer served in the Worcestershire Regiment and was killed on the 25th February 1917. He also has no known grave and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial.

On his death Gerald bequeathed the 'The Samuel and Myer Home' and £10,000 for its maintenance, to the Jewish Board of Guardians, on condition that two or more gentlemen would live there, supervise the home and look after the boys. In 1923 a married couple became Honorary Warden and Matron and a gift from Gerald's mother, Lady Bearsted made it possible to take in the full complement of ten boys.

Gerald is also commemorated in many other locations in England as follows:

On a broken-column memorial (although not by name) beside his parents' graves in Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery.

On the War Memorial at Otham Church in Kent.

On the War Memorial in the House of Lords Royal Gallery, Palace of Westminster.

On the Baltic Exchange Roll of Honour 1914-1918.

WW1 Memorial in the East London Synagogue, Waltham Forest, Essex.

British Jewry Book of Honour 1914-1920.

In the cloisters at Eton College is a rectangular white stone tablet placed within a mottled marble frame. The inscription in black lettering reads:

In Proud and Loving

Memory of

Gerald George Samuel

Lieutenant Queen's Own

Royal West Kent Regiment

2nd Son of Lord Bearsted of Maidstone

Killed while leading an attack

At Messines, June 8th 1917

Aged 31.

Gerald George Samuel's WW1 poetry collection "Poems" was published by Arthur L. Humphreys, London in 1917. The Introduction, written by Gerald's father, has a copy of the last letter of encouragement Gerald wrote from the Front to the boys he worked with in Stepney. In the poem "My Aim" Gerald wrote that he would like "To make the world a happier, better place"

These are some of Gerald's poems from that collection:

'War and After' 

 I hope that when at last these days are o'er,

I may return my labours to renew,

And try to wipe away the marks of war

That stain the nations with their bloody hue.

To bring some ray of solace to a few,

To make their lives less difficult to live,

Is all I ask.  My work I shall not rue

If I can help to comfort some who grieve,

And added happiness to some poor toilers give.

Untitled

I care too little for this earth

To love it, though it gave me birth;

But I would leave to those like me

In future days some legacy.

Joy is not mine, but if my pain

Bring forth for someone else a gain:

I only wish that when in Heaven

I may observe the joy I've given.

The following poem was found in Gerald's belongings after his death:

'Consolation'

 Oh! I sigh when I think of the men

In the trenches of Flanders and France;

And I dream of the days of romance,

Of the bow and the shield and the lance,

And the chivalrous tales that pen

Of a poet could celebrate then.

For the brutal inventions of crime

Are the weapons of battle today;

And the guns that remorselessly slay

Blow the ramparts and shelters away,

And there in the mud and the slime

Are the heroes who fall in their prime.

And I grieve for the widows who weep,

And the parents and orphans forlorn,

And the hearts that in anguish are torn;

And yet it is idle to mourn

For the dead are serenely asleep,

And our faith in the Lord we must keep.

For the faith that is steadfast and clear,

Brings the sorrowing hearts the reward

That our belief in our God can afford.

They are happy who trust in the Lord;

They find comfort to whom he is dead

And know that his spirit is near.

Sadly, Gerald's parents died in 1927 within twenty four hours of each other. Both were in failing health and when Lady Bearsted died one Sunday evening at nine o' clock, Lord Bearsted was in such poor health that the relatives in attendance decided not to tell him. He died the following evening. They are buried together in Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery.

N.B. Although the memorial at Eton College states death was the 8th June, most records show it to be the 7th June. The letter from his CO and the CWGC records would appear to indicate the 7th is correct.

(Sources: CWGC, Ancestry, Find My Past, British Jews in the First World War, The Jewish Chronicle, Lucy London & Forgotten Poets of the First World War, the peerage, Eton College, Newspaper and Magazine Archives, "Poems" published by Arthur L. Humphreys, London 1917).

(Bio: Woose)