A STRONG SENSE OF DUTY
The First World War Letters of Chaplain The Reverend Clive Mortimer Jones
1917–1920
Editors: Herbert H Farrant, Elizabeth Morey and Delysse Storey
A Strong Sense of Duty is a recently
released book based on the WWI letters of Chaplain The Reverend Clive Mortimer
Jones from the battlefield back to his parishioners in St Andrew’s Church,
Cambridge. The collection of letters is held by
Clive Mortimer Jones’ son.
The New Zealand Military Historical Society realised they had access to a
source of material written by a chaplain on active service in the First World
War and with a definitive link to both Cambridge and Le Quesnoy, long before
the twinning of those two towns in 2001. Subsequent re-evaluation also
suggested that such a well-written firsthand account from a member of a subject
group largely ignored by history was now worthy of publication for posterity. This
book will be only the sixth occasion on which the wartime experiences of
chaplains who saw active service during the First World War have been
published.
A Strong Sense of Duty provides a
unique insight into the effects of armed combat on the men of the New Zealand
Division during its final 14 months on the Western Front in the First World
War.
Viewed from the rare perspective of the wartime letters of a serving
non-combatant chaplain, the Reverend Clive Mortimer Jones of Cambridge, this
book provides an indelible testimony to the events which gained the division its
formidable fighting reputation. They convey a strong personal sense of duty and
awareness set amongst the grim realities of war in difficult and
life-threatening times.
The mortal danger faced daily by New Zealand soldiers is recorded here, as
is the devotion, courage and humanity of the chaplains of the First New Zealand
Expeditionary Force.
The book also reveals how one man’s dedicated service to his country and
his community was, some 83 years later, to lead to the twinning of a small
rural town in New Zealand with another in France, poles apart in distance but
bound together forever by the sacrifice and courage of the New Zealand soldier.
ISBN 978-0-473-25846-7
168 pages, illustrated with colour and B+W images
Table of Contents
Full Index
Published by New Zealand Military Historical Society (produced for the NZMHS
by AM Publishing New Zealand).
To purchase copies of the book
please visit http://www.nzmhs.org.nz/Books/
RRP $40 + $3.30 P&P
See a review by the Christchurch Press
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