​James Wilson
Author
Noble Savages
The Savage Club and the Great War 1914-18
My latest book is about London's Savage Club during the First World War. It is available on Amazon here.
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Photographs of some of the people and events discussed in the book can be found here. I intend to add more from time to time.
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Here is the Blurb:
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On 4 August 1914, King George V declared Britain to be at war with Germany. Soon Britain’s most famous soldier, Lord Kitchener, would be immortalised by a professional artist in a picture imploring his countrymen ‘Your Country Needs You’. His call would be answered by men in their millions, including two of George’s sons.
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At the other end of the social scale, a teenage son of Polish refugees decided to return from America to repay Britain for granting his parents sanctuary, while in Hampshire another teenager, the son of a draper in Whitchurch, itched to sign up – all the more, not the less, when two of his older brothers were killed.
In London, a septuagenarian polymath agreed to work around the clock applying his scientific genius to sourcing explosive chemicals, while the two greatest British conductors of the twentieth century set about arranging as many morale-boosting concerts as they could on the home front. Meanwhile, the Second Sea Lord brooded aboard ship, anxiously awaiting the chance to lead the Royal Navy in a modern equivalent of the Battle of Trafalgar.
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What all of those men had in common – George V and the later Edward VIII and George VI, Lord Kitchener, Alfred Leete, Bud Flanagan, Lord Denning, Lord Moulton, Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir Henry Wood and Admiral John Jellicoe – was that they were all present or future members of the Savage Club, a bohemian gentleman’s club in London’s West End.
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Uniquely among London's Gentlemen's Clubs of the day, the Savage put on no airs for its membership, requiring only that candidates be distinguished in their chosen field. As a result, the Savage Great War memorial at the end of the conflict had the unique distinction of containing not only two field marshals but a private as well.
The story of the Savage Club from 1914-18 and its present and future members is almost the entire story of Britain’s part in the war. Savages held ranks across all branches and nearly every level of the British armed forces. They served as generals, admirals, staff officers, foot soldiers, pilots, surgeons, intelligence officers, spies, journalists, propagandists, scientific experts and factory supervisors. They fought on the Western Front, Gallipoli, the Austrian-Italy border, the North Sea and in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. One was on board the Lusitania when it was controversially torpedoed by a U-Boat. Some were held as prisoners of war. And some never came home.
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This book tells the story of some of the famous Savages of the twentieth century – writers, actors, musicians, artists, scientists, lawyers, politicians and royalty – who served in the Great War. It also looks at how the Club itself tried to ‘do its bit’ for the war effort, and explores some of the fallout for the Club and its members. The collective Savage experience forms a compelling narrative of the war, why and how it was fought, and how it changed society for ever.
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© James Wilson, 2018
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Sir William Robertson, a Great War general who also belonged to the Savage Club and unveiled the Club's memorial after the war. Robertson is the only man in the history of the British Army to begin as a private and end as a Field Marshal.
British soldiers advancing during the Battle of the Somme. Savage Club members included soldiers at the front, a reporter covering the action first hand, and of the artillerymen firing in support.
Private Cecil Chesterton, brother of GK Chesterton and a member of the Savage Club who died during the Great War. Robertson eventually held the highest rank in the British Army; Chesterton held the lowest, thus demonstrating the unique breath of membership of the Savage Club a century ago.
In 1979, The Advocates Society welcomed Lord Tom Denning to Toronto. He was on a tour publicizing his latest book. I was gifted The Discipline of Law as a call to the bar gift shortly after.
Forty-five years on—and a quarter century after the world-famous jurist’s death at 100—James Wilson’s new biography is an excellent and thorough review of the still relevant, and always controversial jurist. Wilson himself practices law in New Zealand and the U.K., and is an accomplished writer on legal topics, including exploring legal cases around the game of cricket. The result is not only a highly readable biography but an excellent reference source on the innumerable areas of the law that Denning contributed to developing.
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The book’s 23 chapters extensively cover Denning’s life and upbringing and every stage of his legal career. These are preceded by the book’s opening, which includes quotes about him and by him (never overly modest!) Among the mostly glowing accolades is a comment from Reuben Hassan, Professor Emeritus at Osgoode Hall Law School, who opines that Lord Denning “fell considerably short of the stature of a great judge (or jurist).” The late-Lord Brooke declares him as “rather a discredited figure.”
Through an examination of the man’s life and times, Wilson gives us insight into what drove both Denning’s innovation as well as his often moralistic, judgmental rigidness. His strengths and weakness in many ways reflected the changing society of England during his long life. The book is also meticulously footnoted with a select bibliography of over ten pages including reports or works authored by Denning.
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The last chapter, appropriately titled “A Final Judgement,” includes a critical analysis of Denning’s well known, catchy, succinct openings that he is so remembered for: “It all started in a public house,” or “ A man’s head got caught in a propeller.” While memorable, among other criticisms, the author suggests that putting the merits of the case up front with the facts was Denning’s way of getting the reader to agree with his decision.
In summary, Wilson has delivered a well-organized, readable, and interesting biography / legal-social history that should give a judicial reader both insight and knowledge of perhaps the most influential jurist of the modern era.