BLAKE, James Alexander Jeffrey.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A collection of 67 letters to his family from the trenches, December 1915 to August 1916. A wonderfully presented and moving vignette of service during the First World War. The letters relate the experiences of Lieutenant Jeffrey Blake RFA as he was posted to France, betraying a "fatalist" outlook on the horrors of war. The collection includes his commanding officer's letter notifying the family of Blake's death on 18 August 1916.Blake (1891-1916) received his commission in the Royal Field Artillery in 1914. In 1915, he was attached to 2nd London Divisional Ammunition Column, 235 Brigade, 47th (London) Division, as a forward observation officer at various battles including the Somme. In August 1916, he went missing in action near Martinpuich. Fifteen years later, in 1931, his family received notification from the Imperial War Graves Commission of the discovery of his body, which they were able to help positively identify via his personal effects.The letters are mostly addressed to his mother, with some to his father, organised chronologically through his service. He was a lively correspondent with an uncensored perspective on the fighting: "Most interesting and exciting work with the aeroplanes and wireless. The Hun must have known that I was up there... He came over in his aeroplanes and dropped numerous bombs just beside our lines... There is such a thing as getting used to shell fire, but very unpleasant when they are close, as tremendous pieces fly by you at a terrific ra

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