Record Number: 33058

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I received a commission within six months [of the declaration of war] and was posted to a battalion of the Green Howards, my local North Riding regiment, then training in Dorset ... It happened that a considerable group [of the officers] in my particular battalion came from Eton ... and practically all the others were from public schools. I had, therefore, stumbled into a very select and at first very uncongenial coterie. It must be remembered that I had not hitherto been outside my provincial fastness; but it was not so much my rawness ... as my incredible naivete which was at fault ... I had become a regular reader of the New Age, at that time the most independent and lively periodical being published. The officers' mess occupied a building ordinarily used by the local masonic lodge, and there we had an ante-room where all the usual magazines and newspapers were available. They were displayed on a green-baize table, and there, when I had read it, I left my copy of the New Age. I was seated deep in an armchair one afternoon when the senior subaltern, traditionally responsible for the social conduct of the junior subalterns, came up to the table and casually picked up the New Age. He looked at it for a minute or two and slowly the colour deepened in his ... face. He turned suddenly to address the room, and ... shouted in a loud voice: "Who brought this bloody rag into the mess?" ... I shrank still deeper into my chair and watched the angry senior subaltern stalk out in disgust, throwing the offensive periodical into the waste-paper basket as he passed. I had learned my lesson, and in the future read the New Age in the privacy of my tent or cubicle.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Feb 1915 and 31 May 1915

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Wareham
county: Dorset
other location: Wareham Camp

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Herbert Edward Read

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

4 Dec 1893

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Second Lieutenant, Yorkshire Regiment

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Title:

The New Age

Genre:

Politics

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

33058

Source:

Print

Author:

Herbert Read

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Contrary Experience: Autobiographies

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1963

Vol:

n/a

Page:

210-11

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Herbert Read, The Contrary Experience: Autobiographies, (London, 1963), p. 210-11, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33058, accessed: 27 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

None