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Record Number: 33057

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

�Our work and routine is still the same as ever. We are like the fielder who is put at long leg when a good batsman is at the wicket: not because the batsman will ever hit the ball there, but because, if the fielder in question were to be removed, he would. I have finished Horace Blake. It is a great pity that the authoress did not spend more time on it, for except in one or two chapters � the style is hardly equal to the theme. I found the book intensely interesting �Thanks also for the books. There are now enough to keep our Company Mess going for some time, as time for reading is nearly as limited as time for writing�but by no means quite as much so, because one is often free from duty but in a state in which output is an effort but absorption easy and delightful.�

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Aug 1915 and 24 Aug 1915

Country:

Belgium

Time

daytime

Place:

city: Ploegsteert
county: Hainault
other location: trenches

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Charles Hamilton Sorley

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

19 May 1895

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

First Lieutenant, 7th Suffolk Regiment

Religion:

Agnostic

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Belgium

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Josephine Mary Ward

Title:

Horace Blake

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33057

Source:

Print

Author:

Charles Hamilton Sorley

Editor:

Jean Moorcroft Wilson

Title:

The Collected Letters of Charles Hamilton Sorley

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1990

Vol:

n/a

Page:

251-2

Additional Comments:

To Mrs Sorley 24 August 1915. Sorley was probably at Ploegsteert, near Ypres

Citation:

Charles Hamilton Sorley, Jean Moorcroft Wilson (ed.), The Collected Letters of Charles Hamilton Sorley, (London, 1990), p. 251-2, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33057, accessed: 21 March 2026

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Additional Comments:

None