Background to the Robert Moss Poems and Letters

Dedicated to the memory of all those affected by World War One

Welcome to Life In The Trenches, a website dedicated to the memory of all those affected by WW1. My name is Kate Moss and my interest in this subject was sparked by the discovery of a transcript of all the letters written home by my Grandfather, Robert (Bob) William Moss, during his time fighting in the conflict. Reading the letters was such an emotional experience and I felt I must do something to share this snapshot of real social history. It’s been a long time coming but all the more poignant for being published in 2014, 100 years after the war started.

Robert William Moss DCM MC was born in Norton, Sheffield, on the 31st August 1891, and died on 10th February 1986, living through a period of remarkable change to the ripe old age of 94. He was the third youngest in a family of nine siblings, and his Father died when he was just four, leaving his Mother, Mary, to raise this sizeable brood on her own. Bob’s love and respect for his mother is boundless, as can be seen from the letters he wrote her. He also has a deep love for his siblings, and you will see some of them referred to in the letters too. They are Henry Anelay Hart (d. 1899), George Edgar (Edgar, possibly died during WW1), Walter (d. 1922), Sarah Elizabeth (Beth/Lizzie), Alice Anne (d. 1939), Maud Mary (d. 1984), Wilfred Harold Box (d. 1967), Margaret Olive (Skinny).

Bob had a happy but often difficult childhood. He left school at the age of 13 and worked as a draughtsman and model maker for an engineering company until he went to war at 23. He was in active service from November 1914 to January 1918, when he received an injury that meant he could no longer continue. He was a good soldier, he must have been because he rose from Private to Sergeant, and eventually gained his Commission. The reality of fighting in WW1 must have taken tremendous courage and strength, this is evident in the letters and also by virtue of the fact that he won the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and later the Military Cross. There are many stories of how a war such as this effected great social change, if you were fortunate enough to survive. After the war Bob spent a year on his uncle’s farm in East Yorkshire before training to become a teacher in Oxford. He also became a well-known baritone singer, cycling 30 miles to obtain tuition from Sir Edward Bairstow. At one time he thought about a career as a professional singer. I remember his deep rumbling voice well, and also the fact that he was a keen gardener and nature lover, a passion that has been passed down through the generations.

Towards the end of the war Bob met Elsie, whom he later married on 29th September 1919. They wrote copious numbers of letters to each other, and extracts of these were also recorded and have been included in this compilation. Although they have been censored they give a different perspective again.

Bob and Elsie were divorced on the 5th November 1934, and Bob married my Gran (Agnes Moore), whom he met through their mutual love of singing. Bob was 43 and some 20 years older than Agnes. The family line continued in the form of my Dad (also Bob), and my aunt and uncle, Margaret and Michael. I’m told that Grandad didn’t talk much about the war, many survivors didn’t or couldn’t, however he wrote the poems included in this compilation when he was in his 70s and 80s, evidence that the experience made an everlasting impression on him. Of course I didn’t know Bob until later in his life, however I can still picture him now sitting in the garden with the sun on his face, as he loved to do. So many memories, and at the end of it all a deep appreciation of the beauty of life.