From the trenches to Doncaster – remarkable story of pet who survived against the odds is set to music

Yet his was a charmed life that produced not one but two remarkable escapes which have transcended the century. His legend may now live longer still, as the unlikely subject of a musical that will have its premiere next week in his home town of Doncaster.

It was what happened to him after the life-saving incident with the cigarette case that inspired the three musicians behind War and Peace, an Arts Council-funded production that is part of a community heritage project to mark the centenary of the First World War.

Bert – full name Albert John Drury, a Green Howard from Wheatley – may still have been counting the blessings from having dodged the bullet when a stray black-and-tan terrier attached herself to him.

The dog was one of many left behind by their owners as the villages of north-eastern France were laid low, and Bert took her under his wing, letting her sleep at his feet for warmth.

“The soldiers were told that when they went on leave, the dogs would have to be shot,” said Jude Holland, manager of the centenary project. “But Albert concealed her inside his greatcoat and got word to his mother and sister to meet him at Doncaster Station with a collar and lead.”

A military official at the docks saw a head poking from beneath Bert’s coat. “If anyone sees this, I haven’t seen,” he said.

“The dog lived in St Mary’s Road as a family pet for another 16 years. They called her Vic from Armentiers,” Ms Holland said.

The trauma of the trenches remained with her, however, and for the rest of her life she hid under the furniture in fear when she heard thunder.

The story was one of many that emerged when relatives of First World War soldiers were encouraged to tell the tales that had been passed down through their families. They have been set to music by Yorkshire singer-songwriters Bella Hardy and Greg Russell, and Scot Findlay Napier, who will perform them on a national tour that takes in Shrewsbury and Hampstead, London, after next Wednesday’s premiere at Doncast­er’s Cusworth Hall.

Their repertoire also takes in the lives of Bert Brocklesby, Harry Rhodes and Oswald Clark, Quakers, pacifists and conscientious objectors who became local celebrities in Doncaster for refusing to fight, even if the alternative was prison.

“We realised that there might be some real potential in using music and songs to bring the stories alive and to also attract a different audience,” Ms Holland said.

“We put together an Arts Council bid and found performers with a special interest in social history and who had already written songs about the First World War.”

Doncaster was declared a “£1m town” during the First World War, in recognition of the money its people raised.

The musical tells of the patriotic fervour that reached its height in April 1918, when a tank named Egbert left the Great Northern Railway goods yard in St Sepulchre Gate and made its way to the racecourse, where the mayor, Abner Carr – who would lose two sons in the conflict – climbed on top to declare Tank Bank Week.