Colonel’s lasting bond with troops revealed in letters from front line

An extract from one of 491 letters which were sent to Colonel Leonard Messel, who was debarred from active service during the First World War

Instead, he devoted his time to the UK training battalions of the Royal East Kent Regiment, and formed close, long-lasting bonds with the men. Throughout the Great War, the troops wrote him nearly 500 letters, revealing personal accounts of life on the front line and at home.

Col Messel, who lived at Nymans in West Sussex, kept a bound book of the letters, which he treasured, and now selected contents are to be displayed for the first time.

For the soldiers, writing to Col Messel would have been one of the few opportunities to disclose their experiences of life in the trenches.

A Stanley Peters, 2/Lieut, wrote to Col Messel from a hospital in Rouen, France, on August 11, 1917: “You will guess by the address that I have been hit again but it’s not very much. The same night poor Sherren was killed instantaneously. We all miss him – he was splendid in the line.

“Far worse than the shelling, the machine gun and this new gas (which leaves big blisters) was the mud. It was indescribable.

“Several of my chaps went in up to their armpits and I am afraid quite a number never got out. Still, the stunt went splendidly.”

Col Messel, affectionately known as Lennie, had copies of the letters made into a book which survived a fire in 1947 at Nymans, now run by the National Trust.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, selected contents of the 491 letters, along with audio recordings, will be on display at Nymans.