I’ll be seeing you Sassoon

A cash-strapped campaign to obtain the works of war writer SIEGFRIED SASSOON for Cambridge University has been given a helping hand.

A grant of £550,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund should help secure Sassoon’s scripts, among which are private diaries and pocket notebooks scribbled whilst fighting in the First World War.

Studious Sassoon studied both law and history at Clare College, Cambridge, but stunned friends and family by leaving in 1907, before getting a degree.

Sassoon spent some time as a struggling poet before being stirred by patriotic pride to sign up for military service.

At the outbreak of World War 1, Sassoon was sent to the Western Front. Combat took its toll on Sassoon, who lost one of his two brothers in battle.

Nevertheless, Sassoon was a fearless soldier and garnered the nickname ‘Mad Jack’ for his seemingly suicidal exploits.

After a short convalescent spell, Sassoon spectacularly REFUSED to return to war, at the risk being court-marshalled. His seminal ‘A Soldier’s Declaration’ details his denial, and an autographed manuscript of this work features in the archive up for sale.

The stark realities of fighting feature heavily in Sassoon’s prolific poetry, most of which was composed post-war. Sassoon includes details of rotting corpses and mangled limbs in his often satirical works.

The generous grant makes a considerable contribution to the University Library’s £1.25 million fundraising campaign to nab the archive. However, Anne Jarvis, Cambridge University librarian warns, “we still need to raise the outstanding balance of £110,000” in order to seal the deal.

Among those hoping funds will be found is author Michael Morpugo, who explained, “The reason his words echo down through the decades so powerfully is they are, sadly, as relevant to today’s wars, and to us, as they were to his.” Morpugo called it “right and proper” that “Cambridge University will acquire the papers of this great poet and diarist for the nation.”