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Henry Williamson was a soldier. He was also a writer profoundly influenced by the war he witnessed.

The writer of Tarka the Otter and the creator of Salar the Salmon wrote seven war books along with numerous articles about World War One. They were all written in a wooden writing hut just outside the village of Georgeham.

Henry Williamson served with the London Rifle Brigade. Experiencing the Christmas truce in 1914 inspired him to pencil a letter to his mother. The letter was published in the Daily Express and is the first known published example of his work.

After a gas attack in 1915, Williamson was invalided home and writing was encouraged as part of his convalescence.

He rarely spoke of the war, but his writing is infused by it. It can be argued that his nature and animal stories of the 1920s are as much about the war as his war stories.

The prize money from the publication of Tarka the Otter enabled him to buy the field at Oxford Cross and build his writing hut. It was there that his overtly war stories were written.

The first was The Wet Flanders Plain, which was inspired by a visit to the battlefields during his honeymoon. The Patriot’s Progress followed, along with five volumes of Chronicle of Ancient Sunshine (written after World War Two).

Williamson was a controversial figure, whose political views were publicly debated and discussed.

His recordings for the Â鶹Éç’s landmark series The Great War (now part of the collections of the Imperial War Museums) were the first time he had spoken about his personal war experiences.

Location: Georgeham, Braunton, Devon EX33 1JJ
Image: Henry Williamson, courtesy of Anne Williamson of the Henry Williamson Society

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