I am trying to find a sample of Machen’s signature. I am doing this just for research fun. Being a xerox of a badly worn cover, my document would be of no monetary value. But as a possibility, it is interesting to consider that Arthur Machen owned it. Naturally, Ralph Shirley’s pamphlet would have interested him. In it, he “demonstrates” that what Arthur Machen wrote was communicated to him telepathically from the battlefield. Therefore, it, along with many pages of “testimony” from soldiers who saw the angels, is evidence that St. George and his host of angels really did fight on the side of the British Expeditionary Force at the battle of Mons.
In an earlier blog I wrote about seeing a 3-D projection telling a version of the story of the Angel of Mons when we were in Mons, Belgium for the centenary commemorations of the battle. Here’s a video of the projection.
The text of the video is in French. I knew that I would enjoy the story more if I knew what was being said. I asked a friend, Gail Bienstock, if she could translate the text. She tried to do it by watching the YouTube recording, but found it too difficult. So she sent an e-mail to the Ministry of Culture in Mons asking if she could get a copy of the script. She used my name, which were the magic words. The author sent it to her and she translated it. Here is the script of La Legende des Anges, in both English and French.
This version, my book The Angel of Mons: A World War Legend, and a graphic novel are all fiction. This version gives a visual depiction, while mine, of course, as a novel, creates a much more detailed version of the events. In any case, enjoy.
Readers have asked which characters are real people and which fictional creations. Everything portrayed in the novel is fiction. To discover the facts regarding the Angel of Mons I recommend the Angel of Mons by David Clarke. After you read his book you will see what I did with the facts to make them interesting in the novel.
Characters of Historical Significance
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Writer
William Butler Yeats, poet, Hierophant, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Minor Historical Characters
Members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Maude Gonne, Actress, political activist, mystic, subject of many of Yeats’s poems
Florence Farr, Actress, Praemonstratrix
Arthur Machen, writer, author of “The Bowmen”,
Alliester Crowley, mystic, magician
John Todhunter, author, playwright
The Conan Doyle Circle
Lady Jean Doyle, wife of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Oliver Lodge, physicist, President, British Psychical Society
Miss Lily Symmons-Loder
The Churchill Circle
Lady Archibald Campbell, occultist, aunt of Winston Churchill
Phyllis Campbell, occultist, niece of Lady Campbell, author of an account of St. George’s appearance
Historical Characters, Military
General Horace Smith-Dorrian, in command of II Corps, British Expeditionary Force at Mons and Le Cateau
N.R. McMahon, “the musketry manic”, head of musketry and machine gun training before the war
Captain L.F. Ashburner commanding, 4th Royal Fuliliers
Captain Malcolm Leckie, RAMC. brother in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Quartermaster Fitzpatrick
Lieutenant Maurice Dease, Vickers machine gun squad leader, first recipient of the Victoria Cross
Private Sidney Godley, also at Nimy Bridge, a first recipient of the Victoria Cross
World champion bicycle racers Goullet, France, and Bailey, Australia
Rather than hyperlink each of the names above, I suggest that you google any of the names you would like to learn more about. You can do the same for the three fictional characters in the next group.
Fictional Characters
Sherlock Holmes
St. George
Joan of Arc
Fictional Soldiers
The two Vickers machine gun crews
Ruffians
Lieutenant Dease, Privates Tommy Atkins, William Catchpole, Louis “Ziggy” Palmer, Paul Carmichael
Victors
Sergeant Henry Sanders, Privates Gabriel Jessop, Anthony Hardy, Howard Thomas Lang, Walter Sage, Carrew Nancarrew
You will meet them as you read, and see what each character does.
Sarah and I had the privilege of taking part in four hours of ceremonies commemorating the first battle between the Germans and the British in World War I in Mons, Belgium. The afternoon began with the planting of a tall oak tree in a park. There were moving speeches by the Prime Minister of Belgium, the ambassadors from Germany, Canada, and Great Britain. Of course, we could best understand the speeches that were in English. I was moved to hear special mention made of two of the major characters in The Angel of Mons, Lieutenant Maurice Dease and Private Sidney Godley.
Then the entourage—and four buses of invited guests, the two of us included—went on to three sites in Mons where wreaths were laid in commemoration of the soldiers who died on all sides. At Place des Martyrs, and at the memorial to the first and last battles in which Great Britain’s soldiers fought words of reconciliation and prayers for peace were spoken.At St. Symphorien Military Cemetery, where soldiers from Belgium, England, and Germany are buried, hundreds of people attended a stirring ceremony. The one priest who delivered his address in English was eloquent in his plea that the nations and peoples of the world work for peace for all. Then we attended a reception at the Town Hall, a magnificent building, the focal point of the Grand Place.
Many times during the day Sarah and I were moved to gentle tears.
We have met many people who we have enjoyed getting to know. We will stay in touch with them.
We carry with us thoughts of our many friends and family, and convey in our hearts their good works for peace for all the peoples of the world. In a way, we are your ambassadors.
The Angel of Mons is packed full of fascinating, real events. I am sure you will enjoy how I have woven into a miraculous novel. Seeing bits and pieces of it is a good way to introduce the stories it tells.
Some of the story takes place away from the battlefield in England. To my amazement, I discovered that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother in-law, Malcolm Leckie, was the chief medical officer for the very company of soldiers (Royal Fusiliers, Company C) I had to write about. Captain Leckie was wounded at the battle of Mons, dying six days later in a German prisoner of war camp. Here is what happened at the Doyle home the night of his death. A friend of the family was practicing “automatic writing”. Conan Doyle is the speaker.
Lily entered into trance more deeply than she ever had before. The whites of her half-closed eyes stared vacantly. The four of us stayed where we were so as not to interfere with what was happening (. . . .) Before my eyes, the message. The slant of the letter, the bold stroke. A pen in the hands of a military medical man. The horrid punctuation for which he was infamous. I hastily read the first words to myself—“I am dead in body. Nevermore shall we meet in the flesh”—my heart came near to bursting, tears rose, blurring my vision. “One moment, please.” I wiped the tears, wiped my fogged reading glasses.
I skimmed the document. I said to myself, then aloud, “Malcolm tells us that he is dead in body, but he lives on. His writing this message confirms that his soul lives on.”
The chapter then describes the message and how the event affected Conan Doyle’s life. This is the beginning of exciting events in England. It is worth mentioning that many Conan Doyle biographies describe this event. I did not make it up, though I elaborated on it. Read to find out what happened. Let me know what you think.
The novel is available on Amazon, and Kindle. For a signed copy, order directly through the publisher, Singing Bone Press.
The Angel of Mons: A World War I Legend is now in print. You can buy it on Amazon by putting in the title. Or, for a signed copy, e-mail me. Now is the time to read the book, share with your friends about it, and spread the word.
The centenary of the angel’s appearance occurs on August 23, 2014. It will be widely commemorated in Mons, Belgium on that date. My wife and I will be there to take part and report.
People ask where I came up with the idea for the novel. In 1978 I read a paragraph in The Book of Lists that told the story. The description made me want to write the story.
Following the battle of Mons, Belgium, on August 26 (sic), 1914, the British Expeditionary Force was in retreat and pursued by a unit of German cavalry. Expecting certain death, the British turned and saw to their astonishment a squadron of phantom cavalry between them and the German cavalry. The German horses were terrified and stampeded in all directions. From the German side came an account that their men refused to charge a point (where the British line was broken) because of the presence of a large number of troops. According to Allied records, there was not a single British soldier in the area. An army chaplain recorded that he had heard accounts of the apparition from a brigadier general and two of his officers. The retreat was successfully accomplished, and soldiers of both armies believed that they had seen a spectral army of angels.
Now you can read this amazing story.
At Amazon you can read a description of the book, see what is said on the back cover, look inside at the Table of Contents, and part of Chapter One.
After you read the book, please lead others to it by reviewing and rating The Angel of Mons on Amazon and Goodreads. I would greatly appreciate it.
On July 11 I spent from midnight until three a.m. in a radio conversation with Bob Fass of WBAI’s (New York) Radio Unnameable talking about my new novel, The Angel of Mons: A World War I Legend. Bob is a radio legend, being the subject of the award-winning documentary by the same name as his program. Bob Fass revolutionized late night FM radio by serving as a cultural hub for music, politics, and audience participation for nearly 50 years. My friend, poet Michael Castro, who grew up on Long Island, credits Fass with opening and supporting his thinking when he was in high school long ago.
Bob’s interest in the novel comes from his strong stance in opposition to war. We discussed the opening days of the war, the Battle of Mons being among the earliest and most important. The main feature of the novel is that it was widely believed that St. George and a horde of angels fought on the side of the British, saving the army from extinction and an early victory for Germany. If the British had fallen, it is likely that the war would have been short and the face of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa very different than what it became. There would have been no Great War, but a Brief War.
Bob and I discussed the history of war as a subject for literature beginning with the Iliad and coming to the novels of Hemingway, Dalton Trumbo (Johnny Got His Gun), and Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. I told Bob that I had written my Master’s thesis on four novels, the tetralogy entitled Parade’s End, by Ford Madox Ford. My interest in World War I was kindled by that study.
We talked about my novel differing from other war novels significantly in its tone and approach. While there is violence and brutality in it, because angels play a major role, the novel has the qualities of a fantasia, with lyrical and poetic language. It plays freely with what happens, since angels can do anything. There is beauty and invention in the descriptions.
In the course of the three hours I read several passages from The Angel of Mons.
You can listen to the interview by going to Radio Unnameable for July 11—scroll down quite a way. (We start with the song from and talk about my book The Last Eleven Days of Earl Durand.) The program will be available through July 24. There are generous portions of music, all about war, in between our conversation.
When I began planning the novel The Angel of Mons: A World War I Legend I wanted it to extend beyond the battlefield and present the effects of the apparition on the esoteric, spiritualist, occult, and psychical societies in England. I especially hoped to find a way to have William Butler Yeats be a major character.
The source of the legend of the Angel of Mons was not reports of sightings from soldiers on the battlefield. The source was a story, The Bowmen, Arthur Machen wrote and was published in the Evening Standard.
I had the good fortune to discover that at one time the writer, Arthur Machen, had belonged to The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Yeats was the Order’s leader and head. Thus, a connection between Yeats and the Angel of Mons.
To work Machen into the novel I played several writer’s tricks. First, by 1914, when the war started, Machen was no longer a member of the Golden Dawn. So I switched the time of his membership and his standing in the Order. Secondly, to make the coincidence of his short story and his membership compelling, I introduced conflict and betrayal. Thus, I misrepresented and maligned a perfectly good writer. To see how I did this, read the book, soon to appear. Stay tuned.
This writer, Arthur Machen, known now to few is, more than anyone else, the “cause” of the legend of the Angel of Mons. There are many in Mons who claim that angels really did intercede in the battle of Mons. However, the facts as I, and the one other expert I know of on the subject, David Clarke (The Angel of Mons), are that the legend had its origin in a story that appeared in the newspaper, the Evening Standard. “The Bowmen”, by Arthur Machen, tells a story that came to be thought of as an account of angels stepping in to save an army from defeat. He does not name a time, a place, or who the combatants were. Word of mouth and other means led it to be thought of as a truthful account of what happened at Mons.
In a later time, Orson Wells and the Mercury Theater’s presentation of the War of the Worlds had a similar effect, though the response by the public and the repudiation of the truth of that event were immediate.
In fact, the legend of the Angel of Mons encouraged the British people, believing as they did, that God and the angels were on their side. More about Machen next week. My apologies to him. Do you know about Arthur Machen? There is a web site called Friends of Arthur Machen. Let us talk about him and his writings.
I realized that the cover I had selected for St. George, the Angel of Mons led in the wrong direction. So, as luck would have it, I found a picture from a book, The Chariot of God, (1915) that depicted one of the central scenes in my novel. I have a license to use the picture from the Mary Evans Picture Library in London. The picture was done by Charles Pearce, a well-known illustrator. Here is the new cover. Please let me know what you think. There is a second picture he did that corresponds to another stage in the battle. Go on-line to see it.
