Rough Talks by a Padre

Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy MC was an ordained Anglican priest, who in the early stages of World War I volunteered for duty as a chaplain to the British army on the Western Front.

Studdert Kennedy was one of the most well-known and highly respected chaplains of the First World War, who though himself unarmed, accompanied the British troops into battle at the front line to provide whatever help he could to lessen their suffering and to raise their morale.

He was soon widely known by his nom de guerre ‘Woodbine Willie’. This nickname was acquired from his practice of handing out (at his own expense) cigarettes along with any spiritual comfort required or maybe just a friendly word as he shared experiences with the men in the trenches.

In 1917, he was awarded the Military Cross (one of the military’s highest awards) for “showing conspicuous gallantry, devotion to duty and the greatest courage and disregard for his own safety in attending to the wounded under heavy fire” during action at Messines Ridge having selflessly entered no-man's land to help the wounded of both sides during an attack on the German frontline.

This book, Rough Talks of a Padre, was derived from a series of lectures delivered by Studdert Kennedy to officers and men in almost every part of France. And as the author notes in the book’s foreword: ‘They are lectures, not essays, and are therefore often loose and colloquial in style’ and are based on his personal reflections of reconciling his requirement to provide moral, spiritual and pastoral leadership to the troops in his ‘parish’ with the necessary day to day survival of them all as a fighting military unit. (Summary by Steve C) (7 hr 16 min)