The Lost Idol

The First World War took its terrible toll of lives regardless of privilege or status; a toll ranging from humble labourers to the titled and landed aristocracy. But each life lost inevitably left its terrible mark on the families affected. Alexandra Churchill recounts the story of a relative of Lord Astor of Hever whose death still resonates within the family a century later.

When former Defence Minister Lord Astor of Hever sat down to write a book about the Great War, one might assume he would focus on his grandfather. His grandfather was, after all, Sir Douglas Haig. But, along the way, he had inherited a cache of photographs and his grandmother’s account of her brother’s life; a life cut short on the Western Front. And he was fascinated by the story.

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