Farewell to the Horses: Diary of a British Tommy 1915-1919

Cady Hoyte, like many other young lads of his generation, proudly joined the army in 1915 to fight for his king and country. From the Warwickshire town of Nuneaton, he joined the Warwickshire Yeomanry as a gunner in the Machine Gun Corps and quickly found that army life made no concessions for an eager young 19 year old. Never having ridden a horse before, he develops a relationship with the horses, which makes it all the harder when he has to say farewell and leave them behind to sail aboard the stricken ship, the Leasowe Castle, to fight as a machine gunner in the trenches of France. Written with humor, Cady’s diary gives a detailed account of the daily struggles and constant dangers of army life without ever losing sight of his respect for human life. AUTHOR: Robert Elverstone was a primary school literacy teacher for thirty-five years before retiring to become a full-time writer. A keen photographer, musician, and songwriter, he regularly produced school magazines and has written a short History of Hinckley. His first story, Charlotte’s Dad, won the Pickwell Books/Walker Books Short Story Competition in 2011.