Kipling's hardest words

LETTERS REVEAL ANGUISH OVER MISSING SON IN GREAT WAR

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Perhaps keen to impress his father, Kipling’s only son John was desperate to serve his country.

When his son’s poor eyesight made him ineligible for military service, Kipling used his influence to secure him a commission in the Irish Guards.

Knowing the casualty rate, he must have known he was signing his son's own death warrant but he and wife Carrie thought it essential to prevent a German victory.

Carrie told her mother: “One can’t let one’s friends’ and neighbours’ sons be killed in order to save us and our son. There is no chance John will survive unless he is so maimed from a wound as to be unfit to fight. We knowit and he does - we all knowit”