2110-3-9-7

2, GLOUCESTER PLACE, W.1.

5. 2. 21.

Dear John Buchan.

I have just finished your book about Francis & Rivy & must send you a line to thank you for it. In the midst of all your other work it must have been troublesome to collect a summary of their lives from all the scattered material, but I do feel that your work has been worth while. To those who knew nothing of them you have shown that in these days it is possible for young men, not our class & not well educated to try & overcome their shortcomings by hard work, to be assisted in their endeavors by great ambitions, not so much for personal triumph as for the glorification of their family or regiment and in a great measure

to succeed through the straightforward manner and personal charm which gave them friends to help them on at every turn; to those who only knew them fairly well the memoir fills up gaps and explains things not before understood, while to their intimate friends the book is a delightful record to keep alive their memories so that the next generation too may learn something of the reason for the affection for those two, which will always be remembered at any meetings of their friends. It is long too since the love

of two brothers for each other has been so delightfully described. I am most grateful to you for it.

I was at a Yeomanry School at Woolwich about 1910 and remember well the manner in which Francis behaved. Instead of dull readings out of cavalry training, he illustrated all he saw on each topic by an actual battle, usually in the American Civil War, & graphically described the country, as one who had recently seen it. I remember that the whole class of recalcitrant yeomen woke up to interest & enthusiasm at his lectures & always looked forward to them. Rivy I saw more of, for of course I sat in a room with him for 2 or 3 years. There were few people with stronger affections or greater energy,

and I don't think really that he had ambition to get rich for the sake of getting rich. He had the Grenfell attitude of wishing & working to advance the Grenfell name, a sort of vague family pride & family ambition, & the Canadian Officers & Camp Bird were to him what the 9th Lancers were to Francis. I think it (this family ambition) rather unbalanced him when times were good, so that he was unprepared when the pendulum swung the other way. I confess that I began the book wondering what you could find to write about those boys, but it has given me so much pleasure to read that you must not mind if I tell you so, and you certainly must not answer this letter, as no answer is wanted.

Yours ever

Charles Ponsonby