Ivor Gurney was born on August 28, 1890 in the town of Gloucester. Gloucester is the small town that got its name for the protected shipping port on the River Severn called Glevum. Ivor Gurney was a well educated child growing up, and went to all the most prestigious schools, for his family was moderately wealthy during this time. The school he attended mainly was the school of the King, or the King’s school. Ivor was a very well behaved student and was so advanced in his studies that he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1911 when he was just twenty-one years of age. At the beginning of his education, although, he suddenly began to suffer from a condition referred to as Dyspepsia, which in today’s society is basically an upset digestion system, or an irritation to the stomach. Physicians, however, chalked up his illness as a nervous breakdown, and sent Mr. Gurney back to his hometown sometime in June of that year. Later, historians believed that that this illness was the first sign of having a bipolar illness, but this theory can’t be proven entirely. If this breakdown had not occurred, then it is believed that he would have had a very successful career as a composer, for he showed a remarkable talent for it. He also was a decent poet at the time, but his work began to flourish soon after his condition, as a result of the oncoming war.
When the First World War first broke out, Ivor Gurney was among the first to volunteer his services for the war by joining the Army. However, after much of the testing that Ivor had to go through had been completed, the Army finally turned Mr. Gurney down for they found out that he had bad eyesight. Although dishearten, Ivor continued his support for the troops. Then as a change of events occurred, the British Army was beginning to lose more men as planned and became short-handed. Ivor was thus allowed to join in the year 1915. He had to complete a rigorous training program before he joined the troops on the field. He was first trained on the Western Front first, and then was transferred to Albert to learn the Offensive of the battle. He turned out to be a very good soldier after completing his training, but as the tables turn as the seem to do, Ivor Gurney was shot on the battlefield on April 7, 1917 and was thus sent to the army hospital in Rouen. He did not take long to recover; in fact, he rejoined his regiment the following month. Ivor did not remain a solider for his entire life and two months after the rejoinment of his regiment, he was transferred to a machine Gun Company in Buysscheure, or Northern France.
Shortly after, an unfortunate event happened short after, which landed Mr. Gurney right back to the hospital in Edinburgh, in Scotland. During his time in the hospital, he began writing war poems including the ones titled, Severn and Somme, which soon appeared in newspapers nationwide. Ivor Gurney’s name became famous because of his writings, furthering the support of the war until it had ended in 1918. After the war, however, Mr. Gurney spent most of his time in different hospitals for the accident that had happened to him during his duration at the Gun Company, where he was gassed, so his lungs where never the same after the incident. Gurney was finally discharged from hospital and the army on 4th October 1918. Ivor Gurney wrote quite a few poetry books that contained his most prized work, although he couldn’t completely live off of his work. His second book of poems was titled War’s Embers which was published in May 1919. Aside from writing his poems, he was a farm laborer, a piano player in a cinema, and much, much more.
Sadly, Ivor Gurney's mental state was never the same, and after several attempts at suicide he was committed to a mental asylum back in his hometown in Gloucester. Shortly after his admittance to the physic ward, Ivor Gurney was legally declared insane on September 28, 1922, and was moved to the mental hospital in Dartford. Here, he continued his writings and shortly after, his work was published in the London Mercury.
Ivor Gurney died of bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis at the City of London Mental Hospital on 26th December, 1937. Five days later he was buried at Twigworth, Gloucestershire.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWgurney.htm
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