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'Dick' Read, soldier & author
A number of poets have been linked to the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, but arguably the
foremost writer of prose is I.L.Read, known as 'Dick'. Read was born in Eastbourne, Sussex but in 1914 was an apprentice engineer
with the Leicester firm of Gimsons. In 1914, upon the outbreak of the Great War he found himself in the newly raised 8th service
battalion, part of Kitchener's Army. He went on to record his experiences in writing, mainly for the benefit of his family,
but the memoir was published after his death as 'Of Those We Loved'.
Read's account of the Battle of the Bazentin Ridge in July 1916 is particularly
outstanding, and must rank as one of the best depictions of what it was like to fight in a major battle ever set down by a
member of the regiment.
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