Rev Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy heads out to the Front

The Reverend Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy was the vicar at St Paul’s in the city centre when war broke out in 1914.

Spurred on by his patriotic zeal, he sought a commission as a forces’ chaplain after the outbreak of war but had to wait until December 21, 1915 before being posted overseas.

One anthology of Studdert Kennedy’s work, After War, Is Faith Possible?, recounts how Studdert Kennedy held a Christmas service just four days later in a freezing downpour in northern France.

He wrote a letter to his family and parishioners, telling them: “There were not many of them [communicants] but they meant it. No lights, no ritual, nothing to help but the rain and far-off roll of guns, and Christ was born in a cattle-shed on Christmas Day.”

The troops in the trenches called him Woodbine Willie because he used to hand out cigarettes to the soldiers. He was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during the Battle of Messines Ridge in 1917.