Esmond Elliot - the war hero, the re-united bust and the moving biography

Esmond Elliot, the younger son of the 4th Earl of Minto, was killed aged just 22 while commanding his company of Scots Guards at the beginning of the Passchendaele Offensive in 1917.

A century on, Esmond, The Lost Idol, 1895-1917, has been co-authored by maternal grandson of Field Marshal Haig, Lord Astor of Hever, and researcher Alexandra Campbell.

Previously unpublished letters, diaries and photographs as well as his mother Lady Mary Minto’s remarkable tribute to him form the basis of this remarkable biography.

But the publication of Esmond, The Lost Idol, 1895-1917 has also led to an unexpected homecoming for a bust of the war hero to his family's home in the Scottish Borders.

In September 1921, Field Marshall Haig, who had been Commander-in-Chief of the British Army on the Western Front between 1915 and 1918, unveiled a War Memorial within the grounds Minto Church.

The base of stone quarried from Minto Crags is surmounted by a life size statue of a British soldier, which was modelled on the face of Lieutenant Esmond Elliot.

The sculptor of the statue was Thomas J Clapperton from Galashiels.

Esmond's mother was so struck by the lifelike qualities of the Memorial soldier that she commissioned a smaller bust of her son.

The finished bust of Esmond in uniform was delivered from Galashiels to Lady Minto's home in Hampshire.

Mysteriously the bust was discovered some 50 years later in an antiques shop in the Lake District by a holidaying university lecturer from London.

Robert Rider paid £60 for the bronze bust of the then unknown soldier and began his painstaking search to know its story.

The two pips on the shoulders gave the first clue of his rank of lieutenant.

The Sam Browne belt and tiepin confirmed that he had died in the First World War.

And the three jacket buttons identified his regiment as the Scots Guards.

For the next few years Mr Rider gave his spare time to researching War Office records in Whitehall in hope of identifying the soldier.

But the breakthrough finally came after writing to the Border Telegraph with a photo of the bust, asking for the help of readers.

One reply came from Jean Mears - the daughter of Thomas Clapperton - who gave the lecturer not only a name but also a story.

Mr Rider, who is now 82 years old, said: "Whenever I could spare a weekend, a holiday or a half-term, I would be following it up.

"It was off and on for quite a few years.

"All the time I was getting to know him a little bit better.

"Everything seemed to lead to something else. The more I found out the more I had to know.

"There was something very fine, very noble about him.”

As part of Mr Rider's research, he had written to the then Lord Astor in the late 1970s, the nephew of Esmond Elliot.

During his recent research for Esmond, The Lost Idol, 1895-1917, the current Lord Astor discovered the communication in his father's papers as well as a photo of the bust, and made contact with Mr Rider.

The retired university lecturer not only furnished the author with his own knowledge of Esmond but also offered to reunite the bronze bust with the Minto family.

Esmond's biography was published this week and is every bit as intriguing and moving as the later story of his bust.

The biography begins with a sweeping panorama of a golden pre-war era, featuring Canada, the splendour of the Raj, Eton and the Royal Family.

It recounts in great detail Esmond’s experiences and those of his friends on the Somme and in Flanders.

His diaries, which are direct and spontaneous, reveal the rapid transformation and maturing of a young officer exposed to war.

His mother’s collection of condolence letters shows the extent to which one life, albeit brief, touched so many people.

After leaving Eton, instead of taking up a place at Cambridge, Esmond went to France and became ADC to Geoffrey Feilding, who was in charge of the Guards Division.

As a staff officer, he was exposed to the complexities and responsibilities of High Command and to senior military figures, but he yearned for action and, within six months, he moved to the front line.

He survived fierce fighting on the Somme during the bitter winter of 1916/17, where his battalion suffered terrible losses.

In preparation for the Passchendaele Offensive in the summer of 1917 - and aged just 22 - Esmond led a daring raid across the Yser Canal, returning with vital intelligence which helped the Guards Division in their successful seizure of the bank on the enemy side four days before the main assault.

A week later, while in command of his company, he was killed by a single bullet.

In a letter to Lady Minto, Esmond’s platoon sergeant wrote: "We have lost our idol for we had set him on a pedestal in our hearts."

Hence, the title of the book.

Co-author Lord Astor said: “My inspiration for writing the book came from my grandmother Violet Astor – the youngest of Esmond’s three elder sisters and the one closest to him.

"She kept many of his letters and photographs, and helped my great-grandmother put together the record of his life.

"In one sense, my great-uncle was an everyman – a representative of a generation winnowed on the battlefields of Europe.

"In another, he was an individual in his own right: a boy loved by all who knew him, and whose untimely death left a void that affected so many and blighted his family for years to come.”

Edmond was the son of the 4th Earl of Minto, who served as both the Viceroy to India and the Governor General of Canada.

His popularity outlived in him in both countries, as well as parts of what is now Pakistan, with towns, parks, hospitals and streets, as well as a steamer ship, named after him.

The 4th Earl died on the family's Roxburghshire estate in 1914 - three years before his younger son perished on the battlefield.

And it is Esmond's short but eventful story which is now capturing the imagination a century on.

Professor Sir Hew Strachan, who is the Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale, explained: "The account of a young, vibrant and privileged life cut short at Ypres in 1917 is at one level a familiar one, not least in its apparent tragic inevitability, but The Lost Idol is much more.

"It is a story of a mother as well as a son, of a family as much as a regiment – and alongside the words are the pictures.

"Esmond Elliot, like many soldiers of the First World War, recorded his experiences with a Kodak vest pocket camera - new technology enabled images to give wings to his words.”

Co-author Lord Astor of Hever joined The Life Guards after leaving Eton. He served in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland in addition to fulfilling ceremonial duties in London.

As a Defence Minister between 2010 and 2015, he was responsible for the Ministry of Defence’s First World War Centenary Commemorations.

After graduating from Oxford, where she read Modern Languages, fellow co-author Alexandra Campbell worked in the City as a stockbroker – later moving to financial public relations. She is now a writer and researcher.

Published by Helion & Company Ltd, Esmond, The Lost Idol, 1895-1917 is now available in book shops and online.

Author Jilly Cooper has already been moved by Edmond's story.

She said: “An impossibly moving portrait of how loving families were torn apart by this cruellest of wars… the authors have the storyteller’s ability to bring the characters and their historical background vividly to life.”