Girls can help boys to read in school
to reach you in the best of health as it leaves me at present, I was discharged from hospital about two days ago. I am sorry I have not written to before but I had kept putting it off but at last I have written.” He adds: “Well Dear Florrie how are you getting on hope you and the nipper are in the pink, I had a letter from Alice a bit back and she sent her love to you also wanted you to know she is still at dressmaking.”
It was the last letter his family would receive and five weeks later, he was killed on the first day of the Battle of The Somme at the age of 16.
Florrie’s reply arrived at the front two days after he was killed and was returned to her unopened.
This weekend, as the city prepares to mark Remembrance Sunday, his letter will go on display after it was discovered by a private collector.
David Owen, who lives in Lincoln, had been researching the Leeds Pals and found the precious correspondence among a box of First World War related documents and papers he recently purchased.
He contacted the museum to see if the letter could be displayed to commemorate the sacrifice of Private Iles and his fellow servicemen. He said: “To me, Horace Iles epitomises all that was good about the Leeds Pals; patriotism, loyalty, bravery, comradeship and sacrifice.”
Private Iles’ letter will be on display in the museum’s Collectors Cabinet and will be available to view following this weekend’s Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
Having more girls in the classroom could help boost boys’ results, a study has found.
It suggests that boys’ performance in reading is significantly better in schools where the majority of pupils were female.
The study, published by Taylor & Francis in the School Effectiveness and School Improvement journal, said boys are ‘positively affected’ by girls in a school.