Wilfred Owen: The man in the sand

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was born in Oswestry on the Welsh borders and raised in Birkenhead and Shrewsbury. Arguably one of the most admired and respected poets of the First World War, his poetry was characterised by its poignant images of the horrors of trench and gas warfare. At the time of his death, he was virtually unknown, with only four of his poems published during his lifetime. In September 1915, he enlisted and by 1917 left for the Western Front across the Channel from Folkestone, having stayed at Folkestone’s Metropole Hotel the night before. He stood for 50 hours in a flooded dugout in No Man’s Land at Serre, where he developed shell-shock and returned to Britain for treatment.

He left from Folkestone again in August 1918, to return to his battalion on the Western Front and went on to take part in the breaking of the Hindenburg Line at Joncourt in October 1918, seizing a German machine gun, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of his courage and leadership. Owen, left, was killed in the last week of the war, during the battle to cross the SambreOise canal at Ors.