The Half-Shilling Curate

The only Great War padre awarded the Military Cross for gallantry, the Rev Herbert Butler Cowl served with the BEF in France and Flanders. He was severely wounded and returned home on the ill-fated HMHS Anglia when she sank on the Channel (the first hospital ship mined during the war). This talk draws on Cowl’s letters and journals, communications to/from the War Office, letters from comrades in his battalion and newspaper accounts, to tell the story of this fascinating man. It is based on Sarah’s book The Half-Shilling Curate.