Woodbine willie biography
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Book Celebrates ‘Woodbine Willie’
Stories of non-combatant heroes in World War I abound. One of the best-known was the Rev. Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, widely celebrated as “Woodbine Willie” for his gifts of cigarettes and Bibles to Allied soldiers.
For many soldiers, Studdert Kennedy’s face was the last one they saw before they died. He would whisper the Lord’s Prayer to dying men and hold their hands as their lives drained away.
He was awarded the Military Cross, and after the war, King George V made Studdert Kennedy his chaplain. A new biography — A Seeker After Truths: The Life and Times of G.A. Studdert Kennedy (“Woodbine Willie”) (Helion and Co.) — reveals that Studdert Kennedy returned penniless to England after the war.
Biographer Linda Parker’s research reveals that he spent his entire wartime wages, save providing for his wife, buying cigarettes and Bibles for soldiers on the front line. Until now, no one had worked out just how much this remarkable man expended to comfort stricken men.
Parker writes that Studdert Kennedy distributed , cigarettes, using every spare penny he had during his tour of service from to
He found that 96 percent of the men at arms were smokers. The army supplied a ration of tobacco and cigarette paper. Woodbines, a ready-rolled ver
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Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy
Anglican priest and poet, known as "Woodbine Willie"
This British surname is barrelled, being made up of multiple names. It should be written as Studdert Kennedy, not Kennedy.
Geoffrey Anketell Studdert KennedyMC (27 June – 8 March ) was an English Anglicanpriest and poet. He was nicknamed "Woodbine Willie" during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes to the soldiers he met, as well as spiritual aid to injured and dying soldiers.
Early life
[edit]Born in Leeds, England, on 27 June , Studdert Kennedy was the seventh of nine children born to Jeanette Anketell and William Studdert Kennedy, vicar of St Mary's, Quarry Hill in Leeds. His father William Studdert Kennedy was born in Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland, in Geoffrey's paternal grandfather, Robert Mitchell Kennedy, was Dean of Clonfert in County Galway, Ireland from until his death in [1] One of Geoffrey's brothers was Hugh A. Studdert Kennedy, a biographer of American religious leader Mary Baker Eddy.
Because of his Irish forefathers, Geoffrey always maintained he was an Irishman.[2] He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he gained a degree in classics and divinity in [3] After a year's training at Ripon Cl
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