JADE ELEPHANTS: TREVOR ALLEN AND THE GREAT WAR IN SALONIKA

Most of the poets, writers, painters and actors who served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during both World Wars were commissioned officers – but not all. Two notable exceptions are the writer, poet, painter and calligrapher David Jones, and the author of Old Soldiers Never Die, Frank Richards. Nearly all of those who served with the regiment and were distinguished by their artistic talents were Royal Welchmen but again, a notable exception is James Dunn, the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) medical officer attached to the 2nd Battalion, author of perhaps one of the greatest books on life in a line regiment during the war, The War The Infantry Knew. Albert Thomas Trevor (Trevor) Allen joins both classes of exception: he had joined the RAMC and was attached to the 11th (Service) Battalion and he never rose above the rank of Private.1 However, although now not well known, he has left a large and valuable body of work, among which is much that enlarges our knowledge of the little-studied war in Salonika.2

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