003 Who was Thomas Kermode?

WHO WAS THOMAS KERMODE?

Well, Thomas was my grandfather.  He was born on Saturday 29 March 1879.  I was 4 years old when he died.  I don't remember anything about him.  But I heard plenty from my parents!  Thomas was larger than life.  What I love about the guy is that his life is rather wonderfully documented by his letters, his writings, and his reminiscences.  And what a life it was, by all accounts.  I have got to know Thomas really well.  The more I found out about him the more interesting and likeable I found him.  I wish I had had the opportunity to talk with him about a hundred different topics that arise from the study of his life and the writing of my book.  Or I should say his book, as nearly all of my information comes from him.  And many bits of the book (I'll use the term "the") are a direct quote from his letters.  The folk with whom I have shared a few of these snippets have all said "He had a way with words ...!".  I guess at times I have become so involved with his emotions, as expressed by him (he wore his heart on his sleeve), that I have been moved to tears.  No more was this the case than when I almost miraculously discovered the tiny photograph of Thomas taken on or about 6 July 1917 at Hurdcott Army Camp.  When you read the book (when I get to publishing it!), you will understand just how magnificently this photograph encapsulates the whole emotional/psychological drama of his situation at that point in time.

This extract from my own diary describes the finding of the above photograph -

Well, on Sunday 22 May 2011 (yesterday) I got the idea that these envelopes might have something extra that I could glean to add to his story and this book, mainly from the addresses, redirections, post marks and date stamps. It turned out to be more interesting than I expected. However, the point here is that I discovered the excellent pic of Thomas in the envelope postmarked July 1917. Yes, it had been missed before. On the reverse of this pic Thomas has written "Your lonely soldier. Jock Slade of Norton Summit wants 3 of these. I shall print some more. X"

This picture had lain un-noticed in its  envelope for almost 94 years.  Just as well we Kermodes never throw out anything ....