PRIVATE DAVID BROWN MADDISON
NORTHUMBERLAND FUSLIERS
24TH JULY 1918 AGE 18
BURIED: ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY, FRANCE
David Maddison died of wounds in a base hospital at Etaples. The War Graves Commission gives his date of death as between the 24th and the 25th July. I've seen this before when no one has known exactly when a man has died in battle but not when he's died in hospital. Did he die at midnight or was he found dead in his bed in the morning and no one could say when he had passed away? It's not possible to tell at this distance but I rather like the careful honesty of the records.
His inscription comes from a hymn from the Methodist Sunday School hymn book, which was based on a poem by the American poet Mary Gardiner Brainard 1837-1905. The poem was called 'Not Knowing'. The words were arranged for the hymn by Philip Bliss. The first verse is rather surprisingly positive:
I know not what awaits me,
God kindly veils mine eyes,
And o'er each step of my onward way
He makes new scenes to rise;
And every joy He sends me, comes
A sweet and glad surprise.
It's verse three that must carry the message the Maddison's wanted to convey:
Oh, blissful lack of wisdom,
'Tis blessed not to know;
He holds me with his own right hand,
And will not let me go,
And lulls my troubled soul to rest
In Him who loves me so.