PRIVATE EDWARD DOUGLAS PERCY FEATHERSTONE
LONDON REGIMENT
28TH MAY 1918 AGE 19
BURIED: DAINVILLE BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE
This inscription, chosen by Private Featherstone's father, is fairly popular on both headstones and 'In Memoriam' columns, yet it has become so separated from its author that few people would imagine it had one. In fact both poem and author have virtually disappeared from sight.
Called 'Somewhere', it was written by an American, Julia Caroline Dorr (1825-1915) and published in 'Friar Anselmo and Other Poems' in 1879. The poem begins with the question:
How can I cease to pray for thee? Somewhere
In God's great universe thou art today:
The loved one may well be dead but the writer has no intention of not continuing to ask God to take care of them since, "Somewhere within His ken thou hast a place", "Somewhere thou livest and hast need of Him:". It is obvious that to the writer there is, of course, still life after death, which leads to the final lines:
O true, brave heart! God bless thee, whereso'er
In His great universe thou art to-day!
The youngest in a family of four, Private Featherstone came from Amersham in Buckinghamshire and was educated at Dr Challenor's Grammar School. Featherstone served with the 1st/14th London Regiment (London Scottish) and was killed in action just outside Arras on the 28 May 1918 as the German Spring Offensive began to run out of steam. But if people at the time thought the end was in sight, many would have thought that 'the end' would be a German victory.