Maltby Colliery, South Yorkshire: Friendship Breaking Social Divides

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The horrors of the battlefield created a lifelong friendship across the class divide for a miner from Maltby near Rotherham and an Oxbridge academic. Horace Brown saved the life of his commanding officer, Aylmer McCartney, near Ypres in Belgium in July 1917, when a shell exploded injuring them both. Brown was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery. Once their injuries had healed they were both sent back to the front line to serve for the rest of the war, not returning to civilian life until 1919. In the following decades, Brown was back down the pit, struggling through strikes and economic uncertainty. McCartney moved into a grand house in Belgravia in London, joined the Foreign office, and then became an Oxford University don. But their friendship blossomed over the years despite the economic gulf between them and is documented in a remarkable collection of letters. They may have been poles apart socially, but the bond built during wartime stayed with them all their lives. McCartney wrote to Brown’s son after his death that Horace had been not only one of his oldest friends but one of his dearest. Location: Maltby Colliery, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S66 7QN Image: Horace Brown (left) and Alymer McCartney (right), courtesy of Kenneth Brown Presented by Kate Linderholm