Page:For remembrance, soldier poets who have fallen in the war, Adcock, 1920.djvu/282

226 the last two that he wrote. He owed much to Winchester, but has repaid the debt by adding one more name to the long roll of those who have lived and died in accordance with her highest traditions.'

He had looked forward to following in the steps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who had all been in the House of Commons, and he showed every promise of becoming an eloquent speaker, possessing a fine voice, a good presence, and considerable dramatic talent.

A faith as sure as his, a quiet religious earnestness, are characteristic also of Cyril Winterbotham, especially in his last poems, 'A Christmas Prayer from the Trenches' and 'The Cross of Wood,' the latter written a month before he was killed in action. He had written verses since his childhood, and the early poems gathered into his little volume show a delightful sense of humour and a real love of nature. From Cheltenham College he went to Oxford in 1906; and in 1911 he was called to the Bar. He was keenly interested in politics, and in 1913 was adopted as prospective Liberal candidate