William Ambrose Short was born on 11th April 1871 in Oswestry, the eldest child of a clergyman, Ambrose Short, and his wife Lucy Douglas, who was also from a clerical family.

William was a career soldier; after leaving school at the age of 17, he began his training as a ‘gentleman cadet’ in March 1889 and was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery in February 1891, rising through the ranks to become a Lieutenant Colonel in 1915.

He served in India, where he married Ethel Marion Lamb in 1901. A son, John Ambrose, was born in 1903 but died less than a year later. Ethel died in 1905 and William married Lucy Mary Bromfield in 1907.

They returned to England in 1908 and a daughter, Lucy Elizabeth, was born in 1912. She would go on to marry the entomologist Dr Henry James Craufurd-Benson and settle in South Africa.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914 William left for France. After twice being invalided home, in 1915 and 1916, he was killed in action near Armentières on 21st June 1917, aged 46.

He was mentioned in despatches three times and appointed CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George) on 1st January 1916.

William possessed a wide knowledge of Oriental languages and wrote a considerable amount of poetry, much of it to his wife.

 A small volume of his verse was published in 1918 by Arthur L. Humphreys and can still be obtained on a ‘print on demand’ basis from Gyan Books in India.

His poem ‘Venizel’, describing the action at that place during the first Battle of the Aisne, and the courage of his men, was published anonymously in The Times on 16th October 1914, ‘from an officer in command of a battery at the Front.’

It was later set to music by Martin Shaw and has been recorded by Roderick Williams and Iain Burnside on a CD of Shaw’s songs.