Thank You Mister Bosh - That's Close Enough, Major Herbert R Hoskins MC

Thank you Mister Bosh, that's close enough! One of the most detailed, moving, as-it-happened accounts we have of life in the trenches: a soldier's letters home from The Somme - horrifying, heart-breaking and surprisingly humorous


A chance find in a drawer has lead to the publication of one of the most detailed, moving, as-it-happened accounts we have of life in the trenches of the first world war.

Major Herbert Hoskins grandson - John Hoskins of Blockley - had noticed the old file but it was until after the death of a family member that he saw a note pinned to the file addressed to him requesting he hand the notes and contents to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment Museum in Warwick.

Following a publishers advice the notes were carefully collated and was published in December, 2013.

Herbert Hoskins born in 1889 and was a schoolboy at the King Edward VI School in Church Street, Stratford upon Avon from 1900. He joined the army in 1914 and served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment . He was soon serving in the muddy trenches of The Somme in war-torn France. Herbert wrote letters to loved ones at home as often as he could - and now, a 100 years after the WW1 we too can read his personal account in this astonishing book published in paperback by Mereo.

Apart from being one of the most detailed accounts we may ever have of day to day life in the trenches, these letters home to 'Blighty' also demonstrate the courage and stoicism of the young soldiers as they faced illness, gas attack, atrocious weather and the deaths of their fellow comrades.

Thank You Mr. Bosh resonates with wit, courage and duty. Not written on the grand scale and in a different style recently published WW1 accounts it is an informative and moving diary of one man's war against the 'Bosh'.


Gloves On Apple Tree Jampot Bomb The four brothers Grandpa mounted
Cyril Grandpa as a young man Formal portrait

Click to enlarge the pictures

Thank You Mr. Bosh includes photographs and plans, together with fascinating sketches by local artist Jan Harvey of Shipton under Wychwood, who has cleverly illustrated Major Hoskins' more amusing anecdotes.


John Hoskins (pictured below) is Major Hoskins' grandson, and collated the letters in this book.

John Hoskins Thiepval Memorial John viewing the name at Thiepval A Somme Cemetery

Read the press release here

ISBN: 978 1 86151 027 3
Paperback 220 pages RRP: £12.99
Available direct from the authors - email us for more details: broadclose @ icloud.com

Also find it on Amazon, Google books, WH Smith and all good bookshops




Thank you Mister Bosh, that's close enough!