One Young Man

A Soldier’s Story of Fighting on the Western Front During World War I

By: Reginald Davis, John Ernest Hodder Williams

Narrated by: Tim Dalgleish

This is a brief account of an ordinary soldier's experiences at Ypres during the early part of World War I. Reginald Davis was a young boy who worked at the publishers Hodder & Stoughton, but like many others of his generation left his workplace to join the army and fight at Ypres and the Somme. It was John Ernest Hodder Williams who, after Davis returned to the offices of Hodder & Stoughton as one of the war-wounded — minus fingers and with other injuries — decided to put Davis' experiences between two covers. The book is a minor portrait of the broader canvas concerning ordinary soldiers and their experiences during the war. Hodder Williams quotes Davis extensively, letting his straightforward and sincere words speak for themselves.

This edition, edited by Tim Dalgleish, has a new preface which expands our view of who Reginald Davis was, along with a range of contemporary newspaper articles which contextualize the reception the book received when it was first published.

©2025 Tim Dalgleish (P)2025 Tim Dalgleish