Ewart Alan Mackintosh Lieutenant Ewart Alan Mackintosh MC ( 4 March 1893 – 23 November 1917 ) was a war poet and an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders from December 1914 . Mackintosh was killed whilst observing the second day of the second Battle of Cambrai , 21 November 1917 . His best poetry has been said to be comparable in quality to that of Rupert Brooke . Life . Ewart Alan Mackintosh was born on 4 March 1893 , the only son of Alexander Mackintosh and his wife . Although he was born in Brighton in Sussex , his father ' s roots were from Alness in Ross and Cromarty . His maternal grandfather was the preacher James Guinness Rogers . He said that it was because of his grandfather ' s friendship with British Prime Minister , William Ewart Gladstone , that he was given his first name . He studied locally at Brighton College whilst also studying Gaelic and learning to play the pipes during the holidays . He continued his studies at St Paul ' s school in London and then studied classics at Christ Church , Oxford . Mackintosh , who was a member of the University of Oxford Officers ' Training Corps , tried to join the army immediately war broke out in August and while still in his university course . He was rejected on the grounds of his poor eyesight . He reapplied and was accepted by the Seaforth Highlanders , and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 31 December 1914 . He served with the 5th ( The Sutherland and Caithness Highland ) Battalion , Seaforth Highlanders ( a Territorial Force unit ) , which was part of 51st ( Highland ) Division . He returned to Britain in August 1915 after being wounded in High Wood on the Somme . He was stationed near Cambridge for eight months during which time he was training cadets and he became engaged to Sylvia Marsh who was from a Quaker family . On 16 May he led a raid near Arras where several of his men were killed . One of them , David Sutherland , inspired a poem " " . Mackintosh was now a temporary lieutenant and he received the Military Cross on 24 June 1916 . His citation in the " London Gazette " reads : Mackintosh had been trying to bring Sutherland , who had lost a number of limbs , back to the trenches . Sutherland died of his wounds and had to be left ; he has no known burial place , but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial . At the age of 23 , Mackintosh regarded himself as a father to his men , and they affectionately called him " Tosh " . Sutherland was a Scot , but many of Mackintosh ' s other charges were from New Zealand . One of Mackintosh ' s final poems , " " , appears to foretell his own death . Mackintosh was killed in action on the second day of the Battle of Cambrai , 21 November 1917 , whilst with the 4th Seaforth Highlanders . He was there observing the heavy action near the village of Cantaing . Cambrai was noteworthy in using new tactics including the first mass use of tanks . He was buried in the Orival Wood Cemetery near Flesquières in northern France . Legacy . His poetry has been said to have been as good as the more famous war poet Rupert Brooke . Lines from his poem " A Creed " are used on " The Call " ; the Scottish American war memorial in Edinburgh ' s Princes Street Gardens when it was installed in 1927 . The memorial was paid for by Scottish Americans to commemorate the bravery of the Scottish soldiers of the Great War . A small ceremony took place in France on the 90th anniversary of Mackintosh ' s death and there were plans to dedicate a chapel to him and his regiment .