Frederic Manning Frederic Manning ( 22 July 188222 February 1935 ) was an Australian poet and novelist . Biography . Born in Sydney , Manning was the son ( one of eight children ) of local politician William Patrick Manning . His family were Roman Catholics of Irish origin . A sickly child ( asthma ) , Manning was educated exclusively at home . As a teenager he formed a close friendship with the Reverend Arthur Galton , a scholarly man who was Secretary to the Governor of New South Wales . Galton went home to England in 1898 , taking Manning with him . Manning returned to Australia in 1900 but he finally settled in the United Kingdom in 1903 . Early years in England . Manning moved in with Galton , who had become the Vicar of Edenham , a village about three miles north - west of Bourne in south Lincolnshire . He devoted his time to study , reading voraciously , particularly the classics and philosophy , under the domineering influence of Galton . Although he seemingly shared Galton ' s contempt for Catholicism , Manning never renounced it entirely . He made several unsuccessful attempts to write a historical novel . In 1907 , Manning published his first book " The Vigil of Brunhild " , which was a monologue written in verse . " Scenes and Portraits " followed in 1909 , which was a discussion of religious topics written up in the form of a series of debates in which those taking part are leading lights from the past , such as Socrates , Francis of Assisi and Thomas Cromwell . These books went down well in literary circles , but did not enjoy a particularly wide circulation . Manning was recognised as an up - and - coming writer , a reputation that the indifferent collection " Poems " ( 1910 ) did not dissipate . Manning was never the most robust of individuals , neither was his lifestyle particularly healthy . Despite his asthma , he became a heavy smoker , and he seems to have sought escape from his loneliness in the local public houses . In the years immediately before World War I , he started to move in London artistic circles , becoming friends with Max Beerbohm and William Rothenstein ( there is a collection of letters from Manning to Rothenstein ) and also the influential young poets Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington . First World War . When war broke out , Manning was keen to enlist , possibly to escape from a stifling environment and to widen his horizons . A man with his fragile constitution and unhealthy lifestyle was not going to be an attractive proposition for the military authorities , but in October 1915 after several attempts , his persistence paid off and he enrolled in the King ' s Shropshire Light Infantry . He was a private with the service number 19022 . He was selected for officer training , but failed the course . Sent to France in 1916 , Manning experienced action with the 7th Battalion at the Battle of the Somme , was promoted to lance - corporal and experienced life in the trenches . He was recalled for further training and posted to Ireland in May 1917 with a commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment . The life of an officer did not agree with him , he seems not to have integrated particularly well , he drank excessively , getting into trouble with his superiors . The inebriation was put down to neurasthenia , but Manning resigned his commission on 28 February 1918 . Later career . Manning continued to write . In 1917 he published a collection of poems under the title " Ediola " . This was a mixture of verse predominantly in his former style alongside war poem s heavily influenced by the imagism of Pound , which deal introspectively with personal aims and ideals tempered in the crucible of battle . He contributed to anthologies , for example , " The Monthly Chapbook " which appeared in July 1919 edited by Harold Monro , containing twenty - three poems by writers including John Alford , Herbert Read , Walter De La Mare , Osbert Sitwell , Siegfried Sassoon , D . H . Lawrence , Edith Sitwell , Robert Nichols , Rose Macaulay and W . H . Davies alongside Manning and Aldington . He wrote for periodicals , including " The Criterion " , which was produced by T . S . Eliot . Poetry did not pay , and so in 1923 Manning took a commission from his publisher John Murray to write " The Life of Sir William White " , a biography of the man who , as Director of Naval Construction , led the build - up of the Royal Navy in the last years of the nineteenth century . Galton had died in 1921 , which not only left Manning effectively homeless , but also lacking a forceful directing influence in his life . He lived for much of the time at the Bull Hotel in Bourne , apart from a short spell when he owned a farmhouse in Surrey . At this time he was friendly with T . E . Lawrence , then serving in the Royal Air Force at RAF Cranwell , some twenty miles ( a motorcycle ride ) from where Manning was living . In 1926 he contributed the introduction to an edition of " Epicurus ' s Morals : Collected and faithfully Englished " by Walter Charleton , originally published in 1656 , published in a limited edition by Peter Davies . " The Middle Parts of Fortune " . As the 1920s progressed and confidence started to return , the artistic community was increasingly looking back at the war . The demand for written material started to grow . The big catalyst was the play " Journey ' s End " written by R . C . Sherriff which first appeared in 1928 . Davies urged Manning to use his undoubted talent in conjunction with his intense wartime experiences to write a novel . In an effort to capture the moment , Manning had to work rapidly , with little opportunity for second drafts and revisions . The result was " The Middle Parts of Fortune " , published anonymously by Peter Davies in a limited numbered edition of about 500 in 1929 , copies of which are now rare collectors ' items . The book is an account in the vernacular of the lives of ordinary soldiers . The central character named Bourne is the filter through which Manning ' s own experiences are transposed into the lives of a group of men whose own personal qualities interact in response to conflict and comradeship . Bourne is an enigmatic , detached character ( a self - portrait of the author ) who leaves each of the protagonists alone with their own detachment , privy to their own thoughts . This was a potent brew , forcibly written , too forcibly for what were seen as the sensibilities of the contemporary readership . An expurgated version was published by Davies in 1930 under the title " Her Privates We " . There is a quote from Shakespeare at the start of each chapter , and this particular reference occurs in " Hamlet " . In Act 2 , Scene 2 , there is a jocular exchange between Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern : There is quite clearly a sexual connotation , a negative one , albeit subtle . The original publication of this edition credited authorship to " Private 19022 " , possibly a simple desire for anonymity or possibly a further pun on " private soldier " and " private parts " . Manning was first credited with authorship by name posthumously in 1943 , but the original text was published widely only in 1977 . Amongst the voices raised in praise were those of Arnold Bennett , Ernest Hemingway , Ezra Pound ( who cited Manning as a literary mentor ) and T . E . Lawrence , who claimed to have seen through the anonymity and recognised the author of " Scenes and Portraits " . Be that as it may , " Scenes and Portraits " was re - published by Peter Davies in 1930 , and Manning lived out his life basking in the afterglow of what is widely regarded as one of the very finest novels based upon the experiences of warfare . Later life . Frederic Manning never married . His biographers suggest he eschewed intimacy , and that his long - time host Galton and the hostesses of the literary salons which he visited should be seen as " parent - substitute " figures . Like his hero Bourne , Manning was a private person , who kept his own counsel . Manning died of respiratory diseases at a Hampstead nursing home . His obituary appeared in " The Times " on 26 February 1935 . He is interred at Kensal Green cemetery .