C . Morton Horne C . Morton Horne ( 1885 – 1916 ) was an Irish writer and musical comedy performer who lost his life on a battlefield in France during the First World War . Biography . Cyril Henry Morton Horne ’ s birth was recorded in the spring of 1885 in the Weston District of Dublin . Nothing here is known of his family in part because census records from this period were not preserved by the Irish government . His first major role most likely came in early 1910 as Lieutenant Varga in " The Balkan Princess " at London ’ s Prince of Wales Theatre . Later that year Horne traveled to America aboard the SS Amerika . where he would appear in four Broadway musical productions over the next few seasons . Horne played The Honorable Richard Mirables opposite Emmy Wehlen in " Marriage a la Carte " at the Casino Theatre in January , 1911 . In November of that year Horn began a successful run as Captain Graham in " Little Boy Blue " at the Lyric Theatre and later at the Grand Opera House . He played Billy Brand in the less than successful production of " The Charity Girl " staged at the Globe Theatre in October , 1912 . Horne ’ s final Broadway performance came in the spring of 1913 at the Globe Theatre as Capt . Etienne de Bouvray in a revival of " Mlle . Modiste " In January , 1915 Horne sailed for Britain aboard the SS Megantic to join the struggle in Europe . Over the last year of his life Horne wrote a number of songs and pros that were later compiled and published under the title , “ Songs of the Shrapnel Shell , and Other Verse ” . The following comes from the book ’ s Forward . Cyril Morton Horne , late Captain of the Seventh Battalion , King ' s Own Scottish Borderers , was killed in action , fighting with His Majesty ' s troops , " Somewhere in France , " 27 January 1916 . Many of these verses were written in the trenches , between attack and counter - attack , with the shrapnel shells shrieking overhead , with mines and countermines exploding underneath , with the ever constant , surging gray tide of charging infantry threatening at any moment to overwhelm his command . Living for more than a year half - underground , like the moles he so vividly pictures in one of his poems , with the chances a thousand to one against him of ever emerging from the great conflict alive , he wrote these little verses , some of them scribbled in pencil upon scraps of paper , and sent them , one by one , to the woman across the seas to whom he had said good - by when his country called . Captain Horne was but twenty - nine years of age when he was killed under most dramatic circumstances . He gave up his life trying to rescue a wounded British soldier lying in front of the trenches . A shrapnel shell exploded overhead just as his comrades were ready to cheer him for his heroic rescue . Cyril Horne was survived by his wife and fellow actor , Marie Ditzen Horne , a Scottish - born resident of New York City at the time of his death . They married in 1911 . She was performing as the character " Pleasure " for the play " Experience " when she received news of his death . His permanent address listed in his probate records was 16 Palmerston – park , Dublin , Ireland . She later married fellow actor Ernest Glendinning in 1919 , with the marriage lasting until his death .