Frederick Victor Branford (1892–1941) was a British poet, known for verse of World War I and the years after.

Biography

Born Frederick Victor Rubens Branford Powell, the son of actors Mary Branford and Joynson Powell, he was given the second name of Mary's brother

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and was known in the family as 'Freddie' Powell. After the death of his mother he was brought up by his aunt Dorothy and after her separation from Lionel Branford, they lived in Ardgay, Scotland. ( Alasdair Alpin MacGregor's ''The Goat Wife'' tells the evocative story of his hard working and resourceful Aunt Dorothy, who left a comfortable existence in Edinburgh for life as a solo crofter in the Easter Ross village of Ardgay (then known locally as "High Wind"). Branford appears in the book as "Victor".) He may have felt closer to the Branfords than to his father and published his poetry under the surname of Branford. He was educated at Edinburgh University and

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. Serving as a captain in the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

during World War I, Branford was very badly wounded at the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

, when he was shot down over the Belgian coast and swam ashore to the Netherlands, where he was interned. Most of his poems were written in a long period of recovery from his injuries, which left him totally disabled. He lived on a disability pension for the rest of his life. Branford stopped writing poetry in 1923, disillusioned with the prospects for future peace. He remarried in 1937, his second wife was his cousin Margaret Branford, the playwright daughter of John Branford.

Works

*''Titans and Gods'' (1922) *''Five Poems'' (1922) *''The White Stallion'' (1924)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branford, Frederick Victor 1890s births 1941 deaths Royal Naval Air Service aviators 20th-century Scottish poets Scottish male poets 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British writers Royal Naval Air Service personnel of World War I Scottish airmen Shot-down aviators Scottish people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of the Netherlands