During the first world war, Officers were usually men chosen from the top public schools around England, being well educated and having a higher social status than those men below them in the ranks. However, although coming from a somewhat more privileged background, they were as brave as any of the men under them, and often led from the front, on many occassions being the first man “over the top” as they led by example, climbing out of the trenches and facing the enemy across no mans land, leading the lines on an advance. This put officers at a much greater risk than the average soldier, and casualties amongst them was extremely high, leading to what is often referred to as “The Lost Generation” as these men were seen as the country’s future elite, such as the next generation of politicians and philosophers, writers and poets, yet thousands of them never came home.
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