He left Durham in July 1911, with Gallipoli war poet and friend Nowell Oxland, for Oxford University where he was an exhibitioner of Christ Church.

He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Military Cross[3] for holding a captured trench for 36 hours without reinforcements or supplies during the battle, and he was subsequently promoted to lieutenant.

[4] He was bombing officer for his battalion during the attack, and was killed by a machine gun positioned at a shrine whilst taking grenades to the men in the newly captured trenches.

It is a commonly held belief that the poem was written with the premonition of his death, from his knowledge of the German machine gun positions; the last line is "Help me to die, O Lord".

I, that on my familiar hill Saw with uncomprehending eyes A hundred of thy sunsets spill Their fresh and sanguine sacrifice, Ere the sun swings his noonday sword Must say good-bye to all of this; – By all delights that I shall miss, Help me to die, O Lord.