Lives of the First World War

Ronald Tudor Symond was born in Liverpool, England in December 1895, the son of a solicitor Elwy Davies Symond, and died at the age of 51 of a heart attack in London in February 1947. He is notable for his membership of the avant-garde, modernist, literary and artistic circles of the Left Bank of Paris in the 1930s. At the age of 19, in 1915, Symond enlisted and served in the Infantry for three years in Northern France, on the Western Front, during World War I. He attained the rank of Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion of the Liverpool Regiment, and was awarded the Military Cross in April 1918. "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led a bombing attack with the utmost determination, and after a fight lasting for four hours, ejected the enemy from the trenches. He showed great courage and determination. At that time 'a bombing attack' meant an attack using hand grenades. He was then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.