The Angel of Mons: Phantom Soldiers and Ghostly Guardians

Folklore, August, 2005 by Jacqueline Simpson

The Angel of Mons: Phantom Soldiers and Ghostly Guardians. By David Clarke. Chichester: Wiley, 2004. 278 pp. Illus. 16.99 [pounds sterling] (hbk). ISBN 0-470-86277-7

The story of the Angel(s) of Mons, widely disseminated and often fervently believed during and after World War I, offers a fascinating case study for students of legend and rumour. It described how British soldiers, heavily outnumbered by German forces during the battle and retreat at Mons on 23-7 August 1914, were miraculously protected by what were variously described as heavenly lights, a strange mist, phantom horsemen led by St George, or a troop of angels. From the spring of 1915 onwards, the story spread through Christian and Theosophical magazines; it was mentioned in many sermons; it was investigated by the Society for Psychical Research. There were constant allusions to unnamed soldiers who had actually seen the vision, or nurses who had spoken to such soldiers, but the accounts were at second, third or fourth hand.

Controversy arose (and still continues) because the journalist Arthur Machen wrote a fictional short story "The Bowmen," printed in the Evening News on 29 September 1914, in which St George appears at Mons with a company of phantom archers (those of Crecy or Agincourt, it is implied) to save the retreating British. Two explanations are possible. Either Machen based his story upon reports and rumours (it would not be the only time that a creative writer adapted a current "myth" into fiction); or, alternatively, there were no such contemporary reports, and Machen spoke truly when he asserted that "The Bowmen" was his pure invention, and was itself the one and only source for the growing "myth."

David Clarke's meticulously researched book justifies Machen's claim, notably by demolishing the only concrete evidence that stories were already circulating at the beginning of September--letters allegedly written by Brigadier-General John Charteris on 5 September 1914 and 11 February 1915, which, however, cannot be traced in his archives, and were only published in 1931. All the other supposedly contemporary or near-contemporary statements melt away under inspection; they are mere "foaftales."

Clarke makes the interesting point that the way Machen's story was presented in the Evening News could have unwittingly misled readers. Machen frequently contributed factual reports to that paper, and whereas another story in the same issue was clearly labelled as fictional, Machen's was not. Moreover, the legend flourished because it fitted so well with British religious fervour, and drew upon a long tradition of belief that Heaven helps those fighting for a just cause. Ghosts of medieval bowmen were excellent as patriotic symbols, but angels were far better as symbols of Divine protection, and it was angels that popular rumour supplied. There is also the possibility, which in the nature of things must remain shadowy, that military propagandists fostered the rumours as a way of boosting morale; Charteris worked in Intelligence.

The story attracted immediate interest, and from 1915 onwards there were repeated attempts by both believers and sceptics to track down witnesses. The debate has continued into present times, and Clarke's vivid and detailed account makes fascinating reading. His book is a must for folklorists interested in contemporary legends or in twentieth-century concepts of the supernatural.

Jacqueline Simpson, The Folklore Society