FREDS WAR

Fred's War tells the extraordinary story of the 1st Cameronians, who achieved notoriety for selling the Great War's earliest front line photographs, and Fred Davidson, their 25-year-old medical officer, one of the first doctors to win the Military Cross. His pictures are seen here for the first time, alongside those taken by his friend Lieutenant Robert Money and fellow officers. Using a unique approach blending 250 original photographs with contemporary narrative, the author, Fred's grandson, pieces together the story behind the pictures that have passed through his family for three generations: describing the men who fought with Davidson, the conditions they served in, the battles they saw and the horrors they witnessed. From the parade ground at Glasgow's Maryhill to the brothels of the Armentieres, the book offers an unusually intimate portrait of life among a band of brothers - the same men who later proudly dubbed themselves 'Old Contemptibles'.