Hamish Henderson was born to a single mother in Perthshire, the family eventually moving\u00a0south to England. He won a scholarship to Dulwich College but his mother died shortly\u00a0before he took up his place, forcing him to live in an orphanage while studying. He studied Modern Languages at Downing College, Cambridge, in the years leading up to\u00a0World War II, and spent spare time running messages for the German resistance. He also\u00a0worked to smuggle Jews out of Nazi Germany right up until the outbreak of war.<\/p>\n
Although he argued strongly for peace at the outbreak of the war he eventually realised that a\u00a0satisfactory peace could not be reached and threw himself into the war effort. He joined the\u00a0Pioneer Corps as an enlisted soldier but later applied for and obtained a commission in the\u00a0Intelligence Corps. His command of six European languages together with his deep\u00a0understanding of German culture made him an effective interrogator. He took part in the\u00a0Desert War in Africa, where he wrote the poem Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica, which\u00a0encompasses every aspect of a soldier\u2019s experience of North Africa. On 2 May 1945 he oversaw the drafting of the surrender order of Italy. He collected the lyrics\u00a0for the satirical song \u2018D-Day Dodgers\u2019 and also wrote the lyrics to \u2018The 51st (Highland)\u00a0Division’s Farewell to Sicily\u2019.<\/p>\n
After the war he concentrated on folk revival, settling in Edinburgh in 1959 with his German\u00a0wife K\u00e4tzel. In 1955 he co-founded the University of Edinburgh\u2019s School of Scottish Studies\u00a0where he remained in post until 1987.<\/p>\n
Banks of Sicily (The 51st Highland Division’s Farewell to Sicily) on You Tube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kuR6uObK4is<\/a><\/p>\n Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (Edinburgh University Press) http:\/\/bit.ly\/herndersoncyrenaica<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hamish Henderson was born to a single mother in Perthshire, the family eventually moving\u00a0south to England. He won a scholarship to Dulwich College but his mother died shortly\u00a0before he took up his place, forcing him to live in an orphanage while studying. He studied Modern Languages at Downing College, Cambridge, in the years leading up Continue Reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1985,"parent":35,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"template-poet-bio.php","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n