Fifty Years a Medium – Chapter 13, 13/13 by Estelle Roberts

But Polly wouldn’t listen. It couldn’t be true that Tony was dead – everyone was sure he was a prisoner. Mrs. Roberts had made a mistake! She had been stupid to come. She went home – angry that she had wasted her time going to Esher and yet at the same time very depressed.

At Littlewood there were so many little things which had to be done which hurt her almost unbearably. Ronald’s clothes to be put away – the black suites with a white stripe which he had always worn in the House; the tweed coat he had gardened in at Littlewood; his shoes – always so beautifully cleaned because he polished them himself.

There was also his car. It was black-and-white because he had felt it a good thing to be distinctive in the constituency. People could recognize it and know he was there among them as he drove through the streets. Ronald had been so proud of his Austin, but now it must be sold. Polly paid to have it sprayed a different colour before she let it go.

All her life Polly had kept photographs and cutting books. For each of her children she kept a separate book, and when Ronald and Barbara got well known and had so many newspaper cuttings, she was kept busy sticking them in. She had, immediately after Dunkirk, added another book to her collection.

If Ronald was a prisoner he would not be able to see the newspapers and would hate, when he returned, to be out of touch with all that had happened during the war, both as regards the fighting and in Parliament.

Everyday, however rushed she was, Polly cut out the main items of interest and put them in her “War Book.” Now that Ronald was killed she went on doing it for Tony; but on February 7, 1942, the cuttings ended abruptly. There was no longer any hope!

Jim Thomas had learned from the American Embassy that Tony was buried at Zuidschote, north of Ypres, and a letter from a prisoner-of-war gave the final details of his death.

Left to hold the rearguard trench, he was surrounded and part of his Company were killed. The German officer asked the survivors to surrender – Tony’s answer was to seize an automatic gun and open rapid fire. He was wounded and again asked to surrender.

He replied: “I will fight to the last man and the last round.” He continued to fire from an automatic rifle. He died shortly afterwards. Estelle Roberts had been right – Tony had been killed on the May 29th, the day before Ronald.