North West

Writing was always a passion for Philip Spencer.

Born in Burnley in 1922, his literary passion developed throughout his early life.

His poetry blossomed during his time at St John’s College in Oxford where he strolled down the same corridors that had inspired writers like Robert Graves and A.E. Housman.

Literary legacy - Philip Spencer's poems

In August 1939 he met and fell in love with Ivy Starkie.

Ivy remembers how the two met by chance while walking on Pendle Hill.

"He was tall and handsome and I never thought I had a chance," she remembers.

"But I thought the fact he wanted me to write to him at school must have meant he liked me."

Love poems

When he left England for South Africa in 1942 Philip wrote to Ivy constantly – air grams, letters, and above all poems.

Ivy Starkie - love letters.

Philip Spencer was only 21 when his aircraft crashed into pine forests near Stutterheim during a training mission on November 25, 1943.

He died soon after from his injuries.

His final diary entry read, "I am going to dream tonight… and they won’t be such pleasant dreams"

For weeks after his death Ivy continued to receive his letters, which she has kept and treasured to this day.

But his writing also found a wider audience.

Like many others he’d prepared for war in the knowledge he might never come home.

He left instructions that in the event of his death a collection of his poems entitled The First Hundred was to be published and given to special friends.

Poetic legacy

Later editions of his works, including African Crocus followed and have recently been republished.

They include these words, written as he was about to leave England for the final time:

The last strong link with folks and home I break,
And sigh for days I know will come no more:
Here is no change, yet I my farewell take;
Evening draws on: I turn towards the shore,
The day has closed – the childhood fades the light;
Now on, my soul, out, out into the night.

Ivy later found love again and was happily married for the best part of 50 years – but she never forgot Philip Spencer.

Ivy Starkie - fond memories.

"I'd dream about him coming home on leave, and I'm watching him come down the road and round the corner.

"I'd be out of that door and up that lane and I'd give him a hug and that would be it - peace."

For the rest of us Philip Spencer's memory lives on in his writings.

Find out more

For more information on the poetry of Philip Spencer contact Keith Whalley, 29 Worsley Road, Lytham St Annes, FY6 4AW or call him on 01253 736926.