Robert Laurence Binyon, CH (10 August 1869 – 10 March 1943) was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. His most famous work, For the Fallen, is well known for being used in Remembrance Sunday services.
Pre-war life
Laurence Binyon was born in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. His parents were Frederick Binyon, and Mary Dockray. Mary's father, Robert Benson Dockray, was the main engineer of the London and Birmingham Railway. The family were Quakers.
Immediately after graduating in 1893, Binyon started working for the Department of Printed Books of the British Museum, writing catalogues for the museum and art monographs for himself. In 1895 his first book, Dutch Etchers of the Seventeenth Century, was published. In that same year, Binyon moved into the Museum's Department of Prints and Drawings, under Campbell Dodgson. In 1909, Binyon became its Assistant Keeper, and in 1913 he was made the Keeper of the new Sub-Department of Oriental Prints and Drawings. Around this time he played a crucial role in the formation of Modernism in London by introducing young Imagist poets such as Ezra Pound, Richard Aldington and H.D. to East Asian visual art and literature. Many of Binyon's books produced while at the Museum were influenced by his own sensibilities as a poet, although some are works of plain scholarship – such as his four-volume catalogue of all the Museum's English drawings, and his seminal catalogue of Chinese and Japanese prints.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them"
"With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, / England mourns for her dead across the sea."
... his sonorous tones to deliver a reading of the famous fourth stanza from “For the Fallen,” the ode to remembrance written by Laurence Binyon after the British defeat at the Battle of Mons in 1914.
During the service, the duchess gave a solemn but heartfelt reading of the Fallen by late 19th century poet Laurence Binyon ...Sophie, 59, read For the Fallen by late 19th century poet Laurence Binyon.
Wearing a long black coat from designer brand Armani and a matching pillbox hat with a bow embellishment, she read For the Fallen by late 19th century poet Laurence Binyon ... poet Laurence Binyon.
... (Modern interpretations tend to suggest an aneurysm or some other kind of internal haemorrhage.)ActressLily Brayton (1876–1953) as Ildico alongside Oscar Asche (1871–1936) as Atilla in Laurence Binyon’s 1907 theatrical production, Atilla ... .
— Tom Rogers (@RogersHistory) June 5, 2024. Normandy veteran Ken Hay recited a stanza from Laurence Binyon's poem "For the Fallen," followed by a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives 80 years ago ... #DDay80 pic.twitter.com/fmMHzCOmAr.
He then asked those present to join in singing the hymn “O God our help in ages past” after which he invited ESAMD PresidentPaul Mounser MBE to give the Act of Remembrance in the form of reciting the poem “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon ...Amen ... .
Getty)For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon. One of Britain’s most famous wartime poems, Laurence Binyon ‘For The Fallen’ – also known as Ode To Remember – was first published in September 1914, just a couple of months into the First World War.
It's the third straight year the church has marked the occasion, and it is seems to have taken root there ...Remembrance Sunday is held on the Sunday closest to Nov ... There'll also be a passage recited from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poem, "For the Fallen." ... .
Remembrance of soldiers who died in battle is a recent phenomenon in the long history of war ...World War I changed all of that ... As poet Laurence Binyon wrote in To the Fallen, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning/ We will remember them.” ... .
