The “here” in the inscription is a smallish stone sentry box on its south eastern side and just behind Prince Edward’s Gate in Gibraltar. It begs certain questions – What happened to the original inscription and who wrote the original quote? I doubt whether anybody is ever going to answer the first question but the second one certainly has mileage.
The original plaque was one of many placed around Gibraltar between 1959 and 1975, possibly a first attempt to make our history easily available to visitors and residents. They were the result of an initiative by the Gibraltar Museum Committee with Dorothy Ellicott as chairperson. I would guess that it was she who wrote the wording for the inscription.
God and the soldier, all men adore
In time of trouble and no more,
For when war is over and all things righted
God is neglected and the old soldier slighted.
Dorothy Ellicott (1901-1990) Gibraltar politician and historian
As regards who actually came up with the original inscription, the most popular candidate is Rudyard Kipling who wrote the following – of which not one of the four lines are the same as those quoted on the plaque.
In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) -Journalist writer and poet
Kipling, apparently a compulsive plagiariser, took his cue from a similar ditty by the 17th century Francis Quarles with similar sentiments and rhythm but using different words almost throughout. Quarles’ little effort goes like this:
Our God and Souldiers we alike adore,Ev’n at the Brink of danger; not before:After deliverance, both alike required;Our God’s forgotten, and our Souldiers slighted.
Francis Quarles (c1592-1644) – Religious poet
Fast forward then nearly four centuries to an event that took place in 1962, during the Cuban crisis in which the American President John F. Kennedy included the following in his speech at a meeting with his military men:
And you will recall, I am sure, the lines found in an old sentry box in Gibraltar. . .
God and the soldier, all men adore
In time of danger and not before
When the danger is passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.
Which is possibly closer to the quote on the plaque than the others so far. However, a footnote in Arthur Schlesinger’s - A Thousand Days – John F. Kennedy in the White House – it states that Kennedy had copied his Gibraltar quote into his common-place book of 1945/46 and had included where he had found it.
Lines found in an old sentry box found in Gibraltar. Based on Poem by Thomas Jordan.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
Thomas Jordan? Who he? Well, apparently, he was a 17th century poet and playwright and actor and his version went like this:
Our God and the Soldier we alike adore.. . . . which apart from the last line is not the same as Kennedy’s.
When at the brink of ruin, not before.
The danger past, both are alike requited;
God is forgotten, and our soldier slighted.
The T.J. on the cover of this booklet is supposed to be Thomas Jordan (1612-1685)
According to Lord Anglesey’s History of the British Cavalry, however, both Jordon’s and Quarles’ versions may have sprung from “the medical renderings of the epigrammatic John Owens (1560?-1622). This one goes as follows.
God and the doctor we alike adore
But only when in danger not before
The danger o’r, both are alike acquitted,
God is forgotten, and the doctor slighted.
John Owens (1560-1562) Welsh Epigrammatist
And that is as far back as I can go – and it ironically takes me no further forward. My own guess is that if the inscription actually existed then whoever put it there – presumably a military man - was quoting from memory something he had read. It is certainly tempting to choose Kipling as the source – a temptation that is tempered by the fact that he is the only one of the lot who didn’t start the ditty with the very memorable, “God and the Soldier”.
1790 - Prince Edward's Gate - Gibraltar
1790 - Prince Edward's Gate - Gibraltar