'The Monstrance', 1918 (c)

Chromolithograph reproduction of an original work by Alfred Pearse, 1918 (c), published as part of a mounted set, 'The Angels at Mons', by S H and Company Limited, Clerkenwell, London, 1920 (c).

A battle scene from early on in World War One (1914-1918), with German soldiers in a sandbag redoubt wearing pickelhaube helmets staring in awe at a vision of the ghostly figures of a man, 'the martyred priest of St. Lambart', with a halo, holding a monstrance, a receptacle for the consecrated Host, flanked by two boys holding lilies.

The image is mounted onto thin card, with the title and an extract from 'The Angels of Mons' written by Arthur Machen, including text from the 'Diary of Karl Heinz - a German Soldier', printed below. Machen's story involves Heinz dying of fright at the appearance of a vision during a German advance.

From a collection of items relating to the career of George Arthur William Kennard who served with The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).