Sailor of the day
Norman Harcourt BOLTON (1895-1941) Private. Married Nora Iverson in Norway in 1918 and had a son, Sven. Photograph shows Norman Bolton on the left.
HMS India was a World War 1 armed cruiser who met a watery grave on 8th August, 1915. Whilst many of her crew were sadly lost, some of the survivors found themselves trapped in a neutral, foreign country for over three years. This website tells their story.
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The story is told in more detail in my book - A Bare Chronicle of Existence - Stories and Letters from Internment in Norway during WW1. The book is now available on line from my publishers - Austin Macauley OR from The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Dymocks, Wheelers, Foyles, Waterstones, WH Smith, bookshop.org and on Amazon.
The link below will take you to my publishers website where you can purchase the book. The link is for the UK offices however there are US and Australian offices for Austin Macauley so please try there if you are not from the UK. If you are from Norway, firstly hi and thanks for your interest but secondly, you can order my book through Norli - https://www.norli.no/boker/dokumentar-og-fakta/historie-og-dokumentar/biografier-og-memoarer/a-bare-chronicle-of-existence
You can also order direct from me. If you order direct from the author (me) you will get your copy signed and dedicated as well as receive a free bookmark and postcard. Contact me on the Let's Chat button.
The other thing I can offer is myself as a speaker. I have been offering and giving public speaking engagements for over a year now and armed with a PowerPoint presentation, folders of letters, envelopes, photographs and other ephemera, I have given talks to community groups, Probus and other similar groups and Philatelic Societies. I can make the talk fit the needs of your group and promise an interesting, educational and entertaining presentation. Head to the contact page if you wish to get in contact with me about coming and speaking to your group.
Podcast interviews
You can also hear me being interviewed on some fantastic podcasts. Head to https://oldfrontline.co.uk/ to hear me being interviewed by the fantastic historian Paul Reed.
April 2024 - another podcast interview has gone live. This time I chatted with the knowledgeable Terry on his Tales from the Battlefields podcast. It can be found on Apple, Spotify and Amazon podcast platforms - Tales from the Battlefields: Sunk at Sea and Interned - with Rebecca Clarke on Apple Podcasts.
New project
After my recent visit to Norway, I am beginning a new project that will become a companion to A Bare Chronicle of Existence - Stories and Letters from Internment in Norway during WW1. I am wanting to focus more on the men who sailed on H.M.S India - some of those who perished, some who returned to Britain and maybe to the war and further stories of some who were interned. I am interested in the men and their experiences and how it shaped them, an extension of the What next? chapter from the book. If you are a descendant of a man who sailed H.M.S India or you know of one of their stories, please get in contact with me and maybe we can include that story in this new book!