*There's a sob on the sea And the Old Year is dying. Borne on night wings to me There's a sob on the sea, And for what could not be The great world-heart is sighing. There's a sob on the sea And the Old Year is dying.
Roland was born in 1895, the son of Robert Leighton, a writer of boys' adventure stories, and Marie Connor Leighton, a prolific romance novelist.
Roland Aubrey Leighton on a scholarship to Oxford in 1914 Roland Aubrey Leighton on a scholarship to Oxford in 1914 For more information: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/leighton He studied at Uppington School, where he met Edward Brittain and in 1913, age 19 he began 'courting' Edward's sister, Vera.
Instead of proceeding with his studies, Roland immediately volunteered for service and soon found himself in France. He and Vera became engaged on leave in August of the same year. From France Roland wrote Vera numerous letters discussing British society, the war, the purpose of scholarship and aesthetics, as well as their relationship, which she preserved in her diaries and later writings. Within his correspondence he also sent a limited number of poems.