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by F. Bayford Harrison
Set in 1883, and published towards the end of the nineteenth century, The Battlefield treasure is a children's book, typical of the genre often given as Sunday School prizes. In it the main character, Jack Warren, learns that "treasure" does not necessarily have to have a monetary value. As the title suggests, the book is set in and around Shrewsbury, particularly the Battlefield area. It has proved difficult to find biographical details about F. Bayford Harrison, but he was obviously very familiar with the town and surrounding area.
A sample chapter of The Battlefield treasure is available on this website.
The full text can also be read online or downloaded free of charge. It is in XHTML format, like this page. Please note the file size is 180kb and it may take some time to open-up if you choose to read it online. Downloading for reading later may be the preferred option and this can be typically achieved by calling up an option box. If you have a mouse and it is configured for left click to select, right clicking the link may give you this option. Link to the full text of The Battlefield treasure.
Old Roger Corbet, who befriends Jack Warren, is an unusual character: an eccentric, though benevolent, failed barrister who is obsessed with the idea of making an archaeological find on the Battlefield site in order to achieve something in his life.
"But to die, to go into the open presence of the Creator, of Him Who has made all things, and Who does all things, and to have to say, 'I am a failure, I have done nothing,'--boy, I am ashamed."
And young Jack Warren is far from being a virtuous sweet-natured boy. He grumbles and complains at having to visit Roger, tries to cheat him out of one of his finds, and is endearingly ordinary.
Like many other boys, Jack Warren had more physical than moral courage; it was often more difficult for him to speak the truth than to take a thrashing, and he could more easily resist a ruffian like the gypsy than a forbidden pleasure.
In the end, of course, Jack learns the value of honesty and moral courage, and that "Truly every heart is a battlefield."
Page created 24 December 2002 and last
updated 2 January 2003
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