author
Frederick Sleath
1889–1966
A Scottish novelist and former Royal Scots officer, he turned his wartime experience into vivid fiction that feels close to lived reality. He is best remembered for Sniper Jackson, a World War I story drawn from the trenches he knew himself.
1 Audiobook
The judgment of Johan Coull
by Frederick Sleath
About the author
Born in Borrowstounness, West Lothian, in 1889, Frederick James Sleath served with the Royal Scots after joining up in 1914. He fought in the Ypres Salient during the First World War before an injury moved him to desk work at the War Office.
That military background shaped his writing. Sniper Jackson, first published in 1919, is often described as a first-hand, lightly fictionalized account of trench fighting in Belgium and France, and it remains his best-known book. He also wrote other novels, including The Red Vulture and Green Swallows.
Sleath died in Carlisle, Cumberland, in 1966. Though not a widely famous name today, his work still stands out for its direct feel and its link to the real experience of soldiers in the Great War.