Valentine Erskine Inglefield

Born in 1886 and died in 1947, Valentine Erskine Inglefield is best known for The History of the Twentieth (Light) Division, first published in 1921. The book has remained his principal known work and is still preserved through library catalogs and digital editions.

Records connected with his military service show that he served in the British Army during the First World War, including service with the East Yorkshire Regiment, and later held the rank of captain. That background helps explain the book's grounded, firsthand feel: it is not just a formal unit history, but the work of someone closely tied to the men and events he described.

For listeners interested in World War I, Inglefield's work stands out for its directness and sense of lived experience. Reliable biographical information about his wider life appears to be limited, so the clearest picture we have is of a soldier-author who left behind an enduring record of one division's war.