Rupert Brooke

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) was an English poet whose war sonnets, among them The Dead and The Soldier, made him famous. He died of septicaemia on a French hospital ship off the Greek island of Skyros and was buried there in an olive grove.

King's College

Brooke went up to King's College in October 1906 to read classics. At Cambridge he joined the Apostles, became president of the university Fabian Society, helped to found the Marlowe Society and acted, including in the Greek Play. A thesis on John Webster and Elizabethan drama earned him a fellowship at King's in March 1913. The college counts him among its notable alumni.

The Orchard, Grantchester

In 1909 Brooke took lodgings at Orchard House in Grantchester, where visitors take tea at The Orchard. Students had persuaded the owner to serve tea in the apple orchard there in 1897. He later lodged at the neighbouring Old Vicarage. A blue plaque at The Orchard records that he lived and wrote there from 1909 to 1911 and at the Old Vicarage from 1911 to 1912. His poem about the village was written in Berlin in 1912. His name is on the Grantchester war memorial.

The Rupert Brooke pub

A pub in the village, The Rupert Brooke, carries his name.

Visiting

The Orchard and the pub are in Grantchester, a short way from the centre of Cambridge.