I first heard of Auberon Herbert when the archive was contacted by the Polish Embassy looking for help finding photographs of Pixton, his family home near Dulverton. We found that he had served in the Polish Army in WW2, having been turned down for service by the British for medical reasons, and was considered a hero in Poland.
Then last month, the Hospice shop in Dulverton got in touch with us as they had some books related to Exmoor. Amongst them was a volume of short portraits of Auberon Herbert, written by his friends after he died in 1974.
On reading these affectionate and thrilling stories, you are left with an impression of an extraordinary man, much loved by those who knew him. Kind, generous, funny, and a great storyteller, Auberon had a passion for the causes of oppressed people, and these portraits tell of his life with the people of Poland, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Afghanistan during and after the war.
Almost as remarkable are the stories of the people who contributed to this book. Auberon’s extraordinary friends included a Byelorussian Bishop; a Polish journalist; a Scottish lawyer, who also painted the illustrations for Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water and helped write the constitution for Pakistan; a leader of the search for the Loch Ness Monster; and the Exmoor Farmer, Tom Yandle.
We intend to continue researching the life of this extraordinary Exmoor man, and if anyone has any information or material about him, we would love to hear from you.
