Bernard Freeman Trotter was born in Toronto in 1890 and graduated from McMaster University in Toronto in 1915. He began graduate work at the University of Toronto before leaving for England in March 1916. Although ill health prevented him from being accepted into the Canadian army, he was determined to serve and was able to secure a commission in the British Army. Trotter went to France in December 1916 with his Leicestershire Regiment, and was killed by a shell on May 7, 1917. The collection consists of 87 letters home to his family from March 1916 to his death in May 1917. Trotter was also a noted poet. His poems were collected by his father in 1917 and published later that year by McClelland and Stewart as A Canadian Twilight. The complete Trotter fond is located at McMaster University. All materials ©McMaster University and used with their permission.