title: The Battle of Dorking, and When William Came (Oxford Popular Fiction)
author: George Tomkyns Chesny
description: <br /><strong>I.F. Clarke</strong> retired after a varied university teaching career, he has pioneered the study of future-war fiction with books such as <em>Voices Prophesying War: 1644-1984</em> (OUP, 2E 1992).<br /> <strong>George Tomkyns Chesney</strong> (1830-1895) had a distinguished military career, mainly in India, and is remembered to this day in the award of the Sir George Chesney Medal. <em>The Battle of Dorking</em> appeared anonymously in the May number of Blackwood's Magazine, 1871.<br /> H. H. Munro or `Saki' (1870-1916), killed in action in the First World War, had considerable experience as a foreign correspondent for the <em>Morning Post</em> (Balkan War of 1902-3), and was one of the most original satirical writers of his time.<br />
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  # Table Of Contents
  
  
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  [George Chesney](The%20Battle%20of%20Dorking_split_002.html#filepos1119)  
  [THE BATTLE OF DORKING.
  ](The%20Battle%20of%20Dorking_split_002.html#filepos1360)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # The Battle of Dorking
  
  
  ### George Chesney
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.  
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      The Battle Of Dorking: 
  
  
  Reminiscences of a Volunteer
  
  
  ### THE BATTLE OF DORKING.
  
  
  You ask me to tell you, my grandchildren, something about my own share in the
  great events that happened fifty years ago. 'Tis sad work turning back to that
  bitter page in our history, but you may perhaps take profit in your new homes
  from the lesson it teaches. For us in England it came too late. And yet we had
  plenty of warnings, if we had only made use of them. The danger did not come
  on us unawares. It burst on us suddenly, 'tis true; but its coming was
  foreshadowed plainly enough to open our eyes, if we had not bee