Susan Taylor is a documentary filmmaker who founded the Office of Special Collections to focus on archival research and forgotten histories. After working in institutional roles at the Library of Congress and National Defense University, she started her company to pursue projects that dig into stories often overlooked by official records.
UNCLE HENRY tells the forgotten story of the Battle of Gommecourt on July 1, 1916, when Major Cedric Charles Dickens sent one of the British Army’s most desperate communications: “I have, as far as I can find, only thirteen left besides myself… I am the only officer left. Please send instructions.” No instructions ever came.
Using a structure inspired by Dante’s Inferno, this 30-minute documentary follows the precise timeline of a “diversionary attack” where two British divisions assaulted what the Germans had spent eighteen months making the most heavily defended point on the Western Front. Through authentic Imperial War Museum oral histories, Major Dickens’ actual field communications, and archival footage, the film reveals how young London shop clerks and Yorkshire farm boys walked into what they believed would be an easy victory, only to discover they were expendable pawns in a larger strategy. The film is currently in post-production.
Pictured: Major Dickens (Charles Dickens’ grandson) from the Imperial War Museum collections
