Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney. In the field, Sidney distinguished himself by fighting for the Queen (Queen Elizabeth I) in the Netherlands, and it was whilst facing a Spanish cavalry charged at Zutphen in 1586 that he was wounded by a musket ball. His horse got out of control, but its gallant rider refused to let another soldier lead it, in case the enemy should see that he had been wounded. Instead, he rode painfully back to camp. Weakly, Sir Philip Sidney called for water. Then, as he lifted the bottle to his parched lips, he caught sight of another wounded soldier. Immediately, the brave knight asked that the water be given to the man, with the words that have since become famous: 'Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.' Original artwork for cover of Look and Learn issue no 378 (12 April 1969).