Somerset bellringers at Passchendaele

View towards Poelkapelle from Tyne Cot Cemetery

The final phase of the 3rd Battle of Ypres commenced on the 26th October 1917 with what became known as the Second Battle of Passchendaele. In this, the Canadian Corps, supported by Australian and British units, took over the offensive started during earlier stages of the campaign, being able to finally capture what was left of the shattered village on the 6th November [1].

At the instigation of the commander of the Canadian Corps, Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie, the Second Battle of Passchendaele was structured in three distinct phases, each with limited objectives. It was during the second of these phases on the 30th October that two bellringers from Somerset were killed in action. Both died serving with battalions of the London Regiment in the XVIII Corps sector north of the main Canadian offensive. 764061 Private Stanley Evenett of “C” Company of the 1/28th London Regiment, the Artists’ Rifles, was a bellringer at Huish Episcopi; Captain Frank Percy Wheeldon, commanding “A” Company of the 2/8th London Regiment, the Post Office Rifles, was a bellringer at Wrington and an accomplished church organist. Both are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing and the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers memorial in Bath Abbey — although Stanley Evenett’s name is spelled incorrectly on the latter (as it is also in the regimental roll of honour of the Artists’ Rifles).

The XVIII Corps sector during the Second Battle of Passchendaele was particularly grim.  North of the Bellevue spur, rain and artillery fire had conspired to convert the drainage systems of the Lekkerboterbeek and Paddebeek into a barely-passable swamp.

After a short introduction to the Second Battle of Passchendaele and what led up to it,  this post will provide short accounts of Stanley Evenett and Percy Wheeldon, as well as the units and formations they served in during the battle.

The Second Battle of Passchendaele

Passchendaele and the Ravebeek. Detail from Trench Map 28.NE Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 8A; Published: October 1917; Trenches corrected to 1 October 1917: http://maps.nls.uk/view/101464912 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

By early October 1917, the 3rd Battle of Ypres had been going on for over three months and, while the British line had moved within reach of the village of Passchendaele (Passendale), the weather had begun to deteriorate. With the benefit of hindsight, it may have been better for Field Marshal Haig to have halted the offensive after the relatively successful “bite-and-hold” operation of the Battle of Broodseinde on the 4th October. However, Haig was still keen to secure the higher ground around the village of Passchendaele before the onset of winter.

There followed two offensives that achieved almost nothing: the Battle of Poelcappelle on the 9th October, and the First Battle of Passchendaele on the 12th. Both were costly attempts to capture the Passchendaele Ridge and the adjacent Bellevue spur, but very little ground was actually gained. A small group from the 38th Australian Infantry (part of 3rd Australian Division) got as far as Passchendaele church on the 12th October but then had to withdraw, as they were so far from the rest of the advance. On the same day, the New Zealand Division (part of II Anzac Corps) suffered over 1,000 dead in an attempt to capture the Bellevue spur, still the very worst military disaster in that nation’s history [2]. The combination of bad weather, poor ground conditions, and insufficient artillery support spelt trouble for any offensive.

The prospect of breaking through to the channel coast was now out of the question, but Haig was still keen to gain ground before digging in for the winter — perhaps hoping for a quick resumption of the offensive in the Spring. Events elsewhere, e.g. the French attack at La Malmaison (23 to 27 October) and the defeat of the Italian 2nd Army at Caporetto (Kobarid) on the Isonzo front (24 October to 19 November) meant that there were may have been some strategic reasons for persisting with the offensive (although I personally doubt this).

With II Anzac Corps exhausted, Haig turned to the Canadian Corps, then in reserve, to continue the attempt to capture the Passchendaele Ridge. Currie, the corps commander, insisted on and was granted a pause to support planning and preparation for the final push. The offensive itself was planned to proceed in three distinct phases.

The first phase of the Second Battle of Passchendaele commenced on the 26th October. The main Canadian attack proceeded up the higher ground on either side of the (by now) impassible Ravebeek valley. On the left the 43rd and 58th Canadian Infantry (from 3rd Canadian Division) made good progress on the Bellevue Spur. On their left flank, however, units of the British 63rd (Royal Naval) Division supporting the Canadian attack were stuck. Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson note that both XVIII Corps divisions were based in what were effectively swamps and that units in the front line had suffered shelling by gas and high explosive very shortly before the attack [3].

Then at zero hour 58 and 63 Divisions advanced into a series of machine gun nests. The terrain was so bad that many of the leading waves sank up to their shoulders. Rifles and  Lewis guns became clogged and the barrage was lost. Only a derisory amount of ground was gained for a cost of 2,000 casualties. (pp. 174-175)

On the right side of the attack, the 4th Canadian Division advanced towards Passchendaele village with support from the 1st Australian Division on their right.

Canadian Memorial at Crest Farm, Passchendaele

With fresh brigades in place, the offensive resumed with its second phase on the 30th October. The Canadian 3rd and 4th Divisions continued their gradual advance up the Bellevue Spur and towards Passchendaele village. On the right, the 85th Canadian Infantry, the Nova Scotia Highlanders, worked their way up to within striking distance of the village itself. A battalion memorial still marks the spot of their furthest advance. Further north, the 72nd Canadian Infantry, the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, captured Crest Farm. This was a considerable feat of arms, and is now the site of the main Canadian memorial at Passchendaele [4]. The stage was now set for the further phases of the battle intended to capture the village itself.

Further north, however, both the British 63rd and 58th Divisions remained bogged down in the swamp north of the Bellevue Spur. Prior and Wilson note that the divisions attacked with identical results to the 26th October, “barely a yard of ground was gained for about 2,000 casualties ” [5, p.176]. This is the sector where Private Evenett and Captain Wheeldon both met their fate on the 30th October.

Private Stanley Evenett, 1/28th London Regiment

Huish Episcopi: Church of St Mary (Somerset)

Stanley Evenett was born at Saffron Walden in the second quarter of 1892, the son of Walter and Eleanor Evenett. At the time of the 1911 Census, Stanley Evenett is described as an 18-year old Clerk Auctioneer, and was living at 53 Ashdown Road, Saffron Walden, Essex with his parents and two younger siblings, Cecil and Maggie. His father and younger brother were both working as upholsterers.

Huish Episcopi war memorial (Somerset)

We know from his newspaper obituary (quoted below) that Stanley Evenett moved to Langport in Somerset in 1913 as an assistant to the auctioneers Messrs. Taylor & Hunt. He attested at Castle Cary on the 11 December 1915, and was then allocated to the reserve. Newspaper reports show that his employers were keen to retain Stanley’s services, his case being reviewed at the Somerset Appeal Tribunal (Taunton Courier, Wednesday, 30 August 1916) [6]:

SOMERSET APPEAL TRIBUNAL.
Messrs. Taylor & Hunt, auctioneers and valuers, of Langport and Yeovil, applied for the further exemption of their Langport clerk and assistant, Stanley Evenett (24), who had been granted until August 15th. – Mr. F. L. Hunt stated that his firm were agricultural auctioneers of large stock markets, and the business could not be carried on without sufficient practical assistance. Evenett was an indispensable member of the staff, and could not be replaced, although every effort had been made to obtain a substitute. Six of the staff had joined the Colours. Mr. Hunt put in a letter from Mr. A. C. Mole, chartered accountant, who had been engaged for some time auditing the firm’s books and accounts. Mr. Mole described the work Evenett was doing as technical and important, and expressed the opinion that it would be a serious matter for Messrs. Taylor & Hunt to lose him. Mr. Hunt added that Evenett was articled for three years, and had been five years with them, so that he was a trained man at the work. He acted as clerk at their big stock sales in addition to keeping the books, and also assisted in valuation work. – The Chairman said the tribunal considered Evenett too young to give conditional exemption, but they would grant him a further three months. Meanwhile someone must be trained, if possible, to take his place.

The ringing chamber at St Mary’s Church at Huish Episcopi contains a framed record  that Stanley Evenett rang in several touches of Grandsire Doubles at the church on the 26th November 1916, shortly before he left the village to join the 28th Battalion of the London Regiment, the Artists’ Rifles.

Record of ringing at Huish Episcopi in December 1916

Huish Episcopi (St Mary), Somerset, 26 November 1916, 120s Grandsire Doubles: J. Martin 1, S. Evenett 2, W. Tout (F. Butt) 3, A.  Medway 4, W. Crossman (W. Tout), E Cox (W. Crossman) 6. All conducted by W. Tout. Joseph Stubbs, M.A., Vicar

Stanley Evenett’s service records survive, and show that he was mobilised on the 28th December 1916. He enlisted in the 2/28th Battalion, London Regiment, which was based at the Artists’ headquarters at Duke’s Road, London  (although much of his training would probably have been undertaken at Romford).  In March 1917, Private Evenett was  posted to the 1/28th, travelling to France on the 19th/20th March via Southampton and Le Havre. He joined his unit on the 1st April, when the 1/28th was probably still operating as a training corps for officers, attached to General Headquarters at St Omer.

Former Artists’ Rifles headquarters, Duke’s Road, London

Private Evenett would have served with the Artists when the 63rd Division was based in the Arras Sector between July and September 1917. In October, he would have moved to the Ypres Salient in time to take part in the Second Battle of Passchendaele.

764061 Private Stanley Evenett died on the 30th October 1917, aged 25. Private Evenett’s death was reported almost a month later in the Taunton Courier (Wednesday, 28 November 1917) [7].

HUISH EPISCOPI.
KILLED IN ACTION.—The death has occurred in action of Private Stanley Evenett, of the Artists Rifles, which occurred in France on October 31st. The late Private Evenett, who was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Evenett, of Saffron Walden, was a fine specimen of well developed manhood, standing six feet in his stockings. He came to Langport as an assistant to Messrs. Taylor & Hunt, the well-known firm of auctioneers, in 1913. He was a good athlete, playing cricket and football equally well. He was especially fond of cricket, and was a bat of no mean ability and a useful bowler. He was also a very keen angler. When the new band of ringers was formed he was one of the first to join, and he soon became a first-class ringer. He was also a member of the church choir, having an excellent bass voice. His services were much missed when he joined the “crack” Artists Corps in December of last year. He had been at the Front about eight months, and always wrote cheery letters to the friends he had left behind. The late Private Evenett was of a very happy disposition, always ready to lend a hand in any movement connected with the parish, and all he did was done well. A memorial service was held at the Parish Church on Sunday evening. Prior to the commencement a muffled peal was rung on the bells. There was a very large congregation. The Rev. J. Stubbs, in the course of his sermon, made feeling allusion to the sad event. He referred to deceased’s very fine character, and how he had always been loyal to the choir, the ringers, and church. He advised the young men of the parish to take a lesson from the life of the late Private Evenett. At the conclusion of the service the vesper “For the passing souls we pray” was sung kneeling. After the Benediction Mrs Baulch played the “Dead March” in “Saul,” and, as the concluding voluntary, “O, Rest in the Lord.” During the service, which was of a most impressive character, the Vicar read out the names of the parish who have fallen on the field of battle.

Huish Episcopi war memorial (Somerset)

Stanley Evenett has no grave and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. His name also features on the war memorial at Huish Episcopi and the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association memorial in Bath Abbey.

63rd (Royal Naval) Division

Paddebeek and Source Farm. Detail from: Trench Map 20.SE; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 5A; Published: January 1918; Trenches corrected to 17 December 1917 http://maps.nls.uk/view/101464870 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was an unusual unit. The Royal Naval Division had been formed at the outbreak of war on the initiative of the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. It was made up of reservists and others from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve that were not immediately required for service at sea. Units of the RN Division fought first in the defence of Antwerp in 1914, then in the Dardanelles and Egypt in 1915. The most well-known member of the Division was probably the poet Rupert Chawner Brooke, a Sub-Lieutenant in the Hood Battalion, who died of sepsis in the Mediterranean on his way to Gallipoli in 1915.

Royal Naval Division Memorial, Horse Guards, London

The Royal Naval Division moved to the Western Front in 1916 when it became designated the 63rd Division, taking part in the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme. For example, in December 1916, the Division fought at the Battle of the Ancre, where the commander of the Hood Battalion, Bernard Cyril Freyberg, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the capture of Beaucourt (he afterwards became Governor-General of New Zealand). During the Battle of Arras in April 1917, the Division took part in an attack on the village of Gavrelle, where it was commanded by Commander Arthur Asquith, the third son of the former prime minster.

The 63rd Division moved to the Ypres Salient in early October 1917. On the basis that it would need to fight three battles, its three infantry brigades were allotted different roles. While the 189th Brigade went into the front line in early October, the 188th and 190th Brigades were mainly focused on training. The 190th Brigade contained two inexperienced battalions  (including the 1/28th Londons) so were seen as being at most need of additional training [8]:

From … [early October] until they moved to the forward area on 23 and 24 October respectively the 188th and 190th Brigades carried out intensive training. Special attention was paid to attack formations suitable for local conditions in Flanders, and to the policy of allotting definite units for the capture of every known or suspected strongpoint, this point to be the final objective of the troops detailed to capture it.

Later on, both brigades were able to train for the capture of particular objectives, taking into account features of the front that was to be attacked with the aid of a large-scale model.

The 188th Brigade moved up to the front line on the 24th October and took part in the first phase of the Second Battle of Passchendaele on the 26th October, where (as we have noted) they were operating on the north flank of the 3rd Canadian Division. The weather was poor and progress was limited, although a few German blockhouses were captured. Afterwards, Commander Asquith considered the ground was far too bad for an advancing force to achieve objectives more than 1,200 yards distant [9].

On the night of the 29th and 30th October, it was the turn of the 190th Brigade — including the 1/28th Londons — to resume the attack .

The 1/28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles)

The 1/28th Battalion of the London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) had not been in 63rd Division very long, only joining 190th Brigade during the summer of 1917. Like the 63rd Division, the Artists’ were also an unusual formation The 38th Middlesex (Artists’) Rifle Volunteer Corps had been formed in 1860 and became part of the Territorial Force in 1908 as the 28th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment. The popularity of the regiment meant that recruitment was restricted by recommendation; one result being that the Artists became a popular unit for recruits from public schools and universities.

At the start of the war, the 1/28th Battalion travelled to France, but almost immediately found itself attached to General Headquarters with an officers’ training role, first at Bailleul, then at St Omer. In the meantime, a second battalion — the 2/28th Battalion — was established at the regiment’s Duke’s Road headquarters in London. This was also a training unit; well-known alumni including the poets Edward Thomas and Wilfred Owen, and the painter Paul Nash (later an official war artist). We also know that Private Stanley Evenett also trained with the 2/28th Battalion before being posted to the 1/28th Battalion on the Western Front.

Artists Rifles badge on the Royal Naval Division Memorial, Horse Guards, London

The status of the 1/28th London Regiment changed in the summer of 1917. The decision was made to close all of the Cadet Schools in France and to send future candidates for commissions back to the UK for training [10]. The Artists were then allotted to 190th Brigade in the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. Between July and September 1917, the 63rd Division was based in the Arras sector, near Oppy and Gavrelle. In October, however, the division moved to the Salient. The second phase of the Second Battle of Passchendaele would be the Artists first major offensive.

The war diary of the 1/28th London Regiment [11] shows that they left the Arras sector in early October 1917, moving first to Cassel, then to Houtkerque. They left Houtkerque on the 25th October for Dombre Camp, when Major H. E. Edlmann took temporary command. The day after that, the battalion marched to Reigersberg Camp, on the Ypres-Brielen Road. On the 27th, an advanced party of the battalion reported to the Nelson Battalion at Irish Farm and went into the line near Albatross Farm (D.2.d.2.3). The rest of the battalion followed the next day, and took over the line from the Nelson with their H.Q. at Albatross Farm. After a single day in the line, the battalion attacked at 5.50 a.m. on the 30th October. The war diary entry for the 31st merely says [12]:

31.1.17 7.30 p.m. Relieved by NELSON Battalion and returned to IRISH FARM.
Total estimated casualties for the period 28th – 31st.
Officers: Killed 6. Wounded 4.
O.R. [Killed] 70. [Wounded] 130 Missing 124.

Shortly afterwards, the battalion moved to Poperinghe for rest and refitting.

Artists’ Rifles memorial, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London

The war diary contains no detailed information on what happened to the battalion on the 30th. A clue can be found in the post-war battlefield guide, The battle book of Ypres (1927). In its section on the Paddebeek Sector of Passchendaele, it states [13]:

On the 30th the enemy, on the regularity of whose morning hate [artillery] we had come to depend, suddenly altered the time, and his barrage fell disastrously on the 190th Brigade at the very start of the attack. This was a day of tragic loss. On the left a company of the Artists Rifles were wiped out when attacking Source Trench, where the enemy machine guns picked their targets among men held in the knee-high suck of the mud. The 7/Fusiliers and the 4/Bedfords carried on the futile struggle in the centre. The 5/King’s Shropshire L.I., with equal courage in intolerable conditions succeeded in forming a defensive flank between Source Farm and Varlet Farm.

There is a fuller account published in the Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of the Artists’ Rifles [14]:

The story of the battle for the Passchendaele Ridge, so far as the Artists are concerned, is soon told. Other Divisions before us had been taking their share in the slow progress of gaining ground in this water-logged area, at tremendous cost. The 188th was the first Brigade of the 63rd Division to attack; and advancing under a terrific artillery and machine-gun barrage, they, too, made some headway, but suffered severely. Early on the 30th our Brigade attacked, also under a very heavy barrage: the British artillery averaged one gun to every 9 yards of front. To reach our objective we had to cross the Paddebeeke [Paddebeek], on the map an insignificant streamlet, but in fact by this time a wide and almost impassable swamp.
ORDER OF BATTLE:
B Co. (Capt. Bare). A Co. (Capt. Mieville).
C. Co. (Capt. Chetwood) Support.
D Co. (Capt. Royds) Reserve.
The instant our attack started, the forward troops came under intense machine-gun fire from an almost invisible enemy who had taken refuge in their “pill boxes” during our bombardment, and were now posted in carefully chosen tactical positions. Simultaneously our supporting troops suffered heavy casualties from enemy artillery, while the ground to be traversed was a deep sea of mud, which drowned men and clogged rifles and Lewis guns in the first few minutes, rendering them entirely useless. Consequently it was not long before the attack was brought to a complete standstill, and the very attenuated Battalions proceeded to consolidate as best they could on our side of the Paddebeeke.  On our right the Canadians continued to advance: being on higher and drier ground they were able to get on, so that presently there was a dangerous gap between their left and our right. This was closed by sending up the Shropshires [4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry] from our Brigade reserve.
On this day the Artists went into action about 500 strong and suffered 350 casualties, amongst those killed being Captains [Arnold Edwin] Bare, [Ernest Stanley] Chetwood and Gordon Williams, Lieuts. [James] Haslam and [2/Lt. Arnold Ewart] Howe, and our splendid Padre, Capt. Harry Dickinson. The toll of deaths would have been still higher but for the untiring efforts of our M.O., Capt. Matthew, who for 72 hours hardly rested from the work of collecting and dressing the wounded.
The task set the Division appeared to be an impossible one, and no doubt would not have been attempted but for the urgent necessity of those tremendous attacks in this sector, which drew away all the enemy’s reserves from other points where it was of the utmost importance to prevent his attacking in force. It was not a case of lives being fruitlessly thrown away, but of sacrifices which enabled the whole Allied line to remain intact at a time when the Russian debacle was straining to the utmost our resources on the Western Front.
The next day the remains of the Battalion moved out of the line to refit, and while at Eringhem received a special message of sympathy in respect of their losses, and congratulations on the part they had played in the battle, brought direct to them from Earl Haig. They learned also from the Canadians (who were loud in their praises of the way in which our men had pressed forward) that several Artists had succeeded in actually crossing the Paddebeeke before being killed.

Private Evenett was part of “C” Company of the 1/28th Londons. A letter by F. M. Beddow to the parents of Private Robert Ashley Crowder of Thimbleby provides some more detail on what happened on the 30th October [15]:

Our opening barrage was terrific, and opened on the tape line along which, we in our turn, were aligned … When I saw your son last, he, with one or two companions, was still advancing, and had neared his platoon’s objective, but was being subjected to a merciless machine gun fire from an adjacent pill-box which was still held by the enemy.

The objectives of the 190th Brigade included Source Farm and Varlet Farm, which were close to the left flank of the attacking 3rd Canadian Division. With the 63rd Division still bogged down, the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles crossed the corps boundary to capture Source Farm, thus securing their own advance across the Bellevue spur. A recent guide to the Ypres battlefield provides some more detail [16]:

The Paddebeek is a small stream close to Woodland Plantation, joining the Lekkerboterbeek near Source Farm, and contributing to the boggy nature of the ground. As Canadians advanced, their left flank came under heavy fire from Source Farm, which should have been taken by the adjacent British 63rd Division, advancing past where you stand [a road junction], but it had made very slow progress. Major Pearkes despatched Lieutenant [Allen] Otty to deal with the Germans at Source Farm. Otty captured the farm but was killed. Meanwhile, Pearkes captured Vapour Farm, which he successfully held despite German counter-attacks.

For this action, Major George Pearkes was awarded the Victoria Cross [17].

The Tyne Cot Memorial records the names of 113 members of the Artists’ Rifles that died on the 30th October 1917. Others are buried in Poelcappelle British Cemetery, Passchendaele New British Cemetery, Tyne Cot Cemetery, and a few more in cemeteries further back behind the lines.

Grave of the Rev. H. Dickinson, Passchendaele New Cemetery

Chaplain 4th Class Harry Dickinson, who was attached to the Artists, was also killed on the 30th September 1917, aged 32. He has a special memorial in Passchendaele New British Cemetery, just to the south of Goudberg Copse. Before the war, Dickinson had been a classics master at Bridgnorth school and then master and chaplain at St Cuthbert’s College, Sparken Hill, Worksop.

The Artists’ Rifles has a war memorial at Burlington House in Piccadilly (home of the Royal Academy of Arts) and it’s unit badge is still visible on its old London headquarters, now “The Place” in Duke’s Street, near Euston station. The Royal Naval Division has a memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, adjacent the Admiralty on Horse Guards Parade.

Captain Frank Percy Wheeldon, 2/8th London Regiment

Wrington: Church of All Saints (Somerset)

Frank Percy Wheeldon was born at Leamington Spa in the 1st quarter of 1885. His parents were Henry and Harriet Lydia Wheeldon. Successive census returns describe Henry as a joiner, carpenter or builder manager; he had been born at Claydon, Oxfordshire in around 1845. By 1881, the large, but still growing, Wheeldon family were resident at 15, Vincent Street, Leamington Priors, Warwickshire. “Frank P. Wheeldon” is first listed living there in the 1891 Census; he was still living there in 1901 when he was described as a 16 years old “music pupil.” By the time of the 1911 Census, Henry and Harriet had moved to 44 Princess Street, Leamington Spa, while Frank Percy was a professional musician living at Mulberry House, Wrington, Somerset

Percy Wheeldon worked as a professional church organist and choirmaster. He was assistant organist at Wells Cathedral from 1908 [18], and later was organist and choirmaster at the parish churches of Wrington and Weston super Mare. His appointment at Weston was reported in the Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard of 19 June 1914 [19]:

BRILLIANT LEAMINGTON ORGANIST.
The recent appointment of Mr. Percy Wheeldon, F.R.C.O., to the post of organist and choirmaster of the Parish Church of Weston-super-Mare is a fact of which Leamington has just reason to be proud, seeing that Mr. Wheeldon is a native of the Royal Spa. He is the son of Mr. H. Wheeldon, of “Hillside.” Princes Street, and received his musical training under Mr. A. E. Gibbs, Mus.Bac. Mr. Percy Wheeldon, says the Weston Mercury, is recognised as one of the most brilliant organists in the West. For some years he was assistant organist at Wells Cathedral, and frequently had charge of the training of the Cathedral Choir, while for the past five years he has been organist and choirmaster of Wrington Parish Church. While at Wrington he has built up a Choral Society possessing such a standard of accomplishment as must be regarded as practically unique in a rural area. Mr. Wheeldon comes to Weston with the strongest possible recommendations from Dr. T. H. Davis, organist of Wells Cathedral, to say nothing of other high credentials. He is spoken of as one who – apart from his brilliancy as an organist and in choir training – finely maintains the highest dignity of the profession, working faithfully for the beautification of divine service with no thought of personal aggrandisement.

He would not have had very long to settle into his post at Weston before the outbreak of the war. It looks as if Percy Wheeldon joined up at Cheltenham, as article in the Cheltenham Chronicle of 19 September 1914 [20] includes his name — “Frank Percy Wheeldon, Broad-street, Wrington, Bristol” – in a list of 40 persons joining the “Old Public School and University Men’s Force, to be called the Public Schools Battalion, Royal Fusiliers Company.”

He evidently served first with the Royal Army Medical Corps before being commissioned and transferred to the 2/8th London Regiment, the Post Office Rifles. The battalion war diary records that he was injured at Bullecourt, near Arras, on the 15 May 1917, while on reconnaissance. The same source states that Captain Wheeldon rejoined the battalion from leave on the 14th October, not that long before they were due to move to the Salient. His death on the 30th October was reported in a long and informative obituary published in the Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard of 9 November 1917 [21]:

CAPT F. PERCY WHEELDON (KILLED).
Deep regret has been occasioned by the news that Capt. F. Percy Wheeldon, of the London Regt., was killed in action on the 30th ult. The third son of Mr. and Mrs. Wheeldon of “Hillside,” Leamington, Capt. Wheeldon was deservedly esteemed and, by his charming disposition and splendid character, made himself beloved by all who knew him. He was 32 years of age, and, in addition to his well-known brilliant characteristics, won deserved admiration by his many good qualities. He joined the St Paul’s choir when eight years of age, and at the age of 15 earns became articled to the then organist, Mr. A. E. Gibbs. Mus.B. Capt. Wheeldon made rapid strides in his profession, and ultimately took the diploma of Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Six years later he removed to Wells, and was soon appointed sub-organist of Wells Cathedral. Subsequently he became organist of Wrington Parish Church, where he was also very successful as conductor of the Wrington Choral Society. In July 1914 he received an important position as organist at the Parish Church at Weston-super-Mare. The war having broken out, he joined the R.A.M.C., and afterwards was transferred to the London Regt. (Post Office Rifles), in which he received his commission in 1915. In 1916 he was gazetted Captain, and afterwards proceeded to France. Capt. Wheeldon was seriously wounded at Bellecourt [Bullecourt] last May and was sent to Wandsworth Hospital. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered he went again to join his regiment. Immediately before doing so he took the musical part of the services at Lillington Parish Church [in Warwickshire], and in the evening gave a fine organ recital. On the day before his embarkation he played the Choral Communion Service at Lillington – for the harvest festival – leaving for France the same evening (October 8th). Capt. Wheeldon’s death is greatly lamented, as he was much esteemed both for his personal character and his great skill as an organist.
Mr. and Mrs. Wheeldon still have three sons serving in H.M. Forces. One of them, Private John Wheeldon, a despatch rider, saw the deceased just before he went into action.
In a wallet found on Capt. Wheeldon’s body was a letter sealed up ready for posting to his parents. In this he wrote: “This is the eve of battle. The Battalion goes into the line tonight, and we attack at dawn. I am going in command of ‘A’ Company, and our job is a difficult one, but I go in quite cheerfully, trusting I may do my duty well myself and by the men. Plucky fellows they are! I am in a hut with about 20 of them now, and it might be just an ordinary occasion, so cheerful they are. Well, dearest Dad and Mother, I can only trust that I may come through safely; it rests in God’s hands, and whatever happens you will try to look on it as His will, won’t you?”
The commanding officer of the regiment, writing to the bereaved father, says: “Your son fell at the head of his Company in an attack on the enemy position, shot by machine gun through the brain, and his C.S.M. was killed by his side. It is some poor consolation to know that his death was instantaneous, that he felt and knew nothing, but just fell and died the glorious death of a soldier fighting for his country and for those dear to him. I only knew him for some three weeks, but had learned to like and appreciate him in that time and to know what a gallant fellow he was; he was eager to be in this fight, smiling and cheerful up to the last moment I saw him, and it speaks much for an officer that he was universally loved by all who knew him. Now, I know how you and his mother will fell that nothing can offer real consolation; in this moment I would ask you to remember the thousands, almost millions, of parents mourning the deaths of their soldier sons, and with them to share their grief and mutual sympathy and with them to be proud that they and you have given a dear son for the country; the sacrifice will not be in vain, and that is the part of this war of those who have to wait and suffer. It is a bitter part, but no less great than that of us who bear the brunt of the actual fighting, and it is being bravely borne by thousands.”
The Adjutant of the Regiment has also sent a letter of sympathy, in the course of which he says. “I am personally very upset about ‘Jimmie,’ as we called him. I have been with him in the Battalion since July 1915, and we were all very fond of him.”

Wrington war memorial (Somerset)

As with Private Evenett, Captain Wheeldon has no known grave and his name appears on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. His name also features on the war memorials at Wrington and Leamington Spa.

The 58th (2nd London) Division

Poelcappelle and Cameron House. Detail from: Trench Map 20.SE; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 5A; Published: January 1918; Trenches corrected to 17 December 1917 http://maps.nls.uk/view/101464870 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

During the First World War, the 2/8th London Regiment formed part of 174th Brigade in the British 58th (2/1st London) Division. During the first two phases of the Second Battle of Passchendaele, the 58th Division formed part of XVIII Corps in 5th Army, based on the left flank of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, near the village of Poelcappelle.

The 58th (2/1st London) Division was a 2nd Line Territorial Force unit that had been formed in 1915 and which had joined the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front just in time for the Battle of Arras  in 1917. The division fought at Bullecourt in May 1917 before moving to the Salient in August. With its headquarters at Reigersburg Camp, it took part in raids east of St Julien and then helped capture the Wurst Farm Ridge in a big set-piece attack in September (part of the Battle of the Menin Road).

The 58th Division relieved the 18th Division after their capture of Poelcappelle village on the 22nd October [22]. The scene was now set for the Division’s participation in the Second Battle of Passchendaele, where they were based just east of Poelcappelle near the (now not so sweet) Lekkerboterbeek. Like the 63rd Division, the 58th rotated its infantry brigades during the battle’s phases, and it was the 173rd Brigade that took part in the attack on the 26th October, attacking pill boxes at positions known as Cameron House and Moray House.

It was now the turn of the 174th Brigade — including the 2/8th London Regiment — to take over the line and attack on the 30th October.

The 2/8th Battalion, London Regiment, Post Office Rifles

With the lack of success on the 26th, the objectives of 174 Brigade on the 30th October remained the capture of positions east of Poelcappelle, at Cameron House, Papa Farm, Hinton Farm and Moray House. The operation order for the attack is attached in the 2/8th London Regiment’s war diary [23].

On the left were “B” Company, with the objective of capturing Cameron House. “A” Company were given the task of following a track, “believed to be either a sunken road or a fortified trench […] known to contain a strong force of the enemy.” On the right were “D” and “C” Companies, with their objectives respectively Moray House and Papa Farm / Hinton Farm.

The specific plan of attack for “A” Company was for two of its platoons to leapfrog over “B” Company to attack Trench Track; the remaining two platoons either attacking Papa Farm or operating as the company reserve.

It did not go well. The recently published divisional history notes that all four companies of the 2/8th Londons encountered deep mud and severe resistance from machine gun and rifle fire from Track Trench and other positions. Captain Wheeldon’s company was not excepted [24].

A Company advanced with the barrage but became stuck in the mud in which ‘men sunk to their knees or thighs’. Sergeant Fisher managed to be one of the few to advance further under protective rapid fire to try to reach men of B Company, due to an enemy machine gun post. Very heavy casualties were caused to the company and all officers became casualties or were missing.

The war diary of the 2/8th Londons contains a “Preliminary Report on Operations of 30th October 1917” prepared the following day for the headquarters of 174th Brigade, and signed by their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Daniel Derviche-Jones. This is a very sobering read — and it seems to be one of the sources used by the scathing 58th Division report quoted by Prior and Wilson in their book [25]. Here are a few extracts [26]:

1. ASSEMBLY. This required the most careful organisation, as owing to the short notice of the plan of attack, reconnaissance had only been possible the previous night, and also as a relief was taking place that night, no guides other than our own were available.
[…]
D. The brilliant moon was a drawback as well as useful for the Assembly as it seems certain that the enemy perceived men coming up.
Heavy M.G. fire opened from the enemy across the assembly places at 11 pm and the enemy barraged and bombarded from the BREWERY to the LEKKIERBOTER BEEK [sic] from 3 to 4.30 am.
2. The Assembly Troops were visited before ZERO and all found to be cheerful and in good condition.
3. BARRAGE.
[…]
(c) The barrage was not sufficient to keep down the Boche M.G. fire or the Boche themselves. From the start Boche were observed in TRACK trench firing and watching; there was scarcely a moment they were not seen in this place […] from Zero onward and our barrage did not affect them.
(d) Owing to the condition of the ground the barrage was too quick. Our troops started in most places before the barrage, but never caught it up in any place.
(e) All the men who were in the Action of the 30th September [i.e., Wurst Farm Ridge] as well as in this Action say that the barrage was weak and nothing like so good as on the 30th September.
[…]
4. STATE of GROUND.
(a) From reconnaissance by my officers from MEUNIER and TRACAS and from information from 173rd Bde it was hoped to find fair going on the right and also on the left in places.
(b) Unfortunately this proved incorrect. In all places men were up to their knees, thighs or waists in every step taken. Rifles which were uncovered (for covering fire) were useless after the first 50 yeards; others were kept wrapt [sic] up for a long time in case the objectives were reached and could not be used for fire.
(c) No man could get a fair foot hold anywhere and most were slipping over into shell holes. By the greatest determination positions were reached at placed marked on map by a few, very few men.
[…]
(d) It was quite impossible to get up to the barrage and any one getting up to go forward was subjected to M.G. fire and rifle fire. Where sections kept together the whole section was hit.
(e) The mud was thick and sticky and the men were exhausted before advancing 100 yards.
[…]
(g) Some men got forward and ultimately were relieved by crawling on all fours in the mud; they were too done up to walk through the mud.
[…]
8. COMMUNICATIONS.
(a) An advanced Report Centre was established at MEUNIER and visual kept up from there to Bn. H.Q. throughout.
(b) The failure to get messages from Companies was due to the ground. Many messages sent by Officers never got back to MEUNIER at all, the messenger being hit by hostile M.G’s or rifles, others were 6 to 7 hours late in arriving at MEUNIER.
Nearly all the Company Signallers were hit. The first message was brought back by a man crawling through the mud the whole way on all fours – he was utterly exhausted and many hours late.
9. GENERALLY.
(a) The ground was the enemy and gave Boche easy targets whenever a man stood up.
(b) The barrage was ineffective, probably due to soft ground.
(c) Oblique hostile M.G. fire very effective.
(d) L.G’s. [Lewis Guns] The only one brought into action was useless in three minutes; all uncovered rifles ditto; all covered rifles ditto within 10 minutes of being uncovered.
(e) If they advanced upright, they were an easy target, if on all fours the men were exhausted in a few minutes.
(f) No outflanking movement was possible for above reasons.
(g) on this sort of ground men must be extended; where sections were together the whole section was wiped out.
(h) If CAMERON HOUSE could be taken, a flank attack towards PAPA and HINTON would in my opinion be successful and easy.
10. CASUALTIES.
Estimated
8 Officers
240 O.R.

Indeed, the “ground was the enemy.”

The slough of despond

Neither the 58th and the 63rd Divisions would continue to play a part in the Second Battle of Passchendale. The battle itself would continue until the 10th November, after the capture of the village on the 6th. However, all of the ground gained in the entire 3rd Battle of Ypres would be relinquished over a few days in the Spring of 1918.

It seems fitting, however, to finish this long post with a quotation from the book: From Bapaume to Passchendaele, by Sir Phillip Gibbs — a passage also quoted in The regimental roll of honour of the Artists’ Rifles. Here he is describing the very ground that the 58th and 63rd Divisions were attacking on the 30th October 1917 [27]:

It is idle for me to try to describe this ground over which the London men and the Artists had to attack. Nothing that I can write will convey remotely the look of such ground and the horror of it. Unless one has seen vast fields of barren earth, blasted for miles by shell-fire, pitted by deep craters so close that they are like holes in a sieve, and so deep that the tallest men can drown in them when they are filled with water, as they are now filled, imagination cannot conceive the picture of this slough of despond.
[…]
The London men […] had to wade and haul out one leg after the other from deep sucking bog as though in glue, and sank above their waists. Our artillery barrage, which was very heavy and wide, moved forward at a slow crawling pace, but it could not easily be followed. It took many men an hour and a half to come back a hundred and fifty yards. A rescue party led by a Sergeant-Major could not haul out men, breast-high in the bog, until they had surrounded them with duck-boards and fastened ropes to them. Our barrage went ahead, the enemy’s barrage came down, and from the German block-houses came a chattering fire of machine guns, and in the great stretch of swamp the London men struggled. And not far away from them, but invisible in their own trouble among the pits, the Artists Rifles, Bedfords and Shropshires were trying to get forward to other blockhouses on the way to the rising ground beyond the Paddebeek. The Artists and their comrades were more severely tried by shell-fire than the Londoners. No doubt the enemy had been standing at his guns through the night ready to fire at the first streak of dawn, which might bring an English attack, or the first rocket as a call to them from the garrisons of the blockhouses. A light went up and instantly there roared a great sweep of fire from heavy batteries and field guns; 4.2’s and 5.9’s fell densely and in depth, and this bombardment did not slacken for hours.
It was a tragic time for our valiant men, struggling in the slime with their feet dragged down. They suffered, but did not retreat. No man turned back but either fell under the shell-fire or went on.

“No man turned back.”

References:

[1] Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, Passchendaele: the untold story, 3rd ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2016).

[2] For example, see: Glyn Harper, Massacre at Passchendaele: the New Zealand story (Auckland: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000).

[3] Prior and Wilson, Passchendaele: the untold story, pp. 174-175.

[4] Nigel Cave, Passchendaele: the fight for the village (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 1997), pp. 71-77.

[5] Prior and Wilson, Passchendaele: the untold story, p. 176.

[6] Taunton Courier, 30 August 1916, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] Taunton Courier, 28 November 1917, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[8] ADM 137/3931, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division: report on operations, The National Archives, Kew. Cited in: Leonard Sellers, The Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division: Antwerp, Gallipoli, France, 1914-1918 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2003), pp. 251-256.

[9] Sellers, The Hood Battalion, p. 260.

[10] The Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of the Artists’ Rifles (1/28th, 2/28th and 3/28th Battalions The London Regiment T.F.), 3rd ed. (London: Howlett & Son, 1922), pp. xxiii. Available: https://archive.org/details/regimentalrollof00highiala

[11] WO 95/3119/2, War Diary, 1/28th Battalion London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles), June 1917 – April 1919, The National Archives, Kew.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Beatrix Brice, The battle book of Ypres (London: John Murray, 1927); reprinted as: The battle book of Ypres: a reference to military operations in the Ypres Salient, 1914-1918 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2014), pp. 184-186.

[14] The Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of the Artists’ Rifles, pp. xxiv-xxv.

[15] F. M. Beddow, cited in: Paul Chapman, Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2016), p. 254.

[16] Thomas Scotland and Steven Heys, Understanding the Ypres Salient: an illuminating battlefield guide (Solihull: Helion and Co., 2017), p. 244. There is more detail on Lieutenant Otty in: Curtis Mainville, “Mentioned in Despatches: Lieutenant Allen Otty and the 5th CMR at Passchendaele, 30 October 1917,” Canadian Military History 23(2), 2015, Article 8. Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol23/iss2/8

[17] Wikipedia, George Pearkes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pearkes

[18] Wikipedia, List of organists and assistant organists of Wells Cathedral

[19] Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard, 19 June 1914; via British Newspaper Archive.

[20] Cheltenham Courier, 19 September 1914; via British Newspaper Archive.

[21] Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard, 9 November 1917; via British Newspaper Archive.

[22] David Martin, Londoners on the Western Front: the 58th (2/1st London) Division in the Great War (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2014), p. 88.

[23] WO 95/3006/3, War Diary 2/8th Battalion, London Regiment, January 1917 – January 1918, The National Archives, Kew.

[24] Martin, Londoners on the Western Front, p. 92.

[25] Prior and Wilson, pp. 176-177.

[26] WO 95/3006/3, War Diary 2/8th Battalion, London Regiment, January 1917 – January 1918, The National Archives, Kew.

[27] Philip Gibbs, From Bapaume to Passchendaele: on the Western Front, 1917 (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1918), pp. 448-450: Available from Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/frombapaumetopas01gibb