“This office boy, quite alone, was seen to capture two of the enemy;” illustration by Gordon Browne. Source: John Lea, Brave boys and girls in wartime (Blackie, ca. 1918)

9612 Private Cyril Edward Cook of the 5th (Service) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment was killed in action at Gallipoli on the 15th December 1915, aged seventeen. Cyril was the son of Arthur Ernest and Florence Ethel Cook of East Finchley. He was just one of many teenage solders that died during the First World War, but there seems to have been something in his story that attracted the attention of the media at the time, so it found its way into newspapers all over the world and finally into a children’s book. These stories can now be traced, at least in part, via the products of newspaper digitisation initiatives.

Private Cook’s death was first reported in his local newspaper, the Hendon & Finchley Times, on the 21st January 1916. While misspelling his family name, it was a fairly standard obituary for the time, even if was a little longer than most. It incorporated information and quotations from correspondence that could only have been provided by the family, including the contents of a letter from a comrade of Cyril’s, Private Charles Van Humbeck [1]:

PTE. CYRIL COOKE.
Mr. and Mrs. Cooke, of No. 2, Long-lane, East Finchley, have received official notification of the death of their son, Pte. Cyril E. Cooke, who was serving in the 5th Wilts regiment. It is stated that he was killed in action on December 15th at the Dardanelles.
The dead soldier was only fifteen when he joined the Army just after the commencement of the war, and went with his regiment to the Dardanelles last July. In a letter received by Mrs. Cooke, a comrade of her son’s, Pte. Chas. Van Humbeck, says that Cooke was brave to the point of recklessness, and with graphic detail proceeds to give an account of a retreat in which Cooke was killed. The same writer tells how Cooke captured at the point of the bayonet two Turks single-handed on each of two occasions.
The hero was a one-time scholar of Long-lane Council School, and attended Holy Trinity Sunday School. Before his enlistment he was a clerk in the correspondence department of a West End firm.

9607 Private Charles Van Humbeck also came from London. His letter to the family was also quoted in a far more sensationalised account of Private Cook’s service which was published in The Dundee People’s Journal of the 29th January 1916 [2]:

CAPTURED 4 TURKS.
BOY DOES HIS BIT BEFORE HE DIES.
“I nearly died of laughing when I saw the boy holding up the big Turks at the point of the bayonet” says Private Charles von Humbeck, in a letter to Mrs Cooke, the mother of Private Cyril E. Cooke, a boy of 16 years, who was killed in Gallipoli.
Cooke enlisted at the age of fifteen in the 5th Wiltshire Regiment, just after the outbreak of war, and a few weeks ago wrote to a friend in London, “We are making the best of a bad job, but with a stiff upper lip,” and now news has been received by his parents at East Finchley that he was killed on December 15th.
Eighteen months ago Cyril Cooke was an office boy. A roguish-faced lad, with laughing eyes and an attractive manner, he was a great favourite with the staff, and one day in August 1914 he astonished the manager of his department by telling him that he had enlisted. After ten months training he went to the Dardanelles with his regiment.
His comrade, writing home, told his parents how young Cooke twice captured two Turks at the point of the bayonet. In one of his own letters Cyril said – “I shall be glad when it is all over, but until then I am going to do my bit, and do it thoroughly.”

From that, the story would find its way into newspapers published in several different countries. In Australia, for example, a reworked version was published in the Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser of the 7th April 1916 [3]:

Boy’s Four Turks.
“We are making the best of a bad job, but with a stiff upper lip,” wrote Private Cyril E. Cooke, 5th Wiltshire Regiment, to a friend in London. Cooke enlisted at the age of 15, just after the outbreak of the war, and news has now been received by his parents at East Finchley that the boy was killed on December 15 in Gallipoli, whore he had been for several months. In a letter to Mrs. Cooke Private Charles Van Humbeck, of her son’s regiment, tells how young Cooke twice captured two Turks at the point of the bayonet. ”I nearly died of laughing,” he writes, “when I saw the boy holding up the big Turks at the point of the bayonet.” Eighteen months ago Cyril Cooke was an office boy. A roguish-faced boy with laughing, eyes and an attractive manner, he was a great favorite [with the] staff. One day in August, 1914, he astonished the manager of his department by telling him that he had enlisted. After 10 months training he went to the Dardanelles with his regiment.

The death of Private Cook was also covered by several newspapers in the United States. The examples that I’ve found (via the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America) all used the same stock text, written by Wilbur S. Forrest of the United Press (in 1927, as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, Forrest would also send out the first report on Charles A. Lindbergh’s landing in Paris) [4]:

Topeka State Journal, 22 April 1916, p. 13. Source: Kansas State Historical Society, via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress.

The tone of Forrest’s article is light-hearted, even jocular. That it ends with the death of a teenager, “shot through the head,” might seem more than slightly disturbing in the present day. It also adds a few fresh details, although their provenance is not given. The following version appeared in the Alaskan newspaper, The Seward Gateway on the 22nd April 1916 [5]:

OFFICE BOY WHO WAS GENUINE HERO IN BATTLE
By WILBUR S. FORREST
Special to Gateway by United Press.
London, April 19. – There has just reached London the story of a $5 a week office boy, 15 years old, who died a hero among the bravest of the brave of King George’s finest on Gallipoli peninsula.
It is a story to thrill the heart of every office boy in the United States, this recital of what happened to Cyril Cook after he left the drab surroundings of a big Pall Mall firm and hearkened to the order: “Charge!” and forgot the lordly overclerk’s bumptious summons: “Boy!”
Less than two years ago Cyril Cook was a typical office boy with a large Pall Mall firm. At the outbreak of war he misrepresented his age to a recruiting sergeant and joined the army. Early in 1915 his regiment was sent to the Dardanelles.
A letter to the boy’s parents in East Finchley tells the story. A comrade detailed how the youngster fought in practically every important engagement.
Twice he surprised his officers by bringing in Turks he had captured at the point of the bayonet.
He had undertaken many dangerous outpost duties and his conduct throughout all engagements had won him high praise from the commanders.
According to his comrade, the former office boy was in line for a decoration. He was killed December 15th; shot through the head.

Towards the end of the war, Private Cook’s story would also be told in a children’s book, Brave Boys and Girls in Wartime, written by John Lea, with illustrations by H. M. Brock and Gordon Browne (Blackie, 1918).

John Lea was the pen name of John Lea Bricknell (1868-1952), who wrote many books for children [6]. Brave Boys and Girls is a collection of twenty-eight illustrated “true stories” of children’s bravery in war, including stories of a French peasant girl that brought jugs of coffee to British soldiers in the trenches during the winter of 1915, a girl that burnt her hands beating out the flames of a fire that had engulfed her sister during a Zeppelin raid on Southend, as well as tales of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides making themselves useful. Several of the stories relate to boys on active service.

John Lea, Brave boys and girls in wartime (Blackie, 1918)

The item on Private Cook turns part of the story into an invented dialogue, but it represents, in essence, a fairly straightforward reworking of the information provided by the People’s Journal article, with its moral lessons drawn out for a younger audience [7]:

An Office Boy who fought for his King

ONE August day in 1914 the manager of part of a large London business house was sitting in his office, when someone knocked on the door in a manner that seemed to say: please let me in at once!”
The permission was given, and the office boy entered – Cyril E. Cooke, aged fifteen.
“Please sir,” said he in breathless tones, “I have enlisted in the army, and shall soon be leaving you to enter the ranks.”
“Impossible!” cried the astonished manager. “Why, you are only fifteen, and a mere boy.”
But it was quite true; and before many days had passed Cyril Cooke was training for soldier’s work. Ten months later he was at the Dardanelles, fighting the Turks, and brave letters came home to his mother to say: “We are making the best of a bad job with a stiff upper lip.” Most boys and girls will know what this means: We are keeping up our courage in spite of many troubles. But those who saw Cyril Cooke doing his duty were able to tell tales about his bravery which he was too modest to tell himself. On two occasions this young office boy, quite alone, was seen to advance with fixed bayonet and capture two of the enemy, bringing them in as prisoners.
Alas! the promising young soldier, to the great regret of his comrades, was killed on the 15th December 1915, after writing home the gallant message: “I shall be glad when it is all over, but until then I am going to do my bit, and do it thoroughly.” He kept his word.

The item was accompanied by an illustration by Gordon Browne, purporting to illustrate Private Cook’s capture of two Turkish soldiers [8]. Browne (1858-1932) was a prolific illustrator of children’s books, including those of G. A. Henty and Percy F. Westerman.

The accounts are remarkable in that there seems to be no sorrow for the loss of such a young soldier, nor is there a hint of censure for the British Army accepting such an obviously under-age recruit. The tone throughout remains that of a boy “sticking it out” and “doing his bit thoroughly,” regardless of consequences.

It is also interesting that there are some aspects of the story that always remain obscure. For example, readers are never given the identity of the company that Cook left in order to enlist — although Forrest confidently assures his audience that it was a dreary Pall Mall firm, with a quota of ‘bumptious’ overclerks. There is also next-to-no interest in Private Cook’s background and family, except for that single fact that he had worked as an office boy and came from East Finchley. The later accounts also barely show any interest in the unit in which Private Cook had served, with the result that the stories seem a bit detached from the realities of what the 5th Wiltshires might have endured at Anzac and Suvla.

Cyril Edward Cook:

Moving beyond the newspaper articles, it has been possible to discover some additional details about Private Cook’s life and family background from the genealogical and census records made available by the Findmypast service [9].

Cyril Edward Cook was born at Barking, then in Essex, on the 31st August 1898, the son of Arthur Ernest Cook and Florence Ethel Cook (née Goodchild). He was baptised at St Margaret’s, Barking on the 18th September the same year, when the family were resident at 59 Axe Street, Barking [10].

The family had moved to Finchley by the time of the 1901 Census. It records them living at 5, Park Hall Parade, Finchley, part of the household of James S. Newman, a butcher. As well as the five members of the Newman family, the household included four servants, three of them being journeymen butchers. Aged twenty-eight, Arthur E. Cook was one of those journeymen butchers. living with his wife (who was aged 29) and three children: Ernest A. (aged 4), Cyril E. (3), and Albert V. (7 months).

At the time of the 1911 Census, the family were living at Ivy Lodge, Long Lane East, East Finchley. Cyril was twelve years old and still at school. He was the second eldest of five children, the others being: Ernest Arthur (aged 14), Albert Victor (10), Louis Charles Sydney (8), and Florence Ethel Grace (5). Arthur Ernest Cook was thirty-eight years old and working as a butcher’s manager, while Florence Ethel Cook was thirty-nine.

Florence Ethel Goodchild had been born at Baldock (Hertfordshire) in the first quarter of 1871, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Grace Goodchild, and was baptised there on the 11th May 1873. Arthur Ernest Cook was born at Bethnal Green in the second quarter of 1872, the son of William Cook and Emma Mary Cook (née Connew). They married at St Albans (registration district) in the second quarter of 1896. By the time of the 1911 Census, they had been married fifteen years and had five children, of whom Cyril was their second eldest.

The Soldiers Died in the Great War database states that Cyril Edward Cook enlisted at Lambeth. If, as the newspaper obituaries suggest, he joined up immediately after the outbreak of war, he would definitely still have (just) been fifteen years old.

Private Cook has no-known family link with the county of Wiltshire. How he (and Private Van Humbeck) ended up in the 5th Wiltshires remains obscure, but a clue may be found in some notes made by 11687 Private S. B. Ayling, which have been published in Paula Perry’s history of the battalion [11]. Ayling was one of several persons working in the London City Office of the Cunard Line who were trying to enlist at the end of August 1914. They found that several of the recruiting offices for London Regiment battalions were already full up, but a group of them eventually managed to enlist at a marquee on Horse Guards Parade, receiving their King’s Shilling and instructions to travel by train to Devizes.

Private Cook’s death is mentioned briefly in the battalion War Diary [12]:

15 & 16/12/1915 – Suvla, Gallipoli
The Battalion relieved by 4/SWB [4th South Wales Borderers] and proceeded to reserve lines. Pte Cook killed while on Bde. Fatigue.

Battalion War Diaries did not routinely name non-officer casualties, but it seems that the adjutants of the 5th Wiltshires did not always adhere to that convention during the Gallipoli campaign.

The 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment at Gallipoli:

The 5th (Service) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment was formed at Assaye Barracks, Tidworth in August 1914 as a New Army unit. It trained first at Cirencester and then at Cowshot, near Woking. On the 1st July 1915, the battalion sailed from Avonmouth for the Mediterranean on the SS Franconia. The battalion had become part of 40th Infantry Brigade in the 13th (Western) Division, one of four divisions sent to the Dardanelles to strengthen the campaign there. The 13th were one of three New Army Divisions sent to Gallipoli, the others being the 10th (Irish) and 11th (Northern) Divisions.

Helles:

The Franconia’s first port of call in the Mediterranean was Malta, but the battalion sailed on to Alexandria and then to Mudros Bay (Lemnos), arriving there on the 15th July. On the following day, the first of two contingents of the 5th Wiltshires sailed for the Gallipoli peninsula, landing at V Beach at Cape Helles after midnight on the 17th and marching to Gully Beach. During the original landings at Gallipoli, the 29th Division had landed at various places at Helles on the 25th April, but progress had been slow and the opportunity to advance up the peninsula and to link up with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landings further north had been lost. After their arrival at Helles, the 5th Wiltshires spent 10 days in fire trenches at before being relieved on the 29th July by fusilier units of the 86th Infantry Brigade on the 29th July and returning to Mudros.

Anzac and Chunuk Bair:

By the end of July, preparations for a new offensive at Gallipoli were well in hand. The August Offensive was to have two main components. Firstly, there would be an attempt to break out of the pocket established at Anzac and capture the high ground of the Sari Bair ridge. This would be shielded by the landing of fresh troops from IX Corps at Suvla Bay, who would go on to capture the higher ground to the east and link-up with the breakout from Anzac. The landings at Suvla, which commenced on the evening of the 6th August, would be spearheaded by the 11th (Northern) Division. While part of IX Corps, the 13th Division would instead be directed to the Anzac sector, where they would support the attempted breakout there. While there would be diversionary attacks (mainly Australian) at Lone Pine, The Nek, Dead Man’s Ridge, and Turkish Quinn’s, the main attempt to capture the Sari Bair ridge would be led by the commander of the New Zealand and Australian Division, Major-General Alexander Godley. For this the Division was to be reinforced by the 29th (Indian) Brigade and the New Army battalions of the 13th Division.

The 5th Wiltshires, therefore, landed at Anzac Cove on the night of the 4th August 1915 and moved to White Valley. Landings were conducted at night in an attempt to conceal the build-up to the planned offensive from the Turks.

On the 6th August, the 5th Wiltshires and the 4th South Wales Borderers moved north as part of the “Left Covering Force” commanded by Brigadier-General J. H. du B. Travers (40 Brigade). The battalions moved north parallel to the coast, crossed the mouth of a valley called Aghyl Dere and occupied Damajelik Bair, taking a number of Turkish prisoners in the process. In the meantime, the New Zealand and Australian Division, supported by the 29th (Indian) Brigade, had managed to gain a tenuous hold near the summit plateau of Chunuk Bair.

On the 8th August, the 5th Wiltshires joined a composite brigade commanded by Brigadier-General Anthony Hugh Baldwin (38th Brigade), who had been ordered to spearhead another attempt to assault the Sari Bair ridge by capturing Hill Q, on the ridge-line north of Chunuk Bair. Baldwin’s brigade started moving up the Chailak Dere on the 8th August but their initial progress was slow. Then, rather than taking the already-well-established route to Chunuk Bair via The Apex, which had been used by the New Zealanders, the brigade diverted onto an unexplored route that led them into the Aghyl Dere, which led to additional delays. By the early morning of the 9th, the force was arriving just short of an enclosure known as The Farm. By the time that Baldwin’s brigade had arrived there, the linked flanking attacks on the Sari Bair ridge had already gone in and had been repulsed by the Turks. Without the flanking attacks, the main attempt to capture Hill Q also failed. Charles Bean, the Australian Official Historian, clearly regarded this attack as an opportunity lost [13]:

Thus in Godley’s third attempt upon Sari Bair the right (or New Zealand) “column” was throughout engaged in desperately resisting attack; the left (Gurkha and British) “column” reached the crest near “Q” with the enemy in full retreat, but was driven off by the shells of its own artillery; and Baldwin’s central column, which, if it had been on the crest when the bombardment ended, might have restored the position, had been diverted into the Aghyl Dere, through whose depths at the crucial moment it was still toiling.

The 6th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (38th Brigade) had already moved up to The Apex to act as reserve to the New Zealand Brigade on Chunuk Bair. Needing a second battalion to take over positions on Chunuk Bair from the New Zealanders, Major-General F. C. Shaw (commanding 13th Division) chose the 5th Wiltshires. The battalion, less D Company and part of B Company, which seems to have remained in the area around The Farm, moved up towards Chunuk Bair on the night of the 9th/10th August, but arrived late. In the meantime, the New Zealand units in the front line had been withdrawn, leaving the positions on Chunuk Bair and The Pinnacle in the hands of the Loyals. Bean provides an account of the arrival of the 5th Wiltshires [14]:

Eventually, at about 2 o’clock two-and-a-half companies of the battalion reached The Apex, and were thence guided by a New Zealander to the position on Chunuk Bair. Here Colonel Carden met Colonel Levinge of the North Lancashire. As all the trenches on Chunuk Bair were shallow, and the rearmost full of wounded, it was decided that the 5th Wiltshire should not occupy them, but should remain lower down in the spoon-shaped hollow at the head of the Sazli, near the point where the wounded were mainly collected. Here, having been told by the guide that they were in shelter, the Wiltshire waited; but at dawn they found themselves under a sniping fire, and consequently took off their equipment and began to entrench.

The War Diary of the 5th Wiltshires quotes an officer describing their position as a “cup-shaped deformation at the head of the Gulley to the right and some distance in front of our salient” [15]. Stephen Chambers identifies this as a location at the head of the Sazli Beit Dere [16].

Detail from map of Koja Chemen Tepe. Mediterranean Expeditionary Force GHQ, ca. 1915. Source: A collection of military maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula, G.H.Q. M.E.F, 1915; British Library, Digital Store Maps 43336.(21.), No. 40; Crown Copyright, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

It was not long before everything changed. Under the guidance of Mustafa Kemal, the Turks had been preparing a massive counter-attack. At 4.30 am on the 10th August, they attacked in force, pushing the Loyals and Wiltshires off Chunuk Bair. A note in the battalion War Diary states that the Wiltshires were “overwhelmed in their bivouac before they could ‘stand to’ (no alarm had been given), but the division of Turks brought over from Asia who advanced down the slope in mass” [17]. The situation was eventually stabilised with the help of the New Zealand machine-gunners and naval artillery, but the counter-attack marked the end of Allied attempts to hold on to Chunuk Bair.

Many of the Wiltshires that had not been killed in the initial onslaught were pushed into the Sazli Beit Dere, from which there was no easy escape in daylight. Some were able to escape after dark. Chambers quotes Lieutenant Walter Evans of the 8th Welsh Regiment (13th Division pioneers) [18]:

They [the survivors] were obliged to abandon all their wounded and that is why there are so many missing. The wounded in the gully remained there all day, many dying, and in the evening, when it was dark, all who were able ran back over the hill to where our bivouac was on Saturday night.

Other survivors were effectively trapped in the zone between the lines, where some would remain for weeks. Peter Liddle comments on the situation of some of these [19]:

Perhaps the most pitiful fate was that of survivors of the 5th Wiltshires, who lay between the lines for a fortnight in the Sazli Beit Dere. Water was found from a spring but was apparently supplemented by some by sympathetic Turks who knew where they were but neither fired on them nor took them prisoner. In an attempt to escape, some were killed by the Australian who mistook them for the enemy, and others by the Turks, who had observed their dash. Two men managed to reach the New Zealanders and one, in his weakened position, was carried out to help to locate and rescue the five remaining survivors.

The battalion War Diary contains some later annotations by Lieutenant H. B. L. Braund, one of which seems to corroborate the latter story: “a party of 5 men was rescued from the Gulley having been there 16 days – i.e., from Aug 10 – Aug 26th” [20].

A view of The Farm and Chunuk Bair from Table Top; one of a series of photographs taken on Gallipoli by the Australian War Records Section, 1919. Source: Australian War Memorial P07906.069 (Public Domain): https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1229063

Those in D Company and part of B also got caught up in the same Turkish counter-attack. The War Diary of the 5th Wiltshires states that D Company relieved the Gurkhas with the (6th) Royal Irish Rifles in reserve: “position attacked at dawn on Tuesday (10th) morning and through the retirement of regiments on right and left, D company are left ‘in the air’” [p10]. The battalion retreated into a gully, from where they counter-attacked with great loss.  They eventually retired from the gully in the evening. Bean summarised the situation as follows [21]:

South of The Farm, until about 9 o’clock, eighty of the 10th Hampshire and 5th Wiltshire held to the slope below the Pinnacle, and at The Farm itself the Royal Irish Rifles were still clinging to the hillside at 10.30.

General Baldwin himself was killed during the fighting on the 10th, and the vacated Farm position was occupied by the Turks over subsequent days.

The casualties suffered by the 5th Wiltshires on the 10th August were horrendous. The roll of honour appended to the published battalion War Diary lists the names of 144 dead for that date alone, and there were many more that must have died during the wider operations at Anzac. The dead included the battalion’s commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Carden, CMG, a veteran of the Matabele Wars and the South African War. The War Diary itself lists twelve officer casualties (killed, missing, or wounded) and notes that the battalion afterwards only mustered around 420 on the beach, 76 of whom had lately arrived from Lemnos [22].

IWM HU 119589: Lieutenant Colonel John Carden; Copyright: © Imperial War Museums; Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205291825

It is not entirely clear where Private Cook might have been during these actions. His newspaper obituaries do not mention them at all, and it is difficult to speculate without some additional information, e.g. knowing which Company he was serving in. The name of Cook’s friend Private Van Humbeck was initially published as being missing, but this was later corrected to state that he had re-joined his unit [23]. It is possible that Van Humbeck was one of those trapped in no man’s land after the Turkish counter-attack of the 10th August, but it seems unlikely that we will ever know for sure.

Suvla:

The 5th Wiltshires reformed on the beach at Anzac and on the 15th August moved up once again to the area just below The Apex, where they spent a few days digging trenches on Rhododendron Hill. On the 5th September, the battalion and the 8th Welsh Regiment moved to Lala Baba, in the Suvla sector, re-joining IX Corps. The 5th Wiltshires would remain there until the evacuation from Suvla and Anzac in mid-December. There would be no more offensives, but over the next few months the men would have to endure Turkish shelling and sniping, sickness (including much dysentery), and bad-weather. At the end of November, there were storms and flooding, followed by snow, blizzards, and bitterly-cold temperatures. In those conditions, the fighting sometimes got ignored in favour of simple survival.

The decision to evacuate Suvla and Anzac was taken in early December, although planning for the eventuality had already been underway for some weeks. The War Diary of the 5th Wiltshires mentioned the evacuation of stores on the 9th and 10th December, so Private Cook was killed while the battalion’s preparations for leaving Suvla were well underway. His death was mentioned briefly in the War Diary of the 5th Wiltshires, which was otherwise full of information about the evacuation [24]:

12 & 13/12/1915 – Suvla, Gallipoli
Fire trenches. Evacuation of stores continued. Party sent in advance of men with bad feet. Turks shell CHOCOLATE HILL at night.

14/12/1915 – Suvla, Gallipoli
Fire trenches. 2/Lt O’Brien and party of 6 men attached to Bde H.Q. for duty as guides etc. during evacuations. Lt Brown proceeded with Div. Advance party. Inspection by Brigadier General of Bn. in full marching order.
Patrol. 2/Lt Webb and 2 grenadiers went out and approached within 30 yards of Turkish Trenches on which they threw 3 bombs and retired under fire.
Remarks: Patrol.

15 & 16/12/1915 – Suvla, Gallipoli
The Battalion relieved by 4/SWB [4th South Wales Borderers] and proceeded to reserve lines. Pte Cook killed while on Bde. Fatigue.”

From the casualty lists attached to the published version of the battalion War Diary [25], Private Cook seems to have been the 5th Wiltshires’ final combat casualty at Suvla; he was, at least, the final member of the battalion to be killed in action during 1915 (others would die from other causes, and Pte. Albert Edward Brown would be killed in action at Helles in January 1916).

Scimitar Hill. Detail from: Map of Suvla, compiled by the Map and Survey Section, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force GHQ. Source: A collection of military maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula, G.H.Q. M.E.F, 1915; British Library, Digital Store Maps 43336.(21.); Crown Copyright, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

At the time immediately prior to the evacuation, the 40th Brigade trenches were in the centre of the 13th Division line, facing Scimitar Hill just south of Sulajik Farm [26]. The 4th Battalion, South Wales Borderers, who relieved the 5th Wiltshires on the 15th December, were the final battalion from 40th Brigade to depart from Suvla. Their regimental history describes the process of the evacuation, showing that the Wiltshires departed before them [27]:

Gradually supplies, carts, kits, surplus stores of all kinds, reserve ammunition and everything else that could be salved were conveyed to the beach and re-embarked in night. A programme was carefully worked out by the Staff, in accordance with which the battalion [the 4th SWB] relieved the Wiltshire at the firing-line on December 15th. The morning of the 19th found it and the Cheshire alone in the brigade’s trenches, the other two battalions having already embarked. Everything possible was done to make things appear quite normal, fires were lit in the usual places, men were posted up and down the lines as though the usual sentries were on duty and fired occasional shots.
[…]
Slowly the day wore on, being spent in such things as slitting the sandbags, so as to make them useless to the Turks, who were known to need them. Soon after dusk the Cheshire withdrew, leaving the S.W.B. alone in the front trenches.
[…]
The first portion of the battalion to move was the machine-gun section, which started for the beach at 7 p.m., followed an hour later by Colonel Bereford and 250 men. Three hours later 150 more under Major Kitchin stole away, leaving Captain Cahusac with 6 officers and 70 picked men to patrol the otherwise empty trenches for another two hours and a half before they in turn might retire.
[…]
At last the time came for Captain Cahusac’s party to start their three-mile tramp to the beach. The road to be followed had been carefully marked out with white flour and there was little chance of missing it. The leading party had manned the Lala Baba defences covering the place of embarkation, and when the rear-guard arrived the whole battalion was taken off on lighters and transferred to transports for conveyance to Imbros. It was 3. a.m. (December 20th) when the last of the 4th S. W.B. steamed out of Suvla Bay.”

The War Diary of the 5th Wiltshires is more succinct, but confirms the same broad timetable [28]:

17/12/1915 – Suvla, Gallipoli
Preparations for evacuation, stores sent away. Sandbags slashed. SAA [i.e. small-arms ammunition] evacuated, except 220 rounds per man.
Remarks: Evacuation.

18/12/1915 – Suvla, Gallipoli
Misty and calm.
Machine gun teams and 2/Lt O’Brien’s party remains, while Battalion paraded at 6.0p.m and left rendezvous at 6.30p.m with adv. parties of 8/Chesh [8th Cheshire Regiment] and 8/RWF [8th Royal Welsh Fusiliers]. Load heavy. Arrive Lala Baba without casualties at 8p.m and embark for Mudros.

19/12/1915 – Mudros West, Lemnos
Portianos Camp.
Arrive Mudros Harbour at 5.0a.m. Transferred to H.M.S. SWIFTSURE and thence to W. MUDROS. Pitched camp on arrival and drew few available stores.
Remarks: Camp.

The 5th Wiltshires returned to Gallipoli by the end of the year, landing at Helles on the 30th December 1915, but leaving the peninsula for the final time from Gully Beach on the 6th January. After a spell spent in Egypt (Port Said), they embarked in mid-February for Mespotamia, where the 13th Division would remain for the remainder of the war.

Looking at the casualty lists, it is also clear that Private Cook was not the only sixteen- or seventeen-year-old that was serving with the 5th Wiltshires. We do not have age data for all members of the battalion that died between July 1915 and January 1916, but the Gallipoli roll of honour in Paula Perry’s history of the battalion (which seems to be based on CWGC records) lists six that were seventeen years old, out of thirty-eight that were nineteen years old or younger [29]. Considering that recruits were supposed to be aged between 18 and 38, and officially could not be sent overseas until the age of 19, there seems to have been a lot of under-age soldiers serving in the battalion.

The action (or actions) during which Private Cook twice captured men at the point of the bayonet also remain obscure. The most substantial entry in the War Diary of the 5th Wiltshires that mentions the taking of prisoners relates to the capture of Damajelik Bair on the 6th August 1915 as part of the August Offensive [30]:

This position was taken with but slight opposition. Number of prisoners taken during the operations by the SWBs and WILTS is estimated at 250 (Reports agree that a number of the prisoners taken on this occasion were old men and very willing to fall into our hands.

Private Cook’s body was presumably buried prior to the evacuation, but the grave seems to have been subsequently lost. In Turkey, he is commemorated on the Helles Memorial (at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula). In the UK, his name appears on the war memorial in Holy Trinity Church, East Finchley [31].

Charles Van Humbeck:

Private Cook’s friend and comrade, Private Charles Van Humbeck survived the war. Despite (or perhaps because of) his unusual family name, however, he remains a bit of an enigma.

After 1915, the next mention of him that I could find was of a 9607 Pte. Humbeck of the Wilts arriving “slightly wounded” at the 4th Northern General Hospital at Lincoln on the 12 July 1916 [32]. According to his medal index card, Van Humbeck was commissioned in October 1917 [33], a fact confirmed by the London Gazette of the 28th November 1917 [34, 35]. He then went to France, where Second Lieutenant Charles Marcel Van Humbeck of the 1st Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division) was captured at Lagnicourt on the 21st March 1918, the first day of the German Spring Offensive [36]. He then became a prisoner of war in Germany, imprisoned in camps at Karlsruhe and Mainz [37, 38].

ICRC index card for 2nd Lieut. Charles Humbeck, 1st King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. Source: ICRC Historical Archives: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org

Apart from the records relating to his military service and imprisonment as a POW, Charles Marcel Van Humbeck (sometimes spelled Van-Humbeck) does not seem to feature that much in the genealogical records available via Findmypast, although he is highly-likely to be the Marcel Van Humbeeck born at Kensington (registration district) in the third quarter of 1896 (his record in the ICRC Prisoners of the First World War database states that he was born at London on the 6th July 1896). His POW record gave his home address as 90, Great Russell Street, WC., which the Kelly’s Directory from 1916 notes was also the address of “Van Humbeeck Arthur & Co. hairdressers” (a similarly named business had previously been based at 36, Fulham Road in Kensington) [39].

His name changed at least one more time. The London Gazette of the 16 January 1920 recorded that Marcel Van Humbeeck of 90 Great Russell Street had changed his name by deed poll to Charles Marcel Vann [40]. I could not find any references to him after that.

Concluding remarks:

The story of Private Cook is interesting from the perspective of his relative youth and how that was filtered through books and newspapers at the time. The fact that none of these publications managed to get his family name correct makes me wonder whether his family or former comrades actually ever knew of his posthumous “fame,” however fleeting it may have been.

Notes and references:

[1] Hendon & Finchley Times, 21 January 1916, p. 8; via British Newspaper Archive.

[2] The Dundee People’s Journal, 29 January 1916, p. 6; via British Newspaper Archive.

[3] The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser (NSW), 7 April 1916, p. 3; via National Library of Australia (TROVE Newspapers):
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128593776

[4] For example, I’ve found versions of the story in: The Chickasha Daily Express (Chickasha, Indian Territory, Oke), 20 April 1916, p. 4; The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kan.), 22 April 1916, p. 13; East Oregonian (Pendleton, OR), 15 May 1916, p. 6; all via Library of Congress (Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers):
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

[5] The Seward Gateway (Seward, Alaska), 25 April 1916, p. 2; via Alaska State Library Historical Collections (Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress):
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn2008058232/1916-04-25/ed-1/seq-2/

[6] Geoff Fox, “Brave boys and girls in wartime,” Books for Keeps, issue 206: http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/206/childrens-books/articles/brave-boys-and-girls-in-wartime

[7] John Lea, Brave boys and girls in wartime (London: Blackie and Son, n.d., ca. 1918).

[8] Image also available from British Library Images Online: https://imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/149023

[9] Findmypast: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

[10] Essex Record Office, D/P 81/1/37, Essex Baptism Index 1538-1920; via Findmypast.

[11] Paula Perry, A history of the 5th (Service) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, 1914-1919 (Salisbury: Rifles Wardrobe and Museum Trust, 2007), p. 215.

[12] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary. Transcription from: The Wiltshire Regiment in the First World War: 5th Battalion, 2nd ed. (Salisbury: Rifles Wardrobe and Museum Trust, 2011), p. 25.

[13] C. E. W. Bean, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Vol. II: The story of ANZAC from 4 May, 1915, to the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula, 11th ed. (Sydney, NSW: Angus and Robertson, 1941), pp. 699-700; digitised version of Chapter XXV available from the Australian War Memorial: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1416629
For a sane appraisal of the “lost opportunity” thesis, see: Robin Prior, Gallipoli: the end of the myth (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 185-189.

[14] Bean, p. 708.

[15] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 10.

[16] Stephen Chambers, Battleground Europe: Gallipoli: Anzac — Sari Bair (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2014), p. 130.

[17] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 12.

[18] Quoted in Chambers, Gallipoli: Anzac — Sari Bair, p. 139.

[19] Peter Liddle, Men of Gallipoli: the Dardanelles and Gallipoli experience, August 1914 to January 1916 (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1988), pp. 214-215.

[20] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 10.

[21] Bean, p. 711.

[22] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 10.

[23] Western Daily Press, 20 September 1915, p. 9; North Wilts Herald, 24 September 1915, p. 6; Western Daily Press, 6 November 1915, p. 5; all via Findmypast.

[24] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 25.

[25] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 127.

[26] C. T. Atkinson, The History of the South Wales Borderers, 1914-1918 (London: Medici Society, 1931; Naval & Military Press reprint), p. 192.

[27] Ibid., pp. 191-193.

[28] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 25.

[29] Appendix 4: Gallipoli Roll of Honour, in: Perry, A history of the 5th (Service) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, 1914-1919, pp. 177-183.

[30] 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment War Diary, p. 9.

[31] Traces of War, World War I Memorial Holy Trinity Church [East Finchley]:
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/84246/War-Memorial-WWI-Holy-Trinity-Church.htm

[32] Lincolnshire Echo, 17 July 1916, p. 1; via British Newspaper Archive.

[33] WO 372/10, British Army Medal Index Cards, 1914-1920, The National Archives, Kew.

[34] Supplement to the London Gazette, 28 November 1917, p. 12471:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30403/supplement/12471

[35] 2/Lieut. Humbeck’s service records are in the National Archives (WO 339/93462), so I will see whether I will be able to find out any more about him from those when I am able to visit again.

[36] WO 95/1609/4, 1st Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry War Diary, The National Archives, Kew

[37] Newcastle Journal, 8 June 1918, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[38] International Committee of the Red Cross, Prisoners of the First World War: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/
ICRC index card: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/738710/3/2/
Gefangenenliste des Lagers Mainz, 27. April 1918: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/738710/698/23827/

[39] Kelly’s Post Office Directory for London, 1916, p. 363, via Findmypast.

[40] London Gazette, 16 January 1920, p. 764:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31737/page/764

Private Richard Hubert Hanks. Source: De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour

17419 Private Richard Hubert Hanks of the 10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment died at Trent Bridge Military Hospital in Nottingham on the 4th December 1915, aged twenty-five, having been seriously wounded on the 25th September 1915 during the Battle of Loos. Hubert Hanks was also a bellringer at Painswick (Gloucestershire) and a member of the Ancient Society of Painswick Youths and the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers. He left a widow and two young children.

Private Hanks’s entry in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour provides a succinct outline of his life [1]:

HANKS, RICHARD HUBERT, Private, No. 17419, 10th (Service) Battn. The Gloucestershire Regt., yst. s. of Thomas Henry Hanks, of Butt Green, Painswick, Labourer, by his wife, Mary Jane, dau. of William Workman; b. Painswick, co. Gloucester, 6 March, 1890; educ. Board School there; was employed as a Builder with Messrs. Burdock & Sons, Painswick, during which time he was a member of the local fire brigade, and a Church Bell Ringer; enlisted 1 Jan. 1915; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, and died in Trent-bridge Military Hospital, Nottingham, 4 Dec. following, from wounds received in action at the Battle of Loos, 25 Sept. While at school he was a member of the Church Lads’ and Boys’ Brigade, also a member of the Church Choir, and was a keen sportsman, playing for the Painswick Cricket Club. He m. at Stroud, 21 Dec. 1912, Emma Elizabeth, dau. of Joseph Foxwell, and had two children: Hubert Francis Joseph, b. 24 Nov. 1914, and Olive Susan Mary, b. 25 Sept. 1913.

This post will describe what happened to the 10th Gloucesters at the Battle of Loos, before going on to outline Richard Hubert Hanks’s life and bell-ringing career in a little more detail.

The 10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment:

The 10th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was formed at Bristol in September 1914 as part of the K3 Army Group of Kitchener’s New Army, being initially attached to the 26th Division as Army Troops [2]. The battalion recruited from all around the County of Gloucestershire.

In early August, the 10th Gloucesters were at No. 6 Camp, Sutton Veny (Wiltshire) when they got the order to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front. Starting early on the 8th August, three trains took the battalion to Southampton, where in the evening they would sail for Le Havre. The battalion War Diary (WO 95/1265/2) recorded that it was an “uneventful crossing” [3]. Disembarking at 7.00 AM on the 9th, the battalion marched to No. 5 Rest Camp:

LE HAVRE. 9.8.15. 7.a.m. Very hot day; a number of men, lately vaccinated, fell out on way to camp; pave very difficult to march on, with heavily loaded packs, and new boots.

The following day, the battalion moved by truck to GHQ at Saint Omer, via Étaples, Boulogne and Calais. From there they marched to Tatinghem, where they were billeted in the village.

Water indifferent, also sanitation of village. Lately vaccinated men recovering slowly.

On the 16th August, the battalion started a two-day march to Béthune, in order to join 1st Brigade in the 1st Division, which was at that point in General Rawlinson’s IV Corps, in the British First Army. The battalion, together with the 8th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, took the place of the 1st Battalions of the Coldstream and Scots Guards, who were leaving the brigade in order to form part of a new Guards Division. In 1st Brigade, the two New Army battalions were to join the 1st Battalions of the Black Watch and the Cameron Highlanders, as well as the 1/14th Battalion, the London Regiment (the London Scottish).

BETHUNE. 19.8.15. 6.0am. German aeroplane dropped bombs on BETHUNE. 1 N.C.O. & 1 men of this unit wounded.

The following day, the battalion started to familiarise themselves with the realities of trench warfare, under the instruction of 1st Division units:

BETHUNE. 19.8.15. 6.0am. Left for trenches. No. 1 Coy. Went to 1st GLOSTERS in Trenches Z.1., No. 2 Coy. to 1st CAMERONS in Y.3., No. 3 Coy., to LONDON SCOTTISH in Y.2, and No. 4 Coy., to 1st SCOTS GUARDS in Y.1., H.Q. of Battn. Situated at SAILLY LABOURSE. Companies remained with units named, in the trenches, for instructional purposes, for 19th, 20th, 21st August 1915. Two casualties (wounded men) in No. 4 Coy., from exploding shell. Transport bivouacked 2½ miles off at LABOURSE.

On the 29th August, the 10th Gloucesters were inspected by the GOC 1st Brigade (Brigadier-General A. J. Reddie) at Béthune, who “expressed himself very pleased with unit.” The battalion War Diary provides an outline of their movements and activities in the in run-up to what became known as the Battle of Loos [4]:

BETHUNE. 31.8.15. 2.pm. Left BETHUNE, marching with 1st Brigade, via ANNEZIN, LAPUGNOY, AUCHEL, CAUCHY A LA TOUR, to FERFAY, in which village unit billeted. Accommodation for billeting very poor and cramped. BLACK WATCH billeted in same village. No. 1 Company had to proceed to BELLERY to find billets.

Billeting party consists of Quartermaster, Interpreter, 4 Coy. Q.M. Serjts., 4 Coy. Billeting Orderly Guides, Sanitary Sergt., and 4 Sanitary men. Water supply in FERFAY very limited, and only fit for drinking after boiling. 3. Field Travelling Kitchens broke down (axle tree snapped) and returned for repair.

FERFAY. 1.9.15. 11.0am. Inspected by G.O.C., 1st Division, General [Richard] Haking, who made very complimentary remarks.

[Haking would shortly afterwards be promoted to command XI Corps, his position as GOC 1st Division being taken over by Major-General Arthur Edward Aveling Holland]

FERFAY. 2.9.15. Battalion proceeded to start training 15 hours a day. Training for actual field service attack, defence, discipline.

3.9.15. Moved whole Machine Gun detachment to BELLERY, and found room for Transport personnel, in billets at FERFAY. Sickness amounting to 20 or 30 men, some with diarrhoea, others sore feet.

[…]

FERFAY. 3/9/15. On the march from BETHUNE to FERFAY, three field kitchens broke down, the axle tree having given way. It would appear that this is not strong enough considering the nature of the roads and pave which is encountered. These kitchens with the other one were sent to I.O.M. to be repaired and strengthened.

FERFAY. 3/9/15 to 10/9/15. Days spent in training; practising the attack over trenches, bombing instruction and firing at rifle range. On the 10/9/15 came first news of an impending push by the Allies. Object, to relieve pressure on our Russian allies to attempt to break through German lines, and threaten communications on their western front. Gas is to be used for the first time. Frontage in the attack allotted. 8th BERKS and 10th GLOSTERS to assault from new fire and support trench in Y.1.

FERFAY. 12/9/15. Working party under Lieut. RIDDLE and 2nd Lieut. GEORGE proceeded to trenches to assist 117th Batt. R.F.A. in digging gun emplacements.

14/9/15/ 2nd Lieut. GEORGE, E.C. accidentally shot by revolver bullet in lower abdomen by a subaltern of R.F.A. Taken to No. 1. Casualty Clearing Hospital at CHOCQUES.

18/9/15 2nd Lieut. GEORGE, E.C. died of wounds. Buried at CHOCQUES.

10/9/15 to 15/9/15. Battalion continues in training at FERFAY.

FERFAY. 18/9/15. Provided a fatigue party of 6 officers, 20 NCO’s and 284 men for carrying up gas cylinders from VERMELLES to front fire trenches in Y.1. This party under command of Capt. TONGUE, J.W.C.

18/9/15. 9.0am. 2nd Lieut. CAWS, R.N. with 1 N.C.O. & batman proceeded to WISQUES to undergo advanced course of M/c Gunnery. 2/Lieut TURNER, E.H. went to trenches to arrange and understand the system of communication in the impending attack. Outbreak of MUMPS in No. 1 Coy.

VERMELLES. 20/9/15. Working party mentioned above continue their work in taking up gas.

LE MARQUET WOOD. 21/9/15. Battalion moved from FERFAY at 9.30 a.m. to bivouac in LE MARQUET wood. Here working party from trenches rejoined.

22/9/15. 7.0am. Moved on via GOSNAY where all packs were dumped. Lieut. CARNEGY, F.A. remained with 95 mump contact cases. Arrived at Area ‘C’ in VAUDRICOURT WOOD where Battn. rested until 7 p.m., moving at this hour via RED ROUTE to trenches in SAILLY – NOYELLES lines.

NOYELLES. 23/9/15. Remained in trenches for night. Moved at 7 p.m. to take over Y.1 trenches from 2nd WELCH Regt.

Y.1 TRENCHES. 24/9/15. Moved up into battle position at 7.30 p.m. BLACK WATCH coming in as supporting battalion.

TRENCHES. 24/9/15. Notes from Arrival Inspection Report. Date of arrival 9.8.15; date disembarkation completed 9.8.15; date of inspection of personnel 9.8.15; date of inspection of transport 10.8.15; date of departure 10.8.15. (1). Personnel (strength) 30 Officers, 985 Other Ranks. (2). Establishment 30 Officers, 995 Other Ranks. (3). Health of personnel, V Good. Cases of Venereal, NIL. Numbers inoculated 1015 (once) 1015 (twice). (4) Rifles (Marks & Condition), S.L.E. Mk 1* (1), Mk 1*** (1) S.L.E. Mk III. Remainder, good. (5). Rifle ammn. Complete. (6). Revolver ammn. Complete, Mk. II. (7). Machine Guns. 3 V. Maxims, No mark on Guns. (8). M/c Gun Ammn. Complete. (9). Guns, NIL (10). Gun ammn., NIL (11). Equipment, Good Complete. (12). Clothing, Good Complete (13). Great Coats, Good Complete. (14). Boots, Standard No. 1. Good. (15). Field Dressings, Complete with Iodine.  (16). Blankets, NIL. (17). Ground sheets, Good Complete. (18). Vehicles – Establishment Complete, inclusive of 4 G.S. waggons, 11 limbered waggons, 4 travelling kitchens, 2 water carts, 1 Maltese cart, 1 officers mess cart, 9 cycles. (19). Spare Parts Complete. (20). Horses (numbers & types) 12, Riding, 17 L.D., 7 H.D., 36 Mules. (21). Harness (Pattern) P.D. G.S.

TRENCHES. 25/9/15. 6.30 a.m. The battalion was ordered to deliver an assault on the first line system of German defences, which included three lines of entrenchments, with the primary objective HULLUCH and PUITS No. 14 BIS (ref. map No. 36.c.NW.3 and Part of 1 TRENCH MAP Scale 1:10,000). The assault was carried out in 3 lines, frontage being BOIS CARRÉE inclusive to Point 39 in G.17.d. The attack was delivered at 6.30 a.m. on 25/9/18 with the accompaniment of gas and smoke. The wind was not quite favourable with the result that from the start several men were affected. Notwithstanding this drawback the three lines moved forward punctually to the moment, machine guns accompanying. The Germans wire entanglement, which had been torn into gaps by bombardment, proved a considerable obstacle. The wind proving more favourable to the enemy than ourselves, in the smoke, direction was not properly maintained, but deflected to the right. Heavy resistance was encountered at the support and reserve German works, at the first, the enemy eventually evacuating these positions, and retreating towards HULLUCH. Our bombers suffered severely, their bombs in the main refusing to explode, the BROCK lighter having got wet with the rain, which fell in the early morning. Nevertheless the assault was pushed home with the utmost resolution over the 2nd German line into the third, and up the flanking communication trenches to eastwards. In this phase the Camerons and Black Watch co-operated. The officers fell as the position of their bodies showed, leading their men, and 16 out of 21 officers were lost. The bodies of our dead indicated how they died with faces to the enemy. One of our m/c guns was put out of action on coming over the parapet, but 2 other guns reached a point in advance of Point 89, constructed later. The action resulted in many German surrenders, and their flight from the position they were forced to evacuate by the rapid and continuous push of the assault. During night, under heavy rain, unit was reformed, some 60 survivors assembling, increased by 3rd day to 130.

26/9/15 and 17/9/15/ Lieut ROYDS and 2nd Lieuts TURNER and LISMORE with 3 m/c guns and 40 men garrisoned keep 89, strengthening positions there at point 76: G.18.a. At night Battn. was relieved and returned to Y1 trenches, remaining there during the day.

29/9/15. 11.35 Battn. was relieved from TRENCHES in Y1. By GUARDS BDE. And proceeded  to billet in LES BREBIS. Here, at 6.0 a.m., Lt Col H.E. PRITCHARD left, under orders from G.O.C. 1st Inf. Bde. [Sentence obscured].

30/9/15. Major H. SUTHERLAND of the BLACK WATCH came and took over command.

NOEUX LES MINES. 30/9/15. Left LE BREBIS, proceeding to NOEUX LES MINES. Considerable trouble experienced here in billeting men, who with stragglers now rejoined amount to 11 officers, 373 men ration strength, and fighting strength of 9 officers, 276 men, exclusive of the 10 & 96 O.R. who still remain isolated at GOSNAY. Very difficult to obtain […] exact statistics of casualties, having no record of wounded, or those suffering from gas poisoning. Officers casualties are as follows: killed 8 (Captains TONGUE, J.W.C., GIBBS, I.R., SALE, E.H., Lieuts. ROBINSON, G.W., SYMONS, C.A., WHIFFIN, H.A., LEARY, G.G.W., 2nd Lieut. FIELD, G.W.), wounded 5 (Majors KIRKWOOD, J.G., PATERSON, W.R., Captain WHITWORTH, A.S., 2nd Lieuts. TATE, W.R., NEEMS, P.V.N.), missing 2 (Captain MOSS, E.H., 2nd Lieut. SCARISBRICK, T.S., the last named officer was assisting as 2nd in Command of the 1st Inf. Bde. WIRING PARTY.)

NOEUX LES MINES. 1/10/15. Moved billets again, one coy. going to BLACK WATCH, Nos. 2 & 4 to LONDON SCOTTISH, and No. 3 and M.G. Section to CAMERONS. List of deficiencies made, and general rest time for men. Baths obtained at BREWERY at K.18.b1.9. (Sheet 36.B).

Reference operations described above, the following message was received “The Corps Commander wishes to convey to all ranks his sincerest congratulations and thanks for their brilliant success to-day a.m. The G.O.C. 1st Divn. wishes to add his own thanks also.”

Of the officers that died on the 25th September 1915, Captains I. R. Gibbs, E. H. Sale, and John William Collis Tongue, Lieutenants G. G. W. Leary, Hartley Allen Whiffin, and Geoffrey Wathen Robinson, and Second Lieutenant G. W. Field are all buried in St. Mary’s A.D.S. Cemetery at Haisnes. Captain Edward Hampton Moss and Lieutenant Clement Aubrey Symons are commemorated on the Loos Memorial. Of the other 163 members of the 10th Gloucesters that died between the 25th and 30th September, 120 have no known grave and are named on the Loos Memorial. Others are buried in a host of nearby cemeteries, including Dud Corner Cemetery at Loos (20), St. Mary’s A.D.S. Cemetery (6), and Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery at Souchez (7).

Vermelles and Hulluch. Detail from Trench Map 36.c.NW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 3; Published: 1915: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465014 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) 

The 1st Brigade attack on the 25th September 1915:

The Battle of Loos was an attack by six British Divisions on an x mile front running from the La Bassée Canal in the north to the outskirts of Lens. Part of General Sir Douglas Haig’s First Army, three Divisions of I. Corps would attack north of the Vermelles – Hulluch road, while three Divisions of IV. Corps would attack south of it. After a preliminary artillery bombardment, the attack (after having been postponed) went in at 6:30 on the 25th September 1915.

The 10th Gloucesters were part of the 1st Division’s attack on the Lone Tree Ridge. The British Official History [5] noted that the original plan of attack for the Loos offensive was for the 1st Division to remain in reserve, so that it would be able to follow-up an attempt by the 15th (Scottish) Division to capture the village of Loos (Loos-en-Gohelle). However, the plan was later changed to one where all six divisions in I. and IV. Corps would attack simultaneously, following a discharge of gas from canisters — a weapon that was new to the British.

The 1st Division were on the left flank of IV. Corps, with the 7th Division (I. Corps) on their left, and the 15th (Scottish) Division on their right. The 1st Brigade front ran south from the Vermelles — Hulluch road to a shattered cherry tree known as Lone Tree. Facing the brigade was a destroyed copse, the Bois Carrée, and another defended position known as La Haie.

The British Official History outlines the 1st Division plan for the 25th September [6]:

The 1st Division was disposed with the 2nd and 1st Brigades in the front line and the 3rd in divisional reserve. The 2nd Brigade (Br.-General J. H. W. Pollard), on the right, was to assault on a 600-yard frontage between Northern Sap and Lone Tree, the solitary cherry tree in No Man’s Land that had blossomed in May, but was now so mutilated that only a bare trunk, 15-feet high, and broken stumps of branches remained. After over-running the German front and support trenches, the assaulting battalions would be on ground which overlooked the Loos valley; this they were to cross in a south-easterly direction, so as to bring their right in touch with the left of the 15th Division at Puits 14 bis and Bois Hugo, 2,000 yards ahead on the Lens-La Bassée road.

The 1st Brigade (Br.-General A. J. Reddie), between Lone Tree and the Vermelles – Hulluch road, was to advance due east, with the southern part of Hulluch village as its first objective.

The two brigades were thus to attack from the first on divergent lines, and, to fill the increasing gap that would be created between them as they progressed, an independent force was formed by taking away from each of them their extra (fifth) battalion, the London Scottish (1/14th London) from the 1st Brigade and the 1/9th King’s (Liverpool) from the 2nd Brigade. This detachment was kept directly under the division, and placed under Lieut.-Colonel E. W. B. Green of the 2/Royal Sussex. It was to move behind the inner flanks of the 1st and 2nd Brigades, and, on their reaching the Lens – La Bassée road, was to close the gap between them.

From the Lens road the attack was to be continued against the German second position, a thousand yards beyond, between Bois Hugo and Hulluch. This further advance would be supported by the 8rd Brigade (Br.-General H. R. Davies), moving close behind, and would be carried out in co-operation with the 15th Division on the right, and the 7th Division (I. Corps) on the left. After crossing the second position, the 1st Division was to continue due eastwards to the Haute Deule canal.

The Battle of Loos commenced at 6:30 am on the 25th September. Philip Warner noted that progress in the 1st Division area was slow, especially in the centre [7]:

The gas moved very slowly and the advancing troops were soon themselves in it. Worse still, the German wire had escaped being cut by artillery and could not be cut by hand. The attack in the centre stopped completely. This was a serious setback but not a disaster. Unfortunately, instead of accepting the lesson that further attacks in this sector would be costly and unprofitable – if not hopeless – further assaults were intermittently made.

The attack in the 1st Brigade sector, which was led by the brigade’s New Army battalions, was more successful. Why Brigadier-General Reddie chose his New Army battalions to spearhead the attack is not entirely clear. Andrew Rawson speculates that he possibly hoped “to capitalize on the enthusiasm and innocence of the New Army men to break through the first line of trenches,” thus enabling the more experienced units to push on and capture Hulluch [8].

The results of the attack were recorded by the Official History [9]:

The attack of the 1st Brigade on the left was more successful. The 10/Gloucestershire (Lieut.-Colonel H. E. Pritchard) and the 8/R. Berkshire (Colonel W. C. Walton) led the way. The gas, especially the fumes from some leaky cylinders, had affected these battalions also; but the advance, carried out in three lines at 50 paces distance, was not delayed on this account. Immediately in front of the brigade on the crest of the ridge were the remains of two small copses, Bois Carré in front of the Gloucestershire, and La Haie in front of the Berkshire. Both had been reduced to low shattered scrub and offered no obstacle and little cover; but saps had been dug forward to each from the German trench, and in them placed machine guns, which had not been destroyed during the bombardment. In crossing No Man’s Land the battalions had many casualties from their fire, and suffered also from the German artillery, which was bursting shell in the cloud of smoke and gas in the hope of dispersing it.

Although the Gloucestershire, on the right, suffered particularly severely, they overran Bois Carré and captured the German front trench. Here, however, their further advance was held up by heavy rifle fire from the German support line eighty yards beyond. This they attacked over the open, again with heavy loss; but, on their approach, the Germans fled along the communication trenches towards Hulluch. The 10/Gloucestershire had, however, been destroyed as a battalion, and only sixty survivors continued the advance.

As has already been mentioned, the War Diary of the 10th Gloucesters recorded in stark terms the destruction of the battalion [10]:

The officers fell as the position of their bodies showed, leading their men, and 16 out of 21 officers were lost. The bodies of our dead indicated how they died with faces to the enemy.

The War Diary of the 8th Berkshires (WO 95/1265/1), who were on the left flank of the 10th Gloucesters, also provides an indication of the intensity of the fighting south of the Vermelles – Hulluch road, as well as some insight into German defensive tactics  [11]:

[Y.1. 25.9.15.] 6.30 A.M. The fire of our artillery lifted, and the Battalion advanced in quick time to assault the first line Enemy Trenches, the 10th Gloucester Regt. being on the right, the 2nd Gordons [20th Brigade, 7th Division] on the left. The advance was opposed by heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, while the wire in front of the German trenches was found to be scarcely damaged, and it was in cutting a way through this obstacle that most of the regiment’s heavy casualties occurred. Shrapnel and machine-gun combined to play havoc in our ranks and on additional disaster was the blowing back of our gas, by the wind, into our own ranks. However, after a struggle, the German first line was penetrated, and the trench found to be practically deserted, the enemy apparently having deserted it earlier in the day, merely leaving behind sufficient men to work the machine-guns. Mainly overland but with some men working up the communication trench, our line advanced successfully to the 2nd and 3rd German lines, and met with but slight opposition. From the 3rd line a further advance was made, and an Enemy Field Gun captured. A 4th line German trench was also seized, but being in so incomplete a state that it afforded little cover from rifle fire and none whatever from shrapnel. COLONEL WALTON ordered the line to be withdrawn to the 3rd German line trench, and the position was occupied until the Battalion was relieved.

Nick Lloyd describes this part of the 25th September attack as the 1st Brigade bludgeoning a path through the German front line [12].

Philip Warner summarises what happened next, in which the survivors of the New Army battalions combined with the 1st Cameron Highlanders to infiltrate Hulluch. But with no support available, their temporary occupation of the village was all to no avail [13]:

A mixed force was hastily arranged from the survivors of the Gloucesters, Berkshires and 1st Cameron Highlanders. Here an advance party found a gap in the German wire and entered Hulluch village. The Germans had deserted their trenches in this part of the line and were falling back. The news was thought to be too good to be true and no effort was made to switch Green’s force or other reinforcements into the sector. In consequence the advance party, consisting of thirty Camerons, stayed in the village from 0900 hrs. till early afternoon. They were then driven out by the arrival of the German 157th Regiment.

The British attack of the 25th September had mixed results. Some divisions (especially the 15th and 47th) had made significant gains, while others (for example, the 2nd Division) achieved very little. The 1st Division had managed to capture and hold several lines of the German defensive system, at considerable cost, but still ended up some way short of their intended objectives. Nick Lloyd comments that, “in many cases, once the attacking battalions had crossed the German front line, they were in no fit state to go much further” [14]. This certainly seems largely true for the 10th Gloucesters on the 25th September.

Bois Carrée, Lone Tree, and Hulluch in June 1916. Detail from Trench Map 36C.NW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 7A; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 12 June 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465011 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) 

The Battle of Loos continued until the 28th September, with German counter-attacks eventually pushing the British back to their starting positions. The British would attack again on the 13th October in an attempt to capture German positions at the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8, but this was also a costly failure. The Battle of Loos is chiefly now remembered as a German defensive triumph. The human cost is highlighted by the 20,639 casualties with no known grave named on the Loos Memorial to the Missing at Dud Corner Cemetery. Many more are buried in cemeteries in the area.

After Loos, there was much criticism of the British Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal French, especially for his handling of reserves (XI. Corps) on the opening day of the offensive. After much intrigue, French was “resigned” in December 1915 and replaced as Commander-in-Chief by the GOC of First Army, General Sir Douglas Haig.

Richard Hubert Hanks:

Richard Hubert Hanks was born at Painswick on the 6 March 1890, the son of Thomas Hanks and Mary Jane Hanks (née Workman). The family featured in the 1891 Census, living at Butt Green, Painswick. Thomas Hanks was forty-two years old and working as a general labourer, while Mary Hanks was forty. At the age of one, Hubert was at that time the youngest of the five children in the household, who also included: Edward (aged 15, an agricultural labourer), John (13, a mill hand), James (8) and Matilda (5), who were both still at school. Hubert was still living at Butt Green with his family at the time of the 1901 Census. Thomas Hanks was now fifty-two years old and working as a domestic gardener, while Mary Hanks was fifty. Hubert was eleven years old and attending school. He was still the youngest person in the household, the others now being: Albert (aged 25, a hair pin machinist) and James (19, an agricultural labourer).

Painswick: St Mary’s Church (Gloucestershire)

The entry for Richard Hubert Hanks in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour states that, while at school, he “was a member of the Church Lads’ and Boys’ Brigade, also a member of the Church Choir, and was a keen sportsman, playing for the Painswick Cricket Club.”

In 1908, the Gloucestershire Echo of the 24th January 1908 [15] reported that Hubert Hanks was a witness in a court case at Stroud. Frank Trow, a labourer, had been summoned for having been drunk in Bell Street, Painswick, after being ejected from an inn. Hubert was a witness for the defendant, stating that Trow was not drunk, although he knew that he had been ejected from the inn. On his seeking to adjourn the case in order to call more witnesses, Trow was then summoned for assault in an altercation with the landlord of the Bell Inn a few days previously, and the court eventually ordered him to pay 24s, with an additional fine of 6s. 6d for “refusing to quit.”

Painswick: St Mary’s Church; from Ringing World, 2nd June 1916, p. 251.

At some point, Hubert learnt to ring church bells and joined the band at Painswick, who were known as the Ancient Society of Painswick Youths. He rang the tenor to a peal of Grandsire Triples at Painswick on the 10 December 1910 [16]. The published record in the Bell News does not specify that this was his first peal, but it certainly seems to have been his first peal at Painswick. He also rang the tenor to another peal of Grandsire Triples at Painswick on the 14 January 1911 [17].

The Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 14 January 1911 (p. 596)

The 1911 Census records the Hanks family living at Gloucester Street, Painswick. Thomas Hanks was sixty-three years old and working as a general labourer, while Mary Jane Hanks was sixty-two. Richard Hubert Hanks was by then twenty-one years old and working as a bricklayer’s labourer. His older brother, George James Hanks (now 29), was working as a farm labourer. The 1911 Census return also recorded that Thomas and Mary Hanks had had six children, two of whom had died. Hubert’s entry in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour records that Hubert was employed as a bricklayer with Messrs. Burdock & Sons, Painswick, as well as being a member of the local fire brigade.

Hubert also kept up with his bellringing, ringing several more peals on the tenor at Painswick. On the 8th July 1911, he rang in a peal of Grandsire Caters for the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, which was his first peal on ten bells [18].

The Ringing World, 21st July 1911 (p. 291)

Hanks would ring several more peals at Painswick over the next few years, always covering on the 26 cwt tenor bell.

Richard Hubert Hanks’s entry in De Ruvigny’s records that he married Emma Elizabeth Foxwell, the daughter of Joseph Foxwell, at Stroud on the 21 December 1912. They would have two children: Olive Susan Mary (born 25 September 1913), and Hubert Francis Joseph (born 24 November 1914).

A few days after his wedding, Hubert was back in the tower at Painswick, ringing a peal of Grandsire Triples [19].

The Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 11th January 1913, p. 577.

Hubert Hanks’s ringing career culminated in a long-length peal of 7,325 changes of Grandsire Cinques, which was rung at Painswick on the 24th March 1913, with Hubert (as usual) ringing the tenor bell [20]. This was the longest peal rung on the bells at Painswick since a peal of 8,448 Stedman Cinques rung in 1858

The Ringing World, 28 March 1913 (p. 206)

This performance is marked by an elaborate peal board in the ringing chamber at Painswick. This also records another long-length of Grandsire Cinques that was rung on the 14th February 1920, in which the tenor was rung by Albert Hanks, who was probably Hubert’s older brother.

Painswick: Peal board in St Mary’s Church (Gloucestershire)

Hubert Hanks’s final peal at Painswick seems to have been one of Grandsire Cinques rung on the 4th April 1914 [21].

The Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 11th April 1914, p. 67.

The Painswick Youths attempted to ring a very long peal of 12,473 (or 12,475) changes of Grandsire Cinques on the 25th April 1914. As usual with record attempts, the date and time was announced in the Ringing World, but the peal apparently failed after around three hours of excellent ringing [22]. It is not recorded whether Hubert Hanks was part of this particular attempt, but it seems highly-likely that he would have been the tenor ringer (as per usual for the Painswick band). A record length of 13,001 changes of Grandsire Cinques was eventually scored at Painswick on the 14 February 1920.

Richard Hubert Hanks enlisted at Stroud on the 1st January 1915, joining the 10th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. It appears that a peal had been arranged for a date-and-time when Hubert and three others serving in HM Forces would have been at home on leave, but the imminent move of the 10th Gloucesters to France seems to have intervened in Hubert’s case. The peal was successfully rung on the 2nd August 1915, with only William Ireland able to take part [23].

The Ringing World, 13 August 1915 (p. 62).

Private Hanks was seriously wounded in the leg on the 25th September 1915. He was at first evacuated to a Base Hospital, and then repatriated to the military hospital based at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground in Nottingham. He died there on the 4th December, following the amputation of a leg on the 23rd November. He was buried at Painswick on the 8th December 1915.

An account of the funeral was published in the Cheltenham Chronicle of the 18th December 1915 [24]:

The large gathering of Painswickians and others who attended the funeral of Private Richard Hubert Hanks, of the 10th Gloucesters, was evidence of the respect in which the deceased soldier was held. He was wounded in September in the advance of Loos, and died after having had a leg amputated at a hospital in Nottingham. The authorities were unable to accord the gallant hero a military funeral, but the firemen of the division saw to it that he was interred with spectacular ceremony. For they attended in full uniform, and the body was conveyed to the cemetery on the Painswick fire engine, the coffin being enveloped in the Union Jack, while upon it was placed the deceased’s fireman’s helmet, tunic, and belt. Although only 25 years of age, he had crowded a lot of honorary service into his life, for in addition to serving in the Fire Brigade he was a ringer, being a member of the Society of Painswick Youths, and the ringers paid special tribute to his memory by a performance on the far-famed bells of Painswick Church.

* * *

Private Hanks had rung several peals on the 8, 10, and 12 bells, including a peal of cinques on the 12 bells of 7,325 changes in five hours, in which he rang the tenor bell. Of him the Master Ringer, Mr. William Hale, says: “He was always an excellent striker and a steady ringer.” The bells were chimed before and after the memorial service in the church, and after the funeral a deeply muffled peal was rung, consisting of a quarter peal of grandsire triples, 1,260 changes, in 57 minutes, followed by the solemn ringing known as the whole pull and stand. The age of 25 was tolled on the tenor bell. The honour paid to this true Painswick soldier was well deserved, and it will serve as some consolation to the family in their bereavement.

The Ringing World also published a fairly-long account of Private Hanks’s funeral, including the names of those that had rung in the memorial quarter peal [25]:

SOLDIER-RINGER DIES OF WOUNDS.

The Ancient Society of Painswick Youths have lost a much esteemed member by the death of Pte Hubert Hanks, of the 10th Gloucester Regiment, who died of wounds received in action. He was seriously wounded in the advance on Loos on September 25th, and had been in hospital at Nottingham, where he made a long and bravo fight for life. At one time it was hoped he might recover. He had to undergo an operation for the removal of a leg. and, at a time when there seemed to be hope for him, grew suddenly worse. His wife was summoned, and was present when he passed away. He died a true soldier’s death, and the widow, who, with two children, is left to mourn her loss, has received from Lord Kitchener a letter conveying the sympathy of the King and Queen.

The deceased was a consistent and valued member of the Painswick Youths for about seven years, and, while he was always a tenor ringer, he was an excellent striker. Of genial and cheery nature, his loss will by much felt by the hand. He had rung about twelve peals, including 7,325 Grandsire Cinques. Pte Hanks was also a member of the Painswick Fire Brigade, and was given a fireman’s funeral, the remains being taken to Painswick for interment. The service was conducted by the Revs. H. Seddon and T. M. Williams, and the sad obsequies were very impressive. Before the service the ringers chimed the bells, and the service opened with the “Dead March” in Saul. The coffin, which had rested in the church since the morning, was covered with the Union Jack, upon which wore the deceased’s fireman’s helmet and coat. The hymns sung were “Now the labourer’s task is o’er” and “Peace, perfect peace.” There was a large number of Painswick residents present to pay a last mark of respect, and the Fire Brigades represented were: Painswick, Brimscombe, Stroud Volunteer and Stroud Urban Council. The local V.T.C. attended, as well as boys from Painswick School. The wreaths included one inscribed: “With the Ancient Society of Painswick Youths’ deepest sympathy for an esteemed member who lost his life for his country,” and another, “From the members of the Painswick Fire Brigade, ‘He did his bit.’”

After the funeral a quarter-peal of Grandsire Triples was rung, with the bells deeply muffled, and the solemn whole pull and stand by Thos. Wright 1, William Hastings 2, William Hale 3, Albert Wright (conductor) 4, C. West 5, William Staits 6, William Ryland 7, Frank Cole 8.

The Ringing World, 24 December 1915 (p. 291)

On the 8th January 1916, the Painswick ringers also rang a half-muffled peal of Grandsire Triples “to the memory of those who have fallen in the war,” which presumably would have included their former comrade Hubert [26].

The Ringing World, 14th January 1916 (p. 15)

In February 1916, the late Private Hanks’s name appeared in a list published in the Ringing World of members of the Stroud and District Branch of the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Association that had joined HM Forces [27]. It names the Painswick ringers serving at that time as Stanley Cole (Army Service Corps), William Ireland (10th Gloucesters), and Fred Millard (6th Gloucesters). All four had previously rung peals at Painswick.

The Ringing World, 4th February 1916 (p. 51)

An Armistice peal of Grandsire Caters was rung at Painswick on the 26th December 1918 [28].

The Ringing World, 17th January 1919 (p. 18)

The name of Richard H. Hanks features on the war memorial cross at Painswick.

Painswick: War Memorial (Gloucestershire)

Hubert’s parents both died in the Stroud district, presumably Painswick, in the 1920s: Mary J. Hanks in the 2nd quarter of 1925, aged 76; Thomas Hanks in the 1st quarter 1927, aged 78.

Hubert’s widow married Charles J. Pearce in the Stroud district in the 1st quarter of 1919. Emma Elizabeth Pearce of Glendale House, Vicarage Street, Painswick died at the Royal Hospital in Gloucester on the 10th September 1963.

Painswick: War Memorial Cross (Gloucestershire)

References:

[1] De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour; via Findmypast.

[2] Gloucestershire Regiment, The Long, Long Trail:
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/gloucestershire-regiment/

[3] WO 95/1265/2, 10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[4] Ibid.

[5] James E. Edmonds,  Military Operations: France and Belgium, 1915, Vol II, 2nd ed., History of the Great War Based on Official Documents (London: Macmillan, 1930), p. 208:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210676/page/n311

[6] Edmonds, pp. 209-210:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210676/page/n315

[7] Philip Warner, The Battle of Loos (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2009), p. 14.

[8] Andrew Rawson, Battleground Europe: Loos – Hill 70 (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2002), p. 44.

[9] Edmonds, p. 212:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210676/page/n317

[10] WO 95/1265/2, 10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[11] WO 95/1265/1, 8th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[12] Nick Lloyd, Loos, 1915 (Stroud: The History Press, 2008), p. 132.

[13] Warner, pp. 14-15.

[14] Lloyd, p. 145.

[15] Gloucester Echo, 24 January 1908, p. 4; via British Newspaper Archive.

[16] Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 24 January 1911, p. 596:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/bn29_11.pdf

[17] Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 25 February 1911, p. 669:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/bn29_11.pdf

[18] Ringing World, 21 July 1911, p. 291:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/rw1911.pdf

[19] Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 11 January 1913, p. 577:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/bn31_13.pdf

[20] Ringing World, 28 March 1913, p. 206:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1913_a.pdf

[21] Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 11 April 1914, p. 67:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/bn33_14.pdf

[22] Ringing World, 10th April 1914, p. 237; Ringing World, 24 April 1914, p. 277; Ringing World, 1 May 1914, p. 296:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1914_a.pdf

[23] Ringing World, 13 August 1915, p. 62:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1915_b.pdf

[24] Cheltenham Chronicle, 18 December 1915, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[25] Ringing World, 24 December 1915, p. 291:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1915_b.pdf

[26] Ringing World, 14 January 1916, p. 15:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1916_a.pdf

[27] Ringing World, 4 February 1916, p. 51:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1916_a.pdf

[28] Ringing World, 17 January 1919, p. 18:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/rw1919.pdf

Lieutenant John Henry Harford. In: Harrow Memorials of the Great War, Vol. 4 (1919), Source: Internet Archive.

Lieutenant John Henry Harford of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, South Wales Borderers was killed-in-action leading a raid on the Somme front near Gueudecourt on the 26th October 1916, aged 20, while attached to the 2nd Battalion of the the regiment.

While I have no connection with the family of Lieutenant Harford, I first came across his name while researching those named on the Durnford School war memorial plaques in the Church of St George, Langton Matravers (Dorset). I immediately recognised the Harford family name from the three years that I’d spent as an undergraduate at St David’s University College, Lampeter (now the Lampeter campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David).

The Harford name was quite prominent at Lampeter: the college had two halls of residence carrying the name and there was also a Harford Square in the town centre. Falcondale (the old family home) had become a hotel that I would frequently pass while out walking (I even organised a society dinner there once).

Lampeter: St David’s University College, ca. 1986 (Ceredigion)

In fact, the college itself owed its existence at Lampeter to the Harford family. In 1820, when the Rt. Rev. Thomas Burgess, the Bishop of St Davids, was still searching for a suitable site for his proposed new college, John Scandrett Harford, junr. offered him the Castle Field at Lampeter, part of an estate that had recently come into his and two of his brothers’ hands. The Bishop was only too pleased to accept. D. T. W. Price has noted that the College had gained in Harford “a generous patron, who kept the project in motion, became a Sub-Visitor, and began an abiding family interest in its work” [1].

John Henry Harford, the subject of this post, was the great-grandson of Abraham Gray Harford-Battersby, the younger brother of John Scandrett Harford, junr. [2].

This (fairly lengthy) post will provide accounts of the life and military service of Lieutenant Harford and the units in which he served, specifically the 2nd Royal Fusiliers at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915, and the 2nd South Wales Borderers at Beaumont Hamel and Gueudecourt on the Somme in 1916. The final sections will explore Lieutenant Harford’s life and family background in more detail.

School memorial books:

Short accounts of Lieutenant J. H. Harford’s life and death appeared in the memorial books published by his two schools. The shorter of the two was published by Harrow School as part of Harrow Memorials of the Great War. As well as providing information on his school house and sporting achievements, this also provided a succinct account of his service career and an account of the trench raid in which he died [3]:

LIEUTENANT J. H. HARFORD

South Wales Borderers
Moretons 10′-14′
Aged 20
October 26th, 1916

Eldest son of John Charles Harford, of Blaise Castle, Henbury, and Falcondale, Lampeter, and of Blanche Amabel, second daughter of the Right Hon. St. John Raikes, late Postmaster-General.
Was Captain of his House at Cricket and House Racket-player, and won the Cross Country Race in 1914.
Lieutenant Harford had matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, but never went into residence, joining instead the 3rd Battalion, South Wales Borderers, in September, 1914. In May, 1915, he was sent to Mudros, being attached to the 2nd Royal Fusiliers, and was severely wounded in Gallipoli by shrapnel, on June 30th, 1915. After being in hospital at Alexandria he was sent home and rejoined the South Wales Borderers in December, 1915. In March, 1916, he was sent with a draft to Egypt, and was transhipped to France the following month, being attached to the 2nd Battalion.
He was killed during a night patrol on October 26th, 1916. He was lying in a shell-hole close to the German trench attempting to locate the wire, when the enemy sent up Very lights and, in trying to confirm his work, he showed himself and was shot dead by a German sniper.
His Colonel wrote:– “He always stuck it and always carried out whatever orders were given him with the utmost cheerfulness.”
The Chaplain wrote:– “He went to his death like a gallant gentleman,” and all his brother-officers wrote in the same strain of his pluck, and of his cheerful discharge of duty.

A fuller account of Lieutenant Harford’s life was published in the memorial book of his preparatory school, The Durnford Memorial Book of the Great War, 1914-1918 [4]:

JOHN HENRY HARFORD, born 7th February 1896 was the elder son of Major J. C. Harford, of Falcondale, Lampeter. He was at Durnford for the four years 1906-1910, where he was followed by his younger brother Arthur, and then went on to Harrow. There he distinguished himself alike as an athlete and a scholar. He was in the Sixth Form, Captain of the House Cricket XI, gained his House Racquets colours, and won both the Junior and Senior Steeplechases. Had not the War intervened, he would have gone on from Harrow to Oxford, where he had already matriculated, having entered for Magdalen in the autumn of 1914. Immediately, however, that the War broke out, all idea of Oxford was set aside, and he had the happiness of finding himself gazetted early in September to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the South Wales Borderers. After eight months’ home service he was attached to the 2nd Royal Fusiliers [part of 86th Infantry Brigade, in the 29th Division], whom he joined at Mudros. With them he served in Gallipoli until he was severely wounded by shrapnel at the end of June 1915. After treatment in hospital at Alexandria, he was evacuated to England, where he rejoined his own Battalion. He remained with them, however, but a short time, for in March 1916 he was once more drafted out to Egypt, this time to be attached to the 2nd Battalion of his own Regiment [part of 87th Brigade, 29th Division], which a few months later was transferred to France. Here on 26th October 1916 he was killed near Gaedecourt [i.e. Gueudecourt] while on night patrol in front of our line. His body was never recovered.

The manner of Johnny Harford’s death throws much light on his character. It was important to know the condition of the wire in front of the enemy trenches, and a patrol of three, with John in command, was sent out to reconnoitre it. To crawl up to the enemy line at night tests a man as do few other tasks. The darkness, the period of absolute silence, broken by the sudden rattle of a machine gun and the swish of bullets in the long grass, are themselves sufficiently trying, but far worse is the constant firing of Verey lights, which, bursting high in the air, drift slowly to earth, illuminating each ridge and hollow with a cold, vivid, penetrating light. When a light is in the air, the only hope of avoiding detection consists in lying motionless on the ground. Since, however, the illumination enables one to see as well as to be seen, John took the risk, a risk which he must have fully appreciated, of standing up so as to get the best possible view of the wire which it was his duty to reconnoitre. The little party were seen and fired on. John and one of his men were shot instantly, but the other succeeded in getting back to our lines to make his report.

Fear John did not know. His eyes, set rather far apart beneath a splendid forehead, told their own story. Frank and unflinching, they had at the same time the interrogative note which indicates power of reflection as well as of action, while his strong mobile mouth and wide jaw contributed not a little to a face which showed that he had both charm and depth of character.

“I am sure that I shall be killed, but I am quite ready to die for my country” he wrote in a letter found after his death; yet he was only twenty when he died. The full measure of England’s loss through the War has not even yet been taken, for it is in the future years that she will feel most of all the absence from her midst of those who like John had been trained for leadership, had proved their mettle, and yet are no longer here to take their share in the work that lies ahead.

Service history:

Please note that one of the pieces of evidence that I have not been able to consult while compiling this post has been Lieutenant Harford’s service records, which are part of the WO 339 series (War Office: Officers’ Services, First World War) now held by The National Archives (WO 339/25521) [5]. It is possible that they may be able to clarify certain points in the following narrative, and I will try to call them up on my next visit to Kew.

The school memorial book entries note that John Henry Harford was just about to commence studying at Magdalen College, Oxford when the First World War broke out. Instead of taking up his place, therefore, he enlisted, and was gazetted early in September 1914 to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the South Wales Borderers (SWB). As their name suggests, reserve battalions of the British Army were not active service units in their own right, but provided a pool of reinforcements that could be posted or attached to front-line battalions. Lieutenant Harford himself served with two regular battalions of the 29th Division: the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (86th Brigade), and then the 2nd Battalion of his own regiment (87th Brigade).

The 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers at Gallipoli:

For most of the First World War, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) formed part of 86th Infantry Brigade in the 29th Division [6]. The 29th had been formed in January 1915 from Regular Army battalions that had recently returned from garrisons based all over the world. The 2nd Royal Fusiliers had been based at Calcutta, but returned to the UK in December 1914.

The Helles Peninsula. From: Oswin Creighton, With The Twenty-Ninth Division In Gallipoli (1916). Source: Internet Archive.

The 29th Division landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on the 25th April 1915. They had left Avonmouth in March 1915, reforming at Alexandria in preparation for the landings. They then sailed on to Mudros, on the Greek island of Lemnos.

The invasion plan for Gallipoli was ambitious. There were to be two main amphibious landings. Troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) would land near Gaba Tepe (Anzac Cove) on the west coast of the Gallipoli peninsula. Simultaneously, the 29th Division was to land at five separate points around Cape Helles, from where they would attempt to combine and capture the higher ground around Achi Baba. The main landings of the 29th Division were to be made at the tip of the peninsula, at points designated as V and W beaches, with additional landings on each flank at S and X beaches. A separate landing further up the west coast at Y beach was designed to act as a diversion [7].

The very first landings on the 25th April 1915 were made at Y beach, with the 1st Kings Own Scottish Borderers (87th Brigade) first on shore, followed by two Companies from the 2nd South Wales Borderers (also 87th Brigade) and the Plymouth Battalion of the Royal Naval Division.

On the southern flank, the two remaining Companies from the 2nd South Wales Borderers (87th Brigade) landed almost unopposed at S beach on the southern flank, capturing De Tott’s Battery on the east side of Morto Bay.

HMS Implacable heading for X beach, 25 April 1915. From: Oswin Creighton, With the Twenty-Ninth Division in Gallipoli (1916). Source: Internet Archive.

On the northern flank, the 2nd Royal Fusiliers landed at X Beach (Ikiz Koyu) followed by the 1st Battalions of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 1st Border Regiment (87th Brigade), the landing being supported by the guns of HMS Implacable. The 2nd Royal Fusiliers were the first ashore [8]:

At 6 a.m. the 2nd Royal Fusiliers landed half their strength under cover of a withering bombardment by the guns of the Implacable (Captain H.C. Lockyear, R.N.). The remainder followed with all speed, the whole battalion being landed in two successive tows of six boats each.
[…]
Their immediate objective was Hill 114, the capture of which was essential to the support of the Lancashire Fusiliers at W [beach]. This important tactical movement was executed with great determination, and by 11 a.m. Hill 114 was ours.

The main landings at W and V beaches, however, were much more strongly opposed. At W beach, the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers (86th Brigade) were the first ashore, landing in open boats, finding the beach well-defended by machine guns and barbed wire [9]. There were many casualties, and members of the battalion were afterwards awarded six Victoria Crosses for their actions at what became known as Lancashire Landing [10]. The Lancashires were followed onto the beach by the 1st Essex Regiment and two Companies of the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (88th Brigade).

Chepstow: Gun from submarine SM UB-91 (Monmouthshire), presented to the town in honour of Able Seaman William Charles Williams, RN, who was awarded the VC for his actions at V beach. Source: Flickr.

At V Beach, to the south of Cape Helles and close to the old fort at Sedd el Bahr, the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers (86th Brigade) landed from boats, while the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers (also 86th Brigade) and the two remaining Companies of the 2nd Hampshires (88th Brigade) attempted to follow, landing via an old collier, the River Clyde, which was deliberately run aground as a ‘wreck ship,’ a kind of modern-day Trojan Horse. V beach, just like W beach, was very-well defended, and the Dublins struggled to get ashore.  Liddell Hart’s History of the First World War grimly noted that, “the invaders ran, like gladiators, into a gently sloping arena designed by nature and arranged by the Turks — themselves ensconced in surrounding seats — for a butchery” [11]:

The tows, checked by the current, were caught up by the River Clyde, and as it grounded hell yawned. In the incoming boats oars dropped like the wings of scorched moths, while the boats drifted helplessly with their dead and wounded.

Those landing from the River Clyde were no more fortunate. [By the time darkness fell, the small number of those that had managed to land were still trapped on the beach.] Victoria Crosses were afterwards awarded to six members of the Royal Navy, Royal Naval Reserve, and Royal Naval Division who had worked hard under fire to keep the landing going and to help withdraw casualties [12]. Three more VCs were awarded for the eventual capture of the fort at Sedd el Bahr the following day [13].

The result was that, while the 29th Division had managed to get ashore (at considerable cost) and secure a foothold on the Gallipoli peninsula, the delays caused by the intensity of the fighting at V and W beaches, combined with a general lack of co-ordination, meant that the opportunity to capture Achi Baba (and to link up with the ANZAC force) was lost. Liddell Hart was particularly scathing about the commanding officer of 29th Division,  Hunter-Weston, who, in the hours following the landing, continued to focus his attention on the beaches where Turkish opposition had been strongest, while ignoring the opportunities provided by those forces that had managed to successfully get ashore elsewhere (especially at Y beach) [14].

Without access to Lieutenant Harford’s service records, it is not possible for this post to state with certainty the exact dates that he arrived at Mudros or Helles. The Durnford School memorial book merely states that he joined his new battalion at Mudros and served with them on the Gallipoli peninsula until he was severely wounded by shrapnel on the 30th June 1915 [15]. The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser of the 14th May 1915 reported briefly on Second Lieutenant Harford’s departure, suggesting that he left the UK in mid-May, some weeks after the initial landings [16]:

WAR JOTTINGS. On Monday, Lieutenant Harford, eldest son of Major J. C. Harford, Falcondale, Lampeter, left for the front, and we wish him every success.

We know, therefore, that Second Lieutenant Harford was not with the 2nd Royal Fusiliers at the time that they made their landing at X beach. The attrition rate of officers and men in all 29th Division units at Helles in the weeks following the landing was very high, and by early May only a handful of the original 2nd Royal Fusilier officers remained. For example, the regimental history of the Royal Fusiliers states that by the 2nd May, only six officers and 425 other ranks were still serving with the 2nd Battalion [17]. The list of six were Captain H. M. Hope-Johnson, the commanding officer, and Mundey (adjutant), Huggett, O’Connell, Hewitt and Cooper.

The Rev. Oswin Creighton (left), with officers of 2nd Royal Fusiliers, at Helles, May 1915. From: Oswin Creighton, With the Twenty-Ninth Division in Gallipoli (1916). Source: Internet Archive.

Evidence in the high-attrition rate for officers at Helles can be found in an interesting account of the Gallipoli campaign written by the Rev. Oswin Creighton, who had served as a Anglican chaplain with the 86th Brigade at Gallipoli [18]. Creighton spent a considerable amount of time at Helles with the units of 86th Brigade, and in particular the officers of the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers. His book didn’t print the actual names of surviving officers, but his account does show how drafts from the Territorial Force and Kitchener’s New Army (K1) began to reinforce the survivors of the early fighting from at least the middle of May onwards.

For example, Creighton visited the officers of the 2nd Royal Fusiliers on the 19 May, after they had been in trenches for three days. A draft of 46 men with an officer had recently arrived, while 25 of their wounded had also returned [19]. One of the new arrivals, Lieutenant William Ernest Hall, attached from the 5th Royal Fusiliers, died of wounds on the 23rd May.

On the 26th May, Creighton visited the 2nd Royal Fusiliers again. While he was lunching with them, eight new officers arrived [20]:

They had just come from England. It appears K. I. is to be turned into a reserve army, and these men were from it. They seemed good fellows, though rather inexperienced. Later on a draft of 150 men arrived with some very senior sergeants in it.

On the 2nd June, Creighton met a newly arrived officer named Romanes, whom he noted had come from Oxford, a city which Creighton would have known very well. Lieutenant Edmund Giles Radcliffe Romanes, attached from the 12th Worcestershire Regiment, died of wounds on the 7th June, having been wounded during the Third Battle of Krithia on the 4th June. Other newly-arrived officers that died as a result of that action included Captains Edward Baylie Amphlett and John Wilfred Jenkinson, both of whom had also been attached from the 12th Worcestershires. Creighton lamented not having had the time to get to know the new batch of officers before their deaths [21]:

Several officers were killed on June 4, but I had been unable to get to know them all. They had recently arrived from England, and were the first of the new officers to join the R.F.’s. They certainly were a splendid sample of what the new armies could produce.

After Krithia, the attrition rate for officers (and men) at Helles remained high. On the 8th June, Creighton wrote [22]:

The regiment [2nd Royal Fusiliers] had dug incessantly for five days, and then fought incessantly for three days. They had lost five out of the six remaining officers, all the ten officers who had recently joined them, and somewhere about 200 of the remaining men.

More replacements would continue to arrive over following days . On the 9th June, Creighton wrote [23]:

I stayed on Gully Beach with the R.F.’s. I wanted to look after the mess, and to keep them going if possible. A Captain Taylor, of the Dublins [Captain Adrian Aubrey Charles Taylor of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers], arrived to take command. He was followed by a number of officers from different regiments. A draft also arrived in driblets – altogether about 200 men, making the grand total up to nearly 500. The new officers were all strange to each other and the regiment. I believe there are about fifteen of them now. I find it difficult to get to know them. There was none of the old regimental feeling left.

Further entries would reveal an unconscious alienation from the new arrivals, e.g. on the 11th June [24]:

The feeling of strangeness in the R.F.’s did not wear off, and of course the new arrivals were feeling a little gloomy. In fact it has been exceedingly difficult recovering from the effects of the last battle. The Division now is practically unrecognisable, despite the drafts.

And on the 18th [25]:

The R.F.’s seem such a strange regiment now that I have seen very little of them lately. I don’t find the officers so friendly, of course they hardly know each other, and it is impossible for them to have any corporate feeling. C.D. —- , who came out with the last draft is now C.O. W — [i.e. Captain P. N. Wilson] of the cyclists has also joined them. The other officers are just a scratch lot got together anyhow.

Taking all of this into account, it seems most likely that  Second Lieutenant Harford joined the 2nd Royal Fusiliers in the field at some point after the Third Battle of Krithia on the 4th June.  The regimental history notes the arrival of a draft of new soldiers between that action and the attack on the 28th June that later became known as the Battle of Gully Ravine [26]:

Four company organisation was dropped [after the 6th June] and the two companies fell under the command of Captain A. A. C. Taylor, of the Dublins [Royal Dublin Fusiliers]. While in reserve they were joined by Major Julian Fisher, D.S.O., who brought with him a draft of 10 officers and 400 other ranks from England. Captain P. N. Wilson, who was commanding the divisional cyclists, was allowed to rejoin the battalion, and the unit was given ten days to reorganise. The new draft consisted of very young men who had not received much training. None of the officers were Regulars, but men who had gathered from the ends of the earth to take their part in the war. When the battalion went back to the line once more, on June 23rd, they mustered 13 officers and 667 other ranks. Lieutenant Eustace commanded Y company, Captain [Frank Frederick Joseph] Ayrton X and Captain [Frederick Gustavus] Gudgeon Z. About three days later Captain [Augustus Arthur Cornwallis] FitzClarence [the cousin of the late Brigadier-General FitzClarence, VC] arrived from England and took over the duties of the second in command.

On the 28th [June] the battalion again attacked, leading the [86th] brigade with three companies; and their advance, though successful, was dearly bought. They advanced about 1,000 yards, “a magnificent sight, the men never losing their formation under a heavy artillery and rifle fire.” [the quotation from Ashmead Bartlett, The Times, 9th July 1915] The ground had been carefully ranged and the bulk of the casualties were due to well-placed shrapnel. There were few from rifle fire; but in attempting to round off their achievement in the night the battalion became involved in hand-to-hand fighting. Few details of these encounters have been preserved; but when the Fusiliers were relieved they were in the last stage of exhaustion. A twenty-four hours’ struggle in oppressive heat with hardly any water has its unforgettable terrors. The actual losses included nine officers: FitzClarence, Ayrton, Andrews killed; Bulbeck, Freer and Harford wounded; Gudgeon, Eustace and Willett missing. Of other ranks, 27 were killed, 175 wounded, and 57 missing. Not one of these officers had been with the battalion when it landed in Gallipoli, and the continuity was preserved by an ever-thinning thread.

This account shows that Second Lieutenant Harford was wounded during the Battle of Gully Ravine, which was probably less than a month after his arrival at Helles.

Gully Ravine. From: Oswin Creighton, With The Twenty-Ninth Division in Gallipoli (1916). Source: Internet Archive.

By that point of the Gallipoli the campaign, there was little expectation of a breakthrough at Helles, so the battles of May and June 1915 were primarily attritional affairs, with limited objectives.

Fusilier Bluff and Achi Baba. Detail from Panorama of the Gallipoli Peninsula from a point 3 miles east of Kum Tepe. Source: A collection of military maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula, G.H.Q. M.E.F, 1915; British Library, Digital Store Maps 43336.(21.); Crown Copyright, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The Battle of Gully Ravine began in the morning of the 28th June. After an artillery bombardment, the 29th Division were to attack on the left [27]:

On the left the 87th Brigade, with the Borders on the right of Gully ravine and the S.W.B. on the left or west of it (the latter battalion being supported by the K.O.S.B. on the right and the R.I.F. on the left), took the whole of the first system – i.e., three lines of trenches. Through them passed the 86th Brigade to the second line, which was stormed, and the Royal Fusiliers advanced to the high ground above the sea known ever afterwards as Fusilier Bluff.
[…]
Naturally enough the enemy made furious counter-attacks – not, as it happened, straight off and by day as heretofore, when successful – but at night and on successive nights.
[…]
Fusilier Bluff, especially, was the scene of vigorous Turkish attacks, the only result of which was to cover the ground in front of our trenches with six or seven lines of piled corpses.

In his diary, General Sir Ian Hamilton, the commander-in-chef, was elated [28]

The Turks are beat. Five lines of their best trenches carried (or, at least, four regular lines plus a bit extra); the Boomerang Redoubt rushed, and in two successive attacks we have advanced 1,000 yards. Our losses are said to be moderate. The dreaded Boomerang collapsed and was stormed with hardly a casualty. This was owing partly to the two trench mortars lent us by the French and partly to the extraordinary fine shooting of our own battery of 4.5 howitzers, The whole show went like clockwork – like a Field Day.  First the 87th Brigade took three lines of trenches; then our guns lengthened their range and fuses and the 86th Brigade, with the gallant Royal Fusiliers at their head, scrambled over the trenches already taken by the 87th, and took the last two lines in splendid style. We could have gone right on but we had nothing to go on with. How I wish the while world and his wife could have been here to see our lines advancing under fire quite steadily with intervals and dressing as on parade. A wonderful show!

On the 29th June, the Rev. Creighton volunteered to go with a stretcher party up to some recently captured trenches. His diary noted that the 29th Division had suffered badly, the 2nd Royal Fusiliers coming out “with three officers out of the ten and 250 out of the 500 men.” He recorded that other units had also lost heavily [29]:

The [52nd] Lowland Division, just arrived, lost very heavily in the left centre, their Brigadier being killed and three Colonels laid out. The Indian Brigade and the other brigades of the 89th Division also lost a good deal. The total casualties must have been at least 3000 with the usual enormous numbers of officers.
[…]
The amount of unnecessary lives simply thrown away is appalling.

After their relief, Creighton worked his way around the 86th Brigade’s units [30]:

Later I went lower down the gully where the R.F.’s were. Fortunately their three survivors included C.D. —- , the C.O, and W —- , the adjutant, C.D. —- is doing exceedingly well. He was pretty upset by the battle. Fitz-Clarence was one of his chief friends. Eustace, Willet, and Ayreton’s bodies had not been recovered. The difference, as far as I am personally concerned, is that I now hardly know the officers who are killed.

The depleted 2nd Royal Fusiliers would embark a few days afterwards at V beach for Lemnos, where they would reform in preparation for their return to the peninsula at Suvla in August.

Fusilier Bluff. Detail from Diagram Showing Advanced Turkish Trenches and Communications, 27 September 1915. Source: A collection of military maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula, G.H.Q. M.E.F, 1915; British Library, Digital Store Maps 43336.(21.); Crown Copyright, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

After being wounded, Second Lieutenant Harford would be evacuated first to a hospital in Alexandria, and then back to the UK. Harford’s wounding was reported by several newspapers in July:

Western Mail, 13 July 1915 [31]:

The names of 57 officers and 1,1143 men are given in the casualty lists issued on Monday night.
[…]
Among the officers reported wounded is Second-Lieutenant J. H. Harford, who was only gazetted to a commission in the 3rd Battalion South Wales Borderers on August 15 last.

Western Mail, 16 July 1915 [32]:

LAMPETER OFFICER WOUNDED.
Lieutenant J. H. Harford of the South Wales Borderers, eldest son of Major J. C. Harford, Falcondale, Lampeter, has been wounded in the Dardanelles. Lieutenant Harford, who is the heir to the Peterwell Estate, joined the Borderers a few months ago.

The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 16 July 1915 [33]:

Official news has been received at Lampeter that Lieut. J. H. Harford, of the South Wales Borderers, has been wounded at the Dardanelles. Lieut. Harford, who is the heir to the Falcondale Estate, is the eldest son of Major Harford (Falcondale), of the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry, and grandson of the late Postmaster-General Raikes. He joined the Army soon after the outbreak of war, and proceeded to the Dardanelles in May. The nature of his wounds are not described.

After treatment in hospital at Alexandria, Harford was evacuated to the UK, where he would recuperate at Falcondale.

The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 10th September 1915 [34]:

SOCIETY AND PERSONAL
Dr A. T. Lawrence and Lady Lawrence have arrived at Peterwell, Lampeter.
Lieutenant Harford, eldest son and heir of Captain Harford, Falcondale, who was wounded in the Dardanelles, has come home to recuperate, and we trust he will soon be able to return to his duties.

The 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers on the Western Front:

After his recuperation, Lieutenant Harford was attached in March 1916 to the 2nd Battalion of the South Wales Borderers (SWB), which was also in the 29th Division, part of 87th Infantry Brigade.

The 2nd SWB had seen action at Tsingtao at the very beginning of the war, but sailed from Hong Kong in December 1914, arriving at Plymouth on the 12th January 1915 [35]. Soon afterwards they joined the 29th Division. In March 1915, the battalion (just like the 2nd Royal Fusiliers) had embarked at Avonmouth for the Dardanelles, landing at S and Y beaches on the 25th April. After the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula, the battalion had moved to Alexandria in January 1916, being based for a time at Suez.

The account of Lieutenant Harford provided in the Durnford School memorial book suggests that he was sent with a draft to Egypt in March 1916. By that point, however, the 2nd SWB were already preparing at that point to move to the Western Front. On the 10th March, the battalion embarked at Alexandria on the SS “Karoa” and SS “Kingstonian,” arriving at Marseilles on the 15th March.

In France, the 29th Division became part of the British Fourth Army, commanded by General Sir Henry Rawlinson. Together with the 4th and 31st Divisions, they formed part of the British VIII Corps commanded by the 29th’s old divisional commander at Gallipoli, now Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston. In April, the Division would move to the Somme front in preparation for the forthcoming “Big Push” [36]:

The sector taken over extended south from a little north of the sunk road between Auchonvillers and Beaumont-Hamel […] to a point about half a mile from the village of Hamel. Hawthorn redoubt and Y salient and ravine were formidable strongholds confronting them.

Divisional headquarters was at Acheux, with the reserve brigade based at Louvencourt. The front line Brigades alternated between the trenches and billets at Mailly-Maillet and Englebelmer.

After their arrival in France, the 2nd SWB initially stayed for a few weeks at Domart, before moving to billets at Englebelmer on the 2nd April 1916. The following day, they took over front-line trenches north of the River Ancre, around the salient known as Mary Redan, trenches that the battalion War Diary (WO 95/2304/2) described as having been badly knocked about [37]:

4th [April 1916]. Fairly heavily bombarded by two Trench Mortars, which have badly damaged the tip of the salient held by the Battn. at the MARY REDAN — this tip is mined, with long listening galleries running out towards the enemy trenches — one entrance has been blocked and part of the galleries damaged by the trench mortars.

The area had been for a long time a relatively quiet sector. There had been fighting in 1914 around Beaumont-Hamel, but the Divisional history of the 29th noted that, “since then the Germans had converted a naturally strong position into what they believed to be, and what seemed to the whole world at one time to be, an impregnable fortress” [38].

After just a few days in the trenches, the 2nd SWB were the target of a well-planned German raid. At 21:00 on the 6th April, a party of Germans entered the front line held by the battalion under cover of a bombardment by minenwerfer, high-explosive and shrapnel. While most of the front line company moved into a support trench, others remained in dugouts or were trapped under fallen timbers. A survivor reported that he had been in a dugout with 14 others, when the Germans, “threw a bomb into the dugout which killed one man and broke the narrator’s leg” [39]:

The rest were then taken prisoner & taken out of the trench. As they were retiring they came under our shell fire & the narrator, who was being carried in a blanket, was left behind & managed to crawl back.

The War Diary of the 2nd SWB concluded that the raid had been pre-arranged, “very carefully planned and very well executed.” The battalion reported 83 casualties: 5 officers wounded, 26 other ranks killed, 3 died of wounds, 18 missing, and 31 wounded (there is also a account of the raid from the German perspective in Jack Sheldon’s book on The Germans at Beaumont Hamel [40]).

On the 25th April, the first anniversary of the battalion’s landing at Helles, the 2nd SWB were visited at Louvencourt by the Corps commander, General Hunter-Weston.

We know that Lieutenant J. H. Harford joined the 2nd SWB in the field on the 13th May 1916, as the battalion War Diary recorded his arrival and that of three Second Lieutenants, on a day when the battalion was moving back from the front line to billets in Englebelmer [41]. From the 19th to the 28th May, the battalion were in Corps reserve at Acheux Wood, providing men for divisional working parties as well as attending a range of training courses.

On the 28th May, the battalion moved back into the front line, relieving the 1st Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment. Ominously, given what was to transpire on the 1st July, the battalion War Diary recorded that much work was going on on the other side of no man’s land [42]:

30th [May 1916].
[…]
There appears to be a lot of work going on in the enemy’s salient. We dispersed a wiring party in front of the [illegible] at 1 am this morning with Lewis Gun fire, steam & smoke are constantly seen, & sounds of timber & material being dropped — also a large amount of digging.

The Battle of the Somme — the 1st July:

29th Division positions at Beaumont Hamel, 1st July 1916. Source: Stair Gillon, The Story of the 29th Division (London: Nelson, 1925); via British Libary.

For the opening of the Somme offensive on the 1st July 1916, the 86th and 87th Brigades were to lead the attack in the 19th Division sector, with the 88th Brigade in reserve. The 87th were on the right hand side, facing Y Ravine, with the 2nd SWB in the front line on the left, and the 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on their right, attacking near Mary Redan. Behind them, the 1st Border Regiment and the 1st King’s Own Scottish Borderers were detailed to follow up the attack of the assault battalions.

To the 87th Brigade’s north, the 86th faced the Hawthorn redoubt. In preparation for the attack, tunnels had been dug and a large mine placed under the redoubt. The plan was for the mine to be exploded, following which the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and the Lancashire Fusiliers would move forward to capture it. The 88th Brigade were held a little further back, in Divisional reserve.

IWM HU 124659: Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Taunton Raikes, DSO, South Wales Borderers; Major Raikes commanded the 2nd SWB on the 1st July 1916, for which he was awarded the DSO. © Imperial War Museums: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/ item/object/205387482

The war diary of the 2nd SWB contains eleven handwritten pages of appendices containing orders and detailed planning for the battalion’s attack on the 1st July. The front line companies were to be A and D Coys., with C Coy. in support, “occupying the deep bombardment dug outs in Reserve trench & St. John’s Road.” B Coy. were to start further back, at Englebelmer.

The scheme of attack was very detailed and, with the benefit of hindsight, included very little flexibility if things didn’t go to plan:

A, C & D Coys in the first line. B Coy in Reserve.
A Coy to attack between Points Q.10.d. 65/75 & Q.10.d. 75/45
C Coy [to attack between Points] Q.10.d. 75/45 & Q.11.c. 30/30
D Coy [to attack between Points] Q.11.c. 50/40 & Q.11.c.  60/10
A Coy to push through till right flank reaches Y Ravine then swing half right & advance astride by 2nd trench to Pt Q.11.c. 80/60 where they consolidate.
B Coy as soon as they reach Ey [Enemy] first trench swing half right & move between Y Ravine & Eys 1st Trench, then right & bomb squad on 1st trench to junction of two branches of Y Ravine. They Coy then pushes through A Coy & moves forward as covering party to E side of STATION ROAD covering Battn front. Two H.Q. Bomb Squads will be attached to C Coy to assist in clearing dug outs, Cemetery & Quarry.
D Coy advance straight through to Eys 3rd trench & consolidate Pt Q.11.c. 85/40

H.Q. Grenadiers 2 Squads attached to C Coy as above
1 Squad to A Coy to clear Eys 2nd Trench
2 Squads to B Coy to assist in clearing Trenches after leading Coys have moved through
1 Squad in Reserve.

B Coy, in Reserve will follow 50 yds in Rear & as leading Coys pass over Eys trenches. Will send off 1 Platoon with 1 Coy & 1 HQ Bomb Squad to clear dug outs etc in 1st trench & 1 Platoon with Coy & HQ Bomb Squads to clear 2nd trench.

The Battn will form up outside our trenches & 100x from German trenches as follows:

Scheme of Attack, 1 July 1916. 2nd Bn, South Wales Borderers War Diary (WO 95/2304/2) © Crown Copyright

Each Coy will have a bomb Squad with leading & 2nd line, on approaching Eys’s Trench Bomb squad moves forward & bombs trench, trench bridge is then brought forward & leading [illegible] 2nd line, cross & move straight on to final objective. One bomb Squad remaining at each trench to prevent Ey coming out of his dugouts till Platoon detached from B Coy comes up to clear the trench.

The Orders for the attack covered many different topics, including: the reconnoitring of wire on the nights leading up to the assault, the SOS signal (“5 red rockets in quick succession”), the use of flags, the one-way-system in use in communication trenches, and details on what to do with prisoners taken during the attack. The orders also included plans for reorganisation “after Eys first 3 Trenches have been captured & while Coys are consolidating the points allotted.”

O.C. Coys must reorganise their platoons as opportunity occurs, bombs should be collected from the men & placed in some convenient dump.
One hour after the assault commences the Bn will take over the Inniskilling’s area as well as our own Points to be consolidated will be allotted to Coys as follows.
Q.17.b. 55/80 B Coy
Q.11.d. 10/00 C Coy
Q.11.c. 90/40 D Coy
Q.11.c. 80/60 A Coy

A look at a trench map confirms that these positions would have been within the German trench system on both sides of Y Ravine, covering the whole of the 37th Brigade’s sector. Battalion headquarters would also move up as the attack progressed:

Bn H.Q. will be first at Q.11.c 5.5/25 & after taking over the Inniskilling’s area at Q.17.a 95/95.

The orders also made provision for the discharge of gas if the wind had been favourable, and a detailed schedule for this was attached.

Other documents attached to the War Diary provided details of the bombardment schedule as well as information on movement of units prior to the assault, the storage of kit and officers’ mess boxes, and the supply of ammunition and meals.

The final section of the final document, signed on the 30th June by the Adjutant, Captain D.H.S. Somerville, read:

8. Zero
Zero will be at 7.30 am. Each coy will send an officer to HQ at 5.55 am to synchronise watches.

IWM Q 754: Battle of Albert. The mine under German front line positions at Hawthorn Redoubt is fired 10 minutes before the assault at Beaumont Hamel on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916 © Imperial War Museums: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205194574

The account of the attack in the War Diary commences a few pages further on. The difference between that and the plan of attack is very striking [43]:

“FIRING LINE. 1st July. 05.00. During the night Coys moved up to their positions ready for assault in Firing & Support line. Our artillery was active all night. Morning fine but misty. Men were given hot tea at 11.0pm last night and again at 6.0am.

06.30. Our artillery commenced steady bombardment of Eys front line trenches increasing to heavy bombardment & at 07.00 Field Artillery commenced a barrage on Eys front line.

07.20. Mine under HAWTHORN REDOUBT fired & Coys immediately commenced getting out of the trenches & through our wire. (Bn. H.Q. moved to Bomb [?] T in B St at 07.10). As the leading Companies reached the outer edge of our wire machine gun fire was opened on them which rapidly increased in intensity. Enemy also opened percussion shrapnel on the advancing lines. By about 07.30 the leading companies had lost nearly all officers and about 70% of the men. ‘A’ Coy reached a point about 20 yards from Eys front line just south of the nose of the salient where they were held up by M.G. fire from their right flank. ‘D’ Coy reached a point about 300 yds from our wire. Position of Coys was roughly as follows:

2nd Bn, South Wales Borderers War Diary (WO 95/2304/2) © Crown Copyright

Reserve Coy ‘B’ Coy left support trench at 07.30 moving over the top & across the fire trench by bridges. This coy came under Ey machine-gun fire while passing through our wire. They advanced steadily across the open till practically all men were hit. Capt Hughes [A. A. Hughes] was last seen about 6-8 yards from the Ey wire leading 6 or 7 men forward all these men were knocked out a few yds further on. H.Q. moved forward with ‘B’ Coy.

According to original arrangements our Art barrage lifted off Eys front line at 07.30. Ey at once lined his parapet and M.G. fired unmolested [?].

08.15. 1/Border Regt advanced from our support trenches (FETHARD ST) to support the Bn but were caught by Ey Machine Guns before reaching our front line, this Bn lost very heavily & only a few men got up near our forward line & none actually reached the forward line.

Later the Newfoundland Regt [88th Brigade] advanced but were similarly held up by M.G. fire, a few men only managed to get along the sunken & joined up with the right of ‘C’ Coy.

During the remainder of the day no further attempt to advance was made, the Enemy fired heavy shrapnel over the wounded & men lying out in the open, also intermittent M.G. fire. Prior to the attack it had been arranged that Coys on reaching Eys trenches should fire Very’s lights to let the Brigade know, but shortly after we advanced the Ey put up lights & for some time it was though that we had taken the front line & also pushed on, consequently our barrage was not put back on the Eys front line.

09.30. The 10% officers & men left behind at ENGLEBELMER moved up to the front line & afterwards went to ST. JOHNS ROAD.

The actual strength of the Battn as it moved forward to the attack was:
Officers: 21
O.R.: 578

Casualties were as follows:
Officers: Killed 2, Wounded 4, Missing 5, Missing believed killed, 4; Total 15
Other Ranks: [Killed] 21, [Wounded] 160, [Missing] 203; [Total] 384

None reached the Enemy’s trench & it was impossible to bring the bodies in, practically all those reported missing were probably killed.

A few wounded & others managed to get back to our trenches during the day and several returned after dark.

The names of officer casualties were listed, many of whom had been attached from other units, including various battalions of the SWB, the 13th Sherwood Foresters, the 14th Cheshire Regiment, and the 15th King’s Liverpool Regiment.

The failure of the 2nd SWB attack on the 1st July soon became clear to the battalions following up. For example, the War Diary of the 1st Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment recorded [44]:

07.30. 86th & 87th Brigades attacked 1st system of enemy trenches, 88th Brigade under pre-arranged orders were to move forward at 0840 to attack 3rd line system of trenches. About 0820 received orders not to move until further orders. Presumably the first attack not having been successful.

By the end of the morning of the 1st July, there had been no progress at all on the 29th Division front. In the 86th Brigade area some of the 2nd Royal Fusiliers did manage to reach the Hawthorn Ridge mine crater, but found that the Germans were already in possession of the other side. The RF and Lancashire Fusiliers found themselves pinned down by machine gun fire and withdrew to the British front line trenches later that day.

As the 2nd SWB War Diary had noted, the 87th Brigade attack further south was no more successful. Gillon describes what happened in the history of the Division [45]:

The 87th had no better permanent success [than the 86th Brigade]. The R.I.F. [1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers] did succeed in penetrating the first line. Their steadiness in crossing No Man’s Land was that of troops on parade. But though on the night the trenches were crossed by portable bridges, in the main the wire proved a complete obstacle. The same applies to the S.W.B. The effort of the first line of assault was in vain. The reserves meanwhile suffered from the enemy’s gun fire sans coup férir, and it was a damaged mass of troops who at 7.35 clambered over the trenches of the K.O.S.B. [1st King’s Own Scottish Borderers] and Borders [1st Border Regiment]. With the exception of a few of the leading sections of the latter, the second wave did not reach the first. The 87th Brigade was practically knocked out.

Beaumont Hamel and Y Ravine. Detail from Trench Map 57D.SE; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 2B; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 28 April 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465251 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) 

The attack in the 37th Brigade sector was effectively over within minutes of the start. Even worse was to come. Based on over-optimistic reports, General de Lisle, G.O.C. 29th Division, ordered fresh attacks to be carried out by the 1st Essex Regiment and the 1st Newfoundland Regiment. The Newfoundlanders got into position first, and launched their attack at around 9.15 am. The communication trenches were congested in the aftermath of previous attacks, so the Newfoundlanders attacked in the open and were destroyed in minutes, many before they had even reached the British front line [46].

The latter [the Newfoundlanders] were ready first, and launched a determined attack at 9.15 a.m. Many eye-witnesses have testified to the superb steadiness of that astonishing infantry. Undaunted by a hail of machine-gun fire, they went forward till out of 700 men a mere handful remained.

The Divisional History of the 29th [47] notes that Newfoundlanders “lost more than 90 per cent. of those in the actual assault and 84 per cent. of their available strength.” The Essex took longer to prepare for their attack, but it also failed. Another battalion in the 88th Brigade, the 4th Worcestershire Regiment, were readied for an attack with troops of the 4th Division, but this was eventually cancelled.

In total, the 29th Division suffered around 5,000 casualties on the 1st July. The Divisional History noted that the 87th Brigade had suffered the most, losing over 60% of its available strength [48].

Despite that, the 2nd SWB were back in the front line the following day, in trench positions north of the Ancre in what had been the 36th Division sector at the start of the offensive [49]:

“2nd July. Battn was collected and spent last night in St JOHNS ROAD. 10% officers & men having joined up.
10.00. Battn moved off via CONSTITUTION HILL & occupied the front line trenches about Q.23.b. 30/90, left flank at LUVERCY St & right flank at St JEANS St a front of about 300 yards. The Bn was reorganised into two Coys, A & B Coys under Lieut ROSS & C & D Coys under Lieut. B J Davies.
The 1/ Border Regt on Bn left flank and 1/ KOSB on right flank.”

These positions would have been in the old British line in front of the village of Hamel.

It is difficult to say what Lieutenant Harford’s experience of the 1st July might have been. The 2nd SWB War Diary does not mention him at all in its documentation of the 1st July attack — although it only really records the names of officer casualties, plus the names of a few cooks and servants in the notes prepared before the attack. It is possible that he was part of the battalion reserve that had been held back at Englebelmer, although all that we can say with clarity is that he did not seem to have become a casualty on the day itself.

Authuille: View across the Ancre Valley towards Hamel; the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is marked by the group of trees on the horizon (Somme). Source: Flickr.

Historians usually attribute the lack of success at Beaumont-Hamel on two serious errors in the VIII Corps plan of attack. The first was that the Hawthorn Redoubt mine was blown too early, ten minutes before Zero. The second was the premature lifting of the artillery barrage across the entire VIII Corps front. While the intention of both of these decisions was to avoid causing casualties amongst the assault battalions — especially those detailed to capture the crater — the timing gave clear notice to the German defenders that an attack was about to commence and gave them time to win the “race to the parapet.” Andrew Macdonald has explained how decisions on the timing of the  Hawthorn mine led to adjustments to the artillery plan [50]:

It [the artillery barrage] was to start on the German front line and step back at six set intervals until the final objective was taken. But Hunter-Weston fiddled with the timetable to accommodate the mine-blast timing: infantry could not seize the crater if heavy artillery was shelling the area. Astoundingly, he ordered his corps’ heavy artillery to lift its shellfire off the entire German front line opposite his corps at 7.20 a.m. to targets further back, rather than just that opposite 29th Division. Field artillery would step its ‘thin’ fire further back at 7.30 a.m., but in the 29th’s sector it would be halved from 7.37 a.m. Gunnery officers tweaked their fire plans, but infantry planners were oblivious.

Those decisions made what was always going to be a challenging task, an impossible one.

Despite that, there have been many who have tried to gloss over the total failure of the attack at Beaumont Hamel on the 1st July. For example, Stair Gillon’s history of the 29th Division suggested that the attack in the VIII Corps sector should not be considered a disaster because it was the enabler of success further south [51]:

The gallant and strenuous attacks on the left were essential to the success gained on the right, and all have their due share of the general success.

This seems to genuinely reflect the thinking of the commanding officer narratives from whom Gillon compiled his history.

Lieut-Gen Hunter-Weston and his VIII Corps staff on the 1st July 1916. Source: British Library Add MS 48365, f53v. (Digitised Manuscripts)

One thing that we can say is that this idea surfaced very soon after the 1st July attack. General Hunter-Weston’s papers are now part of the collections of the British Library (BL Add MS 48365) [52, 53]. His diary for the 1st July (f49r) first records the death of his old friend Brigadier-General Charles Bertie Prowse, the commander of 11th Infantry Brigade (4th Division), but formerly of the Somerset Light Infantry (and the most senior British officer killed on the 1st July):

July 1st
Opening day of the “Battle of the Somme”
A very heavy day’s fighting. Busy all day at H.Qrs. Gen. Gough came to see me at 9 pm & discussed further plans for attack. My old friend, Brig. Gen. Prowse, commanding the 11th Inf. Bde. was killed. Gen. Fanshawe & his A.D.C. dined & stayed the night.

[Extract from] Letter of 1.7.16
. . . . . .  we have not attained the success we hoped for. Though in the morning the first reports were very rosy, to the effect that all the German front line had been taken. The result of the day’s fighting up to the present 3 pm. has been disappointing. We have gained very little ground & our hold on what we have got is precarious. It is very probable that the result of the VIIIth Corps attack will be that we shall find ourselves back in our original lines. However that is the torture of war. We cannot always be successful, & we’ll have better luck next time. On the rest of our 4th Army front, we have attained considerably better results & I hear that on our own extreme south & on the French front much ground has been won & many Germans killed. We shall know more about the situation later.

General Hubert Gough was visiting the headquarters of the 29th Division because General Rawlinson had transferred X and VIII Corps to the Reserve Army late on the 1st July.

The same page of Hunter-Weston’s diary also contains a transcript of telegrams that Hunter-Weston sent to his three Divisions on the evening of the 1st July:

Well done my Comrades of the —- Division, Your discipline and determination was magnificent and it was bad luck alone that has temporarily robbed you of success.

A page or so further on (f50r), Hunter-Weston records a communication from the Generalissimo:

Joffre has sent a message appreciative of the hard fighting up here in the north. He attributes the success of the French South of the SOMME not a little to the fact that the Germans were expecting a serious attack in the north, & that they were held up there by our hard fighting when we attacked. This is satisfactory as far as it goes, but it is of course, a disappointment to all of us in the VIIIth Corps that our splendid preparations, excellent discipline, & magnificent courage in attack, have not had the result we all hoped for, which was a Victory over the Germans in front of us & a considerable advance.

Message from Lieut-Gen Hunter-Weston to all in VIII Corps, 6th July 1916. Source: British Library Add MS 48365, f63r. (Digitised Manuscripts)

At around about that point in time, the doctrine became consolidated in a famous message that Hunter-Weston sent to all in VIII Corps on the 4th July 1916 [54]:

By your splendid attack you held these enemy forces here in the north and so enabled our friends in the south, both British and French, to achieve the brilliant success that they have. Therefore, though we did not do all we hoped to do, you have more than pulled your weight, and you and our even more glorious comrades who have preceded us across the Great Divide have nobly done your Duty.

This all seems to have been a means of putting a brave face on extreme disappointment. A hundred-years later, it is clear that the assault on Beaumont-Hamel could have been conceived and planned as a diversion to a stronger attack made elsewhere, but — as the detailed operation orders in the 2nd SWB War Diary show — it was not.

When it comes to the 1st July attack on the Somme there seems to be a lot of truth in Sir B. H. Liddell Hart’s comment many years ago that the British high command (including Hunter-Weston) had not looked clearly enough at the ground under their feet [55].

In The Old Front Line, John Masefield provides a detailed description of the Beaumont-Hamel sector a year after the battle, noting the particular strength of the German positions there. It is worth quoting at length [56]:

Looking out on all this [the high ground beyond Beaumont Hamel from the Hawthorn Ridge] the first thought of the soldier was that here he could really see something of the enemy’s ground.

It is true, that from this hill-top much land, then held by the enemy, could be seen, but very little that was vital to the enemy could be observed. His lines of supply and support ran in ravines which we could not see ; his batteries lay beyond crests, his men were in hiding places. Just below us on the lower slopes of this Hawthorn Ridge he had one vast hiding place which gave us a great deal of trouble. This was a gully or ravine, about five hundred yards long, well within his position, running (roughly speaking) at right angles with his front line. Probably it was a steep and deep natural fold made steeper and deeper by years of cultivation. It is from thirty to forty feet deep, and about as much across at the top; it has abrupt sides, and thrusts out two forks to its southern side. These forks give it the look of a letter Y upon the maps, for which reason both the French and ourselves called the place the “Ravin en Y” or “Y Ravine.” Part of the southernmost fork was slightly open to observation from our lines; the main bulk of the gully was invisible to us, except from the air.

Whenever the enemy has had a bank of any kind, at all screened from fire, he has dug into it for shelter. In the Y Ravine, which provided these great expanses of banks, he dug himself shelters of unusual strength and size. He sank shafts into the banks, tunnelled long living rooms, both above and below the gully-bottom, linked the rooms together with galleries, and cut hatchways and bolting holes to lead to the surface as well as to the gully. All this work was securely done, with baulks of seasoned wood, iron girders, and concreting. Much of it was destroyed by shell fire during the battle, but much not hit by shells is in good condition to-day even after the autumn rains and the spring thaw. The galleries which lead upwards and outwards from this underground barracks to the observation posts and machine-gun emplacements in the open air, are cunningly planned and solidly made. The posts and emplacements to which they led are now, however, (nearly all) utterly destroyed by our shell fire.

In this gully barracks, and in similar shelters cut in the chalk of the steeper banks near Beaumont Hamel, the enemy could hold ready large numbers of men to repel an attack or to make a counter-attack. They lived in these dugouts in comparative safety and in moderate comfort.

William Phillpott quotes Edmund Blunden’s comment that the German front near Beaumont-Hamel was “a fortress and a masterwork of German brainwork, spadework and ironwork” [57]. The village would finally fall to the 51st (Highland) Division on the 13th November, a few days before the formal end of the offensive that had commenced on the 1st July [58].

Beaumont Hamel. Inauguration du monument élevé à la mémoire des soldats de Terre-Neuve. Vue générale de la cérémonie. 1925. Source: National Library of Scotland Acc.3155/234 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0): https://digital.nls.uk/74463580

The ground over which the 2nd SWB’s attacked on the 1st July now lies partly within the grounds of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. The land was purchased as a memorial in 1921 by the people of Newfoundland, and it is the largest section of the Somme battlefield to have been preserved, with its trench lines still in situ. The site incorporates a number of memorials, including one for the 29th Division, as well as three CWGC cemeteries: Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 2, Y Ravine Cemetery and Hunter’s Cemetery.

Les Maréchaux Sir Douglas Haig et Fayolle à Beaumont Hamel, 1925, by Agence Meurisse. Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, EI-13 (2770): https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9022644q

The Ypres Salient:

After the frustrations of the 1st July, the 29th Division were eventually relieved by the 25th Division on the 24th-25th July, after which they moved to the Ypres sector, where they were put to work repairing trenches and wire. The 2nd SWB mostly alternated between trenches in the St Jean / Wieltje area and dugouts on the Canal Bank, with some spells in divisional reserve, e.g. training at Camp ‘O’ (near Brandhoek). The weather at times was atrocious [59]:

30th Aug [1916]. A very bad day, blowing a gale from the west, and later veering to N.W. accompanied by deluges of rain. We had to find numerous working parties for the front trenches by day and night, chiefly for draining the trenches. 2000. In the evening, the rain ceased, but the wind remained strong, dying towards morning.
31st Aug. A very fine day, and the men were able to dry their clothing. The usual working parties were found.

At times, there were more gruesome events to be witnessed:

1st Oct [1916]. 0850. In the morning we saw an enemy observation balloon brought down by one of our aeroplanes. The aeroplane dived straight onto the balloon from the clouds and passed very close it, then turning and making a second attack. Nothing appeared to happen for about ten seconds, and then some smoke appeared, and immediately afterwards, a large sheet of fame shot up from the balloon, which fell and disappeared from view still burning. Just before the balloon fell, two men were seen to jump from it and descend by parachute, but they were apparently caught up and engulfed by the flaming balloon.

On the 7th October, the 2nd SWB left the Ypres sector for Longeau, near Amiens, from where they would march first to Cardonette and then, on the 10th, to Buire. On the 13th October the battalion would march to a camp near Fricourt for their return to the Somme front.

The Battle of the Somme — Gueudecourt, October 1916:

The area around Gueudecourt. Source: Stair Gillon, The Story of the 29th Division (London: Nelson, 1925); via British Library.

In October 1916, the 29th Division was called on to assist the 12th Division on the Somme front near Gueudecourt. The 88th Brigade, which had suffered less than the other brigades on the 1st July, were the first to go forward [60]. The 87th Brigade relived the 88th on the 19th October. The divisional history highlights the appalling weather [61]:

It would be more accurate to say the relief began [on the 19th October], for it was not completed even by 10.30 a.m. on the 20th. The cross-country tracks were impassable, and the extra traffic blocked the roads. The result was that the two battalions detailed to relieve those of the 88th in the line did not start on their final lap of about five miles till 8 p.m. The experience of the S.W.B. is characteristic of Somme fighting. They did not finish the relief of the [2nd] Hampshires till 11 p.m. on the 20th, after twenty-seven hours, during which period they had six officer casualties. They had no greatcoats, and by a caprice of the weather the thermometer dropped to about 10 degrees below freezing-point.

There was an attack planned for the 25th October, but it was postponed. The 29th Division was relieved on the 30th October by the 1st Australian Division. It was in this period before the Division was relieved that Lieutenant Harford was killed in a night-time trench raid.

Gueudecourt. Detail from Trench Map 57C.SW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 4A; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 7 October 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465185 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) 

The War Diary of the 2nd SWB (WO 95/2304/2) provides additional information on the effects of the bad weather as well as a brief description of the raid led by Lieutenant Harford [62]:

22/10/16. On leaving the trenches the following were sent to Hospital nearly all suffering from trench feet.
Lieut M. THOMAS. – 2Lieut W. J. RHOADES – 2Lt P.J. MULVEY – 2Lt J.E. HARRIS
NCOs & men – 64.

23/10/16. We remained in the support trench 600 yards S.W. of GUEUDECOURT and during the day 75 men were sent to Hospital, mostly suffering from trench feet. All men had been given dry socks and whale oil on leaving the trenches, and every endeavour made to check the sickness.
Each man was also issued with a leather jerkin.

IWM Q 5320: Troops of the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers, on the road to the trenches in the rain at Montauban, October 1916. © IWM. Source: Imperial War Museums: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/ item/object/205237466

24/10/16. Remained in support trench and 25 further men admitted to Hospital.
Rain fell for nearly the whole day.

15/10/16. Remained in support trench, and 18 men admitted to hospital. The strength at present with the battalion is 19 Officers 393 other ranks, the number in trenches being 16 Officers and 330 other ranks. [1800]. The Battalion moved up to the trenches again at night, but did not hold quite the same line.
Only half the previous front trench was held i.e. the right half of GREASE Trench in front of GUEUDECOURT, a front of about 350 yards.
This was held by two Companies (A and C), the remaining two being respectively in support in the sunken road, west of GUEUDECOURT, and in reserve in GOAT trench near Batt. H.Q. The relief was accomplished during the night without mishap. Head Quarter Bombers and Lewis Gunners were attached to Coys, owing to casualties in these specialists.

26th Oct. A normal day with the exception of heavy shelling by the enemy in the afternoon, due apparently to nervousness of an attack by us. Orders were prepared for an attack by us on the 28th Oct which had been previously postponed from today. [0200]. In the early morning a patrol under Lieut J.H. Harford went out to discover if the enemy had any wire out on our front. The patrol was unfortunately caught by the enemy’s fire and Lieut Harford was killed. During the night also, both Capt. B.J.R. Kelly and 2nd Lt W.M. Evans reported sick and were sent to Hospital.

27th Oct. During the day orders came through that our attack had again been postponed, and that we were to be relieved at night by the 4th Worcester Regt. [1900]. The relief was carried out without mishap and the battalion moved back into Brigade reserve in SWITCH and GAP trenches about half a mile in front of DELVILLE Wood.
The weather had been very bad during the day and our new trenches were in a terribly muddy condition, and there was practically no shelter from rain or cold for officers or men.

Grease Trench. Detail from Trench Map 57C.SW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 4B; Published: December 1916; Trenches corrected to 5 December 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465182 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

News of Lieutenant Harford’s death:

In 1916, the death of Lieutenant Harford was announced in newspapers on both sides of the Welsh/English border.

The Cambria Daily Leader, 1st November 1916 [63]:

SCROLL OF FAME.
[…]
LIEUTENANT JACK HARFORD.
Information has been received at Lampeter of the death of Lieutenant Jack Harford, aged 20, eldest son of Major J. C. Harford, D.L., J.P., Falcondale, Lampeter, and lord of the manor, who has died in action in France. He was wounded in action several months ago.

Gloucestershire Echo, 4th November 1916 [64]:

LIEUT. J. H. HARFORD.
The death occurred in action on October 25th of Lieut. John Henry Harford (South Wales Borderers). The gallant officer, who was only 20 years of age, was the eldest son of Mr. John C. Harford, of Falcondale, Lampeter, a grandson of Mrs. Harford, of Blaise Castle, Henbury, and a nephew of her Grace the Duchess of Beaufort. He received his commission in August, 1914, and was promoted in October of last year.

The Brecon County Times, Neath Gazette, and General Advertiser, etc., 9th November 1916 [65]:

BRECONSHIRE WAR ITEMS.
Second Lieut R D Beardshaw and Second-Lieut E T S Bricknell, South Wales Borderers, have died of wounds received in action.
Lieut John Henry Harford, South Wales Borderers, eldest son of Mr John C Harford, of Falcondale, Lampeter, was killed in action on October 25th. He was 20 years of age.
Lieut R D Beardshaw, South Wales Borderers, of Tondu, has died of wounds received in action. Deceased enlisted as a private on the outbreak of war, and had served in Gallipoli.
Casualties amongst non-commissioned officers and men officially notified, the place named being the address of the next of kin, except where otherwise stated:–
Reported killed, previously reported missing: 17770 Pte. J. S. Jones, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Hirwain.
Died of Wounds: 21549 Lance-Corporal J. Woodhouse, South Wales Borderers (enlisted at Brecon).
Wounded: 18754 Driver E. Moseley, R.F.A., Brecon.

A memorial service was held at St Peter’s Church, Lampeter on the 7th November.

The Amman Valley Chronicle and East Carmarthen News, 9th November 1916 [66]:

A crowded congregation assembled at St. Peter’ s Church, Lampeter, on Tuesday, when a service was held in memory of the late Lieut. John Henry Harford, eldest son of Major J. C. Harford, land heir to the Peterwel [i.e. Peterwell] Estate, was held. The Revs. W. Ll. Footman, D. J. Evans, and R. H. Richards officiated. A pathetic service was brought to a close by the singing of “O fryniau Caersalem.” At Soar Congregational Chapel reference was made by the pastor, the Rev. Evan Evans, and a vote of condolence with Major Harford and relatives was passed.

Richard Humphrey Richards was Professor of Welsh at St. David’s College, Lampeter.

A slightly-longer description of the service was published in the Welsh-language Y Llan of the 10th November [67]:

LLANBEDR-PONT-STEFFAN
[…]
Y DIWEDDAR IS-GADBEN HARFORD:–
Prydnawnddydd Mawrth, cynhaliwyd gwasanaeth coffadwriaethol i’r diweddar Is-gadben Harford, mab hynaf ac etifedd yr Uch-gadben Harford, Falcondale, yr hwn a gollodd ei fywyd yn Ffrainc, Hydref 25ain. Yr oedd yr eglwys yn orlawn, a llawer yn methu myned i fewn. Darllenwyd y gwasanaeth gan y Parchn. D. J. Evans a’r Proffeswr Richards, a’r llith gan y Parch. W. Ll. Footman, a phregethwyd gan y Pareh [i.e. y Parch.] D. J. Evans. Canwyd Salm xxiii. ac emynau priodol i’r achlysur yn ystod y gwasanaeth. Yr oedd y canu dan arweiniad Mr. W. Lewis (Arfryn), Mr. Llewellyn, organydd Coleg Dewi Sant yn gwasanaethu wrth yr organ, yr hwn chwareuodd y “Dead March” ar ddiwedd y gwasanaeth. — X.

A rough translation might read:

THE LATE LIEUTENANT HARFORD:–
A memorial service was held on Tuesday afternoon for the late Lieutenant Harford, eldest son and heir to Major Harford, Falcondale, who lost his life in France, October 25th. The church was overcrowded, and many could not enter. The service was taken by the Rev. D. J. Evans and Prof. Richards, the lesson was read by the Rev. W. Ll. Footman, and the Rev. D. J. Evans preached. Psalm xxiii and hymns appropriate to the occasion were sung during the service. Mr. W. Lewis (Arfryn) led the singing; at the organ, Mr. Llewellyn, the organist at St. David’s College, played the “Dead March” at the end of the service.

Tributes to Lieutenant Harford were later to come from Lampeter Town Council.

The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, 10th November 1916 [68]:

Lampeter Town Council.
CONDOLENCE WITH MAJOR HARFORD.
Lampeter Town Council met on Thursday. Present: Councillor Ll. Bankes-Price, mayor; Aldermen Walter Davies, Wm. Jones, Lewis Jones; Councillors E. Davies, J. S. Jones, D. F. Lloyd, D. Jones. D. Thomas, W. Davies (St David’s College), Wm. Davies (saddler), D Davies, and T. W. Jones; Mr J. E. Lloyd, town clerk: and other officials.
Prior to starting the business, the Mayor feelingly referred to the sad fact of the death of Lieut. John Harford, eldest son and heir of Major Harford, Falcondale. There had always existed a very good feeling between the inhabitants of the town and the Falcondale family, and on behalf of the Council and the town he proposed a vote of condolence with Major Harford and family in their sad bereavement. The vote was passed in silence.

A memorial service was also held at the the Church of St Mary, Henbury (Bristol), where members of the Harford family lived at Blaise Castle.

Western Daily Press, 10 November 1916 [69]:

THE LATE LIEUT. J. H. HARFORD.
A service in memory of the late Lieutenant John Henry Harford (South Wales Borderers), killed in action on October 25, was held in the Henbury parish church on Tuesday afternoon. It was conducted by the Vicar (Rev. C. P. Way), and in addition to members of the Blaise Castle family and other relatives, many others attended, including the choir. The organist, Mr. A. B. Cleaves, played suitable music on the organ before and after the service, including Chopin’s Funeral March.

Thiepval: The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing (Somme). Source: Flickr.

Memorials:

In France, Lieutenant Harford is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. In the UK, his name features on the war memorials at Lampeter (Cardiganshire) and Henbury (Bristol), the memorials at Magdalen College, Oxford, Harrow School, and the Durnford School memorial in the the Church of St. George, Langton Matravers (Dorset). There is also a memorial plaque to Lieutenant Harford in the Church of St Peter, Lampeter [70]. This provides a succinct summary of his military service and his death:

In loving memory of John Henry Harford,
Lieut. 3rd Bn South Wales Borderers, eldest son of
John Charles Harford of Falcondale & Blaise Castle.
He joined on Sept. 16th 1914 & was severely wounded
in Gallipoli June 30th 1915, whilst attached to the
2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers; joined the 1st Bn South
Wales Borderers in France May 1916, and was
killed when on patrol Oct. 26th 1916 aged 20 years.
He left a letter stating that he expected to be killed
& was quite ready and willing to die for his country.

Family background:

John Henry Harford was born at Lampeter on the 7th February 1896, the son of Major Sir John Charles Harford (1860-1934) and Blanche Amabel Harford (née Raikes) (1865-1904) of Falcondale [71]. John Henry was baptised at Lampeter by the vicar, the Rev. Daniel Jones, on the 10th March 1896.

The family were resident at Falcondale, near Lampeter, at the time of the 1901 Census. John Henry was four-years-old, the second eldest of three children. His father, John Charles Harford, was forty-years-old and described as “living on own means,” while his mother was thirty-four. John Henry’s siblings were: Mary Amabel (aged six) and George Arthur (two). Also living with the family at that time was John Charles’s older sister, Charlotte Louisa Harford (aged forty-five), and an array of servants: a butler (William John Turner Pomroy), footman (Hugh Lewis), housemaid (Mary Jane Puffit), nurse (Annie Eda Eliza), under nurse (Martha Jones), under housemaid (Ellen James), and kitchen maid (Violet Skuse). It was obviously not recorded in the census, but there had also been a fourth child, William Harford who had been born in 1899, but who had died in infancy.

John Henry’s mother, Blanche Amabel Harford, died in 1904, aged 39; she was buried at Lampeter on the 31st August, the officiating minister being the Rev. Canon Harford of Bath and Wells, who was a cousin.

By the time of the 1911 Census, John Henry Harford was fifteen-years-old, resident at Harrow-on-the-Hill, a student at Harrow School. At the same time, his younger brother was at Durnford School. No members of the Harford family appeared to be resident at Falcondale at the time of the census.

Lieutenant John Henry Harford was not the only one of the family to serve during the war [72]. His father became a Major in the Pembroke Yeomanry and served on the Western Front. His brother (George) Arthur served as a Lieutenant in the 21st Lancers, which spent the whole duration of the war in India. His sister, Mary Amabel (of Coombe House, Westbury-on-Trym), served with the British Red Cross between June 1915 and February 1916 as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse, being based at Horton V.A. Hospital, near Chipping Sodbury (Gloucestershire). [73]. The hospital was based at the house of another relative, Hugh Wyndham Luttrell Harford (he was the great grandson of John Scandrett Harford, senr.) [74].

In June 1916, while Lieutenant J. H. Harford would have been in France, Mary Amabel Harford married Charles Lorraine Hill, the son of Charles Gathorne Hill. This was reported in The Cambrian News and Merioneth Standard of the 23rd June 1916 [75]:

Lampeter Lady.
MARRIAGE OF MISS HARFORD.
At St. Peter’s Church, Eaton-square, London, on Tuesday, the wedding took place of Miss M. A. Harford, daughter of Major J. C. Harford of Falcondale, Lampeter, and Mr. Chas. Lorraine Hill, son of Mr. Charles Gathorne Hill, of Pool Court Gate, Gloucestershire. The bride was given away by her father. The Bishop of St. David’s, assisted by the Rev Harold Prask, officiated, and the service was fully choral. The church was prettily decorated with white lilies and foliage. Miss Kathleen Hill (sister of the bridegroom), Miss Phyllis Methuen, and Miss Dorothy Wilson Fox (cousin of the bride) were the bridesmaids, and a younger brother of the bridegroom was the best man. A reception was afterwards hold at 10, South-street, Park-lane, lent for the occasion by a relative of the bride.

Charles Lorraine Hill’s younger brother, Richard Alexander Gathorne Hill, was another former pupil of Durnford that died during the war. He gained a commission in the Somerset Light Infantry, but transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service and, on its formation, the Royal Air Force. Lieutenant Richard Alexander Gathorne Hill of 204th Squadron, Royal Air Force was shot down and killed while leading a patrol off the Belgian coast on the 12th August 1918 [76].

The Harford coat-of-arms, from the cover of: Alice Harford, Annals of the Harford Family (1909). Source: Internet Archive.

The Harford family:

The Harford family tradition claimed descent from John Harford of Bosbury (Herefordshire), who had lived during the reign of King Henry VIII. Despite that, in 1909, Alice Harford was only able to definitively trace the family line back to a Charles Harford (or Harvorde) of Marshfield (Gloucestershire), who had married Mary Bushe at St Peter’s Church, Bristol in 1656 [77]. Charles joined the Society of Friends after his marriage, and the Harfords became a prominent Quaker merchant family in Bristol for several generations. Charles’s great-grandson, John Scandrett Harford, senr. (1754-1815), a banker, and his wife Mary (née Gray) acquired Blaise Castle at Henbury (Bristol) in 1790. The castle was a gothic fantasy built in 1766, which Catherine Morland had looked forward in vain to visiting in Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey. The Harfords built a new house at Blaise, while the grounds (with the folly) were landscaped by Humphry Repton [78].

It was John Scandrett Harford’s eponymous son who, together with his younger brothers, Abraham Grey Harford-Battersby (1786-1851) and Alfred Harford, acquired the Peterwell estate at Lampeter in 1819 from their father-in law, Richard Hart Davis. In the 18th Century, Peterwell had been the home of Sir Herbert Lloyd, who was a barrister and MP, but who had also lived well beyond his means, leaving the estate on his death in 1769 with considerable debts [79]. His nephew, John Adams, was eventually forced to sell the estate and mansion in 1781 [80]. The estate passed through several hands while the house at Peterwell itself fell into dilapidation. After the acquisition of the estate by the Harford brothers, they chose not to renovate the house itself [81].

In 1820, the year after the Harfords had acquired the estate, John Scandrett Harford, junr. (1785-1866) offered the Castle Field at Lampeter to Thomas Burgess, the Bishop of St Davids, for the establishment of the bishop’s long-planned college [82]. The foundation stone of St David’s College was laid at Lampeter in 1822 and it admitted its first students in 1827.

On the death of John Scandrett Harford, junr. in 1866, the Peterwell estate passed to his nephew, John Battersby-Harford (1819-1875), the son of Abraham Gray Harford-Battersby. John Battersby Harford had married Mary de Bunsen at St James’s Church, Piccadilly in 1850, the ceremony being conducted by the Bishop of London [83]. Mary’s father was Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen, Baron von Bunsen (1791-1860), who was a scholar as well as a Prussian diplomat in London (Prussian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary). Mary had been born in the Palazzo Caffarelli in Rome on the 11th June 1829, the fourth daughter of Baron Bunsen and Frances Waddington Bunsen, Baroness Bunsen (née Frances Waddington) [84]. The two families were connected twice by marriage, as John’s sister, Mary Harford-Battersby, had married Henry de Bunsen, the then Vicar of Lilleshall, in 1847 [85].

John and Mary Charlotte would have eight children. Their eldest son, John Charles Harford (John Henry’s father), was born at Stoke Bishop on the 28th July 1860.

It was John Battersby Harford that decided to live at Lampeter, and in the late 1850s he commissioned Thomas Talbot Bury to build an Italian-style villa at Falcondale. John and Mary Charlotte Harford contributed a lot to the development of Lampeter and were deeply involved in the building of the new parish church at Lampeter, which was consecrated in 1870. John also built a church at Sillian [86]:

In a hilly outlying part of the parish of Lampeter, where not even a chapel existed, a small church arose, of which he was not only the architect but the builder. Every working drawing done to scale for masons and carpenters was his work; the small nave and the semi-circular apse are perfectly proportioned and thoroughly well-built.

According to their daughter Alice’s book on the family, the couple spent a great deal of time travelling on the continent, especially in Italy and France. Despite this, they were resident at Falcondale on the date that the 1871 Census was taken.

John Battersby Harford died near Nice in 1875. His widow would survive him for over forty years. Mary Charlotte Harford, of Blaise Castle, died at Thornbury (registration district), Gloucestershire on the 17th February 1919, aged 89, and was buried at Henbury. Her obituary in the Cambrian News is interesting in that it doesn’t mention her part-Prussian ancestry [87].

MRS.HARFORD LAMPETER. The death occurred on Monday at the age of ninety, of Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Harford, Blaise Castle, Bristol and Falcondale, Lampeter. Deceased, who was married to the late Mr. John Battersby Harford, M.A., of Falcondale in 1850 was greatly respected in Lampeter. She and her husband closely identified themselves with every movement to help forward the town and College. It was through Mrs. Harford that the Town Hall was built at a cost of £3,000. This improved the status of the town and resulted in the assizes being held there. Mrs Harford’s sons are Major J. C. Harford, Falcondale; and Mr. Frederic D. Harford, C.V.O., H.M. Diplomatic Service.

The one sentence report in the Somerset Standard of the 28th February 1919 managed to get both her age and the name of her residence incorrect [88]:

The death at the venerable age of 95 of Mrs. Harford, of Blaize Castle, will be regretted by those who had known of her through the late Rev. Canon Harford, of Marston.

So ended a long life that had begun on the Capitoline Hill in Rome in 1829.

John Charles Harford, Esq., J.P., D.L. From: South Wales: historical, biographical and pictorial (ca. 1908). Source: Internet Archive.

John Charles and Blanche Amabel Harford:

As has already been stated, John Battersby and Mary Charlotte Harford’s  eldest son, John Charles Harford (John Henry Harford’s father), was born at Blaise Castle (Stoke Bishop) on the 28th July 1860. Alice Harford’s book on the family notes that [89]:

He was given the name of John, borne by his father and his great-uncle, and of Charles after his Bunsen grandfather. His was the first baptism in the new church of St. Mary Magdalene, Stoke Bishop, planned and built by the untiring efforts of John Battersby-Harford.

By the time of the 1881 Census, John Charles Harford was twenty-years-old and serving as an officer in the Gloucestershire Hussars, boarding at 1 New King Street, Bath, part of the household of George and Annie Aplin. The 1891 Census recorded John Charles Harford, aged thirty and “living on own means,” boarding at the residence of Henry and Ruth Jones in the High Street, Malmesbury (Wiltshire). Also boarding there was his distant relative, the twenty-nine-year-old Hugh Harford — who during the First World War would establish a V.A. Hospital at his home at Horton, near Chipping Sodbury.

John Charles Harford married Blanche Amabel Raikes at St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, Pimlico on the 11 April 1893 [90]. The marriage was widely reported, e.g. in the South Wales Daily News of the 12th April 1893 [91]:

MARRIAGE OF MR J. C. HARFORD.
The marriage of Miss Blanche Raikes, second daughter of the late Mr Cecil Raikes, M.P., with Mr J. C. Harford, of Blaise Castle, Gloucester, and Falconbridge [sic], Cardiganshire, was solemnised on Tuesday afternoon at St. Peter’s Church, Eaton-square. Owing to the bride’s family being in mourning, only the near relatives of the two families received invitations. The ceremony was performed by the Venerable Archdeacon of London, assisted by the Rev. Walter Raikes.

Also in Ye Brython Cymreig of the 14th April 1893 [92]:

Priodas Mr Harford, Falcondale. Dydd Mawrth diweddaf, yr lleg cyfisol, priodwyd Mr J. C. Harford, Falcondale; Llanbedr, a Blaise Castle, sir Gaerloew, â Miss Blanche Raikes, ail ferch y diweddar Wir Anrhydeddus Cecil Raikes, A.S., yn Eglwys St. Peter’s, Eaton Square, Llundain. Oherwydd fod teulu y briodasferch mewn galar, ni ddanfonwyd gwahoddiadau i neb heblaw perthynasau agosaf y ddau deulu. Cyflawnwyd y ddefod gan yr Hybarch Archddiacon Llundain, a’r Parch Walter Raikes.

Blanche Amabel Raikes, had been born in Middlesex in 1865, the daughter of the Rt. Hon. Henry Cecil Raikes and Charlotte Blanche Raikes (née Trevor-Roper). Henry Cecil Raikes (1838-1891) was a Conservative Party MP, serving at various times Chairman of Ways and Means, and Postmaster General. Unfortunately, Blanche Amabel Harford died in 1904, aged 39, and was buried at Lampeter.

Shortly after his wife’s death, a publication entitled, South Wales, historical, biographical and pictorial published a long profile of John Charles Harford, giving full attention to his involvement in public service and politics [93]:

John Charles Harford, Esq., J.P., D.L.

ONE of the most active public men in the County of Cardigan, Mr. John Charles Harford, J.P., D.L., of Falcondale, Lampeter, is still on the right side of fifty, so that he may look forward to rendering for many years such useful public service as has already gained for him a great measure of esteem. He was born at Stoke Bishop, near Bristol, on July 28th, 1860, being the elder son of the late John Battersby Harford, Esq., J.P., D.L., by his marriage with Mary Charlotte, daughter of His Excellency Baron Bunsen, formerly Prussian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in London, the latter’s wife being a daughter of James Waddington, of Llanover, co. Monmouth.

Mr. J. C. Harford represents a family which, migrating from Marshfield, co. Gloucester, settled at Bristol in the course of the seventeenth century. His paternal grandfather was the late Abraham Gray Harford. Esq., of Stoke House, co. Gloucester, who assumed by Act of Parliament the name and arms of Battersby on inheriting the estate of his kinsman, William Battersby. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Major-General Dundas, of Fingask and Carron Hall, member of a famous Scottish house, and died in 1851. His elder son, Mr. J. C. Harford’s father, succeeded to the estates of his uncle in 1866, the latter gentleman, John Scandrett Harford, Esq., J.P., D.L., D.C.L., F.R.S., of Blaise Castle, who was married to a daughter of Richard Hart Davies, Esq., for many years Member of Parliament for Bristol, having died without issue. Mr. John Charles Harford, who was educated at Harrow, succeeded his father in 1875, and married on April 11th, 1893, Blanche Amabel, second daughter of the Right Hon. Henry Cecil Raikes, P.C., J.P., D.L., of Llwynegrin, Mold, co. Flint. The right hon. gentleman, who died in 1891, had a distinguished Parliamentary career, being for six years Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy-Speaker of the House of Commons, and after-wards, from 1886 to 1891, Postmaster-General in Lord Salisbury’s Administration.

Mr. Harford is perhaps best known in Cardiganshire as a politician. He has for many years fought strenuously for the Conservative cause in Cardiganshire, twice contesting the County representation in Parliament, but despite his excellent qualities as a vigorous and influential candidate, he was unable to defeat the traditional Liberalism of the constituency. Nevertheless, his splendid services for the Party in the County are readily acknowledged on all hands, and defeat at the polls has in no wise checked his ardour or slackened his enthusiasm for principles he has advocated with much courage and consistency for many years.

His devotion to public duties in the County is a pleasing feature in his career, and one concerning which all parties gladly concede his integrity and usefulness. A Deputy-Lieutenant of Cardiganshire, he is on the Commission of the Peace for that County and also for Gloucestershire, and takes a prominent part in affairs in the neighbourhood of Lampeter, where he is Lord of the Manor. He is a member of the Council of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and a member of the Council of St. David’s College, devoting to both offices much careful attention, as he does to all business which he undertakes. He is Chairman of the Four Counties’ Farm, and a Trustee of the Diocese of St. David’s. He was High Sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1885, and has done good service as an Alderman of the County Council.

It goes almost without the saying that Mr. Harford is a keen sportsman. He is an enthusiastic follower of hounds, indulges in a good deal of shooting in the season, and is also a motorist.

Mr. Harford, whose wife died in August, 1904, has two sons and one daughter. In addition to his Cardiganshire seat, he is the owner of Blaise Castle, Henbury, Bristol. He is a member of the Junior Carlton Club.

The profile did not mention it, but John Charles Harford also served as an officer with the Volunteers. On the 1st April 1908, presumably as part of the establishment of the new Territorial Force, Major John Charles Harford from the Pembroke Imperial Yeomanry was appointed to the Pembroke (Castlemartin) Yeomanry, “with rank and precedence as in the Imperial Yeomanry” [94]. He would afterwards serve during the First World War, being gazetted as a temporary Major in the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry in 1915, as reported in the Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser of the 29th October [95]:

Captain J. C. Harford, of Falcondale, Lampeter, was this week gazetted as temporary major in the Pembrokeshire (Castlemartin) Yeomanry.

Major John C. Harford’s medal card [96] states that he served in France from June 1917, presumably attached to another regiment, as there were no units of the Pembroke Yeomanry serving on the Western Front at that point in time. The 1/1st Pembroke Yeomanry had been combined with the Glamorgan Yeomanry to form an infantry battalion, the 24th (Pembroke & Glamorgan) Battalion, The Welsh Regiment, but they were based at that point in time in Palestine, moving to the Western Front with the 74th (Yeomanry) Division in May 1918 [97].

As the profile in the South Wales book stated, John Charles Harford served for a long time as a magistrate in both Cardiganshire and Gloucestershire. He was also very heavily involved in Cardiganshire local government, acting for a time as deputy lieutenant of that county. He was granted a baronetcy in the King’s birthday honours of 1934, just a few weeks before he died, aged 74.

There was a full report on Sir John’s death (with photograph) in the Western Mail of the 17th July 1934 [98]:

BARONET DIES ON GOLF LINKS
Sir John Charles Harford
LORD OF MANOR OF LAMPETER
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
LAMPETER, Monday.
Major Sir John Charles Harford, Bart., of Falcondale, Lampeter, died suddenly on the golf links adjoining his home this afternoon, aged 74.
He attended the jubilee service at the parish church yesterday, and next week he was to receive the freedom of the borough in recognition of his many public services.
Sir John had been prominent in the life of Cardiganshire for many years and had served on the county council and guardians’ committee, being chairman on several occasions. He was a justice of the peace for the county as well as for Gloucestershire.
He was high sheriff for Cardiganshire in 1885 and was at the time of his death deputy-lieutenant. He had twice contested the county as Conservative Parliamentary candidate, but was unsuccessful.
WORK FOR EDUCATION
Sir John, who was Lord of the Manor of Lampeter, was born at Stoke Bishop, near Bristol, being the elder son of the late Mr. John Battersby Harford, J.P., by his marriage with Mary Charlotte, daughter of H. E. Baron Bunsen, formerly Prussian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in London, whose wife was a daughter of Mr. James Waddington, of Llanover, Monmouth. He was educated at Harrow and had served as major with the Pembroke Yeomanry and in France during the Great War, in which his eldest son was killed.
He was greatly interested in education and was a member of the council of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and St. David’s College, Lampeter.
He was also the chief promoter of the light railway between Lampeter and Aberayron.
Last month he was made a baronet for political and public services in Cardiganshire.
His wife, who predeceased him, was a daughter of the late Mr. Henry Cecil Raikes, Postmaster-General in Lord Salisbury’s second administration.
He is survived by a son and daughter.

Sir John’s death was also reported in the Gloucestershire Echo of the 18th July 1934 [99]:

BARONET FOR A MONTH
Death Of A Gloucestershire Magistrate
Major Sir John Charles Harford, aged 74, who was created a baronet last month, on the occasion of the King’s birthday, in recognition of public and political services in Cardiganshire, died suddenly on the golf links near his home, Falcondale, Lampeter, Cardiganshire.
Lampeter Corporation had arranged to confer the freedom of the borough on him next week in recognition of his services to the town, of which he was lord of the manor.
Sir John contested Cardiganshire unsuccessfully twice as a Conservative. He was formerly high sheriff and was ex-chairman of the county council and quarter sessions. He was also a deputy lieutenant for Cardiganshire and a justice of the peace for that county and for Gloucestershire.
He rendered valuable service as chairman of Cardiganshire Territorial Force Association, and was largely for the construction of the light railway to Aberayron. His wife, who predeceased him, was a daughter of the late Right. Hon. H. C. Raikes, a former Postmaster-General. He leaves a son and daughter.

Sir John was buried at Lampeter. In other circumstances, John Henry Harford would have inherited the baronetcy. Instead, Sir John’s surviving son, George Arthur Harford, became the 2nd Baronet. Falcondale was sold in 1951 and is now a hotel. Mary Amabel Harford died in 1966, her brother Sir George Arthur Harford the following year.

O fryniau Caersalem:

“O fryniau Caersalem ceir gweled” was one of the hymns sung at Lieutenant Harford’s memorial service at Lampeter in 1916. The hymn was written by David Charles (1762-1834), a Calvinistic Methodist minister. It was very popular in Wales, and was frequently used at burials and memorial services. The hymn confidently looks back at the pilgrim’s journey through the wilderness from the perspective of the heights of Zion, “From the hills of Jerusalem, I can see all the wilderness journeys, …” The tune used would have been Crug-y-bar, of which it is well-worth seeking out a recording [100].

O fryniau Caersalem ceir gweled,
Holl daith yr anialwch i gyd;
Pryd hyny daw troion yr yrfa,
Yn felys i lanw ein bryd;
Cawn edrych ar stormydd ac ofnau.
Ac angeu dychrynllyd a’r bedd,
A ninau’n ddiangol o’u cyrhaedd,
Yn nofio mewn cariad a hedd.

David Charles (1762-1834)

Hymn CXLVIII, in: Richard Williams and Joseph Williams, Hymnau a salmau: Yr hymnau gan mwyaf o waith Y Parch. William Williams, o Bantycelyn; a’r salmau gan Y Parch. Edmund Prys, o Feirionydd, wedi eu casglu ar ddymuniad ac at wasanaeth y Methodistiad Calfinaidd yn Liverpool (Liverpool: Printiwyd gan R. Ll. Morris, 1840), p. 130; source: Internet Archive (via Bodleian Library):
https://archive.org/details/hymnauasalmauyr00willgoog/page/n142/

References:

[1] D. T. W. Price, A history of Saint David’s University College, Lampeter, Vol. 1, to 1898 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1977), p. 19.

[2] Alice Harford, ed., Annals of the Harford family (London: The Westminster Press, 1909); source: Internet Archive (via Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center):
https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf

[3] Harrow Memorials of the Great War, Vol. IV (London: Philip Lee Warner, for Harrow School, 1919); source: Internet Archive (via University of California Libraries):
https://archive.org/details/harrowmemorialso04warn/page/n105

[4] The Durnford Memorial Book of the Great War, 1914-1918 (London: Medici Society, 1924), pp. 25-27.

[5] WO 339/25521, Officers’ Services, First World War: Lieutenant John Henry Harford, The National Archives, Kew.

[6] The Long, Long Trail: Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment):
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/royal-fusiliers-city-of-london-regiment/

[7] Jenny MacLeod, Gallipoli (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 35.

[8] Stair Gillon, The story of the 29th Division: a record of gallant deeds (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1925; Naval and Military Press reprint), pp. 20-21; digitised version also available from the British Library (Digital Store 09084.cc.37.):
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100002339298.0x000002

[9] Ibid., p. 23.

[10] Stephen Snelling, VCs of the First World War: Gallipoli (Stroud: History Press, 2010), pp. 10-32.

[11] B. H. Liddell Hart, History of the First World War (London: Pan Books, 1972), p. 175.

[12] Snelling, pp. 33-68.

[13] Ibid., pp. 69-91.

[14] Liddell Hart, p. 176.

[15] Durnford Memorial Book of the Great War, 1914-1918, p. 26.

[16] The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 14th May 1915, p. 8; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3678672/3678680/93/

[17] H. C. O’Neill, The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War (London: William Heinemann, 1922), pp. 95-96; source: Internet Archive (via University of California Libraries):
https://archive.org/details/royalfusiliersin00onei/page/94

[18] Chaplain 4th Class Oswin Creighton was killed in action in France on the 15th April 1918; Creighton’s father was the historian Mandell Creighton (1843-1901), who had been Dixie Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge (1884-1891), Bishop of Peterborough (1891-1896), and Bishop of London (1897-1901); O. Creighton, With the Twenty-Ninth Division in Gallipoli: a chaplain’s experiences (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1916); digitised version available from the Internet Archive (via University of Toronto):
https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/n9

[19] Creighton, With the Twenty-Ninth Division in Gallipoli: a chaplain’s experiences, p. 102:
https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/102

[20] Ibid., p. 112: https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/112

[21] Ibid., p. 125: https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/n187

[22] Ibid., p. 128: https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/128

[23] Ibid., p. 129: https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/128

[24] Ibid., p. 131: https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/130

[25] Ibid., p. 138: https://archive.org/details/withtwentyninthd00creiuoft/page/148

[26] O’Neill, pp. 99-100: https://archive.org/details/royalfusiliersin00onei/page/98

[27] Gillon, pp. 50-51.

[28] Sir Ian Hamilton, Gallipoli diary (London: Edward Arnold, 1920), Vol. I, pp. 344-345; source: Internet Archive (via Cornell University Library): https://archive.org/details/cu31924088057215/page/n381

[29] Creighton, p. 148.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Western Mail, 13 July 1915, p. 8; via British Newspaper Archive.

[32] Western Mail, 16 July 1915, p. 7; via British Newspaper Archive.

[33] The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 16 July 1915, p. 4; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3678753/3678757/35/

[34] The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 10 September 1915, p. 4; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3678825/3678829/31/

[35] The Long, Long Trail: South Wales Borderers:
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/south-wales-borderers/

[36] Gillon, p. 77.

[37] WO 95/2304/2, 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[38] Gillon, p. 77.

[39] WO 95/2304/2, 2nd Battalion, SWB War Diary.

[40] Jack Sheldon, The Germans at Beaumont Hamel, Battlefield Europe (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, ), pp. 40-48.

[41] WO 95/2304/2, 2nd Battalion, SWB War Diary.

[42] Ibid.

[43] WO 95/2304/2; also transcribed in: Slaughter on the Somme, 1 July 1916: the complete War Diaries of the British Army’s worst day, comp. Martin Mace and John Grehan (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2013), pp 171-172.

[44] WO 95/2308/1, 1st Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment War Diary; transcribed in Slaughter on the Somme, p. 140.

[45] Gillon, p. 81.

[46] Ibid.

[47] Ibid., p. 82.

[48] Ibid.

[49] WO 95/2304/2, 2nd Battalion, SWB War Diary.

[50] Andrew Macdonald, First day of the Somme (Auckland: HarperCollins, 2016), p. 146.

[51] Gillon, p. 82.

[52] British Library, Add MS 48365, HUNTER-WESTON PAPERS. Private War Diary; Vol. XI. 8th Army Corps [VIII Corps]. Somme and Ypres. 1 Jan – 31 Dec. 1916 (277 images) available from the British Library Digitised Manuscripts website:
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_48365&index=0

[53] Laura Walker, “We go into action in a day or two and I’m leaving this in case I don’t come back”. On the eve of the Somme. British Library Untold Lives blog, 30 June 2016:
https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2016/06/remembering-the-somme.html

[54] Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston, Message to All Officers, NCOs and Men of the VIII Army Corps, 4 July 1916, British Library, Add MS 48365, f63r; also quoted in: W. D. Lowe, War history of the 18th (S.) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (London: Oxford University Press, 1920), pp. 158-159; source: Internet Archive (via McMaster University):
https://archive.org/details/18thdurham00loweuoft/page/n225

[55] Liddell Hart, p. 233.

[56] John Masefield, The old front line (New York: Macmillan, 1917), pp. 43-44; source: Internet Archive (via Library of Congress):
https://archive.org/details/oldfrontline01mase/page/n55

[57] William Philpott, Three armies on the Somme: the first battle of the Twentieth Century (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), p. 193.

[58] Ibid., p. 386.

[59] WO 95/2304/2, 2nd Battalion, SWB War Diary.

[60] Gillon, p. 87.

[61] Ibid., p. 89.

[62] WO 95/2304/2, 2nd Battalion, SWB War Diary.

[63] The Cambria Daily Leader, 1 November 1916, p. 4; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4102483/4102487/99/harford

[64] Gloucestershire Echo, 4 November 1916, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[65] The Brecon County Times, Neath Gazette, and General Advertiser, etc., 9 November 1916, p. 8; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3858334/3858342/85/harford

[66] The Amman Valley Chronicle and East Carmarthen News, 9 November 1916, p. 6; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4013549/4013555/71/

[67] Y Llan, 10 November 1916, p. 5; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3688481/3688486/60/

[68] The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, 10 November 1916, p. 2; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3413510/3413512/10/

[69] Western Daily Press, 10 November 1916, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[70] Imperial War Museums, War Memorials Register: Lieutenant J H Harford:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6935

[71] This section of the post is based on the genealogical records made available by Findmypast, but has been supplemented with information from other sources:

[72] WO 372/9/18463, Medal card of Harford, George Arthur, 21st Lancers, Lieutenant; WO 372/9/18499, Medal card of Harford, John C., Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, Major; WO 371, British Army medal index cards 1914-1920, The National Archives, Kew.

[73] British Red Cross, First World War Volunteers:
https://vad.redcross.org.uk/

[74] Gloucestershire Red Cross hospitals 1914-1919: Horton V.A. Hospital:
http://www.angelfire.com/az/garethknight/redcross/horton.html

[75] The Cambrian News and Merioneth Standard, 23rd June 1916, p. 5; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3413313/3413318/50/

[76] Durnford Book of the Great War, p. 30.

[77] Alice Harford, Annals of the Harford family (1909), p. 26:
https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf/page/26/

[78] Ibid., p. 54: https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf/page/54/

[79] Bethan Phillips, Peterwell: the history of a mansion and its infamous squire (Aberystwyth: Cymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion, 1983), p. 214.

[80] Ibid., p. 218.

[81] Ibid., p. 223.

[82] Price, A history of Saint David’s University College, Lampeter, Vol. 1, pp. 18-19.

[83] Harford, Annals, p. 132: https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf/page/132/

[84] Augustus J. C. Hare, The life and letters of Frances, Baroness Bunsen, 3rd ed., Vol. I (London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1882), p. 326; source: Internet Archive (via Princeton Theological Seminary Library):
https://archive.org/details/lifelettersoffra01hare/page/326/

[85] Harford, Annals, p. 127: https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf/page/126/

[86] Ibid., p. 148: https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf/page/148/

[87] The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, 21st February 1919, p 8; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3414584/3414592/118/

[88] Somerset Standard, 28th February 1919, p. 8; via British Newspaper Archive.

[89] Harford, Annals, p. 141: https://archive.org/details/annalsofharfordf00harf/page/140/

[90] Westminster Marriages, City of Westminster Archives Centre; via Findmpast.

[91] South Wales Daily News, 12th April 1893: p. 6; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3728574/3728580/90/

[92] Ye Brython Cymreig, 14 April 1893, p 2; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3691336/3691338/17/

[93] John Charles Harford, Esq., J.P., D.L. In: South Wales: historical, biographical and pictorial (London: Allan North, ca. 1908); source: Internet Archive (via University of Toronto):
https://archive.org/details/southwaleshistor00londuoft/page/n309

[94] The London Gazette, No. 28159, 17 July 1908, p 5222:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28159/page/5222/

[95] The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 29th October 1915, p. 6; via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales):
https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3678888/3678894/62/

[96] WO 372/9/18499, Medal card for Harford, John C., Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, Major; WO 371, British Army medal index cards 1914-1920, The National Archives, Kew.

[97] Stephen John, Welsh Yeomanry at war: a history of the 24th (Pembroke and Glamorgan) Battalion, The Welsh Regiment (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2016), p. 156.

[98] Western Mail, 17 July 1934, p 6; via British Newspaper Archive.

[99] Gloucestershire Echo, 18 July 1934, p. 5; also published in: Cheltenham Chronicle, 21 July 1934 p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[100] The Welsh Quartette, O Fryniau Caersalem, ca. 1908 (Zonophone Twin) Gramophone Record; via Internet Archive.

Insel Grave di Papodopolo an der Piave 21.11.17. Source: K.u.k. Kriegspressequartier, Lichtbildstelle – Wien, via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (WK1/ALB076/22206) and Europeana (Public Domain)

7148 Private Dudley Francis Seear of “C” Company in the 2nd Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) died of wounds on the Piave front in Italy on the 24th October 1918, aged 24. It seems that he had been wounded during the 22nd Infantry Brigade assault on the Grave di Papadopoli on the night of the 23rd/24th October. He is buried in Giavera British Cemetery, Arcade, Italy (Plot 6, Row B, Grave 10). Private Seear is the great uncle of my wife, the brother of her grandfather Albert Edward Seear (who served with the Army Service Corps during the war).

This post will provide an outline of the war service of the 2nd HAC on the Western Front and in Italy, before going on to introduce Private Seear and his family in a little more detail.

From October 1916 until the end of the First World War, the 2/1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company formed part of 22nd Infantry Brigade in the 7th Division. The battalion served on the Western Front from October 1916 until November 1917, when the whole Division moved to Italy. In their year on the Western Front, the battalion saw action in the final months of the Battle of the Somme, were involved in the Advance to the Hindenburg Line, and then took part in specific actions of the Battle of Arras (the Second Battle of Bullecourt) and the Third Battle of Ypres (the Battle of Poelcapelle, the Second Battle of Passchendaele). In Italy, they were stationed for a while on the Asiago plateau before moving to the Piave front for what became known as the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.

We know from surviving HAC records (available via Findmypast) and the regimental roll of honour that Private Seear enlisted on the 1st March 1916 and that he travelled overseas with his battalion on the 1st October 1916. While it is not possible to be absolutely certain that he was with the 2nd HAC throughout all of their operations on the Western Front and in Italy, it seems likely that he would have been involved to some extent in at least some of them (assuming, of course, that he was not employed in a battalion role that would have kept him out of the front line).

IWM Q 26702: British cyclists, followed by Austro-Hungarian prisoners carrying wounded, crossing the river Piave to Grave di Papodopoli near Salettuol, November 1918. © Imperial War Museums (Q 26702): https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205268112

The 2nd Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company:

The Honourable Artillery Company has a very long history as a military unit, having been first incorporated by King Henry VIII in 1537 as the Fraternity or Guild of St George [1]. Its name long predated the concept of artillery as ordnance. In the 1870s, G. A. Raikes noted that the word “was formerly applied to all kinds of offensive weapons, more especially to Archery, and in this latter meaning was universally adopted so long as that weapon continued to flourish” [2]. As part of the Haldane reforms, the Honourable Artillery Company became part of the Territorial Force in 1907. Unusually, the Company comprised units of both artillery and infantry. During the First World War, the HAC expanded to form three infantry battalions (two of which served overseas) and seven artillery batteries [3].

According to the Long, Long Trail website [4], the 2/1st Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company was formed at Finsbury in September 1914. It then spent over two years in the UK, based mainly in the London area, e.g. Blackheath, Richmond Park, Wimbledon, Orpington, Tadworth, and the Tower of London (which was the HAC’s traditional HQ).

The Tower of London, the headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company

It was while they were at the Tower, that the 2nd Battalion HAC received their orders to mobilise on the 27th September 1916 [5]. On the 1st October, they entrained at Waterloo Station for Southampton, sailing for France on the evening of the 2nd. Later in October, they were placed under the command of 22nd Infantry Brigade in the 7th Division, where the battalion replaced the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. The history of the 7th Division explains that the HAC joined while it was in the Lys sector [6]:

One important change had taken place during the Division’s stay in the Lys Valley, the Royal Irish leaving on October 14th to join the Sixteenth (South Irish) Division. In their place the 2nd Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company joined the Division […]

The regimental history of the HAC suggests that the commander of the 22nd Brigade was initially not too keen to receive a Territorial Force battalion in exchange for the 2nd RIR [7]

The 7th had started its life as a Division of the Regular Army, but by late 1916 its Brigades had incorporated a wider range of unit types. For example, in December 1915 the Seventh’s 21st Brigade had been exchanged for the 91st Brigade from the 30th Division, a New Army formation. After October 1916, the other infantry units in the 22nd Brigade were: the 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers (RWF), the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (RWR), and the 20th (Service) Battalion (5th City), Manchester Regiment.

The grave marker of Pte. Harold Charles Love, 2nd Bn., Honourable Artillery Company, died 28 October 1916, aged 21; Berks Cemetery Extension, Ploegsteert (Hainaut).

The 2nd HAC at first spent around a month in the Lys sector south of Ypres (Ieper), doing several stints in the front line trenches near Ploegsteert Wood, before moving to Bertrancourt in November. They were then based on the Somme front until March 1917, with a long interval spent at Rubempré for winter training in early 1917. From the 23rd November 1916 until the 21st January 1917, the battalion mostly alternated between billets at Bertrancourt and the front line at Beaumont Hamel. They suffered several casualties (including seven killed) on their very first day in the trenches at Beaumont Hamel, mostly while relieving the 21st Manchesters [8]:

30/11/16. Companies in front line had a bad time from shelling & sniping all day. Outpost groups suffering a lot with mud. Communication very difficult to maintain. Trenches obliterated in places.

In February 1917, the 22nd Brigade (although not the 2nd HAC) helped to capture the village of Pusieux. In mid-March, the 2nd HAC were ordered to send patrols into the strongly-defended village of Bucquoy, an unsuccessful enterprise that resulted in heavy losses (the regimental history bitterly describes this operation as a “hopeless undertaking” [9]). Eventually, however, Bucquoy was eventually evacuated in March by the Germans as part of their retreat to fresh defences in the the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) [10]. The 7th Division then slowly pushed on in a north-easterly direction towards Croisilles and Écoust-Saint-Mein. The 2nd HAC itself remained in the Somme area until late March, but it then moved up via Bucquoy and Ervillers to Mory. From there, the battalion would join an attack on a windmill south of Écoust [11]:

Efforts were made to gain ground in the direction of Ecoust and Croisilles, and these led to some quite sharp fighting, of which the brunt fell on the [2nd] Borders, as already described, and on the H.A.C., who had nearly 100 casualties in three days, most of them incurred in fights for a ruined windmill, South of Ecoust.

The 7th Division would attack and capture both Croisilles and Écoust on the 2st April. The 22nd Brigade were in support, and the 2nd HAC would move up on subsequent days to Saint-Léger, before returning to Courcelles-sur-Compte. It was from there in early May that the battalion moved back north to Mory in order to take part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt.

The 2nd HAC at Bullecourt:

During the Battle of Arras, the village of Bullecourt formed the southern limit of the Arras front. Its defences formed part of the Hindenburg Line and were extremely formidable. The village had been attacked on the 10th and 11th April during the First Battle of Bullecourt, but the Australian 4th Division and the British 62nd Division were not able to hold on to any of their gains [12, 13].

Bullecourt. Detail from Trench Map: Hendecourt: special sheet, parts of 51B S.W., S.E. & 57C N.W., N.E.; Scale: 1:20000; Published: 1917; Trenches corrected to 25 September 1917: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101723833 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The 62nd Division, assisted by tanks of ‘D’ Battalion of the Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps, and the 2nd Australian Division would try to capture Bullecourt again on the 3rd May 1917. C. E. W. Bean, in the Australian Official History, explains that the objective was to break through the front-line Hindenburg trenches, to capture Bullecourt, and then to penetrate as far as the villages of Riencourt-lès-Cagnicourt and Hendecourt-lès-Cagnicourt [14]:

The first objective both for the 2nd Australian Division, attacking in the re-entrant east of Bullecourt, and for the 62nd, attacking the village and the line west of it, was the two Hindenburg trenches, O.G.1 and O.G.2 – this including, for the 62nd Division, the capture of Bullecourt. The second objective was the road, a further advance of 200-700 yards for the Australians, and 700-1,200 for the British. It was explained that this objective had no tactical importance, except as a starting point for the third phase of the attack — the advance on Riencourt and Hendecourt. The third objective extended into half an ellipse so as to include the villages of Riencourt for the 2nd Australian Division and Hendecourt for the 62nd, and was itself to be attained by three sub-stages.

The 2nd Australian Division assault commenced at 3.45 am, with battalions from its 5th and 6th Brigades leading the attack. The 6th Brigade managed to hold part of the OG1 line, but the attack of the 5th Brigade on their right did not succeed in making any progress. The 62nd Division attack to the left of the 2nd Australian Division had mixed fortunes, but it was ultimately unable to achieve any of its objectives. Graham Keech’s Battlefield Europe book on Bullecourt noted that, “by 5.00 p.m. it was clear that the division had failed in its attempt to capture Bullecourt and was in no state to renew the attack” [15]. Accordingly, two battalions of 22nd Brigade from the 7th Division, the 1st RWF and the 2nd HAC, were brought forward to lead a second attack on Bullecourt. The background to this attack is described in the history of the 7th Division [16]:

A very obscure situation confronted [Major-] General [Herbert] Shoubridge [the General Officer Commanding 7th Division]. The Sixty-Second Division were mostly back on the embankment [the railway embankment south of Bullecourt], though it was believed that a few survivors were still hanging on to Bullecourt. The Australians were clinging stubbornly to about 1,000 yards of the Hindenburg Line, but unless Bullecourt could be secured it was doubtful if they could possibly maintain their hold. The Sixty-Second Division after a gallant effort had clearly shot its bolt – it had lost too heavily and its units were too much disorganised to attempt a fresh attack – so if the Australians were to be helped the Seventh Division must do it. After a hurried conference in a little tin shanty off the Ervillers-St. Leger road, at which the Army Commander (Sir H. Gough) and his Chief of Staff were present along with the Divisional Commander, orders were issued to the 22nd Brigade to attack Bullecourt, with a “Brown Line” running from S.E. to N.W. through the Northern portion of the village as its first objective and the Hindenburg Line North of the village as its final goal. This attack was to be begun by the H.A.C. and Welch Fusiliers, on the right and left respectively of the Longatte-Bullecourt road. They were to pass through the 20th Manchesters and Royal Warwickshires on the embankment, and if the attack went well and secured the Brown Line these battalions would push forward and assault the final objective. It was pointed out that the brigade did not know the ground and had no time for proper reconnaissance, but the necessity for doing something quickly overweighed these objections and the attack had to go forward, though it was postponed from 6.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. This just allowed the company commanders to get their horses and ride forward as near as possible to a point from which they could get an idea of the ground, but even so it was a very inadequate reconnaissance.

It was still daylight when the H.A.C. and Welch Fusiliers reached the embankment and they had to wait nearly three hours before the attack started. Their advance had apparently been detected by the Germans, for directly they went forward heavy machine gun fire opened upon them from front and flank; they pressed forward nevertheless, only to find the wire, though effectively cut, still presented a troublesome obstacle, being tangled up in coils which were difficult to negotiate. However, both battalions succeeded in forcing their way into Tower Trench, and cleared it after a stubborn hand-to-hand tussle, capturing about 50 prisoners. Some of the later waves of the H.A.C. pressed forward into the village and were even reported to have reached the second objective, while the Welch Fusiliers tried to form a defensive flank facing N.W. and connecting up with the Sixty-Second Division about the cross-roads S.W. of the Crucifix. But casualties had been heavy and Germans emerged in numbers from dug-outs in the village to dispute it with the assailants. There was a gap too on the right; it appeared later that the Australian battalion which should have co-operated had suffered so severely from a heavy bombardment that it had had to be relieved, and in consequence Germans, making use of this gap, assailed the H.A.C. in flank. The H.A.C. put up a good fight, but they had Germans in front and in flank and even some behind, who had come out of dugouts that had escaped the moppers-up. The Welch Fusiliers were not less severely pressed, and in the end neither they nor the H.A.C. could maintain their hold on Bullecourt: by 2.30 a.m. on May 4th, it was reported that both battalions had been thrust out of the village.

The Divisional history [17] adds that when the 20th Brigade finally got into Bullecourt four-days afterwards, “an N.C.O. and 9 men of the H.A.C. were found hiding out there: they had established themselves in a dug-out and, using a Lewis gun effectually, had beaten off all efforts to capture them.”

The regimental history has more detail [18]:

Twelve or fifteen men under Corpl. Billingham had established themselves in a ruined billet in the village and succeeded in beating off all attacks. They remained there for four days completely cut off and without food or water other than what they could collect from the dead. When the village was finally taken on May 7th, by the 91st Brigade, they were found still occupying their original position.

Bullecourt,1917. From: C. T. Atkinson, The Seventh Division, 1914–1918 (1922), p 393. Source: British Library.

The 22nd Brigade suffered many casualties at Bullecourt [19]:

[The 22nd Brigade] had lost 16 officers and 375 men killed and missing, 16 officers and 372 men wounded, nearly 800 in all. The Royal Warwickshires were the chief sufferers with nearly 260 casualties, among those killed being Lieut. Harrowing, who had done so well at Ginchy [on the Somme]. The H.A.C. were the next hardest hit with 11 officers and 202 men, the Welch Fusiliers having just under 200 casualties, while the 20th Manchesters escaped quite lightly with just over 100.

The War Diary of the 2nd HAC is sparse, but hints at the intensity of the fighting on the 3rd/4th May [20]:

[May 3] 2.0 pm. Orders to make an attack on BULLECOURT at 6 pm that night
4.30. Attack postponed till 10.30 pm
10.0 pm. Battn. formed up in C.9.d SW of road & advanced. A & B Coys to take 1st objective, C & D Coys to go through & take 2nd objective.
11.50 pm. A & B Coys. reported they had gained their objectives.
[May] 4. 12.30 am. B Co. reported heavy counter-attack, & were out of touch on their left, followed by requests for “grenades” [?] & reinforcements.
1.45. Capt. BOWER ‘B’ Co. reported he was practically surrounded & had only about 30 men left.
2.15. Capt. BOWER reported he had been “bombed” out & had taken up positions in shell holes outside the HUN wire.3.30. Orders came to withdraw & follow the MANCHESTERS who were about to attack the original position again.
3.45. Enemy put down a heavy barrage.
4.30. Enemy counter-attacked on the right.
4.45. Collected all men & took up a position along the ECOUST-NOREUIL road.

On the 7th Division’s right, the 1st Australian Division attempted to extend the lodgement in the Hindenburg Line front line that had been made by the 2nd Australian Division on the 3rd May. They were, in turn, relieved by units of the 5th Australian Division. With repeated attacks, the 7th Division continued to try to capture the village of Bullecourt until it was finally relieved by the 58th (2/1st London) Division on the 16th May. The village was finally evacuated by the Germans on the 17th May. Atkinson’s conclusion in the divisional history of the 7th was not that favourable to those that kept the attacks going on for so long [21]:

To have to make a series of small attacks, starting from trenches full of unburied dead who testified to the failure of previous efforts, was as hard a trial as the Division had ever been put to. To have to advance again and again over the same ground, to repeat without modification plans of attack which had already proved unsuccessful, tested courage and discipline highly. To be put in again, as the battalions of the 22nd Brigade were, without any real rest and without reinforcements, asked much of officers and men.

G. Goold Walker recorded that the HAC numbered less than 100 [22]:

The whole of the 91st Brigade had now been reduced to the strength of a small battalion, and that night the H.A.C. were relieved by the 8th London, and returned to Mory Valley. All that was left of the battalion was 4 officers and 94 men. Five officers had been killed outright and 3 others wounded, while nearly 250 men were returned as killed, wounded or missing.

On the 16th May, the 2nd HAC moved to Achiet-le-Grand and Logeast Wood. On the 2nd June, command of the battalion was taken over by Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Nugent O’Connor, who in the Second World War would command the Western Desert Force and, after two-and-a-half years captivity in Italy, the VIII Corps in North-West Europe.

The 2nd HAC would return to the Arras front (with their headquarters at Mory, Écoust-Saint-Mein, and Hendecourt-lès-Ransart) towards the end of June 1917. By this point-in-time, the front line was reasonably quiet, although on the night of the 21st/22nd July, the HAC took part in a raid on a “Mebus” (pillbox) east of Bullecourt, from which the defenders managed to escape prior to its capture and destruction.

AWM H12360: Bullecourt, France, c. 1917; view of trenches close to the village. Source: Australian War Memorial (Public Domain): https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C193812

In August 1917, the 7th Division moved to Adinfer for refitting and intensive training, an activity that continued after they moved north at the end of the month. There was much training in musketry, “an effort being made to work up to 12 aimed rounds a minute standard, the men being taught to look upon the rifle and bayonet as their principal weapons and to regard the bomb and the rifle grenade as supplementary” [23]. There were also attempts to learn about the new methods of defence being adopted by the Germans, which were based on flexible forward zones defended by concrete “pill-boxes” or machine-gun nests in shell-holes, with more-permanent trench lines situated much further back. The units of the Division also began to absorb fresh drafts, some of them from broken-up Yeomanry regiments and Territorial Force Cyclist battalions. A highlight in September was apparently a Divisional Horse Show, which was at least an opportunity to bring most of the Division together [24].

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

The Third Battle of Ypres:

After several weeks based at Hendecourt-lès-Ransart (south of Arras) during their initial stint of training, the 2nd HAC entrained at Beaumetz on the 29th August 1917 for Godewaersvelde, close to the Belgian border [25]. From there they marched to billets in the Eecke area. The battalion then moved to Hondeghem on the 2nd September, and on to Staple on the 7th. On the 13th September, they moved from the Hazebrouck district to the area south of Saint-Omer, staying at Quelmes from the 15th to the 28th September. Throughout all of this time, training and the absorption of new drafts continued. Indeed, the divisional history was optimistic that Wizernes (SW of Saint-Omer) might have provided “an admirable training ground for the more open warfare which it was hoped the Division would experience in its next engagement” [26]. They had no such luck. The 2nd HAC finally left Quelmes on the 28th September, and (except for the transport section) entrained at Arques for a return to Godewaersvelde, from where they marched to Caestre. The following day, the battalion marched via Berthen and Westoutre to camp with the 22nd Brigade at Dickebusche (Dikkebus). The battalion were now in the Salient, and the following day would move forward to dugouts at Zillebeke [27]:

30.9.17. Fine & warm. Brigade took over POLYGON WOOD sector. Battalion moved into Support in Railway dugouts at ZILLEBEECKE [sic] at 6.30 pm. Seven casualties in ‘B’ Coy from aeroplane bombs en route.

The Third Battle of Ypres had started on the 31st July 1917 and had already been underway for two months. The offensive had initially been under the control of General Hubert Gough of the British Fifth Army, but towards the end of August, General Haig passed on primary responsibility for the campaign to General Herbert Plumer of the Second Army. Plumer had been responsible for the meticulously-planned Battle of Messines back in June. Plumer knew the Ypres Salient very well, and Haig was desperate to make more progress on capturing the Gheluvelt Plateau. The change in leadership is now often associated with a shift to carefully-planned and incremental attacks based on ‘bite-and-hold’ principles, where objectives would be limited to those that could realistically be held against German counter-attacks.

The third phase of the Third Battle of Ypres, therefore, commenced on the 20th September. In better weather conditions than had been available in August, the ‘bite-and-hold’ approach worked and the Battle of the Menin Road was mostly successful in reaching its objectives. A follow-up attack commencing on the 26th September, the Battle of Polygon Wood, resulted in the capture of Polygon Wood by the 5th Australian Division (I ANZAC). Further north, units of Fifth Army also managed to capture Dochy Farm and reach part of the village of Zonnebeke.

The Battle of Broodseinde:

This was followed by what became seen in retrospect as the most successful of these ‘bite-and-hold’ operations, the Battle of Broodseinde on the 4th October 1917. The Second Army’s objectives were to capture the remaining parts of the Gheluvelt Plateau, including the Broodseinde Ridge and the Gravenstafel Spur, which would be a means of enabling a further attack on the Passchendaele Ridge. The Fifth Army were simultaneously to advance towards the village of Poelcapelle (Poelkapelle).

For this and for subsequent battles, the 7th Division became part of X Corps, in Plumer’s Second Army. During these phases of the Third Ypres campaign, X and IX Corps would be consistently on the right flank of the offensive, while the main thrust of the Second Army attacks were carried by the 1st and 2nd Anzac Corps (I and II ANZAC) on their left.

AWM E00783C: View from Polygon Wood looking toward Zonnebeke and Polygon Wood showing no man’s land, 21 September 1917; in the background (right) is ruined structure, possibly used as a shelter or stronghold. Source: Australian War Memorial (Public Domain): https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C953070

The 22nd Brigade (7th Division) had taken over the front-line trenches near Polygon Wood from the Australians on the 1st October, with the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the 20th Manchester Regiment in Jetty and Jubilee Trenches. The 2nd HAC remained in reserve near Zillebeke [28], but also provided carrying parties for ammunition and duckboards, which was back-breaking work in the conditions [29]. The Polygon Wood area, like the rest of the Salient, was in a shocking physical state by the end of September. Atkinson notes that the ground, “had gradually been churned up by the bursting shells into a monotonous expanse of oozy mud, over which even on the drier days movement was extremely difficult” [30]. Almost as soon as the 1st RWF and 20th Manchesters had arrived at the front line, they had to contend with a determined German artillery barrage and counter-attack.

The 7th Division’s objective for the 4th October attack was Nordemdhoek, a settlement on the Broodseinde-Becelaere road, while the 21st Division on their right would attack Reutel. The 20th and 91st Brigades were to lead the 7th Division attack, while the 22nd (including the 2nd HAC) were to remain in reserve at Zillebeke.

It started to rain shortly before “Zero,” which would have significant consequences over subsequent days. In the meantime, however, the lead battalions of the 20th and 91st Brigades advanced, supported by an accurate and regular artillery barrage [31]. The 8th Devons and 2nd South Staffords were consequently able to capture their first objective (the Red Line) successfully. Then, in the 20th Brigade sector, the 2nd Gordon Highlanders and 2nd Borders moved through the 8th Devons and successfully reached the second objective (the Blue Line). The 91st Brigade had more problems, as the 21st Division on their flank had not kept pace, but by the end of the day they had managed to make their front secure and link-up with the 21st Division on their right.

The War Diary of the 2nd HAC recorded that they were on standby on the 4th October, but had not been required [32]:

Near RITZ TRENCH. I.17.a&b. 4.10.17. Much cooler & a good deal of mist and rain. General attack on enemy’s positions by 2nd & 5th Armies. 7th Divisional attack made by 20th & 91st Brigades; 22nd Brigade in Divisional Reserve. Moved by Platoons from DICKEBUSCH at 3.0 am; ‘B’ Echelon moving later to H.30.d. Arrived near RITZ TRENCH at 5.0 am. & took over accommodation to East of ZILLEBEKE LAKE vacated by 2nd GORDONS. Men served with breakfast on arrival. Zero, 6.0 am. Our barrage very heavy. Stood by to move all day but no orders were received. Many hundred prisoners seen being sent down. Wet afternoon and evening. Very good day; all objectives gained with exception of the Right, on 21st Div. front.

Further north, the two ANZAC Corps had reached all of their objectives, with the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions (I ANZAC) capturing the Broodseinde ridge, and the New Zealand Division and 3rd Australian Division (II ANZAC) respectively getting a foothold upon on the Gravenstafel and Zonnebeke spurs. The XVIII and XIV Corps of Fifth Army also managed to capture Poelcapelle.  In terms of the Third Ypres campaign, the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge was a clear success. Operating on the right flank of the ANZAC Corps, the 7th Division played a full part in Second Army’s victory. Atkinson noted that [33]:

October 4th had been among the most successful days of “Third Ypres.” Practically everywhere the objectives had been reached, over 5,000 prisoners had been taken, and by Ludendorff’s own admission the Germans had suffered “enormous” casualties.

In response, the Germans made some counter-attacks, and the front-line units of the 7th Division suffered “a bombardment the intensity of which was unluckily equalled by its accuracy.”

Headline in The Globe, 6 October 1917, p. 1; source: British Newspaper Archive.

Nick Lloyd’s recent history of the Third Battle of Ypres has stated that Broodseinde was “a brutal attack that would smash up the German defence and raise the prospect, distant though it had once seemed, that Haig might actually achieve his objectives [34].

The Battle of Poelcapelle:

It was not surprising, therefore, that the Commander-in-Chief was keen to follow-up the success of the 4th October. In any case, he had somehow persuaded himself that the German forces at Ypres were at close to breaking-point. Both of his Army commanders were more cautious, with Plumer acutely aware of the strength of the German defences and the difficulty of getting the appropriate artillery support in place for follow-up attacks. If that was not enough, the weather also became a factor, with the continuous rain since the 4th October turning the battlefield into even more of a quagmire than usual.

Despite that, both Gough and Plumer agreed on a new attack, which was originally scheduled to take place on the 10th October, but which was later brought forward to the 9th. This action would later became known as the Battle of Poelcapelle. The plan was to attack again on a broad front, from the Houthulst Forest in the north all the way down to Gheluvelt (Geluveld), astride the Menin Road. In the northern sector, the Fifth Army was to attack with two Army Corps: the British XIV Corps was to advance up to the southern edge of the Houthoulst Forest; while on their right, the British XVIII Corps would move up the Poelcapelle spur towards Westroosebeke. To their south, the Second Army was to attack with three Corps. On the left, II ANZAC was to be responsible for the main thrust, with two divisions (the 66th and 49th) advancing up the spurs on each side of the Ravebeek. I ANZAC were to cover their right flank, with the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions advancing south of the Ypres-Roulers railway. To their right, the British X Corps was responsible for continuing the offensive around Polygon Wood and Reutel, largely as a means of holding in German reserves. The 7th Division’s objectives for the 9th October were to be largely those that had failed to be captured by the 21st Division on the 4th October.

Many histories of the Third Ypres campaign completely ignore this right flank of the 9th October attack, preferring to focus on the struggles of I and II ANZAC further north. For example, the closest that Leon Wolff’s In Flanders Fields gets to mentioning this sector is a reference to the 1st Australian Division (I ANZAC) furnishing a diversion on the extreme right of the line [35]. The X Corps sector of the Battle of Broodseinde is also not covered by the recent books on Third Ypres by Paul Ham and Nick Lloyd [36]. It does not appear, therefore, to have been a vital part of the plan of attack.

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

In preparation for the 9th October attack, the 7th Division was detailed to take over the line opposite Reutel from the 21st Division. Two battalions of the 22nd Brigade (the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers and 20th Manchesters), therefore, took over the front-line trenches from the 6th Leicestershire Regiment (21st Division). The 2nd HAC and 2nd Royal Warwickshires were initially in reserve, but these battalions moved up later to lead the attack on the 9th October. Their objective was the Blue Line from the 4th October attack, which Atkinson notes “would give good observation down the valleys of the Reutel and Polygon Becks” [37].

Atkinson also provides a brief account of the attack [38]:

Wet and slippery ground made the assembly unusually difficult, but the troops managed to get into position in time for “Zero” at 5.20 a.m. on October 9th and started well up to time. Within half an hour green lights along the line of the objective indicated that it had been taken; but it was some time before any accurate or detailed information came back from the front. Then the H.A.C. reported that they had driven the enemy from Reutel, shooting many down as they made off, and had secured part of the cemetery east of Reutel but were being held up short of Juniper Cottage by heavy fire from machine guns, and had lost heavily, especially in officers. Next it became clear that there was a gap in the Royal Warwickshires’ line near Judge Copse, from which a considerable fire was being maintained. A platoon of the reserve company tried to clear Judge Copse, but without success. A company of the 9th Devons was then sent forward which obtained touch with the left party of the Royal Warwickshires, N.E. of the Copse; but not until dusk was the position finally made good by another company of the 9th Devons, who attacked Judge Copse from the S.E. and cleared it, thereby completing the capture of the Blue Line.

During the night there was heavy shelling, but the expected counter-attack never took shape and the survivors of the attacking battalions – both had lost heavily, the H.A.C. having 16 officers hit – could begin consolidating. All through October 10th the German bombardment persisted, causing many casualties, though again no counter-attack attempted to recover their lost ground. However, relief was at hand. At 4.30 p.m. troops of the Twenty-Third Division began to appear to relieve the 22nd Brigade, and at noon on the 11th General [Thomas Herbert] Shoubridge [the commander of 7th Division] handed over command and could move his headquarters back to the comparative comfort a civilisation of Berthen.

Reutel, October 1917. From: C. T. Atkinson, The Seventh Division, 1914–1918 (1922), p. 421. Source: British Library.

There is a full report of the attack in the 2nd HAC’s War Diary (WO 95/1662/1), but a basic outline of events is provided by the main diary pages. The battalion had been in divisional reserve for the Battle of Broodseinde on the 4th October, moving up to Zillebeke on the night before the attack, then returning to Dickebusch on the 5th. They would move back up to Zillebeke on the 7th October, and then to the front line at Butte Polygonveld on the 8th [39]:

DICKEBUSCH. 5.10.17. Cold & wet. Stood by during day; news received good. All positions strengthened & consolidated. Orders for 22nd Brigade to move back. Battalions moved at 4.30 pm. & marched by Platoons to old camp at DICKEBUSCH; joined there by ‘B’ Echelon. Cold wet night.
[DICKEBUSCH]. 6.10.17. Very cold & wet. Orders received to move up in afternoon which were afterwards cancelled. Commanding Officer to reconnoitre front line positions with B.G.C.
SCOTTISH CAMP, DICKEBUSCH. 7.10.17. STORMY with much rain.
11.10 am. Battalion (less details in echelon B) moved to shelters in Zillebeke area 1.26b.9.6. Shelters scanty and weather cold and wet, much wind. Hot dinner and tea was served to the men.
4.30 Battalion moved up to take over the line but on reaching HOOGE CRATER were ordered by 20th BDE to stand fast until an S.O.S. which had been signalled was all clear.
BUTTE POLYGONVELD. 8.10. 17. Relief was eventually completed 2.45 am 8th with few casualties inspite of bad going and considerable shelling. Casualties 2 Lieuts C. J. CORBETT, S.A. THOMPSON, 15. O Ranks.
During the morning the ground towards REUTEL was reconnoitred and pegs to mark tape line put out.
4 pm. Detailed orders issued to Coys marked A in appendix.
7 PM / 9 PM. Tape laid out
4 am. Forming up complete. B Coy withdrew to reserve in JOLTING SUPPORT TRENCH
4.30 am. 1 Platoon from Support Coy moved up to reinforce each of the attacking Coys to replace casualties.
5 am. In touch with R. WARWICKSHIRE REGT.
Casualties during 8th and forming up 2 Lieuts H. B. BELDER and S. C. EAST and about 50 O. Ranks including 3 Sgts from D Coy
5.20 am. Zero. Assault commenced.
BUTTE POLYGONVELD (continued). 9/10/17/ 5.25 am. Enemy counter barrage came down on line JOLTING & JUDGE TRENCHES from direction of BECELAERE.
5.25 am. 2 Lieut H. J. SHELBOURNE, wounded, [2 Lieut] R. G. GODDARD, KILLED.
5.30 am. CAPT. GARRETT comdg. Support Coy was wounded whilst going forward to reconnoitre.
5.50 am. Objective reached by isolated parties of men but owing to heavy losses, especially of Officers and N.C.O.s, little news was sent back and situation was obscure.
6.10 am to 7.30 am. During this period enemy barrage slackened, but M.G. fire from direction of Judge Copse was practically continuous. GREEN LIGHTS (signal that objective had been gained) observed from JUDGE COTT and CEMETERY and JUNIPER COT. Some of these were later proved to be enemy signals.
7.30 am. 2 Lt. R. MELDRUM reported badly wounded.
R.W.F. took up their position as before the attack.
10 am. CAPT. D. BRUNTON comdg. ‘B’ Coy badly wounded in head and died shortly afterwards.
BUTTE POLYGONVELD. 9.10.17. 12.25 pm. R.W.F. patrols reported as follows.
(a) Our troops seen near JUNIPER COTTAGE
(b) One wounded Offr. And 2 men in gun pit near CEMETERY. About 40 o. ranks along old trench into [?] REUTEL some were sent to GUN PIT.
(c) Several men about PILL BOX near J.11.d.25.60.
Casualties to 12 NOON
11.55 am. CAPT MURRAY (Adjutant) left adv. Battn report centre to investigate above reports and was shortly afterwards shot through the head.
Situation now as per map marked B in appendix.
about 5 pm. RELIEF orders marked “C” in appendix received at adv. Bn. report centre.
11.15 pm. 2 Lt. H. R. ADAMS proceeded to REUTEL with 37 O. Ranks B Coy with orders to effect a relief.
10.10.17. 4.20 am. CAPT. D. M. BLUETT proceeded to REUTEL with about 50 O. Ranks “B” Coy to complete relief – Relieved troops under Sgt. JENKINSON withdrew to JOLTING SUPPORT.
10.5 am. 2 Lt ADAMS sent to take command of Composite Company in JOLTING SUPPORT.
11.24 am. CAPT. BLUETT reported in touch with 7th LEICESTERS on R and 2nd R.W.R. on  L.
BUTTE POLYGONVELD. 10/10/17. During the hours of darkness CAPT. BLUETT established posts as per map marked “D” in appendix.
11.50 pm. Composite Company in JOLTING TRENCH withdrew to ZILLEBEKE LAKE AREA.
11.10.17. During night of 10/11th relief was carried out by one Company 13th D.L.I., complete about 3 am. 11th when the whole of remaining troops HAC withdrew to ZILLEBEKE area
ZILLEBEKE. 2 PM. Marched to camp H.30.c.9.2.
Total casualties 9/10/17:
Killed: Offrs. 7, O. Ranks 49
Wounded: [Offrs.] 9, [O. Ranks] 189
Missing: [Offrs.] -, [O. Ranks] 42
ZEVECOTEN. 12/10/17. 8 an. Marched to WOOD CAMP s. (M.5.d.8.4) in accordance with Bde order 156 and Bn order 45. “E” in appendix.

Reutel. Trench Map in War Diary of 2nd Honourable Artillery Company (WO 95/1662/1). Source: The National Archives. © Crown Copyright

G. Goold Walker’s history of the HAC in the Great War provides a full narrative of what happened to the battalion at Reutel [40]:

Before 6 a.m. isolated parties of men had gained their objectives, but communication with Battalion Headquarters was most difficult and it was not until nearly midday that definite information was obtained to the effect that the H.A.C. had quite early reached their final objective in the village of Reutel, shooting down many Germans as they retreated, and had established posts on the west and south east corners of the cemetery. These posts were reported to have no officers left, except Lieut. F. A. Kup, who was lying badly wounded. The left of “D” Company and the supporting platoon of “A” Company had considerable fighting in the neighbourhood of the cemetery, one pill-box at least being accounted for, and the eight occupants killed. “C” Company also carried a “pill-box” after a stiff fight, in which most of No. 12 Platoon were killed. The German garrison were shot down as they withdrew.

At 10.35 a.m. Capt. Murray, the Adjutant of the Battalion, went forward to attempt to obtain more accurate information and to clear up the situation, which was then very obscure. Capt. Murray made towards the western edge of Reutel and Juniper Cottage, but apparently lost direction, passed unchallenged through a post of a battalion of Leicesters [23rd Division], and advanced beyond the British lines, when he was shot dead by a party of Germans. This gallant officer was observing the enemy’s position from a shell hole when he was shot in the chest, but endeavoured to continue his observations and was shot through the head. By midday the casualties to officers included, in addition to those already mentioned, Capt. D. Brunton, 2nd Lieuts. P. C. Blissett and R. Meldrum (killed), and 2nd Lieut. M. Foyle (wounded). Indeed no officer of those who took part in the assault remained unwounded.

During the day a ration party from the transport lines was caught in a barrage in Polygon Wood and suffered severely, the casualties including many of the drummers.

Accurate machine-gun fire and sniping from Judge Copse continued to make communication between the Battalion forward report centre and the front line difficult, but soon after midday definite information was received from the [2nd] Warwicks that a gap existed in their line. This explained the heavy fire brought to bear on the H.A.C. from their left flank. The Warwick’s right was in touch with the H.A.C. in the neighbourhood of the cemetery, and a further attack on Judge Copse was being organised. It was then clear that the front of the H.A.C. had been extended a further two hundred yards to the east.

It appeared later that the first wave of the Warwicks had passed through the copse, capturing a machine gun and killing the detachment, but the succeeding waves had not succeeded in completing the mopping up of the copse, since hostile machine-gun fire continued from it all day, and it was eventually found that the enemy had five machine-guns as well as some snipers in the copse.

The 9th Devonshire Regiment helped to complete the capture of Judge Copse in the evening. In the meantime, the remnants of “A,” “C” and “D” Companies were relieved by “B” Company [41]. As the 2nd HAC’s War Diary notes, the battalion withdrew on the night of the 10th/11th October, handing over their line to the 13th Durham Light Infantry (23rd Division).

Reutel and its cemetery before the Third Battle of Ypres. Detail from Trench Map 28.NE3 Gheluvelt; scale: 1:10,000; edition 6a; trenches corrected to 30 June 1917; Series Number: GSGS 3062. Source: McMaster University Library (Chasseaud Collection): macrepo:66938, PC0030; license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 Canada (CC BY-NC 2.5 CA): https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/ndx5to40.htm

Arthur Lambert of “A” Company wrote a book after the war on his experiences of serving with the 2nd HAC and his chapters on this episode provide a hint of the grimness of this battle and its aftermath [42].

Meanwhile the survivors shivered through hours of rain, mud and misery. Trembling in every limb, they leaned listlessly against the trench wall too exhausted in mind and body to talk or heed the continual explosions.

Even getting back to their start line, after their relief was fraught with danger [43]:

[…] the party crawled on, stopping constantly to pick up the lost trail. Falls were frequent, holes abounded, and débris was everywhere. Every few second Verey [sic] lights rushed into the sky, and the men stood stock still until the glare faded. Showers of bullets usually followed, and shells burst intermittently.

Lambert could not even properly remember his return to Hooge and Zillebeke [44]:

How Lambert got along the duck-board track to Hooge Crater he never knew. Nature had mercifully thrown a veil over feeling, and his limbs worked mechanically. Throughout the night he toiled on, staggering from side to side like a man in the last stages of intoxication. Dozens of times he tripped over boards, fell with a crash and lay prone for several minutes. Now and again he stepped off the boards into the mud, which sucked at him greedily, and only instinct inspired the effort necessary to extricate himself.

More generally, the 9th October attack was a total disaster. The weather and ground conditions played havoc with logistics and engineering. It also meant that the artillery support was inadequate and that the infantry were frequently not able to keep pace with the barrage. In the II ANZAC sector, the assault battalions of the 48th and 66th Divisions struggled to get to their start lines on time, and then encountered unexpected wire. While there had been significant progress in the Fifth Army area on the left flank, the Second Army were no closer to Passchendaele [Passendale]. To compound the error, the British would attack again on the 12th October, The main axis of the attack was again supposed to be in the II ANZAC sector, where the New Zealand Division would attack the Bellevue Spur while the 3rd Australian Division would advance on Passchendaele itself. This First Battle of Passchendaele was also destined to end in failure. With both ANZAC Corps exhausted, Haig turned to the Canadian Corps in a final attempt to reach the village of Passchendaele before the end of the year.

The Second Battle of Passchendaele:

After the attack on Reutel, the 2nd HAC moved to billets in Meteren for a few days, before moving back up to the camps west of Ypres.

The 7th Division would soon go back into the front line again, with the 20th and 91st Brigades attacking Gheluvelt on the 26th October. This action was (again) largely intended to divert German attention away from the attacks being carried out further north by the Canadian Corps and other units (the first stage of the Second Battle of Passchendaele). The 7th’s Brigades had to fight once more through the terrible mud of October. The 26th October attack failed completely, although the 20th Brigade did manage to fight their way into Gheluvelt before being pushed back [45]. The Germans did not even attempt to counter-attack, presumably being aware that they would have faced the exact same challenging as the 7th Division. This was the First World War at its futile worst. Atkinson puts a brave face on it, describing Gheluvelt as a “honourable defeat.” [46]. The 22nd Brigade took over the front line after the attack, with the HAC and 20th Manchesters then suffering additional casualties by artillery fire. The Division then withdrew to the area around Blaringhem to rest and absorb replacements.

Private Lambert’s account of the attack on Gheluvelt again demonstrates just how difficult it was to fight in those extreme conditions [47]

All through the afternoon the men trudged along the timber road, bestrewn with the terrible evidence of war. Their loads were appallingly heavy, each step reproduced a gasp of exertion and quite a lot of the older men wept with exhaustion. Lambert was so heavy that he could hardly lift one foot from the other, and had to be pulled by men with lighter burdens up sudden rises in the track. It was impossible to walk many yards without falling, and each time the effort to get up was almost incredible.

[…]

Battalions on [the] left and right [of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders] had advanced with the utmost gallantry, but lacking the superhuman strength of the Jocks had failed to fulfil their allotted tasks. The Gordons had held on like heroes, although enfiladed on each side, but it was certain death to remain, and they retired across the lake of mud, followed by the pitiless hail of bullets. They lost heavily in the advance, but were practically wiped out in the retreat, and the other battalions were in the same dreadful condition.

Subsequent descriptions of the sustained battle for Passchendaele Ridge contain such phases as “terribly costly”; “failure”; “unparalleled casualties,” and so on. No adjectives can describe the carnage. Every battalion that attacked that sombre spot came out a grisly shadow, and it was sheer murder to attack under such dreadful conditions.

The vast majority of the 2nd HAC dead from the battles of October 1917 have no known grave and are commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. Six are buried in Buttes New British Cemetery, near Polygon Wood, while others are buried in cemeteries closer to Ypres, e.g. Hooge Crater Cemetery (4), Menin Road South Military Cemetery (2), and New Irish Farm Cemetery (2). Two casualties from late October are buried in Perth Cemetery (China Wall) in Zillebeke. A memorial for the whole 7th Division can also be found on the N303 road south of the village of Broodseinde.

The grave marker of Pte. Herbert Reginald Cornford, 2nd Bn., Honourable Artillery Company, died 28 October 1917, aged 35; Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke (West-Vlaanderen)

The move to the Italian front:

While the Third Battle of Ypres was grinding on to its grim conclusion at the village of Passchendaele in November, events elsewhere in Europe would determine where the 7th Division would be at the end of the war.

Throughout the Spring and Summer of 1917, the war on the Italian front had mostly consisted of a series of Italian offensives on Austro-Hungarian positions in the Isonzo Sector. The tables were turned on the 24th October, when an attack by Austro-Hungarian and German forces broke through Italian lines and, by the 12th November, had pushed them back to the River Piave. The Battle of Caporetto (Kobarid), also known as the 11th Battle of the Isonzo, was a disaster for the Italian Army. Its Chief-of-Staff, General Luigi Cadorna, was forced to resign and he was replaced by General Armando Diaz, with Generals Gaetano Giardino and Pietro Badoglio becoming joint sub-chiefs.

As part of the Allied response, the Italians were reinforced by six French and five British infantry divisions. The British units sent were the 5th, 7th, 23rd, 41st and 48th (South Midland) Divisions (although the 5th returned to France in March 1918, and the 41st in April).

In November, therefore, the 7th Division (less its artillery) moved to Italy by rail. The War Diary of the 2nd HAC is full of pages and pages of appendices that record the complex logistics necessary for the journey.

Prior to their move, the 7th Division had been inspected by Albert, King of the Belgians on the 8th November. After spending a few days at Ledinghem, the 2nd HAC moved first to Wamin, via Rimeux. Between the 19th and 26th November, the battalion transferred to the British Expeditionary Force (Italy), moving by rail in two detachments, entraining at Hesdin on the 19th and 20th November. The entrainment table attached to the War Diary shows that the 2nd HAC were scheduled to travel on the 10th and 13th trains from Hesdin [48]. Lieutenant-Colonel R. N. O’Connor (the HAC’s commanding officer) was detailed to travel in Train No. 10, Major Snape in No. 13 (“C” Company was to travel in six covered trucks in Train No. 13). The battalion War Diary provides a handy summary of their route, which sounds like it would have been a bit of an adventure for those involved: Hesdin, Étaples, Abbeville, Amiens, Paris, Troyes, Saint-Florentin, Dijon, Chalons [presumably Chalon-sur-Saône], Villefranche [i.e Villefranche-sur-Saône], Lyons, Marseilles, Toulon, Cannes, Vintimille [i.e. Ventimiglia], Savona, Genoa, Piacenza, Mantua, Cerea, and Legnago.

The History of the 7th Division notes that while it was a long-drawn out journey, “its novelty helped the troops to endure with great cheerfulness the discomfort of their cramped quarters and lack of exercise; after all every mile was taking them further away from that accursed Ypres Salient which none of them ever wanted to revisit” [49].

The 2nd HAC arrived at Legnago, a town on the River Adige south-east of Verona, on the 25th and 26th November. The battalion then marched in two detachments over five days to Arsiego, in the area north of Padua, and then on to Falze, west of Trevignano, near the River Piave. On the 11th December, the battalion arrived at Ramon.

The Seventh Division in Italy:

Once in Italy, the contrast with Flanders could not have been starker. The Rev Ernest Courtenay Crosse, former Senior (Anglican) Chaplain to the 7th Division, later wrote that in November 1917, “the relics of the division which had fought for the Passchendaele Ridge exchanged their bivouacs at Zillebeke Lake for billets in the neighbourhood of Riese” [50]. Italy would definitely have been a change from the Ypres Salient for the 2nd HAC.

General Plumer took over the BEF (Italy) on the 10th November. By that point, the Italian retreat following Caporetto had pretty-much ground to a halt on the line of the River Piave. The first British Divisions to arrive in Italy, the 23rd and 41st Divisions, were posted to the Vicenza area, to provide support in case the Piave line could not hold.

Map of the Italian theatre of war. Source: C. T. Atkinson, The Seventh Division, 1914–1918 (1927); via British Library.

The 7th was the third British Division to arrive, so they went into Corps reserve for the 23rd and 41st, who were at that point holding the line near the Montello. While the 7th remained behind the front line, it spent most of its time in training, as most units had absorbed large drafts shortly before leaving for Italy. The 7th Division relieved the 41st Division in the front line on the 19th January, but the Piave River was wide, representing a formidable barrier for raiding and reconnaissance. The 2nd HAC itself was based at Nervesa (Nervesa della Battaglia), where the front line crossed largely-undamaged houses next to the Piave [51]. Atkinson notes that the Division’s tenure of the Piave front was “singularly uneventful” [52]:

Apart from occasional artillery activity and a systematic programme of harassing fire by machine-guns its was impossible to do much damage to the enemy. Several attempts were made to cross the Piave, but were nearly all defeated by the strength of the current and the icy coldness of the water.

At the end of February, the Division was due to be relieved in the front line by the 48th Division and then return to the Western Front, but the move was cancelled in mid-March. The Division then trained in mountain warfare and prepared to move to the Asiago Plateau (Altopiano di Asiago), a part of the front that the British were due to take over from the Italians by the end of the month.

IWM Q 25956: The British Army on the Italian Front, 1917-1918: A much shelled pass on one of the Italian mountain roads on the Asiago Plateau named Tattenham Corner, by W. J. Brunell. Copyright: © Imperial War Museums. Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205267379

Atkinson has described the 7th Division’s front as “the rocky plateau on the right of the Brenta N.W. of Bassano” [53]. The Asiago Plateau was not an ideal place to be based in the spring of 1918. It was cold, the accommodation was of poor quality, and the supply lines were difficult to maintain (Private Lambert of “A” Company served for a while with the muleteers carrying supplies up to the plateau [54]). The Division passed the time with frequent patrols of No Man’s Land and raids on Austrian trenches. Atkinson mentions one such encounter in April that involved the 2nd HAC [55]:

A few days later [following a raid by the 20th Manchesters] an effort by patrols to sweep No Man’s Land and secure prisoners brought the H.A.C. in for a sharp brush. The enemy were holding strong posts protected by wire out in front of their main line. These the H.A.C. attacked, and despite a stout resistance cleared their garrisons out, a dozen being killed on the spot and several others shot down as they bolted towards their main position. A little later the Austrians came out in force to recover the lost posts but were met with a heavy rifle fire and driven back in confusion, leaving the H.A.C., whose casualties were only 2 men killed, with much the best of the exchanges.

The Division was relieved by the 48th Division at the end of May 1918, and moved to the area around Trissino. The Rev. Crosse recalled that the Division’s two-month stay on the Asiago plateau had not been easy [56]:

It was quite a different proposition, however, for the British soldier who climbed four thousand feet up the mule track from Camisino for two months’ exile from civilisation on the top of the hill in time of war. Those two months on the Plateau contained a period of almost unremitting toil, in which, if he was in the line, he probably had to do a raid, and if he was out of it he certainly had to do a fatigue.

It was while the Division was at Trissino that the Austro-Hungarian Army commenced the offensive sometimes known as the Battle of the Solstice (or the Second Battle of the Piave River). After a preliminary attack at Tonale on the 12th June, the main Austro-Hungarian offensive commenced on the 15th June 1918 in both the mountains and on the Piave. In the mountains, an army group led by Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf attacked  the Asiago Plateau and Monte Grappa. The Austrians briefly managed to break through the British lines at Asiago, but the positions were quickly restored by counter-attacks. At the moment of crisis, some units of the 7th Division moved up to the plateau to support the 23rd and 48th Divisions. At Monte Grappa, the Austrians made more progress, but they were eventually successfully held by the Italian 6th Army. Further south, a force led by Field Marshal Svetozar Boroević successfully crossed the Piave and established a substantial bridgehead on the right bank [57]:

The Austrian attack began at 0330 hours and three Austrian divisions got across the Piave under cover of fog in the first two hours. The Austrians threw six bridges and fourteen footbridges across the Piave in the first three days, pushing back a thin line of Italian defenders and taking the heights of Montello and a strip a few kilometres wide running from Grave di Papadopoli to the sea.

A few days later the Piave was swollen with flood-water, which seriously disrupted the Austrian supply lines, and also meant that the forces that had successfully crossed the river could be more easily targeted by Italian artillery. On the 20th June, the Emperor Karl ordered Boroević to retreat back across the Piave, which was completed by the 23rd June. The Battle of the Solstice was over.

It was during an Allied counter-attack on the Asiago Plateau that Captain Edward Brittain of the 11th Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), the brother of the writer Vera Brittain, was killed in action on the 15th June 1918, aged 22 [58]. The 11th Sherwood Foresters were part of the 23rd Division, and at the time of Captain Brittain’s death were holding the San Sisto ridge.

The 7th Division would return to the Asiago Plateau towards the end of June, when they relieved the 48th Division in the lines there. There were rumours of another forthcoming Austrian offensive, but it never came. The 7th Division, however, continued to harass the Austrians through raids and patrols during their second stint on the Asiago. The Division conducted a very large raid on the 9th August, shortly after which they were relieved by the 23rd Division and moved to the Vicenza hills for a long rest. Their next destination, in October, was to be the Piave.

Reservat Auf der Insel Grava di Papadopolo an der Piave 21.11.17. Source: K.u.k. Kriegspressequartier, Lichtbildstelle – Wien, via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (WK1/ALB076/22205) and Europeana (Public Domain)

The Piave front and the Battle of Vittorio Veneto:

In August 1918, the 7th Division was billeted in the area around Trissino, west of Vicenza, with the 22nd Brigade itself based around Cornedo (Cornedo Vicentino). The Rev E. C. Crosse’s book on the 7th Division reported that the troops were mostly content [59]:

The only drawbacks to the area were the tendency of silkworms to occupy an ever-increasing number of available billets, the enormous price of beer (which in one brigade was most effectively curtailed by putting out of bounds the estaminets which exceeded a fixed price), and the plague of flies, which all the posters instructing one to “kill that fly” did not succeed in keeping within reasonable bounds.

Piave-Übergang auf Grave di Papadopoli 19.6.18. Source: K.u.k. Kriegspressequartier, Lichtbildstelle – Wien, via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (WK1/ALB079/23155) and Europeana (Public Domain).

In mid-September 1918, there was a proposal for the 7th Division to exchange places with the (exhausted) 47th (2nd London) Division and return to the Western Front. Prior to this happening, the Division was restructured. Since February 1918, British Divisions on the Western Front had been reduced from thirteen battalions (four per infantry brigade plus a pioneer battalion) to ten (three per brigade) [60]. In Italy, the first step in the planned return to France was to detach a battalion from each brigade. In consequence, the 9th Devons and the 20th and 21st Manchesters left the Division and returned to the Western Front to become 7th Brigade in the the 25th Division.

After those changes, however, the planned move to the Western Front was at first postponed and eventually abandoned. Changes elsewhere had meant that the idea of an Italian offensive in late 1918 was becoming viable again. According to Crosse, the surrender of Bulgaria on the 29th September, the defeat of Turkey, and the improved situation on the Western Front, “convinced the Italian Higher Command that the time was now ripe to attempt the seemingly impossible task of driving the enemy from the mountain peaks and forcing the passage of the Piave” [61].

Mark Thompson’s book on the Italian front makes it clear that deeper political calculations were also at work [62]:

If the Italians were left digging in for the winter while the Allies drove the Germans out of France and Belgium, their negotiating position would be feeble, If they were to win the territory pledged in 1915, they had to defeat the Austrians once and for all, knocking them out of the war.

For the Italians, this was an opportunity to stake a claim for for the Habsburg territories promised them by the London Pact, including Trieste, Trentino and the South Tyrol.

The Italians, therefore, immediately started planning for an offensive. In October 1918, the 7th Division moved first to the area north of Vicenza, and then by rail to Treviso. On the 6th October, Lieutenant-General Lord Cavan took command of the Tenth Italian Army, which was made up of the Italian XI Corps and the British XIV Corps (the 7th and 23rd Divisions). Thompson explains [63]:

The plan of attack centred on the upper and middle Piave. Diaz would punch through the enemy lines around the road to Vittorio Veneto and Sacile, splitting Boroević’s  Sixth and Fifth armies, deployed respectively on the northern and southern halves of the Piave. This would make the Austrian positions on the Asiago plateau and Mount Grappa untenable.

While the Italian Eighth Army was detailed to lead the main thrust towards Vittorio, the role of the Tenth Army was to secure the Piave below Monte Grappa and to force a crossing of the river, thereby protecting the right flank of the main attacking force. Crosse explains the specific role of the British divisions in this plan [64]:

The XIV British Corps, under the command of Lt.-Gen. Sir Francis Babington, was to attack across the Piave on the front Palazzon to Salettuol, the VIII Italian Corps on the left, and the XI Italian Corps on the right. The front was divided equally between the two British divisions, which comprised the whole corps, the right sector being assigned to the 7th Division.

To the north, the original plan was for the Italian Twelfth Army (which incorporated a French division) to secure the Piave below Monte Grappa, while the Italian Fourth Army captured the mountain itself. In the event, the state of the River Piave meant that Diaz had to change the sequencing of the offensive. Thompson explains [65]:

Under mounting pressure to move, he [Diaz] made a crucial decision: the attack would start on Mount Grappa instead of the Piave. Strengthened with three extra divisions and 400 extra guns, the Fourth Army [under General Giardino] would drive the Austrians off Grappa and then thrust northwestwards up the valley of the River Brenta, enveloping the Austrian force on the Asiago plateau. The operation on the Piave would begin overnight, less than 24 hours after Giardino’s attack in the mountains.

The Grave di Papadopoli was a large island in the middle of the Piave opposite the town of Salettuol, which was being held as an outpost line by the Austrians. The History of the Seventh Division explains why crossing the Piave at this point was far from a straightforward task [66]:

This island, about three miles in length and over a mile wide at its broadest, was the largest of the many shoals and islands in the river bed, separated by channels sometimes fordable, sometimes quite deep, through which the stream ran extremely rapidly, as fast as eight miles an hour. What doubled the hazards of the crossing was the incessant and excessive rains had swollen the river into a high flood, submerging completely the tops of the shoals which usually gave some idea where the channels ran.

The 22nd Brigade of the 7th Division were detailed to capture the island to facilitate the construction of a bridge that could be used for an assault on the eastern bank of the river. On the 20th October, therefore, the Brigade relieved the Italian Macerata Brigade on the south bank of the Piave. The attack on the island was assigned to six companies of infantry of the 22nd Brigade (three from the 2nd HAC and three from the 1st RWF), with one half company of the 7th Machine Gun Corps., all under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel O’Connor. At a late stage of the planning, it was decided to move the crossing from Salettuol to the north-west corner of the island, around one-and-a-half miles upstream. Atkinson explains that at that point, “the smaller island of Cosenza, separated from the mainland by a side channel crossed by a foot-bridge, was already included in the Allied position” [67].

The HAC was to be the main assault battalion. The crossing was at first fixed for the night of 22nd/23rd, but was subsequently postponed until the 23rd/24th October. The History of the Seventh Division provides an outline of the initial crossings [68]:

The stream was running strongly and in the faint light of the rising moon it looked particularly uninviting, but the leading party stepped into one of the [twelve] gondola-like boats and pushed off. This first trip was made by a small reconnoitring party under Lieut. Gaud, the Intelligence Officer of the H.A.C. It was not long in returning with the news that there were two deep streams to be crossed, 70 and 50 yards in width respectively, and separated by a narrow shoal, over which the boats must be dragged. Beyond the second stream was another shoal with a third channel beyond it, 100 yards in width but quite fordable.

Provided with this information the two leading platoons started off. Two boats were swept down-stream and failed to make the crossing; but the rest landed all right on the second shoal, and their occupants waded across to the island, promptly turned right-handed and swept forward for about 300 yards, surprising several Austrian posts and disposing of them with the bayonet. But though the strictest silence possible was preserved the Austrians could not be prevented from giving the alarm, and before the second trip could start up went the Austrian S.O.S., a rocket bursting into four red balls. Their barrage came down within a few minutes, but though it was accurate and considerably increased the difficulty of effecting the crossing, none of the boats were actually hit and neither the barrage or the machine-guns which opened fire from farther down the island inflicted many casualties. The soft sand of the beach helped to diminish the effects of the shell-bursts, but the noise of the bombardment added to that of the river rushing over the stones and increased the general uncertainty and tension. Eventually, and with surprisingly few casualties, all three companies were ferried across, and at 11 p.m., the appointed hour, they began their advance S.E. down the island.

Crosse notes that morale in the 2nd HAC was high [69]:

[…] the main thing in any battle is the spirit of the attacking troops, and we can only liken the 2nd H.A.C. on that afternoon to a very happy family of children getting their stockings ready to hang up on Christmas Eve. The enthusiasm and confidence of the C.O. had inspired all who were to take part in the operations, and the only sulky members of the party were those who had to be detailed to be left behind.

Grave di Papadopoli. Detail from map showing counter attack on 2nd HAC and 1st RWF at 05:00 on 26 October 1918, from: E. C. Crosse, The defeat of Austria as seen by the 7th Division (1919), facing p. 39; via Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/n67

The boats used were flat-bottomed vessels that Crosse, like Atkinson, noted were not unlike gondolas in appearance. Crosse provides his own account of the crossing [70]:

Shortly after eight o’clock the first two platoons of “A” Company 2nd H.A.C., under the charge of 2nd-Lt. S. E. L. Foster, started to cross the river. As the companies were bound to arrive somewhat disorganised on the far bank, these two platoons were instructed to push forward some 200 or 300 yards along the front trench immediately they landed in order to secure the crossing for the main party. Absolute silence was to be observed in this operation, and the bayonet alone was to be used to overcome resistance. The passage of the river was safely accomplished, except by two boats, which were swept down stream. The loss of these was serious, as it diminished by fourteen the number of the advance party. The remainder pressed on immediately they set foot on the island. Small posts of the enemy were soon encountered manning the trench. The resistance offered by these was not very formidable, and within fifteen minutes from the time the advance party landed, twelve Austrian prisoners were on their way to the beach, the remainder of the garrison having all been bayoneted. It was a good start and a fitting augury for the fighting which was to follow.

The programme now was that the remaining two platoons of “A” Company should join up with the advance party, and with them take up a position facing east as the right attacking company. After this ” D ” Company were to come up behind them and form up on their left, as left attacking company. “C” Company, with Battalion Headquarters, was to be in the centre as support to either or both, with the 1st R.W.F. in reserve. Before, however, this difficult operation could be carried out, the alarm had been given. It appeared to come first from the right towards the centre of the island. Four minutes later the Austrian S.O.S., a red rocket bursting into three red fights, went up in front of the Lido, whilst a searchlight started playing with eerie effect on the north bank of the Piave. The alarm spread all along the line, and within a few minutes fireworks were going off everywhere.

It was an awful moment for the attacking troops. The home beach was crowded with men and boats, and everyone realised that the surprise, which up till now had been complete, was at an end. It was a matter of minutes how long it would be before the barrage descended. How long it actually was is difficult to say. Time seems relative to our feelings, and here seconds seemed like minutes, minutes like hours. At any rate, within five minutes the barrage fell, consisting mainly of shrapnel, with a sprinkling of 42 H.E. Like most Austrian barrages it was deadly accurate. This increased enormously the difficulties of embarkation. Shrapnel was bursting all around and casualties began to occur. The roar made by the current over the pebbles, which up till now had been our friend, as it silenced any noise made in dragging the boats over the shoals, made it impossible to hear when the shells were coming. The moon, too, turned traitor on us, and broke through the clouds. The black boats were silhouetted against the mirror of the river; the men disembarking on the far side and wading slowly through the stream could clearly be discerned from the home beach. Within a short while machine-gun bullets began to patter round the beach, and swish into the water, or ping onto the stones. This was probably the most anxious period during the whole of the first night. A few unlucky shells might easily have sunk some of the boats and disorganised the whole expedition.

Capt. Odini, however, and his Italian pontieri, ably backed by Capt. Bluett in charge of the beach, were quite equal to the occasion. Only the barest minimum of men and boats were kept on the beach at one time, the rest being dotted about in small groups in the scrub and trenches behind, or wherever any natural cover presented itself. Later on the searchlight already referred to swept at intervals across the embarkation point, necessitating everyone lying down until its beams had passed over. Fortune, however, was only pretending to have turned traitor on us, and though a fair number of casualties occurred, no boat received a direct hit, and no more boats were swept down stream in the process of crossing over. Thus all three companies were approximately in the position decided upon at the hour the main attack was timed to start, 11 p.m.

The island itself was very heavily defended by the Austrians, with two main lines of trenches and numerous machine-gun positions and trench mortar emplacements. With three companies of the 2nd HAC on the island, the plan was for them to conduct a two-pronged attack [71]:

It was decided then that the 2nd H.A.C. should attack both lines of trenches simultaneously from the flank, with an attacking front of two companies. The role of the right attacking company was assigned to “A” Company (Captain E. B. Woollan, M.C.), who were to cross first, and that of the left to “D” Company (Captain F. J. B. Garrard). “C” Company (Captain M. B. Brown) was to be in support, whilst three companies of the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers were to act as reserve. The objective was fixed at a line drawn across the centre of the island running from north to south. No artillery, other than Italian, were to open out before the assault on the mainland in order to conceal the presence of the British in the area.

The History of the Seventh Division provides an outline of the attack [72]:

Starting with “A” Company on the right, ”D” on the left, and “C” with Battalion Headquarters following in second line, the H.A.C. swept rapidly forward. The Austrians were in force and in places fought stoutly enough, but the H.A.C. had them at a disadvantage through taking them in flank and within two hours “A” Company had established itself on its objective a little below Salettuol. “D’s” left platoon, however, went too far to that flank, mistaking a small trench for the long ditch [that paralleled the main defences]; and crossing one of the shallower streams between the Grave and the left bank, established itself on the Isola di Francia. This misled “C” Company, which also went too far to the left before discovering its error. Two platoons worked their way back towards the centre of the island, where firing was still going on, and surprised an Austrian post near the junction of the long ditch with the second line, capturing over 60 prisoners. Battalion Headquarters also, following behind the leading companies, mopped up scattered parties which those in front had missed, and the Welch Fusiliers, who had followed the H.A.C. Across, did admirable work in this way. Fighting went on for some time, the troops working though the scrub like hounds going through a covert, and the haul of prisoners was steadily increased. By 5 a.m. all resistance was over and the H.A.C. were consolidating a position facing S.E. across the island, with the left company and the Welch Fusiliers thrown back as a defensive flank to the N.E.

Crosse provides a more detailed account [73]:

On the right “A” Company, now seriously reduced in numbers by casualties and the loss of the two boats at the beginning of the operations, moved along the main trench encountering occasional opposition from small posts which were either bayoneted or taken prisoners, till about 1 a.m. they judged that they had reached their final objective and halted, throwing out a covering party in front. Touch was shortly gained with a company of the 1st R.W.F., who in accordance with the scheme of operations ” mopped up ” in rear, whilst manning the trench as the H.A.C. advanced.

“D” Company had a more difficult task. Their left, which was all important, had no trench or line to guide them, and in consequence they became far more confused. Three platoons advanced through the centre of the island, more or less in touch with “A” Company the whole way. The left platoon, however, mistaking a small trench for the Fosse, and thinking in consequence they had got too far to the right, crossed a sandy stretch almost undistinguishable from the mainland of the island, and actually reached the Isola di Francia.

“C” Company, who were ordered up to support this platoon, with two platoons in front and two platoons in support, made the same mistake. Two of these platoons appeared to have gone nearly half a mile beyond the Isola di Francia, to which on discovering their mistake they returned with a bag of some sixty prisoners. The remaining two platoons, after joining up with one platoon of “D” Company on the Isola di Francia, decided to make a move towards the centre of the island where firing could be heard, as they rightly judged that they had worked too far to the left. This party, under Captain Brown, with Battalion Headquarters in rear, encountered a post strongly occupied by the enemy at the junction of the Fosse with the second line of defence. The enemy, who were completely surprised, offered only a slight resistance and the garrison, consisting of three officers and sixty men, were taken prisoners, and despatched under escort to the Beachmaster for transport across the river.

Estimating that “C” Company was now approximately on its final objective, Headquarters under the command of the Adjutant, Lieut. R. Heather, returned in a north-easterly direction to establish touch with the 1st R.W.F. in reserve. During this operation considerable resistance was encountered from scattered posts of the enemy who had been missed in the original advance. The unexpected direction of the attack however took them mainly by surprise, and a number of prisoners were rounded up.

Meanwhile the troops on the south side of the island were in quite a precarious position. Dug in as they were, almost on the water’s edge, they were faced by quite a large party of the Austrians who periodically fired Verey [sic] lights over their heads into the water beyond and sniped at any figures who were silhouetted against them. For all they knew the party might be completely cut off and counter-attacked by superior numbers, with nothing but the river behind them. The Padre of the H.A.C., Rev. T. L. T. Fisher, M.C., worked round the water’s edge to get touch with the R.W.F. and explain the predicament. This he succeeded in doing, and Captain R. M. Stevens, M.C, O.C. “A” Company 1st R.W.F., was engaged in arranging for an attack on the enemy in front of them, when Lt.-Col. O’Connor with some twenty men came across from the north of the island.

A regular drive was now instituted. It was just like putting hounds through cover. Pte. W. Jones, M.M., 2nd H.A.C., about 5ft. 3 in. in height, brought in an enormous great Austrian officer, and was so excited with his prize that he instantly emptied the Austrian’s revolver, nearly blowing off his C.O.’s foot in so doing. The whole party of the enemy soon threw up their hands. One officer captured on this occasion was most interested to know whether we were Americans, which shows how well the presence of the British in the area had been concealed from the enemy.

The operation was now practically at an end, and about 5 a.m. it was ascertained that the position held roughly corresponded to the objective originally decided upon. A message to this effect was despatched by runner to the Beachmaster and telephoned on by him to Brigade Headquarters.”

Crosse concluded that the assault on the Grave di Popodopoli had been a complete success [74]:

The capture of the island being now complete, it was justifiable to look back on the operation with considerable satisfaction. A position strongly defended both by nature and art had been captured by two night operations, which owed their success to the determination of all ranks to secure their final objectives at all costs, and the careful training they had received in the use of the Lewis-gun. No barrage had been available, owing to the fact that our artillery were ordered not to fire before the attack on the mainland. In addition to this, the troops on the island had been subjected to shell-fire for some sixty hours, and heavy rain before the second attack started. In all some 600 prisoners had been taken, and careful estimates of the number of enemy dead made it pretty certain that they were over 100. All this had been taken at the slight cost of about 120 casualties. In the 2nd H.A.C. one officer and sixteen other ranks were killed.

The 2nd HAC and 2nd RWF remained on the island over the following few days, being reinforced with the remaining companies of both battalions, who also had to cross the river by boat. Atkinson’s history of the Seventh Division notes that the Austrians unsuccessfully attempted to counter-attack on the 24th October [75]:

The day of October 24th brought no important developments. The continual rain made things extremely uncomfortable for the troops on the island and, worse than that, by causing the river to rise rendered their position somewhat precarious. Not only was it impossible to establish a bridge, but the ferrying across of rations and reinforcements was more perilous than before. One boat indeed capsized in mid-stream and one of its passengers was drowned; but the Pontieri worked indefatigably, and the remainder of the attacking battalions got across with an ample supply of rations. But if the rain had made the day miserable the rise in the river was partly responsible for their being unmolested by counter-attacks; the Grave was subjected to a severe shelling and most of its Austrian garrison were still on the lower half of the island, but they lay very low and did nothing to interfere with the H.A.C. and Welch Fusiliers, who consolidated their position and proceeded to mop up the captured portion systematically, adding nearly 100 prisoners to their bag. One large party was captured by Colonel O’Connor and a few H.A.C. who surprised it and fairly frightened it into surrender, while another detachment at the N.W. end of the long ditch put up a more stubborn resistance but gave in when a section of the Machine-Gun Battalion was turned on to them.

On the 25th October, the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers on the Grave were relieved by the 2nd Royal Warwickshires, freeing them up to support the HAC in an attempt to capture the rest of the island [76]:

Shortly before the attack the Austrians opened a heavy fire, both from artillery and machine-guns, but the H.A.C. pushed forward nevertheless, meeting little opposition till they reached the houses about C. Bassetti. Here from a small trench running East and West across the Isola di Inghilterra “C” Company was enfiladed and its advance for the time held up; but with the arrival of reinforcements including two Lewis-gun sections the opposition was overcome, the houses around C. Bassetti were rushed and a platoon pushing across to Isola de Inghilterra dealt with its defenders effectually. Meanwhile the centre company, “B,” with some assistance from “D” and from Battalion Headquarters, had got forward well, despite stubborn opposition at most of the houses. “A” Company on the left, after at first losing direction, also reached its objective, and aided by the Welch Fusiliers established a defensive flank reaching across to where the Austrian foot-bridges reached the main island.

The Austrians attacked again the following morning, but once more were pushed back. By the end of the 26th October, the HAC had reached the far end of the island.

Map of the Grave di Papadopoli. Detail from: E. C. Crosse, The Defeat of Austria as seen by the 7th Division (1919); via British Library: http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022594452.0x000002

The purpose of taking of the Grave di Papadopoli was to facilitate the construction of a pontoon bridge across the Piave from Salettuol, to support the Italian main attack. Work on this started on the night of the 23rd/24th October and it was completed by the evening of the 26th October. The bad weather meant that the main attack had to be delayed. The 20th and 91st Brigades crossed the Piave on the night of the 26th/27th October, while the 22nd Brigade moved back into reserve.

Atkinson expresses satisfaction at the 7th Division’s capture of the Grave di Papadopoli [77]:

Once landed on the Grave the troops had had stubborn opposition to overcome, and it had needed skilful leading as well as determination and gallantry to clear the island of a garrison far outnumbering the attackers, as well as to repulse a strong and well-led counter-attack; while the battalions employed had had considerable hardships and discomforts – such as an almost constant downpour – to endure besides being vigorously bombarded. But they had done their work admirably and had paved the way to a greater if not more dramatic success.

IWM Q 25989: The Battle of Vittorio Veneto, October-November 1918: Italian troops resting near the ruined village of Pozzo. Copyright: © Imperial War Museums. Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205267412

While the Allied armies on the Piave were waiting for the river to subside, the Italian 4th Army’s offensive on Monte Grappa quickly got bogged down, although it was still hoped that the attack might draw-in Austrian reserves. The British XIV Corps, initially led by the 7th Division, finally crossed the Piave on the night of the 26th/27th October and by the end of the day had established a bridgehead on its left bank. They then advanced further into the Veneto, while the Austro-Hungarian Army retreated slowly towards the border. The 7th Division crossed the Monticano river on the 29th October, while the 23rd Division captured Sacile on the 31st. In the meantime, the Italian 8th and 12th Armies had finally managed to break out from their own Piave bridgeheads, and the 8th had captured the town of Vittorio on the 30th October, before pushing on towards the Tagliamento river.

The 7th Division (the 2nd HAC and 2nd Gordon Highlanders) reached the western bank of the Tagliamento on the 3rd November. Soon after they arrived, the Division received news of a potential armistice.

On the 29th October, the Habsburg Emperor Karl had requested an armistice. With their armies still advancing, however, the Italians were in no hurry to agree. The Allied terms were harsh, but were accepted by Karl on the 3rd November. Cynically, the Italians insisted on a 24-hour delay before it came into force, which caused no end of confusion with the Austro-Hungarian command (and allowed the Italians to continue their advance and round up around 350,000 prisoners).

The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was a substantial victory for Italy and its allies. While it ended with a general advance with the Austro-Hungarian Army in full retreat, the battle was still full of significant challenges like the capture of the Grave di Papadopoli. John Gooch has commented, however, that once its front line had cracked open, “the Austrian army rapidly dissolved as starving troops clung to the roofs and doors of trains in a desperate effort to get home” [78]. It was the end of an Empire.

Italian map of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto: Battaglia di Vittorio Veneto (schieramento italiano alla data del 24 ottobre ed avanzata dal 24 al 30); source: La guerra italo-austriaca 1915-1918, by Amedeo Tosti (Milano: Alpes, 1925); digitised by the Biblioteca Universitaria di Genoa, via Europeana (CC BY-SA 3.0): https://1914-1918.europeana.eu/contributions/15978/attachments/177892

Casualties:

Crosse’s account of the Grave di Papadopoli operations noted that medical evacuation procedures had worked reasonably well [79]:

The task of evacuating the wounded had proceeded quite smoothly despite the difficulties involved. The M.O.’s [Medical Officers] of the H.A.C. (Capt. D. Martin, R.A.M.C.) and R.W.F. (Capt. W. Eidinow, R.A.M.C.) advanced over the island in rear of the companies, dressing all the wounded that they came across. A bearer sub-division of the 22nd F.A. [Field Ambulance] (Lt.-Col. C. W. Bowie) with two Medical Officers in charge crossed successfully behind the 1st R.W.F., each bearer having with him a stretcher, a blanket and surgical dressing. The cases to be dealt with were successfully transported in the returning boats across the river to the forward A.D.S. [Advanced Dressing Station], which was in the trench on the mainland. This difficult task was greatly facilitated by the gallant action of 20654 Pte. J. Cassel, 22nd Field Ambulance, who organised the transference of the wounded from boat to boat in mid-stream under heavy shell-fire. The acting D.A.D.M.S. [Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services], Major H. Maltby, flitted all around supervising the smooth running of the organisation.

Crosse’s book also contains a list of 7th Division casualties for the period 20th October to 3rd November 1918, including nineteen from the 2nd HAC [80]:

2nd HAC casualty list from: E. C. Crosse, The defeat of Austria as seen by the 7th Division (1919), p. 102. Source: Internet Archive.

The CWGC database contains records for twenty-nine members of the 2nd HAC that died in Italy during October and November 1918 — making a total of thirty if you also include Private Arnold Taylor, who was attached from the 22nd Manchesters (91st Brigade). Six of those thirty are buried some distance away in Liguria, i.e. in Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa and Bordighera British Cemetery (near San Remo). The remaining twenty-four are all buried (or commemorated) in the Piave area. Eighteen are buried in Tezze British Cemetery, five in Giavera British Cemetery at Arcade, while one (Private Evan Thomas Jones) is commemorated on the Giavera Memorial.

IWM Q 26734: Panoramic view of a footbridge over the river Piave at Maserada to Grave di Papodopoli, 27 October 1918. © Imperial War Museums (Q 26734): https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205268144

As at Broodseinde, there is also a memorial to the 7th Divison at  Salettuol, on the banks of the Piave River.

The 2nd HAC in the Tyrol:

After the Armistice, the 7th Division withdrew to the area SW of Vicenza, with its headquarters at Sossano. The 2nd HAC were then selected to be part of an Allied force that would occupy the Tyrol, and they left on the 28th November  for Innsbruck [81]. The photographic collections of  the Imperial War Museums include several images of the battalion while they were based at Imst, west of Innsbruck.

IWM Q 26317: The Allied occupation of Austria, 1918-1919: 2nd Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company, changing guard in Imst, 31 miles west of Innsbruck, Austria, December 1918. Copyright: © Imperial War Museums. Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205267736

Although the 2nd HAC did not stay in Imst for very long, they evidently did leave a good impression on the local populace. Reports in local newspapers commented on the uniforms and the military bearing of the battalion, highlighting also the high-quality of the food that the soldiers ate: pure, blossom-white wheat bread, high-quality meat, cheese that was “better than that normally available in peace time,” tinned meat and fish, and good vegetables [82].

Allgemeiner Tiroler Anzeiger (Innsbruck), 9. Dezember 1918, s. 2; via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ANNO): http://anno.onb.ac.at/

While many in the battalion might have preferred to have actually returned home in November, Imst did become for many the place for a kind of impromptu winter holiday, with much skiing and tobogganing. An article in a local newspaper was amusingly headlined, “Foreign season in the North Tyrol” [83].

Allgemeiner Tiroler Anzeiger (Innsbruck), 18. Dezember 1918, s. 1; via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ANNO): http://anno.onb.ac.at/

While Arthur Lambert had missed the capture of the Grave di Papadopoli as he had been on leave in London, he was still with the battalion for the finale [84].

The best sport was then found on a steep slope, promptly named the Cresta Run, which had sharp turns at the beginning and end, with a ten foot drop for the unskilful at the top and a dangerous fence running at right angles at the bottom. It was not until the spills were numbered in the hundreds, and casualties became frequent, that the popular venue became the Landeck Road, which provided a great run of a mile, with four exciting, but easier turns.

Private Dudley Francis Seear:

The birth of Dudley Francis Seear was registered in the 4th quarter of 1894 in the Camberwell registration district of London [85]. He was the son of John James Seear and Harriett Seear (née Scott).

At the time of the 1901 Census, Dudley was six-years-old and the youngest of six children living with John and Harriett Seear at 526, Old Kent Road, Camberwell. John James Seear was fifty-three years old and working as a confectioner, while Harriett was forty-eight. The children living with them at the time of the census were: Florence H. (aged 25, born Islington), Mabel A. (22, born Islington), Harriett E. (15, born Finsbury Park), Alfred H.(Alfred Harold, aged 14, born Finchley), Grace T. (12, born Woolwich), and Dudley (6, born Camberwell).

By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 425 Green Lanes, Harringay, Tottenham. John James Seear was now sixty-three years old and still working as a confectioner, while Harriett was fifty-eight. The six children listed in the 1901 Census were still living with the family, but had now been (re)joined by Albert E. (aged 27, born Finsbury Park). Albert (now aged 27) was working as a confectionery traveller; Alfred and the sixteen-year-old Dudley were working as insurance clerks.

Roll of Honour entry for Pte. Dudley Francis Seear, in: G. Goold Walker, The Honourable Artillery Company in the Great War, 1914-1919 (London: Seeley, Service, & Co., 1930), p. 512.

On the 1st March 1916, Dudley Francis Seear of “Homelands,” 60 Ferme Park Road, Stroud Green, London N, attested and joined the Honourable Artillery Company. While he remained in the UK, he served with the 3/2 Battalion, i.e. the 3rd Battalion, No. 2 [or B] Company. 7148 Private Seear travelled overseas on the 1st October 1916 with the 2/3 Battalion, i.e. the 2nd Battalion, No. 3 [or “C”] Company, HAC. While the exact details of Private Seear’s service history remain largely unknown, there seems to be no reason to doubt that he would have been with the battalion while they were on the Western Front and in Italy.

There is a record of Private Seear being admitted to No. 39 Casualty Clearing Hospital on the 12th August 1918 from 21 Field Ambulance, suffering from boils. He was discharged to Infantry Reinforcement Camp on the 25th September, after 45 days of treatment.

As related above, in early October 1918 the 2nd HAC moved from the Vizenza hills to Treviso, from where they would take part in the Piave offensive. Private Seear of “C” Company was probably wounded during the 22nd Brigade’s capture of the Grave di Papadopoli on the night of the 23rd/24th October. He died of wounds on the 24th October, aged 24, and is buried in Giavera British Cemetery at Arcade (Plot 6, Row B, Grave 10). He is buried next to 10077 Private William Charles George Hollands of the same battalion (“D” Company).

Part of 2nd HAC casualty list from: E. C. Crosse, The defeat of Austria as seen by the 7th Division (1919), p. 102. Source: Internet Archive.

Private Seear’s name is also included in the list of 2nd HAC casualties printed in Crosse’s book on the 7th Division on the Piave [86] and in the roll of honour published in G. Goold Walker’s history of the HAC in the Great War [87].

Unfortunately, I have not been able to trace the name of Private Seear on any war memorial in the UK. I have checked the Imperial War Museum’s War Memorials Register and the War Memorials Trust’s War Memorials Online for some of the memorials in the area around Harringay, where Dudley was living in 1911, but failed to find his name on, e.g. the memorials at West Green or Holy Trinity, Stroud Green, or West Green in Tottenham.

The Seear family:

The birth of John James Seear, Dudley’s father, was registered in the Greenwich registration district in the third quarter of 1847. He was the son of John Hayes Seear and Caroline Seear (née Randall). John James was baptised at Woolwich on the 18th August 1847. In both the 1851 and 1861 Census, he was recorded living with his parents and multiple siblings at 42, Church Street, Woolwich. At the time of both censuses, John James’s father was working as a grocer. At the time of the 1871 Census, the family were still living at 42, Church Street, although there was by then no sign of John James Seear. The following (quite remarkable) newspaper item from the Kentish Independent of the 22nd January 1870 suggests that he was still living (or at least working) at the shop in Church Street the year before the census was taken [88]:

A VERY YOUNG CULPRIT. – Hugh Arnold, aged only 6 years, living at 11, Orchard Place, Woolwich, was charged with stealing a box of figs, value 1s, 6d., from the shop of Mr. J. J. Seear, grocer, 42, Church Street, Woolwich. The prisoner was such a little fellow that he was almost hidden by one of the rails of the dock. – John Press, assistant to Mr. Seear, said the prisoner came into the shop the previous evening and ran away with a box of figs, but witness pursued and caught him. There had been many thefts of the kind at the shop lately, but Mr. Seear did not wish to prosecute on account of the prisoner’s age. – The child’s father said that he sent him to school regularly, and never knew him guilty of dishonesty before. The boy told him that he had been sent into the shop by some older boys, who promised to give him a halfpenny for the box of figs. – Mr. Patteson – I cannot send such a child to prison, but if he is brought here again I must do so. You had better take him home and give him a whipping. – The father promised to do this, and the prisoner was discharged.

John James Seear married Harriett (or Harriet) Scott at Bromley on the 23rd March 1874. The birth of Harriett Scott had been registered at the Rotherhithe registration district in the first quarter of 1853. She was the daughter of Francis William Scott and Harriett Scott (née Chapell). Harriett Scott was baptised at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe on the 6th February 1853. At the time of the 1861 Census, Harriett was eight years old and living with her parents and three children at 15, Stephenson Terrace, Caledonian Road, Islington (curiously, the census return gives her birthplace as Middlesex). Harriett’s father, Francis W. Scott, was at that time thirty-five years old and working as a butcher, while her mother (also Harriett) was aged thirty-four. Also living with the family was Francis’s widowed mother, Margaret (aged 76, described in the census return as a boarder), and four live-in servants, two of whom were butchers (George Pick and Charles Tallet), the others being general servants (Bertha Brown and Emma Bero). As with John James Seear, I could not unambiguously identify Harriett Scott in the 1871 Census. It is possible that she might be the eighteen-year-old Harriett M. Scott that was working as a grocer’s assistant for Elizabeth Aldridge at 9, Albion Street, Rotherhithe — but that gives her place of birth as Chelsea.

John James Seear’s mother, Caroline Seear, died at Woolwich in the fourth quarter of 1873, aged 52 (she had probably been born Caroline Randall at Kingsland, Middlesex (now part of Hackney) in around 1822).

At the time of the 1881 Census, John James and Harriett Seear were living at 374, Caledonian Road, Islington. John James was thirty-three years old and working as a tea dealer, while Harriett was twenty-eight. At the time they had three children: Florence H. (aged 5), John W. (4) and Mabel A. (2), all of whom had been born at Islington. Also living with them was John James’s brother, Arthur E. Seear (an eighteen-year-old tea dealer’s assistant) and a domestic servant (Charlotte Rowland). At the time of that same census, John James’s widowed father, John Hayes Seear, was a sixty-eight-year-old retired grocer, living at 34, Hare Street, Woolwich, with two daughters: Emily F. (aged 36) and Clara A. (17), both of whom were working as milliners.

John Hayes Seear died at Woolwich in the second quarter of 1883, aged 70 (he had been born in ca. 1813, the son of John and Elizabeth Seear, and was baptised at Holborn on the 11th March 1813; he had married Caroline Randall at Hackney (district) in the third quarter of 1840).

A report from the Woolwich County Court published in the Woolwich Gazette of the 2nd December 1887 provided some additional insight into John James Seear’s tea business [89]:

INTERPLEADER SUMMONS – An action in which he execution creditor was Mrs. Emma Lyall, a widow living in Walworth-road, for whom Mr. Nevill, instructed by Mr. C. Turner, appeared as counsel. The judgment debtors were J. J. Seear and H. W. Baker, who traded as the Sun Tea Co., with 10 shops in various parts of London. William Scott, butcher, Dalston, was the claimant, for whom Mr. Bryceson appeared. It appeared that Mrs. Lyell obtained judgment for rent of a shop in Walworth-road and put execution into the shop in Hare-street, Woolwich, where the furniture and stock were valued at £150. Seear had married the sister of Scott, who had lent Seear money, claimed the furniture, &c., and paid out the broker by interpleader. – Mr Nevill contended that it was an ingeniously concocted scheme to defraud Messrs. Seear and Bakers’ creditors; whilst Mr. Bryceson contended that Scott lent money on the Hare-street goods in a bona fide business transaction. – After a lengthened hearing, the judge decided that Scott’s was a bona fide claim and gave judgement for him with costs on the £20 scale, the money paid into court by Scott to be returned.

By the time of the 1891 Census, John James and Harriett Seear were living at 52, Hare Street, Woolwich with nine children, a nurse (Esther Shoebridge), and a general domestic servant (Sarah Harper). The children recorded in the census return were: Florence H. (aged 15, born Islington), John W. (14, born Islington), Mabel A. (12, born Islington), William A. (9, born Islington), Albert E. (7, born Finsbury Park), Harriett E. (5, born Finsbury Park), Alfred H. (4, born Finchley), Grace T. (2, born Woolwich), and an unnamed 1 month-old baby (born Woolwich). The birthplaces of the children suggests that the family were fairly peripatetic.

The 1899 Kelly’s Directory for London (Part 3, Commercial Directory, 1899, p. 1541) records John James Seear as a confectioner at 528, Old Kent Road, S.E. As we have already noted, the 1901 Census recorded the family living at 526, Old Kent Road, Camberwell. By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 425, Green Lanes, Harringay, Tottenham. The 1914 Kelly’s Directory for Middlesex (1914, p. 213) confirms that John James Seear was a confectioner at 425, Green Lanes, Harringay.

John Seear died at Edmonton (Middlesex) in 1914, aged 66; it is possible that his widow was the Harriett Seear that died at Hove (Sussex) in 1951, aged 98.

Private Albert Edward Seear, Army Service Corps:

Dudley Francis Seear was the younger brother of my wife’s grandfather, Albert Edward Seear. Albert had been born at Finsbury Park, Islington, on the 7th July 1883. He married Ethel Gladys Glasson at St Mary’s Church, Balham on the 23rd April 1913.

Private Albert Edward Seear, Army Service Corps, ca. 1917

During the First World War, DM2/221313 Private Albert Edward (or Edwin) Seear served with the 369th Mechanical Transport (MT) Company of the Army Service Corps (ASC). Albert enlisted at Kingston-upon-Thames on the 12th September 1916, aged 33. Albert’s attestation form (part of WO 363 [90]) notes that at the time of his enlistment he was living at 22, Strathbourne Road, Upper Tooting (Balham) and was working as a commercial traveller (his discharge papers noted that he was a confectioner). On enlistment, Albert was medically classed B1 (his medical notes record that he had knock knees, flat feet, an upper denture and defective lower teeth). Shortly after joining up, Albert was admitted to hospital at Hounslow on the 6th November 1916 suffering from burns on his leg, remaining there for 72 days. The cause given was the “spontaneous combustion of box of safety matches in his pocket.” Albert served with the ASC until his discharge in 1919, a driver of supplies and ammunition to the front lines.

Private Albert Edward Seear (standing, second right) with Army Service Corps colleagues and a lorry; from a postcard sent 11th April 1917

Albert and Gladys Seear would have three children: Ruth, Miriam, and Paul. Ethel Gladys Seear died at Bournemouth on the 19th January 1966, aged 77; Albert Edward Seear on the 22nd October 1973, aged 90. Both are buried in Bournemouth East Cemetery at Boscombe.

References:

[1] G. A. Raikes, The history of the Honourable Artillery Company (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1878), Vol . 1, p. xxii; via HathiTrust Digital Library (University of Michigan): https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015035442717

[2] Ibid., p. 1.

[3] Wikipedia, Honourable Artillery Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honourable_Artillery_Company

[4] The Long, Long Trail, Honourable Artillery Company: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/honourable-artillery-company-infantry/

[5] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[6] C. T. Atkinson, The Seventh Division, 1914-1918 (London: John Murray 1927), p. 322; Naval & Military Press reprint; also available from the British Library:
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100014600575.0x000002

[7] G. Goold Walker, The Honourable Artillery Company in the Great War 1914-1919 (London: Seeley, Service & Co., 1930; Naval & Military Press reprint), p. 290.

[8] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st HAC War Diary.

[9] Goold Walker, p. 305.

[10] Atkinson, pp. 349-350.

[11] Ibid., p. 361-362.

[12] Graham Keech, Bullecourt, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 1999).

[13] Peter Pedersen, ANZACs on the Western Front: the Australian War Memorial battlefield guide, 100th anniv. ed. (Milton, Qld.: Wiley, 2018), pp. 135-164.

[14] C. E. W. Bean, The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1917, The official history of Australia in the war of 1914-1918, Vol. IV (1933; St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1982), pp. 420-421; digitised version also available from the Australian War Memorial:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1416597

[15] Keech, p. 94.

[16] Atkinson, pp. 376-378.

[17] Ibid., p. 378.

[18] Goold Walker, p. 311.

[19] Atkinson., pp. 379-380.

[20] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st HAC War Diary; an appendix in the War Diary contains a much longer account of the Bullecourt attack.

[21] Atkinson, pp. 393-394.

[22] Goold Walker, p. 313.

[23] Atkinson., p. 404.

[24] Ibid., p. 406.

[25] These movements have been extracted from the 2/1st HAC War Diary (WO 95/1662/1)

[26] Atkinson, p. 405.

[27] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st HAC War Diary.

[28] The naming of trenches and other landmarks with words beginning with the letter “J” was a shorthand way of indicating their location on British trench maps (the 6,000-yard square), in this case 28.NE3.J. on the 1:20,000 series maps.

[29] Arthur Lambert, Over the top: a “P.B.I.” in the H.A.C. (London: John Long, ca. 1930; Naval & Military Press reprint), pp. 41-48.

[30] Atkinson, p. 409.

[31] Ibid., p. 415.

[32] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st HAC War Diary.

[33] Atkinson, p. 417.

[34] Nick Lloyd, Passchendaele: a new history ([s.l.]: Viking, 2017), p. 207.

[35] Leon Wolff, In Flanders fields: the 1917 campaign (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1958), p. 181.

[36] Lloyd, op. cit., pp. 226-245, for the Battle of Poelcapelle and First Battle of Passchendaele; Paul Ham, Passchendaele: requiem for doomed youth (London: Doubleday, 2016), pp. 297-332, for the battles of October 1917.

[37] Atkinson, p. 419.

[38] Ibid., pp. 419-420.

[39] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st HAC War Diary.

[40] Goold Walker, pp. 323-324.

[41] Ibid., p. 324.

[42] Lambert, p. 63.

[43] Ibid., pp. 65-66.

[44] Ibid., p. 66.

[45] Atkinson, p. 432.

[46] Ibid., p. 433.

[47] Lambert, pp 80-81.

[48] WO 95/1662/1, 2/1st HAC War Diary.

[49] Atkinson, p. 437.

[50] E. C. Crosse, The defeat of Austria as seen by the 7th Division: being a narrative of the fortunes of the 7th Division from the time it left the Asiago plateau in August 1918 till the conclusion of the armistice with Austria on November 4, 1918 (London: H.F.W. Deane & Sons, the Year Book Press, 1919), p. 2: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/2

[51] Goold Walker, p. 331.

[52] Atkinson, p. 441.

[53] Ibid., p. 444.

[54] Lambert, pp. 128-135.

[55] Ibid., p. 446.

[56] Crosse, p. 3: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/2

[57] John Gooch, The Italian army and the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 280.

[58] Francis MacKay, Asiago, 15/16 June 1918: battle in the woods and clouds, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2001), pp. 64-65; See also: Wikipedia, Edward Brittain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Brittain

[59] Crosse, p. 1: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/n21

[60] Ibid., p. 10: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/10

[61] Ibid., p. 11: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/10

[62] Mark Thompson, The White War: life and death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 (London: Faber and Faber, 2008), p. 354.

[63] Ibid., p. 356.

[64] Crosse, p. 21: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/n45

[65] Thompson, p. 356.

[66] Atkinson, p. 462.

[67] Ibid., p. 463.

[68] Ibid., pp. 463-464.

[69] Crosse, p. 22: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/22

[70] Ibid., pp. 27-29: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/26

[71] Ibid., p. 25: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/24

[71] Atkinson, pp. 464-465.

[73] Crosse, pp. 29-31: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/28

[74] Ibid., p. 41: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/40

[75] Atkinson, pp. 465-466.

[76] Ibid., p. 467.

[77] Ibid., p. 496.

[78] Gooch, pp. 297-298.

[79] Ibid., p. 32: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/32

[80] Crosse, p. 102: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/102

[81] Atkinson, pp. 489-490.

[82] Allgemeiner Tiroler Anzeiger (Innsbruck), 9. Dezember 1918, s. 2; via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ANNO): http://anno.onb.ac.at/

[83] Allgemeiner Tiroler Anzeiger (Innsbruck), 18. Dezember 1918, s. 1; via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ANNO): http://anno.onb.ac.at/

[84] Lambert, p. 215.

[85] These sections are mainly based on the records available via Findmypast:

[86] Crosse, p. 102: https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros/page/102

[87] Goold Walker, p. 512.

[88] Kentish Independent, 22 January 1870, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[89] Woolwich Gazette, 2 December 1887, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[90] WO 363, First World War Service Records ‘Burnt Documents,’ The National Archives, Kew; available from Findmypast

Further reading:

Arthur Lambert, Over the top: a “P.B.I.” in the H.A.C. (London: John Long, [1930]; Naval & Military Press reprint) — A personal account of the service of 10726 Private A. Lambert of “A” Company, 2nd HAC. Lambert was an office worker in London who served with the 2nd HAC from just before their involvement in the Third Battle of Ypres until the occupation of the Tyrol. He makes some good points about the needless secrecy that accompanied much of army life as well as the absurd rituals of military parades and inspections and what the HAC called “poshing.” The sections on the battalion’s experiences at Reutel and Gheluvelt are particularly vivid. Perhaps even more eye-opening is Lambert’s account of what happened between those two engagements, when the battalion were out of the line at Meteren and military discipline was reimposed in the most mindless way possible. A good antidote to those that think that the British Army was by 1917 a slick, learning machine.

G. Goold Walker, The Honourable Artillery Company in the Great War, 1914-1919 (London: Seely, Service & Co., 1930; Naval & Military Press reprint), pp. 285-369. — A readable history of the 2nd HAC that provides more detail and insight than the battalion War Diary. It takes pride in some of the things dismissed by Lambert, but is not entirely uncritical of the higher command (especially for insisting on the battalion’s attack on Bucquoy).

E. C. Crosse, The defeat of Austria as seen by the 7th Division: being a narrative of the fortunes of the 7th Division from the time it left the Asiago plateau in August 1918 till the conclusion of the armistice with Austria on November 4, 1918 (London: H.F.W. Deane & Sons, the Year Book Press, 1919); via Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/defeatofaustriaa00cros — A comprehensive account of the 7th Division in what became known as the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, by a former senior Anglican chaplain to the Division. The book forms the basis of the narratives published in both C. T. Atkinson’s history of the 7th Division and G. Goold Walker’s history of the HAC. Digitised copy also available from the British Library: http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022594452.0x000002

Honourable Artillery Company badge; from the grave marker of Pte. Edward Ivatts Butler, 1st Bn., Honourable Artillery Company, died 15 November 1916, aged 20; Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille (Somme)

“A south-west prospect of the City of Bath,” by Henry Roberts (1757); British Library Maps K.Top.37.25.d.; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50265130932

This week, the British Library released a large number of digitised images from the Topographical Collection of King George III into the public domain. The K.Top collection was digitised as part of a seven-year project to catalogue, conserve and digitise the collection, which was presented to the British nation in 1823 by King George IV. 

The images can be found via the British Library’s Explore catalogue and have also been uploaded to Flickr Commons. A post on the project can be found on the British Library’s Maps and views blog: https://blogs.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/2020/10/the-ktop-18000-digitised-maps-and-views-released.html

There are currently around 18,000 K.Top images available on Flickr. It is impossible to select favourites, so this post will look briefly at just one of the images in more detail (there are many others, even just of Bath). The item is a view of the City of Bath, taken from the (still popular) vantage point of Beechen Cliff, which is now part of Alexandra Park. The view was engraved by H. Roberts, and published in both Bath and London in 1857 (British Library K.Top.37.25.d.).

The metadata associated with the image is:

Title: “A south west prospect of the City of Bath”
Author(s): Roberts, Henry
British Library shelfmark: Maps K.Top.37.25.d.
Place of publication: [Bath & London]
Publisher: Pub’d according to act of Parliament Mar hye 19 1757, by Mr Leak Bookseller & Mr Speren in ye Grove Bath and H. Roberts Engraver & Printseller Holborn, J Riall & R Withy opposite Salisbury Court Fleet Street London.,
Date of publication: [March 19 1757]
Item type: 1 print
Medium: etching
Dimensions: sheet 39.1 x 64.4 cm
Former owner: George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820

The image is available for viewing and download from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50265130932

The print itself is very detailed and repays careful study; its interpretation is aided by the handy index in the bottom margin. 

Central Bath:

Detail from: “A south-west prospect of the City of Bath,” by Henry Roberts (1757); British Library Maps K.Top.37.25.d.; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50265130932

The central part of the print includes Bath Abbey dominating the old city centre, with the bath complexes nearby, although these are mostly hidden. Perhaps the most visible features are the churches: to the left of the Abbey is the old St. Michael’s Church (with its cupola), while to the right is St. James’s Church, which was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. Between St. Michael’s and the Abbey can just be seen the tower of what is now the ruined Bathwick Old Church, close to which is the London Road (with no traffic in sight!). To the left of St. Michael’s is Walcot Church, aka St. Swithin’s Church, Walcot. Dominating the background of the scene are the heights of Lansdown, Charmy Down (“The Honl. Mr. Bathurst’s house at Charmy Down”), and Little Solsbury Hill.

West of the city:

Detail from: “A south-west prospect of the City of Bath,” by Henry Roberts (1757); British Library Maps K.Top.37.25.d.; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50265130932

The heights of Lansdown also dominate the west side of the city, which was mostly still countryside in the 1850s. The Circus features, but would still would have been being built at the time the view was being produced. Otherwise, houses spread out along the road leading to Bristol. Just out of this particular frame (but visible in the full view) is Avon Street, which was one of the poorer parts of the city. The Royal Crescent does not feature, as it had not yet been built! In the foreground is Holloway, which would at that time have been a major thoroughfare.

East of the city:

Detail from: “A south-west prospect of the City of Bath,” by Henry Roberts (1757); British Library Maps K.Top.37.25.d.; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50265130932

The east and south of the city has the clearest views of the River Avon and the bridge, which is close to where Bath Spa railway station is now. The prominent terrace in the centre is South Parade, which at that date overlooked gardens, orchards, and fields. The Church of St. John the Evangelist would dominate that particular view today. The Bathwick side of the river is dominated by fields, with no sign of the Rec or Bath Rugby. The background shows the slopes of Little Solsbury Hill, Bannerdown, and Bathampton Down — “Mr. Allen’s Plantations at Hampton Down” are just out of frame, to the right.

The print is a fascinating view of the City of Bath at the point it began to develop into a resort city during the Georgian period.

The scene today:

Beechen Cliff is still a very popular viewpoint, and Bath is still recognisable as the same city, despite many changes. This is a view of the central part of the city from Alexandra Park, with Bath Abbey still dominating, despite post-1757 competition from the Empire Hotel and the slab-like building that replaced St. James’s Church (now mostly Marks & Spencer).

Bath from Beechen Cliff (2017); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/35146377910

The original of the 1757 prospect seems to have been drawn from somewhere just above the Magdalen Chapel on Holloway, a view that is much obscured by trees at the present time. It is, however, possible to get an excellent view of Bath Abbey with Little Solsbury Hill in the background:

Bath Abbey and Little Solsbury Hill, from near Holloway (2018); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/43530313752/

The King’s Topographical Collection on Flickr Commons can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/albums/72157716220271206

Neuville-Saint-Vaast: Canadian Cemetery No. 2 (Pas-de-Calais)

In the Spring of last yeat, I visited the Canadian National Vimy Memorial for the very first time and spent some time wandering around the memorial park and its associated memorials and cemteteries. One of the CWGC cemeteries in the park is Canadian Cemetery No. 2, one of several cemeteries established by the Canadian Corps near Vimy Ridge in April 1917.

In Plot 14, Row B of Canadian Cemetery No. 2 are two burials that actually have very little to do with Vimy, but are part of a group of burials moved there from the area north of Lens long after the end of the war. The grave markers were for two bellringers from Staffordshire that had been killed in action near the Hohenzollern Redoubt on the 13th October 1915. This was at the tail-end of the Battle of Loos — and long before the British had taken over the Vimy sector from the French Army in early 1916.

The two bellringers were both Sergeants in the North Staffordshire Regiment: Sergeant Walter Richard Washbrook serving with the 1/5th Battalion and Sergeant Reginald Grimmit Stone with the 1/6th. Both battalions were Territorial Force units, with the 1/5th mainly recruiting around Stoke-on-Trent and the 1/6th around Burton-on-Trent. During the Battle of Loos, both battalions had formed part of 137th Infantry Brigade in the 46th (North Midland) Division.

1522 Sergeant Walter Richard Washbrook of the 1/5th North Staffordshire Regiment was a bellringer from Tunstall, near Stoke-on-Trent (Staffordshire). Walter was the son of the prolific peal-ringer James William Washbrook [1]. His three brothers were also bellringers and there are records in the Ringing World of the father and sons ringing together on handbells:

The Ringing World, 15th March 1912, p. 182.

Two of Walter’s brothers, Second Lieutenant Harry Washbrook of the 5th Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment), and Second Lieutenant Mark Thomas Washbrook of the 5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, would also die during the war. All three of their CWGC grave markers include the inscription: “One of three brothers killed. Faithful in service, even unto death.” Another brother, 10656 Corporal James William Washbrook of the 7th (Service) Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, was severely wounded at Gallipoli, but survived the war. The name of Walter Washbrook, as well as those of his brothers, features on the Stoke Archidiaconal Association of Change Ringers memorial in St Peter’s Church, Stoke-on-Trent.

70 Sergeant Reginald Grimmit Stone of the 1/6th North Staffordshire Regiment was a bellringer from St. Paul’s Church, Burton-on-Trent (Staffordshire). At the turn of the twentieth century, the band at St. Paul’s, initially led by William Wakley, was instrumental in popularising the ringing of what remain today as standard bellringing methods. Reginald G. Stone rang in several peals, including the Treble bell to a peal of London Surprise Major in November 1911:

The Bell News and Ringers’ Record, 25th November 1911, p. 440.

The grave concentration records made available by the CWGC indicate that the bodies of Sergeants Washbrook and Stone were found after the war in a grave site located south of Auchy-lez-La-Bassée (now known as Auchy-les-Mines), close to the site of the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8 (44a (36c.NW) G.4.d.7.2). They were two of six casualties found in a single grave, which also included 613 Corporal T. Fitzjohn of the 1/5th North Staffords and several others who remain unidentified. Remarkably, while serving in different battalions within the same brigade, these two Staffordshire bellringers ended up being buried in the same battlefield grave. Then, following their discovery and identification, they were moved after the war to rest in adjacent grave plots in Canadian Cemetery No. 2.

At least one other member of the band at St. Paul’s, Burton-on-Trent, Private Albert Percy Wakley of the 1/6th North Staffords, was severely wounded on the 13th October. He survived and later served as a Sergeant in the Labour Corps, but died of influenza on the 18th February 1919, aged 29. He was the son of William Wakley, the tower-master of St Paul’s, and was buried at Burton-on-Trent. Both his and Sergeant Stone’s names feature on the war memorial at St. Paul’s Church.

The names of Sergeants R. G. Stone and A. P. Wakley on the St. Paul’s Church War Memorial, Burton-on-Trent (Staffordshire)

The 46th Division at the Hohenzollern Redoubt:

Sergeants Washbrook and Stone were both killed in action on the 13th October 1915 during an attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8, north of Lens, by the 46th (North Midland) Division. At that time, both the 1/5th and 1/6th North Staffords formed part of 137th Infantry Brigade, which was sometimes known as the Staffordshire Brigade. The 1/5th were one of the leading battalions in the attack on the redoubt, with the 1/6th following up.

Fosse No. 8. Detail from Trench Map 36C.NW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 7A; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 12 June 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465011 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The 46th Divison attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt on the 13th October would be led by the 138th Brigade and the 137th Brigades, with the 140th Brigade in reserve. The 138th would attack the northern and central parts of the Hohenzollern defences, while the 137th would attack the southern part, namely Fosse 8 and a slag heap known as the Dump. In the 137th Brigade sector, the 1/5th North Staffords would lead the attack, with the 1/6th North Staffords following on behind. The attack was planned to happen in the afternoon, and would be supported by an artillery bombardment and by the distribution of smoke and gas. The War Diary of the 1/6th North Staffords provides an outline of what happened from their perspective [2]:

Oct 13th, 12. noon: At 12. noon our Artillery heavily bombarded FOSSE 8 – BIG WILLIE – HOENZOLLERN [i.e. Hohenzollern] REDOUBT, and enemy’s machine gun emplacements, communication trenches.
1. pm. At 1 . pm gas & smoke used against hostile position. Between 1.0 & 1.30 enemy ranged with machine guns onto our trenches, also shelled support trenches.
2. pm. At 2. pm Infantry of 137 Bde advanced against BIG-WILLIE – DUMP TRENCH & FOSSE 8. A & B Coys 6 N. Staffs Regt forming 3rd Line. C &D Coys in fourth line. Enemies machine gun & rifle fire very heavy on advancing infantry who were unable to proceed. Line established in old fire trench. Two bombing parties were found by this Battalion on gaining 30 yards of BIG WILLIE TRENCH but had to retire through heavy casualties & were relieved by 1/5 S. Staffs. Regt.
Enemy kept up a heavy fire on our trenches with their Artillery & machine gun making the work of bringing in wounded a difficult one.

Andrew Rawson’s Battleground Europe book on the Hohenzollern Redoubt notes how quickly the attack was effectively over [3]:

The 1/5th North Staffordshires sustained over five hundred casualties, most had been hit within a few yards of their own trench.
The first two companies of the 1/6th North Staffordshires followed in support:
Under a very heavy rifle and machine-gun fire from the enemy, which accounted for the large number of casualties in the first 200 yards of the advance …. Apparently there were no Company officers left with the leading two companies and the men got grouped together and suffered heavily in consequence, particularly on the left.
Realising that the attack had failed, Lieutenant-Colonel R F Ratcliff ordered his two reserve companies to stand fast.

News of the attack would soon reach Burton-on-Trent. The Burton Daily Mail of the 19th October 1915 quoted extensiveley from Field-Marshal Sir John French’s Despatch [4]:

OUR TERRITORIALS.
THEIR ATTACKS ON THE GERMANS.
UNDER SMOKE AND GAS.
TRENCHES GAINED AND LOST.
LIST OF THE FALLEN.
MANY MEN WOUNDED.
The Burton Territorials, in their fight with the enemy last week, displayed the utmost valour, and according to Major-General F. Stuart-Wortley, the whole Division distinguished itself by its gallantry and showed qualities worthy of the best tradition of the British Army. It is an unfortunate fact that some local men were killed, and many officers and men wounded, but those who fell to rise no more made the supreme sacrifice for King and country, and no nobler duty can fall to the lot of men.
The charge they made took place last Wednesday afternoon, and at the given signal the local Territorials, on conjunction with the other forces, leaped from their trenches and swept across the intervening space to the German trenches, from which they swept the enemy, including the Prussian Guards, and captured the trench, inflicting great punishment on the enemy.
In view of the importance of the attack to Burton, it is worth reproducing the despatch of Field-Marshal Sir John French, which we printed on Friday last. It will be noted that the onslaught was made under a cover of smoke and gas, and that though our men captured 1,000 yards of trenches, they had to give them up again to the Germans in consequence of shell fire. The despatch was as follows: —
General Headquarters.
Thursday, 7.25 p.m.
Yesterday afternoon, after a bombardment, we attacked under cover of a cloud of smoke and gas from a point about 600 yards south-west of Hulluch to the Hohenzollern redoubt.
We gained about 1,000 yards of trench just south and west of Hulluch, but were unable to maintain our positions there owing to the enemy’s shell fire.
South-west of St. Elie we captured and held the enemy’s trenches behind the Vermelles-Hulluch road and the south-western edge of the quarries, inclusive.
We also captured a trench on the north-western face of the forest.
We captured the main trench of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, but the enemy are still in the communication trenches between the redoubt and the quarries.
THE MEN’S DISTINGUISHED GALLANTRY.
‘WORTHY OF THE BEST TRADITIONS OF THE BRITISH ARMY.’
PRAISE FROM MAJOR-GENERAL STUART WORTLEY.
Major Baines, the secretary to the Notts. Territorial Force Association, has just received a letter from Major-General F. Stuart-Wortley, the General Officer Commanding the 46th Dividsion, praising in warm terms the work in action of the units which comprise the North Midland Division. Included in that division it is interesting to point out are the 6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment, the Robin Hoods and the 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (County Territorials), who were complimented some time ago by General French. The letter, which is dated October 16th, is in the following terms:–
I should be obliged if you would inform the president and members of your association that in a recent attack on the enemy’s position, the North Midland Division behaved with distinguished gallantry, worthy of the best traditions of the British Army.
I trust their example may arouse enthusiasm in their various counties, and that the result of their gallant efforts may be to bring every able-bodied man into the ranks.
I am proud to command a division composed of officers and other ranks who, for love of King and country, have sacrificed private interests, and whose example should be widely followed by every man imbued with patriotic enthusiasm.
I should be glad if every one could be informed of this.

The same newspaper also published information on known casualties as well as extracts from letters written by those at the front. Two of the more detailed ones were:

PRIVATE HARRY GOODHEAD.
A letter received by the parents of Private A. W. G. Brown, 1st 6th North Staffords, Mill Hill Lane, Winshill, this morning, conveyed the sad intimation that two of his comrades had been killed, one being Private Harry Goodhead, son of Mrs. Goodhead, of Church Hill Street. The writer states that before the charge they agreed amongst themselves that if one went under the survivor would write to his people conveying the news. He states that they leapt over the parapet at 2 p.m., and for three or four hours it was like being in Hell. Poor Harry and —–, both died instantaneously, without suffering pain. They died heroes’ deaths, and he was writing to Mrs. Goodhead to tell her about it.
Private Harry Goodhead, who was 20 years of age, was employed at Messrs. Salt and Co.’s Brewery, and enlisted when the war broke out. There were only three eligible men in his family – all serving, and one of his brothers, also in the 6th North Staffords, was invalided home some time ago.
CORPORAL J. H. JONES.
Corporal J. H. Jones, son of Mr and Mrs. Jones, of Mill Hill Lane, Winshill, a member of the 1st 6th North Staffords, has sent a letter home, in which he says to his mother:
“We attacked the Prussian Guards on the 13th. I went over the parapet with the boys. We captured the trenches. I was blown up by a shell and half buried. It stunned me, but I kept still and was lying in the open for half the night, and then I scrambled in an old trench and got in my own battalion. I have not a single wound on me, only the medical officer sent me to the hospital. A lump of shell hit my head and made it ache a bit and another hit my stomach and doubled me up. However, I am in hospital in a big French town and [am] feeling none the worse, excepting that my head aches and my stomach is sore, especially when I walk. I expect that we shall be moved to the base as soon as possible.”
Mr Jones, father of Corporal Jones, is a member of the 2nd 6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment Supernumerary Company, now stationed in the north, and he has a brother-in-law, Lance-Corporal A. E. Wooldridge, who is in the 10th King’s Royal Rifles, who is also now in France.

Some more information on the attack, which pays tribute to the virtues of cricket, appeared in the Burton Daily Mail of the 28th October 1915 [5]:

ATTACK AT HOHENZOLLERN.
HOW THE REDOUBT WAS TAKEN.
A vivid account of the fighting at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, when the Burton Territorials suffered so severely, has been given by an officer, who himself came out unscathed, although shot and shell fell all around him.
For three hours, he said, our artillery had been heavily bombarding the Hohenzollern Redoubt, and the German trenches and other positions in the vicinity. It seemed impossible that anyone could live through such a storm of shell, but the enemy’s dug-outs were often 30 feet deep, and were in many cases impervious to our fire. At one o’clock we started the gas and smoke, and soon afterwards two attacking brigades, including the Lincolns, Leicesters, and Staffords, began the attack, the Notts. and Derbys being held in reserve.
THE MACHINE GUN FIRE.
Most of the casualties were caused by machine gun fire. The distance from the British trench facing the redoubt was not more than 150 yards, and our men had covered a third of it before the enemy spotted them – a real bit of luck. The chief cause of trouble was a slag heap, some 50 feet high, to the right rear of the redoubt, called by our men “The Dump,” and a similar eminence to the left rear, christened “Mad Point.” Machine guns galore were posted on these two heights, which command the ground in the vicinity of the redoubt, and although our artillery had paid them particular attention, the result had not been so effective as was supposed, for a perfect hail of lead was poured forth. The enemy’s shell fire was, comparatively speaking, a minor affair.
The work of the Robin Hood bombers was particularly effective. The British, thanks to cricket, can throw these explosives twice as far as the Huns. Our grenades and hand bombs are now excellent. The time when they were improvised from empty jam tins has passed.
The British seem now to have as much in the way of shells as they want.

The disaster as also obvious to others in the battalion. Private Holden of the 1/6th North Staffords was a member of bombing party [6]:

” […] five minutes past two we all mounted the parapet, most of us feeling mad – some wild with thirst for German blood. Then I witnessed the most awful sight I ever saw in all my life. Hundreds fell before we reached the German lines and then didn’t we let into them. I cannot describe what I saw, as I was too excited. Later we got reinforced, as almost all of our officers had either been killed or wounded. I got back into our own trench, thanking God […] “

Even recovering the wounded and dead from the battlefield after dusk was fraught with danger. Sergeant Caleb Norton of the 1/6th North Staffords later recalled [7]:

By this time it was getting dark, and I thought it was a good opportunity to get in some of the wounded we could. First we got in Capt. Jenkinson (Talbot helped). He lay in the open for several hours for it would have been certain death to have gone out to him. After a struggle we got him in. It was a case of being cruel to be kind. As he lay on the fire step, he asked for a doctor. We could not do anything, for there was not an ambulanceman to be found. We made him as comfortable as we could. I could see he had been hit again, for he had an awful wound in his stomach. I watched over him. I could see he could not last long. He lasted about an hour. Then we put him in a small disused trench close by. We covered him over.

The casualty figures provided in the War Diary of the 1/6th North Staffordshires were: seven officers and 53 other ranks killed; ten officers and 211 other ranks wounded, and 30 other ranks missing. Towards the end of the month, Sergeant Norton wrote a letter to his brother providing more insight into the human cost [8]:

Our Battalion lost heavily. I was the only Sergt. that came out without a scratch. In fact all the Officers and N.C.O.’s suffered a lot. There were only three officers, with the Colonel and the Adjutant, came out of it. Sergt. Copeland, Sergt. Hair, Sergt. Cutler, Sergt. Stone were killed and others wounded – yourself, Platts, Austin, Kenney, Hammond, Watts, Shirley, Cpl. Burrows, Clements, Littleford, Cronise – I cannot remember them all. Smalner Smith has died of his wound, also Mason. You will be surprised to see the list of the lot. We had a roll call the next morning. I shall never forget it – the strengths were ‘A’ Company – 90, ‘B’ – 92, ‘C’ – 112, ‘D’ – 114.

Andrew Rawson sums up the scale of the catastrophe [9]:

The Staffordshire Brigade’s first battle had been an unmitigated disaster. Nearly one thousand officers and men had been killed or injured, the majority in the first ten minutes. Instead of capturing the Dump, the Brigade was left struggling to maintain its position in Big Willie Trench. The final words on the attack belong to an anonymous staff officer who eagerly watched the events unfold from the headquarters dugout:
It was wonderful seeing the great smoke cloud along the front, and then five minutes before the bombardment stopped, the figures crawling over the parapet and lying down in front, as far as you could see either side. And at the moment the guns lifted, all got up and began to run or rather jog. Then they all seemed to melt away ….

The combination of inadequate artillery preparation and wanton attacks on well-designed German defences would be perpetuated again on a much wider scale at the Somme on the 1st July 1916 (on that day, the 46th Division itself would be involved in the unsuccessful diversionary attack at Gommecourt). The First Army commander at Loos would by then have become the Commander in Chief.

IWM Q 29001: The Battle of Loos; British attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt by the 46th (North Midland) Division; photograph shows a cloud of smoke and gas in the centre and on the left. © IWM (Q 29001): https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205194050

There are memorials for the 46th (North Midland) Division at Vermelles, on the road leading to Hulluch, and near the Hohenzollern redoubt.

Acknowledgements:

This post is based on an earlier one on Sergeant Albert Percy Wakley of the 1/6th North Staffords, and a report from a visit to Vimy in March 2019.

References:

[1]. John C. Eisel, Giants of the Exercise II: more notable ringers of the past (Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, 2006), pp. 39-42:
http://www.ringing.info/giants-of-the-exercise-2.pdf

[2] WO 95/2685/2, 1/6th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[3] Andrew Rawson, Loos – 1915: Hohenzollern Redoubt, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2003), p. 124.

[4] Burton Daily Mail, 19th October 1915, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[5] Burton Daily Mail, 28th October 1915, p. 2; via British Newspaper Archive.

[6] Private R. Holden, Sentinel, 30th October 1915, cited in: Andrew Thornton, “We had done all that was expected of us:” Staffordshire’s Territorials and the Assault on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, 13th October 1915, Hellfire Corner, 2000:
http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/Thornton/terriers2.htm

[7] Sergeant Caleb Norton, Letter, 30th October 1915, cited ibid.: http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/Thornton/terriers2.htm

[8] Sergeant Caleb Norton, Letter, 30th October 1915, cited ibid.:
http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/Thornton/terriers4.htm

[9] Rawson, op cit., p. 124.

Update December 15, 2020:

The death of Sergeant Walter Richard Washbrook of the 1/5th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment was reported on in the Ringing World in early 1916, including a brief obituary and the suggestion that he may have been recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, an honour that he never received.

Source: Central Council of Church Bell Ringers:
http://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rw1916_a.pdf

The Ringing World, 28 January 1916, p. 39.

The Ringing World, 4th February 1916, p. 55.

The Ringing World, 11th February 1916, p. 68.

Ieper (West-Vlaanderen): Memorial for Captain Henry Langton Skrine, 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/41846374892

If you leave Ieper via Hellfire Corner and follow the Menin Road eastwards towards Hooge, a road joins from the north just past Birr Cross Roads Cemetery. This is Begijnenbosstraat, a road that leads to the French cemetery at Potyze, crossing the N37 Zuiderring (formerly the route of the Ypres – Roulers railway) just north of Railway Wood. During the First World War, Begijnenbosstraat was known to the British as Cambridge Road. For several years, it ran parallel to the British front line east of Ypres.

A few hundred metres north of the N37 on Begijnenbosstraat is a prominent clump of trees, close to which can be found two private memorials adjacent the road. They commemorate two officers that were killed in the vicinity during 1915. The memorials are for Captain Geoffrey Vaux Salvin Bowlby of the Royal Horse Guards and Captain Henry Langton Skrine of the 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Captain Skrine was killed in action in this vicinity on the 25th September 1915, aged 34. His memorial was erected in 1921, around six years after his death.

Henry Langton Skrine. Source: Balliol College War Memorial Book 1914-19, via Flickr (Balliol College Archives): https://www.flickr.com/photos/balliolarchivist/5164139497

Henry Langton Skrine had studied at Balliol College, Oxford and the Balliol College War Memorial Book, 1914-1919 contains a succinct account of his life [1]:

HENRY LANGTON SKRINE, born November 12, 1880, was the son of Colonel and Lady Mary Skrine, of Warleigh Manor, near Bath. He came up to Bailliol from Eton in 1899, but after getting a second class in Classical Moderations in 1901 left Oxford to enter the Army, and took a commission in the Somerset Light Infantry. After some years service in Nigeria, ill-health obliged him to resign his active commission, but he remained a Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers. In 1908 he was again in Oxford and took his degree. For some years he was engaged in farming, first in South Africa, and then in England. In August 1914 he rejoined the Somerset Light Infantry, and in October was gazetted Captain in the 6th Battalion. With them he served in France and Belgium, and on September 25, 1915, he fell during the advance in the neighbourhood of Hulluch. Seeing Germans collecting in a communication trench, he brought his men up and opened rapid fire, but was killed himself by a machine-gun bullet. He was buried behind the fighting line by his Company, who were much attached to him. Quiet and unostentatious, he was a soldier by nature, and felt greatly his temporary retirement from military life; and when the war came he was glad to be at work again in the way he most liked.

It is not entirely clear why the memorial book states so confidently that Captain Skrine died near Hulluch, which is in France, in the coal-mining district north of Lens. There would definitely have been fighting at Hulluch on the 25th September 1915, as it was a key part of the Loos battlefield, and the eponymous battle commenced on the same date. The documentary evidence, however, confirms that Captain Skrine was killed in action near Bellewarde, in the vicinity of Ypres (Ieper), and was at first buried behind the British lines, somewhere close to where his memorial cross stands today. The action in which he died become known as the Second Attack on Bellewarde, one of several diversionary attacks intended to distract German attention away from the much larger British offensive being undertaken further south at Loos (Loos-en-Gohelle).

The Bellewarde attack involved two divisions, the 3rd Division on the right, and the 14th (Light) Division on the left. Nigel Cave’s Battleground Europe book on Ypres: Sanctuary Wood and Hooge (1993) briefly describes what happened [2]:

This was the most extensive of these attacks [intended to divert German reserves from the Loos battlefield], and was on a frontage of about a mile from the Hooge sector to Bellewaarde Ridge. On the right, to the north and south of the Menin Road, were the seasoned campaigners of this sector, 3rd Division. Their assault was launched with the explosion of two mines; although successful south of the road, they could not get through the uncut wire and machine-gun positions to the chateau or the redoubt at the south west edge of Bellewaarde Lake. To the left the 14th Division could not capture Bellewaarde Farm, despite breaching the German line further north. At the end of the day the British were back in the trenches from which they had begun, four thousand casualties the worse off.

The 6th (Service) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry had been raised in August 1914 and trained at Aldershot and at Witley Camp, near Godalming. They formed part of 43rd Infantry Brigade in the 14th (Light) Division [3]. The battalion sailed for Boulogne on the 21st May 1915 and spent their first months on the Western Front in the Ypres sector.

During August and September, the 6th SLI remained in the Ypres area, mainly in camp west of that city or in front line trenches near Hooge. They would move up to the front-line trenches near Railway Wood on the 23rd and 24th September.

Cambridge Road and Railway Wood. Detail from Trench Map 28.NW; scale: 1:20,000; edition: 4a; trenches corrected to: 9 September 1916; ID; GSGS 2742; source: McMaster University (Chasseaud Collection) 70098: http://digitalarchive.mcmaster.ca/islandora/object/macrepo%3A70098

The War Diary of the 6th SLI (WO 95/1909/1) provides a full account of the battalion’s activities during the Second Attack on Bellewaarde, and even concludes with some reflections on difficulties in communication, presumably contributed by their Commanding Officer. Captain Skrine and ‘A’ Company were to head up to the front-line trenches on the 23rd September, while the rest of the battalion would follow on the 24th [4]:

Sept 23. 7.15 am. CO called company commanders, m.g. officers, bomb-officer, transport officer and adjutant. Positions explained and orders in accordance with No. 1 & No. 2 were issued. A or No. 1 Coy were sent on that day to take up the positions allotted. Orders No. 3 issued to that company.

Sept 24. 7.15 pm. Battalion marched off and at 8.00 pm entrained at siding for transport to YPRES, detraining at back of ASYLUM. Night, quiet, clear but moon obscured by cloud. Not much rifle fire, and no shell fire. Roads wet from the rain that fell persistently earlier in the day. BY 11.00 pm Battalion was secure in G.H.Q. Line. [see 42 Bde orders]

Sept 25. 3.50 am – 4.20. Intense R.A. bombardment along German line extending from RAILWAY WOOD to SANCTUARY WOOD. [Hooge Map, 1:5,000]
4.19 am. Mine exploded at 04.
4.20 am. Guns lifted. Assault by troops took place upon German 1st & 2nd line.
4.22 am. Guns again lifted.
4.23 am. Guns established Barrage of fire.
7.15. Message received that one coy of 6 SOM L.I. were to “stand by” ready to reinforce firing line [message lost] [No 4, a, b, c, d, e]
7.20. Message despatched by hand to Capt. F. BRAMWELL. No. 4 Coy to get ready. MAJOR T. RITCHIE 2 in C. was directed to go with this coy.
Almost immediately afterwards, in fact almost directly after the message had reached CAPT. BRAMWELL a further order was received to send up 3 coys. [No 4]
MAJOR T. RITCHIE with No. 4 Coy was at once despatched to reinforce the front line, and directly after, the C.O. and ADJT led the two remaining COYS forward to RAILWAY WOOD via E. LANE
During the advance up the communication trenches the supports were heavily shelled. But losses were slight.
9.45 am. Upon arrival at RAILWAY WOOD we found that the situation was as described in attached No. 5, sent to 42 Bde. [No. 5]
10.00 am. Message from 42 INF. BDE. read. [No. 6, 6a]
In the GENERALS dug out we found that the commanding officers of the 9 KRR [King’s Royal Rifle Corps] and 9 RB [Rifle Brigade] had established themselves in the German front line and had been driven out. No counter attack followed. But both their battalions were demoralised and the men were not fit for any further work.
5.00 pm. The Battalion held on all day, in trenches H19 – A.1, and at dusk the 9 KRR and 9 RB were withdrawn. Gun fire from German line very heavy till midday. Then gradually became less.
6.00 pm. Brigade orders from 43d Bde received [No 7]
Battalion orders sent out [No. 8]
7.00. Gun fire on both sides died down by this time. 6 SOM L.I. holding A.1, A.22 and redoubts A.21, A.2. to 12, H20. Casualties K 11, W 38, M, 2.
Night was quiet. All men worked hard at repair of damaged trenches and parapets, dead were removed and wounded were carried in. Casualiites this day were as follows.
Capt. HL Skrine, killed
Lieut CAS Hawker, wounded
2 Lieut J Purkis, killed. Lieut H. Birrell, wounded.
Lieut C. Talbot | Killed 11 and 35 Wounded. 3 Missing 2.

RAILWAY WOOD. 26 [Sept]. Bright sun and situation quiet. The whole day was devoted to reorganising and strengthening all defences. All worked hard. Sniping at intervals on both sides. Both forces too much occupied with repair of defences to think about the opposing side. KRR MG team was relieved that had been left behind the day before.
9.00. Machine gun and Rifle fire opened by 2 DURHAM L.I. on our LEFT, spread across our front line, fire appeared so hot that SOS was sent. See attached No. 9 [No 9, 9a, 9c]

27 [Sept]. Except for occasional gun fire on part of Germans the day passed quietly.
About 5.30 pm the Germans after attempting to bring in one of our wounded, allowed two men of No. 3 Coy to bring them in. The operation being concluded with mutual cheers from both sides.
Casualties, wounded 8.

RAILWAY WOOD. SEPT 28. 12.00 midday. Orders received that the battalion was to be relieved that night by the 7 R.B. Visit to the battalion lines by the G.O.C. 14th DIVN and B.G.C. 43d BRIGADE. The former expressed himself very satisfied indeed at the work done by the battalion when in the trenches and further said that he was charged by the CORPS COMMANDER General PULTENEY to express the latter’s thanks to the battalion for their behaviour and gallant conduct. [No 11, No 12]
The G.O.C. 42 Bde also sent the enclosed letter. Casualties K. 1, W. 1.
11.00 pm. The battalion was relieved in pouring rain by the 7 RB and returned to camp at G.4.d.6.3.

During this operation it was exceeding hard to obtain any real information as regards the situation. This battalion was originally designed [?] for Brigade support but was suddenly hurried to the firing line where the 9 KRR and 8 RB [sic] had been turned out of the German trenches E of RAILWAY WOOD. Messages were unavoidably lost in the noise and turmoil. Many messages were delivered verbally but there was no chance of writing them down. Telephone communication was extremely difficult, often it broke down. The battalion easily held our original trenches and there was never at any time any counter attack by the Germans. The crater at 04 was empty for at least two or three hours during the morning and in fact was not occupied until after 9.00 pm. Our troops were not in a fit state to attack after the very heavy shell fire that they had been subjected to all the morning. Another battalion at dark could have easily established themselves in the crater. Whether it would have done any good is quite another question. The outstanding point was the conduct of the stretcher bearers, who worked magnificently, especially on the morning of the 26th.

The diary includes a map of the trenches held by the battalion, which clearly indicates the route of the Ypres-Roulers railway, as well as Cambridge Road.

Sketch Map of Trenches Held by 6 Som. L.I., Sept. 25-28 [1915]. Source: WO 95/1909/1, 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry War Diary, The National Archives, Kew. © Crown Copyright.

The account of the action is supplemented by several appendices, containing orders, messages, and other information. Orders No. 3 includes the instructions for Captain Skrine and ‘A’ Company to move forward on the 23rd September to occupy the front-line trenches.

Secret Orders, 6 Som. L.I., Sept 23rd, [1915]. Source: WO 95/1909/1, 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry War Diary, The National Archives, Kew. © Crown Copyright

Everard Wyrall’s history of the Somerset Light Infantry provides a detailed account of the 6th SLI’s involvement in the Second Attack on Bellewaarde, although it is clearly largely based on the battalion War Diary [5]:

Several days (from 15th to 20th September) were spent in the G.H.Q. line south of the Ypres-Menin road, followed by three days in camp at “H.1.5.a,” [presumably 28NW.H.15.a, south of Vlamertinghe] and it was at the latter place that orders for the Second Attack on Bellewaarde reached the Battalion.

The information contained in orders was that the 14th Division would capture the Bellewaarde Farm position on 25th September. The 42nd Brigade was detailed for the operation, and the 6th Somerset L.I. was attached to the Brigade with orders to place 3 companies in reserve in G.H.Q. line and one company in A.1, H.22, R.2, 3, 6. A.1 and H.22 were front-line trenches; R.2, 3, 4, 6, were redoubts.

A Company of the Somersets, under Captain H. L. Skrine, was ordered to move up to the front line during the night of 23rd September, whilst Bn. Hqs. And B, C and D Companies were to arrive in the G.H.Q. line the following night. Both moves apparently took place, the Battalion Diary on 24th recording that at 7.15 p.m.:–

“Battalion (less A Company) marched off and at 8 p.m. entrained at siding for transport to Ypres, detraining at back of Asylum. Night quiet, clear, but moon obscured by clouds. Not much rifle fire and no shell fire. Roads wet from the rain that fell persistently earlier in the day. By 11 p.m. Battalion (less A Company) was secure in G.H.Q. line.”

At 3.50 a.m. on the 25th the guns opened an intense bombardment of the enemy’s line extending from Railway Wood to Sanctuary Wood, and at 4.19 a.m. a mine was exploded beneath a German post at 0.4. One minute later the guns lifted and the three front-line battalions of the 42nd Brigade – 5th Shropshire L.I., 5th Oxford and Bucks L.I. and 9th Rifle Brigade – assaulted the German first- and second-line trenches. The Battalion Diary 6th Somersets states that at “4.22 a.m. guns again lifted” and at “4.23 a.m. guns established barrage of fire.” Thereafter there is no entry until 7.15 a.m., when a message was received at Bn. H.Qs. in G.H.Q. line that one company of the 6th Somersets was to “stand by” ready to reinforce firing line. Five minutes later a runner was despatched to No. 4 Company (Capt. F. Bramwell) to get ready and the second-in-command, Major T. Ritchie, was ordered to take command of the forward companies. Almost directly this message had reached Capt. Bramwell a further message was received to “send up 3 companies.” The message read as follows:–

“Move 3 companies up at once Railway Wood aaa Situation is that troops after capturing German line have been forced back and (enemy) are attacking our original trenches and your Battalion will hold the original lines and the original line of ‘H Sector.’”

Major Ritchie with No. 4 Company at once went forward to reinforce the front line, followed by Colonel Rawling, commanding 6th Som. L.I., and his Adjutant who led the two remaining companies to Railway Wood via E. Lane. This advance was made under shell fire, but casualties were slight. It should be noted that it was now broad daylight.

On arrival at Railway Wood (9.45 a.m.) the situation was found to be critical, and the following message was sent back to 42nd Brigade Hqs.:–

“Oxfords and Shropshires retired to original British trenches aaa R.B. about 100 strong only aaa Have reinforced H.21, H.20 and H.19 aaa Oxfords asking for assistance. I will therefore hold H.18, H.17, H.16 aaa Shropshires too weak to counter-attack shall support them lightly aaa Our front-line trenches obliterated. I shall follow first order, hold the trenches and not attack.”

In a dug-out close by Colonel Rawling found the C.O.’s of the 9th K.R.R. and 9th R.B., together with various officers of both Battalions, discussing the situation. Both Battalions had apparently established themselves in the German line, but being to weak to hold it, were driven out again. They had suffered so heavily that a counter-attack was out of the question.

The next phase in the Battalion Diary is one pregnant with meaning: “The Battalion held on all day in trenches H.19-A.1, and at dusk the 9th K.R.R. and 9th R.B. were withdrawn.” The dearest thing of a soldier’s heart is “Pride of Regiment,” and it was because of the proud traditions of the Regiment that those Somerset men, with fierce tenacity and splendid courage, “held on all day” in the face of a terrible bombardment. Only those who fought in France and Flanders know what lay behind that grim phase. About 5 p.m. the enemy’s artillery fire gradually became less and by 7 p.m. had almost died down. The 6th Somersets at that hour held A.1, A.22 and the redoubts A.21, A.2, A.12 and H.20.

The night was quiet, and under cover of the friendly darkness the men set to work to repair the trenches and parapets, recover the dead and bring in the wounded. When the roll was called it was found that Capt. H. L. Skrine and 2/Lieuts. J. N. Purkiss and C. E. C. Talbot had been killed and Lieut. S. Birrell wounded. In other ranks the Battalion had lost 11 killed, 38 wounded and 3 missing.

The morning of the 26th was sunny, and quietude reigned were the day before the din of battle had been awesome and horrible. The whole day was devoted to reorganizing and strengthening the defences, upon which all ranks worked hard. At intervals the sharp crack of a sniper’s rifle rang out, but otherwise both forces were much too occupied with the repair of defences to think about the opposing side. Six killed and eight wounded were the casualties suffered by the Battalion on this day.

The 27th was uneventful except for one small incident (all too rare) which produced a certain amount of mutual respect between the Somerset men and the Germans.

It had not been possible to bring in all the wounded from No Man’s Land, and one poor fellow lay out in that dread space moaning in a most heart-rending fashion. About 5.30 p.m. the Germans, after attempting (in vain) to bring the poor fellow in, allowed two men of No. 3 Company to go out and carry him back to the Battalion’s trenches, this operation, records the Diary, “being concluded with mutual cheers from both sides.”

At 11 p.m. on 28th, in the midst of heavy rain, the 6th Somersets were relieved by the 7th R. Brigade and returned to Camp. But before the Battalion left the trenches the G.O.C., 14th Division and B.-G.C., 43rd Brigade, visited the lines. The former expressed himself very satisfied indeed at the work done by the Battalion when in the trenches, and further said that he was charged by the Corps Commander (General Pulteney) to express the latter’s thanks to the Battalion for their behaviour and gallant conduct. The G.O.C., 42nd Brigade (to which the Somersets were attached), also sent the following letter to the C.O.:–

“Dear Colonel Rawling, I have to thank you and your fine regiment for the great assistance you gave me on the 25th. It was not an easy thing to reinforce, in broad daylight, as you did, and the movement was exceedingly well and quickly carried out. You arrived at a critical time and your dispositions were exactly what was required. The company of your Regiment which formed the garrison of the trenches rendered valuable assistance and I much regret to hear of the losses they sustained.”

And Colonel Rawling, in his Battalion Diary, plays tribute to the stretcher-bearers – those brave fellows who at all times carried out their dangerous duties with a noble disregard of their own safety:–

“The outstanding part was the conduct of the stretcher-bearers, who worked magnificently, especially on the morning of the 25th.”

Ieper (West-Vlaanderen): The name of Captain Skrine on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the Missing; Lieutenant John Nollidge Purkis died on the same day as Captain Skrine, aged 32; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/32378170768

Reaction to Captain Skrine’s death at home:

The news did not take very long to reach Warleigh. A report of the death was published in the Bath Chronicle of the 2nd October 1915 [6]:

CAPTAIN H. L. SKRINE KILLED IN ACTION
SIX MONTHS OWNER OF WARLEIGH MANOR.
The sad news was received on Wednesday at Titan Barrow, Bathford, the residence of Baronne Georges d’Orgeval [Captain Skrine’s mother-in-law], that Captain H. L. Skrine had been killed in action. The deceased was the only son of the late Mr. H. M. Skrine and Lady Mary Skrine, and was married on October 17th last year, at Aldershot, to Mdlle. Ferdinande d’Orgeval. The marriage was of a quiet character, owing to the war, only the relatives and a few friends attending, in addition to the officers of Captain Skrine’s regiment, the 6th Somerset Light Infantry, then in training at Aldershot. Early in March this year Mr. H. M. Skrine died at Plymouth, and Captain Skrine succeeded him to the ancestral estates at Warleigh Manor and elsewhere. In April or May Captain Skrine reached the Front with his regiment.
His wife and his mother, Lady Mary Skrine, are staying at Weston-super-Mare, where the sad news was conveyed to them, and on Thursday the Baronne d’Orgevall [sic] left to join them. The deceased captain, who was about 34 years of age, had an experience of farming in South Africa a few years ago. General regret will be felt that his career has been so early terminated, and only about six months after the death of his respected father, whose name is honoured in a wide district, and who was an exemplary landowner and neighbour.
THE PRICE OF DUTY NOBLY DONE.
Deep sympathy with Captain Henry Langton Skrine’s relatives is expressed on all sides. The most direct message we have seen in connection with the sad event was written in chalk on the tar-sprayed roadway at Bathford, where the deceased officer’s family is so well-known, this morning: it was as follows, “He did his duty, do your.” Had the unswerving British gentleman who died but a few short months ago, lived to hear his only son’s fate, we feel sure that his poignant sorrow would have been alleviated by the thought of duty nobly done. Captain Skrine had laid aside his sword for some years when he at once responded to the nation’s call. He was gazetted to the Somerset Light Infantry in 1901, was seconded for special duty in Nigeria some time afterwards, and retired with the rank of lieutenant in 1906. On the outbreak of war he was given a commission in the 6th Somersets, the first Service battalion of the county regiment to be raised, and showed such zeal at Aldershot, that he was soon given his company command. When the sorrowful duty of attending his father’s funeral brought him to Warleigh, Captain Skrine was on the eve of leaving England with his regiment for the Continent. The deceased was educated at Eton and at Oxford, where he graduated B.A. His death affords a sad coincidence with another family owning an estate on the other side of our city, Major-General Inigo-Jones [Inigo Richmund Jones] died early in 1914 and a few months later his only son, Lieut. Inigo-Jones, of the Scots Guards, was killed in France, early in 1915. [Lieutenant Henry Richard Inigo-Jones of the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards died on the 14th September 1914, aged 22]. Colonel H. M. Skrine passed away, and in September of the same year his only son has fallen in France.
The headship of the Skrine family, which has owned Warleigh for so many centuries, now devolved upon the deceased officer’s uncle, Mr. Duncan William Hume Skrine, of Horsley Court, near Stroud, who is the second son of the late Mr. H. D. Skrine, of Claverton Manor, and who has two sons.

The following week, the Chronicle printed a tribute from the commanding officer of the 6th Somersets, Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil Godfrey Rawling [7]:

THE LATE CAPTAIN H. L. SKRINE
WARM TRIBUTE BY HIS COLONEL
Lieut.-Colonel C. G. Rawling, Commandant of the 6th Somersets, has sent a letter to Mrs. H. L. Skrine which is a glowing tribute to the valour and bravery of her late husband. In it he says:–
6th Som. L.I., B.E.F.,
Sept. 26th.
My dear Mrs. Skrine, — I am grieved to have to write to tell you of the death of your husband yesterday. We were in Reserve during the attack . . . and were sent up immediately.
. . . I never saw him again,. He died instantaneously, shot through the head. With him died four men. He was a grand soldier, absolutely fearless; in fact I have never seen one who so little feared the enemy. He seemed to bear a charmed life, for he has risked it many times before. He died doing his duty to the utmost, and in the following manner, so I am informed. During the attack he saw Germans collecting in a communication trench. Immediately he ordered his men up and ordered rapid fire upon the enemy. A machine gun on a flank opened fire in return, and your husband fell. His company are deeply grieved, for he was not only a good leader, but a generous, sympathetic friend to all. I feel his loss deeply, as not only was I fond of him for his cheerful, kind-hearted self, but because I shall never get another to replace his invaluable services in the battalion. His subaltern, Mr. Hawker, was severely wounded at the same time, so the company is desolate. Every officer in the battalion loved your husband, and showed most evident signs of sorrow when they heard of his death, a thing rarely done when they are surrounded, as at present, by terrible fighting. But he died a splendid death, he felt no pain, and did his duty to the last. But for all that you have my sincere sympathy, and that of every officer and man in the battalion.
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) C. G. RAWLING

The same issue of the Bath Chronicle also included a (rather generic) tribute from the Vicar of Bathford, the Rev. Herbert Wheler Bush [8]:

REFERENCE BY THE VICAR OF BATHFORD.
At the conclusion of his sermon at Bathford Parish Church, on Sunday morning – it was the harvest thanksgiving service – the Vicar (the Rev. H. Wheler Bush) made the following reference to the sad event which has thrown another cloud of sorrow over that village, the death in action of Captain H. L. Skrine: “Amid our joy and thanksgiving let us remember those whose labour is done, who have passed beyond the veil, to where there is no labour, no more harvesting for the work of life has been completed. More especially our thoughts dwell on Henry Langton Skrine, who has finished his work in life by death on the field of battle – that glorious death which even the heathen of old spoke of. To sacrifice self for one’s country is the greatest achievement that man can do, for ‘greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ For those who remain behind the blow is heaviest; yet they must bow the head in obedience to the Divine will, and look onwards to the day of the eternal grand harvest, to the morning of the Resurrection. Let us thank God for the splendid courage of our soldiers and sailors, for the victories to our arms and those of our Allies. Let us not omit on any day to pray for them in their difficult work, on the sea, beneath the sea, in the air, in the trenches. And may we all realise, as the hand of God is put upon us, what we are called to do, what we are called to sacrifice, what we are called to give up, so that when the pains and sorrow of the war be passed there may arise a new and nobler period for us, individually and for the nation at large.

A memorial service was held later in October at St Swithun’s Church, Bathford [9]:

THE LATE CAPT. H. L. SKRINE
MEMORIAL SERVICE AT BATHFORD
ADDRESS BY THE ARCHDEACON
A memorial service for Captain Henry Langton Skrine was held on Tuesday at Bathford parish church. How the gallant officer laid down his life while leading his company of the 6th Somersets has been already relate, but there was a peculiar pathos attaching to the memorial service, for it was only a few short months ago that Captain Skrine himself was present in the same church as chief mourner at the funeral of his father, Colonel Henry Mills Skrine, of Warleigh Manor.
There was a numerous congregation and the members of the family present were Miss Skrine, Mrs. Charles Crane, Mrs. Mowll, Miss Rosamond Skrine, the Rev. Dr. J. H. Skrine, Mr. and Mrs. Harcourt Skrine, the Rev. V. G. Skrine, Mr. and Mrs. Percie Skrine, Mr. Walter Skrine, Mrs. Douglas Richmond, the Hon. G. Gore Langton, Miss Gore Langton, Mr. G. Turner, the Rev. Maurice Fitzgerald, Mr. Sholto Douglas, Mr. F. Skrine, Mr. and Mrs. Huntley Thring, and Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Thring.
Amongst others attending were Lady Hobouse, Lieutenant Sir Curtis Lampson, Bart., Mrs. Gilling, Captain C. T. Foxcroft, Miss Foxcroft, Mrs. Baxter, Mrs. Bateman Hope, Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Brymer, Mr. Edwin Lascelles, Mr. Frederic Harrison, Judge Gwynne James, Miss Tyler, Miss Chickle, the Rev. J. Roland Davis, of Broughton Gifford (formerly Rector of Claverton) and Mrs Roland Davis, Mr. S. J. Douglas, Dr. and Mrs. Spencer Cobbold, Miss Laxton, Mrs. Pagden, Mrs. Bush, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Harper and the Misses Harper, Major E. B. Rawlins (late 3rd Battalion Somerset L.I.), Miss Williams, Miss Coote, Mr. C Price Davis, the Rev. W. A. Duckworth (Orchardleigh), and the Hon Mrs. Duckworth, Mr. E. A. Whittuck and the Hon Mrs. Whittuck, Miss Cornwall and Miss Isabel Cornwall, the Rev. W. T. Selwyn (Monkton Farleigh), Mr. H. L. S. Macdonald, Mrs. Freestun, Mrs. May Freestun, Mrs. Riccard, Miss. Cowan, Mrs. Onslow Watts, Mr. Charles Morley (Shockerwick), Miss Morley, Lieutenant J. Morley, Royal Wilts Yeomanry, Mr. C. Tillard, Miss Baber, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Mr. R. P. Griffiths, Mrs. Pittman, Mrs. Blackmore, Miss Simpkins, Mrs. Anstey, Miss Gibbs, Mr. and Mrs. F. Lavington, Private Lavington, A.S.C., Miss Lavington, Mr. F. Hobbs, etc.
The servants at Warleigh were also present.
THE SERVICE.
“O God, our help in ages past.” was sung as a processional, and when the choir had entered the stalls the officiating clergy remained standing on the chancel steps. They were the Rev. H. Wheler Bush (Vicar of Bathford) and the Rev. A. H. Scott White (Rector of Claverton). The Vicar said the opening sentences of the Burial Service, and then the Psalm, “I will lift up mine eyes,” was chanted. The lesson, Wisdom iii., 1-6, was read by Mr. Bush, while special prayers were offered by the Rector of Claverton. They included the following supplication:– “Almighty God, we commend to Thy loving kindness the soul of Thy servant, Henry Langton Skrine, who has given his life to defend us. Accept, O Lord, the offering of his self-sacrifice, and grant to him with all Thy faithful servants a place of refreshment and peace, where the light of Thy countenance shines for ever, and where all tears are wiped away; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The prayers ended, choir and congregation broke into to Christian’s hymn of faith and praise, “For all the Saints.” Especially appropriate sounded the verse:
O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
Fight as the Saints who nobly fought of old,
And win, with them, the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia!
For it was reverently felt that in the case of the young soldier, whose death was the occasion of the service, the prayer had been answered.
The Archdeacon of Bath (the Ven. L. J. Fish) gave an address as follows:–
It seems but yesterday that we were gathered here to lay Colonel Skrine to his rest in your quiet English churchyard. And now this afternoon we are standing, in spirit and in thought, beside the grave of his only son, that lies in foreign soil within sound of the roar and tumult of war. A few days after that first occasion he whom we mourn to-day wrote to me as follows: “I want to thank you very much for all you said about my father last Sunday. I only hope I may prove a worthy successor to him. At any rate I mean to try my level best to carry out the duties of my new position as well as I can.” It adds peculiar poignancy to his early death that he never had time in which to make good proof of that resolve. But God has tried and proved him in more arduous fields than those that fringe the peaceful Avon, and he has stood the searching test. This is the testimony of the one man best fitted to judge, I mean the Colonel of his regiment. “This regiment,” he writes, “is deeply grieved at his death, for he was not only a good leader, but a generous, sympathetic friend to all. He was a grand soldier, absolutely fearless, in fact, I have never seen one who so little feared the enemy. He died doing his duty to the utmost, and doing his duty to the last.”
This, my hearers, is a noble record, which will surely be a cherished possession, not only of the distinguished family to which he belongs, but of the whole parishes of Bathford and Claverton. I will not presume to add any tribute of my own. Indeed, I do not consider that any of us, who are safe at home, are worthy to praise the men who are hazarding their lives in the high places of the field, or who, like Henry Langton Skrine have made, and willingly made, the great sacrifice. They are beyond and above all human praise. Their praise is with God. Now we are assembled here, I take it, as a parish and a congregation to do, collectively and publicly, what, I doubt not, we have already done singly and privately. First we are mustered here to salute, with regard and affection, our gallant friend, as he passes to his rest and his reward.
Secondly, we are here to thank God for the challenge and inspiration of an example of duty “done to the utmost and done to the last.”
Thirdly, we are here in this sanctuary of God to affirm before all men our faith in the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. Awful as is this present war, it would be unspeakably and inconceivably more awful if, through the tragedy of it all, there did not shine the clear hope of immortality and, by our presence here to-day, we attest our sure conviction that the seeming end of a young and useful life is not really the end, but rather the beginning of a stronger, richer life, wherein every quality of heart and soul will flower and fruit unto their utmost reach, and wherein every relationship and friendship on earth will one day be renewed, ripened and enjoyed to their fullest perfection. As we have already heard just now, “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In s the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; but they are in peace.
And fourthly, and finally, we are gathered in this house of prayer to offer unto the Divine Majesty our united supplications both for him and for those now left in most sore tribulation, for him, that, in the Paradise of God, perpetual light may shine upon him; for them, that the God of all comfort will give them His strength to bear their desolating sorrow with such courage and fortitude as befits a soldier’s mother and a soldier’s wife. May God grant it, for Christ’s sake, Amen.
Directly the Archdeacon’s words had ceased the hymn, “There is a land of pure delight,” was sung, and at its conclusion the Archdeacon gave the Benediction.
Then the congregation, standing, heard “The Last Post” sounded on bugles outside the church, ringing through the peaceful Avon Valley. It was sounded by buglers of King Edward’s School O.T.C. “O Rest in the Lord” was feelingly played on the organ by Mr. C. R. Salter, and the congregation dispersed.

Also on the 23rd October 1915, the Bath Chronicle printed some comments from Sergeant A. E. Crew of “C” Company in the 6th Somersets, who had been briefly home on leave. Before the war, Crew had been a rugby player, captain of the Bristol XV in 1913-14, as well as a teacher at Clifton Industrial School. He provided news of several Bathonians serving with the 6th Somersets, and had this to say about Captain Skrine [10]:

Sergt. Crew also spoke of the sorrow caused by the death of Captain H. L. Skrine, who commanded “A” Company, and said he was regarded as the most fearless officer of the regiment.

Taunton (Somerset): Memorial for Brigadier General Cecil Godfrey Rawling in the Church of St Mary Magdalene; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/16041134896

Colonel Rawling, Captain Skrine’s Commanding Officer, was later promoted to command 62nd Infantry Brigade in the 21st Division, leading them throughout the Somme campaign of 1916 and in the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 [11]. Brigadier-General Cecil Godrey Rawling was killed by German shellfire near his brigade HQ at Hooge on the 28th October 1917 and is buried in the Huts Cemetery at Dickebusch (Dikkebus), near Ieper. He also has a memorial tablet in the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Taunton.

Memorial Cross near Gully Farm:

Lieutenant-Colonel Rawling’s letter of condolence to Captain Skrine’s widow recorded that he was buried by his company in the rear of the fighting line. Despite this, the burial location was evidently later lost, as Captain Skrine is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing. Curiously, his battlefield cross was recovered, and is now in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton.

Taunton (Somerset): Captain Skrine’s battlefield cross in the Museum of Somerset; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/23846694268

In July 2016, Tim Godden wrote a blog post on Captain Skrine for Returned from the Front, a project researching the repatriation of  grave markers from the battlefields of the First World War [12]. The post was accompanied by one of Tim’s wonderful illustrations [13].

After the end of the war, some of Captain Skrine’s family erected a private memorial in the vicinity of his burial place near Cambridge Road. The Bath Chronicle of 29th October 1921 published a photograph of the cross and a short description [14]:

On the battlefield near Ypres, by the wayside, where the “Cambridge Road” touches “Gully Farm,” which was part of the front line of the British Army in September, 1915, a rough-hewn granite cross has recently been erected by Mrs. Skrine and Miss Skrine on a small strip of land which they have purchased. A photograph is reproduced elsewhere in this issue showing the cross as it now stand marking, as near as possible, the place where Capt. Henry Langton Skrine and many gallant men of the 6th Somerset Light Infantry gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War.

The text of the inscription was published alongside the photograph [15]:

On the battlefield near Ypres, by the wayside where the “Cambridge Road” touches “Gully Farm,” which was part of the front line of the British Army in September, 1915, a rough-hewn granite cross has recently been erected by the family at Warleigh Manor, to mark as near as possible the place where Captain Henry Langton Skrine, and many gallant men of the 6th Somerset Light Infantry, gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War. The photograph reproduced below, shows the cross as it now stands, on a small piece of land purchased by the family at Warleigh.

The words of inscription on the Cross are:–
To the Glory of God,
And in loving memory of
HENRY LANGTON SKRINE,
Captain 6th Somerset L.I.,
Who fell in action and was buried close to this spot,
26th September, 1915.
In memory also of the men of his Company who lie here with him.
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”

Ieper (West Vlaanderen): Memorial for Captain Henry Langton Skrine, Cambridge Street; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/46329877261

There is also a memorial plaque for Captain Skrine on one of the chairs in St George’s Memorial Church in Ypres, which was donated by his sister Margaret Mowll.

Memorials in the UK:

Captain Skrine’s name appears on a great many war memorials in the UK, especially in Limpley Stoke Valley, near Bath  On the Warleigh side of the River Avon, for example, Captain Skrine is commemorated on the Bathford war memorial and the book of remembrance inside the Church of St. Swithun. The Skrine Chapel in St. Swithun’s also contains two stained-glass  windows in his memory, the larger of which also commemorates his father (further details of these are provided in an appendix to this post). In Bathford churchyard, Captain Skrine is also commemorated on one panel of the Skrine family tomb.

Bathford (Somerset): The Skrine family tomb in the churchyard of St Swithun’s Church; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50490287831

The inscription is in Latin, and commences:

Henrico Langton Skrine
militi generoso
qui pro patria vitae prodigus
in Belgico agro
iuxta Hooge
die Septembri XXV
A. S. MDCCCCXV

On the other side of the Avon, Captain Skrine is commemorated by a memorial tablet in the Church of St Mary, Claverton, a memorial that was erected by his sisters. He is also named on the Claverton village war memorial elsewhere in the church.

Claverton (Somerset): Memorial tablet for Henry Langton Skrine in St Mary’s Church; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50491587056

Outside Somerset, Captain Skrine’s name also appears on the Eton College memorial, the Balliol College memorial at Oxford, and the Wellington Club memorial in London’s Belgravia. It also features on the war memorial at Cookham in Berkshire, where the Skrine family owned land.

Henry Langton Skrine:

Henry Langton Skrine was born at Marylebone (London) on the 12th November 1880, the son of Henry Mills Skrine and Mary Jane Skrine (née Gore-Langton), afterwards Lady Mary Skrine [16]. At the time of the 1881 Census, he was four-months old and living at South Stoke with his parents, the youngest of four children. I was unable to find him in at all in the 1891 Census. As his Balliol obituary noted, he was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford.

The 1901 Census recorded Henry living at Warleigh Manor, the family home, when he was twenty-years-old and described as an undergraduate of Balliol College. The London Gazette of the 3rd December lists Henry Langton Skrine as one of several University Candidates who had been commissioned Second Lieutenant, in Henry’s case in The Prince Albert’s (Somerset Light Infantry), vice R. H. Williams, deceased [17]. Henry then served for a while in Nigeria, but resigned his active commission due to ill-health. He then became a farmer in South Africa, and then in the UK. On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Henry Langton Skrine re-joined his old regiment and was gazetted (temporary) Captain in the 6th Battalion in October [18].

Henry Langton Skrine married Ferdinande Anna Josephine Georgina Marie d’Orgeval, the only daughter of Georges Robert Le Barrois Baron d’Orgeval and his wife Anna (née Woodward), at Farnborough on the 17th October 1914. Ferdinande had been born in Chelsea on the 2nd September 1889, and was baptised Ferdinanda Josephine le Barrois d’Orgeval at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Chelsea on the 13th September. The baptism register entry is annotated (in Latin) with a note recording her later marriage to Henry Langton Skrine in 1914. According to the Bath Chronicle obituary of her father-in-law, Ferdinande was the grand-niece of a Miss Barlow, of Titan Barrow, Bathford [19]. Her father had died at Bath (registration district) in the second quarter of 1913, aged 73.

A full report of the wedding was published in the Bath Chronicle of the 24th October 1914 [20]:

MARRIAGE OF MR. H. L. SKRINE.
MILITARY WEDDING AT ALDERSHOT
AN ARCH OF CROSSED BAYONETS.
The marriage of Mr. Henry Langton Skrine, only son of Mr. and Lady Mary Skrine, of Warleigh, Somerset, and Mdlle. Ferdinande d’Orgeval, only child of the late Baron Georges d’Orgeval, and Baronne Georges d’Orgeval, Villa Vert, Nice, took place on Saturday afternoon, the 17th inst., at the Church of Our Lady, Farnborough, Hants. Owing to the war only relatives and intimate friends were invited, besides the officers of Lieut. Skrine’s regiment (the 6th Somersets), and the men of his company, now in training at Aldershot.
The bride, who was given away by her mother, looked most attractive in a gown of rich ivory charmeuse draped with Point de Flandres, and carried a bouquet composed of lilies, myrtle and white heather. Her ornaments consisted of diamond ornament for the hair from the bridegroom, diamond pendant from her mother, diamond and pearl necklace from Lady Mary Skrine, and diamond and pearl bracelet from Mr. Skrine. The bridegroom was supported by Lieut. Philip Bradney as best man. The bride was attended by Miss Rosamond Skrine, sister of the bridegroom, wearing a picturesque gown of mauve crepe ninon over ivory charmeuse, finished with a deep belt of soft blue satin and violets. She also carried a bouquet of lilies and violets, and wore pearl and diamond earrings, the gift of the bride and bridegroom. Miss Ann Gore-Langton, cousin of the bridegroom, carried the bride’s train, and was dressed simply in white muslin, and wore a small frilled mob cap with blue ribbons, similar to that of the bridesmaid, also a gold and pearl brooch, the gift of the bridegroom. After the ceremony the bride and bridegroom left the church under an avenue of crossed bayonets held by the men of Lieut. Skrine’s company. Later in the afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Henry Langton Skrine left for London.

A reception was hosted by Baronne d’Orgeval at the Queen’s Hotel, Farnborough, and the Bath Chronicle prints a list of those that attended, appended to which is a very long list of wedding gifts. One wonders whether Captain Skrine ever used at Ypres the field glasses given him by the Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos.

Mr. Skrine’s employees at Warleigh and Claverton were entertained at Warleigh Manor on Saturday, 17th inst., when the health of the bride and bridegroom was drunk amid much cheering, the Bathford Church bells also being rung during the afternoon.
The bride’s travelling costume was of sapphire blue velour cloth, and she also wore handsome white fox furs, and her black velvet picture hat was trimmed with ostrich feathers matching her costume.
The wedding cake was supplied by Messrs. Fortt. The bride and bridesmaid’s gowns were by Eyres, Milsom Street.
The millinery was designed and supplied by Mrs. Cranfield Abbot, 35, Gay Street, Bath.

Bath (Somerset): The grave marker of Ferdinande de Lagarenne in Bath Roman Catholic Cemetery, Perrymead; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/51090848154

Henry Langton Skrine’s widow, Ferdinande J. A. G. M. Skrine, married Georges De Lagarenne at the French Church (Notre Dame de France), at Leicester Place in Soho, on the 10th September 1925 (this second marriage is also recorded in Latin on Ferdinande’s baptismal register entry, the location being described as “in ecclesia N.D. de France, Leicester Place”). After being widowed for a second time, Ferdinande de Lagarenne of Rock House, Bathford died at Forbes Fraser Hospital, Bath on the 15th May 1953, aged 63. She is buried at St John the Evangelist’s Cemetery, Perrymead [21].

Warleigh Manor, from the Kennet and Avon Canal; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50491741897

The Skrine family:

The Skrines had a long association with both Warleigh and Claverton. These were detailed in a lengthy obituary of Henry Langton Skrine’s father, Henry Mills Skrine, that was published in the Bath Chronicle of the 13th March 1915 [22]:

AN OLD BATH FAMILY.
Mr. Skrine was the head of a family that has been held in the highest respect in Bath for over two centuries. The beautiful estate of Warleigh has been in possession of the Skrines ever since the Dissolution and it has come down from father to son in direct succession. The earliest mention of a Skrine is of Thomas Skrine, who had a portion of the Warleigh estate as a copyholder under the monks of Bath when Henry VIII confiscated the monasteries. Henry Skrine, grandson of this Thomas Skrine, purchased the Manor of Warleigh in 1634. His son John, who married in 1657 Miss Mary Mountjoy, of Biddestone, handed on Warleigh to his son John, who married Miss Elizabeth Dickson, of London. Their son, Richard, of Warleigh, married Elizbeth, only daughter of the Rev. W. Weston of Cobham, Surrey. Richard, their son, inherited Warleigh and married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. John Tryon, of Collyweston, Northamptonshire. To their son Henry, Warleigh descended. He married, in 1787, Marianne, daughter of Mr. John Chalie, of London and Wimbledon, and their son Henry, who married in 1812 Caroline, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Spry, of St. Mary, Redcliffe, Bristol, and Prebendary of Sarum, was the grandfather of the man just deceased. The late Mr. Henry Duncan Skrine, was the owner of Warleigh and Claverton for many years and on his death his oldest son, Mr. H. M. Skrine, inherited both these beautiful estates, which practically comprise the richly wooded slopes on both sides of the lovely valley through which the Avon flows, Claverton has not been in possession of the Skrine family for such a lengthy period. In 1714 it was sold by Mr. Richard Holder to Mr. William Skrine, whose son, in 1758, disposed of it to the famous Ralph Allen, of Prior Park. But the Skrines repurchased it and here Mr. H. D. Skrine lived, died and was buried. But for many years while his father resided at Claverton Manor, Mr. H. M. Skrine occupied Warleigh and he continued to live there after Claverton came to him in 1901 on his father’s decease.

Henry Duncan Skrine, as this account states, was responsible for the rebuilding of Bathford Church, although he himself mostly lived at Claverton. An obituary was published in the Western Daily Press of the 26th Septmember 1911 [p10]:

DEATH OF MR. H. D. SKRINE.
Mr Henry Duncan Skrine expired yesterday at his residence, Claverton Manor, near Bath. The deceased gentleman had reached the venerable age of 88. He was taken seriously ill while sojourning at Seaton, and was brought home last week, but did not rise from his bed after his arrival at Claverton. Mr. Skrine was a most public-spirited country squire, and always assumed the greatest interest in the affairs of his county and country. In the quarter sessions days he took an active part in administrative work, and was elected a County Councillor when that office was created, retaining the position until his death. He was D.L. [Deputy Lieutenant] of Somerset, and had served the office of High Sherriff. His estates at Claverton and Warleigh cover the beautiful valley of the Avon between Bathford and Limpley Stoke. In all the principal charitable and educational institutions of Bath he took a deep interest. He was an ardent Churchman and Conservative, and a warm advocate and generous supporter of voluntary school systems. He was also a gentleman of great culture and rare learning, being the leading spirit of the Bath Literary Club. He leaves eight sons and three daughters. His wife died in 1890

Henry Mills Skrine, from The Bath Chronicle, 13 March 1915, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

Henry Mills Skrine was born at Marylebone on the 20 May 1844 and was baptised there on the 21st June. He was the eldest son of Henry Duncan Skrine and Susanna Caroline Skrine (née Mills). Susanna was the daughter of William Mills of Saxham Hall, Suffolk. The Bath Chronicle obituary notes that he (like his son after him) was educated at Eton and Oxford (Balliol College, matric. 1863, BA 1867, MA 1842). It adds that in 1870 “Mr. Skrine was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, but he did not pursue the vocation of a barrister.” The 1871 Census recorded Henry M. Skrine lodging at Thames Street, Sunbury, near Staines (Middlesex), which was the household of Edwin and Louisa Pugh. He was twenty-six years old and described as a Barrister at Law.

Henry Mills Skrine married Mary Jane Gore-Langton at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Newton St Loe on the 1st October 1872. Mary had been born at London in 1848 and was the eldest daughter of Mr. William Henry Powell Gore-Langton, M.P., of Newton Park, and Lady Anna Eliza Mary Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, the daughter of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (Mary Skrine became Lady Mary after the death of her uncle). The Bath Chronicle obituary notes that after their marriage, they settled at Warleigh, “and at once took a great interest in the management of the estate.”

They would have five children, four daughters and one son [24]:

• Anna Dorothea Mary Skrine (1874-1956)
• Mary Alice Caroline Skrine (1875-1946), married Charles Paston Crane, 1908
• Margaret Cicely Skrine (1877-1958), married the Rev. Edward Worsfold Mowll, 1915
• Henry Langton Skrine (1880-1915)
• Frances Ethel Rosamond Skrine (1886-1972)

Henry also was very-heavily involved with the local Volunteers. His earliest entries in the London Gazette [25] suggests that his interest developed while he was young, it recording his appointments as Ensign in the Avon Vale and Warleigh Manor or 14th Somerset Company of Volunteer Rifle Corps (5 March 1860), Cornet in the North Somerset Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry (31 August 1863), Lieutenant in the Oxford University Rifle Volunteer Corps (7 November 1865), and then Lieutenant in the North Somerset Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry (21 April 1866). The Army List of August 1878 recorded that he was a Major with 1A Battalion (Bath) in Somersetshire. Again, the Bath Chronicle obituary is able to fill in some of the gaps, at some length:

AN ENTHUSIASTIC VOLUNTEER OFFICER.
He became most prominently before the Bath public as a zealous and popular officer of the local Volunteer regiment. At Eton Mr. Skrine was in the school cadets and when he proceeded to the University he joined the Volunteer corps there. On leaving Oxford he was for a short time in the North Somerset Yeomanry, but it was with the 1st Volunteer Battalion Somerset Light Infantry that his military experience was gained. He became Captain of the Warleigh company, which was one of the strongest and most efficient in the regiment, was promoted to field rank and in 1883 succeeded the late Colonel John Randle Ford as Lieut.-Colonel of the Battalion. He was an exceedingly keen and efficient commandant and did many things to advance the strength and proficiency of the corps. During his colonelcy the spacious galvanised iron drill hill for the regiment (recently taken down) was erected for indoor drill, and Colonel Skrine took the liveliest interest in a most successful bazaar held at the Assembly Rooms to obtain funds for the building and to improve the equipment and resources of the 1st Somerset Volunteers. He manifested the greatest concern in the marksmanship of the battalion which included a number of extremely fine shots at that period. At Warleigh he had caused a rifle range to be laid out, on the level land near the Avon, and this he maintained for many years for the benefit of his company. There as great regret when his five years of command expired in 1888 and Colonel Skrine retired. But he had become Honorary Colonel of the regiment in 1885 and Colonel Skrine continued to manifest great interest in its welfare. In 1893 the command of the 1st Somersets fell vacant and by general desire and the especial approval and leave of the War Office, Colonel Skrine again became the Commandant. Though in the interim he had naturally lost touch somewhat with the ever-changing details of drill, he threw himself into his duties with his accustomed ardour, and the regiment did well during his second period of command, which terminated in 1897. He continued to be Honorary Colonel of the regiment till 1908, when the Territorial regime was initiated and it seemed unfair to many that Colonel Skrine’s undoubted claims to be appointed Honorary Colonel of the new 4th Battalion of the Somerset L.I. should have been overlooked. Notwithstanding this, he followed the fortunes of the corps with close concern until the last. When the present war broke out no one was more active and energetic than Colonel Skrine in seeking to obtain men for the new army and he addressed several recruiting meetings in the neighbourhood and offered his own personal services in any capacity.

Henry Mills Skrine was also a county councillor and a magistrate, serving as Chairman of the Weston Bench, and for a time Deputy-Lieutenant of Somerset. He also served as churchwarden at Bathford church, and there built a south transept in memory of his father. The Bath Chronicle noted that, on church matters, Skrine “had strong views on many points, and took an active part in protesting against the proposed revision of the Prayer Book.”

The 1881 Census recorded the Skrines living at South Stoke, near Bath. Henry Mills Skrine was thirty-six-years-old and described as a Justice of the Peace for Somerset; Mary Jane Skrine was thirty-two. Four children were resident: Anna Jane A. (aged 7), Mary A. C. (6), Margaret C. (4), and Henry Langton (4 months). Also living with the family were five servants, a parlour maid (Elizabeth Sanford), cook (Sarah Large), housemaid (Sarah Perry), and two nursemaids (Elizabeth Bridges and Eliza Hancock).

By the time of the 1891 Census, Henry Mills Skrine was living at Warleigh Manor. He was forty six years old and described as a JP for Somerset. His wife and son were elsewhere (and I was not able to find them anywhere in the census). The children listed were Henry and Mary’s four daughters: Anna Dorothea (aged 17), Mary Alice C. (16), Margaret Alice (13), and Frances Ethel R. (4). There was also a governess and three domestic servants.

At the time of the 1901 Census, Henry and Mary Skrine were still living at Warleigh Manor. Henry M. was fifty-six years old and described as a JP and Barrister at Law, while Mary was fifty-two. Living with them were three of their children: Margaret (aged 24), Henry (20, an undergraduate at Balliol College), and Frances (14). Also living at the manor were a German-born governess and seven servants.

At the time of the 1911 Census, Henry Mills and Mary Jane Skrine were still living at Warleigh Manor. Henry was sixty-six years old and (again) described as a JP and Barrister at Law, while Mary Jane Skrine was sixty-two. Also living at the Manor were two of their adult daughters, Anna Dorothea (aged 37) and Frances Ethel Rosamond (24), as well as seven servants, including a butler (Charles Sanders). The 1911 Census recorded the numbers of children born and surviving, and the return for Warleigh Manor confirmed that Henry and Mary Jane had had five children, all of whom were at that point still living.

Henry Mills Skrine died at Plymouth on the 7th March 1915, aged 70. His Bath Chronicle obituary described the circumstances:

Deep and widespread regret was felt in Bath and the district this week when it became known that Mr. Henry Mills Skrine, of Warleigh Manor, had died on Sunday, at Plymouth. No one was aware that he was not in his usual health and news of the sudden end came in the nature of a shock. The deceased gentleman was older than was generally supposed; his active lithe figure did not indicate that he had completed the allotted span of life, but it was so, for on May 20th next he would have completed his 71st year. At Christmas he seemed to be somewhat run down, but did not take rest. However, last month he was induced by his medical adviser, Mr. J. M. Harper, to abstain from the public work with which he was so actively concerned and go to Plymouth for a change. He left Warleigh about a fortnight ago, but the visit to Plymouth could not have benefited him. Soon after their arrival Lady Mary Skrine was taken ill with bronchitis and only left her bed on Friday. On Sunday afternoon Mr. Skrine expired from heart failure at 3.30 and the first intimation reached Warleigh on Monday morning in a letter from Lady Mary. Their daughters had left home to pay a visit at the same time that their parents went to Plymouth and no member of the family was at the Manor when the unexpected intimation arrived. Mr. C. B. Thring, Mr. Skrine’s cousin and legal advisor, also received early news of the sad event, as did Mr. J. M. Harper, who left for Plymouth this morning to see if Lady Mary were strong enough to travel to Bath.

Mary’s own obituary notes that she bore the bereavements of 1915 “with the utmost fortitude, and did not cease to take an active concern in the various good works in which she was associated” [26]. Undoubtedly, however, the deaths of Henry Mills Skrine and heir in a single year undoubtedly changed the long-term fortunes of the family, as well as that of both Warleigh and Claverton. Lady Mary evidently had money enough to continue living at Warleigh and to erect memorials to their memory, in both the Bath district and in Flanders, but the long-standing Skrine connection with the Limpley Stoke valley was beginning to look more tenuous. Lady Mary Skrine died on the 9th May 1923, and was buried in the family vault at Bathford [27].

The old Claverton Manor; “Claverton House near Bath ye Seat of Skrine Esr 1738 purchased by Ralph Allen Esqr.” (1811); Source: Topographical Collection of George III; British Library shelfmark: Maps K.Top.38.13.2; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50264903776

Two of Henry Langton Skrine’s sisters were to marry. Mary Alice Skrine married Captain Charles Paston Crane in July 1908. Margaret Cicely Skrine married the Rev. Edward Worsfold Mowll, Vicar-designate of Denwell, Newcastle-on-Tyne, in a quiet ceremony at Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London SW on the 4th August 1915. The Chronicle account lamented the “absence of the bride’s only brother, Captain Henry Langton Skrine, now at the Front with his regiment, the 6th Somerset, was much regretted.” [28]

It was Henry Langton Skrine’s eldest sister, Anna Dorothea Skrine, who was the last of the family to live at Warleigh Manor. After she died in 1956, the house was sold and it became the base for various educational establishments [29], Rodbourne College (1958-1963), Bathford College (1963-1970), and Warleigh Manor School (1970-1997), which was a residential special educational establishment [30]. More recently, the Warleigh Manor has been converted back into residential use.

The Skrine family also continued to own the Claverton estate, although the manor itself was usually let out to others. During the Second World War, the manor became headquarters of Royal Air Force No. 32 (Balloon Barrage) Group. After the death of Anna Dorothea Skrine, the estate was broken up and Claverton Manor sold. It was purchased by John Judkin and Dr. Dallas Pratt, who in 1961 opened the Museum of American Arts and Crafts there [31], now the American Museum & Gardens [32].

References:

[1] Henry Langton Skrine, In: Balliol College War Memorial Book, 1914-1919 (1924); via Flickr (Balliol College Archives): https://www.flickr.com/photos/balliolarchivist/5164139497/

[2] Nigel Cave, Ypres: Sanctuary Wood & Hooge, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 1993), p. 78.

[3] The Long, Long Trail, Prince Albert’s (Somerset Light Infantry): https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/prince-alberts-somerset-light-infantry/

[4] WO 95/1909/1, 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[5] Everard Wyrall, The history of the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s), 1914-1919 (London: Methuen, 1927; Naval & Military Press reprint), pp. 81-84.

[6] Bath Chronicle, 2 October 1915, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] Bath Chronicle, 9 October 1915, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Bath Chronicle, 23 October 1915, p. 6; via British Newspaper Archive.

[10] Bath Chronicle, 23 October 1915, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[11] Wikipedia, Cecil Rawling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rawling

[12] Returned from the Front project: http://thereturned.co.uk/

[13] Tim Fox-Godden, Captain Henry Skrine, Returned from the Front blog, 27 July 2016: http://thereturned.co.uk/blog/captain-henry-skrine/

[14] Bath Chronicle, 29 October 1921, p. 13; via British Newspaper Archive.

[15] Bath Chronicle, 29 October 1921, p. 16; via British Newspaper Archive.

[16] This section is largely based on the genealogical information made available  by Findmypast (https://www.findmypast.co.uk), supplemented by other sources.

[17] London Gazette, 3 December 1901, no. 27382, p. 8566: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27382/page/8566

[18] London Gazette, 22 December 1914, no. 29017, p. 11025: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29017/supplement/11025

[29] Bath Chronicle, 13 March 1915, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive

[20] Bath Chronicle, 24 October 1914, p. 2; via British Newspaper Archive.

[21] Bath Record Office, St John the Evangelist Cemetery, Perrymead: Ferdinande J. M. G. de Lagarenne: https://www.batharchives.co.uk/cemeteries/st-john-evangelist-perrymead/ferdinande-j-m-g-de-lagarenne

[22] Bath Chronicle, 13 March 1915, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[23] Western Daily Press, 26 September 1911, p. 10; via British Newspaper Archive.

[24] The Peerage: https://thepeerage.com/p7721.htm

[25] London Gazette, 9 March 1860, p. 997; 4 September 1863, p. 4326; 7 November 1865, p. 5250; 27 April 1866, p. 2640: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/

[26] Bath Chronicle, 12 May 1923, p. 7; via British Newspaper Archive.

[27] Bath Chronicle, 19 May 1923, p. 8; via British Newspaper Archive.

[28] Bath Chronicle, 7 August 1915, p. 2; via British Newspaper Archive.

[29] Margaret Wilson, The Limpley Stoke Valley (Bradford on Avon: Ex Libris Press, 1994, p. 111.

[30] The Bathford Society, History – Schools in the Parish of Bathford: http://www.bathfordsociety.org.uk/content/organisations/schools_in_bathford_main.htm

[31] Wilson, p. 121.

[32] American Museum & Gardens,  The History of Claverton Manor: https://americanmuseum.org/about-the-museum/history/the-history-of-claverton-manor/

Further reading:

Bathford Society, Henry Langton Skrine – An account of a visit in 2004 to his death site in Ypres: http://www.bathfordsociety.org.uk/content/people/henry_langton_skrine_talk.htm

The Masonic Great War Project, Captain Henry Langton Skrine: https://www.masonicgreatwarproject.org.uk/legend.php?id=2823

Appendix: The Memorial Windows in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford

There are two stained glass windows in St Swithun’s Church that commemorate Captain Henry Langton Skrine. Both are on the north side of the church and are part of the Skrine family chapel. The windows were dedicated in April 1917.

The plans for the windows were outlined in the Shepton Mallet Journal, 15 September 1916, p. 3 (via British Newspaper Archive):

BATHFORD.
A special vestry meeting was held on Friday evening at Bathford, the vicar, the Rev. H. W. Bush, in the chair. The business was to consider the placing of proposed memorials to the late Col. H. M. Skrine, of Warleigh Manor, and to his son, Capt. Henry Langton Skrine, in the parish church. Lady Mary Skrine wrote expressing her desire to erect an “in memoriam” window to her husband and son, while Mrs. H. L. Skrine wishes to put up a similar memorial to Capt. Skrine. The windows are to placed in the Skrine Chapel, and it is proposed to move the stained glass in one of the windows there to another window. Faculties for the work are to be applied for.

The dedication of the windows was reported by the Somerset Standard, 20 April 1917, p. 4 (via British Newspaper Archive):

BATHFORD.
Two handsome stained-glass windows have been unveiled in the north transept of Bathford Church by Preb. Hoets, Rural Dean of Keynsham. The chief window – which bears figures of Christ, St. George and Cornelius – is a memorial by Lady Mary Skrine to her late husband and only son – Mr. H. M. Skrine, Warleigh Manor, and Capt. Henry Langton Skrine, 6th Somerset Light Infantry, killed in France, in September 1915. The smaller window, bearing effigies of St. George of England and St. Louis of France, has been erected by Mrs. H. L. Skrine to Capt. Skrine’s memory.

The larger of the two windows commemorates both Captain Skrine and his father, and was given by Lady Mary Skrine. The window features Christ flanked by St George and Cornelius, who were presumably chosen for their martial qualities. Cornelius was a Roman centurion who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was an early convert to the Christian faith. In the window, he is depicted wearing Roman armour with an eagle standard tagged SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus).

Detail of the central light of the memorial window for Henry Mills Skrine and Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50538990047

St George. From the memorial window for Henry Mills Skrine and Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50490321521

St Cornelius. From the memorial window for Henry Mills Skrine and Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50490469962

Detail of the central light of the memorial window for Henry Mills Skrine and Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50538844246

The Skrine coat-of-arms. From the memorial window for Henry Mills Skrine and Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50490313531

The smaller window was given by Henry Langton Skrine’s widow, Ferdinande. The saints featured are St Louis (King Louis IX of France) and St George, presumably representing the union of France and England through the d’Orgeval and Skrine families.

Memorial window for Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50489597853

St Louis. From the memorial window for Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50489608438

St George. From the memorial window for Henry Langton Skrine in St Swithun’s Church, Bathford (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/50489571413

Update September 25th, 2012:

Added a sentence to the introduction to aid clarity; corrected the spelling of the name of the Rev. H. Wheler Bush; added links to images on Flickr.

Flight Sub-Lieutenant Noel Stafford Wright, RNAS. Source: The Sphere, 24 November 1917.

The war memorial at Wool (Dorset) commemorates eleven men from the parish that died during the First World War. Nine of these served in various regiments of the British Army, two in the Royal Navy. The first naval casualty was Able Seaman Reginald Gordon Hansford, who was serving on HMS Black Prince when it was sunk at the Battle of Jutland on the 31st May 1916 with the loss of all on board. The second, and the only officer casualty from the First World War named on the memorial, was Flight Sub-Lieutenant Noel Stafford Wright of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).

Wool War Memorial (Dorset)

Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wright of No 1 Naval Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was killed on the 18th September 1917, when his Sopwith Triplane collided with a Spad S.VII being flown by Captain John Manley of No. 19 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps (RFC), who also died. Both are buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

This post will explore the lives and service of both Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wright and Captain Manley. Wright was just eighteen years old when he died, while Manley was twenty. Wright had only relatively recently arrived at the front, while Manley was more of a combat veteran, having been severely injured during a raid on Cambrai in July 1916. While serving in different squadrons, both were based at Bailleul at the time of their deaths. The amount of information available varies, but it was helpful that both officers had lengthy obituaries published in local newspapers, and some information about the work of their squadrons is available from official records and historical works.

Lower Heyford: War Memorial in the Church of St Mary (Oxfordshire)

Both Wright and Manley are buried in Plot III of Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France (III. C. 252.; III. E. 185.).

In Dorset, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wright’s name can be found on the war memorials at Wool and at the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester.

Captain Manley’s name appears on several war memorials in the UK, including the memorials at Lower Heyford (Oxfordshire), Taunton School (Somerset), the R. Shop memorial at the Great Western Railway’s Swindon Works (now in the STEAM Museum), and in the framed and printed memorials for GWR workers that can be found at a number of railway stations all across the GWR’s old railway network.

Flight Sub-Lieutenant Noel Stafford Wright, RNAS:

Grave marker of Flight Sub-Lieutenant N. S. Wright, RNAS, Bailleul Community Cemetery Extension, Nord (France)

The death of Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wright of the Royal Naval Air Service was reported in the Western Gazette of the 28th September 1917 [1]:

WOOL
FLIGHT-SUB-LIEUTENANT NOEL WRIGHT KILLED IN ACTION. – The inhabitants of Wool and of the whole neighbourhood have heard with the deepest regret that Dr. and Mrs. W. Southey Wright of The Firs, have received the sad tidings that their second son, Noel Stafford Wright, flight-sub-lieutenant, of the Royal Naval Air Service, was killed in action at the Front on September 18th. A fine, handsome fellow, although still extremely young, and of a most engaging disposition, he won the affection of all who knew him, and his death will be deplored by many friends besides his immediate family and relatives. He had passed his qualifying examinations, and by his skill and boldness as an airman, showed much promise in his profession. Dr. and Mrs. Southey Wright have two other sons. The eldest, Fred, in the Dorsets, has since early in the war been on foreign service, and gained speedy promotion, and the youngest, Barr, is at Clarence School, Weston-super-Mare, in which town his mother is at present staying. The warmest sympathy is felt with Dr. and Mrs. Wright, who are so well know [sic] and so much respected in and around Purbeck, in the grievous bereavement which has fallen them.

The RNAS Registers of Officers’ Services (ADM 273/12/91) provides some basic information about Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wright’s service career [2]. Noel Stafford Wright joined the Royal Naval Air Service on the 21st January 1917, less than a month after his eighteenth birthday. He was at first appointed a temporary Probationary Flight Officer, which was the RNAS equivalent of a midshipman. Like many other RNAS pilots in training, he at first went to Crystal Palace, which the depot for newly entered officers and which could provide preliminary training in technical subjects and in discipline. On the 17th March, he moved to Chingford (Essex), which was one of several schools used for preliminary flying training. On the 2nd June, he moved on to Cranwell, the RNAS central flying school, for advanced training — which would have included courses on cross-country flying, navigation, engines, aerial gunnery, bomb-dropping, photography, and wireless telegraphy [3]. The British Official History of the air war notes that RNAS pupils had to graduate at Cranwell before they could be ranked as Flight Sub-Lieutenant and receive full flying pay [4]. On the 23rd June, an entry in the register notes that Wright was a, “G Pilot, Good & keen Officer.” He was promoted Flight Sub-Lieutenant on the 18th July 1917, after passing his graduation examination at the second attempt. He was recommended for the Scouts, and on the 10th August moved (or was posted) to Dover. The final entry in the register simply reads: “18.9.17 Telegram Dunkirk:- Killed on patrol.”

Bailleul (Nord). Detail from Trench Map 28SW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 9A; Published: September 1918; Trenches corrected to 25 September 1918: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464921 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

In France, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wright had joined No. 1 Squadron, RNAS, which was for most of 1917 equipped with the Sopwith Triplane. The commanding officer of the squadron at the time Wright joined would have been Flight Commander Roderic Stanley Dallas, an Australian fighter ace [5].

According to the squadron summary of events (AIR 27/1177/1), No. 1 Squadron, RNAS was based at Bailleul from the 1st June until the 2nd November 1917 [6]. There were three aerodromes at Bailleul, the Town Ground Aerodrome and the East and Asylum Aerodromes. Mike O’Connor, in his Battleground Europe book on airfields and airmen in the Ypres sector, states that No. 1 Squadron, RNAS was based at Bailleul East Aerodrome, which he notes, “never seems to have progressed beyond the stage of having tented types of hangars and tents for the personnel” [7].

The British Official History of The War in the Air says that in 1917 the squadron formed part of Eleventh Army Wing (in 2nd Brigade, RFC) , which provided support to the Second Army during the Third Battle of Ypres [8]. Mike O’Connor adds the detail that, “1 Naval Squadron had been loaned to the RFC when they had a critical shortage of decent fighters to combat the much superior Albatros scout.”

Sopwith Triplane. Source: San Diego Air & Space Museum (via Flickr): https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/8518483563/

The Sopwith Triplane was a single-seat fighter aircraft armed with a synchronised Vickers machine gun. It was the first triplane aircraft to enter operational service with British forces. As its name suggests, the Triplane had three wings and it proved to be a highly-manoeuvrable aircraft with an exceptional rate of climb and a high service ceiling [9]. It also formed the inspiration for the development of the Fokker Dr.I (Dreidecker) for the Imperial German Air Service, a type of aircraft famously used by Baron von Richthofen, the Red Baron.

Sopwith Triplanes serials N5493 and N6290. Source Australian War Memorial (Accession Number A05202): https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C38991

The Airmen Died in the Great War database records that Wright was flying Sopwith Triplane N5493 at the time of his accident. This seems to have been an airframe that had previously been used by the most successful Australian fighter ace of the war: Flight Lieutenant Robert Alexander Little of No. 8 Squadron, RNAS [10].

Family life and background:

Noel Stafford Wright was born at Carshalton (Surrey) on the 24th December 1898, the son of Walter Southey Wright and Caroline Maude Wright (née Corrie). The choice of first name seems to have been based on Noel’s date-of-birth.

Walter and Caroline had married at Marylebone (London) in the second quarter of 1897. They had three sons:

• Frederick Yelverton Wright, born at Carshalton in the first quarter of 1898; baptised 20th February 1898;
• Noel Stafford Wright, born at Carshalton, 24th December 1898; baptised 5th February 1899;
• Barry Edward Southey Wright, born at Wool in the second quarter of 1903.

At the time of the 1901 Census, the family were living at West Street, Carshalton. Walter Southey Wright was thirty-nine years old and working as a surgeon; Caroline Wright was twenty-five. Their two children at the time were: Frederick (aged 3) and Noel (2). The census also recorded the residence of a general servant domestic named Emma Puttock, as well as a visitor named Frederick A. Leonhardt (a parliamentary agent).

By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to live at The Firs, Wool (Dorset). Walter Southey Wright, the head of household, was by that time forty-nine and working as a general practitioner (medical), while Caroline Maud Wright was thirty-four. Their two eldest sons, Frederick Yelverton (12) and Noel Stafford (13), were both still at school. They had also been joined by the seven-year-old Barry Edward Southey Wright. There was also a servant: Adelaide Holden, a twenty-year-old cook (domestic), who had been born at Plymouth.

The medal index card (WO 372/22/88696) of Noel’s older brother, Private Frederick Yelverton Wright [11], gives his service numbers as 2752 and 201004, which means that he would have been serving with the 4th (Territorial Force) Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment — although it is not clear whether he would have been with the first or second line unit (the 1/4th Dorsets served in India and Mesopotamia; the 2/4th in India, Egypt and Palestine). Frederick survived the war and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in the Second World War.

Wool: Church of the Holy Rood (Dorset)

Walter Southey Wright, Noel Stafford Wright’s father, had been born at Marylebone (London) in the first quarter of 1862, the son of John Freeman Wright and Frances Wright (née Hookins). He was baptised at St Marylebone Parish Church in London on the 14th February 1862 (England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975; via Findmypast).

At the time of the 1871 Census, the nine-year-old Walter was living with his mother and a younger sister (Florence, aged seven), one of two households resident at 12, Jubilee Terrace, Portsea, Portsmouth. Also living with the family was Frances Wright’s sixty-three-year-old aunt, Frances Southey. Walter’s mother, Frances Wright, who had been born at Exeter, was described as a “doctor’s wife in practice.”

By the time of the 1881 Census, Walter Southey Wright was nineteen-years old and resident at Epsom (Surrey), at the Epsom Downs Royal Medical Benevolent College. The Medical Register for 1913 (via Findmypast) recorded that Wright had been registered on 24 June 1891, having qualified with a Lic. Soc. Apoth. Lond. (Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries) that year. Walter Southey Wright married Caroline Maude Corrie at Marylebone (registration district) in the second quarter of 1897.

Caroline Maud Corrie had been born at Mallow (Co. Cork) in 1876 (Irish Births 1864-1958; via Findmypast). She was the youngest of the three children of Barclay Corrie and Julia Anna Florence Corrie (née Yelverton). Barclay Corrie had been an officer in the Royal Navy, but had retired in 1873 with the rank of Paymaster. I have compiled some information on Barclay Corrie and the Yelverton family in a fairly lengthy appendix to this post.

Caroline Maud Corrie featured in the 1881 Census, when she was five-years-old and living at “Silsoe Cott” in the High Street, Upton cum Chalvey (Buckinghamshire), a village that has now been largely incorporated into Slough. “Silsoe Cott” was the household of Caroline’s widowed grandmother, the seventy-five-year-old Hon. Louisa Yelverton, who had also been born in Ireland (Co. Mayo). The household also included: Florence Corrie, Caroline’s mother, her two older siblings (Florence, aged 11, and Yelverton, 10), and a domestic servant (Sarah Watkins, aged 37). The same census recorded Caroline’s father (a Paymaster RN, aged 41) lodging in London (51, Hindon Street, St George Hanover Square).

Things had changed quite considerably for Caroline by the time of the census a decade later. In 1891, she was living at the Manor House in the High Street, Seend (Wiltshire), a hilltop village between Melksham and Devizes. Caroline was fifteen years old and at school, but also now the adopted daughter of Mary M. Hamilton, a fifty-six-year-old widow (living on her own means). At the same time, Caroline’s father, Barclay Corrie, was still lodging in London (63, St Oswalds Road, Fulham).

Walter S. Wright died at Southwark (registration district) in the first quarter of 1929, aged 67. Caroline M. S. Wright died at Bournemouth (registration district) in the first quarter of 1936, aged 60. An obituary was published in the Cheltenham Chronicle of the 29th February 1936 [12]:

MRS. C. M. WRIGHT
Member of Well-Known Irish Family Dead
The death has occurred at Bournemouth of Mrs. Caroline Maud Wright, sister of Lieut. Yelverton Corrie, who died recently, and a member of an Irish family that has had a long association with Cheltenham.
Mrs. Wright was the widow of Dr. Walter Southey Wright. She was the youngest daughter of the late Barclay Corrie, R.N., one time Chief Justice of the Bahamas.
She was descended through her mother from the Yelverton family which appears in the Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal as of legitimate descent from King Edward III. Through her mother she was a great granddaughter of the first Baron Clanmorris.
Her only surviving sister is Mrs. Hadden, of Marlborough House, Montpellier, Cheltenham.

Captain John Manley, RFC:

Grave marker of Captain J. Manley, RFC, Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord (France)

The other pilot involved in the accident in which Sub Flight Lieutenant Wright died was Captain John (Jack) Manley of No. 19 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. Captain Manley came from Oxfordshire, and a long obituary was published in the Berks and Oxon Advertiser on the 28 September 1917 [13]:

WALLINGFORD.
[…]
DEATH OF CAPT. MANLEY. – We sincerely regret to record the death of Capt. Manley, second son of Mr. J. S. Manley, who was for many years resident at Newnham Farm, which occurred on the 18th inst., at the Front in France. As will be seen from the following details he was a plucky patriotic young fellow, and did “his bit” in a way that entitles him to unreserved admiration. After completing his scholastic education he entered the Great Western Railway works at Swindon with the view of becoming an engineer, but soon after the war broke out he wrote to his father saying that he felt it was “his plain and simple duty to join the army” before married men were called upon to do so, and asked his permission to qualify for service in the Royal Flying Corps, saying he was both “ready and willing” to go. His father then sent him to Hal’s Flying School at Hendon, and he soon got his certificate, was accepted by the War Office, went into military training, got his wings and commission, flew across to France in a Sopworth [sic] machine, and was soon fighting in the air. It was not long before he was severely wounded in the face and arm, very severely in the latter, when 35 miles over the German lines, near Cambrai. But notwithstanding this he brought his machine and observer safely back before he collapsed. He was in hospital in France for three weeks and was then brought to London. After some eight months acute suffering he recovered sufficiently to do good work as an aeroplane instructor at Lincoln, where if he had chosen to do so he might have remained. But he chose rather to return to the seat of war, where he again distinguished himself, in a powerful scot flying machine, in a very short time destroying three enemy machines, and as his Commanding Officer reported doing “wonderful work.” He was killed in an unfortunate collision with one of our own machines, to the great grief of his comrades and in fact all who knew him. The coffin he was buried in was made by the men of his own squadron, and the service was conducted by the Chaplain, with as much care as if the internment was taking place at his own home while the position of his grave is specially noted. We are sure the young hero’s family will have the very hearty sympathy of the entire neighbourhood in the loss of such a splendid character.

A shorter obituary appeared a few weeks later in Flight magazine [14]:

Captain Jack Manley, R.F.C., son of Mr. and Mrs. Manley, of Caldicote, Heyford, Oxon., was born in 1897, and educated at Taunton School. He then entered the Great Western Railway works at Swindon, to learn engineering, but feeling it “his plain and simple duty” to join the Army, he obtained his pilot’s certificate, and was gazetted in March, 1916. He was severely wounded in a flight on July 20th, 1916, and with one arm useless brought his machine and observer back, and landed safely. After a few weeks in hospital he was brought to the R.F.C. Hospital in Bryanston Square, where, after much suffering, he recovered. He then took up work as an instructor, but later returned to the front, where he did much good work on a scout machine. He was killed on Sept. 18th.

Given the long recovery period, Manley’s injuries in July 1916 were obviously very serious. Wartime medical records (MH 106/1774) provide the additional information that the nineteen-year-old Second Lieutenant J. Manley was admitted to Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital at Millbank (London) on the 2 August 1916, being discharged on the 6 December 1916 after being treated for 127 days with a gsw (gun-shot wound) in his left arm [15]. At the time he was five months into his service, but had spent just two with his unit. As the obituary suggests, however, that was not the end of the matter. Although I have not been able to consult the original, another Ministry of Health document in the National Archives (MH 106/2204/252) records that Second Lieutenant J. Manley of 70 Squadron, RFC was admitted to Reading War Hospital on the 22 February 1917 [16]. This specifies that his injuries were a gunshot wound and compound fracture of the left humerus, the wound being sustained at Cambrai on the 20 July 1916.

Sopwith 1½ Strutter. Source: San Diego Air & Space Museum (via Flickr): https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/8518484151/

No. 70 Squadron, RFC had been formed at Farnborough in April 1916 and until 1917 flew the Sopwith 1½ Strutter. During the summer of 1916, the squadron was based at Fienvillers, north of Amiens. No. 1 Flight of the 70th had arrived at the front in May 1916, as was reported in the British Official History [17]:

In May, too, there arrived the first batch of tractor aeroplanes to be received by the Royal Flying Corps fitted with the so-called interrupter gear [a synchronising mechanism enabling a Vickers machine gun to be fired through the aircraft propeller]. These were the first of the famous Sopwith two-seaters (1½ Strutter), brought out from home of Flight of No. 70 Squadron fitted with 110 h.p. Clerget engines, on the 24th of May.

Spad VII. Source: San Diego Air & Space Museum (via Flickr): https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/7680036942/

When Captain Manley returned to the front in 1917, he joined No. 19 Squadron, RFC, which was equipped with the SPAD S.VII. This was a single-seat biplane fighter designed by the French SPAD (Société pour l’aviation et ses dérivés) company, and also flown by aces like Captain Georges Guynemer of the French Air Service. The aircraft gained a reputation as a sturdy and rugged aircraft, although it was only armed with a single Vickers machine gun [18].

The Spads of No. 19 Squadron were equipped with 150 horse-power Hispano-Suiza engines; their armament was one fixed Vickers gun. An improved type, mounting two fixed Vickers guns, and equipped with the 200 horse-power Hispano, was brought into general use in November 1917.

Mike O’Connor provides an account of the decision by the RFC to use the SPAD VII [19]:

The RFC were quick to realise the potential of the design and within days [of its first flight in April 1916] asked for three examples of it. The first machine was delivered on 9 September 1916 and flew with 60 Squadron for a month before being sent to England. Further examples followed, but delivery was slow due to the French having to supply their own units as well and 19 Squadron were not fully equipped until February 1917, when [Major Hebert Dunsterville] Harvey-Kelly arrived [as commander]. The only other RFC squadron to have a full compliment of Spads was No. 23 who received all theirs by April 1917. Such was the need for fighter machines, contracts were placed by both the RFC and RNAS with British firms to manufacture the Spad under licence. Some British-built samples reached RFC squadrons in France but had a poorer performance than the French examples and were nose heavy. They were not greatly liked and a decision was made to supply only French-built aeroplanes.

In February 1917, No. 19 Squadron was based at Vert Galand, part of 9 (Headquarters) Wing, RFC. O’Connor reports that while the squadron escaped fairly lightly during most of April 1917 — the RFC’s “Bloody April” — it lost three SPADs on the 29th April, when a patrol happened to run into Von Richthofen’s ‘circus’ [20]. Major Harvey-Kelly was one of those shot down and killed. On the 31st May, the 9th Wing moved north to support the offensive around Messines. No. 19 Squadron was based at Liettres aerodrome, being used in a ground-attack role at Messines and the opening of the Third Battle of Ypres. As the latter battle continued its grim progress, the 19th moved to Poperinghe on the 14th August, coming under the command of 22nd (Army) Wing, 5th Brigade, RFC.

While the squadron were at Poperinghe, Captain Manley gained his sole mention in the Operations Record Book of No. 19 Squadron, RFC (AIR 27/252/1) [21]:

Poperinghe. 14 Aug. The Squadron moved to Poperinghe to take part in the second attack East of Ypres. This was the 5th Army Area so the Squadron came under the orders of the O.C. 22nd (Army) Wing, 5th Brigade, R.F.C.

[Poperinghe]. 16 Aug. E.A. [enemy aircraft] were so numerous on this date that combats went on almost continuously. One pilot, A.G.N. Pentland was during the day engaged with 9 enemy machines. Later on this pilot with Lt. A.R. Boeree attacked transport from 1,000 feet. Lt. H.C. Ainger after dispersing some infantry on the Ypres – Roulers Road, engaged and destroyed a two-seater D.F.W. over Passchendaele. About the same time Lt. J. Manley in conjunction with a Spad belonging to another Squadron encountered fifteen Albatross scouts. Manley, diving and firing at one brought it down out of control.

[Poperinghe] 26 Aug. At dawn six machines of the Squadron attacked the aerodromes at Bisseghem and Marche from a low altitude. On the return journey ground targets were attacked and several E.A. were engaged – one of whom crashed. During this attack five enemy machines were brought down.

The British Official History of The War in the Air recorded the role of No. 19 Squadron in attacking ground targets on the 16th August [22]:

Owing to the confused state of the fighting on the ground on the 16th, especially in the centre and on the right, the low-flying aircraft of the V Brigade could only partly co-ordinate their attacks with the advance of the infantry. D.H.5 pilots of No. 32 Squadron made a few attacks on strong points and on troops in trenches and shell-holes, but the main ground-target offensive was made by Nieuport pilots of No 29 Squadron, who made many attacks on the fronts of the XIV and XVIII Corps. German infantry in trenches and shell-holes in the front and support lines, on the march close behind the front, and bivouacked in copses, were assailed with machine-gun fire from low heights, usually 200-600 feet. Ground targets on the roads leading to the battle were also attacked by Spad pilots of No. 19, which had been transferred to the V Brigade from the head-quarters Ninth Wing two days before.

In September 1917, the Squadron moved to Bailleul and it would stay there until Christmas. The Operations Record Book does not specify the particular aerodrome, although O’Connor thinks that it was probably the East Aerodrome (where No. 1 Naval Squadron were also based) [23]. The Operations Record Book is extremely sparse on detail [24]:

Bailleul. Sept. Moving to Bailleul the Squadron came under the orders of the O.C. 11th (Army) Wing, 2nd Brigade and took part in the Second Army operations, carrying out offensive patrols and low-flying.

[Baileul]. 16 Sept. Lt’s. Pentland and Graham attacked the enemy trenches at 200 feet.

St.Marie Cappel. 25 Dec. The Squadron left Bailleul on Christmas Day.

Presumably, it must have been from Bailleul that Captain Manley made his final flight. The Airmen Died in the Great War database (via Findmypast) states that he was flying a Spad S7 with the airframe number B3503 when he collided with the Sopwith Triplane being flown by Sub Flight-Lieutenant Wright.

Bailleul (Nord). Detail from Trench Map 28.SW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 5A; Published: April 1917; Trenches corrected to 1 April 1917: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464933 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

It is not exactly clear where the collision of the two aircraft happened. Brian Bates’s book on Dorchester war memorials suggests that it was over Neuve-Église (Nieuwkerke) in West Flanders, but he does not cite his source [25].

Family life and background:

John Manley was born at Newham Murren (Oxfordshire) on the 5th July 1897, the son of John Lake Manley and Elizabeth Ann Manley (née Deverell). Newnham Murren is a village on the Oxfordshire side of the River Thames close to the town of Wallingford. At the time of the 1901 Census, the family were living at Newnham Farm, which is near the Thames and Newnham Murren’s Parish Church of St Mary (now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust). In 1901, Jack Manley was three years old, the second-youngest of four children. His father, John L. Manley, was fifty-years-old and a farmer (and employer), while Elizabeth A. Manley was forty-one. Aside from Jack, their children were: Hannah E. (aged 7), Anthony D. (5), and Edwin R. [Robert] (2). The household also included two servants and the infant son of one of them: Rose Bonner (aged 18, nurse domestic), Elizabeth Hoey (26, cook domestic), and Arthur G. Hoey (10 months). Arthur’s father was a soldier, based in India.

By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to Potcote, Cold Higham, near Towcester (Northamptonsire). At the age of sixty, John Lake Manley was still working as a farmer, while Elizabeth Ann (Anne) was fifty-one. The census recorded that they had had four children, all of whom were still alive at the date the census had been taken. Their three eldest were still part of the household: Hannah Elizabeth (aged 17, no occupation), Anthony Deverell (15, at school), and John (13, at school). The household also included a relative: Robert Arthur May (15, at school), who was John Lake Manley’s nephew; and a servant: Emily Gayton (45, cook general domestic). I could not find John’s younger brother, Edwin Robert Manley, in the 1911 Census at all.

Lower Heyford: War memorial in the Church of St Mary (Oxfordshire)

Electoral Registers from 1918 show that both of John’s brothers served as officers in the Army during the First World War. The Absent Voters Lists 1918-1921 (available via Findmypast) link them to Caldecott House, Lower Heyford (Oxfordshire): Anthony Deverell Manley was described as a Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Edwin Robert Manley a Second Lieutenant in the Labour Corps. Both survived the war.

Jack Manley’s father, John Samuel Lake Manley, had been born at Cheriton Fitzpaine, near Crediton (Devon) in the third quarter of 1850, the eldest son of Robert and Elizabeth Manley of East Farley. His father was also a farmer, e.g. in 1851 farming 85 acres and employing three labourers. The 1891 Census recorded that the forty-year-old John Saml Lake Manley was boarding at Farleigh, Cheriton Fitzpaine, the household of James and Jane Thomas. John was by that time also a farmer, but the census also recorded that he was a widower. The name of his first wife was difficult to track down, but The Oxfordshire Weekly News of the 14 April 1886 [26] reported the marriage at Torquay of John S. L. Manley (of Handborough, Oxon) to Ada, the younger daughter of Orlando Beater (and Abigail Beater, née Palmer), of Dublin (marriage records also give her name as Fanny Rosa A. Beater). The couple seem to have had at least one son: Robert Orlando Beater Manley, who was born at Church Handborough in 1887. The Bicester Herald of the 22 June 1888 [27] reported that Ada Manley (in BMD records, Fanny Rosa A. Manley) died at Handborough on the 10th June 1888. She was just 27. In 1893, John married Elizabeth Anne Deverell at Rathdown (registration district) , Co. Dublin (Irish Marriages 1845-1958; via Findmypast). Elizabeth had been born at 25, Upper Baggot Street, Dublin on the 7th January 1860, the daughter of Anthony Deverell, a tallow chandler, and Hannah Deverell (YM M3, YM Births 1859-1878, Religious Society of Friends In Ireland Archives; via Findmypast).

John Samuel Lake Manley of 72 Adelaide Road, Brockley (Kent) died on the 10th March 1930, at the Miller General Hospital, Greenwich, aged 79; Elizabeth Anne Manley of 3, Warnborough Road, Oxford died on the 19th September 1938, aged 78 (England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019; via Fingmypast). Both John and Elizabeth’s probate records mention their youngest son, Edwin Robert Manley, who was by the 1930s working as a schoolmaster, but also Robert Orlando Beater Manley, a bee farmer. This was, if we recall, John’s son by his first marriage with Ada Manley (née Beater). At the time of the 1911 Census, Robert had been living at Bradley Farm, Cumnor (Berkshire), part of the household of his uncle and aunt, Frederick Arthur and Susan Lake May.

References:

Genealogical records from Findmypast: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

[1] Western Gazette, 28 September 1917, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[2] ADM 273/12/91, Admiralty: RNAS Registers of Officers’ Services, The National Archives, Kew: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9749832

[3] H. A. Jones, The war in the air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Vol. V (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1935), p. 441: Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto05rale/page/440/

[4] Ibid.

[5] E. P. Wixted, “Dallas, Roderic Stanley (1891-1918),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 8 (1981): http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dallas-roderic-stanley-5868

[6] AIR 27/1177/1, Air Ministry: Operations Record Books, Squadron No. 201 Summary of Events, The National Archives, Kew: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8392430

[7] Mike O’Connor, Airfields and airmen: Ypres, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2001), p. 71.

[8] H. A. Jones, The war in the air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Vol. IV (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934), p. 111: Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto04rale/page/110/

[9] Wikipedia, Sopwith Triplane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Triplane

[10] J. C. Little, “Little, Robert Alexander (1895-1918),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 10 (1986): http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/little-robert-alexander-7207

[11] WO 372/22/88696, War Office: British Army medal index cards 1914-1920, Medal card of Wright, Frederick Y Corps: Dorsetshire Regiment, The National Archives, Kew: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6021464

[12] Cheltenham Chronicle, 29th February 1936, p. 6; via British Newspaper Archive.

[13] Berks and Oxon Advertiser, 28 September 1917, p. 8; via British Newspaper Archive.

[14] Flight, No. 461 (Vol. IX, No. 43), 25 October 1917, pp. 1116-1117; via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Flight_International_Magazine_1917-10-25-pdf/page/n19/

[15] MH 106/1774, War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen, The National Archives, Kew; via Findmypast

[16] MH 106/2204/252, War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen, Folio(s): 553-554. Name: J Manley. Rank: Second Lieutenant. Unit/Battalion/Regiment: 70 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, The National Archives, Kew: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17177166

[17] H. A. Jones, The war in the air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Vol. II (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928), p. 162; via Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto02rale/page/162/

[18] H. A. Jones, The war in the air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Vol IV (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934), p. 135, n. 1; via Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto04rale/page/134/

[19] Mike O’Connor, Airfields and airmen: Arras, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2004), p. 73.

[20] Ibid., p. 74.

[21] AIR 27/252/1, Air Ministry and successors: Operations Record Books, Squadrons, No. 19 Squadron: Operations Record Book, Summary of Events: Y, September 1915 – October 1939, The National Archives, Kew: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8409160

[22] H. A. Jones, The war in the air, Vol IV, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934), p. 177, n. 1; via Internet Archive (University of Toronto): https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto04rale/page/176/

[23] Mike O’Connor, Airfields and airmen: Ypres, p. 71.

[24] AIR 27/252/1.

[25] Brian Bates, Dorchester remembers the Great War (Frampton: Roving Press, 2012), p. 183.

[26] The Oxfordshire Weekly News, 14 April 1886, p. 5; via British Newspaper Archive.

[27] The Bicester Herald, 22 June 1888, p 8; via British Newspaper Archive.

Appendix: The Yelverton family

Noel Stafford Wright’s mother was Caroline Maud Wright (née Corrie), who was a ancestor through her mother’s line of the Yelverton family .The Yelvertons were part of the peerage of Ireland, but they also claimed royal descent (a newspaper obituary of Caroline simperingly noted that the Yelvertons had featured in “the Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal as of legitimate descent from King Edward III” [1]).

Caroline Maud Corrie had been born in 1876 at Mallow, Co. Cork. Her father was Barclay Corrie, who was by then a retired Royal Navy Paymaster from Devon. Her mother was Julia Anna Florence Corrie (née Yelverton), the daughter of the Reverend Benjamin Chapman Frederick Yelverton and the Hon. Louisa Catherine Yelverton (née Bingham).

Barclay Corrie had been born at Plymouth in the second quarter of 1839, the son of George William Corrie, a wine merchant, and Ann Corrie (née Peters). He was baptised at the Church of St Charles the Martyr, Plymouth on the 31st May 1839 (167/11, Devon Baptisms, Plymouth & West Devon Record Office; via Findmypast). At the time of the 1841 Census, the family were living at Buckwell Street, Plymouth.

The 1861 Census recorded Barclay Corrie as an Assistant Paymaster, 2nd Class, on board HMS Hectate, which was at the time of the census moored in Esquimalt Harbour, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island (British Columbia). Hectate was a Hydra-class paddle sloop, at that time being used to survey the coast of British Columbia [2].

Julia Anna Florence Yelverton had been born at Trieste (then in the Habsburg Empire, but now part of Italy) in around 1842. Julia Anna Florence, variously known as Julia or Florence, was the daughter of the Reverend Benjamin Chapman Frederick Yelverton and the Hon. Louisa Catherine Yelverton (née Bingham). The Rev. Yelverton was the grandson of Barry Yelverton, 1st Viscount Avonmore. The Hon. Louisa was a Yelverton several times over, being herself the daughter of John Bingham, the 1st Baron Clanmorris and Lady Anna Maria Bingham, who was another child of the 1st Viscount Avonmore. Julia Anna Florence Yelverton was, therefore, the great-granddaughter of the 1st Viscount Avonmore through both her mother and father’s lines [3].

The nineteen-year-old Miss Florence Yelverton featured in the 1861 Census as resident at 15 Clarence Street, Penzance (Cornwall), which was the household of her eighty-six-year-old grandmother Anna Maria, Lady Hammon. The household also included her mother, the Hon. Mrs Yelverton, at that time aged fifty-eight.

Julia Anna Florence Yelverton married Barclay Corrie, Esq., R.N. at Upleadon, near Newent (Gloucestershire), on the 5th August 1868. The 1871 Census found the couple living at Vancouver Villa, Roundham Place, Paignton (Devon). At the time of the census, Barclay Corrie was thirty-one and a “paymaster, retd.,” while Julia A. F. Corrie was twenty-nine. They already had two children: Florence A. L. L. (aged 1) and Yelverton B. H. (9 months), who had been born respectively at  Weymouth (Dorset) and Paignton. Also living with the family was Julia’s mother, the Hon. Louisa Yelverton, and three servants.

During the 1870s, the Corries challenged the financial settlement that had been made at the time of their marriage. This, and other disputes with the trustees of the settlement, were subsequently reported by the press. To cut a long (and rather complicated) story short, the Rector of Upleadon, the Reverend Andrew Sayers, was a relative by marriage to the Yelverton family. When Sayers became aware that Julia Yelverton was engaged to marry Barclay Corrie — a man who apparently came to the marriage with no money — he made it his business to ensure that her assets (seemingly income from property in Ireland) was settled upon her prior to the marriage. Barclay Corrie seems to have been mightily displeased by the plan, but a settlement was agreed on the date of the marriage, the Rev. Sayers and a Gloucester solicitor named Benjamin Bonner becoming trustees. The arrangement was described in a later legal case in the following terms [4]:

By another indenture, of 5th August, 1858, Julia [M. F. Yelverton] assigned, with the approbation of Barclay Corrie, her intended husband, all her equal moiety of the personal estate of the said Frederick B. C. Yelverton to the plaintiffs, Sayers and Bonner, to be held upon the trusts to be declared by a deed of even date. By the deed declaring the trusts, Barclay Corrie and Julia, for himself and herself, and their and each of their heirs, executors, and administrators, covenanted to settle all real and personal property (if any) not thereinbefore settled, to which Julia, or Barclay Corrie, in her right, should at any time during the coverture be entitled. The marriage was solemnised the same day.

Barclay Corrie’s displeasure with the settlement did not dissipate after the marriage and the couple persuaded themselves (at least) that it did not reflect what had been agreed prior to the marriage. One thing that apparently particularly irked Corrie was that the settlement enabled Bonner to charge for his services. Letters were exchanged, and in 1872 Bonner took the case to the Queen’s Bench. A report was published in the Western Times of the 20 April 1872 [5]:

PAIGNTON.
A THREATENED LAW STORM. – In the Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday Mr Henry James, Q.C., M.P., moved for a rule on behalf of Mr. Bonner, solicitor, practicing at Gloucester, and the secretary of the Bishop of Gloucester, calling upon Mr. Barclay Corrie, a paymaster of the Royal navy on half-pay, residing at Paignton, in Devonshire, to show cause why a criminal information should not be filed against him in respect of certain libellous publications against Mr. Bonner and the Rev. A. Sayer [sic], of Upleadon Parsonage, near Newent. The learned counsel, with whom was Mr. Folkard, stated that in 1868 Mr. Corrie married a Miss Yelverton, and the Rev. A. Sayer and Mr. Bonner were appointed trustees of the marriage settlement. In 1869 Mr. Corrie took great offence at Mr. Bonner at not being allowed to receive the rents of certain property in Ireland direct, the money being paid to Mrs. Corrie, to whom the property originally belonged. Strong language was used, but a reconciliation was ultimately effected. In 1871 Mr. and Mrs. Corrie, being desirous of raising £300 under the settlement, communicated with Mr. Bonner, who assented to it. Although the latter was empowered under the settlement to make charges for work done by him, he employed a solicitor to raise the money, and an expenditure of £9 was incurred by the transaction. Of this proceeding Mr. Corrie had taken the most extraordinary view, for on the 16th February last he sent a letter to Mr. Bonner enclosing a newspaper extract of a speech in the House of Lords, in which the following sentence occurred: — “It is well known that if a low-class attorney sets himself to commit a fraud the first thing he does is to sit down and ascertain for himself what are the limits within which he must keep.” This, Mr. Corrie added, exactly suited a certain case in which Mr. Bonner had played an active part; and if his conscience did not hurt him on reading it, he was very much mistaken. He followed this up by two letters to Mr. Bonner and Mr. Sayer, in the former of which he wrote – “Why, in God’s name, don’t you give up the partnership? You have blasted our happiness, robbed us, and you will ruin us. Mrs. Corrie’s health is going from her by inches. We have signed our names authorising you to rob us, and you rob us accordingly. You have wife and family of your own, and, mark, you will have to pay the price of this damnable work. I say again don’t rob us, for God’s sake, and bleed us under the garb of our cursed legal cloak. I will bring you before the public in a way that you will regret to the longest day of your life. Being a respectable solicitor, you can rob me, and I have no way of bringing you to account, except by a Chancery suit, which I cannot afford. Why don’t you resign the partnership voluntarily?” Mrs. Corrie also sent a letter of complaint to the Bishop of Gloucester. Mr. James contended that these letters were indictable, and they had been so far made public that the trustees were very anxious indeed to give the charges in them a public refutation. After considerable discussion, their Lordships refused to grant a rule, being of opinion that although the letters were exceedingly intemperate, they were of a private character and not calculated to produce a breach of the peace, and were not, therefore, letters to justify a criminal information.

Alas, that was not an end to the matter. In May 1872, Bonner took his case to the Torquay magistrates, seeking the Bench to bind over Corrie to keep the peace towards him. In the meantime, Corrie had sent Bonner another menacing letter. A report of the new proceedings was published in the Torquay Times and South Devon Advertiser of the 18 May 1872, under the title, “Alleged epistolary violence” [6].

The report is far too lengthy to transcribe here, but it does provide some additional details about the case. It confirms that the original settlement enabled Corrie to mortgage property to the value of £300, and that undertaking this had incurred a charge of nine guineas. Corrie had disputed this and then campaigned in an aggressive way in order to force Bonner and Sayers to relinquish their trust. The trustees, however, were not prepared to move over, as they felt that their responsibility should last as long as any children of the marriage continued to exist. The legal point seemed to be that the property had been settled on Corrie’s wife, so that Corrie himself would have no legitimate interest in it until after her death.

Corrie’s letters were also an issue. Mr Bonner’s counsel argued that “there were expressions in the letters which no gentleman, with the character and feelings of a gentleman, could sit under.” He also raised the possibility of violence or assault

The only charitable construction they could put on such language was that the defendant [Corrie] was mad, but whether he was mad or not he should be restrained.

Bonner had received a new letter from Corrie, dated the 26th April. An extract was read out at the court:

“You have failed in your duty – your solemn duty as a trustee; you have been wanting in that true sense of honour, straightforwardness, and a due regard to our interests, which is inseparable to the duties of a trustee. The deeds were never properly explained to us ere we signed them. You never properly uttered a word in explanation as to the insertion of a clause for costs; you never told us you could employ a solicitor to do most trivial services, and make us pay heavy expenses. You never told us you could write letters to the estate, and had power to refuse us copies, and that you had power to delay any proceedings which were for our benefit, and make us pay for the delay. You broke your solemn promise about the deed to be made by Mrs. Corrie; you never told us you had a bill of £140 and more hanging over our heads. We are not safe; you can rob us under the legal cloak about you. This bill of Thomas Smith’s [Bonner’s solicitor] is a form of extracting money from our pockets equal only to the manner employed by garotters; the same punishment given them should be awarded to you, with this difference – that it should be done on board a man-of-war, with a right and left hand boatswain’s mate. A man who would take in an unfortunate naval officer, unacquainted with the simplest forms of the law of the land, or the practice of equity, ought to be punished as I have described.”

Bonner denied Corrie’s claims that the settlement had not been properly explained before they were signed. He also claimed to be afraid that Corrie might commit assault, “He now stood in bodily fear of him, from the expressions used in his letters, particularly that which stated that if he did not finish the business he (defendant) would.”

Corrie defended himself in the court, aiming to show that “he had received great provocation on the part of Mr. Bonner.” There was apparently another suit pending in the Court of Chancery in Ireland for which Corrie had needed to raise security. Corrie claimed Bonner had delayed signing, thereby putting him to considerable additional expense. On the letters that he had sent, Corrie claimed “that as a naval officer he never intended or dreamt of thinking to inflict any bodily harm on the complainant.”

The magistrates dismissed the case, largely on the same grounds as the Queen’s Bench, i.e. that “they did not think there was sufficient ground, from the letters that had been read, to suppose that the defendant had any intention whatever of committing a breach of the peace; neither did they think there was any probably reason to suppose that the letters written would cause the complainant to commit a breach of the peace.”

In 1873, Bonner and Sayers sued again, this time wishing to be relieved of their responsibilities for the settlement — presumably by then having had enough of the bitter war of attrition waged against them. The Corries, supported by Julia’s mother (the Hon. Louisa), then counter-sued Sayers and Bonner, who found themselves in the suit effectively representing the interests of the Corrie’s infant children (Florence and Yelverton) against their parents. The Rev. Sayers died on the 25 November 1874, aged 73, leaving Bonner to continue the suit on his own.

A fairly succinct account of the case was published in the Pall Mall Budget of the 5th March 1875, which had presumably been first published in the Pall Mall Gazette [7]:

Vice-Chancellor Bacon [Sir James Bacon, Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery] had before him on Tuesday the case of Sayers v. Corrie and a cross-suit entitled Corrie v. Sayers, the object of the first-named suit being to establish a marriage settlement, and the object of the second suit being to set aside the settlement on the ground that the husband and Wife had been entrapped into the signing of it. The facts were shortly these: — Mr. Barclay Corrie, a retired paymaster in the navy, who had no property, engaged himself to be married to a young woman named Miss Yelverton, .whose father was dead, but whose mother was living. Before the marriage Miss Yelverton went to live with the Rev. Mr. Sayers, the rector of a parish in Gloucestershire, who was a trustee of the will of Miss Yelverton’s father, Mr. Benjamin Bonner, a solicitor in Gloucester, being the other trustee. It was while Miss Yelverton was living at the house of Mr. Sayers that proposals were made by Mr. Corrie for his marriage with her. The settlement was executed in 1868. Mr. Corrie and Miss Yelverton were married shortly after the date of the settlement, and there are two children the issue of the marriage. Soon after the settlement was executed complaints were made by Mr. and Mrs. Corrie to the trustees that the latter had conspired to cheat them by the settlement, and that they had been entrapped by misrepresentations into an execution of the settlement. Mr. Corrie wrote very abusive letters to Mr. Bonner, and ultimately a bill was filed to set aside the settlement on the ground of fraud. Since the institution of that suit Mr. Sayers has died. The Vice-Chancellor said there was no ground for setting aside the settlement. The bill filed by Mr. and Mrs. Corrie would be dismissed, and the settlement would be confirmed by the decree of the court, and a new trustee must be appointed in the place of the late Mr. Sayers.

The demands of the two parties were outlined in a report of the judgement published in the Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) of the 3rd March 1875 [8]:

A very angry correspondence on the part of the plaintiff Barclay Corrie and his trustees under the settlement led to Mr. Bonner (then the sole surviving trustee) filing a bill to carry the trusts into execution and to obtain his release from his trusteeship, whereupon the plaintiffs jointly filed a cross-bill, by which they prayed that it might be declared that the two indentures of the 5th August, 1868, were null and void and might be delivered up to the plaintiffs to be cancelled, or that the said settlement of the 5th August, 1868, might be rectified by inserting therein an absolute power for the plaintiff Julia Anna Florence Corrie, notwithstanding coverture by deed, with or without power of revocation and new appointment or by will or codicil, to appoint the property therein comprised to any person or persona whom she might think fit, and in default of any exercise of this power of appointment then the settled property should go to and be held in trust for the survivor of the plaintiffs absolutely; […]

The case was heard at Lincoln’s Inn in February and March 1875 by the Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery, Sir James Bacon. Neither party would have been entirely pleased by his judgements. Bacon concluded that Bonner “was right in asking that the trusts should be carried into execution,” but he also determined that Bonner could not be discharged, as he and a replacement trustee for the Rev. Sayers were “necessary to protect the interests of the wife.” However, Sir James also dismissed the cross-bill with costs, with some very severe comments on the plaintiff’s conduct:

He never saw so utterly baseless, unreasonable, and ill-advised a proceeding as this, and although it was said that the husband and wife had joined, yet these were the very parties who should not join. The wife should have been a defendant, and her interests represented.

On the substantive aspects of the case, Bacon concluded that Corrie’s motive for attempting to control his wife’s assets was financial, and would have not been in her best interests:

Then it was said that there should have been a power of appointment by deed, but that would have been irregular, and contrary to the sense and justice of the case. For what reason should there be such power? The only advantage to Mr. Corrie would be to enable him to raise money on ruinous terms. Supposing that Mrs. Corrie could give her property to her husband in case all of her children should die (a disagreeable thought to entertain for a moment), who would lend money on such security and upon what terms? To give such power would be to do a mischievous thing, and contrary to the settled practice of the court.

On the charging of fees by Bonner, Bacon declared that “it would be absurd to say that a solicitor must do such legal work as was necessary without charge.”

The dispute is difficult to disentangle in retrospect, especially without a better understanding of property and inheritance law as it stood at the time [9]. Barclay Corrie seems to have been capable of being an unpleasant person, but the underlying conflicts seem to have originated somewhere within the Yelverton family itself. Lindesay v. Yelverton, another case brought before the Vice-Chancellor’s Court in 1877, demonstrates some of the complexity of the Yelverton estates and the conditions applied to its inheritance over several generations [10]. While personality seemed to have played a part in the bitterness of the dispute, the case does seems to have been fundamentally about money, or the control of it. In his consideration of the legal case, Sir James Bacon assumed that Corrie’s ambition was to raise money against the assets of the settlement, thereby potentially putting his wife and children’s interests at risk. Barclay Corrie doesn’t come over as the most sympathetic character, but the machinery of law did not seem fit-for-purpose either.

Curiously, this dispute occurred less than a decade after a major public scandal involving another branch of the Yelverton family [11]. Major the Hon. William Charles Yelverton, another great-grandchild of the 1st Viscount Avonmore — and who would himself later become the 4th Viscount Avonmore — secretly married a woman named Maria Theresa Longworth in August 1857. Charles was an Irish Protestant and Theresa an English Catholic. Their Catholic marriage ceremony in Ireland (at Rostrevor, Co. Down) occurred at a time when the law did not accept the validity of mixed marriages conducted by Catholic priests. In June 1858, Major Yelverton married Emily Marianne Forbes (née Ashworth) at Edinburgh. After his former wife refused to renounce her status, the validity of the first marriage was tested in the courts. The initial trial in 1861 supported his first wife’s claim, but this was eventually overturned, after several appeals, by the House of Lords in 1864. The injustice demonstrated by the Yelverton case eventually led to the Marriage Causes and Marriage Law Amendment Act of 1870, which cleared up the status of mixed marriages conducted by Catholic priests.

The Corries had their third child in 1876, Caroline Maud being born at Mallow, Co. Cork. After the legal tribulations of the 1870s, Barclay Corrie seems to have mainly lived from that point on his own in London, while his wife and family were more peripatetic.

The 1881 Census, therefore,  records the family living at two separate addresses. Florence Corrie (aka Julia) and her three children were living at Upton cum Chalvey (Bucks), part of the household of Florence’s mother, the Hon. Louisa Yelverton. Meanwhile, the forty-one-year-old Barclay Corrie, described as a Paymaster Royal Navy, was lodging in London (51 Hindon Street, St George Hanover Square), at the household of Henry and Rosa Brown.

I was not able to find Florence (or Julia) Corrie at all in the 1891 Census, suggesting that she may have been living in Ireland or was elsewhere. This was the date that her youngest daughter (Caroline) was living at the Manor House at Seend (Wiltshire), the adopted daughter of Mary M. Hamilton. Barclay Corrie was, however, still lodging at London (63, St Oswalds Road, Fulham), a fifty-two-year-old retired Captain RN.

The 1936 obituary of Caroline Maud Wright claims that Barclay Corrie had at one time been Chief Justice of the Bahamas [12]. I can find no evidence of this anywhere, although there are some newspaper articles from 1893 suggesting that he was for a while Resident Magistrate on Watlings Island, Bahamas [13].

At the time of the 1901 Census, Florence Corrie was fifty-nine years old and living in London (8, St Augustine’s Road, St Pancras), at the household of her son Yelverton Corrie. At the same time, Barclay Corrie was still living in Fulham (boarding in an apartment at 48 Charleville Road). The census describes him as a sixty-two-year-old Fleet Paymaster RN, retired, but also now a collector for the Express Dairy Co., which seems like a step downwards. By this time, their youngest daughter Caroline was already married and living at Carlshalton with her doctor husband and two young sons.

While I could not find Florence Corrie in the 1911 Census, Barclay Corrie was still living in Fulham at that time (19, Rostrevor Road). The census described him as a seventy-two-year-old retired Fleet Paymaster RN.

Florence Julia Anna Corrie died at Rathdown, near Dublin, on the 15th May 1914, aged 72. Her daughters, Caroline Maud Wright and Florence Hadden,  were named as the beneficiaries of her will (Ireland Calendars Of Wills & Administrations 1858-1920, National Archives of Ireland; via Findmypast).

Barclay Corrie was to die in the same year as his grandson. He died at Fulham in the first quarter of 1917, aged 78.

References:

[1] Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic, 29 February 1936, p. 6; via British Newspaper Archive.

[2] Wikipedia, HMS Hectate (1839): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hecate_(1839)

[3] Parts of the family trees can be traced via The Peerage website, e.g.: http://thepeerage.com/p794.htm#i7940

[4] Lindesay v. Yelverton. In: The Irish Law Times and Solicitors’ Journal, Vol. XII (1878), pp. 2-5; via HathiTrust Digital Library (Harvard University): https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044106251291

[5] The Western Times, 20 April 1872, p. 7; via British Newspaper Archive.

[6] Torquay Times and South Devon Advertiser, 18 May 1872, p. 3; via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] The Pall Mall Budget, Vol XII, 5 March 1875, p 33; via HathiTrust Digital Library (Cornell University): https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924069724734

[8] Freeman’s Journal (Dublin), 3 March 1875, p. 2; via British Newspaper Archive.

[9] Case files can be found at: C 16/854/C226, C 16 – Court of Chancery: Clerks of Records and Writs Office: Pleadings 1861-1875, Cause number: 1873 C226. Short title: Corrie v Sayers, The National Archives, Kew: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7912261

[10] Lindesay v. Yelverton, op. cit.

[11] Wikipedia, Yelverton Case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelverton_case

[12] Cheltenham Chronicle, 29 February 1936, p. 6; via British Newspaper Archive.

[13] For example: Colonies and India, 25 February 1893, p. 11; 7th January 1893, p. 13; via British Newspaper Archive.

Portraits of John Whas, the scribe, and John Siferwas, the artist, on the page for Easter Day: British Library Add MS 74236, p. 216 (detail)

This British Library has announced today that a digitised version of the Sherborne Missal (Add MS 74236) is now available to view in full as a pilot project through the Library’s Universal Viewer.

The missal is a large manuscript service book that was produced for Sherborne Abbey (Dorset) in the early-fifteenth-century, probably commissioned by the Robert Brunyng, who was the abbot between 1385 and 1415. The missal is famous for its rich illustration, which includes many marginal depictions of British birds (the British Library blog mentions that there are 48 of them). The main illustrator was John Siferwas, a Dominican friar, while the scribe was a monk of Sherborne named John Whas.

If you are interested further, please do read the British Library blog by Eleanor Jackson at: https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2020/08/digitisation-of-the-sherborne-missal.html

Or view the manuscript itself: British Library Add MS 74236 Missal (‘The Sherborne Missal’), available at:
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100104060212.0x000001?_ga=2.1341425.1378883895.1598524681-262534759.1580828173

Portraits of Richard Mitford, Bishop of Salisbury, with his personal arms, and Robert Brunyng, the abbot of Sherborne, with the arms of Sherborne Abbey, on the page for Christmas Day: British Library Add MS 74236, p. 36 (detail)

2nd Lieutenant F. W. George, from The Sphere, 1915

Second Lieutenant Frank William George of the 5th (Service) Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment was killed in action on the 21st/22nd August 1915, aged 35, during the Battle of Scimitar Hill, part of the final major offensive of the Gallipoli campaign.

Second Lieutenant George is perhaps most well-known to posterity as the second cousin of the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy. This post is an attempt to compile some of the information available on Frank George’s life and family, and on his military service.

Helpfully, a short obituary of Second Lieutenant Frank William George appeared in the “Fallen Officers” column of The Times on the 3rd September 1915 [1]. We know, from his own surviving correspondence, that this obituary was written by Thomas Hardy himself:

SECOND LIEUTENANT FRANK WILLIAM GEORGE, 5th Dorset Regiment, barrister, who was killed in Gallipoli on August 22, was the eldest son of the late Mr. William George, of Southbrook, Bere Regis, Dorset, and through his mother, nee Hardy, was a cousin of Mr. Thomas Hardy, O.M., of Max Gate, Dorchester. Mr. George entered the service of the old Dorsetshire Bank (afterwards the Wilts and Dorset, and now Lloyds), where he became assistant manager at the Bristol branch. He was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn two or three years ago. On the outbreak of the present war he enlisted in the 6th Gloucestershire Infantry. In the winter he volunteered for and was for a while attached to a division of the Midland Cyclist Company, till he applied for a transfer to the Inns of Court O.T.C., but being offered a commission in the Gloucesters, and also in the Dorset Regiment, he accepted the latter and was posted to the 5th Battalion, which he accompanied to the Dardanelles at the beginning of July last. He was unmarried.

According to probate records (England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019, via Findmypast), Frank William George’s final residence in Bristol was Oldbury House, St Michael’s Park, which adjoins St Michael’s Hill, and would have been fairly close to the Depot of the 6th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment.

This post will cover three main topics: 1) the relationship between Thomas Hardy and his cousin Frank; 2) the family of Frank George, as  traced through genealogical records; and 3) an outline of the campaign at Suvla, highlighting where 2nd Lieutenant George was mentioned in the regimental history.

1. Frank George, the cousin of Thomas Hardy:

Frank George was not a particularly close relative of the novelist. The extremely useful family tree included in Michael Millgate’s Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited (2004) reveals that their common ancestors were the John and Jane Hardy who were Thomas Hardy’s great-grandparents and Frank George’s great-great-grandparents [2]. The tree shows that Frank George’s great-grandfather was John Hardy, the younger brother of the novelist’s eponymous grandfather.

Despite this, the Georges lived relatively locally to Dorchester and Hardy had evidently taken an interest in his cousin’s developing legal career. On the 19th March 1915, Hardy wrote to Sir Evelyn Wood, supporting Frank’s application for a commission in the Dorsetshire Regiment [3].

A young barrister in whom I am interested, Mr F. W. George, enlisted at the beginning of the war from a sense of duty, and is now applying for a commission in the Dorset Regiment. I can say from personal knowledge that he is a most deserving man, who worked his way into the law by his own exertions; cool in judgement; while abandoning a promising position to defend his country shows his character. I think he would make a good officer.
He is I may add a distant cousin of mine.
His nomination paper is just being forwarded to Colonel Hannay, Dorset Regiment. Knowing your willingness to do anything for those who are worth it it has occurred to me to ask if you could support his application by a line to Colonel Hannay on the strength of my information, if the request be [not] regular, not trespassing on your kindness, and if you think it would be of service. If you do not think so, please disregard this letter.

The editorial apparatus in the Collected Letters notes that Sir Evelyn responded by sending Hardy a letter that could be forwarded to Colonel Hannay, as he didn’t know exactly where the battalion was stationed.

Poster for the South Midland Divisional Cyclist Company. Source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (Art.IWM PST 4893): https://www.iwm.org.uk/ collections/item/object/28301

Hardy’s letter gave Frank George’s address as: “No 56, Private F. W. George, “C” Platoon, South Midland Div; Cyclist’s Corp.” with a parenthetical note stating that George had temporarily volunteered from the Gloucestershires, into the Cyclist’s. In the British Army, volunteer cyclist units began to emerge in the decades leading up to the First World War. For overseas service, cyclist companies were initially established at divisional level, although these were later grouped into battalions at corps level.  Their main intended role was reconnaissance, although they were also often involved in traffic control or signals work [4].

The obituary noted that Frank George had originally enlisted in the “6th Gloucestershire Infantry” after the outbreak of war, probably at Bristol (where he would then have been working). This presumably means that he had joined the 1/6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, a Territorial Force unit that eventually was to become part of the 48th (South Midland) Division.

Frank George’s application for a commission in the Dorsetshire Regiment was evidently successful. A visit to Max Gate in April 1915 was recorded in the Life, which would have been shortly after Frank would have obtained his commission [5]:

In April a distant cousin, of promising ability — a lieutenant in the 5th Batt. Dorset Regiment — came to see him before going abroad, never to be seen by him again;

The stark details about Frank’s death were recorded a few paragraphs later on [6]:

In August he learnt of the loss of his second cousin’s son Lieutenant George, who had been killed that month in Gallipoli during a brave advance. Hardy makes this note of him:
“Frank George, though so remotely related, is the first one of my family to be killed in battle for the last hundred years. so far as I know. He might say Militavi non sine gloria, — short as his career has been.”

The Latin phrase is derived from an ode by Horace, which has been translated, “I served not without renown” [7]:

Vixi Puellis nuper idoneus
et militavi non sine gloria

Till recently I lived fit for Love’s battles and I served not without renown.

The fate of 2nd Lieutenant George features several times in Hardy’s correspondence. For example, on the 1st September 1915, Hardy wrote to Sydney Cockerell [8]:

We were much distressed two days ago by a telegram which had come through from the War Office, telling us that the most promising relative I had in the world had been killed in action on Aug 22, in Gallipoli. His mother is a widow, & how she is going to bear it Iv don’t know. She has two other sons, but they are both in the trenches in France, & may, of course, not get through safely. However, it is not such absolute massacre there, as far as I can judge, as it is in the Dardanelles. He was 2d Lieut. F.W. George, Dorset Regt & you may see perhaps a biographical note about him in the Times. Heaven only knows where & how his body lies, & the particulars of his death.

Frank’s brothers were Charles Hardy George and Cecil Bowen George, whose service careers will be summarised later on in this post. The “paragraph” in The Times refers to the obituary published on the 3rd September [9].

Also on the 1st September, Hardy responded to a letter of condolence from his sister-in-law Constance Dugdale [10]:

It is so kind of you to write me a line about my cousin Frank George. It was a very great pity that he was doomed to mere brutal fighting, when he was, as you know, capable of so much better things. We have heard from his sister this morning, who says that her mother is bearing up as well as she can, but as she had two more sons, now in the ranks in Flanders, where soon there is to be very hot work we are told, we dread lest anything should happen to them too, or either of them; I fear such and event would kill her.

Hardy also mentioned the loss, and the effects upon him and Florence, in a letter written to Florence Henniker on the 2nd September [11]:

We were much distressed on Monday morning by this brief telegram: —
“Frank was killed on the 22nd.”
This referred to a very dear cousin of mine, Frank George, 2d Lieut. In the 5th Dorsets, who as fallen in action in the Gallipoli peninsula – almost the only, if not the only, blood relative of the next generation in whom I have taken any interest. The death of a “cousin” does not seem a very harrowing matter as a rule, but he was such an intimate friend here, & Florence & I both were so attached to him, that his loss will affect our lives largely. His mother (who was a Hardy) us a widow, & we don’t know how she is going to get over it.

A few more letters were to follow, short ones to Eden Phillpotts and Clement Shorter, as well as an update sent to Sir Evelyn Wood.

The letters to Phillpotts and Shorter both expressed Hardy’s opinion that the Gallipoli campaign was a “shambles” [12]:

I wish he were not lying mangled in that shambles of the Gallipoli Peninsula, where we ought never to have gone.

Shorter was editor of The Sphere, and it seems that it was Hardy that sent him the photograph of 2/Lieut George that was eventually published on the 25th September [13].

The letter to Sir Evelyn Wood contains some information on how 2/Lieut. George died, based on information provided by Lieutenant-Colonel Hannay [14]:

You may be interested in hearing of the end of my cousin young Frank George, whom you so kindly recommended for a commission in the 5th Dorsets. He was in that frightful night attack in Suvla Bay Aug 21-22, & was killed just as his company was leaving the trenches.
His colonel – (now Brig. General Hannay) tells me that he had done splendidly since they started fighting out there on the 7th August. On the 17th he distinguished himself particularly, & brought great credit to the 5th by rushing a Turkish trench with his platoon, for which his name was sent forward for a reward. He bayonetted some 8 or 10 Turks & brought back 14 prisoners.

In the meantime, on the 3rd September, James P. Grieves of Portishead, a personal friend of Frank George’s, had written to Hardy asking whether he had any information on the manner in which 2/Lieut. George met his death. The letter is included in those made available via the University of Exeter’s Hardy’s Correspondents website [15]:

He was the dearest friend I had in the world, and I would give a everything I have to think that there was a shadow of a doubt about his having been killed. I have heard nothing except the bare fact of his death, in a telegram sent me by Miss George, whom I do not want to bother just now.
[…]
We had a postcard from him, dated August 13, in which he said that their casualties had been heartrending, and that they were just going into action again. We hope that there is a chance that we may still get another letter from him, written between Aug 13th and Aug. 22nd

Source: Dorset County Museum, H.2574; Transcript from Hardy’s Correspondence, University of Exeter and Dorset Museum (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License): http://hardycorrespondents.exeter.ac.uk/text.html?id=dhe-hl-h.2574

Without Hardy’s reply, it is difficult to say whether he passed on any of the information that had been sent by Lieutenant-Colonel Hannay.

Hardy corresponded again with Cockerell on the 17th September, this time showing extreme pessimism about the war and its outcome [16]:

We went two days ago to see & bid goodbye to a brother of the boy who was killed at the Dardanelles last month. He had only 3 days leave after 11 months in France & Flanders. The third brother of the family is in the front line of trenches. All the soldiers one meets have a pathetic hope that “the war will soon be over”: fortunately they do not realise the imbecility of our Ministers or the treachery of sections of the press which try to make political capital out of the country’s needs.
I hope I am wrong, but at present it looks to me as if everything were tending to an indecisive issue of the war, Germany preponderating, & a huge indemnity to be paid by England to be let go in peace & quietness, as long as Germany chooses. The attitude of Labour is a very ugly one.

It is clear that the death of Frank George affected the Hardys very deeply. Michael Millgate explains that this was partly connected with their search for someone to inherit Max Gate. Millgate’s Thomas Hardy: A biography revisited explains that in May 1915, while Florence was away in London recovering from an operation, Hardy’s sisters tried to persuade him that he ought to make his will in favour of someone that had been “born a Hardy.” While the sisters’ own candidate, Basil Augustus Hardy, a grandson of his cousin Augustus, was apparently not to Hardy’s taste, his thoughts began to settle on another one of his cousins. Millgate writes [17]:

But the discussion did prompt him to think seriously about a possible inheritor of Max Gate. He finally fixed upon Frank George, the son of a Bere Regis publican and Charles Meech Hardy’s sister Angelina, hence technically his own first cousin once removed. After some years of working in banks in Dorchester and Bristol, Frank George was called to the bar at Gray’s Inn and – with occasional assistance from Hardy himself – seemed headed for a respectable legal career.
[…]
A recent visit by Frank George to Max Gate had confirmed Hardy’s liking and respect for a young man who had worked his way determinedly upwards and was one of the very few Hardys who had shown any interest in, or aptitude for, education and the life of the mind.

Millgate suggests that this helps to explain why Hardy was shocked at the loss of his distant cousin [18]:

Hardy was much shocked, and while there may seem a touch of extravagance and even of factitiousness about his grief for someone he did not in fact know especially well, he was certainly moved, both personally and, as it were, dynastically, by the loss of the young man he had thought of as the probable inheritor of Max Gate and who was, as he told Mrs Henniker, ‘about the only, if not the only, blood relative of the next generation in whom I have taken any interest.’

In his biography, Ralph Pite goes even further, quoting a letter from Florence to the effect that Hardy considered Frank to be “our one.” Pite then directs our attention to the Hardys’ childlessness, which is after all why the inheritance had become a matter of discussion [19]:

In the absence of children of their own, Frank was seen as their chosen successor and adopted child. Florence makes it sound as if he was the only one who could fill that empty place in their lives.

Whether that was true or not, Hardy certainly did go out of his way to offer his support to the grieving family. F. B. Pinion notes that he and Florence, “visited his widowed mother and sisters at Bere Regis, offered financial assistance, and bade farewell to a brother who had been given only three days’ leave after serving eleven months in Flanders and France” [20]. Millgate adds that Hardy “continued in subsequent years to make himself accessible to any members of the family who came to call at Max Gate” [20]. Hardy also published a poem in Frank George’s memory [21].

The Life also records that Hardy was thinking of Frank George on the final Armistice Day of his life [22]:

“November 11. Armistice Day [1927]. T. came downstairs from his study and listened to the broadcasting of a service at Canterbury Cathedral. We stood there for the two minutes’ silence. He said afterwards that he had been thinking of Frank George, his cousin, who was killed at Gallipoli.”

2. Frank George, his life and family:

Frank William George was born at Bere Regis in the fourth quarter of 1880, the son of William George and Angelina George (née Hardy). It is possible to discover some aspects of his life and ancestry from the genealogical records available via the Findmypast service [23].

Angelina Hardy (Lina) had been born at Puddletown in 1851, the daughter of William Jenkins Hardy and Ann Hardy (née Meech). According to Millgate’s family tree, Angelina was the fifth eldest of nine children. At the time of the 1861 Census, the Hardy family were living at Kings Arms Street, Puddletown. Angelina was ten years old, while her father was a forty-one-year-old bricklayer employing two men.

William George was born at Bitterley (near Ludlow, Shropshire) in 1846, the son of James George and Sarah George (née Bowen). He was baptised when 45 days old at a Wesleyan-Methodist chapel in the Ludlow Circuit on the 10th April 1846 (NM2612/1, Shropshire Baptisms). The location of the chapel is not recorded, but it may possibly have been Titterstone Methodist Chapel. The 1851 Census describes William’s father as a farmer of 54 acres. At the time the census was taken, William George was five years old, the second eldest of four sons. The family were living at Bedlam, a small village east of Bitterley on the slopes of Titterstone Clee Hill. At the time of the 1861 Census, William George was fifteen years old, working as a servant (page), and resident at Milcraft, Lowbridge, Bitterley, which was the household of Sarah Price, a widow who was farming 60 acres.

I could not find William George in the 1871 Census, but he married Angelina Hardy at Puddletown on the 31st July 1878.

Their first child, Bertha Frances, was born at Sevenoaks (registration district) in the third quarter of 1879. Curiously, her baptism on the 27 July 1879 is recorded in two baptismal registers, those of the parishes of Sevenoaks and St Mary’s, Kippington (from looking at surrounding entries, this duplication seems to have been the practice in the parish at the time). At the time of the baptism, William George was working as a servant and the family’s abode was recorded as: Tubbs Hill, Kippington. The celebrant was the Rt. Rev. Charles Richard Alford, D.D., a former Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong, but at the time the incumbent of St Mary’s, Kippington.

The family must have moved to Bere Regis shortly afterwards, as Frank William was born there in the fourth quarter of 1880.

The 1881 Census records the family living at Royal Oak Inn in West Street, Bere Regis, where the thirty-five-year-old William George was innkeeper. Angelina George was twenty-eight years old. Of their two children, Bertha was aged one, and Frank three months old. The household was quite a large one, also including: Angelina’s younger sister, Annie Meech Hardy (aged twenty-five, a draper’s assistant); three servants: James Thomas (aged twenty-eight, a ostler and inn servant), Mary Jane House (aged fifteen, a kitchen maid) and Alice Jane Laws (also fifteen, a nurse). There were also two lodgers, Thomas and Sarah Satchell, who had been born at Winterborne Kingston.

Three more children would be born to the Georges before the census a decade afterwards, all in the Wareham registration district (presumably Bere Regis):

• Charles Hardy George, born in the fourth quarter of 1882 (1939 Register: 10th October 1882)
• Kathleen Annie George, born in the third quarter of 1885 (1939 Register: 26 June 1885); baptised at Puddletown, 2nd August 1885
• Cecil Bowen George, born in the fourth quarter of 1889 (1939 Register: 27 August 1889); baptised at Puddletown, 1st December 1889

The family were still living at the Royal Oak at the time of the 1891 Census. The four youngest children were all still resident, with Frank (aged ten) the eldest, and then Charles (aged 8), Kathleen (5), and Cecil (1). The eldest three were all still at school.  Rather than the plethora of servants that were resident in 1881, there was just one: Elizabeth Boyte, a seventeen-year-old general servant domestic. The 1891 Census recorded the eleven-year-old Bertha living elsewhere, at Church Street, Puddletown with her grandparents William J. and Annie M. Hardy (Thomas Hardy’s great uncle and aunt).

The 1901 Census recorded the George family still living at the Royal Oak in Bere Regis. William George, aged fifty-five, was still the innkeeper, while Lena (Lina) was fifty. Only two of their children were resident in the household at this time: Frank, now twenty years old and working as a bank clerk, and Cecil, who was ten. The household was completed by a couple of servants: William Butler (aged 23, an ostler/groom), and Annie Williams (19, a general domestic). I have been unable to find Bertha in the 1901 Census, but Kathleen A. George (aged fifteen) was one of four children boarding at Grove Avenue, Preston Plucknett (Yeovil), the household of Henry Cobb, a stamp distributor. Also resident was Henry and Anna Cobb’s daughter Fanny, who was headmistress of a high school, and three other teachers, suggesting that Grove Avenue was probably a residential school.

William George, victualler (retired), died on the 23rd March 1910, aged 64, probate being granted in May to his widow Angelina George.

At the time of the 1911 Census, Angelina and three of her children were living at Southbrook, Bere Regis. Angelina was fifty-nine and described as being of independent means. Bertha was thirty and Kathleen twenty-five, both single and working as drapers’ assistants. The twenty-one-year-old Cecil was working as an assistant on farm. The census recorded Frank George elsewhere, a visitor at “Speranza,” Winn Road, Portswood, Southampton, the household of Walter and Helen Playfair and their family. Frank W. George was thirty-one years old and working as a banker. In 1911, the remaining son, Charles Hardy George, was twenty-eight years old and working as a bank clerk, resident at “Somersby,” Lynton Road, Acton (London), part of the household of his cousin Ernest Cheesewright.

It is possible that Cecil George travelled to the USA and Canada in 1911. Records of New York Passenger Lists and Arrivals (from the National Archives and Records Administration) records a twenty-one-year-old Cecil B. George from Wareham passing through immigration at New York in 1911, having sailed on the RMS “Teutonic” (White Star Line) from Southampton. In addition, the Canada Census 1911 (from Library and Archives Canada) includes an English-born Cecil B. George, born August 1889, aged 21, a labourer living at the household of James L. Archer at Macdonald, Manitoba. If this was Frank’s younger brother, however, he had returned to the UK by the start of the First World War.

As Thomas Hardy’s letters show, both of Frank George’s brothers served in the Army on the Western Front. Both of their service records survive in mutilated form as part of the WO 363 “burnt records” series.

Charles Hardy George enlisted at Dukes Road, Euston Road, London on the 31st August 1914, joining the 28th Battalion, County of London Regiment, the Artists Rifles OTC. His attestation form states that he was aged 31, resident at Hammersmith, and working as a bank clerk for the London City and Midland Bank Ltd. (if I have deciphered the handwriting correctly). 760168 (previously 1763) Sergeant Charles Hardy George served with the 1/28th Battalion, London Regiment, the Artists Rifles. He embarked at Southampton for the front on the 6th December 1914 and joined his battalion on the 11th. The service papers are difficult to decipher, but they suggest that he was promoted Lance Corporal in July 1916, Corporal in August 1917, and then Sergeant in November 1917, before reverting to Corporal again in January 1918. Sergeant George was discharged at Fovant on the 28th January 1919.

Artists’ Rifles memorial, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London

The 1/28th Battalion of the London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) were 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. Their base was at Dukes Road, just of the Euston Roadin London. After the outbreak of war, they were at first attached as divisional troops to the 2nd London Division (later the 47th (2nd London) Division). The battalion travelled to France in October 1914, but almost immediately found itself attached to General Headquarters as an Officers Training Corps, first at Bailleul, then at Saint-Omer. That status changed in the summer of 1917, when all of the Cadet Schools in France were closed, and it was determined that future candidates for commissions would be sent back to the UK for training there [25]. 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), before moving in October to the Ypres Salient, where they would take part in the second phase of the Second Battle of Passchendaele — which was the 1/28th London Regiment’s first major offensive. In December, the battalion took part in the action of Welsh Ridge, following on from the Battle of Cambrai. In 1918, the 63rd Division were based in the Somme sector. The Artists took a full part in the Hundred Days Offensive, e.g. supporting an attack at Niergnies on the 8th October, reaching Valenciennes and Mons  by the time of the Armistice.

Cecil Bowen George of Southbrook, Bere Regis attested at Dorchester on the 29th August 1914, aged 25. He afterwards joined the Royal Engineers at Chatham. His attestation form states that he was working as an architect, although other forms suggest that he was primarily a draughtsman. The papers certainly note that he was a proficient draughtsman, which would have been very useful in the RE. He embarked to join the Expeditionary Force in France on the 14th July 1915, the same month that his older brother had sailed from Liverpool to the Aegean. 43083 Sapper Cecil George served with 78th Field Company, Royal Engineers, who were attached to the 17th (Northern) Division (which also contained the 6th (Service) Battalion, the Dorsetshire Regiment). Sapper George was discharged on the 7th February 1919. His papers list various relatives as his next-of-kin: his mother, and his siblings Frank Wm. and Bertha, all living at Southbrook.

Both Bertha and Kathleen George volunteered to work as VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurses during the war, joining the Dorset branch of VAD through the British Red Cross. Some VAD records are available online [26]. Bertha George of Southbrook, Bere Regis, was engaged between September 1914 and the Armistice, working at the emergency hospital at Wareham, the County Hospital at Dorchester, and the Supply Depot. Kathleen George, also of Southbrook, was engaged between September 1914 and February 1919, working at the emergency hospital at Wareham, but also at the Supply Depot and the Dorchester Guild of Workers.

Angelina George died in the second quarter of 1918, aged 66, and was buried at Bere Regis on the 3rd May 1918.

The electoral register for 1920 recorded Cecil George still living at Southbrook. Most of the siblings, however, would soon move to London. The electoral register for Autumn 1925 shows three of the siblings, Charles, Kathleen, and Cecil George, all living at 19, Hillcrest Road, Acton. In 1928 and 1929, Bertha Frances George had also joined them.

The siblings are slightly more difficult to trace beyond that. Charles Hardy George married Esme Lily Bryson at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly in 1932, when they were respectively aged 49 and 33. The 1939 Register records them (and a domestic servant) living at 28 River Mount, Walton-on-Thames, while Charles was working as a bank manager.

Cecil B. George married Lena R. Day at Uxbridge (registration district) in the second quarter of 1933. The 1939 Register shows three of the siblings living at Ash Cottage, Shurton, Stogursey (Somerset), namely: Bertha F. George; Kathleen A. George; Cecil Bowen George (a mushroom grower) and his wife Lena Rose George. Also living with them was Susan Lydia Loader, a seventy-five-year-old widow. Ash Cottage is now a Grade II Listed Building.

Bertha F. George died at Exmoor (registration district) on the 6th November 1939, aged 60. Cecil B. George died at Exmoor (registration district) in the first quarter of 1963, aged 73. Kathleen Annie George died on the 9th February 1966, aged around 81. Cecil’s widow, Lena Rose George of Rhode Lane, Bridgwater, died at Sedgemoor (registration district) in the fourth quarter of 1987.

3. The 5th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment in the Dardanelles:

The 5th (Service) Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment was a New Army unit that had been established shortly after the outbreak of war. Its first detachments moved to Belton Park, near Grantham (Lincolnshire) for training on the 28th August 1914. From January 1915, the 5th Dorsets formed part of 34th Infantry Brigade in the 11th (Northern) Division, a New Army (K1) formation. At the time they joined the 11th Division, the other infantry units in the 34th Brigade were the 8th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, the 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, and the 11th Battalion, Manchester Regiment.

The following account of the 5th Dorsets in the Dardanelles is mainly based on T.  C. Atkinson’s history of the battalion, which was published in the History of the Dorsetshire Regiment, 1914-1919 (1932), supplemented with information from other sources.

After several months training in Lincolnshire, the 5th Dorsets moved in early April 1915 to Witley Camp (Surrey). The regimental history records that when the battalion left the camp in July 1915, Second Lieutenant George was one of two subalterns of that rank in “A” Company, which was commanded by Captain A. L. Gregory. The commanding officer of the battalion was Lieutenant-Colonel Cathcart Christian Hannay (1872-1942).

The 11th Division was one of three New Army (K1) Divisions sent to the Mediterranean in the Summer of 1915. Together with the 10th (Irish) Division and the 13th (Western) Division, the 11th formed part of a new IX Corps that would be used to reinforce the Gallipoli campaign, which had been largely at stalemate since the initial landings at Cape Helles and Anzac Cove on the 25th April.

On the 3rd July 1915, therefore, the 5th Dorsets embarked at Liverpool on the Cunard liner RMS “Aquitania” for their journey to the Mediterranean. They arrived at Lemnos (Greece) in the Aegean Sea on the 10th July, but moved on the 19th to Imbros, where the 11th Division was beginning to concentrate [28]. Sickness was a constant problem on Imbros, but on the 6th August, the battalion embarked for Suvla. “A,” “B,” and “C” Companies (presumably including 2/Lieut. George) travelled to the landing zone on the HM TBD (Torpedo Boat Destroyer) “Beagle” [29].

3.1 The landings at Suvla:

As part of the August Offensive at Gallipoli, the 11th Division was to lead an amphibious landing at Suvla. The landings were to be undertaken in concert with an attempt further south to break out of the Anzac perimeter and capture the high ground of the Sari Bair ridge.

Suvla Bay, Turkey. 1915. Suvla Bay on the left and a white area to the right known as Salt Lake. The photograph was taken by Signaller J. Campbell, 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment, from his dugout on Gallipoli. Source: Australian War Memorial H03167: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C302423

The original plans for the amphibious landings have been outlined by Peter Hart, and they depended on speed [3]:

The original concept was for a coup de main whereby the covering force of the 11th Division would land on the night of the 6 August on the beaches to the south of Nibrunesi Point and overwhelm the Turkish outposts on the Lala Baba hills and Hill 10 before moving swiftly inland to seize the Kiretch Tepe and Tekke Tepe ranges that dominated the whole Suvla Bay area.
[…]
One thing was certain: the high ground must be seized as soon as possible, thus allowing the 10th Division to come ashore and then co-operate, if necessary, in the ANZAC Corps’ advance on Hill 971 and the Sari Bair range. But the main intention was to establish a secure supply base for the future push forward across the Peninsula after the success of the Anzac breakout.

The plan was then adjusted by IX Corps headquarters, during which process the urgent need to seize the high ground became obscured. A decision was also taken to land some of the force in Suvla Bay itself, which would have negative consequences later on.

During the landings itself, complacency seemed to be rife at the highest level. The IX Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick William Stopford, remained for much of the time out at sea on HMS “Jonquil,” thus out of touch with both the Commander-in-Chief and his assault brigades.

Suvla Bay. From: Henry W. Nevinson, The Dardanelles campaign, 3rd ed. (1920), Chapter XII. Source: Internet Archive, via University of California Libraries.

The plan for 11th Division on the the 6th/7th August was for 34th Brigade (including the 5th Dorsets) to land in Suvla Bay, capture Hill 10, and then secure the Kiretch Tepe ridge further north. In the meantime, the other divisional brigades were detailed to land south of Nibrunesi Point, with the 32nd Brigade then moving north via Lala Baba hill to join the 34th, before both would swing around to attack Chocolate Hill.

The reality was somewhat different. The assault battalions of the 34th Brigade, the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers and the 11th Manchester Regiment, were landed too far south and also struggled to get ashore when the landing vessels, motor-lighters known as “beetles,” beached some way offshore. In the confusion, the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers failed to capture Hill 10. In the meantime, the 5th Dorsets were still waiting in the bay on the TBDs “Beagle” and “Bulldog.” The first of the lighters carrying the Dorsets from the “Bulldog” set off at around 01:30, but beached around sixty-yards away from the shore. Rowing-boats then had to be deployed to get the men ashore, which took time. There were then further delays before all of the men from the “Beagle” could be landed. The situation on the ground was absolutely chaotic.

Hill 10 was finally captured just after 06:00 on the morning of the 7th August. Atkinson explains that the position was heavily defended [31]:

Eventually, about 6 a.m., the 5th started the attack, “A” Company on the right giving covering fire while the others advanced against the trenches west and north of the hill. The move was a complete success. Covered by “A’s” fire the other companies pushed rapidly forward over the scrub-covered dunes, making ground by short rushes. The Turks kept up a hot fire, but the Dorsets’ steady advance was too much for them, and when the leading line was still about 200 yards off the Turks started to go. The Northumberland Fusiliers and some of the 32nd Brigade had meanwhile renewed the advance from the south, and less than twenty minutes after the Dorsets started their advance Hill 10 was in British hands and the surviving defenders were decamping N.E. with the Dorsets in pursuit.

Progress beyond Hill 10 was slow due to the ground conditions and the difficulty of keeping the battalion together.

2/Lieut. George is mentioned in the fighting that followed the capture of Hill 10 [32]:

This stage of the advance lay across a cultivated plain, to the north of which lay the Karakol Dagh ridge. Along this, on the Battalion’s left, the Manchesters could be seen advancing, the sun catching the “tinklers” (bits of tin) they carried on their backs to indicate their position to the supporting guns. The [Dorset] Battalion’s advance took its left about to the foot of the ridge, but on its right it had no formed support, though mixed parties of the 32nd and 34th Brigades were working forward more or less to its right rear. There was some shrapnel fire and a little rifle fire, but the Dorsets had few targets in this advance, for the retiring Turkish infantry gave way continually as the Battalion pressed on. Just north of Hill 10 and about 100 yards from the beach a gun emplacement surrounded by empty shell-cases told its own tale, and among the spurs of the Karakol Dagh beyond the cultivated ground two more field guns were in action behind a ridge. There seemed to be a fair chance of capturing them, and while Lieut. Bowler took a party of “B” Company forward on the left to try and rush them, Captain Gregory and Major [Richard Fitzgerald William Ferris] Leslie organized an attempt to intercept them should they retire down the gully from which they were firing. Accordingly a party, mainly of “A” Company, under Captain Gregory and 2/Lieut. George, pushed forward on the right, came over the crest, but only to see the guns disappearing about 180 yards ahead — they had moved just in time. In the excitement of the moment the men dashed forward with shouts and cheers, not realising that the guns were out of reach of a rush, though within easy range of rifle fire.

The upshot of the 7th August was that Chocolate Hill was not captured. Atkinson is withering in his conclusions on the landings [33]:

Thus ended the 5th Dorsets’ first day under fire. It had been an unsatisfactory and disappointing day, not so much for the Battalion, which had done all that was asked of it, as for the Division. From the first things had gone wrong, the misfortunes that had attended the landing of the leading battalions and had led to the 32nd being mixed up with it had thrown everything out of gear; where resolute handling and vigour were urgently needed, resolution and initiative had been conspicuously lacking. The situation at Hill 10 had not been handled, and even after that position was eventually taken, when energy and determination might still have retrieved the situation; inactivity and depression had prevailed at Brigade headquarters.

Hart is also scathing about the landings at Sulva [34]:

The IX Corps was thrown into battle long before it was ready with incompetent commanders and preposterously optimistic plans which, despite the experience of the last four months, seemed to ignore the possibility a potent Turkish resistance.

Suvla Bay and its hinterland. From: C. E. Caldwell, The Dardanelles (1919), p. 168. Source: Internet Archive, via University of California Libraries.

The confusion persisted on the days following the landing, Atkinson suggesting that the “the exact situation was not known by the higher authorities, much less appreciated.” In the meantime, the Dorsets consolidated and prepared to renew the offensive on the 9th August.

The plan for the 9th August was for the 11th Division and part of the 53rd (Welsh) Division to capture Scimitar Hill and Ismail Oglu Tepe (W Hill), while the 10th (Irish) Division advanced on their left flank along the Kiretch Tepe Sirt, covered by the 5th Dorsets and the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers. The Dorsets received their orders to move early in the morning, meaning that many of the men started out without supplies of food and water. After reaching the start point, “D” Company of the Dorsets was to lead the attack [35]:

“D” Company, which was the freshest, not having been on out-post, formed the leading line. At first the advance went well enough, though the ground was broken and very difficult. The Battalion had to cross a series of ridges, separated by deep gullies and covered with thick scrub, which tended to break up formations by making touch and direction hard to keep, while the crests apparently served as aiming points, for on reaching one the Battalion usually met heavy fire, and the men had to double over them into the dips beyond.

With the help of naval gunnery, the Dorsets progressed to a ridge running south-east from Kiretch Tepe Sirt near a place later known as Jephson’s Post. There, they waited for units of 10th Division to catch up. Facing them on a ridge around 900 yards ahead were large numbers of Ottoman troops. With the Munster Fusiliers from 10th Division pinned down on their left, the Dorsets could not press forward. They were, therefore, forced to withdraw in order to conform with the 10th Division on their left and the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers on their right. Eventually, the battalion was ordered to fall back to trenches on Karakol Dagh for the night. Atkinson comments that casualties had been fairly heavy [36]:

Besides the officers already mentioned [Captain Henry Neville Le Marchant, killed; Major Weldon, Lieuts. Horton and Clayton, wounded] about twenty men had been killed, over sixty were wounded and a dozen missing.

Other men were still out in front, but some were able to re-join the battalion later. Atkinson’s regimental history reflected on another failure [37]:

August 9th had been another disappointing day, though once again the 5th Dorsets had given a good account of themselves and only retired in conformity with the Brigade with which they were acting. But the failure to clear Kiretch Tepe Sirt was far from the worst feature of the day. The attack on Scimitar Hill and Ismail Oglu Tepe had been repulsed, the 53rd Division’s advance had failed completely, Turkish reinforcements had come up, and only with difficulty had their vigorous counter-attacks been checked.

After their exertions on the 9th August, the 5th Dorsets spent a brief time resting behind the lines at Lala Baba.

General Stopford was removed as IX Corps commander on the 15th August 1915, with Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng appointed as his replacement [38]. While Byng was on his way from the Western Front,  the command of IX Corps was temporarily transferred to Major-General Henry de Beauvoir de Lisle, the commanding officer of the 29th Division.

Chocolate Hill and Green Hill. From: Stair Gillon, The story of the 29th Division (1925).

On the night of the 16th/17th August, “A” Company, with 2/Lieut. George, were to take part in a small-scale attack [39]:

August 16th passed quietly and about 10 p.m. the digging was renewed, but only three hours’ work could be put in as “A” Company had to carry out a small enterprise and were to go out soon after 3 a.m. However, this sufficed to link up the new trench with Green Hill, thus completing a very satisfactory piece of work.

“A” Company’s objective was some substantial looking building 300 yards to the eastward and just in front of the Turkish line. Lieut. George, “A.’s” only remaining subaltern, was to take out one platoon as a covering party, and Captain Gregory was to follow with another and some Royal Engineers, who were to render the house defensible. This done, sixteen men under a sergeant were to garrison it and to hold on for twenty-four hours, when another party would relieve them. It was felt to be no easy task, for the men were still rather tired and very little was known about the exact position of the Turks or of their strength, though two machine-guns had been located on either side of the house. At 3.25 a.m. on August 17th, however, Lieut. George started off with his platoon, Captain Gregory following with the consolidating party and a field telephone, while “B” Company got ready to dig an communication trench to the house.

Unluckily, in the darkness and the enclosed country the covering party lost direction and went off to the right. It had covered nearly 300 yards when heavy fire was opened, first from the left and then from a trench close ahead. This trench Lieut. George promptly charged and, being well supported by his men, carried it in fine style, capturing fourteen Turks and bayoneting several others, after which the party started to construct barricades at either end of the captured trench. Meanwhile, Captain Gregory, realising that the leading platoon had wandered off to the right, sent off one of his orderlies, Pte. Harris, to locate it, while he himself got the second platoon going in the right direction. This platoon, pushing ahead, soon reached the house from which it drove out some Turks, and pressed on to a sunken road just short of the main trench. Captain Gregory meanwhile had followed up with his company headquarters, of which the chief item was a telephonist and a wire, and sent back a report of what had happened to Lt.-Col. Hannay, who promptly sent 2/Lieut. Montgomery forward with a platoon of “B” Company to replace the strayed platoon. However most of the Royal Engineers had gone astray, taking the tools with them, and when Captain Gregory’s party tried to start consolidating it was discovered that the artful Turk had removed the back wall, so that there was next to nothing to put into a state of defence, while machine-guns were so posted as to enfilade the front wall from both flanks. This rather knocked the bottom out of the operation, especially as the Turks were thoroughly alarmed now and their whole line was blazing away, though luckily their fire was very wild and went high.

Lieut. Montgomery by this time had brought his platoon up and Pte. Harris had obtained touch with Lieut. George’s party, but the position was clearly untenable and it was essential to get the troops back before daylight exposed them to the Turks. Fortunately the telephone was working, so Captain Gregory got through to Lt.-Col. Hannay and reported how things stood, whereupon the Commanding Officer, realising that the Turkish cunning had ruined the plan, ordered him to withdraw.
[…]
Pte. Harris had meanwhile once more gone forward to take Lieut. George the order to withdraw, and thanks to his courage and devotion that officer was able to being his whole party back without mishap into the Lancashire Fusiliers lines, five hundred yards south of his starting point.

This seems to have been the trench-storming episode that Lieutenant-Colonel Hannay mentioned in his communication with Thomas Hardy after the death of 2/Lieut. George.

The battalion were in front-line trenches at Dead Man’s House on the 18th and 19th August. There were still many dead and wounded in no man’s land, and on the 20th there was a temporary truce, in which 2/Lieut. George played a significant role [40]:

Many wounded were still out in No Man’s Land, and on the 19th the Battalion’s Medical Officer, Lieut. [T. A.] Peel [of the RAMC], who had gallantly gone out to their help, was mortally wounded by a sniper. His death, next day, was much regretted by the Dorsets, for whom he had done splendid work. On the 20th, however, the Turks changed their practice; instead of shooting down those who were trying to help the wounded they put up white flags and and officer came forward as for a parley. Accordingly Lieut. George went out to discover what was wanted, and, after a conversation in the best French the two plenipotentiaries could muster, an informal armistice was arranged and the Battalion’s stretcher-bearers were soon busy, bringing in our wounded, most of whom proved to have been bandaged during the night by the Turks.

Chocolate Hill, Green Hill, and Hetman Chair. From: Henry W. Nevinson, The Dardanelles campaign, 3rd ed. (1920), Chapter XIII. Source: Internet Archive, via University of California Libraries.

Captain Gregory also provided an account of what happened on that occasion [41]:

Two Red Crescent men came out, Second Lieutenant George went and met them half-way between the trenches, George saluted them and they saluted, placed their hand to their forehead and heart and bowed very profoundly. George offered his hand, at which they were delighted; a limited conversation then took place in French. They offered to carry all our wounded in, but on refusing that they stood while our own stretcher-bearers went out and fetched them in; when they arrived in the trenches all of them had received first aid at Turkish hands, so the firing we had experienced the previous night had evidently been used to cover the work of their medical men. This episode was carried on in full view of both sides, and the greatest friendliness was show by the Turks to Lieutenant George and to the stretcher-bearers that went out.

3.2 The Battle of Scimitar Hill:

On the 21st/22nd August, the 5th Dorsets were to be involved in their second (and final) attempt to capture Scimitar Hill and Ismail Oglu Tepe. By this point in time, the August Offensive had failed, so the point of the attack was simply to make the Suvla position secure and link it up, if possible, with the Anzac perimeter. C. E. Callwell has summarised the Commander-in-Chief’s objectives [42]:

He, however, resolved upon making a fresh effort  to improve the Suvla position and to secure its junction with the Anzac area, hoping at the same time to gain possession of Ismail Oglu Tepe, as capture of this hill would constitute an important step towards securing both Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove from artillery fire.

Scimitar Hill. From: Stair Gillon, The story of the 29th Division (1925).

Callwell also provided an outline of the main plan of attack at Suvla [43]:

The special objective of this offensive operation was the capture of Ismail Oglu Tepe. This task was assigned to the 29th and 11th Divisions, the 29th Division advancing on the left from about Chocolate Hill and the ground immediately on either side of it, while the 11th Division on the right was to advance in the low ground on the north of the Azmak Dere, storming the line of trenches which the enemy had constructed across this about Hetman Chair. The 10th Division and the Mounted Division were retained as corps reserve. To the 53rd and 54th Division was assigned the duty of holding the front from Sulajik to Kiritch Tepe Sirt. The Anzac force was to co-operate by swinging forward its left from Demajalik Bair towards the Azmak Dere.

Two of these Divisions were new to Suvla. The 29th Division was a Regular Army unit which had considerable experience of the peninsula from their time at Helles since the initial landings on the 25th April. By contrast, the 2nd Mounted Division had only very recently arrived from Egypt, and were mainly made up of (dismounted) Yeomanry regiments, including the 1/1st Dorsetshire Yeomanry (Queen’s Own). Stephen Chambers has made the important point that neither of these divisions were at full-strength: “the 29th Division had been badly mauled since the April landings and could only send two brigades whilst the Mounted Division was really only brigade strength, with about 5,000 men” [44]. On the 11th’s right, units in the Anzac area were to attack Hill 60 in an attempt to link-up with the forces at Suvla, following their failure to capture the Sari Bair ridge.

By this point in time, Lieutenant-Colonel Hannay had left to take over 34th Brigade, replacing Brigadier-General William Henry Sitwell. This left Major Leslie in command of the 5th Dorsets.

Scimitar Hill. Detail from: Map of Suvla, compiled by the Map and Survey Section, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force GHQ. Source: A collection of military maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula, G.H.Q. M.E.F, 1915; British Library, Digital Store Maps 43336.(21.); Crown Copyright, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The plan was for the 29th Division to attack Scimitar Hill and Hill 112 from Chocolate Hill, with the 11th Division covering them on their right. In the 29th Division sector, the 87th Brigade aimed to capture Scimitar Hill, while on their right the 86th Brigade would attack Hill 112 [45]. To their south, the 11th Division’s first objective was to capture trenches running south from a feature known as Hetman Chair. The plan was then to press on towards Ismail Oglu Tepe, while the Mounted Division were to remain available to exploit any success [46]:

In preparation for the attack, the trenches held by the 5th Dorsets were taken over by the 32nd Brigade, while the Dorsets and the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers side-stepped and took over positions to the south, aiming to link up with the ANZAC left at Susak Kuyu. Their role was to protect the 32nd’s right flank during the attack, while the 33rd Brigade remained in divisional reserve.

The attack was to be preceded by an artillery bombardment. More artillery was available than had been possible in the first days of the Suvla battles, but the bombardment was still totally inadequate [47]:

By August 21st rather more artillery had been landed, but not enough to balance the improvements the Turks had meanwhile effected in their defences. Ammunition was none too plentiful, the afternoon sun behind the attackers’ batteries did not make their targets any easier to locate, and it must be admitted that the preliminary bombardment on August 21st was most disappointing. It only lasted half-an-hour, and to judge by the state of the Turkish trenches and the stout resistance the Turks put up it results were almost negligible.

Scimitar Hill. Detail from: Map of Suvla, compiled by the Map and Survey Section, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force GHQ. Source: A collection of military maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula, G.H.Q. M.E.F, 1915; British Library, Digital Store Maps 43336.(21.); Crown Copyright, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The attack itself commenced at 3.00 pm on the 21st August. The regimental history records that 2nd Lieutenant George was one of the first to fall, killed by shrapnel [48]:

However, at 3 p.m. the first line of the 34th Brigade, Dorsets on the left [“B” and “C” Companies led, “A” and “D” followed fifty yards behind], Lancashire Fusiliers on the right, went briskly forward, undeterred by the Turkish shrapnel which had already opened on them during the final re-adjustments of the line, and had inflicted several casualties, Lieut. George being killed.

Despite this, the attack was to continue [49]:

The Turkish fire was heavy, but the Dorsets pushed on well across five hundred yards of No Man’s Land and carried the Turkish front trench with the bayonet, only to find another and even stronger one about forty yards further on. This they promptly attacked and might have carried it also had they not come under heavy fire from the left flank.

To the north of the Dorsets, the 32nd Brigade attack had inadvertently shifted to the left. In the confusion that followed, the 33rd Brigade, coming up from divisional reserve, collided with Yeomanry units from 2nd Mounted Division advancing towards Scimitar Hill. Some of the 6th Lincolnshire Regiment and the 7th South Staffordshire Regiment (33rd Brigade) managed to reinforce the 34th Brigade, but Atkinson notes that “too few reached the Dorsets and Lancashire Fusiliers to achieve much” [50].

As was often the case at Gallipoli, officer casualties were very heavy [50]:

Of the details of the fight for the Turkish trenches between Hetman Chair and Susak Kuya, little accurate information is available. Of the officers who reached the Turkish lines, none returned. Captain Gregory had been hit as he crossed our parapet, Captain Vincent and Lieuts. Bowler and Higgins were wounded in No Man’s Land and brought back, but of Major Leslie, Captain Moody and Lieut. Montgomery no more was ever heard.
[…]
As far as a story can be pieced together from the accounts of the few N.C.O.’s and men who came back, the Dorsets found themselves under enfilade fire from both flanks, a gap having opened between them and the Lancashire Fusiliers, and it was all they could do to cling to the trenches they had taken and beat of counter-attacks. Small parties held on in to the darkness and through the night […]

The attack of the 21st/22nd August was a costly failure [51]:

When the survivors of the Dorsets were collected they numbered rather over two hundred and fifty.
[…]
The casualties were over three hundred: about twenty-five men had been killed in or about our trenches, so that their fate was known, nearly two hundred were missing, while some ninety wounded were got in.

Initially, only three officers of the 5th Dorsets remained: Lieutenant V. T. A. Hayden (the quartermaster), and Second Lieutenants C. J. Richards and G. W. Smith (the machine gun officer). The battalion was afterwards temporarily combined with the 11th Manchesters to become “No 2 Battalion” in the 34th Brigade [52].

On the 21st, the attack by the 29th Division further north also failed. Both of its Brigades had to assemble on the reverse slopes of Chocolate Hill, which provided the only cover in the whole area, but which soon became a place of chaos [53]. The assault battalion of the 87th Brigade, the 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, succeeded in getting to the top of Scimitar Hill, but were unable to hold it for very long. Follow-up attacks by the 1st Border Regiment and the 2nd South Wales Borderers also failed [54]. The 86th Brigade found their way to Hill 112 blocked by burning scrub, and in the ensuing chaos got inadvertently mixed up with the 32nd Brigade on their right and the attack petered out [55].

It was a positive inferno: a blazing hot day, a scorching forest fire, and an invisible foe raining death upon them.

The arrival of the yeomanry was not able to change anything either [56]

In the meantime, however, the 2nd Mounted Division was advancing right across the plain from Lala Baba in support, suffering considerably from artillery fire during the movement. On arrival about Chocolate Hill the yeomanry pressed forward eagerly into the fight and they appear to have become a good deal intermingled with the 29th Division.

The whole attack was a disaster. By the end of the day, there had been no progress at all at Suvla.

The Battle of Scimitar Hill was the final attempt to break the deadlock on the Gallipoli peninsula. The 5th Dorsets would remain at Suvla until the evacuations from the peninsula in December. The evacuations were the only parts of the Gallipoli campaign that seemed to be entirely successful in achieving their objectives.

3.3 Aftermath:

The family of Second Lieutenant Frank William George would have learned of his death towards the end of August. Thomas Hardy’s own surviving correspondence on Frank mostly dates from early September 1915. 2/Lieut. George’s name was published in official casualty lists in October 1915 [57].

Extract from casualty list published in the Army and Navy Gazette, 30th October 1915, p. 938.

2/Lieut. George was also one of six Dorsetshire Regiment officers whose names were mentioned in the third Despatch of General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, which was published in the London Gazette on the 26 January 1916 (others included Lieutenant-Colonel Hannay and Major Leslie) [58].

Extract from Despatch by General Sir Ian Hamilton, Supplement to the London Gazette, 28 January 1916, p. 1202. Source: The Gazette.

3.4 Memorials:

Second Lieutenant Frank William George has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Turkey. In the United Kingdom, his name also features on the war memorial at Bere Regis and on the memorial in Gray’s Inn Chapel, London [59].

Bere Regis: War Memorial (Dorset)

4. The wider impact on Dorset:

The August Offensive at Suvla would have a profound effect on Dorset more generally. The 5th Dorsets would have been mostly made up of local men that had volunteered for service just after the outbreak of war.

Consequently, many war memorials in Dorset contain the names of those that were killed serving with the 5th Dorsets at Suvla. For example, the memorial cemetery gateway at Corfe Castle includes the name of a distant cousin of mine: Private Alfred Harry Day, who was killed in action on the 9th August.

Two men named on the war memorial at Wool, my home village, were killed-in-action in the same attack as 2/Lieut. George: Privates Victor Churchill and Charles Tom Davis.

Two brothers from Chilfrome, Privates Bertram and Cyril Legge, were both killed in action on the 21st/22nd August (a third brother, Lance Corporal George Legge, MM, survived Suvla, but was killed in action in October 1918, while posted to the 6th Battalion).

Dorchester: SDGR Dorchester Branch War Memorial in St Peter’s Church (Dorset)

At least seven Dorset-based bellringers were killed in action while serving with the 5th Dorsets at Suvla, six of them during the August Offensive [60]. This included three members of the Dorchester Branch of the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers: Lance Corporal Edwin Henry Foot (Buckland Newton) on the 9th August; Private William Benjamin Drake (Hilton) and Sergeant Harry Wilson (Milton Abbey) on the 21st August. The others were: Corporal George Samuel Batten (Leigh), Lance Corporal Victor George Merrifield (Fontmell Magna), Private Stephen John Samways (Chideock), and (in November 1915) Private George Henry John Hoare (Rampisham). A Wiltshire member of the Salisbury Guild, Private Arthur James Merritt of the 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, would be killed in action on the 10th August in the fighting at Chunuk Bair, in the Anzac sector south of Suvla.

Some of the wounded would survive, only to die later. For example, Private Sidney James White, a bellringer from Sturminster Marshall, suffered a gunshot wound in his left leg on the 21st August, which fractured the bone. His leg was amputated through the thigh and he was eventually discharged at Dorchester on the 2nd June 1916. He died on the 25th October 1918, aged 30, and was buried at Sturminster Marshall.

Bere Regis: War Memorial (Dorset)

5. Before Marching and After:

Thomas Hardy wrote a poem in memory of his second cousin. “Before Marching and After” was first published in the Fortnightly Review of the 1st October 1915 [61]:

Before Marching and After
(in Memoriam F. W. G.)

Orion swung southward aslant
Where the starved Egdon pine-trees had thinned,
The Pleiads aloft seemed to pant
With the heather that twitched in the wind;
But he looked on indifferent to sights such as these,
Unswayed by love, friendship, home joy or home sorrow,
And wondered to what he would march on the morrow.

The crazed household-clock with its whirr
Rang midnight within as he stood,
He heard the low sighing of her
Who had striven from his birth for his good;
But he still only asked the spring starlight, the breeze,
What great thing or small thing his history would borrow
From that Game with Death he would play on the morrow.

When the heath wore the robe of late summer,
And the fuchsia-bells, hot in the sun,
Hung red by the door, a quick comer
Brought tidings that marching was done
For him who had joined in that game overseas
Where Death stood to win, though his name was to borrow
A brightness therefrom not to fade on the morrow.

References:

[1] The Times, 3 September 1915, p. 6; via the Times Digital Archive (£).

[2] Michael Millgate, Thomas Hardy: a biography revisited (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 10-11.

[3] Thomas Hardy, letter to Sir Evelyn Wood, 19 March 1915; transcript in Dorset County Museum; also in: The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy, ed. Richard Little Purdy and Michael Millgate, Vol. 5 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), p. 85.

[4] Alexander Charles Stewart, classicist and army cyclist, British Library Untold Lives blog, 12 April 2018:
https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2018/04/alexander-charles-stewart-classicist-and-army-cyclist.html

[5] Thomas Hardy, The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy, ed. Michael Millgate (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1984), p. 400.

[6] Ibid., p. 401.

[7] Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Odes Book III, Ode XXVI, in: Horace, The Odes and Epodes, tr. C. E. Bennett, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1912), pp 261-262
Available from the Internet Archive, via Digital Library of India: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98705/page/n287/

[8] Thomas Hardy, letter to Sydney Cockerell, 1 September 1915; MS Adams; in: Collected Letters, Vol. 5, p. 120.

[9] The Times, 3 September 1915, p. 6.

[10] Thomas Hardy, letter to Constance Dugdale, 1 September 1915; MS Texas; in: Collected Letters, Vol. 5, pp. 120-121.

[11] Thomas Hardy, letter to Florence Henniker, 2 September 1915; MS Dorset County Museum; in: Collected Letters, Vol. 5, pp. 121-122.

[12] Thomas Hardy, letter to Eden Phillpotts, 4 September 1915; MS New York University; in: Collected Letters, Vol. 5, p. 122.

[13] The Sphere, 25 September 1915; via British Newspaper Archive (£).

[14] Thomas Hardy, letter to Sir Evelyn Wood, 12 September 1915; MS Adams; in: Collected Letters, Vol. 5, pp. 122-123.

[15] James P. Grieves, letter to Thomas Hardy, 3 September 1915; MS Dorset County Museum, H.2574; in: Hardy’s Correspondents website, University of Exeter:
http://hardycorrespondents.exeter.ac.uk/text.html?id=dhe-hl-h.2574

[16] Thomas Hardy, letter to Sydney Cockerell, 17 September 1915; MS Adams; in: Collected Letters, Vol. 5, p. 123.

[17] Millgate, Thomas Hardy: a biography revisited, p. 464.

[18] Ibid., p. 465.

[19] Ralph Pite, Thomas Hardy: the guarded life (London: Picador, 2006), p. 431; “our one” — here Pite is citing Florence Emily Hardy, letter to Lady Hoare, 30 August 1915; in: Letters of Emma and Florence Hardy, ed. Michael Millgate (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), p. 109.

[20] F.B. Pinion, Thomas Hardy: his life and friends (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992), p. 329.

[21] Thomas Hardy, “Before marching and after,” in Collected Poems (London: Macmillan, 1923), pp 512-513; via Internet Archive (Brigham Young University):
https://archive.org/details/collectedpoemsof00hard/page/512/

[22] Millgate, Thomas Hardy: a biography revisited, p. 465.

[23] Life, p. 477.

[24] Record series used include: Birth, Marriage and Death (BMD) records, including probate indexes and baptismal registers; the England and Wales Census, 1851-1911; the 1939 Register; electoral registers, service records (including WO 363, War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’); all via Findmypast (£):
https://www.findmypast.com/

[25] 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), p. xiii; via Internet Archive (University of California Libraries):
https://archive.org/details/regimentalrollof00highiala/page/xii/

[26] British Red Cross, Volunteers during the First World War:
https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Volunteers-during-WW1

[27] T. C. Atkinson, “History of the 5th Battalion, The Dorset Regiment, 1914-1919,” in: History of the Dorsetshire Regiment, 1914-1919, Part III, The Service Battalions (Dorchester: Henry Ling; London: Simpkin Marshall, 1932), pp. 1-93.

[28] Atkinson, p. 12.

[29] Atkinson, p. 15.

[30] Peter Hart, Gallipoli (London: Profile Books, 2011), pp. 279-280.

[31] Atkinson, p. 17

[32] Atkinson, pp. 17-18.

[33] Atkinson, p. 20.

[34] Hart, p. 367.

[35] Atkinson, pp. 21-22.

[36] Atkinson, p. 23.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Stephen Chambers, Gallipoli: Suvla, August Offensive, Battleground Europe (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2011), pp. 141-146.

[39] Atkinson, pp. 26-27.

[40] Atkinson, pp. 28-29.

[41] National Army Museum, G. W. Gregory, 34th Brigade Collection, p. 12; cited in Chambers, Gallipoli: Suvla, August Offensive, p. 152.

[42] C. E. Callwell, The Dardanelles, Campaigns and their lessons (London: Constable, 1919), p. 246; via Internet Archive (University of Toronto):
https://archive.org/details/dardanelleswithm00calluoft/page/246/

[43] Callwell, pp. 246-247

[44] Chambers, Gallipoli: Suvla, August Offensive, pp. 145-146.

[45] Stair Gillon, The story of the 29th Division: a record of gallant deeds (London: Thomas Nelson, 1925), p. 58; also available from the British Library (Digital Store 09084.cc.37.):
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100002339298.0x000002

[46] Atkinson, p. 30.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Atkinson, pp. 30-31.

[49] Atkinson, p. 31.

[50] Ibid.

[51] Atkinson, p. 32.

[52] Ibid.

[53] Gillon, p. 58.

[54] Gillon, p. 59.

[55] Ibid.

[56] Callwell, p. 248:
https://archive.org/details/dardanelleswithm00calluoft/page/248/

[57] Army and Navy Gazette, 30th October 1915, p. 938; via British Newspaper Archive (£).

[58] Despatch from General Sir Ian Hamilton,  Supplement to the London Gazette, No. 29455, 28 January 1916, p. 1195:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29455/supplement/1195

[59] Grays Inn War Memorial:
https://www.graysinn.org.uk/the-inn/history/members/war-memorial/world-war-i

[60] Robert Wellen, Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers: Great War Memorial Booklet (2019); information available at:
https://sdgr.org.uk/great-war-memorial-booklet/

[61] Thomas Hardy, “Before marching and after,” in Collected Poems (London: Macmillan, 1923), pp 512-513.

Note: One of the pieces of evidence that I have not been able to consult while compiling this post has been Second Lieutenant George’s service records, which are part of the WO 339 series (War Office: Officers’ Services, First World War) now held at The National Archives (WO 339/32082). I hope to be able to call these up on my next visit to Kew, although I cannot predict when that will be:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1085984

[All links were working as of the 22nd August 2020]

Update October 31, 2021:

The Bere Regis Village Website has made available PDF copies of the vast majority of its parish magazine archive. The wartime issues make for fascinating reading, especially as the vicar ….

I recently found an interesting piece on Lieutenant Frank George in the Bere Regis & Winterborne Kingston Parish Magazine for October 1915. It mentions Frank’s brothers as well as the Times obituary written by Thomas Hardy. The piece also mentions Private Charles Bright of the 5th Dorsets, who was killed in action on the same day as Lieutenant George.

In an adjacent column is a list of villagers that had been wounded while serving with the 5th Dorsets, presumably in the August Offensive at Suvla: Sergeant W. Lush, Privates B. Diffy, W. Cox, W. Rawles (missing), W. Ames, E. Legg, F. Stickley, and T. Russell. It was eventually accepted that Private Walter Edward Rawles (Service No. 10583) had also been killed in action on the 21st August 1915. Lieutenant George and Privates Bright and Rawles are all commemorated on the Helles Memorial. The W. Ames in the list of wounded is probably Private William James Ames (Service No. 10873), who survived Gallipoli to die of wounds in France on the 4th October 1916, aged 21, and is buried in Contay British Cemetery (Somme).

Extract from the Bere Regis & Winterborne Kingston Parish Magazine, October 1915, announcing the death of Lieutenant Frank George. Source: Bere Regis Village Website: https://www.bereregis.org/parishmagazines.htm