Good Morning,
I hope you enjoy today’s Trench Lincs which follows on from last week's Armistice commemorations. I am sure we all agree there is a huge amount of vacuous virtue signalling now attached to war dead remembrance. Whether this is celebrities on tv wearing diamante poppies, or football clubs wearing poppies on their shirts, white poppies produced by the so called peace organisations or the now obligatory LGBTQ poppy badges - I ask myself, why is everyone getting in on the act? so as to be seen to be 'doing their bit.'?
Surely, other than the service at the Cenotaph, shouldn't acts of remembrance be quiet and reflective events? if you disagree, please let me know.
Banner at Nottingham Forest last Sunday. I am sure the sentiment is well meant, but is it really necessary? Or am I just becoming another grumpy old man!? Please let me have your thoughts.
The Lincoln and North Lincs WFA branch held their annual service of remembrance once again at 11am last Monday at Thorpe in the Fallows. Having adopted the lonely memorial at Thorpe back in 2009 and paid twice over the last 15 years towards its cleaning and upkeep, the annual service is a low key small affair where I am sure that the act of remembrance displayed here is genuine and well received by the attendees. Other than these few words in Trench Lincs, the branch and its supporters do not feel the need to shout from the rooftops. Quite the contrary, those who attend can spend ten minutes in quiet contemplation and then resume their daily lives, just, in my opinion, how it should be.
On the day, the service was well attended by branch supporters, family members and representatives of Sturton By Stow Parish Council. Wreaths were laid by Mike Credland on behalf of the branch and by the Chairman of the Parish Council and then individual poppy crosses were laid, one for each man named on the memorial.
Many thanks too go to our bugler, Neil, for his perfect playing on the day.
At the end of the service, most of the attendees travelled to Sturton By Stow for a coffee and a chin wag. All in all, a very successful morning.
NEWS & EVENTS
Next Meeting – Spalding & South Lincolnshire Branch, WFA – Thursday, November 28th – Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT – 7.00 for 7.30 pm.
Alex Keyes presents: “England’s Difficulty is Ireland’s Opportunity; Sir Roger Casement and the German-Irish Brigade.”
Alex Keyes is a serving Prison Officer; formerly at Lincoln he is currently at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham. Alongside his career as a Prison Officer, he is a historian of modern Ireland. Next year he will be starting a PhD course researching the lives of Irish POW’s held by the British and Irish Governments from 1916 to 1924.
In this evening’s talk, he describes how in October 1914 a strange figure, travelling in disguise, took ship from New York bound for Germany. Only a decade before Sir Roger Casement had been heralded as one of the greatest diplomats and humanitarians of his age, knighted by King George V for his service to the British Empire. Now he was on a mission to defeat the very Empire to which he had once sworn allegiance. Casement's task, undertaken on behalf of the Irish Republican Brotherhood - and its American sister organisation: Clan Na Gael - was to raise and train a brigade of Irish prisoners of war who would form the backbone of a German invasion of Ireland, which, combined with a local rising, would establish an independent Irish Republic. Sir Roger's journey from Knight of the realm to public enemy number one was a globe spanning adventure taking him from the Congo to the Amazon via New York, Belfast, Dublin and Berlin, ending with humiliation and death at Pentonville Prison, condemned by his former friends and enemies alike. Why did Casement fail and what were Germany’s plans for Ireland following the Great War?
Discover the answers in ‘England’s Difficulty is Irelands Opportunity; Roger Casement and the German-Irish Brigade’ on the 28th November at Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT. Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm start (please ring the door-bell for entry). There is ample on-street parking outside the Church, and free refreshments will be served at the end of the event.
Those who attended Lincoln Branch will know this talk was presented there in September when we suffered an IT failure. You will be pleased to hear we have taken steps to ensure we don’t suffer a repeat of this at Spalding. So, if you missed this excellent talk at Lincoln, or would like to experience it in its full glory – Alex says he has some excellent visuals supporting the talk – please come along to Spalding where you will be made very welcome.
Sir Roger Casement
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Next Meeting – Lincoln & North Lincolnshire Branch, WFA – Monday, November 25th – Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG – 6.30 for 7.00pm start.
Steve Warburton presents “First in – Last Out, Brig-Gen C H T Lucas (87th Brigade, 29th Division) at Gallipoli”.
Steve Warburton hails from Peterborough and is a history teacher and experienced public speaker who has undertaken extensive research of the career of Brig-Gen C H T Lucas, which forms the basis of a number of talks. He is also a former Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Branch of the WFA.
In this evenings talk, Steve uses excerpts from CHTL’s diaries and letters home as well as photographs he took on the Gallipoli Peninsula, all in the context of a survey of the Campaign. CHTL was one of the 12 officers from the 29th Division who survived to experience the full Campaign from landing (April 1915) to evacuation (January 1916). CHTL went on to command the 87th Brigade until early 1918 when he was promoted to command the Machine Gun Training School, briefly returning to the 87th before being given a division in Autumn1918. In 1919 whilst commanding the Fermoy Brigade in Ireland he was captured by the IRA but escaped after several weeks in captivity.
The Gallipoli Campaign is, of course, very close and of great interest to us here in Lincolnshire. A party of us visited the Peninsula in 2022, travelling extensively over the area of the Campaign under the expert guidance of Dudley Giles and his Turkish colleague Bulant. This talk should, therefore, be of great interest and we would urge you to come along to the Royal Naval Association Club on the 25th to enjoy the convivial atmosphere of our meetings, make new friends and learn something new in the process. Doors open 6.30pm for 7.00pm start (new start time of 7.00 for 7.30 does not come into force until January) and there is ample parking behind the club, and on-street in front.
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The next meeting of the Leadenham Military History Society will be next Tuesday 19 November 2024.
Show and tell: Marconi R1155 and T1154 Combination, By Steve Locking
Presentation: 61st Troop Carriers Mid-Air Collision, by Dave Bristow. A brief history of the USAAF 61st Troop Carrier Group based at RAF Barkston Heath in 1944.
The meeting will be held at Leadenham Village Hall with a start time of 7.30pm.
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On Wednesday 20th November at 11am, there will be the annual Cambrai Day service held at the Tank Memorial on Tritton Way, Lincoln. This event is organised by Friends of the Lincoln Tank and again, everyone is welcome to attend. Please be on site for 10.45.
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Please click on this link to read the latest Sleaford Aviation Society newsletter
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With regard to last week's TL, Tony Nutkins writes; 'Thanks very much for a bumper edition of Trench Lincs, excellent pieces from yourself and other members and plenty to reread.
The treatment of our ex soldiers has never been overly generous to put it politely. If it were not for numerous charities and regimental association welfare funds supporting them, as well as many self help groups, there would be many more needing help to whom the current or any previous government would give only the usual parsimonious assistance or in some cases any help at all. [I totally agree - Ed]
Interesting from Peter the welcome suggestion of placing the whole of Binyon's poem, "For The Fallen" in this week's edition.
It was written for a newspaper competition in September 1914 for the dead of the early battles, Mons and Le Cateau. Binyon acknowledged that he wrote the verse beginning "They shall grow not old..." first and wrote the rest of the poem around it.
This reminds me also of the second of the orations which is used on Remembrance occasions, "When you go home...", referred to by the RBL as "The Kohima", and written in its original form by John Maxwell Evans, one of a series of 12 laments for the dead of WW1 in 1918.
Part of Maxwell Evans' original wording, the first two lines, was inscribed on the Kohima war memorial when it was erected after WW2. It was changed to the currently used form when the memorial was renovated in the 1960's. However, the subtlety of Maxwell Evans complete original verse was lost as it is one of the dead speaking from among the dead with the dead responding.
Maxwell Evans commented that the lament made no sense when it was recited in the UK and here is the original lament in full:
When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrows these gave their today.
Went the day well? We died and never knew
But well or ill, freedom we died for you.
Some years ago, I started the ball rolling to renovate the war memorial in St Matthew's churchyard Yiewsley, West Drayton Middlesex.
I was working as a funeral director and noticed the state of the memorial and mentioned it to my area manager and the director of our memorials department. It transpired that the Mayor of Hillingdon had a fund for the renovation of memorials within the borough and the work was put in hand by our memorials department and the local council works department.
We cleaned the memorial free of charge using a new at the time ultrasonic cleaning system which did not damage the stonework, it had not been done since 1921 when it was erected.
The lettering was all repaired or replaced at cost, also at cost new brass plaques with the names of the WW2 casualties applied to the base of the memorial which had been discovered when the local council workers uncovered it while landscaping the area surrounding the memorial.
A rededication service was held on the 4th October 2009, the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the church, and I was given the privilege of reading Binyon's poem in full during the service.
Memorial at St. Matthew's Church, Yiewsley.
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There is an overlap of service, most notably General Horace Smith Dorrien, from the Anglo Zulu war of 1879 and the Great War of 1914-18. Therefore, Mike Credland's recent email aroused my interest for two reasons, (1) I was in South Africa earlier this year and visited the site of Fort Eshowe where Colonel Charles Pearson was besieged by the Zulus for 71 days and (2), the local Lincolnshire interest in Mike's email.
Mike writes for us; ' Thought this article would be of interest Jonathan, which appeared in this week's Martin Village magazine. There is much information about him on the Internet (eg. he received 10 MiD's), but as yet still trying to find out his connection with Holy Trinity Church, built in 1876, or the village.'
Colonel Charles Pearson - what is his connection with the village of Martin?
I immediately registered as a member of the forum site www.1879zuluwar.com and posted a question. However, to date, I have not had a reply. Is this to be an ongoing mystery? or can a TL reader unlock the secret behind the Altar Cross in Martin church?
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I am always pleased to hear from new or irregular contributors to TL and this last week, Christine Ward from Beeston, west of Nottingham has been in touch. She writes; 'Many thanks for yet another fascinating edition of Trench Lincs. [Thank you - Ed]
Here in Beeston, Nottingham we have some unusual memorials. My husband and son recently produced an “adventure lab” for Geocaching fans to follow in the days leading up to today. (Armistice Sunday)
Here are some photos.
The Crimea: this is in the church yard.
The Boer War: in Broadgate Park. This has the names of all who fell.
WW1/2 This is at a road junction where the remembrance parade was held last Sunday. No names on this one.
A blue plaque on Tesco for the man who founded the Beeston Lads Club/Boys Brigade, sadly the plaque doesn’t tell you he lost his life.
A local historian, David Hallam, has written a fine tribute see: http://www.beeston-notts.co.uk/ww1_pearson.shtml
You will see the historian has researched extensively on those who lost their lives. (Also some info on the Crimean men)
Stephen H Pearson.
[I found David Hallam's web site of research to be a fascinating and extremely well put together piece of work. I hope you will find time to click on the link above - Ed]
The memorial in nearby Attenborough Church Yard to those who lost their lives in the explosion at the Chilwell shell filling factory and who lie in a mass grave.
You can read more about the Chilwell munitions explosion here The Chilwell catastrophe: Fatal explosion on the home front – The Historic England Blog
Thank you very much Christine for your article this week. It is very unusual to see other ranks memorialised by name in the 19th Century and yet the war memorial does not contain names of the WWI war dead, again an unusual feature. There is always something new to learn about memorialisation - it is not the dry subject that many believe.
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Melvin Dobbs is certainly not an irregular contributor to TL. This week he has in been in Birmingham and comments; 'I found myself recently in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, close by there is a closed burial ground - the Warstone Lane Cemetery.
The weather was not too good so I apologise for the poor quality of the pictures.
I came across various socially interesting - historic headstones, but I was on the look for those with military connections.
There was the Cross of Sacrifice with a screen wall listing the names of Service Men from WW1 & WW2 who are buried in shared public graves, which cannot be marked with a War Graves headstone. For each name, their burial plot is listed along with service record.
But I also found a most unusual memorial stone in the form of a tree trunk reminding me of those shattered war torn trees of the Western Front.'
I set out James Cooper's VC Citation below, but it is interesting to note that the 2/24th Regiment of Foot, was the same battalion, who twelve years later in 1879, would be fighting the Zulus at Islandwana and at Rorke's Drift. Such was the way in days of Empire service.
COOPER, James. Private, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment. - 7th May 1867, Seventeen men of the 24th Regiment had been sent ashore at the Andaman Island, Bay of Bengal, to track down a party of missing British sailors. On landing, they were attacked by natives and their boat swamped by the sea. Cooper was amongst those sent to rescue the soldiers. A storm was raging and the rescuers' gig began to fill up, forcing them to retire. Another two attempts were made until all seventeen soldiers were safely brought back off the island.
All five men involved in the rescue; Cooper, Private David Bell, Assistant Surgeon Campell Douglas, Private William Griffiths and Private Thomas Murphy were awarded the Victoria Cross.
Thank you Melvin.
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Sticking now with war memorials for one last item this week, as I was recently involved in a discussion about 'our favourite' memorials. One that has always stuck in my mind, is the island memorial on Mauritius which I found on holiday some years ago.
The history of Mauritius is that it was a French controlled island until the Royal Navy captured it in 1810 due to its well protected natural harbour. Fortunately, the French and British communities appear to have lived peaceably and when war broke out in 1914, men from both nations volunteered for service.
It is therefore, only natural that their memorial should feature a Poilu and a Tommy, side by side bearing a victors laurel wreath. The symbolism of this joint effort is very clear and I am delighted to share my photograph with you this week.
British and French surnames, side by side on the memorial which stands in the grounds of The Royal College at Curepipe.
I wandered into the Royal College and spotted this photo on the wall showing the unveiling in the rain in April 1922.
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My new favourite site, CJS Colour, has come up with another lovely colourised photo of one of our brave nurses this week.
Sister Elise Margaret Kemp.
Elise was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1881. She was one of six siblings. Her father was a doctor who had emigrated from England.
The family emigrated back to the UK when she was still a child and settled in London. She attended finishing school in Brussels before following her father into the medical profession and qualified as a nurse in 1908.
In 1914 she was called up to serve in the Territorial Forces Nursing Service. She was posted to France in January 1916, serving with 58 Casualty Clearing Station at Lillers.
She was on temporary attachment to 37 Casualty Clearing Station at Godewaersvelde when it was bombed on the night of 20th October 1917. Four members of staff and three patients were killed. One of those killed was Elise.
Sister Elise Kemp was 36 years old and she is buried in Godewaersvelde British Cemetery.
Elise Kemp
John MacGregor also caught my eye this week. Born in Nairn Scotland, he emigrated to Canada at the age of 20 and became a fur trapper. On the outbreak of war, he walked 120 miles in snow shoes to Vancouver to enlist in the 2nd Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles. In addition to the Victoria Cross, he was awarded the Military Cross and Bar and the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
After the Great War, he returned to Canada where he worked as a fisherman, carpenter and millright before serving again in the second war, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. MacGregor died in 1952 at the age of 63 and is buried in Cranberry Lake Cemetery, British Columbia.
His VC citation reads - MacGregor, John. Temporary Captain, 2nd Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF. 29th September - 3rd October 1918 - When his company's advance was held up by machine gun fire near Cambrai, France, he located the guns, ran forward alone and put them out of action, killing four Germans and taking eight prisoner. As the enemy were resisting stubbornly he went along the line organising the platoons and taking command of the leading waves which continued the advance. He displayed great bravery during five days of continuous fighting.
John MacGregor VC, MC and Bar, DCM.
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On the recent Lincoln and North Lincs WFA branch tour to France, the party once again paid a visit to Quarry Cemetery outside of Auchy Les Mines. Here lies the body of Fergus Bowes Lyons, brother to the late Queen Mother who was killed at the battle of Loos on or around the 25th September 1915.
For many years, there was a debate as to where Bowes Lyons was buried and eventually, the CWGC erected a headstone that reads "Buried Near This Spot."
The annual visit to Quarry Cemetery is one that I am sure we all look forward to, but it wasn't until this last week that I stopped and thought, 'I wonder who Fergus Bowes Lyon was as a person and what did he look like?'.
When he was killed, Bowes Lyon was a Captain in a Kitchener New Army battalion in 9th (Scottish) Division but this last week, I came across two photos of interest. The first is a portrait of him and the second shows him with his brother officers in the regular 2nd battalion in 1913. I think they are worth sharing and maybe, like a lot of the so called 'celebrity' graves on the Western Front - Kipling, Chevasse, Parfett, Owen, Asquith etc. - we stop and think of them all as human beings and the tragedy of their lives cut short.
Captain Fergus Bowes Lyons
Bowes Lyons - 8th from the left on the back row, in India January 1913.
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Please find an interesting document that I came across this week which gives the British Army's casualties on a month by month basis throughout the Great War.
The very obvious spikes in numbers are July and September 1916 on the Somme, April 1917 at the battle of Arras, the steady accumulation through the 3rd Battle of Ypres - August to November 1917, the German Spring Offensive of March and April 1918 and finally, just how costly the fighting in the final 100 Days was from August 8th, the Battle of Amiens, to the Armistice in November 1918.
IN MEMORIAM – The Lincolnshire Regiment 17th November.
1914
8263 Private H Cramer, 1st Battalion. Buried in Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery, France.
8287 Private James Henry Murray, 2nd Battalion. Remembered on the Le Touret Memorial, France.
7524 Private Edward Gillett, 1st Battalion. Remembered on the Menin Gate, Belgium
Lieutenant Nigel Jocelin Searancke Huntington, 2nd Battalion, aged 22. Remembered on the Le Touret Memorial, France [See below – Ed]
1915
16009 Private G H Dempster, 8th Battalion, aged 30. Buried in Chapelle d’Armentieres New Military Cemetery, France.
4669 Private Charles Willis Ashley, 8th Battalion, aged 18. Remembered on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton, UK.
1916
16177 Private H Hodgkinson, 8th Battalion. Buried in Puchevillers British Cemetery, France.
8080 Private William Alfred Derry, 1st Battalion, aged 31. Buried in Vermelles British Cemetery, France.
14692 Private W Kelledy, 8th Battalion. Buried in Warloy Baillon Communal Cemetery, France.
25262 Private Edward Parker, 2nd Battalion. Remembered on the Thiepval memorial, France.
1917
40497 Lance Sergeant Samuel Alfred Ward, 2nd Battalion, aged 29. Remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium
40868 Private William Martin, 2nd Battalion, aged 21. – Ditto. –
38071 Private Herbert Hallam. – Ditto.-
28180 Private Charles Wenham, 10th Battalion. Buried in Cleethorpes Cemetery, UK.
32993 Private D Bray, 2nd Battalion. Buried in Poelcapelle British Cemetery, Belgium
39671 Private Sam Clayton Rowntree, 16th ** Battalion, aged 24. Buried in New Irish Farm Cemetery, Belgium.
** There wasn’t a 16th Battalion and I assume this should read 1/6th Battalion. Or can anyone shine some light on this man’ service.
1918
7529 Private A Gregory, 1st Battalion. Buried in Caudry British Cemetery, France.
48967 Private G Gutteridge, 14th ** Battalion, aged 33. Buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, France.
32510 Corporal Harry Reynolds, 1st Garrison Battalion. Buried in Rawalpindi War Cemetery, Pakistan.
28985 Private J Richardson, 12th Labour Battalion, aged 26. Buried in Hewarton Cemetery, UK.
266396 Private J W Seeley, 4th Battalion, aged 36. Buried in Scunthorpe Cemetery, UK.
203847 Private P Stevenson, 1st Battalion. Buried in Berlin S/W Cemetery, Germany.
** Having never had one of these anomalies before, we now have two in the same week. I assume this should read 1/4th battalion as there wasn’t a 14th battalion.
With regard to the death of Lieutenant Nigel Jocelin Searancke Huntington on this day in 1914, as listed above, he was educated at Windsor and gazetted to the 6th Battalion Rifle Brigade – see photo below – before he was gazetted to the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment in December 1912 and promoted Lieutenant in July 1914.
He served with the battalion in Gibraltar and Bermuda and acted as Adjutant for a time. Huntington arrived in France in early November 1914, and his short war ended on the 17th of November when he was killed in action.
Lt. N J S Huntington - photographed when serving with the Rifle Brigade.
Note the article states his Christian name as Jocelin Nigel, the CWGC records have him as Nigel Jocelin.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
Until next week,
Kind regards
Jonathan
Email me on: trenchlincs@gmail.com
© J C J D’Hooghe.
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