Good Morning,
I hope you enjoy today’s Trench Lincs which comes to you from Christchurch, New Zealand where my wife and I are enjoying the first test match between New Zealand and England at the Hagley park Oval. We are 13 hours ahead of UK time and it is now Sunday afternoon with me as England won the test match by 8 wickets earlier today which gives us another day and a half to explore the Christchurch area.
The flight to Christchurch via Singapore and Sydney was about 30 hours but manageable. Landing in Sydney at 7.30am as the sun rose was spectacular.
At that time of day, the famous beaches were deserted.
After a 3 hour lay over, time for a cold beer, we then had a further flight to Christchurch. Again, the approach was fabulous with snow covered peaks, glacial streams running down into the fertile farm land in the valleys below.
There is more about Christchurch below.
NEWS & EVENTS
Next Meeting – Lincoln Branch WFA – Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG – Show n’ Tell Evening – Monday, December 2nd. – 6.30 for 7.00pm.
Yes, its that time of year when Lincoln Branch opens the floor to its supporters for our annual Show n’ Tell event. We invite anyone to come forward and deliver a 10 minute presentation to us on any subject relating to The Great War or its aftermath. This can be based upon research you’ve done on a family member, or a specific person, an artifact you own, medals, weaponry, artworks, in fact anything related to the period and its aftermath.
The event will be followed by the serving of a free buffet supper which is being prepared for us by Steward Alan’s wife, Monica. All home made with fresh ingredients. If you attended the FoLT Show n’ Tell event, you won’t need telling how good it is!.
The event will be free, but we will be running a “Special” raffle to win a first edition hard-back copy of a new book by John Nichol, “The Unknown Warrior”, personally signed by the author. You think there is nothing more to write about the subject? Well, John has put together an incredible narrative about the subject, and this book is highly recommended reading. So come along, buy a ticket or three, and you could win it in time for Christmas.
This is Lincoln's penultimate event for 2024. The branch finishes the year with a talk on Monday, December 16th by Scott Lindgren, “A Concept Vindicated, The Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914”. As usual, doors open 6.30pm for 7.00pm start.
Next Meeting – Spalding Branch WFA – Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT – Show n’ Tell Evening – Thursday, December 12th – 7.00 for 7.30pm.
Yes, not only is Lincoln running a Show n’ Tell, but Spalding is as well! It’s actually a long-standing tradition at both branches and follows a similar format with supporters again encouraged to take 10 minutes to tell the audience about research they have carried out on a Great War related subject, family histories, objects they own, film or photographs.
It’s a great opportunity to get really involved with your branch. As with Lincoln’s event, it will be followed by the serving of a buffet supper, and the drawing of a winner for another signed copy of John Nichols book. If you are wondering why both branches have a copy to give away, John generously donated a copy to any WFA branch that requested one in order to promote it and his nationwide, interactive tour in which he talks about his personal journey of discovery and remembrance, the subject of commemoration, and the process of selecting an “Unknown Warrior” that the Nation, mothers, fathers, wives and children could identity with as “theirs” to own and mourn.
This is Spalding’s last event of 2024. Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm start. Hope to see you there. This friendly little branch deserves your support.
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December 16th: Scott Lindgren – A Concept Vindicated; the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914.
Both events kick off at 7pm and will be held at the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG. Everyone welcome to what will be the last Lincoln and North Lincs WFA speaker event for 2024.
Sinking of the Scharnhorst December 1914.
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The next meeting of the Leadenham Military History Society will be held in January 2025. I will update with full details in due course.
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Harking back to my piece about Fergus Bowes Lyons last week, Mike Credland kindly notes that;
'Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Rarely credited, but the person who in fact established Fergus Bowes-Lyon is buried at The Quarry Cemetery was local historian Jean Luc Gloriant from Auchy les Mines, a friend of mine for over twenty years. Jean is an authority on the Battle of Loos, particularly the Hohenzollern Redoubt, and spent many years carrying out research into the Captain's death and place of burial. This was eventually accepted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and an appropriate headstone erected.'
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Andrew Blow of Blow by Blow Productions and co-presenter in the Tank Tour II writes with a top offer for all TL readers.
Andrew writes;
Free viewing of our 52-minute documentary
In this 80th anniversary year, our documentary about the forgotten "angels" of the South East Asia campaign - the brave pilots and aircrew whose pinpoint drops, while under fire, sustained the besieged troops below - can now be viewed free in its entirety. Please go HERE and share the link with your friends. The DVD is available to order HERE. Enjoy the short clip above. Subscribe to this You Tube Channel : C47 Skytrain / Dakota – Angel of the Skies
Presented by Terry O'Halloran, who, as a young airman in 31 Squadron RAF in the 1960s, met some of the veterans who were involved.
Sir William Tritton, second from left, met with King George V and Queen Mary in Lincoln in 1918.
Reaches parts that Netflix can't reach
Deeply informative and compellingly LOCAL with fascinating old film, images and anecdotes. The story of the Lincoln Tanks, as told by yours truly (filmmaker Andrew Blow) and Military Historian Richard Pullen, is now available in a refreshed two-hour show.
Tank Tour Two was launched at a sell-out "Dine with Heritage" night on Wednesday last at the White Hart Hotel. The Hotel are our sponsors, and it is of course where Tritton and Wilson, seeking privacy and security, invented the tank in WW One.
Two Tank Tour events in March 2025 already have ticket pages:
Wednesday March 12th - Newark Library 2pm. £3 (subsidised by Inspire Culture) Limited seating
GO HERE FOR TICKETS
Friday March 14th - Nettleham Village Hall 7.30pm £10 (includes Eventbrite fees) 70 seats
GO HERE FOR TICKETS
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The more I read and research about the Victoria Cross winners of the Great War, the more I am struck by the very ordinary background of so many of them. Men who would have lived and died unnoticed but for the act of bravery that they undertook on one particular day, and on many occasions, on the spur of the moment without thought for their own safety.
One such recipient was Private Charles Hull, a Shoeing Smith, in the 21st Lancers. Charles Hull was a postman in his native Harrogate until he enlisted in the Lancers and after completing his trade training, he joined the regiment in India, where they served for the entire duration of the war.
On the surface, you would ask; How can a blacksmith in India win a VC?
On September 5th 1915, at Hafiz Kor, there was a local uprising by truculent tribesmen. A patrol of the 21st Lancers came under close and accurate fire. Captain Learoyd had his horse shot from underneath him, when the enemy were within a few yards of capturing or murdering Captain Learoyd, Private Hull spurred his horse forward, and whilst under fire, he rode to the captain's rescue, pulling Captain Learoyd up onto his own horse, he then rode the two of them to safety.
Private Charles Hull, surprisingly, also received a French Croix De Guerre, survived the war and became a policeman post-war in Leeds.
On November 11th, 1920, Charles Hull stood as an Honour Guard at the interment of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey.
Private Charles Hull VC, 21st Lancers.
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Returning to the subject of remembrance and readers opinions, I was pleased to hear from Mike Turner this week, who notes; 'I am a regular reader of your Trench Lincs emails after being introduced to them by Peter Garland after we met on a War Grave trip. Indeed I said to Peter that the WFA talks are of interest to me, but unfortunately they usually clash with another group that I attend.
I was late in reading last week’s letter so have only just caught up - apologies!
As a recently retired Chairman of a local RBL branch, and ex FAA member, I was interested in your comments re Remembrance and I do support your opinions re a lot of the hoohah that goes on under the blanket term Remembrance.
A good example is the annual celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall which seem to get worse as so called ‘STARS’ are paraded to sing (I use the term very loosely) some version of a ‘popular tune’ that also seem to have a tenuous connection to the memory of the fallen.
This year the focus was on Afghanistan, and while we should rightly remember those who were killed, injured or simply took part in that campaign, we must never forget the rest of the campaigns long or short or those who were killed or injured in ‘peace time service’.
I wholeheartedly agree that we need to cut the nonsense and simply pay our respects to those who fought or served to protect our freedom.'
Exactly Mike, more genuine meaning and less hoohah! please. That would suit most of us I believe.
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It was also a great pleasure to hear from Joe Royle this week. Joe writes; 'Many thanks once again for another excellent edition of Trench Lincs.
As you know, I don’t get to any physical meetings due to work and family commitments, but genuinely look forward to receiving Trench Lincs every week, and digest every circular sent. I especially enjoy learning more about the heroic deeds and sacrifices made by our forebears.
As regards REMEMBRANCE, readers may be interested to read a short piece about how my Freemasons Lodge, Beauchief Abbey Lodge 3793 showed our respects on Armistice Day, two weeks ago, which provides a perspective unknown by many.'
Please click on this link to read Joe's excellent piece https://mcusercontent.com/363e2db896f2f8d9553fda5f9/files/55c68ee0-043e-1d2e-d3e0-e9cc77783cd1/Dore_News_11th_November_2024.pdf
Thank you Joe and hope to see you before too long.
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Post war memorialisation in the 1920s, can appear, on the surface, to be a very dry subject. However, it is far from being dull. Many communities saw cohesion and a coming together at the end of the war, and yet more communities suffered strife, argument and rancour.
One of the big debates in Lincolnshire was regarding the siting of the community war memorial. Generally speaking, it was the upper middle classes who dominated the memorialisation processes and by and large, this class of people were High Church Anglicans and very Conservative in their outlook.
Hence, most memorials tended to be of traditional Christian iconography, a stone cross, and sited in the grounds or adjacent to the local church. This was all well and good, except that in Lincolnshire, the vast majority of the working class who had suffered, numerically, the greatest proportion of war dead, were not church attendees, but were chapel goers, being Methodists, Wesleyans, Baptists and Primitive Methodists and with ties to Liberalism and the rise of the Socialist Labour movement. In addition, there was a small but growing Catholic population due to the influx of itinerant Irish labourers looking for agricultural work.
This led to church and chapel often competing against each other to raise funds for their respective memorials, and families refusing to allow their war dead to be named on the church cross.
On Friday November 22nd, it was the Christmas Fayre and switching on of the Christmas lights at Navenby, near to where I live, and as there were hot drinks and stalls in the Methodist Chapel, I had the perfect excuse to pay a visit for the first time, and sure enough, there were two chapel war memorials on display.
Two brass plaques adorn the walls of Navenby Methodist Chapel, one for each world war.
By comparison, here is the Navenby C of E War memorial that sits in the churchyard. It is a very traditional Christian stone Celtic cross with Crusader sword and a panel of names.
It is interesting to note that there are 26 names on the Chapel memorial, but only 22 on the memorial in the churchyard.
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Christchurch is a beautiful city, easily walkable and a compelling mixture of British colonial design and modern development. The city was devastated by an earthquake in February 2011 when 185 people lost their lives.
The famous cathedral was wrecked with the steeple toppling over. It took from 2011 to 2022 before it was made safe enough for workmen to enter the interior of the building. It is now undergoing a major rebuild which is hoped to be completed by the end of 2027.
I spent a long morning walking the city looking for memorials and came up with the following for you.
The city war memorial unveiled in 1937.
The Bandsmen's Memorial bandstand which sits in the beautiful Botanical Gardens.
Memorial to the victims of the Spanish Flu epidemic.
The 1901 memorial to the life of Queen Victoria also incorporates the city's Boer War memorial.
The Bridge of Remembrance is a stunning arch in the middle of the city. It was built on this site as a WWI memorial as this site is where the Militia first met in 1867.
The arch truly is a fitting memorial.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott - Scott of the Antarctic, left on his ill fated 1912 expedition from Lyttleton Harbour just outside of Christchurch.
Taking the No. 8 bus from the city centre saw us arrive at the Gondola (Cable car) station. At the top you have a superb view over the above mentioned Lyttleton Harbour, from where both Scott and Shackleton commenced their expeditions.
Lyttleton Harbour.
Another captain, Captain James Cook, sits adjacent to Queen Victoria but has been vandalised to some degree with red paint!
Quaint trams run around the city centre and add a sense of nostalgia to the city's outlook.
And of course, my primary reason to be here in NZ, is the Test Match series which started in Christchurch and moves to both Wellington and Hamilton before the three match series ends before Christmas.
The ground in Christchurch is the Hagley Park Oval, an old fashioned ground without grandstands where you can still take your own camping chair and sit on the boundary edge to enjoy the cricket and the sunshine.
Next week I shall report from Blenheim and the Marlborough region vineyards, before we move on by ferry from Picton on the south island to Wellington on the north island for the start of the second test match.
IN MEMORIAM – The Lincolnshire Regiment 1st December.
1914
8273 Corporal F Westmore, 2nd Battalion. Buried in Merville Communal Cemetery, France.
1915
9762 Private C Fields, 6th Battalion. Buried in Azmak Cemetery, Gallipoli.
15668 Private J A Wilson, 6th Battalion, aged 22. – Ditto. –
15981 Private G Meatheringham, 6th Battalion, aged 18. Buried in Gedney Churchyard, UK.
10285 Private W York, 6th Battalion, aged 20. Buried in Hill 10 Cemetery, Gallipoli.
14981 Private B Hudson, 6th Battalion, aged 33. – Ditto. –
1917
Eight men all of the 2nd Battalion are recorded as having died on this day.
1918
20296 Private Charles Gair, 1st Garrison Battalion. Buried in Calcutta Cemetery, India.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
Last week's In Memoriam, featured Joseph Levi Chambers who was killed serving with the Lincolns aged just 16. I noted that along with George Dawson, we now know of two 16 year olds killed with the regiment.
As to be expected from the wonderful TL readers and their knowledge, I have now received details of a third 16 year old. Our correspondent writes; 'So here is a photo of my group to a local lad killed aged just 16! Richard Harvey was born in the second quarter 1899 in Bassingham, Lincolnshire.
He was the son of Henry and Harriet Atkinson. In 1915 Richard's father Henry sadly died and within weeks of his loss Richard went and lied about his age and enlisted as Private 17984 with the 7th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment and began training. During this time his mother had moved to Lincoln and had remarried in early 1916 to John William Atkinson so she now became Harriet Atkinson.
Richard entered his theatre of war in December on 1915. Sadly for Richard his war would only last 3 months. He is recorded as being killed in action on the 2nd March 1916. Richard has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate and the Lincoln War Memorial.
Given his birth wasn't registered until the second quarter of the year. Richard was still 16 at the time of his death. His medals and pension were all given to his mother who was living at 3 Union Road, Lincoln.
Maybe the death of his father prompted him for a new start in life? Or did he feel the need to now provide for his widowed mother?
I'd appreciate if anyone was able to add a Photograph of Richard to the story if they know of one available? Thankyou ever so much.'
If anyone can provide a photo of Richard for our (at this stage) anonymous correspondent, please let me know.
Until next week,
Kind regards
Jonathan
Email me on: trenchlincs@gmail.com
© J C J D’Hooghe.
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