Good Morning,
Welcome to this week’s Trench Lincs which quite unbelievably sees us in October, and having recently returned from holiday, I have now seen Christmas displays in the shops, not to mention the very wet and autumnal weather.
Talking of Christmas, I am pleased to let you know that the Lincoln and North Lincs WFA Christmas lunch on December 14th is now sold out.
This coming Wednesday, a party of 16 from the Lincoln WFA branch will set off for the Western Front. This advance guard of the 1st Battalion King’s Own Barrel Scrapers (1/KOBS), ably led by Lt. Colonel Credland, will be visiting what I term the ‘unsexy’ part of the front – namely the area of the 1915 battles, Neuve Chappelle, Aubers Ridge, Festubert and of course Loos – which will include attendance next Sunday the 13th at the annual service of remembrance at the Hohenzollern Redoubt.
Plenty to look forward to and a full report will appear on the 20th.
NEWS & EVENTS
Please find details of the next meeting at Leadenham Village Hall of the Leadenham Military History Group. – 7 for 7.30 pm start.
Tuesday 22 October 2024
Show and tell: Marconi R1155 and T1154 Combination, By Steve Locking.
Presentation: The Gunners at the Imjin River, April 1951, by Chris Finn. A Korean War story; the battle that saved Seoul.
British 25 Pounder in action in Korea.
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The next meeting of the Lincoln and North Lincs WFA Branch will be held on Monday October 28th: Tim Lynch – ‘Going Back; Pilgrimages to the Western Front.’
All meetings start at 19.00h and the venue is the Royal naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG. Everyone is welcome.
Peter Garland comments; ‘Readers might be interested to learn that the photograph above of “Ypres, Whitsuntide Monday 1919” was taken by Corporal Ivan Lancelot Bawtree who was born at Blackwater House, Sutton, Surrey on 12th January 1894 to Alfred Bawtree and his wife Matilda Hephzibah Clark. After leaving school he joined a company of photographic plate makers which was eventually taken over by Kodak.
In 1915 he answered a call from his Managing Director to join the British Red Cross Society who were in need of photographers to work for Major Fabian Ware’s Graves Registration Commission, where he was charged with recording the graves of the fallen as part of the registration process. By 1919 he was in Ypres recording the devastation in the town and its subsequent rebuilding by returning townsfolk. The photo seen in Trench Lincs is one of a series he took on Whitsuntide Monday, 1919. For those who know Ypres, Ivan located himself opposite the ruins of the Cloth Hall - approximately where Peter de Groote’s chocolate shop now stands in the “Grote Markt” – to take this photo. His exploits are recorded in the book “Photographing the Fallen: a War Graves Photographer on the Western Front, 1915-1919”. Written by Jeremy Gordon-Smith and published by Pen & Sword, ISBN number 1473893658. I have a copy on my bookshelf and highly recommend it.
Jeremy has just presented a talk on the subject at Spalding. An extremely interesting talk, illustrated by some of the thousands of photos Ivan took, it will be coming to Lincoln as part of our 2025 series of talks.
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The next meeting of the Spalding and South Lincolnshire WFA branch will be held on:
Thursday October 24th: Phil Watson – Audregnies Flank Guard Action of the BEF; the First Charge, 9th Lancers.
Venue: Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, Lincs, PE11 1BT.
Times: Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30 pm start.
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Alwyn Killingsworth has kindly submitted the following details for the next Friends of the Lincoln Tank speaker event, which will be held on Thursday 31st October.
Alwyn writes; ‘The penultimate 2024 FoLT presentation will be held on Thursday the 31st October. You may recall seeing that FoLT members were recently at the Norfolk Tank Fest when the replica Medium A was on show. Tony Cooke and Kevin Jepson are the main folk involved in this build and we are pleased to confirm Kevin’s attendance on the night. He will tell us the process involved in this project. In his own words the main themes of the presentation will be:
“Why a Medium A and in, particular, Musical Box for a project (code named Project Fast Dog)?
Who is involved?
How did we start the project and the stages of the build - problem solving etc.
Technical details of the build
Where are we now?
What does the future hold for the replica?
There will be additional material on the crew of Musical Box and how much we can learn about shared history simply by connecting people via doing Living History projects like Fast Dog.
The talk will be less about the background to the development of this type of tank and more a focus on the actual building of our replica, the technical issues and the lessons we have learned along the way....... And I want to weave something in about the people side of the story too - the crew and their descendants.”
It is not every day that we can call on someone like Kevin to deliver a talk on these lines – replica builds of Foster tanks do not happen on a regular basis and I believe this will be a unique opportunity to explore this side of our fascinating interest in all things WW1 so one not to be missed.
As ever, the venue will be The Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln. Doors will open at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start. Entrance will be £5.00 on the door. You do not need to be a member of FoLT to attend. All are welcome – old, young, male or female. Refreshments will be available at the bar and there is ample car parking to the rear of the club. Hope to see you all on the night.’
[Musical Box was a 'famous' Whippet tank that ran amok behind the German lines at the Battle of Amiens, 8th August 1918 - Ed]
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The last surviving original hut from the MGC camp at Belton Park, has served as a village hall at Denton for the last 100 years. It is now in need of refurbishment and repair, and as a result, a fund raising committee has been formed including Mike Credland.
As part of the fund raising drive, Mike will be giving a talk in the village hall at Denton on Monday 18th November at 7.30pm
I hope you will attend?
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Those of you who are regular visitors to the battlefields will be aware of the excellent guide books and maps produced over the years by Major Tonie and Mrs Valmai Holt. Unfortunately, on September 5th, Major Holt passed away at the age of 91.
Please find a link to Major Holt's obituary as it appeared in the Daily Telegraph. Thank you to John and Dave Burkitt for the link.
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On Wednesday 25th September, a party from the Lincoln WFA branch visited the East Kirkby Aviation Heritage Centre. This was the last branch outing for 2024 and outings will start again in February 2025.
The highlight at East Kirkby is of course the Lancaster ‘Just Jane’ which is undergoing a substantial rebuild in the hope that it will one day take to the skies again. However, the highlight for the day of our visit was the taxy run by East Kirkby’s Mosquito fighter bomber.
Unfortunately, the videos that I shot on the day are too large to upload to Trench Lincs but here are a couple of stills for you.
I do recommend a visit to East Kirkby as there is so much to see and with an excellent café on site, you can make a day of your visit.
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We are indebted to Charles Parker for his comprehensive report on his summer travels. Charles notes; ‘We’ve had a pretty busy summer and seen a lot of monuments and other items that relate to the Great War. I’m not going to bore our readers with ALL of my memories and photos but I’ll send a representative selection for the newsletter.
Earlier this week we had a few days in east Kent – as its September it was primarily a Battle of Britain tour with visits to the museum at Hawkinge airfield, the memorial at Capel le Ferne and RAF Manston museum but we also pulled in Dover Castle which is our first stop for Trench Lincs.
We had been to the castle when our children were young (and also the Louis Bleriot memorial nearby) but since that visit the tunnels that were Admiral Ramsey’s HQ for Dunkirk and the underground hospital have opened to the public so it was long overdue for a return visit. From a Great War perspective there is a 3” 20 cwt AA gun on display and the Port War Signal Station is open. This building started life as a position finding cell in 1891 and it was extended with a flat roof on the outbreak of war, commissioned September 1914. (The church in the castle is interesting too but there were far too many memorials and military artefacts to record.)
3" Anti-Aircraft gun from the 14-18 era.
Signal station at Dover Castle.
Another day we went to Deal Castle, a bit further up the coast. This was built as part of a complex including Deal castle and Sandwich castle on the orders of Henry VIII to protect east Kent and the anchorage off the coast. Henry was almost continuously at war with France, the Holy Roman Empire and Spain throughout his reign and built a large number of fortifications along the south and east coasts.
Sir John French, 1st Earl of Ypres was Captain of the Castle from 1923 to 1925 and he built a memorial chapel there.
The Sir John French chapel at Deal Castle.
While in Deal I picked up a soft back book entitled ‘Engineering Richborough’ which will be of interest to anyone who enjoyed Bill Pinfold’s two recent talks on railways in the Great War (the latter at the Friends of the Lincoln Tank). Not only does it cover the story of the port but it also includes work at Manston airfield. The armed forces made use of several sites in the Sandwich area in the Second World War, and when peace returned these were developed as industrial estates.
There is a tenuous Lincoln connection here as one of the businesses that relocated to Sandwich in 1947 was Petbow Engineering Ltd. One of the founders of Petbow was James A Peters who worked in the Aircraft department at Robey & Co Ltd 1916-17. He is best known for the design of the unsuccessful Robey-Peters Fighting Machine which was built in response to an Admiralty request for an aircraft capable of carrying a 6 pounder recoilless gun. In the 1930s he successfully turned his attention to welding and developed site welders and generators which attracted large orders from the Air Ministry and Admiralty. (Engineering Richborough by Colin Verrall published by Addelam books 2021.)
The previous week I was in Scunthorpe (where I went to school) and I took the opportunity to look at the War Memorial outside the museum on Oswald Road. (The museum was originally Frodingham Vicarage and Frodingham Church is nearby.) This is dedicated to ‘The men from the Ironstone area who gave their lives …………..’ My grandfather was an ironstone miner from 1902 to 1937 so many of them would have been his contemporaries or workmates. There are two memorial plaques on the museum wall – one listing many local casualties including Palestine 1936, the Falklands and Iraq, the other is from one of the local steelworks (but I couldn’t find out which one).’
Scunthorpe's memorial to the Ironstone workforce.
We Will Remember Them.
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You may recall that I recently advertised a WW1 themed railway event being held in September and I am pleased to say that Peter Garland attended and has now filed his report.
Peter comments; ‘Saturday, 21st September, found Bill Pinfold and myself at the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway located at the Skegness Water Park in Ingoldmells for their World War 1 themed running day. The usual “tourist” passenger train service was interspersed with the running of a World War I era train consisting of two Class D open freight wagons and an ambulance van hauled by two Motor Rail 4wDM petrol locos, one of which (works number 1935) saw service on the 23 miles of narrow gauge line built by the Nocton Estate in Lincolnshire and which operated from the 1920’s up to 1959 moving seeds, fertilisers, sugar beet and potatoes – especially potatoes grown for Smith's Crisps - from the estate lands to the main line standard gauge interchange on the nearby Sleaford to Lincoln railway line. Smith's Crisps having constructed an extremely well built factory at the interchange to handle the potatoes. Constructed in reinforced concrete its skeleton remains can still be seen by passengers travelling between Lincoln and Sleaford today.
The ambulance van and one of the Class D open wagons – set up on the day to carry stretchers - were built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd., the ambulance van being at one time on display at the National Army Museum in Beverley before being moved to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway on the museum’s closure. The second Class D open wagon – works number 2572 - was built by Clayton & Shuttleworth at their Abbey Works in 1917 and saw service in France or Belgium where its chassis was damaged by a shell fragment, which damage has been preserved for all to see.
The original battle damage is clear to see.
It was acquired by the LCLR in 1959 and converted to an open coach for their ½ mile line at Humberston, Cleethorpes, which was closed in 1985. On the lines move to their new site in Ingoldmells, it was fully restored to its as-built WW1 specification in 2014 with a grant from the National Lottery “Peoples Millions”. Built to the 60cm narrow gauge, the capacity of a Class D open wagon was the same as an R.C.H. 4 wheel standard gauge wagon which simplified transhipment of loads from standard gauge to narrow gauge.
Also present on the day was a contingent of Hull Pals re-enactors who set up a nice display of bell tents, camping equipment and weaponry including a Stokes Mortar, Lewis MG, personal kit and a completely original Lee-Metford rifle (it had not undergone the Conversion Charger Loading process to convert it to Enfield standard, and still had its original 5 spiral Metford barrel) alongside a couple of Lee-Enfield’s and other weaponry. Being re-enactors of a Territorial Battalion, the Lee-Metford is the rifle they would have been issued with, the Enfield’s going to regular battalions until supplies were sufficient to replace older rifles like the Metford’s, so it was a nice touch of originality to see them parading with it.’ [Before anyone comments, Territorial battalions were not strictly 'Pals' ! Although I would argue that pre-war Territorial battalions were made up of 'proper' Pals! - Ed]
Open ambulance carriage with stretchers.
Closed ambulance carriage.
Thank you Peter, an excellent and informative report.
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As we are aware, no family was immune from bereavement during the Great War. Indeed, as a percentage of their class, it was the wealthy upper and upper middle classes who suffered the most as their sons filled the ranks of junior field officers and they paid the price of leading their men into battle.
One of the most notable families from Sleaford was the Kirk family. Substantial property owners and renowned architects through the company Kirk and Parry, they sadly lost two sons, Charles and Gerard.
Charles was a Captain in the 2/4th York and Lancaster Regiment when killed on the 20th July 1918 aged 34, and today, Charles lies in Terlincthun British Cemetery in France.
Gerard, aged 29, was a Lieutenant in the 1/Lincolns when he died at home from wounds on the 20th July 1916, exactly two years to the day before his brother died.
Why do I mention this?, I hear you ask.
Well, I am very pleased to announce to Trench Lincs readers that our regular contributor, John Pritchard [Our very own Hairy Biker – Ed] has been given the task by the CWGC of caring for Gerard’s headstone and grave site in St. Botolph’s churchyard at Quarrington.
Thanks to the work of Sleaford war dead expert, John Dale, here are two photos of the Kirk boys, an extract of a letter written by Gerard before his death and Gerard’s headstone at Quarrington.
A very 'chipper' letter from Gerard Kirk as he lay in hospital. He would pass away twelve days later.
The headstone and grave that John Pritchard will now care for.
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Last Sunday I attended the latest Newark Arms Fair and was fortunate to buy a very clean white metal Officers Cap Badge from the Robin Hood Rifles, 7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters.
On getting it home and examining it with a magnifying glass, I could see that the manufacturer was J R Gaunt of London, no surprise there, but written in pencil was a very feint name that looks like ‘Stephen’ and a series of numbers, which may be a date. Unfortunately, it is not totally legible but I will keep on looking to see if I can come up with an explanation.
The 7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, the Nottingham City Territorials, had a unique cap badge being the regiment’s only designated Rifle Battalion. Due to their service in South Africa, the badge is the ‘Rifle Brigade’ pattern consisting of a Maltese Cross with central bugle, surrounded by the honour ‘South Africa 1900-02’ on the lower three arms of the cross.
Pre-war and in the early part of the war, being a rifle battalion, the men of the battalion wore badges and buttons in blackened brass and I have attached some examples below.
The recently purchased badge.
The reverse. Does it say 'Stephen'?
An unknown officer of the Robin Hoods with blackened brass badges and buttons. [Does anyone know his name? - Ed]
Again, an unknown Robin Hood other ranks. Blackened brass buttons and badge on display.
Whilst at the Arms Fair, I also spotted this unusual tunic for sale. It is, I believe, a 5 button 1902 pattern tunic with a 1914/15 Star medal ribbon and an Observers badge from the Royal Flying Corps. This RFC badge caught my eye and with it was a postcard of the owner wearing it so as to prove the provenance.
Interestingly, on the right sleeve, it also had 5 blue chevrons for overseas service. As it did not have the red 1914 chevron, I assume this denotes service in 1915, 16, 17, 18 and 19. I am not sure that I have seen a 1919 chevron before? Please correct me if I am wrong.
Given this chaps five years of service as an Observer in the air, why did he not have the RFC/RAF ‘maternity’ style uniform tunic like this one? Answers please.
Postcard inset as above.
Five blue chevrons denoting overseas service.
With 5 years service (but how long as an Observer in the RFC/RAF?) why did he not have a tunic like this?
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Two photographs of interest came my way this week. The first is of local interest and shows the 1st Airborne Divisional Signals in July 1944 photographed at Fulbeck, just down the way from where I live. Two months later, they would parachute at Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden – The Bridge Too Far.
The second, a headstone photo, caught my eye as a Victoria Cross winner and as an ordained priest. I just had to carry out further research, and discovered that Geoffrey Harold Woolley had not only won his VC in the hellhole that was Hill 60 near Ypres, but that he lived to tell the tale.
Second Lieutenant Woolley, aged only 23, was the first Territorial Force officer to win a Victoria Cross in the 14-18 war and he won it on the 20th/21st April 1915 whilst serving with the 1st/9th Battalion (Queen Victoria’s Rifles), London Regiment. His citation states;
‘The British had taken control of Hill 60, near Ypres, but the Germans were doing their utmost to take it back. At daybreak, when only 30 men were holding the position, Woolley made his way up the hill under fearful fire to take charge of the men. His arrival put fresh heart into the survivors and several attacks were repelled before relief arrived several hours later.’
Geoffrey Woolley also won a Military Cross and was post war, ordained, and served as a Chaplain in North Africa during the Second World War. A very remarkable man.
Geoffrey Woolley VC.
As the first Territorial officer to win a VC, his tale made the press of the day.
As an aside, the occupying German forces during WWII were mainly very respectful to British memorials and cemeteries in France and Belgium erected after WWI. One memorial though that they took exception to was the Queen Victoria Rifles memorial at Hill 60. The inscription made reference to barbaric Huns (or similar) and so the Germans demolished it.
At the end of the Second World War, the QVR re-built their memorial at Hill 60 and today the inscription reads 'On this spot was erected in 1923 a memorial to all ranks of Queen Victoria’s Rifles who gave their lives for their country in the first world war 1914-1918. The memorial having been destroyed in 1940 by the Germans this plaque has been placed by the regiment on some of the original stones of the memorial to perpetuate their memory, and in grateful remembrance of those who gave their lives in the second world war 1939-1945.'
This new memorial was unveiled by a Major in the Royal Army Chaplains Department, one Major Geoffrey Harold Woolley VC.
IN MEMORIAM – The Lincolnshire Regiment 6th October.
1914
8616 Private J R Dowling, Depot. Buried in Manor Park Cemetery, UK.
1915
812 Sergeant Andrew Crick, 4th Battalion, aged 27. Buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium
13630 Private Walter Hales, 6th Battalion, aged 19. Remembered on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli.
6460 CSM John Henry Johnson, 2nd Battalion, aged 31. Buried in Marsh Chapel Churchyard, UK.
1917
29681 Private Harrison Heyworth, 12th Battalion, aged 36. Buried in Abbeville Communal Cemetery, France.
235291 Private William Biggin, 2/4th Battalion, aged 20. Buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium.
242056 Private W G Whybro, 2/5th Battalion, aged 20. – Ditto. –
32740 Corporal Fred Doutch, 1st Battalion. Remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial, France.
34167 Private W Fox, 6th Labour Company. Buried in Godewaersvelde British Cemetery, France.
24844 Private H Smith, 1st Battalion, aged 22. – Ditto. –
203585 Private Sidney Joseph Powell, 1st Battalion, aged 19. Buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
235121 Private Ernest George Leach, 8th Battalion, aged 20. Buried in Outtersteene Communal Cemetery, France.
17992 Private Ben Smith, 6th Battalion, aged 19. Buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium.
1918
49853 Private L Moore, 1st Battalion. Buried in Glageon Communal Cemetery, France.
240412 Sergeant G Taylor, 5th Battalion, aged 36. Buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery, France.
201863 Sergeant William Arthur Heydon Lounds, 1st Battalion, aged 22. – Ditto. –
10844 CSM Frederick George Stow, 7th Battalion, aged 42. Buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, France.
241688 Private C Royle, 5th Battalion. Buried in Sainte Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France.
22584 Private T Stamp, 5th Battalion. Buried in St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
Until next week when Trench Lincs will arrive from France.
Kind regards
Jonathan
Email me on: trenchlincs@gmail.com
© J C J D’Hooghe.
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