Trench Lincs 1st Ferbruary 2026
- Feb 2
- 18 min read
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Good Morning,
Welcome to February after a wet and dry, alcohol wise, January. There are so many jobs building up in the garden, that a week or two of dry weather would be very welcome.
This week, we have news from Australia for you as well as snippets from nearer home. There should be something for everyone to enjoy.
The outing to Crich at the end of February promises to be of interest, so I do hope you will consider coming along. Please let me know if you require a car share on the day.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS.
Next event - Lincoln & North Lincolnshire Branch, WFA - Monday, February 16th 2026 - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm start - Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG.
Phil Watson will present – ‘The Lancers from the Boer war to the Great War.’
Major Phil Watson (Rtd) will talk about the Lancer Regiments of the British Army, their role in the Boer War and how they adapted to twentieth century warfare, as warfare changed due to technological advances.
Image courtesy of Felicity Sayers and her copy of the book, 'With The Flag to Pretoria.'
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Next Meeting - Spalding & South Lincolnshire Branch, WFA – Thursday 26th February, 2026 - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30 pm start - Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT.
Major Phil Watson (Rtd) will talk about the Lancer Regiments of the British Army, their role in the Boer War and how they adapted to twentieth century warfare, as warfare changed due to technological advances.
If you miss this talk at Lincoln on the 16th, you can hear it at Spalding on the 26th.
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The East Midlands (Nottingham) WFA branch will hold their next speaker event on Friday 13th February 2026 at 7.30pm. The branch meets at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Street, Ruddington, NG11 6HA.
The speaker on this night is Peter Hart and his talk is ‘I’m out of here! – Escape from German POW Camps 1914-18.’
Everyone welcome.
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The Leadenham Military History Group’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 24th February 2026 at 7.30pm at Leadenham village hall.
This will be a two-part speaker event night.
SHOW and TELL: The Order of Patriotic War by Paul Robinson.
Soviets. SOURCE and the Spies Who Went Out to the Cold.
PRESENTATION: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission by Chris Finn.
The CWGC; its origins, its global commitment, its work today and some local stories.
Original IWGC signs on display at the now CWGC French HQ and visitor centre at Beaurains. My photo from 2020.
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The Friends of the Lincoln Tank Group commence their 2026 season in March. The venue, as usual, will be the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG with a 7.30pm start. Entry is £5, and everyone is welcome.
Here is the programme of speakers for the year. All Thursdays.
March 12th David Moore The Chinese Labour Corps.
April 30th Jo Costin Cambridgeshire Kitcheners.
June 11th Brian Riley The Simmering Blue: Lincolnshire Aviation in WW1.
July 30th Steve Baldwin The CWG cemetery at Newport, Lincoln – a virtual tour.
Sept 10th Peter Jacobs By His Majesty’s Command – The Military Cross.
Oct 29th Jonathan D’Hooghe The importance of 20th November 1917 at Cambrai – And
the characters that made it happen.
Dec 3rd Show and tell
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The first Trench Lincs/Lincoln WFA outing for 2026 will be held, weather permitting, on Friday 27th February.
Everyone and anyone is welcome to attend at 10.45/11.00am at Crich Stand in Derbyshire. This is the memorial park for the Sherwood Foresters. There is an array of memorials on site covering the history of the Foresters from the Great War to their existence today as a battalion of the Mercian Regiment.
Following the First World War, plans were drawn up to construct a memorial tower to recognise the 11,409 men of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment (drawn from the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire) who had fallen in the Great War.
The chief architect was Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Brewill, who had commanded the 7th Battalion (Robin Hoods) and who unfortunately passed away before the tower was completed. However, his son, Captain L C Brewill, oversaw the completion of the memorial. The official opening of the memorial was held on Monday 6th August 1923, when the tower was opened by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, who had been commissioned into the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment in 1877.
Over the years there have been additional dedications to those who have given their lives for their country.
In 1952 there was a further dedication to the 1,502 members of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who had fallen in World War II.
You will have the opportunity to walk to the top of the memorial tower, where on a clear day you can see well into five counties.
I have emailed the Regimental HQ and they have confirmed that the on-site café will be open that day, subject to the weather. Following a walk around the park and a coffee and snack, I will then lead a tour to the war memorials in Alfreton and Ripley. [Bill Pinfold will be heading to Cromford on the day and will be happy to let you know what he is going to see there - Ed]
Car parking at Crich Stand is £1.50 per car, payable in cash and the postcode to use for the tram museum which is adjacent is DE4 5DP.
So that I can let the park know our numbers, will you please drop me a line if you intend to join the outing. Thank you.
TEN people booked in so far – Please look at your diaries and come along!
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Arthur Wood, the walking encyclopaedia of Victoria Cross winners was quick off the mark last Sunday with this photograph of the headstone of last week’s featured VC winner, Patrick Bugden.
Arthur has recorded headstone photos of nearly all of the VC winners who lie in France and Flanders, together with many who are buried in the UK.
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Last week, I posted a colourised version of this photograph. The image brought an immediate response from Peter Jacobs, and you will see why I have posted a black and white version this week.
Yet again, a Trench Lincs reader has been able to furnish us all with the most remarkable additional information.
Peter writes; ‘Many thanks, once again, for an excellent edition of TL. I was particularly interested in the two colourised images of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Robertson and Lieutenant Robert Money of the 1st Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) experiencing life in a waterlogged trench at Bois Grenier in January 1915, after which, you wondered if the two officers had taken turns with the camera.
For a reason that will become apparent in a moment, I am pleased to say you are right. The camera belonged to Robert Money, a keen photographer and one of Robertson’s HQ Staff. On this occasion - which incidentally was during the morning of 5th January 1915 - Money had accompanied Robertson for his daily inspection of the battalion’s trenches and it was while they were in a communications trench that Money took the photograph of his CO before handing over the camera so that Robertson could take a similar image of Money stood at the same point and holding the handle of the trench pump for effect.
Fortunately for us more than a century on, Philip Robertson was happy to turn a blind eye to photographs being taken, even though it was forbidden under Army Orders to use a camera while serving at the front, and so we can enjoy such images today. But Robert Money was not the only officer serving with the battalion to take photos during this time. Lieutenant Fred Davidson, the Medical Officer attached to the 1st Cameronians, also kept a photographic record during this period, while Major Graham Chaplin (‘A’ Company commander) wrote to his wife almost daily and Captain James Jack (Staff Captain) kept a remarkable diary. So, between the records kept by Money, Davidson, Chaplin and Jack, we have a marvellous insight as to what it was like serving with the 1st Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) during the opening months of the First World War. The images taken by Robert Money and Fred Davidson are particularly special as they help us put faces to names. As an aside, it has been suggested that Robert Money was so much into his photography that at that time he was offering copies of his photographs to Glasgow newspapers – anonymously – but I wouldn’t like to comment as to whether this was the case!
Anyway, I thought your readers might be interested to know the answer to the point you raised. The reason I can offer this information is because I have Fred Davidson’s Military Cross in my medal collection, together with copies of the many wonderful photographs that he and Robert Money took during their time together with the battalion, including the two shown in TL, although mine are in black and white!
Both men, incidentally, were amongst the first recipients of the Military Cross, Fred Davidson being in the very first group of medical officers to be so recognised. But that’s a story for another day!
And for those wondering what happened to the two individuals featured in the images, I am pleased to tell you that both survived the war and went on to have careers in the Army. Philip Robertson became a Major-General in 1917 and after the war commanded the 52nd (Lowland) Division before retiring in 1923. He died in Devon in 1936, aged 70. Robert Money, meanwhile, went on to command the 1st Cameronians after the war and then commanded the 15th (Scottish) Division in 1940. He died in Buckinghamshire in 1985, aged 96, leaving his collection of First World War photographs to the Cameronian regimental museum and the Imperial War Museum.
Thanks, again, for TL. I’m looking forward to the next edition already.’ [Thank you for your kind words – Ed]
Am I just biased? Or do TL readers have the most wonderful combined knowledge of all things 1914-18?
You can view the large collection of Robert Cotton’s war time photographs by clicking here.
64 Robert cotton money collection Images: PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Public Domain Search
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Melvin Dobbs has definitely finished his winter hibernation and has been out and about once again. He writes; ‘Yesterday I decided to shake off the 'winter sloth' and take a walk on the wild side, so I headed to Londonthorpe Woods and the area of Belton Park etc.
It’s a walk I have done many times before but on this occasion, I spotted new information boards linking this area not only to the Machine Gun Corps training camp in WWI, but also to the RAF Regiment and RAF Belton Park which was established February 1st 1942 - 1946.
After the war, it was then converted to temporary housing, with a school and called Alma Park after the woods above on an escarpment (named after a relative of Lord Brownlow - Cust, killed at the battle of Alma during the Crimean War) this temporary housing comprised of Nissen huts and brick buildings to house the many on the council housing list, plus many Polish men and women who had served in the forces locally and did not want to return to their homeland for obvious reason.
The area was eventually turned into an Industrial Park where some of the buildings still remain, but one is still visible in unmolested state (pic attached) which was in the WAAF's area.’
Melvin’s reference to a member of the Cust family, prompted me to do some further digging and I discovered that the Brownlow family planted Alma Wood on the escarpment above the Depot location about 1856. This was to commemorate Captain Horace William Cust of Her Majesty's Regiment of Coldstream Guards. He fell at the Battle of Alma 20th September 1854, aged 25. He was the nephew of the 1st Earl Brownlow and first cousin once removed of the 2nd Earl, owner of Belton at the time. Alma was the first battle of the Crimean War. Horace joined the Guards on the 7th April 1848. He served as Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Bentinck, Commanding the Brigade of Guards at the Battle of Alma. The Brigade comprised the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and 1st Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards. [Bentinck is the family name of the Dukes of Portland – Ed]
Horace was approaching or crossing the River Alma sometime after 11.00am when a Russian cannon ball carried away his leg. Death occurred following the amputation of his leg at the thigh later that evening. Horace was one of the 362 killed with another 1,611 wounded. His elder brother, Colonel John Francis Cust, then a Captain in the Grenadier Guards in the Crimea, placed his tomb on the north bank of the Alma with the inscription, translated from the Russian,
‘Honour this grave. The dead man's calm repose is his memory, he does not despise his burial.’
After a search, I found this 2017 photograph of Cust’s burial place in the Crimea; and……..
A photo of a family erected memorial that resides in Belton churchyard near Grantham.
We can only hope that the fighting in Ukraine comes to an end, and the battlefield visitor, can once again, visit the Crimean battlefields.
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Steve Baldwin and friends attended the recent open day at the Leicester War Memorials at Risk group, where archaeologist, Tom Bower was speaking.
Steve reports;’ As you know, there was an open day for the "At Risk Memorials Project" in Leicester on Saturday last.
It was a very well attended including Neil, Gary and myself and we were all treated to a very interesting talk called "The found fallen" from Tom Bowers.
Tom is an Archaeologist attached to Leicester University and his talk was about a five-man crew of a Lewis Gun team who took part in the Battle of Arras, four of whom were killed on May 5th, 1917. They were all privates in the of 1/5 Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment.
The remains of Arthur Cook, Robert Cullum, John Fraser and William London were found during construction work for a new hospital near Lens, France during the summer of 2022.
The four men were, amazingly, identified and relatives were traced and invited to attend their final interment in the new CWGC Loos British Cemetery Extension.
The (Royal) Lincolnshire Regiment was more recently amalgamated with other regiments to form the Royal Anglian Regiment, who conducted the Military burial on October 21, 2025. [As covered in TL - Ed]
The fifth member of the Lewis Gun team was Fred Blakey who survived, and although badly wounded stayed at his post and went on to be awarded the Military Medal.
Before and after the Talk, we were able to browse around part of the Chancel of the former All Saint's Church which houses an impressive collection of Memorials rescued from various sources.
Memorial to Bernard Vann VC. The Reverend Vann forsook the church to do his bit and was awarded a VC for his actions breaking the Hindenburg Line on 29th September 1918, but was killed in the fighting at Ramicourt four days later. Vann had been promoted to Acting Lt. Colonel and was commanding the 1/6 Battalion Sherwood Foresters at the time of his death.This is a most important and significant memorial, I am so pleased to see it in the safe hands of the LWMAR project group.
Charles Berresford is the author of Vann's life, the book is titled 'The Christian Soldier' and I can thoroughly recommend it.
Belgrave Working Mens Club and Institute memorial. Again, now in safe hands.
Memorial to the men who had attended Chapel Sunday School and who gave their lives between 1914-18.
As you can see, the Project holds a wide variety of saved memorials, but they are very short of space. Memorials are displayed with explanatory text/photographs containing some of their history.
I understand they are hoping to relocate to somewhere within the University in the future.’
Well done Steve, Neil and Gary for your attendance and post visit report.
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We have covered visits to IWM Duxford in past editions of Trench Lincs. However, with many new subscribers in recent times, and the fact that Duxford is a wonderful place to visit at any time, here is a short report from James Handley.
James comments; ‘I found myself at the IWM Duxford yesterday as my son is studying WWII at school currently, and they have a fine collection of items from the period, and it is also an old Fighter Command air field from the Battle of Britain.
Of greater interest to you perhaps though is some items from the Great War they had there. I first read of the “Ole Bill” London bus as a child when I saw the Airfix model of it, but was delighted to see it on display at Duxford. I was amused to read it was the first bus that a British monarch had ever been on when King George V visited it in 1920.
They also had some Great War aircraft on display too but, in my opinion, the RAF museum at Hendon remains the premier location to view such things.’
Thank you James. It is a wonderful day out, as is the RAF museum at Hendon. I hope your son came away with a better understanding of the war?
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I am sure that many Trench Lincs readers have strong views about modern politics and the state of the world in 2026. It is also, not the intention of Trench Lincs to push any particular political narrative, but I think that we would be in the wrong, if we did not know or learn about the desecration of war memorials when it occurs.
There is a saying that ‘if you import the Third World, you will become the Third World’ and desecration of war memorials has happened recently in the UK by supporters of Palestine and what many would say is Islamic extremism embedded in immigration.
The latest case that I have seen, however, has happened in Australia. David Littleproud MP, is the leader of the Australian National Party and member for the Queensland seat of Maranoa. He recently wrote alongside these three photographs; ‘We have a serious problem in Australia.
Historic Australian monuments, including war memorials honouring young men who died defending this country, have been vandalised and desecrated.
Some were defaced with extremist slogans and symbols linked to Hamas, including calls for the “Death of Australia”.
This isn’t protest. It’s extremism.
Why is the Labor [Sic] government pretending this isn’t the issue?
Why are they looking everywhere else instead of confronting extremism when it’s right in front of us?’
To my mind, it is truly shocking that anyone, indigenous or immigrant, would find it acceptable to protest by way of damaging and desecrating a war memorial.
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The next two snippets are both linked to Australia too. In Canberra, there is an organisation called the Australian War Memorial. It seems to me, to be a cross between our National Archives and the Imperial war Museum.
You can pay a visit to the fascinating museum, but it is also the centre of all historical research appertaining to Australia’s military history, be that WWI, WWII, Vietnam or elsewhere.
This last week has seen Australia’s National Day celebrated, and I am very pleased that interest in this day, especially amongst the younger generations has taken off in recent years.
The Australian War Memorial put out this press release harking back to 1915 and sharing a photo of a truly fascinating item held in their extensive collection.
The AWM noted; ‘Did you know the first “Australia Day” was held on 30 July 1915 - created to raise funds for Australians wounded at Gallipoli?
Across the country, communities staged auctions, street collections, performances and stalls. Small items like badges, buttons and ribbons were sold to support patriotic funds and the work of the Australian Division of the Red Cross.
This leather kangaroo badge is one of those fundraisers. It was sold by Miss Gwendoline Lucy Allpress, a Sydney schoolgirl from Elizabeth Bay, NSW, during the 1915 Australia Day appeal.
She later donated items from these campaigns to the Memorial, including fundraising badges and ribbons from Australia Day 1915 and other wartime appeals.
What we now call Australia Day, on 26 January, was widely known as Foundation Day until the 1950s.’
Oh! To own such a wonderful item. I can but dream. I did however buy a little something of local interest this week – see below.
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However, staying in Australia for a moment, Mike Credland has recently been in Australia and I know that Ray Sellers pointed him in the direction of a visit to the grave of Claude Stanley Choules, the last surviving ‘Australian’ [He was born in the UK – Ed] to have served in WWI.
Therefore, it was yet another remarkable TL coincidence that a colourised photo of Claude Choules aged 14 appeared in my news feed this week.
Claude Stanley Choules. Aged 14 in 1915.
Born in 1901, at the time of his death in 2011 he was the oldest combat veteran of the First World War from England (Born in Pershore, Worcestershire), having served with the Royal Navy from 1915 until 1926. After having emigrated to Australia he served with the Royal Australian Navy, from 1926 until 1956, as a Chief Petty Officer and was a naturalised Australian citizen.
He was the last surviving military witness to the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow in 1919 and the last surviving veteran to have served in both world wars.
Choules died at the age of 110 years and 63 days in Perth, Australia.’
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Matt Colley has pointed us in the direction of a very well written article of local and topical interest, by Simon Wilson of the Peterborough Military History Group. Simon has written about the history of the Chilwell munitions factory that was established in west Nottingham in 1915.
Most people with a knowledge of the Chilwell factory will know about the accidental explosion there in 1918 which killed well over 100 of the workforce. Simon’s work obviously touches on this tragedy and a lot more, and you can read the article by clicking on this link.
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Whilst I don’t unfortunately own a 1915 fund raising leather kangaroo as noted above, I did make one little purchase this last week. Navenby high street has a couple of pubs, a chip shop and Indian restaurant as well as a range of small independent stores including a fresh bakery that is every bit as good as any boulangerie you will find in France. The bread is exceptional as are the warm newly baked sausage rolls.
In addition, there is an Antiques Centre with a very good coffee shop. It is not a centre that specialises in militaria, but I often pop in for a look around as there are occasionally sets of WWI medals for sale and quite an interesting second hand book section where I have picked up a bargain or two over the years.
On my visit a week last Friday, I spotted several pieces of crested china in a glass cabinet, including a WWI tank that had an inscription marking the Armistice of November 11th 1918. The Armistice inscription is, in my opinion [I may be wrong – Ed] quite rare. I have a small collection of china tanks and this is the only one noting the Armistice.
I asked the shopkeeper if he would unlock the cabinet so that I could look more closely at the tank. As I picked it up, I turned it round and lo and behold its crest was from a Lincolnshire village, Kirton in Lindsey, and I also spotted that it was Carlton Ware, one of the more sought after manufacturers.
Unfortunately, one of the 6 pounder gun barrels was broken off, but I think I can probably repair this in due course. I also noted that on the underneath, there was a filling hole with a cork stopper, and on the top of the tank’s hull, there are four small holes. My guess is that it is actually a pepper pot – am I right? Please let me know or correct me!
Anyway, the seller was open to bartering, and I bought it for what I believe is a very good price and it now adorns my ‘tank shelf’ in my office.
The Tank Shelf.
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We finish as usual with this week’s pick from the wonderful work of Chris at Colour by CJS. I have chosen a well-known Great War RFC hero, Arthur Rhys-Davids.
Lieutenant Arthur Percival Foley Rhys Davids DSO, MC & Bar.
Arthur was born in Forest Hill, London in 1897, he had two siblings and grew up in an academic family where his father was a university professor and his mother a language scholar.
Young Arthur was educated at Eton where he excelled academically. Even though he struggled with a stammer and had a number of health issues including asthma, he overcame his difficulties and became school Captain.
On leaving Eton, Arthur planned to further his education at Balliol College, Oxford but with war breaking out, he chose instead to put service to his country above his own academic aspirations.
Arthur joined the Royal Flying Corps in August 1916, and was posted to 56 Squadron in the UK and finally flew to France with the squadron on 7th April 1917.
He rapidly established a reputation for being a determined and capable air fighter. His total of combat victories mounted steadily during the late spring and summer of 1917.
Always a pragmatist, he carried a book of William Blake’s poems with him when he flew, as an antidote to boredom should he ever be forced down and taken prisoner.
On 23rd September 1917 he took part in one of the most famous air combats of the war. A formation of seven pilots from 56 Squadron fought the 48 victory German Ace Werner Voss. After a protracted fight in which Voss put bullet holes in each of his adversaries it was Arthur who dealt the coup de grâce and shot him down.
Arthur’s prowess in combat was acknowledged with the award of the Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross and Bar.
In the air he was fearless but reckless. His flight commander James McCudden VC tried but failed to instil a more cautious approach to his methods.
Despite disapproving of his tactics, McCudden greatly admired Arthur. He stated that “if one was ever over the salient in the autumn of 1917 and saw an S.E.5 fighting like hell amidst a heap of Huns, one would find nine times out of ten that the S.E was flown by Rhys Davids”.
Such recklessness in the dangerous skies of France and Belgium would likely have only one eventual result.
And so it was. Arthur failed to return from a patrol on 27th October 1917 and was posted missing. He was last seen in combat with an enemy aircraft far beyond the lines.
He was credited with 25 victories broken down as follows:
2 brought down and captured.
4 destroyed and 2 shared destroyed.
14 shot down and 3 shared shot down out of control.
Arthur’s body was never recovered and he has no known grave, and is therefore, commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, at the Faubourg d’Amiens, Arras.
Arthur Rhys Davids was just 20 years old at the time of his death. Like Ball, Richthofen and many other Knights of the Sky, his flame shone brightly, but only for a short time.
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In Memoriam the Lincolnshire Regiment 1st February.
1915
7783 Drummer William H Smith, 1st Battalion. Buried in Cardiff Cemetery, UK.
1917
15779 Private Enoch Whitehouse, 2nd Battalion. Remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
1920
47719 Private C Jarrett, Depot. Buried in Hebburn Cemetery, UK.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
I hope you have a productive week? Please let me know if you are out and about looking at memorials and churches.
Until next week,
All best wishes
Jonathan
© Jonathan D’Hooghe
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