Trench Lincs 26th October 2025

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Good Morning,

I hope you have enjoyed your extra hour in bed? Did you remember to turn your clocks back one hour from British Summer Time (BST), to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Do you know where the origin of turning the clocks back/forward came from?

The Great war is to blame!

Changing the clocks during 1914/18 was not primarily due to the war in itself, but reflected the need to conserve energy. This led to the Summer Time Act of 1916 which advanced the clocks by one hour from May 21st to October 1st and was the government's response to the energy crisis.

I hope you enjoy this week's read, which contains notice of many forthcoming events. It would be wonderful to see many new faces, so please don't be shy, you will be assured of a warm welcome.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS.

Next Lecture - Lincoln & North Lincolnshire Branch, WFA - Monday, November 24th - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm start - Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG.

Jonathan D’Hooghe - “Sir Horace Smith Dorrien – His Defining Battles, Isandlwana 1879 and Le Cateau 1914. What if?”

I have the great pleasure in being your speaker on November 24th. This will be a debut for a new talk titled, “Sir Horace Smith Dorrien – His Defining Battles, Isandlwana 1879 and Le Cateau 1914. What if?”

Is it possible to have a hero from more than 100 years ago? This talk will explore the life of Smith Dorrien and will pose the question, what might have been the outcome of the Great War if Smith Dorrien had been killed at Isandlwana?

I hope it will provoke a lively debate!

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Next Meeting - Spalding & South Lincolnshire Branch, WFA - Thursday, November 27th - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30 pm start - Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT –

November 27th - Tim Coltman presents "The Story of the Two Crosses: William Coltman, VC, DCM & Bar, MM & Bar".

William Coltman, arguably the highest decorated other rank of the Great War was a pacifistic non-combatant who served on the Western Front as a stretcher bearer.

His grandson, Tim, will tell you all about him.

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The Leadenham Military History Group’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 28th October, at Leadenham Village Hall with a start time of 7.30pm. The evening will consist of two talks.

The Grand Old Lady – A Short History of HMS Warspite, the Royal Navy’s Most Decorated Ship – By Tim Sisson.

RAF Bruggen Tornado Operations 1988-1998 – By Dave Bentley.

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The next presentation in the Friends of Lincoln Tank 2025 season of talks will be held on Thursday 30th October when Peter Jacobs will present for ‘King and Country’.

The venue as usual is the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG. 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Everyone welcome.

Talk Title – For King & Country at Loos

‘Deeply regret to inform you that 2/Lt C F B Hodgins 2/Wiltshire Regt is reported killed Sept 25/26. Lord Kitchener desires to express his sympathy. Secretary War Office.’ – Telegram from the War Office dated 29 September 1915.

This is the true and previously untold story of one man’s war on the Western Front during the First World War. As a young man, still in his teens, Charlie Hodgins answered the call to ‘do his bit’ for King and Country. Like so many others, he was never to return. He was killed on 25 September 1915, on the opening day of the Battle of Loos. According to an officer in his battalion, he died 'leading his men with great gallantry, and even when wounded, tried to rise and take them on'. Drawing on the many letters, photographs and telegrams Charlie sent home, along with newspaper articles, war archives and other personal accounts, historian Peter Jacobs has pieced together the final moments of Charlie’s short life. This is a compelling and poignant tale of personal courage and one family’s loss. But it also tells of the tragedy and suffering experienced by a generation of men during the First World War.

The Speaker – Peter Jacobs

PETER JACOBS served in the Royal Air Force for thirty-seven years as an air defence navigator on the F4 Phantom and Tornado F3, after which he completed staff tours at HQ 11 Group, HQ Strike Command, the Ministry of Defence, and the RAF College Cranwell. He has written twenty-three books on military and aviation subjects, and as well as being a keen military historian, he is an active speaker and cemetery tour guide with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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Another group who meet at the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG are the Lincs Aviation Society.

I now have great pleasure in advertising their forthcoming events, which take place on the third Thursday of each month - entry is £2 for members and £3 for visitors.

The next speaker event will be held on Thursday 20th November when Tim Willbond will present – ‘Douglas Bader and the Duxford Big Wing.’

Having just read Stephen Bungay’s excellent book ‘The Most Dangerous Enemy – A History of the Battle of Britain,’ whilst on holiday, I think that this will be an excellent talk.

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The East Midlands (Nottingham) WFA Branch meets again on Friday 14th November at 7.30pm at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Street, Ruddington, Nottingham, NG11 6HA. All welcome.

The speaker on this night will be Professor Jessica Meyer who will talk about “From No Man’s Land to Auxiliary Hospital – Evacuating the Great War Wounded.”

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On Tuesday November 11th at 11am, there will be the annual Service of Remembrance at the war memorial at Thorpe Le Fallows.

This lonely and out of the way memorial was adopted by the Lincoln WFA branch back in 2009 and over the years the branch has paid for two renovations of the cross.

Thorpe le Fallows or Thorpe in the Fallows, can be found off the A1500 near to Sturton by Stow. It is a small one street hamlet and there will be farmyard car parking available on the day. You can’t miss it.

Please arrive by 10.45am as it is then a five-minute walk to the memorial, and don’t forget to wear wellies or stout shoes as the grass field can be wet and boggy. All new faces will be made most welcome, and there will be the opportunity for a light lunch afterwards at the Dambusters pub in Scampton village.

I hope you will attend.

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Another Remembrance Event will be taking place on Sunday 9th November. Guide, Chris Sanderson, who we met earlier this year writes; ‘I would be grateful if you could find room in your newsletter to advertise the upcoming Remembrance Day walk on the coast, for which I've attached a flyer. It's not a WW1-specific event, but I shall be telling the stories of a couple of WW1 soldiers this year. Thank you.’

Please see the flyer below for full details and how to book what should be an informative and bracing walk on the north-east Lincolnshire coast.

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On Saturday 15th November, The Peterborough Military History Group, so ably led by David Gray and friends, will hold a one-day exhibition at Peterborough Museum from 10am to 4pm.

POWs come home: Exhibition at Peterborough Museum Click on this link for full details.

David notes; ‘This is our Group's annual exhibition, and it covers various timelines including WWI and WWII. Actually, it is in the same building and at the same time as the WFA 'Old Contemptibles' exhibition you have already mentioned, so visitors could see both on the same trip. I managed to get a mention on the Peterborough Telegraph website, and it would be fantastic if you could put the above link in a forthcoming TL issue. The exhibition date is Saturday 15th November.’

My pleasure David and I hope you get a good attendance, especially as it is possible to visit two events on the same day.

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Shirlee Cottam kindly comments; ', I wondered if any of our readers would enjoy this?

Normanby Hall Country Park, just outside Scunthorpe., they have their own website.

Visitor Information | Normanby Hall Country Park

The Hall is open Friday, Sat, Sun 11-3pm November, would check first before travelling.

There is a nice little permanent exhibition.

'Normanby at War' the Hall was opened up by the Sheffield family in WW1 as an auxiliary hospital and there is a good exhibition in one of the rooms, which has a very large list of convalescing soldiers, which tells you what regiment they were in and their service number, and other related facts.

The exhibition is mentioned on the I.W.M site.

In addition, there are some nice grounds, walled gardens, farming museum, cafe etc.'

Sounds like a good trip out Shirlee, thank you for the tip off.

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Next an appeal from Ruskington. Very sadly, someone has removed a display of Arnhem Airborne cap badges and insignia from Ruskington church, I assume that it is a theft.

The Reverend has launched a social media appeal for their return, and I hope someone will feel guilty enough to return the display case. Should anyone hear anything about this matter, you can contact me as I am in touch with Reverend Al, having spoken at Ruskington church hall in the past.

Have you seen this?

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As per my recent article, the burial went ahead on Tuesday last at Loos British Cemetery Extension of the four men of the 1st/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment who have been identified due to DNA testing.

The press release read as follows; “Four soldiers of the Lincolnshire Regiment, who died during World War One were laid to rest today at CWGC Loos British Cemetery Extension. Private Arthur Cook, Private Robert Cullum, Private John Fraser and Private William London were all from Grimsby originally, and though they came to army service at different times, they all found themselves part of the final days of the Battle of Arras in May 1917. All four men were part of the same Lewis Gun Crew, and they died together on 5th May 1917 - Fred Blakey MM was the fifth member of the crew and he survived albeit severely wounded.

Privates Cook, Cullum, Fraser and London were listed as missing, and following the war their names were added to the Arras Memorial.

In the spring of 2020 the bodies of four Lincolnshire soldiers were recovered in Lens in Northern France during groundworks for the building of a new hospital. Extensive research led to a rough date of death, and from that a list of the missing was made. A family tree was built for each missing man and suitable DNA matches were identified for each. Following testing the four men were positively identified and today all four were laid to rest in the presence of their descendants.

The service was led by Padre Joe Roberts of 1st Battalionn The Royal Anglian Regiment, and the bearer party and firing party were also made up of serving soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglians.”

Whilst at the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13th October, I was chatting with Steve Bramley about many subjects, including the men named above. Steve has now kindly provided additional information for us with regard to each man. You can also read more from Steve below.

Steve comments;

‘The Four 'Chums'

‘The four men recently interred in Loos Cemetery were:

Private 242543 Robert Barrett Cullum 1/5th Lincolns originally enlisted in the 10th Lincolns [Grimsby Chums] early to mid-February 1915, given the service number 1369. He lived at 131 Alexandra Road, Grimsby. He possibly embarked with the original Chums contingent on 9/1/1916 but at some point in 1916 he returned to the UK. He embarked again for the front and was posted to the 1st battalion with several other former 10th Lincolns on 1/1/1917. However, he was temporarily renumbered [20352] and transferred to the 1/5th Lincs on 21/1/1917, joining them in the field 17//2/1917.

Private 240628 [Formerly 2744] Arthur Cook 1/5th Lincolns. He lived at 159 Oxford Street, Grimsby. He enlisted on 10/9/1914 and embarked with the original contingent on 1/3/1915. He had already been wounded twice on 15/9/1915 and 13/10/1915. He was also in A Company. He was 21 when killed in Action in May 1917.

Private 241639 [Formerly 4983] William London 1/5th Lincolns. He lived at 49 Durban Road, Grimsby. He probably enlisted under the Derby Scheme around November 1915, being Mobilised in March 1916 into the 3/5th Lincolns and embarking and posted to the 1/5th in June of that year, joining 1 Platoon, A Company. He was 29 when killed in action.

Private 241642 [Formerly 4993] John William Fraser 1/5th Lincolns. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and lived at 26 Donnington Street in Grimsby. His military history would have been almost identical to William London. He Also joined 1 Platoon, A Company.

The Survivor.

Private 240624 [Formerly 2738] John Frederick 'Fred' Blakey 1/5th Lincolns. He lived at Caroline Street, Alford. He enlisted aged 23 on 2/9/1914 and embarked with the original contingent on 1/3/1915. He had been wounded on 13/10/1915. He was originally in 12 Platoon, 14 Section, C Company. He was later posted to the 1st battalion and discharged 9/7/1919.

240624 Private. Fred BLAKEY

(Recommended for the Military Medal)

On the night of 04/05/1917 when the Battalion was in the front line near LOOS, Pte. Blakey was at a Lewis-gun post. A shell burst burying the whole team and killing or wounding all of them, except one man. Although much shaken Pte. Blakey and the one unwounded man got out their gun and remained at the post in spite of heavy shelling. It was only when the Battalion was relieved that it transpired that Pte. Blakey was wounded in the foot, a fact which he had concealed in order that he might remain at his post. He set a fine example to the other men.

Submitted 10/05/1917; Awarded M.M. 16/05/1917; L/G 09/07/1917

The 'other unwounded man' is likely to be:

Private 241259 [Formerly 4373] George Carter 1/5th Lincolns. He lived at 186 Burgess Street, Grimsby. He enlisted on 19/8/1915 aged 18, into the 3/5 Lincolns and embarked on 2/1/1916 then transferred to the 1/5th Battalion. His service record states that although wounded 5/5/1917 he remained at duty, although he was at home by 10/5/1917. He was also in A Company. He embarked again in late December 1917, joining the 1st battalion. He was wounded again twice and court martialled twice! He was disembodied on demobilisation 19/6/1919.’

Thank you for sharing this information with us Steve.

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I will continue by tidying up some loose threads from last week’s TL. Arthur Wood was quick off the mark and commented that; ‘You mentioned Lewis Pugh Evans VC and Albert Ball VC. Here are two photos of their headstones.’

Captain Albert Ball VC, DSO**, MC.

lewis Pugh Evans VC.

Arthur continued; ‘You also referenced Beersheba Cemetery in Palestine. In this cemetery lies the youngest brother of my grandfather, Wallace Jones, who was killed in October 1917.’

Thank you Arthur for this additional information.

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The last week has been a good one for museum visits. On Tuesday, I took my two oldest grandsons, Oliver and Samuel, to East Kirkby Aviation Heritage Centre.

Many of you will know that East Kirkby is home to Lancaster ‘Just Jane’, a Mosquito and a Mitchell B-25.

The Panton family, who lost Christopher over Nuremburg in March 1943, are constantly fund raising in the hope that one day, Just Jane will take to the air once again as a living memorial to Christopher.

Both the Lancaster and Mosquito were carrying out taxy runs and the sound of the Merlin engines really is something to experience. As part of the fund raising campaign, you can pay to be a passenger in the aircraft as they taxy up and down the grass airstrip.

The only place in the UK where you can ride in a Lancaster Bomber - Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre -Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre Click on the link for details.

I can thoroughly recommend a visit and to do justice to all of the displays in the WWII buildings, allow at least four hours for your visit and make use of the excellent café on site.

My second museum visit this week was the TL advertised outing to Eden Camp near Malton in Yorkshire.

Eight TL readers made the trip and of particular interest to me, was the fact that one of my ancestors, Sapper Maurice D’Hooghe, Royal Engineers Mapping Section, is buried in Norton Cemetery, Malton having died in February 1919 as the result of being gassed at the front.

I was aware of his burial location, but had never visited him until last Wednesday. I do not know how long the authorities will allow my laminated poster to remain in situ, but I left an A4 poster with his photo and details of his life and I hope that passing folk may stop and read about Maurice.

After our visit, it was just a four-mile drive to Eden Camp. The camp and its huts were erected during WWII as a Prisoner of War Camp, firstly for Italians and latterly for German prisoners. Over the last 30 odd years, the camp has become a major visitor attraction detailing in 22 of the huts, the story of WWII from the rise of Hitler to the end of the war in 1945. WWI is covered in quite some detail in hut 11 and post-1945 conflicts are also covered.

There is a substantial modern hangar on site containing a number of military vehicles from all eras, all of which, I believe are running and roadworthy. There is a large and wide ranging café on site which also houses a substantial collection of medals donated to the museum.

During our visit, there were a large number of school parties on site but it was possible to follow the route from hut 1 to hut 22 without too much bother. Again, four hours soon passed, and I would recommend a visit, especially with younger family members, as the gist of the museum is definitely geared towards, families, school parties and holidaymakers rather than the serious historian.

Nevertheless, there is a substantial amount to see and read and I even spotted a couple of items of Lincolnshire interest.

World War 2 Museum Yorkshire: Eden Camp Modern History Museum Click the link for full details.

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John Pritchard has been out and about for us and writes; ‘Shirley and myself have been visiting Yorkshire over the past few days.

First place we stayed was Whitby and opposite our Bed and Breakfast was a memorial to those residents that had been shelled by the German warships in the Great War.

Whitby.

[This attack by the German High Seas Fleet took place on 16th December 1914, when Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby were bombarded causing 137 deaths and very nearly 600 wounded, mainly civilians. The attack caused great resentment, not only towards the Germans but towards the Royal Navy who had not been able to stop the attack – Ed]

The lovely "Heartbeat" village [The old TV show – Ed] of Goathland was visited with its tea rooms and gift shops located to extract your money from your wallet! There is also a war memorial on the green for the men lost in the Great War.

Goathland.

We then travelled over the moors to stay at another Bed and Breakfast in Knaresborough, where near the castle there is a well-kept monument in the gardens for the soldiers who fought in both the Great War and WWII.

Knaresborough.

We made a final visit to York from the Park and Ride at Poppleton Bar - to the city centre on a new electric bus with our "senior bus passes", and we walked through the Shambles to the Parish of All Saints Pavement church where we found a wonderful stained glass window dedicated to the various Yorkshire Regiments, and on all of the ends of the pews are carved regimental shields. Here is an example.’

Thank you John.

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Many of you will remember that in 2001, during the construction of a new industrial park near Arras, a Great War grave containing the neatly arrayed remains of twenty soldiers was found. Many of the bodies had been laid to rest with their arms linked with their neighbouring body, showing that this had been a well ordered and respectful burial.

Further research revealed that the twenty-one men were serving with the 10th Battalion (Grimsby Chums), Lincolnshire Regiment, at the time of their death.

Although, I knew about this tale, I had never actually visited the Point du Jour CWGC cemetery where the men had all been re-interred, until last week.

Here is a slide from one of Mike Credland’s talks which details the find and below it is my recent photo of some of the Lincolnshire lads’ headstones.

Point du Jour cemetery stands at the side of a very busy dual carriageway, and is accessed from this busy road. It is not difficult to find as it is well signed, but keep your eyes peeled for the signs.

However, the second reason for visiting this cemetery, is that it is also the location for the impressive 9th (Scottish) Division memorial. Constructed from Scottish stone as a tall and imposing cairn, it details the divisional battle honours in WWI as well as naming all of the individual fighting battalions and support units that made up the division.

The rapid expansion of the British Army is worth a talk in its own right, and the 9th Division came into being due to Army Order 324 issued on 21st August 1914. It is therefore, what we know as a K1 Kitchener New Army Division.

The division forged a reputation as being one of the best and hardest fighting divisions throughout the war, and after arriving in France in May 1915, it fought major actions at Loos (Hohenzollern Redoubt) on 25th September 1915, on the Somme in the summer of 1916, at Arras and Passchendaele in 1917 and in 1918, it defended bravely during the German Spring Offensive and played a full part in the 100 Days Advance to Victory from August 1918 to the Armistice.

Because of its excellent reputation, the division formed part of the British Army of Occupation in December 1918 and was eventually demobilised and renamed The Lowland Division in 1919.

Kitchener Service Battalions from many famous Scottish Regiments served with the 9th Division, including The Black Watch, The Seaforth Highlanders, The Gordon Highlanders, The Cameron Highlanders, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, The Royal Scots, The Royal Scots Fusiliers, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), The Highland Light Infantry and The King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

The Dominion countries of Australia and Canada were both able to field several divisions in the Great War, but the South African contingent was only ever at Brigade strength. Remarkably, The South African Infantry Brigade of four Battalions formed part of 9th (Scottish) Division, and as many of you know, their zenith was the capture of Delville Wood on the Somme, where the South African National Memorial and museum stands today.

In total, between 1914 and 1918, the 9th (Scottish) Division sustained just over 52,000 killed, wounded and taken prisoner, and trivia for the day, is that 380 men from the Channel Islands served in the Divisional Ammunition Column, RFA.

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Staying with the Lincolnshire Regiment theme, here is Steve Bramley’s second contribution this week.

Steve writes;

‘The Three Brothers from Lincoln’

‘You mentioned 16-year old Clifford Isaac Spink, as a casualty in a recent Trench Lincs.

I had recently been doing some research on the 1st Battalion and in particular those who were the first of the Lincolns to go overseas on 13/8/1914.

One of whom was Private 7994 William James Spink. He was likely to have enlisted in March or April 1907. He returned to the UK at some point, possibly wounded and transferred to the 6th Battalion. He had been promoted to Sergeant and was posted to the 6th Lincolns when he was killed in action on 16/8/1917, aged 28. He has no known grave and is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Sergeant 966 Alfred Charles Spink joined the 4th Lincolns, at Lincoln on 13/5/1911. He embarked with the original contingent of 1/4th Lincolns, landing at Havre on 1//3/1915 as a Lance Sergeant. He was posted as missing on 13/10/1915 at the Hohenzollern Redoubt during the Battle of Loos. He has no known resting place and is remembered on the Loos Memorial.

Private 9035 Clifford Isaac Spink enlisted into the 3rd Lincolns at Lincoln on 5/9/1914. He claimed to be a Labourer with a declared age of 18 years and 10 months. He was 5' 4" tall, which was above the minimum height requirements and weighed 7 Stone 6 pounds [106lbs]. He embarked 7/4/1915, where he was posted to the 2nd Battalion. Clifford was killed in action on 3/8/1915 and is interred in White City Cemetery, Bois Grenier, France.

The three brothers were the sons of Isaac and Emma Spink from 10 Brook Street in Lincoln. The family had moved to Lincoln from Wickham Market in Suffolk probably around the turn of the century. All three of the brothers were born in Wickham Market. Isaac was a Millwright and Alfred was a Moulder according to the 1911 Census. Clifford Isaac is recorded on that Census as a 13 years old schoolboy.’

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Whilst on the Somme last week, we visited a number of well-known locations mainly associated with the opening of the battle on 1st July 1916, as well as touring round villages like Combles and Flers which were fought over later in the battle during September and into October.

Two of the best known 1st July locations are the huge mine craters at La Boiselle (Lochnagar) and at Hawthorn Ridge.

The detonation of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge was to help the men of the Middlesex Regiment of 29th Division in their assault and the explosion and advance of the Middlesex was captured on film by Geoffrey Malins and shown in his famous film which was released in England in August 1916 and ran for seventy-seven minutes. You can watch a clip of the film here BATTLE OF THE SOMME [Main Title] | Imperial War Museums

Hawthorn Crater, until recently, was difficult to access but it is now in the care of The Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association, who have signed a 99-year lease with the local council to care for and maintain the double crater as an Anglo-French-German memorial site.

Access paths have been created from opposite the ‘famous’ sunken lane of the Lancashire Fusiliers fame, and from the path that leads to Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No.1, where Robin came across a very obviously fired shell case!

A circular walk has now been created around the crater lip, and a path down into the depths of the crater is now available and is the site of an annual service each July. The site is well worth a visit.

Click here Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association

The Hawthorn mine explosion as filmed by Geoffrey Malins.

The crater today.

It is now possible to walk into the crater.

At Lochnagar, a mine crater that I have visited on many occasions, I was pleased to see the amount of work going on to repair and improve the walkway around the lip, and to provide more explanation boards.

One board that I had not seen before came as a very pleasant surprise, as the information on it had come from Trench Lincs regular, Roger Frankish.

The board provides a detailed explanation of the attack made by the 10th Lincolns on 1st July 1916 and has a first-hand account from Roger’s father, Charles, who was there and was wounded on this historic opening day.

Well done Roger, an excellent piece of work which serves as a lasting testament to your father and his chums.

Trench Lincs 26th October 2025

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