Trench Lincs 28th September 2025

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Good Morning and Buon Giorno,

How has your weather been this week?  We have enjoyed wall to wall sunshine in Italy most days but with two monumental thunderstorms last Tuesday and Wednesday, so please excuse a slightly shorter holiday edition of TL this week as we have been out and about.

For the Americans the First World War is the 1917-18 war, for the Brits it is 1914-18 and for the Italians, who hedged their bets at the start of the war before eventually joining the Allies against the Central Powers, it is the 1915-18 war.

This is reflected in their post war memorialisation and whilst walking in Sorrento town I made a point of visiting the Piazza della Vittoria (Victory Square). Here stands a substantial memorial with classical victory iconography of the winged angel with sword in hand below the victors wreath. The main column has three sides engraved with the names of the Sorrentine men who fell in the Great Cause.

It is a stunning memorial and very well cared for and sits in a square where many locals and tourists visit. I noticed a number of visitors spending time to photogrpah the memorial and read the names on it.

Jill and I are off to both Pompeii and Herculaneum today, and time permitting, I will let you have my thoughts next Sunday. I also made two wonderful finds on the island of Capri. More about that next week.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS.

Next Lecture - Lincoln Branch Western Front Association – Monday 20th October - 7.00pm for 7.30pm start - Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG.

October 20th - Tim Lynch presents "The Enemy Within: Germans in Britain, 1914-1918".

More details to follow.

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The East Midlands (Nottingham) WFA Branch meets again on Friday 10th October at 7.30pm at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Street, Ruddington, Nottingham, NG11 6HA. All welcome.

The speaker on this night will be Spencer Vignes who will talk about “The Life and Death of Leigh Roose, Sportsman and Soldier.”

Leigh Richmond Roose - The Story of Football's First Playboy  Click the link to learn more about this talk.

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Next Meeting – Spalding & South Lincs Branch WFA – Thursday, 23rd October – Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm.

Dr. Scott Lindgren - presents "A Concept Vindicated: The Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914.

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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.

HMS Warspite

Last year, the Leadenham Military History Group staged a most successful and entertaining Trafalgar Dinner. By popular request, the dinner is being held once again on Saturday 25th October in Leadenham village hall.

Tim Sisson writes; ‘Following last year's success, we will again hold our Trafalgar Dinner this year on Saturday, 25th October, at Leadenham Village Hall -  7 for 7.30pm.

Tickets just £26 per person which includes a three course meal, with coffee, prepared by our very own Mike Willgoose, former landlord of the George Hotel. Licenced bar - carriages 11 pm.

This is intended to be an informal occasion for members to get to know one another better in a social context; you are very welcome, indeed encouraged, to bring partners, and it will not be a stuffy formal dinner - far from it. Smart casual dress, no dinner suits required. 

Fair warning - sea shanties may (will) be sung, you don't have to join in if you are tone deaf, but why not have a go!

If you want to bring a group, we can accommodate tables of four, six, eight, ten or twelve - but don't dally, as numbers are limited by space. At the other end of the scale, you are very welcome to come alone or as part of a couple, when you will be seated with others.

You can book a table by emailing me on milhistory@btinternet.com, or call me on 07967 352218. 

This year we will ask for payment in advance which can be made direct to the following account:

Account name: Timothy C Willbond LHS 2024

Account number: 0047 0593

Sort code: 30 13 52

If you make a payment into this account, please put the code TR25, followed by your surname, as the reference.

We look forward to welcoming you again for an enjoyable evening.

Once again, I have reserved a table for myself and currently have Peter Garland, Steve Williams, James Handley, Dave Burkitt and Robin Sayer booked in. We have room to add another three – if you would like to join our party, please send your £26 as detailed above and let me know.

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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 16th October when the seas will replace the skies and Dave Drury will present – “The Loss of HM Submarine Thetis.”

HM Submarine Thetis

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In conjunction with Robin Sayer, we are organising an outing for October, on Wednesday 22nd. The outing is open to everyone, but you will need to make up your own travel groups.

Robin writes for us; ‘As discussed a couple of weeks ago please find a bit more detail on a trip to Eden Camp, Malton, North Yorkshire. Proposed date is now WEDNESDAY 22nd October.

Eden Camp is a family owned and run business that started over 30 years ago.

Originally a prisoner of war camp, it was built on an agricultural plot on the outskirts of Malton in early 1942 by a small contingent of army personnel who had travelled down from Castle Douglas, in Scotland.

Their task was to construct a barbed wire enclosure and erect tents to form a temporary camp to house Italian prisoners of war captured by Allied forces in North Africa. The camp’s location on Eden Road earned it the name ‘Eden Camp’ and its first residents, 250 Italian prisoners, were escorted from Oldham and marched through Malton to their new home. Once settled, they began work on constructing a larger and more permanent camp. At its peak, Eden Camp was supplemented by a large area of tented accommodation and could house around 1,200 prisoners at any one time. The Italian prisoners gave way to German POW’s in the summer of 1944, with the successful Allied invasion of Normandy. The German prisoners, like the Italians before them, were put to work locally in agriculture and they lived in the huts at Eden camp until 1948, when they were finally released, three years after the war had ended.

In 1985, local businessman Stan Johnson discovered that POW Work Camp 83 was still generally intact and thirty-five of the original huts were in roughly the same condition as when the last of 1,200 inmates left for the ‘Fatherland’ in 1948. Mr Johnson brought the site and initially invested £750,000 to create, within the original camp, the world first Modern Theme Museum.

The huts have been re-equipped to tell the story of the People's War, the social history of life from 1939 to 1945. So many simple display exhibits in cabinets are dull affairs, but not Eden Camp. Realistic tableaux, with moving figures, authentic sounds and smells have been created to “transport you back in time.”

Each hut covers a different aspect of the war, starting with the rise of the Nazi Party, Hitler and the outbreak of the War. Other topics include: Rationing, ‘Save It’ Campaigns, Evacuees, Propaganda, Home Guard, Home Front, The Blitz, Air Raid, and Gas Precautions, Animals at War, The Land Army, The Street at War, Women at War, Timber Girls, The Munition Factories, The Observer Corps, The Auxiliary Fire Service, The Green Howards, The WRVS, The Red Cross, Civil Defence Corps, The Rescue Services, The Bevan Boys, and of course WW2 Army, Navy, Royal Air Force, WW1, The Falklands War etc.

During the winter months of 2012 and 2022 significant refurbishment works have been undertaken around the site - a new Blitz experience in Hut 5, a re-modelled front entrance and new exhibition spaces including a huge Heritage Exhibition Hall which provides an undercover display of a growing collection of unique and rare military vehicles and equipment. including 2 CVRT variants Swingfire (anti-tank missile) and Striker (Javelin anti-aircraft Missile) [both of which I qualified as a Warrant Officer instructor, says Robin]

Eden camp is a museum with a difference. It is historical, educational, exciting and good day out allow at least 3 to 4 hours to visit.

Eden camp has a well-stocked cafe and of course a gift shop, parking is free.

Admission is £19 on the day or £17 if booked on line.

EDEN CAMP, Malton, YO17 6RT.

World War 2 Museum Yorkshire: Eden Camp Modern History Museum   Click the link to view the web site.

We aim to meet at the camp from around 10.30am, so please let me know if you are able to make a car load and attend this special day out.

Peter Garland says that he has two seats available in his car if anyone fancies making the trip. Please let me know and I will put you in touch with Peter.

For those of you who want to set off a little earlier, Robin and I will be visiting Norton Cemetery, Beverley Road, Malton, YO17 9ND  at 9.30am – anyone is welcome to join us. [Note the specific address for Norton Cemetery, not the town churchyard - Ed]

Lying in Norton Cemetery, Malton is my ancestor Sapper Maurice D’Hooghe. Maurice worked for the Ordnance Survey prior to 1914 and therefore, it is no surprise that he was enlisted into a mapping company of the Royal Engineers.

Although he was not a front line fighting soldier, Maurice was not immune to the perils of war and as he surveyed the front, he was badly affected by gas, evacuated back to the UK, he did not recover and died of the effects of the gas in 1919.

You can read more about Maurice [And my other ancestors who served in the 14-18 war by clicking on my web site using the link below – Ed]

Maurice Wright D'Hooghe - Jonathan D'Hooghe

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope we get a good turn out on the day. (Weds 22nd October)

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Ian Colley and his wife are still in Australia, and having shared photos from Tasmania recently, he is now driving the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Sydney.

When they passed through the town of Lorne, they stopped at the ANZAC Memorial Park and sent me the following photos. Thank you Ian.

Thank you very much Ian and Tracey.

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It is said that a rolling stone gathers no moss, and so it is with Ray Sellers. If Ray is not hot-footing around the world, you can bet that he is visiting places of interest in the UK.

Last week, Ray sent me enough information and photographs from his recent visits to last us about three or four weeks!

Here is part 1. Ray writes; ‘As promised some photos and their details. I recently spent a couple of days in Hampshire, after delivering my wife and her friend to the Queen Mary 2, for a short cruise. The first photo shows the graves of Reginald Mitchell, left, and William Atwood, right. Mitchell of course designed the Spitfire, but there is no mention of it on the headstone. William Attwood, is a mystery to me. If anyone can enlighten me about him, I would appreciate hearing from them. They both lie in South Stoneham Cemetery in Southampton.

We all know Reginald Mitchell, but who is William Attwood?

The next photo is from St. Nicholas’ Church in Brockenhurst, in the New Forest, it’s a memorial window to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who set up a hospital in the village during World War I. The church also has many memorials and information boards, relating to New Zealand’s role at that time. The last photo is taken in the churchyard, where there is memorial, and over 100 Kiwi graves, all of whom died of their wounds at the hospital. It’s a very moving place, all these lads, so far from home, giving their all, for the Mother Country.

More from Ray's travels next week.

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Like Ray, Melvin Dobbs has been away, this time down to London following his return from Malta and last week’s photos.

Melvin comments; ‘On my recent trip to London, I spotted the Edith Cavell monument at St. Martin’s Place, London, WC2N 4JH, just off the Charing Cross Road, not far from Trafalgar Square. [We have featured this memorial before in TL, but as it is a special memorial, here it is again – Ed]

The Royal Tank Regiment Memorial is at the junction of Whitehall Place and Whitehall Court near the Corinthia Hotel.’

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This week’s offering from Colour by CJS is a chap called John Baxter.

Second Lieutenant John Denham Baxter.

Few details of John’s life could be traced, but it appears he hailed from Buckinghamshire.

He first served as a private before being commissioned in the 1/18th Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles). [Tony Nutkins take note. – Ed]

On 7th November 1918 rumours of an Armistice were circulating. Men dared to dream that perhaps they would survive the war and return home to family and their loved ones.

On that day, just four days before fighting ceased, the Battalion was near the village of Pont-à-Chin, north West of Tournai in Belgium.

Patrols were sent out at dawn to ascertain whether the Germans had continued their retreat, when they encountered some small arms fire, it confirmed that enemy soldiers were still in the area.

Later in the morning John led a party of men to engage a small enemy post that had been located.

While directing the fire of his men he was shot and killed instantly.

He was the London Irish Rifles last casualty of the conflict to be killed in action. The Battalion was relieved later that day its war was over. [Two men of the LIR died on the 8th and 9th of November, one of wounds received earlier and one in the UK – Ed]

John Baxter is buried in Willems Communal Cemetery.

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The Colour by CJS colourised photo has now become a Trench Lincs regular item, and I hope you enjoy the life story each week as much as I do? Last week's tale hit the spot for Maureen Connelly who wrote; 'I just wanted to say that I was moved to tears by the story of that beautiful (handsome doesn’t do him justice) young man, George Smedley, whose colourised photo was featured in the recent edition of Trench Lincs.

Such a sad ending for someone with so much potential.

I suppose it may have been in part because of my Grandmother’s brother who was killed in 1918, aged just 18. Just prior to enlisting he had earned a place at medical school. Another young life lost. He too has no known grave.

I wonder if, in a future edition, you could please feature a photo of someone who survived the war? It would be nice to hear a happy story of triumph over adversity. [When I get home from holiday, I promise to feature a survivor Maureen - Ed]

I do enjoy reading Trench Lincs even though my family are from Leicestershire and various parts of Scotland. The stories all resonate.'

Well said Maureen. The whole point of Trench Lincs each week is to tell the tales of the men and women who served and to feature the nation's memorials, it is all part of my desire to ensure, in these politically and socially turbulent times, that We Do Not Forget the sacrifices made by our ancestors.

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On 13th October it will be the annual service of remembrance once again at the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Auchy les Mines. This is a special day in Lincolnshire memory as the Territorial Force men of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire led the attack on the Redoubt on this day, backed up by the Notts and Derby lads.

As we remember the sacrifice of so many men on this day, 3,763 to be exact, we are often guilty of forgetting the fighting in and around the Redoubt, carried out by men of the 9th (Scottish) Division, the 28th Division and the Guards Division between the opening day of the Battle of Loos, 25th September and the 46th Division attack on 13th October. 

If you are familiar with the layout of the Redoubt, you will know that two trenches were christened by the British after the Kaiser and his son - 'Big Willie' and Little Willie' ! As cameras were banned at the front and war correspondents were not in the front line fighting, photographs of the fighting in the Redoubt are few and very rare.

Therefore, I was delighted to come across this colourised photograph this week and its caption.

'B' Company, 1st Battalion Scots Guards in the 'Big Willie" trench at Loos, September/October 1915.

(Note the Mills Bomb box to the right of the picture. Each box contained twelve grenades - six at each end - with a tin containing the igniter sets in the middle.)

The Battle of Loos

25 September - 18 October 1915

8 October 1915: German counter-attack

Noon: German artillery opened a bombardment on the whole front between the La Bassee Canal and Lens, increasing in intensity at 3.00pm. 

At around 4.00pm, their infantry attacked between the Double Crassier and the Chalk Pit. On the Allied right, the shelling failed to sufficiently damage French wire, and the German attack was halted with heavy loss. 

At the same hour, enemy bombers attacked from the Quarries and Fosse 8 against the forward British positions in Quarry Trench and Big Willie. 

On the left of the Loos attack, the attack fell against the 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers, 1/Gloucesters and 1/9th King's of 1st Division, between the Loos-Puits 14 bis track, and North of the Chalk Pit. Despite heavy shellfire casualties among the defenders, British machine-guns destroyed the attack within 40 yards of the front line. 

On the Hohenzollern Redoubt front, the 2/Coldstream Guards repelled all attacks, as they were by now armed with many Mills bombs. 

The 3/Grenadier Guards were pushed back some way, but eventually formed a block and then counterattacked (supported by two companies of the 1/Scots Guards and the bombers of the Irish Guards) recovered the lost trenches and caused heavy loss to the enemy.

(Colourised by Royston Leonard from the UK)

Map of the Honezollern Redoubt with No.9 Being Big Willie Trench.

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Propaganda was all important during the Great War, from the Lord Kitchener 'Your Country Needs You' campaign onwards, the propagandists looked for opportunities to 'sell' their story. The execution of Edith Cavell, was an opportunity to tell the world about the Barbarous Hun and increase recruitment to the army.

The introduction of the tank to the battlefield was another opportunity which spawned this excellent poster campaign.

"EVERY TANK SAVES

HUNDREDS OF LIVES BY CLEARING THE WAY"

1918,

Artist: W.H. Scrivener (UK)

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IN MEMORIAM - The Lincolnshire Regiment 28th September.

1914

5581 Private B Waltham, 1st Battalion. Buried in Coulomnieres Communal Cemetery, France.

1915

12176 Private Arthur Powell, 8th Battalion, aged 25. Buried in Noeux les Mines Cemetery, France.

12154 Private John Ward, 8th Battalion, aged 21. Buried in Bethune Town Cemetery, France.

13783 Private G Darby, 2nd Battalion. Buried in Sailly sur la Lys Canadian Cemetery, France.

10388 Private Paul Bennett, 6th Battalion. Remembered on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli.

14653 Private G W Wheeldon, 8th Battalion. Buried in Oignies Communal Cemetery, France.

1916

2717 Lance Corporal P Revill, 5th Battalion, aged 22. Buried in Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, France.

16756 Private John Edward Rudkin, 6th Battalion, aged 25. Remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.

13686 Private C Goldthorpe. 6th Battalion. – Ditto. –

1917

Nine men of the Lincolnshire Regiment died on this day, primarily from the Second Line Territorial battalions of 59th Division, following the attack at Dochy Farm and Kansas Cross.

1918

235600 Private J Brown. 1st Battalion. Buried in Five Points Cemetery, France.

50132 Private George Headlong, 2nd Battalion, aged 35. Buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery, France.

15650 Private John Henry Taylor, 1st Battalion, aged 24. Remembered on the Vis en Artois Memorial, France.

44042 Private Frederick Horsepole, 7th Battalion, aged 24. Buried in Hull Cemetery, UK.

42668 Private Alfred Charles Thomas Lingard, 2nd Battalion, aged 19. Buried in Great Yarmouth Cemetery, UK.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

I look forward to returning to Blighty on Friday and will catch up with you all again next Sunday. Please excuse the shortened TL today.

Until next week

All best wishes

Jonathan

www.jonathandhooghe.co.uk

e: trenchlincs@gmail.com

© Jonathan D’Hooghe