Others | Grandad's War

Lance-Corporal Albert Platt, MM

Albert Platt was born on September 17, 1887 in Lees, Oldham. He was the oldest of three boys, his younger sister dying when she was just two years old. By the age of 13 he had left school and was employed as a Cotton Mill Hand and living with his parents, George and Nancy Platt, (née Halkyard), on Warrington Street, Stalybridge.

On December 26, 1910 he married Jane Ann Baily at Castle Hall Parish Church, (now Holy Trinity), Stalybridge and they made their home at 13 Medlock Rd, Woodhouses, (now Failsworth). Albert was employed as a Stripper & Grinder at a Cotton Spinning Company.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, Albert joined the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment, Territorial Force as a Private (2146) on Tuesday September 1, 1914 at Ashton. At least one hundred men attested this day and at that time the intent was for the battalion to take the most able-bodied and experienced men, deferring the others until later in the month, as they knew they were shortly to leave overseas. Albert and the others quickly joined the battalion at Chesham Fold Camp in Bury and a week later they entrained for Southampton and boarded HMS Aragon, leaving at midnight September 10, bound for Egypt.

In Egypt, the men went through rigorous training and Albert was appointed Lance-Corporal on February 9, 1915. He landed in Gallipoli on May 9, 1915 with the rest of the 1/9^th Manchesters as a junior NCO of C Company.

In December 1915. Albert was interviewed by the Ashton Reporter primarily because they had recently published an extensive report from an anonymous NCO from “C” Company of the 9^th Battalion who had referenced Albert by name as having been “continually doing good work” in Gallipoli, a euphemism for multiple acts of conspicuous gallantry in the field. In Albert’s own account of his exploits on the peninsula he referenced the events of three different significant days which are outlined below:

May 23, 1915

“Two of our Companies, A and B, were put into the firing line, and C and D Companies were in the reserve Companies. Four men from each platoon in C and D Company were required to go and dig themselves in 120 yards in advance of A Company’s lines. This took them into the open between our lines and the Turks. Three men of my section volunteered, namely, Private Robinson, Pollard (of Woodhouses), and Stockdale, and a man named Rimmington from another platoon, made up the fourth. I said to Sergeant Joe Wood, ‘Well, I suppose I can go up and see the men off?’ and he gave me permission. I took a cloth bandolier with ammunition and my rifle. The lads had to go with full entrenchment kit and supplies, spade, rifle, bayonet, rations, etc. They had not been gone long before I heard someone was wounded. It turned out to be a lad named Penny. Lance Corporal Silvester, who has won the D.C.M. and another man brought Penny in. I then said to Silvester, “I’ll see if any of my lads have got wounded. They may be requiring help,” and leaving my rifle and ammunition I went out some distance, and then discovered that I was lost. I was in a very uncomfortable position. It was quite dark, and plenty of bullets were flying about. I decided to turn round, and see if I could find my way back. I did so, but instead of going back I afterwards found that I had gone to the right, and I stumbled on a dead Turk. I then got level with a hole and saw a head come up from it. I thought the hole must contain a Turkish sniper, and I got hold of the fellow saying, “Who are you?” He did not speak at first, and I was just going to take drastic measures with him when the fellow says, “What’s to want?” He turned out to be one of the East Lancs, an old soldier who had seen service in South Africa, named Jimmy McGuire. He and others were digging themselves in. I said, “I will stick with you.” I stuck with him all night and the next day, helping him to dig himself in. The following night I rushed back and enquired from Sergeant-Major Christie where Sergeant Harrop was. Sergeant-Major Christie told me that the whole Company were going to dig themselves in and make a new firing line. He asked, “Are you Lance Corporal Platt?” and I replied, “Yes,” and he said, “You are just the man we want. You are going to be shot for being absent without leave.” I then heard a laugh. I had not had a drink or bite since the previous night.”

1358 Corporal George James Silvester was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bringing in 1413 Private Thomas Penny while under fire. Cpl. Silvester had been wounded earlier that month but had remained with the battalion. Although Pte. Penny was safely brought back to the Allied lines, he was severely wounded and later died in Hospital at Malta, on June 6, and is buried at Pieta Military Cemetery.

Three of the four men who volunteered to go out into no man’s land and dig themselves in that night were 2011 Pte. Joseph Pollard, 1373 Pte. Noel Williamson Stockdale and 1383 Pte. Charles Irvine Rimmington. There were three Robinson’s at that time at Gallipoli: 1382 Pte. Ernest Robinson, 1681 Pte. Harry Robinson and 1887. Pte. Mark Robinson. Ernest Robinson was Killed in Action on June 7 in the bayonet charge referenced below and so we know that he was in C Company and so there is a stronger possibility that the “Robinson” referred to above was him.

Joseph Pollard was a 25-year-old neighbour of Albert Platt’s who’s family lived within 5 minutes walk. Pollard attested with the 9th Battalion on August 5, 1914 and had previously served 4 years with them. In 1911 Albert and Joe were both working in Cotton Mills and so there’s a strong possibility that they were friends and work colleagues too and perhaps this was part of the reason Albert enlisted on September 1st.

June 7, 1915

“Another night about 60 or 70 of us were told to dig a communication trench, and whilst we were engaged a fellow told me that Dick Stott was wounded in the head. I was fagged out with digging, but I crawled down to Stott, and took him a short distance. Then I passed word to Pollard, of Woodhouses, to come and give me a lift with Stott. We got hold of him and rushed into the trench. Stott had been wounded while we were in the open digging ourselves in. When we got to the trench Sergeant Harrop gave us a lift with him, and we placed him in a blanket and carried him to the dressing station. In the afternoon of the same day, C Company made a bayonet charge on the Turks. We were a little over 100 strong when we went out, but about 45 got either killed or wounded. When we got into the Turkish trench Tom Finnerty said to me “Joe Bertenshaw is over there, Albert, are you going for him?” I replied, “Sure!” and I climbed back over the parapet. Tommy Finnerty came with me and we found Joe lying on the ground. I said, “Is that you Joe?” and he replied, “Yes … is it Albert?” I replied in the affirmative, and Joe says, “Get me in, will you?” I said “That’s what we’ve come for.” We dragged him to the parapet and I shouted to some of the men to catch him. Then we rolled him over. Then we went back for another wounded lad called Wilson, of Ashton, and got him in, and we also fetched in Albert Wrigley. Just as we were getting him to the parapet the Turks opened rapid fire, and we had to lie down until their fire ceased, and they resumed independent fire again. Then Finnerty and I dragged Wrigley to the parapet and rolled him over, and the men caught him. In and between these I was fetching ammunition, etc., and passing it into the trench. I was in the open while doing this and exposed to the fire of the Turks. Just as we got to the parapet after taking Wrigley, Finnerty was shot in the leg.”

1652 Pte. Richard Stott died of wounds just under a week later, on June 13, on a hospital ship whilst at sea. Richard had just turned 15 years old and had been one of the first to attest at a big recruiting drive at Ashton Town Hall on the evening of February 14, 1914. He lied about his age and stated that he was 17 years old, the minimum age, but he was only 5ft 2” tall and it’s hard to imagine that they really believed him.

Despite being retrieved from no man’s land, 2141 Pte. Joseph Richard Bertenshaw did not survive the day and was reported as killed in action June 7. He had joined the battalion with his brother Percy the same day as Albert Platt, September 1, 1914. A third brother, Herbert, had been with the battalion since November 1913 and no doubt they joined to make sure they all served together.

2068 Pte. Albert Wrigley also retrieved that day did not survive and was listed as killed in action on June7. Pte. Wilson was more fortunate than the others and survived.

1776 Pte. Thomas Finnerty was shot in the knee on June 7 and medically evacuated to Malta. He was one of the 100 or so men who joined the battalion on February 14, 1914, along with Richard Stott. While in hospital at Malta he wrote home to his parents but remarkably did not make any mention of the role he played in bringing three wounded men in with Albert Platt, choosing instead to report on his neighbours’ wounds, (all three men living on Wellington Street in Ashton):

“I am sorry to say that I had the misfortune to get hit by a bullet in the knee, but I am doing very well indeed, so you must not trouble or worry about me. I shall be in good hands and well looked after. I want you to let Mrs. Barratt and Mrs. Turner know that Herbert and John have also been wounded, and tell them not to worry, as they are doing as well as can be expected. Herbert Barratt was hit in the right arm near the shoulder, and John Turner has been hit two or three times in his right hand, wrist and arm near the shoulder. We all got wounded on the same night, it was June 7th. I am posting this at Malta”.

June 7 was a truly memorable day for Lance-Corporal Platt and no doubt one that he remembered for the rest of his life. Having just taken part in a bayonet charge that resulted in almost 50% casualties, and having voluntarily risked his life to check on the welfare of his men in May, he repeated that courageous act to bring in four seriously wounded soldiers. The fact that three of them did not survive is irrelevant to the conspicuous gallantry he showed that day which closely emulated that of Corporal Silvester in May. But June 7, 1915 was by far the bloodiest day in the battalion’s time at Gallipoli so far, with two officers of C Company killed in action and dozens of men killed or wounded, and we can only speculate that the chaos that day meant that he did not receive any official recognition for his actions.

June 18, 1915

“Another day, B Company made another bayonet charge, and while this was going on I was digging a trench for the bombing party.”

Although Albert devoted just one sentence to the events of June 18 it was in fact the bloodiest day of the battalion’s time on the Peninsula eclipsing that of June 7 less than two weeks before.

June 24, 1915

On June 23^rd the battalion came out of the line and moved to “Shell Bivouac”, a rest area that had become notorious for being in sight of the Turkish artillery and which was constantly, randomly shelled.

“Altogether we had been in the trenches 21 days, and then came down for a rest. I was wounded while at the rest camp. I was just going to have a bath in the sea when a piece of shell struck me on the leg, just above the ankle. The leg was hanging, and I was taken down to hospital at Malta.”

He was medically evacuated to hospital in Malta where his right leg was amputated at the “seat of election”, just below the right knee. The “seat of election” was that point in the limb where, with practically the whole length at his disposal for an amputation, the surgeon elected to cut the bone and his preference for this particular spot was largely driven by the unsatisfactory nature of existing artificial limbs. Consequently, it was an advantage if the portion of the limb below the knee was left as short as possible and that the end of the stump was most protected and least in the way. The alternative approach for an ankle injury was a Syme amputation which is an amputation done through the ankle joint. The foot is removed but the heel pad is saved so the patient can put weight on the leg without a prosthesis. Presumably the shell fragment had damaged the tibia and fibula far enough above the ankle joint to make this procedure impractical.

In mid-1915, there were no antibiotics and sepsis (also known as blood poisoning) was a significant post-surgical risk, especially with battlefield wounds. Treatment was rather basic; antiseptics were used to clean the wounds and deep surgical incisions were used to drain the pus from infected parts of the body. Corporal Albert Platt, by his own account, underwent at least five operations for blood poisoning in his shoulders while he was in hospital at Malta. He was lucky to survive.

Almost 3 months after being wounded he embarked a Hospital Ship at Valetta bound for England on September 18, 1915, probably arriving 8-10 days later. By early December, he was being treated in the Ashton District Infirmary Wounded Soldiers’ ward but was sufficiently recovered to be able to make periodic day trips from the hospital to see friends and family. His wife at this time gave an address on Warrington Street, Stalybridge presumably to be closer to her family and in-laws.

On March 3, 1916 the battalion in Egypt received congratulatory cards from the Major-General commanding the 42^nd Division, for good work done in Gallipoli, for a handful of men including 2146 Corporal Albert Platt. Clearly a belated attempt to provide official recognition of Albert’s actions on June 7 submitted by the battalion at the end of the campaign in an effort to address the oversight.

Albert had been promoted to Corporal on June 27, 1915 for his actions in the field and this, of course, provided slightly higher pay. On September 1, 1916 he was awarded Proficiency Pay, Class II, which would have resulted in an additional 3d per day over and above his regular pay. During the period that he was convalescing and being actively treated he remained on the Army payroll but in January 1917 he was medically assessed and pronounced permanently unfit for military service, registered for the silver war badge, and on February 3, 1917 was discharged under Paragraph 392 (XVI) of King’s Regulations. His Army disability pension began the following day.

Three full years later, on January 30, 1920, the following announcement appeared in the London Gazette:

His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Military Medal to the undermentioned Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men for bravery in the Field, whose services have been brought to notice in accordance with the terms of Army Order 193 of 1919. To be dated 5th May, 1919, unless otherwise stated: —
MANCHESTER REGIMENT
2146 Cpl. Platt, A., 9th Bn. (Stalybridge).

This was a quite remarkable announcement since it meant that Cpl. Platt was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for his actions at Gallipoli. We know this since he did not serve under fire in any other military theatre of operation and the MM was awarded for “acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire”. But the Military Medal was not established until March 26, 1916, two months after the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula, and so he is a member of a very select group of men to have received this decoration for the Gallipoli campaign. From a purely practical perspective, the award of the MM meant an additional 6d per day for Albert’s disability pension.

Back in the civilian world, Albert and his wife moved to Heyrod Hall Farm, Heyrod, Stalybridge where he became a self-employed poultry farmer, thus side-stepping the need to try to find regular employment as a disabled ex-serviceman. Proving that he wasn’t completely disabled, on December 1, 1922 his son Albert Jnr. was born there. By 1939 the family had moved to Haltham, near Horncastle, Lincolnshire and in 1952 they sold their house in Haltham and moved to Saddleworth to be closer to their son.

Corporal Albert Platt, M.M. died on July 13, 1955 from a cerebral thrombosis, caused by underlying atherosclerosis, at his home in Saddleworth. He was 67 years old.

Lt.-Col. Henry William Laws, CMG, DSO

Henry William Laws was born on June 15, 1876 in Peckham, London, the oldest son of Richard William Laws, an art metal worker (a skilled worker in architectural metal). He had two older sisters, Alice Louise Laws, named after her mother Louise Laws (née White), and Blanche Edith Laws.

By 1891, Henry was a 15 year old student living with his parents, his father now employing workers in his metal fabrication business. Also present were his two younger brothers, Ernest Francis Laws and Richard Arthur Laws, his two younger sisters Isabel Annie Laws and Maud Evelyn Laws, and a domestic servant. His eldest sister, Alice Louise Laws passed away when she was 10 years old.

Tin Mining in Northern Nigeria

The Protectorate of Northern Nigeria was added to the dependencies of the British Empire in 1900. Early in 1902 Sir William Wallace, a future Governor of Northern Nigeria, travelled to Bauchai and after subduing the Emir was able to trade for a small amount of tin sands that was locally produced close to the Naraguta river. He sent this to the Directors of the Niger Company who took out a prospecting license and sent Henry Laws out as their General Mining Manager and Engineer to investigate. In 1902-03 Laws led three prospecting expeditions to Bauchai province discovering large amounts of alluvial tin in the Gura Mountains (Naraguta and Shere Hills in the Badiko district). Based on his discoveries, the Niger Company applied for a number of mining leases in 1905 and despite the difficulties of extraction and commercialization in such a remote and undeveloped area they were able to produce 1 ton per day of tin. That same year, Laws erected a Mining Beacon, the first one in Nigeria, on the Jos Plateau which remains there today. Henry Laws spent a decade working in Northern Nigeria, his son Philip Saxelby Laws being born in 1907 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. His work in Northern Nigeria made him prosperous and by 1911 his family were living at the Manor House, Newington with two domestic servants. By 1914 he had left the employ of the Niger Company and on July 1st formed his own company of Laws, Rumbold & Co., Mining & Consulting Engineers and Mine Managers, with partners William R. Rumbold and Howard Johnson.

Henry became an associate member (AIMM) of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (subsequently absorbed by the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining), in 1903 providing his address as “c/o The Niger Co. Ltd., Tilde, Northern Nigeria, via Keffi”. He became a full member (MIMM) in 1910 switching his contact address to his home in Newington. Henry remained a member of the Institution throughout his life.

Motor Owner Driver

Shortly after the outbreak of war, in September 1914, the Royal Naval Division Administrative Staff arranged with the Royal Automobile Club to obtain the services of 50 gentlemen, who were to bring their own cars and place them at the disposal of the Admiralty. These ‘Motor Owner Drivers’ were granted temporary commissions with pay of ₤1 a day with free petrol and tyres. These cars and their drivers proved very useful for transport of ammunition and wounded at Antwerp. Henry Laws was one such gentleman, providing the Admiralty with the use of himself and his 32 H.P. Cadillac and was granted a temporary commission as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) and gazetted in the September 14, 1914 edition , (notwithstanding the fact that they got his middle initial wrong).

Medical Unit, Royal Marines

In November 1914, the Royal Marines formed a Medical Unit at Blandford. It consisted of 3 Field Ambulances and Temp Lieutenant H. W. Laws, R.N.V.R. was granted a temporary commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Marines and appointed as the Unit’s Transport Officer, which carried the honorary rank of Captain. The Medical Unit, attached to the Royal Naval Division (RND), left England on February 28, 1915 sailing from Avenmouth en-route to Gallipoli with stops in Egypt and Lemnos. On board the HMS Minnetonka, Captain Laws, the Transport Officer of the Medical Unit was given permission to land the animals and vehicles of Field Ambulance No 2 at Cape Helles, on May 9th 1915. A month later they were involved in the 3rd Battle of Krithia and the men of the Transport Section, under Captain Laws, attached to the Advanced Dressing Station, (ADS), of the 2nd Field Ambulance, RND, were given a special mention for their work assisting the Stretcher Bearers of the ADS during the battle.

Gallipoli Mining Engineer

On June 7, 1915 the 8^th Army Corps issued orders to their Divisions to organize mining parties, preferably made up of men who were miners in civilian life, and to begin both offensive and defensive mining activities. The war diary of the 42^nd Division General Staff for June 14, 1915 notes that “Captain Laws (RND)” visited their trenches and reported that the Turks were engaged in mining operations, (at trench H.11), and the 8^th Army Corps HQ consequently ordered the 42^nd Division to start a counter mine and listening gallery opposite them. From this date forward Laws was attached to the 8^th Army Corps HQ as the Assistant Staff Officer for Mining and relinquished his duties with the Royal Naval Division.

8^th Army Corps Mining Company

Over the following weeks, the extent and importance of mining activity across the Allied front grew and so in order to provide continuity of effort across the frequent rotation of troops, a Corps Mining Company was formed on August 18, 1915, (under Corps Order No 21). Henry Laws was appointed as the Commanding Officer and although it was not clear at the time, (his impromptu move from the R.N.D. to Army Corps H.Q. two months earlier throwing the Admiralty’s administrative branch into some confusion), his temporary commission with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) was terminated on August 17^th and he was awarded a commission in the Royal Engineers with the temporary rank of Major, effective August 18^th.

The 8^th Army Corps Mining Company was made up of 4 platoons, each with one officer and two mining squads of 2 NCOs and 24 men each; the Corps’ Divisions each supplying one Platoon. Divisional commanders were also required to provide above ground fatigue parties as required, to remove dirt, etc., in order to maximize the efficient use of the Mining Company’s skilled personnel.

On October 13, the 8^th Army Corps requested permission from G.H.Q. for an increase of 4 more subaltern officers (from England), one per section, to bring the Mining Company in line with Tunnelling Companies in operation in France. A week later, the 8^th Army Corps recommended to G.H.Q. that officers of the Mining Company should be awarded temporary commissions in the Royal Engineers. By November, the extent of mining activity had grown further still; the 42^nd Division reporting that 50 additional miners, (and a proportionate number of soil removers), had been requested by the Officer Commanding (O.C.) Mining Company for their section of the line alone. Additionally, the requested subalterns from England had not materialized and became critical and so on November 28 the 8^th Army Corps directed all Divisions to furnish one officer and “such personnel as are required” to be attached to the Mining Company. Thousands of men were now directly and indirectly engaged in mining operations and, thanks in part to the skill and leadership of Major Laws, the tide had turned in favour of the Allied miners.

Earlier that month, on November 7^th, the London Gazette published an award of the Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), in recognition of services in the Gallipoli operations to Lieutenant Henry William Laws, RNVR. In January 1916, the Admiralty and the Army Council retrospectively agreed that the DSO should have been treated as a Military award and that his name should be deleted from the Navy List of Naval Awards.

No 254 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers

Meanwhile, in England, the 254 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers was formed and sailed for Gallipoli arriving at Cape Helles on December 7, 1915. But their Commanding Officer did not have as much mining experience as Major Laws and so they were absorbed into the 8^th Army Corps Mining Company as reinforcements, under his command. The situation remained this way until immediately before the evacuation of the peninsula when Major Laws returned to 8^th Army Corps HQ and relinquished command of 254 Tunnelling Company.

The Gallipoli campaign over, he was granted two months leave in Cairo during which time he was mentioned in the despatches of General Sir Ian Hamilton. After his leave, he rejoined No 254 Tunnelling Company in Givenchy, France where they had moved to take over from No 176 Tunnelling Company, which they did on March 13, 1916. He resumed command but was frustrated with the position believing that as an experienced and widely respected consulting mining engineer he would be better employed as Controller of Mines for an Army Corps. On April 12, 1916 he met with the Inspector of Mines for the British Expeditionary Force in France and pleaded his case. Within a month he was called back to England to report to the War Office. He arrived back on May 22^nd but no suitable post could be found and so he was compelled to relinquish his commission on June 6, 1916 and was placed on the General List. Undeterred, he wrote to the War Office on August 22^nd stating that if the only position available was the command of a Tunnelling Company, then he would willingly take it and serve the country in any way he could.

Somewhat incongruously for a man the Army did not quite seem to know what do with, he was mentioned in despatches for a second time on July 12, 1916 in the despatch of General Sir Charles Monro.

No 250 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers

After returning to his family at the Manor House in Newington and resuming his consulting work at Messrs. Laws, Rumbold & Co., Salisbury House, London he was contacted by the War Office in mid-December and offered the command of No 250 Tunnelling Company. He jumped at the chance, passed his medical, was re-appointed as temporary Major in the Royal Engineers and embarked for France, leaving Southampton on December 30,1916.

He joined No 250 Tunnelling Company on January 3, 1917 at La Clytte, Belgium, (now Klijte in Belgium), and took over command the following day. Core Company strength consisted of 23 Officers, 156 Tunnellers, 121 Tunnellers Mates and a plethora of temporarily attached troops filling a variety of supporting roles.

Battle of Messines, 1917

On June 7, 1917 the Allied mines at Messines were fired at the start of the Battle of Messines. Their joint explosion ranks among the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded and the sound of the blast was considered the loudest man-made noise in history. Contemporaneous reports indicated that the blast was heard in London and Dublin and at the Lille University geology department, the shock wave was mistaken for an earthquake.

The following mines of No 250 Tunnelling Company were fired on June 7, 1917: Petit Bois 1 and 2, Peckham 1, Spanbroekmolen and Maedelstede Farm.

After the battle, Major Laws proceeded on 10 days leave to Biarritz on July 24 returning on August 4. A couple of months later he was granted a month’s leave in the UK, leaving the Tunnelling Company on October 4 and returning on November 7, 1917. He was again awarded a short leave in France in early 1918 (January 18-25) but the strain of the previous year’s work caught up with him shortly after his return and he was admitted to No 8 BRCS (British Red Cross Society) Hospital, Boulogne on February 3 and upon discharge was granted two weeks medical leave in the UK.

Controller of Mines, 3^rd Army Corps

He rejoined the 250 Tunnelling Company on March 14, 1918 and two days later was ordered to report to 3^rd Army Corps HQ. On April 4, 1918 he was appointed Controller of Mines, 3^rd Army Corps and made acting Lieutenant-Colonel. It had taken him two years, but he finally got the position he asked for after Gallipoli. Within 3 weeks he appointed his former colleague, Captain Harlow Alfred Taylor O’Callaghan Irwin, from No 250 Tunnelling Company, as his Assistant Controller of Mines.

In October 1918 he was forced to take a medical leave of absence in the UK for the surgical removal of an Ethmoidal Cyst in his left nostril that had been causing him severe headaches. The surgical procedure was successful and he returned to duty on October 31, 1918.

He was demobilised on January 22, 1919, relinquishing his commission at the completion of service, and was granted the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. A few months later he was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, (CMG), for services rendered in connection with military operations in France and Flanders, in the King’s birthday honours list of June 3, 1919.

It was the end of a short but remarkable military career. With no prior military experience, he had been commissioned three times, into two separate branches of the military, played an important role in two major campaigns, rose to the rank of Lt.-Col., was mentioned in despatches twice, and awarded the DSO and CMG. All without firing a shot or receiving any formal military training of any kind. And it should not be forgotten that his 10+ years of mining experience in Nigeria, prospecting and then exploiting alluvial tin deposits, bore little resemblance to the engineering skills requiring for military mining.

Emigration to Canada

Lt.-Col. Henry William Laws, CMG, DSO, MIMM was now 43 years old and he resumed his professional consulting work at Messrs. Laws, Rumbold & Co. In June 1923 he was granted the Freedom of the City of London.

In 1928 he moved with his family to British Columbia, Canada to join his younger brother, Ernest Francis Laws, who had emigrated there after the war, working in real-estate. He settled at Saanich, Vancouver Island and in 1929 they formed the Queenswood Land Company, Ltd. to take advantage of the property development boom of the time. Unfortunately, the syndicate ran into financial difficulties and many of the parcels of land they purchased reverted to the city for unpaid taxes.

Lt.-Col. Henry William Laws, CMG, DSO, MIMM died at Saanich on December 19, 1954, his wife pre-deceasing him. He was 77 years old.

References:

Nigeria and its Tin Fields, Albert F. Calvert 1910.
A List of Sites, Buildings and Other Antiquities Declared to be Monuments under the Antiquities Act from February 1956 to December 1964, K. C. Murray.
Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 4, No. 1 (December 1967)
Britain’s Sea Soldiers: A Record of the Royal Marines During the War 1914-1919, Sir Herbert Edward Blumberg, 1927.
War Diary. 8th Corps: General Staff (1915) (WO 95/4263-4359)
War Diary. 250 Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers (WO 95/551)
War Diary. 176 Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers (WO 95/244)
Naval Service Record. Laws, Henry William (ADM 337/119/730)
Army Service Record. Major Henry William Laws Royal Engineers (WO 339/54024)

Acknowledgements:

Sincere thanks to the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining for their help uncovering the details of Lt.-Col. Laws’ I.M.M. membership.

Major Thomas Frankish, RAMC (Att’d)

Thomas Frankish was born on November 21, 1867 in Bromley, Middlesex to George Frankish, an inspector for the Inland Revenue, and Sarah Jane Frankish (née Nettleton). He was the oldest of four boys; George (b.1870), Walter (b.1874) and Henry (b.1877). His sister Alice Gertrude Frankish was born in July 1880 but died in 1882.

Thomas went to medical school at Edinburgh University graduating in 1889. He remained at university and received a Bachelor of Science in Public Health in 1893. After graduating and undergoing residencies at Bournemouth and Lewes, he moved back to live with his parents working as a Surgeon at Accrington Victoria Cottage Hospital and the Royal Infirmary, Bradford.

Royal Field Artillery

On February 9, 1898 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Lancashire Artillery Volunteers. In 1901 he married Edith Mary Jennings and on July 18, 1903 their only daughter, Freda May Frankish, was born. By 1911 they were living in Accrington with two domestic servants and Thomas was a Major in the 5th Lancashire Battery, Royal Field Artillery, 1st East Lancashire Brigade. On September 23, 1913 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and assumed command of the Brigade. In his civilian life he was working in private medical practice, in partnership with Dr. J. S. Harbinson, and had been the Honorary Surgeon at Accrington Victoria Cottage Hospital for over a decade.

The Outbreak of War

At the outbreak of war, when he was 47 years old, he closed his medical practice and sailed with the 42nd Division to Egypt in September 1914 as Officer Commanding the 1st East Lancashire Brigade, RFA. While in Egypt his worsening presbyopia meant that his eyesight deteriorated to the point where he was reported as unfit to command due to defective eyesight. To his credit, he arranged to resign his commission in the RFA, allowing the promotion of his successor, Major Arthur Birtwistle, and to be granted a new commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps, (RAMC). The War Office granted the request on condition that he accept the rank of Major, which he did, and thus he lost both seniority and tenure which he struggled to come to terms with throughout the remainder of his war service.

Royal Army Medical Corps

He was commissioned Major in the RAMC on March 9, 1915 less than a week after Major Hilton of the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment died at Heliopolis, leaving them without a Medical Officer. Since there was a need for his services with the 42nd Division but no suitable vacancy, he was added to the Army’s list of RAMC officers not attached to a medical unit and rotated through various posts as and where he was needed. By his own account, he served as the Senior Medical Officer at the British Military Hospital, Khartoum and as Medical Officer for the 1/7th Manchester Regiment. The 1/7th Manchesters being based in Sudan from September 30, 1914 until they returned to Egypt in April 1915.

Gallipoli with the 9th Manchesters

Back in Egypt he was attached to the 9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment on May 5th, 1915 serving as their Medical Officer. This attachment was wired to the War Office by the G.O.C. Egypt Expeditionary Force and it turned out to be the last official communication from the field concerning him and so for the next several years, as far as the Army was concerned, he remained attached to the 9th Battalion and was presented as such on the Army List. In later years he spent much personal effort attempting to correct the record without much success.

In fact, his tenure with the 9^th Manchesters lasted less than 4 months, landing with them at Cape Helles on May 9, 1915 and remaining with them until temporarily transferred by the 42^nd Division Assistant Director Medical Services (ADMS) to the 1/3^rd East Lancs Field Ambulance on August 31, 1915. He was belatedly struck off the strength of the Battalion on October 21^st when he was permanently transferred to Divisional HQ, as Sanitation Officer.

He did not serve as Sanitation Officer long because on November 11, 1915 he was medically evacuated to the 17th General Hospital, Alexandria (ex Hospital Ship Delta) suffering from dyspepsia and dysentery, the third attack that he had endured on the peninsula. He remained at the 17th General from November 17 to December 6 when he was transferred to an Officer’s Convalescent Hospital at Luxor.

Egypt 1916

Sufficiently recovered, he reported for duty with the 42 Division’s 1/1st East Lancs Field Ambulance at Shalufa on February 13, 1916. Just over a week later he transferred to the 35th Casualty Clearing Station, on February 22nd. He was briefly made Officer Commanding RAMC Details, Sidi Bishr, Alexandria but he was not well and after constant headaches for six weeks and occasional sudden attacks of fever, made worse by exposure to the sun, he was admitted to the British Red Cross Hospital at Ginza on April 8th suffering from Pyrexia of Unknown Origin. He recovered over the next 3 weeks and no microbial infection was found but on April 22nd he was medically assessed and granted 2 months home leave to recover in a more temperate climate. Consequently, he boarded the Hospital Ship Salta at Alexandria on May 14, arriving Southampton May 26, 1916.

On May 28, 1916 he was medically assessed at the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester where it was noted that he had recovered on the voyage home but was still not at his usual strength. They granted him 1 month’s leave and he reported for a second medical assessment on June 17 where he was passed fit for General Service. He embarked the Troop Transport Minetonka at Devonport bound for for Alexandria on July 5, 1916, arriving there on July 19.

On July 23rd he reported for duty at the 15th General Hospital, Alexandria where he remained for the remainder of 1916.

Salonika 1917

He was not happy away from the action and so by his own request he embarked a Hospital Transport ship for Salonika on April 4, 1917 arriving six days later. Here he was briefly posted to the 28th General Hospital before assuming command of the 8th Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance on May 3, 1917. They remained in Salonika until June 1st when they embarked for Egypt, arriving 3 days later.

In early October the Assistant Director Medical Services (ADMS) Yeomanry Division wrote a scathing letter to the Deputy Director Medical Services (DDMS) Desert Mounted Corps complaining of Major Frankish’s unsatisfactory performance, especially with regard to the Field Ambulance’s field sanitation standards. The DDMS concurred and used Major Frankish’s own 3-page, detailed riposte to the charges as evidence that he would be better suited to a support, rather than a field, position. GHQ concurred and transferred Major Frankish to the RAMC Base Depot, Mustapha where he assumed command on November 3, 1917. This position carried the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and he assumed this rank from this date forward, although it took almost two years for the Army to recognize it.

Torpedoed 1918

On February 21, 1918 he was granted 3 weeks home leave and embarked the Indarra en-route to England. In England his leave expired without receiving orders to return and so on April 15, 1918 he wrote to the War Office reporting this fact. Two weeks later, upon receiving orders to return to Egypt, he wrote another letter to the War Office requesting that he be allowed to not return to Egypt due to health reasons exacerbated by the hot climate. He received a one sentence reply denying his request. This was rather unfortunate because he then boarded the Troop Transport Omrah, bound for Alexandria via Marseilles. On May 12, 1918 the Omrah was torpedoed by UB52, 40 miles S.W. of Cape Spartivento, Sicily and sunk. But remarkably there was only one reported casualty, which was fortunately not him, and he arrived relatively unscathed at Alexandria on the Malwa, 5 days later.

During his adventure in the Mediterranean, on May 11, 1918, he was awarded the Territorial Decoration for long service with the Territorial Force.

He remained in command of the RAMC Base Depot, now at Kantara, but after the war had ended he was sometimes deployed for temporary duty on board Hospital Ships sailing between Egypt and Beirut.

Demobilisation in 1919

On March 28, 1919 he relinquished command of the RAMC Base Depot and was assigned to the Convalescent Depot at Boulaq, Cairo. Consequently, when he became unwell on April 4, 1919, he was admitted to the Citadel Hospital in Cairo. Whilst being treated, he wrote to the Ministry of National Service, in England, requesting a “speedy demobilisation” citing a litany of reasons but primarily his deteriorating health in Egypt’s hot climate. He also wrote to his former medical partner, Dr. J. S. Harbinson, who had already been demobilised, requesting him to contact the War Office on his behalf, which he duly did.

He was medically assessed in Cairo on April 20th and they recommended two months rest in the UK. He boarded the Hospital Ship Carisbrooke Castle at Alexandria on May 6, 1919 arriving Southampton 10 days later. Here he was admitted to the Endsleigh Palace Hospital for Officers, London for treatment. The War Office notified him that he would be demobilised when fit and instructed the hospital to schedule a medical assessment for June 12, 1919. Remarkably, on May 24th he wrote to the War Office now requesting to remain in the Royal Army Medical Corps since he felt that he had secured a move from Egypt and claiming that there was not enough work for him in his medical practice (the opposite of what Dr. Harbinson had told them a month earlier). Needless to say, his request was summarily rejected.

He was discharged from Endsleigh on June 13 and returned home, with another medical assessment scheduled for July. On July 10, 1919 he submitted an official request for a speedy demobilisation for medical officers. The War Office must have considered starting a new department just to deal with all his correspondences. Nevertheless, he was assessed at Exeter on July 28 and granted leave until September 1st. On September 4, 1919 he was medically assessed again at Queen Mary’s Military Hospital, Whalley, Lancs and pronounced to be at fitness level ‘C1’. He was demobilised a week later on September 12, 1919.

Post War Years

On September 30, 1921 he resigned his commission with the Royal Army Medical Corps having attained the age limit and was granted the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

On October 20, 1939 he wrote to H.M. Secretary of State for War, offering his services, noting his prior service and stating that after the war he had been Chairman Pension Boards and Referee to the Ministry of Health. He indicated that he had been the Medical Officer on a troop ship for the last 4 years and was currently returning to England. He was 72 years old and his offer was very politely declined.

By this time he and his wife had moved to Quainton, near Aylesbury and in early 1946 he died there. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Frankish, MB, TD was 78 years old and was survived by his wife and daughter.

2/Lt. Charles Henry Nash, RAMC (Att’d)

Charles Henry Nash was born on July 16, 1875 in Cork to the Rev. Llewellyn Charles Nash and Ellen Henrietta Nash (née Welland). Charles was the youngest of 3 boys (William Welland Nash and Sidney Dawson Nash) and had an older sister, (Henrietta May Nash), and two younger sisters, (Mary Welland Nash and Anna Florence Nash).

Charles’ mother died in 1893, when he was 18 years old, and two years later he enrolled as a first-year medical student at Queen’s College Cork, on October 28, 1895. By 1901 Charles was living with his father, who was now the Rector of Ballymartle, (near Kinsale, County Cork), his younger sister Mary, his uncle Robert Spread Nash, and a domestic servant. Charles took his final examinations under the auspices of the Scottish Conjoint Board and so when he passed, in 1903, he became LRCP (Edin.), LRCS (Edin.) and LRFPS (Glasg.).

By 1911 he had formed a medical partnership with a local doctor, (Dr. Walter John Roalfe-Cox), and was working as a General Practitioner and living in Mortimer, Berkshire with his brother Sidney, (a former Army officer and now a District Commissioner in West Africa), his sister Mary and a domestic servant. Shortly after the outbreak of war he dissolved his business partnership so that he could join the Army and was commissioned as a temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on December 28, 1914.

He was attached to the 42^nd (East Lancs) Division and by August 1915 was assigned to the 1/1^st East Lancs Field Ambulance at Gully Beach, Cape Helles, Gallipoli. On Augst 31^st the Divisional ADMS issued orders for him to be attached to the 1/9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment, replacing Major Thomas Frankish, RAMC. He remained attached to the 9^th Manchesters until he reported sick to hospital on October 25, 1915. He did not return to the Battalion.

On December 28, 1915 he was promoted to temporary Captain which rank he retained until he resigned his commission on March 8, 1919 retaining the rank of Captain. In October 1917 he married Julia Phyllis Smeddle, in Durham, and after he left the Army, they settled in Porthcawl, Wales where he worked in private practice. They had 3 daughters; Phyllis Kathleen Nash (b. 1919), Dorothy Joyce Graham Nash (b.1921) and Vera Peggy Nash (b.1925). They stayed in Porthcawl until the mid-1930s when they moved to Sandhurst, Berkshire.

Captain Charles Henry Nash died on February 8, 1952. He was 71 years old.

2/Lt. George Gordon Greene-Kelly

George Gordon Greene-Kelly was born on July 11, 1886 in County Dublin, Ireland. By 1901 he was attending school and living at 24 Belgrave Square, Monkstown Dublin with his widowed mother Elizabeth, his older brother Frederick William (attending Medical School) and a domestic servant.

In January 1915 he applied for a commission stating that he had been a member of his School Cadet Corps and the Planters Volunteer Mounted Corps, Malacca. He was accepted and commissioned on February 4, 1915 as a temporary Second Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment).

He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments. There is no official mention of his movements or activities at Gallipoli with the 9^th Manchesters and on December 8, 1915 he was transferred and attached to the 10^th Manchesters along with another subaltern, 2/Lt. Laird Kirwan, who had arrived with him on October 7.

2/Lt. Greene-Kelly remained with the 10^th Manchesters as they evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula and moved to Egypt. On March 14, 1916 he was transferred to the 126^th Brigade, 42^nd Division Machine Gun Company at Shalufa. He spent a week in hospital at Suez in April and on May 20^th was made temporary Lieutenant. In October he was granted 5 weeks leave in England and departed Port Said on the SS Caledonian on October 13^th. After his leave was over, he embarked the Indulgence in Marseilles on November 13^th rejoining the Machine Gun Company in Al Mazār, Northern Sinai, on November 27^th. The pursuit of the Turkish forces across the Northern Sinai proceeded without incident and the 42^nd Division marched into El Arish in January 1917. After a relaxing two weeks by the sea, they were ordered back to the Suez Canal in preparation of deployment to France.

The Machine Gun Company embarked for Marseilles, at Alexandria on February 2, 1917 sailing on the HT Huntspill, disembarking on March 6^th. Lt. Greene-Kelly fought with the Machine Gun Corps in France throughout 1917 taking home leave from July 8-20 and again from January 11-27, 1918. Immediately upon his return he was recalled to England leaving the Machine Gun Company on January 29, 1918. He spent the remainder of the war in England.

On November 18, 1918 he returned to France and reported to Terlincthun Chateau, Boulogne for duty as War Workers Conducting Officer with the Military Inter Allied Commission of Control. Two weeks later he was granted the rank of temporary Major while so employed. The disarmament provisions of the Armistice, in November 1918, and of the Treaty of Versailles fourteen months later were primarily carried out by the Military Inter Allied Commission of Control. He remained with them until October 21, 1921 when he resigned his commission, retaining the rank of Major, but by this time he was based in Berlin.

He remained in Berlin and started his own import / export business, Gordon Kelly Export House. On September 20, 1923 he married Paula Gertrude Karla Marie Kuhlewind and they remained in Berlin after the marriage. In May 1924 their son, Ronald Gordon Greene-Kelly was born and around that time he applied for an educational sponsorship from the Army for former officers who wanted to attend a business course at a London university but was rejected as he had not served in the regular forces. By 1926 the family had moved to Hendon, London and they remained there until he died in December 1932.

Major George Gordon Greene-Kelly was just 46 years old. He was survived by his wife, his son, his mother and his older brother.

2/Lt. Arthur James Southcott

Arthur James Southcott was born on July 18, 1895 in Woodford, Essex to Arthur Southcott, a civil servant at the royal mint and Annie Southcott (née Pattison). He was educated at The Cooper’s Company School, in London, and by 1911 was living in Woodford with his parents, his younger brother, Walter Roy Southcott, and a domestic servant. His father passed away on January 31, 1912.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, on September 3, 1914, he left his civilian job as a shipping clerk and joined the 9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) as a Rifleman (#3177), undergoing 3 months basic training at Crowborough and Fleet. On November 5, 1914 the 1/9^th London Regiment landed at Le Havre and went into the trenches at Neuve Eglise on November 29^th recording their first casualties on December 4^th. On December 31^st they occupied the trenches again and the following day Rifleman Southcott sprained his back and was medically evacuated to England leaving France on January 5, 1915. Back in England he was assigned to the 2/9^th Battalion while he recovered and there was granted a commission as a temporary Second-Lieutenant on March 27, 1915 with the 12th (Service) Battalion, The Essex Regiment.

He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments. There is no official mention of his movements or activities at Gallipoli save for a reference to reporting sick to hospital on December 4-8, 1915. He rejoined the Battalion on December 9^th but two days later was admitted to the 17^th Stationary Hospital at Cape Helles suffering from Diarrhea. He was medically evacuated to England on January 3, 1916 from Mudros sailing on the hospital ship Britannic and arrived at Southampton on January 9^th, by now diagnosed with gastritis and enteritis.

He was given a month’s convalescent leave and on Feb 12, 1917 was pronounced fit for home service. A month later the Army medical board passed him fit for general service.

He deployed to France and was attached to the 10th Battalion, The Essex Regiment who at the time were part of the 53rd Brigade in 18th (Eastern) Division. They had taken heavy casualties in July at the Battle of Delville Wood and again in September at the Battle of Thiepval Ridge but on October 17, 1916 they were taking over the lines near Courcelette (S.W. of Bapaume). The battalion war diary simply states, “No 2 Platoon of “A” Company on reaching the BAPAUME POST was knocked out by a bomb from enemy aeroplane”. But a first-hand account of the incident provides more detail:

Account of Incident of Bomb from Enemy Aeroplane on morning of 17th October – by the [3] survivors:

“On the morning of the 17th inst. we were being marched up the BAPAUME ROAD in our platoon under 2/Lt. A. J. Southcott the platoon commander. When we reached the point on the road formerly known as BAPAUME POST a very heavy bomb fell and exploded about 3 yards to the left of the centre of the platoon. This was at about 5:40am when the light was poor and there was a heavy mist issuing from the river. All the platoon were rendered casualties except ourselves. Officer (2/Lt. A. J. Southcott) wounded. Other ranks: 1 killed and 17 wounded.

We were marching at ease at the time and were singing so no one either heard the aeroplane or the noise of the bomb descending. After the explosion we immediately commenced to bandage the wounded and some 3 or 4 minutes after the explosion we saw the aeroplane hovering fairly low little distance to the right, where it dropped another bomb. There were lights and fires burning in the camps both on the right and left of the road where the bombs were dropped.”

2/Lt. Southcott was struck by a fragment of bomb shrapnel which entered the lower part of the right buttock passing through the rectum from which it passed 3 days later, which can’t have been pleasant. He was medically evacuated to England on the Asturias embarking at Le Havre on October 20 and disembarking at Southampton on the 21^st where he was transported to London and admitted to Lady Mountgarret’s Convalescent Hospital for Officers. The wound became septic but healed reasonably quickly but he then developed Gastritis and Enteritis as he had before in Gallipoli. It was not until June 16, 1917 that he was finally pronounced fit for general service again whereupon he proceeded to the 27th Training Reserve Battalion, Harwich Fortress at Dovercourt, Essex.

On June 7, 1918 he suffered the humiliation of a Field General Court Martial, accused of Drunkenness at Felixstowe on May 13. He pleaded Not Guilty but was found Guilty and severely reprimanded. He relinquished his commission and left the Army on February 23, 1919 retaining the rank of Lieutenant.

In 1920 he applied to the War Office for his medals and the contact address was later amended from his mother’s home in Essex to that of the Militia Council Headquarters, in Ottowa, Canada. He officially emigrated to Canada in March 1923 and became the head clerk at an aircraft engine manufacturer called Armstrong-Siddeley, (later to become Hawker-Siddeley), in Ottowa. Lt. Arthur James Southcott died suddenly on June 31, 1935 and is buried in the Beechwood Cemetery, Ottowa. He was 39 years old.

2/Lt. Laird Kirwan

Laird Kirwan was born on April 14, 1894 in London to John William Kirwan, a successful wholesale Jeweler, and Caroline Marian Kirwan (née Colins). He was the youngest of six children although his older brother Howard had died shortly after birth when he was just 7 months old. In 1911 he was living with his parents and four older sisters in Islington.

One month after the outbreak of war, on September 5, 1914, Laird joined the Honorable Artillery Company as a Private (#1931) and was assigned to Number 2 Company, 2^nd Battalion. He was granted a commission as a temporary Second Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) on January 26, 1915.

He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments. There is no official mention of his movements or activities at Gallipoli with the 9^th Manchesters and on December 8, 1915 he was transferred and attached to the 10^th Manchesters along with another subaltern, 2/Lt. George Greene-Kelly, who had arrived with him on October 7.

2/Lt. Kirwan remained with the 10^th Manchesters as they evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula and moved to Egypt. On March 30, 1916 he was transferred and attached to the 6th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment who were in Mesopotamia and formed part of the 38th (Lancashire) Infantry Brigade of the 13th (Western) Division. 2/Lt. Kirwan embarked at Port Suez on April 9^th and disembarked at Basra on April 24^th. This was 5 days before the fall of Kut Al Amara which no doubt delayed his passage up river to join his new battalion. Consequently, he spent some time at Basra before joining the Battalion at Sheikh Sa’ad on June 19^th where he was immediately put in command of a company, relinquishing command 5 days later. On July 9, 1916 he went sick to hospital where he stayed for a week before rejoining the battalion.

After the debacle of Kut-Al-Amara, Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude, formerly commander of the 6^th South Lancs’ own 13th (Western) Division, was made commander of all Allied forces in Mesopotamia in late July 1916. He embarked upon a 7-month period of re-organizing and re-supplying his forces while steadily improving the lines of communication and medical and port infrastructure at Basra. In December 1916 he launched a new campaign whose goal was to capture Baghdad, which he did on March 11, 1917.

Shortly after the start of the campaign, on January 11, 1917, 2/Lt. Kirwan was transferred to “G” Stokes Mortar Battery and periodically served as second in command of the battery throughout his time with the battalion, temporarily assuming the rank of Lieutenant during those periods. Over the next 3 months the battalion took part in a series of minor battles including the capture of the Hai Salient, the capture of Dahra Bend, the Second Battle of Kut, the passage of the Diyala River and the fall of Baghdad. A month after it was all over, on May 16, he proceeded to Basra to commence home leave to England sailing on the transport Sofala. While in England, the War Office extended his leave and so he did not return to Basra until September 26, 1917 sailing from Bombay to Basra on the transport Torilla.

By this time the battalion was north of Baghdad at a small town called As Sindiyah, on the East bank of the Tigris and it took 2/Lt. Kirwan two weeks to reach them, rejoining the “G” Stokes Mortar Battery on October 9^th at Tuwair (an even smaller town on the West side of the Tigris). As was not uncommon, a few weeks after returning from leave the change of climate and harsh living conditions caused him to report sick to hospital on November 25^th and after a month in a field hospital went to an Officers’ Convalescent Hospital in Baghdad where he remained until December 28, 1917, rejoining the battalion at As Sindiyah. The commander of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force, Lt.-General Sir Stanley Maude was not so lucky, he contracted cholera around the same time and died in Baghdad on November 18.

2/Lt. Kirwan remained with the battalion until August 1, 1918 when he was attached to the 31^st Wing of the Royal Air Force as an “Observer” joining the 30^th Squadron at Baqubah, North West of Bhagdad. Three weeks later, on August 20, 1918, his Army service record states that he was “Accidentally Killed” on flying duty but his RAF record was subsequently amended to state that he in fact died of wounds sustained on flying duty, and was designated a “Battle Casualty”.

2/Lt. Laird Kirwan was 24 years old. He is buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq which is also the final resting place of Sir Stanley Maude.

2/Lt. George Frederick Barker

George Frederick Barker was born in 1884, in Brentwood Essex to Frederick Inkerman Barker, (a blacksmith and farrier) and Kate Barker (née Monsear). George was the oldest of four children and the only son. His father died in 1903 and by 1911 he was living with his widowed mother and three sisters and employed as a school teacher for the Poplar Guardians (a poor house which built a training school for around 700 pupils in 1906/07 at Hulton in Essex). He was reportedly a fine athlete playing both football and cricket at a high amateur level in Brentwood.

He was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant on December 5, 1914 and underwent his basic training with the 12th Battalion, The Essex Regiment. During this time, in the latter half of 1915, he married Lydia Laura Horwood. He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments.

There is no official mention of his movements or activities at Gallipoli save for a reference to reporting sick to hospital on December 8, 1915, most likely the 17^th Stationary Hospital at Cape Helles. He remained in Hospital for six weeks until he was medically evacuated to Malta, disembarking on January 21, 1916 and diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever. There he was admitted to the Blue Sisters Hospital the following day. Two weeks later, on February 5^th, he embarked on the Hospital Ship Aquitania bound for England via Naples.

On September 1, 1916 he was promoted to acting Lieutenant in the Training Reserve and remained so until February 16, 1917 when he relinquished his acting rank of Lieutenant and reverted to temporary 2^nd Lieutenant. A week later he joined the 3^rd (Reserve) Battalion, The Essex Regiment at Felixstowe, on February 22, 1917. The 3^rd Essex was a depot and training unit and he remained there until he was passed fit for active service. Two months later he sailed to France and joined the 2^nd Battalion, The Essex Regiment on April 22, 1917 while they were in billets at Beaufort-Blavincourt, a few kilometers West of Arras. The timing was not good as the Battalion was engaged in the Second Battle of Arras and both sides were suffering heavy casualties.

A week after his arrival, the Battalion moved into the front lines at 8pm on April 30, 1917. There they were subjected to enemy artillery and sniper fire and took several casualties. On May 3^rd they were directly involved in an attack against the German positions and suffered 5 killed, 96 wounded and 106 missing other ranks with 2 officers killed, 8 wounded and 4 missing. The following day the battalion moved back to the support line. On May 10^th they moved towards the front lines again when they supported an attack by the 11^th Brigade. By this time the Battalion HQ was located in a cellar at Fampoux. On May 12^th they were in the front lines again supporting an attack by the 10^th and 11^th Brigades. The battalion started to pull out during the evening and was fully relieved at midnight. The scale of the battalion’s casualties over the past month is made evident by an excerpt from the war diary entry for May 12:

“Only 4 Officers came out of the line with the Battalion out of 25 who had been with them this tour. 2 Officers wounded. 2/Lt. G. F. Barker killed.”

Temporary Second Lieutenant George Frederick Barker was killed in action on May 12, 1917 at Fampoux, France. He was 33 years old. His wife was notified by telegram 6 days later:

He is buried in the Saint Nicolas British Cemetery, Arras and commemorated at the Ilford War Memorial Hall.

2/Lt. George Robert Bernard

George Robert Bernard’s childhood is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. By his own account, he was born on September 5, 1887 at 9 Young Street, Kensington and was the only son of George Arthur Bernard, a Stockbroker, and Madame Felice Bernard and was educated at Emanuel School, Wandsworth. However, there is no independent surviving corroborating evidence of any part of that narrative.

Indeed, George himself was unable to find any such birth record at Somerset House when he searched for it in 1914. But what George did not know is that there is a birth record for George Robert Wallendorff, born on September 5, 1887 at 9 Young Street, Kensingnton to Alexandrine Françoise Wallendorff, a 28 year old dressmaker, previously living in Paris, who signed her name as the anglicized “Fanny Wallendorff”. No father was named on the birth certificate, which was registered six weeks later, and a hand written note implies that the baby was adopted.

Three years later, a court dressmaker called Madame Fanny W. Dubois, the same age as Fanny Wallendorff, was living at the same Kensington address. So, it would appear that George Robert Bernard may have actually been the illegitimate son of Alexandrine Françoise Wallendorff, (who later reinvented herself as Madame Fanny W[allendorff] Dubois), and was adopted shortly after his birth by Madame Felice Bernard.

But whatever the truth surrounding his early life actually is, he was clearly raised as an affluent and well educated young man and from 1911 his story is clear. By 1911 he was renting a flat in Pimlico and working as a clerk in the pensions department of the Board of Trade, (whose responsibilities later fell to the Ministry of Labour, after it was established by the New Ministries and Secretaries Act of 1916).

In 1914 he was still working at the Board of Trade and was Secretary to the Local Juvenile Advisory Committee, Shoreditch Labour Exchange. It’s likely that this is how he met and became friends with the Rev. Robert Robertson Hyde, Chaplain at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, City Rd London, and a lifetime advocate for juvenile welfare.

At the outbreak of war, he secured permission from the Board of Trade “to serve with His Majesty’s force for the duration of the war” and subsequently joined the newly formed 18th Service Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, as a Private (3720) on Sept 15, 1914 and underwent basic training at Epsom. The 18^th Royal Fusiliers were also known as the 1^st Public Schools Battalion, part of the University and Public Schools (UPS) Brigade. Most of the men were educated at public schools and many were subsequently offered commissions. George was quickly singled out for promotion and on November 30, 1914 was appointed temporary 2^nd Lieutenant in the 12^th Battalion, The Essex Regiment.

All candidates nominated for a temporary commission were required to provide a signed certificate of good moral character for the prior 4 years from “a responsible person”. In George’s case, his friend the Rev. Hyde attested to George’s character indicating that he had known him since 1909. His educational reference was provided by the Oxford educated private Chaplain to Maurice George Carr Glyn J.P. then living at Albury Hall, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. Providing further evidence of George’s privileged and socially well connected upbringing.

He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments. At this point in the campaign on Cape Helles, the positions of the Allies and the Turks were essentially fixed and well dug in. The primary means of attrition on both sides was through the digging of mine shafts and galleries under the enemy’s lines and exploding large amounts of munitions. Consequently, in mid-August the 8^th Army Corps, under the command of Major Henry William Laws, formed a Mining Company with 4 platoons, each with 1 Officer and 2 Mining Squads of 2 NCOs and 24 men. Each Division in the Corps was required to contribute a platoon and the 42^nd Division, of which the 9^th Manchesters were a part, duly complied. 2/Lt. Bernard became temporarily engaged in the Divisional support of these mining operations and a letter from Capt. Oliver Jepson Sutton to his father relating to events in October, and published in the Ashton Reporter on November 27, 1915, highlighted the dangerous nature of the work:

Yesterday, whilst waiting for dinner, an explosion took place underground. I went off to find out where it was, and after travelling along the trench some way, found a man coming out of a shaft. He was a bit shaky, and said he had heard a man shouting below. I could get no candles or lamps, so I doubled back to the dugout and got the lamp you sent me. Without a light it was no use going down because the mines are complicated, and I had not been in before.

Wandering about below I came across the new sub., Bernard, and in a few moments, we discovered one of the men gassed and unconscious. It was hard work carrying him out, as the roof was very low, but we managed to get him to the shaft, and there he was hoisted out. He came round in a few hours, and is now none the worse for his experience. No damage was done to the mine, but the gas from an explosion 20 yards away was forced through the ground into our mine, and was too much for the man.

Throughout October and November, the demand for more personnel to support the expanding scope of the Mining Company’s offensive activities steadily increased and the 8^th Army Corps made a request to GHQ for the addition of subalterns to each platoon in order to bring the operational structure more in line with that of the Tunneling Companies of the Royal Engineers, which had just started operating in Europe. Since the requested subalterns from England were not forthcoming, 2/Lt. Bernard became one of those subalterns already at Gallipoli who was attached to the 8^th Army Corps Mining Company. On the evening of November 28, 1915, he was involved in the incident that would eventually see him awarded the Military Cross, on June 3, 1916. In the early morning hours of November 29^th, the following signal was sent to 8^th Army Corps HQ:

From OC 8th Corp Mining Coy

29 Nov, 1915

Fusilier Bluff borehole exploded under Turkish gallery from which gas was issuing last night. After firing, Lt. McNamara and two miners entered No 2 shaft to investigate and were immediately overcome with gas, presumably the gas produced by explosion of ammonal. Lt. Bernard attempted rescue and was also overcome. Regret to report Lt. McNamara and one miner died. Others have recovered.

Back in England, the 254^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers was formed. They sailed for Gallipoli and arrived at Cape Helles on December 7, 1915 where they quickly absorbed the personnel of the 8^th Army Corps Mining Company, Major Laws, DSO assuming command as he was more experienced than the Tunnelling Company CO. A week later, most of the Divisional personnel temporarily attached to the Mining Company were allowed to return to their battalions and 2/Lt. Bernard re-joined the 9^th Manchesters. But he had performed his duties with the 8^th Army Corps Mining Company admirably and they would not forget him.

2/Lt. Bernard left the Gallipoli peninsular with the 9^th Manchesters on December 28, 1915 and went with them to Egypt where he continued to serve until he was granted one month’s home leave to England, embarking at Alexandria on June 18, 1916. Back in England he stayed with his friend the Rev. Robert Robertson Hyde at St Mary’s Clergy House, Provost Street, Hoxton. On July 1st he married Eleanor Bertha Taylor at St. Mary’s Church and Rev. Hyde performed the marriage ceremony. George and Eleanor had a productive honeymoon; their son Geoffrey George Bernard being born 9 months later on April 24, 1917. George also produced a short manuscript, “Extracts from the Letters of a Temporary Tunneller” providing an account of his work with the 8th Army Mining Company and pulled from his letters home to Eleanor from Gallipoli. But before he could return to Egypt, he was seconded to the Royal Engineers by the War Office and attached to the 256^th Tunnelling Company which had just been formed, and deployed to France in July.

He sailed to France and joined the 256^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers on August 21, 1916 while they were at Agnez-lès-Duisans, near Arras. Six months later, on February 12, 1917, 2/Lt. Bernard was transferred to the 254^th Tunnelling Company, East of Bethune, arriving there on February 18. Seven weeks after arriving, in the early morning hours of April 8, 1917 at 2:15am, 2/Lt. George Robert Bernard was shot by a sniper’s rifle bullet and killed in action while working on wire entanglements on top of Willow Mine dump. He was buried the next day in the Bethune Town Cemetery, along with 6 other ranks of the 254th Tunnelling Company who also lost their lives the previous day when they were buried in a covered approach to Willow Mine that suffered a direct hit by a German Trench Mortar.

The following obituary appeared in the April 16, 1917 edition of the London Times:

2/Lt. Bernard was just 29 years old. Killed in Action two weeks before the birth of his son. 2/Lt. George Robert Bernard, M.C. is commemorated on the Board of Trade War Memorial, the Memorial to the Staff of the Ministry of Labour and at Emanuel School.

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks to Emanuel School for their patience and their assistance in uncovering the murky details of George’s birth and (probable) adoption.

Capt. Richard Percy Lewis

Richard Percy Lewis was born on March 10, 1874 in Paddington, London to Richard and Eliza Mary (née Kinglake) Lewis. Richard Lewis was a successful barrister and his son Richard Percy Lewis had an older sister, Louisa Mary Kinglake Lewis, and a younger brother, John Alexander Kinglake Clayton Lewis. In 1881 the family was living in Gloucester Place, Paddington with four live-in domestic servants.

He was educated at Winchester College (1887-92) and then University College, Oxford (1894-96) and was said to be one of the finest wicket-keepers of his generation, playing for Oxford University, Surrey and Middlesex.

During the Boer War he was commissioned as Second-Lieutenant in the 14^th Middlesex (Inns of Court) Rifle Volunteer Corps, on August 4, 1900. In October 24, 1900 he was awarded a commission in the Devonshire Regiment, a line regiment when another second-Lieutenant was killed in action, thus creating a vacancy. He was promoted to Lieutenant on April 4, 1903.

After the war, he was attached to the 1^st Battalion King’s African Rifles January 12, 1904 to June 24, 1907, and took part in the Nandi Expedition of 1905-1906 where he was mentioned in despatches (of Edgar G. Harrison, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Nandi Field Force, February 28, 1906).

Lieutenant R. P. Lewis, (The Devonshire Regiment), 1st K.A.R., as Signalling Officer to the Field Force, by his keenness and hard work was able with slender means and in spite of many difficulties to obtain excellent results. Many of the signallers employed were recruits with but little training, but even with such material Lieutenant Lewis was able to keep numerous posts going and to link up the various units of the force by helio and lamp.

After his spell in Africa, he was seconded for service with the Egyptian Army, on 20th August 1908, and stationed as an intelligence officer in Cairo. Whilst serving in Egypt he suffered a succession of personal blows as his sister, brother and mother all died in 1911, 1912 and 1913 respectively, (his father having died many years before). Meanwhile his career progressed and he was promoted to Captain on December 16, 1911.

The 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment landed in Egypt on September 25, 1914 and spent the next six months training for war. They landed at Gallipoli on May 9, 1915 but were short of senior officers, two majors having died in Egypt.

Captain Lewis joined the 42^nd Division in Gallipoli on May 31, 1915 and was initially posted to the 10^th Battalion Manchester Regiment but four days later, on June 4^th, he was made a temporary Major and attached to the 1/9^th Battalion. He was wounded about a month later, on July 6^th, and subsequently left the 9^th at that time. But during his short spell with them he was involved in the bloodiest month of the Gallipoli campaign for the 9^th Battalion when they were involved in two separate bayonet charges against the Turks.

On November 4, 1916 he was appointed Brigade-Major, leaving the position on April 24, 1917. And on May 8, 1917 was made acting Lieutenant-Colonel while commanding the 10^th Battalion Manchester Regiment. He was not to hold this position long because he died of wounds at Ypres on September 9, 1917 during a heavy bombardment between the village of Frezenberg and Westhoek. He is buried in Grave I.A.57 of the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

“It was during one such bombardment that Lt-Colonel Lewis was killed. Battalion HQ was housed in a cellar of a ruined farm house known as Kit and Kat. The position lay on what in more peaceful times had been the minor road running between Frezenberg and Westhoek. Lewis was hit by a shell splinter when giving orders to a runner and died shortly afterwards. His body was taken back to Ypres and buried in the burgeoning cemetery near to the tumbled central square.”

Excerpted from “Amateur Soldiers” by K. W. Mitchinson. ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0951809891.

Perhaps because he no longer had any living immediate family members, he made a number of bequests to the Devonshire Regiment including £2,000 for the “benefit and comfort of the officers and men during the war, and thereafter for the widows of the men”. The rest he left to his cousin Evelyn, the daughter of his mother’s younger sister. Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Percy Lewis was 43 years old.