The_Poppy_March_2012.pdf - The Western Front Association
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<strong>Poppy</strong><br />
THE<br />
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN FRONT ASSOCIATION, THAMES VALLEY BRANCH Number 29, <strong>March</strong> 2012
Patron<br />
Colonel Terry Cave CBE<br />
Honorary President<br />
Professor Peter Simkins MBE FRHistS<br />
Honorary Vice-Presidents<br />
Dr John Bourne BA PhD FRHistS<br />
Professor Gary Sheffield BA MA PhD FRHistS<br />
Lt.Col. Graham W Parker OBE<br />
Tony Noyes C.Eng., MICE<br />
André Coilliot<br />
<strong>The</strong> Burgomaster of Ypres<br />
<strong>The</strong> Mayor of Albert<br />
Chairman<br />
Bruce Simpson<br />
7<br />
3<br />
CONTENTS<br />
Proposed visit to Reading Old Cemetery<br />
4 Dedications<br />
6 Photographic competition<br />
Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland Ambulance<br />
10<br />
13<br />
15<br />
18<br />
20<br />
21<br />
9<br />
EHIC expiry<br />
<strong>The</strong> Kronstadt Raid<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bridcutts of Benson<br />
<strong>The</strong> Death of Charles Frohman<br />
17 New book<br />
Take Care if you’re visiting France!<br />
19 Branch Battlefield tour<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Prospect 1000” Project (cont.)<br />
20 Branch matters<br />
Programme and Speakers for 2012<br />
Photograph of Bignemont Cemetery on<br />
front page taken by Mike Lawson.<br />
Contacts<br />
If you are receiving this copy of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong> for the<br />
first time, then please come along to our next branch<br />
meeting on 29th <strong>March</strong> 2012. Should you require<br />
directions to the venue or any other information relating<br />
to the branch, please contact one of the committee<br />
members listed below.<br />
Bridgeen Fox: tel 01189 265376<br />
or email bridgeen.fox@btinternet.com<br />
Don Farr: tel 01189 794518<br />
or email don.farr@ntlworld.com<br />
Mike Lawson: tel 01692 535184<br />
or email lawsonm100@aol.com<br />
Roger Laing: tel 01753 654885<br />
or email roger.laing@tiscali.co.uk<br />
Liz Tait: tel 0118 9662885<br />
or email liztait@virginmedia.com<br />
2
Proposed Branch Visit to Reading Old Cemetery<br />
Saturday 23rd June 2012 at 2.30 pm<br />
A proposed guided branch trip to the fascinating<br />
Reading Old Cemetery is being arranged for Saturday<br />
23rd June 2012, starting at 2.30 pm.<br />
Reading Cemetery was set up by a private Act of<br />
Parliament in 1842 to establish the Reading Cemetery<br />
Company and is now Grade 2 listed. It contains 18,327<br />
graves, covering an area of 11.5 acres, and includes<br />
two listed memorials, a war graves plot, memorials to<br />
three Old Contemptibles and a memorial to George<br />
Blackall Simonds, the sculptor of the Maiwand Lion<br />
in Reading’s Forbury Gardens. <strong>The</strong> war graves plot is<br />
situated at the back of the cemetery and includes a<br />
screen wall memorial to commemorate those buried in<br />
Plot 72 together with those buried in other parts of the<br />
cemetery, whose graves are not marked by headstones.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are 205 Commonwealth burials from the First<br />
World War and 41 from the Second World War plus one<br />
from Serbia.<br />
<strong>The</strong> cemetery is situated at the junction of London<br />
Road (A4) and Wokingham Road (A423) in East Reading<br />
and parking is permitted inside the cemetery through<br />
the main entrance.<br />
Reading Old Cemetery, Cemetery Junction<br />
Of special interest to Branch<br />
Members might be the headstone<br />
of Trooper Joseph William Odell of<br />
the Berkshire Yeomanry. As readers<br />
of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong> no. 6 may recall, a new<br />
headstone was paid for in 2004 by<br />
the Regimental <strong>Association</strong> of the<br />
Berkshire Yeomanry. <strong>The</strong> Branch raised<br />
the money to pay for cemetery fees<br />
and Branch Member Alan Dickens,<br />
a stonemason, very kindly carved<br />
and erected the headstone free of<br />
charge. n<br />
<strong>The</strong> Maiwand Lion, Forbury Gardens, Reading<br />
3
Dedications<br />
As a mark of respect to all those who perished during the Great War, the following meetings will be dedicated to the memory of local men serving with the<br />
Royal Berkshire Regiment who died on that date during 1914–1918. If during your travels you happen to be near to where any of these soldiers are buried or<br />
commemorated, kindly pay a visit.<br />
26th April<br />
<strong>The</strong> dedication this month is to<br />
Richard Brombley, a Private<br />
with the 8th Bn. Royal Berkshire<br />
Regiment, from Easthampstead.<br />
Richard Brombley was born at<br />
Easthamstead, near Bracknell in<br />
the spring of 1896, the son of Edwin<br />
Pte. Richard Brombley,<br />
Brombley, a farm cart worker and 8th Bn.Royal Berkshire<br />
Regiment<br />
his wife Mary Ann, of Nine Mile<br />
Ride, Easthampstead. <strong>The</strong> family<br />
had a total of 13 children, six sons and seven daughters,<br />
including Richard and his twin sister Winifred. By 1911,<br />
Richard, now age 15, was working, locally, as a domestic<br />
gardener.<br />
In September 1914, Richard, age 18, enlisted at<br />
Wokingham and in October 1914, commenced training with<br />
the 8th Royal Berks, attached to 26th Division, at Codford<br />
Camp on Salisbury Plain. During November 1914, the<br />
battalion returned to Reading to be housed in billets until<br />
May 1915 when, now at full strength, it was sent to Sutton<br />
Veny, near Warminster for further training. Embarkation<br />
orders were received at the end of July 1915 and the 8th Royal<br />
Berks set sail from Southampton at 6.00 pm on 7th August<br />
1915 on RMS Viper, to land at Le Havre about seven hours<br />
later on 8th August 1915 at 12.45 am. <strong>The</strong> battalion, together<br />
with the 10th Gloucesters, was now transferred to 1st Bde.,<br />
1st. Division, to replace two Guards battalions that had joined<br />
the newly-formed Guards Division. Two days later, the 8th<br />
Royal Berks marched to Arques for a few days rest, before<br />
marching again to arrive at Béthune on 16th August 1915.<br />
<strong>The</strong> battalion quickly went into the trenches around Béthune<br />
on 17th August 1915, in preparation for their part at the<br />
Battle of Loos on 25th September 1915. <strong>The</strong> 8th Royal Berks<br />
fought in the battle for three days in the front line, in the La<br />
Haie and Bois Carré sector, until it was withdrawn to reserve<br />
on 28th September 1918. <strong>The</strong> battalion fought again in the<br />
battle from 12th-13th October 1915 before being withdrawn<br />
to an area around Lillers. <strong>The</strong> Battle of Loos ended on 18th<br />
October 1915 but the 8th Royal Berks remained there, in and<br />
out of the trenches and holding the line, in the Maroc sector<br />
until June 1916, when the division moved to the Somme.<br />
During this relatively safe eight month period of the war, the<br />
battalion lost a further 65 men killed or dying of wounds,<br />
mainly due to occasional shelling and sniping. Sadly, one<br />
of these casualties was 14393 Pte. Richard Brombley, age<br />
4<br />
19, who was killed in action on<br />
Wednesday 26th April 1916, the only<br />
man from the 8th Royal Berks to die<br />
that day.<br />
Pte. Richard Brombley has no<br />
known grave and is commemorated<br />
on the Arras Memorial, Bay 7,<br />
Avenue du Mémorial des Fusillés,<br />
Pte. owen Brombley,<br />
62000 Arras, Pas de Calais, France. (sic) 8th Bn.Royal<br />
Berkshire Regiment<br />
A further tragedy struck the<br />
Brombley family later in the war when the youngest son,<br />
45838 Pte. Owen Brombley, also serving with the 8th Royal<br />
Berks, was killed in action, together with 17 other ranks,<br />
during an attack on German positions between Ronssoy and<br />
Lempire on Friday 20th September 1918.<br />
Pte. Owen Brombley has no known grave and is<br />
commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Bay 7, 1<br />
Route Nationale, 62156 Haucourt, Pas de Calais, France.<br />
31st May<br />
<strong>The</strong> dedication this month is to Harry Alfred Hiscock,<br />
a Lance Sergeant with the 2nd/4th Bn. Royal Berkshire<br />
Regiment, from Wokingham.
Harry Alfred Hiscock was born in Reading in the summer<br />
of 1883, the eldest son of Harry Hiscock, a police constable<br />
and his wife Ann, of 10 Manor Terrace, St. Giles, Reading. He<br />
had four brothers, James, Frank, Albert and Harold and by<br />
1901 the family had moved to 19 Cholmeley Road, St. Giles,<br />
Reading, where Harry Alfred, now age 17, was working as a<br />
plasterer’s apprentice. By early 1911, father Harry had retired<br />
from the police force and was working as a live-in caretaker,<br />
together with the family, at the London & County Bank, 5<br />
Broad Street, Wokingham (now NatWest Bank) where son,<br />
Harry, age 27, was working as a greengrocer’s assistant.<br />
In the spring of 1911, at Wokingham, Harry Alfred<br />
married Agnes Gertrude Portchmouth, also age 27, from<br />
Hamstead Marshall, near Newbury. Agnes had been working<br />
as a domestic cook in Murdoch Road, Wokingham at the<br />
time but after they married, the couple set up home together<br />
at 33 Easthampstead Road, Wokingham, where, in early 1912,<br />
a daughter, Kathleen, was born.<br />
Harry Alfred enlisted with the 2nd/4th Royal Berkshire<br />
Regiment, sometime during late 1914 or early 1915. <strong>The</strong><br />
battalion was formed in Reading on 6th November 1914<br />
and immediately sent to Maidenhead. In February 1915 the<br />
2nd/4th Royal Berks was allocated to 184th Bde., 61st (2nd/<br />
South Midland) Division and moved to Northampton but<br />
in April 1915 the battalion relocated to Chelmsford, where<br />
it remained until February/<strong>March</strong> 1916. <strong>The</strong> 61st Division<br />
then moved to Salisbury Plain, before leaving for France on<br />
21st May 1916. Landings at Le Havre were completed by 25th<br />
May 1916 and after a three-day march, the Division arrived at<br />
base camps in an area around Merville-Gonnehem-Busnes-<br />
Thiennes.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 2nd/4th Royal Berks took part in the Attack at<br />
Fromelles on 19th July 1916 and, during 1917, was engaged<br />
in the Operations on the Ancre (11th-15th January), the<br />
German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line (14th <strong>March</strong>-5th<br />
April), the Battle of Langemark (18th August), the Battles<br />
of Ypres (18th August-15th September) and the German<br />
Counter-Attacks at the Battle of Cambrai (1st-3rd December).<br />
During the German Spring Offensive of 1918 the division<br />
fought in the Battle of St. Quentin (21st-22nd <strong>March</strong>), in the<br />
Actions at the Somme Crossings and in the Battles of the Lys<br />
(11th-18th April). After the Battle of Béthune on 18th April<br />
1918, the 2nd/4th Royal Berks remained on the Lys until<br />
August 1918 with spells occupying defensive positions in the<br />
St. Venant-Robecq Sector in front of Robecq, together with<br />
periods of rest, training in back areas near Lillers. On 26th<br />
May 1918, the battalion was sent for another, unpleasant,<br />
seven-day spell of occupation in the front line at Robecq.<br />
Both sides were very active during this period, with aircraft<br />
actions overhead, intermittent shelling of both front line<br />
positions and rear areas during day and night time, machinegunning,<br />
sniping, wiring and patrolling of no man’s land.<br />
Total casualties during this period amounted to 10 men killed<br />
and 19 wounded. Sadly, one of those casualties was 201375<br />
L/Sgt. Harry Hiscock, age 34, who was killed in action on<br />
Friday 31st May 1918, the only man from the 2nd/4th Royal<br />
Berks to die that day.<br />
L/Sgt. Harry Alfred Hiscock is buried in at Robecq<br />
Communal Cemetery, grave 2, Rue de Saint-Venant, 62350<br />
Robecq, Pas de Calais, France.<br />
28th June<br />
<strong>The</strong> dedication this month is to<br />
William Adnams, a Gunner with<br />
the 99th Siege Battery, Royal<br />
Garrison Artillery, from Whitley,<br />
Reading.<br />
William Adnams was born at<br />
gnr willian adnams,<br />
Reading in early 1886, the only son 99th siege battery,<br />
royal garrison<br />
of Willliam J. Adnams, a wine and artillery<br />
spirit bottler, and his wife Emily. He had a younger sister,<br />
Nellie, born at Reading in 1893 and in 1901, the family of<br />
four were living at 18 Essex Street, St. Giles, Reading, where<br />
William, age 15, was working as a tailors’ clothes presser. On<br />
9th July 1910, William, now age 24, married Lizzie Fennell,<br />
age 22, at Whitley, Reading and the couple set up home<br />
together at 55 Spring Gardens, Whitley.<br />
Six years later, on 31st August 1916, William, age 30,<br />
enlisted in Reading for Short Service (i.e. for the duration<br />
of the war) and was immediately put on Army Reserve. He<br />
was of slight build, being 5”6” tall with an expanded chest<br />
measurement of only 35 inches. William was mobilised<br />
on 20th December 1916 and posted to serve with the Royal<br />
Garrison Artillery at No. 3 Depot in <strong>The</strong> Citadel at Plymouth.<br />
He was allocated to 38th Coy R.G.A, as 129930 Gunner on<br />
4th January 1917 and on 6th January 1917 was sent to the 1st<br />
5
Reinforcing Depot, Siege Artillery at Bexhill. At his medical<br />
on 5th May 1917, William was passed fit for service at level<br />
Aii and on 30th June 1917 was posted to 161st Siege Battery,<br />
before being sent to France on 24th August 1917. Soon after<br />
landing at Boulogne, he went down with suspected dysentery<br />
fever on 8th September 1917 and spent a few days in No. 14<br />
Stationary Hospital at Boulogne before being posted to 99th<br />
Siege Battery on 24th October 1917. Prior to the German<br />
Spring Offensive, William spent 14 days on home leave from<br />
5th-19th <strong>March</strong> 1918 and on 24th May 1918 was admitted<br />
to hospital again for another period of sickness. He was<br />
discharged on 31st May 1918 and returned to 99th Siege<br />
Battery on the Lys. Barely four weeks later, William was<br />
wounded by a gas shell on 25th June 1918 and admitted to No.<br />
39 Stationary Hospital at Aire-sur-la-Lys, where he sadly died,<br />
age 32, three days later on Friday 28th June 1918.<br />
His personal effects, strangely containing seven unopened<br />
letters, were returned to his wife, Lizzie on 1st November<br />
1918. <strong>The</strong> couple did not have any children and Lizzie<br />
remained a widow until she married William Maynard at<br />
Reading in the spring of 1942 at age 54. She died at Reading<br />
in the summer of 1955, age 67.<br />
Gnr. William Adnams is buried in Aire Communal<br />
Cemetery, grave 3.E.5, 68 Rue de Saint-Martin, 62120 Airesur-la-Lys,<br />
Pas de Calais, France. n<br />
Branch Photographic Competition<br />
Thursday 24th November 2011<br />
<strong>The</strong> response and quality of entries to this season’s competition was excellent and<br />
congratulations go to Chris Nash, who won first prize, with a photograph of the grave of<br />
a recently buried unknown soldier, ‘Late on Parade’, at Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz,<br />
Somme, France. Nigel Parker was runner-up with a photograph of Chichester Cemetery.<br />
‘Late on Parade’ Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz<br />
Photo: Chris Nash<br />
6
Millicent Duchess of Sutherland Ambulance<br />
by Bridgeen Fox<br />
Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, was born in Fife on 20th<br />
October 1867 and married Cromartie-Leveson Gower in<br />
1884, when she was just seventeen. In 1892 she became the<br />
Duchess of Sutherland. She was a society beauty, a successful<br />
London hostess, whose portrait was painted in Stafford<br />
House by John Singer Sargent. She was an omnivorous<br />
reader, wrote fiction which included a book entitled ‘ Seven<br />
Love Stories,’ published by Heineman in 1902 and her war<br />
memoir, ‘Six weeks at the War,’ published in 1915 by A.C.<br />
McClurg , 1915.<br />
She was a serious activist for social reform and one of her<br />
projects was to form a technical school in Golspie, Scotland,<br />
but she will probably be best remembered for establishing,<br />
in 1896, the North Staffordshire Cripples’ Aid Society, a<br />
charity with the aim of training a number of crippled boys<br />
in North Staffordshire and teaching them a trade, ‘generally<br />
assisting them to obtain a living when, by reason of their<br />
misfortunes, they are disqualified from doing so through the<br />
usual channels.’ In 1902 the Guild began to do practical silver<br />
smithing and was soon producing handicrafts of a very high<br />
standard in the Arts & Crafts Movement.<br />
Her Involvement in philanthropic schemes at home was<br />
interrupted when war was declared on 4th August 1914.<br />
Millicent had persuaded the French Minister of War to<br />
exempt her from those regulations forbidding foreigners<br />
from serving in French hospitals. She had also enlisted the<br />
Portrait of Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland<br />
1904 by John Singer Sargent<br />
help of Winston Churchill in overcoming entrenched Royal<br />
Army Medical Corps opposition to her plans.<br />
At the time British organisations, individuals and groups<br />
of friends, gave lavishly of funds, stores and the services of<br />
trained nurses to the French, Belgian and Serbian Allies and,<br />
by 17th August 1914, Millicent had installed an ambulance<br />
with eight trained nurses and a surgeon, Mr Oswald Morgan<br />
of Guys’ Hospital, in Namur. This became the No.9 Red Cross<br />
Hospital (Millicent Duchess of Sutherland’s Ambulance)<br />
and it was established in the Convent of Les Soeurs de Notre<br />
Dame. On 22nd August 1914 German forces attacked Namur<br />
and the hospital was inundated with wounded soldiers. In her<br />
book ‘Six Weeks at the War,’ which is really a diary, she gives<br />
a graphic account of her experiences on that day:<br />
45 soldiers were brought wounded mostly by shrapnel but<br />
a few were bullet wounds which inflict terrible gashes but<br />
if taken in time rarely prove mortal. <strong>The</strong> wounded were<br />
all Belgian – Flemish and Walloon or French, many were<br />
Reservists. Our young surgeon, Mr. Morgan, was perfectly<br />
calm and so were our nurses. What I thought would be for<br />
me an impossible task became perfectly natural: to wash<br />
wounds, to drag off rags and clothing soaked in blood, to<br />
soothe a soldier’s groans, to raise a wounded man while he<br />
was receiving Extreme Unction, hemmed in by nurse and a<br />
priest, so near he seemed to death; these actions seemed<br />
7
‘A Madame la Duchesse de Sutherland, Homage respectueux et très<br />
reconnaissant d’un simple soldat,’ by Victor Tardieu<br />
‘Bourbourg, 1915’ by Victor Tardieu<br />
suddenly to become an insistent duty, perfectly easy to<br />
carry out.’<br />
She also found herself seeking the men’s rosaries from<br />
the purses in which they carried them because they wanted<br />
to hold them in their hands. <strong>The</strong>ir small hospital had to take<br />
all the wounded who were brought to them because there<br />
were already 700 in the military hospital and the smaller Red<br />
Cross ambulances were full. She is full of praise for the nuns<br />
and her staff:<br />
What a blessing our ambulance was to Namur,’ she writes;<br />
‘no one until these awful things happen can conceive of the<br />
untold value of fully trained and disciplined British nurses.<br />
<strong>The</strong> nuns were of great use to us, for they helped in every<br />
possible tender way, and provided food for the wounded.<br />
<strong>The</strong> hospital was disestablished after the German<br />
Occupation of Belgium but it would be re-established in<br />
November 1914 at the Hotel Belle Vue at Malo-les-Bains,<br />
Dunkirk, as an evacuation hospital with the capability of<br />
providing 70-100 beds for sick or wounded. No.9 Red Cross<br />
hospital became a Tent Unit at Bourbourg in July 1915 and<br />
was known as ‘<strong>The</strong> Camp in the Oatfield,’ immortalised in<br />
the vivid paintings of Victor Tardieu, a French soldier who<br />
had fought in the trenches. He painted canvasses ‘en plein<br />
air,’ depicting life in the tented camp at Bourbourg in bright,<br />
vivid colours.<br />
Many of these paintings were dedicated to the Duchess<br />
by Tardieu: ‘A Madame la Duchesse de Sutherland, Homage<br />
respectueux et très reconnaissant d’un simple soldat,’ is the<br />
dedication for one of the paintings.<br />
Later that year, No.9 Red Cross Hospital closed in<br />
preparation for a move to Calais where it opened on 12th<br />
January 1916 as a hospital for British wounded initially for<br />
one hundred beds but later increased to one hundred and<br />
twenty.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Visitors’ Book for No.9 Red Cross Hospital contains<br />
the signatures of a huge variety of prestigious visitors<br />
including the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, the President<br />
of the Canadian Red Cross Society and by personnel from<br />
the international Ambulance Units from America and<br />
Australia. On 14th July 1917 King George V, accompanied<br />
by Queen Mary and Prince Edward visited the hospital and<br />
signed the Visitor’s Book.<br />
In 1915/16 Lady Randolph Churchill wrote an article<br />
‘Amongst the Wounded’ in a series entitled ‘Our Women<br />
Heroes’ which was about women working for the Red Cross<br />
at home and overseas. She praises the Duchess of Sutherland<br />
for her work as ‘Directress in station to all matters of supplies<br />
and pecuniary import in her hospital.’<br />
In <strong>March</strong> 1918 No.9 Red Cross Hospital moved to<br />
Longueness, near St Omer, followed by another move in<br />
September 1918 to 20th November 1918.<br />
<strong>The</strong> constant change of locations of the hospitals was<br />
recorded by a nurse who was an avid post-card collector<br />
and managed to acquire a postcard of every place in which<br />
she worked. Her name was Uma Tomlin Hunter who came<br />
from a military family in Northumberland. She was born in<br />
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1886 and in April 1915 she enrolled<br />
as a VAD in Northumberland and was sent to France to serve<br />
8
with the No.9 Red Cross Hospital, where she served the major<br />
part of her duty. In April 1918 she was posted to the Duchess<br />
of Westmimster’s No 1 Hospital and a post-card written at<br />
the time indicated that the Queen of the Belgians had visited<br />
the hospital and presented the Duchess with the Order of St.<br />
Elizabeth.<br />
Uma was discharged from the VAD, on 28th November<br />
1918, whilst at the No.1 Hospital. For her service as a nurse<br />
during the War she was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British<br />
War Medal and the Victory Medal. She was also awarded the<br />
Belgian Medal of King Albert 1914-18.<br />
No.9 Red Cross Hospital, administered and financed<br />
largely by the Duchess, was recognised for its efficient use<br />
of a new, revolutionary treatment of wounds known as<br />
the Carrel-Dakin treatment. This consisted of constantly<br />
irrigating wounds with a highly diluted antiseptic of sodium<br />
hypochloride and boric acid. <strong>The</strong> main advantages of this<br />
treatment were that old infected wounds could be cleaned up<br />
and healing quickened and that the general condition of the<br />
patient improved almost immediately once the treatment had<br />
begun. <strong>The</strong> hospital also had provided excellent treatment of<br />
fractured limbs by means of suspension and extension. <strong>The</strong><br />
total number of patients treated between 12th January 1916<br />
and 20th November 1918 was five thousand nine hundred<br />
and fourteen.<br />
Millicent was an indomitable woman who became<br />
passionately involved in the war effort, tending to the<br />
wounded. She went on to run one of the Red Cross Hospitals<br />
in Calais until the end of the War. For her efforts throughout<br />
the War she was awarded the Belgian Royal Red Cross, the<br />
French Croix de Guerre and the British Red Cross.<br />
She spent much of the rest of her life in France where<br />
she died on 20th August 1955, age 87. She was cremated in<br />
Paris and her ashes were returned to the Sutherland private<br />
cemetery at Dunrobin. n<br />
‘Bourbourg, september 1915’ by Victor Tardieu<br />
King George V and Queen Mary at No.9 Red Cross, Calais<br />
IMPORTANT REMINDER!<br />
European Health Insurance<br />
Card (EHIC): Expiry Date<br />
To those members who intend to travel to the <strong>Western</strong><br />
<strong>Front</strong> this year, just a reminder to check the expiry<br />
date on the back of your EHIC card. If it needs<br />
renewing then the easiest and most efficient way is<br />
to renew online through the Department of Health<br />
(DH) official website at www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/<br />
Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/Applyingandrenewing<br />
but not more than six months before it expires.<br />
<strong>The</strong> card is free so make sure that you renew it<br />
before you go abroad so you can relax knowing that<br />
you are prepared for all eventualities. Your card will<br />
normally arrive within seven days. You can also<br />
apply by phone on 0845 606 2030 or by post using<br />
an application form available from some post offices.<br />
Don’t forget to check your passport as well!<br />
9
<strong>The</strong> Kronstadt Raid, 18th August 1919: <strong>The</strong> Other Boats<br />
by Niall Ferguson<br />
In <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong>, issue 27, dated September 2011, I gave the<br />
personal account of Sub-Lt. Frank Howard onboard CMB 86<br />
and the actions of CMB 72 in the raid. But what happened to<br />
the other boats?<br />
Whilst Frank Howard had been escaping the attentions<br />
of Fort Alexander, in and around Kronstadt harbour the<br />
other boats had been having varied success that, nevertheless,<br />
amounted to a great victory, possibly the greatest dividend/<br />
resources ratio ever achieved by the Royal Navy.<br />
In summary:<br />
• CMB 4 (Agar): Fired his single torpedo through the<br />
entrance of the military harbour and succeeded in hitting<br />
a group of patrol craft. Observed and returned safely.<br />
• CMB 24 (Napier): Fired at the destroyer Gavriel which<br />
was guarding the harbour entrance but the torpedo<br />
passed underneath and the destroyer then engaged CMB<br />
24 and sank her. Napier was taken prisoner with his<br />
wounded No.2, Giddy.<br />
• CMB 79 (Bremner): Sank the submarine depot ship<br />
Pamyat Azova. CMB 79 then collided with CMB 62<br />
(Brade) and Bremner had to destroy his boat before<br />
clambering to safety on the mole to be taken prisoner.<br />
Sub-Lt Usborne was killed.<br />
• CMB 62 (Brade): After assisting CMB 79, also attempted<br />
to torpedo the Gavriel but the torpedoes passed<br />
underneath and CMB 62 was also sunk by Gavriel’s guns.<br />
Brade was killed.<br />
• CMB 31 (Dobson): Both torpedoes hit and sank the<br />
Petropavlovsk (which only had about 2 metres of water<br />
below the keel). Returned safely to base.<br />
• CMB 88 (Dayrell-Reed): Dayrell-Reed was shot in<br />
the head as he started the run towards the Andrei<br />
Pervozvanni. With remarkable initiative his No.2, Gordon<br />
Steele, took over and completed a successful attack. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
got back to base but Dayrell-Reed died.<br />
Overall, three CMBs had been lost and four officers,<br />
including Brade and Dayrell-Reed and three ratings had been<br />
killed. Three officers and six ratings had been taken prisoner<br />
and were later repatriated. It is sad that those who were<br />
killed in action could not be decorated (only the VC could<br />
be awarded posthumously). Those who lived were awarded a<br />
rich and well-deserved harvest of medals:<br />
Commander Claude Dobson, DSO<br />
VC<br />
Lieutenant Gordon Steele<br />
VC<br />
Engineer Lieutenant Commander Francis Yates DSO<br />
Lieutenant Augustus Agar, VC<br />
DSO<br />
Lieutenant Russell McBean, DSC<br />
DSO<br />
Act. Sub-Lieutenant Edward Bodley<br />
DSO<br />
Sub-Lieutenant Roland Hunter-Blair<br />
DSC<br />
Sub-lieutenant John Boldero<br />
DSC<br />
Sub-Lieutenant Robert Wight<br />
DSC<br />
Sub-Lieutenant Edgar Sindall<br />
DSC<br />
Act. Sub-Lieutenant Francis Howard<br />
DSC<br />
Act. Sub-Lieutenant Norman Morley<br />
DSC<br />
Lieutenant James Fairbrother, RAF (and 3 DFC<br />
other RAF officers)<br />
In addition, Rear Admiral Cowan was made a baronet,<br />
Baronet of the Baltic. Those taken prisoner such as the brave<br />
Lieutenant Bremner were also later awarded DSOs and DSCs<br />
and fifteen ratings were awarded the DSM. Frank was thrilled<br />
that, on his recommendation, his Engineer Officer and his<br />
First Lieutenant received a DSO and DSC respectively. It is to<br />
be supposed that he regretted having broken down as, if he<br />
had succeeded in torpedoing the Rurik, he would probably<br />
have received a VC, although considering the likely size of<br />
the resultant explosion had Rurik’s cargo of mines gone up,<br />
he would not have been at the ceremony!<br />
Again, let us take up Frank’s account to his mother:<br />
<strong>The</strong> next day I dined with the 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer<br />
who towed us out here and after dinner the servant I had<br />
in her (the destroyer) came to the Wardroom and said “Mr<br />
‘Oward, Sir. <strong>The</strong> ‘ands would like you to speak a few words to<br />
them”. So, fortified by a glass of port, I went forward armed<br />
with a couple of charts and a piece of chalk and went over<br />
the show for their benefit. <strong>The</strong>y clapped loudly when I had<br />
finished. <strong>The</strong> next day we went to the funeral of one of the<br />
officers who had been killed during the show but his boat<br />
10
had come back (Lieut A. Dayrell-Reed, DSO, in CMB 88). <strong>The</strong><br />
next night my Sub (Wight) and I dined with the Captain of<br />
the destroyer.<br />
Next day we were towed down to Revel, alias Reval, alias<br />
Tallina. <strong>The</strong> first name is English, the second is German, the<br />
third Estonian. We had a rotten trip going down, water coming<br />
over all the time. It took us 14 hours with nothing to eat or drink<br />
and one of the crew feeding the fishes at regular intervals<br />
(being sick!). When we got to Revel it was 11pm. I thought, Ah!<br />
Bath! and turn in to go inside (the harbour) in the morning. On<br />
our way in we passed four minesweepers hooting their sirens<br />
and the destroyer turned her searchlights on to us. I did not<br />
know what it was for at the time but found out afterwards that<br />
they were cheering us. When the destroyer dropped anchor,<br />
she said we were to go inside immediately as everyone was<br />
waiting for us. So while they were getting our gear down in<br />
the boat I had something to eat and drink.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n we started in (to enter harbour) and the racket<br />
started. All the ships in the harbour turned their searchlights<br />
on to us and cheered like mad fools. <strong>The</strong>n the Lucia, the<br />
submarine depot ship at Revel started in. She had her rigging<br />
lined with the submarine crews and an Esthonian band<br />
playing “Tipperary”. <strong>The</strong> men cheering themselves hoarse.<br />
No one had the sense to chuck us a line as we came alongside.<br />
However we made fast. My Sub went over onto the other boat<br />
which was inside me and they started talking to the officer<br />
who had towed us in. I was just squaring off a few things before<br />
I went over and I heard scraps of conversation like this: “You<br />
go first Steele”. “No I think Yates should etc.,etc”. <strong>The</strong>n they<br />
<strong>The</strong> Approaches to Petrograd (St. Petersburg)<br />
spied me who had not heard what was on. So they sang out<br />
our crews. One rather senior officer pressed one of the men,<br />
to me and I went across. <strong>The</strong>y told me to go up so I started<br />
a lifelong T.T., to have a glass of port and it so upset him that,<br />
to climb the ladder and thought they had a meal ready for us<br />
to put it in his own words: “I felt so bad and dizzy Sir, I had to<br />
and a bath. But when I got to the top of the ladder a crowd<br />
go straight and turn in”.<br />
of ruffians (officers) seized us and launched us into a sea of<br />
This went on for about an hour and a half. Lt.-Col. Pirie<br />
whiskey, brandy and handshakes in the Wardroom. Here we<br />
Gordon in charge of the British mission to the Baltic Provinces<br />
were introduced to Captain Nasmith, VC and we introduced<br />
made me tell the whole yarn again for the Estonian papers.<br />
11
I forgot to mention that only two boats came down to<br />
Revel (CMBs 88 and 86). <strong>The</strong> other boat that came broke down<br />
just as she got to the flagship on her way back from Kronstadt.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n we had a bath and turned in.<br />
Next day we got our engines out and in the afternoon<br />
three of us went with some of the submarine officers for a<br />
picnic on the river. We sailed over to the river and got canoes<br />
at the mouth and went up the river to a place known to them<br />
where we had tea and buttered eggs (eggs and butter are very<br />
cheap at Revel). We started back at 6 thinking we would have<br />
plenty of time to be back by 8 when the Engr. Lt.Com (Yates)<br />
the captain of the other boat (Gordon Steele) and myself had<br />
to dine with Captain Nasmith (Martin Dunbar-Nasmith VC) but<br />
the wind dropped and we had to pull (row) all the way across<br />
arriving at 8pm exactly. It was one wild rush to get changed.<br />
We managed by being only 10 minutes late. We had a very<br />
nice dinner and a quiet evening.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next day was Sunday (24th August 1919). In the<br />
afternoon I went on the river again. That evening we were<br />
to dine at the English Civil Mission so I thought if I was back<br />
by seven it would be in plenty of time. I arrived back by five<br />
minutes to seven and was told the cars were leaving at seven.<br />
Another rush but I managed it before Capt. Nasmith, who was<br />
also dining there, was ready. We arrived at a very gorgeous flat<br />
that had once belonged to M. Girard, a Baltic Baron.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re then follows a description similar to that of the<br />
Zeebrugge reunion, describing further celebratory dinners<br />
which were mainly characterised by the vast amount of<br />
alcohol consumed ergo.<br />
coastal motor boats<br />
We started off with a sort of strawberry cup and then went<br />
in to dinner where everyone seemed to be constantly filling<br />
your glass with white vodka, red vodka, Rhine wine and<br />
Cognac. Several other N.O.s besides us, but we were given a<br />
central position. One poor grey, or nearly white, headed old<br />
RNVR Lieutenant, had to be taken home at half time, having<br />
lost all interest in proceedings. We CMB people stuck it like<br />
heroes to the last drop.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y also dined our crews in another room. <strong>The</strong>se as they<br />
collapsed were taken home in motor cars. We watched the<br />
mode of procedure of one little hero. He was carried down<br />
to the car as stiff as a poker by six very cheery Estonian sailors<br />
who, when they arrived at the car, immediately dropped him<br />
and fell on top of him.<br />
Next morning I went down to my boat and found one of<br />
the mechanics lying down. I asked him if he felt like work, he<br />
said he did. He got up, seized his cap and fled on deck and<br />
tried to be sick but failed dismally so one of the seamen, not<br />
to be outdone, immediately turned round and was violently<br />
sick over the stern.<br />
After this we lived the life of normal human beings. We<br />
stayed three weeks and returned to Biorko last Sunday (14th<br />
September).<br />
In the autumn of 1919 British forces, including<br />
the monitor HMS Erebus provided gunfire support to<br />
General Yudenich’s White Russian army in its offensive<br />
against Petrograd. <strong>The</strong> Russians tried to disrupt these<br />
bombardments by laying mines using the Orfey Class<br />
destroyers, Azard, Gavril, Konstantin and Svoboda. Frank’s<br />
CMB was involved in these actions as the CMBs were<br />
stationed so as to be able to rescue the crews of any seaplanes<br />
forced to land whilst spotting for HMS Erebus’ guns, a duty<br />
which meant that Frank, “was ten hours in my boat, soaked<br />
through almost from the start as it was rather rough. <strong>The</strong><br />
Bolshies’ shooting was very poor. Our ships were calmly at<br />
anchor bombarding while the Bolshies fired back at them.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> latter three Russian ships were sunk in a British<br />
minefield on 21st October 1919, during an attempt to defect<br />
to Estonia. <strong>The</strong> White army’s offensive failed to capture<br />
Petrograd and on 21st February 1920, the Republic of Estonia<br />
and Bolshevist Russia signed the Peace Treaty of Tartu which<br />
recognised Estonian independence. This resulted in British<br />
Naval withdrawal from the Baltic, and Frank’s return to the<br />
UK. n<br />
12
<strong>The</strong> Bridcutts of Benson<br />
by Rob Lovesey<br />
Some months ago, I was given a copy of “War Memorial<br />
and Graves Book of Remembrance, Benson, Oxfordshire”. It<br />
was whilst preparing to undertake my annual pilgrimage to<br />
the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Front</strong>, I thought it would be a nice idea to visit<br />
the graves of the fallen from the village. One name became<br />
particularly interesting, that of John Henry Bridcutt.<br />
Born in 1874 to John Bridcutt, a general labourer, and<br />
Amelia Owen, John Henry’s life would be moulded by a tragic<br />
up-bringing and military discipline. By the age of six, John<br />
Henry Bridcutt had endured the death of his mother in 1879.<br />
His father, left with three small children, Agnes, John Henry<br />
and Charles Amos, had to take on a housekeeper, Esther,<br />
whilst continuing to work as a labourer in the fields and<br />
providing for his family.<br />
Benson War Memorial, Benson, Oxfordshire<br />
Little is known about the life of young John Henry. It is Charles went to St. Albans, Hertfordshire and enlisted<br />
apparent that he did well at school and was able to read and into the 7th Bn East Surrey Regiment in June 1916 and<br />
write; this is evident as his attestation papers for enlistment after his training was sent France in the October. He served<br />
into the army had his trade or calling as a Clerk.<br />
with distinction at Beaumont-Hamel, Arras and Vimy<br />
What is not apparent is what his home life was like; Ridge, where he was killed in action on 3rd May 1917. He is<br />
his father had married the housekeeper and settled into commemorated on the Arras Memorial, bay 7, Avenue du<br />
domesticity, having seven further children. You can draw Mémorial des Fusillés, 62000 Arras, Pas de Calais, France, as<br />
your own conclusions but the census shows that Agnes, John his body was never found.<br />
Henry and Charles Amos were to leave the village at a very John on the other hand, at the age of 19, enlisted with the<br />
young age.<br />
1st Bn Coldstream Guards on 3rd July 1893, signing on for<br />
seven years initially. He was to have a remarkable career with<br />
the Coldstream Guards.<br />
Within eight years of his enlistment he would rise to the<br />
rank of Sgt. Major. He was to serve with distinction with the<br />
Guards in the South African War, where he was Mentioned<br />
in Despatches twice.<br />
In August 1914, he took up the position of Garrison Sgt.<br />
Major, London District, although his career was to take an<br />
entirely new path by <strong>March</strong> 1915 and see him elevated way<br />
beyond his very humble beginnings in Benson.<br />
<strong>The</strong> high casualty rates in 1914, especially among British<br />
Officers forced the Army to seek potential commission<br />
entrants from the ranks. John with his excellent record for<br />
organisation was selected and was elevated to “Temporary<br />
Gentleman”. He was appointed to a commission as 2nd<br />
Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry on 6th <strong>March</strong> 1915.<br />
I believe, however, that he never served with this Regiment<br />
for on the same day he was transferred to the 7th Bn<br />
Bedfordshire Regiment. Within ten months of being with the<br />
Bedfords, he was to be promoted to Temporary Captain.<br />
In the early summer months of 1916 Captain Bridcutt’s<br />
professionalism was exercised. When acting as Adjutant to<br />
the Battalion he was responsible for the organisation and the<br />
preparedness of the Regiment for the forthcoming Battle of<br />
the Somme. At about midnight on the 30th June 1916 the<br />
7th Bn Bedfordshire Regiment, part of the 54th Brigade, was<br />
concentrated in the trenches just outside Carnoy, for the<br />
assault on the morning of the 1st July.<br />
13
<strong>The</strong> 7th Bedfords acquitted themselves on the opening<br />
day of the Battle of the Somme, as they advanced, as if on<br />
parade, the waves were perfectly dressed, with intervals and<br />
distances kept extraordinarily well. <strong>The</strong> machine gun fire<br />
however was to be very active and casualties were seen to<br />
occur before the German <strong>Front</strong> Line was reached but the<br />
British wave continued relentlessly on.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Battalion was all but leaderless by the time they<br />
reached the <strong>Front</strong> Line and Emden Trench, with nearly all<br />
officers having been either killed or wounded. <strong>The</strong> assault<br />
continued on towards Bund and Pommiers Trenches, where<br />
the Germans managed to check their advance. Working<br />
with the men of the Berkshire Regiment, on the Bedfords’<br />
right, they managed to push on through the uncut wire that<br />
checked the advance and got into Pommiers Redoubt, the<br />
second Objective. <strong>The</strong> Bedfords losses were heavy with 321<br />
casualties that day.<br />
Captain Bridcutt was to survive and was to be Mentioned<br />
in Despatches on 15th June 1916 and twice more whilst<br />
he was appointed Second-in-Command of 7th Bedfords<br />
as Temporary Major. John Bridcutt went on to be made<br />
Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. His excellent<br />
work with the Bedfords was rewarded by promotion to<br />
Lieutenant Colonel on the 8th August 1917 and command of<br />
the 2nd Bn Royal Irish Rifles.<br />
In the early hours of 30th September 1918, Lt.-Colonel<br />
Bridcutt led his men into the front line near Becelaere in the<br />
Ypres Salient. At 1355 hrs the 107th Brigade, to which the<br />
2nd Royal Irish Rifles belonged, received orders to move up<br />
Grave of Lt.-Col. J.H. Bridcutt DSO,<br />
Dadizeele New British Cemetery<br />
Names of John and Arthur Bridcutt on<br />
Benson War Memorial<br />
and attempt to seize Klythoek. It was found to be impossible<br />
to advance owing to the devastating German machine-gun<br />
fire and there being no British artillery available to target<br />
the German positions. <strong>The</strong> attack frittered out and the men<br />
sought cover wherever they could from both the enemy fire<br />
and the elements, until dawn and further assault.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next day found the dawn full of heavy wet mist. <strong>The</strong><br />
2nd Bn Royal Irish Rifles advanced again but was unable to<br />
make any advance on account of machine gun fire. <strong>The</strong> front<br />
Companies swept by this devastating machine-gun, soon lost<br />
direction in the heavy mist. Lt.-Colonel Bridcutt attempted to<br />
reorganise them, like he had done so many times before, but<br />
on this occasion he was killed 150 yds north of Carton House.<br />
<strong>The</strong> attack petered out with the 2nd Bn Royal Irish Rifles<br />
suffering about 183 casualties. John Bridcutt is buried in<br />
Dadizeele New British Cemetery, grave 3.E.17, Beselarestraat<br />
79-93, 8890 Moorslede, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.<br />
<strong>The</strong> war had claimed its second Bridcutt child. <strong>The</strong> War’s<br />
bloodlust however, did not cease there for the Bridcutt family.<br />
Of the seven Bridcutt boys, five were to serve in the military,<br />
the other three, not already mentioned, being:<br />
Albert George Bridcutt He served with the 80th<br />
Company, Royal Garrison Artillery, surviving the war to die<br />
in Reading in 1934.<br />
Francis Edward Bridcutt He was a Gunner with 471st<br />
Seige Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He too survived the<br />
war and died in 1934 in Warwickshire.<br />
Arthur Elijah Bridcutt He too was a Gunner in the<br />
Royal Field Artillery, attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery.<br />
14
In 1919 he was part of <strong>The</strong> North Russian Expeditionary<br />
Force who fought with the Russians against the Bolsheviks.<br />
On 10th August 1919 the NREF, supported by naval assets<br />
were to assault the River Dvina. Owing to the abnormally<br />
low water in the Dvina, the Naval Flotilla was prevented from<br />
proceeding so far up the river and had to be abandoned. <strong>The</strong><br />
British and Russian Army however continued with the attack<br />
under Brigadier-General Sadleir-Jackson. <strong>The</strong> attack was a<br />
complete success and executed with a minimum of losses,<br />
believed to be 55 mainly British, with the enemy’s casualties<br />
estimated at 1,200 with 2,296 prisoners. Unfortunately, the 23<br />
year-old, Arthur Elijah Bridcutt was one of the few casualties<br />
on that day. Arthur is buried in Troitza Churchyard, North<br />
Russia but is commemorated on a Special Memorial<br />
headstone in Archangel Allied Cemetery after Troitza<br />
Churchyard became ‘unmaintainable’ in the period following<br />
the First World War during the Soviet era.<br />
A third Bridcutt had been cut short in the service of his<br />
King and Country. It is, therefore, a stark reminder that one<br />
small community, like so many up and down this country<br />
had to give much to the war effort. n<br />
<strong>The</strong> Death of Charles Frohman<br />
by Chris Nash<br />
I may have mentioned that close<br />
explosion, followed by several<br />
to the First World War memorial on<br />
smaller ones.<br />
the green at Marlow (see <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong>,<br />
As passengers began to panic,<br />
issue 27, dated September 2011)<br />
Frohman stood on the promenade<br />
there is another very interesting<br />
deck, chatting with friends<br />
memorial to an American civilian,<br />
and smoking a cigar. He calmly<br />
Charles Frohman, a theatrical<br />
remarked, “This is going to be a<br />
producer who loved Marlow<br />
close call.” Frohman, with a disabled<br />
and died when the Lusitania was<br />
leg and walking with a cane, could<br />
torpedoed in 1915.<br />
not have jumped from the deck<br />
Charles Frohman made his<br />
into a lifeboat, so he was trapped.<br />
annual trip to Europe in May 1915,<br />
Instead, he and millionaire Alfred<br />
to oversee his London and Paris<br />
Vanderbilt tied lifejackets to “Moses<br />
“play markets”, sailing on the Cunard<br />
baskets” containing infants. At the<br />
Line’s RMS Lusitania .<br />
final moment, Frohman quoted his<br />
Charles Frohman Memorial,<br />
Songwriter Jerome Kern<br />
Marlow<br />
greatest hit, from Peter Pan: “Why<br />
was meant to accompany him<br />
fear death? It is the most beautiful<br />
on the voyage but overslept, after being kept up late adventure that life gives us.”<br />
playing requests at a party. On 7th May 1915, Frohman Actress Rita Jolivet, the only survivor of Frohman’s<br />
entertained guests in his suite and later at his table. party, was standing with Frohman as the ship sank. She<br />
At 2.10 pm, within fourteen miles of the Old Head of later said, “with a tremendous roar a great wave swept<br />
Kinsale and with the coast of Ireland in sight, a torpedo along the deck. We were all divided in a moment, and I<br />
from the German U-Boat, U-20 struck the Lusitania on have not seen any of those brave men alive since.”<br />
the starboard side. Within a minute, there was a second<br />
15
Charles Frohman died a month and a week short<br />
of his fifty-ninth birthday. His body was later washed<br />
ashore below the Old Head of Kinsale and it was later<br />
determined that he was killed by a heavy object falling<br />
on him, rather than by drowning. His body lay among<br />
147 others awaiting identification, where a rescued<br />
American, identified it from newspaper photographs.<br />
His body, alone among all the others, was not disfigured.<br />
His funeral service was held on 25th May 1915 at the<br />
Temple Emanu-El in New York City and he was buried<br />
in the Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens,<br />
New York. Services were also arranged by some of his<br />
stars in other American cities: by Maude Adams in Los<br />
Angeles, by John Drew in San Francisco, by Billie Burke in<br />
Tacoma and by Donald Brian, Joseph Cawthorn and Julia<br />
Sanderson in Providence, as well as memorial services at<br />
both St. Paul’s and the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields<br />
in London. Frohman was also eulogized by the French<br />
Academy of Authors in Paris.<br />
Links between people can go on and on!<br />
For example:<br />
Frohman promoted J.M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’. Barrie was a close<br />
friend of Arthur Llewelyn Davies, who had five sons, one of<br />
whom, George Llewelyn was killed in Ypres, on 15th <strong>March</strong><br />
1915. He is buried in grave 2.E.2 at Voormezeele Enclosure<br />
No.3, Ruuschaartstraat 1-31 8902 Ieper, Belgium. His entry<br />
in the CWGC records state:<br />
DAVIES, GEORGE LLEWELYN, son of Arthur and Sylvia<br />
Llewelyn Davies. Step-son of Sir J.M. Barrie, Bart, Model for<br />
Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’. Educated at Eton and Trinity College,<br />
Cambridge.<br />
Last photograph of Charles<br />
Frohman on board the Lusitania<br />
Also drowned on the Lusitania was Alfred Vanderbilt who<br />
was travelling with Frohman. Alfred Vanderbilt owned a large<br />
log-house retreat in New York State called ‘Sagamore’ www.<br />
greatcampsagamore.org/great-camp-sagamore. In addition, he<br />
owned the house opposite mine, also called ‘Sagamore’! This<br />
house is on the river and is now owned by the singer Vince<br />
Hill. My house is built on the opposite side of the road in what<br />
was the kitchen garden.<br />
Below is an interesting article on Vanderbilt’s last hours<br />
on the sinking of the Lusitania http://rmsLusitania .info/pages/<br />
saloon_class/vanderbilt_ag.html#family After the ship was<br />
torpedoed, Alfred and his valet Ronald Denyer calmly assisted<br />
several women and children to safety. Fellow passenger Oliver<br />
Bernard, while searching for Stuart Mason, almost collided<br />
with Vanderbilt in the A Deck saloon class entrance. Oliver<br />
was surprised by Vanderbilt’s composure, and Oliver would<br />
never forget the grin on the millionaire’s face.<br />
Alfred was heard remarking to another passenger, “Well,<br />
they got us this time, all right.” On B Deck, Second Steward<br />
Robert Chisholm saw Vanderbilt “vainly attempting to rescue<br />
a hysterical woman.” Chisholm shouted, “Hurry Mr. Vanderbilt,<br />
or it will be too late!” Vanderbilt did not listen and continued<br />
assisting the women and children. Thomas Slidell saw him put<br />
a lifebelt on a woman’s shoulders and then walk away without<br />
saying a word. <strong>The</strong> truth was that Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt,<br />
the renowned sportsman and ladies man, did not know how<br />
to swim. Even so, Alfred made no attempt to push his way<br />
through the mad crowd and into a lifeboat. As it was, “men<br />
of his standing were not supposed to panic” (Hickey/Smith,<br />
223). One of the last people to see Vanderbilt was Owen Kenan,<br />
on the port side near the verandah café. Owen jumped with<br />
Denyer at the last minute but Denyer did not survive.<br />
Nurse Alice Middleton, a second cabin passenger, is<br />
thought to have accepted Vanderbilt’s offer of a lifebelt.<br />
Vanderbilt helped her put it on, but before he could finish<br />
16
securing it, the Lusitania took her final plunge and water<br />
enclosed them, separating the two.<br />
Page 2 of <strong>The</strong> New York Times, dated Tuesday, 11th<br />
May 1915 contained an article in tribute to Alfred Vanderbilt,<br />
purported to be by Mrs. Ethel Lines. She later claimed it to be<br />
a reporter’s invention (Ethel left the Lusitania on a starboard<br />
boat whereas Vanderbilt was on the port side):<br />
People will not talk of Mr. Vanderbilt in future as a millionaire<br />
sportsman and a man of pleasure. He will be remembered<br />
as the children’s hero and men and women will salute his<br />
name. When death was nearing him he showed gallantry<br />
which no words of mine can describe. He stood outside<br />
the palm saloon on the starboard side of the Lusitania with<br />
Ronald Denyer by his side. He looked around on the scene<br />
of horror and despair with pitying eyes. ‘Find all the kiddies<br />
you can, boy,’ he said to his valet. <strong>The</strong> man rushed off<br />
collecting children and as he brought them to Mr. Vanderbilt<br />
the millionaire dashed to the boats with two little ones in<br />
his arms at a time. When he could find no more children he<br />
went to the assistance of the women and placed as many as<br />
he could safely in the boats. In all his work he was gallantly<br />
assisted by Denyer and the two continued their efforts until<br />
the very end. I hope the young men of Britain will act with<br />
the same cool bravery for their country that Mr. Vanderbilt<br />
showed for somebody’s little ones.” n<br />
New Book Release<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> Germans in Flanders 1914’ by David Bilton, published<br />
by Pen & Sword Military, 176 pages, paperback, fully<br />
illustrated with rare black and white photos, ISBN 978-1-<br />
848844-45-2, RRP £14.99<br />
German Army in Flanders<br />
1917-1918, are currently<br />
being prepared for<br />
publication later<br />
this year in July<br />
<strong>The</strong> Germans in Flanders 1914, is the latest book from Thames Valley<br />
branch member and historian David Bilton, in the popular ‘Images of<br />
War’ series and follows the presence and campaigns of the Kaiser’s<br />
Army in Flanders during the traumatic period from its arrival in August<br />
1914 through to the end of the year. It covers the battles with the<br />
French, Belgians and British, concentrating primarily on the British and<br />
particularly 1st Ypres. Many of the German divisions involved in this<br />
battle were formed of reservists and, in many cases, untrained student<br />
volunteers. <strong>The</strong>ir high casualty rate gave rise to the inter-war myth of<br />
the ‘Slaughter of Innocents’.<br />
Each phase and aspect of the period is described from the German<br />
point of view in photographs, captions and text from German and<br />
British primary and secondary sources. Using many images that have<br />
never been published before, activities at the front are complemented<br />
by life in the German rear areas and on the home front. Just how much<br />
and December<br />
respectively.<br />
David is a<br />
popular and<br />
prolific writer and<br />
his previous publications are all still<br />
readily available from www.pen-and-sword.co.uk and other outlets:<br />
• Hull Pals: 10th, 11th, 12th & 13th Battalions, East Yorkshire<br />
Regiment<br />
• <strong>The</strong> Trench: the Full Story of the 1st Hull Pals<br />
• Oppy Wood (Battleground Europe Series)<br />
• <strong>The</strong> Home <strong>Front</strong> in the Great War: Aspects of the Conflict<br />
1914-1918<br />
• <strong>The</strong> German Army on the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Front</strong> 1916-18<br />
• <strong>The</strong> Germans on the Somme 1914-1918<br />
the war changed the towns and villages also becomes clear. <strong>The</strong> book<br />
helpfully contains a chronology of events and a section on the German<br />
divisions that fought there.<br />
<strong>The</strong> final two volumes of <strong>The</strong> Germans in Flanders in the ‘Images<br />
of War’ series, entitled <strong>The</strong> German Army in Flanders 1915-1916 and <strong>The</strong><br />
• <strong>The</strong> Germans at Arras 1914-1918 n<br />
17
Planning a trip to France? L’Automobiliste … PRENEZ GARDE!<br />
For some years now it is has been strictly forbidden under<br />
Article R413-15 of the French ‘Code de la Route’ (highway<br />
code) to carry a speed camera detector in a vehicle in France,<br />
regardless of whether or not it is being used. Penalties can<br />
include fines of up to 1,500 euros (£1,290) confiscation of the<br />
device and of the vehicle. Until recently this legislation did<br />
not apply to satellite navigation or other GPS/phone based<br />
systems, capable of displaying fixed speed camera locations<br />
as points of interest (POI).<br />
However, a new French law came into effect from 3rd<br />
January 2012, to extend the carrying of such devices to<br />
include Satnav or GPS/phone systems capable of showing<br />
speed camera sites as POI.<br />
As well as now banning these devices, the French<br />
government is actively installing around 400 new fixed<br />
speed cameras and taking down road signs that indicate the<br />
location of existing fixed speed camera sites.<br />
What should you do? If you have a Satnav device<br />
capable of displaying camera locations in France, then<br />
you must at least disable the speed camera alerts before<br />
driving in France. It is recommended that you contact the<br />
manufacturer of the Satnav for advice as it is likely that a<br />
software or database update is available to actually remove<br />
speed camera data from the device for France. Those drivers<br />
who have a Satnav system built into their car should contact<br />
the vehicle manufacturer in the first instance.<br />
<strong>The</strong> French Police are not allowed to investigate your unit<br />
GPS/Phone etc. but the Customs & Excise (Douanes) can do<br />
so by law and it is reported that checks are likely to be made<br />
when leaving ferry or Eurotunnel terminals.<br />
Encore … PRENEZ GARDE! Another new motoring<br />
law that is being introduced into France, this July, is<br />
the requirement for all motorists to carry a single-use<br />
breathalyser kit in their cars, so that they can test themselves,<br />
as necessary, to ensure they are below the French drink-drive<br />
limits. Motorists found with between 50mg and 80mg of<br />
alcohol in their blood can be fined €135 (£116) and lose six<br />
out of 12 points on their driving licence. Above that, then a<br />
driver risks a fine of €4,500 (£3,880) the loss of his licence<br />
and a prison sentence 0f up to two years.<br />
Motorists are being urged to carry at least two of the<br />
single-use breathalysers, to show the police that they have<br />
a ready-to-use kit available, if stopped. <strong>The</strong> Police will, of<br />
course, use their own breathalysers to carry out any roadside<br />
test.<br />
Those drivers caught without a kit will risk a fine of €11<br />
(£9.50) but the French have stated that there will be a period<br />
of grace until November 2012, before they start issuing<br />
penalties. Breathalyser kits cost between £1 and £2 each and<br />
will be available from ferry and Eurotunnel terminals on this<br />
side of the Channel.<br />
French Police are expected to carry out random checks<br />
on drivers to ensure that they understand the latest drinkdriving<br />
rules.<br />
Just a reminder of what you will now be compulsorily<br />
required to carry when driving in France:<br />
• Breathalyser<br />
• Luminous vest (gilet)<br />
• Warning triangle<br />
• GB sticker or number plate with EU logo<br />
• Motor insurance certificate<br />
• Headlamp converters<br />
• BOTH paper and photo card parts of UK driving licence<br />
Recommended:<br />
• Spare bulbs for external lights<br />
• Fire extinguisher<br />
• First-aid kit n<br />
18
Branch Battlefield Tour 2012 –<br />
Messines, Third Ypres and Courtrai<br />
Remembrance Day at Brock Barracks<br />
Passchendaele in the Autumn of 1917<br />
Sunday 10th June to Friday 15th June 2012<br />
Thanks to the efforts of Don Farr and Ian<br />
Fenne everything is now in place for this<br />
year’s tour with reservations at the Albion<br />
Hotel*** in Ieper confirmed and travel<br />
arrangements for the mini-bus, cars and<br />
P&O Ferry crossings all booked. Planning<br />
for the trip is well under way and presenters<br />
will be busy researching their chosen<br />
subjects over the next couple of months.<br />
Mike Lawson will be shortly drafting the<br />
itinerary, following recces to the areas<br />
around Mesen (Messines), Passendale<br />
(Passchendaele) and Kortrijk (Courtrai) by<br />
Don, Mike and Michael Orr in early April.<br />
Sunday 13th November 2011<br />
<strong>The</strong> Chairman, Bridgeen Fox, about to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph,<br />
Brock Barracks, Reading at the Service of Remembrance<br />
19
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong> by email<br />
To continue receiving <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong> by email, please inform<br />
the editor, at lawsonm100@aol.com, of any change to<br />
your email address, as soon as possible.<br />
Please note that <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong> can also be viewed<br />
online by simply going to the WFA website at www.<br />
westernfrontassociation.com and finding it listed within<br />
Branch Newsletters under WFA Branches.<br />
Charitable Donations<br />
Branch Committee Meeting on 9th February 2012<br />
<strong>The</strong> Branch Committee on your behalf has made a<br />
charitable donation of £25 from branch funds to the War<br />
Memorials Trust and a further donation of £50 to the<br />
Trooper Potts Memorial Fund.<br />
<strong>The</strong> War Memorials Trust was established in 1997<br />
to protect and conserve the symbols of our shared<br />
heritage and history. <strong>The</strong>re are War Memorials at risk<br />
and the War Memorials Trust needs your help to protect<br />
them from deterioration through weathering, ageing<br />
or vandalism, or simply to prevent them from being<br />
sold and discarded. For further information visit the War<br />
Memorials Trust website at www.warmemorials.org<br />
Remembering the Great War<br />
at Prospect School<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Prospect 1000” Project: Update<br />
<strong>The</strong> ‘Prospect 1000 Memorial’ was dedicated at Prospect<br />
School, Tilehurst, Reading on 11th November 2011.<br />
Designed by the pupils this is a living Memorial with a<br />
different name featured every week and is maintained<br />
by a different Tutor Group. <strong>The</strong> photograph shows Sixth<br />
Form student, Laura Holder, standing next to a picture<br />
of her great-great-grandfather, Corporal Ernest Alfred<br />
Brown, 1st/4th Bn Ox & Bucks Light Infantry, killed in<br />
action on the 16th August 1917 and buried in New Irish<br />
Cemetery, Briekestraat, 8900 Ieper, West-Vlaanderen,<br />
Belgium.<br />
For more information about ‘<strong>The</strong> Prospect 1000<br />
Project’ see <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong>, issue 26, dated <strong>March</strong> 2011<br />
20<br />
Members’ Contributions<br />
Brief articles, preferably not exceeding<br />
1,200 words and accompanied by large,<br />
high resolution images or photos, are<br />
most welcome from members for<br />
publication in <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong>. Should anyone<br />
have any items that they wish to share<br />
with the membership, then please send<br />
them to Mike Lawson, preferably by<br />
email, at lawsonm100@aol.com or by post<br />
to Stewards Field, Mill Road, Dilham,<br />
North Walsham, Norfolk NR28 9PU, or<br />
hand them to him at any branch meeting.
Programme for 2012*<br />
Details of the meetings for the remainder of our 26th season<br />
are set out below and the Branch Committee hopes that<br />
you agree the programme offers a wide variety of different<br />
subjects to meet most interests. However, should you have<br />
any comments on the programme or suggestions for future<br />
topics and speakers then please let us know.<br />
All meetings are held at the Berkshire Sports and Social<br />
Club, Sonning Lane, Reading on the last Thursday of each<br />
month (except December) commencing at 8.00 p.m.<br />
29th <strong>March</strong> 2012 – Prof. Richard Grayson BA, D.Phil<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Belfast Boys: How the Unionists and Republicans fought side by<br />
side in the First World War”<br />
Belfast’s Loyalist murals depict many images of the First World War. <strong>The</strong> 36th Ulster<br />
Division, in which so many forebears of today’s Ulster Loyalists fought and died, is a<br />
regular theme for these gable-end remembrances. Alongside the 36th was the 16th<br />
Division, which recruited Irishmen from Belfast, England and elsewhere. <strong>The</strong> 36th<br />
contained many members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the 16th included<br />
many of the pro-Home Rule Irish Volunteers. Yet, instead of fighting it out in a civil war<br />
on the streets of Belfast, the UVF and the Volunteers fought together at the Somme.<br />
While the 36th is heavily remembered, the 16th merits no equivalent memorialising<br />
among Nationalists. <strong>The</strong> 36th Division, with its strong associations in Protestant<br />
Belfast, is the chosen symbol of the Unionists’ war-time sacrifices. <strong>The</strong> 16th reminded<br />
Nationalists of their service for Britain and her Empire but, when British troops were in<br />
Northern Ireland, they had no desire to commemorate the fact.<br />
26th April 2012 – Paul Cobb<br />
“Fromelles, 1916”<br />
At Fromelles in July 1916, two divisions - one British and one Australian - within a few<br />
weeks of arriving in France went into action for the first time. <strong>The</strong>ir task was to prevent<br />
the Germans from moving troops to the Somme, where a major British offensive was in<br />
progress but the attack on 19th/20th July 1916 was a disaster with 7,000 casualties in<br />
just a few hours. Paul’s talk explores this battle, which for many epitomises the futility<br />
of the Great War. During that brief time many heroic deeds were done but the battle<br />
caused a souring of Anglo-Australian relationships and truly was a baptism of fire for<br />
these British and Australian troops. This is their history.<br />
31st May 2012 – Ian Cull<br />
“Battlecruisers, Lions or Lemons?”<br />
As part of his redesign of the Royal Navy from 1900 to 1908, Jackie Fisher introduced a<br />
new class of heavy cruiser, which combined the firepower of a battleship with the speed<br />
of a cruiser. At the battle of Jutland, in 1916, they proved to be a disaster, with three<br />
being sunk with almost all their crews. Was the design flawed, or were they victims of<br />
Admiral Beatty’s leadership?<br />
28th June 2012 – Jon Cooksey<br />
“All’s Well With England, Poulton’s On His Game, Ronald Poulton Palmer:<br />
Sporting Legend and Soldier”<br />
Ronald Poulton Palmer was one of the England’s biggest rugby stars before the First<br />
World War, playing 17 internationals and scoring eight tries. He was born in 1889 and<br />
was a member of the Huntley and Palmer family. Ronald was set to inherit the well<br />
known biscuit manufacturing business but on the outbreak of war volunteered to serve<br />
with the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He was killed by a sniper’s bullet at Ploegsteert<br />
Wood on 5th May 1915, age 25.<br />
*See full list in next column<br />
Programme for Next Season<br />
September 2012 to June 2013<br />
<strong>The</strong> programme of speakers for next season is now<br />
confirmed. Please make a note in your diary of the<br />
following dates for speakers and topics:<br />
27th September 2012 – Taff Gillingham<br />
<strong>The</strong> Development of Uniforms and Equipment of the<br />
Great War British Infantryman<br />
25th October 2012 – Andy Robertshaw<br />
Ghosts on the Somme<br />
29th November 2012 – Tony Taylor-Neale<br />
Germany at War - Taking on the World<br />
20th December 2012 – Edward Dixon<br />
Postcards of the Great War<br />
31st January 2013 – Prof. Gary Sheffield<br />
tba<br />
28th February 2013 – Verne Littleyl<br />
<strong>The</strong> Basra CWGC War Cemetery and Memorial to<br />
the Missing – World War 1 to 2005<br />
28th <strong>March</strong> 2013 – Fraser Skirrow<br />
How Tactical Capabilities Developed in one<br />
Territorial Battalion from 1916-1918<br />
25th April 2013 – Stephen Cooper<br />
<strong>The</strong> Final Whistle: A History of the Great War in 15<br />
Players (Rosslyn Park Rugby Club)<br />
30th May 2013 – Aimée Fox-Godden<br />
<strong>The</strong> word ‘retire’ is never to be used – Command in<br />
the 9th Brigade AIF at First Passchendaele 1917<br />
27th June 2013 – Prof. John Derry<br />
General Horne<br />
21
Our Speakers up to the end of the Season<br />
26th April 2012<br />
PAUL COBB lived in Tilehurst for a number of years before<br />
moving to Lechlade, Gloucestershire with his wife and<br />
family. He first visited the battlefields in 1969 and has been<br />
a regular visitor there ever since, including several annual<br />
tours with the Thames Valley branch. Paul joined the WFA<br />
in 1984 and served as a member of the Thames Valley<br />
Branch Committee during the 1990s. In addition, he was<br />
also national Membership Secretary for several years before<br />
becoming Vice-Chairman. Paul has had a life-long interest<br />
in the Australian Forces in the Great War which, in 1989,<br />
prompted his research into the attack at Fromelles, where<br />
the Australians played a major role. An extensive array of<br />
sources were studied including material at the IWM and<br />
AWM, many unpublished accounts as well as interviews with<br />
veterans in the early 1990’s. His new book on this disastrous<br />
attack by two divisions entitled, ‘Fromelles, 1916’ was<br />
published by <strong>The</strong> History Press in 2010.<br />
31st May 2012<br />
IAN CULL was born in Jamaica where his father was serving<br />
with the Royal Engineers. He grew up in army camps in<br />
Munster, India, Aldershot, Rheindahlen, and Cyprus before<br />
escaping to join the Merchant Navy, where he spent the next<br />
eight years. After leaving the sea, Ian worked for IBM and the<br />
NHS and obtained a history degree with the Open University<br />
before retiring in 2002. Although initially interested in<br />
maritime history, he was converted to shore based studies<br />
after attending a course run by Colin Fox at Bulmersh<br />
College in 1992 called “Aspects of the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Front</strong>”, and<br />
was recruited by Colin into the Thames Valley Branch soon<br />
after. Ian worked as a researcher for Colin on the four books<br />
which cover the Royal Berkshire Kitchener Battalions on<br />
the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Front</strong>. In collaboration with the Regimental<br />
Museum in Salisbury, Ian has published two further books<br />
on the Royal Berkshire Regiment, namely the First Battalion<br />
1914-1918 in 2004 and the Second Battalion 1914-1918 in<br />
2005. During 2008 he helped with the research for Maiwand:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Last Stand of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment in<br />
Afghanistan, 1880 by Richard J. Stacpoole-Ryding, published<br />
by <strong>The</strong> History Press, 2009 (see issue 20 of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Poppy</strong> dated<br />
<strong>March</strong> 2009).<br />
28th June 2012<br />
JON COOKSEY was educated at Carnegie College, Leeds;<br />
Nottingham University and Dalhousie, Nova Scotia. He is a<br />
prolific author on subjects as diverse as the First World War,<br />
Elite Forces Operations and John Masefield. His first book<br />
for Pen and Sword was ‘Barnsley Pals - A History of the 13th<br />
and 14th Battalions of the Yorkshire and Lancaster Regiment<br />
1914-1918’, which has recently been re-published in hardback<br />
and was also part of the team that developed the format for<br />
the Battleground Europe series of guidebooks. Jon edited the<br />
military magazine ‘Battlefields Review’ for two years and was<br />
responsible for re-designing and re-branding the publication.<br />
He is currently the editor of the WFA journal, ‘Stand To!’<br />
Jon has been involved in several radio and TV programmes,<br />
including a documentary on Reading’s VC Trooper Frederick<br />
Potts and is currently helping raise money for memorial to<br />
the VC in Forbury Gardens, Reading. He lectures on military<br />
history topics to a variety of audiences ranging from schools<br />
to university groups and institutions nationally. Jon has<br />
tutored courses for the Continuing Education Departments<br />
at both Reading and Oxford Universities. He is a member of<br />
the WFA and of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and has led<br />
battlefield/genealogy tours to the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Front</strong>, Normandy,<br />
the Falklands and the World War Two Channel Ports.<br />
22