The_Poppy_September_2012_Part1.pdf - The Western Front ...

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN FRONT ASSOCIATION, THAMES VALLEY BRANCH Number 30, September 2012
Poppy
THE

Patron
Colonel Terry Cave CBE
Honorary President
Professor Peter Simkins MBE FRHistS
Honorary Vice-Presidents
Dr John Bourne BA PhD FRHistS
Professor Gary Sheffield BA MA PhD FRHistS
Lt.Col. Graham W Parker OBE
André Coilliot
The Burgomaster of Ypres
The Mayor of Albert
Chairman
Bruce Simpson
CONTENTS
4
13
15
18
21
23
26
3
Bridgeen Fox
From the new Chairman
5 Dedications
Alain Fournier: a mystery solved
Ambulance unit at unknown location
Branch Battlefield tour 2012
Branch Battlefield tour 2012
Programme for 2012–2-13
Our speakers up to Christmas
Photograph of a field of poppies on
front page taken by Mike Lawson.
2
Contacts
If you are receiving this copy of The Poppy for the
first time, then please come along to our next branch
meeting on 29th March 2012. Should you require
directions to the venue or any other information relating
to the branch, please contact one of the committee
members listed below.
Barbara Taylor: tel 01276 32097
or email sandhurst37@tiscali.co.uk
Don Farr: tel 01189 794518
or email don.farr@ntlworld.com
Mike Lawson: tel 01692 535184
or email lawsonm100@aol.com
Roger Laing: tel 01753 654885
or email roger.laing@tiscali.co.uk
Liz Tait: tel 0118 9662885
or email liztait@virginmedia.com

Bridgeen Fox
1932-2012
It is with the deepest sorrow that we must record that our Branch
Chairman, Bridgeen Fox, sadly passed away suddenly on 4th April 2012,
following a chronic illness. Our condolences go out to Bridgeen’s family
and friends. A full obituary appeared in the July edition of the Western
Front Association Bulletin No. 93 on page 40.
Bridgeen became Chairman of the Branch following the death
of her husband, former Chairman, Colin Fox way back in 2000 and her
enthusiasm, commitment and devotion to the duties of Chairman will
be sadly missed.
A celebration of Bridgeen’s life, attended by a huge congregation,
took place at Our Lady of Peace, Catholic Church, Earley, Reading on
Monday 23rd April 2012.
3

From the New Chairman, Barbara Taylor
As the new chairman it falls to me to give an overview
of the last season for the branch. We had some very
interesting talks, with a broad canvas of subjects,
covering all arms; from army, navy and air force to
present day photographs of the Western Front.
It will be impossible not to mention the sad and
unexpected death of Bridgeen. She was an exceptional
chairman, who always worked very hard to do the best
for the branch and the membership. She will be sadly
missed and for me, an extremely hard act to follow. I am
sure that you have all seen the fine obituary to her in the
recent Bulletin and on the WFA website. Bridgeen strived
tirelessly to assemble a programme of speakers, who
spoke on both interesting and varied subjects.
To that end, my first season and a little beyond,
will be made up mostly of Bridgeen’s forward planning
and as far as that is concerned, I will be resting on her
laurels! So our new programme for the 2012-13 season is
complete and I believe we will again be treated to some
varied topics; from the volunteers that did the fighting
through to one of the generals and onto Remembrance.
Details of these speakers and their talks are to be found
later in this edition of The Poppy. As you read this, I
will be working to uphold Bridgeen’s standards for the
remainder of the 2013-14 season.
When Bridgeen died, it was a few days short of the
WFA Annual General Meeting, which it was her habit
to attend; as were the Branch Chairmen’s conferences
and the Armistice Day service at the Cenotaph. I
shall in future, make it my business to attend these
events whenever possible. That will start with the 11th
November ceremony this year. You will have seen details
of this in the last Bulletin No. 93. Indeed, you may have
already had the booking form that is to appear in Stand
To! No. 95 and I should very much like to see as many
members of our branch as possible supporting this
event with me.
Mike Lawson has, as usual, written a full account
of our Branch battlefield tour to the Ypres area in this
edition of The Poppy and I wish to sincerely thank all of
those people who work hard to make this a success. This
is very much a ‘cooperative’ event and many elements
go to make up the whole; from the planning and
administration to the speakers and their stands. I must
also thank the members who wish to go and this year
we had four new travellers, who I hope got much from
the tour.
We are getting ever nearer to marking the
centenary of the beginning of the Great War and the
Committee would welcome any suggestions regarding
the commemoration of this important anniversary;
especially anything that could be achieved as a branch.
We heard earlier in the year about the research work that
has been done regarding the names on the Wokingham
War Memorial.
As ever, the support of many members who
regularly attend the meetings is much appreciated, as is
the work done by the members of the committee. I am
most grateful to our editor Mike Lawson and to Ann Farr
for all the hard work she puts into the production of our
branch newsletter. I think all must agree that the new
format is even more attractive – especially to those of us
who have signed up to receive it electronically. To this
end can I underline the appeal to those members who
have email to sign up for electronic copies As you all
know postage has gone up hugely this year and this is a
massive, indeed the greatest drain on branch resources.
4

Dedications
As a mark of respect to all those who died on active service during the Great War, the following meetings will be dedicated to the memory of local men or men
serving with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, who died on that corresponding day during 1914‐1918 (except for the special dedication for October). If during your
travels you happen to be near to where any of these soldiers are buried or commemorated then kindly pay a visit.
27th September
The dedication this
month is to Frederick
Jewson, a Company
Sergeant Major with
the 1st Battalion Royal
Berkshire Regiment
from Westminster,
London.
Frederick was
born at St. James,
Westminster in 1882,
the only son of Thomas
C.S.M. Frederick Jewson
1st Bn. Royal Berkshire Regiment and Sarah Jewson
of 2 Dufour’s Place,
Westminster. He had a younger sister Beatrice (born
1886) and the family of four lived in a single room
apartment, in the heart of Soho, near Carnaby Street.
His father worked as a night porter at Covent Garden
Market and his mother worked locally as a laundress.
Sometime during the late 1890s, Frederick left the
cramped family home in the centre of London and
enlisted with the Royal Berkshire Regiment in Reading.
By 1911, he had been promoted to the rank of
Sergeant with the 1st Battalion and in April 1911, now
age 29, he was serving with the battalion at South
Front Barracks, Western Heights, Dover.
In the early summer of 1914, the 1st Battalion was
based at Mandora Barracks, Aldershot, on routine
peace-time soldiering but with tension mounting
in Europe following the assassination of Arch-Duke
Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the battalion began to mobilise
for war in late July 1914. Mobilisation was almost
complete by 6th August 1914 and the 1st Battalion
was allocated to form part of 6th Infantry Brigade,
together with the 1st Battalion King’s (Liverpool)
Regiment, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment
and 1st Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps in the 2nd
Infantry Division.
Following an inspection by King George V and
Queen Mary on 11th August 1914, the battalion
boarded two trains at Farnborough Station for
Southampton on 12th August 1914, and embarked on
two transport ships, SS Ardmore and SS Mellifont for
Rouen, landing on 13th August 1914.
5
No. 4 Casualty Clearing Hospital, Braine Chateau
After a couple of days the men boarded a train
for Wassigny, before marching to camp at Vénérolles,
south-east of Le Cateau, for intensive training. On the
21st August 1914 the battalion marched 11 miles to
Landrecies before crossing the Belgian border and
entrenching in fields around Vellereille-le-Sec, five
miles south-east of Mons, where they came under
enemy artillery action for the first time. Orders were
received on 24th August 1914 to retire and the ‘Retreat
from Mons’ had started.

During the retreat the battalion fought its first
major action of the war at Maroilles, on 25th/26th
August 1914, suffering losses of 63 men killed,
wounded or missing, including Major Turner taken
prisoner and Capt. Henry Shott, the first officer of the
Royal Berkshires to be killed in the Great War. The
retreat to the Marne and beyond continued and by
5th September 1914 the battalion had marched a total
of 236 miles in 15 days but by now the retreat was
over as the BEF regrouped, turned northwards and
embarked on the offensive.
On 9th September 1914, the 1st Battalion recrossed
the Marne at Charly-sur-Marne, near Château
Thierry and by 13th September 1914 had reached
the Aisne, to cross it on a pontoon bridge near Soupir.
However, by now it had become apparent that the
enemy had stopped retreating and was setting up a
defence line on the Chemin des Dames. The advance
of the BEF was halted and a front line was established
here to mark the beginning of trench warfare, a
stalemate that was to continue for the next four years.
The 1st Battalion set up its HQ at La Metz Farm and
was engaged in heavy fighting along the Oise-Aisne
Canal for the next seven days, until relieved by the 1st
Battalion, Rifle Brigade on 22nd September 1914.
During these seven days the battalion incurred
losses of 18 men killed and 98 men wounded
including C.S.M. Frederick Jewson, who, sadly, died of
his wounds, on 27th September 1914, age 32, most
probably at No. 4 Casualty Clearing Hospital, situated
in Braine Château.
6260 C.S.M. Frederick Jewson is buried in Braine
Communal Cemetery, Braine, Aisne, France but is
commemorated on a special memorial (A. 21), as the
exact position of his grave within the Commonwealth
plot is not known.
October
The dedication this month is to Frederick William
Fenne, a Company Sergeant Major with the 1st
Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry from
Bodmin, Cornwall.
Frederick William Fenne is the great-uncle of
branch member Ian Fenne and was born at Fulham
in the spring of 1882. He was third eldest of eleven
children born to Frederick Henry Fenne, a gas stoker
and Charlotte Caroline Fenne of 27 Imperial Cottages,
Fulham, London. His parents were both of German
descent. Frederick Henry was born at Hanover,
Germany in 1847 and Charlotte Caroline was born at
Whitechapel, London in 1859 with the maiden name
of Wagner.
By 1891 the family had moved to 4 Edith Road,
Fulham where young Frederick William, age 9, was
a pupil at a local school. Unfortunately, Frederick’s
service record has not survived but prior to 1901 but
possibly around 1898/99, he enlisted with the army in
C.S.M Frederick Fenne, 1st Bn. Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
with his wife Henrietta and son, Frederick, taken on
20th October 1912
London and was later posted to the 2nd Bn Duke of
Cornwall’s Light Infantry at Victoria Barracks, Bodmin,
Cornwall.
Under the Childers Reforms (1881) system, one
regular battalion of each regiment was to be at a
“home” station, whilst the other was to be abroad.
6

Every few years, there was to be an exchange of
battalions, so between 1888 and 1900, the 2nd Bn
Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry was at ”home” in
England and Ireland, whilst the 1st Battalion was
stationed abroad in India and Burma. However, at the
outbreak of the Boer War on 11th October 1899, the
2nd Battalion was sent to South Africa, where it arrived
the following month and took part in minor actions
on the western border of the Cape Colony. In February
1900, it became part of 19th Brigade and saw action
against the Boers at Paardeburg and in March 1900
entered Bloemfontein. It continued to take part in a
series of skirmishes until the end of the war on 31st
May 1902. However, the 1st Battalion took no part
on the war but moved from India to Ceylon in 1900,
where it guarded South African prisoners-of-war.
The census return of 1901 for the Fenne family at 4
Edith Road, Fulham lists Frederick William as a soldier,
age 19, but it is possible that if he had been posted
to the 2nd Battalion by that time, then he could have
served in South Africa during the Boer War.
Following the war in South Africa, the system
of rotating battalions between home and foreign
stations resumed and between 1902 and 1905, the
2nd Battalion was posted “home” to Bodmin. It is
probable, that Frederick met his future wife, Henrietta
Elizabeth Frazier whilst stationed here in Cornwall.
Henrietta was born in Kennington, London during
the summer of 1886 to William and Henrietta Frazier
The Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
of 312 Kennington Road, Lambeth, London. She was
the eldest of six children but by 1901 the family had
moved to Railway Terrace, Berrycombe Road, Bodmin.
With the 1st Battalion returning home in 1905,
the 2nd Battalion was dispatched to Gibraltar, where
it remained until 1907, before being given a direct
posting to Bermuda, where it stayed until 1910. It
was during this period, that Henrietta, age 23, sailed
for Bermuda in 1909 to marry Frederick, age 27, and
become an army wife.
From Bermuda, the 2nd Battalion was sent to South
Africa and were stationed at the Castle of Good Hope,
Cape Town. By now Frederick had been promoted to
the rank of Sergeant and it was here in South Africa
that their first child, a son, Frederick William Henry was
born, in 1911.
The battalion left South Africa for Hong Kong in
1913 but returned home following the outbreak of
war on 4th August 1914 and arrived home on 13th
November 1914 to be allocated to 82nd Brigade in
27th Division at Magdalen Hill Camp, near Winchester
on 17th November 1914. After five weeks training the
battalion embarked for France from Southampton
and landed at le Havre on 21st December 1914, to
concentrate in an area around Aire and Arques by
Christmas Day 1914. During 1915 both the 1st and
2nd Battalions fought at the Second Battles of Ypres
before the 2nd Battalion left the Western Front for
Salonika, on 27th November 1915.
It is not known when Frederick, now promoted to
Company Sergeant Major, was transferred to the 1st
Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. It could
have been between the South Africa and Hong Kong
postings, as the photograph of Frederick and his
family taken in October 1912 certainly looks to have
been taken at home in England. Alternatively, it could
have been before to the 2nd Battalion’s departure for
Northern Greece at the end of November 1915.
During the autumn of 1915, a second son, Berkeley
Charles Leslie, was born to Frederick and Henrietta
at St. Nicholas Street, Bodmin. The birth of Berkeley,
at this time, may possibly be part of the reason for
Frederick’s transfer to the 1st Battalion in France,
instead of being sent to Salonika with the 2nd
Battalion.
Berkeley, named after Henrietta’s younger brother,
served as a Signalman with the Royal Corps of Signals
in India during the Second World War but sadly died
7

4th Bn Royal Fusiliers at Mons on 22nd August 1914
Action at Reutel on 4th October 1917
on 7th May 1942, age 26. He is buried in Kirkee War
Cemetery, grave 8.B.8, approximately 100 miles southeast
of Mumbai.
On mobilisation at the outbreak of war, the 1st
Battalion was stationed at The Curragh but left Ireland
on 7th August 1914 to land in France at le Havre on
13th August 1914. Forming part of 14th Brigade in 5th
Division the 1st Battalion concentrated with the rest
of the Division around Landrecies between 16th and
20th August 1914. During 1914 the Division took part
in the Retreat from Mons at Mons (23rd-24th August),
Élouges (24th August), le Cateau (26th August)
and Crépy-en-Valois (1st September). The Division
then saw action in the Battle of the Marne (6th-9th
September) and the Battle of the Aisne (13th-20th
September) before arriving in Flanders to take part in
the Battles of la Bassée (10th October-2nd November),
First Ypres (5th-19th November) and Nonne Bosschen
(11th November). During the spring of 1915 the
Division was engaged in the Capture of Hill 60 (17th-
22nd April), the Second Battle of Ypres (23rd April-1st
May), Gravenstafel Ridge (23rd April) and St. Julien
(24th April-5th May).
Following a restructuring on 12th January 1916,
the 1st Battalion was transferred from 14th Brigade
in 5th Division to a re-designated 95th Brigade in
the same division. The newly formed Brigade saw
action during 1916, in the Battles of the Somme at
High Wood (20th-25th July), Guillemont (3rd-6th
September), Flers-Courcelette (18th-22nd September)
and Morval (25th-26th September). In the spring
8

of 1917, the Brigade fought in the Battles of Arras at
Vimy Ridge (9th-14th April), la Coulotte (23rd April),
the Third Battle of the Scarpe (3rd-4th May) and Oppy
Wood (28th June).
During the Third Battle of Ypres the 1st Battalion
was in billets at Méteren on 1st October 1917, training
for the forthcoming attack on the Broodseide Ridge
on 4th October 1917. Enemy aircraft were very active
dropping bombs on the outskirts of the town but no
casualties were sustained.
On the 2nd October about 130 bombs were
dropped on the transport line killing four men and
wounding seven others with two horses killed. The
battalion left Méteren at 7.00 a.m. and after a long
journey, including a lengthy period of rest, reached
the reserve position in Sanctuary Wood at 7.30
p.m. Soon after arriving, the enemy put down a
heavy barrage between 8.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m. but
fortunately no serious damage was done.
During the 3rd October, the battalion remained
in Sanctuary Wood, under intermittent shelling, for
most of the day before moving off to relieve the 1st
East Surrey Regiment in the front line at 7.30 p.m.
The operation was carried successfully and despite
encountering a heavy barrage at Black Watch Corner,
the battalion formed up in the assembly trenches by
11.30 p.m. for the forthcoming assault.
The dispositions of the battalion for the attack were
as follows:
Right Boundary - Jut Farm
Left Boundary - Reutel - Black Watch Corner Road
Battalion HQ – Pill Box at Cameron House
Right Assaulting Coy – ‘A’ Coy (2nd/Lt. G.F. Clarke)
Left Assaulting Coy – ‘B’ Coy (Capt. R.H.
Hughendon)
Close Support Coy – ‘D’ Coy (Capt. J.N. Baines)
Reserve Coy – ‘C’ Coy (2nd/Lt. B Dench) 100 yards
east of Cameron House
The night passed quietly except for odd shelling
and hostile machine gun fire that mortally wounded
2nd/Lt. G.F. Clarke at around midnight. Command of
‘A’ Coy was taken over by 2nd/Lt. G.P. Crouch at about
5.15 a.m. and Lt.-Col. C.B. Norton went round the
assembly position to see all company commanders
before the attack.
At 5.30 a.m. the enemy opened up a heavy barrage
on the back areas and assembly positions but at 6.00
a.m. the divisional artillery countered that made the
hostile enemy barrage appear feeble by comparison.
The assaulting waves went over in perfect
formation at 6.00 a.m. but met considerable
opposition from infantry machine guns and pill boxes
in Cameron Covert. Coupled with enfilade fire from
Polderhoek Château, this opposition delayed the
assaulting waves and they lost touch with our barrage.
After severe fighting, the enemy was driven
from Cameron Covert with 200 prisoners taken and
15 machine guns captured. Great assistance was
rendered during the latter stages of the attack by
three tanks that came along the Reutel Road. No
further opposition was encountered from enemy
infantry until the final objective on Juniper Hill was
reached, when it was found impossible to consolidate
the third portion of the objective due to enfilade
machine gun fire and accurate artillery caused
by direct observation from the Château Spur. The
remnants of assaulting companies kept in touch with
the Brigade on our left and side-stepped to the north
of the Reutel Road.
From 7.30 a.m. onwards the enemy barrage
became very heavy. No definite news was being
received at HQ from the companies due to the
majority of the officers becoming casualties and
runners being either killed or wounded by machine
gun fire of shelling.
Hostile artillery fire continued intensely for the
next 13 hours but slackened off between 6.00 p.m.
and 7.00 p.m. Enemy machine gun also slackened
at about 7.00 p.m. that allowed Lt.-Col. C.B. Norton
to make a personal reconnaissance of the objective
line. He discovered that a gap of about 400 yards had
been established between remnants of the battalion’s
companies in touch with 21st Division on the left and
the battalion on the right south of the Reutel Beek.
To cover this gap all available troops in the vicinity of
Cameron House, around 150 men, were formed up on
the line of the original assembly position.
9

Information had been received from 21st Division,
earlier in the day at about 3.00 p.m. that the enemy
were seen to be reinforcing the Polderhoek Château.
At 9.35 p.m. and 12.35 p.m., S.O.S signals were sent
up on the flanks to warn of possible counter attacks
but as far as could be ascertained no serious attacks
developed and the very dark night passed away fairly
quietly.
At dawn on 5th October the enemy artillery was
exceptionally quiet and the troops in the assembly
trenches advanced under the command of Lt.-Col. C.B.
Norton and Capt B.M. Taylor to clear up the situation
in Cameron Covert and formed a line running southwest
from the Reutel Road towards the position held
by troops of the 15th Bn Durham Light Infantry of 21st
Division on the right to the south of Reutel Beek.
Casualties for the 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall’s Light
Infantry during this action on 4th October 1917
proved very costly with six officers and 112 other
ranks killed and many more were wounded.
Sadly one of those killed that day was 5961 C.S.M
Frederick William Fenne, age 25. His body was never
recovered and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot
Memorial, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium,
panel 80 to 82 and 163A.
Footnote:
Tragically, Frederick was not the only member of the
Fenne family to be killed during the Great War.
On 11th November 1914, Frederick’s younger
brother, Pte. Albert William Fenne, 4th Bn Royal Fusiliers
(9th Brigade, 3rd Division) was killed in action, age 27, at
Gheluvelt in the Battle of Nonne Bosschen. Albert was in
the same battalion as Lt. Maurice Dease and Pte. Sidney
Godley, when they won the first VCs of the war at Nimy
during the Battle of Mons.
Ironically, Albert was killed just a few hundred yards
away from the spot where his older brother Frederick
was killed almost three years later. Like Frederick, Albert’s
body was never recovered and he is commemorated on
the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen,
Belgium, panel 6 and 8.
29th November
The dedication this
month is to George
Abery, a Driver with the
35th Division, Signal Coy,
Royal Engineers from
Reading.
George Abery was
born at Reading in the
early part of 1898 to
William Abery, a light
engine driver and Annie
Abery, a nurse of 16
Chester Street, Reading.
He was the youngest of five children having three
older brothers, William, Henry and Frederick and an
elder sister, Amelia. By 1911, the family had moved
to 45 Grange Avenue, Reading with the exception of
Henry, who had left home to join the Royal Navy, as a
stoker, at Portsmouth.
In 1915, the family were living at 54 De Beauvoir
Road, Reading, near Cemetery Junction, where George
was working as a porter before enlisting at Reading on
27th March 1915, age 17, as a driver with the original
39th Division, Signal Coy (Reading), Royal Engineers.
George was transferred to the re-designated 35th
(Bantam) Division, Signal Coy, Royal Engineers on
27th July 1915 and sent to North Yorkshire for training
before the Division moved south to Salisbury Plain
around Marlborough, Chiseldon and Cholderton.
On 18th January 1916, the Signal Coy embarked for
France and by 6th February 1916, all units of the 35th
Division had completed their concentration in base
camps east of St. Omer.
In July and August of 1916 the Division fought in
the Battles of the Somme at Bazentin Ridge (15th-17th
July), Arrow Head Copse and Maltzhorn Farm (19th-
30th July) and Falfemont Farm (19th-26th August).
Following a critical report on the low physical and
moral standard of the infantry in the Division by the
G.O.C. on 8th December 1916, it was re-organised,
in early 1917, to become a non-Bantam Division. A
total of 2,784 men were rejected and transferred to
10