Doncaster Times Issue 1 - June 2016

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Hickleton Hall and the Great War During the summer of 1914 dark clouds were gathering across the whole of Europe and at Hickleton in those long hot sunny days, life at the Hall was about to be disturbed in a way it had never seen before, for talk of an impending war was on everyone’s lips. Lord Halifax of the Hall was at Doncaster Mansion House on the 15 August speaking on the ‘looming crisis of war’. War had been declared on the 4 August and by 12 September Halifax had sprung into further action, holding a series of meetings around the area at Boltonupon-Dearne, Wath-upon-Dearne and Goldthorpe where it was reported in the press that the call to colours ‘had been a bit slow’. The response to Halifax’s encouragement of local men to enlist was enormous as the newspaper reports huge lists of recruits from all over the district. These recruiting reports were followed almost immediately by lists of soldiers wounded and killed. As the Germans marched into Belgium, refugees displaced by war began fleeing to Britain. ‘Consignment of Belgians reach Hickleton’ records Halifax’s biographer. The newspaper however, offers more detail, for on 17 October tucked away on the back page is the following information; ‘Belgian refugees’ new home – Guests of Lord Halifax’. The article states that a family of Belgium Refugees had been given temporary residence in the Reading Room at Hickleton where they ‘had succeeded in establishing themselves in enviable cosiness.’ By 24 October, a photograph shows another group of Belgian Refugees at Thrybergh to help a ‘great deal of fundraising’ to make their stay more comfortable. One month later on 21 November, wounded soldiers were arriving at Hooton Pagnell Hall, in the next village to Hickleton. Lord Halifax’s diary shows his considerable involvement in the war effort. On 23 September 1914, he records that he ‘talked with the people of the village about the War’ and ‘the Reading Room was full’. The following year on 24 April 1915, he records ‘Soldiers from the hospital in Doncaster came to spend the afternoon and have tea – took them round the gardens at 6:30 pm’. Again on 29 July he writes that ‘Soldiers from hospital in Doncaster came to tea’. By 17 January 1916 he records 175th Durham Light Infantry and eleven officers arrived – the latter to be in the house, • 12 •
the former in the Stables for a ‘fight’ tomorrow’.’ On 16 July 1917 he writes, ‘The Australian Officer Major Pedlar arrived – wounded in the foot on the Somme’. Hickleton Hall isn’t recorded as being a military hospital but it seems it took in some officers who had been wounded and opened the house and grounds, with refreshments to many soldiers. Major Pedlar was being shown the delights of Bella Wood by 21 July, probably in the donkey and cart generally used by Lady Halifax to get around her estate. Soldiers from Barnsley Hospital spent the afternoon at Hickleton Hall on the 31 August. The Lady of Hickleton Hall, Dorothy Wood, wife of Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, later Baron Irwin (1925), Third Viscount Halifax (1934), and finally First Earl Halifax (1944) was involved in nursing during the First World War. Temple Newsam, one of their houses, was converted into a military hospital. On her visits to Hickleton, she also nursed soldiers coming there as an aid to recuperation. ‘On the night of the 24 September 1917’, writes Halifax, ‘excitement in the night, woken by terrific noise of bombs – all maids and the children assembled in the basement [as planned]!’ The next entry reveals where the bombs dropped – Bolton-upon-Dearne – for he records ‘windows broken and frames torn out in a long row’. Two months later he is at the Vicarage again in Bolton-upon-Dearne where he writes ‘saw Mr Wilkins – everything in great disorder’ whether this was another bombing he doesn’t say. Men from the village, the estate and the Hall played a huge role in the War. Five of them paid the ultimate sacrifice. They are remembered on the village war memorial. Lord Halifax chose to erect this edifice before the end of the war, moving a monument already there further down the village street and erecting a crucifix bearing the following inscription: The inscription then concludes with a quotation from the Te deum, an ancient Christian hymn of praise believed to have been written by St Niketas in the fourth century AD, and reads, ‘Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting.’ John Dabell ‘In remembrance of those who enlisted from this place. Most of whom went overseas to fight for their King and country in the Great War 1914-1918.’ Hon. Edward Wood John Cyril Dalton Paul Dalton Lawrence Heppenstall Harry Heppenstall Frank Ball (killed) George Ball Arthur Ball Arthur Wenman John Wenman William Wenman Herbert Teale (killed) William Teale George Stables Herbert Atkinson George Benjamin Wood Percy Rogers Sidney Walters (killed) Harry Salkeld Archie Acomb Frank Turner Albert Smeaton Frederick Andrews Ernest Stoneham Wilfred Parker George Cocking Jack Linton George Linton Harry Johnstone George Ford Ernest Stewart Claude Harker John William Sykes James Sykes (killed) Charles Lockwood John William Garbutt John Henry Wordsworth Reginald Gould Ralph Leslie Mackeridge (killed) Charles Kent Joseph Ernest Smith James Dixon Herbert Hibbird Thomas Hunt • 13 •
Page 1 and 2: DONCASTER TIMES Issue 1: JUNE 2016
Page 3 and 4: Doncaster Times At home, At war •
Page 5 and 6: Did He ‘Go’ or Was He ‘Sent
Page 7 and 8: difference between remaining at hom
Page 9 and 10: grounds, there were also men seekin
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Page 25 and 26: school. On 29 July 1914, six days b
Page 28: Doncaster Times is supported by the

Doncaster Times Issue 1 - June 2016

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