WFA SUFFOLK BRANCH

WFA SUFFOLK BRANCH
Branch Briefing
June 2015
Our Website : www.suffolkwfa.org
Tonight’s talk :
Tony Taylor-Neale: Artois and Champagne 1915
TWO MINUTES SILENCE
MAY 8th 2015 – THE YPRES SALIENT
Derek Pheasant
Last month – on May 8th – I stood under the towering arch of the Menin Gate during the Last Post ceremony.
With other branch members I had come to remember the men of 1/Suffolks who had given their lives in the
Ypres Salient exactly one hundred years ago. I had also come remember my Great Uncle Samuel Eley of 2/
King’s Own Royal Lancasters who had also given his life that day. 2/King’s Own were adjacent to and on
the immediate left of the Suffolks on the Frezenberg Ridge when the Germans had launched their ferocious
dawn attack.
Earlier in the day I had laid a wreath on the Ridge for Uncle Sam and we had visited the nearby memorials
to the 1/Monmouths and the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). They were likewise virtually destroyed that day but had managed to eventually slow and stop the German advance. Getting to the
PPCLI memorial proved to be a bit of a challenge for the local police had blocked off whichever road or
track we ventured down. It transpired that a large contingent of VIPs, high ranking officers and other dignitaries were attending a memorial service there.
The service over we went to pay our respects and found the memorial completely refurbished with an impressive display of wreaths surrounding it. Of special interest to me and almost hidden amongst the larger
wreaths was a standard Royal British Legion poppy wreath to which a photo of a young subaltern was attached and inscribed.....
2nd LIEUT. STANLEY WRINCH. SUFFOLK REGIMENT. 8th MAY 1915.
Remembered by his family, Ness Farm, Shotley, Suffolk.
Stanley Wrinch's wreath
Branch Members at the PPCLI Memorial
At the Menin Gate that evening a larger crowd than usual had gathered, swelled by the many Canadians who had come to remember the gallantry of the PPCLI one hundred years ago. Two detachments and a colour party from the PPCLI had flown in from Canada and with the pipe band
and many dignitaries it was indeed a moving and memorable occasion.
I enquired of a fellow wreath layer who was standing next to me who he was remembering that
evening and he said a great uncle, a young officer with the Suffolks. He told me that he had laid a
wreath on a memorial on the battlefield earlier in the day, as I had. “His name was Stanley Wrinch
– we weren’t quite sure where the Suffolks had fought, the PPCLI memorial seemed a fitting place
to leave it”.
So it was that directly after Mark Forsdike and I had laid our wreaths – Mark on behalf of the
Branch and Friends of the Suffolk Regiment and me for my Uncle Sam – members of Stanley
Wrinch’s family laid their wreath in remembrance of him.
Stanley Wrinch was born in May 1890 at the little village of Erwarton on the Shotley Peninsular to
a wealthy farming family. Walter Wrinch, Stanley’s father, not only a farmed but also owned a
fleet of eight Thames (or “stackie”) barges that plied the east coast and the River Thames to London. Stanley (known by his family as “Tubby”) was the youngest of eight and subsequently attended Ipswich Grammar School (now Ipswich School). He was a member of the OTC and when
he left school to join the family business he continued as a territorial soldier. Commissioned at the
beginning of the war he joined 1/Suffolks on the Western Front in April 1915. It would be a short
war for Stanley for within weeks he was killed in action in the early hours of May 8th on the
Frezenberg Ridge in the Ypres Salient, one of 400 casualties to the Suffolks that day. His body
was never knowingly recovered and hence his name is one of the 54,900 inscribed on the Menin
Gate to the Missing of the Ypres Salient.
At home his name appears on the war memorial in the chapel at Ipswich School to the Old Boys
who gave their lives in the Great War. Included amongst them are classmates of Stanley’s......John
Leslie Sworder (2/Honourable Artillery Company - 31.03.17) and John Eric Row (8/Suffolks 29.10.16). His cousin Harry Durril Wrinch (RFA – 20.08.16) is also remembered. Stanley is especially remembered in his home village of Erwarton where in St Mary’s Church the family dedicated a superb stained glass window in his memory.
William Wrinch, Stanley’s great nephew, still farms the same land
today and from the same farm house where Stanley was born. I noted too that the family had placed a notice remembering him in the
“In Memoriam” column of the Daily Telegraph.
“Sometimes, when wars are long over, the dead risk being forgotten. This is an unforgivable tragedy, for they are surely the most
golden of each generation, the men and women who keep democracy safe from its enemies and ensure peace”.
How good it is to see that Stanley’s family have not allowed his
sacrifice to fade away!
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD..........
MAY 8th 2015 – BRANCH TRIP TO THE YPRES SALIENT Viv Whelpton
Last month fourteen branch members spent three days in Belgium and France on the second
of our centenary tours to commemorate the Suffolk Regiment’s service in the Great War.
The occasion for this visit was the terrible experience of the 1st Battalion on 8 May 1915
when they were caught up in a massive German onslaught on the Frezenberg Ridge. Mark
explained the events to us as we walked the forward slopes of the ridge exactly a hundred
years from the morning when 84 Brigade resisted two attacks but were finally overwhelmed,
1/Suffolks being left with only three officers and 27 men. In the evening we attended the ceremonies at the Menin Gate where a large contingent of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light
Infantry had also come to remember the Battle of the Frezenberg Ridge and to pay tribute to
their predecessors – and where we met with Derek (Pheasant) who had come to commemorate his great uncle, Sam Eley of the 2/King’s Own, also killed at Frezenberg. Like Oliver
Lay of the 1/Suffolks, the other Derek’s father’s cousin, his body was never recovered and
both men are commemorated on the Menin Gate.
Although we were glad of the opportunity to pay our respects, several of us felt that the almost-carnival atmosphere of the Menin Gate these days, as 8.00 pm approaches, is to be regretted, but it is hard to know what the solution to this problem is. On the way to our hotel in
Bruay that night, we made a detour at Ploegsteert just to check that no carnival (or football
match) atmosphere was attaching itself to the Christmas Truce Cross and were pleasantly
surprised. But we did come across a Belgian party clad in First World War costumes (Khaki
Devil ones to be exact!) celebrating … and who invited us to join them! Having a fair journey left to reach our hotel, we declined.
The next day was devoted to following on the ground the actions of the three Suffolk units
which took part in the Battle of Loos. First came the advance of 9/Suffolks, the Kitchener 3
battalion which, along with the rest of 24th (and 21st) Divisions, formed the Army Reserve.
On 26 September 1915 the battalion advanced under heavy fire, from a position in front of
the former German support line near Bois Carré where they had dug themselves in the night
before, to a point about two hundred yards beyond the Hulluch-Lens Road facing the heavily
wired German second line. We remembered two acts of courage: that of Sergeant Arthur
Saunders, who was to be awarded the V.C. for taking charge of two machine guns and covering the retirement of the Suffolks although severely wounded; and that of Captain Charles
Packard who, along with two other officers from the battalion, was awarded the M.C. for his
courage in remaining at the front and holding the position with a hundred men in case of
German counter-attacks, and who subsequently assisted wounded men back to safety. As we
listened to Packard’s story, Taff produced for us not only a photograph of this brave man
(old enough, at 46, not to have volunteered) but also his Military Cross.
We then travelled up to the site of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, where the 1 st Battalion, was
tasked on 2 October with retaking Little Willie Trench, an attack that, after constant postponements, finally took place amidst chaos and confusion in the early hours of the following morning and was a failure, although the battalion suffered 160 casualties. After a pleasant lunch in
Loos, we travelled up the line again to the site of the Quarries where the 7/Suffolks fought on
13 October 1915, bombing their way along ‘The Hairpin’, two abandoned spurs at the front of
the Quarries, and in the process losing eight officers including the young poet, Charles Sorley;
other ranks killed and wounded amounted to 150. We ended our day at Dud Corner, paying
tribute to the men of the Suffolk Regiment, from all three battalions, who died in the Battle of
Loos and whose bodies were never recovered.
That evening we enjoyed a convivial communal meal at a ‘Crocodile’ restaurant, a chain whose
chief appeal is that all drinks (alcoholic or otherwise) are free. (‘That wouldn’t work in the
U.K.,’ one of our party remarked.) On our third day, a beautifully warm spring morning, we
walked the route taken to the front line at Neuve Chapelle on 12 March 1915 by the 4/Suffolks,
the territorial battalion which fought alongside the Indian troops of the Jullundur Brigade. Taff
had talked to us at the March branch meeting about the battalion and its actions that day – including the circumstances which led to only 173 men arriving at the jump-off point for the advance opposite the Bois de Biez ‒ but to follow the route they had taken made the whole story
incredibly vivid.
Our final stop before departing for Calais and home was at Pont-Du-Hem Military Cemetery,
La Gorgue, to visit the grave of 2/Lieut Harry Akers Row, who died at Neuve Chapelle and
who is, like Charles Packard, one of many Suffolk men whose stories are being recorded and
relayed through the Bramford WW1 Memorial Project (www.bramfordww1project.org.uk). It
was good to have Jon, Graham and Kelvin with us to tell us some of those stories.
Throughout the three days, Mark produced informative and attractive handouts for us at each
stand, covering the history of each of the battalions, the details of the engagements, photographs
and profiles of individual soldiers – and maps to help us orientate ourselves on the ground. It is
Mark’s and Taff’s extensive knowledge of the Suffolk Regiment and deep passion for its history that makes these centenary tours so educative and enjoyable – that and the good company!
We were also reminded that, apart from all his other skills, Taff can (despite a very painful leg)
take a minibus places you would never expect a vehicle to reach!
MONTHLY MEMOIR
Viv Whelpton
‘Comrades in Captivity’: F.W. Harvey
(Sidgwick and Jackson 1920; Douglas MacLean 2010)
F.W.
Harvey, a young lawyer and a second lieutenant in
the 2/5 Gloucesters, already in receipt of a DCM before
being commissioned in 1916, was captured on 17 August
1916 while conducting an (unauthorised) one-man reconnaissance of an enemy trench at Red Lamp Corner in the
Fauquissart sector of French Flanders. Due to lead a patrol
that night, Harvey had decided to take an initial look during the quiet period of the afternoon. Finding the trench
empty (as he thought) he dropped down into it – with inevitable consequences!
His memoir provides an insight into life as a POW in seven different camps. Some 7,335 British and Empire officers and 174,490 other ranks were held in captivity during
the war (about half of those numbers being captured between March and November 1918). Officers, unlike other
ranks, were exempted from labour, were not reliant on a
camp diet as they were supplied with food parcels from
home, and were free to organize lectures, concerts and
sporting activities – as well, of course, as the obligatory escape plans; but it is clear that the quality of their lives depended on the personality and whims of the camp commandant and his regional commander: two of the camps to which Harvey was sent – Schwarmstadt and Holzminden ‒ were in the notorious Hanover sector and operated particularly harsh regimes. There were
international laws and agreements governing conditions, and camps were inspected by the Red
Cross and neutral countries but it seems that both sides tested the boundaries of these agreements
and adjusted their policies in response to wider political developments and tit-for-tat events. The
punishment for escape attempts was solitary confinement, but in 1917 the two sides agreed that
this should not exceed a term of a fortnight; and no offences were to be penalised by collective
punishment (commonly referred to as ‘strafing’).
Harvey enjoyed the company of French and Russian officers at Gütersloh, his first camp, but
when German policy changed – perhaps because the fraternization of these Allies was disconcerting – and he and his compatriots were moved to an all-British camp at Crefeld, he was to
miss ‘the difference and the courtesy’ of the French and the Russians.
Harvey writes that ‘Comradeship is … undoubtedly the best and most salient feature of my prison days.’ But that comradeship had to be earned: newcomers had to prove their value to the community and show what they could do to ‘keep the life of the camp alight’ before they were accepted; in any case, most of the officers Harvey found at Gütersloh were Regulars, frustrated by
the fact that imprisonment was preventing their pursuit of their military careers.
Harvey provides us with a detailed and fascinating account (complete with diagrams) of the most
ambitious attempt to build an escape tunnel at Gütersloh – ultimately frustrated by the removal
of the British officers to Crefeld just before the project reached completion. (In a spirit of altruism, it was handed over to their Russian colleagues!)
Whereas the atmosphere at Gütersloh had been ‘bracing and strenuous’ and ‘its work, its games and its socialism
… those of the public school’ there hung around Crefeld ‘the mouldy atmosphere of a club – and a bad one.’ The
officers already at the camp were mostly older captures, ‘more fed up with it all, and less ready to see misfortunes
from a humorous angle’ and they would not mix with the newcomers – until they were all moved on to two really
unpleasant camps, Schwarmstadt (where Harvey was sent) and Strohen, at which point they quickly became
‘comrades in adversity’. Crefeld was, says Harvey, ‘one of the best camps in Germany and one of the dullest and
least sociable.’ However, the commandant was a decent man and it was he who allowed Harvey’s poems to be
sent to the U.K. for publication (Gloucestershire Friends: Poems from a German Prison Camp).
‘Mouldiness’ is the term Harvey uses throughout the memoir to describe the state of hopelessness and inertia into
which prisoners of war fell over time, ‘the state of men upon whom the shadow of captivity has fallen with all its
devitalizing darkness of mind and atrophy of sense.’ It is, says Harvey, ‘a state comparable to premature burial’.
There is no doubt that Harvey himself eventually fell into that state – although not until the later stages of his internment; he wrote in his memoir: ‘Nothing could prevent the creeping paralysis of prisondom from gradually
overtaking me, and the time came to me as to other men when I was too hopeless to fight against it. …I can say
with certainty that [captivity] is by far the worst thing that ever happened to me, and a thing from which I shall
possibly never recover.’ A reading of his biography (see Anthony Boden: F.W. Harvey: Soldier Poet (1988)) reveals the damaging effect of the experience on the rest of Harvey’s life.
Nevertheless, he took some positive lessons from his period of captivity: first, that no man, whether ‘dull, clever,
good or thoroughly wicked’, is without some goodness in him; and secondly, a hope for the future of Britain: that
the New Army was ‘the finest weapon ever placed in the hands of democracy’, that employers after the war would
recognize that their workers were the same men who went to make up the platoons of which they had been so
proud, while their employees would recall that their bosses were the ‘loved and trusted captains’ under whose
leadership they had fought. These men, he still felt when he wrote the book in 1920, would ‘find a common ideal
for the peace as they had in war’ and be ‘as enthusiastic for Life as they were for Death’. Harvey would never
lose his socialist values and ideals. Much of the best of his poetic output was also written while he was a POW,
including the poem ‘Ducks’, voted one of the nation’s one hundred most popular poems in 1996. He writes in his
memoir of ‘the power of poetry to substitute life, or recreate it, when life has failed us.’
At Schwarmstadt the regime was harsh and unfair. It was on the way to the next camp, Holzminden, to which the
POWs were being sent because it was further from the border and thus less promising for escape purposes, that
Harvey made his own bid for freedom, jumping from the train. He was soon recaptured and so ended up in solitary confinement in the new camp – but not for long: there were so many escape attempts that their captors ran out
of the facilities to separate the offenders! Despite the grim regime operated at Holzminden twenty-nine officers
escaped, of whom ten made it to the U.K. – a record for any German camp in the war. Harvey himself, however,
was an opportunistic, rather than a systematic, escaper.
Eventually all those officers who had been sentenced for escape attempts were moved to the camp at BadColberg, also run in a spirit of vindictiveness; it was here that that two escaping officers were shot dead in circumstances that were, at best, sinister. Harvey took on the unofficial role of ‘prisoner’s friend’ in countless cases,
briefing officers thoroughly before their trials and translating their lines of defence into German.
Finally, on 20 June 1918, nearly two years after his capture, Harvey’s name appeared on a list of POWs to be sent
to Holland. However, the group only got as far as another camp, Aachen, and after a frustrating month here, Harvey and another officer hatched an escape plan. As it approached fruition, they were herded onto a train bound for
yet another camp (Harvey’s seventh) – Stralsund, on an island in the Baltic Sea. It was here that Harvey reached
his lowest emotional state, ceasing to read or write ‒ even letters home – and barely rising from his bed.
With the arrival of the Armistice, he ended up in Leeuwarden in Holland, distributing food and other supplies to
homebound POWs ‒ and contracting Spanish ‘flu. It would be February of 1919 before he reached Gloucestershire at last. Once back in the U.K. he had to undergo, like all returned POWs, a rigorous debriefing and convince
the authorities that he was not culpable for his capture by the Germans. Only when he received the official document absolving him of blame was he free to embark upon the next chapter of his life.
Harvey’s memoir includes the text of some lectures delivered in prison camp by himself and others – to demonstrate the quality of life – and thought ‒ that they forged there; the reader can choose whether to read or to skip
these! Either way, the memoir is an illuminating account of the experience of prisoners of war and the long-term
impact of that experience on the outlook and emotional health of those who endured it.
One final poignant irony: Harvey’s memoir was dedicated to his close friend and fellow poet, Ivor Gurney, also of
2/5 Gloucesters, who had not had the misfortune to be captured in war but who would spend the years from 1922
until his death from tuberculosis in 1937 imprisoned in the City of London Mental Hospital in Dartford.
The Royal Navy and the First World War – A Notebook
Part Three – Summer 1915
First Lord,
After further anxious reflection I have come to the regretted conclusion I am unable to remain
any longer as your Colleague.
Fisher to Churchill May 1915
By May it was acknowledged that, by land and sea, the Dardanelles campaign was bogged
down in a stalemate with the glass unlikely to change to fair. This forecast brought with it
storms clouds that burst over the Admiralty with Fisher and Churchill finding they could not
shelter under the same umbrella. Fisher jumped ship first, resigning on 15 May. Churchill was
made to walk the plank on the 21st. Impossible mavericks they might have been but their importance can be gauged by asking the pub quiz question who were their successors?
The British fleet, drifting off the Dardanelles, remained in danger. On 13 May the battleship
Goliath was sunk, with the loss of 570 men. Twelve days later the German submarine U21 sank
the battleship Triumph followed by Majestic on 27 May. All three warships had been easy targets being either stationary or slow-moving in this static campaign. Light relief was provided
when, at the end of May, UB8 sank the 11,000-ton steamship Merion which had been disguised
as the battlecruiser Tiger, only for the U-boat commander to watch her wooden guns and turrets
float away!
If German U boat commanders were finding easy prey, their British counterparts were having to
work hard to reach their targets which lay in the Sea of Marmara protected by mine-fields, antisubmarine netting, patrols and searchlights and the natural hazards of the counter-flowing currents of these waters. These difficulties had resulted in several failed attempts to transit the
Dardanelles but on the night of 27/28 April Lt. Cdr. Edward Boyle brought E 14 to the surface
in the Sea of Marmara having already sunk a Turkish gunboat while on passage. A mixture of
success and frustrating failures then followed with the pick of the bag being a 5,000-ton exWhite Star liner carrying 6,000 troops to Gallipoli. On 18 May, Boyle reappeared among the
allied fleet to receive a tumultuous reception. His Victoria Cross was awarded before he had
finished writing his report: his two fellow officers received the DSC with the remainder of the
crew each being awarded the DSM.
A day after Boyle’s return, Lt. Cdr. Martin Nasmith headed up the Dardanelles in E 11 for an
extraordinary twenty-one day patrol in which he sank eleven ships and even entered the harbour
at Constantinople causing the population to panic as ships and wharfs exploded. Thoroughly
enjoying himself, Nasmith would have stayed out longer had not engine wear and tear forced
him to return to base. Passing through the Dardanelles he took a mine in tow, only shaking it
off after a number of violent and prayer-attended manoeuvres. As with Boyle, he and his company were rapidly and similarly rewarded.
There were, of course, failures in the submarine operations, with the French seldom able to penetrate the Dardanelles. One of their casualties became apparent when E 20 surfaced to rendezvous with the French boat Torquoise which had been captured with her signals intact meaning
that the German UB 14 turned up and sank the unsuspecting British boat.
Empire was also being attacked from the Persian Gulf when, in a campaign reminiscent of that
undertaken by Kitchener in the previous century to relieve Gordon at Khartoum, British forces
moved rapidly up the Euphrates towards Baghdad, supported by naval personnel in river gunboats. Too far, too fast, and on the river, too narrow, too shallow. Instead of the glory of another Khartoum, the ignominy of Kut would be their high-water mark.
Away from the deadlock in the Dardanelles and the drama at the Admiralty a most famous sinking took place when, on 7 May, the Cunard passenger liner, Lusitania was torpedoed off Ireland
without warning and with the loss of 1200 lives, 128 of them American. The repercussions
were slow but sure in their coming, opinion being influenced to a certain extent by the Germans
striking a medal in honour of the U boat crew.
Elsewhere the removal of German warships from the world’s oceans continued. In September
1914 the light cruiser SMS Konigsberg had sunk HMS Pegasus in a battle off Zanzibar but was
then herself blockaded ten miles up the Rufiji River where she had sailed to effect repairs. On 6
July the monitors Mersey and Severn braved the shore defences to engage at 11,000 yards but
were beaten back with some losses. On the 11th they tried again and were rewarded by witnessing a large explosion onboard Konigsberg which was then scuttled.
Apart from the two Dardanelles submariners, the Royal Navy won three more summer VCs.
Ashore at Gallipoli at the end of April, Royal Marine Lance Corporal Walter Parker, in charge
of a stretcher party, charged across open land under fire, to bring relief to an isolated trench. He
then supported the evacuation of the survivors despite receiving many painful wounds himself.
Rightly did his citation state that over three days he had, ‘displayed conspicuous bravery and
energy under fire.’
Naval gallantry was also apparent in the air with Lieutenant Reginald Warneford earning his
award on 7 June after attacking the German airship LZ 37 with bombs. The subsequent explosion shook Warneford’s craft, forcing him to land behind enemy lines, but after a bit of selfhelp, he was able to take off and return to base. On 17 June he flew off to receive the Légion
d’honneur from General Joffre but crashed fatally on the return journey.
Back at sea, on 4 July HM Horse Transport Anglo-Californian was attacked by a U-boat southwest of Queenstown, Ireland. The ship’s 59 year old Master, Captain Frederick Parslow, struggled valiantly so as not to abandon ship and was killed himself, command being assumed by his
son. In recognition of his valour Parsons was given a posthumous commission as a Lieutenant
in the RNR followed by the award of the Victoria Cross. His son was awarded with a DSC –
probably the only case of a father and son earning such honours in the same incident.
NEW SPEAKER SECRETARY NEEDED Dave Hedges
As Viv is standing down from the committee due to pressures of work, we are looking for a new
Speaker Secretary. Please let a member of the committee know if you are interested in the post.
Viv will be happy to explain what the role involves and make the hand-over easy. We also have
all our speakers booked for 2016, so it can be a relaxed transition!
***
Martlesham Heath Aviation Society.
Monthly Meeting
Friday 3rd July 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
The Main Hall, Martlesham Heath Community Centre,
Old Felixstowe Road (behind Tesco),
Martlesham Heath IP12 4PB
Roger “Dodge” Bailey presents:
"Training the Pilots of The Shuttleworth Collection."
Roger, in his fascinating illustrated talk, describes how a Shuttleworth
Collection pilot progresses through 40 plus different aircraft types in an
apprenticeship lasting up to 15 years, getting to grips with their unique
collection of vintage and veteran aircraft.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Admission £2:00 (members) £3.00 (non-members).
Pay on arrival.
***
MAIN BRANCH TOUR 2015
Dave Hedges and Colin Woods
1915 TRIAL AND ERROR
The main Branch big coach tour this year will follow the fortunes of the French and British Armies as they vainly attempted to end the trench stalemate north of Arras in 1915. We have engaged the guiding services of Michael Orr from Thames Valley Branch. Michael is a leading
expert on the 1915 battles, ex Sandhurst lecturer and Holts guide - and a flat-mate of Richard
Holmes ! - Michael has studied the battles and guided on the ground over many years. No recce
costs are needed.
We will cover the French at Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette, and the British at Neuve
Chapelle, Aubers Ridge, Festubert and Loos, and if time permits we will touch on 2nd Ypres as
we make our way to the ferry on the last day. We will stay in a hotel in Arras.
The dates are Friday 31st July to Monday 3rd August (3 nights)
The cost, to include 2 group dinners, is estimated to be about £300 sharing a twin and £385 for a
single, assuming we have 26 on the coach.
***
RELATIVES LOST DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE 1915 IN THE
GREAT WAR.
Derek Pheasant.
CASUALTY OF THE GREAT WAR
JUNE 1915
CSM Bernard Steven. 1st Battn. Essex Regiment
Killed in Action 4th June 1915 at Third Battle of Krithia,
Gallipoli
No Known Grave and so commemorated on the Helles
Memorial
Bernard Steven was 33 years old.
Bernard is Derek Pheasant’s Maternal Grandfather
Bernard Steven was my maternal grandfather. A regular soldier with 1 st Essex he served
throughout the Indian sub-continent from 1902 to 1914, apart from a brief period in 1910 when
he returned to England and married my grandmother Annie Eley.
Grandfather & Family early 1915
Grandfather in India 1910
1st Essex were recalled to England in 1914 and became part of the 29th Division, the last regular
division to be called into action. As part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) the
battalion landed on the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsular on 25th April 1915 at W Beach –
after 1st Lancashire Fusiliers had secured a bridgehead and won their famous “Six VC’s before
breakfast.”
In the heat and dust of the stifling Mediterranean summer the allies lost headway against the determined
resistance of the Turkish defenders and casualties grew in the many futile frontal attacks against entrenched positions.
On 4th June another set-piece attack took place against the village of Krithia – stepping stone to the
heights of Achi Baba, the all important hill overlooking the Helles plain. There was a substantial artillery barrage with naval assistance and at 3.05 pm 1st Essex came up from Brigade Reserve and went
over the top.
Private Sydney White, 1st Essex, writing to his wife from a hospital ship on 8th June :“........my word Dear, it was a hot time Sunday morning. Mr Bailes was right against me and poor chap
I saw him get hit. I couldn’t help him but a L/Cpl just on my right went to him and was doing him up
when I got mine. I am sorry to tell you that Mr Steven was killed, he was shot twice. This was the day
before. I didn’t see him. Our Essex chaps fought like true Britons, giving no ground”.
Bernard Steven has no known grave and his name is to be found on the memorial above the cliffs of
Cape Helles overlooking the Aegean Sea. What grief Bernard’s wife Annie must have felt – a month
earlier she had lost her younger brother Sam in the Ypres Salient and now her husband was gone. She
would name her unborn son after him.
My mother's locket
THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD..........
Grandfathers Pip, Squeak and Wilfrid
HEALTH & SAFETY
1.
2.
3.
In the event of a FIRE or an incident requiring the evacuation of the hall, there are Fire Exits and Safe Exit Routes clearly marked by Green lights. Please familiarise with these routes.
The Assembly Point is directly across the street outside STANNARDS ELECTRICAL SHOP.
Please learn the location of Fire Points where equipment is provided to tackle a fire.
Talk at the Norwich Branch on Tuesday 7th July
Martin Middlebrook : Up The Line And Back Again
Our next month’s talk on Wednesday 8th July
Martin Sutor :
Naval Armoured Trains in Belgium
Please send any contributions for the Branch Briefing to:
David Hedges, 99 Cliff Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9SA
telephone: 01394 272677 and email:[email protected]
Next Committee meeting: 5th August 2015
Approach a committee member if you want any issue raised.