Thank You... Armistice Day 2018

 

This is my first blog post in three and a half years *shock face* I have been away from blogging, writing and family history research and concentrating my energies elsewhere but I will never ever forget my ancestry. I will never forget the sacrifices, the losses, the struggles, and their strength and dedication. This is my promise to my ancestors, my living family, and especially my daughter.

This special post honors the centenary of the end of the Great War or World War One (WWI). At this solemn time I am once again reminded of those who fought for their country and lost their lives. Husbands, boyfriends, friends, school chums, work colleagues, brothers, cousins, nephews. uncles, sons, grandsons - lost, yet never forgotten. I would also like to acknowledge all the courageous women who served as nurses, both at home and overseas.

🌺James JOLLY

1880 - 1914 Norfolk Regiment

From Bungay, SFK  not married

🌺William Burgoine WATERS

1889 - 1917 Norfolk Regiment

From Beccles, SFK married, five children

🌺Sidney PRESTON

1889 - 1918 Essex Regiment

From Holt, NFK  married, no children

In April of this year I took a trip to Kings Park as it was the centenary of Sidney Preston's death. I made a special lanyard and attached his school photograph and a Preston family photo of happier times with his family, on a picnic at the beach, taken before the war broke out which changed everybody's life. I took photographs, as well as some video footage and I recited the Ode of Remembrance. These are a few of the photographs from that trip (10 April 2018):

Sidney Preston 1889 - 1918

Eternal Flame, Kings Park

My special lanyard made especially for Sidney

 ADDENDUM: 11 November 2018
I have just returned home from Kings Park where the centenary Armistice Day service was held. The crowds were on a much grander scale than in the previous years I've attended (2014/5/6/7). Not only was Mark McGowan (Premier of WA) in attendance this year but also Kim Beasley (Governor of WA) as well as several government dignitaries and officials. Most importantly, the soldiers who have served our country, who received respectful yet hearty applause at the closing of the service. This show of respect touched my heart and also moved a few of them to tears.
As I walked around looking at the sea of handmade poppies (over 61,000 were made for the occasion) and taking photographs with my phone, a young girl approached me and asked about my photographs. I told her who they were and she then told me her two of her 3xgreat-uncles served (and died) in WWI and their names are on the War Memorial. One of them was named Percy!
I was deeply moved by the events of today, and I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the service. Seeing thousands of people, young and old, and feeling the depth of mutual respect. Some were wearing military medals and/or pins, some were wearing commemorative t-shirts or slouch hats, everyone was wearing poppies. Witnessing the sea of handmade poppies is something I will not forget for a long time to come. Here are some photographs from today's service (11 November 2018):

James Jolly 1880 - 1914
The rosary beads belonged to my great-grandmother Nellie
who was James' sister

🌺Lest We Forget🌺

James "Jumbo" Jolly

I have previously posted about my great grand-uncle James Jolly, particularly at times of Remembrance. He was killed in action on this day, one hundred years ago. The Great War was barely three months old when James was fighting on the front lines during the First Battle of Ypres.

James Jolly, circa 1899

James Jolly was born in 1880 in Bungay, county Suffolk. He was the son of William Jolly and Emma, nee Clarke. James was baptised at Bungay Holy Trinity Church on 16 November 1881. He joined the Norfolk Regiment at around the age of 19 and served with the 2nd Battalion in the Boer War from 1899-1902.

James' nickname was Jumbo. This could have stemmed from the fact that he had large ears. Bless him.

In 1894, when James was thirteen years old, he was sent before the Bungay Petty Sessions (with H. Rider Haggard presiding) for stealing seven rabbit traps, the property of Mr C French of St John Ilketshall. James did not work alone, he was with Arthur Ward and his brother Herbert Ward, and Edward Barber. Arthur Ward, who was twelve years old at the time, would go on to become my great-grandfather.

When war broke out in 1914, James served with the 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment and was sent to France. According to the website http://www.1914-1918.net/norfolks.htm the 1st Battalion formed part of the 15th Brigade, 5th Division and landed at Le Havre in August 1914. The 5th Division were involved in the following:

The Battle of Mons and subsequent retreat, including the Action of Elouges
The Battle of Le Cateau and the Affair of Crepy-en-Valois
The Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Aisne
The Battles of La Bassee and Messines 1914
The First Battle of Ypres

James Jolly, circa 1914

Grey field of Flanders, grim old battle-plain,

What armies held the iron line round Ypres in the rain,

From Bixschoote to Baeceleare and down to the Lys river?

Merry men of England,

Men of the green shires,

From the winding waters,

The elm-trees and the spires,

And the lone village dreaming in the downland yonder.

Half a million Huns broke over them in thunder,

Roaring seas of Huns swept on and sunk again,

Where fought the men of England round Ypres in the rain,

On the grim plain of Flanders, whose earth is fed with slaughter.

--- Margaret Louisa Woods (1845-1945)

The Live Bait Squadron : Centenary

Today marks 100 years since the sinking of three Cressy-class armoured cruiser ships, HMS Hogue and her sisters HMS Aboukir and HMS Cressy. All three ships were hit by German U-Boat torpedoes in the morning of 22 September 1914.

The three ships which were to become known as the "Live Bait Squadron" were patrolling in the North Sea when they were torpedoed without warning. The combined total from all three ships was approximately 837 men rescued and 62 officers, and 1,397 men lost.

 

HMS Hogue

One of these men was my great-grandfather, Albert Humphries. Born in 1884, he lied about his age to join the Royal Navy in 1899. He served a total of 12 years, and joined the London Police Force in 1907. Ill-health prevented him from staying with the Force, taking retirement in 1911. When World War One broke out, Albert joined the Royal Naval Reserve and was posted to HMS Hogue. His commander was Reginald A Norton. Both men survived.

In November 1914, my great-uncle was born. His given name was Reginald Norton Humphries. The Norton name was passed from Reginald to his son and daughter and to his grandsons.

 

The Times newspaper, September 1914
My great-grandfather's name (top, right)

We will remember them. Lest we forget. God Bless them all.

For more information please see this wonderful website: http://www.livebaitsqn-soc.info/the-live-bait-squadron/ and Albert Humphries' details have been kindly added by Henk van der Linden: http://www.livebaitsqn-soc.info/images/hms-hogue/#humphries

My Ancestors : Centenary of the Great War

August 4 marks the 100th year since Great Britain declared war on Germany. The 1914-1918 campaign would become known as The Great War. This blog post commemorates all of my ancestors who fought for "King and Country".

My great-grandfathers Arthur, Percy and Albert all fought in the Great War. Arthur was married with two young sons, the eldest of whom was my grandfather Herbert who was four years old when war broke out. Percy was married with one son, my grandfather Percy junior who was barely a year old. Albert was also married and had three children, a daughter and two sons.

If Albert had not have survived the war, he would not have gone on to have seven more children with my great-grandmother, Elizabeth. My grandmother Lilian, born in 1920, would not have existed which meant she would not have married Percy junior and had my mother, Denise. In the words of my friend Brett, that is a sobering thought.

This blog post is to say "Thank You" to my great-grandfathers who fought in the war, who left their wives and their homes, their children, their jobs, their regular life. They went to the mud, the filth, the front lines, the rats and the lice, the uncertainty of their future.

"Thank You" also to my two cousins and my great grand-uncle; James, William and Sidney, who never came home. William and Sidney left behind their families and their widows. William had three children when he died of wounds in 1917. Sidney had been married just shy of two years.

  

Such, such is Death: no triumph: no defeat:  

Only an empty pail, a slate rubbed clean,
A merciful putting away of what has been.

And this we know: Death is not Life, effete,
Life crushed, the broken pail. We who have seen
So marvellous things know well the end not yet.

Victor and vanquished are a-one in death:
Coward and brave: friend, foe. Ghosts do not say,
"Come, what was your record when you drew breath?"
But a big blot has hid each yesterday
So poor, so manifestly incomplete.
And your bright Promise, withered long and sped,
Is touched, stirs, rises, opens and grows sweet
And blossoms and is you, when you are dead.

Charles Hamilton Sorley  (1895-1915)

Ode To Remembrance

This is the time of year when I reflect on the year that has passed, my achievements and my mistakes, my ups and my downs. I think about the new year ahead, and what may come to pass. Every November though, I stop and think primarily of my ancestors who fought in the Great War.

Last year I wrote a blog post called We Will Remember Them: Lest We Forget as well as various war-based blog posts on my ancestors and Remembrance Day 2011. As I prepare to take the train and bus journey to Kings Park to witness the Remembrance Day service this coming Monday morning, I will have the war years firmly at the forefront of my mind.

I have a great and deep respect for all of my ancestors who fought in the wars, from the Boer War; the Great War; World War Two; and my cousin Jim who has valiantly served in several peace-keeping engagements in more recent times.

I want to take this opportunity to say a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU to every man and woman all over the world, what ever your country of origin, who fought in all wars, and for my grandfathers' Percy and Herbert; my great-grandfather Albert (who almost died in 1914 after a u-boat sank his ship off the North Sea) and my great-grandfather Arthur who fought in the Boer War and the Great War; and to all of my great-uncle's who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force, and my three distant cousins Sidney, William and James who were taken from this world during the Great War, who died so young.

ODE TO REMEMBRANCE

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

Lest We Forget 

We Will Remember Them : Lest We Forget

It's that time of year again. Poppies are everywhere and it is a time of reflection for many people all over the world. Those with ancestors who fought in the war that was meant to be over in less than four months. Men (and women) all over the world, leaving their homes, their families, their lovers, their friends. Off to fight for a war they either wanted no part of or wanted initailly because of a fire in their bellies. I would bet none of them anticipated the repercussions, the legacy, the pain and tears, or the sorrow that it would leave behind and instill in our hearts and souls even today, 98 years on.

For my distant cousins Sidney Preston, James Jolly, William Waters and for those ancestors that came home to their loved ones and their beloved home soil. To those that raised families and struggled daily with their own personal nightmares and private hell, I thank each and every one of you. One of my favourite war poems was written by Rupert Brooke (1887-1915):

The Soldier

If I should die, think of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field

That is forever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of England's, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dream happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts of peace, under an English heaven.

James Jolly, Bungay War Memorial

William Waters, Beccles War Memorial

Sidney Preston, Holt War Memorial

"My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."
                                                          ----- Wilfred Owen

Family History Through The Alphabet Blog Challenge : Z is for...

Here we are, the last post (bugle sounds) for the Alphabet Blog Challenge and once again I have to credit somebody else for the topic of the most baffling letter of all. My amazingly perceptive daughter came up with Zeppelin. How could I refuse when I've already blogged about my 4xgreat-grandfather Zachariah Rudd?

It makes perfect sense to write about the Zeppelin raids which affected my ancestors, not least because my ancestors lived in London and along the East Coast of England (the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Kent were repeatedly raided from 1915-17) but because my paternal grandmother Freda often spoke of her parents who saw the Zeppelins as they came across the North Sea.

Before the First World War, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin developed an airship specifically for long-distance passenger flights. When the war broke out in August 1914, these airships were taken over by the German army. Throughout the war the Germans were prepared to try new forms of warfare and in January 1915 they mounted the first airship raid on England.

On the night of 19 January, two Zeppelins bombed the docks at King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth (county Norfolk) which killed four people. The East Suffolk Gazette reported that a Mr T W Holmes of Denmark Road, Beccles "believes he heard an airship coming over the town, possibly on its way back after its tour in Norfolk". Other raids followed and much damage was inflicted across the Eastern Counties. In the Autumn of 1915 a raid on the City of London killed 38 people and caused extensive damage.

A Zeppelin over Cuffley, county Kent
They look eerily like Alien space-craft

During my research into the Zeppelin raids I was amazed to discover how they were made. Zeppelin airships had a metal frame containing large bags of hydrogen gas, which lifted the craft into the air. They were powered by engines mounted outside the craft. Crew and bombs were carried in a gondola which hung underneath the craft. There was no protection which meant the men were exposed in all weather conditions, and there was nowhere to sit in the gondola which meant long periods of having to stand up. In the early part of the war the bombs had to be dropped by hand!

Most Zeppelins flew too high for British aircraft to catch and attack them but by the autumn of 1916 British airplanes were equipped with explosive shells (and later, incendiary bullets) and on 2 September the first Zeppelin was shot down by a British pilot. After two more unsuccessful raids, the Zeppelins stopped coming. By 1917 most German airships were restricted to reconnaissance work at sea. According to the Illustrated History of the First World War by John Keegan, "Germany flew a total of 115 military Zeppelins during the war, of which 77 were destroyed, 7 captured, 22 scrapped and 9 surrendered to the Allies".

Raid on Great Yarmouth, Norfolk 1915

Zeppelin Raid on Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk 1915

My great-grandparents may not have been directly affected by the Zeppelin raids of 1915-17 but they were certainly witness to its overall destruction and reign of terror across England. I know that my great-grandparents would have seen continual wreckage through both the Zeppelin raids and the Gotha Raids in London.

During the early part of the First World War my great-grandmother Elizabeth was living in Fulham, raising four children alone whilst her husband, my great-grandfather Albert, was fighting off the coast of Turkey with the Royal Navy Reserve. It is known that areas nearby to Fulham were repeatedly targeted and bombed in the 1917 Gotha Raids. I believe that is why Elizabeth and my great-aunts and great-uncles subsequently moved to Edmonton around 1917-18.

My paternal great-grandparents were living close to the coastline of Suffolk during the First World War. My great-grandfather Arthur Ward may have been on the Western Front serving his King and Country but his wife, my great-grandmother Barbara, was living in the heart of London with four of their children, including my grandfather Herbert. It is no small wonder that following 1917, they moved back to Suffolk.

Lest We Forget : Sidney Preston

Today marks the ninety-fourth anniversary of the death of Sidney Preston. He was my first cousin three times removed. Sidney holds a very special place in my heart, and has done ever since I first laid eyes on him in a family portrait given to me by Eleanor Finn, of Holt.

My framed photograph of Sidney Preston,
which sits proudly on my sideboard

Born 25 March 1889, Sidney was the son of Thomas John and Sarah Ann Preston. Sidney was very close with his four brothers and two sisters, Pattie and Mary.

From 1898 - 1905 Sidney attended Gresham's School, in Holt. Famous Greshamians include W H Auden, Benjamin Britten, and Stephen Frears.

In 1911 Sidney was residing in Hampstead with his eldest brother Thomas England Preston, who was a Solicitor. Sidney was studying as a Law Student when Britain declared war on Germany. He immediately joined up with the Middlesex Regiment, but was later commissioned to join the Essex Regiment.

On 27 May 1916 Sidney married his sweetheart Mabel Lillian Gold, at Holy Trinity Church in Kilburn, county Middlesex. From the transcript you can see that Sidney was stationed at Aldershot with the Essex Regiment.

Transcript of Sidney Preston's marriage

I would very much like to find out where Sidney was when he was killed. I keep searching on google and websites dedicated to the Great War but nothing definitive has come up yet. I need to visit the city library and see whether there are any military books available which will pin point the movements of the Essex Regiment during the first half of 1918. So far, I have titles such as the Battle of the Lys; the German Spring Offensive; Operation Georgette, all swimming around in my brain.

This is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

"On 10 April, Sixth Army tried to push west from Estaires but was contained for a day; pushing north against the flank of Second Army, it took Armentières.

Also on 10 April, German Fourth Army attacked north of Armentières with four divisions, hitting the British 19th Division. Second Army had sent its reserves south to aid First Army, and the Germans broke through, advancing up to 3 km on a 6 km front, and capturing Messines. The 25th Division to the south, flanked on both sides, withdrew about 4 km.

By 11 April, the British situation was desperate; it was on this day that Haig issued his famous "Backs to the wall" order..."

This is an excerpt from a letter sent to Sidney's parents:

“It was whilst we were together in the barracks that I got to know and love your son. For there is no doubt about the fact that everyone who really knew him loved him. His men worshipped him, and his was out and away the best and most efficient company in the battalion in consequence. I often had the opportunity of learning what his C.O thought of him. Whenever there was something special to be done it was always Preston’s company to whom it was entrusted, for whatever he had to do was done thoroughly. I don’t think he had an atom of selfishness in his nature, for all that he did was for someone else and nothing was too much trouble.”

Sidney Preston c. 1910

Gone But Not Forgotten

What's in a Name : Part Two

Last time, I mentioned there was a family name which was deserving of its own separate post. That is because it is a story worth telling in its own right; a World War One story with a bittersweet ending. A story of a HMS Cressy-Class naval ship in the North Sea. The year: 1914.

My great-grandfather had served with the Royal Navy from 1899 through to 1907. He later served with the Royal Fleet Reserve from 1907 to 1912, and again from 1912 to 1917. When World War One broke out in August 1914 he was posted to HMS Hogue.

HMS Hogue was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser built by Vickers Ltd., in Barrow-in-Furness, England in 1902. At the beginning of WWI she was assigned to the Grand Fleet's Third Cruiser Squadron. Along with two other cruiser warships - RMS Aboukir and RMS Cressy - HMS Hogue patrolled the Broad Fourteens off the Dutch coast about twenty miles north of the Hook of Holland. They were dubbed the "Live Bait Squadron" because of their vulnerability to German attack.

Although the patrols were supposed to maintain 12-13 knots and zig-zag, the old cruisers were unable to maintain that speed and the zigzagging order was widely ignored as there had not yet been any submarines sighted in the area. Much discussion at the time centred around the inclement weather conditions coupled with the widely-felt opinion that there were insufficient modern light cruisers available for the task.

At around 0625 hours on the 22nd of September 1914 a German U9 (Unterseeboot) fired a single torpedo at HMS Aboukir which struck her on her port side. Captain Drummond ordered her to be abandoned and she sank within half an hour of being hit. The U9 fired two torpedoes at HMS Hogue, who had stopped to pick up rescuers, that hit her midships and rapidly flooded her engine room. RMS Cressy had also stopped the ship to lower boats to rescue the crew of Aboukir. The U9 attacked Hogue from a range of only 300 yards and it only took ten minutes to sink as U9 headed for HMS Cressy. At about 0720 hours however, the U9 fired two torpedoes, one of the which hit Cressy on her starboard side. The damage to Cressy was not fatal but U9 turned around and fired her last torpedo which hit Cressy sinking her within a quarter of an hour. Survivors were picked up by several nearby merchant ships and a Lowestoft trawler.

Source: Collier’s Photographic History of the European war. New York, 1916
Sketch by US Navy artist, Henry Reuterdahl

According to one website I researched, Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen of U9 was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class and every member of his crew got the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Back in Kiel, U9 was sent on a lap of honour around the entire German High Seas Fleet. But what of the crew of the three RFR warships he sunk? More than 1400 men were lost in an hour, many of which were reservists or cadets. About 837 men were rescued, including my Great-Grandfather. He was helped to safety by his Commander, Reginald Arthur Norton.

And it's here we come to the family name. In November 1914, less than two months following the U9 disaster, my Great-Uncle was born. He was named Reginald Norton Humphries. I did not know anything about the namesake or why the Norton name held such significance until I made email contact with my second cousin in 2003. He is my Great-Uncle Reginald's grandson, and like his grandfather and father before him, he also carries the Norton name.

My Great-Uncle, Reginald Norton Humphries 1915

There are countless websites which are dedicated to the demise of the "Live Bait Squadron" and also, the Admiralty reports. The report of Commander Reginald A Norton, late of HMS Hogue, can be found at www.firstworldwar.com/source/cressycommander.htm  and www.worldwar1.co.uk/despatches/hogue.html

Part of Commander Norton's report here follows:

"After ordering the men to provide themselves with wood, hammocks, etc., and to get into the boats on the booms and take off their clothes, I went, by Capt, Nicholson's direction, to ascertain the damage done in the engine room...While endeavouring to return to the bridge the water burst open the starboard entry port doors and ship heeled rapidly. I told the men in the port battery to jump overboard, as the launch was close alongside, and soon afterward the ship lurched heavily to starboard. I clung to a ringbolt for some time, but eventually was dropped on to the deck, and a huge wave washed me away...I was picked up by a cutter from the Hogue..."

Norton's report in its entirety makes for very interesting reading, as does all reports made by others such as Commander Bertram Nicholson, late of HMS Cressy, and the fascinating volume Source Records of the Great War.