Capt. Richard Percy Lewis

Richard Percy Lewis was born on March 10, 1874 in Paddington, London to Richard and Eliza Mary (née Kinglake) Lewis. Richard Lewis was a successful barrister and his son Richard Percy Lewis had an older sister, Louisa Mary Kinglake Lewis, and a younger brother, John Alexander Kinglake Clayton Lewis. In 1881 the family was living in Gloucester Place, Paddington with four live-in domestic servants.

He was educated at Winchester College (1887-92) and then University College, Oxford (1894-96) and was said to be one of the finest wicket-keepers of his generation, playing for Oxford University, Surrey and Middlesex.

During the Boer War he was commissioned as Second-Lieutenant in the 14^th Middlesex (Inns of Court) Rifle Volunteer Corps, on August 4, 1900. In October 24, 1900 he was awarded a commission in the Devonshire Regiment, a line regiment when another second-Lieutenant was killed in action, thus creating a vacancy. He was promoted to Lieutenant on April 4, 1903.

After the war, he was attached to the 1^st Battalion King’s African Rifles January 12, 1904 to June 24, 1907, and took part in the Nandi Expedition of 1905-1906 where he was mentioned in despatches (of Edgar G. Harrison, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Nandi Field Force, February 28, 1906).

Lieutenant R. P. Lewis, (The Devonshire Regiment), 1st K.A.R., as Signalling Officer to the Field Force, by his keenness and hard work was able with slender means and in spite of many difficulties to obtain excellent results. Many of the signallers employed were recruits with but little training, but even with such material Lieutenant Lewis was able to keep numerous posts going and to link up the various units of the force by helio and lamp.

After his spell in Africa, he was seconded for service with the Egyptian Army, on 20th August 1908, and stationed as an intelligence officer in Cairo. Whilst serving in Egypt he suffered a succession of personal blows as his sister, brother and mother all died in 1911, 1912 and 1913 respectively, (his father having died many years before). Meanwhile his career progressed and he was promoted to Captain on December 16, 1911.

The 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment landed in Egypt on September 25, 1914 and spent the next six months training for war. They landed at Gallipoli on May 9, 1915 but were short of senior officers, two majors having died in Egypt.

Captain Lewis joined the 42^nd Division in Gallipoli on May 31, 1915 and was initially posted to the 10^th Battalion Manchester Regiment but four days later, on June 4^th, he was made a temporary Major and attached to the 1/9^th Battalion. He was wounded about a month later, on July 6^th, and subsequently left the 9^th at that time. But during his short spell with them he was involved in the bloodiest month of the Gallipoli campaign for the 9^th Battalion when they were involved in two separate bayonet charges against the Turks.

On November 4, 1916 he was appointed Brigade-Major, leaving the position on April 24, 1917. And on May 8, 1917 was made acting Lieutenant-Colonel while commanding the 10^th Battalion Manchester Regiment. He was not to hold this position long because he died of wounds at Ypres on September 9, 1917 during a heavy bombardment between the village of Frezenberg and Westhoek. He is buried in Grave I.A.57 of the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

“It was during one such bombardment that Lt-Colonel Lewis was killed. Battalion HQ was housed in a cellar of a ruined farm house known as Kit and Kat. The position lay on what in more peaceful times had been the minor road running between Frezenberg and Westhoek. Lewis was hit by a shell splinter when giving orders to a runner and died shortly afterwards. His body was taken back to Ypres and buried in the burgeoning cemetery near to the tumbled central square.”

Excerpted from “Amateur Soldiers” by K. W. Mitchinson. ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0951809891.

Perhaps because he no longer had any living immediate family members, he made a number of bequests to the Devonshire Regiment including £2,000 for the “benefit and comfort of the officers and men during the war, and thereafter for the widows of the men”. The rest he left to his cousin Evelyn, the daughter of his mother’s younger sister. Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Percy Lewis was 43 years old.

Lieutenant William Thomas Forshaw

William Thomas Forshaw was born in Barrow-in-Furness on April 20, 1890. His father, Thomas Forshaw, was an engineering pattern maker and by 1915 had become the head foreman pattern maker at Vickers Naval Shipyard in Barrow.

A pattern-maker was a highly skilled job, their task was to make wooden replicas (so called patterns) of a finished product. This required engineering, joinery and carving skills coupled with precision and experience in the manufacturing process. From the patterns, a sand mould was made and then iron was poured into the mould to form the finished product. By 1911, William’s younger brother, Frank Forshaw, was an apprentice engineering pattern maker at Vickers and was later employed at Vickers’ London office as a draughtsman.

William’s father, Thomas Forshaw, was also a locally well-known Rugby Union three-quarter playing for Barrow in his younger years, (the position normally filled by the fastest players in the team). William Forshaw inherited his father’s speed and strength and was a good all round athlete, playing Rugby and Tennis and competing in field athletics meetings at school and college. He ran in the final of the 100 yards sprint at the Westminster College Inter-Year Sports competition in 1909,¹ competed in the Weight Throw competition at London Inter-Collegiate Sports meetings and won a solid silver champagne cup at the Territorial sports day, on Boxing Day, 1914 at the Khedivial Sporting Club, Cairo.

William was educated at Dalton Road Wesleyan School, and later at Holker Street School, from where he won a scholarship for the Barrow Municipal Secondary School, (1900-1906). At 18 he entered Wesleyan Westminster Training College, (1908-1910), and studied in London for two years before returning home to prepare for, and sit, his inter B.Sc. exam 12 months later. While completing his studies he taught evening classes at his former secondary school and at the Barrow Technical School. Curiously, while he was teaching at the Barrow Technical School he taught a small group of Turkish military officers who were stationed in Barrow to monitor the construction of a naval warship for the Ottoman Government.²

After he passed his intermediate B.Sc. he obtained a permanent teaching position at Dallas Road School, Lancaster, and also taught an evening class at the Storey Institute. William was then hired to teach Physics and Mathematics at the North Manchester Preparatory School for the Manchester Grammar School, at Higher Broughton, and consequently moved to Manchester.

William was a keen amateur singer and was a member of Mr. Aldous’ prize winning choir while he was teaching in Lancaster and joined the Ashton Operatic Society after he moved to Manchester, appearing in the comic opera the “Duchess of Dantzic” at the Ashton Empire Hippodrome in February 1914. Newspaper reports indicate that William was still performing publicly in the 1920’s after his return to England from Egypt.

The 9th Manchesters

Forshaw joined the Ashton Territorials primarily due to his friendship with George Makin, a fellow teacher at the North Manchester Preparatory School, and fellow member of the Ashton Operatic Society. George, and his older brother Frederick Arthur Makin, both joined the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment as second lieutenants in 1913 after serving as cadets in the Officers Training Corps of Manchester University. Forshaw was himself commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 9^th Battalion on March 13, 1914, three months after his friend George joined. Forshaw’s connection to the Makin family was evidently quite strong because he was staying with Richard Harold Makin (the middle of the three Makin brothers and fellow member of the Ashton Operatic Society) on a private visit to Ashton in October 1915 when he received notice to proceed immediately to London to receive his Victoria Cross medal from the King.

Forshaw qualified in examination “subject A”, (a pre-cursor for promotion to Lt.), at Ashton on June 24. After war broke out, William sailed with the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment to Egypt in September 1914 and on November 13, 1914 was promoted to Lieutenant along with four of his brother officers. In Egypt, Forshaw drew the short straw and instead of commanding an infantry platoon was instead assigned as the assistant Quartermaster under the leadership of Major M. H. Connery.

Regimental Quartermaster-Sergeant George Boocock indicated in an interview with the Ashton Reporter that Forshaw filled that position “for practically nine months” before moving into a combat roll with A Company. This implies that he switched sometime in late June 1915, probably as a result of the casualties the battalion registered that month. This timing is corroborated by an article in the Ashton Reporter that indicates Lt. A.W.F. Connery became assistant quartermaster, (replacing Forshaw), after Lieut. Handforth took over command of “C” company on June 28. In fact, by the end of June 1915 the 1/9th Battalion was down to half the number of officers who deployed to Gallipoli from Egypt having lost 16 Officers in Gallipoli killed, wounded or sick and had replaced them with just one junior officer.³ Seeking to boost their low numbers, 4 new junior officers from the 10^th South Lancs and 11^th Yorks & Lancs Regiments were temporarily assigned to them on July 2^nd and 5 officers from the 2/9^th Manchester Regiment joined on July 22^nd but despite these additions the battalion had lost another six officers by the end of July.⁴

The battalion moved into the trenches on July 2^nd and remained there (spending 4 days in the firing line) until they were relieved and returned to bivouac on the 18^th. Consequently, by early August, Lieut. Forshaw had spent just over two weeks of time in the trenches, under relatively quiet conditions, before he was once again called upon to lead his men at the Battle of Krithia Vineyard where he won the Victoria Cross.

When Forshaw rejoined the battalion on the morning of August 9th he was badly bruised in his side from shrapnel, weak from exhaustion, with no voice and suffering from headaches and problems with his vision. Initially he was prescribed rest but after a few days with little improvement regimental records indicate that Forshaw was medically evacuated to hospital in Cairo on August 25, 1915.

Staff Nurse Mollie S. Lee-Heppel joined the Queen Alexandria’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve), (Q.A.I.M.N.S.(R)), in late August 1914 and although she was initially assigned to Caterham Military Hospital, Surrey, by 1915 she had been re-assigned to work on the Hospital Ship Goorkha.

Meanwhile, William Forshaw had been recovering in hospital in Cairo but by mid-September had cabled his parents “Doing well: may come home”. William was invalided back to the UK from Egypt on His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Goorkha,⁵ embarking at Alexandria on September 26, 1915 and arriving at Southampton in the early hours of Friday October 8^th. It was on this two week voyage where he met and fell in love with Sadie Mollie Lee-Heppel.

After arriving in the UK, Lt. Forshaw left the Goorkha. Spending the night, and making a speech, at his old school, Westminster College, before returning to his parents’ home at Barrow-in-Furness, arriving there on Tuesday evening. Needless to say, Lt. Forshaw was heavily engaged with public appearances in the Northwest throughout October and November at Barrow, Ashton, Manchester, Lancaster and Southport. The newspapers of the time dubbed him the “Cigarette VC” for the fact that he had constantly smoked cigarettes throughout the 41 hour ordeal, using them to light the fuses of the 800 improvised bombs they had thrown, which were made of jam tins filled with explosive and small pieces of scrap metal.

Date	Forshaw’s Activity
Fri, Oct 8	Gave a speech and spent the night at Westminster College.
Tue, Oct 12	Arrived at his parents’ home in Barrow in the evening.
Wed, Oct 13	Visited Barrow Secondary School and was later received by the Mayor of Barrow.
Thu, Oct 14	Interviewed by the Guardian Newspaper.
Sat, Oct 16	Private visit to Ashton staying with R.H. Makin.
Mon, Oct 18	Investiture with the King at Buckingham Palace.
Wed, Oct 27	Given the freedom of the city of Barrow and presented with a Sword of Honour. Was later that day presented with watch, card case and binoculars by Barrow Secondary School.

Date	Forshaw’s Activity
Fri, Oct 29	Visit to Manchester Grammar’s North Manchester Preparatory School and presented with an illuminated address and a silver tea service.
Sat, Oct 30	Visit to Ashton-under-Lyne. Awarded Freedom of the Borough and presented with a scroll in a polished silver casket.
Fri, Nov 5	Visit to Southport and received by the Mayoress. Dinner with the Mayor and speech to the cadets. Note that the 3/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment were in training at Southport and Forshaw’s good friend Capt. George Makin was with them.
Fri, Nov 20	Attended a dinner of the Westminster Club in his honor. At the Holborn Restaurant, London.
Mon, Nov 22	H. S. Goorkha, having earlier docked at Southampton on the 19th, underwent repairs. Medical staff disembarked.
Wed, Nov 24	Visit to Lancaster and sang with Mr. Aldous’ choir, (of which he was a former member), in the evening at the Mayoress’ fund raiser for the war.
Mon, Nov 29	Medical staff re-embark on the H. S. Goorkha.

Marriage

With much of the initial fuss behind him, on November 20, 1915 Forshaw was back in London when the Westminster Club held a dinner in his honour at the Holborn Restaurant. Meanwhile, the Goorkha had arrived back at Southampton on November 19^th and from November 22-29 the medical staff disembarked while the ship underwent repairs. There can be little doubt that Lt. Forshaw and Staff Nurse Lee-Heppel spent much of that week together, possibly traveling to Lancaster together and meeting his parents, and sometime during that week, he proposed to her.

Shortly after she re-boarded the Goorkha, on December 4, 1915, Staff Nurse Lee-Heppel wrote a letter to her direct supervisor, Matron Christopherson⁶ , requesting permission to marry and to be allowed to continue working onboard the Goorkha. The Matron and the Medical C.O. (Lt.-Col. Haig, IMS⁷ ) both agreed, but the final decision was to be made by the military authorities in England. Although they gave permission for the wedding, they denied the request to remain onboard, instead offering a transfer to home service. Nurse Lee-Heppel was notified of this decision in a letter dated January 20, 1916.

On January 31, 1916 the Goorkha once again arrived at Southampton and, during its short stay, Sadie Mollie Lee-Heppel married William Thomas Forshaw in a registry office in Barnet on February 5, 1916. On Nurse Lee-Heppel’s application for the Q.A.I.M.N.S.(R) she gave her home address as “Moss Bank”, North Finchley, London (in the borough of Barnet) which is undoubtedly why they married in a registry office there.⁸

There wasn’t to be much of a honeymoon though because the Goorkha, with Staff Nurse Lee-Heppel on-board, embarked the baggage of 32 British General Hospital and sailed for Marseilles on February 8, 1916. In her subsequent letters to the Q.A.I.M.N.S.(R), before she resigned for “urgent personal reasons” in August 1916, she referred to herself with her maiden name and provided a contact address “c/o Mrs. S. M. Forshaw”. The obvious conclusion is that she did not inform the authorities that she had married in February. Indeed, later in 1918, when she enquired about rejoining the service, while her husband served in India, she went so far as to state that she had left the service in September 1916 to get married.

When Staff Nurse Lee-Heppel left the Q.A.I.M.N.S.(R) in September 1916, (she arrived in England from Malta on the Acquitania on September 27, 1916), she gave her address as Kilworth, County Cork. Although Captain Forshaw, (and Lieut. Cooke, his subaltern at the Vineyard), was at Codford with the 3/9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment in mid-March 1916⁹ , by September 1916, Captain Forshaw was an instructor at the 7^th Officer Cadet Battalion, Kilworth, County Cork, Ireland¹⁰ and he remained there until October 1917.

Indian Army Service

Army Order 206 of 1917 invited officers already commissioned into the Special Reserve, Territorial Force and New Armies to apply for transfer to the Indian Army as they were short of commissioned officers. This was largely because, at the time, Indians were barred from receiving the King’s Commission, the highest rank obtainable by them being that of Subedar. Although Forshaw was a decorated Captain in the Territorial Army, in order to transfer to the Indian Army in late 1917 he was subject to the terms and conditions of Indian Army Order 511 of 1917, which came into effect on May 14^th of that year (replacing Army Order No 729 of 1916 and Army Order 126 of 1917).

I.A.O. 511 of 1917 stipulated that pensionable service in the Indian Army was to be calculated from August 5, 1914 and that “only service in the regular forces before that date will count for pension”, which did not apply to him. Furthermore, it stated that for the purposes of promotion service will be “the period of commissioned service which he is permitted to count for pension less nine months, and the date of his commission in the Indian Army will be regulated accordingly.” It went on to say that “an officer will be on probation for the first year in the Indian Army” and that he “will join the Indian Army on probation in the rank to which his length of service, adjusted as above, would entitle him under Indian Army rules of promotion, any higher rank being relinquished” and that such readjustments of rank will be effected “In the case of an officer sent from England to India, from the date of landing in India.”

This meant that Forshaw’s service in the Indian Army began on November 25, 1917, (when he landed in India), and that his service for promotion was set at approximately 3 years and 3 ½ months, falling short of the 5 years required to attain the rank of Captain. Consequently, he was forced to revert to the rank of Lieutenant and would not be eligible for promotion until May 5, 1919. This may seem a little harsh for such a decorated officer but at that time promotion in the Indian Army was governed strictly by tenure and forfeiting 9 months of service was intended to level up the transferees with those regular army officers joining from the Military Colleges at Quetta or Sandhurst.

But there was still one more hurdle for him to overcome. IAO 511 also stipulated that in order to be eligible to transfer, “an officer must be unmarried”. But luckily for Forshaw there was a loophole. IAO 510 of 1917, stated that, “In exceptional cases of proved merit in the field, of which His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief in India shall be the sole judge, the conditions laid down … may be waived, each case being judged on its merits. No, application in respect of such a case should, however, be submitted unless the officer’s services have been not only meritorious, but exceptionally so.” Forshaw’s application must have been submitted as such an exceptional case based upon his Victoria Cross and it was rightly successful.

On October 7, 1917 Forshaw left the UK and transferred to the Indian Army. There he was attached to the 1^st battalion 76^th Punjabis. The 76^th Punjabis was one of the Indian infantry regiments which were besieged at Kut-al-Amara and captured by the Turks when Kut fell on April 29, 1916. During the Siege of Kut, between December 1915 and the end of April 1916, the Regiment suffered 171 casualties. Approximately 250 officers and men were taken into captivity after the fall of Kut and many would subsequently perish from ill-treatment, starvation and disease.

On January 1, 1917, the Depot of the 76^th Punjabis received orders to reform the Regiment and they moved to Chaman, (near what is now the Afghanistan-Pakistan border). In November, a nucleus of men were sent to join the 2^nd Battalion which was then being raised at Nasirabad.

Forshaw arrived in country on November 25, 1917 and just over a week later he joined the 1^st Battalion 76^th Punjabi Regiment as a company officer. On February 1, 1918 the battalion moved to Dera Ismail Kahn, North West Frontier Province, India, (in what is today Pakistan). Just prior to the move, the 1-76th Punjabis were reviewed by the brigade commander, Brigadier-General T. H. Hardy, Commanding Quetta 2^nd Infantry Brigade. His report stated:

The regiment has suffered by frequent changes of officers, but in spite of this it has attained a standard of efficiency which is very creditable for so short a time, reflecting much credit on Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm and his Officers. The Battalion now only requires more systematic training in Outpost, Attack and Defence on lines pointed out to be come a useful and efficient one and ready for war.

As a company officer, Forshaw was also reviewed by his commanding officer, Lt-Col. W. L. Malcolm, and by Brigadier-General Hardy. His C.O. stated “Should make a first rate officer in the Indian Army when he has acquired a colloquial knowledge of Hindustani.” and the Brigadier followed that with: “A very promising officer for the Indian Army. Keen and zealous.”

Following his good review, Forshaw spent some time commanding a company and so was made acting Captain, and on November 25, 1918 he successfully completed his one year probation. On December 12, 1918 Sadie Forshaw sailed from Liverpool to Calcutta to reunite with her husband now that the war had finally ended. By April 1919 Forshaw had completed a junior staff course and was promoted to Captain on May 5, 1919 and attached to the Poona Brigade of the Southern Command as a Staff Captain. This move south meant that he missed the 76^th Punjabis’ involvement in the 3^rd Afghan War which began on May 3, 1919 when Afghan troops crossed the frontier at the western end of the Khyber Pass and captured the town of Bagh and ended with the Treaty of Rawalpindi on August 8, 1919. But things were far from settled on the North West Frontier and Forshaw was drawn into the revolt of the Wazir and Mahsud tribes when he was attached as a Staff Captain to the 67th Brigade of the Waziristan Force, serving with them with distinction from November 9, 1919 to July 26, 1920. During this time the 67th Brigade was part of the Tochi and Derajat Columns under the command of Major-General A. Skeen, C.M.G.

For his services on the Waziristan Force he earned the India General Service Medal with clasps ‘Mahsud 1919-20’, ‘Waziristan 1919-21’ and ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ oak leaf (for operations in Waziristan, 1919-20, by General Sir C. C. Monro, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., in his despatch dated August 1st, 1920).

A few weeks after completing his service with the Waziristan Force he took home leave in England, sailing from Bombay on September 4, 1920 on the P&O liner RMS Kaiser-I-Hind. He returned to India with his wife and rejoined the 1st Battalion 76th Punjabis Depot at Kirkee, the Battalion having left for overseas service in Egypt and Palestine in February 1920, (and remained there until April 1922).

Forshaw remained with the Depot, (now at Ballary), until September 14, 1921 when he was appointed General Staff Officer, 3rd Grade, Southern Command (Poona) as Inspector of Educational Training. He filled this post until the end of 1921 when a more senior officer from the Army Education Corps (AEC) was appointed to the position. Nevertheless, Forshaw remained attached to the General Staff of the Southern Command (Poona) officiating as Staff Captain until March 31, 1922.

On December 1, 1922, the 76^th Punjabis were consolidated with the 62^nd, 66^th, 82^nd and 84^th Punjabis, and the 1^st Brahmans to form the 1^st Punjab Regiment, and were re-designated as the “3^rd Battalion 1^st Punjab Regiment”. The latter part of 1922 was a time of great organizational change within the Indian Army and perhaps related to this upheaval, Forshaw resigned his commission, retaining the rank of Captain. Accumulated home leave pushed out his official resignation date to November 3, 1922 but immigration records show that he and his wife, along with several of his brother officers, arrived at Plymouth from Bombay on August 25, 1922.

Civilian Life

Back in England, Forshaw had difficulty finding suitable employment as a schoolmaster. Although he had been a Certificated Teacher before the war, his Indian Army service did not count towards his teaching experience, (despite being assigned to Educational posts there), and so he found himself 8 years behind where he should have been had he not answered his country’s call to service.

In 1919 Lord Burnham chaired a parliamentary committee charged with developing a single national pay scale for teachers in elementary schools. Subsequently, the Burnham Committee was tasked with drawing up a scale for secondary school teachers and for those in further education. The reports were very specific about exactly what war service counted and what did not. Since Forshaw volunteered to join the Indian Army in 1917, and continued to serve after the end of the war, his entire military service was deemed inadmissible. Additionally, he was seeking employment four years after the end of the war which compounded the difficulty explaining why he had not taught for 8 years.

Consequently, he was forced to take an educational position in Egypt with the Royal Air Force helping to organize and administer more formal trade training courses for the airmen tasked with maintaining aircraft. A task which was rapidly becoming more technical as engines and aircraft systems increased in complexity, outstripping the knowledge and skills the RAF could reasonably expect from their recruits.

Immigration records show that he and his wife returned to England from Egypt on April 15, 1925. Upon their return they settled in Ipswich, where he briefly taught at s council school, later moving to Martlesham Hall, in Woodbridge, a few miles east of the city.

In September 1927, he purchased an old golf clubhouse building and used it to start an all boys junior school called “Rushmere Heath School for Boys”, in the nearby village of Rushmere St. Andrew.¹¹ Unfortunately, the school was not successful and just one year later he was forced to sell the school building at auction, in November 1928. Shortly thereafter, his creditors started legal proceedings against him which eventually forced him into bankruptcy in the middle of 1929. Forced to leave Martlesham Hall, he subsequently gave his parent’s address in Barrow as his residence in court documents.¹² ¹³

Forshaw was invited to the Victoria Cross dinner, held at the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords on Saturday, November 9, 1929. The dinner was chaired by the Duke of Windsor, the Prince of Wales, with 319 holders of the Victoria Cross present. Following a ballot held to determine place-settings, Captain W. T. Forshaw, V.C. was allocated seat 199, on Table 7, (this table seating 28 people including newspaper reporters from the Daily Express, Daily Sketch, Morning Post, and the Australian Press Association)¹⁴ . Interestingly, his medal index card shows that his Victory, British and 15 Star medals, along with his India General Service Medal (with Waziristan 1919-21 clasp and MiD Oak Leaves emblem), were issued to him that month and since Forshaw’s original Victoria Cross medal had been lost, he was presented with an official duplicate, from Hancocks of London, on the same day as the dinner so that he could be properly attired.

[Victoria Cross; 1914-15 Star; British War Medal; Allied Victory Medal with ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ oak leaves; India General Service Medal with clasps ‘Mahsud 1919-20’, ‘Waziristan 1919-21’ and ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ oak leaf.]

After the setback of personal bankruptcy, he gave up his ambitions of ever teaching again and switched his focus to educational writing and film production. In July and August of 1930, after visiting Gallipoli himself, the Coventry Evening Telegraph published a series of nine short articles of his, published weekly, titled “Gallipoli Revisited”, which was also featured on the radio. And in September 1930 he published an article in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News describing a Gymkhana on the North-West Frontier of India that he attended while serving there. This work eventually led to him, in 1933, being appointed as the Midlands representative for Industrial Film Productions of Gaumont-British Equipments, Ltd., a subsidiary of Gaumont-British. A short article in a trade magazine at the time reported that he:

“has had considerable journalistic experience. He has written scenarios and produced several commercial films. For some time he conducted Trade tests in the Royal Air Force, and has made a study of the application of films to the needs of industry and commerce.”

Evidently, he was still reasonably fit and athletic because he won the “100 yards veterans’ handicap” at the Gaumont-British Sports Day in June 1934. Despite this new sporting accolade, by September 1939 he had left Gaumont-British, but remained in the midlands, and was employed as a representative for a Shadow Aircraft Factory in Birmingham.

Home Guard

On the evening of Tuesday 14th May 1940, Sir Anthony Eden, The Secretary of State for War, made an urgent appeal on the radio for all men aged between 17 and 65, not already serving in the armed forces, to become part-time, unpaid soldiers and join the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV). Within 24 hours of the radio broadcast a quarter of a million men had volunteered and by the end of July this number had risen to over a million. On 22 July, 1940 the LDV was officially renamed the Home Guard and by the end of 1940 the Home Guard was organized into 1,200 battalions, 5,000 companies and 25,000 platoons. In February 1941, nominal ranks were introduced for Home Guard officers, to match those of the regular Army.

At 50, being too old to enlist in the Army, Forshaw joined the Home Guard in 1940 and was for some time stationed at the Murex Works at Rainham, Essex with the 11th City of London (Dagenham) Battalion. It was here that he was later involved in a tragic car accident that injured the driver and killed the pillion passenger of a motorcycle, when his car collided with it at the end of 1940. In February 1941, when nominal ranks were introduced for Home Guard officers, Forshaw was appointed Major. And in September 1941, he successfully petitioned the court to lift his bankruptcy judgement as he was hoping to take up a paid commission with the Army, although there is no evidence that he actually did so. In fact, by March 1942 he was still in the Home Guard assigned as a Staff Officer, (general branch, responsible for operations, intelligence and training), for the London North East Sub Area, K Zone, of which the 11th, 12th and 13th City of London Battalions were part of.

On November 11, 1942 his 86 year old father died and he traveled up to Barrow for his funeral that weekend, his mother Elizabeth Forshaw, (née Preston), having died earlier in 1931. Just six months later he was himself to die, suddenly, of a cerebral hemorrhage, while working in the garden at Foxearth Cottage in Holyport, Berkshire where he and his wife had moved around 18 months previously. Major William Thomas Forshaw, V.C., died on May 26, 1943. He was 53 years old.

Sadly, William’s younger brother Frank would also die of a cerebral hemorrhage, 7 years later, when he was just 55 years old.

The newspapers of the day carried short desultory obituaries of just a few sentences focused on the briefest of details regarding his award and resurrecting the ‘Cigarette VC’ nickname; nothing more. In keeping with his Wesleyan roots he was buried in the graveyard attached to the Anglican Holy Trinity church at Touchen End Cemetery, at Bray, Berkshire. He was buried at Touchen End, rather than the Bray churchyard since it had been closed to burials since 1941. The Assistant Curate at Bray, Revd. E.S.C. Lowman, buried Forshaw on May 29, 1943.

Sadie Forshaw died just under 10 years later in 1952, aged 72.¹⁵

Commemoration

On November 16, 1964 his original, (as certified by Hancocks), Victoria Cross was put up for auction by Glendining & Co, London. Despite strong interest, the medal was purchased by Bt. Colonel John Edgar Rogerson, O.B.E. M.C. T.D. J.P., honorary colonel of the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment, on their behalf for a record price of £1,150 and is today held by the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, in Tameside. To their enduring credit, shortly before the auction, a group of Barrow businessmen and old boys of Barrow Grammar School withdrew their offer to bid after learning that the Manchester Regiment were bidding. Likewise, Westminster College, Oxford also withdrew their offer when they too learned of the regimental interest.

Due to the exigencies of World War 2, Major Forshaw was buried without any official commemorative headstone and as a consequence the grave was for many years unknown to the public and the graveyard fell into some disrepair.

Original Condition of Forshaw's Gravesite at Touchen End

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But 51 years later, after the church had been deconsecrated and converted into a private residence, the grave was “rediscovered”, through the efforts of researchers in the Tameside area, and a new headstone was dedicated and provided by the Manchester Regiment at a dedication ceremony on Monday October 17, 1994.

In November 1996, a blue plaque commemorating the life of William Forshaw was unveiled at the entrance to Ladysmith Barracks in Ashton.

Ashton Town Hall VC's Blue Plaque

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In 2005, on the 90th anniversary of the action in which Lieut. Forshaw won his Victoria Cross, a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the private residence Foxearth Cottage, Holyport where he and Sadie had lived.

And on Sunday August 9, 2015, to mark the 100 year anniversary of the action that led to the award of the Victoria Cross, a commemorative paving stone was unveiled in Barrow Park halfway up the hill leading to the town’s cenotaph. Members of Forshaw’s family, the Officer in Command of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment (into which the Manchester Regiment was absorbed through amalgamations in 1958 and 2006) and local dignitaries all took part.

Post Script

Touchen End Cemetery as it looked in 2022:

Notes:

Westminster College Archives. Programme, ‘Westminster Training College, Fifth Inter-Year Athletic Sports, Tuesday, February 15th, 1910’. Link here. William was beaten in the final by another future Victoria Cross winner from Westminster College, Donald Simpson Bell, who was a noted athlete and went on to be a professional footballer for Bradford AFC. [back]
In 1911, there was no vessel in the Turkish Navy that could match the recently acquired Greek Navy cruiser Georgios Averoff. Consequently, Turkey resolved to buy dreadnoughts and the Ministry of the Navy placed an order with the British shipyard Vickers Ltd, in Barrow. The 27,500-ton ship was to be named Reşadiye and its price-tag was 2.3 million liras, to be paid in installments. In Turkey, a commission was appointed to monitor the construction of the dreadnought and this commission, led by Maj. Vasıf Ahmet Bey, went to Britain in 1912. More information here. [back]
From May 9 – June 30, 6 officers were killed, 4 were wounded & evacuated and 6 were evacuated sick to hospital. Additionally, Lt.s Shaw and Hyde went to Kepha on June 15 and Lt. Lillie transferred to Brigade in June. Although Lt.-Col. Egerton was attached to replace Lt.-Col. Wade as battalion CO, Egerton only lasted 2 weeks and so Major Nowell assumed command from June 9 – July 16. Major RP Lewis was attached to the battalion on June 4th and 2/Lt. Balmford arrived from the UK on June 22nd. [back]
Four officers joined on July 2nd and one officer was killed, three were wounded and evacuated and two were evacuated sick to hospital. Major RP Lewis was wounded and left the battalion on July 6th. On the plus side, Lt.-Col. Falcon arrived on July 16 freeing up Major Nowell. [back]
Fifty Thousand Miles on a Hospital Ship by Charles Steel Wallis describes Forshaw as a passenger from Alexandria to England. Link here. Although Wallis does not name the ship directly, there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointing to the Goorkha such as: the “Norwegian Matron” (Matron Fredrikke Christopherson was born in Lyngor, Norway), the Scottish Colonel with “the Kaiser-i-Hind decoration, wears the colours for the South African and North-West Frontier campaigns”, the gross tonnage referenced in the book, and the fact that the dates from the book match the dates in the war diary. [back]
Matron Fredrikke Wilhelmine Christopherson’s service record can be found at the National Archives here Link here. [back]
Lt. Col. Patrick Balfour Haig. Ancestry link here. [back]
“Moss Bank”, North Finchley was the home address of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Houle French and on her QAIMNS (R) application papers Ms. Lee-Heppel listed Mrs. (Dolina) French as her “nearest relative”. Dr. and Mrs. French were the two witnesses to the wedding. [back]
1205 Corporal Samuel Eyre, was invalided to the UK from Gallipoli due to enteric. After he recovered, he was posted to Codford with the 3/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment where, on March 15, 1916, he was court martialed for smoking on parade. Lieut. Forshaw and 2/Lieut. Cooke were listed members of the court martial panel. Cpl. Eyre was found guilty and lost his stripe; a little harsh considering his service record. Ancestry link here. [back]
Westminster College Archives. A/4/a/i, Roll of Men in the King’s Forces. Link here. [back]
In 1895, Ipswich Golf Club was formed when it leased some common land on Rushmere Heath. In 1927, Ipswich Golf Club moved to Purdis Heath but some members wished to remain at Rushmere, and so formed the Rushmere Golf Club. The original clubhouse, standing next to the heath, was sold to William Thomas Forshaw of 19 Fonnereau Road, Ipswich on September 29, 1927 for £1,200. It was advertised as being suitable for an institution, school, club, etc. On November 29, 1928 it was again advertised at auction but now as Rushmere Heath School, a boys school. It was sold for £1,450 to the Rushmere Golf Club and became their new clubhouse. [back]
A petition of bankruptcy was filed against him by an unnamed creditor on April 20, 1929, (a bankruptcy petition is an application to the court for someone’s assets to be taken and sold to pay their debts). A receiving order was subsequently issued on June 14, (a receiving order places the debtor’s property under the control of the official receiver). The official receiver in this case being Harry Scotchmer Gotelee, the Official Receiver of Ipswich. The Adjudication Order was issued on July 6, 1929 making him legally bankrupt from that date forward. [back]
In September 1941, when William Forshaw successfully petitioned the court to lift his bankruptcy judgement, he told the judge that his financial troubles began when he borrowed money from a native firm while serving in India. [back]
Information regarding the seating arrangements at the 1929 VC dinner is available here. [back]
The Civil Registration Death Index record from 1952 indicates Sadie’s age at death to be 72. This squares with her 1891 and 1901 census records which also infer that she was born in 1879/80. However, in her Q.A.I.M.N.S. (R) application in 1914 she gave her date of birth as May 25, 1884 and passenger records from ships she sailed on in the 1920s consistently infer her year of birth to be 1888. Thus, by her own account, the older she got, the younger she became. If we assume that she was not Benjamin Button then we have to stick with the official numbers. It’s my belief that she was born on May 25, 1879. [back]

References:

Collected newspaper articles for William Thomas Forshaw. Link here.
Fifty Thousand Miles on a Hospital Ship by Charles Steel Wallis. Link here.
Lines of Communication Troops, Hospital Ship, Goorkha (WO 95/4145/5), National Archives. Link here.
Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, Name Heppel, Mollie (WO 399/3768), National Archives. Link here.
Victoria Cross details of Forshaw, William Thomas (WO 98/8/196), National Archives. Link here.
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk

Other Biographies:

VCs of the First World War: Gallipoli, by Stephen Snelling. (October 4, 2010). ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0752456539.
VCs of the North: Cumbria, Durham & Northumberland, by Alan Whitworth. (October 30, 2015). ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0189PTX82.
Volunteer Infantry of Ashton-Under–Lyne, by Robert Bonner. (2005) ISBN-10: 1873907141.
Key Military, The Chain Smoking VC. by Stephen Snelling.
Museum of the Manchester Regiment, Men Behind the Medals.
The Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History (OCMCH), Archives & Library – William Thomas Forshaw, V.C. (1890-1943).
The VC Online, William Thomas Forshaw VC.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank the author Stephen Snelling for providing permission to use the photograph of Lt. Forshaw and (who I believe to be) Nurse Lee-Heppel on the hospital ship Goorkha, Iain Stewart for permission to reproduce two newspaper articles and for supplying the photos of Touchen End Cemetery as it was when Forshaw’s grave was discovered. Thanks also go to Mike Crane for his photographs of Touchen End cemetery.

Officers of the 9th

The following articles were published in the Ashton Reporter at various times throughout 1914 and 1915 regarding the Officers of the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment.

MILITARY WEDDING AT ASHTON

Lieut. A. G. Birchenall and Miss Knight

Saturday September 12, 1914:

A military wedding took place quietly at Albion Congregational Church, Ashton on Saturday the bride being Miss Winifred Knight, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Knight Arncliffe, Smallshaw, Ashton and the bridegroom Lieutenant Alfred Gordon Birchenall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Birchenall, Brookfield House, Longsight, Manchester. Owing to the exigencies of the war, the arrangements originally made in connection with the wedding were cancelled, and in consequence the nuptials were of a semi-private character. Illness prevented the bridegroom from leaving for foreign service with the 9^th (Ashton) Battalion Manchester Regiment Territorials in which he is a lieutenant, and this was a sore disappointment to him, inasmuch as he had volunteered for foreign service. He was, however, consoled with the prospect of joining the Ashton Battalion in Egypt at the first available opportunity. In order to complete the establishment, he had been deputed to take temporary charge of the Armoury, Old Street. His onerous duties required his presence at the Armoury and his leave of absence for the wedding amounted to a little over an hour, after which he returned to his duties. Only the immediate members of the two families and a few personal friends were present at the ceremony which was performed by 12:30pm by the Rev H. Parnaby, pastor of the church. The bridegroom was in khaki uniform and the bride was given away by her father, was attired in a neat and plain navy blue costume, and she wore a white rose, the gift of the bridegroom. Mr. Harold Knight, brother of the bride, acted as best man. Among the few present were Mr. and Mrs. Geo Harrison and Dr. and Mrs. Keighly. A repast was afterwards served at Arncliffe. A large number of wedding presents were received. Lieutenant and Mrs. Birchenall took up their residence at One Ash, Smallshaw.

Mr. IRVINE DEARNALEY

Promoted to Captaincy in Ashton Territorials

Saturday, January 30, 1915:

Mr. Irvine Dearnaley has been promoted from the rank of second-lieutenant to the of captain in the 9^th Battalion (Reserve) Manchester Regiment, Ashton Territorials. Captain Dearnaley joined the battalion soon after the outbreak of the war. His promotion will occasion much pleasure among his many friends. He is the son of the late Mr. Irvine Dearnaley, who for a good number of years was organist at Ashton Parish Church, and was a pianist of considerable distinction. Captain Dearnaley is in business as a yarn agent in Chapel Walks, Manchester. Previously he had held the position of secretary and salesman at the Minerva Mill, and had also held the position of secretary at the Texas Mill, and also at the Cedar Mill. He has taken a prominent part in the political and musical life of Ashton. He is chairman of the Ashton branch of the Junior Imperial and Constitutional League, is a gifted cellist and was a prominent member of the Parish Church Operatic Society. He has been house secretary of the Ashton Golf Club since its formation.

ASHTON TERRITORIALS

Saturday, February 6, 1915:

Mr. Harold H. Knight, who has been promoted from second-lieutenant to lieutenant in the 9^th (Reserve) Battalion Manchester Regiment, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Knight of “Arncliffe”, Henrietta Street, Ashton. Mrs. Knight, prior to her marriage, was Miss Harrison, and sister of Mr. George Harrison of the Firs. Lieut. Knight has been engaged in his father’s business of cotton wool brokers and mill furnishers in Cavendish Street. He expresses himself as highly delighted with his new profession.

Mr. John M. Robson, who has been gazette second-lieutenant in the 9^th (Ashton) Reserve Batt. Manchester Regiment, Territorials, is a son of Mr. G. Robinson, B.A., headmaster of Christ Church Gatefield School, of Blandford House, Ashton. Prior to joining the Reserve Battalion, he was agent for a shipping firm in Manchester. An ardent athlete he has performed various feats in long distance cycling, and as an enthusiastic golfer he won the Lady Aitken Cup at the last competition in connection with Ashton Golf Club. He speaks German fluently.

ASHTON TERRITORIALS

Officers in the Reserve Battalion

Saturday, February 20, 1915:

Lieutenant Gilbert Greenwood is the eldest son of Councillor H. T. Greenwood, of Harwood, Mossley Road. He joined the Reserve Battalion of the Ashton Territorials on its formation soon after the outbreak of the war and was appointed to the rank of lieutenant. He was educated at Elmfield College, York, and until joining the Territorials was in business with his father, being the manager of the Office at Stockport. At college he gained distinction in all sports, being captain of his school cricket and football teams.

Lieutenant William Marsden Barratt, of the Reserve Battalion Ashton Territorials, now stationed at Southport, is the eldest son of Mr. Herbert Barratt, of Richmond House, Ashton. He was formerly engaged in the private office of Mr. W. B. Hibbert, the chief audit accountant of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, head office, Hunt’s Bank, Manchester. He was a member of the old Ashton Nomads A.F.C., and was latterly a member of the Ashton Lacrosse Club. He was also a prominent member of the Dukinfield Operatic Society, and took an important part in many of the recent productions.

THE TERRITORIALS

Ashton Battalion Officer Reported Wounded

Saturday, May 29, 1915:

The “Rochdale Observer” of last Tuesday prints the following: –

News was received in Rochdale during the weekend that Second-Lieutenant Harold E. Butterworth, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. James Butterworth, of Laurel House, Manchester Road, Rochdale, had been wounded. A telegram, which was received from the Record Office, Preston, on Saturday, was in the following terms: –

Regret to inform you that Second-Lieutenant H. E. Butterworth, 9^th Manchesters, was wounded on the 15^th May, degree not stated. Further information when received will be notified you as soon as possible.

He was in Egypt when he sent his last letter home. That communication reached Laurel House a week ago, and stated that at the time of writing they had been ordered to be in readiness to move, but he was not in a position to say where. It may however be assumed that it was to the Dardanelles.

Second-Lieutenant Butterworth joined the 9^th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, Ashton Territorials, last August and received his commission on September 3^rd. Very soon after he left for Egypt, where he has been in training. He is in his 27^th year, and is a smart, well-built young officer, full of enthusiasm for his military duties. His father is an old army man, and one of the best-known members of the Army and Navy Veterans’ organization.

LIEUT.-COL. CUNLIFFE

Death of Ashton Territorial Officer

Saturday, May 29, 1915:

We regret to announce that Lieutenant-Colonel T. H. Cunliffe, commanding officer of the 2/9^th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, Ashton Territorials, died suddenly at Haywards Heath, Sussex, on Tuesday. Colonel Cunliffe, who was a comparatively young man, was taken ill about seven o’ clock on Monday evening. Colonel Patterson, Major Heywood and Lieutenant Whitehead, RAMC, were called in, but despite every attention Colonel Cunliffe breathed his last at 12:40am. He only went to Haywards Heath last week, and had a house on Muster Green. On Sunday he attended the drum-head service on the Green and his fine bearing made a marked impression on the crowd. He was out riding on Monday afternoon, and later watched his men play football on Muster Green.

Apoplexy was the cause of death. He was an architect by profession and leaves a widow and two children. He was extremely popular with his brother officers, and with the men of all rank, for he possessed sound judgement, a genial disposition, and much tact. His death is a great loss to the Battalion.

Lieutenant Colonel Cunliffe was formerly in command of the 6^th Manchester Battalion, but he had been on the retired list from 1911 until his appointment to the Ashton command. He resided at Whalley Range, Manchester. Since the outbreak of the war he had been acting inspector of hospitals for East Lancashire. Under his command the strength of the new reserve battalion at Ashton quickly grew to the requisite 1,000 men, his genial personality winning the esteem and respect of all ranks. All classes flocked to the colours in response to his appeal, and the battalion was described as the finest body of men ever recruited in Ashton.

During the time he was at Stretford Road he was highly popular with all ranks and he was recognized as a thoroughly efficient officer.

Though he went on the retired list some time ago, when war broke out he again decided to make sacrifice; and he was gazetted temporary Lieut.-Colonel on September 28, 1914 and given the command of the 2/9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment whose headquarters are at Ashton.

Along with Lieutenant-Colonel D. H. Wade, in command of the 1^st Battalion in Egypt, and Major F. Garside, in command of the depot at Ashton, Colonel Cunliffe played a commendable part in recruiting of close upon 1,000 “Terriers” from the Ashton district for active services.

MAJOR CONNERY

Wounded in Action a Second Time

TOLL OF OFFICERS

Saturday, July 31, 1915:

Major M. H. Connery, in a letter received this week, says that he was slightly wounded in the leg on July 12^th. This is the second time he has been wounded.

Com. S. M. Joe Connery is under orders to proceed as quartermaster to the Dardanelles in relief of his father, Major Connery.

Major Connery writes, “Thank God I am quite well again. I got slightly hit again on July 12^th. We are not safe anywhere.

Only about three of the officers out of the 11 that left Ashton with the 9^th remain. The others are either killed, wounded or away sick.

Quartermaster Stuart of the 8^th Manchesters was on the way to the firing line with food when they were shelled in a gully. He came into my dug-out, which is six feet underground for safety. There is also an oilsheet covered with sandbags on the dug-out, but a bullet hit him in the foot. When the boys at the base heard about it they got more sandbags to make my dugout safer.

My present wound is slight. It is not as bad as the old one. I hope God spares me to return with what is left of the dear old 9^th. They have played the game very well out here.

We have done very well out here during the last few days, no doubt you will have seen it in the papers.”

Writing on July 14^th he says: “I was hit in the right leg on July 12^th. The same day my servant, Hall, was hit on the leg. He was sent to hospital. To-day Quartermaster Sergt. Boocock was hit. The bullet went through his foot. He goes on the hospital ship tomorrow”.

Lieut.-Col. D. H. Wade

IN WHITWORTH STREET HOSPITAL, MANCHESTER

Saturday, July 31, 1915:

Lieut.-Colonel D. H. Wade, commanding officer of the 1/9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment, has returned wounded from the Dardanelles, and on Tuesday night was admitted to the Whitworth Street Hospital, Manchester, where he is now under treatment. Yesterday (Friday) he was reported to be progressing satisfactorily. He was visited on the night of his arrival by his wife, and also by Captain R. Lees, who is in charge of the Depot, Ashton Armoury. He was visited on Thursday night by his father-in-law, (Mr. John Neal), who found him to be in the best of spirits.

ASHTON OFFICER’S STORY

Vivid Account of the Dardanelles Fighting

MAGNIFICENT DEEDS BY TERRITORIALS

Saturday, August 14, 1915:

A graphic account of the operations at the Dardanelles, and of the splendid part played by the Ashton Territorials, has been received during the week by a prominent Ashton gentleman from an officer who is in a position to give a faithful and adequate record of the progress made. He writes under date July 23^rd as follows: –

“Reading the ‘Reporter’ giving casualties and publishing letters from individuals killed, wounded, or killed out here, makes one’s mind go back to incidents and experiences of the Peninsula. I will try and relate some of my experiences and of the 9^th over there for six weeks.

As I have said before, anyone arriving there, they are shelled and are under shell fire until the leave. Nobody got hit at the first two bivouacs, but we could not sleep at night much for the cold and the roar of the guns. The next bivouac we were in the reserve trenches and had the French troops immediately on our right. Here we were subjected to a lot of shrapnel fire, also snipers’ fire and stray bullets, and we had Andrew Gee killed and several wounded. Next we moved to fresh ground on the left, where we had to dig dugouts, and here we were subjected to the same fire And we had Private Favier killed and several wounded, including Private Butterworth.

Next we moved further still to the left, and this place we made headquarters, and it is a devil of a place for shrapnel and common shell fire as it is near a battery of French 75’s, and the Turks are always trying to find them. Here Private Jennys, Lance-Corporal Barker, Private Redfern, D Company, died from wounds received, and many others wounded. Here also Major Connery got a slight wound.

All the time we were in these various bivouacs there was always a party of the battalion out digging night and day. I have been out at all times with parties in the firing line, sapping forward, making roads, and improving and making communication trenches.

When the battalion went in the firing line for the first time it was exciting. A Company and part of B were in the fire trench, the remainder of B bivouacked nearby along the gully, C and D just a few yards behind, entrenched. D Company’s sole work was sapping forward, and it was continuous, so it was carried on by reliefs, four officers with four parties. It was a risky game, but we came out very well indeed. One morning we had finished the stand too of one hour before dawn, and it was Jones’ turn to take charge of the sapping. He had only been on duty a short time when he was shot straight through the head by a sniper as he was walking along the trench. It was a great shock to us, especially the officers of D Co., as we slept and dined together.

I was next for duty, so I took on his job, and I got orders – (by the way, I forgot to tell you that C Company went out from the trench during the night and dug themselves in about 150 yards out in front; this was to advance, and make a new firing line) – to make strenuous efforts to get one of the six saps forward to C Company, to relieve them. So I concentrated the men on one sap. This seemed a risky business, but of course, it had to be done, and it was just after dawn.

Well, I got 16 men out safely, and I was anxious about them. Later someone shouted that they wanted spades, so I got some spades, and a fellow, Private Summersgill, helped me to carry them to the sap. Here an R.E. man rushed out with some, and arrived safely, although the Turks kept potting away.

Summersgill then said to me, ‘Shall I take these other spades, sir?’ I replied, ‘Please yourself.’ Well, he said, ‘I am not frightened; I went out there last night when I was sapping.’ So he put his pipe in his pocket, and took up the spades, climbed the trench and ran out. I was anxiously watching him, when suddenly down he came, shouting, ‘Oh, I am hit,’ He was between the sap and C Company’s trench, and it was too dangerous for anyone to venture towards him, as the Turks had a machine gun trained along the space. However, Private Hare, one of the men that had gone out from the sap went to his assistance, but was shot stone dead. Summersgill managed to wriggle near to the sap, and we dug frantically towards him, and got him in. The poor chap was badly wounded and he still lives, I am pleased to say.

The men got back to the firing line in the afternoon quite pleased with the good work they had done, but C Company did not get relieved until late on, and they were drenched with the rain that fell in the afternoon and flooded all the trenches. I was wading about in stocking feet. The next day we returned to our headquarters, and the brigade was split up, and attached to different regiments.

Our A and B Companies went to the Inniskillings, C South Wales Borderers, D King’s Own Scottish Borderers, and a few to the Border Regiment. We were only with the K.O.S.B. two days, but we all enjoyed being with this fine Scottish Regular Battalion.

I am sorry to say that only one officer and a few men are left of the original battalion. We again returned to headquarters, and started digging up the Peninsula.

The Digging Song

Digging, digging, digging,
Always digging;
When we are dead and I our graves
We will dig no more

On one expedition I was in command of two parties that were out from 10pm to 2am improving roads, and one party was at Clapham Junction corner. This is a corner on the way up to the trenches at the confluence of two streams that flow, one down a large and steep gully and the other a small gully, and up these gullies the troops go to the trenches. This corner is a deadly place, or was; it may not be so now. The Turks’ spent bullets used to drop all about, and many got laid out there. On this particular night we could do very little digging, as the Turks kept firing, and all we could do was get under cover.

Lance-Corporal Lee got a bullet in his neck, and it stuck there. He said he was finished, but we could see he was not, and he did curse the Turks, as they all do when wounded. It is very laughable at times. At the same corner returning from sapping the next day shrapnel dropped around my party like heavy rain. Luckily I was not hit, but Corpl. Allott and Boon got arm injuries, and some other men got killed and plenty wounded. I was always thankful when I was past the corner.

Another episode: One morning early I was walking along the trench of a defensive position, and got to a traverse. Private bailey was about a yard in front of me, and I was looking at him as he was walking in front round the traverse, when all of a sudden the blood spurted out of a wound in the top of his head and he sank gradually down on the ground. I looked at his head (he was unconscious), and a bullet had gone in at the side and come out in the centre, and I at once got a field dressing and bandaged him up. He died later, I thought he would with such a bad head wound.

The sights of the wounded coming in after an engagement are awful, some look so pitiful, some bravely smoking cigarettes, others rambling. One poor fellow I shall always remember. He was a fine man, about 6ft high, and his face and hair was clotted and matted with blood, and he was blind. The poor man could walk all right with plenty of rests, but he could not be made to bend his head going along the trench as the blood would ooze out of his wounds. I thought he would get shot again as he went along the trench. He rambled, and asked for his clogs, and wanted to go back.

I have read in the papers about the action when Captain Hamer, Lieutenant Stringer, Sergeants Braithwaite and Lawton were killed. D Company were on the other side of the gully, and did not hear about it until the morning. They have caught it rough C Company. I can imagine what a gloom would be cast over Ashton-under-Lyne when the news of the casualties arrived there. I do not think that that damnable Achi Baba hill will be long before it is taken by us. It has been a a stiff proposition so far.”

LIEUTENANT CONNERY

Saturday, August 21, 1915:

Lieut. Arthur Connery, of the 1/9^th Manchester Regiment (Ashton Territorials) who was wounded on July 3 at the Dardanelles, arrived home from Malta on Monday. He is on sick leave and is making excellent progress. He informed a “Reporter” representative that the 9^th Manchesters had done splendidly and he was sorry to leave them. They had been in some of the hottest fighting there.

“It was on July 3 about a quarter to eight that I got wounded”, he said. “I was giving out food to the men at the time in the trenches when about eight shrapnel shells burst over us. A bullet struck me in the top lip and went through into my mouth.”

Lieut. Connery said that during the fighting most of the notes he had taken had been captured. He mentioned that on one occasion No. 11 Platoon of the 9^th Battalion greatly distinguished themselves. The Officer himself was in command of the platoon.

“We held a redoubt trench and the Turks were using lyddite shells. They completely demolished the parapet four times and greatly damaged the trench itself. All the time, the Territorials calmly and coolly built up the parapet again and made good the damage. They were under a hot fire but the Ashton men succeeded by means of the use of sand bags in raising the parapet again.”

As regards the general military situation on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Lieut. Connery said that great progress is being made but it is taking time and men. The whole army at the Dardanelles, however, were confident that victory was only a matter of time.

Ashton Territorial Officer’s Marriage

Saturday, August 21, 1915:

A pretty military wedding was solemnised on Wednesday at St. Werburgh’s Church, Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The bridegroom was Captain H. Fane Brister of the 2/9^th Manchester Regiment, second son of Mr. J. C. Brister, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and the bride was Miss Florence Withers, also of Chorlton. Captain Brister belongs to a well-known Chorlton-cum-Hardy family, which has long been connected with the Army. His great-grandfather fought at the battle of Waterloo, and his father, who was born in the Army, has taken a prominent part in the recruiting campaign in the Manchester district, addressing numerous open-air meetings.

The ceremony attracted a large number of people. Captain Brister was supported by his younger brother, Lieut. B. H. Brister, of the same battalion, as best man. The bride was given away by her uncle, (Mr. Deakin), and the bridesmaids were Misses Winifred and Kathleen Brister, sisters of the bridegroom. It had been arranged for about half a dozen officers of the same regiment as the bridegroom to be present, but owing to a general’s inspection they could not obtain leave of absence. After the ceremony the happy couple left for Old Colwyn.

Lieut.-Col. D. H. Wade

VISITS TO ASHTON DURING THE WEEK

Saturday, September 4, 1915:

Lieut.-Col. D. H. Wade, who was in command of the Ashton Territorials in the Dardanelles, left the Whitworth Street Military Hospital on Saturday. He has not quite recovered from his wounds but has made wonderful progress. Together with Mrs. Wade and Capt. and Mrs. R. Lees arrived in Ashton on Saturday afternoon, and many people were delighted to see him once again in town after twelve months’ absence. He is full of pride at the way the Ashton Territorials have distinguished themselves and brought glory and prestige to Ashton, and his only regret is that he is not with them, leading them on to victory.

During the week Colonel Wade has visited many of his friends in Ashton, and has been given a warm welcome, tempered with sympathy for him in his paternal anxiety over the fate of his son, Lieut. J. M. Wade.

Colonel Wade visited the Armoury on Sunday and inspected the men of his battalion who have returned from overseas. He delivered a short, encouraging speech, and asked the men to give Captain Ralph Lees, the officer in command of the headquarters of the Ashton Territorials, their loyal support.

ASHTON NOTES

Saturday, December 4, 1915:

The news of the death of Captain Irvine Dearnaley in action has called forth universal expressions of sorrow. His early death is more than usually pathetic. Irvine Dearnaley was one of the strenuous young men who seemed destined to play an important part in the life of Ashton. He had already done much good work on its social, political, and religious side. He was also well known in the cotton circles of Ashton and Manchester. When the war broke out he was one of the first to take up a commission in the 1^st Reserve Battalion of the Ashton Territorials for foreign service. In doing so he gave up a most promising business, which he had only recently ventured in as a yarn agent in Manchester. Life for him held out rosy prospects, and he might have gone on advancing his position in life and looking forward to doing some great public service for his town. His engagement to Miss May Mills, of Stalybridge, had only recently been announced. It seems but a few weeks since he was in Ashton on his last leave before leaving for the front. He looked especially smart in his uniform and seemed the picture of young and robust health. He will be greatly missed.

MAJOR CONNERY

Declines Promotion to Stick With “the Dear Old Ninth”

Saturday, December 25, 1915:

The many friends of Major M. H. Connery, the idolized quartermaster of the Ashton Territorials, will be pleased to hear not only that he has been offered promotion to Provost-Marshal, but that he has requested “to be allowed to remain with the boys of dear old Ashton”.

{A Provost-Marshal is an officer appointed in an army in the field to preserve order as head of the military police and perform various duties appertaining to discipline – Ed. “Reporter”}

In a letter dated December 8^th, to Mr. E. Byrne, Major Connery writes in a very hopeful strain. He says: –

“Things are very quiet here just now. I do not think it will last much longer. A few Turkish prisoners came in the other day and said all they had to eat was a slice of bread and six olives a day, and a man cannot last long on that. Well, God is good and we must only hope for the best, and with God’s help I will be spared to return home with the dear old Ninth. We all miss Col. Wade very much. He trained the boys well in Egypt who have done so well out here. Best wishes for a merry Christmas and may we all meet before long”.

Lieut.-Col D. H. Wade

TO RETURN TO THE DARDANELLES

Saturday, January 8, 1916:

Colonel D. H. Wade has received a telegram from the War Office stating that his services are required with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Colonel Wade is awaiting orders for embarkation. It may be assumed that Colonel Wade will again take command of his battalion at the Dardanelles.

Colonel Wade visited the 3/9^th Manchester Regiment at Codford during the weekend. He has since returned to his home in Manchester. Colonel Wade was in Ashton this week and called on a number of friends. He appeared in the best of spirits and eager to rejoin his battalion.

At the meeting of the Ashton Education Committee, on Monday, the Chairman, (Coucillor J. H. Wood), informed the members that he had seen their secretary, Lieut.-Col. D. H. Wade, of the 1/9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment, during the weekend, and that Col. Wade had informed him he had received orders to hold himself in readiness to proceed to his battalion at the Dardanelles.

Councillor J. H. Wood expressed the hope that Colonel Wade would again prove useful at the front, and would return safe and sound – (Hear, hear).

MAJOR HOWORTH

Territorial Officer’s Return

ASHTON MEN WERE IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHTING

Saturday, January 22, 1916:

Major T. E. Howorth of the 1/9^th Manchester Regiment, and son of Mr. D. F. Howorth, 24 Villiers Street, Ashton, has returned home on sick leave. Major Howorth has been in the Ashton Territorials for about 16 years. In conversation with a “Reporter” representative he said: –

“I can tell you the Ashton Territorials in Gallipoli were absolutely first class, and if I had to pick from those men I should pick my own men. We were all very sorry when our commander, Colonel Wade, got hit, and had to leave us. We were all fond of the Colonel. I have been under him from the beginning, and he is a first class officer. Besides being a capable commander he was very considerate to all his officers and men. Major Connery is another fine fellow. It is remarkable the way he has stuck to it all the way through, although he has been wounded. He was always cheerful, and was kindness itself to everybody.”

“The Ashton men were in the tick of the fighting, and they were splendid. They performed their tasks quite as well as anybody, and the regular troops expressed their admiration and astonishment at them. You see there are a lot of quiet fellows amongst them, but they did well all the way through, and stuck to their work. Ashton has done its duty in this war. I shall be glad to get back to our fellows again, and I am only sorry there are not more of them to get back to.”

It was at the end of July that I had an attack of enteric. It is an eastern kind, and extremely severe. You can imagine how it affected me when I say that for five weeks I was unconscious. I was at Malta for some time, and afterwards in hospital at Birmingham. Everybody in hospital was exceedingly kind to me, and I feel very grateful to them all. I am getting along nicely, but, of course, I am still weak, and the doctors tell me it is only a question of time.”

EMBASSY ENQUIRIES

Turkish Foreign Office Has No Information

Saturday, January 22, 1916:

Inquiries by the American Embassy in Constantinople as to the fate of Second-Lieut. J. M. Wade, of the 1/9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Ashton Territorials), son of Lieut.-Colonel D. H. Wade, commanding officer of the battalion, have elicited the reply that the Turkish Foreign Office has no information as to what happened to the gallant young officer, who took part in the fighting with the Ashton Territorials in the Gallipoli Peninsula, and has been missing since August 18.

Lieutenant Wade took part in a night attack on a strong Turkish position. He was last seen to leap over the parapet of a Turkish trench, said to be packed with Turks, and without hesitation to attack them vigorously. At that time his father, Lieut.-Colonel Wade, was lying wounded in the hospital. Colonel Wade has since recovered and been home, and has now resumed duty.

AMERICAN EMBASSY’S ENQUIRIES

Mrs. Wade, wife of Colonel Wade, who resides at Holly Bank, Birch Polygon, Rusholme, Manchester, has received the following letters: –

American Embassy Constantinople
December 29, 1915

“Dear Madam, – With reference to your letter of October 8^th, 1915 requesting information as to the whereabouts of your son, I very much regret to inform you that this Embassy has received an official communication from the Turkish Foreign Office, under date of December 25^th, 1915 stating that nothing is known of the fate of Second-Lieut. J. M. Wade, of the 9^th Manchester Regiment.”

Yours Faithfully
For the Ambassador
(Signed) H. OFFMAN PHILLIP

LETTER FROM COLLEGE CHUM

HMS Duke of Albany
(Address c/o G.P.O. London)
Monday, Dec 27^th, 1915

“Dear Mrs. Wade, – It is impossible for me to express in this letter the feelings of regret and sympathy which I have experienced on, and since, the receipt of your letter this morning. These feelings are intensified by the knowledge that my persistent efforts to trace Jack’s whereabouts may have caused you and Ida unnecessary pain. I do most sincerely hope that the view held by the papers regarding the possibility of his having been taken prisoner, may in the near future become a realized fact.”

“As I was probably Jack’s most intimate friend at college I feel that I am privileged to express to you the extent of the admiration in which he was held by all his fellow students, and he was undoubtedly the most popular man of our year. It was an honour to be his friend.”

“The ‘right’ of war is a tremendous mystery to us all, and I am sure that we boys, although we feel for those at home more than for ourselves – I say this as the natural feeling of every British boy – cannot realise the great anxiety and grief experienced by those at home. The mothers, wives, and sisters are, indeed, fighting this war.”

“In addition to the strain imposed by Jack’s absence, you have to bear the knowledge that Mr. Wade is also away from home, and has already been wounded. I do not wish to create illusions, but I earnestly hope that every day may bring better news of Jack.”

“May you find all possible consolation in the fact that both jack and his father have been upholding our glorious national traditions; we are certain that these sacrifices on the altar of civilization and Christianity, however great, are not all in vain, and will never be forgotten.”

“I should be glad if you will express these sentiments to Ida.”

Yours most sincerely.
(Signed) T. H. BAINES

MAJOR NOWELL’S LETTER TO COL. WADE

Outwood House, Handforth. Cheshire
10^th December, 1915

“Dear Colonel, – I have this morning received a letter from Lewis, of the Egyptian Army, who was attached to us in the Peninsula. He sends a message, which I will quote to avoid error: –

“If you happen to see Colonel Wade will you tell him that although I had not the pleasure of knowing him, I knew his son. Young Wade was a splendid type of a young and brave Englishman. His presence with his company was invaluable and he was appreciative enough to recognise that looking after his men was necessary for success. As far as I could judge, he knew no fear. When I saw him last he looked quite fit and hard except for a tired look in his eyes. But we all had that.”

“His loss was a blow to me personally, and to you as well. To any battalion headquarters he would have been an addition of strength. I trust he may not be dead, and it would be a supreme moment for his family if news of his whereabouts were forthcoming.”

“I do not know whether the second paragraph was part of the message but it is to the point. I propose to take the liberty of thanking him on your behalf when I reply.”

“For myself I regret that my health has necessitated and extension of leave. For more than a week past I have been confined to the house, and have been almost completely paralysed with rheumatism. I trust you are keeping well, and increasing in fitness.”

Kind regards to yourself and Mrs. Wade
Sincerely yours, R. B. Nowell

2/Lt. Alfred Gray

Alfred Gary was born on August 9, 1883 in Llangollen, Denbighshire, Wales. His father, Alfred Thomas Gray, was a merchant and spent his time between Manchester and Singapore. Alfred Thomas Gray married Jane Ann Foxwell in November 1881 in Llangollen and 11 months later Vernon Foxwell Gray was born in the Straits Settlements, Singapore. By 1891 Jane Gray was a 32-year old widow and she and her two children were living with her sister in Leamington Spa. By 1901 the family had moved to their own house in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester and Alfred, now 17, was working as an apprentice. By 1911 Alfred was employed as a traveling salesman in the cloth business and living with his mother and a domestic servant in Chorlton, his brother Vernon having left to seek his fortune in India.

Alfred Gray was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Territorial Force), from the 13th (Service) Battalion Manchester Regiment, on August 21, 1915. On October 13, 1915 he embarked on His Majesty’s Transport Ship Scotian at Devonport for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the Battalion on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915.

On December 19, 1915 he lead 26 men of B Company in a diversionary frontal attack on the Turkish positions at the North East corner of Fusilier Bluff. A large mine, followed by 5 smaller mines, were detonated and the plan was for the men to advance and shelter in the crater for cover. The mines failed to create any meaningful cover for the men and they were mercilessly fired upon by the Turks. Four men were killed and 11 wounded before Lt. Gray was compelled to order the men to retire.

He somehow managed to survive Gallipoli unscathed and sailed with the Battalion to Egypt, arriving there on January 18, 1916. He attended a course of instruction in February and on October 10, 1916 left the Battalion for 47 days home leave in the UK, rejoining them on November 26, 1916.

He sailed with the Battalion to France, arriving on March 11, 1917. He was a platoon commander in B Company and is briefly mentioned in the Battalion war diary. He was promoted to Lieutenant on July 1, 1917 and shortly after, proceeded to Paris for 6 days leave on June 13-19, 1917. Not long after he returned, he was sent sick to hospital on July 11, 1917 and eleven days later was invalided to the UK and struck off the strength of the Battalion.

By October 1917 Alfred had recovered sufficiently to marry Edith Winnifred Brittain in Chorlton, the couple subsequently making their home in Walley Range, Manchester. In August 1918 their first son, Vernon Brittain Gray was born and was followed in October 1920 by Ross Foxwell Gray.

Meanwhile he continued to serve, now with the 8th (Reserve) Battalion Manchester Regiment in Filey, and was awarded the Military Cross on May 5, 1919 for “gallant and distinguished services in the Field”. He resigned his commission on February 22, 1921 retaining the rank of Lieutenant.

By 1939 the family were living in Southport and Alfred was a manager and buyer for a wholesale garment manufacturer. After the outbreak of World War Two both of his sons served in the Royal Air Force. By the 1960s Alfred and Edith had long since retired to a small town near Exeter where Edith passed away in August 1965. Alfred Gray’s exact date of death is unclear but he was by now 82 years old and after the debacle of December 19, 1915 must have counted every day since as a blessing.

2/Lt. John Reginald Tommis

John Reginald Tommis was born in Wilmslow on July 14, 1892 the oldest son of Richard and Annie Tommis (née Mills). By 1911 John was working as a travelling salesman for a rubber boot company and living with his parents and his younger brother, George Harold Tommis, in Wilmslow within walking distance of the Wilmslow Preparatory School where his father was the headmaster.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, on October 6, 1914, he joined the 7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment as a Private (#2687). 9 months later, on July 3, 1915, he was discharged from Crowborough to a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Territorial Force) effective July 21, 1915. After 3 months training, on October 13, 1915, he embarked on His Majesty’s Transport Ship Scotian at Devonport for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the Battalion on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915.

He survived Gallipoli unscathed and sailed with the Battalion to Egypt, arriving on January 18, 1916. On July 23, 1916 he left for 35 days home leave in the UK where he married Annie Wilson. He rejoined the Battalion in Egypt in late August and on September 2^nd he attended a course of instruction. He sailed with the Battalion to France, arriving March 11, 1917 and was almost immediately attached to the 42^nd Division Signals Company where he remained for two months. From this point, he was effectively a Signals Officer attached the Royal Engineers and remained this way until the end of the war. He rejoined the Battalion on May 15 but two weeks later went sick to hospital where he remained for almost a month. Upon being discharged from hospital he was temporarily attached to the 210^th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery and shortly thereafter was promoted to Lieutenant on July 1, 1917. He remained with the R.F.A. until February 17, 1918 when he transferred to the 6^th Battalion Manchester Regiment and was struck off the strength of the Battalion.

On April 6, 1918 he was severely wounded by a machine gun bullet to the chest from an aeroplane when repairing telephone lines on the Somme. The entrance wound entering the back of the top of his right shoulder. He coughed up blood for 4 days but there was no evidence of haemothorax, (a collection of blood within the pleural cavity which is potentially life-threatening). He was treated in Hospital in France until sufficiently fit to travel, at which point he was medically evacuated to England. He was medically assessed at the 4th London General Hospital, Denmark Hill on May 23, 1918, given an overly optimistic diagnosis and granted 2 months leave. He was however paid a wound gratuity of £83 6s 8d on June 14, 1918.

And so began a series of monthly medical assessments, at Blackpool, that each pronounced him permanently unfit for General Service and an expectation of reaching a fitness level of ‘C1’ within six months. At his August assessment he was pronounced to have reached fitness level ‘C2’ and subsequently awarded another gratuity of £166 13s 4d. He was again pronounced to have reached fitness level ‘C2′ on September 23, 1918 and was promptly assigned to the College of Technology, Manchester University under the temporary employment of the Officers’ University and Technical Committee (O.U.T.C). The OUTC was a short-lived government programme, initiated by the Minstry of Munitions and run by the Ministry of Labour, designed to provide university training for disabled officers in order to better equip them for post war employment in government and commerce.

Lt. Tommis was called to London for yet another medical assessment on July 1, 1919. He was awarded a one year £50 pension gratuity, on account of his injuries, granted for the period April 6, 1919 to April 5, 1920. He was then instructed to report to Prees Heath where he was demobilised on July 9, 1919.

He was still not a well man and in November 1919 he started coughing up blood again, as he had done when initially wounded, and he subsequently underwent an operation to remove the machine gun bullet that up until this time was still lodged in his upper chest. The operation was successful, leaving a 7 inch scar, and on February 4, 1920 he was medically assessed again, this time in Leeds where he and his wife were now living. The report was not entirely encouraging:

“States that he had haemoptysis [coughing up blood] 3 months ago. The bullet was then removed from the chest 10 weeks ago. Now has cough without blood. Feels weak and cannot exert himself. Small scar of entry at base of right acromion good scar, long fresh operation scar 7″ long across right chest just above nipple. A little superclavicular dulness, cavernous breathing top of right chest and lower neck. Evidence of old pneumothorax [collapsed lung] not yet completely absorbed. Looks ill.”

He was awarded another one year £50 pension gratuity, on account of his injuries, granted for the period April 6, 1920 to April 5, 1921 and informed that the pension could be awarded permanently until it had been paid annually for 5 years.

He resigned his commission on February 22, 1921 retaining the rank of Lieutenant. He stayed in Leeds working again as a travelling salesman. Lt. John Reginald Tommis died on June 10, 1965. He was 63 years old.

2/Lt. Robert Jacomb Norris Dale

Robert Jacomb Norris Dale was born in Kensington on November 13, 1884 and was the oldest of four children. His father, Bernard Dale, was a successful solicitor and managing partner in the firm of Dale & Company of Cornhill. Robert was educated at Haileybury College (1900-02) and later joined the Inns Court O.T.C. (popular with lawyers and others in the legal profession) in 1910, when he was 26, where he served for two years. By 1911 he was working as a solicitor in his father’s firm and living with his parents and two domestic servants in Wimbledon.

But by 1914, apparently having now forsaken his father’s business and profession, Robert was working as a designer printer for Thomas Russell of Clun House, London a noted Commercial Advertising expert who was President of the Incorporated Society of Advertising Consultants and former Advertising Manager of the London Times.

The day after the outbreak of war, (August 5, 1914), he joined the 28th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles), as a Private (#1656). The Artists’ Rifles was a popular choice for volunteers of public schools and universities and as a Territorial Force battalion eventually provided a substantial number of officers both for the London Regiment and other Territorial Force regiments. After a very short period of training Pte. Dale embarked for France from Southampton on October 26, 1914 and was deployed with the British Expeditionary Force. He remained in France until June 17, 1915 when he left the Battalion at St. Omer to return to England upon being granted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 2/9^th Battalion Manchester regiment (Territorial Force), dated June 18, 1915.

Interestingly, on his application for a commission he now described his occupation as: “Scholar; Author; Painter”.

He joined the 2/9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment while they were at Pease Pottage Sussex engaged in basic training. The battalion moved to Burham Camp, Kent on September 22, 1915 and around 3 weeks later, on October 13, 1915, he embarked on His Majesty’s Transport Ship Scotian at Devonport for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the 1/9th Battalion on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915.

Just under two months later he was tried by Field General Court Martial with Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline under Section 40 of the Army Act 1881. He was found not guilty and no records remain regarding the specifics of the alleged offence.

He survived Gallipoli unscathed and sailed with the Battalion to Egypt, arriving on January 18, 1916. He was sent sick to hospital on May 2, 1916 and remained there for 12 days. Two weeks after his return he attended a 10-day course of Instruction and on September 15 was attached to the Royal Flying Corps for instruction in Aviation at 22 Reserve Squadron, Aboukir where he remained for a little over 2 months after becoming sick while with the RFC.

On February 22, 1917 he took 19 days leave in the UK, where he married the 24 year old Irene Rose Mawer, rejoining the Battalion in France on March 13. On April 8 he attended a course of instruction at the Army Telescopic Sights School rejoining the Battalion 9 days later. He was promoted to Lieutenant on July 1, 1917 and took an 11-day leave in the UK on July 28, 1917. On August 29, 1917 he was accepted to the Royal Flying Corps and was struck off the strength of the Battalion.

He was accepted as a Balloon Observer on Probation on September 24, 1917 and was attached to No. 33 Kite Balloon Section (9^th Balloon Company) on October 20, 1917. He took another home leave in the UK from December 8-22, 1917.

Lt. Robert Jacomb Norris Dale was killed in action on January 31, 1918 in Italy when his balloon was attacked by an enemy aircraft and he was shot whilst in the basket. He is buried at Giavera British Cemetery, Italy and remembered on the Haileybury College Cloister Wall Memorial, Hertford Heath. He was 33 years old.

2/Lt. Frederick Beard

Frederick Beard was born in Manchester on April 6, 1890. His father, James Hogg Beard, was a Master Chemist and Druggist (a pharmacist). Frederick was the youngest of 3 boys and he also had a younger sister, Lucy. His father, James Hogg Beard, died in 1910 and by 1911 he was living in Marple with his mother, Jessie Ellen Beard (née Wraight), his brother Edward, his sister Lucy his aunt and a domestic servant. Educated at Manchester Grammar School, by 1911 he was employed as an export manager for a metal and hardware merchant.

He joined the 6^th Battalion Manchester Regiment as a Private (#3057) on October 5, 1914 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Territorial Force) on March 11, 1915. He joined the 2/9^th Battalion in training at Southport and moved with them to Pease Pottage in June 1915. On October 13, 1915 he embarked on His Majesty’s Transport Ship Scotian at Devonport for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the Battalion on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915.

He survived Gallipoli unscathed and sailed with the Battalion to Egypt, arriving on January 18, 1916. On October 4, 1916 he was awarded 45 days home leave in the UK returning to Egypt in November. He sailed with the Battalion to France, arriving on March 11, 1917.

He was promoted to Lieutenant on July 1, 1917 and on July 29^th left for 16 days home leave in the UK where he married Isabel May Ferguson. Upon his return to France he was immediately attached to the 126^th Infantry Brigade where, on September 4, 1917 he was gassed at Ypres.

He was medically evacuated to England sailing from Calais on September 13, 1917 aboard the Hospital Ship Stad Antwerpen, arriving at Dover later the same day. He was medically assessed at Anstie Grange Military Hospital, Holmwood, on September 21, pronounced fit for General Service and given 3 weeks leave. He reported to the 8th Reserve battalion Manchester Regiment at Filey on October 11 but was immediately invalided, complaining of shortness of breath and palpitation after any exertion. He was medically assessed on November 28 at Scarborough and again on January 28, 1918; both indicating no improvement. On May 17, 1918, at Heaton Park, he was assessed for the last time and his condition pronounced severe and permanent. The examining Physician stating: “The injuries are severe and though improvement may take place in time, permanent ill effects have resulted from the gassing.”

He was forced to resign his commission on June 22, 1918 on account of ill-health contracted on active service, but retained the honorary rank of Lieutenant. Remarkably, his application for a wound gratuity was denied by the Ministry of Pensions, despite numerous protestations on his behalf, on the grounds of his condition not being sufficiently serious.

After the war, he lived in Marple with his wife and became a company director. In 1920 they had a son, John Knowler Beard. He retired and moved to Buxton but his wife died in 1955 and sometime later he moved to Chipping Campden where he died on July 24, 1982. Lieutenant Frederick Beard was 92 years old.

2/Lt. Francis Cyril Hampson

Francis Cyril Hampson was born in West Didsbury on June 4, 1896. His father, Frank Hampson, owned a business that manufactured ladies’ blouses. By 1911, Francis was a pupil at Stockport Municipal Secondary School and living in Stockport with his parents, Frank and Emily Hampson (née Midgley), his older sister Doris, his younger brother, Harry Midgley, his two younger sisters Hilda and Irene, and a domestic servant.

In September 1914 he joined the 6^th Battalion Manchester Regiment as a private and 6 months later was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Territorial Force) on February 18, 1915. He joined the 2/9^th Battalion in training at Southport and moved with them to Pease Pottage in June 1915. He was made temporary Lieutenant on August 9, 1915. On October 13, 1915 he embarked for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the Battalion on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915.

He was sent sick to hospital in Alexandria on November 29, 1915 where he remained for 84 days before rejoining the battalion in Egypt on February 21, 1916. He didn’t stay with them long, because on March 14, 1916 he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and was struck off the strength of the Battalion. He remained with the Machine Gun Corps until the end of the war and was appointed temporary Lieutenant September 1, 1916 and promoted to Lieutenant on July 1, 1917. He was disembodied on February 25, 1919 having returned from France in December 1918.

After the war he transferred to the Territorial Reserve as a Lieutenant on February 5, 1921 and in 1925 married Helen Clarkson. They lived in Stockport, where he became a company director, and in 1931 they had a daughter, Helen Patricia Hampson, followed in 1933 by a son, Francis N. Hampson.

Lieutenant Francis Cyril Hampson died on the Isle of Man on May 7, 1970. He was 73 years old.

2/Lt. Percy Parker Fielding

Percy Parker Fielding was born in Stockport on November 20, 1885. His father, William Fielding was a designer and manufacturer of Jacquard Machines used in Textile Manufacturing. Percy was the youngest of three children and he lived with his parents, his brother and sister, a governess and a domestic servant in Wilmslow.

By 1911, after the death of his father, the family moved to Newton Heath, Manchester where he was living with his widowed mother, Annie Fielding Fielding, his brother, Arthur Fielding Fielding, and sister, May Fielding. His brother worked as an engineer and assistant to a Jacquard Machine Maker while Percy managed the design business.

On November 24, 1914 he applied for a commission with the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. In January 1915, the Battalion was ordered to appoint eight supernumerary 2nd Lieutenants and he was granted a commission as one of them on January 20, 1915 and joined the 2/9^th Battalion in training at Southport. In June 1915 he married Doris Stacey Birchenall, the sister of Lieutenant Arthur Gordon Birchenall, also of the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment. On October 13, 1915 he embarked for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915.

He came through Gallipoli unscathed and sailed with the Battalion to Egypt, arriving on January 18, 1916. On May 19, 1916 he was sent to hospital in Alexandria sick and was subsequently invalided to the UK on September 6th. He spent 74 days in hospital and recovering in England before joining the 8^th Reserve Battalion Manchester Regiment on November 20th and remained with them for the duration of the war, unfit to serve overseas. He was appointed acting Lieutenant on February 1, 1917 and promoted to Lieutenant on July 1, 1917. On January 1, 1918 he was Appointed Adjutant and acting Captain of the 8^th Reserve Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, relinquishing the position of Adjutant and the acting rank of Captain on May 29, 1919.

He was then transferred to the 196 Territorial Force Depot of the 5th Battalion Manchester Regiment, at Wigan, as Lieutenant and Officer Commanding the Depot and remained there until October 18, 1919. During this time, his son Geoffrey Fielding was born in June 1919. He then spent 3 weeks attached to the 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment before being disembodied on November 8, 1919.

On February 5, 1921 he joined the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers as a Captain. And on June 14, 1921 he submitted his Application from an Officer on the Active List of the Territorial Force for permission to transfer to the Territorial Force Reserve. At this point he was 35 years-old and living with his family in Longsight, Manchester. His application was granted and he joined the Territorial Force Reserve Regimental List as a Captain with Class 2 fitness, (suitable for garrison duty overseas or home service).

His daughter, Dreena Margaret Fielding, was born in 1922 and Anthony Birchenall Fielding was born in July 1927. Percy was working as a textile machine factory works manager and the family lived in Stockport.

On November 20, 1935, his 50th birthday, he was forced to relinquished his commission, (under Paragraph 7, Appendix XXVI Territorial Army Regulations 1929), having attained mandatory the age limit, but retained the rank of Captain.

His oldest son, Geoffrey GW Fielding, developed tuberculosis and by October 1939 he was a patient at the Cheshire Joint Sanatorium, Loggerheads Staffordshire. The development of the streptomycin antibiotic in 1944 enabled treatment but this came too late for him and he died in 1947.

Captain Percy Parker Fielding died in Stockport on February 10, 1960. He was 74 years old.

2/Lt. Oscar Stockton Needham

Oscar Stockton Needham was born in Didsbury on November 30, 1892. His father, Herbert Needham, was a buyer of cotton and woolen for a shipping merchant. Oscar was the youngest of 3 children and he lived with his family and a domestic servant in Withington, Manchester. He was educated at Hulme Grammar School and later at Lycee d’Angoulême, France. By 1911 he was working as a clerk in the office of a shipping merchant while his brother, Herbert Sidney Needham, attended Manchester University.

In 1914 he joined the Officer Training Corps of Manchester University and was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 9^th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Territorial Force) on October 12, 1914. He joined the 2/9^th Battalion in training at Southport and moved with them to Pease Pottage in June 1915. He was made temporary Lieutenant on August 9, 1915. On October 13, 1915 he embarked for Gallipoli with 10 other Officers, arriving at Mudros on October 24^th and joined the Battalion on Cape Helles on October 26, 1915. Upon arrival it was found that two Officers already serving at Gallipoli were of a junior rank and so he relinquished his temporary appointment.

He came through Gallipoli unscathed, serving as the Transport Officer. The battalion evacuated the Gallipoli peninsula on December 28 and temporarily stayed at Mudros. On January 16, Lieutenants Parker, Balmford, Bury and Needham along with 7 enlisted men embarked a Hospital Transport at Mudros for Alexandria. The ship sailed two days later and arrived at Alexandria on January 20. They disembarked the following day and rejoined the battalion.

On February 26, 1916 he was made temporary Lieutenant and was promoted to Lieutenant on June 1, 1916. On July 23, 1916 he was awarded 35 days home leave in the UK. Two months after rejoining the Battalion he attended a course of instruction at Zeitoun for just over 3 weeks. On January 31, 1917 he left the Battalion for Port Said as part of the Advance Party, under Major R.B. Nowell, tasked with making all necessary preparations for the Battalion’s imminent departure to France.

He disembarked in France on February 10, 1917 and rejoined the Battalion a month later on March 17^th. He left the Battalion to attend the 42^nd Division Bombing School on May 30, 1917 and rejoined them 18 days later after spending an extra week sick in hospital. He attended a 2 months course of instruction at Nieuport from mid-July until early September and immediately upon rejoining the battalion was granted a short 11 days leave in the UK.

He was again granted two weeks leave in England from February 1-15, 1918 sailing from Boulogne on January 31 and arriving at Folkestone the same day. While on leave he contracted Impetigo and was treated at the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester. During his treatment he reported that he was suffering from insomnia, giddiness and a feeling of general nervousness. He was promptly diagnosed with Neurasthenia, granted 3 weeks leave after which he was attached to the 8th Reserve Battalion Manchester Regiment at Filey. The start of his illness was stated to have been September 1917 at Nieuport and it is likely that his leave in September was an attempt by the battalion to informally treat his nervousness through a short break.

He was medically assessed again on April 19th at Scarborough, pronounced still only fit for home service and directed to rejoin the 8th Reserve Battalion. A month later he was assessed again and pronounced for for General Service and directed to rejoin the 8th Reserve Battalion, now at Hunmanby, outside Filey.

Fully recovered, at least from the Army’s perspective, he attended No. 1 School of Instruction for Infantry Officers at Brocton in Staffordshire, May 18 – July 13, 1918. He received an excellent report where it was stated that he “should make a useful Company Commander”, (which of course would result in a promotion to Captain). After attending the course he took leave until August 17th and received orders to embark for France on the 18th.

British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

The British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co. was formed in 1916 by Swiss brothers, Henri and Camille Dreyfus after the British Government invited the brothers to London to produce their recently developed cellulose acetate dope for varnishing aircraft canvas skins as an alternative to nitrocellulose dope, which was easily ignited by bullets.

But in August 1918, the report of the Select Committee on the Swiss Cellulose Company, which was registered as the British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Company, Limited, revealed that there had been no supervision of the company, which received tax relief and got the state to agree to pay its capital expenditures although not an economical proposition. The company secured a monopoly of cellulose acetate and received a contract worth £3,000,000. The company’s capital was £160,000 in sixpenny shares and the shareholders subsequently received £14 10s for each sixpenny share. It became a scandal and questions were asked in the Houses of Parliament. Mr. Andrew Bonar Law, leader of the government, appointed a Select Committee to look into the matter. The committee was chaired by Lord Colwyn, otherwise known as Sir Frederick Henry Smith a prominent Mancunian businessman.

In a letter dated August 15, 1918 a representative of Lord Colwyn requested that Lt. Needham’s leave be extended for one month so that he could continue to assist the Select Committee investigating “the Cellulose case”. His embarkation orders for France were postponed for a month, his leave extension granted and notice was forwarded to the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square, London where Lt. Needham was staying. Upon receiving the news of the leave extension a further 3 months extension was requested which, although initially denied, was eventually granted on the basis that Lt. Needham held specialist knowledge and the committee work was of national importance. Unfortunately his leave was granted without pay but it was extended to December 15, 1918. Predictably, a further 3 months leave extension was requested and granted in mid December expiring on March 15, 1919.

His committee work done, Lt. Needham returned to the 8th Reserve battalion, Manchester Regiment and was demobilised on April 7, 1919. He resigned his commission, retaining the rank of Lieutenant, effective January 4, 1921.

South Africa

After the war, in 1921, he sailed to South Africa with the intention to permanently reside there. While in South Africa he met and married Mary Barkley Denne, the daughter of a Major in the Royal Artillery who had emigrated to South Africa putting his knowledge of explosives to use in the mining industry. Oscar Needham lived in South Africa, with his wife, working as a salesman in the mining industry until his death in Johannesburg on July 22, 1965. Lt. Oscar Stockton Needham was 72 years old.