Category: Commemorations

Stroud and WW2

“AREA EIGHT”
IN THE WAR AGAINST HITLERISM
BEING AN ACCOUNT
OF THE CIVIL DEFENCE SEVICES AND A.R.P.
IN STROUD AND NAILSWORTH
By
P.R. SYMONDS
With a Preface by General Sir Hugh Elles, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.’
K.C.V.O.’ D.S.O.,
A Foreword by Bramwell Hudson, Esq., J.P.
And 34 Illustrations

“Your path of duty has been the way to glory
and amidst the glorious records of the war
the story of Civil Defense will take a high
place.”
H.M. THE KING
PUBLISHED BY
THE STROUD (Urban and Rural) AND NAILSWORTH (Urban)
DEFENCE COMMITTEE
R.D.C. Chambers, John Street, Stroud
1945

WAR

The first week of the war saw the arrival of 1,200 evacuees from Birmingham, the opening of public air raid shelters, the sandbagging of selected public buildings, the closure of cinemas, and the black-out, while ‘most people carried respirators, and there was a general air of expectancy.’

‘On Friday, November 10th, the first Preliminary Air Raid Warning, known as the “Yellow Warning,” was received at 11.20 a.m. Yellow Warnings were confidential warnings for A.R.P. Control, and were not for issue to the public, so that no sirens were sounded. On this occasion the warning message was passed up to a meeting of the R.D.C. Committee, that happened to be sitting, as several of the members were engaged in A.R.P. A year later, when the number of “Yellows” received amounted to an average of three a day, nobody would have even troubled to inform the Committee, but on this occasion (the first for this Area) the members picked up their respirators and left. (It is reported that the staff spent the rest of the morning gazing through windows at the sky watching for the approach of a German armada!)’

“AREA EIGHT”
IN THE WAR AGAINST HITLERISM
BEING AN ACCOUNT
OF THE CIVIL DEFENCE SEVICES AND A.R.P.
IN STROUD AND NAILSWORTH
By
P.R. SYMONDS
With a Preface by General Sir Hugh Elles, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.’
K.C.V.O.’ D.S.O.,
A Foreword by Bramwell Hudson, Esq., J.P.
And 34 Illustrations

“Your path of duty has been the way to glory
and amidst the glorious records of the war
the story of Civil Defense will take a high
place.”
H.M. THE KING
PUBLISHED BY
THE STROUD (Urban and Rural) AND NAILSWORTH (Urban)
DEFENCE COMMITTEE
R.D.C. Chambers, John Street, Stroud
1945

WAR

The first week of the war saw the arrival of 1,200 evacuees from Birmingham, the opening of public air raid shelters, the sandbagging of selected public buildings, the closure of cinemas, and the black-out, while ‘most people carried respirators, and there was a general air of expectancy.’

‘On Friday, November 10th, the first Preliminary Air Raid Warning, known as the “Yellow Warning,” was received at 11.20 a.m. Yellow Warnings were confidential warnings for A.R.P. Control, and were not for issue to the public, so that no sirens were sounded. On this occasion the warning message was passed up to a meeting of the R.D.C. Committee, that happened to be sitting, as several of the members were engaged in A.R.P. A year later, when the number of “Yellows” received amounted to an average of three a day, nobody would have even troubled to inform the Committee, but on this occasion (the first for this Area) the members picked up their respirators and left. (It is reported that the staff spent the rest of the morning gazing through windows at the sky watching for the approach of a German armada!)’

1940

‘On May 14th the Local Defence Volunteers (afterwards the Home Guard) were formed; and many Civil Defence members, who had some knowledge of firearms, were enrolled on the understanding that they would be sent back to the Civil Defence job for which they had been trained, with the additional advantage that, as enlistment in the L.D.V. gave them Military status, they would be issued with arms and ammunition with which to defend their posts in the event of a landing by parachutists, or any other emergency calling for the use of lethal weapons. The difficulties of belonging to more than one service were many. In some sectors Civil Defence members were not accepted…’

ENEMY ACTION

‘It was on June 26th, 1940, that for the first time A.R.P. Control log referred to “planes (presumably enemy) passing over…” Within a very few months the sound of “planes passing over” was to become an almost nightly experience…

A certain nervousness was abroad during these early days of bombing as may be judged from the following extract from a letter to the A.R.P. County Organiser written by the Sub-Controller:- “Bisley church steeple appears to be a landmark for German aeroplanes. It is reported from the Wardens and other inhabitants, that they notice the German aeroplanes invariably make for the steeple, and then alter course for other places.” A comforting thought was that the Germans were unlikely to bomb their own landmarks. (Is this the first record of an advantage of living in Bisley?)…

On July 25th a German bomber was brought down at Oakridge as the result of Anti-Aircraft fire and collision with a Hurricane Fighter which, unfortunately, crashed in flames killing the pilot… The German crew of four baled out and caused quite a manhunt in the district. A large number of Home Guards turned out to help in the search, including the Miserden Company by the ringing of church bells, and three of the crew were captured. The body of the fourth, whose parachute had failed to open, was found by the Home Guard in Oldhills Wood.’

‘On August 28th Area 8 had its first bomb. One fell in a field near Cranham Mill, Painswick, and caused no damage. Another, a 250 kilo incendiary bomb, fell 500 yards from Harescombe Post Office, but was not found for three days when Captain Smart dug it out.

Other bombs continued to fall in the country around Area 8, but the only casualties reported to Division 3 Control were two rabbits and an owl at Tetbury and a pony and a rabbit at Cirencester…

During the few Red Warnings the people of Stroud were still being directed to take shelter, but traffic was no longer being stopped.’

In Stroud, notices in the press were at this time urging people to carry their respirators, but not on their faces – although on Fridays the policeman on duty at Town Time was to be seen wearing his…

Painswick has three or four H.E. and oil incendiary bombs in the surrounding country on September 5th. The only damage was twelve days later when the Royal Engineers exploded a delayed action bomb – the ceiling in two houses collapsed and windows in four other houses were broken.

There were eighty-five Preliminary Warnings and six Red Warnings during September…

On the night of October 21st an unexploded Anti-Aircraft shell penetrated a house at Painswick. After passing through a roof, the shell pierced a marble-topped dressing table, a gas stove and a bag of onions and finally came to rest in the concrete floor of the passage. At the time it was thought that it was an unexploded bomb and the house was evacuated accordingly. The following day P.C. Handley, a Painswick policeman, without reporting his intentions to anyone, borrowed a spade and dug out the shell which he then carried to the Police Station, and with a broad grin on his face, placed it on the Guard Room table. The Police Station is still there.

During the night of October 27th approximately twenty-five 1-kilo incendiary bombs fell in the Forest Green Sector. One large incendiary bomb fell in the Forest Green Sector. One large incendiary bomb fell through a galvanized roof of Messrs. Harry Grist and Co’s. flock mill, causing no casualties, but damaging one machine and some flock by fire. All the other bombs dropped in fields and gardens over a fairly wide area and did no damage.

There were seventy-seven Preliminary Warnings, but only one Red Warning in Area 8 during October.

On November 14th, 1940, Coventry received its historically heavy raid. Enemy planes passed over Stroud on their way to Coventry continuously for several hours…

Towards the end of the month and in early December Bristol was raided several times. The only enemy action in Area 8 was seven or eight incendiary bombs dropped in a field at Stonehouse and one in a paddock at France Lynch.

During November there were eighty-eight Preliminary Warnings, the record for the war, and seven Red Warnings.

Throughout December Germ an planes were overhead nearly every night and there were several small incidents in the area.

On December 6th two H.E. bombs (one delayed action) dropped at Selsley and about £100 worth of damage was done to windows, greenhouses and ceilings.

On December 11th fifteen incendiary bombs fell on Overtown Farm, Cranham, when slight damage was done to the roof of an outbuilding. The following night about twenty incendiary bombs fell in Cowcombe Woods, Chalford.

During December the number of Preliminary Warnings fell to forty-seven, but thee was an increase in Red Warnings to the number of ten.

LOCAL ACTION

With the New Year there was considerable action in the Stroud and Nailsworth Districts, but it was by no means all enemy action. It is true that the number of Air Raid Warnings was high during the first half of the year. Indeed, March, April and May were record months for Red Warnings and the Sirens were sounded no less that forty-five times. The length of the warnings was too long; in one case seven hours, and in several cases from five to six hours, and almost entirely at night…

The reason for the number of warnings received was, of course, the passing over of the enemy bombers, from their bases in Germany and France to South Wales, the Midlands, Bristol and Plymouth, all of which were heavily bombed during the year.

In response to the Minister of Home Security’s broadcast appeal for fire watchers, nearly 2,000 volunteers had enrolled in this Area by early in the year.

At the end of 1940 it had been decided to form a Defence Committee, consisting of two members of each of the three Councils, for the purpose of co-ordinating all the after-raid duties of Local Authorities…

Efforts were being made to make the population incendiary bomb-minded, and on January 6th, at a public meeting called by the Stroud and District Chamber of Trade, Mr. J. Gough, the Fire Chief, presented a scheme for fire watching in the town.

This Scheme, which was adopted by the traders present, hoped to recruit a hundred volunteer fire watchers, who would be trained by the Fire Brigade, and who would take turns of duty about every fourth night.

Stirrup pumps were also on sale by the Local Authorities and nearly a thousand were purchased by rate-payers… Later…a large number of pumps were issued free on loan.

On January 17th a large H.E. bomb exploded at Gypsy Lane, Minchinhampton, causing a crater 30 ft. across and 20 ft. deep. There were no casualties and only minor damage to bungalows and farm buildings.

At the end of the month it was decided that fire-watchers and fighters be enrolled in the A.R.P. Organisation…

During January, 1941, there were thirty-four Preliminary Air Raid Warnings and eight Red Warnings.

The number of Preliminary Air Raid Warnings for February, 1941, was thirty-five, and there were six Red Warnings.

March… Preliminary Air Raid Warnings rose to sixty-two and Red Warnings to thirteen.

At 12.30 a.m. on the morning of April 11th four H.E. bombs were dropped on Tunley Farm and the adjoining King’s House Farm. The latter house was damaged, but nothing approaching the extent that might have been expected… The farmer, who at the time was asleep in an armchair, stated that he did not hear the bomb, but was awakened by the china falling off the mantelpiece. (It was understood that the beer was homebrewed)… There were no casualties except for a few poultry. A pond was enlarged by another bomb and the fourth damaged an orchard.

During April the Preliminary Warnings fell to thirty-eight, but there was a slight increase of Red Warnings, the number being fourteen…

On May 8th a Home Security Circular was published on the duties of the Local Authority under invasion conditions.

The number of Preliminary Warnings went up to fifty and the eighteen Red Warnings received was the highest figure for the war.

With the beginning of June, 1941, the first enemy action in Division 3 since April took place – two H.E. bombs were dropped at Wotton-under-Edge and a thousand incendiary bombs in fields between Standish Church and Little Haresfield. There were, during the month, other incidents in Division 3 of which the most serious was in Painswick.

About ten minutes after the 99th Red Warning had been received at Stroud, in the early morning of Sunday, June 15th, eight H.E. bombs dropped at ten minutes past one o’clock in and around Painswick. Poultry Court, a house in Friday Street and a house in Tibbiwell Lane received direct hits. Two persons, both evacuees, were killed. Ten persons were injured and of these three were taken to Stroud Hospital. Twenty-nine persons were rendered homeless. Four houses were completely demolished and seven others seriously damaged and partly demolished. Thirty-five houses were slightly damaged.

The telephone service was badly affected from the start so that considerable difficulty was experienced in getting messages through to A.R.P. Control. It was an extremely dark night which made the finding of the demolished buildings unbelievably difficult…

The homeless were billeted by mid-day. The Stroud Gas Company arrived quickly on the scene and had their mains mended in time for the cooking of Sunday dinners. Most of the first-aid repair to houses was completed before night. Furniture was salvaged from the damaged buildings and even from those houses that received direct hits. From the Friday Street crater some £60 in cash – much of it in single notes and coin – was recovered.

Assistance was given in the general clearing up by the Military, the Gloucester County Council and the Stroud Urban Council, as well as by the A.R.P. Rescue Service and the Stroud Rural District Council.

Painswick’s Communal Feeding Centre did invaluable work in feeding the homeless and the many workers who had been drafted into the village…

Both the Painswick Company and the Stroud Company of the Home Guard helped the Police and Special Constables in controlling the traffic and sight-seers.

In the evening Mr. Robert Perkins, M.P., visited Painswick and inspected the damage and talked with the homeless and those who had been helping all day – many from fifteen to twenty hours.

During June there was a sharp drop in the number of Air Raid Warnings. Preliminary Warnings were down to seventeen and Red Warnings to nine.

July was a quiet month and no incidents occurred in Division 3. There was a further drop in Warnings to eleven Preliminary and six Red. Indeed, July 1941, almost saw the end of enemy action in this part of England… Apart from April, July and August of 1942, the sirens were to sound only twenty-two more times up to the end of the war against Hitlerism.

Enemy action or no enemy action, there was no let-up on precautionary measures…it was not until August that Local Authorities were urged to take elaborate precautions against invasion, and ordered to set up Invasion Committees. The Ministry of Home Security issued a pamphlet entitled “Advising the Public in the event of Invasion.”

Early in August, 1941, it was expected the enemy would try to burn our growing crops by the use of incendiary “leaves.” A warning was sent to 250 farmers… The farmers enrolled 662 persons for crop fire-fighting and watching, and he Defence Committee sold them 45 and a half dozen fire-fighting besoms. Unfortunately, harvest-time proved to be one of the wettest for many years and the Committee was blamed for spoiling the weather.

On August 25th was held the first meeting of the District Invasion Committee…

On the night of December 23rd, the new A.R.P. Control Room, which had been specially constructed in the Stroud Rural District Council’s garage, was manned for the first time.

THREE YEARS OF EXPECTANCY

1942 This period of three years, of which 1942 was the first year, was a period of waiting. Waiting for what? First, for the blitz and invasion which never came. Secondly, for the Second Front which seemed as if it would never come. But if this was a period of waiting, the waiting was not done with folded arms. Indeed, three services had yet to be formed – the Fire Guard, the House-wives’ Service abd the Civil Defence Messenger Service. If it were possible to take a reading of the maximum amount of human effort expended outside working hours by the population of this country, any one of these three years would, in all probability, far outstrip the first two and a half years of war added together… And it should be remembered that all this service, both voluntary and “directed,” was done, if not entirely without a grouse, then almost entirely without any encouragement from the enemy. Even in the first of these three years at present under review there were six months without so much as an Air Raid Warning.

1943 By January of 1943 there was no less than 5,500 Fire Guards in the Area, but there were to be only eight Red Warnings to brighten their lives through the whole year.

1944 Each of the first six months of the year had one Red Warning, but during the second half of the year there were not even any Preliminary Warnings.

On March 28th a 1,000 kilo parachute bomb dropped in a field just over the boundary in the Tetbury Area. There was considerable blast effect, but owing to the almost complete absence of buildings there was but slight damage.

On May 15th two more bombs dropped just over the border in the Tetbury Area. Both bombs fell in fields…

For the past many months large numbers of American troops had been stationed around Stroud…

During July and August when the menace of “flying bombs” was at its height, ten Wardens went as reinforcements to Richmond, Surrey.

THE CLOSING MONTHS

1945 Relaxation and standing down had been the order of the day for three months and this policy was intensified with 1945. There had been no Air Raid Warning for six months and, as a matter of fact, Stroud was never to hear the sirens sounded again during the war except for the monthly test…

May 2nd was the “Appointed Day.” On that day the Government decided that the Civil Defence organisation was no longer needed for the purpose of the war.

CIVIL DEFENCE FAREWELL PARADE

(some extracts)

…

The glow of burning Bristol o’er the hill…
Th’unusual sound of guns near where we dwell,
The sudden winking flash of bursting shell;
The search-light glares, the falling flares, the sense
Of menace in the circling plane’s suspense;
When dooming – dooming – Nazi planes flew by
With loads of death for other towns near-by.
The sudden siren’s eerie wail,
The hurried dash through rain or snow or gale…
The Civic Leader of our ancient shire
Spoke words of thanks which made our hearts inspire;
And thanks to God, that our dear friendly town
Had been preserved ‘neath danger’s threat’ning frown…

The second half of the book looks back at the various committees and plans that were formed and issued during the conflict:

THE PARISH INVASION COMMITTEE

In August 1941, the Stroud Rural District Council set up the following Parish Invasion Committees and appointed the Chairmen of each:-

Amberley
Bisley-Miserden-Oakridge
Cranham-Slad-Sheepscombe
The Stanleys
Minchinhampton
Painswick
Randwick and Whiteshill
Stonehouse
Thrupp and Brimscombe
Woodchester…

On September 18th, 1941, the Chairmen of the Parish Invasion Committees were called to a meeting under the Chairmanship of Mr. Bramwell Hudson. For the next nine months regular monthly meetings were held and then less frequently until March, 1943, when it was felt every possible eventuality had been considered and all necessary arrangements to meet invasion made…

Some idea of the work undertaken by all Invasion Committees appears in the chapters on Anti-Invasion Schemes and War Books.

AFTERMATH SCHEMES

In March, 1941, a booklet was issued: “If the Blitz Comes to Stroud and Nailsworth – How You should Act”; a list was drawn up for Repair Squads, who would move into action after heavy raids. Here is the list:

43 Bricklayers 26 Plumbers 268 Carpenters 6 Slaters 88 Electricians 22 Tilers 216 Engineers 20 Timbermen 318 Fitters 30 Welders 6 Main layers 43 Pipe joiners 1189 Various

Local Authorities were responsible for the repair of houses damaged by enemy action. Large stocks od repair materials were held by the three local Councils. These stocks included such things as roofing felt, laths, galvanised iron, iron piping, nails and paint. There were also stocks of tools, ladders, wheelbarrows and the like.

The Councils also held large stocks of pipes and cement for the repair of roads.

Arrangements were also made for the salvage and storage of furniture that might have had to be removed from bombed houses… Numerous large barns and other buildings were, by kind permission of some twenty-five farmers, earmarked for the storage of furniture and an aeroplane hanger (a relic of the Great War) was requisitioned.

Arrangements were made for the salvage of commodities from any damaged shops in the area… Every shop in Stroud, Nailsworth and Stonehouse was asked to make arrangements for alternative premises to which their stock could be moved. Returns filled in by the majority of traders showed that in 1941 there was estimated to be no less than 1,100 tons of goods in Stroud shopping centre alone, and beside this, the Ministry of Food had 1,300 tons of food in the town, and the Admiralty and the Office of Works and Buildings large stores of equipment. Plans were worked out as to how many men and lorries it would take to move any particular stock. The Home Guard volunteered to supply the men, and arrangements were ready for the issue to them of salvage armlets and entrance permits. Messrs Gopsil Brown offered the use of some thousand corn sacks, and there was a large store of sandbags, for packing the commodities.

The Surveyors of the three Councils were in charge of the salvage of building material from houses damaged too badly for repair.

The Civil Defence Transport Officer…had earmarked…ninety-one lorries and vans that he could call upon. Unofficially, there were a further seven cattle lorries and eight cars with farm trailers available.

A scheme was also organised by the Transport Officer whereby the general public would have made available their cars for the purpose of moving the homeless… Some sixty-seven cars were listed…

Some twenty-one buildings in the Area were earmarked as Emergency Mortuaries and nine of the larger factories also offered buildings for this purpose… Five motor vans, by kind permission of the Stroud Laundry, Co., were earmarked as mortuary vans. Quantities of sheets, towels, buckets, bandages, labels, screens and coffins were held…

If the water supply had been cut off by enemy action then the districts affected would have been supplied temporarily by the Stroud Brewery Company’s two 720 gallon beer lorries… A further 3,000 gallons could have been carried at a time in sundry tanks…

If the shopping centre of Stroud had been badly damaged , Shopping Booths would have been set up …

Under instructions from the Ministry of Food arrangements for eight Emergency Cooking Centres were made… These Centres would only have been used if the Utility Services had broken down through severe enemy action and it had been impossible for cooking to be done at home. Eight ladies…volunteered to take charge…

The following equipment and food was stored ready for use:-

16 boilers 2 ranges 6 insulated containers 8 mechanical can openers 2,000 dessert spoons 2,000 half pint mugs 2,200 knives 200 forks 400 tea bags 8 50lb. cases of tea 16 cases of 28ibs of sugar 388 tins of biscuits 93 cases of 48’s pork and beans 194 cases of 24’s vegetable stew 24 cases of 48 14 and a half ounce condensed milk 8 cases of 24’s rice pudding 8 7-ib tins of cocoa 20 cases of 56ib margarine 26 cases of beef hash 9 cases of 12 3-ibs. meat roll 6 cases 48 1-ib meat roll.

ANTI-INVASION SCHEMES

The District Invasion Committee was required to make schemes to meet two eventualities – one, in case the whole area was isolated by the invading enemy from the Regional organisation and, two, in case the town of Stroud was cut off from the Rural District and from Nailsworth…

Offers of equipment included:-

660 bicycles 105 portable coppers 726 wheelbarrows 118 pairs of binoculars 1,972 spades 94 tents 830 ladders 356 bedpans 177 primus stoves 1,143 blankets 1,657 buckets 1,055 hot water bottles

The card that was to be hung up read as follows:-

INVASION

The first thing is to believe that Invasion will come
The second thing is to realise what we shall be up against. Invasion will probably start with the biggest air raids ever known. Gas will be used…Air-borne troops may be dropped all over the country-side…
The third thing is to prepare for invasion.
The fourth thing is to know quite certainly what your Defence Committee is doing to prepare for Invasion
The fifth thing is to keep fit…Stand firm…
One code word only was to be used and this code word – was Rallyho! On hearing this code word men were instructed to report to one of the following Rallying Points…
The Western National ‘Bus Company’s Canteen, London Road, Stroud
The British Restaurant, Thrupp
The British Restaurant, Dudbridge
The British Restaurant, Stonehouse
The British Restaurant, Nailsworth
Messrs. Fibrecrete’s Canteen, Chalford…
Arrangements were made for transport of both men and tools, and in case motor transport broke down it had been ascertained that there were (anyway on paper if not in stable) 468 horses and two donkeys that could have been used for haulage purposes. Both the donkeys were at Nailsworth.

Trenchcoats For Goalposts

Friday 7th December, 8pm
at the Sub Rooms, Stroud

Spaniel in the Works Theatre Company present TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS – Christmas Truce, 1914 with Jon Seagrave (aka Jonny Fluffypunk,)John Bassett, Bill Jones, Paul Southcott, Stuart Butler, Angela Findlay, Crispin Thomas & Jeff The Fuse + Ned Gibbons (Sound/Lights)

“A unique performance.. history and humour, poetry and poignancy combined!” ~Stroud Life.

Trenchcoats for Goalposts is back by demand for one last time, following a packed and acclaimed show here in 2016 and equally well received performances in Cheltenham, Painswick, Dursley and Nailsworth .Be transported once more in theatre, spoken word, live music and song to No Man’s Land in a moving and often funny re-creation of the 1914 Christmas Truce. Far from glorifying War and performed by a host of Gloucestershire’s finest in authentic WW1 garb, with tinsel for barbed wire and an ancient football, together they turn the Sub Rooms into Flanders Field.

Friday 7th December, 8pm
at the Sub Rooms, Stroud

Spaniel in the Works Theatre Company present TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS – Christmas Truce, 1914 with Jon Seagrave (aka Jonny Fluffypunk,)John Bassett, Bill Jones, Paul Southcott, Stuart Butler, Angela Findlay, Crispin Thomas & Jeff The Fuse + Ned Gibbons (Sound/Lights)

“A unique performance.. history and humour, poetry and poignancy combined!” ~Stroud Life.

Trenchcoats for Goalposts is back by demand for one last time, following a packed and acclaimed show here in 2016 and equally well received performances in Cheltenham, Painswick, Dursley and Nailsworth .Be transported once more in theatre, spoken word, live music and song to No Man’s Land in a moving and often funny re-creation of the 1914 Christmas Truce. Far from glorifying War and performed by a host of Gloucestershire’s finest in authentic WW1 garb, with tinsel for barbed wire and an ancient football, together they turn the Sub Rooms into Flanders Field.

Based on local memories and the true story of two brave Forest Green FC players Harry Watts and Ernie Beale who set off from Nailsworth for the front line. Covering an undisputed moment in war, humour and history, poetry and poignancy combine in this compelling and unmissable ninety minute production.

Radical Stroud WW1 and FGR Walk

Radical Stroud WW1 and FGR Walk
Saturday November 17th
Meet at 12 at Nailsworth War Memorial
An Armistice Centenary Walk and Talk
Peace at Last!

A performative walk and talk through WW1 as it affected Stroud, the Five Valleys, Nailsworth, and Forest Green. Meet at the clock in Nailsworth at 12 for a walk led by Andrew Budd and Stuart Butler. Arrive at the New Lawn at 2.15. Performance and poems from Uta Baldauf, John Bassett, Andrew and Stuart, and, of course, mystery guests, along the way. Feel free to bring any memories and stories to share, if you wish.

JohnBassett_WW1_Nailsworth_CopyrightDeborahRoberts_P1040818_LowRes
Nailsworth_WW1_Walk_CopyrightDeborahRoberts_P1040813_LowRes

Photos from the Armistice Centenary Walk in Nailsworth on 17th Nov – Copyright Deborah Roberts. John Bassett performing an extract from Trenchcoats For Goalposts. Full performance will be at the The Subscription Rooms next month –Trenchcoats for Goalposts Fri Dec 7 8pm Sub Rooms Stroud. With Andrew Budd Stuart Butler Uta Baldauf

Radical Stroud WW1 and FGR Walk
Saturday November 17th
Meet at 12 at Nailsworth War Memorial
An Armistice Centenary Walk and Talk
Peace at Last!

A performative walk and talk through WW1 as it affected Stroud, the Five Valleys, Nailsworth, and Forest Green. Meet at the clock in Nailsworth at 12 for a walk led by Andrew Budd and Stuart Butler. Arrive at the New Lawn at 2.15. Performance and poems from Uta Baldauf, John Bassett, Andrew and Stuart, and, of course, mystery guests, along the way. Feel free to bring any memories and stories to share, if you wish.

FGR and WW1

Charles and Ernest go to the football

Charles sneaked out unnoticed, from his home in Northfield Road. His first call was only a few yards away, ‘The Jovial Foresters’, not only his local pub, but also the headquarters of his beloved Football Club, Forest Green Rovers.

Sitting in the bar, enjoying his pint, and listening to the conversations, Charles felt he belonged here. The hoppy aroma of the beer was assailed by the whiff of embrocation from the room out the back, used as a changing room by the football club. It’s half past two on a late summer Saturday afternoon. The home side and the visitors from Brimscombe are finishing their beer, and heading up the hill towards the Forest Green pitch at The Lawn. Charles joins the teams and supporters as they strut their way uphill, trying not to look out of puff to the opposing team.

Charles stops at his friend’s house in Forest Green. He’s come to pick up young Ernest, who was keen as ever to cheer for his local team. Charles and Ernest were seventeen years apart in age, but had always got on well. They saw each other most days, either at work at Woodchester, or around the lanes of the hamlet, high above the Nailsworth Valley.

Arriving at the Forest Green pitch, a sizeable crowd is standing along the touchline as the local villages do battle on the football field. It was the first league match for six years, because the Great War had rudely interrupted organised football.

And in the Forest Green team is Walter Beale, a dependable goal-scorer, and, more importantly to Ernest, a proud family member. Ernest was cheering Walter’s every touch, even when he missed a sitter! The game ended 1-1 so honours were shared. The spectators came onto the pitch at the end, to congratulate the players, and to celebrate a return to some sort of normality for Stroud valleys life.

Charles and Ernest go to the football

Charles sneaked out unnoticed, from his home in Northfield Road. His first call was only a few yards away, ‘The Jovial Foresters’, not only his local pub, but also the headquarters of his beloved Football Club, Forest Green Rovers.

Sitting in the bar, enjoying his pint, and listening to the conversations, Charles felt he belonged here. The hoppy aroma of the beer was assailed by the whiff of embrocation from the room out the back, used as a changing room by the football club.  It’s half past two on a late summer Saturday afternoon. The home side and the visitors from Brimscombe are finishing their beer, and heading up the hill towards the Forest Green pitch at The Lawn. Charles joins the teams and supporters as they strut their way uphill, trying not to look out of puff to the opposing team.

Charles stops at his friend’s house in Forest Green. He’s come to pick up young Ernest, who was keen as ever to cheer for his local team. Charles and Ernest were seventeen years apart in age, but had always got on well. They saw each other most days, either at work at Woodchester, or around the lanes of the hamlet, high above the Nailsworth Valley.

Arriving at the Forest Green pitch, a sizeable crowd is standing along the touchline as the local villages do battle on the football field. It was the first league match for six years, because the Great War had rudely interrupted organised football.

And in the Forest Green team is Walter Beale, a dependable goal-scorer, and, more importantly to Ernest, a proud family member. Ernest was cheering Walter’s every touch, even when he missed a sitter! The game ended 1-1 so honours were shared. The spectators came onto the pitch at the end, to congratulate the players, and to celebrate a return to some sort of normality for Stroud valleys life.

Charles and Ernest held back after the match. They were wearing their army clothes, and didn’t want to bring down the high spirits of the happy moments that were being shared. The two men were aware that the presence of two soldiers who had served their country might cause some distress, when so many local families had suffered such loss and sorrow over the last five years.

Hanging around at the end, sharing the last of their Woodbines, and unnoticed by the other spectators, Charles and Ernest waited until the crowd dispersed.

Watching the groundsman shut and lock the field gates, the two men settled down for an evening of reminiscences at The Lawn at the top of the village. Plenty of time ahead of them, for their nocturnal chats together, as they faded away under the pale light of the moon.

(Based upon Charles Marmont 1880-1919 and Ernest Beale 1897-1916)

_________________________________________________________________
Reference notes linked with above piece.

I was unable to find much detail of the first season after WW1. The choice of Brimscombe as opposition for the first match, and the 1-1 score, are my own invention, until I can find the true information.

231 young men from Nailsworth went to war, 43 died and are commemorated on the war memorial in Nailsworth, including E Beale and S Marmont
(From ‘Something to Shout About’ The History of FGR by Tim Barnard)

Ernest Beale, 1897-1916
Lived in Forest Green, with his mother and siblings. Brass worker.
Driver in the Royal Field Artillery. Did not serve overseas. Died in Exeter Hospital of meningitis.

Charles Marmont, 1880-1919
Worked in pin manufacturing at Woodchester
Private in the 2nd Gloucestershire Regiment, did not serve overseas.
Died in Military Hospital, Maidstone, of bronchitis and heart failure.
Blue plaque at Northfields House, Northfields Road

FGR were in poor shape just before WW1. Forest Green had combined with Nailsworth FC, and became Nailsworth and Forest Green United. They had financial problems and people had fallen out. There were no Forest Green or Nailsworth FC teams playing in the league in 1913/14, as the clubs and their players had been suspended for irregularities in the previous season. There is no record of players in the online WW1 National Football Archive, as Forest Green was only a Stroud and District League team at the time.

Andrew Budd
“andrew budd” and “fred slattern” on facebook
www.fredslattern.wordpress.com
www.andrewbudd.blogspot.com  Big Swifty’s flavour of Budd Living
www.justgiving.com/planetfrank  our fundraising for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Fun

No Barriers

No Barriers: In the Wake
A Game of Two Halves

First Half

So much of our language and discourse,
So many of our idioms and metaphors,
Have their provenance in our imperial past,
A maritime, sea faring history
(Slavery and buccaneers too),
The littoral not literal but figurative:
Figurehead, in the wake, becalmed, in the doldrums,
Above board, cut of one’s jib, even keel, foul up,
First rate, go overboard, groundswell, know the ropes,
Keelhauled, not enough room to swing a cat,
Overwhelm, pipe down, taken aback, take the wind out of your sails,
Three sheets to the wind, tide over, toe the line, true colours,
Try a different tack, under the weather,
Warning shot across the bow,
Windfall …

No Barriers: In the Wake
A Game of Two Halves

First Half

So much of our language and discourse,
So many of our idioms and metaphors,
Have their provenance in our imperial past,
A maritime, sea faring history
(Slavery and buccaneers too),
The littoral not literal but figurative:
Figurehead, in the wake, becalmed, in the doldrums,
Above board, cut of one’s jib, even keel, foul up,
First rate, go overboard, groundswell, know the ropes,
Keelhauled, not enough room to swing a cat,
Overwhelm, pipe down, taken aback, take the wind out of your sails,
Three sheets to the wind, tide over, toe the line, true colours,
Try a different tack, under the weather,
Warning shot across the bow,
Windfall …

At last!
We’ve made land now:
We can see the wood for the trees,
Barriers too:
Barricade, blockade, boundary, fence, hurdle, impediment,
Limit, obstacle, wall, bar, confine, ditch, enclosure,
Moat, gully, palisade, rampart, trench, obstruction, restriction,
Stumbling block, check, encumbrance, trap, bias, bigotry, chauvinism,
Discrimination, injustice, enmity, preconception, sexism,
Misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, ageism, antipathy, aversion,
Contemptuousness, snobbery, narrow-mindedness, partiality,
Unfairness, prejudice …

But as times change and words change meanings,
So we seek to create a society with No Barriers,
A level playing field,
Where all can achieve in a world of equal opportunities,
And where you put a metaphorical
Red line through all the negativity above,
And instead add your thoughts below,
As to how we create No Barriers:

Second Half
The half kicks off with some thoughts of Y7s at Archway School:

Don’t get distracted by I-phones and a selfie selfish world,
But think of others as a way of overcoming your and others’ barriers;

Overcome fear, anxiety, shyness,
And work to the best of your ability;
Believe in yourself;
Achieve your dream;
Grab your wheelchair;
Find your Utopia;
Be a helper for the World;

‘Dark … I will never be free …
Not good enough, not worthy,
Trapped in a fortress filled with gloom and dusk.
Never free.
One day, I will climb mountains, swim channels.
I’ll wave to my neighbour and smile to myself,
Oh this happy day.
Distant though …
A glimmer of light catches my eye …
I wish, upon my star,
For a life with no barriers.’

Extra Time: No Penalties

First up, Neville Southall, once of Everton and Wales,
Now at a special needs school, in Ebbw Vale:
‘It’s all about uniting people …
If you unite all LGBT people, there are millions.
If you do the same with the mental health people
And all the charities came together,
It would be powerful …’

Secondly, Danny Rose of England,
And how keeping depression to oneself might not be the best thing:
‘I was diagnosed with depression which nobody knows about …
my mum was racially abused …
I haven’t told my mum or dad,
and they are probably going to be really angry
reading this, but I’ve kept it to myself until now’;
Next up: Colin Grant in his review
Of The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephania:
‘Zephania confirms that art can serve as an instrument of change.
The people’s poet has written himself out of the life that was mapped out for him.’
Bejamin Zephaniah:
“I don’t believe the glib sentiment that if you simply ‘follow your dreams’ you’ll make it.
Maybe if your talent matches your expectations you’ll make it but you might not.
There might be cultural or class barriers stopping you.
And if you don’t make it, you’ll need your own internal sense of self-worth to fall back on.”

Now we’re off to Dunfermline with its new playground:
An inclusive playground for differently-abled children:
No barriers, instead, swings and roundabouts for everyone,
Just as it should be for the Windrush generation,
There should be no bureaucratic barriers
And stumbling blocks and injustice;

Next up, Stan Collymore, an echo of Walter:
‘My dad’s from Barbados, my mum’s white …
Now is the time for the Rooney Rule,
Guaranteeing minorities
Proper consideration for positions’;

Now for Daniel Bell-Drummond and the Platform Initiative,
To widen involvement in county cricket:
Daniel, from the inner-city, and just one
Of the handful of mixed race or black cricketers today:
‘Going to Dulwich Prep and Millfield
has played a massive part for me.
Those are big advantages.
It’s definitely more a class thing.’

Now over to Arts Council England,
And its report on the arts and diversity:
‘there remains a large gap between organisational aspiration and action’;
And Penguin Random House:
‘Giving a platform to more diverse voices will lead
to greater richness of creativity and stories rather than stifling them’;
As was observed in the wake of Lionel Shriver’s Spectator feature:
‘Equality and quality are not exclusive”,
That’s worth repeating, I think:
Equality and quality are not exclusive”;
Now for Jay Clarke after his Wimbledon debut:
He is hopeful that his performance and will result in kids from working class backgrounds,
And BAME backgrounds, trying to follow in his footsteps and overcome the barriers,
That stand as metaphors alongside tennis nets on tennis courts;

Inclusivity is key to our local football team, too,
Forest Green Rovers, with its Community Stand,
‘A covered standing terrace’, where
‘FGR supports local schools, uniformed groups, sports clubs & community groups
With discounted/free tickets to matches;
School children and if appropriate their teachers receive free tickets to a match.
Community Parents, family members and siblings are welcome too, with half price tickets;
U11s can attend matches for free all season’;
And who can forget last spring at FGR’S New Lawn?
REFUGEES WELCOME EFL;

Inclusivity too, we hope after the World Cup:
We now have fewer people playing sport in our country
And more obesity in our country than before the Olympics,
Women’s football is booming so well done the women,
So many barriers they have had to vault,
Let’s hope others can follow after them;

And well done Stuart Langworthy,
England Over 60’s Walking Football manager,
Talking about his local team down the road in Gloucester
And their attitude to No Barriers:
‘We have players with a hip replacement,
One with a triple heart bypass,
Three players who have had heart attacks,
Several players with diabetes,
A great many who are differently abled,
And a player with Alzheimer’s,
Who all who once a week are learning how to play
The beautiful game, with no barriers.’

So let’s finish there,
Seeing the wood for the trees,
As we did at the end of the first half:
But the view, like the game,
Is beautiful now:
Where are the barriers?

A Bristol City and Walter Tull Declamation

Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;

And now the names of the Robins:

Edmund Burton KIA 1917
Allen Foster KIA 1916
Henry Gildea KIA 1917
James Stevenson 1916
Thomas Ware KIA 1915

Names from another century come back to haunt us:
Edmund, Allen, Henry, James, Thomas,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to James’,
‘Over here, Allen,
‘Shoot, Henry’;

The imperatives of a football team
Replaced by new orders in khaki, with
Night patrols, barbed wire and machine guns;
Muddied football boots forgotten
In the trench foot fields of Flanders;
The clamour from the ground and stands
No match for whizz bangs, mortars and howitzers;
The fogs of a November match,
Innocent memories in a gas attack:

Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;

And now the names of the Robins:

Edmund Burton KIA 1917
Allen Foster KIA 1916
Henry Gildea KIA 1917
James Stevenson 1916
Thomas Ware KIA 1915

Names from another century come back to haunt us:
Edmund, Allen, Henry, James, Thomas,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to James’,
‘Over here, Allen,
‘Shoot, Henry’;

The imperatives of a football team
Replaced by new orders in khaki, with
Night patrols, barbed wire and machine guns;
Muddied football boots forgotten
In the trench foot fields of Flanders;
The clamour from the ground and stands
No match for whizz bangs, mortars and howitzers;
The fogs of a November match,
Innocent memories in a gas attack:

‘Over the top tomorrow, Edmund’,
‘Keep your head down, Allen’,
‘Stay quiet. Don’t shoot, Henry’,
‘Don’t worry, mate. We’ll get you on this stretcher’,
‘Where’s Thomas?’

Allen and Walter –
You would have known each other,
You both joined up in the early months of the war,
You both joined the Middlesex Regiment,
The Footballers’ Battalion,
You would have trained together,
Boarded ships and trains together,
Relieved each other in the trenches,
And, Allen, you wrote this,
While, Walter you suffered from this:
‘Very trying on the nerves,
and lots of fellows get what they call shell-shock.
What with the continual bursting of shells etc.
and the thundering of the guns,
they seem to all go to pieces.
So I am afraid you won’t last long out here.’

And who knows?
Did you two talk of that Bristol City match back in 1909?
While huddled together in the trenches,
Private Allen Foster, Bristol City 1909-11
And then of Reading,
Lance-Sergeant Tull of Spurs, 1909-11,
And then of Northampton.
Did you talk of your keen Southern League encounters?
The Cobblers and the Biscuit-men?
Both teams up there near the top of the league,
In those golden days before the War …
While the ground shook and so did your minds,
And so did your hands and fingers and face ..

Wilfred Owen
Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight?
Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows …

– These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished …

– Thus their hands are plucking at each other;
Picking at the rope-knouts of their scourging;
Snatching after us who smote them, brother,
Pawing us who dealt them war and madness

Private Allen Foster’s diary page 123

Walter Tull 1888 to 1918 Footballer and Officer
Phil Vasili London League Publications 2018

A Tottenham Hotspur and Walter Tull Declamation

Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;

And now the names of other Spurs:

George Badenoch 1915
Jim Chalmers 1915
John Fleming 1916
Frederick Griffiths 1917
Alan Haig-Brown 1918
John Hebdon 1917
Alf Hobday 1915
John Jarvie 1916
Edward Lightfoot 1918
William Lloyd 1914
Alexander MacGregor
William Weir 1918
Archibald Wilson 1916
Norman Wood 1916

Names from another century come back to haunt us:
George, John, Jim, Fred, Edward, William, Archie,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to Walter’,
‘Over here, Freddie,
‘Shoot, Archie’;

Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;

And now the names of other Spurs:

George Badenoch 1915
Jim Chalmers 1915
John Fleming 1916
Frederick Griffiths 1917
Alan Haig-Brown 1918
John Hebdon 1917
Alf Hobday 1915
John Jarvie 1916
Edward Lightfoot 1918
William Lloyd 1914
Alexander MacGregor
William Weir 1918
Archibald Wilson 1916
Norman Wood 1916

Names from another century come back to haunt us:
George, John, Jim, Fred, Edward, William, Archie,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to Walter’,
‘Over here, Freddie,
‘Shoot, Archie’;

The imperatives of a football team
Replaced by new orders in khaki, with
Night patrols, barbed wire and machine guns;
Muddied football boots forgotten
In the trench foot fields of Flanders;
The clamour from the ground and stands
No match for whizz bangs, mortars and howitzers;
The fogs of a November match,
Innocent memories in a gas attack:

‘Over the top tomorrow, George’,
‘Keep your head down, Archie’,
‘Stay quiet. Don’t shoot, Will’,
‘Don’t worry, Fred. We’ll get you on this stretcher’,
‘Where’s Jim?’

You would have known each other,
Played with or against each other,
Trained together,
Boarded ships and trains together,
Relieved each other in the trenches,
And who knows?
Some of the Spurs players who survived the war,
May have searched for your body, Walter,
Before and after your last breath and memories,
Memories of Spurs and Northampton,
And childhood,
And a grandmother who had been a slave,
And you, an officer now,
Revered and loved by his men,
Searching for you out there in no man’s land,
As you breathe your last breath,
In whatever corner of a foreign field,
Which will always be an England,
Where the wind rushes by.

Post-Script:
The following Spurs players also served during the Great War, and survived:
Harry Bagge
George Bowler
Billy Minter

Walter Tull and Captain Cobham-Smith

Even though Walter Tull’s body (and his diary) was never recovered, a fascinating document has recently come to public notice that sheds light on Walter’s life and ancestry.
It was found in the journal of Captain Cobham-Smith of Little Withens, Hampshire. This journal had lain in a cabinet drawer until house clearance on the death of his daughter, and only child, Lucia Cobham-Smith.

To Posterity
Last night, I had the great honour to share an hour with Lieutenant Walter Tull – an extraordinary fellow – who showed me a deeply personal manuscript that he keeps folded in his diary. This note reveals that Walter is an even more remarkable fellow than I had first surmised.
I penned this record of events straight after Walter left me. I have tried to be as faithful as humanly possible to the words I saw and heard.

To Whom It May Concern

In the event of my death, I hope this account of my ancestry will let Posterity know of my Past, and inform the Present of how we may build a new Future.
When I was a boy, my father told me of his mother’s life, together with her memories of her – and my – lineage. My grandmother had told my father that her mother would sit her on her aged knee and sometimes whisper and sometimes sing and sometimes cry this tale:
‘Child, we came here to Barbados more than a hundred years ago. From a land called Africa, far away to the East across this shining sea. Our people, my child, your ancestors and mine, were taken from the secure and happy compound of family. A happy land of plenty and comfort: sheep and goats and the cow, and the yams and the corn and bananas and palm wine.
We lived the gladsome life of the free and easy; this was the way of life of our people, the Isha Yoruba near Bante; a peaceful, peace-loving people. No war. No killing. No slaves. The old gods. Even though I revere the past, my child, heed this:
I no longer trust the old gods and neither must you, child.

Even though Walter Tull’s body (and his diary) was never recovered, a fascinating document has recently come to public notice that sheds light on Walter’s life and ancestry.
It was found in the journal of Captain Cobham-Smith of Little Withens, Hampshire. This journal had lain in a cabinet drawer until house clearance on the death of his daughter, and only child, Lucia Cobham-Smith.

To Posterity
Last night, I had the great honour to share an hour with Lieutenant Walter Tull – an extraordinary fellow – who showed me a deeply personal manuscript that he keeps folded in his diary. This note reveals that Walter is an even more remarkable fellow than I had first surmised.
I penned this record of events straight after Walter left me. I have tried to be as faithful as humanly possible to the words I saw and heard.

To Whom It May Concern

In the event of my death, I hope this account of my ancestry will let Posterity know of my Past, and inform the Present of how we may build a new Future.
When I was a boy, my father told me of his mother’s life, together with her memories of her – and my – lineage. My grandmother had told my father that her mother would sit her on her aged knee and sometimes whisper and sometimes sing and sometimes cry this tale:
‘Child, we came here to Barbados more than a hundred years ago. From a land called Africa, far away to the East across this shining sea. Our people, my child, your ancestors and mine, were taken from the secure and happy compound of family. A happy land of plenty and comfort: sheep and goats and the cow, and the yams and the corn and bananas and palm wine.
We lived the gladsome life of the free and easy; this was the way of life of our people, the Isha Yoruba near Bante; a peaceful, peace-loving people. No war. No killing. No slaves. The old gods. Even though I revere the past, my child, heed this:
I no longer trust the old gods and neither must you, child.
Once I learned the English language, and alphabet, and learned how to understand the Bible, I learned that the old gods were the wrong gods, child. I know the true God now, the Christian God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Bible emancipated me in other ways, too.
I used to think the letter B was juju, with a malediction from Hell, my innocent one. To me, it signified the Bight of Benin, where we were chained in the Baracoon before the manacles and chains on the ocean voyage to Barbados.
Bight, Benin, Barracoon, and the slave ship from Bristol with its guns and kettles and pans from Birmingham, and its scarlet Stroud cloth.
I now know that the letter B in fact leads to freedom. The Bible!
When the Halleluja Day comes with its Jubilee, we shall all be free from bondage. No more Bondage! No more Barracoons! No more Barricades! No more Barriers!’
“Remember this, Walter, as you pass through your life. Your grand-mother was once owned by another human being – she was the property of a certain Reverend Joseph Duncan Ostrehan of Sheepscombe, near Stroud. But she helped me gain a trade and become a master carpenter, a master of the grain and of the plane: the calling of The Lord Jesus Christ. Remember my mother’s words: A Jubilee! No Barriers!”

Walter turned to me as he left: ‘I know that the letter B curse superstition is balderdash … But I sometimes wonder about the letter S: Shackles, Stroud, Scarlet, Sheepscombe … and now we’re at the Somme …’
March 13th 1917

Postscript

After the war, I became something of an anthropologist and was fortunate enough to be invited to the United States, where I had the even greater good fortune, there, to meet Zora Neale Hurston. She spoke of her conversations with the former slave, Cudjo Lewis, and her proposed book Barracoon. Her conversations with Cudjo and his acute memory of life confirm as true the recollections of Walter’s great grandmother.
The word Barracoon is derived from the Spanish language and denotes a building to hold those awaiting the middle passage from Africa to the West Indies and the Americas as slaves.
(Barraca meaning hut; or a barracks.)

Walter was killed at the Somme on March 25th 1918. RIP, Walter.

A Northampton Town and Walter Tull Declamation

Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;

And now the names of other Cobblers:
Harold Redhead KIA 1918
George Badenoch KIA 1915
Bob Bonthron
Harry Hanger KIA 1918

Harold Springthorpe 1915

Harry Vann KIA 1915

Bernard Vann VC KIA 1918

Frank Taylor survived the war
Frederick Walden survived the war
Frederick Whittaker survived the war

Names from another century come back to haunt us:
Harold, George, Bob, Harry, Freddie, Bernard, Frank,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to Walter’,
‘Over here, Freddie,
‘Shoot, Harry’;

The imperatives of a football team
Replaced by new orders in khaki, with
Night patrols, barbed wire and machine guns;
Muddied football boots forgotten
In the trench foot fields of Flanders;
The clamour from the ground and stands
No match for whizz bangs, mortars and howitzers;
The fogs of a November match,
Innocent memories in a gas attack:

Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;

And now the names of other Cobblers:
Harold Redhead KIA 1918
George Badenoch KIA 1915
Bob Bonthron
Harry Hanger KIA 1918

Harold Springthorpe 1915

Harry Vann KIA 1915

Bernard Vann VC KIA 1918

Frank Taylor survived the war
Frederick Walden survived the war
Frederick Whittaker survived the war

Names from another century come back to haunt us:
Harold, George, Bob, Harry, Freddie, Bernard, Frank,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to Walter’,
‘Over here, Freddie,
‘Shoot, Harry’;

The imperatives of a football team
Replaced by new orders in khaki, with
Night patrols, barbed wire and machine guns;
Muddied football boots forgotten
In the trench foot fields of Flanders;
The clamour from the ground and stands
No match for whizz bangs, mortars and howitzers;
The fogs of a November match,
Innocent memories in a gas attack:

‘Over the top tomorrow, Freddie’,
‘Keep your head down, Harry’,
‘Stay quiet. Don’t shoot, George’,
‘Don’t worry, mate. We’ll get you on this stretcher’,
‘Where’s Frank?’

You would have known each other,
Played with or against each other,
Trained together,
Boarded ships and trains together,
Relieved each other in the trenches,
And who knows?
Some of the Northampton players who survived the war,
May have searched for your body, Walter,
Before and after your last breath and memories,
Memories of Spurs and Northampton,
And childhood,
And a grandmother who had been a slave,
And you, an officer now,
Revered and loved by his men,
Searching for you out there in no man’s land,
As you breathe your last breath,
In whatever corner of a foreign field,
Which will always be an England,
Where the wind rushes by.

Swindon and The Great War

They were summoned from the hillside,
They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the stirring call for men.
Let no tears add to their hardship,
As the soldiers pass along,
And although your heart is breaking
Make it sing this cheery song:

Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though the lads are far away,
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.

1914
4th August: 7.49 p.m.

The factory hooter blows ten times: the order to mobilize: war.

Men march in the streets between Swindon Junction and Swindon Old Town stations; transportation of military personnel and equipment starts. The mayor speaks, to loud cheers: ‘You are leaving home and friends at the call of duty … We will see that they do not want. Our good wishes go with you … Be of good cheer. Goodbye, Good luck, and God bless you all!’

They were summoned from the hillside,
They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the stirring call for men.
Let no tears add to their hardship,
As the soldiers pass along,
And although your heart is breaking
Make it sing this cheery song:

Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though the lads are far away,
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.

1914
4th August: 7.49 p.m.

The factory hooter blows ten times: the order to mobilize: war.

Men march in the streets between Swindon Junction and Swindon Old Town stations; transportation of military personnel and equipment starts. The mayor speaks, to loud cheers: ‘You are leaving home and friends at the call of duty … We will see that they do not want. Our good wishes go with you … Be of good cheer. Goodbye, Good luck, and God bless you all!’
Mixed emotions on the platform as the train left for Portsmouth.

11th August

The mayor releases his plan to boost recruitment. Meetings in the Great Western Park and the Mechanics’ Institute: two hundred join up by the end of the month.

August 15th-17th

45 troop trains leave Swindon. Will it really, ‘All be over by Christmas’?

The Army and the Navy need attention,
The outlook isn’t healthy you’ll admit,
But I’ve got a perfect dream of a new recruiting scheme,
Which I think is absolutely it.
If only other girls would do as I do
I believe that we could manage it alone,
For I turn all suitors from me but the sailor and the Tommy,
I’ve an army and a navy of my own.

Lydiard Millicent’s Viscount Bolingbroke enlists as a private – uniquely for an aristocrat. He will suffer from shell shock and be eventually discharged from the army.

5th September

The first reports of the deaths of the some 1,000 Swindonians: that of William George Sheldon (his ship, HMS Pathfinder, was blown up by a mine). Then comes the news of the death of Captain Gerald Ponsonby (died from wounds), son of the former vicar of St Mark’s Church.

September 13th

‘On our left at the Battle of the Aisne were the Wiltshires located in trenches outside a wood. The Germans came through the wood in mass … with bugles blowing … At about seventy-five yards range an officer sprang from the trench and yelled “Fire!” Then the Germans got a taste of … 15 rounds a minute … The Wiltshires then sprang from their trenches and charged with the bayonet … It was a horrible din … as dusk settled down all that could be heard were the groans of the wounded.’

September

The ‘Liberal Women’ of Swindon collect clothing for Belgian refugees. Refugees arrive in Swindon for the duration. Some thirty homes furnished; a hostel established in Bath Road, too. ‘How hospitable Swindon has been! And what great sympathy we received everywhere!”

By the end of the month over 3,000 Wiltshiremen enlisted; Lord Methuen said this showed their sobriety and their resistance to the demon drink.

On Sunday I walk out with a Soldier,
On Monday I’m taken by a Tar,
On Tuesday I’m out with a baby Boy Scout,
On Wednesday a Hussar;
On Thursday I go out with a driver,
On Friday, the Captain of the crew;
But on Saturday I’m willing, if you’ll only take the shilling,
To make a man of any one of you.

‘It was about this time that … A German corps sent forward the front files dressed in the uniforms taken from the killed and wounded of the Wilts Regiment. The English commander was suspicious and gave orders to fix bayonets … ‘Nein, nein! … Ve are de Vilts.” The dialect was hardly suggestive of the Downs, and the English officer gave the order to charge.’

October 8th

Milton Road baths converted into a hospital.

I teach the tenderfoot to face the powder,
That gives an added lustre to my skin,
And I show the raw recruit how to give a chaste salute,
So when I’m presenting arms he’s falling in.
It makes you almost proud to be a woman.
When you make a strapping soldier of a kid.
And he says ‘You put me through it and I didn’t want to do it
But you went and made me love you so I did.’

Autumn

The railway works commences its war time role: producing locomotives, wagons, trucks, carriages, water carts, shells, cranes, fuses, guns, gun carriages, ammunition wagons, limbers, bombs, stretchers …

And with so many troops passing through the town in transit, the mayor, again: ‘To ask all householders on whom soldiers may be billeted to do the best they can for the men and to give them a kindly welcome. It will mean some inconvenience, but I am sure we are all willing to put up with this in this great national emergency.’

‘I’ll do my best for him, Sergeant, I’ve a boy of my own joined up and billeted somewhere’; ‘I’ve no one who could go in my own family, and so I’ll do my best for those who are going to fight for us’.

On Sunday I walk out with a Bo’sun.
On Monday a Rifleman in green,
On Tuesday I choose a ‘sub’ in the ‘Blues’,
On Wednesday a Marine;
On Thursday a Terrier from Toot Hill,
On Friday a Midshipman or two,
But on Saturday I’m willing, if you’ll only take the shilling,
To make a man of any one of you.

Schools such as Westcott Place, Ferndale Road, Clarence Street and the Higher Elementary are turned into barracks.

5,000 camped out at Chiseldon and Draycot Foliat. Constant traffic from Swindon Junction up Victoria Hill to the MSWJR at Old Town, and then on to the branch line. Worries that some onlookers gazing out from the bridge over Devizes Road could be spies lead to the parapet being raised and obstructed with new fences.

Lord Kitchener sends a telegram on the subject of the construction of the Chiseldon camp: ‘ … I should like you all to know that it is fully recognised that they, in carrying out the work of helping to supply accommodation for the troops, are doing their duty for their King and country equally with those who have joined the army and active service in the field.’

Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile,
While you’ve a Lucifer to light your fag,
Smile, boys, that’s the style.
What’s the use of worrying?
It never was worthwhile, so
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.

1st November

F Beard KIA, HMS Good Hope at the Battle of Coronel.

13th November

Billy Brewer, STFC, KIA Hooge, Belgium, aged 21
Enlisted 1st September 1914; name on the Menin Gate.

Christmas 1914

The 1st Wiltshire Battalion’s trench was only 30 yards from the German, ‘and was only a big ditch full of water and mud’; the 2nd Battalion was 300-400 yards from the German position: ‘A kind of informal truce was arranged … both on Christmas Day and Boxing Day between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., during which the English were chiefly employed in recovering and burying their dead, and conversations were held between members of both armies; the doctor says, ‘One of the soldiers recognized a German who had been working with him in Yorkshire; they were apparently old friends, and had a long talk together.’

I wonder if any STFC supporter, by then in uniform, kicked a ball anywhere out there in no man’s land in those kick-a-bouts of legend? But it is very likely that George Bathe of STFC witnessed some of all this (he is buried at Kemmel Cemetery – see 20th January 1915).

http://radicalstroud.co.uk/the-1914-truce-in-contex/

1915
January

The Swindon unit of Royal Engineers marches to Ypres.
Six blasts of the hooter will be sounded in the event of Zeppelins approaching Swindon.
Committee decides to spend £2 a week on groceries for Wiltshire POWs.

20th January

George Bathe, STFC, Wiltshire Regiment, killed.

February

Trade Union and Co-op complaints about ‘the uncalled-for rise in prices of food and fuel,’ with calls for government intervention and ‘steps to remove that burden from the worker’ – prices some 25% higher than before the War. You can only get four of ‘the humble’ Woodbines for a penny now too, instead of five. Licensing hours restricted too.

February 5th

Swindon Town Miniature Rifle Club propose that a local Volunteer Training Corps be formed with of men ineligible for the army but who could be trained for the possibility of confronting invasion. An outdoor rifle range will follow at the Town Gardens and Gorse Hill School will be used for drilling.

The new Army Cyclist Corp is formed, based at Chisledon. Its brief is to patrol the coast so as to respond with mobile alacrity in the event of invasion.

Goodby-ee,! Goodbyee!
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee,
Though it’s hard to part I know,
I’ll be tickled to death to go!
Don’t cry-ee, don’t sigh-ee,
There’s a silver lining in the sky-ee!
Bon soir, old thing, cheerio, chin chin,
Nah-poo, toodle-oo, goodbye-ee!

March 10-12th

‘the desperate battle of Neuve Chapelle’; Wiltshire 2nd Battalion in the thick of it with terrible losses; a letter home ran thus: ‘It was a terrible fight, for all my poor mates fell, and how I came through is a miracle. We are proud to say we drove the Germans out of their trenches and captured about 1,000 prisoners. The Germans don’t like cold steel … It was a terrible sight to see so many dead with which the ground was littered’.

7th May

Lusitania sunk with two Swindonians on board: Mrs Chirgwin and Richard, her son, on board returning from a holiday in Cuba, killed.

15th May

The large hall within the Town Hall opened as a ‘soldier’s rest’ with tea, meals and concerts – a welcome contrast with camp life at Chiseldon.

23rd May

Battle of Loos sees men of Swindon in action: 2nd Wilts.

The Soldier’s Rest in Newport Street is so popular with its quiet facilities for reading, writing, tea and whist that 3,000 soldiers use it in just one weekend. With costs increasing beyond the income from subscriptions, the committee decides it would have to charge 3d. a head per visit.

Sister Susie’s sewing shirts for soldiers,
Such skill at sewing shirts our shy young sister Susie shows!
Some soldiers send epistles, say they’d rather sleep in thistles
Than the saucy soft short shirts for soldiers sister Susie sews.

June

A new hospital at Chiseldon replaces the temporary one at Milton Road; beds in tents, too.

Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played,
The red crashing game of a fight?
Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?
And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?
Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?
Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?

Rex Warneford shoots down a Zeppelin, when flying over Brussels. Awarded the VC.

William Legget dies with his brother Ernest by his side: ‘He was a very brave chap and was very happy, right up to the last. I was proud of the way he stuck it out’ is what Ernest wrote to their mother. (Ernest would later be KIA.)

July

GWR ‘Trip’ cancelled, though hopes held out for a September holiday.

The Wiltshires arrive at Gallipoli. Their bravery will earn them the sobriquet: ‘The Iron Division’.
‘If I should die, think only this of me:
That there is some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England …’

12th July

Jim Chalmers, STFC, KIA Gallipoli, aged 37, Royal Scots Fusiliers.

14th July

Edward Thomas joins up and writes ‘For These’: his reasons for enlisting.

‘ … And also that something may be sent
To be contented with, I ask of Fate.’

My mum born and is named Nancy Mary Lorraine ‘in honour of our gallant French allies.’ It is Bastille Day.

September 4th

STFC open the season with an amateur team and lose to Portsmouth five goals to two.

Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much-
Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun?
Come along, lads –
But you’ll come on all right –
For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.

Wiltshires involved at Loos.

Poor Law Unions report a decline in vagrancy but an increase in the number of casual tramps. Stratton Workhouse reports on a reduction in inmates and the provision of outdoor relief.

The roads continue to deteriorate with so much military traffic – and the streets are dimly lit … potholes a constant menace.

If you want to find the old battalion,
I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are
If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are,
They’re hanging on the old barbed wire,
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.

October

Parcels now being sent to 600 Wiltshire POWs.

December

Care of POWs now transferred to the Red Cross, under orders of the War Office. Swindonian POWs number almost ninety – the total will not radically increase until the March 1918 German offensive.

The ‘Bantams’ arrive in town – men of five feet in height seen marching in unison with six-foot sergeants.
Scarlet fever epidemic hits the town: an embargo on the Soldier’s Rest.

Christmas Day

Stratton Workhouse inmates did have their usual dinner, a tree and a visit to the Arcadia picture house …

It was Christmas Day in the workhouse,
The ‘appiest day of the year,
Men’s hearts were full of gladness
And their bellies full of beer …

Christmas Day

Reading 4 Swindon 3

Boxing Day

Swindon 4 Reading 2 (‘a farcical game in a hurricane.’)

We’ve watched you playing cricket and every kind of game,
At football, golf and polo you men have made your name.
But now your country calls you to play your part in war.
And no matter what befalls you
We shall love you all the more.
So come and join the forces
As your fathers did before.
Oh, we don’t want to lose you but we think you ought to go.
For your King and your country both need you so.
We shall want you and miss you
But with all our might and main
We shall cheer you, thank you, bless you
When you come home again.

December 31st: “ Hopes that were high last New Year’s Eve have been brought down to the dust of realities…We have learned that there can be no such thing as an easy victory; the price must be paid to the full.”
Public praise for individuals contributing to the war effort – for example: Mr Haine of Sevenhampton with one acre of cabbages and one of turnips; the Hon Mrs Agar with the crops from eight apple trees and five walnut trees.

I don’t want to be a soldier,
I don’t want to go to war,
I’d rather stay at home,
Around the streets to roam,
And live on the earnings of a lady typist.
I don’t want a bayonet in my belly,
I don’t want my shoulders shot away,
I’d rather stay in England,
In merry, merry England,
And eat and drink my drunken life away.

1916
21st February

In the wake of conscription, the first tribunal meets to hear appeals:
‘Oh. Don’t you take him from me, gentlemen, I shall be left alone.’
And, ‘A month’s exemption was granted’ for ‘a carriage fitter, and widower with three children. He said that he cooked the meals and made the beds’.

All night long I hear you calling,
Calling sweet and low;
Seem to hear your footsteps falling,
Ev’ry where I go.
Tho’ the road between us stretches
Many a weary mile,
I forget that you’re not with me yet
When I think I see you smile.
Chorus:
There’s a long, long trail a-winding
Into the land of my dreams,
Where the nightingales are singing
And a white moon beams.
There’s a long, long night of waiting
Until my dreams all come true;
Till the day when I’ll be going down
That long, long trail with you

May 5th

HMS Hampshire goes down off Orkney. Lord Kitchener dies, as do men of Swindon who are in the crew: William Saloway and Arthur Marshall.

May 21st

‘Daylight Saving’ introduced at 2 a.m. – ‘but of course the public put their clocks forward an hour before going to bed on Saturday evening.’

25th May

Ted Murphy, STFC, North Staffs Regiment, dies of head wounds at the King George V Hospital, Lambeth, aged 35.

‘Middle of the year’

The War Office acquires land between Gorse Hill and Stratton for a new munition works.

July 1st

The Battle of the Somme

Bombed last night, and bombed the night before.
Going to get bombed tonight if we never get bombed anymore.
When we’re bombed, we’re scared as we can be.
Can’t stop the bombing from old Higher Germany.
They’re warning us, they’re warning us.
One shell hole for just the four of us.
Thank your lucky stars there are no more of us.
So one of us can fill it all alone.
Gassed last night, and gassed the night before.
Going to get gassed tonight if we never get gassed anymore.
When we’re gassed, we’re sick as we can be.
For phosgene and mustard gas is much too much for me.
They’re killing us, they’re killing us.
One respirator for the four of us.
Thank your lucky stars that we can all run fast.
So one of us can take it all alone.

13th August

The Wilts Battery of the 3rd Wessex R.F.A. at Vimy Ridge, ‘was for twelve hours shelled with eight-inch shells; the bombardment was witnessed by His Majesty the King from Mont St. Eloy, and he sent two aides-de-camp the next day to ascertain how the Battery had fared, believing that they must have been annihilated … A week later the Battery was subjected to a gas attack …’

22nd August

Edward Bevan killed when submarine HMS E16 goes down off Yarmouth.

September 6th

Town Council: ‘this Council views with alarm the continued high price of commodities, and calls upon the Government to introduce at once measures whereby this may be prevented … a copy of the resolution be sent to the Prime Minister …’

Stratton Road slaughterhouse allowed to pass on the flesh of horses for local consumption.

16th September

SWINDON versus FLYING CORPS (Farnborough)

Ground 4d Boys 2d
Grand stand Gents 1/2 Ladies 7d
The Flying Corps included players from Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton,
Millwall, Fulham, Bolton, Maryhill and Oldham.

The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling,
For you but not for me,
And the little devils how they sing-a-ling-a-ling,
For you but not for me.
Oh death, where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling,
Oh grave, thy victory?
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
For you but not for me.

19th October

A future mayor of Swindon, William Robins, loses his brother, Harold, killed at Dunkirk. William is a C.O. and a pacifist.
Another objector said ‘He could not take the military oath to kill anyone … contrary to his religious belief … objected to military service of any kind. He was quite willing to help in saving life in his private capacity, but he could not take part in any duties in a military capacity … had held his present views … since July, 1912 … asked that other points … should be heard in camera … After considerable discussion and argument … the applicant was granted conditional exemption.’

Hush, here comes a Whizzbang.
Hush, here comes a Whizzbang.
Now you soldiermen get down those stairs,
Down in your dugouts and say your prayers.
Hush, here comes a Whizzbang,
And it’s making right for you.
And you’ll see all the wonders of No-Man’s-Land,
If a Whizzbang, hits you.

Streets get darker; shops close earlier; shop lights shaded – the Defence of the Realm Act. Restrictions on drink such that ‘treating’ whereby ‘a man buys a drink for his wife when he buys one for himself’ is technically illegal. Church bells cease ringing for evening service from November onwards at Christ Church, too, ‘lest their notes should be a guide to some prowling foe in the air.’

Up to your waist in water, up to your eyes in slush,
using the kind of language that makes the sergeant blush,
Who wouldn’t join the army? That’s what we all enquire.
Don’t we pity the poor civilian sitting by the fire.

(Chorus)
Oh, oh, oh it’s a lovely war.
Who wouldn’t be a soldier, eh? Oh it’s a shame to take the pay.
As soon as reveille has gone we feel just as heavy as lead,
but we never get up till the sergeant brings our breakfast up to bed.
Oh, oh, oh, it’s a lovely war.

what do we want with eggs and ham when we’ve got plum and apple jam?
Form fours. Right turn. How shall we spend the money we earn?
Oh, oh, oh it’s a lovely war.

1917

January

Old Swindonian Lieut. A. E. Hall sends a letter from HMS Inflexible hoping that the committee could send some vegetables to his ship and then another letter: ‘Officers and men very greatly appreciate your valuable gift … A surplus over and above our immediate needs was presented to HMS Tiger. It has been most kind and generous of you, and we wish you all good luck and a very prosperous year.’

Part of the workhouse at Stratton converted into a hospital for the duration.

Many women take on male jobs; on the trams, for example. ‘Girl-clerks’, too.
The Swindon women’s work for the Red Cross is recognized:
‘Wounded men who were fortunate enough to be sent to Swindon will always have in their hearts a warm corner for the town because of the devotion and loving service shown by so many of Swindon’s women.’

(Tune: ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’)

Forward Joe Soap’s army, marching without fear,
With our old commander, safely in the rear.
He boasts and skites from morn till night,
And thinks he’s very brave,
But the men who really did the job are dead and in their grave.
Forward Joe Soap’s army, marching without fear,
With our old commander, safely in the rear.
Amen.

February

The Royal Wiltshire Yoemanry ‘in a cavalry encounter forced the enemy to evacuate … in the most trying weather conditions; in an exposed country, utterly devoid of cover or billets of any kind, the troops endured the utmost rigours of the winter, facing rain, snow, and a murderous blizzard; the only sleeping shelter they had consisted of bivouacs made from waterproof sheets … During this time, the horses suffered terribly, for there was no shelter for them … numbers died of exhaustion and exposure.’

March

A meeting of allotment holders reported that with the help of the Town Council, the Corporation and Major F. P. Goddard, over 4,000 tenants were cultivating over 300 acres. And, with the prompting of the Mayoress, ‘it was no uncommon sight to see women at work on their husbands’ plots, and in many cases women held allotments of their own.’

Six acres of land at Whitworth Road Cemetery were ploughed up and planted – unsuccessfully – with potatoes.

Tram conductresses; the ‘postman was a lady’; teachers; munitions work; office work … women bringing ‘an idealism of which few men are capable … and displaying to the full that patience and steady persistence that are so strong an element in the feminine nature … a frivolous and small minority failed to rise to the high level of the rest … the heartless pleasure-seeker, the vulgar imitator of men-workers … the selfish spendthrift …’

When does a soldier grumble? When does he make a fuss?
No one is more contented in all the world than us.
Oh it’s a cushy life, boys, really we love it so:
Once a fellow was sent on leave and simply refused to go.

(Chorus)
Come to the cookhouse door, boys, sniff the lovely stew.
Who is it says the colonel gets better grub than you? Any complaints this morning?

Do we complain? Not we.
What’s the matter with lumps of onion floating around the tea?
(Chorus)

5th April

Sergeant William Gosling awarded the VC, risking his life by nullifying a German mortar shell.

9th April

Edward Thomas KIA. His obituary in the Swindon Advertiser would read:
‘His passionate love of the countryside was largely nourished in the neighbourhood of Swindon, along the Canal Side to Wootton Bassett, around Coate Reservoir, and elsewhere. No man has done more and, in more capable language painted the beauties of the environs of our town.’
WH Davies, who would later move to Nailsworth wrote this elegy:

Killed in action

(EDWARD THOMAS)

Happy the man whose home is still
In Nature’s green and peaceful ways;
To wake and hear the birds so loud,
That scream for joy to see the sun
Is shouldering past a sullen cloud.

And we have known those days, when we
Would wait to hear the cuckoo first;
When you and I, with thoughtful mind,
Would help a bird to hide her nest,
For fear of other hands less kind.

But thou, my friend, art lying dead:
War, with its hell-born childishness,
Has claimed thy life, with many more:
The man that loved this England well,
And never left it once before.

24th April

‘Swindon Hill’, Macedonia: Ten men of Swindon vaporised; George James Smith of Rodbourne, for example.

June 1917

‘The appalling loss of life during the war emphasized the great need of caring for the infants of the race – 36 and 37 Milton Road converted into a Maternity Nursing Home.

9th July

Dennis Knee killed when HMS Vanguard sinks after an enormous explosion at Scapa Flow (over 800 killed).

Swindon Trades Council: ‘That this Council, noting … the criminal incompetence of high officials and the governing classes generally, as disclosed by the tragic report of the campaign in Mesopotamia … demands that the severest punishment be visited upon the parties responsible … no scheme of re-organization can be of real effective service unless direct representatives of soldiers and workmen sit upon all War office administrative bodies.’

August 4th

‘That, on this third anniversary of the declaration of a righteous war, this meeting of the Citizens of Swindon records its inflexible determination to continue to a victorious end the struggle in maintenance of those ideals of liberty and justice which are the common and sacred cause of the Allies.’

August 5th

Top brass inspect the Volunteers’ practice and training trenches in the field off Redcliffe Street; they also observe a practice attack conducted in two waves. The top brass are impressed not only with all of this but also with the smartness of the Volunteers.

16th August, TOWN HALL, SWINDON,

The Wiltshire Regiment Care Committee and the mayor invite ‘ the Wives and Children of the Swindon Prisoners of War, and two of the Nearest Relatives of the Unmarried Prisoners, to a SOCIAL GATHERING at the Town Hall…’

September 1917

Gaza:
‘It is with deepest regret that I sit down to write and tell you about the death of your son, Private J H Woodham, who was killed this morning… Your son was in a trench … carrying out his duty by standing-to with his rifle grenades, when an unlucky shell landed in the middle of the trench and exploded,’

9th October

Arthur Beadsworth, STFC, Sergeant, 7th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, KIA, aged 41, the Somme, gas poisoning.

‘Gas! Gas! – Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring, like a man in fire or lime. –
Dim through the misty panes and green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning …’
As if in a sea of lime …’

11th October

Arthur Milton, STFC, Bombardier, Royal Field Artillery, KIA, aged 31, Belgium. Remembered at Tyne Cot cemetery.

19th October

Harold Robins killed at Dunkirk.

November

Under the guidance of Mary Slade, the women of Swindon have sent parcels, and loaves in their thousands to Swindon’s POWs behind German lines. Clothes and books too. ‘Had it not been for the parcels received over there from Great Britain we should have starved.’ They also help war widows who, of course, lost their husband’s pay, and often had large families to support.

Second time this year that Captain HH Williams mentioned in dispatches by Field Marshall Haig.

26th November

Battle of Cambrai: Tank advance; many drivers having been trained by William George Blake of Swindon. Massive casualties for the Tank Corps and for infantry too; including STFC forward and England amateur international, Freddie Wheatcroft, and STFC reserve goalkeeper and Swindon Corinthians stopper, Reginald Menham.

There is a tribute to Lieutenant Wheatcroft (13th East Surrey Regiment): ‘He played the game for his Town and he also played the game for his country and in the greatest of all duels, he fought for his country and, along with countless thousands, paid the Supreme Sacrifice.’

If you want to find the old battalion,
I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are
If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are,
They’re hanging on the old barbed wire,
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.

9th December

The first troops to enter Jerusalem in the war against Turkey include gunners from Swindon.

‘Towards Christmas margarine assumed an importance it had never before had in Swindon; butter was so scarce as to be practically unobtainable and the public had to fall back upon margarine … ‘

26th December

Charles Roberts, RFC, KIA in Italy.

Billy Kirby, STFC, KIA Boczinge, Belgium, nicknamed ‘Sunny Jim’.
650 men attend the Boxing Day party at the Soldiers’ Rest ‘and spent what they said was the finest time they had had since joining the forces.’

1918

‘The first Sunday in January, 1918, was a meatless day in many households in Swindon’ – butchers pretty well sold out on the Saturday and closed early.

January 15th

The Mayor asks that people reduce their meat consumption by a half, and that office workers by even more if possible so that manual workers benefit.

29th January

All Swindon homes now have to use a ration card: ‘In order to avoid queues and to ensure an equitable distribution … the Food Control Committee have decided to bring a Rationing Scheme into operation at once … You are to state on this card the number of persons living in your house, including lodgers or boarders … ‘
Town Hall 29 January 1918

18th March

‘Dear Miss Handley … I wish to thank you for and the committee for the great kindness you all have shown to me during the time I have been in Germany. If it was not for the parcels you sent to me…. I think I would have been starved to death … ‘

21st March

‘As expected, the Germans began their attack at 4 a.m. on March 21st’ – our Wiltshire troops ‘were surrounded and hopelessly situated; permission to break through was therefore given to those who could get back … ‘: 200 men of Swindon taken prisoner in this, the Second Battle of the Somme; only thirty of the Wiltshires will make it back.

If you want to find the old battalion,
I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are
If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are,
They’re hanging on the old barbed wire,
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.

Spring

Alarm at the German offensive: military age raised to 50, and the medical examination standards lowered. Men have to travel to Trowbridge for their examination – including, ‘a man with a wooden leg, one who was stone-deaf, and an imbecile’.

Royal Engineers, in the wake of the German offensive, construct the ‘Swindon Trench’; the bridge deemed to be so similar to back home, it is named the ‘Golden Lion Bridge’.

Easter

Pubs start to run out of beer and close: ‘Closed, no beer: God save the King.’ Similar, if less ‘flamboyant’ and ‘ambiguous’ notices continued to be posted through the spring and summer. There will also be a shortage of whiskey and brandy for medicinal purposes, such as treating invalids and victims of the influenza epidemic. A medical certificate will be needed for purchase.

Andrew Bonar Law, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lloyd George’s coalition War Cabinet, to the mayor: ‘I know I can depend on your doing your utmost. Every War Bond bought this week will show Germany to what extent we are in earnest.’

May

‘Julian’, the 30 ton tank, arrives in Swindon, with bands of pipers, preceded by leaflets

DROPPED FROM A BRITISH AEROPLANE
“Go to the tank and buy British Bonds Certificates, for EVERY PENNY lent to your country shortens the War, and brings an Honourable Peace near.”
LET SWINDON LEAD!

Julian makes his way to the town hall, dramatically crunching its way through barbed wire and over high banks of sandbags.
Speeches from the vicar of Swindon; songs and music; throngs of children gather …

July

‘The Director of National Salvage announces that fruit-stones, including date-stones and hard nut-shells, are immediately required for an urgent war-purpose, and it is desired that these should all be carefully collected in Swindon and forwarded weekly.’ (These were used for the production of charcoal, which was used in the process of making respirators for protection against gas attack.)

8th August

Allied counter-offensive at Amiens. Tide turns, but Swindon fallen: Sid Philips, Walter Gee, Frederick Balch, Bennett Newman.

“Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead,
And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

28th September

The Labour Exchange is transferred to new premises in Regent Street (what had been numbers 43, 44 and 45).

Workers at the GWR urge trade unions to take action against profiteering over food prices (‘no further increases on the prices of essential commodities will be tolerated’). Strikes are hinted at, if needed (‘this meeting pledges itself to take whatever action is necessary, no matter how drastic’). Within a week, a mass procession follows (10,000) with brass bands in a march to the town hall.

11th November

Schools closed for celebration at 2pm. Streets fill with delighted crowds with music and flags and ribbons and with varied spontaneous processions; streets are lit; church bells ring; services are held: ‘O clap your hands, all ye people, shout unto God with the voice of triumph’.
Haig receives many telegrams today, including one from Swindon’s mayor: ‘… I desire on behalf of the inhabitants of Swindon respectfully to tender you our warmest thanks for the magnificent services you have rendered to the Empire … We tender our like appreciation and thanks to all the officers and men under your command. We beg also to assure you of our most heartfelt and lasting gratitude.’

‘Mayor, Swindon, – All officers and men under my command join with me in sending their grateful thanks to you and the inhabitants of Swindon for your message of welcome and generous appreciation.’

I wore a tunic, a dirty khaki tunic,
And you wore your civvy clothes,
We fought and bled at Loos,
While you were on the booze,
The booze that no one here knows.
You were out with the wenches,
While we were in the trenches,
Facing an angry foe,
Oh, you were a-slacking, while we were attacking
the Germans on the Menin Road.

November

‘That this conference of representative residents of Swindon, believe the good housing of the people to be an urgent social reform, demands that the Government … compel local authorities to provide adequate housing schemes … no private enterprise shall receive public money for such a purpose.’

Chiseldon Camp becomes a demobilization camp: ‘it was a frequent occurrence to meet batches of war-worn soldiers, loaded with their kit, often caked in mud, and carrying home their steel helmets as souvenirs; they were in the highest spirits as they tramped from Old Town to New Town Station, and it was often an inspiring sight to see the loaded trains departing from the GWR Station, when no discomforts of over-crowding could damp the spirits of the men bound for home.’

‘Coate Road has long been a favourite promenade for the youth of the town on a Sunday afternoon; during the war it had become little more than a feminine parade, but now it began to resume its former status as the recognized meeting-place of the youth of both sexes arrayed in their best plumage.’

19th December

‘Please accept my best thanks for your great kindness in thinking of me this Christmas by way of gift. I’m very proud of it, and have shown it around to my chums here to let them see that a Tommy is not easily forgotten down Swindon way. When one remembers the good times we had at Stratton … I know the best time I had in the Army was at Stratton, and I honestly think it was worth while being wounded for …’

And when they ask us, how dangerous it was,
Oh, we’ll never tell them, no, we’ll never tell them:
We spent our pay in some cafe,
And fought wild women night and day,
‘Twas the cushiest job we ever had.

And when they ask us, and they’re certainly going to ask us,
The reason why we didn’t win the Croix de Guerre,
Oh, we’ll never tell them, oh, we’ll never tell them
There was a front, but damned if we knew where.

The Comforts of the Wiltshire Regiment: the war years saw the following sent from Swindon to the depot at Devizes;
4,463 pairs of socks; 1,408 pairs of mittens; 901 knee-caps; 2,373 scarves; 758 helmets; 238 belts;

When this lousy war is over,
No more soldiering for me,
When I get my civvy clothes on,
Oh, how happy I shall be!
No more church parades on Sunday,
No more putting in for leave,
I shall kiss the sergeant-major,
How I’ll miss him, how he’ll grieve!
Amen.

They were summoned from the hillside,
They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the stirring call for men.
Let no tears add to their hardship,
As the soldiers pass along,
And although your heart is breaking
Make it sing this cheery song:

Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though the lads are far away,
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.

1919

June 28th

Treaty of Versailles signed. Spontaneous celebrations – but they do not rival those of Armistice Day, despite ‘youthful folly’, causing ‘much alarm here and there by letting off squibs and crackers in the thronged streets’.

Sunday 6th July

‘Peace Sunday’ – churches and chapels with, ‘in many cases’, ‘crowded congregations’.

Saturday and Sunday two weeks later:

Celebratory events and memorial services and gifts of tobacco for demobilized soldiers; sports events at the County Ground; free shows, film concerts, dinners; 10,000 at the service in the GWR Park on the Sunday:
‘Let us remember before God the brave and the true who have died by death of Honour, and have departed into the Resurrection of Eternal Life,
especially those men who from this town have fallen in the War.’

They were summoned from the hillside,
They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the stirring call for men.
Let no tears add to their hardship,
As the soldiers pass along,
And although your heart is breaking
Make it sing this cheery song:

Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though the lads are far away,
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.

To His Most Gracious Majesty the King

The inhabitants of the Borough of Swindon humbly tender their loyal duty and devotion … We desire to rejoice with Your Majesties in the glorious victory … MAYOR, Swindon’
‘I am commanded to thank you for your loyal greetings on behalf of the inhabitants of Swindon – Private Secretary’

Monday 21st July

Massive crowd at the GWR Park with the children of the town marching in procession (11,000 children present, many with a cup or mug in hand): ‘It is hard to picture the appearance of Swindon … on that afternoon; all the main thoroughfares were lined with dense throngs … and from all quarters of the town gay processions of children were converging on the Park … the sight of this multitude of children, seated in sections on heavy planks lent by the GWR Company was a delightful spectacle …’

But despite the displays and tableaux such as ‘Victory, with Peace greeting Britannia’, there was discord and disorder and rioting …

An impressively expensive town council flag pole – ‘The Peace Flag’ – burned by demobilized soldiers and supporters. They carry the smouldering pole along Regent Street and then Bridge Street, singing in unison as they march: ‘Old soldiers never die, They only fade away.’ Thousands involved in ‘The Swindon Riots’ that carry on in desultory fashion (many windows smashed, including some at the Labour Exchange; two shops looted) for a few days until a heavy force of the Old Bill wield their truncheons – ‘in the early hours of Wednesday morning the police were forced to use their batons in repelling an ugly rush made upon them in Bridge Street’. The Mayor asks for a voluntary curfew; trade unions disassociate themselves from the riots (despite the view of some national newspapers); local trade unions say they will investigate the grievances of ex-servicemen; the Mayor addresses them at the Princes Street Recreation Ground; ex-servicemen form pickets to deter rioters. It ends – but is a reminder that ‘coming events cast shadows before’.

When this lousy war is over,
No more soldiering for me,
When I get my civvy clothes on,
Oh, how happy I shall be!
No more church parades on Sunday,
No more putting in for leave,
I shall kiss the sergeant-major,
How I’ll miss him, how he’ll grieve!
Amen.

Trouble at Chiseldon Camp too:
Anger at the speed of demobilization, together with the influence of mutinies in the army, spreads to Chiseldon.
Lord Dunalley’s response: ‘There are Lewis guns in position commanding every street. My signal on the telephone and they open fire. Ten seconds to get to your huts.’

I want to go home, I want to go home.
I don’t want to go in the trenches no more,
Where whizzbangs and shrapnel they whistle and roar.
Take me over the see, where the Alleyman can’t get at me.
Oh my, I don’t want to die, I want to go home.
I want to go home, I want to go home.

Saturday October 30th, 1920

After several months and meetings, the Cenotaph was unveiled, standing where the Fountain used to stand and where a wooden model of a cenotaph had stood for some while, always adorned with flowers left by those who mourned their lost, loved ones. The gathered crowd sang a hymn, ‘ How bright these glorious spirits shine’, followed by the laying of a wreath and the bugles sounding ‘The Last Post’. The audience then sang ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’. Prayers followed before,‘ For all the saints who from their labours rest’, and then the laying of more wreaths and the National Anthem to close the half an hour service.

Silence prevailed everywhere, with shops and businesses closed during the service. All the streets leading to the Town Hall were full of people coming to pay their respects. ‘The day may come in an enlarged and embellished Swindon, many memorials may adorn her streets, but none will be founded so deeply in the sorrows and veneration of her citizens.’

After professional football had been suspended, amateurs represented STFC during the war. A meeting on June 4th 1919 showed a healthy balance sheet, while the Chairman of Directors paid tribute ‘to the memory of the four players whom the Club had lost during the war and also of one brilliant young amateur who had rendered good service … Messrs. Bathe, Brewer, Milton and Wheatcroft, and along with them Mr. Harold Warren … awarded the Military Medal only two months before he was carried off with influenza … Mr. White hoped the Club would show the reverence and gratitude due to these gallant five by some tangible memorial, and it was generally felt that a brass tablet should be placed in the dressing-room at the County Ground …’

Postscript
Other STFC players from WW1:

Bertie Arman,
222 Field Company, Royal Engineers, boilermaker, STFC 1915, d. 31st October 1972

Tommy Bolland,
440 Squadron, Royal Artillery, STFC 1909 – 15 and 1919-21, d. 3rd January 1967

Bertie Denyer
Royal Fusiliers, STFC, 1914-15 and 1919-30, d. 15th March 1969

Charlie Giles
Lance Corporal, 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, STFC 1912-14,
injured Battle of Aisne, September 1914, d. 28th March 1964

Jack Lee
Lance Corporal, Royal Engineers, STFC 1910-15, d. 1951

Matty Lochead,
Enlisted 1915, STFC 1909-15, 191-20, d.1964

George Maunders
Royal Veterinary Corps, STFC 1912-16, d.1935

Dave Rogers
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, went to France September 1914,
STFC 1913-14, 1919-26, d. 1975

‘Bert’ (Harry) Warman, Sergeant, Wiltshire Regiment, STFC 1905-10, d. 1955

Sources used:
Swindon’s War Record W. D. Bavin Hobnob Press (facsimile reprint) 2018
Swindon Remembering 1914-18 Mike Pringle The History Press 2014
Swindon Town 1895-2015 Paul Plowman Footprint Publication 2015
Swindon Town 1879-2009 Paul Plowman Footprint Publication 2009
Swindon Town On This Day Andrew Hawes Pitch Publishing 2010
And finally, two letters from my brother-in-law, Rod Smith:

Sat 19th May ‘18

Dear Stu,
Hope you will be able to make sense of the enclosed photos. To spped things up, I took photos of photos already in my album and these you will be able to trim to suit your requirements. The others were spares I already had in hand. The ones at Preshute and St Katherine’s are in beautiful settings.

Regarding the grave of William Gosling V.C. at Wroughton, I think he was a sergeant in the Royal Artillery during WW1 and was awarded the V.C. after saving his men by picking up and throwing out a bomb which had landed amongst them …

Good luck with the project …
Rod

Mon 21st May ‘18

Dear Stu,
You asked for comments on War Memorials to go with the photos and the best I can do is offer my thoughts on what they mean to me.

Often when roaming the hills I pass through or end up at fairly remote villages and without fail each one has its own memorial to men and boys who lost their lives in WW1. What touches me is the thought of the heartache each one represented and in some villages the same surname occurs several times indicating that some families lost all their loved ones in that terrible war.

Sometimes the memorials are set in the most idyllic spots which makes it all the more sobering and shows how far reaching were the tentacles of war.

What you might like to use as related interest is the story of my own Great Uncle Alfred Child, a Swindon man serving with the 2nd Wiltshires who died on the Somme aged 21 in October 1916.

My mother, then a little girl of 7 years old came down to breakfast one morning to find her Mother in tears. When asking what was wrong she was told ‘the wicked Germans have killed poor Uncle Alf’.

The memorials show us that tragic little scenes like that were happening day after day in those dark days.

Regards,
Rod