Deadly work under the cover of darkness

On the night of the 29^th July 1915, 100 years ago today, The 2^nd Battalion, The Queens, Royal West Surrey Regiment set to work improving the front communication trenches in their sector around Rue – des – Berceaux.

The War Diary for the 29^th / 30^th July reads as follows.

29^th July 1915

Officers 32. Other ranks 961

From Hospital 2 To hospital 4

2/lt. W. Battiscombe to the 1^st Bn. 

A working party consisting of 8 officers and 287 N.C.O’s and men improved front communication trenches during the night.

30^th July 1915

Officers 31. Other ranks 959

From Hospital 2

Killed 3

Wounded 5

To hospital 5

The three soliders killed were Cpl. Frank William Cousens , Pte. B. Mannerings and Corporal John Joseph Graffham, my Great Grand Uncle in law.

All three soldiers are buried in the Rue-Des-Berceaux Military Cemetery, Richbourg-L’Avoue, North of Bethune in the Pas De Calais.

Rue Des Berceaux Military Cemetery

Corporal John Joseph Graffham (9443) was 26 years old and left behind his wife Daisy and one year old son Albert who were living at 9, Felwick Place, Red Hill, Surrey. He is buried in grave Reference I.B.17.

He is buried next to his comrade Corporal Frank William Cousens (9195) aged 24 who was the son of John and Rose Cousens, of 28, St. Peter’s Grove, Canterbury, Kent. Grave reference I.B. 18

Private B Mannerings (3716) was buried in Grave reference I.C. 14

Corporal John Graffham had fought in some of the heaviest fighting of the War so far and his battalion had suffered a significant amount of casualties since it had landed in Zeebrugge in October. Including the First Battle of Ypres and the Christmas truce of 1914

I have been writing this blog for a year now and this is the first one which records the death of an family ancestor, even now 100 years on, the sense of loss can still be felt, 

One wonders the catastrophic effect of John’s death on his wife, Daisy and son, Albert, back home in Red Hill, as well as his parents, Peter and Sarah and his brothers and sisters including his older sister May Rosetta Cobbold (nee Graffham) who was pregnant with her seventh child.

Lest We Forget

Promoted to Corporal

On the 15^th July 1915 Charles Henry Bush (My first cousin 3 times removed) was promoted to corporal in the 35^th Company of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).

Born in Wimbledon in 1878, Charles had been mobilised from the Army reserve on the 5^th August 1914 and had arrived in France on the 20^th August. He had previously served with the RAMC in South Africa. During 1914 he had been stationed at No.9 General Hospital initially in Nantes and later in Rouen.

Charles was posted to New End Military Hospital, Hampsted at Christmas 1914, one of the new hospitals established to deal with the ever increasing number of casualties arriving back from France and Flanders.

New End Military Hospital

By May it was already treating 300 wounded soldiers, including those suffering from shell shock.

Charles' elder brother Alfred, a Regimental Sergeant Major with the Royal Army Medical Corps, was still stationed in Egypt attached to the the 1/4^th London Mounted Brigade. Both brothers had served together in South Africa and had been brought up in Wimbledon in the 1880's, their father Charles dying and their mother Caroline remarrying when they ere both young.

The Kitchener Connection

Lord Kitchener was the Secretary of state for war during the First World War (until his death in 1916). His recruitment poster, a masterpiece of marketing, encouraged millions of young men to join up and do their bit.

On the 9^th July 1915 Lord Kitchener inspected the 2^nd battalion The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment. The regiment including my Great Grand Uncle in law John Joseph Graffham lined the road north of St. Hilare.

It was not the first time John Graffham’s battalion had been inspected by senior commanders. On the 21^st April Field Marshall Sir John French (Commander in Chief of the BEF) had inspected the regiment.

And on 27^th May the Allies supreme commander, General Joffre had inspected the regiment. The 2^nd Battalion war diary for that day stated:

Gen. Joffre, C-in-C of the allied forces honoured the 7^th Division this afternoon by inspecting it. The Division was formed up in a large field near Bas Rieux just east of Lillers. The 22^nd Bde was in the centre, each Bde being formed up in mass of battalions in quarter column. Gen. Joffre accompanied by F.M French and other distinguished officers passed down the lines after which three cheers were given and the troops marched past.

My Grandmother, Dorothy Renshaw, working as a domestic servant at Shugborough Hall for Lord Anson, the Earl of Lichfield, was once presented along with the rest of the staff to Lord Kitchener apparently for the excellent table setting. (Family Verbal History).

Dorothy Renshaw

I am still researching the exact date of when this event happened.

Dorothy was born in Brereton, Staffordshire on the 9th January 1902, The youngest of three daughters of George and Matilda Renshaw (Nee Thompson). In 1911, Dorothy and her parents were living at 8 Talbot Road, Brereton, with George being employed as a Coal Miner. Dorothy's sisters Alice was working as a domestic servant in Longdon (near Rugeley) and Elizabeth was married to Joseph Vernon, who also worked as a Coal Miner and were living at 6 Talbot Road.

Continuing the Kitchener connection, my Great Uncle Benjamin Hollins, originally from Rugeley, but living in Armitage in 1915 with his wife Hilda and two young children Benjamin and Henry, had been out in France serving with the 1/6^th North Staffordshire Regiment since March. His third son was born between April and June 1915. The boy’s name -  George Kitchener Hollins.

Another Rugeley Recruit arrives in France

On the 22^nd June 1915, James Fisher, aged 27, of the 1/6^th North Staffordshire Regiment arrived in France.

James Fisher 1/6th North Staffords

James Fisher was born in 1887 in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The eldest of ten children, in 1911 he was living with his parents James and Mary Anne Fisher (nee Glaze) and his 5 brothers, Albert, John, George, William and Frederick and 4 sisters, Eliza, Sarah, Elsie and Harriet at 40 Brereton Road, Rugeley. James along with his brother Albert and father were working as coal miners.

James had married Harriet Hollins (my 2^nd cousin twice removed) the daughter of William and Sarah Ann Hollins (nee Wood) between January and March 1914 and their son also called James was born later on in 1914. 

In 1911 the Hollins family was living at 64 Queen Street, Rugeley. Harriet was seven years older than James and in 1911 was working as a Tin Box Grainer. Her father William was a labourer in the local Phoenix Tanyard.

His brother Albert had been discharged from the 1/6th North Staffords on the 18th January 1915 

The 1/6^th North Staffords, since arriving in France in March 1915, had settled into a rotational routine of 4 to 5 days in the trenches followed by 4 to 5 days resting in camp before returning back to the front lines. Each period in the trenches had seen the regiment suffer casualties, it’s recent tour had been no different on the 19^th June the 1/6^th lost one officer Killed and one wounded, 3 other ranks killed, one died of wounds and five more wounded. 

On the 22^nd June the 1/6^th North Staffords were at “Aldershot” Camp, with showery weather. On the 25^th June the battalion marched with the rest of the brigade to Hutments One mile North East of Ouderdom, Belguim.

5 Cousins at War

On the 27th October 1915, Maurice Edwin Bush (my 1^st Cousin 3 times removed) aged 23, enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps as an armourer / mechanic (85 Squadron?).

Maurice was born in 1892 in Paddington, Middlesex. He was the son of Alfred and Caroline Bush (nee Searle) and had 3 older sisters Ethel (born in 1880), Mabel (born in 1883) and Daisy (born in 1885). 

In 1911 the family were living at 119a Allfarthing Lane, Wandsworth. Maurice was employed as a clerk with the Bombay Gas Company, Mabel and Daisy were both working as shop assistants, Ethel had married Alfred Fox in 1907 and were living in Kingswood Road, Clapham Park. Maurice’s father Alfred was a Jewellers assistant.

Maurice joined his cousins in answering his Country's call. Charles Henry Bush and Alfred Charles MorrisBush were both serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, Alfred having just been posted to Egypt. Another cousin Frederick Charles Bush had just joined the Navy and another cousin William Alfred Bush was serving in France with the Army Service Corps.

Maurice’s cousin Edwin Maurice Bush had recently married Rosetta Turner and were now celebrating the birth of their first child Edwin PJ Bush (born between April – June 1915). 

We did what was asked of us.

Corporal John Joseph Graffham of the 2^nd Battalion The Queens, Royal West Surrey Regiment had been serving on the Western front since arriving with the rest of his regiment from South Africa on the 4^th October 1914 and had been in the thick of the some of the heaviest fighting of the War. The night of the 15^th and 16^th May was no exception.

Battalion War Diary for 15th / 16th May 1915

During the night of the 15^th & 16^th May there were several showers of rain. At 2.30am there was an issue of rhum. At 2.45am the bombardment of enemy’s trenches & wire commenced & continued till 3.15am.

At 3.15am precisely the leading platoons of A coy scaled the ladders and rushed towards the German trenches to their front. It was now just daylight. As soon as our men showed their heads above our parapet the enemy opened intense rifle fire and seemed in no way affected by the artillery bombardment.

The Queens successfully took the first trench and two more trench lines before reaching their objective the communications trench at around 6am but were heavily counter attacked and eventually had to withdraw to the first captured German Trench by 7.30pm

The battalion war diary lists 435 casualties, 11 officers killed and 8 wounded and 147 other ranks killed, 237 wounded, 42 missing, 6 died of wounds, 2 missing believed killed and 1 wounded and missing.

The diary entry concludes

The battalion had done what was asked of it but at great cost.

One can only imagine what my Great Grand Uncle in Law went through that night and had already gone through since October the previous year. But despite the heavy number of casualties John Graffham survived to fight another day.

Tony

Joining up from Hackney

On the 1^st May 1915 Alfred Walter Read Lewis (my Great Grandfather in law) enlisted with the Army Service Corps at Holloway, North London.

He was 28 years old, 5 foot 6 inches tall, with blue eyes and dark hair and a tattoo on his left forearm. He lived at 3 Kelvin Road, Highbury Park, North London with his wife May (nee Alice May Adams) and their 3 children Doris Mary (aged 4), Alfred Weymouth (aged 3) and Jessie Lily who was only 1 month old.

Alfred was born on the 21^st November 1889 in Spitalfields, Whitechapel. One of ten children, he had six sisters and three brothers. His parents were Harry Bertram and Emily Rebecca Lewis (nee Read) and Alfred like his father was a butcher by trade. The family had moved from Spitalfields to Hackney in 1901, but Alfred was away at the Ardwick Green Industrial School, Ardwick, South Manchester.

By 1911, the Lewis family were living at 91, Windus Road, Stamford Hill. Hackney but on the night of the census Alfred was listed as a visitor with Weymouth & Elizabeth Adams and family, including his future wife Alice May Adams at 129, Packington St, Islington. Alfred married Alice, a dress maker on the 10^th October 1911 at Islington Register Office.

Alfred was tested by the Army Service Corps Butchery section and proved himself to be a fair butcher, but was not tested at slaughtering, he was assigned as a butcher to A company of the Army Service Corps Depot.