Unveiling of the Menin Gate 1927

[Moriaty]

In Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Ypres Salient and Passchendaele they mention that, at the unveiling of the Menin Gate in 1927, Field Marshall Plumer was introduced to two Englishwomen, Mrs Shrubhole of Clapham and Mrs Merriman of Croydon who represented the bereaved of the war.

Does anyone know how the two came to be chosen and what the criteria were?

Incidentally, I think it may be Mrs Shrubsole rather than Shrubhole.

Any help will be most welcome.

Moriaty

[KevinBattle]

Not knowing the correct answer, I could suggest that either they were women who suffered the loss of many of their children and perhaps husbands during the conflict or were high in any War Widows movement, possibly also having a relative commemorated on the Gates.

I think that at the ceremony for the Unknown Warrior at the Cenotaph, arrangements were made for widows who lost not only their husbands, but also many sons, to attend..... but that may be apocryphal..

Await arrival of an expert...

[ianw]

Perhaps not unsurprisingly there is both a Shrubshole and a Merriman on the Menin Gate (Also a rather amazing 5 Shrubsoles on the Thiepval Memorial). I would hope they were selected at random from the list of bereaved widows and mothers known to be going on the trip - although perhaps it would have been better if they had been selected from women who could not afford to go.

Perhaps "The Times" report on the opening ceremony comments?

[susanhemmings]

Google search of Mrs Merriman at the Menin Gate 1927:

Chapter 1

The Menin Gate was completed in 1927, almost two years behind schedule. ... Mrs. Emily Shurbsole of Clapham and Mrs. Merriman of Croydon. ...

(page unavailable at time of posting)

Susan

I did note that two Merriman sons were on the Menin Gate. (John - Queens G8933 21.10.14 and Arthur Preston Manchesters 41839 31.7.17)

(Have not checked the Shrubsole names)

[Moriaty]

I have just had a quick look on the CWGC database and there are 14 soldiers and 1 Boy 1st Class in the RN with the surname Shrubsole.

I wonder if they were all related and Mrs Emily Shrubsole represented the family?

Moriaty

[KevinBattle]

Where Additional Information is supplied, the Shrubsoles don't show as brothers etc, maybe cousins, but no direct reference to any other family members having fallen...

The surname is unusual, so no doubt there is a relationship "somewhere" but at what remove, I cannot say.

There does seem a preponderance of them in Kent Regiments

The 44 Merrimans (a most ironic Name in these circumstances) seem more widely scattered, but Staffordshire seems to crop up a lot.

Still unable to deduce why these women were selected.

[NigelS]

This might help identify them, The Times reporting of the dedication gives a little more detail of their home addresses:-

NigelS

[susanhemmings]

Managed to access the article:

(mentioned in Post #4)

The Menin Gate was completed in 1927, almost two years behind schedule.[59] Opening ceremonies were to be held on July 24. Admission to these ceremonies was by ticket; 6000 such tickets were allocated. These tickets were made available to close relatives of those men commemorated on the Gate and then to soldiers who had fought in the Ypres area.[60] In mid-June, an announcement was made that funds would be provided to 200 widows otherwise unable to attend the ceremony; the generous response to this announcement allowed for provisions for more women to travel to Belgium. This emphasis on women was not unusual. By the late 1920s, the bereaved, as Adrian Gregory has noted, had come to be primarily associated with women. In its Armistice Day edition in 1927, the Daily Herald summed up the dichotomy: “The men who won, and the women who lost.”[61] Further, the memorials were considered first as a consolation for the bereaved and only second as solace for those who had fought and survived. The intended audience for the ceremonies surrounding the opening of the Menin Gate was that of widows and parents, not veterans.

Sunday, July 24, 1927, was a bright, sunny day in Ypres.[62] The area around the Gate was filled with visitors, as was the town itself. The official party was led by the Belgian King Albert and Lord Plumer, the British Field Marshal in charge of the Second Army and the defense of Ypres from 1915-17. Just before the ceremony began, Blomfield was presented to the King, as were two war widows, Mrs. Emily Shurbsole of Clapham and Mrs. Merriman of Croydon. Just as the Unknown Warrior represented all men who died in the War, these two women seemed to stand for all the bereaved. The ceremony opened with a prayer written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, praising the “host of brave men who gave their lives for our country’s safety and for the cause of right ... ‘missing’, but not outside the Father’s knowledge and the Father’s love.” The prayer concluded with a plea for the living, “to grant that as we raise their memorial, so we may walk worthy of their fellowship.”[63] Lord Plumer spoke at some length, giving an account of the Menin Gate,

a memorial worthy of them which should give expression to the nation's gratitude for their sacrifice and their sympathy with those who mourned them. A memorial has been erected which, in its simple grandeur, fulfills this object, and now it can be said of each one in whose honour we are assembled here today – “He is not missing; he is here.”[64]

[Moriaty]

Thanks to everyone for the information, it is interesting to note the various spellings of one of the surnames, viz Shurbsole and Shrubhole, but I think the correct spelling is Shrubsole.

Mrs Caroline Merriman of Donald Road, Croydon had two sons commemorated on the Menin Gate:- Private John Merriman of C Coy, 2nd Battalion, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey), killed in action on 21 October 1914, aged 24 and Private Arthur Preston Merriman of the 19th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, killed in action on 31 July 1917, aged 23.

Mrs Emily Shrubsole of Lavender Road, Clapham (close to Clapham Junction) had one son commemorated on the Menin Gate, Private Henry Arthur Victor Shrubsole of the 2nd Battalion, Shropshire Light Infantry, killed in action on 7 May 1915, aged 28.

Although there are a considerable number of soldiers named Shrubsole who died in the Great War, having done a fair bit of checking, I think that Private HAV Shrubsole was the only one of Emily's own family who was killed. I think she had about thirteen children, but a number had died in infancy.

It is interesting that the account in The Times of 25 July 1927 initially says they were "representing those bereaved in the war" and at the wreath laying, when "the two English women" laid the fourth wreath (after the King of the Belgians, Lord Plumer and Sir Laming Worthington-Evans for the British Government) the newspaper said it was for "the mothers of the unknown dead".

I still have yet to discover how Mrs Shrubsole and Mrs Merriman were selected, it seems slightly unusual that it was two English women from the London area. Any further thoughts?

Moriaty

[ianw]

I still have yet to discover how Mrs Shrubsole and Mrs Merriman were selected, it seems slightly unusual that it was two English women from the London area. Any further thoughts?

I would imagine that these ladies may have been selected from among the ranks of the women whose travel was charitably funded.(See Susan's post 8) Given that they got to meet King Albert,Plumer etc I would think that they may have been "vetted" to make sure that they were literally "presentable". This would have been easier to do with ladies based in London than elsewhere in the UK.

The picture below shows Donald Street Croydon consists of modest Edwardian terraced houses whose occupiers may well not have been able to afford continental travel back then - these houses worth £200k plus today though, with a similar property in gentrified Lavender Rd Clapham worth £400k plus. Changing times.

[susanhemmings]

Super stuff Ian, brings it all to life.

Susan

[Moriaty]

There is some very interesting old silent film about the Menin Gate on the site: www.britishpathe.com

If you do a search on Menin Gate or Pilgrimage you will find footage of:

The Great Pilgrimage of Love, 1 min 15 seconds, dated 28 July 1927

The Greatest Pilgrimage, dated 9 August 1928

The Army of Remembrance, dated 13 August 1928

Moriaty

[Moriaty]

I think I may have partly answered my original question after a trawl through the archive of The Times.

Initially there were to be 6000 tickets for the unveiling of the Menin Gate, these could be applied for. On 21 June 1927 it was reported that The Menin Gate Memorial Committee, which consisted of Lord Strathcona & Mount Royal, Lord Titchfield, Lady Haig, Lieutenant General Sir William Pultney, Dame Clara Butt and others, was arranging. in conjunction with St Barnabas Pilgrimages and the Ypres League, for the attendance of a party of British women at the unveiling ceremony on Sunday 24 July. "These women will be selected from relatives of men who actually fell in this salient, women who cannot afford to make the journey to Belgium without assistance. Mr DG Somerville, ex MP, chairman of the committee and Engineer-Constructor of the Menin Gate, is paying the expenses, travelling, food and sleeping accommodation, of 200 poor relatives, as a tribute to the gallant dead."

A later issue of the paper reported that a large number of applications had been received to be a part of this group. It was reiterated that the hospitality could only be extended to those who would not otherwise be able to afford to make the journey and who were "nearly related to the men actually killed in this salient."

By July 9 the 200 women had been selected, The Times reported "In order, however, that those who have not been chosen may have some momento of the occasion, an ex officer is paying for the printing and publishing of 100 souvenir albums, which will contain a preface by "Ian Hay", photographs of the memorial panels and the unveiling ceremony, an article on the construction of the gate, descriptive accounts of the scenes and copies of the speeches."

The Times of 22 July wrote "A British Legion band will accompany the 200 women guests of Mr D G Sommerville on their pilgrimage to the memorial. The party includes some of the very aged and infirm. A short service will be held at the station before re-embarking."

Mrs Shrubsole and Mrs Merriman must have been selected from the 200 British women in the group.

Moriaty

Two footnotes

I was interested to see in the same article that the London Midland and Scottish Railway announced that "no passports will be required for their special excursion on Saturday to Ypres for the unveiling of the Menin Memorial".

Re the Pathe News film I mentioned in an earlier posting, Pathe proudly announced that, although the ceremony at the Menin Gate did not finish until midday, film of the unveiling was to be seen in London cinemas at 6.30pm that evening.

[susanhemmings]

Moriaty

Thanks for posting all that information. It makes interesting reading.

I just wonder how those women felt standing at that ceremony.

When I stood under that dome I did not feel alone. It was an eerie feeling but not an uncomfortable one. I suspect it had something to do with one of my faviourite paintings of the Menin Gate. Imagining, I suppose, all those soldiers marching up to the gate in the moonlight, together with the verse that goes with it.

Susan

[dfaulder]

>><<

I still have yet to discover how Mrs Shrubsole and Mrs Merriman were selected, it seems slightly unusual that it was two English women from the London area. Any further thoughts?

Moriaty

I don't find it unusual that the "select two" were from (South) London. Many saw London as the centre of the world and viewed people from elsewhere as "provincials"; I would imagine that in the more deferential 1920s such attitudes were more tolerated so such a selection would not have been widely questioned. (Even though Daniel Somerville who may have funded the 200 was earlier MP for Barrow-in-Furness - and later for Willesden East in London - he had lived in London since moving from Edinburgh in 1905 (ref); I suspect "the two" were selected by a London based committee.)

Croydon and Clapham would probably have been areas vaguely known to those in London doing the selecting - they may have viewed them as being sufficiently "representative" of other ranks backgrounds and being "safe" without being "hot beds of socialism" - which they may have perceived as a risk if they had selected widows from provincial areas outside their experience. Possibly they also felt that they were more likely to speak "proper" and that a South London accent was more likely to be understood than a possibly more random provincial accent.

David

[ianw]

I just wonder how those women felt standing at that ceremony.

Susan

Yes, it must have been really daunting for them mixing with "the great and the good".

It is clear that the 1927 opening ceremony fired the public imagination as 1928 saw a substantially bigger attendance at the Menin Gate at the culmination of the British Legion's "Great Pilgrimage". Plumer's famous declaration about the lost dead - "They are here!" - really struck a chord.

[NigelS]

Another interesting point from The Times reporting is that the ceremony was broadcast by the BBC:

The broadcasting of yesterday's ceremony of the unveiling of the Menin Gate was quite successful, and in view of the difficulties, the reception was good. Three engineers from the BBC went over to Ypres on Friday with special apparatus, which included microphones, amplifiers, and control gear in duplicate and the apparatus was connected with two private telephone lines running from the Menin Gate to telephone exchange in Ypres.

This must have been one of the earliest outside broadcast made to the UK from outside of the UK. This Link (from the 'Horse's mouth', so to speak) gives that the very first OB was in 1923 with the first international relay in 1924; To put the broadcasting of the Menin Gate Ceremony in perspective, amongst other events, the FA cup final was broadcast for the first time the same year.

I wonder how many of the 100 'Souvenir Albums', or for that matter the Order of Service for the event, survive - anybody have or seen one of either?

NigelS

[ianw]

I have a photo-copy of the order of service that some kind soul sent me a while ago - it records the first official playing of the Last Post at the Menin Gate -by the Suffolks if I recall rightly?

As you say, I am sure we would all love a copy of the "Souvenir Album" but I have not come across one for sale. Memorabilia from the 1928 Legion Ceremony is more common.

[Moriaty]

Thanks to all for their comments/information, I was interested in David's comments about Clapham and Croydon being "safe ... without being hot beds of socialism", Mrs Shrubsole lived near Clapham Junction which was close to the Battersea North parliamentary seat of Shapurji Saklatvala who was elected the Communist MP in 1922, he lost his seat the following year, but was re-elected (with no Labour opponent) in 1924 and held the seat until 1929.

Moriaty

[ianw]

Possibly relevant that both women selected were mothers rather than widows - therefore less likely to have been infected by any radicalism than younger war widows and arguably more likely to behave with dignity at the Menin Gate . I am sure they would have been vetted and this, in addition to concerns about broad regional accents, explains why they came from London.

[Jacky Platteeuw]

Ian,

First Last Post ever,during the unveiling,was sounded by Somerset Light infantry buglers.

Best wishes,

Jacky

[ianw]

....sounded by Somerset Light infantry buglers.

Thanks Jacky. I had the starting "S" right and that was all!

Regards Ian

[Moriaty]

Having just re-read the section on the Menin Gate in the Holt's Ypres book, I see that 700 rather than 200 mothers attended the 1927 unveiling ceremony. The Times did say that donations for this had enabled more than the originally planned number of 200 to attend, but I dont think they mentioned the figure of 700.

Moriaty

[Guest]

Caroline Merriman was my great Grandmother.  My Grandfather was Reginald, the younger brother of John and Arthur.  Reginald was a young teenager when his brothers were killed.

[Neil Mackenzie]

Is there a list anywhere of the people who got tickets to the unveiling of the Menin Gate memorial?

I have a small 'medal' which seems to be tourist ware from that time. There is a possibility that my great-grandmother attended the unveiling as her step son (Alfred Cecil Dingle) is commemorated on the memorial and her husband had passed away by 1927 so, if anyone from the family attended, it would have been her.

Many thanks

Neil

P.S. Apart from the roll of honour there is no mention of Caroline Merriman in the book 'Croydon and the Great War' so she does not seem to have been someone who was a person of note on any sort of committee.

Edited 19 May , 2022 by Neil Mackenzie