DCM and MM&bar

[enoch beard]

desmond ,

checked through walker's book and could only find two of the men listed.

12/18926 s. cummins l.g. 3/9/18

18/1328 pte smyth r. l.g. 6/2/18

i will try and find there citations first

was the other two attached to other units?

enoch

[Desmond7]

Sorry Enoch - can't help on that score.

I'll have another go with some weird and wonderful spellings!!

Cheers.

[markinbelfast]

Page 334 of "History of the Ulster division"...he's listed as having a dcm there.

page 326 states hes a bar to the MM as well as an dcm!

[Desmond7]

Mark - you talking about McNabney?

Have to dig this out.

Cheers

Any ideas about the other DCMs above?

Des

Edited 20 September , 2004 by Desmond7

[enoch beard]

l.g. 3rd september 1918 page 10285

12/18926 r.q.m.s. s. cummins r. ir. rif.(ballymena)

for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. he took charge of a lorry bringing up rations, and with great difficulty distributed the rations among detached parties in the front line. it was due to his efforts that these men got rations. they did not belong to his battalion, and his work was entirely voluntary.

enoch

[Desmond7]

Brilliant - bet they were glad to see him!

Even if it was just a tin of bully beef and some cold tea ...

Come on the Baggies!

[enoch beard]

l.g. 6th february 1918 page 1744

18/1328 pte r. smyth r. ir. rif (ballymena)

for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as stretcher-bearer,carrying stretcher-cases long distances under fire until he was severely wounded. even then he insisted on bandaging other wounded before himself receiving attention.

enoch

[Desmond7]

I think this is Smyth - double checking.

[Desmond7]

Cummings in this picture. Of the others Norman Henry becomes an officer, William Grant becomes a Sgt. KIA 1st July 1916, Bertie Letson becomes RSM of 12th Royal Irish Rifles and is post war secretary of the Old Comrades and then you have Samuel himself.

Looks like they were very much the fine young men about town!

I went back through my old pics after I read Enoch's post. It was well worth it.

Des

[sandyford]

Enoch

Absolutely brilliant.

You can have a piece of my Toblerone if Des doesn't give you a whole bar to yourself.

Des

Just for interest's sake I tried searching the LG by putting 'Ballymena' which should have brought up all the above issues about McNabney because Ballymena was in most of them.

I didn't get the McNabney entries but got lots of those other entries where people are applying for patents and things and whose address is Ballymena.

Still trying to figure out how it(the London Gazette search engine) is doing it.

Kate

[enoch beard]

yes the search engine is a pain in the backside,if i'm looking for someone i try to get the lg date first and restrict the search dates as much as possible. all i can say is 'thankyou wife for paying for broadband'

enoch

[enoch beard]

desmond,

am i thick or what!

i had a look at walker's book this morning again and saw the following-

8985 csm mc crea, s 25/8/17

DOH !

[enoch beard]

8985 C.S.M. S. McCrea, r. ir. rif.

conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in leaving our front line trench in broad daylight and proceeding to the assistance of a wounded officer. assisted by two comrades he subsequently brought him in, and that the officer's life was saved is directly due to the prompt and heroic action of this warrant officer, under rifle and machine-gun fire. he had previously done the same thing in broad daylight.

enoch

[enoch beard]

sorry forgot to put the following-

london gazette 25 august 1917 page 8836

[Desmond7]

Enoch - I cannot thank you enough.

However, I can say that your research on my behalf is truly appreciated and it has spurred me on to do a separate article about the men in picture I posted.

Article based on 'four mates, four years of war' - and it looks as if the KIA/wounded ratio roughly fits the bill too!

When I've rattled it in, I'll post here .. dedicated to Enoch Beard, Kate Sandyford, Dick etc.

You've all been great.

If ever there is a Forum convention, I'll scoot down to the shops and buy up all their Toblerone for pressies ... or maybe I'll just buy some beers!!!

Des

[enoch beard]

desmond,

happy to help in your research

now campbell!

there is only one royal irish rifles dcm winner named campbell(twice!)

7436 pte campbell, w.j. 1 bn 5/8/15

7436 pte campbell,w.j.a. d.c.m. 2 bn 15/3/16 bar

the battilions dont match your article or the dates dont seem right

i will find the london gazette citations if you like to this man. let me know?

i will see if i can find him in other regiments

enoch

[Desmond7]

For Enoch Beard, Sandyford, Dick and Mark. And everyone else.

Spent last night thinking all this through in my head because I was knocked out by the lengths people had gone to

help me on this forum. Talk about inspired by others!

This is my thank-you. Hope it does these men - and the work members have done for me - reasonable justice.

Sincerely Des

DRESSED in their Sunday best, the five young men in this photograph from 1914 look suitably serious in the light of

the decision they have just made.

In all probability, similar photographs are mouldering away in hundreds if not thousands of dusty attics, unchecked

drawers and ‘junk boxes’ all over Britain.

And not just Britain. Millions of young men just like these responded to the call of ‘King and Country’, ‘Fatherland’,

and ‘Motherland’ when the Great War began in August of that fateful year.

For the purposes of our story, which is essentially the history of the men from a small Northern Ireland town in that

era, these men serve as a reminder of the mood of the times.

If they had lived in England, Scotland or Wales, they may have joined one of the famous Pals battalions and, by the

cut of their clothes in the picture and radiant self-confidence which still seems to shine through after all these years, it

is possible that they would have aspired to one of the ‘clerks or professional’ battalions which were the rage in many

cities at the time.

Northern Ireland boasted its own unit in that vein, the Young Citizens’ Volunteers Btn. of The Royal Irish Rifles

and, if they had lived or worked in Belfast, it’s a fair bet that Norman Henry, Bertie Leston, Samuel Cummings,

William Grant and Frank Thompson would have been among the so-called ‘chocolate soldiers’.

But they were Ballymena men to the backbone. Born on the terraced streets of a Mill town which served as the

market centre for the large rural hinterland.

All lived within easy walking distance of the other. Norman Henry in Bridge Street, Bertie Letson in Princes Street,

Frank Thompson at Broadway and Samuel Cummings, at ‘The Bottom’ - so-named, presumably, because it ws at the

‘bottom end’ of a town which has always been divided in the minds of its residents into ‘top end’ and ‘bottom end’.

The exception was William Grant, who lived south of the River Braid in the Railway Street area of Harryville, a

densely populated working class area which existed only to provide work fodder for the mills and foundries.

There is another aspect to the story which is inextricably linked to the history of Ireland at the time.

All the men in the picture were members of the Ulster Volunteers , a protestant militia formed to provide an armed

force with which the anti-home rule population of the northern part of the Ireland hoped to oppose - by violence if

neccesary - the imposition of a Dublin Parliament over their affairs.

Comparisons to the modern-day gang which hi-jacked the name of the UVF in the 1960s are ridiculous.

The four men in this picture were typical members of the organisation at the time. No corner boys here but upright

citizens, church-goers, respectable young men suitable for any daughter’s hand.

Perhaps they had trained with smuggled firearms on the fields of the Adair Estate? Guarded the Scottish Baronial

Castle which was the seat of the Adair family which had founded the settlement of Ballymena (The Middle Town) in

the early 1600s.

Such training was typical for the Ulster Volunteers who were sworn to the cause of Unionism as espoused by their

leader, Sir Edward Carson.

When war broke out in August, Carson, and the Nationalist leader, John Redmond, had made it clear that they

would not stab the cause of England in the back but equally both were loathe to commit their supporters without

‘certain preconditions’.

For Carson, these were plain and simple. No home rule during the course of the war at least. Redmond’s demands,

from a Nationalist viewpoint seemed equally reasonable.

By October, it had become plain that the original BEF was in dire straits and when Kitchener told Carson he wanted

his Ulster Volunteers, the Dublin-born barrister who had come to epitomise Ulster Unionism, instructed his men to

enlist.

Some had already done so, but most, like the men in the photograph had been eagerly awaiting the green light from

Carson. Once given, the response was immediate with nearly 200 of the Volunteers from Ballymena District signing

up in one day. More were to follow in the weeks to come but newspaper records show that the men in the picture

were among the first 200, signing up on October 2, 1914.

These men from Ballymena - and those who followed them - were to form a substantial block of the 12th (Service)

Btn, The Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrim Volunteers). They joined with men from the countryside and towns like

Larne, Ballymoney, Bushmills and many more little villages and hamlets to form a unit of the 36th (Ulster) Division.

The 12th Btn did most of its training well away from Co. Antrim, enduring a harsh winter in tented accommodation

on the Ards Peninsula at Clandeboye. Their training ground was overlooked by Helen’s Tower - a structure which

was copied exactly and became their memorial in France in years to come.

The fit looking young men in the picture - or three of them at least - seem to have taken to soldiering with

enthusiasm and by the middle of December 1914, Norman Henry was a sergeant; Samuel Cumming a corporal and

William Grant had earned himself the single stripe of Lance Corporal.

We shall hear more of Bertie Letson as the war progresses, but strangely, no further mentions of Frank Thompson

can be found and his part in the story ends here due to lack of records.

By the early summer of 1916,the Ulster Division was among many formations earmarked for Haig’s ‘big push’

against the Germans in the Picardy region of France.

The 12th Rifles were to make their attack on the north side of the River Ancre on 1st July 1916.

Due to a combination of circumstances, the experience of the ‘central Antrims’ on that ghastly day was virtually

identical to that of their compatriots in so many of the ‘Service’ or ‘Pals’ battalions from the rest of the United

Kingdom.

While the main attack of their parent formation on the south bank of the Ancre at the Schwaben Redoubt enjoyed a

stunning early success, the 12th Rifles found themselves blocked by barbed wire and a scything fire which caused

horrendous casualties.

It was a black day for Ballymena and District and a particularly gloomy one for the mates in the picture.

Willie Grant, who had shown so much soldierly promise, was among the dead. He was the son of Mr. William Grant

of Railway Cottages Ballymena and prior to his enlistment in 1914 was a tailor in Messrs. Barcaly and Crawford’s,

Church Street, Ballymena.

His newspaper obituary - one of many such reports - stated: “Sgt. Grant was a prominent member of the Harryville

Company of the UVF. The Rev. Alfred McFadden of High Kirk, to which church he belonged, made a touching

reference to him last Sunday.”

For a short time, the family of Norman Henry, who had been promoted again, were also plunged into untold grief.

The Ballymena Observer reported: “Grave doubts were held as to the safety of Company Sgt. Major Norman Henry,

12th RIR (CAV) son of Mr. Samuel Henry, Bridge Street, Ballymena.

“His name appeared in the Belfast press on Monday as one of those killed. We have been informed by Mr. Henry that

he received a postcard from his son, dated Saturday, July 8th stating that he is well. Mr. Henry has another son with

the Rifles, Sgt. Samuel Henry, who was formerly headmaster at Eden School, Portglenone.”

More than 40 men from Ballymena district died on the first day of what history now knows as the battle of the

Somme.

Almost 70 Ballymena men were wounded on and around 1st July. As far as we can ascertain, Samuel Cumming and

Bertie Letson escaped serious injury.

The Ulster Division and the 12th Rifles went on to fight in many more major actions on the Western Front. They did

their share of line duty too. And throughout the war casualties amongst the Ballymena members of the battalion were

recorded faithfully in the weekly Ballymena Observer.

Amongst the diet of personal tragedy and suffering, there were brighter moments when families could take pride in

their sons, husbands and brothers and their achievements.

1918 must have been a proud year for the Cumming family - especially when the following announcement was

carried in the paper:-

Double honour

Regimental Quartermaster Sgt. Samuel Cumming, RIR, son of Mr. Thomas Cumming of Bottom, Ballymena has

been granted the Meritorious Service Medal. The recipient of the honour enlisted at the outbreak of war and went to

the front with the Ulster Division. Previous to enlistment he was in office of Mr. J. K. Currie, Solicitor, Ballymena.

And :-

12/18926 R.Q.M.S. Samuel Cumming, RIR has been awarded the distinguished Conduct Medal for

conspicuous gallantry in action. The announcement of two such awards in so short a time is a unique record.

And, from the London Gazette of 3rd september 1918 , we find out how and why Sammy Cumming secured the

coveted gallantry award.

12/18926 R.Q.M.S. S. Cumming R. IR.. Rif.(Ballymena):-

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He took charge of a lorry bringing up rations, and with

great difficulty distributed the rations among detached parties in the front line. it was due to his efforts that

these men got rations. they did not belong to his battalion, and his work was entirely voluntary.”

If the citation seems a ‘small issue’ to those with no knowledge of the conditions of warfare in World War One, it

should be explained that such a deed would have been truly welcomed by the troops.

A Quarter Master who looks after his own troops is a gem .. one who goes to such lengths to ensure that troops of a

completely different battalion were fed and watered would have been regarded as a ‘diamond’.

Another of the old chums had also made his mark on the army by this time and by the tail end of the war, Bertie

Letson had also risen through the ranks.

His arrival home on leave was recorded by the Observer thus:-

GQM Sergt. Major Bertie Letson, Royal Irish Rifles, has arrived home on leave. Prior to enlisting he was a clerk in

the office of Messrs. J & A. Caruth & Owens, solicitors, Wellington Street, and was well known in town.

Ballymena Observer, September 27, 1918

And the man with perhaps the best military potential of all .. Norman Henry, made the amazing leap from the boy

from Bridge Street to an officer and a gentleman.

Whether he was regarded as such by the regulars is immaterial. ‘Temporary’ Gentleman he may have been, but

Norman Henry and his mates certainly made their mark on a proud fighting battalion of the British army.

The London Gazette announces that Mr. Norman Henry, son of Mr. Samuel Henry, Bridge Street, Ballymena, has

received a commission in the RIR. Second Lt. Henry, an old UVF man joined in the first batch of recruits from

Ballymena and commenced his training at the temporary camp at Cleggan. He was a quartermaster sergeant at the

front with the local btn. of the Royal Irish Rifles with whom he went to France in 1915. His brother, Sgt. Samuel

Henry, RIR is at present stationed in England.

Postscript: the June 1949 Directory of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles Old Comrades Association contains the following

information:-

Honorary Secretary: W. H. Leston, 87 High Street, Belfast; Ballymena branch members - Cumming, Samuel, DCM,

MSM, 120 Ballymoney Road, Ballymena.

Of Frank Thompson and Norman Henry there is no mention.

[enoch beard]

desmond , i wish i had a tenth of your talent as a writer.

you have remembered them with honour

enoch

[Desmond7]

Enoch - Never would have been done without your input.

Actually quite emotional about the whole thing!!

No Greens I am afraid. Any regts. you are particularly interested in? Would love to return favour. Maybe some my end.

Des

[DirtyDick]

Excellent stuff, Des; and, to my mind, succintly epitomises the attitudes of that era.

A+ (or is it now A* ?) all round. Whatever it is called, certainly no disconcerting 'See Me' written in red ink in the exercise book.

Richard

[sandyford]

Des

A wonderful piece of writing to go with your earlier picture of the men.

You mentioned that you had seen a pre & post war picture of Serjeant McNabney. Would you be able to post it here?

Kate

[Desmond7]

Hopefully by Thursday.

Made my day/week/month!

Des

[Desmond7]

McNabney as a 'wee boy' on front row. Will get the post war pic on later. Another brainstorming article is booming. After the war he plays in a team for 'Phoenix Weaving' with a Military Medal winner by the name of W. McCarley! BTW this picture also includes John Houston/Huston, who went on to play for Ireland, Everton and Linfield.

This is actually South End 'Olympic' which was the 'boys' team of South End Rangers. He looks like a 14/15 year old here to me. Reckon McNabney must have been about 25 when war broke out and thus, in the second post-war picture, he will be 30/31 years of age.

Most of the young men in the picture served. Now I'm going to have to dig out THEIR records ... too good a tale not to be told!

Des

Edited 23 September , 2004 by Desmond7

[Desmond7]

For any Everton fans out there .... Here's Johnny! I also think Robert Wylie (above)gets a Distinguished Service Card early in the war .....

John Houston of Ballymena, the Irish International Association football player, has joined the 4th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles, stationed at Carrickfergus, retaining the rank of Sergeant which he previously held in the 2nd Btn. Sergt. Houston formerly played for South End Olympic and Linfield and for the past three seasons he has been attached to Everton. He is a brother Private Leslie Houston who was killed in action.

June 11, 1915

[sandyford]

Des

Sgt. McNabney - Hooray.

But, where did they park their Ferraris.

Thank you.

Kate