A Letter from the Battle Field

[dog]

The following has been extracted from local newspapers. Some is official information about a death, others from a husband, father and son.

The letters and stories let us into their world at the time of writing to their loved ones. It gives us a brief insight of what they were going through and doing.

Some stories are from soldiers who are on furlough from the front, from hospitals in England after being wounded or after being discharged from the forces through illness or wounds.

One thing I have noticed, whilst engaged in this project, is that it gives the names and locations of hospitals and private homes/estates which were used to tend to the wounded in England. This information may be of help to researchers as a lot of time this information is very sketchy.

[dog]

FORRESTER, Charles E, "Drummer, 1st Sherwood Foresters of Whiston near Cheadle, Staffordshire writing to his mother and sisters asks to be remembered to several of his friends. “I am” he writes “having a particularly busy time” I have been in the trenches fourteen or fifteen times each time for 3 days. It is impossible to put in a letter the many difficulties there are to be overcome. I have tasted some horrors of war. The shriek of the shell, the boom of the guns the rattle of the rifles and the whistle of their missiles. The manning of trenches is exceedingly dangerous. A shell will explode quite close or a German bullet will go slop and cover you in dirt, possible only missing you by a few inches. Yet, this does not cause you any alarm, for you get quite accustomed to it. Most of us “regular soldiers” take this as a matter of course and instil into our fresh hads of confidence that is simply wonderful. I have never regretted making the sacrifice and enlisting, I am proud to be a soldier. Should I come out all right I shall be a better man in many ways. The work is hard and one requires physical endurance beyond the ordinary. We could not do what we are doing were it not for the food we are receiving which is very good taking all things into consideration. I should like to hear from a few of my old mates and friends."

( Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel)

[dog]

WRIGHT, Alfred, "1st Company, 2nd Grenadier Guards whose home was at Cliffe Vale has been killed in action. There is no information yet as to where he fell, no date, but a letter from a friend who was in the same company states that he was one of the first to be struck by shrapnel. He was the son of the late Mrs Alfred Wright and leaves a wife and one child. He had served eight years in the Grenadier Guards and possessed the South African medal. He was 32 years of age and was an employee at the Shelton Iron, Steel and Coal Compan’s work when the war broke out and was one of the first Reservists to be called up, but did not go to the front immediately. His father was a freeman of the borough of Newcastle and was for 21 years in the Old Volunteer Company at Newcastle (Information from the Weekly Sentinel) (CWGC) Private 12828, died between 20th and 26th October 1914 aged 32. He was the husband of Elizabeth Jane of 85, Cliff Vale, Shelton New Road, Stoke on Trent. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[dog]

WARDLE, Derwent, "Stoker on HMS Crusader, ocean going destroyer is 21 years old and is the only son left to Mrs Wardle of Hcokley Cottages, Foxt, near Kingsley, Staffordshire. he joined the Navy two years ago. Nothing was heard from him for seven weeks until last Monday when a letter was received from him which stated that he was getting on all right: but the men had to work very hard. He states that he helped to paint the Good Hope and from a distance saw her go down." (Correct name Charles Derwent P Wardle born 23 July 1929 died 1978 Staffordshire )

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[dog]

TAYLOR, Alfred. "Mr and Mrs George Taylor of 3, Mill Street, Silverdale have received an intimation from the military authorities of the death of their youngest son Alfred at the front which occurred on the 22nd October 1914. He was a private in the North Staffordshire Regiment aged 19 years of age. Private Taylor enlisted about 15 months ago and had been training in Ireland being removed from there to France. He is stated to have been engagement at Nieuport and during some stiff fighting received two bullet wounds in the head which caused his death. The father of the deceased is an old Army pensioner of the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars and was service in India. He has two more sons at that war." (CWGC Private 9919, 1st North Staffordshire Regiment died 22nd October 1914. He is at rest in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, Nord France)

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[dog]

SILVESTER, Herbert John, "67638 Bombardier 19th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, 7th Meerut Divison. Hone is at Cheadle, Staffordshire. He and his brother Private George were among the first troops sent from India to the front, landing in France on October 1914. His mother, Nurse Silvester received a letter from Bombardier Bert Silvester in which he thanks her for the Christmas parcel she sent, and says “we had a fine party” in our house beneath the ground at the rear on the gun. There are only three gunners beside myself in our trench, but the worst part is, we shall have to dig another house; still don’t mind that as we have no furniture to carry with us. On Christmas day (1914) just after I had written to you our trench, and I ma sorry to say my new mackintosh which I never had on caught fire and burnt all our equipment. Three days ago I sent you a German cap enclosed in a envelope and hope you have received it. It will be a good souvenir from the firing line. The German who wore it was soldier of the 12th Landsturm Regiment. I have got several other thing for you when the war is over, only one thing I want to get now and that is the Kafeer’s!! silver helmet, and I’ll have it if he comes this way. Please send me a French dictionary. Mrs Silvester has received the German cap."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[dog]

SHAW, W J, "Company Sergeant Major, of the Oak Hotel, Biddulph has been home from the front. he is with the 3rd Rifle Brigade and was granted 10 days furlough. He left the trenches somewhere near Flanders on Tuesday week, caught the midnight boat at Boulogne arriving in Biddulph late on Wednesday night. His homecoming coincided with the visit to Biddulph of two other soldiers from the firing line. One was Sergeant Burrows E Battery Royal Horse Artillery, 5th Cavalry Brigade. He is a native of Walsall and a brother in law of Mr Harrison of Brown Lees and he left the trenches at Ypres on Monday week on three days leave. he has been in practically every battle from Marine to Aisne and Ypres The other soldier was WILCOXON, Rifleman, B Company of the Rifle Brigade He was in the trenches with Company Sergeant Major Shaw and Wilcoxon was recently invalided home wounded CSM Shaw says the battalion left England about 1,250 strong but only 350 men now remain. The German artillery he said made some remarkable shooting. With the help of aircraft they found the range and could drop shells on the trenches with an amazing accuracy from a 14 mile range. Shew had many very narrow escapes from death. On one occasion he was taking orders during a heavy shell fire when two shrapnel bullets went through his haversack and lodged in his tin of bully beef. Directly behind shaw stood the Colonel and a shrapnel bullet wounded him severely in the thigh. Another time Shaw was compelled to jump out of his trench and make a bolt for it. A maching gun was peppering him at about 80 yard range and he says he did a record sprint with men falling all around him until he reached the shelter of a rock. Another escape was when he was talking to the adjutant, a bullet actually shooting away the latter’s water bottle. Quartermaster Shaw said there was plenty of grim humour in the Trenches, where in some cases the opposing troops were no more than 30 years apart."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[dog]

PRITCHARD, Albert, "Private 6813, killed in action on December 16, 1914. It appears he was returning to the trenches after five days rest when he was shot dead by a German sniper. He served in the South African Campaigne and was afterwards drafted to India. he was aged 29, leaves a widow, Maud, and five children all living at 45, Clarence Street, Basford, (Staffordshire)."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

(CWGC, Albert, Private 6813, 1st North Staffordshire Regiment died 16th December 1914. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Hainaut, Belgium)

[dog]

OWEN, W, "Private, 18th Hussars, is at home. His home was at West Street, Newcastle under Lym after being invalided from Ypres with a badly sprained foot caused through his horse stumbling. He first enlisted in the 20th Hussars and served in India and went through the South African war. Leaving to army he was employed as a steel smelter at Shelton Bar. (Stoke on Trent) When the war broke out he volunteered his services to his old regiment and was drafted to the Queen Mary’s own. he went to the neighbourhood of Ypres early in November. Most of the time was spent in the trenches. Chatting to a “Sentinel” reporter Private Owen said the Allies have got the upper hand at Ypres. “There will be plenty of cavalry work when the German retreat starts and it won’t be long delayed” He was in the second line of trenches when the Prussian Guards made their fierce attack on the British at Ypres. “Our artillery simply mowed them down and they got no quarter. You wonder where they kept coming from. They were like bees coming out of a hive. Some of the German soldiers ought to be at school instead of fighting. There are boys of 16 or 17, and it is pitiful to see them when they get captured” Private Owen was in hospital between Ypres and Lille when the Prince of Wales visited them."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[dog]

FROST, Charles Ernest. C.S.M. Army Service Corps.

"Few of the Biddulph men enlisted in one or other of the various branches of His Majesty’s Army have made such a rapid promotion as Company Quarter Master Sergeant Charles Ernest Frost, fourth son of Mr and Mrs John Frost of High Street, Biddulph. He joined the Army Service Corps in October. A general aptitude for his duties soon gained the recruit his first stripe and his remarkable progress to his present rank after four months service is a fitting commentary on his abilities. He was promoted to Company Quarter Master Sergeant last week. In a letter home, Frost mentions that he has learnt to ride a motor cycle, and has been fitted out a machine to accompany a motor ambulance convoy for the front, possible this week."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

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WILSHAW, Jack, "Private, eldest of the three soldier sons of Mr Wilshaw of Hooters Hall Farm, Biddulph, enlisted while in Yorkshire with the Pontefract Company of King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was among those who occupied trenches along the coast at Scarborough when the German Fleet bombarded that town."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[John_Hartley]

I predict that, if we all post all the newspaper extracts we have, then this is going to be a very, very long thread.

[dog]

LAWTON, Percy, Gunner.

"In a letter to his cousin Mrs Parkinson, 61 Congleton Road, Biddulph, Gunner Percy Lawton mentions that his battery is near the firing line, but enjoying a rest while thee batteries are in action. He thanks Mrs Parkinson for “smokes” which were just what he wanted, his weekly issue of 20 “fags” having vanished. He is in the best of health and says all the men are determined to return home victorious. Gunner Lawton who is the son of Mrs Charles Lawton of Brook Street, Brown Lees is in the 8th Battery, Royal Field Artillery and went to France from India with the Merrut Division of the Indian Expeditionary Force. He was transferred to India from Barelly in Ireland."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentine

[dog]

Private Copland and a German sniper

COPELAND, A, "Private 1st Cheshire Regiment the second son of Mrs William Copeland of 18, Shepherd Street, Biddulph is invalided from the front owing to frost bite in the feet. He gives some very interesting details of his experiences. He was on of the first recruite to enlist from Biddulph as he joined the 3rd Cheshires on August 7th along with C. Hancock, W. Weston and P. Moss, all Biddulph men. He was attached to “C” Company and from South Queensferry near Edinburgh. Private Copland saw German shells demolish part of Rheims Cathedral. He had a spell of trench duty eleven days at a stretch, in the first line of trenches near Armentieres and here he participated in three bayonet charges. Whilst in the trenches he had very narrow escape, a bullet ripping away the side of his cap. The men, he says, stood waist deep in mud, and they were glad of a tub on coming out. On one occasion they were half buried in the trenches under a hot rifle and maxim fire, and when one of their non-commissioned officers was shot they had to drag him away under a perfect hail of shrapnel. On another occasion his company was relieved and had to go on fatigue duty up the firing line, taking rations. During this operation one of his comrades was shot in the back by a sniper who was posted in a ruined house and opened fire, and going inside they found the sniper riddled with bullets. He was inside an old glass cupboard, with food enough to last a month. In the house they found four dead women and a child half rotted away. A dog was lying on the child’s face and one of the childs arms had been cut off. She also had bayonet wounds on her body. The English soldiers gave the dead a decent burial in the back garden. "

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

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JACKSON, Harry, "Private 1st North Staffordshire Regiment was killed in action in Northern France on the 16th January. Captain Ewald to whom he acted as servant (batman) writing to Private Jackson’s parents said that on October 13th when his company came under heavy shell fire he did splendid work in helping to carry off the wounded. Private Jackson who was 23 years of age had been in the 1st North Staffs nearly two years having been previously for three years in the 4th North Staffs reserve. His home was at Woodend, Fenton, (Stoke on Trent) ."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

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SOUTHWELL, Arthur, "Private, 2nd Grenadier Guards who is now on furlough at his home in Brereton Road, Rugeley is suffering from rheumatism and the effects of frost bite. Relating some of his experiences, he said. “We left England in November for France but were not taken to the trenches until the Wednesday before Christmas Day. The water in the trenches reached to our waists. The Germans were shelling us mercilessly, and during one day alone we lost three or four officers in our company. The Coldstream Guards were lying in the trenches on our left and they were fiercely attacked by the Germans who occupied trenches 50 yards in front. The Germans were repulsed and lost many men. On the Thursday the Germans succeeded by means of a trick, in taking the trenches occupied by two of our platoons. Dressed as Gurkhas they look their part to perfection, and they surprised our fellows and cut them up. No attacks were made on the trench occupied by my platoon, but we suffered terribly from cold. With the object of getting some water from a farmhouse some distance behind the trenches, some of the South Wales Borderers who were near us, left the trenches on Christmas morning. Altogether 24 men went out one after another and not one of the 24 returned. It was discovered afterwards that many were frozen to death. Soon after Christmas their company left the trenches but there were only about 30 left of the 200 who went in, and they were not fit for anything. All were suffering from frost bite of Rheumatism, and some had to dug out of the mud which filled the trenches. They went to hospital. Private Southwell joined the Army 11 years ago and after serving seven years he obtained his discharge and entered the Wolverhampton police force in which he was a serving constable when called up."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[wig]

This has been on here before, but it is still one of the most powerful and moving letters from the front....

http://broadsidesdotme.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/8/

[kenora]

This has been on here before, but it is still one of the most powerful and moving letters from the front....

http://broadsidesdotme.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/8/

How extraordinary. I am copying this to the current manager of the Commodore Hotel here in Cobh, who I know.

[dog]

WHITTINGHAM, H, "Private, North Staffordshire Regiment has been wounded at the front. A piece of shell striking him in the right leg. After being treated in Lincoln Infirmary he has returned home to recuperate. Prior to being wounded had one or two narrow escapes, his bag being taken clean off his back by shrapnel shell on one occasion. By a remarkable coincidence he was in the same company as the late Lieutenant Meakin and Privates, Moor and Nuttall of Uttoxeter whose tragic ends have already been referred to. Moore, according to Whittingham was killed by the premature explosion of a shell from one of our own guns while he was engaged in digging trenches in front of the gun. Lieutenant Gordon who was in command of Whittingham’s section was struck in the stomach by a bullet which passed into his pocket. The officer who only superficially wounded took the bullet out of his pocket and showed it to his men. On Christmas Day, Whittingham and his comrades left their trenches and engaged in friendly converse with the German who also left their shelter."

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

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SALES, Walter,” Private, 2nd North Staffordshire Regiment was given a hearty reception by his neighbours on his return to his home at Dilhorne, (Staffordshire) last week. He went to France with the second draught of men and was wounded in the thigh at the battle of the Aisne. After some time in the base hospital at Boulogne he came to England and had been for many weeks in an improvised hospital at Moreton Morrell in Warwickshire at the home of a wealthy American. There were 15 British and 15, Belgians being cared for by two nurses in the employ of their kindly host, the spacious dining and drawing rooms being placed at their disposal. Twice a week they were taken on motor drives. A Leamington medical gentleman acted as consulting doctor and visits were made by the doctors from Stratford-on-Avon. Private Sales still has to use crutches and will have to do so for some twelve months.”

Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel

[wulsten]

Alf Wright, i was lucky enough to speak to his Grandson a couple of years ago.