2/South Wales Borderers -- dates help please

[FrancesH]

The attached is from the service record of 2/Lt Ivor Cochrane, of which nothing survives except this and the front sheet of his original short service enlistment sheet from November 1914. I would be grateful if anyone can explain the dates on this document. I know from the 2/SWB war diary that Cochrane arrived to join them on 6 September, and was injured on 20 September, presumably being invalided out immediately afterwards. Neither of these dates fit with the reference in this document to 'date of leaving unit -- 12 August'. Does this refer to him leaving the reserve battalion in England beforehand (I presume that's where he was.) 

Also if anyone knows of any other sources about 2/SWB apart from the war diary and the brief description provided by the regimental museum I should be glad to hear of them. There's a bit in Peter Hart's Gallipoli which I have seen. 

Many thanks in advance.

[ss002d6252]

It reads to me like he left the unit in the UK on 12 August 1915 and then boarded his ship at Plymouth on 15 August 1915 to leave the UK. He arrived back in the UK on 30 October 1915 at Southampton.

 

Craig

[FrancesH]

Ah! Thank you!

[clive_hughes]

FrancesH,

Some more information can be found in C.T.Atkinson's History of the South Wales Borderers 24th Foot 1689-1937 in that the index of officers at the back states he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant (Temporary) 12 May 1915; became Lieutenant 28 October 1915; and resigned his commission as a Captain (Tempy.) 5 October 1921.

 

He also appears fleetingly in C.T.Atkinson's History of the South Wales Borderers 1914-1918 (reprint edn. by Ray Westlake 1999) He is noted as part of a draft of 4 officers 13 Other Ranks who reached the 2nd Battn. at Gallipoli earlier in Sept. 1915, and also amongst six officers invalided home during Sept.-Dec. 1915.  Later, when the 7th and 8th Battalions were amalgamated at Stavros, Macedonia, on 3 December 1918, he was apparently a Captain of the 7th SWBs. and had "just arrived from home", becoming OC "C" Company in the new 7th Battalion.   

 

The above volume gives a good account of the 2nd SWBs at Gallipoli, but a fuller picture of their activities is contained in Rodney Ashwood's  Duty Nobly Done. The South Wales Borderers at Gallipoli 1915 (Helion, 2015).  This has potted biographies of the officers as below.  His dates are more or less the same as Atkinson's first book, except his Lieutenancy is given as 23 October, and his Captaincy (Temp.) added as of 14 Jan. 1917.  He resigned his commission 1921 but Ashwood then adds a cryptic "?Rejoined".  This might be because he was entitled to an official war grave in 1940?    

 

As per this source, Ivor Edwin Morgan Cochrane born Ynyshir Glamorgan 1896, educated Wellington College and RMC Sandhurst.  Son of Dr. Charles Edward and Mrs. Mary Margaret Cochrane; married Dorothy Glanville Cochrane; served Gallipoli 30 Aug. 1915 - 21 Sept. 1915 (wounded); Served 4th Garrison Battn. R.Welsh Fusiliers 16 Aug. 1916 .  Served Salonika  with 7th/8th Bn. SWBs as OC C Coy. 24 Nov. 1918-16 Dec. 1918.  To India with 2nd Bn. SWBs 21.Oct. 1919. Resided 22 Cromer Road, Weston-Super-Mare.  Died 19 July 1940 [cited from SWB Journal 18], and was buried St.Paul's Churchyard, Kewstoke (with a CWGC headstone).  His WW1 medal index card wrongly gives a middle name "Edward". 

 

The RWF officer records however state he continued with the 4th Garrison Bn. after it was redesignated 26th Bn. RWF and that he "served in France commanding a company until June 1919".  Source not stated.  The 4th Garr. Bn. were formed at Bebington 15 Apl. 1916, and went to France as Army Troops in ?May/June 1918, then became part of 176th Brigade, 59th Division, and continued so after their retitlement as 26th (Service ) Bn. 16 July 1918 - Armistice.    

 

Clive

[FrancesH]

Thank you for that, Clive, there are a few details there I didn't have. 

Ivor was in the Regular Army Reserve in 1939 and was called up to help staff a POW camp at Favreuil, near Boulogne. In February 1940 he went to the UK on leave and did not return. There was some correspondence about this at the camp but not surprisingly, they soon had other things to think about. It is virtually certain that the reason he overstayed was that he was seriously ill with kidney disease, from which he died in July. The reason for the CWGC headstone is that his mother and widow ascribed the disease to the after-effects of malaria, which he had suffered from whilst serving in Salonika in 1918. 

A journal Ivor kept during the Great War and illustrated with his own photographs came up for auction in Chichester, West Sussex, in 2005, but I have been unable to locate its present whereabouts. As stated in another thread, should anyone know, I should be enormously grateful for a sight of it. Ivor and his family are one of the ten who form the subject of my research based around a photograph taken in 1915 at Sandhurst. 

Stay safe and best wishes

Frances

[Old Owl]

Hi Frances,

Are you able, or prepared, to share the names of the other officer cadets in the photo you are researching?

Best,

Robert

 

 

[FrancesH]

Hi Robert!

Very happy to give you details of the lads -- the GWF has already had most of them cited in various threads! One word of warning: the Daily Telegraph published an article on my work back in 2014 which comes up first on Google, but subsequent research has shown errors, so ignore it. 

I attach the original photograph, which shows the E Company hockey team and was taken in March 1915. It shows ten cadets, nine of whom were in the team and one who was a referee, with two staff members, Neil Baillie-Hamilton and John Priestman. Although the latter two also led interesting lives I decided to focus on the cadets, five of whom were killed in the war, and trace their lives (and their families) both before and after the war. The working title used when giving talks is 'Lives, Interrupted: ten young officers in the Great War'.

The ten are as follows: referee Isaac William Usher from Dundrum near Dublin: served with 2/Royal Irish Regiment. Killed at Mametz Wood, 4 July 1916.

Back row, from left: Frank Stanlie Layard, born Ceylon, grew up in Guernsey: served with 1/Border Regiment, awarded MC 24 April 1917, killed 14 May. Charles Henry Hugh Chesney Cook, born in India, served with 1/Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Less than a month after arriving at the front, lost his leg to a shell. Applied to become a balloon observer but only returned to France in October 1918. Survived war and died in 1963. Thomas Naunton Wilmot, grew up on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border, was farming in Canada at outbreak of war. Served with 2/Worcestershires. Survived Loos. Awarded MC June 1916. Killed Delville Wood 25 August 1916. Douglas Wimberley, born in India, grew up in Inverness, very unhappy at Wellington but flourished at Sandhurst. Joined 1/Cameron Highlanders. Present as M/G officers at the Somme, Third Ypres, Cambrai. Awarded MC in 1917. Subsequently served with the army until 1946, commanding the Highland Division at El Alamein and in Sicily. Unsurprisingly the only one of my subjects to appear in the Dictionary of National Biography! Died 1983. James Fowlie was Wimberley's best friend and a fellow Scot. Born Singapore, brought up at Forres. Highly intelligent, appointed both signals and intelligence officer for 1/Highland Light Infantry. At Arras on 23 April 1917 by which time he had become brigade intelligence officer and was i/c intelligence with the brigades on either side. Killed that day. Norman Kelley grew up in Lytham St Anne's, older than the others, training to become an architect. Served with 1/Loyal North Lancashires for five days: had some sort of fit, fell and dislocated his shoulder. Never served again. Became alcoholic. Killed in blackout accident in 1940. 

Front row, from left: Thomas Carlyle Davies from Pembrokeshire, studying medicine at Cambridge in 1914. Served with 1/Welsh Regiment. Disappeared during 1/2 October 1915 at Loos after failed assault on Little Willie trench. Listed on Loos Memorial to the Missing. [John Priestman, staff] Ivor Cochrane was the team captain and his career has been outlined above. [Neil Baillie-Hamilton, staff]. Trevor Southgate grew up in Essex and served with 1/Essex Regiment: had left it by 1 July 1916 when they suffered massive losses and joined Royal Flying Corps. RFC didn't work out and applied to Indian Army: sent to man depot for 6th Lancers in 1917 but they declined to make commission permanent. Went bankrupt in Rhodesia and got fired in Nigeria: worked for golf clubs and died in 1963. 

I am intending to publish. Thank you for your interest -- stay safe and best wishes.

Frances

[Old Owl]

Hi Frances,

Many thanks for the information. I seem to think that I may have been in touch with you a few years ago regarding Isaac Usher? However I cannot remember whether it was through the GWF or some other medium and cannot trace same.

Anyhow I do have some photos (a couple of portraits) of Isaac in uniform and also some other items relating to him--if you would like copies of these or details of the other items I hold then please PM me an email address and I can send you the information.

Interestingly I have researched an officer of the 1st Welsh Regt who was killed in the same action as Thomas Davies--I can send you my research if it is of any interest?

Naturally I would be delighted to hear when you have completed your research and published your book.

Best wishes,

Robert

 

[FrancesH]

Hi Robert, I'm sure you're right about being in touch before though I can't trace it either -- a lot of GWF members have been very generous with their time, partly because my ten cover such a diverse geographical spread. I should love to see some pics of Isaac, or Bill as he was known to his family. I should also be interested to hear about the other 1/Welsh Regt officer. It sounds like a disastrous occasion. 

 

Thank you in advance

Stay safe

Frances

[Old Owl]

Hi Frances,

I have just emailed some details on the 1st Welsh officer.

Regards, Robert

[FrancesH]

Many thanks!

[Bryn]

Frances, I assume you already know, from the War Diary, that a bomb went off in 2nd Lieutenant Cochrane’s hand during a Turkish attack on 20 September, which wounded him and five men.

[FrancesH]

Hi Bryn, yes indeed I did know that. You may like to know that following practice at the time, the injured hand was stitched up on board the hospital ship on the way home, sealing in the infection. When he arrived home to the Rhondda, his father, a colliery doctor, evidently recognised his son's three fingers were too far gone to be saved and amputated them. 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

On 05/05/2020 at 08:30, FrancesH said:

The reason for the CWGC headstone is that his mother and widow ascribed the disease to the after-effects of malaria, which he had suffered from whilst serving in Salonika in 1918. 

That can't be correct.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of associating the cause of death to Great War Service, the cut-off date for CWGC commemoration was August 31st 1921.

There are many documented cases of men who died of proven war related conditions, but are not, cannot be, commemorated by the CWGC as the death is after the cut-off date.

 

He must be commemorated by CWGC for some other reason.

Presumably that the illness that caused his death was caused or aggravated by military service during the Second World War.

[FrancesH]

Oh thank you, that's really interesting! I did not know that. I should welcome your comments, therefore, on the decision to give him a CWGC headstone which I found rather surprising.

His WW2 service consisted to serving as staff for a POW camp at Favreuil, near Boulogne. He arrived there on 14 October 1939 (obviously with other officers and ORs) to set the camp up. The war diary notes that from October onwards there was heavy rain, turning to snow in January. On 29 January leave for the BEF was suspended but nevertheless Ivor Cochrane left on leave on 4 February, which is noted in the war diary without comment. On 15 February it was noted that he was due back but had not returned. On 19 February his CO wrote to AQ 1Corps and GHQ reporting Ivor's absence and asking if they had any idea where he was. He is not mentioned again in the war diary. He died in Weston-super-Mare on 19 July of subacute nephritis. This term is no longer used, but basically means long-term kidney disease. The death notice posted in the local newspaper by his mother specifically says that the illness was contracted on active service. However, I have discovered that Ivor's father, aunt and uncle all died of long-term kidney disease , which suggests a genetic pattern, the most likely being polycystic kidney disease. I do therefore wonder if in fact his death was not caused by military service. I realise it's not going to be possible to prove anything, but at least I now know NOT to say it was due to service at Salonika.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

1 hour ago, FrancesH said:

I do therefore wonder if in fact his death was not caused by military service.

It might, or it might not have, the point is that he died whilst in military service during the Second World War.

 

1 hour ago, FrancesH said:

I realise it's not going to be possible to prove anything, but at least I now know NOT to say it was due to service at Salonika.

We can't prove that of course, but unlikely I think.

 

This is from the CWGC website entitled "Who we commemorate":

 

CWGC are responsible for the commemoration of personnel who died between
4 August 1914 and 31 August 1921 and
3 September 1939 and 31 December 1947
whilst serving in a Commonwealth military force or specified auxiliary organisation.

 

Personnel who died between 
4 August 1914 and 31 August 1921 and
3 September 1939 and 31 December 1947
after they were discharged from a Commonwealth military force, if their death was caused by their wartime service.

 

Commonwealth civilians who died between 
3 September 1939 and 31 December 1947
as a consequence of enemy action, Allied weapons of war or whilst in an enemy prison camp.

[FrancesH]

Thank you, very useful to have the actual list of definitions. Whether or not Ivor's death was actually caused by military service on which he was engaged will never be known! He lost most of his right hand during the Great War and seems to have been a conscientious officer who did his best -- so RIP Ivor. Perhaps 2021 will be the year in which I finally manage to visit your grave!