14th Light Division History - Great War Group Project

[Gareth Davies]

Want to write a Divisional History?  Now's your chance (if you are a GWG member).

 

https://greatwargroup.com/research/

[Guest]

  There is already a small history, despite what GWG says in it's blurb:

 

THE 14TH DIVISION IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

Published 1921, seemingly by CWGC (unlikely)  -80pp.

[AOK4]

  There is already a small history, despite what GWG says in it's blurb:

 

THE 14TH DIVISION IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

Published 1921, seemingly by CWGC (unlikely)  -80pp.

Isn't that one of the series of divisional histories (basically extracts from the war diaries) indeed by the IWGC (CWGC)? There's a red hardcover book for every division. They used to be available in the IWM library (when I was there more than 20 years ago).

[Guest]

I believe so-  it would be interesting when the GWG project proceeds to see what War Diary stuff has been removed- and how the war diaries for the component parts of the division may help if they are not at TNA-ie Other copies of unit diaries that were kept away from Sir James Edmonds. Twice in 2 weeks I have used war diaries where the reports of (failed and costly) actions are no longer with the TNA  set- one of the 2/4 Glos, 1917  the other for 32 RF in 1916.  Annoying.

   It looks a good idea to have a go at co-operative history -now that the generation-and traditions-of Atkinson or Wyrall have long gone. Hopefully, not just another divisional staff officer  effort which bores people rigid.  Hopefully, there are listed a couple of battalions of KRRC and Rifle Brigade, so I expect young Brockway and young Stiletto (Andy) will bring that stuff up to snuff.

    It will be interesting to see how a modern divisional history emerges in today's world. I hope it all goes well.

 

[Gareth Davies]

  There is already a small history, despite what GWG says in it's blurb:

 

THE 14TH DIVISION IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

Published 1921, seemingly by CWGC (unlikely)  -80pp.

1.  It is not what I would call a Divisional History.

2. The GWG hasn't said anything about whether or not the 14th Light Division has a written history, regardless of format.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Gareth Davies said:

The GWG hasn't said anything about whether or not the 14th Light Division has a written history, regardless of format.

 

      Happy to agree on both points!!   I enclose below a write-up for a local casualty who served with this division, 10th DLI- You are welcome to have it or bin it, to your choice. I note that I have 4 other casualties who served in units of 41st Div-2 with KRRC and 2 with 6 DCLI. COVID is hampering finishing these off (War Diary and Everard Wyrall don't quite tally for one of them in DCLI)

 

CHAPMAN,  HARRY  REYNOLDS

Major,  10^th. (Service) Battalion,The Durham Light Infantry, New Armies

Killed in action near  Hooge, 27^th June 1915, age 47

   Henry Reynolds  Chapman- always known as Harry- was born at  Benares, India on 27^thApril 1868. His father Abel Henry Chapman was then a Captain in the 19^th Hussars. Though Harry Reynolds Chapman had a long association with Tyneside and he was killed serving with the Durham Light Infantry, his family were local to Wanstead and part of the Quaker aristocracy of the Metropolis, the interwoven  dynasties of  wealthy Quaker  business families.

                                                                                                   

     Abel Chapman was born in Wanstead on 10^th May 1836, the family being listed in the 1841 Census as being of “Wanstead Village” (and later at 67 The Mall). In turn, Harry Chapman’s grandfather, Jonathan Chapman, was a prosperous merchant from Woodford, prominent in the silk trade (His wife was a Reynolds, hence Harry’s middle name from his paternal grandmother)  His great-grandfather, also  Jonathan Chapman  was married to Elizabeth  Hanbury in 1795 (a Quaker marriage in Tottenham). Her father, Sampson Hanbury,  had bought out a controlling interest in Truman’s Brewery in 1788 and managed it for the next 46 years. Sampson Hanbury’s nephew was Thomas Fowell Buxton, prominent in the abolition of the Slave Trade and partner in the Truman Hanbury Brewery (later, Truman,  Hanbury and Buxton)  while the later Buxton family were foremost in the campaign that brought Epping Forest and Wanstead Flats into the benign ownership of the Corporation of London. The family business was based at the Black Eagle Brewery in Spitalfields.

    Harry Chapman’s family  had the comfortable prosperity of the middle-class Victorians. His father, Abel Chapman, had sought a military career, being nominated to the Honourable East India Company’s Service (even though his father was a staunch Quaker) and being gazetted to the Bengal Cavalry on 20^th September 1856. In 1857 his regiment, 1^st Bengal Cavalry, mutinied and the surviving British officers were instrumental in setting up  the  Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry at Calcutta. Abel Chapman served with distinction in the Mutiny, with the Malwa Field Force and, in 1857-58 seconded to the 14^th Dragoons and the Central India Field Force.  At the conclusion of the Mutiny campaigns the Bengal Cavalry was reorganised into 5 new cavalry regiments and Abel Chapman became an officer in the new 19^th Hussars, stationed at Meerut.

     Abel  Chapman married  Mary Fraser at Meerut on 11^th January 1866, she being from a Scottish family which, as with many, were connected with  service in the East India Company. Two of Abel Chapman’s sisters, both born at Wanstead, married into  Company families-Emma, who married Major Alexander Todd of the Madras Staff Corps at Kemptee in June 1862 and Louisa, who married Henry Perkins of the Bengal Civil Service at Lahore in September 1861. During the Mutiny, the female members of the Chapman family were prominent in the London-based Fund for the Relief of the Sufferers by the Indian Mutiny. Abel Chapman was made Adjutant of his regiment in 1862 and was promoted Captain in 1869, apparently by exchange-one of the last officers to do so before the abolition of the system of purchase and exchange by the reforms of Edward Cardwell.  But promotion was slow and after the regiment returned to England and barracks at Canterbury in early 1870, Abel Chapman sought a new career. He retired from the army  on 7^th January 1874 and bought an interest  in the William Clarke engineering company at Gateshead. That a middle-aged ex-Indian Army cavalry officer should do so may seem unusual but the Quaker tradition of industry and enterprise (and, of course, family connections) soon propelled Abel Chapman into a successful business career.

Harry Chapman’s education is not known in detail. In the 1881 Census he was listed as being at school in Moffat, Dumfriesshire (almost certainly through his mother’s connections), the school being presumed to be St.Ninian’s Academy. He was subsequently educated at Uppingham, where he was at Constables House from January 1883 until he left in July 1885. His house was always run by ordained masters, so it is likely that his parents wanted him grounded in the Church of England in faith matters. On 9^th November 1887, Harry Chapman signed apprenticeship articles with the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company “to learn the business of a manufacturer of engines and machinery”. In July 1893, Harry Chapman became one of the 3 directors in his father’s firm when reorganised as a limited company.

    Abel Chapman had grown the engineering company of William Clarke, fortuitously helped by technological developments. The firm’s business was winches and small cranes of all description but mostly for marine use on the decks of ships. In 1868 the company introduced the first of a series of successful steam-powered winches.  The firm had changed to a partnership, Clarke, Chapman and Gurney in 1875, with the addition of Abel Chapman and Joseph Gurney  to the management, alongside William Clarke. Chapman provided financial and managerial experience to Gurney’s chairmanship, while Clarke continued to be at the forefront of marine power technology. The firm moved to Victoria Works at Gateshead in 1882, employing some 350 workers in the midst of the Tyneside shipbuilding industry. The key to its success was the longstanding provision of finance from Quaker sources-Joseph Gurney was a member of the powerful Norwich-based Quaker family of bankers.

     The biggest break for  Clarke Chapman was the hiring of the brilliant young engineer, Charles Parsons, who secured an eighth share of the firm and a directorship on payment of £14,000. Parsons crucially developed steam turbines which could produce electricity-a crucial and enduring development in marine power systems.  Clarke Chapman set up an Electrical Installation Department in 1886 to provide Parsons with research facilities, while Parsons himself collaborated with Joseph Swan, the Newcastle-based developer of electric lighting. A rift came in 1889 when Parsons set up a power generating company, Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company and he resigned when confronted by Abel Chapman over the conflict of interest.  But Clarke Chapman continued to take an interest in large-scale steam generators as the Electric Lighting Act of 1882 had stimulated the construction of power stations. Thus, when Harry Reynolds Chapman became a Director in 1893, the firm was prosperous, innovative and well-managed.

    Harry Chapman succeeded to the Chairmanship on the death of his father in 1902. Although the trend in technological industries had been towards amalgamation and technocratic replacement of family structures, Clarke Chapman had resisted this by the astute policy, propounded by Harry Chapman, of hiring bright apprentices at a premium in return for a first-class technical education, much on the system prevalent in Germany. Money was raised from family and business connections rather than the issue of shares-the usual source of money being, again, Quaker-from Friends Provident, a mutual friendly society of Quakers for Quakers.

    Under  Harry Chapman’s chairmanship, Clarke Chapman prospered. It established long-term relationships with the Admiralty, who fitted out many new warships with the firm’s electrical equipment. The use of apprentices worked well and brought in some of the most talented engineers of that generation. The firm was noted for its modern business methods but remained a strong family business-it was common for the directors to forego dividends or loan money in order to facilitate research.  Change came in 1908 when Harry Chapman’s health broke down and he resigned the chairmanship. Thereafter, he acted as manager of the firm’s London office, as Admiralty contracts became more important during the extensive growth of the Royal Navy during the naval race with Germany. That the family already had an ideal London residence in Wanstead meant the transition was a smooth one.

    Harry Reynolds Chapman  had married Elinor Phyllis Larkin at St, Marks, Dalston on 7^th April 1898. They lived at Wingfield, Eagle Lane, Wanstead. The marriage produced 3 daughters, Elinor (1899), Dorothy (1900) and Phyllis (1904). A comfortable Edwardian family life followed. He had taken an interest in a volunteer company of Royal Engineers, in which he became a Major, centred on the firm’s works in Gateshead and on the outbreak of war, he offered his services. Though not youthful, he was a successful manager and was commissioned into 10^th Durham Light Infantry, a service battalion of Kitchener’s New Armies. He was promoted Major on 16^th December 1914.

     The outbreak of war had  brought about a great flood of volunteers in Newcastle on Tyne, which was the headquarters of both the Durham Light Infantry and the Northumberland Fusiliers. Lord Kitchener had appealed on 7^th August for 100,000 men from the counties and Newcastle responded well: all it’s halls were soon filled with recruits and the public spaces packed with recruits drilling in civilian clothes. On 22^nd August 500 volunteers were sent south to Woking to form the basis of the 10^th Durham Light Infantry.

Like all of the New Armies battalions, the 10^th lacked trained officers-it’s   Commanding Officer, Lt Col H.S. Morant was an old Regular service officer of the 1^st Battalion, while the Adjutant and Regimental Sergeant Major were also Regulars, which put it ahead of many other battalions. Thus, Harry Chapman’s offer to serve, even though comfortably into middle age, would not be turned down. Life at Woking was under canvas and miserable when the rains began- another  battalion, 6th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry had arrived at Woking first and got the only barracks. With 2 other light infantry service battalions, 6^th Duke of Cornwall and 6^th Somerset Light Infantry, they formed 43^rd Brigade in the 16^th Light Division.  Khaki was soon obtained but greatcoats, caps and  leather kit remained in short supply until the Spring of 1915. Days were spent drilling with obsolete long rifles or wooden dummies, which were handed on from squad to squad as there were not enough to go round.

     On 23^rd September 1914, the 10th Durhams marched to Aldershot for more intensive training, in expectation that it would go overseas by Christmas. Again, they remained under canvas at Berkshire Copse. 500 modern rifles arrived, only to be taken away soon after to replace losses in France as the B.E.F. was almost destroyed by the great German advances of 1914. On 23^rd November it moved to Witley, this time with huts-unfinished when they first arrived-but with no roads or drainage. Casualties from sickness were high. In December 400 men of each of the battalions in the brigade were used as a force against potential invasion, there not being enough kit or rifles to go round to form up the battalions at full strength.

      The last serious training took place after 21^st February 1915, when the battalion moved to Corunna Barracks at Aldershot, where it was sharpened up by a succession of Regular instructors for the next 3 months. Lt. Col. Morant considered that the battalion was trained as well as any Regular battalion, save in musketry where the shortages of  rifle and range meant practice could only be furthered on service in France.

    Harry Chapman left for France with his battalion on 21^st May 1915, firstly to Cassel and thence to Bailleul  by 31^st May.  Platoons and then companies were tagged with other units in the front line, so that the men could gain experience of the front line, especially the construction and repair of trenches.  On 12^th June, the battalion went into the line for the first time. During a short tour, it suffered 21 casualties, all of them from German artillery. On 24^th June, the battalion again went into the line astride the Menin Road near Hooge. The trenches here were in a bad condition and repair was difficult. A mud landscape, with both rainfall and deliberate flooding made Ypres and thereabouts a sea of mud for most of the war. In practical terms, it heightened the risk of “wastage” casualties as either trenches remained shallow or earthworks had to be built above ground level, as deep tunnelling was impossible. Harry Chapman was in charge of A Company, the battalion reserve a little way back from the line.  On 27^th June 1915 the battalion was in the line. At about 11pm a random German shell landed on Harry Chapman’s  dug-out, the blast killing him instantly and another officer, Second Lieutenant C.E.Stewart, as well as  badly shocking his batman and Adjutant. Harry Chapman had been on active service a day short of 4 weeks and was killed having served less than a week in the front line.

      Harry Chapman was buried in a regimental plot close to the battalion HQ behind the lines. His battalion had done two turns in the line  when he was killed, suffering 21 casualties on the first and 50 on the second. His grave was lost in the subsequent fighting across 4 years and he is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the Missing, Panel 36 and Panel 38. He was also remembered on the war memorial at the Clarke Chapman Victoria Works in Newcastle, unveiled by his widow on 5^th March 1921 and at  Christ Church, Gateshead, where he had been Vicar’s Warden for 3 years.  In Wanstead, he is remembered on the Wanstead War Memorial.

 Officers Long Service File, Major Harry Reynolds Chapman, Durham Light Infantry, WO 339/14753, The National Archives; War Diary, 43^rd Infantry Brigade, 10^th Bn. Durham Light Infantry, 1^st May 1915-31^st March 1916, WO 95/1907/1,The National Archives;  Miles (Wilfrid): The Durham Forces in the Field, 1914-1918 (London,1920); McLean (Tom), Tom McGovern and Shanta Davie “Management Accounting,Engineering and the Management of Company Growth: Clarke Chapman 1864-1914” British Accounting Review,47(2) 2015-16 pp177-190; McGovern (Tom) and Tom McLean: “The Growth and Development of Clarke Chapman from 1864 t0 1914” Business History 55(3) 2013 pp.448-478; Uppingham School Roll,1880-1921

 

 

[RaySearching]

CHAPMAN,  HARRY  REYNOLDS

illustrated Chronicle 6th July 1915

[Guest]

Thanks Ray-  It is one of several of Chapman-I chose the one of him in uniform!!  Had not seen this one.

[jwp2007]

9 hours ago, Gareth Davies said:

Want to write a Divisional History?  Now's your chance (if you are a GWG member).

 

https://greatwargroup.com/research/

I have two family members who served with the 14th light division, my grandfather john pearcy 6th KOYLI who survived and my grandmothers cousin T.W.Sanderson MM 7th KRRC who was killed in 1917, let me know if any pictures or other info I have would be of any use.

Regard, John.

[Bethany Moore]

Good Afternoon all,

 

If anyone would like to get involved with the project, would you make yourself known by dropping an email to 14thdivisiongwg@gmail.com?

This most  likely will be a very long term project, and are very happy to have anyone on board!

 

Bethany Moore

Co-founder of the Great War Group