Clergymen enlisting as combatants

[Formosa]

Some qoutes some his dairies hope you dont mind me adding them?

5th Friday

Transferred bt staff sergeant ritchie to serious ward to help 01 smith (so called because there were so many smiths and o1 are the final figures of his regimental number) 01 smith was a rough fellow- but kind to me - and didnt like to see me doing the dirty work of washing floors etc. But i tried to shew him i was proud to do it.

Ritchie got me put in this job becuase he thought it would be a good thing for a priest to be in the place where most of the deaths took place.

Ritchie was a good fellow who did much to make me happy. A professional soldier, but a splendid churchman. He had the happy faculty of understanding that we could be a priest when acting as such- and an ordinary soldier when on duty as such. We had a death that night . After a while the frequent deaths became unnerving . A man would be brought in with an abdominal lung wound. For 24 hours he would be restless -demanding instant attention lest he got out of bed and took drink.

All the time he would beg water, which to give to him was death to him, and couldnt understand that you withhelding it for his own good. They would plead for it till you almost wept- or else got sharp and angry with them.

One man i remember catching trying to get water from his hot water bottle. Sometime we had 4 or 5 such cases and had to stay with them in the same little room for 12 hours eating our food there too!.

Ocassionaly we had a corpse lying on the floor while we ate and drank.

yet i was glad of this work i was able to commend many a departing soul to his creator

01 smith , for all his roughness was very kind and gentle to the patients and at the last would say to me go gennel do what you can for him, he's finished, One got so used to the symptoms of approaching death- failing breathe - the rattle in the throat.

So many men as they died murmured ''mother'' - forgotten were friends and wives and sweethearts - they just went back to the days of childhood and they lay in their mother's arms and looked up into their faces - in short, when they recieved their first impressions

(Bit morbid i know but the whole diary is like this)

[CGM]

Thank you very much for sharing this with us Formosa.

Diaries are very important to anyone wanting to know what it was actually like to be there, and I, for one, would be very pleased to see more entries.

Your great great grandfather's diary obviously gives an insight into both the life of a vicar caught up in the tragedy of the war, and the medical side too.

Best regards

CGM

[eyman]

When Great War clergy are ever mentioned, I always think of the one time vicar of a church not far from here - at Mersea Island. His name was the Rev. Charles Pierrepont Edwards, MC and he became vicar of West Mersea in 1898 and stayed there for 50 years. He was ordained deacon in 1887 I know he served as an Army Chaplin in Gallipoli and was know locally as "the fighting parson" and "Old Spiery". When a Zeppelin (L33) came down at Wigborough on 23/9/16, the crew were taken to him and he locked them in a barn on the island prior to them being transferred to Colchester Garrison. He joined the Territorials in 1913, serving with the 1/5 Suffolks and went to Gallipoli in July 1915. He was evacuated in the December of 1915, went to Egypt and then back to Mersea. He was also involved in investigating the fate of the Sandringham 5th Norfolks for the King (he found the remains of 122 members of the Battalion in a mass grave in 1919).

Regards.

SPN

Maldon

SPN

Thanks for mentioning Edwards. His service in the war was as a Chaplain. But his military service didn't start in 1913. He had previously been in the Essex Yeomanry and picked up the TFEM in 1912, from memory, as a Sergeant. Sadly his TFEM wasn't with his MC and trio when they were sold at auction about 25 years ago. I did a note on this in the OMRS Journal many years back!

Ian

[eyman]

Here is a genuine fighting vicar:

ALEXANDER COLVIN

MILITARY CROSS (GVR, ENGRAVED: CAPTAIN ALEXANDER COLVIN 1 / 5 ESSEX REGT. GAZA MARCH 26. 1917), 1914 STAR TRIO WITH MID OAKLEAF (CAPT., 1227 CPL., 1 / 28 LOND. R. ON STAR).

Served France, Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine. Mounted as worn.

In the 1911 census, he is listed as aged 27 and single, Clerk in Holy Orders, living at 2 High Beech Road, Loughton. Colvin was born in Dublin.

2nd Lieut

T Lieut 10 July 1915 LGaz 27 July 1915 p7340

T Capt 21 Sept 1915

MC LG 16 Aug 1917 p8362 Egypt “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his company with great dash and gallantry in an attack upon a strongly fortified redoubt, which he successfully captured, and afterwards thoroughly reorganised and consolidated the position. On the following day he displayed great coolness when in command of a portion of our front line trench.”

MiD LG 6 Jul 1917 p6768 Egypt. (despatch of Sir Archibald Murray covering1 October 1916 to 28 February 1917: 2nd Lieut (temp Capt))

Crockfords 1963.

COLVIN. Alexander. - Trin. Coll. Dublin 1901. AKC 1910. MC 1917. d. 1910 St

Alb. p. 1911 Barking for St Alb. C of St Mary Virg. Loughton 1910-12.

St Mich. AA. Walthamstow, 1913-1916. Served in Lon and Essex Regts

1914-1919. C. of Loughton 1919-1923. St John , Moulsham 1923-1924.

Chap. at Punta Arenas Magallanes 1924- 1927. R .of Willingale w Shellow

1927-1929. V of St Mary, Gt Ilford 1939-1963. Perm. to Offic. Dio Chelmsf.

from 1963. CF (TA) 1928-1933. 207 Front Lane, Cranham, Upminster, Essex.

AKC = Associate of Kings College, London.

d = Deacon. C = Curate. AA = All Angels. R =Rector. V = Vicar.

There are a few original letters regarding regimental reunions with the group. This one seems relevant to our theme:

20 January 1959 Confirming that he will be present at the reunion on 7 June “A number of my old 1914-18 Company turn up each year and I get a “bit of a kick” marching with them again!!!”

Ian

[David_Underdown]

A few other abbreviations that may escape people p.=priest, Perm. to Offic. Dio Chelmsf = Permission to Officiate int eh Diocese of Chelmsford - i.e after he's retired, he's still licensed to carry out services in that diocese as required.

[Beau Geste]

Use search to find the thread entitled "Warrior Priests". You might find it interesting.

Harry

[healdav]

This seems to have been fairly common in other armies too. I came across a book of memoirs (which I have lost) by a Jesuit priest who was also a reserve French army officer. He went into the army and was in the front lie. He said he was in continual demand to say Mass as chaplains rarely got into the real front line and not frequently at the best of times.

One day Foch or Joffre came on a visit and he was asked what his pre-war job had been. He replied, 'priest' and the general was taken aback. Then he explained that he simply could not get a field communion set as the bureaucracy wouldn't give him one, so he said Mass with a couple of tin mugs. He was amazed a couple of days later when a field communion set arrived addressed to him with a personal note from the general.

[Formosa]

Interesting, I know my grandfather was at the front .. in his memoirs it seems alot of soldiers were extremely drunk at mass, who can blame them.

A small entry as of 27th Battle Of St Eloi.

Great crater blown up, Strenuous time. We went out early in the morning time to arrive at the aid post at spail bank when the strafe began. But we were late and the mine went up while we going along the duck boards. It was a quiet still morning -

towards dawn. suddenly the whole earth shook and a huge mass of earth, Boshces etc . went skyward. every gun in he neighborhood opened out - and the place became a hell , We had to wait behind a bank until things became quieter- as our got the dugs-outs in spil bank in line, and blew up each one in turn. Our duck boards were blown to blazes - our trolley lines bent like string.

The day he gave mass to about six .. many were made in make shift houses ie blown out buildings