Driffield

[Simon R]

Could someone tell me what TF units were raised from the Driffield area WWI?

[joseph]

Simon

Driffield D Company 2nd Volunteer Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment.

East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry

Headquarters was based at Beverley,

A Squadron at Kingston upon Hull,

B Squadron at Beverley,

C Squadron at Fulford

D Squadron at Driffield.

Regards Charles

Edited 23 November , 2005 by joseph

[David_Blanchard]

Hello,

I also think the 4th Bn East Yorks has connections with Driffield, certainly sledmere which isn't too far away:

the article below will possibly be of some interest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/voices...waggoners.shtml

Regards

David

[David_Blanchard]

If you click on the link on this page at the bottom marked:

Rerad the original sources used in the programme, you get this:

ANCE CORPORAL R. H. TEMPLE, FROM DRIFFIELD, WRITES OF LOOKING ROUND A BELGIAN VILLAGE, DESTROYED BY SHELLS

I am writing this in a farmhouse, 200 yards from a shell-wrecked village. I explored it this morning and I think many aspects of the war were brought home to me in a manner I had never realised before.

In the centre stood the church, in which for 200 years the simple-souled Belgians had listened to the voice of the village priest. Little children had been brought there to be christened; young men and maidens had pledged their love to one another and in the churchyard, crosses and tombstones marked the spots where dear ones had been laid to rest.

Now, the fabric, which was built by loving hands, is a heap of ruins. The spire has been shattered and has crashed through the roof. Great holes appear in the walls, the windows - many of them of stained glass - are all broken; and splintered timber fills the body and porch of the now desecrated edifice.

Leaving the village, with a sadder heart than when I had entered it, I took shelter in the priest's house till a thundershower passed over, and stooping down I picked up what appeared to be the outlines of a sermon. The text at the head was as follows:

'Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good-will towards men.'

My whole being echoed the prayer, and I trust the day may not be far distant when we shall all see it answered.

[Graham Stewart]

Simon,

'D' Sqdn, East Riding Yeomanry who were based at Driffield also had Drill Stations located at Hunmanby, Pocklington, Settrington and Bridlington.

The 5th Bn, Yorkshire Regiment(APWO) had a company based in Driffield;-

H.Q. - Scarborough.

'A' Coy - Market Weighton with Drill Station's at Pocklington, Newbald & Stamford Bridge.

'B' Coy - Bridlington with Drill Stations at Filey, Hunmanby & Flamborough.

'C' Coy - Beverley with Drill Station at Cottingham.

'D' Coy - Driffield with a Drill Station at Sledmere.

'E' & 'F' Coy's - Scarborough.

'G' Coy - Pickering with Drill Stations at Helmsley, Kirbymoorside, Grosmont, Ebberston & Thornton Dale.

'H' Coy - Malton with Drill Staions at Sand Hutton, Sheriff Hutton & Hovingham.

The 5th(Cyclist)Bn,East Yorks also had a connection with Driffield;-

H.Q., 'A', 'B', 'C' & 'D' Companies were located at Park St, Hull.

'E' Coy - Howden with Drill Stations at North Cave & Staddlethorpe.

'F' Coy - Beverley with Drill Stations at Hessle, Market Weighton & Pocklington.

'G' Coy - Bridlington with Drill Stations at Driffield, Hunmanby & Filey.

'H' Coy - Hornsea with Drill Stations at Hedon & Withernsea.

Graham.

[Simon R]

Good stuff, thanks a lot.

I have one Cecil Grantham of Driffield to track down - he was a flint collector, amateur prehistorian after the war and claimed to have found stone axes in trench sections at Death Valley on the Somme.

[Simon R]

There's a Cecil Grantham in the MICs, formerly of the 5th Yorks. Regt. and I suspect this may be him. Any ideas?

[MartinWills]

I seem to recall that someone put together a volume of all the Great War content from the local (Driffield) newspaper which pops up on ebay from time to time - if you can find one it may be a useful source.

[eltoro1960]

Good stuff, thanks a lot.

I have one Cecil Grantham of Driffield to track down - he was a flint collector, amateur prehistorian after the war and claimed to have found stone axes in trench sections at Death Valley on the Somme.

I have made a check for Cecil Grantham, there is metion of a Pte Grantham of 5th A P W O (Yorkshire) regiment being wounded, he is listed on the Driffield Times Roll Honour. Hope this is of some use to you.

Cheers

[John_Hartley]

You'll find this site is The Business about historical Driffield. Even if it's not on-line, the site owner has a mine of WW1 extracts from the local press. Well worth dropping her a line. She's certainly been happy to share things with me.

John

[Simon R]

Looks like 5th Yorks. Regt. to me, thanks for the help.

[bernardmcilwaine]

mrs petch compiled everything that was war related from the driffield times,she also compiled books for ww2 and the boer war,shes a very nice lady,the ww1 book is brilliant,i bought a copy off her just after she released it,well worth £7.50,bernard

3

[bernardmcilwaine]

There's a Cecil Grantham in the MICs, formerly of the 5th Yorks. Regt. and I suspect this may be him. Any ideas?

spot on simon,he was in the 5th batt,listed as wounded[date unknown]

[Simon R]

I will drop her a line and see what she thinks.

Buying the book might be a good idea too!

Thanks chaps.

[Martin Brown]

What sort of flints, do you know? I had my German csualty at Serre with the flint in his pocket so it's an interesting parallel. Excuse ignorance but where is Death Valley?

Best

Martin

[Simon R]

Hi Martin,

I don't know if any of that particular collection survived, I know the rest of his Yorks. material does, but I have no idea (yet-watch this space) of how well catalogued or understood it is. He claimed to have buried them for 'safe-keeping', which I've heard repeated by other Western Front soldier-collectors. Palaeolithic, Neolithic or otherwise I have no idea and I don't think he ever related them to stratigraphy like Francis Buckley did.

I'll ask Terry Manby if he knows anything about this, there may be someone in YAS who knows more.

Cowling, Grantham and Buckley all collected in F&F and all three went on to have major prehistoric collections in their home towns. The prehistory of those areas is almost wholly known from these collections.

There are, unsurprisingly, several Death Valleys and I don't know which he means, but I will look it up and get back to you.

Simon.

[Martin Brown]

Hi Simon

May thanks for your reply. I look forward to hearin gmore about this. I was EH rep on the Wolds in the early 90s and grew up in Hull so it's an interesting subject for lots of reasons.

Folk at the Ice Age Network at Birmingham will no dooubt be interested in this as one of them was asking me about the Albert Thielecke flint we found.

Best

M

[Simon R]

Death Valley 1.

Ran between Montauban and Longueval to the NE.

'It was often deluged with German shells. the Communication Trench was called Y and L Alley and it was littered with remains from the trenches of both sides, as well as the dead bodies of mules and horses' (Gliddon, G. 1998 The Battle of the Somme A Topographical History).

Death Valley 2.

Ran south-west of Mametz Wood - also known as Valley of Death or Mametz Valley. Ran from the West of Mametz Wood to Caterpillar Valley. Equally unhealthy as 1. above.

I understand the Grantham collection remains in private hands. It appears to be 'mainly Neolithic'. I will let you know what transpires as far as access is concerned.

Cowling collected all over the Wolds during the 20's - bike tours with his father after being prescribed 'plenty of fresh air' thanks to his dose of gas. Cowling wasn't digging (surface coll., flint scatters, plough dumps) but Grantham certainly was - I don't know if he left any record or was in the great tradition of 'barrow openers'. John Mortimer was from Driffield after all!

[Simon R]

And for your interest - Cowling was an apprentice grocer in Hull before the war and studying at a local tech. school. He broke his apprenticeship to join up, came back to Otley and went into the local TF artillery. I've accounts of him visiting Fort Paull and witnessing the Hull bty. firing on a German trawler - hitting its mast with the first shot apparently.

[Martin Brown]

And for your interest - Cowling was an apprentice grocer in Hull before the war and studying at a local tech. school. He broke his apprenticeship to join up, came back to Otley and went into the local TF artillery. I've accounts of him visiting Fort Paull and witnessing the Hull bty. firing on a German trawler - hitting its mast with the first shot apparently.

Do you have more details of his employment and the tech school? I'd be interested to know and may be able to get family still in Hull to help/offer thoughts.

Fort Paull is open to the public with some fairly idiosyncratic displays but it is worth seeing. A relative used to have the grazing and I remember exploring with a torch in the 80s. Probably where my fascination with fortifications comes from.

Have you tried Hull Museum to see if they have any Cowling papers?

[Simon R]

Thanks for the offer Martin, I will get back to you with some specific queries. I have all those details, but am at the workplace right now.....

Hull may have some references to Eric but I am replete with diaries, correspondence, notebooks, querns, rock art and 10 000 stone tools so am not waving but drowning!! Still, worth a look, good idea.

Simon.

[Simon R]

I'll have to come back to this sometime next week, but I'll dig some stuff out.

[Martin Brown]

That's some collection! How did you come across it?

[Simon R]

Martin,

It isn't a private collection, it lives in Otley Museum in West Yorkshire. Eric was a prime mover in setting up this unique local history museum at quite a late date in his life. He had worked towards a museum for many years but it wasn't until the later 50's/60's that everything came together. It has always been run entirely by volunteers although I have but little time to devote to it these days.

Eric would have been quite happy to call himself an amateur, but he very quickly made himself the expert on the prehistory of his own back yard - the Wharfe valley, both it's upland sites on the Northern and Southern watersheds and lower ploughlands next to the river.

The collection only really came together in the museum after his death in 1986.

The majority of material is local but he visited Carnac (brought back some really long blades), Tower of London (pulled a Mesolithic flake out of the walls - I mean really, he couldn't go anywhere without finding fragments of prehistory) and a whole variety of exotic places. He was collecting on the Wolds too and we have quite a lot of material from Danes Dyke, Fimber, Seamer (Starr Carr, but not too much, not a 'lost collection') etc, etc. Some nice pieces, a lot of debitage too.

And a swine to sort out!

[Simon R]

Have mailed/pm'd you Martin.