Early tank commander - Arthur Blowers

[delta]

see that Arthur Blowers medal miniatures have now been sold twice in a month

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A%3AIT&rd=1

[welshdoc]

By the same seller or sold on? Anyway the trouble with minis is that all you need is some original paperwork and there is provenance. Of course its possible that the servicman may have had more than one set. gareth

[delta]

Sold on; they were bought from an auction house complete with other memorablia inclduing correspondance with Liddel-Hart

[rogerb40uk]

Hello

I have just found this forum.

I am Arthur Blowers' youngest son and would very much like to get his miniatures back into the family.

(My eldest brother has the original medals)

I have tried to contact the ebay purchaser mentioned in the link, but I think my message has been blocked by ebay.

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thanks

Roger Blowers

[Lincsregt]

Hi Roger,

If you let me have your email address I will forward it on to 'Philthetank' and you can hopefully come to some arrangement.

All my best,

Lincsregt

[Coldstreamer]

welcome to the forum

At least you have the originals in the family - the miniature medals are all to easy to add to make a group but im sure its the papers youd like too

good luck

[rogerb40uk]

Thanks, lincsregt, I have PM'd you my email add. And thanks for the welcome, Coldstreamer.

I was a Brylcreem Boy (although we didn't use much of it in the Royal Rhodesian Air Force.... hair always too short!), but 2 of my brothers were in The Army and both at various times in The Tanks!

My father's eldest son, my half-brother, was a Sgt Pilot in WWII.. he's the only one of AB's seven children who's not still surviving.

They breed 'em long-lived in Suffolk

Arthur was given 6 months to live in 1920, as a result of his war wounds, and offered a lump sum of 2000 pounds (lotsa money in '20!) or a pension.

Making about the only sound financial decion of his lifetime, he chose the pension, and was still drawing it 60 years later

[delta]

Roger

Welcome to the Forum - that that the original medals are still with the family is superb news.

I would be grateful if you could tell me more about your father after the war and also, if you have any stories of his service with the tanks

If you would prefer, I will PM you.

Stephen

[rogerb40uk]

Roger

Welcome to the Forum - that that the original medals are still with the family is superb news.

I would be grateful if you could tell me more about your father after the war and also, if you have any stories of his service with the tanks

If you would prefer, I will PM you.

Stephen

PM me, Stephen and I'll see how much I can recall.... being the youngest, I probably missed some of his better recollections, but some will probably come back!

What's the main reason for your your interest?

Roger

[delta]

My original ineterst was researching the first tank drivers; they were all ASC men and their actions have largely been forgotten, espically in the ASC and its successors.

In looking into their actions at Flers/Courcellette, I have (by aciident, expanded my research to all those "tankees" who fought on 15th September - not so much the events on the day but what they did before the battle and their lives afterwards.

What I have identified thus far is as follows:

Lt Arthur Herbert Blowers. Poss dob Jan-Mar 1892 Blythling, Sussex. Deployed to France as 2041 L/Cpl Blowers with 1/4 Suffolks (TF), landing on 9 Nov 1914. Later commissioned in MGC; transferred to Hy Sect. Blowers was wounded in the head during the action at Flers and was awarded MC “for conspicuous gallantry in action. He fought his Tank with great gallantry, reaching his final objective. On several occasions he assisted the infantry and enabled them to advance (LG supplement 14 Nov 1916.) Lt 1 Oct 1916. Appointed A/ Capt when comding a section (18 Jul 1917 to 9 Sep 1917). Relinquished commission on account if ill-health contracted active service and granted the honorary rank of Lt 25 July 1918. Awarded the silver wound badge (Badge no 383142) and a pension.

Blowers first hand account to Liddell Hart includes the following description:

“I started late after being badly ditched in Delville Wood - so late that we were unable to refuel and went into action with our fuel supply in cans on the top of the tank and with the steering wheels completely out of action. We had to steer completely on our brakes, a usage which was later adopted when the wheels were discarded. We followed the Communicating Trench in our instructions and crossed the first objective with the reserve Infantry. We proceeded up over the hill till we caught up with our advanced infantry. Keeping Flers still on our left-about 1/4 mile we followed a line slightly N.W. towards Geudecourt. On the way we saw a small battery of abandoned Man(?) 88s (which we made quite U.S.) in a bit of sunken road. We kept on towards our final objective- Geudecourt- but on it's outskirts we ran into one of our own barrages so turned back. When we were directly East of Flers a runner from the KSLI (I think) asked us to go and help reduce a strong point towards the S.E. of Flers. We swung to do this but on our way, we were hit and set on fire. (My tank was D5 ‘The Dolphin' and it was left as a derelict east of Flers for years.)'

Stephen

[rogerb40uk]

Well, I can put you straight on his dob, for a start... he was born on 5th November 1891, in Knodishall, Suffolk, the 13th of 14 children!!

He won his MC, I believe, for returning to his burning tank to rescue the driver.

He told me that he sat in the tank that day, firing his Webley revolver at German infantry... he said "I fired over a hundred rounds... none of the targets was more than about 10 yards away, so I didn't miss many!"

He sustained serious head injuries and carried a lump of shrapnel in his head for the rest of his life, which caused some consternation when he subsequently had an X-ray following a minor car accident!

During treatment he was given morphine/heroin to which he became addicted and he told the story of having a vision of Death standing at the end of his bed, saying "I am coming for you!"

Having the personality, which lives on in some of his descendents(myself included!), that 'No-one tells me!", he reacted to this by being determined to beat his addiction.

He spent some time following this, living in a tent, in the orchard of his father's farm, weaning himself off the heroin, by replacing it with large amounts of beer!

He was eventually able to get off the alcohol, too, and made an apparently complete recovery, confounding the medics who'd given him 6 months to live.

He was never an alcoholic, as he could still drink in moderation in the years I knew him.

I am not sure about details of his life after the war... I believe he worked for an oil company for a while but eventually took up teaching.... he had trained at St Luke's College, Exeter (1911-13), and spent much of the rest of his working life as a teacher and headmaster at various schools around Suffolk(Oulton Broad, Ilketshall St Lawrence, Hollesley, Snape,and Leiston)

He was a keen sportsman, having played hockey for Devon while at college, I believe, and spent many years as chairman of leiston Football Club, and as an official for Suffolk Amateur Athletic Association.

He played his last game of hockey on his 60th birthday ( I also played in that game, aged 11!).

He was also very keen on motor sport and, with the family, did much to revive motorcyle 'scrambling' in the Leiston area after WWII.

He was a pretty good at bowls, too... at least that's what he led us to believe!

He rode for the Triumph works motorcycle trials team, and in 1926 did a lap of the IoM TT course, on a borrowed bike, falling-off at the Ramsey hairpin.

After retiring from teaching in '54, he worked as a researcher for the Conservative Association, driving all over Suffolk, asking people how they were going to vote.

This was cut short when he had a burst stomach ulcer, from which he recovered well, and he spent much of his remaining time as a gardener, tidying up others' gardens, for pocket and petrol money.

In 1979 he was diagnosed with liver cancer and, after a very short illness, died 10th January 1980.

He was a selfish man, but had considerable charm, which enabled him to get away with a lot. His family didn't forget that he had suffered a lot early in his life, and made many allowances for his peccadilloes.

I hope this is of some interest... please let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to give or get answers!

Roger

[michaeldr]

Roger,

Many thanks for that pen-picture. I was particularly struck by your father's addiction and how he over came it. We often read or learn about the very many wounded in the war [one of my own grandfathers included] but we tend to think that when the flesh has healed, that's an end of it, and of course that was not always the case by any means. Some of these men struggled for years and years after 1918 and in some cases for the rest of their lives.

regards

Michael

[delta]

Roger

Thank you so much for sharing the life story; if really adds deatils to the limited knowldge I had gained. Certainly the story of his use of a pistol is not recorded, nor that he rescued his driver. As for his determination to fight on, this is clealry shown in his actiosn on 15th September

The driver was Pte George Henry Thomas of the Army Servcie Corps who was awarded the MM for action on 15th Sep. He rebadged to the MGC and was KIA aged 27 on 3 May 1917 at the Second Battle of Bullecourt whilst serving in D Bn.

Do you, by any chnace, have a decent photo of your father as a young man and as he got older - or any during his servcie with the Tanks. The only one I have is an extract from D Company officers photo, taken before he left for France in 1916 and the quality is so poor, it would be impossible to veiw on the Forum

Stephen

[rogerb40uk]

Roger

Thank you so much for sharing the life story; if really adds details to the limited knowldge I had gained.

Do you, by any chance, have a decent photo of your father as a young man and as he got older - or any during his service with the Tanks. The only one I have is an extract from D Company officers photo, taken before he left for France in 1916 and the quality is so poor, it would be impossible to view on the Forum

Stephen

I don't know ... we used to have some early pics in the family, but the quality may not be up to scanning... I'll see what we have.

I have a couple of him in his later years, but no scanner readily to hand ... I can probably get access to one.

BTW, he told an interesting story of his attempt to alleviate boredom in the trenches(before he joined the Tanks).

He jumped up on the parapet and run along to the next opening, and jumped down before the German machine-gunners woke-up... he said it was inadvisable to do it too often

This got him into trouble and his punishment was to take a team into No Man's Land, after dark, to bury the bodies lying out there .... nice!

He was very proud of his (Acting) Captaincy, and was always referred to locally as Captain Blowers, or Skipper!

He also had a story about being a sniper... another time!

Roger

PS I have just spoken to my brother and he tells me he only has Father's MC, not the other 3... not sure what happened to them.

[tanks3]

Roger

Thank you so much for sharing the life story; if really adds deatils to the limited knowldge I had gained. Certainly the story of his use of a pistol is not recorded, nor that he rescued his driver. As for his determination to fight on, this is clealry shown in his actiosn on 15th September

The driver was Pte George Henry Thomas of the Army Servcie Corps who was awarded the MM for action on 15th Sep. He rebadged to the MGC and was KIA aged 27 on 3 May 1917 at the Second Battle of Bullecourt whilst serving in D Bn.

Do you, by any chnace, have a decent photo of your father as a young man and as he got older - or any during his servcie with the Tanks. The only one I have is an extract from D Company officers photo, taken before he left for France in 1916 and the quality is so poor, it would be impossible to veiw on the Forum

Stephen

Hi all,

What a thread! Gripping stuff and it brings to life events that you only read about in books which are at best very distant. Thanks for sharing this Roger and Stephen. posting a photo would be the icing on the cake.

Tanks3

[delta]

I have all the time in the world and await with great interst.

There are a number of unsung heroes from that battle - your father was one. There were two others (in my view)

The "fire-eater" Reginald Legge because he never turned back; his bravery was unrecognised by a medal because (of course) he died of wounds

Herbert Pearsall who stayed out all might to protect those in Flers and then took his tank forward in support of the next attack - survived ansd then died of spanish flu within a month of returning to civilian employment

Stephen

[ianw]

Roger - thanks for the warts and all portrait of your father. What characters these men were!

[delta]

only photo I have is this

[ianw]

Blowers features several times in the absolutely wonderful book "The Tanks at Flers" - including his being in an August 1916 group photo on page 25. One chapter deals with his exploits in some considerable detail.

[delta]

he is in the back row standing second from the left

http://www.fairmile.fsbusiness.co.uk/themen.htm

Trevor's is a first class book and I fully endose Ian's comments

[ianw]

Yes, Trevor did a fantastic job on it - a real labour of love.

Last September I had the great pleasure of a walk around High Wood with Trevor. My, this man knows his stuff and is a modest gentleman as well.

[rogerb40uk]

Gosh, promotion after such short service

Thanks to all you gents for your help... still looking for those miniatures, though, so any info would be welcomed...

I have tracked-down his other 3 medals... my mother gave them to another of my brothers(who served in, IIRC, 3 & 7 RTR) and his son has them.

A pity they were split-up.

My sister actually sold the mins and papers, at my late mother's request. They didn't think anyone in the family would be very interested in them and felt they should go to a collector, so she sold 'em to a small dealer she knew at an antiques fair (for about 60 pounds she thinks).

As I said to my sister, our generation may have the memories directly from these people and not feel the need for 'hardware', but our children and grandchildren may want some sort of memento and info about their antecedents.

[rogerb40uk]

From another thread, quoting delta:

"2518 Gnr Leslie Robert Gutsell - I have him listed as born Dorchester 1896, the eldest son of Robert Gutsell and Mary Godley but your info is probably more accurate.

Member of the Machine Gun Corps (Motors) before transferring to the Heavy Section of the MGC; KIA at approx 1000 hrs on 15 Sep 1916, to the east of Flers, whilst a member of the crew of D5 Dolphin; the tank commander was Arthur Blowers, about whom there is a thread currently running.

Gutsell's body was recovered from the wreck and buried on 30th Sep but grave subsequently lost."

Just a small point, Stephen, but I was always given to believe that my father's tank was D4, not D5.... I know that many of you are sticklers for accuracy

[ianw]

I understood that Storey was in D4 with Blowers in D5 with Foden, Barnaby,Gutsell, Plant, Sladden, Hodgson and Thomas.

What a pity that the mins and papers were sold so cheaply. I presume they may have included correspondence from Liddell-hart of historical importance - hopefully copies are in his archive.

Given away for a few pounds, though.

[rogerb40uk]

You are probably correct, ianw, I only recall now his mentioning "D" and possibly assumed it was the 4th tank

Let's hope that the current owner of the mins and papers appreciates them.

The miniatures were purchased in my lifetime (since WWII) so have little 'real' value, IMO... the papers are a different story. There was a letter from L-H thanking him for his help, some pages of the notes he sent to L-H, and a couple of newspaper cuttings about his decoration.