Scottish VC killed in riot Etaples 1917?

[Moonraker]

I've just finished reading Mud Beneath My Boots by Allan Marriott (which I shall review elsewhere in the Forum). It's the recollections of a New Zealand soldier who was at Etaples in 1917 when there was a riot at the railway bridge near the train station. He heard that some Australians were feting a Scottish VC winner (un-named) and when returning him to his camp were asked to be not so noisy by two MP privates. An MP sergeant ordered the arrest of eight Australians and when his own men declined to obey smashed his baton down on the head of the man nearest him.. The inference is that it was the VC who was hit, but he certainly died in the fracas that followed - according to the New Zealand soldier. The MP sergeant was thrown over the parapet, dying instantly, to be followed by two other MPs, one of whom also died.

I've done a little Googling but could find nothing to substantiate a VC-holder being killed. If this were the case, it must be quite well-known. But it does sound like the sort of disturbance identified with Etaples.

Informed opinion, please!

Moonraker

[dycer]

Moonraker,

I've quoted this before but this is from the memoirs of J.M.Marchbank 1/8th Royal Scots

"In September 1917 there was a mutiny in Etaples which lasted for 24 hours.with the town and base being in the hands of the mob of soldiers.While there was never an official explanation for the mutiny,I was informed that it arose out of the shooting of a young soldier in a Scots regiment,by the Military Police.The incident occurred when a policeman stopped an Australian in the company of a W.A.A.C. and asked him for his pass and not being satisfied with the pass or explanation a fight broke out between them.In the course of which the policeman drew his revolver,fired and missed the Aussie but hit and killed the young Scot who chanced to be passing at the time.Immediately his pals returned to their unit and spread the news.This resulted them in fixing bayonets and they in turn were joined by others who hunted and beat up the "base wallahs."Events reached the extent of throwing the Commandant into the river."

Looks like the true story is lost in the mists of times but there are some similarities between the above and the Book you are relating from.

George

[Dickie]

here is another story (although, when reading, be aware of the politics of the website) that reflects VC winner killed in etaples riot. As George says, through the mist of time, the story may well have mutated through a Chinese Whispers-type telling.

http://www.geocities.com/cordobakaf/mutinies.html

[Malcolm]

The Gordon Highlander killed was Corporal A Woods and he did not have a VC.

Aye

Malcolm

[Moonraker]

Thanks to all for quick replies. I can readily understand different versions of the incident flying around after it was over. The VC element seems to have been a FOAF ("A friend of a friend told me...")

Moonraker

[cockney tone]

Malcolm,

do you have any more info on Cp Woods please as i cannot seem to find him on the CWGC site, I was wondering where he is buried?

Regards,

Scottie.

[kinnethmont]

Malcolm

Looks like the only suitable candidate in Sept 1917 was William Wood. As you would expect he is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery.

SNWM ( 1 of 10)

Surname WOOD

Firstname William

Service Number 240120

Date Death 09/09/1917

Decoration

Place of birth Pitsligo Aberdeenshire

Other 4th Bn.

SNWM roll THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS

Rank Cpl

Theatre of death F.& F.

CWGC

Name: WOOD

Initials: W B

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Corporal

Regiment/Service: Gordon Highlanders

Unit Text: 1st/4th Bn.

Age: 21

Date of Death: 09/09/1917

Service No: 240120

Additional information: Son of John and Rebecca Wood, of 10, Mid St., Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire. Native of Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: XXV. P. 7A.

Cemetery: ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY

[Paul Reed]

Malcolm is correct - 'Corporal Wood' is indeed the man above killed in the Etaples riots. I did a survey of the graves in this cemetery with Julian Sykes (co-author of SaD) many years ago; Wood appears to be the only man who genuinely died in the riots. The others from this period all seem to have died in the base hospitals. No VC winners among them, either.

[Malcolm]

Well there ye go Scottie! If you put Etaples Mutiny into google you should get a lot of the story.

Aye

Malcolm

[Terry_Reeves]

The incident is recorded in the war diary of the Base Commandant, Etaples in WO 95 / 4027. The military policeman concerned was subject to a court martial and imprisoned.

Incidentally, the same diaries record the names of officers and men who died in the hospitals in the area. They often name the hospital and the date of burial.

TR

[kinnethmont]

The Gordon Highlander killed was Corporal A Woods and he did not have a VC.

Aye

Malcolm

Hi Paul

Surely it is Corporal William Wood, Rosehearty as detailed in my post above.

[Malcolm]

Corporal William Wood as given by you. My memory is not as good as it was!!

Aye

Malcolm

[4thGordons]

On the assumption it is William not "A" just a couple of other bits of information:

SDGW has Pte Wood as enlisting in Fraserburgh and also lists him as "Died of Wounds"

on 9/9/17 the 1/4th Gordons were just about to go into the line at Canal Bank West (Pheasant Trench etc) after several weks of training at MURAT CAMP.

If anyone runs accross additional information on this I would be very interested.

Chris

[Malcolm]

Wikipedia and other sources gives the following.

________________________________________________________________________________

__________________

Étaples, about 15 miles south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was a notorious base camp for those on their way to the front. Under atrocious conditions, both raw recruits from England and battle-weary veterans were subjected to intensive training in gas warfare, bayonet drill, and long sessions of marching at the double across the dunes. After two weeks at Étaples many of the wounded were only too glad to return to the front with unhealed wounds. Conditions in the hospital were punitive rather than therapeutic and there had been incidents at the hospital between military police and patients.[1]

Matters came to a head one Sunday afternoon, September 9, 1917, after the arrest of Gunner A.J. Healy, a New Zealander from No.27 Infantry Base Depot. He and others by-passed the police picquets that patrolled the bridges that gave access to a small fishing village, which was out of bounds to troops. His son recalled:

"It was the practice for those who wished to visit the township to walk across the estuary or river mouth at low tide, do their thing and return accordingly. However in my father's case the tide came in, in the interval and to avoid being charged as a deserter, he returned across the bridge and was apprehended as a deserter and was apprehended by the 'Red Caps' and placed in an adjoining cell or lock up. When news of this action reached the NZ garrison, the troops left in a mass and proceeded to the lock up."

A large crowd of angry men gathered and did not disperse even when told the gunner had been released. It was clear that the protest over the arrest was only the tip of an iceberg and the atmosphere was tense. The arrival of military police only made matters worse and scuffles broke out. Suddenly the sound of shooting was heard. Private H. Reeve, a military police officer, had fired into the crowd killing Corporal W.B. Wood, 4 Gordon Highlanders, and a second bullet injured a French woman standing in the Rue de Huguet, Étaples. Thereafter, the police simply fled.

News of the shooting spread quickly. By 7.30 pm over a thousand angry men were pursuing the military police who fled in the direction of the town. The Camp Adjutant describes how the men 'swarmed into the town, raided the office of the Base Commandant, pulled him out of his chair and carried him on their shoulders through the town.'[1]

The following morning measures were taken to prevent further outbreaks and police pickets were stationed on the bridges leading into the town. Nevertheless, by 4 pm men had broken through the pickets and were holding meetings in the town, followed by sporadic demonstrations around the camp. On Tuesday, fearing further outbreaks, the Base Commandant requested reinforcements. Meanwhile, the demonstrations gathered momentum. On Wednesday, September 12, in spite of orders confining them to camp, over a thousand men broke out, marched through the town and then on to Paris Plage. Later that day reinforcements of 400 officers and men of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) arrived, armed with wooden staves. The HAC detachment was composed mainly of officers, contained no working-class men, and was the one unit on which complete reliance could be placed. The HAC were supported by cavalry from the 15th Hussars and a section of the Machine Gun Squadron. The threat worked: only 300 men broke camp and were arrested at Etaples. The incident was now over and the reinforcements were dispersed

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Aye

Malcolm

[carolm]

I have a bit of information on Cpl William Wood. He was originally in the 5th Bn Gordon Highlanders (number 1426) and was a L/Cpl in G Gompany (Fraserburgh) at the start of the war. He was wounded at High Wood in July 1916. He was still in the 5th Bn in early 1917, but had moved to the 4th sometime between March and September. The casualty lists in the Buchan Observer of 18/9/17 reports:

Rosehearty: Mr John Wood, Mid Street, Rosehearty, has received

information that his son, Corporal Wm Wood, Signal Company, Gordon

Highlanders, died in hospital in France on the 9th inst. from gunshot

wounds in the head. Corporal Wood, previous to the war, was a joiner

with Mr A. McKenzie.

I wonder if his father was told the manner in which his son died.

Carolyn

[Malcolm]

I doubt he would have been told officially!! He may have heard from William's friends later.

Aye

Malcolm

[Guest marymelville]

Since Corporal William Wood was my father's first cousin, I can confirm that his parents never knew his real fate. It would have been a family story without a doubt.

Mary

[IPT]

Harry Reeve was British Light Heavyweight boxing champion at the time.

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=38140&cat=boxer&pageID=1

[Guest]

Article on the incident, from PapersPast

Mike