Three Soldier Brothers

Private Ernest Clements, 1916 [Luton News]

Tuesday 23rd January 1917: Three brothers from the same Leighton Buzzard family are all serving with the Bedfordshire Regiment. Their father, Mr. Robert Clements of 35 Mill Road is also an old soldier who is expecting to be called up for home defence; their mother Annie’s brother and nephew have also served in the Army, and her nephew was discharged due to wounds The eldest of the three brothers. Ernest, is married with three children. He was taken prisoner in April last year and is now in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany, where the photograph above was taken.

The other two brothers, Sergeant Jim Clements and Private William Clements are both serving with the Bedfords in Egypt. Sergeant Clements’ time in the regiment expired just at the beginning of the war, but he signed on again and fought at Gallipoli. In a recent letter he says that he and his chums had a “jolly good time at Christmas. This is the third Christmas I have been away from home, but let us live in hopes that the fourth will find us all together again, and then we shall have a good time … I am in the best of spirits up to now, for the war, we hope, will soon be over, and I will be back in dear old Blighty.”  Private William was also at Gallipoli, where he escaped unscathed. He is finding the Egyptian climate rather hot.

Source: Luton News, 25th January 1917

Four Brave Brothers

Frederick Walter and Percy Holliman

Thursday 24th August 1916: The four eldest sons of Mr and Mrs Ernest Holliman of 300 High Street North, Dunstable all joined the army to fight for their country, and two have paid the ultimate price. The family lived at Houghton Regis for twenty years before moving to Dunstable, and the father is well-known as a platelayer on the London and North-Western Railway. The youngest of the brothers, Private Percy Holliman, was only 17 years old when his unit was mobilised in August 1914. He was among those sent to the Dardanelles last summer with the 5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment and died on the 26th September from the effects of wounds received at Suvla Bay. Before the war he worked for a coal merchant at Dunstable. The next brother, 20 year old Private Frederick Walter Holliman, died on August 3rd of wounds received fighting with the Bedfordshire Regiment in France, where he had served for a year and ten months. He was previously employed at Chantry Farm, Houghton Regis. The two older brothers are Driver Jack Holliman, aged 23, who has been in France since 1914 with the Royal Field Artillery, and Private Joseph E. Holliman, aged 24, a regular soldier who completed his term of service last February and re-enlisted. He was invalided home from France last year following an attack of enteric fever, and has since been based at Landguard Camp.

Source: Luton News, 24th August 1916

Luton Firms Support the Troops

Xmas Boxes from Vauxhall Motors for men in France

[Luton Times]

Friday 19th November 1915: Skefco employees have been subscribing to a fund which grants allowances to the dependents of fellow workers who are on active service; all donations are matched by an equal amount from the company. As there was a healthy balance in the fund it was decided to send packages of comforts for the troops of the 1st/5th Bedfords at Gallipoli. A letter of thanks has been received at the Skefko Ball Bearing Works in Luton from Lieutenant-Colonel E. W. Brighten, the commanding officer of the 1st/5ths. He says:

“I think you for your letter of the 21st September, and have delayed answering until the parcels of smoking requisites and chocolates and other sweets came along. I hasten to write to thank you for your very kind thoughts, and on behalf of my men to express my very best thanks. It is very kind of you to go further and to enquire what my men are essentially in need of. I think we may take it that in the clothing and necessaries line we shall be looked after all right by the ordnance and Supplies Services, which are top-hole, and in spite of the difficulties of transport, etc., both by land and sea, the right thing seems to arrive just as it is wanted. … It is cigarettes, sweets and other little luxuries that the men most want and like, and that is why your parcels were so acceptable because they contained these things.”

The Skefco men also intend to send a Christmas gift to each company employee now serving with the Colours and the men of Vauxhall Motors are also doing their best to ensure that their men now serving their country are well supplied with extra comforts. Not to be outdone, the girls employed at Skefco have collected 1,000 cigarettes and a quantity of tobacco from their male co-workers for the men of the 1st/5ths. Lt-Colonel Brighten asks Miss R. M. Roberts to “convey my very best thanks on behalf of my officers, N.C.O.s and men to all the girls of the Skefko Works who have subscribed … We have been reading in the papers which have just reached us of the great effort that has been made in Luton to get recruits for us, and we hope the girls at Luton will do all they can, as well as sending us cigarettes, to make the men come along out here to smoke them.”

Source: Luton Times, 19th November 1915

Bereavement for Another Luton Family

Informal group at a military camp, c.1914. Men wearing RAMC badges.

[Z1306/12/9/3]

Saturday 6th November 1915: Another young Luton man has fallen at Gallipoli. Twenty year old Joseph Edward Betts of Ashton Road joined the Royal Army Medical Corps two years before the war began. As a private in the Eastern Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance he trained at the Grove Road depot where the Brigade has its headquarters. He sailed for the Dardanelles on August 8th but never made it ashore. His commanding officer, Major Archibald, has written to Private Betts’ mother describing his last moments:

“He was killed by a bullet in the head. It hit him as he was getting on the deck of the ship to the landing lighters. His comrades did not hear him make a sound, and did not know he had been hit until they were ordered to fall in, when they found they could not rouse him. We brought his body to this place today, and a chaplain has just taken it ashore for burial … I cannot say how grieved I feel at the loss of such a promising young life. He was greatly beloved by all of us, and we all mourn the loss of a faithful and trusty comrade”.

The Betts family also have a younger son, Claude, who enlisted in the 1/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. As Claude is only 17 years old[1] his mother has requested that he should be kept in England until he is older; he has been sent to the 3/5th Battalion which is currently stationed at Newmarket.

Source: Luton Times 5th November 1915

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[1] The newspaper report give his age as 15 but other records show that William Claude Betts was born in 1898. He survived the war. 

Missing Soldiers

 
Corporal James Richard Ellison

Thursday 4th November 1915: The family of Wilstead soldier Percy Gambriel have not heard from him since the letter he wrote to his mother on 23rd/24th September and have now received worrying news. A report from the War Office stating that he had been wounded in action on 25th September has now been followed by a notice that he was posted as “missing” after the engagement which took place on that date. In response to their enquiries an adjutant of the 2nd Bedfords writes:

“The following is all I can find out about Private P.W. Gambriel. He was wounded in the foot, as soon as the Company came under fire, in the advance against the German Gun Trench on 25th September. He took off his boot, but the wound was very slight and he came on again – this I got from Private Stevens. He was then wounded in the head, again slightly – he was able to speak, and said he could get back easily. Soon afterwards he was badly hit in the arm, and was bound up and sent back to Ambulance by Sergeant Curtis, being then able to walk. No one in the Company has since heard of or from him. I sincerely hope he is getting on all right in hospital, as he fought so splendidly. Very likely he cannot write home because of his arm.”

Mr. J. Ellison of Bunyan Road, Kempston is also appealing for news of his son Corporal James Richard Ellison of the 1st/5th Bedfords who was reported as “missing, believed killed” by the War Office on September 8th. He was a member of the 5th Bedfords when they were mobilised in August 1914 and went out with the Battalion to Gallipoli on 26th July. It is hoped that his comrades in the trenches may be able to provide some information.

Source: Z1270/1/3-4; Z1270/2/21-22; Bedfordshire Standard, 5th November 1915

News from Luton Men at Gallipoli

     

Lance Corporal H Foster and Sapper H S Mimms, 

members of the wire entanglement party

Tuesday 2nd November 1915: A Luton soldier has written home from Gallipoli where he is serving with the East Anglian Royal Engineers. Although their ranks have been seriously reduced by casualties and sickness he is able to report that all the Luton lads of the “Vicarage Street clan” are “in the pink”. They are enjoying surprisingly good provisions considering it is only just over two months since the landing at Gallipoli. Their rations quite frequently include bread and occasionally fresh meat, there is plenty of bacon for breakfast, and tinned vegetables are available.

He took a party including fellow Lutonians ‘Chicken’ Hensman and Stan Mimms out in front of the trenches on wire entanglement duties. They got their wire and equipment and themselves safely over the parapet and were advancing towards the Turkish trenches when a star shell[1] went up from the Turkish trench exposing them to rifle fire. They lay flat until the fire died down, but having laid 70 yards of wire they were in front of a different part of the trench to where they had started. When the rifle fire was followed by an exploding shell they ran for the trench. This was manned by Sikhs who at first mistook them for Turks and would have bayoneted them if they had not called out “English Johnny” as they scrambled into the trench. After completing the wiring job the following night they were ensconced in a dug out where they “have just had the pleasant news that the Turks intend to gas us tonight, and they have just treated our camp to a miniature bombardment of 7.5 guns”.

Source: Luton News 5th November 1915

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[1] A “star shell” contained a magnesium flare and was used to illuminate the battlefield.

Sympathy from a Colonel

Colonel Edgar William Brighten [X550/1/292/4]

Sunday 31st October 1915: Lieutenant-Colonel Edgar William Brighten has earned a reputation for excellence as the military leader in command of the 1st/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. He is also a man of compassion as can be seen in his treatment of anxious and bereaved relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Ambridge of 74, Dane Road, Luton were notified after the Bedfords’ famous charge at Gallipoli on Sunday August 15th that their son Charles was “missing, believed killed”. Seeking more information his mother wrote to the Colonel who replied with great sympathy:

“I am only too glad to give any relatives news of any of my men if possible. But in your case I fear it is not possible – the report you have had from Warley is only too true, and is, of course, founded on information supplied them by me. Men who have been reported missing have in some cases turned up, but I fear it would only be unkind to you to tell you after this lapse of time that there is any hope of your boy turning up again, the fact being that he must have been killed with the others on August 15th, and he has not been found yet. I have made very careful inquiries to see if any of his mates saw him fall or know anything about him. I know it would have been a crumb of comfort to you if you could hear only some little thing, but so far as I can ascertain there is no one who saw him go down. The only consolation you can have is that he died a brave man’s death and doing his part for his country.”

Source: Luton News, 4th November 1915

A Letter from Gallipoli

Stotfold, 1911 [Z1306/115/3/6]

Wednesday 27th October 1915: In August our military colleague heard from Private E.J. Albon of Stotfold who is serving as a signaller with the 1/5th Bedfords at Gallipoli. He has now written to his parents with the news that he is out of the trenches for an eight day rest, although he complains that “it is practically the same as being in the trenches both for work and rifle and shell fire.” Fortunately since the action in August he has been moved to another part of the line where the casualties are much fewer and they are “just losing a man or two when we are in the trenches, but that’s caused mostly by rifle fire”.

Like the East Anglian Royal Engineers the Bedfords are becoming creative in their use of rations. Private Albon says “We are getting quite expert cooks now. We make an oven of a biscuit tin buried in the bank and turn out some decent tarts using powdered biscuits for flour and when we don’t get bread, which is very often, we have rice puddings and anything like that, so long as we can manage without our inevitable biscuits and bully”. He hopes that when he returns to the trenches he will be fortunate as he was the last time, when he was posted to the telephone station attached to the Quartermaster’s Stores about a mile from the firing line. As a signaller his worst job is dispatch carrying, but as that duty lasts only for a 12 hour stretch “I don’t mind doing my bit any time”. 

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle, 29th October 1915

Bedford Man Wounded at Gallipoli

No. 4 Section 2nd Field Co.(Reserve Unit) 

East Anglian Royal Engineers, Luton 1914 [Z50/142/573]

Tuesday 21st September 1915: Sergeant Arthur “Tich” Lancaster of the East Anglian Royal Engineers, a prominent member of the South End Club in Bedford[1], was wounded taking part in the new landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula. He has written to his friend Mr. E. Thompson from a hospital in Malta:

“I was ‘winged’ on the 1st September. We were putting up wire in front of the Indian trenches at the time. We had one chap laid out as soon as we started, but we got the job finished all right, and I was just getting back into the trench when a bullet broke my leg just above the ankle. We were all lucky to get back alive, as we were only about 200 yards from the Turks. I had a rough journey down to the base; it was about five miles through the trenches, but I got there all right. I was in a hospital ship for four days, and was then sent on here. I think my leg is going on all right now, but it has been bad. The doctors were afraid I should lose my foot, but they cut my leg about and put tubes in it, so I think the worst is over – at least I hope so. This is a very nice hospital, and we are looked after well; I can lie in bed and look out to sea. I have been on milk diet until today, now I am on chicken.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 24th September 1915

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[1] Bedfordshire and Luton Archives holds records for the Southend Working Men’s Club from 1919-1979 [reference Z1160]

[2] Arthur Alfred Lancaster had joined the East Anglian Royal Engineers in 1908. He army service record notes “wounded in action, compound fracture left leg” and he was repatriated on 31st October 1915. He recovered sufficiently to continue in the army and was re-engaged for four years in April 1916. However his discharge record in 1919 recorded that he suffered from 50% disablement due to leg and eye injuries.

Letters Home from Gallipoli

Scenery near Suvla Bay

Wednesday 15th September 1915: Sergeant Maurice Taylor Wood of Biggleswade has written home to his parents from Gallipoli, where he is serving with the 1/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. He tells them:

“I am living an open air life entirely. It seemed strange at first lying down to sleep at night on the ground and gazing up into the starlit heavens. At the present time we are camped right on the sea shore. The sea is within 15 yards of my feet and reminds me very much of Lowestoft. We are allowed to bathe before 8.00 a.m. and after 5.00 p.m. Of course we are allowed to wash and also to wash our clothes at any time. It is still very warm out here, but we are becoming accustomed to it. The nights, however, are a little chilly.”

He is optimistic that the Gallipoli campaign will not last much longer and was grateful to have received some bread the previous day, “the first bit for over a fortnight”. They had also been served Maconochie’s Army Rations which “are splendid as they contain several different kinds of vegetables … I also hear a rumour that fresh meat is also on the board”. He had been speaking to “a few old Biggleswade boys” and was sorry to report that three had been wounded.

Two Shefford men have also been wounded and are now recovering on hospital ships. Private Charles E. Dukes of Shefford has written to his mother that he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the leg, but expects to return to the firing-line in a week or two. He says that the Turks have the advantage of knowing the country very well and of many deadly snipers, but that when they see the British bayonets, “they run as though they were racing in the Olympic Games”. The other Shefford casualty, Private Hubert Harris, was struck on the back of the head with a piece of shrapnel. He was fired on repeatedly as he crawled from the firing-line. A bullet hit him near the heart, but struck a metal cigarette case which had been given to him as a gift by the lady of the house where he was last billeted. The bullet then struck some books and papers in his pocket and was again deflected, leaving him with only a slight graze.

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle 17th September 1915

Heavy Losses for Luton

Mayor Walter James Primett

Friday 3rd September 1915: News continues to arrive in Luton of the heavy losses suffered by the 1/5th Bedfords in the Dardanelles, making this an extremely distressing week for the town. Mayor Walter Primett told a meeting of the Emergency Sub-Committee of the South Beds Recruiting Committee last night that he has written to the relatives of all the officers who have been killed. The Committee unanimously agreed that it would also send letters of sympathy. There was considerable regret that the length of the casualty list meant it was not possible to write to the relatives of all the men killed or wounded. It was decided that a record of all these would be kept, and it was hoped that there would come a time when a memorial could be erected. A list of the names of Luton men serving in other units who have given their lives for their country will also be kept.

Source: Luton Times 3 September 1915

Bad News for the Rector of Dunstable

Captain Charles Tanqueray Baker

Friday 27th August 1915: Canon William Wing Carew Baker, the Rector of Dunstable and his wife received a telegraph yesterday informing them that their son Captain Charles Tanqueray Baker had been killed in action with the 1/5th Bedfordshires at Gallipoli on 15th August. There were rumours in the town on Wednesday that Captain Baker had fallen, but until the arrival of the telegram yesterday afternoon the Rector had been hoping that the lack of official news meant this was no more than rumour. However, our well-informed man in the Dardanelles reported on his death just the day after the attack by the Yellow Devils on Kidney Hill at Suvla Bay. 

Charles Tanqueray was the second son of Canon Baker and at only 22 years old was one of the youngest captains in the army. He had been a chorister at New College, Oxford and had attended Fettes College in Edinburgh. After finishing his education he became a master at St. Ninian’s School in Moffat, Scotland until the war began. He joined the territorials of the 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment in 1913, was promoted to second-lieutenant within a year, to lieutenant shortly after mobilisation, and to captain last autumn. He was in command of  B Company when he fell.

Canon Baker himself is chaplain to the 5th Bedfords. He wished to go out with the Battalion in that role but the Bishop would not give consent due to the importance of his work at home. Captain Baker’s eldest sister is the commandant of the Red Cross Hospital at Houghton Regis, and another sister has recently left her nursing duties there to become probationer nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Although he is over fifty, Canon Baker’s brother is serving in the Australian Forces and has been wounded twice at Gallipoli. Sadly Canon Baker’s hope that his brother and son would meet and the uncle would be obliged to salute the nephew never came to fruition.

Source: Luton News, 2 September 1915