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Overview
Over 6,000 men from Portsmouth are believed to have been killed during the First World War – the greatest loss of life that the city has ever known. Not only were thousands of Portsmouth soldiers killed on the Western Front, but Portsmouth-based ships were sunk throughout the war, causing massive loss of life. Thanks to a wealth of sources available and painstaking use of database software, it is possible to tell their stories in more detail than ever before. James Daly builds an extremely detailed picture of Portsmouth's First World War dead, down to where they were born and where they lived. Not only will their powerfully poignant stories tell us about how the war was fought and won, and their sacrifices, but they will also provide a vividly clear picture of how Portsmouth and its people suffered during the war to end all wars.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780750951999 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 11/01/2013 |
| Series: | World War Heroes , #2 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 192 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Portsmouth's World War One Heroes
Stories of the Fallen Men and Women
By James Daly
The History Press
Copyright © 2013 James DalyAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7509-5199-9
CHAPTER 1
Portsmouth Before the First World War
As a city, Portsmouth has always owed its very existence to war, and its fortunes have always been closely tied to the role that Britain has played on the global stage. Indeed, the sheltered harbour made Portchester a key settlement from Roman times. The town of Portsmouth was founded in the late twelfth century in the area we now know as Old Portsmouth. Portsmouth was frequently a point of embarkation for medieval kings sailing to fight in France, most notably Richard the Lionheart, who granted the town its first charter in 1194.
The naval dockyard in Portsmouth grew in importance, particularly when the first dry dock was built by Henry VII in 1494. Naturally, fortifications were built to protect such a vital facility, and the town became home to a sizeable army garrison. The dockyard expanded considerably during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the growth of the British Empire and the Royal Navy. As the dockyard expanded, so too did the fortifications and garrison to defend it. The presence of so many large military establishments shaped the way the town developed, geographically and socially. Throughout its history Portsmouth has perhaps been more familiar with soldiers and sailors than any other town or city in Britain. Although the townspeople were used to sharing their town with servicemen – and usually happy to accept their custom – the relationship was not always an easy one.
Portsmouth's population grew at an incredible rate during the nineteenth century, increasing from 33,226 in 1801 to 188,123 in 1901, by which time Portsmouth was the fifteenth largest town in the country. The great extension of the dockyard in the 1860s in particular drew many men to Portsmouth. In 1801 the population of the town was crowded mainly into the area of Old Portsmouth, with a growing settlement at Portsea and a number of farms inhabiting the rest of the island. Within a hundred years, rapid expansion had covered a large proportion of Portsea Island in housing. In 1911 the town – as it was then – had a population of 230,496 people. They lived in a total of 51,656 dwellings – a remarkable number for what was still a small island town. Much of the population was concentrated in the south-western part of the town, in particular in Landport, Buckland, Portsea, Southsea and Fratton. There was serious overcrowding, especially in some of the inner-city areas. Despite this overcrowding, Portsmouth was also a rural town, and areas such as Milton, Copnor and Hilsea were still relatively undeveloped villages. Apart from Cosham and a small number of houses in Drayton and Farlington, the mainland that would become part of the town after the end of the First World War was virtually untouched by development. Although Portsmouth was of national and international importance, in 1914 it was still only a town, with city status not being granted until 1926, and the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth being created a year later.
There was significant poverty and deprivation in some areas of the town, and one commentator, Rev. Robert Dolling of St Agatha's church in Landport, famously regarded naval towns such as Portsmouth as 'sinks of iniquity'. Most families lived in small and basic terraced houses, in narrow streets. Children played in the streets due to a lack of space. Landport in particular was viewed as a slum area.
The large number of thirsty young men led to the development and prosperity of several local breweries such as Brickwoods, and in 1910 there were 742 licensed premises in Portsmouth. Reflecting the nature of the town, many pubs boasted naval- and military-inspired names. Some of these names are still in evidence today – the Artillery Arms in Milton, the Battle of Minden in Kingston, the Fifth Hants Volunteer Arms in Southsea, the Royal Marine Artillery Tavern in Eastney and the Wellington in Old Portsmouth. There were also a large number of beerhouses in the area, which were in effect rooms of normal family homes given over to serving alcohol. Beerhouses were for many years more numerous than public houses – in 1900 there were 318 pubs in the town and 459 beerhouses. They were frequently unsophisticated and rowdy; Robert Dolling investigated many premises, and alleged them to be hotbeds of gambling, betting, vulgar songs and bad characters. Agnes Weston, the founder of the Royal Sailors' Rests, also campaigned fiercely against the number of pubs near dockyards, even to the extent of buying up troublesome premises and converting them to more sober uses. This was met with hostility from local publicans, who accused her of ruining their trade. Placing the number of pubs and the role of alcohol in context, in 1851 Portsmouth had space for 8,700 people in seven churches, but over 650 pubs with space for 24,000 customers. Not surprisingly, the owner of Brickwoods's Brewery, Sir John Brickwood, was one of the most influential men in the town and was also the founding chairman of Portsmouth Football Club in 1898. The tightening of licensing laws upon the outbreak of war caused anxiety to local landlords and breweries alike.
The large number of unmarried young men in the town also encouraged another vice, and roads such as Bonfire Corner, Blossom Alley, Yorkes Drift, Whites Row and Rosemary Lane were well known as notorious areas for prostitution. Not unnaturally, the prevalence of venereal disease amongst military personnel was a serious concern for the authorities, and in November 1914 the general officer commanding the Portsmouth Garrison complained that the large numbers of men in the town had encouraged prostitution, increasing the number of cases of venereal disease.
In 1911 Portsmouth represented the largest concentration of servicemen in Britain. In fact, it was said that in the town 'everything looks, breaths and smells of soldiers, sailors and dockmen'. The census of that year showed that 20,016 men resident in the town were serving in the Royal Navy and 3,236 were in the army. By comparison, Aldershot, the largest army garrison town in Britain, was home to 12,694 soldiers. The high concentration of servicemen also affected the gender balance of Portsmouth's population; there were 11,574 unmarried males aged between 20 and 25 in Portsmouth, compared to only 3,946 in Southampton, although both towns had a similar total population. The manner in which Portsmouth was geared up towards providing and housing men for the Royal Navy and the dockyard made the town's efforts in finding enough men to raise two Pals Battalions for Kitchener's 'New Army' all the more remarkable. Only thirteen other Pals Battalions were raised in the South of England, and no other city or town in Hampshire managed to raise its own battalion, let alone two.
Portsmouth Football Club was only founded in 1898, but even in the short period between then and the start of the First World War the club made a habit of recruiting players from the local naval and military establishments. The armed services encouraged sports, and the great number of young men passing through the town gave the club a large pool of potential players to choose from. In 1904 a player known only as 'Archibald' joined the club via the 'Royal Navy Depot' – presumably the Royal Naval Barracks at HMS Nelson – and played four games for the club in two years. In December 1913 Pompey signed H. 'Wobbly' Matthews from the Portsmouth Royal Marine Artillery. Matthews only made two appearances, scoring one goal.
Although many young men who were born in the town found their way into the armed forces, many more were drawn to the town from elsewhere, often at a very early age. Rev. Robert Dolling wrote about the experiences of young men who arrived in Portsmouth for the first time after joining the Royal Navy, and in particular the boy seamen who spent several years onboard training ships. Many of them had just left home for the first time and were lacking any kind of female influence. Dolling felt that with the vices on offer Portsmouth was not the best town for impressionable young boys to be in. Interestingly, he observed that sailors often remained childish, frequently marrying on impulse a girl they had known for only a few weeks.
Until the nineteenth century, the Royal Navy and its sailors had spent most of their time at sea and very little time in port or ashore. The sailors of Nelson's navy a century before had spent most of their time 'in port' living on ships anchored at Spithead, with ships only coming into the dockyard for repairs. However, health concerns led the Royal Navy to begin building barracks onshore in the 1890s, including the main naval barracks at HMS Nelson, which opened in 1903. The increasingly technical nature of naval service led to the construction of specialist schools. The gunnery school at HMS Excellent opened on Whale Island in the 1880s and the torpedo school at HMS Vernon in 1876.
Portsmouth's history as an army garrison has often been overshadowed by its naval heritage. In 1914 an Infantry Brigade was stationed in Portsmouth. There were many army barracks in the area: Clarence, Victoria, Cambridge and Colewort Barracks in the town --– all bearing suitably royal names – and the Royal Artillery camp at Hilsea. A visitor to the town would have struggled to walk very far without seeing some kind of army establishment. For example, a visitor disembarking at the town station and walking towards Clarence Pier would have seen the Connaught Drill Hall of the Hampshire Regiment's local territorial battalion, the drill halls of the Hampshire Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, the garrison commander's residence at Ravelin House and other senior officers' residences in Ravelin Park and Clarence Barracks. In many respects, the army was in fact a more visible presence in Portsmouth than the Royal Navy, which was largely afloat or ensconced behind the dockyard walls. That Portsmouth Football Club was born out of a Royal Artillery team hints at how quietly prominent the army was in local society.
Of the rest of the population, a large proportion was made up of dockyard workers. In fact, in 1911, between a third and half of all industrial workers in the town – some 15,000 men – were employed in the yard. Increasing naval budgets in the pre-war years and an increase in the naval construction program made the yard busier than ever before, typified by the remarkable completion of HMS Dreadnought in only a year and a day. War only increased the demand for workers, given the urgent need to repair ships and make modifications such as fitting torpedo bulges and extra armour. By 1918 the workforce had swelled to 21,000. The introduction of ironclad ships and steam propulsion led to the growth of a number of new trades. In 1911, for example, there were 962 boilermakers in Portsmouth, virtually all of whom would have been working in the yard, and in 1914 there were 655 riveters and drillers working there. Many dockyard workers were mistakenly presented with white feathers, despite the vital role they were playing in contributing to the war effort. Although the dockyard was largely self-sufficient, local traders also profited from being a part of the yard's supportive infrastructure, either supplying goods for use in the yard or sustaining the vast workforce.
The presence of a large military population also shaped Portsmouth's social and cultural history. As the Royal Navy, the dockyard and the army were the main forces in the town, Portsmouth was frequently at the forefront of national and international events, particularly in the lead-up to the outbreak of war. Events such as fleet reviews and the launches of dreadnought battleships were major social occasions. The first of each class of dreadnought battleships was built in Portsmouth: HMS Dreadnought was launched in 1906, HMS Iron Duke in 1912 and HMS Royal Sovereign in April 1915. Portsmouth could therefore firmly lay claim to being 'the home of the dreadnoughts'. The launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 by King Edward VIII drew thousands to the town. In July 1914 a test mobilisation of the reserve fleet took place, and the fleet was reviewed by the King at Spithead. Such was the immense size of the Royal Navy that the whole fleet took six hours to pass the royal yacht. Thousands viewed the event from the shoreline and also saw a feu de joie fired by soldiers lining the Solent from Southsea to Fort Gilkicker. Parades were a common sight, and the movement of so many soldiers and sailors meant that military uniforms were ever-present around town. Visits by members of the Royal Family and other dignitaries were relatively common, and the German Kaiser visited Portsmouth on 11 November 1907.
As the navy, the army and the dockyard – and by extension the government – dominated employment in the town, this left very little room for other industries. One notable exception was corset making, with 10,373 people – mostly women – employed in this sector in 1911. The large number of women who lived alone whilst their husbands were serving overseas, often for years on end, meant that there was a large potential workforce in the town for such labour. In addition, naval pay was usually not enough to support a family on its own, leading many navy wives to take on jobs. Despite the importance of alcohol retailing in the town, only 226 people were employed in brewing in the same year. Although the dockyard was a big employer in the town, it was largely self-sufficient, meaning that there were few opportunities for local businesses to supply it. A town such as Southampton, by contrast, was home to commercial shipping rather than the state-controlled industries present in Portsmouth, and this encouraged the development of private business. The presence of the naval dockyard and the control of local waters by the navy inhibited the growth of Portsmouth's commercial shipping trade until after the Second World War.
As a result Portsmouth was by no means a rich town, and this poverty increased in many quarters with the coming of war. While Thomas Ellis Owen's Southsea boasted many fine streets and avenues, it was Portsmouth's only middle-class suburb; the other areas of the town were grossly overcrowded. In fact, Portsmouth has often been described as a northern industrial town, only in a southern setting. In 1914 it was estimated that 2,000 poor children were in need of shoes. Working-class children born in Portsmouth in the years prior to 1914 faced an uphill struggle to survive into adulthood, with infant mortality as high as 8.9 per cent. Even into adulthood, life could be trying, and the life expectancy of adult males in Portsmouth was 51.5 years between 1910 and 1912. Such a tough background probably helped men joining the armed forces to cope in harsh conditions, however, as they were used to enduring long hours and hard work with few luxuries.
Given the poverty in the town and the number of women who were left to struggle alone with young families, charity sustained many through the difficult war years. With very little state provision for those suffering hardship, most assistance was of a voluntary nature. After the start of the war, ten soup kitchens were established around the town, serving 4,800 pints of soup daily. Portsmouth also had a long heritage of voluntary aid organisations, such as the YMCA, and several determined women, notably Sarah Robinson and Agnes Weston, who opened her Royal Sailors' Rest in 1881. The Royal Sailors' Rest provided sleeping accommodation, food and sober entertainment for hundreds of sailors as an alternative to the countless pubs in the town.
Portsmouth was indelibly shaped by its status as a naval, military and dockyard town, and the thousands of young men working in these occupations. The social, economic and cultural conditions in the town had evolved over many years as a result of these forces, and as a result Portsmouth was deeply affected by the First World War. Whilst the consequences of the Second World War were more physical and visible due to aerial bombing, the effects of the First World War were more socially and demographically severe.
CHAPTER 2The Armed Forces: The Royal Navy
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.
Psalm 107:23
As the driving force of the largest maritime empire that the world had ever seen, sea power was literally a matter of life and death to Britain. In 1914 the Royal Navy was the most powerful fighting force that the world had ever seen. Since long before Trafalgar the navy had been the primary instrument of Britain's foreign policy, with the army being seen by many as a 'projectile to be fired by the navy'. During the later years of the nineteenth century, the British government had adopted the 'two power standard', which ensured that the Royal Navy was always larger than the fleets of the two next largest navies combined. The launch of HMS Dreadnought also placed the Royal Navy, outwardly at least, at the forefront of global naval technology. The navy entered the war with confidence and a sense of destiny; naval power was believed to be a war-winning formula.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Portsmouth's World War One Heroes by James Daly. Copyright © 2013 James Daly. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page,Dedication,
Acknowledgements,
Abbreviations,
Introduction,
1 Portsmouth Before the First World War,
2 The Armed Forces: The Royal Navy,
3 The Armed Forces: The British Army,
4 A Man of Three Armies: Lieutenant Colonel Dick Worrall DSO and Bar, MC and Bar,
5 The Portsmouth Pals Battalions,
6 'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines': Portsmouth's First World War Airmen,
7 Comings and Goings: Portsmouth's Emigrants and Immigrants,
8 Sea Soldiers: The Royal Naval Division and the Royal Marines,
9 The Easterners: The War in the Middle East,
10 Brothers in Arms: Portsmouth Families at War,
11 Portsmouth's Bloodiest Day: The Battle of Jutland,
12 A 'Sink of Iniquity'? Landport: A Portsmouth Community at War,
13 1 July 1916: The First Day on the Somme,
14 A Lost Generation? Portsmouth's First World War Army Officers,
15 Recruitment, Conscription and the Portsmouth Military Service Tribunal,
16 Boy Soldiers and Sailors: Portsmouth's Underage Servicemen,
17 'Damned Un-English': Portsmouth's First World War Submariners,
18 Portsmouth's Early Tank Men,
19 Guest of the Kaiser: Portsmouth's Prisoners of War,
20 Portsmouth's War Horses,
21 Their Name Liveth For Ever More: Remembrance in Portsmouth,
Notes,
Bibliography,
Copyright,