Hertfordshire Soldiers of The Great War

by Paul Johnson, Dan Hill

Overview

Collected first-hand accounts of British men and women serving their country during World War I, as discovered through the Herts At War community project.

In Hertfordshire Soldiers of The First World War the authors explore a series of individual case studies of Hertfordshire men who served in various theaters during the First World War, all of which had been uncovered as part of the Herts At War community project. This unique collection of largely unknown accounts includes stories from the Western Front, Gallipoli, Salonika, Mesopotamia, East Africa, Egypt, and even Russia in the fight against the Bolsheviks in 1919.

The Herts At War team uncovered many letters and objects in the course of their research, including men who were Victoria Cross winners to those whose courage or bravery went unrecognized, as well as stoicism on the Home Front. One of the most moving of these surrounds a photograph which was found in the hands of Sergeant Percy Buck as he lay fatally wounded in a shell hole in 1917. On the back of the photograph of his wife and young son he had written his address and asked for whoever found the image to post it to his loved ones in the event of his death. Sergeant Buck would have assumed it would be a British comrade who would find the photograph, but the person who recovered it was a German soldier who subsequently sent it on to the grieving, but grateful, family.

The war memorials of Hertfordshire contain the names of over 23,000 men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of their country during the Great War; some of their tales are uncovered here. Indeed, the poignant collection of stories, anecdotes, and artifacts revealed in this book bring the First World War to life in an unusual and highly moving fashion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473893955
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Series:	Your Towns & Cities in the Great War
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	442
File size:	76 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

DAN HILL works as a full-time military historian and battlefield tour guide. PAUL JOHNSON is a vocational military historian and currently works for the Post Office. Both are members of the Herts at War project, which sprang out of a series of individual historical research assignments, and collaboration with Letchworth’s Highfield School History Department to uncover the wartime exploits of local soldiers in the Great War.

Table of Contents

Introduction viii

The Structure of the British Armed Forces in the Great War xi

Great War Campaign Medals xiii

Gallantry Awards xvi

The Death Penny xviii

Serving King, Country and County - An Overview of the Hertfordshire Regiment and Yeomanry xx

Chapter 1 1914-So It Begins 1

The First to Fall - Second Lieutenant Joseph Frederick Mead 5

Victorian Warrior - General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien 9

High Seas Ambush - Chaplain Edward Robson 12

Brothers in Life, Brothers in Death 15

In Flanders Fields - The Flanders Story 21

VC & Bar - Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Martin-Leake 25

A Christmas Truce? - Percy Huggins and Tom Gregory 28

Chapter 2 1915 - A Year of Adversity 35

New Year's Disaster - The Sinking of HMS Formidable 37

A Victoria Cross for Tring - Private Edward Barber VC 40

Private Edward Warner VC - A Victoria Cross for St. Albans 44

The Bullard Brothers 45

The Aldenham Mystery - Private William David Smith 50

Over the Top - Alfred Alexander Burt VC 58

Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon 59

Corporal Reginald Evans - The Sixpenny DCM 61

Chapter 3 1916 - The Big Push 66

The Garden City Mourns - Jack & Walter Satterthwaite 69

Unrecognised Bravery - Private Douglas Eaton Enticknap 72

'The Maniac' - Lieutenant Colonel Meredith Magniac 74

A Mother's Love - Private Ernest Edward Ambrose 76

The Canon Glossop Memorials - Two Soldiers from St. Albans 80

From East Africa to The Somme - Dr. Alec Bamford MC, VD, MA, PhD. 89

Chapter 4 1917 - Mud & Devastation 95

Boy Soldiers - Rowland Newling & William Stoten 99

The Impact of War - Private Samuel Raw 102

A Very Short War - Private William Henry Clements 104

Private Christopher Augustus Cox VC - A Victoria Cross for St. Albans 109

Day of Days - The Hertfordshire Regiment at St. Julien, 31 July 1917 112

A Glimpse of Humanity Amidst Devastation - Private Percy Buck 122

Murder on The High Seas - Edward Baden Sharp 127

My Sister Saved My Life - Corporal William Taylor MM & Bar 130

The Brave Royston Doctor - Harold Ackroyd VC MC 132

A Remarkable Life - George Randolph Pearkes VC, DSO, MC, CdG 135

Trench Raider - George Sidney Carter MC 146

God's Work This Day - British Army Chaplains 147

Thomas Jasper Shovel - Chaplain 4th Class 150

Chapter 5 1918 - Victory & Defeat 152

A Question of Distinguished Conduct - Private Henry Charles Forder 154

A Temporary Posting - Second Lieutenant Peter Francis Kent 156

The Courageous Wounded - Corporal Horace Bavington DCM 160

War Overcomes an Addiction - Sergeant George Major MM 163

A Very Short War - Private Frank Smith 171

A Life Taken - Corporal Philip Edward Kingham MM 176

The Captive Hero - Captain Julian Royds Gribble VC 177

To Be Frank - A Father & Son in the Hertfordshire Regiment 180

Prisoner of War - Elphinstone Chamberlain 192

Dead Man's Penny - Lieutenant Cuthbert Foster MiD - Royal Air Force 197

The Spanish Flu 198

A Very Doubtful Case - Gunner Ernest Lewis 199

Bravery in The Field - William Jeffery Sell MM 201

Chapter 6 1919 - A New Enemy 204

Missing at Yemetskoe - George Harry Drury DCM 206

Phoenix Rising - Stoker Jack Finnis & The Loss of Submarine L55 219

The Life and Death of Corporal Hamlet Bloxam 223

Chapter 7 The 1920s - Cogadh na Saoirse 226

A Secret Mission - Lieutenant David Alfred Rutherford MC & Bar 228

Black Whitsun - Sinn Fein Strike in Dublin and St. Albans 230

Chapter 8 The Home Front 236

A Munitions Accident - Violet Rose Emily Clarke 255

No Medals for Home Service - Private Gilbert Edwin Angell 257

Seven Days at the Front, Four Years in Captivity - The Story of Hertfordshire Prisoners of War 259

Conscientious Objectors 266

In Remembrance 267

Sources & Bibliography 268

Index 271