A First World War Journey.
My father’s, mother’s elder brother – my Great-Uncle -
was called John Townsend; this is something of his story. John was born in January 1893 in Honley – a
bustling village south of Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. John was a small child but always bright and
cheerful, he did well at school and in sports (football particularly).
He went to study at Sheffield University in 1911 (joined
the debating society, the OTC, Officer Training Corps, which gave him, and
others, useful experience and the sports clubs), graduating as a Bachelor of
Arts. He had worked hard and was awarded
his degree at the Universities’ ceremony on the 27th June 1914.
John was quickly offered a post as an Assistant Teacher
at one of Sheffield’s schools and was due to start work in September 1914. But war was then declared on the 4th
August 1914 and Lord Kitchener had called on the 7th for 100,000
volunteers to enlist in the British Army.
John only worked in teaching for two weeks as he was to offer himself
for military service; the school released him but confirmed that his role would
be held open pending his return.
Mr HAL Fisher, Vice Chancellor of Sheffield University,
along with Sheffield Council decided it would be a great boost for morale to
form a local (Pals) battalion and agreed this with the Army Council. And thus, was created the 12th
(City of Sheffield) Service Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment, the
local infantry regiment. The word
Service indicates that the Battalion was formed for active service and was not
part of the Army reserves.
John quickly joined up, his army number was 252/12
indicating that he was the two-hundred and fifty-second man to join the
newly-formed battalion.
Sheffield Football Club initially offered their grounds
and pitch as a camp and training area for the battalion. But, as the recruits turned all the
beautifully cared for grass into mud in a few days, the Battalion was moved very
quickly to Redmires Camp away from Sheffield, near Catterick Garrison.
The Sheffield Battalion then went through rigorous
training and travelled to various camps: Penkridge, Staffordshire in May 1915,
Ripon in August, Salisbury in September and Wickford in Essex in December. This was so for all new battalions training
new recruits as the Army kept moving huge numbers of men around the country
until they were ready for overseas service.
John had known for a while that they faced a long wait
getting to the Front as the 12th York & Lancaster Battalion was
part of the Fourth Army and the Second Army had only just mobilised overseas in
mid-1915. On the 14th
December, the 12th Battalion was formed into the 94th Brigade
in the 31st Division of the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
to be posted to Egypt in the New Year.
The 94th Brigade was comprised of four Battalions: the 12th
plus two other Battalions from the York and Lancaster Regiment (both Barnsley
Pals) and one from the East Lancashire Regiment (Accrington Pals).
Then, just before Christmas 1915, the Brigade was
transported (by ship – HMT Nestor) to Egypt via Gibraltar and was based near
Port Said on the Suez Canal to protect it from an anticipated Turkish attack.
John had been promoted to Corporal by then. He wrote home frequently (and had done since
joining up). He often had to ask his
parents for various supplies: paper, ink, cigarettes (when troops did not get
their tobacco rations), sweets and chocolate, coffee, biscuits, cake (Parkin
was very popular), tinned goods (fruit, sardines, meat pastes) – not pork pies,
these did not travel well apparently!
The postal services really came up trumps for all these soldiers who
depended so much on the little extras they got from home.
Troops could buy necessities locally, but the prices were
often exorbitant and, occasionally, pay did not arrive on time leaving men a
bit short sometimes.
For quite a while, when John’s Battalion was stationed in
Egypt, water was rationed to a gallon per day per man, although salt water for
washing and cleaning clothes was, I think, extra. John, at one point, mentions swimming from
Europe to Asia (I think he meant Africa not Europe, but an easy slip to make)
and back again – although I think this was to clean his shirt rather than make
any particular point. Port Said might be
very hot during the daytime; but, at night it was exceedingly cold. John wrote that when coal was delivered to
their Base Depot in railway wagons which were “emptied” and returned for
re-supply, there would often be plenty of scraps of coal left in the
wagons. The men would use their
initiative and very carefully collect up these scraps to take back to their
huts. In John’s hut, he and his
colleagues made a fireplace out of an old biscuit tin. Thus, they were able to keep warm, brew tea
at any time of the day and they fried eggs, bread and cheese to supplement
their rations and shared the treats and supplies they received from their families
and, all in all, make their situation as civilised as they could manage.
Interestingly, the fact of John’s promotion to Corporal
(then later to Lance Sergeant) is barely mentioned in his letters; but, the
contents of his parcels from home (and, I presume that it was the same for all
of his fellow soldiers) are of more concern to him. The necessities and the niceties of
life. These become much more important
when the men are posted off to picquet duty a few hours hard march into the
desert and away from Port Said.
John was promoted to Lance Sergeant in February
1916. This was a fairly new rank of
Non-Commissioned Officer, dating approximately from the early seventeenth
century. Up to Henry VIII’s and
Elizabeth I’s time, foot-soldiers fought with bill-hooks and pikes
(twenty-two-foot-long ash spears tipped with wickedly sharp blades). Some cannons and hand-munitions were used in
battle, but, in James I’s time, numbers of infantry companies ceased using
pikes and were re-armed with match-lock, muzzle-loading muskets. By the time of the English Civil War in
Charles I’s reign a good proportion of infantry companies were issued with
matchlock muskets. These, along with all
the equipment that the musketeers were carrying, were very cumbersome; and the
process of loading their muskets took about three minutes – compared to about a
minute for an infantryman in the British Army of the Napoleonic Wars. This being the case, besides keeping order in
the ranks, the Lance Corporals and Lance Sergeants armed with six-foot
half-pikes would face OUT whilst the men in their ranks were otherwise occupied
in loading their muskets. They would
defend their rank against enemy attack from the side and warn officers of any
threats. Once their rank was loaded, the
Lance-Corporals and Lance-Sergeants would resume their disciplinary duties.
The threat of an attack by the Turkish army on the Suez canal
had dwindled away and, on the 12th March 1916, the 94th
Brigade took ship once again and sailed to Marseilles in Southern France to
take part in an offensive currently being planned over the river Somme. They were taken by train most of the way and
route marched the remainder.
They found the regions they passed through very
interesting and enjoyable. In the main,
cherries, almonds and grapes were being intensively cultivated. Mainly idyllic, but in certain areas, the war
was not too far away and the attitude of the locals was darker – not
hostile, just understanding of the dangers.
They reached their point in the Line and the Sheffield
Battalion took their place in the front-line trenches for the first time,
experiencing a hot German bombardment at the beginning of April. Three men were slightly wounded at this time
even though they were bombarded by shells, whizz-bangs, tear-gas and canister
shot. Quite a show - and most of the men
were on the firing steps cheering on the British Artillery responses. John looked at the faces of the men in his
platoon as he was moving along the trench and noted the intensity of their
feelings; all were very angry and ready to fight if the Germans had mounted an
infantry attack and were almost disappointed that they did not. In fact, the men were probably in more real
danger from the rats that infested the dugouts.
John mentioned the rats in their dug-outs in one of his letters, then,
it appeared that his mother had offered to send out a tin of rat poison. John politely said “No, Thanks”. He advised that they would probably need a
ton or so of poison to make any difference, then they would be inundated by
dead, rotting rats all over the place, so it was better to leave them as they
were and live round them as much as possible.
In heavy wind and rain, a few days later, the Battalion
was moved behind the lines; this happened regularly, as battalions were moved
around behind the lines and then to the Front for a short spell before being
relieved again.
When in the front line, John took part in a number of
wire patrols in No Man’s Land, on the first of which he kicked up a number of
old meat tins and shell canisters making an awful din, fortunately, the Germans
did not hear him. Then he got caught on
the wire and tore his trousers getting free. Carrying his rifle and bayonet
about caused a lot of difficulty. On
future patrols, whether on his own or leading men from his platoon, he armed
himself with a bag of bombs as it was easier to manoeuvre.
Was John frightened of the situation he was in? Like many soldiers, he was something of a
fatalist; he could do nothing about his situation, he took all the care that he
could but appreciated that an incident could happen at any time that would kill
him. Often, when he was in command of
his platoon at night in the front line, he would have to bolster up any men who
were in a bit of a funk about where they were.
This meant that he was often moving about in the trenches far more than
was strictly safe as he risked being spotted by German snipers (mind you, the
soldiers were pretty disparaging about the accuracy of most of the enemy’s
rifle fire).
Then, on the 21st April (1916), the Colonel
sent for John and offered him a commission.
John accepted the offer immediately but had to get certificates for his
education and personal references to start the process. He declined time off for officer training and
only took one week of his promotion leave as he wanted to get straight back to
his unit – the Colonel had said “Well, I suppose you will want 3 months in England,
now?” To which, John immediately
responded: “If my commission depends on any more training, I’ll resign it to go
back to the trenches.” The CO clapped
him on the back and said: “That’s right, young man, that’s the sort of spirit
we want.”
He was made a Second Lieutenant in the 12th
Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment at the end of May, but took just one
week of leave at home in Honley before joining his new unit. This was a very full week, getting his new
uniform and speaking to people at Sheffield University and Town Hall to tell
them how well his comrades in the City Battalion were doing and that they were
all in good spirits.
When his leave was over, John returned to France to join
his new unit, the 12th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment.
Let us leave John there, and return briefly to the
Sheffield Battalion. They were carrying
out their military duties in and out of the Somme area and were scheduled to
take part in the first attacks of that battle near a town called Serre on the
left of the Front.
The 94th Brigade (Sheffield City Battalion
along with the two Battalions of Barnsley Pals and one of Accrington Pals)
attacked at 7:30am on the 1st July 1916; within an hour German
machine-gun and rifle fire had brought the attack to a stand-still and over 500
men of the Sheffield’s had been killed or wounded. Eventually, months later, the City Battalion
was disbanded as they could not get enough replacements to bring them back to
full fighting strength.
John Townsend did not know about this set-back to the
Sheffield City Battalion for quite a few days, but he was very happy in his new
Battalion, and fitted in well with the officers and men of the West Yorkshire
Regiment. He was kept very busy as the
Intelligence Officer for the 12th Battalion. Early in July, the newspapers reported the
death of a Second Lieutenant John Townsend of the East Yorkshire Regiment; John
had his work cut out writing to friends and family that it was not him in the
report and he was very much alive.
They took part in sports against other units,
particularly the Royal Fusiliers.
Horse-riding and football in the main and the West Yorkshires did very
well. One day, John wrote that they were
going to go swimming in a local lock, but the lock-keeper had let out the water
in “revenge” for some of the officers leaving their horses in his field without
his permission, this did not go down too well with the men who wanted a swim
that day.
Then, it happened.
On the 24th July, the official telegram arrived for Mr and
Mrs Townsend in Honley. The King and
Queen and Army Council regretted that their son John had been killed in action
on the 14th July 1916.
A few days later, John’s parents received a letter from a
Private FG King (later Corporal) who had been John’s Batman. He apologised that he was writing – usually
letters to families of the deceased soldier are written by his senior officer
in the Battalion, but as many of the officers had been killed or wounded in the
action on the 14th July, it fell to him (and to return John’s
effects). He had died as a result of a
shell blast – concussion, not a scratch on him.
Now, John’s parents announced to Sheffield University, the chapel and the
local paper, that John had died whilst on a patrol in No Man’s Land to gather
intelligence and find & recover the wounded. This was the story that had been passed down
in our family – but it was not true, maybe it was to save his younger sisters’
feelings.
The facts were, as explained by John’s Batman and also
featured in an article in the Yorkshire Post newspaper (written by a fellow
officer, who was also killed in action but a few days later on the 24th
July) that his Battalion in the West Yorkshire Regiment was involved in a very
hotly fought action that night to take two lines of German trenches. Private King saw John as the force was
mustering and John was pressing forward to be close to the head of the
Push. He lost sight of John due to the
mass of men and that was the last time he saw him alive.
They succeeded, but at a huge expense in lives including one
Captain Cyril Sharp who was John’s Company Commander and immediate superior as
well as being a good friend from their university days.
The action took place at Bazentin-le-Grand and the
casualties were buried properly in a nearby field. However, this was later destroyed by German
shell-fire. The names of the men who had
been buried there are all included on the Thiepval Memorial. Interestingly, Bazentin is only a few miles
along the front line from Serre, where the Sheffield City Battalion had
suffered so severely themselves.
Memorials to John are at the Methodist Chapel in Honley
along with the local war memorial in Honley.
One day I will visit the village to pay my respects, but I doubt that I
will get to Thiepval.
Interestingly, both my grandfathers enlisted at the
beginning of the Great War – one serving as a Private in the South
Staffordshire Regiment posted to Egypt and India and the other as a Corporal in
the Royal Field Artillery in France.
They both returned home after the conflict - without a scratch.
This is just one story from the Great War – there are a
million more yet to be told and I do hope that you have enjoyed hearing the
history of my cousins’, my brother’s and my Great-Uncle John Townsend.
Thank you for listening today.
