Hello. Welcome to the September edition. As ever, please send items of interest to me or Fiona.
Trevor
The Programme for 2014
6th September Nigel Crompton HM Factory Gretna – the human and social side, a pictorial history of HM cordite factory in the Scottish borders.
4th October Denis McCarthy The Battle of Langemark
1st November Ross Glennon Medals or the Munsters? TBA
6th December Members’ social event
Last Month’s Speaker
Rob Thompson was with us again. His particular interest is the logistics and engineering aspects of WWI. On the day, he talked to us about the global logistics picture for the British Army in WWI, and has promised to come back and talk to us in the future about the “wombles”, that is the scavenging and recovery of equipment and weapons from the battlefield.
A key figure in the British logistics organisation was Eric Geddes who was brought in from business for his organising skills. He was given the ranks of both a general and an admiral. He served as British Minister of Munitions, Inspector-General of Transportation, Controller of the Navy and finally as First Lord of the Admiralty. He was such an important figure in the whole war effort but had you ever heard of him?
As ever, Rob is down-to-earth and practical and is keen to portray the real WWI, with the grind and labour involved in running a campaign.
Mons 23rd August 1914: Four VCs and One Iron Cross.
Keith Walker
If you visit the town of Mons today, and go for a walk along the tow path of the canal, you will find it is a tranquil walk, and so it is very hard to imagine what happened here in August 1914.
After the first contact with the German army at Casteau, which is a couple of miles from Mons, the first shots were fired. The first shots fired by the British Expeditionary Force are attributed to Corporal E Thomas on the 22nd August 1914. Corporal Thomas of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery. He then transferred to the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. He was promoted to sergeant on the 5th November 1914. He again transferred to the Machine Gun Corps in 1916. He returned to the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards at the end of the war in 1918. He was awarded a Military Medal and was Mentioned in Despatches. He was discharged from the army in 1923 and went on to become a cinema commissioner.
Action at Nimy Bridge
After the first contact on the 22nd August 1914, the action moved to the Mons canal and it was here on the bridges of the canal that the award of four Victoria Crosses and one Iron Cross was made. The first VC was awarded to Lieutenant Maurice J Dease of the 4th Btn Royal Fusiliers. The Royal Fusiliers were defending the railway bridge at Nimy.
Lieutenant Maurice J Dease was born on the 28th September 1889. He was the son of Edmund F and Katherine M Dease of Levington, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and the Army department of Wimbledon college before attending The Royal Military College Sandhurst. He enlisted in the 4th Royal Fusiliers as a Second Lieutenant in May 1910. He was promoted to full lieutenant in April 1912. He later became a machine-gun officer. It was while he was serving as a machine-gun officer he was killed and was posthumously awarded his Victoria Cross.
Nimy bridge was defended by a single company of the 4th Royal Fusiliers. Lieutenant Dease was in command of the machine-gun section. He was gazetted on the 16th November 1914, part of his citation reads:-
“Through two or three times badly wounded he continued to control the fire of his machine-gun at Mons on the 23rd August, until all his men were shot. He died of his wounds.”
He is buried at St Symphorien Military Cemetery Plot Ref V. B. 2
When Lieutenant Dease was killed the machine-gun was then taken over by Private Sidney F Godley and for his action that day he was awarded the second Victoria Cross on the 23rd August.
Private Sidney F Godley was born on the 14th August 1889 in East Grinstead, West Sussex. He was the son of Frank and Avis Godley. He was educated at Sidcup National School, and later attended Henry St School in St Johns Wood. He enlisted on the 13th December 1909 and joined the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). His service number was 13814. He was aged 20 when he joined up. Private Godley was 25 when the war broke out. At that time, he was in the 4th Btn the Royal Fusiliers, in Lieutenant Dease’s machine-gun section.
On the 23rd August, when he was stationed on the Mons-Conde canal at Nimy he took over the machine-gun when Lieutenant Dease was killed, and defended the Nimy railway bridge. He was wounded twice, part of his citation reads:-
“For coolness and gallantry in fighting his machine-gun under hot fire for two hours after he had been wounded at Mons on the 23rd August”
He defended the bridge until he ran out of ammunition. He then dismantled the gun and threw key parts into the canal. Private Godley was captured by the Germans. He was in a prisoner of war camp for four years. He was told of his award of a Victoria Cross by the German prisoner of war camp commanding officer.
He received his Victoria Cross from the King at Buckingham Palace on the15th February 1919.
After his discharge from the army, Private Godley married on the 2nd August 1919 to Ellen Eliza Norman at St Marks Church Harlesden. The service was conducted by the Rev E Mellish VC. Private Godley and his wife had two children. He spent the rest of his working life as a caretaker at Cranbrook School Tower Hamlets, East London. He died on the 29th June 1957 and was buried with full military honours at Loughton Cemetery. The service was conducted by the Rev B W Ottaway assisted by the Rev E Mellish V.C who though retired, travelled up from Somerset to take part in the service.
Nimy Bridge today
Later on the 23rd August, further up the Mons canal the third Victoria Cross was awarded to Captain Theodore Wright of the 57th Field Company Corps of the Royal Engineers. Captain Wright was born in Brighton Sussex on the 15th May1883. He was the son of William Walter and Arabella Wright. He was educated at Clifton College and then went to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
He enlisted in the Royal Engineers in October 1902, and was promoted Lieutenant on the 21st June 1905. He served in Gibralter and Cairo. His promotion to Captain came on the 1st October 1913. The 57th Field Company was at Bulford camp when it was mobilized on the 4th August 1914. It left Amesbury on the 16th August 1914. The company travelled from Southampton to Rouen France and then on to Mons arriving on the 22nd August 1914. The next day the action in which Captain Wright won his Victoria Cross took place.
The task of demolishing the five bridges along a three mile stretch of the Mons-Conde canal was given to the 57th Field Company. Captain Wright along with his men laid charges under the bridges under heavy enemy fire. Although wounded in the head, Captain Wright continued with his task. Captain Wright’s Victoria Cross was gazetted on the 16th November 1914. Part of his citation reads:-
“For gallantry at Mons on the 23rd August 1914 in attempting to connect up the leads to demolish a bridge under heavy fire, although wounded in the head he made a second attempt”
Captain Wright was killed at Vailly in France on the 14th September 1914 while assisting wounded men across a pontoon bridge. He is buried at Vailly British Cemetery France, Plot 11 B 21.
One of the men assisting Captain Wright that day was Lance-Corporal Charles Alfred Jarvis who was born on the 29th March 1881 at the Admiralty Buildings, Saltoun Place, Fraserburgh, Scotland. He was the son of the coastguard Charles Alfred and his wife Mary Jane Jarvis.
Lance-Corporal Charles Jarvis was educated at Carnoustie School. He enlisted in the Black Watch at the end of 1899 and served overseas. He was placed on the reserve list in 1907 and was recalled back to the colours in 1914. At this point he joined the Royal Engineers.
On that fateful day 23rd August 1914, Lance-Corporal Charles Jarvis was awarded the fourth Victoria Cross. Lance-Corporal Charles Jarvis laid the demolishing charges under the number two lock bridge at Jamappes. He worked from a small boat held by two infantrymen under intense fire from the enemy. His Victoria Cross was gazetted on the 16th November 1914 and part of his citation reads:-
“For great gallantry at Jamapps on the 23rd August in working for one and a half hours under heavy fire in full view of the enemy and in successfully firing charges for the demolition of a bridge”.
In November 1914, Lance-Corporal Jarvis was wounded and invalided home. He was presented with his Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on the 13th January 1915. He was discharged from the army in 1917.
After the war he worked in Portsmouth Admiralty Dockyard. In 1943, he returned to Scotland, he died on the 19th November 1948 and is buried at Cupar Cemetery Fife, Plot 176 row G.
The action of Lieutenant Dease and Private Godley took place between 9am and 11am. In the afternoon between 4pm and 6pm the actions of Captain Wright and Lance-Corporal Jarvis took place, hence the order that the Victoria Crosses are gazetted for that day.
In between these times, Musketier Osker Niemeyer of the 75th Hamburg Regiment swam across the canal to open the swing bridge further down the canal from the Nimy railway bridge. This is now the main road bridge. Musketier Osker Niemeyer was fatally wounded in the attempt. He was posthumous awarded the first Iron Cross. Musketier Osker Niemeyer is buried at St Symphorien Military Cemetery.
St Symphorien Military Cemetery is located just outside the town of Mons it is a unique cemetery built by the Germans on an old potash mine. The cemetery is on different levels with a mixture of Commonwealth and German plots. It has 229 Commonwealth and 284 German servicemen buried or commemorated here. It is one of those special places one finds on the battlefields. Here you can take a very tranquil walk.
Road Bridge taken from the Nimy Railway Bridge – this was a swing bridge in 1914
Reference and acknowledgements.
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
- VCs of The First World War 1914 Gerald Gliddon, pub Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd 1994.
- Note: Rev E Mellish’s Victoria Cross was awarded for action at St Eloi on the 27th to 29th March 1916.
Rhos on Sea memorial windows
On 4th August, St Trillo’s and St George’s churches in Rhos had open days, including displays of information on parishioners who had served or been killed in WWI. St George’s church has a large window dedicated to all those who died in WWI, with a memorial plaque nearby but also has a smaller window with a memorial plaque dedicated to masters and past pupils of Rhos Preparatory School. The school does not exist anymore.
Of particular interest to me was Bevan John Nolan (top of the right hand column of three names in the photo above of the plaque). I did some research on the CWGC site and with the Irish censuses for 1911 and 1901 and was able to add to the information on the memorial display put on by church members. We have information about him which is on the next page. Noel Everard Evans, at the top of the second column, was the son of the vicar. (Incidentally, one of the other casualties from Rhos school is buried in Maala CWGC. Where is that? The answer is Aden, which was a coaling station for ships and was attacked by the Turks during WWI.)
Lt Bevan John Nolan
4th Bn, attd C Coy, 2nd Bn Royal Irish Rifles
Died 3rd September 1916
Buried at Delville Wood CWGC cemetery, Somme
Son of Walter and Frances Nolan of Garnaville, Cahir, Co Tipperary. His father was the Sessional Crown Solicitor for Co Tipperary but the family looks to have originally been from Brighton Vale, Blackrock, Dublin (very close to the ferry port at Dun Laoghaire). He is commemorated by a plaque and stained glass window in St George’s Church, Rhos on Sea, with the dedication below. The inscription on the plaque reads:
“This window is erected to the glory of God and in memory of the following Masters and Old Boys of Rhos on Sea Preparatory School who in the Great War of 1914-1919 gave their lives in the Cause of Liberty”
The personal inscription on his headstone at Delville Wood CWGC cemetery reads:
“He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. Mark XVI. 19”
Delville Wood cemetery is a post-war “concentration” cemetery and Lt Nolan looks to have been originally buried at a location NE of Delville Wood itself.
The memorial window to the masters and past pupils of Rhos Preparatory School, in St George’s church
Tailpiece
This photo looks as if should be from 1814, but it is actually the Belgian army going to the front in August 1914.
Trevor Adams trevormcmadams@gmail.com