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Friday 21 December 2018

The Last Post

On 17 October 2013, the first post went live on the blog ‘First World War in County Durham’, which went on to become the Durham at War blog on 15 August 2014. It was created to support the Durham at War project and website, though it took a while before it settled into its weekly Friday postings, having included Movember Mondays, and Weather Wednesdays in the early days.
Sergeant Major Chaplin of the 18th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry taken at Cocken Hall, 1914 (D/DLI 2/18/24(89))
D/DLI 2/18/24(89) Sergeant Major Chaplin of the 18th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry taken at Cocken Hall, 1914
Just over five years later, on 21 December 2018, we are at the last post, no. 268. The Durham at War project was originally due to end on 31 December 2018, but HLF have allowed a small extension, to spring 2019, to tie up the project. The project staff will be staying on, but in a more limited capacity, and so the decision has been made to end the blog in line with the original end date. It will still be available to read, but there will be no more updates. 

I’d like to say a big thank you to you all for reading. Up to 18 December 2018, there have been 35961 page views, the two biggest days being on 10 September 2014, when Durham at War was officially launched, and 11 November 2018, the centenary of the armistice.

Over the lifespan of the blog, 82% of readers have been from the UK, with 75% of these being from the north east, though the proportions have varied in each quarter. The highest number of readers from outside the UK come from Canada and Australia. This is unsurprising as the project has shown how many people had emigrated from County Durham to these countries prior to the war. The USA and France also feature highly.

The topics over the five years have been wide ranging. It’s time to take a look back.

Volunteers have contributed 44 posts to the blog. These have been either on their personal research or their experiences. Sue T wrote about transcribing the prisoner of war diary of Captain PHB Lyon of 6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.  

In October 2015, Jean Longstaff wrote about what has become her specialism, researching the Canadian soldiers of County Durham. 

Candela Camiño López was an Erasmus intern who joined the project for three months at the end of 2015, and wrote a piece on her time with us

John Sheen, local military historian, wrote several blogs for us on topics such as the Tyneside Irish and the Somme, and the unexpected places his research has taken him. 

Carol and Andrea spoke at the 2016 Durham at War conference on their great-grandfather, Theodor Gotthilf Fiedler, who was a German pork butcher in Shadforth. In August 2016, they gave us a three part write up of their visit to Germany for the Pork Butchers’ Descendants Reunion
Frieda, Theodor Jr, and Caroline Fiedler, Theo Fieldler's children, from Carol Hunt's family collection
Frieda, Theodor Jr, and Caroline Fiedler, Theo Fieldler's children, from Carol Hunt's family collection
David D wrote about his cycling tour of the battlefields of France and Belgium. Volunteers are also responsible for many of the military posts that go beyond the Durham Light Infantry. David D also wrote about the boy sailors of the Royal Navy, and the Royal Naval Air Service. Fiona Johnson wrote about the Royal Flying Corps, in which I learned about Roland Garros, for whom the tennis tournament is named.

Steve Shannon wrote about the County Durham soldier who was killed during the Easter Rising in Dublin, while serving with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. I looked at the Chinese Labour Corps, the Merchant Navy, and the WAAC and QMAAC.
Soldiers of the 6th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry standing beside a railway engine, en route to France, taken by PHB Lyon, April 1915 (D/DLI 7/424/2(28))
D/DLI 7/424/2(28) Soldiers of the 6th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry standing beside a railway engine, en route to France, taken by PHB Lyon, April 1915
Of course, it wouldn’t be Durham at War without stories about the Durham Light Infantry. The blog covered a lot of the battles that the regiment was involved in:
Second Battle of Ypres – this is one of the most viewed series of posts on the blog, looking at the territorial battalions of the DLI leaving the UK and going straight into battle in 1915. The series was written to coincide with an exhibition at the Record Office, and looked at the participation of each battalion in the battle.
Battle of the Somme, entries include the DLI in the battle, and a personal encounter with a veteran of the battle.
Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres)  
The German Spring Offensive, the beginning, the Battle of Estaires, and the Third Battle of the Aisne

Food has been a recurrent theme on the blog. From eating fresh oranges and milking a cow under shell fire to an unforgettable trench Christmas dinner recipe. Much of Captain PHB Lyon’s prisoner of war journal focused on food. 

There were other stories of DLI men in prison camps, such as Henry Wilkinson who kept a list of all the books he read, and Arthur Leggett, who escaped from a camp in Wermelskirchen, Germany. 
Stamps from one of Connie's postcards home, The Leybourne Family
Stamps from one of Connie's postcards home, The Leybourne Family
Angus Leybourne, an officer with the DLI, was one of the first prisoners to be sent to Switzerland for internment. Another popular series of posts concerned the story of his, and Connie Kirkup’s, Very British Romance. The couple’s letters were loaned to us for the project, and volunteer Margaret Eason, who helped transcribe them, was so taken, that she wrote a 14 part series which the blog featured over a year. 

The blog also included posts about prisoners of war in County Durham. After I did some research into the men who died at Harperley Camp, in April 2016, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission corrected the name of one of the soldiers after reviewing evidence submitted from parish records held at the Record Office. There was also the two German soldiers who escaped from a camp in Wales and were found in Hartlepool. 

Other stories from the home front included Munitionettes football, a volunteer's post on conscientious objectors, and another volunteer on the Quakers

Over the years, the blog covered events such as International Women's Day, International Nurses' Day, and 100 years of women being able to vote. The blog looked at the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 2016, by reporting on events held in Sunderland in 1916 to mark the tercentenary. 

There were several posts on summer, from 'The Edwardian Golden Summer' of 1914, to what to do with the children during the school holidays in 1918. In 2016, the blog covered the introduction of British Summer Time a hundred years' previous. 
Crop from 34th Division's Christmas card, 1916 (D/DLI 12/5/3/2)
D/DLI 12/5/3/2 Crop from 34th Division's Christmas card, 1916
At the other end to summer, and timely for this post, there are a lot of entries about Christmas

The blog has still more stories than this trip down memory lane covers. I have learnt so much from writing the blog over the last five years, and I hope you have learnt something too. Once again, thank you for reading. 

Friday 14 December 2018

Young Soldiers

Young Soldiers, 52nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, mounting guard at a sentry post outside the town guardroom, Cologne, Germany, 1919, Private Thomas Brown, front row, extreme right (D/DLI 7/839/11)
D/DLI 7/839/11 Young Soldiers, 52nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, mounting guard at a sentry post outside the town guardroom, Cologne, Germany, 1919, Private Thomas Brown, front row, extreme right
In 1917, the system for training conscripts was changed with Young Soldier and Graduated battalions being formed. Under this system conscripts aged 18 years and one month were first sent to a Young Soldier battalion and then, after basic training, moved into a Graduated battalion to complete their training. Every three months, this system produced a company of (about 200) trained 19-year-old soldiers ready for active service overseas. 

In October 1917, the War Office decided that the Young Soldier and Graduated battalions should, once again, be linked to a parent regiment. And so the 51st and 52nd (Graduated) Battalions of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) were born, whilst the old 17th (Reserve) Battalion DLI was reborn as the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. 

In March 1919, these battalions would go on to replace older soldiers, such as those in 20th Battalion DLI who had not yet been demobilised, but were in Cologne, Germany, as part of the British Army of the Rhine (as named from January 1919). 
Map showing the zones of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland (NZ Government)
Map showing the zones of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland (NZ Government)
Conditions of the Armistice included the German Army withdrawing its forces across the Rhine, creating a demilitarised buffer zone between Germany and France/Belgium. In order to enforce this until the Peace Treaty was ratified, the four Allied armies, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and America, each had a zone of the Rhineland. Great Britain had Cologne and the surrounding area.

Germany had been given a time frame for its withdrawal, and Allied forces were not allowed to cross the Rhine until 13 December 1918. 20th DLI spent Christmas and the New Year in Belgium, 50 miles from the German border. They entrained for Germany on 6 January 1919.

The 51st and 52nd Battalions arrived in Cologne on 6 and 8 March 1919 respectively. The 53rd arrived on 4 April, but were almost immediately disbanded, and the men posted to the 51st and 52nd. The battalions were billeted at Rhiel Barracks, and much of their activity was to carry out guard duty in the city. Sometimes there would be warnings of civil disturbances, and reinforcements would be required.

Other activities included training, parades, and sports. Though this was a comparatively quiet life, the DLI battalions still left some of its men behind in the cemeteries of Cologne. These appear to be due to illness or accident.

Extract from a letter to the father of a deceased young soldier
Extract from a letter to the father of a deceased young soldier
It is difficult to trace the young soldiers, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides the names of those who died, the Absent Voters List of 1918 also gives some leads. 52nd DLI's war diary has a nominal roll of officers, but these are men with prior service. Even with names, it can be hard to trace them. As they did not fight in a theatre of war, or go abroad until after the armistice, the young soldiers were not entitled to any medals. What's more, for the service records I have found, the ink is extremely faint.

There are at least two names from the men buried in Cologne whose service records include inquiries into their deaths. The witness statements are very faded in some parts, but it is possible to piece together what happened.

On 7 April 1919, 110098 Private Thomas Hyde, 52nd DLI, of Dudley, Staffordshire, died in an accident, aged 19. A statement by 110344 Private TH Luckwood, also of the 52nd, describes what happened in Reihlerstrasse. 'I was in the grounds watching the swing boats. At 18 hours, I saw Private Hyde was in one of the boats in company with another soldier, fall out of it. I went up to him and found he was unconscious and bleeding from his head. A captain of the Royal Army Medical Corps came up shortly afterwards, and had him removed in a motor ambulance'. Private Hyde died in 44th Casualty Clearing Station. The service record states the clearing station as being in France, but by this time it had moved to Cologne.

102626 Private John Ridley, 19 years old, from Langley Moor, Durham, had enlisted back in June 1918. He was called up in the September and posted to 3/5th DLI at Sutton-on-Hull (Humber Garrison). In April 1919, Ridley arrived in Germany and was posted to 52nd Battalion. In June 1919, both 51st and 52nd DLI moved to Wermelskirchen, 20 miles north east of Cologne, for two weeks. Here, Private Ridley lost his life.

The date given by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 26 June 1919, is contradicted by Ridley's service record. This states that he died on 21 June when he 'went into the open air swimming bath at Wermelskirchen. Although a good swimmer, he was seen to disappear under the surface. He was eventually brought ashore (having been immersed about four minutes) and removed to No.7 Field Ambulance'. 113969 Private Rollinson's (51st DLI) conduct was noted in the inquiry. He made several attempts to rescue Private Ridley, and persevered until he was successful in bringing him to the surface. The text of the inquiry is extremely difficult to read. P1716 Corporal A Redall, No. 3 Traffic Control Company, is also noted for his conduct. A reference to artificial respiration being given to Private Ridley is made, and it could be this was provided by Corporal Redall. Private Ridley's cause of death is given as syncope and asphyxia.

The war diaries for both 51st and 52nd DLI end in June 1919, as the battalions returned to Cologne, and then left Germany for home. 

Sources:
Wearside Battalion, The 20th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, John Sheen
The Watch on the Rhine, The Military Occupation of the Rhineland, Margaret Pawley
51st Battalion, DLI, War Diary, The National Archives, WO 95/1438/12
52nd Battalion, DLI, War Diary, The National Archives, WO 95/1438/13
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
British Army Service Records, Ancestry

Friday 7 December 2018

There and back again

Shortly after the centenary of the Armistice, we were contacted by someone who wanted to share the story of his grandparents, George Yuille Caldwell, and Ellinor Caldwell (nee Walton). 

Ellinor was born in Crook in 1887, the daughter of a successful building contractor. She attended a boarding school at Saltburn, before going to the Conservatory of Music in Leipzig to study piano. She graduated from there in 1906. In 1910, she took part in a recital in Middlesbrough, with the borough organist.
Ellinor Caldwell with patients at Etherley With many thanks to John Yuille Caldwell
Ellinor Caldwell with patients at Etherley With many thanks to John Yuille Caldwell
At some point after this, Ellinor went to work as a governess in America, first in Seattle, then in Honolulu, but by the outbreak of war, she was back in Crook. When the 17th Durham Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital was created at Etherley, both Ellinor and her sister went to volunteer as nurses. Her sense of adventure was still with her, and she later went to serve at a base hospital in Etaples, France. During her time there, the hospital was bombed twice. 

Ellinor lost one brother to the war, but another, Frederick, was commanding 6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, by 1918. Their mother died of Spanish Flu in 1918. 

One of the doctors who worked at Etherley VAD Hospital was George, originally from Scotland, graduating from the medical school at the University of Glasgow in 1904. He married Elise Lake in her home town of Plymouth, then moved to Crook where George set up a surgery. They had two children, born in 1909 and 1911. George stayed at the VAD hospital until 1917 when he gained a commission to the Royal Army Medical Corps, and went to serve in Salonica.
George Caldwell in Salonica, seated on left With many thanks to John Yuille Caldwell
George Caldwell in Salonica, seated on left With many thanks to John Yuille Caldwell
This was a sad time for George, he had lost a brother in January 1917, and another died as a prisoner of war in 1918. When George went abroad, Elsie and the children went to stay with her parents in Devon. In September 1917, she gave birth to their third child, however, he died of pneumonia aged only three months. In March 1918, Elsie committed suicide. 

When George was demobilised in 1919, he returned with his children to Crook. Ellinor was a family friend, who having also worked as a nurse and a governess, helped George to look after his children. In 1920, Ellinor and George married at St Catherine’s Church, Crook, and had two children of their own, born in 1921, and 1924. 

Ellinor was a keen photographer, taking and developing her pictures, and had a camera with her both on her pre-war travels, and in Etaples. You can see some of these photographs and read more about Ellinor and George, on Durham at War.