Earl's House Industrial School War Memorial

Virtually every town, city and village in the land has at least one memorial commemorating the First World War.  Many places have their own local cenotaph; a pillar or other structure, often in a park or the village square, which lists those who died fighting “The Great War”.  Lots of churches and chapels contain plaques of names but there are also other sites such as railway stations, post offices and even golf clubs where employees or members are commemorated.  

But what happens when a building with such a plaque is pulled down or renovated?  Scrolling through the North East War Memorials Project’s indexes shows a number of entries for memorials which are highlighted in green with the words “Missing” or “Destroyed” next to them.  Thanks to a lucky coincidence there is now one fewer of these missing memorials.

Earl's House Industrial School war memorial plaque

While at a local history event, a member of the Friends of Durham County Record Office (FODCRO) happened to meet David Hillerby.  Thanks to Mr Hillerby two memorial plaques from County Durham had been saved from a skip.  While it was easy to identify one of the plaques as having come from Winterton Hospital, it took the combined resources of FODCRO and the Record Office to find the source of the other.  Finally, it was pinpointed as having come from Earl’s House Industrial School, near Witton Gilbert.  The site is currently being redeveloped as the Lanchester Road Hospital and so an opportunity arose to rehouse the plaque close to its original location.

On 7th November 2014 the restored plaque was unveiled for a second time.  Representatives from FODCRO, Durham County Record Office, The DLI Association, The Royal British Legion and the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust watched as the “lost” plaque was officially received into its new position along with two interpretive panels created by the Record Office for the NHS trust.   A copy of the panels can be found on the Durham at War website. Photographs of the unveiling can be seen on the Northern Echo's website here.

1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, in India

This week we have a guest post by Steve Shannon on the 1st Battalion Durham Light Infantry’s actions in India during the period of the First World War.

The 1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (1 DLI), left the UK in October 1899 for the war in South Africa; moved to India in 1902; and did not return to the UK until early 1920.

In August 1914, there were 52 Regular British Army battalions in India, including the 1 DLI (about 1000 strong) stationed at Nowshera on the North West Frontier of India (now Pakistan).

D/DLI 2/1/277(69) Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, DLI, a rifle rack at a camp, Chakdara, India, 1916

These Regular battalions were recalled to the UK once the war began for service on the Western Front and were replaced with Territorial and Garrison battalions from the UK, until only 8 Regular battalions remained in India.  These were the 2^nd  King’s (Liverpool Regiment), 2nd Somerset Light Infantry, 1st Yorkshire Regiment, 1st Duke of Wellington (West Riding Regiment), 1st Royal Sussex Regiment, 1st South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd North Staffordshire Regiment and the 1^st Durham Light Infantry. These remaining regular battalions were based in garrisons in support of Indian Army units on the North West Frontier.

In August 1914, 1 DLI comprised trained professional soldiers under the command of experienced officers. The battalion did not, however, remain as a stable unit during the war, as there was a steady drain of officers to other DLI battalions fighting on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia. Soldiers with specialist skills, eg signalling, were also sent to the campaigns in Mesopotamia and East Africa, whilst some senior NCOs received commissions and left the battalion.

From April 1915, 1 DLI saw active service on the North West Frontier in a series of operations against the Mohmands (Pashtuns living on both sides of the border with Afghanistan), suffering some casualties.

D/DLI 2/1/277(15) Soldier of the 1st Battalion, DLI, standing in an army camp, India, captioned ‘Band Chief’, 1916

As 1 DLI had been on active service in India from 1915, all eligible soldiers were awarded the same three WW1 campaign medals awarded to those soldiers, who had fought on the Western Front  (1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal).

In 1919, against a background of growing civil disorder in India, 1 DLI’s soldiers gained a fourth campaign medal, when the battalion served in the Third Afghan War. This war began in May 1919, when an Afghan army crossed the border in to India. 1 DLI (reduced to only 20 officers and 432 men) was sent forward in motor vehicles from Peshawar as part of the 4th Rawalpindi Brigade, but before a planned advance of Jalalabad could begin the Emir of Afghanistan asked for an armistice. Peace was finally signed on 11 August 1919.

With the end of the Third Afghan War, many of 1 DLI’s soldiers were sent back to the UK to be demobilised. Finally in December 1919, the battalion, comprising just 4 officers and 87 soldiers, sailed from Bombay, arriving in Liverpool in February 1920.  It had been almost 21 years since the battalion had left Britain for the Boer War.

#archiveanimals* My army and other animals

D/DLI 7/805/155 Two young unidentified soldiers and a goat, the mascot of the 9th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, Conway, North Wales, August 1914

The above photograph of the 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, goat and two soldiers was taken while the territorial battalion was on its annual training camp at Conway.  It was from here that they were recalled to Gateshead when war was declared. 

Once in France and Belgium, soldiers got to know some animals very well.  The transport drivers had their horses but mostly, soldiers had to contend with rats.  In a letter home Second Lieutenant John Gamble referred to them as the Verminshire Regiment. 

D/DLI 7/63/3(94) Sketch by Reverend JAG Birch, 5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, captioned The Tunnellers' Friends, showing a representation of rats and caged birds on a memorial, n.d.

There are sad tales of starving farm animals wandering the countryside after their farm owners have fled, and funny tales of men milking cows under shell fire and chasing a goat to try and milk it.

Captain Robert Mauchlen kept a sketch book during his time with the 9th Battalion.  He produced the following picture captioned ‘Owl hurt in trenches’.

D/DLI 7/920/8(15) Colour pencil sketch, by Robert Mauchlen, of an owl held on a man's hand, captioned Owl hurt in trenches, October 1915

On home service, it was a bit easier to keep pets.  4th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, were garrisoned at Seaham Harbour during the war and this photograph shows Private E. Corr with a dog in one hand and a cockatoo in the other!

D/DLI 7/35/1(30) Private E. Corr, 4th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, with a cockatoo and a dog, c.1917

*This year’s Explore Your Archive campaign runs during the week of 10 November.  As part of the Twitter campaign, on 14 November, look out for the #archiveanimals hashtag.

‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’

Tower of London, 3 November 2014, V. Oxberry

As it is the 100^th anniversary year of the outbreak of the First World War, a special art installation by Paul Cummins has been put in place at the Tower of London for Remembrance Day.  Since August hand made ceramic poppies have been placed in the moat surrounding the Tower forming the work titled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’. 

Tower of London, 3 November 2014, V. Oxberry

I had the opportunity to visit the installation on 3 November when almost all 888246 poppies had been put in place.  Each one represents a colonial soldier who died as a result of the First World War.  The poppies have been for sale with 10% from each poppy and all net proceeds being shared between six charities – they have all been sold.

Tower of London, 3 November 2014, V. Oxberry

The video below talks about the idea for the installation and shows how the poppies have been made:

#archiveanimals* George Thompson and the war horses

The following blog post is based on an exhibit that was on display at the Record Office in early 2012. The diary is now being transcribed by volunteers on the Durham at War project. 

D/DLI 7/700/31 Four soldiers of the 7th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, including Corporal George Thompson, standing left, and Sergeant 'Twankey' Tweddle, seated right, and horse in a field at Marne, July 1918

George Thompson of Sunderland was a Private in the 7^th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, when war was declared on 4 August 1914 and in 1928 he wrote a memoir of his experiences for his daughter. 

After the battalion was mobilised, Thompson was selected to be a transport driver which involved the use of horses.  The government began buying horses and Private Thompson received one from a local contractor.  “I still can remember the old drivers saying take care of him he is quiet and a good worker and will go anywhere. Little did they think what was in store for them.  Same about myself.”

This local transport was passed to the second line of the battalion and the first line received new horses.  Each man got their full service equipment and was responsible for two horses.  The drivers were sent for intense training with the Royal Field Artillery, first learning to ride bareback, then with saddles.  

D/DLI 7/700/24 Private George Thompson holding the bridle of a horse pulling a Vaux Brewery cart with two other 7^th Battalion soldiers seated on the cart, training as transport drivers, c.1914

Shortly after training, the 7^th Battalion left for France and went straight into the Second Battle of Ypres Within the first few days one driver and horse were killed while on a ration run.  The following are extracts from Thompson's memoir:

“I remember one night when we going up with rations they gave us an order to put on our Gas Masks, and we had to put them on our horses. We had some game on with them.”

“The shell holes I have seen, you could have put a pair of horses and a waggon in easily.”

“…our battalion had two years at Ypres. And when the winter came on, it was awful.  Both for men and horses.  I have many a time wondered how those poor horses stood it so long, I have seen them standing up to their knees with mud for days.”

“I can always say, while I had a pair of horses, in France, I always did my duty to them… One out of the two horses that I took away, from Newcastle was still with our Battalion, when I left them, after the war was over…”

“…there was a skin decease [disease], came out among our horses, and the Officer… ordered about 15 horses, to go down the line and one of those 15 was one that I brought out from England… so instead of sending him away we sent another in his place and we built a stable for him away from all the other horses and looked after him ourselves and in a month we had him working with the other horses again.”

During the war, George Thompson rose to the rank of Sergeant.  He saw some terrible sights of men and horses scattered dead and experienced the sadness of injured horses having to be put down.  However, there were infrequent better times when away from the front.

“We had races on the beach as well.  Oh these were our happy days, I shall never forget them.”

*This year’s Explore Your Archive campaign runs during the week of 10 November.  As part of the Twitter campaign, on 14 November, look out for the #archiveanimals hashtag.