VC at Langemarck

Battle of Langemarck. British troops moving forward over shell-torn ground near Pilckem, 16th August 1917. © IWM (Q 2708). IWM Non-Commercial Licence

The image that springs to mind for a lot of people when thinking of the First World War is one of mud with slivers of trees remaining. The battle that a lot of the photographs of these conditions come from is Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres (3rd Ypres). As with many of the big battles, it was actually made up of several smaller battles, in this case, eight (you can see a list here http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-ypres-1917-third-ypres/). The Battle of Langemarck took place 16-18 August 1917, and was the second battle of 3rd Ypres.

There was no rain on the actual days of the battle, but there had been rain almost every day of August running up to it. This was landing on ground already churned up by fighting and shell fire, creating atrocious conditions, compounded by the fact that the British and French armies were operating in low lying areas.

The 20th (Light) Division was one of many that saw action over these three days, playing their part on the first day. The 20th Division’s objective was to take the village of Langemarck, from which the battle takes its name. One of the battalions in this division was the 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps (12 KRRC), one of whose soldiers won the Victoria Cross during this action.

Edward ‘Ned’ Cooper was born in Portrack, Stockton (then in County Durham), in 1896. In 1914, he was 18 years old and working for the Co-op where he was in charge of his own fruit cart. After war was declared, the government commandeered the horse that pulled the cart, and the Co-op had to put Ned on leave. During this time, he decided to enlist in the army, but had to add a year to his age in order to go overseas. He enlisted in the KRRC and was posted to the 12th Battalion.

At 4:45am on 16 August 1917, the 6th Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry moved forward behind a creeping barrage of British artillery, making the way for 12 KRRC and 6th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry to come through. Due to the conditions of the ground, some of the advance had to be done in columns of men in single file, weaving their way around shell craters full of mud and water. 

D/DLI 7/63/2(182) Sketch map by Reverend Birch (5 DLI) of the Passchendaele area, October 1917

By 7:45am, 20th Division had taken its objectives, though it had not been without its challenges and heavy losses. 12 KRRC was the worst affected of the division’s infantry units, they lost:

Four officers and 43 men killed
Five officers and 152 men wounded
Two officers and 51 men missing *

However, there was also bravery. Sergeant Ned Cooper won the Victoria Cross for his actions in this attack. His citation, which appeared in the London Gazette on 14 September 1917, reads:

“For Most Conspicuous Bravery & Initiative in attack. Enemy machine guns from a concrete blockhouse, 250 yards away, were holding up the advance of the battalion on his left, and were also causing heavy casualties to his own battalion. Sergeant Cooper, with four men, immediately rushed towards the blockhouse, though heavily fired on. About a 100 yards distant he ordered his men to lie down and fire at the blockhouse. Finding this did not silence the machine guns, he immediately rushed forward straight at them and fired his revolver into an opening in the blockhouse. The machine guns ceased firing and the garrison surrendered. Seven machine guns and 45 men were captured in this blockhouse. By this magnificent act of courage he undoubtedly saved what might have been a serious check to the whole advance, at the same time saving a great number of lives.”

Ned managed to miss being notified of his award as he was on his way back to England on leave. Waiting for his train at King’s Cross, he read in the paper that he was one of ten new VC winners! The news had already reached the north east, and by the time he reached Stockton, the superintendent of the police, the mayor, and a large crowd had arrived to meet him. The crowd literally carried him home to Portrack.

Also part of 20th Division was 11th Durham Light Infantry (11 DLI), a divisional pioneer battalion. They were at work in the area from 31 July, improving communications and ‘constructing artillery tracks, roadways, and railways under heavy shell fire’*.

11 DLI’s role on 16 August was to get tracks and duckboards in place so supply and support could quickly get through to the new ground that had been gained, and to consolidate the position, ready the next push. This was done in swampy open ground with little cover from German artillery. The battalion had seven men killed, with three officers and 22 men wounded.*

After the objectives were taken, the positions were consolidated in time for a German counter-attack. This was repelled, though not without difficulty. The position was held and the division was relieved the next day by 38th Division.

* The 11th Durham Light Infantry – In Their Own Name, Martin Bashforth

Also used: The Third Ypres, Passchendaele, the Day-By-Day Account, Chris McCarthy

On 16 August 2017, a ceremony was held to unveil Sergeant Ned Cooper’s VC memorial paving stone, laid at Stockton Cenotaph:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/wwi-hero-remembered-100th-anniversary-13486560

To find out more about Ned Cooper:
Durham at War: http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/story/13508/
Stockton Heritage: http://heritage.stockton.gov.uk/people/major-edward-cooper/

Stockton Library’s Local Studies department have an ongoing exhibition about Ned Cooper.

200

This is the 200th Durham at War blog post. To mark it, I decided to have a look through the Durham Light Infantry archive collection, held here at Durham County Record Office, at items that have 200 in their reference number. I have wondered before, what it would be like to look at a sample from a catalogue based on a number. Once I had searched, I had to extract the items that are related to the First World War. This gave me a list of seven potential items to look at:

Ref: D/DLI 2/18/24(200)
Photograph of the coast of Sardinia, taken from on board the SS Ivernia, c.1916

Ref: D/DLI 2/1/18(200)
Photograph, from a magazine, of the grave of Gerald Evelyn Shuldham Sewart, 10th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, taken at Agny, France, c.1917

Ref: D/DLI 2/7/18(200)
Photograph of a railway track running by a ruined building in France or Belgium, c.1914 - 1918

Ref: D/DLI 7/63/2(200)
Colour sketch map of a section of the Western Front between Neuville and Vermand, France, c.1917

Ref: D/DLI 7/63/5(200)
Newspaper cutting concerning the death, from pneumonia, of Major Biggs, 5th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, 2 December 1916

Ref: D/DLI 7/172/1(200)
Newspaper cutting headlined 'Magnificent Gallantry of our Troops', c.1916

Ref: D/DLI 7/701/2(200)
Newspaper cutting concerning celebrations at the Newcastle Exchange following the end of the war, November 1918

D/DLI 2/1/18(200) Original grave marker of Gerald Evelyn Shuldham Sewart, 10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry

I decided to have a closer look at the photograph of the grave of Gerald Evelyn Shuldham Sewart, as he died 100 years ago, and served with 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (10 DLI), which connects to our Shiny Tenth project.

Gerald Sewart was born in West Yorkshire in 1893 to the Reverend Anthony Wilkinson Sewart and his wife Margaret. Sadly, Margaret died three days later, likely from complications following the birth. As a vicar, Anthony moved around and at some point found himself in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Here, he met Constance Annie Ormsby, and the couple married in 1900. A daughter, Mollie, followed in 1903.

By the time war was declared, the family was living at the rectory in Brignall, near Barnard Castle. This part of the small area covered by Durham at War that was Yorkshire at the time, but is now part of County Durham. Gerald was having a successful education, first attending Giggleswick School, then in 1912 being accepted to study maths at Oxford University. He won a form of scholarship called an exhibition. Gerald also made a name for himself in the university’s rowing community. He graduated with a first class in Mathematical Moderations in 1914.

D/DLI 2/1/18(201) Portrait of Second Lieutenant Gerald Sewart

There was no time for Gerald to enter the workforce, however, he took a temporary commission as a second lieutenant with 10 DLI, commanded by Colonel HHS Morant. The battalion entered France in May 1915 but Sewart was only there a month when a shell exploded close above him, killing a fellow officer. Suffering from shock, he was sent back to England for convalescence. During this time, he became a musketry instructor at the military training camp in Ripon, not too far from his family.

Gerald got back to 10 DLI in France in early 1916, but his service there was once again cut short, and sadly it was also to be his final resting place. On 8 May 1916, the battalion was in reserve at Agny, and Gerald was giving instructions in the use of the Stokes mortar, a simple and fast trench mortar that fired 3.2 inch shells. After firing one round, the Germans retaliated with two of their own. He pushed the lance corporal he was instructing into shelter and safety, but took a direct hit himself.

Strangely, especially given that he was an officer, the official war diary makes no reference to the incident. The entry for 8 May 1916 reads:

‘A very quiet day. Enemy m[achine] g[un] suspected at [location] M 15. B.8.2. This appears to be very strongly built.’

Colonel Morant’s memoirs make no specific reference to these days in reserve, but he does acknowledge in an annotated photograph from 1915 that Second Lieutenant Sewart was killed.

From D/DLI 7/1230/3 Photograph from Colonel HHS Morant's memoirs showing himself, and Second Lieutenant Sewart (circled), May 1915

Being a vicar, Reverent Anthony Sewart is frequently mentioned in the local newspaper, the Teesdale Mercury. The archive of this is searchable online. There is an article to say that Reverend Sewart received news of his son’s death, and that a service was held at the church in nearby Rokeby. There is also an article from March 1920, reporting on the unveiling of a war memorial in Brignall cemetery to Gerald Sewart, and four others.

The war memorial at Brignall church, taken by David Rogers, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license

The Teesdale Mercury warrants a close look with regards to the Sewarts and their activities at home during the war period. I found a letter from August 1918 from Constance, Gerald's stepmother, to the editor. In it, she offers her assistance to anyone with a missing or prisoner relative, in the form of writing letters to the correct authorities, even offering to pay the postage costs herself.

So a speculative endeavour based on the number 200 has revealed a story of a young man’s simultaneous bravery and sad end. It has also revealed the beginning of a story about the wartime life of a small village vicarage and the efforts of those left behind to cope with their loss.

The Breaker

At the end of June, a story appeared on the ABC News website (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) about a man who found a hessian bag on a rubbish tip in New South Wales. It contained Boer War items, seemingly connected to the Australian folk hero Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant.

Harry 'Breaker' Morant, Australian War Memorial, A05311 (public domain)

I am cataloguing the papers of Colonel Hubert HS Morant who was the commanding officer of 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, during the First World War. This collection was purchased at auction with help from the Friends of the National Libraries, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Trustees of the former DLI. Breaker Morant is a result that always comes up on doing a google search on the family name. I hadn’t noticed anyone closely related called Harry, but the Morant family had many branches, and with this recent news report, I wanted to know if there was any family connection.

I didn’t really know the details about Breaker Morant until I started looking into the connection. Harry Harbord ‘Breaker’ Morant began to make a name for himself ‘acquiring a reputation as horse-breaker, drover, steeplechaser, polo player, drinker, womaniser, [and] from 1891 he contributed bush ballads to the Sydney Bulletin as ‘the Breaker’ (Australian Dictionary of Biography). He enlisted in the Australian army and fought in the Boer War. The story (disputed by some) is that he and some other men shot and killed several Boer prisoners, and a German missionary. They were arrested in October 1901, and the trial lasted until January 1902. Breaker Morant and a Lieutenant Handcock were both sentenced to death. On 27 February 1902, they were killed by firing squad. A film was made in 1980 in which Edward Woodward played Breaker.

D/DLI 7/1230/4 Hubert HS Morant, c.1918 

So, what is the connection between Breaker Morant and the commanding officer of a DLI regiment? Well, there isn’t one, not by blood at least. Breaker claimed to be the son of Admiral Sir Digby Morant, the cousin of HHS Morant. The claim was denied by Admiral Morant, and it was never proven. Breaker is thought to have been born Edwin Henry Murrant in Somerset in 1865, to Edwin and Catherine, and emigrated to Australia in 1883. A recent book, ‘Breaker Morant, the Final Round Up’, by Joe West and Roger Roper, suggests that Breaker adopted Harbord into his name from a newspaper report on the death of Horatio Harbord Morant, HHS Morant’s father (and the Admiral’s uncle). Horatio Morant had served with the 68th Foot Regiment, a predecessor of the Durham Light Infantry, in the Crimean War, and as a senior officer in New Zealand.

Of course, in 2017, we can look up birth entries on Ancestry, and dig around the internet to put a family tree together. If we want to move to another country, checks are in place to make sure we are who we say are. But at the turn of the 20th century, when Edwin Murrant went to Australia, moving to a new country could literally mean starting a new life.

You can read more about Breaker Morant here:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10676773
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/morant-harry-harbord-breaker-7649

You can watch the report of the recent find, or read a transcript, here:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2017/s4692782.htm