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| Gilbert and Margaret, from the family collection |
A couple of months ago, we inherited a large box of photographs, lots of pictures of stern looking women in their Sunday best and men in various uniforms of the First World War. Among them was one of a young couple, the man, again in uniform, looked quite like my brother-in-law, the young woman the pot-double of my daughter. The names on the back were Gilbert Hay Blanche and Margaret Yellowley Brown, my husband's grandparents from South Shields.
Family legend had it that Gilbert had served with the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) but had been invalided out before being sent to France. He had been caught in a storm while out walking with Margaret, or Madge as she was known, and had been struck by lightning. He had been knocked unconscious and when he came to, his boots were 20 feet away. He certainly walked badly for the rest of his life. But still, being almost killed by lightning had probably saved him from almost certain death on the Western Front.
A trawl through the military records on Ancestry produced no further information on Gilbert; like so many other men of the First World War, his attestation papers had been destroyed during the Second World War. And he appeared never to have been awarded either the British War Medal or the Victory Medal.
The military historian at Durham County Record Office kindly went through the DLI regimental records to look for any evidence of Gilbert receiving the Silver War Badge. Being invalided out of the army, he should have been issued with one of these badges to wear on his civvy clothes. This would show the world that he had already "done his bit"; he was not simply shirking his duty to serve King and Country. Staff at the Record Office suggested that Gilbert had possibly served with another regiment; perhaps he had been with the Northumberland Fusiliers or the Royal Engineers?
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| Gilbert Blanche, second from right, with other men at Hartlepool after the bombardment (1914), from the family collection |
Back to the box of photos again. This time I came across a picture of Gilbert in a formal photograph with other new recruits in the grounds of a training camp (possibly Cocken Hall) [it is – DaW team]. The men were all wearing their caps, the distinctive emblem of the DLI clearly visible on some of them. So, at least we had the right regiment.
We had previously seen family photos of the ruined buildings in Hartlepool after the bombardment in December, 1914, and had never really questioned why a Shields family would have such photos. But this time, I also found a photo, previously missed, of a group of soldiers (one looked barely 16 in a great coat four sizes too big for him!) standing in the ruins of a family home. There was Gilbert in the middle of the group, wearing what looked like a dustcoat over his uniform. With it was an old brown envelope with a thin sheet of yellowed paper inside, a telegram from Blanche in Hartlepool to Brown in Palmerston Road, South Shields, dated 17th December. The message simply said "All safe after attack."
Googling DLI and Hartlepool Bombardment brought up the Durham at War website which confirmed that the Durham Pals (18th Battalion DLI) had been garrisoned at Hartlepool at the time of the bombardment. Five soldiers had died, eleven wounded. No wonder Gilbert had wanted to send that telegram to Madge.
We have been unable to find anything else out about Gilbert's time with the DLI. Was he invalided out and, if so, why no silver badge? Or did he serve at home for the next three years? There is no-one left to ask; his generation and the following one are all gone. But at least, we now know his battalion and the significance of some of those photos.
That old family story seems to have been true, after all.
[We have now found an article from the Yorkshire Post that confirms that Gilbert was indeed injured in a lightning strike - DaW team]
You can read more about Gilbert Blanche on the Durham at War website:
http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/story/13588/
The newspaper article can be found here:
http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/material/707/
The newspaper article can be found here:
http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/material/707/
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