Social realism and lion-tamers

The Lion Queen, Gibson & Co. Lithographers; Library if Congress, no known rights restrictions; http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006678343/    

‘Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.’

-Lewis Carroll

It's been a while since we've had a look at the books on Henry Wilkinson's prisoner of war reading list.  These are another five books of a variety of themes.

The Sea Hawk, Rafael Sabatini, published 1915, read 19 August 1918

Beginning in 1588, Sir Oliver Tressilian lives in Cornwall where he is betrothed to Rosamund Goldolphin. His brother, Lionel, kills Rosamund’s brother in a fight over a woman, but circumstances lead people to believe Oliver is the culprit, and Lionel does not correct them. Lionel then has Oliver kidnapped and he ends up a slave on a Spanish ship. When the ship is boarded by buccaneers, Oliver escapes his shackles and joins the men. He eventually makes his name as Sakr-el-Bahr, the Hawk of the Sea. A chance meeting with his original kidnapper gives Oliver the opportunity to take vengeance on his brother and try and win back Rosamund. (Summarised from Wikipedia)

The Star Dreamer, Agnes and Egerton Castle, published 1903, read 23 August 1918

The book begins with a detailed history of the house at the centre of the story, Bindon-Cheveral, in the Wiltshire countryside. The owner of the house, David Cheveral, is a recluse who spends his time watching the stars for his observatory tower. That is until the daughter of an alchemist, also living at the house, arrives and love pulls him from his solitude. (Summarised from The Spectator review)

The Weaker Vessel, EF Benson, published 1913, read 27 August 1918
Harry Whitaker has a talent for writing plays but begins to rely more and more on alcohol to make them great. The book is about the battle between a wife’s love and whisky’s inspiration.

EF [Edward Frederic] Benson wrote many novels but is most well-known for writing the Mapp and Lucia books, which were most recently adapted for television in 2014. He was also the younger brother of Arthur Christopher Benson who wrote the word’s to Land of Hope and Glory.  (Summarised from a review in the Liverpool Echo via www.efbensontheothernovels.blogspot.co.uk)

Simon the Jester, WJ Locke, published 1910, read 29 August 1918

Simon de Gex discovers he is ill and has 6 months to live. He disposes of his time and wealth to charity and good causes but then finds he is not going to die after all. He must once again find a life worth living. Summarised from several good reviews on Good Reads, the book’s other characters include Lola, a lion tamer and horse trainer, a Greek dwarf, and a fiancé of ‘a thousand virtues’.

The book was made into a film in 1915 and Locke had many of his works adapted for stage and screen, including Ladies in Lavender in 2004 starring Judi Dench and Charles Dance.

The Splendid Idle Forties, Gertrude Atherton, published 1902, read 2 September 1918

It is difficult to find anything specifically about this book but it is part of what is known as the author’s California Series. Atherton wrote many of her stories about the social history of her home state of California. She is also considered an early feminist. (Summarised from Wikipedia)

The Tyneside Irish and the Somme part 1: To France

Local author John Sheen will be writing a series of blog posts throughout the year following the Tyneside Irish on their journey to the Battle of the Somme and their part in the campaign.

Tyneside Irish shoulder title, Imperial War Museum IWM Non Commercial Licence © IWM (INS 7625)

By the end of 1915 the divisions of Kitchener’s Fifth New Army were completing their training in the south of England. These men of the Fifth New Army were formed into the 30th, 31st, 32nd 33rd, 34th and 35th Divisions and mostly contained the famous "PALS" battalions.

Serving in the 34th Division were the Tyneside Irish and the Tyneside Scottish Brigades, which had been recruited as part of the Northumberland Fusiliers throughout the North East during the autumn and winter of 1914.

Whilst these troops were completing their training, in France plans were being made for a large British Offensive against the German Army along the River Somme designed to relieve pressure on the French Army at Verdun.

So it was that 100 years ago this month, the 34th Division mobilized for service in France. Apart from the 50th (Northumbrian) Division that contained the Durham Light Infantry’s territorial battalions, no other formation deployed to France and Flanders contained as many men from County Durham in its ranks. Two of the infantry brigades of 34th Division, as well as the Wearside Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, had large numbers of Durham men in their ranks. Indeed the 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade recruited over 70% of its soldiers from the towns and villages of County Durham.

Based at Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, it was a hectic time for all ranks, every man of the brigade had to be medically examined, those considered unfit had to be sent to a reserve battalion and fit replacements absorbed into the ranks. All equipment had to be inspected and checked that it was serviceable with unserviceable equipment being replaced. Equipment reserves needed to be at full strength, if it was stated that the unit should have twenty spare sets of horse shoes or ten additional tents, these had to be indented for and received from the Ordnance depots.

Final parades were held as the Brigade commander and then the General Officer Commanding the 34th Division inspected the battalions.

The 24th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish) ready for an inspection by the General Officer Commanding 34th Division (from the John sheen Collection)

By 8 January, all battalion advance parties were warned to be ready to go, and the first to leave was the advance party of the 26th Battalion, on 9 January, taking with it all the battalion baggage and transport. The 26th Battalion's main party was next to go, leaving Warminster Station in two trains on the morning of 10 January. They travelled via Folkestone to Boulogne, arriving at 4:00pm and spending the night at St Martin's Camp. As they had crossed the channel their boat passed a hospital ship. Michael Manley recalled, 'We shouted across to them, but they called back "You'll soon change your tune", and they were right.'

Next to leave was the 24th Battalion, leaving in three trains in the early hours of 11 January. The Battalion travelled to Southampton, arriving at 8:30am and rested on the docks until embarking on the SS Mona's Queen at 2:30pm and sailing for Le Havre at 3:30pm. The Isle of Man Steam Packet the Mona’s Queen became famous later in the war when it rammed a German U-boat.

The Mona's Queen, around 1917 with dazzle camouflage, carried the 1st Tyneside Irish to France in 1916 (from the John sheen Collection)

The 27th Battalion left at 7:35am going via Folkestone, and arrived in Boulogne by 6:15pm.

Then last but not least, the 25th Battalion were routed via Southampton and starting at 8:40am they travelled in three trains at hourly intervals.

A horse being hoisted aboard ship, unknown date, The War Illustrated

Upon disembarking, the horses and wagons were unloaded and the battalions marched to rest camps near the port and remained there overnight. In the morning, the battalions marched at different times to the railhead, where they entrained for St Omer, travelling in the now famous cattle trucks bearing the sign, '40 men or 8 horses'.

They were on their way to the front, and hundreds were never to see Durham again.

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We've been having a few issues with the Durham at War website but we're happy to say a lot of these have now been resolved.

Smile, and the world smiles with you

James Jeffries of the Tyneside Irish, used with kind permission of Newcastle City Library

Newcastle Libraries have been doing an amazing job of digitising First World War photographs from the Illustrated Chronicle and putting them on Flickr: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/illustratedchronicleww1

Volunteers have helped them scan over 11,000 photographs of service men, women war workers, nurses and charity workers. Many of the men fought with the Durham Light Infantry or were from “our” side of the Tyne, so are of interest to Durham at War.

While scrolling through the pictures, our colleague, Steve Shannon, found a photograph of the Tyneside Irish soldier, pictured above, that piqued his curiosity. Not only does James Jeffries have an infectious smile, he was born in Bombay.

All three of us were intrigued and each did a little more digging. We found that he appeared in the 1911 census as a sailor, “sea going”. His birthplace was recorded as Bombay but he stated that he was a British subject “by parents”. We wondered whether this might mean that he was of Anglo-Indian heritage? At the time of the census he was living in a boarding house at 40-46 Stanley Street, Jarrow. Perhaps this explains why he joined the Tyneside Irish; Grange Road, just a few streets away, was the site of one of the Tyneside Irish recruiting centres.

His medal card tells us that he had the regimental number 25/302 and that he served from 16 November 1914 to 19 March 1919. He didn’t earn the 1914/15 Star, so he can’t have fought abroad until 1916, but his medal card and roll show that he was awarded the Military Medal. The London Gazette records the award in its edition of 28 January 1918. It seems that, later in the war, James suffered some sort of injury in the line of duty because he was given the Silver War Badge.

The Absent Voters’ List of 1918 records that his residency had changed from Jarrow to Shotton and that he was living at 100 Fourth Street. He stayed on in Shotton because he also appears on the 1920 Electoral Register at that address, living with a family called Nyas. David Nyas, the head of the household, was born the West Indies. Unfortunately, the trail then goes cold.

When the Durham County Record Office team began the planning for the Durham at War project one of the concerns of the team would be that First World War fatigue would set in. However, our project, and others such as this one at Newcastle Libraries, continue to unearth stories that surprise even seasoned military researchers like Steve. Luckily, this also seems to be the case for our ever-enthusiastic volunteers. Again and again, a human story, a smile on a photograph or a line in a love letter bridges across the century and dispels the fog of war.