Book Review: “Betrayed Ally – China in the Great War” by Frances Wood and Christopher Arnander

I first found out about the Chinese Labour Corps when researching Canadian Artist Mary Riter Hamilton for the Inspirational Women section of my commemorative WW1 exhibition project.  Mary was commissioned by the Canadian Amputees Association to travel to France in May 1919 to paint the aftermath.  She lived for three years in a tin hut among the Chinese workers who cleared away the mess left at the end of the First World War.   I was therefore very interested in finding out more about China during the conflict and pleased to find a book on the subject.

As the writers say in the Introduction: “Few in the English-speaking world have any idea of China’s participation in the First World War”.  This books puts that right.

Initially neutral, in October 1915, China presented a military aircraft to the British government;

300,000 Chinese workers served during WW1;

140,000 Chinese workers served in France;

200,000 Chinese workers served in Russia; they were caught up in the Revolution and ‘disappeared’;

One of the first battles of the First World War was on Chinese soil;

10,000 or more Chinese workers died or were killed – some at sea during the perilous journey by sea to France - due to the intense German submarine campaign against Allied shipping;

China officially joined the Entente Allies in 1917 and declared war on Germany;

China attended the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 but felt belittled and betrayed and did not sign the Peace Treaty.

Reading this book, which, the writers explain, is aimed at ‘the general reader’ (that is most definitely me) helps us to understand the current situation in the world.   The writers explain in detail the recent history of China which became a Republic in 1912.   They tell us about the political intrigues, secret dealings and complex diplomatic negotiations that went on behind the scenes during the war years in the Far East.   What happened during the Versailles Peace Treaty is also explained and this undoubtedly led to the conflicts of the 1930s and beyond.

I particularly liked the notes on transliteration which explain the complexities of the Chinese language, for instance, the word ‘coolie’ means hard labour.  I knew there was a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery for Chinese Labour Corps members who died or were killed in France but I did not know about the Chinese Hospital at Noyelles-sur-Mer in France which was run by Douglas Gray, the former Medical Officer at the British Legation in China.

And interestingly, we learn that young British diplomats who worked for the British Civil Service and who wanted to volunteer for military service were discouraged from doing so because it was thought a waste of their long years of training in diplomacy, though young men in the Consular Service were eventually allowed to join up (p. 58).

Illustrated throughout with maps, cartoons, photographs, charts and diagrams and including appendices detailing recent Chinese history and prominent personalities of WW1 and with copious explanatory notes and a comprehensive index, this book is required reading for anyone interested in the First World War.

“Betrayed Ally – China in the Great War” by Frances Wood and Christopher Arnander, published by Pen & Sword, Barnsley in 2016. ISBN 978-1-47387–501-2.

“With the Chinks” by Daryl Klein is available as a free download on Archive:   https://archive.org/stream/cu31924022973196/cu31924022973196_djvu.txt

The Knuts in WW1

The Knuts came to fame in the review “The Passing Show” which starred Basil Hallam (1889 - 1916) as “Gilbert the Filbert”.  Knuts - nuts with a K - were Edwardian men-about-town, usually the younger sons of wealthy families.   In his Jeeves and Wooster novel “Joy in the Morning”, P.G. Wodehouse described the typical Knut as “humble, kindly, and lovable”. 

 

"The Passing Show" introduced the American actress Elsie Janis to British audiences and opened in London at the Palace Theatre in April 1914.   At around that time, Elsie and Basil became secretly engaged and set up home in Liverpool.   

Possibly for medical reasons (he had a steel plate in his foot from an old injury) , Basil didn't volunteer to serve immdiately when war broke out.  However, after being given several white feathers, which were often thrust upon him at the stage door of the theatre, he decided to enlist. Basil became a Balloon Observer with a Kite Balloon Section of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and his duties were to reinforce the work of observers working for Corps Squadrons. He was killed on the Western Front during the Battle of the Somme.  In the afternoon of 20th August 1916 on the Northern part of the Somme battlefield he was manning a tethered un-powered observation balloon watching the German line near the village of Gommecourt, when its steel cable tether snapped and the balloon, caught in an Easterly wind, began to drift towards enemy lines out of control. To avoid capture, Hallam bailed out of the balloon's basket but he was obstructed from jumping clear, and fell several hundred feet to his death after his emergency parachute failed to deploy.  Basil was buried in a British military cemetery at the nearby village of Couin.

Jack Buchanan the actor (1890 – 1957) was not passed as fit to join the armed forces during WW1 and continued with his acting, singing and dancing career.  He became known as ‘the last of the Knuts’.  

Elsie went on to entertain the troops on the Western Front during WW1 and then had a career as an actress and writer. 

 

Jack Buchanan made his name as a film actor as well as a musical comedy star.

Photo:  Basil Hallam as Gilbert the Filbert.

Here is a cartoon relevant to the Knuts drawn by Martin Anderson (1854 - 1932), better known by his alias Cynicus – Scottish artist, political cartoonist, postcard illustrator and publisher.

Postcard - The Kernel of the Knuts  

The Passing Show – original Broadway review by Arthur Wimperis: Music by Herman Finck; Lyrics by Arthur Wimperis

The first revue entitled The Passing Show was staged at the Casino Theatre, New York, in May 1894. The name was revived on Broadway for a similar production, The Passing Show of 1912 (Winter Garden, 22nd July 1912). Thereafter there was a Passing Show every year until 1919, and the last of the series was The Passing Show of 1921 (Winter Garden, 29 December 1920). 

In London the format was reproduced by Alfred Butt at the Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus, where The Passing Show was produced on 20th April 1914 with Elsie Janis, a young Broadway star making her first appearance in London, Basil Hallam, Clara Beck, Gwendoline Brogden, Winifred Delavanti, Marjorie Cassidy, Jack Christy, Mildred Stokes, Florence Sweetman, Nelson Keys and Arthur Playfair.

Palace Theatre, London – 20th April, 1914 (ran for 351 performances)

The Cast included:  Clara Beck, Gwendolin Brogden, Jack Christy, Winifred Delavanti, Basil Hallam, Elsie Janis. Nelson Keys, Arthur Playfair, Florence Sweetman.

The Programme included:

You're Here and I'm Here

Gilbert the Filbert

Florrie Was a Flapper

I'll Make a Man of You

I've Got Everything I Want But You

A la minuette

A la gavotte

Valse Joyeuse

Opéra-bouffe

The Showman's Song

Matrimonial Bureau

Dances from Venice

Waltz Song

Musical Director: Herman Finck

Elsie Janis and her partner Basil Hallam were an immediate hit. They recorded their two duets from the show, ‘You’re Here and I’m Here’ (HMV 4-2401; 1.20mb Mp3 file) and ‘I’ve Got Everything I Want But You’ (HMV 04116) in London on 4th June 1914.

The Passing Show proved so popular that Butt repeated his success the following year with The Passing Show of 1915 (Palace, 9 March 1915, with a second edition on 12 July), again starring Elsie Janis and Basil Hallam.

GILBERT THE FILBERT

 I am known round Town as a fearful blood

For I come straight down from the dear old flood

And I know who's who, and I know what's what

And between the two I'm a trifle hot

For I set the tone as you may suppose

For I stand alone when it comes to clothes

And as for gals just ask my pals

Why everybody knows.

Chorus: I'm Gilbert the Filbert the Knut with a K

The pride of Piccadilly the blasé roué

Oh Hades, the ladies, who leave their wooden huts

For Gilbert the Filbert the Colonel of the Knuts.

You may look upon me as a waster, what?

But you ought to see how I fag and swot

For I'm called by two, and by five I'm out

Which I couldn't do if I slacked about

Then I count my ties and I change my kit

And the exercise keeps me awfully fit

Once I begin I work like sin

I'm full of go and grit.

Chorus: I'm Gilbert the Filbert the Knut with a K

The pride of Piccadilly the blasé roué

Oh Hades, the ladies, who leave their wooden huts

For Gilbert the Filbert the Colonel of the Knuts.

 

Lyrics by Arthur Wimperis & music by Herman Finck - 1914

Performed by Basil Hallam 

Sources:

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/gilbert-the-filbert-during-the-great-war-rip-20-august-1916/

https://monologues.co.uk/musichall/Songs-G/Gilbert-The-Filbert.htm

https://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_p/passingshow.htm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/shows/The-Passing-Show-of-1914-6535.html

https://www.norpete.com/pe0252.html

 

 

 

Ruhleben WW1 Internment Camp, Germany

A report in “The Times” newspaper of 9^th January 1916 gives us a good deal of information about those civilians who were interned in the camp at the outbreak of WW1.  Ruhleben Internment Camp was situated on a race track about six miles west of Berlin.

A party of released internees travelled through Holland on their way to Britain.  Those released were men from many different countries “Aden, Burma, Jamaica, and from other parts of the Empire”.  In the main they had been crew members on board merchant ships but others had been working in hotels and restaurants as waiters and so on.  

Interviewed by newspaper reporters eager for news, the released prisoners said they were very grateful indeed for the parcels that were regularly received at the camp containing butter, bacon, milk and white bread.   They were also very grateful for the hospitality they received from the Society of Friends as they travelled to freedom through neutral Holland.

On New Year’s Day 1916, internees performed a pantomime – Cinderella – in front of an audience that included the American Ambassador in Berlin, some of the female employees of the American Embassy and German Army officers on duty at the camp with their wives.

By January 1916, detainees had organised themselves to make internment as bearable as possible and the camp was set up with a wide variety of facilities for prisoners, including the possibility of studying for exams – lessons were held in Greek and Latin as well as modern languages such as Russian, French and German.   Golf, hockey, lacrosse, Rugby and Association football were played and matches were held.  There was even a magazine.  A jockey – Mr H.W. Dye – told reporters there were a dozen or so jockeys in the Camp.   One of the released mentioned that those German officers who spoke English were almost always more considerate than officers who did not speak English. 

Source:  "The Times" 9th January 2016 and various Internet sites.

Picture - from the camp magazine Ruhleben in Winter.