Leicester University, UK – a First World War memorial

It was first proposed to set up a University in Leiceter in1880. Dr Astley Clarke (1870-1945), who was born and educated in Leicester, the son of a prominent local surgeon, who became Honorary Consulting Physician and Consulting Radiologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary, became President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society.that the idea came up again.  He worked hard throughout his year in office as President of the Soceity to generate interest and promises of support. Everything was looking very promising - until war broke out. 

As he had been a part-time soldier since 1910, Astley Clarke served in WW1 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was swiftly appointed Administrator of the 5th Northern General Hospital, an RAMC unit which took up residence in the former Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum next to Victoria Park. Members of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society dispersed to military, naval, governmental or medical duties, or devoted their fund-raising work to the war effort.

Three years later, despite there still being no end in sight to the 'war to end all wars', the idea of a Leicester University College was raised once again. On 14 November 1917 - a few days after the Battle of Passchendaele, a few days before the Battle of Cambrai - the “Leicester Daily Post” told its readers that the city should have “more than a mere artistic war memorial.” A better memorial to lives lost and ruined”, argued the paper, “would be the establishment of a University College so that the next generation might achieve better things than their forefathers.” Furthermore, a ready made site presented itself.

During the course of the war, the 5th Northern General expanded from this base hospital building to become a local network of more than 60 locations including North Evington War Hospital, Knighton House Hospital, Gilcross Hospital and the Leicester Royal Infirmary. Admiral Beatty, a naval hero for his role in the Battle of Jutland, donated his Leicestershire home Brooksby Hall as part of the 5th Northern General, staffed by nurses from the Voluntary Aid Detachment.

In total, there were beds in Leicestershire for 111 officers and 2,487 other ranks, through which passed more than 95,000 casualties. Of these men, 514 deaths were recorded, 286 of whom are buried across from the University in Welford Road Cemetery. The Commanding Officer of the hospital in 1917 was Lt. Col. Louis N Harrison.

After the Armistice, the fund-raising campaign took off in earnest, spurred on by a determination to create a 'living memorial' to those who had given their lives. 

Leicester was granted City status in 1919 by King George V, in recognition of its industries' contribution to the British war effort.

By January 1920, just 14 months after Astley Clarke's first bundle of five pound notes, the total stood at £100,000, including numerous donations by grieving parents and wives in memory of husbands and sons who would never return to Leicester. The 5th Northern General Hospital had finally vacated the old lunatic asylum buildings which were promptly bought by local businessman Thomas Fielding Johnson, and just as promptly donated to the council as a site for the University College.

The Arch of Remembrance is a First World War Grade-I listed Arch of Remembrance situated in Victoria Park, Leicester, It was nveiled in 1925 and is close to the University campus. The memorial was commissioned and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. 

NOTES; Astley Vavasour Clarke (1870-1945) was born in Leicester and educated at Wyggeston School, Oakham School, in Heidelberg and Bonn.

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens OM KCIE PRA FRIBA (1869 – 1944) was a British architect. Before the end of the First World War, he was appointed one of three principal architects for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission) and was involved with the creation of many monuments to commemorate the dead.

Sources: University Challenge programme and 

https://le.ac.uk/about/history/campus-history/great-war

https://le.ac.uk/about/history/campus-history/military-hospital

https://le.ac.uk/news/2021/september/living-memorial

WW1 Propaganda Bureau

The British Government set up a War Propaganda Bureau in 1914.  David Lloyd George (1863-1945), the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was asked to set the Propaganda Bureau up. He appointed Charles Masterman (1873-1927) to head the organization. The Bureau’s offices were in Wellington House, the headquarters of the National Insurance Commission, over which Masterman presided. A major objective of his department was to encourage the United States to enter the war on the side of the Allies. It also supported and coordinated propaganda initiatives by private organizations and individuals.  Known as Wellington House after its location in Buckingham Gate, London, the organization was the centre of British propaganda abroad.

The Bureau began its propaganda campaign on 2nd September 1914 when Masterman invited 25 leading British authors to Wellington House to discuss ways of best promoting Britain's interests during the war. Those who attended included William Archer, Hall Caine, Arthur Conan Doyle, Arnold Bennett, John Masefield, G. K. Chesterton, Henry Newbolt, John Galsworthy, Thomas Hardy, Gilbert Parker, G. M. Trevelyan and H. G. Wells.  Rudyard Kipling had been invited to the meeting but was unable to attend.

The Bureau published over 1,160 pamphlets during the war.

Artworks

The first scheme involving art was initiated in July 1916. The intention was to provide eyewitness images to illustrate propaganda publications. In 1917 Wellington House merged with the newly-established Department of Information. Amongst the artists commissioned at that stage were William Orpen, Paul Nash and C R W Nevinson.

Source:

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war-propaganda-bureau/

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-the-british-government-sponsored-the-arts-in-the-first-world-war

The Rev. Elijah Cobham, MC (1880 – 1917) – British Chaplain

Found by Revd Nicholas Pye and posted on Twitter @RevdPye

Born in 1880 in West Derby, Liverpool, UK, Elijah’s parents were John and Martha Ann Cobham, of Waterloo, Liverpool and Crowborough, Sussex. 

Educated at Glenalmond and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he gained an M.A., Elijah was ordained as a Church of England Deacon in 1906 and became a priest in 1907.  He was Vicar of All Saints, Fishponds, Bristol, UK.   In 1913, he became a Missionary of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, in Nakura, Kenya in East Africa, built the first Christian Church in Nakuru and worked as a Pastor in the Uasin Gishu Plateau area. 

During the First World War, when the Germans invaded East Africa the Rev Elija Cobham initially served as a volunteer in the R.A.M.C. and later became Chaplain to the Forces, serving with the King's African Rifles Regiment.  

NOTE  

British Empire soldiers fought a four-year guerrilla campaign against a small German force in East Africa during the First World War.  Despite being outnumbered, the German commander, Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, skillfully ran rings around his enemies, inflicting many casualties and avoiding defeat.

On 19th September 1917, Rev Elijah Cobham MC, Chaplain died of wounds sustained while trying to rescue a wounded officer. He was buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, Tanzania, Africa. Grave reference:  5. A. 15.

In All Saints’ Church, Fishponds, a Memorial Window also commemorates Rev'd Cobham  - “South Gloucestershire Gazette” - 19 May 1923

Additional Sources: https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=452

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22731742/elijah-cobham

Sir Francis Robert Benson, Croix de Guerre (1858 – 1939) - British actor-manager (cousin of actor Basil Rathbone)

Francis Robert Benson was born in Eden House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK on 4th November 1858. He was the third son and fourth child of William Benson (1816–1887), a barrister, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Soulsby Smith (1830–1892).[1] Their eldest son, William Arthur Smith Benson, became a well-known architect and designer, and the youngest, Godfrey Rathbone Benson, later Baron Charnwood, became a Liberal politician.

From 1871 Francis was educated at Winchester College, where a master inspired him with a love of Shakespeare. He went on to study at New College, Oxford University in 1878 - where he distinguished himself as an amateur actor and as an athlete, winning the Inter-university three mile race. 

After working as an actor, Francis founded his own theatre company in 1883 and produced all but two of Shakespeare's plays. His thirty-year association with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and the annual Shakespeare Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon laid down foundations for the creation of the Royal Shakespeare Company after his death.

In 1886 Francis married a member of his company - Gertrude Constance Cockburn Samwell (26th February 1864 – 19th - January 1946) - a British actress whose stage name was Constance Featherstonhaugh. The couple had two children, Eric William (1887–1916, killed during the battle of the Somme), and Brynhild Lucy (1888–1974).  

During the First World War Francis staged patriotic performances of Shakespeare’s play Henry V in the early years of the war, but longed to make a more tangible contribution to the war effort. He was rejected for active service because of his age. He temporarily abandoned the stage and drove an ambulance in France, receiving the Croix de Guerre on the battlefield for rescuing wounded men on the front line. 

Francis was knighted in 1916 in Drury Lane Theatre.  His wife, Constance, who became Lady Benson when her husband was knighted, ran a canteen for soldiers in France during the First World War. 

After the war Francis made his last appearance at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1919, and toured South Africa in 1921–1922.

Sir Francis Benson died on 31st December 1939.

Source: Wikipedia

Basil Rathbone MC (1892 – 1967) - South African-born English actor.

With thanks to John Daniel for reminding me that I had not yet written a post about Basil Rathbone, one of my favourite actors.

Philip St. John Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South African Republic on 13th June 1892.  His parents were British. Basil’s father, Edgar Philip Rathbone, was a mining engineer and scion of the Liverpool-based Rathbone family.  His mother, Anna Barbara Rathbone (née George), was a violinist.  Basil had two older half-brothers, Harold and Horace, as well as two younger siblings, Beatrice and John. 

The Rathbones returned to Britain when Basil was three years old after his father was accused by the Boers of being a spy, following the Jameson Raid. Rathbone attended Repton School in Derbyshire from 1906 to 1910, where he excelled at sports and was given the nickname "Ratters" by schoolmates. He was briefly employed as an insurance clerk by the Liverpool and Globe Insurance Companies, to appease his father's wish for him to have a conventional career.

On 22nd April 1911, Basil made his first appearance on stage at the Theatre Royal, Ipswich, Suffolk, as Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew, with his cousin Sir Frank Benson's No. 2 Company, under the direction of Henry Herbert. In October 1912, he went to the United States with Benson's company, playing roles such as Paris in Romeo and Juliet, Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Silvius in As You Like It. Returning to Britain, he made his first appearance in London at the Savoy Theatre on 9th July 1914, as Finch in The Sin of David. That December, he appeared at the Shaftesbury Theatre as the Dauphin in Henry V. During 1915, he toured with Benson and appeared with him at London's Court Theatre in December as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

During the First World War, Basil was called up in 1915 through the Derby Scheme, joining the British Army as a Private with the London Scottish Regiment. Also in that Regiment at different points through the conflict were Basil’s future professional acting contemporaries Claude Rains, Herbert Marshall and Ronald Colman. 

After basic training with the London Scots, in early 1916 Basil was commissioned as a Leutenant into the 2/10th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish), where he served as an intelligence officer and attained the rank of Captain.  Basil was twice the British Army Fencing Champion, a skill that served him well in his film career and allowed him to even teach actors Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power swordsmanship. 

Basil's younger brother John was killed in action on 4th June 1918. In 2012 two letters Rathbone wrote to his family while serving on the Western Front were published. One reveals the anguish and anger he felt following the death of his brother, John:

“I want to tell him to mind his place. I think of his ridiculous belief that everything would always be well, his ever-hopeful smile, and I want to cuff him for a little fool. He had no business to let it happen and it maddens me that I shall never be able to tell him so, or change it or bring him back. I can’t think of him without being consumed with anger at him for being dead and beyond anything I can do to him.”

Following his brother's death, Basil seems to have become unconcerned about the dangers of serving at the Front. Author Richard Van Emden in Famous 1914–18 speculates that his extreme bravery may have been a form of guilt or need for vengeance. He persuaded his superiors to allow him to scout enemy positions during daylight rather than at night, as was the usual practice to minimise the chance of detection. Basil wore a special camouflage suit that resembled a tree with a wreath of freshly plucked foliage on his head with burnt cork applied to his hands and face. As a result of these highly dangerous daylight reconnaissance missions in September 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous daring and resource on patrol".

Basil died in New York, USA on 21st July 1967 after a long and illustrious career.  He was buried in Ferncliffe Cemetery, New York - Shrine of Memories, Unit 1, Tier K, Crypt 117.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rathbone

Additional Notes:  An interview with Basil Rathbone about WW1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khdIdn7xN9k

Basil Rathbone was a cousin of Eleanor Rathbone and I wrote up a panel for both of them for Dean Johnson's Wilfred Owen Story Museum in Argyle Street, Birkenhead for on of the WW1 commemorative exhibitions held there.  Unfortunately the WOS has since closed down.   

Eleanor Florence Rathbone (12 May 1872 – 2 January 1946) was an independent British member of parliament (MP) and long-term campaigner for family allowances and for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool.  The Rathbones of Liverpool were a family of non-conformist merchants and shipowners, whose sense of high social consciousness led to a fine tradition of philanthropy and public service.

And

From a post on https://www.facebook.com/groups/1609379815967794/ by Mark Bristow who has given me permission to share.

Basil was a cousin of the actor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Benson_(actor)

And had a relationship with WW1 poet Richard Le Gallienne's daughter Eva le Gallienne -  a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author.

Annamites in Pau, France, during the First World War

 This painting entitled "Annamites dans un camp d’aviation à Pau", 1914/18” painted byFrench artist Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (1879-1949) prompted my research into the Annamite people and French aviation in Pau during the First World War.

After landing in Da Nang in 1858, the French founded the colony of Cochinchina in 1865 and established a protectorate over Tonkin in 1884. The Republic of Ferry intensified the colonial exploitation begun under the Second Empire, constituting an immense empire within which the Indochinese peninsula is a jewel. The fighting of the First World War had little impact on the Far East, with its riches coveted by all the colonial powers. But the traditional recruitment of auxiliaries, the need to replace the numerous soldiers who fell at the start of the conflict, and the desire to develop patriotism among the indigenous population, led the metropolises to draw on the colonial pool. In four years of war, France brought 43,430 Annamites from Indochina (center of present-day Vietnam) and Tonkinese (north) riflemen, mobilized mainly in stage battalions responsible for development and transport. 1,123 died on the field of honour. In addition, 48,981 Indochinese workers were sent to French factories to replace workers who had gone to the front.

Annam, or Trung Kỳ, was a French protectorate encompassing the territory of the Empire of Đại Nam in Central Vietnam. Before the protectorate's establishment, the name Annam was used in the West to refer to Vietnam as a whole; Vietnamese people were referred to as Annamites.

The first aviation school was founded in Pau in 1909, a Wright Bleriot School for aviators. Apparently one of the reasons for locating the flying school in Pau was because of the belief that the city and surround areas were almost wind free. When the First World War broke out, the numbers of its trainees and its capacity grew to such an extent that it became one of the largest flying schools in France.

From then on, aviation became a permanent fixture in Pau. Following the lead of the private schools, a military aviation school began to train pilots in Pau and, when the First World War broke out, the numbers of its trainees and its capacity grew to such an extent that it became one of the largest flying schools in France.

Pau is a commune overlooking the Pyrenees in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

Sources:

Painting posted by Ognyan Hristov to the Artists of the First World War Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=28645.0

https://histoire-image.org/etudes/annamites-grande-guerre

https://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24082

Felix Lloyd Powell (1878 – 1942) – Welsh composer

Felix Lloyd Powell was born on 23rd May 1878 in St. Asaph, Wales.  His parents were John Morris Powell and his wife, Sarah Snelson Powell, nee Hill.

During the First World War Felix served in the British Army as a Staff Sergeant. 

Felix is most famous for writing the music for the WW1 marching song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile” in 1915. The lyrics to the song were written by his brother George Henry Powell (1880 – 1951) - under the pen name George Asaf.   

The song was entered into a competition for "best morale-building song". It won first prize and was noted as "perhaps the most optimistic song ever written".