On 4th June 1917, King George V established the honour known as The Order of the British Empire (OBE) to fill gaps in the British honours system and honour those who had served in a range of non-combat roles during the First World War. .
Dr Wilfred Balgarnie of The British Red Cross Society was the first recipient.
Wallasey Town Hall, a Grade II* listed building on Brighton Street in Seacombe, Wirral, UK, is an iconic, monumental structure overlooking the River Mersey. The building was designed by architects Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornely in the Neoclassical style and built by Moss and Sons of Loughborough.
The foundation stone was laid by King George V accompanied by Queen Mary on 25th March 1914.
In 1916, the completed building was placed under the command of the 1st Western General Hospital in Fazakerley and used as a military hospital for soldiers who had been wounded in action during the First World War. After the war it was converted for its intended use as a municipal building and was officially opened as Wallasey Town Hall on 3rd November 1920.
Wallasey became a Municipal Borough in 1910 and a County Borough in 1913
Photo and information Wikipedia.
By 1910 Marie-Antoinette was widowed and wealthy and living in Paris and when her other son died she persuaded Auguste to join her there. As he had no French dental qualifications, Auguste Valadier studied at l'Ecole Odontotechnique de Paris from November 1910 to June 1911 and received the certificate of Chirugien Dentiste (Tr. Dental Surgeon) from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris in July 1912. After that he was permitted to practice in France. In July 1913 he married Alice Wright, the granddaughter of Robert Clinton Wright, a former United States Minister in Brazil.
In October 1914 Auguste joined the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) in Paris who sent him to Abbeville. “The History of the Great War” (1922) records: "Dental surgeons commenced to arrive in France in early November and were allocated to clearing hospitals and to the bases. An eminent dentist, M. Valadier, a citizen of the United States, who had been sent from Paris to Abbeville by the BRCS, was also accepted for duty with the British troops on 29 October."
Auguste appears to have been the first dental surgeon to provide dental treatment for the British troops in France. The dental surgeons sent over by the War Office were given temporary commissions while attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps, and Auguste Valadier was gazetted as an honorary Lieutenant, and in 1916 was promoted to the rank of Major.
By early 1915 Auguste had set up a 50-bed oral surgery unit attached to the 83rd (Dublin) General Hospital at Wimereux for the treatment of facial injuries. Much of this reconstructive work was paid for out of his own pocket, while the staff in his dental laboratory in Paris fashioned the appliances necessary for the treatment of severe injuries to the jaw. As he was not a surgeon himself it was considered necessary that Auguste would require the assistance of a trained surgeon in the operating theatre and Harold Gillies joined his team. It is uncertain how long Gillies worked with Auguste, but it was certainly long enough to inspire in Gillies the interest to learn more about this radical new medical treatment.
When the war ended Auguste applied for and received the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal with three Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) emblems. In February 1920, in recognition of his service during the War, Auguste Valadier was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the British government. However because he was a French national the award was purely honorary. He had been appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in June 1916 and an Associate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in January 1917. In 1919 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the government of France.
Auguste Valadier applied for British citizenship and in recognition of his service to the British Army it was granted on 16th March 1920. He was finally knighted by George V on 8th March 1921.
During the 1920s Auguste went back to his dental practice in Paris where he became President of the American Dental Club of Paris.
Auguste died on 31st August 1931.
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Major Sir Auguste Charles Valadier at No.13 Stationary Hospital. 6th October 1916
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| Arthur Ransome wearing his Press Corps Uniform in WW1 |
The Rope family were Anglican but, soon after her husband's early death in 1899, their mother converted to Roman Catholicism (along with 5 of her 6 children). She brought her children up in some degree of poverty, exacerbated by her father's will, which denied money to any descendant "in religion". Of the children, two became nuns (Margaret and Monica) and one a priest (Fr. Harry Rope). Two other siblings were Irene Vaughan, a botanist, and Squadron Leader Michael Rope, an aeronautical engineer, who died in the R101 airship disaster on 5th October 193. Only one, Denys, a doctor of medicine, continued as an Anglican, following his father.
Henry Edward George Rope (Father Harry Rope) (23 October 1880 – 1 March 1978) was a writer, poet, editor and priest widely known in the Roman Catholic Church in his long lifetime. He was the eldest brother of Margaret Agnes Rope, stained-glass artist, nephew of Ellen Mary Rope, sculptor, and George Thomas Rope, painter and naturalist as well as cousin of M. E. Aldrich Rope, another stained-glass artist. Due to his writings and his work as archivist at the Venerable English College, Rome, he was well known in his lifetime, particularly within Church circles but as a radical traditionalist he has been forgotten in modern times
Margaret was educated at home until in 1900 she went to the Birmingham Municipal School of Art. Her studies included enamelling and lettering. From 1901, she studied stained glass under Henry Payne. Margaret had an illustrious career at the school including a number of scholarships and won many awards in the National Competition for Schools of Art. In 1909, she left the school and worked from home (The Priory, Shrewsbury) especially on the large west window of Shrewsbury Cathedral, the first of seven she did there
Although there is no indication that Margaret served in any capacity during the First World War, several of her siblings were directly involved in the war effort - as an ambulance driver, a naval air service member and a nurse ministering to wounded soldiers. Margaret was running a successful stained-glass studio in London at the time.
Margaret and her sister were apparently arrested in Suffolk on suspicion of being German spies during the war, because they were riding motorbikes, which was unusual for women at the time.
(Two women who also rode motor cycles were Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm – there are two excellent books about them -
https://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.com/2013/07/elsie-and-mairi-go-to-war.html
https://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.com/search?q=Mairi+Chisholm
However, Margaret Rope did create a significant amount of war memorial work after the conflict, suggesting she felt deeply the loss of the young men who died.
Margaret died on 6th December 1953.
Edward Frederic Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire on 24th July 1867, the fifth child of the headmaster, Edward White Benson (later chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, Bishop of Truro and Archbishop of Canterbury), and his wife born Mary Sidgwick ("Minnie").
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of Arthur Christopher Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson (Maggie), an author, artist and amateur Egyptologist. Two other siblings died young.
Edward was educated at Temple Grove School, then at Marlborough College, where he wrote some of his earliest. He continued his education at King's College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Pitt Club and later in life he became an honorary fellow of Magdalene College.
He enlisted as a Private with the British Army in the Army Service Corps, with the service number M/317967. The Imperial War Museums' "Lives of the First World War" project confirms his military service record.
Edward F. Benson died on 29th February 1940 of throat cancer at University College Hospital, London. He was buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Arthur was born on 24th April 1862 at Wellington College, Berkshire, one of six children born to Edward White Benson, the first headmaster of the College, who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 to 1896, and his wife, Mary (née Sidgwick and known as"Minnie"), who was a sister of the philosopher Henry Sidgwick. Arthur’s younger brother Edward Frederick Benson (1867 – 1940) also became a writer - E.F. Benson was best remembered for his Mapp and Lucia novels. Their sister Margaret Benson (1865 - 1936) became an artist, author and amateur Egyptologist.
In 1874, Arthur won a scholarship to Eton School from Temple Grove School, a preparatory school in East Sheen. In 1881, he went up to King's College, Cambridge, where he was a scholar (King's College had closed scholarships for which only Etonians were eligible) and achieved first-class honours in the Classical tripos in 1884.
Arthur became an essayist, poet and academic and served as the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He wrote the lyrics of Edward Elgar's Coronation Ode, including the words of the patriotic song "Land of Hope and Glory" (1902). His literary criticism, poems, and volumes of essays were highly regarded.
During the First World War, Arthur was a fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was appointed Master of the college in December 1915 and served in that role until his death in 1925. He devoted his energies to academic and literary work, and was also a governor of Gresham's School.
Arthur C. Benson contributed to the war effort through his work as an educator and writer and he was involved in founding the Benson Medal in 1916 for meritorious works in literature. He edited the book “Cambridge Essays on Education”, which was published in 1919 towards the end of the war.
Arthur died of cardiac arrest at Magdalene on 17th June 1925 and was buried in St Giles's Cemetery, Cambridge.
"Land of Hope and Glory" was important during WW1, serving as a powerful symbol of British nationalism and the war effort, with lyrics that celebrated the nation's empire and encouraged its military might. Composed by Edward Elgar with lyrics by A.C. Benson, the song's patriotic themes were particularly resonant during the conflict and were frequently performed at events like the Proms, further solidifying its role in maintaining morale.
Symbol of nationalism: The song's lyrics, which refer to Britain's "Empire" and a call to God to make the nation "mightier yet," directly fueled the nationalist sentiment that was a major cause of the war.
Wartime morale booster: Because of its patriotic themes, the song was popular during the war and helped maintain the fighting spirit on the home front. It was part of the official war effort, though some of Elgar's other wartime compositions were less successful.
Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet,
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!
With thanks to John Daniel for finding this information for us
Before the First World War, Alvin worked as a blacksmith. He was denied status as a conscientious objector and was drafted into the U.S. Army during The First World War. While serving in the 82nd Infantry Division during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (October 1918), he was among a patrol of 17 men ordered to take out a German machine-gun emplacement that was checking his regiment’s advance. Behind enemy lines the patrol lost half its men but managed to take a handful of prisoners before being pinned down by extremely heavy rifle and machine-gun fire. Corporal York assumed command and, while the rest of the survivors took up defensive positions and stood guard over the prisoners, Corporal York attacked alone and, firing rapidly and with deadly accuracy at the enemy gunners, killed more than two dozen of them, which prompted the others to surrender. En route back to the American lines, he captured still more Germans, to a total of 132.
Alvin York was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and later received the Congressional Medal of Honour and similar honours from France and other countries. After the war he returned to Tennessee, where he lived on a farm given to him by that State. He helped to establish an industrial institute and a Bible school for the education of rural youth. His autobiography, “Sergeant York, His Own Life Story and War Diary” (Edited by Tom Skeyhill*), was published in 1928.
Alvin York died on 2nd September 1964 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The photograph of Alvin York in uniform was taken in 1919. He is shown wearing the Medal of Honour and French Croix de Guerre with Palm medals he was awarded.
Sources: Wikipedia, information supplied by John Daniel and
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alvin-Cullum-York
* See the post about Tom Skeyhill here:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1469575372198324716/4500128455326203988
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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".
With thanks to John Daniel who sent me a message about ANZAC Day that prompted this reseach
Created in 1903 as an annexe to Bulford Camp, Sling Camp was originally named "Sling Plantation" after nearby woods.
Soon after the beginning of the First World War, New Zealand troops started work on building wooden huts there. They were later joined by Canadian troops, joiners, bricklayers, and civilian workers. The word "Plantation" was dropped from the title and it became Sling Camp. After building was completed, it was said that if each hut were placed end-to-end they would measure 6 miles.
In 1916, the camp was occupied by New Zealand forces and was then known as Anzac Camp by some. It comprised four main sections: Auckland, Wellington, Otago, and Canterbury Lines. It was officially called the 4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade Reserve Camp, and trained reinforcements and casualties who were regaining fitness.
Ten New Zealand soldiers were killed when they were hit by a train at Bere Ferrers in southern England. The accident occurred as troops from the 28th Reinforcements for the NZ Expeditionary Force were being transported from Plymouth to Sling Camp.
To occupy them before deployment, the New Zealand soldiers were put to work carving the shape of a large Kiwi in the chalk of the hill that overlooks the camp. The Bulford Kiwi, as it is known, is still there today and as of 2007, the Kiwi has been maintained by the Ministry of Defence. In 2017 the chalk figure was designated as a scheduled monument.
In 1918, there were 4,300 men at Sling. Soon after this date the camp suffered large casualties as a result of the Spanish influenza.
The camp also housed fourteen New Zealand conscientious objectors (among them Archibald Baxter and his brothers Alexander and John), who had been forced into the army and sent all the way from New Zealand to England to make an example of them.
At the end of the war, there were 4,600 New Zealand troops stationed at the camp and it became a repatriation centre. At that time there was unrest in other camps as a result of delays in demobilising troops. To try to maintain order the "spit and polish" regime was enforced and route marches ordered. The men requested a relaxation of discipline as the war was over and they were far from home, however this was refused and the troops rioted, stealing food from the mess and all of the alcohol from the officers' mess, hundreds of New Zealand soldiers rioted. It was the most serious breakdown of discipline in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the European theatre.
In an attempt to resolve the situation, the officers and men were promised no repercussions, but this promise was not honoured; the ringleaders were arrested, jailed and immediately shipped back to New Zealand.
Much of the original camp was demolished in the 1920s and replaced by newer buildings.
NOTES:
ANZAC DAY – remembered on 25th April annually. 25th April marks the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps forces during The First World War, at Gallipoli.
Cathy Sedgwick, who does the most wonderful work researching the ANZAC soldiers buried in the UK, has researched all 66 NZ War Graves in Codford (ANZAC) Cemetery, Wiltshire. Cathey tells me there is a New Zealand War Graves Project - https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/
Sources:
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/sling-camp#:~:text=Events%20In%20History&text=Four%20months%20after%20the%20end,Force%20in%20the%20European%20theatre.
https://www.badseysociety.uk/sladden-archive/places/wiltshire-salisbury-plain-sling-camp
https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/chalk-one-military-history
Adolphe became the first pilot to make a parachute jump from a plane. During the first jump, observing the unexpected path of the plane and particularly a loop-like trajectory, he was convinced he could reproduce and control the same in flight. After landing, Adolphe told reporters: "I've seen him, alone, looping the loop. So you see that this is possible. Also, I will try!"
As a test pilot for Louis Blériot, he devoted himself to that goal with a Blériot model XI monoplane in a series of test flights exploring the limits of airplane maneuvers. Having modified his plane, and after realistic "head down" ground training, he then flew the first inverted flight on 1st September 1913.
Adolphe became an instructor of pilots from France and other European countries.
When the First World War began, Adolph volunteered for flying duty and was immediately accepted as an observation pilot. On 5th February 1915, he and his gunner were credited with shooting down two German aircraft and forcing another to land. Soon he was flying single-seat aircraft and in April claimed two further victories. His sixth success came in July.
It is not known how many of Pégoud's victories involved destruction of enemy aircraft, as early air combat was rare enough to warrant credit for a forced landing. However, it is certain that Adolphe Pégoud, rather than Roland Garros (four documented victories, and later), was the first pilot to achieve ace status of any sort.
On 31 August 1915, Pégoud was shot down and killed by Unteroffizier Otto Kandulski (who had been his pupil) while intercepting a German reconnaissance aircraft. He was 26 years old. The same German crew later dropped a funeral wreath behind the French lines. Two weeks later, Kandulski was shot down by the French pilot Roger Ronserail, earning Ronserail the title "Le Vengeur de Pégoud" ("The avenger of Pégoud").
Photograph: Adolphe Pégoud being awarded the Croix de Guerre
With thanks to John Daniel for finding this information for us:
The McCudden family went to live in Sheerness in 1909 and James transferred to the Garrison School. He learned to shoot at the rifle range, learnt to box and was a reasonably intelligent student.
James joined the Royal Engineers in 1910. Having an interest in mechanics he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1913, during which time he first came into regular contact with aircraft. At the outbreak of war in 1914 James flew as an observer before training as a fighter pilot in 1916.
James claimed his first victory in September 1916 flying the Airco DH.2. He claimed his fifth victory — making him an Ace — on 15th February 1917. For the next six months he served as an instructor and flew defensive patrols over London. He returned to the frontline in summer 1917 flying the S.E.5a. That same year he dispatched a further 31 enemy aircraft while claiming multiple victories in one day on 11 occasions.
With his six British medals and one French, James McCudden received more awards for gallantry than any other airman of British nationality serving in the First World War. He was also one of the longest serving. By 1918, in part due to a campaign by the “Daily Mail” newspaper, James became one of the most famous airmen in the British Isles.
At the time of his death, James had achieved 57 aerial victories, placing him seventh on the list of the war's most successful aces. Just under two-thirds of his victims can be identified by name. The majority of his successes were achieved with 56 Squadron RFC and all but five were shot down while he was flying the S.E.5a.
On 9th July 1918, James was killed in a flying accident when his aircraft crashed on takeoff due to engine failure. His rank at the time of his death was major, a significant achievement for a man who had begun his career in the RFC as an air mechanic. James Thomas Byford McCudden, VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM was buried in the British War Cemetery at Beauvoir-Wavans, Pas de Calais, France.
NOTE:
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually considered to be five or more.
Sources: Information supplied by John Daniel, Find my Past, FreeBMD
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| 1914 |
Shortly before William's birth, the French Government proposed a new law under which all boys born on French soil to foreign parents would automatically be French citizens and liable to conscription for military service.
The British Ambassador, Lord Lyons, had a maternity ward set up within the embassy – which was legally recognised as UK territory – enabling British couples in France to circumvent the new law, and it was there that William Somerset Maugham was born.
From 1885 to 1890 William attended The King's School, Canterbury, Kent, UK, where he was regarded as an outsider and teased for his poor English (French had been his first language), his short stature, his stammer, and his lack of interest in sport.
A legacy from his father enabled William to go to Heidelberg University to study when he was sixteen. His aunt, who was German, arranged accommodation for him. For the next year and a half he studied literature, philosophy and German.
From 1892 until he qualified in 1897, William studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in Lambeth.
By 1914 William was famous – he had written thirteen plays and eight novels. He was too old to enlist when the First World War began, so he volunteered to serve in France as an ambulance driver for the British Red Cross.
In 1954, William was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) and was invested by Queen Elizabeth II at a private audience in Buckingham Palace.
The Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) was founded by King George V in 1917 to recognise outstanding achievements in the Arts, Sciences, Medicine and Public Service.
Somerset Maugham died on 16 December 1965.
With thanks to John Daniel for finding this information for us.
Sir Edwin H. Dunning had been a dealer in diamonds and gold in South Africa. When he rturned to England he became a political camapigner for the Liberal Party. He was one-time Mayor of Tiverton in Devon and was knighted for public services.
Edwin was educated at Fonthill School until 1905, when he entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne. In 1907 he went to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, and in 1910, following twelve months on board the training cruiser H.M.S. “Cornwall,” he was gazetted Midshipman in the Navy, becoming a Sub-Lieutenant three years later.
Fonthill was a primary school for the children of the aristocracy and wealthy landowners, professional families and industrialists founded in 1808 as a rectory-based school for young gentlemen in Fonthill Gifford, Wiltshire. Many pupils from the school went on to Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Wellington, Rugby, Charterhouse and other public schools. It also prepared boys for careers in the Royal Navy and Army and sent a number of boys to the naval colleges.
When the First World War began, Edwin was a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Flying Corps and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1915, being appointed to H.M.S. “Ark Royal.”
In 1916 Lieutenant Edwin Harris Dunning, Royal Naval Air Service was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his service with the seaplane carrier H.M.S. Ark Royal during the Gallipoli campaign.
Later promoted Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning, D.S.C., Royal Naval Air Service, became the first man to land an aeroplane on a moving ship when he piloted a Sopwith Pup onto the deck of H.M.S. Furious on 2nd August 1917.
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| Being congratulated after his amazing reat |
Edwin was killed on 7th August 1917 while attempting another landing when strong winds blew his aircraft overboard. He was buried in Bradfield (St. Lawrence) Churchyard, Essex, where the memorial plaque presented by his Father is on display in St. Lawrence’s Church.
His official citation was published in the 'London Gazette' on 14th March 1916: “He performed exceptionally good work as a seaplane flyer, making many long flights both for spotting and photographing.
Western Times,' 7th April 1916.
Edwin was also Mentioned in Despatches twice - 14 March 1916 – mentioned in despatches for service at Gallipoli, and on 1 October 1917.
Sources: Information supplied by John Daniel,
Find my Past
https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/community/4387/?page=12
https://www.myheritage.com/names/edwin_dunning