Centenary of the sinking of the Hospital Ship "Britannic", sister ship to the R.M.S. "Titanic"

Today marks the Centenary of the sinking of the Hospital Ship “Britannic” on 21^st November 1916. There is still speculation as to whether she was torpedoed or hit a mine.   RMS “Britannic” was built by Harland and Wolf, Belfast, as a sister ship to the White Star Line liners RMS “Titanic” and RMS “Olympic”.  “Britannic” was launched in February 1914 then laid up until the British Admiralty requisitioned her for use as a Hospital Ship in 1915.

“Britannic” was steaming from Southampton to Mudros in Greece with 1,065 people on board – 77 nurses, 315 Royal Army Medical Corps personnel and 673 crew members.   An explosion caused her to sink in the Kia Channel near the Greek Island of Kia with the loss of 30 lives, the bodies of 5 of whom were found and buried.

There is a Facebook Group dedicated to the memory of the Hospital Ship “Britannic”: https://www.facebook.com/groups/331189576917380/1179513172085012/?notif_t=group_activity&notif_id=1479580714338389

Source:  http://hmhsbritannic.weebly.com/sinking.html

The Roses of No Man’s Land a song written during WW1 by Jack Caddigan and James Alexander Brennan

Many thanks to Sue Robinson of the Group Wenches in Trenches The Roses of No Man's Land for bringing the song "The Roses of No Man's Land" to my attention.  The song was co-written by Jack Caddigan the lyricist (1879 - 1952) and James Alexander Brennan the song-writer (1885 - 1956). The lyrics were translated into French by Louis Delamarre and the song became popular during the First World War.

It was written as a tribute to the women who went to all the theatres of the conflict to nurse the wounded. The song is still in copyright but you can read both sets of lyrics - English and French - here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_of_No_Man%27s_Land

Sue Robinson is campaigning for recognition of all the women of WW1 and a special memorial is to be unveiled at Lochnagar Crater.   The Women of War Memorial will be unveiled at Lochnagar Crater, La Boisselle, France at 2.30 pm on 11/11/2016, just after the main ceremony.  All welcome.

To find out more about Sue’s work please see the website http://www.wenchesintrenches.co.uk/

Photo: The cover of the sheet music to the song.

Relatives of Famous People killed in WW1 - a grandson of Gladstone, former British Prime Minister

I have just been reading Anne Powell’s delightful book “Gardens Behind the Lines, 1914 – 1918” and there I read:

 “… I suddenly came upon young Gladstone’s grave, in the corner of an orchard railed off, where he lies with about fifty men of different regiments… it’s curious to think of him there and his grandfather in Westminster Abbey.”  (p. 12).

Anne quotes from a letter home written in 1915 by Alexander Douglas Gillespie, a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who was an enthusiastic gardener. 

 

I  had to find out more, so I looked up Gladstone and it seems that Gillespie was referring to William Glynne Charles Gladstone, 14^th July 1885 – 13^th April 1915, who was a Grandson of the former Prime Minister of Britain – Liverpool-born William Ewart Gladstone (1809 – 1898).

William Glynne’s parents were the former PM’s eldest son, William Henry Gladstone, and his wife, The Hon. Gertrude Gladstone, daughter of Charles Stuart, 12^th Lord Blantyre.  “Young Gladstone” was the last of the Gladstone dynasty to sit in the House of Commons.  He was made Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire in Wales on 8^th July 1911.

In WW1 William Glynne Charles Gladstone was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers as a 2^nd Lieutenant.  He was promoted to Lieutenant on 7^th April 1915 and posted to France where he was killed on 13^th April 1915 near Laventie.   His was the last body to be officially repatriated during the First World War and he was re-buried in St. Deiniol’s, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales.   His cousin, William Herbert Gladstone, MC, son of the former PM’s second son, The Rev. Stephen Edward Gladstone and his wife Annie Gladstone, was killed in 1918.

“Gardens Behind the Lines, 1914 – 1918 Gardens Found and Made on the Western and Eastern Fronts” by Anne Powell, edited by Jean Moorcroft Wilson and published in “The War Poets” Series by Cecil Woolf, London in 2015.

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

British actor Basil Hallam (1889 - 1916) and The Knuts with a K in WW1

Basil Hallam Redford was born in Brighton, East Sussex, UK on  3rd April 1888. His parents were Thomas Hindmarsh Radford (1845–1927), a ship and insurance broker, and his wife, Ann Louisa Maria Radford - née Wulff (1847–1924).   

Educated at the Meads preparatory school in Eastbourne, then Charterhouse School, Basil went on to study at Oxford University, before beginning his acting career with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s company in 1908.

The Knuts came to fame in the review “The Passing Show” which starred Basil Hallam 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.   

Basil had a steel plate in his foot from an injury so he did not 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, serving with the rank of Captain with a Kite Balloon Section of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).  His duties were to reinforce the work of observers working for Corps Squadrons. 

Basil 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 open.  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.

Sir John Lavery (1856 - 1941) - Irish Artist

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 20th March 1856, John Lavery studied art at the Haldane Academy in Glasgow, Scotland before going to study in Paris.  Lavery was commissioned to paint the visit of Queen Victoria to the Glasgow International Exhibition in 1888 which brought him to the public's attention.  He moved to London and began painting society people, becoming friendly with the Asquith family.    In 1889, Lavery married Kathleen McDermott who sadly died of TB not long after giving birth to their daughter, Eileen (1890 - 1935) who became Lady Sempill.   

In 1909 Lavery married Hazel Martyn who was an Irish-American socialite who had a daughter - Alice Trudeau - who became Lavery's step-daughter.   Hazel became Lavery's model.

Lavery was appointed as an official war artist during the First World War but was injured in a car crash during a Zeppelin air raid and was therefore unable to travel to the Western Front.  He remained in Britain and painted scenes in military bases, military hospitals, naval shipyards, munitions factories, planes, Zeppelins and ships.   Knighted after the war, Lavery was elected to the Royal Academy.

He travelled widely between the wars exhibiting his work in Europe and spending winters in Morocco where he purchased a house.

Sir John Lavery died on 10th January 1941 in Ireland and was buried in Putney Vale Cemetery in London.

Right:  "Woman with Golden Turban" a painting of Hazel Lavery by her husband.

With thanks to William Bulcke of the Facebook Group Women in the Great War and Elena Branca of the Italian Red Cross whose posts of some of Lavery's WW1 paintings prompted me to research him.