St John the Baptist Loughton the Memorial to the Parishioners Who Lost Their Lives in the Great War 1914 -1919 Written in Commem
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St John The Baptist Loughton The Memorial to the Parishioners who lost their lives in The Great War 1914 -1919 Written in Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of The Great War 2014 1 The Choir Memorial 2 Preface The modern media has placed in the public domain so much information about the Great War that the subject requires little further comment here. The written history of this war can be described, more or less, in three phases. The first, usually memoirs and unit histories, written soon after the Armistice were often positive about the war. After 1928, when the great surge of anti-war literature hit the market, including the now famous poets, the so called ‘lions led by donkeys and butchers and bunglers’ genre held sway. In some cases it still does, much influenced by the writings of Sir Basil Liddell Hart and others. Much later, when access to the archives became available, a new breed of historians, the ‘revisionists’, grew in significance: authors such as John Terraine, the lead writer in the BBC’s mid 1960’s work The Great War. Other influentional revisionists must include Professors Peter Simkins, Gary Sheffield and John Bourne, all of the University of Birmingham’s Centre for First World War Studies, and now with The University of Wolverhampton. The late Richard Holmes CBE TD, the very well-known writer and TV historian, described himself as ‘a cautious revisionist’. This was sensible advice for both the serious student and the recreational military history reader. Each of the three genres of Great War historiography has a contribution to make to our understanding of this most significant conflict. It has been refreshing to note the ‘cautious revisionary’ approach taken by most of the media in this anniversary year of 2014. The intention of this research is to give some background to lives, and deaths, of the former Parishioners commemorated within St John The Baptist Loughton. One regret is that, nationally, those who died where just under 12% of the men that were called to serve. We rightly honour the memory of our war dead, if however, the national statistics are extrapolated proportionally to our Parish War Dead, there must have been so many more men from the Parish of St John’s Loughton who served and returned home to resume their lives, and perhaps their worship, here for whom there is no memorial or record. Just a word about the soldiers themselves: they were no different from us in intellect, understanding or emotion, but almost certainly less well-informed than we are today. There was no television, few had radios, and the newspapers included much anti-German propaganda and spy stories. There was a genuine fear of a possible invasion, just as there was again in 1940.1 The officers who led these men tried to do their best, regardless of any class attitudes they may have had. Of course there were mistakes: it has been said that no battle plan can survive after contact with the enemy, but there was too, a rapid growth in learning and 1 See, for example see Andrew, Christopher [2009] The Defence of the Realm – The Authorized History of MI5, (Allen Lane, London), pp.29-53 for official concerns over the German threat and newspaper reports. 3 development in weapons and tactics that led to the final victory on both the Western Front and in the Middle-East. The ordinary officers and men who volunteered, like many of those commemorated on our War Memorial, did so because, as it was so eloquently expressed in Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels about an earlier war: Some came mainly because we were bored at home and this looked like it might be fun. Some came because we were ashamed not to. Many of us came because it was the right thing to do. 2 For many men, and probably some from Loughton, the Army provided for them better clothes and regular food, and made them fitter than they had ever been in their lives so far. Counter-factual history is not for the serious student, but asked if the Great War was worth it for Great Britain, then, with the situation that presented itself when the German Army invaded Belgium in August 1914, most historians think it was. As it has been subsequently found, Great Britain is not easy to defend once the coast- line opposite is in enemy hands, or our population has been infiltrated by terrorists. Great Britain’s security would have been greatly undermined in 1914- 1918 by a German dominated North West Europe. For an introduction into unravelling some of the myths of the Great War, and there are many, Gordon Corrigan’s Mud, Blood And Poppycock is well worth reading.3 A very readable, single-volume account of the war is Jeremy Paxman’s Great Britain’s Great War.4 There are, of course, so many other titles from which to choose. This research is not complete; hopefully more can be added as further information is discovered. If anyone does have any information on these men, or their families, please get in touch so that it can be added as we update what we already think we know. I am indebted to Rosemary Wells, who ‘pointed me in the right direction’ with some of the properties, and to Jessica Bostock for her diligent proof reading. Any mistakes, however, are entirely my responsibility. Dr Roger E Salmon, November 2014. [roger [email protected]] 2 Shaara, Michael [1974], The Killer Angels (Ballantine Books, New York), pp.29/30. 3 Corrigan, Gordon [2003], Mud, Blood And Poppycock, (Cassell, London). 4 Paxman, Jeremy[2013], Great Britain’s Great War, (Viking – an imprint of Penguin Books, London). 4 Charles William Arnill The Royal Fusiliers Charles William Arnill was a member of of the choir, he was a post clerk for a wholesale clothes establishment before joining the army. His birth was registered in Epping in the September Quarter 1895.5 In 1911, then aged 15, he lived in Pump Hill with his father William, a farrier, and his mother Mina. Charles had a sister aged 16, and two brothers, Leonard aged 13 and Frank aged 12. Mr and Mrs Arnill had had one other child who had died. Pump Hill – today. 5 http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/contents/familyhistoryguidepart3 - ‘The indexes were compiled for each quarter of the year (January-March, called the March quarter; April-June, called the June quarter; June-September, called the September quarter, and October-December, called the December quarter). The quarterly system stopped in 1984, in which year annual indexes started being compiled instead’. 5 Charles enlisted in London as a Private into the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers with the Service Number of 10860. This number is of little help in fixing his date of enlistment as the numbering system in this unit was changed. He died of wounds on 8 March 1916; he was 20 years old. Charles is buried in the Poperinghe Military Cemetery in grave number I.F.29. ‘A’ Company of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (9th Brigade, 3rd Division) in Mons Town Square 22 August 1914.6 The 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was part of the pre-war Regular Army and Charles may have enlisted in 1914, when he was 18 years old, at the start of the Great War. He was certainly a volunteer; conscription came into force 2 March 1916, and Charles died 8 March 1916 in Flanders. The 4th battalion was based at Parkhurst, Isle of Wight in 1914 and landed at Le Havre 13 August 1914 as part of the 9th brigade, 3rd Division of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Without knowing exactly when Charles enlisted it is impossible to know in what actions he took part. The 4th Battalion are famous for the BEF’s early encounter with the German Army at Nimy Railway Bridge in which a later Loughton resident, Private Sidney Godley, became the first non- commissioned soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross. There are no records to show for how long Charles suffered from his wounds before he died. Poperinghe was the site of a large military hospital serving the wounded from what was known as the Ypres Salient. 6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:4th_Bn_Royal_Fusiliers_22_August_1914.jpg accessed April 2013. 6 The grave of Sidney Godley VC – Loughton Cemetery.7 Henry Charles Bartrip The Essex Regiment Henry Bartrip, Service Number 7885, a Lance Corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment, was known as Harry: he had enlisted in Ilford and later served with the 12th Brigade, 36th Division.8 Harry joined sometime between January 1903 and June 1904 and had been a regular soldier. 7 Authors collection 2013. 8 Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). 7 Harry’s birth was registered in Epping in the December Quarter 1884. Harry married Eliza in Reigate in the December Quarter 1908 (Eliza seems to have been known as Dolly), and they had a daughter Harriet Mary, born in Reigate in December 1908, and a son, Thomas Henry, born in Epping in March 1910. In 1911, aged 27, Harry lived in Rose Cottage, Baldwin’s Hill and he worked as a general labourer for Epping Forest Corporation. Rose Cottage, Baldwin’s Hill – today. Harry, probably a Reservist and recalled to the Colours on the outbreak of war, was killed in action on 9 April 1915. He is buried in Calvaire (Essex) Military Cemetery in grave number I.L.11. The 2nd Battalion was in Chatham in August 1914, part of the 12th Brigade, 4th Division of the BEF and landed at Le Havre on 28 August.