Ickworth Research Group Pamphlet No. 1

Ickworth and the Great War (1914-1919)

October 2015 Edition (revised 29 October 2015)

Ickworth Research Group Pamphlets

The object of the series of Ickworth Research Group pamphlets is to provide all staff and volunteers at Ickworth with a definitive, and fully researched set of information relevant to Ickworth.

Each pamphlet covers a specific topic, be it a person, historical event, type of artefact, or general social background. Each pamphlet is fully researched and related to the story of the house, the Herveys, or the collection. The information contained in each pamphlet is fully authenticated, and referenced to primary, or secondary sources. Where the information cannot be fully authenticated, or is based on opinion, or anecdote, this is made clear, so that the information communicated to the visitors can be done with the appropriate level of caveat.

Together these pamphlets form a comprehensive account of the scope of the accurate information known at the time of its publication, or revision, about all aspects of Ickworth.

Pamphlet Catalogue Compiled and edited by members of the Ickworth Research Group (Caroline Baxter, Ann Henderson, Denise Margerum, Patrick O’Mahony, Peter McGee, Iris Taylor)

Date of first edition: October 2015 Revised: January 2016 (Graham Parker)

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Summary of Key Information

 Although a retired admiral, the 4th Marquess did not see active service in the Great War. He and the Marchioness were involved in many organisations contributing to the war effort. Their two daughters were involved in volunteer roles.  Despite one noted attempt, the house was not requisitioned for military purposes. The estate was used by a number of army regiments for training exercises. Two firing ranges were set up within the grounds.  As it was intimately connected to the surrounding communities the house and estate were affected by the social and economic impacts of the war.  Two members of the Hervey family were affected by the war, one was killed, and the other suffered a long-term disability.  A number of local families suffered greatly, 188 men from Horringer enlisted, 39 were killed.  During the war, most activities associated with a country house and estate continued, for example, there were regular shooting parties held throughout the period.  As with the Nation as a whole, the consequences of the war, and the social and cultural changes subsequently brought about, affected the house and estate. A less deferential society emerged in which household staff was no longer readily available, and increased taxation began to exacerbate the financial decline of the great estates.  There are a few Great War artefacts held at Ickworth House today.

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The Ickworth Estate and The Great War (1914-1919)

Introduction

The research team has attempted to study the impact of The Great War on the lives of people living and working on the Ickworth Estate at the time. To frame the area of research we have focussed on the ‘community’ that essentially worked and lived on the estate. This inevitably has included many families who lived in the village of Horringer, as it sits at the entrance to the Ickworth Estate and provided many of the domestic staff and estate workers. This is not an exhaustive study, but hopefully provides sufficient information to reflect the impact of the First World War on a rural community in Suffolk.

The information in this summary is supported by various research documents produced by the team. Sources include Local Public records (particularly the Hervey family papers at the Suffolk Records Office), The National Archives at Kew, The Suffolk Regiment Museum, NT Papers, and research documents, various genealogy and history websites, the BBC, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the Ickworth Oral History archives.

One of the Great Estates – The Herveys

The business of Lord Bristol’s Estate, managed with Ickworth House at the hub, had been running for four and a half centuries by 1914. The Hervey family had been associated with the site since the mid-fifteenth century. A rural community existed around the estate with the Hervey family at its centre. The Ickworth Estate was based on the economic model of all the great estates at the time, land and agriculture. An examination of the books of accounts for the Estate during World War One does not reveal any dramatic change or trauma to the day-to-day business. Rents and other income continued to be received at much the same level as before. The amount of land and livestock remained consistent. There are indications, however, of a slow and steady decline that began before the war and continued after it. This decline was probably the result of wider changes to world commerce and technology such as refrigeration and cheap food imports. By 1914 the Estate required regular cash injections from other sources, notably the Marchioness’ private wealth. The war did see many workers enlist in the forces. The remaining household staff and families ‘pitched in’ to keep things running. More food was grown and lawns were allowed to grow to produce hay for animal feed.

According to the 1911 Census return the members of the Hervey family resident at Ickworth House were Frederick William Hervey, 4th Marquess of Bristol, Alice Frances Theodora Wythes, Marchioness of Bristol, and their daughters Lady Marjorie Hervey and Lady Phyllis Hervey.

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The Family at War

The Marquess held many positions in the County in peacetime. He was at the time, Hereditary High Steward of the Liberty of St Edmunds (covering the whole of the old county of West Suffolk), Chairman of the County Council, President of West Suffolk General Hospital, and a member of West Suffolk Education Committee. He had been MP for Bury St Edmunds but resigned from Parliament to take his seat in the House of Lords when he inherited the title in 1907. The Marquess served in the Royal Navy, achieving the rank of Captain, and was retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1911. He did not see active service during the Great War. However the Marquess did contribute to the war effort through his support and participation in several bodies set up during the war.

West Suffolk Military Tribunal

Set up under the Military Service Acts 1915-16 following the introduction of conscription, the Marquess was chairman of the Tribunal, which adjudicated on matters arising under statutes that required military service of all males aged 18-41 unless exempted due to occupation or declared ineligible by a medical board. By June 1916 748,587 men nationally had appealed against conscription. Most were given temporary or conditional exemption. In the same period 700,000 men had enlisted in the army. 16,500 men registered as conscientious objectors, and most accepted alternative services such as caring for the wounded. There were 1350 ‘absolutists’ who refused to perform any service that might aid the war effort. They were subjected to public scorn Poster image courtesy of IWM and abuse, and were later imprisoned.

Naval and Military War Pensions Committee

The Marquess was a member of this committee that was charged with supplementing State Pensions and Separation Allowances to soldiers, sailors and their families, and the Health and Welfare of disabled servicemen.

War Agricultural Committee

The Marquess was an Executive member of the Committee; he was co-opted as the chair of the County Council. The Marchioness was also co-opted onto this committee for her work regarding the organisation of female labour. These committees were set up in each county to facilitate meeting increased demand for ‘home grown’ food. Wheat was a particular problem. There was plenty of wheat available in Canada and the USA, but the demand in Europe was extremely high (principally France, Italy and the UK) and the shipping tonnage available to transport it was insufficient. This situation was further exacerbated by the German campaign 5

to sink allied ships. Later in the war the committees could direct farmers to turn pastureland over to arable production under the Cultivation of Lands Order No. 3, 1917.

The Marchioness was also involved in organisations that contributed to the national effort during the war.

British Red Cross Society

The Society together with the Order of St John’s Ambulance raised Voluntary Aid Detachments, trained in First Aid, Nursing, Cookery, Hygiene and Sanitation. They worked in hospitals, rest centres, work parties and supply centres. They also provided the first motorised ambulances to the battlefield and set up centres for recording the wounded and missing. The A ward at Ampton Hall Auxiliary Hospital Marchioness became Acting President of the West Suffolk Branch.

There were a number of Auxiliary Hospitals set up across the County in buildings such as Town Halls, Schools, and Manor Houses. One such hospital was set up in Ampton Hall, near Bury St Edmunds, at the instigation of the West Suffolk British Red Cross Society. Between 1914 and 1919 the hospital treated 6,568 sick or wounded soldiers.

Red Cross record card for Lady Marjorie Lady Marjorie, the elder daughter, also Hervey served with the Red Cross in 1918, at the Northgate Street Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

Women’s Agricultural Committee (WAC)

The official County Handbook at the time states ‘WACs interest themselves in all matters that concern agricultural or rural women. The committees were formed to encourage women to work on the land during the present scarcity of male labour.’ From 1917 the duties of the committees were expanded to include the welfare of National Service Women Volunteers for The Land Army. The President of the West Suffolk Committee was the Marchioness of Bristol. In April 1916 the Marchioness gave a statement that approximately 5,000 women had volunteered to work on the land in West Suffolk.

Soldiers and Sailors Families Association

The Marchioness was Vice-President of the Suffolk Branch of this organisation set up for the purposes of relieving the distress caused to the wives and families of servicemen called up to active service. The association provided relief to families

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who often had to wait a considerable period before they received the Government Separation Allowance. By 1917 the association acted as a sub-division of the Naval and Military War Pensions Committee.

The Ickworth Estate and the Military

From the records of the Estate office in Bury, letters reveal an uneasy relationship between the 4th Marquess and the military. In the early years of the war, the Marquess gave permission (with strict conditions) for various army battalions to use Ickworth Park for training. Rifle ranges were established at Westley and the quarry in Horringer. The letters indicate that units from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, London, Norfolk and Suffolk regiments trained at Ickworth.

The Marquis was keen to protect his interests, and on several occasions military personnel were caught poaching or abusing the estate property. In September 1915 the Marquess received a request on behalf of General Sir Horace Smith-Darrien, Commander 1st Army, for accommodation at Ickworth House and billets in the village. The requirement was for 24 bedrooms, dining room, and smoking room, plus stabling for 31 horses and garage space for 6 cars. The request was refused. The estate did however supply local military units throughout the war with firewood, and food.

The effect of War on a rural community

The families who lived and worked in the community in and around Ickworth House felt the major impact of The Great War. The Estate at Ickworth was socially and economically interwoven with the surrounding villages. The Estate owned much of the property in those villages, particularly Horringer. Many people in that community either lived or worked on the estate. Others provided local services in such as postmen, blacksmith, innkeeper etc.

Food

In 1917 after considering the military stalemate on the battlefield, Germany embarked upon a strategy of starving Britain into submission. In February 46,000 tons of meat was sunk at sea by U-boats. Wheat, sugar, and flour were also lost in huge amounts during the year.

In response additional workers were introduced into food production, including 84,000 disabled soldiers, 30,000 prisoners of war, and 250,000 women, and 7 million additional acres were dug up and turned over to agriculture. All these measures were calculated to produce 1 month of extra food. Unfortunately this was well short of the production level required to feed the nation. Allotments were encouraged for people to grow their own food; grass verges, parks, railway embankments, and village greens were pressed into service.

Bread was made from imported wheat, and was the staple diet of the poor. The rich were encouraged to leave bread for the poor and eat expensive alternative foods. Barley and maize flour was used as a substitute for wheat. In 1914 the Ipswich

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market price for wheat was 40-42s (between £160 and £175 today) per quarter. By 1916 the price had increased by 90% to 78s per quarter (about £230 today). Prime beef (live) was 16s (£47 today) per stone in 1916; this had increased by 31% to 21s (over £50 today) by October 1917.

In December 1916 an Ipswich butcher was fined £10 (nearly £600 today) for selling horsemeat as beef.

By late 1917 long queues were common at grocers’ shops and disorder broke out on occasion and shops looted. Hoarding became a particularly serious offence. In January 1918 rationing was introduced. The weekly amounts per person were: - meat - 15 ounces, bacon – 5 ounces, margarine – 4 ounces, and sugar – 8 ounces (1 ounce = 28.35g). Eventually a combination of rationing, increased food production, and a system of convoys to protect ships kept starvation at bay. Ironically soldiers were better fed by having a daily meat ration to maintain their strength.

Air Raids

The Great War saw the first aerial attacks of civilian populations when the Germans launched their offensive with Zeppelin airships and later with Gotha and Giant aircraft. At the end of the war 1,414 people had been killed, 3,416 were injured and an estimated £2,962,111 (about £126 million today) worth of material damage was caused by German air raids (including casualties from anti-aircraft debris). London and other Figure 1 - Postcard entitled 'The Zeppelin Raid, major towns were the principal targets, but Bury St. Edmunds, April 1916' the rudimentary technology of the time, weather conditions, and poor navigation often led to random and indiscriminate bombing of the countryside. East Anglia suffered in this respect as it sat on the route between the enemy airfields in Germany and Belgium, and London. On 31st March 1916 Bury St Edmunds was bombed; 7 people were killed including a soldier home on leave. Sudbury was also bombed the same night, and 5 people were killed.

The number of casualties was negligible compared to the carnage at the Western Front. More civilians were killed on a single night during the Blitz on London in the Second World War than in the entire First World War. The effect of the air raids on the public however was out of proportion to the actual damage caused. Zeppelins were labelled ‘baby killers’ by the press. In the early years of the war, public anger mounted at the authorities for the totally inadequacy of the country’s air defences. As the war progressed air defences were greatly improved, eventually leading to the creation of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in April 1918. In the end the air raids did not induce mass panic and hysteria, but they did succeed in keeping troops, guns and aircraft tied down on the Home Front.

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Casualties

In 1914 from a population of approximately 46 million people in the UK, 6 million men enlisted for active service. Approximately 700,000 were killed, 300,000 more were listed as missing, and a further 2 million men were listed as wounded. That is a death rate of around 2.2% of the population as a whole and 17% of those who enlisted.

From local records we can see that 188 men from Horringer enlisted and 39 were listed as ‘Killed’ or ‘Missing’. The memorial to the fallen in World War 1 in Horringer Church has 28 names on it, (approximately 7.5% of the population of the community). There are 71 names and photographs on a memorial board at the Horringer Social Club. Seventeen of these were killed in action or died of wounds. Some fifty men who were employed on the Ickworth Estate went to war and seven of these died. These figures need to be treated with a little caution, as some men were not counted in local records and some duplicated on memorials.

The cold figures do not reflect the catastrophic effect on families, nor do they measure the contribution and sacrifice of the many women who volunteered for service in nursing, war goods manufacturing, food production, and filling in for men who had gone to the Front.

The Ickworth Community

There are several stories of families within the Ickworth cum Horringer community that provide a glimpse of the tragedy and loss that was suffered in the Great War, and the joy for those who returned to their families. Some of the stories are: -

The Crack family

The story of the Crack family during the Great War is remarkable, tragic, but by no means unusual. Caroline Crack and her husband, John, lived in the Street, Horringer. They had 11 children, 6 daughters and 5 sons. Her 5 brothers all saw military service during the Great War. Their father, John Crack, received the letter opposite on 18th December 1915 from the Keeper of the Privy Purse (a position held by previous Lords Bristol) expressing King George V’s congratulations and the Crack family’s dedication and loyalty to their ‘Sovereign and Empire’.

The stories of the five Crack sons, three of whom did not survive the war, follow:

Image courtesy National Trust Collection Archives Edward Crack joined the army in 1905 at the age of 20. He spent the entire War in India as a Farrier Sergeant with the Royal Field Artillery dying from heart disease at the age of 34 on 1st January 1917. He is buried in Peshawar (now in Pakistan) and remembered on the Delhi Memorial - The India Gate. 9

Lionel (Thomas) Crack enlisted in the 2/9th London Regiment as a rifleman in November 1915. He saw active service in France with A company, 3rd Platoon. In September 1917 his unit took part in the Battle of Polygon Wood (3rd Battle of Ypres). Lionel was killed with a wound to the head from sniper fire on 26th September 1917, aged 27. His memorial is at Tyne Cot.

Oliver Emmitt Crack, who worked in the Ickworth Gardens, was in the 6th Suffolk Lionel Thomas Crack Cyclist battalion, a Territorial unit, when war broke out. He then joined the 7th Suffolk Regiment and was made a corporal. In April 1918 the 7th Suffolks, having been shelled at Hellencourt, were moved up to the front line at Albert. On 4th April German forces shelled British lines and mounted a heavy attack, which was beaten off. Oliver was killed in action the following day on 5th April 1918, aged 24. He is remembered at the war memorial at Pozieres. Oliver Emmitt Crack Edgar Crack enlisted in the Army Service Corps as a driver in 1915. He served in Greece and Bulgaria. Edgar contracted malaria in in 1916 and suffered many relapses throughout the rest of the war. He was transferred to the reserves in 1919 and received a pension. Edgar married in 1921 and became a smallholder near Sudbury, Suffolk. He died in 1955, four years after his wife Henrietta. There were no surviving children.

Albert David Crack, who worked in the Ickworth Gardens, enlisted as a private in the 1/5th Hampshire Regiment. He was 17 years old when the war started. His regiment served in India and Afghanistan throughout the war. He fought in the Third Afghan War of 1919. Albert returned home and married Ada in 1922. They had one daughter Sheila in 1923.

Their sister, Kate Crack, was married to the Head Gardener at Ickworth, William Rowles. He enlisted at the age of 37 in The Albert David Crack Norfolk Regiment, and served in France. During his time in the trenches he continued to write horticultural books and articles for publications back in England. He survived the war, invalided out in 1918 and returned home to resume gardening and writing. Kate Crack The Kitcatt Family

James Kitcatt and his wife Eleanor were married in 1880 and had 11 children, including 4 sons. James was from Dorset and after a very nomadic life finally arrived

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to live and work at Ickworth by June 1898. James and many of his children worked on the Estate for the 3rd & 4th Marquesses. The 1901 census shows that James was the Head Coachman, his son Charles was a Helper in the Stables, Fred was a Hall Boy at the house, and Annie, one of the daughters, worked as a Kitchen Maid at The Lodge for Frederick Hervey (later the 4th Marquess) and his wife Theodora. By 1911, another son, Robert was married with 3 children and living at Church Row, Little Saxham, which belonged to the Estate. He was working as a Coachman. His sister Nellie was working at the house as a Young Ladies Maid for Frederick and Theodora, who were by now the 4th Marquess and Marchioness of Bristol. Another daughter, Mildred worked as Housekeeping Help, and a younger son, William, 17, was a Chauffeur.

The Roll of Honour, printed each week in the Bury Free Press, lists 3 Kitcatt sons as having joined the Army, William, Frederick and Robert. Another son Charles also served.

Charles William Gladstone Kitcatt, then a Coachman, joined the 9th Battalion Suffolk Regiment in September 1914. He arrived in France as a Sergeant with his battalion in August 1915. He died on the Somme aged 30 on 27th September 1916. He is remembered among the 72,000 dead at Thiepval. He left one little daughter and his wife Edith who remarried after the war. Records show Charles was awarded the 1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British Medal.

Frederick James A Kitcatt began with the Territorials in January 1915 but became a Corporal in the Royal Field Artillery (RA). He went to France with the RA in August 1915. He returned safely from the War and married in Charles William Gladstone 1921 but had no children. He died locally in 1982 aged 94. Kitcatt On 24th September 1914 William Arthur Kitcatt, a chauffeur at Ickworth House, went to the barracks in Bury St Edmunds to enlist in the Territorials as a Private in the Divisional Supply Column of the Army Service Corps (ASC), East Anglian Division. Four months later he was transferred to the Mechanical Transport Company of the ASC as a Motor Driver, and posted to the Grove Park Depot in London. William spent more than 4 years in the Army serving with Motor Companies 605, 779, and 708 as a Section Sergeant. He served overseas with the British Adriatic Mission in Salonika, Greece. He was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’. He arrived home in June 1919 suffering from chronic bronchitis and malaria. He received a pension of 9s 9d (about 50p, but worth £20 today) per week. He later married Mary Johnson and had a son and a daughter. Like his brother Fred, he lived till age 94 and died in 1988.

The Bevan Family

The Bevan family were an affluent middle class family who lived on the Ickworth estate. The father, Algernon, was managing director of a local bank. Their 5 sons

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all volunteered; four achieved senior ranks in the army and navy, but Clement was killed in France.

The eldest son, Gilbert John Bevan was 31 in 1914. The Horringer parish record shows him as going to war. He was a civil engineer and served in the Indian Army in the Burma Railway Volunteer Corps and was part of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force. He finished the war as a Temporary Captain and was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’. In 1920 he married Miss Elizabeth Scott-Moncrieff, third daughter of Major-General Sir George K. Scott. Gilbert subsequently entered the Colonial Service and was posted to Burma and then to India. A daughter was born at Rangoon, Burma, in 1930. Gilbert died in 1958, and is buried in Great Finborough, Stowmarket.

Edward Bevan joined the 3rd Battalion Suffolk Regiment, a territorial reserve battalion, in 1902 as a 2nd Lieutenant. After working in Australia he returned to Ickworth and in 1914 he was re-commissioned into the 6th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. He was seconded to the King’s African Rifles (KAR) and promoted to Captain. In 1917 The DSO he transferred to the Norfolk Regiment, and was promoted to Major and continued his services with the KAR. In 1918 he was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’. In September 1918 he was made a Lieutenant Colonel. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), which is given to more senior officers for service under fire, or under conditions equivalent to service in actual combat with Edward Bevan’s medal card courtesy National the enemy. He resigned his commission in Archives 1922. He died in 1925 aged 41.

Louis Horatio Bevan joined the Royal Navy as a Midshipman in 1904; by 1906 he was confirmed as a Sub-Lieutenant. In 1908 he was appointed as a Lieutenant and in served in a Cruiser Squadron. In 1916 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and spent much of his war service on HMS Courageous. He was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ in 1919. He continued his career in the Royal Navy and died in Valparaiso in 1930 whilst serving as Captain of HMS Dragon.

Clement Beckford Bevan was educated at Haileybury public school in Hertfordshire and then at Clare College, Cambridge where in 1912 he enrolled with the Suffolk Regiment Reserve as a motorcycle dispatch rider. At the outbreak of war in August 1914 he received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. By January 1915 he was fighting in France on the Western Front. In June he was promoted to Lieutenant and was subsequently wounded and

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invalided home. In January 1916 he was back in France and was again wounded in May, but remained with his unit. In July he was promoted to Acting Captain with the 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.

In the early hours of the 20th July 1916 the Battalion took part in an attack on Longueval and Delville Wood. In the morning darkness Clement led his men in the attack. At the end of the day he was reported as ‘Missing’ and subsequently declared ‘Killed in Action’. His body was never found. Nine other officers from the battalion were killed in the same action.

Bernard Bevan was the youngest son and at the age of 16 joined the Royal Navy Reserve as a Midshipman in 1913. After training at HMS St Vincent, Gosport, he was promoted to Sub Lieutenant in March 1916. He served on HMS Seymour. Bernard retired from the Active List and in June 1925 married Joan Royce Tomkin. They had 3 children. Bernard, still a reservist was recalled to duty during the Second World War. He finally left the Navy in 1949. He died in 1981.

Katherine Beckford Bevan served as an Assistant Nurse (VAD) with the Red Cross Red Cross record card for Katherine Beckford Bevan in Kent.

Charles Leach

Charles Leach was the Postmaster in the village of Horringer when the war began in August 1914. He was married and had two young daughters. The Post Office, which was almost opposite the gates to Ickworth Park, was both his home and his place of work. The property was rented from the Hervey Estate, as were many of the other cottages in the village. He had some land adjoining the property and kept animals and grew vegetables to supplement his income and help feed his family. Born in Suffolk he had also lived and worked in Ilford as a clerk on the railway before becoming the Postmaster at Horringer. At 34 he was a mature, reasonably well educated and experienced man.

Following the Zeppelin raid on Bury St Edmunds in 1915, described earlier, he went with a friend into Bury to see for himself the devastation caused by the bombing. He was incensed at what he saw and set about volunteering for the army. He went to the recruiting post but he was turned down as his eyesight was below the prescribed limit. His friend was accepted. To ease his disappointment he was told that in addition to his eyesight being a problem, he had an important job as Postmaster and his family responsibilities, which included two elderly and disabled female relatives, meant he would be better off staying at home.

He was disconsolate but determined to enlist. In 1916 he again applied and this time he was accepted into a Labour Battalion, the 14th Royal West Surrey Regiment and initially went to France. His regiment were subsequently posted to Salonika in Greece.

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Before departing, Charles sold off all his animals and arranged for his wife, Eleanor, to continue the work of the Post Office. This she did with the help of their two daughters, Zoe and Molly, who were both under 10 at the time. Mrs Leech also enlisted anyone who happened to be on hand when telegrams or parcels had to be delivered. This was not a popular activity as telegrams were more often than not the bearer of sad news.

Charles Leech survived the trenches and barbed wire but his company was one of the last to be de-mobbed, not arriving home until 1919. On his return Charles again took up his role as Postmaster. His daughter, Zoe, later became the local headmistress, and wrote the book, ‘Curtsey to the Lady’ about life in Horringer at the start of the 20th century.

The Last Family

John Last was a gamekeeper on the estate and lived with his wife Emma and their 9 sons and two daughters in The Round House. No less than five of their nine sons enlisted in the army. Two of them, Herbert and Thomas, earned the Military Medal for gallantry, sadly Edward and Herbert, were killed in France.

Edward Last was a Lance Corporal with the 7th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He died on the 24th October 1915 aged 25. On 13th October 1915 at the battle of Loos the Battalion attacked the German lines along a broad front. The Battalion lost 150 men killed and wounded as they came under heavy machine gun fire. Edward is buried at Lillers Cemetery. Lillers was a hospital centre and had 6 casualty clearing stations. It is likely that Edward died from his wounds at Lillers.

th Herbert Last joined the 10 Battalion of the Worcester Regiment Military Medal (MM), and arrived in France on the 19th July 1915. He saw service as a awarded to both th Herbert and Thomas dispatch runner in the trenches for two years. He died on the 19 Last January 1917 aged 30 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Herbert was posthumously awarded the Military Medal (MM) on 21st September 1917. The MM was the other ranks’ equivalent of the Military Cross and is awarded for bravery on the battlefield.

Thomas Last was married to Hilda and worked on the Ickworth Estate as an Oddman. He served with the 9th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He embarked with the Battalion to France in August 1915 and was later promoted to sergeant in the Transport Section. On 20th September 1917 a shell fell into the transport lines at Les Brebis killing two men and wounding seven others. Telegraph wires, cut and twisted, had fallen about the horse lines and a stampede was imminent. For gallant conduct on this occasion Sgt Last was awarded the Military Medal.

William Last was a hurdle maker on the Ickworth Estate. He enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery and went to France in September 1915. On 5th October 1915 William was severely wounded at Cambrai, his elbow was smashed and an artery severed. He was shipped back to England and admitted to Hackney Infirmary where he lay in a critical condition for some time. He later recovered.

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The Hervey Family

Although the Marquess and his immediate family did not see active service, his wider family did.

Walter J Hervey: At the outbreak of war the Marquess’ younger brother, Walter, was an officer in the Suffolk Imperial Yeomanry, which was a Territorial Reserve Regiment. He was 41 and married and so outside the scope of enlistment criteria for front line duties. He volunteered for the Army Remount Service and was appointed Major in 1916. At that time his service was incorporated into the Army Service Corps (ASC). The Army used over a million horses and mules; the ASC was responsible for procurement, training, and delivery of the animals. In this role Walter went to serve in France. During this period he suffered from ‘Neurasthenia’ a medical term used to describe the condition more commonly known as ‘Shell Shock’. He remained in the army until 1920. He then resumed his career as a chemist and served as a Justice of the Peace. He died in Wiltshire in 1948.

Gerald Arthur Hervey was a second cousin to the 4th Marquis of Bristol. In 1914 he was a schoolmaster at Mount Arlington Preparatory School in Hindhead Surrey. He enlisted as a private in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps (Territorial). He then joined the 1st Wessex (Hampshire) Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Lieutenant. His regiment moved to France in April 1916. On 8th August 1917 during the Third battle of Ypres, a shell landed on the Battery Commander’s position, killing Gerald. He was 35. He left behind a wife, Dorothy, and two children. He is buried in Huts Cemetery near Ypres. There is a window dedicated to his memory in the nave of St. Edmund King and Martyr Church in Tendring (left).

After the War

Society changes: Many men returned from the war to pick up their lives in a world very different from that which they left. The hierarchical nature of British Society had begun to change; less deference would be shown to the old aristocratic families. The 1918 Representation of The Peoples Act extended the vote to an additional 12,900,000 men, and for the first time, to 8,400,000 women over the age of 30. Thus by 1918 the voting population had been trebled. Other legislation was introduced to improve education for the general public, increase housing, and provide limited unemployment benefit.

Shell Shock or Neurasthenia: Now known as ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ had not yet been recognised as a distinct debilitating condition in Britain. In 1918 there was a high prevalence of mental illness amongst returned servicemen. By the end of the war, 80,000 cases of ‘Shell Shock’ had been treated. The Army was forced to set up a chain of treatment centres for shell shock cases, including 6 mental hospitals for officers and 13 hospitals for ‘other ranks’ in Britain. Treatment for war related mental disorders was basic, if not crude, and often administered in an unsympathetic environment. 15

Widows: A War Widows Pension Scheme was introduced in 1916. At the end of the war the standard amount paid to widows was 13s 9d (68.75p, worth just under £30 today) per week. At the time, the statutory minimum wage for an agricultural worker was 30s 6d (£1.52.½p, nearly £64 today). A further allowance was available for each child under the age of 16 maintained by the widow. 5s (about £10 today) per week was paid to the first child, 4s 2d (nearly £9 today) to the second, 3s 4d (just over £7 today) to the third, and 2s 6d (just over £5 today) to each child thereafter. If a widow remarried she forfeited her pension, but the children’s allowance could continue to be paid until age 16. The pensions were however discretionary and not a right, strict rules were imposed and payments could be reduced or terminated if a widow was considered ‘unworthy’. Unsurprisingly some widows eschewed remarriage for fear of losing a steady income.

Celebration: On 19th July 1919 the Marquess of Bristol entertained to dinner 66 former officers and men who had fought in the war. The dinner was held in Ickworth House before the host and guests attended the ‘Peace Celebrations’ in Ickworth Park. The guests included Edward and Lewis Bevan, Edgar Crack, Edward Last, Charles Leech, and William Rowles. A full list of their names is at Appendix A.

Monuments: The Great War has been memorialized more than any other war; it produced more monuments in Britain than any other previous event. During the war small street shrines appeared spontaneously, later permanent memorials were erected in virtually every city, town and village. Soldiers bodies were not returned to Britain but were buried near were they fell. After the war they were reinterred in war grave cemeteries on land gifted to Britain by Belgium and France. 557,520 identified and 180,861 unidentified bodies were given individual burials each marked with a uniform headstone. The missing are remembered with inscriptions on great monuments such as the one at Theipval, near the Somme battlefield, which bears the names of more than 73,000 missing British soldiers.

Cenotaphs and memorials are to be found across the UK in city parks, town squares, village greens, cathedrals, churches and attached to municipal and company buildings. The memorials bear the names of servicemen who died in the war. Some servicemen’s names appear on more than one monument, others do not appear on any. A soldier may have been commemorated in his hometown, and adopted town, or perhaps on a company or municipal memorial plaque. For the same reasons a serviceman may have been excluded on the assumption he would be remembered on another monument elsewhere. Private memorials appeared too. For the wealthier families this may have been a stained glass window or stone tablet in a church, for poorer families it may have been a simple ‘mantel Memorial Tablet in St Lawrence’s shrine’ a framed photo and black ribbon on the Church Horringer mantelpiece.

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The monuments provided a focal point for remembrance in the absence of graves. They also provide a record of individual detail for a global event that touched every community in Britain. The stone monument (pictured above) can be found inside St Leonard’s church at Horringer that lists several names mentioned earlier in this text.

Great War Artefacts at Ickworth House

Princess Mary Christmas Box – 1914

In 1914 Princess Mary lent her name to a public fund to provide all soldiers and sailors with a Christmas gift. The decision was made to send specially made tins containing gifts such as cigarettes, tobacco, pipes, tinder lighters, a photo of Princess Mary and a Christmas card. Variations of content were made for non-smokers and some Indian troops. 426,724 boxes were despatched for the Christmas of 1914. Many soldiers repackaged them and sent them home to their families. It is not known who received this particular box, but there was a possible clue inside (see below).

Railway Ticket and Army Leave Pass – 1918

This is part of a leave and railway travel warrant issued by the British Army in France in 1918. It is a First Class ticket and therefore was issued to an officer. It was found inside the ‘Princess Mary Box’ at Ickworth House. Research suggests the ticket was issued to Lord John Francis Ashley Erskine, who served in the Scots Guards and the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders during the war. The Erskine family home is in Alloa Scotland, and the destination on the ticket is ‘Alloa’. Lord Erskine eventually married Lady Marjorie Hervey, the elder daughter of the 4th Marquess, on 2nd December 1919 at Ickworth.

‘Zeppelin’ Relic – 1916

This souvenir disc is typical of many such relics created from the wreckage of German Airships shot down during the war. Many were sold to provide funds for Red Cross activities. The inscription states “Part of Zeppelin L 21 destroyed at Cuffley Sept 2 1916”. In fact the inscription is not strictly correct. The incident on the night of 2nd/3rd September 1916 was famous because it involved the first destruction of a German Airship over Britain, and the pilot, Lt. William Leefe Robinson was awarded the VC and became a national hero. 17

The Airship was not a Zeppelin but a Schutte-Lanz craft, and its number was SL 11; it did crash at Cuffley, a village in Hertfordshire. The press reported the incorrect make and designation, and the authorities never corrected this at the time, even though they knew the actual details. Similar souvenirs of the time bear the same incorrect information.

Handrup Silhouette 1915

This framed set of silhouettes created by Handrup is dated 2nd August 1915. It shows the profiles of Frederick William Fane Hervey, 4th Marquess of Bristol; Lady Alice Frances Theodora Wythes, 4th Marchioness of Bristol; Lady Marjorie Fane Hervey eldest daughter to the 4th Marquess; Lady Phyllis Hervey, 2nd daughter of 4th Marquess; Lady Augustus Hervey, mother of the 4th Marquess; Eric George Hervey, 2nd cousin to 4th Marquess; and Major Henry Hoare, son-in-law of Lady Augustus Hervey. It is likely that these portraits were produced at a Fête held at Ickworth House on 2nd August 1915 to raise funds for the ‘War Waifs and Strays’. The House was opened up to the public on the day between 2pm and 7pm.

Charles Handrup was a Danish silhouettist, who ran a silhouette parlour at DH Evans Department store in Oxford Street, London, from about 1910 onwards. Silhouettes were popular at the time and artists operated in Department stores and at seasides.

Bibliography and Sources

The information in this summary is supported by various research documents produced by the team. Sources include Local Public records (particularly the Hervey family papers at Bury Records Office), The National Archives at Kew, The Suffolk Regiment Museum, National Trust Papers, and research documents, various genealogy and history websites, the BBC, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the Ickworth Oral History archives.

Bury Records Office Suffolk Regiment Archives Suffolk County Handbook and Directory – 1914, 1915, 1917, 1918 Parish Records Ickworth / Horringer – lists of men enlisting 1914 – 1918 Hervey records – Letter book HA 558/3/13/53 – 65 (compilation by Jenny Troll & Glenys Proctor) Hervey Estate Records – HA 507/3/371, 469, 558, 559, 611, 622, 845 Museums The Wessex (Hants) RGA 1914 –1919 Suffolk Regiment Museum 18

Private Sources Crack family – private papers Horringer Social Club (Memorial Corner Photo Board) Publications HMSO Soldiers died in The Great War 1914 – 1918 National Trust Handbook Robb, George, British Culture and the First World War, New York’ 2002 Ward, Zoe, Curtsy to the Lady, London, 1985 National Trust collection: Ickworth House Online Sources 1901, 1911 Census www.1914-1918.org www.ancestry.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk/historywww.cwgc.org www.flickr.com/search/?text=St%20Edmunds%20Tendring www.freebmd.org.uk www.iwm.org.ukflikr www.nationalarchives.org.uk www.westernfrontassociation.com

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Appendix A

Names of officers and men who were entertained to dinner in Front Hall of Ickworth before attending Peace Celebrations in Ickworth Park.

19th July 1919

1 Arthur Arbon Chevington 34 Ernest Herod Ickworth 2 Fred Arbon Ickworth 34 Haskins Horringer 3 William Arbon 36 William Howlett Ickworth 4 Ronald Alston* Horringer 37 Thomas Last Ickworth 5 Sidney Boreham Horringer 38 John Last Ickworth 6 Fred Bugg Little Horringer Hall 39 Frank Last Ickworth 7 David Bumstead Horringer 40 Benjamin Last Horringer 8 Edward Bevan* Ickworth Lodge 41 Ed Last Horringer 9 Lewis Bevan* Ickworth Lodge 42 William Lloyd Horringer 10 Latimer Bloomfield Horringer 43 Charles Leech Horringer 11 Alfred Burgess Horringer 44 Fred Marriot Horringer 12 Arthur Bugg Horringer 45 H. Mitchell Horringer 13 Bedingfield Great Horringer Hall 46 Percy Newman Horringer 14 William Bumstead Horringer 47 Oliver Prewer Horringer 15 James Cater Horringer 48 Herbert Pask Horringer 16 Joseph Clarke Chevington 49 Alfred Parker Horringer 17 Edgar Crack Horringer 50 Albert F. Peake Westley Bottom 18 Sidney Curtis Horringer 51 Priestley Ickworth Lodge 19 George Curtis* Horringer 52 Charles Quantril Chevington 20 Willoughby Cooke Horringer 53 Hatherley Ramsey Horringer 21 William Cooke Horringer 54 William Rowles Horringer 22 Crawley Horringer 55 Rackham Horringer 23 Albert Frost Horringer 56 Percy Smith Chevington 24 Robert Finch Horringer 57 Sidney Smith Ickworth 25 Frederick Finch Horringer 58 W. Smith Ickworth 26 Gallihawk Horringer 59 Fred Sargeant Horringer 27 F. Garwood Whepstead 60 Searle 28 Fred Gooch Horringer 61 William Simpson* Horringer 29 W. Gotts Horringer 62 Frank Sturgeon Horringer 30 Keefe Ickworth 63 Hon. Mortimer Tollemache* Hopleys 31 Kemish Ickworth 64 Ernest Vincent Ickworth 32 William Hart Horringer 65 Whiting Horringer 33 Ezra Hart Horringer 66 Willis * Officers (Extracted from the Journal of Manners Hervey, Rector of St Leonard’s church, Horringer)

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Appendix B

Lord and Lady Bristol of Ickworth House

Frederick William the 4th Marquess of Bristol and Alice Frances Theodora the 4th Marchioness (both these pictures are currently on display in the Dining Room)

Picture courtesy of National Trust Collections

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