Bishop Burton in World War 1
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Bishop Burton and World War 1 Bryn Jones Reverse of front cover Bishop Burton and World War 1 Let those that come after see to it that their names be not forgotten 1914 – 1919 Bryn Jones Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the assistance and contributions received from: David Hawes, Peter Quest, Sheila Coy, Ben Byass, Jeremy Armitage, Mark Andrew, Jim Dunning. I am also very happy to pay tribute to the invaluable assistance and encouragement received from John S Dunning, O.B.E; without him this booklet could not have been written. John’s contribution to village life and to the recording of its history in particular has been massive and still continues today. © Bryn Jones 2008 Table of contents Preface Introduction The casualties The memorials The old boys The villagers V.A.D. Nurses Soldiers and their money Individual profiles William Theakstone Berridge Bernard Byass Albert and Harold Curtis Frank Dobby Frank Hall Ernest Richard Hawes Henry Evison Richard Hall Watt Richard and Herbert Hudson Henry Green Norris Clifford Quest Bertram Wales Edwin Williamson George Woodmancy Reverse of table of contents Preface This project began for me one unseasonably warm Sunday morning in November 2007. Not as you might think Remembrance Sunday itself but a week before. Small groups of volunteers were making light work of clearing the area around the Wayside Cross beside the pond in the village of Bishop Burton. It was the first time I had been into this area which for most of the year is under lock and key. Only when you go there can you see the list of names that the memorial is all about. They are on the face of the memorial that is hidden from the trail of traffic that passes the pond day and night. Looking at the list of seven names I started wondering who they were and how they were connected with the village. The usual suspects were in attendance; you know, the ones who turn up for everything. Among them was John Dunning. I said “Hello” and he replied “Hello, who are you?” I introduced myself but could not understand why he didn’t remember me since we’d met many times on his walks down our lane. I now know there is nothing wrong with John’s memory. He has a twin brother, Jim, and it was him that I had met. We soon finished our work to make the memorial ready for the remembrance service, received some of John’s welcome hospitality and repaired home. Later that week I contacted Ben Byass and asked him if he thought there would be merit in researching the personal history of the seven men whose names appear on the memorial and the plaque in the church. He said that others had been thinking of this too and I should talk to John Dunning. I did and here we are. We started this project not knowing what we would find. Indeed what we have discovered is very uneven in quantity. Some of the individuals we know a deal about; others very little. However, our studies have enabled us to form a picture of what life would have been like for those individuals and to set this in a village context. We started the project thinking it would be manageable because it only involved seven men. How wrong we were. We kept stumbling across other men associated with the village who had died during the Great War. Sometimes the connections were a little tenuous but we have ended up with another nine men who were either born in the village or whose parents lived here at the time of the war. Even now there may be more. - 1 - Although this project is resulting in the publication of this booklet to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, it is unlikely that the story can be closed. We will be publishing more of the detailed findings on the village web site. This will probably trigger, not necessarily straight away, a connexion, a memory, a discovery that will shed more light on one of our small army of servicemen or even add to its membership. Personal history that focuses on ordinary people will produce surprises in the timing and means of its revelation. There are still boxes of letters, photos, forms still waiting to be opened by a curious relative. Let’s hope they have the wisdom to see their value in helping us make sense of our lives through history. Bryn Jones - 2 - Introduction “Died of wounds”, “killed in action” – phrases that briefly summarise the passing of lives that were also so brief. Reduced still further to DoW, and KiA in official records, they are almost cruel in their brevity. Our purpose in this book is to restore as best we can the memories of those who suffered on our behalf. Family historians have done this for their ancestors; usually great uncles or great-great uncles. But what of those whose family history stopped with the war or with their parents’ generation; who would try to remember them? That was our starting point. We are now too late to talk to people who knew them, so we have to piece together fragments into stories. These stories are not complete but we have made a start. In building these stories we have used the following main sources Census returns from 1841 to 1901 Service, medical and medal records for World War 1 held at the National Archives in Kew. Sadly many of the records were destroyed by German bombing raids in World War II so they are only available for a few of the individuals in whom we are interested. Newspaper and military archives Library archives relating to Bishop Burton and the Hall Watt family The Bishop Burton School log. It covers the period from 1863 to 1986 and contains a weekly account of activities in the school. It merits transcription and publication in its own right. Personal documents and photographs - 3 - The casualties Seven men are recorded on the plaque on the wall of All Saints’ Church in Bishop Burton as having died in World War 1. They are: Rank Name Regiment 2nd Lieutenant Richard Hall-Watt 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards Private William Berridge Northumberland Fusiliers Lance Corporal Albert Curtis Seaforth Highlanders Private Harold Curtis West Yorkshire Regiment Private Ernest Hawes Army Service Corps Driver Richard Hudson Royal Field Artillery Private Herbert Hudson Manchester Regiment Albert and Harold Curtis were brothers as were Richard and Herbert Hudson. In addition we came across the following men who died as a result of the war and were associated with the village directly or indirectly: Rank Name Regiment Private Bernard Byass East Yorkshire Regiment Sergeant Frank Dobby Royal Field Artillery 1st/4th Battalion The Yorkshire Private Henry Evison Regiment 2nd/5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Private Frank Hall (West Riding Regiment) Henry Green Private Derbyshire Yeomanry Norris Private Clifford Quest 10th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Lance Corporal Bertram Wales Regiment (1st Birmingham Battalion) Lance Corporal Edwin Williamson 5th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment George 2nd/4th Battalion The Loyal North Private Woodmancy Lincolnshire Regiment - 4 - The memorials There are not one but two memorials to the men of Bishop Burton who died in World War 1. The first is a tablet on the rear wall of All Saints Church; the second is the wayside cross that stands on a small peninsula in the main pond or mere in the village. Both were created in 1923 by a public subscription that raised £641, the equivalent today of over £25,000. The subscription met much of the cost; the remainder was met by Mrs Eyre, the mother of Richard Hall Watt, the lord of the manor of Bishop Burton at the time of his death in the war. Pictured below is the memorial cross after the completion of the works that strengthened the bank of the mere in 2008. The tablet on the rear wall of All Saints’ church is a beautiful example of the work of Joseph Armitage, a carver of some note in the early part of the 20th century. - 5 - The two flags beside the tablet are the Union Jack and the “White Ensign”, an ensign flown on British Naval ships and shore establishments. - 6 - The panel on the tablet lists the names of the soldiers of the village who died as a result of the war and contains the following inscription: They whom this panel commemorates were numbered among those who at the call of King and country left all that was dear to them endured hardness, faced danger and finally passed out of sight of men by the path of duty and self sacrifice giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom. The panel ends with the rather stern admonition to us: Let those that come after see to it that their names be not forgotten 1914 – 1919 There are two further crosses in the church that relate specifically to Richard Hall Watt and are pictured later in the booklet. The subscribers Well over 150 individuals and families subscribed to the building of the two memorials. Their names are list below and are taken from the accounts of the subscription prepared by James W Young. - 7 - - 8 - Balance sheet Robert Pape of Beverley was paid £6 7s 10d for fixing the tablet in the church. Many of the graves in the church yard bear his mark too. S E Lythe built the foundation for the cross and J Peers & Son built the cross itself for a fee of £508.