Chedworth Remembers the Great War 1914-1918 The stories of the men and women who served and the village they left behind DEDICATION "The citizens here assembled on Remembrance Day, August 4th, 1918, silently paying tribute to the Empire's sons who have fallen in the fight for freedom on the scattered battlefields of the world-war, whether on sea or shore, and mindful also of the courage of our sailors, soldiers, airmen and men everywhere, and those who are working on the munitions of war and helping in other ways for the preservation of civilisation, unanimously resolve to do all that in our power lies to achieve the ideals on behalf of which so great a sacrifice has already been made." (George Mills, vice Chairman Chedworth Parish Council on the fourth anniversary of the start of the Great War) 2 CONTENTS Pages The stories of the Men and Women who served 006-154 The Diary of Private Albert Broad 155-164 Captain George Ellis RAMC 165-166 Royal Flying Corps Rendcomb Airfield 167-170 Bravery Awards and Silver War Badges 171-172 Recruitment and Conscription 173-174 Chedworth and the Home Front 175-183 The Reverend George E. Mackie wartime vicar 184-186 Peace Celebrations 187-189 Chedworth (and Stowell) War Memorials 190-194 The Chedworth Roll of Honour 195-197 Chedworth Electoral Register Absentees 198-200 The Chedworth Brass Band 1905 201 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Chedworth Remembers the Great War Project has been assisted by people and organisations who have helped us in many ways including financial donations, research and giving permission to use photographs and documents. We offer them our grateful thanks. This list includes, but is not limited to the following: Chedworth Society, Chedworth Heating Oil Club, Chedworth Village Trust, Cirencester Library, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucester Regiment Museum, Heritage Lottery Fund, National Archives at Kew, Ystalyfera Electronic Archive Research Group. Chris Abbley, Keith Arnett, Chris Bain, David Broad, Denise Burford, Toby Carson, Nick Christian, Francis Clark-Lowe, Simon Colbeck, Johnny Coppin, Lyn Court, Margaret Cross, Paul Evans, Derek Fielding, Jenny and Roger Fisher, Tony and Maureen Floyd, Rev Stephen Goundrey-Smith, Sheila Harris (nee Coates), Heather Jones, Nikki Jones, Peter Juggins, Mark Knopfler, Jerome Lee, Kevin Leech, Judy MacDonald, Gordon Mackie, Richard Mason, Geoff Millard (now deceased), David Miles, Jenny Parsons, Ken Powis, lain Robertson, David Read (Gloucester Regt Museum), Dr. John Robinson, David Scott, Annette Seymour, Byron Sherborne, Janette Smith, Val Trevallion, Peter and Jean Tucker, Peter Turner, Jane Waters, Richard Knight Williams, Joy Wixley, Janette Woodman, Robert Young. 4 FOREWORD Some 129 men and 2 women of Chedworth served our country in the Great War. They fought on land, sea and in the air as far away from our Cotswold village as India, East Africa, Egypt and Salonika, as well as on the Western Front. Several earned honours for bravery and some never returned and are now remembered on village memorials. However, in 2013, with the centenary of the Great War in prospect, we resolved to: • research and record for future generations the stories of those brave men and women • research the effect that the Great War had on our village. • research and record the stories of those who served and life on the "Home Front" • restore the 100 year old wooden Roll of Honour in the church porch • engage with our community about aspects of the Great War Work on the project should have started forty years before when many of the men who went to war were still within our community, but the opportunity has largely been lost and cannot be reclaimed from history. However, the Roll of Honour in the porch of St Andrew's church has been the rock on which this project has been built and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our villagers of 100 years ago for creating this unique record. Home computers linked to the internet have been our primary 21st century tools enabling us to research, to contact people and to assemble information on a scale that even ten years ago would have been impossible. We have gained in depth much of what has been lost in personal and first-hand accounts of the Great War, and we are grateful to a large number of relatives who have come forward with stories and photographs of this period. Nevertheless, there remain gaps in our information that have proved impossible to fill. We have deposited with the Gloucester Archives digital copies of everything that we have used in this project including newspaper articles, images of original documents, photographs, lists, and correspondence may help future researchers. The Chedworth Remembers the Great War project has been an interesting and rewarding experience for all of us involved and we hope that you, the reader, feel that the result is a worthy tribute to those of our village who served. Mike Tovey and Peter Seymour Chedworth January 2017 (revised May 2019) 5 THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED Private Albert Edward Allington, Born: 1894 Chedworth 18920 9th Bn, Gloucester Regiment Parents: William George Fry Allington and Amelia Emma Mustoe Married: Annie Goodall 1920 Died: 1963 Enlisted: about January 1915 (precise date not known) Demobilised: 28th January 1919 Roll of Honour: Chedworth Medals: 15 Star, BWM, Victory The youngest of three brothers who served with the colours during the Great War, Albert joined the 9th Battalion of the Glosters (as did Albert Broad, Bert Day and Reg Lawrence). Deployed to France on 20 September 1915 he also served in Salonika. Albert is recorded as having been met there, together with the others, by William Mills, another Chedworthian serving in Salonika as a platoon sergeant in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. From the 31st Casualty Clearing Station (in Salonika) records we know that Albert was admitted on 4 April 1917 suffering from Benign Tertian Malaria, that he was evacuated in a sick convoy the following day and that he was serving in B Company of the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. He had by then been in the army for 2 years and 3 months and on active service for 1 year 7 months. Records indicate that he was discharged on 17th May 1917 but no further information is available about his active service. After the war Albert returned to Chedworth and a photograph shows him as a member of the Chedworth Band with the musical instrument that he took with him to France. As with so many of his generation he spoke little of his wartime experiences. However, one of his fellow bandsmen remembers him having had a hard war and saying in response to a complaint about the local weather “If you had been in the trenches, you wouldn’t mind this rain!” In 1939 Albert and Annie were living in Chedworth and he was working for the GWR railway. Private John Ernest Allington Born: 1891 Chedworth Parents: William George Fry Allington and Amelia Emma Mustoe Married: Ella Blanche Neale 1919 Died : 1970 18180 12th & 13th Btlns, Gloucestershire Regiment Enlisted: 1st February 1915 Discharged: 8th February 1919 Roll of Honour: Chedworth Medals: BWM,Victory Silver War Badge: 214631 issued 18th June 1919 John Allington’s military records are sparse and only a few clues as to his war service are available from a brief newspaper item, the memorial panels in St Andrews, his medal card, his SWB record and the general medal roll created after the war. He enlisted before his brother Albert in the Gloucestershire Regiment on 1st February 1915 and served in both the 12th (Bristol) Battalion and the 13th (Service) Battalion (The Forest of Dean Pioneers). Both Battalions fought with great distinction through the next 3 years on the Western Front, although 6 the 12th was stationed briefly in Italy in January 1918, but recalled in March to France against the German advance in March. In May the 13th was reduced to a training cadre as it had suffered such heavy losses and it is likely that John was then with the 12th. At that time the 12th was part of the 5th Division which took part in the Battles of the Lys. On 28th June 1918 the Division took part in an action known as La Becque and this is when John was seriously injured. A newspaper report described his traumatic experience as follows: “The parents of Private John E Allington, Gloucestershire Regiment, received official news that he has been seriously wounded in France during an attack in the early morning of June 28th. He was wounded in the left arm and one of his knees, which was smashed by a splinter from an enemy shell. He remained in a shell hole for 12 hours until picked up by some stretcher-bearers who were in charge of some German prisoners. He is at present in hospital in France, and it is sincerely hoped by all his friends that he will make a good and quick recovery.” We know no more as to when he recovered, but he was not discharged until February 1919 and a Silver War Badge was issued in June that year. In 1929 John and Ella were living in Stonehouse. John died in Gloucester in 1970. Private William Henry (Harry) Allington Born: 1877 Chedworth Parents: William George Fry Allington and Amelia Emma Mustoe Married: Mary Annie Fletcher 1911 Swindon Died 1958 Cirencester District 111147 Royal Army Medical Corps Enlisted: 29th November 1915 and mobilised 10 April 1917 Discharged: 6 March 1919 Roll of Honour: Chedworth Medals: BWM, Victory In 1911 Harry was living in Chedworth but later that year he married and at sometime moved to The Garrick Head, Andoversford, working there as a carter in 1915.