Bugbrooke and the Great War – August - September 1915

  The bigger picture

100 years ago it was a full year since the war had started; and there was no end even remotely in sight. In the ill fated Gallipoli campaign it was the time of the August offensive with the British landing at Suvla Bay (this followed the earlier landings by Australian and New Zealand forces at Anzac Cove) and a series of fierce and costly, but largely indecisive battles.

On the Eastern Front this was a time of military humiliation for Britain’s ally Russia at the hands of German forces. The Russian army suffered enormous losses and the front was pushed back deep into Russia itself. Russia at this time was still under the rule of Czar Nicolas II, and after these defeats he personally took over the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army.

At sea the German U boats were causing havoc to merchant shipping. This posed a real threat to Britain’s food supplies. The U boats did not however have it all their own way. During these months two U boats were sunk by HMS Baralonga. She was a so called Q-ship- an armed merchant vessel used as a decoy. Any celebration of these successes however must have been marred by news that all the survivors from the first U boat had been killed in a ”take no prisoners” spree (the so called Baralonga Incident).

On the Western Front at the end of September major allied offensives were attempted in Champagne-Ardenne and Loos-Artois. The main British offensive was at the Battle of Loos. This was the first battle in which Kitchener’s New Army took part. It was also the first battle in which the British deployed poison gas. Despite some early success, neither the Battle of Loos nor the other, mainly French, offensives were successful in breaking the deadlock on the western front. The casualties were enormous: 61,000 on the British side alone. Of these 7,766 men died (including one from Bugbrooke as we will hear later). One chilling report after the battle stated “From what I can ascertain, some of the divisions did actually reach the enemy’s trenches, for their bodies can now be seen on the barbed wire.”

What was Philip CAMPION doing?

After spending some time in Egypt, his troop were suddenly issued with infantry equipment and, leaving their horses behind, were marched off in the boiling sun to the docks. Here they boarded the Cunard liner Ascania and set sail to take part in the Gallipoli campaign. They passed first through the Grecian Archipelago, which Philip describes as enchanting and ”making a fine picture. “ He then adds “that great disaster of the sinking of the Royal Edward, when so many lives were lost, happened just in front of us, which rather spoiled the picture.” (He is ever the master of understatement. It was not only in the Atlantic that U boats were active. Among the dead were two men from Raunds).

After being transferred to the Battleship Doris Philip and his regiment were taken to Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli peninsular to reinforce the troops who had landed there a few days earlier. “Although we were fortunate enough to land without being shelled, we were not ashore many minute before we received our baptism of fire. This is where one’s keenness for battle receives its death blow.”

However into battle he was shortly to go. He describes an occasion when they had to march across a dry salt lake: “... we set off, the whole Waricks Yeoman division leading the way in line of troop columns, a splendid target...Then the fun began; a barrage of shrapnel was put up, which seemed impossible to get through alive, but Sir Ian Hamilton was good enough to say in his dispatch that the march was as if on parade.”

Philip survived that and other engagements, but eventually succumbed to dysentery and had to be invalided out. “Thus I left Gallipoli after seven weeks of it, a short time before the actual evacuation.”

Sappers from Bugbrooke

It seems that prior to the war quite a few men from Bugbrooke worked on the railways, mainly as platelayers. Of 161 men with Bugbrooke connections who took part in the war, at least 14 were previously railway workers.

Between 31^st July and the end of September 1915 six Bugbrooke men were posted abroad as sappers in the Royal Engineers. Many, and possibly all, had previous civilian experience of railway work.

George Frank EALES enlisted as a sapper in the Royal Engineers in April 1915 and embarked on 31^st July. He served in Salonica as a platelayer in a Railway Company of the Royal Engineers until 1919. He was known to the army as a sober, reliable, hardworking man and was mentioned in dispatches by Lieutenant-General Sir Gervaise Milne Vide.

Andrew Albert EALES (twin brother of George Frank- both were platelayers at the time of the 1911 census) volunteered in June 1915 and in September was drafted to the eastern theatre of war. He served first in Egypt and later Palestine as a sapper in a railway company of the Royal Engineers.

Fred Lowe SAUNDERS also volunteered as a sapper, and embarked for France on 3^rd September1915. He was later to go Egypt and worked on the Kantara to Romani railway. Fred’s father was a platelayer. The family lived at Norton’s Barn.

Oliver MEAD was the son of a railway ganger. He enlisted as a sapper in the Royal Engineers and was posted to 115 Railway Company. He left for France on 3rd September 1915 and he too was later to go to Egypt.

Herbert William ROBINS was a farm labourer in 1911. After enlisting he also was posted to 115 Railway Company, sent to France on 3^rd September and later served in Egypt.

Stephen HOWARD was a railway labourer in 1911. After enlisting he was posted to 117 Railway Company. He served in the Balkans from 27^th September 1915. He was later promoted from private soldier to second corporal.

Charles TURLAND: another Victim of the War

Charles TURLAND was an apprentice wheelwright in 1911. He would have been about 21 when he volunteered in September 1914. A year later saw him arrived in France with the “Mobbs Own” 7th battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. Within four weeks his battalion was engaged in the Battle of Loos. Charles never came back. His photograph appeared in the Northampton Independent on 30^th October1915, the caption saying he was reported missing between 25^th and 27^th September, adding poignantly that his mother would be grateful for information.

Charles was the fourth man from Bugbrooke to be killed in the war. He is commemorated on the Loos memorial, his body having never been identified.

Back in Bugbrooke – the Harvest Holiday

A hundred years ago the school summer holidays were not fixed long in advance as they are now. Instead an almost last minute decision was made dependent on the state of the harvest. Indeed the holiday was then known as the harvest holiday; and it lasted for one month. In 1914 the harvest was early and it was decided on 22^nd July to close the school on 31^st July and reopen on 31^st August. The previous year the holiday had been later: 15^th August to 15^th September. In 1915 the harvest was later still. The School Log for 10^th August records that the harvest holiday would commence as from Friday 20^th August, the recent wet weather having “backwarded” what would otherwise have been an early harvest.

The reason for linking the holiday to the harvest must have been because the children were needed to help with the harvest. This was the case even before the war. How much more important their contribution must have become now that so many men were had volunteered for military service. The burden on women, children and older men would of course become even greater after the introduction of conscription the following year The threat posed by the U boats to food imports must also have made the home harvest even more critical. All in all the harvest holiday was probably not much of a holiday for many.

Jim Inch for the 100 years project