Great War Britain Guildford: Remembering 1914-18 E-Book

Dave Rose

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 168

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The First World War claimed more than 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Guildford offers an intimate portrayal of the town and its people living in the shadow of the 'war to end all wars'. A beautifully illustrated and highly accessible volume, it describes local reaction to the outbreak of war; the experience of individuals who enlisted; the changing face of industry; the work of the many hospitals in the area; the effect of the conflict on local children; the women who defied convention to play a vital role on the home front, and concludes with a chapter dedicated to how the town and its people coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more. The Great War story of Guildford is told through the voices of those who were there and is vividly illustrated through evocative images from the author's collection and from the archives of The Guildford Institute.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title

Timeline

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Outbreak of War

2 Preparations at Home

3 Work of War

4 News from the Front Line

5 While You’re Away

6 Coming Home

Postscript: Legacy

Bibliography and Sources

Copyright

TIMELINE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go to a number of people who have made available source material and images, without whom this book would not have been possible.

They include: the staff and volunteers of the Guildford Institute (manager Trish Noakes, deputy manager Jan Todd, librarian Pam Keen and volunteers Graham Hadley and Chris Fitton) who allowed me access to its unique archives of scrapbooks from the period in question. They include Scrapbooks F and G and the Great War Scrapbook. These priceless books were compiled 100 years ago and contain local newspaper cuttings, pamphlets, leaflets, posters, photographs and so on.

I would also like to thank the former curator of Guildford Museum, Matthew Alexander, for his help and good advice; and Guildford Borough Councillor Terence Patrick, for a useful insight into his grandfather, William Patrick, also a former mayor of Guildford, who worked so tirelessly for the town in many capacities during the First World War.

Thanks also to the curator of the Surrey Infantry Museum at Clandon Park, Ian Chatfield, for details on The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment and for supplying photos of the 1st Battalion in 1914 and the football from the Battle of the Somme.

My good friend Martin Giles (who served in The Queen’s during the 1970s and 80s), for his research on the Parson brothers from St Catherine’s Village who both died on the Somme in 1916. I must also thank Martin and Mike Bennett; the three of us give an illustrated talk on the Zeppelin raid on Guildford in 1915. I also thank fellow local historians Frank Phillipson and Roger Nicholas for their research into Guildford’s ‘night of terror’.

Thank you to another friend, Sarah Bennett, who has researched and written about the Guildford Division of St John Ambulance, including its work during the First World War; and also Les Knight, a former St John superintendent at Guildford, who has a superb collection of photos of the division.

From postcard collection and dealer Tim Winter of Haslemere, I have purchased a number of cards that have been used in this book. Tim also kindly allowed me to photograph a diary/picture book he has in his collection that was compiled by a nurse at the Red Cross Annexe – a war hospital that occupied the County School for Girls in Farnham Road. A couple of pictures are featured in this book.

The Spike Heritage Centre in Warren Road tells the story of the Guildford Union Workhouse which, during the war, was used as a military hospital. The Charlotteville Jubilee Trust administers the Spike, and my thanks go to its chairman John Redpath and dedicated volunteer Jane Thomson, for useful historical details.

I thank Ian Nicholls and his partner Julie Howarth, and Nigel and Val Crompton, who visited me for an afternoon of great conversation about the First World War. Ian has researched the men from Charlotteville named on the war memorial in Addison Road, and Val has family members of the Newman family named on it. Nigel, meanwhile, is a member of the Western Front Association.

Jim Parker and his family gave me details of two members of the Knight family commemorated on the Burpham war memorial.

Fellow bottle collector and historian John Janaway and I (with others) have, with permission from James Giles, the Natural England ranger for Rodborough Common, been given access to investigate the site of the former Witley Camp, a training centre for thousands of soldiers during the First World War. I salute them for the ongoing days we are spending exploring this site.

Dan James took the aerial photograph of St Martha’s church, while John Glanfield’s research into the wartime manager of the Chilworth Gunpowder Mills has proved very useful.

Marion May collects period costumes and kindly allowed my daughter to model a wedding dress dating from the time of the First World War, and which is featured in this book.

Some snippets of information came to me ‘third hand’, so to speak. So may I thank those unknown sources.

Many thanks to my wife Helen for reading the text and making vital comments on it. This book is dedicated to her and our daughter Bryony who, I am pleased to say, is developing a healthy interest in history.

And last but by no means least, to William Oakley, the editor of the Surrey Advertiser at the time of the First World War. Like a true local journalist, he must have been known to many Guildfordians at the time. After he retired he wrote the book Guildford in the Great War (1934). It is twice the length of this book and worth reading for anyone who wants to learn more in-depth facts about the town between 1914 and 1918. In it he apologises for its lack of photographs (production costs being the reason). I am happy to say that this is not the case here due to modern publishing techniques, courtesy of my publishers, The History Press.

INTRODUCTION

The sound of war can be heard in the strangest of places – even far from where the battles are raging. It was an afternoon two years into the Great War and the officer in charge of the men guarding Chilworth Gunpowder Mills walked up to St Martha’s church on the hill nearby. Boughs and bushes covered the church in case the crew of a German Zeppelin recognised it as a landmark while seeking to bomb the works below, where men and women were busily making cordite for the war effort.

The sound of guns firing on the Western Front were heard at St Martha’s church.

The officer, writer and naturalist Eric Parker, stood with his back to the south door of the church and to his amazement he could hear the guns firing in France – a distance of perhaps 150 miles ‘as the crow flies’. He later wrote that he could clearly hear ‘heavy guns, the shaking boom, the rattle of musketry as if we were fighting Germany in the next parish’. It came, he said, in repercussion of sound from the large oak door. He stepped a yard to the side and was in the silence of the Surrey countryside; a yard back to his right and he ‘was in France’.

This strange occurrence may have brought the actual sound of war to Guildford, but in another sense it was here all the time – from 4 August 1914 to 11 November 1918. Like every other community in Britain, Guildford felt the effects of the war. Not just because of the 500 or so men from the town who died on active service, but also in how much daily life changed. The home front in Guildford had to get used to: a military presence like it had not witnessed before; fears of German spies in their midst; food shortages that eventually led to rationing; the continued call for men to enlist until it became compulsory in 1916; women taking jobs left vacant by men who had gone to war – such as working on the land and making munitions, or volunteering as nurses and helping at a number of war hospitals in the area.

Councillors and other important people in Guildford worked extremely long hours, sitting on committees and playing their part in formulating plans for the organisation and well-being of the town for the duration of the war. Indeed, the actual horror of warfare came very close on the night of 13 October 1915, when a Zeppelin hovered over the town and dropped twelve bombs across St Catherine’s Village, a mile from the town centre.

And when peace came and the men who returned were given heroes’ welcomes, it was time to look to the future and to return to some sense of normality. But the past had gone forever. And as war memorials were erected throughout the borough, bearing the names of men who had made the supreme sacrifice, the reality was surely becoming clear: a vastly different era had begun.

1

OUTBREAK OF WAR

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the town of Guildford, like the rest of Britain, had been basking in the often-referred to ‘golden afternoon’. That is, a term that has come to signify a time of general prosperity; many people saw improvements in living conditions, welfare and education during the Edwardian period.

Guildfordians celebrate the coronation of George V on 22 June 1911.

Dennis Bros’ factory on the corner of Bridge Street and Onslow Street. By the time war broke out, it had already expanded with the building of a much larger factory at Woodbridge.

Indeed, there was an air of prosperity in Guildford, the county town of Surrey nestling in a gap of the North Downs on the banks of the River Wey. The railway had arrived in 1845, after which the town had grown faster than at any time in its history. In 1914, the population was about 26,000. Today, the population in the ‘town’ area is approximately 67,000, with 137,000 across the whole borough. During the latter years of the nineteenth century, villas and comfortable homes had been built in streets off London and Epsom Roads. Charlotteville was a community that had emerged at the same time – with a mixture of housing including the town’s first council houses, built in 1896. Large houses were being built at St Catherine’s and on the south-facing Warwick’s Bench, where there was concern at the time that valuable and beautiful countryside was being sacrificed. Some of the houses in streets off Woodbridge Road and close to the railway station were home to the families of railway workers and town centre industries, such as the Friary, Holroyd & Healy’s Brewery.

To the north of Guildford, Stoughton was a growing community, but retained much of a village feel, as did Merrow. But Onslow Village, built along the lines of a garden estate, and the council housing development at Westborough, had not even been dreamt of.

Many of Guildford’s inhabitants were reasonably well off. The town had enjoyed celebrating the coronation of George V in 1911, while events such as the Royal Counties Show that was staged at Stoke Hill in 1912 drew large crowds. Guildford certainly wasn’t slumbering in that Edwardian ‘golden afternoon’. The motor vehicle manufacturer Dennis Bros was fast expanding, attracting skilled workers who were keen to learn and ply their skills as the firm, run by brothers John and Raymond Dennis, increasingly turned to making the latest in specialist commercial vehicles.

There was a distinct military presence: Stoughton Barracks (opened 1876) was the Depot of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, while the military Drill Hall was close to the town centre in Sandfield Terrace. The giant army camp at Aldershot also had a presence, being not more than 10 miles away. Soldiers practised their manoeuvres on nearby ranges at Bisley and Pirbright. The new-fangled aeroplanes could sometimes be seen in the skies over Guildford, with much experimenting with these flying machines taking place at Farnborough, just over the county border in Hampshire, and in Surrey, at Brooklands racetrack near Weybridge.

One of Dennis Bros’ motorcars. It ceased production of these in 1913, concentrating on specialist vehicles such as lorries and fire engines.

Schoolboys learn how to shoot at the Guildford Rifle Club’s range in the Great Quarry, off Shalford Road.

Britain’s Civilian Rifle Club movement was busy training the next generation of would-be soldiers on how to pull the trigger of a firearm with some accuracy. It had evolved in the wake of the British Army being very much on the receiving end of some sharp shooting by its much smaller civilian enemy during the early stages of the South African Boer War (1899–1902). It was soon realised just how inferior some of Britain’s soldiers were when it came to using firearms.

THE BLACKOUT

Britain was plunged into darkness when a blackout was imposed. Streetlamps were turned off, lights were not allowed to shine from buildings and church bells could not be rung after dark, lest they

attract and guide enemy aircraft.

A steady supply of boys jumped at the chance to practise a bit of shooting, often encouraged by an enthusiastic clergyman after Sunday school. The boys used either Lee Metford or Lee Enfield rifles with an invention known as a Morris Tube inserted into the barrel, which enabled them to fire .22 rounds instead of .303. This meant that while still firing a ‘real’ rifle, the recoil was much less. Rifle ranges were set up across the country, often in disused pits or quarries; the Guildford Rifle Club had its range in the Great Quarry, off the Shalford Road. In 1909 it began a scheme in which boys from local elementary schools were given instruction in using a rifle. The aim was to form a club for the youngsters that would act as a feeder for the Territorial Force.

Under the heading ‘The boy behind the gun – teaching the young to shoot at Guildford’, the Surrey Advertiser reported:

… about forty boys assembled at the Club’s picturesque range at Quarry-hill to receive their initial instruction in the use of the rifle … the budding riflemen were very successful with their first ‘shots’ and George Davis of Holy Trinity School, made twenty-three points out of a possible thirty-five. The score was obtained without assistance.

Interestingly, the report also noted:

There was nothing like catching them [the boys] when they were young. They wanted to teach them as boys, so that they would require much less training when they became men of the national army. The time was coming when they would require a much larger national army than they had now, which was shown by events that had taken place on the Continent.

Speeches followed the singing of the national anthem. The headmaster of St Nicolas School, Mr. H. Butcher, said that it would make the boys better citizens and one great quality which rifle shooting brought out was concentration, and ‘anything that concentrated the boys’ attention was of good educational value’. The headmaster of Holy Trinity School, Mr. W.G. Prescott, added that he thought the movement would foster real patriotism in the highest degree and that it would be an incentive to discipline.

Some boys were also members of the Surrey Cadet Force. In May 1910, they gathered at the Drill Hall in Guildford for an inspection by the Secretary of State for War, Richard Haldane, with other dignitaries from Surrey. Cadet forces were seen as very important, as these boys would also later feed into the Territorial Force.

Holy Trinity School pupil R. Davis with his finger on the trigger!

A year later, as part of the celebrations for the coronation of George V, Guildford heartily welcomed a visit of 450 soldiers from Aldershot. The local press reported that the men – representing every unit in the Aldershot command and the various uniforms – made an animated picture as they ‘marched into town to the music of the drums of the 1st Irish Guards.’

The soldiers were greeted by the mayor, after which they were invited to play sports and games. ‘The men entered heartily into rounders, cricket, football, obstacle, three-legged and team races, while pillow-fighting was always the centre of a merry crowd,’ stated the news report, adding: ‘The soldiers attended a short evening service at Holy Trinity Church’, where ‘a plenteous tea followed’.

Hot on the heels of the Aldershot soldiers came an inspection of the Surrey Veteran Reserve in May 1911. It took place in the grounds of Millmead House (today the offices of Guildford Borough Council), and some 2,200 men took part – the majority wearing their medals of past campaigns, with one or two being recipients of the Victoria Cross. Field Marshall Lord Roberts, one of the most successful military commanders of the nineteenth century, led the inspection of the veterans. Members of the public watched the parade from Shalford Meadows and it was certainly another local moral-boosting event of Britain’s military might.

Lord Roberts returned to Guildford in May 1914, this time to inspect 800 national reservists who had gathered at Newlands Corner. One local press report began:

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the camp of the Surrey National Reserve at Newlands Corner for the Whitsun weekend was the type of man found in the ranks of that body. When they marched past Lord Roberts the spectators were unable to restrain a hearty cheer, and certainly the sight of the lines of strong, well-built thoroughly disciplined fellows was one to create the liveliest enthusiasm.

Again the public turned out in force to witness the spectacle. The report noted: ‘Thousands of people found their way to Newlands Corner on Sunday afternoon from Guildford and the countryside, and on the road sides in the vicinity of the camping ground there were scores of motor cars and cycles and heaps of the ordinary push bikes.’

Lord Roberts inspects 800 national reservists at Newlands Corner in May 1914.

This gathering was made possible by the generosity of John St Loe Strachey. He lived at Newlands Corner and was the editor of The Spectator magazine from 1887 to 1925, as well as a High Sheriff of Surrey. He was instrumental in the formation of the National Reserve as well as the scheme in Guildford to teach boys how to fire a rifle.

The people of Guildford were certainly preparing and also bracing themselves for war, but still had no idea of how or when it would begin.

During the summer of 1914, most people of Guildford, in common with the majority of Britons, only slowly became aware of the political turmoil that was brewing across Europe, which would lead to the outbreak of the First World War.

On Sunday 28 June, the Surrey Advertiser had received a telegram stating that Reuter’s news agency had reported that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife had been assassinated at Sarajevo in Serbia. Telegrams of important events that were received by the newspaper were usually posted outside their office in Market Street, but this time the editor considered it not worth troubling the people of Guildford with another tragedy that had its origins in Balkan unrest.

The printing press of the Advertiser was located in one of a number of small rooms behind the front offices, all linked by a warren of passageways. Along with the editorial team and the printers were the typesetters and compositors, the latter based on the first floor in a room with large windows. This allowed plenty of natural light to flood in to assist them in their work of assembling the small lines of metal type ahead of the pages being printed.

However, it was not long before the words ‘peace or war?’ were in print locally, as the newspaper’s leader column on 25 July made reference to the government’s latest conference on the unrest in Ireland. But soon after it was the events in Europe that formed the headlines and filled the columns of the British press as people began to look at the events overseas with increasing trepidation.

Tension mounted further on Saturday, 1 August, when Austria declared war on Serbia. Guildford then received a succession of reports via news agencies that were then posted outside the Advertiser’s office. People learned that Russia was mobilising against Austria, and Germany had declared a state of war, presenting Russia and France with an ultimatum. There was some relief, however, when it was learned that Italy – a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria – had decided to remain neutral. Early in the morning on Sunday, 2 August, Germany declared war on Russia. The news that the German forces had been mobilised was followed by the announcement that France had done the same. The crowds came into Guildford to learn of the events as they unfolded. What everyone wanted to known was: would Britain become involved and, if so, when?

Market Street viewed from North Street. The office and print works of the Surrey Advertiser was on the left-hand side.