War Horses, The Tank Museum, Bovington Camp, 29/04/17.

Tags

Bovington, Bovington Camp, horses., Museums, tanks, The Tank Museum, World War One

The “Warhorse to Horsepower” exhibition at The Tank Museum tells the story of the role of the British Army’s cavalry on the Western Front during World War One and, as the title of the exhibition suggests, the transition from horse riding and horse drawn conflict into a armoured and motorised one from a rather unusual perspective; that of the horses.

The horses in the walk through exhibition are represented by rather charming models, each with its own character and voice, which guide the visitor from 1914, when horses were at the forefront of British military doctrine, to the 1920’s and 30’s, when the advantages of the tank over the horse were firmly established. It gives one a perspective on the rest of the galleries, which are largely mechanical; albeit with an eye for the human stories behind the armour.

The Cenotaph and Town Hall, The Esplanade, Rochdale, 04/10/16.

Tags

1922, cenotaph, Earl of Derby, Esplanade Rochdale, First World War, Rochdale, Rochdale Cenotaph, Rochdale Town Hall, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Union Flag, War Memorial, White Ensign, World War One

Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled by the Earl of Derby on Sunday 26th November 1922.

Captain Edmund Blackadder, “Thomas’s of York” Public House, Museum Street, York, 15/08/15.

Tags

BBC, BBC Comedy, Blackadder, Blackadder Comes Forth, brickwork, Captain Edmund Blackadder, comedy, Public houses, pubs, Rowan Atkinson, Thomas's of York, window, World War One, York

http://thomasofyorkpub.wix.com/thomas-of-york-

William Cox – H.M.S Good Hope, The War Memorial, The Church Yard, St. John the Baptist’s Church, Bere Regis, 10/07/15.

Tags

Admiral Maxmillian Von Spee, Battle of Coronel, Battle of the Falkland Islands, Bere Regis, Dorset, First World War, HMS Good Hope, memorial, Military History, Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock RN, Royal Navy, St John the Baptist's Church Bere Regis, William Cox, World War One

William Cox – H.M.S Good Hope.

Every name on a memorial has a story behind behind it, but some names stand out more than others and different names stand out for different people. The name William Cox stands out for me in this Roll of Honour because he clearly served in the Royal Navy, were as those listed above him served in British Army units more familiar to me. I knew nothing about the H.M.S Good Hope; was William Cox lost at sea?

Ship’s Cook William Cox (347466), along side 919 officers and men, of the Drake Class armoured cruiser H.M.S Good Hope, including Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock, who was using the Good Hope as his flag ship, and four Midshipman of the newly formed Royal Canadian Navy, were killed in action at the Battle of Coronel.

Rear Admiral Cradock’s British Fouth Cruiser Squadron engaged the superior forces of Admiral Maximillian Von Spee’s German East Asiatic Squadron on the 1st November 1914, off the Chilean coast. By the end of the battle H.M.S Good Hope and H.M.S Monmouth had been sunk with the loss of all hands.

Although I could not find any further biographical information about Ship’s Cook William Cox, detailed biographies of Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock are available and he strikes me as a very interesting character. In 1904 he received a testimonial from the Royal Humane Society for jumping over board into Palmas Bay, at night, to save the life of a drowning Midshipman. In 1911 he received The Board of Trade Medal for Saving Life at Sea for his part in the rescuing of passengers from the SS. Delhi, which ran aground off Cape Spartel.

Admiral Maximillian Von Spee’s Squadron attempted to raid the Falkland Island on the 8th December 1914 and was surprised by a superior force of British warships, reinforced following the Battle of Coronel. Six German warships were lost following the Battle of the Falkland Island, including Admiral Von Spee’s flagship, which capsized with the loss of all hands, including the Admiral himself.

It is amazing what you can learning from researching only one name on a memorial…

Sources.

The Coronel Memorial http://www.coronel.org.uk/description.php 

The Roll of Honour: A Biographical Record of all Member of His Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces who have fallen in the War, Volume I, page 96. Available on-line at https://archive.org/details/rollofhonourbiog01ruvi 

Pulman Street and Evans Square Roll of Honour, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Hull, 29/11/14.

Tags

British Army, Coldstream Guards, East Yorkshire Regiment, Hull, Hull City of Culture 2017, memorial, Military History, Military Medal, Museums, Northumberland Fusiliers, Pulman Street Hull, Roll of Honour, Street Shrine, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Streetlife Museum of Transport Hull, World War One

This is one of three memorials now displayed at the Streetlife Museum of Transport. The two other Rolls of Honour or Street Shrines are rather large, Gothic, dark, wooden affairs, so this one stands out considerably in comparison, with its names clearly displayed in black and white. I became curious to know if I could find out anything about these men and their service in World War One, so I took this photograph on Saturday morning and I have spent my Sunday evening researching; largely with the aid of www.ww1hull.org.uk. 

Sergeant Albert Arksey MM and Bar (33399) gave his address as 23 Pulman Street when he joined the 11th (Service) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment on the 1st November 1917. By the 28th June 1918 he had won his Military Medal and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. On the 6th September 1918 he was killed by a German sniper after only 10 months service. Arksey also appears on a list of railway employees, published by the National Railway Museum, who lost their lives in World War One, so we know that he worked as porter with the North Eastern Railway and that his death was reported in the North Eastern Railway Staff Magazine for November 1918 (page 208).

Corporal Gilbert Lupton (10453) served with the 4th Battalion of the Coldstream Guards and died on the 20th January 1918.

George Alfred Harman (7753) joined the 8th (Service) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, one of the eight Kitchenner battalions raised in the August of 1914, and George William Yarrow joined the 11th (Service) Battalion known as the “Hull Tradesmen“.

Three of the men joined the Northumberland Fusiliers. George Holmes Ellis (5498) served in the 19th (Service) Battalion, the 2nd Tyneside Pioneers, raised in Newcastle on the 6th November 1914. George Borman (3881) and Harry Wright (242265) both served in the 4th Battalion, which was a Territorial unit originally based in Hexham. Harry Wright’s brother, Lance Corporal John Henry Wright (21725), died serving with the 7th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment.

The other names seem to have been lost to history, apart from C Smith, whose initial and surname are so common that my research discovered 607 possible Smiths.

Photo Archive: Keighley War Memorial, Keighley, 01/10/05.

Tags

British Army, Bronze, Keighley, memorial, Military History, sculpture, soldier, World War One

“In proud and grateful memory of those men of Keighley who gave their lives in the Great War and the World War in the defence of freedom and justice

Their name liveth for evermore“.

Photo Archive: Wreath, The Guards Memorial, Horseguards Parade, London, 21/11/10.

Tags

British Army, Coldstream, Coldstream Guards, Horseguards Parade, London, memorial, Military History, Poppies, Poppy Day, Remembrance Sunday, The Guards Memorial, World War One

“Honi soit qui mal y pense” (Shame on him who thinks evil of it).

This memorial wreath takes the form of The Star of The Order of The Garter, with poppies forming the Cross of St. George at its centre. The Star, as well as being the heraldic symbol of Britain’s highest order of chivalry, is the regimental insignia of the Coldstream Guards. The losses of all five Regiments of Foot Guards are commemorated as part of The Guards Memorial, alongside those of the units that made up the The Guards Division, who lost their lives in World War One and “in the Service of their Country since 1918″. The memorial faces Horseguards Parade, the large parade ground in Whitehall, where The Guards troop their colours to mark The Monarch’s official birthday every year.

My maternal grandfather was from Coldstream, the ancestral home of the Coldstream Guards, so I have always had a bias towards the Regiment (and that’s why you’re not looking at a wreath shaped like the cap badge of The Grenadier Guards). I’ve written about the Coldstream Guards memorial in Henderson Park in Coldstream before [Photo Archive: Henderson Park, Coldstream, April 2012] and this insignia has appeared in more unexpected places on my travels [Coldstream Guards Hassock, St. Mary’s Church, Beverley, 14/05/14].

Rolls of Honour (unveiled), Paragon Interchange, Hull, 10/11/14.

Tags

Hull, Hull City of Culture 2017, Hull Daily Mail, memorial, Paragon Interchange Hull, Train stations, World War One

“Product of HMP Hull”.

On Saturday I posted a photograph of these memorial plaques wrapped in bubble wrap [https://anticsroadshowblogspot.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/plaques-wrapped-in-bubble-wrap-paragon-interchange-hull-081114/] and here is one of them now they have been officially unveiled. One of the interesting things about them is, if you look at the bottom right hand corner of each of them, you’ll see, written in gold, “Product of HMP Hull” and, credit where credit is due, the staff and inmates have done a really good job.

To quote Station Manager David Hatfield, interviewed by BBC News, “We have over 2,000 names and 20 plaques but it started as one simple plaque but as we got the names from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission they just kept growing“.

Interestingly, the Hull Daily Mail, lists the number of names as 4,730. 4,730 Hull servicemen who left the city, mostly via what is now the Paragon Interchange, to the various theatres of World War One, never to return.

Plaques Wrapped in Bubble Wrap, Paragon Interchange, Hull, 08/11/14.

Tags

Hull, Hull City of Culture 2017, Hull Daily Mail, memorials, Paragon Interchange Hull, Train stations, World War One

The Hull Daily Mail informs me that these memorial plaques are going to be unveiled tomorrow and as it happens I will be back in Hull on Monday, so I will be able to see them and photograph them without the bubble wrap to; God willing. The 20 plaques, recording the names of the 2,000 Hull servicemen who lost their lives during World War One, looked so striking this morning, even covered up, that I thought I would take some photographs.

 

“Come To The Cook House Door” Regimental Portrait.

Tags

British Army, Cooking, Cooks, Ephemera, Group Photographs, old photographs, RAMC, Regimental Portraits, Royal Army Medical Corps, World War One

It is a good job the Corporal (front row in the centre) had enough time to get his cap and tunic on ready for this photograph, because that is what caught my initial interest. Regimental badges used to be a big interest of mine and the badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps can clearly be seen on the Corporal’s cap. He also wear the “Geneva Cross” on both his sleeve above his stripes. The rest of the men are dressed for work; perhaps they’ve come straight from the cook house? Note the knife and carving fork in the hand of the chap standing on the left. Is that the cook house door behind them?

The back of the photograph is blank.

Purchased in Hull: 25th April 2014.