Pte Frank Amos Stock

My 3rd cousin, Frank Stock, was born in Stratford, Essex in 1896. Father Amos was originally from Radwinter, Essex, one of the "ancestral" villages just outside Saffron Walden. Some time between 1881 and 1891, Amos' father Josiah moved the family 50 miles down to the outer London suburb of West Ham. He was a Labourer, and work in that part of Essex was obviously easier to find than that in  a little village as he had tried working for his brother-in-law in Gloucester before relocating with the whole family. Amos went on to marry Alice Boreham in 1891 and they had eight children, Frank being the eldest of five sons.

In 1911, they were living in Forest Gate and Frank had a job as a Shop Messenger for Boots whilst Amos worked for West Ham Council on the road repair gangs.

Post Office Rifles on parade.

Unfortunately, we do not have Franks' Service Records but at some time after the declaration of war, he joined the 8th Battalion of the London Regt, more commonly known as the Post Office Rifles. This Battalion could trace it's history back to the 1860's when the threat from Fenian rebels in Ireland was so great that men from the Post Office were made Special Constables to protect the Post Office buildings from being attacked. They then became a volunteer battalion of the Middlesex Regt and actually did duty as the Army Post Office  Corps until that job was taken over by the Royal Engineers. When the Territorial Force came into existence, the Volunteer postmen became the 8th Bn, London Regt (Post Office Rifles). During the war, two battalions were sent to fight with the BEF, with the 2/8th distinguishing itself at Ypres ("The Battle of Wurst Farm Ridge") where a Sergeant won their only Victoria Cross. Frank may have worked for the Post Office at the time, but later in the war, the battalion did not recruit exclusively from the GPO.

At the beginning of February 1918, the two battalions were amalgamated and came under command of the 58th Division. The Post Office Rifles would take part in the last battles in France and the advance into Germany, but on 20th February, Frank died of wounds received in action. He was buried in one of the small burial grounds that populated the French countryside but after the Armistice, was reburied in Chauny Communal Cemetery British Extension where there are now over 1000 graves, mostly from 1918. Up to now, I cannot find his name on any local war memorial, but he will not be forgotten.

His father, Amos, died in 1947 in East Ham, and his wife Alice died three years later. Of his siblings, brother George served in the Royal Artillery. The last of them, sister Lillian, died in 1993 in Brentwood.

Pte Henry Gilbert Edmondson

Henry Edmondson was another member of the 3rd South Midland Field Ambulance who did not set foot in France before his death in Chelmsford in 1915. He died two weeks after his colleague, Ernie Stone, on the 19th February 1915 and is buried nearby. He was 18, the youngest son of the late Edward Edmondson and his second wife Amelia. There was an elder brother, Edward, who served with the Army Veterinary Corps, and a middle brother, Albert, who also went on to serve in the RAMC in a General Hospital in France later in the War. There were also two elder sisters from his father's first wife.

The family lived in Bristol where his father was a General Labourer. He died in 1901 and Amelia became a charwoman to keep the family together. In 1911, they were living in Gay Street, near King Square. Today, it is an area of upmarket housing and office suites, but the little side streets away from the square, remind us of what the area may have been. There is still a cobbled street amongst the modern buildings. The family moved several times, but always in the area. This was not uncommon at the time, but they did seem to settle for some years in Montague Street, after Henry was killed, as his brother Albert, whose Service Records survive, was called up from that address in 1917 and wrote a letter requesting a reference in 1920 from the same address. In 1924, he also applied to the War Office for Henry's medal, but although there is a Medal Index Card, there is no mention of a medal roll number. As he did not serve overseas, he may not have been eligible, but he should have had the Silver War Badge, authorised in 1916 for personnel wounded or discharged sick from any theatre. It seems sad that both Ernie Stone and Henry were left with no commemoration (except the "dead man's penny" perhaps?) even though they died in service. At least Henry's name is found on the 3rd South Midland Plaque in Bristol Cathedral and this blog will remember them.

Corporal Sidney Charles Cutting

Now a brief journey away from Medical Units and to the grandson of my great great grandfather's second wife (if you can work that out!). Sidney Cutting was born in Rougham, Suffolk in 1890. His mother, Sarah Clutterham was the daughter of Eliza Stiff who married John Clutterham in 1854. They had 8 children before the death of John in 1872. Eliza married my gt-gt-gt grandfather, John Hardy, a year later after the death of his wife Jane in 1873. Sarah left home to marry Elijah Cutting in 1886, and they had 2 boys, and 2 girls. Sidney was the second son.

The Cutting family, like most of my East Anglian relatives, were Farm Labourers. Sidney would have followed his brother onto the farm had he not joined the Army some time from 1908 to 1910, enlisting in nearby Bury St Edmunds. Farm Labourers were a magnet for the Recruiting Sergeants and their staff, as they were usually tough & healthy, and in jobs that were not always steady, and often poorly paid. They were used to being out in all weathers, not afraid of hard work and often came from big families. What better career than the big Army family? Sidney was posted to the 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment with the rank of Private and Regimental Number 7695.

The 1st Battalion was stationed in Egypt at the time. In 1911, he was in the Military Hospital, Alexandria along with about 20 of his regiment. There is no record of his ailment but several diseases were rife, as well as the ever-present STD! However, when war was declared in 1914, he left Khartoum with the Battalion and landed back in the UK in October. After a couple of months training, they were sent to join the BEF as part of the 28th Div, disembarking at Le Havre on 18th Jan 1915.

Sidney was now a Corporal and would have been a useful member of the Battalion. The 28th Division took up positions between Hazebrouk and Bailleul. They would subsequently take part in the Second Battle of Ypres in April, but only a month after setting foot in France, Sidney was Killed in Action. He was 25. We do not know what happened; perhaps a shell dropped in the trench, perhaps he was the victim of a sniper's bullet, but we do know that with the battles that followed, his grave was lost. He is now commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, and on the village memorial in Rougham.

A View of the Menin Gate Memorial not often seen.

Pte James George Pedrick

In 1910, 1st Wessex Field Ambulance opened a detachment at Teignmouth, a sea-side town about 14 miles from Exeter, and up to the opening of the First World War, the detachment slowly grew in numbers so that on embarkation for France, there was quite a number of Teignmouth men serving in the ranks of 24 Field Ambulance. James Pedrick was one of those men.

James was born in Teignmouth in 1894. His father, also James, was a Cabinet Maker who married Alice Cotton in 1893. They had 3 children, James being the eldest. His sister Cora was born 12 years later and the youngest, Nora, born in 1909. The family lived in the town but by 1903, had taken over a large Lodging House on the seafront, and James Snr gave up Cabinet Making to manage the business. His wife had previously worked in another Lodging House, first as a Servant, and then as the Manager and she is mentioned in the Trade Directories as being the proprietor. Seaside holidays were becoming very popular at the time and the Pedricks obviously saw the profit in running a Lodging House in a very good location.

James went to school at  Hele's School, Exeter and later found a position as Assistant in an Ironmongers. He likely joined 1st Wessex just before the declaration of war, having the service number 1961, and was part of the unit that landed in France in 1914. On the 16th February 1915, his parents received notice that he was very ill and had been admitted to a Stationary Hospital. Working as a Nursing Orderly, he had been looking after a patient with Meningitis and contracted it himself. A day later after his parents received the news, he died. He was buried in the pretty Longuenesse Cemetery at St Omer, the town being a centre for several large Stationary Hospitals.

Soon after his death, his family moved away from Devon to settle in Ealing, Middlesex. His father died in 1930, his mother in 1953. Was it the loss of their only son that made them leave? We will never know. James Pedrick's name was added to the Teignmouth War Memorial, the Plaque in Exeter Cathedral, and also the War Memorial at Hele's School, now to bee found in St Peter's School, Exeter. It was unveiled in 1922 and bears 81 names from the First War with a further 71 names added after the Second War.

Pte Ernest Stone

Ernest Stone, born Bristol 1893, was the first man from 3rd (South Midland) Field Ambulance to lose his life, but without leaving these shores. This unit, one of those associated with 219, was under command of the 48th (South Midland) Division which was a Territorial Division formed in 1908 as a result of Haldane's Army reforms, and was mobilised in 1914 whilst at camp - as were the Wessex. They concentrated in the Chelmsford, Essex area to continue training prior to leaving for France in March 1915.

James Stone was a Bristolian man who married Eliza Reynolds in 1869 at the age of 31. They had 9 children, the youngest being Ernest. It was a labouring family and by 1911, Ernest was the only one still living with his parents, his siblings having set up home with spouses or had passed away (4 of their children had died by 1911). In 1913, James died, and soon after war broke out, Ernest left his mother to join up with the RAMC. We do not know whether he was a pre-war member but his number, 1888 indicates he might have been. or at least one of the first to be recruited when war was declared.

On 8th February 1915, Ernest Stone passed away in Chelmsford and was buried in the military plot in the local cemetery on Writtle Road. His mother died around the same time, and so little is recorded in the Commonwealth War Graves Register. Deaths from causes other than battle injuries were very common. The War Diaries record many more admissions for sickness than wounded, unless a major Battle was in progress. In an era when antibiotics were unheard of, many more diseases had fatal consequences, and other medical treatments that we now take for granted were not in general use. We have no cause of death for Ernest, there is no medal card, or service record, but his name is entered on the 1st/3rd South Midland Field Ambulance Plaque in Bristol Cathedral, so his memory is still upheld.

Pte Percy James Charman

As mentioned before, the Drivers of the Field Ambulances were also members of the RAMC until 1915/16 when they were asked to transfer to the Army Service Corps. Many agreed, but others chose to stay with the FAs and give up their Driver status. Drivers were then supplied by Transport Companies. Percy Charman was one of those men, attached to 26th Field Ambulance after landing in France in September 1915.

Percy was born in Sussex in the village of West Chiltington in 1877. His father worked as a Farm Labourer and Percy was the eldest of five children. At the age of 14, he was boarding at a farm just up the road in Billingshurst and working as a "Farm Servant". Then just after his 18th birthday, he applied to join the Royal Engineers and on 28 April 1895, became a Driver, RE. He first signed up to serve 3 years with the colours, and 9 in reserve, but extended his regular service to 7 years and found himself on the way to the Boer Wars in 1899. He served in South Africa until April 1903, earning several clasps for his Queen's Medal including Cape Colony, Paardeberg and Driefontein. On return to England, he was discharged into the Reserve and promptly married Alice Holt with whom he had two sons, Percy and Ernest.

In 1911, he was living in Woking and seemingly doing well. He worked as a Carman (Driver) for a Laundry, and his wife was also working as a Forewoman in the Laundry. They were able to afford a Maid, but offset the cost by having a lodger, also a Laundry worker. In 1907, he was discharged from the Army Reserve. However, war loomed on the horizon and so, inevitably, in 1915, he found himself part of the Army Service Corps, his army driving experience ensuring he would be a valued recruit.

Driving an ambulance just behind the tenches was not an easy option. They were well within range of the shelling, and the Red Cross was not always a guarantee of safety. There were also the physical and natural dangers: mud (as depicted in the famous Daily Mail postcard), poor or non-existant roads, shell craters, etc. A fully loaded car was unwieldy and did not have the capabilities of modern vehicles such as good suspension and four-wheel drive. Significantly, One of only 2 Victoria Cross awards to men of the ASC was to an Ambulance Driver.

However, Percy was now 40 years old and in the winter of 1917, he succumbed to Bronchitis. Without the aid of antibiotics, illnesses such as these were serious and in an older man, who had probably smoked all his life, it was fatal. He was buried in a small plot on the Somme, and after the war, reburied in Suzanne Cemetery No 3, a cemetery was once held French graves until they were removed after the Armistice. His wife did not remarry and died in 1942. Both sons died in 1973 only a few weeks apart.

Off to War.....

As our colleagues return from our unit's second operational tour of Afghanistan, (why do they call it a tour - we never go sightseeing!), I thought I would put up this picture of 1st Wessex Field Ambulance leaving Exeter after being mobilised for war in 1914. It was published in the Devon and Exeter Gazette on 25th August and shows the unit marching to the Station, to entrain to Salisbury Plain for further training. There had been an advance party leave a week before, and they all met up again at Perham Down on the plain where they became 24th Field Ambulance and part of a regular division, the 8th.

Two weeks before this date, the unit had been in training on Salisbury Plain at Fargo Camp. This was one of three tented camps that had been established in the Larkhill area a few years before the First World War. Looking at pictures of recruit training there from other units, I can see where a few of the group pictures that I have were taken. The rows of bell tents are unmistakeable. In good weather, it must have been quite enjoyable to end the evening sharing good times with your "mates" outside your tent. Not so much fun in the wet! Canvas is notorious for taking a long time to dry off!

During the early part of the 20th century, it was quite common to publish details of orders and instructions in the local paper. This notice comes from the Western Times and details instructions for the unit prior to leaving for this camp. In 1914, the 1st Wessex had two  detachments. One in Exeter in relatively new accommodation at the Drill Hall in Holloway Street (now under a road junction), and the other at Teignmouth in a Drill Hall shared with other units - so nothing new there! Both units had Transport Sections in their own right, as transporting wounded was as important as treating them in a Field Ambulance. Later in the war, this task would be carried out by men of the Army Service Corps, many of the unit's drivers transferring to the Corps, but for the first couple of years, all were members of the Field Ambulances.

It is interesting to make small comparisons with the Territorial Field Ambulance of that day, and the modern Territorial Field Hospital of today. The majority of the men, both "old hands" and new recruits, were from a non medical background. They came mostly from trades which would be called "skilled manual": Printers (quite a few from Exeter), Metalworkers, Shop Assistants, Tailors, Clerks, and General Labourers. A few had skills that were needed, such as Chemist's Apprentices and Nursing Orderlies, but these were relatively few. Looking at the work that they had to do, strong men were required for Bearing and although they needed to know basic first aid, their main task was to carry a man back to an ambulance or a medical post; whereas the Nursing section would have had to gain more skills and knowledge on how to look after their casualties and to assist the medical staff. But no questions were asked on recruitment and no-one suitable was turned down. They did not have to have a medical background. They did not have to fill in endless pieces of paper or complete competencies. They had to be healthy but they did not have to prove it by endless tests. Their training was considered good enough, and they proved that it was by their conduct overseas during the War.

I shall end with the unit waiting to embark for the Western Front in November 1914. Together with their 2nd & 3rd Wessex Field Ambulance colleagues, they would be the first Territorial Force Medical Units to land in France. They were unique in that they had no Regular Officer or NCO serving with them as their RSM had been commissioned. Yet they were given the honour of serving with  a Regular Division, and they stayed with that division until the Armistice. The above picture is not confirmed as being of a group of soldiers from a Wessex Field Ambulance but the original owner has looked closely at the badges, etc and we are sure that it is. It may have been taken on that summer camp in 1914. But it is the youthful look of some of them - boys serving as Buglers probably - and the "old sweat" look of the Sergeant on the right. I wish I know their names and what became of them all.

Lastly, going back to the first picture, not being from Exeter myself, I wondered where it was actually taken. If anyone recognises it, please let me know!