Your Towns and Cities in the Great War

Hythe in the Great War

Whilst writing this book, a friend of mine, Rosemary English, lost her sister after a short illness. The following words are hers:

Always in my thoughts

Forever in my heart.

In loving memory of my

dearest sister, Rema.

Born: 14 February 1947.

Passed from this life: 21 September 2018.

Your Towns and Cities in the Great War

Hythe in the Great War

Stephen Wynn

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

Pen & Sword MILITARY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Limited

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright © Stephen Wynn, 2019

ISBN 978 1 47383 4 071

eISBN 978 1 47386 5 358

Mobi ISBN 978 1 47386 5 341

The right of Stephen Wynn to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Author’s biography

Stephen is a happily retired police officer having served with Essex Police as a constable for thirty years between 1983 and 2013. He is married to Tanya who is also his best friend.

Both his sons, Luke and Ross, were members of the armed forces, collectively serving five tours of Afghanistan between 2008 and 2013. Both were injured on their first tour. This led to Stephen’s first book, Two Sons in a Warzone – Afghanistan: The True Story of a Father’s Conflict, 2010.

His teenage daughter, Aimee, currently attends one of the district’s secondary schools.

Both of his grandfathers served in and survived the First World War, one with the Royal Irish Rifles, the other in the Mercantile Navy.

His father was a member of the Royal Army Ordinance Corp during the Second World War.

Stephen collaborated with Ken Porter on a previous book published in 2012: German PoW Camp 266 – Langdon Hills. It spent six weeks as the number one best-selling book in Waterstones, Basildon, in 2013. Steve and Ken collaborated on a further four books in the Towns & Cities in the Great War series by Pen and Sword. Stephen has also written other titles in the same series of books, and in 2017 his book The Surrender of Singapore – Three Years of Hell 1942-45 was published. This was followed in 2018 by Against All Odds: Walter Tull the Black Lieutenant.

Stephen has also co-written three crime thrillers, published between 2010 and 2012, about a fictional detective named Terry Danvers.

When he is not writing, Tanya and he enjoy the simplicity of walking their four German Shepherd dogs early each morning when most sensible people are still fast asleep in their beds.

Introduction

The Cinque Port of Hythe is situated on the south coast of Kent. It is a small coastal market town bordering onto Romney Marsh, and is part of what is today the district of Folkestone and Hythe.

In the eleventh century, Hythe was such a prominent town that it was defended by not one, but two castles – both of which still exist to this day. Saltwood is today a private dwelling, and Lympne is used for functions such as corporate events and weddings.

Saltwood Castle.

Lympne Castle.

The town has the eleventh-century church of St Leonard’s, which includes a bone store, or an ossuary, one of only two surviving examples to be found anywhere in England. It contains some 2,000 skulls and 8,000 thigh bones. There is nothing gruesome about it; it was just the practice of the time for old skeletal remains to be removed to make way for new graves. In 1348 Hythe was struck by the Black Death, which remains to this day one of the most devastating pandemic outbreaks in the history of mankind.

According to Edward Hasted in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (1778-1799), a French fleet sat off Hythe in 1293 and proceeded to land some 200 men. Sadly for them, they were met by a group of townsmen, who were more than prepared to defend their families and town. In the ensuing fight, every one of the French sailors was killed and the rest of the fleet turned tail and returned to France, leaving their dead colleagues behind.

The town’s name originates in Old English and means haven or landing place. The Town Hall dates back to 1794. The town’s Royal Military Canal runs for twenty-six miles, from Seabrook, through Hythe, across the northern edge of Romney Marsh, to Winchelsea. It is more than thirty feet wide and was intended to repel invasion during the Napoleonic Wars.

At about the same time as the canal was built, so were several Martello towers along the coast. These were part of the same defensive system. They were formidable structures, with walls some thirteen feet thick, and big enough to hold twenty-four men and a large cannon on the top. The towers were never needed for the purpose for which they were built, but they were used extensively during both the First and Second World Wars as signaling stations and coastal defenses. Three have survived at Hythe. One has been a private dwelling for many years, the other two are owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The School of Musketry, which played such a big part in readying men for fighting on the battlefields of the First World War, dates back to 1853, when it was established by Lord Hardinge. It still exists today as part of the British army and is known as the Small Arms School Corps. It is responsible for maintaining soldiers’ proficiency with the use of small arms, support weapons and range management.

It’s first instructor, in 1853, was Colour Sergeant MacKay of the 19th Foot, and its first commanding officer was Colonel Hay. By September 1855 a Corps of Instructors had been established, consisting of 200 men. Once they were trained they did not remain at Hythe but were dispersed to the numerous depot battalions and regiments around the country, although three instructors always remained at Hythe.

Hythe School of Musketry.

Hythe School of Musketry.

CHAPTER 1

1914: Starting Out

Despite the outbreak of war, one of the main talking points for the townspeople in September 1914 was the commencement of the new Hythe bus service. The six new red buses were owned and operated by the Folkestone and District Road Car Company and allowed for a bus to run every thirteen minutes, but the intention was to have a bus running every ten minutes. The new number one route ran from the Junction Station, via Blackbull Road and Sandgate Road, to Hythe. The fare was 5d one way, with intermediate fares available at 1d, 2d, 3d, and 4d, dependent on the number of stops. The fare from Folkestone town hall to Hythe was 4d.

The war was bound to affect this new-found mobility eventually. In July 1916, with no end to the war in sight, petrol was rationed for the first time. The government introducing a fuel tax which doubled the cost of a gallon of petrol from 6d to a shilling. If the bus companies wanted to remain in business, they had no option but to pass on this increased cost to their customers.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had somehow estimated that he would make £1 million from his new petrol tax, but he in fact made very little. Even if private car owners could afford to purchase petrol, there was little if any available. The only people who could obtain petrol were commercial concerns, such as bus and road haulage companies, doctors, vets, and sanctioned officials.

People used enterprising means to make their fuel allowance last that little bit longer. People added paraffin to their petrol, and even raided their drinks cabinets to add spirits such as gin and whiskey. Some managed to use coal or gas.

The Hythe borough magistrates bench sat on 11 August 1914. The Mayor, Councillor J.G. White, was chairman. The first case of the day involved a James Vidler, who did not appear in court. He had been summonsed for refusing to quit licensed premises when ordered to do so. Mr Chittenden, the landlord of the Duke’s Head Inn, gave evidence to the court that he believed Vidler had, subsequent to his offence, joined the army. The bench decided to adjourn the matter until the next sitting of the court so that it could be ascertained if this was so. The 1911 census shows a 16-year-old James Vidler living at 35 Frampton Road, Hythe, with his parents, his brother, his sister and his step-sisters. His occupation was shown as van boy. The British Army’s Medal Rolls index cards record three men with the name James Vidler, one of whom served in the Army Service Corps as a driver and who first arrived in France on 4 September 1915.

Some of the magistrates asked Police Sergeant Smith if any Special Constables were due to be sworn in that day. Smith said that he understood a meeting had been called to select suitable candidates. One of the magistrates mentioned that the previous day at Seabrook Court, twenty-four Special Constables were sworn in, none of whom were from Hythe. As if by magic, a Mr William Harold Fox suddenly appeared, requesting to be sworn in as a Special Constable. He had tried in vain to do the same at Dover and Sandgate but had been unsuccessful as both towns had sufficient volunteers already. Mr Fox was expediently sworn in as a Special Constable for Hythe.

Councillor John James Jeal then said that he thought Hythe was being dilatory where Special Constables were concerned. Mayor White did not concur, saying that as he saw it the people of Hythe were working very hard in various ways to help with the war effort on the home front and that he did not feel the townspeople were being at all dilatory.

A Mr Charles Blogg appeared before the court to answer a charge of being drunk and incapable. Police Constable Shepherd informed the court that at about 7pm on the evening in question he was on duty near the post office when he found the accused lying on the ground. As he was both drunk and incapable of looking after himself, he took the man into custody. Mr Blogg told the court he was sorry and had simply allowed himself to become a little over excited about the war. Police Sergeant Smith gave evidence that Mr Blogg was a respectable, hard-working man. The court gave the defendant the option of paying a fine, which included costs, of 2s 6d, or seven days imprisonment. He chose the fine and paid it immediately.

On 11 August 1914 the funeral took place of Mr W.P. Osborne at Horn Street Cemetery. He had died suddenly the previous Friday at the post office. The funeral was semi-military – Osborne had previously served with the Grenadier Guards. Since living in Hythe he had done casual work but due to poor health had been off sick. During the Christmas period of 1913 he had been employed as an auxiliary postman by Hythe Post Office, which is how he came to be in the post office when he died. Because of the war no gun carriage was available to take his Union-Jack-draped coffin to its final resting place, so a hearse collected it from his home at 23 Ormonde Road. The cortege was followed by two carriages and thirty-five members of the National Army Reserve under the command of Captain J.B. Tunbridge, six of whom acted as bearers. It was headed by the Hythe Town Band led by Mr George Griffiths, despite many of bandsmen having already been called up for war service. The band played Beethoven’s funeral march. A service was held in the cemetery chapel, conducted by the Wesleyan Reverend Whiting. Mr Osborne’s widow led the mourners, which included their son Philip, who was serving with the Royal Engineers. Mr Osborne’s elm coffin bore the inscription ‘William Philip Osborne. Died 7th August 1914, aged 43 years.’ There were numerous floral tributes from family and friends.

Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 and eight days later there was a meeting of the local Relief Committees held at Hythe Town Hall. The first meeting was that of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families’ Funds, chaired by Mayor White. Others present included Lady Ruggles-Brise, in her Red Cross nurse’s uniform. In a week the fund had received £108 1s in donations, while the General Distress Fund had raised £103. There was a discussion, led by the mayor, on what to do with the monies. The choice was to either keep and manage the funds locally in Hythe, or to send them to the central organization at Maidstone. Lord Harris felt it was selfish for the town to keep the funds for themselves. The secretary of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families’ Association said that he would have no difficulty allocating all of the funds to deserving cases within the town. The mayor, who had previously been in favour of keeping the funds in the town, on hearing what the centre had been doing, changed his mind, and stated that he was in favour of the monies being sent to the central fund. Lady Ruggles-Brise, whose husband was Major General Sir Harold Ruggles-Brise, was of the view that the people of Hythe would donate more money if they felt it was a local fund for local families.

Sir Harold had served during the Second Boer War, receiving his commission as a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards in 1895. He received his first of ten mentions in dispatches for his work at Belmont on 22/3 November 1899. On 30 August 1911 he was promoted to colonel and appointed commandant of the School of Musketry at Hythe. During his tenure, the school went on to play a crucial role in training instructors who in turn taught the soldiers of the British army to shoot effectively. Their instruction was so good that in the early part of the war the Germans thought the British possessed large numbers of machine guns, when in fact they possessed hardly any. On the other hand he came in for criticism due to a delay in developing anti-aircraft machine guns. On 2 November 1914, during the First Battle of Ypres, he was badly wounded and sent home to England for treatment and recuperation.

Royal Garrison Artillery - Howitzer - Lydd.

Returning to the meeting in Hythe, Alderman Scott believed Hythe ought to distribute the monies they raised amongst their own needy families. The Reverend Dale was of the opinion that the money wouldn’t go very far as it was, so what was the point of sending it to the centre at Maidstone, he asked. The mayor pointed out that other places in Kent who had decided to send funds to the centre at Maidstone would be giving more than Hythe, while those places would not perhaps have so much distress in their midst. How he had arrived at that assumption was unclear. Towns and villages all over Kent would suffer tens of thousands of killed and wounded by the war’s end. After more discussion it was finally agreed that the monies would be donated to needy families of Hythe and be administered by a local committee.

At another meeting Mr Drake, the Town Clerk, confirmed that the General Distress Fund stood at £103 15s, and similar discussions ensued. It seems somewhat strange that just eight days after Britain had declared war on Germany, discussions were taking place about what to do with monies that had been raised out of public donations. It is abundantly clear that nobody had any real grasp of the enormity of what participating in the First World War would bring in the way of distress and hardship to thousands upon thousands of families.

A meeting took place at Moyle Tower Gardens on 13 August 1914 in support of Kitchener’s ‘Call to Arms’. It had been arranged by Mayor White, who was a farmer and a coal merchant and lived at ‘Springfield’ North Road. Nearly all the members of the council members were present along with many of the towns prominent residents. The mayor began by saying that the call to arms had been sounded across the country and he hoped that the men of the town would not be backward in coming forward to answer the call, as they had done in centuries past when the need had arisen to defend the nation. He then introduced Mr Henry Fielding Dickens, an eminent King’s Counsel and son of Charles Dickens. Dickens pointed out that this was a critical time in the nation’s history and every individual needed to stand up and be a true patriot. This was a time for people to be united and not allow themselves to be divided by class. He was proud of his father, not because he was famous, but because he was a man who was against oppression, a man who stood on the side of the weak against the strong. He appealed to the men of Hythe and the rest of Kent to answer the call to arms, as generations of gritty Kent men before them had done in similar times, and he hoped that this grit and determination still existed in the hearts of today’s men of Kent.

Henry Fielding Dickens.

As a Cinque Port, said Dickens, ‘they had been great upon the sea’, but now they needed to be equally adept on the land as soldiers. He pointed out that their first sentiment should be loyalty, then liberty, followed by a hatred of oppression. They had a great and glorious past, but the war that was upon them would try them as they had never been tried before. He said that it was the Kaiser who had brought about this war, with the object of a world ruled by the German nation. To counter this threat Britain had to see the war through to the bitter end. Although Germany was a formidable foe, it could be beaten by those who had a grim determination to see that liberty was upheld.

Henry Dickens, who in 1922 became Sir Henry, was the eighth of ten children born to Charles Dickens. He was born in London and spent most of his life there, and on 21 December 1933 died there, five days after being struck by a motor cycle while crossing Chelsea Embankment. His education was at Trinity Hall College Cambridge, where he studied mathematics and law before being called to the Bar in 1873. He spent time in the judicial office as the Recorder of Deal and Maidstone and, apart from his appearance at this meeting, had absolutely no connection with Hythe. When Dickens died in 1933 he left in the region of £1 million in his will (which translates as hundreds of millions today). At the time of this speech he was 65, way too old to enlist in the army and go off and fight alongside the young men of Hythe, so perhaps one could say there was a degree of hypocrisy in his ‘rallying cry’!

The Battle of Mons took place on 23 August 1914. The subsequent retreat took two weeks and saw the British pushed all the way to the outskirts of Paris before they could mount an effective counterattack against the German forces who were chasing them.

News of a Hythe casualty who had been involved in the fighting at Mons only appeared in the local newspapers at the end of September. Corporal E.W. Gibbs of the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade, was wounded at Mons. That’s all the report said, but it did include a photograph of Corporal Gibbs. I would estimate his age as being in his early twenties. I checked the pension records for the British army and found an Ernest William Gibbs, who lived at 11 Nicholas Road, Hythe, but he hadn’t enlisted until 7 September 1914, at Dover. He served with the Rifle Brigade, but the 12th Battalion and not the 1st, and he was medically discharged just ten days later for being unfit for wartime military service. He had a son, Ernest Henry, who in 1914 would have been 21, a similar age to the person shown in the photograph.

Sunday, 30 August 1914, saw some forty men, who were undergoing ambulance drill in the grounds of the School of Musketry, being examined as to their level of competence. The examining officer was Doctor Vernon Dodd of Folkestone.

Local man Leonard Archibald Maycock, an engineer with the Hythe Fire Brigade, left for Boulogne on 23 September 1914, where he was going to work as a hospital orderly for the Red Cross in conjunction with the Royal Army Medical Corps. The 1911 census shows a Leonard Maycock, 27, living at 13 Rampart Road, Hythe. His occupation is shown as baker. I am not sure if this is the same individual; if it is, then his occupation could have been written down incorrectly, or he subsequently became a fireman after 1911.

There is a plaque at the now closed Hythe fire station with the names of the eighteen members of the Hythe Fire Brigade who served in the war. Fifteen returned, three died.

Plaque of Hythe Fireman.

The three who died were T. Haskins, H.B. Miller, and P. Mount. Miller and Mount are on the Hythe War Memorial (see chapter six). As for Haskins, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website has two records for a Thomas Haskins, both of whom served with Irish regiments; neither appear to be connected with Hythe. The Medal Rolls index cards for the army record seven Thomas Haskinses, two with a middle initial. None have any obvious connection with Hythe Fire Brigade.

October 1914 was a sad month for two families from Hythe. The War Office informed the next of kin of Privates James David Green and Alfred Day that both were dead. Private Green, who at one time lived at ‘Tarifa’, London Road, Hythe, but who was not related to the Mr Green who lived at the same address in October 1914, was killed in action while serving in France on the Western Front. Before enlisting he was employed by local grocer, Mr Ashdown, at his shop in the High Street, Hythe, where he had worked for two years. At the time of his death he was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards.

On 3 October 1914 it was reported that Private 7584 Alfred Day, the son-in-law of Mrs Conley of 29 Church Hill, Hythe, had been wounded in action. He wrote to his mother-in-law a few weeks before his death to inform her that her son Alick had been killed by an exploding shell on 19 September. Since then, Private Day’s widow and next of kin, Mrs Day, had received a letter explaining that her husband had died of his wounds at the Auxiliary Hospital, Claridge’s Hotel in Paris:

I am writing to tell you the sad news of the death of your husband, Private A Day, 2nd Battalion, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry. He was admitted to this hospital on 21 September. He was so brave and so patient. Everyone in the ward liked him.

He was wounded in the cheek and mouth, so he could not talk much, but I used to talk to him, and he would write the answers down.

We did all that we could for him, but one of the arteries in the wound gave way and he died of a hemorrhage at 10 am on 30 September, and was buried on 1 October. All of the visitors who came to the hospital liked him and he had a laurel wreath and two others and some beautiful flowers on his coffin.

It was a military funeral and his coffin was coffered with the Union Jack, and a company of French soldiers followed him to his grave. After the funeral service, they fired the last shots over his grave.

Private Day was buried at the City of Paris Cemetery at Pantin, Seine-St-Denis. Mrs Day had given birth to a child who at the time of Private Day’s death was a month old. A child whom he never got to see.

Private Frederick Baker of the Dorset Regiment had been living with his wife and children at their home in Frampton Road, Hythe, when he was mobilized from the Army Reserve and sent to act as a scout with a cyclist company serving on the Western Front. In early October 1914 he had been invalided back to England, having been wounded, and admitted to the Schiff Home of Recovery at Cobham, Surrey, which was the first hospital outside London to receive wounded soldiers during the war. Baker wrote to a friend in Hythe explaining what had happened. He was shot in one of his legs, with the bullet passing through his knee cap. It would be several weeks before he recovered enough to leave his hospital bed, and in the meantime had to lie perfectly still. It was likely that his leg would be permanently affected. In early October 1914, when the letter was received, Baker’s wife and family were living at Weymouth and were due to return to their home in Hythe soon. Before being sent to war he had been in the process of forming a bugle band section for the Hythe Boys’ Brigade, with which he had been involved since its formation.

From 10 October 1914, Hythe saw the arrival of large numbers of Belgians, both displaced refugees and wounded soldiers. It was estimated that more than one thousand had arrived in the town. New refugees arrived every day, and the local committees, which met every day at Hythe Town Hall, had been struggling to cope. Nineteen wounded Belgian officers arrived on 13 October. They were put up at the School of Musketry. The same day, the local St John’s Ambulance were called to assist conveying wounded Belgian soldiers who had arrived by ship at Folkestone; they were taken to Sandgate, New Romney and Hythe. The townspeople who had driven to Folkestone harbour to witness the arrival of the Belgians were in for a shock when their vehicles were temporarily commandeered to help. For those who had their cars taken, there was no transport to take them home; they had no option but to walk. Most took the inconvenience in good spirits.

On 14 October at about 9 pm, some 240 wounded Belgian soldiers arrived in Hythe and were put up at the Hotel Imperial in Princes Parade, opposite the sea front. It had started life years earlier as the Seabrook Hotel. The manager, Mr Blott, was only given a few minutes notice of the wounded men’s arrival. The staff quickly got to work to ensure a suitable reception for the soldiers. Over time, the wounded Belgians were regularly seen around the town and were treated well by the people of Hythe.

On 2 November 1914 there was a sitting of the Hythe Borough Police Court, with Councillor J.J. Jeal chairing the proceedings. Before the bench was a Mr John Saunders. He was charged with falsely representing himself to be a Special Constable of the Kent County Constabulary. In the week before his court appearance, he had visited the Globe Inn and demanded to be allowed to search the premises. What he was hoping to find wasn’t clarified. The first witness was the licensee of the Globe Inn, Mr Mark Finn, but after it was determined that he was deaf the bench decided he was no use as a witness as he could not possibly have heard a word of what took place. An element of intrigue was brought into the proceedings when Police Superintendent Hollands, of Hythe Police, produced a lengthy report which he had received from Scotland Yard. It was handed to the bench for their information and consideration, but was notably not read out in court. Saunders then made a statement about the events that led up to his arrest, stating that he had been in Red Lion Square waiting for a vehicle, and to pass the time until it arrived, decided to pay a visit to the Globe Inn. While there, two men with foreign accents came in and he tried engaging them in conversation, but they indicated to him that they could not speak or understand English. When the same two men left the pub, he heard them speaking to each other in very good English. This struck him as being somewhat odd, and he said as much to the soldier he was with. Later this soldier told him that he had seen the same two foreigners return to the Globe, and in response to this information, Saunders returned there too. He then asked the man who he took to be the landlord what was going on with the two foreign gentlemen, but the man appeared somewhat abrupt and didn’t appear to be listening to what he was saying (maybe he was talking to the landlord, Mr Finn, who wasn’t actually being abrupt but just couldn’t hear what he was saying). Saunders told the court that at no time did he ask to be allowed to search the premises, nor did he intend to arrest the man; this was something he was made to do by the corporal who was with him, who he had brought with him to back up his claim that he was a Special Constable. He did not know that his identity card gave him no powers in the county of Kent. He had only done what he thought was his duty, although he did admit, with the benefit of hindsight, that he could have possibly displayed more tact in how he dealt with the situation. A manager of a canteen at the Shorncliffe camp stated that Saunders was sent to him about a month before the incident to be trained as a steward. During this time he had proved very satisfactory. Councillor Jeal said he and his colleagues felt that Saunders had acted more out of ignorance than anything else, and by not fully understanding his duties he had embarrassed himself. Jeal said that the bench would dismiss the case as they did not want to bring disgrace on Saunders’ previous good character, for an incident that amounted to nothing more than an act of foolishness. The contents of the report which was handed to the bench by Superintendent Hollands was never disclosed, although it undoubtedly influenced the outcome of the case.

The Magistrates Clerk, Mr H. Stainer, said in reference to a letter he had written at the request of the bench asking for a telephone to be installed at Hythe police station, he had received a reply from the county’s Standing Joint Committee saying they did not believe it was necessary to have a telephone at Hythe police station. Councillor Jeal said that he found the response strange, as at present nobody could make contact with the police station by phone, and with the nation at war, that was unacceptable. He said he knew of numerous instances where the ability to telephone the police station would have been most useful. He felt that Mr Stainer should write again to the Standing Joint Committee and point out that their opinion was not in line with the views of the residents of Hythe, requesting that they give their previous decision urgent reconsideration.

By the second week of November 1914 it had already been decided that a Roll of Honour would be placed in the Town Hall. The list would contain the names of Hythe people who were entitled to war medals. The problem was, how was the council going to determine who was entitled to medals? As it turned out there were official government criteria as to who was entitled to wartime campaign medals, but they weren’t laid down until after the war, with most medals being issued in about 1921. It was felt that on previous occasions this matter had not been given the importance it deserved, often being left for many years after the conflict, by which time some of those concerned had passed away. One local man who had seen active military service in India in the latter years of the nineteenth century had been asked to help in the provision of a monument to the memory of his comrades who had died during this period of service, but the request only came about after the outbreak of the First World War. Although Hythe Council are to be complimented for their consideration of this matter, the idea was always going to be a duplication of what the government was going to do anyway.

Sunday, 22 November 1914, saw the passing of Mr Charles Eccles, who lived at ‘Sunnicott’, 42 Seabrook Road, Hythe. He had been the registrar of births and deaths for the Hythe sub-district for fifteen years before retiring in 1912. He had previously served in the British army, taking part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, and was an instructor at the Hythe School of Musketry before he retired in 1884. In his latter years he was a Freemason, and the oldest member of the Prince Edwin’s Lodge Hythe. Mr Eccles’ funeral took place at Newington; efforts were made for his funeral to be conducted with full military honours, but due to the exigencies of war it was not possible. Besides friends and family, there were representatives from the local Freemasons and the Hythe School of Musketry. The service was conducted by the Reverend L. Buckwell.

The same day also saw an accident involving Private Thomas Banks, of B Company, 5th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. As he alighted from a motor vehicle near the Fountain Hotel in Seabrook at about 8.15 pm on Sunday evening, he was struck by another vehicle. He suffered a fracture to his right arm, a graze to his right hand, and shock. The driver of the other vehicle, who was unhurt, took Private Banks to the nearby Military Hospital to have his injuries treated. I checked the British Army’s Medal Rolls index cards; they showed a Thomas Banks serving with the Northamptonshire Regiment. It didn’t record what battalion he served with, but it did provide me with an Army Service number of 50984, and showed that he died of his wounds, but there was no date of when this was. Now in possession of an Army service number, I next searched the CWGC website which records a T.W. Banks, service number 50984, although army service records show 12056 as having been allocated to him as well and serving with the 6th Battalion and not the 5th. British Army service records which covered the same period, show him as having enlisted on 19 August 1914 at Peterborough when he was 24. He was initially posted to the 5th Battalion, before being posted to the 3rd on 12 June 1915. On 23 June 1915 he was disciplined for an undescribed act of misconduct for which he was deprived of three day’s pay. He was medically discharged from the army on 23 December 1915, for no longer being physically fit for war time military service and on 27 March 1917 he was issued with silver War Badge No. 36784. He died on 25 August 1918, and it seems likely that the injuries he sustained which led to him being discharged from the army caused his death.

On the afternoon of 13 December 1914 a service took place at Hythe Parish Church for troops mainly of the Army Service Corps who were stationed around the town. It was conducted by the Reverend H.D. Vale with the singing led by the church choir. The Chaplain General of the British Army, Bishop Taylor Smith CVO, gave a sermon on the value of friendship to both civilian and soldier, based on St John xv, verse 14.

There was a sitting of the Hythe Borough Bench on 15 December 1914. Those present were J.J. Jeal, the chairman, Alderman J. Ashdown, Mr J. Scott and Mr H. Strahan. A letter was read out from the military authorities requesting that all licensed premises, clubs and public houses, should be closed at 8pm each evening. The deputy clerk read out relevant parts of the local magistrate’s regulations, which confirmed that they did have powers to issue opening time restrictions in their jurisdiction. It was decided to adjourn for two weeks to allow time for a circular to be sent out asking licensed premises to exercise more discretion in the sale of alcohol to soldiers, and to hear their views on the matter. The number of cases of drunkenness amongst soldiers had risen, which seemed to confirm that some landlords were putting profit before doing the right thing for the nation in the country’s hour of need.

The first man from Hythe to die because of his involvement in the First World War was 25-year-old Corporal 6939 Joseph Sebastian Corliss (sometimes spelt Corless). His father Michael lived at Willow Tree Farm, Burmarsh Road, West Hythe. Joseph had a sweetheart by the name of Salome J. Slaughter. They married in November 1913 at Billericay in Essex, but by the time of his death he was resident in Hythe. He served with the 2nd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment. In chapter six I have gone in to more detail about him, his life, military service, and his death.

Henry Walter Southern, if my research is correct, was the youngest person from Hythe to be killed during the First World War. The 1911 census shows him living with his parents, Henry and Ellen, at Barrow Hill, Sellindge, Hythe. He was the second of their five children. Ellen was his elder sister, and Alice, Alec, and Sidney were his younger siblings. At the outbreak of the war he was serving in the navy as a Boy 1st Class (J/25688). On 15 October 1914 he was 16 and part of the crew of HMS Hawke when it was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-9 in the North Sea.

In October 1914, Hawke became part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron that was placed on blockade duties between the Shetland Islands and Norway. The squadron was then redeployed further south in the North Sea and tasked with preventing German vessels attacking a convoy of troop ships that was on its way to England from Canada. On what turned out to be the fateful day of 15 October 1915, the squadron was on patrol off Aberdeen, the ships spread out about ten miles apart. At 9.30 am Hawke deployed her boat to go and collect mail from her sister ship, HMS Endymion. On the completion of this task, Hawke took off to catch up with the rest of her squadron, but at 10.30 am, while she was still out of sight of the rest of the squadron, she was hit by a torpedo fired by U-9. She quickly capsized, so quick in fact that she was unable to send a radio message explaining what had happened. Only because another of the squadron’s vessels, HMS Theseus, was also attacked, albeit unsuccessfully, did Hawke’s predicament come to light. An order was sent from their base at Scapa Flow for the squadron to retreat, but no response to the order was received from Hawke. After attempts to contact her proved fruitless, the destroyer HMS Swift was dispatched to search the area. A raft with one officer and twenty-one men on board was located and the men safely rescued. A Norwegian steamer came across one of Hawke’s boats with a further forty-nine survivors on board. The seventy men were the only survivors, and one of these, Lance Sergeant Frederick George Hall, (CH/11139) of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, died of his wounds the following day; 524 men were lost when the Hawke sunk.

HMS Hawke.

In the first five months of the war, up to 31 December 1914, British and Commonwealth nations, which included South Africa as it became a Commonwealth realm in 1910, lost 41,546 men who had either been killed in action or died of their wounds or disease. As far as I have been able to establish this included fourteen men who had a connection with Hythe through either birth, residence, marriage, or their parents being resident there during the war years.

CHAPTER 2

1915: Deepening Conflict

By the end of 1915, many more had been wounded and killed. According to the CWGC website, UK forces lost 125,193 dead, Indian forces 9,069, Australia 9,007, Canada 4,919, New Zealand 2,886, and South Africa 451, a total of 151,525, with an estimated three times as many wounded. On top of this, a further 126,564 officers and men had returned sick from the Western Front. At least thirty-nine of those killed had connections with Hythe.

The first Zeppelin raid on English soil was on the night of 19/20 January 1915. Airships L3, L4, and L6 left their base at Fuhlsbüttel to attack the industry of Humberside. But the attack never took place; well, not on Humberside. L6 had to return to her base because of technical difficulties, while L3 and L4 continued on their way. As darkness fell across the North Sea and the weather worsened, the pilots of the two Zeppelins decided against continuing to their original target and instead headed inland, which happened to be East Anglia. Whether captains Lieutenant Johann Fritz and Captain Lieutenant Count Magnus von Platen-Hallermund knew where they were heading for or simply made their way to where they could see the biggest mass of lights is unknown, but either way they ended up in the skies over Yarmouth, and King’s Lynn. L3 dropped nine bombs on Yarmouth, which damaged homes and a church, and killed two people, spinster Martha Taylor at St Peter’s Plain and shoemaker Samuel Smith. Then L4 dropped ten bombs on King’s Lynn, where houses were damaged and a further two people were killed, Percy Goat and Maud Gazeley.

Attack area of German U-Boats.

On 4 February 1915 Admiral Hugo von Pohl, commander of the German High Seas Fleet, announced that her submarines would attack and destroy, without warning, all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, that were either found in British waters or attempting to reach harbours anywhere on the mainland. It was referred to as ‘unrestricted submarine warfare’, and continued until 1 September 1915.

The Allied landings at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli began on 25 April 1915. The brainchild of Winston Churchill, it wasn’t a good day and ended with 900 Allied deaths and 2,000 wounded. We know of three men with Hythe connections who fell at Gallipoli: Private 1358 Ernest John Jeal who was serving with the Australian infantry and who was the son of John James Jeal, local councillor and JP in Hythe. He was killed in action on 27 April 1915; Private 106 S.W.N. Gwynne, who also served with the Australian infantry, and fell in the fighting at Krithia on 8 May 1915, aged 19; and Major Lyall Brandreth, serving with the Royal Fusiliers, who was killed in action on Sunday, 6 June 1915 and has no known grave.

According to The Maritime Review dated 24 February 1905, the steam ship Enfield was built by Priestman’s of Sunderland for the Enfield Steamship Company of Newcastle and was launched on 27 October 1897. The Enfield left Newcastle with her cargo of coal on route to St Nazaire in France when it struck a mine on 4 October 1915 that had been laid by the German submarine UB-5 under the command of Herbert Pustkuchen. The Enfield was in the Dover Straits about four miles off Folkestone Pier at the time of the incident. The damage she sustained from the exploding mine wasn’t fatal but it did result in her being beached at Hythe. She was later refloated.

HMS Hythe started life as SS Hythe, a cross-channel ferry between Dover and Calais. She was built by Denny’s of Dumbarton for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company. Soon after the outbreak of the war, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty for the Royal Navy, converted into a minesweeper, and became HMS Hythe. Her use in that capacity was short-lived as by October 1915 she had been changed into a troop ship. On 11 October she sailed from Devonport for Mudros Bay in Turkey, on the way picking up the 1st/3rd (Kent) Field Company, Royal Engineers, from Tunbridge Wells, consisting of 231 officers and men. At about eight o’clock in the evening of 28 October she was sailing towards Cape Helles to disembark troops and equipment. The weather was not that good, and there were numerous reports of men being sick over the side of the boat. Her lights had been turned off so as not to attract attention from Turkish batteries along the coast. Although turning her lights off kept her safe from enemy fire, it also made her invisible to other shipping in the darkness. Suddenly a large British troopship, HMS Sarnia, appeared out of the dark and struck the Hythe in her port bow. The Sarnia was much the bigger of the vessels and struck with such force that its bows sliced almost halfway through the Hythe. This suggests that the Sarnia was travelling at some speed – she was capable of over 20 knots. The Hythe sank within ten minutes. HMS Sarnia tried her best to save the men floundering in the waters of the Aegean Sea but 154 of them drowned. Some men even managed to clamber on board the Sarnia without having to jump over board, but these were the lucky few.

There is a memorial which commemorates the 129 men from the 1st/3rd Field Company who lost their lives in the tragedy. It was originally erected in the old Drill Hall in Speldhurst Road, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, and unveiled on 28 October 1916, two years after the accident, by Sir David Solomans JP, sheriff and mayor of Kent. It was later moved and now hangs in St Matthew’s Parish Church.

1st/3rd Field Kent Company Royal Engineers Memorial.

THIS MEMORIAL IS ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE OF THE 1ST/3RD KENT FIELD COMPANY ROYAL ENGINEERS, WHO VOLUNTEERED TO SERVE THEIR KING AND COUNTRY IN THE WAR OF 1914 AND LOST THEIR LIVES OFF MUDROS, WHEN UPON HMS HYTHE, WHICH WAS SUNK IN A COLLISION WITH HMS SARNIA ON THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 28TH 1915.

THE NAMES OF ALL WHO PERISHED IN THIS CATASTROPHE ARE INSCRIBED BELOW.

A letter from a soldier who had served at the front to his parents who lived in Hythe appeared in a local newspaper on 2 January 1915. Corporal 14733 Harry Howland of the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, of 11 Elm Terrace, Hythe, before the war had been employed as a police constable in Hyde, Cheshire, before he was called up as a reservist at the outbreak of the war. The letter was written while he was a patient at Charing Cross Military Hospital:

You will no doubt be surprised to receive a line from me, and to know that I am back in England, which is something to be thankful for. Since leaving Hyde to join the colours, I have had a very rough time of it. They sent me with a draft to make up the 2nd Battalion, and for eight weeks we were in the thickest of it.

I received my wound just outside Ypres; a piece of shell fractured my left thigh, causing a very nasty wound. They brought me back to one of the base hospitals in France, but they are not like our hospitals in England, and through being operated on so many times, I have got very low, and I don’t suppose you would recognize me now if you saw me, but with a bit of good luck and some good nourishing food I shall get strong again. I arrived at this hospital on14 December.

I have asked Corporal Diston to write this at my dictation, but when I get stronger, I will write to you myself.

The 1911 census showed Corporal Howland serving as a private stationed at Blenheim Barracks in Aldershot. He had enlisted on 4 April 1910 and had been sent out to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, arriving there on 12 September 1914. His wounds were obviously quite severe, as he never saw active service again. He was medically discharged from the army on 30 August 1915 and awarded a Silver War Badge, the number of which was 44522.

On 20 February 1915 Walter J. Boyes, who also used the alias of Wells, appeared before magistrates at Hythe Town Hall. At the time of the shameful incident he was a serving soldier with the Royal West Kent Regiment. Chair of the bench on that day was Councillor Jeal, and those sitting alongside him were, Alderman Ashdown, Alderman White, and Mr J. Scott. Boyes was charged with stealing a pair of trousers, a jacket and a cap to the value of £1 10s, as well £1 in money, all of which belonged to Mr James Baldwin Smith. Smith’s wife told the court that her home was at 15 Fort Road, Hythe, where she lived with her husband, and Boyes, who had billeted with them for some weeks. She had only ever seen Boyes in his khaki military uniform. On 1 February she had left home at about 1.30 pm, leaving Boyes in the house on his own. That morning she had received that week’s money for billeting Boyes in their home. The payment had been made in £1 notes, one of which she placed in a small vase on a shelf in her front room. She arrived back home sometime between four and five o’clock. There was no sign of Boyes, and Mrs Smith discovered that the £1 note she had left in the vase was missing. She told her husband what had happened when he arrived home from work. He then went to change into his normal clothes, so that he could go to the police station to inform them what had happened, only to discover that his trousers, jacket and cap, were also missing. Mrs Smith told the court that Boyes knew she had received the billeting money, because it was him who had answered the door when the officer called to make the payment, and was standing behind her when the money was handed over. Mr Edward Uden, a grocer and baker, whose home and premises was at 97 Dymchurch Road, Hythe, gave evidence that the accused had on numerous occasions come into his shop to purchase cigarettes. On 1 February, at about 1.45 pm, Boyes came into his shop and asked for a packet of his usual cigarettes, handing over the penny which they cost. He then asked if he could change a £1 note. Mr Uden thought this strange, as it was unusual for a soldier to have such an item. Boyes remarked that he had been given the money by his father, as he didn’t get that much from the government. Satisfied with Boyes’ explanation, Uden changed it for him. Detective Constable Kenward gave evidence that he collected Boyes from Finchley police station, where he had been detained on the morning of Thursday, 18 February. During the train journey back to Hythe, Boyes told Kenward that he admitted being a private in the West Kent Regiment at Hythe and had gone absent without leave and that he had initially enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery and they transferred him to the Royal West Kent Regiment but he didn’t explain why that was so. Boyes also said, ‘If Mr Smith can prove that I had the money and clothes, I am willing to have the money stopped out of my pay, and pay for it, but I don’t think he can prove it.’ When asked by Councillor Jeal if he had any questions he wished to ask of any of the witnesses, he responded with an abrupt and surly ‘No’, pleaded guilty in the same tone, and elected to be dealt with summarily. Asked by Jeal if he had anything to say in defence, Boyes replied, ‘I have nothing to say except that I don’t wish to soldier in the West Kents.’ On being told by one of the police officers that Boyes had six previous convictions, Jeal said, ‘I suppose he is not such a character as the army would wish to retain.’ The officer replied, ‘No, I don’t think he is.’ After conferring with his colleagues, Jeal announced that Boyes’ sentence would be three months in prison with hard labour, and that it was sad to think that a serving soldier could even contemplate disgracing himself in such a manner.

It was reported in March 1915 that Mr and Mrs James and Minnie Dearman of 31 Frampton Road, Hythe, had received official news from the War Office that their son, Private SR/9857 Samuel Dearman, who had been serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), had died of his wounds on 10 February 1915 while serving in France and had been buried at the Desplanque Farm Cemetery at La Chapelle d’Armentières. Mr James Dearman was the coxswain of the Hythe lifeboat, and had another son serving with the colours, Private Edward Dearman of the Royal Field Artillery, who at the time was still in England.

On 7 March 1915 a postcard was received by Mr and Mrs Gibbs at their home, Erlesmere, St Nicholas Road, Hythe. It was from their son Corporal 4372 E. Gibbs of the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade, who was a prisoner of war in Hut 10/10 at the prison camp in Doeberitz in Germany.

The post card read,

Your Christmas parcel and Leslie’s photo, the Mayor of Hythe’s parcel and the Laundry Christmas parcel, all arrived on 10th February. The puddings were mildewed. Please thank Mayor and Laundry employees. Glad to hear of Leslie’s promotion. Thank Miss Shelford. Don’t send anymore clothes or money, but I could see Dan West’s place off in ten minutes, so please send grocery parcels in tins; milk, saccharine, and a few sides of bacon would be delightful.

Doeberitz POW Camp.

Corporal Gibbs also requested his parents to send him some newspapers, and asked them to get everybody to write to him as often as they could. He finished off by saying, ‘And don’t worry, I hope to be home soon.’ Little did he know that it would be three and a half years before he would return home to his family. The reference in the postcard to Leslie’s promotion was about his brother who had been promoted to corporal. He was subsequently promoted to sergeant, and became an instructor at the Hythe School of Musketry.

Friday, 2 April 1915 was also Good Friday, which in Hythe was totally different from what it had been like the previous year. In place of the usual large influx of visitors to the town, there were khaki-clad men everywhere. Other visitors were few and far between. Although having said that the services at the parish church were well attended, the congregation at the Three Hours Devotion being as numerous as normal. The Reverend Gerald Thompson delivered the addresses. There was also an evening service, with music from the Messiah, the soloists being Miss Kathleen James and Mr H. Stainer.

Good Friday was also the day the popular Hythe Bowling Club began its season. This year the annual match between the Captain’s and Secretary’s teams was put off until Easter Monday.

Hythe Canal saw its usual large numbers of people who wanted to go boating. It was noted that never before had the canal been in so much demand on a Good Friday. During the afternoon, many people, both civilian and military, gathered on and near Nelson’s Head Bridge where they watched the efforts of the oarsmen negotiating the bridge. Despite their skills, some boats still managed to collide with each other, but there were no reported injuries and none of the boats sunk.

Hythe Borough Bench sat again on 20 April 1915. The first case was that of a Lieutenant White, whose regiment was not mentioned, possibly so as not to embarrass their good name. He was charged with the heinous offence of riding a pedal cycle in the Ladies’ Walk. PC Wilds gave evidence to the court that he had seen the defendant on the afternoon of 7 April riding a cycle in the thoroughfare in question, and had stopped him, asking for his name and address, which the man freely gave and without argument. Wilds asked the lieutenant if he knew the regulations about riding cycles in the area, and he replied that he did not, but graciously informed Wilds that it didn’t matter, as he was an army officer on active service. An unnamed army major who was in court told the bench that Lieutenant White was very busy on the date in question and was simply trying to catch up with his tasks. Lieutenant White had told the major that this was the first offence he had committed and that it would also be his last and expressed deep regret for the incident. Councillor Jeal, in dismissing the case, said that it was the right thing to do as Lieutenant White had acted out of ignorance, had given his name and address immediately he was asked for it, and ceased to ride further.

A Lieutenant Dawson, who also didn’t have the name of his regiment revealed, appeared before the same bench later that day, charged with the exact same offence, on the same afternoon as Lieutenant White’s misdemeanor. Again the officer was spoken for by the same unnamed major, again PC Wilds provided the evidence, and again the bench took the same lenient approach and dismissed the case.

Still later that day, Corporal Clifton appeared before the bench, summonsed for riding a motor cycle in the same area as Lieutenant White and Lieutenant Dawson. Clifton’s offence had been committed on 1 April. He was further charged with failing to produce a driving license when required to do so by the police. PC Prosser told the court that at about 6.00 pm on the evening of 1 April, he was on foot patrol in Prospect Road, Hythe, when he saw Corporal Clifton riding his motor cycle out of the Ladies’ Walk area. He stopped him and pointed out the notices that were clearly visible explaining the restrictions in place in the Ladies’ Walk area for pedal and motor cyclists. He then asked him for his license and Clifton produced a piece of paper saying that he was allowed to pass anywhere. PC Prosser then asked him if he had a proper license, to which he replied that he didn’t need one as he was a soldier. Councillor Jeal then asked a Superintendent Castle if military personnel were required to have in their possession licenses to ride or drive military vehicles. He replied that if any member of the armed forces did not have a license, he should be in possession of full written authority from his commanding officer. If he had such written authority, no prosecution of the man could take place. Jeal adjourned the case for one week, so that the clerk to the justices could ascertain whether Corporal Clifton was acting under instructions, and whether he was exempt from the requirement to have a license. In Corporal Clifton’s case, there was no unnamed Major present to represent him.

In early May 1915, the new mayor of Hythe, Councillor William R. Cobay, issued an appeal on behalf of the Hythe Volunteer Training Corps, despite the fact that between March and May a further thirty members had enlisted. His appeal was in the form of a letter:

With a view to still further increasing the number, and to follow the example of other Corps, the Committee wish to provide the members with the uniform approved by the Central Association. For this and other purposes about £250 is required beyond the subscriptions already received. The object of this letter therefore is to enlist your help in providing the necessary funds if you have not already subscribed.

I am afraid there are very many, even in this town, who do not yet realize what this terrible war means, for the reason, probably, that it is taking place in other countries, but if they could imagine the devastation, misery, and ruination, and the nameless atrocities caused to the population of those countries, they would quickly realize what it would mean if England should be invaded by the enemy, and all things are possible. You have evidence of what the enemy is capable of not only in the past but still more recently, and their boast of the things they will do if ever they should land on England’s shores.

Fortunately, there are those patriots who do realize it, and who have sacrificed their future careers, and everything they hold dear, by joining the Regulars and Territorials in defence of the King and Country. There are others who are working hard practically day and night and Sundays, in making the ‘sinews of war,’ who in every sense of the word must be considered as patriotic as those in the fighting line. There are others who for good reasons are unable to do either, or to join the Volunteer Corps, but who are quite able, on the other hand, to financially help patriotic movements of this sort. To these therefore I more particularly appeal for subscriptions.

This is a National War which affects everyone, no matter what his position may be, and upon which depends all that we cherish, our homes, our families, and even our great Empire, and as the Prime Minister recently stated, ‘No man amongst us is worthy of the name of a British Citizen who is not taking his part in it.’

Captain Cyril Probyn Napier Raikes of the 8th (Service) Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was summoned before the Hythe Petty Sessions on 4 May 1915 for allowing a bright light to be seen from his house. He pleaded not guilty. PC Prosser gave evidence that he was on duty and in company with PC Stokes. They were standing on the seafront between the Shelter and the Hotel Imperial on the evening of 15 April 1915, just before midnight, when he saw a light showing from Sea Cottage in Hillcrest Road. The two constables then made their way towards the property in question and found that the light they had seen was coming from the room in the attic, which had no drawn blind or curtain across it. Prosser then rang the bell on the front door of the cottage but received no reply. The following morning Prosser returned to the premises; this time he managed to speak with a servant. He asked the woman why he hadn’t answered the door when he had called the previous evening; she replied that she hadn’t heard anybody, hence she hadn’t answered the door. Prosser established that it was in fact the servant who occupied the attic room. He further asked her if her master had told her about the light and the need to keep it covered during the hours of darkness; she replied that he had. Soon afterwards Prosser saw Captain Raikes and enquired about the situation with the attic light. Raikes admitted that he had been cautioned in regard to the matter, but pointed out that the window in question looked out in the direction of the south-east and not towards the sea; although the light was clearly visible from the sea. Because Hillcrest Road was near the sea, residents in the street were visited by the police and told to draw their curtains during the hours of darkness when they had their lights on indoors. This was backed up with notices and posters. In reply to a question from Councillor Jeal, Constable Prosser said it was quite right that all lights were required to be dimmed or covered, whether or not they were facing out to sea. PC Stokes corroborated the evidence that had been given by Prosser, other than that he hadn’t returned to the property the following morning. He had, however, previously warned the home owner, via the servant, about not allowing lights to be seen during the hours of darkness. Special Constable Mr F.A. Arnold gave evidence that he and Special Constable Rogers had called at the property on 13 April 1915 and also told the servant that no lights were allowed to be seen from windows that were immediately facing out towards the sea or from the sides of the house. Mr Douglas Moffatt of Bella Vista, Hillcrest Road, Hythe, stated for the defence that he was also warned by the police in regard to not having lights shining out towards the front of his property, but added that nothing was mentioned about lights from the side of his property. He added that his cottage faced due south and asked if lights could be shown in any direction? The chairman of the bench, Doctor Murdoch, replied, ‘No; no lights should be shown in any direction, and the Police are not supposed to be warning people. There are notices about, and everybody is presumed to have made acquaintance with them.’ Doctor Murdoch added that the order of the lights was a military one and not a civilian one. Captain Raikes was found guilty and fined £1 including costs.

Having checked the Medal Rolls index cards for the British army for the First World War, I came across a Captain Cyril Probyn Napier Raikes, which has to be the same individual; the only difference being that he was shown as having served with the Royal Engineers and not the KOYLIs. It shows that he served in Egypt from 12 November 1915. He survived the war, finishing his military career with the rank of major. The 1911 census shows him living in Sidcup and working as an electrical engineer. He lived with his wife Theodora, their two young daughters, and three servants.

On 17 June 1915 a Canadian soldier who was stationed at the West Sandling Camp appeared before the Hythe Borough Bench.

Sandling Junction Canadian Camp.

James B. Hunt of the Canadian Expeditionary Force had been charged with stealing a pair of field binoculars and case belonging to Major Norman D. Perry, valued at £12. Alexander McDonald, also of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, was further charged with receiving the field glasses and case, knowing that both items had been stolen. Major Perry, of the 19th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, had last seen the field glasses on the evening of 9 June 1915 when he left them in the hall rack at the Red Lion Hotel when he went there for dinner. When he left there at about 7 pm, the field glasses were missing. He enquired of the hotel’s proprietor if he knew of their whereabouts, but he said that he knew nothing about them, but that there had been a number of people who had arrived and left during the relevant period of time. Major Perry left the hotel and outside he just happened to come across a military police sergeant, Walter Robert Lunnis, to whom he reported the loss. He in turn reported the loss to Hythe civilian police. Major Perry had seen two soldiers acting suspiciously outside the Red Lion Hotel, but could not identify either Hunt or McDonald as being the same two men. Lunnis gave evidence that Major Perry had reported the loss to him at about 7.15 pm. About half an hour later his attention was drawn by a member of the public to a lance corporal a short distance away and clearly under the influence of alcohol. On his way to speak to the man, he passed McDonald, who he noticed was improperly dressed by having something under his tunic. He stopped the man and asked what he was hiding. McDonald replied that it was not ‘booze’. Sergeant Lunnis asked to see what McDonald had on his person. By now Hunt had joined them, just as McDonald opened his tunic and produced the field glasses in their case. Major Perry’s name was on the glasses but this had been rubbed off the case. When challenged by Sergeant Lunnis about the items, McDonald replied, ‘I didn’t steal the glasses; I bought them off another man.’ McDonald was then arrested by Sergeant Lunnis. Private Hunt, who confirmed that he was serving with the 21st Battalion, pleaded not guilty and elected to be dealt with summarily. His story was that he had bought the glasses for 2 shillings from two other soldiers round the back of a pub, the name of which he could not remember, and neither did he know the names of the soldiers concerned. He said that he later bumped in Private McDonald and sold them on to him for sixty cents. In answer to a question from Mr Stainer about what time he purchased the glasses, Hunt said that he could not rightly recall as he had been drunk at the time, and had been drunk for a week before that. McDonald also pleaded not guilty, stating that he did not know the glasses were stolen, but did not wish to give any other evidence or information in relation to the matter. After a short adjournment, the magistrates returned and Mr Stainer said that the charge against Hunt would be amended to one of receiving stolen property, to which Hunt also pleaded not guilty. Despite this plea, Mr Stainer informed the men that the bench had found them both guilty as charged and they would each be sentenced to one month’s imprisonment with hard labour. An officer from the soldier’s regiment who was in court said there was nothing more serious against the accused soldiers than that they had been absent without leave. He further mentioned that since the men’s arrest, a number of officers from the same camp had reported having lost their field glasses. There was disappointment and dismay, not so much because of what had happened, but more because of who had committed the offences: soldiers from another country who had come to England to complete their training before going to war to fight for freedom, to strike out against an aggressor against a nation who wanted to enforce their will on other nations who weren’t as powerful as they. They were supposed to fight against tyranny, evil and oppression, but some of them, like Hunt and McDonald, were just common criminals who didn’t really care about anybody or anything except themselves. They had let themselves down, they had let their regiment and colleagues down, they had let down their nation, but most importantly, they had let down England, the country that had welcomed them, who had fed and watered them and put a roof over their heads.

Some 40,000 troops of the Canadian Expeditionary Force had arrived in England by February 1915 and were sent to camps all over Kent, including West Sandling and Hythe, for training before being sent to France. The West Sandling camp had been completed in October 1914 and was big enough to cater for eight battalions of Canada’s finest. A large part of the training involved the digging of long ago lost trenches in the Kent countryside on the outskirts of Hythe.

On 28 July 1915, F (Hythe) Company of the Cinque Ports Battalion, East Kent Volunteer Fencibles, marched out to Shorncliffe. Mr Charles Twopeny, the company commander, had charge, and the men who paraded about eighty strong in the Grove were headed by the drums, fifes and buglers of the Hythe Boy Scouts under the control of Mr E. Palmer. It was a spectacle to behold, with many amateur photographers amongst the crowds taking snapshots on the sunny day. A party of regular soldiers taking a rest at Seabrook gave the Fencibles a hearty clap as they passed.

In contrast to the above, Hythe’s recruiting office at Bank House received a letter in the last week of July 1915. It was from Private Wilfred J. Cowell of the Army Service Corps, who was somewhere in the Mediterranean, and was addressed to a Mr W.J. Chitty:

You will see by the above address that I am many miles away from dear old Hythe. I have done no baking, up to the present; we do rifle practice, drills and we are learning transport work with mules. I hope the Hythe boys are answering the call to duty. I am proud to be able to do my little bit for King and country. Wishing you every success.

The 1911 census shows a Wilfred John Cowell living at 4 High Street, Hythe, with his wife Susie and their three children, Wilfred, Gwendoline and Edna. Wilfred’s occupation was shown as a baker and a confectioner. His army service record has survived and shows that he enlisted aged 40 on 31 May 1915 at Aldershot and became Private S/H/109885 in the ASC. By then Wilfred and his family had moved to 19 Chapple Street, Hythe, where he was working as a master baker. It is somewhat remarkable that he was accepted into the army: he was only five-feet one-inch tall and the medical officer who examined him wrote, ‘This man has a marked spinal curvature.’ ‘But,’ he continued, ‘he seems otherwise a strong and handy man for his size. This man has worked as a baker for 23 years without illness.’ He served with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force between 9 June 1915 and 23 September 1918, so just nine days after enlisting he was already serving overseas. He was also mentioned in dispatches, London Gazette, 22 January 1919. At the time of his discharge on 8 April 1919 he was 43 and had reached the rank of acting sergeant. The family home was now at 20 High Street, Hythe, and Wilfred had been awarded a weekly medical pension of 9s 9d, payable from 9 April 1919, for the effects of dysentery. It was reviewable after 52 weeks.

On 2 August 1915 the Hythe Company of the East Kent Volunteer Fencibles, commanded by Mr C.D. Twopenny, undertook a training exercise. Their ‘enemy’ was the Folkestone Company of the East Kent Volunteer Fencibles, so there was a strong neighborly rivalry and pride at stake. It was the job of the Folkestone Company to defend the waterworks at Lower Standen from the enemy, the Hythe Company. As is usual with such exercises, not everything went smoothly: the train picking up the Hythe men was three quarters of an hour late. But once the exercise began, it was noted that some good work was done. Both sides were keen to claim a victory for their efforts, but the final word lay with General Tylden from Saltwood who acted as the umpire; his decision: a draw.

The monthly meeting of the Hythe Town Council took place on 11 August 1915. Chairing was the Mayor Councillor W.R. Cobay, and in attendance was a large number of other councillors and alderman. Before they began the evening’s business, the mayor said that as it was the first time they had met since 4 August, the first anniversary of the beginning of the war, he hoped that he might be permitted to say a few words on the subject. The date of their previous meeting would be ingrained in their memories forevermore, for obvious reasons; it certainly would be for him as it was also his birthday. He ventured to suggest that Britain and her Allies were in a much stronger position than they had been a year earlier. He had no doubt that people, including himself, would be anxious while the war was on, and would remain so until it came to an end, whenever that might be. He knew that there were those in Hythe who had already lost loved ones to the war. Sitting amongst them was Councillor Jeal; he had lost his only son some months earlier at Gallipoli. To all the bereaved he wished to tender his heartfelt sympathy and condolences. There were those in the town, Mr Cobay said, whose every waking second was filled with anxiety and trepidation, as a member of their family was either away fighting at the front or shortly to be doing so. In some cases it was the men who were waiting to go to war who were suffering, because they had the worry of what was going to happen to the families and loved ones that they would have to leave behind. Mr Cobay reminded his colleagues that only a few months earlier, one of their number had resigned his position as a member of the council and sacrificed his business in order to fight for his king and country. He was talking about Captain Butler. To those who were fighting at present he expressed the hope that they would return home safely to their families once the war was over, with the knowledge and satisfaction that they had done the best that they could do in what had been very difficult circumstances. But whatever they were going through, at least they hadn’t had to suffer having their lands trampled over, their homes destroyed and their people displaced, as had the people of Belgium and France. When he had begun his term of office as mayor, at the end of 1914, he had wholeheartedly believed the war would have been over by the time he had finished his year in office. Sadly for Mr Cobay that wasn’t going to be the case. A few other council members stood and made similar comments and observations and were supportive and in agreement with Mr Cobay. The meeting then turned to normal council business.

On 5 September 1915 there was a farewell parade by the 1st Hythe B.P. Boy Scouts. Their scoutmaster, Leo Tapp, had been transferred from Hythe to Whitstable. The Hythe troop paraded at 10 am on the Green under the command of the district commissioner, Mr E. Osbourne. Addressing the boys, Mr Osbourne said it was his pleasure to present Mr Tapp with a Swastika Brotherhood Badge. These were badges of thanks for those who had earned the gratitude of scouts. It entitled the holder to the assistance of any scout at any time. On seeing a person wearing this badge, a scout would salute and ask if he could be of any service. Mr Tapp was held in high esteem by the Boy Scouts of Hythe.

On the topic of young boys wishing to do their bit, Mr J.G. Green of the London County and Westminster Bank at Hythe came up with the idea of forming a Hythe company of the Boys’ Brigade in August 1914. He had previously been involved with the Boys’ Brigade when he lived in Brighton and decided he would like to continue this association in his new town. In response to his invitation a local detachment was set up with twenty-four young men signing up. Then the war broke out and getting young men to sign up to the Boys’ Brigade wasn’t so easy. But those who had already become members stayed loyal to the Hythe detachment, certainly until the summer of 1915. Seven of the original members then enlisted, with a further three enlisting in the navy. It was hoped that some of what they had learnt in the Boys’ Brigade would stand them in good stead in their military careers.

On 11 October 1915 an inquest took place at Hythe Town Hall in front of the borough coroner, Mr B.C. Drake, concerning the body of an unknown man that had been washed up on the shore about half a mile from the Grand Redoubt, on the Hythe side. The first person to give evidence was a William Crookes, of 7 Church Hill, Hythe. He told the court that on Sunday, 10 October, at about 6.30 am, he was on the beach fishing, about half a mile from the Grand Redoubt, on the Hythe side, when he saw a body washed up. PC Prosser said that about 10 o’clock on Sunday morning he received information concerning a body that had been washed up near the Redoubt. On hearing this news he got to the scene as quickly as he could. On arrival he saw the body of a male person lying on the beach. It was dressed in a blue serge suit with three Royal Naval Reserve buttons on each sleeve. The body was not in good condition; it could have been in the water for up to three months. Prosser estimated the man’s age at 30 to 35. There was nothing on the body to identify the man; all he had was a pair of cufflinks, a rusty bone-handled knife and a tobacco pouch. Sub-Lieutenant James Ranby of the Royal Naval Reserve, who was stationed at Dover, could not identify him, but identified his uniform as that of a warrant officer of the RNR. The coroner stated that because of the mutilation to the man’s body, particularly his face, identification was going to be a problem. The jury returned a verdict of ‘Found Drowned’. The mystery of the identity of the dead man was never solved.

On 12 October 1915, Miss Gertrude Noos of Beaconsfield Terrace, Hythe, had an accident. She was well-known in the town, having worked for some time at the Bevan Military Hospital, Sandgate, caring for wounded soldiers. She stepped onto the pavement outside the hospital when a passing motor car skidded and knocked her down. She was helped to her feet and taken into the hospital so she could have her injuries treated. It was found that she had sustained slight concussion and had a few bruises and scratches. She was treated in the same hospital where she worked helping others.

On 20 November 1915, the Hythe Volunteer Training Corps had its very first drill session at the town’s cricket ground, permission for which was happily granted by the Cricket Club. At the end of the proceedings, which took place in the afternoon, the corps commandant congratulated his men, not only on their fine muster, but also on their smart turnout and the precision of their movements.

The Voluntary Training Corps (VTC) was a volunteer home defence militia. Most towns in the country had one. They came about as a result of popular demand from men who could not enlist due to age or through business or family commitments. Initially there was resistance from the War Office to forming such units, but with so many popping up all over the country, they were eventually officially recognized, so that there was some control and unity about what they did and were used for. When conscription was introduced in January 1916, military service tribunals had the power to order men who were trying to be excused from military service, to join the VTC.

December 1915 saw the Hythe Congregational Church Choir keeping themselves busy as Christmas approached. Under the leadership of Miss E.M. Owen they sung at the Sandling army camp; this was when British soldiers were staying there and before the thousands of Canadians arrived. They had been invited to the Sandling camp by the secretary of the YMCA and were more than happy to oblige. It was a packed house, with row upon row of khaki-clad soldiers hanging on to every word. The chairman of the choir was Reverend Hirst; many of the soldiers knew him quite well, such was the importance of the church in everyday life at the time. On 1 December 1915, the choir paid a visit to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Folkestone. On this occasion they performed in front of rows of beds, the men propped up with pillows and cushions, wearing pyjamas and dressing gowns.

CHAPTER 3

1916: The Realisation

Reverend F. Hirst, a Congregational minister and chaplain to the forces at Hythe, had three sons serving in the army. His eldest, Eric Arnold, was a sergeant in the Liverpool Regiment, Clifford was a lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, and his youngest, Stanley Ewart, had completed his training with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and was waiting for his commission. I found Eric Arnold in the service records for the Australian Imperial Force. Son of the Reverend, he was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. After he completed his medical on 23 July 1915 in Sydney, he enlisted on 28 January 1916, aged 23. He was Private 1254 in No.3 Company, Mining Company. Before enlisting he had been a motor mechanic.

The Reverend Hirst, who preached at the Hythe Congregational Church, knew that many of his congregation had enlisted and that by January 1916 were either serving abroad in one of the many theatres of war or were training somewhere in the UK. Partly I presume because his three sons had also enlisted, he came up with the idea of sending a New Year’s gift to all of them. He made an appeal to which he received a remarkable response, raising more than enough money for all to receive a gift with enough left over to provide a sumptuous treat for the town’s convalescent soldiers. The feast and entertainment for the convalescent soldiers took place in the school room on 21 January. As might be expected, it was well attended and greatly appreciated.

January also saw Hythe’s ex-mayor, Frederick William Butler of the Northamptonshire Regiment, being mentioned in dispatches by Sir John French for his gallant service in the field. By the war’s end he had been awarded the Military Cross and would go on to become mayor on three more occasions. He was a much respected estate agent and auctioneer in the town.

Mr Charles Rice Nelson, son of Mr Charles Nelson, of Nelson Cottage, Seabrook Road, Hythe, was 41 and a steward in the Mercantile Marine on the P&O liner SS Persia when it was torpedoed and sunk off Crete by submarine U-38 under the command of Captain August Max Ahlmann Valentiner on 30 December 1915. Out of 519 passengers and crew, 343, including Mr Nelson, died. One of the passengers who died was Eleanor Thornton, an English actress and model, reportedly the model for the ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ which adorns the bonnets of Rolls-Royce cars.

Charles Nelson senior received a letter from the London office of the P&O company saying they deeply regretted that there was no probability that any further survivors would be found:

Captain August Max Ahlmann Valentiner.

Many passengers have expressed themselves in very kindly terms of your son. The following is an extract of a letter received from a lady who resides in Surrey. ‘I came home from Bombay on the Persia on her last voyage to England, and was so very comfortable and received such kindness from the ship’s officers and stewards, that I feel many personal friends were lost to me. I would specially like to tell you of the exceedingly kind and personal attention received from Mr Nelson. His unfailing good temper and cheerfulness and patience with all passengers was beyond description. He never found anything too much trouble, and his humour and little jokes, kept all amused, and I should be gratified if you could convey to the family, my very deep sympathy.

Charles Rice Nelson had worked for P&O for twenty-one years. How nice it must have been for his father to know how highly his son was thought of by some of the company’s passengers.

The Hythe Police Court sat on 8 February 1916. In the chair was Mr J.B. Horton. The first case involved Mr William Snoad, a hairdresser in the High Street, who was summonsed for selling a bottle of whiskey without a license to a soldier named Duncan McMillan with the intent to make him drunk, or less capable for the efficient discharge of his duties. Private McMillan told the court that on 24 January he went to the barbers’ shop that was run by Mr Snoad where he bought a bottle of whiskey for 7s 6d, the same one he had in his possession when he was arrested by the military police. He had never been to the shop before but had been told by some colleagues that Mr Snoad was the person to go to if you wanted to purchase some whiskey. Snoad and McMillan were then questioned by the bench. Snoad said that he had told McMillan that he only had a large bottle of whiskey for his own consumption, and reminded McMillan that he had persuaded him to let him have the whiskey because he had mentioned a sick friend. McMillan agreed this was correct. Mr Snoad further reminded McMillan that he had let him have the whiskey at cost price, which McMillan said he didn’t recall – he just paid him what he asked. Sergeant Pollard of the military police told the court that on 24 January 1916 he was in charge of the guard room at Hythe when Private McMillan was brought in, having in his possession a bottle of whiskey. McMillan told Pollard where he got it from. The local Hythe police were contacted, and later that evening Pollard and two of his colleagues went to Mr Snoad’s address searched his premises. In a cupboard they found two crates, one containing four quart bottles of ale, and another with three. They also found three full bottles of whiskey, a bottle of port, and another bottle of whiskey in an upstairs drawer and, oddly enough, a Canadian army kit bag. Pollard said they took McMillan with them to Mr Snoad’s premises, where he readily identified him as the man who had sold him the whiskey. Colonel Snow, the Provost Marshal at Shorncliffe camp, informed the bench that drunkenness amongst the troops was due more to the illicit sale of intoxicating liquors than to anything else. On almost every occasion they found that the drink involved was not obtained at public houses but through channels such as that with which the bench had to deal that day. It was difficult for the police to detect cases of this kind. Colonel Snow explained that drunkenness resulted in some men being absent when the time came for them to be sent to France, because they had been punished, sometimes being in prison.

Shorncliffe Camp.

Mr Snoad was found guilty of selling liquor without a license and fined £10, and for selling the same to a soldier under the Defence of the Realm Act he was fined £40 or four months imprisonment with hard labour. Mr Snoad asked for a week to raise the money and his request was granted. The chairman announced to the bench that anyone else selling intoxicating liquor to soldiers would face an immediate custodial sentence and not be given the option of paying a fine in lieu. It could almost be interpreted that some soldiers, knowing that they were about to be sent overseas, intentionally went looking for illicit liquor in the hope of being disciplined for drunkenness and avoiding being sent to fight.

On 23 March General Sir Sam Hughes, the Minister for Canada, who arrived in England at the beginning of the month, paid a visit to Hythe. He saw for himself the arrangements that had been made for Canadian troops in the town and the nearby army camps. He also paid a visit to the Canadian transport and pay offices.

General Sir Sam Hughes.

By all accounts, Hughes was quite a character. During the Second Boer War he was sent home to Canada for indiscipline. He was knighted on 24 August 1915 for being a driving force for the recruitment of young Canadians, and for the construction of an army training camp in Valcartier, Quebec. He then blotted his copybook by campaigning to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his supposed gallantry at the front. He was so brazen that he wrote directly to the Governor General, Prince Arthur. Hughes was never awarded his VC and he resigned from the army in November 1916. Then the Ross Rifle was ditched, the one Hughes had decided Canadian troops would use on the battle field because it was manufactured in Canada. The weapon was renowned for jamming in trench warfare conditions and replaced by the British army’s standard Lee Enfield .303.

A number of men from Hythe appeared before military tribunals on 8 March 1916 at the Town Hall, the mayor presiding. Mr Harry Neves of 54 St Leonard’s Road, Hythe, was a grocer’s assistant. He asked for an unspecified extension of time; the tribunal gave him one month.

Dudley Munn, aged 24, lived at 8 St Leonard’s Road, Hythe, and worked as a baker in his father’s business. He requested more time before he had to enlist. Mr Munn senior told the tribunal that he was over 70 and suffered from asthma. He could no longer work and his son was his right-hand man. He also employed three other men as part-time bakers and delivery drivers. He pointed out that his son was newly married. The case was adjourned for one month.

Guy Seaman Greenstreet applied for time. The military representative, Commander Twopeny, suggested that time might be extended, but he did not agree to Mr Greenstreet’s exemption.

Mr W.R. Butler of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, remarked to the tribunal that his brother, Captain F.W. Butler, was now serving at the front. At the outbreak of the war he had had three men working for him. Two had enlisted and he had been helpful in that. In December 1914 he secured the services of Mr Greenstreet who at that time had been rejected for military service as medically unfit, but this was later changed and he was reclassified as fit. Captain Butler had a good business and held several public appointments. He had left behind a wife and five children in Hythe when he answered the call to arms. Butler added that it would be of little comfort to his brother if the one man capable of carrying on the business in his absence had to leave it behind to enlist. Mr Butler read a letter from his brother in which he said, ‘I ought never to have volunteered if I had studied myself.’ He did not study himself but gave up his all to serve, and he asked the man who was carrying on his business be excused from military service. The mayor said the tribunal greatly appreciated Captain Butler’s patriotic conduct and that, in the circumstances, Mr Greenstreet’s case would be put back for four months.

Edward John Stokes, 31, of 21 Brewery Cottages, Hythe, said he had four brothers serving in the army, another who was 17 and still at home, and two sisters who were 9 and 11, to whom he gave 16s a week from his wages. His case was put back by one month.

Frederick Goodsell of 13 West End Cottages, 9 High Street, West Hythe, a market gardener’s labourer, had his case put back one month. His elder brother Edward, a private in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, had died of his wounds on 29 November 1914. His younger brother John Thomas also served as a private (26561), in the Royal West Surrey Regiment. Frederick survived the war and re-enlisted in March 1922, joining the Territorial Army, Royal Garrison Artillery.

There were several other cases heard that day. The last concerned a Mr J.H. McMillan and was held in camera, so there is no record of the proceedings. After the war the government issued instructions to the local government boards to destroy all their military tribunal files. No reason was provided, so readers are left to decide for themselves why this was done. The only similar case papers that were kept were from the Middlesex appeal tribunals, of which there are 11,000. These were kept as examples for possible future use.

On 7 March 1916, an unusual case was heard at the Hythe Police Court, before Dr Murdoch, Mr Jeal, Mr Ashdown and Mr Scott. David Dowell, 17, a butcher’s assistant, was accused of cruelty to a dog. The prosecution was brought by the RSPCA, represented in court by Mr C. Drake. Mrs Dale, the wife of the vicar of Hythe, told the court that at about 12.30 pm on Saturday, 26 February, she was in the High Street when she saw an Old English sheepdog come out of the premises of Messrs Fletcher, a butchers’ shop, with a knife sticking out of its back. The dog ran down Theatre Street and she followed it until she saw the knife fall from the dog’s back onto the road. She picked up the knife and gave it and the particulars of the incident to the first policeman she came across. PC Stokes, the officer who Mrs Dale had handed the knife to, gave evidence that he had made enquiries and found that the dog belonged to Mrs Ridley. He noticed a wound to the animal’s back of just over an inch. He went to Fletcher’s butchers’ where he spoke to Dowell and asked him if he knew anything about the knife, which was a butcher’s knife. He admitted that he had thrown it at the dog to get it out of the shop, but had no intention of striking the dog. Inspector Haward and Mr H.B. Eve, the local vet, gave evidence, the latter stating that the dog was suffering from a puncture wound and some portion of the muscle of the animal’s back was exposed to view. He dressed the wound, which had already begun to heal before the matter had been dealt with at court, but the dog would always have a big scar. Dr Murdoch told Dowell that he was guilty of a most cruel act and that, luckily for him, he was too old to be birched, which is what the punishment would have been if he had been younger. He was fined £5 5s and failure to pay would result in him being sent to prison for three months.

Boys under 16 could be birched. A birch was a bundle of twigs bound together to administer corporal punishment, usually across the buttocks. It was used as a judicial punishment throughout the UK until 1948, although it was still used as a punishment for violent breaches of prison discipline until 1962. The Isle of Man, which has its own legal system, continued to birch young offenders until 1976.

On 7 April 1916 an inquest took place at Hythe Town Hall in front of Coroner B.C. Drake. The matter was the untimely death of 38-year-old Alfred Middleton Angus, a private in the 17th (Reserve) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, stationed at the East Sandling camp. Captain Ernest Bennett of the 17th Battalion identified the body. Private Thomas Macuhan, also of the 17th, told the court that on the evening of Thursday, 6 April, at about 6pm, he came to Hythe town centre and went with Angus to the Duke’s Head public house where they each had a pint of beer and a whiskey. On leaving the Duke’s Head, they went to another ‘watering hole’ where Angus drank some whiskey and Macuhan had another pint of beer. They left at about 9 pm and made their way to the beach where Angus said that he wanted to see a friend who lived at one of the houses on the Parade. As they approached the house, the deceased walked up a small flight of steps to knock on the front door, and then Macuhan, who by now was looking out to sea, heard a loud thud. He made his way to the front door of the house, looked down, and could see Angus lying on the floor of the basement. Mrs Emily Williams, who lived at 42 Marine Parade, gave evidence that the previous evening at about 9.30 she answered her front door after hearing a loud thud and knocking on her door. When she answered it, Private Macuhan was standing there and he explained to her that Private Angus had fallen into her basement. They then helped carry Angus into the kitchen; he was bleeding and apparently already dead. She stated that she didn’t know who Angus was, had never seen him before, and they had never had any soldiers, of any nationality, billeted at their home. She lived there with her elderly mother. Captain L. Palmer, of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, stationed at Shorncliffe Barracks, told the court that he went to the address after receiving a message about the incident, arriving there at about 11.30 pm. In the kitchen he saw Angus, clearly dead. He saw a triangular cut on the right side of his head, his neck was broken and his skull was fractured. He determined that the latter two injuries were the cause of death, which probably occurred within a few minutes of the fall. Police Sergeant Smith, of Hythe Police, said that he arrived at the house about midnight, where he saw the body of the deceased, with blood coming from the injury on his head. This statement probably wasn’t correctly recorded, as there would have been little chance of the wound still actively bleeding some two and a half hours after the wound occurred. Sergeant Smith probably saw blood in the area of the wound which hadn’t been cleaned away and mistook this for the wound still bleeding. While at the property he took some measurements. There were nine steps from the pavement up to the front door. Just above where the deceased’s head hit the floor of the outside basement area there was a window that led to the scullery which had a small ledge, one corner edge of which had been chipped off, as if the deceased’s head had struck it. The coroner, Mr Drake, said this was a sad and tragic case. Here was a man who had arrived in England from another country to fight for king and country, and he had met his death because of the cursed drink. The jury found that the deceased had met his death having fallen off the steps and into the basement below. Drake added that in his opinion, more consideration should be given to serving soldiers with drink. Part of the problem, as he saw it, was that public houses were only open for such a short period of time that men drank as much as they could as quickly as they could. He felt it would be a much better practice if the public houses were open as usual up until 8 pm each night, but that was not a decision for him to make.

Lilian Harris came before the bench on 8 May 1916 charged with theft and falsely representing herself to be the wife of John Horace Horne. The theft was of a cheque for £5 2s 9d belonging to a Louisa Beatrice Horne of 21 Fort Road, Hythe. Alice Kate Dengate, a clerk in the General post office in Hythe, told the court that Lilian Harris called in at the post office at about 10 am on Monday, 1 May, and inquired whether there was a letter for ‘Mrs Horne’. She looked to see if there was any mail for the woman, and found an official looking letter addressed to Mrs J. Horne. She then asked the woman if she was Mrs Horne and she said that she was. Alice Dengate asked some further questions of the woman to clarify her identity, and finished the conversation by asking her what she was expecting in the letter. The woman replied that she was expecting her government pay, and at that point she handed the letter over. About an hour later another woman called and asked for a letter for ‘Mrs Horne’ and Alice Dengate told her that the letter had already been handed over to another woman. William John Trueman told the court that he had a shop in Bank Street and that on 1 May Lilian Harris and another woman called at his shop. The other woman said that she had come down from North Road with Lilian Harris, whom she introduced as Mrs Horne. She then asked Mr Trueman if he would cash a cheque for Mrs Horne. He asked her to endorse the cheque with her name, which she did, and he asked her to underline the word ‘Mrs’ and enter her initials, which she did. Mr Trueman understood that the woman who was with Lilian Harris, was her landlady. Police Sergeant Smith gave evidence. Lilian Harris told him that she had first met John Horace Horne in a railway station when he was returning home from Wales at the end of his furlough. Horne was a bandsman in the 40th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, stationed at the East Sandling camp. At the time he was stationed at Bramshot, near where she lived, and they were involved in a relationship for three months, before he was transferred to Sandling near Hythe. He wrote to her and asked her to come to Hythe, but not as his wife, and he took rooms for her at Saltwood, where she stayed for three months before moving to North Road, Hythe. She was introduced to her new landlady as Mrs Horne, but he only stayed there when he managed to get weekend leave. Lilian Harris didn’t know that Horne was already married, and despite this he asked her to marry him. He told her to go to the post office to collect the cheque which he told her was a payment from his mother. She told the court that as they were due to marry in a couple of weeks she didn’t see any harm in saying she was Mrs Horne. He was charged with aiding and abetting Lilian Harris in stealing the letter and cheque, and pleaded guilty. The real Mrs Louisa Beatrice Horne had married John Horne at Barry in Wales in November 1915 and had a marriage certificate to prove it. For most of their married life she had lived with her parents back in Barry, but since Horne had asked her to come to Hythe for a holiday she had been temporarily living at 21 Fort Road, Hythe. She confirmed that she had received all of the previous government allowances. John Horne succeeded in annoying the bench – they found his manner most despicable and he was sentenced to three months with hard labour. Despite Lilian Harris having been deceived by Horne, she was also sent to prison, for fourteen days, for representing herself as Mrs Horne when she was not. The bench expressed their sympathy to the real Mrs Horne and told her that if there was any army pay due for the prisoner while he was in prison, steps would be taken to make sure that it came to her.

On 14 June 1916, the monthly meeting of Hythe Council took place, with some interesting points of discussion. Here’s a flavour of some of the matters that were discussed:

Married Men on Service

Councillor Millar asked whether the committee could assist married men from the town who had been called up or who had voluntarily enlisted by looking at their rent and rates so that their wives and children didn’t suffer any undue hardship while they were away at war. The point raised quite a discussion with several members of the committee speaking on the matter. The mayor pointed out that the government had already made arrangements for such financial assistance. The Town Clerk advised Councillor Millar that in the case of any hardship, if an application for financial assistance was made to him by the family of a serving soldier, he would be most willing to provide all the assistance he could.

YMCA Hut Plan

The town surveyor produced the block plan for the YMCA hut intended for use by soldiers, which was to be erected in Prospect Road, and added that all of the required materials had been delivered. The committee approved the block plan and expressed a hope that the work of building the hut would be commenced at the earliest possible opportunity.

Sea Defence Works

A communication was read out at the meeting from Mr Lewis of Douglas, Lewis & Douglas, the corporation’s consulting engineers, relating to the contract between the town council and Messrs Wallis of Maidstone, whose tender for works of sea defences amounted to £2,987. It was agreed that the work would begin within a matter of days. Both the engineers and the contractors involved in the work suggested the appointment of Mr Anthony as clerk of the works at a weekly wage of £3 3s, with which the committee agreed despite the suggestion by Councillor Jeal that an overseeing eye by their own surveyor would be sufficient, because with the exception of the building of the bastions, the bulk of the work would be pile driven.

Fire Brigade

A letter was read out from the National Fire Brigade Union, which pointed out the necessity of maintaining local fire brigades in an efficient condition. Alderman Ashdown spoke strongly in favour of supporting the Union in this matter. The Hythe Brigade, as the other members were aware, had lost several of its active members to the armed forces. Their places had then been taken by retired firemen who had returned to their previous occupation to help out. The district was vast and included Dymchurch, Sellindge and Saltwood. Councillor Millar said that on the last occasion the Hythe Brigade was called out, they were on their way within five minutes of receiving the call. It appeared to him that the old members referred to by Alderman Ashdown had lost none of their vigour or professionalism. Ashdown added that it was more than likely they would lose more members unless the local tribunal gave them an exemption.

It was 1916 that saw the horrors of all horrors, the Battle of the Somme. Private 6689 Charles Johns, aged 34, of the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment, died on the first day of the battle, 1 July 1916. His home was at 2 Seabrook Road, Hythe. He is buried at the Knightsbridge Cemetery at Mesnil-Martinsart in the Somme.

Lieutenant Colonel William Lyle, 40, of the 23rd (4th Tyneside Scottish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, died on the same day. Before the war, his home was at ‘Springvale’, Hythe, where he lived with his wife Edith. His family were of Tate & Lyle fame, the sugar manufacturers. Lyle was one of the most senior officers killed on the first day of the Somme (two other lieutenant colonels were also killed that day). He was leading his men to the village of La Boisselle across 500 yards of open ground covered by German machine gunners. It was a disastrous day for the Northumberlands, with Lyle’s battalion suffering nearly 700 casualties. Three battalions of the Tyneside Scottish were involved also in the same attack, with each battalion losing more than 500 men. Lyle’s body, which wasn’t found for twelve days, was buried at Bapaume Post Military Cemetery at Albert.

Lyle’s brother-in-law, Captain Robert Bell, who was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, was killed in action during fighting near Mametz four days later. His body was never recovered but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

On 10 July 1916, an inquest was held by the borough coroner Mr B.C. Blake at Hythe Town Hall, into the unexpected death of 3-month-old Edna Rosa Wheeler at 22 Ormonde Road two days before. The child’s mother and Miss Maud Marshall showed that the child had been in delicate health since her birth. Early in the morning Mrs Wheeler noticed that her child appeared unwell. She called her neighbour Mrs Bradwell who gave the child a warm bath and thought the child had been fitting. They sent for Dr Davis, but before he arrived the child had passed away. Dr Davis gave evidence that the child had always been delicate since birth. He later carried out a post mortem, finding that all of the organs were in a healthy state, but on the right side of the heart some of the veins were charged with blood to an abnormal degree, and the lungs were greatly congested. Davis determined that death was due to suffocation, which would have looked similar to a fit. He commented that the mother and Mrs Bedwell had in the circumstances acted properly and done all that was possible for the child. The jury returned a verdict in keeping with the findings of the medical evidence.

In early August 1916 there was a meeting of the Hythe Military Tribunal. Many of the cases were relatively straightforward and simply too plain and ordinary for including in these pages. But now and again there were some which I found particularly interesting. One such was that of a Mr James N. Lock, a motor and cycle engineer employed by Mr Chittenden of Hythe; he was in fact the only competent worker that he had. Mr Lock’s application was supported by Mr H. Stainer. The work Mr Lock was engaged in was, for the most part, for military purposes. The military representative informed the tribunal that the advisory committee considered that the work in which Mr Lock was engaged was useful but that he ought to be doing it in the army instead of for a private company. Mr Stainer said they all knew there were many competent mechanics in the army who were not engaged in their respective trades, but doing ordinary soldier duties. Mr Lock had a delicate wife, and he handed in a medical certificate by Dr Hackney which said so. His boss Mr Chittenden had work in hand for the government which could not be completed within the next couple of months. Mr Chittenden told the tribunal that since the end of March he had refused some sixty-nine machines for the post office but had done work for the Cyclists’ Battalion. He had done £75 worth of work for one regiment alone and Mr Lock was now the only competent man he could entrust with the work. He had been obliged to close down one branch of his business at Dymchurch because he could not get men. The military representative said that if this work was for the military, then Mr Lock ought to be in the army, as they were asked for just this very kind of man. Mr Lock told the tribunal that he also partly supported his mother and father, and also entirely supported the orphaned children of his late brother. The tribunal granted him a three month exemption.

August 1916 saw a number of men added to the list of Hythe men who had become casualties of the war. After having been home on leave two months earlier, Lieutenant Victor Clarkson Alderson, the son of Mrs Mary Ann Alderson of 70 Marine Parade, Hythe, was wounded while serving in France. While serving with an Australian battalion that had captured a couple of enemy trenches, Alderson and his men were resting after their endeavours when a German grenade which had been thrown into their position exploded and he was hit in the leg by a piece of shrapnel. His army service record states that this was in fact a gunshot wound to his left leg. He was initially treated on 6 August 1916 in France at the 2nd Red Cross Hospital before returning to England and sent to the 3rd London General Hospital in Wandsworth for further treatment. Victor, a musician, had originally enlisted as a private (8057) in the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) in 1906, but in early 1913 he bought himself out of the army and emigrated to Australia. When he enlisted as Private 227621 in the Australian Imperial Force at Melbourne on 23 November 1914 he was 24 years old, and requested that two fifths of his pay be sent to his mother back home in Hythe. To say that the medical examination he underwent to be accepted in to the Australian army was thorough would be an understatement, check this out for a list of medical conditions that he didn’t have: ‘Scrofula, phthisis, syphilis, impaired constitution, defective intelligence, defects of vision, voice or hearing, hernia, haemorrhoids, varicose veins, beyond a limited extent, marked varicocele with unusually pendent testicle, inveterate cutaneous disease, chronic ulcers, traces of corporal punishment, or evidence of having been marked with the letters D, or BC, contracted or deformed chest, abnormal curvature of the spine, or any other disease or physical defect calculated to make him unfit for the duties of a solider.’ In addition, a man had to be able to see the required distance with either eye, his heart and lungs had to be healthy, he had to move his joints and limbs freely, and not be subject to fits of any description. With such a detailed and extensive list of potential ailments, it is somewhat amazing that anybody succeeded in enlisting into the Australian army. On 24 March 1915, Alderson qualified as a 2nd lieutenant at the 2nd School of Instruction at Broadmeadows, part of which included a written examination, and was posted to the 22nd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force. He was promoted to lieutenant on 13 December 1915 and captain on 8 February 1917. On 18 December 1915, he arrived in Alexandria on board the SS Ascanius, setting sail for France on 19 March, arriving in Marseilles a week later. He remained in France until he was wounded on 5 August 1916. He was sent to hospital in London where he stayed for four months before being sent to a convalescent hospital at Perham Downs near Tidworth on Salisbury Plain. He returned to France on 22 January 1917. Tucked away in his Australian army service record was the following entry, headed ‘Action for which commended’. It is clear that this was the reason for his Military Cross, although the wording of his eventual award does not include any of the below information:

In action, this officer has shown the qualities of command and leadership to a marked degree, notably in the Battle of the Somme, where he was wounded, and in the attack on the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt on 3rd May 1917 where he led his company to the assault with a courage and determination that inspired those under his command, and did much to ensure the success of the operation.

On 5 December 1917, Alderson returned to England and reported to the War Office, and on 1 January 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross. On 22 January he received a commission into the Indian Army. On 9 May 1918, a letter arrived at 70 Marine Parade, Hythe. It was addressed to Mrs Mary Ann Alderson and had been sent by the Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office, Victoria Barracks, Melbourne:

Dear Madam,

I have much pleasure in forwarding hereunder copy of extract from Supplement No. 30450 to the ‘London Gazette,’ dated 28th December 1917, relating to the conspicuous services rendered by the undermentioned member of the Australian Imperial Force.

HIS MAJESTY THE KING had been graciously pleased to approve of the undermentioned reward for distinguished service in the field. Dated 1st January 1918:-

AWARDED THE MILITARY CROSS

Captain VICTOR CLARKSON ALDERSON.

Mrs Alderson must have been very proud. Victor continued to serve in the Indian Army until 1947. In 1921, he had been stationed at the Depot 2/129, DCO, Baluchis, Karachi. By 16 June 1947 he was back in Australia living at ‘Bemloe’, Wollstonecraft Avenue, Avalon Beach, Sydney. His father was John, thirty years older than his mother Mary, and he had two older brothers, Edwin and Frank. When he died on 19 December 1957, his Australian deceased estate file showed that he was a retired colonel of the Indian army. One of Hythe’s finest although little has been written about him before.

Sergeant G. Casey of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) was the son of Mrs Casey of 121 High Street, Hythe. He was for some years before the war employed by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company at Hythe and there were not too many people from the town who did not know of him. While serving in France, and on seeing his officers fall in action, he knew the importance of continuing the attack. He took control of the men and continued until the object was achieved, but right at the end he fell wounded, shot in the head. I can only assume his comrades assumed he was dead, or he had fallen where his colleagues could not reach him. As darkness fell, and in intense pain, Casey awoke from his unconscious state and proceeded to crawl on his hands and knees for some hours until he got to a position held by another British regiment. His comrades immediately came to his aid and took him to a nearby base hospital. He was returned to hospital in England where he was visited by his friends and family from Hythe, who noted his improving condition, though he lost the sight of his right eye.

On 14 September 1916, the inquest into the body of an unknown child found in the Hythe Canal was resumed at the Town Hall in front of the coroner Mr Drake. Since the original inquest was adjourned, the police had been making exhaustive enquiries but had failed to identify the child. Photographs of the dead child, aged about 18 months, were compared with those of other missing children whom the deceased resembled, several of whom were subsequently traced, all being alive and well. Mr Drake decided that there was no point in keeping the enquiry open any longer. When the body was first discovered, he thought it was simply a case of child playing on the bank who had fallen into the canal and that a parent would quickly come forward to claim the infant. But when this didn’t happen it made him think it could be a case of foul play. It was significant that there was no laundry mark or name of any kind on the child’s clothing, but there was a laundry mark on a piece of apron inserted amongst the child’s clothing. Mr Drake assumed that, as it was not a piece of the child’s clothing, it must have been placed there for a reason. The police had identified the mark as belonging to Foster’s Laundry of Cheriton, and declared that they had conclusive evidence, without actually revealing what it was, that the piece of cloth had nothing to do with the case.

Dead Child.

Mr Drake decided that the verdict should be that the child was found dead in the canal, death being due to drowning, without any evidence to show how that had occurred. The jury returned an open verdict, adding that there was a strong suspicion of foul play.

On 16 October 1916 more cases appeared before the bench at Hythe police station. The first was that of Miss Gertrude Mary Raby, charged with the theft of a pedal cycle from outside 1 Tanners Hill on 10 October. Captain Lyon Evans from the General Staff of the Canadian Expeditionary Force told the court that he lived at 1 Tanners Hill, that the bicycle was his and he had bought it for use by his staff. Private James Gorman, who was Captain Evans’ servant, was the person who realized that the bike was missing, and reported its absence to him. The bicycle had last been seen at about 6pm on 10 October; then four days later James Gorman saw the bicycle being ridden by a young girl in North Road, Hythe. He stopped her and explained that it was stolen. The girl took Private Gorman to her house. Florence Ethel Evans, of 56 North Road, Hythe, told the court that on 14 October she went to the East Sandling army camp to do laundry work for some of the Canadian soldiers. There she met Gertrude Raby, who told her that she was going to a dance at the camp that evening, and asked her to look after the bicycle for her, and leave it back at the ‘lodge’ at her house. Although Florence didn’t know the woman, she appeared plausible, and so she agreed to take the bicycle. Gertrude told her that she would come and collect the bicycle on Saturday morning. It was on the Saturday morning that Florence was riding the bike in North Road when she was stopped by Private Gorman who told her that the bicycle was stolen. She then took him to her home and told her mother what the soldier had told her about the bicycle. PC Butcher, having been provided with a description of Gertrude Raby, saw somebody fitting her description at the bottom of Station Hill. He stopped the woman and asked her if she owned a bicycle, to which she replied, not since she had lived in Lancashire. He questioned her and then arrested her on suspicion of theft of the bicycle and took her to Hythe Police Station. She claimed that she did not steal it but refused to name the person who she said had. Superintendent Castle informed the court that Gertrude Raby had previously been convicted of an offence at London’s Bow Street Magistrates Court in early 1916, and in May she was sentenced to four months imprisonment at Seabrook for the theft of a bicycle. The bench found Raby guilty and sentenced her to four months imprisonment with hard labour. The mayor congratulated the young girl Evans for the mature way she gave her evidence.

In mid-November 1916, George W. Overett, who was well-known in Hythe, and despite his tender years was already serving in the navy, sent a letter home to a friend of his, which had a newspaper article attached to it. At the time, the ship George was serving on was somewhere off the coast of Canada. First, his letter:

I thought it might prove interesting to you and the people of Hythe to see the enclosed cutting from a paper published this side of the water. I get my copy of The Herald every week, and having seen so much about the lads who come from the Land of the Maple Leaf in our local paper, I thought it rather uncommon to see our little town of Hythe mentioned in a Canadian paper.

Here is the extract from the Canadian newspaper:

What I saw when I was home on leave last, convinced me that Hythe was quite up to the mark in welcoming and entertaining all who are having to stay anywhere in the district before going to the Front. I am pleased to see the town is doing so much good, and hope it will continue. Wishing you every success in your good work.

It must have been rather comforting for the young man, thousands of miles away from his home, far from his friends and loved ones, to read about a man from the country he is in, writing so kindly about his home town.

November 1916 saw the Folkestone, Hythe and District Branch of the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies, which praised itself for being non-militant and with no particular allegiance to any political party, make an announcement concerning its activities via its honorary press secretary Miss H.M. Stainer. On the outbreak of war the NUWSS decided to suspend its political activities for the time being and devote its organization to the relief of distress caused by the war. Mrs Fawcett, president of the NUWSS, appealed to the individual societies located around the country to do this, and an immediate response was the result. She said that a very large number of her workers were undertaking splendid work at home and abroad. The Folkestone, Hythe and District branch was looking to increase its members and asked that anybody who wanted to join their ranks to send their name and address to Mrs Henry Kingsley, at 7 The Bale, Folkestone. The president of the local branch was Mrs Napier Sturt and the honorary secretary was Mrs Henry Kingsley.

The last Hythe military tribunal of 1916 took place on 20 December and in the main dealt with men who were self-employed, one-man businesses. In reply to a question from the mayor, who was presiding, Commander Twopeny, the military representative for the tribunal, said that the authorities had not yet made a final decision as to the best way of dealing with such cases. The mayor said that in that case the tribunal would grant all those present an unspecified extension and that they would be notified by post as to the date of the next hearing, but it would not be necessary for any of them to attend in person. Others that day who had their cases adjourned while the authorities were making up their minds were:

Edward Isaac Silk of 37 North Road.

Henry J. Prior, who worked at Mr Messenge’s dairy farm.

Edward Urden, 38, a baker.

Leonard Sidney Davison, who worked as a tobacconist in the High Street.

William Thomas Drakeley, a butcher.

William Snoad, 37, a hairdresser.

Mr H.W. Walter of the High Street, Hythe.

Mr B.H. Hodgson.

As 1917, the fourth year of the war approached, many Hythe families were separated from their loved ones who were away serving in a foreign land. The question that most of them wanted an answer to was, when was the war going to end? Nobody knew that the war would continue for nearly two more years.

CHAPTER 4

1917: Seeing it Through

As far as Allied casualties were concerned, 1917 would go down in history as the worst year of the war. By the end of 1917, Britain and her Commonwealth Allies had lost a grand total of 293,762 dead as a result of the war. At least thirty-one men who had connections with Hythe were killed in 1917. I have written about these men in a bit more detail in chapter six – Hythe War Memorial.

While the war was being fought with an ever-increasing ferocity on the battlefields of France, Belgium, and further afield, what was life like back home for the people of Hythe?

On 27 January a letter written by Mayor Cobay appeared in the press in relation to the Hythe Branch of the War Savings Association. This was a national scheme set up by the government to raise money for the war effort. For the ordinary person, it was potentially a good way of saving for the future, as investors stood to make a profit of nearly 25 per cent in five years. Naturally this depended on Britain winning the war:

Sir,

At the request of the National War Savings Association, a local Committee has been formed in Hythe by the Corporation, and I am glad to say there are already some twenty branches in the process of formation, which will work under the local committee.

Under the scheme adopted by the Committee, every member will have a card divided in to 31 spaces, and for every sixpence the member gives to the Hon Secretary, of whichever branch he chooses to belong to, he will then be given a coupon to be affixed to the card, and after he has filled up all 31 spaces, which means that he will have subscribed the sum of 15s 6d, the member will be given a War Savings Certificate, which will yield £1 at the end of five years. These War Savings’ Certificates can be cashed for 15s 6d at any time within one year after the date of purchase, at the end of 12 months they can be cashed for 15s 9d, after 12 months the cash value increases by one penny a month, and so at the end of five years the yield of interest will be found at the rate of £5 4s 7d per cent per annum.

The following are the branches in process of formation namely: Foresters, Odd-Fellows, Church of England, Catholics, Wesleyans, Congregationalists, School of Musketry, National Schools, Seabrook Lodge School, Corporation, Girls Club, Metropole Laundry, Hotel Imperial, Brewery, Gas Works, and Worthingtons.

I am most anxious to make this scheme a success, as not only is it our duty to assist our country in every possible way but it teaches all the lesson of thrift.

Sir Philip Sassoon, 3rd Baronet.

In the same newspaper there was a brief report about Sir Philip Sassoon, MP for the Borough of Hythe since 1912. He had been appointed private secretary to Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig for which he was temporarily promoted to the rank of major. This was a position he would remain in until the end of the war. As a 2nd Lieutenant in Royal East Kent Yeomanry, he was present at the meeting at Chateau Demont in Merville of King George V, Edward Prince of Wales, President Poincaré of France, and his generals Joffre and Foch, which showed the esteem in which he was held. Sir Philip was the cousin of war poet Siegfried Sassoon, and also part of the famous Rothschild banking family, and had the reputation for being one of the greatest hosts of British high society. He never married and died on 3 June 1939, aged 50, of the flu.

The topic of conversation at the United Men’s Meeting at Hythe Town Hall on 11 February 1917 was ‘The Future of the Nation’. It was well-attended and was presided over by the Reverend D. Barton who made the opening speech. In it he remarked that people in general held a certain ideal of life, which meant that they also recognized certain principles, one of which was how a person should conduct themselves in any given situation. He spoke about how it was their responsibility and duty to arouse the social conscience in respect of relationships, whether socially or in the work place. This could be achieved, he said, by creating a greater sense of responsibility in all aspects concerning the wellbeing of one’s fellow man. In some respects, he said, the war had shown how men could have strength in numbers and achieve great things, but individually men could be weak and feel vulnerable. If men could learn from the commitment, dedication and teamwork that was needed to compete effectively in the workplace, and replicate that in a social setting, Christian principles as a social power would have an enormous strength. Character was key, because without character, and the right character at that, it was difficult, nigh on impossible, to achieve much in life, either as an individual or as a team. Barton then commented on the nation’s youngsters, especially those aged between 14 and 18. To grow in the right way so that they became an integral part of their communities and society in general wasn’t something that just happened, something that they woke up to one morning and found at the bottom of their bed all neatly wrapped up in a parcel. No, for this they needed sound advice, direction, and sometimes sympathy and understanding from an adult, whether that be their teacher, parent, or older friend. As he saw it, this wasn’t by telling them what to do, as this ran the risk of breeding resentment and would result in failure to reach out to them. The time of adolescence was one when young people had a desire for fellowship with their peers, which for some manifested itself in joining a gang. The Reverend pointed at the potential benefits for all concerned if this desire for kinship could be somehow channelled towards such organizations as the Scouts, which would develop such qualities as honour, unselfishness and leadership. He then went on to say that suitable reading material must be provided, adding that it was right to ban ‘impure and trashy’ literature, but when that occurred it was only right to provide a suitable alternative. He wanted to see united action against the ‘impure literature’ which could be found in abundance in nearly every town including Hythe, and he also took a dim view of what was being shown in the cinemas, suggesting that pictures needed to be of a ‘healthier tone’ and ‘better standard’. He said that there could be no valid reason for boys and girls to be found hanging around the town’s Picture Palace (cinema) on a Sunday. He made an allowance for soldiers seeking recreational pursuits other than the church on a Sunday. Theirs he said was a special case, but for others there should be stringent rules in place banning all civilians of any age from frequenting such establishments on the Sabbath. Sunday was a day for going to church, worship, resting and family unity. As he saw it the root cause of all problems where youngsters were concerned was the subject of sex. This was an issue that required dealing with by children’s parents, no matter how awkward or uncomfortable it was for them to address.

Mr C.R. Thomas, scout master of the 1st Hythe Troop, also addressed those present. He was a fervent believer that scouting should be taken over by the government.

Alderman Ashdown urged the formation of more ambulance classes, and Mr Johansen, a Canadian soldier of Norwegian origins, spoke of his experience of being a Scout organizer for more than nine years.

At the close of the meeting it was moved that Mr Thomas’s scheme for the taking over of the Scout movement by the state should be submitted to the MP for Hythe for consideration. The resolution was carried unanimously.

A sitting of the Hythe Military Tribunal took place on 14 March 1917 at the Town Hall, Mayor Cobay presiding. The first case was an application by Mr T. Hesketh, manager of the Folkestone Electrical Supply Company, on behalf of the company’s electrical engineer, Mr Alphonse Christian Wampach. Mr Hesketh made the application, he said, with the interests of the nation in mind. He told the committee that he needed many skilled men to carry out the work that he already had orders for, but it was impossible to find them. If he lost Mr Wampach, the Hythe works would have to be shut down, it was that simple. These were not just empty words or an attempt to bring pressure to bear on the members of the tribunal, but the facts of the matter. At the time, the company was under contract to the military authorities to supply electric current (it is surprising that this information was allowed to be reported in the press), yet they were willing to take away nearly all of the company’s workforce and run the risk of going without electricity. Mr R. Gordon, who was in charge of Hythe’s Special Constabulary, told the tribunal that Mr Wampach was serving as a special constable in the town, and that his services were, ‘thoroughly good’. According to the 1911 census he was a married man, but it only showed the names of his three daughters. There was no record of his wife, Constance, living at the same address, however I did find her living at a boarding house at 4 Rosebery Terrace, Hythe. A search of the Church of England Marriages and Banns for the Liverpool area shows that Alphonse had married Constance Ellen Dayson in Fairfield, Lancashire, on 11 February 1902. Constance died on 29 January 1929 at Chatham Hospital; her address at the time is recorded on the National Probate Calendar for Wills and Administration as being ‘Formby Lodge’, Seabrook Road, Hythe. Maybe the name of her home was influenced by her Liverpool roots. Just three months after the death of Constance, Alphonse remarried Nellie Smethurst in London. He was never conscripted in the First World War, and died in Folkestone in 1941 at the age of 62.

On 11 April 1917, the Red Cross Ambulance, which was a contribution from the people of Hythe to the British Red Cross Society, arrived in the borough en route to the western front in France. It was formally handed over by Mayor Cobay at the Town Hall. The ambulance was one of the most up-to-date versions, having a carrying capacity of four stretcher cases or eight people seated, in addition to the driver and one attendant. While parked outside the town hall, it was examined minutely by many of the contributors to the Hythe Pageant. It also drew enthusiastic attention from doctors, medical staff and those connected to the town’s hospitals, especially those specifically dealing with wounded soldiers. In fact there was so much excitement that the mayor, having regard for the feelings of a family in the vicinity one of whose members was close to death, asked that the noise, although understandable, be kept to a minimum. The Hythe ambulance car was, he said, the result of the most successful effort ever made in the town’s history. It would, in a short time, take its place alongside many others at the front, but it was the mayor’s privilege to transfer its ownership, in the name of the people of Hythe, to the British Red Cross Society. He was sure it would render assistance to the gallant men who were fighting for their king and country, and for the men, women and children of Hythe as well. The mayor told the crowd that the people of Hythe had not only raised enough money to purchase the ambulance, but also to donate £1,000 to the Red Cross as well, so splendid had been their efforts in donating their hard-earned money to the worthy cause. After the mayor’s speech, a procession of vehicles carrying himself, members of the council, and members of the Pageants Committee set off in a nine-car convoy following the Hythe Ambulance around the streets so that as many people as possible could see the result of their collective efforts. The mayor then entertained the local dignitaries and some of his friends with drinks and a hearty meal at the town hall, at the end of which kind words were in abundance, mostly directed towards the mayor for his leadership, drive, optimism and continued commitment to the town and its people. The mayor replied that he hoped the end of the fighting would come about sooner than later and be replaced by a peace that would last for a hundred years and more, and when peace finally arrived, the town would celebrate like they had never done before.

It has to be said that William Cobay, born in Quebec in 1849, was a very nice person, who cared about the people of Hythe and did much for them during his time as mayor, not for personal recognition but because he had a genuine desire to help others. The love he had for the people of the town was reciprocated when he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough on 15 November 1919.

On 14 May 1917 the Hythe County Court didn’t have that many cases to deal with, but the case of Mr R. Lichfield caught my eye. It consisted of judgement summonses. The plaintiffs were Mr W.G. Tester of Stanford, Messrs Davis and Davis of Folkestone, and Mr E. Ashdown of High Street, Hythe. The defendant gave his occupation as author. Judge Shortt asked him how much he had paid off, and he replied that he had not paid off anything because he couldn’t. Since the beginning of the war his occupation as an author was no more and he had being working as an assistant gardener earning 24s a week. He was married with three children who all depended on him. The current price of commodities meant that nearly all of his money was spent on food. He wasn’t proud of being in debt, but there was nothing he could do about it. Mr Ashdown told the court that his account had been owing for two years and that no attempt had been made by Mr Lichfield to pay anything off it. Mr Tester wasn’t in court, but his representative told the judge that his client would be content if His Honour would make a reduced order. After a discussion with the other plaintiffs, the judge agreed with the suggestion. Mr Lichfield was ordered to pay 4s per month. One wonders how successful an author Mr Lichfield was, and why he had to stop writing because of the war, considering he wasn’t serving in the armed forces.

On 6 June 1917 there was a meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Hythe Council to discuss the air raid of Friday, 25 May 1917, that killed 97 people. The dead included 18 soldiers at Shorncliffe army camp, of whom 16 were Canadians, another 18 civilians who were killed across the area in Ashford, Cheriton, Folkestone and Hythe, and 61 who died in just one street: Tontine Street, Folkestone. Two more would later die of their wounds.

The two from Hythe who were killed were 54-year-old Daniel Lyth and 42-year-old Mrs Amy Parker of Ormonde Road. I have been unable to find any information about Amy Parker, but Daniel Lyth lived at 1 Castle Road with his wife Hannah and their two daughters. He was the verger at St Leonard’s church and was in the grounds of the church when a bomb exploded and he was injured. He died in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkestone, later the same day. If I have my facts right, Daniel’s son, also named Daniel, enlisted at Dover on 3 March 1915 when, according to his attestation document, his age was 19 years and 200 days (although the 1911 census shows him being 12 at that time). He wanted to serve with the Royal Army Medical Corps, which he did as private 11518. He arrived in France with the RAMC on 21 September 1915. On 2 October 1917 he was transferred to the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), and on 19 April 1918, as Private 11107, he was killed in action while serving with the British Expeditionary Force.

Twenty-three Gotha bombers had left their base in Flanders and were on their way to attack London, but on their arrival couldn’t see their intended target because of heavy cloud cover over the capital. Rather than abort their mission, they dropped their bombs along the Kent coast, mostly on Folkestone. Not only was this the first raid carried out on British soil by aeroplanes during the course of the First World War, but in the history of the nation.

Mayor Cobay said that on behalf of the residents of Hythe he had forwarded a letter of sympathy to the mayor of Folkestone. A delegation from Folkestone had waited on Lord French in relation to the question of defence. Between 1916 and 1918 Lord French was the commander-in-chief of home forces. Mayor Cobay had been part of the delegation, along with the town clerk. After the meeting, Lord French assured them that any future air raids would be met by effective defensive measures by the very newest weapons. Alderman Jeal thanked the mayor for his interest in this important matter, and added that he hoped the press would take note of what the mayor had said so that people would know that their concerns were being taken very seriously indeed. Details of the defensive measures and warning systems were described by the mayor to the council, but not repeated in press reports, possibly because of wartime restrictions under the Defence of the Realm Act.

Further discussion, led by councillor F.H. Millar, was on the subject of enemy aliens. He said that it was the duty of the town’s council to urge government to have all enemy aliens immediately interned. Maybe his pride and passion for his country at this point got the better of him, as he then suggested that ‘there were such in the district who were disseminating information to enemy countries, adopting plans, even to the extent of making use of apparent harmless agony columns of the English daily newspapers.’ His evidence for this was not clear. He added, ‘once a German always a German’. As might be imagined, this topic evoked much discussion, with some saying that such matters were for the police to investigate and deal with. The councillors could not come to an agreement on the matter, so it was left unresolved.

The funeral took place on 28 July 1917 at St Leonard’s churchyard of Mr James Henry Trueman, who had died aged 40. He was son of Mr H.W. Trueman who ran a general store in North Road and was much respected in the town. In 1913, Mr James Henry Trueman, who was by then a married man, emigrated to Canada with his wife, but sadly after just two years, she died. Soon after that, and with the First World War already underway, he enlisted as a private (536133) in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and after basic training was sent to England as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and was stationed at the Westenhanger camp. While there his health began to suffer and for a considerable time he was a patient at the military hospital at Moore Barracks. He was invalided out of the army in July 1917 and died on Tuesday the 24th. There were many mourners at the funeral and many had sent wreaths.

A military tribunal took place at Hythe Town Hall on 23 August 1917, Mayor Cobay presiding. There was a full attendance of members present, including Captain Twopeny, the military representative, Mr G. Symon, who was representing the recruiting officer, and Mr Drake the secretary. The mayor wanted to know whether the men previously granted time had done their duties. Captain Twopeny said with regards to the men who had joined the Volunteers, he had no complaints. In one or two incidents the full number of drills had not been made up, but in those cases he was happy there were acceptable reasons why they had not. There were no cases of individuals simply refusing to do the drills because they didn’t want to. Mr Gordon of the Constabulary informed the mayor that the men under his charge had more than adequately performed their duties.

The tribunal had to listen to seventeen cases, to fifteen of which they gave four-month extensions, meaning they would not be called upon to enlist during that time. Out of these, four had the surname Uden. Two were Chittendens and another two were Wrattens. Frederick Charles and William Uden were brothers. Frederick ran Penny Pot Farm in Dymchurch Road.

There were two other men who had their cases heard. Mr E.W. Horton, 34 and single, was a boatman in the employ of Mr Gravener; he had previously been given a two-month exemption for domestic reasons. He had an elderly widowed mother who was blind, and he was the sole support in the household. His case was adjourned until the next tribunal so that enquiries could be made into his situation.

Mr W. Cloake made an application on behalf of three of his sons John, Frank Peckham and George Farwell, all of whom he employed as coal carters. None of their situations had changed since they were previously granted extensions, and they were each given additional three-month extensions.

Mr Alfred Steele was summoned to appear before the bench on 18 September for carrying a camera at Hythe on 23 August, contrary to the Defence of the Realm Act 1914. Mr Steele, who lived in London, did not attend the hearing in person, but wrote a letter stating that he was not able to attend as he was engaged in unspecified war work. His defence was one of ignorance, claiming that he did not know it was an offence to be in possession of a camera or to take photographs. Corporal Walker of the Canadian Military Police gave evidence that on the day in question he had seen the defendant on the canal bank using his camera. Superintendent Castle said that the camera was confiscated and the film developed and the pictures consisted of group photographs. He was found guilty in his absence and fined £5.

Although manners cost nothing, ignorance comes at a cost. Elizabeth Jack was summonsed for failing to record the name of Helen Rose Sapsed, who was staying at her home on a prescribed form. Sergeant Smith gave evidence that he had received an anonymous letter about the situation and had visited ‘Claymore’, Earlsfield Road, the home of Elizabeth Jack. There were only two names recorded on the form: hers and that of a Helen Mills. Sergeant Smith said that he would like to speak with Helen Mills. No sooner had the words left his mouth than a woman walked in. She said she was Helen Mills, of Rose Cottage, Hythe. He asked her where that was, but she remained silent and did not answer. Mrs Jack intervened and told Sergeant Smith that she was her domestic servant and ‘old enough to do as she likes’. Smith asked the girl some more questions and finally she admitted that her name was in fact Helen Rose Sapsed, that she would be 19 in December, and that she was using the surname of Mills as she was hiding from her parents who had not been good to her. She said she had been in domestic service since she was 14 and had previously been employed by the Garden City Hotel. She had been introduced to Mrs Jack by a friend, whose name she declined to reveal. The bench, being happy that there was nothing untoward going on, dismissed the case. An interesting aside to this story was that Elizabeth Jack was a married woman. Her husband, William Jack, had enlisted on 23 September 1914 at Aberdeen at the age of 44 and wasn’t discharged until 11 April 1919. According to his army service record, he served as a private (95037) in the Gordon Highlanders with the 3rd, 10th, Depot and 11th battalions. After only three days service he was promoted to sergeant. On 1 January 1917 he was transferred to the 16th Battalion, Army Service Corps, and then on 16 March to the 29th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. Just two days later, on 18 May, he was transferred to the 5th Company, Labour Battalion. On 28 June he was transferred yet again, to the 18th Company, Officer Cadet Battalion. On 25 September 1917 he was transferred to the Middlesex Regiment’s Depot at Mill Hill. His entire service was spent in the UK, and on 11 April 1919 he was transferred to the Army Reserve.

In the quarter ending 30 September 1917 official figures recorded that there had been thirty-six births registered in the Borough of Hythe, and twenty-one civilian deaths. The estimated population of Hythe at the time was 6,864. Of children under the age of one year, one had died. Between the ages of 2 and 5, two had died. Between 25 and 45, five had died. And of those aged 65 and above, nine had died.

Mayor Cobay visited the Bevan Military Hospital on 27 September. He was received by Commandant Mumford, Assistant Commandant Dale, and members of the hospital staff. He visited each of the wards, spoke to each of the 300 wounded men, and presented each with a packet of cigarettes. The mayor was impressed with the way the hospital was run, and expressed his admiration for the splendid work they had done in such a patriotic manner. One of the wounded men turned out to have worked for the mayor before enlisting at the outbreak of the war.

Sergeant G.E. Giddings of the Canadian army appeared before Hythe Petty Sessions on 16 October 1917. His crime was the heinous offence of keeping a dog without a license. PC Bennett told the court that Giddings’ wife had called in at Hythe police station about a stray dog which had recently been handed in to them. The animal was wearing a collar which had the defendant’s name on it. Constable Bennett asked Mrs Giddings if her husband had a license for the dog. She replied that the dog was looked upon as the mascot of her husband’s regiment. Sergeant Giddings said that the dog had been in his possession for about a year and was indeed regarded as the mascot of his regiment. He and his fellow regimental sergeants had discussed whose name should be placed on the collar and it was decided that it should be his. He said he was unaware that a dog that was a regimental mascot required a license. On recovering the dog from the police station, Sergeant Giddings had immediately took out a license for the animal. Having heard all the evidence, the chairman of the bench said that an offence of owning a dog without a license had been committed, but in the circumstances they would impose only a nominal fine of one shilling. It is questionable whether ‘perspective’ and the ‘bigger picture’ were used in this case, because if they had, surely it would never have come before the courts?

In November 1917, an article by the Vicar of Hythe appeared in the St Leonard’s Parish Magazine on the topic of the Bevan Military Hospital at Sandgate, which was one of the biggest in Kent. One of the wounded men who had been treated there described the Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses who worked there as ‘The Angels at the Bevan’. Many of the women were from Hythe. They gave their time willingly and freely, many doing so day after day without a day off. They treated some of the severest cases, making their work even more remarkable. Commandant Miss Mumford and Miss Cicely Dale, commandant of the Hythe detachment of volunteer nurses, received awards in recognition for their work, although both would no doubt say that they had been singled out as being representative all of the women who worked at the Bevan Military Hospital. Miss Mumford was awarded the Medal of the Red Cross and Miss Dale was mentioned in dispatches. Holy Communion was held at the Parish Church every Friday morning at 7 am for the nursing staff and all those who had to be up early for work before commencing their daily labours. Breakfast was provided after the service. The hospital was at the seaside village of Sandgate, close to the Shorncliffe army camp. Before the war, the Bevan Convalescent Home, as it was then called, had been refurbished by volunteers. Most of the nurses who worked there were from the VAD, Kent 30.

Bevan Military Hospital.

Soon after it opened it was upgraded to become an annex of the nearby Shorncliffe Military Hospital. Most of its patients were Australian, Belgian or Canadian. It was unique in that it had an outside ward that was enclosed in a courtyard, protected from inclement weather by a thin transparent roof; the men who were treated there absolutely loved it. During the war the hospital treated an estimated 12,100 patients and carried out more than 1,500 operations.

Saturday, 8 December 1917, saw the inquest take place of Private 2173391 Thomas Frederick Graham of the 18th (Reserve) Battalion, Canadian Infantry, who had committed suicide at Dibgate Camp at Shorncliffe. Graham had been found dead in his bed, fully dressed in his army uniform, with a single gunshot wound to his forehead, on the morning the day before. Private Henry Gillespie told the inquest that he had known Graham for five years. They had previously been in the United States where they had served together in the American army. The Private Graham he knew had always been a happy individual with a cheerful disposition. He had last seen him on Friday morning just after 7 am when he was standing in the doorway to his hut, and asked him to go with him to get a cup of coffee, which he happily did. He later asked him to join him for breakfast which he politely declined, although he didn’t give any reason, and Private Gillespie didn’t push the point. Private W. Goodwin said that Private Graham was a member of the same company that he was in and they both slept in the same hut. He had known him for eight or nine months and always found him a happy individual. He had last seen him on the evening of the 6th when he appeared to be perfectly ok. At 7.30 am the following morning, Goodwin returned to his hut after breakfast and noticed some blood on the wall immediately above Private Graham’s bed. He saw that he was laying there fully dressed and had a service rifle between his legs with the muzzle between his legs pointed towards his head. There was also a bamboo cane lying across the bed near the deceased’s right hand. Seeing that he was clearly dead he called an NCO. He knew that Private Graham used to gamble a little, but never heavily, and he had absolutely no idea what could have happened to make him want to take his own life. Private R. Robb had known the deceased for about five years, and the man he knew was definitely not the worrying type. He knew that Private Graham was in the habit of taking cocaine, but it was very difficult to get hold of. They were together on the Thursday evening in the camp’s canteen, where they each had two or three beers, and Private Graham was in his usual jovial mood. The medical evidence showed that a bullet had entered his forehead and blown his brain away, meaning he would have died instantly. The jury returned a verdict of ‘suicide while suffering with temporary insanity’. Graham was buried at the Shorncliffe Military Cemetery.

No reason was ever ascertained as to why Private Graham did what he did. I wonder, if he had known that the war would be over by the same time the following year, would he have still gone ahead with committing suicide? We shall never know.

Shorncliffe Military Cemetery.

CHAPTER 5

1918: The Final Push

There would be at least fifteen more bloody battles before the end of the war, in which more than thirty men who were either from or who had connections with the town of Hythe would die.

The last man with a Hythe connection to be killed in the war was Staff Sergeant 45684 Henry James Wheeler, serving with the 56th Field Ambulance of the RAMC. He was killed in action on 2 November 1918, 34 and a native of Hythe.

On 8 January 1918 there was a sitting of the Hythe Petty Sessions. First to have his case heard was the licensee of the Carpenters Arms at West Hythe, Charles Newman, who was facing a charge of serving beer after 8 pm on 14 December. He pleaded not guilty. Sergeant Smith told the court that at 8.20 pm on 14 December he was in company with PC Holman when he visited the Carpenters Arms public house. As they approached the premises they noticed that the lights in the main bar area were on. Smith leant his ear up against the window and could hear several voices. He could hear two of the men discussing arrangements about some apples and cob nuts. Although he didn’t know it at the time, one of the men was the landlord. Smith then heard him say, ‘Have another one,’ and also heard what he thought was the sound of coins being rung up in the till. He then went to the front door of the premises and found it locked. After knocking loudly, the door was opened a short while later by a soldier in uniform. It turned out he was named Philpott and was just about to leave the premises. The time by now was 8.33 pm. The policemen entered the premises and saw the landlord standing by the bar door with his wife. They then saw a man, by the name of Charles Jessop, leaning on the bar and holding a pint glass. Sergeant Smith asked the landlord what was going on. Newman made no reply but Mrs Newman said, pointing at two of the men, ‘These two men are my brothers, and they come from Tunbridge, we were just talking about old times.’ Mr Newman told Sergeant Smith, ‘The men can stay on the premises until eleven o’clock if they want to.’ Newman was then questioned about the sound of the till being rung, but before he could answer, two of his customers claimed that what Sergeant Smith had heard were the sales of non-alcoholic items being rung up on the till. One man claimed he purchased a glass of lemonade and the other some tobacco. Newman gave evidence that the Jessop brothers had entered the premises at about twenty minutes to eight and each ordered a pint of beer. At five minutes to eight the two men called for two more pints and Mr Newman then called ‘Time’. Henry Jessop drank most of his beer but his brother Charles only drank a small amount. Mrs Newman stated that she had sold a glass of lemonade after eight o’clock and confirmed that no beer or alcohol of any kind had been sold or consumed on the premises after eight o’clock on the night in question. Mr Drake, defending Newman, said in his summation that no offence had been committed and that the prosecution had not proved their case. The men in the bar had not committed an offence by being there after the pub had closed, and there was no offence in beer being in glasses on the bar. The police had not proved that alcohol had been consumed on the premises after eight o’clock. A belief on the police’s part that beer had been consumed on the premises after eight o’clock was not evidence, it was an assumption. Having heard the evidence, the magistrates consulted in private before announcing that they considered the case against Newman proven and that he would be fined £2. The Jessop brothers were back before the court later that day, facing the same charge. This was only ever going to go one way, with the evidence against them practically the same as it had been in the case against Mr Newman. Despite both pleading not guilty, and there being no evidence to the contrary, they were both found guilty as charged and fined £1.

On February 1917 a letter appeared in local newspapers on the subject of women patrols in Hythe:

Sir,

It will, I think, be a satisfaction to all interested in the welfare of Hythe and Saltwood to know that a scheme of Women Patrols has been inaugurated, and is now working regularly. It should be generally known that these patrols work under Government, and that the civil and military Police alike are instructed to recognize them officially, and to co-operate with them in every way. Moreover, this is no new and untried scheme. In many of the large towns and camps, Women Patrols have been established, and their work has given complete satisfaction.

For four weeks Miss Phillips, of the National Union of Working Women, has been training those ladies who have volunteered for the work in Hythe and Saltwood. At her final interview with the General Committee on Thursday, January 24th, she was able to announce that, of her little army of 21 recruits, 16 were fully trained patrols.

The clergy of all denominations are showing their desire to help the Women Patrols by serving on the General Committee. The Vicar as Chairman, has expressed his hearty approval of this special effort to cope with one of the difficulties that this protracted war has introduced into our midst.

The expenses connected with this scheme are trifling. Perhaps, however, some of those who read these words may wish to help the good work. Any subscription sent to me will be gratefully acknowledged. Any ladies wishing to join up as patrols should apply either to Mrs Todhunter, the Red House, Seabrook Road, Hythe, or to Mrs de Crespigny, ‘Clontarf’, Brockhill Road, Hythe, or to H. Strahan, ‘Dalcross’, Earlsfield Road, Hythe.

Henry Strahan

Hon. Secretary

Women’s Patrols were nothing new, they had been about since the beginning of the war. They had started as a result of a suggestion by the Headmistresses Association and were put in place to try to curb acts of immorality by young British women lured by large numbers of soldiers suddenly encamped in their neighbourhoods. By the end of the war more than 2,000 women’s patrols had been raised across the country.

There was also the Women’s Police Volunteers, the brainchild of Margaret Damer Dawson, who had been educated at the London Academy of Music but who in 1906 became the organizing secretary of the International Animal Protection Societies. In 1915 Dawson renamed her organization the Women’s Police Service.

On 1 March 1918, a meeting took place in the Conservative Club premises in Hythe in connection with the formation of the Hythe Section of the Kent Motor Volunteer Corps. The meeting was presided over by Mayor Cobay and was well attended by owners and drivers. Captain Piggott, who was appointed commander of the Corps Company, which included the three towns of Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, explained the corps objectives and some of the important duties they might be called upon to perform. Should an emergency arise, an organized corps of transportation such as theirs would be of the greatest of assistance to the authorities, and that it was gratifying to know that nearly all vehicle owners who had been approached had registered their vehicles with the corps most willingly. The number of men required for the Hythe section had nearly been reached already, with only a few vacancies that still needed filling. Men of 17, or just under, were eligible to join and it would provide them with the opportunity to learn about the maintenance of many different types of motor vehicle. Members were expected to undertake a number of drills and attend lectures on engineering, mechanics, electricity, and map reading, which, the captain said, would make for a very interesting experience. The first drill took place on the Green on 10 March 1918, with its initial twenty-six members. One new member I found interesting: Thomas Haisell. He was 46 years old and a labourer. He lived with his wife Emily and their four daughters at 75 High Street. Not content with becoming part of the Kent Motor Volunteer Corps, on 4 July 1918, his 47th birthday, he enlisted as an airman (264658) in the newly formed Royal Air Force.

On 17 April 1918 a meeting took place at the Girls’ Patriotic Club in St Leonard’s Road of the local branch of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. This branch had the reputation of being well organized. Mr H. Strathan of Earlfield Road was the honorary district correspondent and Mrs Galpin, of the Rectory, Saltwood, was president, aided by the vicar and Mrs Dale as well as by other ministers and social workers from the district. In Mrs Galpin’s unavoidable absence Reverend Dale presided. He expressed his pleasure that so many people had made the effort to come along, especially as the weather was inclement. He said he knew that there were many people interested in the work. Although no cases had come before the courts, the district inspector, Mr Bowditch, sometimes had to give cautions. There was no cruelty involved, but there was a tendency by some parents to neglect small children. This was usually due to a lack of knowledge as to how a child should be looked after rather than malice. Reverend Dale gave an example. In one family the father was working abroad and the mother died, leaving the children at the mercy of others. The society took the case on and put in place all of the necessary measures to ensure that the children were safe and well looked after by responsible, loving, caring families. Reverend Dale mentioned some negative observations by a couple of local women, whose names he did not mention. One said she did not approve of the society or the work it did, while another said that she did not see any necessity for the society. The Reverend said that he believed these two ladies held such views out of what he called unintentional ignorance, as the worlds they lived in meant that they had no idea or comprehension of such matters, or that they even existed. The society of 1918 was, he said, supported by all social classes and all religious denominations. Thankfully attitudes to children and their value had greatly changed over the years. They were living in a time when human life mattered, no matter what age. Because of that, he said, the human race marched forward on the feet of little children. A person with concerns about a child’s welfare only had to inform Mr Strathan and he would investigate the matter, and then advise or warn the parents of the child concerned. He had the power, if he felt it necessary, to take other proceedings, such as prosecution, although this was rare. Nationally, the society had taken some 14,000 children under its care whose fathers were serving in the army or navy and the youngsters’ mothers were failing to look after the children. The help provided by the society was much appreciated by the Army Council.

In May a meeting was held of the Hythe, Seabrook and Saltwood Allotment Holders Association. The president of the association was none other than the mayor, William Cobay, such was the diversity of those who enjoyed working their allotments. One allotment holder told the meeting that the previous year, before his potatoes had been sprayed by the Corporation, the blight had set in in the stems, but he was happy to say that none of his potatoes were diseased. He was of the opinion that the spraying of his crops had stopped the disease before it reached the potato. Others spoke in similar terms about the effectiveness of the Corporation’s spraying of their allotments and asked if it could be carried out thoroughly, over and under the leaves, twice, maybe in June and July. It was pointed out that the spray used was also a good fertilizer. Some asked for their potatoes to be sprayed three times a year. Councillor Jenner even spoke of making the spraying a compulsory requirement of being allocated an allotment in the first place. It was agreed that allotment holders who were away serving in the war should have their crops sprayed without charge. There were still six allotments, in Twiss Road, that were available to rent. Mr Cooke suggested that the allotment holders could hold an exhibition of their vegetables, and that afterwards the produce could be donated to the navy, or establishments such as the Bevan Military Hospital. In closing, Alderman Ashdown reminded members to keep allotments’ paths clean and tidy and to clear away rubbish promptly.

On Monday, 17 June 1918, an inquest took place in front of the Coroner B.C. Blake into the death of Henry Green. He was 48 and a widower who lived on his own and was employed as a gardener at the Hythe School of Musketry. His body was found hanging in the cellar of his house. Mr James White identified the body as being that of his brother-in-law and told the jury that he had last seen him alive on the previous Monday evening, when he was well and in good spirits. William Johnston, a Private in the Durham Light infantry, said he knew the deceased as a gardener at the School of Musketry. He sometimes complained of pains in his head. When he last saw him, which was on the previous Tuesday, he complained that he was not feeling well. Hannah Johnston, a cook, stated that on Tuesday she had seen Henry when he entered the kitchen where she was employed complaining of pains in his head and nose bleeds. She advised him to go and see a doctor. PC Butcher had been informed that Henry Green was missing, so on the Saturday afternoon he went to his home in Bartholomew Street and after knocking on the door he received no reply. He obtained a pair of ladders and gained entrance through an open bedroom window, searching the house from top to bottom as he made his way through the house, but he found no sign of Mr Green and everything appeared to be in order. Then he checked the cellar where he found the deceased hanging by a thin rope that was attached to a metal hook in the ceiling. He took a pocket knife from inside his tunic pocket and cut the body down. From the rigor mortis and colour of the body, Butcher guessed that he had been dead for some days. He looked down and noticed an ordinary tea box close to the feet of Mr Green’s body a few inches off the floor. From the position of the box he concluded that this is what he had stood on while he adjusted the rope, and having done so, he stepped off. Doctor Hackney said that he had known Mr Green for some years, and during that time his health had not been good. He had recently been a patient of his again, when he treated him for what he called nervous disorders and general illness. The jury returned a verdict of suicide by hanging during a period of temporary insanity.

In contrast to the above tragic incident came the following letter sent to a local newspaper by Wesleyan Minister from Hythe, Mr A.G. Lloyd, bemoaning the playing of a baseball match:

Sir,

I wish strongly to protest against the action of Hythe authorities in promoting or permitting the Sunday baseball match played in Hythe last Sunday afternoon. A large company, drawn from far and near, assembled in the Corporation Field to witness an act of Sunday desecration which, seemingly, bore official sanction. It should be understood that Hythe does not need, and refuses to have thrust upon it, what is known as the Continental Sunday. Every week brings a Wednesday afternoon, a Saturday afternoon, and six long evenings, every hour of which could be devoted to baseball. It is therefore as unnecessary as it is unfitting that hours of the one day sacred to worship and rest should be misused in town sports. In my opinion that last Sunday afternoon’s baseball event blotted the town’s fair name and was hurtful to the town’s highest interests. The Mayor’s Fund is worthy of all support, but Sunday desecration in the interests of the Fund should not be permitted. The powers that be may feel assured that anything in the nature of a repetition of last Sunday afternoon’s regrettable proceedings would not be appreciated by numbers of Hythe residents.

Religion played a big part of everyday life during the years of the First World War and there would have undoubtedly been those who would have been shocked by the playing of sport on a Sunday, which for centuries had been a day dedicated to religious worship and rest.

Friday, 26 July 1918, saw a large gathering of women in the Town Hall. They had come to a demonstration of canning fruit and vegetables by a lady from the Food Controllers Department. She showed how products could be preserved by heat sterilization and illustrated the use of the ‘Royal Home Canner’, an American article which the Department had been allowed to copy and make in England. She gave instructions on the canning of fruit and vegetables by adding water or syrup, removing air and sealing the can.

August 1918 brought sadness for Mrs Mary Ann Worthington of 23 Cobden Road. In May 1917 she had been informed that her son Private 40145 Arthur Worthington had been reported missing in action while serving with the 8th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. Mary’s husband William died in 1906. Now she was informed that as no other information had been received, her son had now officially been recorded as killed in action on 3 May 1917. Arthur Worthington was widely known in Hythe and the news of his passing was received with sadness. He would be remembered with affectionate esteem for his quiet unobtrusive disposition and for his noble and unselfish character. He was manager of the Hythe Motor Cab Company, for which he rendered his services during the hours of darkness and the early morning, helping convey the staff of the Bevan Hospital to and from work. Unless there was an urgent call at the hospital, he always made sure that he kept his Sundays free, as he was organist at his Wesleyan Church. Arthur’s name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

On 2 September 1918 the SS Galway Castle was two days out from Plymouth when she was torpedoed by submarine U-82. The force of the explosion almost broke her in half but she did not sink. The problem for Captain Dyer was what to do next. It was too dangerous to lower the boats in such heavy seas, but the submarine was likely to fire a second torpedo. The lifeboats were eventually lowered, although several were swamped as soon as they landed in the sea. There were 950 people on board the Galway Castle. Of these 400 were wounded soldiers of the South African army. Another 204 were crew members, with 346 civilian passengers. The vessel stayed afloat for three days before it finally sunk, and during that time Royal Navy ships rescued the survivors and took them to Plymouth. One hundred and forty-three lost their lives, including thirty-two members of the crew, whose names are recorded on the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill in London. One was a woman, 54-year-old stewardess Mrs Jane Louise Ambler (née Thompson). The Galway Castle had previously run aground, in of all places, East London, on 12 October 1917, but she was refloated five days later, having sustained only minor damage.

Galway Castle - Run aground 1917.

Galway Castle.

Four of those on board were the wife and three sons of Staff Sergeant Barton of the Hythe School of Musketry, returning to their home in South Africa. His wife and two elder sons all perished; only his younger son survived. Staff Sergeant Barton left Hythe on Tuesday 17 September 1918 to travel to Plymouth to collect his son and bring him back to Hythe.

Amongst those rescued was a sister-in-law of Mr Edward Palmer, of Hythe. She was in her berth at the time the Galway Castle was struck by the torpedo and was thrown into the sea in her night dress. She somehow managed to climb onto a raft, which was hit by a heavy wave and flipped over, again throwing her in to the sea, but she was later rescued by a Royal Navy ship and taken to Plymouth.

On Monday, 21 October 1918 Mayor Cobay met the representatives of the various War Savings Associations at the Town Hall as part of Gun Week. He also met with the officers and men who travelled round the country with the artillery gun, which went from town to town to assist in the sale of War Savings Certificates and War Bonds. Both were available for purchase from offices either side of the gun which had been placed immediately outside the Town Hall. The mayor addressed the townsfolk who had gathered to see what all the commotion was about. He was then the first person to step forward and purchase some of the War Bonds, the serial numbers of which were then stamped on the muzzle of the gun. The cost of the War Bonds was £5 and upwards, paying out 5 per cent per annum, half yearly, with a choice of five, seven or ten year periods. William Cobay had become mayor three months after the outbreak of the war, and since that time had been instrumental in helping to raise monies for both local and national causes, including the Belgian Relief Fund £300, Formation of the Hythe Volunteer Training Corps £550, the Red Cross Pageant £1,690, Lord Roberts’ Homes for disabled sailors and soldiers £75, the National Lifeboat Society £300, Formation of the Cadet Corp £103, Hythe Voluntary Workers £150, St Dunstan’s Hostel for men blinded in the War £150, four Alexandra Days £535, and War Bonds Business Men’s Week £75,000. He was also responsible for the setting up of a fund for assisting the dependants of men from Hythe who had been killed or maimed in the war.

With the Armistice signed and the fighting finally over, the residents of Hythe were quick to begin their celebrations. Saturday, 16 November, saw a torchlight procession through the town, which culminated with a bonfire on the Green. An effigy of the Kaiser had been hung up in the town all week long and brought to the Green on Saturday afternoon in readiness for burning later that evening. Mayor Cobay had requested businesses to close at 5pm so that everybody could take part in the fun and celebrations.

A procession began in Twiss Road, in the following order: Band of ‘D’ Company, 1st (Volunteer) Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment); the mayor, and other members of the Hythe Corporation; an RAF contingent with lorries and members of the Women’s RAF Fire Brigade at Hythe; members of the Volunteer Cadet Corps; Hythe Boy Scouts; a ‘tramp’ band and a number of illuminated vehicles; and finally a very large number of local residents, happily walking behind.

The mayor had asked all home owners to break a habit that had been instilled in them over the previous four years, a habit which if not adhered to had resulted in some of them being put before the courts. The habit in question: the drawing of blinds and curtains. For the first time since August 1914, residents were now being asked to draw their blinds and curtains up, so that their homes were illuminated against the night sky as brightly as possible.

The procession passed along Earlsfield Road, Seabrook Road, the High Street, Red Lion Square, Military Road, over Scanlan’s Bridge and on to Dymchurch Road. People carried torches, shining them up to the sky as if they were searchlights. The crowds grew in size with each street that was passed, singing and cheering loudly. On the Green the crowd was several thousand strong.

The mayor was given a tumultuous reception. His first task was to light the bonfire. The biggest cheer of the night went up when the flames of the bonfire did their work and engulfed the effigy of the Kaiser. Dancing continued into the small hours and the National Anthem was heartily sung by one and all.

The next day, the people of Hythe woke from a few hours of sleep, one or two with sore heads from the consumption of too much alcohol, to the dawn of a new age.

The mayor sent a letter to the local newspaper:

To the Editor

Sir,

I beg very sincerely to thank all those who assisted in the torchlight procession and bonfire on Saturday last. It is universally admitted to have been a great success, the success, I venture to think, being greatly enhanced by the splendid and orderly behavior of the thousands who participated in it.

William R. Cobay, Mayor

CHAPTER 6

Hythe War Memorial

The Hythe War Memorial has 154 names inscribed upon it of men from Hythe who were killed during the First World War. The memorial, which cost £450, was unveiled on 16 July 1921 by William 7th Earl Beauchamp. He had been against the declaration of war against Germany in 1914 and tendered his resignation over the matter, but later withdrew it.

The memorial is the work of noted British sculptor of the day Gilbert Bayes. Two of his other war memorials were those at Todmorden in West Yorkshire and Broadstone in Dorset.

Hythe War Memorial.

I should mention that war memorials aren’t always a complete record. The criteria of whose names were inscribed differed from town to town.

1914

Corporal 6939 Joseph Sebastian Corliss was 25 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) when he died on 25 August 1914. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-Maritime, France. He was survived by his widow Salome Julia. His father Michael lived at Willow Tree Farm, Burmarsh Road.

Pioneer 24161 Frederick John Dawes was 27 and serving with the 4th Signal Company, Royal Engineers, when he died on 5 September 1914 from wounds received during the Battle of Mons. He was buried at the Milton Cemetery in Portsmouth. He was married and before enlisting lived with his wife Agnes at 43 Windmill Street.

Private L/8359 Alick Theodore Conley was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He arrived in France on 17 August 1914 and he was killed in action on 19 September 1914. He was a native of Hythe but no longer lived in the town at the time of his death. He was buried at the Vailly British Cemetery, Aisne, France. The 1911 census showed him already serving in the army and stationed at the Shorncliffe camp in Kent. During the initial stages of the First World War the camp was used as a staging post for troops waiting to cross the Channel to the fighting in Belgium and France. In April 1915, a division of the Canadian army was formed there, and the Canadian Army Medical Corps had hospitals based there between September 1917 and December 1918. The camp was so big it was made up of five separate barracks, named Moore, Napier, Risborough, Ross and Somerset.

Private 7584 Alfred Day was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry, when he was killed on 30 September 1914. He is buried at the City of Paris Cemetery.

On the Hythe War Memorial is the name R. Mackender. This in fact should be Rifleman 5785 Ernest Mackender, who was 29 and serving with the 1st Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, when he was killed on 30 October 1914. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. He had enlisted on 7 January 1904, having previously served with the 4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, a militia unit. Ernest married Mary Ann Ward on 29 January 1911 at the parish church in Hythe. Mary gave birth to three sons, Ernest, born on 27 March 1911, just two months after they were married. James, born on 12 October 1912, and Richard born on 10 February 1914. At the time of Ernest’s death, Mary and their three children were living at 7 High Street, Hythe, while the 1911 census showed Ernest, Mary and their new-born son, also Ernest, living at 55 Stade Street, Hythe, where they were lodgers. Ernest (senior) had three brothers, Bert, Alfred, and Isaac, and three sisters, Lizzie, Mary and Emily. The 1939 England and Wales Register records Bert as being part of the Observer Corps as well as being a labourer, and his wife, Florence, a member of the Women’s Land Army.

Lance Sergeant 535 Edward Clarkson Alderson was 29 when he died on 30 October 1914 while serving with the 20th Corps of Hussars. He arrived in France on 16 August 1914. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. He is recorded as being a resident of Hythe at the time of his death, although by the time the CWGC began keeping their records, his parents are recorded as living at 11 Egerton Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex.

Lance Corporal L/9761 Thomas George Cook was 20 and serving in the 2nd Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), when he was killed on 7 November 1914. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Before enlisting, Thomas had lived with his parents, Thomas and Amelia, at 4 Victoria Avenue.

Lance Corporal 4139 Frank Turner was serving with the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, when he died of his wounds on 17 November 1914. Like Walter Tugwell, Frank was buried at the Niederzwehren Cemetery at Kassel, in Hessen in Germany, suggesting that at the time of his death he was a prisoner of war. This was confirmed when I searched the Army Registers of Soldier’s Effects. This showed that he died at the Reserved Hospital at Halberstadt, Germany. According to the 1901 census, he was 15 and a lodger at 8 Chapple Street, home of the Middleton family. On April 1911 he is shown as being stationed in Egypt with the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards. He had in fact enlisted as a boy soldier on 12 November 1901 in Hythe.

John and Margaret Goodsell, who by the end of the war lived at 41 Windmill Street, Hythe, lost two of their sons in the war. At the time of the 1911 census, the family home was at 13 West End Cottages, 9 High Street. Private 533 Edward Goodsell was 23 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, when he died of wounds on 29 November 1914, just eighteen days after arriving in France. He was buried at Sailly-sur-la-Lys churchyard in the Pas de Calais.

1915

Bugler 23954 George Edward Hayles was another brother of Alfred Hayles. He died of his wounds on 7 February 1915 while serving with the 12th Field Company, RE. He arrived in France on 8 September 1914. He was buried at the Bonjean Military Cemetery in Armentières.

Private SR/9857 Samuel Dearman was 22 and serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), when he died of wounds on 10 February 1915. He is buried at Desplanque Farm Cemetery at La Chapelle-D’Armentières. He arrived in France on 27 December 1914 but had enlisted aged 18 on 2 December 1910 at Shorncliffe, before which he had been a butcher’s assistant. He had six brothers and five sisters. In Samuel’s army service record was a letter from his mother Minnie, of 31 Frampton Road, to the Army Records Office at Hounslow. It was dated 21 January 1921:

Dear Sir,

I should be glad to know whether you have yet sent the Medals for my late son, Pte. S. Dearman SR/9857, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment, as I understand that they have been sent out, but up to the time of writing no medals have been received by me for my late son.

Apologising for troubling you.

Yours truly,

Mrs James Dearman

Captain Gilbert Stuart Kennedy was 30 and serving with the 1st King George’s Own Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment) when he was killed on 12 March 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial in France.

Sergeant 6142 Alfred Edward Paul was killed on 10 March 1915 while serving with the 1st Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial in the Pas de Calais. By the time war began, Alfred was already a veteran, having enlisted on 27 September 1904 in Liverpool, two months before his nineteenth birthday. He was promoted to sergeant on 5 February 1915.

Private G/5944 William Charles Smith was a native of Hythe and lived there all his life before enlisting at Canterbury on 12 March 1915 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). He was killed on 13 October 1915. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial in the Pas de Calais. His Army Service Record first states ‘death presumed’, and then on 15 October 1915 this was changed to ‘Missing believed killed’. William lived at 20 Frampton Road.

Sergeant 5949 Frank Cunningham was 30 and serving with the 1st Battalion, Leicester Regiment, when he died of his wounds on 4 April 1915. He was buried at the Bailleul Communal Cemetery. At the time of the 1911 census he was living in Aldershot, already serving as a soldier. Before enlisting, he lived with his wife Sarah Ann at 81 Market Street, Hythe, with whom he had a son, Frank Reginald.

Lance Corporal S/352 George A. Wraight served with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), and died on 10 April 1915, after arriving in France on 9 November 1914. He is buried at the Ration Farm Military Cemetery, La Chapelle-d’Armentières.

Private L/9617 William Gambell, son of Edward and Elizabeth, brother of Edward (below), had enlisted on 4 September 1911 at Shorncliffe Barracks. He arrived in France as part of the BEF on 7 September 1914. He was serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), when he died of his wounds on 11 April 1915. He was laid to rest at the Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension.

Corporal L/8510 Thomas Dray, a native of Hythe, was serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, East Kent Regiment at the time of his death on 11 April 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. At the time of the 1911 census Thomas was already serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, and had spent time stationed in India and Singapore.

Private 16776 Francis Charles Hill was 41 and serving with the 7th Battalion, (British Columbia Regiment) Canadian Infantry, when he died on 24 April 1915. His parents, Colonel Francis Charles and Frances, lived at ‘Glenariff’, Hythe. Francis has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate.

Lieutenant Edward Henry Underwood Buttanshaw was 22 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 25 April 1915. He was buried at the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery. His parents lived at Scots Craig in Hythe. His father Edward Thornton was in 1911 still a serving colonel in the British Army.

Private 1358 Ernest John Jeal was 35 and serving with the 14th Battalion, Australian Infantry, at the time of his death on 27 April 1915. He was commemorated by a memorial at Quinn’s Post Cemetery ANZAC, Turkey. His parents John and Emily lived at ‘Silwood’, Hythe. His father, John James Jeal, was a local councillor and JP in Hythe.

Private L/9112 Edward Gambell, brother of William (above), was 30 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 3 May 1915. He has no known grave but his name is on the Menin Gate. He was already serving with The Buffs before the war. The 1911 census records him as being a private with the regiment, who at the time were stationed in India and Singapore. Although he was born in Malta, Edward had lived in Hythe before the war. His wife Alice emigrated to Canada after the war and remarried, becoming Mrs Green. Edward’s parents, Edward and Elizabeth, lived at 45 Fort Road, with Edward senior being an instructor at the town’s Musketry School, where British soldiers were taught how to shoot.

Private L/8624 William James Richardson Ward was 26 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, having enlisted at Canterbury, when he was killed on 3 May 1915. The British army register of soldier’s effects 1901-29 states, ‘on or since 3 May 1915, he is presumed dead.’ He has no known grave, but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. His parents lived at 3 Stanley Cottages, New Road, Saltwood.

Rifleman 3974 Percy Wicks was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, (Prince Consort’s Own), when he was killed on 9 May 1915. His body was never recovered but he is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. He was born and bred in Hythe.

Captain Thomas Lawrie Shelford was 43 and captain of HMS Goliath when he died. From March 1915, Goliath was involved in the Dardanelles campaign and the landings at Gallipoli. On 13 May she was sailing in Morto Bay off Cape Helles when she was attacked by the Turkish motor torpedo boat Muavenet under the command of German officer Rudolph Firle. She was struck by three torpedoes and sank with the loss of 570 of her crew. There were 180 survivors. Shelford has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

HMS Goliath Crew.

HMS Goliath.

Private G/4820 Sidney Herbert Wilson was 29 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 27 May 1915. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. He was a native of Hythe and had lived there all his life before enlisting. His parents Joseph and Janet, lived at 23 Rampart Road.

Major Lyall Brandreth was 46 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, when he was killed on 6 June 1915. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Turkey. His widow Clare lived at ‘Fairmount’, Hillcrest Road. At the time of the 1911 census they had lived in the same road but at a house named Marsh View. Lyall’s occupation was shown as captain in the Royal Fusiliers. In his will he left £72 to his wife.

Sergeant G/304 William Alfred Harden Dennett was 27 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on Tuesday, 22 June 1915. His final resting place is at the Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension. Before enlisting, William had been a teacher at the St Leonard’s Church of England School in Hythe, having studied for the position at Culham Training College in Abingdon. One of William’s brothers, George, also served during the war, enlisting as Private MS/963 in the Army Service Corps on 10 August 1914 at Eastbourne. He was promoted to corporal on 10 December 1915, then to sergeant on 29 June 1916, ending up as staff sergeant before being demobbed on 22 March 1919 at Crystal Palace.

Private L/8516 Frederick Joseph Woodwards was killed on Tuesday, 20 July 1915 while serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs. He was buried at La Brique Military Cemetery No.1, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Private L/8851 Percy Edward Rolfe, a native of Hythe, was serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on the western front on 9 August 1915. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Before enlisting he had lived with his parents George and Frances at 13 Church Hill.

Rifleman 953 John Richard Cassing was 30 and serving with the 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles), when he died on 16 August 1915. He was buried at Colchester Cemetery. His parents lived at 13 Bartholomew Street, Hythe. According to the 1891 census, he was living with his mother Maria, his brother James and three sisters at 11 Brewery Cottages. By the time of the 1911 census, John was living with his uncle’s family at 33 Shirley Grove, Lavender Hill, Battersea, working as a kitchen porter.

Private T/2334 Horace Reginald de la Mare was 24 and serving with 1st/4th Battalion, The Buffs, as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force when he died on 25 September 1915. He was buried at the Maala Cemetery in Yemen. Horace is another for whom I could not find a connection with Hythe. He was born in St Helier, Jersey, and at the time of his death his home address is recorded as being Sittingbourne, Kent.

Lance Corporal G/4732 William John Barnard was 34 and serving with the 8th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 26 September 1915. He was the son of John Alfred and Eliza who lived at 92 Stade Street. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial in the Pas de Calais.

Private 2268 Joseph Arthur Channon was 23 and serving with the 7th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), when he died of his wounds on 7 October 1915. He arrived in France as part of the BEF on 26 July 1915. He received a gunshot to the head and was admitted to the 52nd Field Ambulance where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Joseph enlisted on 2 September 1914 at Hythe, having just turned 22. At the time of his enlistment, he was a cellar man in a local inn and living with his parents Edwin and Hannah at 14 West Parade, although at the time of his death his parents were living at 3 Athur Villas, South Road. He is buried at the Dartmoor Cemetery at Bécordel Bécourt in the Somme region.

Private TF/1202 William Robert Church was serving with the 1st/1st Kent Cyclist Battalion, Army Cyclist Corps, when he died on 12 October 1915. He was buried at the Horn Street burial ground in Hythe.

Private G/4361 William Howland was 18 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 13 October 1915. Before enlisting he had lived with his parents, George and Jane, at ‘Sunnyside’, Hythe.

Private G/1 Frank Stokes was 21 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 13 October 1915. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. Before enlisting Frank lived with his parents, John and Annie, at 2 Brewery Cottages. In twenty-nine years of marriage, Annie had provided her husband with fourteen children, eight of whom were still living at home at the time of the 1911 census.

Frank’s elder brother, Rifleman 593518 George Thomas Stokes, died of his wounds on 5 December 1917 on the western front while serving with the 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles). He had previously served with the 4th Battalion, The Buffs. He was buried at the St Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen.

A third member of the Stokes family, Harry Edward, also served during the war, as a gunner (701) with the 3rd Home Counties (Cinque Ports) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, which was a territorial unit he had enlisted in on 1 July 1909 at Dover. He was discharged on 30 June 1913 on completion of his four-year engagement. I could find no subsequent record of him having then served in the regular army during the First World War.

Private G/5867 Cecil Winder was 21 and serving with 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 9 November 1915. He was buried at the Menin Road South Military Cemetery. Before the war he was a postman, and the 1911 census shows him living at 45 Linden Crescent, Folkestone, with his parents, George and Kate, and his five younger siblings, Florence, Elsie, Sidney, Wilfred, and William. Cecil enlisted at the recruitment office in Hythe on 22 February 1915. At the time he was living at 39 Frampton Road. Only the front sheet of his army service record has survived, so there was only minimal information available concerning his time in the military, although it is known that he first arrived in France on 27 July 1915.

General Servant Charles Rice Nelson, who was 41 and serving with the mercantile marine, died on 30 December 1915 when the vessel he was on, the SS Persia, was torpedoed by submarine U-38 seventy miles off Crete. A total of 334 passengers and crew, including Charles, were lost when the ship went down. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, which is immediately opposite the Tower of London. Charles was born in Hythe. His parents Charles and Catherine lived at Nelson Villa, Seabrook Road.

H.T. Goodger: On the Service Medal and Award Rolls there is an H. Goodger who was Sapper 11702 with the Royal Engineers. He arrived in France on 30 April 1915, and died of his wounds on 5 January 1916. De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour shows an H. Goodger, a Private 1657 in the 11th Hussars. He served in the BEF and died of his wounds on 3 November 1914. This matches an entry on the CWGC website. He was in the 11th (Albert’s Own) Hussars, and was buried at the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. There was another entry on the same site for an H. Goodger, Writer 1st Class 347124 in the Royal Navy, serving on HMS Irene. He died on 27 May 1915 and was buried at the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham. I was unable to definitively connect any of them with Hythe.

1916

Captain Alan Gordon Acheson Adam, who served with the 5th Battalion, The Buffs, was 28 when he died on 21 January 1916 while serving in Iraq. His mother lived at Quarry Down, Hythe. His wife lived in London. He is buried at the Amara War Cemetery in Iraq.

Second Lieutenant Thomas George Hakewill was 19 when he was killed on 11 February 1916 while attached to No. 17 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, from the 11th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment. He was buried at the Alexandria Military and War Memorial Cemetery, Chatby, Egypt. At one stage Thomas’s parents, George and Anna, had lived at 10 Marine Parade, Hythe, but before Thomas’s wartime medals were sent to his parents, they had moved to 24 Austin Friars in London.

Sapper 22240 Alfred Westwater Hayles was serving with the 26th Field Company, Royal Engineers, having arrived in France on 21 October 1915, when he was killed on 2 March 1916. His body was buried at St Patrick’s Cemetery, Loos. Before he enlisted he lived with his wife Lydia at 9 West End Cottages, Hythe. At the time of the 1901 census Alfred was living with his mother Edith, his three brothers, Henry, George and Richard, and his two sisters, Margaret and Dorothy, at 20 Stade Street, St Leonard’s, but by 1911 the family, including his father Henry, were living at The Grove, Dymchurch.

Private G/6043 Alfred James Blackman was 43 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 12 March 1916. He had lived in Hythe before the war, and enlisted there. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

Private G/4578 Harry Victor Richards was 18 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 13 March 1916. He was buried at the Béthune Town Cemetery. Before enlisting he had lived with his parents Tom and Margaret at 7 Theatre Street, Hythe.

Robert A Hildyard.

Sergeant L/8829 George Maycock was 29 when he was killed on 18 March 1916 while serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. George’s parents, George and Annie, lived at 23 Frampton Road, Hythe.

Second Lieutenant Robert Aubrey Hildyard was commissioned on 6 April 1916 and was the only son of Major Harry Robert and Edith Vivian Hildyard. He was 19 and serving with the 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, when he died. The CWGC website has the date of Robert’s death as 20 December 1916, while the Medal Rolls index cards for the British Army, state that he was killed on 20 July 1916 and had served in Belgium and France. They also say that Robert’s father, Major Harry Robert Hildyard, applied for his son’s wartime campaign medals on 8 January 1920, at which time he was living at his home address of The Peak, Hythe. There is another address recorded for him as well: 127a Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, the latter possibly being a holiday residence. Robert was buried at the Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt. He died the day after he had returned to the front after a period of leave. He was sheltering in a dugout in a reserve trench at Frégicourt with a fellow junior officer when they were both killed by a shell. In St Leonard’s Church, in a wall-mounted, glass-framed cabinet, is part of the original wooden cross which was placed on Robert’s grave at Maricourt.

The church also has a stained-glass window which commemorates Robert’s name. It depicts Christ on the cross next to a soldier of the First World War, whose right hand is touching the feet of Christ. The soldier is in a sitting and slightly slumped backwards pose with his eyes closed, making it unclear whether he is dead or asleep. The window is accompanied by the following words:

Robert Hildyard -Wooden Cross. (Photograph by Barry Preece).

Robert Hildyard -Stained glass window. (Photograph by Barry Preece).

THIS WINDOW IS ERECTED IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROBERT AUBREY HILDYARD 2nd LIEUT Btn THE KINGS OF ROYAL LANCASTER REGT WHO WAS KILLED ON THE SOMME DEC 20th1916 AGED 19 YEARS

Private G/7858 Frederick Charles Baker was just 17 and serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 19 April 1916. He was buried at La Brique Military Cemetery. His parents were Richard William and Charlotte and they lived in Hythe. The 1911 census shows a Charlotte Baker, with a husband Richard William, living at 7 Wood Cottages, Wood Road, with their eight children, but none of them is named Frederick Charles, who in 1911 would have been 12 years old, but there is a 12-year-old son named Frank.

Lance Corporal G/2263 Edward F. Barnes was 25 and serving with the 7th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 22 April 1916. Before the war he had lived with his parents Charles and Emily at 119 Dymchurch Road, Hythe. Edward was buried in the Chipilly Communal Cemetery Extension in the Somme region.

Gunner 45508 Harry William Sprinks was 23 and serving with the 11th Trench Mortar Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he was killed on 11 May 1916. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. Before enlisting Harry worked as an assistant grocer while living with his parents Christopher and Sarah at 22 Park Road, Hythe.

Private G/8156 George Ward died of his wounds on 17 May 1916 while serving with 1st Battalion, The Buffs, and was buried at the Poperinghe New Military Cemetery in Belgium. He had served for 283 days. According to the 1911 census, George lived with his parents, John and Mary, at 152 High Street, with his brothers Albert and William, and his sisters, Edith and Alice. George was employed as a caddie on the Hythe links golf course. He enlisted on 10 August 1915 at Canterbury. His attestation form records that he was a month shy of his 21st birthday, his occupation shown as labourer, and the family home now 7 High Street. George left Southampton on 23 February 1916 and arrived in Le Havre early the following day.

David Blackman enlisted as Private G/7782 with The Buffs but later transferred to the 70th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), as Private 10532. He was killed along with tens of thousands of other Allied soldiers on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. He has no known grave as his body was never recovered, but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Although he was born in St Leonard’s, he enlisted at the recruitment office in Hythe, the town he was living in at the time.

Gunner 2174 Alexander Frew was 18 and serving with ‘A’ Battery, 222nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, when he was killed on 4 July 1916. He was buried at the Basra War Cemetery in Iraq. The 1911 census shows him working as a 13-year-old milk boy living at 47 Frampton Road with his parents John and Mary, his two sisters Ivy and Rosina, and his three brothers, George, Thomas and William.

Gunner 1314 Frederick Doughty was serving in ‘A’ Battery, 222nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, at the time of his death on 16 July 1916. He is buried at the Basra War Cemetery in Iraq.

Private 8710 William Down was 27 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, when he was killed on 30 July 1916. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. At the time of the 1901 census, William was living with his mother Elizabeth at 5 Church Hill, with his older brother Robert and his sister Isabel. I could find no record of Robert serving in the army, but because of his age it is inconceivable that he did not at some stage during the war.

Private G/8425 Percy James Hines was serving with the 8th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 19 August 1916. He was a local man who was born and lived in Hythe, but he enlisted in Dover. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Private TF/2176 William Arthur Clark was 21 and serving with the 2nd/1st Kent Cyclist Battalion when he died on 20 August 1916. He is buried at the Estaires Communal Cemetery Extension. His parents, James and Margaret, lived at 5 Victoria Terrace, Seabrook.

Private G/8690 John Baker was 26 and serving with the 8th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 5 September 1916. His parents, William and Ruth, lived at 24 Frampton Road. The family included John’s sister Emma and his brothers, William, George and Frederick. John has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Private 5565 Alfred Hayles was 38 and serving with the 8th Battalion, The Buffs, at the time of his death on 3 September 1916. He was buried at the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery at Longueval in France.

Rifleman C/6811 Charles Robert Spilsted was 20 when he was killed on 15 September 1916 while serving with 18th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He has no known grave but is commemorated on Thiepval Memorial. Before he enlisted he had lived with his parents, Thomas and Ellen, at 21 Windmill Street, although the 1911 census shows the address as 12 Windmill Street. Charles’s brother William enlisted as a boy 2nd class in the navy on his 16th birthday on 8 January 1892, going on to become Able Seaman 164774. By the start of the war he had already served for twenty-two years, with his last day of service being 26 August 1918. Older brother Frederick Arthur Spilsted enlisted on 29 October 1901 at Canterbury when he became Private 6724 in the 1st Battalion, The Buffs. After eight years, on 28 October 1909, he was placed on the army reserve, and four years after that, on 29 October 1913, he re-engaged to remain on the army reserve for a further four years. He was then mobilized on 5 August 1914, but wasn’t, as might be expected, sent out to France. It was another nine months before he was sent overseas, eventually arriving in France on 28 April 1915. But after only 8 days he was sent back home to England, where he arrived on 6 May 1915. On 27 May 1916 he was discharged from the army for being no longer physically fit for wartime military service.

Telegraphist J/30016 Jack Durrell Green, who had enlisted in the navy on 11 March 1914, five months before the outbreak of war, was serving as part of the crew of HMS Amos when he died on 16 September 1916, aged 18. He was buried at the Capuccini Naval Cemetery in Malta. The 1911 census shows Jack living with his parents James and Emma and his five brothers in East Street, Wivenhoe, Essex. Before enlisting he had been a fisherman working with his father and one of his brothers. The eldest of the brothers, Edwin, served as a gunner (RMA14851) in the Royal Marines Artillery, and survived the war. Another brother, Ernest Gardner, also did his bit for his country. He enlisted in the navy on 7 January 1913, the first ship he served on being HMS Ganges II. He served all through the war, before being demobbed on 16 July 1919. The three other brothers, Harold, Alec and Sydney, were all too young to serve. I have to confess to being somewhat confused as to what the Green family’s connection to the town was.

Private G/27809 Gordon Cecil James Freeman was serving with the 12th Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex) Regiment, when he was killed on 26 September 1916. He was a native of Hythe and lived there all his life before enlisting. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Second Lieutenant William Hope Amos was 19 and serving with the 7th Battalion, The Buffs, at the time of his death on 14 October 1916. His parents, Thomas and Jane, lived at The Priory, Hythe. William is buried at the Australian Infantry Force burial ground at Flers in France.

Private PW/5493 George Edward Day was 27 and serving with the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, when he was killed on 28 October 1916. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. George had lived with his mother Ada at 30 Park Road. He was a fisherman.

Second Steward 891639 William Akers Lord was a member of the Mercantile Marine Reserve, or what today would be referred to as the Merchant Navy. He was serving aboard HMS Riviera when he died on 8 November 1916. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. His mother Annie lived at 157 Seabrook Road. The Riviera was a cross-channel steamer requisitioned by the Royal Navy on 11 August 1914 and converted into a seaplane carrier. On 25 December 1914 it took part in the Cuxhaven raid where the German fleet was at anchor. Between 1915 and the end of the war Riviera was part of the dedicated Dover Patrol.

Private 20537 Ernest William Ball was serving with 13th Battalion, (London Regiment) Royal Fusiliers, when he was killed on 15 November 1916. He was buried at the Ancre British Cemetery in Beaumont-Hamel. He was a native of Hythe.

Corporal G/514 Frank Rendall was 32 and serving with the 7th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 18 November 1916. He had been in France for about sixteen months, having arrived in the country on 28 July 1915. He was buried at the Stump Road Cemetery at Grandcourt in the Somme.

Private G/998 George Stapley was 40 and serving with the 8th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 3 December 1916. He was buried at the Maroc British Cemetery in Grenay in the Pas de Calais. George married on 21 August 1906 and four months later his wife Annie gave birth to their first child, Catherine. Another daughter, Margaret, followed on Boxing Day 1910. He enlisted at Hythe on 2 September 1914. A month after enlisting, on 4 October, George was in trouble after failing to return to his barracks at Shoreham after a weekend pass. He was absent for three days. His punishment was an official admonishment. Nine months later he did the same again, when he overstayed his leave by six days between 11 and 17 July 1915; this time he was confined to barracks for ten days. He did the same yet again a month later, for which he was again confined to barracks for ten days. On 15 June 1916 George had to go before the battalion commanding officer concerning a discipline matter. He was found guilty and fined eleven days pay and had to endure twenty-eight days of Field Punishment No.1. His offence was overstaying his leave pass by two weeks. No.1 Field Punishment was a humiliating form of treatment which saw the convicted soldier tied standing up to some fixed object such as a post or gun wheel for up to two hours a day. This punishment continued in the British army in to the late 1920s. George’s mother Catherine lived at 3 Windmill Street, but at the time of the 1911 census the pair were living at 7 Page Cottages, No 12 Albert Road.

1917

Private G/15699 Walter Thomas Beverley Tugwell died on 28 February 1917 while serving with the 7th Battalion, The Buffs. The fact that he is buried at the Niederzwehren Cemetery suggests that at the time of his death he was a prisoner of war. According to the 1911 census, Walter was living at 2 Peninsular Villas, Albert Road, Hythe, with his parents Willie and Elizabeth, his three brothers, Frederick, Arthur, and Edward, and his sister Lavinia.

Private (2381) 200556 David Gwynne was serving with the 1st/7th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, in France, where he had arrived on 31 March 1915, when he was killed on 1 April 1917. He was buried in the Arras Road Cemetery, at Roclincourt in the Pas de Calais. He was 20 years old. He was born in Kirkcaldy, but according to the 1911 census the family home was at 44 Churchfield, Kidderminster, Worcestershire. His name is on the memorial, but what the connection between the Gwynne family and the town of Hythe was, I do not know.

Gwynne’s Medals.

John Francis Giles Sherwood was 28 and a private (G/12988) serving with the 2nd Battalion, Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, when he was killed on 2 April 1917. He has no known grave but his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. Before the war he lived at 2 Ashdown Cottages, Saltwood, with his wife Harriet and their daughters Dorothy and Ellen.

Corporal 45517 Walter Edward Edgar Bass MM was 22 and serving with the Heavy Trench Mortar Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery when he was killed on 3 April 1917. The 1911 census shows Walter living at 9 Theatre Street, the home of his grandparents Edward and Susan Munds, employed as a telegraph messenger. Walter had enlisted at Folkestone on 24 August 1914 aged 19. He was unusually tall for the time: six foot one. He arrived in France on 18 March 1915 and after familiarisation training was posted to the No.6 Trench Mortar Battery. He was transferred to No.12 Trench Mortar Battery on 20 March 1916 and two months later was promoted to bombardier. On 1 September 1916 he was awarded the Military Medal (London Gazette 1 September 1916). On 9 August 1916 he received a gunshot wound to his right hand and was admitted to the 23rd General Hospital at Étaples. He was released from there on 28 August before joining the Royal Garrison Artillery Base Depot on the 31st. On 6 September he was posted to No.5 Trench Mortar Battery and on 18 October was promoted to corporal. On 24 November he was granted two weeks leave back home to the UK, before returning to his unit in France on 4 December. The next entry on his army service record shows that he died of his wounds on 3 April 1917 at the 2nd Canadian Field Ambulance, but there was no explanation as to how he came to be there or the circumstances in which he was wounded. There is a letter dated 16 August 1917 sent by the War Office to the Royal Garrison Artillery records office AT Dover: ‘Will you please note that any articles of personal property now in your possession, or subsequently received by you belonging to the late 45517 Corporal Walter Edward Bass, No.5 Trench Mortar Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery…should be despatched to:-Colour Sergeant Walter Edward Bass, c/o Officer Commanding, Depot, Royal West Kent Regiment, Maidstone, Kent.’ Either there were two men with exactly the same name, or there was some mistake concerning his rank.

Percy Victor Mount was 27 and a lance corporal (23256) with the 7th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, when he was killed in action on 9 April 1917. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial in the Pas de Calais. Although he had lived in Hythe, at the time of his death, records show that his home address, the one that he shared with his wife Annie, was 2 Ivy Cottages, Bradstone Road, Folkestone. Percy was a member of the Hythe Fire Brigade.

Private R/26475 Frederick Phillip Cloke was 36, one of nine children – five daughters and four sons. He was serving in the 9th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, when he was killed on 9 April 1917. He is buried at the Tilloy British Cemetery in Tilloyles-Mofflaines in the Pas-de-Calais. His father John lived at 1 Cyprus Terrace, Albert Road. One of Frederick’s brothers, Herbert Charles, died on June 1917 aged 34; in 1911 he was living at home with his parents while working as a general labourer. His brother George William served in the RAF during the war, and another brother, Thomas Henry, had served in the Royal Navy, but before the war. Thomas Henry enlisted on 22 April 1891 and finished his contract on 20 December 1909 having served for eighteen years. He re-enlisted the very next day and served for a further nine years before being demobilized on 7 August 1919, having reached the rank of petty officer 1st class and the age of 43.

Gunner 140099 Herbert Brown Miller was killed at the age of 32 on 16 April 1917 while serving in France with ‘T’ Battery, 14th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery. He is buried at the Pont-du-Jour Military Cemetery in the Pas de Calais. His parents, the Reverend William and Catherine Miller, lived at Hillgrove, Saltwood. Herbert was a member of the Hythe Fire Brigade.

Private G43326 Frederick Cheal was 30 and serving with the 16th Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own Middlesex Regiment, when he died on 23 April 1917. He had enlisted at Purfleet in Essex although he was born in Hythe. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. In 1901, according to the census, Frederick was living with his parents and siblings at 4 South Cottages, Victoria Road, Hythe. One of his brothers, William, had enlisted when he was 18 on 29 May 1907 at Canterbury, becoming Private 8513 of The Buffs, East Kent Regiment, initially being posted to the 1st Battalion, although he would also serve with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions. On 21 March 1918 he transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery where he spent the rest of the war mainly working with various anti-aircraft batteries. He was demobilized on 30 April 1919 having served for just under twelve years. His home address at the time is shown as 25 Victoria Road, Hythe. From October 1909 to December 1910 he had been stationed in Hong Kong. He then returned to England before being posted to India, where he served from February 1913 to November 1914. He was then part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Alexandria where he was between October 1915 and December 1916. After that he was part of the British Expeditionary Force in France where he served between 16 May 1917 and 2 June 1917. During his military service he was hospitalised on three occasions: for debility in July and August 1916, for pyrexia in September, and for malaria in October, which resulted in him being sent back to England.

Sergeant B/19412 Douglas Chester was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, when he was killed on 24 April 1917. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. I am not sure what his connection to the town of Hythe was. He was born in Steyning, Sussex, and I can find no trace of him or his family having ever lived in Hythe.

Private 40145 Arthur Worthington was killed on 3 May 1917 while serving with the 8th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. Before the war Arthur worked as a trimmer and lived at 1 The Avenue, Hythe, with his mother Mary Ann, his sisters Emmeline and Mildred, and his brother Donald. Also living with them was the Draffen family: husband and wife George and Beatrice, and their son George William Charles. George senior was a retired lieutenant colonel.

Private 22934 Harry Newman Whiting was serving with the 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, when he died on 3 May 1917. He had also served in the 4th Battalion. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Sergeant G/65320 William Fry was serving with the 4th Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), when he was killed on 3 May 1917. Having enlisted at Folkestone, he had previously served as Private 1131 with the 4th Battalion, The Buffs. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Private G/15702 Stephen Charles Vidler was 20 when he was killed on 3 May 1917 while serving with the 7th Battalion, The Buffs. Before enlisting he had lived with his parents William and Eliza at 13 Frampton Road, although the 1911 census records them as living slightly further along the street at number 35. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Private 23241 Albert Ede, a resident of Hythe, was serving with the 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, when he was killed on 3 May 1917. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Private 27255 Robert Savage was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment, when he died on 16 July 1917. He was buried at the Baghdad Cemetery in Iraq. He was born in Hythe and lived there all his life until he joined the army. Two of Robert’s brothers, William Charles and Herbert George, also served in the army in the war, but unlike Robert, they survived. William had enlisted when he was 18 at Dover in 1907 and he became Gunner (1285) in the Royal Garrison Artillery. Herbert enlisted in 1901 at Dover aged 21 and became private in the Army Service Corps.

Stoker 1st Class 287391 James W.T. Wraight was 39 and serving in the Royal Navy on board HMS Vanguard when he was killed in a massive explosion while it was at anchor in Scapa Flow on 9 July 1917. All but two of the crew of 845 officers and ratings were killed. He has no known grave but his name is one of the thousands who are commemorated on the Chatham Memorial.

Boy 1st Class J/51294 Richard John Hayles, another of Alfred Hayles’s brothers, was just 17 when he died on 9 July 1917. Like James Wraight, he was serving on HMS Vanguard. The reason why the ship exploded has never been definitively explained. Even sabotage was considered. Richard John has no known grave, but his name is on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Private 32655 Walter Ernest Fagg was 32 and serving with the 2nd (Garrison) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, when he was killed on 15 July 1917. He had previously served as a private (3766) with the East Yorkshire Regiment. The 1911 census shows him working as a market gardener and living at 20 North Road with his parents Frederick and Sarah, his younger brother George, and Sarah Tearrall, his grandmother. Walter was a native of Hythe through and through. He was born there, enlisted there, and lived there, at 137 Seabrook Road, with his wife Beatrice, whom he had married in 1916. He was buried at the Basra War Cemetery in Iraq.

Private G/24863 William Miller was killed on 21 July 1917 while serving with the 7th Battalion, The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), in Belgium. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Born in Edinburgh in 1889, he married Mary Victoria Blackman in Elham, Kent, in 1908, and by April 1911 they were living at 4 Albert Lane, Hythe, where he worked as a general labourer.

William’s younger brother Luke also served in the First World War, as a gunner (50300) in the Royal Field Artillery, having enlisted in London in 1908 aged 19. Luke deserted on 31 December 1910 while stationed at Aldershot, although his freedom was short-lived as he ‘re-joined’ on 6 January 1911. He faced trial and was convicted of desertion on 19 January, serving less than a month in custody before returning to duty. He first went out to France on 22 September 1914, before moving on to Mesopotamia on Christmas Eve 1915. Mesopotamia today includes parts of Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey. He remained there until 29 May 1918 when he was invalided to India. After he recovered he was sent back to France, arriving there on 10 October 1918. He survived the war and was demobbed on 26 April 1919. There is a note on his army service record saying he was confined at the lunatic asylum at Colney Hatch. Under the heading ‘Nature of Disability’ it has the words ‘delusional’ and ‘insanity’. It is not unlikely that Luke was suffering from shell shock.

Private 16962 George Wire was 30 and serving with the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, when he was killed on 30 July 1917. He is buried at the Duhallow ADS Cemetery near Ypres. His father, also George, lived at 23 Albert Road, Hythe. The 1911 census shows George and his father living at Ivy Dene, Park Road West.

Second Lieutenant Herbert George Driffield of the 2nd Battalion, London Regiment (Royall Fusiliers), who was attached to the 10th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent), was 35 when he was killed on 1 August 1917.

Private 48408 Thomas Henry Rolfe was 35 and serving with the 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, when he died on 4 August 1917. He was buried at the Cabin Hill Cemetery at Heuvelland in Belgium. According to the 1911 census he was living at 5 Frampton Road, Hythe, with his wife Rosa, their two children, and his mother-in-law Mary Jane Wootton, whose home it was. Before enlisting Thomas worked as a groom.

Guardsman 25521 Percy John Nicholls was killed on 6 August 1917 while serving with the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate.

Private 47469 Lewis Alfred Brisley was 26 and serving with the 23rd Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Scottish), at the time of his death on 29 August 1917. He had enlisted at Hythe, originally as a gunner (157766) with the Royal Field Artillery. Before that he was living with his wife Alice at Rabbits Cross Farm, Chart Sutton, Maidstone. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Vivian Thompson DSO was 37 at the time of his death on 14 October 1917. His parent regiment was the Royal Engineers, but he was attached to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Essex Regiment, from 25 May 1917. He was buried at the Duisans British Cemetery at Étrun in the Pas de Calais. He arrived in France on 30 May 1915. He lived with his wife Rachael at 23 Hillcrest Road, Hythe, although by the time Mrs Thompson claimed her late husband’s wartime service medals in June 1921 she had moved to Canterbury.

Private 85809 William Adams was serving with the 114th Company, Labour Corps, at the time of his death on 18 October 1917, although he had initially enlisted and served as a private (27852) in the Essex Regiment and then transferred to the 6th Battalion, Northampton Regiment, as Private 39084.

Gunner 74282 Bernard Dudley Bailey was 28 and serving with the 23rd Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he died on 20 October 1917. He enlisted in Hythe where his parents William and Harriet lived at 3 Wood Road. His grave can be found at the Godewaersvelde British Cemetery.

Second Lieutenant Stanley Ewart Hirst was serving with the 200th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he was killed on 24 October 1917. He was buried at The Huts Cemetery near Ypres. He had enlisted as Private 4077 in The Squadrons, Inns of Court, Officer Training Corps and received his commission on 3 May 1917 in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He also served with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. His parents, the Reverend Frederick Arthur and Helen Hirst, lived at 17 Earlsfield Road, Hythe.

Gunner 164300 Frank William Fisher was 38 and serving with the 152nd Siege Battery, Field Artillery, when he was killed on 8 November 1917. His final resting place is to be found at Artillery Wood Cemetery, Ypres. He left a widow, Florence, who lived at 4 Sun Lane, Hythe.

Private L/7968 William Hobbs was serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 27 November 1917. He was a native of Hythe and lived there until he enlisted. He was buried at the Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt, France.

Lance Corporal M/298036 Alfred Gordon Wootten was 18 and serving with the 985th Mechanical Transport Company (Deptford), Army Service Corps, when he was killed in an accident on 8 December 1917. He was buried at the Horn Street burial ground in Hythe. Before enlisting Alfred had lived with his parents Cornelius and Elizabeth at 18 South Road.

Second Lieutenant George Elwick Jemmett was 37 and serving with the 13th (Kensington) Battalion, London Regiment, at the time of his death on 17 December 1917, although he had initially enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment, where he had risen to the rank of corporal (3855). He was buried at Mont Huon Military Cemetery in Le Tréport, Seine-Maritime, France. His parents, George and Grace, lived in Hythe.

1918

Charles William Jemmett was a cousin of George’s. He was 32 and a lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 15 March 1918 of wounds he received at the Battle of Cambrai. He is buried at the Brissay-Choigny Churchyard.

Able Seaman 197865 William Francis Friend was 37 and serving on board HMS M28 when he met his death on 20 January 1918, killed at the Battle of Imbros when the British Monitor HMS M28 was sunk by the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultam Selim which had previously been the German vessel SMS Breslau. The Selim turned her powerful guns on HMS M28 striking her amidships, which set her on fire before she sunk after her magazine exploded at 6 am. Friend began his naval career on 3 January 1898 on board HMS Impregnable. His body was never recovered, but his name is recorded on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. The National Probate Calendar, index of Wills and Administrations, shows that at the time of his death William was living at the Prince of Wales Inn at Hythe.

Corporal 30131 Alfred Edward Bennett was 34 and serving with the 2nd/5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, when he died on 21 March 1918. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. His mother Harriet lived at 10 St Leonard’s Road. His widow Alice Eliza is shown as living at 6 Theatre Street by the CWGC, but the 1911 census showed Alfred and Alice living at ‘Northland’, Church Road, Saltwood. Before the war Alfred had been employed as a domestic groom.

Company Sergeant Major 6573 Robert Kidd MM was 41 and serving with the 8th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, when he was killed on 21 March 1918. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. Robert lived with his wife at 12 Church Hill.

Lance Corporal 22922 David Abraham Moore was 35 when he was killed on 22 March 1918 while serving with the 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. Although born in Gorleston in Norfolk, he had lived in Hythe, hence his inclusion on the town’s war memorial. Three of David’s brothers, Percy, Frank and Albert, all served during the war and survived, but other than being David’s brothers, they had no connection to Hythe.

Sergeant 10381 Reginald Frank Barton was 21 when he was killed on 28 March 1918 while serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. According to the 1911 census Reginald lived with his parents Thomas and Alice at 3 Victoria Avenue, Hythe, with his younger brother Douglas and his sister Alice. He has no known grave but his name is on the Arras Memorial.

Lance Corporal 266658 (Private 6865) Clifford Filmer Stanley Denne was 30 and serving with the 12th/13th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, when he died on 28 March 1918. Clifford has no known grave but is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. The entry for Clifford on the British Army’s Medal Rolls index cards states, ‘Presumed Dead’. Before enlisting Clifford was a postman and lived with his parents Filmer and Annie at 26 Frampton Road, making them close neighbours of the Dearmans at number 31. Clifford was the youngest of three children. The eldest was his sister Florence, followed by George, who was only two years older than Clifford but I could find no certain record of his war service. The British Army’s Medal Rolls index cards show two men with the name George Denne. One was Private 38072 in the 15th Hussars (King’s). Another was Private 3543 with the 24th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, and the same rank (6135184) with the East Surrey Regiment. There was an acting sergeant (RTS/6564) George A. Denne who served with the RASC, and a George Edward Laird Denne who was Private 6718 with the 16th Battalion, London Regiment; he enlisted in December 1915 and was medically discharged due to sickness in September 1916. An interesting fact about the surname Denne is that forty-eight German soldiers with the name Denne were killed in the war.

Stoker 1st Class K/17876 (CH) A. Ward was serving with the Royal Navy when he died on 2 April 1918. He was buried at the Horn Street burial ground in Hythe.

Private L/11107 Daniel Stringer Lyth was serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 19 April 1918. David was a native of Hythe but he has no known grave. His name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. When he enlisted on 3 March 1915 at Dover, question 15 of his attestation form asks, ‘For what Corps are you willing to be enlisted, or are you willing to be enlisted for General Service?’ Daniel named the Royal Army Medical Corps, which is the unit he was initially posted to, as Private 11518. With that in mind, I am not quite sure how he ended up being transferred to the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, on 2 October 1917.

Daniel and his colleagues left Southampton on 21 September 1915 on board the SS Queen Alexander, arriving in Rouen the next morning. By the time of Daniel’s death, his mother Hannah was living at 2 Providence Place, Wouldham, Rochester.

Private 4727 David Lyth enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps on 23 August 1915. He later transferred to the Labour Corps as Private 442866 before transferring back to the Machine Gun Corps. He was discharged on medical grounds on 10 November 1919 when he was 22. He was issued with a Silver War Badge by the war office, number 488123.

Private 60658 Ernest Henry Rogers was a native of Hythe and serving with the 23rd Battalion, (Tyneside Scottish) Northumberland Fusiliers, when he died on 29 April 1918. He had initially enlisted as a private (33175) in the Middlesex Regiment. He was buried at the Esquelbecq Military Cemetery.

Sapper 24945 James Hall was 19 and serving with the 153rd Field Company, Royal Engineers, when he was killed on 29 April 1918. He was buried at the Foncquevillers Military Cemetery. Before enlisting James had lived with his parents James and Jessie at 9 St Nicholas Road, Hythe, along with his three younger sisters.

Private M2/187027 Percy Sydney Thomas Smith was 21 and serving with the 347th Mechanical Transport Company, Army Service Corps, when he died at the 48th Stationary Hospital in Alexandria from a relapsing fever on 14 June 1918 while stationed in Israel, having first arrived there on 24 January 1917. He was buried at the Gaza War Cemetery. Percy had enlisted at Grove Park on 26 May 1916 aged 19. His attestation papers show that he was living at Hythe Police station. As Percy had worked as a ‘motor driver’ I can only assume that his father was a policeman. Before enlisting he had lived with his parents, Thomas Henry and Hetty, at 16 New Road, St Leonard’s Road, Hythe. At the time of the 1911 census the family were living at 49 High Street. There were three other children: George, Lilly and Eva. By 28 October 1919 they had moved to the Ordnance Arms, Military Road. Percy had previously served with two Territorial units: the Kent Cyclists and the Army Service Corps, the latter of which he had been discharged from to enable him to enlist in the regular army.

Percy’s brother George H. Smith also served during the war. He was Private 265648 in the 10th Platoon, ‘C’ Company,1st/1st Battalion, ‘Kents’, and served in India.

Captain Eric Horace Comber-Taylor was 29 and serving with No.10 Squadron, Royal Air Force, when he was killed on 16 June 1918. He was buried at the Esquelbecq Military Cemetery. There is a plaque in the form of a wooden propeller blade at St Peter’s Church in Twineham in West Sussex. The inscription on it reads,

In memory of an only son

Captain Eric Horace Comber-Taylor

Flight Commander Royal Air Force

Killed in France June 16th 1918

Loved by all for his gentleness and quiet bravery

R.I.P.

Captain E.H. Comber-Taylor

RAF

Killed

16/6/18

He was killed flying Bristol F2B C967 of No.10 Squadron. At the outbreak of war he was working at the National Provincial Bank in Hythe, commuting each day from his lodgings at Guildhall Street in Folkestone. He initially became a private in the Royal Fusiliers but in August 1916 was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Flying Corps. In April 1918 he was promoted to captain and put in command of No.10 Squadron based at Droglandt in France.

Company Quartermaster Sergeant 203164 Ernest Arthur James was 29 and serving with the 2nd/4th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), when he died on 23 June 1918. He was buried at the Jerusalem War Cemetery. He had formerly served as Private TF/2359 in one of the Buffs’ territorial units. His parents, George and Hannah, lived at 3 The Avenue, Hythe.

Propeller Blade Memorial Eric Horace Comber-Taylor. (Photograph by Peter Jeffery).

Eric Horace Comber-Taylor. (www.roll-of-honour.com)

Private 47874 Albert Francis Cloke was born in Hythe but enlisted at Canterbury. He was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, when he died of his wounds on 3 August 1918. He was buried at the Pernes British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais.

Private (T/203618) G-9757 Arthur Wratten died on 7 August 1918 while serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs. He was buried at the Schoonselhof Cemetery in Belgium.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Head Randall DSO was 40 and serving with the 8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Manitoba Regiment, when he died on 9 August 1918. He had enlisted in Canada on 22 September 1914, having previously served in the military, but by birth he was an Englishman, born in Farnborough in 1876. He had worked at the Hythe School of Musketry, which was his main connection with Hythe.

Private 305978 Bertie John Wilkinson was 27 and serving in the 2nd Battalion, Tank Corps, at the time of his death. He died of wounds on 10 August 1918. He had previously served as Sapper 3046 with the Royal Engineers. He was buried at the Bouchoir New British Cemetery in France. The 1911 census shows him as working as a baker’s assistant and living with his parents Charles and Hilda at 1 Glenwood, St Leonard’s Road, where he was the youngest of three children. His brother Arthur was a grocer’s assistant and his sister Hilda was a draper’s assistant.

Private G/66739 John Glencoe Allen was serving with the 6th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), at the time of his death on 23 August 1918. He had previously served as Private 26325 with the Buffs. He was a resident of Hythe. His grave can be found at the Meaulte Military Cemetery.

Frank Brissenden enlisted as a private (2136) with the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles but transferred to the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), as a sergeant (G/18399). It was while serving with the latter that he died on 23 August 1918. He is buried at the Adanac Military Cemetery at Miraumont. The 1911 census showed Brissenden living at 18 Windmill Street, Hythe, when he was an 18-year-old shop assistant.

He was one of four brothers.

William died on 3 June 1903.

Harry served as a sapper (42092) in the Royal Engineers having enlisted on 27 August 1914; he served for just under two years before he was discharged on 11 August 1916 for being no longer physically fit for wartime service. In July 1912, while in Aldershot, he fractured his right leg but failed to seek medical attendance at the time which led to the injury healing ineffectively and impairing subsequent use of the limb. He also suffered with flat feet and could not march more than a couple of miles before having to fall out, and he was also unfit for heavy work. On 28 July 1916 he was examined by doctors of the RAMC at Farnley Park camp at Otley, Yorks. It was noted that there was a marked deformity of Harry’s right leg from a badly united fracture at the juncture of the lower and middle third of the tibia. The upper fragment overrode the lower section causing a marked projection on the inner aspect of the limb as well as pronounced flattening of both feet.

Frank’s younger brother Arthur attested on 11 December 1915 at St Pancras in London and was placed on the army reserve. He was mobilized on 26 February 1917 and initially allocated to the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment as a private (46319) before being posted as Private 70900 in the 19th Company, Labour Corps, on 2 March 1917. Five days later he was transferred to the 11th Company. He was then sent to France where he remained until 24 October 1919. On his return to England he served for twenty-eight more days before demobbed.

Sergeant L/8917 James Bloomfield MM was 29 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 29 August 1918. He was buried at the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension in the Somme. His parents, Curtis and Margaret, according to the 1911 census, were living at 51 Frampton Road, but by the time the CWGC had begun amassing their information, the family had moved to 119 High Street. Curtis also served in the military in the war, enlisting on 14 October 1914 at Canterbury aged 52. He had previously served in both the Yeomanry and the Buffs. Two of his daughters were born in India. Violet was born in Calcutta in 1891 and Ethel was born in Jalandhar in 1893, no doubt when Curtis was stationed there. In the Buffs he was Private S/844 and three years later he was transferred to the 613th Home Service Employment Company. On 24 November 1917 he was transferred to The Buffs Regimental Depot, and on 20 February 1918 he was attached to the No.2 Record Office at Hounslow. He was finally demobbed on 2 April 1920, at which time he was shown as living at 119 High Street, Hythe.

Private 307601 William George Tacchi was 22 and serving with ‘C’ Company, 6th Battalion, Tank Corps, when he was killed on 5 September 1918. He was buried at the Bac-du-Sud British Cemetery at Bailleulval.

Lance Corporal 18137 Edward George Bardon was 21 and serving in the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was he was killed on 8 September 1918. He was buried in the Saulcourt Churchyard Extension in Guyencourt-Saulcourt.

Private G/9492 Victor Charles Harris was serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 19 September 1918. He was buried at the Chapelle British Cemetery at Holnon. At the time of the 1911 census, Victor lived with his parents Herbert and Ellen, his three brothers, William, Llewellyn and Stanley, and his two sisters, Daisy and Gertrude, at Seaway House, Sandgate Road, Hythe.

Lance Corporal L/6341 Edmund T. Cooper was 35 and serving in ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion, The Buffs, at the time of his death on 20 September 1918, having only arrived in France thirteen days earlier. He was buried at the Trefon British Cemetery at Caulaincourt. Because of the date of his arrival in France, he was awarded the ‘14 Star’, to which he was entitled for his service. He had lived with his wife Ada Annie at 17 Military Road, Hythe.

Rifleman 41612 Wyndham Walter Valentine Hopkins was 35 and serving with ‘D’ Company,1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, when he died on 2 October 1918. He had lived with his wife Elizabeth at 164 Seabrook Road. He was buried at the Dadizeele New British Cemetery, Moorslede, Belgium.

Private 11460 Arthur Ware was 18 when he enlisted at Canterbury on 29 June 1916. He was allocated to serve with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs. According to the CWGC website he died on 8 October 1917 by which time he was serving with ‘C’ Company, 9th Battalion. He was buried at the Montbrehain British Cemetery, Aisne, France. The 1911 census shows Arthur living with his parents, Robert and Rose, at Seaview Terrace, 3 North Road, with brothers Frederick and John and sister Florence. Robert died in 1920 and Rose in 1923. Arthur’s attestation form shows that he lived at 48 North Road, meaning that either the entire family had moved there or that Arthur was lodging there at the time. Before enlisting his occupation was ‘canteen worker’. There is an interesting letter attached to Arthur’s army service record, sent from O/C No. 2 Infantry Records Section to O/C 3rd Battalion, The Buffs, who at the time were stationed at Dover:

Will you please note that No. G/11460 Pte. A. Ware, who was transferred to Class W Army Reserve on 8-9-16, as being under age, has been ordered to re-join the Colours and to report to you for duty on the 16th instant. If he fails to re-join he should be proceeded against as an absentee in the ordinary way. Kindly notify me by 20th instant whether he has re-joined or not.

His home address is 48 North Road, Hythe.

This came about ten weeks after he had enlisted, as a result of a letter which had been written to the commanding officer of 9th Battalion, The Buffs, at Dover, by Arthur’s parents, dated 17 August 1916:

I am writing to you concerning my son, A Ware 11460, ‘C’ Company, 9th Battalion, The Buffs, who enlisted on attaining the age of 18.

Is it possible for him to come back in to civilian life until he reaches the age of 19, as they are putting others back to. I hear lads working under age, that have been sent back until they are 19. Since my son has been asked the question, if he would like to come home until he was 19 and promised to the fact.

By getting our signatures which perhaps never did reach you. He has also been in the boy Scouts and Volunteer Training Corps.

His elder brothers are serving with the Colours and the remainder of the family are on Government work.

It affects us financially, therefore I appeal to you. If this is not the proper way to obtain his discharge, would you kindly inform me to that effect. I should be under a great obligation to you if you could do so.

I remain yours obediently

Robert & Rose.

As I continued reading through his record, it became apparent that things just did not add up when it came to the dates. To recap: Arthur initially enlisted on 29 June 1916, but after the authorities were made aware that he was underage he was placed on the army reserve on 8 September 1916, class W, which meant being liable to be recalled to the colours at any time. Now, despite the CWGC showing his date of death as being 8 October 1917, his record shows that he rejoined the Buffs from the reserve on 16 February 1918. There is a note from the recruiting officer at St Lawrence House, Canterbury. He wrote,

To officer in command 9th Battalion, The Buffs, Canterbury. Arthur Ware, of 48 North Road, Hythe. Transferred to ‘W’ Reserve from above battalion and employed by the Army and Navy Canteen Board, reports he has now left that employment and is now desirous of re-joining the Colours. Will you please take the necessary steps to have him recalled.

The note is dated 24 January 1918, three months after the CWGC records his date of death.

A letter was also written by Arthur Ware to the same commanding officer in command of 9th Battalion, The Buffs, requesting he be allowed to re-enlist. He signs it accordingly, A. Ware, No.11460, 9th Battalion, The Buffs, transferred to Class W Army Reserve September 8 1916. Passed by medical board at Canterbury on January 30 1918, as being A1. The date of this letter is 12 February 1918.

He was posted on 6 June 1918 to another unit – the writing is not clear enough to be able to determine which one – and sent to France the same day. What is clear though is his date of death: he was killed on 8 October 1918. The family home was at 5 Cobden Road, Hythe.

Lieutenant Fred Hire was serving with the Royal Engineers but attached to the post of Assistant Director of Light Railways when he died on 12 October 1918. He was buried at the Bandaghem Military Cemetery in Poperinge.

Lieutenant Hire lived at 6 Seabrook Road, Hythe, and had a brother, Henry William, who was a lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, and a sister, Francis, who was a musician. His parents, Edward and Dorcas, had nine children, eight of whom were living at the time of the 1911 census. By that time all of the children had left home, and the by-now elderly parents were living at 3 Albion Villas, Seabrook Road. Edward had been a military man having reached the rank of sergeant major before retiring and becoming an army pensioner.

Headstone of Fred Hire.

The oldest of the nine children was Edward Augustus. He enlisted at Canterbury on 18 September 1889 aged 18 and joined the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) (19684). By 1914 Edward had already served in the army for twenty-five years, but despite this he left for France via Southampton on board the SS African Prince and arrived at Le Havre the next day. On 8 November 1915 he was awarded the decoration of the 3rd Echelon Médaille Militaire at Rouen. This was followed by a mention in dispatches by Sir John French for ‘distinguished conduct in the field’, the announcement of which appeared in the London Gazette on 1 January 1916, quite possibly in connection to the award of the French decoration. The London Gazette reported his Médaille Militaire, ‘in recognition of distinguished service during the campaign’, on 24 February 1916. In May 1917 he was promoted to acting superintending clerk, warrant officer, 3rd echelon, class 1, and in August to temporary warrant officer, class 1, superintending clerk, for the duration of the war. On 24 June 1918 he was promoted to the substantive rank of warrant officer class 11, becoming a quartermaster sergeant. He was given ten days leave to return to England on 23 November 1918, to spend time seeing his friends and family, which was nice for all concerned, especially now that the armistice had been signed and the fighting had finally ended. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (London Gazette 18 January 1919). This medal recognized ‘good, faithful, valuable and meritorious service, with conduct judged to be irreproachable throughout’. Edward was finally discharged from the army on 16 October 1919 at Canterbury, having served for 30 years and 28 days, still with the 2nd Dragoon Guards.

Arthur Hire (4757) also served in the army, enlisting with the 5th Lancers in 1897. I could not find any further information concerning his military service, or whether he served during the First World War. But if he did, he survived, as he died on 3 November 1957 at the age of 78.

Second Lieutenant Frederick Arthur Arnold Hire was 35 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), when he died on 13 October 1918. Before receiving his commission he also served with the 11th Battalion as Lance Corporal G/19130. He is buried at the Houchin British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais. He lived with his wife at 46 Prince of Wales Road, Norwich, although his mother Mary lived in Hythe. In the 1901 census, along with her husband David, Mary was recorded as living at 6 Church Hill, Hythe, with Frederick, and two of his brothers, David and Frank. David senior died in August 1901 at the age of 61.

The 1911 census showed Mary living at the same address with her sons Frederick and David. Frank is shown as being serving with the 106th Battery, Royal Field Artillery stationed in Ecclesall.

Frank Arnold arrived in France on 6 October 1914 and by 26 February 1916 was a battery sergeant major (25716) serving with the 22nd Brigade, RFA. He was commissioned as a lieutenant on 27 February 1916 and before the end of the war he was awarded the Military Cross. On 21 October 1919 Frank wrote to the war office requesting that his medals, including the 1914-15 Star, be sent to his home, 23 Church Hill, Hythe.

Gunner 79092 Frederick Jessie Goodsell was a brother of Edward (who died in 1914). He had applied for exemption in 1916 but died on 18 October 1918 aged 23 serving with the 5th Mountain Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was laid to rest at the Mirka British Cemetery at Kalamaria in Greece. He and Edward had both enlisted in their home town of Hythe. A third brother, John Thomas, also served during the war, as Private 26561 with the Queen’s Royal Regiment. He had enlisted on 5 July 1917 at Canterbury aged 18. He survived the war and returned home to his parents.

Private G/21368 William George Lee was 41, born in Hythe, and serving with the 1st/5th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 9 October 1918 while serving in India. He was buried at the Hosur Road Cemetery, Bangalore. His widow Alice Annie lived at 2 New Road, Hythe.

Private TF/265417 Robert F. Potter was born in Hythe and at the time of his death on 13 October 1918 was serving with the 1st/1st Battalion (Kent Cyclists) Army Cycle Corps.

Private M2/155836 Stephen William Higgins was 24 and serving with the 694th Mechanical Transport Company, RASC, at the time of his death on 21 October 1918. He attested on 9 November 1915 and was mobilized on 2 February 1916. Stephen had lived in Hythe. His parents, Stephen and Edith, also lived in Hythe, at the Golf Club, with their four other children, sons Christopher and Charles, and daughters Dorothy and Edith. Stephen’s name is commemorated on the Delhi Memorial.

Staff Sergeant 45684 Henry James Wheeler DCM MM was 34 and serving with the 56th Field Ambulance, RAMC, when he was killed on 2 November 1918. He was buried at the Maurois Communal Cemetery. He was a native of Hythe and the 1911 census shows him living at Denmark House, 1 Mount Street, with his mother Samantha. His occupation before he enlisted was jeweller.

Lance Corporal 260163 Herbert Usher, a native of Hythe, died of his wounds on 10 November 1918, the day before the signing of the armistice, while serving with the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, a territorial unit. He was buried at Cambrai East Military Cemetery. He had previously served as a Territorial with the Buffs as Private TF/201420. On 4 November the battalion had been in action in the Battle of Sambre and between 5 and 7 November in the Passage of the Grande Honnelle. By the end of the war, the 9th Battalion had served on the western front longer than any other battalion of the regiment.

Private 150983 Leslie Vincent Jeffreys was 21 and serving with B Company, 103rd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, when he died of his wounds on 15 November 1918. He first enlisted on 11 September 1914 with the City of London Yeomanry (nicknamed the Rough Riders). He was buried at the Étaples Military Cemetery. He had lived with his parents George and Laura at The Chalet, Napier Gardens, Hythe.

Corporal 318048 William John Muxworthy was 23 when he died of wounds on 16 November 1918 while serving as Private 318048 in the Labour Corps. He had previously served as Private 34633 with the Machine Guns Corps, Infantry, having enlisted on 17 August 1915. Before enlisting he had worked as a postman. He didn’t arrive in France for nearly two years: 4 September 1917 to be precise. This was in part due to the fact that he had spent two periods of time in the Ripon Military Hospital. His first spell there was between 28 December 1916 and 26 January 1917 when he appears to have had an operation for varicose veins in his left leg. Three days after being discharged, he was back again, this time with influenza. Having recovered sufficiently, he was discharged on 5 February 1917. He remained in France until 12 June 1918, when he returned to England. On 18 June 1918 he was admitted to the 3rd Scottish General Hospital, Stobhill in Glasgow, which could cater for 1,163 men of other ranks. Stobhill was run by a territorial unit of the RAMC. A temporary platform had been installed at the end of a siding which allowed hospital trains to deliver wounded soldiers directly into the hospital. He remained there until 13 July 1918, receiving treatment for tuberculosis of the lung. With no chance of his condition sufficiently improving anytime soon, he was deemed no longer fit enough for wartime service. On 2 August 1918 his discharge came through and three months later he was dead. He was buried at the Horn Street burial ground in Hythe. His mother Sarah lived at 45 Fort Road. He had a younger brother, Archibald, who was born in Hythe in 1908.

Corporal 29594 Pomeroy Leopold Weeds was 31 and serving with the 4th Army Signal Company, Royal Engineers, when he died on 3 December 1918. He was buried at the Maubeuge Cemetery at Sous-le-Bois. The 1911 census shows him aged 24 and living with his parents Charles Edgar and Hannah at 3 Invicta Terrace, Seabrook, with his brothers Edgar and Brian and his sisters Minnie and May. He was employed as a clerk and telegraphist for the GPO, which is why I assume he ended up as an army signaller. In the early 1920s, when the CWGC started collating their information, Pomeroy’s parents were living at 147 Seabrook. The 1901 census shows Pomeroy’s mother’s name as Annie while the 1911 census shows Hannah. The marriage register shows that they married in November 1892 in Elham, Kent.

1919

Sapper 887213 Alfred Gayford Wheeler was 27 and serving with the 2nd Tramway Company of the Canadian Engineers when he died of pneumonia on 28 January 1919. He is buried at the Brussels Town Cemetery. After the war, his parents, James and Susannah, lived at Mount Pleasant Clopton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, while Alfred was born in Hythe on 29 May 1892. Before enlisting he was a farmer in Canada.

He enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 10 April 1916 at North Battleford, Saskatchewan, at which time his mother was shown as living at Denmark House, Hythe, which agrees with the 1911 census. At the time of the 1901 census, she was shown as living at 139 High Street, Hythe, along with Alfred, her three elder sons, Archie, Henry, and Leslie, and her daughter, Elsie. Alfred was the brother of Henry James Wheeler, whose details are recorded below.

Captain Henry John Myers was 38 and in the Royal Army Service Corps when he died of pneumonia on 19 February 1919. He is buried at the St Peter and Paul Churchyard at Saltwood. He initially enlisted as Private 515185 in the London Regiment. At the time of the 1911 census, Henry, along with his mother Annie and younger sister Alice, lived in Hythe, at Rosebery House, Parkfields, which was the home of his auntie, Jane Frances Nelson.

Corporal 406313 Frank Alderman Marshall was 25 when he died of pneumonia on 28 February 1919 while serving with the 870th Area Employment Company, Labour Corps. He had previously served as Private 3031 in the 1st Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He was buried at the Janval Cemetery in Dieppe. His parents Frederick and Sarah lived at 4 Victoria Terrace, Seabrook.

Private 161434 William Dearman enlisted in the Essex Regiment as Private 6186, but at the time of his death on 28 July 1919 from tuberculosis was serving with the 575th Home Service Employment Company, Labour Corps. He was buried at the Horn Street Cemetery in Hythe. His home address at the time of the 1911 census was 31 Market Street. He was the younger brother of Samuel Dearman, who I mention above. By the time he enlisted, on 13 October 1916 at Canterbury, at the age of 22, he was living with his parents James and Minnie at 31 Frampton Road. He was discharged from the army for no longer being physically fit for service on 1 February 1918 after having spent three weeks in hospital at Woolwich.

1920

Acting Lance Sergeant 5199 Herbert George Willmore was 31 and serving with the 3rd Battalion, Scots Guards, when he was medically discharged on 30 January 1919 due to chronic conjunctivitis in his left eye and suffering with a nervous debility. He was issued with Silver War Badge number B106439. It was important that the recipient of a War Badge looked after it carefully, as they were a one-off issue and could not be replaced under any circumstances. They were worn on the lapel of a jacket so all could see that the wearer had served his country and been medically discharged. During the First World War it wasn’t unusual for men who were of apparent good health, of military service age, and in civilian attire, to be presented with white feathers to indicate they were cowards. War badges largely protected the wearer from this. Herbert died on 28 March 1920 and was buried at Ramsgate Cemetery. He had originally enlisted on 19 January 1904.

There are several names on the memorial which I cannot identify for certain. Each one I checked on the British Army’s Service Medal and Award Rolls, the CWGC website, the 1911 census and De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour. I was able to find many entries for these names, but could not be certain if they were the ones named on the memorial:

H. Freeman

H.T. Goodger

F. Blackman

A. Lewis

H. Green

H. Nelson

D.M. Rees.

W.M. Taylor

F. Terry

S. Wright

The following is a list of men not named on the war memorial who had a connection with Hythe either through birth, having lived in the town, or who had relatives who lived there. I have widened the area somewhat to include men from some outlying districts who it could be easily argued have a claim to be included on the memorial. Nearly all have been gleaned from the CWGC website. I mention this because many of their records were not collated until the early 1920s, by which time parents had moved and widows had remarried. So I accept that some of the Hythe addresses that are shown might not directly relate to that of the named soldier, but more to the relatives who have been included in the entry. Most First World War memorials had no set criteria as to who should or shouldn’t be included. It was usually down to the committee involved in organising the purchase and erection of the memorial who decided who should be named on it and the mechanism as to how such lists should be obtained.

Private 6689 Charles Johns, was serving with the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment, when he died on 1 July 1916. He was buried at the Knightsbridge Cemetery at Mesnil-Martinsart. Charles left a widow, Mrs A. Johns, who lived at 2 Seabrook Road, Hythe.

Private 533285 Southwell Rigden was serving with the 15th Battalion, London Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles), when he died on 7 April 1917. He was buried at Streatham Cemetery, London. Southwell had lived with his wife at 21 Fort Road, Hythe.

Lance Corporal 38749 P.W. Piddock was 26 and serving with the 2nd/5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, when he died on 1 October 1918. He was buried at the Laventie Military Cemetery at La Gorgue. His parents, Mr and Mrs Thomas Piddock, lived at Botolph’s Bridge, West Hythe, while his wife lived at 15 East Street.

Frank Abel Barling initially served as Private 82230 with the 138th Company, Labour Corps, but later transferred to the 30th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), with whom he was serving with at the time of his death on 5 May 1918, having reached the rank of lance sergeant (52998). Frank was buried at the Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery at St Omer. His widow Anne lived at Aldington, Hythe.

Private L/8807 Benjamin Alfred Rolfe was 30 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 16 December 1918. He is buried at the Mikra British Cemetery at Kalamaria in Greece. His parents, Mark and Thursa, lived at Lympne Street, Lympne.

Private 104013 Sidney Albert Knight was 33 and serving with the 166th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), when he died on 27 August 1918. He was buried at the Tournai Communal Cemetery, Allied extension. Although his widow Fannie Jane lived at Bilsington, Ashford, Sidney’s parents, John and Jane, lived at Postling, Hythe.

Sergeant 9898 Charles Richard Harris was 30 and serving with B Company, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots, when he died on 28 May 1918. He was buried at Pernes British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais. His parents, William and Edith, lived at Pedlinge, Hythe.

Sergeant L/25263 B.J. Blackledge was 40 and serving with the 39th Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery, when he died on 21 November 1916. He was buried at the Couin British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais. His widow, who remarried after the war, becoming Mrs A. Potter, lived at 37 St Leonard’s Road.

Flight Lieutenant G.M. Clarke, AFC, was 27 and serving with the 208th Squadron, RAF, when he died on 14 April 1921. He was buried at the Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt. His parents, George and Libbie, lived at 92 Seabrook Road.

Private G/8909 George Dryland was 26 and serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 20 September 1916. He was buried at the Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte. His parents, Arthur and Ellen, lived at Station Cottages, Westenhanger.

Private G/4578 Harry Victor Richards was 18 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 13 March 1916. He was buried at the Bethune Town Cemetery. His parents, Tom and Margaret, lived at 7 Theatre Street.

Sergeant 539 Frederick Albert Young was 26 and serving with the 9th Veterinary Hospital, Royal Army Veterinary Corps, when he died on 27 December 1918 of appendicitis. He was buried at the Janval Cemetery at Dieppe. He had lived with his wife Ada at Monks Horton Park, Hythe.

Gunner 121675 Harry Hewett was 27 and serving in B Battery, 142nd Anti-Aircraft Section, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he died of an unspecified disease on 14 November 1918. He was buried at the Terlincthun British Cemetery at Wimille. His parents, John and Mary, lived at Saltwood.

Private G/5947 William Clarence Gambrill was 32 and serving with B Company, 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), when he died on 7 December 1916. He was buried at Fort Pitt Military Cemetery in Rochester. His parents, Albert and Mary, lived at 15 Chapel Street.

Boy 1st Class J/25688 Henry Walter Southern was 16 when he died on 15 October 1914 while serving as part of the crew of HMS Hawke. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial. His parents, Henry and Ellen, lived at Barrow Hill, Sellindge.

Lance Corporal 4415 Arthur Henry Dicks was 28 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifles Corps, when he died on 14 September 1914. He was buried at the Vendresse British Cemetery. His parents, Arthur and Kate, lived at 20 Frampton Road.

Private G/18505 Edward James Griggs was 20 and serving with the 7th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 14 October 1917. He was buried at the Gwalia Cemetery in West Flanders. His parents, Edward and Ada, lived at Mill Cottages, Stowting.

Private 21738 Albert Ley Spicer was 19 and serving with the 12th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, when he died on 19 August 1917. He was buried at Harlebeke New British Cemetery. His mother, who in the early 1920s had remarried and become Mrs Cloake, was living at 44 Stade Street, Hythe.

Lance Corporal G/17367 William John Uden was 18 and serving with the 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, when he died on 7 July 1916. He was buried at Ovillers Military Cemetery. His father Peter lived at West Hythe.

Lieutenant Colonel William Lyle was 40 and serving with the 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, when he died on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He was buried at the Bapaume Post Military Cemetery. Before the war, William lived with his wife Edith at Springvale.

Sergeant 206321 George Frederick Tompkins was 38 and serving with the 1st/1st Battalion, Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars, when he died on 13 November 1917. He was buried at the Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel. His parents, George and Jane, lived at 161 Seabrook Road.

Private 42936 George Thomas Bosher was 24 and serving with 1st Company, Machine Company (Infantry), when he was killed on 19 August 1916. He has no known grave but his name is on the Thiepval Memorial. His mother Ellen lived at 26A Stade Street.

Private G/5896 William James Mills was 31 and serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 27 September 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. His mother Joanna lived at 1 Douglas Avenue.

Corporal 22900 Edward Hogben was 20 and serving with the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, when he was killed on 27 January 1917. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. His mother Louisa lived at Upper Park Cottage, Lympne.

Gunner 910384 Thomas Hartley Piper was 24 and serving with the 222nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, when he was killed on 5 September 1917. He had no known grave but is commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq. His parents, William and Mary, lived at 62 North Road.

Captain Lawrence Fort was 33 and serving with ‘A’ Company, 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 16 February 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. He had been mentioned in dispatches. His parents, John and Lanthe, lived at 48 Earlsfield Road.

Trooper 2437 Ernest Edward Kennett was 28 and serving with the Household Battalion when he was killed on 10 October 1917. He has no known grave but his name is on the Tyne Cot Memorial. His parents, Frederick and Mercy, lived at Forge Cottage, Lympne.

Private 15279 William Edward Swinard was 22 when he was killed on 6 November 1914 while serving with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. His parents, Edward and Matilda, lived at Yew Tree Cottage, Pedlinge.

Private 3785 Francis Edmund Hunt was 45 and born in Hythe. He was serving with the 49th Battalion, Australian Infantry, when he was killed on 1 September 1916. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.

Private G/9540 Frederick Nash was 26 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 4 August 1916. He has no known grave but his name is on the Thiepval Memorial. His mother Ellen lived at 6 Cylinder Cottages, Saltwood.

Sergeant 290501 Allan Edward Durban was 27 and serving with the 1st/10th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, when he died on 22 August 1917. He was buried at the Pachmari Cemetery in India. His parents, Thomas and Eliza, lived at 154 High Street.

Gunner 41189 Thomas William Fifield was 23 and serving with the 38th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he died on 13 March 1918. He was buried at the Mons Communal Cemetery in Hainaut. His parents lived at 2 Leaside Cottages, Saltwood.

Captain William Alexander Cosgrove Hedley was 23 and serving with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 19 July 1918. He was buried at the Abeele Aerodrome Military Cemetery in Belgium. His parents, The Reverend and Mrs Herbert Hedley, lived at 17 Brockhill Road.

Private 6594 C.C. Knight was 28, a native of Hythe, and serving with the 1st/5th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, when he died on 3 October 1916. He was buried at the Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.

Corporal 309255 W McNicoll was 28, married, and serving with the 17th Battalion, Tank Corps, when he died on 21 August 1918. He was buried at the Adanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont. His widow Annie lived at ‘The Nest’, West Hythe.

Battery Sergeant Major 971097 George Mills was 33 and serving with the 59th Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery, when he died of malaria on 12 June 1920. He is buried at the Streatham Cemetery in London. He was born in Kent.

Private M2/194274 Albert James Griffiths was 40 and serving with the Royal Army Service Corps when he died on 19 April 1919. He was buried at Wandsworth Cemetery in London. His widow Georgina May lived at 159 Seabrook Road, Seabrook.

Corporal 495068 Arthur Irvine Williams was 22 and was serving with the 2nd/2nd Home Counties Field Ambulance, RAMC, but attached to the Assistant Director of Medical Services of the 27th Division when he died on 24 January 1919. He was buried at the St Germain-au-Mont-d’Or Communal Cemetery Extension, Rhône, France. He was a native of Hythe.

Major John Hamon Massie DSO was 41 and serving with the 26th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he died on 15 November 1914. He was buried at the Ypres Town Cemetery. Before the war he had lived with his wife May at Green Bushes, Hythe.

Sapper 887213 Alfred Gayford Wheeler, born in Hythe, was 27 and serving with the 2nd Tramway Company, Canadian Engineers, when he died of pneumonia on 29 January 1919. He was buried at Brussels Town Cemetery.

Private 75987 Frederick Leonard Selden was 19 and serving with the 2nd/2nd Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), when he died on 17 July 1918. He was buried at the Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières, France. His mother Lucy lived at 14 Tanner’s Hill Gardens, Hythe.

Lance Corporal G/2309 Ernest Henry Castle was serving with the 8th Battalion, The Buffs, when he was killed on 26 September 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. His widow Lily lived at 4 Sun Lane, Hythe.

Lance Corporal 9515 Arthur Bunce was 25 and serving with the 1st Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), when he was killed on 9 May 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial. His mother Emily Agnes Foster (formerly Bunce) lived at 14 St Nicholas Road, Hythe.

Private 77388 Lionel Richard Fawkes was 27 and serving with the 7th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, when he was killed on 3 June 1916. He has no know grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. His late father, Montague, had been a colonel in the army; his mother lived at 74 North Road, Hythe.

Private 16022 Harold Gordon Frank Bowles was 20 and serving in King’s Company, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, when he was killed on 10 March 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial. His father George lived at 6 Pains Cottages, Saltwood Green.

Private 703876 Alexander P. Reid was 34 and serving with the Labour Corps when he died on 3 January 1920 having previously served as Private 9937 with The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment). He was buried at the Edinburgh Cemetery. His widow, Helen Mary lived at 61 Dymchurch Road, Hythe.

Private 269860 Stanley W. Goatham was 28 and serving with the 1st/7th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment), when he died on 24 October 1917. He was buried at Canadian Cemetery No.2 at Neuville-St-Vaast. After the war his widow, who by then had remarried and become Mrs Harper, was living at 7 Dymchurch Road.

Sapper 434577 William G. McLeod was 29 and serving with the 12th Canadian Railway Troops when he died of pneumonia on 13 March 1919. He was buried at the Calgary Union Cemetery. His wife Daisy Amelia lived at 22 Ormonde Road, Hythe.

Private 14018 Harry Cuttress (the CWGC records Cutress) was 35 and serving with the 6th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 3 October 1917. He originally enlisted in the Army Ordnance Corp (New Force) as Private 023208. He was buried at the Monchy British Cemetery at Monchy-le-Preux. His widow, Pearcey Jane, lived at Mount Pleasant, Aldington. They were married on 6 September 1909 at Rackling Parish Church.

Lieutenant Colonel Claude Frederick Pilkington Parry DSO, mentioned in dispatches, was 48 and serving with the 34th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, when he died on 20 August 1918. He had previously served as a captain with the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derbyshire Regiment). His final resting place was Bienvillers War Cemetery in the Pas de Calais. The family home was ‘Kelvin’, Brockhill Road, Hythe.

Captain Walter Penrose Pritchett was 35 and serving with the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, when he died on 26 December 1914. He had been mentioned in dispatches for his leadership in the field. He had also served during the Second Boer War. His burial took place at the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. Before the war he had lived with his wife Norma at 39 Earlsfield Road, Hythe.

Petty Officer 172389 Edward William Shepperd was 41 and serving on HMS Narbrough when he died on 12 January 1918. The Narbrough was on night patrol looking for German mine-layers. The weather was so bad they had been ordered back to their base at Scapa Flow but they never made it. The next day Narbrough was found wrecked at the bottom of the cliffs at Hesta Rock in the Orkneys. All ninety-two of her crew, including Edward, were lost. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. His mother Louisa lived at 129 High Street, Hythe.

Private 47355 John Henry Laker was 33 and serving with the 20th Hussars when he died on 5 December 1918. He was buried in the Llantilio Pertholey St Teilos Churchyard in Monmouthshire. His parents, Frederick and Catherine, lived at Hythe.

Boy 101758 Albert Edward Easter Urell was 16 and serving with the No.1 Depot, Royal Garrison Artillery, when he died on 16 August 1918. He lived in Hythe but was buried at the Cannock Chase War Cemetery in Staffordshire.

Private G/23517 Charles Francis Hammon was 28 and serving with the 10th Battalion, The Buffs, when he died on 11 March 1918. He was buried at the Jerusalem War Cemetery. His parents Victor and Eleanor lived at Saltwood.

Gunner 159272 Alfred Charles Youden was 28 and serving with C Battery, 79th Brigade RFA when he died on 22 November 1918. He was buried at the Caudry British Cemetery in France. After the war, Gunner Youden’s wife remarried and became Rebecca Sacre, living at Laurel Cottages, Pedhinge, Hythe.

Private 204069 Herbert George Clifford Kitney was 33 and serving with B Company, 6th (Wiltshire Yeomanry) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, when he was killed on 28 March 1918. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. His parents, Maurice and Francis, lived at West Parade, Hythe.

Private 106 Sackville Wyndham Napier Gwynne was 19 and serving with B Company, 7th Battalion, Australian Infantry, when he was killed at Krithia on 8 May 1915 during the Gallipoli offensive. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Turkey. The CWGC website records his parents as being Major James Hugh and Mrs S.I. Gwynne, who lived at The Ferns, Hythe, Major Gwynne having previously served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Sackville enlisted in the Australian Army in August 1914 at Melbourne, choosing to do so under the name of Dennis Gwynne. He was born on 25 July 1896, so he was 18 years old, but on his attestation form he claimed he was 21. Under the heading ‘trade and calling’ he described himself as an aviator, having qualified as a pilot at Eastbourne Aerodrome. He also stated that he had three years training in the Officer Training Corps. If that was true, he would have commenced his training when he was 15.

Gwynne’s three medals, the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, were sold at auction on 27 September 2016. In the auction catalogue it said that Gwynne survived his initial landing on the Gallipoli peninsular at what was known as ‘Fisherman’s Hut’ on 25 April 1915, but that two weeks later he was killed at Krithia as he and his colleagues advanced into ‘murderous enemy fire’. The CWGC records that 741 men who served with the Australian Infantry at Gallipoli died on 25 April 1915.

Company Quartermaster Sergeant 323 William Jones was 29 and serving with H Company, 1st Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, when he was killed on 25 April 1915. He had served in the army for twelve years, initially enlisting in 1903. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. He lived with his wife Millie at 5 Oak Cottages, Sellindge.

Major Bertie Wilmot Mainprise was serving with the Royal Engineers when he was killed on 12 March 1916. He was buried at the Taveta Military Ceremony in Kenya. A dedicated and strong soldier who led by example, he was mentioned in dispatches on no less than four occasions, by Generals Smuts, Stewart and Tighe. He was from a long line of military men; both his father and grandfather served in the Royal Navy. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1894 and served with the Faridkot Sappers` & Miners. He served in Tirah during the Indian Frontier war of 1897-8, and in China in 1901-2. He held the medal and clasp for Tirah 1897 and he received the thanks of the Indian government for his services during the famine of 1897. The 1911 census records him as a captain in the Royal Engineers and staying at the Staff College, London Road, Camberley. During the First World War he served with his regiment in Africa, where he fell while gallantly leading his men at the Battle of Kitova Hills. He had lived with his wife Nesta at ‘Faridkot’, Earlsfield Road, Hythe.

Second Lieutenant Thomas Godwin Hobbs DFC was 29 and serving with No. 59 Squadron RAF when he died on 23 August 1918. He had previously served with the Canadian Infantry Expeditionary Force He was buried at the Bagneux British Cemetery at Gézaincourt. Hobbs had lived with his wife Patricia in Barrow Hill, Sellindge.

Private 1046 Alan Parsons was 28 and was serving with 13th (Kensington) Battalion, London Regiment, when he died of his wounds on 1 January 1915. He was buried at the Merville Communal Cemetery. His parents, James and Emma, had lived at Saltwood, and the 1891 census records confirm this, with Alan and his younger brother William. He enlisted at Kensington on 11 February 1910, initially for four years, and once that time was up he re-enlisted for a further year, in February 1914, before arriving in France on 3 November 1914.

Corporal 20242 Cecil William Chapman Williams was 27 and serving with the 10th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, when he was killed on 23 April 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate. After the war William’s widow Alice remarried and became Mrs Boxall, living at 1 Beacon Terrace, Seabrook.

Second Lieutenant Norman Lock Riddett was 30 and serving with the 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment on attachment from the 4th Battalion when he was killed on 12 October 1917. He was born at Hythe, where his father, a reverend, was working at the time. Norman initially enlisted as a private in 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, just after the outbreak of the war. He had been a solicitor, but gave it up to serve his country. He received his commission in the East Surrey Regiment in December 1916.

I hope you have found my Hythe in the Great War an enjoyable and interesting read. Having written books on other towns in the same series, I have had some people contact me, pointing out that I had missed certain things which they were surprised had not been included. If I have done so in this book, I apologise. And if I have said things that everybody already knows, though to a certain degree this is sometimes unavoidable, again I apologise. I always try to acknowledge any information I have included from anyone else’s research, and I always seek permission from individuals who hold copyright or ownership of photographs. If I have omitted to do so in this book, it has been an unintentional oversight on my part, and again I apologize.

Sources

britishnewspaperarchive.com

wikipedia

cwgc.com

ancestry.co.uk

wartimememoriesproject.com

1914-1918.invisionzone.com

naval-history.org

bbc.co.uk

thisismoney.co.uk

redcross.org.uk

firstworldwar.com

thereturned.co.uk

historicengland.org.uk

thesaleroom.com

stepshot.co.uk

inverclydeww1.org

longlongtrail.co.uk

spartacus-educational.com

National probate calendar

Index of wills and administration

Census record