6th Lincs in Lincolnshire Free Press August 1915

Eight Bourne Soldiers in Recent Casualty List

Several Bourne families have been in a state of great anxiety during the past week or so concerning their relatives who have experienced fierce fighting in the Dardanelles. It is a terrible ordeal, and it would seem that the 6th Lincolns were in the Suvla and the fight for Hill 70. Some of the casualties we have published in a previous issue, but during the past week we have been able to glean further particulars as to how the local men fell, and appended are letters giving vivid descriptions of the furious battle. The intensity of the fighting is evidenced by the casualty lists, and in a few days the following Bourne men were put out of action, viz.:—

Bourne Casualty List

Name, Rank, Regiment, Status

A. A. Kingsford Sergeant Welsh Regiment Killed in Action

P. Cleary Signaller 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Killed in Action

Harry Darner Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Wounded

Jack Baldock Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Wounded

E. Robinson Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Wounded

Vickers Lance-Corporal 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Wounded

Fred Savage Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Wounded

Frank Baldock Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment Wounded

With the exception of Sergt. Kingsford, all the above-named joined Kitchener’s Army at the beginning of the war; they went to Belton Park, to hospital at Alexandria; the Baldocks are brothers (sons of Mr. Baldock, South-street, Bourne), and Pte. Robinson was in hospital, but at the time of writing it was not known where Frank was; and Vickers is also shown to be in hospital. Corporal H. Bloodworth (a son of the Bourne Gasworks manager) was the only Bourne man to escape, and by letters from him the unfortunate news was imparted.

We have also heard during the week of several soldiers belonging to villages near Bourne, having been in the thick of the fight in the Dardanelles, with the following result:—

Rural Villages Casualty List

Tom Hutchins, Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment, Haconby, Killed in Action

S. Turner, Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment, Baston, Killed in Action

Walter Archer, Private, 6th Lincolnshire Regiment, Toft, Wounded

C. Walpole,Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment, Elsthorpe, Wounded

Warner, Driver, Royal Field Artillery (R.F.A.), Witham-on-the-Hill, Wounded

Alf. Chessum, Private 6th Lincolnshire Regiment, Pointon, Wounded

Practically all the above-named belonged to the Lincoln Regt. Before enlistment Pte. Chessum was in the service of Mr. Birch-Reynardson, J.P., of Holywell Hall, and while in training at Belton Park acted as servant to one of the officers. Mr. and Mrs. Chessum, of Pointon, have two other sons in the Army. Pte. Turner, the Baston hero, of only 20 summers, had, it is stated, only been in the firing line about a day.

By the death of Pte. Hutchins, Haconby mourns the loss of the first of her sons who have fallen in battle. Hutchins was a chorister in Haconby Church, and a memorial service was held on Sunday afternoon week, impressively conducted by the Vicar (Rev. J. H. Boldero). The service consisted of the Litany and the Burial Service. The beautiful little church—one of the sentinels of the Fens—was filled to its utmost seating capacity, the people assembling to pay tribute to one who had died for them. Mr. J. W. Palmer, the organist, in an able manner played appropriate music, including “O Rest in the Lord.”

A number of Bourne soldiers have recently been drafted to the Dardanelles, including—Pte. W. Hobbs (who has been twice wounded, and seen active service in France), Pte. F. Hinson, and Pte. F. Fisher.

Corpl. Bloodworth, writing to his parents, says:—

“Just a line to let you know that I am alive and well (dated August 16th), but we have been through it lately. Poor Vic, Jack and Signaller (or Bluey) Jack was bayonetted at the point of the bayonet, after advancing under a hail of lead for 3/4 miles. We lost over 250 men, but they was not as bad as when we attacked a hill previously. Our Bourne boys were in the firing line at the time, and it was terrible. How I escaped, god knows, but I did, only getting a bullet through my haversack. Cleary got killed, the Turks bayonetted him after he was wounded—the swines! Jack Baldock, Frank Baldock, Fred Savage, and Harry Darner were all wounded, but I have heard nothing at all of Robinson. Our battalion was awfully smashed up. All my section but one are gone.”

The letter proceeded:— “To make matters worse the whole village took fire, and burnt a lot of our wounded, despite the fact that we did all we could to rescue them. We also lost our good old Captain Brown, also one young lieutenant, nearly all our seargents, and there was only myself, three corporals, and three men left in our Company, so you can guess what sort of hell on earth we were in. Every man acted like a hero, or is killed or wounded, so I think I must have been born under a lucky star. The poor old Lincolns suffered much, but they fought bravely and well.”

“I saw a Turk running over a field, but I had something that stopped him, catching him the first shot. I don’t want you to worry about me, as I feel sure that we shall come back a bit like that again, and I feel sure that my luck is in. Just now we are at a little place by the cliffs of the sea, and quite safe from the bullets, so I am enjoying it watching our Navy bombarding the Turks’ positions. I wish they would send some more Lincolns here, but the Navy doesn’t do amiss.”

Corpl. Bloodworth concludes that he has to go the next day.

Writing on August 20th, Corpl. Bloodworth says:—

“I am still in the land of the living, and am A1. We are in the trenches again, but not in the firing line. It is quite all right and safe, but for a few shells, but we do get time short, and is all there when used to it. I do not know anything more about our wounded boys. I get a bit of training, and is very nice. I think we have got another stripe now, so am a full corporal, and am graduated, but not officially. The Turks have just shown the white flag. I don’t know what they are after, so they have done this sort of thing before.”

The last letter received from Corpl. Bloodworth was dated August 20th, and contained the following notes of interest:—

“I am still A1, and now writing in the trenches. We are having some busy days in the reserve. We got it pretty hot while we were in the firing line from snipers. If we give them half a chance, it means instant death. They always aim for the head, and they are dead shots. When we were in support, we were out at night trench digging, very often under fire, but we came through all right. I have had a few close shaves from shrapnel and snipers, but they haven’t got me yet, and I shall take care they don’t if I can help it. The boys from Bourne are all out here, and are quite well. I expect you will hear from some of them before long. The weather out here is very hot, and when we are marching to and from the trenches, it makes the sweat run, not half. I expect things at Bourne are a bit quiet now, most of the young men have enlisted. But wait while we come home! Tell the people in Bourne to ‘keep the pot boiling’ and keep smiling.”

The above-named soldier has since been wounded, also the Bourne “boys” out there, as recorded above.