by Suzey | Oct 25, 2014 | Remembrance, Uncategorised
On the 24th of October we remember Walter Sandall of Rippingale.
Born in 1893, Walter was one of nine children born to Edward John Sandall and his wife Mary Pridmore.
In 1911 Walter was working as a horseman on a farm in Scredington and was living with The Whotton family.
Before the war Walter had served with the 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment and had bought himself out of service.
He was living back in Rippingale when in October 1914 he re-joined the Army, this time with the Lincolnshire Yeomanry.
The Yeomanry were a cavalry unit who were based at the barracks at Lincoln and were essentially a forerunner of the Territorial Force before the war. The four squadrons of the Yeomanry were based in the Grimsby, Brigg, Lincoln and Stamford/Bourne and Men were recruited locally, In the Bourne Area their patron was the Earl of Ancestor.
Several other local farmers joined the Lincolnshire Yeomanry including Leonard Miller, Everitt Cook, Edward Franks and George Jessop. In most cases the soldiers took their own horse from civilian life into service with them.
Walter carried out his training and home service, first at Oakley Barracks and then at Lowestoft and Sprowston. His training was not without incidents which had landed him in trouble with his seniors.
The 1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry Embarked in Southampton on 27th October 1915 for Salonika and war in the Dardanelles. During the voyage the destination was changed due to a threat by the Turks on the Suez Canal. After leaving Gibraltar the Mercian was attacked by U38 who out of torpedoes attacked with its guns. In the ensuing battle the Mercian returned fire with what little it had and U38 dived. Following putting into port at Oran, Algeria, to bury the dead and transfer the wounded to a military hospital, the Mercian went to Malta where it was fitted with a 3″ quick firing gun. From Malta the Mercian and the Yeomanry eventually disembarked in Alexandria on 21st November 1915
The Lincolnshire Yeomanry saw action across the middle east for the whole of the war, including Egypt, Palestine and also the battle of Gaza.
In February 1917 the Yeomanry was disbanded with most of the men becoming part of the Machine Gun Corps and Walter was transferred to the 18th Squadron of the Corps on 27th February 1917.
Walter Died on Pneumonia on 24th October 1918 and is buried in Beirut Military Cemetery.
In Memory of Private Walter Sandall, 95973, 18th Squadron Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) who died on 24 October 1918.
Remembered with Honour Beirut War Cemetery
Grave Ref: Bay 3 and 4
Walter was one of seven cousins from our villages who did not return home at the end of the war, a generation missing for their family.
Walter is also remembered on the Rippingale war memorial.
http://www.jamieandsue.co.uk/?page_id=828
by James | Aug 24, 2014 | Remembrance, Uncategorised
In our preparations for the recent Morton Exhibition for the 100th anniversary of WW1 we compiled a book for each soldier that died from the 5 surrounding parishes.
The interesting thing about the Wyer Family is that so many cousins fought and died.
Sandall
and Wyer Cousins who served in the Great War
Loosing a child or a Grandchild in today’s world is devastating and so
we can only imagine the grief that local brothers felt when they lost 7
Children between them in the Great War.
The newspaper cuttings tell us that villages are proud that their sons
have enlisted, but secretly we can assume that parents and relatives are
fearful for their loved ones, some of whom are still quite young.
Brothers William Wyer, Thomas Wyer, George Sandall and Edward Sandall
waved off their offspring not knowing when they would see them again.
Of the 9 cousins that enlisted from Kirkby Underwood, Hacconby and
Rippingale, only 2 would return and one of them quite badly injured.
Frederick Stanley Wyer would spend the rest of the war wearing his
Silver Badge showing that he had fought, done his bit but was now disabled and
unfit for war due to wounds he received.
He lost one brother (John Thomas Wyer) and six cousins in the fighting during
the “War to End All Wars”
Robert Wilson Wyer Died
on the Somme 3rd July 1916
William Wyer Died on the Somme 14th
July 1916
Edmund Wyer Died on the Ypres Salient 4th
October 1917
Harry Sandall Died
near Arras 14th May 1917
John William Sandall Died
near Arras 22nd March 1918
Walter Sandall Died near Beiruit 24th October 1918
John Thomas Wyer Died
near Ploegsteert 13th April 1918
by James | Jun 29, 2014 | Uncategorised
During our researches and whilst trying to create a book for each one of our local soldiers, we came across a bit of a brick wall;
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Richard Christian was in the Durham Light Infantry when he died on the 18th November 1918.
” Private R Christian, 61814, Durham Light Infantry who died on 22 November 1918 Age 34
Son of Elizabeth Christian, of Kirkby Underwood, Lincs and the late Robert Christian; husband of the late Kate Christian”
Richard Christian is buried in Billingborough churchyard, but his date of death and regiment should have meant that he was still in Europe and not yet demobbed.
We tried to find out which battalion of the DLI he was in to see if there were any clues there… no his military records did not survive the blitz. So once again no answers.
Finding out that his wife died on the same date gave us the idea that he was at home when they both died but at the same time and what about baby Kate who was born and died in the same quarter of 1918. That’s unusual until you think of the Spanish Flu which was rife in Britain during this period, maybe that answers the question of why they died at the same time but no proof yet.
Our next clue came from the Kirkby Underwood war memorial;
“In thankfulness to God giver of peace and victory
and to the honoured memory of
Pte Bertie Evlyn Rudkin, Lincolnshire Regt
Pte Ernest Henry Rudkin, Royal Berkshire Regt
Pte John Thomas Wyer, Kings Own Royal Lancashire Regt
Pte Richard Christian, Labour Corps
of this parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-1919″
Now we have a discrepancy CWGC states Durham Light Infantry and the memorial states Labour Corps. A bit of further digging finds that he was transferred to the 409th company of the Labour Corps from the DLI. OK mystery solved but then why has the CWGC got it wrong?
Google came up with the Long Long Trail website which had the following to offer with regards to the Labour Corps;
“Formed in January 1917, the Corps grew to some 389,900 men (more than 10% of the total size of the Army) by the Armistice. Of this total, around 175,000 were working in the United Kingdom and the rest in the theatres of war. The Corps was manned by officers and other ranks who had been medically rated below the “A1″ condition needed for front line service. Many were returned wounded. Labour Corps units were often deployed for work within range of the enemy guns, sometimes for lengthy periods. In April 1917, a number of infantry battalions were transferred to the Corps. The Labour Corps absorbed the 28 ASC Labour Companies between February and June 1917. Labour Corps Area Employment Companies were formed in 1917 for salvage work, absorbing the Divisional Salvage Companies. In the crises of March and April 1918 on the Western Front, Labour Corps units were used as emergency infantry. The Corps always suffered from its treatment as something of a second class organisation: for example, the men who died are commemorated under their original regiment, with Labour Corps being secondary. Researching men of the Corps is made extra difficult by this, as is the fact that few records remain of the daily activities and locations of Corps units.”
So the Labour Corps is hard to trace, well that sound like a challenge for the future.
Another search finds that the 409th Labour Corps was the Kesteven and Lindsay company and was based in Lincoln and run through the Northern Command.
So now we have placed Richard Christian back in Lincolnshire, possibly after an illness or injury had him unfit for front line duty, transferred out of the Durham Light Infantry and assigned a new regimental number, 19310, in the 409th company Labour Corps.
How hard can that be to sort out without any official records?
Death certificates for Richard and Kate plus baby Kate now on order, so we can at least find out what sad outcome befell that young family.
More about Richard’s family can be found on our website
http://www.jamieandsue.co.uk/?page_id=815
by Suzey | Jun 26, 2013 | Uncategorised
Ovington Court.
On the 31st January 2008 I received an email saying:
My name is Jonathan Oberholster. I am a freelance sub-editor for Independent Newspapers and I live in South Beach, Durban.
My hobby is scuba diving and I am researching a local shipwreck lying offshore near my flat. The ship’s name is the Ovington Court and searching the net is how I came across your Cyril Crawford page.
In his Durban notes Cyril refers to South Beach and Ovington Court.
Looking at the date on which he left England (November 15 1940) and the date he arrived in Egypt (January 1 1941), I noticed something interesting – the Ovington Court ran aground on November 26 1940, only eleven days after he left England.
I guess he must have arrived in Durban just about when or shortly after it ran aground. It was a Durban landmark for many years before disintegrating to the extent that the wreck is now underwater 99% of the time. Only during spring low does a piece of it still stick out above the surface.
I thought you might be interested and decided to e-mail you. There is a pretty good site with all the details of what happened to the Ovington Court
http://www.fad.co.za/Resources/ovi/ovington.htm
After many emails going back and forth with photos attached of postcards, Grandad and general information about him and the family, my Grandad finally ended up in the
Independent on Saturday on 16th February 2008. A copy of the article was sent to me by Jonathan showing me exactly what went into the paper. I am very pleased that some chance comments on Grandad’s postcard has created news nearly 70 years later.
On the 19th September 2011 another email came from Jonathan with an article attached dated 17th September 2011. This time we have Grandad appearing in the same paper but with a headline stating that this was the best of 2008.
As I never knew what the Ovington Court was this has really touched my heart and I am longing to visit Durban and hopefully see the wreck of the ship myself one day.
Please take time to read the articles which you will find below.
by James | Jan 3, 2013 | Uncategorised
In our last post we mentioned that after quite some time we have finally managed to get some information on line for each of the men named on the Morton War memorial. This left us with a little gap in our time and bitten by the research bug we started to look for another project to start. Low and behold it came our way by chance on new year’s eve when a conversation turned to the nearby village of Dowsby.
by James | Dec 24, 2012 | Uncategorised
Well a three year quest to document the names on the Morton War Memorial is over. By over, we mean that all the soldiers now have their own pages on our web site.
The research that we have done so far gives each soldier, his family history and a potted military history. This information should be enough to allow relatives, the people of Morton, interested parties and my generation in general to understand the conditions, hardships and final sacrifice these men chose to make.
In places some of the research is limited due to lack of current records but this research will be ongoing and we are looking forward to other records, such as those now purchased by the Western Front Association to become available in the future.
The last name to be added to the website is that of James Wright, this is a work that has come full circle for us as James Wright was the first soldier we did basic research on in February 2010. He was also the first of the Morton men to be named in the Remembrance Sunday service at Morton church in November 2010. He also has family ties with our extended family, as with so many of those Morton men that come from the old families from the village.
To view the research please visit www.jamieandsue.co.uk/?page_id=241 to view the men of the Morton War Memorial.
We have been fortunate enough to visit the graves and memorials of all but one of these men and our photographs can be viewed on the following www.flickr.com/photos/suzey68/ to Sue’s Flickr site.
I suppose I had better find something else to be my main focus of Great War research, suggestions on a postcard please. 🙂
Jamie
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