Work begins on statue of Essex VC winner

Posted on June 8, 2013 by DH

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Work has begun on a statue to mark the centenary of the start of World War I.

EADT24 reports that that a seven foot-tall bronze figure of Private Herbert Columbine VC of the Machine Gun Corps is being created by sculptor John Doubleday to stand on the seafront at Walton on the Naze.

EADT adds that the idea for the memorial came from six Walton residents who have spent the past two years aiming to raise the £52,000 needed to pay for the statue.

Group member Michael Turner said; ‘We are looking for help with the final push to raise money.

Doubleday added: ‘For me Private Columbine stands for all the Tommies who showed extreme selflessness and courage, and were ultimately mown down due to the questionable decisions made by their senior commanders.’

For the original story, click here.

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WWI shinty players remembered at Scotland’s Blas Festival

Posted on June 4, 2013 by DH

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Shinty’s Heroes, a play that commemorates sportsmen who played shinty and who were killed in World War I, will be part of September’s Blas festival 2013 at the Nevis Centre in Fort William.

The Herald reports that the show will focus in particular on the teams of Skye Camanachd, Kyles Athletic from Tighnabruaich – both of which lost the equivalent of two teams each – and Beauly, which had 25 players killed.

It will also tell the tale of the ‘missing five’ of Kingussie, men who never received their commemorative cup-winning caps from 1914 because they had already been killed in action in France.

Another area of attention will be the story of Dr Johnnie Cattanach, a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who was killed at Gallipoli.

The best shinty player of his era and a man who also played hockey for Scotland, Cattanach died of wounds in July 1915, aged 30 and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

Beauly player Donald Paterson was a lance-corporal piper in D Company, 4th Battalion Cameron Highlanders and was killed at Festubert in 1915. His blood-stained pipes were returned home to his family and a pipe tune of his called The Beauly Shinty Club will be played as part of the show. Paterson is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

To read the original story, click here.

 

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World War I memorials across the US are falling into disrepair, reports the Washington Times.

The newspaper takes the example of the Waikiki Natatorium, built in 1927 as a tribute to 10,000 Hawaiians who served during the war.

The saltwater pool that is part of the memorial has been closed for decades, and now local government officials in Honolulu — instead of spending $70m to restore it — are going to demolish it and make a beach.

Meanwhile, in Greensboro, North Carolina, a sports stadium built as a World War I memorial is also crumbing.

To read the original report, click here.

Posted on May 27, 2013 by DH | Leave a comment

Windsor & Maidenhead unveils memorials plan

Posted on May 22, 2013 by DH

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A map of World War I memorials and the names of fallen soldiers from The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are to be listed on an interactive website.

The BBC reports that the Royal Borough is looking for volunteers to research the stories of the war dead.

Symbols will mark the location of the 186 memorials, commemorating both allied and enemy casualties, with additional information including photographs and letters.

The borough also wants to identify lost memorials in towns and villages and hopes to reveal the stories of a whole range of local people involved in the war, such as factory workers and volunteer nurses.

To read the original story, click here.

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Daily Beast reviews The Sleepwalkers

Posted on May 22, 2013 by DH

World War I saw ‘European civilization shattered like a glittering chandelier fallen on a marble floor’, says Michael Bishop in his Daily Beast review of Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers.

The reviewer adds that Clark, like many a historian before him, is left wondering how Europe slipped so rapidly into such a destructive conflict.

The author’s advantage is that, by focusing on the events of summer 1914, he can provide more insights than many into the causes of the conflict.

To read the original story, click here.

 

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Plan seeks £1.5m to reopen World War I Essex airfield

Posted on May 20, 2013 by DH

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Former World War I airfield Stow Maries could be restored and opened as a museum, reports the Sunday Times.

The newspaper reports that the site, near Chelmsford is Essex, is expected to receive a grant of £1.5m from the National Memorial Heritage Fund in June.

If this goes ahead, its wooden hangers will be rebuilt to house a collection of aircraft from the 1914-1918 period. The restored airfield could then host a flying day next year to as part of the Commemoration of World War I.

Russell Savory, driving force behind the project, told the Sunday Times: ‘Almost a quater of a century before the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, people were experiencing the terror of aerial bombing for the first time. This will remind us of the role of pioneers of aviation.’

Savory intends to use the initial £1.5m to buy out a business associate who helped save the site from developers and then apply for a further £4m to restore the 22 buildings that would have formed part of the World War I airfield.

Most of the planes that Savory hopes will soon occupy Stow Maries will come from the Bianchi Aviation Film Services, whose reproduction and original aircraft have appeared in films such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The airfield was used by pilots who were protecting London from Zeppelin and bomber attack. Among those reputed to have been shot down after being damaged by aircraft operating out of Stow Maries was Zeppelin L15, which crashed near Margate in Kent.

 

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Swansea Pals’ records added to digital archive

Posted on May 17, 2013 by DH

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Digitised archive records will tell the tale of the Swansea Pals – the 14th (Service Battalion), The Welsh Regiment, part of the Welsh 38th Division during World War I.

Wales Online reports how the 1,200-strong battalion lost many of its members at Mametz Wood, with more than 600 of them dying in World War I.

The Glamorgan Family History Society has digitised records of the Swansea Pals battalion stored at the West Glamorgan Archive Service in Swansea.

They’ve been added to millions of other World War I records on the www.findmypast.co.uk website which people can access in their local library.

Nick Bradley, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: ‘The story of the Swansea Pals is the stuff of local legend.

‘Many of these heroic men gave their lives for their country in one of the bloodiest ever conflicts, while the others who survived came back to share their captivating, inspirational and heartbreaking wartime experiences with their families and friends.’

To read the original story, click here.

 

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Captain Hugh Brodie, 6th Battalion, East Kent Regiment

Posted on May 16, 2013 by DH

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Captain Hugh Brodie is another World War I officer commemorated on a family grave in Hampstead Cemetery, London.

He was killed on 13 October 1915 while serving with 6th Battalion, the East Kent Regiment. He is also commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

Captain Brodie was a barrister by profession and was 39 when he was killed during the battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, when his battalion captured Gun Trench and the south western face of the Hulluch Quarries.

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Troops attacking the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13 October 1915

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Rare private war memorial, College Yard, London NW5

Posted on May 15, 2013 by DH

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A rare example of a private World War I memorial can be found in Kentish Town, London NW5.

It’s on a row of what are reputed to have been railwaymen’s cottage on College Yard and is in pretty poor condition.

Some of the names are illegible and I don’t know if they refer to men who became casualties or served.

The names seem to be:

Sergeant Stanton

Leahey, Turner, Biggs, Barrett, Janes? Steatton? Manning?

CWGC lists a sergeant WCF Stanton of 1/9th London Regiment and a sergeant AH Stanton of 19th London Regiment. The latter unit was the St Pancras Rifles and was headquartered close to Kentish Town.

As to the others – hard to provide much in terms of identification at the moment. CWGC mentions four casualties named Leahey, for example, but there is no further information about any of them so impossible to say if the name on this memorial refers to one of them. 

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Engineer Lieutenant Commander Jack Bassano Hyde, of HMS Sable, died on 25 October 1918, aged 31.

Jack was the son of Captain John Francis Hyde and Marianne Hyde of 131 Adelaide Rd, London. He was born at Hyde End, Berkshire, and had a twin brother who also served in the Royal Navy in World War I.

Lieutenant commander Hyde served on HMS Illustrious and HMS Asphodel before being posted to destroyer HMS Sable.

He died of Spanish influenza in London in 1918 and is buried in Hampstead ceremony.

There is more about lieutenant commander Hyde and his family here.

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Posted on May 13, 2013 by DH | Leave a comment