The Queens Westminster Rifles at Leverstock Green

Military

I have just posted extracts from The War Journal of Bernard Joseph Brookes which I recorded in 1994 when I was drafting The London Gunners come to Town. It covers the period from August 1914 to the beginning of November, 1914.

My original notes are shown unchanged (apart form some minor formatting differences) but I have added some brief biographical details and a portrait photograph of Bernard taken later in the War.

One interesting a feature is that in 1994 I added a footnote about Military Firing Ranges which reads:

The firing range used was probably in the grounds of Mr Secretan's house, The Dell, at Bennett's End, presumably a disused brick pit. The main military ranges were at Gorhambury, and at Chalk Hill, Westfield Farm, St Stephens. However work on constructing these ranges only started towards the end of September and the earliest record I have found of them being used in November, after the Queen's Westminster's had left Leverstock Green.

So I had the answer to the question "Where is the Chalk Hill firing range?" all along - but in an obsolete format - which my searches were not recognizing it!

August 1914 - The London Regiment march to West Herts

The London Scottish marching through Watford

I have decided that over the next few months I will post selected chapters of The Soldier's Tale from The London Gunners come to Town in pdf format with all the original pictures and footnotes. There are some technical problems but the long term plan is to put the whole book online.

The Royal Field Artillary passing through Clay Hill, Bushey

The first is Chapter 16 - To War Station at Hemel Hempstead (pdf) which describes the preparations to the move to the StAlbans area of Hertfordshire, as seen from the military side. The subheadings are:

• The London Territorials
• The RFA Brigades
• August in London
• The March from London to Hemel Hempstead
• Late Arrivals and Local Recruitment

The chapter identifies a number of the officers who came to Hemel Hempstead.

Commandeered carts at Handpost Farm, Hemel Hempstead

Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Adrian Charles Gordon (1891-1917) is introduced in this chapter - and he is the soldier who provides the linking thread in The Soldier's Tale. One of my big disappointments when I wrote the book was that the only picture I could find of him was a thumbnail sized printed image of a very poor quality. I even tracked down his one surviving twin daughters, to find her in a nursing home, without a single family photograph. (She was actually too young when the war broke out to remember her father.) It's a long shot but if anyone has a better one.....

Sample Extract  below the fold

The RFA come to Hemel Hempstead August 16th 1914

Military

Extract from Chapter 9

The London Gunners Come to Town

Life and Death in Hemel Hempstead in the Great War

As soon as War had been declared arrangements were put in hand to move the Royal Field Artillery brigades of the 2^nd London Division to Hemel Hempstead. This was to be the second military “invasion” of the town in less than a year, as the area had been the jumping off point for the 4^th Division in major army manœuvres in September, 1913. The big difference was that during the manœuvres the majority of the troops were only in the area for a couple of days, and they were entirely accommodated in tents, so that apart from the extra traffic there was little effect on the civilian population.

The RFA marching North through Bushey

By Monday, 10^th August, an advance party of officers were hard at work looking for billets for both men and horses. By the end of the week they had requisitioned many buildings including the Town Hall and the Corn Exchange in the High Street, the Brotherhood Hall, and Boxmoor Hall. Open areas such as Gadebridge Park, the Old Recreation Ground and the adjoining fields of Hand Post Farm were got ready to receive the gunners.

The 6^th Brigade R.F.A. in Hand Post Farm with their H.Q. in St Paul’s Sunday School beyond

The main bulk of the troops of the 5th and 6th Brigades R.F.A. arrived by train between 4 p.m. and midnight on Sunday, 16th August, and a large crowd of locals turned out to watch them arrive. Their arrival was not without incident. As the troops marched under the railway bridge in Marlowes a dense cloud of smoke belched forth from a cottage chimney, followed by tongues of flame. P.C. Gillett was quickly on the scene and the police held the crowd back as pieces of chimney pot crashed into the roadway. The Fire Brigade, led by Chief Officer W. J. Williams, galloped down Marlowes for the second time in 24 hours and extinguished the fire. Some hours later P.C. Gregory was regulating the traffic in Hand Post Lane when Frederick Hall of Luton decided that he wanted “to assist his country” and started to interfere with the military horses. On being told to go home he became quarrelsome and abusive and was subsequently fined 7s 6d with 6s 6d costs, or imprisonment for 14 days, for being drunk and disorderly.

Many of the townsfolk were startled by bugle calls at about 5.30 the following morning. Within a week the bugle calls in the town were dispensed with (undoubtedly as a result of civilian protests) and, for different reasons, an order was issued to ensure that all public houses closed at 10 p.m. Many local firms found that their carts and wagons were requisitioned for military purposes, and their bright colours were rapidly hidden with a uniform coat of grey paint. On Monday, 19^th August, the Queen’s Westminster Rifles marched into Leverstock Green, while on Wednesday, the 7^th Brigade R.F.A. arrived in Boxmoor, and over the following weekend the 8^th Brigade R.F.A. moved into Apsley. With so many horses and men moving about there were numerous minor accidents, and a room in the Hemel Hempstead Institute was taken over as a military hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOCAL WAR NEWS

Mr A. Weston, of the Broadway Hall, Boxmoor, had a busy time on Wednesday. At short notice he was called on to provide a substantial meal for 600 hungry Tommies. The meal was served in the Boxmoor Hall, the Boxmoor Schools, the Parish Rooms, and the Oxford Club Brotherhood Hall. Mr Weston had to deliver it cooked to the places named, where the various messes took charge of it. The fare provided consisted of roast beef  and plum pudding, and it was greatly enjoyed, the plum pudding being received with cheers.

*     *      *

The Army authorities have put the public houses out of bounds for the soldiers after 9.30 p.m.

*     *      *

Some of the horses, fresh at their work, have been rather a trouble through their kicking habits. On Wednesday evening one of the animals dropped down in Marlowes, and expired in a very few minutes. Many spectators quickly gathered round, and the carcass was covered with straw to prevent people from gazing at it.

*     *      *

The improvised cook-houses have been objects of considerable interest. The food is cooked in a somewhat crude manner, but what does it matter so long as Tommy says his “grub” is good.  

The Queens at St Albans in 1914-5

Military

The 24th County of London Regiment (The Queens) was a territorial regiment that had its origins in the 4th Volunteer Battalion of The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment).

St Albans

When the War broke out this was one of the battalions which came to the St Albans area in August 1914 with the 2nd London Division and went to France as the 1/24th County of London Battalion in March 1915. However the 2/24th Battalion remained in the area between April and June 1915. Can you help? I don't know which part of the St Albans area (including surrounding villages) they were posted.

This picture of an unknown soldier in The Queens was taken by L. L. Christmas, a photographer who moved to St Albans from Watford in the latter part of 1914 and took many more photographs of the troops.

On the road to the Army Camp, Gadebridge, 1915

Shortly after the Royal Field Artillery of the 2nd London Division moved into Hemel Hempstead in 1914 work started on building a wooden camp. The shortest route between the camp and the centre of the town was through a ford on Gadebridge Lane.  In March 1915 my grandfather, Walter Locke, was borough surveyor, was responsible for building a bridge over the ford which was published by George Day of Hemel Hempstead.

Click here

for biography of George Day, and other post cards he published

Lord Kitchener inspecting troops at St Albans

Detail showing Lord Kitchener at Gorhambury

When I was writing the book The London Gunners come to Town I was unable to find any good quality pictures of Lord Kitchener inspecting the 2nd London Division (Territorial Force) at Gorhambury on 29th September, 1914. A few days ago I succeeded in purchasing a very damaged (but digitally repairable) picture and have posted it - and the relevant text from the London Gunners, HERE.

Troops in Abbots Langley area - London Scottish casualty identified

Military

One of the reasons I have a lot of photographs of WW1 troops on my web site is so that they can be remembered 100 years later. This photograph, one of a number on my "London Scottish" page, had been provisionally been dated to August/September 1914.

I have just had the following letter from Andrew Waterston, who writes: The young man in the coveralls sitting on the bucket at the front of your picture is my Great Uncle, 1847 Pte George Alexander Waterston.  He joined the London Scottish in 1913 and was posted to G Company.  He had grown up around army horses as his father had been awarded the DCM serving in the Royal Horse Guards and had gone on to run the canteen above Horse Guards in Whitehall, so the coveralls suggest he may have been employed looking after the officers' chargers - or he may have just been a messy eater!

Yours is the last photograph we have of him. He transferred to D Company and was killed less than 3 months later on the night of 31st October 1914 in the attack on the burning Windmill at Messines.  He was 20 years old.  His elder brother, Will was killed at Festubert in May 1915, unaware that his younger brother was already dead.

The London Scottish were the first territorial battalion, from those who trained in Hertfordshire, to see action. Some senior officers in the 2nd London Division felt that they had insufficient training and after the high casualties on 31st October (undoubtedly involving other as yet unidentified soldiers in the picture) most of the other battalions did not go to France until March 1915.

Many people in Hertfordshire are researching Hertfordshire men who fought and died in the war. Let us not forget the many others who came to Hertfordshire to train or to recover from their wounds. Any postcards (as digital images) and other information about these "forgotten" heroes would be welcome - as every extra clue could help identify both the military units and individual soldiers.

WW1 - The 2nd London Territorial Division in Hertfordshire

When I wrote the book The London Gunners come to Town, about Hemel Hempstead during the First World War, one important source on the 2nd London Division, later the 47th Division was the book by Alan Maude The 47th (London) Division, 1914-19. It provided useful information on the early days of the war, spent in the St Albans area, and helped me to work out the movement of Major Gordon up to the time of his death - which was noted in the book. It was such an important reference work that I photocopied it, despite its size. Should you want to research this Territorial Division I am delighted to report the complete book is now available in digitised form online.

Thanks to Jeffery for drawing this to my attention.

Copies of The London Gunner are usually available on ebay, helping to raise money for wounded soldiers.