Dan Hill's Talk on the Hertfordshire Regiment

Last night Dan Hill, of the Herts at War group gave a most informative talk on the role of the Hertfordshire Regiment in the First World War. In particular he gave a detailed analysis of the events at St Julien on 31st July 1917, during the battle at Passchendaele. After the unsuccessful attempt to break through the German lines every officer, and 75% of the men were dead, wounded or missing. He also spoke about the erection of a war memorial on the battle field on the 100 year anniversary of the battle.

His talk ended with a very interesting film of the Hertfordshire Regiment in camp in October 1917.

It should be noted that the Herts at War group plan further talks on the First World War and details will be posted on their web site, if you are note already on their email list.

Herts at War - A Digital Legacy

Herts at War - Salonika - Talk 19th October

The next "Herts at War" talk about the involvement of the Herts Regiment in the Fisrt World War is on "Salonika" on 19th October It is being given by Alan Wakefield who co-authored the book Under the Devil’s Eye: Britain’s Forgotten Army at Salonika 1915-1918 for Sutton Publishing. He is currently working with photographs at the Imperial War Museum.

Talk Details

Herts at War Exhibition. Last chance to visit it at Letchworth

Herts at War

Dan Hill reports:  This coming week is the final week [in Letchworth] of what has been a fantastic year and one that the entire team are incredibly proud of. Over this last year we have welcomed over 10,000 visitors to the exhibition, led outreach sessions for thousands of students, researched over 700 Hertfordshire servicemen for family members and attended many events reaching members of the public across the county. With the support of our key project partners at the Heritage Lottery Fund and Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation we feel that the task that we set out to achieve in 2013; raising awareness of the Great War locally and remembering those who fought 100 years ago, had been a real success. 

For anyone wishing to visit the exhibition this week before we prepare for our September 9th launch in Sawbridgeworth; We will be open from 10am - 4pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 12/14 The Arcade, Letchworth Garden City, Herts, SG6 3ET.

[I will post details of the arrangements at Sawbridgeworth next month]

Herts at War Talk "Remembrance and the Great War" (Thursday)

Herts at War

Herts at War Talk

Taff Gillingham

Remembrance and The Great War - A Very British View

11th June

at The Theatre, St Christopher School, Barrington Road, Letchworth Garden City, Herts, SG6 3JZ, arrival at 7 pm with the talk commencing at 7.30.

Taff Gillingham is a military historian who has spent the past 20 years advising film, television and theatre productions with varying degrees of success! He has been collecting British and Commonwealth militaria since he was six years old and has built up a vast knowledge of the life of the British soldier in The Great War. He was a founder member of The Khaki Chums. He is a co-director of Khaki Devil Limited; a company specialising in accurate uniforms, equipment, weapons and props for the film, television and theatre industry. The company owns a trench system which is used for filming productions such as the recent Sainsburys Christmas advert. Taff is also a former Trustee of The Suffolk Regiment Museum, Chairman of The Friends of The Suffolk Regiment and Chairman of the Suffolk Branch of The Western Front Association. 

Herts at War Lecture Programme Jan-July 2015

Herts at War

Herts at War are running a series of talks on the First Wold War

Clive Harris  The Greater Game (January)

Peter Hart Gallipoli 1915 (February)

Richard Grayson - Neuve Chapelle 1915 (March)

Terry Cox Herts Police in The Great War (April)

Chris Baker 'Blood Money' 1914 - 1918 (May)

Taff Gillingham Remembrance and The Great War (June)

Dan Hill 'The Herts Guards' (July)

The talks are being held on the second Thursday of the month at The Theatre, St Christopher School, Barrington Road, Letchworth Garden City, Herts, SG6 3JZ, arrival at 7pm with the talk commencing at 7.30.

Herts at War Exhibition at Letchworth

Exhibition in The Arcade, Letchworth

A week ago I visited Letchworth Garden City and was very interested to see the Herts at War Exhibition.

CLICK HERE for detailed report and many more pictures.

Read the story of Percy Buck's Post Card - and find out how you can help

Military

Hitchin

Herts at War are researching the backgrounds of the Hertfordshire soldiers who died in the First World War, and to do this they often need the help of living relatives - who hold vital information, often as photographs and letters. One of their success stories recently appeared in the Daily Mail under the title Photo clutched by WWI British soldier as he died on the Western Front was returned to his family ... by the German who killed him.

I will not duplicate the very interesting story here but will say something about Percy Buck's background and end with suggestions as to how you can help with the research currently being carried out in England.

A First World War Exhibition at Bushey

Clay Hill War Memorial, Bushey

Herts at War

Bushey Museum and the Bushey Academy are putting on an exhibition between the 4th and 24th August, 2014, based on the war time experiences of the people who lived in Bushey. It will include a display of work on the First World War by students of the Academy. Details are given on the BusheyWorldWarOne web site. 

A sign to appear on houses in Bushey during the Exhibition

An interesting idea is to display this sign on houses in Bushey where a soldier who died in the First World War lived. Perhaps other areas could take up the idea, perhaps even including the name of the soldier.

Bushey is famous for the number of artists that lived there. In the 1880s Hubert Herkomer, a Bavarian artist, opened an Art School in the village. Over a period of twenty years it was attended by about 600 international students. A number settled in the village and during the First World War they contributed to life on the Home Front and by serving overseas. Some examples of their work are given on the BusheyWorldWarOne web sit. There is an archive page with biographical details of some of the casualties, including Lieutenant Arthur Langton Airy (a Herkomer student) and Bertram Prewett, a renowned Bushey bell ringer, and further contributions relating to Bushey at the time are welcome. 

War Memorials

Bushey

In addition there is an appeal for help if you have information (photographs, letters sent home from the front, etc.) relating to anyone remembered on the Bushey war memorial at Clay Hill or the Church war memorials at St James, St Matthew, St Peter, St Paul, and the Bushey Methodist Church.

I go to Hertford (First World War, etc)

Military

Yesterday I drove over to Hertford for a meeting of some of the people actively working towards remembering the way the First World War affected us all. It was a very stimulating meeting and over the next few months (at least) there is likely to be more emphasis on war related matters. I was pleased to see that quite a few people are working on the Home front - how the war affected everyday life in Hertfordshire. Because so many men went to the Front the result was that women played a far bigger part in running the country and this had a big effect (including Votes for Women) after the War.

Herts at War photo of meeting

War Memorials

A lot is being done on War Memorials and a Roll of Honour. One of the problems is what names should be included. I discussed this a few days ago in connection with Hemel Hempstead and  it was pointed out that the Haileybury War Memorial contains many hundreds of names of pupils who went to the school but who have no other connection with the county. (This suggests a question, which was not raised at the meeting - of exchanging information with other areas - as there must be Hertfordshire pupils who are recorded on war memorials outside the county.) There is also the problem of people who were never recorded on a war memorial but perhaps should have been. This is a difficult question - what about someone whose lungs were badly damaged in a gas attack, never recovered sufficiently to work, but died of related complications decades later. It was clear that drawing the line as to who to include was difficult and there was some discussion about how records should be preserved in the longer term - especially when later research suggests corrections and update might be necessary.

It is clear that many readers of this Newsletter, and the main Web Site, live outside Hertfordshire - in some cases on the other side of the world - will have family information on soldiers and sailors who died - including photographs of named individuals, and also groups. As a result I said I would encourage such people to make digital images, etc., available to that their relative's sacrifice can be properly recorded.

It is clear that there will be many events, articles and booklets published, information released on CD for use in schools, etc, and where appropriate I will publish details here. I also hope to be able to say that the book The London Gunners come to Town will be available in digital form for any historians carrying out relevant research.

Hertford

I also took the opportunity to walk round Hertford with my camera - a took pictures of the War Memorial, the Museum (including various military exhibits), and some other features of old Hertford - and I will post details once the pictures have been uploaded.

Herts at War - Latest News

First World War

The Herts at War Newsletter contains the following exciting News:

Herts at War

The Herts at War team are delighted to announce that as of January 2014 the project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and now forms one of the largest individual commemorative Great War Projects in the United Kingdom. The award of £98,400 until the end of 2015 now means that the project can develop a purpose built museum exhibition, dedicated schools outreach programme, series of talks and tours and conduct a programme of county-wide events days to mark the key dates of The Great War 100 years to the day that they actually occurred. It goes without saying that this fantastic achievement for Great War remembrance would not have been possible without the incredible effort and dedication of our volunteers and project partners, and so from the whole team - Thank you very much!

If your ancestor died fighting with the Hertfordshire Regiment you might also want to contribute to the plan to erect a permanent memorial at the site of their famous and tragic attack on the village of St Julien on 31st July 1917. For details see Herts Regiment Memorial. The project is also collecting together information on all members of the regiment who where there on that fateful day and if any of your relatives were involve have a look at page on the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment, and the list of names that have so far been identified.  

Their web site also includes a transcript of the 1st Battalion War Diary and I was particularly interested in the following extract relating to the Battle of Loos: 

25-9-15 [The Battle of Loos]. About 6.30am the 1st Kings attacked but never reached the German trenches as they were held up by heavy machine gun fire and No.3 and No.4 Companies who were in close support were ordered not to advance. We then assumed normal conditions.

26-9-15. We relieved half of the Kings line with One company. [Comment; Private 3330 Bert MILLS died of wounds]

27-9-15. At 5pm we made another gas attack on the enemy as on the 25th but were ordered not to advance unless the enemy had suffered from it. At 5.30pm we sent out a patrol but they were immediately fired at by enemy machine guns and in consequence we did not attack. Neither did the 1st Kings. From 25th to 30th our casualties were approximately Captain Smeathman [Lovel Francis SMEATHMAN, MC] wounded, Lieut. Molony [Brian Charles MOLONY] suffered from gas poisoning, OR's wounded or suffering from gas poisoning 25. [Comment; Private 3936 George Thomas GINN died from illness in England and Private 1665 Alfred BURT VC won his Victoria Cross today]

30-9-15. The 6th Brigade was relieved, the Bn being relieved by the 9th Cheshire Regiment and marched back to billets at the eastern end of BETHUNE.

When I wrote the book The London Gunners come to Town I wrote a detailed account of the battle - which involved the London gunners of the 47th Division at the southern end of the front, and included a number of quotations concerning the activities of the Hertfordshire Regiment at the north end of the front, including details of how Captain Smeathman was wounded. Both his brothers had died on the same day, as a result of actions on different parts of the front, earlier in the war.

The Herts at War Project

The Military

Visit WWW.hertsatwar.co.uk 

As part of the centenary commemorations for the First World War the project will commemorate all the men from Hertfordshire who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the Great War. At the current count they need to:

• Research 21616 names (including identifying duplicates)
• Establish the existence (or otherwise), research and photograph 697 memorials
• Research 790 WW1 burials.

Much of the work is being done by local teams who are collecting data, and if you live in Hertfordshire why not find out what is happening in your own town or village and get involved. They will be unveiling a provision Roll of Honour on their web site on 13th November.

However if you live anywhere else in the world you may still be able to help, if you have information about your Hertfordshire ancestors who were involved, and may have been killed, in the war.

• If your ancestor died, and is (or should be) remembered on a Hertfordshire memorial you may have photographs of him and the group researching that memorial would love to have a digital copy to commemorate his sacrifice.
• If you have group photographs of, for example, the Hertfordshire Regiment, where people are named this may help provide portraits of other soldiers who died.
• If you are a collector of military post cards you may well have pictures which could help in the project, and could be of far greater value in remembering the dead if shared.

There is one aspect of the War which is not currently covered in their plans (at least as revealed in their web site) and that concerns the vast numbers of soldiers who came to Hertfordshire for training during the First World War, and those who returned with injuries to the war time hospitals such as Napsbury, and the many convalescent homes all over the county. As the author of The London Gunners come to Town, which looks at life in Hemel Hempstead during the First World War, the training of RFA soldiers of the 2nd London Division (which was centred on St Albans), and the battles they fought in France, I am particularly interested in these soldiers.

Postcards, etc

Those of you who have been following my web site and newsletter will know that I originally planned to photograph many memorials - but in the circumstances this would mean unnecessary duplication. Instead I would like to concentrate on photographs by photographers of troops training in Hertfordshire, or as invalids in hospital in the county. Over the next few posts I will give some examples here. If you have such material that can be shared in digital form, and displayed on this site, please let me know.