My Father was sure that Patrick came back from the Front on a stretcher three times. I can only find hard evidence of two occasions. The first time was in October 1914. He arrived back in England on 16th October. I have found no records that contain any details of his injuries. He was taken…
All posts in Military
War pensioner
Quite early in the Great War, it became obvious that there would be many dependent relatives and wounded ex-servicemen requiring care. In 1914, responsibility for administration of Army pensions lay with the War Office and the Chelsea Hospital. The system had coped with the numbers of wounded men from the Boer War and sundry other…
Another year, another hospital
Towards the end of the 19th century, a row of smart terraced houses was built on Marine Parade in the Tankerton area of Whitstable, Kent. As the name suggests, Marine Parade overlooks the sea. In this case it is the north Kent coast. In 1906 the houses were combined to create the Marine Hotel. The…
Boots were made for walking – Part 2
The mobilisation of Reserves was signed into law on 4th August. Patrick reported to the Regimental Depot (at Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester) the following day. Two sizeable groups of reservists joined the 2nd Battalion in Ireland on the 7th and 8th. These were probably men from the Special Reserve. They had 3-4 weeks of training every…
Boots were made for walking – Part 1
As mentioned in ‘Would not start from here’, the War Diary appears to have been written in an exercise book. Compiling it was the job of one of the officers. The handwriting is reasonably legible. To help the reader, place names are generally written in capitals. I thought that tracking the journey of the 2nd…
Would not start from here
When the Great War started, Patrick, from Roscommon, was living in England. He was in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. As a reservist, he could live where he liked. Most of his close relatives were in Dewsbury, so that is where he went after completing his eight years of service in the Army in October 1910. His Battalion…
Irish soldiers
At the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, estimates of the numbers of Irish born soldiers in the British Army vary from a third to a half. There were many exclusively Irish regiments. As stated in ‘Advantages of birth’, a life in the military offered certain attractions to the poor. (Regular food and clothing being the…
Advantages of birth
The term ‘advantages of birth’ normally refers to those who were born into wealthy families. People who had decent clothes and good shoes. People who always had enough to eat. People with secure jobs, or those who did not need to work. People who lived in warm, dry houses, and slept in comfortable beds. People…
Always a Private
Promotion can come quickly in times of war. Opportunities abound to show leadership qualities. There are many cases of men rising from Private to Lieutenant and beyond. Reaching the level of Major was possible. As previous articles have shown, the level of attrition of both officers and other ranks was high. As recorded in “Ancre”,…
Why as well as what
One of the characters in Alan Bennett’s play ‘The History Boys’ expresses the sentiment that history is just one thing after another. (I am not repeating the exact quote. It is easily accessible on line!) And, at one level, so it is. I have tried to convey in these blogs that history has a profound…