Remembering Arthur

Of all the names and places I had to find on my recent trip to the battlefields, I was particularly keen to find the last resting place of Arthur Stemp. Arthur is a rarity in the Ypres Salient in as much as he actually has a grave as opposed to most of the men from Crawley who just have a name on one of the Memorials to the Missing.

Arthur was killed on 16^th November 1916. News of his death was reported a month later in the local press as follows:

Local War Casualties. – The sad news has come to hand that Pte. Arthur Stemp, of the Civil Service Rifles, has made the great sacrifice, he being killed in action on the 16^th ult., in France, where he had been for only three months. Private Stemp was born in Crawley, and for a time worked at the International Stores. His mother is now living at Crawley Down. He was a nephew of a Mr John Charman, the verger of St Peter’s Church, and was much liked and respected. Pte. Stemp was a married man, aged 28, and leaves a young widow with whom much sympathy is felt.  

Arthur was buried, along with half a dozen or so of his comrades all killed on the same day, at the Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) cemetery about four kilometres south of Ypres.

The single track railway line that carries the train up from Brussels, via Ypres, to Poperinge passes right by the cemetery hence its name. It is a very peaceful spot apart from the passing of an occasional train.

We shall never know what happened to Arthur and his comrades on that day but I would like to think he would have been pleased that nearly a hundred years later someone from his home town remembered him.

Off to Ypres

Women of Britain say Go! – And I am! Off to the battlefields on Monday morning in search of the men of Crawley who fell in the infamous Ypres Salient.

I have eighteen names and two graves to find during the trip so I have my work cut out for me. There will be a lot of rushing about, hope I’ve got time to sample the local beer!

Delighted to hear that Crawley Town Council are organising the planting of poppies on Saturday 5^th April 2014 at 10:00am. Not sure I am going to be able to  make it as I am working that day but hopefully it will still be going on by the time I get there.

The photo below, which reached me via Twitter, dated 14^th October 1914 shows British troops marching through Ypres – hope I can do them justice.

Major Joseph John Banham - A True Crawley Hero

Huge thanks must go to Andy at www.carshaltonwarmemorial.webs.com for being kind enough to look up Joe Banham's service record for me.

As can be seen from one of the above pictures, Joe volunteered for the army on 31st August 1914 and in answer to the question The Unit (if any) to which desirous of being appointed he has answered "to any unit where there is a possibility for active service."

Joe Banham was with 9th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment when he was killed in action on 27th March 1918 during the March Retreat. He was born in Methwold in Suffolk and was the second son of Joseph John and Julia Banham. His father had died before the war and his mother was Julia Longley, the sister of James Longley, the founder of Longley's the builders. Major Banham, who was once mentioned in despatches was killed during the chaos of the retreat his body never being found and was commemorated on Pozieres Memorial. 

The local papers reported the following: April 6 - DEATH OF MAJOR J.J. BANHAM. - We much regret to announce that official intimation has been received of the death in action of Major J.J. Banham, second son of the late Mr J. Banham and of Mrs Banham, The Meadows, Malt House Road, Crawley. Major Banham, who was 31 years of age, was killed on the 27th ult. He was a very popular officer and his death will be as keenly regretted by his fellow officers and the men under his control as by his many friends in the Crawley district. He enlisted soon after the outbreak of hostilities, joining first the Public Schools Battalion, and was subsequently transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment. The deceased was for a time in Messrs. Longley & Cos works at Crawley, and afterwards went to New Zealand, where he had a sheep ranch. 

Returning to England after some three years, he entered Messrs. Longley & Cos office, and it was not long after this that the war broke out, and 'Joe' as his friends familiarly called him, joined the army, since when he had seen much active service. He was once slightly wounded in the arm and afterwards gassed, the latter trouble laying him aside for a time. He was excessively keen in all he undertook, and success was what he aimed at, whether in the athletic field, in business, or as a soldier. Very sincere sympathy will be expressed with the bereaved relatives. A memorial service has been fixed for this Saturday afternoon at four o'clock at St Peters Church.

He might not be remembered by his home town but I will never forget his story. We should name a street after him. 

The Necessary War vs. The Pity of War or Hastings vs. Ferguson.

Having had a chance to watch both of these programmes on catch up the BBC again deserves congratulation on some quality television. However, the claims by Mr Ferguson in last Fridays live debate were so outlandish that Mr Hastings came across as the clear winner. Mr Ferguson’s claims that a 1915 Europe dominated by a Kaiser Reich would be somewhat similar to the European Union we know today seemed quite ridiculous and there was little evidence to support this theory. Indeed there seem to be little evidence to support many of his theories and it was noticeable that the experts that he turned to in the second half of the programme shot his ideas down in flames one by one. In contrast, Mr Hastings’ programme was a lucid account of the facts as we know and understand them today.

It is worth pointing out that for all this welcome talk on the rights and wrongs of England’s entry into the Great War we can never fully understand the mindset of, not just the political leaders of the time, but of the average man in the street. It seems to me that enough time has passed for the world they lived in has vanished forever and nobody alive today can fully appreciate what it must have been like to live through those years.

So much of history is written about kings and queens and royalty but the Great War was more than any other, the people’s war. It was the people who fought the war and it was the people who won the war. The best argument I can see for England declaring war in August 1914 is the fact that the country and its peoples were still willing to fight nearly five years later. 

Now on to "37 days"...