Summer 1918 - the Aisne and Marne (from the book "Neath a Foreign Sky" by Paul Allen)
In Remembrance of:
- Private John Henry Clark
- Second Lieutenant Richard Harland
- Private Frederick Graham Candler
- Rifleman Geoffrey Birdsall
- Private Clarence Edgar Park
Although the fighting on the Aisne and Marne had been the predominant focus of the Allied attention during that vicious summer of 1918, in the northern sectors of the Western Front the eternal battle for supremacy of that narrow strip of territory, forever to be remembered as ‘no man’s land’ had, nevertheless, continued unabated.
Despite being considered as a ‘relatively quiet’ period by Western Front standards, between May and July 1918 the daily war in Northern France and Flanders had, caused many hundreds of casualties each day. Some, the fortunate, would receive slight injuries that would require only minor treatment, and usually bolstered by a tot of rum, the soldier had shortly returned to duty, whilst many others, the not so lucky, had died on the spot, or a number of days later as a result of shellfire and the ever watchful enemy sniper. Inevitably, a number of these casualties of the so-called ‘quiet period’ had once belonged to Scarborough. During Monday the 10TH of June the town had lost twenty seven years old, 35790 Private John Henry Clark.
Born in Scarborough during 1891 at No.2 engine house cottage, John Clark had been the second son of Rosabella Alice, and Robert Clark, an engine driver for the North Eastern Railway Company, who by 1918 had been residing in Londesborough Road, at No.2 Locomotive Cottages, where, at the beginning of July they had received the dreaded knock at the door from the telegraph boy bearing the dreaded buff envelope containing the news of their son’s loss, who had been serving in France with the 15TH[Service] Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. The tidings had been included in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 5TH of July 1918. [1]
‘Lancashire Fusilier killed - Mr. and Mrs. R Clark, 2 Locomotive Cottages, Londesborough Road, have received the sad news that their eldest son, Private J.H. Clark, was killed in action in France on the 10TH of June. When in Scarborough he served his apprenticeship with Mr. J. Smith, grocer, Falsgrave Road. Two brothers are serving. Driver Walter Clark R.F.A. [Royal Field Artillery], having been taken prisoner, and Rifleman Arthur Clark, K.R.R.C. [King’s Royal Rifle Corps], having been wounded in the German Offensive’…
A former pupil of Falsgrave, and the Central Board School’s, John had left education at the obligatory age of thirteen to become an errand boy for local grocer and provisioner Mr. James Smith, whose premises had been located at No.49 Falsgrave Road. However, by the outbreak of war Clark had been working in the grocery trade in Manchester, where he had eventually enlisted into the army during 1915.
Originally attached for training to the 3RD [Reserve] Battalion of the Manchester Regiment [Regimental Number 31235], Clark had eventually been posted to the regiment’s Regular Army 2ND Battalion, which had been attached to the 14TH Brigade of the 5TH Division. John Clark had served with this unit throughout the latter stages of the Somme Offensive of 1916 and had gone on to endure the trials of the Battle of Arras of 1917,and the terrors of the subsequent Third Battle of Ypres [better known as Passchendaele].
During January 1918 the whole of 14TH Brigade had been transferred to the 32ND Division to serve with the 96TH Brigade, soon after this Clark had been transferred to the 15TH Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers [1ST Salford], which had been manning trenches in the Gravenstafel sector of the Ypres Salient.
Formed at Salford during September 1914, the 1ST Salford’s had been one of the many enthusiastic ‘pals’ battalions which had been formed during that euphoric beginning of the war that had been sacrificed on the Somme during the summer and autumn of 1916. On the first day of the offensive [July 1ST] the Salford Pals had been given the impossible task of capturing the heavily defended village of Thiepval. At Zero Hour on the 1ST of July the battalion, consisting of 24 officers and 650 other ranks, had ‘gone over the top’ into a veritable hail of machine gun fire which had cost the battalion 21 officers and 449 men killed, wounded, and missing. Involved in most of the large offensives of the ensuing two years of war, by the time that Clark had joined the 15TH Battalion, as one can imagine, few, if any, of its original members had remained, the unit by 1918 consisting predominantly of non-Lancastrians like Clark.
During February 1918 John Clark, with the remainder of his battalion, had found themselves in squalid waterlogged trenches near the Houthulst Forest, located a few miles to the north of Ypres. Whilst in this area the Salford’s had mounted numerous trench raids on the adjacent enemy positions including a successful deep penetration into enemy territory at Renard Farm, which had achieved all objectives with no casualties. Another raid, on ‘Owl’s Wood’ during the night of the 27TH of February, however, had not been so successful. On that occasion two manned machine guns had been found in an otherwise empty landscape and an unsuccessful attempt to ‘rush’ these weapons had cost the battalion ten dead and nineteen wounded.
Officially recorded as having lost his life during Monday the 10TH of June 1918, John Henry Clark, along with four of his comrades had been killed that day by enemy shellfire whilst in trenches in the Arras Sector, near to the village of Villers Guislain, the remains of the five Lancashire Fusiliers initially been buried near to where they had fallen. At the end of the war however, John’s remains [along with those of twenty five fellow 15th Lancashire Fusiliers who had lost their lives between the 1ST and 21st of June 1918] had been exhumed to be taken to the newly extended ‘Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery’ where they had been interred in the Cemetery’s Section 8, Row N, Grave 43.
Situated some three and a half kilometres north of Arras on the main road to Bethune, Cabaret Rouge, now containing the graves of over 7,000 casualties of the Great War, is also sited close to the village of Souchez, in the Pas de Calais region of France and is named after a house which once stood near to the burial ground at a place called ‘Le Corroy’. On a recent visit [August 2006] to the immaculately maintained and beautifully situated Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, the author had noticed that John’s grave marker apart from containing the customary name, rank, number, and date of death, also includes the phrase ‘Thy will be done’, which had probably been inserted [at a cost] by his parents after the Armistice.
Bob and Rose Clark had received no further information regarding the loss of their beloved son and like the majority of parents and relatives of the dead had duly received the brown paper wrapped package from the War Office containing John’s medal entitlement, a British War Medal, and a Victory Medal [popularly known as ‘Squeak and Wilfred’]. They had also received the bronze commemorative plaque, which had been well known at the time as the ‘dead man’s penny’. The couple had also received a pension amounting to a few shillings in recompense for the loss of their son, which had usually been paid fortnightly.
By the 1920’s Bob Clark had been promoted to become the foreman at the London and North Eastern Region’s engine sheds located in Scarborough’s Seamer Road [in 2006 the site is occupied by a Peugeot motor car retail outlet]. By the onset of the 1930’s the couple had moved to Caledonia Street, where they had lived at No. 25, where Bob had eventually passed away at the age of eighty two years during Monday the 12TH of December 1944. Rose Clark had continued to live at this address until her demise at the age of eighty eight on Sunday the 23RD of December 1951. The remains of Rose Clark had been interred with those of her husband in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery during the afternoon of Thursday the 27TH of December. Buried in Manor Road’s Section L, Border, Grave 21, the gravestone marking Bob and Rosabella Clark’s final resting place also contains John Henry’s name, and the inscription: ‘Re-united’…
[Before the war John’s younger brothers, Arthur Clark, had been employed as a clerk in the Scarborough Corporation’s Valuation Office, which had been situated in Valley Bridge Parade. Attached to the Kings Royal Rifle corps during the war, he had been wounded by a bullet that had passed through his right thigh. Evacuated to Queen Mary’s Military Hospital at Whalley, Lancashire, Arthur had eventually returned to active service and had survived the war. Walter Clark had formerly been a nurseryman in the Manor Road nurseries of Mr James Lawrence [the father of war casualty Lieutenant Henry Lawrence]. He had served with the Royal Field Artillery as a driver, and despite being gassed during the latter stages of the war he had also survived].
During the night of Thursday the 13TH of June the B.E.F. had launched a series of attacks on enemy positions in the Somme and Arras Sectors. The following day’s edition of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ had included a communiqué that had been released by General Headquarters in France, at 10-30am the same day:
‘The British report Encounters favour our troops - During the night successful raids were carried out in the neighbourhood of Neuville Vitasse and Givenchy Lez le Bassee and patrol encounters took place to our advantage south west of Gavrelle and north west of Merville.
As result of these different encounters we captured several prisoners and two machine guns. Early this morning an attack made by a strong of the enemy upon one of our new posts south west of Merris was completely repulsed, a few prisoners remaining in our hands.
Hostile artillery has been active in the Villers Bretonneux Sector and in the Scarpe valley’…
Without exception, any hostile operation on the Western Front had inevitably caused casualties. Amongst them had been the thirty two years old, Second Lieutenant Richard Harland.
Born in Falsgrave at ‘Poplar Villa’ [No.169 Falsgrave Road], on the 25TH of May 1886, Richard had been the fifth son of Marie Emma [formerly Starkey], and ‘auctioneer, valuer, and estate and business agent’ Edward Harland, whose business had been located in Scarborough at No.4 Aberdeen Walk [1890]. [2]
Yet another ‘Old Martinian’ to lose his life during the war, Harland had been a pupil of St Martins Grammar School between 1894 and 1901, however, at the beginning of the summer term of 1901 he had been transferred as a ‘day boy’ to the Scarborough College.
Situated in Scarborough’s Filey Road, the college had been opened by Alderman George Lord Beeforth on Wednesday the 18TH of September 1901, the fourteen years old Harland being amongst the school’s first seven pupils who had walked nervously through the school’s portals that fine autumnal day into the realm of the brothers Armstrong. Percy Armstrong M.A., soon to acquire the nickname of ‘Snot’, had been the head of the college, along with ‘taciturn and sombre’ brother Lawrence ‘Pluto’ Armstrong [During 1913 Lawrence Armstrong had become the head of the college’s Preparatory School, which had been located in ‘Fashoda House’ [located on the corner of Sea Cliff Road and Holbeck Hill, the house, built in 1898, is in 2006, is designated as No26 Holbeck Hill, and consists of flats].
Percy Armstrong, described as ‘an oversize extrovert’, and invariably called ‘Snot’ by his clutch of terrified pupils, had ruled every aspect of life at the college until his retirement during 1933, during this time the school’s routine had seemingly changed very little from the day that Richard Harland had arrived at the college thirty three years earlier. A contemporary of Harland would later give an insight into the school’s austere way of life… ‘We were soundly taught, but with little attempt to capture or imaginations. We worked from 9am to 1pm, including Saturday mornings and from 4pm to 6pm followed by ninety minutes homework. If we did not learn we were punished. Beating, detention, and lines were common, with corporal punishment handed out by everyone from Percy Armstrong, the head, down to the prefects’…[3]
A school for young gentlemen where prowess on the sports field had apparently been more important than learning, Harland had become an ‘all round sportsman’ during his stay, however, his days at Scarborough College had come to an end at the end of the summer term of 1904, when, at the age of seventeen he had left to train as an articled clerk with the Scarborough based firm of solicitors, Messrs Birdsall, Cross, & Black, which had been located in the town at ‘Bank Chambers’, No.2 Huntriss Row.
A fully qualified solicitor by the outbreak of war, Harland, by this time a prominent member of Scarborough’s upper classes, had been practising from offices located at ‘Grosvenor Chambers’, No111 Westborough. On Wednesday the 16TH of September Richard had been married by the Reverend R.A. Taylor [assisted by Harland’s elder brother, the Reverend Edmund Starkey Harland] at Westborough Wesleyan Church to Miss Lily Curlew Richardson, the twenty eight years old eldest daughter of Annie Elizabeth and Robert Richardson, a butcher, whose premises had been located at No.66 Falsgrave Road. The couple had eventually moved into No.14 New Parks Crescent, the address Harland had been living at the time that he had enlisted into the army during 1917.
Originally enrolled as a Private [Regimental Number 149241] in the Territorial Force 1ST/28TH [County of London] Battalion [Artists Rifles] of the London Regiment, Harland had done his officer training with this battalion in England before being gazetted to the rank of Temporary 2ND Lieutenant and attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery during December 1917. Sailing for France during April 1918 Richard Harland had eventually joined the regiment’s 254TH Siege Battery, which had been serving on the Western Front with its complement of massive 26cwt six inch howitzers in the 1ST Brigade of the R.G.A., which had been operating in the Arras sector of Northern France whilst attached to the British First Army, which had been commanded by Sir Henry Horne.
The news of Richard Harland’s death had been reported in a lengthy obituary that had appeared in the ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 21ST of June 1918.
‘Lieut. Richard Harland killed in action - The sad news reached his home on Thursday, in a letter from his Major of the death in action on June 16TH, of Second Lieutenant Richard Harland, Royal Garrison Artillery, well known in Scarborough as a solicitor and in connection with the many movements with which he was connected…Mr Harland was one of the hon. secretaries to the Scarborough Liberal Association, hon. Solicitor to the Townsmen’s Association, hon. Secretary for Scarborough of the Royal Humane Society, a trustee of Westborough Wesleyan, and certain country chapels, hon. secretary to the Wesleyan Circuit Sunday School Council, hon. treasurer to the Wesley Guild, a member of the Wesleyan Local Education Committee, and has been closely connected from childhood with Westborough Wesleyan Sunday School, first as a scholar, and later as a worker. At the time when he joined up he was also a leader of the Young Men’s Institute at Westborough.
Deceased two brothers, Mr. Edward and Mr. Walter Harland, each of whom carries on business as an auctioneer, are well known locally. Another brother, the Rev. Edmund [Starkey] Harland, is a Wesleyan minister, whilst the youngest brother, Edward Harland, Tyneside Scottish, is in Camberwell Hospital, making good recovery from wounds to the right arm and leg. He was brought from France on the same day as his brother, Lieutenant Harland, went out, and they were able to see each other for a brief period. Another brother died some years ago.
In his letter, deceased’s Major pays a high tribute to Lieut. Harland on behalf of his brother officers, and mentions that the General attended his funeral. The deceased officer went to France about eight weeks ago, previous to which he was on leave in Scarborough. He received his commission when in the Artists Rifles O.T.C. and had figured in athletic events since going to the front’….
Despite extensive enquiries the author has been unable to locate any information regarding the circumstances in which Richard Harland had lost his life. The National Archives, as far as is known, does not hold a War Diary belonging to the 254TH Siege Battery for this period of the war. No further news regarding the demise of one of Scarborough’s most prominent solicitors had ever been included in the local press, apart from an entry which had also appeared in the 'Births, Marriages, and Deaths' section of the already mentioned edition of the Scarborough Mercury of Friday the 21ST of June 1918.
‘Harland. —Killed in action, aged 32 years, June 16TH 1918, Second Lieut. Richard Harland, R.G.A., dearly loved husband of Lily C. Harland, 14 New Park’s Crescent, Scarborough, and beloved son of Mrs. E Harland, Poplar Villa, Scarborough.’
Described in the 1918 edition of St Martins Grammar School magazine as being ‘of sterling character and a very loyal Martinian’, Richard Harland is officially recorded as having been killed in action during Sunday the 16TH of June 1918, and the remains of the thirty two years old had been conveyed to Morbecque, a village located some three kilometres to the south of Hazebrouck and twenty north west of Estaires, where they had been interred in the nearby small cemetery, which is now known as Morbecque British Cemetery. Containing the graves of one hundred and five casualties of the Great War who had lost their lives in the area between April and June 1918, Richard Harland’s final resting place is located in Plot 1, Row G, Grave 14 [Harland’s grave is flanked by those of, Bath born 614414 Bombardier William Gerrish, Royal Field Artillery, killed in action on the 4TH of June 1918 [Grave 13], and Portsmouth born, 198401 Gunner Frank Stone Ings, Royal Field Artillery. The son of Frank Stone and Selina Nellie Ings of Moorlands Cottage, Chalk Hill, West End, Hampshire, Frank had been killed in action at the age of twenty on the 20TH of June 1918 [Grave 15]].
In Scarborough, apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial Richard Harland’s name is commemorated on the badly eroded Portland stone memorial outside St Martins on the Hill Church, and also on the beautiful stained glass window war memorial in Westborough Methodist Church, which are located on either side of the church organ. These had been unveiled on Sunday the 8TH of January 1922 as a memorial to the eight members of the church who had lost their lives during the war of 1914-1918, and a token of gratitude for the safe return for the many more members of the congregation who had also served. [4]
[Richard Harland’s name is also commemorated on an oak ‘Roll of Honour’ which bears the famous motif of Richard ‘Mousy’ Thompson, which contains the names of seventeen former students who had lost their lives between 1914 and 1918 which had once adorned a wall in the hall of Scarborough College. The author has also recently [November 2006] been shown, by the College’s Mr. Bill Parker, a wooden lectern at the college, which also contains the Lieutenant’s name and the other students who had lost their lives during the war. Alas these two fine memorials are not on public show]. [5]
Harland’s name can also be found in the town’s Dean Road Cemetery [Section E, Border, Vaults 10/11], on an impressive marble grave marker that also bears the names of the remainder of the Harland family. Bradford born Edward Harland, for many years a prominent figure in Scarborough’s commercial life had also been a life long member of the Wesleyan faith. During 1896 he had been appointed as a delegate of the York district to attend the annual Wesleyan conference of 1896, which that year was being held at Liverpool. However, before he could attend the meeting Harland had been taken ill whilst lodging at Llandudno with his wife and eldest son, the Reverend Edmund Starkey Harland, at Vincent’s Private Hotel, where, during Sunday the 2ND of August 1896, Edward had passed away. Aged forty six at the time of his death, the remains of Edward Harland had eventually been returned to Scarborough, where they had been interred in the family Vault in Dean Road Cemetery during Thursday the sixth of August 1896.
The Harland’s fourth son, twenty six years old William Alfred, had subsequently died on the 14TH of November 1907 [buried on the 18TH]. The remains of Mary Harland, the wife of Albert Edward, the Harland’s second son, had been interred in the plot on the 10TH of June 1929, following her death four days earlier at the age of fifty years [Albert Edward Harland, Fellow of the Auctioneers Institute, and sole remaining partner of Edward Harland & Sons [which had been established during 1860], had died on the 8TH of January 1955 at the age of seventy five years].
Edward Harland’s Bradford born widow, Marie Emma Harland [always known by the family as ‘Mother’], had passed away at the family home at Poplar Villa on Friday the 11TH of July 1941 at the age of eighty nine, her remains being interred in Dean Road Cemetery during the afternoon of Monday the 14TH of July. Their third son, Walter Ernest Harland, also a Fellow of the Auctioneers Institute, and with ‘Honours in Final Exam’, had had his own firm of auctioneers and valuers, which had been based for many years in Scarborough at ‘The Grand Hall’, in Huntriss Row. Born in the town during 1880, Walter had died during 1947 [his wife, Alice Marian Harland born, during 1883, had passed away during 1954].
On the 21ST of March 1950 the family had lost the Reverend Edmund Starkey Harland, the eldest son of Edward and Marie. Also a Methodist Minister, the funeral of the seventy four years old Edmund Starkey had taken place on the 25TH of March 1950 [Edmund’s wife, Mary Ellen Harland had subsequently passed away on the 23RD of April 1939, at the age of 63 years].
The Harland’s sixth and youngest son, Edward [born 1892], had also served in the Great War. Gazetted to the rank of 2ND Lieutenant during June 1915, he had subsequently served on the Western Front throughout the remainder of the war with the 20TH Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers [Tyneside Scottish], and although wounded during late 1917, and suffering a bad case of trench fever during the latter stages of the war, he had survived. The husband of Theresa Fitzwilliam Harland, Edward had died at the age of seventy on the 28TH of November 1962 [his wife had died the previous year at the age of 66 years, on the 16TH of August 1961].
The inscriptions on the kerbstones surrounding the Harland’s family vault also contain the name of their eldest daughter. Popularly known as ‘Sis’, Sarah Ann Edith Harland had never married and had lived with her mother throughout the years following Edward Harland’s death. ‘Sis’ Harland, born at Scarborough during 1877 had eventually died during 1960 [the 1891 Census shows the Harland’s as having two other daughters, Margaret A., born at Sneaton during 1884, and Ada, born at Scarborough during 1890. No other information regarding these children is known].
Richard’s widow, Lily Curlew Harland had never remarried and had continued to live at No14 New Park’s Crescent until 1925 when she had returned to live with her parents at No 66 Falsgrave Road. However, during 1930 Lily, together with her widowed father and younger sister Grace [born 1893] had moved, to live at No.12 Seamer Road. A Justice of the Peace by the 1950’s, Lily Harland had eventually died at the age of ninety at the Ravensmere Nursing Home on Thursday the 17TH of November 1977. Cremated at Scarborough’s Woodlands Crematorium during Thursday the 21ST of November, her ashes had subsequently been scattered in the Crematorium’s ‘Garden of Remembrance’, in Position 7/8 South.
Three months after Richard Harland’s death the ‘Local News’ section of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 11TH of October 1918 had included its final words regarding the lost lieutenant:
‘Will—Second Lieutenant R. Harland, R.G.A., Scarborough solicitor, left £4,191’…
Morbecque British Cemetery also contains the grave of twenty three years old, 31284 Private Frederick Graham Candler.
Born in Scarborough, at No.92 Candler Street on the 5TH of July 1894, Fred had been the only son of Ann, and Alfred Graham Candler, a musician, by profession. [6]
At the beginning of the summer season of 1914 the Candlers had been residing in Scarborough at No.111 Candler Street, at this time, Fred’s father had taken up the baton to become the conductor of the orchestra in Scarborough’s ‘Peoples Palace and Aquarium’ [located near the south beach, this long gone underground place of wonder is fondly remembered by the author as ‘Gala Land’], whilst Fred, a former pupil of Scarborough’s Central Board School, had been living and working in Middlesborough. Conscripted into Britain’s armed forces two years after the outbreak of war, during August 1916, Fred had joined the army at Richmond in North Yorkshire shortly afterwards.
Initially posted to the newly formed [in the Lincolnshire village of Brocklesby during July 1916] 12TH [Labour] Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, Fred Candler [Regimental Number 33981] had soon found himself being posted to France where he had worked on the lines of communication, repairing roads and digging trenches, in various sectors of the Western Front.
During January 1917 the War Office had authorised the formation of a Labour Corps, which by the end of the war would consist of around 390,000 men [more than 10 per cent of the total size of the British Army]. A largely forgotten unit of the Great War that at the beginning had consisted of ex-front line soldiers who had been wounded or taken sick, and men, who on enlistment were found to be unfit for front line service because of ill health or because they were considered too old for active service, the Labour Corps had also bee formed from a number of infantry battalions had been transferred to form the nucleus of the unit, amongst them had been Candler’s battalion that had been amongst the first units to join the formation [disbanded during 1921, the Labour Corps had been reformed during 1940 as the Auxiliary Army Pioneer Corps, which had later been renamed as the Royal Pioneer Corps].
Attached to the 53RD Company of the 17TH Battalion of the Labour Corps, Candler had been employed in the myriad of labouring tasks allotted to his unit and had worked in the repair and maintenance of many roads and railways in the back areas of the Western Front, laid many miles of electricity and telephone cables, assisted with the movement of tons of ammunition and stores, and inevitably, often assisted with the burial of the dead.
Working for weeks on end, often with only one day’s rest out of seven, Candler had more often than not laboured within the sound and range of enemy guns. Shellfire had eventually killed Private Candler during Saturday the 25TH of May 1918. Amongst twenty nine men of the Labour Corps who had lost their lives on the Western Front during that day, the remains of Private Candler had been taken to Morbecque British Cemetery where they had been interred in Plot 1, Row G, Grave 5.
[A stone’s throw from three comrades, 9862 Private Lawrence Caine, K.I.A. 03/01/18, and Privates [10036] Harold James Portsmouth, and [9701] Leslie Raynor Hill, both of whom had been killed in action on the 3RD of June 1918. all three had also at one time served with Candler in the 12TH Lincolnshire Regiment and the 17TH Battalion of the Labour Corps. They are buried Graves 9, 10, and 11 respectively in Plot 1, Row G.].
Although a native of Scarborough, Private Frederick Graham Candler’s name does not appear in a casualty list in any of the surviving copies of the local newspapers, and apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial his name does not appear on any of Scarborough’s surviving church and school war memorials. Nevertheless, his name is commemorated on a now [2006] broken and fallen down grave marker in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery, which also bears the names of the soldier’s grand parents. Born in Scarborough around 1842, Fred’s grandmother, Jane Bracewell, had been married to Frederick Graham Candler, at St Mary’s Parish Church on the 2ND of December 1869, the couple living for many years afterwards in the town in North Terrace. The mother of Alfred Graham [born 1870] and Elizabeth Sarah Candler [1873], Jane had passed away at the family home at No.9 Asquith Avenue during Monday the 28TH of July 1919, at the age of seventy seven years.
Two years later, on Wednesday the 3RD of August 1921, Fred’s seventy six years old grandfather had also died at No.9 Asquith Avenue. A former ‘licensed victualler’ of the town, the remains of Frederick Graham Candler had been interred in Manor Road Cemetery with those of his wife during the afternoon of Saturday the 6TH of August.
At the time of their son’s death Alfred [a former musician in the Royal Marines Band Service] and Ann Candler [born in Scarborough during 1873, the eldest daughter of Jane and ‘sailor’ Francis ‘Frank’ Lazenby] had been residing in Scarborough at No.111 Candler Street. However, by the end of the war they had moved to Wiltshire, their last recorded address, according to the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, being No.14 Endless Street, Salisbury.
The same edition of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ that had told of the death of Second Lieutenant Richard Harland had also reported:
‘Mr. E. J. Birdsall’s son killed - The sad news was received today [Friday 21ST of June 1918] by Mr. and Mrs. Birdsall, 54 West Street, of the death in action of their only son, Private Geoffrey Birdsall, London Rifle Regiment, on June 17TH. Private Birdsall was only 19 years of age and was educated at the Friends School, Bootham, York, from where, only a short time ago he won a valuable scholarship. He originally joined the Artists Rifles O.T.C., where for a short time, he was a colleague with the late Lieut. Richard Harland’…
Born in Scarborough on Sunday the 5TH of February 1899, at No.54 West Street, 76663 Rifleman Geoffrey Birdsall had been the only son of Lilly and Edgar James Birdsall, a well known Scarborough solicitor, whose business had been located in the town at ‘Bank Chambers’, No 2 Huntriss Row. [7]
At the age of eleven Geoffrey had become a boarder at York’s exclusive ‘Quarterly Meeting Boy’s School at York’. Renamed ‘Bootham School’ during 1915, the school had been founded by the Religious Society of Friends [Quakers] during 1823, and had been [and still is] located in Lawrence Street in York. At the time that Birdsall had attended Bootham the school’s Head had been Arthur Rowntree, one of the five sons of the York’s renowned chocolate manufacture, philanthropist, and Quaker activist, Joseph Rowntree [1836-1925].
Birdsall had still been at Bootham at the outbreak of war in August 1914, and had remained there until 1917, when he had left the school to enlist at Scarborough into the Territorial Force 1ST/28TH [County of London] Battalion of the London Regiment. More popularly known as the ‘Artists Rifles’, Birdsall had joined this unit, like Richard Harland, to train as an officer, however, before he could complete the course of training the unit had been transferred during June 1917 to serve on the Western Front with the 190TH Brigade of the unique, and by this stage of the war, famous 63RD [Royal Naval] Division [R.N.D.].
A unit which had seen some of the bitterest fighting of the war, by the summer of 1918 the R.N.D. had borne little resemblance to the mixed bag of sailors and marines who had landed in Belgium at the outset of the war with little more than high hopes of defending the city of Antwerp against the might of the German army, which had resulted in a not so glorious retreat that had seen many of the unit’s men being interned for the remainder of the war following their ‘capture’ in neutral Holland. By the time that Birdsall had found his way to the unit the majority of the enthusiastic men who had joined the R.N.D. following the Antwerp fiasco of 1914 had been killed off or seriously injured in operations including the affair at Gallipoli during 1915, the terrible latter stages of the Somme Offensive of 1916, and the subsequent blood letting of the Arras Offensive of 1917. In short, a shadow of its former self, the R.N.D. had nonetheless, despite being diluted by numerous army battalions from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Bedfordshire Regiment, and Birdsall’s Artists Rifles, continued to defiantly fly the White Ensign outside its Divisional Headquarters, use naval ranks, and allow its men to grow the naval beard.
A veteran of the R.N.D.’s operations during the Second Battle of Passchendaele [26TH October –10TH November 1917] and the subsequent Battle of Cambrai [November-December 1917], where his battalion had taken part in fighting in the southern sector of the Cambrai front which had become known as the Battle of Welsh Ridge, which had taken place in heavy snow between the 30TH and 31ST of December 1917 against a German force clad in white camouflage suits. During this encounter the R.N.D., had lost many of its men and by the beginning of the New Year the unit had been so badly depleted that it could no longer be considered as an effective fighting force. Heavily involved in the German Spring Offensive of 1918, the 63RD Division had also seen much action in the subsequent British ‘Great Retreat’ across the wasteland of the old Somme battlefield. Towards the end of March the totally exhausted R.N.D. had crossed the Ancre, where despite being in an appalling state, the division had beaten off numerous attacks on the 27TH of April by a determined enemy, that had once again cost the R.N.D. dearly [see Part 3, April- July 1918].
Following these operations the 63RD Division had been allowed to rest for a short while, however, by the end of May 1918 the R.N.D. had returned to the Somme to take up positions in the Hamel Sector, in shell ravaged Aveluy Wood, where, during Sunday the 16TH of June, Birdsall, along with a number of comrades had been injured in one of the many enemy artillery bombardments mentioned by Jerrold...’During the entire period from May 8TH to June 4TH the enemy artillery activity was maintained, and frequent and intensive bombardments were put down on the trenches and the back areas’…The grievously wounded Geoffrey Birdsall had been evacuated to the 4TH Casualty Clearing Station, which had been located near to the Somme village of Pernois, where the nineteen years old had succumbed to his injuries during the night of Monday the 17TH of June 1918. [8]
Shortly after his death, the remains of Geoffrey Birdsall had been taken to the 4TH C.C.S.’s attached burial ground where they had been interred in Section 2, Row B, Grave 10. Situated around kilometres to the south west of Doullens this burial ground is now known as Pernois British Cemetery, which is located near to a secondary road [the D 57] close to the twin villages of Halloy-les-Pernois. The cemetery, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, contains the graves of four hundred and three Commonwealth servicemen and seventeen German, the majority of whom had died of wounds in the nearby 4TH and 41ST Casualty Clearing Stations.
Although the Birdsall’s had had long associations with Scarborough’s South Cliff Congregational Church [situated in Ramshill Road the church is known locally as ‘Balgarnies Church’ after The Reverend Robert Balgarnie, the first Minister of the church following its opening in 1865], Geoffrey’s name is not commemorated in the church, and apart from the town’s Oliver’s Mount Memorial his name does not appear on any of the town’s surviving memorials to those lost during the Great War. His name, nonetheless, can be found in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery [Section V, Border, Grave 74] on a black marble gravestone, which also includes the names of the soldier’s parents. [9]
The eldest son of Elizabeth and William Birdsall the head of one of Scarborough principal grocery firms, Birdsall & Wilson [in1892 located in Scarborough at 36 St Nicholas Street, with a branch at No.1 Falsgrave Road], Edgar James Birdsall had been born in the town on the 27TH of December 1860. Educated at Oliver’s Mount School, and Owens College, Manchester and afterwards articled to Messrs. Spencer, Clarkson, and Co., solicitors, of Keighley, Edgar had been admitted as a solicitor in July 1886, and had subsequently established a practice in Scarborough, being joined in partnership by Richard Cross, who for many years had been clerk to Scarborough’s Justices of the Peace. The firm of Birdsall and Cross had eventually been joined by George Black who had remained with Birdsall until his retirement in 1920, when John S. Snowball had become a partner. Edgar Birdsall had eventually retired during 1936.
A keen cricketer with the Cloughton team during his younger days, Birdsall had also become a prominent member of the South Cliff Bowling Club, and the Scarborough Chess Club until his death at the family home at No.54 West Street, at the age of seventy seven during the early hours of Sunday the 27TH of February 1938. Also a former trustee and honorary secretary of Scarborough’s Cottage Hospital, and a lifelong ‘unswerving liberal’, Edgar Birdsall’s well-attended funeral had taken place during the afternoon of Wednesday the 30TH of February 1938.
Geoffrey’s Pickering born [1872] mother, Lilly Clarkson, the eldest daughter of Elizabeth and ‘merchant’, Robert Peel Clarkson, had married Edgar Birdsall at Scarborough’s South Cliff Congregational Church on Saturday the 31ST of July1897 and had eventually become a Justice of the Peace at Scarborough. Severely disabled by Arthritis during her later years, Lilly Birdsall had nonetheless continued to be ‘a capable magistrate’, noted for her unfailing kindness and courtesy coupled, with sound judgement and firm convictions.
A Justice of the Peace almost up until her death, Lilly had passed away at the age of sixty-nine years during Wednesday the 17TH of July 1940. Her funeral had taken place during the afternoon of Friday the 19TH of July following a service of remembrance that had been held at Scarborough’s Christ Church. Amongst the crowd of people who had paid their last respects to the fine lady had been fellow magistrate and town Mayor, Mr. Christopher Colbourne Graham, the Chief Constable, Mr. F.W. Oliver, and Mr. L. Hughes, Miss Duckworth, Miss Dobson, and Miss Calvert, members of the staff of her husband’s former business. Edgar and Lilly Birdsall had been survived by daughter Audrey, who had worked in Kenya for the Colonial Office for many years as a schools physical training instructor.
Shortly after the death of Rifleman Birdsall, at ten minutes after midnight on Monday the15TH of July 1918, the Germans had begun their fifth major offensive of 1918, and their last offensive of the war. Later dubbed by the Allies as the ‘Second Battle of the Marne, 15 July-16 August 1918’, and known to the Germans as ‘Operation Freidenssturm’ [‘Peace Assault’], the operation, mounted to the east and west of the city of Reims by no less than forty three divisions of infantry belonging to the German First, Third, and Seventh Armies, supported by the customary ‘Bruchmuller symphony’ hurricane bombardment by over five thousand artillery pieces had reportedly ‘begun badly and had rapidly gone downhill thereafter’.
Facing the enemy to the east of Rheims had been the French Fourth Army under General Henri Gouraud who, with a captured plan of attack and the testimony of a number of captured Germans, had been well aware of the enemy’s intention to attack his front and had therefore ordered a pre-emptive counter barrage assault onto the German assembly trenches, which had been packed with assault troops eagerly awaiting the order to go over the top.
Over four million French 75mm shells had ripped into the massed ranks of the attacking force like the proverbial hot knife through butter, whilst the German bombardment had fell onto empty French positions. Despite the chaos caused by this totally unexpected assault the German attack had gone ahead as planned. To the east of Reims General Karl von Einem’s Third Army had made some progress by reaching the so called ‘intermediate position’ before being stopped by a mix bag of French and American forces including the American 42ND [Rainbow] Division, which had played a notable part in the action. West of the city, General Hans von Bohn’s Seventh Army had crossed the Marne between the towns of Dormans and Jaulgonne, thereby capturing a bridgehead on either side of the former three miles in depth by seven to nine miles in width.
The French and Americans had thrown everything they could at the Germans and after two days of desperate fighting they had stopped the German assault on the banks of the Marne on the 17TH of July 1918. The following day the French had mounted a surprise counter attack using eighteen divisions of infantry [also including the 1ST and 2ND American divisions], the troops advancing through open cornfields under a creeping barrage and supported by over three hundred tanks. The Germans, by this time, worn out, under strength, outgunned, and totally disheartened, had put up little resistance in the face of the overwhelming odds being throw at them.
During the course of the fighting on the Marne numerous Allied formations had been rushed southwards as reinforcements where they had joined General Charles Mangin’s Tenth Army as replacements for the sorely battered 153RD [French], 1ST American, Moroccan, and 38TH [French] Divisions. Amongst these units had been the British 34TH Division, which had been attached to the French Tenth Corps.
The Division, commanded by Major General C. Nicholson, had arrived in the area during the night of Sunday the 21ST of July, relieving the French 38TH Division opposite the German held town of Hartennes. Unknown to the formation’s commander permission had already been given for the French to use the 34TH in an attack which was to be made two days later on the village of Tigny located on the high ground to the east of the Soissons--Chateau Thierry road. Duly rushed to the area, Greenwood has this to say about what had befallen the men of 34TH Division during the early hours of Tuesday the 23RD of July…
’The British troops had not had time for reconnaissance during the previous day, and found the German positions by walking into them. Indeed, General Nicholson had only taken over command of the sector at 7am—fifteen minutes before the order came to advance. His men moved almost a kilometre through chest high corn before being caught in a deadly crossfire from the Bois de Reugny and Tigny village. The first wave of the right hand Brigade [the 101ST] was almost wiped out, and as the French on the flanks had not even begun to move, the troops dug in and formed a defensive line facing the village’... [10]
The annihilation of the 101ST Brigade is also included in the British Official History…
‘When 101ST Brigade’s leading Battalion, the 2ND Loyal North Lancs, did move forward [at 8am] the Germans were ready, but owing to the many woods and copses and the standing corn, little could be seen of them. The leading wave of the right company, after advancing fifty yards was almost annihilated by the fire of an advanced line of machine guns and by an artillery barrage: the remnant fell back. The left company, overcoming the advanced line of machine guns, went nearly a thousand yards, but the 2ND/4TH Queen’s, which attempted to come up on the left, was forced back: and about 9am a counter attack compelled the advanced party of the 2ND Loyal North Lancs to return to the start line’… [11]
Amongst 101ST Brigade’s large number of casualties had been twenty six years old, 36474 Private Clarence Edgar Park.
Born in Scarborough at No.33 St Mary’s Walk on Wednesday the 15TH of July 1891 [baptised in St. Mary’s Parish Church on the 26TH of August], Clarence had been the youngest son of Elizabeth and ‘mariner’ James Dobson Park. A former pupil of St Mary’s Parish School and the Friarage Board School, Park had lived in the town for most of his life at No.62 North Marine Road, where his widowed mother had been residing during 1918. [11]
Living and working in Harrogate by the outbreak of war, Clarence Park had eventually been ‘called up’ for military service during 1916, when he had enlisted into the army at Woolwich. Posted for training to the Loyal North Lancashire Regimental Depot at Preston, Park had initially served with the regiment’s 3RD [Reserve] Battalion. Considered fit for active service by November 1916 Clarence had eventually been included in a large draft of replacements destined for service with the Second Battalion of the Loyal Regiment, which by this time had been stationed in South Africa.
A pre war regular army battalion, the 2ND Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire’s had been stationed in India before the outbreak of war, the unit being comfortably encamped in barracks at Bangalore. However, during November 1914 the battalion had received orders to move to East Africa, the battalion landing at Tanga as part of the 27TH Indian Brigade, on the third of the month. The Loyals had subsequently been moved to Mombasa four days later before beginning operations in the East African campaign. Perhaps the unhealthiest place on earth at this time, East Africa had been the death of many soldiers belonging to the battalion, so much so that during May 1916 the decimated unit had had to be moved to the healthier air of South Africa in order to recuperate and await replacements such as Private Park.
Subsequently moved to Egypt, the 2ND Loyal had landed at Alexandria on the 18TH of January 1917. Initially attached to the 232ND Brigade of the 75TH Division, which had been attached to the Suez Canal Defence Force, the battalion had shortly been moved to serve with the 233RD and 234TH Brigades of the same Division until the 9TH of August 1917, when the Battalion, considered not fit enough for strenuous service, had been posted to the wastelands around Sidi Bashr, and thence into the ‘lines of communication’ at Gaza.
Eventually posted for service on the Western Front, the 2ND Loyal’s had landed at Marseilles on the 27TH of May 1918. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Edward Arthur Jourdain, the battalion had moved to Northern France where the unit had initially been attached for training purposes to the 94TH Brigade of 31ST Division. On the 28TH of June the formation had been transferred to the 101ST of 34TH Division, the formation shortly receiving orders to move southwards to the fighting on the Marne.
Grievously wounded in his upper chest and throat, Park had been amongst a number of 2ND Loyal casualties who had been evacuated to the British 63RD Casualty Clearing Station [C.C.S.] that had been located near Senlis. Situated in the Department of the Oise, the small town of Senlis is around thirty kilometres to the north east of Paris, located on the main road between Compiegne and the French capitol. It had been whilst here, during Tuesday the 30TH of July 1918, that Clarence Park had finally succumbed to his injuries.
Amongst 16,000 British casualties of the so called ‘Battle of the Soissonnais and of the Ourcq [23RD July –2ND August 1918]’, soon after his death the remains of Clarence Park had been interred in the cemetery, which had been attached to the 63RD C.C.S.. Later named the French National cemetery, Park’s final resting place is located in Section 2, Row B, Grave 43, a stone’s throw from those of fellow 2ND Loyal North Lancastrians [Section 2, Row E, Graves 82 and 83], 37702 Private George Herbert Boote, and 34352 Private John William Holt, who had died from the effects of wounds, whilst at Senlis on the 1ST and 2ND of August [1918] respectively [The French National Cemetery at Senlis now contains the graves of over one hundred British casualties of the Great War, mostly of men of the 15TH [Scottish] and 34TH Divisions who had lost their lives in the nearby fighting during July and August 1918. Amongst them are seven other men belonging to the 2ND Loyal North Lancashire, all had died from the effects of wounds between the 23RD and 31ST of July 1918]. [13]
The news of Clarence Park’s demise had been reported in a casualty list that had appeared in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 9TH of August 1918. Three years later, on Friday the 29TH of July 1921, the same newspaper had included numerous dedications to the lost soldier in its ‘In Memoriam’ section. Amongst them had been:
‘Park—In sweet memory of my dear son, Clarence Edgar Park, who made the supreme sacrifice, July 30TH 1918. ‘Ever in my thoughts’, Mother’…
In Scarborough, apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, Clarence’s name is commemorated amongst the names included in column four of the ‘Roll of Honour’ located on the north interior wall of St Mary’s Parish Church. In addition, his name is to be found on an exquisitely sculptured monument in the town’s Manor Road Cemetery [Section F, Row 28, Grave 0]. This most beautiful of memorials, which in the author’s opinion, is the finest in all of Scarborough’s Cemeteries, contains the inscription:
‘In sweet and honoured memory of our beloved son Clarence Edgar Park killed in action in France July 20TH 1918 aged 26 years’… ‘Greater love hath no man’… The memorial also commemorates the names of Clarence’s parents.
The son of Ann and ‘Master Mariner’ Christopher Park, James Dobson Park had been born in Scarborough during 1855. A former seafarer, James had been employed by Scarborough Corporation as a ‘ pier berthing master’ by 1911. Living at No.62 North Marine Road at the time, he had died at this address at the age of fifty five on the 18TH of March 1911. Clarence’s mother, Elizabeth Park, had been born at South Shields during 1856 and had been the daughter of Mary and Thomas Warwick. Following the death of her husband Elizabeth had never remarried and by the 1930’s she had been residing in Scarborough at ‘Cable Villa’, No.2 Garfield Road, where ‘the devoted mother and wife’ had passed away at the age of eighty four on Monday the 21ST of December 1936. Her remains had been laid to rest with those of her husband three days later.
[Although not commemorated on the memorial, this grave also contains the remains of the Park’s second daughter Lillian, whose remains had been interred in the family plot on the 4TH of January 1965, following her death at the age of eighty three years].
The Second Battle of the Marne had officially lasted until Sunday the fourth of August, by this time, although the Allies had lost over 160,000 casualties whilst the Germans had suffered nearer 110,000 [30,000 of these had been captured] Ludendorff had realised that with the seemingly unlimited resources of America joining hands with the Allies he had perhaps lost the war, and with his final offensive lying in tatters on the scorched earth of the Marne, and with his forces completely demoralised, the German leader had found that the game was up, and without a miracle his army was never going to win the war.
[1] At the time of the 1901 Census the Clark’s had still been residing in Scarborough at No.2 Engine House Cottage. The family had consisted of: Robert, 38 years, railway engine driver, Rose B. A., 38 years, born York, Robert R., 12 years, John H., 10, Walter, 7, Arthur, 5. With the exception of Rosabella, all had been born at Scarborough.
[2] A widow by the time of the 1901 Census, during this period Marie Harland had been residing at the family home at 165 Falsgrave Road [still named ‘Poplar Villa’, in 2006 the Harland’s former home, situated on the corner of Falsgrave and Scalby Roads, is numbered 169, and consists of flats] the family had consisted of Marie E. Harland, widow, 48 years of age, born Bradford, Sarah E., daughter, 23 years, Albert Edward, auctioneer, 22years, Walter Ernest, auctioneer’s clerk, 20 years, Richard, schoolboy, 14 years, and Edward, aged 8 years. All had been born at Scarborough.
[3] A pupil of Scarborough College between 1923 and 1931, Geoffrey S. Powell’s words are extracted from ‘Six inches of bath water, One hundred years of Scarborough College 1898-1998’, Edited by Peter Burton, Published 1998 by Michael Russell Publishing Ltd Norwich.
[4] In a panel near the bottom of these window can be found an engraving, which reads: ‘To the glory of God and honoured memory of the under mentioned members of the Wesleyan Church and congregation who, in the cause of righteousness and freedom, laid down their lives in the Great War 1914-18’. Alfred Beal [a forty one years old postman, of 50Raleigh Street, who had lost his life on the 16TH of December 1914 during the German Bombardment of whilst delivering letters to ‘Dunollie’ the large house [in 2006 a Nursing Home] in Filey Road which had been hit by a shell which had killed the postman and maid Margaret Briggs], William Burnett Good, Henry Newby, Fred George Hall, Richard Harland, Henry Pickersgill, Ernest Turner [all are commemorated on the Oliver’s Mount Memorial].
[5] The names of the college’s seventeen former students are, K.S. Bedford, J.H. Bird, E.S. Cattle, J.H.N. Cattle M.C. *, W.C. Culshaw, J. Field, R. Harland *, S.M. Johnson, S.M. Lampard *, E.H. Lea, I.A. Mack, A.S. Mack, D.R. Puddicombe, R. Richardson, E.T. Rines *, R.O.V. Thorp M.C. *, H.W. Worthington * [* also commemorated on the Oliver’s Mount War Memorial].
[6] Baptised at St Mary’s Parish Church on the 22ND of July 1894, Frederick Graham’s parents, Alfred Graham Candler and Ann Lazenby, had been married in the church on the 23RD of August 1893. By the time of the 1901 Census the family had been living in Scarborough at No.85 Candler Street, and had consisted of Alfred G., 31 years of age, musician by profession, Ann, 28 years, daughter Lillian 8 years, Fred G., son, 6 years, Francis T. daughter, 5 years, all had been born in Scarborough.
[7] At the time of the 1901 Census [April] the Birdsall’s had still been residing in Scarborough at No.45 West Street [in 2006 their old house is divided into flats]. The household had consisted of Edgar James, 40 years of age, solicitor/notary, born Scarborough, Lilly, 29 years of age, born Pickering, ‘Jeffrey’, 2 years, born Scarborough, Mabel J. Clarkson, sister in law, ‘student at school of cookery’, born Pickering, and Phoebe V.E. Bennett, 26 years, housemaid, born Canterbury, Kent.
[At this time the Birdsall’s had been awaiting the birth of their second child. Born on Thursday the 21ST of November 1901[at No 45 West Street], Geoffrey’s sister, Audrey, had been aged seventeen at the time of his death].
[8] Douglas Jerrold: The Royal Naval Division, Hutchinson, 1927.
[9] Despite extensive enquiries the author has been unable to establish whether this church had ever possessed a memorial dedicated to casualties of the Great War. General consensus indicates there had never been one.
[10] Paul Greenwood, The Second Battle of the Marne 1918, Airlife Publishing Ltd, 1998.
[11] P 266 Military Operations, France & Belgium, 1918, Volume 3, H.M.S.O..
[12] The Park’s had been living at No76 North Marine Road at the time of the 1901 Census. The family had consisted of James D. Parke, 45 years of age, ‘mariners mate’, born Scarborough, Elizabeth, 45 years, born Durham, South Shields, daughters Alice M., 22 years, ‘Elementary School teacher’, and Lillian, 20 years, ‘dressmaker’ [own account at home] Sons, William J., 15 years, clerk General Post Office, Florence M., 12 years, and Clarence E. 9years. All the children had been born at Scarborough.
[13] The forty two nine years old Commanding Officer of the 2ND Battalion of the Loyal [North Lancashire] Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Edward Arthur Jourdain D.S.O., had been amongst those killed in action during the 29TH of July 1918, his remains are interred in Section 10, Row D, Grave 1 of Raperie British Cemetery, at Villemontoire, a village located in the Department of the Aisne.