Image credit: http://www.ww1-yorkshires.org.uk/html-files/photos-c.htm
A locally-born casualty of the
Gallipoli campaign was Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Chapman, Commanding
Officer of the 6th battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. He was killed in action the day after landing
with his men at Suvla
Bay on Gallipoli.
Troops landing at Suvla
Bay on 25 April 1915
An officer of the battalion gave an account of the
landing in a letter to The Times:
“We arrived at Suvla Bay,
a motley but workman-like fleet of cruises, monitors, destroyers, transports
and trawlers, just before midnight on August 6. The night was dark, the sea
calm, and the air tropical in its sultriness. The landing of troops took place
almost immediately after the ships had anchored, and continued without
cessation throughout the night.
There is a reason to believe that our arrival was
not altogether unexpected, for after a brief delay, search lights from the
ridges in front of Anafarta village were brought to bear upon the beach, thence
forward until daybreak the enemy kept up a moderate rifle and machine gun fire.
At daybreak the Turkish Shore batteries came into action, shelling our men
who were now advancing both north and south of the Salt
Lake and from Sea Beach,
where landing had also taken place during the night, in the direction of the
general objective, Kuchuk Anafarta. The troops operating south of the lake were
thrown in a southerly direction in order that our right should keep in contact
with left of the Australian position at Anzac.
The landing at Sea
Beach was affected [sic] with very
trivial losses, and those suffered by our forces during the night
disembarkation at Suvla
Bay were slight. As soon
as it was light enough to obtain an accurate range the fire of the cruisers,
monitors, and destroyers in the bay was brought to bear on Turkish batteries
and one soon completely knocked out by shells from a cruiser.
British troops in trenches at
Suvla Bay following the fighting in August 1915. Photograph by Edward
Montgomery Miles.
Image credit: Imperial War Museum
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/22-rare-photos-of-the-gallipoli-campaign Image - HU 130203
Throughout the morning despite the suffocating
heat and total lack of water, our troops continued to advance in the most
gallant fashion. Our left tore over the sand and scrub in the direction of
Kizlar Dagh, driving all before them by rifle fire and the occasional use of
cold steel. Chocolate Hill was practically in our possession by 2 o’clock in
the afternoon. Contact had been established with the Australians, and nowhere
was our force en l’air
The general advance was in progress; our prospects
looked very rosy indeed and we were certainly thought that this time we were
going to get right across.
Suddenly there came a halt. It was evident that
the enemy had brought fresh artillery and fresh infantry into action.
The fire of the Turkish batteries redoubled in
intensity and volume, and we were painfully aware of the existence of a far
greater number of machine guns than had hitherto been brought into play. It was
afterwards reported that the Turkish forces had been largely reinforced by
troops which, at the time of our landing, were proceeding along the main line
of communication behind Anafarta to Achi Baba. These were stopped by there
[sic] German officers and immediately brought into action against our front.
Thus the movement from which so much had been
expected appeared thus early in the operations to have been brought to a
standstill. The terrain consisting of sand, scrub, and stunted oaks, and which
as we approached Anafarta, partook of a forest character, intersected by deep
gullets gave every advantage to the enemy.
Anafarta itself is situated on the highest ridge
in the vicinity, and from the village and surrounding hills the enemy kept up a
heavy cannon, machine-gun, and rifle fire on our men who were exposed on the
plain below. Here we suffered very heavy losses, and trenching was vigorously
proceeded with.
Meanwhile, severe fighting was also taking place
on our left, where we succeeded in driving the enemy out of all his positions
on Kizlar Dagh, except at one point at the extreme end of the ridge. Had we
been able to secure this particular point we should have been in a much better
position to deal
with the enemy trenches about Turchen Keui. The
Turks could then have been enfiladed by our guns.
We entrenched ourselves so strongly at Kizlar Dagh
and generally along our front that prisoners and deserters have told us that
both the Germans and the Turkish officers consider our positions practically
impregnable. During our rapid advance we had unfortunately left many snipers
behind us, most of them concealed in the trees (dwarf oaks) and scrub. They
occasioned considerable losses to the advancing troops, and it became necessary
to dispose of them. For this purpose picked Australian marksmen were brought up
from Anzac to help us.
All through the day of the 7th large bodies of
supports were been landed in the bay, but further advance was practically
impossible, and we felt somehow when the sun went down that what promised at
the outset to be a glorious
and triumphant advance had meet [sic] with a
definite check.”
Edward Henry Chapman was born at
25 April 1875 at Budleigh Salterton. The eldest son in the family,he was
christened with the same first names as his father; his mother, Elizabeth Eden
Chapman, nee Walker, died when he was 13.
Home was Carr Hall, Whitby
in North Yorkshire; the family also owned Cobrey Park
at Ross on Wye in Herefordshire. He was
educated at Aysgarth School in North Yorkshire and the United Services
College at Westward Ho before entering
Sandhurst.
Above: TheYorkshire Regiment cap badge
A career soldier with the
Yorkshire Regiment Edward Chapman was made Second Lieutenant in 1895,
Lieutenant in 1897, Captain in 1901 and Major in 1911. He was appointed
Commanding Officer of the 6th battalion at the onset of war. “The raising of the 6th battalion was a task
for which he was eminently suited,” wrote a fellow-officer. “ A thorough and
conscientious soldier his chief aim was the welfare and correct training of his
men”.
Above: RMS Aquitania
in dazzle camouflage
He sailed with the battalion from Liverpool on
3 July on RMS Aquitania, landing at
the Greek island
of Lemnos. The ship was a
Cunard Line ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown
& Company in Clydebank,
Scotland. She
had sailed on her maiden voyage to New
York on 30 May 1914, but by the spring of 1915 had
been transformed into a troopship.
Further transport was arranged to
the island of Imbros. Its proximity to the coast of Turkey
made it an ideal staging post for the allied Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, prior
to and during the invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula. A field hospital,
airfield and administrative and stores buildings had been constructed on the
island.
On 6 August Colonel Chapman received his
orders and called an officers’ conference at 2.30pm when maps were issued and
he outlined the battalion’s objectives.
Following the landing at Suvla
Bay on Gallipoli in the early
hours of 7 August the troops moved inland and massed at the foot of
Lala Baba hill. A charge was ordered on the Turkish positions during which
bitter hand to hand fighting took place.
Edward Chapman led from the front and was heard to
shout “Come on the Yorkshires”. Sadly, just before midnight, a message was
received to the effect that the “CO was killed.” He was 40 years of age. The
battalion chaplain was by his side soon after he was shot through the neck and
wrote later to his father, “He died as he would have wished to die, a gallant
soldier leading his men himself at the very front of his
regiment”.
Azmak Cemetery, Suvla, Turkey
Image credit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
His body was recovered and today his grave can be seen in Azmak Cemetery
at Suvla. A memorial tablet to him can be found in Richmond
Parish Church,
in North Yorkshire. No memorial to him exists in Budleigh
Salterton although he was born in the town.
The source for this account of Colonel Chapman’s
life was Robert Coulson’s Yorkshire Regiment Officers Who Died in the First
World War: A Memorial Roll of the Officers of Alexandra Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment Who Died 1914 – 1919.
‘The Great War at Fairlynch’ 2015 exhibition at Budleigh Salterton’s very special museum! Reviews included: “Wonderful display on WW1, informative, bright and relevant. Well done!!
