A black day for the 8th Battalion, 25 September 1915: Private Samuel Keen, Private Arthur Palmer, Private Charles Stuart, Private William Henry West

The Devonshire Regiment cap badge

Four men from the Lower Otter Valley lost their lives on 25 September at the Battle of Loos. This was a combined Anglo-French offensive intended to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagne in NW France and restore a war of movement. 

Above: 'Gassed', a very large oil painting completed in March 1919 by John Singer Sargent. It depicts the aftermath of a mustard gas attack during the First World War, with a line of wounded soldiers walking towards a dressing station. Sargent was commissioned by the British War Memorials Committee to document the war and visited the Western Front in July 1918 spending time with the Guards Division near Arras, and then with the American Expeditionary Forces near Ypres. The painting was finished in March 1919 and voted picture of the year by the Royal Academy of Arts in 1919. It is now held by the Imperial War Museum 

Image credit: Imperial War Museum ART 1460

The action saw the first British use of poison gas, with disappointing results.  “It will be seen that the attack with gas was not the success that had been anticipated,” wrote the Special Correspondent of the Western Morning News of 5 April 1919. “It lacked the element of surprise as to the exact moment it was to be launched.  A favourable wind was an important feature in the days when gas clouds were the vogue.”

For the Devonshire Regiment there were some memorable achievements. Despite German shelling and British gas blowing back on them during the attack, the 8th Battalion pressed on with their attack and captured the German position. 

The 9th followed in support, losing a great many men to machine gun fire as they crossed No Man’s Land to join the 8th in their stretch of German trench.  The survivors of the two Battalions held the position until the evening of 26 September, when they were withdrawn. 

The two Battalions succeeded in capturing German field guns, two of which were brought back to Exeter to be paraded in the streets.

The Loos Memorial

Image credit: www.cwgc.org

But the ultimate result was a stalemate, with heavy losses on both sides. In this single battle the 8th Battalion suffered 639 casualties, and the 9th 476.

“We had a terrible time starting on the 25th September,” wrote Private Dennis in the Western Evening News of 13 November 1915.  “We lost over 600 men and all the officers that went with us.  I never felt more proud of Devonshire men than I do today.  When we were all lined up waiting for the word to charge (of course we were in the first line of trenches all night, it was 6.20 when we got the order to charge), not a man failed.  When we got over the parapet we were met with a terrible rifle and shell fire, gas, and barbed wire.  The enemy seemed to know what we were going to do.”  

All four men from the Lower Otter Valley are commemorated on the Loos Memorial, near the village of  Loos-en-Gohelle, five kilometres north-west of Lens. The Memorial forms the sides and back of Dud Corner Cemetery.

Samuel Keen was born in Cheriton Fitzpaine in Mid Devon in 1879. He was the son of dairy farmer Samuel senior and Charlotte Keen, who had seven children.The 1891 census shows the family living at Brook Farm, Tiverton, but young Samuel later became a waggoner and a resident of East Budleigh, although his name does not appear on any memorials in the village. He was 35 years old when he was killed.

The War Memorial in All Saints Church, East Budleigh 

Private Arthur Palmer was an East Budleigh man, born around 1874. He was the son of Alfred and Mary Jane Palmer and had a brother, William, who would die two years later, on 23 August 1917.  Arthur Palmer left a widow, Jeanette, but has no known grave. However his name appears on war memorials in Exmouth and in Seaton as well as on the All Saints Church memorial in East Budleigh.  

Private Charles Stuart’s name also appears on All Saints Church memorial, tragically next to those of his two brothers Arthur and Albert, who were killed  in 1916 and 1917 respectively.  All three were the sons of William Henry and Elizabeth Ann Stuart, of Brookside Cottage. Charles was aged only 20 when he died.

Twenty-two-year-old Private William West was the fourth man from the 8^th Batallion to be killed in action on 25 September 1915. The 22-year-old  was the sixth of 13 children born to John and Amelia West and grew up in East Budleigh.  His mother’s maiden name was Sanders.  

Perriam's grocery store was at 23 Fore Street

By 1911 the family had moved to Budleigh Salterton; when William died they were living at 12, Cliff Road. His father John was a van man for Perriams, the town’s grocery store, where William worked as an assistant before he enlisted.

William Henry West’s name appears on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial and on the brass plaque in St Peter’s Church in Budleigh Salterton, as well as at the town’s football club, and on the Loos Memorial.

‘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!!

Another tragedy for Colaton Raleigh: Private Harold Hugh Riggs, 28 August 1915

The Devonshire Regimental cap badge 

Harold Riggs was the fourth man from Colaton Raleigh to die in the Great War. All four were members of the Devonshire Regiment.

His brother, Herbert George Riggs, had died of his wounds in November 1914. He is buried at Aubers Ridge British Cemetery, near Bethune in Northern France, and is remembered on this blog at http://fairlynchgreatwar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-race-for-sea10-oct-kia-17-september.html 

Pont du Hem Military Cemetery 

Image credit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Initial research, including that of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, had given no indication that the pair were brothers. However medals for both Herbert and Harold have come to light, being featured on the Medals of England website. Click here to read more. 


Harold, from the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment  was killed in action on 28 August 1915 and is buried a short distance away in the Pont du Hem Military Cemetery at La Gorgue in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. 

A Devonshire Regiment list for the 1914-18 war gives his birthplace as Ottery St Mary. Both Herbert George and Harold Hugh are remembered on the brass memorial in the village church of St John the Baptist.

The 9^th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, formed at Exeter on 15 September 1914, had landed in France at Le Havre on 28 July, a month earlier. Its greatest trial would come in September 1915 with the Battle of Loos, when it lost 476 men. 

‘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!!

 

 

A fisherman’s only son: Private Herbert Victor Pearcey, 19 Aug 1915

Local fishermen at Budleigh Salterton station on their way to serve in the Royal Navy. L-r: Walter Mears, Harry Rogers, William Sedgemore, Tom Sedgemore, Charlie Pearcey, Frank Mears, Jack Pearcey, and William Pearcey

The photograph was taken on 4 August 1914 by G Blackburn.
The caption on the photo reads:  'The Salterton lads off to lend a helping hand'

As noted elsewhere on this blog, many young men in the Budleigh area from families associated with fishing joined the Royal Navy during World War One.  

 















A porbeagle or bottlenose shark, caught in 1904 by Budleigh man Walter Marker. George Pearcey is on the far right, behind the girl

One exception was Herbert Victor Pearcey, killed in action on 19 August 1915. His father George was a well known Budleigh fisherman, and appears in the above 1904 photograph.  

 Herbert, a member of the town’s Football Club was brought up in Cliff Road before the family, including his mother Melina (née Melina Trout) and his grandmother Sarah Miller, moved to ‘Fernley’ in Victoria Place.

 

For those local men who did not join the Royal Navy the obvious alternative was the Devonshire Regiment. Many, including Herbert, found themselves in the Devonshire Regiment’s 8^th Battalion, formed by the Regiment as its first service battalion to provide combat service and vital logistical support to its brigade group. 

 




















British troops arriving at Le Havre

Image credit Imperial War Museum Q_051128

On 26 July 1915, the two Devonshire 8^th and 9^th service battalions landed at Le Havre, joining the 20^th Brigade on 4 August as part of the British Army’s 7^th Division.  

The following month, the Devonshire Regiment’s 8th (Service) Battalion would suffer appalling losses during the Battle of Loos, with casualties of 21officers and 580 other ranks.   

Brown’s Road  Military Cemetery

Image credit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Herbert was killed aged 19, less than a month after arriving in France.  He is buried at Brown’s Road  Military Cemetery in the village of Festubert, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. His name appears on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial and on the brass plaque in the town’s St Peter’s Church. 

‘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!! 

Gallipoli's “suffocating heat and total lack of water”: Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Chapman, 7 August 1915

 

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!!