The Trench: The True Story of the Hull Pals

CHAPTER ONE

FROM LEDGER TO ARMY MANUAL FROM OFFICE CLERK TO SOLDIER OF THE KING

At the end of a hot summer the 4th Battalion of the East Yorkshire regiment was at its annual summer camp, this year for a change in North Wales. Across Europe people were enjoying holidays and peace reigned; everything was as it should be. However, for those prepared to watch and take note, the world was about to change.

Sunday 28 June was the peak of the Grande Semaine in Paris. That afternoon the racegoers at Longchamps were joined by the President of the Republic and members of the aristocracy from across Europe, all intent on enjoying an afternoon’s racing where the highlight of the day was to be the Grand Prix de Paris, worth £16,000 of prize money. Just as the race was about to start, President Poincaré was handed a telegram containing the news of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand while on a state visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia. After reading it, he passed the note to Count Szecsen, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, who was sitting near him. After reading the telegram, he excused himself and left the racecourse. Lord Rosebery, who was also at the races that day, was enjoying an especially hot day and a wonderful race. In his party was an Austrian Count, who, when the news was made known on the racecourse also left immediately. While Rosebery and his other English peers did not realise the inevitability of war, the Austro-Hungarians did.

Opening of the new dock at Hull, Friday 26 June 1914, by King George VIn his speech the king said Hull will now join other great towns of the country in being able to call its chief magistrate ‘Lord Mayor’. There was no thought of war, yet only two days later Archduke Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria, and his wife were shot dead on the streets of Sarajevo.

Two opposing views of the combat effectiveness of the Russians. The Germans portrayed them as vodka swilling louts, while the British gave them the image of gallant conquerors.

British foreign policy was based on the balance of power, that is on; ‘preventing any one state from becoming too powerful, especially if that state has sought to flex its muscles by way of military conquest in Western Europe’.

The key to British security for over 400 years has been the Low Countries. Since 1900 Britain had become ‘good friends’ with America and had given up any attempt to compete with her as naval power. In 1902 Britain had relieved any real or perceived pressure in the Far East by signing a treaty with the Japanese in 1902 and at the same time she came to a reconciliation with France, her long-standing colonial rival. Although this entente cordiale was not an alliance, German Weltpolitik quickly forced the two countries ever closer together and in 1912 both countries signed an agreement which resulted in the French navy looking after the Mediterranean while the British navy kept the Channel secure. A treaty in 1907 with Russia gave Britain security in India. The only threat to Britain now came from Germany and its ever increasing naval power.

In May, even before the assassination, Moltke had called for a preventative war; by July the German Chancellor was ready to run the risk of a conflict, while the Kaiser and other key figures planned to fight an imperialist war of conquest against the Western Powers using Austria-Hungary and Serbia as the excuse. On 23 July Serbia received a severe ultimatum; one so severe that it would be unacceptable and a war could then follow. As a result of this Russia ordered partial mobilisation on 23 July as a defensive measure. Serbia acceded to all the demands but Austro-Hungary declared war all the same. The Russian bluff had had no effect on events and so a full mobilisation was ordered. This was inevitably followed on 1 July by a German declaration of war on Russia.

The Kaiser reviewing his troops.

Even at this point, a full scale European war was not inevitable; treaties could have been broken. However, France felt that to fight alongside Russia was in her best interests and at the same time she had old scores to settle with Germany. Later, on 1 August, the matter was settled when German troops invaded Luxembourg. On 2 August Belgium was presented with an ultimatum that required her to let German troops march over her territory and on 3 August Germany declared war on France. In order to protect herself, to help her allies and to defend Belgian neutrality Britain had no option but to demand that unless Germany called off her invasion of Belgium, Britain would declare war. The British government gave the German government until midnight Central European time to reply. At eleven pm British Summer Time, 4 August, Britain declared war on Germany.

At 6.10 pm on 29 July the Commanding Officer of the 4th East Yorkshire Regiment, on camp at Deganwy, opened a wire from the War Office entitled ‘Precautions Act’ and at 9.20 pm the ‘Special Service Section’ set off for Hull by train. On arrival at 6.10 am they sharpened bayonets, received ammunition and split into two parties, one heading for Spurn Point War Signal Station, the other for Fort Paull Battery which protected Hull against naval attack. The remainder of the battalion continued its training, arriving back in Hull at 1.30 am on 4 August. Instead of being stood down, they were ordered to mobilise at 5.45 am and move to war station billets.

Further proof that war was coming was offered by the North-Eastern Railway Company which cancelled all its excursions to the coast over the Bank Holiday period of Sunday 2 August through to Tuesday 4 August. Instead of carrying happy Hull holiday makers to the sunny Yorkshire coast, they were needed for the transporting of troops. Not that all the trains would have been full, for the government had not only mobilised the 4th Battalion but also the 5th Battalion and all other local territorial units and called up army and naval reservists as well. This large and sudden loss of manpower was expected to have a major effect on the speed and duration of the harvest. The removal of men by the Royal Navy would also have an effect on Hull’s fishing fleet as well as on the numbers of trained men available for the Merchant Navy.

The Germans rapidly advanced through Belgium and Northern France. Here they are marching through Amiens.

A wave of patriotic fever, resulting in a recruiting boom hit the nation. It was going to be a short war so everybody wanted to be in at the start in order to get ‘a crack at the Hun’. By 7 August, numbers of potential recruits at Great Scotland Yard were so large that it was necessary to use mounted policemen to keep control. Recruitment boomed in Hull, as it did throughout the country.

After his appointment as Secretary for War on 5 August, Kitchener sought approval to increase the size of the army and on 7 August the papers carried his famous appeal - YOUR KING & COUNTRY NEED YOU. Kitchener’s New Army wanted men aged 19 to 30, 5 foot 3 and over, and with a chest size greater than 34 inches to form battalions numbered and modelled after the local regular army battalions. Initially, recruiting was successful in Hull but by 15 August the number of new recruits had dropped to a trickle.

In France, following the carefully choreographed Schlieffen Plan, the Germans had marched through Belgium and were now fighting on French soil. The arrival of the British forces, the resulting battle of Mons, and the subsequent withdrawal had a major upward effect on recruiting figures. In Hull alone, 20,000 men had volunteered for active service by February 1915; by the end of the war over 75,000 (out of a population of just under 300,000) had served in the armed forces. The resulting boom was too much for the army authorities to cope with, and increasingly the task of accommodating, housing and feeding the volunteers was taken over by civilian authorities.

On 5 August Lord Kitchener Secretary of State for War. Two days later the papers carried his, now famous, appeal for men – YOUR KING AND COUNTRY NEED YOU!

This civilianisation of the recruitment process resulted in the formation of specifically raised local units which had a common social background and a strong local pride and identity. Known as ‘Pals’ Battalions, they eventually comprised a sizable percentage – around 38 per cent – of the New Army battalions.

Some of the text of Kitchener’s speech was used as a recruiting Poster in Hall

Initial recruitment for the infantry in Hull had resulted in the formation of the 6th East Yorkshire Regiment by 28 August and the filling of the ranks of the 4th and 5th Territorial Battalions with such a surplus that the 4th Battalion was able to start second and third battalions. As recruitment continued, men flocked from all over the north-east to join the 7th and 8th Battalions. However, joining an infantry battalion made up of just anybody did not appeal to many patriotic men, as evidenced by a letter in The Hull Daily Mail on 26 August. Signed by ‘Middle Class of Newland’, the letter suggested that the relatively low enlistment rate for Hull was because many men did not like ‘the idea of having to herd with all types of men now being enlisted’ and this approach to recruitment was responsible for stopping ‘young athletes and men of good birth and training from joining the colours’.

‘Middle Class’ further suggested a simple answer: large employers should use their influence and not their money to:

‘Organise Corps of the middle class young men - clerks, tailors, drapers’ assistants, warehousemen and artisans. Then we should see men living, sleeping and training in company of others of their own class’.

What was being suggested here was the formation of a ‘Pals Battalion’.

While Lord Derby is generally credited with being the father figure of the ‘Pals Battalions’, the idea appears to have originated as a result of a luncheon meeting on 19 August between Major the Hon. Robert White and Sir Henry Rawlinson. White was asked to raise a battalion of men who worked in ‘The City’ and on 21 August the 10th battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was formed, nicknamed ‘The Stockbrokers Battalion’.

In Liverpool, after discussions with Kitchener, Lord Derby raised the first Liverpool battalion of friends, the 17th King’s (1st City) in just two hours on 28 August. Although not the first to raise a ‘Pals’ battalion, Lord Derby was almost certainly the first to coin the phrase ‘Pals battalions’. In a speech to potential recruits to the 17th Battalion on the evening of 28 August he said:

Lord Derby, the man credited with the creation of ‘Pals Battalions’.

The creator of the ‘Hull Pals’, Lord Nunburnholme. Pictured here while on active service with the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1918.

‘This should be a battalion of pals, a battalion in which friends from the same office will fight shoulder to shoulder for the honour of Britain and the credit of Liverpool.’

The idea was picked up across the nation.

Lord Nunburnholme, Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire, had an audience on 29 August to discuss such a matter and as a result received permission to raise Hull’s first ‘service battalion’. Major Carver, the first commanding officer of the 1st Hull Battalion, later recalled:

‘I was sitting in my room when the telephone bell rang at about 7-30p.m., and I found myself speaking to Lord Nunburnholme, who told me he had just got back from London where he had seen Lord Kitchener at the War Office the previous day, and he had received instructions to start the First Service Battalion in Hull.This was August 29th, and was the date of my being recommissioned’

As a patriotic Englishman., with seventeen years’ experience in the militia and the Special Reserve., Major Carver was anxious to offer his services., although., as he admitted:

‘it was a request that rather overwhelmed me at first; there were many questions to be put that could not easily be answered. I was to be Commanding Officer, Adjutant, Quartermaster - everything in fact, until a commencement was made. The great thing was to get going’.

It was known that a great number of men in Hull were anxious to join up if they could enlist with their friends., particularly among the commercial classes., and on 31 August The Hull Daily Mail carried a proposal from Lord Nunburnholme regarding the raising of a Hull ‘Commercial Battalion’. Conditions of service in the battalion would be the same as in previously recruited service battalions. At the same time posters went up all over Hull.

This new battalion was to be 1,000 strong and would be known as the 7th (Hull) Battalion of the East Yorkshire regiment. Recruitment would begin at 10.00 am on 1 September at Wenlock Barracks - kindly lent by the East Riding Territorial Association for the occasion. Prior to the opening of enlistment, Major Carver and his young daughter drove round to the homes of his nephew and a cousin to pick up the first two recruits for the battalion. On their arrival., which was before 10 am, there was already a small crowd of men waiting to enlist.

The poster that raised the first battalion of the Hull Pals’. Originally the 7th Battalion, they quickly became known as The Commercials.

Hundreds of men presented themselves on the first day and the recruiting staff were kept busy completing attestation forms. The Hull Daily Mail described the first day of recruitment: ‘Today has seen the commencement of recruiting for the middle-class clerks., and professional men, or the black-coated battalion.’

In the vein of ‘Middle Class’, the paper continued:

‘It must not be thought there is a desire for class distinction but just as the docker will feel at home amongst his every-day mates, so the wielders of the pen and drawing pencil will be better as friends together’.

Recruitment was so brisk that there were insufficient attestation forms and Major Carver had to have the form illegally copied locally in order to keep up with the demand to enlist. Around 700 men enlisted on the first day alone, and, without several officers of the East Yorkshire Regiment, the process would have been much slower. As each man enlisted, he was measured, given a service number - with the prefix 10/ - and a medical examination.

The number of recruits and the time available meant that in many cases the medical examination had to be perfunctory. Private Beeken, a school teacher, passed his medical without any problems and after giving his name, age, address and religion was sworn in. However, in his memoirs he expressed his concerns about the two friends he was joining up with, one who was blind in one eye and the other who had foot trouble. As the medical test included an eyesight test, it was obvious that his friend would not pass:

‘My friend from school days (sic) was worried for he was blind in the left eye. I watched him anxiously as his sight test came along. He was told to cover up one eye and read the letters on a test card. He covered up the left eye and easily read the letters. When told to cover up the other eye, he calmly covered up the left eye and so passed the sight test. He was declared to be physically fit’.

Would-be soldiers signing up.

John Beeken, a Primary School teacher was an early recruit.

Feet problems could also lead to medical rejection. Private Beeken continued:

‘Another friend (we were teachers at the same school - Gowle Street Boys) was told by the doctor that he could not pass him on account of some foot trouble he had. Well, my friend, who stood 6? 3?, was a rugby forward and a very good boxer, pleaded so hard to be passed that another doctor was called to give a second opinion. Eventually he was passed as medically fit so the three friends were now content that they could serve together’.

Another would-be soldier in the crowd that day was Walter Aust, who hated his job as an agent with the Central Hull Conservative Association, a job which kept him:

‘Boxed up in a dungeon-like office in Bowalley Lane under an artificial light even on the sunniest day.’ The opening of recruitment of the Hull Commercial Battalion proved irresistible and to make sure he was accepted he upped his age from 18 to 19.

Not all the men enlisting were inexperienced in the ways of soldiering. Baron Barnett Moss, a junior clerk with Walker and Holbeck had been a Territorial with the 2nd Northumbrian Field Ambulance from 1910 to 1913. His work commitments made it difficult to attend drill sessions and the yearly camp, so he had to ask to be discharged. In his letter to the CO he wrote:

‘I would willingly pay £1 but could not afford any more. I do not want to lose my situation and do not think I shall be able to have any time off at the beginning of July.’

He was duly given a discharge.

Although not a member of the Commercials, the story of the recruitment of Private John Cunningham VC (12th Battalion) is worth telling, as it reinforces how easy it could be to get accepted. He was close to the head of one of the queues of enlisting soldiers on the first day of recruitment for ‘The Sportsmen’s Battalion’. His turn came and he was asked his age; being honest he replied ‘Sixteen’ and was told he was too young. Unlike many who were told to go away and come back when they were eighteen, that is, when you had gone around the block, he was sent away. He was not prepared to go and merely rushed across to another queue and pushed his way in. Upon being asked his age, he replied ‘Eighteen’ and was duly sworn in.

But not all men were to be so lucky. Reginald Pearson had been at sea when the Commercials were being formed, and, when he docked at the end of September, found that most of his friends had enlisted in this battalion. Deciding to join them, he presented himself for military service, only to be rejected because he was in the Merchant Navy. However, on arrival in Hull, in January 1915, after being paid-off for a week’s holiday, he presented himself at the recruiting office and, upon telling them that he was unemployed, was accepted and posted to the Commercials who were by then in Hornsea.

How the media of the day portrayed the war - British troops in heroic bayonet charges overcoming the foes of King and Country.

Men enlisted singly, in small groups of friends, as had Private Beeken, or in larger groups, often from the same firm. One such group came from the North Eastern Railway Dock Superintendents office in Hull. The June 1915 edition of the North Eastern Railway Magazine carried the story of one group told by Privates Ives and Metcalfe:

‘A little serious thought brought us to the conclusion that we really ought to go, and Monday, September 7, saw our party of eight at the recruiting station in grand spirits and fervently hoping the doctor would certify us as fit.

‘We were not disappointed and we were quickly through enlistment formalities, along with scores of other city young men in straw hats, caps and every variety of Knutty attire.’

Recruits for the new battalion came from all over the East Riding and North Lincolnshire. One first-day would-be soldier, who was soon to become a sergeant, came from Goole, especially to enlist in the Commercials. He came from a wealthy background and could easily have been an officer - as his brother was later in the war. Private Huntington had been scheduled to take over the control of his father’s Drapers shop, funeral home and the Goole Carriage Company. Little could he have realised that this was not to be the case, for, as with