Cambridgeshire Kitcheners: A History of 11th (Service) Battalion (Cambs) Suffolk Regiment

By Joanna Costin

In the opening months of the First World War, 1,500 men from Cambridgeshire came forward to serve their country as a battalion in Kitchener's New Army. They came from the city and they came from the fields. Many had never left the county before, let alone their country, and all too many would never return. Whether farm laborers, shop assistants, bricklayers, chauffeurs, university scholars or college porters, men from all walks of life united and became the Cambridgeshire Kitcheners. Sent to the Western Front in January 1916, they took part in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, including the Battle of the Somme. One hundred and eighty-seven men lost their lives on 1 July 1916, most within a few minutes of each other, as they marched over the top into no man's land and shell and machine-gun fire. This was not the end of their story. In early April, the battalion saw fierce fighting during the Battle of Arras and in a doomed assault on a heavily fortified position near Roux at the end of the month.In 1918 they resisted the German Spring Offensive, never falling back without orders, despite parts of the battalion becoming cut off and nearly surrounded during the fighting.Mixing personal accounts with official documents, this is the story of the Cambridgeshire Kitchener's war. Their momentous efforts are explained throughout this book, which is a timely reminder of this heroic battalion's dedication, skill and bravery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473869028

Book preview

Introduction

The Cambridgeshire Kitcheners, or 11th (Service) Battalion (Cambs) Suffolk Regiment, to give it its official title, was one of a multitude of ‘Pals’ or ‘Chums’ battalions formed across the UK during the First World War. Raised in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, officered in large part by university men who had been part of the Officer Training Corps, the Kitcheners went to France in 1916 and saw their first major action on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Despite suffering staggering casualties – 188 men killed on that one day, with the casualty total reaching 205 when those who died of wounds soon after are included – the battalion continued to fight throughout the remainder of the war, seeing action during the Battle of Arras, the German Spring Offensive and the Allies’ Hundred Days campaign at the close of the war.

During the war the Kitcheners suffered around 970 men killed and numerous others wounded and taken prisoner (exact figures are hard to come by, as those logged in the war diary as ‘missing’ might be prisoners, dead, wounded, or simply men separated from the rest but who returned unharmed). About 4,500 men passed through the battalion, including those who were transferred out for reasons other than wounds. With the exception of one website and a mention on another First World War commemorative website, however, the battalion is largely unknown, even in Cambridge. Other Pals battalions have become famous (most notably the Accrington Pals, thanks in large measure to Peter Whelan’s play) and the Sheffield City Battalion was immediately commemorated and had an old pals association in the years following the war. Perhaps because Cambridge also had a Territorial Regiment, one battalion of which went abroad on active service, with three others remaining at home as training battalions, perhaps because of high casualties and the fact that men were drawn from all areas of the county and Isle, the battalion seems almost to have been forgotten.

Much of the information behind this book is drawn from battalion, brigade and division war diaries and local newspapers. Thanks are due to the staff at the Cambridgeshire Collection, who have been very helpful both in suggesting materials and in assisting, without laughing, when the microfilm machine (used to read the local newspapers) ran away with me. There were a small number of interviews recorded with veterans in the 1970s and 80s, held at the Imperial War Museum, and a small number of documents survive at the Bury St Edmund’s branch of the Suffolk Record Office. The Shire Hill office of the Cambridgeshire Record Office holds the records of the Territorial Association (which raised the battalion) and more general records relating to the First World War (particularly training documents) have been consulted at the Imperial War Museum and at the National Archives.

Valuable help has been given by Phil Curme, who maintains the sole website devoted to the battalion. This can be found at www.curme.co.uk. Tony Beeton has shared his research into Sidney Beeton and Arthur Josiah Elbourne and kindly allowed me to use his family letters, photos and memories. Paul Hammond of Perth has also shared his family history with me. Thanks also to Janice Ellam for assistance with some of the Balsham soldiers. Professor David Reynolds first directed my attention towards the Pals battalions and supervised my initial research into the Accrington Pals. It was while researching them that I first came across mention of a Cambridgeshire equivalent. Thanks are also due to Nicola, who supplied countless cups of tea and somewhere to work while this was being written. Any typos I will blame on the cat!

I would also like to thank Irene Moore for editing the book and the team at Pen & Sword.

Finally, without the website Lives of the First World War, created and maintained by the Imperial War Museum, much of the research into the personal details of members of the battalion could not have been carried out. The site platform has enabled research using medal records, census returns, BMD data and other military records.

Chapter 1

Recruitment

The Cambridgeshire Kitcheners were formed less from a sense of local pride, which inspired the formation of many of the other Pals battalions, nor from a social class (as in the Public Schools Brigade or the Sportsmen’s battalions), than because of an overflow of recruits for general service. In September, the Bury St Edmunds depot of the Suffolk Regiment – the nearest Regular unit and the one to which most Cambridge men who attested for general service were being sent – was full to overflowing. They requested that no more men be sent, so the men who joined up were gathered into the Corn Exchange in Cambridge and began taking over various local schools for barracks, as well as erecting tents. Preliminary training began to be conducted on Parker’s Piece, and it was decided to apply to the War Office for permission to keep these men all together and to form a ‘Pals’ or ‘Chums’ or ‘Kitchener’ battalion (the local papers never quite appear to have agreed on what the battalion should be called, but the most common references are to the ‘Kitcheners’ and the ‘Cambs Suffolks’).

That said, once the Cambridgeshire Kitcheners were formed, the local newspapers were keen to emphasise what an honour it was to the county to have been given this task. The Cambridge Daily News exhorted readers:

‘It was from East Anglia that Cromwell drew his Ironsides, those famous soldiers by whose aid he banished from England the doctrine of the divine right of kings. Let the successors of the Ironsides come forward in increasing numbers and help our modern Cromwell to smash the equally blasphemous pretensions of the homicidal maniac who is ravaging Europe.’

This comparison with Cromwell’s Ironsides was frequently made, and the intention was that the battalion would be (according to the Cambridge Weekly News) ‘the envy of the neighbourhood, and if it had the chance to fight it would be the terror of their opponents.’

It was very much a county, not a Cambridge, battalion, as emphasised by the Wisbech Standard’s editor in response to a letter from ‘Citizen’ who suggested towards the end of October 1914 that the Isle and county was behind in recruiting and patriotic fervour. With a Cambridge Regular battalion in the offing, ‘why not an Ely Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment or Wisbech Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment? Let not the Isle allow this Borough Battalion to be raised alone.’ The editor, unsurprisingly upset at seeing his area disparaged in this way, replied:

‘Our correspondent appears to be under quite a wrong impression. The new Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment is not associated exclusively with Cambridge; it represents the whole of the county, including the Isle of Ely, and as the requisite number of recruits has not been obtained to complete the strength of the County Battalion, we cannot expect to have other battalions formed until that has been accomplished. The Isle has contributed largely to the Forces --ED.’

Market Place, Wisbech. Postcard sent in 1910. At least 27 members of the battalion came from this town. Wisbech had its own recruiting station, and so many members of the battalion who joined from nearby villages would have enlisted there rather than at Cambridge. (Author’s collection)

Unlike in most other areas of the country where municipal authorities or local worthies took charge of raising a Pals battalion, in Cambridgeshire the task fell to the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Territorial Force Association. This body was also responsible for the Cambridgeshire Regiment – a Territorial Regiment which sent one battalion overseas in February 1915 and raised a reserve battalion for home service into which those men who were unable or unwilling to volunteer for service abroad were combined with new recruits to form a second line battalion. By the end of the war, the Cambridgeshire Regiment had expanded to include the front line battalion overseas and three home battalions. The head of the Territorial Force Association was Charles Robert Whorwood Adeane, whose seat was at Babraham Hall. He was much involved with agricultural improvement, both during and after the war and at one stage visited France to suggest to local farmers how they might rebuild and make good war damage.

In 1915, Charles Adeane was selected as the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, when the previous Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Clifden, resigned his post. He was well liked and respected by most in the county, though not by all. In February 1916, the Chairman of the County Council, Sir George Fordham, got rather uppity about the fact that Charles Adeane had sent a letter to the King George V wishing him a speedy recovery after an accident in France. He had signed it on his own behalf and of the people of Cambridgeshire. A rather nasty letter, with little actual sense behind it, was sent to Charles Adeane from Sir George, and when he didn’t reply, Sir George sent it to the press.

The Cambridge Chronicle, a conservative leaning paper anyway, took severe umbrage at both the letter and the fact that Sir George intended to put it before the County Council for them to censure Charles Adeane. The editor commented that ‘Sir George’s action would be regrettable at any time, but it is particularly so now when national interests claim sole attention. Petty distinctions are not vital just now, and unless Sir George thinks fit to ask leave to withdraw the report it would be a charity to him if some member moved to proceed with the next business.’

That weekend, the letter was duly brought to the County Council, who were less impressed with Sir George’s sense of self-importance and rather more inclined to accept that Charles Adeane had acted in the right:

‘Sir George started badly and finished worse, and the round of applause that met his ears, when Mr Redfern’s motion that the letter be not entered on the minutes was carried, must have been extremely mortifying to him. It was to all intents a vote of thanks to the Lord Lieutenant, who has acted throughout with great dignity and has declined to be drawn into a controversy which never ought to have been begun.’

The Territorial Force Association in Cambridgeshire took on a huge variety of tasks in raising and training not only their own Territorial Force battalions, both for overseas service and home service, but a number of additional bodies of troops. After the Military Service Act introduced conscription in 1916, they organised the Volunteers (the battalions into which men who had temporary exemptions were put, to prepare them for service overseas once they were called up). They raised the Cambridgeshire Kitcheners (11th Suffolks), a Reserve battalion for the Suffolks (13th Suffolks), an engineering company (203rd Company Royal Engineers), a Sanitary Section, additional troops for guarding vulnerable points in England (a sort of precursor to the Home Guard) and they maintained responsibility for the First Great Eastern Hospital and its staff throughout the war. This hospital was erected on a temporary basis on the site where the University Library now sits, progressing from being a tented encampment (originally in a court of Trinity College), through to hutments.

This was a truly spectacular amount of work, in which they were greatly assisted by the Ladies’ Recruiting Committee. These prominent women did a great deal to encourage enlistment and, later in the war, to provide comforts for the troops and relief for prisoners of war. Pressure from women and on behalf of women was seen in some of the posters of the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee. ‘Women of Britain Say Go’, or ‘To the women of Britain. Some of your men folk are holding back on your account. Won’t you prove your love for your Country by persuading them to go?’

First Eastern General Hospital. (Author’s collection)

A ward in the First Eastern General Hospital. (Author’s collection)

Wounded soldiers relaxing outside the First Eastern General Hospital. (Author’s collection)

Partial picture of 203 Company Royal Engineers in 1915 – the whole panoramic photograph can be seen in the Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library. (T.G.K15 54189)

National Reservists leaving Cambridge in 1914. These were men recalled to the Colours on the outbreak of hostilities. Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library. (T.G.K14 2360)

Market Square Cambridge during mobilisation. Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library. (S.1914 53050)

Social pressure did not come from women alone. According to the Newmarket Journal, the Newmarket Board of Guardians met and agreed that ‘each Guardian should do his utmost to induce every young man in his parish who is eligible for service to enlist. Such an effort on the part of gentlemen who have great local influence, and who are, most of them, large employers of labour, should at the present time, when harvest operations are rapidly approaching their conclusion, prove invaluable.’

Charles Adeane was himself a prominent local landowner, and the journal of postmaster William Brand suggests that the attitude of the local gentry could have a big impact. He notes with indignation the difference between Adeane’s treatment of his villagers who had joined the Army with that of his own local gentry. He said that Private Day came home on leave and met Mr Adeane who enquired how he was doing and gave him half a sovereign, with two more for two other Abington men in the same regiment who were not on leave. That same day, William Brand’s son Jack, who was also on leave, took a telegram up to Pampisford Hall. Mr Binney, the local worthy, was seen in the grounds. Jack greeted him and all he received in response was a ‘good morning’.

In Balsham, the local squire, Hanslip Long, encouraged the villagers to enlist. Amongst them was Sidney Beeton, who travelled to Linton where he and his pals were among the first members of the battalion. The men were promised an acre of land and two cows when they returned, a promise that was never fulfilled and about which Sidney’s younger brother Eric confronted the squire.

Reasons for enlisting in the Army varied widely. Common to many, however, was a sense of outrage at German atrocities, particularly the execution of Nurse Edith Cavell. Coupled with atrocity stories and an influx of Belgian refugees, many of whom settled in Cambridge and formed a target for charity, hatred of Germany played a large part in recruitment. These atrocities were used by speakers at recruitment meetings and in the press to suggest what would happen if the Germans got to Britain and East Anglia was invaded. Atrocity stories reported in the press were not entirely made up and newspapers did their best to ensure they had reliable sources. The official report by the Belgian government supplied much of the evidence, though of course things could and did grow in rumours. Patriotism was also important – either a triumphal determination to support the nation, or as a sense of duty. Either way, it was a vital component of recruitment.

The first Balsham men to volunteer. First on the left is Sidney Beeton, fourth from the left is Ernest Samworth. (With thanks to Tony Beeton)

Balsham c. 1910. (Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library. Y.BAL.K1 16909)

Belgian refugees outside Matson’s House, Littleport. (Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library. Y.LIT.K16 21868)

Later in the war, it was claimed that thinking of ‘the women and kids’ back home was one of the greatest motivations for men to carry on fighting. The men of the battalion, many of whom were married, were concerned about the food situation at home. Well they might be, as food queues became a common sight in Cambridge. And, it was claimed by the Cambridge Independent Press in 1918 that:

‘ No man has looked upon the ruin that has been wrought in the fair land of France and in beautiful Belgium without picturing the possibility of similar scenes in his native land. The actual sight of the ruins of Ypres or the shattered Cathedral of Arras is more convincing than a thousand newspaper articles. Even greater, perhaps, is the effect of a tour through one of those areas devastated by the German in his retreat. The wanton destruction of once-lovely villages with their little homesteads and orchards makes one’s blood tingle. No wonder the soldiers of East Anglia have made up their minds that not in Norfolk, Suffolk, or Cambridgeshire shall such scenes be witnessed. Rather are they prepared to fight on until the Bosche cries Hold! Enough!’

These comparisons of England with Belgium were not uncommon when the war began, and an interest in the Belgian refugees who had fled to England was maintained throughout the war.

The vast majority of men in the battalion were agricultural workers – whether general labourers on farms, grooms, ploughmen or stock-keepers. In industrial areas such as Accrington local unemployment played a large part in recruiting; similarly in Cambridgeshire harvest and agricultural work patterns had a big impact upon when recruiting occurred. It seems likely that the rhythms of harvest had as much of an impact on the rate of recruitment as did the exhortations in the newspapers, recruitment meetings and the general condition of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the fighting. The Newmarket Journal on 29 August recorded that ‘there is every reason to expect that the number of recruits sent in by the rural parishes in the district will be largely augmented, now that the harvest operations are nearing their close.’

Soldiers working on the land – these would have replaced the young men who left their villages to fight. Special agricultural companies were formed to make up for the loss of manpower caused by the war, of those who were unfit for service overseas or who had particular skills (especially ploughing). (Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library. W22.K1 9401)

Over 200 recruitment meetings occurred in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely in the first year of the war alone. The reliance on recruitment meetings was encouraged by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, which sent speakers around the country in conjunction with its more often remembered poster campaign. By the end of March 1915 they had distributed twenty million leaflets and two million posters. However, not everyone was so enamoured with the mass distribution of posters that took place during the opening months of the Great War.

In September 1914 Henry Pendle was prosecuted under the Malicious Damage Act 1861 for washing three posters off the Soham Parish notice board. He was the parish’s official bill poster and was given 6d for each poster he put up. As there were so many notices, Serjeant Heylock (who had received the posters to put up) put them up himself and claimed that this was common practice for non-parish notices. When Serjeant Heylock went back a few days later to paste an amendment onto one of the posters, he discovered that all three posters had been washed off. Going to confront Henry Pendle, he was told ‘I shall tear every b--- notice off that you put on the board, unless you pay me sixpence.’ He was fined £3 10s, including costs, and was told ‘this is a time when everybody ought to act loyally, and not think too much of his own personal interests.’ This story was reported with anger in the Newmarket Journal, with the reporter expressing amazement at how unpatriotic Henry Pendle had been.

The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee also encouraged people to make use of politicians in cross-party efforts to spur men to enlist. This non-partisanship was not always well received. A correspondent calling himself ‘Poor Old Marine’ accused Fred W. Saunders, the Honourable Secretary of the Unionist Party, of ‘being a traitor to [his] party in organising a semi-Radical patriotic recruiting meeting’. Saunders took to the Cambridge Weekly News to refute this charge, saying that the Histon recruiting meeting referred to had been organised by the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Territorial Recruiting Committee and was non-partisan. Most were happy to accept this state of affairs. The editor of the Ely Standard, in praising the Cambridgeshire branch of the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, said ‘it will be to the lasting credit of the rival political parties that they have put aside their differences and have united in pursuing a campaign by which a valuable service is rendered to the country.’ The party organisations were later called upon to canvas houses as part of the Lord Derby scheme, by which every man in the country of military age was asked to supply his particulars, and if he was willing to serve his country.

High Street, Soham. At least 29 members of the battalion came from this town. (Author’s collection)

Advertisement for International Stores, Cambridge, showing the store’s patriotism in how many of its pre-war employees had enlisted. (Cambridge Weekly News 18 August 1916)

The format of a recruitment meeting generally consisted of a few patriotic songs, followed by several speeches, an appeal for men to come forward, rousing cheers if anyone did so, and perhaps a few more patriotic songs at the end. Sometimes the songs were written for the occasion, such as this one, apparently popular in Wisbech:

‘In the midst of war’s alarms,

When we heard the call, to Arms!

Then we knew it was our duty to recruit;

So we changed the fountain-pen,

For a bayonet, and we then

Got a gun to learn the proper way to shoot,

You can bet when we rehearsed

We’d a gruelling at first,

For a City man is not a Soldier-made

Still, we did our little best,

And the Sergeant did the Rest,

And we learned to march to music on Parade.

We’re all plain Civilians,

Taken from the Warehouse and the Banks;

Raw recruits are we,

Still, we mean to be,

Ready to fill the gaps up in the ranks.

We’re just plain Civilians,

But comrades staunch and true;

Show your heart’s not in your boots,

Come and join the new recruits,

For England wants you!

All the cricket stumps are drawn,

And the football is in pawn,

And the racket to the lumber-room has gone;

While the golf balls we’ll exchange,

For some balls of longer range,

That will reach the German greens and hole in one

For the game the Kaiser plays,

Isn’t cricket nowadays;

He has sold his country’s honour and good name;

But we’ll fight him, fair and square,

And the world will yet declare,

That, win or lose, at least we played the game.’

Written by Foden Williams, with the music composed by Ernest Hastings, it was performed at a series of recruiting meetings before being printed in the Wisbech Standard in October 1914.

This song shows how ideas about sport and ‘playing the game’ were prevalent in the language used of war. That men used these metaphors doesn’t mean that they necessarily thought war would be easy or bloodless. Indeed, local papers were not shy about reporting the horrors of war, and the description in The Times of the British at Mons, describing how close a call it was, was a great spur to recruiting. The use of sport continued throughout the war in training and in recreation. From 1917 and 1918, instructions on how to properly train troops – either fresh ones or those who were receiving further instructions having already spent time in the lines – emphasised the importance of team sports and especially football.

During recruiting meetings, the public (not necessarily just, or even primarily, young men of the appropriate age and fitness) were encouraged to ‘do their bit’ and a wide range of reasons to support the country and join the war effort were given. Local papers printed many of the speeches and details of the events, so it’s possible to get a good idea of what they were like. Sometimes wounded soldiers who had come home from the fight were asked to speak, though not usually for the whole meeting. The bulk of the speech making was done by local worthies and by senior army officers. It might dwell on the plight of Belgium, the possibility of the Hun coming to England and repeating atrocities there, or on notions of duty and honour.

However, they did not always follow this format. One recruitment meeting was not really a meeting at all, but rather a speech during half time at a football match played between the First and Reserve Battalions of the Cambridgeshires. Dr Chapple MP, spoke to the crowds, saying that he had good news: they would win the war. However, they still needed more men to join the Army. He declared: ‘We want you to help them, not so much to win, but to win now, and, if so, you will save the lives of your brothers here and of your brothers at the front, and crush, and crush for ever, the military despotism of one of the most savage races history has known.’ Dr Chapple also carefully distinguished between the evils of the German leadership, and the ordinary German people who had been forced into war. Thus, he portrayed the Great War as a fight against tyranny. It is unclear how successful this meeting was, despite having the right crowd. Interestingly the report in the Cambridge Weekly News makes no mention whatsoever of men coming forward specifically because of this meeting.

Recruitment meetings, although well organised and a more visible part of the recruiting process, may not have had such a great impact as their organisers had hoped. On one occasion in October, the Cambridge Independent Press went into some detail about the meeting, the speeches, the exhortations to join and the patriotic song singing, but could only add, in a rather painfully optimistic tone, that some of the young men had surely gone home and thought about it and might be expected to join later in the week. Other meetings could list only two or three names at most who came forward as a direct result of the meeting.

It must also be remembered that not everyone who signed up was able to join, despite enthusiasm. At one recruiting meeting in Oakington, seven men gave their names for service, but only three were successful in reaching the required standard. Likewise in Gamlingay, two men put their names down for service, but only one was accepted. Private Joseph Utteridge made it through the recruiting centre, but was discharged after forty-three days’ service as ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’. He had been well over the minimum height at 5 feet 9½ inches, but the precise details of why he was unlikely to make a good soldier are not recorded.

More informal meetings could sometimes be quite successful. At a fair in Ely in October, a number of men from the Cambridgeshire Kitcheners were present in uniform. According to the Cambridge Independent Press they took the opportunity ‘of speaking to their pals on the desirability of serving King and country’. While the fête was affected by the war through the presence of local men in uniform and through the raising of money for Belgian refugees, supporting the war was not its primary aim. Instead, it was a local fair which was used as an informal venue for recruitment.

Although the local papers trumpeted the importance of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely getting its own Regular battalion, not everyone was as aware of the significance of this. To W.J. Senescall, an apprentice coachmaker who joined up in the first week of September, the battalion was rather less special. ‘Went to Cambridge and joined the Cambridge – Suffolk regiment. Actually it was the Suffolk regiment. It was Kitchener’s New Army so I suppose they put the Cambridge on for that reason.’ His account of the battalion, written out as a series of answers to questions put by the local library and archives where he lived in Suffolk, gives much-needed insight into some of the early days of the battalion and the first part of its war service, before he was wounded and moved to another battalion.

For others though, the chance to serve together with mates clearly played a part in their choice of battalion, and the peer pressure seems to have played a part in enlistment. A number of brothers bear consecutive regimental numbers and a similar pattern can be seen in recruits from a village, who had evidently gone to sign up together. A good example of this is the Wilburton men, William Alsop (15885), Sidney Alsop (15887), Sidney Sharp (15879) and Fred Sulman (15880). All four men went to the recruitment office together on Monday, 2 November and enlisted. The Cambridge Independent Press, in recording their enlistment as part of the local roll of honour, states that it was in response to ‘several strong appeals from the Vicar, who had two sons at the front’.

Sometimes, the reason for several men joining together was because a member of the village with a car took them all together. William Brand wrote in his journal of one such occasion – a Mr Byrne took two batches of men from Cheveley at the request of Sir Ernest Cassell.