I Go Where Most Men Go: The history of the British Section, New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War

By Clement Wareham

"I Go Where Most Men Go", tells the history of an Anglo-New Zealand infantry company formed in London in the early days of the Great War, which World War One was later referred to as. It comprised engineers, gentlemen, seamen, farmers, copper and silver miners from Spain, gold miners from Africa, builders, clerks, businessmen, Rhodes scholars, civil servants, entertainers, medical students, school leavers, dentists, decorators, artists, clerks, accountants and labourers. Some worked in England, others were merely visiting relatives when war was declared, and then there were those who travelled to England just to serve King and Country. One man had fought in the Spanish-American War, and several were South African War veterans.
After years of research the author, Clement Wareham, provides a fuller account of this company and their achievements during the Great War, which gives these men their place in history along with the dignity that they deserve. This formation was known as the British Section and was trained by Captain Lampen on Salisbury Plain.
Their civilian trades were needed for the newly formed ANZAC Corps, and the men were quickly employed as the nucleus of a much-needed Engineers and Army Service Corps Divisional Train, serving on Gallipoli and the Western Front.
The book also provides brief biographies of each man who served, along with their wartime experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arbentin Books
• Release date: Feb 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781906631727

Clement Wareham

Clement Wareham was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He served as a military officer and gained a Master of Commence before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. After a career in finance, banking and consultancy, he now lives in Dorset with his wife Maria and their three daughters. He and Maria continue to manage their own accountancy practice.

Book preview

Chapter One. The End of Innocence

The weather in London during July 1914 was mainly dry, sunny and warm. Alongside the continuing tensions in Europe, there was a buzz of anticipation around the completion of the man-made Panama Canal by the Americans¹, and the new trade possibilities that it created. It meant a shift in maritime trade routes and made America a world power. In Europe, there was apprehension as Germany built up its Navy, and close study of the conflicts flaring up in the Balkans should any of these interfere with nations’ trade routes. Usually these conflicts resulted in the Ottoman Empire ceding territory, although the cautious continued to watch.

Britain was not immune from turmoil and there was a looming crisis, with the threat of civil war in Ireland stemming from the Third Home Rule Bill, which proposed self-government for Ireland. There was an increase in paramilitary gun running in Ireland, and in June the Ulster Volunteers, in a brazen daylight display in Belfast, landed and distributed 30,000 Mauser rifles and three and a half million rounds of ammunition while 600 Ulster Volunteers occupied the harbour area and railway stations to prevent police being rushed in to disrupt the gun-running operation. Early in March there had been the Curragh incident where British Army officers had resigned after being asked to march north to prevent disorder in Ulster.

Closer to Government, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith faced continued militancy from the Suffragettes, who were campaigning for the vote for women and had recently intensified their persistent campaign of vandalism and arson. Furthermore, there was growing industrial discontent amongst organized labour groups. Strikes were already widespread and there was a looming threat of a major strike involving the miners, port workers and railway workers.

At Balliol College, Oxford, Alan Wallace, a Rhodes Scholar from New Zealand who was reading Mathematics, would have likely indulged in Common Room speculation as to the probable outcomes of these events and partaken in the political gossip passed on from those who had family acquaintances close to the Government. Regardless, no-one would have foreseen the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914 by the young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Nor would they have foreseen its aftermath, with patriotic demonstrations in both Vienna and Sarajevo followed by frantic weeks of diplomacy amidst deepening European anxieties.

Germany had stated that it would remain aloof unless other powers intervened, so there was now some hope that this incident would not escalate into a European war. In some quarters it was anticipated that Austria would declare war and then fight a sharp, decisive campaign².

One month later, people in Britain were looking forward to the forthcoming summer and, undeterred by the deteriorating situation in Europe, short-stay holidays to various European capitals were still being planned. New Zealander Colin Dickeson had recently passed his Royal Institute of British Architects final exams and was finalising his affairs after two long years in London. He was about to visit the Continent before returning home to New Zealand³. A fellow countryman, 21-year-old Bert Fyson, had just arrived in London on a leave of absence from the 9th Wellington Infantry Regiment and was embarking upon his long-awaited European tour. Miss Mary Mackenzie, the daughter of the New Zealand High Commissioner, was on a sketching tour of Belgium. Charles Saunders, originally from Dunedin and at that time a Superintendent at a power company in Twickenham, was about to partake in the six-day International Reliability Run for cars, sidecars and cycles in Grenoble,⁴ despite the warnings of three Frenchman in his boarding house who told him that war must come in a week or so. He also ignored the fact that of the five Germans at his boarding house, the three of military age had taken their holidays and had already gone back to Germany.

Sid Stidolph, a marine engineer on the Union Steam Ship Company cargo and passenger ship Tahiti, had left the ship in San Francisco and was en route to England, hoping to gain experience in oil fuel marine engines before returning to New Zealand. Meanwhile, Jock Whitney from Remuera, a Lieutenant in the New Zealand Territorial Garrison Artillery, had just completed a course on the manufacture of Mark VII small arms ammunition at Woolwich Arsenal and was undergoing further training on the Southern Coast defences.

What took everyone by surprise was how briskly events moved. On 28th July, war was declared between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. On 30th July, reports were received from St. Petersburg, in Russia that Belgrade was being bombarded and that a bridge at Semlin on the river Save had been blown up to prevent Austrian troops using it to invade Serbian territory.

With its close economic and political ties with Serbia and having had their objections ignored in 1908 when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia began to mobilise, and the shadow of war over Europe quickly lengthened.

Germany hurriedly pledged support to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and issued an ultimatum to Russia on 31st July for it to cease the mobilisation of its military and naval forces, citing such action as a direct threat against Germany. The challenge was ignored, and on 1st August, Germany declared war on Russia. Knowing that France would honour its military commitments with Russia, under the Franco-Russian treaty of 1892, Germany needed to negate the French military threat if it was going to fight Russia. On 2nd August, Germany occupied Luxemburg and on the same day made a request to neutral Belgium for the German Army to be allowed unhindered passage through their territory as it marched towards France. Belgium refused. On 3rd August, with Russian troops advancing into Prussia, Germany declared war on France. The next day, ignoring Belgium’s prior refusal, the German Army crossed the Belgium border, thereby violating Belgium’s neutrality. All routes to southern Germany from France were closed, and soon the railway stations in Cologne, Hamburg, Brussels and Paris thronged with frenzied crowds all desperately seeking an escape.

Those lucky enough to board a train faced further ordeals. The French train on which one particular group was travelling was commandeered by the French military. Having waited for another train, they finally reached Paris after a 48-hour journey and 30 hours without a meal. In Paris they found that the milk supply had been stopped as it was allegedly poisoned. The largest milk depot in Paris was owned by a German firm.

Another party, comprising of four ladies, was searched when departing Germany. After a long delay, they were eventually allowed to continue their journey, and as their train rumbled out of the station,⁵ the Germans began blowing up the railway tracks behind it.

Returning from Leipzig, Mary Mackenzie was separated from her siblings Bruce and Helen due to the chaos at the railway station. Bruce eventually reached Rotterdam. Helen arrived in London, less her luggage, after 48 sleepless hours. The whereabouts of Mary were unknown⁶. It would be another week before a cablegram arrived reporting her safe in Belgium.

Hadyn Beck from Wanganui had been studying the violin in Belgium and was at Namur on 3rd August when he was advised that the bridges were going to be blown up. The hotel proprietor kindly advanced him the money for his fare through to London. Others were not so fortunate and were left stranded as trains were cancelled. The cross-Channel steamers were soon crowded as people sought the safety of Britain.

Censorship was imposed on British newspapers while the Government pondered an honourable way not to be drawn into a European war. People gathered around news boards for updates while the Cabinet debated what Britain would do – peace or war? Rumours soon circulated, and on Tuesday 4th August 1914, while most people had just enjoyed the late summer bank holiday, Britain declared war on Germany, and by doing so, constitutionally drew the entire British Empire into a state of war.

While driving across France on 31st July 1914, Charles Saunders would have seen the posting of Partiale Mobilisation placards at Aix, and the next day at Chambery the Totale Mobilisation news placards being posted in the town. If they had any misgivings or pangs of anguish, the party put them aside and continued to Grenoble, where the British Consul advised that all the British motorists should return to England as quickly as possible. Most did, although Saunders and his friends decided that, having travelled so far, that they would at least race the worst section of the six-day event, being the Galibier Pass over the Alps. Having successfully completed this, they began their return trip through France on 3rd August from Grenoble. They were stopped several times by the French military on the outlook for German spies, and had their passports checked; once at revolver point and on another occasion at bayonet point. They were also subjected to a military curfew where no-one was permitted to travel before 6 am or after 6 pm. Their anxiety increased, when they were repairing a puncture at 5 pm when a military car stopped by them and told the party that if they were still on the road by 6 pm, their tyres would be cut up and thrown into the gulley below. Given such an incentive, they managed to complete their repairs and make the next town by 6 pm. Wherever they stayed at night, they had to get their travel papers signed by the local police authorities, and at Rouen, having no photographs in their passports the local police took them to the Criminal Department where the criminal photographer took their photographs for the price of one franc each. Once the French heard the news that Britain had joined the war on the side of France, Saunders and his travel companions were enthusiastically mobbed, pulled from their vehicles at Orleans and shouldered by soldiers as they were carried down the main street to shouts of ‘Vive les Anglais’. The French were delighted to have Britain as their ally against Germany. Saunders’ party eventually reached Dieppe where they waited for five days before a boat could take them back to England; though it meant having to leave their motor vehicles in France.

The news of British involvement in a European war stunned the British public. Those Britons still stranded in Germany found themselves detained indefinitely as all travel routes had closed. Their living conditions were described as basic with poor rations and many soon relied upon German charity. Nonetheless, the New Zealand High Commissioner Sir Thomas Mackenzie attempted to send money and mail to New Zealanders in Germany, via the American Embassy, while working with international agencies to evacuate them.

Travel disruptions also occurred in Britain. The Admiralty cancelled the sailing of the main Allan Line steamers between Scotland and Canada, directing them instead to carry troops and reservists from Canada to England. Similarly, passenger ships were requisitioned by the Government, resulting in shipping companies being unable to keep to their schedules and indefinitely stranding people, like Henry Foote. Foote had been a mining engineer in Nigeria for five years before contracting blackwater fever. He had come to Britain for treatment, and after a long spell convalescing he was intending to return to New Zealand, though now he was unwittingly in a Britain at war and his travel plans were unravelling.

Fred Reichardt, a sailor from Wanganui, was a crewman aboard the four-masted barque the Hugomont that was carrying wheat from Australia to France. It arrived at La Rochelle the day before the declaration of war. Upon hearing the news Fred joined a full rigged Norwegian ship to Cardiff, and once in Britain he joined Naval Transport 43, the Boscastle, which carried stores and coal to British Navy ports around the British coast.

On 6th August, Lord Kitchener, who was appointed Secretary of State for War that day, forecast that the war would last at least three years. For Britain to sustain such a commitment over that length of time it needed an Army bigger than the modest Regular Army it already possessed. Kitchener decided to build a new army, and Parliament promptly passed the necessary Bill to recruit 500,000 men for what would be known as Kitchener’s Army. In late August, Kitchener made his famous appeal for the first One Hundred Thousand men, enlivened by the now famous Your King and Country Need You! poster. This resulted in half a million men overwhelming recruitment offices throughout the British Isles as men left mines, offices and factories to answer the patriotic call to join their country’s army.

New Zealanders living in England were also keen to answer Kitchener’s call and many men volunteered for the Royal Artillery, the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Royal Engineers, the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines. Also popular were the Territorial battalions of the Royal Fusiliers and the King Edward’s Horse, who accepted colonial volunteers.

Others preferred to join the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), at the time being formed in New Zealand and readied to sail for Britain. The prospect of serving alongside brothers and relatives had a greater appeal, which resulted in numerous telephone and written enquiries to the New Zealand High Commission. Prospective recruits were advised that once the NZEF Main Body had arrived in Britain, reinforcements may be required. Their details would have been passed onto the military staff and added to a growing list of men that could be called-up.

Chapter Two. Formation of the British Section

Captain Francis Henry Lampen of the New Zealand Staff Corps, son of General John Lampen, had been due to return to New Zealand in August 1914, but instead was assigned to the New Zealand High Commission in London⁷ to advise on military matters pertaining to the arrival of the NZEF Main Body.

Lampen had entered Sandhurst in 1898 and after graduating served on the India Frontier. He had been attached to the Russian Army during their 1904-05 campaign against the Japanese, where he had been awarded the Cross of St George. He resigned his commission in 1906 and emigrated to New Zealand, where he worked as a chemist in Wellington. In 1911 he was offered a commission in the New Zealand Staff Corps, which he accepted. He married Miss Lottie Ogbourne in New Zealand in 1912. Two years later, in 1914, he and his family left for England for personal business and while there he attended both the Musketry and Machine Gun Courses at Hythe, achieving a Distinguished Pass in the later. He was the first to enlist in the British Section and dated his enlistment as at the start of the war, being 4th August 1914.

With the number of enquiries from men keen to enlist in the NZEF, Lampen had the notion of raising a company of infantry. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, the New Zealand High Commissioner to London, consulted with Lord Islington and Major G.S. Richardson, who all readily agreed with the concept. They then cabled the New Zealand Government with their proposal.

‘Large number of New Zealanders wish to serve in the forces as New Zealand unit. War Office not likely to entertain offer of New Zealand unit here but suggest that in the event of the New Zealand Contingent coming to Europe their offer be accepted as part of New Zealand Contingent. New Zealand Association holding meeting here Friday when I preside. London 12th August 1914.’⁸

There were hurdles to overcome, as the War Office would not entertain a separate New Zealand unit. They would prefer to wait for the arrival of the NZEF Main Body, and the formation of a London company was initially seen as an encumbrance to the NZEF organisation. It was suggested by the New Zealand Government that New Zealanders in Britain wishing to serve should train with British Territorial units, and those that qualified would be considered as reinforcements for the NZEF Main Body. The reality was that most of the British Army battalion commanders were extremely reluctant to expend time and cost in training men who would then leave. Throughout August the New Zealand Government made no decision, despite the arguments posed by Sir Thomas Mackenzie. Many New Zealanders in Britain enlisted in British Regiments instead, while Lampen was kept busy preparing for the Main Body arrival and maintaining a possible call-up list of men from all the enquiries he had received.

Ignoring the ongoing debate, Sir Thomas Mackenzie held a meeting of New Zealanders resident in London at Westminster Palace Hotel on 19th August 1914. In all likelihood, Mackenzie would have spoken about the intention to raise a company of infantry in London, and almost certainly in his address he would have commented on the announcement that day, by the American President Woodrow Wilson, that made public the United States’ policy of neutrality in the war.

The meeting resolved to immediately commence fund-raising for members of the New Zealand Forces soon to be en route to Britain to support the Empire. The New Zealand War Contingent Association, as it would be known, formed a committee under the chairmanship of Lord Plunkett, who had been the Governor General of New Zealand from 1904 to 1910, and included prominent people such as the Hon. William Pember Reeves, a Fabian who had been a New Zealand politician, the New Zealand High Commissioner in London from 1905-1908, and was at the time the Director of the London School of Economics. There was also Sir James Mills who had has also been a New Zealand politician and was main owner and chairman of the New Zealand Union Steamship Company; and Sir Joshua Williams a New Zealand lawyer and Supreme Court judge. The Association created a focal point for New Zealanders living in England, and soon a Scottish branch was formed in Edinburgh with Mrs Walter Young acting as its Secretary. The Association promptly began fundraising and donating items for military use.

It was not until mid-September that authorisation was finally received for a company limited to 250 men⁹ to be raised as a reinforcement company once the Dominion’s Expeditionary Force¹⁰ arrived in England. The company was to be called the British Section and would have one officer for every fifty men. There was an expectation that this company would be clothed, equipped and trained as infantry, and uniforms should be of New Zealand pattern and facings. No badges except rank should be worn, as these would be provided upon the arrival of the Expeditionary Force.¹¹

Lampen was keen to attract the right calibre of men for his new formation. He placed advertisements in the reputable London newspapers, where he asked for men who had lived in, or who had relatives in New Zealand, to volunteer. He was particularly interested in those men who had previous military service in the South African War. Anyone replying to the advertisement received a polite letter advising them that when called-up they would be expected to parade at the High Commissioner’s office in London.

Lampen needed experienced military officers for the new company of infantry. None of the regular New Zealand Defence Force officers in Britain were available, all having already been posted to various British Army roles. Major G.S. Richardson, the N.Z. Military Advisor was attached to the Admiralty Staff and he would later serve with the Royal Naval Division at Antwerp; Colonel Smyth was attached to Southern Command at Aldershot for staff duties; Major Gardener was attached to Headquarters Staff at the Coast Defences at Harwich; Captain Chesney was attached as Staff with Kitchener’s Army at Chelmsford; Captain Smythe was posted to the Coast Defences at Hythe; and Captain Melville was awaiting orders to go to a Depot. Melville would later be posted to the Worcester Regiment and be wounded in France. Lieutenant Davies was posted to the 34th Brigade Royal Field Artillery and served in France from August 1914, and Lieutenant Turner was posted to the 43rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

There were several former New Zealand militia officers in Britain who Lampen approached. These were Walter Wright, Donald Simson, Frederick Skelsey, Eustace Stocker and James Lancaster Lucena.

Wright was the Dairy Produce Commissioner to the New Zealand Government at the High Commission in London and ex-Taranaki Rifles officer. He was initially appointed as the company’s second in command and later become the Adjutant, though he would remain in London due to military commitments at the High Commission.

Simson, originally from Otago, had a mining background and had served with the NZ Mounted Rifles during the South African War as a lieutenant and a messenger to Colonel Thorneycroft¹². He returned to South Africa as a businessman and in 1906 was the best man for his brother Hector, who married Miss Rivas in Johannesburg. Miss Rivas came from the Cape Colony and her family had large diamond interests in South Africa. By 1914, Donald Simson was a member of the Johannesburg Council and the Rand Water Board. When war was declared he was in London on business, including visiting his other brother, Herbert Simson, who was the manager of the Bank of New Zealand branch at Moorgate. On 10th August Donald Simson joined the 2nd Regiment, King Edward’s Horse. He later met Lampen at dinner in London, at the end of which Simson provided personal funds for the British Section to buy two of the latest type of Vickers’s machine gun, which was effectively an improved Maxim. With Lampen seeking experienced officers, he offered Simson the role of Adjutant in the British Section, an offer which Simson accepted, and he transferred across from the King Edward’s Horse in late September 1914.

Skelsey was from Dewsbury in Leeds and had worked in New Zealand for three years as a Chemist and as Works Manager at the Burnside Lime and Cement Company in Otago. While there, he had held a commission in the New Zealand Garrison Artillery Volunteers. At the outbreak of war, he was a gazetted New Zealand officer and was attached to the Field Troop, New Zealand Mounted Rifles.

Stocker had been commissioned in 1912 with the 5th Wellington Rifles and was working with the New Zealand Government in London as a lawyer. Whilst in Britain, he had been originally attached to the 1st Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, though was assigned to the British Section in September 1914.

Lucena, from Hawera, had served previously with the Army Special Reserve Militia Yeomanry and was waiting to be granted an Imperial Commission. He was also assigned to the British Section and assisted with the company’s formation and training. He would later serve as a Captain with the Royal Artillery.

The first volunteers who wanted to help the Old Country through her moment of crisis, gathered to enlist on Friday 21st August at the Westminster Palace Hotel in London, even though the company was not yet authorised by the New Zealand Government. Amongst the original four volunteers was Herbert Scott, an Electric Sign Manufacturer from Dunedin. By 8th September, fifteen men had enlisted or transferred to the British Section. Only one, Arnold Raper, had any previous military experience.

Raper was an actor in London; he had previously served with the British South African Police and at the start of the war was serving as a Trooper with the King Edward’s Horse. He transferred to the British Section when he learnt that his older brother, John, had joined the Auckland Mounted Rifles and was part of the Main Body coming to England. The others in this group who enlisted were: Albert Osmont, a carpenter who was asked by Captain Lampen to bring his tools as they may prove useful; Albert