A Hero For All Times: Marshall VC in The Great War

By Peter Lees

In September 1914 Neville Marshall gave up a successful horse treatment practice to join first the Belgian and then the British Army. His diary, dormant in family archives for 105 years, and letters describe his tumultuous war service. An Irish Guardsman, who was seconded to three Lancashire battalions, he rose in rank from Lieutenant to Acting Lieutenant-Colonel. Wounded at least nine times and awarded five gallantry medals, he revelled as well as suffered in his encounters with the German enemy. Outspoken on the conduct of the war, he was without doubt a gifted and courageous leader who led from the front. Fiercely loyal to his men, he earned their respect and affection. Yet with soldiers who were uncaring of their own states of body and mind or lacking physical fitness and self-respect, he worked tirelessly to restore their morale and battle readiness through strict disciplinary regimes.

While undoubtedly a patriot and a hero, Marshall VC was not without character flaws, impetuously rushing to judgements. In this superbly researched book, his diaries and letters are supplemented from a wide range of archival and other sources. The result is no ordinary biography of an extraordinary officer who gave his life for his country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Dec 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781399035347

Peter Lees

Peter Lees was born in 1940 in Farnworth, Lancashire, 8 miles as the crow flies from Neville Marshall’s birthplace, Stretford, Manchester. He took a first degree in Pharmacy, a doctorate in pharmacology and, much later in partial retirement, an MA degree in World War One Studies at the University of Wolverhampton. From 1962 to 2023, he has worked at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, first as Assistant Lecturer and finally as Deputy Principal. He has published more the 350 articles in the peer reviewed scientific literature, as well as short reviews on Marshall in the journals Veterinary History and Stand To! Public service duties have included Editorship of Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Vice-Chairman of the Veterinary Products Committee, Council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Universities Research Assessment Exercise panel member for Veterinary Medicine and Member of the Council of the Inns of Court Tribunals Appointments Body.

Book preview

Prologue

A danger in any biographical approach is that it demands a level of empathy with the subject, which can easily slide over into sympathy, perhaps even admiration [and] biography also runs the natural risk of over-personalizing complex historical developments, over-emphasizing the role of the individual in shaping and determining events, ignoring or playing down the social and political context in which those actions took place … It is a risky venture.1

No man can sit down to write about history … without bringing to the task the preconceptions which spring out of his own character and experience [nor can he] claim the impartiality of a judge [but] however disputable some of my interpretations may be, there is a solid substratum of fact – and the facts are eloquent enough.2

In a portrait or impression, the human figure is best shown by its true relation to the objects and scenes against which it is thrown, and by which it is defined.3

In his book on Douglas Haig, John Terraine commented, ‘It is my belief that such a study can only have meaning through careful attention to the context in which the subject’s career was made.’4 In this account of Marshall’s whole life, pre-war and in war, I have sought to give context by placing him in the times in which he lived, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He witnessed and participated in immense societal, political and economic changes, to which the war added seismic components. Pre-war, he enjoyed successes in aquatic galas and ran a successful business treating horses. In war, he participated in many dramatic events but there were many other times when life was routine, mundane and, for him, boring. These were as much a part of his world as the more obviously dramatic events. Both are reflected in his diaries.

From boyhood onwards, James Neville Marshall’s hero was the Duke of Wellington. In the introduction to his biography on Wellington, G.R. Gleig, military historian of the late Victorian era, wrote:

I have [sought first] to paint the Duke himself exactly as he was; and [second] to meet the possible wishes of readers … to whom the minute details of political and military operations are not very attractive. Writing for others than professional soldiers and statesmen, my endeavour has been to so handle these points of history that as little as possible shall stand between readers and the subject of my narrative, the Duke himself. I hope to produce a portrait [which does] justice to his great qualities, without seeking to hide or to explain away the weaknesses, which he shared in common with his fellow men.5

I have set myself the same broad aims in writing this book on Marshall. There is nothing known that was exceptional about Marshall’s childhood and youth. However, by early adulthood, there were aspects of his developing character that gave pointers to how he might behave in war in a range of situations. The reader might wish to look for threads linking Marshall’s pre-war and in war lives. Here are a few examples:

He was kind, self-confident and bold, with a mischievous sense of humour.

In his speech, letters and diaries, he expressed his opinions firmly.

He was, at times, economical with the truth – but often in a worthy cause.

His mental state ranged from unbridled confidence to anguish and despair.

His health ranged from good to dire.

He was frequently close to water: in peacetime as a star performer in local aquatic galas; in war, alongside rivers and canals, where he sought either to block the enemy crossing or make the attempt to cross himself.

He had a close affinity with horses in his sporting activities and business life pre-war, whilst in war, his movements were often on horse.

Recurring themes in his war diaries and letters include discipline, alcohol, homosexuality, his high regard for the men he led, and sometimes, his disdain for those in authority.

In his life of Marshall, Arthur Graham wrote:

We will never really know why Marshall literally gave his life away on 4th November 1918. He expected to die during the war and told his mother so in 1914, and it has been said that he had a reckless disregard for his own safety. He was a bold brash extrovert who set an example and inspired his men. He died as he had lived, out in front, larger than life but not quite all that he claimed or seemed to be, he will never be forgotten.

Chapter 1

From Peace to War 1887–1914

Early life, early promise

James Henry Marshall was born in 1847 in Fermanagh, now a county in the south-west corner of Northern Ireland. By 1880, he had left for England and was living in Lower Broughton, Manchester, employed as a Small Ware Buyer. James married Mary (née Walmsley) on 15 September 1880 in St Philip’s Parish Church, Manchester, he 33 and she 18.1 Their son, James Neville Marshall (preferred name Neville), was born on 12 June 1887.2 By this time, the family had moved to the semi-rural location of 2 Crosby Place, Stretford, Manchester. In April 1891, this was still the family home. Then they moved, first to Broad Road, Acocks Green, Solihull, Birmingham, and later to Clifton Road, Acocks Green.

The 1901 Census indicates that the family now comprised James and his older sisters, Mary, Nanny and May, as well as a younger sister, Dorothy, and younger brother, Klein. Neville’s sisters passed down to later family generations that he was wonderful company and that he danced with all his sisters at every dance.

The copy of Neville Marshall’s birth certificate, held at The National Archives, gives his date of birth as 12 June 1886. According to this document, he gained one year on his true age. Actually, the date on the certificate has been cleverly altered in four places. It thus seems clear that Marshall junior assigned to himself an extra year of life. This was not the last time that he claimed added years; when completing the 1911 Census, he gave his birth year as 1879, a gain of some eight years on his actual age.

Marshall’s education probably started, aged 5, in 1892 at a private school, Wellesbourne House, in Acocks Green. In January 1899, aged 11, he was a pupil at King Edward VI Grammar School, Camp Hill, Birmingham, having passed an entrance examination on 29 November 1898. In the following year, he was one of four pupils to obtain a Foundation Scholarship at the school. School Chronicle No. 32 records the scholarship, together with a prize for ‘General Work and for Mathematics & Arithmetic’. Described as a big, well-made boy, of a kindly and considerate disposition, and a useful forward in the rugby team, he went by the nickname ‘Bogey’. In September, he was in a class of twenty-five boys, aged 10 to 14 years. In after-school activities, he excelled in swimming and diving.3

Marshall left the school suddenly, on 5 March 1902, three months short of his fifteenth birthday.This might have been for financial reasons; it is suggested that there was a need to assist with family finances. If true, his leaving school would mirror the experience of the Duke of Wellington, who was to become his boyhood hero. ‘In 1781 his mother, to save money, took her awkward son, at the age of fifteen, away from Eton College.’4

Marshall’s Great War Record of Service claims that he also studied at Rush College, Chicago, USA, but there is no evidence to substantiate this. On leaving school, he first worked as a clerk at the Midland Institute, Birmingham, for about a year. Then, in 1903, he was employed as a junior clerk in the Medical Faculty of Birmingham University. Details about his actual work there are sparse, but he played cricket for the faculty in 1904.

A later newspaper report indicated that Marshall’s ‘swimming and high diving placed him in the front ranks of amateur aquatics during 1903–4–5’, when he was a teenager in Birmingham.5 He left the university around 1905–6. His university appointment was to have a significant bearing on the description he gave when enlisting in the Belgian Army in September 1914; he claimed to be medically qualified.

The Marshall family faced tragedy on 27 May 1910, when Neville’s father hanged himself in the family home. The coroner’s verdict was ‘suicide whilst of unsound mind’. In the 1911 Census, the family address was Eastbourne House, Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Yardley, where his mother ran an ‘at home’ school. By then, daughters Mary and Nannie, and eldest son Neville had moved out of the family home; James Neville Marshall now resided in Harlow in Essex.

Domestic and family life in Harlow

Little is known of Marshall’s movements between 1906 and 1909. Arthur Graham concluded that he resided in Harlow from the summer of 1910.6 However, Marshall’s great-niece indicates that, in 1909, he was lodging in a furnished room in London Road, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.7 An even earlier arrival is possible, as newspaper reports in 1912 indicate that he had participated in local hunts for five seasons. Certainly, in the 1911 Census, Marshall was resident in Harlow, running his own business, treating horses and employing two assistants. If, prior to that, he had worked as an unqualified assistant to a qualified veterinary surgeon for four years (as he claimed in a court appearance in 1911), this will take his time as a resident of Harlow back to 1907.

The 1910 edition of Kelly’s Directory of Essex includes a Neville Marshall BSc, Milton House, New Road, Harlow. There is no evidence to support his possession of a BSc degree, but it seems certain that this is our Marshall as, by 1912, the directory entry is for Jasper Neville Marshall, Bromleys, Latton.

In the 1911 Census, Marshall’s entry was listed as follows:

Points to note are: the change in Marshall’s given name from James to Jasper; the change in date of birth from 1887 to 1879; his census age of 32, some eight years older than his true age; the change in place of birth – no longer Manchester but now Las Palmas. The census further claims professional status as a veterinary surgeon. Whilst he did treat animals, he did not possess formal qualifications. To assist with the business, he had two boarders in his employ – a pupil and a dispenser. He was still only 24 years old; he had advanced some way from his Birmingham days.

Marshall’s address in 1911 was Bromleys Farm, Latton, Harlow. When he took up residence, the farmhouse had a good-sized stable block and this facilitated his equine stud and horse treatment activities, as well as soon providing a home for his bride-to-be, Edith.

Marshall, now aged 25, married Edith Maud Taylor, the eldest of three sisters and an infant schoolteacher, on 20 September 1911 at Latton Parish Church, Harlow.8 Born in 1885, Edith was two years older than Marshall.9 A possible explanation for the age of 32, which he declared in the 1911 Census, was to claim for himself more years than those of his wife. Edith’s father was a local maltster and the family were clearly well-to-do; they employed five live-in domestic servants at the time of the 1911 Census.

The Chelmsford Chronicle described the ceremony:

An interesting wedding, in which there was a degree of romance, was solemnized at Latton Parish Church on Wednesday morning, when Mr. Jasper Neville Wellesley Marshall, of Bromley, Latton, Harlow and Las Palmas, Grand Canaries, was quietly married to Miss Edith Maud Taylor, daughter of Mr. Henry Algernon Taylor, of Northbrooks, Parndon. Both the bride and groom were well-known followers of the Essex Hounds, with which they have hunted for the past five seasons, the bridegroom having also ridden at the steeplechases of the Essex Staghounds. The Reverend J.B. Andrewes, Vicar of Harlow, officiated and at the close of the service impressively declared the couple man and wife. The newly married couple received many presents from friends and acquaintances in the hunting field, among whom they are worthily esteemed and popular. The couple caught the 10.50 train to Eastbourne, where they stayed for their honeymoon.10

An early example of Marshall’s propensity to fabricate was the alteration to his name. In the Chelmsford Chronicle report on the wedding, Jasper replaced James, and Wellesley was an additional given name. The link, clearly, is to the Duke of Wellington, who had been plain Arthur Wellesley prior to his preferment. Moreover, both the wedding report and the 1911 Census listed Las Palmas, Grand Canaries, as his place of birth. There is no evidence to substantiate this, nor is it known whether he ever visited there. The marriage certificate refers to the groom’s profession as ‘Gentleman’. He named his father (part fiction, part fact) as James Henry Wellesley Arthur Marshall, a soldier by profession and not deceased. These claims again illustrate his vivid imagination, as his father was dead, had not been a professional soldier and was neither a Wellesley nor an Arthur.

What is in a name? It seems fair to accept Jasper, for use in common parlance, as an alternative for James. The addition of Wellesley to his given names clearly reflects his admiration for the great man, the Duke of Wellington. In fact, the Wesley family (as they then were) ‘altered the form of their name from Wesley to what was considered the original form – Wellesley – in 1798’.11 An alternative suggestion is that Wellesley was ‘preferred as older and more aristocratic than Wesley, with its associations of evangelical Methodism’.12 The Wellesleys were Anglo-Irish stock of the Protestant ascendency, whilst Marshall’s father, also a Protestant, was born in County Fermanagh. The admiration for the Duke of Wellington was part of a pattern; it will be seen from his war diaries that Marshall also admired successful military leaders of French and German nationalities, the qualification being success in battle.

Local citizen and man of charisma (warts and all)

Local press reports gave early insights into Marshall’s lifestyle and the richness of his character. Applicable adjectives might be charismatic, confident, egocentric, aspirational and either firm/aggressive or generous/kind, depending on circumstance. A newspaper report described him as a keen and competitive sportsman.13 His sporting prowess, sense of fun and ability to entertain were on full display in the Harlow years.

Harry Moore, MC, a Harlow resident who died in January 1995 aged 102, recalled the 1911 Latton Mill swimming gala:

[Marshall] was a member of the Harlow Swimming pool/Club, he did not know what fear was, he was of Irish descent. On an August Bank Holiday Monday, there was a swimming gala and he was the star turn, a good diver. Dressed as a French Middonette he stood up on the top board smoking a cigarette. He lit another one, twisted it into his mouth and jumped into the pool. He came out and got up smoking the cigarette; he was a card.14

Both his sporting successes and his generosity were reported in the local press.

Wednesday the first aquatic sports meeting of the Harlow and District Swimming Club was held at the bathing place, Latton Mill, and passed off very successfully.

120 yards, breaststroke: 1, J.N. Marshall

180 yards, breaststroke: 1, J.N. Marshall

60 yards, swimming on back: 1, J.N. Marshall

High dive: 1, Saville, 2, J.N. Marshall

Running dive: 1, J.N. Marshall

Mr. Marshall gave his prizes to the next winner. Mr. Neville Marshall gave exhibition of high-diving from 36ft. above the water, dressed as a lady in a pink dress, which caused a lot of fun.15

Marshall achieved similar success in the Latton gala of 1912. This was quite an event, with 700 people in attendance. He again gave an exhibition of high diving, and starting from scratch, won every race that he entered (80 yards sprint, 250 yards breaststroke, 120 yards on back, 210 yards any stroke). He again donated all his prizes to the second placers.16 Entering four handicap events in the 1913 Latton gala, he was placed overall first, with nine points.17 His dress sense did not desert him, when, once again dressed in pink, he put on a repeat performance of high diving for the fourth successive year, on the afternoon of 3 August 1914 – the day before the UK declared war on Germany. Mrs Marshall distributed the prizes and Marshall entered and won the 430 yards sprint and 120 yards backstroke races.18

Marshall had other sporting interests on dry land – eventing and hunting. In a point-to-point meeting of 1911, he rode The Priest into third place in the Heavy Weights class. On 10 April 1912, Marshall competed in the Essex Hunt Farmers’ (Maiden) Race. He was initially in the lead, but his horse fell at the second fence. In the following year, Marshall came fourth in the Essex Hunt Welter Cup. Other newspaper reports described Marshall’s hunting interests. The local press also described Edith as a keen horsewoman, with an interest in breeding horses. She was placed second in ‘The pony race, not exceeding 14.2’, riding Lily Agnes.19

Not all of Marshall’s exploits reflected his good standing in the local community. The Chelmsford Chronicle reported four incidents, leading to his appearance before local magistrates. In the first, when returning home on a Tuesday evening, the nearside front wheel of his car went into a ditch at an awkward corner in the road. He was thrown out. When found with his head between the wheels of the car by a Mr Felsted, he was unconscious. ‘Dr. Jagger was summoned and Mr. Marshall was conveyed to the doctors’ surgery.’ He suffered a cut forehead and concussion of the brain. ‘He was removed to his home at Bromleys and remained unconscious until Wednesday.’ In due course, he ‘progressed as well as could be expected’.20

On a second occasion, Marshall was summoned for driving a car at 11 p.m. without lights. He had ignored P.C. Thoroughgood’s invitation to stop. However, he was not discourteous; he ‘called out good night policeman’. He said, in his defence, that the lamps were burning, although the lights were low, and this was corroborated by a Mr Walter Brace. The Chairman of the Bench concluded that, if the lamps were burning, the light from them was ineffective. He imposed a fine of 10 shillings.21

In 1912, described in the local press as Jasper Neville Wellesley Marshall, veterinary surgeon, he was ordered to pay £1 1 shilling plus 4 shillings costs for keeping a motor car without a licence. His defence was that he thought the existing licence ‘was good for a year’.22

In 1913, Marshall was summoned for threatening a farmer, Matthew Torrance. He pleaded guilty, ‘though he had received provocation … Mr Torrance said things about him which did him harm’. This case arose from an earlier court case, in which the farmer ‘gave evidence which apparently did not please Mr. Marshall, who had expressed resentment’. He called at the farm and addressed the farmer: ‘You have done me an injury … the first time I meet you in the road I will do for you … come out on the field now and see who is the best man.’ The farmer declined the offer and went in fear of the defendant. When bound over in £10 to keep the peace, Marshall replied, ‘Very well.’23

Despite these court appearances, it seems clear that Marshall was both an active and well-liked member of his local community. The following account exemplifies this:

Some years ago, an elderly lady recalled, ‘I do remember he was a vet and rushed around the countryside on a motor-bike. He took a great interest in sport, especially taking boy scouts camping etc. I think his one great love was swimming and he spent much time in the summer at Latton pool, which was the swimming venue for many of us. At the gala, which was held every August Bank Holiday, he always did everything very spectacular. I especially remember 1914 when he caused to be erected a very high diving board and he dressed up as a fairy all in pink. After removing his hat and putting down his wand he dived from the very top, the crowd was thrilled’.24

Professional equine matters

As well as his involvement in equine sports, Marshall ran an equine stud and treated horses requiring veterinary care. Moreover, he had a wide range of contacts. He had a personal friend in Sir Arthur Fitzgerald, a pre-war Newmarket jockey who was successful until he broke his back riding in the 1913 Prix de France. Sir Arthur’s son recalls Marshall being described as a very good ‘vet’ and the first to use an operating table for surgery. It is a measure of his success in treating animals that he was able to employ two assistants, a pupil and a dispenser. Of all the species in his care, the horse was the most important, with the dog and cattle of secondary interest. The running of a stud and Marshall’s participation in local hunts would have helped underpin his successful treatment practice.

Marshall appeared before Mr Justice Pickford at Essex Assizes, charged with wrongful conversion of a horse. He shot the horse, which was under his treatment, without the authority of the owner and plaintiff, Frank Searle.

ON SATURDAY, AT THE ESSEX ASSIZES, BEFORE MR. JUSTICE PICKFORD, WITHOUT A JURY

Frank Searle, of Burnt Mill, brought an action against Neville Marshall, veterinary surgeon operator, of Harlow, for damages for alleged wrongful conversion of a horse.

The plaintiff’s case was that he lent a horse to the Rev. W. Hastings, rector of Magdalen Laver, the arrangement being the rev. gentleman should have the use of it, the plaintiff to have it when he wanted it.

The horse fell in the stable and hurt itself, and the defendant, it was asserted, advised that it would not take many days to get over the injuries. A few days later, however, defendant called to see the horse, and, borrowing a gun, shot it. Plaintiff claimed £25 for the horse and a guinea for the veterinary fee. Plaintiff said he was a church organist. He bought the horse in July 1911, for £16, for hunting.

In summing up, His Lordship said the point was whether the defendant had authority to shoot the horse. He was satisfied he had not. Defendant put it under treatment, and that did not seem to him (the Judge) to confer authority afterwards to shoot the horse. Technically defendant would be wrong; but if the horse was in such a state that it was worth nothing, there could be no damage. The substantial question was whether this horse was worth anything at the time. He could not accept the statement that the horse was starved, but he could not but feel that the question as to the condition of the horse lay between the two sides. He was inclined to think that the defendant acted hastily. His Lordship concluded by giving the plaintiff the verdict for £5 damages, with such costs as the law allowed. He did not believe that having regard to the condition of the horse anybody would have given any more for it. He should make no special order, because he thought it was a case that should have been heard in the County Court.25

There is no doubt that Marshall practised veterinary medicine, but it is equally clear that he did not possess formal qualifications. Nevertheless, several newspaper reports referred to him as a ‘veterinary surgeon’.26 How to explain the anomaly – a vet or not? A civil case was brought against Marshall on 7 February 1913 by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). It revealed something of his feisty character and had an important bearing on his livelihood.

VETERINARY SURGERY. PROSECUTION AT CHELMSFORD

At Chelmsford Petty Session on Friday,before the Mayor and other Justices, James Neville Marshall, described horse doctor, of Harlow, was charged with; not being on the register of veterinary surgeons and using and taking an addition and description, to wit, ‘veterinary surgeon operator’, thus stating that he was a practitioner of veterinary surgery. At the Essex Assize, on Feb. 7, Defendant pleaded not guilty. Mr. G.E. Thatcher, prosecuting on behalf of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, said that … he was a veterinary surgeon operator. When cross-examined, defendant said he was not qualified in any way … He also said he had a large practice and had a pupil. Defendant: I said I had no qualification whatsoever … The evidence called against him was that of a member of the College to whom he had acted as assistant, as an unqualified man, for four years. He left that employer, started two miles away as an unqualified veterinary surgeon, but never applied the word veterinary to his name in any shape or form. He practically took away the bulk of his then employer’s practice … He (Defendant) had nothing to gain; he had everything lose, both professionally and socially, by using the word. The Mayor: Why do you say that? Defendant: I have been a success in my work as a quack. I practise on all the largest studs. I have been called on as second opinion. As long as I do not apply the word veterinary, I am all right. I call myself Mr. James Marshall. There is not on my name plate or my notepaper anything to suggest veterinary. The Mayor: Do you deny that you used the words veterinary surgeon operator? Defendant: I do … The Mayor: Do you say you said you were unqualified? – Most emphatically. I have everything to lose and nothing to gain saying I am qualified … he was a quack, not a veterinary, and did not wish to be a veterinary. He acted as ‘unqualified Marshall’ in all these cases … The Mayor said the case … is dismissed … on the facts and the whole evidence before them.27

Today, the word quack carries, almost invariably, negative connotations. In Marshall’s time, this was not necessarily so. Indeed, he used the word firmly and effectively in his defence. Nevertheless, the word could be used in a negative context, in even earlier times, as when Marshall’s hero, the Duke of Wellington, castigated the medical profession: ‘all doctors are more or less Quacks! … and what they talk is neither more nor less than nonsense & stuff.’28 Marshall would have felt vindicated by his acquittal, and from a livelihood perspective, it enabled him to continue with his animal treatment work. So-called celebrity horses that