The Norfolk Regiment in October: Cecil Upcher’s recovery

Each month staff at the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum look back to what the Norfolk Regiment was doing 100 years ago, and tells their story through objects from the museum’s collection. See previous blog posts here.

For the Norfolk’s 9th battalion, October 1915 was a month of rest. The end of September had been marred by serious fighting around the quarries of Hulluch, a small mining commune, and so October was spent largely recovering from this. At Hulluch, the battalion had suffered a total of 209 casualties, including 5 Officers killed and 9 wounded.

Cecil Upcher, architect turned soldier.

One of these wounded Officers was 2nd Lieutenant Cecil Upcher. After the battle, he wrote in a letter to his fiancee,

“I got a bullet through the fleshy part of my left thigh…. Feeling a bit of a humbug to be leaving it all, but walking is rather a job at present.   We had to take a Bosch position at 7 am yesterday… and I got bowled over with a lot of others I fear…. It’s rotten luck being knocked out first go in.”

For Upcher, an architect before the War, October 1915 was spent in a hospital in Britain. His wound was tended, and he spent time with his fiancee, Hilda Ward, whom he had written to on a daily basis.

Transcriptions of Upcher’s letters are kept in the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum today and prove remarkable reading. Upcher’s architectural background and keen eye for detail are ever-present; he includes vivid sketches of his current dugouts and gives exact measurements.

One of many dugout sketches that Upcher drew for his fiancee.

These beautiful sketches continue after Upcher’s return to action in 1916, and reveal a great deal about day-to-day life of a 9th battalion officer during the War. On the whole he wrote about long marches and troop movements, but his sketches and occasional anecdotes are particularly insightful. One such story to his fiancee goes;

“This afternoon…. we played soccer against the officers of a neighbouring Regt.   About the first time I’ve ever played the game or any of us for that matter.   We had quite a good match but just lost.”

Upcher marrying Hilda Ward.

Unfortunately for Upcher, October 1915 and the days of playing soccer were to be short lived. In mid 1916 he succumbed to shell-shock and was gripped by deep depression. He was invalided home.

After the war he married Hilda and returned to architecture. He designed the First World War Memorial Cottages at Mousehold, and later the Second World War Bungalows close by.  He helped restore Pull’s Ferry and worked on many church projects across Norfolk. As his remarkable letters home show, it was a labour of love.

Another of Upcher’s wonderfully detailed drawings.

From 23rd November the Regimental Museum and The Museum of Norwich at The Bridewell will be launching exhibitions based on Upcher and the Memorial Cottages. For more information email joseph.hoyle@norfolk.gov.uk

 

‘No Hatred or Bitterness’: Edith Cavell and Norfolk Women in the First World War.

Edith’s baptism entry. NRO catalogue reference: PD 199/4

Edith Cavell is perhaps Norfolk’s best-known twentieth-century heroine. Born in Swardeston, she was nursing in Brussels when the First World War broke out. After Brussels was occupied, she continued in her post and also helped Allied soldiers to break through enemy lines and escape to Britain. Executed by the Germans on 12 October 1915, her death became an enormous propaganda weapon for the Allies.

Propaganda postcard. Image courtesy of the Norfolk Heritage Centre.

As this October is the centenary of her death, many heritage organisations are shining a spotlight on Cavell’s life, as well as the role of nurses during World War One. From Monday 5 October The Norfolk Record at the Archive Centre will have a free exhibition entitled ‘No Hatred or Bitterness’: Edith Cavell and Norfolk Women in the First World War.

This exhibition includes original documents that have never been displayed in public before, including letters from both Edith and the soldiers she helped. The exhibition also looks at Edith’s story and how she has been remembered, both at the time and in later years. It delves into the background to her story – the role of other Norfolk nurses, abroad and at home, and at the many roles played by Norfolk women in wartime, even those whose courage took the form of opposing the war. Each, in her own way, was a true Heroine of Norfolk.

Related events will accompany the exhibition. On Thursday 15 October there is a drop in event called ‘Women at War’ at which you can discover the wide range of experience of Norfolk women as nurses during the First World War, from Norfolk to the Mediterranean. Plus, find out how Edith Cavell was portrayed in film. There will also be the opportunity to learn about useful resources for tracing nurse ancestors. There is no need to book for this event, but see our Eventbrite page for more information.

There are also children’s activities taking place in October. On Monday 26 October, during the Autumn half term, children will look at cards and propaganda and choose to either create a propaganda postcard or an embroidered card.

On Tuesday 27 October an activity run jointly with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital will reveal the history of Edith Cavell, and teach children how to use a bandage and create their own letters with invisible ink or in code.

Booking for the children’s activities is essential, for more information see our Eventbrite page. 

Photograph of nine girls fund-raising for the Red Cross. NRO catalogue reference: MC 84/206, PH10

Recruitment poster for The Derby Scheme

The Derby Scheme was introduced in the Autumn of 1915,  it required each eligible man aged between 18 to 41 (who was not in a an essential or reserved occupation) to make a public declaration as to whether or not he would attest to join the forces. Those who did attest undertook to go to a recruiting office within 48 hours, but many were taken to one immediately. The enlistee was assigned to a married or unmarried age group (there were 46 groups) and they were given the promise that only entire groups would be called up for active service and given 14 days’ advance notice. Single men’s groups would be called before married.

This is just one of several hundred newly digitised original photographs, posters and notices connected with the First World War in Norfolk. The material is all held in the collections of the Norfolk Heritage Centre and over the course of the next few years will be posted on http://www.picture.norfolk.gov.uk (the online picture archive for Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service)

Group Photograph Comes to Life for Centenary of the Battle of Loos, 25th September 2015 – an exhibition by Norfolk artist Andrew Tatham

This piece has been submitted by local artist Andrew Tatham about his forthcoming exhiibtion in Ypres.

Starting from a single 11”x 8” First World War group photograph, I have created an exhibition that fills a hall two full tennis courts in size. Having tracked down relatives of all 46 men in the photograph, I have been able to get a view on the long-term effects of the War for the families of both casualties and survivors, and that is what informs my artwork.

It is the first time that internationally renowned In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres has hosted an exhibition of this magnitude where the content has almost entirely been generated by an external contributor. That they have done so is testament not just to the fruits of the

21 years of research undertaken, but also to innovative new ways of presenting history, in particular the history of the First World War and its relevance to us living today. As well as traditional displays of the interesting and sometimes astonishing letters, photographs & artefacts that I discovered in my research, there are major artworks:

• an animated film that shows the men’s family trees growing over 136 years with contemporary pictures and music and the passing of the seasons
• a 34 metre wide vista of the men’s family trees growing in a landscape with their ancestral roots going back 100 years before the First World War and the branches depicting their parents’ descendants growing up to today
• a monumental construction 3 metres high and 9 metres wide presenting contemporary “stained glass window” portraits for each of the 46 men
• photomontages showing every picture found of the men’s faces as well as their memorials (including over 1500 photographs).

The final piece in the exhibition is a new group photograph showing these men’s families today. 150 relatives from 22 of the men’s families are travelling from across the UK and as far afield as Canada and South Africa to commemorate the Centenary of the Battle of Loos. On 25^th September 1915 many of the men in the group photograph fought and died in what at the time was the biggest battle ever fought by the British Army. That battle has since been largely forgotten, but this exhibition remembers these men as if they were part of all our families.

Exhibition Catalogue 

Exhibition open to the public from 27^th September 2015 to 3^rd January 1916 at In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, Belgium.

http://www.inflandersfields.be/en

www.groupphoto.co.uk

Lighting Order & Burrell’s Employees’ War Levy Fund

By September 1915 there were rumblings that some Thetford residents were not heeding the Lighting Order. Letters in the local newspaper complained that some inhabitants did not realize what a Zeppelin raid would mean and local residents continued to appear before the local magistrates for infringing the order.

The annual meeting of the Messrs. Burrell’s employees’ War Levy Fund was held at the works in September 1915. Between August 1914 to September 1915, £551 9s 8d had been raised:those earning £1 per week and over paid 3d into the fund, while those earning under £1 paid 2d, shop collections produced £14 4s 4d and a donation was received from Mr. C. Burrell.

The Treasurer’s report revealed that £385 19s 4d had been given to charities and good causes associated with the war effort during this period: for  example the British Red Cross Relief Fund received £150, Grand Duke Michael received £10 for mittens and gloves, Princess Mary’s fund £5 (for the sailors’ Christmas comforts), while grants to local widows, mothers and wives totalled £97 5s.

 

Study Group Details

World War One Study Group details.

A couple of weeks ago we told you of our plans to support people studying the free World War One on line courses this autumn, we’re now in a position to let you know what we’ll be doing.

On Tuesday evenings between 5.30 and 7pm we will be in the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library to provide a space for you to get together and share your discoveries from the courses.  We’ll also have staff members on hand to help you research further using all of the resources that the library can provide.

We’ll even have tea, coffee and biscuits!

These study/discussion sessions will run on Tuesday 20th and 27th October, and November 3rd, 17th and 24th.

On Tuesday 10th November we are hoping be holding a bigger event to commemorate Armistice day, again details of this will be available as soon as we have firmed them up!

For more details or to guarantee a place please leave a comment here or email sarah.salmon@norfolk.gov.uk

For more details about World War One online then they are all listed here.

All the Allies want British coal and must have it!

This is just one of several hundred newly digitised original photographs, posters and notices connected with the First World War in Norfolk. The material is all held in the collections of the Norfolk Heritage Centre and over the course of the next few years will be posted on http://www.picture.norfolk.gov.uk (the online picture archive for Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service)

War Diary September 1915

The Battles of Champagne and Loos   A co-ordinated Allied offensive is launched in Northern France; the fighting continues until November but no break through is achieved.	Discussions on Food Production   The Earl of Selbourne, President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, paid a visit to Norwich, addressing, a well attended and fully representative gathering of landowners, farmers and others associated with Norfolk agriculture upon the steps which should be taken to increase food production in the country.
	Early Closing for Shops   Discussions take place across the county around the subject of early closing of shops. Not all shopkeepers are happy at the proposals but it is agreed that it is necessary to have lights off by dusk to aid the authorities in restricting the lighting of towns.

The Norfolk Regiment in September 1915: Loos and the Mills Bomb

Each month staff at the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum look back to what the Norfolk Regiment was doing 100 years ago, and tells their story through objects from the museum’s collection. See previous blog posts here.

 

Mills Bomb; Hand grenade, Number 5 Mark I. Weight: 1.5 lb/0.675 Kg. Introduced in spring 1915. Removal of the safety pin and release of the lever allows a spring to drive the striker into the cap and ignite the 4.5 second fuse. A defensive grenade which could be thrown at least 28 metres/30 yards but still required the thrower to take cover from lethal fragments. To increase this range, soldiers devised “adaptations of the Roman catapult, the use of which had to be learnt”. 2nd Lieutenant J.K. Digby, 7th Battalion the Norfolk Regiment, was killed on August 4th 1915 in throwing a bomb with a trench catapult. The Mills bomb could be converted into a rifle grenade by screwing an 8 inch rod into a pre-threaded hole in the base plug and firing it from a rifle using a blank .303” cartridge.

The British offensive at Loos began on the 25^th September 1915. On the 26^th the 7th^t (Service) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment handed over their trenches at Ploegsteert (“Plugstreet”) to the Canadians and marched to Philosophe, near the mining town of Loos. There they occupied shallow disconnected trenches and for two weeks endured heavy German shelling which caused over 80 casualties.

The 7^th Battalion were due to attack at 2pm on the 13^th October. Under cover of a smoke screen the Norfolk soldiers would advance in two wings and clear the enemy front line by bombing from left and right, meeting at the centre.

This method of attack involved specially trained men carrying canvas bucketfuls of grenades and throwing them from one traverse of the zig-zag trench into the next. The explosions would be followed immediately by bayonet men rushing into the devastated bay. This process to be repeated until the whole line was in British hands.

Unfortunately the smoke screen was stopped too soon, giving the German machine gunners a clear view before the British even went over the top. Although the bombing party on the left succeeded in taking 200 yards of the enemy front line, the right party and all reinforcements were mown down by an enfilading machine gun.

So the first serious fight of this unit of Kitchener’s New Army cost the 7^th Battalion 434 casualties, of whom 72 were known to be dead and another 160 were missing. The Battalion withdrew the next day to await drafts of replacements.