Gare to Guerre

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17th August 1914, Le Havre, France

The 15th Battalion received new orders at 2:30pm that they were to entrain at three different stations at 8pm.

The Dorsets’ war diary isn’t very clear at this point. By comparing the 1st Bn Bedfords’ war diary with Lord Edward Gleichen’s memoirs, it appears that the battalion detrained at Le Cateau at 10pm and then marched to their billets in Pommereuil and Ors.

The Dorsets, billeted in Ors, received their first combat orders which was to guard the eastern approach to Pommereuil and the railway crossing in nearby Ors from possible hostile cavalry.

Rest Camp No. 8

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16th August, at sea, The English Channel

The Dorsets landed at Le Havre at 4pm, according to the war diary.

The weather was hot but previous heavy rain had made the ground wet and, with the transport struggling up the steep hill out of the city, it took nearly 2 hours to get to Rest Camp No. 8, six miles away. The main body of the battalion arrived at 10pm, with the transport still stuck along the road from Le Havre.

Orders were to stay put until further notice.

I am not sure of the exact location of Rest Camp No. 8 but I imagine it was in to the north of Le Havre, in the hills above Sainte-Adresse, where Rest Camp No. 1 was located. If any one has the exact location please let me know in the comments.

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Bound for Le Havre

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15th August 1914, at sea, The Irish Sea

Frank was onboard the SS Antony, bound for Le Havre in France. The British Expeditionary Force used Le Havre as its main port for the Western Front. 1.9 million British troops passed through the city between 1914 and 1919.

SS Antony wasn’t the only ship sailing from Belfast. The 15th Brigade was formed and based in Ireland and was part of the British 5th Division. The 15th Brigade consisted of the 1st Bn Dorsetshire, 1st Bn Bedfordshire, 1st Bn Cheshire and 1st Bn Norfolk regiments.

The 15th Brigade left Belfast en masse. The convoy consisted of the  SS Antony (1st Bn Dorsetshire, Battalion HQ and half the 1st Bn Norfolk),  SS Massilia (1st Bn Cheshire and the rest of the Norfolks)  and, slightly ahead on the next tide, the SS Oronsa (1st Bn Bedfordshire).

The 15th Brigade was commanded by Count Albert Edward Wilfred Gleichen. In 1917 he reverted to the more English title of Lord Edward Gleichen on request from the King. This was probably a wise move at the time. If you’ve got a Kindle then his rather droll diary from 1914-1915 is available for free on Amazon.

Image of Count Edward Gleichen in 1907
Count Edward Gleichen, commander of the 15th Brigade in 1914.

The Dorsets set sail for war

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14th August 1914, Belfast, Ireland

100 years ago today, Frank was busy preparing for embarkation. At 8am, on 14th August 1914, the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire regiment began to embark onto the SS Antony. The regimental war diary, rather tetchily, complains of a lack of cranes and horse cradles. But everything was aboard by 1:30pm and the Dorsets set sail at 3:45pm for the continent in “fine and hot weather”.

The war diary for the 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment is available as a pdf from the Public Records Office. A summary of events is available in printed form as The History of the Dorsetshire Regiment 1914-1919.

I am not going to regurgitate this war diary word-for-word. I am, however, going to post a daily summary of events as it would have appeared to Frank to commemorate the centenary.

A frank update

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A pause of 3 years on this project elicits many excuses: The old blog host closing down, moving house to the middle of nowhere, starting a business, having a baby. Life can get in the way of the best meaning projects.

There’s lots still to tidy up, design and layout, but I’ve managed to import the old Posterous blog into this new WordPress site without too much trouble.

I’ve been meaning to resurrect this project in time for the 100 year anniversary of the start of the First World War. I’ve left it very late. Nevertheless, we pick up where I left off in 2011, with Frank writing to his sister exactly 100 years ago.