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”.
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.
Many thanks for your welcome letter which I thought was about time. Pleased to hear that you enjoyed yourself and also had lovely weather. Sorry to hear about May not being able to go with you, I hope her mother is better by now and ask her to drop me a few lines for I am still waiting dont forget to tell her. Is that what they are saying go to Ireland for a “quiet holiday”, you should come over here there is just as much excitement here as any where else. Give my love to all at home and tell Aunt I was ever so pleased to hear from her and glad to see they are alright. We are off on Friday to the War, we don’t know where we are going to the ship is ready for us and it is rumoured we are going to Belgium but I cant say exactly where we are off to. We have been working as hard as we can, getting every think ready for when we go on Friday. Now Till dont get worrying about me for I shall be alright, and I hope you will. Now Till when you send that photo and write to me which I hope will be soon (put the address 1st Dorset Reg Belfast) or elsewhere, and what will find me. Yes Till drop her a few lines for I am sure Jess would be pleased to hear from you, and she would answer your letter and only be too please to. Her address is 14 Maralin Street, Antrim Road Belfast, now dont forget to write to her soon. Now Till I think this is all the news at present hoping you are in the pink Tell Aunt I will drop her a few lines soon so will now conclude hoping to hear from you soon.
I remain
Your loving Brother
Bid
xxxxx
Britain enters the War
On the 4th August 1914 Germany invaded Belgium. Great Britain responded with an ultimatum, which expired, unanswered, at 11 o’clock GMT. As a result, the two nations were at war.
Immediate plans for mobilisations had been carefully planned out in the War Book: a series of documents meticulously detailing plans for mobilisation.
In Belfast the Commanding Officer (CO) of 1st Bn Dorsets, Lieutenant Colonel Louis Jean Bols, received his mobilisation orders at 5:39pm on the 4th August.
Bols was the son of a Belgian Diplomat, held dual nationality and spoke several languages. He was an experienced soldier, having fought in the Boer War, and the Dorsets benefitted from his expert leadership. We’ll hear more about the daring exploits of Bols later on.
Lieutenant Colonel Louis Jean Bols, CO 1st Bn Dorsets
In a flurry of activity deployments were recalled from around Ireland and reservists, usually experienced soldiers who had completed their active service, flooded into Victoria Barracks. Over half the strength of most British army battalions were reserve soldiers (590 for the 1st Dorsets). Officers were dispatched to Dorchester to collect more men. On the 9th-12th August the Battalion was sent on training and firing exercises, while the transport officers arranged passage to the front.
Frank wrote his letter on the day the Battalion attended a service at Belfast Cathedral. It’s hard to imagine the excitement and trepidation that Frank felt. The entire country was caught up in an outpouring of patriotic sentiment. The next day, on 14th August at 8am sharp, the Battalion loaded its transport on the the SS Antony and, at 3.25pm, she set sail in “very fine and hot” weather. The Dorsets were going to war.
SS Antony, later sunk by German U-boat UC-48 in March 1917
All aboard for Belgium
Let us turn to the newspapers to get some idea of public opinion about the forthcoming war.
Our part in the war, for the present at any rate, is intended to be purely naval, and it is greatly to be desired that it should remain so. For the present we imagine, and we should hope later also, it is unlikely that anything will be done on land by this country.
To understand this viewpoint we must look first look at the situation in France. After their humiliating defeat at the hands of Germany in 1871, France built a standing army of about 800,000 men, which was augmented by over 2 million conscripts during August’s mobilisation, and began the war by invading Germany in a bid to regain its lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. This was called Plan 17. The French military leaders were convinced that the bulk of Germany’s troops were lined up directly across the French-Germany border and that fighting would be concentrated here.
In pre-war plans, Britain was asked to stand between the French left flank and the sea to the north, defending, what their leaders assumed would be, a possible secondary attack by Germany. Britain had a small expeditionary force, initially numbering about 80,000 men, rising to around 150,000 in subsequent months. Germany’s army, after mobilisation, exceeded 3 million men.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was simply not equipped to deal with a full on assault by Germany’s superior numbers, and so was not expected to fulfil a central role in war on land.
Leaving his girl behind
Frank left behind his girlfriend, Jessica, in Belfast. In a thinly veiled attempt to join his loved ones together he asks his sister to write to her. He was never to see either of them again.
I have looked at the Irish Census records for 1911 to see if I could find out more about her, including a surname. The people living at 14 Maralin Street at that time do not match her name – the occupier is listed as Annie Patter but, of course, things can change in just 3 years. We’ll look at this street in a later post. Maralin Street is no longer in existence, although a Maralin Place still exists in the same area.
So on August 14th Frank left Britain, I think we can assume, for the very first time. He never returned.
Next week
The BEF moves into position in northern Belgium; a mining town by the name of Mons is their destination.
Alexander Frank Crawshaw in training at Blackdown Camp in 1912
My great great uncle, Alexander Frank Crawshaw, was born in Brixton in 1893 and died 21 years later on 11th February 1915 amid the mud and carnage of The Western Front. Using transcripts from his letters, photographs and other sources, I hope to uncover more about Frank, or “Biddy” as he was known to his family, and explore the world he lived in.
A collection of 32 letters was transcribed by my great uncle, Geoff Debnam in 1998. I have a copy of that transcription, while the originals remain in his ownership in Wellington, New Zealand. I am entirely to blame for any poor typing or factual errors. Spelling and punctuation remains as it is in the transcripts. I have referenced in Geoff’s notes where I think it helps.
His son, Carl, kindly scanned in the incredible photos of Frank and his comrades. I will tell the story of how the letters came to be found at a later date, but I think that it is fair to say that these were kept private by Mable, my Great Grandmother on my mother’s side. She, like countless other sisters, mothers, girlfriends and wives around Britain, was deeply affected by Frank’s death and never really came to terms with it. Most of the surviving letters were sent to her, but there are a couple to his Aunt Webster as well.
I will certainly make lots of factual errors along the way but hope that people reading this blog (if I am lucky enough) will be able to correct and educate me with their own knowledge of the period. I want to encourage your comments and welcome any correspondence. I hope you enjoy what you find, and I hope this inspires you to delve into your family’s past. You never know what secrets you might find…
Frank joins the Army
The first letter finds Frank living at Blackdown in September 1912. Blackdown camp was a large army camp near Aldershot in Hampshire. It is now part of the infamous Deepcut barracks. The Dorsetshire Regiment was based there from 1911 through to 1913, until it was posted to Victoria Barracks in Belfast.
The Dorsetshire Regiment (or the Dorsets as it was more commonly known) was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot.
Most regiments in the British Army, at the beginning of the war in 1914, had 2 battalions; each of which generally contained 1,007 men (although once a regiment was engaged in the field it rarely achieved its full complement). There were usually four companies to a battalion. Each company of 227 men was further split into four platoons and then into sections of 12 men and a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO). Other parts of a 1914 battalion included the Battalion HQ, machine gun section and transport. Frank belonged to E company (Coy) in the 1st Battalion (Bn) of the Dorsetshire Regiment.
By the time we meet Frank, in a letter to his sister Mabel in September 1912, he had been in the Army for 18 months. He joined the Dorsets after passing a medical in Dorchester on the 11th February 1911 and was enlisted a few days later on the 16th of February.
Frank had been promoted to Lance Corporal on 28th January 1912. A Lance Corporal was the first step up the ladder from the rank of Private. It was an unofficial position; the holder could be demoted at any time by their commanding officer. Essentially they made sure that their small group, or tent, completed tasks assigned to them; thinks like polishing boots and tidying up. They were also usually second-in-charge of a rifle or machine gun group. A Lance Corporal was distinguished by a single chevron stripe worn on the arm. Frank would have been addressed as “Corporal”.
Next week
I am going to look at his first letter to Mable and look at Frank’s background; where he came from, and the various members of his family.
I’ve been doing some research on my old Great Great Uncle Frank. Here are some scans of photographs taken by an officer who was in D Company of the 1st Btn Dorsets I found on Flickr. Credit to zombikombi1959 for the images.
