Lancaster in the Great War by John Fidler

Author:John Fidler [Fidler, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Military, World War I, British
ISBN: 9781473846128
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2016-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

A portrait of Frederick C. Happold DSO courtesy of Bishop Wordsworth’s School, Salisbury where he was headmaster.

Engine Room Artificer G.H.F. McCarten, serving in HMS Invincible, won the navy’s Distinguished Service Medal at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. A former pupil of St Peter’s School, he had been an engineering apprentice at the Phoenix Foundry before entering the navy in 1899. Sadly he lost his life when Invincible was sunk at Jutland with all her crew. His fellow ERA David Wilson of Blades Street went down in the sister ship Indefatigable.

The rare Edward Medal was awarded to four of the rescuers after the explosion of the White Lund munitions factory in 1917. One of these, awarded to police sergeant Thomas Coppard was, in November 2014, acquired for the City Museum’s permanent collection, which also features the medals of the Order of the British Empire awarded to foreman Charles Taylor and telephonist Mary Wilkinson. (More on the factory explosion in Chapter 8)

In late 1917 five more Lancaster men were awarded the Military Medal. Private A. Pattison of Willow Lane, who attended St Mary’s School and then worked for the Post Office, was in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving with 20 Field Ambulance. Lance Corporal G. Mawson of Queen Street was with the King’s Own at Ypres. After leaving Sulyard Street School he was employed at Williamson’s Greenfield Mill. Two former Ripley pupils similarly honoured were Private J. Emmott of the East Lancashires and Sergeant T. Smith of the West Yorkshires, as was Sapper E.B. Rawlinson, formerly of St Thomas’s School.

A recipient of the DCM was Corporal W. Fuller of Dalton Square, serving with the King’s Scottish Light Infantry. A former pupil of Bowerham School, he had been employed at Williamson’s.

The Military Cross was awarded to two Old Lancastrians, Captain A. Bates of the East Lancashires and Captain J. Hunter of the King’s (Liverpool Regiment). After leaving the Royal Grammar School in 1902, he played for, and captained the Lancashire Rugby Union team for several seasons. He enlisted at the outbreak of war and was wounded in 1916.

Of the 5th King’s Own, Second Lieutenant Ronald Macdonald of Fern Bank, a former pupil of the Friends’ School, was awarded the MC in 1917 and a bar to it, and then a second bar in the following year, in each case ‘for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty’. The citation for the second bar states: ‘He went continually to and fro from Brigade Headquarters under very heavy shell fire, bringing most valuable intelligence, and although blown down several times by the shelling which killed and wounded a number of men, he stayed by them, tied up their wounds, and carried several of them to aid posts. His conduct was beyond all praise.’

Captain C.A. Hinton of Scotforth attended Bowerham School and was then articled to the architects Austin & Paley before joining the Royal Engineers, with whom he won the MC.

Private E.C. Nicholls, of the King’s Own, formerly a pupil at the National School and later a dental mechanic, received the MM, while a Serbian Silver Medal was awarded to Private W.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.