Doncaster Times Issue 4 - March 2018
Doncaster Times is a biannual publication of articles and pieces researched and written by members of the public, volunteers and professionals. For its first four years, the magazine will feature articles about Doncaster during the First World War, to commemorate the centenary. The most recent publication is available in hard copy only, available to purchase from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Doncaster Central Library and the Tourist Information Centre.
Doncaster Times is a biannual publication of articles and pieces researched and written by members of the public, volunteers and professionals. For its first four years, the magazine will feature articles about Doncaster during the First World War, to commemorate the centenary. The most recent publication is available in hard copy only, available to purchase from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Doncaster Central Library and the Tourist Information Centre.
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DONCASTER<br />
TIMES<br />
ISSUE 4: MARCH <strong>2018</strong><br />
AT HOME,<br />
AT WAR
Contents<br />
Editorial and subscription 2<br />
Daughters of <strong>Doncaster</strong> - ‘Lady Bountiful’: 3<br />
Julia Warde-Aldam<br />
Queen’s Own Yorkshire Dragoons Memorial Project 6<br />
update and appeal<br />
Wartime School Days part 2 8<br />
Spotlight- Herbert John Darley 11<br />
Clarence Jepson: Artist and Soldier 12<br />
The Language of the Trenches 16<br />
Did you know? 19<br />
Cricket in <strong>Doncaster</strong> during the Great War 20<br />
Yorkshire Naturalists’ at War: 22<br />
Capt. Herbert Vincent Corbett
DONCASTER TIMES<br />
AT HOME, AT WAR<br />
•<br />
•<br />
ISSUE 4: MARCH <strong>2018</strong><br />
Uncover the past that shaped our future<br />
www.doncaster1914-18.org.uk<br />
•<br />
1 •
-------------------------- Editorial --------------------------<br />
Welcome to the fourth edition of<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong>. Once again<br />
we tell the story of a ‘Daughter<br />
of <strong>Doncaster</strong>’. Julia Warde-Aldam of<br />
Hooton Pagnell Hall played a role in the<br />
war effort both at home where she cared<br />
for wounded soldiers and by sending<br />
war comforts to soldiers on the Front.<br />
Lynsey Slater shows how the estate<br />
records at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives and the<br />
local newspapers at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Local<br />
Studies helped to uncovered Julia’s story.<br />
We have our regular update on the HLF funded<br />
project, carried out by the <strong>Doncaster</strong> and<br />
District Heritage Association (DDHA). Since<br />
the restoration of the Queen’s Own Yorkshire<br />
Dragoons memorial has been completed and<br />
the names of the officers and soldiers have been<br />
revealed, the research into their lives and war<br />
records is now able to take place and a service of<br />
re-dedication is planned for October this year.<br />
Trench warfare was a large part of the First World<br />
War with dreadful living conditions for the men<br />
involved. Life in the trenches brought about new<br />
diseases and conditions never known before. The<br />
First World War saw the introduction of many new<br />
words and phrases, such as Trench Fever and<br />
Trench Foot; these were just some of the words<br />
which became part of the English language.<br />
In this edition our ‘spotlight’ is on a Conisbrough<br />
soldier, Herbert John Darley, who served in the<br />
King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and his story<br />
as a POW is part of ‘The Road to Victory’ exhibition<br />
at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum. Herbert survived the war<br />
but many didn’t. When a soldier is recorded as<br />
dying at a young age it often makes us think about<br />
what they might have achieved in their lives if<br />
they had lived. Capt. Herbert Vincent Corbett and<br />
Pte. Clarence Jepson died at 25 and 21 years old<br />
respectively and their deaths saw the loss of a<br />
talented young scientist and of a budding artist.<br />
We look at life at home and, even with the<br />
strictures of wartime, some leisure pursuits,<br />
such as cricket, were still very much in evidence.<br />
We conclude our look at the school log books,<br />
held at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives, which tell how the<br />
pupils got involved in fundraising for the war<br />
effort. The children were let out of school to<br />
see ‘Egbert’ the tank when it came to <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Market Place as part of a national fundraising<br />
initiative in April 1918. The wartime school log<br />
books conclude with a look at how the schools<br />
celebrated peace in late 1918 and early 1919.<br />
I’d like to thank all our contributors, Lynsey Slater,<br />
John and Sue Adam, Jean Walker, Liz Astin, Enid<br />
Foster, Philip Scowcroft and Colin Howes. Also<br />
thanks to Jude Holland, Charles Kelham and<br />
Mark Warde-Norbury for their assistance with<br />
the production of <strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong> edition 4.<br />
Helen R Wallder<br />
By continuing to purchase copies of <strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong>, now and in the<br />
future, you are ensuring the continuation of this journal. Why not take out<br />
a subscription and receive your copy as soon as it is published?<br />
Subscription to<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />
If you would like to ensure you receive a copy of<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong> we have decided to offer a<br />
subscription service, where your copy will be<br />
posted out to you.<br />
One year subscription<br />
(two issues) inc UK p&p £9.50<br />
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(two issues) inc International p&p £15.00<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong> is available to buy at <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Local Studies Library, <strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives,<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum, Cusworth Hall and the<br />
Tourist Information Centre, High Street.<br />
Alternatively, if you would like a reminder email<br />
to keep you informed of the publication of each<br />
new issue please contact the Local Studies staff<br />
on: 01302 734307 or email:<br />
helen.wallder@doncaster.gov.uk and we can<br />
add you to an information distribution list.<br />
The next edition of<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />
will be published<br />
in November <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Please send any contributions to<br />
me at: <strong>Doncaster</strong> Local Studies<br />
Library, Waterdale, <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
DN1 3JE or email me by<br />
15 September <strong>2018</strong> at:<br />
helen.wallder@doncaster.gov.uk<br />
•<br />
2 •
Daughters of<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
‘Lady Bountiful’:<br />
Julia Warde-Aldam<br />
When Julia Warde-Aldam died in July 1931,<br />
the Sheffield Independent of 22 July<br />
described her as ‘Lady Bountiful’. Similar<br />
phrases appeared in the articles about her death in<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> papers, describing her as ‘The Lady of<br />
the Manor’ and ‘The Lady of Hooton’. Julia’s death<br />
reverberated around <strong>Doncaster</strong> and the wider district<br />
through the many organisations and people she<br />
had supported throughout her long life. A stranger<br />
to no one, the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Chronicle of 24 July 1931<br />
declared that Julia ‘must have opened more bazaars<br />
and fêtes and flower shows than any other local figure<br />
– and always was she at her best in these efforts.’<br />
Julia and nurses at Hooton Pagnell Hall during the First World<br />
War, by kind permission of Mark Warde-Norbury<br />
Sarah Julia Warde was born in 1857, the daughter<br />
of Reverend William Warde of Hooton Pagnell Hall.<br />
After her marriage to William Wright Aldam in 1878,<br />
the couple took on the surname ‘Warde-Aldam’<br />
and split their time between Hooton Pagnell Hall,<br />
William’s estate Frickley Hall, and their other estates<br />
at Healey, Northumberland and Ederline, Argyllshire.<br />
Julia was well known in the local area as a<br />
philanthropist. Perhaps her greatest dedication was<br />
to St Christopher’s Home for Waifs and Strays. The<br />
orphanage particularly struggled during the First World<br />
War. In one letter reproduced in the Sheffield Daily<br />
Telegraph, 2 November 1917, Julia wrote ‘we ask all<br />
our friends, and the friends of little children, to send us<br />
gifts of some sort. Food and housekeeping are very<br />
expensive and difficult during these war days, and yet<br />
the needs of our large family of 30 at St. Christopher’s<br />
Home are just the same as ever, though alas the cost<br />
is more. Please remember that our society has many<br />
3 •<br />
•
Julia with convalescing soldiers during<br />
the First World War, by kind permission<br />
of Mark Warde-Norbury<br />
soldiers’ orphans under its care.’ Despite the difficulties<br />
in running the Home, her commitment never wavered.<br />
During the First World War, Julia used her excellent<br />
organisational skills and local influence for the good<br />
of the war effort. She opened up her home, Hooton<br />
Pagnell Hall, as a convalescent hospital for wounded<br />
soldiers as well as administering two war working<br />
parties and a Prisoner of War fund! Julia served at<br />
Hooton Pagnell as the Commandant, Matron and<br />
General Administrator, where soldiers from all over the<br />
world were treated for a variety of ailments including<br />
gunshot wounds, fevers and jaundice. Julia maintained<br />
close friendships with many of the soldiers after they<br />
left the hospital, and wrote to their families during their<br />
time recovering. Some of her letters were delivered to<br />
the soldiers at the Front or their homes after they had<br />
been invalided out of the Army. Lillian Burgin, from New<br />
South Wales, Australia, was one of Julia’s many pen<br />
pals. Lillian had been told about Hooton Pagnell Hall,<br />
and about Julia, through her husband’s letters. In them,<br />
he described Hooton Pagnell as his ‘English home.’<br />
Lillian’s husband had sent her photographs of the Hall<br />
and the nurses during his recovery. He was sent back<br />
into the front lines and was killed in action. Lillian wrote<br />
to Julia to let her know the sad news. Julia’s work at<br />
the hospital didn’t go unnoticed. She was awarded the<br />
Royal Red Cross 2nd Class and an MBE in recognition<br />
of her service during the war. Later she became an<br />
Associate of the Royal Red Cross and made a Lady<br />
of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.<br />
As well as being a dedicated community organiser,<br />
Julia was a devoted mother to her two sons William St<br />
Andrew and Ralph. When William St Andrew Warde-<br />
Aldam was seriously wounded in 1914, soon after<br />
he arrived at the Front, Julia went to be with him in<br />
hospital in London. When the circumstances of his<br />
injuries were reported in the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Chronicle 23<br />
December 1914, the article stated that to <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
people, ‘the name of Warde-Aldam is a household<br />
word’. Julia also had a keen interest in politics, serving<br />
as the president of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> and Don Valley<br />
Women’s Conservative Association for many years.<br />
She instilled this interest in politics into her sons, who<br />
both stood as Conservative candidates in elections<br />
and also continued her charitable work. After the<br />
death of her husband, William, Julia took on the<br />
support of the Yorkshire Institution for the Deaf, and<br />
Ralph in turn continued to support it after her death.<br />
In July 1931, Julia entertained over 500 elderly<br />
residents from Mexborough at the Hall for a day<br />
out. She had a seizure and died two days later.<br />
She had been suffering from a long illness for<br />
some time, which had kept her from many of her<br />
organisations and commitments. The Chronicle<br />
of July 24 described this as apt, stating ‘It seemed<br />
in keeping that her last semi-public appearance<br />
should have been in the role of hostess – a role<br />
she played with so much engaging sweetness.’<br />
Julia’s funeral was held at the All Saints Church in<br />
Hooton Pagnell, which proved far too small for the large<br />
amount of people who came to pay their last respects.<br />
Representatives from many local organisations that<br />
she had supported throughout her life were present.<br />
These included the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Infirmary, <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
•<br />
4 •
Conservative Association, <strong>Doncaster</strong> Y.M.C.A.,<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, St Christopher’s<br />
Home, Yorkshire School for the Deaf, Brodsworth<br />
Main Ambulance, Women’s Luncheon Club, South<br />
Elmsall British Legion, the Warde-Aldam Cottage<br />
Hospital, Mexborough Old Folks’ Treat Committee and<br />
the Mexborough Rotary Club. Among the mourners<br />
were families from the surrounding country estates,<br />
including her close friend Lord Halifax, of Hickleton<br />
Hall, Mr and Mrs Cooke-Yarborough of Wadworth Hall<br />
and Mr and Mrs Skipwith of Loversall Hall. Nurses<br />
who had served with Julia at Hooton during the war<br />
attended, alongside the Master and the Secretary of<br />
the Badsworth Hunt. Eight estate workers carried the<br />
coffin, six from Hooton Pagnell, one from Frickley<br />
and one from Healey. Julia is buried in the Hooton<br />
Pagnell Churchyard alongside other members of<br />
the Warde-Aldam family and their descendants.<br />
Julia had a lifelong commitment to the improvement<br />
of <strong>Doncaster</strong>. The <strong>Doncaster</strong> Gazette described<br />
in their ‘Woman’s World’ section on 24 July<br />
1931 that the grief felt covered the whole of<br />
the wider <strong>Doncaster</strong> district. Describing Julia<br />
as ‘Beloved of All’, it focuses, appropriately, on<br />
her contribution to women’s organisations.<br />
‘<strong>Doncaster</strong> and district has lost<br />
a gracious lady. Many women’s<br />
organisations have lost a leader<br />
whose enthusiasm never flagged,<br />
who was ever a source of inspiration<br />
and who showed others how to<br />
work in charity’s sweet name.’<br />
You can find out more about Julia in an exhibition<br />
exploring the fortunes of the borough’s country houses<br />
‘Estate of War: <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s Country Houses 1914-18’.<br />
The exhibition is currently open at Cusworth Hall.<br />
Julia at Hooton Pagnell Hall during the First World War,<br />
by kind permission of Mark Warde-Norbury<br />
See Julia’s original objects and discover how the First<br />
World War changed the lives of those upstairs and<br />
downstairs in <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s country houses.<br />
Lynsey Slater<br />
Project Researcher <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18<br />
For more information see:<br />
www.doncaster1914-18.org.uk<br />
If you have a family story from the First World War to share, please visit<br />
www.doncaster1914-18.org.uk<br />
or contact the <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 project team at:<br />
info@doncaster1914-18.org.uk<br />
You can also browse many stories about local people and places on<br />
the website, and find out more about a relative or place near you.<br />
•<br />
5 •
The Queen’s Own<br />
Yorkshire Dragoons<br />
Memorial Project<br />
Update and Appeal<br />
In the last project update the restoration work<br />
was reaching completion. While waiting for<br />
the names on the memorial to be revealed<br />
researchers were busy discovering that the<br />
Regimental Guidon was in storage at <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Museum together with a the full dress uniform<br />
of Captain L.P. Clay, the first officer to be named<br />
on the memorial. Other artefacts located in the<br />
Museum to date include the ceremonial helmet<br />
of Captain Clay and a photograph album, which<br />
was donated by Lady Mabel Smith, containing<br />
numerous photographs of the officers and<br />
men of the Dragoons during the First World<br />
War. Hopefully the album will help to provide<br />
images of some of those researched and<br />
whose names are listed on the memorial.<br />
Once the restoration of the memorial was completed<br />
and the men named could be identified, work began<br />
researching and compiling personal biographies<br />
of the 45 officers and men who made the ultimate<br />
sacrifice during the conflict. Work on this part of<br />
the project is still ongoing and with the help of the<br />
staff of <strong>Doncaster</strong> and other local studies libraries,<br />
the staff of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 project and<br />
the DDHA, volunteer researchers have identified<br />
all but one of the men named (Pt. T. Evans).<br />
Approximately 80% of the biographies are nearing<br />
completion. Each of these biographies include the<br />
place and year of birth, the soldier’s occupation<br />
before service, their place of enlistment, their place<br />
and date of death and where they are buried or<br />
memorialised, together with photographs where<br />
available. Research into 3 of the men named who<br />
transferred to the Royal Flying Corps is being carried<br />
out by members of the local ATC squadron as part<br />
of their Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme work.<br />
Names on the memorial, by kind permission of John Adam<br />
officers too numerous to mention here.<br />
During the autumn of 2017 there have been two<br />
classes of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Minster Literacy project<br />
that have used the restoration as a lesson that has<br />
enabled the students to understand how the First<br />
World War affected the people of the U.K. both then<br />
and now, and to use the memorial as an example<br />
of how the conflict is remembered in 2017.<br />
In October two volunteers visited the Yeomanry<br />
Museum in Fulford Barracks York where Capt.<br />
T. Miller showed them their small display. The<br />
volunteers gave Capt. Miller photographs of the<br />
memorial, of some of the men named, and of<br />
officers and men taken during active service.<br />
It is hoped that the descendants of the men<br />
named on the memorial and the officers that<br />
were present at the original service of dedication<br />
can be traced and that they will be able to attend<br />
a re-dedication service which is to be held on<br />
Captain L P Clay’s uniform, by kind permission of John Adam<br />
Running parallel with the research of the men<br />
named on the memorial is research into the<br />
officers that were present at the original service<br />
of dedication held in 1921. These include Major<br />
General the Earl of Scarbrough GBE KCB VD, the<br />
commanding officer Col. W. Mackenzie-Smith<br />
D.S.O., Major E.F.L.Wood (later Lord Halifax)<br />
and Capt. M Shepherd M.C. together with other<br />
•<br />
6 •
Men named on the Queen’s Own<br />
Yorkshire Dragoons memorial are:<br />
Captain Lionel Pilleau Clay<br />
Lt Frank Alford Kingswell<br />
2nd Lt. William Hepton<br />
2nd Lt. Frederick William Nisbet<br />
2nd Lt. Lindsay Leon de Cram Marsham Rae<br />
2nd Lt. William Moorwood Staniforth<br />
2nd Lt. Gordon Ivor Wilson<br />
SSM George Thomas Moss 3457<br />
Sgt. Arnold Johnson 175027<br />
The memorial after restoration, by kind permission of<br />
John Adam<br />
10 October <strong>2018</strong>. Capt. Miller will provide a<br />
military guard of honour for the re-dedication<br />
service. Following the service it is hoped that<br />
there will be a small reception together with<br />
an exhibition of work relative to the project.<br />
If you can help to trace the descendants of the<br />
men named on the memorial please contact<br />
John via the details below.<br />
To date, volunteers have spent over 450 hours<br />
working on the project and if you would like<br />
to get involved please contact John Adam.<br />
John Adam<br />
Chairman of <strong>Doncaster</strong> and District<br />
Heritage Association<br />
T: 01302 868774<br />
E: johnadam1@talktalk.net<br />
www.doncasterminster.co.uk<br />
The ceremonial helmet of<br />
Captain L.P. Clay, by kind<br />
permission of John Adam<br />
L/Cpl. Ernest Bescoby 175498<br />
L/Cpl. Walter Biddles 175782<br />
L/Cpl. Charles Cartwright 175305<br />
L/Cpl. Harold Reginald Crapper 175301<br />
L/Cpl. Harold Dobson 175220<br />
L/Cpl. Clifford Newton 175284<br />
Pte. Christopher Armitage 3017<br />
Pte. Harry Axup 3839<br />
Pte. Thomas Bagnall 3269<br />
Pte. Seth Bell GS/15708<br />
Pte. Colin Hedley Bishop 2763<br />
Trumpeter Joseph Brearton 175588<br />
Pte. Percy Calvert 175790<br />
Pte. Samuel Dickins 145671<br />
Pte. T Evans<br />
Pte. Ramsden Farrar 3189<br />
Pte. George Ernest Garland 400129 RAMC<br />
Pte. George Gosling 175671<br />
Pte. Charles Greenwood 3786<br />
Pte. Harold Slowen Hibberd 175512<br />
Pte. James Hodgson 3637<br />
Pte. Cecil Swift Jessop 2957<br />
Pte. Horace Mayhew 176175<br />
Pte. Jesse Ogden 175832<br />
Pte. William Parsons 175286<br />
Pte. George Richardson 175667<br />
Pte. Charles Ellis Moorhead Smith 3599<br />
Pte. Stanley Smith 175738<br />
Pte. Albert John Smith 175682<br />
Pte. Fred Tate 175607<br />
Pte. Ernest Taylor 175617<br />
Pte. Tom Taylor 2499<br />
Pte. Bernard Walker 175680<br />
Pte. Albert Walters 3887<br />
Pte. Cecil Weatherley 175295<br />
Pte. James Williams GS/15832<br />
•<br />
7 •
Wartime<br />
School Days<br />
Part 2<br />
I<br />
n my work as a volunteer with the <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
1914-18 project, I came across the school<br />
log books for <strong>Doncaster</strong> and its surrounding<br />
area during the First World War. These records<br />
are held at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives and I instantly<br />
realised what a fascinating source of information<br />
they were. This article looks at how the war had a<br />
very diverse effect on the communities across the<br />
borough. Schools in rural areas carried on much<br />
as they had done before the war, with the war<br />
hardly ever mentioned in the log books, whereas<br />
schools in <strong>Doncaster</strong> centre and its immediate<br />
suburbs were considerably affected by the war.<br />
The Three Rs<br />
Religion played a major role in the school curriculum,<br />
as did needlework for girls and gardening for boys;<br />
this had been taught long before the war but played<br />
an important role during the war years. In 1918 Balby<br />
Girls School knitted 12 pairs mittens, 14 scarves and<br />
12 pairs of socks for soldiers, while the pupils at the<br />
National Parish Infant School made cushions and<br />
pillows for St. George’s Hospital.<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Gazette Directory & Year Book 1915<br />
(Local Studies collection. L914.2 DON)<br />
The rural school at Frickley with Clayton saw a boy<br />
aged 12 given exemption from school, granted by the<br />
West Riding County Council, for war-time agricultural<br />
employment. The following day another boy took<br />
his place. This may have been on a rota basis so<br />
children did not miss too much schooling. Before the<br />
war, children often missed school to help with the<br />
harvest, pea and potato picking. In 1917 two staff<br />
and 17 girls from Balby Girls School, volunteered<br />
to work on the land during the Easter holidays.<br />
An extract from Stirling Street Junior Boys School logbook for<br />
1914 (<strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives collection SR20/1/1)<br />
An extract from Beechfield Junior Girls School logbook for 1916<br />
(<strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives collection SR79/1/2)<br />
8 •<br />
•
Nurses of the Arnold<br />
Auxiliary Hospital, for<br />
which many schools<br />
raised funds<br />
In 1915 Arksey School acquired half an acre of<br />
land for a garden. Timetables were adapted,<br />
for gardening, especially in good weather, with<br />
permission being given by the government<br />
and the West Riding County Council.<br />
Nature walks were taken on a regular basis to<br />
provide fresh air and exercise. The route taken by<br />
Denaby Main Girls School was through Conisbrough,<br />
Levitt Hagg, and Sprotborough, returning through<br />
the woods to Cadeby and back to Denaby –<br />
quite a ramble! At the request of the Board of<br />
Education, older pupils were asked to collect<br />
horse chestnuts (conkers) to be forwarded for<br />
munition purposes – Britain’s new secret weapon!<br />
Cookery and laundry work classes were held<br />
at the New Technical College for older girls<br />
from a number of schools, although these were<br />
sometimes cancelled owing to lack of staff.<br />
Sports were on the school curriculum with interschool<br />
swimming competitions taking place, when<br />
the baths were not being requisitioned for troops,<br />
as well as cricket matches. School trips to the<br />
museum and cinemas to see patriotic films are<br />
recorded in school logbooks. Visiting lecturers<br />
gave talks on subjects as diverse as different<br />
type of nuts, Shakespeare and Temperance.<br />
Fundraising<br />
Fundraising was a main priority during the war and<br />
even though times were very hard it was amazing<br />
how generous the pupils’ parents were. The items<br />
collected were sent to the troops on the front line<br />
but also went to services for wounded servicemen<br />
at home. Grey Friars Primary School held “A Pound<br />
Collection”, which entailed collecting one pound<br />
in weight of goods for St George’s Hospital for<br />
wounded soldiers, and “yielded much variety from<br />
each child”. Parents of the pupils at Beechfield<br />
Infants School were asked to contribute a penny<br />
each towards a ward for disabled sailors in Queen<br />
Mary’s Star & Garter Home in Richmond. Also in<br />
1916 the school raised £1 10s for the Plum Pudding<br />
Fund, and a card was received from Sir Douglas<br />
Haig, thanking the children. In 1917 Beechfield<br />
Infant School collected a large quantity of fruit,<br />
vegetables and eggs for the Arnold Auxiliary<br />
Hospital while Grey Friars Primary School raised<br />
6 shillings for the YMCA Rest Hut for Soldiers.<br />
In 1915 Denaby Main Infant School made handicrafts<br />
to raise funds to send Christmas boxes to soldiers.<br />
A year later, in 1916, <strong>Doncaster</strong> National Girls School<br />
collected 31 shillings to provide eggs for the Arnold<br />
VAD Hospital, and 5 shillings-worth of eggs to<br />
Wheatley Military Hospital, and a shilling a week for<br />
the National Egg Collection for the wounded. The<br />
girls also raised 16 shillings for the Overseas Club<br />
fund to provide tobacco for soldiers at the front.<br />
Every school contributed to War Savings Certificates<br />
and in 1917 Auckley School awarded its pupils a<br />
one-day holiday to mark the fact their contributions<br />
had passed £250. In 1918 an address was<br />
given to pupils at Balby Girls School who were<br />
encouraged “to invest all the money they can”. In<br />
1919 <strong>Doncaster</strong> National Girls School awarded<br />
a prize to the pupil with the most certificates.<br />
Egbert the Tank<br />
By 1918, the cost of the war was taking its toll on<br />
national funds and national fundraising efforts<br />
were stepped up. This year saw a tank moved<br />
around the country as a focal point for fundraising,<br />
to encourage people to invest in war bonds. In<br />
April 1918 ‘Egbert’ the Tank came to <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
and was displayed in the market place. Schools<br />
closed to allow the children to visit the tank,<br />
which caused lots of excitement. The town or<br />
city that raised the most as part of this particular<br />
•<br />
9 •
Egbert the Tank in <strong>Doncaster</strong> Market Place during Tank Bank<br />
Week, April 1918. (Local Studies collection)<br />
scheme received Egbert and West Hartlepool<br />
were its proud new owners and ‘Egbert’ could be<br />
viewed there until it was melted down to help with<br />
the war effort during the Second World War.<br />
Holidays were given to celebrate victories during the<br />
war such as the bravery of the West Riding troops<br />
at the Battle of Cambrai. Besides the usual religious<br />
holidays, there were the local ‘Feast Days’, Sunday<br />
School Treats Day, Empire Day, where in 1916 pupils<br />
at Beechfield Infant School, “saluted the flag and<br />
gave 3 hearty cheers for the King and Country”,<br />
whilst Balby Boys School made their own flags! In<br />
1916 for ‘Mayor’s Day’, Balby Girls School had two<br />
days holiday in honour of the election of the Mayor.<br />
Armistice and Peace<br />
When the end of the war finally came in November<br />
1918, some schools could not celebrate Victory as<br />
would be expected. The reason for this being that<br />
many schools had been closed since October due<br />
to the flu epidemic, with some not reopening until<br />
January 1919.<br />
An extra week’s holiday was added to the summer<br />
break in July and August 1919 when the Peace<br />
Celebrations took place. The celebrations took<br />
the form of sports, games and tea parties.<br />
The logbooks reveal that Peace Medals were<br />
presented by the Mayor to all pupils at Christ<br />
Church Girls School and Balby Girls School, while<br />
pupils at Conisbrough Boys School received<br />
the gift of a Peace Mug and Beechfield Infants<br />
were given a gift of <strong>Doncaster</strong> Butterscotch and<br />
a toy. I’m sure the butterscotch hasn’t survived<br />
but do you know if any of these items still exist<br />
or do you know of any other schools that gave<br />
its pupils objects to commemorate peace?<br />
If so, the <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 team would love to hear<br />
from you: Email: info@doncaster1914-18.org.<br />
uk or ring 01302 734293 and ask to speak to<br />
a member of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 team.<br />
Jean Walker<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 Project Volunteer<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Wesleyan Girls School 1916<br />
•<br />
10 •
S p otlight<br />
Herbert John Darley was born in<br />
Conisbrough in 1892. He worked as<br />
a farm labourer and lived at Morley<br />
Place, Conisbrough, with his family.<br />
During the First World War, Herbert served<br />
with the 7th battalion of the King’s Own<br />
Yorkshire Light Infantry. In April 1918 he<br />
was taken prisoner of by German forces and<br />
reported missing. On 1 December 1918,<br />
Herbert arrived at Dover with hundreds<br />
of other repatriated Prisoners of War,<br />
including other men of the King’s Own<br />
Yorkshire Light Infantry. He returned<br />
to his family in Conisbrough.<br />
Objects relating to Herbert’s experience of<br />
the First World War will be on display in ‘The<br />
Road to Victory; the King’s Own Yorkshire<br />
Light Infantry at War 1918-1919’, a brand new<br />
exhibition opening 12 January <strong>2018</strong> at the King’s<br />
Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Museum, within<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum, Chequer Road, DN1 2AE.<br />
If you know any more about Herbert, please<br />
get in touch with the <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18<br />
Project on info@doncaster1914-18.org.uk or by<br />
calling 01302 734293 and asking to speak to<br />
a member of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 team.<br />
In April 1919, Herbert attended a<br />
dinner at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Mansion House<br />
organised by the <strong>Doncaster</strong> and<br />
District Prisoners of War Fund. The<br />
Mayor, Richard Jackson, and the exmayor<br />
Abner Carr spoke at the event<br />
and the men were treated to a dinner<br />
and entertainment including singers,<br />
comedians, a ventriloquist, and a<br />
conjurer! Herbert married Lily Hanby<br />
in 1925 and the couple moved to<br />
Athelstane Road, Conisbrough while<br />
he worked as a Dolomite Quarryman.<br />
He died in <strong>Doncaster</strong> in 1977, aged 84.<br />
Lynsey Slater<br />
Project Researcher<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18<br />
Herbert’s programme from the dinner,<br />
part of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light<br />
Infantry Museum collection. <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Heritage Services.<br />
•<br />
11 •
•<br />
12 •
Clarence Jepson<br />
Artist and Soldier<br />
Clarence Jepson was born in <strong>Doncaster</strong> in<br />
1897 and was the eldest son of Richard and<br />
Lily Jepson (née Slack). He had 2 younger<br />
brothers, Charles Whitworth born 1902, and Leslie<br />
Vincent born 1908, and a sister Leila born 1911.<br />
His father, Richard, was born in Ashton under Lyne,<br />
Lancashire in 1878, though both of Richard’s parents,<br />
Charles and Jane Jepson, were originally from<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong>. By 1891 the family was back in <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
living at 25 Exchange Street. The census of that<br />
year records Richard working as a coach smith on<br />
the railways. 1897 saw Richard marry Lily Slack in<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> and registered as a railway wagon fitter.<br />
In the 1901 census, Clarence is listed as a three-year<br />
old and living with his parents at 53 Albert Street.<br />
By 1911 Lily and the children were with her<br />
parents at 93 St James Street, while Richard<br />
was in Calcutta, India as a railway engineering<br />
manager. Clarence is recorded as a 14 year old<br />
scholar; he attended school at Oxford Place<br />
School, <strong>Doncaster</strong>. After leaving school Clarence<br />
became a clerk in the Bentley Colliery offices. It<br />
must have been during this time that Clarence,<br />
aged 16, produced his many sketches of animals<br />
and portraits. Little is known of the how, who and<br />
where his subjects came from but all are signed<br />
‘C Jepson’ and the date 1913 is recorded.<br />
Clarence had changed from sketching to painting<br />
by 1916 when he produced images of vessels at<br />
sea and it is possible that when he joined the Royal<br />
Army Medical Corps (RAMC) on 1 November 1916,<br />
this change in situation gave him the opportunity to<br />
paint a subject not normally known to him. He was<br />
sent out to East Africa at the end of 1917 and was<br />
a ward orderly in a war hospital. As we know of no<br />
sketches or paintings being created by Clarence after<br />
the 1916 image, we can only guess that his work in<br />
the hospital left him little leisure time to continue<br />
his artistic pursuits. Dar es Salaam was the capital<br />
of German East Africa, and had already seen much<br />
conflict by the time Clarence arrived there as it was<br />
the first place to record British action in the war.<br />
from the middle of August 1916, until the German<br />
surrender on 4 September when British troops then<br />
entered Dar es Salaam and took control of the area.<br />
On 12 September 1916, Divisional G.H.Q moved<br />
to Dar es Salaam, and later No 3 East African<br />
Stationary Hospital was stationed there. The<br />
town became the chief sea base for movement<br />
of supplies and for the evacuation of the sick<br />
and wounded. The RAMC was involved in the<br />
treatment of the wounded as soon as possible<br />
because “A man’s chances of survival depended<br />
on how quickly his wound was treated; modern<br />
warfare was now producing vast numbers of<br />
casualties requiring treatment at the same time”. 1<br />
On 8 August 1914, H.M.S. Astraea shelled the<br />
German wireless station and boarded and disabled<br />
two merchant ships, the Feldmarschall and the<br />
König. The city was then shelled by the British Navy<br />
•<br />
13 •
There was in place a ‘Chain of Evacuation’<br />
starting with the Regimental Aid Post (RAP)<br />
and moving on to the Advance Dressing<br />
Station (ASD), Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS)<br />
and finally the movement to a hospital.<br />
Regimental Aid Post (RAP) was set up as close<br />
to the front line as possible and were staffed by<br />
the Battalion Medical Officer, his orderlies and<br />
stretcher-bearers. First aid was carried out, and<br />
then the wounded men were sent, either walking<br />
or being carried, usually by a member of their own<br />
unit, to the Advance Dressing Station (ASD).<br />
ASDs were set up by Field Ambulance (FA) with the<br />
main dressing stations about 1 mile further back.<br />
Their main aim was to treat the sick and wounded<br />
men from the RAPs and return them to their units<br />
on the front line where possible. If further treatment<br />
was required, they were collected by RAMC<br />
stretcher-bearers from the ASD. A ‘carry’ could be<br />
anything up to 4 miles over muddy or shell-pocked<br />
ground, sometimes in trenches or above ground.<br />
Casualty Clearing stations (CCS) facilitated the<br />
movement of casualties from the battlefields to<br />
the hospitals. They were usually situated about<br />
20 kilometres behind the lines, about half-way<br />
between the front line and the base area. This was<br />
the first line of surgery for the wounded. These<br />
were very large units and could have a minimum<br />
of 50 beds and 150 stretchers which enabled them<br />
to treat a minimum of 200 sick and wounded at<br />
any time. The station would consist of 7 Medical<br />
Officers, 1 Quartermaster and 77 other ranks,<br />
including a Dentist, a Pathologist, 7 members of<br />
the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing<br />
Service (QAIMNS) and other non-medical staff. Each<br />
station would have its own marquees and wooden<br />
huts for medical and surgical wards, kitchens,<br />
sanitation facilities, a dispensary, operating theatres,<br />
medical and surgical stores, an incineration plant,<br />
ablutions and mortuary, and accommodation for<br />
the nurses, officers and soldiers of the unit. There<br />
were 6 mobile X-Ray units with the British forces<br />
and these were sent to assist the CCSs during the<br />
main battles. Trailer X-Ray equipment was attached<br />
to the CCS units from very early on in the war.<br />
Stationery Hospitals were often used as specialist<br />
hospitals, for epidemics, gas victims, sick,<br />
neurasthenia cases or those suffering from VD.<br />
They were not stationery, despite the name and<br />
could move more easily than the CCSs. The<br />
hospitals were usually situated in civilian hospitals<br />
in large cities or towns, but were also equipped for<br />
fieldwork. There were 2 hospitals to every Division<br />
and each one could hold up to 400 casualties. One<br />
of the epidemics that would have been present at the<br />
hospital was the Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.<br />
It was the deadliest epidemic in modern history,<br />
infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide<br />
– about one-third of the planet’s population at<br />
the time – and killing an estimated 20-50 million<br />
victims. This death toll was more than had died<br />
during the First World War. Sadly, like many others,<br />
Clarence succumbed to influenza and died on the<br />
21st November 1918 at the Stationery Hospital, Dar<br />
es Salaam. He was just 21 years old and his death<br />
came about a matter of days after the conflict had<br />
ended. Dar es Saleem (Upanga Road) cemetery<br />
was opened as a war cemetery in <strong>March</strong> 1918 and<br />
has 231 Commonwealth burials, one of which is<br />
Clarence Jepson’s drawings from 1913<br />
(by kind permission of Alwyn Bean)<br />
•<br />
14 •
Pte. C Jepson RAMC. Clarence must<br />
have witness many sights, while serving<br />
in Dar es Salaam, which could have been<br />
the subject of his future paintings and<br />
sketches. If Clarence had survived the<br />
war who knows what his artistic flare<br />
may have produced and like many<br />
young men, who lost their lives in the<br />
conflict, their potential will never<br />
be known.<br />
Liz Astin<br />
Library Advisor (Heritage)<br />
References:<br />
1 website https://www.ramc-ww1.<br />
com/chain_of_evacuation.php<br />
Extract from <strong>Doncaster</strong> Gazette 20 December<br />
1918 (Local Studies collection), Letter from<br />
Imperial War Graves Commission regarding<br />
C Jepson’s grave in Dar Es Salaam cemetery,<br />
one of Clarence’s drawings and a postcard to<br />
his mother sent from Durban, South Africa,<br />
dated 9 October 1917 on his way to Dar Es<br />
Salaam (by kind permission of Alwyn Bean)<br />
•<br />
15 •
Cheshire regiment in trenches - By John Warwick Brooke -<br />
This is photograph Q 3990 from the collections of the Imperial<br />
War Museums (collection no. 1900-13), Public Domain,<br />
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116369<br />
The Language<br />
of the Trenches<br />
The First World War, or Great War as it was<br />
known at the time, left its mark on the<br />
English language with the introduction<br />
of a number of new words and terms.<br />
The changes in the type of warfare and<br />
developments in military technology brought with<br />
them new terms such as anti-aircraft, ‘Flanders<br />
mud’, shell shock, tank and Tailspin (see addendum<br />
at the end of the article).<br />
Types of ‘trench’ warfare had been evident<br />
throughout history; the most famous use of trench<br />
warfare, however, is on the Western Front in the<br />
First World War. By December 1914 trench boots<br />
and trench coats were invented to cope with these<br />
conditions.<br />
During the First World War soldiers at the front had<br />
to endure terrible living conditions, as well as being<br />
•<br />
16 •<br />
injured in battles, getting ill and contracting diseases.<br />
While in the trenches there was the constant noise<br />
of battle all around them, including explosions<br />
from shells and guns being fired. By early 1915 the<br />
physical and psychological effects of trench warfare<br />
were being felt when trench foot and trench fever<br />
were first recorded. Trench fever infected soldiers<br />
from both sides fighting in Flanders, France, Poland,<br />
Galicia, Italy, Salonika, Macedonia, Mesopotamia,<br />
Russia and Egypt. From early on in the War, men<br />
started succumbing to a mysterious illness. The<br />
initial symptoms of the illness were generally shortlived,<br />
but recovery was often slow. Up to a third<br />
of British troops seen by doctors during the war<br />
were thought to have been suffering with trench<br />
fever. Despite naming it, the doctors had no definite<br />
idea of what caused it. Only after the war was the<br />
cause discovered: bacteria carried by body lice.<br />
For days on end the soldiers were knee deep in<br />
mud, exposed to wet and damp conditions, unable<br />
to change their clothes and keep themselves clean.<br />
They often shared what small space they had with<br />
rats and lice. The lice were often compared to pale<br />
fawn coloured insects, which left blotchy red marks<br />
all over the body. They also created a sour, stale
smell. They fed on blood and caused severe itching<br />
but also carried diseases; trench fever being one and<br />
typhus another. If the skin was scratched while the<br />
lice were feeding, infected waste matter from the lice<br />
spread into small wounds, and they became infected.<br />
Some of the symptoms reported were: a loss of<br />
energy, a sudden fever, really bad headaches, skin<br />
rash, dizziness, sensitive shins and pain in the eyes.<br />
The lice would burrow their way into seams of the<br />
legs of trousers, particularly favouring the crotch<br />
area and back seams of shirts. Various methods<br />
were used to remove the lice. A lighted candle would<br />
be applied were the lice were at their thickest and<br />
this would make them pop like Chinese crackers. The<br />
downside was if not done correctly you could end<br />
up burning your clothes! On rare occasions when<br />
on a break from the front, all clothes were burnt and<br />
soldiers were re-issued with a suit of sterilised blue<br />
material and new uniforms given out. Where possible<br />
large vats of hot water were provided to give the men<br />
a bath and their clothes were washed in a delousing<br />
Cholera belt by kind permission of The<br />
National Archives UK @ Flickr Commons<br />
Addendum from Oxford English Dictionary website<br />
Anti-aircraft<br />
1914 Scotsman 25 Sept. 5/4. An antiaircraft<br />
gun of the Third Army Corps.<br />
Flanders Mud<br />
1914 N.Y. <strong>Times</strong> 14 Nov. 1/7. (headline)<br />
Soldiers crouch in Flanders mud while<br />
wind and shells shriek wildly overhead.<br />
Shell-shock<br />
1915 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 30 Jan. 192/2. Only<br />
one case of shell shock has come under my<br />
observation. A Belgian officer was the victim.<br />
A shell burst near him without inflicting any<br />
physical injury. He presented practically<br />
complete loss of sensation in the lower<br />
extremities and much loss of sensation.<br />
Tank<br />
1916 Rep. Comm. Imperial Def. 24 Dec.<br />
1915 13 Jan. (P.R.O.: ADM 116/1339) 8.<br />
The provision of these machines [sc. Land<br />
Cruisers] shall be entrusted to a small Executive<br />
Supply Committee, which, for secrecy, shall<br />
be called the ‘Tank Supply Committee’.<br />
First World War timeline<br />
Tailspin<br />
1916 Wing (Royal Navy Air Service) 7 July 8/2.<br />
The old hands will remember the clever flying<br />
of the former Felixstowe officer, then a Sub.,<br />
and will recall a certain Schneider tail spin that<br />
nearly cut short the career of the daring pilot.<br />
Trench Foot<br />
1915 Lancet 30 Jan. 230/1. The so-called<br />
cases of trench pain or trench feet usually<br />
have no tissue destruction, no blebs, and<br />
not even any discolouration of the skin.<br />
Trench Fever<br />
1915 Lancet 25 Sept. 734/1. The case of a<br />
twice-inoculated soldier suffering from trench<br />
fever, whose case was diagnosed as pyrexia.<br />
Trench Boots<br />
1914 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 5 Dec. 992/1. If the men<br />
had ‘trench boots’—very large boots made of<br />
canvas stuffed with straw to pull on over their<br />
boots—much preventable suffering and loss of<br />
men in the firing line would have been avoided.<br />
•<br />
17 •
machine. The eggs did still remain in the clothes<br />
and within hours body heat would hatch them out.<br />
Among the troops lice were known as ‘chats’. While<br />
the men were sitting trying to rid their clothes of a<br />
lice infestation, they were sat around ‘chatting’. This<br />
is where we get the phrase ‘to chat’ from men sat<br />
around socialising and talking whilst trying to get<br />
rid of the lice. Some famous authors who suffered<br />
from trench fever during the First World War were<br />
J. R. R. Tolkien, A. A. Milne and C. S. Lewis.<br />
The bingo call for ball number 9 is ‘Doctor’s<br />
Orders’ and its origins come from the time when<br />
soldiers at the front were given Pill Number 9.<br />
As the doctors were not sure what was causing<br />
trench fever, medicine was prescribed to get<br />
the men back on duty. Pill Number 9 was, in<br />
fact, just a laxative that was doled out but did<br />
nothing to help men suffering with a fever.<br />
Trench Fever still exists today. Outbreaks are<br />
usually amongst the homeless and poorer people.<br />
Refugee camps are also susceptible to the<br />
disease. Luckily, antibiotics are prescribed today.<br />
The poor conditions of the trenches brought about<br />
other ailments and physical problems. Trench foot<br />
is another condition that affected the soldiers due<br />
to spending many hours in the water-filled trenches,<br />
where their feet would be cold and wet and with<br />
little opportunity to change their socks. As there<br />
was very limited chances to dry and warm their feet<br />
they would go numb and turn red then blue. If left<br />
untreated, the condition could turn into gangrene and<br />
limbs would have to be amputated. Wyn’s Military<br />
Index to <strong>Doncaster</strong> Newspapers 1914-1919 records<br />
many entries for serving men suffering from trench<br />
fever and trench foot. Some of those who died from<br />
these conditions include Pte. George Marshall of the<br />
West Riding Regiment in spring 1918. 1917 when<br />
trench warfare was at its height saw Pte. H Minchin<br />
of the South Wales Borderers and Pte. J Pullen of<br />
the Yorks and Lancs Regiment succumb to trench<br />
foot and trench fever respectively in January 1917.<br />
Due to the wet conditions that the soldiers lived in<br />
while at the front, cholera was another condition<br />
that the soldiers had to contend with. Because of<br />
their poor ability to fight diseases and not having<br />
access to antibiotics at that time, when water<br />
became contaminated, soldiers suffered from<br />
cholera, a disease that dehydrates the body because<br />
of severe diarrhoea which can result in death.<br />
Hooton Pagnell Hall was one of many local halls<br />
utilised as a hospital during the war, which treated<br />
J R R Tolkien (aged 24) in army uniform,<br />
photograph taken in 1916.<br />
wounded soldiers. Sarah Julia Warde-Aldam, a<br />
well-known local fundraiser who lived at the Hall,<br />
was a matron and general administrator. She raised<br />
funds and sent letters and gifts to the soldiers at the<br />
front. At <strong>Doncaster</strong> Archives there is a register (ref<br />
no. DD WN/B5/5) from the Clayton, Frickley, Hooton<br />
Pagnell and Moorhouse War Working Party, which<br />
records comforts sent to troops. The resource is<br />
particularly useful as it gives the name and service<br />
details of the recipient and what items were sent<br />
to him. Amongst the gifts of shirts, nightshirts and<br />
balaclavas were cholera belts. These were a flat<br />
strip of red flannel or knitted wool about six feet long<br />
and six inches wide, which were wrapped around<br />
the waist and believed to protect the wearers from<br />
cholera, dysentery and any other illnesses and keep<br />
the chill from the abdomen. Between 1914 and 1915<br />
at least eighty-five cholera belts were sent to the<br />
front from Frickley Hall. Many of the serving soldiers<br />
would have benefitted from Julia’s unceasing work to<br />
provide some comfort for the men on the front line.<br />
Enid Foster<br />
Library Advisor<br />
•<br />
18 •
Low morale was not only felt by those men serving<br />
at the Front. Women and others at home were<br />
facing their own problems and troubles, not<br />
least of all worrying about husbands, fathers and sons<br />
fighting on the Front Line. Companies soon realised<br />
that they could play a part in raising morale at home.<br />
Articles and adverts in the newspapers of the time<br />
rallied people to the cause. Rowntree’s created and<br />
published a series of adverts called the<br />
‘Women Workers’ series’<br />
during the war to support<br />
women at home and help<br />
to keep morale high on<br />
the Home Front.<br />
These are a few of<br />
the adverts from the<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Gazette.<br />
See the next edition<br />
for more on this<br />
subject.<br />
Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa<br />
Women Workers’ Series<br />
•<br />
19 •
Cricket in<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> during<br />
the Great War<br />
Formal opening of <strong>Doncaster</strong> Plant Works’ Eden Grove Sports<br />
ground on 30 May 1914. On the verandah - extreme left is the<br />
Great Northern Railway’s Locomotive Engineer, Nigel Gresley<br />
and seventh from the left Hon. F.S. Jackson, Yorkshire cricketer,<br />
England Test Captain and a director of the GNR, who performed<br />
the opening ceremony.<br />
The history of cricket in <strong>Doncaster</strong> and its<br />
surrounding area stretches back as far as<br />
the 1780s when games took place on<br />
Pickburn Lees.<br />
In 1985, ‘Cricket in <strong>Doncaster</strong> and District: An<br />
Outline History’ was published by <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Libraries and told the history of the sport locally. A<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Town team - or rather a succession of<br />
town teams, not too formal in their organisation -<br />
were active throughout the 19th Century. Cricket<br />
clubs sprang up in profusion, a major stimulus<br />
being the establishment of the Great Northern<br />
Railways’ Plant Works in the 1850s. A new facility<br />
for the town’s railwayman to play cricket (and other<br />
sports) was unveiled on 30 May 1914, at Eden<br />
Grove, Hexthorpe. The sports ground was formally<br />
opened by the famous cricket legend Hon. F S<br />
Jackson of Yorkshire and England, whom he had<br />
captained against Australia. Jackson was also a<br />
Director of the GNR. The occasion was marked<br />
by a match between <strong>Doncaster</strong> railwaymen and<br />
their counterparts from Darlington, with <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
winning the match. The <strong>Doncaster</strong> team appeared<br />
in a photograph taken that day with Jackson and<br />
Nigel Gresley (afterwards Sir Nigel Gresley), the<br />
mechanical engineer for initially the GNR and<br />
later the LNER, who was a keen cricketer and<br />
gave his name to a local cricket competition.<br />
The development of collieries in South Yorkshire<br />
was another key factor in the emergence of<br />
league cricket locally in the pre-1914 era. Two<br />
separate <strong>Doncaster</strong> & District leagues were formed<br />
successively in the early years of the 20th Century,<br />
the second in 1912. Brodsworth Main team, although<br />
only formed in 1910, were champions by 1914;<br />
Bullcroft having been the first winners in 1913.<br />
The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914<br />
had an obvious effect on non-warlike activities<br />
such as cricket. Many cricketers joined the<br />
•<br />
20 •
F S Jackson, Yorkshire and England cricketer and Director<br />
of the GNR, who opened the Eden Grove ground in 1914<br />
LNER dignitaries including Sir Nigel Gresley (front row left), Arthur Peppercorn (back<br />
row second left) and Sir Ronald Matthews, Chair of the LNER (third from left on<br />
front row) at Eden Grove Sports Ground circa 1929 (Local Studies collection)<br />
colours, 22 of them from a renowned local club,<br />
Balby, four of whom made the supreme sacrifice.<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> & District League cricket continued<br />
for another year despite wartime difficulties, but<br />
1916 and 1917 brought a suspension of activity,<br />
though the nearby Mexborough & District League<br />
operated in 1916. However, we have to admire the<br />
perseverance of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> & District League<br />
for re-starting in 1918 – before, of course, the<br />
Armistice albeit with fewer (8) clubs then pre-war.<br />
There were friendly matches in the war’s middle<br />
years, including a match in 1916 by a visiting RFC<br />
XI (the Royal Flying Corps was to be absorbed<br />
into the RAF in 1918). A <strong>Doncaster</strong> airfield by<br />
the Racecourse trained pilots during the war<br />
and it’s possible that some of the trainees and<br />
instructors were among the 1916 RFC XI.<br />
Cricket in some form took place during the war,<br />
doubtless for charity. There had long been church<br />
teams and some school cricket which continued<br />
(the pre-1914 era had been a great one for <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Grammar School). There were many difficulties, of<br />
course, not least with fewer groundsmen to prepare<br />
pitches to the standards desired, due to military callups<br />
and other factors. However, cricket had a part<br />
to play during the war, not least to promote morale<br />
in the war’s darkest days. Cricket soon revived when<br />
peace came and it was again to play a part when<br />
war came again in 1939, though that is another story.<br />
Philip L Scowcroft<br />
Local Historian<br />
Cigarette card showing Cricketer, Hon. F S Jackson<br />
•<br />
21 •
Capt. Herbert<br />
Vincent Corbett<br />
1893-1918<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Grammar School on Thorne Road as Vincent Corbett<br />
would have known it now the school library where the bronze<br />
plaques for ‘Old Boys’ lost in both World Wars are located<br />
(Local Studies collection)<br />
In April 1914, as a care-free youngster, he<br />
was out on fieldwork with the experts of<br />
the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union surveying<br />
the banks of the river Nidd upstream of<br />
Knaresborough and publishing a list of his<br />
beetle finds in The Naturalist (Corbett 1914).¹<br />
Loss of a talented young<br />
scientist<br />
Vincent Corbett of 3 Thorne Road, <strong>Doncaster</strong>,<br />
was the son of Dr H.H. Corbett, founder of<br />
the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Scientific Society and the first<br />
Curator of <strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum, 1910-1921. Like his<br />
father he was an enthusiastic naturalist, frequently<br />
attending meetings of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Scientific<br />
Society and Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union (YNU)<br />
and publishing his observations and discoveries<br />
in the YNU scientific journal The Naturalist.<br />
Vincent attended <strong>Doncaster</strong> Grammar<br />
School, as an ‘Exhibition scholar’, receiving a<br />
scholarship on the grounds of merit. Whilst at<br />
the school Vincent held the honorary posts of<br />
curator of museum, librarian, magazine editor,<br />
House Captain and Captain of the School.<br />
•<br />
22 •<br />
From <strong>Doncaster</strong> Grammar School Vincent went on<br />
to Cambridge University where at St. Catherine’s<br />
College he received a 2nd Class History Tripos.<br />
Being a member of the University Officer Training<br />
Corps, at the outbreak of War he volunteered for<br />
active service and on 8 October 1914 was gazetted<br />
2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Cambridgeshire Regiment<br />
(T.F.). The Cambridgeshires were then attached to<br />
the 11th (Service) Battalion of the Essex Regiment<br />
which after training at Aldershot, served with the<br />
British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders<br />
reaching Saint-Polsur-Ternois and Etaples on<br />
4 September 1915. Vincent was quickly promoted<br />
to Lieutenant but near Ypres in April he was severely<br />
wounded in the shoulder and invalided home.<br />
Vincent returned to Cambridge in June 1915 to<br />
take his BA Honours but owing to ill health was<br />
subsequently employed on home service. During<br />
his convalescence he turned his attention to<br />
entomology, the YNU Annual report for 1915 noting<br />
“In the neglected order of Hemiptera [True Bugssuch<br />
as grasshoppers, aphids, planthoppers and
leafhoppers] Lieut. H. Vincent Corbett is to be<br />
congratulated on the results of his studies, although<br />
severely handicapped by circumstances. Of the<br />
sixty-six species … collected in the <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
district during the year, twenty three are new to<br />
Yorkshire. He has also paid considerable attention<br />
to the Homoptera [Aphids and Leafhoppers] ...<br />
Several Ichneumons [parasitic wasps] have been<br />
added to the county list … observations have<br />
been made or specimens captured by … Vincent<br />
Corbett at <strong>Doncaster</strong>” (Butterfield 1916).²<br />
Also the Minutes of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Naturalists’<br />
Society record that “In Entomology, the best<br />
work has been done locally by Lieutenant<br />
H.V. Corbett during the time that he was unfit<br />
for military duty. He collected Hemiptera of<br />
our district chiefly in Wheatley Wood and at<br />
Rossington. The result was an addition of almost<br />
30 species of interest to the Yorkshire list ...”³<br />
On 2 September 1916, observations at an ant nest<br />
in a <strong>Doncaster</strong> garden (presumably at his home at<br />
3 Thorne Road), Vincent encountered a single, later<br />
a group of worker Red Ants, Myrmica Ruginodis, as<br />
they cooperated in overpowering and manoeuvring<br />
a relatively huge adult male Earwig, Forficula<br />
Auricularia, into their underground nest, an operation<br />
which lasted from 5:20pm to 8:20pm. Careful notes<br />
were made of the sequences of manoeuvres, and<br />
of the attack and defence strategies employed by<br />
both participants. Perhaps this interaction was<br />
viewed as a metaphor for the unequal skirmishes<br />
encountered on the Western Front (Corbett 1916). 4<br />
In 1917, whilst on home duties, Vincent was<br />
promoted to Captain. On his recovery he returned<br />
to his regiment in France in June, 1918, being<br />
attached to the 11th Essex Regiment, but was<br />
killed in action during advances on Wassigny<br />
during the Battle of the Selle on 17 October,<br />
just 25 days before the end of hostilities. He is<br />
buried in Bohain Cemetery, near Le Cateau. 5 & 6<br />
In 1910 Beechfield House had opened as <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s first<br />
museum. (Local Studies collection)<br />
In addition to the personal tragedy, since Vincent<br />
was clearly a highly knowledgeable and talented<br />
entomologist, his death robbed the next generation<br />
of important scientific expertise. Fortunately his<br />
published notes survive, and some of the insects he<br />
collected are still preserved in <strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum.<br />
Colin Howes<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Naturalists’ Society<br />
WW1 Research Project<br />
References:<br />
1. Corbett, H.V. (1914) Yorkshire Naturalists’ at<br />
Knaresborough 11-13 April 1914:<br />
Coleoptera report. The Naturalist 39 (1914): 182-183.<br />
2. Butterfield, R. (1916) Yorkshire Naturalists’<br />
Union Annual Report for 1915:<br />
Hymenoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera Committee.<br />
The Naturalist 41 (1916): 40.<br />
3. <strong>Doncaster</strong> Naturalists’ Society Minute Book (Annual Report for 1916).<br />
DNS Archives, <strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum.<br />
4. Corbett, H.V. (1916) Fight between Earwig and Ants.<br />
The Naturalist 41 (1916): 348-349.<br />
5. Anon (1918) Capt. H.V. Corbett. The Naturalist 43 (1918): 340-341.<br />
6. https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/maps/units/182/<br />
essex-regiment/11th-service-battalion<br />
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour for H V Corbett<br />
(Find my Past website)<br />
•<br />
23 •
★<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Heritage<br />
Festival <strong>2018</strong><br />
★<br />
Saturday 28 April<br />
11am-4pm <strong>Doncaster</strong> Local History Fair organised by <strong>Doncaster</strong> and<br />
District Heritage Association.<br />
7.30pm start Lioness Theatre proudly presents: The Black Stuff.<br />
Sunday 29 April<br />
10.30am-12 noon The Looking for Richard III Project by<br />
Philippa Langley MBE.<br />
11am-3pm Cusworth Walled Gardens Open Day.<br />
Monday 30 April<br />
2.00pm-5.00pm Family History for Beginners’ workshop.<br />
Tuesday 1 May<br />
2.30pm start The Life and <strong>Times</strong> of a <strong>Doncaster</strong> Cyclist -<br />
Tom Simpson: a talk by Chris Sidwells.<br />
8pm start Brewers’ Inquisition: Heritage Edition.<br />
Wednesday 2 May<br />
10.30am-3.30pm Beginners’ First World War Family History<br />
Workshop with Bill Bevan.<br />
2pm start ‘A Mighty Force?’ <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s Edwardian Girl Preachers.<br />
Friday 4 May<br />
10.30am-12.30pm Family History on the Internet session.<br />
2pm start Curator’s Tour: Keep the Home Fires burning, <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s<br />
Home Front in the First World War with Lynsey Slater.<br />
Saturday 5 May<br />
10.30am-12.00 noon History of Chocolate: a talk by Helen Cox.<br />
2.00pm-3.30pm Rebel Girls: a talk by Jill Liddington.<br />
12.30pm-2.00pm <strong>Doncaster</strong> Minster’s Historic Schulze Organ.<br />
Sunday 6 May<br />
11am start Discover the Sand House – A Guided Walk with<br />
Richard Bell.<br />
11.00am-12.30pm The Romans in <strong>Doncaster</strong>: Artefact Handling<br />
Session with Yvette Marks.<br />
12.00 noon – 4.00pm May Day at Cusworth Hall.<br />
Monday 7 May<br />
11am start Discover the Sand House – A Guided Walk<br />
with Richard Bell.<br />
2.00pm start The Rebel Daughters of <strong>Doncaster</strong>: a guided walk<br />
uncovering our suffrage history.<br />
Tuesday 8 May<br />
11am-12 noon <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18: stories from the First World War.<br />
Wednesday 9 May<br />
10.30am-3.30pm Discover your First World War K.O.Y.L.I. ancestor<br />
with Lynsey Slater and Bill Bevan.<br />
6.30 pm start Women and work in the First World War: a talk<br />
by Alison Fell.<br />
6.00-7.00pm <strong>Doncaster</strong> Minster’s Forgotten Medieval Crypt<br />
with Louise O’Brien.<br />
Thursday 10 May<br />
10.00am-12.00 noon Palaeography workshop with <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s<br />
Borough Archivist, Charles Kelham.<br />
2.30-4.00pm Crime and Justice in the 19th century: a talk by<br />
John Brown.<br />
6.00-8.00pm Make your own suffragette sash: Workshop with<br />
Joanna Nurse and Alison Greer.<br />
Friday 11 May<br />
10.30am-12.00 noon The Domesday Book of Hidden History at<br />
Hickleton: a talk by John Dabell.<br />
11am-1.30pm The Geology and Landscape of the Don Gorge.<br />
11am-3pm Mexborough and District Local History Fair.<br />
Saturday 12 May<br />
10.30am-4pm Pottery in Archaeology conference <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
10.30am start From Romans to Racing Heritage Walk.<br />
2.00pm start A Country House at War: Hooton Pagnell Hall 1914-<br />
1918.<br />
3pm start ‘The Sand House Rocks!’ (A Celebration in Music & Words)<br />
with the Sand House Charity & <strong>Doncaster</strong> Youth Jazz Association.<br />
Sunday 13 May<br />
3.00pm start ‘That’s Entertainment’: A Hyde Park guided walk.<br />
2pm start Bawtry Heritage Walk.<br />
Monday 30 April-Friday 4 May and<br />
Tuesday 8 May-Friday 11 May<br />
In Focus: Luke Bagshaw’s photography business exhibition.<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Local History Fair<br />
Saturday 28 April <strong>2018</strong> 11am-4pm<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum and Art Gallery, Chequer Road, DN1 2AE<br />
• Up to 25 displays and stalls by local and family history groups and societies<br />
• Craft stalls and demonstrations, re-enactors and children’s activities<br />
• Launch of the <strong>Doncaster</strong> Heritage Festival<br />
• <strong>Doncaster</strong> 1914-18 Project Home Front Display, Real and<br />
replica object handling and digitisation roadshow<br />
• Disabled Access<br />
For further details contact: (01302) 734307<br />
Email: central.localhistory@doncaster.gov.uk<br />
Or visit: www.doncaster.gov.uk/heritagefestival<br />
•<br />
24 •<br />
ADMISSION<br />
FREE
Discover <strong>Doncaster</strong>’s heritage at this year’s<br />
The <strong>2018</strong> <strong>Doncaster</strong> Heritage Festival will be launched at the <strong>Doncaster</strong><br />
Local History Fair on Saturday 28th April at <strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum.<br />
A highlight of the festival will be a<br />
talk given by Philippa Langley from<br />
the Looking for Richard Project,<br />
detailing the unique and groundbreaking<br />
historical investigation that<br />
captured the public imagination and<br />
located the lost grave of Richard III.<br />
The festival has an exciting programme<br />
made up of a series of enthralling talks,<br />
workshops, walks and events that explore<br />
the history of the borough. Events will be<br />
at a variety of different venues all across<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> from morning to evening,<br />
so why not discover something new?<br />
For more information about the Festival please contact: <strong>Doncaster</strong> Local Studies<br />
call 01302 734307 or email central.localhistory@doncaster.gov.uk.<br />
Visit www.doncaster.gov.uk/heritagefestival<br />
The festival is organised by <strong>Doncaster</strong> Heritage Services and is supported<br />
by heritage groups across <strong>Doncaster</strong> for the enjoyment of all.<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Museum and Art Gallery, Chequer Road, <strong>Doncaster</strong> DN1 2AE T: 01302 734293
<strong>Doncaster</strong> <strong>Times</strong> is supported by the<br />
Heritage Lottery Fund. The publication<br />
was also produced in conjunction with the<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> and District Heritage Association,<br />
whose support has been invaluable.