Sunderland Solicitors before enlisting

2678: Private Frank Blair Allen

Member of Nicholson & Blair-Allen, of Sunderland

Durham Light Infantry - 1/7th Battalion

Killed in action - 24 May 1915 in 2nd Battle of Ypres

2/Lieutenant Arthur William Sinclair Stockdale

Durham Light Infantry - 7th Battalion (Territorial)

Gazetted 2nd Lieut – 9th Feb 1915

Killed in action - 24 May 1915 in 2nd Battle of Ypres

Major Charles William Hines

Born Sunderland

Durham Light Infantry - 7th Battalion (Territorial)

Killed in action - 24 May 1915 Age 41

Son of Thomas Shallcross Hines and Elizabeth Hines, 8 Leafield Rd., Darlington

2/Lieutenant Gilbert Player

Born Sunderland

Durham Light Infantry - 21st Battalion

Died of wounds in France 30th July 1916.

Captain Norman Robinson Shepherd

Durham Light Infantry - 7th Battalion (Territorial)

Date of Death: 4th November 1916

Son of Andrew Thomas Shepherd &Alice Shepherd, The Hawthorns, Ryhope Rd, Sunderland

Captain Frederick Cecil Longden

Durham Light Infantry - 4th Battalion

Managing Clerk with Longden, Mann & Longden,

Killed in action 24th August 1918 Age 30

Son of the late James Appleby Longden and Annie Walker Longden, of Sunderland.

There are records of a further 32 Solicitors that survived the war: 

 

 

 

 

Sunderland policemen before enlisting

204319 - Thomas William Spoor

Born: Sunderland – Resident: Murton

East Surrey Regiment - 9th Battalion

Killed in action  - 3 Aug 1917

Son of Mr. G. W. Spoors and Mrs. J. M. A. Spoors, 2 Vincent St., Easington Colliery, Co. Durham; husband of Alice Spoors, 1 East View, Murton, Co. Durham. Member of the Sunderland Borough Constabulary.

23208 - Thomas William Walshaw

Born: Sunderland – Resident: Luton, Kent

Royal Engineers - 401st Field Coy

Killed in action - 23/07/1918 - Age 26

Son of T. F. Walshaw (Detective Inspector, Sunderland Police), of Sunderland; husband of Alice Grace Walshaw, 26 Victoria Rd., Luton, Chatham.

From

Up Over

To

Down Under

As the surname Sunderland comes from Sunderland the city there might be someone out there with the surname with some distant links to the city and as this Blog is all things Sunderland 1914 to 1918 I am including those with the name.

The Australian Sunderlands
Surname	First Name	Service No	Rank	Regiment	Age	Date of Death
Barrett	Rupert Sunderland		Lieutenant	Australian Army - 8th Battalion (Infantry)		25/04/1915
Sunderland	Henry James	6892	Private	4th Battalion Australian Machine Gun Corps		13/08/1918
Sunderland	Nathan Stewart	6314	Private	Australian Army - 1st Battalion (Infantry)		04/10/1917
Sunderland	Saville George	711	Private	Australian Infantry, A.I.F. - 24 Nn.	26	29/09/1915
Sunderland	Harold	2644	Sapper	7th Field Company Australian Engineers		30/07/1916
Wearmouth	John Williams	248	Private	Australian Infantry, A.I.F. - 39th Bn.	19	12/10/1917

Munitions Poster

Munitions Workers

London

1916 

Tramworker

Jenny Newton of Sunderland

Surname	First Name	Service No	Rank	Regiment	Age	Date of Death
Brown	Eleanor	50182	Worker	Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps		09/11/1918
Harding	V N	15089	Worker	Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps		07/02/1919

Eleanor Brown was the daughter of Thomas Foster Brown and Sarah Ann Brown, of 3 Woodstone Terrace, Fence Houses, Co. Durham.

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V N Harding is buried at Hetton (Easington Lane) Cemetery

Nursing Yeomanry Ambulance Driver

John Simpson Kirkpatrick Stamp Info

In 1965 Australia and her dependencies issued common design stamps to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the landing of Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces at Gallipoli, Turkey during the First World War. Depicted on these stamps is a man holding another man who is astride a donkey. The design on the stamps was done by Can Andrew based on a statue by Wallace Anderson now at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. The statue, made and cast in 1986, is called "Simpson and his Donkey".

More information at the link below:

http://william-silvester.suite101.com/john-simpson-and-his-donkey-a169652

John Simpson Kirkpatrick

From Wikipedia

John "Jack" Simpson Kirkpatrick (6 July 1892 – 19 May 1915), who served under the name John Simpson, was a stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I. After landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, he obtained a donkey and began carrying wounded British Empire soldiers from the frontline to the beach, for evacuation. He continued this work for three and a half weeks, often under fire, until he was killed. Simpson and his Donkey are a key part of the "Anzac legend".

Early life

Simpson was born on 6 July 1892 in South Shields, United Kingdom, the son of Robert Kirkpatrick and Sarah Simpson Kirkpatrick. He was one of eight children, and worked with donkeys during summer holidays as a youth.[

Military service

After deserting from the merchant navy and travelling around Australia, prior to the war, Simpson apparently enlisted as a means to return to England. One account alleges that he dropped "Kirkpatrick" from his name and enlisted as "John Simpson" to avoid being identified as a deserter. He was accepted into the army as a field ambulance stretcher bearer on 23 August 1914 in Perth. This role was only given to physically strong men.

Simpson landed on the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915 as part of the ANZAC forces. In the early hours of the following day, as he was bearing a wounded comrade on his shoulders, he spotted a donkey and quickly began making use of it to bear his fellow soldiers. He would sing and whistle, seeming to ignore the deadly bullets flying through the air, while he tended to his comrades. The donkey came to be named Duffy.

Colonel (later General) John Monash wrote: "Private Simpson and his little beast earned the admiration of everyone at the upper end of the valley. They worked all day and night throughout the whole period since the landing, and the help rendered to the wounded was invaluable. Simpson knew no fear and moved unconcernedly amid shrapnel and rifle fire, steadily carrying out his self imposed task day by day, and he frequently earned the applause of the personnel for his many fearless rescues of wounded men from areas subject to rifle and shrapnel fire."

On 19 May 1915, Simpson was struck by machine gun fire and died. At the time of his death, Simpson's father was already dead, but his mother was still living in South Shields, England.

Legacy

The "Simpson" legend grew largely from an account of his actions published in a 1916 book, Glorious Deeds of Australasians in the Great War. This was a wartime propaganda effort, and many of its stories of Simpson, supposedly rescuing 300 men and making dashes into no man's land to carry wounded out on his back, are demonstrably untrue. In fact, transporting that many men down to the beach in the three weeks that he was at Gallipoli would have been a physical impossibility, given the time the journey took. However, the stories presented in the book were widely and uncritically accepted by many people, including the authors of some subsequent books on Simpson.

The few contemporary accounts of Simpson at Gallipoli speak of his bravery and invaluable service in bringing wounded down from the heights above Anzac Cove through Shrapnel and Monash Gullies. However, his donkey service spared him the even more dangerous and arduous work of hauling seriously wounded men back from the front lines on a stretcher.

There have been several petitions over the decades to have Simpson awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) or a Victoria Cross for Australia. There is a persistent myth that he was recommended for a VC, but that this was either refused or mishandled by the military bureaucracy. However, there is no documentary evidence that such a recommendation was ever made. The case for Simpson being awarded a VC is based on diary entries by his Commanding Officer that express the hope he would receive either a Distinguished Conduct Medal or VC. However, the officer in question never made a formal recommendation for either of these medals. Simpson's Mention in Despatches was consistent with the recognition given to other men who performed the same role at Gallipoli.

In April 2011 the Australian Government announced that Simpson would be one of a number of servicemen examined in an inquiry into "Unresolved Recognition for Past Acts of Naval and Military Gallantry and Valour."The tribunal for this inquiry is directed to make recommendations on the awarding of decorations, including the Victoria Cross.

Original article at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Simpson_Kirkpatrick

John Simpson Kirkpatrick standing by his donkey

Son of Sarah Simpson Kirkpatrick, of 14, Bertram St., South Shields, Durham, England, and the late Robert Kirkpatrick. Private J S Kirkpatrick, served as Private John Simpson and became known as the "Man with the Donkey".


Simpson landed with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance on 25 April and by the following day he was leading a donkey carrying lightly wounded from the front line down Monash and Shrapnel Valleys to the beach. In the first three weeks of the campaign he became a familiar sight, always cheerful and oblivious of danger. Simpson was killed on 19 May and was Mentioned in Despatches.

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I apologise for not being able to include more information on soldiers from South Shields, to attempt to include more areas then I intend would have been a daunting task. 


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More information at the link below:


http://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/621936/KIRKPATRICK,%20JOHN%20SIMPSON

The Torrens
by
Montague Dawson

Australians with a Sunderland connection
Surname	First Name	Service No	Rank	Regiment	Age	Date of Death
Baird	Alexander	2886	Private	Australian Infantry, A.I.F. - 47th Bn.	30	05/04/1918

Son of Alexander and Jane Bailey Baird of 6 The Grove, Sunderland

So what did your kin do during WW I?

We can see that Stephen Fry’s relatives made the best of it.

& 

Mr Bean’s folk liked a joke

By getting one of the lads to put on a cloak

 

In bygone days when everyone lay back and “thought”

of

Victory

John Caffrey

From Wikipedia

Caffrey left Ireland at an early age and settled in Nottingham, joining the army in 1910. He was 24 years old, and a private in the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 16 November 1915 near La Brique, France, a man was badly wounded and lying in the open unable to move, in full view of and about 350 yards from the enemy's trenches. A corporal of the RAMC and Private Caffrey at once started to rescue him, but at the first attempt were driven back by shrapnel fire. They tried again and succeeded in reaching and bandaging the wounded man, but just as they were lifting him up, the RAMC corporal was shot in the head. Private Caffrey bandaged the corporal and helped him back to safety, and then returned and brought in the other wounded man.

He later achieved the rank of Sergeant and served in the Home Guard in World War II. He died in Derby, England on 22 February 1953.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at The York & Lancaster Regiment Museum in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.

The original article can be found at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Caffrey

Private John Caffrey, VC joined the River Wear Watch in 1919 and transferring to Sunderland Borough Police later the same year.

Lieutenant George Allen Maling.VC

Royal Army Medical Corps

Attached to 12th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.

Born in Sunderland, County Durham, on 6th October 1888

Died on 9th July 1929

London Gazetted 18th November, 1915.

Citation reads:

During the heavy fighting near Fauquissart on the 25th September 1915, Lieutenant Maling worked continually with unceasing energy from 6:30am on the 25th September until 8am the following day. He collected and treated more than 300 wounded, all the time under heavy shellfire and in the open. At around 11am on the 25th September he was thrown down and stunned by the detonation of a large high explosive shell. This explosion wounded his assistant and killed several of the patients. Soon after the explosion of a second shell covered him and his instruments with debris. He continued alone with great zeal and courage.

Charles James Briggs

From Wikipedia

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles James Briggs KCB KCMG (1865-1941) was a British Army officer who held high command in World War I.

Military career

Born the son of Colonel Charles James Briggs JP DL, Brigg's education took place largely abroad, including periods in France and Germany. He was commissioned into the 1st King's Dragoon Guards on 30 January 1886 and served as ADC to the General Officer Commanding Egypt from 1892 to 1893. He became Adjutant of the 1st Dragoon Guards in November 1894 and Brigade Adjutant of 4th Cavalry Brigade in April 1897. He served in the Second Boer War as Brigade Major of 3rd Cavalry Brigade and was wounded at the Battle of Magersfontein. He went on to command 1st Imperial Light Horse and then the Mobile Column before transferring to the 6th Dragoons in July 1904.

He was appointed Commander of the Transvaal Volunteers in 1905 and took part in suppressing the Bambatha Rebellion in 1906. He was appointed Commander of the South Eastern Mounted Brigade in 1910 and commanded the Blue cavalry in the Army Manoeuvres of 1912.

He served in World War I initially as Commander of 1st Cavalry Brigade in the British Expeditionary Force where he took part in the action at Nery. He commanded 3rd Cavalry Division from May 1915, the 28th Division in Salonika from October 1915 and XVI Corps (later redesignated as the British Salonika Army) from May 1916.

He was Chief of the British Military Mission to South Russia from February to June 1919 before retiring in February 1923. In retirement he was Colonel of the King's Dragoon Guards from 16 March 1926 to 31 December 1939.

Decorations

These include:

    Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (military division) [K.C.B. cr. 1917]

    Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George [K.C.M.G. cr. 1918]

    Order of the White Eagle (Russia)

    Commander of the Legion of Honour (France)

    Grand Officer of the Order of the White Eagle with Swords (Serbia)

    Grand Commander of the Order of the Redeemer (Greece)

    Queen's South Africa Medal 1899-1902 with 5 clasps

    King's South Africa Medal 1901-1902 with 2 clasps

    Natal Rebellion Medal 1906 with clasp '1906'

    1914-1915 Star

    British War Medal 1914-1920

    Allied Victory Medal 1914-1919 with oak leaf

    Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal 1897

    War Cross with palm (Greece)

    Medal of Military Merit, 1st class Greece

Charles Briggs

Born: 1865

Hylton Castle, Sunderland

Died: 1941

Allegiance: United Kingdom United Kingdom

Years of service: 1886-1923

Rank: Lieutenant-General

Commands held: 1st Imperial Light Horse

Mobile Column

Transvaal Volunteers

South Eastern Mounted Brigade

1st Cavalry Brigade

3rd Cavalry Division

28th Division in Salonika

XVI Corps

British Salonika Army

Battles/Wars: Second Boer War

First World War

Awards: Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George

Original article at the address below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_James_Briggs

Order of St Michael and St George

1918

 'L' Battery, R.H.A. at Néry

1st September 1914

A PDF copy of the above book can be found at the link below:

http://www.outintheblue.com/FTP/ArabWarDouble.pdf

Gertrude Bell

From Wikipedia

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, archaeologist and spy who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia.

Bell was born in Washington Hall, County Durham, England - now known as Dame Margaret Hall.

 

War and political career

At the outbreak of World War I, Bell's request for a Middle East posting was initially denied. She instead volunteered with the Red Cross in France.
Later, she was asked by British Intelligence to get soldiers through the deserts, and from the World War I period until her death she was the only woman holding political power and influence in shaping British imperial policy in the Middle East. She often acquired a team of locals which she directed and led on her expeditions. Throughout her travels Bell established close relations with tribe members across the Middle East. Additionally, being a woman gave her exclusive access to the chambers of wives of tribe leaders, giving her access to other perspectives and functions.


The full article can be found at the link below:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell

Gertrude Bell

Colonel Robert Appleby Bartram

Robert Appleby Bartram (British Army officer)

From Wikipedia

Colonel Robert Appleby Bartram, MC, TD, DL (2 April 1894 – 1981) was a British soldier and shipbuilder.

Early life

Bartram was born in Sunderland, the son of George Bartram (1860–1910) and his wife Euphemia Walker OBE, née Rhind, (1871–1956). His namesake grandfather was Sir Robert Appleby Bartram.

Military career

Bartram served in the Scottish Horse during World War I in Gallipoli, Macedonia and France.

In 1938 he took Command of his Regiment, the Scottish Horse, and was responsible for its mobilization at the start of the Second World War. At Dunkeld in 1939 he led the Regiment on its last exercise on horseback before it was split in to two and re-roled as gunners.

He remained in command of part of his old Regiment, the 79th (Scottish Horse) Medium Regiment of Royal Artillery until 1940. Retaining his close link to the Scottish Horse, he was the last Honorary Colonel to be appointed and served in this post from 29 May 1952 to its amalgamation 1956. He was then the first Honorary Colonel of the new Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse an appointment he held until 28 Mar 1957.

Civic appointments

He was appointed High Sheriff of Durham in April 1950 and a Deputy Lieutenant of Durham in 1956.

Civilian life

He took over his Grandfather's Ship Building Company, Bartram & Sons, from his father in 1925 and continued to run it with his brother, George Hylton Bartram, until it was sold in 1968. He died in County Durham in 1981, aged 87.

The original article can be found at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Appleby_Bartram_%28British_Army_officer%29

Ernest Vaux

From Wikipedia

Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Vaux, CMG, DSO, VD, DL (5 March 1865 – 21 November 1925) was a British Army officer.

A member of the Vaux Breweries family, Vaux was born in Bishopwearmouth, the son of John Story Vaux (1834–1881) and his wife, Harriet, née Douglas (1837–1901). He was educated at the Worcester College for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen and served with the Durham Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers. He served in the Second Boer War, commanded the Maxim guns with the Imperial Yeomanry and took part in operations in the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony and the Cape Colony. He was mentioned in despatches, received the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1901. In 1903, he received the Volunteer Officers' Decoration.

In 1906, Vaux married Emily Eve Lellam Ord (1876–1966), the eldest daughter of Henry Moon Ord, a shipowner of Sunderland; they had four children:

Rose Lellam Ord Vaux (1907–1994)

Emily Henrietta Ord Vaux (1909–1994)

Ernest Ord Vaux (1911–1936), died from a polo accident in Aden.

Peter Douglas Ord Vaux (1913–1980)

Vaux served with the Durham Light Infantry in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1916 during World War I, was twice mentioned in despatches and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1916 and an Officer of the Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 1919. He died at a nursing home on Windsor Crescent, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1925 and was buried in St Cuthbert's churchyard in Barton, North Yorkshire, near his home, Brettanby Manor.

The original article can be found at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Vaux

The Soldier
By

Sub-Lieutenant Rupert Chawner Brooke

Hood Bn. R.N. Div

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Died 23 April 1915

Age 27

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Born 3^rd August 1887 at 5 Hillmorton Road in Rugby, Warwickshire.

The Soldier

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

That Soldier

Forever

Burdened

Thinking of he

Stumbling

Forward

In a wartime documentary

Dear God

And here I sit

Thankfully

Free

Flanders Fields

By

Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae

Field Surgeon

Canadian Army Medical Corps

Died 28th January 1918

Age 45

Written after the death of a friend during the 2nd Battle of Ypres

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Born 30^th November 1872 in McCrae House in Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Lieutenant Alexis Hannum Helmer

1st Bde Canadian Field Artillery

Died 2 May 1915

Age 22