VCs of the First World War 1914

by Gerald Gliddon

  He was welcomed home by the Mayor of Lewisham eleven days later on 26 February and presented with 50 guineas and a copy of the Lewisham Roll of Honour.

  Sidney Frank Godley was the son of Frank Godley, a house painter, and his wife Avis, née Newton. The couple had two children: Kate, born in 1888, and Sidney, born in Imber Home Lane, North End, East Grinstead, Sussex, on 14 August 1889. After his mother died in 1895, Sidney was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Willesden, North London. He then attended Henry Street School in St John’s Wood. After his father re-married he decided to move to Sidcup where Sidney returned to live with him and his new step-mother, and he then continued his schooling at Sidcup National School in Birbeck Road. At the age of fourteen Sidney left this school and returned to Kentish Town where he got a job working in an ironmongers in Kilburn High Road, and it was at this time that he probably took up plumbing as a useful trade. Six years later, on 13 December 1909, Sidney enlisted in the 4th Royal Fusiliers and was allocated the service number of 13814. While he was in the army Sidney became a noted sportsman.

  On the outbreak of war in August 1914 his battalion was one of the first to embark for France. They arrived in Le Havre on 14 August and reached the outskirts of Mons eight days later. In 1954 he recorded a programme for the BBC on the 40th anniversary of the Mons battle and said:

  … a little boy and girl came up on the bridge, and brought me some rolls and coffee. I was thoroughly enjoying the rolls and coffee, and talking to the children the best I could, when the Germans started shelling. So I said to this little boy and girl; ‘You’d better sling your hooks now, otherwise you may get hurt.’ Well, they packed their basket and left.

  In 1919 Godley became a plumber and married Ellen Eliza Norman, five years his senior, who was a friend of his sister. The marriage took place at St Mark’s church, Harlesden, on 2 August 1919 with the Rev E.N. Mellish, VC, MC, officiating. The couple were to have two children. In the following year the Sidcup National School presented Godley with a marble clock and £150 worth of War Bonds, and in June 1920 he also attended a garden party for VC holders at Buckingham Place. In 1921 he secured a job as a janitor at Cranbrook School in Tower Hamlets, a position he was to hold for thirty years.

  Between the wars Godley worked very hard on behalf of service charities. On occasions he dressed up as ‘Old Bill’ the character created by the artist Bruce Bairnsfather. It is true that he did bear some likeness to ‘Old Bill’. This became his nickname and there are several photographs which bear this out. However the writer is one of those who considers that the character was not really based on one individual soldier but rather on an amalgam of characters and individuals. He was more of a symbol of the typical British Tommy of the First World War than a real person. Godley, however, used the likeness to good effect and wore a walrus moustache, and combined this with sporting a pipe and wearing his hat at a raffish angle. On occasions he wore a helmet with the design of a Union Jack covering it. He never ceased to attend ceremonies commemorating the war or special functions arranged for the ‘Old Contemptibles’ and in November 1931 he took part in the Armistice Service at the Cenotaph in London.

  In April 1939, nearly twenty-five years after the Battle of Mons had taken place, a party of fifty men from the Royal Fusiliers attended the unveiling of a new bridge at Nimy. During the service a plaque commemorating the heroism of Lt. Dease and Pte. Godley was unveiled. Godley was also presented with a special medal in the previous year by the people of Mons. Altogether he made seven visits to Mons, his last being in 1939. The mayor of Mons gave a lunch at the Hotel de Ville and Godley was guest of honour. Another of the guests, who signed a menu of the luncheon, was one of the children who had fed Godley with rolls and coffee in 1914. In 1940 the plaque was taken down from Nimy bridge and hidden for the duration of the war. The plaque was returned in 1961.

  In 1954 Godley gave an interview to the Daily Express on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Mons battle on 23 August and said, ‘It was Sunday. People in their best suits were going to church … They didn’t know the Germans were so near, of course. No one did … Then suddenly the Germans were everywhere.’

  Godley was virtually a ‘local boy’ to the Regimental Museum at the Tower of London and was very fond of London’s East End. He had connections with Tower Hamlets and Bethnal Green. The school where he worked was the Cranbrook School, and his home address was Digby Street off Globe Road, E1. However late in his life he moved to No. 164 Torrington Drive, Loughton in Essex. He attended the centenary VC celebrations in London in 1956, but on 29 June the following year he died of pneumonia at St Margaret’s Hospital, Epping. He was buried on 5 July with full military honours in grave number 3051 at Loughton Cemetery, St John’s church. At his funeral the Revd B.W. Ottaway was assisted by the Revd Mellish, VC, who, although retired, travelled up from Somerset for the service. Mellish had also married the Godleys back in 1919. A firing party from the Royal Fusiliers fired a volley over the grave and provided a bearer party. An ‘Old Contemptibles’ badge was placed on the grave. Ellen, his widow, died in March 1963 when she was seventy-seven and was buried alongside her husband.

  Such was Godley’s fame that his memory was to be commemorated in several ways. His name is remembered with a memorial in the Garrison church, Portsea, Hampshire, and in 1976 a new group of sheltered housing flats were named after him in Bexley, Greater London, but since then they have been threatened with closure. On 23 August 1985 further commemorations took place at Mons, organised by the Royal Fusiliers, and were attended by many members of Godley’s family. In the 1980s a decision was taken to build a housing block in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, which was to be named after a ‘local hero’. At first the name of Blair Peach was suggested by the left wing council. Peach, a teacher from New Zealand, was killed aged thirty-three during an anti-fascist demonstration against the National Front in Southall in 1979. In 2010 it was admitted by the Metropolitan Police that one of their officers was responsible for the blow that killed the young man. There was a lot of discussion in the council chamber on the merits of the two men and finally it was Godley’s name that was agreed upon. Eventually the plaque was unveiled on 8 May 1992 and the block was called the Sidney Godley VC House. Godley’s son, members of the Royal Fusiliers and members of the council attended the unveiling.

  Other commemorations can be found in the Lewisham Civic Centre, unveiled in May 1995 by Cpt. Philip Gardner to the memory of Godley and Mellish as well as six other VC holders who had local connections. Three years later East Grinstead Town Council in West Sussex put up a plaque to Godley’s memory on the council office at East Court which was unveiled in August. In November 2000, in his home town, Loughton Town Council also put up a plaque on the last house he lived in, 164 Torrington Drive.

  Godley’s VC and medals remain in private hands.

  T. WRIGHT

  Mons, Belgium, 23 August

  Gen. Sir H.L. Smith-Dorrien in charge of II Corps gave orders early on 23 August that the various bridges over the Mons-Condé Canal should be prepared for demolition by the Royal Engineers. However the timing of the destruction of the bridges was to be a decision made by divisional commanders or at local level. Thus each bridge was prepared for blowing, even while some of them were being fought over. During this whole operation there were many examples of heroism. Unfortunately the end result did not do much to slow the advance of the German Army.

  It was the 3rd Division that was mainly responsible for the Mons-Condé line and we already know that the 4th Royal Fusiliers (9th Brig.) were covering the two bridges at Nimy, with the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers to their left close to Lock 6, then came the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers.

  Two companies of the Royal Engineers were part of the 3rd Division, the 56th and 57th Field Companies. Capt. Theodore Wright was the Adjutant divisional Royal Engineer under the command of the divisional CRE, Lt. Col. C.S. Wilson.

  Wright was detailed to supervise 57th Field Company’s preparation of t
he destruction of eight of the bridges over the canal. 56 Field Company also had some bridges to supervise.

  After Mariette Bridge had been prepared by Sgt. Smith and Sapper Dabell, Capt. Wright was seen, by some Engineers, to be coming from the direction of Lock 2 where he had been wounded by shrapnel. He had been hit when trying to cross a gap of 20 yards between the barricade, set up by the infantry, and Cpl. Jarvis’s (57th Field Coy.) boat from which Jarvis was attempting to lay charges under heavy fire going on overhead. Occasionally Jarvis and Sapper Neary had to dash back to the barricade to fetch more explosives and to run out their leads. In the afternoon it was discovered from a despatch rider, who was on his way to the RSF, that orders for the retirement had been given. Wright’s problem was then how to blow up five bridges, on a front of 3 miles with only one exploder. Sensibly he used a car to get him from bridge to bridge in the shortest period of time, taking the exploder with him. He first visited Dayos Bridge and Jemappes was blown at around 15.00 hours.

  Lt. A.F. Day attempted to blow the bridges at Nimy but lacked an instantaneous fuse which slowed operations down. He worked on the rail bridge judging it to be the more important one but before he could finish fixing his charges, he was wounded and taken prisoner. The bridge at Lock 2 was omitted from the list owing to a lack of time to detonate it and the one next to it. The next bridge on Wright’s list was the important bridge at Mariette which carried the main road. Wright worked his way under the bridge and although wounded struggled to set the charges. He was assisted in this work by Sgt. Smith. Wright succeeded in joining up his leads with the local electricity supply in a nearby house, hoping that the current would set off the detonator. However at that very moment the current failed.

  B Company of the 1st NF was still holding out at the barricade on the south side of the canal, but the towpath was separated from the barricade by a subsidiary canal, which here spanned the girder bridge 15 to 20 feet wide. Capt. Wright ‘bridge-laddered’ under this subsidiary canal bridge with extra leads tied on him, and time and time again tried to get at the end of the leads on the towpath. Each time his hands or head appeared above the level of the towpath he was fired at from about 30 yards, so eventually he gave up the attempt. In swinging himself back under the girder across the subsidiary canal, he lost his grip owing to exhaustion, and was pulled out of the water by Sgt. Smith.

  The Engineers were almost the last British troops to leave Mons and did not get away until about 17.00 hours. It was a very great pity, despite the heroic efforts of 57th Field Company, that out of eight bridges only the one close to Jemappes station was successfully destroyed.

  Two days later men of B Coy. 1st NF who had been particularly impressed by Wright’s gallantry, saw him riding past their billets at Bavai and gave him a very enthusiastic cheer. The retreat from Mons began on 23 August and was followed by the Battle of the Marne on 6 September when the Allies began to drive the enemy back towards the Aisne. At this stage 57th Field Company was at Chartres on its way to Lumigny. On the 8th the men crossed the Marne at Nanteuil and marched to Ventelet and later Damard. A few days later they had gone northwards as far as Braine close to the Aisne river.

  During the night of the 13th/14th, 56 and 57 Field Companies built pontoon bridges at Vailly, a small town on the Aisne. The 5th Cavalry Brigade crossed the pontoon bridge into the town and then owing to heavy shellfire had to retreat in a hurry. They retired to a wood near Chasseny. Capt. Wright supervised the crossing of the cavalry brigade on their return journey.

  An eyewitness, a member of the 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys), was later to write:

  We got across the river at Vailly the day before yesterday (14th Sept.), a bit before our time, and had to get back over a pontoon bridge considerably quicker than was pleasant – under a very unpleasant fire, too. At the head of the bridge was a gallant Engineer officer, repairing bits blown off and putting down straw as cool as a cucumber – the finest thing I have ever seen. The poor fellow was killed just after my troop got across. No man earned a better VC.

  The official account said that Wright was mortally wounded while helping an injured man into a shelter. During heavy shellfire, which was affecting both banks of the river, he had made himself responsible not only for the bridge but also for the safety of those who crossed it. Two sappers and a sergeant were also killed with Wright.

  Wright was buried at Vailly British Cemetery II, B, 21 and his VC was awarded posthumously on 16 November. Mrs Wright received her son’s VC from the King at Buckingham Palace on 16 November 1916.

  Theodore Wright, known as Dodo, was the son of William Walter and Arabella Wright; he was born in Brighton, Sussex on 15 May 1883. The family lived at Albury, a small village near Guildford in Surrey. Wright was educated at Clifton College and then went to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He played hockey and cricket and on one occasion he was in the army cricket team against Hampshire. He passed out of the Academy and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in October 1902.

  After initial training at Chatham, he was stationed at Aldershot with the Balloon Section until December 1906. He later served with them in Gibraltar and Cairo. On 21 June 1905 he was made a full lieutenant. He was appointed to 2nd Fortress Company Cairo in January 1907 and returned to Aldershot in October 1912. He then went to Chatham where he took an advanced course and became Adjutant of 3rd Div RE deployed with the BEF at Bulford Camp, in Wiltshire, while serving with the 56th Field Company which he was with until the beginning of the war. He was made a captain on 1 October 1913.

  At the start of the war, 57th Field Company was at Bulford Camp and received its mobilization orders on 4 August 1914. It left Amesbury twelve days later for its journey to the front. The men travelled from Southampton to Rouen and then to the Mons area via Aulnoye, Feignies and Cuesmes where they arrived on the 22nd with orders to strengthen the bridgeheads.

  A chauffeur who must have been in charge of the car that Wright used to inspect the Mons bridge on 23 August wrote this of him: ‘He was the officer who got wounded in the head while I was driving him at Mons. When I was under fire there, I took a wounded soldier to the hospital and returned into the fire for the Captain. It was a bit risky, with eight cases of dynamite on the car. He was a brave man.’ After the Mons fighting on 23 August the company moved on to Harmignies south of Mons and entrenched a position at Nouvelles. The next day it was ordered to erect some barricades for the 9th Brigade, in Frameries and lost twelve bicycles when suddenly caught up in the retirement.

  L. Cpl. Jarvis (see next chapter), who was also working on destroying the Jemappes bridge at Mons, wrote this of Wright: ‘The work on the bridge was done under fire from three sides. Near the bridge I found Captain Theodore Wright, wounded in the head. I wished to bandage him but he said, “Go back to the bridge.” It must be done – and so I went …’

  After Wright’s death Lt. Col. Wilson wrote to his mother: ‘No one has earned a VC better, and I am truly glad they have given it to him. I have known him so long, and I have always been very fond of him. He was one of the finest officers I have ever had, and I feel his loss every day …’

  His VC was one of the first to be awarded in the First World War. It is not held in a public collection, but his original wooden grave marker is held at Chatham.

  C.A. JARVIS

  Mons, Belgium, 23 August

  In August 1914 there were a number of bridges over the Mons-Condé Canal which could be raised for canal traffic. The road section of each bridge was secured by light girders.

  57th Field Company Corps of Royal Engineers was in the region of Cuismes and Jemappes guarded by the infantry on the canal bank, and helping to prepare defensive positions. No. 3976 L. Cpl. Jarvis was a member of the Field Corps of Royal Engineers and he and Capt. T. Wright of the company both received the Victoria Cross for their work carried out on the canal bridges at Mons on 23 August 1914. It was Jarvis who achieved the most tangible results with the successful blowing of the bridge at Lock 2 at Jemappes. Fo
r various reasons none of the other bridges in the sector covered by the 57th Field Company was destroyed, but it was certainly not through lack of trying. Even to attempt to hold up the German advance under conditions of heavy fire, with the risk of early death or capture, was very risky. The destruction of the bridges would have been almost a superhuman achievement.

  An article published in The Sapper of February 1915 tells the story of how Jarvis won his VC on 23 August:

  L. Cpl. Jarvis and Sapper Neary were detailed with B Company Royal Scots Fusiliers, and ordered to prepare one of the bridges for demolition in case of a retirement. A small boat was procured, and two privates of the RSF were detailed to hold the boat in position. The three girders needing separate charges required in all twenty-two slabs of gun cotton, which had to be securely fixed to the girders and tamped with clay.

  During the work of placing the charges the fire of the enemy gradually increased in violence. L. Cpl. Jarvis sent the two infantrymen back to their company, and despatched Sapper Neary to obtain the exploder and leads, which were in the possession of another party under Corporal Wiltshire. After some considerable time, the amount of fire increased, so that reinforcements had to be sent for. Capt. Traill, RSF, who was wounded in the knee, procured a pony and went to fetch them, and also the ammunition. By this time the firing on the position had become so violent and the casualties were so numerous that a retirement was decided upon. L. Cpl. Jarvis was then called upon to destroy the bridge, but was still without the exploder and leads, as the sapper had not returned. He pulled along the lock to a position where no fire was being directed, crawled out over the bank, and got into the street, where he commandeered a bicycle from a Belgian, and was riding towards the market square to find the exploder himself, when he met Capt. T. Wright, the Adjutant of the RE Companies, 3rd Division, who was then wounded in the head. Capt. Wright told Jarvis to go back to the bridge and be prepared to connect up the leads, as he would fetch them in a motor car, and taking the bicycle from Jarvis, went off to fetch the necessary articles. Jarvis returned to his former position to await the return of Capt. Wright. By this time the infantry had been terribly cut up, and the general order to retire came, which practically meant every man for himself.