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The Shadow of War

Page 48

by Stewart Binns


  Baron Nathan Mayer ‘Natty’ Rothschild, 73: banker, politician and senior member of the Rothschild banking dynasty.

  Hugh Richard ‘Bendor’ Grosvenor, 35: 2nd Duke of Westminster; a Boer War veteran and one of Europe’s richest men (he owned seventeen Rolls-Royce cars as well as his own private train).

  William ‘Billy’ Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 42: 7th Earl Fitzwilliam; the owner of Wentworth Woodhouse, the largest private house in Europe.

  John Inglis, 40: factor, Blair Atholl Estate.

  Jamie Forsyth, 58: butler, Blair Atholl Castle.

  Dougie Cameron, 22: first footman, Blair Atholl Castle household.

  John Jarvis, 55: butler, Eaton Place, London.

  Simon Joseph Fraser Lovat, 42: (known as ‘Shimi’) 14th Lord Lovat and 3rd Baron Lovat; Roman Catholic Scottish landowner and the 23rd Chieftain of the Clan Fraser. He raised the Lovat Scouts in the Boer War, where he won a Distinguished Service Order.

  Eileen Macallum, 8: the illegitimate daughter of Bardie Stewart-Murray; Eileen’s mother was thought to be a ‘Lady Macallum’.

  Angus Farquhar, 38: Company Serjeant Major, C Company, Cameron Highlanders.

  John Tovey, 24: Corporal, C Company, Cameron Highlanders.

  David Tod, 58: born in Edinburgh; businessman, sculptor and friend of Lady Helen Stewart-Murray.

  Mrs Maud Grant, 53: widow and resident of Glen Tilt on the Blair Atholl Estate.

  Matthew White Ridley, 39: 2nd Viscount Ridley; British Conservative politician and owner of Blagdon Hall, Northumberland.

  The Pals: D Company (Burnley Company), 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, ‘Accrington Pals’

  John-Tommy Crabtree, 42, born in Harle Syke: steward, Keighley Green Working Men’s Club. Formerly a weaver; retired cricketer and renowned fast bowler for Burnley Cricket Club.

  Tommy Broxup, 23, born in Burnley: weaver.

  Vincent (‘Vinny’) Sagar, 17, born in Padiham: weaver.

  Nathaniel (‘Twaites’) Haythornthwaite, 17, born in Sabden: weaver.

  Michael (‘Mad Mick’) Kenny, 25, born in Colne: collier.

  Catherine (‘Cath’) Kenny, 22, born in Nelson: weaver.

  Mary Broxup, 22, born in Burnley: weaver.

  Harry Hyndman, 72, born in London: radical activist and leader of the British Socialist Party.

  John Harwood, 67, born in Darwen: cotton entrepreneur, President of Accrington Stanley Football Club, Mayor of Accrington, founder of the 11th Battalion (Service), East Lancashire Regiment (Accrington Pals).

  John Haworth, 38, born in Accrington: Manager, Burnley Football Club.

  Jimmy Dowd, 22, born in Armagh, Ireland: weaver.

  James ‘Jimmy’ Severn, 55, born in Bow, London: retired soldier, training NCO, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Henry Davison Riley, 33, born in Cliviger: local businessman; Lieutenant, D Company, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Frederick Arnold Heys, 26, born in Oswaldtwistle: solicitor; Lieutenant, D Company, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Raymond St George Ross, 31, born in Lancaster: analytical chemist; Captain, D Company, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Arnold Bannatyne Tough, 24, born in Accrington: dentist; Lieutenant, D Company, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Andrew Muir, 55, born in Maryhill, Scotland: retired soldier, training NCO, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  George Lee, 52, born in Widecombe, Devon: retired soldier; training NCO, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Richard Sharples, 64, born in Haslingden: solicitor and territorial soldier; Colonel and Commanding Officer, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  George Nicholas Slinger, 48, born in Bacup: solicitor and territorial soldier; Captain and Adjutant, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.

  Casualty Figures of the Great War

  Estimates of casualty numbers for the Great War vary significantly, largely because numbers from the Central Powers and from Russia were not properly recorded, or were lost in the confusion and chaos of the post-war world. The statistics below are drawn from a number of sources, including the following.

  British Empire figures are drawn from The Commonwealth War Graves Annual Report, 2011.

  Official British figures were concluded in a War Office Report of March 1922.

  Estimates of Russian, Greek, Serbian and Montenegrin casualties were presented by journalist Boris Urlanis in Wars and Population (Moscow, 1971).

  Estimates of Allied deaths in France, Italy, Britain and Germany were presented in Samuel Dumas’s study Losses of Life Caused by War (Oxford, 1923).

  Estimates of German and Austrian losses are based on the official German Army Medical Branch war history Heeres-Sanitätsinspektion im Reichskriegsministeriums, Sanitätsbericht über das deutsche Heer (Deutsches Feld- und Besatzungsheer) im Weltkriege 1914–1918 (Berlin, 1934).

  The following are also invaluable sources of information.

  Erickson, Edward J. 2001. Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War. Greenwood. (Includes casualty figures for the Ottoman Army.)

  Hersch, Liebmann. 1927. La Mortalité Causée par la Guerre Mondiale. Metron : The International Review of Statistics, Vol 7. No 1. (This study details the demographic impact of the war on France, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Serbia, Romania and Greece.)

  Huber, Michel. 1931. La Population de la France Pendant la Guerre. Presses Universitaires de France. (This study, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, lists official data for war-related military deaths and the missing of France and its colonies.)

  Mortara, Giorgo. 1925. La Salute Pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra. Yale University Press. (Lists estimates of Italian casualties.)

  The figures in the following table include 6.8 million combat-related deaths as well as 3 million military deaths caused by accidents, disease and deaths while prisoners of war. They include about 6 million excess civilian deaths due to war-related malnutrition and disease that are often omitted from other compilations. The civilian deaths listed below also include the Armenian Genocide (1915), but civilian deaths due to the Spanish flu (1918–1920) have been excluded.

  Allied Powers

  Central Powers

  Neutral nations

  Combined casualty figures

  British colonies

  In addition to New Commonwealth troops listed below, Britain recruited Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other overseas labour to provide logistical support in the combat theatres. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission reports that nearly 2,000 workers from the Chinese Labour Corps are buried with British war dead in France.

  Colony Military deaths

  Ghana (1914 known as the Gold Coast) 1,200

  Kenya (1914 known as British East Africa) 2,000

  Malawi (1914 known as Nyasaland) 3,000

  Nigeria (1914 part of British West Africa) 5,000

  Sierra Leone (1914 part of British West Africa) 1,000

  Uganda (1914 known as the Uganda Protectorate) 1,500

  Zambia (1914 known as Northern Rhodesia) 3,000

  Zimbabwe (1914 known as Southern Rhodesia) >700

  Included with British casualties in East Africa are the deaths of 44,911 recruited labourers.

  Ireland

  In 1914, the whole of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom; during the Great War 206,000 Irishmen fought for Britain.

  Location of war graves

  In March 2009, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission produced the following statistics for the resting places of the British dead in the Great War. The figures include all three services.

  Buried in named graves: 587,989.

  No known graves, but listed on a memorial to the missing: 526,816, of which buried but not identifiable by name: 187,861

  remains not recovered, therefore not buried at all: 338,955.

  The last figure includes those
lost at sea. Thus, about half are buried as known soldiers, with the rest either buried but unidentifiable, or lost.

  Genealogies

  The family of Winston Spencer-Churchill

  Grandparents

  Paternal

  John Winston Spencer-Churchill (7th Duke of Marlborough) 1822–1883

  Lady Frances Vane 1822–1899

  Maternal

  Leonard Jerome 1817–1891

  Clarissa Hall 1825–1895

  Parents

  Lord Randolph Churchill 1849–1895

  Lady Randolph Churchill (née Jennie Jerome) 1854–1921

  Brother

  John Strange (‘Jack’) Spencer-Churchill 1880–1947

  Children

  Diana 1908–1963

  Randolph 1911–1968

  Sarah 1914–1982

  Marigold 1918–1921

  Mary 1922–

  The family of the Dukes of Atholl

  5th Duke

  John Murray 1778–1846

  (second son of the 4th Duke; never married)

  Siblings

  Lady Amelia Sophia Murray 1780–1849

  James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon 1782–1837

  6th Duke

  George Augustus Frederick John Murray 1814–1897

  (eldest son of James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon)

  Spouse

  Anne Home-Drummond 1814–1864

  7th Duke

  John James Hugh Henry Stewart-Murray 1840–1917

  (only son of 6th Duke)

  Spouse

  Louisa Moncrieffe 1844–1902

  Children

  Dorothea (‘Dertha’) Born 1866

  (married Harold Ruggles-Brise, 1895)

  Helen Born 1867

  Evelyn Born 1868

  John (‘Bardie’) Born 1871

  (married Katharine (‘Kitty’) Ramsay, 1899)

  George (‘Geordie’) Born 1873

  James (‘Hamish’) Born 1879

  Acknowledgements

  I am indebted to the following primary sources for the factual background to this fictionalized account of the Great War during 1914. Each represents astonishing dedication to the cause of presenting accurate historical detail. Such diligent endeavours are often much more valuable than textbook histories, which usually give only a partial view and are invariably heavily laden with opinion and interpretation. Needless to say, I have used many of them, but they are too numerous to list here. Nevertheless, I am grateful for their insight.

  The Community: Presteigne

  Glover, Michael & Riley, Jonathon. 2007. ‘That Astonishing Infantry’: The History of the Royal Welch Fusiliers 1689–2006. Pen and Sword Books.

  Howse, W. H. 1945. Presteigne Past and Present. Jakemans.

  Laws, Sarah & Purcell, Clare. 1998. Impressions of Presteigne: An Oral History. Menter Powys.

  Leversedge, Cherry. 1988. Pictorial Presteigne of Bygone Days. Leominster Print.

  Parker, Keith. 2008. A History of Presteigne. Logaston Press.

  Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, Caernarfon Castle, North Wales.

  Ward, Dudley H. 2005. Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers (Volume III: 1914–1918, France and Flanders). Naval and Military Press.

  The Regiment: Royal Fusiliers

  Fusilier Museum, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Tower of London.

  O’Neill, Herbert Charles. 2002 (new edition of the 1922 edition). The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War. Naval and Military Press.

  The Politician: Winston Churchill

  Gilbert, Martin. 2008. Winston S. Churchill (Volume III: The Challenge of War 1914–1916). Hillsdale College Press.

  Soames, Mary. 1998. Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. Doubleday.

  The Estate: The Stewart-Murrays, Dukes of Atholl

  Anderson, Jane. 1991. Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine Families. Atholl Estates.

  Hetherington, S. J. Katharine Atholl, 1874–1960, Against The Tide. Aberdeen University Press.

  Katharine, Duchess of Atholl. 1958. Working Partnership. Barker.

  The Pals: D Company (Burnley Company), 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, ‘Accrington Pals’

  Chapman, Tom. 2006. Old King Coal. Tom Chapman.

  Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, Lancashire Infantry Museum, Fulwood Barracks, Preston.

  Haworth, John. 2000. Another Time, Another World. Burnley and District Historical Society.

  Jackson, Andrew. 2013. Accrington’s Pals: The Full Story. Pen and Sword Books.

  Turner, William. 1993. The Accrington Pals. Pen and Sword Books.

  Whelan, Peter. 1982. The Accrington Pals. Methuen.

  I am also more grateful than words can adequately express to all those at Michael Joseph/Penguin Books for their faith in me and their outstanding professionalism.

  Finally, to my family and friends – thanks for being so supportive, generous and absolutely wonderful!

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  First published 2014

  Copyright © Stewart Binns, 2014

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Cover images: Superstock (soldiers) 1895-30884 and Getty (flight Squadron) 2665779, planes: © Spencer Arnold/Getty Images

  All rights reserved

  ISBN: 978-1-405-91518-2

 

 

 


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