15429 Sergeant Arthur Samuel Reeve, 8th KOSB

15429 Sergeant Arthur Samuel Reeve of the 8th Kings Own Scottish Borderers was a patient at Hickwells in October 1915.  His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album is a watercolour of St Mary’s Church at nearby Newick which can be viewed here.  He signs it simply, Sgt A Reeve, 8th KOSB.

Arthur Reeve was born at Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire in July 1875.  His Medical History Sheet, retained in his surviving service records at The National Archives in Kew, gives the village of Upton as his place of birth, but every other document notes Hull.

He appears on the 1881 census living at 105 Peel Street, Spotland, Rochdale with his family.  The household comprised Robert Reeve (head, married, aged 30, working as a silk loom jobber), his wife Susannah Reeve (aged 36, her occupation noted as “house duties) and their two children: Arthur (aged five) and Mary K Reeve (aged three).  Robert Reeve was born in Norfolk, his wife in Wardle, Lancashire.  Arthur is noted as being born in Hull and his sister in Rochdale.  This suggests that the family had moved from Hull to Rochdale certainly by 1878.

On the 1891 census the family is still living in Spotland but has moved to 1 Joseph Street.  Arthur, now aged 15, is recorded as a silk finisher.  Mary is recorded as, what looks like, a “woollen mule piecer”.  There are also three other children – Robert Reeve (aged nine), Gertrude Reeve (aged seven) and Ethel Reeve (aged five). 

The majority of the Reeve family’s neighbours have occupations in the silk or cotton trade and it is possible that the accommodation they occupied was either tied to a local silk/cotton factory or situated close by to one.

Arthur does not appear on the 1901 census.  By that time he had been a soldier for close to seven years and was probably overseas.  He’d enlisted in The Royal Lancaster Regiment at Manchester on 4th July 1894.  No doubt in common with many young men of the time, he probably felt that the British Army offered an escape from the humdrum life of work in a cotton mill or factory.  When he enlisted however, he gave his occupation as labourer so it seems likely that he had already decided that life in a mill was not for him.  (His father however, is listed on the 1901 census as a silk weaver.  He was a widower by now and had moved to Reddish in Lancashire.  He was living at home with his three daughters: Mary (recorded as “:Minnie”), Gertrude and Ethel).

Arthur was given the army service number 4504 and commenced his army career. Where he did his soldiering is not clear now but we get some idea from his medical history sheet. He was vaccinated on 23rd July but was in hospital in Lancaster for nine days the following month with a severe cold and sore throat.  He was at Hilsea in October and then at Portsmouth that December.  Quinsy (a condition similar to tonsillitis) kept him in bed there for eight days and in January and February 1895 he spent nearly a month in hospital with severe “follicular tonsillitis”.  In November 1895 he appears to have been incarcerated in Gosport Military Prison (demeanour unknown) and in April 1896, apparently still in prison, he was fitted with a truss for a hernia.

His hernia appears to have plagued him throughout 1896 and into 1897.  He spent two more spells in hospital in 1896 because of it and was fitted with a second truss at Devonport in March 1897.

There is then a gap on his service record of nine years until July 1906 when he spent time in an unknown hospital due to a problem with his lymph glands – his papers are difficult to read at this point.  He was probably in India however as an entry for 26th December 1906 notes “malarial symptoms”  which caused him to be detained in hospital for 35 days. Bareilly is also mentioned in connection with what looks like convalescence.

It is not clear when Arthur Reeve left the army but by the time war was declared in 1914 he was off the Reserve but had joined the Special Reserve.  He enlisted as a Special Reserve Recruit at Ardwick on 1st September 1914 at the grand old age of 39 years and two months.  He joined the 8th Kings Own Scottish Borderers – which in due course would form part of the 15th (Scottish) Division - and was given the number 15429.  His papers show that he was five feet, four and a half inches tall and weighed 132 pounds.  Various moles are noted on his chest and arms together with a small mole between his shoulders.

Arthur was given a typhoid inoculation in October 1914 and transferred down to Bordon, Salisbury Plain in February 1915. 

The following extract is adapted from part 9 of The Hospital Way.

The 15th Division, with the exception of two battalions from the Leicestershire and Bedfordshire Regiments was entirely Scottish and was raised at Aldershot.  It was comprised of men surplus to establishment of the recently formed 9th (Scottish) Division and from drafts sent from various Scottish depots.  By 15th September it was complete.  The major problem facing this and the other K2 Divisions however, was a lack of officers and experienced NCOs.  Divisions comprised of the first 100,000 recruits had been able to call upon the services of regular officers and NCOs from the regimental depots; not so their successors.  Scarcely a battalion had more than four officers and the 7th Royal Scots Fusiliers could muster just one officer: a recently commissioned RGA Quartermaster-Sergeant, amongst the 900 men.  “At no time”, states the Divisional history, “were there more than five Regular officers in any one brigade.” There were some ex-regular NCOs and pensioners who had taken part in campaigns in Egypt and Afghanistan and they were given acting ranks but in many cases new officers were selected, so the Divisional history states, “solely on account of their smart appearance, and in nearly every instance the choice was justified.”

Arthur Reeve a former NCO in the Regular army, and with just the kind of soldiering experience that the 15th Scottish Division so desperately lacked, must have been welcomed with opened arms. He was appointed sergeant and posted to D Company.

A shortage of trained officers and NCOs was not the only problem that faced the division.  Rifles did not appear until October, and when they did arrive they were found to be obsolete and fit only for drill purposes.  Army uniform too was non-existent, the stores having been plundered by the First Hundred Thousand.  Ordinary civilian clothes not being suited to the rigours of army life, new recruits were encouraged to obtain good suits, boots and greatcoats from home and promised an allowance of ten shillings per man. This though, reports the divisional history, “… did not help matters greatly.  In these early days it was quite a common occurrence for men to be excused parade either because the state of their boots would not allow them to march or because their garments were not sufficiently decent to warrant their leaving camp or barracks.”  When clothing did arrive towards the end of September 1914, it took everybody by surprise.  “The garments consisted of English-pattern trousers and red serge jackets of every sort and description, some of which had been manufactured as far back as 1893.  There were a few pairs of tartan trews but these were nearly all snapped up by NCOs and the men had to content themselves with what was left.  One man was heard to remark that he had come down to be a Gordon Highlander and not a ****** postman.”

But slowly the men of the 44th, 45th and 46th Infantry Brigades, which comprised the 15th Division, settled into their new routine.  “By the end of March 1915”, the divisional history reports, “weaklings had been weeded out” or rather, those men unable to withstand the 72 hour weeks which were the rule on Salisbury Plain.  Although the men may have been ready, the division was still desperately short of the wherewithal to wage a war.  Lewis gunners learnt their drill with the help of wooden models whilst signallers used imaginary telephone and telegraphic equipment. The divisional artillery was no better placed.  Men improvised with a dummy gun made from a pine log mounted on a funeral gun-carriage and an old victoria carriage discovered in a stable was cut into two to represent a carriage and limber.  When working artillery pieces did arrive they were found to date back to the Boer War with a number of French cannon dating back to 1890.  Nevertheless, for the few months that they were in service, the 2000 men of the newly formed divisional artillery, read their manuals, practised their drill and waited for the day when they could fire real shells at a real enemy.

On July 4th the division received the order to mobilise and three days later the first advance parties left for France. By nightfall, on the 10th July 1915, the entire 15th Division was on French soil.

The war diary of the 8th KOSB lists all the NCOs who arrived in France with the original contingent and Arthur Reeve is there, recorded as a sergeant with D Company.  The strength of the batallion on departure for France was as follows:

30 Officers

6 Warrant Officers

43 Sergeants

40 Corporals

901 Other Ranks                             

+1 Interpreter           

Total 1021

The following information is taken from the battalion war diary:

10th July 1915

Headquarters Staff and C and D Companies land at Boulogne at 8:40pm (A and B landed at 9:20am) and march to large rest camp at OSTROHOVE.

14th July 1915

Smoke helmets issued.

[Over the following days, various minor promotions and demotions are announced including “Sergeant A R Fraser who had been struck off strength in England for employment with Divisional Head Quarters, was today returned to duty for misconduct and posted to B Company for duty.”  Also, “Sergeant Burns ‘B’ Company reverted to Corporal at his own request and was placed first in the list of his rank.”]

22nd July 1915

We received today the news of the regrettable death by shell fire of Major Forbes DSO of the 7th battalion who was at the front for instruction in trench warfare.  Our sympathy goes out to the 7th Battalion on the loss of an esteemed and valuable officer.

26th July 1915

Private J Golding D Coy was accidentally shot in a dug-out in Sector X2 about 10:30am by No 15445 Pte H Guest.

2nd August 1915

[Field General Court Martial assembled for trial of Private Guest] “Neglect to the prejudice of good order and military discipline”, Sergeant Pike, “Drunkenness when warned for duty”, Corporal McKinnon, “drunkenness on parade”.  Private Guest sentenced to one year’s imprisonment with Hard Labour and suspension of punishment applied for.  Sergeant Pike and Corporal McInnon sentenced to be reduced to the ranks.

4th August 1915

[Both men reduced to the ranks]

15th August 1915

LES BREBIS

Bathing of men and washing of clothes in mine condensers.

16th August 1915

MAROC

Relieved 10th SCOTTISH RIFLES in Sector W3, relief completed 4:30pm.  D on right, A on left, C in support trench, B in reserve billets NORTH MAROC with Head Quarters.

18th - 21st August 1915

[Minor promotions and incidents continue]:

Sergeant Ward of D Company accidentally wounded by bayonet in leg when returning over parapet from wire patrol.  To Hospital.

Private Saint ‘C’ Company.  Gun shot wound in great toe of right foot, self-inflicted through negligence and disobedience of orders.  To Hospital.

22nd August 1915

[Pte Ormerod is killed on a working party by a shell fragment striking him on the temple.  Diarist records his burial]: “Buried in ground around MAROC CHURCH by Father Gillen.  Exact position of grave.  Corner of church grounds.  WEST SIDE of ruined church.  4 feet from WEST WALL and 101/2 feet from NORTH WALL.  Next grave to that of No 1213 Lance Corporal A P BIRD 23rd Battn London Regmt.  Grave marked with Regimental Wooden Cross.”

The 8th KOSB was relieved by the 7th Battalion the same day. Five days later at Fouquereuil it was reported that Lieutenant [William Gray] Herbertson and Sergeant Reeve as instructors, and eight NCOs and men per company were to attend a bomb-throwing course at Noeux les Mines.  Meanwhile, Lieutenant Douglas and eight NCOs and men were to attend a machine gun course (Vickers Maxim) at the same village.  Lieutenant Herbertson would be the brigade instructor and Sergeant Reeve would be his assistant.

On 31st August the battalion war diarist reported:

The 6th Battalion KOSB marched through on their way to VERQUIN where they are to be billeted for the night.  Work was stopped in the Battalion and the 6th halted for a few minutes to allow of the men talking to each other.  The 6th looked very fit.

The diary continues:

1st September 1915

[Heavy rain - company inspections and Drill]

2nd September 1915

Battalion moved to MAZINGARBE marching by companies to NOEUX LES MINES and from there by Half platoon to Bivouac near SAULCHOY FARM.  Heavy rain all night.  Men most comfortable.

3rd September 1915

Rained continuously all day.  Working parties in X Sector and at QUALITY STREET improving communications, making advanced ammunition stores, cutting gun emplacements, improving water supply, and laying a trolly [?] line from RE store MAZINGARBE to QUALITY STREET.

4th September 1915

[Working parties continue]

5th September 1915

Usual church parades arranged for but no men available for church as all are required for day working parties except the 200 returned at 4:30am.

7th September 1915

[Battn continues providing working parties for 73rd and 91st Companies RE - 300 men per day and 300 per night.  Casualties occur from shell fire on billets - 1 killed, 16 wounded.]

8th September 1915

SECTOR X2

All the battalion in trenches with exception of Head Quarter Company which remained in QUALITY STREET.

9th - 15th September 1915

[Various duties and casualties reported]

16th September 1915

Lieut Herbertson rejoined from Brigade Bombing School and resumed duty as Bombing Instructor to Battalion, assisted by Sergeant Reeve

17th - 22nd September 1915

[In and around NOEUX LES MINES, MAZINGARBE area]

23rd September 1915                           

MAZINGARBE

Bombers paraded for inspection by The Brigade Bombing Officer and Battalion supply of bombs drawn.  It was now generally understood that an attack on the German Position was intended for Saturday morning 25th and the day was spent in General preparation.

24th September 1915

The MAIRIE was set aside for storing of kits and packs of Officers, NCOs and men, this storing was effected by 10am...

On 25th September, The British Army launched its attack against the German positions around Loos.  You can read more about the preparations for the battle and the role played in it by the 15th Scottish Division in parts 9 and 10 of The Hospital Way.

Arthur Reeve was a casualty on the opening day, shot through the right thigh.  Lieutenant Herbertson and five other 8th KOSB officers were killed.  Battalion losses for the day were close to 400.  In all probability, Arthur would have made his way back form the front via a Field Ambulance, Casualty Clearing Station and possibly hospital before being transferred by hospital ship to England.  His service record is remarkably undetailed about his time in the army after his wounding at Loos, presumably because there was not much detail to include.  His recovery appears to have been long and slow and there is nothing in his record to suggest that he returned to his battalion.  His pensioner’s record card notes that his invaliding disability was the wound to his right thigh received on 25th September 1915.

On 10th May 1918 he was supplied with a part support denture and on 4th January 1919 a medical examination noted, “GSW right thigh, attributable to war service – 20% disability

[unclear] [unclear] small scar of entry on outer side of right thigh about 2 ½ inches above [unclear] of fibula – a 1 ½ inch scar on front of thigh 2 ½ inches above patella [unclear].

Arthur was discharged from the army on 17th February 1919 and rated Grade III.  

A pension’s board held at Manchester on 2nd February 1920 notes his rank Acting Company Quarter Master Sergeant and he would attend further pensions’ boards over the coming months.  On 9th December 1920, a board held in Manchester noted that his condition was improving and that there was less than 20 per cent disability.  Six weeks later, another board found that the disability had reduced to between one and five per cent.  He was awarded nine shillings and six pence a week for the next 35 weeks and at this point, his service record yields no more.

16534 Private William Chadwick, 7th King's Own Scottish Borderers

William Chadwick was a patient at Hickwells in October 1915. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

Pte W Chadwick
7th KOSB

Wounded at Loos Sept 25th 1915

Man's Life is But a Dream

He shares this page with 9457 Cpl Horace F Wood and 5365 Private George Robert Alfred Lucas, both of the 8th Royal West Kent Regiment.

William Chadwick was born at Hollingworth, Cheshire in March 1885. He appears on the 1901 census living with his family at 12 Knowl Street, Hollingworth. The household comprised George W Chadwick (head, married, aged 42, working as a cotton waste sorter), his wife Kate Chadwick (aged 40) and their four children: William (aged 16), Harry Chadwick (aged 12), John Chadwick (aged eight) and Alice Chadwick (aged three). Kate’s 68 year old father, Thomas Minton (born in Ireland) was also living at the same address. William is noted on the census as a “cotton spinners piecer”.

On 8th August 1906 William married Ada Wigglesworth at Christ Church, Tintwistle, Derbyshire and appears to have settled with her back in his native town of Hollingworth.

He attested at Glossop on the 8th November 1914, stating that he wished to serve with the Scottish Borderers. “Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders” is written on his attestation papers but this is crossed out and “King’s Own Scottish Borderers” (KOSB) written in its place. He was posted to the 9th Battalion and given the number 16534. He gave his occupation as labourer and his age as 28 years and eight months. He was five feet, five and three quarter inches tall, had dark brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He weighed close to 133 pounds.

On 15th November he was posted to the 7th Battalion which formed part of the 46th Brigade in the 15th (Scottish) Division. The battalion sailed for France on the 9th July 1915 and numbered 1020 men comprised of 30 officers, six warrant officers, 43 sergeants, 40 corporals and 901 other ranks. The French Army added an interpreter which was to prove extremely useful as the men would find themselves billeted in areas previously unoccupied by British troops and were able, thanks to his services, to find buildings that had been overlooked by the French authorities. By nightfall, on the 10th July 1915, the entire 15th Division was on French soil.

William Chadwick was one of 600 7th KOSB casualties on the opening day of the Battle of Loos (25th September 1915), sustaining a gunshot wound to his left foot. The following account is taken from part 10 of the Hospital Way and describes the action of the 7th KOSB at Loos:

At 5.50am on Saturday the 25th September 1915, the British bombardment that had been directed against the German lines over the last four days, fell with a renewed intensity on their front defences. At the same time, the chlorine gas that had been so carefully stored under the British parapets, was released from its cylinders. Forty minutes later, in the face of German rifle and machine gun fire, the men of the 15th (Scottish) and 47th (London) Divisions clambered out of their trenches and headed off through the smoke, gas and mist towards the German lines.

William Chadwick and the men of the 7th KOSB had got off to a slow start. Just as they were preparing to go over the top, a change in wind direction had blown the gas back into their trenches. The men hesitated. Piper Laidlaw, forty years old and a recalled Reservist, seeing that the men were wavering, jumped onto the top of the parapet and, with shells exploding and bullets whistling around his ears, proceeded to march up and down playing the regimental march, ‘Blue Bonnets over the Border’. Urged on by his example, the 7th KOSB rallied and, with Laidlaw still piping, they ran forward together. Laidlaw was awarded the Victoria Cross. Half an hour after leaving their trenches, the Borderers and the 10th Scottish Rifles attacking with them had pushed through the German first line of defence and on towards Loos where they halted in front of the wire entanglements.

To their right, the leading battalions of the 44th Brigade: the 9th Black Watch and the 8th Seaforth Highlanders, had pushed on into the village followed by the 7th Camerons and 10th Gordons in support and by 8am, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting during which the men moved systematically from house to house, the village was in British hands.

By 9.30am, the advance on the 15th Divisional front was going so well that the order was sent for the Royal Engineers to bridge trenches and prepare tracks for the Royal Field Artillery to move forward . Having fought their way through Loos there was no holding back the eager recruits of the 15th Division. The 1500 men of the 44th and 46th Brigades who had survived thus far, now moved up the slope of Hill 70, pushing the Germans in front of them and whilst some men established themselves in a line along the reverse slope, between 800 and 900 others pushed forward.

The slope of Hill 70 though, inclined towards the South East and so instead of pushing ahead towards their 6th line objective of Cite St Augustin, ‘the men being excited’ (according to the war diary of the 7th KOSB), wheeled round to the right and towards the German held Dynamitiere, a heavily fortfified strongpoint. As soon as they reached it, the fleeing Germans had turned around and now opened up a deadly fire on the men racing down the slopes.

The Fifteenth Divisional history reports that some men of the leading lines of the 44th Brigade actually got as far as the outer houses that comprised the Dynamatiere but were then either killed or captured. The remainder, with a few of the 46th Brigade were exposed in the open within eighty yards of the German front trench and it was now their turn to seek whatever cover they find. Exposed to what the War Diary of the 10th Gordon Highlanders describes as ‘scathing machine gun and rifle fire’, they remained where they were until around 1pm when those that could manage too, were forced to retire back over the crest and rejoin the line on Hill 70 late in the afternoon.

Wounded in action, William Chadwick fell back. He arrived back in England on 28th September aboard the Hospital Ship Dieppe and was then taken in a medical convoy to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital at Brighton. His name appears in The Sussex Daily News published on 5th October as one of a number of wounded soldiers at the hospital. Three days after that report appeared, the military authorities officially informed his wife that he was at hospital in Sussex.

Having recently been mobilised, almost certainly in response to the casualties streaming back from Loos and Gallipoli, Sussex 54 VAD threw open the doors of Hickwells to welcome the newcomers. It was no longer a convalescent home but an Auxiliary Home Hospital attached to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital. It received its first batch of patients on 13th October and William Chadwick along with Stan Collins, John Currie and John Allan was almost certainly part of that first contingent.

William probably remained at Hickwells for around six weeks. On 1st December he was posted to B Company of the 9th KOSB. This may have been at Catterick because on 21st December at Hipswell Camp (which was at Catterick) he went absent without leave for ten days. He was awarded ten days’ Field Punishment and forfeited seven days’ pay. Unrepentant he went absent without leave again on 30th January, returning at 9.30pm on New Years’ Day; presumably somewhat the worse for wear. He was given 72 hours’ detention and forfeited another three days’ pay.

William was posted back to the 7th Battalion in France on 17th March, embarking at Folkestone aboard the Golden Eagle. He arrived at Etaples the following day and re-joined his battalion in the Field on the 29th. On 30th May 1916 the 7th and the 8th KOSB were combined and William’s designation now became the 7/8th KOSB.

On 24th June 1916 his service record states that he was admonished and fined one shilling for “losing by neglect, cap badge”. The following day he was back in hospital, this time with haemorrhoids.

William Chadwick’s haemorrhoids kept him out of the front line for about the same length of time as his Loos wound. His service papers show that he returned to the UK on 6th July 1916 and then spent time at hospitals in Colchester and Romford in Essex before being transferred to a convalescent hospital at Eastbourne. He was discharged fit on 26th August 1916 and then took eight days’ leave – presumably going home to Hollingworth.

He was due to return to the 3rd Battalion KOSB at Kinghorn, Fife on 4th September but it appears that he did not actually return until the 6th; an offence for which he was rewarded with an admonishment by Captain W P Donaldson and the forfeiture of three days’ pay.

On 6th September he was posted to the 53rd Training Reserve Battalion, remaining with them until 15th December when he embarked for the third time for France. He joined the 21st Infantry Base Depot on the 16th before being posted to the 1st KOSB and then, on 7th January 1917, to the 2nd Battalion. In June 1917 he was reported as being absent from a working party and was fined three days’ pay.

On 11th October whilst at Senlis in Northern France, William was admitted to the 14th Field Ambulance. It appears to state that his cause of admission was “H T Buttock” but I do not have a modern translation for this Whatever it was, it caused him to be admitted to hospitals at Rouen, Trouville and Calais and kept him out of the trenches until January 1918.

It next appears that he went briefly to Italy (in March and April 1918) but by 10th April he was back in hospital in France, this time with impetigo. He rejoined the 2nd KOSB on 2nd June 1918 and was appointed lance –corporal (unpaid) on 20th June.

On 3rd July 1918 whilst at St Pol he was admitted to the 12th Stationary Hospital with mild deafness, returning to duty on the 23rd. Exactly three months later, on the 23rd October, he reported “concussion of the labyrinth” but was discharged to duty the same day.

William Chadwick was appointed paid lance corporal on 25th December 1918 and on 13th January 1919 returned home to the UK for good. He was transferred to class Z of the Army Reserve on 10th February 1919, giving his address as 49 Market Street, Hollingworth, Cheshire.

32133 Private Edgar Stanley Miller, Kings Own Scottish Borderers

Edgar Stanley Miller was born in Lewes, Sussex about 1888.  He appears on the 1891 census as a two year old living at Old Malling, Sussex.  The household comprised 43 year old Benjamin Miller (a miller’s carter), his 42 year old wife Harriet (a caretaker) and their six children:  Albert J Miller (aged 16), William Richard Miller (aged 11), Edward Alfred Miller (aged nine), Alice Jane Miller (aged seven), Joseph Charles Miller (aged five) and Edgar. 

By the time the 1901 census was taken he was a 12 year old scholar living with his family at Anchor Cottage, Barcombe.  William and Joseph were still living there but Albert had moved to Mayfield and was living there with his family, while Alice was working as a housemaid at Little Buckingham Farm, Old Shoreham.  I can find no trace of Edward or another daughter – Elizabeth – born around 1877. 

Chailey Parish Magazine notes him for the first time In November 1916 as Miller, Pte E S, 3rd Royal Sussex, England and then repeats this information up to December 1917.  In January 1918 however it notes that he is now serving with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and this information is then repeated up to and including the final published roll call in July 1919. 

Edgar's medal index card (above, courtesy of Ancestry) confirms his service with the two regiments giving his Royal Sussex Regiment number as 19565 and his KOSB number as 32133.  He is noted by his full name, Edgar Stanley Miller. The British War and Victory Medal roll confirms that he served with the 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.

It seems likely that, like his brothers Albert Miller, Joseph Miller and William Miller, Edgar was conscripted into the army. His Royal Sussex Regiment number dates to October 1916, which ties in nicely with a mention in the parish magazine the following month.