22782 L/Cpl Ernest Fairbrother, 10th Loyal North Lancs

Lance-Corporal Ernest Fairbrother was a patient at Beechland House, Newick.  His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

L. Cpl E Fairbrother 22782

10th Batt Loyal North Lancs Regt

Wounded on 15th Nov 1916 on the

Ancre.  Also at Givenchy May 1915.

“Make new friends & keep the old”

He shares this page with 1366 Lance-Corporal Ernest Ladd of the 5th East Kent Regiment and 25442 Private Norman Wigston of the 4th Worcestershire Regiment.

The 10th Loyal North Lancs Regiment was a Kitchener (K3) battalion which was formed at Preston in October 1914.  It was initially attached as Army Troops to the 22nd Division but in April 1915 joined the 112th Brigade in the 37th Division.  It is possible therefore that Ernest was wounded at Givnecy On the day on which Ernest was wounded, Chris McCarthy in his book, The Somme - The Day by Day Account has this to say:

Wednesday 15th November

V Corps - 37th Division

“The major concern of 37th Division, which had begun the relief of 63rd Division, was the linking up with 51st Division on their left.  The 13th Rifle Brigade (111 Brigade) bombed up Beaucourt Trench towards Munich Trench before 9am, but it was not until 10am that the link was established.  On the right, Beaucourt was shelled all day.  63 Brigade sent out a patrol and found Muck and Railway Trenches abandoned by the Germans.  Muck Trench was found to be full of mud.”

J E Robinson

This man was a patient at Beechland House in late 1916 and early 1917.  His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

J E Robinson

Wounded on 15 Nov 16 on the Somme

He shares this page with 4082 Lance-Corporal Andrew McCrorie of the 2nd Royal Scots Regiments and 57941 Lance-Corporal Albert Edward Smith of the 20th (Central Ontario) Canadians.  Also on this page is a pasted newspaper cutting relating to the pantomime organised in 1917. 

The cutting lists the performers in the pantomime which took place on 7th February 1917.  A Private Robinson is noted as having played the part of Firefly I (while Lance Corporal McCrorie played the role of Fairy Godmother and Lance-Corporal Smith played the part of a merchant).

Nothing else is known about this man, the information in his album entry being too slight to assist with further research.

Private Hilton

One of the pages in Nurse Oliver's album contains five badly faded photographs of convalescent soldiers at Beechland House.  The photograph above is probably the most detailed of the five and certainly the one that has withstood the test of time the best.  Neither Edith Oliver or Frances Blencowe named the individuals who appear in photographs in their albums; with the exception of these five.

The photos were clearly taken at Beechland House and date to June or early July 1916.  Apart from the fact that lupins can be seen in full bloom in a couple of the photographs and the men appear to be blinking into the sunlight, Trooper Hicks appears elsewhere in Nurse Oliver's album and dated his entry May 1916.  He was obviously still a patient when Hickwells was vacated and Sussex 54 VAD moved into its new Beechland House premises in June 1916.  He left hospital on 5th July 1916 and so the photograph must date to between the move to Beechlands - about 6th June 1916 - and George Hicks's departure the follwing month. 

The individuals who appear in the photograph above are named as:

Back row: Sergeant Milne, Private Hilton, Sergeant Richey; middle row: Trooper Hicks, Private Foster, Rifleman Deers, Private Hart, Bombardier Garland; front row: Rifleman Hardcastle, Private Dorchester, Rifleman R Nicholson.

Three of these men also appear in another photograph in Nurse Oliver's album (above).  Identified soldiers in this photograph are Private Hart (holding the dog), Rifleman Nicholson (second from right) and Sergeant Milne (far right).  This photo almost certainly dates from around the same time in 1916.

A Rifleman Hughes is named as appearing in another one of the five faded photographs but the image has suffered badly and I have not reproduced it on this website.

The photogaph below appears elsewhere on this site and may have been taken at Hickwells rather than Beechlands; it is impossible to say which. George Hicks also appears in this photograph, recumbent front left. 

Sergeant Richey

One of the pages in Nurse Oliver's album contains five badly faded photographs of convalescent soldiers at Beechland House.  The photograph above is probably the most detailed of the five and certainly the one that has withstood the test of time the best.  Neither Edith Oliver or Frances Blencowe named the individuals who appear in photographs in their albums; with the exception of these five.

The photos were clearly taken at Beechland House and date to June or early July 1916.  Apart from the fact that lupins can be seen in full bloom in a couple of the photographs and the men appear to be blinking into the sunlight, Trooper Hicks appears elsewhere in Nurse Oliver's album and dated his entry May 1916.  He was obviously still a patient when Hickwells was vacated and Sussex 54 VAD moved into its new Beechland House premises in June 1916.  He left hospital on 5th July 1916 and so the photograph must date to between the move to Beechlands - about 6th June 1916 - and George Hicks's departure the follwing month.  The individuals who appear in the photograph above are named as:

Back row: Sergeant Milne, Private Hilton, Sergeant Richey; middle row: Trooper Hicks, Private Foster, Rifleman Deers, Private Hart, Bombardier Garland; front row: Rifleman Hardcastle, Private Dorchester, Rifleman R Nicholson.

Three of these men also appear in another photograph in Nurse Oliver's album (above).  Identified soldiers in this photograph are Private Hart (holding the dog), Rifleman Nicholson (second from right) and Sergeant Milne (far right).  This photo almost certainly dates from around the same time in 1916.

A Rifleman Hughes is named as appearing in another one of the five faded photographs but the image has suffered badly and I have not reproduced it on this website.

The photogaph below appears elsewhere on this site and may have been taken at Hickwells rather than Beechlands; it is impossible to say which. George Hicks also appears in this photograph, recumbent front left. 

10298 Pte Ernest Kelsey, Royal Fusiliers; later SE/31883 AVC

Private Ernest Kelsey was a patient at Beechland House Newick in 1917.  His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

The happiest hours of my life,

Were spent in the arms of another man’s wife,

My Mother.

Pte E J Kelsey

22 Royal Fusiliers

(Coventry)

9.8.17

He shares this page in her album with Sergeant H Hunter and 11066 Band Boy John William Pate, Dragoon Guards.

He is probably the same Private Kelsey who is mentioned in The East Sussex News of Friday June 29th 1917.  The paper reports:

INTERESTING STOOLBALL MATCH

The contestants were Major Grantham’s team of officers of The Royal Flying Corps from Brook House (Chailey) Convalescent Hospital and Miss Cotesworth’s team of NCOs and men from Beechlands (Newick) Convalescent Hospital, and the former gained an easy victory by 50 runs. 

The same match had also been reported on five days earlier in The Sussex Express which said that the event had taken place:

… at Balneath Manor, the residence of Major W W Grantham, between officers of the Royal Flying Corps from Brook House, the new convalescent Hospital, and a team from Beechlands Convalescent Hospital.  Those from Brook House were easy winners.  Needless to say, Mrs Grantham entertained the company present to tea.

Ernest John Kelsey was born in the market town of Bedworth in Warwickshire in about 1882.  He was a hatter by trade and appears on the 1911 census, aged 29, and still living in the family home with his brother and two sisters, all in their twenties.

No service record survives for Ernest but his medal index card gives the number 10298 for The Royal Fusiliers and SE/31883 for the Army Veterinary Corps.  The Royal Fusiliers regimental number dates to December 1914 whilst the AVC number is much later and dates to about the 8th or 9th October 1917, a couple of months after Ernest signed Nurse Oliver's album.  As he was only entitled to the British War and Victory Medal he was presumably wounded - or fell sick - overseas with the Royal Fusiliers, returned to England, transferred to the AVC, and then went back to France. 

Ernest Kelsey survived the war and died in late 1944 or 1945, his death registered at Nuneaton in the first quarter of 1945.

Shoeing-Smith Atkinson

I know very little about this man. He appeared in a performance of Beauty & The Beast which was reported in The East Sussex News and the Sussex Express in February 1917. He is reported simply as "S-S Atkinson" which I take to mean Shoeing-Smith. The common surname means that he will be almost impossible to identify further. The articles are reproduced below.  

Sunday 9th February 1917 [The Sussex News]

ENTERTAINMENT AT THE PARISH ROOM

An entertainment by the soldiers and staff of The Beechlands Red Cross Hospital, assisted by a few friends, took place at The Parish Room on Wednesday evening.  The proceeds are for The Prisoners of War Fund and, judging by the crowded room, the fund should benefit by a considerable sum.  Beauty and The Beast, a pantomime in three acts, proved very amusing and created roars of laughter.  It was preceded by comic songs by Mr Gus Avery. Songs by Miss Hoather and recitations by Miss Beauchamp Marshall.  The characters in the pantomime were represented as follows: Beauty, Pte Keenan; Beast, Lc-Sgt Croft; Languor, Pte Lucas; Vanity, Rfm Maginnis; Merchant, Lc-Corpl Smith (Canadians); Fairy Godmother, Lc-Corpl McCrorie; Folly, Rfm Hobbs; Commonsense, Gunr Bright; King Cole, Corpl Reynolds; Fiddler, Pte Flynn; Fiddler, S-S Atkinson; Fiddler and Farmer’s Boy, Lc-Corpl Stern; Highlander, Pte McKenzie; Queen of Hearts, Pte Oliver; Knave of Hearts, Pte Hubbard; Knight, Pte Lincoln; Wizard I, Pte Head; Wizard II, Pte Gray; Wizard III, Pte Washbourne; Bo-peep, Pte Proctor; Poppy, Pte Brassington; Bee, Lc-Corpl Smith (Buffs); Firefly I, Pte Robinson; Firefly II, Pte Jennings; Forget-me-not, Pte Hoidge; Fairies, Misses J and K Fenn.

Sunday February 18^th 1917 - Chailey [The Sussex Express]

ENTERTAINMENT. 

The Parish Room was crowded with a large and appreciative audience on Wednesday evening, when a variety entertainment, organised by Miss Cotesworth, was given.  The first part consisted of song and recitations.  The second half of the programme was composed of a short musical play in three acts written by Miss Hughes, entitled ‘Beauty and The Beast”.  The proceeds will be donated to the Prisoners of War Fund.

February 23^rd 1917 [The Sussex Express]

The variety entertainment which was held at the Parish Room a fortnight ago realised £9,17s for the Prisoners of War Fund.

Rifleman Hardcastle

I know next to nothing about this man. The photograph above, pasted into Nurse Oliver's album, identifies Rifleman Hardcastle as the man sitting front left with an eye injury.  That he is indicated as a Rifleman suggests a Rifle regiment of course like the King's Royal Rifle Corps or the Rifle Brigade; perhaps a Territorial Force battalion like the 5th London Regiment or the 6th King's (Liverpool Regiment); there are many possibilities. 

The photo was taken at Beechland House in the summer of 1916 but that, pretty much, is all that I know of Rifleman Hardcastle.

11976 Pte John Edward Griffiths, 10th Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)

11976 Private John Edward Griffiths was a patient at Beechland House in 1916.  His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

Pte J E Griffiths

11796

West Riding Regt

Gassed at Plugstreet

Aug 29/16

Private Griffiths shares this page with 486742 Sapper Arthur Bee of the 470^th Field Company, Royal Engineers.

John Griffiths was born in 1885 and - judging by his regimental number - almost certainly enlisted around 8th September 1914.  11794 Arthur Dunkerley certainly enlisted on this date, and with a number just two digits greater, it seems a good bet that John Griffiths did too. Nevertheless, he certainly didn't go overseas until 1916 as his medal index card indicates that he only received the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

It is uncertain from John's autograph entry and the scant surviving information regarding his war service, whether he was gassed on the 29th August 1916 or whether that was the date of his entry in Nurse Oliver’s album.  The medal roll entry notes that John served with the 10th West Riding Regiment which formed part of the 69th Brigade in the 23rd Division.

After he had recuperated at Beechland House he was transferred to the Durham Light Infantry and later discharged from its 21st Battalion on 2nd May 1918.  This suggests that he was a casualty for a second time.  By this stage he also had a new regimental number – 66280 - which would have been issued after March 1917.

8355 CSM John William Beeby Gale, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment

8355 Company Sergeant Major John William Beeby Gale was a regular soldier with the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment who, as he states in his entry in Nurse Oliver’s album, was wounded in 1914 and 1916.

He was born at Ellington, Huntingdonshire in September 1877, the son of Angelina Gale (nee Smith) and Charles Gale who had married at Huntingdon in 1871. On 23rd October 1905 he enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment aged 18 years and one month. He gave his trade as farm labourer and became 8355 Pte John W B Gale.

In all probability, John Gale's military career would have begun with 10 weeks' drill at the regimental depot at Bedford followed by two years' service in the UK. This would then have been followed by service overseas and by 1907 the 2nd Battalion was in Gibraltar, would move to Bermuda in 1910, followed by South Africa in 1912. In that year, Lance-Corporal Gale, serving with A Company, is recorded in the regimental magazine The Wasp as a contributor to the 2nd Battalion benevolent fund.

When war was declared with Germany in August 1914 the 2nd Battalion was stationed at Robert's Heights, Pretoria. It was mobilised on the 10th August and Gale and the rest of the battalion set sail for England aboard HMT Kenilworth on the 27th of that month. After a brief stop at the island of St Helena, the battalion arrived at Southampton on the 19th September where it was assigned to the 21st Infantry Brigade in the 7th Division. The battalion sailed on two ships, SS Cornishman and SS Winefredian, arriving at Zeebrugge on the 6th October.

John Gale's medal index card shows that he landed overseas as a lance-sergeant and records held at Bedfordshire County Record Office note that he was overseas until the 2nd November 1914 when, according to his own autograph entry in Nurse Oliver's album, he was wounded. Records at the Bedfordshire archives note that his wound was a GSW (gunshot wound) to the chest. It seems likely that he was wounded on the 31st October, this from the 2nd Battalion War Diary (transcribed and augmented by Steve Fuller):

31 Oct 1914
Near Inverness Copse. Early in the morning about 2.30 A.M. orders were received to occupy a small fir wood about 250 yards in front of our line which was then held by L.North Lancs.R. Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] & 2 platoons of C Company were ordered to hold this position. This wood had been subjected to heavy shell fire from two sides during the previous day. Shell fire started as soon as it was light. It soon became evident that the enemy were advancing in force on the left of the wood held by Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] & also on the right. The Adjutant went to report the situation to Brigade H.Q.& almost immediately on his return to Battalion H.Q. 2 orderlies arrived with an order from the Brigadier to retire fighting towards MENIN-YPRES Road. Part of the Battalion moved back in compliance of this order. An order was sent to Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] to retire from the fir wood upon the Battalion. Part of the Battalion remained in the trenches till late in the afternoon about 4.30 p.m. when they were brought back & established a line which they held till relieved on Nov.5/6. The losses were very severe on this day. The C.O. Major J.M.Traill [John Murray TRAILL] & 2nd in Command Major R.P.Stares [Robert Percy STARES] remained in the trenches & were shot at short range. Lieut.Paterson [John Agar PATERSON] was killed in the fir wood. Lieut.Gott [Gilbert Ewart GOTT] was wounded in the Fir wood. Captain A.B.Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] was twice wounded in the fir wood & captured. Captain C.S.Garnet Botfield [Charles Sidney GARNETT-BOTFIELD] was severely wounded. 2/Lieut.W.Dixon [William DIXON] wounded. Captain E.H.Lyddon [Ernest Hugh LYDDON] missing [Comment; later assumed KIA]. Lieut.Anderson [Wilfred Cruttenden ANDERSON] missing. The Battalion strength on night October 31st-1st November was 4 officers, 350-400 other ranks. 4 officers were Captain & Adjutant C.C.Foss [Charles Calverley FOSS, VC, DSO], 2/Lieut.B.H.Waddy [Bentley Herbert WADDY, MC], Lieut.S.D.Mills [Stephen Douglas MILLS, MC], Transport Officer, Captain & Quarter Master H.Cressingham [Hugh CRESSINGHAM]. [Comment; also killed was Lieutenant Donald Godrid Campbell THOMSON] A short line was taken up and entrenched.

The wound was severe enough to keep John Gale in England for almost a year. He returned to The Western Front on the 19th October 1915 (having fortuitously missed the Battle of Loos) and rejoined the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment at Bourecq.

In December 1915 he 7th Division’s 21st Brigade was assigned to the 30th Division, its four battalions of regular soldiers being mixed in with the newly created (and inexperienced) Pals battalions. The Bedfordshire’s new brigade was the 89th and they shared it with Kitchener volunteers from the 17th, 19th and 20th King’s Liverpool Regiment.

The 2nd Bedfords played a supporting role on 1st July 1916, following the 17th and 20th King’s as they moved through cut barbed wire to take their objectives as planned. The other brigades had also enjoyed similar successes and by the end of the day the division had taken all of its objectives and could claim the distinction of having captured the first three field guns of the battle as well as Montauban, the first village to fall.

On 10th July, orders were received that the 2nd Bedfords would attack Trones Wood the following day. Having taken Bernafay Wood almost without a struggle, Trones Wood was proving a much tougher nut to crack. Initial attacks on 8th July by battalions from the 21st Brigade had successfully established a foothold on the south eastern edge of the wood, but subsequent attacks had either failed or been met by stubborn resistance in a see-saw series of engagements which saw portions of Trones Wood switch from German to English control and then back to German. By the time John Gale and The Bedfords moved up to play their part in the action, the wood was still largely in German hands.

Despite the intensity of artillery and machine gun fire concentrated in the area over the previous three days, Trones Wood was still thick with undergrowth that made it difficult to see more than four yards in front. Into this tangle, the Bedfords had advanced at 3:10am, getting to within 400 yards of the south eastern edge of the wood before being spotted by German machine gunners. Thirty five minutes later they had managed to reach the southern end but not without sustaining many casualties on the way in. Two decades later, in a letter published in The Great War I Was There, Private E G Robinson, also of A Company, wrote:

“The first thing that greeted me was a pair of legs, but no body, cut off as clean as with a knife. Farther in, the dead lay in heaps, you couldn’t move without stepping on them… The wood was very dense so we could not see far ahead. We struck off towards the edge of the wood and we came to a clearing where we could see a trench and it was lousy with Germans. At this point we lost touch with the officer and never found what happened to him so we returned to the main body and reported… The branches of trees were flying about as bad as shells and bullets. We were troubled quite a lot by snipers who were up in the trees at the far end of the wood. Captain Tyler said we had better try to drive them out, so he took our platoon forward with that idea. But Jerry had other ideas, and promptly let loose hell: we dived from one tree to another, and the bullets were cutting the leaves and bark round our ears… Eventually we got back to our funk holes with the remainder of the Company. There was no rest of any sort, what with bombing, sniping, machine guns, shells, wounded and dying screaming, the stink of dead bodies, it was Bedlam.”

The remainder of the day followed the now familiar pattern of attack and counter attack, the Bedfords, supported by two companies of the 17th King’s managing to hold on to the southern portion of Trones Wood until relieved on the morning of the 13th by a battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment. The operation cost the Bedfords 244 casualties including John Gale who had been hit before even getting as far as the wood. He gets a mention in the battalion war diary entry for the 11th July:

"Whilst the men were digging in, strong patrols worked the interior of the wood collecting stragglers and bombing the enemy in their Trenches and Dug-outs, and accounted for a great number. "A" & "B" Companies were leading Companies in the Advance at 3.10 a.m. and were particularly unfortunate in losing many N.C.Os on entering the wood, including the C.S.M. of "A" Company (C.S.M.GALE)."

Bedfordshire archives records note that John Gale received a shell wound to his right knee. He must have remained in hospitals overseas for a couple of weeks as records show that he returned to the UK on the 26th July.

Back in England, John Gale would presumably have been sent to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton before being sent to Beechlands in Newick, and his rendezvous with Nurse Oliver. He almost certainly would have met some of the men below, posing for Nurse Oliver's camera at Beechlands in 1916.

In the October quarter of 1916, John Gale married Emily Jane Warman at The St George's Hanover Square district. He spent the remainder of the war in England and, on the face of it at least, appears to have been untroubled by his wounds in his subsequent military career. He gets a number of mentions in The Wasp; playing football in 1922, winning the Spoon Shoot in July 1924 and a whist drive in 1924.

5942061 RQMS John Gale was discharged at Bedford on the 22nd October 1927 on the termination of his engagement. His conduct was recorded as exemplary and his address on discharge given as Kempston Baracks, Bedford. He was awarded a pension of 56d a day for life and had already been awarded the LSGC with gratuity in April 1924.

John Gale died on the 6th March 1943 aged 66. He is buried in Flitwick churchyard in Bedfordshire. I acquired his medals in December 2011.

Lance-Corporal Coates

Lance-Corporal Coates does not appear in Nurse Oliver's album but he was a patient at Beechlands. His name appears in an East Sussex News article from 13th October 1916:

NEWICK – CONCERT IN AID OF ‘OUR DAY’

… the performers consisted of convalescent soldiers from The Beechland Auxiliary Hospital and several ladies, for the most part from Brighton… [Performers mentioned: Private McWilliams, Private Gordon, Private Raynor–Smith, Lance-Corporal Beeching, Private Tomkinson, Lance-Corporal Coates.  Proceeds amounted to £10] “Performers took tea together at the Beechland Hospital, after which the programme was repeated there for the benefit of those who were inacpable of going to hear it at the Reading Room.

Nothing else is currently known about this man.

Private Tomkinson

Private Tomkinson does not appear in Nurse Oliver's album but he was a patient at Beechlands. His name appears in an East Sussex News article from 13th October 1916:

NEWICK – CONCERT IN AID OF ‘OUR DAY’

… the performers consisted of convalescent soldiers from The Beechland Auxiliary Hospital and several ladies, for the most part from Brighton… [Performers mentioned: Private McWilliams, Private Gordon, Private Raynor–Smith, Lance-Corporal Beeching, Private Tomkinson, Lance-Corporal Coates.  Proceeds amounted to £10] “Performers took tea together at the Beechland Hospital, after which the programme was repeated there for the benefit of those who were inacpable of going to hear it at the Reading Room.

Nothing else is currently known about this man.

Private Raynor-Smith

Private Raynor-Smith does not appear in Nurse Oliver's album but he was a patient at Beechlands. His name appears in an East Sussex News article from 13th October 1916:

NEWICK – CONCERT IN AID OF ‘OUR DAY’

… the performers consisted of convalescent soldiers from The Beechland Auxiliary Hospital and several ladies, for the most part from Brighton… [Performers mentioned: Private McWilliams, Private Gordon, Private Raynor–Smith, Lance-Corporal Beeching, Private Tomkinson, Lance-Corporal Coates.  Proceeds amounted to £10] “Performers took tea together at the Beechland Hospital, after which the programme was repeated there for the benefit of those who were inacpable of going to hear it at the Reading Room.

Nothing else is currently known about this man.

Private McWilliams

Private McWilliams does not appear in Nurse Oliver's album but he was a patient at Beechlands. His name appears in an East Sussex News article from 13th October 1916:

NEWICK – CONCERT IN AID OF ‘OUR DAY’

… the performers consisted of convalescent soldiers from The Beechland Auxiliary Hospital and several ladies, for the most part from Brighton… [Performers mentioned: Private McWilliams, Private Gordon, Private Raynor–Smith, Lance-Corporal Beeching, Private Tomkinson, Lance-Corporal Coates.  Proceeds amounted to £10] “Performers took tea together at the Beechland Hospital, after which the programme was repeated there for the benefit of those who were inacpable of going to hear it at the Reading Room.

Nothing else is currently known about this man.

Private Gordon

Private Gordon does not appear in Nurse Oliver's album but he was a patient at Beechlands. His name appears in an East Sussex News article from 13th October 1916:

NEWICK – CONCERT IN AID OF ‘OUR DAY’

… the performers consisted of convalescent soldiers from The Beechland Auxiliary Hospital and several ladies, for the most part from Brighton… [Performers mentioned: Private McWilliams, Private Gordon, Private Raynor–Smith, Lance-Corporal Beeching, Private Tomkinson, Lance-Corporal Coates.  Proceeds amounted to £10] “Performers took tea together at the Beechland Hospital, after which the programme was repeated there for the benefit of those who were inacpable of going to hear it at the Reading Room.

Nothing else is currently known about this man.

The Mikado - Beechlands, June 1917

"Entertainments" of one sort or another seem to have been common currency for VAD hospitals during the First World War, both as a means of raising morale, and of raising money.  The photograph above, undated, appears in Nurse Oliver's album and is one of those photographs that I have looked at and pondered on hundreds of times.  I now know though, that it dates to June 1917, thanks to this article in the Sussex Agricultural Express on the 22nd June.

Private T W Brown, Durham Light Infantry

Private T W Brown was a patient at Beechland House. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads

Dear little sweetheart
Tis hard to say goodbye
But duty must be done
Tis harder still to leave you
But victory must be won.
Someday when your loving face
I see, you’ll find my love is
just as strong as the days that used to be.

But if it is that I am slain
& you [sic] loving face I never see again
You’ll proudly know I died a heroes
death with my face towards the
foe. So we’ll just say Au revoir
dear with hope we meet once
more

Pte T. W. Brown
DLI

Wounded on the Somme
Sep 1916

Sixteen battalions of the Durham Light Infantry fought on the Somme in 1916. These were: 2nd Battalion, 1/5th Battalion (TF), 1/6th Battalion (TF), 1/7th Battalion (TF), 1/8th Battalion (TF), 1/9th Battalion (TF), 10th (Service) Battalion, 11th (Service) Battalion, 12th (Service) Battalion, 13th (Service) Battalion, 14th (Service) Battalion, 15th (Service) Battalion, 18th (Service) Battalion (1st County), 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd County), 20th (Service) Battalion (Wearside) and the 22nd (Service) Battalion (3rd County Pioneers).

Of these, the 18th, 19th and 22nd Battalions alone did not see action during September (when Brown was wounded). It seems a reasonable assumption to make therefore that he served with one of the remaining thirteen battalions.

The National Archives has one possibility for T W Brown (76 Private T W Brown of the 1/5th Durham Light Infantry) and two possibilies for Thomas W Brown: 6/3262 Private Thomas W Brown (later 203841 Private Thomas W Brown, DLI) and 10154 Private Thomas W Brown (later 113341 Private Thomas W Brown, MGC).

There may also be other name combinations however that fit “T W Brown” and at the moment there is not enough information to go on to positively identify this man.

370722 Rifleman Harold William Parkinson, 1/8th London Regiment

2537 Private Harold William Parkinson was a patient at Beechland House in 1917. He was there not due to wounds but due to sickness. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

Rifleman Harold Parkinson
Post Office Rifles
Better known as
Bronchial Billy. Feb 28th 1917

[ha’penny stamp stuck in book]

By gum Its stuck HP

There is also a group photo of hospital patients pasted onto this page and it is possible that Harold is one of the many unidentified patients there. Nurse Oliver is certainly pictured (back row, third from left) as is the matron, Miss Marshall, who sits at the front with a small dog on her lap.

Harold Parkinson, the son of James Parkinson, was living at 10 Elm Park Avenue, South Tottenham, London when he enlisted with a reserve battalion of the 8th (City of London) Regiment (Post Office Rifles) on 9th September 1914. He was appointed acting corporal on the 26th September 1914 and posted to the 1/8th Battalion on the 10th February 1915. He arrived in France with the Post Office Rifles on the 18th March 1915 and was overseas for just over one year, returning to England on 22nd March 1916 as a result of sickness. He was discharged due to sickness on 22nd April 1917.

His reference to bronchial problems may indicate that he was gassed – he would certainly have been exposed to clouds of gas at the Battle of Loos in which the 1/8th London Regiment took part, and probably after that as well. There is, however, no reference to the reason for his discharge in the six pages of service record which survive in series WO 364.

Harold’s medal index card gives two army numbers for him; the second one: 370722, (which was allocated to him when the Territorials were re-numbered in early 1917), falls within the range of numbers allotted to the Post Office Rifles.

Pte Dorchester

Private Dorchester is referenced only once in Nurse Oliver's album and that is in a faded photograph, one of a series of five, pasted onto a single page. I am unsure whether this photograph was taken at Beechlands or Hickwells although I suspect it was taken at Beechlands as one of the men, Trooper Hicks, was certainly a patient at Hickwells from May 1916 but transferred to Beechlands the following month. Another of these faded photographs appears to show lupins growing and as these plants bloom in late May / June and continue through to August, I deduce that Beechlands is the more likely location. But I could be wrong.

He appears in the photo above, the middle of three men, seated cross-legged on the ground.  Other named men in this photograph are, from left to right:

Back row
Sergeant Milne, Private Hilton, Sergeant Richey

Middle row
Trooper Hicks, Private Foster, Rifleman Deers, Hart, Garland

Front row
Rifleman Hardcastle, Private Dorchester, Rifleman R Nicholson

There is not enough information to positively identify Private Dorchester beyond his rank and surname, although he also appears in another undated and un-named photograph (below). Here, I believe he is the man seated far right with his arm in a sling. Trooper Hicks is also in this photograph, lying on the ground on the left.

Chailey Roll-Call: The Patients

Surviving British Red Cross records tell us that between August 1914 and November 1918, the ladies of Sussex 54 VAD nursed a total of 958 soldier patients at Hickwells and Beechlands. That means that Nurse Oliver’s album represents less than 14 per cent of admissions although of course, she would have had a hand in nursing the majority of the men who passed through the two hospitals.

One hundred and twenty nine sick and wounded soldiers left their marks in Edith Oliver's album. They, and a handful of soldiers from another album kept by Nurse Rose Beatrice Smythe (indicated by an asterisk) are recorded below.

I would be delighted to hear from anybody who has further information on any of the patients listed here, or indeed anyone who can add another soldier name to the Hickwells and Beechland House roll call. Please do contact me.


3246 Private John Thomson ALLAN, 1/4th Gordon Highlanders
Private J ANDREW, 4th Northamptonshire Regt
Staff Sergeant ATKINSON
23331 Private William H BADDOCK, 3rd Grenadier Guards
L/10314 Private Charles BANKS, 1st Royal Fusiliers
2767 Private William BARBIN, 42nd Australian Imperial Force
3962 Signaller Chris BARCLAY, 2/10th (Scottish) King's Liverpool Regt
43009 Private Herbert Richard BARNES,13th (West Ham) Essex Regt
486742 Sapper Arthur BEE, 470th Field Coy Royal Engineers
Lance-Corporal BEECHING
602919 Private James BENTLEY, 7th (British Columbia) Canadians
86771 Private Thomas S BENTON, 41st Signal Coy Royal Engineers
Driver BRADLEY
Corporal Albert BRANDON, 1/7th Middlesex Regt
Private BRASSINGTON
2/338493 Gunner H S BRIGHT, Royal Artillery
Private T W BROWN, Durham Light Infantry
Private S F BROWN, 2/9th Middlesex Regt
1218 Private W BROWN, 1/9th Middlesex Regt
22824 Private Henry Robert BURN, 2nd Worcs Regt
G/4780 Private Edward John BURNAGE, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt
Private D BUTCHER, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt*
1359 Private William J BUTTERS 1/20th London Regt
1583 Sergeant William CALVERT, 1/5th East Lancs Regt
290444 Private Archibald John CAPHAM, 1/4th Suffolk Regt
Private A CARTHIDGE, Royal Sussex Regt*
16534 Private William CHADWICK, 7th KOSB
12419 Private Charles Robert H CHAMBERS, 7th Norfolk Regt
Corporal CHATTERTON
Thomas George CLARKE, National Reserve
Driver CLEARY
Driver J CLEGG, Army Service Corps*
Lance-Corporal COATES
R/1480 Rifleman Stan COLLINS, 12th Kings Royal Rifle Corps
16621 Private James COWLEY, 1st Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regt
Lance Sergeant CROFT
7567 Private John CURRIE, 10th Gordon Highlanders
Private DAVEY
Drummer DAVIS
Gunner DAVIS
Private DAWSON
88802 Driver George William DEER, Royal Field Artillery
Rifleman DEERS
12517 Cpl Frederick John DENTON, 9th Essex
2605 Corporal John DICKS, 9th Essex Regt
6155 Private Frank Chivers DIXON, 1st Wiltshire Regt
3655 Private Martin DONNELLY, East Surrey Regt
Private DORCHESTER
Private DUFFY
Corporal A A C ELDRIDGE, Royal Fusiliers
22782 L/Cpl Ernest FAIRBROTHER, 10th Loyal North Lancs
5363 Private W FERGUSON 3rd Border Regiment
Private Joseph R FISH, 86th Aero Squadron, USA
Private FLYNN
Private FOSTER
16880 Private Joseph FRENCH, 9th Essex Regt
Private FROST
11908 Private Carles Hellas FUERE
8355 CSM John William Beeby GALE, 2nd Bedfordshire Regt
Bombardier GARLAND, Royal Artillery
S/7793 Private Andrew GEDDES, 10th Gordon Highlanders PHOTO
50082 Driver James GILBERT, Royal Field Artillery
Private GOLDBOROUGH
2726 Thomas Leo GOLDEN, CEF*
Private GORDON
Private GRAY
11796 Private John E GRIFFITHS, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regt)
Private HALE
Rifleman HARDCASTLE
L/6723 Private Frederick HARDING, 4th Middlesex Regt
Private HARDY
21/1522 Private Charles Edward HARRALD, 24th Northumberland Fusiliers
Private HARRISON
Private HART
SR/7386 Private William HAYDON, 1st Royal FusiliersRifleman
F HEAD
2367 Trooper George Seaney HICKS, 3/1st Bedfordshire Yeomanry
Bombardier William HILL, Royal Artillery
Private HILTON
14598 CQMS Oswald Daniel HITTER, 10th Essex Regt
6850 Rifleman Robert Mearns HOBBS, 1/5th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
SE/9585 Private Albert HOIDGE, RAVC
Private HOLLERAN
20491 Private William HOLT, 20th County of London Regt
Private HOLYROD
Private HUBBARD
Private HUME
Sergeant H HUNTER, Coldstream Guards
Private JENNINGS
64720 Gunner Henry JOBSON, Royal Field Artillery*
Private JOHNSTONE
22002 Private D JONES, Army Service Corps
Private KEARTON
21675 Private O KEENAN, Border Regt
10298 Private Ernest J KELSEY, 22nd (Kensington) Royal Fusiliers
19797 Private Alfred Ephraim KENNARD, 6th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
1366 Lance Corporal Ernest LADD, 5th Buffs PHOTO
17797 Private Albert LEGGETT, 1st Northamptonshire Regt
19740 Private Joseph LEIGH, 3rd Border Regt
Private LINCOLN
Private LISTERCorporal LITTLER
5365 Pte George Robert Alfred LUCAS, 8th RWK
230 Private Herbert MAGINNIS, 10th Scottish Rifles
G/5793 Lance Corporal Ernest Arthur MALINS, 6th Royal West Kent Regt
L/8576 Private Albert MANKTELOW, 2nd Royal Sussex
Private McBRIDE or MACBRIDE
4082 Lance Corporal Andrew McCRORIE, 2nd Royal Scots
Private McCANNPrivate Angus McKENZIE 1/5th (Sutherland & Caithness Highland) Seaforth Highlanders
Private McWILLIAMSSergeant MILNE
2844 Harry Gordon MILSOM, CEF
Corporal NASH
Private NEWTON
Rifleman R NICHOLSON
Private OLIVER
2537 Rifleman Harold William PARKINSON, 1/8th London Regt
11066 Band Boy John William PATE, 3rd Dragoon Guards
8108 Private Bernard PICTON, 2nd Connaught Rangers*
7480 Private Reginald PIMBLE, 1st Gloucestershire Regt
Private H PROCTOR, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding)
Private RAYNOR-SMITH
15429 Sergeant Arthur Samuel REEVE, 8th KOSB
Corporal W R D F REYNOLDS, 3rd Royal Fusiliers
205445 Private Joseph Henry RICHARDS, 11th East Yorkshire Regt
Private A G RICHARDSON, 1st Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles
8030 Private Henry Walter RICHARDSON, 1st Dorset Regt
Sergeant RICHEY
G/3325 Private Arthur Charles RIDGER, 7th East Kent Regt
Walter ROBERTSON, 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
Private J E ROBINSON
2229 Tpr Alfred ROCK, Royal Horse Guards WO364 RECORD
914 Bombardier Francis E RYAN, Royal Field Artillery
L/6738 Private Charles SABOURIN, 1st East Surrey Regt
SR/1921 Private James William SALMON, 4th Royal Fusiliers
Lance-Corporal SARGEANT
Lance-Corporal SAVAGE
Private SHAKESPEARE
Sergeant SHEPPARD
10690 Cpl John William SHERIDAN, 12th Northumberland Fusiliers
10181 L/Cpl Thomas Clement SKURRAY, 6th Royal Berkshire Regt*
57941 Lance Corporal Albert Edward SMITH, 20th Canadians Private E SMITH, 2nd Welsh Regt*
1584 Corporal Henry G SMITH DCM, 1/6th Northumberland Fusiliers
Lance-Corporal SMITH
Lance Corporal SMITH, The Buffs (East Kent Regt)
8451 Private Joseph SPRUCE, 8th North Staffordshire Regt
Lance Corporal STERN
Sergeant J STEWART, 84th Bde, Royal Horse Artillery
Corporal R SUTTON, CEF*
18406 Private James SWEENEY, 13th Royal Scots
Private SWIFT
6334 Private John THOMAS, 2nd South Staffordshire Regt
801298 Gunner John William THURGOOD, RFA
Private TODD
Private TOMKINSON
255507 Gunner Edward Harvey TRUMAN, Royal Field Artillery
Private J TURNER, 2nd Highland Light Infantry*
43262 Private Robert VINTON, 10th West Yorkshire Regt
841 L/Cpl George Cecil Davison WALBURN, 1/4th Yorks
9437 Private William Thomas WALLACE, 1st Border Regt
Private WARNER
2725 Private William Fryer WASHBOURNE, 1/5th Gloucestershire Regt
235397 Private Arthur Sydney WEAVING, 3rd Worcestershire Regt
65522 Sapper WEEDEN, 135th Field Coy Royal Engineers
268791 Private Arthur George WHIPP, 2/7th Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys)
6271 Private Ernest WHITCOMB, 1st Middlesex
25442 Private N WIGSTON, 4th Worcestershire Regt
21370 Lance-Corporal John William WILLIAMS, 24/27th Northumberland Fusiliers
33612 Sapper F WILLMOTT, Royal Engineers
326251 Company Sergeant Major John A C WILSON, Royal Garrison Artillery
Private WISE
9457 Corporal Horace Frank WOOD, 8th Royal West Kent Regt
Private WOOLDRIDGE
Private W WORSTER, 5th and14th Middlesex Regt

Pictured above, regular soldier Horace Frank Wood photographed after his recuperation at Chailey. He would survive the war.

Chailey's patients

One of the frustrating aspects of trying to research the stories of the men who found themselves at Hickwells and Beechlands is that their entries in Nurse Oliver's autograph album often did not include their army service numbers. Additionally some men just gave an initial rather than a name, or were given only the briefest of mentions in newspaper reports of the time. This means that trying to trace the histories of men like Rifleman F Head, and Drummer Davis (or Gunner Davis for that matter) is a virtually impossible task. I've included their names on the Patients' roll-call because it is feasible, I suppose, that at some future point in time, somebody will send me an e-mail that reads, "My great great uncle was 12345 Rifleman Frank Head and he always spoke about how much he enjoyed being a hospital patient in Chailey..." Well, I live in hope.

Nevertheless, I have spent more time over the past few days, checking names again against medal index cards and service records in the WO 363 and WO 364 series and have identified three more patient service records - those for John Dicks, Ernest Fairbrother and Charles Harrald (or Harrold) - as well as more of Chailey's men. I'll update their pages in due course.