VCs of the First World War 1915 The Western Front

by Peter F Batchelor

  The second Victoria Cross won at Neuve Chapelle was awarded to another man from the Garhwal Bde, Pte William Buckingham, 2nd Bn, Leicester Regt, who received his award for saving lives during the battle. Early on 10 March his battalion, deployed in its assembly positions, suffered a number of casualties when German artillery opened fire on the Port Arthur defences. The leading companies of the battalion advanced and with relative ease crossed the German front line, which was defended by 10th Coy, 16th Infantry Regt, and occupied a line of trenches near the River Layes (see map here).

  On the battalion’s right was a section of German front line, about 200 yards long, which was not attacked in the initial assault. This stretch of trench was assigned to 1/39th Garhwal Rifles. It was not an easy task, for not only had the trench escaped much of the artillery bombardment as shells fell behind the German front line, but the Garhwalis had veered off in an easterly direction instead of following their intended north-east line of advance as they left their assembly positions at Port Arthur. As a result, the Germans in the trench had escaped virtually unscathed and were ‘full of fight’. Brave efforts were made to dislodge them but it was not until about 17.00 hours that ‘A’ Coy, assisted by other British units, finally forced them to surrender. The Leicesters remained in their captured trenches throughout 11 March under shell-fire. A German counter-attack was launched early on the next day but was repulsed with very heavy loss of life to the attackers. The battalion helped to halt this attack, with the enemy on its right unable to get closer than 100 yards.

  The next day, 13 March, the battalion continued to hold its trenches despite sniper and artillery fire, but by midnight it had been relieved and reached its billets early on 14 March. The four days at Neuve Chapelle had cost 250 casualties, and much praise was accorded those who assisted the wounded; the highest accolade was reserved for 6276 Pte Buckingham, who was awarded the VC. The authors of The Indian Corps in France described his actions:

  During the attack [of the 10th] and again on 12 March, Private William Buckingham, 2nd Leicesters, on several occasions displayed the greatest bravery and devotion in rescuing and aiding wounded men. Time after time he went out in the heaviest fire and brought in those who would certainly have perished. In the performance of this noble work, Private Buckingham was severely wounded in the chest and arm.

  The London Gazette published his VC citation on 28 April 1915.

  The eldest son of William John and Annie Susan Billington, William Henry Billington was born in the second quarter of 1886 in Bedford. His brother, Frederick Ernest, was born the following year and both boys were placed in the Countesthorpe Cottage Homes by the time William was six. This was probably due to the hardship brought on by the death early in 1888 of William John Billington when he was less than twenty years old. Annie Billington remarried in the summer of 1891, her new husband being Thomas Henry Buckingham. It would appear that when the two brothers entered the Home they were enrolled with the name of Buckingham, their mother’s then married name. The colony of cottages which formed the Homes was run by a superintendent, Mr Harrison, whose wife was the matron. A local newspaper reported that Mrs Harrison described Buckingham as one of the nicest lads they had ever had. Though not an angel, he had a strong will of his own and strong-willed persons occasionally came into contact with authority.

  In 1901 Buckingham, together with a number of other boys, left the Cottage Homes to join the Army and in November of that year joined the 2nd Bn, Leicester Regt. Giving his occupation as a tailor he was 15 years 9 months old, just over 5 feet 2ins tall and gave his next of kin as his brother, Frederick Buckingham. With his battalion he saw service in Guernsey, Belgium, Madras and Rhamiket, and was stationed in India when war began. The Leicesters moved to France, disembarking at Marseilles on 12 October 1914, and fought in France with the Indian Corps throughout the winter. At Givenchy, on 19 December, Buckingham’s name was among those brought to the special attention of the Corps Commander, Gen. Willcocks, in his case ‘for great gallantry’.

  Buckingham returned to Countesthorpe when on leave, and was convalescing from his injuries received at Neuve Chapelle (a packet of postcards in his pocket deflected a bullet which might otherwise have caused serious injury.) in late April when the news of his award was published in the newspapers. He had no idea he had been recommended for the VC so was surprised when Mr Harrison arrived at his cottage with the newspaper, asking him for his regimental number (6276) so that he could confirm that the William Buckingham in the paper was the same boy he had brought up.

  A modest man, Buckingham said little about his experiences and it was only during a meeting with Cpl Tarry, one of the men he rescued at Neuve Chapelle, that more details emerged. The two men met at a garden party for wounded soldiers, given by Mrs Abel Smith of Coleorton Hall. The corporal related how, after he had been wounded, Buckingham had carried him out of the firing line under heavy fire, thus saving his life. Buckingham was persuaded to recount a further story of Neuve Chapelle:

  During the battle, I came upon a badly wounded German soldier. One of his legs had been blown off. He was lying right in the fire zone. His piteous appeal for help – well, I rendered first-aid as well as I could, and just carried him to a place of safety. Of course, I did what I could for others too, but really it’s not worth talking about.

  Mr and Mrs Harrison accompanied Buckingham when he went to receive his award from the King on 4 June 1915, and Mrs Harrison’s scrap-book contained many newspaper cuttings of him, including a photograph of Buckingham proudly showing his award to the Harrisons outside Buckingham Palace. Much was made in the Press of ‘Leicester’s Own VC’ as he was nicknamed, and the Mayor of Leicester presented him with a ‘purse of gold’ and £100 of War Loan Stock donated by the Leicester Board of Guardians. Buckingham’s response to this presentation was a simple salute, as he explained in a later letter of thanks:

  As a soldier not used to speaking in public, I regret I could not publicly return thanks at Countesthorpe for the handsome gift you were good enough to make on behalf of the citizens of Leicester; but I can assure you that I value it most highly, and if I am spared to my native town after the war, I shall come back to it with feelings of warm affection.

  He remained in England for recruiting purposes before returning to France on 13 April 1916; appointed acting corporal at the end of this month he joined the 1st Leicesters in May and reverted to the rank of private at his own request on 21 May 1916. Buckingham was killed at Thiepval on 15 September 1916, while serving as orderly to Capt. R.W. Mosse of the 1st Leicesters in the Battle of the Somme. Capt. Mosse broke the news of Buckingham’s death to the Leicester Board of Guardians in a letter, in which he wrote that it would be ‘impossible to replace him’. As Buckingham’s body was not recovered, his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

  It was only after the award of his VC was announced that Buckingham’s mother was discovered to be still living, and in the Register of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Mrs A. Buckingham was shown as living at 35 York Street, Bedford. On the 1911 Census Annie Buckingham, 45, is described as a widow and as living with her mother and son, Frederick Billington (23) at 37 York Street, Bedford.

  Amongst his army papers is Army Form 5080, a statement of living relatives of a deceased soldier and is dated May 1919. The information supplied by the solicitors for the executors of William Buckingham is interesting because the father of the soldier is recorded as William John Buckingham, not heard of for years, no full blood siblings but a half blood brother as Fred Billington, age 29, 10290 16th Lancers.

  In his memory a ‘Buckingham Memorial Fund’ was set up, and still exists, managed by a committee in Leicester. Buckingham Road, Countesthorpe was named after him in 1986 and a metal plaque set into a rock to mark it as a memorial. A late addition, the name of W BUCKINGHAM, was made to Countesthorpe War Memorial in 1986. His VC and other medals were in the possession of the Countesthorpe Cottage Homes until 1958 when the Homes were closed. T
he medals were then passed for safe-keeping to the City Children’s Committee of the Child Welfare Department, Leicester, where they remained until 1966. The medals are now on loan to the Leicestershire Regimental Museum in Leicester.

  J. RIVERS

  Neuve Chapelle, France, 12 March

  The first of three Victoria Crosses won by the 8th Division at Neuve Chapelle was another posthumous award, this time to Pte Jacob Rivers, 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regt), for bombing actions on 12 March.

  Only two days before, the 1st Sherwood Foresters, 24th Bde, 8 Div., had been in divisional reserve. The battalion moved forward during the morning of the 11th, and after a long wait were ordered to attack at 17.30 hours in the direction of Piètre. Their advance of about 1,000 yards was halted by machine-gun fire from a group of houses north-west of Piètre, known as Nameless Cottages. This machine-gun strongpoint (Stützpunkte) was occupied during the initial artillery bombardment by 12th Coy, 13th Regt. The Sherwood Foresters entrenched along the Mauquissart Road, its left company in an orchard, centre companies astride a sunken lane and the right company at the Sign Post Lane junction.

  Enemy shelling inflicted several casualties on the battalion early on the 11th and during the morning C Coy attacked and occupied some ruined houses on the left. At about 16.00 hours an attack was mounted by D Coy but heavy machine-gun fire halted the assault. These machine-guns sited in another Stützpunkte were positioned to defend the bridge over the River Layes, which had been occupied and reinforced by the Germans during the previous night.

  By the night of 11 March the battalion held two wrecked farmhouses and a connecting trench line which formed a pronounced salient 100 yards forward of the British lines, later named The Duck’s Bill (see map on page 174). Before dawn German artillery fire was directed onto the new British line and the battalion was attacked by the 21st Bavarian Regt. A trench on the left flank was completely overwhelmed, and fierce hand-to-hand fighting took place in the courtyard and rooms of the left-hand farmhouse; only eight defenders escaped. In the semi-darkness and early morning mist, the British troops had mistaken the Bavarians for the listening patrol they were expecting to return; this enabled the enemy to get within 50 yards. The main German attack was made on the right of the battalion and although a machine-gun sited in the second farm inflicted severe losses on the enemy, the battalion was forced to retire. Pte Jacob Rivers got very close to the enemy on the battalion’s right flank and bombed them with such ferocity that the Germans there were forced to retire. The citation was published in the London Gazette of 28 April 1915 and included the following description: ‘Private Rivers performed a second act of bravery on the same day, again causing the enemy to retire. He was killed on this occasion.’

  The second bombing action, which cost Rivers his life, probably occurred between 06.30 and 07.00 hours when the battalion and units on either side counter-attacked, driving the Germans back to their trenches and leaving over 400 dead between the battalion’s front and support trenches.

  The battalion was withdrawn during the evening, but not before casualties were inflicted by British artillery fire. It was a very costly battle: out of the 18 officers who went into action on the 10th, 9 were killed and 7 wounded; other ranks suffered losses of 90 killed (including Rivers), 265 wounded and 87 missing.

  Rivers’ VC was presented to his mother by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 29 November 1916; this was a moving ceremony, for on the same day a number of other posthumous VCs, all awarded for actions in 1915, were presented to relatives.

  Rivers’ grave was lost in later fighting and his name is commemorated, together with those of 237 other members of the Notts and Derby Regt, on the Le Touret Memorial to the Missing at Richebourg-l’Avoué.

  Jacob Rivers was born on 17 November 1881, at Bridgegate, Derby, and had two brothers and four sisters. Little is known of his early life and schooling. He enlisted in the Royal Scots Fusiliers on 3 June 1899 and with this regiment he served in India and Burma for seven years before being discharged to the Reserve on 3 June 1907. He was a reservist for five years.

  When war began Rivers was employed as a labourer on a ballast train by the Midland Railway Company at Derby, but he soon volunteered for the Army, joining the 1st Sherwood Foresters on 18 August 1914. He went to France on 11 Dec 1914 and, although he was involved with his regiment in several actions prior to Neuve Chapelle, he said little of this in his few letters home.

  After his death a brass tablet in his memory was placed in St Alkmund’s Mission Room at Bridge Street, Derby (this plaque was moved to the south wall of St Alkmunds Church in about 1967 when the Mission Hall was demolished), but his name does not appear on the Derby War Memorial. In 1923 the Freedom of Derby was conferred upon his mother, Mrs Adeline Rivers. She was in distinguished company as at the same time both Lord Haig and the Duke of Devonshire were similarly honoured. Mrs Rivers died in Derby on 1 March 1937, her funeral service being held at St Barnabas’ Church on 4 March followed by interment at Nottingham Road Cemetery. In addition to the family, other mourners included Capt. Warmer (who as a lance-corporal had served as a stretcher-bearer at Neuve Chapelle) and Pte R. Hardy, who was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bringing up ammunition although wounded, also at Neuve Chapelle.

  In accordance with Mrs Rivers’ wishes, her son’s VC was given to his regiment and on 7 April 1937, at the regimental depot, Rivers’ sister, Mrs Elizabeth Potter, wearing her brother’s medal ribbons, made the presentation. After passing the medal case to Maj.-Gen. Sir Frederick Maurice, Mrs Potter made a short speech in which she expressed pleasure in carrying out her mother’s wishes, also thanking the regiment for their offer to erect a stone to the memory of her mother and brother. Following the ceremony the civil and military dignitaries lunched in the Officers’ Mess while Mrs Potter and her relatives were only accorded the privilege of lunch in the Sergeants’ Mess.

  Jacob Rivers’ medals are held by the Sherwood Foresters Museum, Nottingham. On 7 May 2010 a splendid memorial was dedicated to Nottinghamshire’s twenty recipients of the VC. Positioned in the grounds of Nottingham Castle, the memorial includes amongst its list of names that of Jacob Rivers VC.

  W. ANDERSON

  Neuve Chapelle, France, 12 March

  At about the same time as Pte Rivers was throwing his bombs, Cpl William Anderson, 2nd Bn, Yorkshire Regt, was also handling these unreliable weapons to great effect less than half a mile away.

  The 2nd Yorkshire Regt (The Green Howards), 21st Bde, 7th Division, was not involved in the initial IV Corps attack. The battalion moved up to the Rue de Tilleloy at about 09.00 hours, enemy machine-gun fire inflicting a few casualties as the men crossed the open ground. A long wait then ensued, with only a small move forward, until the main advance at 18.00 hours. The light was fading, the ground was criss-crossed with ditches and trenches, many of which were half-full of water, and the whole area was congested with advancing troops; unsurprisingly, slow progress was made before the battalion was checked by fire from two strong German positions.

  A new attack was ordered for 07.30 hours on the 11th but the supporting British artillery barrage was inadequate, the gunners unable to register in the morning mist. The attack did not take place and the battalion incurred losses throughout the day; eleven men were ‘knocked out’ by a single shell from a British 4.7 in gun. Aptly christened ‘Strict Neutrality’, these worn-out artillery pieces fired shells, the driving bands of which had a tendency to break, causing the projectile to tumble through the air out of control and with no preference for target.

  Cpl William Anderson first came to prominence on 11 March, as described in The Green Howards in the Great War :

  A very brilliant attack was made on the enemy by the Battalion bombers under No. 8191 Corporal W. Anderson, who, with only nine other men, succeeded in bombing out and capturing sixty-two Germans in a trench opposite the left of the Green Howards.

  At 04.30 hours on 12 March a fierce artillery bombardment heralded a
German counter-attack. Fortunately, as with the British gunners earlier, the Germans were unable to register their shots, and consequently the majority of shells fell behind the new British defences. Thus, when the massed enemy attack was launched on the battalion’s right-hand companies, no attackers reached the battalion’s defences, even though the mist and darkness had enabled the Germans to approach to within 100 yards before they were spotted. To the battalion’s left, where the Germans approached through a maze of trenches, their attack had more success, enabling them to dislodge two companies of the 2nd Wiltshires.

  After daylight the battalion’s bombers helped C Coy of the Wiltshires to retake much of the lost ground (see map on page 25). It was in this operation that Cpl Anderson won his VC. He led three bombers along a trench which was occupied by a large group of Germans, at whom he threw all his own bombs, followed by those of his comrades, all now wounded; he then fired at the Germans with his rifle as well as throwing back many of their own bombs; these combined efforts forced sixty of the enemy to surrender, bringing Anderson’s own personal total of prisoners to over 120, a remarkable feat. He was posted as missing presumed killed on 13 March.

  Maj. B.H. Leatham of the battalion wrote to Anderson’s fiancée, Miss Dudley, saying:

  He was one of the bravest men I have ever seen … when I saw him during his act he was untouched and the Germans were driven back. I did not see him again, but from what I found out he was wounded later in the day. I fear he must have been killed as his pay book was eventually sent to us. We have tried to find out who found his body and where he was buried, but without success.