Historic Records Men of 1914

Arrived overseas: 4 October 1914. Connection: Prisoner of War postcard. 'Madge', also known as 9023 Lance-Corporal Arthur Woolley of the 1st South Staffordshire Regiment, was captured by the Germans on the 26th October 1914 and would spent the rest of the war as a guest of the Kaiser. This photograph of him was taken at one of the Munster PoW camps. Arthur, born in 1894, had been a soldier since 1911, and he would be discharged in February 1919 with disordered action of the heart. His home address was given as 20 St Luke's Road, Derby.

Arrived overseas: 15 August 1914. Connection: Postcards (x3). These two photos of Private George William Clarke of the 2nd Suffolk Regiment were taken when he was incarcerated at Chemnitz PoW camp. Born in 1888, George had joined the Suffolk Regiment in 1906, and in the photo on the left, you can clearly see the three good conduct chevrons on his lower left arm which indicate at least 12 years' service. As the photo dates to 1918 this ties in perfectly with George's 1906 enlistment. It also confirms that men's GC badge entitlements were updated, even when they were prisoners of war. George had arrived overseas on the 15th August 1914 and he was captured at Le Cateau on the 26th August 1915. His Chemnitz PoW number can clearly be seen above his left jacket pocket, whislt the number 12 on his collar his an anachronistic nod to the 12th Regiment of Foot which would become the Suffolk Regiment in July 1881.

Arrived overseas: 7 October 1914. Connection: Postcards (x2). You could be forgiven for thinking that this man was serving with a Scottish regiment. Nothing of the sort. Charles Hulbert, an infantryman with an English line regiment, has swapped his uniform with a Scottish PoW and posed in what would have been novelty dress for him. Charles's regimental number indicates that he joined the Wiltshire Regiment on about the 20th January 1910, and he was stationed with the 2nd Battalion in Gibraltar when Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914. The battalion returned to England on the 3rd September 1914, and a little over a month later, on the 7th October 1914, the men, 1100 strong, disembarked at Zeebrugge. Seventeen days later, on the 24th October, Charles was captured. By now, the battalion strength had now been reduced to 450 of all ranks, with just two officers, and by the end of the month, shellfire would reduce the total by a further 200 men. The location and date of this ...

Arrived overseas: 20 August 1914. Connection: A series of eight postcards. When Sidney Clark attested with the Royal Engineers at Dover on the 17th February 1908, he was a 22-year-old carpenter. He signed up for three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve, all of that colour service being undertaken with 56 Field Company.  Three years to the day after he had attested, Sidney was transferred to the Army Reserve, to all intents and purposes a civilian again. His conduct was reported as "Very good. No offence in whole service of three years. He is sober, hardworking, reliable, and thoroughly satisfactory." He was also rated a "superior carpenter." On 5th August 1914, Sidney was mobilised with his old company, arrived in France on the 20th August, and was promptly captured three days later. He would spend the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War. He's in this photo somewhere, almost certainly one of the corporals on the back row, and would have been a...

Arrived overseas: 13 August 1914. Connection: PoW Postcard. Joseph Phillip Milcoy of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, was captured by the Germans on the 27th August 1914 during the battalion's heroic last stand at Etreux. By then, he had been overseas for precisely 14 days, and he would spend the rest of the war as a guest of the Kaiser. Here he is at Friedrichsfeld camp in 1918, heading up the prison camp orchestra, and sitting proudly in the middle of a group of British and allied soldiers. Born on the 21st February 1890, Joseph had enlisted in the regiment in 1904 as a 14-year-old boy, the terms of that enlistment being 12 years with the colours (and no reserve service). Joseph survived his time as a prisoner of war and by the time the 1921 census was taken he was working as a clerk for the Air Ministry. The 1939 Register has him living in Slough and working as an electrician's mate.

Arrived overseas: 7 September 1914. Connection: 1914 Star. William Banbury's first introduction to the British Army was in April 1901 when he joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Royal West Kdnt Regiment. He was 17 years and nine months old, a wood chopper by trade, and living at 30 The Stowage, Deptford. Deptford born and bred, William stood five feet two inches tall, had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He drilled for 49 days and then, deciding that he wanted to make a career of soldiering, enlisted with the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) on the 19th August 1901. Papers for his service with the Buffs survive in WO 364. William's trade this time was recorded as "timber porter". He initially served with a provisional battalion before being posted to the 2nd Battalion in October 1902. In August 1904 he was transferred to the Army Reserve and remained on the reserve until August 1913 when he re-engaged as a Section D Reservist for a further four years. The...

Arrived overseas: 21 September 1914. Connection: 1914 Star trio. Hot off the press, these medals were purchased today. Ernest's regimental number 7103 can be dated to late October or early November 1904 and he joined the British Army at a time when standard terms of enlistment for the infantry were three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve. I think he probably did transfer to the Army Reserve in 1907 and would then have returned to civilian life until mobilised on the 5th August 1914. The 1st Wiltshire Regiment arrived in France on the 14th August 1914 but Ernest's medal index card notes that he arrived overseas on the 21st September which suggest that he spent a month getting 'match fit' before he was despatched as part of a draft. Ernest's fighting career was quite short as he was captured by the Germans at Neuve Chapelle on the 27th October 1914, one of 350 men reported 'missing' by the 1st Battalion war diarist. He would spend the rest o...