David Hilliam - Tigs Boys: Letters to Sir from the Trenches

TIGS BOYS

Other books by David Hilliam published by The History Press

Kings, Queens, Bones and Bastards

Monarchs, Murders & Mistresses

Crown, Orb & Sceptre

A Salisbury Miscellany

Winchester Curiosities

Why Do Shepherds Need a Bush?

The Little Book of Dorset

TIGS BOYS

Letters to Sir,
from the Trenches

EDITED BY DAVID HILLIAM

First published 2011 by Spellmount,

an imprint of The History Press

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL 5 2 QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

David Hilliam, 2011, 2013

The right of David Hilliam to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 5409 9

Original typesetting by The History Press

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

M y thanks are warmly given to the present headmaster of Bournemouth School, Dr Dorian Lewis, for allowing me access to the school archives. I am also greatly indebted to a former pupil of the school, Roger Coleman, MBE, whose own meticulous research into the War Memorials of Bournemouth School enabled me to add information concerning the burial places of every one of Tigs Boys or in many cases to add information about the exact places where their names are recorded.

The pictures of Dr Fenwick, the school itself and the various groups of academically gifted boys are taken from the schools centenary publication, Bournemouth School 19012000. I am most grateful to Stuart Wheeler, Assistant Librarian of Bovington Tank Museum, for his help in providing me with the picture of the Little Willie tank (probably the only example of its kind to survive). Equally, I am indebted to Pauline Allwright and Tom Eaton of the Imperial War Museum for their help in finding images for me from their vast picture archive. I am particularly grateful to Mark Warby, in helping me to secure permission from Barbara Bruce Littlejohn (daughter of Bruce Bairnsfather) to use three of Bruce Bairnsfathers famous cartoons.

And finally, my loving thanks go to Jim and Denise Watt for their kindness in sending me the image of the Military Cross, won in Mesopotamia by Denises grandfather, and which they now hold in safe keeping in Brisbane, Australia.

INTRODUCTION

B ournemouths grammar school for boys was founded in January 1901. No one knew it at the time, but those boys who became pupils there during its first decade were destined to be of fighting age in the world war of 191418, arguably the bloodiest war in history.

The War Memorial in the schools entrance hall lists the names of ninety-eight of those young men who were killed in that war. Tragically, this averages about one death every fortnight over the full length of that terrible time.

However, it was not all unrelieved blood and slaughter. Life was hard, but often full of interest and surprise. Those old boys of Bournemouth School constantly wrote back to Tig their much-respected headmaster to tell him of their wartime adventures.

Collectively, these letters provide a wide spectrum of the Great War. We read of young men enjoying trying to catch rats in the trenches, winning bets on how long it could take to rescue a tank from no mans land, playing footer amid the gunfire, and singing ragtime in a rickety new-fangled aeroplane while rocking the machine in time to it.

This book is a mosaic of such wartime experiences.

It has been compiled not only to honour the memory of those who lost their lives, but also to show present generations how one typical group of ex-schoolboys coped with circumstances over which they had no control.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not wither them, nor the years condemn.

A NOTE ON THE TEXT

Mostly, this book is a collection of extracts from the magazine of Bournemouth School, taken either from the letters sent to the headmaster, Dr Fenwick, from ex-pupils who were serving at the Western Front or elsewhere in the world, or else items written by Dr Fenwick himself, such as the obituaries of those who were killed.

The wording of the text is exactly as published in that school magazine. The only editorial changes made are in breaking up some of the very lengthy paragraphs into shorter units, and omitting some personal and extraneous material.

Occasionally, a very long letter has been broken up, so that it appears as two, or even three separate items.

After nearly a century, it has not been thought feasible to contact possible descendants or relations. It is hoped, however, that any descendants who read this book will not be offended, and that they will take pride, as does the school, in the heroism of all those who took part in that terrible Great War.

The First World War, 19141918

A BRIEF TIMELINE