26TH MAR. 1916: 1/5TH S. STAFFORDS HOLD THE ‘LABYRINTH’, NEUVILLE ST VAAST.

March 26, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

‘A SHORT HISTORY OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT’. Regimental War Museum, Whittington, Lichfield.

NEUVILLE ST VAAST & THE LABYRINTH (1).

MARCH 1916: ‘The South Staffs then went into the trenches at Neuville St Vaast – holding the line which was known as the Labyrinth.. . .’

‘The shocking condition of the trenches at Neuville St Vaast was caused by the severity of the weather and owing especially of the enemy. The 6th South Staffs underwent some of their worst experience. The snow storms of the period and the hardship was keenly felt. Bosche’s activity underground added to the strain. Mines are the most unpleasant form of trench warfare. South Staffs were blown up no fewer than 9 times.’

Rene Bramond. www.lascerqueux.com — **FRENCH MAP of NEUVILLE ST VAAST, the Labyrinth, La Targette & Crete de Vimy with dotted Front Line. Website: Rene Bramond: Killed in Action here. 1917.**

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1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

19th Mar. Sun. Proceeded to the Trenches EAST of NEUVILLE ST VAAST in the relief of 6th South Staffordshire Regiment.

20th Mar Mon: NEUVILLE . Enemy bombed Y Listening Post, damaging the barriers of N. 5. Trench. Enemy snipers active, our snipers shot a German opposite B.4.

21st Mar. Tue: ST VAAST. TRENCHES No. 4.5.6. Enemy heavily shelled with H.E. No 4. Fire, support and communication trenches from 11.0 am to 12 noon. Our artillery support very bad, 3 of 5 shells burst inside our own lines. At 3.45 pm No. 5 and 6 Trenches cleared to enable our 9.2’s to burst Crater B.6. One 9.2 shell burst behind No. 6. Fire Trench, no damage. CASUALTIES: No 54 Pte J. Brettle killed; No 161 Pte M McNally wounded.

22nd Mar. Wed: Very quiet day. 23rd Mar. Thur. About 12.15 pm our artillery sent over 5 whiz bangs. Enemy retaliated with 4. H.E. which (landed) in rear of No. 4. Support. Otherwise very quiet day.

Front Line at Neuville St Vaast & Labyrinth, north of Arras. — **GERMAN MAP showing WW1 Front Lines at NEUVILLE ST VAAST & Labyrinth, north of Arras. Jack Sheldon. Old Sweats. Great War Forum. The Long Long Trail.**

German War Graves Neuville St Vaast. — **GERMAN War Graves at Neuville St Vaast. Courtesy: http://www.alamy.com**

25th Mar. Fri. About 7.10 am enemy opened brisk grenade attack. Our grenadiers replied vigorously. Artillery support good. Our guns bombarded the Crater B.6 at 3.0 pm and 9.2’s firing 15 shells, 4 of which were blind and 3 falling short, the ninth shell burst short, striking the parapet to the right of the dugout of Officer Commanding 064 Trench, burying Lieuts F. Wilkinson and A. L. Dawson, Forward Observing Officer 2nd Lincoln Battery, a piece of the same shell wounding 6954 Pte S. H. Simpson. The Forward Observing Officer had previously phoned that shells were dropping short, but was unable to speak direct to the Battery.

Battalion relieved in the trenches by 6th South Staffordshire Regiment at 11.20 pm and went into Brigade Reserve. Battalion in billets at 1.0 am, 26-3-16. CASUALTIES: Lieut. F. Wilkinson and 6954 Pte S.H. Simpson wounded, also Artillery Officer Lieut. A.L. Dawson wounded.

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT’S WAR DIARY: ‘A Little Book of Words & Doings’.

March 19th 1916: Sunday evening. Went into trenches at Neuville St Vaast. On Sat received parcel from Mrs Jones*. Neuville St Vaast all in ruins to the ground. Bertie on Listening Post.

vlecalvez.free.fr.neuville st vaast. images — **Postcard: La Grande Guerre. 1914-1915. Dans les ruines de Neuville St Vaast.**

Treasured Sayings in Letters from Home:

Mother re Bomb Accident (2). ‘Life is very sad now, but as Sydney said, he loves the Psalms & I said which is your favourite hymn Sydney? & he said, at once. “ Rejoice, again I say, Rejoice” so I say. “Rejoice again I say Rejoice” (3) “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” (4).’ Mother.

LETTER TO MARIE NEAL HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd Walsall. Censor Arthur J. Rowley.

In the Trenches. 3rd Sunday in Lent. Mar 26/ 16

‘Faith looking upward saith,‘Good is everything, Let it come, God ordereth the days’. Wayside Memories.

My Dear People,

I wonder if you ever think that it happens, some Sundays, circumstances make it very difficult to get a letter written to you. I am determined to write to you to day. I received Dad’s letter last Tuesday. His report is ‘untrue’.

On Friday I had a very nice surprise of another parcel from Miss Foster*, with a tin of Youmi Turkish cigs for Sydney. Miss Foster thinks he is with me now. I got a F.P.C. (5) from Sydney this morning saying he was at the Base. I noticed he crossed out ‘Received letters, parcels, telegram’ although I wrote to him about Mar 5th to Derby.

How is Harold getting on? – just remember me kindly to him. Although I rarely mention him in my letters I am generally thinking of him & always mention him in my prayers. It does puzzle me about his promised parcel & I am beginning to think he cannot have had my letter of Mar 5th.

Trusting you are having a pleasant Sunday. I enclose the form for Com(mission).

Yours affec. Bertie.

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The 1/5th South Staffords took over the trenches of Neuville St Vaast at the same time that the Canadians took over Vimy Ridge. ‘Circumstances’ (i.e. crater warfare, heavy bombardment, shelling, grenade attacks and casualties when 1/5th Staffords Artillery shells fell short) made it difficult for Pte Bertie Hibbett to write Home.

NB The name ST VAAST was to resonate with my father twenty years later when, in 1936, he became Vicar of St Vedast’s Church Tathwell, near Louth, Lincolnshire.

ST VAAST (Flemish, Norman, Picard)(English Vedast, Foster) AD 453 -540, was responsible for the conversion to the Christian Faith of the Frankish King Clovis. (St Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, appointed him 1st Bishop of dioceses of Arras & Cambrai). Many churches in Northern France, including the Cathedral at Arras, are dedicated to him, whereas he is Patron Saint to only two churches in the UK: St Vedast Foster Lane, London and St Vedast, Tathwell, where I was born on his Day, 6th Feb.

(1) The Labyrinth, Neuville St Vaast, on the slopes of Vimy Ridge, north-east of Arras:- a grim underground fortress of caves, tunnels and entrenchments cut into the chalk in ‘a lunar landscape of water filled shell-holes & destroyed trenches’ – compounded by ‘stench of rotting bodies’. A place of ‘horrific fighting’ and crater warfare, with 1/5th Staffords blown up 9 times. Pte Bertie Hibbett’s Listening Post would have been deep underground.

Vimy Ridge is a 9 mile/15 km long hump-backed barrier, rising from the valley of River Scarpe to a peak of 145 metres to drop abruptly into the valley of River Souchez. An area fought over since Roman times, it commanded the Douai Plain and protected Lille and the coalfields of Lens. cf <http://www.battlefields.com/the-battle-of-Vimy-ridge>

(2) Bomb Accident: Hibbett Letters: 28th Feb. 1916.

(3) ‘Rejoice, I say again’. St Paul, Philippians 4.4. (4) ‘As sorrowful yet alway rejoicing’ St Paul. 2. Cor. 6.10. King James Bible.(5) Field Post Card.

NEXT POST: 27th Mar. 1916.

17TH MAR. 1916: ‘WAR HAS PROVED A BLESSING TO ME’ – TO ‘FORGIVE &FORGET’.

Quote March 17, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

ECOIVRES.

14th-16th Tue & Wed. Mar. Battalion to Divisional Reserves. 3 Lewis Teams and Guns relieved 3 Lewis Guns and teams of 5th North Staffordshire Regiment in the trenches.

17th Mar. Fri. Battalion in Divisional Reserve.

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: LETTER to IDA NEAL HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd Walsall.

St Patrick’s Day. Friday Mar. 17/ 16

Psalm 131 verse 4 & 5 ‘. . . Let the righteous rather smite me friendly and reprove me.’ & v. 7 ‘But let not their precious balms break my head. . .’

‘Though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down.’ (Psalm 37.24) (1)

‘Forgive and Forget.’ ‘The reproof of a good man resembles fuller’s earth’, it not only removes the spots from our character, but it rubs off when dry.’ (2).

‘It is sorrow which makes our experience, it is sorrow which teaches us to feel rightly for ourselves & others. We must feel deeply, before we can think rightly.’ Wilkinson’s Wayside Ministries. (3)

My Dear Sister,

.Champion Ida Hibbett VAD Nurse. — **Champion Ida Hibbett VAD Nurse.**

You have written me some most advisable letters which have, as Miss Foster* once termed it, ‘dressed me down’. But I felt a wee bit hurt about this last one of yours; now deary, don’t be alarmed for it was much for my own good.

You raked up past memories of the petty quarrels Vernon* & I had. Those were in England before we came to face the seriousness of life more – in the fighting line.

Forgive and Forget, I say. Yes, dear Ida, there is a great deal under that exterior, so quiet, of his. I will not say anything in criticism of that, I will practice to be broader minded. I may rightly say ‘the waters have come over my soul’ (4) – and they are like a cataract or torrent, for I had a letter from Vernon yesterday & although he said something ending up with ‘between ourselves’ I will let a little of the secret out to you. I told him I should have to pray hard for humility & now, after reading your letter which I got at ‘Tattoo’, I feel more uneasy, –but, as the old saying goes, ‘peace will follow storm’ (5).

So I hope that the morning will bring freshness & a good resolution to rise, for I had nearly fallen to the lowest when in England with Vernon. But WAR has proved a blessing to me in more ways than one.

Now I must say something about each delightful item in your jolly letter.

Poor Sydney’s departure made me feel sympathetic for him, & you all, yet I could not help thinking of Miss Foster’s* comic postcard – ‘Which shall it be ‘Onward Christian soldiers’ or ‘Abide with me’?’ I enclose her PC.

I wrote Vernon a long letter last night in reply. I had not written to him since I left the Batt. because I thought my writing to him would be an insinuation & he would ‘Break Out’ in his generosity to send me something, he being in England.

Harold puzzles me. Mum, in one of her past letters, told me how he was cross with Sydney for not acknowledging his parcels etc. Well, I wrote to Harold, about the time I wrote to you, Mar 3rd, in reply to his letter of Feb 16th, addressed to Notts & Derbys. In that letter of his he said he had some things waiting for me & he would send them as soon as he knew I was settled & heard from me. This, your letter of Tue. Mar 14th, has come in 3 days. I don’t know whether to inform Harold or not. Should he have sent me his promised parcel, & it had gone astray, he will think I, too, do not appreciate his parcels & am lacking in consideration, for if I find time to write to you & other people I have time to answer his parcels. – But – How Tantalising he is. I have been looking out for his parcel as day comes & goes, just as Mum told me to do with regard to hers, & have been disappointed, in a sense, each time.

I have not yet written again to Harold. I don’t like to, but I am waiting, – waiting for a result. I guess I shall hear of something TOMORROW.

I knew you would go to St Paul’s and how did you & Mum like Mr Darling’s* sermon (6)? By the by, that reminds me, he told me not to write a long letter but ‘just send me a line with your address’. I wrote the ‘line’, but forgot my address; could you give it him at your earliest opportunity please?

Although I shall be pleased to see Sydney, I was hoping and still hope his ‘little business’ (7) will soon come to settlement. I dreamt last night I saw him, & Basil came as well.

Your letter, with reference to the photo (8), also did me good after all, for I can’t be TOO CHEERFUL with the right sort of CHEER, but I do not think I shall send Miss Foster* a duplicate of the one I sent you. I shall wait until I can send her a Cheerful Face.

Best love to all, Bertie.

Remember me kindly to the Overends* & Evans.*

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This Letter is an example of family relations under strain – and how hard it was for Pte Bertie Hibbett to explain – and for those at Home to imagine, let alone understand, exactly what it was like for their loved ones fighting at the Front. Ida Hibbett had obviously taken Pte Bertie to task for being annoyed with his pal Vernon (for telling the family more about himself than he wanted told cf Letter of 5th Mar.). This upset him but true to character he accepted the ‘dressing down‘. He also realised that the War had made him understand how he must ‘forgive & forget’.

(1) Psalms of Penitence for Lent most likely quoted in Walsall Church Magazine. (2) ‘The reproof of a good man’. The Biblical Illustrator. Commentary on Titus: Joseph S Exell MA 1819 -1887: Methodist Minister/ onetime served in Walsall.

(3) Wilkinson’s Wayside Ministries. American Missionary. (See previous Letter).(4) ‘The waters have come over my soul ‘. Psalm 69.1. Lamentations 3.54.(5) St Francis de Sales. 1567 -1622. Introduction to the Devout Life. Ch XIII.

(6) The Revd E. More Darling, Vicar of Walsall’s retirement sermon.

A Little Book of Words & Doings. Treasured Sayings in Letters from Home: Mother re Rev. Darling’s Farewell Sermons. ‘When Mum got up to go to Holy Communion with Basil & Ida. Raining. “I enjoy walking in the rain. We got up in good time & had a good breakfast & then we all went off to Church again & locked up the house. Mr Darling has taken all the services today. I am sure he must feel very tired tonight & with the strain of saying goodbye, but I hope we shall often see him.” ‘

(7) ‘Little business’: Sydney’s Commission application, if successful it would mean training in England.

(8) Photo of Pte Bertie Hibbett with his Hindustani Sikh friend Buckshee Ichbye Sing Waltu, Marseilles.

NEXT POST: 26th MAR. 1916.

13TH MAR. 1916: ‘WIRE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HOME & WARWORN FRANCE.’

March 13, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

OCCOCHES. 6th Mar. Mon. Battalion marched to new Billets at WAMIN (1).

7th Mar. Tue. Battalion Training. 8th Mar. Wed. Battalion marched to new Billets at MAGNICOURT (2). 9th Mar. Thur. – 10th Mar. Fri. In Billets. Battalion Training.

11th Mar. Sat. Battalion marched to new Billets at AUBIGNY (3). 12th – 13th Mar. In Billets. Battalion Training. Battalion marched to new Billets at ECOIVRES (4).

1/5th South Staffords march to the Front Mar.1916. — **1/5th South Staffords’ March to the Front from Occoches (off map bottom left). Mar. 1916.**

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT:

‘A Little Book of Words & Doings’.

March 10th 1916. ‘Mum got a letter from me, rare occasion. Sydney left Derby after being in England on sick leave.’

Treasured Sayings in Letters from Home: ‘My head seems so full of things I hardly know what to say. Mother.’

LETTER TO BASIL HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd. Walsall.

In the Field. Monday Mar 13/ 16

‘Next to the Sunlight of Heaven is the cheerful face’. Wayside Ministries (5).

Basil Hibbett Age 18. 1916. — Basil Hibbett aged 18. 1916.

My Dearest brother Basil,

Three puffs of an Embassy and I will start ‘mon ecrire encore’.

Half-a-Mo-Kaiser! Copy of Bairnsfather's cartoon by A.H. Hibbett. 1916. — **‘alf-a-Mo-Kaiser! Copy of Bairnsfather’s cartoon by A.H. Hibbett. 1916.**

You will think I have caught Writing Fever no doubt, but I have just inwardly digested the QMS Mag you kindly enclosed in Mum’s parcel and consequently I feel magnetised to the ‘Wire of Correspondence’ fixed between ‘Home Sweet Home’ and Warworn France.

Queen mary's Sch — **Queen Mary’s School Magazine. Dec. 1914.**

What do you think of the articles in the Mag this time? Do you remember how the ‘Knowalls’ once called it a bore to read them & the Editors had no ‘savvy’ whatever as to ‘Editorial’?

After reading Lieut Thomas’ & Lawley’s account of their experiences (7) & then commencing to read the School Notes, the effect was ‘vice versa’ as to the time I was at QMS. Do you compris my meaning? You, for instance, are sometimes naturally bored a little at reading Editorial letters about School, but the letters from the Front to the QMS Editor are to you ‘tres bien interestant’. But the vice versa effect was not to the extreme, in fact I was deeply interested in Lawley’s vivid account of the Charge last Sept. (8).

The Debating Society’s Summary was also jolly to read & I was so struck by it that I wished I could, at the very moment, send something in the way of a contribution, & then I decided to wait until I have Home Leave, at which time I will see if I can give them an Autograph Album after the example of the Spencer Club (9) – for the purpose of the members writing their names in after each Debate, & an illumination on each page.

The Poets in Queen Mary’s School seem to keep up the fine record of blossoming original verse (10). I should like to send a contribution to the Editor’s Letter Box but I count myself as no great writer & also come to the conclusion my sending a letter to appear in the ‘swanky’ pages of the Mag would have an embarrassing effect. I noticed your noble name in the list of new scholars under the noble title of School House; which House should be the prouder after the reception of your noble self, what what!

You have some ‘knutty’ ideas & phrases in your letters to me of late – they are worthy of being mentioned in the Magazine.

I will close now. Although I have written this today I doubt if I shall send it along to you for a time, because I have two letters to send Home. One to Dad, in reply to his ‘elongated’ envelope & one to Mum, in answer to the parcel of Mar 5, which, as I say again, was an ideal pancake (11).

Ah! dear Dodger, I trust you will use your gifted energy at comforting Mummy & use your tact if you are called up on you coming of 18 years of age. My best wishes for your success in the exams at School for your sake & Mum’s & Dad’s. (12).

Tell Ida she must send me a written formal apology for saying I am a WEE bit SAD. But of course you quite know it is all a mere joke on my part. Ha Ha!

Ta ra. Bertie.

PS This evening I received a sweet little letter from Molly (13) with her usual beaucoup kisses. She followed my idea of sticking a stamp on the back of the envelope – one of a pussy cat. I think I have been the cause of renewing that craze, what think you?

TUES. “STOP PRESS” Got Mum’s letter of Friday about Sydney coming. Hope he will have a safe journey.

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Pte Bertie Hibbett is now within 25 miles of the Western Front and the trenches of Neuville St Vaast and Vimy Ridge.

(1) Estree-Wamin: farming village/commune in Pas de Calais (Roman site – ‘estree’ is from ‘strata/street’). 10 miles north from Occoches. (2) Magnicourt-en-Comte: commune in Pas de Calais. 13.05 miles north from Estree–Wamin. (3) Aubigny: commune in centre of Mont St Eloi area. 11 miles south-east from Magnicourt. (4) Ecoivres: hamlet in commune of Mont Saint Eloi. 6 miles east from Aubigny. Total March of 40 miles approx.

(5) Wayside Ministries. Called Wilkinson’s in Letter 17th 1916. Christian Mission literature/under influence of 18th Cent. American Jemima Wilkinson? Quoted in Walsall Church Mag.? (6) Lieut ( W.G.?)Thomson & (H.H.?) Lawley. QMS scholars /Info. pending.

(7) Battle of Loos-Hohenzollern Redoubt, 13th Oct. 1915. (8) The Spencer Club. QMS Club? Bertie Hibbett was fond of creating ‘illuminations’ and after the War he kept an Autogaph Album of drawings, contributions and signatures of friends, some collected during the War.

(9) QMS Magazine December 1914. SONNET

Oh hear the wailing cry of agony Which swells above the cannon’s sullen roar, Above the piercing sounds of bloody war, And fills the hearts with deepest melancholy; Which drowns our feeble cries of victory, Whereby, poor thoughtless fools we set such store, Yea, opens to our eyes Death’s gaping door, Dark with the growing clouds of misery.

It is the sorrowing people’s pained cry, Who mourn the loss of all their bravest youth, Snatched by untimely death that knows no ruth, E’en while they fought for Home & Liberty. But better far they should thus honoured fall Than deaf remain to their dear country’s call. Anon.

(10) ‘an ideal pancake’: ref. to his Mother’s parcel of good things for Shrove Tuesday ‘Pancake Day’. 4th Mar.1916. (11) Senior Oxford Examination Matriculation. (12) Molly Evans. Bertie’s pal Vernon Evans‘ little sister.

NEXT POST: 17th Mar. 1916.

5TH MAR. 1916: ‘BRAVE & PATIENT MOTHER’ ON ZEPPELIN ‘SENTRY GO’.

March 5, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

BATTALION TRAINING: OCCOCHES BILLETS

3rd – 5th Mar. In Billets. Battalion Training.

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: LETTER to Marie Neal HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd Walsall.

I sent you a Green last Sunday.

The Next Sunday before Lent. Mar 5/ 16

‘I am very proud to think that the British blood is not weakening but growing stronger’. (1) ‘All our doings without CHARITY are nothing worth’. (2)

My Very Dear Mother,

You will be pleased to know I did get your handsome Parcel of the 11th Feb: addressed to the Notts & Derbys. If I ever told you that I suspected the men in the Batt. of keeping that parcel with ill intention I am ashamed of myself.

No, I could tell by their distinct manners & behaviour, of both officers & NCOs alike, that they would fain do such a thing.

All your letters & the parcel sent to the jolly, decent Sherwoods (3), (as they are called) have been forwarded to me & I did enjoy reading them too, & relished the Parcel immensely.

I got your letter of Feb. 28th enclosing Dodger’s scribbly one, but how excitable to read. Oh no, Basil, your detailed account was not monotonous by far, it really drew my breath. Again I emphasise that Basil, Harold & Sydney & Bertie have much to be grateful for to have such a brave & patient Mother. And I must not leave out dear, dear Dad. I put Mother’s calmness, during the raid (4), down to Dad’s encouragement & comfort shown towards Mummy, as they sat in the silent sternness by the fire, in the dark. Oh how my heart leaps to you dear Mum & how it touched me when I thought of the amusing incident of ‘Sentry Go’ by Ida & Dodger alternately. I pray that you will never have another alarm even, let alone a raid.

I received your parcel of Feb 28th. What a lovely, soft, warm shirt and thank you for the (Walsall) Observer which I read with interest, as you will tell by the cuttings I have sent you.

**John Kempthorne, Bishop of Lichfield and his daughter.**

Yes I am of the opinion of our dear Bishop: “Was it not something of an honour that we, in what was a comparatively small way should share the pain & the sacrifice of the men who were laying down their lives for us“– (that underlined please note).

The raid, I might say, was not so comparatively ‘small’, in one sense of the phrase, as Basil also had the same idea as the Bishop. I think that the raid, to you, was more of a catastrophe than a bombardment is to us in effect. For you must take into consideration that we out here have been used to the sound of guns – like Ben Battle, in ‘Faithless Nellie Grey’ (5) – ‘used to war’s alarms’ whereas you at Home have not only lived without the sound of a gun, but have had to bear anxiety & many sleepless nights (poor Mum) for thinking about us out here. Yet to Dodger & Ida I guess the raid ’twould be most ‘dramatically bookish’, like a vivid story in a book put into practice.

Dearest Mum, I read the beautiful account of the loss of your Mayoress* & also the sad account of Ken Marshall* (6). I noticed you marked those columns with a cross, but you did not notice the marriage. I think you can mingle sadness with gladness don’t you? Did you notice the account of Pte. Robert Ball (7) that Queen Mary’s Scholar who was chums with Sydney & me & came to see you when we fired at Tame Valley Range (8)? He had a rosy complexion, Bob, & I faintly remember him telling you he too had relatives in Ashton under Lyne. (9).

My word I did like that currant batch loaf & was able to get some butter, but this tinned stuff is not so nice as yours.

Vernon was naughty for not using a little more discretion. I shall have to pull him up aboot saying he last saw me scrubbing a floor. I was ordered dear Mum, I did not offer or volunteer to scrub and you must know that an order from a superior in the Army is what we call a DOOTY dear Mum. And then again, can I console you, & bring matters straight betwixt me & you & the gatepost, by just repeating what I read in the Parish Magazine you sent me. – ‘The only undignified thing is scamped work. All work of whatever kind is dignified’.

Of course, dear Mum, that doesn’t mean to say I shall put myself in the way to do charwoman’s work.

www.northeastmedals.co.uk queens_royal_west_surrey_regiment_badge2 — **Queens Royal West Surrey Regt. Badge. <http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk>**

I too have felt so, so happy after doing something for someone else, lending a hand to the Lambs (10) of the 3rd Line by carrying a rifle for my comrade marching on my right on a long, long, tiresome march. I knew what it was to have sore feet & so did Lieut. Robinson. (11). He amused me by struggling with 3 rifles when he should have carried one. (12).

The title of the Frontispieces of the Feb. Mag. struck me as the one you wrote in my prayer book in February 1911 – ‘Be thou faithful unto death & I will give you a crown of life’. (13)

My letter this Sunday is getting long. I could fill all the pages of note paper you have sent me but I must now be on the close.

Did you read that Ken Marshall* did not wish to apply for a Com: he humbly left that responsible position of an officer to another who was more capable. I agree with him three parts of the way; the fourth part was responsible for my handing in the form you sent – E 536 (14).

**Form E536. Application for Commission in Territorial Force. Held in National Archives.**

I wrote to Dad, at his office, saying I needed a Birth Cert. & the other form. Then, when we have gone a little ‘forrarder’, all we shall do is to WAIT & SEE.

I am waiting patiently in high hopes for a speedy conclusion of Sydney’s application & shall be proud to see him in his TOGS. I wrote to Harold the night before I got the shirt, and to Miss Foster* some few days ago. Did you send her a stamp of mine? – hers is a pretty one.

Hoping you are spending a typical Sunday.

Best love to all, Bertie.

PS Did you get the Petit Parisiene (sic)(15) with that photo – or did the Censor take it out ? I am replying to a parcel from Miss Brookes* now.

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Whilst Pte Bertie Hibbett was applying for a Commission in 3/5th Territorial Reserve Bn in UK, Serjeant Sydney Hibbett was applying for a Commission in 1/5th South Staffords, which would keep him out on the Western Front.

(1) Unknown Quotation. (2) Collect for Quinquagesima Sunday/next before Lent: Latin, literally ‘fiftieth’ day before Easter. Book of Common Prayer 1662.

(3) ‘Sherwoods‘/ The Sherwood Foresters i.e Notts & Derby Regt. Pte Bertie Hibbett possibly attached to ‘Transport’ in 1/5th Bn Sherwoods Territorial Force which became the 139th Brigade in 46th Midland Divison.

(4) Zeppelin Raid on Walsall. 31st Jan -1st Feb 1916. (5) A Pathetic Ballad. Faithless Nellie Grey byThomas Hood. 1799-1845. English Poet & humourist. Adapted by Bertie to fit his trench foot misery. cf Letter: 29th Nov. 1915/his Father’s Birthday and 19th Dec 1916.

(6) Mayoress Maria Julia Slater* killed in Zeppelin Raid & Ken Marshall* missing/wounded? cf Hibbett Letter 27th Feb 1916. (7) Pte Robert Ball. QMS friend. Ref. account of his marriage in Walsall Observer? cf Hibbett Letter: 17th Dec. 1914.

(8) Tame Valley Range. Army Firing Range near Walsall. (9) Ashton-under-Lyne: Marie Neal Hibbett’s (Yoxall) family home.

Lamb & Flag Badge of Queen's Royal Surrey regt. — **Lamb & Flag Badge of Queen’s Royal Surrey Regt**.

(10) Queen’s Royal Surrey Regt. had a Lamb & Flag badge (symbol of Christ’s Sacrifice & Resurrection. Many refs to the Lamb of God in John’s Gospel & in Revelation).

(11) Lieutenant P.W. Robinson recently wounded in Bomb Accident. See Hibbett Letters: 28th Feb.1916; 9th Dec. 1915; 28th Nov. 1915; 16th Nov. 1916 (A Little Book of Words & Doings); 13th Oct. 1915. (refs to Captain Robinson of 6th Bn Sherwood Foresters & to a Chester Robinson/family member?)

(12) Rifle Rules/story/ training in Bedfordshire. Hibbett Letters: Sept – Dec. 1914. (13) Faithful unto death. Rev. 2.10. Prayer Book given to Pte Bertie at his Confirmation.

(14) Form 536. Application for Commission in Territorial Force. The Long Long Trail. <http://www.1914-1918.net>.

(15) Le Petit Parisien. French broadsheet newspaper. 1876 -1944. Largest circulation in world in 1927/ published WW1 propaganda posters.

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NEXT POST: 13th MAR. 1916.

2ND MAR. 1916: ‘FORCIBLE LETTERS’ RE ‘A COMMISSION IN 3/5TH STAFFORDS’.

March 2, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

PROUVILLE.

29th Feb. Mon: 9.30 am. Battalion marched to new billets at OCCOCHES (1). 1st Mar. Wed. – 2nd Mar.Thur. OCCOCHES BILLETS: Battalion Training..

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: LETTER to ARTHUR HIBBETT, 95, Foden Rd Walsall. (2)

In the Field. 2/ 3/ 16.

My Dear Sir,

Yesterday I handed in my application form for the Com. in the 3/ 5 South Staffs Regiment (3). I told the Captain you would see to the other form signed by the C.O. of the 3/ 5. (4). I was also told I needed my Birth Certificate. Of course I guess you will be only too eager to attend to any other necessity.

This morning I carried away the Platoon’s Post; quite a shoal of letters, but they were all of an early date being those addressed to the Notts & Derby’s. I thank Ida for her very kind letter of Sunday 14/ 2 /16 and the one dated the Friday following (5). I also received Mother’s of Feb 14 and her’s of New Year’s Day.

en-wiki200px-Edward_George_Villiers_Stanley,_17th_Earl_of_Derby_by_Sir_William_Orpen — **Edward George Villlers Stanley. 17th Earl of Derby 1865-1948.**

I was especially pleased to have a letter from Harold, (Feb 16). I was uncertain about his address, I see that he is still at ‘Penarth’ (6). On reading that he was attested under Lord Derby’s scheme for the R.G.A. I was keenly interested; but hopes of seeing him, after he has joined the R.G.A, were vague. (7)

I will reply to Ida’s & Harold’s letters at my first opp. (We are on the move again).

Every success to Sydney’s Commission & Best love to all.

Bertie.

See Over –

PS You all want me to say more ‘aboot me sen’. Well all that I can say is that Je suis tres bien portent et tres heureuse beaucoup. Compris? My handing in the form was partly due to Mum’s forcible letters.

I will send those letters of Sydney’s, which Mother sent me in the parcels, in my next green (8).

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My Grandmother’s ‘forcible’ letters were the result of months of anxiety over the health and whereabouts of her two sons. By March 1916, Pte Bertie Hibbett had been at the Front without Home Leave for a year. Since enlistment he had been in Hospital several times with ‘trench foot’ and ‘blood disorders’. She must have argued that a Commission in one of the Reserve Battalions at Home would take him out of the firing line, improve his health and give him work more suitable to his abilities & background – and importantly, of course, give the family a chance to see him.

My father had already informed his family that he felt the life of an Officer was not for him. His reluctance to apply for a Commission appears also to have been influenced by a sense of loyalty to his pals at the Front and his wish to be near his brother Sydney until the end of the War.

(1) Occoches: a village commune in Picardie, Somme. An 8 mile march from Prouville.

(2) Pte Bertie addressed important news, such as this application for a Commission, to his father, as a matter of course,

(3) 3/5th Bn & 3/6th Bn South Staffordshire Regiments were formed at Home Bases in 1915 as ‘third line’ units. On 1st Sept 1916, they were united as ‘3/5th Bn.’. Interestingly (in view of my father’s later connection with Lincolnshire), in 1917 3/5th Bn moved to Lincoln & Mablethorpe; in 1918 to Lincoln again & Sutton on Sea, ending the war at Mablethorpe, November 1918.

(4) Name pending. (5) Date on envelope rather than on letter as Sunday was 13th Feb. (6) Penarth. A Victorian resort in Vale of Glamorgan, 5 miles south-west of Cardiff.

(7) Lord Derby: Secretary of State for War 1916-1918. Lord Derby’s Scheme. The National Registration Act for Military Service was initiated by Lord Derby, and passed on 15th July 1915. It required all men, between the age of 18 and 65 years, to register their residential location on 15th Aug.1915. See Hibbett Letter, 21st Oct. 1915. Ida Hibbett was an admin volunteer in Walsall. See also: <http://www. 1914-1918.net/derbyscheme> and < http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/derbyscheme.htm>. R.G.A. Royal Garrison Artillery.

(8) Green Envelope. Official envelope/Army’s attempt to speed up censorship of letters sent home in 1915. Soldier signed on back: I certify on my honour that the contents of this envelope refer to nothing but private and family matters. See esp. Hibbett Letter: 17th April 1915.

NEXT POST: 5th March 1916.

28th FEB.1916. BOMB ACCIDENT: 15 SOUTH STAFFORD CASUALTIES.

February 28, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: A Little Book of Words & Doings.

Bomb Accident. I was practising sniping. Moore killed & Lieut. Robinson & Cooke wounded. (1).

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1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

BELLANCOURT. Battalion Training.

28th Feb. BOMB ACCIDENT:

The following CASUALTIES caused by accident:- KILLED: 983 Pte Hough W.; Died Of Wounds, 7986 Sgt Rooker S.;

WOUNDED; Capt W. E. Moore*; Lt P.W. Robinson*; Lt J.P. Thorne; 2/ Lt J.E.M. Cooke*; C.S.M. 8360 Cartwright A.H.; 9603 Cpl. Betteridge J. 9865 Pte Hingley W.; 9489 Pte Burne J.G.; 9643 Pte Timms H.; 921 Pte White A. 9677 Pte Leach F.; 8007 Sgt Pritchard G. Slightly wounded remained at duty. Pte Whitehouse W.

APPENDIX III. ‘An accident occurred on the morning of the 28th February 1916, whereby the undermentioned Officers and Other Ranks met with their injuries.

British Mills Bomb No 5 Hand (fragmentation) grenade 1915. — Mills Bomb No 5 Hand Grenade..

Whilst the No 1 Platoon of the 1/5 South Staffordshire Regt were engaged in Grenade throwing (2) in which practice live grenades were used, Sergt G. Pritchard, No 8007, a qualified bomber withdrew the pin of a No 5 Mills Grenade preparatory to throwing same. Immediately on withdrawal of the pin the Grenade exploded in Sgt Pritchard’s hand. No blame attached to any person present at the time of the accident.‘

Hales_Grenade,_England,_c._1915_-_Glenbow_Museum_-_DSC00802 — Hales Grenade. 1915.

Hales No 2 Mk1 hand grenade. — Hales No 2 Mk1 Hand Grenade.

9.30am. Battalion marched to new billets at OCCOCHES (3).

FEBRUARY CASUALTIES. KILLED 1; D.O.W. 1; WOUNDED 12 ; Slightly wounded remained at duty 1. TOTAL 15.

Signed: H. LORD, Major Cmdg 1/5th South Staffordshire Regt. 1/3/16.

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Pte Bertie Hibbett’s ‘Little Book of Words & Doings’ is invaluable in providing details not found elsewhere, but here there is a discrepancy regarding the Bomb Accident. He records the death of Capt. W.E. Moore, whereas the Staffs War Diary records he was wounded. No record in CWGC of his having died later of wounds.

(1) Capt W.E. Moore. Captain of 1/5th South Staffords ‘C’ Company (Serjeant Sydney Hibbett’s Coy). Lieutenant P.W. Robinson is mentioned in Letter dated 9th/10th December 1915. Lieutenant J.E.M. Cooke is mentioned in Letter 21st Nov. 1915. Pte Bertie would have known these men since he enlisted in August 1914.

Mills wiki300px-N°5-MkII_N°23-MkII_N°36-MkI — **Mills Grenade No 5; No 23 & No 36.**

(2) British Mills No 5 Grenade (designed by William Mills, Munitions Factory, Birmingham, Feb.1915). No 23 Grenade could be attached by a rod to a rifle to increase the length of throw.

The Hales Hand or Mexican Grenade must be thrown high in the air for its canvas tail to point the grenade head-first into the ground. (Designed Feb.1915, by Martin Hale, Cotton Powder Co. Faversham Kent) <https://<www.museumoftechnology.org.uk> and <https://www.en-wikipedia.org>

(3) Occoches: a 23 mile march east-northeast of Abbeville, N. France.

NEXT POST: 2nd MAR 1916.

27TH FEB. 1916: ‘A WEE BIT SAD’ BUT NO ‘ARSKING’ OFFICERS FOR HOME LEAVE.

February 27, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

BELLANCOURT.

21st Feb. Mon. Battalion marched to new billets at PROUVILLE (1). 22nd – 27th Feb. Sun. Battalion Training.

Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: A Little Book of Words & Doings.

Treasured Sayings in Letters from Ida and Mother: ‘On my photo, taken at Marseilles with a Leica, Ida thought I looked ‘a wee bit sad’. Mum altered the opinion – ‘I think your photo simply lovely & very happy. You look alright & everybody likes it & thinks it fine to be taken with an Indian* (2). (I did not send Miss Foster* one), Mother’.

LETTER to Marie Neal HIBBETT, 95, Foden Rd, Walsall.

Sexagesima Sunday (3). Feb 28/ 16

In weariness & painfulness; in watchings often, In hunger & thirst, in fasting often (4). Be not anxious, but by prayer & supplication Let your requests be made known unto God (5). Bring forth fruit with patience (6).

My Very Dear Mother,

How can I express my feelings after reading such delightful letters & enjoying the parcels. The currant bread was fine & I toasted a slice, it was excellent with butter. I think you have set me up for some considerable time with this pad, the three pencils & other paper & envelopes. I will do my best to use the paper in writing comforting letters to you.

I feel a little better to day after the shock I got yesterday when you so much wanted me to get to England straightaway. I will put the matter to a chummy officer I know. I should have thought Sydney would have explained my circumstances to you. I believe a candidate for a Commission has to be an NCO for 2 months, that is why A.O. Jones* is a Lance Jack (7). As for keeping on arsking (sic)- worrying the officers it is counted as a breach of discipline. A private is supposed to be escorted by an NCO if he wishes to converse with an officer.

And then again, dear Mum, there are NCOs, even Sergeants, who have been out here as long as I have & NOT been home yet.

You ask me to say more about myself. Well all I can say is that I was keeping very happy & in good health, but reading your letter wanting me so to get to England worried me a little. Yet I am very anxious & do so hope that you, including the others & Harold (are) calling the photo a ripping one (8).

Indian soldiers arriving in France. 1914. ww1blog.osborneink.com — **Indian soldiers arriving in France, greeted by a French child. September, 1914.**

I was a little disappointed with the photo, yet I risked sending it you & hoped you would like it & – please take note that (I thought) you would not detect the slightest sign of sadness, but rather that I should cause you at least another brighter ray of happiness & comfort to you, Mother, & all of you. I only wish I could send you a really jolly one of myself with the sleeping helmet you sent me & Miss Foster’s handsome muffler round me, & taken in my bed of blankets. I guess there are several people at Home who live the life of Tommy just for fun.

Tell Basil I have had all his letters up to date & they were rippers.

PS M.P. HIBBETT: I meant to say a word of congratulations towards Dad after praising Mum for her calmness during that awful time at night, before the glow of the fire in the darkness, with Basil & Ida doing Sentry Go (9). I meant to say how self-sacrificing in everything is Dad. I thought of that trait in him when I read what Councillor Evans* said at the meeting with regard to Salaries (10).

Three cheers from France to my brave & loving parents & hearty handshakes to jolly jolly Dodger & excellent Ida.

The Assembly Rooms Derby. — **The Assembly Rooms Derby**.

I wrote to Sydney the other day too, but he has not sent me his address. I had to risk the one at the Assembly Rooms at Derby (11). I enclose you his jolly letters. My word I wish I could write like him. Aren’t mine absurd & hard to understand? I really am of no reputation that you should all so want to see this poor self.(12).

I am quite happy, yet I do hope what Basil said – to kiss your dear cheek in reality & not in mere dreams. Yet again I hope you will have ‘beaucoup’ happy dreams till I see you ‘face to face’.

God bless you all.

Bertie.

PS I went to Holy Communion in a barn this morning & of course thought of you & Ken Marshall* (13) & the Mayoress* (14) etc.

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This letter is a good example of how Pte Bertie Hibbett, in the increasing anxiety & uncertainty of the War, found comfort in the words of the Gospel and Epistle each Sunday; identifying with and applying the biblical message to himself & his family.

(1) Prouville, Picardie N. France; 15 miles northeast of Abbeville. (2) Buckshee Ichbye Singh Waltu, Indian Expeditionary Force (Hindustani Sikh). Photo above: Indian Soldiers arrived in France 1914. <ww1blog.osborneink.com>

(3) Sexagesima Sunday: Sunday within sixty days of Easter. (Book of Common Prayer, 1662). Term rarely used today.

(4) Epistle and Gospel for Sexagesima Sunday (Book of Common Prayer 1662): 2 Cor. 11.27. (Paul’s description of his sufferings for the Gospel) and (6) Luke 8. 15. (Parable of the Sower): (5) Philippians 4.6. (AD 60-62, Paul, under threat of death himself, writes to the first European Church which had suffered great persecution & poverty since AD49).

(7) Lance Jack: Lance Corporal in the Army. An informal promotion/appointment; became a rank in 1961). From Italian ‘lancia spezzata’ – broken lance (i.e. when unseated from horse in battle he joined the infantry on foot. WW1 Army song ‘If you want to find the Lance Jack . . .’

Ur-Leica Original Leica, from 1914. — **German Ur-Leica ‘Original Leica’, from 1914.**

(8) Leica photo of Pte Bertie Hibbett and Buckshee (i.e Private) Ichbye Singh Waltu at Marseilles.

(9) ref. Zeppelin Raid, Arthur Hibbett acting as ‘M.P. like his son in Bellancourt. (10) Walsall Education Department Salaries. 1915. It appears Councillor Evans, (Vernon’s father) praised my grandfather for declining a pay rise to help the War effort.

(11) The Assembly Rooms, Market Place, Derby. Gutted by fire,1963. (12) ‘Of no reputation‘. Pte Bertie accepts he’s a Private and must not expect preferential treatment re Home Leave. Unconscious ref. to Philippians 2.7 ? (humility of Christ the Servant).

(13) Ken Marshall, wounded/ missing son of QMS Headmaster, E. N. Marshall*? (14) Mrs: Maria Julia Slater*, Walsall Mayoress.

NEXT POST: 28th FEB. 1916.

20TH FEB. 1916: PLATOON FOOTBALL – ‘NO RULES – NO FOULS – NO INSIDE RIGHT – EVERYTHING INSIDE OUT!’

February 20, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5TH SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

Pont Remy France. — **Pont Remy, France. <map-france.com>**

PONT REMY. (1)

14th Feb. Mon. 5.0 pm Detrained and marched to BELLANCOURT (2). 15th-20th Feb. In Billets. Battalion Training.

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT ‘No. 2 Platoon ‘A’ Company’: LETTER to Arthur & Marie Neal HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd. Walsall.

Septuagesima Sunday (3). February 20/ 16

Mon Chere Mere et Pere,

170px-Sullivan-1870 — **Arthur Seymour Sullivan. English Composer.**

The weather today has been fine & sunny, but somewhat cold with a sharp wind. I enjoyed the Parade Service in the field, on the outskirts of a park of fir trees. The old familiar formation of the Battalions in a square came with a freshness as we lined up on the field & the officers took part. ‘Onward Christian soldiers’ (4) was the opening hymn. After the service I went to Holy Communion in a barn in the village. The Brig. Major & the other officers I knew attended.

In the afternoon every man had to play football or have physical exercise. Of course the majority voted for football.

So, Dodger! we had a game for those who did not know the rules of football.

We played platoon against platoon – no rules – no fouls except the hands – no inside right – no forwards – no centre half – no inside left, in fact everything was inside out & the game was a game indeed.

I have been able to read the Walsall Observer account of the air raid (5) but it did not give the list of the injured. I trust you are all safe. How sad for that RAMC to return home & find his wife, daughter & son had all lost their lives. I, like Mother, leave your safe keeping in those Higher Hands. I think you have more to put up with than we men out here.

I wrote to you on Friday when I received your letter of February 6th. To ensure the correspondence – I repeat that I am now back with the Batt. at No 2 Platoon A Coy . We were paid the other night & I met A.O. Jones* & Cyril Hinde* who told me lots of news from Home, & Clifford Hackett* had a chat with me & said he met Bob Charlton* in Egypt (6).

You said Sydney walked into dinner one weekend. How long did he spend at Home? The letter was very ‘newsy’. Many thanks my Dear Mummy for being so busy knitting socks. – Yes every stitch will be a blessing. I shall think of you as I tramp along in your socks & hope they will return to the very rooms you knitted them in soon, in God’s good time.

Leave , I heard from Hackett, has been postponed till the end of March. I hope it is only a rumour.

I am reading your letter & you are concluding as I am now.

God be with you all & bless you all.

Yours affectionately, Bertie.

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(1) Pont Remy, Picardie: ancient crossing of the Somme, 7 miles SE of Abbeville. (2) Bellancourt: 5 miles march approx from Pont Remy. Pte Bertie Hibbett was M.P over Bellancourt farm billets waiting for 1/5th Staffords’ return from Egypt.

(3) Septuagesima Sunday. Ninth Sunday before Easter. (Lit. within ‘seventieth’ day before Easter. Book of Common Prayer. 1662.

(4) Hymn: Sabine Baring Gould, 1834 -1924. (1865 processional hymn for children based on 2 Timothy 2.3 ‘endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ‘. Tune: ‘St Gertude’ 1871: Arthur Sullivan,1842 -1900.

(5) Zeppelin Raid on Walsall. Jan 31st – Feb.1st 1916.

(6) Old QMS pals, Walsall.

NEXT POST: 27th Feb. 1916.

See also NEW PAGE: ‘My Memories’. A.H.H.

13th FEB. 1916: PASSED AS A SNIPER BUT NO HOME LEAVE.

February 13, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

Pte BERTIE HIBBETT, attached Notts & Derby Transport: PAGES 4-6 of LETTER to IDA HIBBETT, 95, Foden Rd Walsall.

(Sun. 13th Feb. 1916?) (1)

. . . . They have passed me as a qualified Sniper (2) & I satisfied our old Coy. Com. Capt List-r (3).

British Sniper. NB Steel helmet issued 1916. — **British Trench with Sniper and dead /sleeping soldier? NB Steel helmet issued 1916.**

He has a brother in the 3/ 5th (S.Staffs) who wrote to him concerning Sydney. Captain L — r, now Major, is acting as Colonel while R—r (4) is away. I am sorry for a reason; Sydney’s release will be delayed again.

I am what you might call ‘humbly’ glad you liked my small gift, & really did not think it would give you so much pleasure as you made out in your letter. The cross must be yours for all time. (I don’t know so much that I shall have a cross dangling from a watch Chain). I might go in for a couple of wrist watches. I say two – so that I can take the average, or otherwise the medium (sic) time (5).

Camouflaged Springfield Rifle with telescope. www.pinterest.comimgres — **Camouflaged Springfield Rifle with telescope. https://www.pinterest.comimgres >**

I shall have to finish on this fourth sheet.

I am especially glad that you received my letters on the dates which were most appropriate.

Now, dear Sister, don’t you think it would be a weee bit impertinent to bother the Colonel aboot Leave. It is like this, you cannot die of your own accord before your appointed time, you cannot die before God wishes you to die – & so with everything in life. I shall have my Leave in all good time; do not think for a moment that I have been easy going & let opportunities slip, far from that.

In the Corps (6) we are now attached to there is no Home Leave, so I have heard. We shall be leaving the Corps at the end of the month & then Leave will start again. There are lots of other men – & so accordingly there are lots of other men’s parents who are just as anxious to see their relatives.

Oh! Bukhshee* was very fond indeed of me, I might say without any self-assertion. Luckily he saw me again on entraining, & after we were dismissed, immediately came up & shook hands with me. He also gave me his address & your letter has just reminded me to write to him. He & the ‘frogeater’ will serve as jolly correspondence chums when ‘aprés le guerre’ (7).

Thank you very much for your advice. Yes Sydney & Bertie have a very brave & patient Mother. So Mum was very different from those ‘silly, three fat ladies’ who clung to Dodger for protection. (8).

Best love to all,

Bertie.

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Whilst his family would have been pleased Bertie had passed as a Sniper they were obviously very anxious to see him on Home Leave. He had been in France & Flanders for almost a year.

(1) 13th Feb. is the most likely date for this Letter.

(2) Pte Bertie’s Lee-Enfield Rifle, took its name from the designer of the rifle’s bolt system, James Paris Lee , British Canadian & later American manufacturer – and the factory in which it was designed—the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield.

(3) Captain Lister*. Old Company Commander. (4) Lt. Colonel Raymond Raymer* 1/5th S. Staffords.

(5) Pte Bertie wanted to know the Greenwich Mean Time & new Summer Time at Home to compare with the time in France. ‘Mean’ time rather than ‘medium’ is meant.

(6) Notts & Derby (Transport Coprs). (7) Bukhshee Ichbye Singh Waltu* an Hindustani soldier met at Marseilles & Joe Albene*, farmer landlord of Pte Bertie’s billet at Bellancourt.

(8)Ref. to Basil’s actions during Zeppelin Raid over Walsall. 31st Jan -1st Feb.1916. See New Page: ‘My Memories’ A.H.H. 1967. published 10th Feb 2016.

NEXT POST: 20th FEB.1916.

12th FEB 1916: SNIPING TEST & FOOD PARCEL ECSTACY!

February 12, 2016 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: PAGES 3 -5 of LETTER to All the Family, 95, Foden Rd Walsall.

Saturday 12th Feb. 1916. (1)

. . . I came back from a Sniping Test (Note the Chart at the head of my letter).

Lee-Enfield short magazine. Mk 1. — **Lee-Enfield Rifle short magazine. Mk 1.**

**Winchester British Enfield Pattern. Sniper Rifle. 1914.**

A day or two ago I happened to do well at potting at a target & I think they must have mistook me for my brother Sydney (Good old Sydney comes in useful even in his absence & leaves his footprints behind in the sand). (2)

So I was recommended for a Sniper(3) & this morning I had an idea I was going to do badly, but of course hoped & tried to do well, with the result that I made 3 bulls, & inners within a bull, the size of half a crown – of course with a special sighting arrangement.

So my happiness went up, & was gradually going up, when I was dismissed from the range first & marched to billets with great expectations of enjoying the contents of the first parcel. What was my astounding, delightful surprise, on going up to this attic, than to see the Corp. hand me two more, similar parcels as the 1st. I then sat down to work undoing the stitches, not one by one, but — the few onlookers (the others were on parade) commented on the excellent way in which the parcels were wrapped (4).

The first contained the serviettes, chocolate, cigs – & now blow me I don’t know which was in which – at any rate I placed them all in front of me. What a fine show! ‘Onze’ (sic). Now for ‘Douze’ (sic) as I strode back for the second parcel hidden in my pack. ‘Douze’ contained the very excellently knitted khaki socks. I did admire them & could see the thoughts inter-twined in them.

Oh! I shall be especially thinking of you when I mange moi gateaux & pork pie. I was in ecstasy as I withdrew the currant bread, but I looked for the butter & was about to be disappointed when the thought came to me, the butter might be in the third THURD parcel so in half a jiffy I strode one big stride & was into Treize or Troi (sic) as these frog-eating people call ‘three’; and my hopes of enjoying the currant bread with butter from Home soon were satisfied & gratified.

Thank you again for this writing pad, a guarantee that I did really get your three parcels. I have never read such interesting & full, stock- full of news, as those enclosed in the parcels, especially Sydney’s long account of his doings. As for Basil’s, I shall have to write him a letter to read all on his owny own. And well, as for Mum’s letters, I am at first very touched & then I flop down & down & DOWN I go, & I shall have to conclude now I have reached THE LIMIT.

To be continued tomorrow Sunday.

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1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

SIDI BISHR CAMP, ALEXANDRIA. 1st – 4th Feb. Battalion Training.

H.M.S. TRANSPORT. 5th Feb. Sat. 9.15 am. Embarked en route for FRANCE.

H.M.S.TRANSYLVANIA (5). 6th -12th Feb. Voyage to MARSEILLES. MARSEILLES. arr. 12th Feb. Sat. 8.30 am. Disembarked and entrained en route to PONT REMY at 7.12 pm.

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After so many weeks deprived of all contact with his family and not knowing whether they had received what little correspondence he had been able to send, Pte Bertie Hibbett was overcome with emotion opening his parcels and reading their letters. Counting in French obviously not his strong point!

(1)12th Feb. 1916 is the most likely date. (Continuation of letter is missing).

(2)‘A Psalm of Life’.1838. Henry Wadsworh Longfellow 1807 -1882. Collection: ‘Voices in the Night‘. ‘. . . In the world’s broad field of battle. In the bivouac of Life. Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife! . . . Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime And, departing, leave behind us footprints in the sands of time . . . ‘

**French Sniper team. 1914.<https:// http://www.alarmy.com>**

(3) The British Sniper was a trained marksman, alone or in a pair or sniper team: ‘to maintain close visual contact with a target and engage targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the detection capabilities of enemy personnel.‘ <https://www.en-wikipedia.org> <https://www.gunauction.com>

(4) A ‘parcel–wrapping’ compliment to his father.

(5) S.S.Transylvania: Cunard – Anchor Line. Torpedoed & sunk by German U-boat, 4th May 1917, whilst carrying troops to Egypt from Marseilles. 412 lives lost.

NEXT POST: 13th FEB. 1916. Pages 4-5 of Letter to Ida. NB Continuation of Letter of 12th Feb. is missing).

NB. NEW PAGE: ‘MY MEMORIES’ A.H.H. published 10th Feb. 2016 to mark centenary of the Battle of the Somme. 1st July, 1916.

The WW1 Letters and Drawings of Private Bertie Hibbett, 1/5th South Staffordshire Regiment, to his family in Walsall, will be posted again, one hundred years on, from August 1914 to November 1918, by his daughter Elizabeth Hibbett Webb. The first posting will be the Recruitment Postcard sent by Queen Mary's Grammar School Headmaster to the Hibbett family on holiday in Abergele, Wales.

WW1 PARCELS TO THE FRONT & LETTERS HOME

Yearly Archives: 2016

26TH MAR. 1916: 1/5TH S. STAFFORDS HOLD THE ‘LABYRINTH’, NEUVILLE ST VAAST.

17TH MAR. 1916: ‘WAR HAS PROVED A BLESSING TO ME’ – TO ‘FORGIVE &FORGET’.

13TH MAR. 1916: ‘WIRE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HOME & WARWORN FRANCE.’

5TH MAR. 1916: ‘BRAVE & PATIENT MOTHER’ ON ZEPPELIN ‘SENTRY GO’.

2ND MAR. 1916: ‘FORCIBLE LETTERS’ RE ‘A COMMISSION IN 3/5TH STAFFORDS’.

28th FEB.1916. BOMB ACCIDENT: 15 SOUTH STAFFORD CASUALTIES.

27TH FEB. 1916: ‘A WEE BIT SAD’ BUT NO ‘ARSKING’ OFFICERS FOR HOME LEAVE.

20TH FEB. 1916: PLATOON FOOTBALL – ‘NO RULES – NO FOULS – NO INSIDE RIGHT – EVERYTHING INSIDE OUT!’

13th FEB. 1916: PASSED AS A SNIPER BUT NO HOME LEAVE.

12th FEB 1916: SNIPING TEST & FOOD PARCEL ECSTACY!