All posts by Elizabeth Hibbett Webb

My aim is to publish, in date order, the letters my father, Private Bertie Hibbett, wrote home to Walsall, almost twice a week, from 1914 – 1918. His self-styled ‘humble scribblings’ give a vivid picture of what it was like to be a Private in Kitchener’s Army but, with their original drawings, sketches and photographs, they provide an important collection of primary source material for social historians in this centenary year of the outbreak of the Great War. As a child I was more aware of the 1st World War than of the 2nd, through which I grew up. My father was Vicar of St Vedast’s Church, Tathwell, Lincolnshire and I was never allowed to forget that my birthday was also St Vedast’s Day, for this was an ever present reminder to him of his dawn sentry duty on Easter Day 1915, at Neuville St. Vaast, Messines. * Like my grandfather, Arthur Hibbett, Chief Inspector of Schools for the Borough of Walsall, my career has been in education; mainly in higher and further education, where I taught courses in historical and literary interpretation & methodology. I have a BA Hons.degree in Theology and History from the University of Nottingham and a Master’s degree in Hermeneutics from the University of Bristol. My first teaching post was at Luton High School, then I became Lecturer & Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the College of St Matthias, Fishponds, teaching the University of Bristol, B.Ed. degree. After my marriage, in 1971, to David Kester Webb (painter, photographer and teacher), I became the first Open University Tutor Counsellor and Associate Lecturer in North Devon, from 1974 until 2000. During that time I also taught Religious Studies ‘A’ level at North Devon College. Kester and I published our book, The Hidden Edge of Exmoor,in 2011 (www.thematic-trails.org). This is the story of our life-time’s climbing exploration of the Exmoor Coast at Sea-level; literally hands on geology. We have two offspring: Rebekah (Consultant in International Development: Gender/HIV/Aids) and Martin Vedast, (Project Manager in Ceramics for Disabled Adults). * NB The name Vedast or Vaast means Foster in English. St Vedast was a 4th C. saint, patron of numerous churches in N. Europe, chiefly of Arras Cathedral. Apart from St Vedast Tathwell, the only other church in the Uk with this patronage is St Vedast, Foster Lane London.

19TH DEC.1915: (2) NO CHRISTMAS PARCELS ‘FOR THE BOY WHO WOULD APPRECIATE THEM BEST’

December 19, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

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

Sunday Dec 19/ 15

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

My Dear Sister Ida,

My sincerest apologies for inability of sending you a proper Christmas Card. Yet I know happily enough that Champion will be chivalrous enough to accept my very best wishes, which are not any the worse than mine of last Christmas, rather better this year. I did so much want to send you something in the way of a card & being therefore on the ‘que vive’ I send this rather than ‘leaving it behind me’ anywhere (1).

Putting all joking aside I do feel sorry for you, Mum & all of you that such good Christmas luxuries have not arrived for the boy who would appreciate them best. I can picture you all packing those two parcels & imagining all sorts of happy results. My shining face on seeing the cake, almonds & raisins, choc. figs & dates. Yes, I remember all the things Dodger told me in his letter, how ‘wicked’ of him to mention them, it has had a somewhat Tantalising effect upon poor I.

Oh not so much that I care – I’m thinking of you all & of course – – – ha hem I’ve forgotten what I’m going to say (pons assiniorum (sic) – just bin’ to be ‘dressed’. (2)

So I’ve missed my eatable part of the Christmas gifts. Everyone who has sent me gifts so far must have thought I should get quite enough to eat & so they have sent such DRY stuff, a Stationary & Cigarette case & cigs. Of course – I’ve got it now – I can eat the pages of writing paper by writing long Christmas letters, as for the cigarettes if I can’t eat them I can heat ’em can’t I? & smoke everyone’s health at Home, sending warm fumes from each cig I smoke & too I can verily heat up the pages of writing paper with Warmest Wishes for a Merry Christmas.

I am away from my Batt. of course now I’m in here & shall very likely miss another little Sing Song. I guess you will enjoy your sens (3) with fireside sing songs in the Study & Basil will of course lay aside all swat for the evening – the Eve of Christmas I mean. I can hear that usual party of voices singing on Venables’ lawn (4).

– – – ‘Ben Battle was a soldier bold And used to war’s alarms But a cannon ball took off his legs So he laid down his arms. (5)

(Yes, I, with my septic feet, have laid down my arms, but I shall have to wash my limbs all the same)

And now I cannot wear my shoes Upon my feet of arms. (I’m wearing big white woollen socks, something like bed socks.)

So round his melancholic neck A bandage did entwine. (Sores on my neck again). So they buried Ben at the four cross roads With a stake in his inside.’ – – –

I wonder if I shall get pontoon for Christmas dinner.

I shall finis now with my congratulations to you for your good work at Munitions (6), hoping you will get your full reward by having a really good time at Christmas.

Your vewwy affwec bwuvver, BerTRUM.

********************************

In his letter to his sister Ida, Pte Bertie gives a delightful picture of how the Hibbett Family & Friends enjoyed Christmas. He hides his misery and serious condition with classical references & humourous poetry but I think Champion Ida, VAD Nurse, would not be fooled.

(1) A Paper Cross/ Bookmark given him by Merville Hospital Chaplain? (mislaid at present).

(2) Pons asinorum. Latin lit. ‘Bridge of Asses’. Name given to Euclid’s mathematical theorum – (5th proposition, 1st Book of Elements) -‘that the base angles in an isosceles triangle are equal’. ‘Asses’ Tag applied to ‘Medieval schoolboys who . . . had difficulty understanding the proof – or even of the need for the proof’. An alternative name (which better suits Pte Bertie’s painful situation in Hospital) is Elefuga ‘escape from misery‘ which Roger Bacon in c. AD 1250 derived from the Greek. < http://www.britannica.com/topic/The Bridge -of-Asses >.

(3) ‘Sens‘ – selves. Black/ North Country dialect.

(4) Venables’ lawn. Next door neighbours in next street off Foden Rd/ parallel to Rowley Street, Walsall. Arthur Venables was to save Bertie’s life. 1st July 1916. Battle of Somme.

(5) A Pathetic Ballad. Faithless Nellie Grey by Thomas Hood. 1799-1845. English Port & humourist. Adapted by Bertie to fit his trench foot misery. cf Letter: 29th Nov. 1915/Father’s Birthday.

(6) Munitions: Ida Hibbett’s bomb-making was most likely in a small converted workshop in Walsall.

NEXT POST: 19th Dec. 1915: No 3. Letter to Mother. ‘God will let you see me in His good time’

19TH DEC.1915: (1) TRENCH FOOT AGAIN: ‘GRIN & BEAR IT’.

December 19, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

RUE DES VACHES.

15th -18th Dec 1915. Platoon & Company Training continued.

19th Dec. Sun: Marched to billets at ISBERQUES sic (1).

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

Sunday Dec. 19/ 15

My Dear Basil,

Basil Hibbett Age 18. 1916. — Basil Hibbett at 18 yrs. 1916.

How dare such a reflection of trench life reach as far as you on the muddy footer field, larst Saterdi. Had you waders (2) on any of you? For us there were not enough to go round so some had to ‘grin & bear it’. I was one on ’em & so in conseq: but chiefly through the march that Sunday (3), the day after we left the trenches, this Sunday finds me in Hospital with sore feet & other sores. So that answers your first request in your jolly delightful letter of last Sunday.

Sydney, Bertie and Basil. — **Sydney, Bertie & Basil in tent on Abergele Beach. August 1914.**

I wonder where you are at this very minute. I am sitting in a sunshiny room at a table in the centre & trying to scribble you some enjoyable Tosh (4).

All your letters have been delightfully interesting and full of jollity. My word, Basil, you write as good & as bad as I do, so Q.E.D. I can read them delightfully well, but poor Sydney – don’t joke about him being ‘yeller’ (5), yet of course I quite see you took it in all good humour. Your other request was a smile – so I cut myself out of the photo of us three taken in the tent at Abergele (6).

Yes, the Trio (7) that kept so long together at Luton, & out here, are parted for Christmas & I am sorry I could not convey your kind thoughts to Vernon.

Alladin Lamp gas mantle. — **Alladin Lamp Gas Mantle.**

Again to your jolly letters, I shan’t forget your dream of Dad, Mr Boothroyd* & the Gas mantle (8).

One of my good wishes to you this Christmas is that you have happy dreams without disappointing awakenings. Don’t grind your teeth – Dodger dreams a dream on New Year’s Eve, he walks down stairs & when he gets half way he sees a masked phantom (9) within the porch. In the dining room Mum is writing one of her usual long letters (at the late hours of the night) to one of her boys at the front. She has written . . . (end of Letter is missing)

************************

This is the first of Four Christmas Letters Pte Bertie wrote to members of his Family whilst in Merville Casualty Clearing Station. The trench foot & boils that had kept him in Rouen from August to October had returned (probably had never gone away). All three of the Trio, Sydney, Vernon & Bertie were now in Hospital and separated for Christmas. The disappointment must have been intense, with not even the hope of a Christmas Parcel or Letter from Home to cheer him. In his Letter to Basil he hides his misery and his serious condition with banter, dreams and a ghost story.

(1) Isbergues. Isberques: 10 miles (19 km) NW of Bethune. Connected to the English Channel & North Sea by Canal d’Aire. Pte Bertie must have been judged unfit for this march of 11 miles from Rue des Vaches and sent straight to the Brigade’s Casualty Clearing Station.

(2) Trench Waders Imperial War Museum. Ghosts of 1914. <https://www.ghostsof1914.blogspot.com>

(3) 5th Dec. 1915: 6 hour waterlogged March from Neuve Chapelle to Rues Des Vaches. (4) ‘Tosh’: ‘nonsense/ rubbish’.

(5) Sydney’s ‘Yeller’ (yellow) skin caused by Jaundice/ infection of the liver (Catarrhal Jaundice). (6) Abergele Holiday Photo. August 1914.

(7) ‘The Trio’: Sydney Hibbett, Vernon Evans & Bertie Hibbett. cf. Letters from Sept 1914 to end of Feb. 1915/ Training in Bedfordshire & Essex.

(8) Gas Mantle. Gas Lamps had fragile mantles, lit by matches. (9) Masked Phantom: possible ref. to gas masks just issued. See Drawing 20th Dec. 1915.

NEXT POST: 19th Dec. 1915: No 2. Letter to Ida Hibbett.

14TH.DEC.1915: PTE BERTIE TO BOOTMAKERS. QMS PAL VERNON TO FIELD AMBULANCE.

December 14, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

RUE DES VACHES BILLETS, north of BETHUNE.

11th -14th Dec. Platoon & Company Training.

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

Tuesday Dec. 14/ 15 – am

My Very Dear Mother – 5 pm

I wrote the date this morning & was about to continue when I thought I should in all probability receive a letter from you tonight. I went to the post myself this afternoon on my way back from the bootmakers (1).

Yes, poor Sydney, you will get my letter of Sunday (2) saying I had his long letter telling me how he got to dear old England. Sydney told me I need not send it Home but I am, as Mum wants me to.

I daresay I shall get your parcels tomorrow night (Wed). I also got another parcel for Vernon, which makes the fourth since he left us on Saturday 11th for the Field Ambulance (3).

Poor old Verny, how very unfortunate he has been for parcels. Last night (Monday) he had his Xmas parcels from Home oh dear – & I was away when they came to our billet & when I came back the Platoon Serg. had opened them & was about to distribute them among the Platoon. The contents would not keep until Vernon came back as they were, so I put a sample of everything in one of the tins & am keeping them in high hopes that Vernon will return very soon & enjoy some of the Xmas fare. There was his Christmas cake above all too!

I wrote a letter to Mrs Evans & from the beginning to nearly the end it was a very unpleasant undertaking. I said nearly because I had to FINIS happily to wish Vernon’s people a Merry Xmas.

I hope you have enclosed some candles; excuse me saying so, this candle is nearly ‘na pou’ finis, so I shall have to close soon (4). This morning I took the opportunity of acknowledging a handsome Christmas gift from Miss K. Brookes* , a Cigarette Case. I suppose she thought I shall receive enough eatables to satisfy my appetite, well quite right too.

Hackett orderly. — **Captain W. Hackett.**

I heard from Hackett* (5) . . . (censored but ‘Capt. Lister’s orderly’ can be discerned) . . . that no person can obtain a Commission without having been an N.C.O. for two months. I shall put my case forward tomorrow or in a day or two.

Forgive me, dear Mum, but I shall relish the mince pies – if there are any coming & I am wondering if Champion has made an attempt at a cake.

Lights out – I mean the candle – ’tis not 6 yet. Let’s see. I shall want about four dozen Xmas cards from Boots Park St – I shall leave the billet & go my shopping down Walsall Town.

I was puzzled on reading what Vernon’s brother told Basil about him not hearing for 3 weeks. I felt it my duty as a friend to be faithful to Vernon & take care of his parcels, but I do not at all like it. He said he thought he would be back in three days. I will wait either till tomorrow night (Wed) or keep patient till we move. I might try to carry some of his parcel from Home in my valise. I should like you to converse with his people about it.

I said my next letter would be to Basil & Ida, but dear Mummy has had to have first attention lately. I shall write my Christmas letter to you all either next Sunday or Monday the 20th, or I might write it when I get the parcels.

Dost thee remember my Christmas letter last year at Saffron Walden? Drawing to the end of November we shook hands with our old Colonel, who came to give us a surprise visit (7): when at Saffron Walden he hoped we would spend next – i.e. this Xmas at Home, which I am hoping to see about.

Ta Ta.

Best love to all hoping & trusting you will all keep in the best of health & good spirits to enjoy a Happy & real Christmas.

Your very affec. son

Bertie.

*********************************

Pte Bertie Hibbett’s feet & those of his pal Vernon Evans suffer the consequences of the waterlogged march from Neuve Chapelle trenches to Rue des Vaches Billets, 5th Dec.1915. Bertie appears to be about to visit a local French bootmaker to repair or replace his boots and Vernon has gone to The Field Ambulance to be passed up the Casualty Evacuation Chain see (3) below.

hobnails images — **Hobnails <https://www.1914-1918invisionzone.com>**

(1)Bootmakers: British B5 Boots. Soldiers of WW1 & WW2 marched in Northampton boots as did Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army (Roundheads) in the Civil War, 1642-1651. 70 million pairs of boots & shoes were made in WW1 (50 million in Northampton). Crocket & Jones Factory made 3,493956 pairs for officers in WW1. https://www.crocketand jones.com>. Interesting blog photos re history of bootmaking at Stony Middleton. <https://www.loomstate.blogspot.com/…/william-lennon-factory- >

(2) Not extant.

(3) The Field Ambulance (not a transport vehicle as today but) a RAMC organised Casualty Evacuation Chain attached to each Division: consisting of Bearer Relay Posts immediately behind Regimental Aid Posts in the Front Line, further back the Brigade’s Advanced Dressing Stations (ADS) & further back still the Divisions Main Dressing Station (MDS). There were also Walking Wounded Collection Stations, Rest Areas and Sick Rooms. (Regimental Aid Posts could be in a dugout, communication trench, ruined house or deep shell hole).

See The RAMC in the Great War. https://www.ramc-ww1> Also The Long Long Trail. <https://www.1914-1918.net/fieldambulances>. Each Field Ambulance had 10 Officers & 224 men (no weapons or ammunition). Each Division had 23 wagons & 3 water carts and 10 ambulance wagons for transport/ mostly pulled by horses but some motorised ambulances.

(4) ‘na pou’/slang for ‘finished’, ‘no good’.

(5) William? Hackett’s* application for Commission was successful, he eventually became a Captain. (Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Walsall, 1900-1905). Interestingly his training as Captain Lister’s* Orderly involved attendance at Army Servant School. (He died in 1918 in Scotland, reason as yet unknown ).

(6) N.C.O: A private must have had some experience as a Non-Commissioned officer (Lance Corporal/Corporal/Serjeant) before acceptance for Officer training & Commission.

(7) Colonel Crawley*. See A Little Book of Words & Doings. Letter: 5th Dec. 1915.

NEXT POSTS: 19th Dec. 1915. Letters to all Four Hibbetts: Basil. Ida, Mother & Father, to arrive for Christmas.

9TH/10TH DEC. 1915: ‘A WORK OF A MAGICIAN WAS THE SCARF’. PTE BERTIE HAPPILY PLAYS POSTMAN TO HIMSELF.

December 10, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

RUE DES VACHES.

7-18th Platoon and Company Training.

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

This Letter was begun on Thursday 9th Dec. but the next day Pte Bertie found he had lost the first half so he pieced it again with the note: ‘Lost 1st half . . . Brewin* has gone for his Com. (1) – went Thursday 9th. (Brewin* and A.O. Jones*).’

. . . . . . . . . . . A work of a magician was the scarf. I shall be delighted to show you it, such a long & thick & broad one; absolutely puzzled me however it was made in the time & do you know – I don’t know whether you have told Miss Foster* or no, but she had put a bag of lavender in (2). The other articles were a small bottle of Horlicks & some Macintosh’s Mint Toffee de Lux & three apples & a pad of writing material; so I shall be set up for some time with letter writing.

The scarf can go round the neck, cross the chest & round the waist – but ’spose we go to India! – never mind there will be many cold days for us before we set sail for hot climates (3).

WW1 Post censor & colletion. — WW1 Post being sorted & censored while Postmen wait. Horsham Camp. 1914.

Yes – tis rather a pity now we are out of the trenches & will . . . (censored) . . . the toffee & milk, porridge & woollens would be more serviceable in the trenches. The toffee to munch while on sentry, the scarf & mittens (Miss Foster* also sent two pairs of mittens for fear one pair gets lost I guess) to wear & keep out the biting wind, the porridge for a hot tasty ‘brekker’ etc.

A. O. Jones* is with us again & appeared in new clothes, but muddy through marching. Our Captain* inquired after Sydney this morning. I wish he was with me for one reason i.e. to give me advice on the Com. (4).

How is it that I do not hear from Harold often? You said now he is in Wolverhampton I should hear from him more often.

I shall have to close now as no one seems to have a sharp enough knife to sharpen this pencil. Hoping you are all keeping happy & well & may Those Heavenly Hands keep my dear Mother & Father in cheerful patience & bring Peace shortly, – a lasting & abiding Peace to the advancement of His Kingdom & for His Glory.

Best love to Ida to whom I will write next & to Basil,

Yours, Bertie.

. . . . . . . Continued Friday Dec. 10/ 15.

My Very Dear Mother,

I wrote to you yesterday but lost the first half of my letter so I will have to piece it up as best as I can.

Your welcome parcel came as a surprise on Wednesday night (you will have got my Field Postcard by now). I was picked for ration party & told off to carry the parcels. The bag was heavy, but I trudged happily along the lanes for within the bag was a parcel from Home and another I found out to be from Miss Foster* – the largest parcel she has ever sent. I should love to show you the scarf which made the parcel so large. The other things – I see I mentioned that in my last half of yesterday.

Yes I read your nice letter of Saturday. We came out of the trenches that day & we had the weather wet too, but it managed to keep off raining until we arrived in billets, then it poured. I opened my parcels in a little group of chums in this loft. I did enjoy a slice of brown bread & butter & I gave some toffee to Vernon who said it was very good. It is jolly good too. I love it – so lasting too. I’m sure Vernon’s voice has improved wonderfully & put it down to the toffee & last night (Thurs) I made some porridge for supper, it came out a treat & I put some Horlick’s Milk with it & offered Vernon some, he always liked porridge and when at Saffron Walden bought some for Mrs Penning (5) to make. He did enjoy the porridge & said it was excellent. I have made some for breakfast one morning I was on guard here.

We don’t think we shall see any trenches this duty . . . censored . . . I trust we shall see you before we go elsewhere.

Lieut. Robinson* who said he knew Dad, is on Leave & his orderly. I may go to him re Com.

Yes the parcel came as a surprise because you said the next would be the Xmas parcel. I must send this letter off now else I shall miss the post, he is shouting for the letter.

Ta Ta. Bertie.

Pte Bertie Hibbett plays Postman, happily trudging down the lanes with his heavy bag of parcels & letters. For answer as to how 12 million letters reached WW1 soldiers each week see informative article by Alan Johnson, MP & former postman (in association with the British Postal Museum & Archive) < https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine > Also https://www.youtube.com > 31st Jan.2014.

(1) A.O.Jones* (and Arthur Brown/ Brewin*) must have gone for a Commission interview at Divisional Headquarters before being accepted & sent to Sandhurst, UK.

(2) Godmother Mary Foster had heard that Bertie would love something sweet-smelling to mask the smell of the trenches.

(3) Rumour that 1/5th Staffords were preparing for the Eastern Front. (4) Sydney’s whereabouts not yet known to Bertie.(5) Mrs A. Penning: Landlady, Pte Bertie’s Billet Gold Street, Saffron Walden. Letters: Dec.1914 – Feb. 1915.

NEXT POST: 14th Dec. 1915.

8TH DEC. 1915: HOSPITAL SHIP ST DAVID CARRIES SYDNEY ‘BSU’ TO BLIGHTY.

December 8, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb 1 Comment

Centre: Sgt S. HIBBETT when training as a Sergeant. — Serjeant SYDNEY HIBBETT. 21yrs.

Serjeant SYDNEY HIBBETT: LETTER to Pte BERTIE HIBBETT at the Front.

‘D’ Ward. The Red Cross Hospital, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Wed. Dec 8th.

Dear Old Bert,

How about getting round the authorities now – hey? Here I am in dear old England once again, a fact at which you will no doubt be surprised. It happened like this and I have written home so there is no need to go forwarding this letter on home.

Rouen. 1915. PC to Ida Oct . 1915. from Bertie Hibbett. — **Rouen. ‘The Way to Blighty’. PC to Ida from Bertie Hibbett Oct.1915.**

Well on Friday last, Dec 3, I went to Communion in the Convalescent Camp. I had been feeling rotten & sick all week and so I asked the doctor to examine me which he did & as I had had a week in the special treatment room & was still no better he sent me to No 6 Gen. Hospital (1) that same afternoon. Compris?

Well the Major, who was the M.O. there, confirmed the fact that I had got catarrhal jaundice (2) & so I went on till Saturday night came when he visited me again in the night & said that as I had not got any better during the last fortnight I should be sent to England. So he marked me BSU or ‘Boat Sitting Up’ but I never thought it would come off for some time yet.

HMHSStDavid — **Hospital Ship HMS St David**.1915. (Renamed Rosslare in 1932).

Next day was Sunday Dec 5th. At 11 am a sudden order came for me, & a few more, to get ready for the boat & our tickets or labels came in & were fastened on our coats & we were carried to the ambulance car. In this fashion we were taken swiftly down to Rouen docks and straight on board the Hospital Ship, St David (3) a large 2 funnelled steamer of the G.W.R. painted white & green with a big red cross in the middle.

A large crowd of people watched us & I could see all the river and shipping from my bed near a porthole. There were about 70 patients. We were just near that tall transporter bridge. At 2 pm Sunday we sailed down the river & after a fast passage of 65 miles of the most picturesque and the most stupendous scenery we arrived at Le Havre and anchored at 8 pm.

HospitalShipLeHavreWOundedBoarding — **WW1 Wounded soldiers boarding Hospital Ship at Le Havre.**

We passed a German prisoners’ camp & I saw them all crowd the barbed wire fencing to look at us (4). We had 40 more patients brought on board at Havre but we did not sail till 7 am. Monday morning 6th. It was just daybreak and a regular fierce winter morning too with a driving gale and a very rough sea, worse than at Whitby & the wind rose head on from the NW.

ILN08Jan1916 — **Sinking of Hospital Ship HMS Anglia by mine laid by German U Boat UC-5. Off Le Havre,17th Nov. 1915.**

nurses britannic.unnamed — **HMS Britannic Nurses.**

As soon as we got clear of the harbour, my! she didn’t half toss & roll. We were all strapped in our cots and the ship rolled from side to side and up and down and very soon I was as sea sick as it was possible to be and I wished I was dead, aye, & that the ship would strike a mine & go down to something firm! I was ill all the way & poor me with jaundice & I soon was as empty as a barrel & still I kept on trying to get my stomach up.

At first I enjoyed seeing all the novel strange sights of the limitless sea, the heaving waves & the destroyer far away on one side & a tramp steamer (5) nearer & one could imagine the British fleet keeping watch day & night over such a waste of waters.

Spitshimgres — **Solent/ Spithead: <http://www.open.edu>**

It took us from 7 am till 2.30 pm to reach Southampton & it poured with rain as we arrived in the Spithead, but I did not mind. The boat was docked by two tugs, close to an Italian Red Cross boat just in from the Dardanelles (6). Then we were carried across into the train – you remember the docks when we came over to France last March? It was the same place. Well we left the station in this beautiful Midland Red Cross train and we did not know our destination though.

I went to sleep and woke to find the train was stopped at this place, Cirencester (7).

Bingham Hall. — **The Bingham Hall, Cirencester. UK.**

Outside the station was a string of private motorcars and into one of these I and two more were put while a crowd of folks cheered us. It was a fine new car with the owner’s chauffeur to drive. We arr. here at the Hosp. at 8.30 pm. It is in a place called The Bingham Hall (8) & we’re very comfortable indeed in this quiet country town in dear old England.

I do hope you will get your leave soon, Bertie, old boy. Perhaps Father & Mother will be down here to see me. I want you to let every one know where I am; those I know in the Batt. I mean. I think I shall be here for Xmas.

Don’t fail to remember me to Vernon; I hope he too will get his leave soon. I will stop now hoping to hear from you as soon as you have time.

Best love, from Sydney.

******************************

Serjeant Sydney Hibbett’s rough crossing took nearly 8 hours from Le Havre to Southampton; the total journey to Cirencester Red Cross Hospital from Rouen took over 2 days, but of course he ‘did not mind’. And so it was Sydney not Bertie who was on his way to Blighty for Christmas 1915.

(1) No 6 Gen. Hospital B.E.F. Base, Rouen.

(2) Catarrhal Jaundice: ‘Campaign Jaundice‘/ ‘Infectious Jaundice (familiar in military campaigns since medieval times). Infection of the liver. Common illness in Gallipoli & Egypt. Today I expect Sydney would be diagnosed with ‘viral hepatitis‘.

(3) Hospital Ship HMS St David: built in Clyde, Scotland. One of 3 sister ships called after Patron Saints of Wales, Scotland & Ireland. Adapted to carry 180 patients/ made 9 trips across English Channel and brought 3,787 wounded back to Southampton/ running the gauntlet of German U boats /torpedoes & mines. Renamed HMS Rosslare in 1932. cf website Roll of Honour, Martin Edmund.<https://www.boothancestry.wordpress.com>

(4) German Prisoners: used on docks/ helping wounded soldiers onto Hospital Ships. See Rouen -The Heart of the World. Patrick Essart’s excellent collection of WW1 photographs of Rouen/Base Hospitals/nurses/ship bunks & beds/docks/prisoners.<https://w.flikr.com/photos>

(5) Tramp Steamer: unscheduled merchant vessel. (6) Italian Ship name unknown. British Hospital Ship HMS Rewa brought 20,000 wounded soldiers home from Dardanelles/ torpedoed off Hartland, Devon, Bristol Channel, 4th Jan 1918 ( all patients saved/4 crew lost). ‘Deep Sea Wreck Mysteries/Red Cross Outrage.‘: story of modern diving to HMS Rewa by Keith Denby.TV/DVD . <https://www.mspty.co.uk>

(6) Cirencester, Cotswolds: where Sydney’s youngest brother, Basil Hibbett, later became Manager of Cooperative Dairy Factory.

(7) Bingham Hall & Rifle Range 1908: built for Cirencester by Daniel George Bingham ( b.1830/ employed by Great Western Railway/ Cirencester & Paddington stations ). Became a Red Cross Hospital WW1 & 2. <https://www.binghamhall.org.uk/about>

NEXT POST: 10th Dec. 1915.

7TH DEC. 1915: A COMMISSION? – OR DHQ ORDERLY ROOM CLERK?

December 7, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

BATTALION TRAINING: RUE DES VACHES.

6th Dec. Mon: Platoon and Company Training. 7th Dec. Tue -18th Dec. Sat: Ditto.

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

Tuesday. Dec 7/ 15

My Dear Mother & Father,

Since Saturday, we have been very busy & on the move. Your welcome parcel came last night when we were all busy cleaning our equipment for the Gen. Inspection which was this morning. Just returned & this is the first opportunity I have had for answering all you want to know.

You have jumped down my throat with regard to the Com: I don’t feel at all eligible for one. Today is Brewin’s* Day; he is supposed to go for a month’s training & is tidying himself up now. As for Serg. Sanger* I believe he goes too about now (1). He will be glad to see you he said to me in the trenches, some weeks ago, & wishes to be remembered to you both.

With regard to that vacancy at DHQ’s orderly room clerk, nothing yet has been said (2).

waterlogged trench images — **Deluged. Pals Battalion. Neuve Chapelle. <https://www.dailymail.co.uk>**

I did enjoy Ida’s scones & the cheese. Vernon too said they were very nice. His voice has improved a little, but unfortunately he has now got a sore and swollen foot (3).

The general idea in the Batt. is that we shall not see these trenches in this part of the country again.

Holding the Line at neuve Chapelle. — **A rather staged photograph of British soldiers holding the line at Neuve Chapelle.1915, but it shows how shallow and unproteced the trenches were in places.**

I have your letter enclosed in the parcel for reference & am answering each question as I read on. I am hoping to see you, by the way matters are shaping out, I hope to be Home by the end of Jan/16. (4).

I do not see Allen*much because the billets are so far between (5) . I do not know Sydney’s address for certain at present. His last letter was Z Company, 5th South Staffs Con. Camp Rouen. I sent him an FPC & had it returned. I wish he was with me as far as advice with regard to the Com.

Church Street N Chapimages — Church Street, Neuve Chapelle.1915. <https://www.histoiredunard3blogspot.com>

Neuve Chapelle after Battle, March 1915. — **Neuve Chapelle after British capture, March 1915. Pte Bertie would have known these views. <http://www.beeston-nots.co.uk>**

I shall not need any more Porridge in future parcels as I told you before. I thought we should be in the trenches by now for we all understood we were in that part of the line till Dec. 27. I have arranged with the cooks to make me some porridge for tonight – so twill be all very well.

I meant to tell you before that the parcels came with the tag attached, good idea.

Best love, Bertie.

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Pte Bertie has reservations about applying for a Commission as a ‘Temporary Officer’. He was ‘eligible’ in that he had attended QMS, a minor public school and had been four years in its O.T.C. but it was not in my father’s nature to push himself forward. That he did not feel ‘at all eligible‘ may indicate his lack of confidence in his health & physical strength at this time. He would have appreciated the privileges & better accommodation enjoyed by officers – and he knew that was what his parents wanted for him. On the other hand he must have been aware, as perhaps his parents were not, that the average life of a Junior Officer at the Front was very short, a matter of a few weeks.

(1) Officer Training for A.E. Brown* (Brewin, QMS) and Sanger*: one month at Sandhurst would mean a chance of Home Leave. cf Letter 5th Dec.

(2) Divisional Head Quarters Orderly Room Clerk would involve administration of divisional orders & discipline/ more of a desk job with lots of paper work. More suitable for Pte Bertie with his poor feet, than a commission?

(3) Pte Vernon Evans’ feet were worse after a gruelling 6 hours trudge over 6 miles of rough waterlogged ground to Rue des Vaches. (Thankfully neither he nor Pte Bertie had feet quite as bad as they might have been according to some on-line images!). See previous Letter 5th Dec.1915.

(4) Eastern Front Rumours? Pte Bertie hints that 1/5th Staffords could be on their way to warmer climes where Home gifts of porridge & warm clothes might not be needed.

(5) Serjeant Herbert Allen* QMS friend of Sydneys? (2nd Lieut H. Allen. Killed in Action, Gommecourt/ Fonquevillers: 1st July 1916. Battle of Somme).

NEXT POST: 8th Dec. 1915. Serjeant Sydney’s whereabouts revealed.

5TH DEC. 1915: SERJEANT SYDNEY ‘NOT AT BASE – TRY LINE’. PTE BERTIE ON THE MOVE.

December 5, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DAIRY

NEUVE CHAPELLE TRENCHES

1st Dec. Wed: In Brigade Reserve. Relieved 1/5th North Staffordshire Regt in Trenches at 6.3 pm.

2nd Dec. Thur: NEUVE CHAPELLE. Quiet. Midday enemy crumped (1) rear of our right – no damage.

3.0 pm 20 British aeroplanes flew over, returning 3.15 pm. Rain all night.

3rd Dec. Fri: Very quiet. At Stand To tested enemy with 5 rounds rapid. Very little reply. CASUALTY: KILLED: 9465 Pte J. Hodson.

4th Dec. Sat: Battalion was Relieved in Trenches.

5th Dec. Sun: LORETTO ROAD. In Brigade Reserve. Marched to Billets at RUE DES VACHES (2).

Rue des Vaches from Loretto Rd — **Route March from Loretto Road Billets to Rue des Vaches Billets. (6 miles approx.) Red Line (right) marks approx Front Line. Dec. 1915.**

Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: A Little Book of Words & Doings. ‘Nov 11th-Dec 4th. Our old Colonel Crawley* (3) came & shook hands all round at Lastrem nr Neuve Chapelle. He was then on Staff over Base. ‘How awfully unfortunate’, he said to Vernon, in Neuve Chapelle trenches. Vernon had old complaint of losing his voice & had a trench foot.’

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

2nd Sunday in Advent. Dec 5/ 15.

My Dear Mother & Father,

We have been marching from 10 this morning till 4 this afternoon. Came out of the trenches yesterday, Saturday, slept a rough night. Was paid & issued with deficiencies last night also.

Very pleased to get Dad’s long letter on Friday night, the length of it surprised me as he generally sends short epistles. I read the letter in a ‘rat-hole’ of a dugout, taking some of my hour’s rest as I was on sentry duty all night – 2 (hours) on, 1 off.

‘For rough work only and no marks given for work done on this page’ (4) quite amused me. I think Dad’s letter deserves full marks. Am looking forward to the promised parcel.

I heard from Sydney the same day, but in the morning, correspondence with him seems to be very queer, the Con. Camp which he is in cannot be at the Base. I sent him a Field PC on Nov 23rd – & in his letter of 29th he said he received a FPC of mine on 28th (most likely the one I sent on the 23rd). Well I got the FPC back on the night I got Dad’s letter & I (had) addressed it to Z Coy. Conval: Camp – marked on it was ‘Line’. I should like to write to him & send him some of his letters from friends, but cannot rely on ‘Convalescent Camp Rouen’ which he has written at the top of his letter.

I was very interested to hear about some of the Walsall people. Bates* (5) was probably on Home Leave; he joined the Inns of Court OTC & was at Berkhampstead last time I heard from him (at Hospital).

K Own R Reg Mus. Ouderdomko0860-026 — **Kings Own Regiment at Ouderdom, Ypres. 1915. Courtesy Regt. Museum Collection.**

I think Ida is keeping a pace (6) parallel to the strain of the men at the front – congratulations! Now I must draw my tea rather late to day, because of the march. I then shall look out for the post as the rations & blankets will have to be drawn at the same time. We have had sheepskin coats (7) given us again, but have given them in again now, owing to our moving.

I think I will leave off now & let this be another Sunday, Monday letter. I wonder if you got my letters from Stir Up Sunday & the one I wrote on Dad’s Birthday enclosed in a green?

I thought of you all in Church on the march. Basil’s chatty letters – I treasure his description of the commotion in Church caused by a cat (was it?) – did amuse I. I have not yet had Miss Foster’s scarf. She would be indeed a lightening knitter if she had knitted the scarf by now, very good of her isn’t it?

Yes, Coms: are rather com: everyone seems to be going in for one out here (8). You did surprise I, when I saw Basil’s writing on the outside of the envelope. I thought you were going to leave it until I came on Home Leave, & then again I have not said I particularly wanted one.

I shall have to be concluding now, poor Mum, I thought, writing at such a late hour.

Train 1914-1918.c6e0ac50fdb9f3812d94052949b9c4be — **WW1 Open TruckTransport. & standing, 1916. NB helmets instead of hats.**

Well we are now in barns & move again tomorrow, very likely entrain (9).

I am sleeping in the loft & the orficers sleep, dine & enjoy ’emselves in rooms set apart in the farm house.

I hope you have not been anxious not hearing from me & answering Dad’s letter, I have not had an opportunity of writing.

Many thanks for the pencil & paper. I shall be able to send greetings now to all friends at Christmas, but I have an idea I shall be at Home to see them then.

Best love, Bertie.

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Serjeant Sydney Hibbett’s exact whereabout begin to raise anxious thoughts in Pte Bertie when his Field Postcard is returned from Rouen Base and he is on the move from Neuve Chapelle. He needed to consult his brother about applying for a Commission as his parents wished him to do (probably in the mistaken belief that he would have a more comfortable time as an orficer (sic)).

Neuve Chapelle’s shattered Crucifix would be a lasting influence on my father and his Good Friday Posters: ‘Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?’ (Hebrew Bible Lamentations 1.12. Date trad. after Fall of Jerusalem 586 B.C.).

See The Cross at Neuve Chapelle, the story of how the Germans used the Cross as a marker for shelling & how the British dealt with the problem <https://www.the atlantic.com>

(1) Crump: Soldier’s Slang for German 5.9″ shell (or sound of it bursting/onomatopoeic). http://www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk/warslang.

(2) Rue de La Planches des Vaches: ‘Cattle Drove‘, broad country road, 6 miles north of Bethune, off D945 to Estaires. This route ‘march’ from Loretto Road (8 miles approx.) took 1/5th Staffs 6 hours, a trial indeed for Pte Bertie & his ‘awfully unfortunate’ pal Vernon Evans, with fever & trench foot. Compare Welsh soldier’s description of march to trenches ‘impossible without going through 4-5 feet of water‘. No Man’s Land littered with’bloated bodies’. Carmarthan Pals <https://www.books.google> Steven John. page 44: 19th Dec. 1915.

(3) Colonel Archer Parry Crawley*: came out of retirement at 60 to command South Staffords Territorial training in Bedfordshire & Essex,1914. In Feb 1915, became Officer Commanding No 2 Base Depot at Rouen; also temporary Brigadier General for 1-5 Entrenchment Battalions. Wore ‘swanky pattees’, Letter 5th Feb. 1915.

(4) Heading for Examination paper: cf Sydney Hibbett’s first Letter Home, asking permission to join up. 19th August 1914.

(5) Bates* (Alan?). Family lived at Aldridge, nr Walsall. Father grew roses.(6) Ida’s Voluntary War Service filled all her time; included Borough Council Office/admin. Derby Scheme Recruitment; VAD Red Cross Nursing; Bomb-making – as well as teaching Church Sunday School.

(7) Sheepskin/ Goatskin Coats: evidence of extreme cold of a Flanders’ winter 1915. cf Letter from Havre 3rd March.1915.

(8) Kitchener’s New Army (as distinct from 1st Army of 400,000 soldiers which serviced the British Empire i.e Old Contemptibles) was led by temporary officers, recruited from public schools/ often university graduates with some military training in the O.T.C. A portion of officers were from the ranks (‘temporary gentlemen’). Royal Sandhurst gave just one month’s intensive training, so desperate was the need to replace horrendous losses of 1914-1915.

WW1 Life expectancy of Front Line Junior Officer: 6 weeks. Source: Dr Anthony Morton, Curator Sandhurst Regimental Museum. <http://army.mod.uk/documents >

(9) Entrain: possibly in uncovered wagons as illustrated or in cattle trucks.

NEXT POST: 7th Dec. 1915.

29TH NOV.1915: ‘PATER’S BUTHDOI & NO CIGAR TO SEND WITH MY HEART’S LOVE!’

November 29, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY.

NEUVE CHAPELLE BRIGADE RESERVE: LORETTO ROAD .

29th Nov. LORETTO ROAD. In Brigade Reserve ‘C’ Subsector Rest Houses. CASUALTIES: 2 men 672 Pte S. Gee wounded by shrapnel whilst on working party. 9187 Pte L J. Harper slightly wounded.

TOTAL CASUALTIES NOVEMBER 1915: KILLED 1. WOUNDED 4. Slightly wounded 4.

Signed: H. A. WISTANCE Capt. Comg 1/5 South Staffs Regt.

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BERTIE HIBBETT: 19 in 1914. — BERTIE HIBBETT:
20 in 1915.

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

Pater’s Buthdoi. 29/11/ 15.

A MORNING’S X Mum; X Ida; X Dodger; X Harold; X Sydney; X Myself.

11.30 am. In a billet.

‘That our sons may grow up as the young plants and that our daughters may be as the polished corners of the Temple’. 30th Day. (1)

ALAS! I HAVE NO CIGAR TO SEND HIM WITH MY HEARTS LOVE

My Very Dear People,

Walter Crane: The North Wind doth blow. — **‘The North Wind doth blow’. Walter Crane.**.

So you all tried the soft woollen helmet on, & fancied yourselves in a barn like the Cock Robin (Bertie) – when he knew Winter was coming, to keep himself warm, he hid in a barn (2).

Well you will be happy to hear that the parcel came on Saturday when I was in the trenches, so I wore it that very same night – & luckily too it was the night I was able to get the most of the hours sleep since I was in; for the night before I was on sentry all through.

Oh how I did larf Champion – at Father’s Nellie Grey (3). I had an idea you would send those poems out of ‘Troubadour’ (4), how good of you, you brick, to rip the pages out. Forgive me, I was somewhat disappointed on seeing that the ‘The Highwayman’ was not in the parcel, it is such a fine poem eh?

Now you’ll all enjoy a good lunch, a good tea & tell me if Dad had bacon for breaker. Also tell me if he gets to be N.U.B. (5) Also tell me if Dodger wants M.I.K. (6) also Mum tell me if Ida is M.Xant –(i.e. Most Xtravigant) with the butter.

Also lastly tell me if you’ve adopted any Table Economy (7).

’Ello what’s this?’ I said to me sen as a letter addressed to Sydney from Mother was handed to me. On the envelope it had ‘NOT AT BASE Try Front’. So by that poor Sydney is of course not at the Convalescent Camp, but I wonder if he is on the way to see me or joined a wretched Entrenching Battalion (8). Forgive me, I took it into my head to read the letter and I will keep it for the dear boy.

Yes poor Vernon is still ill with a chill, woke this mornin’ and greeted me in a whisper, no improvement in his voice, but the voice of influenza is creeping o’er him.

Mum, I made some coffee on getting into ‘bed’ last night& I saved Brewin* some for him to drink after going out on duty. Brewin made some Porridge this morning & said it is the ‘finest thing one can have in the trenches’.

Dodger, you aren’t preparing for anything at Christmas at the Grammar School – like you did at B’ham? I am looking forrard to Christmas, no matter in what way it comes, how when or where.

Toodle oo,

Best love Bertie Arfer, Cock Robin. X X X X X.

PS Auntie* sent me a letter, the longest she has ever written – on large foolscap. She said she is knitting a pair of socks for Dad & also making a Cake for Christmas & is sending some to Sid & me.

Had a letter from Miss Foster* yesterday, a jolly letter, she wants me to tell her anything and everything and wants me to give her a description of a dugout, but oh my after knowing the result my letter of Sunday Nov 14th and the effect it had on poor Mum I could not tell Miss Foster, for she too was taken by a simple heading to one of my past letters to her ‘Written Within a Barn by Candlelight’. She added that she was aware that we have to put up with worse things & I think I will leave it to her imagination. She told me you had written to her about Sydney.

Well Ta Ta. Dad’s letter must not go without a PS.

‘Whit too whoo’ said the owl last night.

X Mum, X Ida, X Harold, X Dodger, X Sydney, X Myself.

PS NB Also tell me if Dad smoked a cigar & if he got my letter of Thursday ‘on right’. (9).

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Pte Bertie draws a picture of how the Hibbett Family made their Father’s Birthday/’Buthdoi’ special.

(1) Psalm 144.12. (Book of Common Prayer). Original Hebrew words used here are rare and difficult to translate into English. In some versions ‘sons‘ are ‘towers‘ rather than ‘plants‘ and ‘daughters‘ are ‘corner/foundation pillars‘ of a palace rather than merely ornamental statues. (Good example of how translators can perpetuate gender stereotypes).

220px-Walter_crane_small — Walter Crane.

(2) Nursery Rhyme ‘The North Wind‘ or ‘The Robin‘: ‘The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow and what will Cock Robin do then, poor thing. He will sit in a barn to keep himself warm & hide his head under his wing, poor thing‘. Last verse: What will children do then, poor things? ‘They must skip, jump and run until they have made themselves warm, poor things‘. Mother Goose: imaginary author of Fairy Tales & Nursery Rhymes. A Baby’s Bouquet 1878. Illustrations by Walter Crane.1845-1915. English artist/children’s books.

220px-Benjamin_Hanby_bw — Benjamin Hanby.

(3) Nellie Gray: popular 19th Cent. song against slave-trade. An African-American male slave of Kentucky mourns the sale of his beloved into slavery in Georgia. Benjamin Hanby, 1856.

(4) Poem ‘The Troubadour‘ appears in ‘A Magazine of Verse’. January 1915. Madison Cawein, 1865-1914. American Poet (‘Keats of Kentucky’). His poem ‘Waste Land’, 1914, is said to have inspired Ezra Pound’s ‘The Waste Land‘, 1922, foundation of modernism in poetry. ‘Night they say is no man’s friend and at night he met his end … Hate crouched near him as he strode… Eyes of murder glared and burned at each turning of the road… And with Death we stood and stared… but he never looked nor cared.’ cf The Poetry Foundation.

(5) N.U.B: ‘Nigh to Bursting’. (6) M.I.K: ‘More in Kitchen’.

(7) Table Economy: Food rationing was not introduced until 1916 but pressure was put on public to be frugal. 60% of food in Britain was imported. 300,000 tonnes of food shipping was sunk every day by German submarines. cf. The Illustrated London News.

(8) Entrenching Battalion: temporary units to provide ‘pools of men‘ in a Corps from which to draw replacements in infantry battalions. See Wikipedia. Fuller details in Long Long Trail <https://www.1914-1918.net/entrenching.html >

(9) ‘on right‘ i.e. on the exact day 29th Nov. ‘Pater’s Buthdoi’.

NEXT POST: 5th Dec. 1915.

28TH NOV. 1915: YES ‘TIS ADVENT & CHRISTMAS IS COMING! ‘MY SONS BE NOT NEGLIGENT’.

November 28, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

NEUVE CHAPELLE TRENCHES

28th Nov. Sun: Quiet morning. Considerable shelling from 2.0 pm to 3.30 pm. Centre of SUBSECTOR whizz-banged heavily on front. MOGGS HOLE (1) shelled with H.E. and part of 1/5th North Staffs caught, of whom 1 man was killed and 1 officer and 1 man wounded. Enemy shells blew in about 12 yards front parapet opposite BREWERY. Relieved in trenches 6.10 pm by 1/5th Batt, North Staffordshire Regt.

CASUALTY: 8844 L/ Cpl C. A. Gurley wounded.

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT: LETTER to Arthur & Marie Neal HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd Walsall. Censor D.N. Robinson.

‘Sentry Duty’. Advent Sunday (2). Nov 28/ 15

‘My sons be not negligent, for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, & to serve Him’. 2 Chron. XXIX. XI. 29th Nov. in ‘Daily Strength for Daily Needs’. (3).

My Dear Father & Mother,

I was almost afraid that this memorable Sunday would pass without me having time to write to you.

Yes ’tis Advent, Christmas is coming & there are signs of it too in the weather – ‘freezing’ all day. Many, many hearty thanks for the cozy sleeping helmet which I got yesterday & wore last night, & how queer, I did so soundly sleep, such a good sleep too, never had a better since I have been in the trenches after coming from the Base.

Don’t say I’m greedy, I was half expecting some of Mum’s Home-made toffee – at any rate I scented the helmet, some of Ida’s Heather Scent, & cuddled it on me & thought of you all having tried it on each of you. What lovely soft wool isn’t it?

I wrote to Dad on Thursday to give him my wishes on his birthday. Tell me if it gets to him ‘on the right‘. Miss Foster* wrote another nice letter which I got this morning & mentioned you had written about Sydney & (she) is sending me a scarf & mittens. She says ‘say everything and anything’ in my letters.

We have had our feet greased everyday, every 24 hours, & occasionally wash them & put clean socks on. If your poor busy fingers (fisses) are not tired I should love another pair of socks. My feet – & all of us get our feet damp & cold after a day in the trenches. Sentry is a cold slow job & we tried to keep warrm (sic) by making a fire. My relief almost burnt his boots, he kept his feet rested on the fire. We are going to billets I believe again this evening & hope to have another 3 days comfort.

I saw Serg. Sanger* & he wishes to be remembered to you & sais he might come across Dad when he goes over for his Commission the Colonel has recommended him for – without any application on his part. Sanger said he cannot give me any definite news with regard to Serg. Tim Fenton. Poor chap, the general opinion with the men here is that he was killed in the Charge & never brought in or found. I am exceedingly sorry my enquiries have been in vain (4).

Poor old Vernon has not yet found his voice; sounds queer at times for me to hear him whisper every time he talks to me. I do think he ought to be where Sydney is, if not at Home.

Mr. W. H. Cozens* sent me – what do you think? why about 40 packets of Woodbines 9 & 2 packets of bacca through the British Exped. Force. Of course he intends me to distribute them among the men. So I will. Twas jolly of him eh! I thank Ida for her efforts in trying to find ‘The Highwayman’, it was in a Red Reader (5), one of Basil’s. Perhaps it is in the TOP ATTIC. Oh I shouldn’t mind enduring the cold of the TOP ATTIC now.

If I had five francs I would send it to you to make some toffee. Vernon is very generous, he generally has sent him a small Winter’s Malt Wheat Loaf (6) & in the last parcel he had was a tin of Golden Syrup & with the Maltwheat it tasted grand. We both share each other’s parcels.

Well I will close now. Hoping you are all having a Happy Advent. I can picture Dad this evening playing those Advent Hymns (7).

Best love to Dodger & Ida & Harold etc etc.

Of course I shall write again tomorrow. I remember Dad always eyed anything in the way of rich cakes etc with dubious curiosity. ‘It is not poison is it?’ So Mum, I know you will treat Dad, & you too Ida, make him receive that which is good & all enjoy a happy day with the King , the Gov’nor, the Pater, AH! Dad. (8).

Ta Ta. Love from Bertie.

PS My text, at the head of my letter, I read in a book at the YMCA at the Base, a daily text book & I read all our birthdays. I found this for Nov 29th ‘My sons be not negligent’. Vernon told me about the Matinee & Miss I. Cozens* went with Ida did she? I wrote to you the Tuesday thanking you for the ripping Pork Pie & other good things.

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(1) Moggs Hole Cemetery (begun during Battle of Neuve Chapelle, March 1915) now called Neuve Chapelle British Cemetery. Origin of name ‘Moggs’ unknown.

(2) Advent Sunday: from Latin Adventus ‘Coming’. 1st day of the Church’s Year, month before Christmas.

(3) Daily Strength for Daily Needs: H. Eastman. Publisher Rangoon. American Baptist Mission Press 1915. (appears to be still on-going publicaton).

(4) Trench Fever/ Pyrexia: raised body temperature (of unknown origin hence PUO). First reported summer 1915. Officially recognised summer 1916. Possible causes include body lice infection. See Journal of Royal Society of Medicine/Trench Fever article L.T. Atenstaedt. 450,000 British soldiers affected. Vernon was eventually invalided out of the army. See also National Archives Kew/medical records MH 106/446.

(5) Red Reader: pre-WW1 Book of short stories & poems to encourage young readers? Open University Arts Research/ The Reading Experience Data Base (RED) 1450-1945 < https://www.open.ac.uk Arts/RED/publications > may solve this query.

(6) Malt Wheat Bread: John Rowlands, proprietor, The Central Stores & Bakery, Llangollen.Telephone No 8: placed advertisement: ‘Appetising & Nutritious Winter’s Malt & Wheat Bread. 3d’ in Llangollen Advertiser & North Wales Journal 29th Oct 1915. (National Library of Wales Newspaper Collection).

(7) Advent Hymns my grandfather loved & passed on his family:- ‘Hark a herald voice is calling’: 6th Cent. translation. Tune Merton. W.H. Monk, 1823-1889. ‘Lo! he comes with clouds descending’: Charles Wesley, 1758. 18th Cent. English melody ‘Helmsley’. Also ‘O Come, O come Emmanuel!: 18th Cent. tr. of Latin ‘Veni Veni Emmanuel’. (8) AH! & AHH!: play on initials Arthur Hibbett & Arthur Hubert Hibbett.

NB ‘fissies’ – See Letter: 19th Oct 1915.

NEXT POST: 29th Nov. 1915. Pater’s Buthdoi.

27TH NOV. 1915: ‘NEXT TIME THERE’S A WAR I SHALL STAND ON THE PAVEMENT – WAVE TO PASSING TROOPS & STAY AT HOME’.

November 27, 2015 Elizabeth Hibbett Webb Leave a comment

Serjeant SYDNEY HIBBETT: LETTER to Arthur & Marie Neal HIBBETT, 95 Foden Rd.Walsall.

Convalescent Camp. Rouen. Saturday. Nov 27th/ 15.

My very dear own Parents,

I am feeling much better today and can safely say I am quite well. I came out of the special treatment ward today and am now with the ‘Z’ Company again (1).

There was a concert in the YMCA last night so I went over and enjoyed myself. I don’t think I shall be here very long now as I don’t particularly desire it and want to get back to business. I wish it was the old Works again though (2). Then there is my commission: I want to see how that is going on, though a sergeant has a lot of privileges, I find (3).

I am looking forward rather to the morning service tomorrow: it was beautiful last Sunday, though I was so bad I could hardly stand. We have the Chaplain, a kindly old man, to play the harmonium & this, with all the band’s flutists, makes a most beautiful and tuneful melody.

The big YMCA hut is crowded with convalescents and we have a very similar service to the Matins at home. You know I delight to hear & sing the Psalms & a service without these & the Venite is no service to me (4). But last Sunday reminded one very much of the service at St Paul’s.

Ah yes! be happy that you have a good church and a nice service to go to on a Sunday; I think of it you know & can see you all in church in my mind’s eye: the familiar, well known people, the Farringtons, Fentons, Middletons, the Miss Hills and Co and so on.

St Paul's at Crossing — St Paul’s at Crossing.

They all perhaps think – ‘same place, another Sunday, same people, the same old round’. How I enjoyed the service that morning I went when I was on leave!

Tell Harold I wish him the best of luck and hope he won’t be forced to join the Army. The way some of the crippled soldiers have been treated by the War Office is enough to deter anyone from joining the Army. What will become of a great many of the poor fellows who are not able to help themselves, I don’t know: I shouldn’t like it. (5)

Yes next time there’s a War I shall stand on the footpath and shout Hurray! and wave my hand to the passing troops & stay at home – & send them cigarettes! And that is as far as I shall go.

Tell old Hal (6) to write me a line as he owes me a letter. Jolly old boy. Hasn’t poor old Alan been home yet? Perhaps he will be in time for Xmas.

I suppose you are having one of your usual Saturday afternoons again – nothing much to do and Hal is over at Sutton I expect, and Dad is reading his Times in the red chair by the fire and I hope you will both be going a walk soon.

What does Dodger do on a Sat. I suppose he kicks a ball about up at the old field, but I forgot, they have a new ground now (7). Ida will be making bombs perhaps, good old sort.

Well there is not much to say now it seems – the fellows are off to the pictures in Rouen & are marching down with the band. I never go myself. I think I will close now: the next time I write will probably be at the Base, we shall see.

Goodbye, dear Mother and everyone, and I hope you have a nice Sunday. Keep Harold at Home & don’t let him be in a hurry to join.

Best love from Sydney.

PS I had a letter from Miss Brookes* (8), a very nice one too. What about my watch?

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Pte BERTIE HIBBETT & 1/5th SOUTH STAFFORDS WAR DIARY

NEUVE CHAPELLE TRENCHES

25th Nov.Thur: Relieved the 1/5th Batt. North Staffordshire Regiment in ‘C’ SUBSECTOR trenches at 6.40 pm.

26th Nov. Fri: Quiet Day. Enemy placed considerable number of H.E. around BREWERY. CASUALTY: 8646 Pte W. Edwards wounded by shrapnel.

27th Nov. Sat: Quiet morning. About mid-day enemy whiz-banged field West of BATTALION HEADQUARTERS. At 10.0 pm slightly increased activity of hostile gun and rifle fire.

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SYDNEY HIBBETT 20 in 1914. — Sydney Hibbett QMS Cadet.

The young Queen Mary’s School Cadet is now an experienced soldier and this Letter is that of a man who has fought his way for 2 days or more – along Big Willie in the Battle of Loos-Hohenzollern Redoubt. However sad, however disillusioned with the Army and the War Office he may appear to be, there is no question that Serjeant Sydney Hibbett knows his duty: he must get well, further his commission and get back to the Front to look after his men.

(1) ‘Z’ Company of Royal Engineers: a special unit specialising in use of gas & flame projectors (to create walls of fire) came into being in response to German gas attacks, 22nd April 1915. (Long Long Trail/ Royal Engineers/ website).

(2) Mining Engineering Works/Old Park Works, Wednesbury, Staffordshire.

(3) Serjeant (official spelling in WW1). 2nd in Command of a troop or platoon (50 men). Privileges: presumably these included exemption from censorship of letters ?

(4) Matins: common name for ‘Morning Prayer’ in Church of England Book of Common Prayer.1662. Originally a monastic liturgy at cock-crow/ also called ‘lauds’ (from Latin meaning ‘praise’). Oxford Dictionaries: Origin of word ‘matins’: Middle English from Old French ‘matines’, influenced by the Latin ‘matinutae’ (morning prayers), from Mutata/name of the Roman Dawn Goddess. Nice!

The Venite, Exultemus Domino ( ‘O Come, let us Sing unto the Lord’) is the 1st line of the opening Psalm 95. The Psalms Sydney loved (he probably knew many by heart) would be those of the Psalter in Book of Common Prayer (ordered to be read or sung through once a month) rather than those in King James translation of Old Testament Book of Psalms.

(5) Crippled Soldiers: 30% of British Soldiers were wounded in WW1. Before 1915 they relied on Soldiers & Sailors Help Society. The State reluctantly began to take some responsibility and Pensions were introduced. But many of the disabled & their families suffered great hardship. Those with ‘shell-shock’ were ignored or treated with suspicion as ‘malingerers’. See Jenny du Feu ‘Factors Informing Rehabilitation of British Soldiers of WW1‘. <https://www.medicinae.org >

(6) Hal: Sydney’s abbrev. for elder brother Harold. (7) QMS New Sports Ground: in same place as today? (8) Miss K. Brookes*: family friend & well-respected Sunday School Superintendant at St Paul’s Walsall.

NEXT POST: 28th Nov. 1915.

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.