Call to honour band of 10 brave brothers who fought in WW1
DESCENDANTS of Britain’s biggest band of brothers to fight in the First World War are calling for their family’s commitment finally to be recognised a century on.
The 10 Calpin brothers were the largest single family to have fought in the conflict in which more than 800,000 British soldiers died between 1914 and 1918.
Miraculously, nine of the brothers came home alive. The eldest, John, died in 1916.
The Calpins’ extraordinary contribution earned public thanks and congratulations from King George V and the prime minister.
Their names were trumpeted in a recruiting drive at the time and even broadcast in cinemas in their home city of York.
But the grave of reservist John, 39, in a remote area of a cemetery in York, is the only place that any of the men’s service is commemorated.
It is thought the rest of the brothers, who were povertystricken following the war, were buried in unmarked graves.
They were soldier Patrick, who was 36 when enlisted; infantrymen James, 33, William, 32, Martin, 29, Thomas, 27, and Arthur, 24; gunner Henry, 22, and sailors Ernest, 21, and David, 18.
Two generations on, Michael Calpin, 68, is calling for a permanent memorial to be placed amid fears the brothers’ place in history will fade into obscurity.
Michael is the grandson of able seaman Ernest, who served on HMS Dreadnought and went on to re-enlist in the Second World War. He died in 1957.
The retired sheet metal worker said: “John was gassed in France in 1916 and was brought back to York, but died a few weeks later.
“All the other brothers survived the war.
“He is the only one to have any physical presence that proves any of the brothers existed really because he was given a war commissioned grave, which meant the Army paid for his headstone. The rest were all buried in paupers’ graves, which are unmarked because they were a poor family living in the slums of York.
“I think that’s why they have never been recognised, because only one of them died during wartime.
“Their achievement unrecognised.
Sacrifice
has gone
“It would just be nice to have a civic-type plaque in honour of the sacrifice they made.
“When they came back from the war they were just completely forgotten.
“For 10 brothers to actually sign up is a unique thing which will never happen again.”
The Calpins originally came to England from County Mayo, Ireland, driven out by the 19th-century potato famine.
Parents Paddy and Sal, who came from the Walmgate slums in York, watched as their sons signed up to fight in the approaching war.
When the Lord Mayor of York, Henry Rhodes Brown, heard of the family’s remarkable sacrifice he wrote to the parents.
He told them: “It will be hard for anyone in the Empire to equal your record of 10 sons all serving their country.
“Our sincere thanks for their noble service and I trust in their return to their native country.”
Six of the brothers signed up for the Army, most with the East and West Yorkshire infantry regiments.
An “Acting Corporal A Calpin” with the East Yorkshire Regiment, mentioned in dispatches, was almost certainly Arthur.
James was a former Yorkshire boxing champion who had previously served in the Boer War.
In 1917, youngest brother David was serving on HMS Ariadne when it was sunk by a U-boat.
He was rescued but suffered severe exposure and died at 32.