‘He is obviously British to all intents and purposes’ THROUGHOUT the centenary of the First World War, we have been remembering the soldiers from the Loughborough area who lost their lives while serving their country.
Clarification over Germanic sounding name
Here, with the help of Marigold Cleeve and a small number of researchers from the Loughborough Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum, we look back at more of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in September 1918.
Rudolf Schmidt.
Rudolf Schmidt was born in about 1884, probably in France, the son of Anna Karolina Schmidt.
He first appears in British records in the 1891 census, aged seven, as a boarder in the household of George and Elizabeth Anderson at Clumber Park, Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
Clumber House was the home of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 7th Duke of Newcastleunder-Lyne, in an area known as The Dukeries, and George Anderson was employed as a houseman there.
Rudolf’s mother is said to have been born in Steinmaur, Zurich, Switzerland and at the time of Rudolph’s birth, was employed in the Paris household of the Hon. Mrs Frances Kathleen Candy, the Duke of Newcastle’s future mother-in-law.
The identity of Rudolf’s father is not known, although he was said to have been a gardener.
When the Candy family returned to England in the late 1880s they offered to bring Anna Karolina and her young son with them, to which she agreed. Anna Karolina Schmidt died in 1890 at the Candy’s home in Somerby, Leicestershire.
After his mother’s death it was arranged that Rudolf should be placed on the estate of the Duke of Newcastle near Worksop.
Rudolph was entrusted to the care of George Anderson, houseman at Clumber, and his wife Elizabeth.
The Andersons lived at Gas House Cottages on the estate and had three children of their own, Charles, Fred and Annie.
On 31st January 1892 Rudolf was baptised at the Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, Worksop, his parents being recorded simply as ‘Schmidt’.
In 1895 Rudolf’s fostermother Elizabeth Anderson died and a year later George Anderson married Sarah Ann Kirby. Sarah Ann looked after not only the Anderson children but also young Rudolf.
Rudolf attended Hardwick village school. When he left school he began training as a joiner in the Clumber estate workshop.
From an early age he regularly attended Clumber Catholic Chapel where he became a boy acolyte and later, the adult thurifer.
He also played cricket and football for the Clumber Park team and enjoyed cycling, walking, playing cards and billiards. His friends gave him the nickname ‘Dolph’.
Rudolf remained living with the Andersons until at least 1914.
In 1901 he is described as the Andersons’ adopted son, his surname being Smith, and his nationality English. In 1911 he was employed as the house carpenter on the Clumber estate but this time his surname was recorded as Schmidt.
One of his great interests was the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Cavalry (Clumber Troop) which he joined in 1909. Over four years Rudolph attended regular training sessions at Normanton Inn and at a variety of training camps including Salisbury Plain.
After war broke out Rudolf enlisted at Worksop on 25th August 1914 under the name of ‘Rudolf Schmidt’. He was posted as Private 13287 to the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters.
The 9th Battalion was formed at Derby in August 1914 and came under orders of the 33rd Brigade in the 11th Northern Division of the Army.
Training took place at Belton Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire, and continued at Frensham, Surrey, from April 1915.
The battalion left Frensham on 30th June and sailed from Liverpool on the SS Empress of Britain on 1st July.
The ship sailed via Malta, Alexandria and then Lemnos where the battalion transhipped for Gallipoli.
They landed at Cape Helles on 21st July and were in the trenches the same night facing the Achi Baba.
On the Gallipoli Peninsula the sanitary and living conditions were exceptionally difficult. Bacillary dysentery, caused by the Shiga bacillus, broke out in epidemic form in August 1915, where in three months it was responsible for a high proportion of the 120,000 casualties evacuated from the Peninsula on account of sickness. On 4th August 1915 Rudolf became ill. He was taken from Gallipoli to Imbros and admitted to No. 25 Casualty Clearing Station. He was then sent to Alexandria and admitted to No. 15 General Hospital on 11th August. On 29th September he was invalided to England from Alexandria on the HS Guildford Castle.
After Rudolf recovered he was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters in Sunderland. This was a training unit and formed part of the Tyne Garrison. He was also promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.
In February 1916 the Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd
Sherwood Foresters asked for clarification as to who Rudolf was.
The agent for the Duke of Newcastle wrote back as follows: “This man has been allowed to call himself Smith since he joined the Battalion and foolishly stated that he had enlisted under that name. (He had, in fact, enlisted under the surname of ‘Schmidt)
“It is impossible to decide the question of his nationality but he has lived all his life in England and is obviously British to all intents and purposes.”
On Valentine’s Day 1916 Rudolf, using the alias of ‘Richard Smith’ (probably to deflect prejudice about Germanic sounding names) married his sweetheart Annie Mabel Constance Belfit, who had been head parlour maid at Clumber House.
The wedding took place at the Church of St. James, Hatcham, Lewisham, Kent, near where Annie’s parents lived.
Annie subsequently moved to Backyard Cottage, Beacon Road, Loughborough and later to 13 Bedford Square.
On 27th March 1916 Rudolf was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters and sent to Flanders.
He joined the battalion at Camp N, Poperinghe, where it was in training and providing working parties for the Royal Engineers.
On 6th April the battalion entrained at Hopoutre for Calais and marched to Beaumaris Camp. Further training took place there, including drill on the sands, and battalion sports.
On 15th April the battalion left Calais and over the next four days marched via Zutkerque, Merckeghem and Wormhoudt to Camp G, north-east of Poperinghe.
After additional training the battalion moved to the Canal Bank on 28th April and formed night working parties.
During May the battalion completed two trench tours and spent several days strengthening the Canal Bank, with breaks at Camp D and Camp O, Poperinghe.
In early June they made dugouts on the east and west banks of the canal and from 13th-18th June returned to the trenches. On 19th June the battalion marched to Camp M, Proven, and spent several days burying cable near Elverdinghe and working on the railway near Peselhoek.
On 27th June Rudolf was admitted to No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station and on the following day to a hospital in Wimereux. He was sent back to England.
The reason for his hospitalisation, however, is now illegible.
Between July 1916 and June 1918 Rudolf was reposted a number of times. Although parts of his service record have faded over the years a few details of his movements are still clear.
On 30th June 1916 Rudolf was posted to Training Reserve 12 at Brocton Camp, Staffordshire. While at Brocton he reverted to the rank of Private at his own request. On 3rd March 1917 Rudolf was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion at Sunderland.
It would appear that at some point in 1917 Rudolf was sent back to France or the Ypres Salient where in October 1917 he was severely wounded. On 20th October 1917 he was admitted to the 1st Southern General Hospital at Birmingham with multiple bomb wounds to his leg and thigh and was not discharged until 28th January 1918.
From 25th February until 13th May he was in a hospital at Ripon Camp, Yorkshire. Whether he then returned to Sunderland is unknown.
On 30th June 1918 Rudolf was sent to an infantry base depot and from there on 11th July to the 1/5th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters in France. At the time the battalion was in the Essars section in Brigade reserve. From 16th-21st July they were at Vaudricourt Wood training, with one day spent digging a cable trench in the forward area. Between 21st July and the end of August the battalion completed five more trench tours in the Essars and Gorre sections.
At the beginning of September the enemy began to withdraw and the battalion took over new positions. On 4th September, after going into the attack, the battalion advanced their positions to the vicinity of Richebourg St. Vaast.
After a four-day break in Lapugnoy for training in tactical schemes the battalion entrained on 11th September at Calonne Ricouart for Corbie and marched to Lahoussoye.
Training continued there until 19th when the battalion moved to Pontruet.
On 20th September they went into the front line at Bertoucourt. On 22nd September the enemy launched an attack and the battalion suffered 28 casualties. Rudolf, aged 34, was one of those killed.
Rudolf was buried in Bellicourt British Cemetery, Aisne, Grave I. J. 12.
Rudolf is remembered on the memorial in the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin, Hardwick (as Rudolf Schmidt), on the Clamber Park War Memorial (as Richard Smith), on the War Memorial at St. Mary and St. Cuthbert Priory Church, Worksop (as R. Schmidt), and on the Cenotaph in Worksop (as R. Schmidt).
Rudolf’s widow Annie gave birth to their son Richard Frank Smith (who became Major Frank Richard Smith M.B.E.) on 20th October 1918. Annie was remarried in 1929 to Herbert Arnold in Loughborough and went to live at Blaby.
Harry Chatwin.
Harry Chatwin was born in Cradley Heath, Staffordshire, in the summer of 1898.
He was the son of Edward Chatwin and his wife Ellen (née Southall) who were married in Dudley, Worcestershire, on 24th October 1897.
In 1901 the Chatwin family lived at 1 Bannister Street, Cradley Heath, and Harry’s father was a chair maker, working at home.
By 1904 they had moved to 26 Thomas Street, Loughborough, and Harry’s father was now employed as a chair maker by an electrical engineering firm.
Harry had one brother Fred and three sisters Gladys, Alice and Elizabeth. Two other siblings Albert and Lois died young.
Harry was called up and enlisted in the late summer or early autumn of 1916.
He initially joined the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 48795. Although his service papers have mot survived it is known that he was sent for training as a signaller.
Being a signaller usually meant you were close to the front line troops, providing signals communications back to your Company and Battalion HQ. Wired telephones were used where possible but this involved laying landlines which was a hazardous job during enemy shelling.
At the start of the war flags were also used for signalling but this practice was little used by the time Matthew was trained.
Where it was not possible to lay landlines then many forms of visual signalling were used which made use of light either from sunlight (use of the sun and mirrors) in day time and lamps at night (Lucas Lamps).
Messages were sent in Morse Code, one man operating the signalling device and one man using a telescope (where distances were great) to read the message sent back.
Signallers were also used in forward positions to assist the artillery and provide information on their enemy
targets. In these positions, often isolated, the signaller became vulnerable to enemy shelling and attack, and many signallers lost their lives.
The dates on which Harry was sent to France and transferred to the 1/1st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment as Private 42989 are unknown.
The 1/1st Battalion, however, received batches of reinforcements from an Infantry Base in the summer and autumn of 1917 and in April and May 1918. Harry could have been in any one of these batches.
In May 1917 the 1st Cambridges were on the Ypres Salient in the Canal Bank and Hill Top Farm area, carrying out night-time raids and patrols. The battalion left the line on 29th May and moved to Wormhoudt.
In June the battalion moved to Lumbres and spent time training for trench attacks and open country fighting. While away from the front line they also provided working parties for the Royal Engineers Tunnelling Companies.
By the end of June the battalion was back in the trenches around the Hill Top sector.
The battalion remained in the Hill Top and Canal Bank areas until the 15th July when they moved to a camp at Brandhoek and then on to Houlle. At Houlle they spent one week training for a coming offensive.
On the 22nd the battalion moved to a camp at St Jan-ter-Biezen for further training and then back to the Brandhoek camp on the 29th. On 30th the battalion moved up to Canal Bank.
When the 3rd Battle of Ypres (or Passchendaele) began on 31st July at Pilckem Ridge the battalion moved out, following the assaulting battalions. In spite of gallant efforts the battalion was eventually forced to pull back, having suffered about 265 casualties.
The residue of the battalion remained at the front until the 5th August when they were relieved. Numerous drafts of replacements reached them from the UK in an attempt to get the battalion back up to strength.
The battalion spent the next few weeks resting, refitting and training at various camps behind the Salient. They returned to the front line on the 19th August in the Klein Zillebeke Sector where they remained either in the front line or in reserve for the rest of the month.
During September the battalion completed several trench tours ‘in the area of Hill 60, with breaks in a camp at Dezon. On 25th September they moved into the line in preparation for another attack.
After hours of heavy fighting on 26th September the battalion succeeded in occupying much of the German strongpoint Joist Redoubt, but again suffered serious losses.
In early October the battalion was moved to a camp near Kruisstraat where they worked on railway construction. They returned to the line on 28th, initially in reserve but by the 31st they were in the front line
For nearly all of November the battalion remained in the Menin Road - Tower Hamlets area of the Salient, either in the line or at camp. Conditions around the Menin Road were appalling and the trenches and shell holes were mostly flooded.
The Salient was quietening down but shelling continued and several enemy night raids were beaten back.
During December the battalion was moved out to Henneveux near Boulogne. They arrived there on the 9th and spent much of the next several weeks training. C
hristmas Day was spent at rest and a large turkey and goose dinner was organised for the men served by the officers.
A heavy snow fall the following day led to an organised battalion snowball fight described by one officer as ‘almost as hazardous as Ypres’. On 29th December the battalion began the journey back to Ypres for duty in the Canal Bank area.
In mid-January 1918 the battalion was told it was to move away from the Ypres Salient. On 21st January they marched to Houtkerque and after a few days moved by train to Chipilly.
They went into the trenches in the line around Gouzeaucourt, south of Cambrai, on 31st January.
Much of February was spent in the front line around Gouzeaucourt, with breaks at a camp near Dessart Wood. Conditions in the line at Gouzeaucourt were an improvement on life in the Ypres Salient but the cold, shelling and raiding activity caused casualties most days when the battalion was in the line.
The battalion’s stay in the line around Gouzeaucourt continued until the 12th March when they were relieved and moved back to Moislains. They were still at Moislains when the German Spring Offensive began on 21st March.
The battalion was immediately ordered to move to Longavesnes and prepare an emergency defence line.
By 23rd March, with casualties mounting, the battalion was ordered to fight a rearguard action to hold up the enemy.
The next week was spent in constant action and slowly the German advance was stalled. The battalion was finally pulled out of the line, having suffered over 380 casualties, on 31st March to Longueau.
The remains of the battalion were joined with the residue from other units into a composite battalion until it could be rebuilt. The composite battalion was slowly moved to Vormezeele, south of Ypres.
On 15th April they entered the front line there and remained in the area until 29th April. During this time they were subjected to fierce artillery and gas attack and casualties were heavy. A
fter further mergers of units the battalion took its place in a quieter area in the trenches near Hallebast.
On the 3rd May the battered remnants of the battalion’s 39th Division were pulled out and moved to Ruminghem. Here the men were told that the Division would not be rebuilt and the Brigades were being split up, with many battalions merged together. 11 Officers and 408 Other Ranks from the 7th Suffolks were to join the 1/1st Cambridge Battalion.
The battalion moved by train to Lealvillers and on to Acheux where the men from the 7th Suffolks joined them.
On 20th the reinforced battalion went into the line near Mailly-Maillet. They left the line on the 27th and moved to billets around Raincheval. From 28th May to 21st June the battalion was in training, being formed into a new fighting unit.
On 22nd June they moved into the front line.
The battalion left the front on the 9th July and moved back to Herissart, Rumigny and then Canaples. During their stay at the various camps and billets the intense training and preparations continued.
The Allied offensive known as the Hundred Days Offensive was launched on the 8th August. In the sector allotted to the 1/1st Battalion the Germans had launched a surprise attack on the 6th August and captured an area of the British line near the village of Morlancourt.
The battalion’s role was to take part in the assault on the lost positions and the village of Morlancourt.
The attack initially stalled due to stiff defence, and the fighting was brutal but the enemy positions were slowly captured.
The battalion remained in the line until the 19th August when they were moved into reserve.
After several days resting and re-equipping they moved into position for the next attack. On the 22nd August the battalion was ordered to attack the area east of Morlancourt, towards the Méaulte Road.
The attack began badly as the promised tank support was not there. Progress was slow. Casualties for 22nd August numbered about 137 men.
A week of bitter fighting followed, with the battalion making a further attack at Maltz Horn Ridge.
The fighting towards Bapaume continued and the Cambs returned to the line after a day to recover.
Slowly the offensive ground down the enemy positions and it was looking like there would be a breakthrough. In torrential rain the assaulting battalions continued to hammer at the German lines and the Cambs held their positions from fierce counter-attacks.
After nearly a week of bitter fighting and constant artillery fire the Cambs were ordered to attack once again, this time at Maltz Horn Ridge. The battalion was then withdrawn from the front line to reorganise and rebuild.
In early September the battalion returned to the line and into the attack on 5th September around Nurl amid a heavy enemy gas bombardment. The attack stalled and 87 losses occurred.
Another attack on 6th September was much more successful and the Germans retreated.
The battalion’s next assault took place on 17th September on the German line running through Epehy.
Brutal close quarter fighting took place and eventually, after two more days, Epehy was cleared.
The exact point when Harry was wounded is unknown but he died from his wounds, aged 20, in a hospital at Le Tréport on 22nd September 1918. He was buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Tréport, Grave VII. H. IOB.
Hubert William Reynolds.
Hubert William Reynolds was born in Loughborough in 1899 and baptised on 18th June 1899 at Emmanuel Church, Loughborough.
He was the son of Francis Arthur Reynolds and his wife Annie Louisa (née Laker) who were married at St. George’s Church, Camberwell, Surrey, on 27th December 1891.
Hubert had two brothers Francis and Louis and two sisters Constance and Doris.
Between 1901 and 1911 the Reynolds family lived at 29 Southfields Road, Loughborough. Hubert’s father was a domestic gardener and by 1911 had progressed to the position of head gardener.
Hubert’s service papers have not survived but he is likely to have attested in the summer of 1917, when he was 18 years old.
He joined the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 42642 and would have been sent for training. At some point in late 1917 or early 1918 he was posted to the 1st Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in France.
In September 1917 the 1st Leicesters completed front and support line trench tours at Hill 70, Les Brebis and Cité St. Pierre.
At the end of September the battalion was in south Maroc and early in October at Noeux les Mines before going into the trenches in the St. Emile sector. From Mazingarbe on 21st October the battalion moved to Ligny-lezAire and then to Manin for training until 14th November.
On 15th November the battalion entrained at Frévent for Péronne and marched to Moislains.
After a couple of days under canvas at Dessart Wood the battalion moved forward to the front line at Beaucamp and on 20th November, the first day of the Battle of Cambrai, successfully attacked part of the Hindenburg Line.
The battalion was relieved on 26th November and moved to another section of the front line near Noyelles where they suffered heavy enemy bombardment and shelling but nevertheless helped to achieve an advance to Gouzeaucourt.
On 1st December the battalion was at Nine Wood and was heavily shelled before being relieved and moving to new positions on the Premy-Flesquières Ridge.
On 5th December the battalion moved to positions in the front line on the Hindenburg support system where they remained until 13th December. From 14th December until the end of the year the battalion was at Bellacourt undergoing training.
In the early part of January 1918 the battalion was at Courcelles but on 18th went into the trenches on the Moeuvres front. Rest periods were taken at Luck and Lindop Camps near Frémicourt.
On February 19th and 20th the battalion moved to the Lagnicourt area, where, when out of the line, they provided large working parties for work on the defences.
There were now strong rumours that the enemy was preparing a large offensive and great efforts were made to obtain information through patrols and raids.
On 15th March the front line company of the battalion managed to capture a propaganda balloon laden with ten copies of the Gazette des Ardennes, a paper published in French by the Germans for distribution among the inhabitants of occupied territory.
On 17th March the battalion went back into Brigade Reserve.
On 21st March 1918 the Germans launched their Spring Offensive. When the order to ‘Stand To’ in battle positions early on 21st March came through to the1st Leicesters some of the men could not immediately be reached as they were detached on work elsewhere.
The battalion nevertheless put up a determined defence.
By the evening of 21st March, however, C Company had only 1 Officer and 37 Other Ranks left.
On 22nd March the enemy put down a very heavy barrage and increased pressure all along the line. When the Germans advanced rapidly between the Lagnicourt to Maricourt Wood road and Vaulx Wood both C and D Companies of the battalion were practically destroyed.
The battalion was then withdrawn to Berkeley Camp, Bihucourt, and then to Puisieux-au-Mont where, on 24th March, they entrained for Doullens.
After a night at J Camp the battalion entrained for Proven. On 27th March the battalion moved to Winnizeele where reorganisation and training took place until 1st April.
On 2nd April the battalion travelled via Ypres Asylum to Belgian Chateau Camp and on the next day proceeded into the front line in the Reutel sub-sector.
This area was chiefly duckboard tracks, water, shell-holes and mud and much work was done on the trenches. On 11th April the battalion entrained for a camp at Belgian Battery Corner where they remained for two days.
On 13th April the battalion moved, partly by bus, to Dranoutre and into the front line.
After being heavily shelled for two days the battalion was withdrawn to a support position in a valley on the west side of Mount Kemmel. On 19th they moved into the front line for two days before being relieved and moving via Westoutre to Vancouver Camp, Vlamertinghe. Here they provided working parties.
On 27th April the battalion moved to a new position at Kemmel from where the enemy was heavily defeated on the following day.
On 1st-11th May the battalion was in Divisional reserve at Vlamertinghe for work on the Switch line.
From 12th-16th May they were at Belgian Chateau carrying wire and stakes to the front line, but during this time a lot of the men were falling sick.
The remainder of the month was spent in the support and front lines at Chateau Segard near Vormezeele and suffered a heavy bombardment of enemy gas shells.
On 1st June the enemy opened another heavy bombardment of the Chateau Segard sector, followed by gas shelling on 2nd and sneezing gas shelling on 3rd.
The battalion was relieved on 6th June amid another enemy gas attack and moved to Dirty Bucket Camp, north-west of Vlamertinghe. The battalion remained in this camp until 13th June and provided working parties.
On 13th June 120 men fell sick with influenza. On 14th June 60 men were sent to hospital and the rest of the battalion moved to School Camp where training took place until 19th June.
On 20th June the battalion left camp for Proven, entrained for St. Omer and marched to camp at Cormette. Here they had range practice and field firing practice until 24th June. On 25th June they entrained at St. Omer for Mendighem and proceeded to Rainsford Camp, Watou. Here and then at another camp in the Hagebaert area of Poperinghe training continued until 5th July.
During the remainder of July the battalion completed two trench tours in the Dickebusch sector and one period in Brigade reserve on wiring work. In addition, between 22nd and 24th they were in action on the Vyverbeek line.
On 25th July they withdrew to positions in the right sector of Westoutre and worked at night on cable burying.
From 3rd August the battalion was in support in the Dickebusch Lake sector, and from 6th-16th August held the front line.
After being relieved they moved to Brigade reserve in the Dickebusch sector and were employed in working parties until 22nd August. On 23rd August the battalion entrained at Wellington Junction near Ouderdom, travelled by light railway to Winnezeele, changed trains for St. Momelin, and marched from there to Tilques.
Training began on 26th and included practice in marshalling and escorting prisoners. On 29th August the battalion marched to Mentque for sports.
From Mentque on 1st September the battalion entrained at St. Omer for Corbie and marched to Franvillers.
From 3rd-10th September there was training in attack technique and open warfare. On 11th they moved to Daours and three days later to Monchy-Lagache by bus.
Preparations were now made for an attack.
On 17th September the battalion moved to the concentration area in Jean Devaux Wood where they were shelled twice and then through heavy rain, dense mist and shelling to Holnon Wood.
The battalion went into the attack on 19th September and incurred 290 casualties.
On 20th September the battalion managed to hold the line in spite of constant shelling. In the early morning of the 21st the battalion was relieved and moved back to a quarry in order to reorganise.
During the afternoon of 23rd September the enemy persistently shelled the area and Hubert, aged 19, was killed in action.
Hubert was buried in Trefcon British Cemetery, Caulaincourt, Grave C. 21.
He is remembered on the memorial in Emmanuel Church, Loughborough, and on the Carillon.
Hubert’s brother Francis served with the Machine Gun Corps and survived the war.