Brave band of 10 brothers who risked all for King and country
The heroic First World War history that makes the Giles family record breakers
IN the extensive archives of military history, the story of the Giles family somehow escaped attention when, by any measure, it deserved a chapter all of its own. For this remarkable brood from Kent provided a record-breaking 10-strong band of brothers who all served in the First World War.
Three were killed in action, and one was left so traumatised he took his own life. But six survived, although some carried the physical and mental scars all their lives.
War historians had believed that nine siblings from one family was a British record, but now detailed evidence, uncovered by a Canadian descendant, has emerged of the Giles brothers’ sacrifice and service.
Though all born in Kent, six emigrated to Canada, but still volunteered to join the fight. Relatives living today have been overwhelmed by the discoveries made by trawling through military archives and newspaper cuttings, long-forgotten letters and birth, death and marriage records.
One of the most touching stories is of the youngest brother Stanley who was so desperate to follow his older brothers to war that he lied about his age.
He was 15-years-old when he joined the Royal East Kent Regiment, known as the Buffs, but after 300 days on the Western Front he was sent home after his mother, Alice, wrote this moving letter to his quartermaster sergeant.
“Sir, I am writing to claim my son out of the Army as he is under age and too young to go to the front and I want him to help support the home. I have enclosed his birth certificate, Yours truly, Mrs A. J. Giles.”
Alice got her wish but on his 18th birthday Stanley re-enlisted with the Grenadier Guards. Happily, be survived the war.
Now, more than 100 years later, his granddaughter Andrea Proctor, 57, from Gloucestershire, has learnt of his heroism.
“My grandfather Stanley was a lovely, generous man who died when I was 14,” says Andrea. “He never liked to talk about the war, so I had no idea about his nine brothers who fought as well. It’s all been rather overwhelming and very emotional.
“I feel so much pride for Stanley and his brothers and am very honoured to be part of this family. They were right in the middle of the fighting. Some were shot, patched up and sent back to the front line. Their courage was exceptional. Their record is exceptional. The story has been dormant for a century but I want people to know how special they were.”
The brothers’ history was unearthed by Andrea’s Canadian cousin Mel Giles, 81, who has spent years researching the life of his fatherVerney and his family.
“This is the story I have been wanting to capture since I was a young lad listening to my father, Verney, talk about his youth and his brothers’ experiences,” says Mel. “I hope that by doing this, I will be leaving an important piece of family history for our children and their descendants.” The story began with pipe maker James Giles, from Lamberhurst, Kent, marrying Ellen Steer at Goudhurst, Kent, in 1877. Four years later she died, probably while giving birth to their second son George. Seven years after that James married Alice Bowles and they moved to Canterbury, where he worked as a leather tanner. They went on to raise 19 children, including James’s two sons.
“I have the utmost admiration for Alice,” says Andrea. “She had so many children, yet she made sure they were well fed, educated and dressed as best as they could be.
“Money would have been very tight but they were a happy family. It must have been terribly hard while their sons
‘I am writing to claim my son out of the Army. He is under age and too young to go to the front’
were away fighting.” During the research a local newspaper cutting reporting Alice’s funeral was found, which carried the headline: “Remarkable Patriotic Record, 10 Sons in The Great War.”
A‘A day before the ship reached Canada, James jumped overboard. He was suffering shell shock’
LICE died aged 68 in February 1937, nine years after the death of her husband James. The report states: “A Canterbury woman who had 10 sons in the service of their country during the war was buried at the Canterbury Cemetery on Saturday. Her family’s record is one of remarkable patriotism. Four of the sons made the supreme sacrifice, one of whom was awarded the DCM.”
The son awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal was James Giles, the first of the brothers to emigrate to Canada. He settled in the small hamlet of Sawyerville, 65 miles from Montreal, where he worked as a farm labourer. When war broke out he enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).
In April 1915, he arrived at Liverpool on a ship from Canada and trained in Britain before heading to France.
Mel says: “James was wounded by gunshot to the right arm and chest sometime in April 1916 and was treated at the No1 Canadian Hospital in Etaples, a port town south of Boulogne.
“He rejoined his unit in June of that year and in June 1917 he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery in the field. He was wounded again in September 1918 and was shipped back to England where he was admitted to the Nell
Lane Military Hospital at West Didsbury, Manchester.”
James was discharged in April 1919 and married Edith Bowles at Canterbury that August. The following year they set sail to Canada but a day before the ship docked at Quebec City he jumped overboard. A Canadian newspaper reported that he had been suffering from shell shock.
His heartbroken wife of a year had to identify his body after it had been pulled from the sea. He was given full honours at a military funeral in Canada. “When I read Mel’s account of James’s life I was very emotional,” says Andrea, who works at a garden centre in Gloucestershire. “He’d gone through so much and was on the brink of a new life, but he was deeply affected by his years at the heart of the fighting. You feel so desperately sad for him and the others who were killed in action.
“Mel has done a brilliant job researching our family.”