Aubrey Herbert Bower Webster was born in 1888, the only son of the Rev John Webster of Ombersley, Droitwich. He was educated at King’s School, Worcester. In 1907 he won an Exhibition to Brasenose College Oxford and was a close friend of Noel Downing. After Oxford, he became a school teacher. Continue reading →
Below is a transcript of a letter from Noel Downing to his sister Mary Downing, dated 23 Oct 1916. Noel has taken up his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Welsh Guards and is back in France. He would only have been with his new platoon a few weeks. Continue reading →
Below are listed the contents of Mary Downing‘s (or Aunt Mary’s) Writing Box in the possession of her great niece Juliet. The letters from the trenches have generally been transcribed here as the originals are written on poor quality paper and in pencil and are somewhat illegible. Continue reading →
Originally William Noel Downing joined the 21st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (4th Public School) as a private. This was one of the many so-called ‘pals’ battalions set up in the massive wave of recruitment in Sep 1914. After more than a year, the battalion was deployed to France in Nov 1915, but only saw limited action. The battalion, drawn from English Public schools and universities, was disbanded in April 1916 as many of the men took up commissions. Continue reading →
We have a fine collection of annotated photographs of the Presentation of Colours to the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment by King George V on 31 Jan 1912. The event took place on the Alameda Parade, Gibraltar and would have been redolent of historical connections of the regiment – the Old Colours had been presented on the same ground on 5 Jan 1887. Continue reading →
The South Staffordshire Regiment was based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa from 1913 to 1914, in the prelude to the Great War. Charles Wilmot Evans, a young lieutenant seems to have had a very enjoyable time, with little hint of the horrors of the war to come, that was to take his life at the age of 25. Continue reading →
Two weeks after the South Staffordshires had landed in France, they were to be in full action at the first battle of Ypres. Wilmot Evans writes a striking letter of condolence to the brother of Drummer George Wheeler, shot as they stood side by side. He was one of the few surviving officers left in the battalion. Continue reading →
Lieutenant Wilmot Evans was seriously wounded on 16 May 1915 and was sent with his fellow officers to convalesce and then to partake in forming the regiment in Jersey where the 4th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment was stationed for mobilisation since 1914. Continue reading →