From 'Letters to a
Soldier', 1915 to 1919 ...
Those of May to December 1916
These are a series of letters sent to my grandfather
whilst he was a soldier in the British army during the
First World War.
My grandfather was Herbert Cecil Shaw, known as Cecil.
He was born in 1892 at Mossley, near Manchester into
a middle class family. He was educated at Abney school
in Mossley.On leaving school he became a clerk at the
District Bank in Oldham, a few miles away.
Cecil’s father was Peter Shaw, who was in his
60s during the war years. He was a successful businessman
and a local magistrate and councillor. His wife Sarah
was related by marriage to the Mayall family who owned
the largest mills in Mossley. Cecil had a younger sister
Elsie and a younger brother Alec. Cecil had met my grandmother,
Marion Smith in 1914 when he was 21 and she was 18.
Marion was a qualified telephonist and may have met
Cecil when she worked in the Post Office in Oldham,
where the postmistress was a relative of the Shaws.
The war started in August 1914 when Cecil was 21. ln
the next few months many young men signed up, and Cecil
was no exception. He volunteered for the 20th Battalion
of the Royal Fusiliers, which was comprised almost entirely
of professional men from the Manchester area who had
signed up in the first few months of the war. Cecil
was in various training camps in England before being
sent to France in November 1915 as part of the British
Expeditionary Force. His battalion moved into the trenches
of the front line within a few days. It was at this
point that the series of letters began. There are 140
letters in three carbon copy exercise books. They were
written by Peter Shaw to his son, and each letter fills
one page in classic handwriting. Peter wrote a letter
every week for the next three years and more. Sometimes,
when there was little news, the letters do not quite
fill the page, and occasionally there are extra comments
inserted at the top of the page and in the margin. On
one occasion Marion visited the house when Peter was
actually writing and there are a few sentences in her
handwriting. There are a few periods when Cecil was
on leave at home and no letters were written. Cecil
sent correspondence in return, both by letter and by
Field Post Card, a few of which survive.
Each week, with a few exceptions, a parcel was sent
out to Cecil. ln the period when Cecil was in the trenches,
these included cakes, puddings, biscuits and cold meats
as well as the ubiquitous cigarettes and tobacco, which
would no doubt have been very welcome to soldiers in
the trenches. Later on, when Cecil was based in England,
Ireland and Greece, the parcels generally only included
tobacco. At various times magazines and newspapers,
particularly the local Mossley Reporter if it had articles
of note, were also sent out.
Cecil was in the trenches in northern France from November
1915 up to July 1916. His Battalion would have worked
on a rotation system. Typically this would have been
four days in the front line trenches, four days in the
second line trenches and eight days in a Base Camp behind
the lines. Generally his unit was in a "quiet sector"
but this was a relative term. Many of Cecil’s colleagues
were killed or wounded in this period. My father recalled
several anecdotes about this period. They include an
incident in the days before steel helmets were introduced
when Cecil got a bullet through his cap. In another
incident Cecil’s kit was destroyed by a German
shell when he left it in a trench for a moment.
The letters sent to Cecil during this period cover
a range of topics. The war was having its effect on
the home front blackout restrictions and price increases
are mentioned. The bank holidays are largely cancelled.
The major incidents of the war are discussed —
the death of Kitchener, the Battle of Jutland and events
in the Balkans and the Eastern Front, as well as national
issues such as the realisation that conscription was
necessary to provide the number of troops necessary
to fight the war. This issue was particularly relevant
to the Shaw family as Alec approached his 19th birthday
in July. The main difference to life in Mossley seems
to have been the large number of young men who were
away on war service. Virtually every week are mentions
of local men who had joined the war effort in one capacity
or another, and as the war progresses more and more
of these young men are reported wounded, sick or killed.
There are ongoing stories of soldiers on leave or convalescent,
many of whom pass their view of the war on to Peter
and the family. These men include neighbours, old school
friends and Cecil’s army colleagues.
There is no doubt that Peter and the family were fully
aware of the danger that Cecil was in and the letters
are.continually entreating Cecil to be careful and not
take risks. Home life to some extent went on as usual.
Peter carried on with his job as a salesman on the Manchester
Exchange for a large cotton company. There are numerous
references to the weather and domestic issues. Eventually
the whole family, together with a few young friends
of Elsie and Alec, went on holiday to Blackpool in July.
In lst July 1916 the British Army attacked the Germans
in the so called Big Offensive. Cecil’s battalion
at this time was further north, but a few days later
it was withdrawn and transferred towards the Somme Area.
On the 19th July they moved into the front line and
on the 20th joined in the attack on High Wood. His Battalion
of perhaps 1,000 men took 390 casualties during fierce
close quarter fighting on this day. Cecil was one of
the casualties - his machine gun section was hit by
a shell as they advanced. Cecil was concussed, and as
he and several others were being taken to the base they
were hit by another shell.
Cecil was told that he would be fully recovered with
a few weeks rest. This did not happen. He was in various
hospitals and on light duties behind the lines in France
for the rest of 1916. Although physically unwounded,
he suffered from shell shock and its after-effects and
at one stage also had trench fever. The army preferred
to keep convalescent men in France so they could be
sent back to the front line as soon as they were fit,
but they finally decided that Cecil would not recover
and on Christmas day he was told "lts Blighty for
you, Shaw". Cecil arrived back in Mossley on New
Year’s Eve. He had been in France for just over
a year. `
Cecil came home to England and was sent to a hospital
in Manchester, where he was visited by Marion and presumably
by Peter and other family members. After two months
or so rest he returned to the regimental base, in Dover.
While he was there he witnessed several air raids and
a minor naval battle. At this time Cecil applied for
a Commission as a Officer and was eventually sent on
an 4 month officer training course in Fermoy in Ireland.
Meanwhile Alec had applied to join the Royal Navy.
My father said that this is because Cecil, the elder
brother, had advised him to do this so that he could
sleep in a dry bed at night, rather than a wet trench.
Alec left for Portsmouth on lst January 1917, the day
after Cecil returned from France. He did his shore training
there before being sent out to join HMS Liverpool which
served in the Mediterranean until the end of the war.
The letters throughout 1917 continue with many of the
same themes as for 1916. The family is clearly less
anxious about the immediate danger to Cecil now that
he is no longer in the trenches, but they are concerned
that he fully recovers from the shell shock before returning
to full activity. There is, of course, always the likelihood
that he will go back to the front line. The family is
worried about Alec who is now also away on service.
Events mentioned in the letters include the Ashton
explosion in July, when a local munitions factory exploded,
causing many fatalities. On the anniversary of the Battle
of High Wood Peter attended a church service in Manchester,
which was well attended and a moving occasion. In August
Elsie, with Marion and other friends, went to Llandudno
on holiday. At this time Bertie Witham, an officer from
a local family, is home on leave and starts courting
Elsie.
In October comes the news that Marion’s brother
Harry has been killed in Flanders. This is the first
time that such someone so close has been killed and
Peter’s next letter is the only one in which he
shows some anger against the "profiteers and jingo-fools"
who he feels are partly to blame for continuing the
war.
A death closer to home occurs in late December when
Auntie Jane the local post-mistress dies. She was Peter’s
sister and as a young man Peter had lived with her at
the Post Office for many years.
Cecil successfully completed the Officer training in
early 1918 and was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the South
Lancashire Fusiliers, whose Regimental Depot was in
Barrow in Fumess, in March 1918. Marion visited him
once at Barrow. In June 1918 Cecil was sent as an instructor
to Salonika, in Greece, with the 9th Battalion of the
South Lancashire Fusiliers. Soon after his arrival in
Salonika he noticed that HMS Liverpool was in port and
managed to see Alec. Apart from one day in January 1917
the two brothers had probably not met since summer 1915.
Cecil was there in November 1918 when the war ended.
Throughout the war Peter’s letters had been quite
positive about the course of the war and the hopes that
it might end soon. However by mid 1918 there seems a
realisation that the war is finally being won, and from
August onwards international events seem to move quickly
culminating in the armistice in November. Despite this
the stream of casualties amongst friends and colleagues
is ongoing, and the letter dated 13th November 1918
mentions not only the peace celebrations but also one
soldier who has not been heard from for about a month
and another who has been badly gassed.
After November 1918 the tone of the letters changes
as the sense of danger eases and people realise that
life will soon return to something like normal. Peter’s
letters start to mention servicemen who are being demobbed
and prisoners of war who are returning to England. Cecil
and Alec were still serving in the Mediterranean, where
Alec was present at the destruction of the Turkish Fleet
in Istanbul and Cecil managed some sightseeing in Delphi
while waiting for a rail connection. There are some
personal moments - Peter notes that this is the first
Christmas when both brothers have been away, and Elsie
and Bertie talk of getting married - "but it is
understood that you and Alec must be home before this
takes place".
Cecil was finally demobbed in February 1919, when he
returned to England and the letters end. The last letter
refers to the 1919 flu epidemic - nearly every man on
Alec’s ship had it. The very last sentence is another
sad note - "Sorry to tell you that Fred Tanner
died of pneumonia a few days since".
Alec was demobbed at almost exactly the same time.
Elsie and Bertie were married in June 1919. Both brothers
attended the wedding.
Cecil returned to his old job at the District Bank
in Oldham. He married Marion in 1921. They had started
courting in July 1914 and Cecil had been away in the
army, with only a few months leave, for the most of
the next four and a half years.
RS Jan 2013
Courtesy Oldham Local Studies &
Archives
[Note: Cecil died in 1974]
Medal Card
Herbert Cecil Shaw,
Private 20th Battalion Royal Fusiliers;
2nd Lieutenant South Lancashire Fusiliers
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