Violet Russell’s Autograph Book: Part 2

The previous article detailed the research into Violet Russell, a VAD nurse at the Red Cross Hospital, The Close, Winchester and her autograph book recording the names and sentiments of WW1 soldiers treated at the hospital.  We have started to research the names of those who have signed Violet’s autograph book. In the table below, the entries in the autograph book are transcribed in full in the order in which they appear in the book. These original entries are in black and any additional information has been added in blue. Service and military records for British soldiers were checked on Ancestry, Fold 3 and Find My Past. The service records for the Canadian and Australian soldiers can be found on free-to-view websites here Personnel Records of the First World War – Library and Archives Canada (bac-lac.gc.ca) and here Name search | RecordSearch | National Archives of Australia (naa.gov.au).

This research has so far concentrated on the soldiers with service numbers and as these are more easily identified in the various on-line records. There is much more research to do on the other names, but we hope that this article will be of interest and will, perhaps, lead to useful links with other researchers. It is worth noting that many were wounded in the late summer of 1917 – most likely in the 3^rd Battle of Ypres – and in the German advance of early 1918.

The autograph book also reminds us of the service of those who served in the First World War and survived it. The men who signed this book were all in hospital for medical treatment for illnesses and wounds received in battle. Some were wounded several times, some were discharged early from military service because of their wounds, two lost limbs, a couple are noted as suffering from ‘shell-shock’ (described as Neurasthenia in the records we have consulted), and some have illnesses brought on by exposure and living in crowded conditions outdoors or under canvas. Most of the wounds are described as gun-shot wounds or shrapnel wounds, and there are references to gas shells.

The table below gives the summary details on each soldier. Then follows a little more information on some of the men. The British soldiers are covered first, then the Australian and Canadian soldiers.

John James Burden was from Somerset. He enlisted in 1916 at the age of 36 – he was a shoeing smith. He served with the Royal Engineers and was eventually discharged from service because of his wounds in November 1918. He was given a small pension and a grant of money which he used to set himself up as a poultry farmer.

John Burridge was from Cardiff and enlisted at Abergavenny in March 1915. He was about the same age as Burden. He served initially with the Welsh Regiment at home and in France but was transferred to the Labour Corps in 1917. Working and living outside would appear to have affected John’s heath as he was treated in hospital for bronchitis from May to August 1918 and was soon after discharged from military service as medically unfit. John was a bricklayer before the war. He was married to Harriet, and they had two sons – Thomas born in 1901 and Walter in 1904. The comment made on his attestation record was that he looked ‘over the declared age’.

Sedley James Collins has two entries in the book. He was a miller from Wandsworth who enlisted in February 1916 at the age of 33. He served in the Machine Gun Corps and was mobilised in March 1917. He was wounded in the thigh on 27 July 1917 and the wound must have been a severe one because he was discharged from service as a result. He died in January 1919.

Alfred Costain was born in 1898 and was a boot repairer from the Isle of Man. He enlisted in February 1916 and served in the Border Regiment. He served in England from April 1916 to April1917 and was then in France until August 1918. Alfred had various spells in hospital for the treatment of scabies, impetigo, and a couple of sprains. He was wounded in the arm, side and back in August 1918. That was the end of his service. He was awarded a disability pension and found work at a holiday camp after the war.

Cecil Diplock was from Maidstone in Kent and was 18 years old when he enlisted in January 1916. He served with the BEF from December 1916 to August 1917 and was wounded in action at the end of July 1917. He evidently recovered sufficiently to continue his service with the Military Police. Cecil was discharged from service as medically unfit in April 1919.

William Farrier had the longest military career of those we have researched so far. He was born in 1888 and came from Dover in Kent. He served in the volunteer battalion of the Buffs from 1906 and was then mobilised when war broke out in August 1914. His regiment served in India and Aden from 1914 to 1916 and it is only from December 1916 that William saw service in Europe. He was wounded three times between May 1917 and August 1918 and was eventually demobilised in February 1919. William was awarded the Military Medal for ‘bravery in the field’.

Jack Gardiner was a barman from Brookwood in Surrey. He enlisted at Kilburn in May 1915 and served at home for just over a year, then again from November 1916 to May 1917, and again from May 1918 to February 1919. He served in France twice – July to November 1916 and June 1916 to May 1918 and was wounded on each occasion. A medical board assessed him in November 1918 and considered Jack to have a 70% disablement and he was therefore granted a pension.

Arthur Hartley was a Baptist from Yorkshire who worked in a woollen mill. He enlisted at Pontefract and was found to have poor eyesight. He served at a Remount depot in Romsey throughout the war had spells in hospital at Romsey and Winchester for influenza and a hernia.

Leopold Ingram was born in Kenilworth in 1899 and he enlisted in May 1916. He served with Worcestershire Regiment and then the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and was wounded in the shoulder on 31 July 1917. This was evidently a serious wound as Leopold was still considered as having a 40% level of disablement in 1920. He was discharged from service in April 1918.

George Pegg was from Staffordshire. He was born in 1891 and worked in the potteries. He enlisted on 1 September 1914 and served with the North Staffordshire Regiment in the Balkans and then in France. This included service in Gallipoli and a bout of frostbite caused by exposure whilst encamped at Suvla Bay. He was wounded again in August 1917 whilst serving on the Western Front and was only discharged from hospital in February 1918. George survived 4 years and 169 days of military service and was demobbed in January 1919.

Gilbert Rainbow was a groom from Rugby. He enlisted in 1915 and was wounded in the hand in October 1918. This wound sadly led to the amputation of part of his arm and Gilbert was awarded a life pension on his discharge from service. He evidently recovered well because the 1939 Register records that he was working as a tool fitter.

Frank Rook was from Enfield and was a tea warehouseman. He enlisted in June 1916 and had several spells in hospital – for bronchitis in November 1916 and influenza in October and November 1918. In 1917, he was in hospital in Dorchester for a month suffering from a kidney infection caused by ‘exposure’. This came soon after he was discharged from hospital after treatment for a chest wound received in action at Bullecourt in May 1917. Frank was awarded the Military Medal in July 1917.

William Selfridge was a coal miner from Scotland who enlisted in September 1914. He was wounded at Ypres in June 1917 and the discharged as medically unfit the following summer. William received a disability pension from 1919 until 1923 when he emigrated to America. His wife and daughter followed him to New York in 1924.

George Sharpe was a rag worker from Dewsbury in Yorkshire and was 18 years old when he enlisted in September 1916. He served in France and was gassed in July 1917. This is what brought him to the hospital in Winchester. George returned to service and was demobilised in the summer of 1919. He evidently wasn’t a well man because he was still in receipt of a disablement pension in 1924.

Horace Short was a milk or cow man from Sheffield who was wounded in both legs during an action at Chalons in July 1918. Horace spent a month in hospital in France and then another four months in the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester, no doubt recovering from the operation he’d had to remove shrapnel from his legs. He had already spent a few spells in hospital for impetigo and trench fever. The leg injuries qualified Horace for a pension, but he also returned to work – the 1921 census states that he was working as a general labourer.

Herbert Warburton sticks out literally from the crowd – he is the tallest man we have researched. Herbert was 6ft tall and worked as a painter. Like Horace Short, he was treated for both trench fever and a wound to his leg. He was treated at the Winchester hospital for three months over the summer of 1918.

James Weir from County Durham is one of the youngest soldiers we have researched. His service record shows that he was often in trouble for a variety of petty misdemeanours. He enlisted in July 1915 and only serves abroad from February 1918. James was wounded in the shoulder and leg in March 1918, wounds which gave him a disability pension through to 1925.

The final British soldier we have looked at so far is Ambrose Townsley. He was from the North East of England and was born in 1874. He enlisted right at the start of the war with the Royal Horse Artillery from the Army Reserves having previously served in the Second Boer War with that regiment. He was therefore involved in the fighting from early October 1914 through to February 1915, service which qualified him for the Mons Star and Ribbon. His service on the Western Front continued through 1915 and was then interrupted by a spell in prison in 1916 for bigamy (Ambrose had several serious brushes with the law before the war and spent time in prison as a result). He continued his military service from February 1917, transferring to the Labour Corps in October 1917, and ended up in hospital with heart problems later that year. Ambrose was finally discharged from service as medically unfit in February 1918. He died in 1927.

There is one Canadian soldier, Ingval Lee. He was born in Minnesota in 1895, the son of John and Clara Lee. He worked as a farmer before he enlisted at Winnipeg on 18 December 1915. Ingval sailed from Halifax in September 1916 and served with the 8^th Canadians – also known as the Winnipeg Rifles. His service records do not give details of exactly where he served but Ingval was reported as dangerously wounded on 28 July 1917 at Lens on the Ypres Salient. He suffered concussion, a contusion to the chest and gunshot wounds to his right leg. Ingval initially spent a month in hospital in Rouen and was then shipped back across the Channel at the end of August 1917 for further treatment. He was a patient at the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester from 29 August until 20 September. Then followed time at the Canadian Convalescent Hospital in Wokingham and Ingval was eventually send home to Canada in January 1918 – he was discharged as medically unfit for service on 22 March 1918.

Seven Australian soldiers have signed Violet’s autograph book. They are:

• Edward Morgan, A Company, 39^th Battalion Australian Imperial Force (AIF)
• Charles Smart, 45^th Battalion AIF
• Joseph Patrick Johnson, 50^th Battalion, AIF
• William James Robertson, 13^th Battalion AIF
• Frederick Reginald Sells, 17^th Battalion AIF
• John Edward Miller, 17^th Battalion AIF
• John Francis Batten, 46^th Battalion AIF

The youngest were Batten and Sells. Batten came from Johnstoneville in Victoria and was a surveyor’s assistant. He enlisted in December 1917 and left Australia in February 1918 to serve with the 17^th Battalion Australian Imperial Force. His unit was sent to France in July 1918 and Batten came down with measles a month later. He was wounded on 18 September, shot in the arm and the foot, mostly likely in the fighting around the Hindenburg Line. He was sent to the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester in late September 1918, was discharged on 21 November and then left the UK to return to Australia at Christmastime.

Fred Sells was a labourer from Bourke in New South Wales. He enlisted in July 1916 and left Sydney for the UK in November 1916. He was in France by September 1917 with the 17th Battalion Australian Imperial Force and was wounded in August 1918. This must have been a slight wound as he re-joined his regiment in mid-September, but, on 2 October, he was wounded in the leg, probably during fighting around the Hindenburg Line. Fred was sent to the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester on 15 October 1918 and returned to Australia at the end of March 1919, discharged as medically unfit for service.

William Robertson was a fencer from Sydney and was 28 years old when he enlisted in March 1916. He arrived in France in January 1917 and served with the 13^th Australian Imperial Force. William’s service records reveal that he was sick on and off throughout 1917 – his unit was serving in Belgium in the advance on the Hindenburg Line. He was admitted to the Red Cross in Winchester on 7 December 1917 suffering with sciatica. He was there for just two months and then returned to Australia in April 1918 where he was discharged as medically unfit – neurasthenia (shell-shock) was given as the reason.

John Miller was from Sunny Hills in Sydney and enlisted in January 1916 at the age of 32. He was a draper’s assistant and was sent overseas in September 1916 with the 17^th Battalion Australian Imperial Force. He was plagued with sickness and was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester on 7 December 1917 with a hernia and was quite quickly sent back to Australia where he was discharged as medically unfit for service in July 1918.

Joseph Johnson’s service was similar. Aged 27 when he enlisted in January 1916, Joseph arrived in the UK in February 1918 after a journey from Adelaide which included stops at Egypt, Alexandria, Italy and France. He served with the 50^th Battalion Australian Imperial Force and was most likely in action at Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918. Joseph was admitted to the Winchester Red Cross Hospital on 15 October 1918 suffering from bronchitis and then returned to Australia two months later where he was discharged as medically unfit.

Edward Morgan was born in Queensland and enlisted in March 1916 in Melbourne at the age of 27. He was a hairdresser. He served with the 39^th Australian Imperial Force and arrived in France in June 1917 and was wounded the following month. After two weeks of treatment and recuperation, he rejoined his regiment on 27 July. He was wounded again, this time in the foot, on 4 October 1917, in the battle at Broodseinde Ridge near Ypres and was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester on 16 October. Then followed treatment at a hospital in Harefield before Edward returned to Australia in the late summer of 1918.

Charles Smart is perhaps the most interesting of the Australian soldiers. He was born in Gloucestershire – we don’t know when he emigrated to Australia – and enlisted at Rosebery Park in New South Wales in September 1914 at the age of 22. He was a labourer. Charles was part of the 13^th Australian Imperial Force who landed in Gallipoli in late April 1915. He was wounded in the shoulder on 7 May 1915 and was evacuated to hospital. Charles then re-joined his unit in February 1916 when it was amalgamated with newly enlisted troops to form the 45^th Battalion AIF in March 1916. The 45^th were sent to France soon after and Charles had a run of various illnesses between November 1916 and the early summer of 1917 – malaria, bronchitis, pleurisy, scabies, and swollen ankles. He was wounded again on 5 July 1917, this time during fighting at Ploegstrete, a bad shrapnel wound to his thigh. He was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in Winchester on 9 July and was then moved to another hospital in late August before being sent back to Australia in October 1917. He was discharged from service on the grounds of ill health in June 1918. Charles was awarded the Military Medal for ‘bravery in the field’ on 7 June 1917 during the Battle of Messines.

We hope the detail in this autograph book and the research we have undertaken on some of the soldiers has been of interest to readers. There are more names to research and we would welcome more information on any of these men.

Authors: Suzanne Foster and Patrick Craze

Suzanne researched the Canadian and Australian soldiers and can be contacted at sf@wincoll.ac.uk

Patrick researched the British soldiers and can be contacted at patrick.craze123@gmail.com