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HMS Bulwark 1904. |
As a small
Swale village with a population of little more than 1,000 inhabitants and where
the male population mainly worked locally on farms, on barges or in the
brickfields, life in Upchurch continued as usual
with joyous events like weddings periodically taking place. In August 1914
James Button and Gertrude Seal became the first Upchurch couple to have a motor
wedding to take people’s minds away from the European conflict that had
recently broken out.
When war broke
out in July 1914 it would have felt like a distant conflict to most residents
as they lived out their daily lives in the village. Government propaganda
indicated that the war would be a short and glorious affair with heroic cavalry
charges and brave infantry attacks, similar to what had taken place during the
19th century. The reality became very different as the opposing
armies soon got bogged down in trench warfare with few gains being made by
either side.
In the early
months Upchurch felt few effects of the European conflict although an article
in the parish magazine during the summer of 1914 contained forebodings of what
followed.
Little thought that it would be a
chronicle of real war. War, with all its horrors, its terrible dangers, its
fearful sorrows, is upon us. Our army has gone to France to help against the
German foe; our fleet patrols the ocean and guards our shores. Captured vessels
have lain in the Medway, ships of our navy, injured in the fight for freedom,
have passed our sea wall. We have heard the muffled anger of guns fired in
dread earnest. Night after night the beams of light play with the silent
softness over the heavens. Day after day airships glide forth on their mission
of discovery. The future looms darkly but we know our cause is just.
As the war
progressed things began to happen in Upchurch. By the end of September 1914 Mr
Marsh from Forge Lane had gathered the names of all soldiers and sailors in the
village serving in the war. The vicar’s wife Mrs Trew volunteered to be the
recipient of bad news for families of fatalities and an appeal on behalf of the
Red Cross raised £20. Money was also collected for the Soldiers and Sailors
Family Association.
In September
1914 Cecil Dawson from The Street became the first man from Upchurch to
officially join up to fight although there were others who were already full
time professional soldiers like Percy Hales from Horsham Farm who served in the
Grenadier Guards and Tom Anderson who served with the Northumberland Fusiliers.
Both men participated in the early conflicts of 1914.
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David Wood. |
It wasn’t
until October that news of casualties first appeared in the village magazine
with a report that Ernie Carter, Henry Mason and Tom Anderson were fatalities
and that George Sharp had been wounded by shrapnel and was recovering in
Warrington Infirmary.
Of the early
fatalities Henry Mason served as chief stoker aboard H.M.S Hogue but died when
a torpedo fired by a German submarine sunk his vessel on September 22nd
and Ernie Carter who served as a private in the Royal Marines Light Infantry
died when his ship H.M.S Aboukir was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in
the North Sea. Army fatalities were also reported like John Allen from Gore
Bank, Tom Anderson formerly of Upchurch, Albert Newman from Otterham Quay and
Charles Gransden from Gore Bank. They were all killed in action in France and
Belgium.
The general
feelings of people in Upchurch towards fatalities appeared in the parish
magazine report of October 1914.
Toll for the Brave:
Two husbands are missing (Mr Mason
and Mr Carter) and whilst we naturally fear the worst, we feel that men who die
like this, die a glorious death. They die that we may live in safety. Therefore,
toll for the brave.
While
Upchurch men fought on the European mainland money raising activities flourished
in the village, particularly at the village schools where charitable efforts
took place.
At the
Infant’s School children made clothes for the Belgian Refugees Fund while at
Holywell headmaster Mr. Maltravers and his wife Ethel organised a bazaar and
raised money for the HRH Princess Mary’s Sailors and Soldiers Christmas Fund.
The harsh
reality of war finally arrived in Upchurch at 7-50 a.m. on the morning of
November 26, 1914 when a massive explosion rocked the village as the battleship
HMS Bulwark moored in the Medway estuary exploded and sank to the bottom of the
river with 750 crew members lost. Thick black smoke filled the air, debris scattered
over a four mile radius and the Ham Green peninsular got covered in soot and
debris according to eye witnesses. Although rumours spread that the incident
had been the work of German agents, a forthcoming court of inquiry announced a
verdict of accidental ignition of ammunition. The incident became the second
worst accidental destruction of a naval vessel in British naval history and was
the first major incident where the horror of war was brought directly to the
parish of Upchurch.
As more men
lost their lives and others joined the forces families in the village
experienced the tragedy of war which very soon developed into a horrific,
lengthy and bloody conflict of attrition that lasted for four years on the
European mainland.
About David:
David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + £3.50 postage and packing.
David Wood.
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