Humberston at War

During this week 93 years ago, on 15th November 1918, a service of praise and thanksgiving was held in the Humberston parish church when thanks were given for the signing of the Armistice. 

At a subsequent public meeting, on 30th January 1919, it was resolved that a memorial cross should be erected in the Humberston churchyard. And that a book should be compiled setting out the part played during the war by the people of the parish. The book was compiled by the vicar, the Rev. F.J. Lane, and was entitled ‘A Souvenir of the Great World-War From 1914 to 1919. As it concerns the Parish of Humberston in the County of Lincoln’.

So what does the book tell us about Humberston at war? It first recounts how the reality of war struck the villagers when a detachment of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment arrived in the village on 9th August 1914. They were succeeded on 12th August by the 3rd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. A little class distinction was then shown – the troops being billeted in various farm buildings whereas their officers were accommodated in local houses.

With only a few breaks, the 3rd Battalion occupied Humberston until the end of the war. Other regiments that were stationed there for short periods were ‘The Lincolnshires’, the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

We are then told that the village was bombed twice by Zeppelins during 1916. Damage was done to the farms of John Taylor and William Parker but the village did not suffer any serious harm. The vicar credited this good fortune to divine intervention, writing that:

‘These fortuitous circumstances cannot but be attributed under God, to that obedience to authority which made the inhabitants darken their houses at night so that no ray should guide the Captains who used these machines to fight against the defenceless’.

The vicar also emphasised the benefit that the parishioners gained from the army’s church parades, writing that:

‘The muster of men on the parade ground, the stately march to church, the short bright service, the orderly exit after the Benediction has been pronounced and the National Anthem sung, has been an inspiration to many of the parishioners who watched with admiration to the ‘Fall In’ outside the church, or listened to the ringing word of command as the men marched back to camp’.

The services were conducted by the vicar, either in the church or in the nearby field. Services were sometimes held on the Humberston Fitties (where soldiers were stationed guarding the coastline) and frequently in the YMCA Hut at the Wireless Station Camp.

Fulsome praise was then given to the voluntary work carried out by village women. This included work at the aforesaid YMCA Hut in helping with the provision of refreshments and entertainment for the servicemen.

Women also carried out house-to-house collections in the village for the British Red Cross, St Dunstan’s Hospital for Blinded Soldiers, and for the Widows and Orphans of the Grimsby Minesweepers.

Services with the Red Cross led to fifteen village women receiving ‘Certificates of Appreciation’ from the British Red Cross Society in 1916 and 1917. Most of them were also presented with the Red Cross ‘Associates Badge’ in 1919 for having served two years in a Voluntary Aid Detachment.

A description is then given of the village war memorial, followed by biographical details and photographs of those men who gave their lives and who are listed on the memorial. In date order of their death, they were:

• • Viscount Wendover, the heir-apparent to the Humberston Estate. He served in the cavalry and was wounded in a cavalry charge on the Western Front. He died from his injuries on 19th May 1915, aged 20.

  • Eric Lane, the son of Humberston’s vicar. He was killed in fighting the Turkish army in the Mesopotamian desert. He died on 8th March 1916, aged 24.

  • Eric Shaw, the son of Humberston’s Primitive Methodist minister, the Rev. J. Shaw. He was killed on the Western Front on 22nd June 1916, aged 20.

  • Robert Parker, one of the Grimsby ‘Chums’, who was killed on the Somme in 1916. He was the son of farmer William Parker of Field House Farm. He died on 1st July 1916, aged 31.

  • Alfred Jennison, who had enlisted in the Grimsby ‘Chums’ but gained a commission in the Manchester Regiment. He died of dysentery whilst on active service in the Middle East. He died on 15th September 1916, aged 19.

  • Frederick Russell, a milkman, who was twice rejected by the army on grounds of his physical unfitness before being accepted. He was killed on the Western Front on 25th January 1918, aged 32.

  • James Fisk, a fisherman, who served as a gunner on a minesweeper. He was killed during the fighting against the Turkish army. He died on 23rd February 1918, aged 26.

  • Francis Duncomb, a gardener, the son of the Station Master at Waltham. He was killed on the Western Front on 1st April 1918, aged 32, leaving a widow and three children.

Biographical details are also given, mostly with accompanying photographs, of thirty-nine men with Humberston connections who served in the army, navy and the flying corps – and came home, some with serious injuries.

The occupations which these men gave up to enlist included a photographer, a warehouseman, several farm workers, two clerks, a cashier, several in the fishing industry, an assistant grocer, a draper’s assistant, a groom/gardener, a timber merchant, two civil servants, a newspaper compositor, a plumber, an accountant, a skipper, several labourers, a tailor – and the village postman.

I am grateful to Mrs Edna Coulbeck of Humberston for arranging my access to the book which gives such a thought-provoking picture of the contribution of just one local village to the nation’s efforts during the First World War.

© Dr. Alan Dowling

First published in the Cleethorpes Chronicle on 10 November 2011

The use of extracts from this article should be acknowledged merely by citing the name of the author, Dr. Alan Dowling. But please contact the author (who also holds the copyright) if you wish to re-print or otherwise re-use the entire article. He may be contacted on (01472) 690655.