John Biswell
LEVERSTOCK GREEN WAR MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918
JOHN BISWELL
On leaving school John was employed as a Brush maker in Apsley and volunteered for the army 3 days after the declaration of war with Germany. Aged only 17 years old he is taken by the Bedfordshire Regiment, and issued the number 10474. Such was the need for replacements in the original battalion of the 1st Bedfordshire regiment serving in France that John having finished the three months basic training was posted to France arriving on 11th November, coming under enemy fire by the 22nd. He was most probable the first volunteer from Leverstock Green to go to France. The battalion was a regular army battalion sent to France at the beginning of the war, placed in the 15th brigade of the 5th division.
The battalion war diary noted the reinforcements from England arriving at the battalion on the 2nd of December, John was probable one. The extract below is from the war diary of the 1st Beds over Christmas 1914
22 Dec 1914 No change: frost in early morning rendered the situation in the wet & muddy trenches very unpleasant. Enemy shelled the roads along which rations were coming at dusk, but without result.
23 Dec 1914 No change
24 Dec 1914 Relieved by Manchester Regt. at 8pm. Battn took over a section on their right from Dorset Regt. at about 9 pm. without any casualties. Wolverghem village & Battn. Head Quarters shelled by enemy. Reinforcements 69 soldiers arrived.
25 Dec 1914 Christmas cards from Their Majesties the King & Queen distributed to all ranks of the Battn. Also present from Her R. Highness Princess Mary. Cold & frosty day. Quiet day. Germans semaphored over that they were not going to fire. Hard frost all day. [note that a private diary by a battalion member records fraternisation between men of B Company and the Germans in No Man's Land]
26 Dec 1916 Another quiet day. A little shelling by both sides. Some Germans came forward unarmed apparently with a view to friendly intercourse. A few shots fired in their direction as a hint to withdraw. Later, enemy shelled trenches & Wolverghem: damaged several rifles, but only wounded 1 man.
27 Dec 1916 No change in situation. Enemy shelled trenches & section generally. 2 men wounded. New fire trench dug in advance.
Sergt W. Blundell, of the 1st Beds Regiment, writing to Miss Whittington at the Bedford Barracks, wrote:
"I am writing this to you as I have just heard that my letters posted on Dec 26th were lost. There was a breakdown with a motor lorry, which got on fire, and all letters were burnt. I was sending Princess Mary's gift and the King's and Queen's Christmas card to you. I don't know whether they were lost or not. We were in the trenches all Christmas week, and the weather was awful. On Christmas Day we had a lot of firing over us, and shells too. All at once it ceased and I looked up and saw the Germans on top of their trenches shouting to us, and asking us to meet them. All our brigade went, and we were talking to them about two hours. They asked us not to fire that day and said they would not; and no firing was done until next day and then we were fighting for all we were worth. Times however are hard here. In the trenches we are up to our waists in water with shells bursting over us and no sleep. We keep on advancing and having to retire on account of fierce shelling. We should be relieved now by Kitchener's Army. I was in the battles of La Bassee and Ypres and the retirements, and it was simply awful. My bayonet was stained more than once. I said my prayers! The Bedfords regained the trenches that other regiments had lost. They retired and we had to retire also. It was like hell upon earth. Then we rallied up and charged the Germans out of them and took a lot of prisoners, but at what a loss. When we mustered up next day we had lost about 76 in my company (A Co.). I had some marvellous escapes.
Rumours of such meetings between the sides on Christmas day spread up and down the lines, and many agreements to allow each side to bury the dead sprang up. It was during this duty that soldiers from both sides inevitably came into contact, with the subsequent swapping of letters etc. The famous football match occurred between the English and unknown German troops The truce lasted for different lengths of time, in some places only until Christmas Day was over, in others as long as New Year.
This extract from the WAR DIARY FOR JANUARY 1915 gives an indication of the horror along with a daily routine.
1-3 Jan 1915 - Bailleul Remained in billets at BAILLEUL in Divisional Reserve: Battn. exercised in Short Route Marches, drills etc.
4 Jan 1915 - Dranouter Brigade relieves 14th. Bde. in trenches. Battn in support at DRANOUTRE. Capt [John Jenkins] MOYSE joined the Battn for duty.
5-6 Jan 1916 Battn. remained in support, supplying fatigues etc. for front line.
7 Jan 1915 - Wulvergem Took over section of trenches from 1st Bn. Dorset Regt. trenches in very bad state; full of water, sides fallen in.
8 Jan 1915 Quiet except for sniping. Casualties 6 killed, 2 wounded. We shot 1 or 2 of enemy's snipers. Enemy shelled our trenches & neighbourhood without causing damage.
9 Jan 1915 Enemy brought up quick-firer (probably motor-gun) within a few hundred yards of our trenches & fired obliquely on them. Casualties 7 men wounded. Owing to convex ground, unable to bring effective rifle fire on gun. We shot 2 of enemy at close range who were moving along parapet of their communication trench: probably their trench was full of water. Our trenches & Germans' only about 30 yards apart in places. Men keep busy each night in endeavouring to bale water out of trenches, & revet landslips in trenches caused by constant rain & unstable soil.
10 Jan 1915 - Dranouter Continual work carried out draining & reverting trenches etc but without very much apparent result. Casualties 2 killed 2 wounded. Battn. relieved by Dorset's at about 6 pm. & returned to support in billets near Dranoutre.
11-12 Jan 1915 In support. Men employed in making fascines, hurdles etc. for riveting firing line.
The Hemel Gazette had a picture of John in its February 1916 issue, along with a report he had been wounded at hill 60. The 1st Beds had been in the trenches at hill 60 from April to July 1915, but it is very likely he was wounded during the defence of the hill after its capture on 17th April. Almost 100 soldiers were killed between the 18th and 21st with several hundred more wounded. John arrived at number 3 Casualty Clearing Station on the 20th, with a gunshot wound in his left leg.
The Ypres–Comines railway ran through a cutting 15–20 feet (4.6–6.1 m) deep, earth excavated when the railway was built had been dumped on either side to form small hillocks. Two were on the west side, a long irregular mound atop the ridge called "The Caterpillar" and a smaller mound 300 yards (270 m) down the slope towards Zillebeke, known as "The Dump". On the east side of the cutting on the highest point of the ridge was a third mound known as "Hill 60", from which observers had excellent observation of the ground around Zillebeke and Ypres.
French preparations to raid the hill were continued by the British 28th Division which took over the line in February 1915 and then by the 5th Division. The planned raid was expanded into an ambitious attempt to capture the hill, despite advice that Hill 60 could not be held unless "the Caterpillar" nearby was also occupied. A French 3 by 2 feet (0.91 m × 0.61 m) mine gallery under the hill, was extended by experienced miners from Northumberland and Wales, after it was found that Hill 60 was the only place in the area not waterlogged. The British attack began on 17 April 1915 and captured the area quickly, with only seven casualties but then found that the salient that had been created made occupation of the hill very costly. Both sides mistakenly accused the other of using poison gas in the April fighting; German attacks on the hill in early May did use gas shells and recovered the ground at the second attempt on 5 May.
After recovering from his wounds John returned to the 1st Beds in France sometime after February 1916. The battalion's first major engagements of 1916 were the attacks on High Wood between 20th and 25th July 1916 during the battle of the Somme. From the 27th to 29th July the 5th Division along with the 2nd Division fought their way northward through the village of Longueval and Delville wood.
Longueval village main street, with transport going through and Labour Corp soldiers working to clear a path through, just after the village had been taken.
As the 5th Division moved from the rear areas towards the front line arriving just behind the front on the 19th the brigade was held in reserve for operations at High Wood. On the evening of the 23rd the Bedford’s took over the front line between High wood and Delville wood. Next day the Germans artillery was active all day this caused 30 casualties among the Beds.
At 11p.m. the battalion received unexpectedly orders to be relived and retired to bivouacking at Pommiers Redoubt, east of the village of Mametz. Learning of the coming attack the commanding officer and company commanders went on the 26th to inspect the ground around the area of Longueville.
Longueville make its first appearance on July 14th and along with Deville wood became an area of bitter conflict of possession. The fighting for the village went on till the end of the month, but Deville wood would take another month to finally clear the Germans out. On the 24th the fighting went into its last week and on the 25th the 3rd Division was relived, the village was now the objective of 5th Division.
To the 1st Norfolk’s of 15th brigade fell the task on the 27th of attacking Longueville and Deville wood with the 1st Beds following in support.
The village by this time was a past memory the constant shelling and infantry attacks had reduced it to a smouldering heap of rubble. Deville wood was no better, with its few remaining tree stumps. Over all this, shattered buildings, fallen trees, connected with belts of barbed wire and well positioned machine guns the soldiers would attack.
Main Street LONGUEVAL 1916
after being tidied up to allow passage through
SUMMARY of the BATTLE
9 p.m. on July 26th the Bedfordshire’s receive the order to move forward from their bivouac at pommiers redoubt to the assemble positions facing Longueville village. Having four miles of countryside to cover during the night the soldiers moved off. The route forward was through a valley being very heavily shelled with gas so a halt was called for two hours until 2 a.m. when a fresh wind blow in and made it clearer to continue, eventually the Beds arrived at the assembly positions at 3,50 a.m. after a frightful night and two casualties to gas poisoning. This area was full of troops and received intense shelling from the Germans.
The plan of attack was for the Norfolk’s to take the 1st and 2nd objectives with the Beds following behind taking over the lead and capture the 3rd objective. Half an hour before the start, due to a pre assault bombardment from the Germans causing heavy casualties to the Norfolk’s their commanding officer states his battalion can now not take the 2nd objective. Communications with the brigade headquarters was cut so a decision was made that A and B company’s from the Beds would assault the 2nd objective in conjunction with the Norfolk’s then C and D company’s would pass through and capture the 3rd objective.
The advance began at 7, 10 a.m. (from red line marked on the bottom of map) preceded by a two hour long bombardment of the German positions. On the left the Norfolk’s advance is held up by machine gun fire from Duke street in the village.
7.30 a.m B company (marked in yellow)of the Beds moves up to trench B to find trenches full of Norfolk’s and there is no room so start digging a trench under what was described as a hurricane bombardment. At 9.00a.m. D company (marked in Blue) moved up to position B finding a similar situation. A trench mortar was called up to deal with the machine guns but gun and crew were buried by shell fire before it became operational. It was now clear that no advance could be gained in this section so a retirement was taken back to the 2nd German line leaving one platoon to hold the ground gained.
Casualties in these two company’s was
B company 56 soldiers out of 171
D company 108 soldiers out of 176
On the right the attack was to go much better with the Norfolk’s taking the 1st objective (marked E) which A company(marked in Red) occupied at 7.30. Then pushed onto a German redoubt across princess street (marked as F) where the two leading Norfolk companies are held up. A platoon of the Beds attacked the nearby houses and take 32 prisoners. 100 German prisoners surrendered in this area. German machine guns sited at the village cross roads held up any movement by C company (marked in Green) until the Norfolk’s took the houses with grenades. A company now moved well forward into on the edge of Delville wood (marked K&H) and were attacked by German infantry which were met by lewis gun fire. Contact was established with 2nd division on their right and also captured a large amount of prisoners who were used to carry the wounded back down the line. C company who had followed A company across Princess Street took up positions parallel with North Street but were unable to advance due to machine gun fire from Duke Street so consolidated the area
Total battalion casualties for the day, 312 soldiers out of the 830 who started.
John was 19 years old when he died and is remembered on the Thiepval memorial to the missing, which lists the names of 72,085 men who have no known grave.
John was also on the order of service for the village church, at Easter 1919, the village school memorial, the village memorial and Hemel Hempstead town memorial.
Picture from Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 1 August 1932
To the left of Longueville village is Caterpillar Valley cemetery, this cemetery has 5,569 men buried in it, 3,796 are unknown. To the right of Longueville village is Delville wood cemetery which has 5,523 burials, all of them were made after the war, 3,593 are unidentified. These cemeteries were made by bringing the small cemeteries and isolated graves together along with remains found in later years. There are also a number of smaller cemeteries located around Longueville.
In 1918 the Gazette had this insert in its Births, Marriages & Deaths.
IN MEMORIAL
Biswell – In loving memory of Jack Biswell,
1st Beds, killed in action July 27th 1916
I will remember thee while the light lasts
And in the darkness I will not forget thee. Nellie, Bexhill - on - Sea
Was Nellie from Bexhill on Sea John's girlfriend,
who gave birth to their son, four months after he was killed.
Her name was Ellen and the explanation below comes from an internet site of names.
'Nellie' is a popular girl's name which is the short form of Helen or Eleanor.
This name is also sometimes used as a short form of Ellen.
Longueval village taken some time after the battle
Birth certificate for Johns son
I received this email in 2014 from Elizabeth Baker which was very much appreciated
Hi,
I have been reading with great interest the information listed regarding the Biswell family particularly John (Jack).
He was my late grandfathers father. I have found my grandads birth mother's name, it was Ellen Elizabeth Hadland, 1a Redbourne Road.
Hemel Hempstead.
She was a Domestic Servant and we believe she became a nurse and moved to Canada. My grandfathers name was
John Longueval Biswell, date of birth was 27-11-16 born at 18 Belconey, Hemel Hempstead. Birth registered 4-1-1917.
My grandad became a foundling and was fostered by a family in East Peckham Tonbridge Kent where he spent the rest of his life living.
His name was changed by the Foundling Hospital to Philip Stockdale. He passed away in 1996 on 20th November.
We believe that grandad met his real grandmother but although she wanted to she was unable to take him on as she had too many children herself.
I find it such an intriguing story and also so very sad that my grandad never met his real family. He would have been amazed to see an actual photograph of his biological father and his uncle too (Harry Biswell).
Looking at the pictures there is such a resemblance between John and my own brother.
I have never been able to find any information on Ellen.
We obviously have relatives in Leverstock green we have never met. My Aunty has been to the war memorial and also around the churchyard and found some graves of Johns siblings.
I hope this. Information is of interest to you and please if you have any more information please inform us.
Many Thanks.
Kind Regards
Liz