Came From
A NATIVE OF MOSCOW, RUSSIA
ENLISTED IN NEWFOUNDLAND REGIMENT
24/11/16
PRIVATE DOMINIC FOALEY
There's a problem with the personal inscriptions belonging to members of the Newfoundland Regiment - every single one of them was signed for by Lt. Colonel T. Nangle, Director of Graves Registration and Enquiries, 39 Victoria St, London SW1. I have always assumed that Nangle simply dealt with the British end of the paper work, that families having chosen an inscription left it to him to see it through. However, now I'm not so sure, or certainly not sure that it was true in all cases.
The Newfoundland Regiment's records have been digitised and can be found online. From Foaley's attestation form we can see that he gave his full address as 1 Cave Street, Moscow, that in answer to the question "Are you a British subject?" he replied "No, Russian", and to the question, "Have you ever served in any Branch of His Majesty's Forces, naval or military, if so, which?" his answer was, "No (was in Russian Army)". The form was dated 24 November 1916, the date that appears on his headstone.
Foaley's Newfoundland draft arrived in France on 12 June 1917. His active service Casualty Form records that he was wounded in action a month later, on 10 July, in his left hand. Discharged to duty on 31 July, he rejoined his battalion on 4 August. Ten days later, on 14 August, he was wounded in action again. Admitted to No. 6 Casualty Clearing Station with shell wounds in his face and abdomen, he died nine days later.
Foaley named his brother, Stanisloff Foaley, 1 Cave Street, Moscow, as his next-of-kin. The word certainly looks like 'brother' anyway. However, when the time came to dispose of his estate, the Newfoundland authorities had a problem. As the Department of Justice wrote on 29 November 1918:
"I think an effort should be made to ascertain if his given next of kin, his brother, is still in Moscow. Owing to the unsettled condition of Russia at the present time, and the prospects that its condition will remain unsettled for a long time yet, it may be difficult to get in touch with the brother of the decesased."
The same problem arose over despatching Foaley's medals in 1922. Enquiries had been made at his last known address in Newfoundland where "his landlady and friend", Mrs William Hollett, 1 Duckworth Street, St John's, told them that Foaley's father died before Foaley came to Newfoundland, that his mother had died after they had been here about three months and that one brother had been killed fighting for the Russians. None of this helped with the disposal of his medals, which were returned to the War Office.
You can see why I wonder who chose Foaley's inscription, and why I doubt that it was his brother and think that it might have been composed by Lt Colonel T Nangle himself. If so, he did a good job of giving Dominic Foaley an identity.
LATE OF CEYLON
CAPTAIN RICHARD POWELL
Yesterday's casualty came from Siberia to fight, today's returned from Ceylon. I don't know what he was doing in Ceylon but it's a fair guess that he was a tea planter.
Richard Powell - his name was Richard despite the fact that the War Graves Commission has him as Captain C Powell - was born in Munslow, Shropshire, the eldest son of the rector George Bather Powell whose family had held the living since 1776, and continued to hold it until Richard Powell's brother, Edward, resigned it in 1965.
It's a curious inscription for a rector to choose for his son - 'Late of Ceylon' - no mention of God, no quote from the bible, nor from a hymn. It crossed my mind that perhaps Richard Powell, his father's eldest son, had made it clear that the religious life of his ancestors was not for him. If he did it doesn't appear to have caused any lasting animosity since a brass plaque in St Michael's Church, Munslow, links him firmly to his home:
Richard Powell, Captain RFA
And of Ceylon, Eldest son of
Rev GB Powell, Rector of this Parish
Was wounded in Flanders 4th August 1917
And died in hospital at Le Trepot
France, 22nd August 1917
HE CAME FROM SIBERIA
TO FIGHT
LANCE CORPORAL LESLIE ADRIAN DESPREZ
I can't tell you what Leslie Desprez was doing in Siberia but I think I can guess. Both his father, Philip Victor Desprez, and his older brother, Rene Victor Desprez, were commercial travellers so the chances are that Leslie Adrian Desprez was one too. The opening up of Siberia, following the building of the Trans-Siberian railway, presented huge commercial opportunities to the industrialised nations. It was seen a region of 'vast promise', a 'land of limitless possibilities', Russia's Canada. The British had been slow into the field and not only the Americans but the Germans, Austrians and Swedes were well ahead of the game during the first decade of the 20th Century. However, this is probably why Desprez was in Siberia when the war broke out.
Some men saw the outbreak of war as a commercial opportunity for Britain since, they argued, the Russians were not likely to want to do business with an enemy country. However, Desprez obviously didn't feel he could remain in the region to exploit this opportunity; he came home "to fight". He served with "D" Company, 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment and died of wounds in a casualty clearing station at Lijssenthoek on 16 August 1916. It's not possible to tell exactly when he was wounded but the battalion war diary summarises its August casualties as, "3 killed, 7 wounded, all privates", whereas among its July casualties were, "1 officer killed and 5 ORs killed, 3 corporals wounded and one lance corporal". That one lance corporal was probably Leslie Desprez, wounded when "D" Company were in the front line near Blangy between 27/28th and 30/31st July.
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN
HE CAME FROM MEXICO
TO SERVE IN 1915
CAPTAIN MATTHEW HENRY GIBSON MC AND BAR
Having returned from Mexico in 1915, Matthew Henry Gibson enlisted and took a commission in the 12th Irish Rifles. He joined his regiment in France on 6 June 1916.
Promoted Temporary Lieutenant the following year, by the time of his death a year later he was a Temporary Captain. One of his two MCs was gazetted on 18 October 1917, the citation published in the London Gazette on 2 December 1918.
"For great determination and gallantry. He was ordered to attack and clear up a village which was a nest of machine guns. After one and a half hours' severe house to house fighting, he succeeded in establishing his company on the far side of the village. Being short of officers, on six separate occasions he personally led his platoons forward, and captured four machine guns at the point of the bayonet.
M.C. gazetted 18th October 1917"
London Gazette 2 December 1918
The citation for his other MC was published on 7 March 1918:
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in rallying men of other units who were falling back owing to loss of their officers, leading them forward again and again and holding on to his position under heavy fire."
Gibson died of wounds near Ypres on 29 October 1918. The 12th Irish Rifles had been withdrawn from the line with the rest of the 36th Ulster Division on the 27th, but had been in action on the 25th. The History of the 36th Ulster Division recorded that the work of 12th Irish Rifles, "was probably the best performed by that battalion, amid much good work accomplished since the beginning of offensive operations. Repeatedly the men had charged in upon houses defended by machine-guns, and bayoneted the detachments". Perhaps this was when Matthew Gibson's luck ran out.
Matthew Henry Gibson was the second of three sons of David Gibson, a Bookseller's Manager, and his wife, Annie. The family lived in Belfast. In the 1911 census, Matthew Gibson gave his occupation as House Agent. I haven't been able to discover what he was doing in Mexico.
VOLUNTEER FROM
COLONIA COSME, PARAGUAY
PRIVATE DAVID JOHN MACLEOD
David Macleod's father, Allan Mann Macleod, was a rancher in Colonia Cosme, Paraguay. Born in Australia did he go with the socialist settlers who were determined to build a Utopian settlement there in 1893, or did he go later when the scheme had collapsed? David was born in Australia but educated in Colonia Cosme so it's possible that his parents were among the original settlers. If so, they had a very difficult time of it.
David Macleod was also a rancher in both Paraguay and Chile. He volunteered immediately on the outbreak of war and returned to Europe to fight, serving throughout the war until he was killed in August 1917.
HE CAME FROM FIJI ISLANDS
TO HELP HIS NATIVE LAND
SECOND LIEUTENANT WILLIAM FYVIE
William Fyvie was born in Fraserburgh, Scotland in 1885. In 1901, at the age of 15, he was still in Fraserburgh working as an apprentice draper. When the war broke out he was in Fiji, part of a small European community of fewer than 4,000 men, women and children. He returned to England in November 1915. By this time his parents had emigrated to South Africa. It was they who chose his inscription, ensuring that his connection to Fiji was recorded on his headstone and that of his birth in Fraserburgh in the cemetery register.