THIS TAPE HAS BEEN RECORDED ON THE 23rd OF FEBRUARY 1979 AT YORK HOUSE, THE HOME OF THE INFORMANT ON LINKS ROAD, ST ANNES ON SEA. THE INFORMANT IS GEORGE FORRESTER SINGLETON, RETIRED SENIOR PARTNER IN THE FIRM OF G F SINGLETON AND COMPANY, ESTATE AGENTS, OF BLACKBURN. THE INTERVIEWER IS STANLEY GRAHAM.
We'll start now with where you actually volunteered for the army and we'll start on your actual army career. So when did you actually join the army?
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R - I think it was 1916, yes it was, the spring of 1916. And I was sent to Clipston Camp at Mansfield which was a Royal Engineers' training centre. Now it so happened that recruits from Lancashire had to go into quarantine for a fortnight on account of certain infectious diseases being rampant in the county. So we were segregated in a hut, and food had to be brought to us you see? Now as it happens, at the school I went to, we had an ex army captain who taught us military drill so I was appointed as the leader of the hut for the period. Now we had some remarkable experiences. These men were all tradesmen in the Royal Engineers, were all either tradesmen, secretaries, architects or surveyors. And we had to pass a trade test before we were retained. Well however, in this first period of course we had to make our own entertainment and we had to sort ourselves out. Well, the first day, the food came and was dumped on a table and there was a general grab and one or two said “Well, nay chaps, let's get organised.” so two were nominated to apportion the food so that each one got a fair share, that went down satisfactorily, but there was one man, a big stonemason from Accrington, we
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called him Big George. And when he saw the margarine he said “What’s that?” He was told it was margarine. “I want no Maggy Ann, I’m used to butter!” and his neighbour said “Don't you want it?” He says “No, tha can have it.” So that went on for a couple of days after which Big George didn't hand out his margarine and his neighbour said to him “Well, are you not giving it me today?” He says “No, I've come to.” I thought that was very rich. And we had to have lights out early but we had to make our own amusements. After we got in bed somebody would start singing and set off popular songs, some would recite, some would relate stories and it was very interesting.
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But I remember on one occasion a man started a song and he pitched it too high and as he was going up he couldn’t get his notes, whereupon one wit said “Owd on while I fetch a ladder!” And, it turned out to be a young man from Feniscowles who was the driver of the steam engine for one of the paper mills. Well, after we passed our medical tests we were sent on to Chatham which was the headquarters of the Royal Engineers and there was a temporary barracks known as St Mary's Barracks and we did the usual drills and training and after a while I thought. No, just recall that, I remember having the trade test, a friend and I, we worked in pairs. We had to make a little survey of an
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area, and plot it on paper. Well coming away from this test, and other tests, there’d be a party of ten recruits in charge of which was a corporal, a lance-corporal. Well we were being marched back to the camp when we were met by a corporal so we were told to halt, left turn, stand at ease, while these two had a conversation. The upshot was that we were called to attention again and numbered off and the first six were told to right turn and march off with the corporal to the hut where we fed, to the dining room, dining hut. And from then on we were known as cook’s mates.
I take it you were one of the six?
R - I was one of the six. Well it was quite an experience. And the first thing we did was to help ourselves to a ham sandwich you see? And having satisfied our hunger we then proceeded to attend to the duties.
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And amongst the duties was the making of rice pudding. And what happened was there was a galvanised iron bath in which a certain amount of loose rice was thrown in and I suppose salt and then boiling water and a few raisins and currants were sprinkled in and that had to steep overnight. It was warmed up the following day and served as a second course.
No milk?
R - I think there was a little tinned milk, yes, added later on. That was right yes. I remember we had to clean our knives and forks and spoons in the hearth, that was supposed to be cleaner than any other method available at the time you know?
What were you cooking on then George?
R- Stoves, fed by coal or coke.
Coal fired yes.
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R – Yes, coal fired. Yes that's right.
Now, you did say earlier on that when some people went into the army in the early part of the war that there wasn’t equipment for them such as uniforms. I take it that by spring of 1916 when you went in, there were uniforms available?
R - Yes definitely.
Yes. And, what was the uniform then, was it trousers or breeches?
R - It was khaki trousers and khaki tunic, and a hard, round cap, what they called the Broderick.
I didn't know that.
R - It was a War Minister who introduced it just before the war.
Oh, I didn’t know that. And were you Engineers, I’m not quite sure of that, were you issued with a rifle in the Engineers?
R - No. We did rifle training, but we weren't issued with them at that stage.
That’s it. And that was St Mary's Barracks, Clipston, Chatham. That’s it, yes. Now, so you had taken your trade test and I assume that was satisfactory for you. Passed?
R - Yes. And we got, Royal Engineers got half a crown a day compared with the Infantry and Artillery men who got a shilling a day.
You were the aristocracy.
R - We were they the aristocracy.
And what was the next stage?
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R - Well the training was in engineering work, field work, bridge building and so on. But after a spell at Chatham we were drafted to Buxton for special field training. But before leaving Chatham I want to refer to the main barracks which were known as Brompton Barracks. And Brompton Square which was the training area, was renowned as being a very
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hard course of training. Of course physical fitness and obedience to command were both absolutely necessary to soldiers. And whilst the training was hard, it was nevertheless beneficial and the obedience to command was a disciplinary experience sometimes not easy to bear when you were asked to do something which in civilian life you would have questioned, but there was no argument, and I can see the force of it, because under stress and strain the obedience to command is absolutely essential. And I once remember a parade on which a deserter who had been caught, was dismissed from the Engineers, the Corps of Engineers before serving a prison sentence or a period of detention. He was a little man, a pathetic sight and I rather think his cap was inverted but at any rate he was made to feel very small and as an example to those on parade. Right. Yes.
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So you've moved up to Buxton now.
R - At Buxton we had practice in bridge building and other methods of assisting the troops wherever we were required, learning a variety of knots, how to knot ropes and what you might call elementary civil engineering. Well after a while I became ambitious and I applied for a commission.
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However, it transpired that there were no vacancies for commissions in the Royal Engineers, but there were in the Royal Field Artillery, would I like to accept? So I said yes, and from Buxton I got a transfer to the Field Artillery Cadet School at Clipsham Barracks, Exeter. Very interesting experience, intensive training and including horse riding. There was a special building with straw on the ground.
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Indoor school
R – Indoors, that’s right. Well of course there were all kind of horses and there were all kinds of riders with the result that the horses got indifferent to the word of command. And I remember on one occasion falling off into the middle whereupon the instructor bawled out that if I wasn’t careful I should be had up for loitering which was a regular tag. Another occasion the squad was out on the parade ground, in charge of a lieutenant who'd been promoted from an N.C.O. who'd retired and this officer had a young corporal who could rattle off army drill at a terrific rate. And then he would expect the recruits to absorb the commands, and take it in terms to do the same. Well sometimes the officer got impatient at our relative inability to absorb these commands, so he would
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yell out to the corporal, “Tell them again Algy, tell them again Algy!” so he would repeat. By a remarkable coincidence I met corporal Algy in France. After a period of training there was an order from the War Office that personnel should go overseas. Algy was stripped of his temporary stripes and he went overseas as a gunner and it so happened, he came to my battery for a short time. He remembered me of course, and I had a wry smile for the change of authority. Well, at Exeter there was an examination on gunnery.
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When did you actually first see a gun? Where was that at?
R - At Exeter, with old fashioned cannon for practicing, because the gun drill was very important.
Yes.
R - That those manning a gun should know, that each one should know what their duty was and carry out their duties according to the drill.
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When you say Cannon do you mean muzzle loading cannon?
R – Well, an old fashioned gun really. Yes, probably four inch bore, something like that. And, well as a result of this examination an officer came to see a group of us and said there were vacancies at the Heavy Artillery Cadet School at Trowbridge, would any of us be interested. Amongst those who said yes was myself so eventually we went to the Barracks at Trowbridge. And there we had a Regimental Sergeant Major in charge whose policy was to take the mickey out of the cadets. On one occasion I remember, on a winter morning, he had us parading at six o’clock doing drill in the open air which was a bit much. Well again, under the same order from the War Office, it transpired that the Sergeant Major had to go overseas and would you believe it I met him, he didn't join our battery but I met him at some place or other and of course by this time he’d lost his authority. At Trowbridge the officer in charge was one Major Clark and of course he was known colloquially as Nobby. And it was reported that he
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had an aunt who owned some land at a village called Wanstrow a few miles distant. So, in the course of our drill a number of us were told off to transfer a gun from the barracks at Trowbridge to Wanstrow via the town of Frome, an unforgettable experience. And when we got to the other end we found we'd a number of sacks and a certain amount of straw with which we had to make our palliasse for the night, and we slept in the barn. And the following day we were marched back again.
When you say move a gun, how did you move it?
R - We marched it. With drag ropes.
Yes, with drag ropes, that's it, aye I thought so.
R – Yes.
Aye. What sort of guns were those?
R - Only small guns for practising the routine drills you see? Eventually I passed out from there, I was gazetted second Lieutenant and went home on leave.
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What was your pay then Mr Singleton, can you remember?
R - Oh I don’t know, but it was a great improvement on the old pay. But, and we had to buy our own uniform, for which we got a grant. I bought my uniform in Exeter I remember before the transfer. And there was another incident that sticks in my mind. We had an old Drill Sergeant who was recruited to teach we cadets gun drill and the like. And the cadets in the squad had come from many quarters in life, some were professional men, others business men, others had been overseas and come back again, an interesting cross section of young men. But there was one man who was rather slow in his reception of instructions and on one occasion we were being taught the use of drag ropes and
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of course the instructor rapped out the orders in quick succession until this poor fellow got entangled with the ropes whereupon the Sergeant bawled out “What are you doing there, are you a snake charmer?” You see he got his… however they were a happy squad and we had a dinner at a local hotel before dispersing on leave, and I have got a signed menu which I only came across recently and which reminded me of the happy occasion. I don't, I wonder how many of them survived.
Survived, yes. And so you, at that point you had effectively finished your training as an Artillery Officer.
R – Yes.
Your initial training. When would that be Mr Singleton?
R – March, 1917.
Oh so that was just over a year.
R -That was virtually 12 months training.
Twelve months training yes. So what happened then?
R - Well now, having got home, shortly after this I got a telegram to report to Whalley Military Hospital for examination as there had been an outbreak of an infectious disease at Trowbridge barracks. I duly reported, was examined, swabs taken from my throat and was told to return home to await instructions. Nothing happened for a few weeks, whereupon I reported
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again to the Barracks and the Medical Officer said “What did I tell you? You have to wait, you are not wanted here, you have to wait for instructions.” So I went back home but after ten weeks I thought something had gone wrong so I got in touch with the War Office whereupon I was instructed to report to the overseas depot at Bexhill on Sea and after being there for two or three weeks I was drafted to France. Now as it happened I had to report to Southampton but it transpired that I was the Senior Officer, so therefore, temporarily I was in command of the troops on the ship until we got to the other side. However, we got to Harfleur where we entrained for the front. The train was so packed that, and by this time I was so very tired that I volunteered to sleep on the floor of the carriage whilst the other occupants put their feet across the top. And then the train pulled up at a marshalling yard at Rouen. Now I had been to Rouen on business in March 1914 which rather intrigued me. At any rate, we were there for some time and we had the opportunity of
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stretching our legs and taking a shave with cold water from a tap in the marshalling yard. And it transpired that my destination was Bailleul [It’s quite eerie transcribing this because it was at the Field Hospital at Bailleul where my maternal grandfather died of wounds in 1917. He is buried in the cemetery there.] and from there I was despatched to 156 Heavy Battery. In fact I think somebody came for me to collect me because I didn't know where 156 Battery was or anything else. And it so happened that it was the day before the Messines battle and that night I shall never forget. The officers were in the dug-out, my part of which was a section cut out of the side of the dug-out and a sheet of corrugated iron placed on the top of two bricks so that the corrugated iron frame would be less rigid. And that was my bed for the night. Well, the shelling was intense, the earth shook, and it was a harrowing experience. We had to wear our gas masks and I remember I was, into which I vomited as a matter of fact during the course of the night but I daren't move it, not until the morning. And then I found that I was alone, the other officers gradually dispersed, so I thought
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it was time that I should emerge and see what was going on which I did with some trepidation, it all being strange to me. By this time all was quiet but I had a look round, and within a few feet were two New Zealand infantry men who were killed and badly wounded by shell fire. No, it was a very, a very trying experience coming as it were almost straight from England.
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