Description
Object description
British seaman served with 1st (Drake) Bn 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Division in GB and Gallipoli, Turkey, 9/1914-1/1916; served with 1st (Drake) Bn, 189th Bde, 63rd (Royal Naval) Div on Western Front, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Wallasey, GB, 1895-1914: family; education. Aspects of enlistment in Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve at HMS Eagle, Salthouse Docks, Liverpool, 14/9/1914: reaction to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; reasons for enlistment. Aspects of training as seaman with Drake Bn, Royal Naval Division at Royal Naval Division Depot, Crystal Palace, Manderston House Camp, Duns and Blandford Camp in GB, 9/1914-2/1915: drafting to Royal Naval Division at Royal Naval Division Depot, Crystal Palace; return of 1st Naval Bde from Antwerp, Belgium; tactical training; route marches; weapons training; relations with other ranks, officers and NCOs; consequences of issue of standard Lee Enfield .303 Rifle; opinion of adequacy of training; company organisation. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Franconia from GB to Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece, 2/1915-4/1915: conditions on board; question of submarine threat; period in transit camp at Port Said, Egypt; inspection by General Ian Hamilton at Malta; disembarkation exercises at Mudros, Lemnos Island, 3/1915-4/1915.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of operations as seaman with 1st (Drake) Bn, 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div during diversionary landings at Bulair, Gallipoli, Turkey, 25/4/1915: equipment carried on operation; getting into rowing boats; sight of beach; towed approach prior to return to HMT Franconia; personal morale. Recollections of operations as seaman with 1st (Drake) Bn, 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div on W Beach, Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 4/1915-5/1915: naval support bombardment; sight of beach; unopposed landing, 26/4/1915; story illustrating impact of bodies on beach; occupying old trenches at top of cliff; situation; unloading mules and artillery; ineffective shelling from Ottoman Navy battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim; rations; polluted well and initial use of sea condenser for water; artillery fire. Recollections of operations as seaman with 1st (Drake) Bn, 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div at Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 5/1915-1/1916: advance towards Krithia, 5/1915; personal morale.
REEL 3 Continues: story of stokers looting from sniped general's corpse; digging in and necessity of enfilade trench; return to rest camp; incident of advance independently ordered by colonel countermanded by staff officers, 5/1915; concentration of fire on 4th (Collingwood) Bn during their advance, 4/6/1915; rest period; fatigue caused by increased sentry duties; nature of trenches; fly problem; latrines; story of deaf man on listening post duty; rations; seaman wounded by spent bullet who refused to be evacuation; method of getting water from well and question of thirst; story of British artillery firing short during Major-General Archibald Paris' inspection of trenches; flooding of trenches during rainstorm; faulty apricot jam tins; smell of corpses.
REEL 4 Continues: sings, 'Boys of the RND'; jam tin bombs and accident with catapult mortar; dysentery problem, question of treatment and incident of suicide; fatigue and story of falling asleep on sentry duty; story of card players' narrow escape from shellfire in rest camp; sniper problem and activities; question of hand grenades; shellfire; naval support bombardments; morale; opinion of officers; activities during rest periods; contact with GB; question of religion; differing Lee Enfield .303 Rifle Mk VI and Mk VII pattern ammunition and issue of Short Lee Enfield .303 Rifle.
REEL 5 Continued: duties following appointment as battalion butcher, 7/1915-1/1916; gully dugout; daily routine as butcher; improved wells; attack of jaundice; shell warning from lookout during evacuation from V Beach, 6//1/1915; reaction to leaving Gallipoli. Aspects of period as seaman with 1st (Drake) Bn, 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div on Imbros Island, Greece, 1/1916-2/1916: dummy battleship; question of presence of naval reservists evacuated from Gallipoli, 8/1915. Recollections of operations as seaman with 1st (Drake) Bn, 189th Bde, 63rd (Royal Naval) Div on Western Front, 1916-1917: move to France, 2/1916; return to front line duties; comparison with conditions at Gallipoli; leave in GB; attack on Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France, 13/11/1916 including reaction to tanks, story of being threatened by officer; Major Bernard Freyberg's role in rescuing 1/1st Bn Honourable Artillery Company's attack on Beaucourt France; recollections of Bernard Freyberg.
REEL 6 Continues: divisional rest. Aspects of medical evacuation to and hospitalisation in GB, 1917: evacuation as result of inadequate treatment for scabies; hospitalisation in GB, 1917; demotion from leading seaman following mistake in tactical exercise during period at Blandford Camp, 1917-1918. Aspects of operations as seaman with st (Drake) Bn, 189th Bde, 63rd (Royal Naval) Div on Western Front, 1918: reinstatement as leading seaman on rejoining unit on Somme, France, 1918; wounding by shellfire at Mesnil, France, 5/1918. Aspects of evacuation, hospital treatment, convalescence and post-war problems with wounds in GB, 1918-1984: evacuation, hospital treatment, convalescence in GB, 1918-1919; demobilisation with 75% disability pension, 1919; successful operation to remove piece of shrapnel, subsequent medical board and removal of pension, 1920; medical examinations, consequent grant and reinstatement of pension, 1980; subsequent difficulties with supplementary benefit, 1980-1984; difficulty in proving case and reaction
