On 24 August 1917, the British Expeditionary Force was heavily engaged in the Third Battle of Ypres in Flanders, while other British forces were in action in Palestine, Salonika and elsewhere. At the same time, thousands of men were in training in the camps situated all over Great Britain and Ireland. For a small number from the 5th Reserve Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, it would be a day of wholly unanticipated tragedy. The scene was South Beach, just outside the important North Sea port of Blyth in Northumberland.
The casualties
Pte 202131 George Edward Beavon. Born in 1898, he was the son of Samuel and Emily Mary Beavon of 31 Havelock Road in Saltley in Birmingham, and was one of eight siblings. At the request of his family, he was taken for burial at Yardley Cemetery in Birmingham. I regret to see that the Commonweath War Graves Commission has his name as Edward George. He did not serve as such; this is an error, literally carved in stone. His father was an engineer’s fitter at a tube works.
Pte 202685 Jesse Blunn. Newspapers reported on 4 September 1917 that his body had finally been found the day before. At the request of his family, he was taken for burial at Brandwood End Cemetery in Birmingham. He was the son of Alfred and Emily Blunn of 83 Highbury Road, King’s Heath, Birmingham, and one of eight siblings. Jesse was not yet 18 years of age. His father was a lamplighter.
Lieutenant Edmund Kenneth Wallace Brown was born in Brownhills in Staffordshire in October 1893 and was the youngest son of John and Emma Brown. His father was a draper’s manager. John went on to become an insurance clerk. Commissioned into the 6th Battalion, he went to France in July 1915 and was wounded on the Somme in 1916. He was one of three brothers, all of whom were commissioned, but he had already lost one – Alfred – to the war. Kenneth’s body was lost for some time aftyer he drowned, until it was found in mid-September 1917. He was buried locally, at St. Mary’s churchyard at Horton, Blyth. His own address, according to probate, was 116 Moseley Road in Birmingham, and that of his mother was Libertus Road in Cheltenham.
Pte 243009 Thomas Fortey. At the request of his family, he was taken for burial at Key Hill Cemetery in Birmingham. Thomas was born in 1898 and was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Lucy Fortey of 223, St. Saviour’s Road, Saltley, Birmingham and one of six siblings (and another sister was born after his death). His father was a gun maker. Thomas had been in France with the 2/5th and 1/6th Battalions.
Pte 26392 William Harry Henderson. Although he was still only 18 years of age, William had been a pupil teacher at the Central County Schools. He was the eldest child and only son of Herbert Albert and Fanny Elizabeth Henderson of 7 Severn Avenue, Weston-super-Mare. William lost his life while trying to rescue a comrade. He was taken home for reburial and lies in the local cemetery. William had only got his number on 18 August 1917 when he was transferred into the 5th Reserve Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment from a unit of the Training Reserve. The “button” cap badge of the TR can be seen in his photograph, above.
Pte 26317 Edward Gordon Noy was the 18-year-old son of Thomas and Edith T. Noy of Boskednan Farm, Carfury and later of “Basoljack,” New Mill, Penzance, Cornwall. At the request of his family, he was taken for burial at the cemetery at St. Gulval. Known as Gordon, he had been an apprentice at a gentleman’s outfitters before being called up in February 1917. He had four brothers in the army.
Lance-Sergeant 202172 John Riley was aged 24 and was the son of the late John and Janetta Riley. His sister Clara, by then Mrs. Bloomfield of 2/36 William Street, Ladywood, Birmingham, was his next of kin at the time of his death. John was taken home for reburial and lies in the Lodge Hill Cemetery in Birmingham. He had been in France with the 1/5th and 1/7th Battalions. His original 5th Battalion number 679 suggests that he had enlisted in May 1908, while campaign medal records that that he went to France with the battalion in March 1915. It is especially tragic that John was due to marry the day after he was drowned. He was due to travel to Birmingham when his party returned to camp.
Pte 202962 Fred Shale. He was taken home for reburial and lies in the Handsworth Cemetery in Birmingham. Newspapers mention military honours at his funeral. Born in early 1898, Fred was the son of Albert and Clara Shale and was one of at least six siblings. His mother lived at 78 Mary Road in Handsorth. Albert Shale, who had been a navvy, died in 1901. Fred had been serving for a year.
Pte 26694 Harry Blanchard Southern Born in 1899 he was the son and youngest child of Edward and Clara Southern of 226 Slade Road in Erdington in Birmingham. Harry was said to be an excellent swimmer who had won a prize for it at Aston Baths when he was nine years old. Like John Riley, he lies in Lodge Hill Cemetery in Birmingham. His father was a travelling grocer.
Others
The army chaplain George John Foster Verschoyle was born in Rathdown in Dublin in 1889, the son of William and Frances Verschoyle. His father was a land agent. George was a student of Merton College, Oxford, where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps and gained a Master of the Arts degree. He was made Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class, on 4 January 1917.
A blue plaque in memory of the men was installed on an external wall of the Dave Stephens Centre, Links Road, Blyth in recent years.
Links
On a personal note, i feel an unusual empathy with the victims of this story. With a Birmingham background myself, I can imagine the excitement of these young men on seeing the sea, possibly for the first time in their lives. I have family members buried in Brandwood End, Key Hill, Lodge Hill and Yardley cemeteries and I may well have passed by these soldier’s graves. My wife’s maternal family were from the Blyth area and I know this location, too. I’ll make sure I spare these men a thought next time I am there.