Private J. Idle and a visit to the Somme Battlefields(Click on any of the images to enlarge them) Through the dedication of the late Marjory Dolman in looking after his grave in the Hullavington Church yard most of the village is perhaps aware of the presence there of the official World War I grave of Private J. Idle. It is marked by a standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission head stone and his details, as few as they are, are recorded on their website. From the newspaper reports at the time of Marjory’s death in 2004 it would appear that he died soon after the start of the war in an accident when guarding the local railway line. Other than he died in a tragic accident very little else appears to be known of Private Idle. His record on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site gives no further details other than that he died on August 27th. 1914 and that he was a member of the 5th. Bn., The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Normally, when known, the detail on the site contains the names of parents or wife and the home address at the time of death. There is nothing of this nature for Private Idle, not even his age. For those that don’t know the story of Marjory, she tended his grave almost daily for the rest of her life having watched the funeral at the age of nine back in 1914 always calling him “Her little soldier”. On the day of the funeral she picked her first posy of chrysanthemums from her garden and placed them at the graveside. Subsequently she laid turf and planted bulbs and kept the head stone scrubbed. On Remembrance Sunday she would lay red roses. Unfortunately at the age of 95 a fall finally meant that she had to leave the village and go into a home at Tetbury where she died in 2004 at the age of 99. In 1994 the Army held a full Military Honour Service at Private Idle’s graveside as a thank you to Marjorie for her years of loyal service. Having an interest in the First World War, particularly after having visited the battle sites in the Somme, Arras and Ypres areas I was recently excited by the fact that a postcard was being offered on the eBay auction website of what must be Private Idle’s funeral in Hullavington. I felt I just had to purchase it if I could and I am pleased to say I was successful. I purchased it from a long-standing post card collector from Malmesbury who had only recently purchased it himself. At the time of purchase he was not sure whether he had it in his collection or not. In fact he did, although he did say that in all the years of his collecting post cards he had only ever seen the two. Having said that when I excitedly rushed across the road to show it to George Bullough he quickly informed me that he did have a copy of the photograph! So it is obviously not unknown in the village but nevertheless I reproduce it on the web site for the village to see.
It appears to have been taken from one of the bedroom windows of the row of houses opposite the church. Private Idles’s coffin is just about to be carried through the church gate through a guard of honour. Note the presence of two policemen, one saluting. There was most likely a police house in the village at that time and so maybe they were both village officers. What is interesting, however, is the arc of villagers in the foreground gathered to watch the funeral. I can’t help wondering if one is Marjory herself. I know the newspaper article at the time of her death said she watched from behind a bush but as you look at the picture there would appear to be no need to take such action at this stage of the funeral. Maybe she watched, and then crept into the churchyard itself to watch the actual burial from behind a bush. I wonder if, ninety years on, anybody can shed any further light on the picture. No doubt there would have been a time in the past when, despite the back views, villagers could have been identified. It is also interesting to note in the background that what is now our local Parish Councillor Trevor Redman’s house was a barn back then in 1914. As I mentioned above I have an interest in the history of the First World War and recently had a holiday in France, staying near Amiens, and spent two and a half days exploring the Somme battlefield sites. From the memorial in the church I was aware that sixteen men from the village and area are remembered as having lost their lives in the First World War. As far as I could establish identity, I looked up their records on the Commonwealth War Graves website and established that two of them were commemorated in the Somme area that we were visiting. They were B J Miles and G Wicks. Neither men have known graves but both are commemorated at the Pozieres Memorial six miles north west of Albert. The Pozieres Memorial, situated right in the middle of the Somme battlefield, relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields by the 1918 German offensive. The memorial, which is the surrounding walls of a cemetery, commemorates over 14600 casualties of the United Kingdom who have no known grave and died on the Somme from 21st March to 7th August 1918. The memorial surrounds the graves of a further 2,755 British and Commonwealth soldiers. The tablets containing the 14600 names are attached all around the inside walls of the memorial The British Somme offensive began on the 1st July 1916, when 20,000 men died and 40,000 were wounded on the first day, and continued until November 1916 with, in reality, little ground gained. Early in 1917 the Germans withdrew several miles to their heavily fortified Hindenburg Line before launching their own offensive in March 1918. Both Hullavington men would therefore seem to have died as a result of this 1918 German offensive. Benjamin John Miles died on the 23rd March, aged 19, and was the son of John and Lucy Miles of Vine Tree Row, Hullavington. He was a member of the 5th Bn., Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Private Gabriel Wicks died on the 31st March, again aged 19, and was the son of James and Annie Wicks of Newtown, Hullavington. He was a member of the 6th Bn., King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. The following pictures were taken at the memorial on the 20th September 2005.
The tablet containing the name of Benjamin Miles is in the second alcove to the left of the central cross while that of Gabriel Wicks is in the 10th alcove to the right of the cross.
In travelling around the Somme Battlefields you are truly sobered by the shear scale of sacrifice of life as a result of the Great War of 1914 - 18. There are 410 British and Commonwealth cemeteries in the Somme area alone. Yet, some 90 years on they are all maintained in absolutely immaculate condition by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and in the middle of the countryside are oasis of tranquillity, peace and you have to say beauty. As an example see the picture of the Serre Road No2 cemetery.
It is not uncommon to come across poignant reminders that family descendents still seek out the last resting place or memorial of a lost relative.
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