A Letter from a Rainham Soldier on the Western Front in 1916

Reuben Wickens from Station Road joined the Coldstream Guards and soon found himself in the trenches of the Western Front in France while his brothers Reg and Seymour served in Gallipoli with the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles. He wrote a letter to his parents describing his conditions in January 1916. The same letter appeared in the East Kent Gazette dated January 29^th 1916.

‘The tea was very acceptable, and I thought it, with the sugar and tinned milk was the best thing I had sent out. I received the parcel for Christmas just before going into the trenches. We had about a dozen canteens of tea from it and now have quite a lot left. We were so anxious to have a cup of tea that I went out in broad daylight for some water. Whilst getting it the Germans sent over a couple of shrapnels which burst very close to me – rather a narrow escape but we get used to that kind of thing out here. We are going up into the trenches again for New Year. What a hope for a Happy New Year.

 Last night we had our Christmas party and dinner (December 30^th) roast beef, potatoes, cabbage and plum pudding. There was hot tea, beer and cake, but poor me being a ‘TT’ had to go thirsty for the time.

I hope that Bert and Reggie are alright and having as good a luck as I am. Thanks so much for sending the ‘East Kent Gazette’ out, it’s quite a treat to get a paper out here. ‘A Happy New Year.’ Yes, filling sandbags and building parapets at night! But never mind, we have them beaten and when the big advance takes place good-bye to ‘Kaiser Bill’ and his lot.

Tell them at home that we are not down-hearted yet. What we want is you at home to keep sending men to fill the gaps that must necessarily be made and then you’ll soon see what will happen on the ‘Western Front.’ You’ve no doubt heard the saying:

‘I’ll go one,’ said Belgium.

‘I’ll go two,’ said France.

‘I’ll go three,’ said Russia.

‘I think I stand a chance.’

‘I’ll go four,’ said Germany.

‘And wipe them off the map.’

But Bill fell dead when Britain said,

‘Blimey I’ll go nap.’

Well, we hold the nap hand now and shortly we shall play it, so cheer up.

Reuben Wickens survived the trenches of the Western Front and returned to Rainham at the end of the war where he was reunited with his two brothers Reg and Seymour.

Rainham at War in 1916

The year began cheerfully in January with entertainment in the church hall and a musical entertainment in aid of funds for the Rainham branch of the War Hospital Supply Depot in Sittingbourne. A concert organised by the Co-operative Women’s Guild attended by 80 women followed this. Games, dancing and refreshments were provided and two guineas collected and sent to the Wounded Soldiers Fund in Chatham. Meanwhile, Reverend Tamplin and Reverend Cobb held intercession services at St Margaret’s Church every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Later in February the Rainham Girl’s Friendly Society finished making garments for Belgian children. A total of 30 garments were made and sent to Belgium while a party took place at the Council School for 40 wounded soldiers from Fort Pitt Hospital in Chatham. The Empire Theatre in the High Street also got involved in fund raising by showing films in the afternoons to raise funds for the Rainham Branch of the War Hospital Supply Depot. Dr Irby Webster’s wife and a group of lady helpers organised this. Films were provided free of charge by Albion Cinema Supplies in London. Mr. Cheeseman supplied a small orchestra to play music and Mrs T. Sayer played the piano. Films shown included ‘The Siege of Troy,’ ‘Henry VIII’ and ‘David Garrick.’ These film shows raised £7/18/0d for the war effort.

In April the church hall opened on a daily basis for soldiers billeted in the area to use as a recreation room where newspapers, games and writing materials were made available which allowed soldiers to make use of their free time. Mr L. Osborne managed the room which remained open from 6 pm to 9-25 pm daily. Soldiers regularly used the facility which became very popular. They were also entertained at a concert given by girls from the Church of England School in Station Road the following November. Reverend F E Perry also opened a recreation room for soldiers in the Rainham Congregational Church hall in Chapel Lane (now Mierscourt Road).

Fund raising events continued as the year progressed with St George’s Day being celebrated in Rainham and Upchurch. A group of ladies sold small flags sold which raised £30 for the Star & Garter Home for Disabled Soldiers and St Dunston’s Home for Blind Soldiers and Sailors. Meanwhile, the Rainham Branch of the War Hospital Supply Depot announced that they had raised over £86 since October 1915.

In July a garden fete took place on the parsonage lawn which included an exhibition of war hospital work with 1,005 items displayed. After Dr Irby Webster had given a speech visitors, which included soldiers from Glovers Hospital Sittingbourne, were able to view the exhibition which included needlework by the Rainham Branch of Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild. Sid Wakeley from Rainham High Street set up a fruit stall and a teddy bear competition took place. All the articles on display were sold resulting in £40 being raised and donated to the Wounded Soldiers and Sailors Fund. W. Brewer’s String Band provided music through the afternoon.

The Council School in Solomon Road continued to play an important part in fund raising when they raised money for the Fund for the Relief of Belgium and collected £18, while Young Patriots at the school raised money for St Bart’s Hospital, the Home for Blinded Soldiers and the Belgium Fund. The school also collected 10 dozen eggs for the National Egg Collection for Wounded Soldiers for which pupils received letters from soldiers thanking them for their efforts. A short time later in August a Penny Bandage Day took place and proceeds went towards materials and the manufacture of bandages for wounded soldiers in hospital. On the same day the Rainham Branch of Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild raised £24.

During the Battle of the Somme which began in July 1916 over 60,000 British soldiers were killed on the first day, more than in any other battle in British military history. Rainham suffered casualties in this battle with the loss of numerous local men. At the end of the battle which lasted from July 1^st to November 18^th 1916, over 1 million allied and German soldiers had been killed or wounded, a disproportionate figure in relation to the territory gained.

Fatalities from Rainham included Private Edward Davison from Ivy Street serving in the 14^th Middlesex Regiment, Sergeant Frank Couchman of the Royal Sussex Regiment killed in action and Private William Simmons from Station Road aged 26 serving in the Buffs, killed by shrapnel. Others included Private George Botting aged 20 from Otterham Quay Lane, killed at the Somme while serving with the Buffs, Sergeant-Major Frank Baker aged 26 from Station Road perished at Guillemont, Alfred Cook aged 26 of the Queen’s Regiment and Private William Cheeseman aged 24 of the Middlesex Regiment were killed in action. Second Lieutenant John Wakeley of the Gloucester Regiment aged 20, son of Percy Wakeley was also killed in action. In September the funeral of Private Fred Smith from Ivy Street took place at St Margaret's Church. While serving with the West Kent Regiment in France he died from the effects of being gassed. Lance Corporal Reg Uden aged 20 perished on 18^th November, killed in action on the last day of the Battle of the Somme. Driver E. Pilcher of Bredhurst Road was killed in Mesopotania while serving in the RFA. Finally, in December Petty Officer John Sawkins aged 39 of Station Road serving aboard HMS Negro drowned in the North Sea when his ship collided with another vessel.

In early August with the Battle of the Somme still in progress an open air intercession service took place on the playground of the Church of England School in Station Road with about 1,000 people filling the area which included the road outside. Reverend Tamplin from St Margaret’s Church and Reverend Perry from Rainham Congregational Church conducted the service with hymns and a reading by Dr Irby Webster. This service reflected the sombre mood of residents who were regularly informed about the increasing number of deaths and injuries sustained by young men from the village throughout 1916.

The year finally ended on a joyous note with a Christmas fete at the Council School in aid of the Rainham Branch of the Hospital Supply Guild. After Father Christmas had led a parade of children in fancy dress a series of games and songs took place while sideshows like a doll’s house and war relics were displayed in different classrooms. A Christmas tree decorated by the pupils displayed 500 dolls and toys which had been donated to the school by parishioners. Guests of honour included a group of wounded soldiers from the Whitehall Hospital in Sittingbourne for whom tea was provided. During the course of the entertainment Olive Sales won the Prettiest Girl Competition and George Hooker the Prettiest Boy Competition. Mr and Mrs Shaw of The Cricketers Inn played host to a group of soldiers from Strood VAD Hospital in December.

With the allies bogged down in trench warfare and incredibly high casualties being sustained at Verdun and the Somme when attempts had been made to make a breakthrough by the allies, not much optimism existed for an early end to the war at the close of 1916. David Wood.

Letters from Rainham Brothers Serving in Gallipoli, 1915

Reg Wickens and his brother Seymour from Station Road in Rainham, joined the 1^st Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles in 1915 and were sent to the Dardanelles where they fought the Turks at the Battle of Gallipoli. Both men sent letters home to their parents which were also published in the East Kent Gazette. Reg Wickens wrote in December 1915:

‘We arrived here safely after a good voyage. Bert and I were not sick at all but some of the boys were very bad. We were chased by a submarine once but got clear aright. We have been up to the firing line several times and are getting quite used to it now. The last time we went up there the Turks gave us a warning time. They have got a short range gun which fires a very large shell and all the afternoon they gave it us hot and strong but did no damage to speak of, only knocked the trenches about a bit. But we paid them back with interest.

We had no casualties in our trenches but several were killed and injured in the supports. We came out of the firing line on November 13^th and had to proceed to the base for a fortnight’s fatigue. We are living in a little hut we built ourselves to keep the rain off. We have been washed out twice. I lost my blankets and hat, but my chum Sid Bonny gave me a spare one he had. On Monday December 16^th our lads took two lines of Turkish trenches with very little loss of life, and ever since then they have been trying to take them back again. On Sunday November 20^th they made a big attempt to regain them and we had to go up and join the rest of our regiment but by the time we arrived our big guns and lads in the trenches had driven them back; so we had a lost journey.

We are now back working in the stone quarry, getting rock to build piers. We have several work days to do here and then back to the firing line, thank goodness, for we would both rather be in the firing line as it is much safer and fine sport popping the Turks off. The ‘Tommy Cooker’ you sent we find very useful in the firing line as in some trenches where they are only twenty yards apart. We are not allowed to have a fire for fear of the Turks seeing it.

I spent a very happy birthday – was down a mine under a Turkish trench, on guard all day. But we don’t take any notice of that kind of job, we’re getting used to it. The job we are on now is down by the sea, on guard during the night, the rest of the time we have to ourselves….’

Seymour Wickens also wrote home about his experiences and the letter appeared in the East Kent Gazette dated February 16^th, 1916.

‘After starting from Liverpool we were not supposed to stop until we reached Lemnos but while in mid ocean we sighted two small rowing boats which afterwards we found out were lifeboats with French sailors in them, who had been torpedoed. We stopped to pick them up and about an hour afterwards we were chased by a submarine and were supposed to have been fired at. Of course everybody was on deck with lifebelts after hearing the alarm which was enough to frighten anybody, and it was only the skilful way in which the captain of the ship turned round and headed in the opposite direction to which we were going that saved us. At night we turned back, and I think we must have gone about 25 or 26 knots an hour. The next day we reached Lemnos and stayed on the boat for seven days. Then we got off on to smaller boats and went to Cape Helles at night where we landed. We had to march the matter of a mile or two when we found ourselves in the third line of trenches with bullets whistling over our heads. That was our first experience of active service. About a week afterwards we went into the firing line for three days and I think we had about five killed and wounded. But I must say this, the Turks are very fair fighters. It is not owing to the Turks unfairness that we had such a rough time; it was owing to the rough ground and the hard work to get water and food. You could hear nothing else but the cry for water all day long. If we got a bottle full, we had to hide it up and say nothing about it, otherwise we would get a crowd round us asking for a drink and get none ourselves.

We used to have spells in and out of the trenches in the firing line for fourteen days, and out for what was supposed to be a rest for fourteen days; but the rest was jolly hard work, either digging new trenches or making roads during the day and unloading provisions during the night.

Wherever we went we had to make our own dug outs with the sky as a roof. I remember one night it rained and everybody was washed out with everything floating down the gully. The next day one chap I know, he comes from Gillingham, was walking about with a towel round him while his clothes dried. As for shells, we could not walk about anywhere without having a shell drop somewhere near us, and, of course, we had to bob down anywhere to get out of the way. Once Johnny Turk gave us forty two hours to shift one of our hospitals, because he thought we were landing troops and food under cover of it, so, of course, that was another job for us because he was dropping shells a bit too close to be healthy. On another occasion he gave us seventy two hours to get away from Cape Helles; if not he was going to blow us off, but instead of the British destroyers from the sea and the heavy guns on hand gave Johnny a warm time.

When the seventy two hours were up we thought Johnny Turk was short of rations so we sent him across some “iron rations” if you know what I mean - a few bullets and one or two big shells to go on with.

I think I must now finish up as you will get sick of reading, but one thing I want to say is that nobody except those who have been there to see will ever know what the men have been through in the Dardenelles.’

Shortly after he wrote this letter Seymour Wickens got shot in the wrist and the army had him evacuated to hospital in Malta but he did re-join his regiment after his recovery and later saw action in Palestine and France with his brother Reg. Their older brother Reuben became a corporal in the Coldstream Guards and served on the Western Front in France.