Great War
 

Watched the first part of Jeremy Paxman's Great War series last night. The bombardment of Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough from the sea made me think that it must have terrified people in areas like Amble and surrounds, wondering whether it would happen to them. It was something outside their imagination, an attack on civilians on their home soil.

I'll have to catch up on the iplayer with that one.
The Germans were certainly not giving much consideration to the negative propaganda they were generating with such things.

Meeting the Enemy
 

I think everybody knows about the football match played between the British and Germans on Christmas Day 1914. The Newcastle Journal of 6 January 1915 reproduced a letter from an officer in the Honourable Artillery Corps to a Mr Noble of Broomhill Collieries: he mentions the improvement in weather from wet and muddy to cold and dry, a vast improvement, and expresses the wish that he was,at that time, 2ft tall instead of 6ft 2 ins. He also says; "Perhaps you may have heard how we spent our Christmas Day. It was the most extraordinary thing possible - mixing up and holding long talks with the enemy out in the open, and not a shot fired on either side. I got a jolly good German helmet, which I am going to try and send home when we get back to billets".

A Noble was the manager of Broomhill and Newburgh collieries in 1914 and remained as manager of Newburgh until it's closure in 1926.

I imagine this was as a result of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 but the Newcastle Journal of 22 July had a long list of casualties including quite a large number of wounded from Amble:
Private George Aitchison; Private W Richardson; Private George Harrison; Private George Wilson; Private George Fairbairn; Private Watson Cavers; Private John Ferguson; Private Lance Taylor; Private W Jordan; Private R Chapman; CSM James McAndrews.

And Radcliffe: Private George Young; Private A Hetherington.

Service records of Watson Cavers have survived. His was a sad case as he died of an ear infection and meningitis at a hospital in Newcastle. His parents must have thought he was safe, being back in England.

Looks like on the 8th July 1916 he was shot in the fingers of the left hand, this was the Blighty wound that got him shipped back to the UK on the 12th.

He was in the 19th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, this was a Pioneer Battalion. They were deployed on the Somme battlefield on the 5th of July 1916 to dig a new trench in 'No Man's Land', which they did over 3 nights. There are graphic descriptions of what they saw out there in the cold glare of the 'Very lights'; the massacre of the 'First Day of the Somme' having happened just a few days before, the dead still lying where they fell.
Cavers was probably wounded 'out there' on the last night of the work.

5 months then elapsed before he died from Meningitis; whether there was a connection with his hand wound from the Somme we will never know.

Watson Cavers
 

I noticed on his papers he was regularly AWOL for an extra day on his official passes in the UK. Just kept taking their punishment!

Partying like it's 1919 I hope. Poor chap did not have long to go.

The stone in the west cemetery actually mentions his wounding (just noticed):

http://www.fusilier.co.uk/military/a...wgc/cavers.htm (second picture down)

"A tribute from his brothers and sisters": quite a few of them are on the 1926 Register.

Peace perfect peace.

Yes I noticed that, pushed the boundaries a little, poor soul. He joined up promptly enough, November 1914.

I noticed on the 1911 census some of them had quite exotic names, apart from Watson, named for his father, there was Ebeneezer and Garibaldi. The name Cavers seemed familiar when I saw it, something is niggling but I can't pull it. I'll have to interrogate my sister, unless Alan,J knows.

Sister came up trumps, they had a shop on Queen Street. She can't remember what they sold.....maybe a drapers?

Cavers were an old established Amble family, Garibaldi or "Gar" as he was known, lived in number 40 Lindisfarne Road and had, before my time, worked at Hauxley colliery. Watson, his brother and presumably nephew to this WW1 Watson, was a good local golfer at Warkworth and probably Amble pre war. He worked in the building trade, I think for Carse. He was never married and lived with his sister and husband in the stone built houses in Ivy street.

Thanks for that Alan J, I think my memory is most likely the Lindisfarne Road one. I've a terrible memory for names and I've no doubt I was told any number of times who lived where as we travelled our normal route to the shops or my dad's allotment through Lindisfarne. :)

I've been to the 'Drop In' session at the Council Offices today regarding their History/WW1 Centenary project, and they have more information from family members regarding Watson Cavers, I assume it will end up in their publication.