The Great War: A–M · Story 29

Arthur Haxley (1892-1974)

The Haxleys were a well-known Raunds family although originally from neighbouring counties. George Haxley had been born in Melchbourne in Bedfordshire and married Elizabeth Mason from Catworth in Huntingdonshire in 1863. The places are all less than ten miles apart and George, who was a shoemaker, was probably drawn to Raunds for the chance of making a decent living in the military boot trade. Judging by the ages and birthplaces of the children, the family first lived in Great Catworth before trying life in Ringstead in about 1866. They returned to Catworth before finally settling in Raunds in 1878/9. Of course, this may not always reflect the movement of the whole family. Perhaps Elizabeth went back to her family for the births of her children.

Harry Mason Haxley was the oldest child, born in Great Catworth on 14th January 1864. Other children followed, there were nine in total, and the youngest son was John Herbert Haxley born in 1886.

John married Florence Beatrice Mayes on the 24th October 1910 but just over three months later she died and was buried on the 9th February 1911, aged 23. John, or Jack as he was usually called, was a well-known local footballer and captain of Raunds Town. He was also, like the family, a committed Baptist.

When war came he was conscripted in January 1917 and was enlisted with the Northamptonshire Regiment for his initial training and given the Regimental Number 202986. After training he was posted on the 14th May 1917 to the Machine Gun Corps’ Base at Camiers with service number 89380. The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) could be sent to any company on the Western Front when they arrived in Camiers and we know that John was with the 105th Company in the field.

The Machine Gun Corps was known as a dangerous unit to be in. The machine gun was the most lethal weapon of the Great War and this made the men who fired them a prime target for the enemy. John was with the 35th Division in the Action of the 22nd October 1917 which was a British attack as part of the Third Battle of Ypres by the 5th Army. As part of this offensive the 35th attacked into Houthulst Forest. It was across sodden ground churned up by constant bombardments. They struggled to cross this quagmire and it developed into a stalemate. It was during this battle, on the 22nd October, that John went missing and he was later declared killed.

Meanwhile his oldest brother, Harry, had married Mary Annie Groome on the 4th January 1890 in Rushden and by 1911 was living in Raunds High Street with his wife and family. The couple had had five children, all still living. The oldest son still at home, Arthur, was eighteen years old. Harry was a “Hand Boot Sewer”, in a factory but keeping the old skills alive. Arthur, however, was a “Boot Operator – Tacker” and daughter, Ann, at fourteen, was a “Boot Factory Bench Girl”.

Arthur had been born on the 28th July 1894. War came in 1914 and later that year he married Martha Elizabeth Shaw. She was born in Ringstead, the daughter of Thomas and Martha. In 1911 she had been living at home in Spendlove’s Yard, which was off Cherry Hill, in Ringstead and working as a heel builder in the local factory. It was a three-room cottage so it seems unlikely that the young couple set up home with the Shaws but they did move to Ringstead at some point.

We have few of Arthur’s military records remaining but he had a Machine Gun Corps’ number, 89382, which was only two later than his uncle. We cannot be certain but it seems very probable that the two men enlisted together with the Northamptonshire Regiment in January 1917 and, after training, went to the Machine Gun Corps’ Base at Camiers in May 1917. After that it seems most likely that they went their separate ways.

The movement of men would not always follow a numerically logical pattern but we know that at the 1918 Absent Voters; List that he was in the 25th Battalion of the MGC. This was formed in February/March 1918 when the Corps was reorganised and the Machine Gun Companies of a Division were formed into Battalions with the same number. The Companies in the 25th Division were merged into the 25th Battalion. This probably means that he had been in one of the Machine Gun Companies of the 25th Division.

The 25th Division had fought at the Battles of Messines from the 7th to the 14th June 1917. As we have seen in previous biographies it was a British offensive designed partly to give some relief to the French who were in temporary disarray. It was also a very well-planned assault remembered chiefly for the huge detonation of mines that had been laid under the German positions by the Royal Engineers. The Machine Gun Companies fired a barrage over the top of the advancing British troops. It was one of the most successful Allied assaults in the war but many casualties were inflicted by German artillery on the new positions that had been gained. The Allies were also not yet able to follow up on this success.

Later in the year, in the Third Battle of Ypres, the Division was in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31st July – 2nd August 1917).

The following year, the War Diary for the new 25th Battalion reported for 1st March 1918:

Achiet le Petit. Fine bright morning followed by wind working northwards with some snow and cold night. The 4 Companies of the 25th Division having been assembled together in BUCHANAN CAMP ACHIET LE PETIT as and from the 14th February and moves completed by the 18th the formal formation under the new Establishment took place . . .

Training continued with no casualties and “glorious” weather but then the German “Michael Offensive” forced the Allies back and the 25th Division suffered badly during this terrifying time for the army. It lost men in the first German surge and moved north to refit so that, by the end of March the Battalion were at Wulverghem, some seventy miles north, in Belgium. They received reinforcements on the 1st April of 11 Officers and 260 Other Ranks which gives some idea of their losses. They moved to Ploegstreet where, on the 9th and 10th April, they suffered a heavy shelling, including gas. On the 11th April the Germans attacked again driving the British back and inflicting many casualties but the line held. By the 16th April the Battalion had been forced to withdraw to Boeschepe and on to Nonne Bosch where they bivouacked in a field . It began to snow heavily.

At Grabbo Camp a roll call showed that in this period they had lost 3 Officers and 20 other Ranks killed, 12 Officers and 136 Other Ranks wounded, and 9 Officers and 149 Other Ranks were missing. They moved back into the line and launched some attacks but lacked support and by the end of April, when they were at Le Clytte, they had suffered a further 14 Other Ranks killed, 3 officers and 70 Other Ranks wounded and 12 Other Ranks missing.

They moved back from the Front and trained and reorganised but, on the 27th May, they once more had to withstand another ferocious enemy attack and had to withdraw as the line was breached and they were in danger of being surrounded. This was part of the Third Battle of the Aisne which lasted until the 6th June 1918 where they once again suffered very heavy losses with 5 Officers and 10 Other Ranks killed, 10 Officers and 120 Other Ranks wounded and 5 Officers and 108 Other Ranks missing. The large number of men missing reflects the actions of the enemy breaking through the lines and capturing the cut-off units.

On the 9th June the Battalion retired into bivouacs at Allemant and then, by marching and train, moved south to Connantray-Vaurefroy and then north-west to Crequy, just outside Boulogne. They were transferred to the 59th Division (there appears to be no War Diary for the July-September period) and then, on the 9th October 1918, to the 66th Division.

This was not the end of their war, however, and on the 8th October they were part of an attack at Bony. From now on we see the line advancing but still meeting opposition with men killed and wounded. By the end of October, they were at Fontaine and the War Diary records:

Quiet day. Usual shelling of villages in forward area. Preliminary instructions issued for further operations on a large scale.

On the 4th November at 6.15 am the preliminary barrage opened up and the attack began. There was some limited opposition and it may be that it was at this time that Arthur was wounded. On the 11th November the Battalion was at Bousies, 20 miles east of Cambrai. The War Diary hardly mentions the important event of that day.

Cleaning guns, kit etc and checking stores. News received on the morning of the 11th that an Armistice had been signed.

Now it was mainly training, cleaning and salvage work with occasional football and rugby matches. On the 4th December 1918, the King and Prince of Wales came and the Battalion marched to Quiévy and lined both sides of the road to welcome them. Then it was back to the cleaning, training and salvage work with a break for Christmas. And so it continued until the 9th April when the Battalion embarked on the USS Nopatin for England.

We know that Arthur had been wounded and was entitled to wear a wound stripe, This Casualty Report was published on the 30th December 1918 but could refer to an event many weeks earlier. Nor do we know the extent of his wound. It may be that it was a “Blighty” and he missed the final few weeks of the war. He was not finally discharged to Class Z until the 26th June 1919 so perhaps this was after his time in hospital. We cannot be sure.

Returning to Ringstead, he and Martha first lived in Leveratt’s Row. I believe that they had three children, Jack Alfred in 1921, Philip in 1925 and Ivan in in 1930. Arthur continued in the boot and shoe trade. They moved to the Sivers Buildings, opposite the Swan Inn in the High Street. By the middle of the 1920s Martha Elizabeth had reached 30 years old and so could vote for the first time.

In the 1939 Register of England and Wales Arthur and family were still shown in Sivers Buildings and was a “Nailer in a Shoe Factory”. Two of the children were still at home. Earlier that same year, Arthur’s parents celebrated their Golden Wedding. The event was reported in the Rushden Echo on the 6th February 1939. Harry claimed to be one of the oldest hand-sewn boot makers and repairers in the district.

Martha died on the 27th September 1965 and probate was granted to her eldest son, Jack, who was a painter and decorator. It may seem surprising that she did not name her husband as trustee of her Will. There may be some answer in the death of Arthur who died on the 3rd February 1974 aged 81. At the time he Was an inmate in St Crispin’s Hospital in Duston. This was a large psychiatric hospital near Northampton. We do not know how long he had been there or the cause of his committal.