The Great War: A–M · Story 33

Ernest Robert Manley (1896-1946)

John Manley, son of Rebecca, was baptised on March 21st 1858 in Stoke Doyle, some nine miles north-north-east of Ringstead. The previous christening in the church, a few months earlier, had been for Frederick Hugh, son of clergyman, George Halliley Capron and his wife, Henrietta. The Caprons were lords of the manor of Stoke Doyle and in 1840 had bought Southwick Hall and also much of Ringstead at the time of the Enclosure in 1839-41. George’s father had made a fortune as a lawyer at the time of the railway boom of the early 19th century, in which he acted for railway companies in acquisitions of land. Later, George moved back to Southwick Hall.

I think that it was possibly in Stoke Doyle in 1869 that Rebecca married William H. Taylor, an agricultural labourer, originally from Thurleigh in Huntingdonshire. Was there any Capron connection with Rebecca’s move to Denford after her marriage? Certainly, she was there in the 1871 and 1881 Censuses before moving to Spring Gardens in Woodford by 1891. William was now an Ironstone Labourer.

John had by this time left home for, in 1884, he had married Ringstead girl Mary Ann Warren. The couple were to have twelve children, nine of whom survived infancy. The children had been born in Finedon, Ringstead and Woodford. One of them was Ernest Robert Manley who had been born in Woodford and baptised there on November 15th 1896. In 1901 his father, John, was an ironstone worker like his stepfather before him and, in 1911, was described as a “Blast Furnace Man”.

In 1911 Ernest was 14 years old and working as an errand boy for a local carrier. Three years later the Great War began. Ernest had become a furnaceman like his father. It does not appear that he was called up when he became 18 years old. A furnaceman was a protected profession for iron was essential for the armaments industry but it was not an absolute exemption and, like the military boot makers, the country began to need them more as soldiers than craftsmen.

On 15th December 1917 Ernest married Dorothy Emma Marguerite Walker. Dorothy had been born in Ringstead, although her father, Thomas, came from Raunds and mother, Mary Ann, was from Peterborough. Thomas worked as an army bootmaker and in 1917 the couple and five of their six children were living in Leveratt’s Row. Dorothy was a domestic servant which was not a particularly common occupation for Ringstead girls.

Early the following year, on 5th January 1918 their first child, Olive May, was born. Nevertheless, Ernest was called up to the Medical Board in Northampton and given an “A” Category. He was then conscripted on 13th May 1918 and on the 16th posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment and given Regimental Number 38590.

We do get a general idea of Ernest’s looks from his attestation form. He was quite short, even by the standards of the time, being only 5ft 4½ inches tall with a sallow complexion and blue eyes. He was said to have a good physical development but had varicose veins at the back of his right leg.

On 30th August 1918 he was finally to cross from Dover to Calais and was taken to “L” Infantry Base Depot, which had been at Rouen but from May 1918 was at Calais. He was immediately posted to the 1st Battalion of the Norfolks. On 2nd September he went to the Divisional Refit Camp and on the 8th he joined the 1st Norfolks in the Field.

The Battalion had just moved back from the Front Line, south-east of Arras, at Lebucquiere to billets near Biefvillers Les Bapaume. The War Diary for the Norfolks reported on the 5th September 1918 that a draft of 125 Other Ranks had joined the Battalion and Ernest would have been one of these men. He, along with the rest of the Battalion, was trained, route marched and carried out practice attacks. After years of trench stalemate the German lines had crumbled and the Allied lines were moving forward, although not without opposition. The army was having to devise new tactics to meet this mobile warfare.

After weeks away from the warzone, on 20th September 1918, the 1st Norfolks moved south-east to Metz en Couture. The War Diary simply states, “This day was Z [Zero] day”. At 5.20 am the barrage from the artillery began for an attack by the New Zealand Division, on the Norfolk’s left. At 7.52 am the barrage then began for the attack by the 5th Division, and the Battalion moved forward to Flag Ravine near Gouzeaucourt. They paused there for a day before pressing on with the attack in conjunction with the 1st Cheshire Regiment. Having reached the agreed front line they were relieved by the 10th Fusiliers and returned to billets. By the terrible standards of the great WW1 campaigns the losses were not huge but in September 1918 the Battalion still lost 37 Other Ranks killed and 185 wounded with eight officers killed or wounded.

Again the Battalion moved back to the Metz-en-Couture area and camped a few miles west of Ytres where training once more continued although there were also football matches to pass the time and use up any excess energy. Then they were on the move, bivouacking or being billeted along the way, finally arriving near the Front Line at Caudry, some twenty-two miles further east. Here they trained in attacks on specific targets such as sunken roads.

It was becoming clear that this really was the endgame but the Germans were still managing their retreat with brave rearguard actions so that there were continuing casualties on both sides. In October only two Other Ranks were killed and three wounded and Captain R.W Dugdale was killed in action. It was usually only officers who had names in the War Diaries.

November continued with training before a move to Louvignies. The Battle of the Sambre began on 4th November with the Germans defending the line of the Sambre-Oise Canal. More troops went into battle than in the First battle of the Somme although this time with comparatively minimal losses. But, it was on this first day, that the poet Wilfred Owen was killed. He had written

My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.

The Norfolks were attacking along with the 1st Bedfordshires. On the 5th November the Battalion moved forward to engage the enemy but were met with no opposition and the 1st Bedfords “passed through” them to continue with the attack. The Norfolks re-formed at a crossroads at Le Godelot but they were not needed and proceeded to billets at La Haute Rue, ready to continue the attack the next day. This was to be across the Sambre River. They had believed that a bridge was still passable but found that the Germans had mined it and work was started on constructing a temporary crossing. The Devons now led an attack but were resisted by the Germans, and sustained casualties. The Norfolks’ War Diary, however, shows that on 8th November there had been no enemy shelling since the previous day.

On 11th November the Battalion was in Jolimetz “cleaning up the billets and surroundings”. The entry below this, states:

Notice received of termination suspension of hostilities.

Fortunately, the original word proved correct and the war was finally over. The War Diary’s entries were now brief and full of route marches, physical training and parades and, latterly, “educational classes”. It must have been difficult to keep bored young men, wanting to go home and lacking the discipline of fear, out of trouble and in order.

During this time they were billeted at the fortress town of Le Quesnoy before moving to Grand Leez north of Naumur in Belgium. At the end of January 1919, Ernest was treated for P.U.O. and spent a few days receiving treatment from the 15th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. P.U.O. stood for Pyrexia (Fever) of Unknown Origin although by this time in the war its cause was known. It was usually known as Trench Fever and was caused by a bacterium present in the droppings of human lice which the men would scratch into a small wound. It was an unpleasant and debilitating disease which could cause rashes, headaches, dizziness and loss of energy. It could also sometimes cause extreme pain in the shins and in some men could lead to depression. Baths at least once a fortnight and stripping and killing lice in the seams of the men’s clothing helped and, late in the war the “Russian Pit”, a large hot air delouser for clothes, was introduced.

The Norfolks proceeded to demobilisation but, at Calais, on 18th March 1919, Ernest was transferred to the 15th Battalion of the Essex Regiment and given new number 48141. The 15th had only been in France from May 1918. After the Armistice, the Battalion was in charge of the demobilisation at Calais, so its members were denied early demobilisation themselves. Ernest was granted leave in the United Kingdom from 27th April to 11th May 1919. Unfortunately, he arrived back in Calais “2 days 14 hours late” and was sentenced to 21 days Field Punishment No.2 and also forfeited three days’ pay.

Field Punishment No. 1 was when a soldier could be handcuffed and/or fettered to a fixed object for part of the day and would also be subject to hard labour at other times. Field punishment No.2 was for a lesser offence and the soldier would not be fixed to an object. The army rules for punishment, however, emphasised that it should not cause injury or leave any permanent mark. Incapacitated soldiers were of no use to the army.

Ernest remained with the Essex Regiment as part of the Army of Occupation but was once more granted leave in England from 24th September to 8th October 1919. Finally, on 27th November 1919 he sailed from Boulogne to Dover for demobilisation.

Ernest returned to his family in Ringstead and he and Dorothy had a further four children: Freda in 1920, Norah in 1924, Laurence in 1926 and Ernest in 1930. But all was not right for Ernest, the father. In the 1939 Register of England & Wales Dorothy was living in the Council Houses in Denford Road with her children and her older brother, Percy Walker.

Ernest was not with his family. He was in Berrywood Hospital in Northampton. In 1939 there were some 1400 patients and over 100 “Mental Nurses” for Berrywood was what had previously been called a “lunatic asylum”. Attitudes and treatment had improved over the years. The hospital had its own farm, market garden, shoemakers, tailors, carpenter and upholsterer. Ernest is shown as a furnaceman and he was there among the shoemakers and leather workers, the farm and general labourers. Berrywood later became St Crispins and was a leading institution in abandoning the straitjacket approach and trying to generate a more “homely”, caring atmosphere.

It seems possible that Ernest never returned home, for he died in 1946, and his death was registered in the Brixworth District which included the hospital. He was 49 years old. Dorothy lived to be 77 and died in 1974. Had the war claimed another victim?