110th Anniversary of the start of World War 1

 

This morning I walked with Gill from Stratford to Sutton House in Hackney. Sutton House is a Tudor manor built in 1535, owned by the National Trust and is the oldest residential building in East London.

It is well worth a visit and I will post upon it another time. I noticed outside the building that there is a plaque remembering that Sutton House was bought by the National Trust in the 1930s with the proceeds of a bequest made by William Alexander Robertson in memory of his two brothers killed in World War I.

Today is the 110th anniversary of the start of World War 1. Above is one of my favourite pictures of my Welsh maternal Grandfather (Taid), Frederick John Matthews MC, who served in that war from 1915-1918. He is seated next to one of his brothers (whose name I am trying to confirm). It is incredible that he survived front line trench warfare in Gallipoli, Belgium and France. Our family was very lucky but so many others like the Robertson's were not. 

Frost bite in Gallipoli

 

Last week I was in Malta on holiday with Gill staying in a rented house in Pieta, a suburb of the capital Valletta. I will post another time on what a truly wonderful place Malta is to visit. 

By coincidence, just across the road from where we were staying was a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery.  Wherever I go, I always try to go and show my respects to these graves. 

The cemetery was as usual, kept in immaculate condition and walking along the graves and reading the inscriptions. There were many very sad and moving stories about so many young victims of the first and second world war, who were buried here and those who died in accidents or illnesses during the interwar garrison years.

I was struck by one memorial to Private E (Edwin) Marsh (see main picture) from the 7th Gloucester Regiment who "died in Malta on Dec 12 1915 from Frost Bite contracted in Gallipoli in the service of his country. This monument is erected by his mother".

Edwin was before the war a South Wales Coal Miner and died of gangrene to his feet from frost bite 

My maternal Grandfather (Taid in Welsh) Frederick Matthews, was also from South Wales (he was a  steel worker) and fought in Gallipoli (Royal Naval Division) and I knew from military records that he had been evacuated from that front to a hospital in Malta on Jan 1 1916 suffering from frost bite to his feet. Malta at the time was turned into a vast military hospital for all the many wounded from Gallipoli. 

He was lucky and survived and when he eventually returned to fight with his unit in mainland France, he was awarded on 10 June 2017 a Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry" by attacking enemy positions and capturing prisoners. Incredibly he survived the whole war. 

These sort of things must make you be conscious of the role of chance or luck in life. It could have been Edwin who survived the frost bite and Fred who didn't. In such case I would not be here and there is a tiny probable chance that Edwin's Grandson, could have come on holiday and also pondered on Fred's grave in Pieta. 

Crockett's Leathercloth Works War Memorial: My Taid and his Brother

 

This morning my fellow West Ham Ward Councillor, John Whitworth and I, went to the old factory memorial in Abbey Road junction with Mitre Road E15 for 11am in order to show our respect. Our colleague, Cllr Charlene McLean had a clash.

There used to be a Leather and Cloth processing factory at this site and in common with many other factories at the time they commissioned this memorial to remember its workers who died in the First and Second World War.

This included 4 civilians who worked in the factory and were killed during the Blitz. It also included Comte Robert de Lesseps (d1916), a pioneer aviator and cavalryman whose connection with the company is unclear but whose father was also responsible for the construction of the Suez canal.

My second photo is of my Taid (Welsh for Grandfather), Frederick Matthews who fought in Gallippi, Belgium and France during the First World War and was decorated for bravery with the Military Cross, with his brother James (Jim) Matthews (who could not serve due to a disability and we think died in an work related accident at the local Steel works).

A long lost South Walian cousin recently sent me this marvellous photograph which I had never seen before.

While my Taid did survive the War, I do not think he was unaffected by the terror and carnage he must have witnessed.