8 – Clifford Parker Seymour Smith

Of all of the men on the memorial board Flying Officer Clifford Parker Seymour Smith aught to have the most connections to the parish, and the church, but apart from actually being buried in the churchyard, he has no obvious connection to the church or the area. On his grave it says ‘Flying Officer C.P. Seymour-Smith 11^th Feb 1940 age 34 of Syston Court.’, but there is no record of the occupants of Syston Court in 1939, and locally people remember a school being billeted in the Court during the war.

Flying Officer Clifford Parker Seymour Smith was 33 years old, according to his death certificate, when he took off from the airfield of RAF Stormy Down, (later to be known as RAF Porthcawl). It had already been a bad day for the trainees on the air station, as there had been a fatality that day, Sunday 11^th February. It was an overcast day with cloud at 1000 feet. Earlier in the day Flight Lieutenant J Thornewell was on anti submarine patrol in Henley with Flying Officer J Lemon as crew. As they approached the shore off Rest Bay, Porthcawl, one wing struck the water and the machine hit rocks and exploded. Both were killed.

Flying Officer Seymour Smith would have had this accident in his mind as he taxied his plane, Wallace K4340, to the end of the runway and took off with trainee air gunner L.A.C. Stratford heading towards the range at Margam Sands just a few miles away from the air station. This was to be an air experience flight for the men. Unfortunately while making a run across the beach the Wallace stalled at low altitude, dived into the ground and burned out. Both men sustained severe head injuries and burns which killed them instantly.

The notification of his death would have been made to his wife Ruth Evelyn, who, according to RAF records was living in Sheepscombe, not to far from Painswick. Also notified were his parents, Peter and Beatrice Seymour Smith of Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire. Following the issuing of his death certificate, his body was brought to Syston for burial. His funeral took place on 15^th February 1940 according to entry 1249 of the burial register of Syston Church. The register also reveals that the funeral service was led by Rev J. C. Lloyd, Vicar of Henbury. His abode in the register is given as ‘Syston Court’. Later a headstone was raised on his grave saying ‘ Flying Officer C.P. Seymour-Smith, Pilot, Royal Air Force, 11^th February 1940, age 34, of Syston Court’.

Clifford Parker Seymour Smith was the fourth child and eldest son of Peter Seymour Smith and his wife Beatrice. He was born in 1906 in Erdington, Birmingham. The addition of the name Parker to his name was in remembrance of his father’s mother, whose maiden name it had been. He had a younger brother, named Peter, after his father, older sisters Christine Spencer, Hilda and Margaret Beatrice, and a younger sister Hester Spencer.

Clifford’s father Peter Seymour Smith was born in Aston, Warwickshire in 1869 or 1870, to Thomas B Smith, a paper manufacturer and his wife Ann nee Parker. According to the 1871 census Peter’s family was living in Slade Lane, Copeley Hill, Aston. Peter was the second son, and the only member of the family to have ‘Seymour’ as part of his name. At the time Peter had both a younger and older brother, and there were two servants living in, Elizabeth Hanley and Mary Gregory. At the time of the 1891 census, the family was registered as living in Burlington House, Copeley Hill, Aston. The household, apart from the parents, consisted of 7 siblings and three female servants, Hannah Powell, the youngest being the cook, Bertha Pearson being a nurse and Elizabeth Numan the Housemaid. By the time of the 1911 census, when Clifford was 5 years old, Peter had moved his family from Sutton Oldfield, where all bar his youngest child had been born, to The Elms, Keynsham, and is recorded as being the General Manager of a Paper Mill. As well as the family, the household also consisted of Peter’s older sister Elsie Jane living with the family and two servants, Marion Fry, a Cook domestic and Elizabeth Yates a Housemaid Domestic.

Peter appears to have gone into the family business, being a cashier in 1891, and being a General Manager by the time of the 1911 census. During World War 1 Peter joined the Somerset Volunteer Regiment and was Gazetted (Mentioned in the London Gazette) as a temporary 2^nd Lieutenant on 18^th February 1917.

Details of Clifford’s mother are a little more scarce, but Beatrice, nee Spencer, had been born on 14^th April1874 in Lothersdale, in Yorkshire near to Skipton. The first record of her is on the 1891 census when she is 16 years old, and when she with her widowed mother Jane Spencer, a woman living on her own means, are residing at The Willow House, Whitting Hall Fold, Carlton, Skipton, Yorkshire.

Clifford may well have gone into the family business, but in addition to that, he was Gazetted on 2^nd July 1929 as having been granted a commission in Class AA(ii) as a Pilot Officer on probation in the General Duties Branch of the Reserve of Air Force Officers on 20^th June 1929. A year later on 25^th July 1930 he was confirmed in rank as a Pilot Officer. On 2^nd January 1931 he was again Gazetted as having been promoted to Flying Officer on 20^th December 1930, again in the General Duties Branch of the Reserve of Air Force Officers. He is again Gazetted on 1^st February 1938 as having relinquished his commission in the Reserve of Air Force Officers, and as of 1^st January 1938 is Commissioned as a Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

Clifford Parker Seymour Smith married Ruth Evelyn Greener (Born in Aston in 1906) in 1937 in Merioneth East, Merionethshire. At the time of his death in 1940 she was expecting their only child Candy. Parishioners remember talking to Candy at the time of her mother’s interment in 2002, and she imparted that piece of information to them.

The family appears to continue to live in Bristol as by 1934, according to Kelly’s Directory of that year, they are now living at Hallen Lodge in Hallen, which sits between Avonmouth and Cribbs Causeway.

It is a bit of a mystery as to why Clifford is buried in Syston Churchyard. The carving proclaims that he is ‘of Syston Court’. However at the time of his death he would have been living in barracks at RAF Stormy Down, in Wales and his home address on his death certificate is given as ‘Hallen Lodge, Henbury, Bristol’. This is the address of his parents and family on the 1939 register, and was also their address in the 1935 edition of Kelly’s Directory, which in addition lists the family telephone number as Westbury-on-Trym 67153. At the time of his death his wife Ruth is listed as living at Sheepscombe, which is near Painswick. The nearest to Syston that he can be found living is on the 1911 census when he is 5 years old and his family are living at ‘The Elms, Keynsham, Somerset’. His parents and grandparents all appear to be either from around the Birmingham area or Yorkshire. However his burial must have been agreed by the parish, as would have been the inscription on his grave, but why is currently lost in the mists of time

For his service in the RAF he would have been awarded the War Medal 1939-1945 and the 1939-45 Star.

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7 – Thomas William Saunders

Thomas William Saunders was the oldest of the men on the memorial board at Syston. At the time of his death he was 48 years old.

Thomas William Saunders was born on 5^th December 1896. He was very much a local lad. He was baptised at St Barnabas Church, Warmley on 10^th February 1897, in the presence of his father Ernest and mother Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Ernest had married earlier that year on 24^th May 1896 in Holy Trinity Kingswood, their Fathers being George Nott and Thomas Saunders

On the 1901 Census Thomas is recorded as living in North Common, Cann Lane, Bitton. He is part of a household of which his Grandmother Elizabeth Nott, who had been born in Bitton in 1838 was head of household. Elizabeth Nott was a widow and was living at that time with her son Henry Nott, and her daughter Elizabeth Saunders, married and working as a paper sorter with her sons, Thomas W and Ernest G Saunders, Ernest having been born in 1899.

Thomas’ mother Elizabeth (Saunders) had been born in Warmley in 1871 to George, an Agricultural labourer born in 1832 and Elizabeth Nott. She had been Baptised at St Barnabas, Warmley on 24^th December 1871. She was to die at the age of 40 in 1912. Elizabeth (Saunders) had an older brother Henry, born in 1869, with whom she was still sharing a house in 1901 and a younger sister Hannah born in 1877. In 1891 Henry was a Brick and Pipe Maker and the two girls were Paper Makers. According to the 1881 Census, where Elizabeth and Hannah are scholars, there is also an older sister Eliza J born in 1865 and working in a Paper Mill.

Thomas married Kathleen Rose Pegler born on 20^th April 1900, in 1920. According to the 1939 Register he is living on Siston Common. His occupation is given as ‘Mill Hand Ochre and Oxide Works’. As well as his wife Kathleen, living with him are also his sister Margaret E Jones who is a Boot and Shoe Trade Machinist and his school boy sons William R and John R Saunders.

Given his age, it is likely that Thomas William Saunders may well have been conscripted later in the war. His military number was 13014974. By the time of his death he had achieved the rank of Lance Corporal. He died in Germany on 28^th March 1945. He had been a member of the Pioneer Corps, the rear echelon of the army whose job it was to do the hard physical work behind the lines, particularly grave digging. The Corps badge is a spade and a rifle. He is buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery (Grave reference 54.G.15.) At the time of his death his son William would have been aged 16 and John aged 13. For his service to his country he would have been awarded the War Medal 1939-1945 and the 1939-1945 Star.

6 – Frederick Donald Robinette

There is very little information available about Frederick Donald Robinette Despite having a relatively unusual name, the only Robinette family living anywhere in the local area according to the 1939 Register, lived at 151 Lodge Causeway in Fishponds. The head of that household was Frederick, born in 1882, so it would be possible that Frederick Donald was his son, or that of William, born in 1884 who was also a member of the same household. In which case his mother would be Violet R Robinette born in 1886. Locally though, it has been suggested that he lived in one of the houses around Syston Court, and was possibly related to the family who owned Syston Court.

According to his army records Private Robinette was born circa 1918 and served in the 1^st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment. His service no was 1498050.

Frederick is mentioned three times in casualty lists. It appears that he took part in action on the 4^th October 1944 in North West Europe. On the 25^th October he is recorded in a hand written note in Casualty List no 1586 as being ‘wounded and missing’. On Casualty List no 1640, dated 28^th December 1944, still regarding action on 4^th October 1944, he is now officially reported as being ‘Wounded and Missing’. On Casualty List 1693, dated 7^th March 1945, having previously been reported ‘wounded and missing’, he is now confirmed as being ‘killed in action’. His death date is recorded as 4^th October 1944. He was aged 26.

It is possible to speculate that Frederick died during the Battle of Overloon, part of Operation Aintree which was fought between 30^th September and 18^th October in which 2,500 soldiers died.

It is not recorded when Frederick joined up, but the 1^st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment was a regular army unit, part of the 231^st Infantry Brigade. Between 1940 and 1940 it fought in Malta, in August 1943 it could be found in Sicily and in mainland Italy in September 1943. On D-Day the 1^st Dorsets landed on Gold Beach as part of the 50^th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. They fought in the Battle of Normandy, and then moved on to North West Europe until the division was withdrawn in late 1944 and used as a training division. The Battalion had 327 troops killed and 1,029 wounded.

Frederick Donald Robinett is memorialised at Mook War Cemetery in the Netherlands (Grave reference I.E. 15) For his war service he would have been awarded the War Medal 1939-1945 and the 1939-1945 Star.

5 – Desmond Joseph Thomas Hunt

Desmond Hunt was very much a local lad. He was born between April and June 1923 and his birth was registered at Chipping Sodbury. He was the only son of Worthy Hunt and Millicent Young.

Worthy Hunt was a Coal Miners Labourer having been born to Joseph Hunt and his wife Mary, and brought up in Pucklechurch in 52 Miners Cottage, Parkfield. At the time of Desmond’s birth Worthy was working in the Parkfield Colliery, a family occupation, as on the 1911 census his Father Joseph was a Coal Miner Hewer, Worthy and his brother Mecshach were coal miners labourers and Abednego and Leslie were working labouring above ground. The colliery unfortunately closed in 1936 due to rising water levels. Worthy himself was part of a very large local family, having brothers Cecil, Mecshach, Abednego, Leslie, Joe, Harry, Stanley and Gilbert, as well as one sister Sarah. The brothers, with their cousins were enough to make their own football team and famously played a match against the Pinker Family, who were equally as large. Local people remember the match, but not the result!

Desmond and his family were very much part of the church. Desmond was a choirboy and his father was the Churchwarden. He attended school at Mangotsfield Primary, and then from 11 years old, North View Boys School. That school was one of those Victorian Schools which took both boys and girls, but they were educated separately going in their own doors at opposite ends of the building, and never even allowed to cross the white line down the middle of the playground and playing field. He left there at 14 to go and work in the factory at Mardens Factory at Fishponds, travelling there daily by train from the station at Mangotsfield, to the station at Fishponds, right near to the factory.

During the Second World War, he joined The Royal Armoured Corps, ‘A’ Squadron, the First Derbyshire Yeomanry with the number 9751163. The Royal Armoured Corps was created on 4^th April 1939 from cavalry and tank regiments.

The Derbyshire Yeomanry was a light reconnaissance unit, which had originally been raised for home defence. It was eventually sent out to Tunisia in late 1942. There it was the reconnaissance regiment of the 6th armoured division, fighting at Medjez el Bab. It also fought at the Kasserine Pass and Foundouk, finally reaching Tunis on March 1943.

Desmond is reported to have died on 28th August 1943 aged just 20, as the result of an accident. The family were told that he had drowned. In his military record the incident was reported on 17^th September 1943 to the War Office Casualty Branch, having originally been on Casualty list 1241, and before that shown on casualty list 1237 as missing on 28^th August 1943. He was originally buried near to where he died, but his body was eventually moved to lie in the Bone War Cemetery, Annaba, a seaport city in the north-eastern corner of Algeria. The inscription on his grave reads: ‘Beautiful memories of him will for ever live in the hearts of his Mum and Dad’

For his service to his country he was awarded the War Medal 1939-1945, the Africa Star and the 1939-45 Star.

 

 

4 – CLifford John Silman

On 11^th November the service of remembrance at St Anne’s Church, Syston will be centred around the eight men from the parish whose names are recorded on the memorial board. Their stories are being blogged as part of the celebration of their sacrifice in WWI and WWII. If there are missing any details, or they are incorrect, please let us know.

Clifford John Silman was born between April and June 1891 in the registration district of Keynsham, Somerset.

On the 1911 Census he is living at Warmley Terrace, Warmley, Siston. The head of the Household is his Father James, married to Annie Louise. James is a Bootmaker. Clifford’s occupation is given as ‘Clicking’. As a clicker it would be Clifford’s responsibility to cut the uppers from a piece of leather, and all other component parts for boots or shoes. The job was so named because of the sound of scissors against the brass edges of the pattern boards. It was a very skilled job, as it not only required maximising the number of uppers cut from a skin, but also taking into consideration the colour and texture of the skin, and the lines of stretch and resistance, and the need to have matching pairs of shoes.

Living in the house as well are Clifford’s younger brother John (Aged 17), a Bootmaker, Percy (Aged 14) who was also a Clicker, Frank (Aged 11) and Doris (Aged 9) who are both at school. Also living in the house are James’ unmarried sisters Jane (Aged 55) and Emily (Aged 47) both Corset Makers.

At the beginning of 1913, Clifford married Mary Jane Gay, who had been born in 1889, and together they had two daughters, Ivy born 3^rd July 1913 and Catherine (Kit) Mildred born on 12^th November 1915. After Clifford’s death, his wife Mary Jane remained living in the parish. She remarried on 7^th August 1920 to William ‘Bill’ Joseph Baber, in Syston Church and together they raised hers and Clifford’s two children.

Catherine married Wilbur Hunt possibly in 1939 as on the 1939 register she is stillliving with Mary Jane (Now Baber) and William (who is a Gardener Private (Heavy) ) She is referred to as Catherine H Hunt (Silman) and died in 1960. Ivy married Edmond ‘Ted’ Close Newman. They had one son Clive who died in a road traffic accident on 14^th October 1945 aged 5. Unable to have any more children they adopted Roger in 1947 and Paul in 1948. Ivy died on 7^th November 1999 and Ted (Born on 19th March 1916) died on 9^th October 1997.

When Clifford joined up, he went as a Gunner into the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery, with the soldier number 238268. He was assigned to D Battery of the 245^th Brigade. He died on the 16^th June 1918 aged 27 from injuries received. He was hospitalised in France, and lived long enough for his wife Mary Jane to hear the news, and despite never having really left the village before, make the trip to France to see him before he died. Family remember Ivy, who would have been about 5 years old at the time, talking about that trip, as Mary Jane had gone, leaving her and her younger sister, at home in Webbs Heath.

Clifford is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, in Wimille, northern France (Grave reference I.A.30.) The inscription on his headstone reads ‘One of the brave. One of the best. Grant to him eternal rest’. The British Cemetery lies near to the Column of the Grande Armee and the statue of Napoleon looking towards the England he never conquered. It looks for all the world as if the French Emperor is watching over the Commonwealth soldiers buried there. The cemetery was designed in June 1918, because the cemeteries at Boulogne and Wimereux had been filled and new capacity for the war casualties who died in the base hospitals.

For his sacrifice Clifford would have been awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Memorial Death Plaque of WWI.

3 – Albert Ralph Kilmaster

On 11^th November the service of remembrance at St Anne’s Church, Syston will be centred around the eight men from the parish whose names are recorded on the memorial board. Their stories are being blogged as part of the celebration of their sacrifice in WWI and WWII. If there are missing any details, or they are incorrect, please let us know.

Albert Ralph Kilmaster was born between July and September of 1891 in the registration district of Keynsham, Somerset. He had strong links to Warmley and Syston with one of his relatives acting as Church Warden at Warmley. Albert was Baptised at Syston Church on August 16^th 1891, and his sister Harriette Lititia on August 25^th 1895.

On the 1911 Census Albert R Kilmaster is aged 19 and living at home on Siston Hill, Warmley, Bristol and working as a ‘Teera-Cotta Presser’ (This probably should read Terracotta Presser, and was probably something to do with brick making for the building industry). He is reported as having been born in the parish of Siston. His father Albert E Kilmaster was aged 52, and had been born in 1859 in Shilton in Oxfordshire. Albert E was working as a Boot Maker. His wife, Albert R’s mother, Mary E (Known in the family as Mary Ann) Kilmaster, had been born in 1863 in Siston and was then working as a Boot Machinist. Albert R’s younger unmarried sister Harriet aged 17, still living at home was working as an Optical Improver. Albert E Kilmaster died in 1934 and Mary Ann in 1942.

Albert joined the 1^st Gloucestershire Regiment, 6^th Battalion, and was sent out to France, with the rank of Private. His military number, which is 5211 would suggest that he was one of the earliest men to have enlisted. He was killed in action on the 15^th August 1916. He has no known grave, but is memorialised at the Thiepval Memorial in France. (Pier and Face 5A and 5B)

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a memorial to the 72,264 British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and described as ‘the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the 20^th Century’.

Albert would have posthumously been awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Memorial Death Plaque of WWI.

2 – Bert Demmery

On 11^th November the service of remembrance at St Anne’s Church, Syston will be centred around the eight men from the parish whose names are recorded on the memorial board. Their stories are being blogged as part of the celebration of their sacrifice in WWI and WWII. If there are missing any details, or they are incorrect, please let us know.

The first mention of Bert in official records is on the 1901 Census, where ‘Bertie’ Demmery aged 8, having been born in Gloucestershire in 1893, is living in Cock Road, Oldland with his widowed mother Mary who is aged 33, in the house of his Grandfather John Crew aged 60 who was a gardener, and his wife Mary A Crew aged 66. Along with them are his brothers Wilfred aged 12, and presumably still at school and Graham aged just 1. Also there was his sister May aged 10. Given the age of his youngest brother the transfer to his grandparents house, was probably fairly recent.

By the time of the 1911 Census, Bertie is still living with his grandfather, who is now a widower, and at the age of 69 is working as a Coal Hewer. Joining the household by then is Florence Cambridge aged 21, who is working as a corset maker and her husband Frank who is a Bootmaker. Bertie himself is also a Bootmaker. His mother is working as a Domestic and his brother Wilfred is a Van Driver or Carter.

In 1914 Bert married Lilian Grace Noble. Lilian was born in 1895 at Webbs Heath, to Richmond Noble, born 1864 in Bridgeyate and his wife Sarah Ann born in 1865 in Pucklechurch. At the time of their marriage Lilian would probably have been a corset maker, as that was her occupation aged 16 on the 1911 Census. Bert and Lilian had at least two children, Wilfred S Demmery born on the 19^th February 1915 and Gwendoline Lilian Demmery born on 22^nd February 1917 and baptised on April 22^nd 1917 at Syston church. On that date Bert is described as being a Private in the Dorset Regiment. Bert is described locally as being from the Warmley side of the parish, and possibly being related to John Barrington and his family. Bert and Clifford Silman knew each other and were friends.

When he first joined up, Bert joined the Dorset Regiment, but by the time of his death on 1^st May 1918 he had transferred to the 95^th Company of the Machine Gun Corps, which was formed in October 1915. He retained his rank of Private when he transferred. He died in France and is buried in the Merville Communal Cemetery Extension (Grave Reference I.E.71) The village of Merville was completely destroyed during WWI. Bert is buried in the extension of the village cemetery, which holds 1139 soldiers from the British Empire, 11 Canadians, 21 South Africans and 97 Indian soldiers. 170,500 officers and men served in the Machine Gun Corps with 62,049 becoming casualities including 12,498 killed earning it the nickname of ‘The Suicide Club’.

For his service to his country Bert would have been awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Memorial Death Plaque of WWI.

 

1 – John Barrington

On 11^th November the service of remembrance at St Anne’s Church, Syston will be centred around the eight men from the parish whose names are recorded on the memorial board. Their stories are being blogged as part of the celebration of their sacrifice in WWI and WWII. If there are missing any details, or they are incorrect, please let us know.

According to the 1911 Census, John Barrington was born in 1896 in Kelston, to George Henry Barrington and Mary L Barrington.

John’s family was not a long standing local family. His father George Henry Barrington was born in 1862 in Sutton Benger near Chippenham. George did not have a straightforward childhood, as on the 1871 Census, aged 8 he is living in Seagry Rd, Sutton Benger with his uncle Worthy Gough, his wife Ann and their grandson Richard Gough aged 12. On the 1881 Census George, now aged 18 is living in Queenfield Cottage, Sutton Benger with Eliza Ellery a widow and her son Robert. Both the young men are Agricultural Labourers. George obviously hankered after a different life as on 14^th September 1882 aged 20 years and 4 months, he enlists in the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment) with the enlistment (Attestation) number of 195. The regiment served in many places across the British Empire, so George would probably have been well travelled before he returned to civilian life. By 1891, now aged 28, George is living at ‘Sunny Bank’, Great Somerford, Malmesbury, Wiltshire as the Lodger with the Trembling Family, and working as a General Labourer. By 1901 George is married to Mary, who was born in Minety, and they are living in Marsh Lane, Clutton in Somerset. They have three sons, George E, aged 6, born in Pucklechurch, John, aged 5, born in Kelston, Charles H, aged 3, born in Pucklechurch, and daughters Harriet A, aged 1, born in Westbury on Trym and Eleanor, born in 1901 in Clutton. George dies sometime before 1911, as by then Mary L has married Walter D Smart, having had an affair with him and borne him a daughter, Dorothy.

On the 1911 Census John Barrington is registered as the Stepson of Walter D Smart of Syston Common, Warmley near Bristol. At that time he is aged 15 and is working as a Shoemaker. Living with him in the same house is his mother Mary L Smart then aged 40, his brother Charlie, aged 13, who is a Painter’s Boy, his sister Harriet aged 12 who is at school and his youngest sister Dorothy born in 1911. Also in the house are Walter Smart’s children Alec aged 18 and working as a Farm Labourer, Beatrice aged 15 who is at home, Lydia aged 12, Emma aged 11, Frederick aged 9 and Wallace aged 6 who are all at school, and Graham aged just 3.

At the beginning of the war John would have been just 18 having been born between April and June 1896. One would think that his mother might well have shared stories of his father, including stories from his time in the army. So it is not at all surprising that in 1918 he quickly joined the 1^st Gloucestershire Regiment and was assigned to the 4th Battalion, with a service no of 2232TF. (The ‘TF’ signifying that it was a Territorial Battalion, raised to defend England) John could have opted to serve at home, and only go abroad if needed, but he signed form E624 which meant that he agreed to ‘accept liability, in the event of national emergency, to serve in any place outside the United Kingdom’. John must have had something about him as he rose to the rank of Sergeant with a new service number (200419), having passed over being both a Lance Corporal and Corporal.

The citation for John’s Military Medal was destroyed by a fire in the Records Office, along with the records of many other men serving in forces in WWI. However the awarding of his Military Medal was reported in the London Gazette on Saturday 11^th November 1916. It is probable that it was received for action in one of the many of the small battles that took place on the Somme, as the Battalion remained there, on the Western Front where they had been serving since April 1915, for the best bit of a year until July 1917.

John died on the 9^th October 1917, aged just 21, reported Killed in Action at the battle of Passchendale. He is one of the many whose body was never found. The Battalion Commander was quite direct in his report on the failings of the battle ‘In my opinion, the reasons why we failed to take our objectives were:

a) The exhaustion of the men, most of whom had been tramping over the heavy ground for the greater part of the night.

b) The sodden condition of the ground.

c) That the barrage was lost after the first lift and never again caught up.

It is not known how John died, but most of 43 members of his battalion who died on that day did so from machine gun fire. Given the reported condition of the ground on that day, it is likely his body was lost in the mud. His death was recorded in the local paper, along with a photograph of him

“Official news has just reached Mrs W Smart, of Syston Common, Warmley of the death of her son, Sergt. John Barrington, who was killed in action on October 9 1917 He enlisted at the outbreak of war, and had served with the Glo’stershire Regt. In France for 2 years 7 months. He was 21 years of age and was formerly in the employ of Messrs. Wiltshire and Co., Hanham.”

John is memorialised at the Tyne Cot Memorial (Panel 72-75). The Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for those who died in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest commonwealth cemetery anywhere in the world. It is located outside Passchendale in Belgium. As well as the Military Medal, John was also awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Memorial Death Plaque of WWI.

 

The Rich Young Man – part 2

My father had to ask my wife what was going on, as I refused to talk to him about what had happened. He could have shouted at me, but instead went into all sorts of high-browed arguments about why Jesus of Nazareth was bad news for the people and for me. I listened and agreed, but in my heart of hearts knew that Jesus would never be anything but a force for good among a people who were longing to feel Yahweh in their lives. That was probably why on the night the Sanhedrin had Jesus arrested my father did not call for me to come and watch, as he would have done with anyone else. He didn’t tell me until the following morning, when Jesus having been condemned and tried by the Sanhedrin had been handed over to the Roman authorities for the sentence of death to be carried out. I don’t know what my father expected me to do, but I silently dressed and hurried out to find Jesus.

I found him nailed to a wooden cross on the hill of Golgotha, surrounded by Roman soldiers keeping a sullen crowd back. I found a place to stand and watch, and as the heat of the day came on us, the crowd either drifted away, or sat to watch. I wished I could get nearer, but the soldiers only allowed his mother through, and one of his followers I recognised as John. Jesus died quietly, not like the thieves crucified on either side of him, who shouted and cursed until they no longer had breath to do so. The only thing I hear him say was right at the end when over all of the noise I heard a whisper ‘Into your hands I commend my spirit’ It went straight to my heart. I saw the soldiers plunge a spear into his side, and I knew it was all over. I turned and stumbled away tears in my eyes. Now there was no hope for me. I walked out of the city, and kept walking until I came to the mount of Olives, and there I sat and watched the city alive with people until the sun came down for the Sabbath, then quiet. I sat with my cloak pulled around me, and let my mind wander thought all the memories, all the words of Jesus of Nazareth that I could remember.

I would like to say that I changed that night that I gave up all that I had and followed the way of Jesus of Nazareth. I would like to say that when I heard of his resurrection I went and joined his band of followers to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, but I did neither. Above all else in my life I have always felt the responsibility of being my father’s son, and all I have ever wanted to be was the son who made him proud. He and I never talked about Jesus of Nazareth again.

I think he hoped that it was a phase that I was now over, but Jesus words and stories would come back to me at the oddest times. I remember going to check on the family vineyard and hearing a labourer complain that he had worked all day through the heat of a really hot summer. It prompted me to ask about how the overseer paid my workers. I then left instructions that a labourer should be paid enough wages to be able to feed his family, even if it meant that everyone coming at different points in the day would get the same wage. When I lend money I don’t charge such crippling rates of interest that the people take forever to pay and at great personal cost to them. This means more people want loans from me, so that I have not really lost by this policy. I remember insisting that we should trust our servants to deal honestly with and for us, if we give them that trust in return. My wife calls me naive, but mostly it works.

I will not leave my sons as big an estate as my father left me. I was not able to give as big a dowry for my daughters as my sisters had had, but I have an estate that is easy to manage, and I have workers who have enough food to eat and decent houses to live in, as long as there is food to be found. I and my family live well enough even so. I followed my father into the Sanhedrin, and tried my best to judge people fairly and to craft laws that are good for everyone, not just the rich and powerful. When I die I hope that my epitaph will be ‘Here is a man who loved Yahweh’. I hope beyond death I will be able to meet with Jesus of Nazareth again in his kingdom despite not having given up all of my wealth.

The Rich Young Man – part 1

The day I met and talked to Jesus of Nazareth changed my life, in a way I did not expect, but I suspect that he already knew. I heard about him first, about his miraculous healing powers. I was a young man then and had no need of healing. Then I heard about the way in which he talked about Yahweh. That our God is a loving God; that he called Yahweh, Abba, Father. This was so revolutionary it was making many thousands of people stop and think about their relationship with him. It made me stop and think.

My father was a member of the Sanhedrin. We had a little house in his home town, but most of the time we lived in Jerusalem, so that he could daily attend the Temple, could worship there and meet with other members of the Sanhedrin to pass new laws, and review and refine current ones. They would also have transgressors come before them for punishment.

After my Bar Mtizvah, my father would talk to me in the evening about the cases or the new laws that would be coming before the Sanhedrin. We would discuss them, picking apart the points of law, debating and arguing. Sometimes he would get me to defend someone against a charge, or perhaps prosecute them. He was training me to take his place on the Sanhedrin, and I was a very willing and able pupil. By the time of my marriage, which had been arranged by my father through a marriage broker, I was already bringing cases before the Sanhedrin, for real and sometimes even won them.

In order to be a member of the Sanhedrin you need to live in Jerusalem. In order to live in Jerusalem you need money. You don’t get paid for being on the Sanhedrin, so you have to have an income from your land or other investments. My father had land in his home town, which he represented on the Sanhedrin, and he would travel to check on the state of his crops a couple of times of year. The whole family would travel together, and stay in our family home. It was almost like a holiday. Father said that it was good to be seen in the place we represented. While he was there, not only would he check the crops, he would talk to the men renting the land, and collect his rent from them.

Some of the rent would be in money, Roman coins, but most of it would be in produce that would be sent through the year to our house in Jerusalem so that we had food to eat. I would go with him, learning as I went about the family land and our history.

Father would use the money he got in rent to invest in businesses, both around the town and in Jerusalem. A carpenter needing a new hammer head would borrow money, and pay it back with just a little bit more to compensate father. A business that wanted to expand into a bigger place would receive money to pay for a bigger workshop in exchange for a percentage of the profits. I learnt quickly about money and finance, learnt to read people so that I would know whether to trust them or not. I was my father’s heir, and I did not want to let such an important man down, so I learnt well. I believe I was a credit to him, that he was proud of me, and I of him.

Yet for all of that there was something missing from my life. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It had something to do with the rigidity of the law that didn’t allow for human error or humanity. The Yahweh I went to the Temple daily to worship was all about law, and if you transgressed even one of them then the wrath of God, or the Sanhedrin would fall on you. I came to understand why we had come to such a place; how we had managed to get from Moses who would go up into the mountains to speak face to face with Yahweh, and come back down with his face glowing, through the prophets who would hear Yahweh’s message and bring it to the people, to now where we had not heard the voice of Yahweh clearly among us for generations. We were like a people lost, and all we could do was to build man made laws to try and make sure we would not stray too far so that when the next prophet came we would be found ready this time.

But I could see, although I was never sure that the people around me could, that it is far easier to keep all of the laws when you are rich. If you are poor, and eeking a living off the land, you are focussed solely on your next meal and can concentrate far less on Yahweh. At the other end of the scale money, power and ambition always get in the way, and I saw all that as I looked around the Sanhedrin, particularly at Annas and his sons ruling the Sanhedrin, with the aid of his son in law Ciaphas.

Then into our focus walked Jesus of Nazareth. No one took much notice of him to begin with. We regularly had men from the countryside claiming to be prophets or teachers proclaiming the word of Yahweh. Sometimes they would gather a few followers around them. Sometimes they would perform a miraculous healing. But it soon became obvious that there was something different about this Jesus of Nazareth. He could gather very large crowds around him, and sometimes they would follow him for days, rising in numbers until there would be thousands of men, women and children sitting at his feet. He would regularly and consistently perform miracles and he didn’t claim to be a prophet.

I wanted to find out more about him, not the least because he had come to the attention of the Sanhedrin and the Roman authorities. I knew from my father that the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate had had words in the ear of Annas and told him to sort out Jesus of Nazareth, as the Roman authorities didn’t take kindly to large unsanctioned gatherings of citizens, and viewed charismatic speakers with a very wary eye. They wanted no challenges to their authority.

So I went out into the countryside to watch him, I sat on the edges of the crowds and heard him speak. I thought that I would be cynical about what he would talk about, but somehow the sheer simplicity of Jesus’ message drew me in. We could have a personal relationship with Yahweh. We simply needed to open our hearts and let him in. We didn’t need lots of rules to have a relationship with Yahweh, all he asked was that we should love him, love each other and love ourselves. If we had enough love for all this, all the rules that we currently had to keep would be kept anyway, as they helped us to demonstrate that love to each other. Our relationships with each other would be better, and our relationship with Yahweh would be what he had always wanted for us his people.

I reported everything I learnt back to my father, and I know he reported back to the Sanhedrin. And I kept going back, I kept wanting to hear more. My wife got really fed up with me being away for days at a time, and accused me of becoming one of Jesus’ followers. I was outraged at the suggestion, until I sat down to think honestly about what it was that constantly drew me back again and again to sit and listen to Jesus of Nazareth. Eventually I told my wife that she was right, I did want to sit at the feet of Jesus, and that I was going to ask him whether I could join his band of followers. We had the most almighty row. I packed a spare robe and stormed out vowing not to come back again. I set off to find Jesus and to offer myself to him.

When I eventually tracked him down, I walked straight up to him and asked him what I needed to do to become one of his followers. He looked at my still angry face, and told me to sit down. We had a long talk which calmed and soothed me again, and I thought that he was going invite me to join him. Then he said to me,

“In order to become a follower of mine you must go back to Jerusalem ad sell all you have, give it to the poor, then come back and I will allow you to become one of my companions.”

I was shocked to the core. I had never really thought about my wealth, and what that might mean. It was so much part of what I am. For all that I had walked out on my wife after a row, I didn’t think she would appreciate me selling everything around her and our child. I just looked at him, and I would have asked him whether he was serious what he wanted me to do, but I could see from his face, which was full of sadness and compassion, that it really was what he wanted from me. I got up, picked up my belongings and slowly walked away.