Bunting and Holly

In September 1914 Cheshire Yeomanry were posted to Norfolk on coastal defence duties. In October the regiment moved from camp at Kirby Cane Hall to a new camp at Langley Park, Loddon, not far from Norwich. Initially under canvas, in November huts were being erected, including stabling for 500 horses.

For Christmas some of the men were to be allowed home for three days, while those remaining had been promised a ‘good old Cheshire Christmas in Norfolk’. On December 23 the regiment received intelligence reports of a pending German raid. As a consequence, it stood to in full marching order on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day from an hour before dawn until 9 a.m. Nothing happened.

Despite this, and the disappointment of not being allowed leave to get home, they made the most of their Christmas.

The sector of coast allotted to the regiment included Gorleston, the name given to the southern part of Great Yarmouth, and the coast immediately south of it. At 4 a.m. on Christmas morning B Squadron (Chester) were manning their coastal defence positions, until all was reported clear. This did not prevent the men from enjoying a good old-fashioned dinner of turkeys and plum puddings, the squadron dining in one of the hotels overlooking the sea.

The remainder of the men back at Langley Park, and as soon as they were informed that all was clear, set about making things as much like Christmas as possible. Two of the huts were decorated with bunting and holly. There being an abundance of holly and mistletoe in the woods adjoining, they transformed the huts into a veritable winter garden. Weather conditions were also ideal, with a hard frost the massive trees in the Park looked beautiful in their winter garb of hoar frost.

Dear Mother, This is a photo taken of our troops
while we were having dinner. Jim

Doubt and Despondency

Initial excitement for Cheshire Yeomanry who early experienced the coastal bombardment of Yarmouth and Zeppelin bombing raids over Norfolk, largely gave way in 1915 to a period of many months with little to report.

Zeppelin raids became more common through 1915. There was thought that they were guided by signal lights from land, possibly vehicle head lights. Several times road blocks were set up in an attempt to catch the offending car, but to no avail. No such vehicle was ever seen.

The Regiment remained at Langley Park until 26 July 1915. At this time, they moved to Somerleyton Park and took over a new sector of coast at Lowestoft, about four miles from camp.

News circulated in September that more Yeomanry regiments were to go abroad dismounted, however for some reason this did not include the Cheshire Yeomanry. In Lt.-Col. Verdin’s history of the regiment he notes that “by the end of October the Welsh Border Mounted Brigade, and the South Wales Mounted Brigade in the same Division, contained between them the only six Yeomanries still left in the country.”

Yeomanry Regiments within these Brigades comprised:

Welsh Border Mounted Brigade

• Shropshire Yeomanry
• Cheshire Yeomanry
• Denbighshire Yeomanry

South Wales Mounted Brigade

• Pembroke Yeomanry
• Montgomery Yeomanry
• Glamorganshire Yeomanry 

Zeppelin Savagery

"THE AIR RAID – The long-threatened German aerial raid upon England has taken place at last. Tuesday night some sort of hostile aircraft arrived on our east coast, and paid a visit to Yarmouth and King’s Lynn. As result, two civilian inhabitants were killed in each town, a shoemaker and old maiden lady at Yarmouth, and a widow and a boy at King’s Lynn. Cottages were destroyed and a church was damaged, but no employment of exaggeration can it be claimed that the incident had any military influence." Thus began the Cheshire Observer’s report (Saturday, 23 January 1915) on the air raid of 19 January 1915.

The following diagram shows relative position of the attacked towns and probable route taken by the Zeppelins across the North Sea.

Yarmouth Bombardment and Mormon Spies!

On the morning of Tuesday 3 November 1914 residents of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk were disturbed by what was at first thought to be a naval engagement several miles out to sea. Indeed, newspapers the following day carried an announcement to this effect by the Secretary to the Admiralty:

"This morning the enemy’s squadron fired on the Halcyon, a coastguard gunboat engaged in patrolling, with the result that one man was wounded. The Halcyon having reported the presence of these vessels, various naval movements were made, as a result of which they retreated rapidly, and although shadowed by the light cruisers, they could not be brought to action before dusk.

"The rearmost cruiser in retiring threw out a number of mines, and submarine D5 was sunk by exploding one of these. Two officers and two men and who were on the bridge of the submarine, which was running on the surface, were saved. Nothing else has happened during the day in home waters except that the gunboat flotilla has been available in support of the Belgian left flank."

Commencing sometime after seven o’clock the cannonade awakened some to the clattering of windows and the shaking of houses. Residents hurried to the sea front but although there was much to be heard, there was little to be seen with the haze of an autumn dawn hanging over the sea.

Some of the shells reportedly dropped within a mile or two the shore; others came even closer, with one exploding within a few hundred yards of the naval air station on the south side of Yarmouth.

The inhabitants were excited, but not really alarmed. They had no time and little evidence to understand what was happening, and the theory that the Germans were taking a few pot shots at Yarmouth was not evolved until later in the day. What they had witnessed was the Imperial German Navy putting into action War Plan 19, which was a mine laying operation combined with the bombardment of Great Yarmouth, although the latter resulted in little damage.

Newspaper reports of the event noted that Territorial troops were called out, and a detachment of them were marched down to the Marine Parade with fixed bayonets. At the time the Cheshire Yeomanry were stationed in Norfolk on coastal defence duties and "A" Squadron were responsible for the northern part of the Regiment’s sector, which included Great Yarmouth.

50 Jam Tins

One of the Troopers identified to have been with the Cheshire Yeomanry in Norfolk on coastal defence duties was Frank Blatchford Moore.

He was unlucky enough to have two accidents whilst in camp with the Yeomanry at Langley Park, Norfolk, both falls from a horse. After leaving hospital in Cambridge, and whilst convalescing at home, he discussed camp life with the Chester Chronicle who published the following report.

Chester Chronicle - Saturday 24 October 1914 INJURED YEOMAN’S EXPERIENCES LIFE IN CAMP: STORY OF NORTHWICH BOYS Trooper F.B. Moore, of No. 5, The Crescent, Northwich, has returned home from the Eastern General Hospital at Cambridge, in the hopes of making a good recovery from injuries sustained while in camp. Trooper Moore, who is well known in the town, is a member of the Cheshire Yeomanry and has been in camp at a place near to Bungay on the East Coast. He had an interesting story of camp life tell our representative, who found him in excellent health after his term of "roughing it." "The Cheshire Yeomanry," said Trooper Moore, "who are at present on the East Coast, are forming part of the Welsh Mounted Brigade, which comprises the Cheshires, Shropshires and Denbighshires, and the Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery. A detachment of the R.A.M.C. and Army Service Corps are also in the camp. The regiments of Yeomanry are seven miles apart, but it is possible to form a brigade at the shortest notice.” "To give you an idea of camp life, the day’s programme includes the sounding of reveille at 5.30 a.m., and at 6 o’clock we are in the stables. There we spend one hour, and at 7 o’clock the horses are fed and the men go breakfast. At 8 o’clock we are obliged to saddle-up, and half an hour later we turn out. Some days we get squadron drill, and others it is outpost schemes and tactical exercises with occasional night alarm about an hour after ‘lights out.’ The men return to camp at 1 o’clock, after having watered the horses in the surrounding rivers. Grooming then takes place, and following the feeding of the horses we go down for dinner. It is always the horses before the men. For an hour after dinner the men are allowed to rest, the time being spent in writing letters and reading the daily papers. We fall in for rifle drill on foot, and drilling is proceeded with until about 5 o’clock. The horses are then taken and watered and fed and this done, the men retire for tea. All who are not on night guard are free from 7 till 9.45, when lights out is blown and roll call takes place in each tent. The night guard is posted at 7 o’clock, and consists of nine men from each squadron, who serve terms of two hours on and four hours off, all through the night till reveille. Occasionally you will be detailed for main-guard; that is, guarding all approaches to the camp and patrolling the ammunition carts. "The night alarm is an exciting time in camp. One squadron with a Maxim gun defend the camp while the remaining two squadrons endeavour to capture the camp, using only recognised roads, lanes and by-passes. A very amusing incident occurred one evening, when the defending company posted a picket about 200 yards down a road which promised a good attack. A string of ABOUT 50 JAM TINS were stretched across the path and the picket then lay in waiting. On came the attacking squadron all mounted and unsuspectingly rushed into the tins, which made a terrible clatter. All the horses stopped, and the men were captured before they had time to realise what had happened. "This is only one the many amusing incidents we see. Another was when a private was in the act of watering a horse. Mounting the horse’s back, he waded right into the centre of the river. Unfortunately, the horse slipped and the man took a lovely dive. What made the occasion more ludicrous was that the Captain came along and uttered an angry threat to the man, who stood in the middle the river wet to the skin, for disturbing the horses during watering.”

Spirit of the Times

In September 1914 the Welsh Border Mounted Brigade moved to Norfolk for coastal defence purposes. The following letter by a man serving with the Brigade in the Royal Army Medical Corps provides some indication of the 'spirit of the times'.

Chester Chronicle - Saturday, 3 October 1914 CHESHIRE AND THE WAR RUNCORN MAN WITH THE R.A.M.C. NEWS OF MR. DE KNOOP We have received an interesting letter from a Runcorn man, Mr. C. Faulkner, of Bold-st., who is serving with the Cheshire Royal Army Medical Corps in Suffolk. That body, he says, attached to the Welsh Border Mounted Brigade, comprising the Shropshire Yeomanry, Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery, Denbighshire Hussars, Cheshire Yeomanry, and the Transport and Supply Column, numbering in all about 3,000 men, “and every one ready and waiting the call to the field of action.” “We have been here four weeks,” writes Mr. Faulkner, “during which time a great many have gone to the front. Twenty of our men left here a fortnight ago to fill the places of some members of the Royal Army Medical Corps who were cut up while doing their duty to their wounded comrades, and to their country, at the battle of Mons. There were touching scenes when we parted with twenty chums, but most of the sorrow was due the fact that we were not going. Still we hope to meet them at the front some time next month. While we have been here we have chiefly been concerned with accident cases, arising out of ‘preparations,’ and it is interesting to know that we have not had more than an average of 23 sick men, day by day, which is an excellent record, and proves the good health the brigade. “It was my pleasure to meet Mr. Jersey de Knoop yesterday, and to find him as genial a soldier as is a politician. He was inoculated at our hospital here with amo-toxin (typhoid serum) and has left for abroad to-day (Thursday) to take up his active duties. I could not help being impressed by his kindliness and courtesy. The Welsh Border Mounted Brigade, which includes many from Cheshire, have volunteered to a main, and have been accepted for the front.

The Likely Lads

Life with the Cheshire Yeomanry in camp at Kirby Cane, Norfolk, September 1914

TB Minshall at bottom

On Thursday 3 September 1914 the Cheshire Yeomanry moved from their camp at Eccleston, near Chester, to Norfolk on the east coast of England. As part of the Welsh Border Mounted Brigade they were bound for Norwich to join the 1st Mounted Division, the division being formed in August for the purpose of home defence.

After a short stay at a camp at Bungay, the Cheshire Yeomanry moved to a new site at Kirby Cane Hall nearby. Two postcards of camp from this time survive, belonging to and featuring Thomas Minshall of “C” Squadron, Cheshire Yeomanry, along with 8 other men. Each card is simply dated “October 1914” on the reverse in Thomas’ handwriting. "C" Squadron drew from an area covering Northwich, Tarporley, Nantwich and Audlem.

On 26 September 1914 the Chester Chronicle published an interesting letter by a trooper of “C” Squadron that detailed daily life in camp.

Well Ordered Bustle and Activity

Cheshire Yeomanry’s Mobilisation and Move to Norfolk, 1914

The Chalmondsbury Flower Show at the beginning of August 1914 included a military tournament. Reportedly great skill was shown by members of the Cheshire Yeomanry and Shropshire Yeomanry in the prize events, which included tent pegging, lemon cutting, potato race and Victoria Cross race. From these genteel times the yeomanry shifted onto a war footing during the month.

On the 4th August 1914 the United Kingdom declared war with Germany and the the next day the Territorial Army was mobilised. Cheshire Yeomanry mobilisation took place at its pre-war training centres:

• Regimental Headquarters: Chester
• "A" (Tatton) Squadron: Knutsford
• "B" (Eaton) Squadron: Chester
• "C" Squadron: Northwich
• "D" Squadron: Macclesfield

The Regimental Sports, advertised to take place on 12th August, were cancelled.

Manchester Evening News reported on 10 August that the "C" Squadron of the Cheshire Yeomanry, quartered at Northwich and drawing from an area covering Northwich, Tarporley, Nantwich and Audlem, had practically completed the purchase of horses and were well mounted. It was also noted that the Northwich football field, the Drill Field, had been converted into a camp, the horses being stabled beneath the covered stands.

Within a week "C" Squadron were on the move to a new camp. After several false alarms the men received orders to leave the Drill Field on Saturday 15 August and the Chester Chronicle (22 August) described the departing camp preparation as in a "state of well ordered bustle and activity".