The Cobb Family and their cousins in World War One.
Henry William Cobb was a saddle and harness maker, the son of a saddle and harness maker and the grandson of a wheelwright. A Norfolk man born in Fakenham, both he and his brother Charles had moved to Kings Lynn as saddle and harness makers.
Prior to the outbreak of World War One, Henry William was probably quite satisfied with most aspects of his life. He was living in Gaywood, in his home attached to the Ship Inn. In his late forties, he shared his home with his wife of 24 years and five of their seven children. The children were Violet aged 24, Harry aged 22, Charlie Frederick aged 16, Elsie aged 12 and Dick aged 3.
The ground floor of the family home included his saddlery shop. The property was very narrow and although the roof space gave it a third story, this merely compensated for the shop on the ground floor. The 1911 census reveals that the property had 6 rooms, excluding bathroom, landing, shop, etc. This presumably meant that the family lived in four bedrooms with a kitchen and living room. Violet was a self employed dressmaker, working from home, but even if she conducted her business from one of the many outbuildings, living conditions must have been cramped with five children in the house. Over the years Henry William took several steps to counter the cramped conditions and enable him to run his business. The property had a range of single storey outbuildings in the yard at the back and Henry William built an upper storey on top of these which provided him with a workshop. This hybrid building, looking like a wooden shack on top of a brick outbuilding, was apparently not liked by the Avis family in the pub next door as it overlooked them.
Henry William’s wife was Kerenhappuch Hornigold, who was known by a shortened version of her name; Happy. The Hornigold’s were one of the traditional families from the North End of Kings Lynn. For generations theirs was a tightly knit fishing community, who tended to stay within their own part of town and generally only married into other families within the community.
Happy Hornigold had five sisters and four brothers. Two of her elder brothers were Charles and Carter, both of whom were fishermen, living at the north end of Kings Lynn, near to the fishing fleet. They both had sons who would serve during the war. The Hornigold family would hawk their freshly caught fish from hand carts and Gaywood was one of their rounds.
The two low points for Henry William and Happy were in relation to two of their children. Eldest son Willie had recently married and left the family home for a new life in Australia and youngest son Dick had developed polio. We do not know exactly when this was officially diagnosed but it must have been apparent from a young age as he walked with a pronounced limp. One morning in 1913 Dick awoke to find that his brother Harry and Harry’s friend Wilf had built him a wheelchair. This was a strange combination of a wooden chair with pram wheels and chassis, but no doubt it was well received. Dick was photographed in it holding a toy cowboy gun and the picture is captioned “built in the moonlight by Harry and Wilf”.
Henry William also had another daughter, 22 year old Gladys Helen. Unlike her siblings she was not of slim build, though nor was she excessively overweight. It seems that she was living away from home, probably as a domestic servant which was common practice at that time. In January 1913 her sister Violet sent a post card from Kings Lynn to Miss GH Cobb, c/o Mrs Horn, The Lordship, Much Haddham, Herts. “Dear G, Mother received your letter this morning & will write on Sunday. I will make the hug me tighter for 1/9 without wool, the pattern like mothers take 8 ozs wool, the wool will be 3d or 3 ½ ozs. So let me know if I have got to make it. I suppose you know Willie was married yesterday & that I was bridesmaid & 2 little girl as well. We were all there in evening, from Violet”.
Gaywood is now a suburb of Kings Lynn, but before the war it was a separate entity and was little more than a large village. A single road led from Kings Lynn to Gaywood and this road then forked into two, one heading for Wooton and Hunstanton and the other to Gayton and eventually Norwich. In a rural area Henry William would have had no shortage of trade. The “landlord” of the adjoining Ship Inn was in fact primarily a farmer and his harness and saddle repairs as well as repairs to tarpaulins, etc were all taken care of by Henry William.
Charles Cobb was Henry William’s brother and he too was a harness maker. Like his brother he had moved to Gaywood and married a local girl. His wife was Jane Armes, whose father had once been publican of the Sun Tavern. Charles and Jane had four sons, Charles Herbert, Frederick Henry, Walter Percy and Bertie Whitby. Charles and Henry William were close as brothers, but perhaps too close for two self employed harness makers. By the turn of the century Charles had moved from Gaywood to nearby Grimston. From there, as well as being a harness maker, Charles ran a carrier service taking parcels from Grimston railway station to Congham and to Kings Lynn station every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He was also steward at the Working Men’s Club. By the start of the war the family had moved and were living at nearby Crimplesham Lodge, close to Downham Market.
1914.
Over the past few years holidays and days out had become a popular pastime with the British public, aided by the development of the railways. The Norfolk coast was particularly popular. In the August sunshine the imminent war was acknowledged as a possibility, but may have been dismissed by holiday makers and countrymen alike as “nothing to do with us”. This was soon to change.
Members of the Naval Reserve were the first to be called up and on Sunday 2nd August fifty or so of them gathered in uniform at the Customs House at Kings Lynn. They made their way to the station and entrained for Chatham, cheered on by many of the local population. Some of the Hornigold family may have been involved, if not they certainly would have known some of those on the train.
Great Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914. In an age before television and when radio was not available to the common man, most people in rural areas would have been made aware of the war by newspapers or by word of mouth. In many areas newspapers were also displayed on public notice boards. Conversation in the local pub would undoubtedly have been of the war and some people may have initially learned of the outbreak of war whilst drinking at the Ship, next door to Henry William’s home and shop.
Town and village notice boards and local newspapers, including the Eastern Daily Press, were soon carrying notices requesting men to join the army. There was no shortage of volunteers, but as the war progressed more and more were needed. Unlike most of Europe, Great Britain had no conscription and instead introduced the process of attestation. A man who attested had simply volunteered. The government would have preferred single men to volunteer, or attest, in preference to married men, but in fact they attested in equal numbers. The fact that a greater number of single men did not attest may have been influential in the government’s decision to introduce straight forward conscription later in the war for all single men and childless widows, aged 18-41. This took effect from January 1916 but by May of the same year was extended to include all men.
One of the first to enlist was Charlie Frederick Cobb. Charlie was 16 years old, a slim man of five feet five inches tall, with a thirty three and a half inch chest who wore round wire rimmed glasses. He had learnt his father’s trade of saddlery, but worked as a clerk for Ladymans, a large wholesale grocer in Kings Lynn High Street. He wasted no time in leaving behind his office job and joining the army, voluntarily enlisting for 4 years service with the 2/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment at East Dereham on 7th September. At enlistment he was 16 but declared himself as being 18. He was already a member of the Territorial Army and signed the appropriate form to declare that he was willing to be posted abroad. His Mother would not have approved and perhaps did not even know that he was so keen to fight. The 2/5th soon moved to Peterborough as part of the 208th Brigade, 69th Division.
As strange as it may seem today, at the start of the twentieth century there were significant numbers of territorial’s who were soldiers on bikes! The 6th [cyclist] Battalion Norfolk Regiment was originally the 1/6th but soon expanded to include the 2/6th and later on the 3/6th. The 2/6th were known as the “Half Crown Holy Boys”. The half crown referred to 2/6d and the holy boys is the historical nickname of the Norfolk Regiment, originating from the image of Britannia on their badge being confused with the Virgin Mary. In common with all other territorial regiments in the years prior to World War One their primary responsibility was the protection of their own county. Whilst they were involved in scouting, reconnaissance and look out duties they also had to be able to act as a fighting unit. All of this was achieved by spending a great deal of time training.
Signing up for the territorial’s was a significant responsibility for the volunteers who already had their day jobs and family commitments. The volunteers signed on for 4 years of service, undertaking at least 40 drills in their first year and ten per year thereafter. A fifteen day summer camp was expected to be attended, often taking the place of the volunteers summer holiday. At least eight days of this had to be attended and the volunteer had to become proficient at “musketry” within his first year. Other training took place throughout the year and the Norfolk’s, based at North Walsham, also had detachments at Great Yarmouth, Ditchingham, Watton, Fakenham, Thetford and Kings Lynn.
On the plus side a private was paid a shilling a day, plus a pound for the use of his own bike for the duration of the compulsory eight days attendance at camp. Most of them did use their own bikes, although at the outbreak of war these were sold to the War Dept who then issued them back to the troops. An additional one shilling and sixpence was paid per day for each day over and above the compulsory eight days that the volunteer attended. An additional 3 shillings was paid for wear and tear on boots and of course food and accommodation were provided. This probably equated to more than the volunteers would have earned at home so the summer camp may have been viewed as something of a paid holiday.
The uniform issued consisted of cap, tunic, trousers and puttees, great coat and a waterproof cape. In addition to this a smart “walking out” uniform of blue cap, blue tunic and regimental trousers was also issued.
At the outbreak of war the Battalion was tasked with patrolling the Norfolk coast with which they were already so familiar.
Harry Cobb was a fit man, who had regularly played local football before the war for a Kings Lynn team. In some pictures the team name on the ball reads “Kings Lynn Exce W Rvs”, and on others “Wed Rovers”, but the precise details of who this team were seems to be lost in time. Team photographs show that Harry was a goalkeeper. The majority of players wore dark [probably black] and white striped shirts. Harry and another player have plain goalkeeper’s shirt, but in some pictures Harry has a totally different shirt, dark with light sleeves and collar. It looks like a West Ham shirt from that era, but as this was long before football kits were fashion items it may in fact be a school or Territorial Army shirt. Harry was an outfitters apprentice. At that time Catleughs were the established outfitters in Kings Lynn, but it is likely that Harry worked for John Kirk a “Ladies and Gentlemen’s Tailor”. His premises were at no 67 High Street, but he lived in Gaywood Road. Perhaps more tellingly one of his large enamel advertising boards was on the wall of the yard at Harry’s home!
Harry was in G Company, 1/6th [cyclist] Battalion Norfolk Regiment and had almost certainly been with them prior to the outbreak of war. If that is the case then on August 3rd he would have been at Pakefield, near Lowestoft, as the annual training camp was underway. Mobilisation orders were received from the War Office and the troops were officially declared as being on a “war footing” the next day. Harry initially moved to Norwich, before moving on to North Walsham, where his regiment was based. From Norwich, Harry sends a postcard to his family; “X this chap is my pal Milligan. Send handkerchiefs and towels when clean with socks. Don’t send shirt. I have all I want bar the socks, handkerchiefs and towels, and also send my map of Norfolk if you can find it. It is not settled on whether we go to the coast on Friday or Saturday so don’t send until you hear the address from me and send per return. What do you think of the enclosed. Have been doing warfare field work and sham fighting this last three days. HC”.
From the tone of Harry’s postcard he is probably sharing a billet with Milligan. Some soldiers would have been billeted in local houses, with the army billeting officer making the decisions on the number of troops to be housed. He would knock on a farmhouse door and decide that six troops could be accommodated there, and perhaps a dozen more in the stables. At a small cottage he may decide that just two troops could be accommodated. The householder had no choice and was also expected to feed the new occupants. However, many soldiers in Norfolk did not get this luxury. By the end of 1914 there were over 20,000 soldiers based in Norfolk, many of whom were billeted in tents. The wet and cold winter of 1914/15 must have given them an early taste of trench life with mud becoming an all too familiar sight. If Harry was not lucky enough to have been in billeted accommodation then he probably had many mornings waking up wrapped in blankets to the sound of rain drumming on the tent.
Frederick Charles Hornigoldwas the son of Carter and Ann Hornigold. [This particular Carter Hornigold was an uncle to Happy, not her brother of the same name]. Frederick Charles, known as Charles and his wife Lizzie lived at 2 Chapel Yard, North Street, Kings Lynn. He worked for local timber company Patrick and Thompson as a deal porter and was also a foreman. Deal porter was a skilled job as large quantities of timber were manually carried and stacked, requiring good technique as well as strength. He was thirty five years old at the outbreak of war, but his job would have ensured that he was in good physical shape. Having originally joined the Norfolk Regiment in 1908 he re-signed for the war in September 1914, accepting any overseas postings that may be given to him, although he only actually served in the UK. On 26th November he was appointed lance corporal with the 5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment.
On 14th December Charlie Frederick Cobb sends his sister Violet a postcard showing soldiers on parade at Dereham. His message is “Dear Violet, I hope you are quite well as it leaves me @ present. You know my address. I got your letter this teatime and sent macs photo on the sametime as this. I will now wish you goodnight, sleep repose half the bed and all the clothes. I am just under the cross on the other side”. The strange message may well indicate that the Cobb brothers and sisters had to share not just bedrooms, but even beds. Another postcard showing soldiers at Dereham railway station has the message “dear V, this is a photo of all the chaps I came with all are Lynn chaps they went away this morning after I came. All the Gaywood chaps are on but I was on the other platform watching them go”.
At this early stage of the war there were insufficient uniforms and equipment and the rapidly expanding Territorial’s were often the worst affected. Pictures of Charlie Frederick and his colleagues at this time show a mixture of men in uniform and civilian clothes. As he was already a Territorial prior to the war Charlie Frederick had his own uniform, which he wore with pride.
At the end of 1914 blackouts were introduced, although these were not as stringent as their equivalents in the Second World War. Initially lights only had to be dimmed or shaded and this was often totally ignored unless the household was in an area that was liable to be attacked by airships. The Cobb household certainly fell within this category and early in the following year the zeppelins came to Kings Lynn.
Henry William Cobb would already have been aware of the blackout requirements and of the threat posed by the zeppelins as he was a Special Constable. The Special Constables Act of 1914 was established in order to provide cover for the many young policemen who had joined the army. Many local men became Special Constables for the duration of the war and Henry William was one of them.
He would have been involved with civil defence duties, perhaps acting as a sentry at the nearby docks or railway station. As the war, and the zeppelin raids, progressed the blackouts were much more rigorously enforced and Henry William would almost certainly have played his part in this.
Frederick Herbert Hornigold was the son of Happy Hornigold’s brother Charles and was therefore a cousin of the Cobb brothers. In his early twenties, at the outbreak of war he was living with his father at Violet Cottage, 2 Burkitt Street, Kings Lynn. Like many of the Hornigold family he was a fisherman. When joining the army he was recorded as being slightly deaf.
Frederick Herbert attested as a territorial on 12th January 1914, signing up for seven years and joining the 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment. By 1st December 1914 he was on his way to the front. He would immediately have experienced snow, frost and mud with many soldiers already suffering from trench foot. He would also have experienced the bizarre Christmas truce. Soldiers from both sides called an unofficial truce for Christmas Day and in some cases even exchanged cigarettes and seasonal pleasantries!
1915.
January.
The first airship raid on Britain which resulted in casualties took place on the night of 19th/20th January 1915. Zeppelins L3 and L4 took off from Fuhlsbuttel and L6 from Nordholz. The latter developed engine trouble and had to turn back. L3 crossed the North Norfolk coast at around nine o clock in the evening and proceeded to drop bombs on Yarmouth. L4 also crossed the North Norfolk coast and headed west. The splendidly named commander, Kapitan-Leutenant Magnus Count von Platen Hallermand dropped a few bombs over Sheringham, mistakenly thinking that he was over the Humber. On a bitterly cold night this confusion was caused by freezing instruments not working properly. The Kapitan-Leutenant continued westwards, but repeatedly headed north out to sea trying to find the opposite side of what he thought was the Humber without success and then heading back south and following what was actually the Norfolk coastline! At Thornham the low flying zeppelin almost collided with the tower of the village school. An incendiary bomb was dropped at Heacham and landed in a water butt. Another bomb was later found by soldiers and ultimately taken to the command post opposite Heacham church where it was proudly guarded by a sentry and peered at by the local population. Perhaps not the safest way to deal with a bomb! A small crater was left by another bomb in the field behind Snettisham church and church windows were damaged. The zeppelin may have been attracted to car headlights leaving the church as a parsons conference was just finishing. Continuing around the coast the zeppelin then dropped bombs over a bigger city. Perhaps thinking he was now in the Midlands Kapitan-Leutenant Hallermand was actually over Kings Lynn and the high explosive and incendiary bombs that he dropped caused tragic damage. Following the railway lines into town the first two bombs were dropped in quick succession along Tennyson Avenue which leads towards the railway station. The junction of Gaywood Road and Tennyson Avenue was only a few hundred yards west from the Cobb household and not much farther east from the part of town where the Hornigold families lived. The next bomb destroyed houses in Bentinck Street. Twenty six year old Mrs Gazeley, already a war widow just a few months into the war, was killed by falling rubble on her way home from a friend’s house. Fourteen year old Percy Goate was asleep when his house was bombed and he too died.
Henry William Cobb could have stood by his front door and seen the glow in the sky as he was only a mile away from the devastation. Or perhaps he was on duty that night with his welfare being an extra concern for his family. From this night on the war probably seemed literally and metaphorically a lot closer to home to the Cobb family.
More bombs were dropped at Albert Street and at the docks, where damage was quite significant. As the zeppelin headed out of town it dropped another bomb, just by Creswell Street. This was just one street over from Burkitt Street where some of the Hornigold’s lived and they too must have felt that the war was suddenly all too real.
The fire brigade were unable to do much more than damp down the devastation left by the air raids. Fire engines at this time were still horse drawn, and even hand drawn, carts. The “fire escape” was little more than an extending ladder fixed to a hand cart. The bigger horse drawn carts had large wheels at the back and slightly smaller wheels at the front, which turned to assist with steering through the narrow streets. These carts had a flat boarded floor on which the equipment was mounted. One was the fire tender equipped with hose and fittings and another was the steam driven pump.
The population soon became familiar with the characteristic steady buzz of a zeppelin engine. The zeppelins flew at about 1200 feet and were seen as a long oblong shape. Searchlights intermittently shone down from them looking for targets.
The frequency with which the zeppelins appeared over Norfolk led to a specific role for some troops. Scattered across Norfolk were several groups of soldiers tasked with the job of spotting and illuminating zeppelins. These soldiers were in small groups, typically six men, and had a tent, or if they were lucky, a shed for accommodation. A lorry was used to tow their large searchlight. The potential boredom for these troops was often relieved by undertaking some poaching in order to boost their basic rations.
There were rumours that as long ago as April 1903 an unidentified airship was seen over West Norfolk. Some people thought at the time that this was a spying German airship. Prior to, and during the war, there were also stories of foreigners and people behaving strangely, and of lights being shone into the sky as a guide.
While the zeppelins were busy over Norfolk Charlie Frederick Cobb was at Peterborough with the 2/5th Norfolk’s D company, no 3 section. He and his colleagues were the winners of an inter section drill competition. An informal photo taken at around this time shows Charlie and his colleagues outside some large wooden huts, presumably their billets, and holding their mess tins and baskets.
March.
One of Henry William Cobb’s brothers was Alfred Cobb. Like many of his relatives he was not a tall man, being five feet four and a half inches tall, with a thirty six inch chest and weighing one hundred and twenty seven pounds. He had followed another of their brothers in moving from Thornham on the North West Norfolk coast, to the east of Norfolk where he married Mary Pearce. Within two years they had moved back to Thornham. On 20th March he signed up with the Army Service Corps at Woolwich, having voluntarily enlisted at the age of thirty four. He was a driver and saddler with the ASC. In civilian life he was primarily a gardener, but probably also undertook chauffer duties for his employer. He was also trained as a harness and saddle maker by his father.
April.
By April Harry Cobb was settled at North Walsham. Since the outbreak of war the country wide network of railways had been used to move troops and materials. In the east of Norfolk the line ran from North Walsham to Great Yarmouth passing through Stalham, where troops could disembark for Happisburgh or Sea Palling and through Hemsby where troops could disembark for Winterton. Although bicycles were the preferred mode of transport for Harry and his colleagues, they would have been familiar with these stations. They may also have seen an unusual armoured train.
In 1914 the War Office purchased two steam engines, built at Crewe, for use in armoured trains. The engines were N1 0-6-2T tank engines. The armoured trains were based on those used in the Boer War. They had armour plating and in addition to the naval type of 12 pounder guns they were also equipped with Maxim machine guns. The engine was placed in the centre of the train with an infantry wagon either side of it and a gun carriage at either end of the train. At times a tender was used with the engine in order to provide more coal and therefore a longer travelling distance. One of these trains was based at Edinburgh and the other at North Walsham. It regularly patrolled the stretch of coast between Cromer and Great Yarmouth but for security reasons ran at different times and also covered other parts of Norfolk on occasion.
The value of such a train was questionable as a zeppelin could have rendered it useless by bombing the tracks. Zeppelins often used the railways as a kind of map as wet rails tend to shine in the moonlight and were a useful guide from high above the blacked out countryside.
Harry is included in a group photo taken in mid April at Winterton. His time would have been taken up with coastal defence duties and training. A great deal of training took place along the north east Norfolk coast from Happisburgh, through Sea Palling to Winterton. The main activities included trench warfare practice, with a multitude of trenches dug in the sand and “sham warfare” training, sometimes conducted whilst wearing trench warfare uniform of woollen hat, jumper and puttees. Lookout duty for zeppelins was another regular activity and the lighthouse at Winterton was often used as a lookout post. A year or two later when the Royal Naval Anti Aircraft Brigade were based at North Walsham, they insisted that the lightship off the coast at nearby Happisburgh extinguished its light as it could be acting as a guide for zeppelins. Back at Winterton they also discovered that pheasants were a useful early warning system as the birds apparently became restless when they heard approaching aircraft or zeppelin engines!
May.
The 1/6th Norfolk Regiment did not see overseas service and the troops were ultimately transferred to other regiments. A total of six officers and one hundred and twenty men were transferred from the 1/6th Norfolk Regiment to the 2/6th Gloucester Regiment during May. Harry was amongst them, signing on with the Gloucester’s at North Walsham.
The 2/6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a pre-war territorial battalion which mainly recruited from the Bristol area and the south of the county. The flood of volunteers at the outbreak of the Great War led to many Territorial Battalions being split into two or three and brought up to strength. The 1/6th Gloucester Regiment originally consisted of the better recruits while the 2/6th tended to be composed of the younger and older men, as well as those who weren't quite as fit as the army would have liked. Harry and his colleagues were part of the strengthening of this group. The 2/6th Battalion became part of 183rd Brigade, 61st [2/South Midland] Division and spent many months training, first at Northampton, before moving to Chelmsford in Essex where Harry joined up with them.
As Harry moved the short distance from Norfolk to Essex, his uncle Alfred was about to move further afield. Alfred had been in the UK until 8th May, but was then shipped to France with 105 Company, Army Service Corps. The Army Service Corps, known as ASC, provided the supply line for the army. Using horses and motor vehicles they moved troops, food, weapons and all other supplies for the Division of the army that they served. Each Division had some transport under its direct command, known as the Divisional Train. Wherever the Division went the Divisional Train went too, although their role meant that they did not have to endure the danger of the trenches and no man’s land. 105 Company ASC was attached to the 9th [Scots] Division. They were shipped to France between 9th and 12th May 1915 and were initially billeted south west of St Omer. The 9th [Scots] Division undertook training in trench warfare near Armentieres.
Since the outbreak of war patriotism had understandably been running high. On 18th May, Charles Hornigold, Kerenhappuch’s brother who had three sons in the army, and his friend James Ward smashed the windows of Leopold Valenkin’s photography shop in Kings Lynn High Street. Unfortunately Mr Valenkin, who had been in England for ten years, was Russian, not German! Having agreed to pay 25 shillings for damages the two men were discharged.
On 20th May Frederick Charles Hornigold, Happy’s cousin, was posted to 3 Observer Company, Royal Defence Corps. The primary duties of the RDC were guarding ports, tunnels, bridges, prisoner of war camps and undertaking lookout duties for zeppelins.
On 28th June, Frederick Herbert Hornigold, Happy’s nephew and the Cobb brothers cousin, suffered a gunshot wound to his right shoulder and was taken to the rest station. This would have happened in the area of the Albert Front, where he was serving with the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. He rejoined the Norfolk’s on 10th July, so the wound could not have been too serious.
July.
Back in England the 2/5th Norfolk Regiment including Charlie Frederick Cobb was on the move, but only from Peterborough to Bury St Edmunds. Soldiers who were for home service only [not Charlie Frederick as he had signed out] were sent elsewhere at this stage. It is probably at around this time that Charlie Frederick went to Ireland, although his service records make no reference to this. He later expressed his disgust at being sent to Ireland when he “had signed up to fight Germans”. He liked Ireland though and many years later visited again to remember old times.
August.
If Henry William Cobb had stood at the entrance to his shop and looked to the skies he may have noticed a small aeroplane about ten miles away to the south east. The plane was an Avro, piloted by a member of the Royal Naval Air Service [RNAS] and it was about to land at Narborough. Early in the war the RNAS were responsible for defending the skies over Britain and the continued raids by zeppelins had caused them to increase the number of aerodromes from which they operated. Around Norfolk several “night landing grounds” were set up as satellite airfields for RNAS Great Yarmouth. Sedgeford, around ten miles north of Henry Williams shop and Holt, around thirty miles to the north east, were two more of these airfields and together with Narborough they covered the western half of Norfolk. An RNAS plane would fly to one of these airfields from where it could patrol the skies or attack any zeppelins which were spotted. After six months without any success the RNAS decided to withdraw from Narborough.
On 28th August Frederick Herbert Hornigold was out of action again, this time with a sprained knee. He had only been back for around six weeks since recovering from being shot in the shoulder. This time he was discharged to service at the base depot on 4th September, not rejoining his colleagues of the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment until 25th September.
September.
The 9th [Scots] Division began to prepare for its first significant action of the war, the Battle of Loos. General Douglas Haig, in charge of the entire British First Army, was the man with overall responsibility for this battle, which commenced on 25th September. The heavy bombardment which was the usual prelude to a major offensive was on this occasion limited by a shortage of artillery shells. Another element of warfare was used for the first time by the British; poison gas. At dawn around 140 tons of chlorine gas was released, but it was not entirely successful. In places the gas was blown back into the British lines. The gas masks that the troops wore were not particularly efficient, to such an extent that many removed them altogether and then became victims of the gas intended for the Germans. Despite this, the British were initially successful, fighting their way through the German lines and capturing the town of Loos. However the shortage of shells was probably responsible for the artillery failing to cut or destroy the majority of the barbed wire across the front. This in turn led to slow moving troops, well within the range of the German machine gunners and artillery, and the losses were high. The British reserve forces were not brought forward quickly enough to relieve the exhausted Scots and by the time the battle subsided on 28th September the Germans had not only held the British, but pushed them back to their starting position. Had the reserve forces been brought in more quickly or had more artillery shells been available this would probably have been a significant victory. As it was heavy casualties were sustained and Alfred Cobb was probably grateful that he was in support of the 9th Scots with the ASC rather than in the trenches with them.
October.
Willie Cobb was five feet four inches tall, with a thirty four and a half inch chest, fair hair, light blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Distinguishing features included vaccination marks and a scar across both knuckles of the first finger of his left hand. Willie had married Kings Lynn girl Bella Ashton in 1913 and they had emigrated to Woodford, Queensland, Australia. He had learnt his father’s trade and wasted no time in setting up his own saddlery business. Their first child was born at Kandanga, Queensland on 2nd April 1915. Named Henry William Albert, in part after his Grandfather, he was known as Albert and was only six months old when his father joined the Australian forces.
On 1st October 1915 Willie enlisted with the 23rd Company, Army Service Corps, 3rd Division Train in the Australian army at Caboolture, Queensland. At the time of his enlistment he was twenty three years old. His enlistment record shows that he had previously served for three years and ten months with the Norfolk & Suffolk Brigade, only leaving them when emigrating to Australia. Willie was initially a driver with the ASC. In common with the British, the Australian ASC went everywhere with the Division to which they were attached, in Willies case the Australian 3rd Division.
December.
Charles Herbert Cobb was another cousin to Charlie Frederick, Harry and William Cobb, and lived in Grimston, a few miles from Kings Lynn. He was married to May Rudd and had three daughters. He was of similar, but broader build to his cousins; five feet six inches tall with a forty inch chest. His father, Henry William Cobb’s brother Charles, was a harness maker but Charles Herbert showed a more diverse business mind. At the outbreak of war he was a chauffeur and small farmer. At the age of thirty he volunteered on 10th December, joining the Army Service Corps [motor transport].
1916.
In order to defend itself from German submarines and destroyers Kings Lynn had heavy guns positioned at either side of the mouth of the River Ouse. Mines were laid across the river entrance too and a guard ship was on station in the middle of the river. On land a battalion of soldiers were based nearby. In addition to all these measures the decision was taken to remove the light buoys which indicated the route for safe passage. As good as these defensive measures were they caused a problem. Ships coming into the docks under cover of darkness could not find their way so fishing boats were moored with just their riding lights on to act as markers. With most able bodied men in the forces many of the fishing boats were manned by the young and the elderly. They spent hours at anchor on their fishing boats waiting for ships to come in. In complete darkness, with just the weak lights on the fishing boats to act as a guide, the merchant vessels understandably “aimed” for the lights in order to find their way into the docks. Near misses were common as the comparatively huge steel merchant ships cruised close by the small wooden fishing boats, often swamping them with their wake. Some members of the Hornigold family may have been unlucky enough to experience this for themselves.
The German Navy had in fact been quite successful with its submarine attacks on merchant ships and with its blockades at sea. The result of this was a shortage of food supplies for the British public which became noticeable by the start of 1916. The Cobb family would have had to cope with the effects of panic buying and rapidly rising prices. Their home backed onto a large area of allotments. Pictures show the Cobb family with chickens, pigs and goats during the 1920’s and it is likely that they had some animals during the war which may have provided them with some additional food. Although Kings Lynn was an expanding town it was still in a rural area and both farmers and poachers would have been particularly busy.
As more and more men joined the army, women began to take on roles that were previously not available to them. Many joined the Women’s Land Army, working on farms to try and ensure that as much food as possible was still grown and harvested. Other jobs ranging from industry to forestry, tram driving to railway work, and almost everything in between were undertaken by women.
March.
Bertie Whitby Cobb was another cousin to Charlie Frederick, Harry and Willie Cobb. He was a brother of Charles Herbert who was with the ASC. Bertie Whitby was of typical Cobb build; five feet five inches tall with fair hair and blue eyes. Like his cousin Willie, he had emigrated to Australia before the war, but unlike Willie had first tried settling in Canada. Bertie ultimately went to Goulburn, New South Wales, some 700 miles south of his cousin Willie in Woodford.
In Goulburn Bertie lived with Mr Eggesdon at the Diocesan Registry. On his enlistment papers he states his religion as “Anglican” as opposed to the more commonly used “Church of England”. [One of his brothers, Frederick Henry, was a Wesleyan.] On 29th March Bertie enlisted in the army at Goulburn, joining the 55th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement, as a private.
April to July.
Frederick Henry Cobb, known as Fred, was born in 1887. He was another brother of Charles Herbert and Bertie Whitby Cobb. As recently as 1911 he had been living in Grimston, but at the outbreak of war he was living at Belwell House, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield. He had married Eveline Alice Bate at the Wesleyan church in Walsall on 3rd April 1912. The couple had a young son called William, who was born in 1915. Fred himself was of the usual Cobb build, being five feet six inches tall with a thirty six inch chest. He was a tailor by trade, but like his brother Charles Herbert and his uncle Alf he was able to drive. In the days before telephones and computers keeping up with family events must have been more difficult. Fred’s attestation papers state that his brother Walter was serving with the Canadian forces, but he had actually returned to England in 1912 and married in Kings Lynn in 1913. Whether he remained in Norfolk or did in fact return to Canada is unclear.
On 24th April 1916 at the age of 29 Fred joins the army. He states that he has previous experience with the Hussars and expresses a preference to join the Royal Flying Corps or the Machine Gun Corps. Instead, probably because he was able to drive, he is sent to the ASC!
On 16th April Frederick Herbert Hornigold fell victim to another gunshot wound to his shoulder, this time his left shoulder. He was admitted to hospital the next day and did not rejoin his colleagues of the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment until 18th May. This wound must have been more serious than his first as his recuperation took about twice as long.
In Australia, while Bertie Whitby Cobb was settling into army life, his cousin Willie was already rapidly gaining promotion. On 19th April, having passed his competency exam he was promoted to Sergeant Saddler. While at Alderley with 23 Company ASC he was promoted again, this time to Staff Sergeant, on 1st May.
The SS Persic was built in Belfast by the shipbuilders Harland and Wolff in 1899. As supplied to the White Star Line she could carry 320 “cabin class” passengers spread over three decks. Her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Sydney had been via Cape Town where troops for the Boer War were replaced by injured Australians heading for home. The Liner Requisition Scheme saw many ships given over to war duties in World War One and the Persic, now named HMAT [His Majesty’s Australian Troopship] Persic was again carrying Australian soldiers. At the end of May, Willie Cobb would have looked up at her big single funnel with two masts fore and two masts aft, as he marched up the gang plank with the rest of 23 Company ASC 3rd Division train. They left Sydney on the long journey to England, from where they would head to France.
Alfred Cobb was already in France with 105 Company ASC, attached to the 9th [Scots] Division who throughout the summer were involved in the Battle of the Somme including the battles of Albert, Bazentin, Delville Wood and Le Transloy.
Charlie Frederick Cobb was still with the Norfolk Regiment in the UK, on the way from Bury St Edmunds to Harrogate.
Frederick Hornigoldwas the son of Happy Hornigold’s brother Carter and was a cousin of the Cobb brothers. Like most of the Hornigold’s he made his living in the fishing industry; he was a fish hawker. He and his wife lived at 14 Lansdowne Street, Kings Lynn. He enlisted at Kings Lynn on 11th November 1915, joining the 30th [Labour] Battalion Royal Fusiliers and underwent his medical examination at Woolwich on 30th May 1916. His medical records reveal that he had scars on both legs and that he was obese. He was five feet six and a half inches tall, weighed 154lb and had a thirty nine inch chest, so whilst he may have been on the stocky side obese seems a rather unkind description! He was posted to his unit the day after his medical and soon left Southampton, arriving at Havre on 31st May. The following year his unit name was changed and became 106th Labour Company.
The Labour Companies took on various tasks ranging from general labour, to clearing the battlefield of bodies or scrap materials. As they moved around so much tracking their movements today are very difficult. In fact although Frederick’s service records survive there are large periods of time with no entry listed and no indication as to where he was at that time.
By early 1916 the Royal Flying Corps [RFC] had taken over the responsibility for air defence from the RNAS and in June they took over the abandoned airfield and sheds at Narborough. The first to arrive were 35 Squadron from nearby Thetford. Tents were erected at the western end of the field, but in an attempt to create a little more luxury some airmen constructed a home from packing crates and tarpaulins. Their attempts at creating luxury were probably not too successful as their home was apparently known as “earwig villa”! A variety of aircraft were used by 35 Squadron including FE2b’s, Vickers “gunbuses”, Avro 504s and BE2cs. The local population soon found that fascinating entertainment could be had by watching the aircraft coming and going. Such was the popularity that cart loads of people would arrive to watch on Sundays, some coming from Kings Lynn. It is possible that Henry William or Charles Cobb may have travelled from Gaywood or Grimston to watch.
Harry Cobb, having been transferred to the Gloucester Regiment, would have joined up with his new colleagues at Chelmsford. They briefly moved to Southend, ready for any attempted German landing. From there they moved to Salisbury Plain and from nearby Tidworth they left for Southampton on 23rd May. The ships sailed that night, but two of them, the St Marguerite and the Bellerophon, had to return to Southampton because of enemy submarine activity. They sailed again the following day. Having arrived at Havre, Harry would have marched to Rest Camp No. 5. More marching followed, passing through Busnes and St Venant until he reached La Cix Marmuse on 1st June. This was where the Divisional Reserve was located and Harry spent a week here on working parties. By 11th June they had reached the front line trenches. The war must now have seemed very close as Harry and his colleagues would have been able to see the enemy over the parapet, perhaps glimpsing their round blue caps with a red band around the centre. Until the 21st June the 2/6th Gloucester’s remained here and around a moated grange. A few soldiers were injured or killed as both sides exchanged sniper fire.
On 21st June the Battalion marched back to its billets at La Gorgue, and spent a week training in the area before moving to the trenches at Laventie, where they once again formed working parties. This must have been another reality check for Harry. Laventie had become the base for the 61st Division including the 2/6th Gloucesters and although it had fared better than many towns, it was badly damaged. The church had been destroyed and many other buildings had been damaged by artillery fire. On 10th July Harry and his colleagues were back in the trenches near Fauquissart. An attack scheduled for the 14th was cancelled as the wind was blowing in the wrong direction for gas to be used. This gave Harry a brief respite as the 2/6th Gloucesters were relieved on the 15th but they were back in the trenches the following day. On the 18th they were in the front line near Laventie, and for the third time in a week, a planned attack was cancelled. Finally, the attack went ahead on the 19th July, against German positions around Fromelles and for the 2/6th Gloucester’s the attack was a disaster, with many casualties.
The Battle of Fromelles was intended to occupy German forces so that they did not head south to the Battle of the Somme. The battle was debated by High Command for a few days but was ultimately given the go ahead by General Charles Monro. Further north were Australian and New Zealand troops but the 61st Division were near the centre of the attack. Prolonged bombardments from late morning signalled the start of the battle on 19th July. The Germans responded with a bombardment of their own resulting in approximately 50 casualties from the 2/6th Gloucesters. At 5.30pm the 2/6th Gloucesters moved out of the trenches, in many places through small sally ports, which enabled the enemy to concentrate their fire on these congested areas. The enemy also had a good view over the 400 yards of flat terrain separating their own well defended areas from the exposed Allies. They were unable to penetrate the German line and capture the villages of Aubers and Fromelles as planned. Instead the Allied troops were decimated by the German fire and suffered heavy casualties. Amazingly a small party led by Lieutenant Colonel F.A.C Hamilton reached the German lines close to Wick Salient but were unable to hold the position and the Lieutenant Colonel was wounded. Orders were received to attack again at 9pm that evening but this order was soon cancelled. The 61st Division lost 13 officers and 165 other ranks, but the total death toll for allied soldiers was more than 1,500. Orders then came through for the 2/6th and 2/4th Gloucesters to try to withdraw the wounded men from no man’s land. The 2/6th Gloucester’s then fell back to Levantie on 20th July where they rested and were reorganized over the next four days. Harry had been wounded during the fighting at Fromelles on 19th July.
A standard field service postcard with the post mark 22nd July 1916 was sent to the Cobb family in Gaywood from Harry. In his hand writing the multiple choice text had been partly deleted so as to read “I have been admitted into hospital wounded and am going on well. I am being sent down to the base. Letter follows at first opportunity. Pvte H Cobb. 21 July 1916”. The family must have received this with a mixture of fear and relief, but their relief was to be short lived. Despite the positive tones Harry died of his wounds on 30th July, aged twenty three, at St Omer in France. It is not known how long it took before the family heard that he had died, but one to two weeks was the normal timescale for a letter to be received from the War Office. If the death was during a major battle it could take even longer before the officer in charge had time to write the relevant letters. Sometimes a death was reported back informally by other soldiers, but the whereabouts of the Cobb brothers make this unlikely in Harry’s case. He was buried at Longuenesse [St Omer] and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
A point of note with regards to the Battle of Fromelles is that one of the message runners in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment was Adolf Hitler. The 16th Bavarians were opposite 2/6th Gloucesters during the battle. If Harry’s injuries and subsequent death were the result of an artillery barrage then it is possible that the written order for that barrage was carried by Adolf Hitler!
The Battle of the Somme had been raging for a few weeks with neither side making any real progress. Instead they both turned their attention to individual towns, hills or woods – any area which might give them a foothold. One of these was DelvilleWood. Frederick Herbert Hornigold was fighting here with the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. On 23rd July he suffered yet another gunshot wound, this time to his left foot. The wound was sufficiently serious for him to be shipped home. On 16th November he left Folkestone for Boulogne, rejoining his colleagues on 27th November 1916.
Willie Cobb completed the long voyage from Australia, arriving in Plymouth on 25th July. In the space of three years Willie had married, emigrated to Australia, become a father and sailed back to England with the army. As he docked at Plymouth he would have been unaware that his brother Harry lay dying in France. The postal service within Great Britain was good, with letters and post cards being delivered within a matter of two or three days. The postal service to troops overseas was relatively good, but obviously took a little longer. However, communication with troop’s onboard ship, other than military communication, was non-existent. After a train journey to Amesbury, Willie marched through the town of Amesbury to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. This was part of a vast military establishment of wooden and tin buildings, built on short brick pillars, which had been completed in the first two years of the war. Part of it was now to be home to Australian soldiers while undergoing their final training before leaving for the front.
Willie’s wife Bella had also travelled from Australia, back to England, with her baby son. How she achieved this, both practically and financially, is unclear – she may even have sailed over with Willie on the troopship.
Little more than two months after Harry’s death his cousin, Charles Herbert Cobb, was on the way to France. Until 7th October he had been in the UK with the ASC, but was then sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He was a cook and driver, qualified to drive the Thornycroft lorries that the army was using.
In 1913 the heavy vehicle manufacturer Thornycroft had introduced its new J type lorry. Though basic by today’s standards, it had features typical of that time; four gears, solid rubber tyres, no front brakes, and a hand, as well as foot, throttle. It ran on petrol, but could also run on paraffin and the fuel tank filler was on the dashboard! The vehicle was just over 13 ½ feet long, could carry around 3 ½ tons and had a top speed of 20 mph.
At the outbreak of WWI the War Office were short of motor vehicles and having impressed some vehicles it then instructed Thornycroft that all J types currently being manufactured must be for military use. Soon twenty eight lorries a week were being delivered to the WO and by the end of the war five thousand had been supplied. It was not until later in the war that a small number of J types were made available to private operators, and even then it was subject to WO approval.
September.
Another Gaywood resident and friend of the Cobb’s became a casualty. Henry Wilfred Whittley, known as Harry, was a corporal with the 1st Norfolk’s. On 9th September he died of his wounds.
Willie Cobb would by now have been settled in his temporary home at Larkhill. His wood and corrugated tin billet was shared with 29 colleagues. The site could be very muddy in bad weather, although paving slab paths around the billets helped to keep out the worst of the mud. In contrast, dry weather turned the surface of the local chalky soil to a very fine white dust which found its way into uniforms and equipment. To enter the relative comfort of his billet Willie would have climbed up two wooden steps and entered through a solid door emblazoned with “3rd Div Train, Saddlers. No 23. 30 men.” From here he wrote several post cards. A postcard dated 23rd September 1916 states that Willie had “been very busy and the king is going to inspect us on Wed”. The King did indeed inspect the Aussies at Larkhill and afterwards sent a message to them all. “Today I inspected, for the first time in this country, troops from my Dominions of Australia and New Zealand. These successive contingents are the recognition by the Dominions of their obligations to the common defence of the Empire. I was particularly impressed by the soldierly appearance and physique of the men of the various units, while the warm-hearted greetings acceded to me on my departure touched me deeply. The keen spirit which animates all ranks shows that officers and men realise what careful training and strict discipline are necessary to reach that high standard of efficiency demanded by modern war. Make good use of your time on Salisbury Plain and reinforce the fighting line with worthy successors to those who have made famous the name of ANZAC. I shall ever watch with interest your progress and well-being”.
October.
In England Charlie Frederick Cobb was on the move again, but not for the first time he did not move too far. The Norfolk’s moved from Harrogate to Doncaster.
Back in Australia, Bertie Whitby Cobb left Sydney on 7th October onboard HMAT Ceramic bound for Plymouth. He was a private with A Company, 55 Battalion.
During World War One the Ceramic led a charmed life. Originally built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1913 she was sailed by the White Star Lines Australian Service. For many years she was the largest ship sailing between Europe and Australia. In 1914 she was taken over as a troopship. A few months before Bertie Whitby embarked for Plymouth she had had a narrow escape from a torpedo attack in the Mediterranean. She had 2,500 troops on board at the time. In June 1917 she had another narrow escape from a torpedo attack in the English Channel, and a month later she was chased by a surfaced submarine, but managed to escape. After the war she returned to passenger ship duties, but in World War Two was again put to use as a troop ship. This time her luck ran out and in December 1942 she was torpedoed and sunk.
At Larkhill Willie Cobb writes another postcard, sent to his sister Violet and dated 10th October. It says that Willie is “coming home this week on Thursday, late is possible leaving here 5 o clock, will be staying at Gaywood”.
November.
After a brief stay with his parents at Gaywood, Willie rejoins his unit. They leave Southampton for France on 22nd November onboard City of Berais. Between then and November 1918 Willie was on operations in France and Belgium. The Cobb family has a small pair of binoculars which were allegedly taken from the body of a German officer by Willie. Given their respective roles it is perhaps more likely that Willie’s brother Charlie looted these.
December.
Charlie Frederick Cobb remained in the UK, serving from 7th Sept 1914 until 2nd December 1916 when he was sent to France, leaving Folkestone for Boulogne. Having lied about his age when first enlisting he probably thought that there would be no comeback. However he had not anticipated the fury and determination of a concerned Mother. Having heard of his transfers to the 3rd Norfolk’s, a holding company, and then to the 9th Norfolk’s at the front she reacts remarkably quickly.
Charlie’s mother writes to the War Office on 13th December.
“Dear Sir,
I have received notice to say that my son, no 29779, pte C F Cobb, has been directed to the front of units the third Norfolks from the 2/5th Norfolks. You will see by the birth serticate that he is only 18 years it will be my great wish that he will be kept at the back until he is 19, as I have already lost one son in France and my other son is serving in the 23rd company Australians. He passed his test as a saddler of transports with the 2/5th Norfolks and then been transferred back to the 3rd and now sent to France.
Yours respectfully,
Mrs HW Cobb”.
Her letter, which reveals that Charlie had qualified as an army saddler, was received by the army on 14th December, but she had sent it to the War Office, who forwarded it to the relevant department. Concerned at what she thought was a lack of response she writes again on 20th December.
“Dear Sir,
About 2 weeks ago I wrote to you enclosing my sons birth certificate to show he was only 18 years of age, to stop him from going to France until he was 19 years but I have had no reply or had the birth certicate returned, I have already lost one dear son in this war and my oldest son and the one 18 years old is out in France now. I wish you would do what you can for me. He was formerly in the 2/5th Norfolks, was transferred to 3rd Norfolks, but has now been put into 9th Norfolks at the front and I hope you will do what you can to stop him from going into the trenches, he is Pte C Cobb 29779, No 9 Platoon, C Company, 9th Norfolks, BEF, France. Hoping to hear soon and that I shall have his birth certicate back.
I remain yours respectfully,
Mrs HW Cobb”.
On 21st December, whilst Charlie Frederick Cobb was still in France, his cousin Bertie Whitby sailed from Folkestone for France on the Princess Victoria.
Adding to the Cobb population in France was Willie. In December he sends a postcard confirming that he “arrived safe and well, with love to all at home”. After his name Willie signs the card as Staff Sgt 23co AACE 3 Ohio train AF 7 France. On the 22nd December he sends another postcard, this time to his brother Dick. “Dear Dick, hope this will find you and all at home in the best of health. We have had snow here today and a bit of sun, with love from brother Willie”. Both cards were stamped by the field post office at which they were posted and by the field censor to say that they had passed field censorship.
Christmas in the Cobb household at Gaywood must have been a stressful time. Harry had been killed in the summer, Charlie was presumably in France despite his mothers letters, Willie had just arrived in France and so too had their cousin Bertie Whitby. The recent birth of Willie’s second child, Iris, would have been the only highlight. With Willie’s wife Bella having returned to England, Iris was born in Gaywood.
1917.
January to March.
On 5th January a letter is sent from a 2nd Lieutenant for the officer in charge of records, No 9 District to the Deputy Adjutant General, BEF, France.
“Re No 29954 Pte C Cobb, 9th Norfolk Regiment.
With reference to the above named man, an application has been received from his mother for him to be sent home on the grounds of his being under age. According to his birth certificate which is in my possession, he was born 9/8/1898 and consequently will not attain the age of 18 ½ years until 9/8/1917. On enlistment, viz 7/9/1914 he stated that his age was 18 years. In accordance with army council instruction 1186 of 1916 he should be dealt with under para 2 sub section 13.
Kindly inform me of action taken”.
On the same day the 2nd Lieutenant also writes to Mrs Cobb.
“Madam,
In reply to your communication dated 13/12/16, received today from the War Office, regarding the age of your son, No 29954 Private C Cobb 9th Battalion Norfolk Regiment, I have reported the case to the Deputy Adjutant General and in accordance with Army Council instructions he will be sent home if willing and transferred to a home service unit where his services will be utilized. I return herewith his birth certificate.
I am, Madam, your obedient servant”.
The phrase “if willing” implies that Charlie may have had a say in the matter, which seems unlikely, so perhaps this was a typographic error on the part of the 2nd Lieutenant.
On 25th January the 2nd Lieutenant receives a reply from the Deputy Adjutant General.
“With reference to your letter no 1975/17 dated 1/5/17 No 29954 Pte C Cobb 9th Battalion Norfolk Regiment proceeded to England on 20/1/17 under Army Council instruction 1905 of 1916”.
On 29th January the 2nd Lieutenant again writes to Mrs Cobb.
“Madam,
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 1st inst, received today from the War Office, relative to your request for your son 29954 Pte C Cobb, now serving at the Depot, Norwich.
With reference to your statement that you had received no reply to your former communication, or the return of the Birth Certificate of your son, I have to inform you that you were notified on the 6th. inst. that Pte Cobb will be sent to England and posted to a Home Service Unit. His birth certificate was also returned to you on the same date.
I am Madam, your obedient servant”.
On 1st February and having received the most recent letter Mrs Cobb writes again.
“Dear Sir,
Thanks for letter I received yesterday about my son Pte C Cobb, Norfolks, since I wrote about him I have received birth certicate, also to hear from him that he is in England, thanking you very much.
I remain yours truly,
Mrs HW Cobb”.
Charlie Frederick Cobb was in France from 8th December 1916 to 20th January 1917, but due to his Mothers letter he was sent home for being under age for front line service and from 21st January was serving at the base depot in Norwich.
His Mothers understandable concern was probably a cause of embarrassment for Charlie and he was perhaps grateful to be transferred. On 1st March 1917 he transfers to the 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, who formed part of the 5th Division. His military records state that he was a first class army saddler.
Between January and March, Bertie Whitby Cobb and the Australian 5th Division were in action at Ancre.
Meanwhile Bertie’s brother Frederick Henry attested at Sutton Coldfield on 31st January as a learner driver, starting out at Grove Park the following day. He was subsequently transferred to the 60th Training Reserve Battalion.
On the 5th February, whilst with 221st Infantry, 60th Training Reserve Battalion, he is confirmed as a learner driver by virtue of an examination in a military workshop.
On the 23rd February he is transferred to the 61st Training Reserve Battalion.
February.
Walter Hornigoldwas the son of Happy Hornigold’s brother Carter and was a cousin of the Cobb brothers. He lived at Baptist Chapel Yard, Broad Street, Kings Lynn. He was a Moulders apprentice at local firm Savages. Frederick Savage had started his business building farm machinery, but had diversified into making fairground rides. The annual fair, the Mart, at Kings Lynn, was a prime opportunity to show off these machines, but despite this the company struggled and in 1911 was bought out by a group of local men. Now known simply as “Savages”, many of the previous employees were taken back on. During the war the firm made aircraft wings, and perhaps this had inspired Walter to become more involved in the war. He attested on 22nd February 1917, a few months before his nineteenth birthday, joining the 6th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. This was a home service battalion which remained in the UK and Walter subsequently moved to the Royal Engineers.
April.
Frederick Henry Cobb had a bad start to April, spending ten days in hospital with tonsillitis.
May.
On 12th May Bertie Whitby Cobb was wounded in action, suffering shrapnel wounds to his lip, neck, shoulder and thigh. This occurred at the second Battle of Bullecourt where the 55th Battalion formed part of the 14th infantry within the 5th Division. He was admitted to hospital at Hapsbury on 15th May and was then shipped via Calais to England.
The objective of the second battle of Bullecourt was to attack German lines which ran through Bullecourt and capture the villages beyond the lines. Having started on the 3rd May, fierce fighting continued up to the 10th, more so than elsewhere along the fifty mile front. This resulted in the 5th Division, including Bertie Whitby, being brought into the fighting. The fighting slowed by the 17th May as both sides had fought themselves to the point of exhaustion, but by then Bertie had been wounded.
June.
Back in Gaywood the Cobb family may have heard of some foreigners in the locality.
As the war progressed an increasing number of German prisoners were sent to Great Britain and put to work on farms and on river and dyke clearing duties. By June 1917 there were around 80 prisoners at Narborough, a few miles from Kings Lynn. During the following year 42 were accommodated in the stables at Houghton Hall, also close to Kings Lynn. Fortunately none were housed in Kings Lynn High Street, for the Hornigold’s would probably have smashed their windows!
August.
In August Violet receives a postcard from her cousin Alf to say he “got back safe but a day adrift”. It is not clear who this particular Alf is. He could be Alf Skipper, the son of Henry William’s sister Laura who married Walter Skipper, or Alf Watkins the son of Henry William’s sister Louisa who married Robert Henry Watkins. Another possibility is Alf Hornigold the son of Carter Hornigold who was Happy’s brother.
The Third Battle of Ypres started in the early hours of 31st July, having been heralded by ten days of artillery bombardment. The ultimate goal was Passchendaele Ridge and this phase of the war became known simply as Passchendaele. This massive display of artillery churned up the soil and the worst rainfall in the area for over twenty years soon turned the battlefield into a quagmire. Open warfare was impossible in these conditions when it was hard enough to even walk through the mud, never mind fight in it. As a result of this nearly two weeks went by before the Allied offensive resumed on the 16th August. Frederick Herbert Hornigold should have played a part in this, but his usual bad luck continued. On the 15th August he is wounded for the fourth time, suffering a shrapnel wound to his right forearm, which ironically meant that he missed the majority of fighting.
Less fortunate was Bertie Whitby Cobb. Almost three months after sustaining his wounds, he headed back to France from Folkestone on 4th August. On 10th August he marched back to his unit. The Australian 5th Division saw out the year at Passchendaele and Cambrai.
Yet another friend of the Cobb family died as a result of wounds sustained whilst serving his country. Next door to the Cobb family in Gaywood were the Avis family. Robert Benjamin Avis was a farmer and coal merchant as well as being publican of the Ship Inn. His son William was a private with the Essex Regiment serving in Flanders and he died of wounds on 31st August.
September.
Frederick Henry Cobb applied for admission to an officer cadet unit, but was turned down. He soon gets a much lesser promotion. He is made an acting corporal from 27th September and subsequently confirmed in this rank as he goes overseas the following Spring.
October.
On 16th October Charlie Frederick Cobb is posted to the BEF and the following day sends a postcard to his mother. “Dear mother, just a few lines to let you know that I am quite well. We are now on our way over. Don’t worry if you don’t hear for a day or two will write as soon as poss. Had letter from Willie this morning”. The words “don’t worry” were probably not heeded by his mother and it is perhaps as well that she was not to know of the next of Charlie’s escapades. On 22nd October Charlie is awarded 14 days Field Punishment No 1, sometimes referred to as crucifixion, by his commanding officer. This was for irregular conduct with regards to dividing the rations of his comrades. Was this due to sheer personal hunger or was it a failed attempt to gain larger portions for his close friends? Whatever the reason he was caught and suffered the serious punishment and undoubted embarrassment of being shackled in irons and secured to a fixed object, probably a gun wheel. The terms of this punishment stated that a man could be secured for no more than 2 hours in 24 and no more than 3 days out of 4.
The Fifth Division, including the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, had been involved in the third Battle of Ypres, but withdrew during mid October to their rest area between Lumbres and Boulogne in the Nielles district. Charlie and his colleagues would have joined the Division there, and arrived too late to be involved in the battle.
The military structure consisted of various Divisions’ each comprised of several Brigades. The Brigades were in turn made up of various Regiments. Charlie was in the 2nd Kings Own Scottish Borderers. They were in the 13th Brigade as were the 14th Royal Warwick Regiment, 15th Royal Warwick Regiment and the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment. The 13th Brigade was in turn one of several Brigades which made up the 5th Division.
Alfred Cobb had been at Passchendaele and it was probably here that he was injured, although whether this was a war wound or an accident is unknown. As he was with the ASC the latter is more likely. On 30th October he is admitted to 15 Army Field Hospital with an injury to his right forearm. He rejoins his unit early the following year.
November.
On 11th December Charlie Frederick Cobb entrains for Italy.
Back in England, as 1917 came to an end many commodities were becoming increasingly scarce. Rationing was introduced on sugar, butter and meat. Petrol and oil, needed for the war, became increasingly scarce for the general public, although those commodoties would not have greatly affected the Cobb household.
1918.
January.
Alfred Cobb, now recovered from his arm injury, rejoins his unit on 20th January.
Willie Cobb was granted 14 days leave in the field from 12th to 26th January.
On 21st January Frederick Herbert Hornigold is transferred to the ASC at Grove Park, presumably as he continued to recover from his most recent injury. While there he qualified as a learner driver. On 16th February he is posted to the 3rd Norfolk’s at Felixstowe, but on the 18th he reports sick.
Charlie Frederick Cobb found himself being moved from France to Italy. The Fifth Division were involved in the Third Battle of Ypres, but major changes followed this with the 5th Division being one of five British formations selected to be moved to Italy. This was both a strategic and a political move agreed by the British Government at the request of the Allied Supreme War Council, as an effort to stiffen Italian resistance to enemy attack after a recent disaster at Caporetto. Many diaries at this time, by men who had witnessed slaughter in the floods of Passchendaele, talk of the move and Italy as being "like another world". The trains did not follow strict timetables, with frequent and leisurely stops being taken. Sometimes the train continued after these stops with some troops not on board. If they couldn’t run quickly enough to catch up they simply boarded the next train. After the relaxed atmosphere of the move, life then returned to a more familiar military theme. Much work was done preparing to move into the mountainous area of the Brenta, but eventually the Division was instead moved to the line along the River Piave, taking up positions in late January. The trench system that they occupied was in reasonable order, but the amount of shingle in the soil meant that engineers were kept busy strengthening the trenches. Adjoining the Fifth Divisions positions were an Italian Division. They were not held in high regard by the Germans and for the first week or two the Fifth Division sentries wore Italian helmets so as not to alert the Germans of their presence. It is possible that Charlie Frederick Cobb played his part in this subterfuge. No man’s land here was very wide, which dramatically reduced the risk and frequency of sniper and machine gun fire. Regular bombing did take place though, with the Germans hitting trenches, roads and villages, all with surprisingly little damage.
March.
In early March the Italians planned to take back lost ground between the old and new Piave Rivers, near to Venice. The Fifth Division would assist by sending a diversionary Brigade across the river with orders to hold firm for 48 hours and then withdraw. Further down river the Fifth Divisions 13th Brigade, including the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, were to use lines of dummies as part of a false demonstration of their strength of numbers, with the additional role of crossing the river and making raids on the Austrians. A group of Bluejackets from HMS Earl of Peterborough and some Venetian gondoliers were to assist in the crossing. A company of troops had recently travelled to Treviso for special training too, but Charlie was not one of them. Heavy rain delayed the start of this strange operation, which was then reduced to a bombardment plan and eventually cancelled entirely! It was at this time that the Fifth Division received orders to hand their positions back to the Italians and to move to France.
Bertie Whitby Cobb was on leave from 8th to 23rd March, returning to the 5th Division at the Somme.
April.
On the 3rd, Charlie Frederick Cobb entrains for France. The Fifth Division were to relieve the 2nd Canadians south of Arras and on the 10th April they were on their way to the front line when they received urgent orders to return to their billets. The Germans had made considerable progress. They had pushed back Portuguese troops around Neuve Chapelle and were threatening the Foret de Nieppe and Hazebrouck. The Fifth Division were sent to the area immediately, arriving on night of the 11th/12th. They were ordered to re-take the town of Merville which the Germans had occupied.
The 13th Brigade was to move south of the Foret de Nieppe and to meet the 95th Brigade, who were moving from the north, on the eastern side. The combined forces would then proceed to Merville. The Kings Own Scottish Borderers were in support of the Warwick’s and little resistance was offered as they went through and around the Foret de Nieppe. This changed from the 13th April and attack, counter attack and heavy bombardments became the norm for the next few days. The Fifth Division had worn down the Germans, who gradually began to strengthen their front line rather than attack any more.
On the 12th April Frederick Henry Cobb embarks at Southampton, disembarks at Havre and is promptly transferred to the 3rd Welsh Regiment. A few days later on the 18th April he is again transferred, this time to the 1/6 Durham Light Infantry. He was probably transferred as the 1/6th Durham Light had just fought in the Battle of Hazebrouck, where they sustained many casualties. The 1/6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry were part of the 151st [Durham Light Infantry] Brigade, which in turn was part of the 50th Northumbrian Division.
May.
On 27th May the Germans mounted a large surprise attack known as the Battle of the Aisne. The attack was targeted towards Paris and the intention was that the Allies would send forces from Flanders to protect the French capital, thereby weakening their position in Flanders. An initial German bombardment was followed by poison gas and then an attack from German infantry. The Allied defences were thinly spread and the Germans initially made great advances, to within 30 miles of Paris, by the end of May. Fatigue, lack of supplies and lack of reserves was to ultimately prove their downfall and they were repelled by the newly arrived American army. They had however been very close to a significant victory and captured over 50,000 allied soldiers. Among them was Frederick Henry Cobb.
On the 27th May, Frederick Henry goes missing. Exactly what happened is not known, nor do we know if he was injured, but he was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was ultimately taken to Quedlinburg, a prisoner of war camp deep inside Germany. Early in the war Quedlinburg had been built by its first inmates who had to dig drainage ditches in the damp ground and build the wooden barracks. During the first half of the war there was sufficient, if not plentiful, food available. The prisoners cooked their own meals as each barrack room had an oven, but there was also a canteen. Parcels and letters could be received and the prisoners were allowed to write a letter home each month. There was even a camp newspaper called Le Tuyau. The prisoners were put to work both inside and outside of the camp, but overall their conditions were reasonable.
When Frederick Henry arrived at Quedlinburg he would have been greeted by a barbed wire perimeter fence, above which were watch towers. He would have been led to one of the forty eight barrack rooms, each of which was about 150 feet long by 60 feet wide. A year or so earlier when the camp held around 3000 prisoners, the barracks may have seemed quite spacious, but now there were over 15,000 prisoners and conditions must have been very cramped. Living space was not the only thing which had been reduced at Quedlinburg. Food supplies were diminishing in Germany and this would undoubtedly have been the case within the prisoner of war camps too. Approximately seven hundred prisoners died at Quedlinburg and whilst some may have died of the wounds they received before being captured, many men fell victim to the increasingly uncomfortable conditions. Illness and disease became common and it is said that there was an outbreak of typhus.
Following the excitement of April, May was a quiet month for Charlie Frederick Cobb and the Fifth Division, with no major offensives occurring in their area.
At the end of May, Walter Hornigold forfeits three days pay for overstaying his pass by one day and 20 hours!
June.
On the 11th Charlie Frederick Cobb’s records show that he had PUO; pyrexia of unknown origin. This was the phrase used for any unidentified fever and in many cases referred to what was to become known as Spanish flu. At this time PUO was particularly common in the forest area and apparently within the nearest German lines too. For a while it was even referred to as “Merville Fever”. On the 15th June Charlie was at Calais and by the end of June he was serving with M Sea Base depot at Calais. He was lucky that rest and basic duties were all that he needed in order to recover.
July.
Charlie Frederick re-joined his unit on the 5th July. They were still based in and around the forest at Foret de Nieppe. The forest, mostly of oak and hornbeam, provided excellent cover. Whilst this was a quiet period for fighting on the ground, there was a more sinister problem to deal with. The Germans regularly shelled the forest, not just with artillery shells, but with gas. They used various gases, some of which induced pain and nausea, the most common of which was “mustard gas”. So prevalent was this that the Royal Army Medical Corps set up a gas patrol within the forest to locate shell holes caused by the gas bombs and to fill them in and ensure that troops avoided them. All around the forest was farmland and the fields of corn, peas, beans and flax were all blackened by the gas. July was a hot month and the conditions were made more uncomfortable by the presence of mosquitoes.
On 19th July Frederick Charles Hornigold is transferred to the Gloucester Regiment, but a month later on 16th August he is transferred to the 99th Reserve at Pattishall. It is likely that his role at Pattishall was to guard the prisoner of war camp at Eastcote. Between 1914 and 1916 this was an internment camp for foreign merchant seamen, but when hostility towards Germany increased following the sinking of the Lusitania the camp became a POW camp.
August.
On 14 August Charlie Frederick Cobb’s Division was withdrawn for rest and placed in GHQ Reserve. Two weeks later it entered into what was to become a series of complex, endless, overlapping Allied attacks that forced the German Army into retreat. On the 23rd the 13th Brigade, with the Kings Own Scottish Borderers in support, captured the town of Irles, effectively advancing the line to Loupart Wood. Two days later the 13th Brigade were in support of the 37th Division to the north of Biefvillers. Many casualties were sustained during heavy shelling. In the early hours of the 26th the beleaguered 37th Division were to be relieved. The Kings Own Scottish Borderers successfully worked their way through the sometimes misplaced soldiers of the 37th Division in total darkness and re-grouped east of Favreuil early in the morning. At 6.30 am and having had little or no rest they approached the village of Beugnatre, supported by a Machine Gun Battalion. Early that evening they advanced further towards Beugnatre under the cover of an artillery barrage. They continued through the village despite heavy machine gun fire being received from the Germans and by nightfall had secured the village. A few days respite was followed by the 5th Division advancing further.
On the night of 31st August Australian troops, Bertie Whitby Cobb amongst them, crossed the River Somme and broke through the German lines at the battle of Peronne and the battle of Mont St Quentin. General Henry Rawlinson, one of the British army commanders, famously referred to these Australian successes as “the greatest military achievement of the war”, but they were not kind to Bertie.
September.
On 1st September Bertie Whitby Cobb was wounded in action again, this time suffering a severe gunshot wound to his left arm, with two broken bones. This was at the Battle of Peronne where 55th Battalion were part of 5th Division. On the 9th September he was admitted to hospital at Rovery and immediately invalided back to the UK. On the 10th he was admitted into Exeter hospital.
On 13th September the Fifth Division, with the 13th Brigade in front, took over the relevant section of front line from New Zealand troops. On the 18th, amidst heavy rain the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, with Charlie Frederick Cobb probably amongst them, advanced in a pincer movement under a barrage, only to be met with sustained machine gun fire. The left side of the pincer movement had to withdraw, but the other side successfully captured Gauche Wood.
October.
Late September had given Charlie Frederick and the Fifth Division a fleeting break from heavy action and from 1st to 9th October they were in reserve. They then moved to an area by the Selle River between Neuvilly and Briastre, with the 13th Brigade taking on responsibility for the front line on the 12th October. After seven full days at the front, the 13th Brigade were in direct action again. They were to secure the road and railway to the east of the Selle River, allowing colleagues to pass by and capture the next two ridges. At 2 am on the morning of the 20th, and not for the first time amidst heavy rain, they attacked. Enduring uncut wire defensive positions and fierce hand to hand fighting they successfully captured their objective, allowing others to advance further.
By early October Frederick Henry Cobb’s wife Eveline had received a letter from Fred, explaining that he was a prisoner of war. However, her relief at learning that he was alive was to be short lived. The Quedlinburg camp Kommandant advises the local registrar that Fred died at 8am on the morning of 1st November and was buried in the nearby cemetery on the 5th. The cause of his death is unknown, but as he died five months after going missing it is perhaps more likely that he died of disease rather than as a result of any injuries that he may have sustained. The precise timing of his death, 8am in the morning, may indicate that he actually died in the night and was found dead by his comrades or by their guards the following morning.
Eveline is subsequently granted a pension of 21s/8d per week for herself and her young son. This was awarded on the 28th July 1919 and came into effect on the 18th August.
Willie Cobb was granted leave to the UK from 12th October to 2nd November.
At the end of October Charlie Frederick Cobb is granted 10 days leave, which was subsequently extended, and he heads for the UK from Boulogne. He must have been relieved to escape the rigours of the last few months and unbeknown to him would return to his unit within a day or two of the armistice being signed.
Charles Herbert Cobb had been with the Expeditionary Force in France until 19th October 1918.
On the 19th October Frederick Herbert Hornigold is posted to the 2/4th [Reserve] Battalion Welsh Fusiliers at Hemsby on the east coast of Norfolk. This was a home service unit and he was probably posted here as he was not fit for front line duty. He reports sick again on the 21st October and is transferred to a military hospital.
November.
The armistice to end the war was announced at 11 am. Although this marked the end of hostilities it was decided that there would be no large scale celebrations until 19th July 1919, which was named Peace Day. This was to ensure that all troops were home for the big day. The Cobb’s and Hornigold’s must have welcomed the news, but fate was to ensure that both of them would lose another member of their family before Peace Day arrived.
Alfred Cobb’s Division was in billets at the time of the armistice, having been withdrawn for a period of rest on 26th October. However they were one of those selected to advance into Germany as part of the occupation force, doing so on 4th December 1918. In late February 1919 they began demobilisation.
On 12th November after four years and three hundred and five days in the army Frederick Herbert Hornigold is discharged as being no longer physically fit for service. A military medical examination concludes that he is suffering from TB lung as a result of army service.
His similarly named relative Frederick Charles Hornigold has his own less serious ailments and spends a week in Norwich hospital with scabies. Having been back on duty for just a week he is reprimanded for overstaying his pass by 21 ½ hours. This seems to be a Hornigold trait and drinking and/or fishing may well have been the cause.
December.
On 3rd December the 5th Division was honoured with a visit from the King. On 13 December, the Division began a march into Belgium, eventually to the area between Namur and Wavre. The 5th Division was not selected to advance into Germany and demobilisation began towards the end of 1918. Charlie Frederick Cobb’s division remained in the area of Le Quesnoy until mid-December as demobilisation commenced. The first men were demobilised on 22 December and more followed at regular intervals through early 1919. A picture of Charlie Frederick taken towards the end of the war illustrates how he had progressed. He is with three colleagues, all of them wearing battledress and tam o shanter’s. On Charlie’s right forearm are three inverted blue chevrons. This insignia was introduced in January 1918 and showed that the wearer had served for three years overseas, although a part year counted so in fact two years and one day would be sufficient to qualify! On Charlie Frederick’s left forearm is a single, woven inverted chevron. This represented two years service with good conduct – a little ironic in Charlie Frederick’s case given the fact that he had suffered a field punishment. Charlie Frederick’s colleagues in the picture do not have these awards.
1919.
January to March.
On 28th January the Kings Own Scottish Borderers and the Bedford’s performed a trooping of the colours in the main square at Namur to celebrate the fact that these two regiments had taken part in the relief of the town in 1695.
Bertie Whitby Cobb was discharged on 23rd January and left for Australia on the 16th March. He was finally discharged from the army on 6th October 1919, having been
awarded the 1914-1918 Star, the Victory medal and the British medal.
Back in January 1917, a new voluntary service had been established; the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps known as WAAC. It was intended that the women would serve as clerks, telephonists, waitresses, cooks, and as instructors in the use of gas masks. Their distinctive ankle length coats became known as “WAAC sacks". They were a khaki drill colour with collars and shoulder straps in different colours depending on the trade of the WAAC. In April 1918 the WAAC was renamed the Queen Marys Army Auxiliary Corp, known as QMAAC.
Gladys Helen Cobb had joined the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corp during the war and was an Ordinary Worker, the equivalent of a private in the army. She was seconded to the Royal Engineers at Richborough. As more and more ammunition, tanks, horses, fuel and general supplies were needed in France, the cross channel routes became congested. The Royal Engineers started to build Richborough Port on the River Stour a few miles from Sandwich in Kent. A business syndicate had proposed a port here prior to the war, so some background work had already been undertaken. When the Royal Engineers first started to develop Richborough Port there was insufficient accommodation for the increasing number of people on site. In what was intended to be a stop gap solution old barges were brought over from France and moored in the river. The accommodation provided was poor, so much so that it was discussed in Parliament, but even so it was the winter of 1917-18 before more permanent accommodation was built. Sufficient concrete huts were built to house 14,000 troops. Wooden huts were also built to house an additional 3,500 people including Gladys and her 500 or so QMAAC colleagues. Their huts were on the inland side of the road between Sandwich and Richborough, just north of Sandwich Bridge. This area was part of Stonar Camp.
The Richborough Port project was initially supposed to be secret, but as the Royal Engineers widened the River Stour and developed the port, the secrecy disappeared. A complete complex was built with dockyard fittings and a railway. The barges using the port had a low draught and were intended to be able to sail across the channel and then along the French rivers and canals.
By 1918 an RAF salvage depot was built on the site. This depot did not have a proper wharf and the large barges were loaded by hand once they had bottomed at low tide. This role was undertaken by some of the 500 Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps that were working on the site, and it is possible that Gladys was involved in this.
Security in the area was understandably high, but was not always welcomed by the local population. A written permit was required in order to use the main road between Sandwich and Ramsgate. Over fifty military police and a similar number of railway police provided security and even the hospital within Stonar Camp was watched over by military police. The works and transport was run by the South East and Chatham Railway, but that too was under military control with the War Office being responsible for issuing orders.
Between 1918 and 1920 the pandemic of Spanish flu was at its worst. Gladys succumbed and unlike her brother Charlie Frederick she did not survive. She died aged twenty three, on 12th February 1919 at Stonar Camp hospital. Her death certificate concluded that she had died of influenza and toxic jaundice.
There is an anomaly with the little information that is available regarding Gladys. The few records show that she was an OW, ordinary worker, but the Gaywood war memorial shows her rank as QM. This stands for quarter mistress, the female equivalent of a quarter master. This rank is more in line with a sergeant. It is possible that she was an acting QM at the time of her death, but had not been confirmed at that rank, hence the Commonwealth War Graves Commission listing her as an Ordinary Worker. This would imply that she was working in the stores of the Royal Engineers at Richborough issuing and recording the equipment.
All soldiers who died in the war were remembered with a brass plaque, about the size of a side plate and often referred to as a “death penny”. This was given to their next of kin. Qualifying women, of whom there were only about 600 [including Gladys], were also remembered with a plaque. A single die was used to make these 600 plaques, die number 11, and that is why the number 11 is visible between the legs of the lion on the plaque. An “s” was added in front of “he died...” in order to amend the wording to “she died...”
Charlie Frederick Cobb returns home on 16th February. Until arriving back at home he was probably unaware that his sister had died. Charlie Frederick is discharged on 31st March.
On 10th February Willie Cobb is granted leave from France, leaving for the UK on 22nd February. Three years earlier he had set foot in the UK from Australia to find that his brother Harry had been killed. Now he returned to the UK from France to find that his sister had suffered the same fate. On the 15th March Willie rejoins his unit and on the 10th April is attached to 25th company.
On 7th March Frederick Charles Hornigold is demobbed.
April to September.
Meanwhile Charles Herbert Cobb was appointed acting lance corporal on 18th April.
On 12th May Willie Cobb is on leave in France and on 20th May his leave is extended to the UK. Willie is then granted leave with full pay in order to obtain “further experience in harness and collar making”. Free board and lodgings were supplied, hardly surprising given the circumstances. This resulted in him staying with his father from 11th June to 11th September 1919. His service records state that “as s/sergeant Cobb had had experience in the saddler trade prior to enlistment, the time spent with Mr H W Cobb should be of material advantage to him on his return to Australia. He was given an all round experience in the light English harness and collar making”.
Henry William Cobb’s sister Julia had married Gaywood born Charles Copeman and moved to Greenwich in the early 1890’s. Their son Charles Henry Copeman was a machine fitter with the Greenwich Inlaid Linoleum Company. The company was owned by Frederick Walton who was the man who first created linoleum. Walton had set up in business in the 1850’s , but in the 1880’s seemed to think that his partners were not as enthusiastic as he was and having lost his controlling interest in the company he sold up and promptly created the Greenwich Inlaid Linoleum Company. On 3rd September 1914 Charles Copeman left his job with them and enlisted at Blackheath with the 1/20th London Regiment [Blackheath and Woolwich].
He left Southampton for France on 9th March 1915. On 19th September 1917 he became groom to a staff Captain at 141 Brigade HQ. The following day he starts 14 days leave. On 28th October 1918 he is appointed groom to Captain Arthur Isaac House at 47 Division HQ. On 21st December 1918 he is granted 20 days leave to the UK. A few months later on 28th April he returns to the UK again in preparation for demobilisation. He certainly fared better than most of his cousins – four years service in France, but mainly undertaken at HQ and involving looking after a Captains horse! However his time in service was not without its problems.
He was demobilised on 27th May 1919, but shortly before that on 23rd April he underwent a medical examination regarding his teeth. A problem had occurred caused by eating hard biscuits, which apparently started on 7th June 1916. He was treated by 5th London Field Ambulance and also by the Canadian CCS. At the medical examination it was recorded that he had suffered “loss of several teeth from upper and lower jaws – states joined army with full set of teeth”.
While Willie Cobb was on his “working holiday” and Charles Copeman was struggling with his dental problems, their cousin Charles Herbert was on general duties serving at the 11th Pontoon Park, where he served from 23rd June.
Frederick Herbert Hornigold died on the 25th June. His reported condition of TB lung, almost certainly the result of gas attacks, caused his death.
Willie Cobb returned to 23 ASC on 12th September, but on 11th November is granted indefinite leave subject to recall. On 9th December, Willie, his wife Bella and their children Albert and Iris embark for Australia. It is highly unlikely that any other soldiers returning to Oz had their wife and children with them! Three and a half years after stepping onto British soil from HMAT Persic Willie was now back on a similar ship, HMAT Borda. She first sailed, for P & O, in 1914. Almost immediately she was used as an Australian troopship and in 1917 was requisitioned accordingly. Now she was taking Willie and his family far away from the horrors of the war to re-start their new life in Australia.
Frederick Hornigold is on leave in the UK on 26th September prior to being demobilised. He was demobbed on 30th September 1919 and his discharge papers noted that his character was “good”. Being demobbed so late in the war could indicate that Frederick, who was with the 106th Labour Company, was involved in the “clearing up” of battlefields in the aftermath of war.
Epilogue.
Like all families the Cobb’s underwent many changes during the years after World War One.
Despite the deaths of Harry and Gladys and the emigration of Willie they were coming to terms with Dick’s polio and with fewer children to feed were a little better off. The 1920’s saw an increase in popularity for holidays and family outings, which was perhaps partly due to a sense of relief at having survived the war. The Cobb family photographs show a host of days out. The summer of 1922 included family trips to Great Yarmouth, Sandringham Flower Show, Snettisham Beach, Heacham Beach, Hunstanton and Dersingham Common. The mode of transport is unclear and presumably a train was used for Yarmouth, but a van is seen in the background of some pictures and may have been used by the Cobb family.
After the war Charlie Frederick Cobb found it hard to settle and in 1924 left Gaywood to join his elder brother William in Australia. He initially lived with him in Woodford, Queensland. Charlie spent his first ten shillings in Australia on joining the Returned Soldiers League [RSL], which is the Australian equivalent of the Royal British Legion. When on a recruiting drive for the RSL in Brisbane he met Mr Ellicott who had previously run a general store in Methwold, not far from Kings Lynn. Mr Ellicott was always travelling and had lived in America, where daughter Violet Irene, known as Vi, was born, Canada and Methwold. In Methwold his business was burnt down, but re-built and re-established before the family emigrated from England to Australia in 1927. When they were at Methwold Mrs Ellicott often met Charlie when she brought orders to Ladymans wholesalers in Kings Lynn, where Charlie worked. In Australia Charlie and Vi Ellicott met for the first time and were subsequently married with Charlie riding a horse to the wedding. They were married on the North Coast at a large homestead owned by a friend who had three other wedding parties at the same time. Charlie diversified slightly from his harness making background and developed a successful business making canvas tops for motor vehicles.
In early 1920 Willie Cobb goes through a Medical Board of Enquiry with regards to his eyesight. It seems that he had a slight eye problem and the army Doctor prescribed glasses. His condition was considered to have been aggravated by, but not caused by, military service. The Medical Board recommended discharge from service and so Willie was discharged on 13th April 1920. It is not inconceivable that Willie was just trying it on in order to gain some compensation. He certainly continued life with no apparent problems, and judging by various photographs, no glasses either. He returned to his successful saddlery business, proudly displaying the badge of the AIF [Australian Imperial Forces] on his shop front. He also continued his military career. In 1927, when the Duke of York (later George VI) opened the Canberra parliament building, Willie was a Captain in the Light Horse in command of the guard of honour. He ended up as a Major in the Australian Cavalry in 1932 and then enlisted in the Defence Corp at the age of 49 during World War Two.
Charles Herbert Cobb became Head Gardener at Crimplesham Hall, near Downham Market. Charles eventually inherited the entire Crimplesham Hall Estate. He gradually sold parts of the estate, retaining his cottage which had originally been two cottages.
Bertie Whitby Cobb returned to his lodgings with Mr Eggesdon, who along with his wife, met Bertie when he arrived back in Australia. They had requested and received free railway passes in order to meet him, explaining that they were his only “family” in Australia and also his legal representative as his family were in the UK.
Bertie later moves to 41 Yule Street, Petersham, but in August 1921 advises the army that his address is changing to Crimplesham, Downham Market, Norfolk, where he presumably stays with his brother Charles Herbert. Pictures show him on an outing to Bawsey with his cousins. He returns again to Australia in 1922 and later marries over there.