Shorncliffe camp

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Those known to have trained at
Shorncliffe camp
during the Great War 1914-1918.

Bathe William Harry. Cpl.
Cory Ernest Albert. Pte. (d.11th Aug 1916)
Horne Arthur Charles Washington. Colonel
Rosier Frederick. Sgt. (d.25th Jul 1915)
Shore John Denton.
Wingate Walter Ernest Fenton. L/Cpl.

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264243

L/Cpl. Walter Ernest Fenton Wingate 7th Btn No.4 Company

Walter Wingate served with No.4 Company, 7th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force. The following accounts are the personal accounts of Walter F Wingate and his experiences before and during WW1:
1st account: “Enlisted at Esquimalt B.C on October 1st 1914 in the 88th Victoria Fusiliers, and in the following month was passed medically fit into the 30th Overseas Battalion, in training at the Willows Camp, Victoria, B.C on 14th of February 1915, battalion left camp en route for England, arriving at Avonmouth on March 7th where it entrained for Napier Barracks, Shorncliffe. On May 2nd my company, No.1, was transported to Boulogne, and two days later entrained for railhead, from which we marched to billets near Bailleul where my company was split up, I being drafted into No. 4 Coy, 7th Battalion. On May 19th we were quartered in a ruined farmhouse behind Festubert. On May 24th my company was badly shelled in German trenches and I was slightly wounded in neck & left arm. I was sent down to Marlborough Convalescent Camp at Boulogne, and a week later moved to No.19 Camp at Le Havre. On June 15th rejoined my company, near Bethune, and following night marched into trenches at Givenchy. Towards end of month the battalion was relieved and marched up to Plugstreet where for next two months we were in and out of the front line. On August 27th I was seriously wounded by shell fire in the front trenches, and sent down to No.13 Stationary Hospital (eye ward 264243) Boulogne where my right eye was removed, and on Sept 2nd I was transported to Dover en route for No.4 General Hospital, London, where I underwent several operations. On Oct 7th I was taken by ambulance to Can. Red Cross Hospital at Taplow where I was again operated on. On Jan 15th 1916 I was sent to Uxbridge for the West Cliff Eye Hospital at Folkestone. Here the medical board recommended my discharge, and on Feb 25th I entrained for Prior Park, Bath, receiving my discharge from there on March 10th, 1916.” W. Fenton Wingate.
Diary entry of WFW records soldiers from Platoon 15, No. 11 Section, 7th Division CEF wounded at Festubert on 24th of May 1915:
77819 L/Corp Wingate, W.F. (wounded)
16881 Davey, J.H. (wounded) home
16891 Gill, K.E. (wounded) home
21714 Jones, D.
21086 O'Brien, E.L.
16929 Richard, H.P. (wounded)
77892 Reynolds, E. (wounded)
77223 Nicholls, M.R. (wounded)
77796 Smith, L.G.

2nd account of WW1 Military service: “ Brief Record of events” Walter Fenton Wingate:
“We left the Napier Barracks, Shorncliffe, on Sunday evening of May 2nd, entraining to the harbour, and at nightfall we embarked for the French coast, arriving at Boulogne after an uneventful crossing. We there disembarked and marched through the darkened town, up past the black loom of the cathedral (reminding me of my visit there four years ago) out onto the uplands at the back of the town to Camp St. Martin where we slept under canvas that night. We did very little on Monday, not being allowed outside the precincts of the camp. Barry O`Longdon and I patronised the YMCA tent in the camp to a considerable extent, managing to get quite good coffee, cocoa, tea, and cake, and other eatables. On the Tuesday morning the entire camp went out for a short route march through remarkably pretty, well settled country. On the way we passed the Convalescent Camp for the sick and wounded of our Indian forces, and the Sikhs, Gurkhas and Pathans lined the hedgerows and fences, many of them saluting and cheering us. That evening we marched down through Boulogne to the railway station where we entrained for a destination unknown. We travelled for about six hours at a very slow pace, and finally detrained onto the railway track at a little village, called Steenwercke, just as dawn was breaking into a lovely day. This was railhead, and we marched out beyond the village onto the main road where we piled arms and camped for several hours, making a pretty hearty breakfast of Bully Beef and Hard Tack. The surrounding country is very pretty, rather flat but fairly well wooded and well settled. The picturesque old farmhouses, with their red tiled roofs peeping out from amongst the budding green foliage, dotted the landscape. Whilst eating our breakfast we watched the vigorous shelling of a couple of Aeroplanes, presumably English, away east on the firing line, some 8 or 10 miles away. Although the sun was then high up we could easily see the flash of the bursting shells which seemed to break all around the planes. I have since seen this occurrence frequently, resulting in a tremendous wastage of ammunition and no apparent damage to the planes. About noon we began our march in the direction of Bailleul, some miles to the east. The weather was very close and stifling, and our heavy equipment and the rather rapid pace we forced began to tell on us, and we were soon reduced to a state of perspiring exhaustion. We lunched on Bully Beef and hard tack by the roadside, beyond the town, and shortly afterwards we were broken up into smaller parties and marched off to our various billets. I was lucky, making one of 22 in a small farmhouse where we all slept in the attics. We were in a quiet secluded side road and there we stayed a couple of nights very comfortably, until we were all split up into our new sections and drafted into the 7th Battalion, or 1st B.C Regiment. My new company, No.4, was billeted about a mile and a half away from Battalion headquarters in a very prettily situated farmhouse near an old mill, and a bare half mile from a village. We were all quartered in the barns, cowsheds, and haylofts. I was in a big straw barn, solidly built of brick and timber with the inevitable and picturesque red tiled roof. It was very dark and none too clean, and we were packed pretty close, but in the week we were there we soon shook down into the conditions. We all had to wash in a dirty duck pond teeming with animal life. Every day the regimental water cart came round bringing fresh drinking water, that had first been boiled, with which we used to fill our bottles. The food was good, but there was practically no variety, and we missed the vegetables. Since leaving England we have had no green food at all, and we are certainly feeling the want of it. We had a couple of hours parade each morning, and a two hours easy route march in the afternoon, so we were not overworked. We were allowed to take walks within our billeting area, and the village was our one source of “excitement”. One afternoon Longdon and I walked there, and had a good supper of eggs, coffee (tea is almost unknown around here) bread and butter and very good ginger bread cake. On the Sunday morning we marched to the Brigade Headquarters for a Divisional Inspection by the G.O.C, General E.A.H Alderson, who gave us all an address after Brigadier Curry, our Brigade Commander, had inspected us. Although only 8 or 9 miles from the firing line we heard tremendous cannonading on the British line which continued for many hours. We afterwards learnt that it had led to an advance on our part of 8 or 9 miles towards Lille, our objective. On the whole we had lovely weather, hot and cloudless sunshine. A couple of days before we left our billet several slight cases of German measles developed in our company, and, consequently, we were quarantined. On Friday, May 14th, we got orders to move our billets, and that night we marched out, linking up with the rest of the battalion at certain points. We marched all night, nearly 7 hours, and just before dawn reached our new billet, tired, and a good many of us footsore. However, we were allowed to sleep late into the morning, and we are now enjoying a day off. We are just outside another village, in a prettily situated farm standing amidst the most charming country. The barn we are in this time is much more light and comfortable, and our platoon is by itself here in charge by our Sergeant. There is a small orchard at the back with the trees all in blossom, and the extensive meadows around are carpeted with buttercups and daisies. Although the country is very flat, it is pretty, well wooded and very thickly settled, red tiled farmhouses being dotted all over the landscape. All the meadows are intersected by small ditches of more or less stagnant water, the drainage of this flat country being very poor; but the soil is well farmed and the crops look promising, and the stock in general appear in good condition. When we got up on Sunday morning we received orders to fall in at 9am in full marching order for the front, some 12 or more miles away. We marched off to company headquarters where we stood-to for further orders, and here we have been all day (close upon 6pm) still awaiting orders. At 9pm last night orders were received at our Brigade Headquarters for us to move off at once to the firing line at La Bassee to support a British advance, but it was countermended at once. Since writing the above we have been in the trenches and received our Baptism of Fire. We moved up from Robeq on Monday to Feslobes where we bivouacked anyhow in a big farmhouse which was already filled with troops, an ammunition supply column from Secunderabad. The following day we moved still further up towards the firing line, and camped in a straw loft of a small barn, and on Wednesday night we came in here, a partly ruined, deserted farmstead, barely a mile back from the firing line. On Thursday evening just before dusk a hundred men out of my company were detailed for fatigue duty in the trenches, and I and my section were amongst them. We marched off in greatcoats and full kit. Between our billet and the trenches lay the village of Festubert, which must have been quite a pretentious place before the war, but now it is a mere scattered heap of ruined houses, and it is necessary for all reinforcements to pass through the village in order to gain the trenches. The Germans know this and constantly shell the place in hopes of blowing up any troops. As we neared an open part of the village we were told to double which we did, escaping a couple of heavy shells by the skin of our teeth.” (not completed due to being wounded by shrapnel shortly after)
Ross Edwards

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257567

Sgt. Frederick Rosier 7th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.25th Jul 1915)

Frederick Rosier was the eldest son of Brad Rosier of Walsham-le-Willows and his wife, Rebecca. He was educated at Rickinghall Village school and enlisted in the 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment on 15th of March, 1894 and served in the South African War, receiving the Queen's medal with four clasps, Belmont, Modder River, Orange Free State and Transvaal, and King's medal with two clasps. He took his discharge, on the 14th of March, 1903, and then joined the Reserve for six years.
After the outbreak of war he reenlisted in the 7th Sulfolks, on the 7th of Sept. 1914, with his former rank of Sergt., and after acting as Drill Sergeant for some time at Shorncliffe, went to France on 30th of May, 1915, He died in the Stationary Hospital, Boulogne on the 25th of July, 1915, of wounds received in action, he is buried in Boulogne Cemetery. His commanding officer wrote "He was not only a very effiecent sergtant, but also a good keen man on whom I knew I could always rely to carry out the most dangerous of our duties. His pluck when in pain from his wound was magnificent"
He was for ten years a bell-ringer at St. Mary's Church, Walsham-le-Willows, and was also secretary of the local branch of his Trade Union. Sergt. Rosier was married at Walsham-le-Willows, 13th Dec. 1902, to Ellen and had three children, Frederick Arthur William, b. 26 July, 1903; Winifred Dorothy, b. 22 May 1906, and Florence Lucy, b. 23 Aug. 1915.
Graham Snyder

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255058

John Denton Shore Kings Royal Rifle Corps

Grandfather John Shore was at Shorncliffe Camp in 1911. I know that he went to France in December of 1914. I believe with the Kings Royal Rifles. He was Rifleman Y3r. He achieved the rank of Corporal. I don't know how long he was in France. He was later in The Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby). By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Warrant Officer 11.

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254975

Pte. Ernest Albert Cory 7th Btn. Norfolk Regiment (d.11th Aug 1916)

Ernest Albert Cory was born on 12th of November 1895 at Aylsham. He was the son of Robert Hardiment Cory and Anna Elizabeth nee Woods and was the first son in a family of twelve children born between 1892-1912. Before enlisting he lived at 1, Foundry Bridge Buildings in Prince of Wales Road, Norwich. His father was employed as a porter, unloading ships at the nearby river.
He joined the 7th Battalion which was formed at Norwich in August 1914 as part of Kitchener's First New Army, the 35th Brigade, 12th Division. Training began later that month at Shorncliffe and was finalised in February 1915 at Aldershot. The Battalion landed in France at Boulogne on 31st May and on 23rd of June 1915 took over a section of the front line at Ploegsteert Wood. They were in action at the Battle of Loos,and in the action of the Hohernzollern Redoubt capturing Gun Trench and the south western face of Hulloch Quarries. During this period at Loos, 117 officers and 3,237 men of the Division were killed or wounded.
The Battalion continued to be employed with various attacks and sorties until on the 3rd August they went into action at the Battle of Pozieres with a successful attack capturing 4th Avenue Trench. They were engaged in heavy fighting here until they were withdrawn on the 9th. Ernest Albert Cory's death is recorded as occurring on 11th of August 1916, presumably not from wounds as he has no known grave. His name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial.
M Goffin

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210682

Cpl. William Harry Bathe Canadian Ordnance Corps

William Harry Bathe was born in Deptford, SE London, in 1879. He enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 9 August 1897. Although he had signed on for 12 years, he spent 50 days in all with the Marines â€“ and six of those were in hospital, suffering from cowpox, a bad reaction to his smallpox vaccination. On 29 September 1897, he transferred to the Army Ordnance Corps, and his conditions of service changing to seven years in army service and five years with A Reserve.
3653 Private Bathe W H started his duty with the AOC at Woolwich, but spent his first Christmas and New Year in the army in hospital. He was there for 34 days while being treated for rheumatism caused by exposure. He did not stay with his new unit for long, buying himself out of the army for Â£18 less than a year after joining the AOC, on 10 September 1898. On 28 February 1901, he volunteered to serve in the Second Anglo-Boer War, becoming a private in the 36th Company (West Kent) Imperial Yeomanry. In fact, before he joined the Royal Marines in 1897, he had been a member of 2nd Volunteer Battalion West Kent Regiment. He was a member of the second contingent of Imperial Yeomanry to go to South Africa, on 23 March 1901. On 29 July, his mother Evangeline was refunded Â£12, two-thirds of the purchase money paid to buy William out of the army three years earlier. William Bathe was awarded the Queenâ€™s South African medal with clasps for his service in Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal, together with clasps to show he served in South Africa in both 1901 and 1902. At the end of the war, he returned to the UK on 27 August 1902 and was discharged at Aldershot on 3 September. Two years later, he was back in South Africa as a member of the South African Constabulary, serving with the SAC between 1904 and 1906 before returning to England.
In July 1907, he emigrated to Canada, a couple of months after his younger brother George had done so. He lived in Montreal and joined the local militia â€“ the Royal Rifles of Canada. William Bathe enlisted with the Canadian forces soon after WW1 broke out, joining the 12th Battalion of the 1st Canadian Division with service number 23072. He was attested on 29 September 1914 and sailed for England on SS Scotian on 3 October. What William did in the first 11 months of his service in England is unknown, but it has been suggested that he may have been seconded to a civilian armaments factory to learn about modern weapons. He was certainly in Forest Hill on 19 May 1915, when he acted as a witness to his sister Florenceâ€™s wedding, but his military records do not resume until 16 September 1915, when he â€œreturned to dutyâ€ and was based at Shorncliffe Camp. Later, in early March 1916 he was attached to Canadian Ordnance Corps at Ashford with the rank of Armourer Corporal. In August 1918, he was promoted Acting Armourer Sergeant and finally, in October that year, Acting Armourer Staff Sergeant. During his time with COC, he worked on repairing rifles, spent a few months with the machine gun section and also was based in Greenwich for six months to February 1917 with the Canadian Arms Inspection & Repair Depot. It was not until 27 October 1918 that William served in France, being attached to 2nd Canadian Infantry Battalion as armourer. He remained in France until May 1919 and then returned to the UK and was eventually demobilised in Britain on 2 September 1919.
Peter Bathe

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139555

Colonel Arthur Charles Washington Horne

This is the only information that I have on my great grandfather, his last rank was Colonel, commanding officer of Shorncliffe Camp in Folkestone, England. All of the documents that the family had have been donated to the Ontario Archives by my grandfather/grandmother a few years ago. I thought that you would like this info for your site as little as it is. My great grandfather died in 1979 in his late 90's here in Toronto. I do have lots of great photographs that I can scan, just let me know where to send them. Katherine
Katherine Horne-Lalonde

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Those known to have trained at
Shorncliffe camp
during the Great War 1914-1918.