238622 Pte. Percy Frank Moore British Army 1st Btn. Gordon Highlanders from:Aberdeen Percy Moore enlisted on 2nd February 1910 at Aberdeen. He stated his place of birth as Aberdeen, probably in the hope it would sound more desirable for the Gordon Highlanders than his actual birth place of Guernsey. His age on enlistment was 19 years and 5 months, his service numbers were 405, and later as a reservist 2865163 - which he was from 11th April 1921 to 7th April 1926.
Percy was taken a Prisoner of War. He was captured near the village of Bertry south of Le Cateau, France on 26th of August 1914.
Sadly, my Grandfather talked very little about his experiences, in fact my mother says it was a taboo subject all of her childhood. She was amazed to find that he talked a little more openly to his grandchildren, my brother and I during the 1960/70s.
All that I remember him saying was that if it wasn't for a shrapnel wound to his leg he would have managed to escape the Germans. By the accounts above some soldiers did make it out of the conflict at Le Cateau.
Cruelty - I remember so clearly that when I was about 7-8 ish my grandfather told my brother and I about the time he nearly lost an eye.
"A German soldier was bullying us British and he took a particular dislike to me, he followed me and when I entered a room on my own he came at me with a pen-knife and said he was going to remove my eye with it. I believed him and was very frightened! Luckily for me and just in the nick of time a higher ranking soldier came in and stopped him."
There is probably so much more to this story, but as with many of my fellow genealogists I just wish I'd asked the right questions and recorded the stories at the time, but in fairness I was only 7 years old at the time.
Another anecdote Percy told was that he was imprisoned with the entertainer Maurice Chevalier. All these years later I am able to verify that Maurice was indeed imprisoned in WW1, and in two of the same camps as Percy. How well he knew him I cannot be sure, but my mother was sure that he shared quarters with him.
Percy worked as a personal butler for Rupert Keppel after the war. My mother told me that they met whilst imprisoned, and remained in contact on their repatriation. In what capacity a bond developed - a friendship, or in service I cannot be sure, but they were both taken prisoner a day apart Landrecies and Le Chateau. I suspect their association started shortly after capture. Records suggest that prisoners of officer ranks were held in different camps to other ranks and it is difficult to decipher from the Red Cross records whether they were in the same camps at the same time, thus placing them together during their internment. A bond between them certainly did occur, because Percy worked for Rupert Keppel as soon as he got married and came back from Switzerland. I assume his employment terminated soon after the annulment of Keppel's marriage in 1921. My Grandfather was very respectful of Hon. Rupert Keppel and later named his son Derek in his honour.
From all that I have read, it would seem that Percy would have been sick or injured to be transferred to Switzerland. I know that he received a leg injury during the retreat of the Battle at Le Cateau, but I always assumed he recovered from that quite well - he never limped or used a walking stick in later life. Infectious disease were rife in the camps, and by 1918 Percy had had three and half years of internment so it would be no wonder that he was susceptible to some infection - a lung problem perhaps, or malnutrition. Whatever it was there is no mention of it in his postcards to Hilda, and in general afterwards. I have also learned that it became every prisoners' goal to get to a neutral country. All manner of bribery and trickery was employed (understandably) to get the authority to be moved.
Another reason to be moved was if the Rt. Hon R Keppel was moved to Switzerland and he persuaded the authorities to let him take Percy too as a valet, I have read that other officers did this - just my theory. I always assumed from what my mother told me that they were together in Leysin, but I have not found any evidence to this end. Further research revealed mention that prisoners in Germany of four years or more could apply to be transferred to Switzerland, so maybe that was reason enough!
At present I don't know where Percy returned too in December 1918. Newspapers in Aberdeen listed returning soldiers and their names, but his is not on those lists.
He would have no reason to want to return to Scotland because his parents were now living in Whittlesea, Cambridgeshire, and Hilda would be living with his sister Lily in Coventry. He may have been received back to Barracks in Colchester, Plymouth or Aldershot. Whether or not he was then confined as he puts it in one of his cards I'm not sure, but I should imagine he would have wanted to get straight to see Hilda for her birthday on 15th December. In any case, it couldn't have been long because they were married in Whittlesea, Cambridgeshire on 1st January 1919.
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