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L/Cpl. Ernest William Francis Kingdon
British Army 1/6th Battalion Devonshire Regiment
from:South Molton, Devon
Ernest Kingdon was born 1st February 1898 at 10 Cooks Cross, South Molton. He died 16th June 1951, 18 Barnstaple Street, South Molton My father, Ernest was brought up by his grandparents, Edwin Kingdon and Mary Jane who lived at 10 Cooks Cross, South Molton in 1901 and at number 14 Cooks Cross in 1911. In 1911 Ernest, age 13, was working as a mason's assistant.
Ernest enlisted with the Devonshire Regiment, when he was 15 years old. His Territorial Force number, 1833, indicates an enlistment date of around the 10th January 1914. He served with the 1/6th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in England, India and Mesopotamia during the Great War 1914 -1919. Although the government of the day said that members of the Territorial Army would not be recruited for War and that men under the age of 19 would not have to serve overseas, this proved not to be the case.
On 31st August 1914 the Devon Battalions volunteered for Foreign Service. Field Marshal, Lord Kitchener inspected the Devon and Cornwall Brigade on that date. On the 15th September the Battalion was warned for service in France but on the 16th September the order was cancelled and the whole of the Wessex Division was put on order for India. On 9th October 1914, 30 Officers and 803 NCO's and men, embarked on H.M.T Galeka en route for India from Southampton Docks. They arrived at Karachi on the 3rd January 1915. They remained in India for several months. Orders to join the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force were received on 17th December 1915 and the battalion embarked for Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) on the 29th December 1915 on the H T Elephanta. They reached Shat-El-Arab, port of Basra on the 3rd January 1916. (River formed by the Union of the Tigris and Euphrates).
The battalion arrived at Karachi at 6 a.m on the 11th November 1914 and on the 12th November 1914 they left by train for Lahore, arriving there on the 14th November. Machine guns were issued to the battalion on the 5th January 1915. On the 10th May 1915 the battalion was reorganised. A and B Company became A Company at Lahore Cantonment, C and G Companies became B Company at Dalhousie, E and F Companies became C Company at Fort Lahore and D and H Companies became D Company at Lahore Cantonment. The battalion took over Fort Lahore on the 16th January 1915. The 4th battalion sent many of their men to signalling courses at Kasauli and to machine gun courses at Kota Gheri and musketry courses at Rawal Pindi. The 5th battalion was in the Lahore Divisional and spent over a year at Multan which had the reputation of being the hottest and dustiest cantonment in India. Both the 4th and the 5th sent drafts to Mesopotamia but most of the 5th were in the hills at Dalhousie, India, where it was cooler. The 6th battalion had to find two companies to proceed to Amritsar and a detachment for Lahore Fort, better known to the Army in India as Mian Mir Barracks. The political situation in the Punjab around Lahore and Amritsar caused anxiety and there were problems at Rawal Pindi. This meant that 500 men were kept on the plains in extremely hot weather. Many were young and untrained soldiers and the heat was unbearable.
The British Army was responsible for internal security. The 1/6th completed their training in India, which included "The Kitchener's Test." This consisted of a 15 mile march, an attack on an entrenched position with ball cartridge, laying out a bivouac, an advance followed by a two mile retreat, the fortification of a position, relief and occupation of trenches by night, physical drill and bayonet fighting. Whilst in India in 1915, the 6th sent two small drafts of men to Mesopotamia. The soldiers were anxious for active service and when asked for an officer and 29 volunteers to go to Mesopotamia almost the whole battalion volunteered. On the 14th May 1915, 29 NCOs and men under Lieut H G Waldram volunteered for Mesopotamia and left Lahore to assist the 2nd Dorsets at Kut. Another 15 men followed two months later. In December 1915 the Viceroy of India visited Lahore. He was very impressed by the guards of honour which the 6th provided. Subsequently on the 17th December 1915 the 6th received orders and twelve days later embarked for Mesopotamia.
The main reason for the invasion of Mesopotamia was to protect the oil wells at the head of the Persian Gulf. Britain and France, Russia's allies, declared War on Turkey on the 5th November 1914 because of the help the Turks gave to the Germans in attacking Russia. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, planned to attack the Dardanelles waterway and the battle of Gallipoli followed from the 19th February 1915 to January 1916. The British in Mesopotamia took Basra in November 1914, Shaiba in December 1914, Qurna in April 1915 and the major Turkish supply base of Nasiriyeh on the 27th June 1915. The British regional Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Nixon, decided that because British losses had been light it merited a continued advance to Kut. Sir John Nixon's ultimate aim was to capture Baghdad. If Kut was captured it would mean that a garrison at Nasiriyeh would not be required. Sir Charles Vere Ferres Townshend was instructed to proceed with his 6th (Poona) Indian Division, along with a cavalry brigade, to take Kut. The British Forces arrived there on the 26th September 1915. Kut was defended by 12 Turkish battalions which included a large number of Arab soldiers. The 10,500 Turks had entrenched themselves on both banks of the River Tigris under the command of General Nur-ud-Din.
Early on the 28th September 1915, Sir Charles Townshend and his forces successfully crossed the River Tigris and attacked the Turkish positions from the north. The Turks suffered 1,700 casualties and 1,300 prisoners were taken. The Turkish Forces retreated 93 miles up the Tigris River to the ancient Persian town of Ctesiphon, 22 miles from Baghdad. The Battle of Ctesiphon, 22nd November 1915 to the 25th November 1915, resulted in a humiliating retreat, by the 6th (Poona) Division of the Indian Army, under Major-General Charles Townshend, back to Kut al Amara in early December 1915.
Kut was in a good defensive position but it was extremely difficult to get supplies there because it was contained within a long loop of the river Tigris and it was a long way from Basra. Townshend and his men were trapped. The Turkish force of 10,500 men advanced on the 7th December. On the previous day, 6th December 1915, the division's cavalry had been despatched back to Basra reducing the number of men in the division when they again came under siege by the Turks. Leading the Turks were Nur-Ud-Din and the German commander Baron von der Goltz. They had been ordered to force the British out of Mesopotamia. To do this they attacked the British on three separate occasions in December 1915, but failed. Sir Charles' force was exhausted and unable to retreat further. He decided to stay and hold Kut supported by the regional Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Nixon. Although the town was of importance to the British, the War Office in London favoured a retreat still further south. However, by the time Townshend received this news he was already under siege. In Britain and India, the news of Townshend's setback had stunned the government. They immediately sent additional forces to the region, diverted from the Western Front. Townshend was informed that a relief operation might take two months to arrange so he proposed breaking out of Kut and heading further south. Nixon however insisted that he remain at Kut and therefore tie up as many Turkish forces as possible.
In due course the first British expedition to break the blockade at Kut was set underway from Basra in January 1916, led by Sir Fenton Aylmer. Sir Fenton Aylmer had already suffered heavy losses at Sheikh Saad, the Wadi and Hannah during January and had not recovered, but his plan was to advance up the right bank of the Tigris and take the very strongly defended position of Es Sinn. Kut could be easily seen from there because apart from ancient canal banks and the Dujailah Depression the land in this area was flat. The Depression ran from the right bank of the Tigris for some distance upstream of Magasis, past the tomb of Imem al Mansur and it contained the strongly entrenched position which became known as the Dujailah Redoubt. The Dujailah Redoubt was 150 yards wide and 6 feet below the level of the surrounding countryside and was key to the plan. It was covered in thorny scrub where jackals, wild cats and other animals took cover. Aylmer planned to pivot around the Redoubt towards the rear of the Turks so he could cut off their communications and make the right bank of the river untenable. He hoped that the Turks would then evacuate the left bank, leaving him to command the river and have an open door to Kut. Which is where the 1/6th battalion of the Devonshire Regiment came in. The 1/6th battalion, 32 officers and 642 other ranks, left Karachi on the 29th December 1915 on the H T "Elephanta", bound for Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). They reached Shatt-Al-Arab, port of Basra on the 3rd January 1916. (River formed by the Union of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates off Basra). The aim of the 1/6th was to relieve General Townshend in Kut al Amara which was 100 miles south of Baghdad. The distance from Basra to Kut was about 230 miles. On the 10th January 1916 the 36th (mixed) Infantry Brigade commenced their long march under Brigadier General Christian. The 36th consisted of the 1/6th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, the 26th, 62nd and the 82nd Punjabis. The Battalion was hard and fit and the men had come through Kitchener's test with flying colours. They were desperately keen to be in a War Zone and keen to assist in the attempt to relieve the garrison at Kut al Amara, up the Tigris river. The British garrison at Kut al Amara was exhausted and starving. Many were wounded or sick. The weather conditions at the time were atrocious - mud, rain and hurricane. Much of what I have written here is based on "Dujailah Days" written by Col G B Oerton published, privately, in 1948 and Lt Col C L Flick's account entitled "The Sixth Battalion Devonshire Regiment in The Great War - Actions marches, movements and stations in England, India and Mesopotamia" printed in 1920. Col G B Oerton wrote that the conditions in Mesopotamia were indescribable. It was common for temperatures to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (about 49 degrees Celsius). The arid desert, regular flooding; flies, mosquitoes and other vermin led to appalling levels of sickness and death through disease. There was a shortage of officers and men, and many of the reinforcements were half-trained and ill-equipped. He described the march from Basra to El Orah as 230 miles of mud, filth, cold, starvation and desolation. The men were on half rations, a tin of bully (corned beef) and two biscuits a day. Occasionally they might have a tin of Australian jam. They had no fuel but even if they had it was impossible to light fires anyway. The men often lay in the mud all night without cover of any kind. The Mahelas (local boats) were unable to get tents and rations to the soldiers because the banks of the River Tigris were flooded and the river was full of bends which proved to be too much for the boats. He described how moved he was listening to the boys singing "The Farmers Boy", "One Man went to Mow" and "Widecombe Fair" as they almost fought their way along the banks of the Tigris. He remarked on how cheerful and unselfish they were, turning everything into a laugh, helping and carrying the rifles of their weaker pals. He also wrote of Sergeant George who had a wonderful singing voice and how he helped to lift the spirits of the men.
Colonel Oerton described how, on the 5th February 1916, after a month's marching, the battalion came across the Sheikh Saad battlefield about 20 miles downstream from Kut. It was where the 7th Division had dislodged the Turks on the 7th January. It was the first frontal attack of its kind which proved to be an expensive and ghastly one. Lt Col Oerton wrote that there were over 4,000 casualties which could not be dealt with. Swollen, naked, mutilated bodies, friend and foe, mule and camel. Many had been butchered stripped and mutilated by "those human jackals" the Arabs. Some Devon lads looked white and sick seeing such a sight but it made them more determined to advance to Kut to help their comrades. The Battle of Dujailah, which was originally scheduled to begin on the 6th March, was postponed until the 8th March on account of heavy rainfall. On 7th March, Shrove Tuesday, the battalion moved out and marched to Es Sinn. On the way there they encountered various skirmishes with the Arabs. On the extreme right was the Dujailah Redoubt. There was a force of about 6,500 men in all, supported by twenty four guns. Three columns of infantry together with the Cavalry Brigade were to march on the Dujailah Depression by night and assault the Turkish line. 20,000 men were to assemble, quietly, at the Pools of Siloam, about 3 miles due south of the Hanna position, after dark on the 7th March. Column A (under Brigadier-General G Christian) - it included the 36th and 37th Brigades (newly arrived) and the 9th Brigade (from D'Urban Keary's 3rd Dvision). A total of 22,000 men and six guns - including the 1/6th Devons. Column B (under Major General Kemball who was in overall command of both A and B Columns, 28th Brigade (Aylmer's Corps Troops Reserve). Another 8,000 men and 24 guns. Column C (under Major-General D'urban Keary) 7th and 8th Brigades (from his own 3rd Division) 6,500 men with 32 guns. 6th Cavalry Brigade (under Brigadier-General R C Stephen). Four Cavalry Regiments with S battery Royal Horse Artillery 1,150 sabres and 4 guns. The main striking force was to be Columns A and B under Major-General Kemball. They were to make for a point south of the Dujailah Redoubt. Meanwhile Column C was to veer a mile or two towards the north. The Cavalry Brigade did not appear to have been given any particular objective and seemed to "swan around in open desert." The organisation proved to be the first mistake because Columns A and B were made up of brigades which had never worked together. Kemball, the commander, nor his staff were known to the troops. Another hindrance was that the brigades moved with all of their transport, ambulances and guns accompanying them instead of behind them. In spite of this the Turks seem to have been taken by surprise but although Aylmer wanted to advance he was ordered to stick to the programme. A J Barker wrote in his book, that if the Dujailah Redoubt had been occupied at dawn on the 8th March, not only would Kut have been relieved but the whole safety of the Turkish Army on the left bank of the Tigris would have been imperilled. Three precious hours were wasted before an advance took place. So the element of surprise had been lost. As a result Turkish reinforcements poured into the trenches of the redoubt - 3,000 of them had come from Magasis Fort to strengthen the line and many more were ferried in on skin rafts towed by motor boats. Reconnaissance by air showed at least another 3,000 came across the river during the day. As the British infantry advanced it was met with heavy rifle and machine gun fire at a range of about 700 yards. By noon Kemball's men had only gained a couple of hundred yards and in doing so they had suffered heavy casualties. Lt Col Flick's diary shows that on the 7th March the men had marched all through the night and fought all through the 8th in torrid, sultry heat, water bottles were empty or nearly so, thoroughly exhausted, their only thought was to get the wounded in.
The battalion lost 19 officers and nearly 300 men were killed, wounded or missing at Es Sinn on the 8th March 1916. Most of the officers were picked off as they charged away ahead of their equally gallant men. The 6th Devons were seriously under strength. The heat was terrific and accentuated by a severe lack of water. On the 9th March 1916 the whole of the troops, who had been engaged in the attack on Es Sinn and Dujailah, retreated. The march back to the Wadi was depressing. Aylmer lost almost a half of his men. The 8th brigade alone, which had gone into action with 2,300 men, came out with 1,127 men. 33 British Officers and 23 Indian officers fell in the attack and the 2nd Rajputs lost all of their British Officers and 12 out of 16 Indian officers. A company, in which my dad served, and a half of the 1/2nd Ghurkas, who went in with them, were practically annihilated. Casualties in the whole force during the action were close to 3,500 including 123 British. The Turks were reported as having suffered 1,200. It was disastrous for Aylmer. He was suspended and replaced by Gorringe who was Townshend's junior. The troops suffered low morale they were depressed after the loss of so many of their comrades, and felt the situation was hopeless, they had lost faith in high command, mail from home was irregular, the rain, mud, wet, dull rations, no canteen or a place to rest made their situation worse. There were still skirmishes with Turkish snipers, the trenches were subject to flooding and had to be repaired, the artillery was immobile. Lack of organisation meant that canteen stores did not reach the men who needed them. In the meantime the Turks just waited for Kut to fall. 22,000 men were lost in attempts to relieve the garrison. The Seaforths and Black Watch were so depleted that they had to be amalgamated to make a "Highland Battalion". The 9th Bopals had to be reinforced with oddments from the Rajput regiment, the Norfolks and Dorsets became the "Norset" Battalion and the Hunts and Buffs became the "Huffs." There were reinforcements at Basra but they could not get up to the front line.
Edmund Candler wrote in "The Long Road to Baghdad"- "The fighting in Mesopotamia from January to April 1916 was unlike any other fighting that British Troops have had to undergo. It was an army wasted in detail, expatiating the folly of statesmen and generals in which blunder piled upon blunder made it evident to the troops that their sacrifice was in vain - and at the time thankless. The force who fought to save Townshend was ill fed, ill equipped and in many cases their sick were unattended."
The first cadre of the 1/6th battalion left Mesopotamia for Karachi on the 30th March 1919. The Western Times & North Devon Journal reported that many of the 1/6th battalion returned home on the P & O Transport ship Somali, arriving in Plymouth Sound on Friday night 2nd May 1919. My dad arrived back in England on the Somali. He attended the wedding of his aunt, Charity May Kingdon & Arthur Bowker on the 9th June 1919 at South Molton. Dad was disembodied on the 16th June 1919.
When I was young my dad and I used to go for walks in the countryside and he spoke about India and snake charmers, men lying on beds of nails, fire eaters and the colour and smells of India. He made it sound magical. I never heard him speak about Mesopotamia. When I was older I understood why. My mother told me that my father had seen where The Garden of Eden had been at Qurna (or Kurna), when he was in the war. I am sure that it was no Garden of Eden when he was there (14th January 1916). He also saw the area, on the banks of the Euphrates, where the Gardens of Babylon had been. Dad sent lots of postcards to his grandparents, Edwin and Mary from India and Mesopotamia. On one card, postmarked Bombay, he says he is "in the pink", a term used in those days. Siegfried Sassoon wrote a poem entitled "In the pink". I do not think that dad would have used the term when he was in Mesopotamia.
The battalion was not supplied with suitable clothing when it left India. The men were dressed in thin Indian Drill uniform. They lived on half rations of a tin of bully and two biscuits a day. The conditions were appalling. The Tigris was in flood and it was extremely cold. The only drinking water was from the filthy river. They walked through miles of mud. I first learned about how things were in Mesopotamia, when I read Lt Col C L Flick's account entitled "The Sixth Battalion Devonshire Regiment in The Great War - Actions marches, movements and stations in England, India and Mesopotamia" printed in 1920. Also Dujailah Days by Colonel G B Oerton gives a snapshot of how bad things were. The following is from Col. Oerton's book. There were boatloads of wounded going down the Tigris, huddled on the bare decks without even a covering from sleet and rain. No lint and gauze dressings, nor splints. Not enough doctors, suffering increased by cold, hunger, thirst, dirt, exposure and neglect. Those wounded at Amara and Basra unfed, untended with bed, or rather deck, sores and some dying, first field dressings, eight days old, unchanged, maggots on their wounds, gangrene and other abominations too revolting to mention. Other wounded were not so fortunate as these, they were lost in the mud. All this happening within a few days voyage from India.
My dad was not yet 17 years old when the Battalion landed at Basra. The dreadful conditions and the horrors he saw does not bear thinking about. Many were wounded or killed, at Es Sinn in March 1916 and many died of sickness and disease. Margaret Austin, daughter of Sidney Cole told me that Sidney described how the wounded cried out for their mothers, even those who were married. Sidney also enlisted when he was under age.
Ernest had two service numbers, 1833, the number recorded on the circumference of his Medals and 265375, the number shown in the list of names at the back of Lieutenant Colonel C L Flick's book, where Ernest is shown as L/Cpl in D company. The latter number was his Territorial Army service number. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Unfortunately my dad's service records, from WWI, did not survive. Like many others they were destroyed in the bombing of London in WWII. The National Archives at Kew hold some records that did survive in The Burnt Records Collection.
The Battalion returned to England in August 1919. Dad met my mother, Annie Bellew. She worked for a wealthy family close to where dad's grandparents lived. Dad was unable to find work in South Molton. He lived with relatives and found work as a bricklayer in Lutterworth for a time and my mother joined him there. They eventually returned to South Molton, where they married in 1921. During the 1920s Dad opened a shop at 56 Summerland Place, Cooks Cross, South Molton where he sold newspapers, confectionery and tobacco. Later they moved to premises in Barnstaple Street, at first No. 18 and then number 20, where Dad continued his newsagent business and also sold and repaired crystal sets and wirelesses. He also sold and recharged batteries for the wirelesses. He moved to larger premises at 18 Barnstaple Street between 1932 and 1935. My sister Betty was the eldest child born in 1921, my brother Ronald was born in 1932 and I was born in 1941
Dad was an active member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes and was a member of the British Legion. He served with the National Fire Service (Devon Fire Brigade), throughout the 1930s and probably before that. He served as a fire fighter during World War Two. There were several notable fires during that period. In 1932 there was a fire at the Church in Mariansleigh and there were two fires at Castle Hill, Lord Fortescue's home, on the 7th and 10th March 1934. Two people died in the fire. On the 5th December 1936, there was a fire at John Heathcoat and Co. Tiverton, and there were two separate fires at Skinners bakery in South Molton. South Molton Fire Brigade attended all of these. Sometime between 1935 and 1939 Dad was made up to Sergeant in the Fire Brigade.
During the 2nd World War, whilst serving in the National Fire Service, he fought fires in Plymouth, Bristol and Exeter during and after bomb raids. The devastating German air raids on the nights of March 20th and 21st and April 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 28th and 29th have become termed the Plymouth Blitz. My mother told me that when Dad was fighting the fires, she would look southwards from South Molton and the sky would glow red from the fires. I was born on 6th March 1941. It was very worrying for her. I was only a few weeks old when South Molton Fire Brigade attended the fires in Plymouth on the 20th and 21st March 1941. There is a copy of a letter from Plymouth City Police dated 1st April 1941 thanking South Molton Fire Brigade for fighting fires caused by enemy action. The original letter is held by South Molton Museum. Dad received the Defence Medal for his service with the National Fire Service.
It was difficult to get parts for wirelesses during the second world war, and newsprint was scarce, so Dad gave up his Newspaper and wireless business. He found work with Southcombes Auctioneers in South Molton. On 26th April 1945, Dad sent a postcard to me, aged 4, of Rum Beach, Jennycliff Bay near Plymouth. He must have found work there. There are a lot of military establishments in the area. Mum also said that he worked at Winkleigh aerodrome for a while. Dad's cousin, Edwin John Kingdon (Jack) returned from New Zealand and started up a building business in North Street, South Molton in the mid 1940s. Dad worked for Jack as a mason until, sadly, he died in June 1951, aged 53.
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