World War One in Dartmouth

World War One in Dartmouth

The First World War was a terrible tragedy that took the lives of a generation and caused a shakeup of Britain’s class system that would break down countless barriers.

But the country – and Dartmouth was no exception – was caught up in patriotic fever when it broke out in August 1914.

The first indication that war was imminent came on August 1st when the Captain of Britannia Royal Naval College, Victor Stanley, received a simple telegram from the Admiralty in the middle of a cricket match. It contained one word: “Mobilise.”

Four hundred and thirty four Cadets marched through the town, cheered on by large crowds, to the passenger ferry, before catching trains to their new postings. Most of them had not completed their training and were very young – 14 or 15 years old.

On September 22nd that year – just seven weeks later – German submarines in the North Sea torpedoed three ships on which cadets from that group had been posted.

Thirteen of the Dartmouth contingent were killed, including 15-year-old cadets HL Riley and JD Stubbs, killed on board the HMS Aboukir whilst trying to save the life of a fellow crewmember who dragged them under the waves.  

By the end of 1915, 41 of the original group had been killed, the highest attrition rate of any class in the Navy during the war.

But in the heady days of August the assumption the war would be ‘over by Christmas’ was firmly believed.  However, Captain Stanley felt it was important to connect the town to the war effort as quickly as possible. He opened the BRNC’s rifle range to the townspeople – or rather the men of the town – on the day after war was declared, August 5th.

At the packed first session, Capt Stanley addressed the townsmen, including Deputy Mayor Alderman R Row, and his message was a simple one: “England is at war. Every man should be able to defend his home and use a rifle.”

He told the enthusiastic crowd it was a time ‘for deeds not words’, a statement greeted with much applause.

It was decided very early after war was declared that the town’s Regatta would be postponed until after hostilities had ended. No one could have predicted it would not be held again until 1919.

Thomas Wilton was elected Mayor in 1914 and he remained in the post for five years,

receiving a knighthood after the war for his service.

The town saw many of its young men march off to war, many never to return – but the town also saw its fair share of heroes too: Theo Veale won the VC for saving a wounded man from no man’s land; Lieutenant Eric Shiner won the Military Cross for ‘acts of exemplary gallantry’.

Manpower was a huge problem for businesses in the town – with services curtailed and some firms even shutting down, such as Simpson, Strickland and Co.

The war did not leave the town unscathed – in fact, the war’s impact was often felt pretty close to home. The channel was a hotbed of conflict and danger – Mayor Wilton, who was a partner in shipping firm Renwick-Wilton, saw two of his coaling boats, the SS Torquay and the SS Churston, strike mines whilst transporting coal from Blythe to the Dart, with the loss of five men.  On one occasion four U-Boats were spotted just outside the harbour, the news of which must have sent a chill down the spines off all those who made their living on the water.  

The war saw massive reductions in visiting ships to the river, reducing the income for the Dart Harbour Commission but perhaps more importantly for the men who earned their living coaling the ships – the coal lumpers. The lumpers and dockworkers were only paid for the work they did and as work dried up fierce competition resulted in their wages, not high in the first place, to being reduced.  It was perhaps no coincidence that a large contingent signed up to the Devonshire Regiment in 1916. The remaining men began to realise their power in the diminished times of the war and joined the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Worker’s Union, and forced pay rises from the remaining employers –a sign of the tumultuous times.

Despite the bogging down of the war and the growing unease at the high casualties, the support for the men fighting it was unwavering.

In 1915 Mrs Fitzherbert, who lived at Glendene, Kingswear, received a letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace for organising local people to knit long socks for sailors in the fleet. 2,296 pairs were knitted by needy trawler women whose men had lost their lives at sea.

The war ended in November 1918 to much rejoicing, but the town, with the rest of Britain, felt the cost of war in its loss of men and the economic downturn the conflict had caused.

Mayor Wilton recognised this and offered four buildings he owned in the town to be used for ex servicemen – two as houses and two for a ‘Comrades of the Great War’ club in Fairfax Place, Dartmouth.

The town would never forget the sacrifice its brave servicemen had given.

First Published By The Dart July 2014