Didsbury Schools War Memorial ..another story from Tony Goulding

This memorial, on Grange Lane, Didsbury, Manchester lists 75 former pupils of Elm Grove School Didsbury and of its former incarnation as the area’s National School. 

Didsbury Schools Memorial 

One sad and poignant aspect is that many of the entries include the diminutive form of the Christian names; such as “Tom”, “Harry”, “Billie”, “Willie” etc. Thus, recalling the names that would have likely echoed around the school’s playground. All have a story to tell of a life sadly cut short; below is a random selection of just 4.

Arthur Grimshaw - “Lusitania” 

 

The sinking of the Lusitania

Arthur Grimshaw is the only civilian amongst the 75 names. As a young man of only 18 he was sailing back from Brooklyn, New York on the R.M.S. Lusitania when it sank on 7th May 1915 after being torpedoed by a German U-boat.

Arthur was born to James Biggam Grimshaw and his wife Annie (née Truelove), during the December quarter of 1896 in Didsbury, Lancashire where his father had a tailor’s shop at 112, Wilmslow Road. Arthur was his parents' eldest child and only surviving son. A younger brother, Charles Leslie died aged 6 in the December quarter of 1905. James Biggam and Annie’s three other children were all girls; Mary Louisa, Nora, and Kathleen. The 1911 census record shows 14-year-old Arthur already having left school and working as an “office boy”. He had travelled to New York to visit a friend Arthur “Whitcaide”, in 1914 on board the R.M.S. Cedric a White Star Line liner.

James George Horrocks 28th Battalion, The London Regiment - “Artists Rifles”  

Player’s cigarette card -1908

James George Horrocks was born in the September quarter of 1881 in Didsbury where his father, also a James, lived on Wilmslow Road and was working as a head gardener. His Pendleton, Salford born father had married his mother Hannah (née Marshall) from Stourbridge, Worcestershire in Cheltenham during the September quarter of 1875. According to the 1911 census the couple had a total of 11 children 5 of whom had died. (Incidentally, as a widower James would not have been obliged to provide this information and the entry was subsequently crossed through.) James George was the eldest surviving child before being killed in action at Passchendaele on 30th October 1917, whilst serving as a private in the 28th (County of London) Battalion of The London Regiment, otherwise “The Artists Rifles”. Despite having been married to Louise Frances Elizabeth (née Crossland) at St. Peter’s Church, Levenshulme, Manchester on Boxing Day 1904 and having a young daughter, Mabel, born in Newton Heath, Manchester on 9th April 1906, James George did not wait to be conscripted but enlisted on 9th December 1915. Initially, due to his family status he was placed on the Army Reserve list, however on 4th November 1916 he was mobilized. He sailed from Southampton in the evening of 19th March 1917 arriving at Le Harve in France the following morning and finally joining his unit on 1st April 1917. In the 1911 census and his army records reveal he was a shipping clerk in civilian life and lived on Whitby Road, Fallowfield, Manchester. (variously at nos. 92 and 35)

Willie Gschwind

Willie Gschwind

Willie Gschwind was born in Islington, London during the December quarter of 1888. He was the eldest of the three children of Swiss parents, William Gabriel Gschwind and Bertha (née Troxler). He had a sister, Dorothea Alice and a younger brother, Theodor Rudolf. Willie was a private in the 15th (Manchester Scots) Battalion, The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) and was a killed in the slaughter of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. Willie’s Army service was shockingly short; he enlisted on 27th November 1915, arrived in France on 5th May 1916 and died less than 2-months later. On his enlistment he was recorded as unmarried and living with his parents and sister at “Blythewood”, 21, Parkfield Road, Didsbury, Manchester. He was 27 years and 2 months old, occupation a “shipper” with a height recorded as just 5’ 4”. With the carnage and resultant confusion of the battle, Willie was initially posted as wounded and missing and it was not for another 6 months until the War Office confirmed his death following a fruitless enquiry through the auspices of the International Red Cross

As a footnote to Willie’s story prior to his Army service Willie and his father had been embroiled in a criminal case, when William Gschwind senior had been accused of attempting to trade with the enemy vis-à-vis exporting cloth to Germany which could be used in the manufacturing of Zeppelin Airships. The case was ultimately dismissed in March 1915. On 30th June 1927, made a claim for the substantial sum of £50,000 (or more than £2.6 million in today's value) in the War Compensation Court with respect to his lost trade with neutral countries. A wonderfully worded, vituperative letter he had sent to the Home Secretary was read to the court by the Attorney General in which he complained of “damage suffered by --- direct and particular interference with my ------ business by this gang of Cerberian miscreant Government officials ----- especially that criminal super-Prussian swinehound, the former Home Secretary. ----- That dilatory, miserable, stupid Foreign Office and their fools of advisers -------. The wilfully debased, perverted and arrogant and super-Prussian recruiting sergeants and makers of scraps of paper of international treaties”.Perhaps unsurprisingly, given this attack, his claim was unsuccessful.

Harold William Frith – Royal Navy 

H.M.S. Monmouth.

Harold William is one of only 4 Royal Navy personnel and the only one to die in action at sea; two others. Elliot Cowan Crosby and Albert Smith both died of disease, the former in Italy on 17th October 1918 of “pleurisy following influenza”, the latter died on 22nd November 1918 in Manchester and is buried in the city’s Southern Cemetery - Grave T 584 in the consecrated (i.e. Church of England) section. The final naval casualty was Henry Wright who as a private in the Royal Marines Light Infantry was killed while fighting on the Western Front on 15th November 1916 during the final phase of the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of the Ancre.

 Harold William Frith was born on 26th February 1897 in Withington, Manchester to William Henry Frith, a house decorator, and his wife Elizabeth (née Moore). He first lived at 18, Lady Barn Road, then at 23, Egerton Street. He was his parents’ only surviving child, an older sister, Alice, dying before he was born. In June 1902, Harold William’s father died, aged just 34, when he was only 5 years old. His mother moved with her son to live with Harold William’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Moore (and her husband George); initially just next door to 21, Egerton Street. The 1911 census, however, shows the 14-year-old Harold William, already working as a watchmaker/ jeweller's apprentice, had moved with his mother and grandmother, now also widowed, to 16, Rippingham Road, Withington. His mother had opened a drapery shop. (1)

 As well as being the only one on the memorial to be killed in an action at sea, Harold William was also one of the earliest casualties of the War and quite possibly the youngest of the 75 names. He had joined The Royal Navy as a boy sailor on 24th April 1913 with a view to signing up for a 12-year engagement once he reached the age of 18 on 26th February 1915.(2) He was destined to never reach his eighteenth birthday however, as when Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914 he had just joined, on 30th July his second ship H.M.S. Monmouth, having previously being part of the crew of H.M.S Edgar for 5 months.

     On 1st November 1914, H.M.S. Monmouth was sunk during the Battle of Coronel of the coast of southern Chile. Harold William Frith was one of the 1,660 sailors who died across the two ships lost in the battle; the other being H.M.S. Good Hope.

 Pictures: - Didsbury Schools Memorial from the collection of Tony Goulding.

Lusitania sinking from German Federal Archive. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.

Attribution: Bundesarchiv, DVM 10 Bild-23-61-17 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

 Soldier of The Artists Rifles 1908 cigarette card by John Player & Sons Tobacco Company. Public Domain  https://talesfromthesupplydepot.blog/2020/03/10/the-territorial-force-cigarette-cards-part-3/,

Pte William Gschwind courtesy of Imperial War Museum’s collections. © IWM (HU 115530) 

H.M.S. Monmouth By Unknown author - Postcard, Public Domain

Notes: 

1) This appears to have been a quite successful business as the 1921 census records show it at 124, Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester with Elizabeth being joined in the enterprise by her unmarried older sister, Alice Drusilla Moore.

2) Harold William Frith's  Navy Papers also reveal that he stood 5'11" tall with a 331/2 inch chest and had brown hair, blue eyes, and a fresh complexion.