Herbert Burtis Stokes, Sergeant, 3rd Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
Herbert Stokes, in the 1891 census, is recorded as Burtis Stokes. He is a 1 year old. Jane Stokes, his grandmother, his mother, Clara Ann Stokes, aged 26 and also a very young aunt, Agnes Stokes, aged 5, are all living with him in West Street, Pembridge in a four room house (including kitchen). His grandmother has an occupation but, in the census, it is indecipherable. It is possible that Herbert Stokes was born out of wedlock as he goes by his mother’s surname which is the same as his grandmother’s surname. Also, there is no record of his mother having being married at this point.
In the 1901 census, Herbert Stokes is still living in West Street but now in a two-room residence with his grandmother, Jane, and another aunt, Norah, aged 28.
His mother, Clara Ann Stokes, had, by this time, married George Wall, a wheelwright and blacksmith who is working on “own account”. Clara Ann and George Wall have two sons and two daughters who were all born after the 1891 census. They, also, live in West Street, Pembridge but in another residence.
In the 1911 census Herbert Stokes is listed with 29 other men, all, like Herbert, under 30 and their occupations are all recorded as “military”. The Enumeration District where these soldiers reside is in India. The 1911 census was the first one in which military serving abroad would be recorded.
Herbert Stokes had enlisted in the 2nd Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry in 1908. This battalion, at the time, was serving in India. By, August 1914, the battalion was stationed at Secunderabad, India on garrison duties.
“In the redeployments that followed the outbreak of war 2/KLSI (King’s Shropshire Light Infantry) was ordered to return to Britain along with other Regular battalions of the British Army. 2/KLSI eventually reached England in November 1914 and was organised as part of the 80th Infantry Brigade which was part of 27 Division. 2/KLSI then arrived in France on 21 December 1914. It was destined to spend just under a year on the Western Front.” (1)
“During the first months of 1915 2/KSLI were deployed to trench holding operations in the Dikebusch sector and later at St Eloi near Ypres.
The conditions of trench warfare in the winter of 1914-1915 had an immediate impact upon the soldiers. In one two day holding operation about 300 officers and men in 2 KSLI were unable to march owing to frostbite. Some were not to return to fitness for some months.” (2)
“A twenty foot high and seventy foot long mound formed a part off the British defensive line at St Eloi. This feature commanded the surrounded area which was flat. It appears to have been made up from spoil from a nearby brickworks. On 14 March 1915 a German attack which included the explosion of several underground mines captured this area. On 15 March 2/KLSI participated in a counter attack to recapture the lost positions. The attack failed due to enemy machine gun fire from the mound and surrounding German occupied trenches. This became the familiar pattern when attempting to regain lost ground.” (3)
Above photo: The mound at St Eloi (4)
2nd Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry - The 2nd Battle of Ypres (April 1915)
“On 22 April 1915 the German Army launched an attack east of Ypres on French and Canadian positions preceded by the surprise first use of chlorine poison gas.
Above photo: Gas attack (warmuseaum.ca)
The assault tore a five mile gap in the Allied lines which the Germans penetrated to a depth of up to two miles. The resulting struggle to gain tactical positions continued until early May.
Above photo: 2nd Battle Of Ypres (IWM)
At 2.40 a.m. on 28 April 1915 W and Y Companies (2nd KSLI) attacked the same German held communication trench. The attack again failed. On this occasion the moonlight had aided the German defenders and the attack lost momentum with the early loss of leaders. W and Y companies suffered 53 casualties including three officers.
This dreadful loss of life for 2/KLSI for what was a minor tactical objective within a major defensive engagement reflects the beginning of a very steep learning curve for the British Army at this time. A shortage of artillery shells and, in particular, high explosive shells together with little or poor communications enabling efficient cooperation between supporting units meant that assaults were not effectively supported. A lack of intrinsic fire power within assaulting units, namely portable machine guns and bombs and poor assaulting techniques matched with poor training would continue to plague assaults for months to come. Overall, 2/KSLI lost 11 officers and 152 other ranks killed, wounded and missing in this battle.” (5)
“Frezenburg May 8th-May 12th 1915
Lance Corporal Archibald Thomas, 2nd Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry wrote to his sister the following -
“We are in a dugout, (a hole in the earth) just large enough to squeeze in four of us, and the shells are bursting all around, I hope they won’t strike this dugout until I have finished writing this, they are dropping pretty close about five yards away. The Germans are not playing the game. They have been shelling us with poison gas which chokes and blinds you, still, we will get our own back later on.” (6)
Armentieres and Froissy
“Between 2 June and 8 October 1915 2/KSLI moved first to the Armentieres sector and then onto the Froissy sector. Here they would return to a pattern of defensive trench holding. Reliefs, working parties and occasional shelling became the norm.” (7)
At some juncture, Herbert Stokes was wounded. The journey back to England to receive the requisite medical attention would have been a hazardous one.
“Regimental Aid Post (RAP)
The RAMC [Royal Army Medical Corps] chain of evacuation began at a rudimentary care point within 200-300 yards of the front line. Regimental Aid Posts [RAPs] were set up in small spaces such as communication trenches, ruined buildings, dug outs or a deep shell hole. The walking wounded struggled to make their way to these whilst more serious cases were carried by comrades or sometimes stretcher bearers. The RAP had no holding capacity and here, often in appalling conditions, wounds would be cleaned and dressed, pain relief administered and basic first aid given.
Above photo: Regimental Aid Post (Wellcome Collection)
If possible men were returned to their duties but the more seriously wounded were carried by RAMC stretcher bearers often over muddy and shell-pocked ground, and under shell fire, to the ADS.
Advanced Dressing Station (ADS)
These were set up and run as part of the Field Ambulances [FAs] and would be sited about four hundred yards behind the RAPs in ruined buildings, underground dug outs and bunkers, in fact anywhere that offered some protection from shellfire and air attack. The ADS did not have holding capacity and though better equipped than the RAPs could still only provide limited medical care.
Above photo: Advanced Dressing Station (NAM)
Casualty Clearing Stations
These were the next step in the evacuation chain situated several miles behind the front line usually near railway lines and waterways so that the wounded could be evacuated easily to base hospitals. A CCS often had to move at short notice as the front line changed and although some were situated in permanent buildings such as schools, convents, factories or sheds many consisted of large areas of tents, marquees and wooden huts often covering half a square mile.
Above photo: Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) (IWM)
A CCS would normally accommodate a minimum of fifty beds and 150 stretchers and could cater for 200 or more wounded and sick at any one time. Later in the war a CCS would be able to take in more than 500 and up to 1000 when under pressure. Initially the wounded were transported to the CCS in horse-drawn ambulances – a painful journey, and over time motor vehicles or even a narrow-gauge railway were used. Often the wounded poured in under dreadful conditions, the stretchers being placed on the floor in rows with barely room to stand between them
Gas was first used as a weapon at Ypres in April 1915 and thereafter as a weapon on both sides. Patients were brought in to the CCS suffering from the effects and poisoning of chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas among others.
From the CCS men were transported en masse in ambulance trains, road convoys or by canal barges to the large base hospitals near the French coast or to a hospital ship heading for England.
Ambulance Train
These trains transported the wounded from the CCSs to base hospitals near or at one of the channel ports. In 1914 some trains were composed of old French trucks and often the wounded men lay on straw without heating and conditions were primitive. Others were French passenger trains which were later fitted out as mobile hospitals with operating theatres, bunk beds and a full complement of QAIMNS (Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Miltiary Nursing Service) nurses, RAMC doctors and surgeons and RAMC medical orderlies.
Above photo: Ambulance Train (IWM)
Emergency operations would be performed despite the movement of the train, the cramped conditions and poor lighting. Hospital carriages were also manufactured and fitted out in England and shipped to France.
Hospital barges
Many wounded were transported by water in hospital barges. Although slow, the journey was smooth and this time allowed the wounded to rest and recuperate. The barges were converted from a range of general use barges such as coal or cargo barges.
Above photo: Hospital barge (IWM)
The holds were converted to 30 bed hospital wards and nurses’ accommodation. They were heated by two stoves and provided with electric lighting which would have to be turned off at night to avoid being an easy target for German pilots. Nurses would have to make their rounds in pitch dark using a small torch.
Stationary Hospitals, General Hospitals & Base Area
Under the RAMC were two categories of base hospital serving the wounded from the Western Front.
There were two Stationary Hospitals to every Division and despite their name they were moved at times, each one designed to hold 400 casualties, and sometimes specialising in for instance the sick, gas victims, neurasthenia cases & epidemics. They normally occupied civilian hospitals in large cities and towns, but were equipped for field work if necessary.
Above photo: A Stationary Hospital, Rouen (Wikipedia)
The Stationary/General Hospitals were located near railway lines to facilitate movement of casualties from the CCS on to the coastal ports. Large numbers were concentrated at Boulogne and Étaples. Grand hotels and other large buildings such as casinos were requisitioned but other hospitals were collections of huts, hastily constructed on open ground, with tents added as required, expanding capacity from 700 to 1,200 beds. At first there was a lack of basic facilities – no hot water, no taps, no sinks, no gas stoves and limited wash bowls.
Hospital Ships and Military & War Hospitals at home
Most hospital ships were requisitioned and converted passenger liners. Despite the excellent nursing and medical care many patients died aboard because of their extreme wounds. The risk of torpedoes and mines as they crossed the channel was very real.” (8)
Above photo: Glencastle Hospital Ship sunk by a German torpedo 1918 (Wikipedia)
On arrival at a British port the wounded were transferred to a home service ambulance train. It was at these railway stations that the British public got closest to the casualties of the war.
Above photo: Wounded British soldiers arriving at a station (9)
From there, the wounded went on to Military and War Hospitals which were divided into nine Command areas.
After recovering from his wounds, Herbert Stokes was transferred to the garrison town of Pembroke Dock. Up to 4000 soldiers were garrisoned in this town.
Above photo: The now dilapidated Victorian barracks at Pembroke Dock (Wales Online) (10)
The following is known about how Herbert Stokes’s life panned out.
“Herbert Stokes, 8486, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. Herbert was from Wrexham and had married Hannah Bebb there in 1908. He had been in the army for nine years and had served on The Western Front with The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry from December 1914, before becoming wounded and posted to the 3rd Battalion at Pembroke Dock. Sadly, on Wednesday 28th December 1915, Herbert was found dead at Pembroke Dock with a rifle lying beside him. He was 26 years old.” (6)
As a footnote to the above, it may well be that, at some point, between the census of 1901 and 1911, Herbert Stokes was residing in Wrexham. No record of Herbert Stokes' marriage to Hannah Bebb can be traced but the Herbert Stokes mentioned in the above paragraph is the same Herbert Stokes who had resided in Pembridge as the above mentioned service number (8486) matches all other records.
In the “UK Army Register Of Soldiers Effects, Herbert Stokes’ cause of death is described as “Gunshot Self-inflicted".
In the UK WW1 Pensions and Ledgers Index Cards, the following is documented.
In the same card index, Herbert Stokes left to Clara Ann Wall, his mother, the sum of £10 10s. Note “Herbert” in brackets and “Burtis” not bracketed. This Herbert Stokes is the same person mentioned in the 1891 and 1901 census registered as Burtis Stokes.
As established, Clara Ann Wall was Herbert Stokes’ mother. She was, at the time of the 1911 census, a widow living with a son and daughter in West Street, Pembridge. She was working as a charwoman.
Herbert Stokes is buried at Pembroke Dock Military Cemetery.
“Pembroke Dock is the home to the only military cemetery in Wales. Forty graves of men of The Great War are located in the cemetery.” (CWGC)
Above photo: Pembroke Dock Military Cemetery (CWGC)
Most of the soldiers buried at this cemetery died of illness and accidental injuries while being garrisoned in the town, Herbert Stokes’ death being an exception to this.
Above photo: Herbert Stokes’s headstone and grave (James Evans, GWCG)
While the factors behind Herbert Stokes’s suicide will never be known, the following might well have played a part irrespective of the fact that Herbert Stokes was a professional soldier.
“Most combatants (in The First World War) were not professional soldiers, but civilians who had volunteered for war service. No training could prepare these civilian soldiers for the stresses and strains of trench life or “new” terror weapons they would face, such as tanks, poison gas, flame throwers, aerial bombing and high explosive shells. Many of these men would have witnessed death at close hand, seen their friends killed and wounded, or have been injured themselves. The exposure to these horrifying events would have undermined the best of soldiers, both physically, and mentally. They would have experienced great anxiety with very few support services available to help them. It is therefore understandable that many men traumatised by their war experiences felt frustrated, isolated and found it easier not to talk about the war or take their own lives.
The psychological effects of the Great War were just not understood. About 25% of those discharged from active service during the war were ‘psychiatric casualties’. 80,000 men were suffering from shell-shock, a condition viewed by the public as a sign of emotional weakness or cowardice. While there was some recognition of “Shell Shock”, the existence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was not officially recognised until 1980, by the US government, after the Vietnam war. It was only then that researchers began to take an interest in the illness and its affect on soldiers’ families. Researchers from the Centre for Military Health Research at King’s College, London, now agree that there is a close relationship between the incidence of death and injury on the battlefield and the number of psychiatric casualties.” (11)
Rory MacColl
Sources
1/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
2/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
3/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
4/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
5/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
6/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
7/ https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2%EF%80%A2KLSI-1914-1918-1-1.pdf
8/ https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/evacuation-of-the-wounded-in-world-war-i/
9/ https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TBWP/title (Willis Family Collection)
10/ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/homes-property/property-news/inside-abandoned-victorian-barracks-dominates-17700390
11/ https://ww1hull.com/jack/