Oscar Theodore Bulmer, Captain, 1st Battalion Herefordshire Regiment
Above photo: Captain Oscar Bulmer
Oscar Bulmer was born in Credenhill, Herefordshire in 1913. He was the son of Edward Frederick (Fred) Bulmer who had been born in 1866.
Above photo: Fred Bulmer (1)
The latter, with his brother, Percy Bulmer, founded Bulmer’s Cider Company.
Above photo: Percy Bulmer (Wikitree)
Oscar Bulmer’s grandfather was Charles H. Bulmer who was, at the time of Fred Bulmer’s birth, the rector of Credenhill Parish. There had been a clergyman in the Bulmer family for two generations prior to Charles H. Bulmer.
Above photo: Credenhill Parish Church, today (Wikipedia)
By 1891, Oscar Bulmer’s father, Fred, aged 25, and Fred’s brother Percy, aged 24, were residing at The Rectory in Credenhill with their parents, Rev. Charles H. and Mary Bulmer. Both brothers are described as cider and perry merchants.
The following is excerpted from “Herefordshire Through Time” - (2)
Fred Bulmer’s great-grandfather was originally a farmer in Yorkshire. The Bulmer family had been engaged in wine production for many years. Owing to health problems (asthma) Fred’s brother, Percy had found it difficult to gain employment so he decided to start a drinks business on his own as, according to his mother Mary, food and drink did not go out of fashion. Percy and Fred who, in 1887, was studying on a scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, had both previously made small amounts of perry and cider at a neighbor's stone mill.
By the late 1880s, Percy had a small business at Maylord Street, Hereford. Fred joined his brother in the fledgling business even though he had been offered a job teaching the sons of the King of Siam. With a loan of £1,760 from their father, Rev. Charles Bulmer, they moved to a one-acre site at Ryelands in Hereford which they bought from Mr Lane of Ryelands, Leominster. The one-acre site is where Ryelands Street in Hereford is now situated - the Museum of Cider in close proximity. The two brothers employed one other person who could not read or write.
Above photo: The Bulmer’s first cider mill, Hereford (3)
Cider was not well known in other parts of the country (excluding the south-west) so the only way that the business could expand was by generating an awareness for the drink. This they did by going to agricultural shows and advertising in trade directories. With loans from a local bank and from Fred’s Cambridge University alumni, they expanded their cellars and invested in more efficient pressing machines. They also planted their first 60 acres of orchards at their family farm in Broxwood, Herefordshire. Here, they experimented with different varieties of apple trees so that they could then recommend to other growers the optimal varieties of trees to plant.
After Percy had learned the techniques of producing champagne by visiting The Desmonet champagne makers in France, the two brothers were producing “champagne cider” which, by 1916, was being marketed as Pomagne. In 1911, the company was granted its first Royal Warrant. In 1918, the two brothers converted the partnership into a limited company with both Fred and Percy owning 75 per cent of the £1 shares issued. In 1919, after Percy Bulmer had died, Fred took sole control of the company and became both Chairman and Director. By 1926, Bulmer’s employed over 200 people and in that year Bulmer’s Woodpecker Cider was being produced. Fred Bulmer remained as chairman of the company until his death in 1941 when one of his nephews took over.
During the 20th century, the business expanded enormously with buy outs of other cider manufacturers. By the 1980s, Bulmer’s was producing 60 per cent of the UK’s cider, and in 1970, the company was floated on The London Stock Exchange before eventually being taken over in 2003 by Scottish and Newcastle Brewery.
In 1899, Fred Bulmer had married Sophie Rittner whose family resided in Toxteth, Liverpool where the couple were married. Their first child, a daughter, was born there in 1901.
In the 1901 census Fred Bulmer was living at Belle Vue, King’s Close, Huntington, Herefordshire. In the latter census, Fred Bulmer, along with his wife and one daughter had three servants residing with them.
By 1911, Fred and his wife were residing in the district of Sutton Sugwas and Brienton. Along with Fred’s wife, there were 2 nurses, two housemaids, 1 house parlour maid and a cook in residence. The size of the household would seem to indicate how much the family business had prospered within the space of those ten years.
“Fred Bulmer had political interests in housing, education, health, law and order and women’s rights. In 1901, appalled at the slum conditions in Hereford, he founded Hereford Dwellings Ltd and built twelve cottages for the poor in Moor Street. In 1908 he founded Hereford Co-operative Housing and built Garden City, a series of modern family homes with gardens in the Penn Grove area of the city.” (5)
“As a County Councillor, then Mayor in 1908, and again in 1925, he (Fred Bulmer) vigorously pursued reforms. ‘The capitalist’, he said, ‘must be judged by the use he makes of it, and the amount he spends on himself’.
“In 1938, he made over a tenth of his personal wealth to a welfare fund for the employees of the cider firm. This became the EF Bulmer Trust for the provision of help to former HP Bulmer plc employees, and for the people of Herefordshire, suffering from want, need and hardship.” (6)
Oscar Bulmer was born in 1911. He was educated at Shrewsbury School probably somewhere between the years 1924-1929. The London Gazette (April 1939) states the following about him - “late Cadet, Shrewsbury School Jun., Div., OTC to be 2nd Lieutenant, 26th April 1939” in the 1st Herefordshire Regiment which was part of the Territorial Army and as such involved part-time soldiering.
Oscar Bulmer, at this time was a “farm manager”. It is quite possible that he was managing the Bulmer family orchards at Broxwood and, if that was the case and had he survived the war, he might well have played an active role in the family business as it went from strength to strength during the latter part of the 20th century.
During the 1st World War, Oscar Bulmer’s first cousin, the son of Percy Bulmer, had shot himself in a hotel at Paddington while going from his training camp to attend his grandfather’s funeral at Credenhill. Hereford. Oscar’s father, Fred Bulmer, represented the family at the inquest. “He stated that Lieutenant Bulmer (then aged 22) had written a letter to his parents stating that his nerves had completely given way. Evidence was also given of the terrible accident in which the deceased officer had been involved while flying (in The Royal Flying Corps) just before he left France. It was stated that he had been flying almost daily for six months as an observer, and that he had returned to England to qualify as a pilot. The Coroner, in his summing up, stated that this was one of many melancholy cases that came before him of noble young men having their nerves shattered by the horrors of war. The jury immediately returned a verdict that the deceased shot himself while in a state of unsound mind brought about by the war, and the Coroner desired Mr E. F. Bulmer to convey the profound sympathy of himself and the jury to Lieut. Bulmer’s parents.” (7)
On 1st September 1939, the Territorial Army was mobilised - called up for full-time service.
“When war was declared the Battalion had just returned from Annual camp. The Battalion concentrated in Hereford as part of 159 (Welsh Border) Brigade, 53 (Welsh) Division and commenced a long and varied period of training, which was to continue until the Battalion was committed to action in Normandy on 13 June 1944. The Battalion started with a strong nucleus of territorials and was quickly brought up to war establishment by drafts of militiamen and recruits.” (8)
In December 1939, the 159th Brigade was sent to Northern Ireland to join the 158th and 160th Infantry brigades which had been sent earlier in the year.
When the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which had been fighting in France and Belgium, was evacuated from the continent in the Dunkirk evacuation, the brigade began training to repel an invasion (Operation Green, which never took place). The brigade was to remain in Northern Ireland until March 1942 when it was sent, with the rest of the 53rd Division, to Kent.
On 1st January, 1941, Oscar Bulmer had been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. 12 months later, on 5th January 1941, he had been promoted again. He was now a captain.
On 17 May 1942, the 159th Infantry Brigade was detached from the 53rd Division to help form the 11th Armoured Division.
“The creation of the 11th Armoured Division in March 1941 was part of the British Army's answer to the success of the German Army's panzer divisions in the previous years. During the invasion of Poland in September 1939 then in Western Europe in the Netherlands, Belgium and France in mid-1940, the German armoured elements had clearly displayed new tactics and methods of fighting; the Allied Forces now had to address those developments in Europe. In November 1942, together with the rest of the division, the brigade was warned to prepare for overseas service in the Tunisia Campaign as the Allies invaded North Africa as part of Operation Torch. The order was cancelled as it was decided, due to the nature of the country, that more infantry were needed.” (Wikipedia)
In January, 1943, Oscar Bulmer married Jennifer Robinson at Bridport, Dorset. A year later, their only child, Susan, was born at Barton Bradstock, Dorset.
From January 1943 to March 1943, the 1st Battalion, Herefordshire Regiment was based at West Tofts Camp, Norfolk.
Above photo: The Officers, West Tofts Camp 1942 - Oscar Bulmer is in the middle row, third from the left (9)
“West Tofts (today) is a deserted village located in the civil parish of Lynford in the English county of Norfolk. The village became deserted when it was taken over by the British Army during the Second World War as part of the Stanford Battle Area, an infantry training area that is still in use today.” (Wikipedia)
“On 16 Mar 1943 the Battalion left West Tofts camp for Newmarket, where it was stationed in stables until 10 Jun 1943. The Battalion then moved to the East Riding of Yorkshire and were located at Hornsea and then Leven. It returned to Hornsea and spent Christmas 1943 there.”
“In Yorkshire the infantry and armour were finally welded together into a team that worked with perfect understanding and trust. The combined camps at Butterwick and Burrow House were the forging grounds of 11 Armd Div, and members of the Battalion will long remember the strenuous battle exercises which stood them in such good stead in the days which followed. Notable were exercises Eagle and Rum in Feb 1944.” (10)
There “the Battalion spent eight days training at the Combined Operations School at Inverary including embarkation and disembarkation drill in infantry landing ships and tank landing craft, assault landings across beaches, the use of scrambling nets and boat drill; MT drivers were instructed in waterproofing their vehicles, and practicing driving down ramps and through water obstacles. The Battalion also attended the street-fighting school at West Ham.” (11)
“On 2 Apr, 1944, the battalion left Hornsea and arrived in Aldershot on the following Tuesday, and there the Division concentrated as part of the Allied Expeditionary Force awaiting D-Day.” (12)
“The 159th Brigade landed in Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord (code name for the Battle of Normandy), on Juno Beach on 13 June 1944, seven days after the initial D-Day landings on 6 June 1944.
Above photo: Canadian troops troops landing at Juno Beach, 6th June 1944 (IWM)
During the Battle for Caen the brigade took part in Operation Epsom.
Operation Epsom, also known as the First Battle of the Odon, was a British offensive in the Second World War between 26 and 30 June 1944 during the Battle of Normandy. The offensive was intended to outflank and seize the German-occupied city of Caen, an important Allied objective, in the early stages of Operation Overlord.
Above photo: An ammunition carrier of the British 11th Armoured Division explodes after it is hit by a mortar round during Operation Epsom, Battle of Caen 26 June 1944 (Wikipedia)
In mutually-costly fighting over the following two days, a foothold was secured across the River Odon and efforts were made to expand this, by capturing tactically valuable points around the salient. By 30 June, after German counter-attacks, some of the British forces across the river were withdrawn and the captured ground consolidated, bringing the operation to a close.
Then the 159th Brigade took part in Operation Goodwood. Planning and execution errors, coupled with strong German defences, led to a tactical British defeat. Goodwood was cancelled on 20 July, with the 11th Armoured being withdrawn from the front line to rest and refit. In only two days of fighting, it had lost 126 tanks. Many casualties were suffered by both sides.” (Wikipedia)
Above photo: Soldiers of 1st Welsh Guards in action near Cagny during Operation Goodwood, July 1944 (Wikipedia)
“159th Brigade’s next engagement was Operation Bluecoat (30 July – 7 August 1944). “The geographical objectives of the attack were to secure the key road junction of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pinçon. Strategically, the attack was made to support the American exploitation of their break-out on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead” (13)
Above photo: Universal carriers and infantry of the 15th (Infantry) Scottish Division move forward during Operation Bluecoat, 30th July 1944 (Wikipedia)
“Though Operation Bluecoat failed to create a breakout, it kept German armoured units fixed on the British eastern front and continued the wearing down of the strength of German armoured formations in the area. By the time of the American breakout at Avranches, there was little to no reserve strength left for their effort at a counter-attack. The static defense that Hitler imposed upon his army in Normandy coupled with the Allied domination of the skies during the day resulted in a large entrapment of German forces at the Falaise Gap.” (14)
“The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket (12–21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War.
Above photo: Wrecked enemy vehicles in The Falaise Gap (AWM)
Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, with the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army (formerly Panzergruppe West) were encircled by the Western Allies.
Above photo: Germans surrendering in St Lambert on 19th August, 1944 (Wikipedia)
The battle resulted in the destruction of most of Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris and the Franco-German border.
Once the battle for the Falaise gap was over, the 11th Armoured Division liberated L'Aigle on 23 August and crossed the Seine on 30 August. After a night move, and an unprecedented advance of 60 miles in one day, the fastest and deepest penetration into enemy territory ever made until the Gulf War in the early 1990s, the division liberated Amiens on 1 September. The 11th Armoured Division then turned northward to Belgium and captured the city of Antwerp on 4 September.” (Wikipedia)
Above photo: Liberation of Antwerp by 11th Armoured Division, 4th September 1944 (IWM)
Two days later, the 11th Armoured Division tried to establish a bridgehead over the Albert Canal, but the attempt, due to intense enemy fire, was not successful.
Above photo: A British tank crossing the Albert Canal by Bailey Bridge, whilst refugees make their way back into a safer area, 1944 (NAM)
After this failure, 11th Armoured Division had to cross much further to the east at Beringen.
Above photo: Beeringen Bridge, Albert Canal (15)
On 9th September 1944, the CO of 1st Herefordshire Regiment, Lt. Col. G. R. Turner Cain wrote in a “War Diary or Intelligence Summary” the following -
“1700 hour Crossed over Albert Canal at Beeringen...arrived area Helchteren. Village reported held and Coys (companies) dispatched to clear. Coy clearing with 1pl. (platoon) in their locality came under heavy M.G. fire and were pinned down until dark. Coy Commander and 1 O. R. (Other Rank) killed.” (16)
The “Coy Commander...killed” that Lt. Col. W. R. Turner Cain refers to in the above paragraph is Captain Oscar Bulmer - see below - “Capt Bulmer” middle of the far right in the above mentioned War Diary.
Above: War Diary or Intelligence Summary (17)
An obituary of Oscar Bulmer written not long after his death states -
“he and his men went forward to wipe out three or four machine gun nests in a wood. When they were some 300 yards from their objective they came under some lively fire and for a time took cover. When matters became quieter he gave the order to advance but quickly the German fire was reopened and he fell mortally wounded”.
Above photo: Oscar Bulmer’s Headstone, Geel Cemetery, Belgium (CWGC)
“In the early part of September 1944, Geel was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting encountered by Commonwealth troops since they had left Normandy. The cemetery contains 400 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, six of them unidentified.” (CWGC)
Above photo: Geel War Cemetery, Belgium (CWGC)
Oscar Bulmer is also commemorated inside the church at Burton Bradstock, Dorset.
Above photo: War Memorial, Burton Bradstock, Dorset (18)
Oscar Bulmer’s wife and daughter, Elizabeth and Susan, were, at the time of his death, living in an apartment at The Rookery, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
Above photo: Rookery, Burton, Bradstock, 1909 (19)
In the same year, Oscar Bulmer’s mother, Sophie Bulmer, was residing at Adams Hill, Hereford, a mock Tudor house and estate built in 1906 for Fred Bulmer.
Above newspaper cutting: Oscar Bulmer’s obituary
Rory MacColl
Sources
1/ https://www.efbulmer.co.uk/fred-bulmer
2/ https://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/herefordshires-past/the-post-medieval-period/agriculture-and-industry/herefordshire-agriculture/cider/bulmers-cider/
3/ https://teepeecider.co.nz/blogs/history-of-cider
4/ https://teepeecider.co.nz/blogs/history-of-cider
5/ https://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/herefordshires-past/the-post-medieval-period/agriculture-and-industry/herefordshire-agriculture/cider/bulmers-cider/
6/ https://www.efbulmer.co.uk/fred-bulmer
7/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/uploads/1918-feb.pdf
8/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/wars/wwii/
9/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/wars/wwii/
10/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/wars/wwii/
11/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/wars/wwii/
12/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/wars/wwii/
13/ https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Operation_Bluecoat
14/ https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Operation_Bluecoat
15/ https://www.littlerock.gov/residents/parks-and-recreation/park-facility-trail-information/macarthur-museum-of-arkansas-military-history/exhibits/allison-photo-collection/allison-collection-july-1944/
16/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/uploads/44-9-sep.pdf
17/ https://herefordshirelightinfantrymuseum.com/uploads/44-9-sep.pdf
18/ https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/208730
19/ https://www.burtonbradstock.org.uk/History/Sheila%20and%20Dennis%20Bullock%20material/Rookery.htm