Private Robert Gosling and the 20th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (British Empire League Pioneers)

When you are an amateur military historian who is married to a genealogist, the grave of a soldier can sometimes start you both off on a trail to find out more about that person. Private Robert Gosling’s gravestone next to the wall of St Nicholas Church, Plumstead, is an example of this … and this is what we found.

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Private Robert Gosling originally joined the 20th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (British Empire League Pioneers) (Service Number R/19937) before transferring to the Motor Transport Division of the Army Service Corps on 12th February 1918. His ASC Service Number was M/376132, and his family home was 30 Speranza Street, which is less than half a mile from the church. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Robert Gosling was born in 1889 in Plumstead and was the son of Robert Gosling (approximately 1840 to 9th March 1912) and Mary Ann Kesteven (1849 to 1934). His father was a metalworker in the Royal Arsenal (he gives his trade as being a metal annealer) and Robert was also a worker in the Royal Arsenal before he joined the army.

Robert Gosling Snr. had been married before to Mary Ann Sowery, but she had died in 1880 and been buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas Church, Plumstead. At the time the family (seven children and Mary Ann's mother) was living in White Hart Place, Plumstead.

Mary Ann Kesteven had also been previously married to Thomas Potter (who was also a worker in the Royal Arsenal) and who died in 1883, and who was also buried at St Nicholas Church.

Robert Gosling Snr. was living with Mary Ann Potter at the time of the 1891 Census at 154 High Street Plumstead. By then they had two children, Ethel (born 1888) and Robert (born 1889). In 1901 were living in Saunders Road, which is around the corner from Speranza Street. By 1911 Robert Gosling Snr. was a Royal Arsenal pensioner, Ethel had left home, and Robert Gosling Jnr. was a boilermaker. Robert Gosling Snr. died in 1912 and was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas Church.

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The British Empire League was set up in 1895 by Lord Avebury, Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, and Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. Its primary purpose was to promote the unity of the British Empire. In April 1915 it raised the 17th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (British Empire League), and by August it had recruited so many additional volunteers that it was able to form the 20th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (British Empire League Pioneers).

The badge of the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

The latter battalion began its training in Green Park in Central London, and in February 1916 it moved to Wellingborough to complete its training with the 23rd Reserve Brigade. Towards the end of March the battalion was sent to France, where it joined 20th (Light) Division near Poperinge.

In May 1916 the battalion transferred to the 3rd Division, and it remained the division's Pioneer battalion until the end of the war. During that period it took part in the following battles:

• The Actions of the Bluff and St Eloi Craters
• The Battle of the Somme
• The Battle of Albert
• The Battle of Bazentin Ridge
• The Battle of Delville Wood
• The Battle of the Ancre
• The Battle of Arras
• The First Battle of the Scarpe
• The Second Battle of the Scarpe
• The Third Battle of the Scarpe
• The Battle of Arleux
• The Third Battle of Ypres
• The Battle of the Menin Road
• The Battle of Polygon Wood
• The German Spring Offensive
• The Hundred Days Offensive
• The Battle of Amiens
• The Second Battle of Bapaume
• The Second Battle of Cambrai
• The Battle of Lys
• The Battle of the Hindenberg Line
• The Battle of the Selle

The 3rd Division was chosen to form part of the Allied Occupation of the Rhineland and 20th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (British Empire League Pioneers) crossed into Germany frontier on 11th December, and reached Düren near Cologne on 19th December.

In February 1919 the battalion transferred to the 2nd Division, ceased to be Pioneers, and became a standard infantry battalion. The following month the British part of the Allied Occupation force was renamed the British Army of the Rhine and the 2nd Division was converted into the Light Division, with 20th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corp​ (BEL) forming part of the 1st Light Brigade.

In November 1919 the Light Division was abolished and the 1st Light Brigade became the Light Brigade in the Independent Division. This division was broken up in early 1920, and on 9th February 1920 the 20th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (BEL) was disbanded.

There and back again: Our postponed visit to the National Archives

Sue and I originally planned to go to the National Archives last week ... but went to Canterbury and Herne Bay in Kent instead. As we wanted to try to complete our research into the military career of William Richardson, we decided to go to the Archives today.

We left home at 9.00am ... and by 9.05am the Satnav had notified us that our planned route was subject to massive delays! Luckily it gave us several alternative routes, and the one we selected enabled us to reach the Archives just before 11.00am.

We spent four hours looking through numerous documents, but despite our best endeavours we found no trace of William Richardson in any of them ... which was not the disaster it might at first appear to be. It proved that he was not demoted from his rank of Battalion Sergeant Major from the time he was promoted until his retirement.

The journey home started well ... but the closer we got to home, the worse the traffic became. We managed to find a couple of shortcuts that got us around the worst of the hold ups, but it still took us nearly two and a half hours to get home.

(The traffic problems were caused by the closure of one of the Dartford Tunnels. This caused a massive tailback on the counter-clockwise part of the M25 and the eastbound A2, which in turn resulted in huge traffic jams at almost every major road junction in South East London.)

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As part of its commemoration of the centenary of the First World War, the National Archives has commissioned a number of sculptures by Canadian artist Ian Kirkpatrick. The sculptures are made from cardboard, and are designed to pack flat so that they can be assembled very quickly to create an almost instant exhibition.

As can be seen from the photographs that can be seen below, the designs are heavily influenced by the commercial packaging used during the war.

During our visit I saw two of the sculptures; BRITANNIA and BLAST.

BRITANNIA

This sculpture represents the role played by women during the First World War, and depicts Britannia atop a Mk V Tank holding a shell made by women in a munitions factory. It also makes reference to the Suffragettes.

BLAST

The figure depicted in this sculpture is a machine gunner in a helmet and gas mask firing a Vickers Heavy Machine Gun.

The name of the sculpture makes reference to the magazine published by the Vorticist movement before the outbreak of the war.

Who am I and where am I from?

As regular readers of my blog will know, my wife is a genealogist and has been tracing her family tree for quite some time. I have helped her, and have also done some research into my own family history. Recently we took advantage of a special offer to have our ethnic DNA profiles done ... and the results have just arrived.

The test looks examines each individual's DNA, and using existing databases produces a profile of one's individual maternal and paternal ethnic origins. My results look like this:

According to these results I am almost 100% European (which is no great surprise), but that within that broad geographical area my ethnic origins are a mixture of Western European and Irish. (These are shown as the blue areas on the map.) What I find surprising is how low the percentage of my DNA is specifically from Great Britain, and how much my profile differs from the 'average' found in the UK. (The 'average' Briton has somewhere in the region of 60% of their DNA from Great Britain; I have less than 1%.)

Some years ago we did a DNA test to trace our paternal origins, and my results showed that I was a member of a subgroup of haplogroup I1, and that I am a descendant of someone who originally came from area of North West Germany/Northern Netherlands known as Frisia.

A busy week ahead

Having looked at my diary for the coming week, it looks as if I am going to be rather busy at times. Hopefully I will be able to fit in a bit of wargame-related stuff (including blogging) in the gaps, but experience tells me that what I hope to be able to do and what I am actually able to do are likely to be two different things.

On Monday I am attending a meeting of the London Masonic Lodge of which I am a member. The meeting starts at 4.00pm, but as getting there is dependent upon the suburban railway network and the London Underground (both of which can be prone to unforeseen delays) I will have to leave at least ninety minutes to make the journey. The meeting involves the Initiation of a new Freemason, and as I will be playing a small but vital part (I am the Inner Guard) being late is not an option.

Wednesday will see Sue and I at the National Archives, Kew, hopefully finishing off the research into the military career of William Richardson. Our last few visits have yielded very little information, but over the years we have learned that one can often glean almost as much from what is omitted from the records as from what is included.

If this sounds a bit opaque, perhaps the following example will help. When following a soldier's career using the Muster Rolls, Pay Lists, and Pension Records, one can track their progress up through the ranks. At the point when they cease to be a sergeant and become a staff sergeant or sergeant major, they no longer feature on the standard Muster Rolls or Pay Lists. If they lose their rank, and revert to a lower rank, they reappear. The Pension Records include the date when a soldier retired, and if they are absent from the Muster Rolls and Pay Lists from the date of their promotion to the date of their retirement it means that they have retained their promoted rank for the remainder of their service.

On Friday I have to travel over to Radlett in Hertfordshire for my second Masonic meeting of the week. It is a meeting of the Veritatem Sequere Lodge, which is Hertfordshire's Research Lodge. I am currently the Junior Warden (i.e. the third most important officer in the Lodge) and the meeting will see a new Worshipful Master installed in the Chair and my 'promotion' to Senior Warden. This meeting will not start until 5.30pm, but as I have to drive around the M25 to get to there, I will have to leave at least two to two and a half hours earlier than that to in order to allow for possible traffic delays. (Radlett is to the north west of London and I live in south east London, and to get there I have to go through the Dartford or Blackwall Tunnels. Both have a reputation for serious delays, and as they have now shut Tower Bridge for three months in order to undertake major repairs, those delays are likely to be worse than normal.)

I am told that there's nothing like retirement for ensuring an easy, quiet, and restful life. I have yet to find out if it is true as my life seems to be almost as busy as it was when I was working full-time!

The hunt for William Richardson continues ... and leads to the discovery of some very interesting maps

Sue and I went back to the National Archives, Kew, yesterday to continue searching for information about the career of William Richardson. We had a degree of success (we now have details of his promotion to Sergeant Major of the First battalion, Royal Artillery in 1811 and his pay records for 1824) but we are still looking for information that will fill in the gap between 1811 and 1822. I did find his entry on the relevant Description Book (a register of every recruit into the Royal Artillery) but not much more ... so we will have to return in the not too distant future to continue our search.

Whilst we were at the National Archives we paid a visit to the onsite shop. Besides all sorts of genealogical and historical publications that they sell, they also sell a range of reproduced old maps. These are published by Alan Godfrey Maps, and after we returned home we both had a browse through the company's website. The company specialises in reprinting of Old Ordnance Survey Maps of towns throughout Britain and Ireland ... but it also reprints other old, historical maps. These include the Bigot Plans that were prepared for the Allied Invasion in 1944, and a section of one of these maps (taken from the company's website) is shown below:

The series currently includes:

• NE St Pierre du Mont – Omaha Beach 1944: The map covers the coastal area around Pointe du Hoc and Vierville-sur-Mer.
• NW Ouistreham – Pegasus Bridge 1944: The map is double-sided and covers the area around the bridge that is now known as Pegasus Bridge and the area from Ouistreham in the north, southward to Herouvillette, and westward to Cazelle.
• SW St Aubin – Sword & Juno Beaches: The map covers the area north of the Ouistreham map including St Aubin, and Langrune-sur-mer, and includes parts of Juno and Sword beaches.

Alan Godfrey Maps also sell maps of parts of Germany (mainly the Ruhrgebiet and Rhineland areas) that are taken from the British War Office 1:12,500 plans and reduced to approx 1:19,000. These show the areas largely as they were before the bombing raids of 1943-44, and include industrial sites, collieries and transport links (i.e. roads, canals, rivers, and railways). The maps that are available are:

• Sterkrade & Osterfeld 1944
• Oberhausen 1944
• Mülheim-an-der-Ruhr 1944
• Gladbeck & Buer 1944
• Schalke, Horst & Bottrop 1944
• Essen 1944
• Werden, Kettwig & Villa Hügel 1944
• Recklinghausen & Herten 1944
• Gelsenkirchen & Herne 1943
• Bochum & Wattenscheid 1944
• Hattingen 1944
• Castrop-Rauxel (N) 1944
• Castrop-Rauxel (S) 1944
• Witten & Langendreer 1944
• Dortmund (N) 1944
• Dortmund 1944
• Hohensyburg 1944
• Hagen 1944
• Hamm 1945
• Duisburg (N): Hamborn & Bruckhausen 1944
• Duisburg & Ruhrort 1944
• Duisburg (S): Rheinhausen & Wedau 1944
• Neuss, Heerdt & Wolzheim 1944
• Düsseldorf 1944
• Wuppertal-Elberfeld 1945
• Wuppertal-Barmen 1945
• 1 Köln (N) 1944
• 2 Köln (N) 1944

These maps cost £3.50 each, and I am sure that they will be of interest to quite a few wargamers.

The hunt for William Richardson continues

Yesterday Sue and I paid one of our irregular trips to the National Archives in Kew in order to continue our hunt for one of her forebears, William Richardson. (Earlier blog entries about our search can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

My searches proved to be more successful that Sue's, and I have now traced him through his entire eleven years of service in the West Indies, his return to the UK, and his first year back in Woolwich, the then home of the Royal Artillery. Bearing in mind that being sent to the West Indies was often tantamount to a death sentence (very few soldiers survived a posting there, and many often died within a few months of arriving in the Caribbean), he must had been a very hardly soldier. He was also a lucky one, as he sailed home on HMS Anson, a frigate that had taken part in several successful actions in the Caribbean before returning to Great Britain. Only months after her return, HMS Anson was wrecked off Loe Bar, Cornwall on 29th December, 1807.

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HMS Anson HMS Anson was a member of the fifteen-strong Intrepid-class of 64-gun third rate ships of the line. She was built in Plymouth Dockyard between January 1774 and October 1781. She was converted into a frigate in 1794 when her original forecastle and quarterdeck were removed and her former upper deck was remodelled to give her a new lower forecastle and quarterdeck. This process was known as being razeed, a term that is derived from the French vaisseau rasé(i.e. a shaved down ship).

HMS Anson was now a 44-gun frigate and embarked on a very successful career:

• 10th September 1794: Along with four other ships, she was involved in the capture of the Tordenshiold.
• 16th July 1797: Helped to drive the French corvette Calliope on shore, where she was wrecked.
• 29th December 1797: Recaptured Daphne, which had been captured by the French in December 1794.
• 7th September 1798: Helped to captured the French frigate Flore after a 24-hour long chase.
• 18th October 1798: Helped to capture the French frigate Loire.
• 2nd February 1799: Helped to captured the French privateer cutter Boulonaise off Dunkirk.
• 10th April 1800: Detained the merchant ship Catherine & Anna bound for Hamburg with a cargo of coffee.
• 27th April 1800: Captured the French brig Vainquer.
• 29th April 1800: In action with four French privateers, Brave (36 guns), Guepe (18 guns), Hardi (18 guns), and Duide. HMS Anson inflicted damage on Brave and managed to capture Hardi. The latter was taken into Royal Navy service and after being known as HMS Hardi, she was renamed HMS Rosario.
• 1802 to 1805: HMS Anson served in the Mediterranean. She was then sent to the West Indies.
• 23rd August 1806: HMS Anson, in company with HMS Arethusa, attacked and captured the Spanish frigate Pomone near Moro Castle in Cuba.
• 15th September 1806: Unsuccessfully engaged the French ship of the line Foudroyant (84 guns) 15 miles off Havana. HMS Anson's sails and rigging we badly damaged during the action , and two members of the crew were killed and thirteen wounded.
• 1st January 1807: HMS Anson, along with HMS Latona, HMS Arethusa, HMS Fisgard, and HMS Morne Fortunee, captured Curaçao. The British force also captured the Dutch frigate Kenau Hasselar, the sloop Suriname (a former Royal Naval sloop which had been captured from the French on 20th August 1799 and then taken by the Dutch on 23rd June 1803), and two armed schooners.

HMS Anson was wrecked on 29th December 1807, having been driven onto a lee shore by a gale on the previous day whilst attempting to sail into Falmouth.

The loss of the HMS Anson as depicted in 1808 by William Elmes.

As was the custom at the time, the bodies of the drowned sailors from the wreck were buried without a shroud or coffin in unconsecrated ground. A local solicitor – Thomas Grylls – was so incensed by this that he drafted a law to provide drowned seamen with a proper, Christian burial, and this was eventually enacted as the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808. Furthermore, Henry Trengrouse, who had witnessed the wrecking of HMS Anson, was so distressed by the fact that it had proved impossible to get lines over to the ship to help rescue survivors, that he developed a rocket apparatus to shoot lines to shipwrecks so that survivors could be taken off in an early version of a breeches buoy.

Major Neville Chrisopherson MC, Royal Artillery

After transcribing the War Diary of the 140th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, I must admit to wanting to know a bit more about the man who wrote the report of the unit's final battle during the 1940 campaign. I mentioned this to my wife – who happens to be a genealogist – and within a few hours she had done quite a bit of research about him.

Neville (or as it is sometimes written, Nevill) Christopherson was born on 8th February 1894 in Bickley, Kent, and was the son of Percy Christopherson* (31st March 1866 – 4th May 1921). Like his father – and his father's nine brothers(!)# – he was a great sportsman. Neville played both cricket and rugby, and was involved in both until he died.

By 1901 Neville's father was a headmaster (he had formerly been Assistant-Master at Wellington College for eleven years), and the family was living at Locker's Park Preparatory School, Hemel Hempsted.

Locker's School.

Neville attended Winchester School, and when the First World War broke out he joined the Royal Field Artillery. He was commissioned in early 1915, and by the end of the war he had reached the rank of Major (Acting). He was awarded the 1915 Star, the Victory Medal, and the British War Medal, and they were sent to his home address in Folkestone.

In 1923 Neville married Nina Geraldine Bird in Bromley, Kent, and was working as a Lloyds underwriter.

By 1939 Neville was a Captain (later Major) in the Territorial Army and became second-in-command of 140th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. He took over command of the regiment when the CO was wounded, but was himself wounded and captured on 29th May, 1940. He became a prisoner of war, and was released from captivity when the war ended. He was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in the 25th October 1945 issue of the London Gazette, where it stated that:

'The King has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field: —


Royal Regiment of Artillery
Maj. N. Christopherson, M.C. (20865)'

On reaching the age of fifty five Neville retired from the Territorial Army with the rank of Major, but he remained very active, visiting Brazil several times between 1952 and 1959~ in his capacity as a Lloyds underwriter.

A rugby team photograph. Neville Christopherson is standing on the right of the photograph and is wearing a suit.

Neville Christopherson died on 31st December 1972 in Maidstone, Kent. His obituary in Wisden stated:

'CHRISTOPHERSON, NEVILL, who died on December 31, aged 78, did not gain a place in the XI at Winchester. From 1950 to 1959 he was secretary and manager of Kent and became the county President in 1962. He was one of ten brothers in a notable Kentish sporting family. His father, Percy, gained two England Rugby International caps in 1891 when a Blackheath player and an uncle, Stanley, became President of the M.C.C. Nevill was for a time honorary secretary of Blackheath R.F.C.'

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* Percy Christopherson played Rugby Union for Blackheath, Oxford University, Kent, The Barbarians, and England, and cricket for Oxford University, Kent, Berkshire, Shropshire, and the Gentlemen of England. When he died his estate was estimated to be £47,800.

The Barbarians team in April 1891. Percy Christopherson is third from the left on the middle row.

# The whole family once played as a team - known as 'The Christophersons' - against Blackheath Cricket Club on 8th September 1888 on The Rectory Field, Blackheath. The team comprised:

• Stanley Christopherson (11th November 1861 – 6th April 1949) [He also played cricket for Kent and England, was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club between 1939 and 1946, and from 1943 to 1945 he was also the temporary chairman of the Midland Bank.]
• Percy Christopherson (31st March 1866 – 4th May 1921)
• Kenneth Christopherson (First quarter 1865 – ?)
• Sidney Christopherson (First quarter 1864 – 28th September 1916)
• Cecil Christopherson (Fourth quarter 1862 – 11th May 1925)
• Malcolm Christopherson (Fourth quarter 1870 –?)
• Douglas Christopherson (1869 – 5th March 1944)
• Derman Christopherson (6th August 1835 – First quarter 1907)
• Horace Christopherson (2nd June 1872 –?)
• Derman Christopherson (Jnr.) (24th March 1875 –?)

There were ten player per side and five balls per over ... and Blackheath won by 22 runs!

~ On 11th October 1952 he sailed to Rio de Janiero aboard the Alcantara. He returned from Buenos Aires on the same ship on 24th November 1952. He returned to Rio de Janeiro on the Alcantara on 20th March 1957, and returned to Plymouth on 21st February 1959 aboard the Antilles.