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| It's been a bit frosty out! |
Been slightly blown away by some family discoveries this
week – and weird coincidences.... Let’s start with the Peaky Blinders. For
those of you that follow, you’ll know this is a drama series following the semi
real adventures of a gang in Birmingham, set after WW1. I love a good period
drama and one with the added bonus of gorgeous vintage fashion, slightly edgy
stories and the exceptionally handsome Cillian Murphy – well! I did miss the
series when it first broadcast but DD treated herself to NetFlix and so endless
TV is now a click away. We are most of the way through Season Two and there are
regular flashbacks to the main characters experiences in WW1, along with
associated effects of PTSD. They were tunnellers, an occupation which involving digging
tunnels under enemy lines to plant explosives. Just look it up, the
stories of their part in the war are truly unbelievable. I had only just had a
conversation with a friend about how we can never really appreciate the
conditions that any of those brave guys had to endure (all of them, not just
tunnellers). We also wondered at the job the tunnel diggers had to do, and
could you imagine having to do that. I hate enclosed spaces and would just be
filled with fear at the thought of tunnels let alone explosives and fighting
and the thought of breaking into an enemy trench accidentally!
Fast forward a week or so and I am sat at the computer
working on my family tree research. I go back and forth to this as the mood
takes me. I try to be organised but get distracted by random leads to follow...
This particular evening I was following my paternal grandmothers line when up pops
a William Redding, my 2x great uncle. He fought in the Boer War (a whole new
piece of history that I shamefully know very little about) but then ended up
joining the Royal Engineers 184th Mining Coy, He was a bloody tunneller in the First World War. From what I can make out he ended up near Arras when heavy German bombing caused
massive damage and William was among the casualties. He was taken to Rouen
hospital where he died from his injuries, aged 37, on June 8th 1916.
He was buried in St Sever Cemetery, Rouen, in France.
This weekend we took a drive out
to see his name on the Roll of Honour at the churchyard in Little Marlow, Bucks.
His name also appears on the War Memorial at Flackwell Heath but my incompetence
and lack of Wifi signal meant that we missed seeing this too. Next time.....
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| Roll of Honour at Little Marlow Church |
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| William Redding - remembered. |
I
would like to be able to visit his grave in France too – I don’t know whether
any of his family at the time would have been able to make the trip but it
seems to be a small thing we can do to pay respects to one of those brave men that
never came home.
Lest We Forget x
There is a very good film about the Battle of Hill 60 which features mainly on the tunnelling war, particularly the Australian efforts on the Messines Ridge. It gives a pretty gritty insight into what the tunnellers had to face.
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