Captain
Sheldon Arthur GLEDSTANES
|
Captain
Sheldon Arthur GLEDSTANES
|
From
the “Bond of Sacrifice”:
“Captain
Sheldon Arthur Gledstanes 1st Battalion Bedforshire Regiment
The
only son of Mr and Mrs Francis G. Gledstanes of Berry Hill
Taplow was born at Ealing on the 25th of May 1889
He
was educated at Eton and
joined the Bedfordshire Regiment from the special reserve
in May 1910 becoming Lieutenant in March 1912 and being promoted
Captain in March 1915. He was a member of the Conservative
and other clubs and was fond of most games, cricket, football,
rackets, hockey, golf and tennis. He was one of the original
expeditionary force and had nine months service at the front
when he received on the 6th of May 1915, the wounds from which
he died three days later on the 9th of May.
The
following particulars of his death were given to
his family by his Commanding Officer; Captain
Gledstanes was in command of a trench near Hill 60 and he
and his men had gallantly held it for two days, in spite of
asphyxiating gases, bomb attacks, and heavy artillery
fire, and also in spite of the trench being enfiladed by the
Germans, having occupied a trench on the right thus taking
them, not only in the flank, but partly in reverse. Fortunately,
the good work done by Captain Gledstanes was carried on after
he was wounded and the trench was held until the men were
relieved, though many were sick from the gas, wearied and
sleepless, cut off from the rest of the line, and continually
harassed by hand grenade attacks. The authorities recognised
the achievement as one of the finest episodes of the
war.”
Sheldon
Gledstanes landed with the Battalion in August 1914 and took
part in the early battles of the great war, around Mons,
Le Cateau and Ypres. After
a dreadful first winter in the trenches, he was commanding
the right sector of the lines held by the Bedfords
to the left of the famous Hill 60. At 6.30pm on the 1st
May, the Germans launched a surprise attack and smothered
the area with their new gas shells, high explosives and waves
of assaulting soldiers. Many sections were not attacked as
the gas blew back onto the German positions and during this
early engagement, Private Warner of the 1st Battalion
won his Victoria Cross. A few days of relative quiet followed
as the Battalion shrunk still further from men reporting in
violently ill from the effects of this new and dreadful weapon.
On
the 4th May, the lines were shortened to account
for the severe lack of men to man them, leaving the Germans
to take over the vacated portions of the British lines and
their artillery renewed its bombardment, “knocking the
trenches about” severely. The following morning, at
8am, a new gas barrage was unleashed and the Battalion to
the right were driven from their positions, leaving the Bedfords
dangerously exposed. A large attack on the left was repelled
with horrendous loss to the Germans and Captain Gledstanes’
right section was continually shelled, bombed and fired on
by machine guns and rifles. Several times that day the Germans
got into their positions, only to be bombed and bayoneted
out again in one of the most desperate brawls of the battle.
Ferocious grenade skirmishes continued all day and the Germans
eventually worked around the open right flank from which position
they enfiladed the Bedfords
from the right and rear. Despite the odds and hopelessness
of their situation, the remnants stayed in their battered
trenches and fought off attack after attack. Lt Whittemore
alone claimed over 50 Germans with his rifle that day and
their small band grew even smaller.
Late
that day, Captain Gledstanes was wounded but remained at his
post, encouraging his men and fighting off the Germans. There
they remained until the 7th May, when the exhausted
survivors and wounded were finally reached and relieved. By
that time, Captain Gledtanes’ wounds were too severe
and unfortunately he died two days later.
Captain
Glestanes was mentioned in Sir John French's dispatch
of the 31st of May 1915 in recognition of his bravery during
the desperate struggle to hold the isolated position.
As
a fitting end to the story, in October 2007, Bill from America
got in touch. He had just become the proud owner of Captain
Gledstanes' tunic, a photograph of which is to the left. On
the label inside the collar is Captain Gledstanes' name, presumably
written in his own hand. It is fitting to learn that, nine
decades on, part of his story still survives and is being
cared for by someone who will cherish and care for it.
(My
thanks to John Hamblin for the Bond of Sacrifice information
and photograph)
