5th Battalion Officer photos and bio's (2)

Captain E.T. Maier in 1915

Captain Emil Theodore Maier, M.C.

Emil Theodore Maier was born in Luton in 1889, the son of Charles and Anna Maier who lived at 3 Burk Street in Luton in 1891. His father was Bavarian by birth and his mother Swiss, making the war a confusing time you would think. However, Captain Maier served with distinction throughout the war, finally losing his life to illness after it was all over. By the end of the war, he was married to Mrs C.E. Maier and they lived at 23 Cardiff Road, Luton, Bedfordshire.

Theodore was commissioned as an Officer on the 17^th September 1914 and served with the 1^st/5^th Battalion from the outset. He helped to train them into a fighting unit and sailed to Gallipoli with them at the end of July 1915. He survived the slaughter of their 15th August 1915 assault against Kidney Hill yet was plagued by illness, as many men were whilst serving in the Middle Eastern theatre.

Captain Maier suffered from recurring Dysentery and was finally forced to leave the battalion on the 21^st October 1915, when he was sent to the military hospital on Malta for further treatment. The 13^th November saw him loaded onto the H.M.H.S. Morea and arrive at Southampton on the 20^th.

He recovered and, after re-training again, embarked from Devonport aboard the H.M.T. Tunisian on the 30^th April 1916. On the 12^th May he arrived at Alexandria and was back with the battalion at El Kubri on the 19^th May 1916.

On the 13^th September, B and D Companies under Captains Maier and Yarde respectively moved out to assault a Turkish outpost, supported by a company from the Northamptons and 1/10^th Londons. After 4 days march they laid up at the foot of the mountain that held the outpost and moved up the steep sides in the darkness of the night. Captain Maier’s B Company had the job of the frontal assault whereas the 3 other companies were to move around the flanks overnight and cut the outpost off. During the move Private Fox, who was leading Maier’s horse, was ambushed by an unseen Turkish sentry post and killed but otherwise no fatalities were suffered during the bayonet charge. Several Turkish casualties were accounted for but before the Bedfords could take their bayonets into the Turkish positions, the garrison fled.

On the 2^nd December 1916 Captain Maier was admitted to the 2/1^st East Anglian Field Ambulance with Malaria and moved to the General hospital at Suez the same day. The 12^th saw him discharged and returned to his unit, still suffering from Gastritis.

On the 19^th May he was sent to the 2/1^st Field Ambulance again but suffering from Tonsillitis this time. He was transferred to the 24^th Stationary Hospital at Kantara on the 22^nd and moved to Cairo on the 17^th June, having contracted Diphtheria. The 30^th June saw him discharged to Mustapha and he was back with the battalion on the 5^th July 1917.

Captain Maier was also in charge of the direct support during the Umbrella Hill raids in July 1917 and became the acting Lt-Colonel when both the C.O. and 2^nd in command were away on courses in August. He survived the 3^rd Battle of Gaza without incident and was the post commander when the Turkish counter attacks hit the battalion at Zeify Hill and Nabala Hill on the evening of the 29^th to 30^th November 1917. His personally organized counter attack at a crucial time turned the Turkish flank and saw them run as his party bayonet charged them.

Captain Maier was back in the Field Ambulance on the 18^th December 1917 with ICT to his right knee and transferred to the Citadel Hospital in Cairo on Christmas Eve 1917. He remained there until discharged to Mustapha again on the 2^nd February 1918 and rejoined the unit on the 22^nd.

The 2^nd May 1918 saw him back in the Field Ambulance with Pyrexia which kept him in Kantara until he was back with the battalion once again on the 15^th May 1918.

The day after the armistice was signed saw Captain Maier go back into hospital yet again (at Beirut) and he spent until the 19^th November in Alexandria but by the 1^st December he was re-admitted to the 44^th Stationary Hospital in Kantara with Influenza. By the 14^th December it had developed into Malaria

New Year’s Day 1919 saw his Military Cross being gazetted in the London Times, presumably for his involvement in the Battle of Meggido or the series of aggressive patrols in September 1918. Unfortunately I have been unable to identify the details or his citation to date.

Malaria took its toll on Captain Maier and he had to leave the battalion for what would be the final time. After treatment to stabilise his condition, he embarked from Port Said on the H.M.S. Caledonian on the 5^th January 1919, arriving at Southampton on the 30^th.

Captain Maier had secured a position with Vyse & Sons in London as one of the foreign market traders based in Holland but was not released from service until April 1919. Despite struggling against the illnesses he had contracted whilst on service, he finally passed away on the 24^th October 1920 at home in Luton.

He can be seen here in the 1915 Officers photo and is sitting in the third row, furthest left.

Lt C.R. James in 1915

2nd Lieutenant to Major Christopher Russell JAMES, M.C.

Christopher Russell James was born on the 22^nd August 1893 in Shortmead Street, Biggleswade. His father was Alfred James M.R.C.S. who was a surgeon and his mother was Helen James (nee Buckland).

Christopher is listed as a Mining Student when he was commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire regiment on the 25^th May 1913, having previously been a “Cadet Lance Corporal” at the Bedford Grammar School contingent (Junior Division) of the Officer Training Corps, which he left in April 1912. He lived at 48 Cathent Road in south west London.

When the 5^th Battalion was embodied for war service on the 4^th August 1914, 2/Lt James became a full time Army Officer and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 24^th August 1914. He served with the battalion throughout their training and whilst they provided home defence in Anglia, and sailed with them to Gallipoli in July 1915.

During the battalions baptism of fire on the 15^th August 1915, 2/Lt James was wounded, receiving gunshot and shrapnel wounds to right leg, as well as suffering from pyorrhea and alveolaris. Whilst being treated for his injuries, seniority found him promoted to the rank of Captain on the 16^th August 1915, as all the other Battalions Captains and most of their Lieutenants had been killed the previous day. The London Gazette entry reads; “Appointments; Lt. (Temp. Cpt) CR James to Cpt. 16/08/1915”.

Having been evacuated to Alexandria and treated further, he left Egypt on the SS Aquitania on the 16^th October 1915, arriving at Southampton on the 27^th October. Captain James spent until the 27^th November 1915 convalescing. He was finally passed fit for service again on the 7^th January 1916 and reported to the 3^rd/5^th Bedfords at Halton Camp, near Tring on the 9^th January 1916.

Captain James left England to rejoin the battalion again on the 31^st January 1916, leaving Devonport on board the H.M.T. Ascania and arriving at Alexandria on the 14^th February 1916. He rejoined the 5^th Battalion on the 22^nd at Mena Camp and was placed in command of C Company. In 1916, he led two uneventful Desert Columns (in April and June) but otherwise had a quiet time until the British Army advanced into Palestine.

Christopher survived the battalions relatively limited involvement in the first two Battles at Gaza in March and April 1917 but on the 26^th May 1917 was admitted to the 2/1^st East Anglian Field Ambulance with Scarlet Fever and was moved to the 2^nd Australian Stationary Hospital at El Arish on the 28^th May. By the 24^th July, he was discharged to the 14^th General Hospital at Mustapha to finish his recovery, after which time he rejoined the Battalion on the 4^th August 1917.

Whilst in hospital on the 2nd June 1917 his Military Cross was published on page 23 of the London Gazette, No. 29607. Unfortunately, this coincides with the Kings birthday, so the detailed citation highlighting what it was awarded for has proved hard to find! He was also mentioned in General Allenby’s dispatches on the 1^st and 18^th March 1917.

Between the 11^th August and 16^th September 1917 (and several more times before the war ended), Major James commanded the battalion whilst Lt-Colonel Brighten was placed in temporary command of the 162^nd Brigade. He survived the 3^rd Battle at Gaza that November and Christmas 1917 was all the more comfortable due to his “wangling” that eventually provided the battalion with some Christmas Fayre!

Major James served with the battalion as they held the thin line against the vigorous Turkish attacks in the new year whilst the bulk of the army assaulted Jerusalem to the east and seems to have had a quiet time of things for the first half of 1918. His only known adventure was the trip to Yazur on the 16^th March when the Duke of Connaught presented him, along with several others from his battalion, with gallantry medal ribbons.

On the 23^rd May and 1^st June 1918 he commanded the 1/10^th London Battalion temporarily, returning to the Bedford’s both times and surviving the final engagements of the war that September and October.

On the 14^th December 1918 Major James was admitted to the 31^st General Hospital in Cairo with an unspecified illness which was, in all likelihood, Malaria. He rejoined the Bedfords on the 28^th December and served the rest of their time out in Egypt as the Battalion was slowly disembodied from war service. Once the Battalion had been disembodied completely Major James volunteered for the Army of Occupation on the 30^th June 1919. Whilst serving in the Army of Occupation he was 2^nd in command of the 1/5^th Suffolks at the Prisoner of War Camp in Tura.

He went to Cyprus on leave on the 1^st September 1919 and on the 2^nd October 1919 was posted to 1/7^th Royal Welch Fusiliers. The 22^nd Battalion of the Manchester’s was the last unit in the field that Christopher served with as a Captain (Acting Major) from 11^th November 1919.

Between December 1919 and January 1920, he went to Austria on Escort duties and returned to Egypt on their completion. Major Christopher Russell James finally left Alexandria for the last time on the 31^st March 1920 and arrived in Liverpool on the 12^th April 1920 for demobilization.

Major Christopher Russell James, M.C. was Lt-Colonel Brighten’s (the 5^th Battalion C.O.) brother in law and lived at 16 Collinette Road, Putney when finally released from service in April 1920. He had survived Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine, been wounded and suffered from several bouts of illness as well as serving a further year and a half beyond the end of hostilities on various duties before returning home to carry on with “normal life”.

He can be seen here in the 1915 Officers photo, sitting in the front row, furthest left.

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