The Bedfordshire Regiment in the Great War

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Photographs and Biographies from the 7th Battalion

Captains WH Bull and Sherwell at a Football match

Captain Wilfred BULL and Temporary Captain Ferdinand SHERWELL

The two Officers are pictured here at a 7th Battalion football match in 1915. Both men were with the Battalion from the beginning and both were sadly killed within six weeks of each other.

Captain Bull was wounded during the 1st July 1916 assault on Fricourt and not long aftr he had returned from recovering in England, was killed in action on the 3rd May 1917 whilst the Battalion attacked Cherisy. He was desribed as "one of the finest leaders we had" and his death was a sad moment for the entire Battalion.

Temp. Captain Ferdinand Nigel Sherwell died from wounds received during some severe shelling the following month, on the 13th June 1917.

D Company, 7th Battalion in 1914

D Company, 7th Battalion in 1914.

A lovely photo of D Company from the 7th Battalion late in 1914 before uniforms were issued to the whole Battalion with some in their 'Kitchener Blues'! These men would have enlisted in August and September 1914 under "K1" and "K2" and were still undergoing basic training at the time.

Many of them are wearing thier new uniforms with obvious pride but some can still be seen in partial dress, with a few items of civilian clothing dotted around!

Have a look at some of the characters in the group including the man holding the Company beer barrell on the far left and the two 'pals' above him.

Private and Sergeant 15483, later Lieutenant Lionel HAMBLING, M.C.

Lionel Hambling was born on the 18th May 1889 in Thrapston, Northamptonshire. His parents were Alfred John William (a retired financier) and Eliza Fanny Hambling who moved to Plough Cottage, South Mimms by the time Lionel enlisted into the army.

 

Private 15483 L.L. Hambling enlisted on the 7th September 1914 at St. Albans, aged 24 years and 3 months. Trade was shown as a Caterer, who also taught pianoforte harmony. He was postd to the newly raised 7th Battalion and was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 22nd September 1914, to Corporal on the 1st October, finally becoming a Sergeant on the 25th November 1914.

 

After training, Lionel sailed with the 7th Battalion to France in July 1915 and served in the trenches until, on the 18th October 1915, he reported to Battalion HQ complaining of severe abdominal pains, but returned to the trenches the same day. They didn’t go away and on the 1st November 1915 he was transferred to the 55th field Ambulance with Appendicitus and Pyrexia, then straight to 5 CCS, arriving at Rouen on the 3rd. Lionel left France on the 15th on board the Hospital Ship “St. Patrick” and spent until the following summer recovering.

 

Once he had recovered and retrained, Lionel was posted back to the 7th Battalion as a Sergeant on the 29th September 1916. By now, he was a qualified Machine Gunner. He joined them just in time to join the assault on the impregnable Schwaben Redoubt near Theipval, which the 54th Brigade took at considerable cost. After the battle, around 400 of the Battalion were left and they took no further part in offensive operations until after Lionel’s departure that December. Lionel impressed his CO with his leadership, resulting in him being recommended for a Commission.

 

He was posted to the Regimental Depot as a Sergeant, arriving in England on the 20th December 1916 and he was posted to No. 3 Officer Cadet Battalion at 70 Woodland Road in Bristol on the 20th March 1917. Once he was trained, Lionel was discharged to the “Special Reserve of Officers” on the 26th June 1917, having been granted a Temporary Commission in the 3rd Battalion. By this time, he had served a total of 2 years and 293 days in the ranks of the Bedfordshire regiment.

 

2/Lt Lionel Hambling arrived in the 4th Battalion on the 9th September 1917 and was involved in the final big phase of the Third Battle at Ypres (“Passchendaele”) when the Division attacked a mile west of the infamous Passchendaele Ridge but were held up by a combination of the mud, enemy artillery and machine gun fire. Almost 200 of the 4th Battalion became casualties on the 30th October and the Canadians eventually took the ridge a week later.

 

After several quiet months holding the lines, the massive German Spring Offensive was launched on the 21st March 1918, which saw the 4th Battalion in the thick of the incredible fighting withdrawal that only just held the onslaught. After a week of fighting and retiring, the Battalion was becoming extremely weak but still refused to be overrun. On the 27th March, during a superbly led stand against a massive German attack, Lionel was among the many Officers who became casualties. Included in the casualty list were the Battalion CO, Lt-Colonel John Stanhope Collings-Wells who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross as a result, the second in command Major Nunnelly and a further seven of the handful of Officers left by the 27th.

 

Lionel was the Machine gun Officer and was often the last to withdraw from the fighting once the other men had already retired. His guns accounted for unthinkable numbers of Germans during the week long fight, and he was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery. The Citation hints at his involvement during the defensive actions:

 

“SUPPLEMENT to THE LONDON GAZETTE, 22nd JUNE, 1918. 7411

2nd Lt. Lionel Hambling, Bedf. R., Spec. Res.

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He showed great skill and courage in keeping his Lewis guns in action to cover a withdrawal, .and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Later, during an enemy attack, he established two Lewis guns in a forward position and put two enemy machine guns out of action.”

 

Lionel received a gunshot wound to the forehead and left the 4th Battalion on the 27th March 1918, once they had been relieved. He arrived back in Dover on the 5th April to start another phase of recuperation.

 

On the 11th September 1918, Lionel was deemed fit again and ordered back to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion to restart training in readiness for his return to the front but by the time he was fit again, the war was thankfully over. On the 27th December 1918 Lionel was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and on the 25th March 1919, he was disembodied from the Special reserve of Officers.

 

The 12th February 1920 saw him finally relinquished his commission but retained the rank of Lieutenant and he returned to his life, having served the entire war in the Regiment and rising from a civilian Private soldier to a decorated Lieutenant in the process

2/Lt Chester Bishop KYDD

Second Lieutenant Chester Bishop KYDD

Chester Bishop Kydd, a native of Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, born on 31st May 1897, was the only son of John G A Kydd and his wife Jessie de Mott Bishop. The family settled in Coleraine, Co Londonderry.

 

Chester B Kydd was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment on 18th June 1915 and he was on the Western Front from July 1916. He was killed in action when leading B Company in the attack at Cherisey on 3rd May 1917. The Company was trapped around Fontaine trench in a deep belt of uncut wire and were being badly mauled by MG & sniper fire. Of the company officers who started out that day, only two came out of the action unwounded.

 

His batman, Private H.H. Gladwish, was with him when Kydd was shot in the chest. He tried to carry his wounded charge to the British line, but he was forced to shelter in a shell-hole, and it was there that C B Kydd died. Private Gladwish, alone and trapped by the shelling, spent almost seventy-two hours in No Man’s Land. During all that time he was without food and water. When he ultimately got back to his own lines, he was too exhausted with hunger and grief to tell a coherent story.

In December of 1917 the Mayor of Margate presented Private H H Gladwish with the DCM he won in France in May. Mr and Mrs Kydd had been honoured guests at this ceremony in Margate.

The tale is closely supported by the medal citation, London gazette, 26th July 1917: “40533 H H Gladwish, Bedf. Regt.
For conspicuous gallantry & devotion to duty. Having shown great gallantry in attempting unsuccessfully to rescue a fatally wounded officer, whose servant he was, he remained out three days and nights, collecting valuable information concerning the enemy, during which time he was continuously under fire and without food or water".


"A DCM was more than earned by Pte Gladwish, servant to 2/Lt Kydd, of 'B' Coy, who was killed near Fontaine Trench. For three days and nights he tried to find his way back, though he could have easily given himself up to the Bosche. In spite of terrible thirst and hunger, he hid by day in shell holes and reconnoitered by night. Finally after three nights out, he found himself challenged by a British sentry, and was safe, though exhausted and looking like a hunted creature."

(Source; The 54th Infantry Brigade 1914-1918. Gale and Polden 1922 (for private circulation)

Private Henry H. Gladwish had previously served as 29034 Essex Rgt and later served as 897242 in the 34th (County of London)Battalion, London Rgt, He survived the war.

C B Kydd features as a name on the war memorial in Larne Grammar School, as well as on the memorial in Coleraine Academical Institution (CAI); he's also listed on the town memorial in Coleraine. He featured in a recent local book, 'Coleraine Heroes' by Robert Thompson, wich is where the photo comes from. There is also a plaque to Kydd in Coleraine Congregational Church. The plaque wording:

“In Loving Memory of Chester Bishop Kydd, 2nd Lieutenant Bedfordshire Regiment, only and dearly beloved son of Dr J.G. A. Kydd and Jessie Bishop Kydd, Dunreeva, Coleraine, killed in action while leading the attack on Cherisy, France on 3rd May 1917 in the twentieth year of his age.”

C B Kydd's only sister, Elizabeth May Kydd, died on 20th November, 1925.

His father was a dentist in Coleraine. He had been educated at Coleraine Academical Institution and at Erasmus Smith Grammar School, Galway. He later went to America where he studied Dentistry at Kansas City Dental College. In 1892 he married Jessie Bishop of Leavenworth and in 1898 returned to Coleraine. He died on 19th October 1939, just after the start of the Second World War (aged 79) and is buried in Agherton Cemetery, Portstewart. His wife Jessie Bishop died many years later on 27th July 1957 and is interred with her husband in Agherton.

C B Kydd's grandfather, John Kydd, was a former minister of the Congregational Church and during his ministry the present church in New Row, Coleraine was erected.

Captain Andrew Best McBRIDE

Captain Andrew Best McBRIDE, M.C.

Andrew was the son of Major John Best McBride, RAMC who was a doctor by trade and a Captain in the 5th Territorial Battalion from 1905. His mother was Mary Constance McBride of Falkland House in Berkhamsted. By 1914 his father was a Major and attached to the 2nd/5th Battalion at the outbreak of war, whilst Andrew was a Territorial Lieutenant also attached to the second line Battalion.

 

Andrew joined the 8th Battalion in France in 1916 and from the 1st June 1916 he was promoted to Captain, which was gazetted on the 17th August 1917. He served in the 8th becoming the CO of A Company in 1917 until he left for the 7th Battalion when the 8th were disbanded on the 9th February 1918.

 

Having survived the massive Operation Michael battles of March, Andrew was killed in action on the 24th April 1918 whilst the Battalion attacked south of Cachy during the battle of Villers-Bretonneux, aged just 22. During this action he earned his Military Cross for bravery. Andrews body was recovered and he is buried at Longueau Cemetery.

 

Here is a superb photograph of Captain McBride with a group of Officers in France – well worth a look!  

(I am grateful to Frank Glass for the Roll of Honour information and photograph