Private A. A. Trott of the 12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, at rest in a Gloucestershire village churchyard.

A couple of months ago, while holidaying in the West Country, our good friends L & C visited the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Gloucestershire village of Westbury-on-Severn.


They came upon the Commonwealth War Grave of Private A. A. Trott of the 12th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Knowing my interest in the SLI they sent me a photo of the headstone.


Private Trott died on the 13th December 1918, aged 38, after World War One had ended.  Did he die of wounds received during the war or was he a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic, perhaps a tragic accident befell him?  I have been unable to find answers to those questions.


The words on his gravestone read “A DEAR HUSBAND AND FATHER NEVER FORGOTTEN BY HIS LOVED ONES”.  Intriguingly the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records state that Private Trott was the “HUSBAND OF FLORENCE AMELIA ANN HALLETT (FORMERLY TROTT) OF YEOVIL SOMERSET”.  Make of that what you will! 


12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry.
The 12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry was formed from the West Somerset Yeomanry, a cavalry regiment, in February 1917 at Ismailia in Egypt.  After the dismounted cavalrymen had retrained as infantryman the Battalion joined the 229th Brigade, part of the newly formed 74th Division.  The Division campaigned in Palestine against the Turks until it was transferred to France in April 1918.

The Battalion’s first action in France was on the 18th August 1918 when it fought in Picardy before taking part in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line.  It took part in the Final Advance in Artois during October and November.

The Battalion suffered its last battle casualties on the 22nd October when 2 men were killed and 20 wounded.  Its total casualties during the War were 147 killed in action, 53 died of wounds, and 12 died.

Everard Wyrall chronicles the record of the 12th Battalion in its final months of service in his The Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919 (Methuen & Co., 1927).  He concludes: “The 12th Somersets, who on the 11th November were on the road to Escalette when the Armistice was announced, marched on to Ollignies and took part in a peace celebration, the Burgomaster presenting the Battalion with a Belgian flag, which now rests in St. Mary’s Church Taunton.  It was not, however, until the middle of June 1919 that the Somerset Yeoman were reduced to cadre strength and returned to England.  The cadre reached Taunton on 21st June and received a great welcome from the townspeople as it marched through the streets behind the cadre of the 1st Battalion of the Regiment – a fitting close to a most wonderful period in the history of the Regiment.”

Sources:
Commonwealth War Grave Commission website.
Edward Wyrall, The Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919 (Methuen & Co., 1927).

English is an “imperialist internationalist culture”? Not according to former Labour MP John Denham.

The favourite tactic of those who don’t like English nationhood or culture is to call into question the very existence of English identity and culture.  Professor John Denham gives his answer to an article in the New Statesman.  I came across his letter, reproduced below, in the edition of The Week published December 7.



Feeling English

To the New Statesman

Alex Niven tells Jason Crowley that the English “don’t exist as a national culture because we were an imperialist internationalist culture”.  Why is it such claims are made by people who don’t feel English, but not by those who do?

The Empire – which engaged the Scots and the Welsh as much as the English – was British.  Boris Johnson and his allies are Anglo-centric British nationalists who rarely talk about England.  Those who emphasise their English identity, by contrast, tend to be sceptical about the Union and want the interests of England itself protected.

England’s future story must reflect the nation as we are today, building on English and British identities as we now know them.  Condemning Englishness with inaccurate caricatures simply makes that harder.

Professor John Denham, Centre for English Identity and Politics, University of Southampton.


Incidentally, Professor Denham mentions the Scots and the Welsh as having a role in British empire-building.  He could also have mentioned the Irish who literally fought for it.  Some of the most famous regiments in the British Army were Irish.  One only has look at the battle honours awarded to Irish regiments to realise the vital role they played in establishing and maintaining the British Empire.

Picturesque cloudscape emerges as the skies clear over South Somerset.

There was a heavy downpour during a very breezy afternoon in South Somerset today.  As the wind rushed the dark clouds away to the east a pleasing cloudscape was revealed.

A pleasing cloudscape over South Somerset after a heavy downpour. 

Golden hedgerows in South Somerset.

In the late afternoon of December 1st, the first day of meteorological winter, I took a stroll with my camera around the fields east of Dillington Park Drive on the fringe of Ilminster in South Somerset.
As dusk approached I took some photos.  Looking west it did look as though winter was approaching as the hedgerows appeared bare of leaves.

 

Late afternoon sunshine in South Somerset on December 1st

However, looking east there were still enough Beech, Oak and Hawthorn leaves clinging to the branches to produce a wonderful copper coloured effect in the last of the day's sunshine.

Golden hedgerows in South Somerset on December 1st.

 

Consign "England" to the "waste bin of history" states a letter to The Guardian.

Writing to The Guardian - surprise, surprise - in letter published on 22 November one Jim Grozier, from Brighton, states the name “England” should be consigned to “the waste bin of history”, its “parts” replaced by “neutral” names.
Perhaps Mr. Grozier is one of those English intellectuals George Orwell described as being “ashamed of their own nationality”?  The letter was in response to an article on English national identity and is reproduced below.  Make up your own mind!

" I heartily agree with Alex Niven that “building up the English regions” is a much more practical solution to the current identity crisis of the UK than “the quest for an artificial, unitary Englishness”. Who can honestly say that they identify with a region stretching from Land’s End to Berwick, defined largely by geography, and encompassing such huge disparities in wealth and opportunity on the way? Perhaps it is time for someone to come up with new, “neutral” names for the various parts of England, independent of past affiliations and rivalries, as was done during the major upheaval in local government in the 1970s, and to consign the name “England” to the waste bin of history."
Jim Grozier
Brighton, East Sussex


This gentleman does not appear to have heard of nations, old and new, encompassing much bigger areas with greater regional variations than England, and whose populations are content with their belief in Nationhood.

Gilbert and Molly Lovell, victims of a stray Luftwaffe bomb in November 1940, commemorated at St. Katherine's Church, Felton, North Somerset.

Just past the entrance to Bristol Airport on the north-bound carriageway of the A38 is the Airport Tavern.  Take the next right turn and cross the cattle grid then turn right up the lane leading to Felton Common and St. Katherine’s Church.  Explore the churchyard and you will come across the grave and memorial headstone of Henry J. Sainsbury and his wife Laura May, the headstone also commemorates other members of the family.  You will read that  their daughter Molly and her husband Gilbert Lovell were "killed by enemy action" on this day in 1940. 

Note that the Airport Tavern was known as the New Inn until the 1970s and that Bristol Airport was formerly the World War Two RAF airfield of Lulsgate Bottom.  The following extract from Ian James’ The Story of RAF Lulsgate Bottom, (Redcliffe Press, 1989) details the tragic events of that day in 1940.

“The freezing winter of 1940/41 was the winter of the Blitz, and even country areas, especially those near large industrial centres such as Bristol did not escape. At around 0415 in the early hours of November 18, a bomb hit the New Inn at Lulsgate.  Hosts, Harry J. and Laura M. Sainsbury lost one of their two daughters, Molly Ellen (28) and her husband Gilbert Lovell (33).  The Lovell’s year old baby Patricia, and Aunt, Mrs Emma Wilkins, survived.”

RAF Lulsgate Bottom was not even under construction at that time, and there was no Luftwaffe raid on Bristol that night so it seems to have been a matter of sheer bad luck that the New Inn was hit.  A few more bombs were reported landing nearby without causing any other casualties.  Perhaps the ill-fated deaths of Molly and Gilbert Lovell were caused by a lone German bomber jettisoning its bomb-load after becoming lost.

The grave and headstone of Henry J. Sainsbury and his wife Laura May in the graveyard of St. Katherine's Church on Felton Common Hill, North Somerset.

Autumn afternoon skyscapes over South Somerset.

I had just finished shopping when I saw some picturesque clouds over the nearby hills.  I had my camera with me so I took some photos.

Early afternoon skyscape over South Somerset on 4th November 2019.

Picturesque skyscape over South Somerset on 4th November 2019. 

Then an RAF A400M Atlas approached from the south west heralded by the distinctive low hum of its engines - so I photographed that too!

An RAF A400M Atlas heading north-east over South Somerset on 4th November 2019.