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During the first weeks which followed the arrival of the Battalion in Flanders but little was seen of the Padres, for it was so involved in the fighting that only the few days’ rest near to Watou in the May of 1915 afforded any opportunity for a Divine service, and indeed Sundays seemed to belong to the past, and day succeeded day without distinction as to day of week. Duties at the field ambulances, however, fully occupied the Chaplains at this time.

In the British Expeditionary Force Territorial Battalions did not each possess a Chaplain, such as had normally been the case in peace time, but these were posted to Brigades on an eventual establishment of two church of England, one Roman Catholic and one United Board, the latter covering Wesleyan and Methodist denominations. Sometimes these were brigaded and lived together in billets, but at times the Church of England Chaplains were attached to Battalions for rations and accommodation, such as Reverend C. Lomax, T.D., to the 8th Battalion and Captain C. Milner to the 5th Battalion the Border Regiment, each being responsible for two of the Battalions in the Brigade.

In 1915 Reverend Shaddick, a pre-war Chaplain of the 6th Battalion, was the Church of England Chaplain to the Brigade, there being at this time only one, and he was followed by Reverend Astbury at a period when the more settled conditions of Trench Warfare prevailed, and it was possible to hold Parade Services with a certain amount of regularity and to get in closer touch with individuals…

These few recollections of the Padres give very little idea of their work for which, to the eye at all events, there could be but little to show, but speaking for those to whom they ministered this can be said, that they brought much comfort and hope to those worn by the strain of war.

Publication date: 1926

Author: E Hardinge Veitch

Reference: C209

Where to find this: Durham County Record Office

Contributed by Fiona Johnson