William Robert Chapman (1893-c.1983)
From Easington Lane, served with the RAMC & DLI, interviewed by the IWM.
No County Durham Great War veteran is alive today. However, the voices of some of these men live on thanks to recordings made by the Imperial War Museum last century. Today these recordings may be heard on the IWM’s website, and, though the voices and memories are often faltering, together these old soldiers allow us a glimpse of what it was really like when County Durham went to war a hundred years ago.
William Chapman was one of the veterans interviewed by the Imperial War Museum. He was interviewed in 1983.
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80007112
http://www.iwm.org.uk/
Born in Easington Lane in 1893, William Chapman was training to be a Methodist minister in Manchester, when the Great War began. Though, as a theological student, he was exempt from Army service, William decided to enlist and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in Sheffield in September 1915.
In his interview, William Chapman describes his training as a theatre nurse at Belton Park, near Grantham, and his reaction to the first operation he witnessed. After his training was finished, Private Chapman was sent to the 3rd Stationary Hospital at Rouen in France in March 1916. He was working on the wards there when the Battle of the Somme began, and he vividly recalls the long, exhausting hours treating the badly wounded soldiers. After being evacuated to Glasgow in August 1916 suffering from trench fever, William returned to France and worked with field ambulances and in a dressing station on the Somme.
In late 1916, William Chapman was invited to apply to become an infantry officer and, after Officer Cadet School training, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the DLI in May 1917 and served on the Western Front. On 24 October 1918, Lieutenant Chapman, then serving with the 15th Battalion DLI, led an attack at Orvillers, despite being seriously wounded, for which he was later awarded the Military Cross (see citation below).
William Chapman’s interview lasts for over five hours and is packed with vivid memories of both his time on the Western Front and at home, including a spell whilst recuperating with the 3rd Battalion DLI on coastal defence duties at South Shields.
After the war, William Chapman returned to Manchester to complete his theological studies and, during the Second World War, he served as an Army Chaplain in North Africa and Italy.
It is not known where or when William Chapman died.
The London Gazette, 3 October 1919.
Temporary Second Lieutenant William Robert Chapman, 15th Battalion DLI: “On the night, 24th October, 1918, the battalion objective was 500 yards south of Grand Gay Farm, near Ovillers. During the advance it came under very heavy M.G. and shell fire. He was wounded in the foot but very gallantly led them forward to the objective, reorganised his platoon and consolidated the position before leaving the line. He consistently showed coolness and initiative during the advance, 23rd/24th October, 1918.”
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31583/supplement/12278
Civil Parish: Hetton le Hole
Birth date: 1893
Death date: c.1983
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: Easington Lane
Hartley College, Manchester
3 Windsor Avenue, Whitley Bay, Northumberland
Religion: Methodist
Military service:
1915-17: 73359 Private William Robert Chapman, Royal Army Medical Corps.
1917-1918: Second Lieutenant (Temporary Lieutenant) William Robert Chapman, DLI.
Medal(s): Military Cross, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
William Chapman was also awarded the Silver War Badge in 1920 because of his wounding.
It is not known what WW2 medals he was awarded.
Gender: Male
Contributed by Durham at War Volunteer | Durham County Record Office