Person

Life history with emphasis on wartime experiences recounted from Bob’s reminiscences, his annotations to photographs and his Soldier’s Pay Books.

Recollections part 1 – background.

Bob served in the 22nd DLI which was a Pioneer battalion. He joked that they were nicknamed “the Dirty Little Imps”; presumably it referred to the state they would get into during the course of their construction, digging and tunnelling work. He wrote in his Soldier’s pay book “in the event of my death I give … … my Iron Rations to John Bull”.

Bob and his younger brother Leslie served alongside each other, the elder brother trying to look out for the younger. (See photographs.)

Bob’s pay book records that he was wounded in action on 11/7/17 but he continued on active service. Leslie was severely wounded in March 1918 and both brothers were captured as Bob attempted to carry Leslie to safety.

Family members recalled early newsreel footage of Bob, showing him disembarking from a steam ship possibly during a brief absence of leave to visit his terminally ill mother (Nov 1916). I have been unable to locate this.

Recollections part 2 – capture.

The brothers were taken prisoner during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 when Bob tried to convey his brother to safety, carrying the wounded Leslie on his back. I believe Leslie suffered chest wounds. (See reverse of photograph of Bob and Leslie.)

Bob’s Soldier’s Pay Book records the date and place of capture as 25/03/18, Henencourt. Bob’s own notes record March 21st, St. Quentin Front.

The brothers were separated for the remainder of the war and Bob did not know whether Leslie was alive or dead until they were re-united after hostilities ceased. Although Leslie survived the war, his health was permanently compromised and he died prematurely, either in 1940 or aged about 40, from illness related to his war wounds. Leslie’s son, named Robert after my grandfather, was also a casualty of war: family recollections are that he joined the Royal Engineers during the early part of the Second World War and was killed in his first action in France, aged just 19.

Recollections part 3 – PoW privations and reward!

Prisoners of War and the local French people suffered privations alike. For the rest of his life Bob spoke highly of the people of Alsace Lorraine who would share what food they had and he related stories of “slipping out under the wire” to scavenge… … and of black bread and nettle soup.

Whilst interned Bob used his masonry skills to build an improvised bread oven. He was rewarded by his captors: they gave him a pair of shoe laces even though all he had to wear on his feet were wooden clogs!

Bob’s hand-written commentary on the back of the group photograph taken at Catterick Camp identifies Fred Renton, a fruitier’s son from South Shields, as standing fifth from left. Regarding his friend, Fred Renton, Bob notes “we both got captured. He had a hard battle behind the lines with an Irish man… … when the fight was on a lot of Irish blokes tried to get at Fred but I stopped them and he knocked the stuffing out of the bloke. The Jerries did enjoy it.” (Perhaps indicating an incident that occurred in a POW camp to the amusement of their captors?) . Additional commentary records “I had it rough but I enjoyed my army days”.

Recollections part 4 – discharge.

So far as I can tell from annotations in his Pay Book, Bob was released from a camp near Saint Die des Vosges on 15/11/1918 and discharged from the army on 17/02/1919.

After the war, Bob told stories of terrific artillery barrages; of “fixing bayonets”, whistles and “going over the top”; of physical carnage and men driven mad; of mud, duckboards and vermin; of trench feet and trench life; of no-man’s land illuminated by “Very Lights”; of shell holes, barbed wire and “no-man’s land”; of battlefields… … … and of “bully beef” and “hardtack” biscuits.

Despite the hardships Bob retained a sense of humour.

The Will he wrote in his final Pay Book reads; “In the event of my death I give the whole of my property and effects to my father, Mr Watson Davison, 17 Lord Street, Seaham Harbour, Co. Durham. My Iron Rations to John Bull.”
On the reverse of one of his photographs he wrote “I had it rough but I enjoyed my army days”.

Recollections part 5 – family life.

Returning to civilian life Bob married Edith Williams of Redcar (1896-1952).

They lived in 41 Exeter Avenue, Deneside, Seaham (County Durham, SR7 8LP) and raised a daughter, Edith Iris Davison, known as “Iris” who married my father, himself a soldier in the Second World War. [Corporal Reginald Charlton Taylor Army No. 2329892. Royal Corps of Signals 30/10/1939 to 09/04/1946.]

Bob worked as a bricklayer for the North East Brewery and after the 1927 merger, Vaux Breweries.

Recollections part 6 – civilian life.

His “war service” not quite done, during the 1939-45 war Bob built a deep air-raid shelter for family and neighbours which was renowned for being dry and cosy (unlike the majority that suffered from dampness and cold) and he served as a fire-watcher on the brewery roof in Sunderland.

Edith suffered terribly with cancer and passed-away, two decades before Bob, in 1952.

He never remarried. After his daughter (my mother, Iris) married and settled in No. 4 Edward Street, Seaham (SR7 7QJ) Bob went to live with her. His younger sister, Elizabeth (married name “Betty” Hansen), lived just 3 doors away in No.7 Edward Street.

Happiest working, Bob continued bricklaying well into his 70s and tended an allotment until his death, providing vegetables to his neighbours in the terraced cottages around my parents’ home, free of charge.

Recollections part 7 – remembrance.

Having survived the trenches, Bob considered every extra day of life a bonus. Often in his later years he would remember comrades, the place names synonymous with the Western Front and sayings such as “better to die on the battlefield than on a rusty old bedstead” and “praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”. Also, presumably thinking of his beloved wife, “better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”.

Every year, Remembrance Day was inevitably a very emotional day for Bob.

Civil Parish: Dawdon

Birth date: 17-Nov-1890

Death date: 19-Nov-1971

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 17 Lord Street, Seaham Harbour (noted in Bob’s Soldier’s pay books)

Employment: Mason, North East Brewery / Vaux Breweries

Family: Father: William Watson Davison
Siblings: Lena; Florrie (died young of TB); Leslie (died aged about 40 of ill-health arising from wounds sustained in 1918) ; Elizabeth (“Betty”) a well-known member of the Seaham amateur dramatics society in her day.

Military service:

Corporal, 22nd Durham Light Infantry, ‘D’ Company
Service No. 22/682

Enlisted 7/12/15
Made corporal 21/1/17
Captured during the German Spring Offensive: possibly during the Battle of Saint Quentin, 21/3/1917.
Released from PoW camp (near St. Die des Vosges?)15/11/1918
Discharged 17/2/19

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by PDT, Tyne & Wear