Thomas Westby (1883-1960)
Blackburn man served with Durham Light Infantry, taken Prisoner of War
Sergeant Thomas Westby served in the Durham Light Infantry and was taken prisoner of war (POW) in Loos on 22 April 1917. He remained a POW for the duration of the First World War.
Thomas was a sergeant in the 14th DLI, service number 43070. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
The 14th Battalion war diary records that the battalion moved from Mazingarbe into the 16th Infantry Brigade line in the Loos and Lens Sector on 20 April 1917. The next two days were characterised by sustained attacks, counter attacks and severe bombardment. On 23 April the battalion was relieved. Casualties recorded for the period 20-23 April 1917 were:
Killed 1 officer and 34 OR (Other Ranks)
Wounded 10 officers and 173 OR
Missing 24 OR.
The International Committee of the Red Cross have details of Prisoners of War and show two documents for Thomas Westby. The first shows a log of prisoners, and details Westby’s injuries as a bullet wound in the head. It documents his transfer to Duisberg. The second document details his capture in Arras on 21/4/1917 and his movement from Dülmen on 16/12/1917.
Thomas Westby’s time as a Prisoner of War was detailed in a report made after his release. His report was taken as part of a scheme by the Committee on the Treatment of British Prisoners of War. They interviewed a number of Prisoners of War prior to the signing of the Armistice in November 1918.
His report can be summarised as following:
He gave his home address on the day the report was made as Guild House, Whalley, near Blackburn. He gave his age as 35 and occupation prior to the war as weaver.
He received a bullet wound under his left eye which exited through his left ear, and also fractured his jaw. He was left unconscious from his wounds and reported as killed in action although he actually ended up in hospital in Tournai. He was there from 23 April 1917 to 9 May 1917 and had his wounds dressed once every eight days.
From Tournai, Westby was transferred by hospital train to Duisberg and from there by tram to Diakonen Anstalt, a large German hospital. There were various hospital blocks each housing 120 men. He had his wounds dressed every day and states that Dr Klein treated him fairly. He reports that they were given ordinary German food to eat and baths and water were in supply for bathing, but no soap.
From 11 June 1917 to 20 July 1917, Westby was sent to the St Vincenz Hospital, based in a former nunnery (Erich Maria Remarque, the author of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ also spent time in this hospital). Apart from Westby and an Australian, all the other patients were German soldiers and civilians. The first class private patients paid nine marks per week, the second class patients paid four marks. Westby had his ear injury cleaned out by Dr Schmidt, an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, whilst he was there but no other treatment was offered. Each specialist had a nun to assist them and had their instruments sterilised by a nun; a practice that Westby had not observed in other hospitals. Westby’s experience of German hospitals was that you had to be prepared to cure yourself, and he noted that of 39 men who were sent to hospital with him, 11 died.
On 20 July 1917, he was sent back to Diakonen Anstalt and remained there until 22 November 1917. He was complimentary about the care he received in this particular hospital and he never had cause to make complaint. He was allowed to write one letter a fortnight and one postcard every week. He received letters and parcels from the beginning of August 1917, but the parcels were intercepted at Friedrichsfeld so some items were not delivered.
Between 22 November 1917 and 16 December 1917, Westby was sent to Dülmen, losing some parcels in the process of being moved.
On 16 December 1917, Westby was taken by train to Dyrotz and stayed there until 13 August 1918. He went with other men, of whom about 160 were put to work making an aerodrome. Dyrotz was a working camp, a secondary camp to Döberitz though Dülmen was headquarters for the region. This camp was self-supporting and Westby believed the Commandant was charging more for the labour provided and personally keeping the extra money. They lived in wooden huts and as well as British soldiers, there were Russians, French and Romanians. Food was mainly barley and water, or lentils and water, with water being 90% of the mixture. Sometimes crushed chestnuts were added to water to make a gruel that the soldiers called ‘Sandstorm’.
Parcels arrived from Spandau and were censored at Dyrotz, though generally unopened. Clothing was supposed to be issued every six months, but Westby didn’t receive his clothing on time and spent more time in his hospital clothes. The men working on the aerodrome left the camp at 6.30am, returning at 2.30pm, or taking a light dinner from their parcels with them if they had to work until late in the afternoon. They did as little work as possible and were paid two marks per week. Some men worked on farms which was harder work than at the aerodrome.
When not working, the prisoners could walk about the camp, and were able to send letters and postcards. They could smoke wherever they wanted to. They played football, other games and also put on entertainments which the German officers came to. For the entertainments, some prisoners bought concertinas from local people near the aerodrome.
Services were held on Sundays for the soldiers and a fellow prisoner, a Roman Catholic priest held services in the library. The Dutch Ambassador visited the camp and some soldiers made complaints to him but no action seemed to be taken as a result.
Various prisoners suffered with their mental health and Westby talked about some men going ‘dotty’ after being confined for so long. Severe cases were sent to Berlin but if thought not too serious, were returned to the camp.
The examiner who made the report confirmed that Westby was a very intelligent man and thought him to be totally reliable.
The examiner was J W Mellor, 9 New Square, Lincoln’s Inns, W.C.2
Sources used:
British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920
International Red Cross website: grandeguerre.icrc.org, Ref: PA17132, PA20087
The National Archives WO/161/100/417, Report number 2434
The 14 DLI war diary, ref. WO 95/1617/2, can be downloaded from The National Archives website:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352357
See also:
European website commemorating the First World War. Contains pictures of items from Drytoz POW camp:
http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/2380
Birth date: 28-Aug-1883
Death date: 23-May-1960
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 35 Lomax Street, Great Harwood (1915 Great Harwood roll of honour)
Guild House, Whalley, Blackburn, Lancashire (November 1918)
Employment: Employed in the family weaving business, Thomas Westby and Sons Ltd. of Great Harwood, Lancashire
Military service:
Derbyshire Yeomanry
Regimental number: 2135 (1915 Great Harwood roll of honour)
Sergeant 43070 14th Durham Light Infantry
22 April 1917 taken prisoner in Loos
Prisoner of war for the duration of WW1
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Gender: Male
Contributed by Jane Wilson, Bishop Auckland | Philip Turner | Peter Westby
Comments on this story
Comment
Philip Turner, from Lancaster, who sent us the information below about his uncle Tom, has asked us to make a couple of corrections to the punctuation in his contribution.
Paragraph 3:
Perhaps that was not unconnected with his marriage to Katherine Schmitz, one of his German nurses, just after the war!
Paragraph 5:
The family business was Thomas Westby and Sons Ltd. in Great Harwood, among other things manufacturers of healds and reeds supplied to the cotton industry for use in the weaving process but they did no weaving themselves.
Mr Turner tells us that he has a photograph of Thomas Westby and we hope to add this to Durham at War soon.
Everyone on the Durham at War team would like to thank you for adding so much to this story.
Contributed by
Gill Parkes
Report abuseI am delighted to find your entry about my uncle Tom, the one with a blind sunken eye where the bullet entered and a shrivelled ear where it came out. He was a favourite among us nephews especially because he always brought a large box of fireworks on bonfire nights in the 1930's. Growing up soon after the Great War our young imaginations turned the bangs and flashes into the perceived adventure of battle but, when asked what the war was like, he would only say "terrible".
He was in the territorials before the war so was drawn in at the start and was lucky to survive - unscathed as far as I know - until 1917. It seems that when he was wounded his men carried him back towards the British line but, being under intense fire and understandably believing him to be dead they left him in a shell hole. The Germans overran the ground and found him still alive, which is how he became a prisoner. Since he was reported missing believed killed, the family went into mourning and were over the moon when a postcard from him arrived months later.
Tradition has it that, after a long period in a coma, he woke among bodies on a mortuary slab where, by a supreme effort he made enough movement to attract attention. Although the interview report suggests that medical attention thereafter was basic he was at least fitted with a silver plate to repair his smashed jaw, and I understood from my mother (one of his five sisters) that he much appreciated the care that he received. Perhaps that was not unconnected with his marriage to Katherine Schmitz, one of his German nurses just after the war! Incidentally I have a photo of him and another wounded soldier, together with two medical orderlies, evidently taken in one of the hospitals.
He was eventually repatriated in a prisoner exchange, to be met at Whalley railway station by my mother and another sister who had difficulty recognising their much changed brother. From there he was taken, with others in the blue uniform of the wounded, to Calderstones hospital near Whalley, and thence home after convalescing. There he suggested a blanket on the floor rather than the bed provided for him, saying the floor would be the height of luxury after years in the trenches.
Now I see that one report says he was captured at Loos and the other at Arras. Since these are only about ten miles apart this hardly matters but it would be nice if that could be clarified. As for my uncle's stated occupation of weaver I don't think this just indicated an excess of modesty on his part since he was the son of a relatively affluent mill-owning family. Perhaps the interviewer misunderstood what my uncle told him or misinterpreted his notes of the interview. The family business was Thomas Westby and Sons Ltd. in Great Harwood, among other things manufacturers of healds and reeds, supplied to the cotton industry for use in the weaving process but they did no weaving themselves. My uncle took over the business on his father's death in 1919 until it closed in 1952 after the collapse of the cotton industry. A brief history of the firm was - and presumably still is - held in the Accrington reference library.
I cannot adequately express my thanks to all involved in creating the website and doing the research. It has enabled me, aged 90, to fill a gap in my family history. The detail is probably more than you want but feel free to use/edit/discard as you see fit. And if you have any more information I will be very grateful to have it.
Contributed by
as above
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