A Cingalese machine gunner at the Somme – Sergeant Roy Van Twest

By John D Ellis

Roy Henniker Dudley Van Twest^[1]For Roy Henniker Dudley Van Twest see: First World War Service Records ‘Burnt Documents’ The National Archives (TNA) WO 363. British Army Medal Index Cards, 1914-1920. TNA WO372/20. War … Continue reading was born in Columbo, Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) c.1889.^[2]According to ancestry.co.uk, he was one of seven children born to Joseph Aloysious Van Twest and Clara Evelyn (nee’ Mottau) of Columbo, Ceylon. See: Ceylon and the world 9th GG Prigge Family Tree … Continue reading He enlisted for the “Duration of the War” in the Royal Fusiliers in London on the 5^th of October 1915, nominating his mother as his next of kin. It is not known whether he was resident in England prior to the start of the First World War, or if he was one of the many men from the Empire who travelled to Britain to enlist when the war started. However, he was certainly not the only Sri-Lankan to serve in the British Army: Private Peter De Silva fell at the Somme in 1916 serving in the Middlesex Regiment.^[3]https://www.historycalroots.com/our-boy-peter-private-peter-de-silva-missing-in-action-at-the-somme/ Private Julian Gogerly served in France and Flanders from 1916 to 1918 with the Northumberland Fusiliers and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.^[4]https://www.historycalroots.com/julian-gogerly-a-sri-lankan-in-the-northumberland-fusiliers-during-the-great-war/

Private RHD Van Twest (sometimes transcribed as Ray Von Twiss), Regimental No.9293, undertook basic training with the 28^th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Fusiliers. In February 1916 he volunteered for the Machine Gun Corps, being posted to the 92^nd Machine Gun Company.

The Machine Gun Corps had been formed in October 1915. Whilst the Imperial German Army had realised the potential of the heavy machine-gun (the “HMG”), the British Army had not – relying on the accurate fire of bolt-action rifles wielded by professional soldiers. Consequently, the Germans were better prepared (in terms of firepower), for the new type of warfare in which artillery and machine-guns came to dominate the battlefield. The Machine Gun Corps, formed from a mixture of veterans and new recruits, provided a company of HMGs to each brigade. Initially equipped with Lewis Guns, by early 1916 the Vickers Machine Guns had replaced them.

The Vickers machine gun was fired from a tripod and cooled by water held in a jacket around the barrel. The gun weighed 28 and ½ lbs pounds, the water another 10 lbs and the tripod 20 lbs. Rounds (or bullets) were assembled into a canvas belt, and it had a maximum rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute at an effective range of 4,500 yards.^[6]http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/machine-gun-corps-in-the-first-world-war/

A Vickers had a crew of between three and six men. The commander (the “No.1”), was also the gunner. The Assistant Gunner (or “No.2”), had the responsibility of feeding in the rounds and identifying targets. The remainder of the crew were responsible for carrying the weapon (the gun, tripod, spare parts, ammunition, and water), when dis-assembled, supplying it with ammunition and protecting the gun team from attack.

Good machine gunners were, and indeed still are, expected to be calm, have strength and stamina (it was/is a heavy weapon), keen eyesight, situational awareness, be able to understand types of fire, and calculate range and elevation. As a draughtsman, Roy Van Twest’s transferable civilian skills made an ideal machine-gunner: He would have had an eye for detail, sound mathematical and technical skills, critical thinking, time management and good interpersonal skills. Consequently, Roy Van Twest was promoted rapidly, being a Corporal, and almost certainly a Commander/Gunner on a Vickers MG, when the 92^nd Machine Gun Company arrived in France in May 1916. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant within a month of arrival, making him responsible for either a pair of machine guns, (a section), or four of them (a platoon).

As illustrated, the position of the gunner (in this case a sergeant – note the three stripes on his upper-arm), is exposed. Even when firing from a defensive position, his head would still need to be exposed to aim at the target.

The 92^nd Company was attached to the 92^nd Brigade of the 31^st Infantry Division and provided fire support to the Hull Pal’s battalions of the brigade: 10^th (Service) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment (1st Hull – “Hull Commercials”); 11^th (Service) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment (2nd Hull – “Hull Tradesman”); 12^th (Service) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment (3rd Hull – “Hull Sportsmen”); and 13^th (Service) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment (4th Hull – “the T’others”).

Heavy machine guns and their crews were a prime target for enemy fire and suffered accordingly. Captain EDB Oxley, the Officer-Commanding 92^nd Machine Gun Company, was wounded by enemy fire and evacuated to Britain within two weeks of arrival in France.^[9]Staffordshire Sentinel, 24^th July 1936. findmypast.co.uk The 92^nd Brigade were in the line during the week long artillery bombardment preceding the Battle of the Somme, suffering extensive casualties from German counter-fire. Prior to the battle, machine guns utilised a new tactic: Indirect Barrage fire. Companies angled their fire into the air to lay a barrage of rounds behind German lines in order to harass the enemy and disrupt troop movement.^[10]http://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-british-armys-100th-machine-gun-company-rained-down-100-000-rounds-in-12-hours-in-1916-8d9973a1ca3c

The night before the 1^st of July 1916, the brigade sent working parties into “no-man’s land” to clear lanes through the barbed wire. The village of Serre was the target for the 31^st Division, and whilst the 92^nd were not part of the first wave on the 1^st of July, when the British attack faltered in the face of heavy artillery and machine gun fire, the 92^nd were also sent “over the top”. A handful of men of the 31^st Division reached the objective, only to be pinned down by German fire, and the division was withdrawn from the Somme on the 2^nd of July and sent to a quieter section of the front to rest and refit. Thereafter, the “normal” routine of trench holding and raiding commenced, and on the 19^th of July 1916 Sergeant Roy Van Twest received a gunshot wound to the head.^[11]One record suggests it was a shrapnel, however, there are multiple references to it being a gunshot wound. The website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission identifies two members of the 92nd … Continue reading Initially, he was treated at St Omer Hospital, (France), prior to being evacuated to England and spending three months at the 1^st Southern General Hospital, (Edgbaston, Birmingham), before being posted to the Depot of the Machine Gun Corps (at Belton Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire), as Company Quarter Master Sergeant (the “CQMS”). However, his wound clearly still troubled him, as his records reveal: “Bullet perforated left molar bone and is said to have continued to angle of jaw near carotid artery. Impossible to remove. Complains of constant headaches. Has pain left side of neck on turning head.” The bullet was only successfully extracted in 1919, and until then, left Roy Van Twest with “…pains to the left side of the head” which were “aggravated by the weather and when sat near a fire too long”.

Sergeant Roy Van Twest was discharged on a pension from the Machine Gun Corps, being declared medically unfit due to his wound in October 1917. He then appears to have returned home to Columbo, embarking on the SS Chindwin at Liverpool, on the 9^th of December 1917, bound for Rangoon.^[12]Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960. findmypast.co.uk In September 1918 he returned to Britain, disembarking in Liverpool from the SS Tamba Maru from Kobe, Japan. His voyage had been paid for by the government, and his personal reference was being supported by a Mr Tyler of The Ceylon Association, 6 Laurence Puntney Hill, London EC4.^[13]UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960. Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 645. ancestry.co.uk Accompanying him from Columbo, where both had boarded the SS Tamba Maru, was his brother Hiram Carl Van Twest, aged 20 years.^[14]Hiram Van Twest is identified as a brother on: Ceylon and the world 9^th GG Prigge Family Tree (laura_foenander) on ancestry.co.uk

On the 25^th of October 1918 Roy Van Twest re-enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, (RASC), at Great Scotland Yard, Whitehall, London. He was 5/7” tall, and gave his residential address as 15 Holland Road, Brixton SW2. Formerly the Army Service Corps, the RASC was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport for the British Army. He was posted with the rank of Driver to 572nd Company, but shortly after re-enlisting was re-instated in his former rank of Sergeant – recognition of his experience and competence.

The cessation of hostilities on the 11th of November 1918, appears to have been the signal for the wheels of bureaucracy to start turning in the War Office, and on the 14^th of November they wrote to the Records of the RASC (in Woolwich) querying a discrepancy in his enlistment based on the fact that Roy Van Twest “would appear to be an Alien from his name”. Army Council Instruction (ACI) 578 (1918) appears to have been issued to prevent non-British subjects (described as “Aliens”), from enlisting, or from continuing to serve if identified. Ostensibly, one suspects that it was to prevent foreign nationals, from infiltrating the Armed Forces intent on espionage. ACI 518 was not only aimed at servicemen “of colour”: Driver Constant Henri Bihet, (also of the RASC), a White Briton born in the Channel Islands, was discharged under ACI 518 in February 1919 because his parents had been born in France.^[15]http://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Bihet_family_members_who_served_in_World_War_1 Also www.get.gg/bihet/constant.htm Whilst neither the Royal Fusiliers nor the Machine Gun Corps had noted Roy Van Twest’s nationality or ethnicity, the RASC considered him British, as his records indicate below:

In December 1918, the War Office again contacted the RASC to clarify Roy Van Twest’s status: They expressed concern that “…this man’s case was not referred to this Department before enlistment…” Before concluding that “the necessary enquiries have not been completed, and the man’s nationality ascertained to be Cingalese. The documents should not therefore be marked “Alien”, but a note should be made to the effect that the procedure laid down in the above quoted A.C.I. is applicable to this case for purposes of discharge”. They were gracious enough to acknowledge that “…there is nothing recorded against this man”.

No doubt to the chagrin of those in the War Office committed to rooting out spies, whether from the Channel Islands or Ceylon, Sergeant Roy Van Twest’s military service continued. He spent February to September 1919 in military hospitals in Fulham and Eastbourne, recovering from chronic influenza (“Spanish Flu”), malaria and an operation to extract the bullet from his neck. In late September 1919 Sergeant Roy Van Twest was sent from Aldershot to the repatriation camp at Winchester to wait for passage to Columbo, Ceylon. He was discharged in January 1920, being “surplus to military requirements” and “his service no longer being required” (King’s Regulations Paragraph 392 xxv). He gave his discharge address as 8 Queensdale Road, Hollands Park, London W2.

Postscript

Roy Van Twest was awarded the Silver War Badge (for being wounded), the British War Medal 1914-1920 and the Victory Medal. In Columbo, in 1923, he married Mary Ivy Atwell.^[19]See: Ceylon and the world 9^th GG Prigge Family Tree (laura_foenander) on ancestry.co.uk They had one child, a daughter, Mary Therese, and in 1969 he emigrated to Australia to reside with his daughter at Kedron, Brisbane. It was noted that he was Ceylonese, a widower and a “Government and War Pensioner”.^[20]Australia, Inward, Outward & Coastal Passenger Lists 1826-1972.Incoming Passenger Cards Jan-Jun 1969. National Archives of Australia (NAA) A1197/1229804. … Continue reading Roy Henniker Dudley Van Twest died, aged 93 years, in Brisbane, Queensland in 1982.^[21]Queensland Funeral Records. Register Reference 1480/124. findmypast.co.uk

Afterword

Mr Selwyn Ward of Australia, the grandson of Roy Van Twest, contacted Historycalroots to confirm that the details in the article about his grandfather were correct. He was also kind enough to provide additional biographical information and some photographs of his grandfather:

The date Roy Van Twest was severely wounded, the 19^th of July 1916, was his birthday. He died on the 23^rd of July 1982.

Returning to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) after the First World War, Roy Van Twest was awarded the ‘Ceylon Volunteer Service Medal’ by the Government of Ceylon; it was the only British crown colony to issue a medal of its own to its service personnel.

Whilst returning to his previous employment as a draftsman, Roy Van Twest continued to serve with the Ceylonese volunteer forces in the Ceylon Light Infantry. 

During the Second World War, although no longer able to participate in action, Roy Van Twest volunteered as an observer; watching out for, and reporting attacks by Japanese forces.

In 1969, Roy, a widower, moved to Brisbane, Australia, where he lived with his daughter and son-in-law, (Therese and Bill Ward) and grandchildren (Roderic, Selwyn and Shalyn), until his death in 1982. He was much loved and is remembered with affection and pride.