We don’t know how old Laurence (known as Laurie) Greaves was when he enlisted in 1917. Indeed, we know very little of Laurie as his records seem to have been amongst those destroyed during German air raids on London in World War 2.
Around 60% of soldiers’ service records were damaged or lost as a result of the bombing. The surviving service records are known as the “Burnt Documents” and there are around 2 million of these. They should include soldiers who were discharged, demobilized at the end of the war, and those who died between 1914 and 1920 and who were not eligible for an Army pension. The evidence we have suggests Laurie would have been eligible for a pension – so perhaps that explains why his records were amongst those that perished.
There are also around 750,000 “Unburnt Documents.” These are for soldiers who were discharged for medical reasons during World War 1. We can be pretty certain that Laurie was discharged for medical reasons but the fact remains that his records cannot, to date, be traced.
Laurie enlisted sometime in 1917. He was assigned to the British West Indies Regiment 12th Battalion. We know little about the 12th Battalion but it seems to have been a holding unit with members allocated to other Battalions as and when the need arose.
Laurie’s service number was 15043 and we know from this and other evidence that he was part of the 3rd contingent of volunteers who sailed for Europe on Her Majesty’s Troopship (HMT) Magdalena under Captain William Harold Wright leaving Barbados on 3 December 1917.
HMT Magdalena was a steam ship built in 1889 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. It began sailing a regular scheduled route between Southampton and the east coast of South America.
In 1905 HMT Magdalena was switched to the Caribbean route and in 1913 transported the England cricket team to the West Indies. The Magdalena docked in Bridgetown on 27 January 1913. England went on to lose both their first 2 games against Barbados by an innings but then recovered to beat a West Indies XI by 2 tests to one.
The England team was captained by Arthur Somerset the grandson of the 5th Duke of Beaufort. Somerset’s son, also Arthur, was in the squad too. In spite of being 57 years of age the elder Somerset kept wicket in all 9 matches taking 9 catches and 2 stumpings and even scoring a 50 in one innings. There were only 3 professionals in the 13-man squad. One was the wonderfully named Razor Smith. He was called Razor because he was so thin rather than any more threatening reasons.
On 16 December 1915 the Navy requisitioned the Magdalena as a troop ship. At 26 years of age it was hardly comfortable or luxurious but it served the purpose of transporting troops to the various theatres of war. The addition of 2 guns and a Royal Naval gun crew gave it added protection. The Magdalena was returned to its owners in 1920 and then sold to shipbreakers in Birkenhead in 1921.
So, it was on HMT Magdalena that Laurie left Barbados on 3 December 1917. Although we have few records for Laurie we do know he returned to Barbados in June 1918 when he was discharged as medically unfit. It is however possible to deduce his movements and experiences of the War by examining those of others who made the same journeys.
One such fellow soldier was Samuel Durant, a painter from Dunlow Lane, St Michael, not far from the centre of Bridgetown. Samuel travelled to France along with Laurie and others from the 3rd contingent of volunteers, on the Magdalena in December 1917 and made the return trip, again with Laurie, on His Majesty’s Hospital Ship (HMHS) Formosa in May/June 1918.
Samuel was 27 years of age when he enlisted on 8 May 1917. His service number was 15014 – suggesting that Laurie at 15043 enlisted just a little later, perhaps only hours later. Samuel was assigned to the British West Indies Regiment’s 3rd Battalion as a Private.
Samuel’s next of kin was his cousin, Jane Ifill, also of Dunlow Lane.
The Magdalena docked at Brest in France on 24 December 1917. This must have been a very strange way for the new troops to experience Christmas, almost certainly their first one away from their families.
Those on board would have been assigned initially to serve in France. However, long before he could see any action, Samuel had become ill on the voyage. He was thought to have bronchitis but his illness was also described as pneumonia. Eventually he was diagnosed with an aneurism and valvular disease of the heart (VDH).
He travelled back to Barbados on HMHS Formosa along with Laurie who was also discharged although we don’t know the nature of his incapacity.
HMHS Formosa left Marseilles on 21 May 1918 arriving in Barbados on 10 June 1918 the date that both Samuel and Laurie would have been formally discharged as unfit for War service.
Samuel had accrued a pensionable service of 186 days. Laurie would have done exactly the same.
When the Medical Board examined Samuel in Barbados on 25 June 1919 they found that he was clearly seriously ill and awarded him an 80% disability pension of 1 shilling and 6 pence a day for 2 years from 11 June 1918.
Laurie would also have attended a Medical Board but we can’t be certain of the date or the outcome.
When Samuel was reexamined 2 years later on 19 April 1920 his condition had deteriorated. He was incapable of any work and awarded a 100% pension of 14 shillings a week for a further 12 months.
We don’t know much more about Samuel other than he was still alive in May 1922 when responsibility for payment of his pension transferred from the British Government to the Government of Barbados. Although severely incapacitated he had at least outlived Laurie who died on 16 October 1919. Samuel also received his British Medal and Victory Medal, something Laurie was unable to do.
Abraham Allan Kirton is another British West Indies Regiment soldier with a similar background to Laurie. Abraham was born on 31 December 1899 – he could have been the last baby born in Barbados in the 19th century, who knows?
He said he was 19 years old when he enlisted in Bridgetown on 16 October 1917. He obviously lied about his age in order to sign-up as he was in fact only 17 years of age. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion of the British West Indies Regiment as a Private. His service number was 15106.
Abraham was a cooper (a maker of barrels). His address was given as Salmond, St Lucy in the far north of Barbados. He was 5 feet 6 inches tall, single and his parents were John and Elizabeth Kirton.
On 4 April 1918 he was deprived of 3 day’s pay for “failing to report sick at the proper time”. That seems a little harsh! Did he report his sickness too late or too early?
It appears Abraham served in France and Italy before becoming ill with a heart disorder and being sent to Rouen, France for treatment. He was later transported to Marseilles prior to travelling back to Barbados on the Formosa on 21 May 1918. He was formally discharged as unfit for War service on his return to Barbados on 10 June 1918. The reason was recorded as Disordered Action of the Heart (DAH).
DAH was a common ailment amongst World War 1 soldiers. It displayed itself through breathlessness, high blood pressure, fatigue, palpitations and increased pulse rate. Although it sounds very serious it was not a disease and could be cured through exercise.
It took even longer for Abraham to appear before a Medical Board than it had for Samuel Durant. Things certainly did not move quickly in those days. On 11 July 1919 the Board decided Abraham’s condition was “good” and he had no disability, despite the fact, of course. that he was declared unfit for War service on 10 June 1918.
Like Samuel, Abraham had accrued 186 days service towards his pension. Unlike Samuel he was awarded no War Pension by the Medical Board so would presumably have had to return to his work as a cooper and pray that his heart disorder did not recur.
Ominously Abraham’s British Medal and Victory Medal were returned ‘unclaimed’ in 1924. Let’s hope that doesn’t mean he passed away before that date.
A third soldier, Clarence Maynard sailed on the Magdalena on 3 December 1917 only to return on the Formosa 6 months later. Clarence enlisted on 8 May 1917 and was allocated the service number 15127. Given that Samuel Durant also enlisted on 8 May 1917 and was given the service number 15014 it is reasonable to assume that Laurie, with service number 15043, also enlisted on 8 May 1917 in Bridgetown. There is an evident anomaly as Abraham Kirton had the service number 15106 yet apparently didn’t enlist until 16 October 1917 but the weight of evidence points towards Laurie signing up on 8 May 1917.
Clarence was a Private with the 4th Battalion of the British West Indies Regiment. He lived near Endeavour, St James with his father Alexander and mother Martha. Endeavour was a relatively small sugar plantation in St James at that time.
Clarence was 19 years old, 5 feet 5 and a half inches tall, single and worked as an agricultural labourer before enlisting.
Like Abraham he served in France and Italy before being taken to Rouen for treatment and then Marseilles to begin the long journey back to Bridgetown. He was discharged as unfit for War service on 10 June 1918 but in Clarence’s case the incapacity was synovitis in the left knee.
Clarence too had to wait until 11 July 1919 for a Medical Board. Perhaps the Medical Board was in a mean mood that day but they assessed Clarence’s health as “good” and declared he had no disability. He therefore suffered the same fate as Abraham and would have been left to earn a living as best he could. Labouring on a farm could not have been easy with a damaged knee and while Clarence could read and write his handwriting looks shaky and unpracticed making it unlikely he’d be well suited to clerical work. We do know that he lived long enough to collect his British and Victory Medals.
Ethelbert Roberts enlisted in Bridgetown on 20 August 1917 when he was 20 years of age. His occupation was coach painter and his next of kin was his mother, Wilhelmina Roberts of Woburn, St George. His service number was 15172.
Ethelbert had in fact gone to Puerto Rico when he was 14 to become a house boy along with a relative Rosa Roberts who was aged 29 and a cook. At some stage he came back, whether this was solely to enlist we don’t know.
Ethelbert might have allowed us some extra insight into Laurie’s service as, like Laurie, he was assigned to the British West Indies Regiment’s 12th Battalion. The comparisons are hampered somewhat as Ethelbert very quickly succumbed to frost bite. He’d been in Marseilles for less than a month when he had to have 3 toes on his left foot amputated. His War was over but it was 21 May 1918 before, along with the others, he sailed on the Formosa to return home to Barbados.
He too, went before the Medical Board of 11 July 1919. So far we’ve come across no one who was awarded a pension by this rather curmudgeonly bunch of medical officers, surely Ethelbert minus 3 of his toes would be found to have an all too obvious disability? The signs were ominous when the Board assessed Ethelbert’s overall condition as “good”.
I can imagine the Medical Board almost reluctantly having to acknowledge Ethelbert’s lack of toes. Perhaps checking his right limb in case he had a compensatory eight digits on that foot. Or checking inside his socks to make sure he hadn’t concealed the missing three in there. They did indeed ultimately have to conclude that he returned from France with 3 less toes than he had before he departed Bridgetown. But they weren’t beaten and in typically begrudging fashion they added “The loss of toes interferes in no way with his ability to work.” Yes, you’ve guessed it – “no disability”!
On 4 February 1920, two years after suffering the loss of his toes Ethelbert was eventually awarded a lump sum of £10. His disability was assessed at 5% – or just over 1.6% per toe.
It would appear that Ethelbert received his British and Victory Medals which in turn suggests he lived for at least several years after the end of the War.
There are still gaps in Laurie’s story but we’ve built up a picture of him as follows. He was almost certainly a young and fit West Indian man when he enlisted in the British West Indies Regiment in Bridgetown on 8 May 1917. He would have been a Private with the 12th Battalion. His service number was 15043.
He sailed from Bridgetown on 3 December on HMT Magdalena arriving in Brest on Christmas Eve 1917. He served in France and possibly even Italy for a very short time before becoming ill or getting injured. He would have been treated in Marseilles before boarding the HMHS Formosa for the journey home arriving in Barbados on 10 June 1918 at which point he would have been formally discharged as unfit for War service. He had accrued 186 days towards his pension.
He would have returned home and at some point been examined by a Medical Board, quite possibly the one of 11 July 1919. If that were the case he would have had to be very seriously ill to convince them he should have a War Pension for his disabilities.
A few months after that examination he would die, on 16 October 1919. The fact that he was buried in a War Grave in Westbury Cemetery would indicate that he perhaps lived in St Michael but, more importantly is lasting tribute that he had sacrificed his young life to help ensure victory in the Great War.
Samuel, Abraham, Clarence and Ethelbert will of course by now also be dead. No War Graves for them though. We don’t know for how long they lived, whether they married and had children or emigrated perhaps to Britain, Canada or the United States? They were just as brave as Laurie and each would have laid down their lives for King and country. The difference is that Laurie lost his life, the others just lost part of theirs.
(Laurie Greaves remembered in Westbury Cemetery)