\I was on parade at Portsmouth Guildhall yesterday, carrying the Royal Marine Association standard. Today I am at Fratton Park with the standard and tomorrow at a parade at the Royal Marines museum. Busy days!
My mum's eldest sister worked in a Munitions factory in WW1. When it was severely damaged she volunteered to go to France as a Nurse assistant where she met an injured Aussie soldier, subsequently moving to Aus and marrying him in 1919. Her brother ,the eldest of 13 kids born in Hull, was killed in France fighting for the EY Regiment and awarded a Military Medal which is here in Aus with one of my cousins.
Worth remembering Jack Harrison the FC player who is commemorated at the KC. People who win the MC and the VC are a rare breed indeed. Also the the first man to be awarded a George Cross,From an article in the local paper explaining why Alderson House is so named. Not only did he do what was described in the citation, he was involved in other incidents, including moving away a wagon packed with explosives and ammunition when other wagons were on fire during a bombing raid. He was an employee of the council by day. No risk assessments and health and safety considerations in those days. Disgracefully, a few years back there was a dispute about putting a plaque on the site of this event, where Marks and Spencers now stands, between the owners of the building and the council asvto who would be responsible for maintaining it and insurance if somehow if became detached and fell on somebody. Lest We Forget indeed. "DEAR Linda. Please find attached some information regarding Thomas Hopper Alderson, who helped in the rescue as described by Stuart Crumpton in last week's Free Press. We are a Royal British Legion Poppy Break Centre based in Bridlington. The Poppy Break Centres enable serving and former members of the Armed Forces, their partners and dependants who are recovering from an illness, bereavement or other major life-affecting event, to spend a relaxing and enjoyable one or two week break at the seaside Hope this is of interest to you and Stuart: Thomas Hopper Alderson Alderson House is one of four Poppy Break Centres which is operated by the Royal British Legion. It was named after the first recipient of a directly awarded George Cross medal, Thomas Hopper Alderson. Mr Alderson was an ARP Detachment Leader in Bridlington, which suffered a number of incidents at the beginning of the Blitz in September 1940. Mr Alderson, together with other members of his section, rescued many people trapped under the wreckage of demolished houses. In just one of these incidents six people were trapped in a cellar beneath the debris of two five-storey buildings, which had been totally demolished. Mr Alderson worked his way into this cellar by tunnelling 13 to 14 feet under the main heap of wreckage and for three-and-a-half hours he worked in an unceasingly cramped position, and managed to free all the trapped people. Mr Alderson died in Driffield, Yorkshire, on October 28 1965. His George Cross is now displayed in the Imperial War Museum's Victoria and George Cross Gallery." It should be mentioned that whilst he was doing that the remaining wall of a 5 storey house next door was expected to collapse on top of them at any moment.
Douglas Morgan Hull City 1914-1915 Before the First World War, Hull City reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1915, beating West Bromwich Albion, Northampton Town and Southampton, before eventually going out to Bolton Wanderers in a 4–2 away defeat. Douglas Morgan played as a back for two seasons before the league was suspended for the war. He made total of 54 league and 6 FA Cup appearances. Match reports showed Morgan was a popular player. He had Captained his previous club Inverkeithing United, winning the Scottish Junior Cup in 1912. Several of the players from this team turned professional, joining clubs in both the Scottish and English Football Leagues. A match report for Hull City Reserves Vs Rotherham from the Hull Daily Mail gives a flavour of football of the period. “Hull City had Patterson and Morgan at the back and these were quite strong enough to keep the visitors at bay, saving Bonewell (the Juniors goalie who deputised for Roughley) any difficult shots to deal with. The sending off the field of Morgan was a blot on the team’s display. Whether the referee was justified in his decision I am not going to discuss here. Certain it is that during the game a certain amount of roughness was shown by both sides and one of two players who were heavily brought down and injured. Melville who played at centre half was kicked in the knee in the early moments of the match did not turn out after half time. Wilde the visiting left back, had to be carried off after J Lyon brought him down. For this offence the referee made a note of the home player’s name. It was in the second half that Morgan tripped Birchell the home centre forward who also had to be carried off. I cannot remember a Hull City player being sent off at home for many years and the incident ruined the game as until the final, the spectators did nothing but barrack the referee and every decision of his was booed and hooted.” At the outbreak of war, he returned home to Inverkeithing and played a few games for nearby Dunfermline United, before enlisting in the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner. His unit the 168th Siege Battery transferred to the Western Front in September 1916 with their four 6” Howitzers. The battery was located at the Ypres Salient, an area of Belgium that was witness to some of the heaviest fighting of the campaign. On the 31st of December 1916, an enemy shell landed close to the kitchen dug out where Morgan and some of his comrades were celebrating Hogmanay. He was mortally wounded and died aged 26 in the Vlamertinghe Field Dressing Station, he was buried in the nearby Military Cemetery. He left a wife (Agnes) and two young children. Agnes wrote in remembrance “Gone and forgotten by some you may be but you will always be dear to me.” In December 2014 Hull City Academy players visited his grave to pay their own personal tribute as part of the Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament Former players of the club also died in the Great War- Patrick Lavery, Samuel Lyon, John ‘Jock’ Taylor and Fredrick Charles Clark. John Smith
Great story. Though it wasn't before the start of WW1, it was during it, WW1 started in July 1914. Interesting to see we were getting 12 and 13 thousand whilst Bolton with a population 100,000 smaller than Hull was getting 24,000 for the cup match. Both Hull and Bolton had larger populations then than they do now.
It's interesting you mention that because my great-great grandfather (both he and his brother died at Oppy Wood nearly 2 months apart) was a firefighter prior to the war and became a Lance Corporal precisely because of his job. please log in to view this image
I wrote this for the last TigerMag, I realised my error and in the published version it reads "At the begining of the First World War". There is another timeline error, which was not picked up before publication.
I thought you were copying and pasting a story. If you wrote it, well done, it is an interesting read.
Don't know. Little I would guess. There is a site which shows population growth, totally acreage covered and density of population per square mile. Can't recall Hull's area too much but I don't think it altered much. Leeds area increased a great deal though it wasn't matched with a correspondingly large increase in population until much later. The other city with as tightly defined boundaries would appear to be Leicester.
