Keep the Home Fires Burning - detailing wartime life in the towns and villages mentioned.

W.E. 1915 July 16th

Mr. and Mrs. Bull, of Haversham, have six sons in military service, and of these Private Octavius Bull arrived home on Tuesday, straight from the trenches. In fact just before he left, at about 4 o’clock on Monday evening, a shell came over and just missed the dug-out where he was placed. “I picked up my traps and made tracks, and they could not see me for dust.” Private Bull is a grenade thrower attached to the Grenade Company of the 2nd Northants. Regiment, and is now home on a week’s leave. He has been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and says of the circumstances regarding this recognition;

“I got in a German trench and was carrying a sack of grenades. I took three traverses and a half before I came across my officer. The Germans started throwing bombs at me, and I threw them back. I used nearly all that I carried, consisting of 13 French bombs, three service grenades, two double cylinder bombs, and two jam tins.”
On being asked if any of the German bombs exploded, he said;
“Yes, the two first did, just behind me, but I caught another two before they fell and threw them back. I could not see the Germans. Then I got to a communication trench, and saw seven of the Huns coming towards me. I pitched one bomb just behind the first man and another between the third and fourth and they both exploded. I saw no more of them, and think they were all either killed or wounded.”
Asked who his officer was, he replied;
“ Lieut. O.K. Parker. It was he who recommended me for the V.C. I got the D.C.M. and a solid silver cigarette case.”

Continuing his story, Private Bull said this occurred at Aubers Ridge, in the deadly fighting of May 9th, and of the 34 bomb throwers attached to “D” Co. of the Northants, only three came back: himself, Morris and Elstow. His rifle has a dent in the wooden part surrounding the upper part of the barrel, which he explained as; “Ah, that was a German bullet intended for me.”

Private Bull would have been recommended for the D.C.M. for his bravery at Neuve Chapelle, but for the fact that his officer was seriously wounded. Now, on going back to the trenches his firm intention is to win the V.C.

B.S. 1915 July 17th

Private Octavius Thomas Bull has this week been spending a short rest with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bull, at Haversham. He has been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and in his own words tells how he gained the award;

“Yes; I have been awarded the D.C.M. It happened on the 9th of May when 42 of us went out to engage in bomb throwing. Only 3 out of that 42 came back. I was the only one to reach the German trench. They started bombing me and I threw the bombs back and also a lot of my own hand grenades. I took three traverses and a half and then came up to an officer who was alone. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was the Brigade bomb thrower. On the officer’s orders I lay down and seizing a couple of my bombs I threw them back and blew two or three of the Germans to atoms. We got into the next traverse and lay in a shell-hole. Here we had to lie from quarter to nine in the morning till 8.30 or 9 o’clock at night. All day we lay in the German trench and dare not move. In the darkness me and the officer left the shell-hole and got back to our own trench. When we had got safely back the officer thanked me for what I had done and presented me with a solid silver cigarette case, telling me I had undoubtedly saved his life. He recommended me for the Victoria Cross, but they have given me the D.C.M. The V.C. may come yet.”

In another conversation he says;

I am the only one out of the 42 bomb throwers of the regiment who have come through it all safely. I have had some terrible times and am glad to get away from the shells for a little while. At Neuve Chapelle I was recommended for bringing an urgent message out to Brigade headquarters.”

Private Bull, who has five brothers in the Forces, was ordered back from India at the outbreak of the war, and has been on the Continent with the B.E.F. since the beginning. He returned to the trenches on July 17th.

(Born at Hanslope, Private Octavius Bull, D.C.M., died of wounds at home on October 23rd, 1918. He is buried in St. Helen Churchyard, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire.)

B.S. 1915 July 17th

Private Frederick Bull, 2nd Northants Regiment, is one of the six soldier sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bull, of Haversham, and is now at home recovering from severe bullet wounds in the ankle. These are still causing much discomfort, and yesterday he went to Northampton Hospital for an operation. His injuries were received during the charge of Aubers Ridge, and although he was recommended for the D.S.M., for capturing a German machine gun under heavy enemy fire, the officer who suggested the award was unfortunately killed during the action. Before the outbreak of war Private Bull had served for eight years with his regiment in India, and - having fought in all the great battles in France and Flanders - prior to his present wounds he had been wounded in the thigh at Levante whilst drawing rations, and again on March 10th at Neuve Chappelle, when struck on the head by a piece of shrapnel.

(As Lance Corporal Bull, he would be killed in action on the Western Front on October 8th, 1917, and is buried at Prowse Point Military Cemetery, Belgium.)

B.S. 1915 July 17th

News has been received that 41 year old Private Frederick Tysoe, 1st Northants. Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on May 9th. A Reservist, he had been at the front since the beginning of the war, and had seen much fighting. Born at Haversham, before the war he was employed by Mr. J. Souster, of the village. Now resident in Chapel Yard, Great Linford, he leaves a young family and a widow, who, on her husband going to the front, had been the respondent in an application for eviction at Newport Pagnell Police Court, and whose case was mentioned in the House of Commons.

W.E. 1916 Mar. 31st

News came to hand yesterday that Private Charles D. Bull, the sixth son of Mr. and Mrs. Bull, of Haversham, has been killed in France. He was previously posted as missing, and is believed to have fallen at Loos.

(Serving with the 5th Battalion, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, Private Bull was killed in action on the Western Front on September 25th, 1915.)

W.E. 1916 Sep. 8th

Having previously been wounded during his 18 months in France, news is received that Private W. Stretton, of the Bucks Battalion, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, has been wounded in the hand, and has lost a finger. He is the son of Mrs. Stretton, of Haversham, and before the war was employed at the Wolverton Printing Works. Also of Haversham, the rector and his wife, the Reverend and Mrs. B. Symonds, received a wire on Saturday stating that their son, Lieutenant Stewart Symonds, had been slightly wounded at Salonika.

W.E. 1916 Dec. 8th

Official notification from the War Office states that Private William Nicholls, of the 6th Battalion, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, has been killed in action. He had been wounded in the shoulder by a sniper, but whilst being taken on a stretcher to the dressing station was killed instantly by a shell explosion. He was the son of Mrs. Nicholls, of Haversham, and in a letter dated November 14th the Captain and Adjutant of his battalion writes that the body of Private Nicholls had been found, and decently buried;

“He was wounded, I know, on the 17th Sept., because he passed through our own Aid Post, and he was sent on to the dressing station. Apparently, however, he never got there, as he was killed instantaneously by a shell on the way back. The first information of his death was received by us to-day, and it shocked us, even as it must, I fear, shock you, but the great consolation is that he died as any man who is a man would be proud to die, bearing arms for his country.”

Private Nicholls was aged 24, and had enlisted on December 2nd, 1914. Before joining up, he had worked on Hill Farm since leaving school.

B.S. 1918 May 11th

Official news has been received by Mr. and Mrs. John Souster, of Hill Farm, Haversham, that their eldest son, Lance Corporal Sidney Souster, of the Royal Fusiliers, has been missing since the severe fighting in France on March 22nd. He joined the army in August 1914, and went to the front the following month. Badly wounded by shrapnel in 1916, he was sent to England, but while in Ampthill Hospital suffered an attack of dysentery. On returning to the front the following year he was again wounded, being this time treated in a Canadian Hospital in France. Returning home for a short leave in early March 1918, he went back to the front on March 18th, and was reported missing four days later.

(In July, 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Souster would receive a post card from Lance Corporal Sidney Souster, stating that he was a prisoner of war in Germany, and in fairly good health.)