The Wheatsheaf

A virtual pub crawl for past pints and poetry

𝄞 They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the stirring call for men.
Let no tears add to their hardship,
As the soldiers pass along,
And although your heart is breaking
Make it sing this cheery song:h6
Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though the lads are far away,
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home. 𝄞
1917
Old Swindonian Lieut. A. E. Hall sends a letter from HMS Inflexible hoping that the committee could send some vegetables to his ship and then another letter: ‘Officers and men very greatly appreciate your valuable gift … A surplus over and above our immediate needs was presented to HMS Tiger. It has been most kind and generous of you, and we wish you all good luck and a very prosperous year.’
Part of the workhouse at Stratton converted into a hospital for the duration.
Many women take on male jobs; on the trams, for example. ‘Girl-clerks’, too.
The Swindon women’s work for the Red Cross is recognized:
‘Wounded men who were fortunate enough to be sent to Swindon will always have in their hearts a warm corner for the town because of the devotion and loving service shown by so many of Swindon’s women.’
𝄞(Tune: ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’)
Forward Joe Soap’s army, marching without fear,
With our old commander, safely in the rear.
He boasts and skites from morn till night,
And thinks he’s very brave,
But the men who really did the job are dead and in their grave.
Forward Joe Soap’s army, marching without fear,
With our old commander, safely in the rear.
Amen.
The Royal Wiltshire Yoemanry
‘in a cavalry encounter forced the enemy to evacuate …
in the most trying weather conditions;
in an exposed country, utterly devoid of cover or billets of any kind, the troops endured the utmost rigours of the winter, facing rain, snow, and a murderous blizzard;
the only sleeping shelter they had consisted of bivouacs made from waterproof sheets …
During this time, the horses suffered terribly, for there was no shelter for them …
numbers died of exhaustion and exposure.’
A meeting of allotment holders reported that with the help of the Town Council, the Corporation and Major F. P. Goddard, over 4,000 tenants were cultivating over 300 acres.
And, with the prompting of the Mayoress, ‘it was no uncommon sight to see women at work on their husbands’ plots, and in many cases women held allotments of their own.’
Six acres of land at Whitworth Road Cemetery were ploughed up and planted – unsuccessfully – with potatoes.
Tram conductresses; the ‘postman was a lady’; teachers;
munitions work; office work … women bringing ‘an idealism of which few men are capable …
and displaying to the full that patience and steady persistence that are so strong an element in the feminine nature …
a frivolous and small minority failed to rise to the high level of the rest …
the heartless pleasure-seeker, the vulgar imitator of men-workers …
the selfish spendthrift …’
𝄞
When does a soldier grumble? When does he make a fuss?
No one is more contented in all the world than us.
Oh it’s a cushy life, boys, really we love it so:
Once a fellow was sent on leave and simply refused to go.

(Chorus)
Come to the cookhouse door, boys, sniff the lovely stew.
Who is it says the colonel gets better grub than you? Any complaints this morning?
Do we complain? Not we.
What’s the matter with lumps of onion floating around the tea?
(Chorus)
5th April
Sergeant William Gosling awarded the VC, risking his life by nullifying a German mortar shell.
9th April
Edward Thomas KIA.
His obituary in the Swindon Advertiser would read:
‘His passionate love of the countryside was largely nourished in the neighbourhood of Swindon, along the Canal Side to Wootton Bassett, around Coate Reservoir, and elsewhere.
No man has done more and, in more capable language painted the beauties of the environs of our town.’
WH Davies, who would later move to Nailsworth wrote this elegy:
Killed in action

(EDWARD THOMAS)
Happy the man whose home is still
In Nature’s green and peaceful ways;
To wake and hear the birds so loud,
That scream for joy to see the sun
Is shouldering past a sullen cloud.

And we have known those days, when we
Would wait to hear the cuckoo first;
When you and I, with thoughtful mind,
Would help a bird to hide her nest,
For fear of other hands less kind.

But thou, my friend, art lying dead:
War, with its hell-born childishness,
Has claimed thy life, with many more:
The man that loved this England well,
And never left it once before.
24th April
‘Swindon Hill’, Macedonia:
Ten men of Swindon vaporised; George James Smith of Rodbourne, for example.
The appalling loss of life during the war emphasized the great need of caring for the infants of the race'‘
– 36 and 37 Milton Road converted into a Maternity Nursing Home.
9th July
Dennis Knee killed when HMS Vanguard sinks after an enormous explosion at Scapa Flow (over 800 killed). Swindon Trades Council:
‘That this Council, noting … the criminal incompetence of high officials and the governing classes generally,
as disclosed by the tragic report of the campaign in Mesopotamia … demands that the severest punishment be visited upon the parties responsible
… no scheme of re-organization can be of real effective service unless direct representatives of soldiers and workmen sit upon all War office administrative bodies.’
August 4th
‘That, on this third anniversary of the declaration of a righteous war, this meeting of the Citizens of Swindon records its inflexible determination to continue to a victorious end the struggle in maintenance of those ideals of liberty and justice which are the common and sacred cause of the Allies.’
August 5th
Top brass inspect the Volunteers’ practice and training trenches in the field off Redcliffe Street; they also observe a practice attack conducted in two waves. The top brass are impressed not only with all of this but also with the smartness of the Volunteers.
16th August, TOWN HALL, SWINDON,
The Wiltshire Regiment Care Committee and the mayor invite
‘ the Wives and Children of the Swindon Prisoners of War, and two of the Nearest Relatives of the Unmarried Prisoners, to a SOCIAL GATHERING at the Town Hall…’
Gaza:
‘It is with deepest regret that I sit down to write and tell you about the death of your son, Private J H Woodham, who was killed this morning…
Your son was in a trench …
carrying out his duty by standing-to with his rifle grenades, when an unlucky shell landed in the middle of the trench and exploded,’
9th October
Arthur Beadsworth, STFC, Sergeant, 7th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, KIA, aged 41, the Somme, gas poisoning.
‘Gas! Gas! – Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring, like a man in fire or lime. –
Dim through the misty panes and green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning …’
As if in a sea of lime …’
11th October
Arthur Milton, STFC, Bombardier, Royal Field Artillery, KIA, aged 31, Belgium.
Remembered at Tyne Cot cemetery.
19th October
Harold Robins killed at Dunkirk.
Under the guidance of Mary Slade, the women of Swindon have sent parcels, and loaves in their thousands to Swindon’s POWs behind German lines. Clothes and books too. ‘Had it not been for the parcels received over there from Great Britain we should have starved.’ They also help war widows who, of course, lost their husband’s pay, and often had large families to support.
Second time this year that Captain HH Williams mentioned in dispatches by Field Marshall Haig.
26th November
Battle of Cambrai: Tank advance; many drivers having been trained by William George Blake of Swindon.
Massive casualties for the Tank Corps and for infantry too; including STFC forward and England amateur international, Freddie Wheatcroft, and STFC reserve goalkeeper and Swindon Corinthians stopper, Reginald Menham.
There is a tribute to Lieutenant Wheatcroft (13th East Surrey Regiment): ‘He played the game for his Town and he also played the game for his country and in the greatest of all duels, he fought for his country and, along with countless thousands, paid the Supreme Sacrifice.’
If you want to find the old battalion,
I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are
If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are,
They’re hanging on the old barbed wire,
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire. <\div>
9th December
The first troops to enter Jerusalem in the war against Turkey include gunners from Swindon.

‘Towards Christmas margarine assumed an importance it had never before had in Swindon; butter was so scarce as to be practically unobtainable and the public had to fall back upon margarine … ‘
26th December
Charles Roberts, RFC, KIA in Italy.
Billy Kirby, STFC, KIA Boczinge, Belgium, nicknamed ‘Sunny Jim’.
650 men attend the Boxing Day party at the Soldiers’ Rest ‘and spent what they said was the finest time they had had since joining the forces.’
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Stuart Butler

I wrote this after contacting STFC and Northampton Town FC. I arranged a ceremony for Walter Tull, first officer of colour in the British Army, KIA 1918, when Swindon entertained Northampton in 2018. Walter had played for Spurs and Northampton before volunteering. He was so loved by his men that they went out into No Man's Land to try and retrieve his body. We had a reading from a Northampton supporter and Swindon teacher at the Cenotaph before our walk of Remembrance. The bells of Christ Church pealed for us. It was utterly moving. The constant, pelting rain seemed appropriate.
But we hope you will enjoy slipping down some wormholes of time on this website.