This article is about the burial today of the remains of 13 British and Commonwealth soldiers from the First World War whose remains were found in Flanders’ fields at Wytschaete near Ieper. We will remember them.
The article is published in The Guardian newspaper.
Poperinge memorial details
The memorial at Poperinge contains details of some of the English soldiers from the World War One conflict who were shot at dawn, in addition to Eric Poole.
Family photo of Eric Poole (centre)
Eric Poole, aged 31. Second Lieutenant in the 11th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Admitted to hospital with shell shock in July 1916 (around the time of the Battle of the Somme). Despite his panic attacks he is sent back to the Front.
On 5th October 1916 Poole’s platoon arrives at the Front Line near Flers in France. However the 2nd Lt has disappeared. Poole is arrested days later and sentenced to death for desertion. He is the first officer in the British Army to be actually executed.
Cell in Poperinge jail with graffiti by soldiers
Cell in Poperinge jail with graffiti by soldiers
The execution took place on December 10th 1916 at 7.25am at Poperinge jail. Shot at Dawn.
Looking out into the courtyard from the prison cell
Memorial at Poperinge for soldiers sentenced to death
It was a poignant moment on the fifth and final day of our tour of Flanders when we went to Poperinge a few miles from Ieper. In a courtyard there is a metal post that now serves as a memorial to soldiers killed there for breaking military law.
Several years ago a former President of the National Union of Journalists George McIntyre led a campaign to clear the names of WWI British soldiers court martialled e.g. for desertion and shot at dawn by a firing squad.
Information board
Chapel at Talbot House, Poperinge
Climbing almost heavenwards up a flight of steep and narrow wooden stairs you reach the upper room at Talbot House. This was used as a chapel by the founder and chaplain Reverend Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton.
Altar in the chapel at TOC-H Poperinge
This is where Anglican services would be held for the troops during World War One.
Talbot House Upper Room
There was a prayerful and reverent atmosphere amidst all the reminders that this is where soldiers would have gone for some spiritual comfort during the long days of conflict in the battles in Flanders.
Memorial Cross in Talbot House
Crucifix in the Upper Room at Talbot House
Wooden frieze of The Last Supper
Memorial Cross in Chapel at Talbot House
View of Upper room from the altar
Pray for the souls of the gallant dead
Talbot House, Poperinge
TOC-H (TH) is an international Christian movement. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House, ‘Toc’ signifying the letter T in the Signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in World War I.
Front door of Talbot House, Poperinge
A soldiers’ rest and recreation centre named Talbot House was founded in December 1915 at Poperinge in Belgium. It aimed to promote Christianity and was named in memory of Gilbert Talbot, son of Edward Talbot, then Bishop of Winchester, who had been killed at Hooge in July 1915.
Room in Talbot House
The founders were Gilbert’s elder brother, Neville Talbot, then a senior army chaplain, and the Reverend Philip Thomas Byard (Tubby) Clayton.
Talbot House
Talbot House was styled as an “Every Man’s Club”, where all soldiers were welcome, regardless of rank. It was “an alternative for the ‘debauched’ recreational life of the town”.
Entrance to Chaplain’s Room
In 1920, Clayton founded a Christian youth centre in London, also called Toc H, which developed into an interdenominational association for Christian social service.
The original building at Poperinghe has been maintained and redeveloped as a museum and tourist venue.
Map of WWI Battlefield around Ypres in Flanders
Branches of Toc H were established in many countries around the world. An Australian branch was formed in Victoria in 1925 by the heretical Reverend Herbert Hayes. Another was formed in Adelaide the same year.
Caption for WWI Map
Toc H members seek to ease the burdens of others through acts of service. They also promote reconciliation and work to bring disparate sections of society together. Branches may organise localised activities such as hospital visits, entertainment for the residents of care homes and organising residential holidays for special groups.
Our group arrives at Talbot House, Poperinge
Poperinge war memorial
Poperinge or simply ‘Pop’ as the Tommies referred to it is a village about eight miles west of Ieper in West Flanders. The region is famous for growing hops.
Sint Bertinuskerk tower with carillon
During World War One the town was one of only two in Belgium not under German occupation. It was used to billet British troops and also provided a safe area for field hospitals. Known familiarly as “Pop”, it was just behind the front line and formed an important link for the soldiers and their families, especially through the rest house known as Talbot House (or “Toc-H“). A grim reminder of that time remains within the town hall, where two death cells are preserved, and outside in the courtyard, where there is a public execution post used by firing squads.
Another reminder is the location of a number of military cemeteries on the outskirts of the town with the graves of Canadian, British, Australian, French, German, US servicemen and men of the Chinese Labour Corps. One of these is Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery for soldiers who had been wounded near Ypres and later died in the large Allied casualty clearing stations located in the area.
Ginger sculpture in Market Square Poperinge
A new statue on the market place brings Eliane Cossey or “Ginger” back to Poperinge. Ginger was a red haired girl that worked at the La Poupée café and had a mesmerising effect on many soldiers. An initiative that bring “Little Paris” back to life.
Poperinge Town Hall
Willie Redmond MP wrote in his war diary about Ginger’s: “A cheery spot it is, bedecked with the flags of the Allied nations. All the appointments of the place ara good: clean cloths upon the little tea-tables, little bunches of flowers here and there, and altogether an air of brightness and comfort about. Very grateful indeed to eyes weary of the drab dismalness of trench and hut. In the hours of the afternoon the tea-room is crowded with officers from various units, and it is of interest to observe that they represent very often branches of the army in the field from almost every corner of the Empire.“
Royal Munster Fusiliers Memorial Ieper
Behind St Martin’s Cathedral in Ieper there is a Celtic cross that forms a memorial for the Royal Munster Fusiliers soldiers who died in World War One.
Royal Munster Fusiliers Memorial Ieper
A tricolour flies from a flagpole alongside the monument to mark its connection with Ireland and Co. Cork in particular. The plaque contains the coat of arms for Munster (the three antique crowns of the medieval lordships).
The symbol of Munster engraved on the memorial in Ieper
It reads: “In memory of those men of Munster who died fighting for freedom. A tribute erected by the people of the province and Cork its capital city.”
A tribute from Cork and Munster
There is also a similar inscription in Irish and one in French, where two wreaths had been laid.
Inscription in French
The Irish version of the English inscription reads as follows:
Irish inscription, Royal Munster Fusiliers Memorial
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