Society News

The war records of more than 10,000 naval servicemen who fought alongside the army on the Western Front in the Royal Naval Division are being made available on the internet for the first time.

	Winston Churchill: founded the Royal Naval Division in 1914

Founded in 1914 by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, it was created from the huge surplus of men unable to get a place aboard warships.

The files document the date and cause of death of 10,200 servicemen who fell between 1914 and 1918, more than 1,000 of them on April 28 1917 during the fight for Gavrelle windmill in the battle of Arras.

It was the bloodiest day in the history of the Royal Marines and among the casualties was Edgar Platts, 17, a temporary lieutenant who had lied about his age when joining up two years earlier. The son of a Cambridge vicar, Lt Platts is listed as a “schoolboy” in his records.

Rupert Brooke, the poet, also served in the RND and the archives record his death from septicaemia in the Dardanelles in 1915. They list his final resting place, “buried in olive grove one mile up valley N.E. of beacon of north shore of Tribouki Bay, Skyros Island”.

His poem The Soldier contains the famous line: “If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.”

One of the most poignant tales is found in the file of David Robertson, an insurance clerk from north London who foretold his own death in action in 1915. It quotes a comrade who spoke to him as they prepared for battle.

“I asked him…what he was going to do after the war. Then he said, rather apologetically, that he was going to be killed the first time he went into action, so that the question did not arise,” wrote the serviceman.

“He was perfectly happy about it. He just knew…On June 5th, I had…to see about our rations. When I got back about three hours later I found that this same Petty Officer…had been killed four minutes after I had left – our first casualty, by a stray bullet through the head, unaimed, unintended, a dropping shot of the kind hardly ever fatal, a chance in a million, and foreseen with absolute clarity eight months before.”

The records, made available by the history website Ancestry.co.uk, include letters, memoirs and diaries and are the most comprehensive record of the RND.

They recount the sustained heroism of George Prowse, who was awarded the Victoria Cross and Distinguished Conduct Medal before being killed in action in September 1918.

According to the VC citation, Chief Petty Officer Prowse, from Swansea, captured two machine-gun positions including one that was holding up the advance of the battalion.

“With complete disregard of personal danger he rushed forward with a small party and attacked and captured these posts, killing six enemy and taking 13 prisoners and 2 MGs.

	The poet Rupert Brooke and the officers of the Hood Battalion RND

He was the only survivor of this gallant party, but by this daring and heroic action he enabled the Bn. on the right to push forward without further MG fire from the village.

“Throughout the whole operations his magnificent example & leadership were an inspiration to all, and his courage was superb.”

Also listed are the punishments meted out to troops for a variety of offences such as desertion, drinking from a water bottle without permission, being drunk and disorderly and eating in the barracks rooms.

Simon Harper, managing director of the Ancestry.co.uk website, said: “The Royal Naval Division were considered to be real crack troops and their exploits have most certainly become legendary, making this collection an important resource for anyone interested in World War One history.

“Not only do these records provide a fascinating insight into the lives of soldiers on the Western Front, but more importantly they are for many the only record of a serviceman’s death and burial, helping to preserve the memory of Winston’s Little Army for generations to come.”