John Thomas Medlock was born in 1879 at Bolton-on Dearne, near Rotherham Yorkshire. He was the last of five children of Thomas Medlock, an agricultural labourer who had been born at Great Staughton, Huntingdonshire and his wife Jane who was born about 1836 at Narmington. Of John’s two elder brothers, William became a coal miner and George a farm servant, but John enlisted in the army, to make it his career. He enlisted at Rotheram into the Royal Garrison Artillery, giving his residence as Pontefract, and by the time of his death he had risen to the rank of Sergeant. In July 1902, and already a Bombadier (Corporal) he married Isabel Bisby Hollingworth in St. Mary’s church, Andover, obviously while stationed near that town. By 1905 John was stationed in Malta, where their first child Edna Joan Isabel was born. The second child, John Nelson Franklin was born in 1907 on Bere Island, County Cork. Bear Island lies 2 km from Castletown and commands the entry to Bantry Bay. Following the Wolfe Tone rebellion of 1796 when adverse winds prevented a French fleet from landing in Ireland, the defence of Bantry Bay and its deep-water harbour was considered of paramount importance, and after 1803 and the resumption of the Napoleonic Wars, four towers were constructed to provide a defensive battery protecting the Berehaven anchorage. A signal tower, a barracks for 2 officers and 150 men, a quay and storehouses were added. In 1898 further defences were added which remained in place during the First World War. The three ‘treaty ports’ of Berehaven, Queenstown (renamed Cobh) and Lough Swilly were retained by Britain after the 1922 Anglo-Irish Treaty, and were not haded over to the Irish government until 1938.
John and Isabel Medlock then returned to Malta where Britomarte Corcena, their third child, was born in 1911. The 1911 census shows that John Medlock was now a corporal (bombadier) in 99 Company, Royal Garrison Artillery stationed at Fort Ricasoli, Malta. In 1914, the family was again back in Ireland. The next we know is that the Chumleigh Deanery Magazine for July offered its deepest sympathy to Mrs. Medlock following the death of Sgt. Medlock on 5th June 1915. We read the useful information: ‘Sergeant Medlock, of the Royal Garrison Artillery, was stationed in Ireland when the war broke out. Only a few months ago he was sent to the front with the Trench Mortar Section.’
There were three Royal Garrison Heavy Artillery Batteries in Ireland at the start of the war: No. 10 Company at Queenstown Harbour, part of the South Coast Defences, No. 15 Company at Londonderry, part of the North Coast defences, and No. 43 Company, also at Queenstown. We know that Nos. 10 and 15 Companies were sent to Gallipoli in July 1915, which leaves the possibility that Sgt. Medlock was serving with the 43rd Company, which appears to have remained in Ireland. On the other hand, we know from his medal record that he served in France only from 12th April 1915, so he could have been attached originally to any one of the three batteries. Sgt. Medlock might well have looked then for a rather more interesting war by volunteering to join the new Trench Mortar Companies that were just being formed. If this is the case, having to leave Ireland, and with no longer an army quarter, Isabel Medlock and the children would have, as we suppose, come to live in Winkleigh just before or during April 1915. The difficulty here is that we have as yet no obvious reason why Winkleigh was chosen. A family connection might be a possible lead, but here again there is a blank. At the present time it has been very difficult to trace the roots of Isabel Bisby Hollingworth, although an Elizabeth Bisby Gough witnessed Isabel’s wedding and an Edith Bisby Hollingworth married in 1903 in the West Derby district, possibly Isabel’s sister. The only trace of Isabel (although the 1911 census states she was born in Bolton-upon-Dearne as was her husband) has been in the 1891 census where Isabel Hollingworth was working as a servant in the Christchurch district of Preston, Lancashire. Isabel’s stated father Thomas has also been very difficult to trace. We are hoping that further information might be found or remembered, or that the web-site will eventually be contacted by someone interested in the Medlock, Gough or Hollingworth family histories.
Leaving Ireland, Sgt. Medlock transferred to the very latest formation of the army, trench mortar batteries. There was no organisation for trench mortars in the British army in 1914, an astonishing fact in regard to the developments in weaponry made pre-war by Germany. German mortars were all called ‘Minenwerfer’ (named as ‘Minnies’ by the BEF) and some 160 were deployed at the start of the war. They were first used by the Germans at Liege and fired a big shell to wreck fortifications. They were used again at The Second Battle of Ypres to throw poison-gas cylinders, a tin can with 180 lb of high explosive and a rod at the end. Smaller versions of the same weapon were evolved which had a rifled barrel, was fired with guncotton and threw a shell weighing 81 lbs. It had an artillery pattern fuse, which alone cost three times as much as the complete shell of the later Stokes mortar. The British soon realised how devastateingly effective these weapons were in the early trench systems but did not want to copy the German prototype because of its inherently unsafe ammunition. As a result, the early development of any sort of mortar from 1914 was slow, and organisation into batteries haphazard, with infantry, artillery and the engineers all trying out various experimental ideas. Twelve 3.7” mortars arrived in France as early as December 1914, but did not serve well being inaccurate and unsafe. The French were trying the ‘Toby’ mortar, fired with black powder (named after the British officer who acquired them for the BEF) and were used in 1915 at Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge, fired by personnel of the Royal Engineers. Even catapults were tried, but all experiments proved more dangerous to our men than to the Germans. New models included the 1.57”, the 2” the 4”, but during the first part of 1915, production of any sort of mortar was very small - 75 between January and March, 225 April to June. Ammunition was very scarce - 8,816 rounds January to March, 42,753 April to June.
This was the situation when Sgt. Medlock was posted from the Heavy Artillery to the 2nd Trench Mortar Battery, 2nd brigade 1st Division in the early part of 1915. It is possible that in doing so he was rewarded with promotion to Sergeant, with the extra pay and enhanced status this entailed. He would have trained on the 4” and the 3.7” weapons, all designated to the RGA. The 4” had a range of 600 yards, had a rifled barrel, was fired by guncotton and threw a shell weighing 81 lbs. The 3.7” mortar worked on a similar principal with a range of 400 yards, throwing a bomb weighing 41 pounds. Both these weapons were very dangerous, owing to the barrels frequently bursting, because the charge of guncotton had to be dropped into the barrel followed by a blank cartridge and the shell. There were two 4” mortars allocated to each division, and four 3.7” mortars to a Brigade, all operated by the RGA.
It was only after Sgt. Medlock’s death that the break-through came in late June 1915 with the supply of the 3” Stokes Mortar, invented in the January of that year. Brilliantly simple to operate, a skilled crew could put nine rounds in the air at the same time, up to 40 rounds per minute, a devastating light barrage. In September 1915 at the Battle of Loos a 4” Stokes gas-shell firing mortar was also intended to be used, but the organisation and supply of the weapons broke down. The first recorded use of the Stokes was at the Bluff, South of Ypres, on February 16th 1916. Eventually, by March 1916 an establishment was provided of three batteries of 3.2” Stokes mortars per Division, one battery to each Brigade, each battery consisting of eight guns with four officers and eight other ranks, under the command of Brigades. Each Division now had a Divisional Trench Mortar officer. From the very first experimental use of trench mortars, it became clear that the weapons could be used in both defensive and offensive roles. Machine-gun posts and sniper hideaways could be bombed and wire cut more easily than with the field artillery, which was firing at a much longer range and with the danger of hitting our own attacking troops. The main defect of trench mortars, of course, was the difficulty of supplying the large amounts of ammunition the mortars consumed and thus the number of men that had to be detailed to supply the weapons. Each battery consisted of eight mortars, with 4 officers and 60 other ranks.
In the first half of 1915, the 2nd Brigade 1st Division consisted of 4 ‘old army’ regular battalions - 2nd Bn. The Royal Sussex, 1st Bn. the Loyal North Lancashire, 1st Bn. The Northamptonshire and the 2nd.Bn. the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. They were joined by two Territorial battalions, the 1st/5th Bn. Royal Sussex in February 1915 and the 1st/5th Bn. The King’s Liverpool Regiment. The 2nd Trench Mortar Battery (attached to 2nd Brigade 1st Division) was in the process of formation, and Sgt. Medlock must have been among the very first to be involved. The Battery, in fact, was not fully completed until 27th November 1915. Following it’s winter activities and consolidation of the trench lines after the Battle of the Marne and the advance to the Aisne, the first great Spring offensive in which the 1st Division was involved was the Battle of Aubers Ridge, 9th May 1915. We do not at present know any details of how Sgt. Medlock was wounded - whether it was indeed at some time before or after Aubers Ridge, during the battle itself or even perhaps by accident while training (we have seen that both the 4” and the 3.7” mortars were very dangerous to operate). It is worth, however, explaining how the losses at Aubers Ridge were sustained, the 2nd Brigade in particular suffering terrible casualties in this most tragic disaster.
The plan was for a joint Anglo-French offensive in the area north of Arras: the Germans, while holding the line in France and Belgium, had been withdrawing forces to fight in the east, and in consequence the Arras offensive was designed to test the possibility of a breakthrough. The French intended to capture Vimy Ridge and the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette. The British were to capture the Aubers Ridge. The British line, in those early days of the war stretched from just north of Ypres as far as just south of La Bassee, while further demands were being made on our forces by the opening of the Gallipoli campaign on 25th April 1915. The attack at Helles, Gallipoli, was given to the 29th Division, the last remaining regular army Division remaining in the UK, and indeed the final reserves of the ‘old army’. Together with the destruction of the 29th Division, 1915 saw the final virtual elimination of our pre-war forces in the battles of Neuve Chapelle (11th March) 2nd Ypres (2nd April), Aubers Ridge(9th May), Festubert (15th-25th May) and finally Loos (25th September). Aubers Ridge played a major part in this disaster. The task was given to the British First Army, the plan being of a pincer movement with the 1st and Meerut Divisions attacking south of the ridge on a frontage of 2,400 yards, 1st Division attacking a frontage of 1,600 yards, and 2nd Division in reserve. To the north of the ridge were 8th Division, with 7th Division in reserve. The British were so short of ammunition after the battle of Neuve Chapelle that reliance had to be placed on a 40 minute intense bombardment before the infantry went in. Some 400 field guns would, it was hoped, sweep away the wire, and the heavy howitzers would devastate the German trenches. It was intended in each brigade that a mobile force of mounted and cyclist troops together with the trench mortars mounted on wagons, would move forwards in close support of the advance.
The barrage opened at 5.00 am, 9th May, and at 5.30 the lead battalions of the two southern assaulting brigades of 1st Division, 2nd and 3rd Brigade, took up positions in no-man’s land 80 yards from the German wire. Both 2nd and 3rd Brigades began to suffer heavy casualties even as they emerged on their own parapet, the Meerut Division even worse. At 5.40 the barrage lifted and 2nd and 3rd Brigades attempted to move forward, caught in the cross fire of concealed German machine-gun posts, and in the uncut wire. Those who got into the front line trenches were all killed or wounded, and the supporting battalions were completely pinned down in no-mans land as the attack stalled. Maj-General Haking, CO 1st Division advised Corps not to commit the 1st (Guards) Brigade but he was overruled and a further artillery bombardment was ordered fort 3.20 pm. A few men only of the Guards Brigade reached the German 2nd line. The last two fresh battalions of 1st Division’s 3rd Brigade were then destroyed in no-man’s land, and by 5.00 pm 2nd Division had relieved the remnants of the ruined 1st Division. Haig ordered preparations for a renewed attack at 8.00 pm, which was found impossible to launch because of the chaos of killed and wounded men blocking the front line, support and communication trenches. Meanwhile in the northern sector the picture was similar, and the following day, 10th May, the attack was abandoned.
Over 11,000 British casualties, killed and wounded, were sustained on 9th May, the majority within a few yards of the front line. 1st Division lost 3,968 including 160 officers. In the first wave of its 2nd Brigade, the 1st Northamtons lost 560 including 17 officers and the 2nd Sussex 551 including 14 officers. In the support waves 2nd King’s Royal Rifle Corps lost 251 including 11 officers, while in the 1st/5th Royal Sussex (Territorials) 202 including 11 officeres were lost. The battle was a complete disaster, one of the highest rates of loss in the entire war. No ground was won and no support was given to the French attack 15 miles away to the north. Lessons were not learned in spite of Haig’s assurances as Corps Commander that the artillery would henceforth prepare the attack more carefully (Private Papers, 11th May 1915) and on the15th-25th May the battle was renewed at Festubert. Further research may give some indication whether or not Sgt. John Medlock was wounded in 2nd Brigade on 9th May, or whether he had been injured in training or even earlier, but we can of course be sure that his wounds were too severe to allow him to be evacuated to the UK.
The No.4 General Hospital was situated in 1915 at Versailles. Leaving Woolwich on August 22nd 1914 with the 1st Division, the original intention of the War Office was to establish a base hospital for the British Expeditionary Force at Rouen. However, arriving en route at Nantes, and having de-trained for the transfer to Rouen, orders were recieved to proceed to Versailles instead. Enormous confusion was caused on the French railways by this change of plan, which were in any case in a chaotic state with trainloads of troops setting off for the front, the first wounded arriving back and the entire government moving out of Paris to Bordeaux. Finally arriving in Versailles on 12th September, the Officer Commanding had still received no orders as to the location of the hospital. Attempts to telephone the British Embassy in Paris failed as the Embassy was also on the move to Bordeaux. The O.C. then took matters into his own hands, walked into Versailles from the station and comandeered the Trianon Palace Hotel as the most suitable building he could find, overriding any protests from the French authorities. Unloading began at once, as there was no time to waste, and the hospital was set up in record time. The first hospital train arrived at Versailles station on 23rd September, and from then on casualties of between 150 – 200 men at a time could be expected. By 26th September there were already 576 cases in the wards, and tents were being errected in the hotel grounds for the overflows. A few days later an epidemic of enteric fever necessitated the location of an isolation hospital, and the C.O. selected the Grinon Agricultural School.
The 1915 battles of 2nd Ypres, Neuve Chapelle, Festubert and Aubers Ridge placed enormous strains on the hospital, the treatment of gas casualties from 2nd Ypres causing particular problems for the doctors and nursing staff unused to dealing with this appaling new form of injury. On 6th May for example, the No.8 Ambulance Train arrived with 8 officers and 185 other ranks, virtually all suffering from the effects of gas. The following day the same train arrived back with a further 356 cases including 18 officers and 144 lying cases. Only five days later the first train arrived at 4.00 am with 189 casualties followed at 9.45 am by a further load of sick and wounded. The floods of wounded and sick rose alarmingly. On 15th May No.4 Ambulance Train brought in 306 more cases, of whom 16 were officers, followed by a further 224 wounded the following day. The battle of Aubers was particularly appalling with men still arriving from the battle on the 9th May having been passed down the line from the casualty clearing stations - on 25th May Ambulance Train number 12 brought in 269 cases, including 11 officers, a mixture of gassed and wounded men. The last train to arrive before Sgt. Medlock’s death on 5th June came in on the day before he died, when No.1 Ambulance Train brought in 17 officers and 376 other ranks.
Somewhere within these numbers Sgt. Medlock was included, perhaps wounded, perhaps gassed, and with so many men to care for the pressure on the staff must have been enormous. Every man that could possibly stand the journey back to England was dispatched as soon as possible on outgoing trains, while the severely wounded or gassed together with those on the point of death had to be cared for as best as possible. The hospital records in their War Diary make no mention of the numbers or names of men who died, but for those who did not survive a burial ground was found just outside Versailles, in the suberb of Les Gonards, a mere 15 minutes walk from the city centre and the Palace. Here Sgt. John Medlock was buried. This vast typically French 19th Century cemetery, complete with its many huge monumental tombs for the wealthy and the smaller graves of lesser folk was extended at its perimeter to allow for the burials of those who died of their wounds, gas poisoning or sickness in the No.4 General Hospital. There are just over 150 graves, all identified. It is a beautiful place, five long rows of graves stretched bneath a high bank, the Great Cross overshadowing them. There was no room for a Stone of Sacrifice. As the ground beyond the British cemetery slopes upward to the right, there is a French cemetery of 1914-15 and beyond that a French Air Force cemetery, a North African cemetery and at the top German graves of 1944 resulting from the battle for Paris. The grave of Sgt. Medlock was visited in the summer of 2009, and a tribute was laid to the sacrifice he made and in remembrance of the events of that terrible year of 1915.
Isabel Medlock continued to live in Winkleigh. John Medlock’s medal record shows that on 29th November 1920 her application to receive her husband’s war medals was granted to Isabel, living in Winkleigh. He was awarded the British, Victory and 1915 Star. Sgt. Medlock’s name was not inscribed on the base of the Memorial Cross, but there is a sequel to his death that brings his memory up to the present day. On Easter Sunday 1916 Mrs. Isabel Medlock presented to the Winkleigh Church a communion plate that has been used at all communion services since that date, a very special treasure. On the plate is inscribed the following dedication:
To the Glory of God and
in loving memory of
John Medlock
Sgt. R.G.A.
Died of wounds in France
June 5th 1915
A devoted Churchman and a brave soldier
R.I.P.
Given by his widow Easter Sunday 1916
