The Reservists

Some years before the outbreak of war, a branch of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was established at Carr’s Flour Mill in Silloth. In the late summer of 1914, the whole group were called up and posed for this picture. Theodore Carr is in the centre; the lad, third from the left in the back row is Duncan Chisholm. The names of five of the others are now inscribed on the town’s war memorial in the grounds of Christ Church.

Salt water ran in Duncan Chisholm’s veins; his father was captain of the Silloth steam tug ‘Petrel’. Like the other lads, he probably joined the reserves out of a sense of adventure and the promise of a free week’s holiday on a training ship each year. He could never have expected that, within a few months, he would be dressed in khaki and fighting in a bloody battle over a thousand miles from home.

The Silloth men were not the only ones to be called up. All over the country, reservists reported to naval dockyards and bases. There were far more of them than the navy needed and it had nowhere to accommodate them. At this point, Winston Churchill came up with one of his very worst ideas; he decided to place these surplus sailors under army command. They were to be known as the Royal Naval Division.

Eight battalions were formed, all named after famous naval commanders. Most of the Silloth reservists were assigned to the Collingwood battalion. Training took place in the south of England and was slow; the men were issued with old rifles from navy stockpiles.

Turkey was then part of the Ottoman Empire which had joined the war on the Germans’ side. When the fighting in France and Flanders reached a stalemate, the allies decided to open a new front with the idea of gaining control of the Turkish shipping lanes. In February 1915, the Navy started an attack in the Dardanelles. Landings by British, Australian and New Zealand forces took place in April on the Gallipoli peninsular.

The allied troops dug in but came under heavy attack from the Turkish artillery; very little territory was secured. Reinforcements were required and the men of the Royal Naval Division were to form part of these. The men were shipped out to Egypt to prepare for landings in early June, 1915.

Before he embarked for the Mediterranean, Duncan Chisholm must have been granted a few days leave. He came home to Silloth and his family insisted that he posed for a portrait in his new khaki uniform. 

The far-away look in his eyes has been captured perfectly by the photographer – Annie Gibb. Annie was quite remarkable. At this time, it was very unusual for a woman to be involved in photography and it was virtually unknown for one to set up in business on their own account as she had.

The Collingwood battalion of the RND came ashore at Sulva Bay on June 4^th and advanced slowly under heavy fire. Duncan was among them together with three of the other Silloth lads – Edgar Sisson Swan, Sam Borthwick and Joe Johnston.

Two were members of the Silloth Rugby team; Borthwick played at half-back and Johnston was a three-quarter. Swan had been a golfer. By the end of the day, Borthwick had been wounded and Duncan and Joe were posted as ‘Missing’. Duncan must have turned-up later but the other three all died from their injuries.

The war memorial bears the name of two other RND men: Gordon Brown and Petty Officer John Jefferson Underwood who both died later in what became known as the third battle of Krihia. The allies never gained control of the Gallipoli peninsular and all their troops had been withdrawn by Christmas.

Duncan survived to fight another day. In 1918, he was in action on the front line in France where he was gassed in a German attack. He was brought back to England and spent some time in hospital near Wigan. While he was there, his father died suddenly, working on his allotment, but Duncan was too ill to attend the funeral.

Another of the Silloth reservists who survived the Gallipoli landings was Thomas Stanwix, a farmer’s son from Blitterlees, just outside the town. Years later, his family turned their farm into a holiday camp.

He made it through the early stages of the Gallipoli landings but, in August 1915, suffered “severe, multiple shell wounds in the forearm, nose and thigh”. He was taken to hospital in Malta and, eventually, back to the Royal Naval Hospital in Portland.

After recovering from his wounds, he saw action on the western front and was again wounded in May 1918. He was then promoted and became involved in the logistics of supplying the front-line troops.

He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal but never talked much about his experiences. He used to say that, when he returned home, he had to undress and bath in the byre to get rid of the lice and mud before he went into the house.

After the war, Thomas Stanwix joined the police and moved to the North-East. Duncan Chisholm became second engineer on the S.S. ‘Asseroe’, which sailed regularly between Silloth and Dublin. When this service was suspended, in 1940, he went to work at Carr’s Mill.

They were lucky. Over 34,000 British troops died during the ten months of the Gallipoli campaign; 78,500 were wounded. The Australian and New Zealand forces lost around 11,500 men with a further 24,000 badly injured. Total casualties for the Turkish forces have been estimated at 175,000. The song ‘and the band played Waltzing Matilda’ calls them the forgotten heroes of a forgotten war. They won’t be forgotten in Silloth.