Phoebe Hessel – 5th Regiment of Foot

Phoebe Hessel's grave, Brighton.

 

On 12 December 1821 a remarkable woman died at the age of 108. She is buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Brighton.

The fact that Phoebe Hessel, reached the ripe old age of 108 could be considered to be amazing in itself, but this incredible lady spent years serving as a private soldier in the 5th Regiment of Foot, later the Northumberland Fusiliers.

 Phoebe was born Phoebe Smith in Stepney in 1713 and baptised at St Dunstans. Women were not permitted to serve in the forces, but Phoebe,  dressed and acted as a man, apparently to stay with her lover, Samuel Golding, who was also serving with the regiment. Her tombstone records that she served under the Duke of Cumberland at  the battle of Fontenoy on 11 May 1745 where she was injured, receiving a bayonet wound to the arm. She is also recorded as having seen action at the battle of Wilhelmstahl on 24 June 1762, during the Seven Years War, although by this date she would have been 49 years old.

Apparently when the truth came out both Phoebe and her lover were discharged from the army. They married and settled in Plymouth, Devon. After Samuel Golding’s death, Phoebe moved to Brighton and married Thomas Hessel, a fisherman.

After Thomas Hessel’s death Phoebe fell on hard times but in recognition of her service to her King and Country she was granted a pension by George IV.

So if your family name is Hassell, or Hessel, or Golding it might be worth tracing whether you are related to this remarkable lady!

Digging up the past

We at Military Heritage are pleased to offer a free cap badge recognition service.  Our expertise is generally in British First World War cap badges, but we will take a look at anything and do our very best to guide you in the right direction.

This was just one of the enquiries received today; a badge dug up in the enquirers back garden!

Mystery badge?

Whilst not strictly a military badge this could have connections to the army. The CLB gave the mystery away immediately – it is the badge of the Church Lads Brigade. 

The Church Lads Brigade was founded in 1891 by Walter Mallock Gee and was proposed as a way of encouraging young lads to stay connected to the church after they reached the age of thirteen and started work. Various other similar groups were started for both boys and girls and they became known collectively as the Brigade Movement.

In 1911 the Church Lads Brigade, which placed emphasis on discipline, drill and uniform, become recognised by the War Office and became part of the Territorial Cadet Force. Youngests frequently drilled with rifles and undertook military style exercises.  Two years later the CLB adopted khaki service dress uniform as standard.

When the call to arms came in the summer of 1914  past and serving members of the Church Lads Brigade were keen to do their bit.  On 19th September 1914 the 16th (Service) Battalion (Church Lads Brigade) of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps was raised by Field Marshal Lord Grenfell at Denham in Buckinghamshire. The Battalion trained and served in England by providing guard duties at reservoirs and railway bridges etc. until being sent to France the following year, landing at Le Havre on 17th November 1915.  The Battalion suffered heavy casualties during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 but remained in France and took part in further actions until the armistice.

During the Great War the Church Lads Battalion used the distinctive blackened brass cap badge of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. A similar, smaller bronze badge carrying the motto “Fight the Good Fight” was used by the Church Lads Brigade cadets.

King's Royal Rifle Corps cap badge cards from Military Heritage

What a fascinating find! I would like to say thanks to Steven for letting me share this with you and giving me permission to use his photo.

The Glorious Dead of Whimple, Exeter, Devon.

It was  peaceful, sunny day when I visited Whimple, a lovely little village a few miles from Exeter in Devon.  Like many other villages in the UK it has a few small shops and a Post Office. Unlike many it has somehow managed to retain its railway station.  It is not hard to imagine what the village would have been like in 1914 when war broke out. Twenty three sons of Whimple perished as a result of the Great War and are commemorated on the war memorial which is situated just inside the churchyard, overlooking the village.

Whimple war memorial, near Exeter, Devon.

 Those commemorated are:

1914 - 1918

Boy 2nd Class A E HUTCHINS
Boy 1st Class H SHEPHERD
Pte F BUDD
Lieut C H CAMERON
Capt R A F CHARD
Pte J COLES
Gunner C GODFREY
Rifleman F GODFREY
Pte S P HANNAFORD
Lieut G F HUGHES
Pte L HUNT
Pte W H LOCKYEAR
Pte R L NORMAN
L Corpl G OSMOND
2nd Lieut W E H PERRY
Pte M T REDLER
Pte L J REDLER
L Corpl H N SLEE
L Corpl T WEST
Capt E V WHITEWAY MC
Pte G WOODLEY
Pte G YOULDEN
Pte J YOULDEN

1939-1945

Lieut H J HOLEMANS RN
Sjt LWA HUDDY RAF
Pte A H G JEFFERY
Sjt D C RETTER RAFVR
Pte J ROSE
Sub-Lieut (A) E. WHITEWAY RNVR

Names on Whimple village war memorial, near Exeter, Devon.

One of the most common mistakes in family history is to assume that because an ancestor came from a certain place he must have served in the local county regiment.  A little delving into the history of those commemorated on Whimple war memorial illustrates that this is far from the case.  Only Privates Coles, Norman, Woodley and Youlden and 2nd Lieut Perry died whilst serving their country under the cap badge of the Devonshire Regiment.   Two men served in different branches of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Lieut Cameron inthe Royal Horse Artillery and Gunner Godfrey in the Royal Garrison Artillery.  Surprisingly given the size of the corps, only one man served under the cap badge of the Royal Engineers. He was L Corpl Osmond and he is buried in the corner of the churchyard in Whimple with a very familiar white headstone of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The grave of Lance Corporal Osmond, Whimple churchyard.

Of the remaining soldiers, one served with each of the following regiments; Wiltshire Regiment, Royal Fusiliers, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, Royal Horse Guards, London Regiment, Queen’s Own Royal West Kents, Worcestershire Regiment, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment), East Surrey Regiment and the Hampshire Regiment.  Pte Hannaford appears to have served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and L. Corpl Slee appears to have died whilst serving with the Labour Corps but having previously worn the cap badge of the Hertfordshire Regiment and/or the Hampshire Regiment.

Despite having no personal or family connection that I know of I am always saddened by the names on any war memorial, but perhaps the saddest of all are those of “men” of tender age.  In the case of Whimple these were the two Royal Naval casualties.  Boy 2nd Class Hutchins (listed on the Commonwealth War Graves records as Hutchings) was only 17 when he died whilst serving with HMS Powerful on 7th October 1918.  Three years earlier, on 13th January 1915, Boy 1st Class Shepherd perished when HMS Viknor hit a mine and sank with all hands. He was only 16.

To find out more about military cap badges please visit www.MilitaryHeritage.co.uk.

The Military Heritage of Trooping the Colour

 Have you been enthralled by the coverage of Trooping the Colour today?  We have, although last week was even better as we were there!  Most people think that the Troop is a once a year event but there are actually three which take place on consecutive Saturdays.  The first is the Major General’s Review, the second is the Colonel’s Review and the final one is the televised event – Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Parade.

Marker flags being marched into position at Trooping the Colour (Colonel's Review) 2010

As well at the Foot Guards, the mounted troops of the Life Guards and Blues and Royals also take part in the parade and, since 1998 as a result of a request by the Sovereign, so do The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery.  The bands of the five Foot Guards regiments and the Mounted Bands of the Household Cavalry (the collective name for the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals).

The Band of the Irish Guards arriving on Parade

This year the Colour was that of the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards. Each Foot Guards Regiments has two colours being the Queen’s Colour and the Regimental Colour. Because the Sovereign is present today the Colour trooped is the Queen’s Colour.  The Colour is the regimental flag. Flags are called Colours because they displayed the uniform colours and insignia worn.  The main role of the Colour was to provide a rallying call to the soldiers on the battlefield in the days long before modern communications.  In order for the troops to be able to recognise their colour young officers would march through the ranks formed up in lines with the Colours held high.  This is the origin of the “trooping”. 

The Regimental Colours also bear the battle honours of the regiment.  Battle Honours are awarded to a regiment in recognition of service with courage and distinction. They are a reminder of the Military Heritage of the regiment, of hard-won victories, heroic endeavours and fallen comrades.  The Guards are the Sovereign’s own Household Troops and the five regiments of Foot Guards (Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards) troop their colours in turn. 

Trooping the Colour is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II (1660-1685). Since 1748 the parade has been used to mark the official birthday of the Sovereign. (Queen Elizabeth II’s actual birthday is 21 April).  It became an annual event in 1760 after the accession of George III, although interupted by the two World Wars.  Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has taken the salute at every parade since her accession in 1952 except for 1955 when the parade was cancelled due a national rail strike. Until 1986 Her Majesty took the salute riding her horse, Burmese, and wearing the uniform of the regiment whose Colour was being trooped that year.  She now takes the salute from a dias having arrived by carriage. She not longer wears military uniform.

The stirringly patriotic music for the parade is provided by the Bands of the Foot Guards and the Mounted Bands of Household Cavalry. The Life Guards and Blues and Royals play an integral part of the parade. The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery are the Saluting Battery of Her Majesty’s Household Troops.  The Colours of the King’s Troop are the guns.  When the guns are on parade the regiment is the most senior on parade, in recognition of their contribution during the First World War.  In addition to the troops present on Horse Guards Parade (the open space on which the Troop takes place) Foot Guards also act as route liners.  This year there were 254 Guardsmen marking the Queen’s route from Buckingham Palace.  If you take a look at news footage from the early 1950′s it is amazing to see that these route liners are virtually shoulder to shoulder all the way.  The newsreels I have seen are in black and white. It must have been an even more incredible sight to see in colour!

The Trooping the Colour parade ceremony has changed over the years but currently consists of nine phases being the March On, the Sovereign’s Arrival, in Inspection of the Line, the Troop of the Massed Bands, the Collection of the Colour, the Trooping of the Colour through the ranks (slow time), the Foot Guards March Past (first slow then quick time), the Ride Past by the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery and the Household Cavalry (Life Guards and Blues and Royals) and finally the March Off.  Each regiment of Guards has its own regimental slow and quick marches and the bands change tune in mid stanza!  Today, as in many recent years, the Queen has returned to Buckingham Palace for a flypast by the Royal Air Force.

 The Colonel of the Grenadier Guards is currently the Duke of Edinburgh so we watched as he took the salute last week. This week he accompanied his wife, the Queen, in her carriage.

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Regimental Colonel of the Grenadier Guards

I love British military pageantry – can’t get enough of it! – but being present at part of this years Troop was especially poignant as I have a link with the Grenadier Guards.  My great grandfather’s brother died whilst serving with the regiment in Belgium in 1917.  That’s him on the Military Heritage logo.  He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Tyne Cot.  He was a war time volunteer and therefore probably never wore the scarlet tunic or took part in the parade, but no matter, I am proud of the sacrifice he made and the fact that I have a Grenadier Guard in my Military Heritage.

Did your ancestors serve with the Guards? Maybe they took part in the Trooping the Colour parade, or lined the route to protect the Sovereign.  What’s your Military Heritage?