The Great War in Ramsgate and Granddad’s War

The entry from "Cockburn's Diary Ramsgate Life in the First Word War" first:

“Monday August 3rd 1914

Surely there has never before been such a Bank Holiday as this has proved to be. The morning papers stated that the Cabinet would meet again this morning and that Parliament would assemble at 3.30 pm when the Prime Minister would make a statement. During the morning no further news of any importance was received at Ramsgate. All sorts of rumours were about, and as the baker told us that the government had taken over the L. C. & D. (London Chatham & Dover) Railway station. Mummie and I walked down that way in the afternoon to see if my train would run to Westgate as usual tomorrow. The station was open, but all the Inspector could tell me was that “as far as he knew” the trains would run as usual tomorrow. Returning to Addington Street we waited about in case further news should come through. All we heard however was that Bank Holiday would be extended until Thursday, and that the British Mediterranean fleet was reported to have cleared for action.

Directly after tea I went again to Fox's and found a notice to the effect that the Cabinet were unable to make up their minds what to do and the question was to be debated in the House of Commons tonight. It also stated that Mr John Burns and Sir John Simon had left the Cabinet. This, is as afterwards proved, was not a fair resume of what had taken place. But it served to dishearten some of us very much, as it appeared that the Government was hesitating when the honour of the country was at stake.

The next message half an hour or so later, was to the effect that “ war would be declared on Germany tonight or tomorrow morning,” “Mr Balfour and Mr Bonar Law have joined the Cabinet.” This was altered by the substitution of Lord Lansdowne's name for that of Mr Balfour, but the whole message subsequently proved to be incorrect.

Later in the evening Mummie and I went on to the East Cliff. The Band and Concert Party were playing, but the crowds were not up to their usual Bank Holiday standard, either as to size or merriment. Indeed it was defiantly noticeable all day that a sense of anxiety and suspense weighed on the majority of people in the town.

The public lamps on the East Cliff in front of the Coast Guard station were extinguished, to enable the coast guards to distinguish more readily the lights and signals from the sea. We could not see any signs of the two gunboats which had been lying off Ramsgate all day and concluded that they had gone, when suddenly first one then the other started flashing their searchlights about. They had been laying there all the time with their lights out. Presently they commenced signalling with their flash lamps from the masthead, and suddenly 5 or 6 ships further out at sea, whose presence we had not before suspected, commenced replying also by flash lamp. This was evidently the French Naval Squadron, which had passed Dover late this afternoon, steaming northwards. It was very interesting to watch, knowing that France was in for, and we on the brink of the real thing.”

A note for children here: The Cockburn is pronounced co-burn.

When I was a child there were quite few members of my family and family friends who had fought in WW1 around. What they had to say about was basically, not a lot, I was born in 1953 and most of the adults had loads to say about WW2, from our perception as children it seemed that the adults had enjoyed WW2 loads and we were looking forward WW3 with enthusiasm.

I was quite severely disabled as a child and my maternal grandfather who was approximately the same age as the century, who had lied about his age had and gone fight in WW1 when he was 15, developed diabetes with complications which involved the amputation of one of his legs, came to die with us.

I wasn’t really well enough to go to school; so much of the task of looking after him fell to me. He moved into our dining room and I set up camp on the dining room floor, so that when he woke up in the night he could poke me with a stick and I could fetch things for him.

He didn’t have much to say about WW1, but from what he either didn’t say or did say I developed some sort of notion of what he would have said if I hadn’t been 13¾ but had been 15 instead, and I slowly developed the idea that in fact WW3 wouldn’t be such a good idea, but I did start lying about my age, which is much easier to do if you are visibly disabled.

World War One Ramsgate and Westgate August 2nd 1914

As this is not intended to be a complete diary of the war, but only a few brief notes on the various items of interest in Thanet and in connection therewith. There is no necessity to attempt any detailed account of the political events which preceded and lead up to the declaration of war on Germany by Great Britain on Tuesday the 4^th August 1914.

It may be well however for the sake of clearness to refer briefly to the events of the week preceding that date, culminating as they did in the declaration of war on Russia by Germany at 7.30 on the evening of Saturday 1^st August 1914.

The trouble between Austria Hungary and Serbia was of course a menace to the peace of Europe and on Sunday 26^th July 1914 the vicar referred in solemn tones in his sermon to the serious crisis in Europe but the public could hardly believe that it was more than a gigantic bluff on the part of Germany, and on the whole had no idea that a general European war was so near.

As the week wore on however the crisis became more and more acute. The British fleet, which had been assembled at Spithead for a review by His Majesty King George V was kept in readiness, and all leave was stopped. During the week the 1^st British battle fleet left Spithead under sealed orders.

By Friday the 31^st July 1914 the situation was extremely critical, and thence onward events developed with great rapidity. On that day my Grandpa Grandma and I went down to Tunbridge Wells for uncle Charles’s wedding.

While at Westgate in the morning I learned that the Admiralty were making a base on the seafront there for seaplanes and a wireless installation was being installed.

During the morning several motorcars passed my office with Bluejackets of The Royal Naval Flying corps.

On the way home I learned that the Army Authorities were commandeering houses in Canterbury and elsewhere, and that various military bands that were performing in different holiday resorts were being recalled to their regiments, the ones at Broadstairs having left by the Granville express for London.

As the day wore on the outlook became blacker. At Tonbridge it was impossible to buy an evening paper, but a London train coming in, I got one which was left in a carriage. We learned that the Stock Exchange was closed and the Bank Rate was raised to 8 per cent, an ominous sign!

Grandpa told me tonight that Mr Ogier, the manager of the Capital and Counties Bank in Ramsgate [3 & 5 Queen Street], (who holds a commission in the Jersey Militia) has been called up to join his regiment, and that Lieutenant Wills of the local Territorials, a clerk in the same bank, who was in camp at Bordon Hants. for the annual training, has been sent back with the men to guard the cable hut a Dumpton Gap. Evidently the authorities fear the worst.

Saturday August 1 1914

The wedding was on Saturday August the 1^st, and after seeing Charlie and his wife off by the 11.20 train from the L.B. and S.C. Railway [London Brighton and South Coast] I went on to the Pantiles [Tunbridge Wells] with Sidney Port and Wilfred Burfield. Here also the band had been recalled, and instead of commencing at 11 am as advertised, it was past 12 o’clock when a scratch band, hastily secured and brought in by motor car, began to play.

The Bank Rate today was up to 10 per cent a figure never exceeded and only twice reached in passed years.

I left Tunbridge Wells with Sidney Port for Ramsgate at 6.10 pm. The trains were all late, and contained many soldiers and sailors hastening to their various posts. The evening papers were more depressing than ever. The great Question was, is Germany playing a great game of bluff, or will she really force a war? Many people tried to believe the former, but most of us went to bed fearing the worst.

Sunday August 2 1914

After breakfast the next morning I went up to Mr C. J. Fox’s (the chemist in Addington Street) where news of any important events has been posted up ever since the commencement of the Boer War in 1899. There I found that Germany had declared war on Russia at 7.30 the previous evening.

The European War then had actually begun. The question now was, would it spread to other nations, particularly would England become involved? France being Russia’s ally, was bound to assist her, but England’s position was more delicate. The original (or nominal) cause of the dispute viz. Austria, Hungary and Serbia, did not immediately affect us. With regard to France although the “Entente Cordiale” conceived by King Edward VII had gained in strength as years went by. Still this country was not bound by the treaty to assist France, although there were those amongst us who felt that we should be disgraced for ever if after all our professions of friendship, we failed our friends in their hour of need.

The tension and suspense of this the succeeding two days were greater, I suppose, than anything known, by any man then living. The cabinet was to meet at 11 o’clock, and everyone was asking what would they do?

Great excitement was caused in St. Georges Church this morning by the Parish Warden coming to the bottom of the pulpit steps, just as the vicar concluded his sermon, with a sheet of paper in his hand. Everyone wondered what we were to hear, but when the vicar read out the message it proved merely to be a communication from the farmers of Thanet (assembled at Quex Park) to the effect that owing to the crisis they felt it to be necessary to gather in the harvest without further delay, and were working today for that purpose.

After church we all went to Addington Street and found that the cabinet was to meet again at 3.30 but no hint of the decision was given.

Between 4 and 5 pm I went again to Fox’s. Still no news from the government. But it was reported that the Germans had entered Luxembourg. This was a further complication, although not unforeseen, as we were bound by the treaty to preserve the neutrality of Luxembourg and Belgium. The general opinion now appears to be that it was impossible for us to keep out of it.

After evensong tonight I noticed a crowd round Clark’s Newspaper in High Street, and on investigating I found that a telegram was posted up there announcing that 25,000 Germans had been repulsed with heavy losses.

I paid one or two further visits to Addington Street , but there was still no news from our government and we all went to bed in a state of greater suspense and anxiety than ever.

Ed this is from a book about Ramsgate that we publish, here is the link http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/catalogue/id73.htm

Obviously we do publish several other books about Thanet and particularly Ramsgate during the Great War.

We are always interested in buying military books and with in our military book section we do have a small Great War section. pictures, which will expand when clicked on below. 

Work started redeveloping Ramsgate Gasworks and a bit of local and gas history.

As you can see from the pictures at http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/410b/id10.htm the old gasometers are being removed, some decontamination work was done on the site about three years ago and then when work stopped I assumed we were in for years of another deserted building site in Ramsgate.

The Thanet District Council planning website is a very peculiar beast, one of the most bizarre aspects of which is that you can’t make links to individual planning applications on it, so if you want to look at the various plans for this site you will have to copy the application numbers and search the site. Be warned that some of the planning documents are large pdf files that older computers may not be able to handle.

Here are the application references, the first being the current one

F/TH/07/1200

L/TH/07/1240

OL/TH/01/0260

this link takes you to the planning website http://www.ukplanning.com/thanet

As far as I can see they look like reasonable plans and preserve the existing listed buildings on the site. A problem here in Thanet is that the council sometimes gives consent to planning applications that are not viable, so that work never starts on the site.

The Pleasurama development being a prime example, I telephoned the contractor yesterday and was told that work is on hold again, not sure what that means, so I phoned council planning officer and was told that as far as they knew everything was still on and that architects are preparing detailed construction drawings.

Since I was also told by the council that piling was to start imminently back in January I can only assume that something is not well, probably to do with the flood risk or the cliff safety.

The main problem for me with these very big developments in Ramsgate is the lack of public information and consultation, I have heard that the Cavendish Street/Police
Station development is outstanding or pending and that application no. OL/TH/09/0853 has been, withdrawn although this has not been indicated on the planning website.

It isn’t just that people want to know what is going on in their town so that they can object to everything but much more that both the developers and the council seem to have lost touch with the fact that ordinary people are genuinely interested in the way their town develops. In many cases if both the council and the developers engaged with local people, trying to take the with them on major projects then there would be benefits all round.

The picture of the gasworks in the early 1900s is from the book that I publish COCKBURN’S DIARY RAMSGATE LIFE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR see http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/catalogue/id73.htm

Here are the entrys from the book about the about the bombing of the gas works;

“Thursday November 1st 1917

Last night they came! With a vengeance. Had just got into bed, about 10.45 p.m. on October 31st when the siren sounded and hearing the Dover guns busy, we got up and dressed. By the time we got down the stairs, the Gothas were here so we retreated to our “fortress” under the front door step, which we have had strengthened by sandbags on the steps and along the sidewall. The barrage by our own guns was again terrific and we could distinctly hear the Gothas overhead, the peculiar sound of their engines being unmistakable and quite different from the sound of our own planes. The enemy came in relays, between which we sat in the breakfast room, retreating to the cellar when the firing broke out again. Several times we heard bombs drop, one in particular with a tremendous concussion, which shook Oak Villa.

Soon after 2 a.m. as things were quieter we had a cup of tea and went to bed, but had no sooner got between the sheets than the firing broke out again as bad as ever. So we dressed again and this time waited until bugles and buzzer had sounded the “all clear”, which was not until 3.20 a.m.

Hear that the Gas Works is hit, also bombs in Boundary Road, near Sid Port’s [68 Boundary Road] and in South Eastern Road, opposite Aberdeen House [68 Ellington Road].

17 bombs dropped at Westgate-On-Sea, but all in open fields fortunately.

Friday November 2nd 1917

Just beginning to find out the extent of the damage yesterday morning. Aberdeen House windows and roof suffered, but the houses opposite in South Eastern Road caught it worse, being very badly damaged in front. The back of the Misses Grant’s house, Hainault, [72] Ellington Road, also badly smashed, and all the crockery etc. in kitchen smashed. They have migrated to Miss Snowden’s house in [13] West Cliff Road, as their own premises are now practically uninhabitable.

At the gas works, two bombs fell between the gas holders and the rear of the office. All the glass in the rear of the offices has of course gone and shrapnel or portions of bombs penetrated Rental Office and damaged ceilings, opposite wall etc. They are unable to use this office today. Drawing office over and stores under Rental Office also badly damaged and Test Room knocked about, all bottles broken and chemicals strewn on the floor etc
The smaller of the two holders badly perforated in crown and the gas escaping caught alight and burned with such a roar that the men in yard were actually unable to hear the monitor firing, and she was firing 6 inch shells!! The fire brigade arrived and sprayed on the sides of the holder and on the guide framing, and thus preventing the holder from breaking, allowed the gas to burn itself out and avoided an explosion.

The big holder, which I remember being erected when I was at the Ramsgate Works with the late Mr W.A. Valon, was badly damaged in the lower lift, so all the storage they have left is the 2 top lifts of this holder. All the roofs of buildings in the yard are damaged, bits of the bomb having cut through 1 inch steel girders like so much cheese.

Fortunately no lives lost and no one injured. Two men crossing the yard when the bombs fell threw themselves flat on the ground and this undoubtedly saved their lives.

The pressure of gas tonight on the district is negligible – only about 5/10ths I believe (publishers note as far as can tell, please correct me if you better. The normal gas pressure at the time was sufficient to support a column of water 4 inches high so I think the referece here means that it was only able to support a column 5/10ths of an inch about a cm. high. We were unable to keep 2 incandescent gas burners going at the same time at Oak Villa and had to use candles. The bomb in Boundary Road has
fractured some gas mains and they are unable to break the leaks. The gas getting into sewers etc. and travelling some distance is of course a source of danger. About 11 a.m. today, Friday, some of this “run away” gas exploded under Sid Port’s premises in Boundary Road which were badly damaged. Bert Port, who was working in his father’s office was knocked off his stool, Sid Port, who was in the yard cutting glass was lifted several feet off the ground by the force of the explosion and the glass breaking cut an artery in his wrist. Fortunately there was an ambulance man handy who rendered first aid promptly.

They have stopped all traffic, even pedestrians in this area, the troops in the town supplying sentries for the purpose and also men to assist.

It was found necessary tonight to shut off the gas supply to Minster entirely.

Brigadier ???? Clxens and staff have been up to view the damage today.”

The authors father held a managerial position at Ramsgate gas works, you may find a little background information on gas supply at this time helpful. In the early 1900s gas was the main source of lighting in streets and people’s homes, electricity generation was still only done on a small scale some business had electric light but very few private residences. At this time, before the discovery of the North Sea gas reserves, gas was made in each town from coal the by-product being coke (a smokeless solid fuel). The gas was stored at the gasworks in holders or gasometers (huge cylindrical tanks that rose out of the ground the more gas stored the higher they got). The coal was transported by ship or railway, to as near to the gasworks as possible and finally moved by horse and cart. Most people at this time heated their houses with coal fires and cooked on a coal or coke fired kitchen range although gas cookers were becoming fairly common. Gas lighting by this time had become very efficient the gas flame was used to heat a mantle (asbestos woven about the size of the end of ones thumb) that became white hot. Coal gas fumes are not as toxic as natural gas fumes so all in all lighting a house with gas was more pleasant and effective than one would first expect. The gas itself though was poisonous, people who committed suicide often did so by gassing themselves with their own cooker. So when Cockburn talks of the men being gassed this was a serious danger.

The pictures below of the WW2 bomb damage are from the book I publish Ramsgate August 1940 see http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/catalogue/id130.htm You need to click on them and then click on them again when they open for the best definition.

Ramsgate’s Saddest First World War Raid

With the First World War very much on peoples minds I have put on the web the sections from a couple of my publications covering the airraid in Ramsgate when the Sunday school children were killed.

The main part is from my publication Cockburn’s Diary, Ernest Cockburn was in a reserved occupation at Westgate Gasworks during the war, he lived in Ramsgate where he was a special constable.

He kept a diary during the war years which I was lucky enough to be able to borrow, his handwriting was fairly hard to decipher and much cross-referencing had to be done with directories of the period and our other books about Thanet during the war.

This meant that for a couple of months my wife and I were pretty much living in that period in our minds.

The other publication The North Foreland Lookout Post in the Great War 1905-1918 by Edwin Scoby Oak-Rhind is also a dated log looking at many of the same local events from a different perspective, so it helpful to have one to hand when reading the other.

Click here for the accounts of the raid in which the Sunday school children were killed

Click here for more of Cockburn’s Diary

Click here for The North Foreland Lookout Post

Despite the lookouts warnings during the months before and several previous occasions when the air raid siren was sounded far too late, because the lookout was not connected by a direct line to the siren operator, the people died needlessly.

This was due to poor cooperation between the various military and civil authorities. There are parallels here with Pleasurama having no emergency escapes to the cliff top or building a very large industrial estate on the drinking water aquifer.