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Another week of Neston at War: Neston and the Wirral Battalion, September 7th 1914

This week's article from local historian Susan Chambers embraces both a very recent event and its counterpart from 100 years ago. 

A train pulled into Chester Station on Sunday of this week (7th September 2014) bearing a contingent of 700 men from Port Sunlight, just as it had done one hundred years ago to the day (actually Monday a century ago).

September 7th 2014, the 700 from Port Sunlight (with at least one Neston man spotted amongst them).

These Lever Brothers employees (many women this time!) were en-route to Chester Castle to sign up for the brand new 13th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment, often unofficially called the Wirral Battalion.

On that very same day in 1914, around forty men from Neston boarded a train at Neston North Station to meet up with the Port Sunlight men in Chester, along with others who had travelled from Ellesmere Port and Wallasey to join Lord Kitchener's new army. The so-called Wirral Battalion was the idea of Gershom Stewart, MP for Wirral (see photo below), with much encouragement from Sir William H. Lever.

Lists of casualties at Mons were just getting through and there had been something of a lull in the Neston recruiting rate, so a ‘Patriotic Meeting' had been held on Saturday night (5th) in the Institute to rally volunteers for the proposed battalion, with some impressive speakers: Sir Norman Hill, an expert in shipping law who lived at Leighton House at the bottom of The Runnell, Charles Maciver, ship owner from Heswall, Henry Gladstone from Burton Manor, Sir Percy Bates of the Cunard Line from Hinderton Hall, Sir William Lever, and of course the vicar, the chairman of the council and the Birkenhead recruiting officer. Gershom Stewart was in London seeing Lord Kitchener to make arrangements for the new battalion.

September 7th 1914, the men line up on Neston Station, with Gershom Stewart MP standing on the line.

Some forty men from the town had already enlisted into other units in the previous weeks, and the result of this meeting was another thirty or so volunteers. On Sunday night a group including Mrs Brook-Gwynne, (the vicar's wife), Miss Lacy from Springvale down Moorside Lane, and Mrs Grant (the doctor's wife) opened the Red Cross depot in the Town Hall and organised a shirt, and a pair of socks, for each man. They also got cigarettes and what was then known as a ‘housewife' - a little packet of sewing materials, buttons, wool and Vaseline.

Meanwhile in Little Neston a mission preacher called Dempsey, based in the Workingmen's Institute on the Green, was causing some aggravation on the Sunday afternoon and evening by challenging several of the men who were due to leave the next day. He was expressing what were taken to be pro-German views, and a gang of around twenty Little Neston men gathered around him, some with sticks and stones. P.C. Leigh wisely took the preacher into custody, partly for his own safety.

Monday morning dawned, and what was now about forty recruits boarded the train, which steamed out of the station to cheers and the National Anthem. Meeting up with the other recruits in Chester they set off for the Castle, headed by the Port Sunlight Silver Band, Lever, and Gershom Stewart. As it happens, some had to come home again for a while, as the temporary accommodation in Chester was at bursting point.

The Little Neston preacher appeared in court in Birkenhead on that same day, and evidence was given by John Oxton, a painter from Hope Cottages, and miner Frederick Abel; Dempsey apologised and managed to avoid a charge of seditiously inciting the people and was let off with a warning.

Related content:

Neston - 100 Years Ago

Neston in the Great War - an Exhibition at the Library (until December 2014)

Neston in the Great War - Neston Villages Remember

Days Gone By - photos of Neston's past

Newspaper Clippings

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Comments

James Chalmers

At 19:10 on 10th September 2014, James Chalmers commented:

I've just posted a ten minute video on You Tube of the military and civilian march in Chester on Sunday 7th September. It's listed as - The Great Send Off - Chester 2014.

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