WORLD WAR 1
lives of a generation and caused a shakeup of Britain’s class system that would break down countless barriers.
T
But the country – and Dartmouth was no exception – was caught up in patriotic fever when it broke out in August 1914.
The first indication that war was imminent came on August 1st when the Captain of Britannia Royal Naval College, Victor stanley, received a simple telegram from the Admiralty in the middle of a cricket match. It contained one word: “Mobilise.” Four hundred and thirty four Cadets marched through the town, cheered on by large crowds, to the passenger ferry, before catching trains to their new postings. Most of them had not completed their training and were very young – 14 or 15 years old. on september 22nd that year –
just seven weeks later – German submarines in the North sea torpedoed three ships on which cadets from that group had been posted. Thirteen of the Dartmouth contingent were killed, including 15-year-old cadets HL Riley and JD stubbs, killed on board the HMs
HMS Aboukir
he First World War was a terrible tragedy that took the
Aboukir whilst trying to save the life of a fellow crewmember who dragged them under the waves. By the end of 1915, 41 of the original group had been killed, the highest attrition rate of any class in the Navy during the war. But in the heady days of August the assumption the war would be ‘over by Christmas’ was firmly believed. However, Captain stanley felt it was important to connect the town to the war effort as quickly as possible. He opened the BRNC’s rifle range to the townspeople – or rather the men of the town – on the day after war was declared, August 5th.
Captain of Britannia Royal Naval College, Victor Stanley, received a simple telegram from the Admiralty in the middle of a cricket match. It contained one word: “Mobilise.”
At the packed first session, Capt
stanley addressed the townsmen, including Deputy Mayor Alderman R Row, and his message was a simple one: “england is at war. every man
Above: Sir Thomas Wilton Mayor of Dartmouth during the War (picture courtesy of Dartmouth Town Council)
should be able to defend his home and use a rifle.”
He told the enthusiastic crowd it was a time ‘for deeds not words’, a statement greeted with much applause.
It was decided very early after war was declared that the town’s Regatta would be postponed until after hostilities had ended. No one could have predicted it would not be held again until 1919. Thomas Wilton was elected
Mayor in 1914 and he remained in the post for five years, receiving a knighthood after the war for his service. The town saw many of its young men march off to war, many never to return – but the town also saw its fair share of heroes too: Theo Veale won the VC for saving a wounded man from no man’s land; Lieutenant eric shiner won the Military Cross for ‘acts of exemplary gallantry’. Manpower was a huge problem
for businesses in the town – with services curtailed and some firms even shutting down, such as simpson, strickland and Co.
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