Red Cross- Lady Boyle has acknowledged, having received a box of bandages, dressings, clothing and chocolate from the Wooler Women’s Voluntary Aid Detachment for Red Cross Hospitals in Serbia. Mrs Tower Robertson, Berwick, has acknowledged another parcel of comforts for soldiers from the members of the Wooler Girl’s Friendly Society.
The Local Territorials
BRO 2098-002 Image from Berwick Record Office: Northumberland Fusilier Camp at Greystoke: 7th Northumberland Fusiliers June 1914
The Local Territorials attached to the 7th Northumberland’s left for an unknown destination last week. Letters have been received, from which it appears they have arrived safely in France, and will no doubt find themselves in the fighting line before long. Let us hope that they will render a good account of themselves, and uphold the honour of Northumberland, returning safe home when the Huns have been satisfactorily disposed of, and that complete victory may crown the efforts of the Allies and that this may be speedily accomplished will be the fervent wish of all.
FIRST CASUALITY (sic) IN THE 7th N.F.
Berwick Territorials Wounded.
More casualties were reported on Thursday amongst the local troops who left the North about a week ago, and took part in the battle of Ypres soon after they arrived at the front.
We learn that the Northumberland Territorials have taken an active part in the fighting, and amongst the battalions engaged were the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Battalions Northumberland Fusiliers, the 5th 7th and 8th Battalions of the Durham Light Infantry, and the 4th Yorkshire Territorials.
From word received from the front in Berwick on Wednesday, it is quite evident that the Berwick companies of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, have received their baptism of fire. Mrs Egan, 23 Church Street, Berwick, has received a field postcard from her son, Private H. S. Egan, No. 1 Company, 7th N.F., saying that he was wounded and in hospital. Private Egan is a son of the late Sergeant James Egan, Royal Field Artillery, who, after twenty years’ service in the Army, came to reside in Berwick. Mrs Buglass, 35 Church Street, Berwick, has also received a postcard from her son, Corporal James Buglass, No. 1 Company, 7th N.F., saying he is wounded and in hospital. The 7th N.F. left for the front a week past Tuesday, and have been put into action very soon.
Royal Northumberland Fusiliers badge
Since writing the above information has been received by Mrs Davidson, 37 Dock View, Tweedmouth, that her oldest son, Pte. A. Davidson, 7th N.F., has been wounded. Mrs Davidson’s second son, Pte. T. Davidson, is also serving in the same regiment. Mrs Waite, 9 Tweedside Terrace, Tweedmouth, has also received information that her son, Pte. Thomas Waite, has been wounded in the leg. Pte. Waite was employed in the office of Mr H. R. Peters, solicitor, Berwick, before the outbreak of war.
Sir E. Grey’s Cousin in Solitary Confinement
Amongst the British officers who have been placed in prison in solitary confinement by the Germans, as a reprisal for the treatment of the German submarine crews, is Captain Robin Grey, who is a cousin of Sir Edward Grey, and was formerly Conservative candidate for the Bishop Auckland Division. He was reported as missing in October, and a prisoner at Torgau in November. He was decorated in September with the Legion of Honour for distinguished service in the field.
Map locating Torgau, World War One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_prisoners_of_war_in_Germany
Another officer who has been placed in solitary confinement is Lieut. Alaistair Robertson, Gordon Highlanders, son of Mr W. Robertson, Cheltenham. Lieut. Robertson is nephew of Major Tower Robertson, Tweedmouth, and of Miss A. Henderson, Ravensdowne, Berwick. He was twenty-two years of age on the day he was arrested.
Golden Wedding-Congratulations are due Mr and Mrs Hattle, 77 Low Greens, who on Sunday attained their golden wedding. Mr and Mrs Hattle were married at the Registry Office, Berwick, on the 18th April, 1885. Mrs Hattle’s maiden name was Isabella Elispeth Burgen. Although they have both passed the three score and ten- Mr Hattle being 75 and Mrs Hattle 71- they carry their years exceedingly well.
Golden Wedding celebration badge.
For a few years Mr Hattle followed the occupation of his father as a fisherman but afterwards entered the employment of the North British Railway Company where he remained for 40 years as porter at Berwick Station, retiring in 1910. Mr and Mrs Hattle have had twelve of a family of which five daughters and two sons are living, one son and two daughters having died. One of the surviving sons, Mr Thomas Hattle, is a postmaster in South Africa, and the other son James is at present serving in the auxiliary cruiser H.M.S “Macedonia” on which he took part in the Falkland Islands engagement. Two of Mr Hattle’s daughters are married and of these marriages there are six grandchildren. Mr Hattle has been a constant reader of the “Berwick Advertiser” for the past fifty years and during that period he has also been a staunch teetotaller. It is our hope that Mr and Mrs Hattle will be long spared to enjoy the evening of their life.
Information from the 1891 Census:
John Hattle aged 51 was living with Isabella Elspeth Hattle, his wife aged 46 at 13 Low Greens Berwick -upon-Tweed, Northumberland with their children Isabella Elspeth 17, Thomas 15, Alice 12, James 8, Mary Burgon 6, and Christina 3 ½ .
23rd April, 1915
THE PLAYHOUSE
“The Playhouse.” – Again programmes of outstanding merit are displayed at the “Playhouse” this week. The star turn of the week is “The Fordyce Family or the Lads of the Highland Brigade.” In their military speciality act they provide an entirely up-to-date and novel turn. They dance cleverly to Scotch tunes and introduce some very intricate step-dancing. The rifle spinning and dancing at the same time is very cleverly performed, and no one could be but pleased with their performance. The excellence of their turn is exemplified by the fact that they have had to respond nightly to encores. in the bioscope exhibition.
Berwick Advertiser, 23 April 1915. The Playhouse, Sandgate, Berwick-upon-Tweed, advert for The Fordyce Family.
“The Trap” was the feature at the beginning of the week. It was a thrilling drama in three parts and featured Irene Bordini. The picture for the week commencing on Thursday, is entitled “The Black Countess.” It is a photo play that is fascinating in every respect and a film all should see. A splendid programme is billed for next week. The turns are “Ford and Lewis, the Scotchman and the-?” and “Jessie Adams, ” a dainty comedienne with a style of her own. The feature of the first part of the week is “The Loss of the Birkenhead” which is a thoroughly British picture portraying a well told story, finely produced and excellent photography. It is exclusive to this hall. For the second part of the week there is a laughable Keystone Comedy entitled “The Property Man” in two parts. Charles Chaplin is in the leading part and it gets funnier and funnier as it goes on. The feature for the latter part of the week is a strong drama entitled “The Night Watchman’s Daughter.
‘Escaping from the Kaiser’ by H.W. Tustin is published by Pen & Sword Books.
In the spring of 2013, I came across a dusty old manuscript at my mother’s house in Somerset. It turned out to be my grandfather’s memoir, written about his experiences during the Great War. Reading it was quite a revelation. Not only was it dramatic and well written, but also a fascinating historical document, providing a thorough and vivid description of life in a WWI German PoW camp – an aspect of history that has, I have subsequently discovered, been little explored by historians. I decided to try to have it published, hoping that it might appear in print while the author’s daughter, my now 85-year-old mother, was still around to read it. I am pleased to say that the memoir – ‘Escaping from the Kaiser’ by Herbert Tustin – has just been published by Pen & Sword Books, much to the delight of my mother.
My grandfather’s memoir begins with him in Northern France in April 1915, en route to the Second Battle of Ypres with his regiment, the 8th Durham Light Infantry. He describes how the initial mood of ‘glorious adventure’ gave way to much darker emotions as they neared the battle zone and the grim realities of war become ever more apparent. The 8th Durhams were sent to the most critical section of the allied line, the extreme head of the Ypres Salient. Outgunned and outnumbered, their position was hopeless. The regiment was decimated by the German bombardment, and those that survived were forced into a desperate retreat, during which my grandfather was captured, along with a great many of his comrades.
Following capture, my grandfather and his fellow captives endured an arduous three-day rail journey in cattle trucks to Rennbahn PoW camp, just outside the German city of Münster. Here he was to spend 16 months, and a large portion of his memoir is devoted to describing this experience in great detail: the hunger, hardships and brutalities; the prison work; the character of the various nationalities; the activities and recreations; and the friendships and humour.
Reunited sweethearts Herbert and Sybil. This photo was taken after Tustin’s escape, just outside his family home in Ponteland, Northumberland, England.
Conditions at Rennbahn were tough, but my grandfather made the best of the situation, participating in many of the prisoner-organised activities, including accompanying at the piano for theatrical productions, playing the organ during church services and helping to edit the PoW church magazine. Nevertheless, thoughts of escape ran constantly in his mind. According to a recently acquired recording of an interview with his friend and 8th Durham comrade, Private William Stephenson (1894–1995), my grandfather decided to escape because he got word that a ‘young lieutenant’ was paying too much attention to his sweetheart Sybil, which troubled him greatly and made him determined to return to England as soon as possible. He had met Sybil, who was to become his wife, while they were both trainee teachers at the College of St Hild and St Bede in Durham, and their relationship was kept alive during the war through a frequent exchange of letters.
Whatever mix of emotions inspired my grandfather, they must certainly have been very strong, as attempting to escape was an incredibly risky venture: Rennbahn was surrounded by a triple girdle of barbed wire, with the middle wire carrying a lethal electric charge. Armed guards were posted at every entrance, and watch-dogs patrolled the perimeter fence, which was illuminated by powerful arc lamps. Any would-be escapee who succeeded in breaking free from the camp still needed to cross 50 miles of enemy territory before reaching the safety of neutral Holland. In addition to these formidable difficulties, my grandfather had the sobering knowledge that all previous British escape attempts had failed, and that he would be severely punished if caught. Finally, as if he needed reminding of the dangers, within less than a month of making his own bid for freedom, a French prisoner was shot and killed in the act of attempting to escape.
Rennbahn PoW camp: a view overlooking one of the four blocks. The trees in the distance could not be seen by the prisoners, for no windows opened onto the outside. Rennbahn, one of nearly 300 German PoW camps, was a fairly typical ‘Mannschaftslager’ (a camp for ordinary soldiers rather than commissioned officers) and held as many as 10,000 prisoners of many different nationalities.
My grandfather’s first effort to escape was by tunnelling out of the camp. He and an 8th Durham comrade, Private Thomas B. Dickinson (called ‘Hicky’ in my grandfather’s memoir), also an alumnus of Bede College, took over a tunnel that had been abandoned by other prisoners. They set to their digging work with great enthusiasm, but the increasing moisture and stench, which they suspected was coming from the camp sewers, forced them also to abandon the tunnel.
Not to be defeated, in the summer of 1916, my grandfather conspired with Canadian PoW Gerrie Burk on an alternative plan: this involved cutting the wire beneath one of the entrance gates, which were not electrified but kept under constant armed guard. The idea was to choose a stormy night, wait for the sentry to disappear into the shelter of his box, less than four yards from the gate, creep up, cut the wires and crawl beneath the gate to freedom. It is difficult to see how this audacious plan could have succeeded, but the fact that they were resolved to carry it out says a lot about their determination and courage.
Fortunately, they came up with a better plan: on the pretext of visiting some sick friends, they inveigled their way into the camp hospital, which was just outside the main camp and away from the electric wire. Here they were helped by their PoW friends, one being Private Alfred J. Cleeton (of the 7th Canadians), who by good luck had befriended the watch-dog and was thus able to keep it at bay. Seizing their moment and with the sentries only yards away, the intrepid duo made their dash up and over the ten-foot barbed wire, lacerating their hands horribly in the process, before making good their escape.
For the next nine days they headed for Holland, travelling by night and hiding during daylight hours. Increasingly weak and hungry, they supplemented their small food supply with whatever they could find – wild berries, vegetables foraged from fields and apples stolen from orchards. Each day of their nerve-wracking journey brought new dangers: roving hunters, barking dogs, road blocks, treacherous bogs, children at play and even run-away bulls – all of which threatened to expose their presence and bring their dreams of freedom to an abrupt and inglorious end. Somehow, they managed to avoid recapture, despite the closest of calls. Exhausted almost beyond their ability to continue and only yards from neutral territory, they were met by a fusillade of shots fired at them by German frontier guards. Luckily, it being night-time, they managed to evade the guards and, finding sanctuary in a ditch, crawled slowly forwards, inching past a German sentry before finally crossing the Dutch border to safety and freedom.
The original pencilled escape map. It is remarkable that this map, drawn on thin, poor quality paper, survived the arduous ten-day escape journey. It is yet more remarkable that it still exists, a century after its creation.
On arriving in Holland, they were relieved to meet a friendly group of soldiers, who accompanied them to the nearby town of Enschede. The Dutch authorities, having verified their story, treated them with the utmost kindness and sent them under escort to Rotterdam, where the British Consul arranged their passage on the first boat leaving for England. Their voyage was a perilous one, for the previous four ships to leave Rotterdam had been torpedoed by German U-boats. Fortunately, their vessel, the SS Grenadier, was able to navigate its way across the mine-strewn, submarine-infested North Sea, to arrive safely in Newcastle on Tyne on 18 September.
My grandfather’s amazing story of war, imprisonment, survival and escape, enhanced by original photographs, concludes with an epilogue by my grandmother. Writing some 20 years after her husband’s death, she recalls his welcome home, the joyful reunion and his proposal of marriage.
Herbert Tustin with his family – wife Sybil, daughter Lynette and son Graham – in Teesdale, c.1936.
Tustin as an officer cadet in 1917. After his escape, he received a commission and was posted to garrison duty in South Africa, where he served out the rest of the war.
Sadly, I never knew my grandfather, whose life was cut short when he died of cancer in 1939. I am grateful, however, that he left such a dramatic and wonderfully written wartime memoir. Having it published has been something of a personal tribute, and I am proud to be related to a man who showed such courage under so much adversity. I am also delighted that that his story – ‘Escaping from the Kaiser’ by Herbert Tustin – is now available to be read and enjoyed by everyone.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Richard Corr [grandson of Herbert Tustin] in supplying this article for the Northumberland At War Project.
