The 9th Duke of Northumberland, Henry George Alan Percy, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Lord Privy Seal, was killed on 21 May 1940, whilst fighting in the thick of a grim rearguard action in Flanders. Not much is written on how his death occurred, although I did find the following entry in ‘Dunkirk – Fight to the Last Man’ by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore:

“By 11.30 on 21 May they [Germans] had already beaten off two British counter-attacks. A third attack was made by the Grenadier Guards, 3 Company which had been held back to deal with a German breakthrough. The infantry were backed up by a group of carriers also manned by the Grenadier Guards. 

Lieutenant Tommy Reynell-Pack was in command of the carriers. He and his men silenced one German machine gun position and decided to overpower another. He ordered his driver to charge the gun, but the thin skin of his carrier was no match to the power of the German guns and just 50 yards from Poplar Ridge, Reynell-Pack was killed along with as the Duke of Northumberland, who was leading a platoon. He failed to take cover, preferring instead to stand up in the face of the German fire, so that he could wave his men forward using his ash walking stick.”

The Newcastle Journal on Monday 3 June reported that at 11.30 “yesterday”, a flag was seen flying at half-mast from the Keep at Alnwick Castle.  The Sunday worshippers streaming out of church wondered what it all meant. Occasionally in the breeze, it would unfold itself to reveal the blue lion rampant on a gold field, the Duke of Northumberland’s flag. It was a shock to the residents of the town and countryside when the news broke of his tragic death.  

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium, following the German invasion and suffered many casualties whilst covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Those buried in Esquelmes War Cemetery died defending the line of the River Scheldt; the Germans attempted to cross the river near Esquelmes during the morning of 21 May, but were repelled by heavy fighting. They eventually crossed on 23 May, when the BEF withdrew to the Gort Line. Casualties buried in various places in the neighbourhood were brought to Esquelmes by the Belgian authorities in September 1940. There are 233 commonwealth soldiers buried within this cemetery; the Duke is one of them. He was aged 27 and was just a month away from his 28^th birthday.

Sources –

Commonwealth War Graves Commission 

Hugh Sebag-Montefiore “Dunkirk”

Newcastle Journal.

James White was born in 1916, the son of William James White and Mary Jane White [nee Chrisp]. His parents were living at 13B High Market, Ashington when they heard the sad news of James’ death.
James joined the 1st Battalion of the Tyneside Scottish, The Black Watch [Royal Highland Regiment] his service number being 4459525. He left for France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, but never made it home from Dunkirk as he was killed in action on 20 May 1940.

His name doesn’t appear in the war diaries, but this is what happened to his battalion on 20 May 1940. The battalion arrived at Neuville by 03.00. At dawn, enemy spotter planes had been seen and full concealment was ordered with no movement allowed. At 06.50 refugees had reported that they had seen tanks, but different groups stated that they had been seen in different directions so this was ignored as unreliable. By 07.00 orders to march had been received the route taken was to be Mercatel – Ficheux- Beaumetz – Saulty.

At 07.45 RAF Hurricanes were spotted machine gunning enemy positions some 2 kms north of Neuville. It was reported again at 09.05 that enemy tanks had been spotted, but again the information was sketchy. There was to be a rolling withdrawal, company by company, starting with ‘A’ company’s move to Mercatel. Enemy Armoured Vehicles were slowly being spotted and companies began to be fired at by light machine guns. ‘A’ company took cover within a coppice, but were heavily shelled by tanks and eventually had to surrender. ‘B’ company was overrun by tanks and sustaining heavy casualties. They were ordered to break up into smaller groups and head north. ‘C’ Company took cover in a number of houses, but were attacked by armoured vehicles sustaining heavy casualties. With no ammunition left the survivors could only do one thing – surrender. A small group managed to escape, but were captured some three days later. ‘D’ Company split into small groups after being attacked by tanks and light machine gun fire, some succeeded in escaping. The Headquarters Company took refuge in farmhouses, which they fortified. However, they took heavy fire and were forced into the open where they were captured.

In the engagement the battalion was able to disable two enemy tanks. Their organised resistance lasted from 0830 at Neuville and 0915 from Ficheux, till 12.30. Even so, small arms fire by the smaller groups could be heard until around 16.00 in the afternoon. The battalion held the Germans up for five hours. It has been recorded that a German officer expressed his admiration and surprise at the resistance the battalion offered as they were lightly armed and poorly trained. These troops were only armed with rifles, a scattering of Bren and Lewis Machine guns, and a few Boys anti-tank rifles. Many had not even received full training and were exhausted, not only with the marching, but also wearing full equipment in the boiling sun. We don’t know what company James was in, but the battalion suffered many casualties, 100 soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice. James was one of these.

James is buried in Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux which is 9kms from Arras. It also contains soldiers of the Great War. There are 136 World War Two soldiers buried in this cemetery plus 26 unidentified servicemen and a memorial to 39 who can not be found. According to Hugh Sebag-Montefiore’s book ‘Dunkirk – Fight to the last man’ he suggests from reports that only 80 of 450 Tyneside Scottish soldiers escaped”

Information obtained from: – Find My Past, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
and the Battalion War diaries on Wikipedia written by North East War Memorial
Project [NEWMP].

Commemoration scroll

Information obtained from: – Find My Past, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
and the Battalion War diaries on Wikipedia written by North East War Memorial
Project [NEWMP].

Stories relating to those who appear to rise from the dead are somewhat universal. One such tale of ‘suspended animation’ from the seventeenth century is told in ‘The Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend’, Volume 3.

The story centres around Mrs Erskine, wife of Reverend Henry Erskine. He was a minister in Cornhill-on-Tweed who was ‘ejected’ in 1662 due to being a nonconformist. He was later banished from Scotland as punishment for preaching and returned to England. He was caught, again, and imprisoned in Newcastle; upon securing his release he went to Moneylaws in Northumberland where he became the “pastoral charge of a dissenting place of worship”.

It was whilst living in Moneylaws that his wife died and was placed in the family vault. When she died she was wearing a valuable gold ring that could not be removed from her finger. The sexton became aware of this and decided that such a valuable item should not be left ‘among the mouldering remains’. He decided to open the grave to remove the ring; when the ring would not budge he got out his knife and cut the finger. It was at this point that “to his amazement and horror, the supposed corpse sat up in the coffin”. 

Needless to say, the sexton fled. Mrs Erskine walked home, knocked on the door which was answered by a rather startled husband. It is believed that Mrs Erskine lived for many more years after this and went on to have more children, including Rev. Ralph Erskine who later became minister for Dunfermline.

The incident was reported in ‘The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle’ in 1888. Mr. R.A. Hill, the then custodian of the gold ring, wrote later in the same year that the story “has been handed down from one generation to another in our family”.