Lives of the First World War

Summer 1994 Two years went by before in 1994 I researched any further and then I decided to go to the Imperial War Museum and pick up where I had left off in my research. I don’t think that I’ll ever forget the emotion I felt that summer’s evening in 1994. I had spent most of the day in the Imperial War Museum reading the history of the Ox and Bucks L.I. I found the name H. J. Shanks in a list of men who served with the Bucks Battalion in the Great War and became engrossed in the account of their operations from the beginning of August until the 16th of that month. I felt completely involved in the tragedy of Cheddar Villa and the fighting (hand to hand) around the blockhouses on the St. Julien road. I convinced myself that Jack was wounded at Cheddar Villa, and I became depressed at the thought. The library closed and I wandered home in a daze, a part of me was still in the past. I felt very low and I didn’t know how to alleviate it. I visited my sister, Julie and explained how I was feeling. She convinced me to carry on and get to the bottom of the whole story. I trusted her and that trust goes back to 1992. When I got home, I told Julie the real reason why I went to Belgium. She understood. I had followed my heart and all was well. It was suggested in the Imperial War Museum in June 1994 that I visit the Public Record Office (PRO) concerning the war diary of Jack’s unit. The war diary was as moving as the history books. I rekindled the thought of Cheddar Villa and copied the relevant diary entries. On subsequent days, I checked lists of the dead, the medal rolls and relevant trench maps. All lists confirmed the basic facts : - • Private Henry John Shanks • Enlisted in Slough • Died of wounds 17th August ‘17 age 21 • Son of John and Annie of Windsor • Disembarkation 30/3/15 The war diary was as moving as the history books. I rekindled the thought of Cheddar Villa and copied the relevant diary entries. On subsequent days, I checked lists of the dead, the medal rolls and relevant trench maps. All lists confirmed the basic facts : - • Private Henry John Shanks • Enlisted in Slough • Died of wounds 17th August ‘17 age 21 • Son of John and Annie of Windsor • Disembarkation 30/3/15 • Service Number : - 2 6 5 8 5 5 I was afraid of jumping to conclusions regarding the Cheddar Villa incident. I spent the next few months doing background reading on the whole war and checking through four years of the “Windsor and Eton Express” newspaper in the hope that his name may be mentioned. In the meantime, I contacted my Aunt Mary in the hope that she may have some information from her mother, Jack’s sister. She knew where he lived, went to school, and worked. She also sent some priceless memorabilia to me. There were a couple of postcards written by him to his sister. They confirmed that he was in France on or before February 1916. He also referred to going “back to the line”. Surely, he had been there before. The other was from Eastbourne and mentioned coming home Friday. Was this leave or was he coming out of hospital? The thought of hospitals led me towards medical records. Traditionally, the medical profession have always left good records. I felt sure that there would be, somewhere, a record of Jack’s injuries.I had read in the Bucks Battalion’s history about the Territorial Record Office whose responsibilities included “attestation and records of service” (entered daily for every man, e.g. promotions, duration of service, punishments, instruction, medals and wounds), and “casualties” (progress reports of sick and wounded). I assumed that these had been forwarded to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and therefore were part of his service record, which was probably destroyed. However, the PRO has a sample of medical records from the war, so I investigated further. During and after the war, the Medical Research Council and the British Museum brought together a collection of several types of medical record from various theatres of war. This collection formed the basis of a statistical study of injuries sustained, their treatment; and diseases contracted by British troops. The study was published in 1931. The Ministry of Pensions inherited the records and afterwards, the War Pensions branch of the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) to be used to verify claims for war disability pensions. PRO MH 106/2389 is an index of the original collection. Section III (1) contains a list of case sheets held in regimental box files. The Ox and Bucks L.I. is numbered 54-1 to 54-17. Section III confirms the location of the 32nd and 44th Casualty Clearing Stations as being Brandhoek during August 1917. • 32nd - 9/7/17 to 14/11/17 • 44th - 23/3/17 to 16/9/17

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