THIS PAGE CONTAINS ONGOING RESEARCH FOR A FORTHCOMING POST ABOUT JIMMY SEED'S SERVICE DURING WW1....
INTRODUCTION
In The Jimmy Seed Story written in 1956/7 my grandfather, in keeping with his generation's reluctance to dwell on their war experiences, dealt with The First World War in one all too brief paragraph that mentions his second gassing, but not the first:
'But football had ceased to be the important thing in life for me. Britain and Germany were at war, and playing football was no longer such a thrill. Tommy Thompson, Tom Wilson and myself joined the Cyclist Corps at Sunderland**. Later we were drafted to France, with Tom Wilson going to the 5th Battalion West Yorks while I went to the 8th Battalion [The Leeds Rifles]. We still kept in close touch. In fact, we were frequent rivals on the soccer field because Tommy Wilson was the captain of his battalion and I skippered mine. They were worrying and uncertain days, and football helped me escape from periods of mental depression. In the last month of the war I was among a crowd of Tommies to get gassed. I was sent home to Sheffield Hospital. I made a good recovery, but was ordered a few months' convalescence at a health resort.'
[The Jimmy Seed Story]
I can only remember one occasion where he opened up to the family about his war experiences, telling us how he and his comrades were involved in some action on a bridge during which several of his friends were killed while he was fighting alongside them. I was only eight or nine at the time, and the occasion has lived in the memory because it was so unusual.
With the help of war records and various publications it's been possible to piece together a slightly more detailed picture of Jimmy's wartime experiences. Again, this is an ongoing process, and the blog will be updated if and when new information comes to light.
22/7/1917 Gassed (mustard) in Nieupoort near Ostend
17 or 19/10/18 Gassed (mustard) at Valenciennes
22/3/19 Discharge
30/11/1918 Entitled to wear a "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of the 6th July 1916. The terms of this award being named on this list.
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SIGNING UP, TRAINING...& MORE FOOTBALL
Just a few days after the 1914-15 season was over Jimmy Seed, along with most of his Sunderland team mates, signed up for military service, in Jimmy's case on 27 April 1915, aged 20.
He was initially assigned to the Northern Cyclists Corps and was sent for training at Gainsborough near Sheffield. Billeted in a local school, he soon found that soccer was very much on the timetable, as revealed in a report from the Gainsborough News of 28 April 1916:
'The performances of the Northern Cyclists have attracted attention in football circles and Grimsby Town honoured them by an invitation to Blundell Park to provide the Good Friday holiday attraction.
The Fisherman did not take the precaution of fielding their strongest side, and as a consequence suffered defeat. At the outset the Cyclists appeared strange to their surroundings.But after the Town had opened the scoring they entered in to their task with zest, and before the interval equalised the scores through Lance-sergeant Wilson. Grimsby in the period failed with a penalty kick and soon after crossing over, Seed failed to take advantage with a similar concession after he had been tripped.
For half-an-hour, however, the Cyclists made the running, and Robinson gave them the lead, and added a third goal soon after. When in a tussle in goalmouth, Seed and Robinson between them forced the ball into the net and registered a fourth goal. Grimsby seemed well beaten.
But in the closing stages they made strenuous efforts and scored twice before time was called. The Cyclists also got a goal, but it was disallowed on the score of off-side, and the result came:-
Northern Cyclists, 4: Grimsby Town 3.
The Cyclists left Grimsby with the reputation of being the best Military team seen there. They were represented by:
Private Dykes, goal; Lce-corpl. E. Wilson and Private D. Blackie, backs; Corpl. Armstrong, Private Thompson and Private Crombie, half-backs; Corporal Jefferson, Lce.-sergeant Wilson, Private Robinson, Private Seed and Private Swinburn, forwards.'
Goalkeeper Private Bill Dykes was seriously injured in 1917, according to this Daily Sketch newspaper article which describes a reunion that occurred twenty years later in St Mary's Hospital Roehampton, between Dykes and Jimmy Seed. Dykes had lost his sight as a result of his injuries. [See article below].
07/09/1917 Entitled to wear a "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of the 6th July 1916. The terms of this award being named on this list.
30/11/1918 Entitled to wear a "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of the 6th July 1916. The terms of this award being named on this list.'
ACTIVE SERVICE
Jimmy was deployed to Belgium in August 1916 with the 8th Battalion Prince of Wales's Own West Yorkshire Regiment (the Leeds Rifles).
After refusing to join with another troop
following this rearrangement, they became 3rd Volunteer Battalion The Prince of
Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment). They then moved to Carlton Barracks.
In
1908, all Volunteer Forces became Territorial Forces and Leeds Rifles grew to
form two battalions, each with over 1000 men - 7th and 8th (Leeds Rifles)
Battalions The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).
These battalions then separated into front
and second line units, as so many men were recruited to fight in the First
World War. The first line units served in France and Flanders, whereas the
second line served with the all-territorial 62nd (2nd West Riding) Infantry
Division.
In the early hours of 22 July 1917 Jimmy, at this time listed as a 'rifleman', was one of many soldiers gassed in Nieuwpoort, near Ostend. The attack, one of the earliest utilising mustard gas, hospitalised 802 soldiers, 96 of whom died. Jimmy was sheltering in the basement of a bombed-out building with his comrades when mustard gas shells were dropped from German aeroplanes in the dead of night. Being heavier than air the gas seeped down into their cellar, their confinement meaning the attack was far more deadly than it would normally have been in the open air.
Jimmy was initially taken to the hospital 'Ambulance de l'Océan, shown in these photographs, just a few miles away in De Panne where most of the wounded from Nieuwpoort were taken.
The 1911 census recorded the Seed family living in Adolphus
Street, Whitburn, but by then only four children remained at home: Jessie,
Angus, Jimmy and Minnie. His 1915 Army enrolment
documents show his address as Hedworth Terrace, Whitburn, just fifty yards from
Adolphus Street, meaning either the whole family had moved or, perhaps less
likely, Jimmy had fled the nest.
A victim of an 'ordinary' gas attack could expect to be returned to the front lines after an average of around 40 days recuperation, but mustard gas was a far more potent weapon, and it was almost thirteen months before Jimmy could return to the theatre of war, which he did on 28 August 1918. It was perhaps with trepidation he returned to the conflict, having been well looked after at home, and being fully aware this time of the conditions and dangers that awaited him.
He was sent to Valenciennes in northern France not far from the border with Belgium, during a period known as The Hundred Days Offensive (10 August to 11 November 1918), a series of critical offensives that helped end the war.
The Allies managed to reverse the Germans' gains from the Spring Offensive, and pushed the Central Powers back to the Hindenburg Line. They were then able to break through the line with a series of victories, starting with the Battle of St Quentin Canal on 29 September.
On the 17 Oct 1918 Jimmy was again to be the victim of a mustard gas attack, with the end of the war just three weeks away. Five days later he was evacuated from France to receive treatment in England.
["Gas Shell (severe)" on 17.10.18 at Valenciennes in France and was treated at the 22nd General Hospital at Camiers. He was discharged on 22.3.19.', having recovered from the worst effects of the gas inhalation].
CAMIERS HOSPITAL
Post War
Leeds United:
1. Whalley, Fred
2. Bell, Tom
3. Harris
4. Armstrong
5. Hart, Ernie 1 (3-1)
6. Walton, Jimmy
7. Wood, Basil
8. Moore, Jim 1 (7' 1-0)
9. Howarth, Tommy
10. Powell, Sam 1 (2-0)
11. Allen, Jack
Leeds Rifles:
1. North, J.E. (Bishop Auckland)
2. Boocock, Irvine (Bradford City
3. Waddington, N. (Castleford Town)
4. Tillotson, Joe (Castleford Town)
5. Charge, F. (Yorkshire Amateurs)
6. Thompson, Tom (Gillingham
7. Waterhouse, Fred (Leeds United)
8. Parker, Dick (Wallsend and North Shields)
9. Rice, J. (Horsforth)
10. Seed, Jimmy (Tottenham Hotspur 1 (80' 2-1)
11. Harvey, Bill (Birmingham)
Match Report: YORKSHIRE EVENING POST: 4th May 1922:
The football match between the Leeds Rifles Overseas XI, and Leeds United last night was quite an enjoyable occasion and the arrangements reflected the greatest credit upon those responsible. For various reasons - notably a heavy shower just before the commencement and unemployment - public patronage was not so generous as had been hoped. But the "Gate" amounted to 4000, whilst a collection was made by the nurses of the Women and Children's Hospital to which the receipts are to be devoted. United won an attractive game by three goals to one.
Match Report: YORKSHIRE POST: 4th May 1922:
CHARITY MATCH IN LEEDS LEEDS RIFLES' OVERSEAS ELEVEN v. LEEDS UNITED
Rice should have scored for the Rifles on two occasions before the second half had been in operation for five minutes. It was Leeds United who obtained the next goal. A capital run by Wood took play well into the Rifles' quarter and ultimately he sent the ball across to the left where Powell received it, and scored easily. The next goal was probably the best of the match, and Seed scored it after eighty minutes play. Throughout the game Seed was the live-wire of the military forward line, often doing the work of two men. Harris, a left back tried by the United, saved a certain goal with a clever head effort. Hart obtained United's third and last goal with a low straight drive.
Result: - Leeds United 3 goals, Leeds Rifles 1 goal.
Teams:- Leeds Rifles :- J.E. North (Bishop Auckland), goal; Irvine Boocock (Bradford City) and N. Waddington (Castleford Town), backs; J. Tillotson (Castleford Town), F. Charge (Yorkshire Amateurs), and T.N. Thompson (Gillingham), half-backs; F. Waterhouse (Leeds United), R. Parker (Wallsend and South Shields), J. Rice (Horsforth), J. Seed (Tottenham Hotspur)(Capt), W. H. Harvey (Birmingham), forwards. Leeds United:- Whalley, goal; Bell and Harris, backs; Armstrong, Hart, and Walton, half-backs; Wood, Moore, Howarth, Powell and Allen, forwards.
It was very good to hear from you again after all these years.
I have often thought about you and wondered why you never came to see me when we played at Leeds before the war. However perhaps you could do something about it next time we visit Leeds. Fancy joining up again. Thought you would have had enough of khaki. Sorry to hear that you were discharged with a pension but you were never of the robust type. However I wish you an early return to good health and hope that you will soon be restored to your former home life.
I don’t see many of the boys, but Joe Paley comes to see me on our football visits to Leeds. Billy Warlow, I’m afraid, died a long time ago, but never got to know how. He was always a healthy looking chap and was as fit as anybody could be during our army days. A good fellow was Billy. Didn’t know Mr Kemp had died and Ramsden came to see me at my hotel and had dinner with me just before war broke out - another fine chap.
And listen, my lad, why should you have to pluck up courage to write to me? Surely you know me. I’m sure you know that I never forget old friends. Don’t be so silly in the future. The Somme, Laventie, Ypres – they were the days. Ugh!!!
So Arthur here’s wishing you well again and all that that state of being implies. With all good wishes
Yours sincerely
Jimmy Seed
Ypres was somewhere Seed may well have seen action, as it wasn't far from Nieupoort where he was gassed, although the Third Battle of Ypres - also known as Passchendaele - started on 31 July 1917, just a few days after the gassing. However, there was constant fighting in Ypres throughout the war.
A REUION WITH BILL DYKES
He will “see” Charlton athletic play on Saturday.
He is Bill Dykes. His friend, “lost” for 20 years, is Jimmy seed, Charlton Athletic's manager.
Jimmy Seed told me the story of the friendship yesterday.
"When the war broke out, four of us, all footballers, joined the Army Cyclist Corps and were transferred to the West Yorks Regiment", he said.
"In 1917 Bill was seriously wounded. I lost touch with him. His sight began to fail and he was admitted to Saint Dunstan‘s.
"The other day a visitor to St Mary‘s hospital told me Bill Dykes was there. I wrote to him, then went to see him.
"I have never met anyone so happy and cheerful. Bill was eager to know all about the other two pals. They were Tommy Thompson, who played for Sunderland, and Tommy Wilson, who captain Huddersfield.
"Even after 20 years Bill knew my voice the minute I spoke.
"So I’m taking him down to Charlton for the match. I know what a thrill he will get out of it."
Now Bill Dykes counts the hours till Saturday.
Bill Dykes played in goal for the Northern Cyclists team that defeated Grimsby during their training in Gainsborough before their deployment to the front.
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In a bloody war of attrition, however, the ability to wound instead of kill had definite tactical and strategic value. The continual removal of large numbers of battle-ready troops from forward areas, even for short periods, severely compromised the ability of armies to conduct successful operations. Because of the respiratory damage both chlorine and phosgene caused, soldiers required a long convalescence before returning to combat. The average number of days an AEF gas victim spent recovering and away from the front was 60 days for chlorine and 45.5 days for phosgene.43 Although such losses certainly impeded the war effort, by the spring of 1917 the overall military effectiveness of gas attacks seemed to be diminishing. This would soon change.
In July 1917, aware of the loss of their technological superiority and perhaps their ability to win the war, the Germans deployed a new and more troublesome chemical agent: mustard gas. Although mustard was introduced late in the war, it became known as the “King of Battle Gases” because it eventually caused more chemical casualties than all the other agents combined, including chlorine, phosgene, and cyanogen chloride. Harry L. Gilchrist, medical director of the Gas Service, US Army Expeditionary Force, described the first mustard causalities:
At first the troops didn’t notice the gas and were not uncomfortable, but in the course of an hour or so, there was marked inflammation of their eyes. They vomited, and there was erythema of the skin. . . . Later there was severe blistering of the skin, especially where the uniform had been contaminated, and by the time the gassed cases reached the casualty clearing station, the men were virtually blind and had to be led about, each man holding on to the man in front with an orderly in the lead.44
Unlike the lung irritants chlorine and phosgene, mustard gas was a vesicant (similar to lewisite) that produced large blisters on any area of contact. Particularly severe blisters emerged when uniforms were soaked in mustard gas. If exposure was high enough, mustard gas could cause permanent eye damage, but this was infrequent.45 The complexity of treatment required in mustard injuries involved a new level of aid and medical care.
Caring for mustard victims differed from caring for chlorine or phosgene casualties. Once evacuated, chlorine and phosgene victims received oxygen and bed rest until they were healthy enough to return to the front. However, soldiers exposed to mustard gas, especially in high concentrations or for long periods of time, needed to bathe with hot soap and water to remove the chemical from their skin. If it was not scrubbed off within 30 minutes of exposure, blistering occurred. Portable shower units with specially trained medics helped minimize its blistering effect. These consisted of a “bath truck [that was] provided with [a] hot water boiler and a number of fold-down shower heads.”46
After the troops showered, the chemical corps issued them new uniforms in exchange for their contaminated clothing. These discarded clothes were then decontaminated and reissued to other exposed soldiers. Because mustard gas induced eye injuries, casualties had their eyes washed as quickly as possible to minimize the duration of acute conjunctivitis, which generally lasted several weeks. Soldiers’ care became increasingly difficult in the last year of the war with the increased frequency of gas attacks. Also, mustard gas damaged the lungs more severely than either chlorine or phosgene did, and these lesions were much more difficult to treat.47 The recuperation time from mustard gas exposure—46 days—was similar to that of phosgene.48
Mustard gas was a particular problem for both sides because after it was released it settled in an area, contaminating it. The vesicant often recontaminated soldiers and horses in contaminated, unquarantined areas. Cecil Withers, a British soldier, remembered being exposed to mustard gas during a mortar attack:
I suffer badly from phlegm and from coughs and colds a lot. That all started when the British were shelling hard at the last Battle of the Somme. One of the shells disturbed the residue of mustard gas that had been lying there for months. They talk about secondary smoking . . . I got secondary gas. 49
In addition, because mustard gas was heavier than air or water, it settled in ditches or at the bottom of trenches and puddles and created a persistent environmental hazard for troops, civilians, and animals alike. All a soldier needed to do was disturb the dirt, mud, or water and he would suffer from gas exposure. Persistency was a problem not only on the battlefield but also for the medical corps. Because of the volatility of mustard gas, a single gassed soldier could contaminate medical personnel, the ambulance, and other patients. The medical corps created a special evacuation system to minimize this type of contamination once large quantities of mustard gas were used in combat. 50
Although new to gas warfare, the United States moved quickly and used mustard gas offensively in June 1918, when US mustard gas production was 30 tons per day. Lewisite, which might have replaced mustard gas had the war continued into the winter of 1919, was a “superior” weapon that caused instantaneous blistering, was lethal in minute quantities, was relatively difficult to detect, and perhaps more importantly, had a molecular structure that allowed rapid dissipation. This last factor allowed attacking forces to move into enemy territory without fear of contamination and injury. 51
The bloody toll of mustard gas by war’s end is indicative of its usefulness as an offensive weapon. Although approximately 30% of all war casualties were victims of gas exposure, more than 80% of the approximately 186 000 British chemical casualties were caused by mustard gas alone, with a death toll of approximately 2.6%. This extremely large number of casualties among well-trained and equipped British troops indicates the destructiveness mustard caused on the battlefield. AEF combat losses included more than 52 800 battlefield fatalities, with approximately 1500 dying of gas-related injuries.52 Unfortunately, death and injury caused by chemical agents were not restricted to the battlefield.
62 Division took part in the Hundred Days Offensive beginning in the summer of 1918, at the Battle of the Scarpe (26–30 August) and the Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line (2 September). 62 Division was back at Havrincourt on 12 September 1918 for the Battle of Havrincourt – the division was specially chosen because of its performance there in 1917.
The Battle of the Selle (October 17–26, 1918)
After a six-day halt for preparations and artillery bombardments Fourth Army troops attacked at 5.20am on Thursday 17 October; infantry and tanks, preceded by a creeping barrage, moved forward on a ten mile wide front south of Le Cateau. The centre and left of the Fourth Army forced crossings of the river despite unexpectedly strong German resistance and much uncut barbed wire. Fighting was particularly fierce along the line of the Le Cateau – Wassigny railway. The right of the attack, across the upland watershed of the Selle, made most progress and by nightfall enemy defences had been broken and Le Cateau captured. Severe fighting continued on 18 and 19 October, by which time Fourth Army, much assisted by the French First Army on its right, advanced over five miles, harrying the Germans back towards the Sambre-Oise Canal.The Hundred Days Offensive (10 August to 11 November 1918) was a series of massive Allied offensives which ended the First World War. Beginning with the Battle of Amiens (8–12 August) on the Western Front, the Allies pushed the Central Powers back, undoing their gains from the Spring Offensive. The Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line, but the Allies broke through the line with a series of victories, starting with the Battle of St Quentin Canal on 29 September. The offensive, together with a revolution breaking out in Germany, led to the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended the war with an Allied victory. The term "Hundred Days Offensive" does not refer to a battle or strategy, but rather the rapid series of Allied victories against which the German Army had no reply.
