In the grip of the grape

This stolid-looking character posing rather stiffly for his photograph is 2290, Private James Grenfell. When I found the photograph it was intriguingly labelled “drunk on duty.” I wondered about this comment and then found that his Service Papers had survived. Within the pages all is explained.

He’d enlisted in the 4th Battalion on August 8th, 1914, on the outbreak of war, and was from Askam-in-Furness. Then, along with his fellow Territorials he’d gone south with the battalion to guard the Great Western Railway. I assume this photograph was taken somewhere near Slough.

Shortly afterwards he blotted his copybook by being caught drunk whilst on guard duty. It may not have been the only occasion - and he was probably somewhat more than a bit 'tight' - because the action taken by the Commanding Officer was quite harsh; he was dismissed from the Battalion and his service with the Territorial Force was abruptly terminated - quite a disgrace to bear in those times.

Drunkenness is a difficult subject to gauge because, naturally enough, the Wadham & Crossley 4th Battalion History and (patriotic) local newspapers eschewed recording such embarrasing detail, but the temptations of being away from home were probably too much for some of the men and, dare I say it, the amateurism of the rank and file of the Territorial Force was still rather prevalent at that time. Excessive drinking may have been a genuine source of concern (it certainly had been in the Regular Army) and perhaps an example needed to be set. It certainly was in Private Grenfell's case.

I don't know whether he ever served in uniform again. From his photograph he looks to have been approaching an age where he would have been too old to be conscripted and, in my researches of local men who saw military service in the Great War, I have never come across his name in any other context.