His labours done

All Commonwealth war graves in churchyards and cemeteries scattered throughout the U.K. bear the regimental or corps badge of the man or woman commemorated. Often though, in the case of First World War dead, they were actually serving in the Labour Corps when they died and the badge shown is that of their ‘parent’ unit, the one they had served in before being transferred to the Labour Corps. The reason for this (I believe) is that in many ways service in a Labour Corps company was regarded as having made a lesser effort compared to having served in one of the conventional units - in effect, 'badge snobbery.' This is a misconception because, as John Starling and Ivor Lee so admirably demonstrate in their book, No Labour, No Battle, the industries of the men of the Labour Corps were pivotal in supporting the activities of the rest of the Army, both at home and abroad.

Generally speaking, the men serving in the Labour Corps were of a low medical category, either by reason of age, infirmity, or having been previously wounded severely enough to preclude further front-line service. One such example of the latter category was Sergeant John Brewer, of Egton-cum-Newland, near Ulverston.

He’d enlisted in the 4th Battalion at Ulverston at the end of March, 1914, and, with a grammar school education under his belt, made rapid progression through the ranks, having already earned his sergeant's stripes by the time the Battalion moved to France on May 3rd, 1915.

The newspapers describe him as having been wounded by a sniper exactly one year later, on May 3rd, 1916, when serving in the trenches near Aveluy. However, the 4th Battalion War Diary does not corroborate this, stating that they were out of the line and in training on that day. More likely is that he was actually wounded while out on patrol on the 7th, co-incidentally at the same time as Lieutenant Bowman, the subject of the previous entry on this blog.

Whatever date he was wounded, it resulted in him losing an eye. That was the end of his front-line service and, after evacuation to the UK and recuperation, he was posted to Oswestry, initially to assist in the training of new recruits to the second-line battalion.

His Service Records do not appear to have survived the bombing of the Army Records Office at Arnside Street in London in 1941, so it isn’t possible to be precise about his subsequent transfer to the Labour Corps or to state what unit of the Labour Corps he was posted to, although it would have come under the Western Command Labour Centre, based at Oswestry. However, he was never allocated a new 6-figure Territorial Number in early 1917 and so could not have been still serving in the King’s Own at that time. What is clear from the few surviving records is that on transfer he was renumbered to 232551 and remained serving at Oswestry, still with the rank of sergeant. His entry in ‘Soldiers Died in the Great War’ also lists him as Labour Corps.

Tragically, his wound ultimately proved fatal and he died in hospital at Oswestry on July 31st, 1917, by a sad co-incidence the very same day when a lot of his former comrades in the 1st/4th Battalion would lose their lives near Wieltje on the opening day of what was to become known as the Third Battle of Ypres. He was 23 years old.

He was buried in Ulverston Cemetery, being accorded a military funeral, and in due course an official headstone was erected by the then Imperial War Graves Commission, one bearing the badge of his former regiment, the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) rather than the badge of the Labour Corps. The headstone to be seen to-day looks to be a reasonably modern replacement as the inscription is very crisp. However, a variety of limestone has been used that does not lend itself to providing a great deal of contrast on the lettering, making photography difficult.

Somewhat peculiarly the Commonwealth War Graves Commission does not record his 'secondary' service in the Labour Corps in the database entry for him, as is usually the case. Perhaps one day the pedant in me will attempt to get this oversight corrected.