WW1 medal pair – British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Sapper 488485 ABRAHAM ALLPORT - formerly (T)1299 of the Royal Engineers – 2nd (North Midland) Field Company Royal Engineers, later 469th (North Midland) Field Company – ‘Norton Terriers’

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0068

WW1 medal pair – British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Sapper 488485 ABRAHAM ALLPORT (formerly (T)1299) of the Royal Engineers – 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company Royal Engineers, later 469^th (North Midland) Field Company – ‘Norton Terriers’

You are looking at an interesting WW1 pair of medals, British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Sapper ABRAHAM ALLPORT of the Royal Engineers.

The medals are inscribed ‘488485 SPR. A.ALLPORT. R.E.’

There are only 2 x military records that can be found for ABRAHAM ALLPORT, with the service numbers provided, a Medal Index Card and an entry in the ‘Roll of Individuals’ entitled to the British War and Victory medals, and there are 2 x ABRAHAM ALLPORTS who appear in the non-military records who could be potential candidates for the soldier we are looking for, namely:

ABRAHAM ALLPORT – Birth registered at Stourbridge in the March quarter of 1882.

ABRAHAM ALLPORT – Birth registered at Cannock in the June quarter of 1896 – Death registered September 1959.

Service number 488485 was issued early in 1917, as part of the army’s renumbering of the Territorial Force, and it falls with block 486001 to 490000, that was issued to the North Midland Divisional Engineers, a Territorial Force unit who recruited within the counties of Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, a large area in which both Stourbridge and Cannock fall, which means both of the ABRAHAM ALLPORTS identified were born within the North Midland RE recruitment area, and are therefore both candidates.

The first ABRAHAM listed, son of WILLIAM and MARIA, was born at Kingswinford in Worcestershire on the 19^th of February 1881, according to his Royal Navy service record, although it is more likely he was born in 1882, because his birth was registered at Stourbridge, that incorporates Kingswinford, in the March quarter of that year......He enlisted into the Royal Navy as a ‘boy’ in 1897, but his subsequent naval career was littered with references to desertion, and with ‘cells’ and ‘run’ recorded in his record on no fewer than 7 x occasions....His naval career appears to have ended in the December of 1901.

As for the second ABRAHAM, he was the son of WILLIAM and EMMA ALLPORT, and he was born on the 28^th of March 1896, at Norton East near Cannock in Staffordshire, and he was a coal miner by profession according to the 1911 and 1921 census records, and he was employed in the coalfields around Norton Canes.

At this stage, there are 2 x potential candidates for ABRAHAM ALLPORT, the recipient of this pair of medals, but that said, at Norton Hall in Norton Canes, around 1 x mile south-west of Norton East where the second ABRAHAM ALLPORT born 1896 was living in 1911, the 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company Royal Engineers was formed in 1908, and this is where the unit had its headquarters and did its drill and training....This territorial unit was initially commanded by Major W E HARRISON, Norton Hall being the HARRISON family home, and many of those recruited into the unit were employees from the local colliery(s) which the HARRISON family owned, and the Major was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1912, taking over command of the North Midland Divisional Engineers.

The 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company were a localised unit very similar to the infantry PALS battalions, in that their members tended to come from just a small area of the Midlands, Walsall, Cannock, Brownhills etc, and were often closely connected to the local coal mining community, in fact Major HARRISON often made it a prerequisite of those seeking employment in his mines, that they signed up and served.  

In an attempt to establish if ABRAHAM ALLPORT born 1896 is the recipient of this medal pair, and that he was a member of the 213^th (North Midland) Field Company, consideration has been given to those soldiers who appear in the ‘Roll of Individuals entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal’ who are listed either side of him in the record, with greater emphasis placed on those 5 x soldiers listed immediately before him and those 5 x listed immediately after, namely:

488471 JOHN BROOKSON (T)129 CQMS – Went on to serve with the 6^th Reserve Battalion Royal Engineers.

488472 WILLIAM STOKES (T)239 SGT

488473 THOMAS A WILLETTS (T)919

488475 HERBERT EVANS (T)1119

488476 SIDNEY MOUNTFORD (T)1135

488477 FRANK BISHTON (T)1196

488478 HARRY SANDLAND (T)1208

488479 CHARLES F WOOLLEY (T)1223 – CHARLES FRED WOOLLEY was born in 1881 and was a below-ground coal miner / horse driver in 1911 and was a Sapper with the Royal Engineers when he married MAY THACKER on the 31^st of October 1915. The marriage took place at Ogley Hay with Brownhills, and his father was a miner by profession at the time. In 1921 CHARLES was also a miner by profession with William Harrison Ltd at the Brownhill Collieries.

488481 FRANK H SUTTON (T)1239 – This MAY be FRANK HENRY SUTTON born 1883, who appears in the 1921 Census at High Street in the Ogley Hay/Brownhills area of Staffordshire and was a farm labourer at the time.

488482 GEORGE T DUTTON (T)1261 – Probably GEORGE T DUTTON, son of CHARLES and MARIA DUTTON, born 23^rd March 1897 at Lower Landywood in Staffordshire, went to junior school at Great Wyrley, was living at Coppice Lane in Cheslyn Hay in 1911 and was an iron founder by profession at the time, at the age of 14, and was living in the Cheslyn Hay area again in 1939.

488483 JOHN O DAWKINS (T)1274 – JOHN OWEN DAWKINS was born in 1892, and in 1921 he was living at Cheslyn Hay near Walsall and Norton Canes and was a coal miner by profession with the Hawkins & Sons Colliery, working at the Old Coppice Colliery at Cheslyn Hay.

488484 WILLIAM HANFORD (T)1289 – born 1885 of 10 Ogley Square in Brownhills, Walsall, has a military pension record suggesting he had been gassed and discharged from the army 1^st December 1918. In 1921, he was living at Ogley Square and was a hewer / stallman at Grove Pit near Walsall, that was owned by William Harrison Ltd.

488485 ABRAHAM ALLPORT (T)1299 – ABRAHAM ALLPORT was a miner by profession 1911, was living at Norton East near Cannock at the time, and in 1921, was a coal miner with the Conduit Colliery Company at Norton Canes.

488486 HAROLD WITCUTT (T)1300 (WHITCUTT) – It is likely he is HAROLD WITCUT, the son of THOMAS and EMMA WITCUT, who was born at Pelsall in Staffordshire in 1886, and in 1921, was living at Pelsall and was a miner by profession working form William Harrison Ltd at the Brownhills Colliery.

488487 REGINALD J T CAPEY (T)1320 – REGINALD JOHN TURNER CAPEY was born in 1897, and in 1921 he was living at King’s Avenue in Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and was a Post Office Telegraph Lineman by profession.

488488 LAWRENCE MORRIN (T)1331 – LAWRENCE was born and in 1911 was living at 10 Pitt Street (now Younger Street) Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, with his father employed as a labourer in a colliery. He was wounded in action with his pension record showing him serving with the ‘Tank Corps Sig. R.E.’, and with an address at the time at 5 Brunel Terrace, Newcastle-on-Tyne and in 1921, he was listed with his family at Pitt Street but was described as an out of work brass moulder by profession, his employer having been the Armstrong Whetworth Shipbuilders in Newcastle-on-Tyne.

488490 ARTHUR C WRIGHT (T)1364 – ARTHUR CHARLES WRIGHT was born 7^th August 1880 at St Neots in Huntingdonshire, although this date of birth may be incorrect. He was admitted for medical treatment on 20^th November 1917, serving with the 483^rd (East Anglian) Field Company (1/1^st East Anglian Field Company) RE – ARTHUR CHARLES WRIGHT in Absent Voter’s List at 52 Salisbury Road in Luton, Bedfordshire, his service details provided as 488490 Spr. 448 F.Co., R.E.....He is listed at 52 Salisbury Road in Luton in the 1911 and 1921 Census records, but his connection to the Staffordshire area, if any, is unclear.

488492 BENJAMIN BROCKHURST (T)1396 – BENJAMIN was born c1884 at Ogley Hay, Brownhills, Staffordshire, and he came from a coal mining family, appearing in the 1921 Census as a coal miner hewer by profession with the Conduit Colliery Company Ltd at Norton Canes. He was awarded the Silver War Badge (SWB) whilst serving in 5^th Reserve battalion RE in January 1919, his enlistment recorded as the 10^th of February 1913. Pension record shows gunshot wound sustained and his address as Pier Street, Brownhills near Walsall.

488493 THOMAS MADDOCK (T)1406

488494 WALTER NASH (T)1407

488495 BERTRAM BREALEY (T)1411

488498 ERNEST J BENNETT (T)1428

488499 SAMUEL HARDING (T)1433

488501 CHARLES SKELLAM (T)1439

Many of those listed, where they can be identified, were from the Staffordshire area, and from within the North Midland Division recruitment area, and as you can see from the 10 x soldiers listed either side of ABRAHAM ALLPORT, most came from just a small area of Staffordshire, specifically Cannock and Walsall, a catchment area that was probably less than 5 x miles across, and many worked in the coal mining industry, with at least 3 x known to have been working in the William Harrison Ltd mines known as ‘Brownhills Colliery’, and 2 x, including ABRAHAM ALLPORT, employed in the neighbouring Conduit Colliery.

From the research conducted, there can be no doubt that ABRAHAM ALLPORT born 1896 is the recipient of these medals, and, based on his original Territorial Force number (T)1299, he is believed to have enlisted into the 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company around 1911-13, and he was therefore a member of a locally recruited group of Territorial Force Royal Engineers, many of whom lived within the same small area of Staffordshire and were from the same local coal-mining community.

And there are 2 x supporting newspaper reports that confirm ABRAHAM was a member of the 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company, the first, in the Lichfield Mercury dated the 14^th of January 1916, that provides that WILLIAM HANDFORD (one of those men listed above), was charged with being absent from this unit on the 2^nd of January that year, and the second, in the Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal dated the 2^nd of December 1916, that described WILLIAM HANDFORD, ABRAHAM ALLPORT and JOHN DAWKINS (all listed above) as having been charged with being absent from the Royal Engineers since the 20^th of November.....All 3 x men have sequential Territorial Force service numbers that were issued to the North Midland Division Engineers in 1917, and they were clearly members of the 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company.

As to the war service of the 2^nd (North Midland) Field Company, it is far too complicated to describe in detail, but they, along with the 1^st (North Midland) Field Company based at Smethwick, were part of the 46^th (North Midland) Division.

The 2 x North Midland field companies were mobilised for war service in August 1914, and men were invited to volunteer for service overseas, with those who answered the call travelling to Luton, and then on to Bishop’s Stortford for further training....These overseas units were designated the 1/1^st and 1/2^nd (North Midland) Field Companies, with the 1/2^nd landing in France on the 1^st of March 1915 and the 1/1^st arriving just over three months later on the 19^th of June.

Those who did not travel with the 1^st and 2^nd line units, that included those younger and newer members, remained at home, and they were designated the 2/1^st and 2/2^nd (North Midland) Field Companies,

Bearing in mind WILLIAM HANDFORD was in England in January 1916, and ABRAHAM ALLPORT and his two colleagues were in England in December that same year, then it seems likely they were not members of the 1/2^nd (North Midland) Field Company who were in France and were members of the 2/2^nd Field Company who had remained on home service.

In 1916, the 2/2 Field Company were in England, but were deployed to Ireland following the ‘Easter Rising’, and when that emergency came to an end, they remained in the Curragh area until they were relieved in the February of 1917, at which point they returned to England briefly, and were in France with the 59^th (2^nd North Midland) Division by March, after which the 2/2^nd (North Midland) Field Company were redesignated the 469^th (2/2^nd North Midland) Field Company, with the 1/2^nd becoming the 466^th.

The 59^th (2^nd North Midland) Division were involved in the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March-April 1917, the 3^rd Ypres Offensive (Battle of Menin Road Ridge) in the September, Battle of Polygon Wood (September), Battle of Cambrai (November), suffered the bitter winter of 1917-1918, and went on to be in action during the German Spring Offensive (battle of Bailleul) in March 1918, the Battle of St Quentin, Bullecourt Salient, 1^st Battle of Kemmel Ridge (April), after which, the Division, having lost much of its infantry strength, went through a period of training and restructuring of the its remaining elements, and although involved in the final stages of the war, were not involved in any notable actions up to Armistice.....The Division was demobilised in September 1919.

As to the role performed by the 2/2^nd / 469^th (North Midland) Field Company, many of its members came from the local coal-mining industry, but no evidence has been found to establish if any of its members served as ‘tunnellers’ as those with mining experience often did, or if the unit had any other tunnelling duties, but it is highly likely their particular mining background would have been very useful in the field.

SELLER NOTE = The 2nd (North Midland) Field Company is of local historical interest. It was referred to locally as the “Norton Territorials”, and when it became the 213^th (North Midland) Field Company in 1920, when the Territorial Army was created, this unit was known as ‘Cannock’s Private Army’, and mainly because the men who served in it were from that localised area.....A detailed history of the Company title ‘The Norton Terriers: A History of 2nd North Midland Field Company, Royal Engineers (Territorial Force) 1908–1919’, was researched by Andrew Thornton, who has also undertaken extensive research into individual members of the Company, including BENJAMIN BROCKHURST who is mention here.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.