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1115
Sergeant James Herbert Spencer
Remember Them - April 2002
| 1115 Sergeant James Herbert Spencer - 1st Battalion
The Monmouthshire Regiment, attached 171st Tunnelling Company Royal
Engineers
The church bell of St. Margaret's in Blackwood, Monmouthshire in
South Wales, bears the date - 2 June 1916. It commemorates the loss
of Sergeant James Herbert Spencer exactly one year before. Made
by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel Road, London, the bell has
the following inscription:
To The Glory Of God In Memory Of Sergt. ].H. Spencer, Who Was
Gassed At Hill
60, France, June 2nd 1915, When Nobly Attempting To Save A Comrade.
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James Spencer, a miner by trade, was a member of
Blackwood's local Territorials, 'H' Company of the 1st Battalion
The Monmouthshire Regiment. He lived with his parents at 'Brynteg',
Cefn Road, Blackwood, just a stone's throw from the Drill Hall.
Corporal Spencer sailed to France with 1st Monmouths on 14 February
1915. The Battalion had not been overseas long before volunteers
were called for. These were needed to form the nucleus of one of
the first units of the British army dedicated to a tunnelling role.
Tunnelling had been in existence almost since the war had began.
Certainly, since the first trench lines were dug the idea was formed
that would see men burrow below no-man's land towards the enemy.
Requiring special skills, the Royal Engineers initially carried
out this work, but an increase in demand for this new type of warfare
saw the formation of nine new 'Tunnelling' companies early in 1915.
These numbered 170th to 178th, thirty eight men from the 1st Monmouths
together with others from Abergavenny's 3rd Monmouths, all experienced
miners, provided the 171st. |
| As such, the 171st Tunnelling Company began operations
in two areas close to Ypres in March 1915. A piece of high ground
just south of the town at St. Eloi and known as 'The Mound of Death'
would be one location, a man-made prominence constructed with spoil
from the cutting of the Ypres-Comines railway called 'Hill 60'.
The scene of horrific fighting, both these areas were fraught with
danger. The Germans, fully aware of the tunnellers activities, constantly
sweeping the ground with machine gun and shellfire. Below ground
the work was vile; corpses in various states of decay being discovered
with every yard of digging.
The enemy were also digging. Their tunnels, running close to the
British, would often be packed with explosives and detonated when
work was being carried out. It was one such occasion that caused
the death of Sergeant Spencer. A letter sent to his mother, dated
4 June 1915, gave details:
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'Dear Mrs. Spencer, I am writing as your son's Officer Commanding
at the moment, to express my sympathy with you and to inform you how he
was killed. Your son was in charge of a party working up at the trenches
on Wednesday evening. The Germans blew in one of our mines, burying one
man and partly burying another. There was a large amount of poisonous
gas in the mine at the time. Your son very gallantly went down to this
end of the gallery to try and rescue one other man, but was overcome by
the fumes, and when he was brought out of the gallery, was dead. He had
been buried behind the trenches, and his grave marked by a cross. He was
always conspicuous in the trenches for his zealousness and he met his
end fearlessly and doing his duty as a soldier should. I can only again
express my sympathy with you in your loss, yours sincerely - E.Wellesley,
Capt. RE, OC 171 Coy, Royal Engineers.'
The gravesite mentioned was later lost like many others in the area.
With no known grave, twenty seven year-old James Spencer's name now appears
on Panel 50 on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.
Curator's
note: It
was 30 years ago when, as a young subaltern, I took command of No.3 Platoon
A Company 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Wales at the Drill Hall
in Blackwood. It was place where James Spencer would have undertaken his
training prior to being mobilised to France. This is one of the poignant
stories contained in 'First World War Graves and Memorials in Gwent' -
Volume 2 by Ray Westlake, now on sale in the museum shop. Ray has kindly
given me permission to publish this extract from his book and the photographs.
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