The Dead and the Living

UPDATE: Listings of the survivors of A Coy and D Coy 2 regiment have also been added to the chapter The Dead and the Living.

Whilst the dead had many memorials to their names – most fittingly – why did it seem, at least to my mind, a pervasive silence existed about the men who had returned from that unimaginably degrading war? What, with the benefit of hindsight, did they think of all the pre war humbug about “ King and Country “ and the like ? Or the incessant official propaganda forever proclaiming “victories “ – when there were none. All of this against a background where the supposed societal values of “fairness “ and “honour “ had been shouted down from rooftops in Britain for decades prior?

Was it simply that both participants and onlookers in WW1 were well aware it had been hell ? The dozens of pages of newsprint bearing the names of the dead had been there for all to see. A case of onlooker`s pretending to be busy with the chores of life, and to have been in the dark – whilst the participants pretended that the onlookers would not understand them anyhow, as their pretext for standing apart ?

These are questions impossible to answer now, a century after the fact. A few cases are mentioned below, that seemed particularly poignant. Not all of these cases represent men of B Company but all served in 2 regiment , or were directly associated with men who had done so. Respectfully, I felt they deserved their place here, nonetheless.

William Henry Brook, born Yorkshire April 1855.

Captain Robert Beverley Beverley. D.S.O . M.C.

On a headstone in President Brand cemetery in Bloemfontein are written the following words:

William Hadlow

The spreadsheet tabled below provides data of 90 % of the 135 B Company survivors of WW1 that could be traced at the present time. The following points are relevant :

• The age provided for each person represents their age on enlistment in August 1915, and is not their birth year.
• The spreadsheet format was derived from the previous B Company listing shown in the chapter on B Company in order to preserve commonality as far as practicable.
• The death details were almost exclusively obtained from Death Notices as retained in public records. Every effort was made to match place of birth and year of birth with each death certificate to ensure accuracy. Despite this it is impossible to guarantee no error.
• In general, it was found that the men with Afrikaans surnames were particularly difficult to trace due to the societal habit of having multiple Christian names. The reality is that unless such a person`s place of burial is known beforehand, there are inevitably far too many possible death notices to begin with, unfortunately.
• Of the 135 surviving members of B Company, it should be noted that all but 3 were wounded during WW1, sometimes in multiple instances. In a lot of cases the wounds were severe & life changing. The immense psychological trauma they endured during WW1 in most cases also had to be borne alone. It is very unlikely that many escaped that aspect, or it`s after effects. This had the consequence of reinforcing the sense of isolation that these men felt vis a` vis the general public, throughout their lifetimes.

B Coy survivor listing in 2 tables, NCO`s and men