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Lance Sergeant 9822 William
George Peggs
John Farthing got in touch and
was happy to see his Great Uncle's story go onto the site. Will
Peggs (seen left) was from Stratford, East London and went to
Napier Road Boy's School as a young man. He joined the army in
August / September 1911 and became a Private in the 2nd battalion
of the Bedfordshire Regiment.
When war was declared Will was
serving in South Africa and arrived on the Western Front on the
6th October 1914. Having fought in the First Battle of Ypres when
the battalion were involved in stopping the massed ranks of the
Prussian Guard from breaking the thin British lines, he survived
that first uncomfortable winter in the inadequate trenches. Will
was involved in the action at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 that
saw Captain Foss win a Victoria
Cross and himself awarded the Cross of the Order of St.
George 4th Class. He would have been in charge of one of Foss'
bombing teams who stormed the German trench that had resisted
two previous, much larger attempts to overcome it and was mentioned
in despatches on the 31st May 1915.
In August 1915 he was presented
with the medal and the group photograph below was probably taken
around then during a spell of home leave to receive the medal.
Will would have also been at the Battle of Loos in September 1915
as well as in the action around Maricourt in February 1916 before
surviving the opening day of the Somme offensives of 1916, when
his Brigade broke the German lines at the southern end of the
British sector. On the 11th July he also got through the carnage
at Trones Wood on the Somme but unfortunately, Will's luck ended
there.
He was wounded by shrapnel in the
chest, arm and buttock on the 31st July 1916, when the battalion
stormed Maltz Horn Farm, south-west of Guillemont on the Somme.
Havng been moved to No.21 CCS at La Neuville, he died from wounds
at 9.15am on the 9th August 1916. A letter home from the Chaplain
of his ward said "we all feel his death very much, for his cheery
smile had greeted us all as we entered the ward and 'the sergeant'
was a great favourite with us".
The group photograph shows Will
seated, his brother behind him with the watch chain and other
family members. The lady by herself is Will's younger sister and
John Farthing's Grandmother, who was the one to save his letters
and photographs until her death at the ripe old age of 93. Her
parents both died within a year of Will, leaving her to raise
the family alone. Her home was bombed during the London Blitz
in WW2 and it was probably then that Will's medals were lost,
although his letters survived in a biscuit tin. John wrote the
article below for a local magazine following his family's trip
to France to visit Will's grave. It reads exactly as it was printed
at the time and makes a very nice conclusion to the story.
"Two trips to France.
In the autumn of 1914 a young
man called William Peggs boarded a troop ship in Southampton bound
for Belgium and ultimately France. Will was leaving behind his
mother, father and his brothers and sisters to fight for King
and country in the First World War. He never came back.
There's nothing remarkable about
this, of course; the same thing happened to hundreds of thousands
of young men. The reason Will's story is significant to me is
that he was my Grandmother's brother. So it was that over 90 years
later, my wife, my son and I boarded a plane bound for Paris.
My main reason for going was to visit Will's grave on behalf of
my grandmother who had never made the trip. My son's main reason
for going was that we'd promised him a trip to Euro Disney afterwards!
As I stood waiting in the check-in
queue I tried to imagine what it would have felt like to be one
of those soldiers going to war. I suspect that they were excited
(after all, it was all going to be over by Christmas!) but I'm
sure many of them must have been frightened.
Will was born in the East End of
London and his background was certainly not a privileged one.
At a time when even travelling outside the city was a rarity,
the very idea of going to France must have been daunting. We sat
on the plane drinking coffee and wondered what comforts had been
available to Will and his new comrades on their troop ship.
Will's battalion reached France
in November 1914 and spent the early part of 1915 on routine parades
and in their trenches. In March 1915, the battalion was heavily
involved in the fighting which became known as the Battle of Neuve-Chappelle.
Will was involved in an action which resulted in him winning a
gallantry medal and also being mentioned in dispatches. In 1916,
during the Battle of the Somme, Will was wounded and was taken
to No 21 Casualty Clearing Station (a field hospital) near Albert
in the Somme valley. He died at 0915 on 9th August 1916 and was
buried in the hospital graveyard. Will was 23 years old.
I am lucky enough to have some
of the documentation relating to Will's death, including the letter
illustrated which was sent by the Sister in charge of the hospital
to Will's mother. I imagine her writing several of these each
week - every one a terrible blow to a mother, father, brothers
and sisters. The hospital chaplain also wrote to Will's mother
saying, "…we all felt it [his death] for his cheery smile had
greeted us all as we entered his ward and 'the sergeant' was a
great favourite with all."
The hospital graveyard is now known
as La Neuville British Cemetery, Corbie. It took us a little while
to find it and I had ample opportunity to practise my French (not
used since my school days) asking various locals the way to the
cemetery. To my surprise, I was able to understand enough of the
directions from one gentleman to allow me to find the lane leading
to the cemetery. We parked our hire car half way down the lane
(it was too narrow to drive any further) and continued on foot.
It is a beautiful spot; it's impossible to imagine what it must
have been like in 1916. Presumably the area would have been muddy,
riddled with trenches and alive with noise and voices. The light
Summer breeze just served to emphasise the peacefulness of the
scene as we approached the cemetery, blindingly white in the sunshine.
Many of the British cemeteries
of the period (and there are lots of them) were designed by Sir
Edwin Lutyens (who also designed the Cenotaph in Whitehall) and
they usually follow the same layout. A low hedge surrounds the
site and there is an entrance formed by two white obelisks. The
graves are laid out in neat rows facing a central aisle which
has an altar at one end and a memorial cross at the other. We
found Will's grave in plot I.F.9 marked by the usual simple white
tombstone. I stood looking at the grave and wondered what I should
do next. We had been planning this trip for some time but when
I arrived I realised that I'd not brought any flowers or even
a pen to sign the visitors' book kept at the cemetery. I looked
around me at the graves of another 887 men and realised that they'd
all left people behind to fight for what they believed in. Looking
back at Will's grave I could only think of one thing to say: "Thanks".
We found it very hard to leave
the cemetery. It was so peaceful and so beautiful - so far removed
from the horror it represents. Eventually we dragged ourselves
away feeling very sombre but very grateful that we'd never had
to make the sacrifices our older relatives had.
As for the rest of the trip, Paris
was beautiful and Euro Disney was fun but, for me at least, nothing
could be more moving or more memorable than the twenty minutes
I spent in the middle of a field in rural France."
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