BARRY MEMORIALS OF THE GREAT WAR - 4In the fourth of his series of articles on Barry's Great War Memorials, Dr Jonathan Hicks looks at the stories behind High Street School's Memorial.
THE POIGNANT MEMORIAL AT HIGH STREET SCHOOLThe memorial tablet at High Street School is particularly impressive. It contains the dedication 'The Old Boys of this School, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men, by the path of duty and self sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom.'
It lists the names of 51 Barry men who died during the Great War and amongst these are several pairs of brothers. The Burgess brothers, Frank and William, had emigrated to the Cape Province of South Africa sometime before the start of the Great War in 1914. Frank gained employment as an engineer, whilst William was working as a farmer, with his mother, at Brewery Farm, East London. Both brothers answered their mother country's call and enlisted on the same day - 6th December 1915. They had both served with part-time cavalry regiments in South Africa so were used to military conditions. Joining the 2nd Regiment of the South African Infantry, they sailed on the Llanstephan Castle for training in Britain on 15th January 1916. The brothers arrived in France in July of that year in time to take part in the fierce fighting at Delville Wood on the Somme. On the morning of 12th October 1916 the 2nd Regiment was ordered to attack the Germans towards Butte de Warlencourt. The morning was misty, and the ground conditions were appalling, with days of rain and German shellfire reducing the ground to thick mud. The attack was made uphill towards well-prepared German positions and both Frank and William Burgess were killed, possibly quite close to each other. Sapper William Dare of the 123rd Field Company of the Royal Engineers was killed in April 1916. He died of wounds sustained when he was shot in the stomach by a German machine gun bullet. He was the son of Albert and Gwenllian Dare of 28 Salisbury Road and is buried at the Vielle-Chapelle Cemetery near Lacouture in France. Pioneer Emrys Beynon Rees was another Royal Engineer. He died of wounds in January 1918. The son of J. Edward Rees, the headmaster of Hannah Street School, prior to enlisting he had been in business with his brother as a fully qualified chemist and lived at 'Gwelfor', Gladstone Road. Sidney Jenkins was the son of James Arthur and Agnes Annie Jenkins, of 282 Holton Road. While he was at High Street School he won the John Cory Memorial Scholarship to attend Barry County School. He gained a BA (Hons.) at University College, Cardiff before training as a teacher and was working at Hipenholme Secondary School, Yorkshire before he enlisted. Sidney Jenkins joined the Army on 4th August 1915 and left for France on 4th December 1915. He refused a commission and preferred to serve in the ranks. He was wounded on 24th April 1917 at Oppy and died four days later at the Liverpool Merchants' Hospital, Etaples. His brother, Archibald Jenkins, served in the Merchant Navy. He drowned when his ship SS Romford was torpedoed by a German U-Boat two miles east of Cape Carthage on 28th April 1917. Twenty-eight men were lost. Richard Horsham was a sailor and was one of five Barry men killed aboard HMS Monmouth, a First Class armoured cruiser built on the Clyde in 1901. On 1st November 1914, off Coronel, Chile, she engaged the powerful German Pacific Squadron. She fought courageously before being overwhelmed and sunk by the German cruiser Nurnburg with the loss of all hands. Richard Horsham was married and had lived at Evelyn Street. Arthur James Slee was a private in the Welsh Guards. He was a labourer who had enlisted in June 1915. Married to Laura Salvage in 1913, he had one daughter, Dorothy May Slee and lived at 17 Princes Street. He was killed in action on 10th September 1916 during the fighting around Ginchy on the Somme, aged 27. Alongside him that day were two other Barry Welsh Guardsmen who were also killed. Arthur Slee's body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, the largest British War Memorial, which lists the names of 72,000 British soldiers whose bodies were never found - more than the total population of Barry today. Norman McCallum was the son of James A. McCallum of 24 Windsor Road. After leaving High Street School he was educated at Barry County School. Before the War he was employed by the Hematite Ore Company of Cardiff. He was a member of Barry Rowing Club and a keen footballer. Enlisting in September 1914, he arrived in France in June 1915. He gained a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 11th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. A fellow officer left a diary of his service and it provides several glimpses into Norman McCallum's final days: '30th July 1917 - So many officers had gone into action who had left addresses to be notified that it became looked upon by me as an ominous sign e.g. McCallum. 1st August - Heard about the battalion. Poor McCallum killed, shot by a sniper. I'll have to write to his girl.' McCallum was last seen about 9 pm on 31st July. He had left his trench and crawled about thirty yards when he was shot in the stomach. It was too dangerous to recover his body and after the German shellfire which followed, he was never seen again. He is commemorated on the famous Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres where each night the 'Last Post' is played before a silent crowd. I am indebted to Mr Mark Veness for the photograph of the High Street School Memorial.
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