From Calcutta to Pekin - The Taku Forts [1860]

With 2012 drawing to a wet and windy close, I'm beginning to anticipate some of the walks planned for 2013.  One that I'm particularly looking forward to in March of next year (2013) is an exploration of the Taku Forts near Tianjin in China.This place has a particular significance because my Great, Great Grandfather fought there in 1860 whilst serving with the 67th Hampshire Regiment. Here's his story.

My Great, Great Grandfathers' China medals

Alfred Baker was born in Liphook, Hampshire in 1840 - the son of Henry Baker, a labourer. He married Ellen Sheehan - the daughter of a labourer at Fermoy in the County of Cork, Ireland on 21st December 1861. Alfred and Ellen travelled the length and breadth of the British Empire over the following twenty years during which time they had three children - Mary (my Great Grandmother), another daughter and Alfred Jacob who died aged eight on board ship en route back to the mother country from India.

Alfred joined up in March, 1858 and served a year with the 64th (2nd Staffordshire Regiment) before transferring to the 67th (South Hampshire Regiment). His number was 761.

The photographs on the right show Alfred as a Private, a Corporal (attained April 1867) and then a Sergeant (attained October 1872).

In September 1858 the Regiment embarked for India (from Portsmouth) arriving in Calcutta in December of the same year. The Regiment transferred to Hong Kong and then China for the 2nd China War (1857-1860). Alfred took part in the attack on the Taku Forts on 21st August 1860 (an action which saw four Victoria Crosses awarded to the 67th). Alfred was awarded the China Medal plus clasps for 'Taku Forts' and 'Pekin'. These were subsequently made into brooches and have now been passed into my care through the generosity of my father's cousin, Don Smith (I also have Alfred's 67th Regiment cap badge).

Following the Pekin operation the Regiment spent the period 1860 through to 1865 in actions against the Taeping Rebels. Then from 1865 to 1866 in the Cape Colony and Natal, South Africa. In June 1866 the Regiment went back to Fermoy, Cork, Ireland (where Alfred got married).

In 1868 the Regiment returned to England. The 1871 census shows Alfred living at the Citadel Barracks, Western Heights, Hougham, Dover and living with his wife Ellen, daughter Mary (aged two) and son, Alfred (aged 2 months). This picture shows Mary and her sister. Mary is on the right.

In 1872 the Regiment embarked for Burma (Rangoon - Thayetmyo - Toungoo) and then in 1876 to Madras, India. Two years later the Regiment was ordered to Afghanistan. On reaching Lawrencepore (India) Sergeant Baker was found unfit for further service and in February 1879 when the Regiment left for Kabul, Alfred was left behind. He was formally discharged on 23rd June 1879 after what the archivist for the Royal Hampshire Regiment described as '21 hard years'.

Alfred died at the age of 42 years in 1882, and is buried in Petersfield, Hampshire.

The Clevedon Blitz - Night of 4th and 5th Jan 1941

Today the only aircraft sounds I hear above my house are holiday flights banking over the Severn Estuary before heading South towards the sun. However, during the Second World War the sky held a very real danger as German bombers followed the same route travelling in the opposite direction. Between 1st Sept 1940 and 18th May 1943 the town suffered 16 raids - all 'overspill' from attacks on Bristol, Bath and Cardiff.

Pill Box on Wain's Hill, Clevedon

My battlefield walk today was very close to home. I set off on foot on a cold windy morning to investigate some of the WWII connections which can be found in the town of Clevedon, Somerset. The pill box pictured above is on Wain's Hill overlooking a popular local beauty spot called 'Poet's Walk'. Some 100 yards from the pill box, hidden in the bushes, is a derelict ammunition store. Ideally placed to monitor the raiders heading towards Bristol.

On the night of Jan 4th 1941, 103 aircraft from Luftfloffe 1 & 2 raided Avonmouth a few miles to the North of Clevedon. The weather was moderately good at the start of the raid but as it progressed cloud cover obscured the target areas. To overcome the lack of visibility the Heinkel IIIs bombed using guidance systems. As a result most of the 106.5 tonnes of H.E. bombs and 27,722 incendiary devices fell along the shores of the estuary.

Bomb Damage - Facade of the Curzon Cinema

Today, the Curzon Cinema is purported to be the oldest working movie theatre in the country. In the war years it was a popular spot for civilians and military personnel alike. At 21:38 on the 4th Jan 41, a bomb fell at the bottom of Old Church Road, opposite the cinema, killing an off duty soldier and wounding one other, plus two civilians. The casualty was a 22 year old Yorkshireman from Rotherham serving with the 4th Battalion, the East Yorkshire Regiment.

Private William Wraith (Regimental Number 4346197) passed away the next day in Clevedon Hospital and is buried in the Clevedon Town Cemetery.

Local resident Julie Angel remembers that the soldier who died had just spoken to her Dad, Roy Sellick, and his friend; "Good night lads". As they walked away the bomb fell. Her Dad always used to say "if we'd been older we would probably have stayed to talk with him and the outcome would have been very different". 

It later transpired that nine high explosive bombs and six hundred incendiary devices fell in Clevedon that night. Weston-Super-Mare to the South suffered to an even greater extent. Five high explosive bombs and three thousand incendiaries fell on the town, killing 34 people and injuring a further 85.

Of the attacking force, 102 aircraft returned to their bases in Germany and the low countries unharmed. One aircraft crash landed on the return but there were no casualties.

As for the heavy explosive bombs that landed in Clevedon, in addition to the explosion outside of the cinema, two bombs straddled the Council House and several fell in Clapton Lane.

In an interview with local historian Mike Horsfield, Clevedon resident Mrs Kit Neale (nee May) remembers the first bomb falling on the Curzon and recalled that a second 50lb bomb fell on 'Haviland' in Queen's Road. She remembered it exploding in the soft earth and taking out a few windows.

During my walk this morning I thought I'd follow up on one local legend that I'd heard from an elderly neighbour. He had told me that on this fatal night an incendiary bomb had fallen through the roof of Copse Road Chapel. A knock on the door produced a helpful parishioner who showed me the damage to the roof.

Copse Road Chapel, Clevedon

The hole was patched up and a swastika was painted on the repair. A crucifix was subsequently painted over the top. A potent symbol of the triumph of good over evil. Apparently the Chapel would have burnt down had it not been for the presence of off duty soldiers who were billeted in the hall next door.

David Smale, who was in Miss Crisp's class at St John's school, remembers that after the raid the children were given a few days off.

Since writing this article I have spoken to Marion Johnson who spent her childhood in Lower Queen's Road, Clevedon. she remembers the Curzon bomb going off as it shattered the windows in the family home. As David said (above) St John's School (now Clevedon Library) was closed for a week or two afterwards. The bomb took out most of the glass in the building and destroyed some of the partitions which seperated the classrooms. Afterwards Marion went down to the site of the blast and remembers a big bomb crater in the road directly in front of the cinema. It was quite a draw for inquisitive locals. 

Marion also remembers visiting a bomb site on the road up to Clevedon Golf Club. The front of a house had been blown off and the facade gave the appearance of a dolls house. A search of the records reveals that this was a parachute mine which fell at 00:03 on the night of the 22nd / 23rd March 1941, partly demolishing two houses and causing damage to thirty more. In one of the houses, 'Little Garth', Mr and Mrs A.S.J. Baker were slightly injured as was their maid. 

(My thanks to Rob Campbell and John Penny for providing many of the facts quoted above).