Captain Harold John Lindsay 1894–1957, Lt Alexander George Bartlett Patten 1894–1975, Captain Edwin John Dilnutt 1895–1978 , Lt Thomas Gilford Holley 1896-1987

 The final stories of the 24......

Captain Harold John Lindsay 1894–1957

Born in South Africa, Harold John Lindsay  was a private in the British Army Transvaal Scottish  before being promoted to Lieutenant in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps 2^nd Battn.

On 10 July 1917 he was reported missing in his Nieuport at Kortryk. By 20 July he was transferred to Karlsruhe and having attempted to escape around the end of August landed in Limburg. From there on 8 November, he transferred to Holzminden and with many of the others on 19 January 1918, he arrived at Schweidnitz POW camp. During that time Lindsay attempted to escape with New Zealander George Augustus Avey  several times.

The New Zealand Herald 22nd  March 1919 described some of the escapades of Captain GA Avey and Harold Lindsay.  They were cellmates with another Australian called Captain Clinton and all working to escape. After working on an aperture in the wall with improvised tools of sharpened down table knives, one night Avey, Clinton and Lindsay attempted their escape.

 

Munching on Bovril biscuits and bully beef they battled on in the snow and darkness.  After they had spent three days on the run, they split up only to be caught the German patrols and returned to camp. After a stint in Holzminden they were sent to the snow covered Schweidnitz in January 1918.

No sooner were they in Schweidnitz than they banded together with other prisoners to start a tunnel through which they would escape as partners on the 19th and 20th of March 1918.  Lindsay and Avey paired together. The plan was to travel in pairs the 300 miles to the Baltic.  They covered 200 miles in difficult and chilly terrain trying to avoid detection by hiding in barns by day. By the ninth day they were totally exhausted and even though they had made it to the River Oden they were recaptured and returned to Schweidnitz. They were later court-martialled by the Germans and given solitary confinement after they landed  in Holzminden around 6 May 1918.

Lindsay was repatriated to UK on 17 December 1918 .

Marriage announcement

 

After the war Lindsay had left his homeland to travel to the USA and Canada where he met and married his wife Marjorie Cooper in 1931. He appeared to have remained with the KRR and was promoted to Captain as noted in his marriage announcement. He lived in Montréal until he died age 63 on 1 February 1957.

 

Lt Alexander George Bartlett Patten 1894–1975

Alexander George Bartlett Patten

Alexander ‘Alec’ George Bartlett Patten was born in 1894 in Brockley Greenwich. He attended Royal Military College in 1915 Alec started his service with a Commission with the 7th Dorset County Regiment, also known as the 7th (Service) Battalion. He later transferred and became a Lieutenant with the 2^nd Suffolk Regiment. He was attached to the 4th (Territorial) Battalion  when he was injured serving in Flanders according to the Gloucester Echo 29th February 1916. It seems he  was wounded twice, once in February 16 and then again in 1916 August with shrapnel wounds.  While at Hann Munden POW camp he met Murphy and Morehead and the rest in Schweidnitz.

                                                    A Christmas postcard from POW camp
 

After being recaptured post the Schweidnitz breakout Patten was involved in a prisoner swap to Holland  with Captain Asquith on  13^th June 1918 and was repatriated  home 22^nd Nov 1918.

In 1921 he retired from the army and later it looks like he immigrated to Canada to try out farming. Records show in  that in August 1921 he arrived in Vancouver Island, Canada as an immigrant farmer but not long after he moved back to the UK.

In 1934 he married May Cleary and they had three children. The 1939 register shows him living Chanchonbury at Lay Brook Farm in where he settled as a pig and dairy farmer . He remained in a Commission with the Regular Army Reserve of Officers with the Suffolk Regiment until October 1945.

He died in Sussex on 20 December 1975 aged .

 

Captain Edwin John Dilnutt 1895–1978

Edwin John Dilnutt was the son of Charles John Dilnutt and Elizabeth Wildgoose. He was born in Streatham Wandsworth London in 1895. He commenced his service in 1914 as a Lieutenant in the 54th Trench Mortar Battery before transferring to the 7th Battalion Bedford Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant and later Captain.  

Edwin John Dilnutt

 

At the commencement of the war, he served in France and Flanders before transferring to the RFC 59 Squadron. He undertook training in flight navigation They say that the life of a flying officer is short- he flew as an observer on his first flight on 13 April 1917 and by 24 April was shot down  in France while on a reconnaissance mission with Pilot Sergeant FC Smith. He went missing at Arbres on 25th of April 1917 with his family hearing about it on 14 May 1917.

Fortunately, he was not wounded in the crash and was taken to Karlsruhe POW on 28 April and then to Freiburg POW on 21 May 1917. From there he was transferred into Holzminden in November 1917 arriving with Lt Tarn Harker. Then he was part of the cohort who is transferred to Schweidnitz 19 January 1918 arriving with Avey, Atkins, French and  Fisher, Phelan, Reid and Wearne. Of course, he was part of the 24 tunnel escapees, was recaptured, transferred to Holzminden. and court-martialled.

 He was repatriated on 14 December 1918. As soon as he returned from captivity, he married Constance Louise Needs on 19 January 1919 and together they had two sons.

                                                                From The Tatler 31/5/1944
 

He relinquished his Commission on completion of service on 6 June 1934 from the Royal Air Force Reserve.

At the commencement of World War II, he was appointed to a Commission in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserves and in September 1939 became a Flying Officer. He stayed in the Reserves relinquishing his role in 1947. He died in April 1978.

 

Lt Thomas Gilford Holley 1896-1987

Last but not least is  Lieutenant  Thomas Gilford ‘Gil’ Holley, born in 1896 in Massachusetts USA. He started his career in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces before moving to the 23rd Squadron as an observer in the RFC. By 1916 after the Somme crusade the RFC was desperate for observers. It seems he may have sweet talked his way into the RFC. He was in the air with little training by January 1917.

 

He went missing in action on 2 July 1917 on the Western Front after his petrol tank was hit by machine gun fire. He crashed over enemy lines suffering a fractured ankle and dislocated elbow. He was taken to Limburg and Augustabad POW camps and one near Brandenburg where his wounds healed.

While there, Holley received a special mention “his invaluable services in captivity”. It seems there were 67 escape attempts in Brandenburg at the time. From the German perspective things were seen differently  and because of his “assistance to fellow prisoners” he was transferred to Schweidnitz on 19 January 1918.

His transfer documents come with the red square which signify he is an “escaper”. It was not long before this social and gregarious Canadian was  taking part in the ultimate of escapes.

 

The red pencil mark against his name on the Red Cross transfer signifies an "escaper"

Holley with one of the popular old Captains J Ernest Blaikie from the Nobbs Collection

After repatriation in December 1918, he returned to Canada in  January 1919 where he eventually joined an insurance company. He was married to Elva Brown in September 1920 in Winnipeg Manitoba and returned east with their two sons living in Ottawa from 1935 to 1954 and then Calgary. 

He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force throughout World War II. Holley as it turned out was a buddy with Arthur Copeland. Holley spoke fondly of his RFC/ POW pal.

Holley died in November 1987 in Calgary Alberta Canada aged 90.

Holley (L) with Copeland (R) compliments of the Copeland family

 

 

 

More Stories ......... Lt Joseph Fisher 1891-1978, Captain Ernest Michael Murphy 1891 - 1941, Major Cecil Ernest French 1897 - 1961

Three more escapees......

Lieutenant Joseph Fisher 1891 to 1978

We don’t have much to go on for Joseph Fisher. It seems his parents Joseph and Sarah died with within 10 years of his birth and he was brought up by his uncle and aunt as confirmed by the next of kin address on his Red Cross Records.  The first army service we can find on him is where he was wounded in France and Flanders on 15 October 1916 and was eligible to wear the “wounded stripes”.

He started in the “The Devil’s Own” Connaught Rangers possibly pre- war and rose to the rank of Sergeant. He was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery in the Field as noted in the London Gazette on 21 August 1917.  The September supplement to the London Gazette shows he had been  transferred to the Royal Inniskiller Fusiliers where he was a Second Lieutenant and later a Lieutenant.

Military Medal

We know he became a prisoner of war around 16 August 1917. Red Cross records show him arriving in Franzenburg from Courtai and Karlsrule.

Later in January 1918 he arrived at  Schweidnitz with Dilnutt.  I have been told by another researcher that the red pencil drawn square around his name on the record shows he probably was involved in earlier escapes. Fisher arrived around the same time as most of the other escapees. It didn’t take long before they started their next planned escape.

Joseph of course was a was one of the 24 escapees.  He was re-captured and sent to Holzminden for court-martial and solitary confinement. After the armistice, he was a released from prison and returned to England around 4th January 1919.

All bar Harker and Atkins recaptured at this point

Not much more is known about Joseph Fisher. We haven’t even been able to secure a photograph amongst our many collected or any other snippets of life post war. It is presumed he died in 1978 in Camberwell England.

 

Captain Ernest  Michael Murphy 1891 - 1941

Ernest  Michael Murphy was a Liverpool lad. He had joined the 8th Liverpool (Irish) Regiment before the war and immediately volunteered for active services when hostilities broke out.  He had been sent to France in April 1915 and was promoted to Captain soon after. The Liverpool Daily post of 22 August 1916 reports that this 24-year-old captain was wounded and missing.  He had been involved in a big push in France on August 8 and was believed to have sustained injuries.

Ernest Michael Murphy

 

Because of the length of time he had been in captivity he was entitled to be part of the prisoner exchange program. He was interred to Holland on the 12^th October 1918 and repatriated back to England on 21^st Jan 1919.

After the war and he married Florence Mary Smith and they had seven children. They  continued to live and work in Liverpool.

Murphy became the commanding officer of the King's Liverpool (Irish) Regiment when it was reformed at the beginning of WW2.  I believe he had been discharged by the time he was killed during an air raid  while up on his roof with a couple of his sons on 4 May 1941.

 

On  the night of 3/4 May 1941 Ernest and two of his sons were performing civilian Home Guard duties. They were on their roof during an air raid. Dennis Winter Murphy age 16 was injured and died the same day. Kevin David Murphy age 14 was also injured and died at the same day. Ernest Murphy by then a retired Lieutenant Colonel age 49 was a fire watcher with the Home Guard He was too was killed as a result of war operations on 3 May 1941 and his dead body was found on 4 May 1941.

 

Major Cecil Ernest French 1897 - 1961

Cecil Ernest French (Ernie) was born on 1 November 1897 in Montréal Canada. He resided in Washington as a young lad. It was in Belgium that French was first fired up with enthusiasm and determination  for assisting the allies. He was only 16 and completing his studies when the Germans invaded. 

Cecil Ernest French

 

The CEF Attestation papers have him living in Montréal Québec in May 1917. He was working as a bank clerk at the time. He joined the Royal Flying Corps  and was given a Commission as Lieutenant. His mission  was as a scout in a battle squadron  to France.

He was shot down on 20th May 1917, his first flight landed behind German lines. He was sent to Karlsruhe POW camp initially and then to Holzminden. At the time his father had a Commission of Captain in the CEF and was located in France.

His record shows the red markings of an escape upon entering Karlsruhe. Obviously, he was recaptured before even arriving at Karlsruhe. From there he went to Holzminden. At Holzminden on 9^th Nov 1917 he requested via the Red Cross that his mother

“Send warm clothes again including heavy underwear, puttees (leg binding), shoes and another great coat. Continue Food”

Winter was upon them.  In January 1918 he transferred to Schweidnitz where he took part in the March escape. From there he was sent back to Holzminden on 6/5/1918. His Red Cross record notes he is suffering from maladie mentale on 26^th June 1918. Possibly anxiety, depression or Barbed wire fever. He was repatriated to England on 14th Dec 1918.

As a result of his experience flying during World War I Ernie French had a lifelong enthusiasm for planes and flying. French was an interesting character: not only for what he did during the war but also for his exploits after it. After the war he married Helen Bernice Wharton. She also had a love of flying. 

 

 

Caricature of Ernie French

Helen and Cecil French

 

In 1936  he and Helen sailed to Europe where he attended the dedication ceremony of the Canadian Vimy Ridge Memorial. They flew from England to France in a Short Scylla and returned across the Atlantic on the Airship “Hindenburg” He was arrested for taking pictures from a train window in Germany. His camera and film were confiscated and finally returned when they were found to be innocent. I think it was the location of where he was shot down. Ref: The Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society Spring 2002

The Hindenburg

 

He was an active Toronto Flying Club member. During WWII he became a Major in the Canadian Army.

After Helen's death he remarried to Marguerite K Fair in 1952 but French died a few years later in early 1961.