Lt Humphrey Wilson 1894-1997

 

I discovered a Monsignor Humphrey Wilson on our list of Schweidnitz POWs. Intrigued that there might have been a priest in the camp and with nothing else to go on I followed a note that he was interviewed for the Liddle collection at the Leeds University. I received a transcript.

What an interesting story. He was born in 1894 in England,  one of six children of Thomas Charles and Annie Wilson. I discovered he was baptised in the Church of England on 22 November 1894 and was schooled at the Waterford Grammar School.

He  went to Western Australia to work and was a bank clerk at the Bank of Australasia  in WA at the beginning of World War I. Having volunteered in the military in Australia he was rejected due to a health condition. So, he returned to UK shortly after. Before that an Anglican Bishop in Perth tried to recruit him thinking he would be a good clergyman.

Humphrey had already been to Australia and back before enlisting

 Returning to England, he enlisted again joining the Grenadier Guards before receiving a Commission three months later. It was with the Territorial Worcester’s and eventually went to the Machine Gun Corps where he served in France.

Despite his upbringing as a member of the Church of England, he converted to Catholicism “to the sound of guns” during his time in the Somme in 1916 under the influence of Father Austin McCabe, Redemptorist Army Captain and Captain  Fr CB Pike, a Dominican who also went to Karlsruhe POW Camp.

Seeing service in the Somme at Passchendaele, he suffered briefly from a gassing and then returned to the trenches where he saw thousands die. He was reported missing on 30 November 1917 in the battle of Cambrai.

On 7 January 1918, his mother  and received a telegram via the Red Cross at her home in Bushey Hertfordshire England. It read “tell Bushey Lt H Wilson prisoner Karlsruhe was well.” He arrived at Le Cateau at Karlsruhe on 4 January 18. He admitted  that in Karlsruhe  they were starving but the Germans were starving too.

He arrived at Schweidnitz by train on 14 April  1918 just after our men had escaped and he remained there until Armistice. Prior to that he had transferred through Trier POW  camp meeting lots of Flying Corps men on the way.  There he like others have reported enjoys the food parcels from home with tobacco.

He spoke highly of the respect Germans had for the offices in the camp. He like others would share their food parcels with the starving Germans. He was fortunate that during his imprisonment he was in the Catholic part of the country. “We were there for a year and it wasn’t the worst time of my life.”

Around the time of the Armistice, he was asked by Major Warner to move to another part of Germany to take some prisoners back home with a fellow POW Peacock who fortunately spoke German. It involved about 1000 prisoners to  go into the Dutch frontier on what was to be an overcrowded train of 1100 people. When he returned to England he was repatriated on 6 January 1919 and upon returning he was demobbed quite quickly . 

Humphrey needed a job and many people supported his desire to become a priest. After studying in the English College in Rome in 1919 he was ordained.” in September 1925 at Saint Barnabas is Cathedral in Nottingham. 

Father Humphrey Wilson

 

In 1931 he was appointed Vice-Rector of the Venerable English college in Rome. This was an important position in Rome and his local Diocese wished him every success.

He later served for 52 years  as a parish priest until retirement and was co-founder of the Diocesan Rescue Society (Catholic Children’s Society).

At 100, he became a Monsignor, gave up driving and declared modern traffic too fast! He died at age 103 a priest for 70+ years on 15 November 1997.

 "A man is not only happy but wise also if he tries during his lifetime to be the sort of man he wants to be found at his death" - St Thomas à Kempsis Imitation of Christ

Monsignor  Humphrey Wilson's chosen obituary passage

 

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.

Baron Von Richthofen 1892-1918 Germany’s 'Knight of the Air'

 

Many of our Airmen in Schweidnitz had encountered him.............

 

The famous Red Baron- Baron Manfred von Richthofen born 1892 came from the town of Schweidnitz in East Silesia. Coincidentally he came from the same town as our men's famous POW camp. Baron Manfred von Richthofen was well known for deliberately marking himself in the air and with his painted bright red tri-winged plane. The plane which struck such fear with the allied flyers was an Albatross D111.

This skillful and deadly fighter is credited with 80 Allied aircraft being shot down.

“March proved to be a very successful month for von Richthofen with ten aircraft brought down, but it was to become far worse for the British during April. In this month (known as 'Bloody April') the number of losses suffered by the RFC were the highest of the war, the British lost 245 aircraft with 211 aircrew killed or missing. The average life expectancy of a new subaltern on the front line dropped to just eleven days. The Red Baron was to take full part in this; he was to shoot down 21 British aircraft in April 1917. It is incredible to think that just one pilot could bring down nearly 9 percent of British losses in April.”

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/the-other-man-who-shot-down-the-red-baron/

The Baron is killed

But his  terror reign ended in 1918, aged 25 years, when he was shot down after over France on 21 April 1918 and he crashed near Australian lines. He has been immortalized in history and in song even being celebrated by the character  Snoopy of the cartoon fame.

It is said that the Red Baron was shot down by Canadian Captain Arthur Roy Brown DSC  while he was chasing an Australian, Lieutenant May of Melbourne. The Red Baron was effectively thwarted trying to chase his 81st victim. It is said he made an almost perfect three-point landing and it was thought that he might have survived the crash. As word went around that the Red Baron had been shot down over Australia lines, Australian Sgt A J Porter 3rd Australian Flying Corps was detailed to recover the red machine and the body of Richthofen.

Captain Arthur Roy Brown DSC

 

The conclusion was that he was dead before he hit the ground. It appears that Roy Brown had made the fateful shot as it was concluded that the Red Baron was shot from the right. However, there is considerable controversy over this as the Australian Lewis Gunners from below had peppered the plane with shots.

Meanwhile within 24 hours many Aussies had souvenired parts of the red bird leaving only its frame. Porter took the boots worn on his last mission from Richthofen’s body and kept them as a memento. The regulation German aviation pattern, high topped  boots were patched and worn probably made of leather and fur.  

The famous aviator was to receive the highest accolades when his body was laid to rest by the 3rd Australian Flying Corps. He was revered and respected. The Red Baron was known to be a keen but clean flyer. Australian troops lined the area on route to the cemetery bowing their heads and saluting. His 6 pallbearers were said to be Australian Air Force members of  the Third Squadron AFC. British Aircraft circled overhead.

The Baron's first resting place at Bertangles, France. Buried with full military honours

 

This 1918 newsreel footage from the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia  documents his funeral. NFSA: 77959

His boots are returned to Schweidnitz

After 15 years of owning the treasured boots of Richthofen, Porter decided to return them to his mother in Schweidnitz.  He had received a letter from the Baron’s mother stating she would be glad to receive the boots and place them in her dead son‘s room . A museum dedicated to his memory is the house where he was born. It had opened sometime after 1933. Many exhibits in the museum are personal relics and belongings.

Encounters with the Red Baron

I know the tales of encounters with the red Baron would’ve been talk of the Schweidnitz POW camp.   Schweidnitz POWs- Oscar Greig  and Lt John Maclennon were his 18^th victory. Oscar and his fellow flyer were photographing from the air when they encountered the Baron on the  24th January 1917. Greig and  MacLennan were shot and wounded by the man. 

Details of Greig’s and MacLennan’s encounter in the air are found in Bloody April: Slaughter in the Skies over Arras in 1917. Greig was shot through both legs during the crash landing but came out of it a bit better than Richthofen  whose Albatross D111 cracked forcing him to make an emergency landing with  his ace machine  overturning when it crashed. 

Even Richthofen's comment about the conflict is included.

Controversy  over who killed the Baron......

The controversy over who brought down the Baron  on that fateful day still abounds. Was it the Lewis gunners from the ground or was it Canadian Roy Brown? Surely ballistic forensics and physics could solve this problem today. Overall, this is one of the stories of war which will be remembered for all sorts of reasons .

 

“A valiant but worthy foe”

 

Lyrics of the Red Baron Song 

After the turn of the century
In the clear blue skies over Germany
Came a roar and a thunder man has never heard
Like the screaming sound of a big war bird

Up in the sky, a man in a plane
Baron von Richthofen was his name
Eighty men tried and eighty men died
Now where buried together on the country side

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The bloody Red Baron was running up the score
Eighty men died trying to end that spree
Of the bloody Red Baron of Germany

In the nick of time, a hero arose
A funny looking dog with a big black nose
He flew into the sky to seek revenge
But the Baron shot him down
"Curses, foiled again!"

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The bloody Red Baron was running up the score
Eighty men died trying to end that spree
Of the bloody Red Baron of Germany

Now, Snoopy swore that he'd get that man
So he had to think Broccoli off the new battle plan
He challenged the German to a real dog fight
While the Baron was laughing, he got him in his sight

The bloody Red Baron was in a fix
He tried everything but he run out of tricks
Snoopy fired once and he fired twice
And the bloody Red Baron went spinnin' out of sight

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The bloody Red Baron was running up the score
Eighty men died trying to end that spree
Of the bloody Red Baron of Germany

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The bloody Red Baron was running up the score
Eighty men died trying to end that spree
Of the bloody Red Baron of Germany

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Dick Holler / Phil Gernhard