by

Stephen P. Nunn

With the onset of the Great War, Maldon became a barrack town. Billeting officers arrived in September 1914 and the town was stationed by the 7^th and 8^th Worcesters. They remained throughout the winter months of 1914, leaving by train “after dusk” in the spring of 1915 to make their way to the Western Front. By 1916 they had been replaced by troops of the 2^nd Line, 6^th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, who had an orderly room at 27 London Road and a field kitchen in the adjacent yard. The third unit associated with Maldon was a newly formed battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The 2/6^th Warwicks was raised in Birmingham in October 1914 as a second line Territorial unit, initially for home defence work. Training then took place to prepare them for overseas duties. The Battalion transferred to Essex and had dispersed accommodation in the Chelmsford area – at Great Baddow, Sandon and other outlying villages. They then moved to Epping, but in early September 1915 they marched by night to Brentwood and caught the train to Maldon.

At first the 600 or so men were under canvas here (as were many pre-war Maldon camps), but on the 26^th October they were allocated billets across town. Soldiers like George Jenkins, Harold Dyson and Philip Ward, stayed with locals, including the Goodey family of Fambridge Road. A system of trenches was dug at the Wick to allow for war practice. (What a strange sight that must have been – a mini Western Front in the area of today’s Morrisons and modern-day housing). A special observation post (complete with “telephonic link” to the War Office) was set up for air raid precaution purposes on the roof of the Moot Hall. The Moot Hall also served as the Warwicks’ Guard Room, albeit a not very secure one, as demonstrated when a prisoner managed to avoid his guard and stopped our town clock! The Warwicks clearly enjoyed their time here and were popular with the locals. They had formal dinners at the Blue Boar Hotel, where they were entertained by their recently formed Regimental band. The tune of ‘The Warwickshire Lads and Lassies’ was a familiar sound in the Maldon Streets after church parades. Spirits often ran high and Maldon’s police became concerned about behaviour at mess events, until it was politely pointed out that the military were beyond any civilian jurisdiction.  So called “smoking concerts”, dances and children’s parties were also organised in the busy Public Hall (the now empty post office building) and sporting activities included boxing and football.

Then on 23^rd February 1916 it all came to an abrupt end when the Battalion left Maldon for good. There was a severe snow storm as the men said their goodbyes and caught the train to Tidworth (Wiltshire) for final training activities on Salisbury Plain. They were issued with their Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifles and some Lewis Guns and sent off to the front. On the 21^st May 1916 they landed in France. As they marched to their camp just behind the front line, the band played ‘The Warwickshire Lads and Lassies’, the colours flapped in the Flanders wind and some of them at least must have thought about happier times in Maldon. Sadly a number of those men went on to make the ultimate sacrifice. Over the years I have been privileged to talk with descendants desperate to piece together the last months of their ancestors lives here in Maldon and to find out what eventually happened to them in a foreign field. Amongst them is Private (4873) Edgar Jones Hackett. Born in 1883 at Cradley Heath, Staffordshire, he married Alice Raybould in 1908 in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, they had one child and he worked as an assurance agent before the war. He was killed in action on the 5^th July 1916. As the War Diary puts it: “At 1.30am our artillery heavily bombarded the enemy again. He again retaliated on our left particularly, causing heavy casualties - 3 killed and 24 wounded”. Edgar lies buried in the Rue-Du-Bacquernot (Number 1) Military Cemetery, Laventie, in the Pas de Calais. I recently visited his grave and laid a Maldon flower there in remembrance. Like all of his fallen comrades, he represents both the bravery and futility of war. But beyond that he is also part of a significant chapter in the story of Maldon’s rich military heritage.

The “Cadre” - all that was left of the 2/6^th Royal Warwickshire Regiment - eventually brought the colours home to their depot in Thorp Street, Birmingham, at the end of September 1919. The battalion was then formally disbanded that November and the colours deposited in the Cathedral Church, Birmingham. Although they are all now long gone, the Maldon that Private Hackett and his colleagues knew is essentially still with us. Let your imagination loose, think about him in the bar of the Blue Boar, or on the roof of the Moot Hall and he too can still be with us. And on a still night, as the sun goes down on our historic High Street, you can almost hear the ghostly tune of ‘The Warwickshire Lads and Lassies’.