Reuben Chilton
240761 Private Reuben Chilton
2/6th Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment
Reuben Chilton was captured by the Germans on the 21st March 1918, during the 1918 Battle of the Somme. He escaped from captivity in May 1918 and returned to the British lines.
Family history
Reuben is probably the son of Reuben and Annie Chilton. If I have correctly
identified him he was born in December 1890. His father was a labourer, the
family lived at 7 Canal Side, Wolverhampton in 1891. Before he was ten his
mother had died. By 1901 the family lived at Rough Hills, Ettingshall Holy
Trinity parish. Typically for the time he had at least one brother and four
sisters. (1891 and 1901 census)
21st March to 8th May 1918
After his escape in May 1918 he was interviewed, a record of this is held in
the National Archives, reference WO/161/100/201.
On the 21st March the 2/6th Battalion were in the front line at Bullecourt,
left of the Horseshoe Redoubt. Troops were nervous, a German attack was expected
imminently, only the hour and date were not known.
An extract from the War History of the 6th Battalion South Staffordshire
Regiment (T.F) for the first part of the German attack is shown below (War
History available on CD, see links page).
The morning of March 21st was marked by the normal morning bombardment and an abnormally thick mist, making it impossible to see more than fifty yards ahead. The first symptom of the coming evil was the fact that the normal bombardment did not diminish and cease in the normal way. On the contrary, it increased steadily, and eventually it became terrific, covering the whole area of our lines as far back as the transport. Everywhere were heavy casualties, and notwithstanding the fact that through the mist the first small groups of the enemy were seen to be approaching, " C " Company could not go forward to support the others, because of the great gulf of impassable shelling between them. Of the fate of "A," " B " and " D " Companies there is little to be said. They were overwhelmed in the mist by the great advance, as a village lying at the foot of a volcano is completely submerged beneath the great stream of down-pouring lava. " C " Company was ordered to hold Railway Reserve Trench to the last, and there, under the command of Captain Jordan, it made its stand. The mist at the time (about a quarter-past eight o’clock) was rising slightly, and the sight it revealed was not a comforting one—masses of the enemy, south-east and soon directly south of Battalion Hqrs. The German bombardment then lifted, in order to avoid its own troops. Battalion Hqrs. were rushed, and the CO. (Colonel Stuart Wortley) was killed. For as long as could be " C " Company held on, deprived of a platoon which had been thrown out to a flank, and reinforced instead by occasional remnants of the forward companies, men straggling back as best they could under the burden of their wounds and shell-suffering. Against an overwhelming mass of advancing enemy, resistance could not be long protracted. Our numbers became less and less, and, making a final stand in the communication trench, " Tank Avenue," the last remnant of the Company was joined from the rear by a returning stream of its own wounded bearing the news that the enemy were in force at the far end also of the trench. When this remnant had been obliterated by death or wounds, but not until then, the resistance of the Battalion ceased, and the enemy passed through them, towards their transport lines now moved from Ervillers to Douchy.
A transcription from the interview of Reuben on the 8th
May 1918 is shown below.
| Name, Rank, No. and Regiment | Chilton, R., Private, No. 240761, 2/6 S. Staffs. |
| Home address | 6, Henwood Road, Compton, Wolverhampton |
| Name, Rank, No. and Regiment | Keighley, F. P., Private, No. 40301, 2/6 N. Staffs. |
| Home address | 7, Carr Lane, Rawdon, Leeds |
| Place and date of capture | Bullecourt, 21st March 1918 |
| Nature of Wound, if any | Both unwounded. |
|
Private Keighley I was taken under the same conditions as Private Chilton, except that I happened to be in reserve, and on the day following my capture I joined Private Chilton at Marchiennes. I have heard Private Chilton’s evidence. We were together from 22ndMarch until we reached the British lines on 2nd May, and I have nothing to add to the statements he has made. |
|
| Capture March 21st 1918 |
Private Chilton On 21st March 1918 there had been a very heavy bombardment, which began at 2 a.m. I was at Battalion H.Q. in the trenches, when we were attacked at 10.30 a.m. We were surrounded, and I was captured with four other men. We were marched at once to the German front line, and the Germans set us to work carrying in the wounded. I saw no infraction of the laws and usages of war, but an incident occurred to which I should like to draw attention. At the time of my capture, a German officer was standing near the trench, and close by him there was a private, having his bayonet fixed. One of the men of my battalion was scrambling out of the trench, intending of course to surrender; the private ran at my comrade to bayonet him. The officer ordered the private to halt, but no attention was paid to the command, and the officer, without hesitation, shot the private in the head with his revolver, killing him on the spot. The British soldier has not been touched. This happened close to where I was standing. |
| Journey March 21-22 1918 | We helped to carry in wounded up to 5 p.m. and then we marched about 2½ kilometres to a cage. I was with a party of about 100. On our arrival, we saw about 1,000 prisoners just starting off from this cage. Detachments of 100 and 200 strong kept arriving. We were searched and everything was taken from us except our pay-books, money and watches. When 2,000 had been collected and searched, the Germans took us off to another enclosure where we spent the night. We had to sleep on the ground. No covering or blankets were provided for the prisoners; very few of them hhad greatcoats and were very cold. |
| Marchiennes March 22-29 1918 | The next morning, 22nd March, we were all marching to Marchiennes, leaving the enclosure at 10 a.m. We were given a quarter of a loaf of bread on our arrival and some coffee. I had had nothing to eat from the night of 20th March until the evening of the 22nd. The prisoners had no particular grounds for complaint during the march. At Marchiennes there were about 3,000 prisoners, officers and men. We were lodged in a building which had been a glass factory, and our quarters were very much overcrowded. The officers occupied another building, and there was a narrow yard about 150 yards long and 20 yards wide, which was used by both officers and men. No beds or blankets were provided, only a little straw. We had to sleep on the floor, and the cold was very severe. The place was very dirty, and we were troubled a good deal with vermin. We remained in this glass factory a week. There were no facilities for washing and it was only by bringing water in our steel helmets that we were able to do anything in the way of cleaning ourselves. There was a latrine attached to the building. The food given us was bad and quite insufficient. The ratio of bread was a quarter of a loaf for the day with some coffee in the morning, and some very thin soup for dinner which we could hardly swallow. It was here that Private Keighley joined me. If we did what we were told to do our treatment was all right, but the guards did not hesitate to kick and cuff those prisoners who were slow and inattentive to the orders given, and sometimes they hit them with sticks and the butts of their rifles. The prisoners were given on opportunity to write postcards or letters, although we repeatedly asked that we might do so. The officer told us that we should be given postcards as soon as possible, but it was not until April 6th that I was able to send my first postcard home. The sick men and a few prisoners who had been slightly wounded were looked after by our own doctor who was with the officers (there were about 50 officer prisoners), and during my first stay at Marchiennes, no doctor examined us. We were given no employment, but nearly every day working parties were made up and sent out to different places behind the lines. Prisoners also kept on coming in from the front. |
| Douai March 29-April 12 1918 | On 29th March, Private Keighley and I went with about 1,000 prisoners to Douai. We were marched there in 3½ hours, and on our arrival they gave us some soup. We were lodged in a brick kiln. We had to lie on the floor; there were no beds, or blankets, or even straw. The place was very dirty, and the vermin were very troublesome here also. We did not suffer so much from the cold because we were able to make fires in the kilns. There were no facilities for washing, and we suffered the greatest discomfort. The food was the same as at Marchiennes. About 300 prisoners were taken out each day to work on a railroad, laying down sleepers, rails, digging, &c. There were always about 700 prisoners left in the camp. We spent a fortnight at Douai. Whilst we were working on this railroad, the prisoners were often under long range fire, and shells frequently fell within 200 or 300 yards of us. Nobody was damaged as far as we know. |
| Marchiennes April 12-19 1918 | It was on the 12th April, I think, that a party of 125 prisoners was formed, which included Private Keighley and myself, and which was marched back to Marchiennes. At Marchiennes we were again lodged in the glass factory, ant they kept us there six days. There was now 700 to 1,000 prisoners in the building, but no officers. The food was a trifle better, as on additional eighth of a loaf was given to us, and the dinner also had improved a little. There was still no beds or blankets, and only verminous straw to lie on. |
| Denain April 19-24 1918 | On 19th April, after the prisoners had fallen in to be counted, those men who had been bakers were asked to step forward, and although Private Keighley and I know nothing about baking, we thought me might as well pretend to be bakers, and we joined 17 other men. At 2 p.m. on that day we started. a party of 19, to march to Denain, where we arrived at 6 p.m. We were taken to a cage and found 1,000 prisoners already there. The accommodation provided was in the ruined houses. There were a few wire beds but no blankets, and no fires of any description. It was very cold and we suffered a good deal. The food was rather worse than that given us at Douai. There was no employment of any kind for us at Denain. |
| Marchiennes April 24-26 1918 | On 24th April we started with 32 other prisoners from Denain to march back to Marchiennes. Private Keighley and I with seven other men went to the glass factory, and the rest were taken to some camp. There were now only three officers and 65 men left in the glass factory, and on 25th April we were all inoculated. |
| Journey April 26-27 1918 | On 26th April, Private Keighley and I, with 28 men were picked out to be joined to a party of 300 other prisoners. We were marched about 5 kilometres, and then taken by rail to a place the name of which I do not know. Here we spent the night, and the next morning we marched 16 kilometres to Buissey, where we found 200 more prisoners already there. |
| Buissey April 27-May 1 1918 | At Buissey the prisoners’ accommodation was in a large house, but there was not nearly suffiecient room for so large a number, and there was much overcrowding. When we arrived, no beds had been provided and no blankets, and it was only on the day of our escape (1st May), that a blanket, and English one, was issued to each of the prisoners who had no greatcoat. The food was a little better; we were given one-fifth of a loaf for breakfast and one-fifth again for tea, but the soup for dinner was very thin and we were always hungry. The working parties were employed in the construction of a light railway. There were three shifts of 200 prisoners of eight hours’ duration. I was never knocked about nor was Private Keighley, but if the men worked slackly, there was a certain amount of kicking and cuffing by the guards. We were not working actually under fire, but we could hear the guns plainly and see the flashes. The prisoners working from Buissey were so short of food, so that when we were on our shifts, we picked up and brought back with us all the dandelion roots that we could find. The washing arrangements, as in the other enclosures, did not exist, and we were still verminous. There was a kind of sick bay, but I was never in it. Many prisoners there were ill, but the German doctor, who came every morning to see the prisoners, very seldom passed a man as sick, and during the six days I was there, many men had to go to work who were unfit and really unwell. |
| Escape May 1 1918 | On the night of 1st May, Private Keighley and I escaped. We walked all night guided by the sound and flashes of the British guns. We remained in a shell hole throughout the day of 2nd May, resuming our walk when it became dark, and at 2 a.m. on 3rd May we reached the British lines. |
| Opinion of examiner | Private Chilton seems observant and intelligent, and I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of his statements. |
| 8th May 1918 F. CAVENDISH BENTINCK |
It is not know if Reuben returned to active service following his escape. He is not listed by the CWGC.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:12 am
For inclusion in the Biographies for 1/6th South Staffords:
Information moved to individual biographies
20117/242561 Lance-Sergeant Thomas Baker
3440 Private Sidney Beddows
1462 Lance-Sergeant Samuel Frederick Caddick
2619 Private John Cartwright
2941 Lance-Corporal Henry Collier
1/6th Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment
2874 Private Walter Raymond Cope
2652 Private Samuel Evans
2797 Private Herbert Henry Freeman
2291 Private John Ratcliff Garner
2746/240480 Sergeant Thomas Montague Garner M.M.
2483 Private William Green
1709 Lance-Corporal William Hart
2949 Private Basil Victor Bate Hewitson
2895 Lance-Corporal John Edward Hopton
3164/240670 Private Horace Samuel Jones
1751 Private William Jones
8296/242492 Lance-Corporal Frederick Mills
3740 Private Patrick Newell
3461 Lance-Corporal Charles Stewart Northall
3463 Corporal William Northall
2623 Private James Bert Organ
2843 Corporal Frederick Ridgway Smith
2795 Private Bernard Tandy
2800 Company-Sergeant-Major Christopher George Taylor
3447 Private Albert Thomason
3391 Private William Titley
2632 Sergeant Charles Thomas Totty
1609 Sergeant Frederick Wallace Watson
20071/242516 Private William Henry Whittingham