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A fascinating and scarce WW1 archive, relating to 350071 (formerly 176) Pte Frank Pye of the 1/1
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Description
A fascinating and scarce WW1 archive, relating to 350071 (formerly 176) Pte Frank Pye of the 1/1 East Lancashire Field Ambulance (TF).Including 3 original hand written diaries, numerous original military documents, period Christmas cards, an Army Medical Service armband, and likely a very rare original trench produced magazine for the 1st/1st ELFA, and entitled ‘The Pannier’.Pte Frank Pye was born in 1882 in Royston, Yorkshire.He first enlisted for service as part of the Territorial Force with the 1/1 East Lancs Field Ambulance on April 7th 1913, using the service number 176.His medal index card states that he first entered the conflict on September 28th 1914, in Egypt, and that he is entitled to the 1915 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.He is additionally entitled to the Silver War Badge (No.B303886) on account of him being discharged on February 12th 1919, under Paragraph 392 Kings Regulations (no longer fit for military service).His original position within the unit was listed as cook, but he later became a stretcher bearer for B section.Included in the lot are 3 pocket book style diaries that give a fascinating and somewhat grizzly insight into the horrors of trench warfare. One entry reads: ‘morning the 14th, left at 10:10 for the station entrained for Staples and then was sent on to Doullins and I was on that train all and night until 4:30 next morning the 15th.I then started to find my unit and found them at 11 o’clock am.I was told……up the line straight away, things are very quiet here.I saw a lot of small balloons going over the German lines. I enquired what they were and was told they were containing messages and photos of Germans lying dead and starving’.It goes on to say: ‘each day was very quiet and everything going on alright all and all merry and bright until the 27th when two of my commanders were killed whilst bandaging another comrade up who had been hit in the head.The names of the two killed was Hastley and Rathbone and the others wounded Walton’.An entry from 5/9/1917 states: in the early hours of the morning our guns started a starvation barrage and the noise was deafening and any amount of wounded kept pouring in day and night - it was simply heartbreaking and a sight I shall never forget.We stayed in the firing line for 11 days and on the morning of the 11th at 1:15am we left the White Chateau for Ypres and directly we got on the road…..dropped mustard gas shells each side of us and heavy lyddite as well and the gas hung around us like a fog, but all went well until we strayed off the road owing to not being able to see with our masks on.I fell down a hole and an overhanging tree caught my mask and I was hanging by it and I had to slip my mask off and in doing so I got a bad dose of gas and it made me very ill for a day or two’. Another entry from later in the war reads: On the morning of 17/7/18 a German plane was brought down about 200 yards from my cookhouse. I went over to it and got some bits off it as cursers(?). It was a huge thing, it was brought down by machine gun fire. A bullet went right through his petrol tank. There were three men in it and when they dropped they set fire to it and it was burnt to bits’.Frank also describes seeing German soldiers hit by British shells, and that ‘again a terrible sight met my eyes, men blown clean in half’.Pte Pye’s original stretcher bearers armband is included in the lot, which is a simple white cotton with a stitched on Red Cross, and the usual ‘Army Medical Service’ ink stamp.Tellingly, the armband seems to still have old blood stains splashed across it, a grizzly testament to some of the horrors witness by its former wearer.A rare piece of ephemera included is the number 7 issue of ‘The Pannier’ magazine, produced by the 1st/1st E.L.F.A, either in the trenches, or very close to the front line.The magazine is very simply produced, using just purple and green inks, and all either handwritten or drawn, and then duplicated for distribution to the men.The pages are stitched or tied at the spine using a thin thread.The print runs of this type of publication were likely very small, and the remaining amount of surviving copies are probably now minuscule.A photograph of Pte Pye in dress uniform is included, as is an original studio photograph of Frank’s brother in law, 2nd Lt Reginald Smallwood of the 5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, who was killed in action on April 18th 1917.Please note: there are numerous pieces of ephemera such as documents and period regimental Christmas cards, but not all are shown in the image pack.Condition: generally good for their age and service use.The diaries have some loose pages and general wear and tear, but the entries are made in pencil and are quite legible (some typed transcribed pages are also included).Likewise, the original paper documents show some wear, with soiling, creases, and some fragility.The cotton armband is soiled with dirt and blood, and has a very small hole to the hem area.Part of the Red Cross motif has some wear to the surface.
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A fascinating and scarce WW1 archive, relating to 350071 (formerly 176) Pte Frank Pye of the 1/1 East Lancashire Field Ambulance (TF).Including 3 original hand written diaries, numerous original military documents, period Christmas cards, an Army Medical Service armband, and likely a very rare original trench produced magazine for the 1st/1st ELFA, and entitled ‘The Pannier’.Pte Frank Pye was born in 1882 in Royston, Yorkshire.He first enlisted for service as part of the Territorial Force with the 1/1 East Lancs Field Ambulance on April 7th 1913, using the service number 176.His medal index card states that he first entered the conflict on September 28th 1914, in Egypt, and that he is entitled to the 1915 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.He is additionally entitled to the Silver War Badge (No.B303886) on account of him being discharged on February 12th 1919, under Paragraph 392 Kings Regulations (no longer fit for military service).His original position within the unit was listed as cook, but he later became a stretcher bearer for B section.Included in the lot are 3 pocket book style diaries that give a fascinating and somewhat grizzly insight into the horrors of trench warfare. One entry reads: ‘morning the 14th, left at 10:10 for the station entrained for Staples and then was sent on to Doullins and I was on that train all and night until 4:30 next morning the 15th.I then started to find my unit and found them at 11 o’clock am.I was told……up the line straight away, things are very quiet here.I saw a lot of small balloons going over the German lines. I enquired what they were and was told they were containing messages and photos of Germans lying dead and starving’.It goes on to say: ‘each day was very quiet and everything going on alright all and all merry and bright until the 27th when two of my commanders were killed whilst bandaging another comrade up who had been hit in the head.The names of the two killed was Hastley and Rathbone and the others wounded Walton’.An entry from 5/9/1917 states: in the early hours of the morning our guns started a starvation barrage and the noise was deafening and any amount of wounded kept pouring in day and night - it was simply heartbreaking and a sight I shall never forget.We stayed in the firing line for 11 days and on the morning of the 11th at 1:15am we left the White Chateau for Ypres and directly we got on the road…..dropped mustard gas shells each side of us and heavy lyddite as well and the gas hung around us like a fog, but all went well until we strayed off the road owing to not being able to see with our masks on.I fell down a hole and an overhanging tree caught my mask and I was hanging by it and I had to slip my mask off and in doing so I got a bad dose of gas and it made me very ill for a day or two’. Another entry from later in the war reads: On the morning of 17/7/18 a German plane was brought down about 200 yards from my cookhouse. I went over to it and got some bits off it as cursers(?). It was a huge thing, it was brought down by machine gun fire. A bullet went right through his petrol tank. There were three men in it and when they dropped they set fire to it and it was burnt to bits’.Frank also describes seeing German soldiers hit by British shells, and that ‘again a terrible sight met my eyes, men blown clean in half’.Pte Pye’s original stretcher bearers armband is included in the lot, which is a simple white cotton with a stitched on Red Cross, and the usual ‘Army Medical Service’ ink stamp.Tellingly, the armband seems to still have old blood stains splashed across it, a grizzly testament to some of the horrors witness by its former wearer.A rare piece of ephemera included is the number 7 issue of ‘The Pannier’ magazine, produced by the 1st/1st E.L.F.A, either in the trenches, or very close to the front line.The magazine is very simply produced, using just purple and green inks, and all either handwritten or drawn, and then duplicated for distribution to the men.The pages are stitched or tied at the spine using a thin thread.The print runs of this type of publication were likely very small, and the remaining amount of surviving copies are probably now minuscule.A photograph of Pte Pye in dress uniform is included, as is an original studio photograph of Frank’s brother in law, 2nd Lt Reginald Smallwood of the 5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, who was killed in action on April 18th 1917.Please note: there are numerous pieces of ephemera such as documents and period regimental Christmas cards, but not all are shown in the image pack.Condition: generally good for their age and service use.The diaries have some loose pages and general wear and tear, but the entries are made in pencil and are quite legible (some typed transcribed pages are also included).Likewise, the original paper documents show some wear, with soiling, creases, and some fragility.The cotton armband is soiled with dirt and blood, and has a very small hole to the hem area.Part of the Red Cross motif has some wear to the surface.
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