A SUSSEX KIWI REMEMBERED

Today I attended the ANZAC service at the Cross of Sacrifice at Eastbourne’s Ocklynge Cemetery. There was a short but moving service and a Māori hymn was sung. Wreaths were laid at the foot of the soaring Cross-of Sacrifice, which indicates a cemetery has more than forty war-graves – this cemetery has over a hundred.

After the service I accompanied the organiser of the event around the cemetery and she showed me the grave of Robert Gee a 21 year old Kiwi soldier who died in 1914. The once white marble is in the shape of a fleur-de-lis cross but is now grey and weather-beaten but the wording can just be made out ‘DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN FRANCE’.

Like his three siblings Robert Francis McLean Gee was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He was born on 29 April 1894; his father George was a Bank Manager originally from Buckinghamshire, his mother Mary was from Canterbury, New Zealand. He was the great grandson of Captain William Buckley of the Royal Scots regiment who was killed at Waterloo.

Robert spent his early years at Tarrace School in Wellington before the family moved to 36, St Johns Road, Meads, Eastbourne. Their home was named ‘Te Whare’ which literally means ‘The House’ in Māori.

Robert was affectionately known as ‘Robin’ and started at Eastbourne College as a Home Boarder in the 1909. In the summer of 1912 he suffered an accident and left the college the following year. In July 1914 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge but his university life was to be short-lived as the following month war was declared.

Robert was gazetted into the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment) as a Second Lieutenant on 26 August and joined his regiment at Weymouth on 3 September 1914. Remarkably he received just four weeks training in Weymouth before being sent to France, where he joined the 1st Battalion near La Bassée.

By October 1914 the advancing German army had over-run much of Belgium and had entered northern France. The French Army asked for the assistance of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to help secure the La Bassée Canal one of many waterways that criss-crossed the area. In these early days of the war, trench warfare was yet to be established and there were many attacks and counter-attacks across the low-lying flat terrain. This was muddy ‘ditch warfare’ rather than trench warfare.

The area of the Battle of Le Basse – Illies is at the top right.

On 16^th October 1914, the BEF pushed back the Germans and retook the village of Givenchy. The Germans responded by strengthening their lines on Sunday 18^th October, the very day the BEF attempted to retake the village of Illies. Young Robert was one of the attackers and was shot in the head by a sniper and severely wounded. He was repatriated to England and taken to Netley Hospital at Southampton where he died of his wounds on 27^th October 1914. He was one of 30,192 BEF casualties in the area during October 1914 alone. A few days after he left for England, soldiers from the Lahore Division of the Indian army relived the exhausted men from Robert’s regiment.

On Saturday 31^st October 1914 a large group of mourners gathered at St John’s Church, Meads for Robert’s funeral. The service was held by the Meads vicar, John Salwey and the headmaster of Eastbourne College the oddly named Frederick Farewell Sanigear Williams. After the service the funeral procession slowly made its way through the streets of Eastbourne where the blinds and shutters of shops were closed as a mark of respect. The first Eastbournian to be killed in the war, Edward Langford had been buried at Ocklynge less than five weeks earlier and again the people of Eastbourne took to the streets in their thousands to line the route to Ocklynge Cemetery.

From the Eastbourne Herald (Sorry for the poor quality)

The coffin was draped with a union flag and topped by Robert’s sword and cap. Eastbourne College Cadets accompanied the coffin followed by the Eastbourne Sea Scouts and the Naval Volunteer Cadets all marching to the Salvation Army Silver band. At Ocklynge cemetery the last post was sounded as Robert’s coffin was lowered into the grave and then no less than forty members of the Eastbourne College Officer Training Corps fired a salvo over the grave which was covered with dozens of floral tributes.

Today, over a hundred years later it was much quieter as a single red poppy was laid on the grave, a small red teardrop on the face of the grey gravestone. Robin – you are still remembered.