Lance Corporal Joe Vernon Smith MM

Joe was born on 30th April 1893. He worked for his father, in his varnishmaking business in Liverpool before the war - and when he met Sarah Banks Rich. He was in the 6th Reserve Rifle Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment. According to his service records, he enlisted in the army on 19th January 1915, just a few months after war was declared and before compulsory conscription. He clearly wanted to "do his bit".

I have photos of him in Blackpool on 28th January and 20th February......typically sent to Sarah as postcards and so found their way into her album!

This has "Blackpool 28/1/15" helpfully written on the back, as well as a helpful arrow

to aid identification 105 years later!

From Sarah's postcard collection, we can trace Joe to several camps in England - Blackpool,Herne Bay, London, Oswestry and Dover. On 15th September 1916, Joe finally embarked for France. The Battle of the Somme had taken place just 6 weeks before. Joe was heading into the full horror of trench warfare.

Of course, there was a postcard to be sent before he left! This is not only a lovely and thoughtful card, but the words are absolutely beautiful

Joe was to remain on the Western Front until returning home, seriously injured

on 20th September 1917

I have nearly 50 cards that Joe sent from camps in England, Belgium and France in a period of two years, including birthday, new year, Christmas and anniversary cards. I will put some photos of these cards up separately. 

 

Of course, on landing in France, another postcard was sent, equally beautiful.

Joe also sent sketches from the Front - very simple ones but as he states on one of them

 

 

They look pretty good to me! I think the medium he is using is a blue crayon - maybe he had one that was usually used by the censors!

 

 

On the 20th September 1917, Joe had been on the Western Front for a year. He was about to become part of the Battle of Menin Road Ridge.  More details of the battle can be found online including here:

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-passchendaele

 

I do not know the details of the action he took part in on the 20th September but I do know he was a Lewis Gunner, which was apparently a very dangerous role. A Lewis Gun team was made-up of 6 to 8 men. The first two were trained at the machine gun school (formed in 1914 in France), the remaining members of the team trained within their Battalion (probably by the Number One and Two) and carried the ammunition and were armed with SMLE rifles, their role was to support the two gunners and take-over if necessary. I do not know which role Joe took, but he must have behaved exceptionally bravely in the battle, as he was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry. 

 

 

 

My next blog will explore his return to England and convalescence. He was never to return to the Western Front, but continued to serve his country on the home front, after many months in hospital. This was the last postcard that Joe sent from overseas - posted just 5 days before he was seriously injured, and Sarah received the dreaded telegram...

"I hope this finds you quite well and that you like it

I am quite well and in good spirits

so do not forget to take care of yourself

Very fondest of love

from your loving husband xxxxxxxx

 

 

Postcards of a Life

That Sarah was given a postcard album by her sister Lillie (in 1920) is no surprise, given the number of postcards that found their way into it! Although dated 1920, the postcards start in 1910 and go through until 1926. There are 197 inserted very neatly. She must have spent some time on this endeavour! The family were well aware of her love of collecting them;- there are postcards from family and friends from holidays in Wales, Chester and Blackpool before the War, Joe also sent her postcards when he was working away (often in Wales). There are cards from Liverpool and the docks - many just to inform her that Joe would be visiting that evening. When Joe went away in the War, he sent her cards from various camps in the UK and then from his service in Belgium and France and his spell in the Military Hospital in Chester. It is possible to trace Joe and Sarah's life from 1911 until 1924 just by reading these wonderful cards. I have chosen a few below to illustrate the War  years but will certainly share many others as time goes on. They are too good to remain unloved in a postcard album!

The first affectionate card from Joe to Sarah. Joe's cards became ever more affectionate as the War and their separation progressed

21st February 1911 "Bootle" 

"I will be up tomorrow night. Hoping you will be in. With love, Joe."

Joe and Sarah were married in West Derby, Liverpool on 20 July 1915. Joe left for the army 5 days later. 

 

 

 

 

His first camp,one of several in England, was in  London from where he sent several cards. He did not return home until 1918. 

 

July 1915

"I wish you were here to see all of these things. Never mind, we will some day come together." (They did)

 

 

Joe finally embarked for the Western Front in September 1916. This meant he missed the carnage of 1st July.

 

October 1916

And still the postcards arrived! "Another memento for your album"

 

June 1917

As well as more wonderful silk cards - such as this one from France, Joe also sent several postcards of scenes around Calais. One included "Le Theatre Calais". He said it was an art gallery, which he had been to see (he was a good artist and I have several of his sketches from the Front). However, as ever,and always was to be, Joe was proud of his home town of Liverpool saying "It is an art gallery, like the Walker Gallery but not a patch on it"!

 

Joe was seriously injured on 20th September 1917. It was the infamous battle of Passendale - known for the mud and carnage that the soldiers suffered. I have his medals, the telegram sent to Sarah and other documents relating to his war service; this will be the subject of my next blog.

 

 

 

A postcard from Chester. Amazingly this was sent on 27th October 1917 just one month after he was so seriously injured that it was unclear if he would survive. He has written "Chester Military Hospital" on the card. Although he did not return to the Front, he joined the Military Police, and so continued to serve his country on the Home Front

I very recently (yesterday!) discovered this photo - with the date 5th May 1918 "J V Smith" on the back. I think this belonged to Joe and he wrote his name on it in case it was mislaid. I suspect he carried it on him at all times (romantic that he was!) It is a beautiful photo of his wife, Sarah. 

And finally, from a brand new year, free from the War at last. January 1919

Joe and Sarah's story shows just how "ordinary" men and women are capable of extrordinary things and how their love and affection for each other shone like a beacon in those terrible years, and continued to do so after the War. My next blog will show just how much they sacrificed but how they came through even stronger than before.

 

Joe and Sarah ......... Mr and Mrs Vernon Smith

 

Like so many men, Joe volunteered early in the war and enlisted in the King’s Liverpool Regiment in January 1915. Joe and Sarah were not married at this time and I have several photos of Joe billeted in Blackpool and doing drill and training exercises. He seems to have been posted to several parts of the country – evidenced by the multitude of postcards he sent! He continued to send dozens of cards throughout his time in England, France and then returning home, seriously injured.

 Joe is seated left, 2nd row. Blackpool 1915

A card sent from Joe to Sarah before they were married

 

Joe married Sarah on 16th July 1915. You will see from the postcard (below) that he was sent to a camp in the south 5 days after the wedding! And, typically for those times, with no idea when (or if) they would meet again, he exhorts his bride of five days to "Cheer up"!

What a generation they were. 

 

This bible was sent to Sarah on the day that Joe embarked for France 18th September 1916  - "hoping for a speedy and safe return"     Joe was awarded a Military Medal for his bravery under fire in  Sepember 1917. He returned to England in that month, seriously injured in the campaign in which he was awarded the medal. He spent 6 months in hospital, remained in the army but did not return overseas again. I will write about this in another blog - we have his medals, the telegram that Sarah received and (yet more!)  photos.

While Joe was away, Sarah continued to live at her family home with her father and younger sisters, the youngest of whom (Catherine) Grace was only 6 at the start of the War (she lived to be 112!). Grace spoke on national TV in 2018 at the commemorations of the end of the War - she spoke movingly of how her sister (Sarah) used to queue for food for the family and also the day that their father received the telegram of her brother, Tom's, death.  When the Armistice was signed, Grace remembers Sarah taking her to the Pier Head in Liverpool to celebrate- With her memories, Grace was a wonderful link back so far into the past. I will feature her later in the blog. She saw so many changes! Sarah was such a loving and dutiful sister who had seen much tragedy with the loss of her 3 siblings and mother before the age of 17, and who took over her mother's role at that young age.

Sarah and her sister Lilian worked in a shop at one time(date unknown)

This is Sarah's sister, Lilian, who appears to have had a nursing role in the Great War

 

In my next blog I will (try!) to pick a "few postcards"  from Sarah's album, to illustrate her life just before the Great War and during Joe's time abroad, his injuries and return to England. There are 200 postcards to choose from!