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Edward Horace
Waygood – Able Seaman R.N.V.R.
It cannot be determined if Edward Waygood wanted to go to sea, or not,
but in joining the R.N.V.R. before conscription began, he can be seen,
technically, as a volunteer. Of course, like many, this may have been
grudgingly. Anyway, born in Grays Thurrock, Essex in 1897 and still living
there, this dock labourer entered the King’s Service on 4th November 1915 and
was rated as an ordinary seaman.
Within a fortnight he was attached to the 4th Battalion (Royal Naval
Division) depot. Re-rated able seaman on 4th February 1916, later in the month he was
transferred to the 3rd Reserve Battalion, in Blandford, Dorset. In June he
had been on a course on the Stokes Gun, at Perham Down, near Tidworth,
Wiltshire and then returned to the 2nd Hawke Battalion, back at Blandford.
Having then completed his training, he was transferred to the Nelson
Battalion, prior to deployment with the British Expeditionary Force, France.
Whether he was one of a draft, or not, he was received in Boulogne on
10th July 1916, in all likelihood having made the channel crossing in a
transport the night before. He went into the base depot there on the 12th,
before leaving for his battalion on August 26th. Two days later, he joined
Nelson Battalion in the line at Ablain-Saint Nazaire, in the Pas-de-Calais
area. Mostly in the line until September 18th, the battalion shifted to a
training area at Magincourt and then Bethonsart. On completion, the Nelsons
were shifted to the Somme area, initially at Acheux on October 5th, but
moving repeatedly. Training continued
and although not in the line proper, working parties were also sent forward
until November 12th. Occasionally, the battalion spent short periods in the
line, seemingly filling short-term operational gaps. On November 15th Able
Seaman Waygood was admitted to Number 23 General Hospital, having received
gunshot wounds to his right thigh and right calf. He had been one of many
casualties the R.N.D. suffered two days earlier, on the first day of the
Battle of the Ancre. After time in Number 7 Canadian General Hospital,
Etaples, he was back in England again and admitted to East Leeds War Hospital
on November 21st. Discharged, he was given leave a week’s leave in late
January 1917, before returning to Blandford, in the 4th Reserve Battalion
again. Deemed fit once again, he was posted back to the Nelson Battalion on
March 25th. Three days later he seems to have been on his way back to France.
Able Seaman Waygood joined the base depot at Calais on 7th April 1917
and after time in XIII Corps Training Depot, rejoined Nelson Battalion
on May 2nd that was then training in Beugin, in the Pas-de-Calais area. (The
R.N.D. had been involved in the April offensive east of Arras, latterly in
the assault of Gavrelle and having taken heavy casualties had just been
retired to the reserve for rest and reorganisation.) The much-depleted
Nelsons were ordered back to the ‘Old German trenches’ on May 5th and on the
end of their stint rebuilding these trenches as defence lines, as the line
had not shifted all that far, went into the Divisional Reserve on the 20th.
Over five days at the beginning of June the battalion went into the
new line near Bailleul, Flanders, requiring more heavy work (other than the
routine nightly trench maintenance) including supporting tunnelling
operations. They were withdrawn to Marœuil, Pas-de-Calais, on June 22nd, for
yet more training. As per usual, the breaks were short and on July 4th they
went into the line again around ‘Sugar Post’: where they had fought to gain
in April. At this time, there were occasional casualties at night from
shelling and snipers. On the 19th they were back in training at ‘Wakefield
Camp’ and more followed at ‘Maison Blanche’ (seemingly near Vimy Ridge),
along with salvage work. (As of mid-July 1916 the R.N.D. was transferred to
the army, as the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.) On August 8th the 189th
Infantry Brigade (R.N.D.) relieved the 188th Infantry Brigade (R.N.D.) and
the Nelson Battalion occupied the left sub-sector of the Divisional Front
that must have been to the north of the Gavrelle sub-sector. On their relief,
they went into ‘Aubrey Camp’ on the 17th. A week later they were in the right
sub-sector (Gavrelle) that was then reported as quiet for some days. At the
end of the month the battalion was in the ‘Naval Trench’. An eight-hour
bombardment of a German trench planned for the 30th was carried out the next
day, followed by ‘intermittent’ shelling by the Germans. Relieved on
September 1st, work on a railway cutting began the next morning. This was
short-lived though and companies were on the right sub-sector (R4) of the
division’s sector on the 4th. Generally, it was quiet again. Relieved on the
10th, the battalion was in Marœuil a day later and then Aubrey Camp.
The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division left the Arras sector on September
18th and the Nelsons as of the 25th were at Tinques, Pas-de-Calais. Moved
again, they began arriving at new billets in ‘Nouveau Monde’ on October 3rd
and then Reigersburg (near Ypres) three days later. There they were employed
on road and railway construction. (The division was in reserve for a major
attack aiming to capture Broodseinde Ridge, as part of the wider
Passchendaele Offensive, but was not committed at this time.) However, on the
12th the Nelson Battalion went to ‘Kempton Park’! Continuing in labouring,
they were ‘erecting shelters’, but were bombed and shelled: taking
casualties. Similar work and attacks continued later in the month at ‘La
Brique Camp’.
Following two days of parades they went back into the line on the
27th, relieving the Hood Battalion in newly-captured positions. This was
during a major effort to eliminate a salient caused recently by
advances on the flanks. Offensive
patrols were carried out and on the 31st the battalion advanced to relieve
elements of the 190th (2nd Durham Light Infantry) Brigade. The conditions
were utterly hellish, made even worse by the rain and infamous Flanders mud.
November began with the Nelsons occupying a line south of ‘Spriet’ and
captured a German concrete post, complete with a machine-gun and prisoners.
The Germans, in turn, conducted heavy counter attacks that included using gas
and caused many British casualties. The battalion was removed to the
Divisional Reserve on the 3rd at ‘Canal Bank’ (presumably referring to the
Paddebeek Canal) and then ‘Road Camp’. On the 11th they were shifted to
‘Winnelgele’ and the next day ‘Helstaege.’ At the end of November, they were
back at ‘Road Camp’ and on December 10th at ‘L’ Camp Barastre, Pas-de-Calais.
The 63rd Division that was supposed to return to the environs of
Passchendaele had, instead, to be entrained and transferred rapidly to
Cambrai. There, after early success, the offensive had failed due to exceedingly
heavy German counter-attacks and a break through. On the 12th the Nelson
Battalion was sent by road to Etricourt: taking four hours. After reconnaissance, the battalion moved
into the line, by way of Havrincourt Wood, two days later. Four days of hard
work consolidating these trenches followed, before they were relieved by the
Hood Battalion. Dispersed by company at first and seemingly mostly still
working close to the lines, the entire battalion was billeted in Metz on the
22nd. Two days later they were back in the line, relieving the Drake
Battalion and returned to their ‘consolidation’ work. While ‘quiet’, there
were still casualties through shelling and sniping. Relieved by the Drakes on
the 28th, the Nelsons went into brigade support in trenches
on ‘Highland Ridge’. The last two days of the year were spent countering a serious
German attempt to recover the elements of the Hindenburg line they had lost
early in the Cambrai battle. These assaults were along what the British
called Welsh Ridge. In the end, the line held, but the division’s casualties
in dead, missing and wounded, were grievous. In the Nelson Battalion where
the losses were surprisingly light (when compared with other battalions), three
commissioned officers were wounded and approximately 100 others were killed,
wounded, or missing. The Nelsons remained in the line,
restoring the re-occupied trenches in the La Vacquerie sector. On 2nd
January 1918, a sub-lieutenant that had only joined the battalion the day
before, was sniped and wounded. According to the officer compiling the
battalion war diary, morale remained high. If this reflected reality, perhaps
it was because they were receiving hot food and the percentage with trench
foot was low. Relieved by the Drakes on the night of 4-5th, they were sent to
billets in Metz. They then relieved the Drakes on the 8th again, but they
only remained in the line for two to three days: going into camp at
Havrincourt Wood. This respite only lasted until the 18th, when they were
sent into the line, in a sector in a ‘very bad condition’. In parts of these
trenches, they were ‘up to the waist in mud + water’. They were relieved on
the 21st and 22nd: before
transportation by light-tram to the Barastre area. Rest did not follow
though, as they were engaged in constructing defensive earthworks, as well as
in training: such as in bayonet work. On 5th February 1918 Able Seaman Waygood
was given a fortnight’s ‘Blighty’ leave. On return to France, he found himself in the 7th
Entrenching Battalion. This was short-lived and he was then cross-posted to
the Hood Battalion from the Nelson Battalion that was being disbanded, due to
the recent heavy casualties in the division. Instead of going to the
battalion, he was attached to the 189th Infantry Brigade Headquarters on
March 15th though. On the morning of the 21st when the massive German Operation Michael
was launched, Hawke Battalion was in the front line of the Ribecourt sector,
with one company of the Drake Battalion in support in ‘Kaiser Trench’. The Brigade
H.Q. and the other three companies of the Drake Battalion were also in the
support trenches. Hood Battalion was then in reserve in Havrincourt Wood.
Unfortunately, Able Seaman Waygood was admitted to Number 83 General
Hospital, Boulogne, on or around the 23rd, ‘seriously ill’ - stated with
gunshot wounds to his right leg and hand. He had recovered somewhat by the
end of the month and for a second time, was evacuated back to England via
Boulogne and Folkestone, Kent. This time he was admitted to Mall Road
Infirmary, Liverpool, on April 1st.
By 9th April 1919, Edward Horace Waygood had been transferred
to the Royal Naval Hospital Chatham, where he was surveyed. The wounds to his
right thigh, left wrist, left tibia and fibula were assessed as a forty
percent disability and he was recommended for discharge. Accordingly, he was
invalided on April 12th, to be discharged as of 7th May 1919.
It is not known if Edward Waygood claimed a disability pension on his
discharge. Even if he had, it will not have given him much support.
Initially, the full disablement pension (for men without children) was an
insultingly low £1 5s. per week. In 1921 the Great War Pensions Act made
these, for the first time ever in Great Britain, statutory and the full rate
was raised to £2 per week. Presumably, with his reduced assessment, he would
only have been entitled to 10s. at first and then 16s. though.
In 1921 he was living at his mother’s home in Grays. Whether he was
physically capable, or not, as the post-war economic slump hit, he was then
an unemployed general labourer. Over
time Mr. Waygood must have recovered to some degree. In 1923 he was married.
At the beginning of the Second World War he was living in Southend-on-Sea,
Essex with his wife and two sons, in work as a builder’s labourer. Seemingly,
he died in 1978. |
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