Fascinating to read your comments on Cook’s Endeavor, which I suspect would have been fitted out with leather-related rigging by the Richardson Leatherworks located in Whitby at the same time. Not only that, but my non-blood ancestor Jeremiah Dixon (via my g-grandmother Augusta Ann Dixon Richardson) hitched a ride with Cook for one of his incredible efforts to observe the Transit of Venus. Lots to be found on all that on the internet, these days.
Jeremiah has even become somewhat of a celeb, thanks to my favorite rocker, Mark Knopfler, see: https://youtu.be/HaQS45-YFdE
Your Wiki info re the size of the SHWR shipyard is astonishing but perhaps not surprising… in approx 1964, I visited the SHWR “works” in Sunderland, with my father. It was… no small operation!!!
One or more very large ships were under construction… but what I remember most vividly was the enormous size of a marine engine (steam; triple expansion?) being assembled inside a cavernous shipyard building. Seemed to be easily 50′ tall, larger than a large house.
I’m boggled to think what nerve it took to scale-up existing engineering, metalworking, and steam technologies to create such large structures successfully, in the heyday of the late-industrial-revolution. Not to mention… to obtain the capital to finance the bold enterprise. Wigham must have been a genius with bankers in the early days, and he must have had cast iron nerves.
All that said, I don’t believe SHWR had anything to do with Swan yachts or Hunter yachts.
Charlotte Karney Yalouris, a direct descendent of WR via her mother Celia Richardson, now lives in Cambridge MA… and we’re pretty close, which is nice. My genealogical connection to that branch of the family is quite slender, however.
Hi All, As one of the family genealogists and a self appointed historian I think I should correct a few items in the discourse between brother Bill and cousin Peter.
Our Grandparents certainly were opposed to the marriage of their son Bob to Hazel Warneford however it was not because of Hazel’s family but rather the Quaker belief that one should be established prior to getting married (This why our Grandmother’s first love was rejected by her father as her suitor was a teacher with few prospects – (Google Ursula Hick’s letter on her early life). Bob at the time was enrolled at McGill University as a civil engineering student prior to his graduation the following year (1924) and employment with Bell Telephone. He remained with the ‘Bell’ until his retirement. Hazel and Bob had known each other from Acadia University prior to the Spriggs’ move to Baie d’Urfé. Hazel’s father was one Canon Warneford of Johnson Parish New Brunswick and his father was also a man of the cloth.
I believe our Grandparents never lost their Quaker identity when they came to Canada but as there were no Meetings locally available to them either in rural Nova Scotia or in Baie d’Urfé they practised their faith together themselves for the most part. I did see them on occasion in the local St Georges Church sitting quietly at the back of the church.
Regarding our fathers enlistment in the armed forces, Nova Scotia was raising a new battalion in 1916 (219th Battalion Nova Scotia Highlander Regiment) and recruiters came around to Acadia where Dad was studying and a lot of his classmates joined up. His Quaker cousin Eric had already joined the Royal Artillery in England and Dad was a new Canadian not a year from arrival so it must have been difficult not to join to fight for England (and Canada) when others around him were joining. In an interview between sister Hilary and our Dad his response to her question why did he join the fight he replied “they were the Anti-Christ” The only comment I know of made by our Grandfather at the time to the recruiter was “You realise he is underage?” and that was acknowledged which meant that he was eligible for free education after hostilities ended of which he took advantage.
Bill’s recollection of the events during the war were not quite correct. The dog fight he remembered did take place and I recall when, as lads, David and I were being tucked into bed by Dad, we sometimes asked for a story from his war days. Regarding this encounter, he said that his wings were full of holes as one of the scouts attacking came in from one side and then the other while other scout attacked from behind and in front. They were fortunate to escape that day.
Regarding the sortie which led to the awarding of the DFC to both Dad and his observer, Oscar Berridge, Dad said there was a big push on in the latter days of October 1918 and a pocket of German resistance was holding up the advance up in their sector. Either there were no other aircraft available or he was with a flight of which the others returned to base due to very bad weather conditions, but in any event he and his observer continued alone, found the pocket of resistance and attacked it with bombs and machine gun fire which allowed the advance to continue. On returning to base they encountered a German observer aircraft which they engaged and shot down. Dad said as they were firing at each other, he could see the German’s tracers beading in on his plane. Eventually, they shot off the propeller driven fuel pump located on the upper wing just above his head at which time he broke off. As he did his observer pounded on his back and pointed to the German aircraft which was then plunging down in flames. (In case you are wondering, the plane had an auxiliary hand operated fuel pump which came in handy). You can Google “London Gazette” and then do a search for “William Spriggs” 1918-1919 which shows the notice and some detail of the award.
Our mother’s Dad, Jack Lickfold, was not involved in the aircraft industry as it was essentially before his day. Mom’s brother ‘ERL’ however was. ERL went overseas from Trinidad with the 1st Caribbean Contingent in 1915. Later he trained as a pilot joining the Royal Flying Corps after being posted to the Middle East. He was an instructor on fighter aircraft. In 1931 he joined with a Mikey Cipriani, who bought a de Haviland Moth, to bring the first Trinidadian owned airplane to Trinidad. ERL came to Montreal to check the plane out, then it was packed up and shipped to Trinidad where ERL re-assembled it and flew it for the first time. ERL and Mikey parted ways shortly after and that was extent of ERL’s flying days. He held the first license as an aircraft mechanic on the island.
I would like to thank Peter for sharing with us the discourse between him and brother Bill. It is really a treasure
If you were granted an hour with the ancestor of your choice, who would you choose? For me, it’s a tough call, but Ernest would be right up there in the top three. I’m speaking of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer of the early 1900s. He was a legendary figure, famous for his courage and leadership in rescuing his crew from shipwreck and certain death.
Yes, I’m proud to say that Ernie and I are close relatives. He is the grand nephew of the husband of my 2nd cousin four times removed (honest, it’s true). He often speaks of me (I’m certain). I’m expecting a letter from him any day. Still lost in the post, I suppose.
No matter. I arranged to meet him in the flesh in the reading room of the Royal Geographic Society, London at twelve noon sharp, August 4, 2013. Sir Ernest is a stickler for punctuality. I get there early. The reading room’s grandfather clock chimes out the hour. I’ve got goose bumps….ah, here he is now….
“Sir Ernest. Peter Bruce, your grand nephew and so on. What a great honour this is. Thank you for seeing me.” “Well, quite honestly, I had nothing better to do. This ‘being dead’ business gets frightfully boring, I’m afraid.” “I see. Remind me, then, not to rush into it.” “Shall I arrange for tea, Mr. Bruce?” “Please, call me Peter. And yes, thank you. Just black.” “Right. Back in a moment.”
Fifty-five minutes pass before Sir Ernest returns empty-handed. “I’m awfully sorry for the wait, old chap. I’ve had a dreadful time. When I reached what used to be the dining hall, it was gone. Sealed up as though it had never existed.
I inquired with the maitre d’ as to its new location and was informed there was no dining hall, that it had been leased to the Salvation Army as a meal station for the homeless. Cost-cutting measure, he said. Tea could be obtained at the…what did he call them?…dispensing machines in the basement. Dispensing machines? What the devil are those?”
“Its a different world, Sir Ernest.”
“At any rate, in the manner of explorers I persevered and started to make my way to the basement. On the way I inquired with a young lady as to the location of these machines and she offered to take me to them.
“Very kind.”
“Yes, but I wish she hadn’t. Because it was then that I noticed a most extraordinary thing. Her legs, if I may be so frank, were completely exposed from her …well, you know…right here.
I was, to put it mildly, non-plussed. There she was, in full view of anybody who cared to look her way, half naked! Just a bit of cloth about her middle, the rest, well, exposed flesh as it were.”
“Sir Ernest. That’s how women dress these days.” I don’t think he heard me.
The curious thing was she seemed to have no inkling of her predicament, poor soul. Of course I promptly removed my jacket and attempted to wrap it about her mid-section, believing I was doing the gentlemanly thing and that she had somehow lost her bottom half without knowing it. She pushed me away, called me a “bloody pervert” and ran off yelling SECURITY, SECURITY.
A minute later two large men looking for all the world like bobbies, grab me, yell “AGAINST THE WALL NOW”, then run their hands all over my body. I briefly considered yelling ‘pervert’ myself, then thought the better of it.
Naturally I remonstrated, and told them my name, thinking they would quickly come to their senses, feel stupid and apologize. Not so, I’m afraid. One of them replied that he was King Ferdinand of Spain and that henceforth, I was to address him as ‘Your Highness.’ The impudence.
“Oh gosh. What happened next?” I didn’t really want to know, but I felt compelled to ask. Sir Ernest needed to vent.
“Well, they strong-armed me to a back room. The maitre d’ joined us and there, they proceeded to grill me as to my identity and purpose here. I repeatedly told them who I was but they simply didn’t believe me. I told them my grand nephew and so on was waiting in the reading room and that you would vouch for me. So here we are.”
Standing before me were the maitre d’, the two security men and a rather confused, distraught Sir Ernest in the firm grasp of his captors. Being marooned on Elephant Island must have looked rather appealing to Sir Ernest just then.
I of course provided the required vouchsafe. And when I picked myself up off the sidewalk and turned to check on Sir Ernest, he was gone. I looked at my watch. One minute past one. The hour was up.
Bon voyage, Sir Ernest. The tea was a trifle weak but your company was grand.
Slideshow
For a brief overview of Sir Ernest please see the slideshow below. To see it in full screen, click the play button then click the small square in the bottom right hand corner of the slideshow. Return to this page by pressing ‘Escape’ on your keyboard.
My lovely cousin Bill Spriggs passed away in May 2019. Bill was a forester and for almost his entire career, he worked for BC Parks as a parks planner. In this recording, taken one month before his death, his recounts those days.
Will (b.1898) was a pilot in an observer biplane in World War I. After extensive training, he was assigned to the British 4th Army at the front line in France. His job was to take photos of enemy positions and relay the information to ground troops. Sometimes he found himself in difficult circumstances. On one occasion Will and his observer Oscar Berridge went below and beyond….
Recorded by his daughter Hilary Spriggs Hellum in 1986.
William Spriggs (1898-1986), DFC, A Flyer’s Tale
This is a transcript of the above tape-recorded conversation between Will and his daughter Hilary Spriggs Hellum about his World War I experience as a pilot. We are most grateful for the effort and skill Hilary applied to carrying out this interview so many years ago and for sharing it with us.
A special thank you to you William Spriggs for your remarkable recall, candour in the face ofsome difficult questions and notably, for your gallantry to advance a noble cause at any cost. We shall not forget. Nor must we forget the millions of souls who died in this, yet another senseless war.
Section 1
Dad, you were starting to tell me about your university and uh when you moved over from England.
Oh, well, I was never in university in England. I was only in high school.
Oh yeah.
Boarding school, high school. I hadn’t finished, properly speaking, my high school curriculum […]. However, the university was so short of students because of the war that they were willing take me on, on the condition that I made better marks than the average.
Well, that’s not very fair.
Not very fair, no. So, there was nothing I could about it. So I started working hard and getting along all right. It wasn’t too difficult, I found. Andthen there was a big drive for volunteers for the army at the university. And I and some those friends mine, we all joined up at a big meeting and went up and sat on the platform and everything. And uh, they allowed us to goon with our college work for the duration of the session and we drilled in the evenings. And, uh, as soon as the college session was over, we were given our year without examination.
Well, that was nice.
Well, I didn’t think it was any good […]. Then we were mobilized near Canso, Nova Scotia, and we spent the summer drilling there. That was ordinary drill…everlasting marching, right turn, left turn and all the rest of it. Anyway,I applied for a signalling course and uh, later on I became a signalling instructor.
Oh, was that Morse code?
Morse code and flags and lights. […] Three things. And then I became uh, we went over to England, we were sent over to England. And uh, my battalion was the 219 Nova Scotia Highland Battalion […] other battalions in a big division, handsome of us were sent over to France as they needed reinforcements.
How old were you then?
I was about uh 16…I was 17
Seventeen, yeah, yeah. That’s really young.
Seventeeh. No, I think I’m wrong, no I was 18.
Well, you joined up in what, 15?
Fifteen? Yeah I’d be about 17. That year I was too young to go overseas. A friend of mine andI got fed up seeing everyone else going along and us staying behind and u, we applied for commissions, officer’s commissions, in the flying corps. […] We didn’t think this thing would come to anything but…so you see we went through all the various stages in the local battalion andthe interview with the commanding officer, well, first of all, with the Sergeant-Major, then the Commanding Officer of the battalion. And then, another interview with the Commanding Officer of the division.
My goodness.
Then after that, I was sent up to London for super-interviews in London. And after that I came back again, stuck around for quite long time, waiting for word from London. And finally word came through that uh, our applications had been accepted and that we were going be sent to, they wanted the battalion to send us to…to turn us over to the flying corps so that they could send us to um, the […] training course.
Ahh.
And then we went through a course of ordinary training just as if I’d never been in the army. And after that, Was sent to Oxford for um, flying training but not actual flying, but uh, theoretical training…
Theory, yeah.
Theory. Engines and planes and all those things.
Did you enjoy that?
Well […]it was a little bit boring, you see. It was very tricky because if you failed in that you were finished.
Oh my goodness.
If you failed intuit you would never get any further. So you all had to work very, very hard. I got through that all right. And then I went back to my unit for a while. Finally, word came that I was to report to Spittlegate, a base called Spittlegate, for flying training.
Ahhh.
And when I got to Spittlegate I was notified that my commission had been brought and I was now an officer.
Oh, that was nice.
Ah,so we started flying what were called Armstrong X, little X and big X, they were two different sizes. The ones that were fast were called Big X and the ones we learned to fly on were Little X, they were smaller. Single engine plane […]. First I went up with the instructor quite a few times. And then the instructor allowed me to fly the plane while he kept an eye on things.
And then finally the great day came when I was supposed to go up all by myself…ha, ha ha.
Were you nervous?
Oh yes, I was, very nervous.
I remember,I took off and got as much speed as I knew how. You had go very fast so you were sure to be taking off. And then I got in a straight line without turning at all, right on and on and on. I didn’t dare to turn until I got high enough up so that if anything went wrong I’d have time to recover.
Yeah.
And then I started making a turn, a turn like this all the way round, slowly, slowly, slowly. I did that once or twice then landed again. I
Section 2
Igot a lot of practice standing for the instructor, you know.
And then we went on doing that for quite some time. I became quite expert after a time. I even managed to loop the loop. That’s quite a difficult thing to do, you know. I was never taught how to loop the loop. The first time I tried to loop the loop I made a mistake. I pulled the control stick in too hard, too fast, instead of going around like this [demonstrating], I went straight up like this, you know, and finally I hung on the top like that […] and different things fall out of the plane and we just came over woof.
Well, I knew what I had done wrong so I went right at it again which took some courage, and that time I didn’t pull it in so fast. You have to get in a good speed first woof like that [demonstrating] and you pull the stick in gently, you go around like this, you go around and around like this. You don’t tend to fall out at all because your centrifugal force is sufficient to hold you in your seat. You couldn’t even stand up. And after […] finally, I was passed as a pilot…to fly.
Then I had to go to Winchester. So we learned how to fight. I mean what to do with our machine guns, you know…what to do if we were attacked and things like that you know…all very important. And in fact that saved my life, I learned how to escape.
And finally, I was sent over to France, not to fight but to go through a series of practice work and training. They had a special course going on then for people who were flying observation planes. Nobody knew what type of plane they were going to eventually fly. Were they going to fly fighting planes or observation planes, they didn’t know. It just happened by the scarcity of pilots at the moment. I was appointed to an…um…observation squadron.I went up […] at first then I went up more and more. My training came in very useful.
I used to occasionally get attacked by German scouts. The German scouts machine would come at about 250 knots an hour, our[…] top speed was 80 miles an hour, our braking speed 60 miles an hour. So we were just […] for them, you know. And there were ways of getting around it, you know. Heh, heh,
I remember one time we were attacked by two German scouts. We were just flying along quietly doing our observation work, sending back messages by radio, assisting the position of ground troops in the work we were doing. And all of a sudden my observer leaned over and patted me on the back and pointed, and I looked up and there were two German scouts away up in the sky and, uh, I turned around and headed for home and of course I didn’t get very far before they came down on us.
And one of them started diving on us from behind and then stalling, and then diving and stalling and then diving and stalling […]from behind. The other one dove at us from the side […] and then he’s right underneath us, turned around and then came right underneath us again and kept flying back and forth shooting at this side, then turning around and shooting at the other side. So we were being shot at from three different sides, uh, directions at once.
Well now um, I fooled the fellow at the back by doing flat turns. If you kick rudder on or push rudder on without banking and just turn around the corner, it just twists in the air and goes straight on. In order to turn a plane around the corner you’ve got to have both banking and rudder. You just turn the rudder, it just goes like that [demonstrating]. But the fellow on behind didn’t know that. He had nothing to judge by, he couldn’t turn around and turn the corner and he was trying to banal over the place, so he aimed on one side and then when I went around the other way he aimed on the other side […] strip of fabric were trailing back in the wind, that’s how badly we were hit. Not a single bullet hit the fuselage. Well now that was him out the back.
Now out the side, I had to fool him somehow. I fooled him by slowing down. I went as slow as I could without actually stalling, almost stalling, and he didn’t know what I was doing,. He had no way of checking. So all his bullets went in front. And you could see where they were going because the Germans used a smoke tracer. And we used flame tracer. Every fifth bullet left a new trail of smoke so you could see his bullets cross in front of the plane. He realized they were going in front of course and he came closer and closer and closer. And finally, they hit the plane and they smashed into the plane and the minute they did that I turned off like this, really turned, dived away.
And um, one of the bullets hit a little pump for the gas tank. The gas tank is below the seat. The propeller doesn’t pump, and one of the bullets hit this pump and knocked it all to pieces and the engine started to fail. We had an emergency supply of gas in the top plane so I quickly switched that on.
In the meantime, of course, my fellow was a very good shot with his machine gun, was shooting at these fellows all the time, you see and um, just as we turned off like that he pounded me on the back again because I was turning, you know, and I looked up and there was one of them going away trailing smoke and the other one was going away too. They gave up. Both gave up, both guys.And the plane just managed to get backwash the gas we had. In fact the engine stopped running just as I was landing at the airport
End: 16:26
[Colour blindness discussion omitted]
Start:
Well, right around that particular time the weather was very very bad. Very bad. The British were held up at a certain spot because of a big German encampment. And they went around it but didn’t seem to be able to take it anywhere. And they uh, sent word to our flying squadron to send help with bombs.The weather was so bad that nobody wanted to go up. My observer and I said, oh we’ll take a chance on it and go up.
So we took off into the murk and fog and found our way. To our surprise the weather got better as we got along and it wasn’t too bad when we got to tis particular spot, but there was a question how anybody couldget back again, find their way back. Anyway, we got to this place, we recognized it, we […], we got our bombs to the right places, all of them. Eight bombs, 4 under each wing […] You have to pull lever, the bomb falls off […]
How did you know you were in the right place, did you have to look out the side?
Oh yes, I looked out the side. Those planes had a little lens that you looked through and you were supposed to be able to look through ands the ground. It was always so covered in oil you couldn’t see through it, so you always looked over the side. It was always very windy, of course, but we were only going 60 miles an hour, you know. You know if you were going any faster, the plane would go to 80 miles an hour, but you couldn’t see the uh [carry out the photography well enough?] to make it worth while.
And, uh, the uh, we turned around to come back and uh, all of a sudden Joe pointed something out there because he stands on his feet the whole time there, you know. He never sits down.
Well, I had no idea…
Oh no, Joe never sits down. You see if he sits down, he couldn’t keep his eye on the sky, if he had sat down. Got to keep on his feet and keep turning around and around the whole time to watch the sky. […]. And then he uh, I couldn’t watch the sky because of course I was flying and I uh,I did everything, you know, I was the machine gun and always the photographs and everything. He just operated the machine gun, that’s all […].
And there was a German uh, observation plane, same as ours, much the same as ours, flying towards us but at a distance still. Well, there was nothing much I could do except fly on and fly very carefully so that my wing tip didn’t come in the way of my observer’s fire. It’s very easy to do, you know. And uh, so I had to keep watching my wingtip to make sure it wasn’t in his way. And he was firing at us and we were firing at him. He hit the plane, he hit our plane quite a few times and I thought our observer, it was getting too tough all together andI turned away. Just as I turned away, my observer shouted and yelled […] the other plane was going downing flames.
And then uh, the problem was to get home, I was lost, I didn’t know, you see in all this excitement, I, I was in strange territory. Our maps weren’t very much good because where they showed a road, there wasn’t a road left. Where it didn’t show any road, there was a road put in. And the woods were gone. The trees were all destroyed. Everything was different. But I knew that there was a canal.
And uh, my observer was wounded too. He got hit by machine gun fire from the ground, from the trenches, you know. It came right up here and got him in the shoulder. And uh, so I headed back towards where I knew this canal was. Finally I found the canal and once I got the canal my map was good. And I found our way home… And uh, I just landed in time because my plane was out [out of gas]. And that was that.
You were the only plane to have done that. You were the only ones that went out that day.
That’s right.
The others all, did they start out and turn back?
No. They didn’t leave at all.
Oh. So they figured that was worth the DFC.
Yeah. yeah. Well, I accomplished the mission.
Yeah, you sure had.
I shot a plane down
Yeah.
And then we got back again.
[End of Section 2]
Start Section 3:
Tell me about the time, you were flying solo and you decided to do nose dives […]. I remember you telling us that you were in a spin and you were coming closer and closer to the earth.
Oh yes, yes, I remember now, yes, yes, yes,. I was flying around, doing my training, solo training. I was by myself and uh, I was practicing doing quick turns, what we used to call vertical turns, we used to call split ass turns. Instead of turning around like this, you’d turn around like that [demonstrating]. You could turn much faster that way.The steeper the angle, the faster you’d turn.
And em, I turned one time so steeply that the plane got out of control. It started going down in a spin. It was going down like this, it was going down, it kept spinning, you know. And there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to stop it. I, I had been in spins before. We had been trained by the instructors, the training instructors, in how to get out of a spin. So I knew how to get out, I did all of those things. It didn’t help it, it didn’t make any difference. Well, down below we were going around and around apparently. They saw me coming closer and closer and closer.
Then I suddenly realized there was something different about this spin. In any spin I’d benign before…what was it? Ahh, the engine was still running on full strength. So I turned off the engine, made all the various movements to get out of the spin and came right out just clear of the trees…heh, heh, heh.
Were you nervous?
I was very nervous, yes.
But you thought you were able…you weren’t so panic stricken that you couldn’t think of what to do.
No, that’s right, yeah, yeah. It’s easy to see, you know, how people can get killed that way. Something unusual happens and they don’t realize it.
That’s right. You just gotta go think it through very carefully.
So I went right at it, did another turn, more gently this time and managed all right.
Oh good, you didn’t go into a spin again.
No, no.
What did you do after the war, when the war was over?
We uh stayed France for awhile and did mail deliveries to Germany.
Oh, for how ;long?
Oh, about 3 or 4 months. Then i was sent back to England and demobilized and came back to Canada. And as soon as I got back home I went to university again, started in where I left off, four years before. […] Instead of taking two years, it took three years. In those days, Acadia University didn’t give a complete engineering course, only the first two years. I had to go on to McGill to finish up for two years.
How did you reconcile the fact that Quakers are pacifists with joining the army?
Well, uh, first of all my cousin Eric Butler, whois the soon my uh, father’s sister, uh, joined the army and uh, we felt that we were resisting an antichrist in a way […].
You didn’t feel that, uh, the Quaker tradition of uh, not taking up arms against anybody…
Well, you see, my Quaker position had become modified a little bit, because there were no Quakers in Nova Scotia, and we went to the Anglican Church. That’s the one we attended, you see, so we were more or less Anglicans.
Ah, I see, yeah
In a sense.
If I had been continuously going Quaker meetings, it might have been different. I’m always a little hurt, you know, because my cousins parents, the Butlers, […] He was a Lieutenant.
They were Quakers too, of course.
Yeah
How did they feel about their son?
I didn’t see them.
Maybe they didn’t invite you because of what you did and maybe they […] rejected their own son.
Well, why…their own son had joined the army, why take it out on me?
Maybe they didn’t approve of their own son.
Oh, I think they did, I don’t know. Anyway, we were in a strange country, they might at least have been more friendly.
You would think so, yeah.
Well, that’s very interesting Dad. Thanks very much indeed.
[…]
Yeah, I hope I can do it again some time with you.
[…]. We used to have engine troubles once in a while, you know.
Yeah, that happened to you one time, didn’t?
Oh, more than once.
What do you do?
Well, you have to look around very quickly […]. You have to look around for a place to land, that’s all you can do.
What if you land behind enemy lines?
Oh well uh, you were usually high enough up so that you could uh, we never went over the line more than half a mile at most. They’re slow planes.
And then what did you do, you walked back?
You walked back […] it might be ten miles or more. You […] military […] and uh arranged for a telephone message uh telegraph […].
That happened with you, I remember, didn’t you…we have an old German cross from a plane
Yeah […]
Yeah, is that a plane you shot down?
Yeah. My observer and I, um, about a week or so afterwards, we, we heard the ground where this [lane had crashed and been captured […] so we hitch-hiked rides to it and found it. And I cut a cross off one side and he cut a cross off the other side. That boy’s helmet is upstairs in my bedroom now.
Is that right.? Yeah […]. Have you still got your flying helmet?
Hester Spriggs (1905-2003), daughter of William Spriggs and Alice Hayward, was raised in Acock’s Green, near Birmingham, England. In 1915, when Hester was nine, the family immigrated to an apple farm called Edgemere in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.
In 2018, my wife Randi and I made a trip to England. We stayed for three weeks and covered the country from top to bottom, renting a car to get about. As I relate our travel experience, I also step back in time to visit our ancestors. It was grand.
The FK8 AW160 had double Lewis machine guns for the observer and a Vickers rigid mounted machine gun for the pilot.
The pilot did all the photography and the observer was to make sure the pilot could do his job and keep Hun aircraft at bay. If any strafing was to be done it would have been by the pilot.
The mission:
Dad’s log book show him on “Line Patrol and going to a new airdrome at Malincourt” on the 17th of October. Later that day his log book shows
him on “Counter Attack” so I would think the mission was an afternoon sortie. The first Sortie was for two hours and the second was two and a
quarter hours. From Dad’s description in his letter to Arthur Wright, his aircraft was the only one on the mission.
Dad’s Military life:
He signed up on 22 Feb 1916 and spent that summer in training before sailing in September for England. Between arrival in the UK and and August
(or so) in 1917 he completed his basic training and joined a signal corps where he learned his morse code. He applied for officer training and
aircraft schooling which was granted. He was successful and discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces and joined the Imperial Army on 20 Feb 1918. On April 1 1918 the RAF was formed with 2nd Lieutenant William Spriggs a part of it. He then continued his flight training, photgraphy
courses, gunnery school, ground signals, cross country, formation flying, bombing, buzzing and a few others until 20 July 1918. He then went
Winchester for Artillery and Infantry CO-OP school until the 10th of August 1918 He then was transferred to France and joined 8th Squadron on
18th of August. I remember Dad telling me his observer, Oscar Berridge as a ‘crack shot’. Good thing, they may not have made it with a lesser
man.
Miscellaneous:
During the summer of 1915 Dad got home on weekends occasionally while on military training and photos seem to indicate this judging by his
army uniform, kilt and all.
To answer Randi’s question, Mum & Dab travelled at least once to check out farming in Canada. Land was very cheap in Canada so their ‘bang for
the buck’ would go much further in Canada. The farm and house had been empty for sometime when they bought it which might also have meant a lower price and it was out of the way which would mean a possible further price reduction as well. Schooling was not a problem. Wolfeville had
Acadia University, where Dad was enrolled, Kings College School (private) where Bob was enrolled (and where he met Hazel Warneford, his wife to
be, and Edgehill School for Girls (private) where Alison and Hester went (and also met a young lass known as Agnes Elizabeth Mary Lickfold) who
as eventually introduced to a youngish RAF veteran. The rest is, as they say, history. So you can see that moving to Nova Scotia was a place offering possibilities.
Eleanor might be right about other reasons for leaving good old blighty but we will never know for sure.
The pictures of Dad in his uniform were all taken in 1919 after his return to Canada as noted by the uniform itself but also the ‘wings’. I guess
he didn’t have any clothes that would fit him (I know that I grew until I was 21) or they had been thrown out earlier.
I hope you don’t mind all the knitpicking Peter, but there you are. This project is really a large task and you are doing a great job. Good on ya!
Subject: Your thoughts on England: Tales of a Time Traveler
Hi folks,
Attached is Part 3 of a 6 part digital book on the extended Spriggs family. Part 3 has a piece on William Spriggs b. 1898. In a spare moment, I would much appreciate any feedback (errors, omissions, over the top silliness, you name it) that you come across in the Spriggs piece or throughout. If time does not permit, not a problem. I shall feed it to the cat and seek a real life.
The plan is to put the end result on my website as an easy way for all to access and if for those who wish, download it. Remaining parts should not be far behind. Note: Because of the 2 column layout this will likely not display well on personal devices.
Much love, Peter
Peter Bruce<pkbruce@gmail.com>
Sun, Oct 18, 10:51 AM (10 days ago)
to David, John, Hilary, me
Hi John,
This is brilliant. Many thanks for digging it up. Very helpful to know the model of plane, details of signalling skills, the one-way technology and the photography techniques. Re. Morse code, I’m reminded of his interest in this back at the farm when we built a morse signalling station. I recall mum saying he’d erected an antenna on a high pole with much effort, only to have it come done in a blow. But back up it went. So he was well-versed in Morse before he joined up. That would have made him a valuable asset indeed. Particularly interesting is this: “Counter Attack. Hun down in flames at Le Cateau” That confirms what I yesterday surmised:
Per the DFC certificate, Will was under the command of General Rawlinson who led the fourth army of the British Expeditionary Force
They were one part of 10 battles fought during the Hundred Days Offensive from Aug 8 to Nov 11 (Armistice)
The battles occurred sequentially along the Hindenberg Line, the German defensive position of fortified villages, trenches and artillery emplacements across central France
Will under Rawlinson was in the Battle of the Selle (River)which had proved a topographic challenge to cross, for on the opposite bank the Germans were well dug in amid a steep high embankment
Rawlinson took 6 days to organize the assault then at dawn on 17 Oct advanced across the river
Will must have been in the air at the same time as it could not have been earlier because of darkness. The Morse feedback on artillery positions and German responses to the attack would have been key to the assault’s success
Le Cateau was the nearby village just beyond the River Selle
Back to typing. I will send on the result for corrections by family when finished. Thanks again John. Peter
Hey Peter,
I have a few things for you.
1) The audio recording of my mum interviewing Will about his WWI flying experiences was from 1986. I once started to type up the transcript from it, and while it is only 34min in length, the task of transcribing is much longer. I will send it on should I tackle that again. The recording is in MP3 format and is 50mb in size. I will zip it up and wetransfer.com it to you.
2) Many years ago, when I was studying at the UofA I volunteered at the student paper there and became the photo editor, giving me access to the rather well-equipped studio cove there. I took my grandfather into the studio during one of his visits to us over Christmas time (1985) and photographed him. Unfortunately, I used and already-shot roll of film and so double-exposed every frame. First mortified, but then delighted with the results at the time, I scanned them in and made a mini site of them here: http://hellum.ca/Will.html. I hope you find the photos interesting.
3) I have my uncle Bill reciting three poems from a visit I made out your way in 2012. I will wetransfer those to you as well. I split them up into three MP3s.
Hope all is well. I am self-isolating here as well, purely as a good measure.
love,
/timothy
Hi Peter,
I have a couple of notes about Dad which I shall pass along shortly. You can see by checking the 1919 London Gazette and Googleing William Spriggs, the notification of the award of the DFC to him and to his observer, Oscar Berridge. The planes Dad flew were not fighters. Quite probably it was a Armstrong Whitworth AW90 a two seater observer plane. I shall confirm that when I find his log book. These aircraft were certainly not meant to get into dog fights as they were rather cumbersome. They happened upon a German observer plane while returning to home base and two started shooting at one another. When the German fire hit the fuel pump (run by a prop on the wing above Dad’s head) he broke off the fight but then his obserer pounded him on the back to show the enemy plane going down with smoke trailing behind. The DFC was more about the mission they were on. I shall give more on that later.
I trust all are well at your end. We are just fine. While I’m staying close to home these days I thought I’d get started on my long-held intention to do a write-up on the family. The original intention was a modest affair: Our multiple families through the ages against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the British Empire. By the end of the first half hour it was pared down to ‘a selection of events in the Spriggs extended family from the late 1500s.’
That brought me to Will’s dogfight. How would you (and the family) feel if I included a write-up on Will in the ‘book.’ It will be an e-book placed on my public website as 5 pdf files which folks can download or link to. It’s not intended to be a family history, per se, rather an attempt to interest, particularly the younger generation, in the remarkable individuals we have in the family tree and in a small way, bring the tree to life.
Let me know what you think. John, do you recall the model of aircraft that Will flew in that dogfight? A Sopwith or Bristol per chance?
