This month’s object is an “Old Contemptibles” grave marker, used to mark the graves of soldiers who had fought with the British Expeditionary Force in Northern France, in the very early days of World War I, between 5 August and 22 November 1914. These soldiers termed themselves the “Old Contemptibles”, in response to a jibe by Kaiser Wilhelm II.
I have chosen this object because of the underlying story it led me to discover. It was donated to the museum in 2017, having been found in a garage in Dorset and with no further information on the soldier named on the grave marker – F. Monk, Northamptonshire Regiment. My role as a volunteer was to create records for the museum’s collections database for newly acquired objects. I was intrigued by the lack of further information on F. Monk so started to delve into online archives such as Ancestry.com. and Find My Past and the medal and service records held in the National Archives at Kew. In the absence of a date or place of birth and a given name(s), it was not possible to quickly identify a unique candidate – there were four F. Monks in the Regiment and local census records provided three candidates. Eventually, I came across a letter in the Army records of another soldier which resolved this and allowed the various threads to be drawn together.
F. Monk was Frederick George Monk who had been born in Hertford in 1888. He had joined the 2nd Battalion, the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1907, and, at the outbreak of the First World War was serving with his regiment in Egypt. His regiment was sent to France in November 1918 and first saw action on 18 November, in the Battle of Neuve Chappelle. Monk was one of the lucky ones who survived the 4 years of the war, rising to the rank of Sergeant. He was however injured twice, in 1915 and then again in the summer of 1918. The second injury was more serious, leading to amputation of his leg. He was discharged from the Army in 1919, as a disabled War pensioner, after several months at Roehampton Hospital, presumably after the fitting of an artificial limb and rehabilitation.
Monk returned to this area, living in Standon, working as a barman at the ex-Servicemen’s Club and becoming a member of the Bishops Stortford branch of the Old Contemptibles Association. Their flag in now on display in the Museum. He died in 1950 and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church. This grave now has a headstone and border so perhaps the grave marker was used before this more formal memorial stone was added. As to how it got from Standon to Dorset, that’s another mystery.
As to the crucial piece of evidence, this was a police report from 1911, to the commanding officer of his battalion, reporting on the celebrations of Monk and another soldier, whilst on furlough. The letter had been in the records of this other soldier.
By museum volunteer Chris Connell.
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