Lieutenant Owen William Steele, salesman, soldier and officer of the Newfoundland Regiment that suffered horrendous losses on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Owen William Steele’s diaries
Steele best known for the detailed journal he kept from his enlistment to his death in France in July 1916. Typed excerpts from Owen William Steele’s diaries and letters, 1914–16, preserved in a leather-bound commemorative album in the archives of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland. One of several copies transcribed and edited by Owen’s sister and distributed to members of the family. The original papers no longer extant.
Early Life and Career
Owen William Steele born 28 April 1887 in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. His father, Samuel, left the “Avalonia,” Kings Kerswell, Newton Abbot, England in the 1880s. He came to Newfoundland, where he married Sarah Blanche Harris, niece of a local hardware merchant. Samuel and Sarah had 10 children. Steele grew up in St. John’s and later enrolled in Bishop Field College.
“My earliest memories are of living over the shop at 100 Water street with my parents, James R. and Amy (Stevenson) Steele, my brother, Owen, and my sister, Isabelle. The building four storeys high and of brick construction. My brother and I shared a bedroom on the top floor, which reached by climbing three flights of stairs, and it had a magnificent view of the Narrows.” –
Private James H Steele 6341
Too young, Owen’s brother James enlisted just before the end of the Great War on 1 November 1918.
Newfoundland Highlanders
In school, Owen active in athletics, excelling at race walking where he later won the 21-mile race walk at the Highland Games organized by the St. Andrew’s Club. After graduation in 1902, Steele began working for the family business, selling crockery. He also joined the Newfoundland Highlanders, a local paramilitary group established by the Presbyterian Church in St. John’s.
Courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives Division (VA 33-71), St. John’s, NL.
Newfoundland Regiment
On 13 September 1914, Private Owen William Steele enlisted with the Newfoundland Regiment and began training at Pleasantville in St. John’s.
Private Owen William Steele earned a promotion to sergeant on 21 September 1914. On 3 October, Sergeant Steele and the first five hundred boarded the SS Florizel in St. John’s.
The 3,081 ton Florizel the flagship of the New York, Newfoundland and Halifax Steamship company, owned by Bowring Brothers, one of the great merchant houses of St John’s.
Steele promoted again to colour sergeant while aboard the SS Florizel, 3 October 1914.
Last voyage of SS Florizel
At 8 pm on Saturday, 23 February 1918 , SS Florizel, with Captain William Martin at the helm, left St. John’s bound for Halifax then on to New York. On board 138 passengers and crew. Included in the passengers J S Munn, the managing director of the Red Cross Line, and his three year old daughter Betty, Granddaughter of Sir Edgar Bowring, one of the partners in Bowring Brothers Ltd. They would never reach their destination.
At approximately 5:00 am, 24 February 1918, SS Florizel ran aground at Horn Head Point, off Cappahayden, on Newfoundland’s Southern Shore. Twenty-seven hours after the accident occurred the last of the survivors rescued. Of the 138 passengers and crew aboard the SS Florizel only 44 survived.
Salisbury Plain
“We are all very particular here that we should not be classed as Canadians. We are much prouder of our distinctiveness as Newfoundlanders.”
Colour Sergeant Owen Steele, December 1914
Scotland
Sergeant Owen Steele excelled at the training he received in England and Scotland. The regiment in Scotland for nearly eight months. Its stay there broken up by frequent moves that seemed to hold out little promise of immediate action. Nevertheless the time spent in Scotland was, for the most part, pleasant, if at times monotonous.
The first location at Fort George in northern Scotland. In Scotland, Steele appointed to provost sergeant and responsible for maintaining the soldiers’ discipline in and out of barracks.
Second Lieutenant
On 22 April 1915, Sergeant Owen William Steele received his commission and promotion to second lieutenant. Later, the Newfoundlanders sorry to leave Stobs Camp and Scotland. A warm send-off the regiment received from the people of Hawick.
On 20 August 1915, the First Battalion of the Newfoundland Regiment left England, bound for the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Gallipoli Campaign
The Gallipoli offensive a complex affair intended to relieve pressure on the Western Front by driving Turkey out of the war and bolstering Russia’s efforts on the Eastern Front.
“From the outset the risks of failure attending the enterprise outweighed its chances of success.”
The 1916 Royal Commission report on Gallipoli
In the 259 days between the first landings in April 1915 and the evacuation of January 1916 a half million men had been sent to Gallipoli. More than half casualties.
Dardanelles
The Newfoundland Regiment arrived on the beaches of the Dardanelles on 20 September 1915. Gallipoli characterized by boredom, discomfort, illness and constant danger. The horrendous conditions at Gallipoli took a toll on the Newfoundland Regiment.
By 18 October 1915, only some 760 of the 1,070 Newfoundlanders who landed at Gallipoli battle worthy. Steele’s platoon shrunk from over 50 to 23 men. In late October, Lieutenant Steele suffered from dysentery and sore throat. But, he refused to go to sick parade.
Acting CO
Things got worse for Lieuteant Owen William Steele on 26 November, when a rainstorm flooded the regiment’s trenches. Dugouts destroyed, washing away equipment and soaking the soldiers. The following day, a dramatic drop in temperatures resulted in several inches of ice on top of the standing water in the trenches.
Following the flood, the commanding officer (CO) of “A” Company went missing. Second Lieutenant Steele appointed acting CO, a position usually held by a captain. One hundred and fifty soldiers of the regiment sent to hospital, mostly for frost bite. Steele credited the lack of fatalities to the inherent “hardiness” of the Newfoundland soldiers.
Salonika
The decision to evacuate the Gallipoli Peninsula first considered in late September after the failure of the August offensives. Tentative hopes of a renewed offensive dashed with Bulgaria’s entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers and the resultant threat that posed to an already hard-pressed Serbia. That threat compelled the Allies to shift forces to Salonika where they and later reinforcements would sit idle for the rest of the war. The decision to open up yet another theatre sounded the death knell of the Gallipoli operation.
Evacuation
The Allies began to evacuate Gallipoli in December 1915. Steele put in charge of a contingent that would help cover the evacuation of the remaining soldiers from the beaches. On 8–9 January, Steele and his men among the very last to leave. While waiting to board the ship, Major General F.S. Maude and a group of soldiers returned to another beach to retrieve Maude’s valise. When they failed to return, Steele ordered to find them. Only 30 minutes before the British magazines rigged for demolition. Steele found Maude and his men, who had been caught in some barbed wire, and got them back to the boat mere minutes before the magazine detonated. Before they had a chance to depart, the magazine exploded, showering them with debris.
Suez
The 29th Division, twelve battalions in all, arrived in Suez in mid-January 1916. It remained there until mid-March when, with eight other divisions, ordered to France and the Western Front. The brief respite in Egypt used for unit training, interspersed with occasional games of football between units, a favourite pastime marked by lively competition as Steele notes in the diary.
For the Newfoundland Regiment the two months in Egypt provided a much needed break from the ravages of physical distress and disease experienced on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Western Front
The British Army collected on the Western Front in the spring of 1916 the largest force ever assembled in that country’s long military history. The army commander, Sir Douglas Haig, understandably hesitant about committing this untrained and inexperienced force against a battle-hardened enemy. Nevertheless, circumstances, and the Supreme Commander – General Foch convinced him that it necessary.
Battle of the Somme
Following the evacuation of Gallipoli, the Newfoundland Regiment sent to Marseille and eventually to the Battle of the Somme.
“No need to bother about us at all, for we shall soon finish off this blooming war.”
LT STEELE – 26 March 1916
Throughout May and June 1916 Steele reported “working parties day and night” as the Newfoundlanders dug trenches near the hamlet of Beaumont-Hamel (Beaumont). They christened the trench that would be their jumping-off point St John’s Road.
“A strange pensiveness about everything and we are all strangely pensive about ‘The Great Push.’”
LT STEELE – 20 June 1916
Ten days later,
“It is surprising to see how happy and light-hearted everyone is, and yet this is undoubtedly the last day for many. I believe that the climax of our troubles will be reached within the next few days, after which the day of peace will rapidly draw near.”
LT STEELE – 30 June 1916
This Steele’s last letter.
“Just one more last note before moving off. For certain reasons, a delay has enabled me to write this as my last note, for a short while at least, whereas, I thought my last- a few days ago,- would have been the last for a few days to come.
Re the soil of Belgium: The name of the injection, which you could not remember, is, I think, “Tetanic.” Of course, we all have our “Field-Dressings” with us, which contain, besides bandages, a little phial of ‘Iodine,’ this being a disinfectant of the best kind.
The loss of Kitchener and his Staff certainly a great blow to all; however, I believe the climax of our troubles will be reached within the next few days, (after which the day of peace will quickly draw near), though they will undoubtedly bring trouble to many. Jim and I are in the best of health and spirits, and I trust we may remain so.- This will be my last letter for a short while.”
LT STEELE – 30 June 1916
Reinforcements
In April the Regiment received the first of two drafts of reinforcements, the second arriving on 30 June 30th, on the eve of battle, too late to benefit from the month of careful training that preceded the July first offensive.
1 July 1916
On 1 July 1916, the Newfoundland Regiment went over the top at Beaumont-Hamel. Within 30 minutes, the Regiment all but wiped out. Of the approximately 800 soldiers who participated in the battle, 710 were killed, wounded, or missing. Lieutenant Owen William Steele did not participate in the battle, as he had been assigned to the 10 percent reserve kept in billets. Only 68 answered the roll-call the following morning, they would become the basis to rebuild the regiment.
7 July 1916
Lucky to be alive, Lieutenant Owen William Steele grievously wounded in the thigh by a stray German shell at Englebelmer, south of Mailley-Maillet. Evacuated to a field hospital the following day. Sadly, he died during an operation to amputate his leg.
Loss of a Generation
Newfoundland remained unaware of the truth and consequences of the Somme Offensive for some time.
“Our troops have broken the German forward defences on a sixteen mile front.”
Bonar Law, secretary of state for the colonies.
Five days after Bonar Law’s statement, the truth began to filter down into the local press. Overwhelmed, the authorities dispensed with individual notifications.
Mailly-Maillet Communal Cemetery Extension
Mailly-Maillet a village about 9 kilometres north of Albert on the Somme. The area comparatively quiet until the German advance at the end of March 1918. It remained in Allied hands, but severely shelled and the catacombs under the village prepared for use by the troops.
The extension begun by French units (mainly Engineers) in June 1915. Commonwealth forces relieved the French here in August 1915. Field ambulances and fighting units continued to use the extension until December 1916. Then, again in March-July, 1918.
The 51 French graves and those of two German prisoners removed to other cemeteries. Mailly-Maillet Communal Cemetery Extension contains 126 Great War burials.
Epitaph
“Sacrificed”
Mr Sam V Steele, Avalania, Kingskerswell, Devon
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