Private Arthur William Fox captured alive and well at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. Arthur spent over three years in various PoW Camps, and on his way to being repatriated before Influenza suddenly claimed his life in Holland. Notably, Arthur one of only two CEF soldiers buried in Holland during the Great War.
Prisoners of War
Caricature sketch of Corporal Laurence Cyril Spindler 27128 (born in Boulogne, France on 10 July 1889), 48th Canadian Highlanders by Australian Prisoner of War Private Eric Stanley Wright 70, 30th Battalion, from Newcastle NSW.
Pte Wright enlisted on 1 May 1915 and embarked for overseas on 9 November 1915 aboard HMAT Beltana. He was wounded and taken prisoner near Pozieres, France on 20 July 1916. Interned in various German POW camps and repatriated to England at the end of the war. Pte Wright embarked to return to Australia in April 1919.
Corporal Laurence Cyril Spindler arrived in England on 24 December 1918.
The Schoolhouse, Bardsea
Arthur William Fox the son of Arthur and Elizabeth Fox, of The Schoolhouse, Bardsea, Nr Ulverston, Lancs, England. Arthur born on 10 May 1892.
Arthur William Fox a Surveyor by trade in England.
Enlistment of Private William Arthur Fox
Private William Arthur Fox 46480 previous service with the 7th Field Company, Canadian Engineers (9 months) when he enlisted on 28 September 1914 at Valcartier Camp with the 17th Battalion.
Very tall at 6 feet even, with dark complexion, blue eyes, and dark hair. Deep circular scar on right tibia, middle third.
17th Battalion Nova Scotia Regiment
Organized in Valcartier Camp September 1914 composed of recruits from Nova Scotia and one company from Toronto. Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Struan Gordon Robertson.
As a matter of fact Robertson was quite hopeless as a commanding officer. When I obliged to tell him so he made at least 3 answers in excuse all of which made me exclaim to him: ‘Why here, out of your own mouth, you more than ever convince me of your unfitness for command.”
Gen. E. A. Alderson to George Perley, 12 Mar 1915
When Sir Sam Hughes, Militia Minister visited the camp he derided Robertson, and many other commanding officers. Robertson complained to his friend Prime Minister Robert Borden, and Robertson assured he would command a front line battalion.
The 17th Battalion embarked from Quebec on 30 September 1914 aboard RUTHENIA. Lake Champlain launched in 1900 and taken over by the Canadian Pacific Line in 1903. Renamed RUTHENIA in 1913, and renamed HMS KING GEORGE (a dummy battleship) in late 1914. Converted to tanker with cylindrical tanks in the holds in 1915 and served at Scapa Flow until 1918.
England
The 17th Battalion disembarked in England on 14 October 1914 with a strength of 44 officers, 624 other ranks. Draft of 250 to Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in December 1914.
At this time, Pte William Arthur Fox transferred to the 15th Battalion. The 17th later designated 17th Canadian Reserve Battalion on 25 April 1915, dashing Lt-Col Robertson’s hopes of commanding at the front.
15th Battalion
The 15th Battalion also organized in Valcartier Camp September 1914 composed of recruits from Toronto area and initially commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Alistair Currie. Embarked Quebec 3 October 1914 aboard MEGANTIC, and later disembarked in England 14 October 1914 with a strength of 46 officers, 1109 other ranks.
Pte William Arthur Fox admitted to No. 3 Hospital, Sling Plantation on 24 December 1914.
France
The 15th Battalion disembarked in France on 14 February 1915 with the 1st Canadian Division, 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade, and later reinforced by 5th Canadian Reserve Battalion. Officially named the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) reflecting the fact that the majority of its 1283-man establishment made up of 836 men from the Militia regiment The 48th Highlanders.
Second Battle of Ypres
The first successful large-scale gas attack occurred on 22 April 1915. Canadians mostly witnesses to the horrible suffering of the Turcos and the French, but suffered terribly during the second gas attack which followed on 24 April 1915.
Performance
Several Canadian Commanders under scrutiny for their performance during Second Battle of Ypres, including a Brigade commander (Arthur Currie) and Lt-Col John ‘Jack’ Alistair Currie (no relation), commanding the 15th Battalion. British General Thomas Snow chastising A W Currie for having left his command post during the battle. The same general he had visited very briefly to obtain reinforcements.
“Let me say that I will not be mixed up in any way with rumours concerning Colonel J A Currie. I have nothing to say of his actions at Ypres or at any other place.“
Arthur Currie letter to Militia Minister Sam Hughes
Sir Arthur Currie ultimately vindicated, paradoxically by J A Currie’s testimony at A W Currie’s 1928 libel trial.
“Witness, in a moment you will be committed for contempt of court.”
Justice Rose to Jack Currie
Lt-Col J A Currie afterwards proven to have been behind the lines and ‘awarded’ command of the 2nd Brigade at Camp Borden (1916-1917) on return to Canada. Sir Sam Hughes would try to undue the fact in the House of Commons following the Great War.
Battle of Gravenstafel
During the second gas attack which followed two days later on 24 April 1915, the 15th Battalion sustained 647 casualties, more than any other Canadian battalion.
For many, not a fight to the death, but life, after running out of ammunition, and capture by the Germans. Private Arthur William Fox one of these men.
Pvt. Horace Hozner McArthur 27088, 15th Highland Battalion, also captured 24 April 1915 during the 2nd Battle of Ypres.
Pte McArthur escaped 12 October 1917.
Pte. H. Batchelor, 15th Cdn Inf. Battalion, also an escaped prisoner of war from Germany.
Sollstedt
Sollstedt a municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. Since the German reunification, Sollstedt heavily impacted by economic and demographic change, including the collapse of salt (‘Kali’) mining, job losses, outmigration, and population ageing.
Allied POWs working at Smitzman salt mines Sollestedt, Saxony, Germany in Sept 1915. Numerous 15th Battalion men identified by unique knit wool balmorals and/or glengarrys. Centre with the hand organ Pte Robert G Blackburn 46457 captured at 2nd Ypres along with Pte Arthur Fox in back row third from the right. Note the same barrack number on the tunic. Private Blackburn eventually repatriated by way of Switzerland, and SoS to Canada from Rhyl on 2 May 1919.
Göttingen
Göttingen in Lower Saxony, a 12 hour march from Sollstedt. Famous for it’s old university Georgia August and the Göttingen eight, a group of physicists. They included Leo Szilard and Edward Teller, later of the Manhattan Project.
Group of Highland POWs also at Gottingen POW camp. Fox is first man on the left (Fox has the same barracks number on his tunic). He and the man on his left are both 15th Battalion but difficult to say about the other two. Kilts could be 15th Bn (Davidson tartan) but they might also be Black Watch.
Cap badge of the last man on the right isn’t 15th Battalion and hose tops on the man third from the left are not 15th Battalion. Trouble is mixed uniform items in POW camps quite common. Depends on what a man came in with when he was captured and what he was given or acquired after that. Therefore, they could very well all be 15th Battalion.
Now at Langensalza on 23 October 1916, and confirmed again on 4 January 1917.
Langensalza
Bad Langensalza now a spa town of 17,500 inhabitants in the Unstrut-Hainich district, Thuringia, central Germany. In 1914 Langensalza a busy town containing cloth and cotton factories. The PoW camp, opened in 1914, consisted of hutments, each holding 250 men with a total capacity of 10,000.
A large group of Russian and French POW’s (including a Senegalese prisoner on the ground in the front row) pose for a photograph in the prison compound at Langensalza.
Note the POW identification badges on the left arms of the prisoners. The Germans integrated prisoners from various Allied nations into the same prison camp to avoid accusations of favoritism. The Western Entente governments protested against this policy because of the risk of epidemics from Russian troops. The Germans (as did the Allies) used photographs of various Allied troops for propaganda purposes to bolster the war effort.
Scheveningen
Scheveningen one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict of that city. A modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse.
Louis Raemaekers
Louis Raemaekers (born 6 April 1869 in Roermond, Netherlands), died 26 July 1956 in Scheveningen).
Raemaekers a Dutch painter and cartoonist for the Amsterdam Telegraaf newspaper during the Great War. Perhaps, the best known propaganda cartoonist of the time. His graphic cartoons depicted the rule of the German military in Belgium, portrayed the Germans as barbarians and Kaiser Wilhelm II as an ally of Satan.
Lance Corporal) Arnold Blaston Mason
Postcard of a Dutch woman and girl “at the seashore” in Holland sent to the Australian Red Cross in London by 5385 Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) Arnold Blaston Mason, 14th Field Company Engineers, from Cremorne, NSW, while interned as a Prisoner of War (POW) in Holland.
L/Cpl Mason enlisted at the age of 30 on 29 October 1915 and embarked for overseas with the 7th Field Company Engineers on 17 December 1915 aboard HMAT Berrima. We was wounded and captured at Laventie, France on 20 July 1916 and held as a POW in Germany until repatriated to Holland on 13 June 1918.
While at a POW camp in Soltau, Germany, Mason wrote on 20 December 1917.
“At the time of my capture one of my wounds was shrapnel between the eyes and it has been troubling me for some time. The doctor says that I am suffering from neuralgia of the eyes caused by the wound and has recommended me to wear dark glasses but they are not giving me any relief.”
L/Cpl Mason
L/Cpl Mason arrived in England on 18 November 1918 and arrived back in Australia on 4 March 1919.
Spanish Influenza
Private William Arthur Fox died in Scheveningen, Holland on the 20th or 21st of August 1918. The War Office in London notified on 6 September 1918.
The Hague General Cemetery
The Hague lies 24 kilometres north-west of Rotterdam, 60 kilometres south-west of Amsterdam and the same distance west of Utrecht. The entrance to the General Cemetery situated in the Kerkhoflaan. There are 55 Commonwealth burials of the Great War commemorated here, 22 of which unidentified. Unusual, one civilian burial in the military plot. Perhaps a Canadian internee. Note dozens of German internees of the Great War buried at Kitchener (Woodland) Cemetery, Ontario.
Corporal G Wilkinson the first burial on 10 March 1918, Pte Goodyear the last burial in August of 1919. Unlike Pte Fox, for several soldiers months in hospital spent before they finally succumbed to complications from Influenza.
William’s mother now living in Hole of Ellel, Holker, Cark-in-Cartmel, Nr Lancashire, submitted the epitaph to the IWGC.
Another farm of this unusual name at Bay Horse near Lancaster, but this one is near Holker.
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