The regimentally significant South Africa Boer War Liverpool Irish Volunteer Company and Great War Battle of Festubert 16 May 1915 Officers Casualty groups to the Grindley brothers. The elder being Captain John H. Grindley, the younger being Captain David R. Grindley, both 5th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment, Territorial Force, both formerly 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment, Volunteer Force, who were both with the 5th Volunteer Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment out in South Africa during the Boer War, the elder being with the first section, the younger being with the third section of Liverpool Irish Volunteers. Together during the Great War had quite possibly a unique distinction in seeing service out on the Western Front from the same day, with the same battalion and in the same company, the elder being in command of ‘D’ Company with his younger brother being the second-in-command of the company. They then went on to be wounded in action on the same day on 16 May 1915 in the same aspect of the battle, when the company was ordered forward over open ground and was hit by shell fire, with both brothers being wounded by shrapnel, the elder in the chin, the younger in the right ankle. They were evacuated home around the same time, though only the elder would return to the front. The elder was a well known Liverpool at dealer who had taken over the family business, and he would also return to uniform during the Second World War. As of 1950 he was apparently the last of the Boer War Liverpool Irish Service Company officers still alive.
Group of 6: Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 2 Clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, named in officially impressed style; (LIEUT: J.H. GRINDLEY, VOL: COY. RL: IRISH REGT.); 1914-1915 Star; (CAPT: J.H. GRINDLEY. L’POOL R.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (CAPT. J.H. GRINDLEY.); Defence Medal 1939-1945; Territorial Decoration, GVR cypher, silver hallmarks for London with date letter ‘d’ for 1919, complete with foliated top bar. These housed in a Spink and Son case.
Together with two original photographs of the recipient when a young officer with the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment . Also other copied images.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Group of 5: Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 4 Clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1902, named in officially engraved Italic script; (LIEUT. D.R. GRINDLEY, VOL: CO. R. IRISH RGT:); 1914-1915 Star; (CAPT: D.R. GRINDLEY. L’POOL R.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (CAPT. D.R. GRINDLEY); Territorial Decoration, GVR cypher, complete with foliated top bar.
Condition: Good Very Fine or better.
Together with a photograph of the recipient when a young officer with the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment. This inscribed on the back by him. Also other copied images.
The elder brother: John Herbert Grindley was born on 16 December 1873 in Birkenhead, the eldest of three children to Edward Grindley and his wife, Anne E. Lindley, nee Gibbs. His father was Alderman, and also founded the firm of Grindley and Palmer in 1857, an art dealership which was well known in the Liverpool area, ‘dealing in pictures and objects of art of the highest artistic standard’. As such he went on to follow in his fathers footsteps to work as a finer art dealer and publisher in his father’s business, and was later to become renowned for selecting pictures to be including in some of the ‘most important collections of the shipping and commercial magnates of Liverpool’.
Having enlisted into the Volunteer Force in 1893, he saw service for some six years and was promoted to Sergeant with the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He then received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant into the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment in 1899, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 6 January 1900, and then granted a regular service commission as a Lieutenant from 24 February 1900.
In early 1900 additional troops were needed for the Boer War in South Africa. Liverpool like the rest of the country was gripped with war fever and anti-Boer feeling and the Liverpool Irish responded and 200 men volunteered for active service. At a banquet held at the Town Hall. The first three officers to come forward were Captain T. Warwick Williams, Lieutenant J.H. Grindley and Lieutenant J. Goffy. On 16 February, these three officers and some 113 men formed the first section of Liverpool Irish volunteers sailed for South Africa aboard the S.S. Gascon, landing at Cape Town on 11 March 1900. Moving to Green Point Camp at Bloemsfontein they joined up with the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment to whom they had been allotted for active service as the 5th Volunteer Company. The battalion formed part of Major General Clement’s Brigade, and took part in the actions at Slip Flat Drift,, Zand River Drift, Bethlehem on 7 July where Captain T. Warrick Williams and 12 N.C.O.’s and men were injured, and Slabbert’s Nek. As such, J. Herbert Grindley saw active service in the Orange Free State from May to May 1900, the Orange River Colony from May to June 1900, and on operations south of the Orange River in the Cape Colony. Grindley also found himself appointed adjutant and put in charge of Boer prisoners being conveyed to St. Helena, before contracting enteric fever and being hospitalised at Bloemfontein. He recovered and was put in charge of more prisoners, this time taking them to Ceylon aboard the transport Avondale Castle. He then retuned to Cape Town and retuned home with the battalion, arriving at Southampton on 26 November 1900. The men of the 5th Volunteer Company were disbanded from regular service on 30 November 1900. The men of the original contingent of the Liverpool Irish returned as heroes, and weeks of banqueting and celebrations ensued all over Liverpool in their honour, with a special plaque being made with all their names on and then displayed in the Liverpool Irish barracks at St. Ann Street.
For his part, J. Herbert Grindley, who was appointed an Honorary Lieutenant with the Royal Irish Regiment on 27 December 1900 on his return to his peacetime service with the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, was promoted to Captain on 26 June 1901, before resigning his commission on 27 December 1906. He was then re-appointed to a commission on the formation of the Territorial Force on 1 April 1908 as a Lieutenant with the 5th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment. In 1910, having been promoted to Captain he was appointed the officer commanding the machine gun sections of the Liverpool Brigade. As of 1911 he was living in Birkenhead at 28 Tollermache Road, together with his wife Harriet Jessie Grindley, one child and two servants, Gavin Bassie and George Wilson.
The younger brother: David Radcliffe Grindley was born in 1877 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, the third child, he went on to work in banking. With the Boer War, having already been a Private with the 2nd Liverpool Volunteer Battalion for some four years, he was commissioned into the Volunteer Force as a 2nd Lieutenant on 17 April 1901 and appointed to the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He then saw service with the third section of Liverpool Irish volunteers in South Africa as a Lieutenant with the 5th Volunteer Company of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, being present on operations in the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State - the Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal between April and 31 May 1902 when the hostilities ended. A local newspaper article of the time records that he had formed part of a draft of two officers, three N.C.O.’s and 32 men who had left Liverpool for South Africa on 27 February 1902 and had been serving at Lydenburg, being mainly employed on convoy duty. This was the fifth draft of men from the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion to be sent to see active service. In all the battalion supplied some 11 officers, and 324 non commissioned officers and men for active service on operations during the Boer War.
Grindley was promoted to Lieutenant in the 5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment on 11 October 1902 and eventually resigned his commission on 29 December 1906. He was then re-appointed to a commission in the Volunteer Force on 7 April 1907 as a Lieutenant with the 1st Volunteer Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment, and on the formation of the Territorial Force in April 1908, would continue in service as a Lieutenant with the 5th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment.. He also became a local bank manager in Birkenhead.
Both John H. Grindley and David R. Grindley found themselves mobilised on the outbreak of the Great War, both as Captain’s with the 1/5th Territorial Battalion, Liverpool Regiment, and they both saw service out on the Western Front from 21 February 1915, with their battalion forming part of the 6th Brigade in the 2nd Division. John H. Grindley had command of ‘D’ Company, whilst his brother, David R. Grindley, was the second-in-command of ‘D’ Company.
The first major action the battalion was involved in was the Battle of Festubert that began on 15 May 1915, and would last through to the 25th May. The opening stage of the battle on the night of 15 May, saw a historic moment, the first British night attack of the war, and within two days Grindley finding himself amongst the casualties.
The battle was preceded by a 60-hour bombardment by 433 artillery pieces that fired about 100,000 shells. This bombardment failed to significantly damage the front line defences of the German 6th Army and the initial advance only made progress on the 6th Brigade front in good weather conditions. The attack was continued at 3:15 pm on 16 May by the original brigades plus the 7th Division which opened a front further south. Progress was again limited with casualties very high; on 17 May the 4th Guards Brigade of the 2nd Division relieved elements of the 7th Division but made minor advances only. By 19 May, the 2nd Division and 7th Division had to be withdrawn due to their casualties, with the main objectives of 15 May still in German hands.
On the occasion of the night attack of 15 May, the 1/5th Liverpool’s found themselves in reserve, providing carrying parties for the assaulting troops; further attacks next day were stopped by enemy fire. On 17 May the battalion was in support. Nevertheless, it suffered a number of casualties in these actions. It was on the 16 May that his elder brother, Captain John H. Grindley, who still had command of ‘D’ Company, and his second-in-command, his younger brother, Captain David R. Grindley, were both wounded!
At 4 a.m. both ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies who had been brought up to the support trenches were ordered to advance into the firing line and support the 1st Liverpool’s in an attack on the German trenches. They moved to the fire trench with Battalion Headquarters, and both the Grindley brothers were wounded during this advance, the former slightly, the latter severely. By 18 May the 1/5th Liverpool’s had suffered 2 officer’s and 11 wounded, with 41 other ranks confirmed killed, 21 believed killed, and 265 wounded.
A local newspaper carried the article titled ‘Two sons wounded’ and reads as follows from a letter sent to his parents by Captain John H. Grindley on 16 May: ‘Mr. Edward Grindley, of 7, Kingsmead-road South, Oxton, Birkenhead, ex-alderman of Liverpool, has just received a latter from the front informing him that his two sons, Captain J. Herbert Grindley and Captain D. Radcliffe Grindley, both of the 5th King’s - were wounded, but, fortunately, not seriously. One of them, writing home, says: - “Just a line to let you know that both Radcliffe and I have been wounded this morning in the attack shortly before daybreak. I am glad to say that we are both doing well, and are on our way to England in a day or two. ‘Rad’ was hit by shrapnel on the leg and foot. I was bit in the face and chin. Fortunately, neither are very serious cases. The fight was hell let loose. Another who came down in the ambulance with us says it was worse than either Mons or the Aisne, and he has been through the whole show. We are both at present in the Red Cross Hospital at -, but are being sent away tonight, as there is a lot of wounded coming in. Eight of our officers have been hit. Will let you know tomorrow where we are being sent to. Don’t worry about us. We hope to be all right in a month or so.”
Captain David R. Grindley was embarked aboard the hospital ship ’St. Andrews’ at Boulogne on 17 May 1915, just a day after being wounded, and he arrived at Southamptoin the same day, being noted as ‘wounded by shell in right foot’. The shrapnel had been removed on the day of his being wounded, however the wound became sceptic, though it did heal. He was however left lame after walking for short distances, and his convalescence was considered long and tedious. His would would be considered severe and he would still be under the evaluation of a Medical Board as of April 1919. He had been repeatedly sent back to hospital through further injury having been caused whilst trying to exercise the injury. In addition soon after his return from France he had come down with bronchitis, which had begun in the trenches, and manifested itself whilst he was in hospital in Oswestry in 1915.
Captain David R. Grindley had however returned to light duties on home service and was employed with the Mersey Defences for the remainder of the war. During that period he was promoted to temporary Major on 17 June 1916, and is known to have attended the 8th Course with the Senior Officer’s School from 7 July to 14 September 1918, where it was noted that he ‘wants further experience of handling men in the field’. Grindley who was demobilised on 22 January 1919, was awarded the Territorial Decoration in the London Gazette for 18 May 1919, the only officer from his battalion to be so honoured in this specific gazette issue. He became a bank inspector in Liverpool, and retired circa 1938. In February 1942 he was returning to his home in Oxton when, having reached the Woodside Ferry at Birkenhead, he was taken suddenly ill and having collapsed, was taken to the General Hospital where it was found that the was dead. His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 25 February 1942.
As noted, the elder brother John H. Grindley had been slightly wounded on 16 May 1915, suffering shrapnel in the chin, he however also suffered shell shock, having lain unconscious for some 20 minutes out in the open after being wounded. The shell shock led to him suffering severe headaches and he was transferred home on 20 May 1915. He was deemed to have fully recovered as of 7 January 1916. On 9 May 1916 he was posted as Adjutant to the 4th Garrison Guard Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, a home service unit formerly known as the 4th Garrison Battalion. This battalion was then posted out to the Western Front and landed at Le Havre on 7 June 1916 as Army Troops to the Third Army
John H. Grindley was serving as the battalion’s adjutant when at Gavrelle on 27 May 1917 he was injured owing to his horse having thrown him after being startled by artillery fire. He was unconscious for several hours and when found he came to was found to be deaf in the left ear and had lost his sense of smell. Admitted to the Quai descale Hospital at Le Havre suffering from headaches and attacks of giddiness, he was then put aboard the hospital ship ‘Panama’ and sent home, disembarking at Southampton on 1 June 1917. He was examined at the 1st General Hospital at Fazackerley, Liverpool on 17 July 1917 and then transferred to Eaton Hall Hospital suffering from a fracture to the base of his skull. He however had recovered enough to rejoin his battalion on 15 October 1917 when he then returned to the front. His battalion was retitled as the 26th Service Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 16 July 1918. Around this time his health began to fail and he was ordered by the Assistant Director of Medical Services to the 59th Division to be ‘sent down the line’, and he was eventually invalided home in March 1919.
As a temporary Captain with the Regular Forces, he had been seconded for duty with the 52nd Graduation Battalion, Cheshire Regiment since 15 December 1918. John H. Grindley was awarded the Territorial Decoration in the London Gazette for 30 May 1919, the only officer from his battalion to be so honoured in this specific gazette issue. Soon afterwards he was re-attached to the 5th Battalion, Liverpool Regiment, and relinquished his commission circa 1922. With the Second World War he returned to uniform as an officer with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, helping to recruit and train soldiers, but he was now 65 years old. He was also an active member of the Old Comrades Association, being the chairman of the Liverpool Branch, and is believed to have been the last of the Boer War Service company officers still alive in 1950. John H. Grindley died on 10 June 1953.
