My Grandfather

[bootneck02]

I have just found out about my grandfather and his deeds in WW1, I did not know much about him as he was in disgrace as he left his wife for another woman and that was terrible in my families eyes unfortunately he died before I was born. For those of you who may be interested in military history here is a little of my families bit in WW1.He ended up as RSM 1st Batt Scots Guards and senior RSM British Army

[FONT=&quot]How Company Sergeant Major Joseph Barwick, OF The 1st Battalion Scots Guards, Won The Military Cross At The First Battle Of Ypres[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] A striking illustration of the almost incalculable debt, which the British Army owes to the courage, ability and devotion to duty of its veteran non-commissioned officers, is furnished by the series of valuable services which gained Company Sergeant Major Joseph Barwick, of the 1st Scots Guards, the Military Cross during the First Battle of Ypres. On October 26th 1914, the 1st Scots Guards were stationed, with the rest of the 1st Brigade, a little to the north of Gheluvelt, and sergeant Major Barwick, who is a crack shot, was engaged in sniping from the upper portion of a damaged cottage some distance in advance of our first line trenches. While thus employed, he noticed that the Germans had broken through on the right of the position occupied by his battalion, which could necessitate an immediate change of front, and at once resolved to run back and warn his company commander. He had to traverse a distance of some three hundred yards, over perfectly open ground, in full view of the enemy. But, though bullets were whistling past his head all the time, he reached the trenches without mishap, and having made his report, volunteered to go back to the battalion headquarters, eight hundred yards distant, for reinforcements. The ground over which he had to pass was being very heavily shelled, but he accomplished the double journey in safety, and, on his return to the firing line, found that, thanks to the warning which he had brought, our position had been changed in time, and that all the Germans who had broken through on our right flank-some four hundred in number-had been either killed or made prisoner. During the next few days the 1st Brigade was very heavily engaged and suffered terrible losses, particularly on October 31st, when the Germans made a furious attack in great force upon Gheluvelt, and the whole of the 1st Division was obliged to fall back to a line resting on the junction of the Frezenberg road with the Ypres Menin highway. The 1st Coldstreams were practically wiped out as a fighting unit, and every single officer of Sergeant Major Barwick’s company of the 1st Scots guards either killed or severely wounded as to be unfit for duty. Barwick had therefore to take command of the remnant of his company, a position that he held from November 2nd to November 10th. During this period, he, at great personal risk, acted as observer for the artillery supporting his brigade, and every morning sent sketches of any new positions and saps made by the Germans during the night. The information he furnished proved of the highest value, and enabled the artillery to render the successive positions occupied by the enemy untenable, and prevented them from massing for an attack on this portion of our front. This brave non-commissioned officer’s services were lost to his country for a time on November 10th on which day he was wounded by shrapnel in no less than thirteen places-viz, seven in the left leg, one in the right leg, and five in the left arm! Happily none of his wounds was of a very serious nature, and he recovered. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Sergeant Major Barwick, who is thirty-three years of age, is a Yorkshire man, and was born at Burley in Wharfedale, near Leeds


He died in 1942 of the wounds he got in WW1 as a piece of shrapnel which had not been discovered at the time of treatment traveled through his body and entered his heart. And yes I am very proud of him.
[/FONT]​

 

[Taffycat]

What a very brave and heroic man Sergeant Major Barwick was! No wonder you feel so proud of him Bootneck.

How very sad - and poignant - that having survived his original wounds, it should be a piece of shrapnel that killed him, so many years later....

Thank you for sharing this very interesting and inspirational piece of your family's history Bootneck.

 

[nivrip]

Great story, BN.

And I see that he was a Yorkshire man.

 

[Abarbarian]

Great story, BN.

And I see that he was a Yorkshire man.

A brave man indeed. Then he would be wouldn't he being a tyke.

 

[Anon_F]

Most Senior NCO's would have got the MM, getting the MC was a great achievement.
You should be proud of him Royal and good to see you posting it here.

 

[bootneck02]

He was big man I understand and joined the Guards as a man at 14yo (lied about his age) and went to war in the Boer War, so he has the South African medal as well. I also found out that he was the the NCO who the officer told to command open fire at the siege of Sidney Street 1911. I think he was a Sargent then. I think he probably got the MC also because he commanded the Company for a short while 8 days until replacement commissioned officers replaced him, as well as his bravery.
I also did not that he was a Yorkshire man born [FONT=&quot] at Burley in Wharfedale, near Leeds[/FONT], I did not know his birth place so am now investigating family history

 

[exmoor]

We have 40 Commando, Royal Marines just down the road from us.
They marched through Taunton recently and the crowds came out to see them
Brave men of 3 Commando Brigade.

 

[bootneck02]

Unfortunately we here in Kent have lost our Naval connections with the closing of the HM Dockyard at Chatham and RM Depot Deal and the RM School of Music Deal, thanks Mrs Thatcher..Oh sorry we still have the Sea Cadets and the RM Cadets.

 

[crazylegs]

Sounds like a very brave chap does your Gramps..

 

[Ian]

Thanks for sharing that bootneck - you're very rightly proud! That is one brave guy

 

[Quadophile]

Bootneckthat was a very inspiring story and I can fully understand your being proud of him.

Thank you very much for sharing that piece of history linked to your very own family.

 

[mimi1963]

Was researching my tree and came across your article. Joe Barwick was my grandfather's uncle and was always spoken about in the family with high regard. As a child looking through old photos i was always impressed at what a figure he cut. He was married to Eliza Watkins who was my great grandmother's sister. My grandparents spent their honeymoon with the Barwicks in Deal and somewhere i have photos of Joe, Eliza and their 2 boys.

I think he was a real hero.

It's nice to know the Barwicks are still out there because i had come to a dead end on the tree. I don't know much about Joe except he was a Yorkshire man but the Watkins came from the forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and i know a little about them.

 

[Anon_F]

Blimey this could end up as Family Favorites like on the BBC years ago, but in cyber space!

 

[EvanDavis]

Blimey this could end up as Family Favorites like on the BBC years ago, but in cyber space!

I really hope so.

 

[bootneck02]

I really hope so.

The everyday story of country folk.

Hi mimi1963, yes they had two sons my Dad Thomas and Uncle Jack, Jack lived in the country between Eastry and Whitfield on a farm a few miles outside Deal he had 3 sons the only I can remember is David and that is because he was the youngest and I was only about 7 or 8 at the time. Joseph and my gran had a few difficulties and the story goes in the late 1930's he left for another lady whether they ever reconciled I do not know. Prior to that he had been RSM at the Duke Of Yorks Royal Military School after leaving the Scots Guards. As I said I was only a little boy at the time. I have his medal ribbons and his RSM badge from his Scots Guards tunic and some photo's including one in 1919 where King George V inspect the first parade of the Brigade Of Guards on Wimbledon Common. Unfortunately my parents did not even in their later years talk about him as they thought of him as a scarlet man because of his desertion of my Gran. I do have a birth place for him in Yorkshire but as yet no date I have to write to the Parish council . He is buried in at St Peters Church, Whitfield, Nr Dover but would have to check the date of his death from the grave stone, I think it was 1941. Here is what I have got. He was only 14 and joined as a man as a man so he must have been a big lad when he joined the Scots Guards to fight the Boer War he got the South African Star so he must have fought there.
He was a corporal stationed at Wellington Barracks when the siege of Sidney Street and was dispatched there with his section and an officer when they got there his officer gave him the order to open fire and he commanded the men to fire, the result was the building caught fire and was destroyed with the anarchists still inside and they all perished. After WW1 he was the senior RSM in the British Army until his retirement.

[FONT=&quot]How Company Sergeant Major Joseph Barwick, OF The 1st Battalion Scots Guards, Won The Military Cross At The First Battle Of Ypres[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] A striking illustration of the almost incalculable debt, which the British Army owes to the courage, ability and devotion to duty of its veteran non-commissioned officers, is furnished by the series of valuable services which gained Company Sergeant Major Joseph Barwick, of the 1st Scots Guards, the Military Cross during the First Battle of Ypres. On October 26th 1914, the 1st Scots Guards were stationed, with the rest of the 1st Brigade, a little to the north of Gheluvelt, and sergeant Major Barwick, who is a crack shot, was engaged in sniping from the upper portion of a damaged cottage some distance in advance of our first line trenches. While thus employed, he noticed that the Germans had broken through on the right of the position occupied by his battalion, which could necessitate an immediate change of front, and at once resolved to run back and warn his company commander. He had to traverse a distance of some three hundred yards, over perfectly open ground, in full view of the enemy. But, though bullets were whistling past his head all the time, he reached the trenches without mishap, and having made his report, volunteered to go back to the battalion headquarters, eight hundred yards distant, for reinforcements. The ground over which he had to pass was being very heavily shelled, but he accomplished the double journey in safety, and, on his return to the firing line, found that, thanks to the warning which he had brought, our position had been changed in time, and that all the Germans who had broken through on our right flank-some four hundred in number-had been either killed or made prisoner. During the next few days the 1st Brigade was very heavily engaged and suffered terrible losses, particularly on October 31st, when the Germans made a furious attack in great force upon Gheluvelt, and the whole of the 1st Division was obliged to fall back to a line resting on the junction of the Frezenberg road with the Ypres Menin highway. The 1st Coldstreams were practically wiped out as a fighting unit, and every single officer of Sergeant Major Barwick’s company of the 1st Scots guards either killed or severely wounded as to be unfit for duty. Barwick had therefore to take command of the remnant of his company, a position that he held from November 2nd to November 10th. During this period, he, at great personal risk, acted as observer for the artillery supporting his brigade, and every morning sent sketches of any new positions and saps made by the Germans during the night. The information he furnished proved of the highest value, and enabled the artillery to render the successive positions occupied by the enemy untenable, and prevented them from massing for an attack on this portion of our front. This brave non-commissioned officer’s services were lost to his country for a time on November 10th on which day he was wounded by shrapnel in no less than thirteen places-viz, seven in the left leg, one in the right leg, and five in the left arm! Happily none of his wounds was of a very serious nature, and he recovered. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Sergeant Major Barwick, who is thirty-three years of age, is a Yorkshire man, and was born at Burley in Wharfedale, near Leeds[/FONT]​

I hope this helps

Alex

 

[Richard Ashley]

Reference to RSM. Joseph Barwick MC. I have his pace stick stamped" J.Barwick 1.S.Gds". and" CSM Joseph Barwick MC. RSM Guards Depot 1916-1919 his stick" the last scratched inside one of the legs. I'm quite sure its the stick photographed with him on page 137 of "On the Word of Command" by Richard Alford.
I'm even more delighted to read that he was from West Yorkshire, I acquired it many years ago in Leeds.
It is a most important and treasured item in my collection. Thank you for writing of him. He must have been a magnificent fellow.
Kindest regards,
Richard.

 

[Richard Ashley]

I worked in Burley in Wharfedale in the early 60's.

 

[OF4]

Bootneck02, It appears that after the war, your grandfather was the School RSM at the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Dover. The above picture is from 1921 when the School’s War Memorial was unveiled.

 

[Becky]

Nice find @OF4! Welcome to the forum

 

[bootneck02]

I would like to thank OF4 and Richard Ashley for their contribution to this little bit of the Barwick history. To OF4 I have some photos of the of the first parade of the Brigades of Guards regiments inspected by King George V after the First World War in 1918/9 all in undress uniforms, I belive this was carried out in Wimbledon Common.