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Major Bede Liddell FENTON
1st Battalion Dorset Regiment Date of birth: 21st September 1883 Date of death: 15th July 1916 Killed in action aged 32 Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial Pier and Face 7B
Bede Liddell Fenton was born at 25 Croft Terrace, Jarrow, County Durham on the 21st of September 1883 the only son of the Reverend Enos Fenton, Vicar of St Saviour's Church, Shotton, near Sunderland in Northumberland, and Margaret (nee Hinde) Fenton of The Vicarage, Shotton, later of "Coombs Park", Coleford in Gloucestershire. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in School House from May 1898 to July 1904 where he served as a Sergeant in the Officer Training Corps and was appointed as a Prefect in 1903. He went on to Keble College Oxford where he achieved a BA in 1908, a MA in 1912 and was a member of the Oxford University Officer Training Corps. He also spent some time studying at the Sorbonne. On leaving university he became an assistant master at the King’s School Worcester from 1908 to 1912 where he became house tutor of School House and ran the Rifle Club. He was a sympathetic teacher and "was revered by the small boys he taught" He was also considered to be a good disciplinarian. Following the reorganisation of the Militia in 1908 he decided to form an Officer Training Corps at the school and undertook a month's training course to that end. He merged the Rifle Club with the Boy Scout section to form the school contingent. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the King’s School Officer Training Corps on the 3rd of June 1909. The King' School Worcester Officer Training Corps officially came into being on the 1st of October 1909 and the new corps band first performed at a speech day on the 13th of October. The following summer the Corps had its first camp at Aldershot and was honoured to be visited by Lord Kitchener and inspected by the Duke of Connaught. On the 3rd of July 1911 the school contingent formed part of the Royal Review at Windsor as part of the celebrations for the coronation of King George V, where eight school contingents joined the 20,000 troops on parade. He was later granted the rank of Captain which was backdated to the 3rd of June 1909 when he became their Commanding Officer. He achieved both Certificates A and B and obtained a Musketry Certificate at Hythe in September 1911. In 1912 he went travelling for a year in Europe before deciding to teach in Malaya . On the 26th of December 1913 he landed in Singapore on board the SS "Morea" where he worked as Head Master of the Government School in Johore on a five year contract. On the day after war broke out in August 1914 he asked to be allowed to return home to enlist, but his request was refused. He packed his boxes and left anyway , thus breaking the agreement and forfeiting all privileges and prospects and returned home at his own expense. In a letter to his mother dated the 12th of August 1914 he wrote: - “Wish I was in England. I would never have come out here if I had known what was going to happen so soon. Kitchener will get all the men he wants, and a large number of the officers will have been trained in the O.T.C. This war isn’t going to be a short one. Hope no stray German shells drop anywhere near Shotton.” He returned to the UK on the 8th of March 1915, landing at London docks on board the SS "City of Sparta". On the day he arrived in London he went to the War Office and was asked “Where do you wish to go?, “Anywhere”, was his reply. He formally applied for a commission the following day and was appointed as a Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion Dorset Regiment from the Unattached List (Territorial) on the 8th of April 1915; this was later antedated to the 4th of April. He was promoted to Captain on the 15th of November 1915. He embarked for France on the 26th of May 1916 where he was attached to the 1st Battalion of his regiment. He was promoted to Major on the 2nd of July 1916. The 1st of July 1916 was the opening day of the Battle of the Somme and the 1st Battalion Dorset Regiment was in support of the 11st Battalion Border Regiment in their attack from Authuille Wood. As the Borders went into the attack at 7.30am that morning they were decimated by machine gun fire, losing around 500 men and their Commanding Officer in a matter of minutes. The Dorset men had to cross 100 yards of open ground just to get to the British front line trenches which the Borders had so recently vacated. In order to do this they left the wood at a single point at the end of Dumbarton track where they were quickly spotted by enemy machine gunners and took casualties. When they arrived in the front trench they found it choked with dead and wounded men as well 100 to 150 unwounded men who had lost all their officers. Later that morning some of the Dorset men managed to cross no man's land and join elements of the Borders and of the17th Battalion Highland Light Infantry who were holding a section of the German front line. The battalion was relieved at 2am on the morning of the 2nd of July On the evening of the 8th of July 1916 the 1st Battalion Dorset Regiment relieved the 9th Battalion Essex Regiment at Ovillers on the Somme. Ovillers had been the scene of fierce fighting since the opening day of the battle a week earlier and most of the front line was so pulverised that no clear front existed as all features of the village had been eradicated. The weather was bad with incessant rain and showers which hampered movement. While the bulk of the battalion held a series of unconnected shell holes, one company of Dorsets, under Major Fenton, were sent back to the old British front line where they were engaged in carrying and evacuating the wounded as well as burying the dead of both sides . Over the next two days the battalion carried out bombing attacks on the German positions and drove off a weak counterattack with some ease. They also consolidated a crater to use as a defensive position. They were relieved at 11pm on the night of the 11th by the 16th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers and moved to rest positions at Bouzincourt. He wrote to his father while in these billets in a letter dated the 13th of July: - “My dear Father, After a strenuous time we are back again. I hope to re-organise in billets. I cannot remember when I last had my clothes, or even my boots off, or when I washed my hands or shaved, but it seems a long way back. Since July 1st we have lost very heavily, the heaviest loss the battalion has ever had. The news here is good, and the Hun is being cleared out slowly and steadily. The village (?) which we recently occupied has been mentioned often in the papers, and I see the “Daily Mail” talks about fighting from house to house and street to street. The only signs of a village, however, are parts of the E and W end walls of the Church and a few heaps of bricks. Not a sign of a street or road, nothing but trenches and craters—some 20 ft. deep where our shells have fallen. It is impossible to describe the battlefield round here. As we advanced to the Hun position along a track with a bank on one side of it and the other exposed, we passed heaps of dead bodies of both our fellows and the Huns – artillery and machine gun fire, and probably gas, had accounted for them. I saw a head and a hand just beside it – probably all that remained of some poor chap. In the village itself I saw tangled up amongst the barbed wire, sand bags and earth, what had once been an iron bead stead, but there were no signs of the cottage – not even a brick. Further on there was a little ornamental garden gate made of iron, and just visible in the side of a trench. It was hard to imagine that it had once been the entrance to a picturesque cottage, with ramblers and flowers and fruit trees. Just above the gate, on top of what had been the parapet, was a dead Hun. He had been killed by a bomb. My right half battalion held the forward centre position of the village, and we were able to work further still between two lines held by the Huns till we got to a crater, which we put into a state of defence, and then commenced to sap further towards a Hun communication trench. We were sniped from three sides and in getting up to the crater I lost five men, running as they followed me – two killed at once, shot in the head. We had to leave the wounded where they were till it was dark and then got them down on stretchers. Another fellow had a bullet through his steel helmet, which saved his life. One youngster was sniping some Huns we spotted about 100 yards in front, and a bullet got him through both cheeks. He was lucky, for his jaw and tongue were uninjured. I enclose a sketch I made from the crater, and which has since been sent in to the Division. I took compass bearings, so it is fairly accurate. We have had pretty good weather for the last six days – before that the mud in the trenches was awful. It is raining again now. I have just received Ellie’s of the 8th inst., and am very sorry to hear you are in bed. Hope you will be all right again shortly. Best love to mother and Ellie." Your loving son Bede Remember me to everyone. On the 14th of July 1916, while still in billets, he wrote his last letter home, to Mrs Liddell, the widow of the former Rector of Jarrow who had been his Godfather: - “Dear Mrs Liddell, Though I have been out here nearly two months there has been so much to do that it seems like a few days. We go up again tonight so I must seize this opportunity of writing to you. I was very sorry not to have been able to see you before coming out, but the orders were sudden and I could not get home or anywhere. The regiment has been badly cut up. The rest of us are fit and hope to give the Hun another knock. I must consider myself lucky to have come through without a scratch so far. I am now second in command of the Battn., and in charge of two companies as a result of the casualties. My father is in bed I hear – of course through overwork – I should like him to get away to Bournemouth or further west, only he probably won’t go. I hope you are well and also Mrs. Watts and Miss Frazer-Tytler. I can imagine no greater contrast than between Compton and Ov-ll-rs. You will have seen or heard of the cathedral with the gilded statue of the B.V.M. hanging down from the top of the tower. We are near to it." Very kind regards, Yours very sincerely, Bede At 8.15pm on the 14th of July the battalion returned to the line at Ovillers and, on the 15th, one platoon was detailed to support the left flank of an attack by 75th Brigade. Lieutenant William John Coley and four other ranks were killed in this unsuccessful attack. Following the attack Bede Fenton and a Private soldier went forward to search for Lieutenant Coley, whom he thought had been wounded, but who was in fact already dead. Fenton and the soldier were killed by enemy fire while only 15 yards from the wire in front of the German line. His father received the following telegram dated the 18th of July 1916:- "Regret to inform you that Capt. B.L. Fenton Dorset Regt. reported missing July 15th. This does not necessarily mean that he is either killed or wounded. Any further news if received will be sent." On the 20th of July his uncle wrote to the Military Secretary at the War Office: - "With reference to your telegram last evening to my brother Rev. E. Fenton of Shotton Nr Sunderland that my nephew Capt. Bede Liddell Fenton was reported missing July 15th! I got a letter from Capt. B.L. Fenton 1st Dorsets written July 13th “After a strenuous ten days we are back in billets.” Have you got the name of a cousin, Lieut. G.R. Fenton Rifle brigade and my nephew mixed? As the father and mother are prostrate with the news kindly go into the matter and if possible reassure the parents with as little loss of time as possible. I need offer no apology for them troubling you in such an emergent case as the present." Thanking you in anticipation Yours sincerely J.N. Fenton His father received a further telegram dated the 2nd of August 1916: - "Deeply regret to inform you Capt. B.L. Fenton Dorset Regt. previously reported missing July 15th now reported killed in action. The Army Council express their sympathy." His parents also received a telegram from Buckingham Palace dated the 15th of August 1916: - “The King and Queen deeply regret the loss you and the Army have sustained by the death of your son in the service of his country. Their Majesties truly sympathise with you in your sorrow.” Major H.D. Thwaytes, 1st Battalion Dorset Regiment wrote on the 1st of August 1916: - “Dear Mr Fenton, It is with great sorrow that I have to tell you of your son’s death. His body was found beside that of one of the men, not 15 yards away from the German trenches. It has been a great sorrow to us all, as during the time he was with us he proved himself to be one of the very greatest assistance, and his conduct under fire was an example to all near him. I have tried to get information as to how he became missing, but I can only imagine that he must have gone out from the trenches with this man to find the body of another officer who we afterwards found was killed earlier in the day. The information I received from the Adjutant of another Regiment, who said they had found your son’s body, and that he had been buried in a small cemetery they had started. Believe me, the whole Regiment mourn with you in your great loss.” The Chaplain to the 1st Battalion Dorset Regiment wrote: - “His character appealed to me. I remember one day having a chat with him about the Bible, which made me think all the more of him. He was quite serious and reverent in his expressions. He was killed going out on patrol and also one man who accompanied him. Just before starting he confided to a brother officer the main object of his going out on patrol was to try to discover whether Lieutenant Coley was lying wounded in front of our line. As it happened, Lieut. Coley was killed earlier in the day. Assuring you of my very deep sympathy.” Lieutenant Colonel F.D. Smyly, Commanding Officer 7th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, wrote from Bovington Camp on the 15th of August 1916: - "Dear Mr. Fenton, I am much grieved at the great loss that Mrs. Fenton and you have sustained. Your son was a splendid officer and a gallant gentleman. He was my Assistant Adjutant for some months, and I much appreciated his services. He was much liked by all his brother officers, and all ranks of the Regiment sympathize with you and your family in your great loss. Believe me, yours sincerely," He wrote once again on the 20th of August: - “Your son was continually asking my permission to be allowed to go to the “Front”. I do not know if you heard that your son was promoted Major in the London Gazette of 17th inst. This is a proof of what the Military Authorities thought of him. Promotion on July 2nd.” Adam Fox, a Lancing College master, wrote on the 26th of August 1916: - “Dear Mr Fenton, So – dear Bede has fallen on the field of honour; we try to share your pride as well as your grief; that he would do and be as he has done and been, we all knew before hand – for we knew him. These splendid boys of ours! They will not do less, and they can do not more, than give themselves for the sacred cause they serve. After all, life is not in the length of it, but in the use of it; and judged by this standard, dear Bede has lived indeed – lived life out and lived it full. One’s mind goes back to the old days; happy and helpful memories are started by the name and character of dear Bede in and out of school, I had to deal with him in many ways – at work and play, things grave and gay; and in all this there is our only thought as of a brave, manly, strong boy, whose example was a pattern to us all. But, above all, I was associated with him in Chapel and in his duties as a Sacristan. I can honestly say that we never had one who joyed in this work more than he, and who carried it out in all detail with greater efficiency. It was always he who kept the high ideal before us, rather than we before him. He knew instinctively not only what to do, but how to do it. “ad majorem DIE gloriam”. Lancing has many noble sons on her Roll of Honour but none of whom she may, as Alma Mater, be more proud than your dear boy, whom I shall always regard as a friend indeed who showed the “greater love.” His action in coming home as he did was typical; the child was indeed father to the man. Our real and true sympathy to his mother, to you, and all yours. Yours very sincerely" Professor Lock, Warden of Keble College Oxford wrote: - “Dear Sir, May I send a line of real sympathy to you on the loss of your son, of which I have only learnt through the “Church Times”. I have a very clear remembrance of him and his bright, good natured temperament; he was always sound at heart, and loyal and trustworthy. Later on I saw him when on a visit to the King’s School at Worcester, and I heard from his Head Master how well he was throwing himself into the military training of the boys, so that it is no surprise to see how well they speak of his work as an officer. His life will be a pleasant memory to you, and you will be proud of the self-sacrifice of his death also. May God give you comfort in these and in the thought of His protecting care. Believe me," Yours sincerely W. Lock The Head Master of the King’s School Worcester wrote on the 7th of August 1916: - “My dear Mr. Fenton It was with very deep sorrow and heartfelt sympathy for you that I heard yesterday of your loss and ours in the passing of Bede in the service of his country. He was a born soldier and it is the death he would have wished, and I have no doubt that he was fully prepared to make the great Sacrifice; but the trial to you must be none the less terrible, and our sympathy goes out to you and Mrs. Fenton and his sister. We have the happiest recollection of his residence with us and his work in the School. Our O.T.C. is a permanent memorial of his energy and wise initiative, and he was one of the best disciplinarians with the boys that I have known. Many friends at Worcester will mourn you boy’s loss much. I am sure he fell gallantly in this great and holy cause." Yours most sincerely, W.H. Chappel He is commemorated on war memorial at the King’s School Worcester and on the memorial window at Worcester Cathedral. He is also commemorated on the Shotton Colliery War Memorial, on the memorial at Keble College Oxford and on a triptych in St. Saviour's Church, Shotton Colliery, Co. Durham.

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