In our first article on the Great War, we reproduced the weekly column called Wayside Jottings by Rambler from Saturday 9th May 1914. Rambler continued to write in the Newcastle Journal throughout the War and clearly had an attachment to Heddon on the Wall and other parts of Tynedale. On 1st January 1916, he is in Heddon again, and as usual interested in plants and flowers of his surroundings.
He first describes Heddon Railway Station where the stationmaster had moved his previous summer bedding plants, the ornamental succulent Echeveria, into boxes laid by the window in the protected environment of the waiting room. He records that the room was pleasantly warmed by a central stove and that the stationmaster had been previously awarded a prize by NER, before the war, for the appearance of the Station.
Interior of the General Room at Heddon Railway Station decorated for Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Photo courtesy Newcastle Central Library.
Rambler does not name the stationmaster in his article but Edward Wilson (52, born Dudley, Worcestershire) is shown to be doing that job in the 1911 Census. Pride in the station gardens certainly continued after his time as a photo from 1947 shows.
Heddon Station, September 1947. Photo in Newcastle Chronicle 7th July 2003.
Rambler, later waiting in Heddon for a lift back to Newcastle, describes the village layout as 'sweetly irregular', a situation which he says compensates for the few ugly cottages. He highlights others, more attractive, near the Post Office (Jubilee House in 1911) and also,
... that well-built and red-tiled house near the churchyard gate. This is a gem, and the light of the lamp, just as the gloaming came on, made it look all the warmer in the midst of a cold grey spot.
Jubilee House no longer stands, but Church House is still extant, just beyond it, near the churchyard gate. Rambler describes how Heddon village is built on the rock, with great stones showing all over its roads.
For all that, Heddon roses are keenly bought in Northumberland Street and the villages thrive amain. So would you if you faced a few westerly gales out yonder - King Eadwin's boundary.
Jubilee House and Heddon Methodist Church. Date c.1900. Postcard provided by K. Pearson.
He drops down from the village to visit Close House and is clearly well acquainted with the family of James Knott as he indicated in the 1914 article. This time he noted that,
... the greatest pleasure on Monday was to welcome back, for the usual short leave, his son, Mr J Leadbitter Knott. This young officer had just landed in straight from trenches that are but fifteen yards off the enemy's front line, and a lot he kindly told us of what our brave men endure.
Major Knott was deeply religious and clearly did not support the notion of fatalism in war, the belief that actions are predetermined and therefore unavoidable. His younger brother, Captain Henry Basil Knott, had of course already died from his wounds at Poperinghe on 7th September 1915.
The majority of 'Tommies' have got hold of some peculiar ideas, and one is that if "your name's on the shell", you'll not come home again. Major J T Knott saw a poor fellow being carried away, wounded, on a stretcher, having been hit badly by a piece of the enemy's make. This sergeant noticed his mates looking for bits as keepsakes, such as you and I have already handled, so he asked to be given a look at the cap or top of the shell. Out spoke the dying man, "By gox, it's right; it's got an R on it." The chap's name was Robinson.
Major James Leadbitter Knott would be awarded the DSO on 3rd June 1916. He composed a moving letter to his parents to be sent in case of his death, and was killed in action shortly after, on 1st July 1916. He died leading his men at the Battle of the Somme. As Rambler pointed out in his article, the notion of fatalism, although maybe of comfort when an enemy remained largely unseen, only detracts from the bravery shown by some soldiers in the course of action. But there again, Rambler was a long way away from the horror of life in the trenches, and I am too, in time and space.
LINKS
Hellfire Corner - The Knott Brothers: They Fell In Action Seventy Miles Apart But Are Now United In Death.
Hellfire Corner - The Knott Brothers: They Fell In Action Seventy Miles Apart But Are Now United In Death.
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