THE QUAKER WHO JOINED THE ROYAL MARINES AND HIS MEMORIAL By E.J.SPARROW
INTRODUCTION
This article is offered free to download as a tribute to the men of the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marines, who lost their lives in WW1. You are invited to contemplate the vast numbers that have lost their lives in various wars over the years and to donate to a Service Charity.
THANK YOU
PRIVATE W.G. STORR-BARBER AND THE RM PLYMOUTH DIVISION MEMORIAL The Memorial is located on Plymouth Hoe, Devon and was unveiled 8 November, 1921, by Earl Fortescue, Lord Lieutenant of Devon. The monument was designed by a professional sculptor serving as a private in the Plymouth Division of the RMLI. His name was William George Storr- Barber. The memorial itself comprises a bronze figure of St. George flanked by two Royal Marine figures. The top of the plinth is surmounted by Saint George with a dagger at the throat of the Prussian eagle, which symbolises the cult of militarism that provokes war. This is flanked by a RMA gunner and a RMLI private.
The inscription on the reverse reads:ERECTED BY THE PLYMOUTH DIVISION ROYAL MARINES PAST PRESENT AND RELATIVES
TO THE MEMORY OF THEIR COMRADES WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 1939-1945 The RMLI private is standing in the reverse arms position holding a 0.303 Lee Enfield rifle. He is dressed in World War I battle uniform. The reverse arms position is formed by placing the muzzle of the rifle on the left foot. Both hands, with palms facing downwards are placed across the rifle butt. The soldier is wearing a steel battle bowler (commonly referred to as a 'tin hat'). This was introduced in March-May, 1916. Interestingly other memorials erected by Storr-Barber also have the same statue in the reverse arms position. He also sculpted the memorial at March located to the south of Broad Street, March, Cambridgeshire, PE15 8TP. Again there is this life size statue of a soldier made of White Sicilian Marble. The March Memorial was officially unveiled on 19 June 1921 ahead of the Plymouth one which was November.
The inscription on the front of the Plymouth memorial is from “Pilgrim’s Progress” “So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side”
THE DIVISION’S LOSSES At the outbreak of the war the division consisted of 4,089 persons, and to those were added 98 from the Immediate Reserve. These were followed by 1,040 from the Reserve of Officers and the Royal
Fleet Reserve and 620 Pensioners.' Furthermore, 'as these numbers were not sufficient 3,287 were added for hostilities only, making a grand total for the division during the war of 9,134.' Of that number 1,449, over 15 per cent of the total made the ultimate sacrifice.
ORIGIN OF THE MEMORIAL A somewhat light hearted article recounting the events leading to the memorial was recounted by his commanding officer:-
WILLIAM GEORGE STORR-BARBER Storr-Barber was born 28th January 1876 in Soham Cambridgeshire and enlisted 11 July 1918 at the age of 42 on a short service engagement of 4 years with the colours and 8 with the reserves. He was enlisted in the Special Home Coast Defence Force His service number was PLY/3102/S. His discharge from the colours would normally have been July 1922. However, a number of men were given early release following applications by their former employers. As he was self employed pre-war and he was as it were sponsored by his Division this early release would have been manageable. Thus it was 15th February 1919 that he was discharged. Storr-Barber had lived in Leominster between 1910 and 1924 with a yard in Etnam Street. There, he worked on commissions. Among his works is the Victory Allegory in Leominster and statue of St Ethelbert at the town’s St Ethelbert’s RC church, Bargates, right next door to the then Storr- Barber family home. Later Storr-Barber moved to Hereford, and a yard in Commercial Road, to become a spare time stalwart of the city’s amateur dramatic scene. He died of pneumonia in 1934 aged 58 The Government introduced the Military Service Act on 27 January 1916. All voluntary enlistment was stopped. All British males were now deemed to have enlisted on 2 March 1916 - that is, they were conscripted - if they were aged between 19 and 41 and resided in Great Britain (excluding Ireland) and were unmarried or a widower on 2 November 1915. Conscripted men were no longer given a choice of which service, regiment or unit they joined, although if a man preferred the navy it got priority to take him. This act was extended to married men, and the lower age dropped to 18, on 25 May 1916. Thus StorrBarber fell within the upper limit. In practice Storr-Barber was a Quaker with strongly held convictions, which could have posed difficulties for the man himself as well as the Royal Marines. The Quakers were involved in 1915 with the No-Conscription Fellowship, which successfully campaigned to secure 'the conscience clause' in the 1916 Conscription Act: the right to claim exemption from military service. Special military tribunals were set up for those wishing to claim exemption from military service. These tribunals could grant conditional or temporary exemptions - and more rarely also granted absolute exemption. There was no automatic exemption and they went before a tribunal and often to prison. It is possible with his strong pacifist convictions he like his brethren could have appeared before a tribunal. However if he did, no record of the proceedings remains. Due to the sensitive issues that surrounded compulsory military service during and after the First World War, only a small minority of the tribunal papers survive. In the years that followed the end of the war, the Government issued instructions to the Local Government Boards that all
tribunal material should be destroyed, except for the Middlesex Appeal records and a similar set for Lothian and Peebles in Scotland, which were to be retained as a benchmark for possible future use With the advent of World War 1 the Quakers revived the Friends War Victims Relief Committee (set up in 1870 to help people whose lives had been ravaged by the FrancoPrussian War). Many Quakers worked under its auspices in Europe. Other Friends, feeling that they “must be doing something” joined the Friends Ambulance Service which was started in 1914. The training for the FAS took place at Jordans in Buckinghamshire from where they were sent to serve at the Front. A further extension of the Military Service Act on 10 April 1918, followed a serious political crisis concerning the provision of manpower - which along with a large extension of the British section of the Western Front, was cited as a prime cause of the defeat of the Fifth Army in March 1918 during the ”Kaiserschlact”. This act reduced the maximum age of recruitment to 50 and allowed soldiers aged 18 years and 6 months to be sent overseas as long as they had had six months training.. Attending a tribunal may account for Storr-Barber not enlisting until July 1918. The decision to enlist in Coastal Defence probably was an acceptable compromise for him. It looks as though Lt. Col Drury came to a very good judgement in supporting his release and so setting him free to do work in the sphere of promoting peace through a project to commemorate the suffering war brings. At the same time he avoids having to send him on Active Service that continued post 1918. The Plymouth Division suffered casualties in Ireland with the 8th Battalion who were assigned to protecting coast guard stations. Sources:1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Royal Marines Plaques & Memorials March War Memorial on the Fenland District Council website Extract from the “Globe and Laurel” Volume XXVI page 46 Hereford Times Background to Quakers and Conscientious Objection in World War I & II First World War Military Service Tribunals. National Archives Personal Record of W. G. Storr- Barber ADM/157/47/7135
E. J. Sparrow 6 February 2015