Frederick Chapman

Childhood, family and the First World War Frederick Chapman was born into a large family of eight boys, a household where military service was a defining tradition. Of the eight sons, seven eventually became soldiers across various conflicts. Frederick’s clear recollections began in 1914, when he was ten years old and the First World War commenced. The impact of the war on his family was immediate. His second-eldest brother, Herbert, enlisted in the Royal Berkshire Regiment right away. The third son, sixteen-year-old Walter—known as "Rusty" for his red hair—was so eager to serve that he lied about his age to join the Prince of Wales Hussars. Walter’s initial success was brief; he was sent home after a week when his true age was discovered, though he was not deterred. He promptly returned to the recruiting office and successfully joined the East Yorkshire Regiment as an infantryman. Domestic life changed as the older boys departed. Herbert’s Sunday paper round was passed down to twelve-year-old Harold, and by 1916, Frederick himself took over the job, using a soap box mounted on pram wheels to collect papers from the railway station at 5:00 a.m. Frederick remembered the period as one of high tension and anti-German sentiment. He witnessed the looting and destruction of a local pork butcher shop owned by a man named Gaiser, noting that German immigrants who specialized in such businesses were targeted nationwide. Though Frederick felt bitter toward Germans as a boy, he later reflected that such feelings had faded, acknowledging that "anyone must be loyal to their own country." By 1915, the war’s toll on the household grew. Frederick’s brother George enlisted in the East Yorks Regiment, eventually being drafted to France at the end of the year. His mother’s bachelor brother, James Ellis Dixon, and his paternal uncle, Walter Chapman, also joined the service. The burden on Frederick’s mother was immense; she was tasked with caring for both her seventy-year-old mother and father-in-law, all while her youngest son, six-year-old John, was dying from a cerebral tumor. John went blind before he passed away that same year. To manage the growing needs of the elderly relatives, the family moved to a larger four-bedroom house that featured the luxury of a bathroom. Frederick vividly recalled the fear and spectacle of air raids over Hull. On the night of his eleventh birthday in June 1915, his mother placed him and his younger brothers under the kitchen table for safety. Frederick, driven by curiosity, ran into the street to see a Zeppelin illuminated by searchlights like a "silver cigar." Though the guns could not reach it, the city suffered significant damage, including the destruction of the Edwin Davis department store. The year 1916 brought the harsh realities of the front line into their home. When his brothers and uncles returned on leave from the trenches of France, Frederick saw firsthand the mud and the lice that infested the seams of their uniforms. Tragedy soon struck the family repeatedly. His Uncle Walter Chapman was mortally wounded in the shoulder, chest, and ankle; he lived just long enough to reach a hospital in Bury and recount his story before dying of blood loss. Shortly thereafter, Herbert was seriously wounded by shrapnel in his back. Although Herbert survived and returned home, he was physically broken. A secondary accident involving lime wash left him nearly blind, and Frederick became his "guide dog," leading him through the streets. Herbert eventually married but died of double pneumonia at the age of twenty-three, just before the war ended. Both men were buried with full military honors. Amidst these losses, life continued with small moments of wonder and ambition. Frederick remembered an Australian soldier visiting his school at Northumberland Avenue to distribute oranges, a moment that stayed with him long before he joined the Australian Army himself. At thirteen, Frederick attempted to leave school to work for a farmer he met at the cattle market, but his headmaster refused to allow it, insisting he remain in school. Throughout the war, Frederick’s father continued his work driving a large draught horse and rully, transporting goods for the city’s manufacturing firms. Frederick observed the resilience of his family during these years, particularly his mother’s ability to cope with grief and caregiving. By 1918, as the war reached its conclusion, Frederick felt it was his fate to follow his brothers into service, inspired by the family legacy and the stories of his grandfather, who had begun his own hard labor as a farm boy in the previous century. Farm Work and Joining the British Army In June 1918, Frederick reached the age of fourteen. Eager to participate in the ongoing war effort, he attempted to enlist immediately. He approached a recruiting sergeant with the request to join the British Army as a bugler, but he was rebuffed by the officer and told to return home. Frederick later reflected that while the services did accept and train young boys as bandsmen, such opportunities were generally reserved for orphans or those slightly older than himself. Though he was too young to serve, the war profoundly affected Frederick’s family. His eldest brother, George, was wounded in the face by shrapnel, though the injury was not severe. During this same period, the family received news that his Uncle Jim, a man Frederick remembered for winning a pocket watch in a grenade-throwing competition, had been awarded the French Croix de Guerre for bravery. The citation, which Frederick read as a boy in the French Times, described how a live grenade had been lobbed into a trench while Jim was on watch. Jim had seized the explosive and thrown it out just as a French General was inspecting the lines; the General witnessed the act and recommended him for the medal. Frederick’s encounters with the war were not limited to family news. While selling Sunday newspapers at a local War Hospital, he met a patient in the East Yorkshire Regiment who requested a paper on credit. When Frederick questioned the man, he discovered he was speaking to Jack Cunningham, the Hull Victoria Cross winner. Frederick recalled the immense pride he felt in meeting such a figure, noting he would have gladly given him his entire stock of papers. However, the closing days of the conflict brought tragedy. His brother, Walter Chapman, who had enlisted at sixteen in 1914, was killed in France on November 7, 1918, a mere four days before the Armistice. A cousin, also named Walter Chapman, was killed in action as well. The loss of three men named Walter Chapman—his brother, his cousin, and an uncle—weighed heavily on the family. Both his brother and cousin were buried in France, and though the family was notified that his brother’s remains were eventually moved to a new location, Frederick maintained a lifelong desire to locate the grave. Upon leaving school at fourteen, Frederick was named the "most improved scholar" by his headmaster, Mr. Oldroyd. His first employment was a night shift at a glass works, where he used a ten-foot two-pronged fork to move hot bottles into cooling trays. By November, however, he sought more stable work at the Martinmas hirings, where farmers gathered to engage labor on a yearly basis. Frederick and two other fourteen-year-old boys were hired for £16 10s. a year to work at a farm on Flixton Wold in the Yorkshire Wolds. The farm, nicknamed "Coldskin," proved to be a harsh environment. The three boys shared a single bed and had no access to a bathroom. Frederick’s duties involved caring for ten horses, a task he performed alongside another boy. The farm was managed by a "boss" who Frederick found to be a bully. On Boxing Day 1918, the boys were set to learn ploughing; when one boy struggled with the equipment, the boss, a man of sixteen stone, used abusive language and knocked the lad to the ground. During this period, Frederick also had a frightening encounter with a ram—or "tup"—which the boss encouraged him to "send back" with a walking stick. The animal repeatedly charged and knocked Frederick down, leading him to believe the boss had known exactly what would happen. Dissatisfied and having been denied a weekend visit home until "after the crop was in," Frederick and his fellow horseman decided to run away in February 1919. They bolted at 9:30 PM, narrowly avoiding detection by the farmer’s son, who searched for them on a motorbike. They reached Hull safely the next day. Though the farm wrote to request their return, Frederick’s family refused to let him go back. Shortly thereafter, Frederick found a new position at "The Grange" in Skirlaugh, a 160-acre farm owned by David Bartle Smith. He was hired at £26 for the first year and £32 for the second. Frederick grew very fond of the horses there, particularly one named Jolly, and respected the elderly Mr. Smith, whom he helped by milking cows each morning. Despite the positive relationship with his employer, Frederick faced further hostility from the farm’s foremen. The first foreman, a union man, once pinned fifteen-year-old Frederick to the ground and threatened him with a cleaver, an act Frederick attributed to the man's jealousy over Frederick's good standing with the farmer. A subsequent foreman, a veteran of the war, was similarly bellicose, threatening to throw Frederick over a hedge. Despite these interpersonal conflicts, Frederick took pride in his labor, particularly during a harvest strike where he continued to work due to the terms of his yearly hire. He later observed that while he believed in the necessity of unions—likely influenced by his father, who had been a representative for horse drivers—he remained opposed to the practice of striking. Joining the East Yorks Determined to leave the farm, Frederick traveled to Hull to enlist. Though he initially sought entry into the Air Force as a semi-skilled woodworker, the requirement for a birth certificate—which would have revealed he was only sixteen—stymied his application. Undeterred, he went downstairs to the Army office. Despite a doctor noting his chest measurement was half an inch below the thirty-four-inch requirement, he was passed through. To his relief, no birth certificate was requested, and he was accepted into the East Yorks Regiment. Fearing his mother might intervene, as she had already lost two of her four soldier sons, Frederick spent his final night at a foreman’s cottage rather than the farmhouse before departing for Victoria Barracks in Beverley. Frederick entered the barracks in 1921 wearing his best breeches and leggings. Though a veteran soldier mockingly advised the "kid" to go home, Frederick never regretted his decision. He adapted quickly to recruit training, which included daily schooling. Having excelled in his examinations, he earned a 2nd Class Certificate within a month, granting him sixpence a day in proficiency pay. His military career began with minor misunderstandings of rank; he once saluted a Regimental Sergeant Major, mistakeable for an officer due to his Sam Browne belt, only to be told, "You don’t have to salute me, son." While Frederick proved a capable marksman, eventually achieving the rank of "Marksman," he also experienced his first taste of military discipline at Strensall. After failing to properly signal with a red flag before standing in the butts, he was confined to barracks for three days, an experience he later recalled as a necessary lesson in discipline. Deployment to Ireland In October 1921, Frederick was posted to the 1st Battalion at Mullingar, Ireland. The journey across the Irish Sea aboard the SS Arvonia was notoriously rough; Frederick observed soldiers "laid like dead things" from seasickness, though he remained unaffected. The battalion was soon detached to Ballymahon, where they were quartered in a depressing old workhouse. Despite the grim accommodations, Frederick enjoyed the Irish countryside, often riding army bicycles and washing in the icy, clear waters of a nearby river. He fondly remembered the "Long Reveille" performed by the drum and fife band at Mullingar, a spectacle of precision and music that left a lasting impression on him.