Cardiganshire politics and the Second World War

 In 1921, the long-serving Liberal MP, Matthew Vaughan-Davies, was raised to the peerage as Baron Ystwyth, of Tan-y-Bwlch in the County of Cardigan. His elevation was a cynical move by the ‘Welsh Wizard’ David Lloyd George to bolster his support in Westminster when his leadership of the coalition government was reliant on the support of the Conservatives in the House of Commons. As a Welsh seat, Cardiganshire was widely seen as Lloyd George’s backyard and guaranteed to return an MP supportive of the Coalition. That calculation, however, failed to take account of the split in the Liberal Party since Lloyd George’s coup against former prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith in 1916. As part of the ongoing rivalry with his successor, Asquith, at the head of the Liberals on the opposition benches, decided to contest the seat. 

In the resultant by-election, the Coalition Liberals put up barrister and Lloyd George’s former private secretary, Ernest Evans. After service in the Great War, in which he had been a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps (1915-18), he returned to his native Aberystwyth to fight a bitter election battle. The Tories agreed to support him and there did not seem to be any other potential competition. That was, until the Asquithian Liberals, which included the Cardiganshire Liberal Association, selected William Llewelyn Williams, another barrister who had made a name for himself as a journalist, a former MP for Carmarthen Boroughs, and, more importantly, a bitter enemy of Lloyd George. Kenneth Morgan described it as ‘a bitter civil war’, with ‘violent conflict over the personality and reputation of Lloyd George himself.’*  It tore through the county with Methodists and coastal communities (including Aberystwyth) generally favouring Evans and Baptists, Unitarians, farmers, and inland towns tending to back Williams. In the end, Evans was elected with a majority of 3,000 votes but the scars ran deep and, with rival Liberal clubs being founded in Aberystwyth, they fought it out in the ensuing general elections in 1922 and 1923. This internecine electoral warfare did for the Liberal Party in many of its Welsh strongholds and, by the time they decided to settle their differences in 1923, found that they had lost South Wales to the Labour Party.

Evans lost the seat in the 1923 General Election to the Independent Liberal, and former Asquithian, Rhys Hopkin Morris. Another barrister, Morris had benefitted from the Tories deciding to contest the seat and so deprive Evans of many of his previous voters. With the Liberal leaders recognising that their infighting had left them increasingly less likely to form a government again, Morris took the Liberal whip and was one of their few success, admittedly unopposed, in the 1924 General Election. At the same time, Evans won the University of Wales constituency, one of the non-territorial constituencies elected by graduates, which led to his deep involvement with both the University in Aberystwyth and the National Library of Wales. Consistently electing Liberals, the University proved a safe seat for Evans until he stepped down to become a county court judge in 1942.  

In 1931, when the second Labour government broke apart over cuts to unemployment benefits, the Liberals agreed to join the ‘Government of National Unity’ with the Tories under Labour’s Ramsay MacDonald. This ostensibly temporary alliance was to see through the immediate crisis of the Great Depression. Lloyd George, who was still Liberal leader, did not agree but he was ill and so was not consulted. Sir Herbert Samuel, then deputy leader, and Lord Reading, their leader in the House of Lords, took up positions in this new ‘National Government’ with the support of all but four Liberal MPs. These four, all related to Lloyd George and representing north Wales constituencies, remained in opposition to be joined by the old man when he returned from illness. Their opposition was, officially, because the new government, dominated by Tories, would end Britain’s free trading policy and adopt tariffs on imports. In truth, it had more than a little to do with Lloyd George not being offered a place in the Cabinet. Morris, who disliked Lloyd George, followed Samuel tentatively and, for the first time, faced a Labour candidate at the 1931 General Election. 

The Liberals had agreed with the Cabinet to stand on a separate manifesto to the Tories and National Labour, which enabled them to still campaign for free trade, but the election proved a disaster. The party had been splintering since 1929 into the official party and the right-leaning ‘National Liberals’, led by Sir John Simon. With the official party reduced to a rump, Simon led his followers into joining the coalition, which left Samuel and his allies heavily outnumbered. Morris, increasingly uncomfortable at the ideological sacrifices they were making to remain in government, stood down in 1932 to become a Metropolitan Police magistrate. In 1945, he managed to buck the trend by beating Labour to win Carmarthen at that year’s general election. 

Meanwhile, in the Cardiganshire by-election, the local Liberal association selected yet another local barrister, David Owen Evans, the son of a tenant farmer. Evans did not support the National Government, so the Tories asked for a free run at the seat. Fearful of a bruising contest, the Liberal leaders had Evans publicly commit to supporting the government but to no avail and he had to face both Conservative and Labour candidates. Predictably though, Evans was elected with relative ease. His reservations about supporting the National Government gave him little cause for anxiety in the end when the Liberals in Cabinet resigned. Already marginalised, the death of Sir Donald Maclean and the failure of MacDonald to appoint another Liberal had led to an ongoing argument. Then, when the Government convened the British Empire Economic Conference in Ottawa to agree on an imperial response to the Great Depression, their patience snapped. When the Government agreed to implement ‘imperial preference’, whereby tariffs would be imposed on goods from outside the Empire, Samuel led the few Liberals left in government to cross the floor. 

Following his leaders, Owen Evans dutifully, and more comfortably, adjusted to opposition. It was here that the Liberals would reunite with Lloyd George and be mauled at the 1935 General Election. When Samuel lost his seat as a result, they selected the Lloyd George-backed Sir Archibald Sinclair as his replacement. Evans was not a particularly distinguished parliamentarian, but he was well respected in the Commons. His interventions included topics such as unemployment, agriculture, and army morale. In the debates around the Munich Agreement of 1938, which seemed initially to be wildly popular with the public, he supported Sinclair in voting against it and in other moves that saw the Liberal Party become one of the most consistent opponents of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler’s Germany. In the 1945 Dissolution Honours List, he had been awarded a knighthood but, before he could receive it, he died suddenly whilst going to see a doctor in London about heart trouble.

As the honour had been awarded to mark the dissolution of Parliament before the 1945 General Election, the Cardiganshire Liberal Association, as had become a bit of a tradition, selected another local barrister. Evan Roderic Bowen, a local grammar schoolboy, Aberystwyth graduate, and an army captain in the Second World War, swept to victory over his Labour opponent. In 1950, he was returned with the largest Liberal majority in the country, and, when Montgomeryshire MP Clement Davies stepped down as Liberal leader due to alcoholism-related health problems, Bowen was seen as a potential successor. In the event, Jo Grimond beat him, and he went on to eventually lose the seat to Labour in the 1966 General Election.  

K.O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980, Oxford, 1981, p.190

Blog by Ewan Lawry

 

 

The Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore 15th February 1942

During World War II, Singapore was known as the ‘Gibraltar of the East’, one of the most important fortified military outposts in the Empire. The Japanese knew though that it was under-prepared for any potential conflict, with Britain seeing Europe and North Africa as the more important theatres.

On the same day as the bombing in Pearl Harbour, the Japanese had started their invasion of the Malayan peninsular, threatening Singapore. The 118th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, part of the newly formed 18th Division, departed the UK late in 1941 bound for the War in the Middle East. However during their journey Churchill decided to send them to the Far East, the war was not going well there at his point, and Churchill had decided to send additional troops to bolster the defences and hold off any invading forces.

As with the rest of the 18th Division, the 118th were not prepared, trained nor did they have the correct equipment for war in the Far East, nevertheless they landed on 29th January 1942 during Japanese bombing raids of the harbour and , little did they know at the time, just days before the British Surrender on the 15th February 1942.  My Great Grandfather Lt R G Read (QM) was in the 118th Field Regiment Royal Artillery who were sent to train in India prior to posting to Singapore. Two weeks of ‘intensive training’ was all the preparation that they had for War in the Far East.

 

Royal Artillery on Elephants in India

My Great Grandfather arrived in Singapore on the USS Westpoint disembarking with the rest of the 118th Field Regiment RA on 29th January at Keppel Harbour. He kept a diary and he somehow managed to continue to keep these diaries during his imprisonment too. During those days before the surrender, the Japanese carried out intensive bombing missions on the  troops as they disembarked and unloaded their equipment. Here my Great Grandfather writes of the relentless bombing by the Japanese, including the sinking of a troop ship by Japanese dive bombers and the resulting rescue:

5th Feb 1942
'Empress of Asia bombed. 6 miles out. Dealt with about 600 survivors as rescued. 'Q' 125 badly injured looks as though he will loose his sight. Later! he has.'
Diary entry dated 6th Feb 1942
‘We loose 5 at docks whilst unloading by 27 bombers, no resistance from RAF’
Diary entry 14th February 1942
‘Casualties amount to 20 odd dead+many wounded, Capt Martin 259 killed’

 

Here is my Great Grandfather in Singapore, just after his arrival in January 1942.

As my Great Grandfather was the Regimental Quartermaster, he had access to communications received by the Regimental HQ.  Below is a Telegram written by General Wavell (Commander in Chief at the time),  and his last order before the surrender sent on the 10th February 1942, just days before the surrender on the 15th Feb, containing the instruction:  'Commanders and Senior Officers must lead their troops and, if necessary, die with them. There must be no thought of surrender and every unit must fight it out to the end and in close contact with the enemy.'

Telegram from General Wavell, Commander in Chief, Southern Pacific, dated 10th February 1942

As the Japanese invasion reached the final stages, communications were sent offering terms for the surrender of the Garrison.  This telegram presenting an ‘Admonition of Peace’ inviting the Allied forces to an ‘honourable’ surrender. It also attempts to give assurances as to how well that they will treat them upon their surrender:  ‘Upon my word we won’t kill you, treat you as officers and soldiers if you come to us, But if you resist against us we will give swords.’

 

Telegram from the ‘Nippon Army’ inviting the surrender of the allied troops in Singapore, dated 13th February 1942

On the 15th February 1942, the British and Commonwealth troops finally surrendered to the invading Japanese troops. The Japanese Commander, Lieutenant-General Yamashita had successfully led his 30,000 troops to overcome the 85,000 defending allied troops on Singapore. To this day, it was the largest surrender of British led forces in history. Winston Churchill called it ‘the worst disaster’ in British Military History.

Transcript of the Invitation of surrender of Allied Forces, on the 15th February 1942 at 5.30pm, written by Lieut-General Tomoyuki Yamashita, ‘High Commander of Nippon Army’

Here is the diary entry from the date of the Surrender to the Japanese on the 15th February 1942:
‘The Surrender of Singapore to Japan. “B” Echelon to report to RHQ at Thompson Road.’

 

Diary entry by Lt. R G  Read dated 15th February 1942

Telegram written by Lieut-General A. E. Percival (General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malaya) , explaining the reasons for surrender to Japanese Forces:  ‘The essential of War have run short, In a few days we shall have neither Petrol nor Food. Many types of ammunition are short, and the water supply, on which the vast civilian population and many of the fighting troops are dependent, threatens to fail.’

 

Telegram written by Lt. Gen. Percival

And so started three and a half years as a prisoner of war for my Great Grandfather along with 140,000 Commonwealth troops. The Japanese had refused to sign up to the Geneva convention and many of the camp guards were notorious for their acts of cruelty to their prisoners. The Japanese used the prisoners as slave labour, either on the infamous ‘Death Railway’ built by the POWs between Burma and Thailand or in Japan or their invaded territories.

My Great Grandfather was fortunate to survive the ordeal and was shipped back after the Japanese surrendered in August 1945. Upon his return to the UK in late November 1945, he caught the train home to Aberystwyth. I have an original Cambrian News Article dated 7th December 1945 containing an article about my Great Grandfathers return and his time as a POW. He was given a heroes welcome by the town and dignitaries.

He had never really recovered from his ordeal as a Prisoner though, and in August 1946, he was rushed to Chester Military Hospital again,  suffering from what was later found out to be stomach cancer. He died there on the 26th September 1946 and is commemorated on Llanbadarn Fawr War Memorial.

Blog by Simon Burgess

Author's website: www.richardgeorgeread.com/

When you came home on leave, you couldn't get a girl . . .

In recent times the old Queens Hotel on the promenade is best known as having been the police station in the crime series ‘Hinterland’ Prior to that it housed local government offices since the hotel closed in the late 1940s. Perhaps the most interesting chapter  in the building's  history opened when No.6 Initial Training Wing of the RAF was established there on 1 August 1940 until being disbanded on 10 May 1944. RAF recruits in their smart grey uniforms were billeted throughout the town.  The late Des Davies served in the Merchant Navy during the war and commented wryly that “When you came home on leave you couldn’t get a girl ‘cos the RAF had them all.”

Prospective pilots, navigators and other flight crew would study mathematics, navigation, airframes, engines, principals of flight and, of course, square bashing. After eight weeks, if successful, they would be sent to Elementary Training Flying School, usually after having a group photo taken in front of the Town Hall. 

Group of graduates of ITW No 6 photographed outside the old Town Hall, ca.1943

An interesting vestige of their stay came to light on 12 April 2007. Helpfully, though sometimes annoyingly, my first digital camera printed the date on every photo. On that day I received a call from the Belle Vue Hotel to invite me down as something of interest had been discovered. Stripping wallpaper in one of the bedrooms had revealed graffiti left by one or more of these prospective pilots.

How to navigate by the stars

The graffiti in question includes a map of part of the night sky centred on the Southern Cross, a table of aeroplane wing lengths, some sketches and intriguingly one name ‘Hallam’ and his service number 1803458. All that can be added about Hallam is that he does not appear on the Commonwealth War Graves website, suggesting he survived the war.  The same can be said for another name that appears, S Daller. Sadly the recent fire affecting the Belle Vue will have destroyed the graffiti  but below are a few  record photos. The management inform me that should Hallam 1803458 come forward he will not be charged for re-decoration of his room.

Table of aeroplane wingspans compiled by 'Hallam,1803458'

Sketch believed to be a Douglas Boston, an American twin-engined bomber flown by the RAF during WWII (aircraft id information supplied by Hugh Morgan)

Pilot Officer Prune

Hugh Morgan, of the West Wales Veterans' Archive, supplied some additional information about 'Pilot Officer Prune.' He was a fictional character used in the RAF’s operational training manual teaching airman how not to undertake a task – using humour as a teaching aid. So PO Prune was essentially someone to poke fun at and very commonly used during the War and even today in RAF related discussion groups.

Blog by William Troughton.

Irish ‘Neutrals’ in Aberystwyth during WWII

The Irish Free State, as it was known during WWII, marks 100 years of its independence from Britain this year with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. This independence from Britain allowed the Irish Government of the time, led by Éamon de Valera, to declare a state of neutrality in 1939 that would last throughout the course of the whole war. The news of the declaration of neutrality by de Valera was welcomed widely at home, but what was it like for those Irish who had left the Irish shores and crossed the Irish Sea and had arrived in Aberystwyth? These Irish now lived in a nation which was at war, so what roles and what kind of relationships did they have with this very starkly different reality compared to their fellow countrymen and women back home across the Irish Sea? 

This reality will be explored below with a focus on the Irish Carmelites, an order of Catholic priests, and on  an Irish lady, Mary Aloysius Edwards nee O’Connolly, from Co. Cavan who arrived in Aberystwyth, via Liverpool and Welshpool in 1934 to work in The Talbot hotel. She was known locally up to her passing in 2005, as Molly or the ‘Lady in Green’. The Irish Carmelites arrived in Aberystwyth two years later in 1936 to take over the pastoral responsibilities of both the parish and St Mary’s College, a seminary for the Catholic priesthood, which is now the current home of the Welsh Books Council.

By 1940, according to Fr. Michael Berthold Kiely, a native of Kinsale, Co. Cork and an Irish priest in Aberystwyth at the time of the war, contingents of the Army and the Royal Air Force were already being stationed in Aberystwyth and its neighbourhood and a great flood of evacuees into Cardiganshire was beginning.

Those evacuees who were Catholic and part of either the Army or the R.A.F which were stationed in Aberystwyth were under the religious care and leadership of two local Irish Carmelite priests, who would both go on after the war to play important roles in the formation and leadership of the English and Welsh branch of the Carmelite order in Britain. These were Fr. William Malachy Lynch, a native of Ballymanus, Co. Wicklow, and Fr. Patrick ‘Pop’ Geary, a native of Ballinacurra near Kinsale, Co. Cork, who were respectively the religious chaplains to the local Catholic R.A.F and the Army personnel during the war. This kind of direct involvement with the war effort as chaplains to those within the Allied forces was a similar state to those soldiers who fought in the war from the Irish Free State. Actions of the Irish people during the war, much like those of Fr. Lynch and Fr. Geary in Aberystwyth, blurs the line from the firm public position that the Irish State was taking at the time and the commitment to and neutrality of the Irish in the war since in popular memory. Wherever they may have been in the world, the Irish were not all neutral!

This blurring of the line can be seen in no greater a case than that of Molly Edwards. Her memories of the time and her life were recounted in a local Catholic parish magazine, Cross-ties, in 2000. Molly, by the time of the war, was working in the Queens Hotel, which at that time was being used by the local R.A.F. troops. Here she established a close bond with the R.A.F boys stationed here for training. Molly remembered being ‘always ready to help with sewing jobs, knitting socks, etc’. This friendship went both ways, with the R.A.F boys being ‘very protective of her,’ either by handling the ‘awkward customers’ or ‘going into the cellar for supplies’ – this latter no doubt came as a relief for Molly as it was ‘a job she hated since the cellar was full of rats!’

The Lady in Green: Molly Edwards celebrating her 90^th Birthday in 2000. Photo permission of M. Stocks

When Molly married her husband Jack Edwards, a local man from 16 Glanrafon Terrace in Trefechan, in January 1941, at Our Lady and St Winefride’s Catholic Church, the R.A.F boys wanted to demonstrate that close relationship by giving her a guard of honour. However, Molly told them if they did she would not turn up at the church. 

I think it is therefore safe to say if Fr Lynch, Fr Geary and Molly Edwards are anything to go by, the Irish in Aberystwyth during the course of the war were offering a hand of friendship and help, from the socks of the soldiers to their souls – some might say!

Conor Brockbank

SOURCES

Catholic Standard

Cross-ties: The Roman Catholic Churches of "Our Lady of the Angels and St. Winefride", "The Welsh Martyrs", "Our Lady, Star of the Sea", "Holy Cross" Issue Number 34, Easter 2000, National Library of Wales.

Kiely, M.B. Annals of the Parish of our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride. Aberystwyth, 1973.

McGreal, W. A Stumbling Pilgrim Guided by Indirections. A biography of Carmelite friar Fr. Malachy Lynch 1899-1972. Kent, 2016.

Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

Wood, I.S. Britain, Ireland and the Second World War. Edinburgh, 2010.

https://archifdyceredigionarchives.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/memories-lost-and-found-swyddfar-sir-and-ceredigion-archives/

https://www.carmelite.org/past-present/heritage-archive/obituaries/patrick-geary

Christmas on two Fronts - part two

 The second in our blog posts of the Christmas experience during WWII

The 'Kitchen Front'

Christmas puddings in wartime

(this is the first of an occasional series of blogposts on wartime cookery and recipes)

Image from Food Facts for the Kitchen Front: A Book of Wartime Recipes and Hints (1940)

Christmas 1940 – exactly eighty years ago - was the first Christmas under rationing since 1918.  Introduced in January 1940, food rationing was largely supported throughout the war, but it posed a number of challenges for household cooking, perhaps especially at Christmastime, when the rationing of basic goods such as cooking fats, sugar and eggs, and the shortage of luxury goods such as dried fruit, made traditional Christmas recipes impossible to follow.  In fact, the 8 oz sugar ration per person per week would probably seem quite generous to us now; while the replacement of eggs in the shops by dried egg powder (one packet, equivalent to 12 eggs, per person per month) was likely barely noticed in rural areas like Aberystwyth where eggs were much more easy to come by.  The bare 4-6 oz of cooking fat per person per week (to include lard, margarine AND butter) was much more difficult to live with.

The government – specifically, the Ministry of Food, led by Lord Woolton – went out of its way during the war to help people cope with food rationing by producing a range of advice materials, including ‘Food Facts’ printed in newspapers or made into short films for the cinema; touring cookery demonstrations; wartime cookbooks; and an early-morning BBC radio programme The Kitchen Front.  The recipe for Christmas pudding above comes from Food Facts for the Kitchen Front: A Book of Wartime Recipes and Hints, published in 1940, and so is probably one of the first wartime recipes published specifically for Christmas.

The recipe itself is a classic example of wartime ‘making-do’ with what’s available.  The flour (in short supply since submarine warfare disrupted wheat imports) is bulked up with breadcrumbs (ie leftovers) and grated potatoes (home-grown).  The proportion of dried fruit (again, imported) is supplemented by grated carrot (homegrown, and adding sweetness – no sugar in this pudding!).  Bicarbonate of soda, not eggs, provide the raising agent, and mixed spice adds a Christmassy flavour.  There are no fancy additions like lemon or orange peel (both almost unobtainable in wartime).  There’s also no brandy, which seems a shame, though I guess the Ministry of Food could not be seen to be promoting alcohol, even in Christmas recipes.

For anyone wishing to try this recipe, a cupful is just that – a regular teacup size (not a mug).  Interestingly, the recipe assumes the cook will know how to boil a pudding - for those (like me) who never learned, place a disc of baking paper on top of the pudding in the basin, then another big sheet of baking paper over the top, with a pleat in the centre to allow for expansion.  Then either wrap in a muslin cloth (or teacloth), tying up the top with string (this is more traditional), or cover the basin with a further layer of aluminium foil (also pleated) and secure with string.  Place in either a steamer or a pan with simmering water that reaches 2/3 up the side of the basin (keep the water topped up as it cooks!)

I’m going to try to cook it over Christmas and report back, and we would love to hear from anyone else willing to give it a go.  The recipe can be brightened up with additional spices, nuts, etc - or of course brandy - without losing its basic authenticity (even in wartime people had storecupboards!), and can of course be made with vegetarian suet if you prefer.  Nadolig Llawen!

Sian Nicholas 

Christmas on two Fronts - part one

The first of two blogs about Christmas as experienced on the War Front and here on the Home Front. 

The Front Line

Christmas in Serangoon/Changi POW camps, Singapore 1942

From the Diary of my Great Grandfather Lt. (QM) R G Read of 118th Field Regiment RA, who spent three and a half years as a prisoner of the Japanese. He made it home to Aber in December 1945, and is commemorated at Llanbadarn Fawr War Memorial.

20th "Hear that we are to move shortly, back to Changi. Don't relish this as things are better here. Attended Service. Carols sung. Many a thought for home. Another very dry Xmas."

21st "Nothing definite about move. No other news of mail. Rumours of the above run rife. The Shoe Shine Chokos give first concert. A jolly good show. Livened us all up."

22nd " A party of sick got to Changi today. Mostly people who cannot work. So it looks like a 16 mile march for those of us that go on the 27th. We fear not."

23rd "A couple of Letters delivered to camp, other mail said to be in the process of sorting. Get a few oddments together for Xmas."

24th " . . .  'Tasuma' tomorrow. Permission to buy a certain quantity of Clinical Brandy (fire water). Church service 11.15pm Padre Duckworth (cox for Cambridge) '4 Seasons.'

25th "Troops fed very well, Xmas pud made from Sago flour + Rice Flour. Concert Parties in evening. Church Service + Communion. Carols sung all over camp. All boys bright and cheery in spite of being POW."

26th " Another Holiday, Packing for trek back to Changi. Not quite so happy."

26th December 1942 "Troops leave Serangoon POW camp 10:30 arrive 18:00hrs all pretty sore. Lucky to be on lorry with food + kits. New quarters in Quadrant Road. Quite a treat to be under decent cover again in the day. Many people still suffering from lack of vitamins. Diet centre opened.'

Simon Burgess

Author's Website : www.richardgeorgeread.com

Aberystwyth celebrity with family connections to WWII

Master of Ceremonies, Athro Gymraeg o fri, and Wardens Pantomime star Ioan Guile has provided us with this information about his Uncle Eddie Esaias (as it was spelt in the family), who came from Kenfig Hill near Bridgend.

Mr Esaias was stationed in Aberystwyth for a time whilst being trained on the ‘big guns’, as the following extract from the Glamorgan Gazette notes:

Eddie was left with a ‘lifelong tremor’ in his head as a result of the appalling noise of the guns.  According to a comment on a Reddit forum, reproduced below, ear protection was not a ‘health and safety issue’ at the time:

“Some hearing protection may have been used in the navy by gun crews, but in the armies, as far as I know, even artillerymen generally worked without any protection. I'm not sure that a study has ever been done on the percentages, but most every combat veteran of the war I have known was at least partially deaf, and some very deaf indeed. My own grandfather, who was an anti-aircraft gunner on a cruiser in the Pacific, reported ringing in his ears off-and-on for the remainder of his life; tinnitus, I should think. At the time, people probably didn't think much of it. Most hunters didn't wear hearing protection, and likely for the same reason as soldiers and sailors: before the shooting starts, you need to be able to hear at your very best, and there's rarely time to put earplugs in once it's gotten hot.” (‘Rittermeister’)

For a singer, this must have been an extra layer of hell to endure. In addition to the head tremor, Ioan remembers that his uncle may have suffered a degree of deafness as he had to concentrate very hard on conversations, and his face often looked as though he had to listen carefully to what was being said.  His voice was also affected, as if he had some kind of restriction around his ears, which made his voice sound constricted, hoarse or as if he was pulling back the sound, or swallowing it.  Ioan describes it as if he was ‘speaking inside his head’, as though constricted inside a tank or pill box, having to shout over the noise of guns or bombs perhaps?  His uncle never spoke of it, but this was how he had been left for the 25 years that Ioan knew him.  It highlights that, although the active war years and this project have finite terms, the effects on those who served were lifelong. 

As a side note, the undertaker business referred to in the second extract above is still extant and in the family, owned by Ioan’s cousins.  Eddie’s father was also a choirmaster.

I am currently trying to track down notice of the concert Mr Esaias took part in, as part of a general blog on entertainment in Aberystwyth in the war years.  It's possible that Mr Esaias was stationed at one of the gunnery points to defend the radar masts on Constitution Hill, mentioned in Will Troughton’s blog, although it may be difficult if not impossible to verify who staffed these huts.

Lynne Blanchfield

 

SOURCES

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1xarg5/did_soldiers_of_any_country_during_wwiwwii_use/

Glamorgan Gazette

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