Harry Shrubsole was a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery.
Harry had already been in the 20th Hussars from 1906 until 1911. He married in 1912 and settled down to live in Carlisle, where no doubt he thought he'd enjoy the rest of his life. It seems that war interrupted that for a spell as Harry joined the Royal Field Artillery sometime at the beginning of World War One. One of his granddaughters believed that his son Harry Lorraine (born in 1915) had been named after a battle he had fought in. This may well have been the case, for the Royal Field Artillery formed part of the British Expeditionary Force that fought on the flank of the French Army, standing in the path of the German First Army at the Battle of the Frontiers, a series of battles fought along the eastern frontier of France & southern Belgium shortly after the outbreak of World War I, amongst which was the Battle of Lorraine.
Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, and on 9 August the BEF began embarking for France. Unlike Continental European armies, the BEF in 1914 was exceedingly small. At the beginning of the war the German and French armies numbered well over a million men each, divided into eight and five field armies respectively; the BEF had ca. 80,000 soldiers in two corps of entirely professional soldiers made up of long-service volunteer soldiers and reservists. The BEF was probably the best trained and most experienced of the European armies of 1914. British Army training emphasized rapid marksmanship and the average British soldier was able to hit a man-sized target fifteen times a minute, at a range of 300 yards (270 m) with his Lee-Enfield rifle. This ability to generate a high volume of accurate rifle-fire which played an important role in the BEF's battles of 1914.
The Battle of the Frontiers represented a collision between the military strategies of the French Plan XVII and the German Schlieffen Plan. The German idea, to concentrate their forces on their right flank and wheel through Belgium to attack the French in the rear, was foiled by the movement of General Charles Lanrezac's Fifth Army towards the northwest to intercept them and the presence of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on his left flank. Although driven back by the weight of three German armies, the French and British rear guard actions delayed the German advance, allowing the French time to transfer their forces to the west to defend Paris, resulting in the First Battle of the Marne.
Sadly it seems Harry's military records are amongst the 60% that were destroyed during the bombing of London during World War II, so I am unable to form a full picture of what his movements were during the war, but my guess is that he was on the front for some time & very very lucky to have survived the war & come home; there were 49,076 men of the Royal Regiment of Artillery that gave their lives between 1914 - 1919. One can only imagine what nightmares Harry may have suffered on returning home & how many comrades & friends he may have lost during that terrible time. I do hope he was able to come to terms with it all & enjoy the rest of his life in Carlisle.
Harry was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
This photo is we believe of Royal Artillery members. One can only assume as the photo is in the family that Harry must be in it somewhere but sadly we can’t identify which one he is.
My thanks to Janice & Denise for this photo.
