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13290 Company Sergeant Major
WALTER FREDERICK DONMALL
Royal Engineers

by

Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, MSCE, PE, MInstRE

Figure 1.  Royal Engineers Crest (Victorian)
(Image courtesy of Stuart Gase)  

1.  INTRODUCTION  

            This is an interesting story of a man’s desire to serve this country in military service.  Walter Frederick Donmall first joined the Army in 1875 and served for almost 20 years before he took his discharge in 1895.  However, when the Great War of 1914-1918 started, Donmall then 53 years of age, offered his services once again.  He enlisted as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers early in 1915 to serve as an instructor and he remained on active service in the U.K. for almost a year. 

            Unless otherwise noted, the details supplied in this narrative were obtained from the soldier’s service papers found in the WO97/1683 file at the Public Record Office in Kew, Richmond, Surrey.  These papers cover his Regular Army service from 1875 to 1895.  Also located were his discharge papers the cover the period from March of 1915 until his discharge in January of 1916.

2.  EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION  

            Walter Frederick Donmall was born about January of 1861 in the Parish of Higher Kingcomb, near the town of Dorchester,[1] in the County of Dorsetshire, the son of Henry and Sarah Donmall.  The 1881 Census Records for England do not include Walter Frederick Donmall because at the time of the census he was probably serving abroad in Malta.  The census records do show that Henry Donmall was born in Greenwich, Kent in 1829 and that

Sarah Donmall was born in Deptford, Kent in 1829.[2]  According to Walter’s enlistment papers, the Donmalls were Wesleyan.

3.  PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION  

The following is a description of Walter Frederick Donmall at the time he enlisted in the Army in 1875:

 4.  ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING  

            Walter Frederick Donmall was recruited[3] and enlisted for service in the Royal Engineers on the 5^th of November 1875 by Sergeant Major W. Cottrell, Royal Engineers.  His enlistment took place at Chatham, Kent at 10:10 a.m. when Walter signed on as a Boy Soldier for a period of 12 years of Army service.[4]

            Although he was only a boy of 14, Walter was required to answer all the questions normally asked of a recruit prior to attestation.  Of course he was not married and had no prior military service or service in the militia or reserve forces.  He indicated that he had no trade and that he was not an Apprentice.  He also responded that he had never been previously rejected for military service.  These questions were put to him on the 5^th of November 1875 by one Sergeant J. Anderson, Royal Engineers.

            On the same date as his enlistment, young Walter was examined by Surgeon Major J.W. Fox, who found him fit for military service and issued his Medical Certificate on Enlistment.  Walter was also revaccinated on this date, but the result of the vaccination was listed as “failed.”

            On the 6^th of November 1875 young Walter proceeded to Rochester, Kent where he took the Oath of Attestation before Justice of the Peace Lewis Levy at 12:30 p.m.  He was re-examined by Surgeon Major Fox and again found fit for military service.  Surgeon Major Fox then issued his Medical Certificate on Approval.  Walter Donmall’s enlistment was verified on this date by Captain A.K. Haslett, R.E.,[5] who then issued the Certificate of Superintending Officer.  Lieutenant Colonel F.E. Cox, R.E.[6] then issued the Certificate of Approving Field Officer verifying Donmall’s enlistment in the Royal Engineers.  Young Walter was given Regimental Number 13290 and was immediately sent off to Chatham to take up his duties as a Boy Soldier in the Royal Engineers.  His enlistment was subsequently given final approval by the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General of the Royal Engineers on the 20^th of November 1875.

            While at Chatham, Walter Donmall served an apprenticeship until he reached the normal age of enlistment.  At the time he joined the Army, the normal age for enlistment was 18 years; hence, he would not have been eligible to join the ranks of his fellow Sappers until July of 1879.    

5.  ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE  

Service at Chatham (1875 – 1879)

Walter Donmall served at Chatham from 1875 to 1879 as a Boy Soldier and then underwent recruit training[7] in the School of Military Engineering after reaching the appropriate age for full time service as a Sapper in the Corps of Royal Engineers.  On the 25^th of September 1879 Donmall, by then a Lance Corporal, departed England for Malta where he arrived on the 8^th of October.  His service papers are not explicit with regard to his posting at Malta, but it is probable that he was assigned to a fortress company of the Royal Engineers, probably the 33^rd Company. 

Service on Malta (1879 – 1881) and at Chatham (1881 – 1883)

Donmall served on the island of Malta from 1879 to 1881 and was promoted to the rank of 2^nd Corporal while he was there.  On the 11^th of May 1881 he left Malta for home and was posted to Chatham again on his arrival in England.  The unit he was assigned to at Chatham is not shown in his service papers; however, he appears to have spent a great deal of time between 1881 and 1883 attending various classes of instruction.  During his time at Chatham, Donmall was promoted to the rank of Corporal.

Service at Gibraltar (1883 – 1885)

On the 19^th of December 1883 Corporal Donmall departed England for Gibraltar, arriving there on the 27^th of December.  He served at Gibraltar for about 14 months, probably in another fortress company, and was then posted to Egypt for service in the eastern Sudan.  Donmall sailed from Gibraltar on S.S. Queen on the 23^rd of February 1885 and arrived at Suakin on the Red Sea on the 8^th of March 1885.

Service in the Sudan and Egypt (1885 – 1891)

While Corporal Donmall was at Chatham, momentous events were occurring in the Sudan.  General Gordon[8] was besieged at Khartoum and ultimately slain by the forces of the Mahdi on the 26th of January 1885.  On the receipt of intelligence of the fall of Khartoum to the Dervish forces, the first impulse of the British government was to persevere in the war in the Sudan, to recapture Khartoum, and to punish the Mahdi.  With this in view, a railway was to be laid down from Suakin on the Red Sea to Berber, and Lieutenant General Sir Gerald Graham[9] was appointed to command the troops necessary to protect its construction.[10]

Figure 2.  General Sir Gerald Graham, V.C.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)  

There were four companies of the Royal Engineers serving in the Sudan at the time that Donmall arrived there.  These were the 10^th Railway Company and the 17^th, 24^th and 26^th Field Companies.[11]  Again, Donmall’s service papers make no reference to the unit in which he served; however, a study of dates and places eliminates all but the 10^th Railway Company as the most logical possibility.   

            The 10th Railway Company, Royal Engineers was commanded by Major W.H. Rathbone, R.E.[12]  Other officers in the company included Captain H.G. Kunhardt, R.E.,[13] Captain W.A.E. St. Clair, R.E.,[14] Captain G.H. Sim, R.E.,[15] Lieutenant F.A. Molony, R.E.,[16] and Lieutenant H. Bonham-Carter, R.E.[17]  In addition to regular soldiers of the Royal Engineers, the 10th Railway Company listed 39 Volunteers on its rolls, 25 of them from the 1st Newcastle and Durham Engineers, 7 from the 1st Lancashire Engineers, and the remaining 7 from various other corps, enlisted for the duration of the war.  The normal peace time establishment for the Royal Engineers railway companies was 2 officers, 6 staff sergeants and sergeants, 2 buglers, 14 corporals and second corporals and 43 sappers.  This strength represented only the cadre for the company in wartime.[18]  At the time that Corporal Donmall joined the unit it was in the process of active service expansion.  In Egypt the company would also employ a civilian work force to assist in its work.

Figure 3.  Captain W.A.E. St. Clair, R.E.
(Photograph from the collection of Fred B. Larimore)  

            The company sailed from England on the 14th of March 1885 to join the command of Lieutenant General Sir Gerald Graham and landed at Suakin on the 7th of April.[19]   A party under Captains Kunhardt and St. Clair and Lieutenant Molony was detailed to survey and stake out the proposed railway line, while the remainder of the company worked on the 18-inch gauge railway system around the town.  Corporal Donmall and his company subsequently worked on extending the railway line from Quarantine Island in Suakin harbour to Handub and Otao where it arrived on the 30th of April.  During this time 16 miles of track were completed.  Construction on the railway ceased in early May of 1885 when hostilities ended in the area.  For his service in the campaigns in the eastern Sudan, Donmall was awarded the Egypt 1882 Medal with clasp [SUAKIN 1885] as well as the Khedive’s Bronze Star.[20]

Figure 4.  Headquarters, 10^th Railway Company, R. E., Suakin, Egypt, 1885.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)  

            Donmall did not leave Egypt after hostilities ended in May of 1885.  On the 9^th of June he was posted to Abbassia where he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant less than two months later.  On the 14^th of December 1885 he was posted to Cairo.  Again, Donmall’s service papers give no indication of the unit to which he was assigned or the type of work he did while in Egypt.  He served in Egypt for almost seven years before returning home. While in Egypt he married Ellen Jeffries Murray, with leave, at Alexandria on the 9^th of August 1889.  He and his wife were placed on the Married Establishment on that date.[21] 

Service at Chatham (1891 – 1895)

            Sergeant Donmall and his wife arrived home from Egypt on the 23^rd of October 1891.  Upon his arrival he was posted to Chatham where it is believed that he joined the 18^th Company, Royal Engineers.  He remained at Chatham until 1895 at which time he applied for discharge to pension with 18 years of service.  While he was serving at Chatham he was promoted to the rank of Company Sergeant Major and was authorized the award of the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal[22] by Army Orders dated the 1^st of April 1894.  Company Sergeant Major Donmall was discharged from the Army on the 15^th of July 1895. 

6.  PROMOTIONS AND CONDUCT  

a.  Promotions:  Walter Frederick Donmall received the following promotions during his time in service:

b.  Conduct:  Walter Frederick Donmall received the following Good Conduct Badges during his time in service:

7. EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING

a.                  Education:  Walter Frederick Donmall earned a 2^nd Class Certificate of Education during his time in service.[25]

b.                  Qualifications and Training:  Walter Frederick Donmall received the following qualifications and training during his time in the Army.

8. MEDALS, DECORATIONS AND AWARDS

            Company Sergeant Major Donmall received the following medals during his time in service:

(Images from the author’s collection)

NOTE:  The medals shown above are not those of Company Sergeant Major Donmall.  The whereabouts of these medals is unknown to the author.

Figure 7.  The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
Of Company Sergeant Major Donmall.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)

NOTE:  The medal is named in engraved upper case script to:  

13290 C^oy S.MAJ. W.F.DONMALL  

9.  MEDICAL INFORMATION  

The following medical information was taken from Walter Frederick Donmall’s service records during his time in service:

 10.  MARRIAGE AND PERSONAL INFORMATION  

            The British Census of 1881 shows that the parents of Company Sergeant Major Donmall were living at 33 Chatham Street, Newington, Surrey.  His father’s occupation was listed as a Peddler.[29]  Other persons residing in the Donmall household at the time included a woman by the name of Jane Nash, age 53, of York, a Missionary, and Samuel Nash, age 13, a student and the son of Jane Nash.

            At the time of Donmall’s marriage in 1889, his mother was listed as his next of kin.  Her address at that time is shown in his service papers as Kingston, Surrey.  Presumably his father was deceased at this time.

            Walter Frederick Donmall and Ellen J. Murray were wed in Alexandria, Egypt on the 9^th of August 1889.  Eight and a half months after their return to England from Egypt, Ellen Donmall gave birth to their first child at Chatham.  Their daughter Mary Maud was born on the 13^th of July 1891.  A second child, Evelyn Elizabeth, was born to the Donmalls on the 27^th of January 1893 and their third child, James William Frederick was born on the 11^th of November 1893.  Tragically, James William Frederick Donmall died on the 20^th of January 1894 at the age of 2 months and 9 days.

            The 1901 Census of England provides the following information about the Donmall family at the turn of the century:

 11.  DISCHARGE  

            Walter Frederick Donmall was discharged from the Army at Chatham, Kent on the 15^th of July 1895 on the termination of his second period of limited engagement.  His total service was reckoned as shown in the tables below:

 (*) Donmall’s service papers indicate that 2 years and 151 days of service were forfeited towards pension and were not allowed to reckon towards Good Conduct Pay.

            Lieutenant Colonel W.G. Morris, R.E.,[30] Assistant Commandant of the School of Military Engineering confirmed Donmall’s Statement of Service prior to his discharge.  His discharge papers indicate that his habits were rated as “Regular” and his conduct as “Very Good” during his time in service.  There is no indication in his record of Donmall’s name appearing in the Regimental Defaulters’ Book or of his ever having been tried by court-martial for any offence.

12.  POST SERVICE LIFE  

            Company Sergeant Major Donmall was admitted as a Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner on the 23rd of July 1895 for  medical examination.  He and his family took up residence at 8 Tarvit Street in Edinburgh where Donmall became employed as an Architectural Draughtsman, thereby putting to work the skills that he had acquired in the Army. 

Figure 8.  The Donmall Residence at 8 Tarvit Street in Edinburgh.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)  

            The Donmalls moved to Kent sometime between 1898 and 1901, perhaps because of a change of employment for Walter.  While at Cheriton he continued to work as a Draughtsman.  By 1906 the family had moved to Edinburgh and resided at 10 Parsons Green Terrace. 

Figure 9.  The Donmall Residence at 10 Parsons Green Terrace.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)  

            Walter continued working as a Draughtsman and it is clear from the residence at 10 Parsons Green Terrace that his economic situation was improving.  The family was now living in an attached home rather than a large apartment block.  By 1908 the family had moved to 31 Meadowbank Crescent in Edinburgh.  In the photograph below, 31 Meadowbank Crescent is the structure at the right-hand corner of the near row of buildings of the apartment complex.[31]  The family was living at this address when the Great War of 1914-1918 began.  The Electoral Registers of Edinburgh show that from 1912 to 1915 he was employed as a Watchman.

Figure 10.  Meadowbank Crescent, Edinburgh.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)  

            On the 18^th of March 1915 Walter Frederick Donmall enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Sapper, relinquishing his previous Regular Army rank of Company Sergeant Major.  On his enlistment papers he was listed as a “Re-enlisted Pensioner.” The following is a description of him on enlistment:

             After his enlistment Donmall was posted as an instructor, presumably to instruct other draughtsman, at the Royal Engineers Training Center in Deganwy, Wales.  It appears that he was assigned to the R.E. Depot Company at first and then to the 138^th Fortress Company, which was stationed at Deganwy. 

            On the 10^th of January 1916 Donmall was discharged from the Army.  His description on discharge is given below:

             He had served for a total of 297 days and the reason for his discharge was that his “service was no longer required as an instructor.”  His commanding officer indicated that his military character had been “Very Good”  and that “He came forward patriotically to serve during the war and because of the length of time which has elapsed since he quitted the Colours (that is, since his discharge from the Regular Arm) he was not found qualified for employment as a technical instructor.”  His discharge papers indicated that his intended place of residence was 29 Meadowbank Crescent, Edinburgh.  It appears that his family had moved from 31 Meadowbank Crescent, but had remained within the complex shown in Figure 10 above.

            According to the Electoral Registers for Edinburgh, Walter and Ellen Donmall lived at 29A Meadowbank Crescent from 1916 to at least 1940.  In 1940 he would have been 79 years old and Ellen would have been 72.

            From 1918 to 1919 Donmall was employed with Clerical Work at a Recruiting Office, presumably in Edinburgh.  Even after his discharge from the Royal Engineers in 1916 he did not give up on his desire to serve the Army in some way.  From 1920 to 1934 he was again employed as a Watchman.  Perhaps the world-wide depression prevented him from continuing his work as a Draughtsman.  From 1934 to 1940 he apparently was retired.  No information has been uncovered to indicate his date of death.

REFERENCES  

Books  

1.      CONOLLY, T.W.J.  Roll of Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers From 1660 to 1898.  The Royal Engineers Institute, Chatham, Kent, 1898.  

2. GORDON, L.L.  British Battles and Medals.  Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1971.

3. GRIERSON, J.M.  Scarlet Into Khaki: The British Army on the Eve of the Boer War.  Greenhill Books, London, 1988.

4. PORTER, W.  The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers.  Volume II.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1952.

5. SKELLEY, A.R.  The Victorian Army at Home: The Recruitment and Terms and Conditions of the British Regular, 1859-1899.  McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, 1977.

Census Documents  

1.      1881 British Census.  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Family History Resource File.  Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 1999.  

2.      1901 Census of England (RG 13/851).  

3.      Electoral Registers, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1897 – 1940.  

Medal Rolls  

Royal Engineers Medal Roll, 24^th Company, Egypt 1882 [SUAKIN] (WO 100/64).    

Soldier’s Service Papers  

1.      The service papers of 13290 Company Sergeant Major Walter Frederick Donmall, R.E., (WO97/1683) consisting of the following documents:  

a.       Proceedings on Attestation (W.O. Form 39).

b.      Description on Enlistment.

c.       Military History Sheet.

d.      Medical History (W.O. Form 1143).

e.       Statement of Services.  

2.      The service papers of 89003 Sapper Walter Frederick Donmall, R.E., (WO97/1683) consisting of the following documents:  

a.       Proceedings on Discharge (Army Form B. 268).

b.      Medical History (Army Form B. 178).

c.       Descriptive Return of Soldier on Discharge (Army Form D. 400).

d.      Regimental Conduct Sheet (Army Form B. 120).

e.       Squadron, Troop, Battery and Company Conduct Sheet (Army Form B. 121).

ENDNOTES