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1854063 Warrant Officer Class 2

HERBERT EDWARD PIKE[1]
Royal Engineers
(formerly 19317 Private, Lincolnshire Regiment
and 128934 Pioneer, Royal Engineers)  

by  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MInstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(March 2022)  

Figures 1 and 2.  The Cap Badges Worn by Herbert Edward Pike.
(Images courtesy of Wikipedia)  

1. INTRODUCTION

            The information contained in this research was obtained mainly from The Sapper (Regimental Journal of the Corps of Royal Engineers) and the Royal Engineers Tracer Cards of Warrant Officer Pike.  Since Pike served beyond 1920 his service papers may be located at the Army Personnel Centre (APC) in Glasgow.  The COVID-19 virus has disrupted the operations of the APC to the extent that any attempt to obtain his records would be met by a long delay; therefore, any attempt to request the records has been delayed.  This research may be expanded at a later date if the service papers can be obtained.  

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

            Numerous searches have been made using Ancestry.com and other internet web sites in an attempt to find information regarding Pike’s family and early life.  No family trees could be located.  His service papers may provide some information regarding his family (parents, wife and children), but these papers were not available when this research work was underway. 

            The only thing known about his early life is that he was born on 12 March 1897.[2]  As he had served in the Lincolnshire Regiment prior to his transfer to the Royal Engineers, he may have been born and raised in that county.  His Royal Engineers Tracer Card also contains an entry for his “Registration Office.”  That entry is Holland with Boston.   Holland with Boston was a county constituency in Lincolnshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997.  It is believed that this entry may refer to the location in which he planned to reside after leaving the Army; thus, another connection with Lincolnshire.   

4.  POSTINGS, ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

Service in the Great War (1915-1918)

            Prior to his service in the Great War of 1914-1918, Pike served as a Private (Regimental Number 19317) in the Lincolnshire Regiment.[3]  It appears that he transferred on 7 December 1915 and became a Pioneer (Regimental Number 128934) in the Royal Engineers.  Another entry on his tracer card indicates that upon transferring to the Royal Engineers he also re-engaged to serve 12 years with the Colours. 

            His rank of Pioneer and his regimental number in the 128000 series indicate that he was assigned to the Royal Engineer Special Brigade during the war. [4] The Special Brigade was the Royal Engineers unit responsible for gas warfare.  In 1915 when Pike joined the Special Brigade the unit consisted of only four companies, each with 10 Sections.  These companies were:

·         186th Company: Sections 1-10

·         187th Company: Sections 11-20

·         188th Company: Sections 21-30

·         189th Company: Sections 31-40

Unfortunately, without his service papers it is not known in which company he might have served.  By 1916 the brigade had expanded to five battalions, each with four companies except the 5^th (Mortar) Battalion that had five companies.  By 1917 the 5^th (Mortar) Battalion was disbanded and the brigade then retained only four battalions of four companies each.

            Pike was promoted to Lance Corporal while he served in the Special Brigade.  On 12 July 1918 his tracer card indicates that he was posted to “C” Special Company.  "C" Company with Sections 11 through 15 was part of the 1^st Battalion of the Brigade.  On 10 October 1918 Lance Corporal Pike reverted to the rank of Pioneer and then was re-mustered as a Sapper for his continued post-war service.

Figure 3.  Royal Engineers of the Special Brigade with Livens Projectors.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

NOTE: The Livens Projector was a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with flammable or toxic chemicals.  In the Great War, the Livens Projector became the standard means of delivering gas attacks by the British Army.  Pike may have become intimately familiar with this device.  

Post-War Service (1919-1935)

Porton (1919-1924)

Following the war he remained in the Regular Army and was assigned Army Number 1854063.[5]  On 11 March 1919 he was posted to “Q” Depot Company, a company of the 4^th Battalion of the Special Brigade then stationed in the U.K.  On 3 April 1919 he was posted to the Experimental Company (Porton) and then on 6 May 1919 he returned to “Q” Depot Company.  Less than a month later, on 4 June 1919, he returned to the Experimental Company (Porton) on Salisbury Plain where he remained until 20 September when the company was redesignated the 58^th (Porton) Company, R.E. 

            The 58th (Porton) Company carried out a wide range of duties relating to experiments in offensive and defensive chemical warfare, and until 1922 was also for responsible for administering “The Chemical Roster,” a group of civilian technicians, many of whom were former members of the Special Brigade, R.E., (Chemical Warfare companies) during the Great War.  The officer commanding from 1919 to 1924 was Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Edmund Kent, R.E.,[6] a former member of the Special Brigade.

Figure 4.  2-inch Mortar Trials at Porton.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

Colchester (1924-1925)
            While serving with the 58^th Company Pike received a number of promotions by the time he was posted to the 9^th Field Company, R.E. at Colchester.  He served with the 9^th Field Company until 25 January 1925 when he was posted to the Establishment for Engineer Services, the establishment in which he would spend the remainder of his Army career.

            The term Establishment for Engineer Services (E.E.S.) or Royal Engineer Works Service had been used for a number of years in the 20^th century to describe the duties of the Royal Engineers in connection with building construction and the use of materials. This establishment dealt with the construction of fortifications, but by and large its greatest responsibility was in the area of the construction and maintenance of barracks. Other works undertaken by the Establishment included hospitals and Army Ordnance buildings. With regard to the latter, the work included not only the buildings themselves, but also the provision and maintenance of fixed machinery and the construction and maintenance of magazines and buildings for the storage of explosives, with special attention to precautions against fire and protection against lightning.

            The E.E.S. was also involved with other buildings in support of the Army Service Corps, to include bakeries, stores, transport sheds and workshops. Special facilities such as refrigeration plants were also provided at Gibraltar and Malta and at other tropical locations. Many other buildings, such as churches, schools, offices, quarters for Commanding Officers and certain Staff Officers, were also provided by the E.E.S. Other essential services of the Establishment included the charge of military cemeteries and burial grounds, the preparation of graves and the appointment and supervision of caretakers.

            In connection with all of the above works, there was an organization within the E.E.S. responsible for the control of "Military Lands." This term included the land on which the barracks and fortifications were constructed, along with roads, parades and recreation grounds. Closely allied to the control of "Military Lands" was the provision of rifle and artillery ranges.

            One of the special branches within the E.E.S. included the Electrical Branch which consisted of Defence Electric Lights, Telegraphs, Telephones, and Miscellaneous Electrical Services. The largest sub-element of the Electrical Branch was the Submarine Mining Service, which was responsible for the mine defences and also for the defence electric lights and electrical communications in the defended ports throughout the British Empire. Other miscellaneous electrical services included barracks lighting and protection of building against lightning.

            A second special branch of the E.E.S. was the Mechanical Branch, with its responsibility for installation and maintenance of engines, boilers and machinery used with pumping and heating plant, and machinery used in Royal Engineer and Ordnance workshops. Other special branches of the Establishment were the Mechanical Transport Branch and the Railway Branch.

Dover and Shorncliffe (1925-1929)

            Pikes first posting with the E.E.S. was with the Office of the Commander Royal Engineers (CRE), Dover and Shorncliffe District as an Engineer Ledger & Storekeeper Corporal (one of the peculiar ranks of the men in the E.E.S.).  He was posted there on 25 January 1925.  On 2 November 1926 he was posted to the Office of the CRE, Portsmouth where he remained until early 1929.  While serving at Portsmouth he was stationed in the R.E. Office at Milldam Barracks on Burnaby Road and was working for the CRE, Lt, Colonel Thomas Birkbeck Harris, DSO, R.E.

Sierra Leone (1929)
            Pike was promoted to the rank of Engineer Ledger Keeper Sergeant on 6 February 1929.[7]  On 13 March 1929 he was posted to Sierra Leone where he served for a little over seven months.  Sergeant Pike’s short stay in Sierra Leone can be attributed to the fact that the British were removing the majority of their military presence from that country and had started to do so in 1928.[8]  The Military Hospital at Tower Hill had closed down on 1 August 1928.  The last of the officers and men of the Royal Army Medical Corps stationed in Sierra Leone left on 9 December 1928.  New Royal Engineer personnel arrived in country on 30 October 1928, but the Station News submitted to the December issue of The Sapper indicated that their stay would “likely be curtailed.”
            This was an interesting posting for Pike.  The Royal Engineers Quarterly List for January 1930 shows that Sierra Leone was a Protectorate at the time.  The only Royal Engineers officers there at the time were Captains V.E.H. Sanceau, R.E.[9] and P.F. White, R.E.[10] both of whom were on survey duties.  Since Pike’s stay in Sierra Leone was a short one, he may have been sent there to assist with these survey duties, as the normal work of the E.E.S. was practically non-existent in Sierra Leone at that time. 

Figure 5.  Captain V.E.H. Sanceau, R.E.
(Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)  

            A new Commander Royal Engineers, Major John Douglas Watson, R.E.,[11] arrived in Sierra Leone on 27 November 1928.  The Royal Navy personnel stationed there had practically all departed by that time.[12]  There does not seem to have been much in the way of new construction underway by the men of the E.E.S. during most of 1929.  Station News in the monthly issues of The Sapper reported nothing but sports activities with no mention whatsoever of any military construction or training. At the completion of his duties there, or perhaps after the almost complete shutdown of the British Military presence in Sierra Leone, Pike returned home on 29 October 1929.[13]    

Dover (1929-1935)
            Sergeant Pike was still was serving at Dover in 1931[14] and in 1933 he was awarded the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (GVR) for completing 18 years of service with the Colours.[15]  His assignment at Dover was probably in the Home Counties Area (East) of the Eastern Command.  The Commander Royal Engineers in this Area at the time was Lieutenant Colonel Sholto Pemberton, DSO, MC, R.E. whose headquarters were located at Archcliffe Fort in Dover.  Sergeant Pike was probably working out of this headquarters during the time he was stationed at Dover.[16]  While at Dover, Pike was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant.  On the 6 February 1935 Pike was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer Class II (Engineer Clerk Quartermaster Sergeant) and on that same day he departed Dover bound for Singapore.[17]  When Pike departed Dover the C.R.E. was Lieutenant Colonel Randall Henry Strangways Hounsell, DSO, R.E.[18]

Figure 6.  Lieutenant Colonel R.H.S. Hounsell, DSO, R.E.
(Photograph courtesy of Dix Noonan Webb)

Singapore (1935)
            In May of 1935 he still was serving in Singapore with the Establishment for Engineer Services there.[19]  The Commander Royal Engineers for the Singapore District at that time was Lieutenant Colonel G. Streeten, MC, R.E..[20]^,[21]  The work undertaken by the E.E.S. in Singapore during the time of Pike’s assignment there consisted of improvements to Moonstone Pier, the construction of a new pier with garages and miscellaneous facilities, and work on searchlight and railway construction.[22] 
Pike returned home from Singapore and was discharged from the Army on 8 November 1935.  At the time of his discharge he was in possession of a First Class Certificate of Education.[23]  It appears that he might have taken his discharge from the Army while in Singapore and that he remained there for some time.

5.  RELEASE FROM SERVICE

            Herbert Edward Pike’s total service with the Royal Engineers was reckoned as shown in the tables below.  

 NOTE: His Royal Engineers Tracer Card shows a date of enlistment as 7 December 1915 and a date of discharge as 8 November 1935.  Based on these dates his total service was less than 21 years.  His prior service in the Lincolnshire Regiment may have been for approximately 1 year and 1 month or more for him to have 21 years of service.

________________________________________________________________           

            The following sections are presented in tabular form to summarize Pike’s   promotions, appointments, military training and qualifications and the medals that he was awarded during his time in the Army.  They are provided to give the reader easy access to these aspects of his military career. 

__________________________________________________________________________

6.  PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
            Pike received the following promotions during his time in service:

 7.      MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

            Herbert Edward Pike’s Medal Index Card shows that he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service in the Great War of 1914-1918.

Figure 7.  The Medal Index Card of Herbert Edward Pike, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

His name also appears on the Royal Engineers medal roll for both of these medals.  The page of the roll on which his name appears also contains three other men with Regimental Numbers 128935, 128961 and 128964.  These numbers correspond to one man of the 3^rd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment and two men of the 11^th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, respectively.  As previously mentioned the R.E. Regimental Numbers are those of men serving in the Royal Engineers Special Brigade.  Two of these men were given the rank of Pioneer and the third man was taken on in the Special Brigade as a 2^nd Corporal.  Obviously the Special Brigade must have been in need of Other Ranks to fill vacancy, so men were drawn from infantry regiments to fill this need.  It should also be noted that the MIC does not show the “Theatre of War first served in” or the “Date of entry therein.”  The Special Brigade only was employed in France and Flanders so that question is easily answered.  However the lack of the date is unfortunate.  Either it was omitted by error or he did not serve in a theater of war, which is unlikely given the medals he received.

Figure 8.  The British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)  

NOTE: The medals shown in Figure 7 above are not the medals of Herbert Edward Pike.

            When he completed 18 years of service Pike was a Staff Sergeant.  He was awarded the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (GVR) with the bar [REGULAR ARMY].

Figure 9.  The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal of Herbert Edward Pike.[24]
(Photograph from the author’s collection)  

Pike’s medal is named on the rim in engraved upper case letters as follows:  

1854063 S. SJT. H.E. PIKE. R.E.

REFERENCES  

Books  

1.      BAKER BROWN, W. The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Volume IV. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1952, pp. 245-262.

2.      RICHTER, D.  CHEMICAL SOLDIERS: British Gas Warfare in World War One.  Leo Cooper, London, 1994.  

Internet Web Sites  

Dix Noonan Webb Auction List, April 2005.  

Military Documents  

1. Medal Index Card.

2. Royal Engineers Tracer Cards.

3. Royal Engineers Medal Roll: British War Medal and Victory Medal.  

Periodicals  

1.      The Sapper, September 1929, p. 53

2.      The Sapper, December 1931, p 140.

3.      The Sapper, May 1935, p 610.

4.      The Sapper, February 1936, p 188.

5.      The Royal Engineers Quarterly List, January 1930.

6.      The Royal Engineers Quarterly List, January 1935.