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298272 (WR/30497) Sapper
WILLIAM FORBES
Royal Engineers  

By  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MInstRE
(2002, revised June 2022)  

Figure 1.  Crest of the Corps of Royal Engineers (King’s Crown)
(Image courtesy of Stuart Gase)  

1.  INTRODUCTION  

            Unless otherwise noted, the details supplied in this narrative were extracted from the soldier’s service papers obtained from the Public Record Office at Kew, Richmond, Surrey.[1] It should be noted that Forbes’s papers were located in the burnt document files, therefore they were not completely legible due to severe fire and water damage.  Some information pertaining to his service had to be omitted because it could not be read clearly from the papers.  Some place names or dates may also be in error due to the poor condition of the service papers.

2.  EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION  

            William Forbes was born in the Parish of Echt in the County of Aberdeenshire, Scotland between 1888 and 1892.  The town of Echt is located approximately 12 miles due west of the city of Aberdeen and at one time was a center for horse and cattle fairs. 

The uncertainty regarding Forbes’s year of birth is due to multiple entries in his service papers giving his age at different times during his service.  As with most British soldiers up to the time of the Great War of 1914-1918, his date of birth is not specifically entered on the forms contained in his military records.  Instead, his age is indicated in years and days from the day of his birth on various documents prepared between his enlistment and his demobilization.  His age is listed in three places.  Back calculating his birth date from the ages listed results in dates between 1888 and 1892.  The date considered to be his most probable birth date is 30 January 1892 (see Section 5 below).

Forbes was married before he enlisted in the Army to serve in the Great War.  His wife’s name was Mary Helen. The Forbes were members of the Church of England and had been married in Aberdeen on 18 July 1914.  They lived at 147 Spital in Aberdeen and William worked as a stonecutter for one of the many quarries located in Aberdeenshire.[2]  A search on Ancestry.com for his family tree produced negative results, therefore no additional family information could be found other than what was contained in his service papers.

3.  PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The following is a description of William Forbes at the time he enlisted in the Army in 1915:

 4.  ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING  

Enlistment

            William Forbes attested as a Private (Regimental Number 298272) for General Service on 12 December 1915.  He was recruited for service at the 75^th Recruiting District in Aberdeen, the regimental depot and recruiting district of the Gordon Highlanders.  His was a Short Service Attestation for the duration of the war.  At the time he was enlisted, Forbes indicated that he had no previous naval or military service and that he was a stonecutter by trade.

            Forbes was transferred to the Army Reserve on the day following his enlistment.  His call up for active service was deferred for some reason not indicated in his papers.  Based on information found later in his service documents it may be that his call up was deferred for medical reasons, although this is not known for certain.

Training

            A review of his service papers did not indicate when and where Forbes received his recruit training after his enlistment, if in fact he did receive such training.  It may have been during his time in the Army Reserve that he was temporarily called up for this training, although his papers do not indicate that this was the case.

            At some point after his enlistment Forbes must have been required to receive training with the basics that were required for each man to learn to be a soldier.  This involved military customs, the wearing of his uniform and insignia and military discipline.  He probably was not trained in the use, care and maintenance of a rifle, as enlistees for Quarrying Companies were not to be armed, at least initially.  It would seem that this was the minimum training required for him to receive before his call up for active service in 1917.  Since he was a stonecutter by trade and was going to be assigned to a Quarrying Company in the Royal Engineers he probable did not have to get involved with the normal training for an engineer soldier, training such as field engineering, tunnelling, trench-building, camouflaging techniques, barbed-wire entanglements, construction and clearing of obstacles, bridging, explosives and demolitions and other skills necessary to support the infantry and artillery in the field.

5.  ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE  

Call Up for Active Service (June 1917)

            In early June of 1917 the 75^th Recruiting District received the following memorandum regarding Forbes from Brigadier-General Auckland Campbell Geddes,[4] Directory of Recruiting, Military Railways and Roads at the War Office:

“Please enlist Mr. William Forbes in the Quarry Companies, R.E., now being formed for service in France, provided he is medically fit for work in that Country.

He should be given a Railway Warrant and instructed to report to the Officer Commanding R.E. Troops, The Curragh,[5] to whom his documents should be sent as soon as possible.”

Figure 3. Brigadier Auckland Campbell Geddes.
(Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)

            This memorandum no doubt was prompted by the need for experienced and qualified quarrymen for the new Quarry Companies and by Forbes’s civilian trade as a stonecutter.  Private William Forbes was called to active service on 17 June 1917.  He was given a medical examination at Aberdeen and was placed in Medical Category B2.  Medical Category B2 meant that a soldier was “temporarily unfit for General Service for more than 6 months.”  Unfortunately the reasons for this categorization, although included on his Medical History Sheet, are illegible due to water damage.  At the time of his call up his age was noted to be 25 years and 138 days. This appears to be the most detailed accounting of his age found in his service papers and it would put his birth date at 30 January 1892.  Being called up in this manner could also explain his lack of formal recruit training after his enlistment.

The Curragh, Ireland (July 1917)

Forbes was not mobilized immediately after his call up and medical examination.  It was not until 2 July 1917 that he reported to the recruiting office at Aberdeen and was issued a pass directing him to proceed by steamship from Aberdeen to Curragh Camp by way of Dublin.[6] 

Forbes proceeded to The Curragh as ordered, but he experienced some difficulty in joining his unit.  His orders apparently directed him to join the 327^th Quarrying Company in Ireland.  When he arrived in Ireland he was not able to join the company for the reasons explained in the following memorandum dated at the Royal Engineers Barracks, Curragh, on 5 July 1917 from the Commander Royal Engineers, 65^th (Lowland) Division to the Recruiting Officer, Aberdeen:

“Reference attached papers concerning William Forbes, please note that,

(1)    Recruiting for the 327^th Quarrying Company ceased on 1^st June – Authority, DICRUIT 3596 D.R., dated 1^st June, 1917 – and that this Company proceeded overseas on that date.  

(2)    It was an Irish Company and enlistment was voluntary.  Does Forbes not come under the Military Service Act?  

(3)    All details of this Company have been sent to Roads Depot, Salamanca Barracks, Aldershot.  I understand that English Quarrying Companies Depot is at Buxton.  

(4)    The man is being kept here pending a reply from you.  

(5)    The Assistant Inspector of Recruiting, Irish Command, does not understand how Forbes came to be in possession of the Director General of Railways and Roads Recruiting Circular.  

While Forbes awaited further orders in Ireland, the resolution of this administrative “cock-up” was handled by the Recruiting Officer in Aberdeen.  On 5 July the Recruiting Officer responded to the memorandum of the C.R.E., 65^th Division by telling him that Forbes and his papers were to be sent to Buxton.  On 7 July the Recruiting Officer sent the following note to the Officer Commanding, Royal Engineers (Roads) at Buxton, Derbyshire:

“With reference to minute, I have wired Curragh to send the man on to Buxton; his documents are herewith.”  

            With the problem of Forbes’s final destination solved, the Adjutant, 65^th Division Royal Engineers sent the following memorandum, dated 8 July 1917, to the Adjutant, Roads and Quarries Depot[7] Royal Engineers at Buxton:

“Please see attached letter and telegram.  This Recruit has been attached for rations to the 414^th Lowland Field Co. R.E. since July 5^th and leaves today about 5 p.m.  He should arrive at Buxton early on Monday.”

Buxton, Derbyshire (July 1917)

            Forbes arrived at Buxton on 10 July 1917 where his Attestation was finally certified by the Approving Officer.  He was issued Regimental Number WR/30497 and his rank was changed from Private to Sapper as he officially was made a member of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Aldershot, Hampshire (July 1917)

            At the Roads and Quarries Depot, Royal Engineers Sapper Forbes was qualified as a Quarryman and authorized Engineer Pay at the rate of 1 shilling per day.  He immediately received orders to proceed to Aldershot where he joined the 348^th Quarrying Company at the Roads Depot in Salamanca Barracks.

            In August of 1916 there were only two Quarrying Companies in the Royal Engineers within the establishment of the Director of Works (France).  By August of 1917 this number had been raised to a total of 10 companies. 

            The large increase in the number of Quarrying Companies occurred at about the time of Sapper Forbes’s call up for active service; hence, it is clear why he was needed when he was.  Prior to his call up it is probable that he was working in a quarry in the Aberdeen area and that his work may have been considered important enough to defer his entry on active service.  By mid-1917 military requirements were such that he was needed in uniform in France to apply his skills to the quarrying operations on the Western Front.

            At the time of Forbes’s call-up the Quarrying Companies of the Royal Engineers consisted of the 198^th, 199^th, 320^th through 329^th and the 348^th.  The structure of a Quarry Company, RE as defined in July 1916 was as follows:[8]

1 Captain in command of company
3 subalterns (Lieutenants or Second Lieutenants)
2 Warrant Officer Class II, appointed Company Sergeant Major and Company Quartermaster Sergeant
4 Sergeants
8 Corporals
12 Lance Corporals
228 Sappers (197 being skilled quarrymen; 16 steam engine drivers; rest assorted trades)
1 Cook
4 Batmen
1 attached driver of the Army Service Corps

Figure 4.  A Royal Engineers Quarrying Company in France.

(Image courtesy of the Geological Society, London)

            The primary mission of these companies was the operation of quarries for the purpose of producing road metal (crushed stone or aggregate) primarily for the construction of roads and for ballast for railway tracks.  The work of the Quarrying Companies was augmented by skilled French labour and local civilian labour as well as Army Troops Companies of the Royal Engineers and R.E. Labour Battalions.  The table below lists the operational quarries on the Western Front and the type of rock or material they produced.[9]  Further information regarding the work of the Quarry Companies of the Royal Engineers and the types of geological formations in which they worked may be found in The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-1919: Geological Work on the Western Front published by The Institution of Royal Engineers in 1922 and in Geology of the Western Front, 1914-1918 by Peter Doyle, published by the Geologists’ Association in 1998.

             The equipment used by the Quarrying Companies consisted primarily of pneumatic compressors, pneumatic drills, pneumatic jack-hammers, rock crushers, and side-tipping wagons.  The French normally used cheddite[10] as an explosive when working the quarries, but early in 1916 the British supplied the quarries with blastine.

            The work of the men in a Quarrying Company typically involved first removing the overburden, or soil, from the rock to be quarried.  The rock was then drilled and blasted from the quarry face and the blast rock was transported to the crusher to break it down to a suitable size for use as road metal, railroad ballast or concrete aggregate.  Screens may have been used in conjunction with the crusher to obtain a suitable grain size distribution.  The processed stone was then stockpiled until it could be hauled away by railroad, truck or wagon to its intended place of use.

France (1917 to 1919)

            Since Forbes was a stonecutter, or Quarryman in the military jargon, he required little trade training before deploying to the theatre of the war in France.  On 25 July 1917 he received orders transferring him to the British Expeditionary Force in France.  It is not clear whether he went over with the 348^th Quarrying Company or whether he joined the unit in a draft of men or as an individual replacement.  His service papers are unclear on this point and the Royal Engineers’ history of the Great War does not elaborate to any great degree on the work or the location of the Quarrying Companies.  Since the 348^th was the last Quarrying Company formed, it may be assumed that the company was at Aldershot when Forbes joined it and that he went over to France with the unit.  If he was with the 348^th Quarrying Company, then he embarked with his company for France on 25 August 1917 and disembarked on 28 August.  It must be assumed that the 348^th Quarry Company was employed at one of the quarries previously listed, although the exact location of the company during its service in the Great War does not appear in any of the R.E. histories written during the period. 

            When the company landed at Le Havre 28 October 1917 it consisted of 4 officers, 264 men and 2 horses.  The officers and senior non-commissioned officers of the company when it arrived in France were:[11]

Captain H.J. Herbert, R.E. (Officer Commanding)

2^nd Lieutenant H. Mutton, R.E.

2^nd Lieutenant A. Sturges, R.E.

2^nd Lieutenant W. Hancock, R.E.

Company Sergeant Major R. Tait, R.E.[12]

Company Quartermaster Sergeant W.F. Martin, R.E.

            The company moved to Boulogne on 31 October 1917 and then to Calais where it was responsible for provision of aggregated for repair and construction in the Boulogne and Calais areas.[13]

            From his records it is known that Forbes was granted 14 days leave on 26 October 1918 while he was still serving with the 348^th Quarry Company.  He arrived in the U.K. on 28 October.  It appears that he returned to France and continued to serve with the 348^th until 7 May 1919 when he was transferred to the 328^th Quarrying Company.[14]

            The fact that Forbes remained in France long after the Armistice was signed is not unusual for two reasons.  Firstly, because the Quarrying Companies were probably needed to assist the French and Belgians with the rebuilding of their roads.  Secondly, because as a late comer to the war, Forbes would have had to wait for demobilization until those who had been called up before him were discharged. 

            Shortly after his transfer to the 328^th Quarrying Company, Sapper Forbes was sent to Calais for a medical examination prior to his return to the U.K. and in preparation for his demobilization.  On 15 May 1919 he was granted 14 days of leave at home and was posted to the Royal Engineers Training Battalion at Chatham, Kent.  It appears that he served for another four months before reporting to the Dispersal Unit at Kinross for demobilization.  On 23 September 1919 Sapper Forbes was issued his Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity at Kinross.  His Medical Category was noted to be B1 and his place of rejoining the Colours in case of emergency was listed as Longmoor Camp in Liss, Hampshire.  Sapper William Forbes was transferred to the Class “Z” Army Reserve on demobilization on 27 October 1919.

Quarrying Companies Casualties

            The Quarrying Companies were rear echelon units and the men who served in them were relatively safe from harm because of their distance from the front lines.  This does not, however, mean that these units were without losses.  The following table summarizes the fatalities in the Royal Engineers Quarrying Companies in France during the Great War of 1914-1918:[15]

NOTES:  DOD/A in the table indicates that the cause of death was disease or accident.  DOW indicates that the man died of wounds received.

An analysis of the table above indicates the following:

1.      All the men were Pioneers or Sappers.  No officers or non-commissioned officers serving in the Quarrying Companies died during the war.

2.      Of the 16 men listed in the table 14 died in 1918.  The other two men died in 1917.  Half of the men died within two months of the end of the war, probably from influenza.

3.      Six of the men died at the Roads and Quarries Depot and not in the field with one of the companies.

4.      All of the men except Pioneer George Isaac North died of disease or were killed accidentally.  North was the only combat-related death.

5.      Sapper John Pollock served with Sapper William Forbes in the 348^th Quarrying Company.  Pollock died on the day Forbes left for the U.K. to begin his 14 days leave.  Pollock war born in Fordell in Fifeshire, Scotland and enlisted in the Royal Engineers at Cowdenbeath, Fife.[16] 

6.      There were no losses in the 198^th, 320^th, 321^st, 323^rd, or 327^th Quarrying Companies.

7.      All men whose cause of death is marked with an asterisk died in the United Kingdom.  All others died in France and Flanders.

The author tried to determine the location of the 348^th Quarrying Company at the time of Sapper Pollock’s death, in an attempt to pin down where Forbes and his company might have served in 1918.  Pollock was buried at Terlincthum British Cemetery on the northern outskirts of Boulogne.  Unfortunately this was of little help, since Boulogne housed numerous military hospitals and other medical establishments during the war.  If Pollock was injured or taken seriously ill at a quarry where the 348^th Company was working, he could have been evacuated back quite some distance to one of these hospitals in the Boulogne area before he died.  A copy of the war diary of the 348^th Quarrying Company was obtained from The National Archives.  Unfortunately all the entries in the diary were made in pencil and are quite faded, faint to the point where most are not legible.

6. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

            For his service during the Great War of 1914-1918 Forbes was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.  The medals both are named to him in impressed upper case letters as follows:

298272 SPR. W. FORBES.  R.E.

Figure 5.  The British War Medal and Victory Medal of Sapper William Forbes.[17]
(Photograph from the author’s collection)  

            The medal index card below shows both his Regimental Numbers and the number and page of the Royal Engineers medal roll.

Figure 6.  The Great War Medal Index Card of Sapper William Forbes, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)  

7.  PROMOTIONS AND CONDUCT  

a.      Promotions: William Forbes received the following promotions during his time in service:

b.  Conduct:  Sapper Forbes did not receive any Good Conduct Badges during his time in service.

8.  EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS  

a.  Education:  William Forbes did not earn a Certificate of Education during his time in the Army.

b.      Qualifications: William Forbes earned the following qualifications during his time in service.

 9.  MEDICAL INFORMATION  

No detailed medical history is included in Sapper Forbes’s service papers.  The only medical information provided on him is the results of his two medical examinations.  The first examination was in June of 1917 when he was placed in Medical Category B2.  The second examination took place in May of 1919 when he was categorized as B1.

10.  MARRIAGE AND PERSONAL INFORMATION  

            William and Mary Helen Forbes were married on 18 July 1914 in Aberdeen, Scotland.  After their marriage they resided at 147 Spital in Aberdeen and they retained this residence during the entire time that Sapper Forbes was serving in the Army.  The Forbes had two children; William Alfred born on 28 December 1914 and a daughter Evelyn born on 28 July 1916.  Both children were born in Aberdeen.

11.  DISCHARGE  

            Sapper William Forbes was transferred to the Class “Z” Army Reserve at Kinross, Scotland on his demobilization after the Great War.  His total service was reckoned as shown in the tables below:

NOTE:  The dates and periods of service shown in the tables above should be considered to be approximate as his dates of posting from Buxton to Aldershot are not known precisely.

12.  POST SERVICE LIFE  

            When William Forbes was demobilized from the Army in 1919 he stated that his intended place of residence was 147 Spital in Aberdeen.  It is probable that he returned to Scotland with the intention of working at his pre-war trade as a stonecutter.

Like many other men, demobilization probably could not come soon enough for Forbes, but his discharge was dependent on the length his service and the importance of his future role in civilian life.  Since he was not called up for active service until 1917, Forbes had to wait for almost a year after the end of the war as batches of demob-happy soldiers preceded him home.  For the later batches like his, the euphoria of victory had already faded and tempers were frayed.  When men like Forbes finally reached home, many would rush to the nearest pub with friends only to hear the landlord shout, “Now then, you lot, before you take another step, SHOW US YER MONEY!”  Thus the land fit for heroes welcomed back its champions.

            Disillusionment probably was not dispelled for Forbes after being home a few weeks.  A happy reunion with family members was followed by a search for work.  The late-comers like him found that the soldiers who had been demobilized before them had already taken every position.  There were few jobs available that offered any prospect of permanency.  Although Forbes had marketable skills, work still was probably difficult for him to find.  Probably what was more surprising to him was that he found he missed the camaraderie and structured pattern of military life.  It was at this point that many men began to think of re-enlisting in the Army.  Precisely what happened to William Forbes is not known.[19]  

MEMORIAL SCROLLS  

The memorial scrolls on the following pages commemorate two men of the Royal Engineers Quarrying Companies who died during the Great War of 1914-1918.  The first scroll (Appendix A) commemorates the death of WR/40482 Pioneer George Isaac North, R.E.  North was the only man in the Quarrying Companies who was recorded to have died as a result of combat action.

The second scroll (Appendix B) commemorates the death of WR/30599 Sapper John Pollock, R.E.  Pollock served in the 348^th Quarrying Company at the same time as Sapper William Forbes and is the only man from that company recorded to have died during the war.

APPENDIX A

The Memorial Scroll of WR/40482 Pioneer George Isaac North, R.E.  

APPENDIX B

The Memorial Scroll of WR/30599 Sapper John Pollock, R.E.  

REFERENCES
Books  

1. DOYLE, P.  Geology of the Western Front, 1914-1918.  The Geologists’ Association, Guide No. 61, London, 1998.  

2. INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS.  The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-1919: Work Under the Director of Works (France).  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1924.  

3. INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS.  The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-1919: Geological Work on the Western Front.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1922.  

4. NAVAL & MILITARY PRESS.  Soldiers Died in the Great War.  A Searchable Digital Database.  Dallington, East Sussex, 1998.  

5. ROSE, EDWARD P.F.  Quarrying Companies Royal Engineers in World War I.  Geological Society, London, Special Publications 473, 151-171, 6 March 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1144/SP473.1  

6. ZIEGLER, P.  Soldiers: Fighting Men’s Lives, 1901-2001.  Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2002.  

Commonwealth War Graves Commission  

1. Memorial Scroll: WR/40482 Pioneer George Isaac North, Royal Engineers.
2. Memorial Scroll: WR/30599 Sapper John Pollock, Royal Engineers.

Documents  

1.      The service papers of William Forbes consisting of the following documents:

1. Short Service Attestation (Army Form B. 2512).
2. Recruiting Pass for Recruits (Army Form B. 216).
3. Telegram: Recruiting Officer, Aberdeen to Commander, Royal Engineers, The Curragh.
4. Memorandum: 65^th (Lowland) Division C.R.E., The Curragh to Recruiting Officer, Aberdeen.
5. Memorandum: Recruiting Officer, Aberdeen to C.R.E. (Roads), Buxton, Derbyshire.
6. Memorandum Director-General of Military Railways to Recruiting Officer, Aberdeen.
7. Medical History (Army Form B. 178).
8. Descriptive Report on Enlistment.
9. Statement of Services.
10. Trade and Special Qualifications.
11. Casualty Form – Active Service (Army Form B. 103).
12. Statement as to Disability (Army Form Z. 22).
13. Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity (Army Form Z. 11)
14. Medal Index Card.

2.      Royal Engineers Medal Roll, Roads and Quarries: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

3.      War Diary, 348^th Quarrying Company (WO95-4057-11).  

Internet Web Sites  

Quarry Companies of the Royal Engineers
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/quarry-companies-of-the-royal-engineers/

ENDNOTES