The story below has come to us from Simon Kirkham, a Police Sergeant with South Yorkshire Police…
A simple gathering of remembrance with the family and attendees laying wreaths and crosses. Denise Birmingham read a part of ‘For the Fallen’ by Lawrence Binyon and we all had a toast
To Arthur and his family then The King and The Regiment.
This is a bitter sweet story but it ends with hope and a family gathering in remembrance.
It is also a story of massive coincidence, of understanding mental health and one of bringing people together to remember a Rotherham man who was a soldier of the Great War.
The story as far as My Team was concerned began at Rotherham United Football Club on the 26th October 2024. The match against Stevenage was preceded by a series of stalls and stands in the Fanzone. Our stall was promoting key violence reduction messages and it just so happened we were co-located with the Military Community Veterans Centre stall whose Executive Chair Cllr Ian Jones, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, came over for a chat.
I have served in the 3rd Battalion (V) of the Third Battalion The Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters many years ago as a well-travelled reservist infantryman. Cllr Ian Jones seeing a connection recounted a sad story about a lone grave in Masbrough Cemetery in Rotherham and a soldier from the Sherwood Foresters a direct antecedent of my Regiment. Details were a little vague and we didn’t have a name at that time but it appeared this soldier had died in tragic circumstances.
The next day Me and Mrs Kirkham went to Rotherham for a meal with friends. The discussion drifted towards the Sherwood Forester story and we agreed to drive up to Masbrough Cemetery on the off chance we could find the grave. We had no name but the Regimental badge is distinctive and quite a rare find outside Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire so we were hopeful.
This is where it becomes really coincidental
We drove into the cemetery and we were alone. We spent a good 15 minutes before we spotted the badge on a grave just off the track. Parking up, we noticed another car driving into the cemetery. It parked near us and thinking they were visiting a grave we offered to move so they could get closer. I mentioned casually that our need was not as pressing and we could move. “We were there to find a grave of a Sherwood Forester”. The driver was with other family members and he replied “Which Sherwood Forester?”
Family and friends have conducted a great deal of research and helped with some interesting documents. A good friend of Adie Platts helped with other research and a full picture began to emerge.
We paused and then to our mutual surprise we discovered we had bumped into Jim Rowe the Grandson of Pte 24885 Arthur Bradley MYERS of the Sherwood Foresters who died 7th March 1918. The grave was his. The odds of us meeting astronomical. We exchanged contact details and a picture began to emerge about Pte Myers. A number of people came to together to piece the story together. Jim was supportive and in time we gained a full understanding of what had happened.
The most succinct account can be found in the Rotherham Advertiser dated 9th March 1918 – ‘A Soldiers Strange Suicide’
A strange story was told the Rotherham Borough Coroner this morning at an inquest on the body of Private A. Myers of the Sherwood Foresters, whose home is at Brinsworth Lane, Rotherham, and whose body was recovered from the canal at Ickles Lock, on Thursday. John Barker 68, Brinsworth Lane, identified the body of that of his Son in Law who was 34 years old. Deceased had been in the Army and had served in France having been wounded in the Shoulder. He was put on working reserve 12 months ago. Deceased had frequently said he should never go back to France. He received his papers to re-join the Colours at Derby and complained that he ought to have a re-examination. He got it into his head that he would be drafted to France again immediately and he would not go at first.
On Sunday week Deceased said he would go, and after kissing his wife and two children, he set out to Derby. He was not seen alive again.
Sergeant Emsley explained that the Police had had some correspondence about the man, and that he should have reported at Derby on February 12th for a medical examination. The Father in Law said Deceased had always had a horror of going back to France and said he would sooner die straight away in England. He had been worried and distressed and had sometimes said before he would go back he would throw himself under a railway train or into the water. He always said he had had enough of war. Edward Garnett, a labourer, spoke of seeing the body in the water at the Ickles Lock on Thursday on Thursday morning. He brought it to the side with a boat hook. The man was fully dressed. His wrists were tied with string and his feet were fastened with a soldier belt.
Police Constable Holmes who removed the body to the Mortuary said the Deceased’s hands were fastened with a handkerchief which had been made into a loop and twisted until the hands were held closely together. There was a soldier’s belt around his ankles. The effect of these fastenings was that as soon as he got in the water he would be helpless. There was no doubt the fastenings had been put on the deceased himself.
The body was found only 250 yards from the man’s home. The Coroner said the man had evidently been frightened of going back for a medical examination. He did not apparently fully appreciate what was the procedure and that he would have been sent back to work if he had not been found for for the Army. The act that his hands and feet were tied showed that he intended to commit suicide. The Jury returned a verdict of suicide but expressed………..(The article cuts off at this point)
We found more details
A number of good friends and organisations such as the Mercian Regimental Association came together to research and plan a special event for the memory of Private Myers. We know he was in the thick of the action from when he left the training barracks at Normanton in Derby and landed in France on the 6th October 1915. He served initially with 12th (Service) Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Pioneers) whose war diaries reveal front line action, gas attacks and heavy work under shellfire in battles such as Ypres and The Somme. There is no doubt Pte Myers saw a great deal of action. Coincidentally this Battalion was also famous for the trench newspaper ‘Wipers Times’. We discovered upon being wounded he transferred to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters whose main role was to guard the Tyne coast area of England. We know he lived with his family at 25 Amers Street, Masborough. Those houses would have been where the current scrap yard sits across from New York Stadium.
Pte Myers was recognised for his service and was awarded three medals. The Common Wealth War Graves registered his grave on the 13th September 1927 and luckily
it appears the Country was beginning to recognise ‘shell shock’ and begin the road to acknowledge mental health in warfare.
Today we remembered
We were determined to remember Pte Arthur Myers and today at 10am we gathered at Masbrough Cemetery for a small but respectful gathering of remembrance. Jim Rowe and his family were joined by Me and two Police colleagues, Reenactors from the Matlock Pals, Cllr Ian Jones of the MCVC and member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and several friends and those with keen interest. The weather was good and we made true the inscription on the grave that reads ‘Memory Ever Clings’
Thankfully these days there is much of an understanding around mental health and particularly combat stress and PTSD. This story serves to highlight such progress and Jim’s grandad has not been forgotten. It all felt right somehow.
Massive thankyou to all involved today. You all combined to make this a very memorable event.
“Memory ever Clings’
A huge thank you to Simon for sharing this amazing story, from everyone at MCVC