Things were moving fast on the penultimate day. B Flight was fully engaged in reconnaissance, and then message dropping with the latest information. But they had to see the C.O. or the Battalion Intelligence Officer before going up. Greg and Lt. Bett had the first flight of the day.
Log Book
Date: 10.11.18
Time Out: 6.15
Rounds Fired – Lewis: 200
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 190 hrs 30 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Bett
War Flying: 1 hrs 45 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: Reconn. Successful.
Allied forces were keeping up the pressure on the retreating German forces. The Lewis gun was firing, and bombs were dropping from Greg’s aircraft. But, for him, this was the last use of weaponry.
B Flight Orders
B FLIGHT ORDERS FOR 10.11.1918
2517 0600 Lt Gregory Lt Bett Reconn: Bombs
4559 0900 Lt Sewell Lt Whittles – do –
2872 1200 Lt Bon Capt Gordon – do –
2707 1500 Lt Wallington Lt Paton – do –
2500 0930 Lt Judd Sandbags MARQUISE.
2924 To be ready at 10.30.
All Pilots to report to the C.O. [Commanding Officer] or B.I.O. [Battalion Intelligence Officer] before going up. All machines when coming home are to drop a message at Divisions giving position of the Hun front line troops, M.G.s etc. The same message to be dropped to our advanced troops.
C.E. Gregory, Lt
for O.C. B Flight
The position of the front line was changing rapidly. In 24 hours it advanced 17 miles (27 km) from Tournai to just east of Ath:
Line held 9 November. Click for larger image. Map credit: Map Archive (adapted)
Lt Judd was nor part of the main action, though. He was detailed to take RE8 2500 to Marquise, where No. 1 ASD was now based, as explained in the post for 3 June 1918.
Today was a day for reconnaissance. Greg, with Capt. Gordon as his observer, was among those flying reconnaissance patrols, which were to leave the ground every hour. B Flight’s Orders for the day, which were signed by Greg, said that patrols were to fire all their small arms ammunition before returning.
Log Book
Date: 9.11.18
Time Out: 10.10
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 188 hrs 25 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Cpt. Gordon
War Flying: 1 hrs 10 mins
Height: 7000
Course/Remarks: Reconn. Engine dud.
Later in the day, Greg took up Air Mechanic Corkhill to test the engine.
Date: 9.11.18
Time Out: 15.00
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 188 hrs 45 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: A. M. Corkhill
War Flying: 0 hrs 20 mins
Height: 2000
Course/Remarks: Engine test – OK.
B Flight Orders
B FLIGHT ORDERS FOR 9.11.1918
6740 0700 Lt. Judd Lt. Elliott Reconn. Bombs.
2517 1000 Lt. Gregory Capt. Gordon – do –
2707 1300 Lt. Wallington Lt. Paton – do –
2872 Lt. Sewell Lt. Whittles Next job
Lt. Bon Lt. Bett Next job
4889 0930 Ready for Major Hunter with bombs
-------------
Patrols will leave the ground at every hour and may return after 1¼ hours on the line, providing that all SAA [small arms ammunition] has been fired and they have a decent report. Bombs are to be taken if clouds are at 2000 ft or over.
C.E. Gregory, Lt
for O.C. B Flight
Patrols left every hour. Reconnaissance was clearly the priority of the day. This was because a lot was happening on the ground. The British front line was moving rapidly eastwards from the River Scheldt as the German armies withdrew east from Tournai towards Ath.
Line held 9 November. Click for larger image. Map credit: Map Archive
The small arms ammunition was the .303 rounds that the Vickers and Lewis machine guns fired. For some reason, Greg and Capt. Gordon didn’t fire any. That could have been because the engine gave them trouble, and they went back to the aerodrome prematurely.
This was to be Greg’s last flight with Capt. Gordon before the armistice.
42 Squadron RAF only arrived at Ascq Aerodrome on 22 October 1918, and would be leaving in three days time. Among Greg’s collection are two photographs of him and a few fellow officers, taken on the airfield, with some still identifiable houses behind them. Meanwhile, the everyday business of B Flight – reconnaissance and counter-battery patrols and a shoot – continues. As it turned out, these would be the last counter-battery patrol and the last shoot flown by the flight in the war. Greg did not fly today.
B Flight Orders
B FLIGHT ORDERS FOR 8.11.1918:-
2707 10.00 12.30 Lt Judd Lt Elliott RECON & CBP
4889 when fit Lt Bon Capt Gordon SHOOT
Lt Sewell Lt Whittles NEXT JOB
Lt Wallington Lt Bett - do –
E27 will be ready to leave the ground at 630.
Wm. Ledlie, Capt.
Ascq Aerodrome
The Anciens Aerodromes website pinpoints the site of Ascq aerodrome as being just south of the junction of the Rue des Fusilés and the Rue de la Tradition/Rue Gaston Baratte. The road junction is itself only a few hundred yards/metres southwest of the centre ville of Ascq itself, as can be seen on this embedded Google map:
Today, the site of the airfield is mostly an industrial estate, with a bit of scrubland and some allotment land – with what looks like an asparagus bed on the right! –
The site of Ascq aerodrome, June 2018. Looking south from the Rue de la Tradition towards the marker in the Google map, above. Click for larger image.
Photos with the Rue des Fusilés in the Background
Here are the two photographs of Greg and others. They are taken with buildings on the Rue des Fusilés being visible behind them.
The first:
Greg (second from left, front row) and others on the airfield at Ascq. Third from left in the front row is probably Capt. Bill Ledlie. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
The houses on the left of the group are still there, on the Rue des Fusilés, although somewhat altered and built around:
Houses on the Rue des Fusilés in June 2018. The cream house on the left and the red-roofed building, since refashioned but recognisable by its chimneys, were there in 1918. Click for larger image
And the second, probably taken on the same occasion:
Greg (on the right in the back row) and others on the airfield at Ascq. Seated in the middle in the in the front row is Capt. Bill Ledlie. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
Note the house with the patterned roof, visible between the observer standing on the left and other other five. It is still quite conspicuous on the Rue des Fusilés:
House with pattered roof on the Rue des Fusilés in June 2018. Click for larger image
Although Greg was not flying again today, it was business as usual for B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF at Ascq. Reconnaissance and counter-battery patrols and shoots were in today’s daily orders. An apparent dual role for Lt Sewell is resolved.
B Flight Orders
B FLIGHT ORDERS FOR 7.11.1918
2517 6.0 830 Lt Wallington Lt Bett Recon & CBP
4889 1200 1430 Lt Bon Capt Gordon – do –
6740 Lt Sewell Lt Sewell Shoot
2707 Lt Judd Lt Whittles do
E27 Capt Ledlie Lt Paton do
Lt Mulholland
Pilots and observers who have not passed all tests will please arrange to do so tomorrow.
The early machine will send down a weather report at 6.45 so that, if fit, the people on shoots can get into the air without any loss of time.
W. Ledlie, Capt.
There are obviously a couple of mistakes here. I have corrected Capt. Ledlie’s implication that he himself was still a lieutenant. But then there is Lt. Sewell’s designation as both pilot and observer in 6740! Judging from other entries in the B Flight Orders, he was in fact a pilot. And he often flew with Lt Whittles as observer. So probably Lt Sewell’s name should just be deleted from the observer’s column, and those named beneath him shunted up.
Lt Denis Charles Sewell
Lt Denis Charles Sewell was born on 31 October 1898. Prior to being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 42 Sqn, he was in the Honourable Artillery Company.
‘Tests’
The nature of the ‘tests’ that both pilots and observers must pass is not explained.
It was another non-flying day for Greg, but today we can see why. For the last few days of the war, we have copies of the daily orders for B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF. And today’s entry shows that Greg was the first reserve pilot on the list for any job that fell due after the already scheduled reconnaissance flights and shoots. As it turned out, he stayed on the ground.
B Flight Orders
B Flight Orders
B FLIGHT ORDERS FOR 6.11.1918
2707 0800.1030 Lt Sewell Lt Whittles RECON.
6740 1400.DUSK Lt Judd Lt Elliott - do –
E27 Capt. Ledlie Lt Mulholland SHOOT
4889 Lt Bon Capt. Gordon - do –
Lt Wallington Lt. Bett - do –
Lt Gregory
Wm. Ledlie, Capt
Presumably other flights from the squadron will have fielded aircraft for further reconnaissance patrols and other jobs during the day.
The flight’s daily orders, and presumably those for the other flights, were nothing very grand. They were hand written and signed by the Officer Commanding the flight or his deputy. What we see above is evidently a carbon copy of the orders in Army Book 152, a correspondence book for field service. Probably a notice board or somewhere equally prominent displayed the original for all concerned to see.
Despite poor visibility, Greg and Lt Bett went on their first counter-battery patrol from Ascq. The patrol was short (45 mins) and low (700 ft). They reconnoitred the situation near Pont-à-Chin on the River Scheldt, north of Tournai.
Log Book
Date: 25.10.18
Time Out: 15.35
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 177 hrs 15 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Bett
War Flying: 0 hrs 45 mins
Height: 700
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. – Dud.
Squadron Record Book
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Reconnaissance
Hour of Start: 1535
Hour of Return: 1620
Remarks: 1535. Enemy shelling PONT A CHIN village & “Y” roads at I.32.a.1.1.
Flashes seen in wood at I.30.a. & I.24.b.&.d. – impossible to pin point owing to visibility. Flashes red.
Floods in I.33.& 27. subsided. Large floods still in I.21.
A.A.M.G. [anti-aircraft machine gun] & single rifle shots from O.4.
No new footbridges seen.
Bridges at I.32.a.7.2. destroyed.
No E.A. [enemy aircraft] or E.K.B. [enemy kite balloons] seen.
Vis. poor. Height 700’. Obs.by P.&.O.
The following map shows the locations referred to:
Map showing observations on reconnaissance patrol on 25 October 1918, north of Tournai. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.
Just one week ago, Greg reported on a reconnaissance flight from Chocques that the bridges over the River Escaut (Scheldt) north of Tournai were intact:
That was no longer the case. Today he reported: “Bridges at I.32.a.7.2. destroyed.” This seems to have been the crossing over the Scheldt from Pont-à-Chin to Paradis. Earlier in and probably before the war, there was a evidently a ferry over the river. Leading east from the ferry, next to the Au Ponton du Paradis inn, was a bridged track or causeway over the marshes on the eastern bank to the settlement of Paradis. The Germans had evidently built a bridge to replace the ferry, as shown overprinted in blue on the 1:20,000 scale map extract below, which was updated to October 1918. But unsurprisingly they had destroyed it as they withdrew east across the river.
River crossing at Pont-à-Chin. Adapted from a 1:20,000 scale map marked ‘Trenches corrected from information received up to 15 .10.18’. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.
Pont-à-Chin
Pont-à-Chin was one of the first crossing points on the River Scheldt north of the bridges in Tournai. It still is today: apart from the A8-E42 autoroute crossing high above the river, the Pont Bolus at Pont-à-Chin in the first place going north of Tournai where a’surface road’ crosses the Scheldt.
This was not the first occasion on which war raged around the village. In the Flanders campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Battle of Tournai was fought on 22 May 1794. Pont-à-Chin changed hands four times during the battle, which resulted in a victory for the allies of the coalition (Austrian, British and Hanoverian) forces of the ancien régime against the revolutionary French. Times and allegiances change, even if the fields of battle don’t.
On their first day at their base at Chocques, 42 Squadron’s aircraft are back at work. Greg is assigned with Lt Bett to an afternoon counter-battery patrol in the same aircraft that he ferried over from Rely yesterday. They were working around Englos and Sequedin, west of Lille. But they had to cut the patrol short. This was because the weather was poor, and the engine was missing badly.
Log Book
Date: 14.10.18
Time Out: 14.15
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: 100
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 171 hrs 20 mins
RE8: 6740
Observer: Bett
War Flying: 1 hr 50 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.6740
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Artillery Patrol
Hour of Start: 1415.
Hour of Return: 1605.
Remarks: No flashes seen, possibly owing to poor visibility.
1500. Fire (buildings) burning for a few minutes at P.13.c.5.9. [Hallenes-lez-Haubourdin]
Broad belts of wire protecting trenches in P.4.b. & 5.a. [Le Marais]
Unable to observe any train activity owing to mist.
Early return due to engine missing badly.
A.A. active. A.A.M.G. [anti-aircraft machine guns] active from O.5. & O.6. [Ennetières-en-Weppe]
E.A. Nil
E.K.B. Nil.
BOMBS. 1445. 4- 25lb dropped in O.12.d. [Moulin Joyeux] Four bursts observed.
100.V.G. fired from 2000’ into FORT d’ENGLOS.
Vis. Poor. Height 2000’. Obs. by P.&.O.
Englos and Sequedin
All this activity was around Englos and Sequedin, just to the west of Lille:
Map showing observations on counter battery patrol. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Today, between Englos and Sequedin there is a major autoroute junction on the A25, which runs from Dunkirk to Lille
Yet again, Fort d’Englos was on the receiving end of the RE8’s weapons, as on 8 October 1918 and 5 October 1918. Evidently it was still being used as a garrison site and ammunition depot.
In the end, engine trouble caused Greg and Lt Bett to go home early. At least the journey back to Chocques was 10 miles (16 km) shorter than it would have been to Rely.
Small Gain at Wavrin on the Front Line
The British Front Line, which ran more or less north-south just to the east of Armentières, had not moved much since 7 October 1918. An exception was a small salient encompassing a railway junction near the small settlement of Wavrin:
The British Front east of Armentières showing the small salient gained at Wavrin by 14 October 1918. Adapted from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
A small gain, but possibly a significant one. Gaining the junction meant that British troops now controlled the railway running just behind the front from La Basée to Armentières. No doubt very useful logistically.
Next up…
Greg’s next log book entry is for 17 October 1918.
Another disappointing shoot today. After yesterday’s perplexing lack of success with 346 SB because the shell bursts could not be observed, today’s shoot with 1/1 West Riding Heavy Battery (two 60 pounders) was thwarted for another reason: enemy aircraft.
Log Book
Date: 16.9.18
Time Out: 10.35
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 160 hrs 50 mins
RE8: 2500
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 55 mins
Height: 5000
Course/Remarks: Shoot with 1/1 West Riding. Unsucc. E.A.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2500
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Art Reg on Cross roads.
Hour of Start: 10.35
Hour of Return: 13.30
Remarks: U. with 1/1 W.Riding H.B. (2-60 pdr) on crossroads N.23.c.0.9. [at FROMELLES] (P).
Called 11.15. K. 11.17. [signals being received] L.11.19. [battery ready to fire] G. 11.20. [fire]
37 ranging rounds:- M.C.9. 1 A. 1 B. 8 C. 2 D. 25 W.
Unsuccessful owing to E.A. 11.55. sent M.Q. E.A. [wait: enemy aircraft] 12.15. send A. and G. [stand by; fire] Battery did not fire and in answer to R.U.F. [are you firing?] put out E.A. 12.35. battery put out L. 1 burst observed and 6 W. 12.42. another E.A. appeared W. of FLEURBAIX and battery again ceased fire. Several bursts missed owing to A.A. [anti-aircraft fire]
C.I. [returning to aerodrome] sent 12.45.
11.15. fire burning in wood at J.18.d. & 24.b. (N. of LILLE). [same location as yesterday's reported fire]
12.05. 2 R.E.A. [reconnaissance enemy aircraft] R.12. sent.
12.15. explosion at H.6.d.8.9.
12.40. 1 F.E.A. [fighter enemy aircraft] about 5000’ over G.24.
1 E.K.B. [enemy kite balloon] at approx. J.6.d. A.A. active.
11.10. 4-25lb bombs dropped at H.34.b. 4 bursts observed.
Vis. good. Height 4/6000’. Obs by P. & O.
So three enemy aircraft – two reconnaissance and one fighter – spoilt the party. This meant that the shoot on the crossroads at Fromelles was unsuccessful. We don’t know precisely where the battery was located. But we do know that two reconnaissance enemy aircraft over R.12 sufficiently disturbed them to stop firing. So we can reasonably conclude that the battery was probably somewhere to the south of Estaires. The following map shows the locations of more precisely known features and events:
Map of Fromelles, Estaires and Armentières. Adapted from a combination of 1:40,000 scale maps. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
1/1 West Riding Heavy Battery
The 1/1 West Riding Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery was a unit of the part-time Territorial Force (TF). The TF was a forerunner to the Territorial Army (TA). Wikipedia reports:
1/1st West Riding Bty was detached to 49th Bde RGA (normally composed of 8-inch howitzers) with Fourth Army from 21 August to 16 September, during the Second Battle of the Somme returning to 28th Bde thereafter. It was with 28th Bde during Fifth Army’s pursuit of the defeated German army towards the Scheldt in October 1918, when the ‘heavies’ were principally employed on harassing fire on the roads and tracks the Germans were using, and on concentrations of fire on headquarters and exits from villages, while trying to avoid civilian casualties. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Riding_Heavy_Battery,_Royal_Garrison_Artillery, References omitted]
We know from Greg’s and 42 Sqn RAF’s records that on 16 September 1918 at least two 60-pdrs were already in the Lys sector with the Fifth Army – prior to the push to the Scheldt, east of Lille (although they couldn’t know yet that that would happen). And with their target being the crossroads at Fromelles, it looks as though they were indeed “employed on harassing fire on the roads and tracks the Germans were using”.
BL 60-Pounder
The 1/1 West Riding HB’s weapons were breech-loading 60-pounder (often abbreviated to 60-pdr) guns. Although nominally ‘heavy’ guns, they were not as heavy as those operated by the siege batteries of the RGA. (Even the ‘small’ 6-inch Howitzers fires 100 lb shells.) But they were true, 5-inch calibre guns, with a relatively long barrel (14 ft for the Mk Is).
The following photo, from the Imperial War Museum’s collection, shows a column towing a 60-pdr. The barrel is shifted backwards, i.e. towards the direction of travel of the column. This is to even up the weight distribution between the wheels of the gun carriage and those of the limber.
The IWM’s caption refers to the location being St Venant. More precisely, it is the bridge over the weir on the River Lys, next to St Venant lock, just north of the village. The direction of travel of the artillery train is south. The railings on the bridge have since been replaced. But railings of the same pattern are still in position by the adjoining wharf, on the left in the following Google Maps street view image Today they are painted a cheerful bright green.
Google Maps street view, looking north from St Venant towards the lock and weir on the River Lys, with the wharf on the left.
An unsuccessful – and probably frustrating – shoot with a new battery (346 Siege Battery, RGA). It was unsuccessful because Greg couldn’t see the bursts of the shells, and he didn’t know why he couldn’t. Greg’s observer today was Lt Bett, but in another sortie Lt Mulholland has a lucky escape.
Log Book
Date: 15.9.18
Time Out: 14.10
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 157 hrs 55 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
Height: 4000
Course/Remarks: Shoot with 346 SB, 6” How. Unsucc.
RE8 2517
Greg’s usual ‘bus’, RE8 E27, was presumably with the mechanics. He had described the engine as ‘rotten’ yesterday. Greg flew 2517 on one earlier occasion (21 July 1918), and would fly it more often as the war progressed.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book – click for larger image
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Art Obs on H.B. Destructive.
Hour of Start: 16.20
Hour of Return: 17.45
Remarks: U. [unsuccessful] with 346 S.B. (4-6” Hows) on H.B. [Hostile battery] at N.17.c.15.52. (P).
Called 16.40. K. 16.42. L. 16.45. G. 16.47.
10 ranging rounds:- 1 C. 9 W. Salvos unobserved.
Battery firing, but unable to see any bursts. Vis. good and unable to account for inability to see bursts.
C.I. sent 17.15.
16.50. fire in wood in J.18.d and 24.b. (Nth of LILLE).
17.00. sent N.F. [Now firing] N.12.a.5.0. (A). Result unobserved.
17.05. sent K.K. on flash in I.2.a.
A.A. active. E.A. and E.K.B. nil.
Vis. good. Height 4000’. Obs. by P. & O.
The locations in the above Squadron Record Book are shown on this map extract:
Map of Fromelles, Armentières and Lille. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. 213 Siege Battery’s target was in square N.17. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
The hostile battery that was 213 SB’s target was near Fromelles (bottom left of map) not far from Aubers. This is where Greg saw a lighthouse in a pre-dawn patrol on 14 July 1918.
Greg’s observer three days ago, on 12 September 1918, was 2/Lt Arthur Mulholland. Today, Lt Mulholland was up with pilot 2/Lt R.M. Marshall on a counter-battery patrol in RE8 2649 (which Greg had earlier flown on 13 July, 7 August and 8 August 1918). According to a casualty report in file AIR 1/859 at The National Archives:
[C2649 RE8] Shot down by EA at Sh36G7 on artly patrol. 2Lt RM Marshall slightly wounded/2Lt A Mulholland Ok
‘EA’ is enemy aircraft. ‘Sh36G7’ is 1:40,000 map sheet 36, square G7, which is just north of Estaires:
Map of Estaires. Adapted from a composite of 1:40,000 scale maps. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Fortunately, where they were shot down was more or less over the British front line at the time. They made it back to safety. Greg was next to fly with Lt Mulholland at the end of October.
A midday counter-battery patrol for an hour and a half with Lt Stuart Francis Bett. Not a great time by the sound of it, with the weather and E27’s engine both being ‘rotten’. Still, makes a change from ‘dud‘!
Log Book
Date: 14.9.18
Time Out: 12.00
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 156 hrs 30 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Weather & engine rotten.
2/Lt Stuart Francis Bett
This was Greg’s first patrol with 2/Lt Stuart Francis Bett, with whom he would fly several times in the next couple of months.
Stuart Bett was born on 11 November 1899 to Mary Bett, and so was some nine months younger than Greg. He survived the war, and was no doubt delighted that Armistice Day was on his 19th birthday. He was injured a few weeks later, on 17 December 1918 – playing rugby! – and wasn’t present at the B Flight Officers’ Christmas Dinner. Injury may have been the cause of his absence. Maybe he went home.
After the war, he graduated with a B.Sc. degree and on 1 October 1923 joined the Indian Service of Engineers an an assistant executive engineer in the United Provinces (of Agra and Oudh) – roughly present day Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Promotion to executive engineer followed in October 1932. Later, he transferred to the central public works department in August 1933 as a divisional officer. Stuart Bett died aged only 37, on 6 June 1937, in Dehra Dun. His widow was Ethel Margaret Fisher Bett.
Thanks to Margaret Sheard for sourcing information on Stuart Francis Bett.
