KIMBOLTON - CAMBRIDGESHIRE
War Memorial
War Memorial
Private Samuel BASS 2442
Born: Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, England Enlisted: 10-6-1916, Narrabri, New South Wales 34th Battalion Australian Infantry Killed in Action: 12-10-1917, Belgium Honoured: Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium Husband of Sarah Ellen Bass, 21 Lynwoods, Colwick Vale, Nottingham, England Honoured Australian War Memorial Panel 123 Also Honoured on the St. John the Baptist War Memorial, Colwick |
Naomi Valley Independent 18-11-2014
SAMUEL Bass was a Nottingham (UK) lad, who made a new life for himself and his family in the Curlewis district in faraway Australia in the early part of last century.
He escaped the grim battle for survival in industrial England for the wide open spaces of Australia. But his hopes for the future of his family were shattered when he was killed in action in the cauldron of World War 1.
Samuel, his wife Sarah and four young children were living on the large property Wandobah, in the Curlewis district, when Samuel Bass enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and ended up in the trenches on the Western Front in France and Belgium.
Soldiers had to endure unimaginable horror on the Western Front battlefields, where millions died, among them 46,000 Australian troops in slightly more than two years. The official Australian war historian, Charles Bean, described the Western Front as “a ghastly mincing machine”.
Private Bass died in the Allied assault on the key German stronghold of Passchendaele, Belgium, in October 1917, when thousands of troops were consigned to their death by commanders who ordered them to attack entrenched enemy positions on the heights above a terrain saturated by weeks of rain.
Men struggled to advance in deep mud, many of them even drowned in water-filled shell holes. Their weapons were fouled by the mud and slush, leaving them as sitting ducks in front of the German guns.
They were never a chance and they died in their thousands. And on that terrible killing field was Private Samuel Bass, one of 12 soldiers from Gunnedah and district whose lives came to a shuddering halt on that fateful day, October 12, 1917.
The life of Samuel Bass was a poignant tale. Born at Kimbolton, Nottinghamshire, in 1878, he was four years of age when his father died. Six years later he became an orphan when his mother died but instead of being placed in an orphanage or workhouse, he went to work as a stable lad for the Earl of Manchester at Kimbolton Castle.
He eventually gained a position as second horseman at another large estate, The Grange. It was there that he met Sarah Ellen (Nellie) Shelton. They married and set up a grocer’s shop in the village of Netherfield.
Times were hard in the industrial north and the couple decided to strike out for a new life, selecting Australia. Samuel Bass made the first move, in 1911, and after finding work as a gardener on Wandobah Station in the Curlewis district, he sent for his wife and four children.
The family had settled into their new home, with Samuel working as a gardener on Wandobah and the older children attending school in Curlewis, when war broke out in 1914.
Samuel Bass resisted the urge to enlist until mid-1916, signing up at the age of 37 years and 11 months. He ended up on the Western Front in May 1917, serving as an infantryman and bugler. He was originally posted as missing at Passchendaele on October 12 and it wasn’t until November 8 that he was officially listed as killed in action.
His body was never located and his name is listed on the wall of Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, through which millions of troops passed on their way to the front lines. The wall contains the names of 54,000 Allied troops who perished in battle and whose remains were never found.
The Bass family remained in the Curlewis district for a few years after the war before returning to Nottingham.
The family had become well-known in the district and the people of Curlewis showed their gratitude for the service of Private Bass by striking a memorial plaque, an engraved shield on a wooden base which read: “In honoured memory of No 2442, Pte Samuel Bass. Enlisted 10-6-16, 34th Battalion. Killed in action in Belgium 12-10-17. Presented to his wife by the citizens of Curlewis.”
Thirty years later, the memorial plaque was passed on to his eldest grandchild, Beryl Dowsett, when she came to Australia to live in 1950.
“My grandmother (Samuel’s wife) gave the plaque to me for safekeeping when I left England,” she said.
The (Bass) family was extremely close. The children even took a photograph of themselves on Wandobah and sent a Christmas card reading: “Love and heaps of kisses to our Dear Daddy for Xmas”.
Samuel had written fondly to 13-year-old Charles, on September 16, 1917, less than a month before his death.
It read, in part: “Now my dearest lad. I am pleased you like your school, also that you are doing so well. Your mother says you would like a fountain pen, well I will treat you to one for your birthday.
“Tell your Ma I will pay her when my ship comes home. We have been away from the trenches for over a month and for the last 10 days I have been working for a French farmer getting the harvest in. How are you getting on with French?
“Well now Charles, I must just ask you to keep trying and do your best and always do right as far as possible and try to make a name for yourself.
“I must now close with the fondest of love and wishes from your Loving Father”.
The death of the head of the household meant that Charles had to pass up a scholarship to a boarding school in Newcastle to return to the family on Wandobah Station. He had hoped to become an engineer.
The whole family returned to the UK in early 1922.
SAMUEL Bass was a Nottingham (UK) lad, who made a new life for himself and his family in the Curlewis district in faraway Australia in the early part of last century.
He escaped the grim battle for survival in industrial England for the wide open spaces of Australia. But his hopes for the future of his family were shattered when he was killed in action in the cauldron of World War 1.
Samuel, his wife Sarah and four young children were living on the large property Wandobah, in the Curlewis district, when Samuel Bass enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and ended up in the trenches on the Western Front in France and Belgium.
Soldiers had to endure unimaginable horror on the Western Front battlefields, where millions died, among them 46,000 Australian troops in slightly more than two years. The official Australian war historian, Charles Bean, described the Western Front as “a ghastly mincing machine”.
Private Bass died in the Allied assault on the key German stronghold of Passchendaele, Belgium, in October 1917, when thousands of troops were consigned to their death by commanders who ordered them to attack entrenched enemy positions on the heights above a terrain saturated by weeks of rain.
Men struggled to advance in deep mud, many of them even drowned in water-filled shell holes. Their weapons were fouled by the mud and slush, leaving them as sitting ducks in front of the German guns.
They were never a chance and they died in their thousands. And on that terrible killing field was Private Samuel Bass, one of 12 soldiers from Gunnedah and district whose lives came to a shuddering halt on that fateful day, October 12, 1917.
The life of Samuel Bass was a poignant tale. Born at Kimbolton, Nottinghamshire, in 1878, he was four years of age when his father died. Six years later he became an orphan when his mother died but instead of being placed in an orphanage or workhouse, he went to work as a stable lad for the Earl of Manchester at Kimbolton Castle.
He eventually gained a position as second horseman at another large estate, The Grange. It was there that he met Sarah Ellen (Nellie) Shelton. They married and set up a grocer’s shop in the village of Netherfield.
Times were hard in the industrial north and the couple decided to strike out for a new life, selecting Australia. Samuel Bass made the first move, in 1911, and after finding work as a gardener on Wandobah Station in the Curlewis district, he sent for his wife and four children.
The family had settled into their new home, with Samuel working as a gardener on Wandobah and the older children attending school in Curlewis, when war broke out in 1914.
Samuel Bass resisted the urge to enlist until mid-1916, signing up at the age of 37 years and 11 months. He ended up on the Western Front in May 1917, serving as an infantryman and bugler. He was originally posted as missing at Passchendaele on October 12 and it wasn’t until November 8 that he was officially listed as killed in action.
His body was never located and his name is listed on the wall of Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, through which millions of troops passed on their way to the front lines. The wall contains the names of 54,000 Allied troops who perished in battle and whose remains were never found.
The Bass family remained in the Curlewis district for a few years after the war before returning to Nottingham.
The family had become well-known in the district and the people of Curlewis showed their gratitude for the service of Private Bass by striking a memorial plaque, an engraved shield on a wooden base which read: “In honoured memory of No 2442, Pte Samuel Bass. Enlisted 10-6-16, 34th Battalion. Killed in action in Belgium 12-10-17. Presented to his wife by the citizens of Curlewis.”
Thirty years later, the memorial plaque was passed on to his eldest grandchild, Beryl Dowsett, when she came to Australia to live in 1950.
“My grandmother (Samuel’s wife) gave the plaque to me for safekeeping when I left England,” she said.
The (Bass) family was extremely close. The children even took a photograph of themselves on Wandobah and sent a Christmas card reading: “Love and heaps of kisses to our Dear Daddy for Xmas”.
Samuel had written fondly to 13-year-old Charles, on September 16, 1917, less than a month before his death.
It read, in part: “Now my dearest lad. I am pleased you like your school, also that you are doing so well. Your mother says you would like a fountain pen, well I will treat you to one for your birthday.
“Tell your Ma I will pay her when my ship comes home. We have been away from the trenches for over a month and for the last 10 days I have been working for a French farmer getting the harvest in. How are you getting on with French?
“Well now Charles, I must just ask you to keep trying and do your best and always do right as far as possible and try to make a name for yourself.
“I must now close with the fondest of love and wishes from your Loving Father”.
The death of the head of the household meant that Charles had to pass up a scholarship to a boarding school in Newcastle to return to the family on Wandobah Station. He had hoped to become an engineer.
The whole family returned to the UK in early 1922.