Roland Westwood 1898 – 1976 (born The Spinney, Boney Hay) My grandfather was a man of few words. He had contracted diphtheria as a child which had left him with an embarrassing speech impediment for the rest of his life. He served in the South Staffordshire Regiment during WWI, though the exact dates and details are missing due to army service records between 1914 and 1920 being destroyed by enemy bombing in 1940 - only about 40% survive. However, from my brief conversations with him – I spent the first 16 years of my life living with this man – and some internet research, I have come up with the following. My Grandfather joined the 7th Battalion of The South Staffordshire Regiment shortly after the outbreak of war 1914. He told me he had ‘fought against The Turks’ even describing their uniform (or lack of!) in detail. This indicates that he was close to the enemy either in close combat or POW situations or both – he talked about taking Turkish prisoners. He also mentioned being deployed in Egypt shortly after this encounter. He once refused to obey a direct order (which was to groom a mule – he said he’d already groomed it twice and “it’s a bloody lie if ‘ahm gunna groom ‘im agen’”) He was placed in close confinement in a tent with a guard outside with a fixed bayonet. I can understand where the Westwood bloody mindedness comes from! The incident was obviously resolved as he came home in 1918 with The George Medal and The Victory Medal (of which only the ribbon survives) This anecdotal evidence together with the timing of his service and his Battalion and Regiment probably place him in the Sulva Bay landings at Gallipoli in August 1915 – the offensive was a disaster and there were huge British and allied casualties – the Regiment was evacuated to Egypt in December – my grandfather mentioned terrible sea sickness – something which I can sympathise with. “Ah felt so bad, ah wouldn’t ‘a cared if the boat ‘ad gone down ‘an me with it!” The regiment was shortly after moved to France - about which I had no conversations, though I do recall some odd occasions when he would burst into some Bawdy song interspersed with French words – god only knows what recesses of his mind these came from. I don’t know when my grandfather completed his military service – 1918, I presume – he is conspicuous by his absence from his sister Nancy’s wedding in 1917. His future ‘wife’ Bertha Phillips and my grandmother stands at the rear of the group, 2nd left. Roland Westwood was a difficult man to live with and by all accounts had ruled his 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls with typical Victorian discipline and vigour, including ubiquitous use of ‘the strap’. For some reason this regime was spared in my case – perhaps it was due to the unusual circumstances of my birth or maybe awareness of a more enlightened age. Often I found him to be a loving and caring granddad, even sitting up all night to tend the fire for a poorly grandson, before leaving at 5:30 a.m. for his shift at Cannock Wood Colliery, where he worked as a coal hewer until his retirement in 1963. Even in old age his torso was ripped like a featherweight boxer and was coved in blue/black coal scares – evidence of decades of working the short narrow seams of coal, typical of Cannock Wood Pit. In his later years his mind became confused – who know what memories tormented him – and after my grandmother died in 1974, I don’t recall him ever saying another word – his legendary style of Black Country humour gone forever. Roland Westwood passed away in the nursing home at Hammerwich on 20th February 1976 – it was my grandmother’s birthday.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 13:34:37 +0000
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