FAMILY MAN -  JOHN FREDERICK GAYWOOD 1879-1917

 
John Frederick Gaywood was a hard working ordinary man but his fate was 
extraordinary. He was the only surviving male in his family and had trained 
as a pianoforte maker and tuner. In 1909 at the age of 29 he married Eliza 
Florence Collins They had three children Leslie Frederick Gaywood in 1910,  
Bernard William Gaywood in 1912 and Marjorie Florence Gaywood in 1914.

So at that time with three healthy growing children and with the father and 
mother aged 35 years and 28 years, family life was alright, with John 
Frederick employed in a sought after job as pianoforte tuner and the family 
living at 12, Aldine Road Shepherds Bush. All would have been ‘set fair’ were 
it not for the historical events about to unleash and which would be 
completely outside their control.

John Frederick Gaywood was my grandfather and his second child Bernard 
William Gaywood my father. WW1 had begun on August 1914 and consequently then 
shaped these families lives and all their subsequent descendants.

So totally mind blowing is the undisputed fact that, for us to have existed 
at all the events had to have happened the way they did. For this reason I 
have delved into the following circumstances in some detail and especially as 
even my father knew hardly anything about his parents, having been orphaned 
at 7 years of age.
 
A lot is written about WW1 and its futile losses and poor command. Sometimes 
I feel this could detract from the valour and sacrifice of the fallen heroes. 
Not many would have wanted to be there but their motivations at that time 
would have come from a passionate desire to protect and to make life better 
for those back home and a strong sense of patriotic duty. Of such sentiments 
are soldiers made and destroyed. Those at home are spared the hardships or 
knowledge of the soldier’s plight at the front line and can continue to bring 
up the soldiers children and carry on with their lives, albeit changed lives. 
Ironically this reinforces and fulfils part of the soldiers ethos and fuels 
the propaganda machine for sending a nations youth into that hellish hostile 
environment in the first place.

The War Years
The war began on August 1914 until 1918 although the build up to the event 
had been festering across Europe for some time. It was fought mainly in 
France and Belgium against the German, Turkish army. It was often made up of 
a battle seesaw, winning and losing small areas of ground fought for by 
infantrymen dug into trenches. Casualties were astronomically high and 
advancing warfare techniques included rifles, bayonets, mortars, gas, and 
later aircraft and tanks. Remember this was before the age of multi 
communication methods and then pigeon and runners or cyclists were the method 
sometimes used to give out orders to the battalions at the front. Often the 
generals in command were secure some distance back from the front line.

Typically an infantryman’s uniform would have been a helmet, gas mask, 
shovel, rifle, bayonet, water bottle, back pack, ammunition pouches, battle 
dress blouse and trousers, puttees worn to below the knee and ammunition 
boots. Conditions in the trenches were unspeakably terrible and in addition 
the soldiers were plagued by miserable rations, lice and rat infestations. 
They had to endure constantly soaking wet boots and uniforms plus the threat 
of poisoning by gas and flying ammunition, together with the deafening and 
confusing sounds of battle. Their physical shape and general health was poor 
and their hope of survival negligible.
 
1917 3RD Ypres Passchendaele Somme Salient.
The third major battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, 
took place between July and November 1917. General Sir Douglas Haig, the 
British Commander in Chief in France, was encouraged by the gains made at the 
offensive at Messines in June 1917. Haig was convinced that the German army 
was now close to collapse and once again made plans for a major offensive to 
obtain the necessary breakthrough. 

The opening attack at Passchendaele was carried out by General Hubert Gough 
and the British Fifth Army with General Herbert Plumer and the Second Army 
joining in on the right and General Francois Anthoine and the French First 
Army on the left. After a 10-day preliminary bombardment, with 3,000 guns 
firing 4.25 million shells, the British offensive started at Ypres a 3.50 am 
on 31st July.

John Frederick Gaywood was an infantry soldier with the Somerset Light 
Infantry (Prince Alberts).
He was no. 235088 PTE JOHN FREDERICK GAYWOOD and part of the 8th Battalion of 
the 2nd Army and attached to 63rd brigade A/C Company. On the 31st July 1917 
at the Battle of Pilkem on the first day of the Haig offensive and the start 
of the 3rd battle of Ypres John Frederick together with many other 
infantrymen was lost in Flanders Field!  

A significant passage from the war diaries for that day says: -

“5.40 p.m. Pigeon report from Capt. Baker that platoon sent forward 
had retired, that posts were established N. and S. of Beek Farm that 2nd Lt. 
Blake had been killed, that his platoon had suffered many casualties and that 
it was at that hour impossible to bring in wounded.”

Maybe he was killed in action? Sniper fire? Wounded? Shot? Drowned in the 
quagmire of slime and mud? No one knows, as he became one of thousands of 
soldiers whose bodies were never found in the battles of the Somme.

Back in England
During 1917- 1918 back home in England, Florence Jessie and the three 
children were left without a husband and father and source of income, and had 
to find a way to survive. The hardships of fighting the war for any country 
have far reaching implications on the economy as the war ends and shortages 
and other deprivations ensue. Neither Eliza’s father James William Collins 
nor John Fredericks mother Eliza Gaywood would have found it possible to 
provide the resources for the four destitute members of the family and 
Florence Jessie was forced to seek employment. She found a job as cleaner and 
general housekeeper to a local GP. This was with 
 Dr. Warren residing in Enfield Highway and this demanding job included 
accommodation for her and the three children. Sadly it was not long after 
that she became gravely ill and on 29th April 1921 she died of acute diabetic 
coma aged only 33 years.

The children were then orphaned and split up, with Leslie and Bernard going 
to live with James William Collins and family at 31, Uckfield Rd. and 
Marjorie being taken into the family of George and Jessie Hudson (nee 
Collins) with their daughters Joan and Nina. As soon as Leslie and Bernard 
were old enough Leslie was encouraged to
join the army as a boy soldier and Bernard who was short sighted and thus not 
suited to the army was sent to London to become a clerk in a warehouse, the 
job included basic keep and accommodation.

The independent streak within these three youngsters and their strong 
characters were forged in the experiences of the tragedies and traumas of 
their early life. As they each later chose wisely in their partners and 
raised their own families they fulfilled any parents dream for their 
offspring. Their father would have been proud of them and they also of him.

90 years later
His name is all one can find in Belgium carved into the huge memorial Menin 
Gate crossing one of the main routes into Ypres, the vast walls of this arch 
are covered from floor to ceiling in some of the names of soldiers lost on 
Flanders Field in the battles of the Somme. There are many more memorials in 
the region with tens of thousands of soldier’s names, enough to render the 
visitors speechless and to hang their heads at the enormity of the seemingly 
needless losses on both sides. 
Some years later there was a memorial inscription added to the words on a 
family gravestone at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

Several descendants have visited the Menin Gate and as you stand within its 
vast arch looking towards the town there are steps on the right hand side. 
When climbed these lead to an area where those visiting leave wreaths and 
messages. Just above this and to the right is the name John Frederick 
Gaywood. It was both moving and poignant to stand on this spot and made even 
more so by the presence of some old soldiers from another regiment who were 
visiting to view the names of fallen comrades. They produced a bugle and 
unfurled a regimental flag and played ‘the last post’ whilst standing to 
attention. This was an apt mark of respect and was very memorable and moving 
and a well timed ceremony coincident with our own visit. 

This has been researched and composed in respectful memory of a family man 
who had little choice but to’fight for king and country’ and thus to 
unwittingly become ‘cannon fodder’. He was engaged in a war not just against 
an enemy army but with hardships compounded by poor command, inadequate 
training in appalling conditions. The story once more showed the futility of 
the Somme battles and the subsequent demise of tens of thousands of 
infantrymen who found themselves undeservedly and unwillingly in that 
abhorrent hellhole. 

Bringing such stories to the attention of modern Britain 90 years on should 
give this nation a sense of pride and respect. We can luxuriate in our own 
lives only because of our ancestor’s unselfish acts of heroism. None of us 
should ever forget such a significant sacrifice.