Who was the real Basil? Part 1

Basil was born on 30^th October 1897 in Salford to Clement and Fanny Whitham. He was their fifth child, but the first two died shortly after birth making Basil their third eldest living child. Clem and Fanny were a prolific couple having eleven children in total. Clem Whitham was a bit of a maverick following many occupations until he set himself up with several fish and chips shops in Salford, unfortunately he would go on to progressively lose these in the 1920s in order to pay off the large gambling debts he had incurred.

Basil must have been a small child as evidenced by the statistics from his medical at his army enrollment. At the age of 17 he stood just 5 foot 2½ inches tall and had a chest measurement of just 35 inches fully expanded. In November 1914 the minimum accepted height for a new recruit had dropped to 5’ 3” and didn’t drop to 5’2” until July 1915 as the British army became even more desperate for greater numbers of men. As Basil volunteered in March 1915 I guess that extra ½” was very important!

Little is known of the detail of Basil’s early life. At some point he suffered a nasty scald to the inside of his left leg as evidenced by a scar being listed as a distinguishing mark on his army enrollment forms. We know that he joined as a boy scout and probably was a Methodist since most of the family’s activities, especially marriages, seemed to revolve around the Dock Mission Hall, a Methodist-meeting place, located near Ordsall Park in Salford.

Fig. 1 Basil in his scout uniform pre 1915.

Basil seems to have had a close relationship with his older brother Ernest and just a month before he signed up Basil was a witness at Ernie’s wedding. His signature can be seen on the marriage certificate copy below.

Basil answered Lord Kitchener’s call for extra men to enlist in 1915 and joined the Prince of Wales Volunteers. His enlistment record shows that he lied about his age in order to be accepted. The form states that on the 25^th March 1915 he was 19 years and 5 months old, when in fact he was just 17 years and 5 months – below the minimum volunteer age at the time. The pull to ‘do the right thing’ must have been strong. We can only speculate on his reasons and motivations for joining up and also Clem and Fanny’s reactions to their son volunteering when he was not of age.

Fig. 2 Basil as a new recruit in his Prince of Wales Volunteers South Lancashire uniform.

If you look at the photo above you can just make out the shape of Basil’s cap badge. Here is one the same, although not Basil’s actual badge. Once in Mesopotamia he would swop this dress uniform for his desert khakis.

Fig. 3 WW1 cap badge of the Prince of Wales Volunteers South Lancs Regiment.

The Prince of Wales Volunteers were part of ‘Kitchener’s New Army’, a wave of civilian men from all walks of life who had willingly answered the country’s call to take up arms. The career forces population, who viewed them as amateurs, gave them the nickname ‘the war gifts’ and treated them with some disdain.

You can find out more about Basil’s real life journey in part 2 coming soon.