Royal Engineers on the Railways: Sapper C H Wilson

Sapper CH Wilson, Railways Operating Directorate, Royal Engineers and East Surrey Regiment 

Charles H Wilson 

Military Year: 1914-1920 

Rank: Sapper 

Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal 

Regiment or Corps: Royal Engineers Regimental Number: W.R.272092 Sub Unit: Railways Previous Units: 2/5th. E. Surr. Rgt. 5445., Royal Engineers. 270397. 

Spr. Charles Wilson may be the same Charles H Wilson who was employed as a carriage cleaner at New Cross station in the carriage department of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1914. Unfortunately it is not possible to be sure about his date of enlistment which, with the possibility of an extended period of time in the Army Reserve, could have been any time between August 1914 and December 1916. However, he appears to have first been posted to the 2/5th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, Territorial Force; probably, in line with his hospital admission record, around December 1916. This unit formed in September 1914 and disbanded in November 1917, never having seen active service. The fact that his East Surrey Regiment number is only four digits long would seem to imply that he left the unit prior to 1 March 1917, when the Territorial Force Infantry renumbering took place, and some months before it disbanded. Clearly he will not have gone overseas before 1 January 1916 owing to the absence of the 1914 or 1914-15 Star in his entitlement. It seems most likely that he was identified in some combing-out of men with useful trades and transferred out of the East Surreys to the Royal Engineers. He appears to have been transferred as a Sapper, denoting a degree of skill in some useful trade and passing of the requisite trade tests. This would have taken place before disembarking in a theatre of war. (As the 2nd/5th never went overseas, its appearance on the medal roll is anomalous, but is not unheard of on the RE Roll.) A likely date for his transfer seems to be around the beginning of March 1917, pursuant to ACI 276 of 1917, like Fireman with the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, 270390 Joseph Stanley Conley. Another possibility is May 1917 like 272095 (formerly 270401) Sgt William Burgoyne, 12 Light Railway Operating Company. The fact that he has two Royal Engineer service numbers would suggest that he entered RE service before the renumbering of the Transport Directorate of the Royal Engineers took effect in March/April 1918. His first service number is in a block associated with the railways. In this case the absence of the WR-prefix might suggest a posting with either No 27 Light Railway Workshop Company, which entered the France and Flanders theatre on 12 March 1917, or No.16 Wagon Erecting Company. That his later service was also in the Railways Directorate of the Royal Engineers is witnessed by his new WR (Waterways and Railways) number and entry on the Railways section of the RE medal roll. Men in this second (272000) service number block appear to have been largely with Broad Gauge and Light Railway Operating Companies. Both would seem to suggest a prewar career as a railwayman, which is in keeping with the possible identification of him as a prewar London, Brighton and South Coast Railway employee. Given the employment of 272095 (formerly 270401) Sgt William Burgoyne with 12th and then 234th Light Railway Companies, it is tempting to identify Sapper Wilson with the Light Railways, possibly first the workshop and later an operating company, very possibly the 12th. Each LROC consisted of approximately 200 men, in trades such as Drivers, Brakesmen, Guards, Wagon Repairers, Repair Shop Engineers, Traffic controllers and Storesmen. They performed and important role. To quote The Long, Long Trail: "The formation of the RE Light Railways companies in early 1917 was [an] innovation that was one of the factors that transformed the operational abilities of the army. Goods and men could now make the last leg of the journey to the front by light rail. Until that time, ammunition supply in particular had been subject to delays and required vast numbers of men and horses, and the light railways helped overcome both problems. Traffic and wear on the roads and tracks leading up to the front was eased, and fewer men were required to repair them." Men of the Light Railway Operating Companies were required to take their locomotives right into the forward positions with supplies such as ammunition (the 12th handled a record 2,250 tons on a single day in June 1917), gas cylinders, etc (up to 200,000 tons of supplies across the whole network a week in 1917) as well as men on occasion (in excess of 200,000 in just one month in 1917) and return with casualties. The lines were specifically targeted by German Artillery so it was often dangerous work, but with a good degree of initiative and independence. A good example of the risks they ran is given by Sapper Joseph Farren - also of 12th Light Railway Operating Company. He was awarded a posthumous Albert Medal for his work with other light railway comrades to pull a burning ammunition waggon away from an ammunition dump at Krombeke near Poperinghe on 30 April 1918. Sapper Farren was killed whilst uncoupling the burning waggon from the train, having successfully pulled it out of danger of touching off the rest of the dump. Returning to Sapper Wilson, from the absence of a pensions or Silver War Badge record for him, he appears to have survived the war relatively unscathed, except for a bout of influenza in 1919. He was demobilised some time that year, possibly shortly after his release from hospital in March 1919. See here for photographs of men of the 12th LROC: http://www.circlecity.co.uk/wartime/memorial/stanley-in-france.php 

Medal condition:

Fine. Complete loss of gilding to obverse and substantial loss to reverse. Replacement suspension ring and ribbon.