The 3rd Earl of Leicester was a long-serving regular officer and all three of his sons joined the forces. His eldest son Tom Coke fought alongside his father in the Boer War and was serving with the Norfolk Yeomanry at the start of World War One. Arthur Coke had held a commission in the navy and in 1914 was with the Westminster Dragoons, whilst Roger Coke was in the navy, having joined in 1901.

On 28th June 1914 the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was shot dead in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. A month later Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. A series of alliances and agreements between nations then triggered a full scale European war.

In November Britain suffered the first civilian casualties when German ships shelled Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby.

Lord Kitchener, war minister, appealed for volunteers. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in France.

In August Germany declared war on Russia, France and Belgium. Britain declared war on Germany in support of Belgium’s neutrality.

The first Zeppelin raids were on Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn. Five civilians were killed. The bombing of London followed.

Conscription in Britain began as more manpower was needed.

At sea, the battle of Jutland saw the German surface fleet curtailed as a fighting force. This allowed the successful blockade of Germany.

After a long siege, the British garrison at Kut in Mesopotamia surrendered to the Turks leading to the capture of 10,000 troops.

German troops retreated to the Hindenburg line, a series of prepared trenches that reduced the size of the western front.

Internal pressure forced the Russian Tsar, Nicholas II (right), to abdicate in favour of his brother Grand Duke Michael.

Jerusalem was captured by British troops. This ended 673 years of Turkish rule.

After the Russian revolution, the Bolsheviks signed a peace treaty with Germany.

The last bombing raid on London killed 49 people and wounded another 177.

The armistice came into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

At sea, the navy undertook the successful blocking of Zeebrugge and Ostend with scuppered ships during April and May. In October the German fleet mutinied at sea. After the armistice, virtually the entire German navy surrendered at Rosyth and the U-boat fleet surrendered itself at Harwich.

Marshal of France, Ferdinand Foch (right), was made allied commander on the western front. His organised resistance to German advances, followed by a series of successful counter attacks, led to the surrender of the German forces. In the final battles in France, the German forces’ advance was halted, then reversed. There was heavy American support during the counter offensive.

The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was formed. Over 57,000 women enlisted with 9,000 going to France.

The USA declared war on Germany.

The first daylight bombing raid was carried out on Britain.

The British royal family changed its name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the less Germanic sounding name of Windsor.

At the battle of the Somme, Britain suffered the highest casualty rate ever in a 24 hour period. Tanks were used on the battlefield for the first time. They were unreliable and ineffective at first but helped break the stalemate of trench warfare.

As recruitment increased, Holkham was used more and more as a training area. Tented camps sprung up in the grounds and the Ancient House building in the village was used as a billet for troops. The City of London cyclists, based in Wells-next-the-Sea, caused problems for the Holkham agent. He had to ask them not to ride on top of the sea bank in Wells and to stop smoking in the dunes.

Coke, Arthur George, Killed in action, Sed el Bahr, Gallipoli, 21st May. Aged 33.

Dawson, Frederick Ernest Palmer. Killed in action, 15th September. Aged 20.

Neale, William Ernest. Killed in action, 19th April. Aged 26.

Groom, Thomas James. Killed in action at St Quentin, France, 21st March.Aged 24.

Futter, Edward. Killed in action, 23rd March. Aged 33.

Ball, Herbert John. Died of wounds, 28th August. Aged 21.

Dunn, William Jabez. Killed in action, 26th August, St Quentin, France. Aged 34.

Sizeland, Richard William. Killed in action, 30th September. Aged 23.

Dennis, Edward Vincent. Died in hospital at Harfleur,2nd September. Aged 28.

Mallet, Robert. Killed in action, 12th October. Aged 28. Curl, George. Killed in action, 13th October. Aged 22.

The last two people from Holkham killed in action were Groom, Alfred Charles aged 24 and Swain, Frederick George aged 23. Both were killed on 4th November 1918 just 7 days before the armistice.

Bell-Brown, Sydney William. Died at 30th Casualty Clearing Station, France, 26th November. Aged 21.

Dunthorne, George William. Killed in action at Loos, France, 25th September. Aged 22.

Sissen, Albert Ernest. Died of enteric fever in Malta, 1st October. Aged 19.

From June to October 1915, Model Farm at Holkham was used as an auxiliary hospital, home for up to eleven patients, officers only. All costs were borne by the Earl and Countess of Leicester. It is said that they also provided a car for patients’ use and a nurse masseuse.

The Leicester Yeomanry were encamped at Holkham. Their temporary hospital was at No 56 Rose Cottage, Holkham.

As part of the war effort the estate sent ash timber to Vickers to build aircraft.

A further 179 acres of grassland in Holkham park was ploughed for crops.

A Zeppelin raid killed a tenant and damaged buildings in the village of Wellingham on the Holkham estate.

Roger Coke witnessed the bombing of Folkestone by German Gotha bombers and the civilian casualties which resulted.

The Royal Garrison Artillery were stationed at new houses near the almshouses.

60 acres of Holkham park was ploughed up to grow crops to help the war effort.

The Welsh cycle battalion was stationed at Wells-next-the-Sea leading to more problems of cycling on the sea bank and taking pot shots in the dunes.

Holkham forestry department supplied 1,000 railway sleepers to help the war effort.

The Earl’s daughter Bridget and daughter-in-law Hermione, set off to work at the YMCA canteen in Abbeville, Normandy. The Countess of Leicester wrote to her son Roger saying that soldiers had to endure the meals produced by the girls while they learned to cook.

Winston Churchill, as First Sea Lord, ordered an attack on the Dardanelles. Troops landed at Gallipoli in support.

Edith Cavell (left) born in Swardeston, Norfolk, was working as a nurse in Belgium when she was executed by the Germans for helping allied prisoners to escape. She became a national heroine and is buried at Norwich Cathedral.

The first use of chlorine gas by Germany took place at the second battle of Ypres.

More women were employed in munitions factories as men enlisted in the armed forces.

The first airship was shot down over Britain by pilot William Leefe Robinson (left). He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The Countess of Leicester launched an appeal to support the 2nd Norfolks prisoners of war (POWs) held following the siege of Kut.

This memorial plaque (right), made on the estate in 1920, commemorates the battle of High Wood near the Somme. This area changed hands several times with appalling losses on both sides. The Earl’s daughter, Marjorie, brought back cuttings from willow trees taken from the battlefield which were planted on the south-west side of the lake at Holkham.

Tom Coke was deployed to northern Italy as aide-de-camp. He witnessed the capitulation of Austria-Hungary.

German prisoners of war were set to work on the marshes at Holkham.

German U-boats started sinking merchant ships. The sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania caused a crisis between Germany and the USA. Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.

The 1st Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment was engaged in many of the early actions on the western front. They saw action at the first battle of Ypres, as did Tom and Arthur. Arthur regarded trench warfare as the end of the role of the cavalry officer and asked for a transfer to ‘Colonel Sampson’s’ armoured cars.

By November Tom was in France with the Scots Guards. Arthur had arrived earlier with the Horse Guards. Both brothers saw action at the battle of Ypres. Roger was

on board HMS Indomitable (above) in the Mediterranean. Their sister Marjorie’s husband, known as ‘Cis’, saw action at the siege of Antwerp whilst serving as Adjutant to the Howe Battalion Royal Naval Division.The 3rd Earl

of LeicesterNorth Victor Cecil (Cis) Dalrymple-Hamilton

Arthur Coke

Frederick Dawson

William Neale

Thomas Groom

Bell, Christmas Robert. Died 3rd July of wounds received at Arras, France. Aged 20.

Christmas Bell

Herbert Ball

William Dunn

Richard Sizeland

Dennis, Sydney Thomas. Killed in action, 10th July. Aged 25.

Sydney Dennis

Reeve, Ernest. Killed in action, 3rd May. Aged 25.

Edward Dennis

George Dunthorne Albert Sissen

Sydney Bell-Brown

DUTY CALLS Holkham 1914 to 1918

1914

1915

1916

1917

1918

WorldWar One

In August 1914 Great Britain entered World War One, then known as ‘The Great War’. Our exhibition is about how this global event affected the lives of the Coke family and the people of Holkham village.

Below, with two parallel timelines, we set out events as they unfolded at Holkham and worldwide and commemorate those who died on active service.

Many of the men mentioned on the Holkham roll of honour and war memorial were already serving in the regular forces at the start of the war and many more were to enlist as volunteers.

Edward Futter

A CALL TO ARMS Recruitment 1914 to 1918In August 1914 most European countries had large standing armies made up of conscripts who were forced to serve. Britain had a much smaller army of professional soldiers organised by regiment. There were also battalions of part-time Territorial soldiers attached to the regiments who were intended for home defence. All British personnel had volunteered for service.

At the outbreak of war Germany had 4.5 million men under arms, Austria-Hungary had over 3 million and France had 4 million. Britain, at that stage, had under a million, including reservists. All British forces were mobilised immediately following the declaration of war. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was swiftly dispatched to the continent to halt the German invasion of Belgium. It was made up of regular army battalions such as the 1st battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, known as the 1st Norfolks.

All Territorial battalions were mobilised at the start of the war. Many were soon fighting abroad after heavy early losses by the regular army. Two Territorial battalions of the Norfolks, the 1/4th and 1/5th, were fighting in Gallipoli in August 1915.

Lord Kitchener was made war minister at the outbreak of war. From the start, he believed the conflict would be long and bloody. His first priority was to raise a large volunteer army. Kitchener decided that the New Army should be integrated with existing regiments. They were known as Service battalions.

Kitchener’s first target of 100,000 volunteers was met immediately. His second army of 100,000 was met within a month. So many volunteers led to a shortage of both instructors and equipment to train the new recruits. By November 1914 there were 20,000 men training in camps in Norfolk. Five Kitchener armies were formed in all, representing six waves of recruitment.

In order to encourage recruitment, many volunteers were organised into so-called Pals’ Battalions, where friends from towns, villages and institutions would train and be deployed together. The Eastern Daily Press called this ‘a fillip to enlisting’ in the big November 1914 recruitment drive. The fateful Lost Sandringham Company and the Sportsman’s Battalion are two examples with links to Norfolk, although the Accrington Pals are perhaps the best known. More informal attempts to stay together were also made, such as the Norwich Business-Men’s Company. Very heavy losses in certain Pals’ Battalions led to the idea being abandoned as the impact on a single community could be devastating.

The Sportsman’s Battalions

The Lost SandringhamsIn 1908 E Company of the 5th Territorial Battalion of the Norfolks was formed at the request of King Edward VII and was made up entirely of staff from the royal estate at Sandringham. While fighting in Gallipoli on 12th August 1915, they charged against the Turkish army and were lost in the mist and never seen again. A TV film version of the tragic events, All the King’s Men starring actor David Jason, was made in 1999 and partly filmed on the Holkham Estate.

By early 1916 the flow of volunteers could not meet the demand for recruits and the Military Services Act was passed. Conscription began that summer. Initially, only single men and childless widowers between the ages of 18 and 41 were to be called up. By May this had been changed to all men aged between 18 and 41. By 1918 men up to the age of 50 could be conscripted.

The Outbreak of War

Territorial Battalions Kitchener’s New Army Pals’ Battalions

The Territorials were at their annual camp in Holkham park in July 1914. This is the colour party carrying the rallying flags of the 4th

Norfolk Battalion. They were soon off to war.

The Norfolks’ 6th Cyclists Battalion was deployed for home defence. Invasion seemed a very real threat in the first few months

of the war.

New recruits on parade, but no uniforms yet. Carrow Fields, Norwich, 1914.

Once they left Britain, new recruits would be toughened-up in training camps behind the lines before being sent to the front.

Conscription

The Sportsman’s Battalions were actually the 23rd and 24th (Service) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. They become known as ‘The Hard as Nails’ as they were

largely made up of fit sportsmen.

After his death at sea in 1916, Lord Kitchener’s memory was called upon to support conscription.

Conscription led to an appeals process which operated at the local level. Men and their employers could argue the case for exempt status. The Holkham Estate was involved in many such appeals to keep key workers. Young, fit men were at a premium. So too were specialists, such as electricians. Appeals were not always successful and staff shortages occurred.

The soldier above is wearing an Imperial Service badge on his right breast, indicating that he has agreed to serve abroad.

The nine men on the roll of honour who were in the navy all survived the war. This reflects the national picture. The Royal Navy suffered some 20,000 deaths during the war while the army were to lose that number of men on the first day of the Somme offensive.

The Royal Navy kept the sea lanes open allowing food and manpower to reach France. At the same time they kept the German fleet penned in port.

Closer to home, German cruisers bombarded the coastal towns of Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough in December 1914.

Sea battles in the North Sea cost thousands of lives. Around 6,100 British and 4,150 Germans were killed in three major naval actions. The largest and most decisive was the Battle of Jutland.

With their surface fleet blockaded, the German navy relied on U-boats to disrupt allied shipping. The merchant fleet lost over 500 ships to U-boats in 1917 alone. From then on better protection allowed the movement of 16,539 ships with only 154 lost to U-boat torpedoes.

The Holkham roll of honour and Holkham village war memorial are a testament to the men who fought and died for their country in World War One. Serving in dozens of different regiments and corps, Holkham men saw action in every theatre of the war except the Russian front.

Fighting on land, sea and air, we can trace the contribution these men made to global events.

We have no record of Holkham men flying combat aircraft but we know that Roger Coke, the 3rd Earl of Leicester’s youngest son, flew airships from Great Yarmouth over the North Sea.

It was German Zeppelins which first breached Britain’s island fortress. East Anglia saw the first attacks, followed by London. Over 500 British civilians were killed and a further 1,300 injured by Zeppelin raids during the war.

German Gotha bomber raids followed the Zeppelin raids, with London bearing the brunt. Over 800 civilians were killed and 1,500 were injured. Gotha raids deliberately

targeted civilians in an effort to demoralise the people of England. Air raids in September 1917 were so persistent, they caused panic in the capital and over 300,000 took shelter in the London Underground.

Roger Coke witnessed the Gotha bomber raid on Folkestone in May 1917 which killed 72 civilians and injured 96.

The Old Contemptibles‘It is my Royal and Imperial command that you concentrate your energies, for the immediate present, upon one single purpose, and that is that you address all your skill and all the valour of my soldiers to exterminate first the treacherous English and walk over General French’s contemptible little army.’ (Army order issued by Wilhelm II, German emperor on 19th August 1914.)

From 1914, British army regulars seized upon the German emperor’s description and adopted it as a badge of honour - after the war they took to calling themselves ‘The Old Contemptibles’.

Men serving in regiments such as the Norfolks might

find themselves moved between battlefields and indeed countries. For example, the 1st Battalion was in Holywood, Belfast in August 1914. Then they moved to Le Havre and from there to the western front. They moved with their division to Italy in November 1917 but returned to France in April 1918 to face the German spring offensive.

WHERE THEY SERVED Holkham Men 1914 to 1918

War at Sea

War on Land

War in the AirCOUNTRIES WHERE HOLKHAM MEN SERVED

Naval escorts for passenger liners carrying troops were essential. In 1914, 32 liners carrying some 35,000 Canadians needed for the land war arrived safely in Plymouth.

GREAT BRITAIN • FRANCE • BELGIUM • EGYPT • TURKEY • GREECE • ITALY • PALESTINE • MESOPOTAMIA

This map shows the countries at war in 1914. The last country to declare war was Romania who declared war on Germany on 10th November 1918. Over 100 countries became involved in the conflict.

Above right: By 1916 the cry ‘Over by Christmas’ began to ring hollow. However, the troops still managed to keep a sense of humour as this Christmas card from a member of the Norfolks serving in Mesopotamia shows.

The wreckage of the first Zeppelin shot down over Great Britain.

Gotha IV bombers

17th Lancers • 21st County of London • Army Ordnance Corps • Army Service Corps • Artists Rifles • Bedfordshire Regt • City of London Yeomanry • East Kent Regt • East Surrey Regt • Howe Battalion • King’s Royal Rifle Corps • London Scottish • Machine Gun Corps

Middlesex Regt • Norfolk Yeomanry • Norfolk Regt • Northamptonshire Regt • Ox and Bucks Light Infantry • Royal Naval Armoured Cars • Royal Army Medical Corps • Royal Artillery • Royal Engineers • Royal Fusiliers • Royal Field Artillery • Royal Horse Artillery • Royal Irish Rifles

Royal Scots Fusiliers • Scots Guards • Seaforth Highlanders • Somerset Light Infantry • South Staffordshire Regt • 2nd Sportsman’s Battalion 24th Fusiliers • Suffolk Regt • Gloucestershire Regt • West Yorkshire Regt • Westminster Dragoons • Royal Navy • Royal Naval Air Service

Ships Strength Losses Strength Losses

Dreadnoughts 28 nil 24 nil

Battle Cruisers 9 3 5 1

Light Cruisers 34 3 11 4

Destroyers 80 8 63 5

Comparative strengths at the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916. This was the greatest naval strength assembled during the war.

Great Britain Germany

THE SERVICES, REGIMENTS AND CORPS IN WHICH HOLKHAM MEN SERVED

THE COST IN LIVES OF WORLD WAR ONEThe full cost of life will never really be known.

The following figures are generally accepted as an estimate of military deaths during the World War One.

Allied Powers: 5,200,000

Central Powers: 3,500,000

In addition a further 21,289,000 were wounded

Civilian deaths as a direct result of conflict: 948,000

In 1918 the Spanish flu pandemic may have killed as many as 50,000,000 people.

The Countess of Leicester had three sons and a son-in-law all on active service in World War One. The Countess came from a military family and also had three brothers (sons of the 2nd Baron Annaly) fighting in the war. Lady Leicester devoted herself to service on the home front and guided the hall, her family and the large household through the difficulties of the war years. Here she was aided by her two daughters and her daughter-in-law. Lady Leicester was awarded the DBE (Dame Commander) when George V created the Order of the British Empire to recognise wartime services. Marked appreciation for her efforts was also shown by the Red Cross, the main focus of her activities.

DUTY CALLS The Home Front : ‘They Also Serve…’The Countess of Leicester, wife of the 3rd Earl

Alice Coke (as she then was) in 1894 with her children, Tom, Arthur, Roger, Marjorie and Bridget.Portrait by Hughes.

President of the Norfolk Red CrossLady Leicester was honoured for her Red Cross work (certificate left) but this did not help her eldest son Tom’s evacuation from the western front: ‘they dared not put the red cross on the vehicles in which the wounded were transported, as they were shot at’.

Zeppelin RaidsZeppelin bombing raids were a very real threat in north Norfolk and many people were killed in raids on King’s Lynn, Yarmouth and one man on the Holkham estate. Lady Leicester’s grand-daughter Silvia recalled ‘the sight of a Zeppelin caught in searchlights and the treat it entailed of going into our grandmother Alice’s bedroom and being given cocoa and biscuits, and climbing up the four posters on her bed’.

Lady Leicester’s grandchildren and Tom and Marion Coke’s children: Silvia, David and Tommy (the future 5th Earl of Leicester).

A Most Disgraceful EpisodeLady Leicester had strong links with royalty and other prominent people. A close friend was Prince Louis of Battenberg, married to a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Prince Louis had served in the British Royal Navy since the age of fourteen. As an admiral Prince Louis had taken Roger Coke under his wing. In 1912 he became First Sea Lord but, with the outbreak of war, concerns about his German ancestry forced his resignation. The controversy is described in this letter to Lady Leicester from Major General Sir John Cowans, a member of the army council.

Prince Louis renounced his German titles and anglicised his name to ‘Mountbatten’ in 1917. At roughly the same time, the royal family changed its name from ‘Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’ to the more acceptable name of ‘Windsor’.

Red Cross AppealsAs president of the Norfolk branch, Lady Leicester greatly supported the wartime work of the Red Cross. Thanks to a national Red Cross appeal, the earliest motor ambulances were introduced in October 1914, a great improvement on horse-drawn ambulances. Lady Leicester spearheaded local fund-raising and, with funds raised, purchased an ambulance from the Norwich garage of Mann Egerton.

In 1915, for another Red Cross appeal, Lady Leicester asked the colonels of the 30 regiments quartered in Norfolk to allow a collection among their men. All agreed except one man in the Holkham park army camp who refused to contribute his penny. Whereupon the others ‘seized him and

rushed him down to the lake followed by the whole regiment and hurled him into the lake as far as they could throw him...the men were very keen about the collection and furious at his refusal.’

The Leicester Convalescent HospitalIn 1915 Lady Leicester transformed Model Farm, at the western edge of Holkham park, into ‘The Leicester Convalescent Hospital’ for officers. It opened in June and received about thirty patients. Lady Leicester’s younger daughter Bridget Coke, aged 24, and her widowed daughter-in-law Hermione helped in the hospital. Bridget reflected ‘it really is too tragic to see what a state most of their

nerves are in, it is so awful to see how utterly shattered they are.’

Prisoners of War AppealIn 1916 Lady Leicester launched an appeal for funds to relieve the men of the 2nd Norfolk Regiment who were being held in awful conditions as prisoners of war by the Turks. This letter appeared in the Eastern Daily Press.

Over £226 was raised by donations from a wide range of people.

The cheque to pay for the motor ambulance.

A motor ambulance at Norwich station. Photo kindly lent by Norwich Red Cross.

The army camp on the far side of the lake.

For Bridget working at the hospital was an eye-opener, described here in a letter. Bridget and Hermione then spent several months helping in an army

canteen in Normandy.

This entry from the hospital register is the record for J. G. Mackinlay from Canada, a Sub Lieutenant in the 2nd Naval Brigade. He had been wounded during the Gallipoli campaign in which Bridget’s brother Arthur had been killed.

Model Farm.

Here are a few responses. Miss T. Batley of Norwich wanted her contribution to be sent to her brother Harry, a prisoner of war in Turkey. She enclosed £1: ‘I think it look mean but I am only a working girl…I have other brothers fighting so I must see after them.’The Black Lion Bowling Club in Walsingham collected £5. The men working in Smith’s maltings in Wells-next-the-Sea sent fifteen shillings. An old age pensioner wrote, ‘My only dear boy is in the war somewhere’.

Viscount Tom Coke, the eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Leicester, became the 4th Earl in 1941. His great love was music but, aged 21, he followed his father into the Scots Guards and became a professional soldier. A year later in 1902 Tom served in the Boer War with his father who, although over 50, was already serving in South Africa. Of his son, he said: ‘it has made a man of him…he will have a real nice campaign…it is a splendid life in every way.’

By 1910 Tom had completed his service in the regular army and transferred to the Norfolk Yeomanry. At Tom’s invitation, the Yeomanry often camped in Holkham park while on manoeuvres.

The current Viscount Tom Coke, the great-grandson of Arthur Coke, has continued the family military tradition. Like the 3rd, 4th and 5th Earls of Leicester, he served as an officer in the Scots Guards before retiring in 1993.

Tom Coke in Scots Guards dress uniform.

Viscount Tom Coke, 1880 to 1949, eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Leicester

DUTY CALLS Recalled to Serve

Tom Coke, the future 4th Earl of Leicester, with his son Tommy, the future 5th Earl.

A Continuing Tradition

When World War One broke out Tom was recalled as a captain in the 3rd Battalion of the Scots Guards. In November 1914 he followed his brother Arthur to France and to the western front with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).When Arthur heard his brother was to join him on the western front, he commented: ‘I am awfully sorry Tom is coming out. I wish to goodness he wasn’t, as I am afraid this trench work will knock him up very quickly.’ After little more than a week at the front, Tom was invalided home with appendicitis.

Tom took up a staff post which kept him in England until September 1918 when he was sent to the front between Italy and Austria as an aide-de-camp (ADC). In October 1918, assisted by the British and French, the Italians launched the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Tom wrote home: ‘I think the old Austrian has suddenly become a bit nervous, and seems to have woken up from a long slumber…I can’t stand the bombing at night…The noise is too awful, and it is quite impossible to get any rest or sleep.’

Within days the Italians and the British had crossed the River Piave pushing north to the River Tagliamento. Tom wrote home describing the allied advance and the Italian-Austrian armistice on 3rd November. His letter describes an incident which illustrates the confusion surrounding the imminent end to the war.

‘The Italian cavalry waded across the river…the Austrians refused to fire because they said an armistice had been signed…we had heard nothing…and my general and I went up to interview the Austrian representatives…he explained to them that…he could do nothing but obey orders and push on. The Italian cavalry…took the whole three divisions prisoner. Personally

I thought it was rather a low down trick as all their guns were trained on us and they could have wiped us all out including the general and myself. However it appears that the Austrians had all thrown down their arms…’

Tom Coke with Cis Hamilton, his sister Marjorie’s husband, doing their

bit on a recruitment drive.

The current Viscount Tom Coke in Scots Guards dress uniform.

Tom Coke was present (right of picture) when the British and the Austrians met on 3rd November

1918, just before the armistice. He was witnessing the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The 3rd Earl was keen to wish his son good luck as he left for the front and to keep him

abreast of the shooting at Holkham.

The Italian Front

The Western Front

On his return to England in December 1914 Arthur transferred to the armoured car division of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve known as the Royal Navy Armoured Car Squadron (RNAS). By April 1915, the armoured cars were at Lemnos, a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Lemnos was used as a base to try to capture

the Dardanelle Straits in Turkey, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) away. With the armoured cars not yet required, Arthur volunteered with others from his unit to help man machine guns on the SS River Clyde.

Arthur was put in charge of three maxims (machine guns) in the fo’c’sle. On 25th April, which he anticipated would be ‘the greatest day of my

life’, the River Clyde ran in on V Beach at Sedd el Bahr, through ‘a perfect hell: shell, pompom, maxims, and rapid rifle fire’. Arthur’s maxims ‘kept the Turks from rushing our few survivors off the beach…never ceased for 13 hours’. The landing was fiercely opposed by the Turkish army and in that one action at V Beach six Victoria Crosses were awarded.

Despite heavy losses, the V Beach landing held. Arthur then joined the battle for Krithia. He was killed on 2nd May during a particularly fierce offensive by the Turks. He left a widow, Hermione, and two children, Anthony and Diana. Arthur Coke’s

name is commemorated on panel 8–15 of the Helles memorial in Turkey, located at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula.

Arthur Coke was educated on board the naval training facility at Dartmouth, known as H.M.S. Britannia, which took boys from the age of 12½. The Duke of Clarence and the future King George V were two cadets also educated on board the ship.

Arthur joined the navy in 1897 and retired six years later with the rank of Lieutenant. On the outbreak of war he obtained a commission in the Westminster Dragoons. He transferred almost immediately to the Royal Horse Guards and saw action in France. He arrived in Le Havre on 19th October 1914 and joined his regiment on 31st October.Portrait of Arthur Coke,

by Sir William Llewellyn.

The Hon. Arthur Coke, 1882 to 1915, grandfather to the 7th Earl of Leicester

DUTY CALLS Killed in Action

Troops entering Ypres. Arthur and his brother Tom fought at the first battle of Ypres.

Extracts from Arthur’s letters home in November 1914:3rd November I am now right in it... We got under shell fire about 12 o’clock, it made one duck a bit at first, but I don’t seem to mind it now - We get no news...

7th November Yesterday I had my first experience of real fighting - a French regiment had lost all its officers and the Germans broke through. We galloped to their help and then dismounted and drove the retreating French back who then fought splendidly... I always thought I might rather funk it... it was all grand and yet awful.

12th November …will you send out 3 dozen pairs of gloves for my men, also send me a khaki silk scarf for my neck...

20th November Shelling started and ‘Jack Johnsons’ never stopped - I had my trench completely blown in and was buried twice.... it is all nonsense about 96 hours leave - Anyhow will you send me a muffler and a bottle of whisky a week.

27th November …what I am really very anxious to do is to get in to Commander Samson’s armoured cars. I hear they have the greatest sport in every way. They get a lot of exciting fighting, which is better than sitting in these infernal trenches.

The SS River Clyde. The sandbagged area at the front of the ship is the fo’c’sle.

RNAS armoured cars in action at Gallipoli.

Jack is buried to the west side of the orangery at

Holkham Hall.

Arthur’s Grave.

Gallipoli

Arthur did not travel alone to Lemnos; he took with him his Airedale Terrier, Jack. Arthur’s fellow officers took care of Jack until he could be returned to Holkham where he died in 1918.

The Hon. Roger Coke joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1901 at the age of fourteen. Like his older brother Arthur, he trained on HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. He later served on the royal yacht HMRY Victoria and Albert. It was decided in 1900 that training future Royal Navy officers on a wooden hulk did not support the image of a modern navy and so an onshore college was built by 1905. In 1916 HMS Brittania was towed out of harbour and blown up, her copper bottom being reused for the war effort.

In the DardanellesRoger saw action in the Dardanelles aboard HMS Grafton. He arrived in the area shortly after his older brother Arthur was killed in action during the battle for Krithia.

Into the AirBy August 1916 Roger had become a Flight Commander with the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) serving at the Royal

Navy Airship Station Capel near Folkestone. He was involved in rigging a new type of airship. ‘We got the first one rigged and ready for flying within 48 hours… The record so far for any station, as they usually take weeks… We got congratulated by Capt Norris who is the head of the airship constructional department… which is very satisfactory.’

This entry in the flight log book records the now Major Coke on two flights in 1918. The first entry records spotting but failing to sink a mine. He ‘left it to a trawler’ to finish

the job. The second entry records an ‘instructional night flight’ of 8 minutes duration. His efforts were recognised and on 21st September 1918 the London Gazette

recorded Major, The Hon. Roger Coke (Airship Service) as ‘brought to notice in Despatches and Reports, for valuable services rendered’.

(Image courtesy of the Fleet Air Arm Museum.)

The Hon. Roger Coke, 1886 to 1960, youngest son of the 3rd Earl of Leicester

DUTY CALLS From Sea to Air

The Hon. Roger Coke in dress uniform.

Roger was involved in flying airships such as this over the North Sea as part of the coastal defence effort.

(Image courtesy of the Fleet Air Arm Museum.)

HMS Grafton

Sub-lieutenant Roger Coke, third from the right and inset, serving on HMRY Victoria and Albert in 1908. In the picture are King Edward VII

and the future George V. (Image courtesy of the Fleet Air Arm Museum.)

Roger wrote, ‘There must have been terrific excitement in Norfolk when they heard about the bombardment in Yorkshire. But I think Holkham is pretty safe as the Wash is too shallow’.

News From Home

While stationed near Folkestone, Roger witnessed the Gotha bomber raid of May 1917 which devastated the town and left 72 men, women and children dead and 86 wounded.

Folkestone Bombed‘I went down into Folkestone just afterwards and saw all the places where the bombs were dropped. I have never seen such a ghastly scene, in one street alone there were 20 corpses lying about mostly women and children.’

Pursuit of the GoebenOn the eve of the war in 1914, Roger was serving on the battle cruiser HMS Indomitable in the Mediterranean. Roger wrote on 23rd August, ’…we have done nothing much so far, except chase the Goeben and Breslau up and down the Mediterranean and … they have managed to escape us.’ The German ships’ arrival at the Dardanelle Straits has been seen as the spur which led to Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) joining the war on the side of Germany.By October, Roger was clearly frustrated with the navy and aware of the action his brothers were seeing on land. He appealed to his mother. ‘I would give anything to get out there [to the western front], I don’t mind the least what I go as private, bombardier, groom, or anything… I wish you could see if there was any hope’. Soon after, Roger begged his mother to get him into the Naval Brigade, ‘I would simply give my soul to get to the front… I would rather go through any hardships in the trenches than this.’

When we think of World War One we think of trench warfare and the hardships of mud and damp the soldiers had to endure even when they were not actually fighting. Here we have built a small section of a typical front line trench with the help of Andrew Rhodes and Jason Billman, students at Norwich University of the Arts.

Trenches were a response to the stalemate of the western front. They were essentially slits in the ground designed to provide protection from enemy fire. Neither side could breach the defences of the other for nearly three years. They were stuck looking at each other across no-man’s-land, often not very far apart, until the order came to go ‘over the top’ of the trench and attack. As both sides ‘dug-in’, men had to live and work in their trenches so they became more and more complex and specialised.

DUTY CALLS The Trench in World War One

This diagram shows the many different functions which trenches served, reaching back from the front line on the left to the rear on the right. The front line of trenches on the western front eventually stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea - some 400 miles.

This display is part of our exhibition Duty Calls – Holkham 1914 to 1918 which explores Holkham’s involvement in World War One. If you would like to see more of the main exhibition, visit the hall on Sunday, Monday or Thursday.

DUTY CALLS The Norfolk Recruit’s Farewell

FATHER and mother now good-bye!And friends so staunch and true!Soft-hearted sweethearts, cease to cry!Children and wives, adieu!

From London town the boys have gone–They’ve gone from every shire,For high and low have had to go From labourer to squire.

They’ve left the plough, they’ve left the hoe, And now they leave the stack;But when all England has to go,Our lads will not hang back.

‘Tis not for glory or for loot That they are off to fight,But they have donned the khaki suitTo prove that right is right,

And right-side Belgium’s wrongs and bring To naught the German plan,And save our country and our king, Who is a Norfolk man.

In swarms they come, our gallant men,From Norwich’s crowded wards, From scattered homesteads in the Fen,High Norfolk and the Broads.

From Cromer’s Beach to Waveney’s Reach,From Yarmouth, Lynn, they flock;From Dereham, Downham, Fakenham–The good old Norfolk stock.

The boys from Holt will never bolt,The Thetford lads are thorough; And so, I wis, are the chaps from Diss,Wymondham, and Attleboro.

The Swaffham chaps are good at “scraps”, The Wells sound as a bell,And hard as nails are the railway men From Melton Constable.

There’s Gurney, Buxton, Barclay, Coke, Astley, and Evans Lombe;With Bumpstead, Dyball, Bullen, Brooke, Crotch, Ficklin, Fitch, and Crome.

There’s Wodehouse, Walpole, Angerstein, Bagge, Amherst, Hamond, Hoare, Kett, Cattermole and Gathercole,Cronshey and Bullimore.

There’s Townshend, Keppel, Gurdon, ffolkes, Le Strange, Lee Warner, Hare;With Bunting, Guymer, Bloomfield, Coaks, Thirkettle, Sands, and Sayer.

There’s Beauchamp, Beevor, Bedingfield, Joddrell, and Jerningham,With Rumbelow and Philippo,Mobbs, Maddison, and Ram.

And thousands more already gone, You may say – everywhere! For if there’s any fighting onThe Norfolk man is there!

You’ll find him on the muddy Somme, Trapping the German moles,Or calmly pitching up a bomb,As if he played at bowls.

You’ll find him on the Tigris’ banks, Or Egypt’s burning sands,Or driving caterpillar tanksThrough wild Bulgarian bands.

You’ll find him on the wintry brine At Nore or Scapa Flow,Serenely trawling for a mineWith Admiral Jellicoe.

Stout as his fathers, who of old,With Nelson, Shovell, Myngs,Swept from the main the ships of Spain, And clipped old Boney’s wings.

MAY-BE, we ne’er shall see again,Save in a moment’s dream,Our cottage homes along the lane Or by the running stream,

The green, where gather old and young,When summer nights are warm,The ale-house where we’ve sat and sung,Snug from the winter’s storm,

The church our simple fathers built,The churchyard where they lie–Not all, for some their blood have spilt Beneath a foreign sky.

The passing bell, that rang their knell,Was toll’d by roaring guns;Yet of all the old folks talk about,They’re just the very ones!

And so our memory green shall keep, Though we lie far apart,For those the furthest off that sleep Lie nearest to the heart.

By CLOUDESLEY BRERETON

The 3rd Earl and Countess of Leicester were at the forefront of efforts to raise funds in aid of the many men of the 2nd Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment who were taken prisoners of war in Mesopotamia in 1916. This ballad was printed and sold in aid of the prisoners. It was ‘dedicated by permission to the Earl of Leicester, G.C.V.O., C.M.G.,

Lord Lieutenant of the County’ and it sold for ‘twopence net’. We reproduce it here because it sums up the spirit of Norfolk people as they faced World War One. This display is part of our exhibition Duty Calls – Holkham 1914 to 1918 which explores Holkham’s involvement in World War One. If you would like to see more of the main exhibition, visit the hall on Sunday, Monday or Thursday.

The British Mark 1 tank was the world’s first combat tank. It first saw use in September 1916 and was designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare on the western front. Despite limited early success, the decision was taken to proceed with development and production. There were two versions of the Mark 1 tank with different armaments. One, known as ‘Male’, was armed with 6 pounder guns and the other, known as ‘Female’, was mounted with machine guns.

Holkham has commissioned Andrew Rhodes and Jason Billman, students at Norwich University of the Arts, to paint this two-thirds sized Mark IV tank. The Mark IV was first used in battle in June 1917. In November 1917, at the Battle of Cambrai, the Mark IV showed that the concentrated use of a large number of tanks could overcome sophisticated trench systems. The tank had come of age.

DUTY CALLS The British Tank – Marks I to V

The illustration on this panel shows the ‘Male’ version of the British Mark V tank. Mark V tanks were used with great success at the battle of Amiens in 1918, the start of the military offensive which was to end the war.

This display is part of our exhibition Duty Calls – Holkham 1914 to 1918 which explores Holkham’s involvement in World War One. If you would like to see more of the main exhibition, visit the hall on Sunday, Monday or Thursday.

Like many villages and towns across the country, Holkham produced a roll of honour to commemorate those who served during World War One.

DUTY CALLS Roll of Honour

Holkham’s roll of honour reflects changes in recruitment during World War One. From regular army to territorials to Kitchener’s new army, all were volunteers. It was not until 1916 that conscription became necessary. In one or two

cases names appear on both the roll of honour and the Holkham war memorial.

This display is part of our exhibition Duty Calls – Holkham 1914 to 1918 which explores Holkham’s involvement in World War One. If you would like to see more

of the main exhibition, visit the hall on Sunday, Monday or Thursday.

The Holkham war memorial is a simple obelisk, typical of so many erected in villages and towns across the country. It sits in the heart of Holkham

village just seaward of the north gates to Holkham park.

DUTY CALLS War Memorial

The men who diedNineteen names are recorded on the war memorial for the men who died on active service between 1914 and 1918.

This display is part of our exhibition Duty Calls – Holkham 1914 to 1918 which explores Holkham’s involvement in World War One. If you would like to see more

of the main exhibition, visit the hall on Sunday, Monday or Thursday.

Balls, Herbert JohnBell, Christmas Robert

Bell-Brown, Sidney WilliamCoke, The Hon. Arthur George

Curl, GeorgeDawson, Frederick Ernest Palmer

Dennis, Edward VincentDennis, Sydney Thomas

Dunn, William JabezDunthorne, George William

Futter, Edward Groom, Alfred CharlesGroom, Thomas James

Mallet, RobertNeale, William Ernest

Reeve, ErnestSissen, Albert Ernest

Sizeland, Richard WilliamSwain, Frederick George