The Laverick's & Lancashire Fusiliers
Three generations of the Laverick's and Lancashire Fusiliers
Dennis Laverick
Major J.N.Laverick DCM
Born on 22nd February 1887, Major Laverick has completed 39 years service with The Regiment, with the exception of a short period when he was detailed for service with No. 1 Technical Training Centre, REME, for six months.
Enlisting on 25th May 1905,( under an alias name of John Astbury why we are not sure normally they did that if they where under age to join up) he served the usual recruits period of three months at the Depot. From there he was posted to the 2nd Battalion at Fermoy, in September 1905. In 1908 he was posted to the 1st Battalion in India, and after completing six years there, returned to England to join the 2nd Battalion at Dover in August 1914, in time to proceed with the 2nd Battalion to France and Belgium, where he served until April 1919, and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal on July 1st at The Somme.
He proceeded to India for a second time, this time with the 2nd Battalion in October 1919, and returned to the1st Battalion in England in June 1924. Again, serving overseas took him to Egypt with the 1st Battalion in February 1928, and from there to Gibraltar in May 1929, returning once more to England with the 1st Battalion in February 1930.
After a further spell of five years in England with the 1st Battalion, he was posted to The Depot in 1935, where he remained until detailed for service with No 1 Technical Training Centre, REME in February 1942. From there he was appointed to the Command of The Depot in September 1943.
Major Laverick was promoted to Sergeant in November 1911; W.O.2 in May 1915; W.O.1 in September 1921; gazetted Lieutenant (QM) in October 1926; promoted Captain (QM) in October 1931; promoted Major (QM) in October 1938.
In addition to the Distinguished Conduct Medal, Major Laverick holds the 1914 Star, The British War Medal, The Victory Medal, King George V Jubilee, King George V1 Coronation, War Medal 1939 -1945 and The Long service and Good Conduct Medals.
The appointment of Major J. N. Laverick to command the Depot will no doubt be viewed with pleasure, especially by the Old Boys of "F" Company, 1st Battalion. Of those happy Meerut and Mooltan days.
The Major will be remembered for his fine sportsmanship, his cheerfulness, comradeship, and loyalty, a credit to a famous Regiment with a great record.
A "pukka" fellow. May higher appointments come his way.
F.R.McD.
A silver salver Andy Harris (Asst Sec at the Tower) has at home, presented to Gen Surtees (Andy's Grandfather) when he was Col of the Regt Lancashire Fusiliers 1945–1955
Jim Hodgkinson speaks of his father, Private JW Hodgkinson MM
2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers, by Catherine Goodier, Editor Blind Veterans Association
As we mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme I interviewed members of Blind Veterans UK whose family were involved in the Somme Ofensive. Jim Hodgkinson from Manchester joined Blind Veterans UK in 2008 and I spent an afternoon with him and his wife Ruby, as Jim told me about his father and his father's time in WWI when he Served with 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers.
Although his father never spoke of his experiences during World War One Jim knows of his father's bravery from the War Diary of Lieut Hawkins, 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers. We have reproduced Lieut Hawkins's war diary from October 12th 1916 below.
October 12th 1916 was the day that Private Jim (Ginger) Hodgkinson 4088, 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers saved the life of Lieut Hawkins during the Battle of the Somme. For that outstanding act of bravery he was awarded the Military Medal. We begin Lieut Hawkins's account:
At 2.30am I started of to the assembly position with my Co. H.Q. which consisted of C.S.M. Laverick of D.C.M., my runner Ginger Hodgkinson, my servant Hargreaves and the Co. Signallers and Orderlies.
At about 6am the preliminary bombardment began and lasted all day until Zero Hour. It was very slow and very regular. A few shots fell short into 'D' Co., but nothing very exciting happened at frst. (The rest of the diary is written by hour and minutes as the events of the day become somewhat crowded).
12.15pm: Several Huns running and crawling in No Man's Land carrying a machine gun. Had a few shots at them.
12.30pm: Twelve Huns came into our line and surrendered. Some excitement. Things assume a rosy aspect and point to a fairly easy show. 1.0pm: Watches sent to Bn. H.Q. for synchronising.
1:30pm: Watch sent back and following additional orders received from Brain, Zero hour 2.5pm. The Duke to attack the length of trench occupied by the Hun between A Co. and then at 2.25pm the rest of the Division to attack.
Accordingly we sat down and waited for Zero hour.
2pm: Bombardment increased. Bayonets fxed.
2.3pm: Hun plane few straight down own line about 300 feet up, may have seen trenches crowded with men. None of our planes in sight.
2.5pm: Fiendish Row. Zero hour. Heavy enemy barrage on 10th Brigade Machine Gun Barrage. Dukes attacking on our right but can't see much.
2.10pm: Shrapnel shell on top of us. Laverick hit on steel helmet and stunned. Several casualties.
2.15pm: Awful noise impossible to make oneself heard. Several men got excited and went over the top on their own. Keen as hell to go.
2.20pm: Shell landed on CO. H.Q. all Co. signallers and runners knocked out except Ginger. Hargreaves badly knocked.
2.25pm: Johny Greaves and 5 Platoon of followed by the rest of the Co. Johny shot through the lung fve yards in front of our parapet. Enemy machine gun barrage pretty unhealthy. Our own barrage which should have waited for us has gone on with the Dukes and 25 mins. in front of us.
Ginger and I follow the Co. over. Run like hares and fnd ourselves well away in front of the Co.
2.50pm: Fifty percent of Co. already down. Whole Bde appears to be held up. L/Cpl. Fenton one of my Lewis Gunners has got his gun going in a shell hole on my left. Awful din can hardly hear it yelled at Sgt. Manin to take the 1st wave on. He's lying just behind me. Ginger says he's dead. Sgt. Mann on my right of 7 platoon also dead. Most of the men appear to be dead. Shout at the rest and get up to take them on. Find myself sitting on the ground facing our own line with a bally great hole in my thigh, doesn't hurt much but bleeding like hell. Ginger also hit in the wrist. Awful din still. Most of the Co. now out. Ginger ties my leg up and I put my tie round my leg as a tourniquet. Fortesque on my right about fve yards still alive. He had a bullet through his steel hat and another had broken the skin on his nose. Funny how one noticed these things.
Yell at him to come over to me. Show him my leg and tell him to carry on. He
gets into a shell hole to listen while I tell him what to do. Shot through the heart while I'm talking to him, Addison also wounded and crawling back to our lines. That all the Ofcers and most of the N.C.O.'s can't see anything of Bolton and S Pl. Start crawling on back, back to our own lines. Bump. "What's that Ginger?" "Dead man Sir." Dam. Turns over and drag along on my stomach. Ginger helps me along. About 75 yards to go, leg still bleeding fast, and my trousers have been cut of me. Feel rather naked. Beastly uncomfortable also rather faint. Bloody row still. Make another efort and roll over our parapet on to Laverick who has recovered and is just coming up. Ginger dives of for stretcher bearers. Awful shindy still. Feeling rotten. Streatcher bearer arrives. Takes my Field Dressing of. Hole in my thigh. I can put my fst into it. Full of mud too. They tie me up and cart me of to a small hole somewhere near in original assembly trench. Laverick goes of to collect the Co. Only 12 men left out of a hundred.
2.40pm: Johny Greaves carried along and put in another small hole. Badly hit in lung. Can't get away till dark.
3pm: Got an awful pain. Laverick has collected the remnants of the Co. in the front line. Himself Sgt. Bolton and a dozen men. Attack an absolute failure.
5pm: Feeling rotten. Keep losing consciousness. Beard a Subaltern in the Dukes passes. Asks how they did. He says he is the only Ofcer left. Nine Ofcers killed, six wounded. Ask him if he is going to Bn. H.Q. He is. Will he tell Brain how things are, and that Johny and I are here. He will. Must have fainted again.
6pm: Still in this beastly hole. Johny very quiet. 10% reserves come up.
11pm: Stretcher Bearers come up and Johny carried of.
Another stretcher party come along and take me away. Beastly journey down. Essex and King's Own all coming up. Stretcher bearers have to get into the open. After a long time we get to the road. John Carr and L/Cpl Owen meet us with a stretcher. Take me over and send S.B's back for someone else. John and Owen start of with me, to Bn. H.Q. Drop me of stretcher twice, John keeps patting my head and telling me I am O.K. Reach Bn. H.Q. Brain and Blencs come out and give me a drink. Willis sends me a message to say, I'll soon be in town. Cheers me up a bit. Brain tells me our casualties.
Poor Old Daddy Mansell killed. Robin, Greaves, Kirkland, Addison and others wounded. Bolton missing. Watkins and Sammy Howarth only two to get through. Whole show dud. The doctor decides to send me on at once. I am lying on a stretcher in a trench near Batallion H.Q. Damned shell bursts near, and covers me with mud. Don't seem to mind a bit. Seem apathetic since getting hit. Am sent of to a Dressing Station near Givenchy and thus sever connection with the Bn. again after 'months' spell.
Although Lieut Hawkins wrote that he severed all connections with the Bn. he did not sever connections with Ginger. The two would stay in touch for the remainder of their lives. Here Jim Hodgkinson junior speaks of his father.
Jim said: "My father was a very quiet man. He was a good father and after the war he joined the railway where he worked hard to look after his family. He would occasionally go to the music hall and I would go with him and to the pub too as he liked a pint and game of cards, but never to excess. We'd talk, but he never talked about himself, he always wanted to talk about me, or anyone else but him. I wish I'd asked him more questions about his time in WWI, but I doubt he'd have answered them.
"I know that he was wounded twice. As Lieut Hawkins writes he was shot in the wrist during the Battle of the Somme. That was when he was awarded the Military Medal for saving the life of Lieut Hawkins. I know my father was gassed in France as I have a photograph of him in his blues when he was convalescing in the South of England. Again I only know about that because once a year he would go into hospital for treatment. As the railway only gave him one week of leave a year he would go in for treatment during his holiday. He never complained. He just got on with it.
"My father was a Foreman/Timekeeper at Central station in Manchester. Each day he would pin his ribbons on the lapel of his railway jacket before he walked the two miles from our home in Monsall to Central station. His colleagues nicknamed him Rainbow, but my father didn't take any notice of them and he wore his ribbons as they told the story of his time during WWI and he was proud to have fought for his country in the Great War for Civilisation. During the Second World War he joined the Home Guard as so many of the First World War men did. He would wear his ribbons on his uniform and on Remembrance Sunday he would proudly wear his medals to the Service of Remembrance.
"Although my father didn't speak of the war he told me one thing: that on one day in 1916 three telegrams landed on my grandmother's doormat. One told her that her youngest son John, who was only 16, had been lost at sea, presumed drowned. He was Serving onboard HMS Hampshire that carried Field Marshal Lord Kitchener on a diplomatic mission from Scapa Flow. Their voyage should have fnished in Russia, but it is believed HMS Hampshire struck a mine laid by a German submarine. Another telegraph told her that my father had been wounded, there was no further information, just that he had been wounded. The third telegram was to inform her that her eldest son Alec had been captured and made a POW. Like my father Alec did return home at the end of the war, although unlike my father he was never the same as he sufered from what would be recognised today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly my uncle John did not return home, his fnal resting place is at sea.
"My father's association with Lieut Hawkins lasted for the rest of his life as they kept in touch and he would send my father money and gifts. My father didn't expect these gifts, although they were of course welcome. My father was happy that they remained friends throughout their lives, but Lieut Hawkins never forgot what my father had done on that day of October 12th 1916. When I was a young boy a box was delivered for my father. It was from Egypt where Hawkins, was posted. I opened it up and it was full of hay and I fshed around inside until I found a large £5 note, which was equivalent to two weeks wages. There was also a bronze plate that Ruby and I still have today, it's engraved with hieroglyphics that show the story of Egypt from the birth of the Nile.
"The young Lieut Hawkins with whom my father had Served rose to become Brigadier V F S Hawkins, DSO, MC.
"Today my father's Military Medal, his ribbons, papers and photographs are with my son Jim. On 12th December 2013 Jim and I decided that when it is the appropriate time we will give them to the Lancashire Fusiliers, their rightful home."
You can read the War Diary of 2Lt Hawkins, 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers, The Somme here [/gallerynew/2LFWW1/2lfww1somme/2lfww1somme.htm] We would like to thank Captain Eastwood BEM, CQSW of the Lancashire Fusiliers website.
I asked Jim how he heard of Blind Veterans UK, and I don't know why I was surprised by his response, as the person who frst told him about us is responsible for bringing in many new members.
Jim began: "Ruby and I were on holiday in Scotland in 2008 when we took a bus. During that bus ride we spoke with a charming woman from Lancashire who was on a walking holiday. She asked about my failing eyesight and if I had Served in the Armed Forces. I told her I had and she gave us her phone number and told me to phone her when we got home and she'd tell me about Blind Veterans UK. I did and that was the frst step to getting my life back, as that charming woman was Maria Pikulski, and she helped me to join Blind Veterans UK. Until then I thought things were over for me and I'd sunk into depression. Now I once again have a full life thanks to Maria Pikulski, Blind Veterans UK and my Welfare Ofcer Sharon Gradwell. I can never repay them for all they have done.
"The frst thing Sharon did was to arrange my training. She has since arranged for a stair lift to be put into our home and for a workshop to be built in the garden as I go in there to do the mosaic work I enjoy. I learnt mosaic work at the Brighton centre. I also did computer training and that is another lifeline. I use a telephone with large buttons and a very basic mobile phone that the ROVIs taught me to use. The level of training is incredible and from that frst meeting with Maria Pikulski, the frst meeting with Sharon Gradwell and the frst time I entered a Blind Veterans UK centre for training my life was put back on track."
WO2 Leslie John Laverick
Born in Cherat India 1922 in the Lancashire Fusiliers the 3rd son of Major J N Laverick served with the 4th Dragoon Guards during the WW2 In about 1947 joined 5 LF and finished WO2 CSM C Coy at Bury, He was awarded the Lord Lieutenants award for his services to the TA , he left 5LF was made a company in the first of the army cut backs.
