It was a letter no mother looked forward to receiving yet one that millions of them eventually read whether they liked it or not.
In Mansfield, England a mother read these words with a heavy heart.
“Though a stranger I take the liberty of writing these few lines to express my heartfelt sympathy with you in the loss of your son, whom I counted as one of my dearest friends. I thought too that you might be glad to hear from one who was with him in the fateful action on the 17 February.”
These lines were penned by a J F Bremner on April 8, 1917 to the grieving mother of Sydney Frank Marlow, who lived in England at the time.
The man who wrote to Williamena Marlow had just been through what has been described as “hell on Earth”, trench warfare at its very worst where men were basically “cannon fodder” to German machine guns and mortars.
Marlow was one of many men from Fiji who were killed in action during what has been described as one of the bloodiest wars in history and perhaps the worst mistake of the 20th century.
A hundred years after the start of World War One on August 4, 1914, many, particularly younger generations, are largely unaware of the carnage that claimed the lives of many of their forefathers on the battlefields of Europe.
Also known as the Great War, WW1 saw the loss of more than 17 million civilians and soldiers.
As the casualties mounted and Germans consolidated, Britain sent a request for all its nationals and men from the colonies to enlist in the fight and subsequently thousands joined from all corners of the British Empire.
In our tiny little island nation of Fiji, hundreds of men of European origin along with their kailoma brothers rallied to the call of duty and many got on the first boat to Europe.
The men carrying names like Beddoes, Witherow, Lord and Turner left Fiji for the war leaving behind sons, daughters, wives and parents in their endeavour to do the honourable thing.
Many of the young men living and working in Fiji at the time were from Australia, New Zealand or Britain.
Over 400 of them decided on returning to their motherlands and enlisted there with some leaving on the first boat after the announcement of the outbreak of war.
According to historians the total European population of Fiji in 1914 was less than 4000, including women and children, and the part-European population was approximately 2,500. The Fijian and Indian populations were about 90,000 and 45,000 respectively.
Young and full of life S F Marlow’s willingness to head for the battlefield was typical of the era where men held fast to the virtues of honour and courage.
According to documents made available to The Sunday Times by amateur historian Michael Thoms, Marlow had three siblings in Alfred, Wilhelmina and Elfie, all of whom were born in Mansfield England between 1886 and 1896.
His parents at the time were shopkeepers Henry and Williamena Marlow who lived in Fiji for a number of years a decade before settling in New Zealand.
Marlow, who worked as a civil servant in Suva and had followed his brother Alf to Fiji, was just 25 when he was killed.
Alfred Marlow, known locally as Alf, arrived in the country in 1908 and established his own building company in Fiji called A H Marlow and Co Ltd.
Alf Marlow would go on to become Deputy Chief Commissioner for Scouting in Fiji during the 1930s and was Commissioner for Scouting in the Gilberts and Ellice Islands and the Solomon Islands.
According to Thoms, S F Marlow was the man who started the first scouting movement in Fiji.
An amateur historian, Thoms put in 3 years of painstaking work to collect an impressive trove of documents and a few relics in an effort to shed light on the men’s movements leading up to their demise on the battlefields of Europe.
“I started with a photo given to me by Herbie Marlow before he left for Australia and it has ended with all this,” said Thoms, gesturing to the piles of documents before him.
He has been collaborating with Ken and Pam Ling of the Thiepval Database Project in the United Kingdom who currently compiling a book detailing the background and involvement of 200 soldiers from all around the world who took part in the conflict.
The couple is also creating a database of photographs of those commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a major war memorial to 72,195 missing British and Commonwealth men who died in the Battles of the Somme with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France.
Marlow, who was chosen from the hundreds who died in this campaign — and had no known grave — as representing Fiji in the campaign as part of some 200 whose involvement will be given more detail.
Marlow was one of 200 from the 72000 plus recorded at Thiepval who will be remembered in this book.
Documents collected about the young man so far included his medical certificate issued in Suva prior to being selected, attestation papers, documents and photographs related to his involvement in the scouting movement and a “Dead Man’s Penny,” a specially minted medal inscribed with Marlow’s name on it.
73 year Thoms has a deep personal interest in the war and S F Marlow considering the fact that he has been involved Scouting from an early age, a fact he shares with the late soldier and that his father in law Ivor Norman Fleet was wounded and lost a leg in the battle of Passchendaele, the second bloodiest in the Europe conflict aside from the Somme.
Marlow was part of what was the first reinforcements that travelled on board the ship Grampian at sea between Halifax and England.
This was after they sailed from Suva to Vancouver and then by rail acrosss Canada to Halifax
“Once in England, he was attested in London on the 18th July and as known attached to the KRRC..but I know of no scout connection but do note that a lot of the volunteers from Fiji were also attached to the corps.
Marlow was killed in action during the bloodiest campaign in the war known as the Somme.
Thoms said Bremner, who travelled to England with Marlow with the Fiji contingent members of which were later incorporated into the Fiji Vickers Gun Team.
“They were in a Fiji Vicker’s gun team and they were sheltering in a shell hole when he (Marlow) was hit by shrapnel,” said Thoms.
The Pacific Harbour-based historian became very emotional when disclosing details about Marlow’s demise and the movements of his father-in-law, who he writing a book about.
“I have many strong connections with WW1 and again with WW2, I grew up during WW2 when my dad was away here in the Pacific, he was on Guadalcanal at the same time the Fijians were there, he was in the NZ medical Corp and they even treated the Fiji wounded,” he shared tearfully.
Meanwhile Family history website Ancestry.co.uk has revealed that three in 10 modern-day relatives of World War One veterans are unaware of their military heritage, and many lose the opportunity to find out about their link to the Great War when family members pass away.
After comparing the 26.7 million figure with the number of people actually aware of such heroes in their family’s past, the results showed a significant “ancestral knowledge gap”.
The study notes that 7.5 million Britons in the dark about their family connection to the Great War with 1.26 million soldiers forgotten by their family.
According to the report most of those unaware of having WW1 ancestors assume that they would have been told about them, when in fact many veterans never spoke to their children about their role in the conflict – wanting to put the trauma they experienced in the trenches behind them.
I spoke with one of S F Marlow’s living relatives in Fiji, the artist Craig Marlow who said he wasn’t specifically told about his great grand uncle’s involvement in the war until he stumbled upon it by accident.
“The first time I became aware of it was in 1976 while I was walking around the hospital in Suva recovering from appendicitis,” said Marlow.
“I walked past the plaque and noticed an S F Marlow on it and later on I was told that this was my great grand uncle. Before that I did not even know someone from my family was involved in World War One.”
The men who fell in the war are honoured in plaque at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital which was built in their honour in 1923.
At first Fijians, particularly i-taukei, were not allowed to take part in the conflict.
Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, who could not get enlisted in the British contingent, managed find passage to Europe and subsequently joined the French Foreign Legion, eventually returning a hero.
However, Fiji’s Legislative Council went on to pass a resolution to “raise and equip a force of picked men for active service at the Front.”
Rifle Clubs of various towns united to form the Fiji Rifle Association which combined with the Fiji Volunteers, an organisation that existed since the late 1880s, forming the Fiji Defence Force.
According to WW1 historian Christine.Liava’a most of the European men in Fiji were eventually part of this force with cadet platoons established in Suva and Levuka with some schools with a Cadet Corps included.
A platoon of Fijians was raised in Suva as part of the Fiji Defence Force in 1916.
Eventually the Secretary of State for the British colonies gave his consent for the raising of a contingent, and applications were called for from men between the ages of 18 and 38 of “pure European descent.”
A force of 57 was formed, trained and left for Britain on January 1, 1915 with most of these men enlisted in Britain with the King’s Royal Rifles. Selected candidates were given free passages to Britain and were commissioned soon after arrival.
The KRRC was an infantry regiment that was noteworthy for its exploits in past conflicts, particularly in the American Wars. After initial training in Britain, the Fiji platoon of the KRRC saw action in the battlefields of Flanders.
Liava’a has a website dedicated to the Fiji men who took part in the war along with a “Meke ni Valu – The War Cry of the First Fiji Contingent.
Na cava na ka What is it
Tou na qara That we seek?
Na Dra! Blood!
Sa lako ko Viti Fiji is going
Ki na kena magiti To its great feast
Tou a cici! There let us hasten!
Tagi! Mourn!
During May 1915, of the 43 strong Fiji platoon of the KRRC, 9 lost their lives and 31 were wounded in the battles of the Somme region.
A 2nd Contingent was raised and sent to replace the casualties of the 1st Contingent, in July 1915
Although many probably joined the war full of their own ideas of what it would be life, nothing prepared them for the carnage that lay ahead on the battlefields of France.
My own great grandfather John Firth Heatley was also one of those who decided to leave everything behind and pull on a uniform for king and country.
J F Heatley died at the end of the Somme campaign on 21 Marc h 1918, the day that the Germans attacked and drove the allied forces back.
“He is recorded on the memorial plaque at Pozieres and in that he is on the panels implies there is no known grave,” said Thoms.
The following is a continuation of J F Bremner’s letter.
“Just about 5.40am when our barrage commenced, a heavy shrapnel of the enemy’s burst over us, and a piece penetrated Sydney’s steel helmet and struck him on the top of his forehead, rendering unconscious. He did not feel it for he made no movement.
I found he was still alive, but it was evident to me that the wound as a very bad one and that dangerous concussion had been produced….all our efforts to revive him were unavailing and we were reluctantly obliged to advance after placing him in the safest position possible.
Shortly afterwards we directed stretcher bearers to the spot, and all that ground was cleared of the wounded within an hour, but he was found to have passed away. He must have died in a few minutes in a kind and merciful unconsciousness.
“He was a manly fellow, and cool in the greatest danger, and he had the respect as well as affection. He was a candidate for a commission and had he survived he would have obtained it easily as his ability and courage merited it.”
Looking back at the war, Craig Marlow feels that it was a senseless waste of life.
“It was supposed to be the war that ended all wars but history has proven that it has done nothing.”
“We lost the best. The pick of the bunch was destroyed and for who and for what?
Ultimately 179 Fijians lost their lives in the conflict.
NB: If you have any documents or old photographs regarding your family’s involvement in the war please e-mail eheatley@fijitimes.com.fj or thomsarchery@live.com
