Heroes and Rebels in the Family Tree--John Cator Brown

 

John Cator Brown was the only son of John Abigail Browne and his wife Thirza Cator.  He was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England on November 4, 1875. Just after celebrating his 5^th birthday, John’s father died suddenly and his mother was forced to move in with her widowed brother Benjamin and his 7 children still living at home in Repps-cum-Bastwick, a small village and a parish in Norfolk, near the town of Acle in Norfolk County.

By the time he was 16, John was working as a servant in the home of Philip Todd in Gorleston in the County of Suffolk as a general dealer’s assistant.  In 1901, John was working as a milk vendor and in 1911, at the age of 35, he was working as an exhibitor/deck hand on board a former convict ship named Success.  (See more about this Exhibition ship in the footnote below.)

FAMILY LIFE

            John Cator Brown married Elsie Louisa Beckett in the small parish church of Belton in Suffolk County, England on March 25, 1900.  Their wedding was witnessed by Elsie’s eldest sister Elizabeth Harriet Beckett and her husband Benjamin John Bitton. 

(It may be noted that Benjamin Bitton’s youngest sister, Hannah M. Bitton, was married to Edward William Nottingham.  Edward William Nottingham was the master of the Exhibition ship, Success and was likely responsible for John Cator Brown’s hire on the ship.  Edward Nottingham, together with his wife Hannah, as bookkeeper, and two of their children William Nottingham and Clarance Nottingham accompanied their parents on the ship while on tour throughout England.  The eldest child, Edward Benjamin Nottingham was living with Edward’s brother Benjamin and his wife Elizabeth Harrier Beckett in 1911 and was not on the ship during the census. Their fourth child Orry was born on the Isle of Mann in 1912 when John Cator Brown was working on the ship.  The Nottingham family traveled with the ship when it sailed to America for exhibition and eventually settled there.  Hannah Nottingham died in Roanoke Virginia in 1942 and her husband died in Virginia in 1957.)

            John Cator Brown and his wife Elsie Louisa Beckett had 6 children which include two children who died within a year of being born. Nora E Brown was born on 20 April 1900; Hilda Louise was born in July 1901, baptized on 19 July 1901 at St. Margaret's, Lowestoft and died on October 8, 1901 at age 3 months; Hilda Louisa was born on 29 August 1902; Edward John was born on September 1, 1903 but died in Dec 1903; Ruby Alice was born March 2, 1906 and Ivy Ethel was born April 25, 1909.

A Call to Duty

It isn’t known what employment John Cator Brown had in 1912 after the convict ship Success sailed for America. John was willing to work hard doing whatever job became available in order to support his loving family.  It may be possible that John Cator Brown joined the military prior to the outbreak of WWI, but it is not likely since recruiting was limited.  On August 4, 1914, England declared war on Germany, and by August 11, 1914, the call to arms went out from Lord Kitchener.  John enlisted in the 2^nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (Regimental # 23473) at Hartlepool, Durham, England.  (It is unclear why he enlisted at Hartlepool.  It is possible that Hartlepool was one of the ports visited by the exhibition convict ship Success and John had found new employment in the area.)  At the time of his enlistment, John had moved his family to 12 Victoria Place, Harlepool, Durham, England.  I believe that he would have joined after the December 1914 bombing of Hartlepool, because during the shelling from the German ship guns off the coast of Hartlepool on December 16, 1914, one of the shells struck No. 9 Victoria Place, killing its residents.  This house was just 3 doors down from No. 12 in which Elsie and her family would soon be living.

The bombardment of Hartlepool is one of the most significant events in the town’s history. As many were on their way to work and school, the town came under attack from the German Navy. Although World War I had started several months before, this was the first time British civilians had come under fire. Over 1150 shells were fired during the attack. The Heugh Battery fired its guns in an attempt to defend the town – becoming the only battery in England to fire its guns in anger during the War- but was no match for the German warships. 114 civilians were killed together with nine soldiers, seven sailors and nine German servicemen (that we know of). The soldiers included Theo Jones, who was the first British soldier to be killed by enemy action on home soil in the War.

The attack on Hartlepool and on nearby Scarborough and Whitby, shocked the nation and led to a major recruitment drive to enlist more men from across Britain into the army. It also led to Hartlepool raising the most money per head of population for the war effort.  This was probably the reason John Cator Brown enlisted at Hartlepool. 

    Victoria Place is on the headland at Hartlepool and this row of Victorian houses suffered heavy destruction at the hands of the German attackers. At 8.15 at the same time the Baptist chapel was being hit by shellfire, the houses of Victoria Place were hit and Salvation Army Adjutant William Gordon Avery was killed and buried beneath the rubble of the houses.

Censorship of newspapers had not yet been rigorously enforced, so the following day the Daily Mail was able to run a detailed story outlining the attack on the town:

Hartlepool and West Hartlepool, two of the most thriving ports on the east coast, had today the unenviable distinction of being among the first English towns to suffer from a German bombardment.

They were attacked shortly after 8 a.m., and for forty minutes were subjected to a rain of heavy shells. Twenty-nine people were killed and 64 wounded, some very severely. Some damage was done to the town.

Official information is not to be obtained, and those who were manning the trenches and saw most of what occurred have been prohibited from giving any information, but the above figures are the nearest estimate I can make from careful inquiry in the two towns.

As near as can be made out, firing commenced at 8.04 a.m. and only ceased at 8.45. Various reports are current as to how many vessels took part in the bombardment, but the most careful sifting seems to indicate that there were certainly three warships, and possibly four.

Several shells landed in the battery at Hartlepool and one killed five men, but the guns were not put out of action and continued to fire until the enemy steamed away southwards.

The Hartlepools lie in a crescent-like formation, with old Hartlepool as the apex, and the German ships lay off this point and fired fan-wise, with the result that shells swept both towns for a distance of a couple of miles inland, striking most of the important buildings with the exception of the town hall and post office at West Hartlepool. The latter, however, was largely incapacitated from working by a large number of wires being down through the wrecking of telegraph poles or the actual cutting down of the wires themselves by exploding shells.

SEVEN “PALS” KILLED

There were many terrible tragedies, but three stand out pre-eminent. The seven soldiers killed were members of the Durham County “Pals” battalion. These seven were standing together on the front and a shell burst in the middle of them. Two other cases are those of civilians.

FAMILY OF EIGHT DEAD

A family resident in Dene-Street, whose name I have not been able to obtain, had a shell burst in their house, with the result that the father, mother and six children were killed instantly.

The third case was that of the Misses Kays, who live in the end house of Cliff-terrace, just behind the Lighthouse, at the point nearest to where the hostile vessels lay. The Misses Kays were aroused by the sound of firing. They let their maid servant out at the back and told her to run, and returning to their house went upstairs to gather some things. While they were in the bedroom a shell burst, carrying away the end of the house and killing both of them.

In the Trenches

            At the beginning of August 1914 when war broke out, the 2^nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) was in Guernsey.  They were ordered to return to England and landed at Southampton on the 28^th of August and joined the 21^st Brigade, 7^th Division. They proceeded to Belgium to join the British Expeditionary Forces on the 6^th of October 1914 landing at Zeebrugge.  They had suffered very heavy losses in the First Battle of Ypres and did not regain full strength until February 1915.  They took part in the major battles of 1915 including, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge, Festubert, the second action at Givenchy and the Battle of Loos.  On the 20^th of December 1915, the 21^st Brigade transferred to the 30^th Division.  

After completion of initial training John Cator Brown and the other soldiers from Hartlepool were shipped to France to join the 2^nd Battalion as replacements for casualties lost in battle.  In preparation for the battle, yet to come, most of the soldiers were given a period of relaxation and well-fed prior to moving up to the front lines.  On June 30^th, many of the soldiers were provided an opportunity to write a letter home to their loved ones. John’s letter to his wife, Elsie, had a sense of foreboding of what was about to happen.  His unit was preparing for the big attack on July 1, 1916 against the German lines.  The 2^nd Battalion were part of the 21^st Brigade of the 30^th Division on the first day of the Battle of the Somme at the southernmost sector, whose objective was to capture Montauban from the Germans.  The Battalion were in support of the advance party, who were the 2^nd Liverpool and 4^th Manchester Pals.  Given the effectiveness in this sector of the preliminary artillery barrage before the attack, the advance party had little opposition as it crossed No Mans Land.  However, when the 2^nd Battalion of the Yorkshire regiment advanced, a German machine gun unit positioned to their left in the Railway, or Carnoy, Valley created an enfilade fire which cut to pieces the 2^nd Yorkshires to the point that very few managed to get across No Mans Land. 

Among those killed that day was Private John Cator Brown.  He was 40 years old. Here is his last letter home.

June 30^th, 1916

Friday Morning,

Good bye

God Bless you Dear

 

My Own Dear Wife, -

           Many thanks for your kind and loving letter, which I received last night (Thursday) – also for the two cards enclosed, --I think they are grand and may the words in them even prove true.  My Dear, I long to see you more and more every day – and I too with you – hope that time will soon arrive – as we fairly rough it now and the weather does not improve it being wet and cold.  Well, my Dear, by the time this reaches you, I shall be in the trenches again,  (so you will receive a field post card.) but I pray that I may be spared to return safe to you again.  God grant that it may be so—if it is His will.

           I daresay you will have received my other letters by now, and I have received all yours.

           You would hardly believe how greatly they cheer me up and help me to forget my hardships, as you are daily in my thoughts.

           And now my Dear, thanking you for all your kind and loving letters and all your kind duties to me.  I will leave the rest in the Hands of Him, who doeth all things for the best.  Remember me to all at home.  Kiss the dear children for me and tell them not to forget to mention me in their prayers—as the future looks dark—but my prayers will be for us all, and God grant that after all this strife we may prove victorious.

           So – now my darling wife I leave all in the hands of God.  May he give you strength and comfort—to bear the trials and anxieties through which you are undergoing.  my Dear—I feel for you and I know you are keeping a brave heart—but take courage—as the time will soon come when all these troubles will soon fly away.

           Remember me to Mrs. Andrews and tell her I will send her a card at the first opportunity.

           So good bye my darling.  Hoping when I write again, I may be able to send you some cheering news—as this will be the last letter I shall be able to send you till I come out of the trenches, but cheer up and all will come right at the end.

           I have had a good week’s rest.  So once again, good bye.  With true love to you and the dear children – Nora, Hilda, Ruby and Ivy.  God bless you all and grant, if it is His will, we may all meet again.  Kiss them all for me.

From your true & loving husband – John

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            John Cator Brown is commemorated at the Thievpal Memorial, Pier and Face 3A and 3D, France as well as in the Memorial Records of the Men of the Hartlepools.

            Elsie Louisa Beckett never remarried after the loss of her husband.  She eventually moved back to Lothingland, Suffolk, England to be near her family.  Elsie died in January 1948

 

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Footnote on the Convict Ship Success.

 

In a career spanning 106 years (1840-1946), the Success made history on four continents performing a wide variety of roles: trader, emigrant ship, coolie transport, prison hulk and exhibition ship. The vessel achieved great fame in the twentieth century as a floating museum, based partly on the erroneous claim that it had transported convicts to Australia.     

Success as a museum ship

Convict transportation to Australia began in 1787 when the First Fleet set sail. It was seen as a solution to the overcrowding of British prisons and the temporary measure in England of stowing convicts on prison hulks. Transportation reached a peak in the 1830s and continued until 1857, by which time new prisons were opening, many of which are still in use today. The practice of transportation wasn't formally abolished until 1868.

Between 1788 and 1868 over 168,000 men, women and children were transported from Britain to Australia as convicts on board more than 1,000 modified merchant ships which had been converted into convict transports.

The Success was a barque of 622 tons built in Natmoo, Tenasserim, Burma in 1840. Employed as a 'country ship' in the UK to East Indies trade the owners then transferred the vessel to the Australian immigrant service in 1847.  On 31 May 1852, Success arrived at Melbourne and the crew deserted to the gold-fields, this being the height of the Victorian gold rush. Due to an increase in crime, prisons were overflowing and the Government of Victoria purchased large sailing ships to be employed as prison hulks. These included Success, Deborah, Sacramento and President. In 1857, the Inspector-General of Penal Establishments in Victoria, Captain John Price, visited Williamstown to investigate conditions on the hulks. During this visit, he was surrounded and attacked by a party of convicts, dying from his injuries the next day. A group of Success prisoners were hanged for the murder, and the incident initiated an inquiry into the use of prison hulks, ultimately bringing an end to this system of incarceration.  Captain Price became the inspiration for the character Maurice Frere in Marcus Clarke's novel For the Term of His Natural Life.

 

In 1854 the ship was converted from a convict hulk into a stores vessel and anchored on the Yarra River, where she remained for the next 36 years.

Success was next transferred to Sydney owners before being sold to entrepreneurs in 1890. The ship departed Australia and surreptitiously arrived in England as an 'exhibition ship', fitted out as a floating museum and falsely billed as having a history of transporting convicts to Australia- 'the last of England's infamous felon fleet'.  The vessel was towed from port to port along the English coastline and Success remained on exhibition in England until 1912 when the vessel was sold to American owners for the same purpose, going on to tour the east and west coasts of the United States. On April 15, 1912, the teak-built sailing ship Success departed historic Glasson Dock near Lancaster, England, bound for New York City.  That same day, RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner, sank after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage.

 

When the ship was first shown in New York City in 1913, the manager issued a challenge to Harry Houdini to escape from the ship, and he accepted.  Houdini was shackled and placed in a cell on the lower deck.  After about an hour he wrestled loose and went out through a porthole, jumping into the river.

 

The greatly exaggerated and often fabricated stories of Success' dreadful convict history drew multitudes of curious visitors, and in the 1920s and 1930s the Australian government unsuccessfully attempted to have the enterprise shut down. In addition to inaccurately claiming a convict transport past, Success' operators also declared her to be the oldest ship afloat, advertising 1790 as the year the vessel was built rather than 1840. Despite this, the ship continued on display in the US for many years and was a star attraction at the 1933 Chicago World Fair. However, in 1946, after more than 50 years of exhibition, Success was destroyed by fire and sunk in Lake Erie, USA.

 

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