|
|
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Site Home
Help & FAQs
Features
Submissions
Information
Advertisements
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Cpl. Fred Mortimer
British Army Royal Irish Rifles
from:Luton
Brass band of the Royal Irish Rifles, including nine bandsmen from Luton Red Cross Band. Fred Mortimer on extreme left.
In 1914 my grandfather, Fred Mortimer, was the bandmaster of Luton Red Cross Band. When war was declared he and the other eight bandsmen of military age volunteered for France, expecting to work as military bandsmen.Once in France, though, they were employed as stretcher-bearers. Fred thought this was because of the "Red Cross" in the band's name. As bandmaster he was told he could either be a sergeant unpaid, with the privileges of the rank,or a corporal unpaid. Living in Luton he might be, but Fred was a Yorkshireman, from Hebden Bridge, with a wife and six young children to support. He chose to be paid.
As the war dragged on the powers that be decided that morale needed lifting and so the band members were given back their instruments. However,because he was only a corporal Fred could not now lead the band. He had to take his orders from an unpaid sergeant, a well-meaning vicar who played the organ and had no experience of brass bands whatsoever. Fred said that the first parade they did was a shambles because the vicar insisted on putting the trombones at the back, giving the horns in front of them a very uncomfortable time indeed.
Fred survived to become the most successful band conductor of the 1930's leading Foden's Motorworks band to victory at the Brass Band Championships no less than seven times.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
The Wartime Memories Project Website
is archived for preservation by the British Library
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.
