Site Home
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.
Great War Home
Search
Add Stories & Photos
Library
Help & FAQs
Features
Allied Army
Day by Day
RFC & RAF
Prisoners of War
War at Sea
Training for War
The Battles
Those Who Served
Hospitals
Civilian Service
Women at War
The War Effort
Central Powers Army
Central Powers Navy
Imperial Air Service
Library
World War Two
Submissions
Add Stories & Photos
Time Capsule
Information
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Our Facebook Page
Volunteering
News
Events
Contact us
Great War Books
About
238622Pte. Percy Frank Moore
British Army 1st Btn. Gordon Highlanders
from:Aberdeen
Percy Moore enlisted on 2nd February 1910 at Aberdeen. He stated his place of birth as Aberdeen, probably in the hope it would sound more desirable for the Gordon Highlanders than his actual birth place of Guernsey. His age on enlistment was 19 years and 5 months, his service numbers were 405, and later as a reservist 2865163 - which he was from 11th April 1921 to 7th April 1926.
Percy was taken a Prisoner of War. He was captured near the village of Bertry south of Le Cateau, France on 26th of August 1914. Sadly, my Grandfather talked very little about his experiences, in fact my mother says it was a taboo subject all of her childhood. She was amazed to find that he talked a little more openly to his grandchildren, my brother and I during the 1960/70s.
All that I remember him saying was that if it wasn't for a shrapnel wound to his leg he would have managed to escape the Germans. By the accounts above some soldiers did make it out of the conflict at Le Cateau. Cruelty - I remember so clearly that when I was about 7-8 ish my grandfather told my brother and I about the time he nearly lost an eye. "A German soldier was bullying us British and he took a particular dislike to me, he followed me and when I entered a room on my own he came at me with a pen-knife and said he was going to remove my eye with it. I believed him and was very frightened! Luckily for me and just in the nick of time a higher ranking soldier came in and stopped him." There is probably so much more to this story, but as with many of my fellow genealogists I just wish I'd asked the right questions and recorded the stories at the time, but in fairness I was only 7 years old at the time.
Another anecdote Percy told was that he was imprisoned with the entertainer Maurice Chevalier. All these years later I am able to verify that Maurice was indeed imprisoned in WW1, and in two of the same camps as Percy. How well he knew him I cannot be sure, but my mother was sure that he shared quarters with him.
Percy worked as a personal butler for Rupert Keppel after the war. My mother told me that they met whilst imprisoned, and remained in contact on their repatriation. In what capacity a bond developed - a friendship, or in service I cannot be sure, but they were both taken prisoner a day apart Landrecies and Le Chateau. I suspect their association started shortly after capture. Records suggest that prisoners of officer ranks were held in different camps to other ranks and it is difficult to decipher from the Red Cross records whether they were in the same camps at the same time, thus placing them together during their internment. A bond between them certainly did occur, because Percy worked for Rupert Keppel as soon as he got married and came back from Switzerland. I assume his employment terminated soon after the annulment of Keppel's marriage in 1921. My Grandfather was very respectful of Hon. Rupert Keppel and later named his son Derek in his honour.
From all that I have read, it would seem that Percy would have been sick or injured to be transferred to Switzerland. I know that he received a leg injury during the retreat of the Battle at Le Cateau, but I always assumed he recovered from that quite well - he never limped or used a walking stick in later life. Infectious disease were rife in the camps, and by 1918 Percy had had three and half years of internment so it would be no wonder that he was susceptible to some infection - a lung problem perhaps, or malnutrition. Whatever it was there is no mention of it in his postcards to Hilda, and in general afterwards. I have also learned that it became every prisoners' goal to get to a neutral country. All manner of bribery and trickery was employed (understandably) to get the authority to be moved.
Another reason to be moved was if the Rt. Hon R Keppel was moved to Switzerland and he persuaded the authorities to let him take Percy too as a valet, I have read that other officers did this - just my theory. I always assumed from what my mother told me that they were together in Leysin, but I have not found any evidence to this end. Further research revealed mention that prisoners in Germany of four years or more could apply to be transferred to Switzerland, so maybe that was reason enough!
At present I don't know where Percy returned too in December 1918. Newspapers in Aberdeen listed returning soldiers and their names, but his is not on those lists.
He would have no reason to want to return to Scotland because his parents were now living in Whittlesea, Cambridgeshire, and Hilda would be living with his sister Lily in Coventry. He may have been received back to Barracks in Colchester, Plymouth or Aldershot. Whether or not he was then confined as he puts it in one of his cards I'm not sure, but I should imagine he would have wanted to get straight to see Hilda for her birthday on 15th December. In any case, it couldn't have been long because they were married in Whittlesea, Cambridgeshire on 1st January 1919.
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:
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.