How did Doncaster take the news? The town had only just begun to get over the Boer Wars. Was this new European focus a welcome return to the arenas of war for those men who had returned from Africa unscathed?
It seems the mood was one of eager anticipation. The Gazette headlines read:
DONCASTER AND THE WAR - EFFECTS ON THE TOWN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD - UNPARALLELED SCENES OF EXCITEMENT!
It took the people of Doncaster one or two days to gather the full import of the events which were occurring with such cumulative rapidity on the Continent and in London. The latest telegraph messages of the advancements in Europe were posted in the windows of the Doncaster Gazette newspaper office. The message boards created the keenest of interest with what seemed like most of the town’s men paying the windows a visit, so that by the Sunday after Britain’s part in the war was declared, where there would have normally been an air of silent calm around the town, there was now heard the ear-piercing cry of the newspaper sellers at their stands from almost every street corner, both in the town centre and in the suburbs. One or two of the evening papers had even issued special ‘war editions’. The railway station at Doncaster became a focal point of the proceedings too as large numbers of the Royal Naval Reserve passed through the station followed by more of the blue-clad men waiting to board trains on the platforms. Territorial soldiers were also on the move, in some cases men who had only proceeded to their training grounds on the previous day had been recalled to active service before they had settled down to the daily routine of camp life.
The Doncaster Territorials were about to start their second week of training at a camp at Whitby, North Yorkshire, when the news came for them to pack up and come home. Just after the 7am breakfast on Monday, 10 August, the call came from the War Office and before too long, in orderly fashion and without undue commotion, the tents, supplies and equipment were being packed away in preparation for the hasty retreat to Doncaster. The whole process of breaking camp took only four hours after which the dinner rations were handed out. The companies were formed up and were briefly addressed by the Brigadier, Colonel Dawson, who explained to them the true reason for their return to Doncaster. There must have been mixed emotions in the Whitby field that day.
Scenes that were closely akin to the first symptoms of war fever were witnessed at Whitby station that afternoon. The company bands played as the troops filed onto the platforms where a number of special trains had been chartered for their conveyance. A large crowd had assembled on the square in front of the station to cheer on the Territorials as they rounded the corner from the hill that led to their camp.
The Doncaster men arrived at their headquarters about 1am on Tuesday morning, after which time the Drill Hall in French Gate was the main centre of all the excitement with which the town had been seething. A constant crowd of curious spectators watched the comings and goings of officers and messengers. On Wednesday, 12 August the mobilisation of the Queen’s Own Yorkshire Dragoons commenced, giving Doncaster the appearance of a military town rather than of a fairly busy industrial centre. Over the next few days Doncaster was to take on this military appearance to a greater degree as the immediate surrounding area had been chosen as a ‘War Centre’.
It was soon invaded by the West Riding Division and opened its doors to several thousand infantry and artillery men. The Guild Hall, the Free Library, St George’s School and the Vicarage were converted into accommodation for the soldiers and, eventually, it was planned for all of the borough schools to be utilised for this purpose. Many of the town’s householders received notices calling upon them to billet the men, and several of the officers of the West Riding Division visited Doncaster to complete the accommodation arrangements. The Queen’s Own Yorkshire Dragoons’ sleeping quarters for the first few days were the stands at the racecourse, such was the urgency and shortage of proper accommodation.
Special arrangements were made for the reception and dispatch of the thousands of troops entering and leaving Doncaster in the form of a temporary platform which was constructed in the sidings just outside the main Doncaster railway station. Among the first Doncaster folk to be called up for active service was Mr G.C. Venn, one of the assistants at the Divisional office who was a Naval Reservist, and who left on Saturday, 8 August to be with the Fleet.
Amidst all the confusion of regiments returning, soldiers just passing through, officers being re-called, and new recruits offering their services, little thought was given to those members of the family who were to be left behind. Some of the men and boys had only just returned from their training and their wives and children, who had been eagerly awaiting their return, had been left with an empty void as their loved ones were paraded in front of them before being whisked away to Europe. The following eyewitness statement of a scene outside Doncaster station illustrates perfectly the sadness that was felt across the town, for it reads:
‘On Wednesday morning, outside Doncaster station, stood a woman, bare-headed, holding in her arms a small child, staring through her tears blankly into space. “Where’s Daddy gone?” piped the baby in a plaintive note. The answer was a fresh outburst of tears for Daddy had gone to Manchester to rejoin his regiment. The tear-stained woman was not alone, but perhaps the amazing part of the trend of events this week has been the phlegmatic indifference, and even the light-heartedness of both soldiers and civilians in Doncaster.’ - Anon.
The Doncaster Grand Theatre, which today stands forlorn amidst a sea of twenty-first century development, was commandeered by the military authorities for billeting purposes. Even two members of the cast of ‘Australian Nell’, the show that was being acted out at the ‘Grand’ that very week, were called away as Army Reservists. The Palace Theatre too lost one or two of its artistes who were either Naval or Army Reserve men. Right across the borough, men were being plucked from their jobs and families and whisked back to their regimental headquarters to join the war effort in Europe. A long-running advertisement that became a regular feature in Doncaster’s newspapers was a government call which contained the following message: