#25610 Private Samuel Brough
15TH SHERWOOD FORESTERS (NOTTS & DERBY REGIMENT)
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE war, the army was so inundated with volunteers that recruiting stations could afford to be somewhat selective. One group that found themselves continually turned away were those that failed to meet the minimum height requirement of 5ft 3in. Naturally, these men were indignant, for why should their lack of stature make them surplus to the requirements in this time of national emergency? An MP in charge of his local recruiting committee wrote to Kitchener suggesting some battalions devoted to these enthusiastic men and was told that if he wanted to put one together, the War Office gave its blessing. In the end he underwrote the cost himself and advertised for ‘small but pugnacious’ men between 5ft and 5ft 3in with a chest measurement of at least 34in. The first Bantam battalion was born. Other counties began to follow the Cheshire Regiment’s lead and by mid-February, Nottingham had begun recruiting diminutive volunteers for what was to become the 15th Sherwood Foresters. The first eighteen men enlisted on 16th February and calls went out for more in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. Poaching vertically challenged but willing men from even further afield was also not unheard of.
One of those answering the call at the Mechanic’s Institute in Nottingham was 22-year-old Samuel Brough, who stood 5ft 1in and weighed in at just 8st. A labourer from Park Street in Derby, Sam was the sixth of seven children and had been orphaned at 13 when both his parents died in the space of a year. In April 1915 he left his sister’s house and, although he may have been rejected previously for military service, he joined the army and began training.
The town of Nottingham was proud of its diminutive warriors. Articles and photographs were prevalent in the local press, and drummers marched around outlying villages looking for more volunteers. The Mayor of Nottingham made a public appeal to get the battalion its uniforms and one recruit from Oldham was so excited about finally being accepted into one of Kitchener’s battalions after having been rejected elsewhere that he declared the recruiting sergeant could keep the King’s Shilling. The battalion’s send-off was topped by a matinee at the Hippodrome, where the recruits got to watch footage of themselves before listening to a ‘spirited rendering’ of Land of Hope and Glory, amongst other songs. Samuel left for Yorkshire to join his division, the 35th, which was to be formed primarily of Bantams. Then they waited it out on Salisbury Plain desperate to depart. The 15th Sherwood Foresters finally embarked for France on 1st February 1916 and moved south to the Somme in the first few days of July.
On the 16th they relieved a group of Northampton men in trenches south-east of Trônes Wood near Maltz Horn Farm, in heavy rain and in darkness, mud sucking at their boots. The men fought their way through it and were exhausted before they even began settling in to their new surroundings. The spot Samuel found himself in was prone to counter-attacks and day-to-day attrition caused by snipers and shellfire accounted for the lives of those sent in to man the line. Bodies hung in the Bantams’ way, one dead Tommy in particular leaning over the parapet. His shoulder badges revealed he belonged to the The Buffs, the East Kent Regiment. ‘It was a rough journey. The smell was awful, and every now and then we trod on a dead “Buff”.’
Panel inscribed with Samuel Brough’s name on the Thiepval Memorial. (Alexandra Churchill)
On the following day, the Sherwood Foresters took over the far right of the British line, next to the French, from the much put upon Buffs. The French had been pushing eastwards too, and shelling in the area had been continuous, though not accurate all day as the French artillery attempted to level Maltz Horn Farm. Within a few hours Sam Brough had become a quiet casualty of war, not associated with any grand offensive. On the Somme just standing in the wrong place at the wrong time could place a man on the casualty lists. His body, if recovered, was never identified and Samuel is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 10c/10d & 11.