Remembrance Sunday: When news broke in Southend of the war

Instead of reports on local affairs the Southend Standard broadsheet was filled with a different kind of news – that Great Britain had declared war on Germany.

As the news broke on August 4 crowds of men, women and children immediately amassed outside the Standard offices in Clifftown Parade as reports of the situation were put up in the window as fast as the news could be relayed to reporters.

As the Standard reported the news to Southend residents, it became clear that to many the fact the country was now at war wasn’t a surprise.

“The realities of war were forced home upon Southend and district in the middle of last week when it became known that the men of the garrison at Shoebury had been confined to barracks and that the government property was being guarded by soldiers armed with rifles and ball cartridges,” revealed the Standard.

“The placing of sentries at the entrance to the barracks and rangers pacing to and fro with fixed bayonets is, we believe, without parallel in the history of the garrison.

“War vessels have been constantly passing up and down the estuary and at night the searchlight at Sheerness lights up the water.”

In August 1914 Southenders could have no idea the town would be bombed by enemy Gothas exactly three years later. This shows the aftermath of the raid on Southend. (Image: Newsquest)

Later on in the week it was reported that part of the river had been mined and then came the news that members of the Metropolitan Police, who had been on holiday, had been summoned back to headquarters.

Reports at the time said: “Later still the call came for the mobilisation of the naval reservists, many of whom immediately left this district, mainly for Chatham.

“Outside the Southend Standard office there was an air of solemnity as if the news was too great for levity.

“There was none of the Mafeking spirit. No horseplay. In going to war the attitude of the mind is getting through a disagreeable task which has been forced upon us. The effect of the prospect of war upon the town was immediately felt.

“The holiday season this year will certainly be impaired.”

Immediately guesthouse and hotel owners were warned to look out for guests who could be ‘enemy aliens’.

And it wasn’t only guests. A large proportion of waiters at hotels in Southend in 1914 were German and Swiss nationals but within a week of war being declared only five had gone to London to report to their embassies.

The rest had no desire to leave the town where they had made their home. This would change, however, within a matter of days.

Within hours of the news breaking reservists were leaving to return to their forces. One naval reservist in Southend – despite nearing the fighting age limit of 56 – told the Standard he’d had his bags packed for weeks and suspected war was imminent.

The Kursaal would become a military camp by December of 1914 (Image: Newsquest)

He was described as being off with the ‘keenest of youngsters’ to join in the fight.

Southend post office – which was never busier – lost 40 postmen out of a workforce of 50.

Messrs Green and Sons, a furniture auctioneers based in the town had to shut up their shop and call off their impending sale as every employee they had was a member of the Army reservists or Territorials and had gone off to join the war.

In a rousing ceremony at Southend Petty Court, 120 men of all ages pledged to serve king and country if they were to be needed after answering the call to arms.

“I need hardly say that I am delighted to think our borough has such a large number of public spirited men who are anxious to do their duty as citizens, should occasion arise,” beamed Southend mayor John Francis a the ceremony.

As the government began requestioning supplies, rumours had to be quelled by the the Westcliff-on-Sea motor charabanc company.

The company had to suppress a damaging rumour spreading around the town that its fleet of cars had been taken over by the government.

It was also business as usual at the Kursaal which took out adverts in various newspapers to assure visitors that it wasn’t shut because of the war.

But the situation would soon change. By December the Kursaal theatre and grounds were commandeered by the British Army. Thousands of soldiers were billeted to the pleasure grounds which was transformed into a military base.

On the first weekend after war was declared only 2,000 people came to Southend instead of the usual 10,000-15,000 tourists.

The mayor of Southend Alderman John Francis went on damage control and delivered speeches everywhere reassuring people that Southend was open for business as usual.

It was probably just as well that crowds were staying away from Southend as the majority of the town’s policemen had gone off to fight so special constables were being urged to sign up.

But it wasn’t just men that were in demand – horses were too. In the first weeks after war broke out some 38 horses were commandeered from Southend.

As the men signed up to fight, wives and mothers began fundraising and organising themselves in force to collect goods that could be needed for the war effort.

Every church in Southend united to organise Red Cross volunteers to help with medical issues that could arise while sub committees in everything from clothing to finance were scrambled around the town.

As the aftermath of the announcement that we were at war began to sink it it appears German nationals began to feel uneasy with staying in Southend.

Within a week of the news 100 German people had registered their details with Southend police and 90 of them had been expelled from the town. The rest were allowed to stay under strict supervision.

The tragedy of the war was too much to handle for one German national. On August 8, 1914 Julias Forester, a German man who had been living in England for several years, was found dead in the toilets at Victoria Corner.

He had shot himself in the right temple with a revolver.

A lavatory attendant named George Salter let him inside a cubicle within the toilet block at 9am but when Forester didn’t resurface after an hour the attendant looked under the cubicle door. He saw the 54-year-old laying on the floor dead – still holding a black revolver in his right hand.

Forester had been living at Cranfield in Victoria Avenue, Leigh, with his wife and was working as a travelling salesman.

His wife told an inquest into the suicide that he had been worried by the war and the need to register his details with the authorities. She stressed he was in the habit of carrying a gun because of the dangerous nature of his job.

A neighbour who saw Forester leave home on the morning of his death told the inquest how he had been concerned over the war developments: “He seemed thoroughly English in his view and seemed upset that his country was at war with ours,” the neighbour said.

By the end of the long war more than 2,000 men from Southend would have been killed in action.

Southend, too, would be attacked by Gotha bombers and Zeppelins leading to dozens of civilian casualties.