Reminiscences and Experiences of Adam Fulton in the Great War (Part One)

The following article was written for the 1994 Spring issue of the Western Front Association journal "Stand To" and is reproduced here by kind permission of the author John M. Cameron. Thanks go both the author and the W.F.A. for allowing this article to be shown here, which was first reproduced in 2009 in an earlier version of this website. Notes originally added by the author will remain as they were at time of print. Additional research and notes have been included by Adam Fulton’s Grandson. Where this is the case the letters (hf) will precede the note to separate it from those not originally published.

By John M. Cameron

From his own notes, supplemented by additional information in War Diaries, references in The Border Regiment in the Great War and taped comments.

Home, school, university and early life as a soldier

Adam Fulton, the son of a farmer, was born on 10th July, 1897 at Netherton Farm near Kelty in Fife. His first seventeen years were thus spent surrounded by the West Fife coalfields; a scene of pit heads and ugly slag bings; it was a drab countryside, crisscrossed by railway lines serving the mines. An atmosphere of noise and smoke but nothing to the noise and smoke he was to encounter later.

Primary education at the local Board school at Kelty was followed by secondary education at Dunfermline High School, being completed at Beath Higher Grade in July 1914. He matriculated in the Medical Faculty of Edinburgh University in the autumn of that year, just weeks after the outbreak of war, along with his closest school friends, Ivan Barclay and William Binning. He alone of the trio survived the Great War; Barclay joined the navy as a Surgeon Probationer and was lost when the destroyer "Mary Rose" was sunk by enemy action in 1916,^{[note 2]} while Binning, commissioned as 2nd. Lieutenant in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), was killed in France, also in 1916.^{[note 3]} He did not hear of their deaths until some time later but as he states "Being on active service abroad, I did not get news of their deaths for a long time after and one had become so accustomed to casualties that I was less affected than might have been expected."

Immediately he went up to university, Adam Fulton joined the University Officers Training Corps Infantry Unit. This occupied all the time which could be spared from medical studies, with drill parades in the evenings and field training at weekends. Like so many of the youth of the time, patriotism and a spirit of adventure, combined to persuade him to apply for a temporary commission - and to put down his year of birth as 1896 to prevent any delay or postponement. On 10th March, 1915, at the age of exactly seventeen years and eight months, he was gazetted a temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the 10th Battalion of the Border Regiment. As he himself admits, such was his ignorance of the army, that it was only when he visited a military outfitter that he discovered that the Border Regiment was not the King’s Own Scottish Borderers!

"I was sent direct from home to a months training at Bedford. Colonel St Aubyn (the Honorable, I think), a pleasant old man was in charge but instruction was by others, mostly N.C.O.s. I, with about fifteen others of the class, was accommodated in a boarding house. I shared a bedroom with a 2nd Lt of the Manchester Regiment. One prominent person amongst us was a man who had come home from South America to join up. He did a lot of talking with the use, even at dinner table, of picturesque words such as 'bullshit'. The outstanding memory of the course was a weekend leave in London. I was one of a party of three or four other young officers. They were older than me and knew London. What a feast of thrills this weekend must have been: first visit to London, the first time staying in a hotel and the first time in a London theatre. We stayed at the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square - played "vingt et un" in the bedroom until well past midnight - and saw the musical "Peg o' My Heart" at the Globe Theatre.

From Bedford, I joined the 3rd Border Regiment stationed at Shoeburyness in Essex. This was a Reserve Battalion for the supply of drafts for the Front. The senior officers in command were "dugouts," i.e. dug out from retirement. I think they were involved some time later in a scandal, reported in the public press, about getting wines for home through the regiments mess account. The second in command was Lieutenant Colonel Ravenscroft. He had the supervision of the training of the young officers. His knees were permanently slightly bent from a bullet wound said to have been received in the Sudan. Once on an inspection parade I attracted his attention and was called "long haired tart". On another occasion when 2nd Lt. Barnes and I had what was called the “temerity” to ask for leave, we were sent to take charge of the outposts of the shore defences at Landwick Barn. We had a tent. The weather was good and our duties consisted only of visiting the sentries periodically. For me the use of much spare time was a problem but it suited Barnes - a teacher from Ayr or Glasgow(?) - who had his wife lodging in the nearby village.

Shoeburyness was a testing station for artillery. The battalion occupied some of the buildings and the officers were members of the R.A. mess. I shared a room with 2nd Lt Paul New who had come from school at Bedford. We disliked each other, a feeling that was rekindled when we met again in France with the 1st Border Regiment.

The young officers took no part in the training or supervision of the "other ranks," and the only contact was at attendance at the "orderly room" to listen to matters of interior economy and dealing with minor offences. We also attended the entrainment of drafts for the front which were cheered up by the regimental band playing popular songs such as "Here we are, here we are again."

The first air raid on the U.K. occurred at that time. It took place at night and although there was some searchlight activity, there did not seem to be much disturbance and little or no damage.

I struck up a friendship with a 2nd Lt Baxendine. He was the son of a bookseller, Chamber Street, Edinburgh. We spent much of our spare time together, including walking in the countryside around Shoeburyness. Later when on weekend leave in London from Billericay we chanced our arm to make a dashing visit to home without permission. We went up on the Friday night and returned on Saturday night. I lost touch with him when we went abroad and later I heard that he had been killed in action.^{[note 4]} The two families remained in touch until some years after the War.

At Shoeburyness other names remembered were:

Major Morris - later in command of 1st Border Regt. When I joined it in France in January 1916.
Captain Watson, the adjutant. He had been wounded in France and continued to have his arm in a sling.
Majors Warren and Watson - one of these came from South Africa and had a son who was also in the Border regt.
Captain North - popular with the young officers.
2nd Lt Joel - son of Solly Joel, the South African millionaire - Stories of gay theatrical parties at his home in Maidenhead.
2nd Lt Hood -(?) commissioned from the ranks - with me until September 1916. At a training camp at Purfleet he was put under arrest, I think for insolence when he was under the influence of drink, and I was one of the officers detailed to be with him when confined to his tent.
Captain Dimmer, V.C. was in charge of the camp and he was the offended party. I do not know what was the outcome of this episode - probably a severe dressing down and a warning.

From Shoeburyness I was sent on two courses of instruction; one at Chatham and the other at Purfleet. Both lasted a few weeks. I then joined my appointed battalion, the 10th Border Regiment, stationed at Billericay. Nearly immediately afterwards it was moved to a camp at Seaford, Sussex. I think the Colonel in command was called Hitchcock. The only other senior officer I remember was a Major Spiteasy, a Maltese, who was in charge of the young officers and known to them as "Jingle Balls". Here again 2nd Lt Hood expressed his dislike of this senior officer. This time from the carriage window of the troop train taking us to Devonport for embarkation - so there was little chance for Major S. to take action.

Gallipoli

Soon after the landing at Suvla in the Gallipoli campaign, I was included in a draft of reinforcements sent from the U.K. We embarked at Devonport on the S.S. Kalyan, a small Blue Funnel liner being used as a troop ship. The voyage out east through the Mediterranean was uneventful. Occasional submarine watch duty was my only duty. We called at Malta where the ship got coal - a long chain of labourers carrying the coal up a gangway in buckets. I was astonished to find how easy it was to cash a cheque at Messrs. Cox & Co.

Moudros, harbour of the Greek island of Lemnos, was the next stop and there we disembarked. In Moudros Harbour was anchored a large liner called the Aragon. This was the H.Q. of the Command of the Gallipoli campaign. Rumour has it that it was kept afloat by empty champagne bottles. Also in the harbour was H.M.S. Olympia, nicknamed "Packet of Fags" from her four funnels.

At Moudros, we were trans-shipped at night, into barges and landed at Suvla Bay. The attack and landing here had been the last part of the Gallipoli campaign. When we (the reinforcements) arrived, our forces occupied the peninsula part of the bay. The venture had failed to get its objective and the position now was one of stalemate. The general opinion was, I think, that blame lay with high command and the staff. From the bay the ground rose to a ridge running lengthwise along the northern edge of the peninsula where it fell steeply to the sea. The land was rough with much rock, no trees and little other vegetation. The whole area was within reach of Turk guns and our troops were lucky that shelling was not as intense as it could have been. I think that, after the initial attack at the landing, casualties from shelling or bullets were comparatively few compared with those from sickness and exposure. Dysentry was rife and maintained by a plague of flies. Latrines were extremely primitive; an open trench with a plank on which to balance. As could be expected, some, especially among those with dysentry, failed in the balancing act.

Towards the end of the campaign there was a rapid change in the weather, from semi-tropical to wintery conditions, culminating in a blizzard. There was no shelter and warfare activities on both sides were suspended. Flooded trenches had to be abandoned, and Turks and British were out in the open, disregarding each other, trying to dry out and get warm.

I was posted to the 6th Battalion, the Border Regiment.^{[note 5]} It was in the 11th Division of the army and brigaded with a battalion each of the Lincolns, the Notts and Derby (Sherwoods) and the South Staffs. There had been a lot of casualties at the landing and I was in the draft to fill up. When I joined, the officer commanding the 6th Borders was Lieutenant Colonel Mathers. He had taken over the command shortly before my arrival, having been transferred from the Scottish Horse. I believe he had risen from the ranks. He had been the adjutant at the Army School for Boys at Dunblane before the War. He was the C.O. all the time I was with the 6th Borders. After the War I contacted him for a testimonial in connection with my application for a colonial office appointment. At that time he was retired and, I think, the secretary of an Edinburgh golf club.

With the battalion when I joined I remember:

Captain James. He was adjutant and remained so during my time. Later, I heard from Major Chance he had been given command of a machine gun unit in France and was killed.^{[note 6]} Captain Chance was my company commander - "B" company, and my platoon was No.7. He was a Carlisle man of a fairly well known family. Later in Egypt, he was promoted major and 2nd in command of the battalion. In 1925, when I was in veterinary practice in Crieff he sent me an invitation to a reunion of the 6th Borders. Then in 1978, a further interval of 53 years I noticed his name in a list of the Regimental Association. We exchanged letters. He was then 87 years old.

The other officers in "B" company were:

May C. B. Lieutenant - had been a school teacher somewhere in the West of Scotland. Later I heard that he had been killed in action in France after I had left the battalion.^{[note 7]} I shared a tent with him in the camp at Alexandria. Stiven - 2nd Lieutenant. I think he was from South America and/or his parents had lived there. He had been at school at Westminster.

Prosser - 2nd Lieutenant. He was a bit older than the rest of us. He had been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and promoted for action in the field on the landing at Suvla. Later he was transferred to quartermaster’s work. Captain McCreadie was the medical officer. He was a Scot, popular and a good doctor. The two occasions I remember getting his professional attention; first when I had dysentry at Suvla and was dosed with Epsom Salts tablets; second when he dressed my wounds and gave me an anti-tetanus injection at Thiepval on the Somme on 26th September 1916. The quartermaster was Lieutenant White - a pleasant promoted ranker. I shall never forget his mug of hot tea laced with army rum that he gave me early the first morning after my arrival at Suvla. It was the first time in my life with no shelter - a permanent state at Suvla - and the night had been cold and 2nd Lieutenant Beattie was one of the draft to join the 6th Borders with me. He was a big powerful man who came from the Scottish Borders and had been captain of Wakefield Trinity Rugby Club. Soon after his arrival he suffered from an attack of acute dysentry. There was much consternation when it was discovered he had given himself, through ignorance, an over-dose of morphia. At that time there were no restrictions on the purchase of any drugs from chemists and one could get a wallet containing a selection of drugs that might be of use on active service. Morphia was one of these drugs. Beattie was invalided from Suvla and I did not hear of him again.

Apart from one’s own company, there was little contact with the rest of the battalion or other troops. Life was confined to the trenches, either front line or reserve. We were occupied keeping a watchful eye on the enemy and in maintaining and improving the trenches. Both sides seemed to be on the defensive with no signs of attack. There were periodic bursts of enemy shelling directed mostly to behind the front line. Rifle fire was confined mostly to night time, presumably to deter exploitation of No Man's Land between the front lines. It was about 100 to 200 yards, I think, at our part of the line. The occupation of a listening post out in No Man’s Land at night enlivened the dreary routine of supervising working parties and checking sentries, etc.^{[note 8]}

Rations were adequate but deadly dull; bully beef (corn beef in tins - some of these were said to have been the surplus left over after the Boer War) and biscuits were the mainstay. The biscuits were tasteless and as hard as paving stones. They were very difficult to masticate unless broken and well soaked. A substance in tins labelled "apricot jam" appeared frequently. Occasionally there were large tins of dessicated vegetables. They could have been wood shavings for all the difference they made to the perpetual bully stew. I think there was at rare intervals some coarse fat bacon. As always the infantry (P.B.I.) got the last of the pick of any supplies available. Probably troops nearer the base fared better. One word got around that a canteen had been established down near the base. I was detailed to visit it on behalf of our company mess. There was practically nothing left when I got there. All I can remember getting was a couple of tins of "John Cotton No. 1" tobacco for Captain Chance. All the water for drinking and cooking was imported by barge and then distributed, mostly at night time, by working parties with petrol tins carried by mules.

During my time at Suvla, the Battalion was on the high ground on the left of the British line near "Jefferson Post."^{[note 9]} The high ground gave one a wide view of the surrounding land and sea; down and to the right in the distance were "Chocolate Hill," and "Salt Lake" where there had been much trouble in the advance after the landing; beyond that was "Anzac". Sweeping round to the right was Suvla Bay, then the peninsula, the northern shore of which lay steeply below us. It was a desolate terrain; no trees, stony ground, no sign of cultivation or habitation.

A sight that gladdened our hearts was the sudden appearance from time to time of a naval vessel which I think was called a "Monitor." It was of shallow draught and had heavy guns. It appeared from round the tip of the peninsula, moved quickly to opposite the end of the Turk lines, fired several salvoes to enfilade them, then disappear under a smoke screen.

As already mentioned, I was one of the many, probably thousands, who had dysentry. Just when I had about recovered, the blizzard occurred. Most of the details are forgotten but I do remember taking shelter with Stiven in a dug-out, a hole in the ground about six feet by six feet and four foot deep and covered with two or three sheets of corrugated metal. We were protected from the full force of the wind and sleet but the dug-out soon started to fill with icy cold water and it was over our knees by the time the storm abated. I recollect baling the water out with a bucket and stripping off my wet clothes.^{[note 10]} That was when I discovered that the dysentry had affected my liver. It was a bit of a shock to find I was yellow all over - jaundice.

It was about this time that the evacuation of Suvla had been decided and the first move was to take off all the unfit.^{[note 11]} So I, with many others, were taken to Moudros.^{[note 12]} I spent the next few weeks, and Xmas 1915, in a convalescent camp there. It was a welcome relief from the hard existence on Suvla although the standard of comfort was not high compared with such places elsewhere. Porridge of "Quaker Oats" with tinned milk was a treat.

6th Border Regiment in Egypt

I rejoined the Battalion at Alexandria early in February 1916.^{[note 13]} It was under canvas at Sidi Bishr on the outskirts of the city. K.M. Chance was now a major and 2nd in command of the Battalion. His place as company commander of "B" company was taken by Captain R. (?Ronnie) Carr. He was one of the firm Carr’s Biscuits, Carlisle — occasionally a large tin of sweet biscuits arrived for him and it was included in the mess. The battalion was brought up to full strength in officers and other ranks. Reinforcements included some dismounted yeomanry from, I think, south west England. Not unnaturally they were not pleased to be transferred to the infantry and to a comparatively unknown regiment at that. A mutinous attitude was nipped in the bud by firmness and sympathy and they soon settled down.

As before I was in charge of No. 7 platoon. Sergeant Neaves was the platoon sergeant. Private Harper was my batman.

Sergeant Major Henderson, D.C.M. was "B" Company sergeant major. He was a Scot, an ex-regular soldier and had the look of having lived a long time in India. I think he got his D.C.M. at Gallipoli. He was with the company all the time I was with the 6th Battalion. The next contact was after the War when by an amazing chance we met in Edinburgh. He had then a job in the Postal Service. That would be sometime between 1920 and 1922. I again, heard of him, I think about 1971. A friend of a friend of mine had noticed a D.C.M. medal belonging to a Sergeant Major Henderson of the Border Regiment for sale. It appeared that Henderson had died and there were no relatives except one in Canada who had no interest in the medal. I understand that the person who noticed the medal was for sale was to get in touch with Border Regiment H.Q. While we were at Sidi Bishr a photo was taken of the whole battalion on parade and another of the officers. Unfortunately in the battalion photo individuals are too small for identification. I still have a copy of the photo of the officers and am able to identify and name most of them.

6th Border Regiment Officers, Egypt (Sidi Bishr) in May 1916
Top Row: 2nd Lt. Park; 2nd Lt. Buchanan, Machine Gun Officer; Lt. Davies, attached from Manchesters; 2nd Lt. Fulton; 2nd Lt. Dedman, Bombing Officer; 2nd Lt. Johnstone, attached from KOSB's; 2nd Lt. Stiven; 2nd Lt McCrae
Middle Row: Lt. Price, Transport Officer (standing by himself); 2nd Lt. Allured; 2nd Lt. Montmorency; Lt. May; 2nd Lt. Hood, Signalling Officer; 2nd Lt. Poole; 2nd Lt. Healy; Lt. Ridley, Brigade Bombing Officer; Lt. Ross
Sitting: Lt. Morris; Capt. Carr; Lt. White, Quartermaster; Capt. James, Adjutant; Lt-Col. Mathers, Commanding Officer; Capt. Chance, 2nd in Command; Capt. Williams; Capt. Bjerre; Capt. Bainbridge; Lt. McCreadie, Medical Officer

In addition to those already mentioned the senior officers included Captain Williams of "D" company, Captain Bainbridge of "C" company, Captain Bjerre and Captain Ridley.

Naturally I was most closely associated with the officers of "B" company. At Sidi Bishr I shared a tent with Lieut. May. My one recollection of that was his filling much of his spare time lying on the native-made camp bed playing the ocarina - a most boring thing to listen to. He was older and senior so I had to put up with it. Stiven and Runciman were the other platoon officers in "B" company. 2nd Lieutenant Runciman was well below average height, which was sometimes a matter of comment (?derisive) by the troops. He was the son of a minister of the church in Orkney. I shared a tent with him at Ballah on the Suez canal.

Probably my closest friend at this time was 2nd Lieut. Dedman. He hailed from Galloway in South West Scotland, the son of a school master. He was appointed Bombing Officer for the Battalion and once in the course of his duties was wounded by the accidental explosion of a bomb. He was admitted to hospital and then I lost touch. After the war I heard that he had remained in the army with a regular commission - but not with the Border Regiment.

Life at Sidi Bishr was not strenuous. Battalion duties and training was fairly light. Bathing parades to the nearby sea were frequent. Visits into Alexandria were easy, by tram from Rableh, and we made use of the Kedival Club, of which we officers were honorary members. Another favourite haunt was Groppis, a well-known tea-time restaurant.

After a month or two the 11th Division was shifted to the Suez Canal Zone for protection of the Canal from attack by the Turks. I think the Division HQ was at Kantara. The 6th Borders were, to begin with, some distance on the canal bank near Ballah and then about 15 miles on the Palestine side in defensive trenches. There seemed to be little danger from the Turks but conditions in the desert were very unpleasant; intense heat during the day, fly plague, etc. When on the Canal I did a lot of swimming and took part as one of the Battalion representatives in a divisional regatta.

During the time we were in the Canal zone I had two "leaves." The first was a day in Port Said which was reached by train from Kantara. The chief joy was the half gallon of ice-cold shandy at the big hotel, Continental(?), on the front. An odd coincidence is my son also visited this hotel, on leave from the British Fleet in the Franco-British attack on Egypt in 1956. The second leave was a few days in Cairo. My friend Dedman was with me. We did all the usual things; visit to the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid, including climbing the latter and going to its centre, the mosques, the museum, the bazaars, etc. By July 1916, we were heartily tired of life in the desert so were quite pleased when we heard we were going to France. We embarked on the S.S. Scotian and sailed to Marseilles.