Europeana_Age Exchange Interview Transcript

This is a transcript of an interview conducted by Age Exchange as part of the
Children of the Great War project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Age Exchange is a member of The Imperial War Museum First World War
Centenary Partnership.
www.childrenofthegreatwar.org.uk
www.age-exchange.org.uk
If you wish to contact Age Exchange about this contribution, or access other
archive material from its the Children of The Great War project, please email
[email protected]
Title
Arthur George Woodley, 17th London Poplar and Stepney Rifles
About:
Arthur G. Woodley
The story was shared at:
Leyton Orient FC Supporters Club
On:
Sunday 16 February 2014
By:
Paul Hudson
AE Reference:
LE0002
th
Interview with Paul Hudson
Paul Hudson: “My grandfather was killed in 1917. His name was Arthur George Woodley. He came from Poplar
in London. He was born in 1895. His records are not available, so we couldn’t get them. I’ve got his medal card
record. He won the DCM but we don’t have that, but we have other medals. That medal is appropriate because
he won it playing football in Belgium just before he died. He would have enlisted at the beginning because he
has this medal from the start (1914-1915 medal). He was probably a volunteer. He was only 19.
Sometimes for people, it was a way out of poverty. Do you know where he went?
“He was in France. He was killed in Loos. He was a Messenger and a Rifleman. I’ve got a copy of the Gazette
where they used to print winners of the DCM. It says “he won the medal for conspicuous gallantry. He displayed
great skill in the maintenance of communications and on several occasions carried messages to detach
companies under heavy fire.” I also found the trench war diary and on the day that he was awarded the medal it
says he got three men.”
Who kept the trench diary?
“I think it was the Officers. After he won the DCM he did go back to his school, South Grove Boys School, to tell
them he’d won the medal and it’s recorded on there. He was presented with a massive silver cigarette case by
the school. I’ve got a letter from his mother about his will after he died. He died on 29th November 1917, aged
22.”
What’s this photo?
“That’s him as a younger boy… I have got one of him in uniform.”
Do you know anything about him as a person?
“Only what I was told by my mother that he was very popular and kind. My mother was born in 1915. She was
only 2 years old when he died. My grandmother remarried to somebody who wasn’t very nicen so my mother
didn’t have a nice childhood.”
Where did he win the DCM?
“At Loos. We’ve been told that he was decapitated by a wire across the road while he was on his motorbike
doing his messages. We don’t know if that’s true. That’s what we were told.”
Which Regiment was he in?
“17th London Poplar and Stepney Rifles. He was from a big family and one of his brothers was fighting and he was
killed too. We’ve been to see his grave in France, in Ano [sic]. It’s quite a way from Loos where he died. It was so
sad when we went there. Everywhere you go there are more graves.
[ENDS]
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