Genealogical war memorials for Bournemouth’s fallen.
Mons: August 24th, 1914
Introduction
Tales from the Front (2) tells the story of William Robert Oakley, a native of Victorian Bournemouth, who fought in World War I. Private Oakley, a member of the First Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment, not yet 20, fell in battle on the second day at Mons, part of a hard-fought encounter, protecting the BEF’s slow withdrawal to safety.
Tales from the Front (2): Part 1
Bewilderment
Patriotism aside, former caddy William Robert Oakley might have preferred dodging golf balls over bullets. Furthermore, the terrain in front of him contained more traps than any golf course. Rail tracks, slag heaps, and narrow village streets, all far removed from his Bournemouth upbringing. Bewilderment may have settled on him. Yesterday, the British had excelled. Their riflery skills had stunned the Germans, convinced they faced machine guns. Yet, grey tunics still outnumbered khakis and blues. Discretion would precede valour. Paris needed protection. The BEF would march in support. Early on the 24th, withdrawal began. Somebody had to stay, however. Part of the job fell to the Dorsets, including William Robert Oakley. The BEF battalions formed a thin, khaki line. In his past life, he had followed the gentry at play, walking around the golf course. Today, he would follow his officers at war, leading the way across the battlefield instead.
Tales from the Front (2): Part 2
Brothers in arms
Oakley stood in the ranks beside men who, until their recent return, had served in India with the Dorsets’ second battalion. Their experience would have given him, still young, confidence for the day ahead. He would also have felt a sense of solidarity with them, shoulder to shoulder, social equals. Like Oakley, many British infantrymen came from labouring families, often residents of rural settlements for generations. They lived perched on the edge: starvation, the law, sudden disaster, the whim of the wealthy. To many, perhaps, military life would not have seemed that different to their existence in Britain. Soon, these men would dig miles of trenches as their ancestors had cleared endless ditches. They would labour in flooded excavations, wait for delayed rations, and reach instant oblivion, delivered by a hidden sniper’s bullet. Thus, in an alien land, most of Oakley’s fellow infantrymen would not have felt out of place.
A tough life
In common with most of Bournemouth’s labourers, Oakley’s family had migrated from a rural settlement to live in the resort and its suburbs. His grandfather had come from Medstead, a village in Hampshire. Work in a local brickyard and a labourer’s daughter from Throop had caused him to settle in Charminster. A tough life, perhaps familiar, awaited him. Burglars broke into his house. His first wife died at 43. He would marry for the third time after burying his second. His son, Oakley’s father, flouted the law on two reported occasions. Both times, he incurred fines for withholding one or both of his sons from school. Hardship perhaps passed to his son, for, after 1901, he and his wife disappear from the documentary records. In 1904, Oakley’s sister signed her marriage certificate using her mother’s maiden name, not her father’s surname. The new couple would give Oakley a home.
Tales from the Front (2): Part 3
The sad day
With the dawn came an exchange of artillery fire and the beginning of a difficult day for the Dorsets and the Brigade’s other battalions. Oakley and his colleagues would have experienced a great deal of disorientation. Their battalion broke up into companies, even down to platoons. The men had to make decisions on the spot: to hold up the enemy, to survive. Communications soon ceased. The Cheshires, holding the line to the left, failed to receive several messages advising their withdrawal. They stayed to do their duty and lost 80% of their men before having to surrender. Gaps in the line opened. The black smoke left by exploding shells reduced visibility. Machine-guns, now a standard weapon, rendered open movement almost impossible. Somewhere in this wasteland, Oakley and many of his colleagues fell, wounded or killed in action. Their loss provided enough time for the BEF to achieve an ordered withdrawal.
Aftermath
Margaret Elliott, Oakley’s married sister, received his effects. Her husband, aged 40 in 1914, too old to enlist, continued his work as a porter at Beale’s, a local department store. In time, their elder son would work for the same employer as a bookbinder. In 1913, Oakley’s brother married in Bristol, where his wife had worked as a servant. This may explain why the records list Bristol as Oakley’s residence at enlistment. He appears to have fought in the war, serving with the Royal West Surrey Regiment. Afterwards, for a while, he worked as a miner in Wales.
On September 5th, the Mons retreat ended. The Allies attacked the Germans. They succeeded in pushing them back. The First Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment, reinforced by almost a hundred men and NCOs, played their role. At the Battle of the Marne, they experienced heavy gunfire but contributed to the BEF’s success.
Takeaway
Tales from the Front (2) has explored the life, world, and military service of William Robert Oakley. A former golf caddy, he had joined the 1st Dorsetshire Regiment in time for deployment to the Western Front in August 1914. He fell on the second day of Mons, during which his battalion fought a spirited withdrawal, though one that incurred many casualties.
‘Tales from the Front’
A collection of personal stories honouring the Bournemouth natives who gave their lives on the battlefield and the regiments with which they served. Blending social and military history with genealogical insight, it explores their roots, families, occupations, and the ultimate sacrifices they made for their country.
Set against the backdrop of regimental war diaries and enriched by period media accounts, the series offers a powerful and intimate portrait of Bournemouth’s wartime heroes — a mosaic of personal courage within the broader sweep of history.
Serving as the second chapter and continuation of Victorian Bournemouth, Tales from the Front forms part of News from the Past: History for the Rest of Us.
References
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