George Marten was serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery in France in May 1918. He had enlisted nearly three years earlier (August 1915) and had previously been stationed in Egypt.
While he had the qualifications to become an officer, he argued that he could make as much of a contribution as a humble gunner (the basic rank, akin to a private in the army).
(Photo credit to Tonbridge School)
The Royal Garrison Artillery suggest he might have been based in a city or seaport well away from the front, but this was actually the branch of the Royal Artillery with heavier guns and was used as close to the frontline as any other regiment. The battery George served with was equipped with 6-inch howitzers.
This photo shows a 6-inch howitzer of another siege battery, firing in April 1918 also in France. This looks like a temporary position and I suspect George and his battery might have been ‘dug in’ to gun pits, but nevertheless it gives a good idea of the size of gun and the team involved in firing it:
(Original photo Imperial War Museum, colourised and posted on this Facebook page link, many thanks!)
In May 1918 George’s unit, 115th Siege Battery, was stationed just to the west of Amiens as the major German attack that began at the end of March 1918 (that had already claimed the lives of at least nine Bearsden men) was starting to lose momentum.
This map gives a general idea of where Corbie is located. The battlefields of 1916 and 1917 would be off the map to the right; the 1918 German advance had recaptured all of that ground, and more. By the end of May 1918, the front was starting to stabilise, however.
George’s battery was in 65 Brigade; roughly speaking there were three batteries of four guns in a brigade – 65 Brigade’s batteries were 115, 118 and 202. The brigade’s war diary describes what happened (my transcription, not verbatim):
“23rd to 28th May – Usual harassing fire [i.e. German artillery firing at the British artillery]. ‘Destruction shoot’ on hostile batteries with Plane observation when visibility permitted. 115 Siege Battery [including George] successfully engaged a battery of trench mortars with ground observation. Considerable sniping done by batteries with OP observation [an observer in the frontline with a telephone connection to the guns].
Increased activity of Hostile Artillery [on the] 27th and 28th. Battery positions and Brigade HQ receiving some attention.
29th to 31st May – Enemy artillery active against batteries. A ‘Destruction Shoot’ was carried out on 202 Siege Battery. 115 Siege Battery sustained some casualties. Several successful shoots on Hostile Batteries with Plane observation. On night of 31st 115 and 202 each ran 1 section up forward to shell hostile batteries with gas. This was carried out successfully.”
You will have noted the phrase “115 Siege Battery sustained some casualties”. In fact, four men of the battery died that day, including George Marten, killed by enemy shell fire.
The others were: Gunner John Lottimer from Pollokshields, Gunner John Morrison from Edinburgh, and Gunner Harry Woodliffe from Lincolnshire.
I’ve included this map because it shows La Neuville, where George’s battery was based in the bottom left corner, just to the left of Corbie.
George and the others lay buried, four in a row, in La Neuville British Cemetery, Corbie, very close to where they died.
Here is the administrative form that records the words requested by relatives to be inscribed on their headstones:
Two things about George Kenneth Roger Marten might confound our expectations. First he was 37 years old when he died, and second despite his Bearsden connection he probably spoke with an English accent (horrors!). He was born on 27 October 1880 in Leyton, then in Essex, now north-east London into a prosperous family. His father was a merchant in what was then referred to as The East Indies, now Indonesia. Indeed several of George’s elder siblings were born in Batavia, Jave, now Jakarta:
I can’t find a simple description of what a merchant did (can anyone help?) but one of their roles seems to have been as a middle-man, buying raw materials such as sugar locally, hiring a ship to take them to a market and selling the produce on to local suppliers. His company was called Marten, Dyce and Co but he left in 1871 to a director The Merchants’ Marine Insurance Company.
George’s father William Thomas Marten had been born in Sussex, and he married Elizabeth Rodger (originally from Port Glasgow, the daughter of a shipowner) in 1858 at 9 Abbotsford Place, so George was born after they had been married 22 years.
(Eagle-eyed readers will spot that 9 Abbotsford Place is where Eric Wotherspoon’s mother lived at the time of the 1891 Census, link)
George’s early years were in London, initially at 6 Park Place, Leyton. His father died aged 63 when George was ten. Five years later George started at Tonbridge School (1895 to 1898).
In the 1901 Census George is living in High Wycombe as a boarder at 9 Aveling Road, High Wycombe where he worked for a brewer.
The houseowners were the Holland sisters, Annie and Elizabeth, with their widowed sister Sarah and her two children. Annie was a teacher and thye must have supplemented their income by renting out two rooms.
After that George vanishes from records. His mother moved to Bearsden, to a house called Fernlea, which we can now identify as 6 Collylin Road. Here is the 1911 Census record:
We have no evidence George ever lived there himself, although I imagine he would have visited.
The house was owned by John Stoddart Robertson and his tenant was Miss Margaret Rodger – who was Mrs Elizabeth Marten’s older sister. It’s not clear when Elizabeth died but Margaret died in 1926 and the house was let to someone else.