MAJOR JOHN HERRICK
A Sirmoori and First World War veteran who enlisted in Canada and lost his life in Iraq in 1920, and has been commemorated on four memorials.
Major John Riversdale Warren Herrick was born on 22 May 1893, the eldest son of Dr Robert and Mrs Edith Herrick of 30 Regent Street, Nottingham. His younger brother, Captain Robert Lysle Warren Herrick, served in the 29th Lancers Regiment ( Deccan Horse ) and was awarded the DSO for an action against the Turks that took place on 21 August 1918 in the vicinity of Wadi Nimrin, a bridgehead over the River Jordan.
John Herrick was educated at Nottingham High School and, on leaving school in 1910, aged 17, he worked as a bank clerk in Nottingham. He represented the Old Boys in the first-ever competitive rugby match played by Nottingham High School on Boxing Day 1913.
At some stage during 1914, he went out to Canada. After the start of the First World War, and in response to a call to arms by the Dominions, he enlisted on 23 September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec, as No 260 Private Herrick in the 8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry ( later to become 90th Regiment Winnipeg Rifles ) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His attestation papers described him as being 5ft 11ins tall and his occupation as a storeman. He sailed to England with the Battalion on 3 October 1914 in the SS Franconia.
However, John Herrick must have impressed his superiors, because very soon after having returned to England, he was discharged from the Canadian Infantry on 15 November 1914 to join The Territorial Force for ‘a commission in the Imperial Army ‘. This was confirmed by a notification in The London Gazette dated 4 December as his being gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry ( Sherwood Rangers ). His name appeared subsequently in The Army List in the 2nd Sherwood Rangers, which was a Second-Line mounted regiment ( 2/1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry ) of The Territorial Force responsible for home defence. In August 1917, the regiment converted to a cyclist unit and, in early 1918, was located in Canterbury.
Around this time, John Herrick, by now an acting Captain, and presumably having avoided being sent to the Western Front, was transferred on 12 January 1918 to the Indian Army on probation, but forfeiting nine months’ seniority under Indian Army Order 511/1917. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion 2nd Goorkhas, who were stationed in Peshawar on the North West Frontier. This was a testing time for this newly formed battalion, not least for the reasons described in the Regimental History Volume II:
‘It cannot be said that the 3/2GR had the appearance of an old Battalion, as many changes had a naturally disturbing effect. Although the number of officers had been considerably increased by officers on probation for the Indian Army, they had had no previous experience with Indian troops and were ignorant of the language, and their value to the newly raised Battalion was at first not great.’
Indeed, John Herrick was soon to find himself promoted to Acting Major and appointed as Battalion Second-in-Command until August 1918. The 3rd Battalion was bitterly disappointed by not being deployed to fight in the Third Afghan War (May – August 1919 ). Instead, it was ordered to remain in Peshawar on internal security duties until February 1920, after which the Battalion returned to Dehra Dun before its disbandment later that year.
Meanwhile, in June 1920, and in response to the Arab Rebellion which had broken out in Iraq ( formerly known as Mesopotamia ), the 1st and 2nd Battalion 11th Gurkha Rifles were hurriedly sent out to the British-occupied area of Iraq, which was where they had originally been formed in 1918. The 11th Gurkha Rifles had been raised as an ad hoc unit in 1918 in Mesopotamia with troops and officers being drawn from other Gurkha regiments, and it comprised four battalions. All had fought in Mesopotamia, and at the end of hostilities, they were deployed to the North West Frontier and took part in the Third Afghan War before their eventual disbandment in late 1920.
Sometime after July 1920, John Herrick was seconded from the 3rd Battalion 2nd Goorkhas to the 1st Battalion 11th Gurkha Rifles, now located in Iraq, where he was to experience some fierce fighting against the rebel forces led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji. The campaign was to be short-lived, and both Battalions were to soon return to India for disbandment, but not before John Herrick had tragically died of wounds on 24 October 1920, allegedly caused by being hit by a spent bullet during operations in British-occupied Iraq.
He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Basra War Cemetery, Iraq. Plot II, Row K, Grave 14.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial at Basra
He is also commemorated on three other memorials, but curiously not on the 2nd Goorkhas First World War brass plaque, which was originally dedicated in St Thomas’ Church, Dehra Dun.
● Nottingham High School – War Memorial. The memorial is a statue of a life-size figure in bronze of a young second lieutenant in service dress uniform leading his platoon in the attack. The names of those who died are inscribed on two bronze panels. The sculptor was Henry Poole ARA.
Nottingham High School Memorial
● St Peter’s Church, Nottingham. The memorial, which was originally dedicated in St James’ Church, Nottingham, was transferred to St Peter’s Church in 1933. The names are inscribed in red on a white marble tablet below the naked body of a young man who is lying on his back. Behind him is a Cross and two angels. The memorial was designed and executed by Robert Wilson, who was a teacher at the Nottingham School of Art.
The Memorial in St Peter’s Church, Nottingham
Close-up of the inscription on the memorial
● Transcona Cenotaph, Memorial Circle Park, Winnipeg, Canada. The memorial comprises a roughly finished grey granite obelisk, 14 feet in height, and is placed over a smoothly polished granite base inscribed with 62 names. It was made by the Memorial Marble and Tile Company of Winnipeg and was erected in 1931. The memorial was relocated to its present site in 2001.
The Transcona War Memorial
John Herrick had the following medals: British War Medal 1914 – 20, Victory Medal 1914 – 19, General Service Medal 1918 – 1962 with clasp IRAQ.
He never married.
JRH
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