Page 48 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side v1

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Henry WELLS 25 Battalion, Middlesex Regt.
1876-8th February 1919

Born in Foots Cray in 1876, Henry Wells was a gardener on one of the big estates. Marrying in his early
30’s, Henry and his new bride, Mary, settled down to married life in his widowed mother’s tiny
terraced home in Pretoria Cottages. When war was declared in 1914, the couple had three small
children and Henry, who was now 38-years-old and generally worn out and prematurely aged from so
much physical hard work, inadequate diet and poor living conditions, was not suitable for warfare.

But there was no getting away from the pressure to “do one’s duty for King and Country” and at the end
of 1916, although now almost 41-years-old, Henry Wells made the very bold decision to enlist,
travelling down by train directly to Maidstone Barracks which has it’s own station. He was not forced
to join up, as his age and dependants would have made him exempt and it is surprising that the
authorities accepted him.

After a brief examination by a local doctor, his weight, height and general physique duly assessed, he
was placed in the Bl classification for service abroad (a soldier who was 100 per cent fit was classified as
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A1) and assigned to the 25 Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. He gave his address as "Ambergate",
North Cray, but he had previously always lived in Pretoria Cottages, North Cray.

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The 25 (Garrison) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, was raised by Col. John Ward, the larger-than-life
Member of Parliament for Stoke on Trent, who took it out to India for guard duties. The whole
Battalion consisted of men of a similar classification which the authorities considered could cope with
duties other than fighting in battle. It was later transferred to Hong Kong which is about the time that
Henry Wells was assigned to them.

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Russia - Although the 25 Battalion was originally only intended for garrison duties, they found
themselves in the field of battle when in July 1918 secret orders were received to proceed to Vladivostok
to support the struggling Cossacks (and their allies the Czech troops) in Russia, which was going
through a very violent and world-changing revolution. After a largely uneventful sea voyage lasting
several days, Henry Wells, together with his colleagues, all still dressed in their warm-weather
uniforms, set foot for the first time on Russian soil when they disembarked at the Port of Vladivostok.
When questioned by inquisitive local authorities, Colonel Ward boldly stated that:

“the British Expeditionary Force has been ordered to Siberia to assist the orderly elements of Russian
society to re-organise themselves under a national government and to resurrect and reconstruct the
Russian Front. We Britishers have entered the territory of Holy Russia not as conquerors, but as friends.
The Bolshevik powers have made a corrupt and dishonourable compact with their German masters, by
which the territories of their Motherland, Russia, have been torn from her side, and a huge indemnity
wrung from her people.”

The journey - At 9pm on 5th August 1918, Private Henry Wells, together with 500 fully equipped
infantry and a detachment of officers and a machine-gun section of 43 men with four heavy-type
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Maxims, marched off to Vladivostok station and just after midnight, the 25 Battalion nervously left
for an unknown journey on the notoriously unreliable Trans-Siberian railway which would eventually
take them some 5,000 uncomfortable and adventurous miles across the vast Russian plains. The men
had to travel in low quality cattle-trucks with tiers of planks for resting and sleeping, and the officers
travelled in poorly furnished compartments.