HOME PAGE

Captain
GEORGE FREDERICK THOMAS OAKES
Royal Engineers 

by 

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
(October 2023)

Figure 1. Captain George Frederick Thomas Oakes, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum) 

1. INTRODUCTION  

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial 

Mentioned in Despatches

130^th Field Company, Royal Engineers

Who died on 15 July 1916, Age 33

Son of Alfred William Davison Oakes and Marian Leontine Oakes

Husband of Nellie Oakes of Briar Bank, Farnaby Road, Bromley Kent

Accomplished valuable work in the Abor Expedition, 1911-12.

His brother Alfred Henry Royal Oakes also died in service. 

DEARLY BELOVED HUSBAND OF NELLIE BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART 

2.  EARLY LIFE

            George Frederick Thomas Oakes was born in Calcutta, India on 11 February 1883.  In 1897 he entered Dulwich College in London and he passed out of Dulwich in 1900 and entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] 

3.  COMMISSIONING AND TRAINING 

Commissioning 

            Gentleman Cadet Oakes was commissioned a Second Lieutenant from the Royal Military Academy on 21 December 1901.  He is listed number 29 in the class of 31 cadets commissioned on this day as posted in the London Gazette of 14 January 1902, page 296. 

Training 

            From 1902 to 1903 2^nd Lieutenant Oakes attended the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) at Chatham, Kent where he received his training as an engineer officer.  At the S.M.E. he continued his military training with courses in field fortifications, construction, surveying, telegraphy, electric lighting, submarine mining, photography, chemistry, military law and tactics.  It appears that he showed great proficiency in surveying, as in the first few years of his service he was posted to the Survey of India.     

4.  POSTINGS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

India (1904-1914) 

Garrison Engineer (1904-1908) 

            Oates arrived  in Bombay in January 1904 and was immediately posted to the Indian Survey Department.  On 10 August 1904 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.[2]  The following year he was reassigned from survey duties to Garrison Engineer duties in the south of India. 

            In January 1905 Oates was serving as the Garrison Engineer for the Belgaum District in the Madras Command under Brevet Colonel F. Peel, the Commander Royal Engineers (C.R.E.) for that district.[3]  The Belgaum garrison was located near the west Coast of Indian, about midway between Bombay to the north ant Mysore to the south.  As the Garrison Engineer, Oates was responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of the infrastructure and the utilities within the cantonments of his district.   

            During the first quarter of 1905 a number of changes were made in the Belgaum District.  In February it was placed under the Western Command, with Colonel Peel remaining as the C.R.E.  In March the district was placed in the Poona Division of the Western Command (Poona being about 100 miles southeast of Bombay) under the command of Colonel H.S. Andrews-Speed, the C.R.E.  From April to December of 1905, Oates served as the Garrison Engineer in the Quetta District of the Western Command under Major R.F. Allen, R.E, the Commander Royal Engineers for that district.[4] 

Survey Duties (1908-1911)

            By 1908 Lieutenant Oates had left his duties as Garrison Engineer and was posted to survey duties.  As previously indicated, he may have excelled in his surveying studies at the School of Military Engineering and his performance may have been noted in his records.  He also appeared to have an adventurous nature and rather than remain in a district garrison, travelling throughout unknown regions of India probably appealed to him and he made this known to his superiors.

            From January through July 1908 Lieutenant Oates served with the Survey of India at Loralai in the northeastern part of Baluchistan in the Southern Command.  During the remainder of 1908 he worked as an Assistant Superintendent, 2^nd Grade, with the Survey of India at Mussoorie, near Dehra Dun in the Kashmir region at the foot of the Himalayas.  From January to June of 1910 his surveying duties as an Assistant Superintendent, 2^nd Grade, took him to Silchar in the Assam region and during the remainder of 1910 his surveying duties took him to Shillong in northwestern Burma.[5] 

Abor Expedition (1911-1914) 

The Abor Expedition in North East India was a punitive expedition against the Abors in Assam on the North-Eastern Frontier of India lasting from October 1911 to April 1912, following the murder of Mr. Noel Williamson (Assistant Political Officer in the districts of Sadiya and Lakhimpur) and his party.  The expedition took place between 6 October 1911 and  20 April 1912, and a large number of engineer troops were involved.  The following is the engineer order of battle for the expedition:[6] 

Field Force Headquarters 

Staff:   Major Edwin Cooke Tylden-Pattenson, R.E. 

No. 1 Company, King George's Own Sappers and Miners 

            Company Officers:     Lieutenant C.H.R. Chesney, R.E.

                                                Lieutenant A.D. De R. Martin, R.E.

                                                Lieutenant E.P. Le Bretton, R.E.

            Company S.M.:           Acting Sergeant Major J.F. Eltham 

Detachment, 31^st Signal Company, Sappers and Miners 

Detachment O.C.:       Lieutenant J.H. Knight 

32^nd Sikh Pioneers 

Officer Commanding: Lieutenant Colonel F.H. Peterson, D.S.O.

Second-in-Command: Major E.H.S. Cullen

            Adjutant:                     Lieutenant the Hon. M. de Courcy

            Quartermaster:             Lieutenant H.W. Andrews

            Surgeon:                      Captain H.B. Drake, Indian Medical Service

            Company Officers:     Captain G.C. Hodgson, D.S.O.

                                                Captain H.S. Mitchell

                                                Captain J.E.H. Wilson, 34^th Sikh Pioneers (attached)

                                                Lieutenant W.M. Ommaney

                                                Lieutenant N.S. Naylor

                                                Lieutenant A.T.G. Beckham

                                                Lieutenant C.T. Daly

                                                Lieutenant B. Christie

                                                Lieutenant I. Burn-Murdoch 

Survey Section 

            Director of Surveys:    Captain O.H.B. Trenchard, R.E.

            Survey Officers:          Captain C.P. Gunter, R.E.

                                                Lieutenant G.F.T. Oakes, R.E.

                              Lieutenant H.T. Morshead, R.E. 

            During the expedition Lieutenant Oakes served as an Assistant Superintendent of the Survey of India and he did significant work while in the field.  He was Mentioned in Despatches for his work as published in The London Gazette of 16 July 1912.  The Gazette citation read as follows: 

The following Army Department notification, dated 23^rd May, 1912, publishing extracts of a despatch from Major-General H. Bower, C.B., regarding the recent operations against the Abors on the North-Eastern Frontier of India, has been received from the Government of India: - 

50. The survey party under Captain O.H.B. Trenchard, R.E., did good work.

The good work done by the following was noticeable: - 

Lieutenant G.F.T. Oakes.

Surveyor Sher Jang.

Surveyor Hamid Gul. 

After the termination of the expedition, Oates was posted again to Shillong and on 21 December 1912 he was promoted to the rank of Captain.[7]  He was then posted to the Abor Exploration Party where he did notable survey work. 

Captain Oakes was attached to the Abor column to explore and map the basin of the Dehang (Didhang) River.  He worked in the eastern Himalayas in the valley of the Dehang and carried triangulation and topography for 100 miles up the course of the river, including the tributaries of the Siyom and Shimang on the right bank and with the Yamme on the left bank.  His 1912 survey along with Lieutenant J.A. Field, R.E., was the first to measure the elevation of Namcha Barwa (24,480 ft).  While performing his survey duties he did zoological work and created a collection of land Mollusca.[8]^,[9]  

Figure 2. Map of North East India and Tibet Showing the River Dehang.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia) 

NOTE: The map above shows Captain Oakes stations at Shillong and Silchar.  Shillong is located to the south of the city of Guwahati and Silchar is located to the south of Shillong and to the west of Imphal in Burma, the scene of the famous World War 2 battle. 

Home Service (1914-1915)

            Captain Oakes left India in October 1914 and was posted to Wareham, Dorset where he joined the 17^th (Northern) Division.  In late May 1915 the division moved to the Winchester area.[10]

The 17th (Northern) Division was created under Northern Command in September 1914, just a month after the British entry into the Great War, from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies. Most of the volunteers had had little prior military experience. Worsening the situation was an acute lack of experienced officers and NCO's to train the new men as, due to the huge expansion of the British Army, experienced soldiers were needed everywhere.[11]

            The divisional engineers of the 17^th Division consisted of the 77^th, 78^th, and 93^rd Field Companies and the 17^th Divisional Signal Company, all under the command of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel H.R. Gale, the Commander Royal Engineers.  In addition to these companies, the 7^th Pioneer Battalion of the York & Lancaster Regiment also was assigned to the division to provide assistance to the units of the Royal Engineers as needed.[12] 

Captain Oakes was posted to the 77^th Field Company as Second-in-Command, with the mission of training the officers and men of this new company in field engineering work.  He worked at training the 77^th Field Company for about nine months.  After receiving an order that the division would be retained for home defence (subsequently cancelled), advance parties of the division left for France on 6 July 1915. Main embarkation began on 12 July and units moved to concentrate near St Omer.  For the remainder of 1915 the division spent its initial period with trench familiarization and then holding the front lines in the southern area of the Ypres salient.[13]

France and Flanders (1915)

Oakes embarked for France on 15 July 1915.  He apparently remained with the 77^th Field Company until September when he was posted to the 130^th Field Company in the 25^th Division.  The 25^th Division had just arrived in France in September 1915 and was immediately employed in a defensive sector of the line south of Ypres.  The engineers of the 25^th Division included the 105^th, 106^th, and 130^th Field Companies and the 25^th Divisional Signal Company.  When not employed as infantry, the 6^th Pioneer Battalion of the South Wales Borderers was also available for field engineer work.[14]

Captain Oakes’ first action with the 130^th Field Company was at the Battle of the Somme from 1 to 13 July 1916.  During this battle the company suffered a significant number of fatalities, including:[15] 

67938 Sapper L.M. Dovey (6 July)

Lieutenant S.F. Weeks (10 July)

95619  Sapper Albert Carnill (10 July)

63812 Sergeant Jesse Benjamin Johnson (10 July)

67025 Sapper F.J. Woodward (10 July)

67677 Sapper Sidney Plumridge (11 July)

2^nd Lieutenant Robert Robertson Reid (13 July) 

As the Somme offensive moved from its early phase (designated the Battle of Albert) to the next major push (the Battle of Bazentin, 14 to 17 July), the 25th Division continued to carry out operations on a small scale in the Ovillers area. Casualties were heavy, with no gains of any significance being made. Relieved by the 48th (South Midland) Division during the night 16/17 July, the Division moved to Beauval; however, Oakes was not with the division when it was relieved.  He had been severely wounded on 15 July 1916 at Ovilliers la Boisselle.  He died of his wounds that same day and was buried at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbe, Plot 1, Row B, Grave 38.  Only one other man of the company was killed during the Battle of Bazentin. 

NOTE: See Annex A for all the fatalities suffered by the 130^th Field Company during the war.

            If the death of their son George did not bring enough grief to the Oakes family, his brother, 7722 Private Alfred Henry Royal Oakers, Army Pay Corps, died at Warley, Essex on 23 February 1917 at the age of 37.  Obviously his death was not combat related and may have been due to a disease or accident.  He may have been one of the very first victims of the oncoming Spanish influenza pandemic.  Alfred was buried at Bromley (St. Luke’s) Cemetery, Row A, Grave 170.[16] 

5. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

      For his military service from 1901 to 1915, Captain George Frederick Thomas Oakes was awarded the India General Service Medal 1908 with clasps [ABOR 1911-12], the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal (shown left to right in the image below). 

Figure 3. The Medals of Captain G.F.T. Oakes, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Liverpool Medals)

NOTE: The medals shown above are not those of Captain Oakes.  They are shown here for illustrative purposes only. 

Figure 4. The Great War Medal Index Card of Captain G.F.T. Oakes, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

      Oakes Medal Index Card shows that he went to France on 15 July 1915 and shows him as killed in action on 15 July 1916, when he actually died of wounds.  His wife Nellie applied for his medals on 1 April 1921. 

Figure 5. The Great War Medal Index Card of 7722 Private Alfred Henry Royal Oakes, Army Pay Corps
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com) 

      Alfred Oakes also has a Medal Index Card, although no medals are shown as having been authorized for his war service.  His rank is shown as Private in the Royal Army Pay Corps, but no regimental number is included on the form.  The back of the card indicates that his father A.W.D. Oakes, Esquire of “Knockwood” Shortlands, Kent applied for Alfred’s “service medal” on 25 September 1920.

Figure 6. The Grave of Alfred Henry Royal Oakes, A.P.C. and his Father, Alfred William Davison Oakes.
(Image courtesy of Find a Grave)  

ANNEX A

REFERENCES: 

Army Lists 

1. The Monthly Army List, December 1912, p. 800.

2. The Monthly Army List, April 1914, p. 799.

3. The Monthly Army List, February 1915, pp. 799 and 818a.

4. The Monthly Army List, April 1915, pp. 799 and 818b.

5. The Quarterly Army List, October 1916.  

Books 

1. CHRISTISON, McC and HESTER, W.  Dulwich College War Records, 1914-1918. Dulwich College, first edition, 1923.

2. HAMILTON, A.  IN ARBOR JUNGLES: Being an Account of the Abor Expedition, the Mishmi Mission and the Miri Mission.  G. Bell & Sons, Inc., London, 1912.

3. KINCAID-SMITH, M.  The 25^th Division in France and Flanders.  Harrison and Sons, London, 19__.

4. MORSHEAD, I.  The Life and Murder of Henry Morshead.  The Oleander Press, Ltd., Cambridge, 1982.

5. SANDES, E.W.C.  The Indian Sappers and Miners.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1948.

6. SANDES, E.W.C.  The Military Engineer in India.  Volume II.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1935.  

London Gazette 

1. The London Gazette, 14 January 1902, p. 296.

2. The London Gazette, 11 October 1904, p. 6518.

3. The London Gazette, 16 July 1912, pp. 5175 and 5178.  

Military Documents 

1. Medal Index Card: George Frederick Thomas Oakes, R.E.

2. Medal Indec Card: Alfred Henry Royal Oakes, A.P.C.  

Internet Web Sites 

1. Imperial War Museum, Lives of the First World War (Royal Engineers)

2. The Long, Long Trail: 17^th (Northern) Division.  

Periodicals 

1. The Royal Engineers List, 1905, January to December.

2. The Royal Engineers List, 1908, January to December.

3. The Royal Engineers List, 1910, January to December.

4. The Royal Engineers List, 1912, January to December.

5. The Royal Engineers List, January 1914, p. xi.

6. Royal Engineers Journal. Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers. Journal articles from 1925-1932.

    

ENDNOTES: