Hatfeild Arthur William Back was born on the 23rd September 1890 in Worstead Vicarage, the son of the Rev Arthur Back and his wife Ellen Harriet Bensly (daughter of a prominent Norwich solicitor and pioneer photographer). They moved into Carleton Rode when Arthur became rector in 1895.
There were four children born to the Back’s; Margaret Evelyn in 1887, Hilda Mary in 1888 and Hatfeild was followed by another boy, Geoffrey Robert Bensly, in 1894. Hatfeild was away at boarding school in Lowestoft in 1901 (his sisters were at boarding school in Weybridge and Geoffrey was at home) and we know from the subsequent census that he was a student of divinity at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge. From a report in the Norwich Mercury, we discovered that he graduated with a BA in 1912, before going to Leeds Clerical School and was ordained as a deacon two years later, becoming a priest in 1915. He had just been appointed to the curacy of Thatcham parish in Berkshire when war was declared.
Hatfeild enlists in the Royal Navy for wartime service and is appointed acting chaplain, taking up his post on HMS Vanguard on the 2nd January 1917. She was one of the oldest ships of the Fleet and had survived the Battle of Jutland the previous year.
In the summer of 1917, the Vanguard was anchored in Scapa Flow, in the Orkneys, one of the great natural harbours in the world and the chief naval base for the Grand Fleet during World War 1. However, as it was largely unfortified, Admiral Jellicoe was perpetually nervous about the possibility of attack from German destroyers or submarines. So, when the Vanguard blew up on Monday, 9th July 1917, propaganda declared that it was the action of enemy spies. However, it later became known that it was due to on-board explosions, probably caused by cordite; only 2 survived and 845 men died. Hatfeild was 26 years old.
As well as our own memorial and plaque in Church, Hatfeild is remembered on the Thatcham War Memorial in Berkshire and the Chatham Naval Memorial. There is also a Scapa Flow visitor centre at Hoy in the Orkneys where those who perished during both world wars are commemorated. A Celtic Cross inscribed ‘Vanguard’ stands in land overlooking the bay where she sank.
Geoffrey Back, Hatfeild’s brother and the Back’s younger son, also served in the navy and survived. Tragically, he was to lose his life as captain of HMS Orion in the Second World War.
Hatfeild’s sister Hilda, volunteered as a nurse at the VAD hospital in Attleborough from May 1915 until 1917; and both sisters made a contribution to the war effort on the home front. Here is an extract from the Parish Magazine published in October 1914:
War Relief Funds.
We are pleased to find that the parishioners of Carleton Rode are showing a very real sympathy with all who suffer through this terrible war and are doing their utmost to help the different relief funds. A house to house visitation of the parish by the Misses Back, Barker, Browne, Hinchley, Johnson, Leeder, Manser and Tricker, to all of whom our thanks are due, has resulted in the collection of the satisfactory sum of £15 16s 10d, while the offertory in church on behalf of the national relief fund amounted to £4 13s 6d. Many are making garments of various kinds for the sailors and soldiers, and the schoolchildren are gladly knitting socks and scarves. 12 shirts and some socks have been already sent to the Norfolk depot of the Red Cross Society, and we hope to send another parcel this week. A full account of the expenditure of the money will be given when the work is finished.
Our Sailors and Soldiers.
24 men from the parish of Carleton Rode are now serving in the navy or army. Their names have been placed on the church notice board, and we shall especially remember them when we “pray for the sailors and soldiers of our King.”
‘From Thatcham Clergy over the Centuries by William Butler published by the author, courtesy of Mr Nick Young’
The Rev Back and his family served this parish for many years, and through the difficult times of the First World War when Arthur was also Rural Dean of Depwade and would have ministered to the many tens of grieving families in this area, as well as coping with his own grief. Parish records and accounts in the surviving magazines record the depth of feeling felt for the Reverend Back and his family. He was clearly suffering from ill health when he returned for a service in December 1920:
We are all greatly pleased that Mr and Mrs Back were enabled to join the other worshippers in Church on their last Sunday’s residence (December 5th) in the parish; having led the services for the last 25 years, the final lead of the old shepherd was to the altar rails. And now he resides in Norwich in a nice little house in an old-fashioned way in the bosom of his family; where we hope he may spend the rest of his years in true happiness and comfort.
“To know, to esteem, to love, and then to part; makes up life’s tale to many a feeling heart.”
Arthur Back died a few months later. His widow Ellen and at least one of their daughters, Hilda Mary, continued to live on Earlham Road in Norwich. Tragically, Hilda was killed during the Second World War (just a year after her surviving brother) in the Baedeker blitz on the city on the 29th April, 1942. She is recorded as FAP – possibly manning a First Aid Post – and no doubt using the same skills that she learnt during her time as a VAD nurse during the Great War. Her mother Ellen and sister Margaret lived on – Ellen dying in 1948 in Norwich and her sister in 1976 (in Gorleston).