Liverpool Angels Read online

  The recruiting officer scrutinised Eddie closely when he came to the head of the queue to present himself at the table. ‘Name?’

  ‘Edward McEvoy.’

  ‘Address?’

  The Albion Street address was duly recorded and he began to feel a little apprehensive under the older man’s gaze.

  ‘Age?’

  Eddie took a deep breath. ‘Nineteen last birthday, sir.’ For a second he didn’t dare breathe but then came the question ‘Religion?’ and he relaxed. ‘Church of England, sir.’

  ‘Right, repeat after me, “I, Edward McEvoy, do swear …”’

  Eddie repeated the oath with great solemnity, wondering how Jimmy and Harry were getting on for they’d been directed to another table.

  ‘Go on over to the medical officers now and good luck, lad. You’re in the King’s Liverpool Regiment: don’t ever disgrace it.’

  Pride surged through Eddie. ‘I won’t, sir,’ he promised. He was in! He was a soldier and would be going to join his mates and they’d all soon be going to war! It was an exhilarating feeling.

  The twins too had been sworn in; if anyone had doubted their age it hadn’t been mentioned.

  ‘There’s plenty of lads here who aren’t nineteen,’ Jimmy said, nudging Eddie but looking round proudly.

  ‘What happens now?’ Harry asked, buoyed up on a cloud of patriotic excitement. He couldn’t wait to get back to tell Mae that he was in, that he was now Private Henry Mercer of the 18th Battalion, the King’s Liverpool Regiment.

  ‘A bit of a let-down, I’m afraid, lads. You go home and we send for you when arrangements have been made for your training,’ an officer informed them, having overheard Harry.

  ‘No uniforms, no rifles?’ Eddie asked, disappointment evident in his tone.

  ‘In time. You’ll get everything in time, don’t worry.’ The older man grinned at them as he ushered them towards the door.

  ‘I just hope we get all our kit and training before it’s all over,’ Eddie said grimly as they left to get the tram back to Albion Street.

  ‘In the name of God, you’ve done what ?’ Maggie exclaimed when the three lads arrived home later that evening, flushed with pride and bravado.

  ‘Joined up, Mam. We’re in the King’s Liverpool Regiment now.’ Eddie looked at Mae and his sister for approval.

  ‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this! Alice, go over and get Agnes and Bertie. I bet you two haven’t told them.’ Maggie sat down heavily in an armchair.

  This wasn’t exactly the reaction Eddie had expected. ‘Mam, aren’t you proud?’

  ‘I’m shocked, that’s what I am! What possessed you all? They only declared war two days ago!’

  An obviously anxious and agitated Agnes and Bertie arrived, ushered in by an apprehensive Mae.

  ‘What’s going on, Maggie? What the hell have they done now?’ Agnes asked.

  ‘They’ve only been and gone and joined the Army – all three of them!’

  Agnes clutched at her throat. ‘They … they can’t have! They’re too young! What about their jobs?’ She turned to her husband. ‘Bertie, you’ve got to do something!’

  ‘You bloody young fools! You lied to them, didn’t you? How old did you tell them you were?’ Bertie Mercer wanted to know.

  ‘Nineteen,’ Jimmy replied sullenly. Like Eddie, he was taken aback by the reception their news had received. Harry’s enthusiasm, never as strong as the others’, was beginning to falter.

  ‘And they believed you?’ Maggie was incredulous.

  ‘There were plenty of lads down there who weren’t nineteen, Mam. We weren’t the only ones,’ Eddie stated defiantly.

  ‘Bertie, you’ll have to go down and see them, tell them they lied, that they can’t take them, they’re all only eighteen. They’re too young!’ Agnes cried.

  Bertie Mercer shook his head. ‘There’s nothing I can do, Agnes, luv. If they’ve sworn the oath, it’s too late. What in the name of God possessed the three of you?’ he demanded.

  ‘We didn’t want to be left out, Da!’ Jimmy burst out. ‘We didn’t want to miss all the excitement. We didn’t want to be left here when everyone else is going to fight the Hun!’

  Despite his annoyance and misgivings Bertie could understand that. He nodded slowly. ‘So, what happens now?’

  ‘We have to wait to be contacted about training but they’ll pay us a “living out” allowance as well as the shilling a day,’ Harry replied, looking across at Mae, who smiled encouragingly at him.

  ‘Oh, just wait until your Uncle John gets home and hears this, Eddie McEvoy, and you with an engineering apprenticeship and the opportunity of a secure future,’ Maggie muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

  ‘Get home, the pair of you!’ Agnes stormed at her sons. ‘Get home and tell your granny what you’ve gone and done. You’ll break her heart! Her brother was your age when he was killed in the Crimea. And now she’s got to go through it all again with you two!’

  ‘Well, I think they are all very brave and patriotic and we should congratulate them and be proud of them, instead of yelling at them!’ Alice announced, looking at Jimmy and smiling. ‘I’m proud of them and I bet Mae is too!’

  This was greeted by utter silence until Mae spoke. ‘I am proud of them too and I know Da will be. Aunty Maggie, we all have to stand together now. We can’t back down. Like the posters say: “For King and Country”!’ She paused and smiled at Alice. ‘I’ve been thinking that we should do our bit too. We’ll see about joining the Red Cross.’

  Maggie found her voice. ‘You’ll give up your jobs over my dead body!’

  ‘In our spare time, Mam!’ Alice cried, thinking Mae’s idea was splendid. They had to do something too.

  Agnes looked at her old friend and realised she had to accept the situation. ‘Oh, put the kettle on, Maggie, luv. It looks as if we’re all going to be in this together.’

  Before he went home Harry managed to get a quiet word with Mae, something he’d been hoping for all evening. ‘I was wondering, Mae, if you’ve thought any more about our … walking out together?’

  Mae had known this was what he had intended to ask her and inwardly she sighed. She liked him a great deal, she was impressed that he had volunteered and now the last thing she wanted to do was hurt or disappoint him. ‘Harry, you know I really like you, but do you think now is a good time to be making decisions like this? I mean, you’ll be going away somewhere soon …’

  ‘Not right away, Mae. We’ve got to be trained first,’ he reminded her. ‘I’ll be around for a while yet.’

  ‘I am proud of you, Harry, but let’s not rush into anything,’ she begged.

  He looked crestfallen and she reached out and put her hand on his arm. ‘Your time is going to be devoted to the Army now, Harry, and that’s only right. But you’ll know that I will be thinking of you. I promise,’ she said firmly.

  He nodded. She was right: from now on he wouldn’t have as much free time; and she hadn’t actually flatly turned him down, had she? That thought cheered him.

  It all seemed a bit of an anti-climax, Mae thought as in the weeks that followed, the lads went off each day to the local park to spend the day drilling, without uniforms or weapons, and she and Alice continued to go to work. Full of enthusiasm, they had gone one evening to the John Bagot Hospital, their nearest, and enrolled on a first-aid course, which seemed to be the only type of training available for ‘girls from a background like yours’, as the frosty-faced nursing sister had said in what Mae had considered a very patronising and dismissive manner. It was very basic but they would get a certificate at the end of it, she’d added curtly. On their way home Alice had declared bitterly that it didn’t make her feel very useful at all and she’d agreed, adding, ‘I hope we don’t get her, she’s a right old tartar!’

  ‘Well, what did you expect?’ Maggie had asked when they’d told her of the reception they’d got. ‘It takes years of dedication and training to be a proper nurse and you have to have
had a good education. It’s not just a job, it’s a vocation. Still, I suppose first aid’ll be useful for burns and scalds and sprains. Agnes was saying that the vicar’s wife is organising a group to provide comforts for the troops who’ve already gone to France. You could join that too.’

  ‘What kind of “comforts”?’ Alice had asked rather unenthusiastically.

  ‘Knitted socks, scarves, balaclavas … things like that. This warm weather won’t last for very much longer,’ Maggie had reminded them. They’d looked at each other pointedly. A knitting class didn’t sound in the least bit exciting or entertaining.

  When John Strickland arrived home it was to a city buzzing with preparations for war. Each day the men and boys of the four battalions the Earl of Derby had raised arrived at the city parks to be put through their paces. The Earl had made strenuous personal efforts to obtain uniforms and weapons, instructing the Countess to purchase every yard of available khaki cloth and have it made up. All this was imparted by the conductor on the tram, who also said he’d heard that it was hoped that the new battalions would be ready for a march past in the city centre early next month. ‘But if yer ask me, mate, it will be a bloody miracle if they are!’ he’d added laconically. ‘I’ve heard half of ’em don’t know one end of a rifle from the next, not that they’ve got any yet.’

  Maggie informed him of all the news as soon as he got back to Albion Street. ‘I still can’t get over them going off like that, John,’ she said, shaking her head as she made him a cup of tea.

  ‘I don’t suppose you can blame them, Maggie. I know for a fact that we’ll lose most of our crew this time home to the Army or Navy; it’s all they were talking about, joining up, and the company will be hard put to sign on a new crew. They’re young—’

  ‘Too young! Oh, when I think of the way I’ve struggled and saved for years to bring that lad up and see that he got an education and a job with prospects. Is it any wonder I don’t want him going off with the Army? And he’s always been impetuous! Constantly dragging those Mercer lads along with him in his mad schemes – not that Jimmy takes much encouraging, but I thought Harry at least would have had more sense!’ Maggie interrupted.

  ‘I know, Maggie. You’ve brought Eddie and the girls up almost single-handed; it’s not been easy and you’ve done a good job. But in this matter we had no choice. We couldn’t stand by and let the Kaiser march his troops into Belgium and ride roughshod over everyone. We have to fight to stop him. If we don’t stop him we could well be next!’ Then, seeing the look of alarm in her eyes, he continued: ‘But that won’t happen, not while we’ve got the British Army in France, all the lads here flocking to fight and the Navy and the Channel between us.’

  She nodded, feeling relieved as she handed him the cup. It was comforting to think that the British Army, unbeaten in conflict for decades, with soldiers from all over the Empire, and the greatest Navy in the world stood between them and the ravaging forces of the Hun. ‘What about you? What will you do?’ she asked.

  He smiled a little wryly. ‘I’m too old to fight, luv, so I’ll go on doing my bit in getting the Lucy backwards and forwards across the Atlantic. It’s not America’s war but we’re going to need their help.’

  ‘I still worry about you. What about all these battleships the Germans have been building?’

  ‘We’re too fast for them, Maggie. The Lucy and the Maury can outrun any naval ship. Battleships, destroyers and cruisers may be big and heavily armed but they’re not fast,’ he assured her. ‘And we’re now officially under the control of the Admiralty so after this trip we’ll only be doing two trips a month, to save coal and money. So I’ll be home for longer – less worry for you. Now, what have the girls been up to?’

  Maggie informed him of how proud both girls were that Eddie and the Mercer twins had joined up and of the fact that they too had wanted to ‘do something to help’ and so had enrolled for a first-aid course.

  ‘Don’t worry, Maggie. It’s not that bad. It will all be over by Christmas, you mark my words.’ In this quiet cheerful kitchen it was hard enough to believe that the country was going to war, impossible to imagine that it would last longer than a few months.

  Within a week came the terrible and almost unbelievable news that Mons had fallen, the British Expeditionary Force was in retreat and casualties were heavy.

  ‘I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it!’ Eddie cried as he burst into the kitchen, waving a newspaper. ‘It says here the Hun has captured Mons and Le Cateau and that hundreds have been killed. The poor Belgians are trying to hold out but it’s no use. And we’re still drilling in the bloody park with no uniforms and not a single rifle between us!’

  ‘Mind your language, Eddie,’ Maggie snapped, although she was shocked at the news herself.

  ‘Calm down, Eddie. It’s probably just a setback. They’ll regroup and then push forward again. And there are always casualties in a battle,’ John commented, although he didn’t have a great deal of confidence in his words. What had gone so terribly wrong that the German Army had swept so seemingly easily into Belgium?

  ‘Read it for yourself,’ Eddie retorted, still consumed with outrage and frustration.

  John scanned the lines of newsprint. This wasn’t good. The Germans had advanced into Belgium and had dug in; now they were firing huge shells from siege howitzers into the British and French lines, wreaking devastation, while thousands of terrified civilians were fleeing south with tales of the atrocities committed by the German troops. Women raped, babies bayoneted, houses burned to the ground. Limited though his knowledge was, this wasn’t how he understood real battles were fought. There were cavalry charges followed by infantry charges until one side gained superiority and won the day, but it was becoming obvious that this war wasn’t going to be fought like that. He handed the newspaper to his sister and looked seriously at his nephew. ‘You might well be getting your kit sooner than expected now, lad.’

  The day the boys received their uniforms they felt that at last they really looked like soldiers.

  ‘It’s a bit on the stiff and scratchy side,’ Eddie grumbled as he buttoned up the tunic.

  ‘And a bit tight around the neck,’ Harry added, running his finger inside the collar.

  ‘Stop moaning, it’ll soon soften up,’ Jimmy told him as he attempted to wind the strips of webbing known as puttees around the bottom of the uniform trousers and over the top of his boots.

  ‘Bind it tighter than that, lad – you don’t want it to come undone and trip you up,’ the sergeant instructed as he viewed their efforts. ‘Look a right fool then, you would. And I want to see all buttons, badges and boots polished until I can see my face in them. Let’s have some pride in your appearance, pride in the regiment. His lordship’s paid for those uniforms out of his own pocket.’

  ‘Oh, we’re dead proud of the regiment and we won’t let his lordship down, sergeant,’ Eddie had replied firmly.

  The Lusitania had sailed again when on 5 September the troops of the Liverpool ‘Pals’ Battalions marched from Aigburth to St George’s Hall to take the salute from General Sir Henry Mackinnon, with the three boys among them. They had their uniforms now but still no rifles; however, the battalions marched with pride. The mood of the crowds who had turned out to cheer them was still fervently patriotic but there was an underlying sense of grim determination as well. In Belgium Liège had fallen and only the desperate remnants of the Belgian Army stood between Brussels and Antwerp. The Germans had advanced into France and had overrun Rheims, burning the beautiful old Gothic cathedral, and the thousands of casualties – British, French and Belgian – were being ferried across the Channel by hundreds of ships to the hospitals along the south coast and beyond. Private hospitals were being established in country houses and village halls, anywhere the wounded could be cared for.

  Soon they’d be going to train on the estate of the Earl of Derby, Knowsley Hall near Prescot, and marching with the others Eddie felt a little disappointed that the
Earl himself wasn’t on the platform on St George’s Plateau where the statues of Victoria and Albert on high-stepping mounts gazed down and the huge, crouching bronze lions appeared to view the multitude with proud approval, but his brother, the Countess and her daughter were. Somewhere in that crowd were his own mother and sister, he thought, and for an instant he wondered where in the world his father was or even if he was alive; then he banished the thought. He just wanted Mam to be proud of him today.

  Beside him Harry and Jimmy were thinking along similar lines. Harry was filled with pride and the affection he felt for Mae: he knew she’d be in the crowd cheering him on and he did consider her to be his ‘girl’ even if she hadn’t actually agreed to it. Jimmy was thinking of Alice and how she’d spoken up for them all the night they’d joined up when everyone else had been horrified. She might only be fifteen but she had guts, did Alice, and that was something he admired in her. The news coming in from France wasn’t good but soon the tide would turn and they’d have the Hun in retreat, he was sure. He just wished they could get all the training over and done with and get out there where they were needed. It was an exciting thought although at times when he thought of the shells and bullets he would have to face he couldn’t help but feel a bit fearful.

  It’s very quiet without all the lads, there’s hardly anyone out at all,’ Mae commented to Alice as they walked home from the tram stop on that bitterly cold late November evening. Usually groups of men and boys were making their way homewards too, often exchanging banter or cheerful remarks, but now the streets appeared deserted. As flurries of sleet driven by a blustery wind stung her cheeks she thought it was really no wonder there were so few people out. She’d be glad to get home herself to a good fire and a hot meal and she wondered if there would be a letter for her from Harry. He wrote regularly even though the camp at Prescot, where the boys were training, wasn’t that far away.

  Alice pulled the collar of her coat higher around her ears and thought that it would be even quieter if Lord Kitchener got the five hundred thousand more men he’d asked for.