This is one of those stories that you know has to be told one day.
I was a researcher for the ‘Moved by Conflict’ exhibition at M Shed in 2014, a project that was part of Bristol’s city-wide commemoration of the centenary of the start of the First World War. I worked alongside curators and archivists, delving into the collections across Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, finding memoirs, documents, photographs and objects that could help tell Bristol’s story.
We held open days where Bristol folk could bring along memoirs and items from loved ones long gone who had experiences of the period. Several of their artefacts were displayed in the exhibition. We also put appeals out on radio, television and in the Bristol Post.
Just as the exhibition was being signed off, and my role as a researcher was coming to an end, I was leaving B Bond, the home of Bristol Archives, when my mobile phone rang.
It was a Christopher Berry on the line. He had seen the Bristol Post appeal six months earlier, but only now was making contact. Would I be interested in the story of his father, Frederick Berry?
It was too late for ‘Moved by Conflict’ and for the myriad of books and other projects that were underway. Nonetheless, I arranged to meet Chris at his home.
Wide-eyed, I studied his family scrapbook, scanned images and recorded our conversation. Quite a tale to tell …
Frederick Berry was born in Manchester in December 1894, but moved to Bristol with his parents when he was around ten years old. They lived at 3 Denmark Place, Bishopston and Fred attended St Barnabas Boys School in Montpelier.
When 12, Fred joined the Bristol Sea Scouts and when he left school he got a job in the accounts department at Mardon, Son & Hall Limited in Redcliffe Mead Lane.
On 20 August 1914, and two weeks after the outbreak of the war, Fred received a letter from the Bristol Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), telling him to report for mobilisation at 9am the following day.
There were around 400 men in the Bristol RNVR at the time. Fred did as he was told and Mardon’s had no problem with releasing him from his employment. Not surprising really when Ernest Mardon was the Honorary Commander of the Bristol RNVR based at Jamaica Street.
Fred Berry and the rest of the Bristol RNVR Division left for Walmer on the Kent coast where they were assembled, prior to crossing the channel to help in the defence of Antwerp. This would have been on or around 5 October 1914 when two brigades joined up with the Royal Marine Brigade that had arrived in Dunkirk a few weeks earlier.
Antwerp fell quickly, such was the speed of the German advance in northern Belgium. In attempting their retreat, of the naval force sent to defend Antwerp, approximately 1500 escaped to neutral Holland and were interned in a camp at Groningen for the rest of the war.
Anxious for news, Fred’s mother appealed for information about her missing son. She received a reply from a British officer in the Groningen camp. He said that although Fred was in his company during the retreat, his whereabouts were unknown and he was definitely not in the camp. He was hopeful that he may have escaped, or joined another unit.
Fred, in fact, was among a group of 800 men who had been captured and spent their war years as PoWs in Germany. Fred was apprehended near Moerbeke Railway Station in Belgium and was sent to Doberitz PoW camp near Berlin.
When Mrs Berry received the first card from Fred at Doberitz, he said he was safe, but had had a rough time of it. He was cold as they were living under canvas at the time, so he asked for warm clothes.
He also went on to say, “I also want you to send me one box of 50 Woodbines once a month and you can write as often as you like, but do not write anything about this war.”
According to Chris Berry, Fred was put to work preparing graves and working with groups of PoWs digging the land and cultivating crops, especially potatoes.
Fred escaped and was recaptured three times. His final escape saw him get as far as the coast where he was aiming to board a boat to Sweden. However, he was caught and returned to the same camp where he was placed in solitary confinement. He thought he was going to be shot.
Instead, and as odd as it sounds, the German military put Fred to work in a bakery in Berlin.
Fred was befriended by Ernst, the youngest of the three brothers who worked in the family business. Fred learnt to speak German fluently, and on at least one occasion, the two eldest brothers took Fred into the centre of Berlin where they spent the night on the town at Potsdamer Platz.
Imagine that, a Bishopston lad incognito, living it up on a night out in Berlin during the war!
At the war’s end Fred returned to his Bishopston home. His time as a prisoner had taken its toll. Chris said that it took several years for his mood swings and depression to subside. He also got into trouble. In August 1923, Fred was fined 58s for a motoring offence committed near the Langford Inn in Somerset.
Fred picked up his career as best he could and continued his work in the Accounts Department at Mardon, Son & Hall. He also maintained his friendship with the bakery family in Berlin and visited Ernst there in 1928.
On 5 July 1930, Fred married Violet Philpott from Totterdown and by 1939, Fred, Violet and their two children were living in Woodbridge Road, Knowle. Although his occupation was noted as Assistant Cashier, Printing, in the 1939 Register, he was also shown to be in the Corps of Military Police, Field Security Section.
Chris Berry explained that owing to Fred’s command of German, he was seconded to the Intelligence Corps in World War Two and worked at Avonmouth, interviewing the crews of merchant ships coming into the docks.
On 4 April 1941, Fred Berry was driving a military truck along the Portway and towards Avonmouth, when a German plane released some bombs, one of which destroyed Fred’s vehicle, killing him instantly.
Fred Berry (Lance Corporal) had a full military funeral with a gun carriage escort and a three-volley salute. Fred is buried at Canford Cemetery.
Fred’s name is listed among the Roll of Honour pages in ‘Mardon’s During the War Years 1939 – 1945’, published in 1946. There is also an entry in a listing of those in the Intelligence Services who had died, showing that Fred Berry was in unit 133 FSS Avonmouth.
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