War took Walter Broadbent from Isle of Man to Africa

The Isle of Man is a tiny, self-governed island, situated between England and Ireland in the Irish Sea.

Around 85 000 people live on this island, which is known for its rugged coastline, medieval castles, the annual (and very dangerous) Isle of Man TT motorcycle race, and beautiful landscapes. Douglas is its capital.

Men from this island fought and died in the different wars during the past century, and before that at least nine fought during the Great War [World War I] as members of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th South African Infantry, as well as the 1st Battalion South African Horse.

You will find the name of one such man engraved on the war memorial in Vryheid.

Walter Edmiston Broadbent was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, on May 12, 1889, to railway entrepreneur, businessman, zoo owner, hotel owner, and farmer, Richard Maltby Broadbent, and Jane Allen Broadbent, nèe Sim.
Walter was from a small area of the island called Groudle, and his family home called Eskadale, which is situated at the side of a tramway, still stands to this day.
Walter was a brother to Richard Earnest Broadbent, May Gertrude Broadbent, Charles Maltby Broadbent, George Sherwood Broadbent, Mary A. Broadbent and Frederick G. Broadbent.

In the rank of corporal, Walter was a member of the South African 2nd Infantry Battalion. He was wounded during the South African rebellion at the beginning of South Africa’s involvement in WW1, and saw service in German South West Africa and Egypt.

At the age of 27 years, Broadbent was killed in action, on April 12, 1917. He died during the disastrous attack of the
9th Scottish Division, on the German positions in the east of Fampoux, in France, in which 400 men of the South African 2nd Battalion went into the attack. 301 lost their lives as a result.

Cpl. Broadbent’s military record indicates that before the war, his occupation was that of a ‘road overseer’, and the administration office for him, when joining the military, was written as ‘Natal’.

On August 15, 1917, solicitor Horace A. Guy of P.O. Box 34 and telephone number 21 Vryheid, wrote to the Master of the Supreme Court in Pietermaritzburg, and reported that “One W.E. Broadbent”, employed by the Provincial Roads Department, Natal, was posted as missing while on active service at Flanders, and was accepted as dead.
Two of Walter’s brothers also lost their lives during the Great War.

George Broadbent was a trimmer in the engine room of the HM Hospital Ship, Llandovery Castle, which was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Southern Ireland on June 27, 1918, while on a voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool in England. 234 persons died and only 24 survived that attack.

Charles Broadbent was a member of the Canadian Infantry’s 54th Battalion, and was killed in action on January 28, 1918. On May 12, 1917, the Isle of Man Times reported: “Mr and Mrs Broadbent, who reside near Groudle, have received word that their son, Private Walter Broadbent, of the South African Infantry, has been missing since Easter Monday.”

The article goes on to describe that “Private Walter Broadbent has seen considerable fighting since the war began, and was wounded in the first year in German South West Africa, where he was serving as a trooper in the Natal
Carbineers”.

On June 9, 1917, The Isle of Man Examiner and The Isle of Man Times both reported on the death of Corporal Broadbent. On June 13, 1917, another local paper, Mona’s Herald reported same.

Corporal Walter Edmiston Broadbent was buried in the Brown’s Copse Cemetery, Roeux at Pas de Calais in France.
It is unfortunate that when the Great War Memorial in Vryheid was unveiled on November 11, 1933, this brave soldier’s name was mistakenly engraved as EDMINSTON B.W.

The Onchan War Memorial in the Isle of Man was officially opened in 1924. It was officiated by Richard and Jane
Broadbent, in recognition of their loss of three sons in that terrible war, and the names of the Broadbent boys are engraved on that memorial.

Lest we forget.

Also read: André Mostert – taken too soon but never forgotten for his bravery

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