Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

21 Chapter Five The Great War: 1914 to1918 The four Mann brothers all served with distinction during the War, but sadly the youngest, Charles Julian who, after leaving Cambridge University in 1915 to take a commission in the Scots Guards, was killed in action on 3 October 1918, only 69 days before the Armistice was agreed. William Edgar had already been serving as a regular soldier with the Royal Horse Artillery for nearly ten years when war was declared. He was wounded twice, promoted to Major, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) in August 1917. 10 Edward John Mann served with the Norfolk Regiment in France and Italy and was promoted to Captain in 1917. Frank was the first brother to see action in the war. Five days after landing in France in August 1914 he was with the 20th Hussars who had taken up a position near the fortress town of Mauberge, a few miles south of the Belgian city of Mons, on the extreme left of the Allied front line. It wasn’t long before they had their first clash with the advancing German troops and the Battle of Mons began. Heavily outnumbered, the British Expeditionary Force managed to hold back the German First Army long enough to allow the French Allies to regroup on the River Maine and save Paris. Frank was transferred later to the reserve regiment of cavalry of the Scots Guards with whom he was mentioned in dispatches on three separate occasions for bravery in action. He was also wounded three times and on the last occasion, in 1917, had most of one foot shot to pieces. He was sent home to Norfolk to convalesce and many thought that he would have difficulty in walking for the rest of his life, let alone play cricket again. But once he was back up on his feet he spent nearly every day playing golf, his handicap reduced to scratch as a bonus, and was ready to take the field for Middlesex when the 1919 season began. Edward Mann had moved to his estate near Diss in Norfolk just before the outbreak of the Great War, and before the end of 1914 his estate at Roseneath was presented to the War Office fully-equipped as a voluntary hospital for wounded soldiers. By October 1915 the number of beds had been increased from 40 to 50 and by the end of the war over 1,600 soldiers had passed through the hospital. Many of the Middlesex players, both amateur and professional, also decided to enlist within the first few weeks of the War, joining thousands of other 10 The London Gazette citation referred to him ‘commanding his battery with skill and courage throughout three days of intense shell fire’ despite being wounded and to him showing ‘an example by his good spirits and determination’.