Club Remembrance Weekend 2024
November sees the Club and the country turn its attention to remembering past conflicts, and particularly the lasting impact of the two world wars. The Club has a strong link to our continued remembrance, after the death of Reggie Hands in 1918, son of the Mayor of Cape Town but also Artillery officer and Blackheath and England rugby player, prompted a form of daily pause which was modified and adopted as our two-minutes silence. Much of this year’s commemorative focus has been on events in Normandy in 1944, and again, Blackheath is linked to events on D-Day, with former players taking part in the landings and losing their lives in the process. The history of both world wars ties together though, and the experience of one family connected with the Club is worth considering.
One of the more famous Blackheath playing dynasties of the earlier 20th Century was the Pillman family. Charles ‘Cherry’ Pillman was certainly the most renowned of the clan, winning 18 caps for England between 1910 and 1914, as well as travelling to South Africa with the 1910 British Isles touring side. His brother Robert was also a Club player and England international however and replaced Cherry in the final game of the 1914 Five Nations against France, after the more famous sibling suffered a broken leg in the Scotland game. Both brothers went on to serve in the 1914-1918 war, and although Cherry survived the conflict and was awarded a Military Cross for bravery, Robert was killed in July 1916. He is sometimes incorrectly stated to have been killed on the Somme, where the main British offensive was concurrently taking place, in actual fact he was wounded while on a raid in the Belgian part of the line and died soon afterwards.
In the Second World War, two Pillman brothers went to fight again. Charles and Robert, Cherry’s two sons both joined their father’s old Regiment, the Dragoon Guards, which by 1944 had been upgraded to Sherman DD Tanks. These were the famous Duplex-Drive ‘swimming’ tanks, which although notoriously failed to make an effective landing at Omaha Beach, on D-Day on Gold Beach, British-crewed tanks did come ashore as planned, and made their presence felt. 6 June 1944 was the beginning of the end for the Nazi German empire, already struggling to manage the Soviet advance in the east, with the western allies opening up a new front Germany was overwhelmed within a year. Sadly the Pillman boys did not live to see peacetime, both killed in tragic and unusual circumstances. Robert did not even see D-Day. He was killed a few weeks before while still in England, as he played Golf near the south coast. While landmines are not a typical golf course hazard nowadays, so close to where an invasion had been feared four years earlier, they still littered the country near the seaside and Robert found one in the most sudden and destructive way possible. He was 19 years old, and is commemorated at the Bournemouth Crematorium.
With the news of Robert’s death so fresh, Cherry and his wife Agnes must have been fearful of the worst as the invasion of France took place. Unfortunately, their fears were confirmed very swiftly. One of the features of the allied plan which made the landings irresistible was the weight of naval gunfire that was brought to bear on the German defenders, with Cruisers such as HMS Belfast able to plaster the coastline when fire was called. Bringing such genuinely awesome force to bear inevitably led to errors, and it seems Charles was hit by fire from HMS Orion and killed outright. He was buried locally, then his body was moved to the main British war cemetery in Normandy, at Bayeux. The loss of two sons, as well as a brother in war, has proved difficult for commentators to adequately express, but it seems Cherry and Agnes found a normal life thereafter difficult.
As these conflicts grow more distant, it is tempting to question their relevance. However, as our politics grow more polarised and conflict elsewhere threatens to have a more direct influence on our lives, it is worth reflecting on some personal losses close to us, and considering what prompted people to institute rituals like our two minutes silence, and build memorials in all shapes and sizes. They are reminders of events we would do very well to fear and avoid.
At the Club, our own memorial gates are the host of a small service on remembrance Sunday at 10:40, and all are welcome to join in and consider events which may seem distant, but should not be forgotten.
Charles Pillman, Bayeux War Cemetery
Tim Brindle and Andy Lock at the grave of Robert Pillman, Calvaire (Essex) Cemetery, Flanders
Written by Andy Lock
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