PROBABLY the most significant event affecting Whitehaven in World War I was the bombardment of the West Cumbria Coast by a German submarine in August 1915.

The German and Austrian newspapers made much of this affair, it being the first such assault upon the West Coast of Britain. Their Press reported that the attack took place because “Whitehaven is a fortified port and possesses a lighthouse”.

A Hamburg newspaper reported also that “Parton and Harrington have signal stations and coastguards”.

This was a quite preposterous statement to make as if a desultory shelling upon insignificant townships such as these would have any effect whatsoever upon the War effort.

The real point of the attack though was to prove to the British, especially to the Royal Navy, that enemy vessels could penetrate into the Irish Sea intent on such attacks. Although the German Navy had been able to mount assaults on East Coast fortifications, it was the first occasion they had proved capable of penetrating into the Irish Sea.

In this connection though they did have a point.

The last such assault upon a West Cumbrian port had been during the American War of Independence when John Paul Jones raided the town.

It was on the 16th August 1915, that a German U-boat surfaced off the coast of Cumberland, near Harrington, and fired several shells towards the Lowca area between 4.30am and 5.20am None of these missiles caused any material damage as they hit the railway embankment although some inconvenience was caused through the delay of the train service North from Whitehaven. There was no naval vessel in the vicinity to challenge the U-boat which then submerged and left the area.

Why did the U-boat select this target? The reason is that, prior to the outbreak of the Great War, a German Company had installed a benzene-extracting plant at Lowca, utilising local coal production. One of the constituent products extracted was toluene which was used in the manufacture of the TNT explosive. Obviously, this work had been carefully noted by German Intelligence, thus the surprise attack, as the plant had been designated Top Secret – a rather superfluous gesture seeing that the Germans had installed the plant in the first place.

The British Government’s call to arms when war broke out on 3rd August 1914, elicited a huge response from all over the country and men volunteered in their tens of thousands, hoping to find action before the war ended; as it was confidently expected by many to do so before Christmas 1914.

Their expectations were not to be realised and there was much suffering before the war ended in 1918. Rationing of food, coal, clothing and many of life’s essentials became the norm and Cumbrians suffered as much as the rest of the population. Perhaps, because of its rural situation, a good proportion of the population of Cumberland had a less arduous time with regard to food rationing that most city dwellers. It was also spared the fright of aerial bombing by Zeppelins and, later, Gotha bombers which exacted a heavy toll in the South, especially upon London. The advantages of living in the North therefore saved Cumbrians from much hardship, as it did in World War II.

Whitehaven was not short of war heroes though. The most prominent was Private Abraham Acton, Victoria Cross, whose valiant exploits have been recorded in detail for posterity. Another, but equally brave recipient of the VC, although strictly not a Cumbrian, was Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson, of The Worcestershire Regiment and 39 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (later to become the RAF) He was the first airman to shoot down a Zeppelin raider in September 1916. He can be classed as a ‘local’ as he was an ex-pupil of St. Bees School.

Someone else should have pride of place in this pantheon of Whitehaven heroes but, for some strange reason, has been largely overlooked. His name was R.C. Richmond Blair and he was a Captain in the 5th B order Regiment. Richmond Blair’s home was Richmond Hill, Hensingham, a once imposing Georgian mansion (opposite the Sekers Factory on the road to Cleator Moor). He was a scion of the famous Richmond family, of long aristocratic descent. Captain Blair, D.S.O., was killed in action on the 27th July 1916, aged 37, whilst attempting, with a fellow solder, to aid and rescue a fallen comrade, besides having been twice wounded himself. His superior officer recommended him for the VC but, apparently, the Awards Committee judged the evidence to be insufficient. Richmond Blair had previously been awarded the Edward Medal (for bravery, a sort of peace-time VC), for rescue work in the Wellington Pit Disaster of May 1910. His story is overdue for telling.