Private Peter Joseph Constantine (Regimental Number 563) is
buried in Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire – Grave reference G.1.2.
His occupation previous to military service recorded as that of
a teamster working for Simon Levitz of 96, Gower Street in St.
John’s, for a weekly $6.00 – although, elsewhere, $750.00 per
annum is cited - Peter Joseph Constantine was a recruit of the
First Draft.
He enlisted at the Church Lads Brigade Armoury on September 16 of 1914 - engaged at the
private soldier’s rate of $1.10 a day. Attesting some two weeks later on October 3, Private
Constantine embarked on that same day onto the Bowring Brothers’ vessel Florizel (right
above – courtesy of Admiralty House Museum).
The ship set sail on the following day, the 4th, in order to join the convoy carrying the 1st
Canadian Division overseas. The Newfoundlanders arrived in the south-coast English port
of Devonport on October 14 and then sat on board the ship until the 20th.
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Having disembarked in the United
Kingdom, Private Constantine trained
with the Battalion: firstly in southern
England on the Salisbury Plain; then in
Scotland at Fort George (right); at
Edinburgh Castle; and for some three
months at Stobs Camp near the
Scottish town of Hawick.
(Far right above: The Newfoundland Regiment parades at Stobs Camp and is presented
with its Colours on June 10, 1915. – courtesy of Reverend Wilson Tibbo and Mrs. Lillian
Tibbo)
At the beginning of August, Private Constantine was transferred with the four senior
Companies, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’, to southern England, to Aldershot, for some two weeks of
final training - and a royal inspection - in preparation for active service at the eastern end
of the Mediterranean Sea at Gallipoli.
‘E’ and ‘F’ Companies, the last arrivals, were instead sent to the new Regimental Depot.
There they were to form the nucleus of the newly-formed 2nd (Reserve) Battalion.
It was while at Aldershot that, on August 14, Private Constantine was prevailed upon to reenlist, on this occasion for the duration of the war*.
*At the outset of the War, perhaps because it was felt by the
authorities that it would be a conflict of short duration, the
recruits enlisted for only a single year. As the War progressed,
however, this was obviously going to cause problems and the
men were encouraged to re-enlist.
On August 20, 1915, Private Constantine took ship on board
the requisitioned passenger liner Megantic (right above) for
passage to the Middle East and to the fighting in Gallipoli
where, a month later – of which two weeks had been spent
billeted at the British barracks at Abbassia, near the Egyptian
capital, Cairo - on September 20, 1st Battalion landed on the
beach at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
(Right: Newfoundland troops on board a troop-ship anchored
at Mudros, either Megantic on August 29, Ausonia on
September 18, or Prince Abbas on September 19 – Whichever
the case, they were yet to land on Gallipoli. – from Provincial
Archives)
(continued)
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(Right: ‘Kangaroo Beach’, where the men of 1st Battalion
landed on the night of September 19-20, 1915, is in the
distance at the far end of Suvla Bay. The remains of a landingcraft are still clearly visible in the foreground on ‘A’ Beach. –
photograph from 2011)
(Right: a century later, the area, little changed from those faroff days, of the Newfoundland positions at Suvla, and where
Private Constantine served during the fall of 1915 –
photograph from 2011)
On December 12, Private Constantine was admitted to the 26th
Casualty Clearing Station at Sulva suffering from frostbite and
trench-foot and, two days later, on the 14th, was transferred
from there to the No. 2 Australian Hospital at Mudros on the
Greek island of Lemnos.
(Right: Allied medical facilities, a great
number of them under canvas, almost
totally surrounded a busy Mudros Bay
and its small harbour in the summer and
the autumn of the year 1915. –
photograph from Illustration)
He was then again transferred, on December 10, to the Lowland Convalescent Depot, also
on Mudros, from where he was discharged to active duty at Base Depot, Alexandria, on
December 28. Private Constantine remained there almost three weeks before he was rejoined his unit on January 16 of the New Year, 1916.
(Right: The British destroy their supplies during the final
evacuations – in December and January - of the Gallipoli
Peninsula. The Newfoundlanders, employed as the rear-guard,
were, on both occasions, among the last to leave at both Suvla
Bay and Helles. – photograph taken from the battleship
Cornwallis from Illustration)
When the British evacuated the entire Gallipoli Peninsula in January of 1916, 1 st Battalion
returned to Egypt, to Alexandria, arriving there on the 15th of that month. It was on the
following day that Private Constantine reported to duty. From Alexandria the
Newfoundlanders were transferred, almost immediately, south to Suez where they were to
await further orders. At that time, it seems that the theatre of the future posting of 29 th
Division was still uncertain.
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On March 14, the officers and men of 1st Battalion embarked
through Port Tewfiq at the southern end of the Suez Canal
onto His Majesty’s Transport Alaunia (right) for the voyage to
the French Mediterranean port of Marseilles, en route to the
Western Front.
(Right: Port Tewfiq at some time just before the Great War –
from a vintage post-card)
(Right: British troops march through the port area of the
French city of Marseilles. – from a vintage post-card)
Some three days after the unit’s disembarkation on March 22,
the Battalion’s train arrived at the small provincial town of
Pont-Rémy. It had been a cold, miserable journey, the blankets
provided for them travelling unused in a separate wagon.
De-training at the station at two in the morning the
Newfoundlanders still had a long march ahead of them before
they would reach their billets at Buigny l’Abbé.
It is doubtful that any of those tired soldiers paid much attention
to the slow-moving stream flowing under the bridge that they
passed on their way from the station. Some three months later the
Somme would be a part of their history.
(Right: the Somme seen from the bridge at Pont-Rémy as it
passes through the community – photograph from 2010)
1st Battalion reached the village of Englebelmer on April 13. This
community was situated about three kilometres behind the front
and it was only two days later that the Newfoundlanders
commenced their first posting in the British trenches of the
Western Front.
However, at some point before reaching Englebelmer, Private
Constantine had sprained his ankle. It had apparently been
deemed to be serious as he was admitted into the 16th General
Hospital at Le Tréport on or about April 12 and, on the same
day was thereupon embarked onto the Belgian hospital ship
Stad Antwerpen (right) for the cross-Channel passage back to
the United Kingdom.
Once having arrived in England – still on April 12 – Private Constantine was transferred
from the ship to the Borough of Wandsworth where he was admitted into the 3 rd London
General Hospital*. He remained there receiving further treatment for two weeks.
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*There is also in his record a single entry which records dysentery, although apparently
nothing further was documented.
(Right: The main building of what
became 3rd London General Hospital
during the Great War was opened, on
July 1st, 1859, as a home for the
orphaned daughters
of British
soldiers, sailors and marines. –
photograph from 2010)
(Far right previous page: Newfoundland patients, unfortunately unidentified, convalescing
at the 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth – courtesy of Reverend Wilson Tibbo and
Mrs. Lillian Tibbo)
On April 26, Private Constantine was granted the customary
ten-day furlough accorded to military personnel upon release
from hospital. Upon completion of this period of leave, he was
posted to the Regimental Depot where he reported to duty on
May 6.
The Regimental Depot had been established during the
summer of 1915 in the Royal Borough of Ayr on the west coast
of Scotland to serve as a base for the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion. It
was from there – as of November of 1915 until January of 1918
– that the new-comers from home were sent in drafts, at first to
Gallipoli and then later to the Western Front, to bolster the four
fighting companies of 1st Battalion.
(Right above: an aerial view of Ayr – probably from the period
between the Wars: Newton-on Ayr is to the left of the River Ayr
and the Royal Borough is to the right. – courtesy of the
Carnegie Library at Ayr)
(Right above: the new race-course at Ayr - opened in 1907 – where the men of the
Regiment were sometimes billeted and where they replaced some of the turf with a
vegetable garden – photo from 2012)
At Ayr the record of Private Constantine seems to present a blank – if one overlooks an
overstayed pass for which he was confined to barracks for two days - until March 15 of
1917 when he was promoted to the rank of lance corporal – with its five-cents-a-day
increment; then the ledger closes again for more than another ten months*.
*Except that on his War Gratuity Application he claims that he was on active service from
March of 1917 until May of 1917, and in France during that period, something apparently
unconfirmed in the archival documents.
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In early 1918, Lance Corporal Constantine became a married man: the young lady was Lilly
Cutts Main – her father’s name, David – of 143, George Street, Ayr, and who was a shop
employee of a Mr. James Milroy, Fruit and Vegetable Merchant. The date of the ceremony
was February 1, 1918 and thus the wedding was a fait accompli by the 16th of that month
when Lance Corporal Constantine applied to transfer a daily allotment of seventy cents to
her from his pay*.
*Apparently the permission of the Officer Commanding was requested later again, and not
until February 28. It was granted and back-dated to February 1. It is perhaps only a
coincidence that Lance Corporal Constantine reverted to the rank of private on that same
February 28.
In the meantime there was a further complication: by the end of 1917, 2nd (Reserve)
Battalion was about to move its headquarters from the Royal Borough of Ayr in Scotland
to southern England, to Hazely Down, Hampshire, not far distant from the venerable
cathedral city of Winchester.
The transfer had been finalized during the latter part of
January, 1918, so it is unsure what arrangements were made
on Private Constantine’s behalf, one paper suggesting that he
returned – or was posted for the first time – to Hazely only in
June of that year.
(Right above: a bleak-looking Hazely Down Camp at some time during the winter of 1918 –
from The War Illustrated)
As one of the surviving Blue Puttees, Private Constantine
was allowed a special, extended leave to Newfoundland and
he departed from Tilbury Docks, East London, on the River
Thames on July 21 of that same year – the ship possibly
Gloucestershire (right) - arriving in Newfoundland on August
4*. There he was given a posting at Headquarters in St.
John’s until he requested conditional leave on December 21
to commence employment with J.C. Oke, Undertakers.
*There must have been at least two ships for this Blue Puttee Leave as another source has
an embarkation at Southampton on July 27 with the returnees reporting to duty on August
8. Given the length of time taken for the passage, it is likely that they travelled via Halifax
or perhaps Québec.
Discharged definitively on February 15 of 1919, he returned to the United Kingdom at some
time after February 27, 1919, his intention being to arrange for passage to Newfoundland
for his wife and their young family – a letter of November 11, 1919, now mentions two
children – the older of the two being a young girl named Jane, the younger born soon after
November 3, 1919.
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In the meantime however, conditions changed for the
Constantine couple, and not for the better. His
demobilization having been confirmed on February 13,
1919, Private Constantine was diagnosed about a week
later as suffering from tuberculosis. Once having arrived
back in Scotland, his condition began to deteriorate rapidly.
He was admitted to Heathfield Sanatorium, Ayr, on
November 12, 1919, where he was to remain until his death.
The son of Peter, employee of Bowring Brothers, and Hannah Constantine, of 20,
McFarlane Street, St. John's; brother of Leo, Madeline and Philip; husband of Lilly (Lillian)
and father of Jane and an infant of unknown name, he passed away on April 4, 1920.
Peter Joseph Constantine had enlisted at twenty-four years of age.
(Above right: the Newfoundland Plot in Ayr Cemetery, Ayrshire)
Private Peter Joseph Constantine was
entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, as well as
to the British War Medal (centre) and to
the Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War
Medal) (right).
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