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Commemoration Essay: Beaumont-Hamel National Historic Site and the Shifting Narratives of Remembrance in Twentieth Century Newfoundland

Winner, Early Undergraduate Best Overall Undergraduate Paper, Humanities
Author: Rudy Bartlett

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Few places are as emotionally close yet physically distant as the island of Newfoundland and the battlefields of Beaumont-Hamel in northern France. The site of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment’s largest defeat in the First World War, Beaumont-Hamel is a location heavily intertwined with the collective memory of the people of Newfoundland. The French battlefield’s purchase and conversion into Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park by the Government of Newfoundland in 1925, and its designation as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996, indicate the specific narratives of remembrance that developed in twentieth century Newfoundland. This essay will argue that Beaumont-Hamel’s federal commemoration in 1996 is a marker of the changing perception of Newfoundland’s role in the First World War after its confederation with Canada in 1949. An overview of both the site itself and the battle that occurred there will precede a discussion on the changing perception of the site as a symbol of honour and national pride to one of grief and bitterness.

 

The Beaumont-Hamel National Historic Site of Canada is a 25-hectare site located in the north of France, approximately 25 kilometers north of the Somme river.^[1] It is comprised of the preserved First World War battlefields of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the memorial dedicated to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment that was erected by the Government of Newfoundland after the war.^[2] In 1921, former chaplain of the Regiment and Newfoundland’s representative in the Imperial War Graves Commission, Thomas Nangle, negotiated the purchase of the lands on which the Newfoundlanders fought by the Government of Newfoundland.^[3] Dutch architect Rudolph H. K. Cochius, a resident of St. John’s, designed the landscape of the site.^[4] Its centerpiece is a raised stone cairn designed by Cochius and surrounded by vegetation native to Newfoundland.^[5] The cairn is topped by a large bronze caribou, one of six statues created by British sculptor Basil Gotto for the five overseas memorials to the Regiment and the local memorial in Bowring Park, St. John’s.^[6] The site was officially opened in 1925 as Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park.^[7] It was managed by the Government of Newfoundland until confederation with Canada in 1949, when it was taken over by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Beaumont-Hamel was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996, 80 years after the Battle of the Somme.^[8]

 

The Battle of Beaumont-Hamel dominates Newfoundland’s military history. It was the Regiment’s bloodiest battle of the First World War, its losses only amplified by the short amount of time it took for the men to be mown down. On the morning of July 1, 1916, the Newfoundlanders took part in a British offensive against the German line north of the Somme river.^[9] Days and weeks of shelling the opposition had not had the intended effect, and the Regiment’s decision to detonate a mine, previously placed under the German position at Hawthorn Ridge through tunneling, ten minutes before zero hour had given the Germans just enough warning that an attack was coming.^[10] The Regiment’s advance was met with heavy gunfire from the German line.  That evening, after the battle, only 68 men answered roll call.^[11] Of the remaining men, 233 were killed, 386 wounded, and 91 missing.^[12] The losses incurred that day were of such a magnitude that nearly every community in Newfoundland was impacted.^[13]

 

The initial perception of Beaumont-Hamel in the years directly following the battle differed greatly from that of today. As islanders became aware of the extent of the casualties on July 1, the entire dominion was in mourning. To lessen the grief that permeated the island, the deadly battle was instilled with a sense of national pride. Newspapers and other publications described the Newfoundlanders’ actions in battle as “Patriotism in its purity, and manhood in its perfection.”^[14] This glorification gave meaning to a seemingly senseless slaughter and raised the morale of the grieving colony. By promoting a nationalist narrative around the battle, and war participation in general, publications also spurred enlistment in the Regiment, which had decreased as the economic situation on the home front improved.^[15] The losses at Beaumont-Hamel thus became a symbol of Newfoundland’s war effort and national resilience.

 

The perception of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel as a point of national pride clearly influenced the creation of Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park. After purchasing the lands, Thomas Nangle described the proposed park as, not just a memorial for the dead, but as a way to promote the island of Newfoundland.^[16] The First World War had brought the colony to the world’s attention, both for the severe losses sustained at Beaumont-Hamel and the Newfoundlanders’ contributions during several other engagements. Following the Battles of Ypres and Cambrai, for example, King George V granted the Newfoundland Regiment the prefix “Royal.”^[17] No other British Army regiment was awarded the prefix during the First World War, and the Newfoundlanders were only the third unit in history to be granted the honour while hostilities continued.^[18] Given this perception, the creation of the Memorial Park was an opportunity to raise the profile of Newfoundland as a nation and to display to the world the island’s honourable actions in war. This intention is evident in the park’s design. The choice to plant trees and vegetation native to Newfoundland, as well as allowing the natural vegetation to grow back, were conscious decisions by Nangle and the park’s architect Rudolph Cochius.^[19] Native Newfoundland plants identified the park and the men who died there as directly connected to the island, and, by allowing natural regrowth of the battlefields’ native French vegetation, the creators preserved the physical remains of the trenches while still permitting nature to soften the ugliness of the war-torn landscape.^[20] Combined with the dignified stance of Basil Gotto’s bronze caribou, these features of the park fed into a narrative of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel that emphasized the valour and honour of the fallen men over the horrific losses incurred.

 

Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park succeeded in promoting its intended narrative in the first decades after it opened. It was considered an essential stop for anyone touring the Western Front and even warranted a mention in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1934 novel, Tender Is the Night.^[21] However, the park and the battle itself would soon take on a very different meaning. Following a tight referendum in 1948, Newfoundland officially became the tenth province of Canada the following year. The decision to join Canada was a controversial one and, for decades afterward, remained a symbol of defeat in the eyes of many Newfoundlanders. This political surrender led to a significant shift in the perception of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel and the history of Newfoundland as a whole. Jerry Bannister argues that, following confederation, the framework of Newfoundland’s history became characterized by the notion of loss and regret for past decisions.^[22] Resulting from this shift in perception was a tendency to look at all of Newfoundland’s history, including the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel, as a series of events leading up to the island’s ultimate downfall in confederation.^[23] The loss of nearly a generation of young men in the First World War, men who had had the potential to become leaders in government and elsewhere, was cited as a reason for the end of Newfoundland’s hopes for nationhood.^[24] No longer was the battle a point of national pride and triumph. It was now remembered as just one of a series of tragedies that defined the island’s ill-fated history. Motives behind memorial ceremonies and pilgrimages to the battlefields of northern France shifted from patriotism to solemn remembrance of a tragic loss with no lasting meaning.^[25] The narrative of national triumph that Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park had been built to promote had been set aside in favour of one focusing on all the battles the island had lost.

 

By the time of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board’s decision to commemorate Beaumont-Hamel as a National Historic Site in 1996, the narrative surrounding the battle had fully shifted to one of provincial tragedy. The significance on which the site’s designation is based is revealing. The Board cites four reasons for their decision:

Newfoundland's accomplishment, contribution and sacrifice in the First World War are themselves of major national significance; the loss of Newfoundlanders in the First World War had a profound impact on the colony; Beaumont-Hamel speaks eloquently to the bravery and sacrifice of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916; it memorializes Newfoundlanders lost in the conflict who have no known grave.^[26]

The concepts of “bravery” and “sacrifice” that are referenced in this quote, while still a part of Newfoundlanders’ memory of the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel, had largely been displaced by a sense of meaningless tragedy in the island’s own narrative of loss. The Board’s wording also closely mirrors that in the statement of significance of Vimy Ridge’s National Historic Site designation.^[27] The parallel between the two sites presents an interesting comparison. Beaumont-Hamel and Vimy Ridge were designated as National Historic Sites in 1996 and 1997, respectively, presumably to line up with the 80th anniversary of each battle.^[28] While the Board describes the significance of both events similarly, at the time of their designations, the narratives around each battle were completely different. Vimy Ridge is a symbol of Canada’s emergence as its own nation and was a victory for the Canadian Expeditionary Force.^[29] Beaumont-Hamel, in contrast, decimated the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and, after confederation, was a symbol of defeat for a colony striving for nationhood.^[30] Robert J. Harding argues that Beaumont-Hamel’s designation as a National Historic Site is a reminder of the loss of Newfoundland’s national potential and Canada’s “rescue” of the colony afterward through confederation.^[31] The juxtaposition of the commemoration of Vimy Ridge, a symbol of Canada’s developing nationhood, and of Beaumont-Hamel, a symbol of Newfoundland’s loss of independence, certainly suggests such a narrative. Beaumont-Hamel’s heritage designation was but a marker of Newfoundland’s failure to retain its autonomy.

 

In conclusion, the significance of Beaumont-Hamel’s designation as a National Historic Site must be contextualized within the changing attitudes of Newfoundlanders, before and after confederation with Canada. The site on which the horrific battle took place became closely connected with the island and its people as soon as news of the mass casualties broke in July 1916. In the face of such unimaginable loss, Newfoundland found a way to instill meaning in the tragedy by uplifting the battle as a symbol of national triumph. However, this way of coping was undermined by the island’s loss of independence with confederation in 1949. As Newfoundlanders began to frame their history as a series of defeats leading to confederation,^[32] the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel was increasingly viewed as a senseless tragedy, instead of a point of national pride. The site’s commemoration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board in 1996 fed into a vastly different narrative than the one presented by Thomas Nangle and Rudolph Cochius in 1925. The shifting perceptions of the site and of the battle itself in the island’s cultural memory is an example of how contemporary circumstances shape the way humanity interprets the past. While the battle has consistently been of great importance to Newfoundland and its people, its significance will continue to depend on the context of those interpreting it.

 

Endnotes

^[1] Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, “Beaumont-Hamel National Historic Site of Canada,” Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, Parks Canada, accessed 1 March 2019, https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=1780.

^[2] Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, “Beaumont Hamel National Historic Site of Canada.”

^[3] Katrina Bormanis, “The Creation and Unveiling of Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park, 1921-1925,” Newfoundland Quarterly 109, no. 1 (2016): 55.

^[4] Bormanis, “The Creation and Unveiling of Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park,” 55.

^[5] Paul Gough, “Sites In the Imagination: The Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial on the Somme,” Cultural Geographies 11, no. 3 (2004): 242-243.

^[6] Gough, “Sites In the Imagination,” 242-243.

^[7] Bormanis, “The Creation and Unveiling of Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park,” 56.

^[8] Gough, “Sites In the Imagination,” 245-247.

^[9] G.W.L. Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander: A History of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006), 232-233.

^[10] Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander, 264.

^[11] Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander, 274.

^[12] Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander, 274.

^[13] Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander, 282.

^[14] Robert J. Harding, “Glorious Tragedy: Newfoundland’s Cultural Memory of the Attack at Beaumont Hamel, 1916-1925,” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 21, no. 1 (2006): 8.

^[15] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 8.

^[16] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 20.

^[17] Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander, 423.

^[18] Nicholson, The Fighting Newfoundlander, 423.

^[19] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 21.

^[20] Bormanis, “The Creation and Unveiling of Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park,” 55; Harding, “Glorious Tragedy, 21.

^[21] Gough, “Sites In the Imagination,” 245.

^[22] Jerry Bannister, “Making History: Cultural Memory in Twentieth-Century Newfoundland,” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 18, no. 2 (2002): 176.

^[23] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 23-24.

^[24] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 24.

^[25] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 24.

^[26] Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, “Beaumont-Hamel National Historic Site of Canada.”

^[27] Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, “Vimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada,” Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, Parks Canada, accessed 21 March 2019, https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=1779.

^[28] Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, “Beaumont-Hamel National Historic Site of Canada;” Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, “Vimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada.”

^[29] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 24.

^[30] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 24.

^[31] Harding, “Glorious Tragedy,” 24-25.

^[32] Bannister, “Making History,” 177.

 

Bibliography

Bannister, Jerry. “Making History: Cultural Memory in Twentieth-Century Newfoundland.” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 18, no. 2 (2002): 175-194.

Bormanis, Katrina. “The Creation and Unveiling of Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park, 1921-1925.” Newfoundland Quarterly 109, no. 1 (2016): 54-58.

Gough, Paul. “Sites In the Imagination: The Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial on the Somme.” Cultural Geographies 11, no. 3 (2004): 235-258.

Harding, Robert J. “Glorious Tragedy: Newfoundland’s Cultural Memory of the Attack at Beaumont Hamel, 1916-1925.” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 21, no. 1 (2006): 3-40.

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. “Beaumont-Hamel National Historic Site of Canada.” Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada. Accessed 1 March 2019. https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=1780.

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. “Vimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada.” Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada. Accessed 21 March 2019. https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=1779.

Nicholson, G.W.L. The Fighting Newfoundlander: A History of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006.