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Mary Jane Climpson (nee Gibson) was born on 05 March 1884. She entered training to become a Salvation Army officer from Newcastle 1 in 1907. As a Lieutenant, she served in several corps appointments before marrying Herbert Climpson on 15th May 1911. In later appointments she, with her husband, served overseas during which time she experienced the great Tokyo earthquake of 1923.
At the outbreak of the Second World War she was working at the British National Headquarters but was transferred to war work in France to support the troops. Here she was able to use the experience she had gained from working with the B.E.F. and soldiers during the First World War.
She was renowned for her bright, practical qualities and was highly regarded by the forces who called her 'Mother C'. She worked in a variety of Red Shield centres working hard for the benefit of the soldiers. Some duties were the mundane tasks of frying dozens of eggs for canteen suppers, making sandwiches or supplying endless mugs of tea. Others needed more tact and understanding. She would write letters for wounded soldiers or place flowers on soldiers' graves, on behalf of relatives and friends at home. She also visited military hospitals, conducted religious services, and talked with anxious men, whatever their needs. After the soldiers returned to the front line they would often send her pencilled notes, written on scraps of paper, thanking her for her care and attention.
As the Germans pushed rapidly into Northern France Mrs Climpson and her fellow workers were told to get away as quickly as possible from their headquarters in Arras. Having seen to the needs of their fellow workers, Mrs Climpson, her husband and two other people set off in a Ford car to Dieppe. On the Saint Pol Road they were part of a convoy of military vehicles that caught the eye of some German planes. As the planes strafed and bombed the column, everyone dived into a nearby ditch for cover.
The following is a first hand account by Brigadier Kenneth Nutty about the circumstances in which Mary Climpson died:
The date she was killed was May 20th. It happened in the early afternoon on the Saint Pol Road. There were four of us in a four seater Ford Popular including Brigadier Climpson, Mrs. Climpson's husband. We were one of a number of cars, lorries, military vehicles and people who were escaping from the German Army which was advancing rapidly. We had had to evacuate our headquarters at Arras by the B.E.F. , and were making our way to Dieppe which we understood was a covenanted town.
Whilst on the Saint Pol Road, German planes machine gunned us causing everyone to dive into the ditches by the side of the dirt road for cover. We were under fire for sometime when the planes finally flew off. We got up from where we were lying all except Mrs. Climpson. We called out to her that it was alright to come out now but she failed to respond. Her husband who was the nearest to her reached out to help her up, we discovered then that she was dead. A large piece of shrapnel had pierced her back. She was killed instantly. We had to wrap her in a blanket, and her husband had her dead body by the side of him for the rest of the journey to Dieppe. On arrival at Dieppe we went to the British Army's headquarters which were in an hotel on the sea front. A number of large ships with enormous red crosses painted on them were moored in the harbour, taking on casualties to be taken to England. Whilst Colonel Booth Davey and Brigadier Climpson were in the hotel arranging for the burial of Mrs. Climpson, two or three German air squadrons carried out an intensive air raid on the town. There was no warning, and owing to the efficiency of the Fifth Column all the air raid shelters were locked. The first load of bombs to be released fell on the town's gas supply works causing widespread fires. A number of the ships loaded with wounded service personnel were hit, the railway station was also hit killing hundreds of Welsh guardsmen.
Owing to the confusion and the panic caused by the raid, and the vast number of dead, little could be done about burying Mrs. Climpson because it was now night, so later she was taken from the car and placed in a hut. The next morning some soldiers were allocated to us and we drove to a field just outside the town (I have no idea of exactly where it was) where the soldiers dug a shallow grave, and still wrapped in the knitted blanket she was buried.
The digging, the burial including a short service took less than 30 minutes. Within a couple of hours of the burial we were compelled to leave the town because of the raids and advancement of the Germans.
That is all I can remember of the incident. Following the burial and leaving the town I became separated from Brigadier Climpson and did not see him again until some months later in England following the evacuation.
signed: Brigadier Kenneth Nutty
Brigadier Climpsons gravestone
The inscription reads:
Mrs Brigadier Mary Janet Climpson Salvation Army 20th May 1940 Age 56 Death Takes But God Receives "Jesus Saith Unto Her Mary" St John XX.16
Location: Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Hautot-sur-Mer, Seine-Maritime, France [ref: C.76.]
Further information can be found on Mary Climpson's entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
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