Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval; last resting place of seven of the men listed below.
Of the 692 British Army officers and men who lost their lives on this day, 9th October 1916, no fewer than 369 have no known grave and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. The 5th London Regiment and the 9th London Regiment lost particularly heavily on this day and I list the casualties below as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Here, the regimental numbers really tell the story. Of the 116 5th London men who died on this day, 83 were still officially regarded as missing when the Territorial Force was re-numbered in early 1917 and were issued with new six-digit numbers. Many of them would never be found. Only eleven of these men have known graves.
5th London Regiment casualties, 9th October 1916
304076 Rifleman Alfred D Alexander
302541 Rifleman Percy Mayston Allnutt
302221 Rifleman Philip Leight Anthony
302813 Rifleman Frederick William Basil Ayres
302058 Rifleman Stanley Barney
304098 Rifleman James Baxter
10010 Lance Corporal Henry G Bennett
10658 Rifleman George Biggs
10522 Rifleman Oliver Albion Boddy
302814 Rifleman Herbert N Bridgman
302620 Rifleman Thomas William Bridgman
302652 Rifleman Horace C F Brook
302082 Rifleman Arnold Brown
302203 Rifleman John Thomas Buckingham
302079 Rifleman John Burden
302580 Rifleman Stanley Arthur Burgess
135 Lance Corporal William Murray Chapman
303962 Rifleman John Cleminson
304132 Rifleman Albert Collop
4466 Rifleman Leonard A Cook
302878 Rifleman John B Cooper
302085 Rifleman Stanley A Crook
4744 Rifleman Herbert W Crowter
302829 Rifleman R Daw
4775 Rifleman Albert E Dawes
301846 Rifleman Ernest Alfred Day
302596 Rifleman Leonard W Dixon
301277 Rifleman George Draper
302867 Rifleman Cecil H Dunkerton
302086 Rifleman Wilfred Dunlop
304145 Corporal Harry Dyer
304022 Rifleman Leonard Eldridge
302033 Rifleman John J Ellt
10054 Rifleman William Faunch
301926 Rifleman George H E Fenwick
2888 Lance Corporal George J Figgins
301425 Rifleman Maurice E Foster
304173 Rifleman Charles G Fox
10046 Rifleman Edward John Freeman
304177 Rifleman Claude Garnham
302092 Rifleman Ernest George Garnham
10774 Rifleman Edward Goodson
302223 Rifleman Harold G Grant
300909 Rifleman George Gray
2009 Rifleman John W Graysmark
302230 Rifleman William A Hall
302626 Rifleman Alfred E Haward
302191 Rifleman Harry Reginald Heasman
3704 Rifleman Eric Walter Hemingway
4381 Rifleman F L Hickmott
302097 Rifleman Wilfred Victor Higgins
302095 Rifleman Robert D Holbrook
302096 Rifleman W G Horne
302148 Rifleman William Reginald Hunt
302794 Rifleman Harry Hutton
10826 Rifleman George J Jary
301569 Lance Serjeant Charles G Jones
304047 Rifleman Albert V Keefe
302629 Rifleman George James Kelson
4688 Rifleman James W King
302665 Rifleman Cyril C Lamb
302072 Rifleman Harry J Last
10856 Rifleman Herbert C Lawrence
303956 Rifleman Albert E Madley
303933 Rifleman Sidney D Makin
304012 Rifleman William Mcneice
302821 Rifleman Frank Melhuish
301915 Rifleman William George Merton
10067 Rifleman A T W M Miles
304065 Rifleman W Miller
302871 Rifleman Sidney Charles James Minns
3739 Rifleman Reginald John Moore
10892 Rifleman Thomas W Newman
304278 Lance Serjeant Arthur M Niven
302011 Rifleman George William Nolan
302060 Rifleman Cyril Arthur Vivian Oldham
4702 Rifleman Henry Parker
302666 Rifleman William Walter Parker
302020 Rifleman Frank Victor Paterson
4703 Rifleman Ernest C Phizackerley
302061 Rifleman Geoffrey Ponting
301781 Lance Corporal Lancelot L Redhead
301989 Rifleman David Robbins
9995 Serjeant William Arthur Roulston DCM
301639 Lance Corporal Richard Rumble
302836 Rifleman Frederick A Sach
301435 Rifleman John H Sage
303961 Rifleman Arthur James Sainty
4704 Rifleman Samuel E Sampson
3067 Rifleman Frank Thurland Sansom
10041 Rifleman Ernest C Saunders
303926 Rifleman Malcolm Scott
10955 Rifleman Robert H Scott
301880 Rifleman John Moverley Sharp
302550 Rifleman Robert A Sherington
302824 Rifleman Edward Walter Skinner
301562 Rifleman Albert Smith
304343 Rifleman George Smith
302789 Rifleman John Somervaille
303924 Rifleman George Stairs
302537 Corporal Arthur John Stransom
3387 Rifleman William J Sullivan
304362 Lance Corporal Thomas G Tarry
11017 Lance Corporal H J Thrussell
3077 Rifleman Alfred Herbert Todd
304390 Corporal Albert J Watson
301796 Rifleman Augustine Cuthbert Watts
302601 Rifleman Ernest C West
301193 Rifleman Joseph West
304409 Rifleman Richard A Westbrook
300102 Serjeant Lawrence Whitaker
302650 Rifleman Francis Henry Willis
301413 Rifleman Lewis Richard Wooldridge
3844 Rifleman Herbert Martin Woolley
3402 Rifleman William R Wright
The 9th London Regiment also lost heavily, albeit only two of their ninety casualties on this day would be issued with six digit regimental numbers in 1917. Nevertheless, the percentage of men commemorated at Thiepval is higher than the 5th London Regiment. Only four of these 9th London men have known graves.
9th London Regiment casualties, 9th October 1916
7044 Rifleman Arthur Walter Anderson
6629 Rifleman Frederick Attridge
6693 Rifleman Walter Fred Barnes
7720 Rifleman John Barry
7719 Rifleman John Thomas Barwise
5795 Rifleman James Alexander Batchelor
2519 Serjeant Norman Bell
3574 Rifleman Alfred William Birbeck
7864 Rifleman Albert Bird
4714 Rifleman Joseph Bliss
6633 Rifleman Stanley Edward Brewer
4551 Rifleman Walter Bridgman
439 Rifleman Herbert Bryanton
6058 Rifleman Robert George Camp
539 Lance Corporal Arthur Edward Cecil
6051 Rifleman Harold William Child
2872 Rifleman Sydney Cross
6613 Rifleman H L Curtis
5898 Rifleman William Evan Davies
6594 Rifleman Albert Victor Day
7056 Rifleman John Divers
4457 Lance Corporal Edward Edwards
393904 Lance Corporal Leoline Arthur Edwards
6641 Rifleman George Ernest Farthing
5455 Rifleman John Henry Gammie
7019 Rifleman Arthur Frank Gardiner
4847 Rifleman Alfred Mitchell Gladman
4857 Rifleman Edwin John Gladman
5335 Rifleman Charles William Hammerton
7552 Rifleman William Septimus Harrison
4520 Rifleman William Arthur Herron
6727 Rifleman Francis Hickman
6765 Rifleman Alfred Charles Hobrough
7910 Rifleman Bertram Hull
4306 Rifleman Charles Edwin Hunt
7900 Rifleman Harold Frederick Hyde
7511 Rifleman Sidney Frank Hyne
4991 Rifleman Frank Jarvis
4401 Rifleman Henry William Kellaway
6655 Rifleman Percy Reginald Kimmons
7066 Rifleman Frank Walter King
6610 Rifleman Clarence Kingsbury
1485 Corporal George Harry Edgar Kirby
6662 Rifleman Arthur Herbert Lathan
6663 Rifleman William Oscar Lee
4197 Rifleman Charles Thomas Lester
4947 Rifleman Daniel Levy
4400 Rifleman Joseph Seward Mahony
7610 Rifleman William John Makepeace
7028 Rifleman James Agamemnon Mckechnie
6667 Rifleman Ernest Arthur Meachen
1246 Rifleman Eli John Montgomery
2631 Rifleman Clifford Stanley Moult
3364 Rifleman Garrett Thomas Moynihan
5218 Rifleman William Albert Musk
5904 Rifleman Walter Cecil Myatt
2634 Rifleman Vivian Frederick Noakes
5734 Rifleman Alfred Harry Nugent MM
5457 Rifleman William Thomas Orton
4509 Rifleman Albert Ernest Oulds
4066 Rifleman J A Parkinson
7032 Rifleman Frank Parsons
393633 Rifleman Albert William Patch
6670 Rifleman Samuel Perry
2653 Rifleman John Robert Potter
7691 Rifleman George Leslie Price
7076 Rifleman Cecil Holliwell Pudge
6673 Rifleman Arthur Louis Pulford
7666 Rifleman William Ramsay
6780 Rifleman Thomas Rawlings
6783 Rifleman Charles Edward Rowe
5578 Rifleman Alfred Cushing Russell
5661 Rifleman Ernest Frederick Edward Sabberton
1608 Serjeant Harry Francis Salter
6632 Rifleman Richard Saunders
7541 Rifleman Alfred George Shaw
6053 Rifleman Thomas William Sizer
2479 Rifleman Harold Smith
2074 Lance Serjeant Thomas Richard Spikes
6750 Rifleman George Stebbings
7623 Rifleman Stanley Harry George Stephens
1753 Corporal John Lewis Sterckx
7694 Rifleman George Henry Summerton
6696 Rifleman Alfred James Vale
7655 Rifleman Herbert Henry Watson
6759 Rifleman Henry George Wayland
7083 Rifleman Claude James Wheatley
4481 Rifleman Reginald Henry Whorwood
5887 Rifleman George Gilbert Beaton Wood
6731 Rifleman Albert Shreeve Woods
Both the 5th and the 9th London Regiment formed part of the 169th Brigade in the 56th (London Division) and all of these men lost their lives in the bitter fighting around Longueval.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
No comments:
Post a Comment