2nd Grenadier Guards - 11th October 1915

One hundred years ago today, the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards lost 17 men killed in action or died of wounds. Their names are:

15856 SGT ARTHUR CHARLES BAILEY
17463 PTE ARTHUR BAMFORD
14344 L-CPL EDWARD BLAKEMAN
19014 PTE HERBERT BREARLEY
17179 PTE ALBERT THOMAS BRINKMAN
16250 PTE ERNEST CRIPPS
12388 PTE BEN LEONARD
18630 PTE WILLIAM EDGAR MEECH
18491 L-CPL WALTER MONTAGUE
15520 PTE SAMUEL MORRIS
18739 PTE RICHARD ERNEST ROBERTS
20678 PTE WILFRED ROGERS
18509 PTE GEORGE SHERLOCK
10950 PTE WILLIAM SHIPP
17793 PTE CLEMENT STYLES
12933 PTE FLORENCE SULLIVAN
15023 PTE ERNEST W WARREN

The battalion was in the old German lines at Vermelles, having relieved the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards on the afternoon of the 9th. The following day, the battalion had been bombed by aerial torpedoes all day but later that evening, No 1 Company had successfully captured 150 yards of German trenches and then held their newly won ground against three German counter-attacks. The war diary for the 11th states:

"A quiet day until 5pm when the trenches were bombarded heavily for two hours and were badly knocked about. Battalion worked hard all night to repair damage..."

Looking at the men's regimental numbers I see that eight of the casualties that day were men who had joined before August 1914 whilst nine had joined in August or later. Wilfred Rogers, joining in the second half of November 1914 was the most inexperienced man killed that day, whilst William Shipp was an old hand who had joined the regiment in 1903 but may have been on the reserve since 1906. 

The majority of the men are buried in St Mary's Advanced Dressing Station cemetery at Haisnes; a cemetery established after the Armistice as a result of remains brought in from the Loos battlefield. There are nearly 2000 casualties in the cemetery and only 218 of these identified.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

S/1148 Cpl Percy Hulse, 12th Rifle Brigade

On this, the 99th anniversary of the second day of fighting at Loos on 26th September 1915, S/1148 Corporal Percy Hulse of the Rifle Brigade died of wounds. He was one of 2,471 British Army casualties on this day. At the time of his death he was just nineteen years old, the son of Joseph and Sophia Hulse of 19, Princess St., Crewe.

Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he was born in Sydney, Cheshire and enlisted at Crewe, his place of residence. His medal index card (above, courtesy of Ancestry) notes that he arrived overseas in France on the 21st July 1915. Chris Baker's Long, Long Trail website notes that the 11th Rifle Brigade arrived in France on the 21st July 1915 whilst the 12th arrived on the 22nd. Perhaps, in that case, Percy originally went overseas with the 11th and was subsequently posted to the 12th. Either way, he was certainly an original member of one of those battalions. His number dates to September 1914.

Percy is buried in Merville Communal Cemetery in France.

S/6429 Pte Leslie Buchan, 9th Gordon Highlanders

S/6429 Private Leslie Buchan of the 9th Battalion Gordon Highlanders was killed in action at the Battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915, ninety-nine years ago today. Over the years I have remembered a number of men killed at Loos and it is right to remember them. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that 9661 men died on this day in 1915 and the vast majority of these casualties were at Loos.

Leslie was born at Longside, Aberdeenshire and he enlisted at Aberdeen  on 7th October 1914 aged 27 years and 180 days. He was just over six feet tall, had a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and black hair. He was given the number S/6429 and posted to the 9th Battalion on the 15th October. His medal index card (above, courtesy Ancestry) notes that he arrived in France on the 9th July 1915. The 9th Battalion arrived at Boulogne this month and so it would appear that Leslie was an original member of the battalion and landed with the battalion when it left England.

According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, Leslie was one of 727 Gordon Highlanders who died on the 25th September 1915. Like many, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

His surviving service papers note that he had married Maggie Jane Andrews at Aberdeen on 13th October 1914 and that a son, Leslie, was born on 8th May 1915. That he at least saw his son before he was posted overseas must have been some small comfort to his widow in later years. Two addresses are given for his wife: 54 Erskine Street, Aberdeen (crossed out) and 34 Stafford Street, Aberdeen. His father was originally recorded as his next of kin and he was James Buchan of Woodside of Auchlee, Longside, Peterhead.

By 1919 when Maggie Buchan submitted Army Form W.5080 which listed a dead soldier's immediate family, she was living at 8 St John's Wood Road, London N8. No children are recorded which presumes that Leslie's infant son must have died. His father and mother (Margaret Buchan), three brothers and a sister are also recorded on this sad document.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

 

Leslie's service record survives as a burnt document in WO 363. His signature, taken from his attestation paper is from the original image which is Crown Copyright, The National Archives.



Remembering Loos - 96 years ago today

On the 25th September 1915, 96 years ago, nearly 10,000 British army officers, NCOs and other ranks laid down their lives for King and Country. This was the opening day of the Battle of Loos and the majority of the 9661 men who died on this day, died in the assault towards Loos.

1310 Rifleman Joseph Hart of the 8th (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles) was one of the casualties on that day. He was born in Westbourne Park and was living at Notting Hill when he enlisted in late January or early February 1911. Like the majority of the men in the battalion he was probably a postman by trade. Joseph was 23 years old, the son of Edward and Fanny Elizabeth Hart of 23 Silchester Terrace, Notting Hill, London. He is buried in St Mary's Advanced Dressing Station Cemetery at Haisnes.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Loos - Day 2 - 16488 Pte John Bramwell, 10th Bn, York & Lancs Regt

16488 Private John Bramwell of B Company, the 10th Battalion, York & Lancs Regiment, died of wounds on the 26th September 1915. He was born in Fir Vale, Sheffield and enlisted at Sheffield on the 8th November 1914. He was a miner by trade, 37 years old.

Originally posted to the the regimental depot, he was transferred to the 10th Battalion on the 13th November.

Reported wounded and missing on the 26th September, this was subsequently updated to "died of wounds between the 26th and 29th September" and later acknowledged that he died of wounds on the 26th.

At the time of his death he was 38 years old. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Remembering Loos - S/12216 Cpl Jack R Young, 5th Bn, Cameron Highlanders

Nearly 10,000 British Army officers and men died on this, the opening day of the Battle of Loos: 25th September 1915. Today, on the 95th Anniversary of this battle, I remember one man of many: Corporal Jack Young.

S/12216 Corporal Jack Young was serving with the 5th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders when he was killed in action. He was born in Steyning, Sussex but was living in Glasgow and enlisted there in September 1914. He was an original member of the 5th (Service) Battalion and arrived in France on the 10th May 1915.

Jack was lost within the opening minutes or hours of the battle, reported missing at the end of the day's events and never seen again. His body - or at last identifiable remains - was never recovered, and he is one of over 20,000 men commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

1977 Pte Bernard Frank Flanders, 20th Bn, London Regiment

1977 Private Bernard Frank Flanders of the 20th Battalion, The London Regiment was killed in action on the 20th October 1915. He was born in Hitchin in Hertfordshire but was living in East Dulwich at the time of his enlistment. He joined up at Blackheath between the 10th and 18th August 1914.

Bernard arrived in France on 9th March 1915 and he was serving with C Company, 1/20th London Regiment at the time of his death. He was killed in the fighting around Loos and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Loos memorial. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website adds the additional information that he was 23 years old and the "son of Emma Flanders of 5 Oakfield Place, St. Paul's Road, Clifton, Bristol, and the late George Charles Flanders (A.M.I., R.F.C.)".

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6723 Pte Robert Leppington, 2nd Bn, Scots Guards

319 British soldiers died on this day in 1915. On October 17th 1914, 83 men had died; on 17th October 1916 another 329 men, and 447 on the same day in 1917, the majority of these in the muck and filth around Passchendaele. In 1918, on the Advance to Victory, exactly 1000 officers and men gave up their lives for King and Country. That's 2178 men who died on 17th October, and those of course are just the British casualties. And behind every man a mother or father, a wife, children, brothers, sisters...

2178 men on one day, 17th October; one day of many and not the worst day in the war by a long shot - unless you happened to be a relative of one of those 2178 men.

Robert Leppington is the man I am commemorating on this blog today. His parents certainly mourned his loss. After the war, when contacted by the Imperial War Graves Commission, they asked that he should be remembered as the "son of Tom and Eliza Leppington, of 33, Beaconsfield St., Seamer Rd., Scarborough." They also added proudly, "served seven years in the 1st Battalion."

Robert's number dates to April 1907 and so by the time he was killed in the fighting around Loos, he had served for over eight years with Scots Guards. Given his joining date it seems likely that he served his seven years with the Colours and had only been on the Reserve for four months when war was declared. Recalled to the Colours, he almost certainly went straight into the 2nd Battalion and sailed with the battalion for France. His medal index card notes that he arrived overseas on the 7th October 1914, the date on which the 2nd Battalion - after a false start due to enemy submarines - arrived at Zeebrugge.

And so it seems likely that Robert fought with the battalion for a little over year before Loos finally claimed him. Like so many soldiers of the First World War he has no known grave and is remembered instead on the Loos Memorial. And now here too.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

15990 Pte Albert Edward Hann, 3rd Bn, Royal Fusiliers

15990 Pte Albert Edward Hann of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers was killed in action during the fighting around Loos on 29th September 1915. Like so many, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

Albert was a regular soldier who enlisted in late 1913 or early 1914. He was born in Yeovil and living in Taunton at the time of his enlistment. He enlisted in Hounslow. He is possibly the same Albert Hann who appears on the 1901 census as a four year old boy living with his six siblings and parents at 38 South Street, Yeovil. If it his him, his father was a mason and two of his older sisters are listed as glove stitchers.

Albert arrived in France on 9th June 1915 and was thus entiteld to the 1914-15 Star and British War and Victory medals.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, 1901 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

L/8015 Pte Arthur Edward Leopold Drury, 2nd Bn, The Buffs

L/8015 Pte Arthur Edward Leopold Drury of the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), was killed in action on the 28th September 1915. He was a regular soldier who had joined The Buffs in October 1904 and therefore was probably on the reserve when war was decalred.

Arthur's service record does not survive and therefore the information recorded on his medal index card is all that remains of his service during WW1. It indicates that he arrived in France on 7th September 1914 and therefore was entitled to the clasp for his 1914 Star. A note on the reverse of his card reads, "...Accts 41 fwds app for 1914 Star from National Fed[eration] of Disc[harged] and Dem[obilised] Sail[ers] & Sold[iers] on behalf of Mrs Drury in respect of the services of her husband, the late Pte A E L Drury."

Arthur, who was born in Turnham Green, Middlesex, is another Loos casualty who has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Loos memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, 1901 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6948 Pte Lawrence Connell, Irish Guards

6948 Private Lawrence Connell of the Irish Guards was killed in action on 27th September 1915 in fighting at Loos. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos memorial.

Lawrence was 29 years old, the son of Patrick Connell of The Rock of Dunamaise, Stradbally, Queen's County and the late Mary Ann Connell (according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). Lawrence's army number indicates that he joined the Irish Guards in late February or early March 1915 and his medal index card shows that he arrived in France on 12th August 1915. Written in the remarks' section of the card are the words "ass'd dead 27-9-15".

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, 1901 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

13789 Pte Alfred James Blythe, 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment

13789 Private Alfred James Blythe of the 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment, was killed in action on the 26th September 1915, the second day of the Battle of Loos. He was one of 2,471 British soldiers to die on this day.

Alfred has connections with a village in England that I am very familiar with: Chailey, in what is now East Sussex. I have researched the parishioners of Chailey during WW1 and also some of the soldiers who spent time recuperating at two auxiliary hospitals there. Those stories are told on a separate site: Chailey 1914-1918. Alfred though, is not one of the men mentioned on that site. He spent time at Chailey Heritage but by the time the First World War began he'd been away from the village for five years. This is his story.

A brief - and sometimes difficult to read - entry in the Chailey Heritage ledger records that Alfred was born on 21 April 1891 and lived at 88 Faraday Street in Walworth. His father had died in late 1902 or early 1903 and by the time Alfred entered Chailey Heritage on 2nd September 1905, his mother had remarried and become Mrs Rosina Cole. She was employed in 'laundry work'.

Alfred was a pupil at the Greencoat School in Camberwell Green and was "afflicted with tubercular disease of the foot and a hernia." Alfred's fees at Chailey Heritage were paid for in part by the London County Council and in part from the Crippled Children's Training Society. After nearly four years at Chailey Alfred left the Heritage on 24th May 1909, a post having been found for him at Messrs. Angus (which is possibly a mis-spelling), Roller Top Desk Makers in Finsbury. He was certainly still there in 1913, by which time his wages had risen to 13 shillings a week.

A later entry in the Heritage ledger states that Alfred 'joined Kitchener's Army'. There are only two subsequent entries. The first: 'reported missing' and the second, in blue crayon, 'killed at Loos'.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that Alfred was a private in the 11th Battalion of the Essex Regiment and died on 26th Sept 1915. It adds the additional information that he was 24 years old and the son of Mrs Rosina Cole of 66, Liverpool Street, Walworth Road, London. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

Alfred's army number indicates that he joined the Essex Regiment in September 1914, probably around the 13th or 14th of that month. He enlisted at Camberwell. His arrival date in France - 30th August 1915 - ties in nicely with the arrival date of the 11th Essex and so we can pretty safely assume that he was an original member of that battalion and sailed to France with the battalion and not as part of a draft.

The 11th Essex was a K3 battalion formed at Warley in September 1914. It initially moved to Shoreham as part of the 71st Bde in the 24th Division, then to Brighton in Jan 1915. It moved back to Shoreham in March 1915 before heading for Blackdown in June 1915. The next significant date on the battalion's calendar is its move overseas on 30th August. The 71st Bde later transferred to the (regular) 6th Division but this was in October 1915 and Alfred had already been killed by this time.

The 24th Division was rushed hurriedly into the Battle of Loos and sustained heavy casualties. Both it and the 21st Division which suffered a similar fate, were later severely and unjustifiably criticised for their performance at Loos.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, 1901 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

My grateful thanks to Ian Seccombe of Chailey for alerting me to Alfred Blythe and for providing the details recorded in the Chailey Heritage archives.

15229 Pte Tague Dolan, 8th Bn, King's Own Scottish Borderers

Over the next few days I'm going to commemorate men killed during the Battle of Loos in 1915. Today, 25th September 2009, is the 94th anniversary of that battle; a battle which would see regular soldiers, Territorial Force soldiers and Kitchener volunteers fighting - with mixed fortunes - side by side.

15229 Pte Tague Dolan of the 8th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers was one of 139 8th KOSB men to die on 25th September 1915; a day which - according to Soldiers Died in the Great War - claimed the lives of 9,661 British soldiers, or the equivalent of nearly ten infantry battalions.

Tague Dolan was a Kitchener volunteer who was born in Glasgow, was living there when war was declared and who enlisted there too. His army number indicates that he joined the 8th KOSB in September 1914 and as such, he would have been one of the original 8th Battalion members.

Tague's medal index card indicates that he arrived in France on 10th July 1915 and he was missing, presumed dead on the 25th September 1915. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

I interviewed a number of Loos veterans in the 1980s and you can read the interviews, or extracts of interviews with Corporal Bill Howell (8th London Regiment) and Bombardier Len Gifford (Royal Horse Artillery) on my World War 1 Veterans blog.

Arthur Reeve was an old soldier who'd originally enlisted with the Royal Lancaster Regiment at Manchester in 1894. By the time the First World War was declared he had served his seven years with the Colours and five on the Reserve, but this did not stop him from enlisting with the KOSB Special Reserve in September 1914. Pretty soon, he found himself posted to the 8th Battalion where, as an old hand, his experience must have been invaluable. Arthur was wounded on the 25th September 1915 and you can read more about him and the 8th KOSB on my Chailey 1914-1918 website. Arthur Reeve's story is HERE, Loos Preliminaries are HERE, and the Battle of Loos is HERE. The 8th KOSB sustained nearly 400 casualties - killed, wounded and missing - on the first day alone.

The illustration on this post - a million miles from the battlefields of the Western Front - was executed by Sergeant Reeve whilst he was recuperating from his Loos wounds at Chailey. It depicts nearby Newick church.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission