King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment - 31st August 1914

Remembering the four men of the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment who died one hundred years ago today on the 31st August 1914.

Captain Henry Clutterbuck, 1st Battalion
A veteran of the Boer War, Henry Clutterbuck was the son of James Jacques Clutterbuck and the husband of Cora Gwendoline Clutterbuck. He is buried in the Haucourt Communal Cemetery. A detailed biography appears in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour from where the portrait on this blog is taken.

7893 Private John William D'arcy Rigg, 1st Battalion
Aged 27, the husband of Mrs M Rigg of 8 Albany Street, West Gorton, Manchester. Buried at Argentan Communal Cemtery. His regimental number indicates that he originally joined the battalion in late October or early November 1903 and this being the case, he would have been on the reserve when war was declared.

Lieutenant Cyril Steele Steele-Perkins, 1st Battalion
Aged 27, the son of George C. Steele-Perkins, MD, and Alice E. Steele Perkins (nee Chapman) of 6 Weymouth Street, Portland Place, London. Educated at St. Paul's School, University of London, and Sandhurst. A detailed biography appears on De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour (below).

1988 Lance-Corporal Thomas Ward, 4th Battalion
Aged 28, the son of William and Sarah Ward, of Winderwath, Temple-Sowerby, Penrith, Cumberland. Died at home and buried in Cliburn (St Cuthbert) Cemetery, His regimental number indicates that he originally joined the battalion in May 1913.

10980 Pte John Finan, 1st Bn, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt)

10980 Private John Finan of the 1st Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), was killed in action on the 15th September 1914. He was born in St Anne's, Lancashire and enlisted at Ashton-under-Lyne in late July or early August 1913. He'd therefore only be a regular soldier for just over a year when Britain went to war. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission adds no additional information other than that he is commemorated on the La Ferte sous Jouarre Memorial in France.

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

18216 Pte Oliver Badrock, 2nd Bn, King's Own

18216 Private Oliver Badrock of the 2nd Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) was killed in action on the 3rd August 1915. He was 38 years old, the on of Mr W and Mrs E Badrock of 28 Underwood Lane, Crewe. He is buried in St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery.

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

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

240102 Pte Harry Hall, 5th Bn, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt)

Eight hundred and sixty-five British Army officers and men died on this single day in 1917. Harry Hall was one of the fatalities on the 12th May 1917 and you can read his story on my Army Service Numbers blog, HERE.

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

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

15519 Pte James Gee, 8th Bn King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)

15519 Private James Gee of the 8th Battalion King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), died of wounds on the 12th April 1916. He was a Manchester-born man who had enlisted in the city in November 1914. He arrived in France on the 27th September 1915 and died in Boulogne. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

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

27359 Pte Bert Harrison Blades, 1st Bn, King's Own

27359 Private Bert Harrison Blades of the 1st Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), was killed in action on the 4th February 1917.

Bert had originally joined the 5th Lincolnshire Regiment as an eighteen-year-old, on the 30th May 1911. At the time, it was noted that he was born in Horncastle and was working as a labourer. He was still serving as a Territorial when Britain went to war in August 1914, but for whatever reason, was not with the battalion when it arrived overseas in March 1915. Surviving papers in his service record note that he was in England until the 3rd September 1916 when he was posted to the 2/5th Battalion. He set in France as - according to his service record - 2/5th man, but must have been part of a draft for the 1/5th Battalion as the 2/5th was still in Ireland and would not set foot in France until February 1917.

Whilst in France, Bert was transferred to the 2/4th King's Own (20th September 1916) and then immediately posted to the regular 1st Battalion on the same day. He was serving with the 1st Battalion when he was killed in action on the Somme.

Bert Blades has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

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
Soldiers Died in The Great War

9934 Pte George Snowling, 1/4th Loyal North Lancashire Regt

263 British soldiers lost their lives on the 18th November 1917 and 9934 Private George Snowling was one of these men. He was serving with the 1/4th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and was killed in action on this day.

Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he had previously served with the Royal Lancaster Regiment (number 1492) and his medal index card notes that he first arrived overseas in Africa on the 16th October 1914.

George Snowling has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme.

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
Soldiers Died in The Great War

265522 Pte Thomas Edward Collinge, 1/4th Bn, King's Own

265522 Private Thomas Edward Collinge of the 1/4th Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) was killed in action on the 23rd October 1918. He was born in Bentham, Yorkshire and enlisted at Lancaster.

Surviving papers in the WO 363 series at the National Archives reveal that Thomas originally joined the 5th King's Own on 16th March 1909. He was 25 years and five months old, stood five feet five and a half inches tall and was a brick setter by trade. He was given the army number 703.

On 19th October 1914 at Didcot, Thomas took the Imperial Service pledge to serve overseas. He appears to have remained in England until 4th April 1917 although there are also gaps in his service history. He certainly embarked - perhaps for a second time - at Folkestone and disembarked Boulogne on 5th July 1917. He was posted to the 2/5th King's Own the following day and then transferred to the 1/4th King's Own on 13th September 1917. This is when he would have been allocated the number 265522.

Between 13th and 27th February 1918 Thomas was on furlough in England and the following month, despite being a time-expired Territorial, he was re-engaged under the Military Service Act of 1916. On 19th April 1918 he was admitted to the 2/1st Wessex Field Ambulance with exhaustion but returned to his battalion the following day.

On 27th May 1918, Thomas's sister, Alice Collinge wrote to the military authorities:

Dear Sir

Would you please forward 265522 Pte F E Collinge's time expired papers to his commanding officer. His time was expired in March so would you be so kind as to forward his papers on. He asked me in his letter if I would write and ask you for him as [I] had a better chance [than he] had. I am his sister so I hope you will excuse me taking this liberty.

It was to no avail and Thomas was killed in action a few months later. In April 1919 his mother received a pathetic bundle of effects containing his two identity discs, letters, photographs, a metal mirror, two religious books, a broken rosary, a savings receipt and religious emblems. Three years later, she received his British War and Victory medals.

Thomas Collinge is buried in Froidmont Communal Cemetery, one of nine First Word War burials at this cemetery.

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

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, WO363)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

1963 Sgt William Eccles Holt, 1/5th King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment

As the Somme battles raged in 1916, British soldiers continued to fall in their hundreds. Seven hundred and eighty-three British soldiers died on this day alone in 1916. Just pause to think of that number again: 783 men on one day - 10th September 1916.

1963 Sgt William Eccles Holt of the 1/5th King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment was one of those 783 men to die on this day. He was 39 years old, the husband of Jessie Holt of 50 Belmont Road, Fleetwood in Lancashire.

William possibly had prior military experience. His number with the 1/5th King's Own appears to date to around August 1914. However, there is a surviving record in WO 363 for an 18 year old William Eccles Holt who joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on 25th January 1897 (number 5443) and went on to serve during the Boer War before being discharged as a time-expired soldier in January 1909. This man, however, has his place of birth recorded as Blackburn, whereas Soldiers Died in The Great War notes the place of birth (and place of enlistment) as Fleetwood.

William's medal index card records his army service number as T5/1963 and notes that he arrived overseas on 14th February 1915.

William Eccles Holt is buried in Delville Wood Cemetery in Longueval; grave reference IV.G.3.

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

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, WO 363)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

41419 Pte Harry Gelderd, 2/5th King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment

Seven hundred and twenty men lost their lives on this day - 29th August - in 1918. Without wishing to diminish the sacrifices made by today's generation in Afghanistan and Iraq, these Great War losses - which were unrelenting - seem almost incomprehensible. I wonder how today's British media would deal with a British army casualty list of 720 men on one day. Thankfully, it's unlikely we'll ever find out.

41419 Private Harry Gelderd of the 2/5th King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment was one of the 720 casualties on 29th August 1918. He was killed in action on this day and is buried in the HAC Cemetery at Ecoust St Main. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives detailed information about this cemetery. Click on the link to read more.

Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that Harry was born in Leeds and enlisted in Leeds. His medal index card shows entitlement to the British War & Victory Medals only and his number indicates a joining date of some time in 1917. There is only one Harry Gelderd on the 1901 census and that is the 18 month old boy living at 3 Spring Close Street in South East Leeds with his parents - James (25) and Edith (23) - and his young sister Florence, aged three. So it seems likely that Harry was born in late 1899 and was therefore called up on or shortly after his 18th birthday. He probably hadn't been in France very long before he became a casualty - another name on a list that was 720 names long.

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
Photo from the website dedicated to Nelson, Glamorgan during WW1

3364 Pte William Doyle, 1st Bn, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment

3364 Pte William Doyle of the 1st Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action on 10th August 1916.

William Doyle was not a Lancashire man. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he was born in Whitechapel and enlisted at Stratford, and his army service number gives us a number of possibilities.

We can rule out enlistment into a service battalion because they were all numbering in the 11000s when Britain went to war. Their number series was a continuation of the series that had been used by the regular battalions since 1881, and to find when number 3346 was issued you have to go right back to about September 1891. That leaves three options: the Special Reserve or the two Territorial Force battalions: the 4th and the 5th.

3346 would have been issued to a King's Own Special Reservist in August 1914, to a 4th Bn territorial in April 1915 and to a 5th Battalion territorial in December 1914. I incline towards the Special Reserve only on the basis that the Territorial Force battalions were recruiting territorially in Lancashire. There are no real clues on William's medal index card which shows entitlement to the British War and Victory medals only and therefore means that whichever battalion he joined, he didn't actually go overseas until 1st January 1916 at the earliest.

Perhaps William was an old soldier who joined the Special Reserve on the outbreak of war, was retained in the UK at the regimental depot or in the capacity as an instructor, but was subsequently posted to a line battalion and then killed on the Western Front.

William at least has a known grave and that is in Essex Farm Cemetery, reference III.C.29. The cemetery contains 1100 First World War graves.

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

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Essex Farm Cemetery, photographed just after the war, courtesy of Flanders Fields Music.