97495 Pte Walter Brawn, 164th MGC

97495 Private Walter Brawn of the 164th Company, Machine Gun Corps died of wounds on the 18th November 1917. He had previously served with the Cambridgeshire Regiment (number 331092). He is buried in Tincourt New British 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

58884 Pte Alexander Rough, MGC

58884 Private Alexander Rough of the 178th Company, Machine Gun Corps (and formerly 32762 Northumberland Fusiliers) was killed in action on the 15th August 1917. He was born in Smeafield, Northumberalnd, and enlisted at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was 23 years old, the son of John Robert and Emma Rough, of Scots Gap, Boulmer, Lesbury, Northumberland. He is buried in Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe.

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

Lt Philip G McMaster, 18th Bn, MGC

Lieutenant Philip George McMaster of the 18th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, was killed in action on the 20th June 1918. He was the son of John and Margaret McMaster, of Tullyard House, Lisburn, County Down and had previously served with the Royal Irish Rifles, arriving in France with the regiment on the 22nd July 1916. He later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and is buried in Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension on the Somme.

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

53200 Pte Henry James Coppen, MGC

The 21st March 1918, a day heralded by a misty morning along the Western Front, marked the opening day of the Kaiser's Battle. On this day, nearly eight thousand British Army officers and men would die, and half this number would fall the following day.

Last Tuesday, in Afghanistan, Lance-Corporal Scott Hardy of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was killed by an explosion in Helmand Province. Another soldier died with him. Scott Hardy came from my home town of Chelmsford in Essex, and so too did Henry James Coppen of 54 South Primrose Hill. He was killed in action on the 21st March 1918, 92 years ago today. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) records him as 53200 Private Henry James Coppen of the 25th Company, Machine Gun Corps and notes that he was the son of Ernest Albert and Emma Coppen. Scott Hardy was 26, Henry Coppen, 24.

CWGC notes that Henry was killed on the 21st March 1919 but this is incorrect. Soldiers Died in the Great War gives his correct date of death and adds the additional information that he had previously served with the Essex Regiment (it would now be the Royal Anglian Regiment) and had the number 28585.

Henry Coppen has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras 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

21451 Pte John William Thistlethwaite, 88th Bn, MGC

21451 Private John William Thistlethwaite of the 88th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, was killed in action on the 27th January 1917. Soldiers died in the Great War records that he was born in Hutton Roof, Westmorland, and was still living there at the time of his enlistment. He joined up at Kendal. SDGW also notes that he had previously served with the Royal Field Artillery - number 80392.

John's medal index card records that he had served with the Essex Regiment (number 20197) and it was with the Essex Regiment that he had landed in France on the 31st October 1915. There is no mention on his card of the RFA and so presumably he had served with this regiment in Britain, transferring to the Essex Regiment before sailing for the Western Front. The RFA number dates to around February 1915, the Essex Regiment number to July the same year.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that John was 21 years old when he died and that he was the son of Son of Adam and Jane Thistlethwaite of Hutton Roof, Carnforth, Westmorland. He appears on the 1901 census with his parents, aged five years old. No siblings are noted and it is possible that he was an only son. Adam Thistlethwaite is recorded as the 37 years old "beerhouse keeper" at the Lowther Arms in Hutton Roof. His son's birth had been registered in Westmorland in the June quarter of 1896 and he appears to have had another middle name as he is recorded in the register as John William T Thistlethwaite.

John Thistlethwaite is buried in the AIF Burial Ground at Flers.

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

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, BMD, 1901 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War

133926 Pte Edgar George Udy, Machine Gun Corps

133926 Pte Edgar George Udy of the 61st Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, died of wounds on this day, 16th August, 1918. Edgar was 19 years old, the son of Elizabeth Udy of Old Ford, East London. Soldiers Died in The Great War records that he was born in Hackney and enlisted at Bethnal Green.

He appears on the 1901 census as a two year old living at Percy Road Hackney. Also living in the household were his siblings Josiah Udy (aged nine), Arthur Udy (aged four) and the boys' infant sister, Eva Udy (aged three months). The children's parents are recorded as Arthur Udy (aged 34, a shoe cutter) and his wife Elizabeth Udy (aged 28, also working in the boot and shoe trade).

Edgar is buried at Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery in France; a huge cemetery which seems to have been largely populated by men dying of wounds in various hospitals in the St Omer region.

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
The photo on this post shows French graves at Longuenesse and comes from the Our Lady of Reconciliation War Memorial site.