50143 Gnr William H Birks, RGA

50143 Gunner William Henry Birks of the 19th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery was killed in action on the 19th October 1917, one of 475 British Army officers and men to lose his life on this date. He was born in Lewisham and was living there when he enlisted at Woolwich. At the time of his death he was 21 years old, the son of William and Kate Birks, of 13 Bedford Grove, Eastbourne, Sussex. He is buried in Canada Farm Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium.


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

Maj Claude Q L Penrose MC, RGA

547 men lost their lives on the 1st August 1918. Major Claude Quayle Lewis Penrose of the Royal Garrison Artillery died on this day. He was 27 years old and was the son of Harry Hugh and Mary Penrose, of Kinsale, Ireland. He lived at Deepcut Bungalow, Frimley Green, Surrey and had been educated at the United Services College and the R.M.A., Woolwich. As well as the award of the Military Cross he had twice been Mentioned in Dispatches.

The London Gazette incorrectly notes his date of death as the 18th August, and his regiment as the Royal Field Artillery. He was though, commanding the 245th Siege Battery, RGA. He is buried in Esquelbecq Military Cemetery in France.

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

Sources:

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

166381 Gnr Richard Peet, RGA

166381 Gunner Richard Peet of 208 Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, died of wounds on the 25th June 1917. He is buried in Trois Arbres Cemetery in Steenwerck, Belgium.

Richard was a Lancashire man, born in Southport and living in Walton when he enlisted. He joined the RGA at Preston.

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

1739 Gnr William A Lewry, RGA

1712 Gunner William Albert Lewry of 74th Company Royal Garrison Artillery, died in India on the 4th June 1918. He was born in Wakefield, Sussex and was living at North Road, Brighton when he enlisted in London.

William's medal index card indicates entitlement to the British War and Victory medals, which in turn indciates that he did not travel overseas until 1st Janaury 1916 at the earliest. His army number does not belong to a Territorial outfit and seems to low for a New Army enlistment. It's possible that the number belongs to the Special Reserve series and was issued in September 1914. In the absence of a service record, however, this must remain conjecture.

William was buried in the Agra Cantonment Cemetery and is commemorated on the Madras 1914-1918 War Memorial in Chennai.

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

56814 Gnr Peter Rankin, RGA

56814 Gunner Peter Rankin of the Royal Garrison Artillery, died of dysentery on the 9th February 1917.

Peter Rankin was a Glaswegian; 32 years old and living with his mother at 636 Duke Street, Glasgow when he volunteered at Leith on the 19th December 1914. He was also a time-expired regular soldier having served eight years with the Royal Engineers and four years on the reserve.

Gunner Rankin arrived overseas in France on the 12th October 1915 and later sailed for East Africa. At the time of his death in what is now Tanzania, Peter Rankin was attached to the 7th Battery, East African Details. He is buried in Morogoro Cemetery.

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

Sources:

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

68320 Gnr Arthur Gunton, RGA

68320 Gunner Arthur Gunton of the 162nd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery died of pneumonia on the 29th October 1918. Parts of his service record survive in the WO 363 burnt documents series and the following information is largely taken from these.

Arthur attested at Chatteris in Cambridgeshire on the 18th November 1915. He gave his address as the parental home: 45 West Street, Chatteris, his age as 24 years, and his occupation as farm labourer. He was five feet eleven inches tall.

On 11th February 1916 he was mobilised with the Royal Garrison Artillery and after seven months in England (during which time he obtained a qualification in signalling and telephony) he sailed for France, arriving at Havre on the 5th September 1916.

His service record is difficult to read in places but it looks as though he was granted UK leave twice: once in October 1917 and then again in October 1918. This latter leave commenced on the 8th October and ended on the 22nd. Five days later Arthur was admitted to the 42nd Casualty Clearing Station in France, suffering from pneumonia and he died there two days later, his service record stating, "died from pneumonia due to illness attributed to active service operations."

Arthur is buried in Douai British Cemetery at Cuincy and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides useful information about the cemetery:

"Douai was occupied by French troops and the Royal Naval Air Service on the 22nd September, 1914, and captured by the Germans on the 1st October; it remained in enemy hands until the 17th October, 1918. The 42nd Casualty Clearing Station was posted in the town from the 28th October, 1918, to the 25th November, 1919. Douai British Cemetery was begun at the end of October, 1918, and closed in November, 1919; but graves were brought into it later from the neighbouring battlefields and from other burial grounds, including:- EMERCHICOURT CHURCHYARD, which contained 20 Commonwealth burials (mainly Canadians) of October and November, 1918. PETIT-CUINCY GERMAN CEMETERY, CUINCY, which contained 12 Commonwealth burials. There are over 200, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, a small number are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to a soldier from the United Kingdom, buried in RAIMBEAUCOURT GERMAN CEMETERY, whose grave could not be found. The British Cemetery covers an area of 718 square metres and is enclosed by a low stone rubble wall."

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

77491 Gunner Joseph Myton, Royal Garrison Artillery

77491 Gunner Joseph Myton of the Royal Garrison Artillery died of wounds on 19th September 1917. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records his name as Joe Myton and notes that he was 37 years old and serving with the 262nd Siege Battery when he died. He was the brother of Charles Myton of Marshall Street, Stanley in Wakefield.

Joseph, a colliery labourer, was conscripted on 2nd May 1916 and joined the RGA at Great Yarmouth. His partial service records survives in WO 363 at the National Archives.

Joe Myton is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery at Poepringhe in Belgium; grave reference V.D.2.

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

20611 Gunner Samuel John Meyrick, RGA

20611 Gunner Samuel John Meyrick was killed in action on 3rd July 1917. According to Soldiers Died in the Great War, he was born at Knighton, Radnorshire and was living at Bucknell in Staffordshire when he enlisted. This is probably an error. There is a Bucknall in Staffordshire but a Bucknell in Shropshire. This latter location would appear to tie in more with Samuel's place of birth and I assuming this is where he was living.

The FreeBMD Birth Index 1837-1915 on Ancestry, indicates that Samuel Meyrick's birth was registered at Knighton in the first quarter of 1886.

Samuel's medal index card indicates that he was entitled to the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He arrived in France on 25th September 1914 and, as an 'Old Contemptible' he would also have been entitled to receive the clasp for his 1914 Star. His army service number additionally indicates that he'd been in the army for some while and had joined up between June and August 1904. He enlisted at Devizes in Wiltshire.

Unless he enlisted for a period of 12 years with the Colours (Long Service), his terms of enlistment in 1904 would have been three years with the Colours and nine years on the Reserve. So unless he'd actually extended his period of service between 1904 and 1907, Samuel Meyrick would have been on the reserve for around seven years when war was declared. Given his arrival date in France some seven weeks after war was declared, I think he probably was a reservist.

Samuel is buried in Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery; grave ref IV.D.19 and The Commonwealth War Graves Commission additionally notes that he was serving with the 6th Siege Battery.

Although he was born in Knighton, Samuel Meyrick's name does not appear on the town war memorial. It's possible that he is included on the war memorial in Bucknell and a memorial hall was built in the village after the 1914-1918 War.

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

Sources:
Ancestry.co.uk (FreeBMD, Medal index card)
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great war 1914-1919