James Affleck
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AFFLECK, Pte James, No. 20492, 12th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers was killed on 17th September 1916, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France James Affleck was the eldest child of Walter Affleck and his wife Hannah Jane Mossman. Walter (b. 1859 in Roxburgh) was a tailor by trade as was his father James. Hannah Mossman was born in Lowick in 1865. The couple had married in early 1894. They had two children James (b 1894, Kirknewton) and Barbara Mossman Affleck (1896, Kirknewton). Walter Affleck died in 1903 aged just 45 years old. In 1911 Hannah with her children James, aged 16 and Barbara aged 14, was living at Fenton Hill, Wooler. Hannah was working as a ‘farm servant’ and James was a ‘carter on farm’. No occupation is listed for Barbara who was presumably still at school.
James Affleck seems to have enlisted in June 1915 (Berwick Advertiser, 2nd July 1915, p 7, ‘Enlistments at Wooler’). No. 20429 James Affleck joined the 12th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers at the front after he landed in France on 12th October 1915. The 12th battalion was raised on Newcastle in September 1914. The battalion was part of 62nd Brigade, 21st Division which had disembarked in France in September 1915. The 21st Division had completed its concentration near Tilques by 13th September, when it and the 24th Division were ordered forward to join the newly formed Guards Division to form the reserve for the BEF’s offensive at Loos. Both ‘New Army’ divisions arrived by lengthy forced marches and were in action on 26th September, the second day of the battle. The 21st Division suffered 3,800 casualties. Following its withdrawal from the battle the battalion assembled at Noyelles les Vermelles on 27th September and then moved by road to Noeux les Mines, where it entrained for Berguette. Then it proceeded by road to Witternesse, then on 1st October it went by road to Morbecque and then on to Strazeele, where on 9th October a draft of 100 other ranks from the 15th (Reserve) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers was received. From Strazeele the battalion marched to Bailleul and moved by road to Armentières, where it arrived at 12.25pm and was billeted in the local asylum (Asile Public d’Aliénés). The battalion next went into the trenches at l’Epinette near Houplines ‘and were attached to the 149th Bde for training in trench warfare’ (TNA WO95 2155/1, 14th October 1915). On 22nd October, ‘70 rank & file’ joined the battalion from the 3rd (Reserve) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. James Affleck could have been part of this draft. Private James Affleck was killed in action during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (15th-22nd September 1916), almost exactly 11 months after he had disembarked in France. On 17th September 1916 when James Affleck was reported killed in action, the 62nd Brigade, including the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers, had just relieved 43rd Brigade, 14th Division in the line at Flers. No casualties were recorded during the relief which was completed by 6am on 17th September. Three companies of the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers were in Switch Trench '(old German front line)' supported by a detachment of the 62nd Machine Gun Company. The battalion had the 1st Coldstream Guards (2nd Guards Brigade, Guards Division) to their right. The battalion war diary records that the Germans shelled the trenches held by the battalion 'throughout the day, but did little damage. 2nd Lt C H Corke was killed by a shell'. No other casualties were recorded (TNA WO95 2155/1, 16th-17th September 1916). It seems most likely that James Affleck was killed by shell fire. The entry for 30th September notes that casualties since 15th September were:
James Affleck was just 22 years old when he was killed. Pension records indicate that he left an illegitimate child. His widowed mother was one claimant for a pension as a dependent. Jane Liddell was the second claimant for support as the guardian of the unnamed illegitimate child. The obvious presumption is that Jane Liddell was the child’s mother. The child has not been identified, nor has Jane Liddell's identity yet been confirmed.[Note 1]
James Affleck’s younger sister Barbara married Thomas J Moffat on 24th April 1920 at Crookham Presbyterian Church (Berwick Advertiser, 30th April 1920, p 3). Thomas was the son of Robert and Susan Moffat of Mardon, Cornhill on Tweed. During the Great War, Thomas had served with the Northumberland Fusiliers originally with the 1/4th battalion (no. 4/4839), then with the 1/7th battalion (no. 7/5915), followed by the 1/5th battalion (no. 292029) and finally with the 8th battalion (no. 292029). Memorials: Cornhill-on-Tweed, Cross 1914-18 1939-45, roadside (NEWMP C53.01); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. 20492, James Affleck;
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte James Affleck; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 20492, Pte James Affleck; 10/03/2021 - 18/04/2023; 12/06/2023; 19/06/2023; 24/06/ 2023; 13/02/2024; |
John Ainslie
Photo IRS 24 May 2021
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AINSLIE, Acting Bombardier John, No. 69528, 128th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, died on 26th June 1917, aged 30, and is buried in Dickebusch New Military Cemetery Extension, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium John Ainslie was the third child and second son of the late William Ainslie (or Aynsley), mason, of Norham and his third wife Elizabeth (Ainslie Family). William married Elizabeth Punton, from Slainsfield, Ford, Northumberland in 1882. The couple had eight children, seven of whom survived to adulthood: Mary Ann (b 24th November 1884, christened in Morpeth), George (b 1886), John (‘Jack’) (b 1887) and William (b 1890) whose births were registered at Berwick, and Agnes (b 1892), Emma (b 1894) and Robert (b 1896) whose births were registered in Glendale District. In 1891 the family were living at Howtel in Glendale, by 1901 they had moved to a cottage at North Hazelrigg Farm, Chatton, and in 1911 they were living on Hagg Farm, Cornhill on Tweed. John's father William died aged 74 on 9th May 1915 (Berwick Advertiser, Friday 14 May 1915, p 3).
John Ainslie was rejected by the Army because of varicose veins when he first tried to enlist. After hospital treatment he was accepted for service. His attestation form was dated 27th November 1915. He was initially posted to the Army Reserve only being mobilised on 1st March 1916. He married Catherine Thompson Collins in the Glendale Register Office, Wooler on 8th December 1915 before he left to join the Army. John's first posting was to 12th Company, RGA, Humber Defences on 14th April 1916.[Note 2] On 19th April 1916, John was posted to the 163rd Heavy Battery RGA, and then on 27th July 1916 he was posted to the BEF, and on 3rd August 1916 he joined the 128th Heavy Battery, which was with 9th Brigade RGA and was part of 76 Heavy Artillery Group (76 HAG). 76 HAG was supporting the Canadian Corps in 1917. John Ainslie was appointed acting Bombardier and assumed the duties of the rank on 12th June 1917, but unfortunately two weeks later on 26th June 1917 he was killed in action. According to the newspaper report he was killed by a shell splinter (Berwick Advertiser, 3rd August 1917, p 7). In 1919 his widow Catherine married Thomas Patterson Burney, who was from Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne. John's older brother George served with the Royal Field Artillery (No. 225155) and married after the War and his younger brother Robert served with the 2nd battalion North Staffordshire Regiment (No. 48333) in India. In 1921 Robert married Elizabeth Munro Fettis (née Purvis) the widow of William FETTIS (qv).
Memorials: Kirknewton, Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Roadside (NEWMP K15.01); Branxton, Stained glass windows 1914- 18, St Paul's Church (NEWMP B56.01); Branxton, Plaque 1914-18, School (NEWMP B56.02); Crookham, Plaque, Presbyterian Church (NEWMP C66.01)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - John Ainslie; Coldstream Local History Society - Bombardier John Ainslie; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 69528, Gunner John Ainslie; 07/08/2018 - 18/01/2020; 16/03/2023; 18/04/2023; 24/06/2023; 01/01/2024; |
John Aitchison
Richard Aitchison
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AITCHISON, LCpl John, No. 291008, previously No. 7/3516, 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, died of wounds on 14th November 1916, and is buried in Ovillers Military Cemetery, Somme, France John Aitchison was born on 14th May 1894 at Kirknewton and was the younger son of George Aitchison and Elizabeth Johnstone. He had an older brother Richard (b 1892, Kyloe) and a younger sister Margaret Jane (b 1897, Kirknewton). In 1901 the family were living in New Water Haugh Lodge near Berwick. In 1911 the family were living at ‘Kilham, Mindrum, Northumberland’, but John Aitchison lived at West Weetwood, Wooler. He was a farm labourer, and was unmarried, and his legatee was his father George Aitchison.
John Aitchison served with the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers (149th Infantry Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division). He was killed on 14th November 1916 during an attack by units of the 50th Division and the 2nd Australian Division. The aim of the attack was to take high ground overlooking the Butte de Warlencourt, following the capture of the villages of Courcelette and Martinpuich. The 1/5th and 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers (149th Brigade) were involved in the attack with the 1/4th Northumberland Fusiliers in support. The attack began at 6.45am on 14th November. The 7th battalion war diary records that the first three waves were soon 'lost in the mist', and later there are comments that 'mist prevented observation', and that 'machine gun fire and sniping' made the use of runners impossible (TNA WO95 2830/2, 14th November 1916). The weather in October and November was dreadful with rain turning the battlefield into a quagmire for friend and foe alike. Both the 1/5th and 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers suffered heavy casualties, with 120 men of the 1/5th and 99 men of the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers recorded by the CWGC as killed on 14th November. Most of the identified dead including 43 men from the 1/7th battalion are buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery while 52 men from the 1/7th have no known grave and are recorded on the Thiepval Memorial. John Aitchison is the only casualty of 14th November from either battalion buried in Ovillers Military Cemetery, which began as a battle cemetery behind a dressing station established before the capture of Ovillers on 17 July 1916. John Aitchison’s older brother Richard was in the Royal Navy. He had joined the Navy signing on for 12 years in January 1910 when he was 18 years old. He had previously been a clerk with the Post Office. In 1913 he posted to the Dreadnought battleship HMS Temeraire (Bellerephon class) and would have been with the ship as part of the 4th Battle Squadron at Jutland on 31st May 1916. He was reportedly present at the Battle of the Dogger Bank (24th January 1915) when SMS Blücher was sunk off Heligoland (Berwick Advertiser, 17 March 1916, p 5). Although the Grand Fleet did sail in support of the Beattie’s battlecruisers, it played no active part in the fight with Hipper’s battlecruisers (1st Scouting Group). Richard Aitchison was made leading seaman in 1914 and promoted to petty officer in 1919 when serving aboard HMS Warspite. Richard Aitchison remained in the Navy after the War. Memorials: Wooler, Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01); Wooler, Reredos St Marys Church (NEWMP W68.02); Wooler, West Church Communion Chair (NEWMP W68.06); Chatton, Village Green Cross 1914-18 & 1939-46 (NEWMP C20.01); ROH 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, in Buckley, War History of the Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers, Appendix IV, p.136-144 (NEWMP A11.59);
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - John Aitchison; Coldstream Local History Projects - LCpl John Aitchison; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 291008, Pte John Aitchison; 07/08/2018 - 19/01/2020; 18/04/2023; 24/06/2023; |
George Alexander
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ALEXANDER, Pte George, No. 24817, 2nd battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, killed in action on 10th February 1917, and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France Pte George Alexander was the fourth son of William Alexander (b Castle Heaton, 1868) and Agnes White (b Buckton, Kyloe, in 1868). William was an agricultural labourer. The couple married in 1891, and their first four children were all boys. The eldest James was born at Felkington in 1891, and he was followed by Thomas (b 1892), John (b 1894) and George (b 1897) all of whom were born at Scremerston. The next to be born was Margaret (b 1899) followed by William (b 1901) and Mary (b 1902) and also born at Scremerston. There followed Ralph who was born in 1905 at Bells Hill, and the last two children - both boys - Jeremiah (b 1907) and Leslie Cox Alexander (b 1909) who were born at Mindrum Mill.
George is one of two brothers known to have served in the Great War. His oldest James died at Akeld Steads on 1st May 1916, aged 25 (Berwick Advertiser, 12 May 1916, p 3). Thomas and John were of an age to have served in the armed forces in the Great War. John Alexander enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery July 1915 as a driver (No. 81382) and went to France January 1916. Later he was transferred to the Royal Engineers (No. 193103) (Berwick Advertiser, 23 March 1917, p 6). There is no evidence to suggest that the third brother Thomas Alexander served in the Army. George Alexander served with the 2nd battalion King’s Own Yorkshire light Infantry, which from late December 1915 was part of 97th Brigade, 32nd Division. Many of the battalions in 32nd Division were locally raised ‘Pals’ battalions. By contrast the 2nd KOYLI was a regular battalion which had been in Ireland at the start of the War and which had landed in France as part of 5th Division in August 1914. Late in 1915 the battalion was transferred to 32nd Division. George Alexander is reported to have enlisted in the Yorkshire Light Infantry on 9th May 1916 (Berwick Advertiser, 23rd March 1917, p 6). He seems to have enlisted at Wooler. He underwent training at Withernsea, Holderness, not far from Hull. Before he joined up he had been working for Mr Ronald Barber at Lowick Hall. On 7th and 8th February 1917 the 2nd battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry was resting at Mailly Wood Camp after a stint in the front line NE of Beaumont Hamel. On 9th February the battalion received orders to carry out an attack to the NE of Beaumont Hamel with the 11th Border Regiment on its right and a company of the 16th Northumberland Fusiliers on its left. The attack was to be made on the night of 10th/11th February at 8.30pm, supported by an artillery barrage. The aim was to drive the enemy out of Ten Tree Alley and from an adjacent ridge. The battalion war diary describes the attack as ‘entirely successful’ and records that the operation ‘culminated in the capture of 600 yards of enemy ground and the enemy line of trenches at TEN TREE ALLEY and NE of BEAUMONT HAMEL’ (TNA WO95 2402/1, 9th-12th February 1917). The war diary also records the capture of 193 prisoners. The casualties from the operation are not recorded, but the CWGC records show that the battalion lost 43 men on 10th to 12th February, and of these 21, including George Alexander, are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Memorial: Lowick, Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Village Green (NEWMP L37.01);
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte George Alexander; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 24817, Pte George Alexander; 04/02/2022; 26/02/2022; 18/04/2023; 20/06/2023; |
John Alexander
There is another John Alexander, son of Mr and Mrs Thomas Alexender, of Chatton. This John Alexander enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1916. Although seriously wounded, he survived the War (Berwick Advertiser, Friday 10 January 1919, p 3).
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ALEXANDER, LCpl John, No. 291066, previously No. 7/3633, 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, who was missing presumed killed on or after 14th November 1916, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France John Alexander was probably the eldest son of James Alexander (b 1862) and his wife Mary Jane Harbottle (b 1863, Kirknewton). The couple married in 1891. Mary Jane Harbottle had had a son John who was born in 1887, and registered at birth as ‘John Harbottle’. In 1891 Mary Harbottle, who was single, and her son John were living with her parents William and Margaret Harbottle at Tindall House, Twizel. William Harbottle was a farmer. Who John Harbottle’s father was is not recorded, but if the assumption is correct that John Harbottle and John Alexander were the same person, then it is very possible that James Alexander was John’s natural father, but there is currently no evidence to confirm this.[Note 3] Including John, the couple had six children, but one unidentified child had died young. John’s four younger (half) siblings were Margaret Robson Alexander (b 1897), William (b 1898), Mabel Jane (b 1900) and Mary Ann (b 1903). Mary Jane Alexander (née Harbottle) had died by the time the 1911 Census was taken.
John Alexander reportedly enlisted in the Army in late July 1915 (Berwick Advertiser, 6th August 1915, p 3). He married Elizabeth Jane Henry on 13th September 1915 shortly before he went to the front. He disembarked in France on 19th November 1915, and was eligible for the 1914-1915 Star. Between 3rd November and 18th December 1915 the 1/7th battalion was billeted at Strazeele and ‘carrying out company and battalion training’ and brigade training. The battalion received only one draft in November. This comprised 150 NCOs and men and arrived on 5th November, before John Alexander arrived in France (TNA WO 95 2830/1, November 1915). The next draft recorded in the War Diary arrived on 15th January 1916 and comprised 20 other ranks received from an entrenching battalion (TNA WO 95 2830/1). John Alexander could have been amongst these men. Newly arrived men and drafts were sometimes sent to entrenching battalions for trench acclimatisation before they were posted on to fighting battalions. In the middle of December 1915 orders came through for the 50th Division to move into the Ypres Salient and in particular to the area around Hill 60. On 19th December the 1/7th battalion had entrained for Poperinghe from where it marched to Canada Huts near Dickebusch. For most of the next three months, the battalion rotated between the front line trenches and periods out of the line spending time in the Canada Huts and Bedford House areas. On 1st April 1916 the battalion marched to the Locre area and then spent the rest of the month rotating stints in the front line, in reserve and out of the line in the area of R.E. Farm. On 26th April “B” company took over took over part of the Kemmel defences, and on 30th April the whole battalion was ordered into the Kemmel defences
In early August the 50th Division received notice that it was to move south to the Somme, with its destination Hénencourt Wood. On 10th August the 1/7th battalion marched from Meteren to Bailleul from where it moved by train to Doullens and marched to billets at Candas where it stayed from 10th to 14th August. It then marched to Naours, on to Mirvaux, finally arriving on 17th August at Hénencourt Wood.
At Hénencourt the battalion undertook battalion and brigade training until 10th September when it marched to the front and went into Quadrangle Trench west of Mametz Wood. The battalion remained in Quadrangle Trench until 14th September and each night sent work parties to forward areas. On the 14th orders came through for the battalion to take part in the opening attack planned for the following day (Battle of Flers-Courcelette 15th-22nd September). After the attack, which included the first use of tanks, the battalion was relieved on the afternoon of 16th September and withdrew to trenches at Mametz Wood, and became Divisional reserve. The battalion had lost three officers killed and seven wounded, and 40 other ranks killed, 219 wounded and 74 missing in the fighting on 15th September (TNA WO95 2830/2, 16th September). The battalion remained in the trenches until 4th October when it left for billets in Albert, then moved on to Millencourt, for battalion and brigade training. On 14th October the battalion moved back to Albert to relieve the 1/5th Northumberland Fusiliers ‘on road work’. Here it remained until 18th October and ‘supplied strong working parties daily on huts at Bécourt’. It then returned to Millencourt for more training. On 24th October the battalion moved to bivouacs near High Wood, then on moved into support trenches Cough Drop, Drop Alley and Flers Line, which were described as very wet and muddy. On 31st October the battalion moved to frontline trenches Snag and Abbaye, returning to the reserve trenches on 2nd November. On 3rd November the battalion went into bivouacs at High Wood where they could rest. ’The men were tired and many had bad feet’ (TNA WO95 2830/2, 4th November 1916). On 5th November the 155 Brigade made an attack of the Butte and Gird Line. The battalion stood by but did not have to move. On 6th November the battalion sent out several stretcher parties of up to 50 men to recover wounded. ‘The Field Ambulance complimented the Bat[attalio]n on the excellent work done in getting casualties to the rear under fire’ (TNA WO95 2830/2, 6th November 1916). The recovery of the wounded continued on 7th November. On 8th November the battalion rested before relieving the 1/5th battalion in the Prue and Starfish Line on 9th November. It was a moonlight night and there were several casualties from shell fire. On 11th November the battalion relieved the 1/5th Durham Light Infantry in the Flers Line and Switch trenches. On 13th November preliminary orders received from Brigade for an attack on Gird Line and Hook Sap. The battalion was to make an attack on Gird Line at 6.45am on 14th November. “A” and “B” companies were to make the attack and “C” company was detailed for carrying. “D” company was in support. The attack at 6.45 am was met by an enemy barrage and
On 15th November the 1/7th battalion was relieved by 1/4th battalion Yorkshire Regiment and withdrew to Flers Switch. ‘At 9.30pm a heavy shell dropped on headquarters at Hexham Road causing 11 casualties 4 being 7th N.F. men.’ (TNA WO95 2830/2, 15th November 1916)
The battalion war diary recorded the casualties during the 13th to 19th November were:
John Alexander was amongst those missing presumed killed. His wife Elizabeth did not remarry and there is no evidence that the couple had had any child. In 1939 Elizabeth Alexander (née Henry) was living in Marmion House, Branxton, which she shared with her unmarried brother James Henry.
Memorials: Ford, Plaque 1914-18, St Michael & All Angels (NEWMP F23.01);
ROH 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, in Buckley, War History of the Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers, Appendix IV, p.136-144 (NEWMP A11.59) See also: Bailiffgate Collections - John Alexander; IWM, Lives of the First Word War - No. 7/3633, Pte John Alexander; 11/03/2021 - 16/03/2023; 14/04/2023; 24/06/2023; |
Edward Allan
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ALLAN, Pte Edward, No. 22112, 8th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, died of wounds on 15th October 1915, aged 22, and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey Edward Allan was the youngest child of George Allan and Jane Allan (née Charlton) of Bender Crossing, Wooler and was born in 1897 at Edlingham, Northumberland. George Allan had married Jane Charlton on 2nd August 1884 at St Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne. The couple had four children: George (b c. 1887), Margaret Jane (b c. 1889, d. 1909), Thomas Dixon (b c. 1890) and Edward. In 1891 and 1901 the family lived at Learchild, and the father George Allan (b 6 June 1852) worked on the railway. In 1891 he was working as a ‘railway surface man', and as a plate layer in 1901. Jane Allan was a level crossing gate keeper first at Learchild (1891) and then at Whittingham (1901). There is no clear trace of the Allan family in the 1911 census, but there is a record of a George Allan (aged 58), railway plate layer, living at Railway Cottages, Haugh Head, Wooler. This is probably Edward Allan’s father as he was recorded as being married although no family members are listed, only a young female visitor Ethel Paton Turner (b. 1884; d 1970). The rest of the Allan family appears to be absent from the 1911 census, but the fact that Edward Allan is recorded on the Wooler Schools memorial, and that his sister Margaret Jane died in 1909 and her death was registered in Glendale District, both indicate that the family were in or near Wooler in 1911. At the start of the War and in 1915 the family were living at Bendor Crossing, Wooler where Jane Allan was the crossing gatekeeper.
After enlisting Edward Allan was posted to the 15th (Reserve) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers at Darlington for training. He was then posted to the 8th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, which had been formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in August 1914, and was attached to 34th Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division. The Division was ordered to Gallipoli, and began embarkation at Liverpool on 30th June 1915. Most of the division was transported in the RMS Aquitania and RMS Empress of Britain. The Divisional HQ and 32nd Brigade arrived at Mudros on 10 July. The Division landed at Suvla Bay on 6th and 7th August 1915, but Edward Allan is recorded as entering the theatre of war on 22nd September 1915. He was badly wounded on 12th October and died of his wounds on 15th October 1915. His is the only fatality from the battalion recorded on 15th October 1915. The division was withdrawn from Gallipoli and sailed to Imbros on 19th/20th December 1915. Edward ALLAN was the younger brother of Thomas Dixon ALLAN (qv). Memorials: Wooler Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01); Wooler, Church School plaque (NEWMP W68.03); Wooler, West Church Communion Chair (NEWMP W68.06); Kirknewton, Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Roadside (NEWMP K15.01);
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - Edward Allan; Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte Edward Allan; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 22112, Pte Edward Allan; 07/08/2018 - 16/03/2023; 18/04/2023; 204/06/2023; |
Thomas Dixon Allan
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ALLAN, Pte Thomas Dixon, No. 242686, 1/4th (Hallamshire) battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, was missing presumed dead on 26th April 1918, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium The younger son of George and Jane Allan (née Charlton) of Learchild, Northumberland, Thomas Allan was born at Edlingham, Northumberland in 1890. He was one of four children and had an older brother George (b c. 1887) and an older sister Margaret Jane (b c. 1889, d. 1909), and younger brother Edward (b 1897). Thomas married Beatrice May Lockett in late 1915. Beatrice was the daughter of Richard and Sarah Lockett and was born in Fenton, Staffordshire in 1896. Richard Lockett was a coal hewer, first in Staffordshire and then in Northumberland.
Thomas Allan served with the 1/4th (Hallamshire) (TF) battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, in 148th Brigade in 49th (West Riding) Division. In April 1918 the Hallamshire battalion as part of the 148th Brigade was located to the southwest of Ypres and heavily involved in the 2nd Battle of Kemmel. On 26 April the Brigade repulsed an attempted German attack and according to the CWGC database the Hallamshires lost 32 men on that day, including Thomas Allan. Thomas’s widow Beatrice May Allan married James Mitchison in the summer of 1922, and lived at 57 Pont Street, Ashington, Northumberland. Thomas's older brother of Edward ALLAN (qv) also died in the war. Memorials: Wooler Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01);
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - Thomas Dixon Allan; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 242686, Pte Thomas Dixon Allan; 07/08/2018; 19/03/2019; 18/01/2020; 16/03/2023 |
Douglas Macclesfield Anderson
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ANDERSON, Pte Douglas Macclesfield, No. 16967, 7th (1st British Columbia) Battalion, Canadian Infantry, missing in action on 24th April 1915, he is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium He was the son of a retired soldier Col. John Watson Macclesfield Anderson, formerly of the Bombay Staff Corps, and his wife Edith Anderson (née Gordon). The couple married at East Woodhay, Hampshire in 1888. They had six children Edith Violet (b 1888), Mary Charlotte (b December 1889), Margaret Janet (b December 1890), Douglas (b 1892), Lilian Elizabeth (b 1894) and John Coussmaker (b 1895). In 1901 the family lived at Morebattle Tofts, Roxburghshire, but by 1911 they had moved to The Thirlings, Wooler. In 1911 Douglas's younger brother John was a pupil at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire. Douglas Anderson had attended Wellington College between 1905 and 1908 and was in Hardinge House, and had served in the OTC. He is listed in the Roll of Honour published in the Order of service for the Dedication of the Memorial to those of Wellington College who died in the War. Douglas Anderson emigrated to Canada in 1910 aged 17. He sailed from Liverpool on the Allan Line's Virginian on 1st April and arrived in Halifax Nova Scotia on 8th April 1910. By 1911 Douglas was ranching in British Columbia.
Before the war Douglas Anderson served with the militia in British Columbia. When War was declared his regiment was called out on active service and Douglas Anderson was with the battalion from 10th August 1914 and was promoted to lance corporal at the beginning of September. However, from 23rd September he was on the roll of the 7th Canadian Infantry battalion at Valcartier Camp, Quebec, which had been set up for training the First Canadian Contingent. Douglas Anderson was a signaller attached to the 7th battalion headquarters with the rank of Lance Corporal.[Note 4] |
The battalion sailed as part of the First Canada Contingent on 3rd October 1914 and disembarked at Devonport Dockyard on 14th October 1914. After a period of training in Britain, the battalion paraded for mobilisation on 9th February 1915, and the next day entrained at Amesbury for Avonmouth where the battalion embarked on HMT Cardiganshire (No. 826). Because of gales they were unable to disembark at St Nazaire until 15th February. After a period of further training and route marches followed by 'trench instruction', the battalion went into trenches in the north of the Ypres Salient near Gravenstafel, which they took over from soldiers of the 3rd battalion, French 26th Regiment, 22nd Brigade, 11th Division. The Canadians were about to face the first gas attack of the War but, more importantly for the allies, the Canadians, fought the Germans to a standstill although outnumbered and in the process forged for themselves a reputation as fighting troops. The Battle of Gravenstafel (22nd-23rd April) would become one of the most famous actions of the Canadians in the Great War. On 24th April starting at 2.00am the battalion moved from Gravenstafel Ridge to a position between St. Julien and Keerselaere facing west. Here the battalion came under heavy shell fire as the Germans continued their attack on the north of the Salient (Battle of St Julien, 24th April-4th May). There was a further gas attack, but the battalion war diary records that 'owing to direction of wind full effects not felt', However the C.O. of 1st company reported that at 4.00pm 'we were subjected to a severe gassing, carried on a light wind', and 'I have since heard two men died from the effects of gas in my trench.' As a signaller Douglas Anderson could have carried messages, laid and repaired cables for field phones, operated signal lamps and also manned forward posts providing information for the artillery. It was a dangerous job. Exactly how Douglas Anderson died is not known, but his memorial plaque in Doddington Church records that he had 'twice saved his sergeant's life under heavy fire and was last seen aiding his wounded comrades.' Douglas Anderson's entry in the Wellington College Memorial Website quotes the statement that 'He was last seen standing among our wounded, whom he refused to leave, as the Prussians swept down on them.' The statement is unattributed. Douglas Anderson was missing in action on 24th April 1915 and his younger brother L Cpl John Coussmaker Anderson (No.16975) was wounded. John who had been a pupil at Wellington College in 1911, had also been in Hardinge House (Wellington Yearbook 1917, p 18) and had emigrated to Canada to join his brother in 1913. He enlisted in the 7th battalion at the same time as his brother. John received a gunshot wound to his right forearm resulting in reduced articulation of his right hand and as consequence he was discharged from the service.[Note 5] Two of their sisters volunteered to work with the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD). Their youngest sister Lilian Elizabeth Anderson (qv) worked as a nurse at the Queen Mary's Military Hospital Whalley, Greater Manchester, from June 1915 until May 1919. She was 'Mentioned in Dispatches' on 5th March 1917 and given a commendation on 20th October the same year. Lilian's older sister (Margaret) Janet Anderson (qv) worked as a cook and nurse at the VAD Hospital at Etal Manor from 20th July 1915 to 9th November 1918. Memorials: Doddington, 1914-18 Plaque, St Mary & St Michael (NEWMP D13.01); Doddington, St Mary & St Michael, Anderson 1915 Plaque (NEWMP D13.05); Morebattle War Memorial
See also: Wellington College, Roll of Honour, 'Anderson, Douglas Macclesfield' [Note 6]; Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Douglas Macclesfield Anderson; First World War Books of Remembrance, [Canada] - Douglas Macclesfield Anderson; Bailiffgate Collection - Douglas Macclesfield Anderson; Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte Douglas Macclesfield Anderson; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 16967, Pte Douglas Macclesfield Anderson, CEF; 07/08/2018 - 14/04/2023; 18/04/2023; 10/06/2023; 25/06/2023; 08/03/2024; |
Frank Andrews
Capt Clive Montagu Joicey, 4th Northumberland Fusiliers, attached 21st battalion. He was the son of Colonel and Mrs Edward Joicey of Blenkinsopp Hall, Haltwhistle, Northumberland.
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ANDREWS, Pte Frank, No. 35530, 21st (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Scottish), formerly No. 7/3538, 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, missing in action presumed dead on 5th June 1917, aged 30, and believed to be buried in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Pas de Calais, France In 1891 Francis (Frank) Andrews was just 5 years old and living in Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he had been born, with his parents Francis and Johanna Andrews. His father Francis was a shoemaker by trade and was then 67 years old (born 7th March 1825, St Helena). His census entries confirm that he was born as a British Subject on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic. Johanna was Joseph’s second wife and was born in Ireland in c 1848. She was 24 years younger than her husband. Francis’s first wife Mary Kelling had died late in 1883 at the age of 60; the couple had had eight children.[Note 7]
Francis Andrews married Johana Mara in 1884 in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in 1886 the baby boy Francis was born. Mrs Johanna Andrews died in 1892 and her husband Francis Andrews died in 1898, leaving young Francis as an orphan. In 1901 the 16 year old Frank Andrews was a general farm labourer at Norham West Mains Farm. In 1911 he was working as a farm servant for William Elliot of Lowick Mill, Beal. It is uncertain when Frank Andrews attested, but he seems to have enlisted at Alnwick and served initially with the 1/7th battalion Northumberland Fusiliers as No. 7/3538, before he was posted to the 21st (Service) battalion (2nd Tyneside Scottish) as No. 35530. The battalion was under orders 102nd Brigade, 34th Division. Frank Andrews was missing presumed killed during the attack by 102nd Brigade on Greenland Hill (5th-8th June 1917) during the Battle of Arras (9th April-16th June 1917). The attack began at 8pm on 5th June following a brief artillery barrage. The 2nd Tyneside Scottish had the 1st Tyneside Scottish (20th battalion) on their left and the 3rd Tyneside Scottish (22nd battalion) to their right. The attack achieved its objectives but at some cost. The 2nd Tyneside were relieved on night of 7th-8th June by the 11th Suffolks and the 16th Royal Scots of the 101st Brigade. Casualties recorded in the battalion war diary for 5th-7th June were 5 officers killed, including Capt C.M.Joicey, 2 officers died of wounds and 5 officers were wounded. Other rank casualties were 15 killed, 6 died of wounds, 147 wounded and 39 missing (TNA WO95 2462/5 8th June 1917). Frank Andrews was amongst missing on 5th June and was presumed killed. A body identified as that of Frank Andrews was recovered by a grave concentration unit and is buried in the Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez. His Effects Register entry confirms that he had had contact at least with some of his older half sisters and brothers. Two sisters, Mrs Sarah Ann Elliott and Mrs Mary Campbell, were named as legatees, as were the ‘Children of Bro Robert’. The money for the latter was to be retained ‘pending information as to their whereabouts’. Memorial: Lowick, Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Village Green (NEWMP L37.01); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. 35530, Frank Andrews; See also: Bailiffgate Collections - Frank Andrews; Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte Frank Andrews; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 35530, Pte Frank Andrews; 27/02/2022 - 16/03/2023; 18/04/2023; 20/06/2023; 04/12/2021; 13/02/2024; |
John Archbold
Another member of the 10th battalion was No. 18850, William Piercy BLACK (qv)
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ARCHBOLD, Pte John, No. 18848, 10th (Service) battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was killed in action on 27th September 1915, aged 22, and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas de Calais, France John Archbold was the only son of Euphemia Chisholm Archbold (née Purvis) and her late husband James Archbold (d 1896). The couple had had three children, Hannah (b 1887), Margaret (b 1890; d 1897) and John. In 1901 Euphemia Archbold was the caretaker of the ‘Workman’s Bothy and Reading Room’ at Ford and living in the bothy with her two surviving children both of whom were still at school. By 1911 the family had moved to Coldstream. Their address was 2 Abbey Road. John was working as a messenger boy for a grocery business. His mother was working as a housekeeper. Hannah’s whereabouts are not known.
John joined up very shortly after the war broke out and by early October 1914 was already enlisted in the Yorkshire Light Infantry (Berwickshire News, 6th October 1914, p 4). He was serving the with 10th (Service) battalion. The 9th and 10th (Service) battalions KOYLI were raised at Pontefract in September 1914, and in October 1914 were placed under command of 64th Brigade, 21st Division. After training in Britain, advance parties of the Division embarked for France on 2nd September 1915. The 10th battalion landed at Le Havre, and the 9th battalion at Boulogne around 12th September. John Archbold’s medal roll entry gives his disembarkation date as 11th September. The 24th Division had begun its move to France a little earlier than the 21st Division in August 1915. The 21st and 24th Divisions were the first ‘New Army’ divisions to be committed to a large scale action. The two divisions formed the reserve which was to support Haig’s 1st Army (I and IV Corps) at the Battle of Loos. The regimental history (R C Bond, The History of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the Great War, (= History of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Vol 3) p 794) describes the 21st Division’s introduction the battle very eloquently:
The lack of transport meant that machine guns and ammunition had to be carried and man-handled and also meant no cookers and therefore no hot food. Bond’s account continues:
The 9th and 10th KOYLI were held in reserve, although the 9th battalion did make an apparently spontaneous advance. Bond comments (op. cit., p 796) that ‘it was never discovered who had given the order for the advance’. Both battalions came under attack as the Germans launched their counter offensive and suffered loses before they were relieved.
The War Diary of the 10th battalion gives no casualty figures although it mentions that a few officers were wounded. Bond in his History (p 796) gives the following casualties for the 10th battalion: 3 officers who had been wounded, and 3, including Lt Col Pollack, who had been affected by gas; other ranks, 5 killed, 113 wounded and 28 missing. His figures for the 9th battalion are 2 officers wounded; other ranks, 13 killed, 167 wounded and 34 missing. The CWGC records 21 men killed from the 10th battalion for 26th to 28th September, with 18 killed on the 27th. The 9th battalion lost more men with 42 killed on 27th September a one man on 26th. Sixty one of the 64 men from the 9th and 10th battalions recorded by CWGC for the 26th-28th September 1915 have no known grave and are commemorated on the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner. Among them is John Archbold. Memorials: Crookham, Plaque Pupils 1914-18, School (NEWMP C66.02); Coldstream Roadside War Memorial [Note 8]; Coldstream, St Mary's Episcopal Church Roll of Honour (transcript only) [Note 9]; Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. 18848, John Archbold;
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte John Archbold; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 18848, Pte John Archbold; 23/07/2020; 30/10/2020; 18/04/2023; 12/06/2023; 28/01/2024; 13/02/2024; |
David Armstrong
12th Brigade, was under orders of 4th Division and in May 1915 comprised 1st Warwickshire Regiment, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, and 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
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ARMSTRONG, Pte David, No. 7/2752, 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, died on 15th May 1915, aged 20, and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium David Armstrong was one of the six surviving children of the late David Armstrong (b Knarsdale 1856; died 1902), agricultural labourer, and of Sarah Armstrong (née Gilchrist, b Haltwhistle 1864), of Ford Hill, Ford, Berwick-on-Tweed. The couple married at Haltwhistle in 1882, and had had nine children three of whom died young. The younger David was born on 16th June 1894 at Haltwhistle, Northumberland. In 1911 the widowed Sarah and her family were living at Aydon Castle Cottages, near Corbridge, and David was a 'horseman on farm'. Later the family lived at Ford Hill, Ford and then moved to Beal. In 1912 Sarah moved to Weetwood Bridge Toll Cottage with her youngest son Thomas. David was living at Hazelrigg, Chatton in 1912, but seems to have been living at Weetwood Bridge Toll Cottage when war broke out.
David had two older sisters Sarah Jane Armstrong (b 1884, Haltwhistle) and Annie Clark (née Armstrong, b 1885, Haydon Bridge), and two older brothers, Robert (b 1887, Haydon Bridge) and John (b 1892, Haltwhistle). He also had a surviving younger brother Thomas (b 1897, Haydon Bridge). Only one of three Armstrong children, who had before 1911, can be identified with certainty. Stephen Gilchrist Armstrong was born in 1899 at Chollerton and died aged 3 in 1902. He is the only one of the three deceased children recorded in a census return. David Armstrong served with 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers, which formed part of the Northumberland Brigade in the Northumbrian Division. In early April 1915 the Division was warned that it would be going overseas and it began to entrain on 16 April. The nominal roll for the battalion confirms that Private D Armstrong was a member of No. 2 Company when it departed for France. The 1/7th battalion embarked on the SS Invicta at Folkestone on 20th April and disembarked at Boulogne on 21st April, although according to his service record David Armstrong entered the theatre of war on 20th April 1915.
The division had arrived just as the German Army attacked the Ypres Salient on 22nd April using poison gas for the first time. At about 11.30 pm on the night of 22nd-23rd April the GOC Northumbrian Division received orders that the Division was the stand by ready to turn out immediately fully equipped. On 24 April 1915 the infantry brigades of the Northumbrian Division were marching towards the Battle of St Julien, just days after landing in France. The division had had no time either for familiarisation with trenches or for training in trench warfare. On the 26th April the Northumbrian Brigade was concentrated at Wieltje and placed under the command of 1st Canadian Division. At 1.30pm Brigadier General Riddell received orders for the Northumbrian Brigade to attack St Julien in co-operation the Lahore Division and a battalion of the 10th Brigade, 4th Division. The Northumbrian Brigade lost 139 men in the attack on 26th April including Brigadier General Riddell. CWGC records show that the 1/7th battalion lost 48 men killed, the 1/6th lost 43 men and 1/4th battalion 45men. The 1/5th battalion were not involved in the attack having been previously ordered to Fortuin and lost three men on 26th. The history of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division states that the figures for wounded and killed from the attack by the Northumbrian Brigade on St Julien were 42 officers and 1,912 other ranks, which was about a third of the Brigade’s strength. David Armstrong survived this baptism of fire. At about midnight on 27th April the 1/7th battalion was ordered back to Wieltje, where it bivouacked and remained until 29th April it went into trenches again. The stay was brief since the next day the battalion was ordered to Frezenberg where it was employed digging trenches under the direction of Royal Engineers. It remained at Frezenberg until 2nd May, when the battalion then marched to Poperinghe setting out at 11pm at night and arriving at 4am on 3rd May. At 8pm the battalion marched to Droghlandt where the men were billeted in four farms and remained until 10th May. On 10th May the battalion was transported by ‘motor omnibus’ to an unnamed wood at ‘Square A.29 d (Squared Map 28)’, where it remained until the morning of 13th May. On 13th the battalion marched to ‘Square H. 20 d’, from where it marched at 11pm to reinforce 12th Brigade, and received orders to report the O.C. Royal Irish Fusiliers for training in trench warfare. At 2am on 14th May the battalion arrived near Wieltje was ordered to occupy reserve trenches. Later in the day the battalion was attached to the 11th Brigade for training as follows: Headquarters, machine guns and No. 3 and No.4 Company were attached to 2nd Monmouthshire Regiment, and No. 1 and No.2 Company were attached to the 1st King’s Own (Lancaster) Regiment. David Armstrong was one of four men from the 1/7th battalion killed on 15th May 1915, when the battalion was in the trenches near Wieltje for 'training in trench warfare’. Part of the battalion was in reserve trenches and part in front line trenches astride the Wieltje – St Julien road. Casualties for the period 13th to 16th May as recorded in the battalion war dairy were ‘1 officer wounded, other ranks 4 killed, 7 wounded’ (TNA WO95 2830/1, 16th May 1915). David Armstrong's death was reported in the Berwick Advertiser 18th June 1915, p 6 with a photograph.
There is no evidence to indicate whether any of his three brothers – John, Robert or Thomas – had served in the armed forces during the war. Memorials: Wooler Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01); Chatton, Village Green Cross 1914-18 & 1939-46 (NEWMP C20.01); ROH 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, in Buckley, War History of the Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers, Appendix IV, pp 136-144 (NEWMP A11.59)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - David Armstrong; Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte David Armstrong; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 7/2752, Pte David Armstrong; 23/07/20 - 24/06/2023; |
James Atkinson
Photo IRS 10 Sept 2019
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ATKINSON, LCpl James, No. S/13507, 8th/10th Gordon Highlanders, died of wounds on 23rd March 1918, and is buried in Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, Pas de Calais, France Son of the late William Atkinson (died 12th April 1899) and his first wife Agnes Atkinson (née Tait) of Lilburn Steads, Northumberland. James was born at Kirknewton in late 1892. James had two older sisters Jane and Annie. Their mother Agnes died on 19th June 1893 and their father William Atkinson remarried in 1898, but died in 1899. In 1901 James and his siblings were living at Lilburn Tower Farm with their widowed stepmother Margaret Atkinson (née Grosert) (died March 1922). In 1911 James Atkinson was working as a grocer’s assistant and living at Lilburn Steads with his stepmother.
He served with the 8th/10th battalion Gordon Highlanders, which had been formed by the amalgamation of the 8th and 10th (Service) battalions in May 1916. The combined battalion served in the 44th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division. On 21st March 1918 the battalion was in the line south of Monchy le Preux when the Germans opened an artillery bombardment which lasted four hours, but no attack followed. On the night of 22nd/23rd March the Brigade was ordered to withdraw from the front line trenches and to pull back to the Brown Line to the rear of the Battle zone. The 8th/10th battalion withdrew 'quite orderly and without the knowledge of the Germans' leaving one company as a rearguard (War Diary, 8th/10th Gordon Highlanders, TNA WO95 1938/3, night of 22nd/23rd March). On morning of 23rd March the Germans opened an artillery and trench mortar bombardment followed by an infantry attack. The rear guard company having fought and inflicted casualties on the Germans then withdrew and joined the rest of the battalion in a camp near Tilloy. Although no casualty figures are given in the War Diary it is likely that this was the action in which James Atkinson died. The CWGC database records just seven casualties between 21st and 24th March 1918 with two, including James Atkinson, on 23rd March.
Memorials: Wooler Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01); Branton Presbyterian Church RoH (now at Glanton U.R.Church - NEWMP G4.02); Eglingham, Roadside Cross 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP E18.01); Powburn Pillar 1914-18 1939-45 Community Garden (NEWMP P39.01); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. S/13507, James Atkinson;
See also: NEWMP - Eglingham: Janet Rice, Atkinson, J., LCpl, 1918; Breamish Valley Roll of Honour - James Atkinson; Bailiffgate Collections - James Atkinson; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. S/13507, LCpl James Atkinson; 07/08/2018;19/03/2019; 14/06/2020; 23/08/2022; 09/02/2024 |
James William Atkinson
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ATKINSON, Pte James William, alias ATCHISON, No. 23/824, 23rd (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Scottish), killed in action on 1st July 1916, aged 34, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France James William Atkinson, alias Atchison, was ‘the son of Mr and Mrs Atkinson late of Chillingham, now residing at Morpeth’ (Berwick Advertiser 8th September 1916, p.3). James William Atkinson was born in c 1882, and the 1911 census James William Atkinson records that he was born at Hazon, near Morpeth. However, there is no record of a birth registered in Morpeth District, but there was a birth of a James William Atchison registered in Rothbury District in 1882, and this maybe the man in question [Note 10]. However, The Berwick Advertiser (Tuesday 2nd January 1917, p 7) described him as ‘a native of Glendale’ and stated that ‘his family resided for 15 years at Chillingham, where he was carter in the service of the Earl of Tankerville for some time’. He later worked as a carter for Messrs Tully of Wooler.
When James married Mary Ann Taylor (b 1887, High Moussen) at Ford, Northumberland on 14th September 1907 the parish register entry shows that he was still using Atchison as his surname, and his father is recorded as William Atchison. James and Mary's first child William (b 1908) and their second child Margaret (b 1909) were both registered as Atchisons. However the family had adopted the surname Atkinson when they completed their 1911 census return, and their third child born in first quarter of 1911 was registered as George Taylor Atkinson. Unfortunately George died in the third quarter of 1911. The family were then living at North Shotton, Cramlington, and James was working as a miner. It was reported that James William Atkinson enlisted in December 1914 and went to France in June 1915 (Berwick Advertiser, 2nd March 1917. p.7). However, there is no official record of any service overseas in 1914-15 and his medal index card records that his wife’s application for a 1914 Star was refused. Since he served with the 23rd battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, which began recruiting in November 1914 it is very probable that James William Atkinson did join up in December 1914, but the battalion did not land in France until January 1916. His medal index card confirms that he entered the theatre of war on 9th January 1916, which is the date that the 23rd battalion disembarked in France. The battalion was part of 102nd Brigade under the orders of 34th Division.
On the 1st July 1916 the 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) Brigade was given the task of taking strongly held German position based on the village of La Boiselle. The 23rd battalion with the 20th battalion (1st Tyneside Scottish) attacked German trenches north of La Boiselle. The 22nd and 24th battalions (3rd and 4th Tyneside Scottish attacked to the south of the village. James William Atkinson was missing presumed killed during the assault. The attack by the Tyneside Scottish Brigade was costly in casualties, with 855 men of the four battalions killed on 1st July. The 20th and 23rd battalions which had to cross Mash Valley were worst hit. The 23rd battalion lost 241 men killed including the battalion commander Lt Col William Lyle. Most of the dead, including James William Atkinson have no known graves and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Mary Ann Atkinson née Taylor remarried after the War. She married George William Boyd on 8th March 1919 at Beadnell, Northumberland. Mary Ann Atkinson née Taylor was the sister of three men who served in the Army. Through his marriage James William Atkinson was brother-in-law to David TAYLOR (qv), John Henry Taylor and James Wilson Taylor. John Henry Taylor served with the motor transport in the Army Service Corps. David TAYLOR, who was Mary's younger brother, served with the 8th battalion Somerset Light Infantry, and was killed on 21st March 1918. James William Taylor, who was youngest of the three brothers, served with the Machine Gun Corps. Memorials: Bedlington, Roll of Honour 1914-18, Netherton Coal Co. Ltd (NEWMP B17.07); Morpeth, Cenotaph 1914-18 1939-45, Castle Bank (NEWMP M17.01); Morpeth, Plaque 1914-18, St James (NEWMP M17.09); Powburn Pillar 1914-18 1939-45 Community Garden (NEWMP 39.01); Branton Presbyterian Church RoH (now at Glanton U.R.Church - NEWMP G4.02); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No.23/824, James William Atkinson;
See also: NEWMP - Bedlington: Derek Johnstone, Atkinson, J.W, Pte, 1916; Breamish Valley Roll of Honour - James William Atkinson; Bailiffgate Collections - James William Atkinson; Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte James Atkinson; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 824, Pte James William Atkinson; 04/11/2020 - 16/03/2023; 24/06/2023; 27/06/2023; 09/02/2024; |
Thomas William Atkinson
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ATKINSON, LCpl Thomas William, No. 35282, 8th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, previously No. 7/2401, 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, then No. 35282, 12th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, and then 24th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish), killed in action on 14th March 1918, he is buried in Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, Pas de Calais, France Thomas William Atkinson was born at Outchester, Belford and christened at Bamburgh in 1886. He was the sixth child of Richard Atkinson and his wife Hannah Harrison. He had five older siblings. The eldest had also been named Thomas William (b Dilston, Corbridge in 1878) but had died in 1883 aged 7. The next three children George Edward (b 1878), Richard (b 1879) and Nicholas (b 1882) were born at Dilston. The next son Jacob Atkinson was born at Dukesfield, Bamburgh, although christened at Hexham. The last two known were Mark (b 1889) and Mary Annie (b 1890) who were both born at Outchester, and christened at Bamburgh. Mary Annie died in 1922 and is commemorated on her mother’s memorial at Alnwick.
Thomas Atkinson was a member of Territorial Force and served with the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers. He was listed in the Nominal Roll of other ranks of No. 2 Company ‘proceeding abroad’ in April 1915 with the Northumbrian (later 51st) Division. His medal roll entry confirms that he was eligible for the 1915 Star. On 26th April the 1/7th battalion was ordered to support the 1/4th and 1/6th battalions Northumberland Fusiliers which were attacking St Julien. The 7th battalion came under artillery fire and later machine guns and rifle fire and suffered heavy losses. How long Thomas remained with the 1/7th battalion not known, but we do know that he later served with the 12th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The 12th battalion was under orders of 62nd Brigade, 21st Division, and had landed in France in September 1915 and fought its first action on the second day at the Battle of Loos. It is not known when and under what circumstances Thomas Atkinson transferred to the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers. It is very possible that he had been wounded while serving with the 1/7th battalion and was posted to the 12th battalion on his return to the Front. Later Thomas was posted to the 24th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish) (103rd Brigade, 34th Division). Again the date is unknown, but the posting was certainly before 24th battalion’s merger with the 27th battalion (4th Tyneside Irish) on 11th August 1917. He almost certainly served later in “A” Company of the merged battalion, because when the 24/27th battalion was disbanded on 26th February 1918, “A” Company was sent en bloc to reinforce the 8th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (34th Brigade, 11th Division). The war diary of the 8th Northumberland Fusiliers for the period 8th to 10th January records the arrival of 8 officers and 173 other ranks from the 24th/27th Northumberland Fusiliers while out of the line at Philosophe (WO95 1821/2, 8th-10th January 1918). Philosophe lies to the NE of Loos on the Bethune - Lens road. Between 8th-15th March 1918 the battalion was in the front line in the ’St Elie sector’, that is in vicinity of Cité St. Elie, in the mining district around Loos. On 12th March the ‘Enemy artillery was extremely active on back areas’ and there was at ‘9pm Heavy bombardment on our right.’ On 13th ‘Enemy artillery again active on back areas.’ The war diary records ‘7 OR evac (S) 2 OR (W)’ on 12th March. Thomas Atkinson was possibly one of the wounded other ranks. He is recorded as dying on 14th March, but no casualties are recorded in the battalion war diary for that date. Thomas Atkinson is buried in the Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, Pas de Calais France. There is no clear evidence for the military service of any of Thomas William Atkinson’s brothers, although medal index cards have been found for at least three George Edward Atkinsons who served in the Army, two Jacob Atkinsons, a Mark Atkinson and two Nicholas Atkinsons, who all appear to have survived their military service. No medal index card for a Richard Atkinson without a middle name has been found. Memorials: Eglingham, Roadside Cross 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP E18.01); Denwick, Cross 1914-18, Crossroads (NEWMP D7.01); Embleton, Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Cemetery (NEWMP E27.01); Alnwick, Roll of Service 1914-18, St Michael (NEWMP A11.09); Alnwick, Roll of Honour 1914-18, St Michael (NEWMP A11.23)
See also: IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 7/2401, Pte Thomas W Atkinson. 19/08/2022; 23/08/2022; 29/05/2023; 24/06/2023; |
William George Aynsley
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AYNSLEY, Gunner William George, No. 134076, 1st/1st (Lancashire) Heavy Battery, RGA, died of wounds on 7th June 1918, aged 43, and is buried in Pernes British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France William George Aynsley was a son of Henry and Alice Aynsley, of Crookham, Cornhill-on-Tweed, and was born at Ford in 1877. Henry Aynsley, a stone mason, married Alice Jane Locke in 1867. The couple had seven children, two of whom had died by 1911. William seems to have had four older siblings. Three - Henry (b 1868), Isabella (b 1870) and Mary Jane (b 1873) - can be identified with certainty. The fourth older sibling, Helen L Aynsley, aged 7 years, is recorded in the 1871 census, but there is no later census record. Helen was born in 1864 three years before Henry and Mary Jane were married. She is probably the Eleanor Locke, christened at Ford on 19th June 1864. Her mother’s name was Alice Jane Locke, but no father’s name was recorded. William Aynsley’s service record lists just two brothers – Leonard and Alexander – and two sisters – Isabella and Mary. Presumably Helen/Eleanor and Henry the two oldest children were those who had died before 1911. William George Aynsley was a butcher by trade and in 1901 was working for William Lillico, Butcher, at Ford. He married Margaret (Maggie) Malone on 12th December 1908 at Berwick- upon-Tweed, and the couple lived in the High Street, Wooler, where William worked as a butcher’s assistant. The couple had one child, Eleanor Locke Aynsley, born on 7th February 1910.
William Aynsley enlisted on 15th January 1917, and served at home until 10th February 1918 when he was posted to France. He arrived at RGA Base Depot, BEF on 11th February 1918, and subsequently posted to 1st/1st Lancashire Heavy Battery on 19th February 1918. The battery was then part of XXIX Heavy Artillery Brigade RGA. By November 1918 the battery was part of 46th (Mobile) Brigade attached to 5th Army (GOC Sir William Birdwood). William Aynsley died of wounds on 7th June 1918 at No.1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, which had arrived at Pernes-en-Artois to the southwest of Béthune in April 1918 following the German 1918 Spring offensives.[Note 11] Memorials: Wooler, Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01); Wooler, Reredos St Marys Church (NEWMP W68.02); Wooler, West Church Communion Chair (NEWMP W68.06); Crookham, Plaque Pupils 1914-18, School (NEWMP C66.02)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - William George Aynsley; Coldstream Local History Projects - Gnr William George Aynsley; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 134076, Gnr William George Aynsley; 07/08/2018; 19/03/2019; 19/01/2020; 16/03/2023; 18/04/2023; 20/06/2023; |
George Halliday Balmer MM
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George Balmer was the fourth son Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer and was born in Wooler in 1894. He had been an 'inmate' of the Netherton Training School [Note 12]. George Balmer had not married and his mother was his sole legatee.
George enlisted in September 1914. Initially posted to the 2/6th Northumberland Fusiliers he subsequently served with the 149th company Machine Gun Corps which formed in September 1916 and was attached to the 149th Brigade in the 50th (Northumbrian) Division. George Balmer was awarded the Military Medal in July 1917 (149th MG Coy War Diary, TNA WO95 2831/5, 16th July 1917) and the award was gazetted in September 1917 some two months after his death. George Balmer and another soldier were badly burnt in a fire in a dugout at Company HQ on 30th July 1917 and both were sent to the 45th Casualty Clearing Station, where George Balmer died (TNA WO95 2831/5, 16th July 1917). An officer notifying George Balmer's parents of his death wrote that
He was the brother of Thomas Frederick BALMER (qv), James BALMER (qv), John BALMER (qv), Sidney BALMER (qv), and Lindsey Balmer (2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment). Two other brothers the oldest Robert and youngest William did not serve in the war.
Memorials: ROH 1914-18 Netherton Training School ('George Balmer, 2/6th Northumberland Fusiliers') (NEWMP N5.03b); Booklet 1914-18 [Netherton] Training School ('Balmer, George M.G.C.') (NEWMP N5.02); Team Valley, Chapel and Plaque 1914-18 St Paul (NEWMP T68.02)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - George Balmer MM; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 72390, LCpl George Balmer; 07/08/2018 - 28/08/2020; 09/12/2020; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; |
James Balmer
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017
OO BALMER, Pte James, No. 10486, 9th (service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, died of wounds on 20th November 1915, aged 23, and is buried in the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium James Balmer was the fourth child and third son of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer. He was born in Wooler in 1892. In 1914 James Balmer was living in Bebside and worked for the Bebside Coal Company. He married Agnes Weatherburn of Bebside in late 1914. His widow Agnes and subsequently his mother-in-law Sarah Jane Weatherburn were recorded as his legatees in the Soldiers’ Effects Registers. His young widow Agnes died aged 22 in 1918.
James Balmer seems to have joined up in September 1914 and was posted to the 9th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, which was part of the 52nd Brigade of 17th (Northern) Division, and he arrived in France on 15th July 1915. He was fatally wounded on 20th November when a German shell made direct hit on dugout at battalion headquarters. Five men were killed, one (James Balmer) died of wounds and five others were wounded (9th Northumberland Fusiliers War Diary, TNA WO95 2013/1, 20th November 1915, and November 1915 Appendix E 'Casualties'). He was the brother of Thomas Frederick BALMER (qv), George BALMER (qv), John BALMER (qv), Sidney BALMER (qv), and Lindsey Balmer (2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment). The oldest brother Robert Albert Balmer and youngest brother William Balmer did not serve in the war. Memorials: Bedside Colliery plaque (NEWMP B14.02); possibly Cowpen St Cuthbert’s R.C. church plaque (NEWMP C58.03); Team Valley, Chapel and Plaque 1914-18 St Paul (NEWMP T68.02)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - James Balmer; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 10486, Pte James Balmer; 07/08/2018; 19/03/2019; 28/08/2020; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; |
John William Balmer
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018
OO BALMER, Pte John William, No. 21075, 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment (‘Green Howards’), formerly 7th (Service) battalion Yorkshire Regiment, was killed in action on 2nd April 1917, aged 20, and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France John Balmer was the fifth son of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer and was born in Wooler in 1896. He was not married.
John Balmer like his older brothers George and James reportedly joined up in 1914. He was posted to the 7th (Service) battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment and served with it on the Western Front. Later he was posted to the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment, which was part of 21st Brigade under orders of the 30th Division. The battalion war diary of 2nd battalion the Yorkshire Regiment records that 2 officers and 62 other ranks were killed, 6 officers including 2 attached officers, and 96 other ranks were wounded and 8 other ranks were missing after an attack on the village of Hénin on 2nd April by a force that was led by the 2nd battalion. The battalion was supported by two companies of the 19th battalion Manchester Regiment, two Stokes mortars of the 21st Trench Mortar battery, two machine guns and party of 36 pioneers (War Diary 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment, TNA WO95 2329/2, 2nd April 1917). The CWGC records that 84 men of the 2nd battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, including two officers, were killed on 2nd April and that 7 more died on 3rd April. John Balmer was one of 25 men with no known grave who are recorded on the Arras Memorial. John was the brother of Thomas Frederick BALMER (qv), James BALMER (qv), George BALMER (qv), Sidney BALMER (qv), and Lindsey Balmer (2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment). The oldest Balmer brother Robert and youngest brother William did not serve in the war. Memorials: Team Valley, Chapel and Plaque 1914-18 St Paul (NEWMP T68.02)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - John Balmer; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 21075, Pte John Balmer; 07/08/2018; 19/03/2019; 28/08/2020; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; |
Sidney Balmer
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019
OO BALMER, Pte Sidney, No. 51758, 1/6th (TF) battalion Cheshire Regiment, formerly No. 48269, 8th (Service) battalion North Staffordshire Regiment, died of gunshot wounds, aged 20, at the 41st Casualty Clearing Station at Namps au Val on 28th March 1918, and is buried in the Namps au Val British Cemetery, Somme, France Sidney Balmer was the sixth son of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer and was born in Wooler in late 1897. In 1911 he was an ‘inmate’ of Green’s Home, an Industrial School in MIle End Road, South Shields, which was the shore based junior establishment of the Industrial School Ship 'Wellesley'.[Note 14] The 1911 census return records his age as 11 when in fact he was 13 years old. Before enlisting in the Army he worked at the Redheugh Gasworks, Gateshead.
Sidney Balmer was called up on 14th May 1917 and after training was posted for service with the BEF on 29th October 1917 and embarked for France on 31st October. He was posted to the 8th battalion North Staffordshire Regiment on 1st November, but on 5th November 1917 he was transferred to the 16th (Service) battalion Cheshire Regiment (105th Brigade, 35th Division). His service record indicates that when Sidney Balmer was admitted to hospital in January 1918 he was attached to the 105th company Machine Gun Corps (105th Brigade, 35th Division). On 9th February 1918 he was posted to the 1/6th (TF) battalion Cheshire Regiment (118th Brigade, 39th Division) but again his service record shows that the same day he was attached to 178th Tunnelling Company RE. Sidney Balmer died on 28th March 1918 at the 41st Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) which was one of several such units located at Namps au Val to the south-west of Amiens following the opening of the German Spring Offensive. Sidney was one of three men from the 1/6th Cheshire Regiment buried in the Namps au Val British Cemetery in March 1918. The 1/6th Cheshire was in billets at York Camp, Moislains when the Germans launched their offensive on 21st March 1918. The 178th Tunnelling Company were in same general location. Both units were forced to retreat back along the Somme Valley towards Amiens. The war diary of the 1/6th battalion Cheshire Regiment records that between 21st and 30th March two officers and 17 other ranks had been killed, three other ranks had died of wounds, 139 other ranks had been wounded, eleven had been wounded and were missing, and 162 other ranks were missing, from a battalion strength of 36 officers and 803 other ranks (War Diary 1/6th Cheshire Regiment, TNA WO95 2590/3, March 1918, Appendix 1). The CWGC records 52 men of the 1/6th battalion killed or missing presumed killed from 21st to 31st March inclusive. Thirty one of these men have no known grave and are commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. He was the brother of Thomas Frederick BALMER (qv), James BALMER (qv), George BALMER (qv), John BALMER (qv) and Lindsey Balmer (2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment). The oldest and youngest Balmer brothers Robert and William did not serve in the war. Memorials: Redheugh, Gas Works plaque (NEWMP R43.01); Team Valley, Chapel and Plaque 1914-18 St Paul (NEWMP T68.02)
See also: IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 51758, Pte Sidney Balmer; 07/08/2018; 19/03/2019; 28/08/2020; 20/06/2023; |
Thomas Frederick Balmer
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020
OO BALMER, Thomas Frederick, Munitions worker, died of lyddite poisoning on 2nd January 1916, aged 27 Thomas Frederick was the third child and second of son of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer and was born at Wooler in 1889. In 1891 the family were living in Cheviot Street, Wooler and the father Frederick was working as a labourer. In 1911 Thomas was residing in a lodging house run by a Mrs Mary Robinson at 12 Clark Street, Cowpen. He was working then as general labourer. During the War he was a munitions worker and died from lyddite poisoning in 1916. He was 27 years old (Shields Daily News, Tuesday 28th August 1917, p. 4).
He was the brother of James BALMER (qv), George BALMER (qv), John BALMER (qv), Sidney BALMER (qv) and Lindsey Balmer (2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment). The oldest and youngest Balmer brothers Robert and William did not serve in the war. Memorials: none identified
07/08/2018;19/03/2019; 28/08/2020 |
Thomas Edgeley Barclay
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021
BARCLAY, Pte Thomas Edgeley, No. 291122, previously No. 7/3743, 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in action on 14th November 1916, aged 30, and is now buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France Thomas Edgeley Barclay (b 1887) had married Jane Ellenor Hume (b 1879) in 1908 and the couple had had three children, Joseph Charles (b 1908), Mary Ilene (b late 1909) and George Frederick, who was born in April 1911 but died, age 19 months, on 14 November 1912. Thomas Barclay was employed as a mason. In 1911 the couple were living in The Lane, Glanton, with their two young children.
Thomas served with the 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. He was not a pre-war Territorial, but joined the battalion in France after training. He was killed in action on 14th November 1916 during the attacks on Gird Trench and Hook Sap, in area between Le Sars and the Butte de Warlencourt. Early on 13th November the 1/7th battalion received preliminary orders from 149th Brigade for the attack. At 7.30pm the operation orders were received. The objective of the operation ‘was to capture the high ground overlooking the BUTTE & to establish strong points on the left flank' (TNA WO95 2830/2, War Diary 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers). The attack by the 1/7th battalion was to be carried out by “A” and “B” companies advancing in two waves with “B” on the right and “A” on the left. “C” Company was to provide carrying parties, and “D” Company was in support and was to occupy Snag Trench when the attack began. The battalion moved from Flers Line at midnight and was in position for the attack by 4.00am on 14th November. ‘Bn H.Q. moved up to HEXHAM ROAD, which were (sic) shared with the 5th N.F. who were attacking on our right.(op. cit., 14th November).
During the period between the 13th to 19th November 1916 inclusive the battalion lost 19 other ranks killed, 95 wounded, 6 wounded and shell shocked, 4 wounded and missing and 103 missing (total 227 ORs) and lost 2 officers killed, 2 wounded and missing, and 4 wounded (total 8 officers).
Thomas Edgeley Barclay was amongst those killed on 14th November 1916. He was buried in the field and his grave marked with a cross. In late 1920 his body was exhumed as part of the process of gathering together battlefield burials for re-interment in permanent cemeteries. Thomas was reburied in the Warlencourt British Cemetery. When Thomas died, the family were living in Front Street, Glanton. In 1921 Jane was living in Highfield Place, Glanton with her two children. She received a pension for her two young children. By 1939 she was living in Highfield Cottage, Glanton with two young granddaughters, Sylvia Barclay (b 30th June 1935) and Margaret J Barclay (b 3rd July 1937) who were the daughters of her son Joseph and his wife Lilian Templeton. The latter couple lived in Newcastle upon Tyne. Jane never remarried and died aged 79 in 1958. Memorials: Glanton, Presbyterian Church Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1918 (NEWMP G4.03); Whittingham, Stained Glass Window and Plaque Fallen 1914-18 St Bartholemew (NEWMP W48.01); ROH 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, in Buckley, War History of the Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers, Appendix IV, p.136-144 (NEWMP A11.59);
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - Thomas Edgeley Barclay; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 291122, Pte Thomas E Barclay; 20/10/2022; 22/10/2022; 24/10/2022; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; |
Bertram Reinfred Barron
Bertie Barron is listed in the Alnwick Gazette Almanack 1918, p 54 as 'Barron, Herbert (sic), N.F., West Lilburn'. Also listed for West Liburn are 'Fred Jerum' (sic), Richard Ridding and George Thompson, all of whom are listed on the Eglingham Roadside Cross, All but George Thompson are also listed on the Powburn Pillar (NEWMP P39.01). Another man listed on the Eglingham Cross and Powburn Pillar but not in 1918 Almanack is Tom Pybus.
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022
BARRON, Pte Bertram (Bertie) Reinfred, No 13130, 9th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in action, aged 21, on 6th September 1915, and is buried in the Ridge Wood Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium Bertram (Bertie) Reinfred Barron was the second of the five children, and the only son, of John and Ann Elizabeth Barron. John Barron (born Ballaugh, Isle of Man) married Ann Elizabeth Barnwell (b Tadcaster, Yorkshire) at St Cuthbert’s Church, York on 13th September 1890. John Barron was then working as a gardener. By 1901 the couple were living at (Kirk) Michael on the Isle of Man with four children. John Barron was working as a manservant at the Bishop Wilson Theological School, attached to the then residence of the Bishop of Sodor and Man at Bishopcourt. In 1901 the Principal of the Theological College was the Rev Walter Isidore Moran, later the incumbent at Wooler. The Rev Moran was also Chaplain to the Bishop of Sodor and Man.
By 1911 John Barron was butler, and his wife was cook housekeeper, at the Theological College. The couple had five children all born at Kirk Michael. The eldest Ruby Sorthil (b 1891) was a school teacher. Next was Bertram (b 1894) who was a domestic gardener, and then they had three girls Evelyn Annie (b 1896, d 1913), Florence Elizabeth (b 1897, d 1936) and Bertha Alexandra (b 1902, d 1974) all still at school. In 1914-15 Bertram Reinfred Barron, known as Bertie, was living at West Lilburn in Northumberland, and working as gardener. He enlisted in 1914 with his fellow Lilburn gardeners Fred Jerram (qv), Richard Ridding (qv), and probably Tom Pybus (qv). Bertie Barron, Fred Jerram and Richard Ridding all served in the 9th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers; Tom Pybus served with the 1/7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The 9th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, which was raised in Newcastle and then moved to Wimborne, Dorset, as part of 57th Brigade, 17th Division. The battalion then went to Wool, Dorset, and finally left for France in July 1915 from Hursley Park, Hants. The battalion marched to Winchester from where it went by train to Southampton. The battalion embarked on the Invicta and arrived at Boulogne at 11.00pm on 15th July. The battalion reached the camp at Boulogne at 1.00am on 16th July (TNA WO95, War diary 9th Northumberland Fusiliers). Bertram’s medal index card and his 1915 Star roll entry both confirm his disembarkation date as 15th July 1915. Bertie Barron was killed on 6th September 1915 while escorting a convoy. The battalion war diary records
The names of the casualties, including Bertie Barron, are listed in an appendix to the War Diary for September 1915.[Note 15]
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Memorials: Eglingham Roadside Cross 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP E18.01); Powburn Pillar 1914-18 1939-45 Community Garden (NEWMP P39.01);
See also: Breamish Valley Roll of Honour - Bertram Reinfred Barron; Bailiffgate Collections - Bertram Reinfred Barron; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 13130, Pte Bertram Reinfred Barron; 07/12/2021 - 03/04/2023; 19/04/2023; 24/06/2023; 09/02/2024; 24/02/2024; |
William Marshal Beattie
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023
BEATTIE, 2nd Lieut William Marshal, 9th (TF) battalion Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Highlanders), died on 13th April 1918, aged 22, and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Hainaut, Belgium William Beattie was the youngest son of Jonathan Beattie and Isabella Beattie (née Arkle) of Glendale Road, Wooler and was born on 30th May 1895 at Wooler. His father was a building contractor. William Beattie had two older brothers, Richard (born 1879), John George (born 1882), and two sisters, Frances Mary (born 1884) and Ada Isabella (born 1887). He was educated at the Duke’s School Alnwick. He was working for the British Linen Bank in Ayr when war broke out.
He joined the Highland Light Infantry on 26th January 1915 as a private (No. 3802 / No. 331190) but was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 9th battalion (TF) Highland Light Infantry on 28 February 1917. He did not arrive in France until 9th October 1917. The 9th battalion Highland Light Infantry was then under command of 100th Brigade, 33rd Division and was located in the Ypres Salient when the Germans opened their Spring Offensive (Operation Michael) against Third and Fifth Army in the area around St Quentin on 21st March, followed by Operation Mars at Arras. The Division was ordered south to the area between Arras and Amiens as reinforcements, but on 10th April it was ordered back to Flanders, after the opening of the third phase of the German offensive (Operation Georgette) against British trenches south of Armentières. The 100th Brigade was in the front line near Neuve Eglise by the evening of 11th April. The 'B' company 9th Highland Light Infantry manned outposts, 'C' company was in support and two companies were in reserve. William Beattie's death at Neuve Eglise on 13th April is recorded in the battalion war diary (War Diary 9th Highland light Infantry, TNA WO95 2431/1, 14th April 1918). Memorials: Wooler, Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01), Wooler, Reredos St Marys Church (NEWMP W68.02), Wooler, Church School plaque (NEWMP W68.03); Alnwick, Duke's Middle School plaque 1914-1918 (NEWMP A11.16)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - William Marshall Beattie; Coldstream Local History Projects - 2nd Lt William Marshal Beattie; IWM, Lives of the First World War - 2nd Lt William Marshall Beattie; 07/08/2018 - 16/03/2023; 18/04/2023; 20/06/2023; |
William Piercy Black
William Piercy Black's regimental Number 18850 was very similar to that of John Archbold (No. 18848) (qv) who also served with the 10th Battalion. Is it possible that they joined up at the same time?
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024
BLACK, LCpl William Piercy, No. 18850, 9th (Service) battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, formerly 10th (Service) battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was killed in action on 21st March 1918, aged 23, and is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial, Somme, France William Piercy Black was the third child of Henry Black and his wife Margaret Jane Piercy. The couple had married in Berwick-upon Tweed on 1st January 1890. Henry Black’s father John was a gamekeeper at Mardon Inch, Ford. In 1891 the young couple and their baby daughter Margaret (b 1891, Berwick-upon-Tweed) were living with the Piercy family in Walkergate, Berwick. Henry was working as a draper. Four more children were born while the family lived in Berwick: George (b 1893, bap. 4 Jun 1893), William Piercy (b 1895; bap. 1 June 1895), Catherine (b 1896; bap. 7 Jan 1897) and Elizabeth Oliver (b 1898).
The next child Ellen (b 1901) was born at Tyne Dock, South Shields, Co. Durham. In 1901 the family were living in Dean Cottage, Dean Road near Tyne Dock. Henry was working as a foreman maltster. Also living with the Black family were Margaret’s brother John Piercy, who was a maltster, and Henry’s 16 year old younger brother John Black who was working a stable lad. The couple’s sixth child Henry was born in South Shields in 1903. Their next child David was born in 1905 in Alnwick. Their last two children, Hannah (b 1907) and John (b 1910) were born at Carham. In 1911 the family, now with ten children, were living at Presson, Carham, where Henry was working as a horseman on a farm. The four oldest children were all farm workers; William Piercy was working as a cow man. The six youngest children were all at school. The Alnwick Gazette Almanack 1918 lists William Piercy Black’s address as Shidlaw Farm, Cornhill on Tweed. Later the family moved to Duddo Farm. William clearly enlisted early in the War since he landed with the 10th (Service) battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (64th Brigade, 21st Division) on 11th September 1915. He was almost certainly with the battalion at Loos. He subsequently served with the 6th (Service) battalion (14th Division), then the 2nd battalion (32nd Division) and finally with the 9th (Service) battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (64th Brigade 21st Division). In the absence of his service record it is not possible to know the circumstances that led to his service with the different battalions. The only certain information is that William Black was serving with the 9th battalion when he was killed on 21st March 1918. On 19th March 1918 the 9th battalion moved up to the front from where it had been working on a two acre agricultural plot behind the lines. The 21st Division was under orders VII Corps (Congreve) in Gough’s Fifth Army, which was located to the south of Third Army. The Division was in the centre of the VII Corps front with the 9th Division on its left and the 16th Division on its right. The 62nd and 110th Brigades (21st Division) were in the front line (Red Line) with the 64th Brigade now in the line behind (Brown Line). When the Germans launched their spring offensive, the attack on VII Corps fell most heavily on 16th Division and its frontline was quickly overwhelmed. The 9th battalion in reserve came under increasingly heavy artillery fire on 21st and the battalion as ordered pull back from the Brown Line, but later in the day was sent forward again. Seven men of the 9th battalion, including William Piercy Black, are recorded as killed on 21st March by the CWGC. None have a known grave and all are recorded on the Pozières Memorial. The casualties were much heavier on 22nd March when 72 men were lost. Between the 21st and 24th March the battalion lost 92 men. Of these 72 are commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. Memorials: Carham, Cross 1914-18 & 1939-45, Crossoads (NEWMP C8.02)
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte William Piercy Black; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 18850, Pte William Piercy Black; 23/07/2020; 18/04/2023; 20/06/2023; 24/06/2023; |
James Blain
There is a concise account of the attack on Bernafay Wood by the 6th KOSB and 12th Royal Scots in Ewing’s The History of the 9th (Scottish) Division, 1914-1919, London 1921, pp 97-8.
Camiers is located on the French Channel coast just north of Étaples. In July 1916 there were five General Hospitals – Nos 4, 11, 18, 20 and 22 – located at Camiers.
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025
BLAIN, Pte James, No. 20527, 6th (Service) battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers, died of wounds on 10th July 1916 in hospital at Camiers, aged 30, and is buried in Étaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France James Blain was the son of Edward Blain and his first wife Sarah Lackenby. Edward and Sarah had married in 1881. The couple had three surviving children. The first child Mary Ann was born at the very end of 1882 at Norham, James was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1886 and Elizabeth in 1889 also in Berwick. Sarah Blain died in early 1893. Sarah was the sister of Robert Lackenby and aunt to his son John William LACKENBY (qv). Edward Blain was also John William Lackenby’s uncle as he was the brother of John’s mother Jane Blain.
Edward Blain remarried in 1896. His second wife was Sarah Turnbull, who was born and raised in Stepney, London. Her father Robert Turnbull was a printer and compositor, born in Middlesex, but his wife Eliza was from Martock in Somerset. The family were living in Berwick by 1881, and Sarah Turnbull worked as needlewoman. Edward Blain and Sarah Turnbull had one child William born on 18th May 1898. The young man died in Berwick aged 18 in 1915 (Berwick Advertiser, 13th August 1915, p 3).[Note 17] James Blain (No. 20527) served with the 6th (Service) battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers which was raised in Berwick in 1914. The battalion formed part of 28th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division. James Blain was not with the battalion when it landed at Boulogne in May 1915, but he did disembark in France on 30th September 1915. The 6th battalion transferred to 27th Brigade, 9th Division, on 6th May 1916 when the 28th Brigade was broken up. The 9th Division was involved in the Battle of Albert (1st-13th July 1916) as part of XIII Corps (Congreve). On the 1st July the 6th battalion was not directly involved in the fighting, but individual companies were employed carrying equipment and RE and other stores (TNA WO95 1772/2, 1st July 1916). On 2nd July they were warned to prepare to move at short notice. On 3rd July the battalion provided working parties, but at 7pm it received an order to attack Bernafay Wood. The attack was made at 9pm together with the 12th Royal Scots. The wood was captured and 2 machine guns and 11 prisoners were taken. The battalion suffered 5 casualties (op. cit. 2nd -3rd July 1916). On 4th July the battalion consolidated its position and came under heavy German artillery fire. The War Diary records that there were 130 other rank casualties and that three officers were killed, two were wounded and two others were suffering from shell shock (op. cit. 4th July 1916). The following day the German artillery continued its work causing 40 other rank and five officer casualties (op.cit. 5th July 1916). On 6th and 7th July the German artillery fire continued with further casualties, but an attack was made through Bernafay Wood on Trones Wood by the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment and 2nd battalion Wiltshire Regiment (21st Brigade, 30th Division) with the 6th KOSB supporting with Lewis guns and snipers (op.cit. 6th-7th July 1916). The War Diary recorded a ‘Most intense bombardment of BERNAFAY WOODS by enemy all day’ on 8th July (op. cit. 8th July 1916). The battalion was relieved on 9th July and spent a few days resting and re-organising. The casualties recorded by the CWGC show that the battalion suffered the most casualties on 4th July, and on 7th-8th July. Altogether between 4th and 10th July the CWGC records 66 men from the battalion killed. War diary records over 300 casualties (killed, wounded or missing) in the same period (TNA WO95 1772/1, 9th July 1916). James Blain, who died in hospital at Camiers on 10th July, had presumably been evacuated after being wounded during the battle. Memorials: Etal, Roll of Honour 1914-18, Plaque (NEWMP E32.01); Ford, Plaque 1914-18, St Michael & All Angels (NEWMP F23.01); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. 20527, James Blain;
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte James Blain; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 20527, Pte James Blain; 23/07/2020 - 12/06/2023; 20/06/2023; 24/06/2023; 13/02/2024; |
Andrew Blyth
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026
BLYTH, Pte Andrew, No. 45518, 14th (Service) battalion Durham Light Infantry, previously No. 4767 1/6th (TF) battalion Durham Light Infantry, died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 18th May 1917 at Darlington, Co. Durham. Andrew Blyth (b 1884, Old Bewick) was the third son and fourth child of Charles Blythe (sic) (b c 1854, Sprouston, Roxburghshire, d 1920) and his wife Elizabeth English (b 1854, Horncliffe, Norham). The couple married in 1875. Their eldest child was Robert (b 1877 Eglingham) and was followed by Violet (b 1880, d 1898), John William (b 1882), Andrew (b 1884), Walter (b 1888), Elizabeth (b 1890), Charles (b 1893), Agnes (b 1896) and Arthur (b 1899).[Note 18]
Andrew Blyth attested on 11th December 1915 and was posted to the Army Reserve. His address was ‘Greystones’, Carmel Road, Darlington, Co Durham, and he was working a chauffeur and gardener. His father Charles Blyth of East Lilburn, Alnwick was named as his next of kin. Andrew was mobilised on 22nd March 1916 and joined up at Darlington 23rd March. His service, which lasted 1 year and 125 days, included 142 days served with the BEF in France. He was posted first to the 3/6th (TF) battalion Durham Light Infantry which served as a training unit and was based at Horton for training.[Note 19] His training lasted until 10th August 1916. He was posted then to BEF in France, and he landed in France of 11th August 1916. Private Andrew Blyth served first as No. 4767, 1/6th battalion Durham Light Infantry (151st Brigade, 50th Division) from 12th August 1916, then was he transferred as No. 45518 to the 14th (Service) battalion Durham Light Infantry (64th Brigade, 21st Division) on 14th September 1916. However the tuberculosis that would kill him was first suspected when Andrew Blyth reported sick on 10th September 1916 with ‘pain in chest tempt’re high’ (‘Medical Report on an Invalid’ which forms part of his discharge papers) and it seems improbable that he physically transferred to the 14th battalion given his illness. He was definitively diagnosed with tuberculosis on 31st December 1916 and was immediately shipped back to Britain, disembarking on 1st January 1917. He was discharged from the Army at Newcastle on 14th April 1917. He died from pulmonary tuberculosis a little over a month after his discharge on 18th May 1917. His death was registered in Darlington, Co Durham. His death and burial are not recorded by the CWGC, presumably because he had been discharged from the Army prior to his death, and medical opinion was that his tuberculosis was not due to his military service. He was described in his discharge papers as ’a useful & well conducted man’ and his military character during his service was described as good. There is no definite evidence that any of Andrew’s brothers served in the Army in the Great War. Robert Blyth (b 1877), John William Blyth (b 1882), Walter (b 1888) and Charles (b 1893) were all of an age to have been liable for military service, and even Arthur (b 1899) could have been conscripted later in the War. Memorials: Eglingham, Roadside Cross 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP E18.01)
See also: Bailiffgate Collection - Andrew Blyth (named, not identified); IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 45518, Pte Andrew Blyth; 26/08/202 - 20/06/2023; 24/06/2023; |
Robert Brewis
James Brewis
John Thomas Brewis
For an account of the attacks by the Tyneside Scottish Brigade against the La Boiselle sector on 1st July 1916 see Graham Stewart & John Sheen, Tyneside Scottish. The 20th, 21st, 22nd & 23rd (Service) Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers, Barnsley 1999, chapter 6.
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027
BREWIS, Pte Robert, No. 22/895, 22nd (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Scottish), presumed killed on 1st July 1916, he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France Robert Brewis was the fourth of the six surviving children of Hannah Grieve (b Bebside 1852, d 1919) and her husband John Brewis, woodman (b Coldstream 1852, d 1899). The couple married in 1880, and had had eight children, two of whom had died young. Seven children can be identified from census records. The oldest child was John Thomas (b 1881), who became a woodman. The next child that can be identified with certainty is Eleanor born 1885. Eleanor was followed by another girl Alice (b 1886) and then by Robert (b 1886), Mary (b 1890; d 1892), James (b 1893) and Isabella (b 1894). Mary was one of the two children who had died. The other child cannot be identified.
Robert Brewis enlisted and joined the 22nd (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Scots). Recruiting for a single Tyneside Scots battalion began almost immediately after war was declared. In June 1915 four Tyneside Scots battalions formed the 102nd Brigade, 34th Division, and were taken over by the War Office in August 1915. The 34th Division embarked for France in early January 1916. On the 1st July 1916 the 102nd Brigade comprising the four Tyneside Scots battalions was tasked with taking German trenches to the north and south of the village of La Boiselle. The divisional history records that:
Two mines - Lochnagar mine to the southeast of the village and Y Sap mine to the north - were to be detonated just before the troops left their trenches. The 22nd battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Scots) together with the 21st battalion (2nd Tyneside Scots) were to attack to the south of La Boiselle with the 21st battalion leading. To the north of La Boiselle, the 20th battalion (1st Tyneside Scots) was to lead the advance across Mash Valley against German trenches supported by the 23rd battalion (4th Tyneside Scots). Eight groups of bombers under Lts Rotherford and Connolly and drawn from 102nd Brigade were to enter the village itself.
The attack by the four Tyneside Scottish battalions was costly in casualties, with 855 men of the four battalions recorded by the CWGC as killed on 1st July. Worst hit were the 20th and 23rd battalions which had to cross Mash Valley, and which lost respectively 323 and 241 men killed including both battalion commanders: Lt Col Charles C A Sillery of the 20th battalion, and Lt Col William Lyle of the 23rd battalion. The battalions which attacked to the south suffered fewer casualties. The 21st battalion lost 132 men and the 22nd battalion had 162 men killed including the battalion commander Lt Col Arthur P A Elphinstone. Of the 162 dead, 144, including Col Elphinstone and Robert Brewis, have no known grave. In 1911 Robert’s older brother John Thomas was living at Winlaton, Co Durham, where he was an ‘estate woodman’. He enlisted under the Derby Scheme and was called up in June 1916 when he was posted to the Royal Garrison Artillery (Berwick Advertiser, 11th August 1916, p 7). After training he was posted to Base details and served overseas and was eligible for the British War and Victory medals. John Brewis had married Margaret Elizabeth Smith in 1908. The couple had two children, John and Dorothy, before John joined the army. They had two more children George (b 1920) and Thomas (b 1921) just after the war. John Brewis died in 1941. The youngest brother James enlisted in the Army on 11th November 1914. His medal roll entry indicates that Private James Brewis (No. 15421) had served with 2nd battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers was a regular battalion and had been India when war was declared, had sailed back to Europe at the end of 1914, and served in France until it was posted to Salonica in November 1915, and remained there until June 1918 when it was sent to France. It was reported in the Berwickshire News (6th November 1917, p 6) that James Brewis had been discharged from the Army on health grounds. The report noted that he had served in the Dardanelles, and that that was where his health had broken down. It is almost certain that 'Dardanelles' was a mistake and that the report should have read 'Salonica'. There is no evidence that James served in any battalion other than the 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers.[Note 20] Whatever battalion he served with, there is no doubt that James Brewis was discharged from the Army on 3rd May 1917 under King’s regulations paragraph 392 (xiv) (‘no longer fit for military service’) and was awarded a Silver War Badge. He was also awarded a pension which commenced on 4th May 1917. He was suffering from myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord) causing partial paralysis of his right leg. James does not appear to have married and died on 11th January 1937 at 24 Cavendish Gardens, Ashington. He was just 44 years old. Memorials: Branton Presbyterian Church RoH (now at Glanton U.R.Church - NEWMP G4.02); Powburn Pillar 1914-18 1939-45 Community Garden (NEWMP P39.01); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. 22/895, Robert Brewis;
See also: Breamish Valley Roll of Honour - Robert Brewis; Bailiffgate Collections - Robert Brewis; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 22/895 Pte Robert Brewis; 14/06/2020 - 13/04/2021; 16/03/2023; 12/06/2023; 24/06/2023; 09/02/2024; |
John Brodie
Marcus Brodie
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028
BRODIE, Pte John, No. 42936, 16th (Service) battalion (2nd Edinburgh) Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment), formerly No. 241694, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), he died on 16th April 1918, and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Hainaut, Belgium John Brodie was the eldest son of John Brodie, watch and clock maker, and Jane Brodie (née Henderson?) of Ramsey Lane, Wooler, and was born in c 1886 in Wooler. He had two younger brothers George William (b c 1890) and Marcus (b c 1896). John Brodie junior was a painter and decorator, and married Elizabeth Stevenson (or Stephenson) of Glanton Pike at Alnwick on 3rd October 1908. The couple had three children and lived at No.122 Harvey Street, Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Before the war John Brodie had served in the 7th (TF) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, completing his service in 1913. He enlisted on 23rd October 1916, and was posted to the 2/6th Scottish Rifles (The Cameronians). The battalion was posted to Kilworth Camp, Co. Cork, Ireland. Brodie eventually embarked for France on 20th February 1918 and arrived at the Infantry Base Depot on 21st February. He was transferred to the 16th battalion Royal Scots on 24th February. The 16th battalion, also known as McCrae's battalion, was part of 101st Brigade, 34th Division. During the Battle of the Lys the 16th battalion together with the 15th battalion Royal Scots fought a desperate rearguard action at Bac St Maur against German attacks on Bailleul and Hazebrouck. John Brodie was missing presumed killed on 16th April 1918. The battalion had suffered heavy casualties during this period and was reduced to cadre strength on 16th May 1918. His younger brother Marcus Brodie served initially with the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers (No. 1354) and then with the 4th battalion Gordon Highlanders (No. 238076). Marcus, who was wounded on more than one occasion, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, and survived the War. The middle brother George William, who was a mechanic, may not have served in the Armed Forces during the War. Memorials: Wooler, Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01), Wooler, Reredos St Marys Church (NEWMP W68.02), Wooler, Church School plaque (NEWMP W68.03); Scottish National War Memorial - John Brodie;
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - John Brodie; Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte John Brodie; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 42936, Pte John Brodie; 07/08/2018; 19/03/2019; 16/03/2023; 18/04/2023;12/06/2023; 20/06/2023; |
Henry Glendinning Brown
Thomas H Brown
Robert Brown
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029
OO BROWN, Pte Henry Glendinning, No. 46261, 9th (Service) battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, formerly No. 7321, Army Cyclist Corps, was killed in action on 2nd November 1916, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France Henry Glendinning Brown was the third of the nine children of Peter Brown (b 1855, Wooler) and Jane Davidson Glendinning (b 1860, Ford). Jane was the daughter of Henry Glendinning, a farmer at Blinkbonny, Ford, and his wife Barbara Hook. Peter Brown and Jane Glendinning married in 1879 and had nine children, three daughters and six sons. Five of the six sons certainly served during the war. Jane Glendinning Brown died aged 58 on 6th February 1918 aged 58, and her husband Peter died on 1st July 1926 aged 70. Their daughter Ann Elizabeth died aged just 26 on 21st May 1920.
Henry (Harry) Glendinning Brown attested at Amble on 13th October 1914 and was posted to the Northumberland Fusilier Depot (No.13389). However on 12th February 1915 he was transferred to the Army Cyclist Corps and posted to the 21st Divisional Cyclist Company. He disembarked in France on 10th September 1915 with the 21st Division. He was posted to 19th Army Cyclist Company (19th (Western) Division) which he joined ‘in the field’ on 22nd March 1916. The Division was part of III Corps. The cyclist company left the Division on 19th April. On 25th May 1916 Henry was transferred to the 9th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, which was part of 58th Brigade, and under orders of 19th (Western) Division. The 9th battalion War Diary (TNA WO95 2092/1) records that on 25th May a ‘draft of 65 NCOs and men joined . . . from IIIrd Corps Cyclist Coy and 10 more on the 28th & 30th’. Henry Brown was one of three men of the 9th battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers who died on 2nd November 1916 and are recorded by the CWGC. None of the three has a known grave and all are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Altogether 11 men of the battalion died from 2nd to 5th November 1916, when the battalion was occupying Regina and Hessian trenches, east of the Stuff Redoubt, but no casualties are recorded in the battalion War Diary. Henry’s older brother George Tait Brown does not appear to have served in armed forces but he may have been involved with the Volunteers. Thomas Hook Brown served with the Army Service Corps and survived the war. Robert Brown had emigrated to New Zealand in 1913 and served with Canterbury Battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli, Egypt and France. He survived the war and returned to New Zealand in 1919. Charles Brown served with the Northumberland Fusiliers and then with the Military Foot Police. He was wounded but survived the war. His youngest brother James Leonard Brown (q.v.) served with the 1st Life Guards and died of wounds in January 1916.
Memorials: Radcliffe, Roadside Memorial 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP R32.01)
See also: NEWMP - Amble West Cemetery: Henry Glendinning Brown; Bailiffgate Collections - Henry Glendinning Brown; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 46261, Pte Henry Glendinning Brown 20/03/2013; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; 24/06/2023; |
James Ayton Brown
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030
BROWN, LCpl James Ayton, No. S/9411, 7th (Service) battalion Seaforth Highlanders, died on 24th November 1915, aged 21, and is buried at the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm), West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. James Ayton Brown was the eighth of the nine children of John Brown and his wife Rebecca McDougall, who married in 1878 when Rebecca was just 17 years old. The eldest child and first son was Andrew (b 1878). There followed five daughters: Rebecca (b 1880, d 1885 aged 4), Annie (b 1882), Catherine (b 1884), Margaret (b 1887) and Lillian (b 1889). The couple then had two boys, John (b 1891) and James Ayton (b 1895). The final child born in 1900 was Gladys Rebecca Jane Brown.
In 1911 James was working as a roadman for the local Glendale District Council. James did not enlist up immediately after the war broke although he was keen to join. His father was not well and his parents did want him to leave being the only son living at home. His father John eventually died on 4th February 1920 aged 67. James did enlist in July 1915 with his friend Thomas GALLON (No. S/9412) (qv). Both joined the Seaforth Highlanders and after training with the 3rd (Reserve) battalion Seaforth Highlanders at Cromarty, both disembarked in France on 11th November 1915. They were posted to the 7th (Service) battalion Seaforth Highlanders, which was under orders 26th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division. The 7th battalion had suffered heavy casualties during the Battle of Loos (25th September-15th October). On 25th September, the 7th battalion Seaforths had attacked and captured the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8. The attack had begun at 6.28am, but by 9.30am the battalion was under the command of Captain W. T. Henderson ‘all officers senior to him being out of action.’ The battalion occupied a trench in front of Fosse 8 until midnight, when it was relieved by a battalion of Royal Sussex Regiment, but Germans counterattacked and took the trench. The Seaforths retook the trench and then in the early morning of Sunday 26th returned to the battalion reserve line, then moved to the fire line. On 27th September at 3 pm the battalion was ordered to make another attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The attack was successful and the battalion was relieved and withdrew to the fire line. That night the whole 26th Brigade was withdrawn from the battle. On 28th September the 7th battalion was taken by lorry to billets at Bethune, where it was to begin the process of ‘refitting and reorganization’. The casualties suffered by the battalion were listed in the war diary (TNA WO95 1765/1, 29th September 1915) :
At Bethune on 29th September the battalion received a draft of 50 NCOs and other ranks. The following day the battalion was taken by train to Abeele, from where it marched to Poperinghe. Refitting and reorganisation continued. On 3rd October the battalion went into huts at Dickebusch and received a draft of 198 men to bring the battalion strength up to 9 officers and 803 other ranks. On 16th October the battalion received a draft of 30 men. On 4th October the 26th Brigade went into trenches at Verbrandmolen relieving the 51st Brigade. The battalion remained in the trenches until 23rd October when it was relieved by the 12th Royal Scots (27th Brigade) and went into the Ouderdom Rest Camp. During this long stint in the trenches there had been a small number of casualties, particularly from German shelling on 10th and 11th October.
The battalion remained at Ouderdom Rest Camp until it went back into the trenches on 4th November. It was in the trenches until 10th November when it was relieved and went to the rest camp at Canada Huts, Dickebusch. James Brown and his comrade James Gallon landed in France on 11th November and it likely that they joined the battalion while it was at the Canada Huts rest camp. However the war diary has no mentions of drafts or of other ranks joining the battalion between 11th and 24th November 1915. The battalion left the rest camp for the trenches on 14th November. They were relieved on 19th November by the 5th Cameron Highlanders. The battalion lost 12 killed, 1 died of wounds and 19 wounded during this period in the trenches. After their relief the Battalion Headquarters with one company were at Bedford House, one company was at Blauwpoort Farm, and two companies were in Reserve dugouts behind Brigade Headquarters. On 23rd November the battalion returned to the trenches and remained until relieved by the 5th Cameron Highlanders on 27th November. The battalion war diary records casualties for 23rd to 26th November as ‘other ranks - Killed 6 – wounded 23, mostly from shell fire, German snipers not so active as our parapet much improved’. James Ayton Brown was undoubtedly one of these casualties. His parents received the news of his death from his friend Thomas Gallon (No. S/9412) (qv) (Berwick Advertiser, 17th December 1915, p 6). Thomas was himself killed on 7th July 1916. Memorials: Crookham, Plaque 1914-18, Presbyterian (NEWMP C66.01); Crookham, Plaque Pupils 1914-18, School (NEWMP C66.02); Ford, Plaque 1914-18, St Michael & All Angels (NEWMP F23.01); Scottish National War Memorial RoH - No. S/9441, James Ayton Brown;
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects, LCpl James Ayton Brown; IWM, Lives of the First World War, No. S/9411, L Cpl James Ayton Brown. 05/08/2020; 06/11/2020; 18/04/2023; 12/06/2023; 20/06/2023; 13/02/2024; |
James Edwin Brown
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031
BROWN, Pte James Edwin, No. 55086, 8th (Service) battalion North Staffordshire Regiment, was killed in action on 10th April 1918, aged 18, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium James Edwin Brown was the fourth child of James Brown and his wife Isabella White Blenkey. The couple had married at Eglingham on 6th May 1890. The couple had six children, five of whom were alive in 1911: George Arthur Brown, (b Shilbottle 18th August 1891), May Hope Brown (b 1894, christened Belford 4th February 1894), Margaret Brown (b 1896, christened Belford 15th March 1896), James Edwin Brown (b 1899, christened Belford, 20th August 1899) and William Stoddart Brown (b 15th July 1905, Chillingham). The child who died has not been identified.
James Edwin Brown enlisted on 30th July 1917 when he was just 18 years old. He was posted first to the 87th Training Reserve battalion and then on 22nd August 1917 to the 15th Training Reserve battalion at Thoresby, near Newark, Nottinghamshire. This battalion became the 246th Graduated battalion and then was renamed the 51st (Graduated) battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment). Edwin Brown was granted leave from 31 December 1917 to 4th January 1918 and then on 5th April 1918 he was posted to the BEF. From the Infantry Base Depot at Le Havre he was posted on 6th April to the 8th North Staffordshire Regiment, which was under orders of 57th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division. James Edwin Brown was killed in action on 10th April 1918 during the Battle of Messines (10th-11th April 1918). Edwin’s youngest brother William born in 1905 was too young to serve in the War. His older brother Sgt (George) Arthur Brown of Chillingham had served with 7th NF and was seriously wounded in November 1916 and lost a leg (Berwick Advertiser, 15th December 1916, p 6; Berwickshire News, 6th March 1917, p 8). Arthur Brown was a gardener at Chillingham Castle, who worked up from being an apprentice to be foreman of the Orchid houses. The Earl of Tankerville was an orchid enthusiast (eg. The Orchid Review April 1905 p 114; June 1905, p 189). James Edwin Brown has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial). Memorials: Chillingham, St Peter's Plaque 1914-1918 (NEWMP C30.01)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - James Edwin Brown; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 55086. Pte James Edwin Brown; 31/04/2020; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; 24/06/2023; |
James Leonard Brown
Charles Brown
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032
OO BROWN, Trooper James Leonard, No. 3461, 1st Life Guards, died of wounds at the 10th Stationary Hospital St Omer on 29th January 1916, aged 19, and is buried in Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France James Leonard Brown was the youngest of the nine children of Peter Brown (b 1855, Wooler) and Jane Davidson Glendinning (b 1860, Ford). James was born in 1897 at Akeld, Kirknewton. Peter Brown and Jane Glendinning had married in 1879 and had nine children, three daughters and six sons. Five of the six sons of the family certainly served during the war. Jane Glendinning Brown died aged 58 on 6th February 1918 aged 58, and her husband Peter died on 1st July 1926 aged 70.
James Leonard Brown attested at Amble on 3rd November 1914 stating his age to be 19 years. In fact he was only a few months past his 17th birthday. He joined the regiment in London on 9th November 1914. His service record indicates that he landed in France on 15th October 1915, whereas his medal index card gives his disembarkation date as 19th April 1915. The index card date is almost certainly incorrect because his service record shows that he joined his regiment ‘in the field’ on 22nd November 1915, soon after the Battle of Loos. The 1st Life Guards spent most of the war as a dismounted unit and took turns in holding sections of frontline trenches. It had fought as a dismounted unit at the First Battle of Ypres (19 October – 22 November 1914), Second Ypres (22 April-25 May 1915) and at Loos (25 September-15 October 1915), but was not involved in any major engagements in 1916. On 14th January 1916 James suffered shrapnel wounds in both legs and his left hand from a rifle grenade and was evacuated to the 3rd Field Ambulance and from thence to the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station at Bethune. From 33rd Casualty Clearing Station James was taken by canal barge to the 10th Stationary Hospital at St Omer, where he was admitted on 17th January. He died on 29th January 1916. He was not yet 19 years old. Four of James’s brothers served in armed forces. Henry Glendinning Brown (q.v.), who had been killed on 2nd November 1916. Thomas Hook Brown served with the Army Service Corps, Robert Brown had emigrated to New Zealand in 1913 and served with Canterbury Battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Charles Brown served with the Northumberland Fusiliers and then with the Military Foot Police. He was wounded but survived the war. Only the oldest brother George Tait Brown does not appear to have served.
Memorials: Amble, C. of E. School Plaque 1914-18 (NEWMP A13.03); Radcliffe, Roadside Memorial 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP R32.01)
See also: NEWMP - Amble West Cemetery: James Leonard Brown; Bailiffgate Collections - James Leonard Brown; 20/03/2019; 16/03/2023 |
John Brown
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033
BROWN, Pte John, No. 20164, 1st battalion Coldstream Guards, missing in action presumed dead 27th November 1917, he is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Nord, France John Brown was the eldest of the five surviving children of Henry and Grace Brown. Henry Brown was born in Coldstream and his wife Grace was born in Bebside, Blyth, Northumberland. Henry married Grace Robertson in 1894. The first three children were born at Carham: John Brown was born in 1895, a sister Grace in 1896 and a brother William (‘Willie’) in 1898. In 1901 Isabella Gibson was born followed by Robert in 1903. The 1911 census records that Henry and Grace had had six children but that one (not yet identified) had died.
Although John Brown enlisted at Wooler there is no record of the date of his enlistment. We know only that he was serving with the 1st battalion Coldstream Guards when he was ‘missing in action’ on 27th November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai (20 November – 30 December 1917). Since 25th August 1915, the 1st Coldstream Guards had been under command of 2nd Guards Brigade, Guards Division. On 26th November the 1st battalion Coldstream Guards moved forward to relieve the 2nd Coldstreams in support near La Justice Farm on the Marcoing – Anneux road to the west of Cambrai. The battalion then received orders that the 2nd Guards Brigade with the 62nd Division on their left, were to attack Bourlon, Bourlon Wood and la Fontaine Notre Dame the next day at 6.20am. The 2nd Irish Guards were to take Bourlon Wood, 1st Coldstreams were to advance to the line of the Arras-Cambrai railway between Bourlon Wood and La Fontaine. The 3rd Grenadiers were to take Fontaine Notre Dame ‘a large defensible village with numerous deep cellars and full of machine guns’ (Ross-of-Bladensburg, The Coldstream Guards 1914-1918, 1928, vol.2, p 139). The 1st Coldstreams were in position by 5.00am with the Irish Guards to their left and Grenadier Guards to their right. The attack was launched on time but the fighting was hard and the Germans launched heavy counter attacks to drive the attackers back. The 2nd Guards Brigade was forced to pull back. The German counter-attacks would push the British line back from Cambrai and regain much of the ground lost to the initially very successful British and Commonwealth attack which had included the first large scale use of tanks. The 1st Coldstream Guards war diary records the heavy casualties that the battalion suffered with 10 officers and 310 other ranks killed or wounded on 27th (WO95/12191/2, 27th November 1917). The CWGC records 72 casualties from the 1st battalion Coldstream Guards for 27th November 1917, 62 of whom have no known grave and are commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval . John Brown’s family were informed that he was missing in action, and he was only formally declared dead in September 1918. Memorials: Branton Presbyterian Church RoH (now at Glanton U.R.Church - NEWMP G4.02); Eglingham Roadside Cross 1914-18 1939-45 (NEWMP E18.01); Powburn Pillar 1914-18 1939-45 Community Garden (NEWMP P39.01)
See also: Breamish Valley Roll of Honour - John Brown; Bailiffgate Collections - John Brown; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 20164, Pte John Brown; 14/06/2020; 20/06/2020; 16/03/2023; 24/06/2023; 09/02/2024; |
Wilson Brown MM
Photo IRS 10 Sept 2019
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Wilson Brown was the younger son of Thomas Purvis Brown, joiner, with his second wife Isabel Patterson of ‘Ingleside’, Wooler, Northumberland. Wilson Brown was born at Wooler in 1896. Wilson Brown had an older half-brother William James (b 1890, d 1929) from Thomas’s first marriage to Margaret Robson. He also had a younger sister Rosalind born in 1904. In the 1901 Census Thomas and Isabel Brown together with their son Wilson are recorded at the Royal Show ground in Llandaff, Cardiff. Thomas Brown was described as a ‘foreman joiner’. In 1911 Wilson Brown and his sister were living with their mother at the family home ‘Ingleside’, Tenter Hill, Wooler. Thomas Brown was not at home when the census was taken. Wilson Brown was still at school.
Wilson was almost certainly a pupil at the Duke’s School, Alnwick, and in September 1915 he enrolled at Bede College, Durham to train as a teacher. The brief notice of his death in The Bede Magazine (vol. 15, no, 1, December 1918, p 2) recorded that he enlisted in the Army shortly after enrolling at Bede College, but exactly when or where he joined up is unclear.[Note 21] Wilson Brown served with the 1/5th (TF) battalion Duke or Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) and later with 1/4th (TF) battalion. Originally, both battalions were under orders of the 147th Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division. Wilson Brown was awarded the Military Medal in 1918. Although Wilson Brown’s MM was not gazetted until 4th October 1918, the award had been reported in Berwick newspapers: Tom McCaskie mentioned the award and newspaper reports in his letter to Margaret Rule written on 15th July 1918. In the same letter he also referred to Wilson Brown’s engagement to Hilda Johnson, daughter of Mrs Mary Johnson, baker, of Back Lane, Wooler. On the night of 10th/11th October 1918 the 49th Division, which had been in GHQ Reserve joined XXII Corps (First Army) in a position south of the Schelde Canal and on the morning of 11th October together with the 2nd Canadian Division launched an attacked against German positions. At 9 am the 147th and 146th Brigades passed through the 2nd Canadian Division and attacked with artillery support. The Germans were surprised and the Division made good progress taking many prisoners. The 4th and 6th Canadian Brigades initially encountered more resistance, but were approaching their objectives when the Germans launched their counter attack with infantry, tanks and artillery. The 147th and 146th Brigades and 4th Canadian Brigade were forced to retire with heavy casualties, but once the German counter attack broke down and after re-organisation, the brigades were able to push forward a little and re-establish contact with flanking units including the 6th Canadian Brigade. The 1/4th lost 52 men killed on 11th October. Most of the casualties from 147th Brigade (1/4th, 1/6th and 1/7th battalions Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) are buried in the Wellington Cemetery, Rieux-en-Cambresis. Patrols from the 147th Brigade sent out on 12th October found that the Germans had withdrawn and the Brigade was able moved forward relatively unopposed without artillery support. The 49th Division established itself on high ground overlooking the River Selle. On 13th October the 147th Brigade with the 148th Brigade pushed forward towards the Selle but both suffered casualties from machine gun fire and were forced to pull back with only little gains. On the night of 14th/15th October the 49th Division occupied part of Saulzoir on the west of the Selle and established two small bridgeheads. Although Wilson Brown died of wounds on 15th October 1918 he could have been wounded during the pursuit to the Selle (9th-11th October 1918) or in any of the subsequent actions between 11th and 15th October. He was buried at Bucquoy Road Cemetery, which was near Boisleux-au-Mont where the 22nd, 30th and 33rd Casualty Clearing Stations were located in September and October 1918, and it is quite likely that he had been evacuated to one of these clearing stations.
Memorials: Wooler, Tower Hill Cross (NEWMP W68.01), Wooler, Reredos St Marys Church (NEWMP W68.02), Wooler, Church School plaque (NEWMP W68.03); Alnwick, Plaque 1914-1918, Duke’s Middle School (NEWMP A11.16); Durham, Cross 1914-1918, Bede College grounds (NEWMP D47.017); Durham, Plaque 1914-1918, Bede College (NEWMP D47.126)
See also: Bailiffgate Collections - Wilson Brown MM; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 242271, Sgt Wilson Brown; Universities at War - Brown W [Note 22] 07/08/2018; 20/03/2019; 02/06/2019; 16/03/2023; 20/06/2023; |
Thomas Hall Bruce
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BRUCE, Private Thomas Hall, No 83667, 12th/13th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, died of pneumonia on 12th November 1918, and is buried in Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt Pte Thomas Hall Bruce was the youngest son of Andrew Geggie Bruce and Elizabeth Bruce (née Hall) who married in 1878. Their eldest child was Elizabeth Bruce (b 1878), and was followed by Mary Bruce (b 1881), Andrew Geggie Bruce (b 1886) and Thomas Hall Bruce (b 1889).
In 1911 Thomas Hall Bruce was living with his parents and oldest sister Elizabeth at South Berrington, Ancroft and was working as a farm labourer. He married Robina Brown in January 1918 and they had one son Thomas. His wife Robina and son Thomas were living at Milfield Hill, Milfield in 1919 (Berwick Advertiser, 14 November 1919, p 3). There is no evidence for the date of Thomas Hall Bruce’s enlistment, the only information is that, according to Soldiers Died in the Great War, he enlisted in Berwick-upon-Tweed; all that is certain is that he was serving with the 12/13th battalion Northumberland Fusiliers when he died in November 1918. The battalion had been created in August 1917 by merging the 12th and 13th (Service) battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers. Thomas died of pneumonia at the 18th Casualty Clearing Station just two days after fighting ceased on the Western Front. His son Thomas served with 7th Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (51st Division) in the Second World War and was taken prisoner at St Valery-en-Caux in 1940. Some 10,000 men of the 51st (Highland) Division were captured by the Germans after a five day battle. He was a prisoner of war for five years, and was held at Regensburg in Germany (Berwick Advertiser, 10 May 1945, p 5; 17 May 1945, p 4; Berwickshire News and General Advertiser, Tuesday 29 May 1945, p 7).
Memorial: Lowick, Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Village Green (NEWMP L37.01); Kyloe, Plaque 1914-18, St Nicholas Church, now located in St John the Baptist Church, Lowick (NEWMP K18.01)
See also: Coldstream Local History Projects - Pte Thomas Hall Bruce; IWM, Lives of the First World War - No. 83667, Pte Thomas Hall Bruce; 05/02/2022; 15/03/2022; 19/03/2022; 20/06/2023; 24/06/2023; |
A/Capt Reginald Eyre Bryant
The 14th DLI was formed originally from recruits raised in Newcastle upon Tyne and trained at Halton Park, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The battalion had landed at Boulogne on 11th September 1915, and was placed under the orders of 18th Brigade, 6th Division from 29th November 1915.
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OO BRYANT, Acting Capt Reginald Eyre, 14th (Service) battalion Durham Light Infantry, killed in action, aged 38, on 20th January 1917, and buried in Cambrin Churchyard Extension, Pas de Calais, France Reginald Eyre Bryant was eighth child of Edward Ross Bryant and his wife Eliza King-Church. The couple married in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, at Albury, Surrey on the 11th October 1864. The 1911 Census return records that couple had had 11 children, one of whom had died, although the dates of birth of just ten of their children have been identified.[Note 24]
The couples’ first child Anne Frances was born in 1865. She was followed by two boys Henry John (b 1867) and Edward Edgerton (b 1868), and then a second daughter Ella Mary born in 1869. Ella Mary Bryant died in 1912. The next children were Charles Hilary Bryant (b 1871) and Basil George Bryant (b 1873). They were followed by Gabrielle Edith Bryant (b c 1875), who died 23rd December 1939 in Hove, Sussex. Reginald Eyre Bryant (b 8 March 1879, Durham) was the couple’s eighth child and fifth son, and he was followed by two further sons Gerard King Bryant (b 1880) and Jasper Mozley Bryant (b 1882). Reginald Eyre Bryant attended Sir William Turner’s School at Coatham Road, Redcar for two years from January 1890 to December 1891. He joined the School just before his 12th birthday and left after two years. He is named on the school’s Celtic Cross War Memorial in Redcar amongst the forty eight former pupils of the school who lost their lives in the Great War, and is also listed on the more recently created school remembrance website. The Memorial Cross was consecrated in 1922. After Coatham, Reginald Eyre Bryant was a pupil at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, and is listed on Panel A-D of Sedbergh’s Great War memorial. After leaving Sedbergh he apparently completed his education in San Sebastian, Spain, after which he began his working life as a merchant’s clerk and later becoming a partner in the family business. Both he and his father were described as a ‘Spanish Merchants’ in the 1911 census. When the Great War broke out Reginald Eyre Bryant enlisted in the 1/6th Northumberland Fusiliers in November 1914. He was then 35 years and 8 months old. He was promoted to Sergeant, but later was gazetted as a temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry with effect from 30th October 1915 (London Gazette No. 29352, 4th November 1915, Supplement, p 10903). He was later transferred from a Reserve battalion to the 14th (Service) battalion Durham Light Infantry with seniority from 31st October 1915 (London Gazette No. 29649, 1st July 1916, Supplement, p 6578). He was promoted to acting Captain with the 14th Durham Light Infantry with effect from 18th October 1916 (London Gazette No. 29858, 11th December 1916, Supplement, p 12095). Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence He was serving as a company commander in the 14th battalion when he was killed by enemy fire on 20th January 1917. The battalion was in trenches near Cambrin, west of Bethune. The battalion war diary records
Captain Reginald Bryant was buried in the Cambrin Churchyard Extension. The original wooden cross marking his grave was replaced by a CWGC headstone after the war. Reportedly a fellow officer wrote that “His life was a model for everyone, always straight and kind, unselfish and thinking of his men – a gentleman to the core”.
Four of Captain Reginald Eyre Bryant’s six brothers served in the Army in the Great War. The two oldest brothers, Henry John Bryant (b 1867) and Edward Edgerton Bryant (b 1868), did not serve and presumably were too old for active service. The third brother Charles Hilary Bryant, MD, FRCS (b 1871) was a surgeon and opthalmic surgeon, who had studied medicine at Durham University and Guy's Hospital (1895-97). By 1911 he was living and working in Brighton, where he was house-surgeon in the Sussex County Hospital. He had married Theodora Harvard Watts in Cambridge in 1901. The couple had four children, two girls Irene Monica (b 1903) and Olive Mary (b 1905), and two boys Edward Noel Hilary (b 1908) and Kenneth Harvard (b 1911). During the War Charles served in the RAMC with the rank of captain and was based at the 2nd Eastern War Hospital in Brighton (London Gazette 29213, 29th June 1915, Supplement, p 6425). His first wife Theodora died in July 1922, and Charles married his second wife Margaret Williams at Llantwit Major, Glamorgan on 28th November 1925. The couple had at least two children: Isobel Bryant (b 1930, Steyning, Sussex) and Christopher (b 1934, Steyning, Sussex). There was possibly an older daughter Ruth (b 1928, Wandsworth, London). Charles Bryant died in September 1959 aged 88 and is buried at Nuthurst, Sussex. An obituary was published in the British Medical Journal in which he was described as belonging to
Sir William Savage, who later worked University College Hospital in London as a pathologist, bacteriologist and teacher, and who had been a colleague of Charles Hilary Bryant in Brighton wrote a brief appreciation:
The fourth brother Basil George Bryant (b Wylam Cottage, Tynemouth 1872; d 1960) was coal exporter before the war. During the Great War he served in the Durham Light Infantry initially as a temporary Second Lieutenant, later as lieutenant and then captain. Temporary Captain Basil George Bryant was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 (London Gazette 29608, 2nd June 1916, Supplement, p 5571). Subsequently he was posted as temporary Captain and then Major to the General List and served as a staff captain. He had married Sheila Balkwill at Corbridge in 1907 and the couple had two sons Arthur Dennis Bryant (b 1908) and Richard Bryant (b 1911). In 1939 Basil and Sheila Bryant were living in Ingram House, Ingram, Northumberland. Basil died in 1960; his wife Sheila died aged 93 at Claro, North Yorkshire in 1976.
Gerard King Bryant (b 1880) the second youngest brother had settled as a planter or fruit farmer on Dominica in the British West Indies before the Great War. He returned to Britain and enlisted on 7th July 1917 in the Inns of Court O.T.C. but his service record notes that he was ‘not recommended for App[ointment]t to [a] Commission’ and was transferred to the 1/28th battalion London Regiment (1st Artist Rifles) where he served as Private, No. 767044. He served on Western Front from 16th November 1917 to 25th February 1918. He was discharged from the Army on 17th November 1918 suffering from rheumatism ‘aggravated by service’. Gerard Bryant returned to Dominica after the Great War.[Note 25] Jasper Mozley Bryant (b 1882) the youngest brother was a professional soldier serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 1906, was promoted to lieutenant in 1908 and captain on 18th August 1913. He served in India for at least part of the Great War. While in India, he married Margaret Edith Elliott Smith. The couple married in Cawnpore on 1st October 1917. Margaret Bryant (née Smith) was a doctor, who had begun her medical studies at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1907 and qualified in 1913.[Note 26] When she met and married Jasper Bryant she was working as Assistant Medical Officer at St Catherine’s Hospital, Cawnpore (now Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India). Jasper Bryant retired from the Army in 1920 with the rank of Colonel. He and his wife sailed to Canada on the SS Victorian, which departed Liverpool on 1st November 1920, and arrived at Quebec on 20th November. The couple settled in British Columbia. By 1940 the couple were living in Beaver Point, British Columbia. When Jasper Bryant died on 31st January 1960 they were living in the Salt Spring Island Trust Area, Cowichan Valley Regional District, British Columbia. After her husband’s death Margaret returned to Britain, where she settled in the Cotswolds. She was living at Upper Oddington, Moreton in the Marsh, Gloucestershire when she died in March 1970. Memorials: Corbridge Memorial Cross 1914-18 1939-45 Cemetery (NEWMP C52.01); Corbridge 1914-18 Memorial plaque, St Andrew’s Church (NEWMP C52.02); Corbridge, Lychgate 1914-18 St Andrew’s Churchyard (NEWMP C52.03); Roll of Honour 1914-18 Literary and Philosophical Society (NEWMP NUT273); Redcar, Sir William Turner's Grammar School Memorial Cross [Note 27]; Sedbergh School, Cloisters Great War Roll of Honour, panel 1914-18 A-D [Note 28];
See also: Sir William Turner Foundation, Old Coathamians of World War One 'Reginald Eyre Bryant' [Note 29]; NEWMP - Eglingham: Bryant. R.E. Captain, 1917; IWM, Lives of the First World War - Capt. Reginald Eyre Bryant; 18/10/2022; 29/10/2022; 20/05/2023; 20/06/2023; 26/06/2023; 11/03/2024; 12/04/2024 A-B n=36
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