113989 SPR .H.SALISBURY R.E. - British War and Victory Medal, served 51st (Highland) Divisional Signal Company, wounded March 1918

113989 SPR .H.SALISBURY  R.E. - British War and Victory Medal 

Herbert Salisbury, born 1897, was from Burnley. Formerly of Burnley Technical School, he was living at the time of his enlistment at 17 Holbeck Street in the town. Presumably driven by an interest in the new science of radio communications, he had gained a 2nd Class qualification in Chemistry and 1st Class qualifications in Electricity & Magnetism and Mathematics at the school and armed with these and warm letters of recommendation from his headmaster and a justice of the peace, he applied to join the Wireless and Telegraph Section of the Royal Engineers. After having been medically examined at Burnley on 1 September he attested with his mother's permission on 2 September 1915 at Great Scotland Yard, London, aged 17 years 9 months. He was employed as a cotton twiner/cloth bundler and gave as his next of kin William Edward Salisbury, his father. He joined up to be a Wireless Operator  - Learner and was mustered as a Pioneer.  After some time in one of the RE Depot Companies he was transferred to the RE Signals Depot at Biggleswade with effect from 10 February or 23 March 1916 (information varies in his record), presumably for technical training, and then again to the Wireless Training Centre at Worcester on 12 July 1916, accumulating several Regimental Conduct Sheet entries for absence on parade (punished first by Saturday fatigues at 'Holmsfree' [or 'Holmefield?] and then by confinement to barracks) and talking in the ranks (Saturday fatigues at 'Holmefield'). By November 1916 he was based at Norton where he accumulated entries for lateness on parade, overstaying his leave pass and absence on parade. All were fairly minor offences punished by varying lengths of confinement to barracks. He spent Christmas and New Year 1916/17 under treatment at the Military hospital, Worcester, with eczema. On 20 August 1917 he tested (seemingly at Diglis Interception Station) as a Wireless Operator - Proficient and was remustered as a Sapper, receiving the appropriate 1 Shilling per day Engineer Pay. Passing through the RE Signals Depot at Fenny Stratford, on 24 August he embarked from the UK, being posted to signal base depot France on 27 August, awaiting drafting to a unit. He was just short of 19 years 9 months old. He served with 51st Divisional Signal Company. This Company, in common with the other DSCs had been augmented with a Wireless Section upon the abolition of the Army Wireless Companies and Motor Wireless Sections attached to armies in June 1917, as part of a wider amalgamation of wireless operations into the activity of the Signals service. He joined the unit in the field on 18 November. At this point the Wireless Section was with divisional HQ at Little Wood, Ytres, all wireless and amplifiers reported as being in position by 7.06pm on the 19th.  

The standard 1918 establishment for a divisional signals company (15 officers and 385 other ranks) was an HQ (including wireless and visual signalling section), a Royal Artillery Section (HQ and 2 RA Brigade subsections), No1 Section (four cable detachments and an MG Signal Section), and Sections 2-4, one per infantry brigade in the division). As a trained wireless operator he probably served with the HQ section. Divisions operated BF trench sets for their wireless communications supplemented by Power Buzzers forward of Brigade HQs. Spr Salisbury joined 12 days before the opening of Battle of Cambrai, for which the Company received the appropriate unofficial RE battle honour. This was the first battle in which wireless was used as a primary method of communication and on a wide scale (previously the preferred methods were telephony - relying on buried cable - despatch riders, pigeons and runners). The Company handled 80 messages in three days' operation. After the operations, the division as part of Harper's IV Corps, Third Army, remained in the Cambrai area (Harper being the former GoC of the 51st Division.)

The Division's allotted place in the line was a poorly-placed and -sited section of the front line in the Lechelle area, opposite the Hindenburg Line. To help remedy this situation, General Harper laid down principles for the construction of a new defensive system, maintained and developed by infantry under the direction of Sappers in the associated Field Companies. This took up the winter and early spring of 1918. For their good work, all ranks and arms were congratulated by General Byng, GOC 3rd Army. 

The 51st Division was in the line at the eastern edge of the Artois plateau when the German attack fell on 21 March 1918. The attack was heralded by a severe four-hour bombardment which interrupted all communications within the first quarter of an hour. Once the Germans had gained a foothold in the British line, companies between the Bapaume — Cambrai road and the Louverval valley were forced back into Boursies. Here the divisional artillery came into play, and the 401st Field Company with units of 152nd Brigade held a wired communications trench, specially sited as a switch line, which played a crucial role in delaying the enemy's advance through Boursies. 

On this day Spr Salisbury was wounded in action, suffering a gun shot wound back and leg (right), indicating a penetrating wound of some type. This wound was possibly incurred whilst at divisional HQ at Fremicourt, the divisional front at this time running roughly between Hermies and Louveral. A later post-mortem on the battle noted that during the Battle of St Quentin, wireless sets were often placed too far forward and overrun, jammed by German field stations or destroyed by shell-fire. When added to buried telephone cables being cut by the fierce, carefully-targeted bombardment, fog hampering visual and pigeon communications  and runners being caught by gas and shell-fire, this was a recipe for communication failure. Nonetheless, for their part in the action the Company received the unofficial RE battle honour St Quentin. 

Meanwhile, Spr Salisbury was admitted to 1/3rd Highland Field Ambulance on 22 March, and then via 7th Canadian General Hospital at Etaples was evacuated to England on the 25th. He featured on War Office Daily List No.5556 of 3 May 1918, as wounded.

Once home, he was hospitalised at Stoke-on-Trent Military Hospital, Newcastle, Staffordshire from 26 March to 26 April. Subsequently he appears to have been posted to Bedford again and later Hitchin Signals Depot (from which he had one episode of Absent Without Leave from 23:59 on 2 January until ordered to return to his unit by Military Police at the Great Northern Railway Station at 9am on 3 January.) At Hitchin he was medically examined and, presumably fully recovered, was sent to Heaton Park Dispersal Station (No.1 Dispersal Unit). He was subsequently demobilized by transfer to the Army Class 'Z' Reserve on 20 February 1919.

Pair to a 2/South Lancashire 'Old Contemptible' and Prisoner of War : 8379 Pte J T McDonald

WW1 MEDALS TO AN OLD CONTEMPTIBLE 8379 Pte J.T. McDONALD SOUTH LANCS REG.

John Thomas McDonald served with the 2nd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment. His regimental number of 8379 would suggest that he joined the regiment between July 1906 and April 1907, probably some time in late 1906 (by comparison, per Nixon, 8237 joined on 7 July 1906 and 8655 joined on 27 April 1907). Possibly a Reservist on the outbreak of war, his battalion was stationed at Tidworth, Wiltshire as part of the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division. He entered the France theatre of war via Havre and Rouen with his battalion on 14 August 1914, and would have fought with the 2nd South Lancashire at Mons – where the regimental museum stated  “The accurate and disciplined fire of the 2nd South Lancashires, in front of Frameries, took a heavy toll of the massed German infantry, but eventually the battalion was ordered to retire. Though outflanked and outnumbered, the old 82nd withdrew in contact ‘in perfect order as if on parade’.” -  as well as through the rearguard action at Solesmes, the Battle of Le Cateau - where the battalion held the position in the centre of the British line, near Caudry - the subsequent retreat, and the Battles of the Marne, the Aisne, and La Bassee as well as (possibly) Messines 1914.

As 8379 Private J T McDonald, South Lancashire Regiment, he was listed as "Wounded" on the Casualty List issued by the War Office from the 16th December 1914 (published 31 January 1915). However, the presence of his name on the South Lancashire Regiment's 'Princess Mary's Gift' PoW list transcribed by Paul Nixon indicates that he was taken prisoner on or before 25 December 1914; this was possibly on the same occasion as his wounding. He was most likely one of the large number of men reported missing after a heavy German attack on the British line at La Bassee on 21 October. Although the Germans failed to break the line, the war diary records 520 other ranks killed, wounded and missing over the two day period 20-21 October, leading to only 300 ORs mustering the following day (22 October). This timing would accord with German PoW Records of a J McDonald 2/South Lancs captured at La Bassee.

Confirming his PoW status, as 8379 Private J McDonald, he was listed as "Previously reported missing, now reported prisoner of war" on the Casualty List issued by the War Office from 29 June 1915.

Whilst a prisoner in Germany, under the aegis of the Regimental Care Committee for Prisoners of War of the South Lancashire Regiment, he was 'adopted' by an individual under an initiative by the Committee which encouraged individuals to sponsor prisoners; sponsors would then take on the responsibility of paying for gifts for ’their’ prisoners. His 'adopter', known in most of the transcribed records as 'B.', may be Lady Burghclere, (Lady Winifred Anne Henrietta Christiana Herbert, daughter of the 4th Earl of Carnarvon and wife of 1st Baron Burghclere, former President of the Board of Agriculture) who is expressly referenced in one record. The same record also references 3780 [uchtemoor F.B.G, Rownenburg, {unintelligible} c/o] C{a?}mp 5 Hameln on Weser, which are presumably the names of German PoW camps in which he had been held. In October 1917 other records indicate he was at Hameln Hanover and in December 1917 he was at camp 3780 Clausthal Harz.

Finally, on 4 January 1919 he was reported in War Office Daily List No.5763 as a released Prisoner of War from Germany, arrived in England. This gave his Next Of Kin Address as Stockwell, S.W (London).

An Old Contemptible, for his service J T McDonald was entitled to the 1914 Star with clasp and roses (issued January 1920), plus the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

VM/TFEM & 2nd award clasp to 639/805308/731732 Sgt F J Heath 22nd North Midland Brigade RFA

VM & TFEM with 2nd award clasp and Oddfellows medal to Sgt F J Heath, North Midland Brigade, RFA

Frederick John Heath was born in Tunstall, Staffordshire, in the registration district of Wolstanton,

 on 5 April 1886 to William, a farm labourer from Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Annie. He married Lilian Shone at St Mary's Church, Tunstall on 20 September 1908, Rev. G.B. Bardsley officiating. The couple had two children, William Lewis and Albert and 1911 saw them living in Tunstall with Lilian's parents, Ellis and Lucetta. Frederick was a potter's dishmaker and Lilian and potter's transferrer. 

Under the regimental number 639, Frederick enlisted in the Territorial Force on 2 March 1910 for a four year period, joining the North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column at the Artillery Drill Hall, Victoria Square, Shelton, Staffordshire on 2 July. Within a year (by 12 June 1911) he had been promoted to Bombardier and on July 1912 to Corporal, attending annual camps at Morecambe, Aberystwyth and Pembrey. He re-engaged for a further year on 1 July 1914 and was embodied for service on 5 August, upon war breaking out, in what later became the 1/2nd North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column. 

As 639 Sgt F J Heath of the 2nd North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column, he took the Imperial Service Obligation on 29 November 1914, whilst the brigade was at Bishop's Stortford. He proceeded overseas on 26 February 1915, as part of the Divisional Artillery of the North Midland Division (later the 46th (North Midland) Division, the first Territorial formation to go overseas as a complete formation. The division first served in the Ypres sector, at Hooge (for the German 'Liquid fire' attack) and Hill 60, and then at Loos and the Hohenzollern Redoubt. During this time then-Sgt Heath chose to revert to the ranks on 4 June 1915, whilst his brigade was at Dranoutre. Subsequently the brigade was in the Armentieres and Arras sectors before travelling South to the Somme. On 22 May 1916 Gnr Heath was transferred from the Ammunition Column to the brigade's 'B' Battery (formerly No.2 Battery, headquartered at Stoke) on the occasion of the merger of the former Brigade Ammunition Columns into the Divisional Ammunition Column. On 1 July 1916 the brigade was engaged in preparation and wire cutting (up to 1000 rounds per hundred per day) in support of the costly diversionary attack at Gommecourt. Gnr Heath was promoted to Bombardier some time (November?) in 1916, to Corporal once again on 30 January 1917, still whilst with B Battery, 231st Brigade, and then Sergeant again on 4 July. The Brigade during this period remained in the Somme sector and was engaged in the operations on the Ancre and various local operations leading up to the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. In the meantime, Heath re-engaged for a further four year period, in the field, on 11 April 1916, and qualified for his £15 re-enlistment bounty whilst still serving with B/231 in April the following year.

Subsequently, on the renumbering of the Territorial Force artillery, he received the new regimental number 805308. The Brigade went north again and was engaged in action at Bethune during the Battle of the Lys, part of the German offensive 'Operation Georgette'. Whilst with B/231 Sgt Heath was attached to XI Corps Rest Camp for one week from 12 to 19 July 1918 and had two week's furlough to the UK 24 October to 7 November the same year. 1918 saw  the brigade engage in the Battle of the St Quentin Canal and the various stages of the Hundred Days Offensive including the Battles of the Beauvoir Line, Cambrai 1918, the Selle, and the Sambre.

Leaving the strength of B/231 Brigade and returning to the UK on 18/19 February, he passed through No.3 Dispersal Unit, Clipstone around 21 February 1919, on his way toward demobilisation. At the time he gave his address for pay as 1 Davenport Street, Tunstall, Staffordshire. Whilst awaiting discharge in March 1919 his name has been put forward for the Territorial  Force Efficiency Medal. He was formally 'discharged on demobilisation' on 31 March 1920 having achieved 9 years 273 days' service.

For his service he was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and British War Medal and Victory Medal named 639 SJT F J HEATH RA. He also received the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, named 805308 SJT F HEATH RFA, awarded in May 1919 (he had written to enquire after the award of the medal on 30 April).

The Territorial Force Efficiency Medal was awarded to non-commissioned officers and men for a minimum of 12 years service in the Territorial Force, providing they attended 12 annual training camps. Previous service in other part-time forces including the Volunteer Force could count, while war service counted double. 

He re-enlisted on 20/21 September 1920 for a further three years,  receiving his new number 731732, and being appointed to the 2nd North Midland Brigade, RFA. At this time his employment was noted again as 'dish maker'. He then enlisted again for a further year in September 1923 at Shelton whilst serving as Battery Sergeant Major with 242nd (North Staffordshire) Battery, 61st (North Midland) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. In between times, he joined the Independent Order of Oddfellows - Manchester Unity, as witness his medallion, dated 2 March 1925. He continued to sign on with the Territorial Army for further engagements regularly, until at least 1934, when a special case was made to DAA & QMG of 46th North Midland Division to secure his retention for a further year, completing fifteen years' service. His second award clasp for the TFEM/Efficiency Medal has been verified as awarded in May 1933, by which  time he was a Warrant Officer, Class 2. He was finally discharged on 20 September 1935 and is found on the 1939 census still at his wartime address 10 Davenport Street with Lilian, employed as a potter's dishmaker.

Subsequently, his son Albert served in the Second World War, with the Army Catering Corps attached Royal Artiller, as 1685079. He died in Italy on 13 June 1944 and is buried at the Bari War Cemetery.

Frederick died, two years after his wife, in Staffordshire in 1964.

1914/15 Star and Victory Medal 13715 Pte H Perkins, Essex Regiment, HLI, MGC, possibly wounded in action 1 July 1916, Montauban

13715 WW1 1914/15 STAR MEDAL AND VICTORY MEDAL PERKINS ESSEX REG

Harry Perkins from Upton Park served with the 10th Essex, 18th (Eastern) Division, under the regimental number 13715. Like 13718 Pte William George Lewis Napper (a carman from Islington, only 3 service numbers away, 10th then 11th battalion) he probably enlisted on or around 7 or 8 September 1914 at Finsbury or City Road barracks.

He went overseas on 25 July 1915. At some point he was appointed to the rank of Lance Corporal. The 10th battalion attacked south west of Montauban on the Somme on 1 July 1916, suffering 30 men killed in action and 156 wounded. Pte Perkins appeared on War Office Daily List 28/07/1916 (suggesting a wounded in action date between 1 and 4 July 1916), in the same list as (3/)2037 Lance Corporal Bernard Parry, 2nd Essex and 18969 Pte Clement Peacock, 9th Essex (wounded in action on 1 July and 3 July 1916, respectively).

After a presumed period of recovery, he then transferred to a Territorial Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry - probably, like 282505 Pte Albert Maisey, the 2/7th (Blythswood City of Glasgow) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry (as 282507). Going overseas once again some time presumably after March 1917 and the Territorial  Force infantry renumbering, he featured again as wounded on War Office daily list No.5567 for 16/05/1918, suggesting he was wounded some time in the course of the German Spring offensive. His HLI battalion is not recorded but was probably the 18th, like 33217 Pte R Andrew and 36375 Pte D Brown (wounded 26 and 28 March 1918 respectively and both on the same casualty list as Pte Perkins). Pte Perkins was subsequently transferred again, this time to the Machine Gun Corps (149404) - transferring some time before 30 May 1918, probably like 149393 Pte Percy Orgles, 58th Battalion MGC, around 28 May 1918.

He was finally discharged to the Army 'Z' Reserve on 11 May 1919.

Partially erased 1914-15 Star attributed to Pte E W Lawrence, 3rd London Rgt, wounded in action at Gallipoli

Partially erased 1914-15 Star attributed to Pte E W Lawrence, 3rd London Rgt, wounded in  action at Gallipoli

Impressed:

237[9]

Pte [E].W. L[A]W□□□CE

3-[L][O][N]□ R.

Possibly 2379 Pte E.W. LAWRENCE 3-LON R.

Edwin William Lawrence was born about 1895 in Paddington, Middlesex. He enlisted on 3 September 1914 aged 19 years 6 months. He was a clerk in civil life. He gave as his next of kin his father, also Edwin W, of 28 Alperton Street  Paddington. Edwin the younger served with the 2/3rd Battalion the London Regiment. First sent to Malta in December 1914 to relieve the 1/3rd Battalion in garrison there (where the opportunity was taken to train the recruits), he served in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan as part of the Khartoum garrison between about 15 April 1915 and 13 September 1915

He  then went to Gallipoli via Port Sudan, Port Said and Mudros, leaving around 15 September, landing at Suvla Bay to join the campaign on 26 September. The battalion was attached to the Regulars of 86th Brigade in 29th Division and assigned to 'C' section of the 'Dublin Castle' sector of the line. The battalion spent the next two months holding the trenches, losing half its strength in the process, Pte Lawrence amongst them. He received a severe gun shot wound to both feet on 15 October at Gallipoli and, after admission to 15th General Hospital, was invalided home to England via the Hospital Ship 'Asturias' on the 29th. Pte Lawrence was discharged due to wounds, under paragraph 392(xvi) of King's Regulations*, on 16 August 1916 and was entitled to the Silver War Badge, number 89735. A pension record ledger entry subsequently gave him addresses in Birmingham and at Holly House Newtown near Hyde, Manchester.

*No longer physically fit for war service

WW1 Victory Medal to 43405 PTE.M.MARTIN.DURH.L.I., killed in action 31 July 1917, the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, Third Battle of Ypres

WW1 Victory Medal to 43405 PTE.M.MARTIN.DURH.L.I., killed in action 31 July 1917, the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, Third Battle of Ypres 

Matthew Martin was born in Kyo, County Durham circa 1892. By 1911 he was living with his grandmother, uncle and younger sister at 12 Towneley Street,  Stanley and was employed as a bottler in a mineral water factory. Matthew attested his willingness to serve at Stanley, County Durham on 9 December 1915. He was aged 24 at the time and was resident at 1 Towneley Street, Stanley where he worked as a coal miner (screener) for the South Derwent Coal Company, one of around 60 above-ground staff. His next of kin was officially given as his grandmother, Ann Robson (same address), later changed to his sister, Madeline Robson Martin. He was posted to the Army Reserve the following day (10 December) and spent approximately six months on the Reserve before being called up and appointed to the Durham Light Infantry by the recruiting officer of the 68th Recruiting District on 26/27 June 1916.

Pte Martin was posted first to the 3/9th DLI in June and then on 1 September 1916, following the absorption of the 3/9th and the three other third line battalions of the DLI into a new 5th (Reserve) Battalion, transferred to the new battalion, where he trained with 'A' Company. It was at this period that he presumably discarded his former regimental number 4689[?] and received the new number 8319. At some point he made an allotment out of his pay to his grandmother of three shillings and sixpence, to a total, including Separation Allowance, of thirteen shillings weekly.

Pte Martin was sent overseas on 25 October 1916 via Folkestone, disembarking at Boulogne the following day. After a fortnight at No.35 Infantry Base Depot, he was posted to the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (68th Brigade , 23rd Division) on 10 November 1916, joining them in the field on the 13th, most probably as part of a draft of 70 men recorded in the battalion history. This is presumably when he received his new regimental number in the Regular sequence, 43405. At the time the 68th Brigade was out of the line, the 13th DLI being in Winnipeg camp, south west of Vlamertinghe. After participating on classes of instruction and enjoying some time off for inter-compant football matches, Pte Martin's first experience in the line probably followed three days later, from 16 to 20 November 1916. He then wintered with the battalion in the Ypres Salient, undergoing the usual pattern of working parties in and out of the line and patrols, wiring and improvements whilst in it, broken by the usual Christmas festivities. By mid-February of 1917, when the brigade was again in rest, he had developed a skin infection to the shoulder and right leg that caused him to pass via 69th Field Ambulance and 23rd Divisional Rest Station to 13th General Hospital, Boulogne and thence by ship to England. He returned home on 28 February 1917, diagnosed with an inflammation of the connective tissue (skin infection) which took him to 4th Northern General Hospital at Lincoln for 50 days' treatment for ulcers on the right leg. After a period on the strength of the DLI depot at Fenham Barracks, he was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion on 1 May and went overseas again on 11 June 1917.

Upon arrival again at 35th Infantry Base  Depot he was posted to the 20th Battalion (Wearside), Durham Light Infantry, although he did not join them in the field until early the following month, 2 July. He served in the 10th platoon of C Company, under Captain Moreton Hand.  At this time the battalion was out of the lines at Mont des Cats, having recently taken part in  the Battle of Messines. The battalion history comments that of his draft, 234 Other Ranks, nearly all had been out with the BEF before. The battalion spent the next several weeks in intensive training and practice attacks for the forthcoming offensive, interspersed with inspections, sports and other competitions and parades, including an inspection of the new men by Brigadier-General CWE Gordon, GOC 123rd Brigade, in which Pte Martin would have taken part.

At this time, preparations for a further major attack at Ypres, designed to take the pressure off the French after the failed Nivelle Offensive and wear down and cut the supply lines of the German 4th Army opposite, were coming to a conclusion. In the assault, General Gough's British Fifth Army was tasked with securing Pilckem Ridge, the only high ground to the north east of Ypres, supported by the French First Army on the left and on the right by the British Second Army. In the attack the 41st Division, X Corps would advance either side of the Ypres-Comines Canal, with the 123rd Infantry Brigade on the north bank, 20th Durham Light Infantry on the left of the brigade attack.

The Brigade started moving up for the attack on 25 July and Pte Martin would have gone with 'C' Company into a line of advanced posts later that day, the companies rotating through the various posts whilst they waited for the postponed attack to take place. On the 29th the attack was back on for 3.50am on the 31st and the white tapes at which the battalion would assemble for the assault were laid. Here the rum ration went around - "three or four times if you wanted it", Pte George Thompson, another soldier of 'C' Company recalled - and the battalion prepared itself to go over the top. 

Attacking south of Klein Zillebeke, on the extreme left flank of Second Army's attack, towards the German-held line (the 'Red line') at Imperfect Trench, the battalion's objective was reached and passed, the battalion digging-in on the Blue Line and holding on to it in the face of counter-attacks until relieved after nightfall on 1 August. However, machine gun fire from concealed concrete pill boxes with interlocking arcs of fire, together with shell fire brought down by the enemy's S.O.S. rockets, caused the battalion over 430 casualties, Pte Martin amongst them. The battalion history reports that a group of C Company men under the Company Commander, Captain Hand, pushed on but was cut off and never seen again and it is possible that Pte Martin, if he did not fall in the initial assault, was one of this group.

In total, the attack, although taking the Pilckem Ridge, Bellewaarde Ridge and German observation posts on Gheluveld Plateau together with 5,000 prisoners, cost circa 32,000 casualties in the course of three days, in the face of unseasonal heavy rain, mud, a robust German defence and persistent counter-attacks.

Reported missing in the War Office daily casualty list No. 5365 of 15 September 1917, Pte Martin's death was presumed on or since 31 July 1917. His sister Madeline of Towneley Steet, Stanley, County Durham caused enquiries to be put in hand with the International Committee of the Red Cross, enquiries which finally received a negative reply on 15 June 1918. There was also an exchange with the War Office during the period. His financial effects of £1 7 4 and War Gratuity of £4 were released to Madeline in August 1918 and November 1919 respectively, whilst his grandmother Ann was granted a pension of 5/- a week from 26 March 1918.

For his service he was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal, memorial plaque and scroll. 

Pte Martin, his body never having been identified, is commemorated at Bay 36H of the Menin Gate Memorial: 

"Here are recorded names of officers and men who fell in the Ypres Salient but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death".

30078 Pte T Beynon, 11th South Wales Borderers and 2nd Entrenching Battalion, killed in action at Merville, 11 April 1918

30078 Pte T Beynon,  South Wales Borderers 

Thomas Beynon was born to Thomas and Annie Beynon, both formerly of Breconshire, in Abercynon around 1893-94 (possibly the second quarter of 1893). Thomas the elder, apparently a bit of a rogue, had accumulated two convictions for drunkeness and three for non-payment of debt by late 1896. In the prison records he was described as a labourer, and in his probate record as a 'hitcher' (Hitcher 1894: a) Person putting waggons into the cage or b) Chief attendant at pit bottom). By 1901 the family, less Thomas the elder who had died in 1898, was living in Capcoch/Abercwmboi, Aberdare. In 1911 Thomas the younger was living at 19 Jenkin Street, Abercwmboi with his paternal grandfather, also Thomas,  mother Annie and three sisters, Mary Rebecca, Rose Ann and Jane. His mother worked from home as a confectioner whilst Thomas worked on his own account as a butcher. At some point, presumably after this, he married Mary Catherine, with whom he had a son, also Thomas, born on 10 August 1917.

Thomas Beynon is recorded as enlisting at Mountain Ash and may have spent some time in the Army Reserve before being called up. He served with the 11th Battalion, South Wales Borderers (2nd Gwent), being posted, via infantry base depot, to join them some time probably in mid-1917. He would have potentially served with the battalion at Third Ypres when, as part of the 115th Brigade of the 38th Division, it was in follow-up to the attacking brigades on 31 July 1917 during the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, leapfrogging over them once they had breached the Green Line and proceeding to attack and take the Steenbeck on Messines Ridge, pushing forward to Au Bon Gite, facing Langemarck. The battalion was finally withdrawn on 5 August,  having suffered 330 casualties,  killed, wounded and missing, returning to the line later in the month to take part in the Battle of Langemarck. 

From mid-September to December 1917 the battalion was in the line at Armentieres, working on the line, undertaking much patrolling and wiring and helping train troops of the 4th Regiment, Portuguese Expeditionary Corps.  The battalion then spent January resting and training prior to its disbandment.

After the battalion's disbandment on 10 February 1918, Pte Beynon served with the bulk of the battalion in a composite unit under the title of the 2nd Entrenching Battalion.

Entrenching battalions formed in effect holding units, which could keep men usefully employed on defensive works whilst they awaited posting to fighting units under control of the parent formation as gaps arose through wastage and battle casualties. Entrenching battalions were under Army or Corps (rather than divisional) control and were not intended for deployment closer to the front than the Rearward zone, although this appears to have been disregarded once the German Spring Offensive began. 

The 2nd Entrenching Battalion was set up at Doulieu under the aegis of the First Army Group of Entrenching Battalions (HQ at Bray) and was under the control of XV Corps. It contained troops from disbanded battalions of a range of units as well as the South Wales Borderers, including East Surreys, King's Liverpool, South Lancashires, Middlesex and Royal Fusiliers. The battalion did not accompany the 38th Division to the Somme, but remained at Merville, at this time a billeting and hospital centre, lying roughly between Hazebrouck, Bailleul, Estaires, and Bethune. They were employed working on rear lines of defence in the La Bassee-Armentieres area in anticipation of the German Spring Offensive. When the Battle of the Lys commenced, the battalion took part in the defence of Merville on 11/12 April 1918, during which time the Germans forced their way into and took the town. The action is described in Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's Sixth Despatch as follows:

“The Fall of Merville.

(56) On the morning of the 11th April the enemy recommenced his attacks on the whole front, and again made progress. Between Givenchy and the Lawe River the successful resistance of the past two days was maintained against repeated assaults. Between Locon and Estaires the enemy, on the previous evening, had established a footing on the west bank of the river in the neighbourhood of Fosse. In this area and northwards to Lestrem he continued to push westwards, despite the vigorous resistance of our troops. At Estaires, the troops of the 5th Division, tired and reduced in numbers by the exceptionally heavy fighting of the previous three weeks and threatened on their right flank by the enemy’s advance south of the Lys, were heavily engaged. After holding their positions with great gallantry during the morning, they were slowly pressed back in the direction of Merville. The enemy employed large forces on this front in close formation, and the losses inflicted by our rifle and machine-gun fire were unusually heavy. Our own troops, however, were not in sufficient numbers to hold up his advance, and as they fell back and their front gradually extended, gaps formed in the line. Through these gaps bodies of German infantry worked their way forward, and at 6 p.m. had reached Neuf Berquin. Other parties of the enemy pushed on along the north bank of the Lys Canal and entered Merville. As it did not appear possible to clear the town without fresh forces, which were not yet available, it was decided to withdraw behind the small stream which runs just west of the town. This withdrawal was successfully carried out during the evening."

It is likely that it was in the defence of Merville that Pte Beynon was killed, being recorded as presumed dead on or since 11 April 1918. He was aged 25, and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial along with thirteen of his fellows. His effects, including a War Gratuity of £5, were split between his sister, Mary and his widow, who also received a pension of 20/5 a week, effective from 16 December 1918 for their son, Thomas. By this time the whole family was living at  19 Jenkins Street, Abercwmboi.