1914-20 WAR & VICTORY MEDALS To 61956 PTE. E. ELLIOTT. DURH. L. I.

1914-20 WAR & VICTORY MEDALS To 61956 PTE. E. ELLIOTT. DURH. L. I.

Served ; 2nd Infantry Labour Company Durham Light Infantry & Lab. Corps & 13th Btn. Inniskilling Fusiliers

Ernest Middleton Elliot was from Bradwell, Derbyshire. Possibly, like 61959 Joseph C Richardson, he enlisted or attested his willingness to serve in late 1915 (in Pte Richardson’s case, on 23 November 1915), and may have spent some time in the Army Reserve before being called up/mobilised some time in early 1917.

 

Initially serving with the Durham Light Infantry under the regimental number 61956, he was transferred to the Labour Corps and served under the regimental number 19368. This number fell within the number range 19201 to 19800, allocated to men converting from the 2^nd Infantry Labour Company, Durham Light Infantry.

 

The Durham Light Infantry hosted 8 Infantry Labour Companies for work on the lines of communication overseas, mostly comprised of men medically rated as unfit for combat duty. Pte Elliott would most probably have gone out to France with the company circa 16 February 1917. As part of the hasty creation of ILCs in the early part of February 1917, in response to the escalating demand for military labour, it was apparently not uncommon for them to be formed within two to three weeks and then hastily despatched overseas, with 23 companies going overseas in the second half of February and a further 96 companies going out to France in March 1917.

 

He would have remained with his ILC until the Labour Corps was formed, at which point new regimental numbers were issued to the men and the Company was retitled the 33rd Labour Company, as part of the wider transfer-in of Infantry Labour Companies and Labour Battalions into the newly-forming Labour Corps which took place in May of 1917. Possibly as a result of some internal transferring to balance the size of the companies, he is recorded on his medal roll entry as having served with the 31^st Company, one of two companies formed out of the 17th (Labour) Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment.

 

The 450-man Labour Companies of the Labour Corps were employed all along the forward areas running behind the front line on a range of labouring and other tasks ranging from road mending and ammunition loading to drainage, ditching and sanitation.

 

The fact that Pte Elliott was with this unit suggests that he was medically rated as unfit for combat duty. In post-June 1916 terms this would be Class Bii - Class B indicating that he was fit for service abroad, other than general service, whilst the (ii) indicated that he was fit for service in Labour units, or on garrison or regimental outdoor employment. In practical terms it indicates he was able to walk to and from work a distance not exceeding five miles and see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

 

Subsequent to his service with the 31^st Company, it is likely that he was medically upgraded and subsequently served with the 11^th Garrison Guard Battalion, which later became the 13th (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The 11^th Garrison Guard Battalion was one of six battalions raised from medical category Bi men of the Labour Corps who had previously served as infantry, in response to the urgent need for men and units to replace casualties and decimated formations in the aftermath of the German Spring Offensive. The 13^th Inniskillings was formed in June 1918, initially as the 13^th (Garrison) Battalion, and attached to the 40^th Division, which (having been reduced to a training cadre following the battles of March and April 1918) was in the process of being reconstituted with men below A1 medical category, for the purpose of serving as a ‘B’ Division, principally for holding the line. Pte Elliott would have transferred to the Inniskillings at around this point, receiving the new regiment number 48025.

 

Whilst serving with 40^th Division, in the 119^th Brigade, the 13^th was renamed a service battalion on 13 July 1918 and (notwithstanding the ‘B’ Division status) saw action in the Final Advance n Flanders and Battle of Ypres. The battalion’s first action took place at Vieux Berquin on 27 August 1918 and is described in the Regimental History as follows: “This Battalion won its spurs near Landeck. Advancing on August 27th at 10 a.m. the 13th Inniskillings were held up by heavy machine gun fire, but by resolute and clever outflanking movements evicted the enemy”. The battalion took casualties of three officers and 27 other ranks killed and nine officers and 147 other ranks wounded, together with three other ranks missing, in the action.

 

The 1918 Absent Voters List for Derbyshire Western Division shows Pte Elliott as serving with the 31^st Company, Labour Corps with his ‘qualifying premises’ being in Small Dale, Bradwell, in the polling district of Bonsall.

 

Pte Elliott we have received his British War Medal and Victory Medal, his full entitlement, some time after September 1920.

 

 

 

 1914-20 WAR & VICTORY MEDALS To 61956 PTE. E. ELLIOTT. DURH. L. I.

Served ; 2nd Infantry Labour Company Durham Light Infantry & Lab. Corps & 13th Btn. Inniskilling Fusiliers

Ernest Middleton Elliot was from Bradwell, Derbyshire. Possibly, like 61959 Joseph C Richardson, he enlisted or attested his willingness to serve in late 1915 (in Pte Richardson’s case, on 23 November 1915), and may have spent some time in the Army Reserve before being called up/mobilised some time in early 1917.

Initially serving with the Durham Light Infantry under the regimental number 61956, he was transferred to the Labour Corps and served under the regimental number 19368. This number fell within the number range 19201 to 19800, allocated to men converting from the 2nd Infantry Labour Company, Durham Light Infantry.

The Durham Light Infantry hosted 8 Infantry Labour Companies for work on the lines of communication overseas, mostly comprised of men medically rated as unfit for combat duty. Pte Elliott would most probably have gone out to France with the company circa 16 February 1917. As part of the hasty creation of ILCs in the early part of February 1917, in response to the escalating demand for military labour, it was apparently not uncommon for them to be formed within two to three weeks and then hastily despatched overseas, with 23 companies going overseas in the second half of February and a further 96 companies going out to France in March 1917.

He would have remained with his ILC until the Labour Corps was formed, at which point new regimental numbers were issued to the men and the Company was retitled the 33rd Labour Company, as part of the wider transfer-in of Infantry Labour Companies and Labour Battalions into the newly-forming Labour Corps which took place in May of 1917. Possibly as a result of some internal transferring to balance the size of the companies, he is recorded on his medal roll entry as having served with the 31st Company, one of two companies formed out of the 17th (Labour) Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment.

The 450-man Labour Companies of the Labour Corps were employed all along the forward areas running behind the front line on a range of labouring and other tasks ranging from road mending and ammunition loading to drainage, ditching and sanitation.

The fact that Pte Elliott was with this unit suggests that he was medically rated as unfit for combat duty. In post-June 1916 terms this would be Class Bii - Class B indicating that he was fit for service abroad, other than general service, whilst the (ii) indicated that he was fit for service in Labour units, or on garrison or regimental outdoor employment. In practical terms it indicates he was able to walk to and from work a distance not exceeding five miles and see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

Subsequent to his service with the 31st Company, it is likely that he was medically upgraded and subsequently served with the 11th Garrison Guard Battalion, which later became the 13th (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The 11th Garrison Guard Battalion was one of six battalions raised from medical category Bi men of the Labour Corps who had previously served as infantry, in response to the urgent need for men and units to replace casualties and decimated formations in the aftermath of the German Spring Offensive. The 13th Inniskillings was formed in June 1918, initially as the 13th (Garrison) Battalion, and attached to the 40th Division, which (having been reduced to a training cadre following the battles of March and April 1918) was in the process of being reconstituted with men below A1 medical category, for the purpose of serving as a ‘B’ Division, principally for holding the line. Pte Elliott would have transferred to the Inniskillings at around this point, receiving the new regiment number 48025.

Whilst serving with 40th Division, in the 119th Brigade, the 13th was renamed a service battalion on 13 July 1918 and (notwithstanding the ‘B’ Division status) saw action in the Final Advance n Flanders and Battle of Ypres. The battalion’s first action took place at Vieux Berquin on 27 August 1918 and is described in the Regimental History as follows: “This Battalion won its spurs near Landeck. Advancing on August 27th at 10 a.m. the 13th Inniskillings were held up by heavy machine gun fire, but by resolute and clever outflanking movements evicted the enemy”. The battalion took casualties of three officers and 27 other ranks killed and nine officers and 147 other ranks wounded, together with three other ranks missing, in the action.

The 1918 Absent Voters List for Derbyshire Western Division shows Pte Elliott as serving with the 31st Company, Labour Corps with his ‘qualifying premises’ being in Small Dale, Bradwell, in the polling district of Bonsall.

Pte Elliott we have received his British War Medal and Victory Medal, his full entitlement, some time after September 1920.

WW1 pair to 209620 Pnr CGT Jago, RE No.2 Special (Gas) Company, wounded in action 13 July 1917

WW1 pair to 209620 Pnr CGT Jago, RE No.2 Special (Gas) Company, wounded in action 13 July 1917

Clifford George Treverton Jago was born in Bodmin in 1892, the eldest son of Clifford Jago, tailor, and his wife Charlotte. After spending eight years as an assistant at Northey’s Chemist in Bodmin, in September 1915 or thereabouts he joined the Pharmaceutical College at Westminster[1]. As of August-December 1916, when presumably mobilised at Wansdworth or Kingston, his next of kin address was given as 23a St Albans Avenue, Bedford Park, Surrey. He was working as a student[2].  A Derby or ‘Groups’ Scheme man, he had attested his willingness to serve on 6 December 1915 at Clapham. His records noted that he was aged 23 Years 1 Months, Height 5ft 3in., Weight in pounds 130, Chest expansion inches 3, Chest size inches 35. The records suggest that he was recruited into the Royal Engineers, under the regimental number 12093. Judging by information set down in one of his medical records, he may have entered a theatre of war around January 1917. This would have potentially have put him in line to take part with GHQ Special Brigade in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the 3^rd Army in the Battle of the Scarpe and with IX Corps of Second Army in the Battle of Messines.

By 1918, Pnr Jago was on the strength of No.2 Special Company, 5^th Battalion, Special Brigade, a mortar company including sections, E, F, G and H, utilising a specially designed 4” variant of the Stokes Mortar. It is possible that he spent all of his service with this Company. In early August 1917 he was reported in War Office Daily List No.5332 of 8 August 1917 as Wounded, suggesting that his wound occurred about a month earlier, at the beginning of July 1917. At this time No.2 Company was in Belgian Flanders, in the vicinity of Eikhoek, north-west of Poperinghe. In the first two days of the month ‘H’ Section was in the process of installing mortars and bomb stores in the 51^st (Highland) Division sector, whilst ‘E’, ‘F’, and part of ‘G’[3] Sections were doing the same in the Guards’ Division (IX Corps) sector.

A newspaper article in the Cornish Guardian of 27 July 1917[4], describing Clifford as ‘Pioneer Chemist CGT Jago’ gives the date of his wounding as 13 July; it observes that he was “wounded in France on July 13^th and is now in the Canadian hospital at Etaples. He has previously been gassed [possibly accidentally, as there appears to be no Casualty List entry for this], but fortunately recovered. We understand the wound is not a serious one.”. This would agree with him being the single other rank casualty mentioned in the 2^nd Company War Diary for that date, which states “13 [July] Operations arranged, all sections took up battle positions, but unfavourable winds necessitated a postponement of the operation. 1 O/R wounded”. This appears to have been in connection with the operations finally carried out at 2a.m. on 14/15 July. Two operations took place, one to gas the enemy in strong points at Canal Drive, Canal Avenue, Cable Support and Baboon Support ‘and reduce his resisting power’, of which it was reported ‘Despite torrents of rain and pitch darkness, and despite the occurrence of a large number of misfires due to the exceptional conditions prevailing the operation was successfully carried out, a large number of bombs was discharged in two bursts of 5 minutes each, the first at zero and the second at zero plus 60 minutes, which work reflects very creditably upon the personnel concerned’. The second operation was to ‘gas the enemy in the strong points PORT CALEDONIA, CANADIAN TRENCH, CANADIAN SUPPORT, CANADIAN AVENUE and to reduce his resisting power’. Taking place at the same time, this was also eventful, the war diary commenting that “Owing to the complete inundation of one emplacement only 11 guns [mortars] were able to fire” and “A total of 560 bombs was successfully discharged in two bursts of 5 minutes each, the first at zero and the second at zero plus 60 minutes. Torrents of rain fell, and extremely heavy enemy fire was experienced. The mud, which it was impossible to remove entirely from the bombs, caused numerous misfires”. The bombs used appear to have been primarily filled with Chloropicrin (‘PS’), intermixed with tear gas (Ethyl Idoacetate or ‘SK’[5]) bombs.  Pnr Jago was entitled to wear a "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of the 6th July 1916 in consequence of his wounding. The casualty list confirmed his Next of Kin Address as Bodmin.

If Pnr Jago was serving with No.2 Company in early to mid-1918 this might have put him in line to have taken part in the Battle of Ballieul and (with the Canadian Corps, Fourth Army) in the Battle of Amiens.

Certainly, Pnr Jago was confirmed at serving with No.2 Company as of September 1918. During this month, as Pioneer Jago, C, Service Number 209620, 2nd Special Company, Royal Engineers, Age 25, under Index Number of Admission 32210[6] on 11 September 1918 he was admitted from No. 22 Casualty Clearing Station (where he had been admitted on 01/09/1918) with Inflammation of stomach, severe, to Ward R, 18^th General Hospital. He was subsequently transferred from sick convoy No. 6 Ambulance Train. The admission and discharge register recorded him as having served 1 year 8 months with the Field Force (i.e. on active service with the BEF, which would accord with an entry to theatre date of circa January 1917) and confirmed his religion as Church of England.

Potentially taking part in the Battles of the St Quentin Canal and Pursuit to Mons, Pnr Jago remained with the 2^nd Company until 1919, where he had the sad duty of giving evidence at an inquiry related to the accidental death (ran down by a train) of a friend of the same unit, 220200 Cpl Duncan Turnbull, Royal Engineers.

Pnr Jago was subsequently discharged (on 14 December 1919) with 20% disabling Gastritis, possibly attributable to the severe inflammation of the stomach which he suffered in September 1918. This was adjudged attributable to service, for which he was given a weekly allowance of 5/6 until 13 December 1921.  His pension ledger entry gives an address in Bodmin.

By 1955 (as evidenced in ‘The Chemist and Druggist’, February 5 1955), Clifford GT Jago and Reginald C Jago were operating three chemist and druggists’ stores at 35 and 49 Molesworth Street Wadebridge and 12 Fore Street, Bodmin.

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[1] Cornish Guardian, 10 September 1915

[2] Surrey Recruitment Registers 1908-1933, Page number 174, Reference 2496 / 10. Notes. Groups and C2 is written on the cover and Groups 6 written on the spine. Dates and recruitment centres covered are: Wandsworth, 16^th August 1916 to 8th December 1916, Kingston, 30th August 1916 to 8th December 1916.

[3] The other part of ‘G’ proceeded to the Special Brigade base at Helfaut to provide demonstrations of the 4” Stokes Mortar before the King and Queen

[4] Also the Newquay Express and Cornwall County Chronicle, same date

[5] So named, supposedly, after the South Kensington location of Imperial College London, where Professor Jocelyn Thorpe discovered the lachrymatory gas.

[6] Archive Reference MH106/116

1914-15 Star and Victory Medal to 22125 PTE. E. PELLING 2nd GLOSTERS, killed in action, possibly by sniper, on 22 October 1915

1914-15 Star and Victory Medal to 22125 PTE. E. PELLING 2^nd GLOSTERS, killed in action, possibly by sniper, on 22 October 1915

Ernest Pelling was born in 1894, in Worthing, Sussex. He was living in Worthing upon enlistment. Judging from the enlistment dates of 22113 Pte William Webb, and 22135 Pte Walter Frederick Walters, this was probably in early September 1914.

 

As 22125 PTE. E. Pelling of the Gloucestershire Regiment, he was posted overseas in August 1915 to join the 2nd Battalion, entering the France and Flanders theatre of war on 4 August 1915. At this time the battalion was out of the line at L’Hallobeau near Erquinghem-sur-Lys, training, enjoying recreations and from 9 August working on the Bois Grenier line. It is possible (although it would have been a very fast transit if so) that Pte Pelling was one of a draft of 20 men joining the battalion on 5 August, although it seems more likely that he was part of the 12^th August draft. His first experience in the line is therefore likely to have been on 18 August at Bois Grenier, ‘B’ Company relieving the 2^nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. The war diary that night commented “Relief completed by 10PM. Trenches fair, have been badly kept up. Lot of work required. Very little stores. Continual sniping [from trees behind the enemy line] all night otherwise quiet” (the war diary for the 20^th commented “Traversed trees behind German lines with MG. This had the effect of quietening enemy’s snipers”; the battalion had three casualties, one fatal, on this day). The diary for the week comments on aircraft activity, artillery, trench howitzers, sniping, suspected mining activity, and work night and day on communications trenches and improving the support line and continual casualties. The routine was broken on the 26^th of the month by the announcement of Russian decorations awarded to men of the battalion. The battalion was finally relieved on 1 September, going into billets at La Rolanderie Farm, near Erquinhem.

 

For the first fortnight of September the battalion remained at La Rolanderie, the battalion giving instruction to two newer battalions (the 11^th West Yorkshires and 10^th West Ridings) and the battalion MG Officer testing out ammunition: “Experiments carried out by M.G. Officer to test efficiency of “B” type SAA in rapid fire. Results with M.G. satisfactory. With rifle causes jams[1]”. The third week was occupied in moving down to the Somme via Hazebrouck, Abbeville, Amiens and Warfusee-Abancourt. On 2 October the officers and non-commissioned officers of battalion reconnoitred the trenches at Fontaine les Cappy with a view to aking them over from the 2^nd Royal Irish Fusiliers, the war diary commenting “Trenches on the whole bad, several mines, in places lines are very close”. When the battalion finally took over trenches F1, F2, G1 and G2 on 4 October the trenches were noted as full of mines started by the French and counter-mined by the Germans and the ground between the mines “dotted with craters of exploded mines, in some cases we hold one side of crater & enemy the other”. There was much mine warfare during this first period in the line with both sides mining the other and quite a lot of artillery fire. After a two-day relief the battalion was back in the trenches on 12 October. This period was marked by exchanges of hand- and rifle-grenades at the Filippi crater, plus some sniping and shelling. The battalion was relieved again on the 16^th, returning to the Fontaine les Cappy trenches again on the 20^th.

 

Pte Pelling saw less than three months of active service before being killed in action aged 21 on 22 October 1915, probably by a sniper. At this time the battalion was in the trenches with its HQ at Fontaine Les Cappy, Pte Pelling serving in ‘B’ Company, and the war diary noted that enemy snipers were very busy:

 

"20 October. In trenches. HQ FONTAINE Les CAPPY. Relieved 1st A&S in trenches F1 F2 G1 G2. Relief completed by 11.30 am. Very quiet day. Hardly a shot fired. Suspect a move for 81 IB. At 9.15pm enemy throws over some bombs at PAYAN crater [right of G1 trench]. We replied to this and enemy ceased at 10pm. Fairly quiet night.

 

21 October. Thick fog & very quiet morning. Have reason to believe French are relieving 27 Div in this sector Oct 23rd. Enemy very quiet at night. Left taken over by the French from 22 Div.

 

22 October. Enemy snipers very busy in the early morning opposite FILLIPI. German biplane passed over from our right rear to left front and was engaged by British biplane with M.G. which ended in enemy plane being brought down in enemy's lines direction of FRISE about noon. Enemy shelled the SOCERIE with 4.2 howitzers about 30 shells from 1.15pm to 2pm. A quiet night.[in the margin] Casualties No 22125 Pte Pelling B Coy KILLED buried FONTAINE Les CAPPY."

 

Presumably being disinterred after the war, he now lies buried in plot I. K. 13., Hangard Communal Cemetery Extension, south of Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, France. He was survived by his mother, Mrs. G. A. Coleman, of Capel St. Mary's, Ipswich.

 

Pte Pelling’s War Gratuity was £4. This, and his financial effects of £4 3s, was given to his mother (Gertrude Annie Newson, later Coleman) in 1916 and 1920 respectively.

 

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[1] 2^nd Gloucestershire Regiment war diary, September 7^th 1915

1914-15 Star and Victory Medal to 20870 PTE. G. COX SOUTH LANCS, twice wounded in action

1914-15 Star and Victory Medal to 20870 PTE. G. COX SOUTH LANCS, twice wounded in action

George Cox served as a Private in the South Lancashire Regiment under the regimental number 20870, probably enlisting, like 20877 Pte Thomas Mather (a 21-year-old engine winder from Windle), at St Helens on or around 4 September 1914. From Larkhill Camp, travelling via Southampton and Le Havre, he entered the France and Flanders theatre on 6 November 1915 with the 11^th (Service) Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment (St Helens Pioneers). The battalion served as a pioneer battalion for 30^th Division. At some point he was attached to the Royal Engineers. The battalion’s service in this period included the Battle of the Somme 1916, the pursuit to the Hindenburg Line in early 1917, and the Battle of Arras.

 

In July 1917 the battalion was engaged in pioneer work to support the opening attack of the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July 1917), continuing in this role until 6 August when it was sent to Lindenhoek to work on the Messines Ridge defences. The battalion then took part in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge.

 

With the South Lancashire, Pte Cox was reported as Wounded in War Office Daily List No. 5458, Report Date. 5 January 1918, and was thereby entitled to wear a "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of 6th July 1916. This would suggest that he was wounded some time in late November or early December 1917.

 

From the second half of November the battalion was based in the Ypres, Voormezle and then Zillebeke areas, and undertaking a variety of work related to erection of Nissen huts, construction of communications trenches and supporting points, track laying, road mending, etc. The battalion suffered 9 other ranks wounded in November and 20 wounded in December, and Pte Cox was presumably one of these.

 

Pte Cox was then again reported as Wounded in War Office Daily List No. 5554, Report Date 1 May 1918, for which he was entitled to wear a second "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of 6th July 1916. The list confirmed his Next of Kin Address as St Helens. This most probably indicates that he was wounded in late March 1918, to coincide with the period of the German Spring Offensive 1918. In this action the battalion experienced the German offensive at Savy-Roupy opposite St. Quentin. If so, he would have been one of 149 other ranks wounded during the period (along with 14 killed, 34 wounded and missing,  and 176 missing, 14 died of wounds and 20 wounded and subsequently rejoined).

 

The battalion had been in the St Quentin area since the previous month doing a variety of work on the trench lines, redoubts and keeps in the Forward, Battle and Rear zones. The transcription of the battalion war diary by (c) David Risley and Charles Fair 2012 gives the situation on 21st March, the opening day of the German Spring Offensive, as follows:

 

"On the morning of the 21st. My Battalion was situated as follows :- One Company at Savvy Wood Dugouts. One Company in Roupy. One Company split up between L'Epine de Dallon - Roupy and the back area.

In accordance with Divisional Defence Scheme, as soon as enemy artillery fire made it seem probable that an attack was imminent, all Companies proceeded to Fluquieres. The Company in Savy Wood lost a certain number of men owing to the fact that the enemy put down a heavy barrage of Gas and H.E. Shells. A few men who were working with the R.E.s. in L'Epine de Dallon did not get clear.

15:00 At 3 o'clock p.m. we were ordered to withdraw from Fluquieres to the quarry behind Aviation Wood.

This was done and picquets were posted on the East side of Aviation Wood.

19:30 About 7.30 p.m. G.S.O. 3 30th Division informed me that I was to be responsible for my own defence. I accordingly took up a line between Hill Wood and Aviation Wood running from F.25.B.3.2. - F.25.D.6.8. - to L.1.b.5.0. - L.1.D.3.2. This line was dug and partially wired.

 

22/03/1918 I informed G.O.C. 21st Brigade my position and received orders that I was to hold on to the position and if the infantry in front were compelled to withdraw, they would withdraw through me and reform behind. The Battalion remained here, with picquets out in front Aviation Wood and one each flank until 6 p.m. on the 22nd.

About that time two Companies of the 17^th. Kings withdrew on to our line and were being placed into position to strengthen our line when orders were received that all troops were to withdraw in an orderly fashion on HAM. At the time with withdrew the enemy was just coming into view on the [crest?] S.E. of Aviation Wood.

On arrival at Ham I received orders to bivouac at EPPEVILLE"

 

The following two days saw the battalion in retreat via defensive positions at Eppeville, Verlaines (where further casualties were taken), a rearguard action by the Lewis Gunners and two companies plus the reserve company back to Moyencourt, and further rearguard activity against the enemy only 1000 yards away at Esmery Hallon, after which the battalion was sent overnight to Roieglise [sic], arriving on the morning of the 25^th, there forming a temporary composite battalion. On 26 March the composite battalion marched to Rouvroy, handing back its men to their parent units on the way, and there took up defensive positions until ordered to withdraw on the 27^th owing to withdrawals on their flanks. This was later determined to have been a mistaken order and the battalion took part in a counter-attack with four other battalions towards Folies and the Folies-Arvillers road until held up, when it consolidated, the 11^th South Lancashire digging a support line. The morning of 28 March saw the battalion initially moving men from the support line up to the left flank due to heavy shelling, and then being deployed to the right flank along with some of the 19^th King’s Liverpool Regiment owing to the withdrawal of the Royal Irish Rifles, successfully preventing the enemy from coming out from Arvillers. All this took place amid some general confusion as to flanking units and defensive positions, continuing until the 30th Division finally handed over its line to the French on the afternoon of 28 March and the battalion withdrew to Rouvrel.

 

Subsequently, presumably after recovering from his wound, Pte Cox was transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers, with whom he served in the 19th Battalion (3^rd Salford Pals), also a pioneer battalion (for 49^th Division), under the Regimental number 49415. It seems possible that he may have been one of the 20 other ranks who rejoined 11^th South Lancashires after wounding and was then one of 301 other ranks transferred to the 19^th Lancashire Fusiliers on 12 May 1918, along with the 11^th’s Commanding Officer, Lt-Col Fenn. This would have put Pte Cox in line to serve with the 19^th Battalion at Naves in October (where, serving once again as infantry, it made a frontal attack on a German position at a cost of 60 casualties amongst the 320 men attacking), and at Valenciennes on 1 November, where the battalion undertook various work to support the 49^th Division’s advance, including placing bridges over the Rhonelle over which the 147^th Brigade then attacked.

 

Pte Cox was discharged to the Class 'Z' Army Reserve on 27 January 1919. He would have received his 1914-15 Star and his British War and Victory Medal some time after December 1920 and November 1920, respectivel

Great War pair to 28420 S.McIntyre of the Northumberland Fusiliers, 1918 Trench Mortar Battery Prisoner of War, plus 2 medals for the North of England Musical Tournament 1930 & 31 to F.T. McIntyre

Great War pair to 28420 S.McIntyre of the Northumberland Fusiliers .plus 2 medals for the North of England Musical Tournament 1930 & 31 to F.T. McIntyre.

Pte Stanley McIntyre, 1/4th Northumberland Fusiliers, attached Trench Mortar Battery – Prisoner of War May 1918

Stanley McIntyre came from Whitley Bay. He may, like 28429 Pte Percy Green[1], have been a ‘Derby Scheme’ man, attesting his willingness to serve on a deferred enlistment basis – in Green’s case, making his attestation on 22 November 1915. Possibly, like 28426 James Richards (a musician and band boy, born 1900, who enlisted in the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers), together with 28418 Pte Thomas Lambert (26th and then 12th and 12/13th Northumberland Fusiliers), and the aforementioned Pte Green, Stanley enlisted or was mobilised/called up circa 17 April 1916, subsequently training with the 15th (Reserve) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers at Rugeley, Cannock Chase.

Going overseas some time after 31 December 1915, Pte McIntyre most probably embarked for France, like 28429 Green, on or about 10 September 1916 – although, unlike Green, he was then posted to a Northumberland Fusiliers battalion rather than being transferred to the West Riding Regiment.

According to his medal roll entry, Pte McIntyre served with the 1/4th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. The 1/4th was part of the Northumberland Brigade, Northumbrian Division and landed in France in April 1915. In May 1915 the brigade became the 149th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division. After taking part in much fighting in the Ypres salient, the battalion moved down to the Somme in August 1916 preparatory to taking part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916. The battalion incurred substantial casualties in this action (120 killed, 236 wounded and 143 missing) and it is probably as a result of this that Pte McIntyre was drafted to the battalion, possibly as part of a draft of 139 other ranks received on 26 September 1916. If so his first experience in the line may have been following the 1 October 1916 Battle of the Transloy Ridges (on the night of which the 4th battalion provided carrying parties for the Durham Light Infantry units in the line), as the battalion relieved the 8th Durham Light Infantry and 5th Border Regiment: “The weather and the mud was appalling and a large number of bombs had to be carried forward, so the men were absolutely exhausted. The relief was not completed until about 9am on the morning of the 3rd”.

From an inquiry lodged with Red Cross, we know that Pte McIntyre was attached to a Light Trwnch Mortar Battery, and would most probably have been attached the Light Trench Mortar Battery of 149th Brigade, which joined the brigade upon its formation, from infantrymen of the Brigade, on 18 June 1916. It is not clear from surviving records precisely when this took place. The Long, Long Trail gives the following information about the LTMBs: “Light Trench Mortar Battery (2 Sections, each of four 3-inch Stokes mortars)

Captain, 3 Lieutenants or Second Lieutenants, 2 Sergeants, 8 Corporals or Lance-Corporals, 32 Privates, 4 Batmen.".

Either with the battalion, or as part of the LTMB, Pte McIntyre would have been involved in further action in the Le Transloy-Butte de Warlencourt area in November 1916, and the 1/4th Northumberland Fusiliers remained on the Somme through the winter of 1916-17 before serving at Arras during the first and second Battles of the Scarpe, and then at Ypres during October 1917, taking part in the Battle of Passchendaele.

1918 saw involvement in the German Spring Offensive 1918 (Battles of St Quentin, the Somme Crossings and Rosieres), with the 149th Light Trench Mortar Battery travelling by train with other units of the brigade there to hold the rear zone defences (Green Line), specifically the right flank of the brigade front. After facing an enemy assault on the 22nd, the 4th battalion was driven back to Caulaincourt and there again found its flank exposed, and the 50th Division ordered a withdrawal that night over the bridge at St Christ. By this time the brigade trench mortar battery was out of ammunition and so took its place on the inner flank of the 5th battalion. The withdrawal to the western bank of the Somme was successfully completed and the St Christ bridge, partially destroyed through being blown up and burned, was fought over through the night, the 4th NF and 22nd Entrenching Battalion successfully thwarting one partially-successful crossing, until the units of the 50th Division began withdrawing from the line of the canal circa 3am on the 23rd March.

April 1918 saw the 50th Division sent up to the Lys sector to relieve Portuguese forces there. On the day the further German offensive, Operation Georgette, hit, 9 April 1918, the 149th Brigade was out of the line but then advanced to support the 150th Brigade in defending the northern bank of the River Lys. On 10 April the crossing at Pont Levis was forced at 7.30am and the enemy forced their way into Estaires, requiring the 149th Brigade to reform their defensive line, from which a partially-successful counter-attack was launched by the 6th NF. However, it was not enough to prevent the Germans strengthening the bridgehead. On the 11th the brigade was gradually forced back and a general withdrawal was made at 2.30am on the 12th, with Neuf-Berquin falling later that morning. The 149th Brigade was relieved that night. During the action on the Lys Lt Stiles of the trench mortar battery was wounded and the squad of stretcher bearers carrying him back was knocked out whilst doing so.

In early May 1918 the battered 50th Division, then training at Coulognes, was 'warned' to be ready to take over positions from the 51st Division d'Infanterie Francaise in the Pontavert sector on the Aisne. Doing this with effect from the morning of 6 May, the 149th Brigade's part was to relieve the 1st to 3rd Battalions, 33rd Regiment d'Infanterie. The 151st Brigade occupied positions to the 149th's right, and 8th Division to its left. The first six days on the line were very quiet, with very slight enemy activity. On 19 May, the 149th Brigade HQ war diary noted "1.30am A German fighting patrol of 3 NCOs and 12 O.R. penetrated our wire at 84.16 owing to its being mistaken for a wiring party which was due to go out at this time. They were able to approach and bomb no.5 LG post of A Coy (centre) (85.15). Rifle and L.G. fire was at once turned onto them and they fled back to their own lines leaving one dead man and one wounded NCO. The remainder were caught in No Man's Land by our light TM fire and undoubtedly suffered more casualties. Prisoner belonged to IIIrd Bn 33rd R 103d D.I. (Normal). Our casualties were 4 killed, 4 wounded and 1 missing." 

After a preliminary bombardment of unparalleled intensity commencing at 1am on 27 May 1918, the German launched the assault which commenced the Battle of the Aisne 1918 at 3.45am. An initial assault on the line held by the 4th NF was repulsed but a re-formed attack supported by four tanks on the 4th and 6th NF line was successful. After passing through the battle zone supported by tanks, the Germans turned their attention to the redoubt line, where Lt-Col Gibson of the 4th NF was making a stand, eventually falling back onto the Butte de l’Edmond when the redoubt line was finally taken, and there being killed in action. The Light Trench Mortar Battery was also represented in this action, the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers chaplain recording in his memoir, ‘When the Lantern of hope Burned Low’, “Captain Benson, of the Trench Mortar Battery, having made his way to the forefront of the fight, led an attack on a German tank but was killed in the effort.”. By 8.30 Pontavert and its bridges had been taken and the remnants of the brigade and many stragglers were collected and the focus shifted to guarding the remaining Aisne bridges at Chaudardes and Concevreux. Through the afternoon the improvised force was pushed back through Concevreux, the high ground to its south, Le Faite Farm and south of Ventelay. This movement continued through the night and the remnants withdrew to the high ground north of Montigny where the 75th Brigade assumed command.

It was most probably during this battle that Pte McIntyre was captured, featuring on the Red Cross/Joint War Organisations Enquiry list as “Northumberland Fusiliers C Company attached L Trench Mortar Battery. Missing Last heard 18 . 5. 18 France. Mrs S McIntyre, (wife) 27, Alnwick Avenue, Whitley Bay, Northld.”

The 149th Brigade War Diary entry for 1pm on the 26th observed "During the fighting since 5am we had had no artillery support and very few MGs. The enemy artillery advanced very quickly and were continually in action." The light trench mortars were not referenced specifically in this extract but it seems very likely that (if they did not suffer from the same ammunition problems referenced during the Battle of St Quentin) they were also swept away before the German assault.

The Enquiry index card notes "Negative reply 29 July 1918" but adds (presumably subsequently) “According to letter of fam. 20.x9.19 in a prison in Germany".

He is not readily identifiable in any 1918 Daily Casualty List, however as McIntyre, S, Private, Service Number 28420, Northumberland Fusiliers, he does feature on War Office Daily List No.5761, Report Date 2 January 1919, listed as ‘Released Prisoner of War from Germany, arrived in England’. This list gives his Next of Kin Address as Whitley Bay.

He was subsequently discharged to the Army Class Z Reserve and would have received his British War Medal and Victory Medal (this being his full entitlement) some time after May 1920.

[1] 8th Northumberland Fusiliers, later 23772, 2nd West Riding

WW1 VICTORY MEDAL to Pte Joseph JORDAN who served with the 9/ROYAL SCOTS ('the Dandy Ninth') and was wounded in 1918

WW1 VICTORY MEDAL to Pte Joseph JORDAN who served with the 9/ROYAL SCOTS ('the Dandy Ninth') and was wounded in 1918. He enlisted twice, the first time underage (he was still under 17 when discharged), and came from Motherwell.

Joseph Jordan was born in Motherwell in 1899. He may be one and the same with "Joseph Jardine", who was recorded, aged 2, on the 1901 Scotland Census as the son of Patrick and Mary, born in Motherwell circa 1899, living with his parents and elder brother Francis at 115 Milton Street, Dalziel. He appears to have first joined-up underage; certainly there is a service record for a 3711 Joseph Jordan, residing at the same address as was later recorded for 59024 Joseph Jordan, attesting for the 3/6th Scottish Rifles at Hamilton on 21 December 1915 and giving his age as 19 years, 60 days and his occupation as 'miner'. He gave as his next of kin his father, Patrick. This man served for 138 days, with a good character, before being discharged from the 6th (Reserve) Battalion, Scottish Rifles under paragraph 392 vi(a) of King's Regulations on 6 May 1916. ((vi) Having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment: (a) Soldier under 17 years of age at date of application for discharge.) His Medical Inspection Report tellingly gave his 'apparent age' as 19 years and noted that he stood 5 feet 4 inches tall with a 34 1/2" chest, normal vision and good physical development.

Enlisting again on 10 June 1917, probably aged circa 18 1/2, he trained with the 55th Training Reserve Battalion under the Regimental number TR/2/13362 and also with an unknown unit under the number 54384. He then served as 59024 with the 9th Battalion, Royal Scots (Highlanders), a kilted/Highland battalion of the Royal Scots, nicknamed 'The Dandy Ninth', which was part of the Territorial Force. Mobilising on the outbreak of war, the battalion first formed part of the home defences of Scotland before splitting into a first line (overseas service) and second line (home service), and sending its first line (the 1/9th) overseas to France on 24 February 1915.

"1/9th Royal Scots

The first-line 'Service' battalion 1/9th Royal Scots deployed to France on 24 February 1915 and joined 27th Division in the Ypres Salient. When chlorine gas was employed in the Second Battle of Ypres, 9th Royal Scots helped fill the gap on 23 April 1915. In March 1916 they transferred to the 51st (Highland) Division and served with them at High Wood, Beaumont-Hamel, Arras, Third Ypres and Cambrai. They were sent to strengthen the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division in February 1918 and faced the German spring offensives at St Quentin (Operation Michael) and at the Lys. They moved again in June 1918, this time to the 15th (Scottish) Division, and served near Soissons, where the battalion suffered its heaviest loss of the war at Villemontoire on 1 August 1918. In the Hundred Days Offensive, the 1/9th Royal Scots captured Vendin-le-Vieil on 12 October 1918, and advanced into Belgium. They were serving with the division when the Armistice was signed."

His date of going overseas is not recorded but is likely to have been, given his age, some time in early 1918 and before 12 April, when his fellow Private, 59026 Thomas Black Forsyth, was killed in action, also whilst serving with the Ninth.

Pte Jordan was wounded, suffering from a Gun Shot Wound (any penetrating wound) to his Left Forearm. This was possibly around 11-12 April 1918 at Steenbecque, during the Battle of the Lys. If so, he would have been one of 135 other ranks who were wounded during the month of April, with a further 15 other ranks killed, 144 missing and 2 dead of wounds. Alternatively, the 9th Battalion spent the second half of April and the month of May alternating between the line and billets in the St Venant area, suffering three men killed and 21 wounded during May, and it is possible that Pte Jordan was one of the latter. He was listed as Wounded on War Office Daily List No.5593, Report Date 15 June 1918, being thereby entitled to wear a "Wound Stripe" as authorised under Army Order 204 of the 6th July 1916. This list confirmed his Next of Kin Address as Motherwell.

He was discharged under paragraph 392 xvi of King's Regulations, no longer physically fit due to wounds, on 11 February 1919. He was issued Silver War Badge Number B211912.

After the war he lived at 37 Crosshill Street, Motherwell, Scotland.

L/9460 Pte. T E Marshall, 1st Royal Sussex Regiment, served North West Frontier 1919 and Afghanistan, entitled to 1914-15 Star and India General Service Medal

L/9460 Pte. T E Marshall, 1st Royal Sussex Regiment, served North West Frontier 1919 and Afghanistan, entitled to 1914-15 Star and India General Service Medal

 

Thomas Edward Marshall served in India, the North West Frontier and Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. Per the 1911 Army Census, he may have been from Watlington, Battle, Sussex, born circa 1889. Although his enlistment date is not recorded, he is likely to have been a career soldier, enlisting some time in the latter half of 1910. In August 1914 the battalion was in Peshawar, India as part of the 1st (Peshawar) Brigade, 1st (Peshawar) Division, Indian Army. The battalion remained in India throughout the war. The regimental history comments:

“In the early months of the Great War practically all the British troops in India were withdrawn for service in Europe and elsewhere, their place being taken by Territorials. The only Regular troops retained in India were a Brigade for service on the North-West Frontier, as it was considered inadvisable to trust such a responsible position to young troops fresh from home, with no Indian experience. This explains why the 1st Battalion, undoubtedly as fine a battalion as any serving in India, was not sent to Europe to take part in the Great War.”

Notwithstanding this, Pte Marshall entered the Asiatic theatre of War at Hafiz with his battalion on 17 August 1915, and was therefore entitled to the 1914-15 Star. This theatre covered operations “Near Hafiz Kor, within the area bounded on the south by the left bank of the Kabul river, and on the east by a line from Adozai to Tangi, both places included, under the command of Major-General C. F. G. Young, from 14th to 19th April, 1915, and under the command of Major-General F. Campbell, C.B., D.S.O., between 29th August, 1915 and 10th October, 1915, all dates inclusive.”

The campaign is described in the ‘Short History of the Royal Sussex Regiment 1701-1926’, as follows: “1915. On August 17th the Battalion mobilised for service on the North-West Frontier and proceeded to Rustam for operations on the Buner Border. The Battalion took part in three minor engagements on August 21st, 26th and 31st, which effectually subdued the Bunerwals. Though the opposition offered by the tribesmen was not great, the operations are worthy of note, for they were carried out during the heat of an Indian summer, and it is seldom in these days that British troops are called upon to fight under such trying conditions.

Meanwhile, the Mohmands had risen, and the 3rd Brigade were ordered to move as quickly as possible to Adezai in support of the 1st and 4th Brigades, operating on that border. Arriving on September 23rd, the Brigade remained inactive until October 8th, when it took part in the second action near Hafiz Kor. The Battalion was for a time under heavy fire and had a few casualties, but the Mohmands dispersed, not having offered the resistance which was expected. The Battalion returned to Peshawar on October 29th.”

The battalion, or detachments of it, were involved in providing a flying column into Mohmand country in September 1916 and manning part of a line of barbed and live wire, interspersed with blockhouses, in 1917. 1919 saw the battalion initially engaged in riot control duties in Poona and Bombay, and then sent to Peshawar in the context of a developing conflict with Afghanistan. Actions included taking a ridge on the Orange River which overlooked the Ali Musjid-Jamrud Road, reconnaissance and sorties in extreme heat, and defence of posts, members of the battalion winning five gallantry medals in the process. Following the signing of peace with Afghanistan in August 1919, and some operations against tribesmen in the Khaibar in September, the battalion, reduced to a cadre, returned home in December 1919. Subsequently it was embodied within the Army of the Rhine.

For Pte Marshall’s service on the North West Frontier and in Afghanistan he earned the India General Service Medal with the clasp ‘Afghanistan North West Frontier 1919’. By this time he had been given the new service number 6390437. He would have received his 1914-15 Star some time after December 1919, his British War Medal and Victory Medal some time after November 1920, and his IGSM some time after August 1921.