1914 Star & Victory Medal group to 6th General Hospital RAMC (France & Flanders: date of entry 18 August 1914) & 1/5th Somerset Light Infantry (Palestine, Battle of Sharon, 1918) to Sydney George BURR from Bath

6588 Sidney G Burr, 6th General Hospital  RAMC (later 41620, 1/5th Somerset Light Infantry) Sidney George Burr was a regular soldier. He may be one and the same with Sidney or Sydney George Burr, who was the son of William Albert Burr, and Maria Burr, née Hooper. He was born to William and Maria in Bath, Somerset, in 1895. In 1911 he was a coal carter, like his father, living at 38 James Street West, Bath. He married Wilhelmina Witham, possibly at Holy Trinity, Bath, in the last quarter of 1922. With her he had two daughters (Dorothy Winifred and Irene Peggy) and one son (Sidney Arthur Dennis). Sidney senior's death (recorded as Sydney G Burr) was registered in Bath in the final quarter of 1929. He was 35. Judging from his RAMC regimental number of 6588 probably, like 6589 Oscar Sidney Ashman*, he enlisted for a short service engagement of 3 years with the Colours and 9 years on the Reserve some time between 3 and 8 August 1912. (Pte Ashman enlisted at Bristol on 8 August 1912, joining at Aldershot five days later, thus meaning that his Colours service was drawing to an end just as war broke out.) Pte Burr would have undergone his training at the RAMC Training School/School of Instruction in Aldershot in late 1912 to early 1913 and subsequently received his Corps pay, reflecting proficiency in his duties. Swiftly moving from his peacetime duties  he served in the France and Flanders theatre from 18 August 1914, going overseas with 6th General Hospital RAMC, probably as an Orderly. He was therefore entitled to the 1914 Star. No.6 General Hospital was based in  Le Havre for seven days in August 1914. The Matron and Staff were accommodated at Ecole Jean D’Arc on the 16th, their camp kit being used until they could be put into hotels. They then started off for Amiens on the 23rd, reaching Rouen by the 26th. On 30 August, however, all hospitals were ordered to leave Rouen and the hospital equipment and personnel with the exception of the Nursing Staff left by steamer the following day.  By 3 November No.6 had returned to Rouen, the war diary of the Matron-in-Chief, British Expeditionary Force (transcribed S Light, 'Scarlet Finders') for 9 November commenting "After lunch went to 6 General Hospital – under canvas – working under difficulties, and not properly established. Col. Du Cane spoke very highly of Miss Reid’s capabilities, she having taken over vice Miss Dods now at Boulogne." By 22 November things appear to have been better settled, the Matron-in-Chief commenting "No.6 General Hospital in the same neighbourhood, also under canvas was the next I visited. Lt.Col. Du Cane ... officer in charge, Miss Reid Matron, staff of 40 – 2 more Nursing Sisters expected in the evening. The arrangements for the Sisters were good and their Mess Tent excellent – warm, comfortable, flowers on the tables and a very excellent mid-day meal, well cooked and very hot. Not many patients in Hospital and the marques being moved from one position to another." On 10 January 1915 she further commented "These hospitals are in a good position near pine woods and some of the tents have been struck in the middle of an apple orchard, which will be particularly beautiful in Spring. They are all boarded – heated by stoves and lighted by lamps. They are all well managed and everything going smoothly, No.6 being particularly good, having excellent arrangements for the comfort of the men and the Nursing Sisters. Everywhere the Matrons are well supplied with Red Cross things for the benefit of the patients." On 15 March 1915 "6 General Hospital with Miss Reid in charge were busy moving into their hutted Hospital which will be most comfortable". The hospital remained at Rouen for the duration of the war.  It was a base hospital, at the mid-point of the casualty evacuation chain, positioned near the coast and with good access to railway lines or canals for casualties received back from the the Casualty Clearing Stations closer to the front line, but also well-placed for evacuation of casualties through nearby ports so they could be evacuated for longer-term treatment in Britain. Possibly a man of high medical grade 'combed-out' for front-line service as the war progressed, Burr later served in theatre 4(b) (Palestine) as 41620** Pte S G Burr, 1/5th Somerset Light Infantry, part of the 233rd Brigade of the 75th Division, XXI Corps (Lt Gen E S Bulfin), Egyptian Expeditionary Force. It may be that like fellow RAMC man 41606 George Somerset Smale, he was already serving in Egypt (in Smale's case, at a casualty clearing station), when earmarked for transfer. Although he was posted to a Territorial battalion, Pte Burr's regimental number comes from the shared Regular/Service battalion sequence, probably dating from mid- to late-April 1918. Judging from the army career of G S Smale, after being earmarked, sent to RAMC base depot at Kantara and then put through a short stint at Infantry school, he would probably have joined the 1/5th Som L I around 21 May 1918. This was after their participation in the Battle of Berukin, 9-30 April 1918. This joining date would have put him in line to fight with the 1/5th in the Battle of Sharon, 19-25 September 1918. In this major set-piece battle (employing 35,000 troops in total on the Allied side) the main Tabsor system of trenches held by the Ottoman XXII Corps was attacked after an intense Western Front-style bombardment and eventually captured by the 3rd (Lahore), 7th (Meerut), and the 75th Divisions, including two companies of the 1/5th Somerset Light Infantry (the Battle of Tabsor). These three divisions subsequently advanced, despite the Ottoman XXII Corps being reinforced, to capture Et Tire (captured by the 75th Division, by 11am on the 19th) and Masudiye Station. As part of the wider battle of Sharon, the actions of the Meerut Division and (attacking along the coast), the 60th Division, opened up a gap which the cavalry could exploit, eventually leading to Ottoman defeat and the loss of at least 25,000 prisoners and 260 guns. The Final Offensive of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign began the day after the battles of Sharon and Nablus (the Battle of Megiddo) ended, with the pursuit to Damascus, which was captured on 1 October. The Turkish surrender (Armistice of Mudros) on 31 October 1918 saw the battalion at Kalkiliah south of Haifa, Palestine. Having at some point returned home, Pte Burr was discharged to the Army Section 'B' Reserve 21 April 1919; this was for men who had completed their service in the regular army and were serving their normal period (typically of five years, although in his case possibly nine) on reserve. *see also 6580 Arthur Sydney Hellyer, who enlisted for his "three and nine"  at Stratford, in London, on 3 August 1912 and served with 11th General Hospital as part of the BEF and 6584 Arthur Daniel Gwilt, a short service enlistment at Wolverhampton on 6 August 1912 who served with 4th Field Ambulance and 6585 Frederick Harold Forman who enlisted for a Long Service Attestation (12 years) at Aldershot, aged 14, on 7 August 1912 **41606 George Somerset Smale, also a former RAMC man, serving with 26th Casualty Clearing Station, was sent via RAMC Base Depot, Kantara (19 March 1918) to the Infantry School of Instruction on 1 April, and then on 12 April compulsorily transferred to the Somerset Light Infantry and posted to the 1/5th Battalion, joining them in the field on 21 May 1918.

Victory Medal to 3/8711 Pte E J SMITH BEDF R. (formerly 3134) Old Soldier, entitled Army LSGC, IGSM 1895 & Relief of Chitral clasp - Shell Shock June 1917

Victory Medal to 3/8711 Pte E J SMITH BEDF R. (formerly 3134)

Ernest John Smith was born in Standground, Peterborough circa 1871. A former labourer and old soldier, he first enlisted at Huntingdon on 17 June 1889, aged 18 years 7 months, in the Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire Regiment, under the regimental number 3134. He gave his next of kin as his father, Henry, and younger brother, William, both of Steeple Gidding, Huntingdonshire. He served with the 1st battalion for just under six years, including in Malta and India, serving on both the Isazai Field Force and Chitral Relief Force, where the 1st Battalion was involved in the storming of the Malakand Pass. For this service he was entitled to the India General Service Medal with the clasp 'Relief of Chitral 95'. Having rejoined the Colours in early 1898 after a year on the Reserve, and returned to India, he further extended his service in 1901, subsequently earning the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with gratuity. Finally he served on the regular establishment of the 3rd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment as a storekeeper in the QM's stores, and was discharged upon the termination of his second term of engagement on 16 June 1910, having served twenty-one years, aged 39 years 7 months. He was described as 'painstaking and hard working' and was in possession of four good conduct badges. 

After the outbreak of war he re-enlisted for one year on 21 October 1914, giving as his next of kin his brother, Arthur. He was posted to the 3rd battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment the same day and then on to the 9th battalion three days later. Eleven months to the day later he transferred to the 8th battalion, the Bedfordshires, another 'Service' battalion, raised in October 1914 as a part of Lord Kitchener's Third New Army ('K3'). They served entirely on the Western Front between August 1915 and February 1918, at which time the battalion was disbanded. He went overseas to join them on 24 September 1915 - shortly before the battalion was engaged at Loos - possibly being part of a draft of 115 O.R.s who arrived on 8 October when the battalion was in the trenches near Vlamertinghe. At some point he was attached to 6th Divisional Headquarters, the parent formation. Depending upon when this occured, his service would have put him in line to experience the first German use of Phosgene gas on 19 December 1915, a major bombardment and raid on the 8th battalion's lines on the Yser Canal Bank on 20 April 1916, and during the Somme offensive the Battles of Flers-Courcelette and Morval in September, and the Battle of Le Transloy in October, as well as the Battle of Hill 70 15-20 April 1917. 

Pte Smith suffered a shell-shock wound in June 1917, appearing accordingly on War Office Daily List No.5332 of 8 August 1917. During this month the battalion had spent time in the trenches at Mazingarbe and then Hulluch, with active enemy artillery on some days and one trench raid, interspersed with working parties whilst at Rest. It was most probably subsequent to his recovery from this injury that he was attached to the Permanent Base Battalion.

On 8 October 1917, as was common with 'Permanent Base' men, Smith was transferred to the Labour Corps and posted to No.868 Area Employment (Garrison Guard) Company under the new number 405896 and immediately appointed Paid Lance Corporal. This was probably one of the original 47 Garrison Guard Companies set up from September 1917, possibly part of the group raised from Permanent Base (PB) Men. It was probably amongst the 40 allocated to guard duties along the Lines of Communications. Men in these companies were of B.i grade and subject to fortnightly medical assessments with a view to combing-out fit men for transfer to Base depots and onwards to the fighting units. Guard duties included prisons, dumps, railway communications, hospitals and providing escorts for PoW labour Companies. 

Subsequently L/Cpl Smith was further transferred to the Royal Fusiliers (as G/104942), to become a Lance Corporal in the 43rd (Garrison) Battalion. The Battalion was formed from former Garrison Guard companies and its 49 companies performed general guard duties, including at the various Army headquarters.

L/Cpl Smith was demobilised to the Army Reserve Class 'Z' on 1 March 1919, having accrued a further 4 years 131 days' service. His intended address was 4 Otter Street, Strutts Park, Derby. Subsequently he gained employment as a tram driver for the city council, retiring some time prior to 1940. He died in Derby City Hospital on 25 October 1940.

WW1 BWM & VM Pair 15522 Pte R Naylor twice wounded with the 17th & 10th Battalions Lancashire Fusiliers

WW1 BWM & VM Pair 15522 Pte R Naylor twice wounded with the 17th & 10th Battalions Lancashire Fusiliers. 

Robert Naylor was born circa 1888 and was a resident of Preston. Like 15526 Albert Fairclough, he would have enlisted around 6 January 1915 (as confirmed by his Silver War Badge roll entry). He probably went overseas around January 1916. If so, this would seemingly fit with him being an original 'Bantam' (a man of good physical build, but below the normal regulation height of 5' 3") of the 17th (Service) Battalion (1st South-East Lancashire), Lancashire Fusiliers, which went overseas as a unit in January 1916.

After a period of familiarisation with western Front conditions, the 17th, as part of 104th Brigade, 35th Division, then proceeded to fight on the Somme, arriving at Aveluy Wood on 10 July 1916. Pte Naylor was reported on the War Office daily casualty list for 23 August 1916, suggesting he was wounded whilst in the line with the 17th Lancashire Fusiliers in mid- to late-July 1916; very possibly when they were acting as carrying parties for the 89th Brigade's attack on Guillemont, 29 and 30 July 1916. During this action the parties were attached to various battalions of the attacking force and moved up with the 4th wave, suffering 40 other rank casualties in the process, of which 31 were wounded. Other alternatives would be that he was one of 12 men wounded by an accidental bomb (grenade) explosion in 'Happy Valley' on 14 July, one of 5 men wounded at Maricourt on 19 July, or one of a total of 153 men wounded whilst the battalion occupied the front line between Trones Wood and Maltz Horn Farm from 21 to 23 July and then Talus Boise the following day.

Presumably having been evacuated and then posted to a new battalion on his return to theatre, by July 1918 Pte Naylor was serving with the 10th Battalion another 'New Army' unit. Depending upon when he joined it, he may have taken part in The First and Second Battles of the Scarpe, and The Capture of Roeux (parts of the Battle of Arras, and The First and Second Battles of Passchendaele phases of Third Ypres, as well as, during 1918,

The Battles of St Quentin and Bapaume, both phases of the German Spring Offensive. By July the battalion was in the Somme sector, and Pte Naylor was then wounded in action again with the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers, 17th Division, circa 14 July 1918. At this time the battalion was in the front-line trenches east of Bouzincourt. He was admitted to the care of 51st Field Ambulance on 13/14 July with a shrapnel wound to the right thigh for which he was given Morphine and then despatched to one of No 3, No. 27, No. 56 Casualty Clearing Stations. By this time he was reported to have accumulated 3 Years 6 Months' service of which 31 Months was with the Field Force. He featured on War Office Daily List No.5642 of 13 August 1918.

He was entitled to the Silver War Badge, number B/165832, and was discharged on 28 February 1919.

87444 S-Sth C A Goodman RFA broken trio - served 12th (Eastern), 36th (Ulster) & 15th (Scottish) Divisions

87444 S-Sth C A Goodman RFA broken trio - served 12th (Eastern), 36th (Ulster) & 15th (Scottish) Divisions

Charles Arthur Goodman was born in the parish of Marylebone to Charles Frederick Goodman and Eliza (died 18 January 1916). He was aged 19 years and six months and employed as a cleaner when he enlisted for a short engagement of three years at Marylebone on 26 August 1914. He was given the regimental number 87444, and reported at Woolwich the following day. On 31 August he was posted on to the 62nd Brigade, RFA as a Gunner, to 197 Battery (one of three six-gun batteries in the brigade), and presumably then on to 'B' Battery when the Brigade was reorganised into four four-gun batteries. After training, he was appointed by a Board of Officers meeting at Ewshot Camp on 18/19 April 1915 to the duties of a Shoeing Smith in B/62 Brigade RFA. 

He proceeded to France on 30 May 1915 with the Brigade, as part of 12th (Eastern) Division. It joined III Corps on 5 June. Not long afterwards he suffered concussion and a scalp wound due to a kick on the head about 4 July 1915 and was hospitalised via 3 Casualty Clearing Station and 4 Ambulance Train, ending up 13th General Hospital (Boulogne). After this, he appears to have been posted on 12 July to 5c (Reserve) Brigade RFA back in England, via Hospital Ship 'Anglia'. 

After a period of recovery he was then posted on 26 November 1915 to the artillery component of the 36th (Ulster) Division; this was the day that the 153rd Brigade left Bordon Camp for Le Havre via Southampton, with a complement of 25 officers and 734 NCOs and men, Shoeing Smith Goodman possibly amongst them. With the 36th he seems to have served until February 1917, including periods of service with the divisional medium trench mortar batteries and divisional ammunition column. His first service appears to have been with 'B' Battery of 153rd Brigade, staring with a period in billets at Long for most of January and then a move to Lancheres and district where the batteries undertook training and firing practice. It was during this period, on 19 February 1916, that Goodman reverted back to Gunner from Shoeing Smith at his own request. At about this time the Ulster division took over the section of the front line over which it would make its attack on 1 July 1916; from 6 March the batteries were in place around Martinsart and were in operation. On 31 March Gnr Goodman was seemingly transferred to 'Z' or 'Z.36' medium trench mortar battery (slightly paradoxically as some sources have the battery only being formed on 1 June; however the Commander, Royal Artillery 36th Division war diary for 20 March has a Captain C A L Brownlow joining as Trench Mortar Staff Officer on that day, suggesting the nucleus of a future battery organisation). The medium trench mortar of this period fired a 2" rodded 60lb projectile, known to the men as a 'Toffee Apple' or, as in the 36th Divisional History, 'Plum Pudding'.

Certainly by late June the medium batteries were in action, being tasked with wire cutting. 28 June saw a heavy German barrage laid down on Thiepval Wood, leading Cyril Falls, in his 36th Divisional history, to comment "The trenches were in a terrible state, and the men of the medium trench mortar batteries, engaged in cutting the German wire, suffered more even than the Infantry, and earned the admiration of the latter by their devotion to their task".  On 1 July the division attacked the Schwaben Redoubt from their positions at the north-eastern edge of Thiepval Wood in the opening Battle of Albert, Gnr Goodman's Medium Trench Mortar batteries being involved in firing on specific points to complement the planned 3" Stokes Mortar hurricane bombardment and the heavy (9.45") mortars' cooperation with the main barrage 'lifts' until the extent of their range was to be reached. 

Following the Division's move from the Somme after its blooding on 1 and 2 July, Gnr Goodman left the Trench Mortar Battery on 25 July to join HQ of the 154th (CLIV) Brigade. After six weeks he then joined the 36th Divisional Ammunition Column on 12 September 1916, presumably as part of the reorganisation of the divisional Artillery mentioned in the DAC war diary - the Column was involved in preparing winter lines and building horse standings East of Bailleul at the time, a task which, along with constructing accommodation for the men, extended into January 1917. Gnr Goodman remained with the 36th DAC until 14 December when he returned to the trench mortar batteries for a week - they were in action at the time, putting down fire on targets such as La Petite Douve Farm in the Messines sector - until joining the 36th Divisional Ammunition Column again (4th Section) on 21 December. 

On 3 February 1917 he appears to have been posted to [B or D] Battery, LXXIII (73rd) Brigade RFA, 15th (Scottish) Division (again paradoxically, as its own war diary indicates that that Brigade was broken up on 3 December the previous year, upon the reorganisation of 18-pounder batteries from a 4- to a 6-gun basis). At this time the divisional artilery was in the Somme sector. At some point prior to 30 April/4 May 1918 Goodman transferred to LXXI (71st) Brigade, also with 15th (Scottish) Division. This division saw service in 1917 in the Battle of Arras, 9-11 and 23-24 April (first and second Battles of the Scarpe), as well as the Battles of the Pilckem Ridge (31 July to 2 August) and Langemarck (17-18 August, 46th Brigade only) and Fighting for Zevenkote (22 August) during the Third Battle of Ypres. 

In 1918 the division was caught up in the German Spring Offensive, the artillery firing 'counter preparation' and 'assist' schemes prior to involvement in the fighting in the Battle of Bapaume (24 and 25 March) and Battle of Arras (28 March) 1918. Gnr Goodman was wounded in action in mid to late April 1918 (head and leg), being with [10 - possibly a Section number?]/71 Bde, RFA at the time. At this time the Brigade was at Warlus/Arras Cemetery, focusing on day and night harassing fire on the approaches to the enemy line, old battery positions, dugouts etc, including gas shell concentrations and firing on suspected movement. The enemy retaliated on the 9th of the month, subjecting a battery position at Ronville to vigorous gas shelling and periodically used its high velocity guns to shell rearward positions, including the Grande Place in Arras on one or two occasions. The  war diary is fairly silent on casualties but one possibility is in D/71 which, whilst firing an SoS barrage in response to a German raid on 20 April, at 11.10am suffered a premature 'blowing the gun to pieces', and injuring some of the detachment. Gnr Goodman was admitted to [3?] General Hospital, Boulogne on 30 April and then admitted to hospital in the UK on 4 May 1918. Accordingly he appeared on War Office Daily List No.5594 of 17/06/1918, his Next of Kin address being given as Tottenham.

Although of a low medical category owing to his wounds, Gnr Goodman (by now with 2nd Reserve Battery of No.Ia Reserve Brigade at Newcastle) nonetheless volunteered on 1 February 1919 to extend his service to join the Armies of Occupation, and after some time in a Reserve Brigade, was finally discharged in February 1920. He received on discharge a pension of 24/- a week for 26 weeks in consideration of his 60% disabling wounds. Subsequently he sought employment in the Post Office, like his father, Charles (a temporary postman in 1916).

 

Pte Charles Robinson, 3rd Welsh Field Ambulance and 37th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, served Gallipoli, wounded and captured Cambrai 30 November 1917

Pte Charles Robinson, served Gallipoli with 3rd Welsh Field Ambulance and at Cambrai with 37th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, where he was wounded and made PoW

Charles Robinson was born on 21 December 1893 in Swansea.

He attested in 1911 under the Royal Army Medical Corps regimental number 1341. He served with the 3rd (later 1/3rd) Welsh Field Ambulance and was a carpenter and joiner in civil life. In 1914 he would have presumably been on the Welsh Division's TF annual summer camp when recalled home and then mobilised for full time war service on 5 August 1914. Subsequently, by 11 August he would have moved with his unit to its allotted station (units of the division were based at Shrewsbury, Wellington, Oswestry and Fort Scoveston) and subsequently moved to Northampton and then to Cambridge and Bedford, prior to proceeding to Gallipoli on or around 14 July 1915, via the natural harbour of Lemnos, in the Aegean.

Pte Robinson entered theatre of war 2b (Gallipoli and Aegean Islands) on 10 August 1915, landing at Suvla Bay, a beach head established to relieve the Australian forces at Anzac Cove to the south. Units of the 53rd Division were already in action when the Welsh Field Ambulance (attached to 158th Brigade) landed and the 3rd Welsh were further called upon to support the 54th (East Anglian) Division when it took up the attack between 11 and 18 August. By the end of the month the opposing forces were reduced to a stalemate and the 3rd Welsh tended in difficult conditions on the Suvla beachhead to the growing casualty list. Charles left the theatre on 7 November 1915, roughly 5 weeks before Suvla itself was evacuated. He was accordingly entitled to the 1914-1915 Star. His total service was 5 years and 10 days, finally being discharged as 'time expired' some time in 1916.

Charles re-enlisted into the RAMC on 8/9 February 1917, qualifying for a £15 re-enlistment bounty under Army Order 209 of 1916, his attestation being approved on the 15th. At this time he was living at 102 Terrace Road, Swansea. After what appears to have been a short transfer to the Royal Engineers, subsequently cancelled, he went overseas again on 5 August 1917; he was possibly on of the 4 O.R. reinforcements recorded as received by his unit on 17 August. He served in France with the 37th Field Ambulance, 12th (Eastern) Division, which was at this time still in the Arras sector, at the Ecole Normale, remaining there until 23/24 October when it transferred to Hesdin and then Aubrometz and Moislains to take part in the Cambrai operations. Its final position was taken up on the Fins-Nurlu Road, at the 3rd Corps Walking Wounded station. On Z Day (20 November), the station processed about 1,800 casualties. During these operations 54003 Corporal (Lance-Sergeant) Stephen McKenna of the unit was recommended for the second bar to the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry in organising stretcher parties under rifle, shell and machine gun fire on 20 November and the night of 20-21 November at La Vacquerie. 45659 Corporal Sydney Allen Smith was also recommended for the bar to the DCM on the same occasion and a number of recommendations for Military Medals were sent through.

After just under 4 months overseas, Pte Robinson was posted as missing on 30 November 1917, reported in War Office Daily List No. 5465 of 14 January 1918. At this time the Field Ambulance was still set up on the Fins-Nurlu Road. He was possibly wounded by shell-fire during the German Cambrai counter-attack, in which the enemy drove the 12th Division back to La Vacquerie. Equally, like 47599 Pte Joseph Brown, also of 37th FA, he may have been wounded and captured whilst tending to the injured out in the open. The War Diary for the period simply notes "This morning the Germans attacked in force and at present 24 [later confirmed at 19] O.R. RAMC are believed captured. Five O.R. RAMC of this unit are believed to have been evacuated wounded.". He was later reported as a Prisoner of War in a London Gazette 'List received from various sources' published as part of War Office Daily List No. 5496 on 19 February 1918, being registered at Limburg around this time. Pte Robinson had his left leg amputated whilst imprisoned, at the PoW hospital at Celle, where he was reported in early July. German records give as his next of kin his mother, living at 102 Terrace Road, Mount Pleasant, Swansea.

He was subsequently repatriated to England in May 1918 owing to the loss of his left lower limb, apparently disembarking in Boston.

His return ('Soldier was prisoner of war in Germany, now arrived in England') was reported in War Office Daily List No. 5586 of 7 June 1918. After being sent to the King George Hospital, Stamford Street, London S E, he then proceeded to the Grove Military Hospital, Tooting and subsequently to 3 Western General Hospital, Neath. Finally, he spent some time in the care of the Metropolitan War Hospital, Whitchurch, near Cardiff prior to discharge.

Upon discharge on 14 April 1919 (under paragraph 292 xvi of King's  Regulations) his name was notified for the Silver War Badge, eventually issued on 30 May 1919 under the number B199423. His corresponding King's Certificate, for which he applied in September 1919, was issued on 16 January 1920. 

Pte W Rowlands, North Staffs and 16th Notts & Derby Regiment (Chatsworth Rifles), entitled to Silver War Badge, discharged insane.

Pte W Rowlands, North Staffs and 16th Notts & Derby Regiment (Chatsworth Rifles), entitled to Silver Wound Badge, discharged insane.

Born in January 1884, William Rowlands of 24 Claremont Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a 'Derby man';  having attested his willingness to serve he was posted to the Army Reserve on 10 December 1915. He was aged 31 years and 11 month and a wholesale fruiterer by trade with a wife, Annie, née Robertson, whom he had married on 21 June 1915. He was mobilised on 1 November 1916. He would have been subject to medical examination, the records of which do not survive, however it appears that the Syphilis which he was suffering and which was to cut short his military career was sadly not diagnosed at the time. Upon posting to the North Staffordshire Regiment he was given the regimental number [3/]31569 and joined the 3rd Battalion at Wallsend.

After training, he was posted overseas to the 8th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment on 21/22 January 1917. At 12 Infantry Base Depot he was part of a draft transferred to the 16th Sherwood Foresters (the Chatsworth Rifles) on 10 February 1917. His new number was 71540.

He joined the battalion on 16 February 1917, at which time, having just come out of support billets in Ypres, it was at 'E' Camp, Brandhoek. His first experience in the front line would have followed ten days later, in the form of a relatively quiet tour in the Left Zillebeke Sub-Section (Hooge). The month of March and the first half of April was similarly quiet for the battalion, although it continued to take part in tours of the front line. Then in mid-April the battalion was withdrawn for intensive training and working parties for what turned out to be the Third Battle of Ypres, July to November 1917. Within the training, particular emphasis was put on the platoon as a tactical unit and on assault rehearsals, and Pte Rowlands would have also fired on the rifle range whilst wearing his gas mask. Working parties included railway work and significant amounts of entrenching. This duty was interspersed with further tours in the line, beginning with an eventful week in the Hill Top sector starting 23 May and then Wieltje in June. The enemy were active with minenwerfers, artillery, snipers and gas, and a trench raid on Hill Top, to which the battalion returned for the final week of June, under increasingly heavy volumes of enemy fire. The final weeks before the attack were spent in training and battle practice at Serques, the battalion finally entering the forward area on the 28th of July.

This would have put Pte Rowlands in line to take part in the opening attack on 31 July, in which the battalion assaulted the German line between  Hampshire Farm (a strongpoint, as was Kultur Farm) and Canadian Farm, successfully taking the German first and second lines. After a period of the day spent on road repair and carrying parties, the battalion was put in the line again to reinforce the lead attacking battalions who had gone forward through them to attack the rear defence lines. The battalion was to remain under heavy rain and shell-fire in positions exposed to the defending Germans for six days until relieved at 11.20pm on 5 August by the 1/5th Gloucesters.

Subsequent to the opening day of the great offensive, 31 July 1917, The Chatsworth Rifles were engaged in The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (specifically the action at Bulgar Wood, where Corporal Ernest Alfred Egerton of the battalion, another former North Staffordshire man, won the Victoria Cross), and remained taking tours of duty in the line under conditions of wet, cold and regular shelling for the period of - although not actively taking part in - the Battle of Polygon Wood, and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. The worst of these were the positions Tower Hamlets, which the battalion occupied from mid-October, and Polderhoek, in mid-November, both of which were battle-scarred and inadequate to protect against the elements or enemy action.

On 23 November 1917, Pte Rowlands received the first adverse entry on his military history sheet when he received 6 days Field Punishment No.2 for being absent from a working party. The battalion would have been in Ridge Wood Camp at the time. This was the first in a short series of misdemeanours, possibly associated with the onset of the mental symptoms of his illness. On 8 January he was awarded a further 7 days Field Punishment No.2, this time for being absent from 30 December to 1 January and "losing by neglect his Rifle, Equipment and Kit". On the former date the battalion had just entered the line on the Steenbeek, west of St Julien in support for the Alberta sector, in relief of the 2nd Manchesters.  A further three days FP.No.2 followed on 11 January 1918 for "improperly dressed on staff parade" (probably in Dambre Camp) before he was sent off on leave to the UK later in the month, never to return.

Pte Rowlands was sent home on 27 January 1918, with a view to being struck off strength of the BEF and put before a medical board for discharge. He was admitted to 1st Northern General Hospital Newcastle, where he reported 'headache, pains in body & legs, shooting artery pains'. His Wassermann test (a test for Syphilis) was strongly positive and, presumably due to his mental confusion, his statement that '[the problem] began in France 12 months ago but he did not go sick with it, was never under a doctor' was discounted. He spent some time at the Lord Derby Hospital, Warrington, where his report states that he was a 'vacant looking man who can give no connected account of himself, answers questions with the first words that come into his head...his speech is very slurring, his statements quite unreliable'. From there he was medically boarded and discharged due to sickness, on 15 June 1918, aged 34 years 5 months.

Being diagnosed with General Paresis (or Paralysis) of the Insane, 'aggravated by the present war', and 100% disabling, he was awarded a weekly pension of 27/6 and granted the Silver War Badge, Number 411980. Subsequently he was sent to asylum care, his medical records indicating that he required the constant care of another person.

He sadly died insane on 25 March 1919, his War Gratuity of £7 and financial effects of £19 going to his widow, Annie, later of 16 St Thomas Crescent, Newcastle.

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.