Scarborough 1914-18

Scarborough through the First World War remembered

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Brackenbury, Albert V

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Name: Albert Victor Brackenbury

Rank: Deck Hand

Service No: 940/DA

Date of Death: 25/11/1918

Age: 24

Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Reserve H M Trawler “Principal.”

Grave Reference: E. 27. 33. Cemetery: Scarborough (Dean Road) Cemetery

Additional Information: husband of Lizzie Priscilla Brackenbury, of 8, Friar’s Entry, Scarborough.

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

For many years after her husband Alan’s death Emily Mary Barraclough lived with her 2 children Joseph Mickman and Rene, at 33 Friargate, a house they had shared with Emily’s younger sister, Lizzie Priscilla Brackenbury (formerly Cape), who was also a ‘war widow’.

Lizzie was the wife of 940/DA Deck Hand Albert Victor Brackenbury, Royal Naval Reserve, who had died whilst serving in HM Trawler ‘Principal’ from the effects of bronchopneumonia, at the Rosyth Naval Hospital, aged 24, on 25 November 1918.

Albert was subsequently interred in Scarborough’s Dean Road Cemetery; his grave is located in Section E, Row 27, Grave 33.

Lizzie Brackenbury passed away at the age of 69 on Tuesday, 3 April 1962, and was buried in the grave at Manor Road following a service at the Bethel Mission, which was located at the time in Sandside.

Paul Allen

 

Editor’s note: it is not yet clear why Albert Brackenbury’s name is not listed on the Oliver’s Mount memorial.

Stonehouse, Herbert

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Name: Herbert Stonehouse

Rank: Private

Service No: 28092

Date of Death: 21/03/1918

Regiment/Service: West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own) 1st Bn

Panel Reference: Bay 4. Memorial: Arras Memorial

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

During the dry, fine, moonlit night of 20 March 1918 the area immediately behind the German lines came alive as over 1 million men along with over 10,000 guns and mortars began to assemble in their assault positions. The first to move was the artillery, many of the guns having not yet been moved into their battery positions. Each gun with its already prepared stock pile of ammunition was heaved into position manually by the gunners who, following their labours, had settled down to grab what sleep they could before the beginning of the bombardment at 4.20 am.

For 50 miles, from the village of Cherisy down to La Fere, the German front line trenches were crammed with storm troopers and infantrymen, trench mortar men, machine gunners, and men armed with flamethrowers. Behind the front stood the main force of the artillery, along with the various pioneer and medical units that were to accompany the assault teams. Behind these were the second wave units awaiting their turn to go into action in ruined villages and farms and, behind, these a massive 77 reserve divisions stood in readiness.

On the British side of the wire life went on pretty much the same as usual depending on how seriously local commanders viewed the situation. A number of patrols were, however, sent out find if anything was happening. Some came back to report having not seen or heard anything untoward, whilst others told of finding gaps in the wire and of hearing the rumble of moving vehicles and guns. Nevertheless, 2 miles to the north of St Quentin, a patrol from the Royal Warwick’s was sent out on reconnaissance into the German trenches and had returned with a machine gun and around 13 men from various German units. These men freely told the assembled group of British officers that they were assault troops and were due to take part in a large operation scheduled to begin in a few hours time, and that the artillery bombardment would begin at 0400 hours. The prisoners also pleaded to be taken to the rear of the British lines with all speed– please!

Despite the warnings the British did not order ‘Man Battle Stations’, and did little apart from opening a desultory artillery fire on the German lines. Apart from the occasional explosion of a British artillery shell the night remained quiet. There had been, of course, not a sound from the German side of the wire and many survivors would later recall the lack of flares throughout the night, which the Germans usually made much use of. However, despite no outward signs of trouble brewing, most of the British troops spent an uneasy night waiting for whatever the morrow might bring.

A dense fog developed soon after midnight of 20/21 March compounding the eeriness of the night. At 3.30 am on Thursday, 21 March 1918, British artillery opened fire on likely enemy troop concentration areas. However, 60 minutes later, soon after 4.30 am, the roar of the British guns was engulfed by the tumultuous thunder of the largest bombardment of the war, as over 6,000 enemy artillery pieces began to saturate the fronts of Third and Fifth Armies with gas and high explosives.

‘So intense was the bombardment that the earth around us trembled. It was a dark night, but the tongues of flame from the guns – 2,500 British guns replied to the German bombardment – lit up the night sky to daylight brightness. Mixed up with the high explosive shells crashing on our trenches were the less noisy but deadly gas shells. Trenches collapsed, infantry in front line positions, groping about in their gas masks, were stunned by the sudden terrific onslaught … Machine gun posts were blown sky-high – along with human limbs. Men were coughing and vomiting from the effects of gas, and men were blinded…’ [1]

The enemy bombardment was scheduled to last for 5 terrible hours, and designed, by its sheer weight and ferocity, to stun the defenders, destroy communications and silence artillery. The first 2 hours of the German artillery fire had concentrated mainly on the saturation of the British artillery positions in the ‘Battle Zone’ with gas. This was followed by a 3 hour bombardment with a mixture of gas and high explosives on the positions in the Forward and Battle Zones, focussing on the infantry stationed in the front positions. The situation in these positions at the end of the bombardment was one of total chaos. Underground cables were severed causing a loss of communications between the front and the various divisional headquarters, and also between the front and the artillery positions. This poor state of affairs was exacerbated by the fog, which prevented any visual communication by SOS flare, and also by air observation.

At Zero Hour (9.40 am) the bombardment was replaced by a ‘creeping barrage’, which heralded the advance of the infantry, spearheaded by stormtroopers. Equipped with sub-machine guns and flamethrowers, the storm troopers found the front line garrison virtually annihilated. The survivors, blinded by the fog and forced to wear gas masks for hours on end, first became aware of the infantry assault at the point where their positions were engulfed by the leading waves of what many would later call the ‘grey avalanche’: hordes of field grey-clad German infantry. Despite the apparent hopelessness of trying to hold out in the face of such overwhelming odds some units in the Forward Zone tried to make a stand but these were soon crushed and few men made it back into the Battle Zone.

Amongst the units which took part in that dreadful first day of the onslaught of the German Spring Offensive was 1st Battalion, the Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment). Attached to Fourth Corps of Sir Julian Byng’s Third Army, the battalion belonged to 18 Brigade of 6th Division which held over 4,000 yards of the front line near the village of Morchies.

Positioned close to the extreme left flank of the German 18th Army’s assault, the battalion, along with the remainder of 18 Brigade (2nd Durham Light Infantry and 11th Essex Regiment) nonetheless put up a stiff defence of the 2,000 yard perimeter until the late afternoon of the 21st, by which time the Brigade had virtually ceased to exist. Almost out of bombs and ammunitio,n the surviving members of the Brigade was ordered to make a fighting retreat to Fourth Corps’ ‘Defence Line’, which was to the east of Morchies. Scant records were – understandably – made at battalion level that day and, as a consequence, very little is known of what actually happened to the 1st West Yorkshires during that momentous day.

However, it is known that at around 10 am that day, the battalion’s Commanding Officer (Lieutenant Colonel A M Boyall) had reported that the enemy was advancing towards his positions in ‘masses’, and by midday he sent another more urgent message asking for more small arms ammunition. Unknown to him, by this time the enemy had almost surrounded 18 Brigade’s position and the ammunition was never sent. At 3 pm Boyall again telephoned stating this time, ‘… if no reinforcements were forthcoming the remains of the Brigade would fight it out to the last in the reserve line, for the situation was hopeless and retirement impossible …’ [2]

For 3 more desperate hours the tattered brigade held out against overwhelming odds. By 6.50 pm all of the formation’s bombs and most of the ammunition was used up; at this point Boyall ordered all the surviving men to make a fighting retreat to the Corps Reserve Line which was situated to the east of Morchies. Thankfully shrouded in a thick fog, the soldiers began their fight through the enemy’s line, stating afterwards that ‘… directly the withdrawal began the enemy, in great numbers, followed in rear, while violent machine gun fire from both flanks, swept the ground over which the intrepid troops of 18 Brigade were retiring, thus giving no chance for an organised retirement …’ [2]

In other words, a rout had taken place, and it became a case of every man for himself as the handful of survivors fought their way towards the flimsy British line of resistance. By 7.30 pm during the evening of 21 March the Brigade’s survivors made it to the Corps Line where they were ‘very badly handled’ by enemy fire until the evening of 22 March when the gallant band, numbering around 50 men by this time, were finally driven out of their positions to retreat through Morchies to a line which was tenuously held behind the village.

During the evening of 22/23 March the remnants of 18 Brigade were relieved in the line, the men marching back to the relative safety of Achiet le Petit, where the pitiful remains of the once proud battalion assembled for the customary post battle calling of the roll. This revealed that of the 30 officers and 639 men of the 2nd DLI who went into action a couple of days earlier, only 2 officers and 22 other ranks answered to their names being called. The 11th Essex consisted of 5 officers and 70 other ranks out of 25 officers and 501 men. The situation was little different with 1st West Yorkshire which had gone into battle on the morning of 21 March with a complement of 24 officers and 639 other ranks. By the end only 1 officer and 18 other ranks remained.

531 officers and men of 1st Battalion The West Yorkshire Regiment, including Lt Col Boyall, were reported as missing in action. Amongst them was 30-year-old 28092 Private Herbert Stonehouse.

Born in Scarborough on 6 June 1888, at 74 Trafalgar Street West (known locally as ‘Penny Black Lane’), Herbert was the eldest son of Sarah and Johnson Stonehouse, a ‘general labourer’, who was still living in Trafalgar Street West during 1918. [3]

A pupil of the Central Board School between 1892 and 1902, Herbert left the school at the customary age of 13 to become an errand boy in the Gladstone Road shop of local ‘grocer, provision dealer and Italian warehouseman’ William Vasey and remained in his employ until 1910 when Herbert began work in the Westborough shop of ‘family grocer, tea dealer, and provision dealer’, John Rowntree & Sons. However, by the outbreak of war, Stonehouse was employed in the grocery trade in the City of York, where he enlisted into the West Yorkshire Regiment during September 1915.

Initially stationed at York’s Fulford Barracks with the regiment’s 13th (Reserve) Battalion, Stonehouse remained in England until December 1916. During this time he was married by special licence on 27 June 1916 at Scarborough’s Bar Church to Clara, the 25-year-old eldest daughter of Elizabeth and Frederick William Nundy, who were residing at the time at 23 Roseberry Avenue.

During late December Stonehouse was placed amongst a draft of replacements for battle casualties sustained by the 16 battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment which were serving in France and Belgium at that time, and he eventually joined 1st Battalion (one of two pre-war regular army formation belonging to the West Yorkshire Regiment) in Northern France, near to the town of Béthune, where the battalion manned the front-line trenches in the ‘relatively quiet’ Cambrin Sector of the Western Front.

Stationed at Lichfield at the outbreak of war, the 1st West Yorkshire’s landed at St Nazaire on 10 September 1914 with the 6th (Regular Army) Division in time to assist the hard pressed British Expeditionary Force in the fierce fighting on the Aisne. Soon moved up to the Ypres Sector, the battalion took part in many of the operations on the Western Front subsequently, including the recently shut down (November) Somme Offensive of 1916, where 1st West York’s had been involved in the Battles of Flers/Courcelette (15 – 22 September), Morval (25 – 28 September], and Transloy Ridges (1 – 18 October), where on 12 October the battalion sustained heavy casualties in a futile attack on 2 German-held positions known as ‘Misty’ and ‘Cloudy’ Trenches. This resulted in the sorely depleted battalion being forced to move from the Somme to the relative quietness of the Béthune area to recuperate.

The next 6 months of Herbert Stonehouse’s life were spent in the positions near Cambrin. Although described as a ‘comparatively quiet part of the line’, life there for Private Stonehouse and his comrades was far from tranquil. The battalion’s historian describes it as follows:

‘Months of trench warfare, at times of a very strenuous nature, now lay before the West Yorkshiremen, and from the Battalion Diaries it is evident that in 1917, despite the fact that the enemy was kept busy in other sectors of the line along the British front, he was nonetheless aggressive, and raids and counter-raids were frequent, whilst constant vigilance was necessary; bomb actions, heavy artillery bombardments, sniping and machine gunning took place at all times, while the repair of trenches and improvements of the defences occupied the troops during the brief periods when they were not otherwise engaged.’ [2]

Spared from the bloodbaths of the Arras Offensive (March – May 1917) and the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) (July – November 1917), the 1st West Yorkshire’s next large-scale operation was the Cambrai ‘affair’ which began on 20 November 1917. During the night of 19/20 of November, 18 Brigade assembled to the south-west of the village of Beaucamp from where at Zero Hour the following day the formation launched its attack on the Brigade’s allotted objectives, namely: the capture of the ‘Hindenburg Front line system’; secondly, the ‘Blue Line’ (a line running between the Hindenburg Main and Support Lines), including the village of Ribecourt; and, thirdly, the Hindenburg Support Line.

The Brigade’s operation was very successful, all units taking their objectives for very little loss, with the 1st West Yorkshire’s by the end of the day being ensconced in positions on ‘Premy Chapel Ridge’ for the loss of just 1 man killed [57928 Private Henry Govens] and 2 officers and 11 men wounded. As a whole, the 1st West Yorkshire’s played no further part in the Cambrai Offensive, the unit remaining in their positions on the ridge above Premy Chapel until the evening of 24 November, when Stonehouse and the remainder of the battalion moved back to billets at Ribecourt.

The men of the 1st West Yorkshire’s spent the winter of 1917 either digging new trenches or repairing old ones. On 12 December the men of the battalion boarded buses, which transported them to billets at Blaireville. 3 days were spent in relative comfort there; however, on 16 December the battalion took over a sector of the front line opposite the German-held village of Riencourt, where the men had been set to work digging a new trench system.

Christmas was spent in Blaireville, where the unit received Christmas greetings from the regiment’s Commander in Chief, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (who was in Italy at the time). Soon afterwards, on 27 December, the battalion moved to the Moeuvres sector where, until 17 January 1918, the men ‘enjoyed a well-earned rest’. This rest period was followed by a spell in the front line at Moeuvres ‘ … where several days of quietude were spent. The enemy appears to have been inactive though both sides were vigilant … ’

The battalion remained in the front line at Moeuvres until 13 March 1918, when the formation moved up into the right sub-sector of the front at Morchies, and where the unit remained in relative peace until the start of the German Offensive 8 days later (during the night of 20 March the Battalion’s War Diarist had recorded ‘ … quiet day and night … ’).

Having already lost a brother to the war, Clara Stonehouse [4] was no stranger to the shock of hearing that a loved one was missing. Nevertheless, one can barely begin to imagine her reaction on the terrible day in April when she received word that her husband had reportedly been lost in fighting to the south of Pronville, probably on 21 March. The terrible tidings were later included in a lengthy casualty list that appeared in the ‘Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday, 26 April 1918:

‘Missing’

‘Official news has been received by his parents, 74, Trafalgar Street West, that Private H. Stonehouse, West Yorks, who is married, has been missing since March 21st. He has been in France for about two years’

No further news of Herbert’s fate was received until the beginning of July when Clara Stonehouse received information from the War Office telling her that her husband had been killed in action on Thursday, 21 March. Once again the news was featured in the ‘Scarborough Mercury’ (Friday, 5 July 1918).

‘Missing man now reported killed’.

‘Mrs. Stonehouse, of 25 Roseberry Avenue, has received official news that her husband Private H. Stonehouse, of the West Yorkshire Regiment, who was reported missing on the 21st of March, is now reported to have been killed on that date. He has been in France for two years and was over on leave in February. He joined from York, where he was in the employ of a firm of grocers. Previous to which he was employed at Messrs. Rowntrees, grocers, Scarborough’…

Despite numerous post war searches of the Arras battlefield undertaken by the then Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, no remains of a soldier, identifiable as those of Herbert Stonehouse, have ever been found. To the present day still ‘missing in action’, Herbert’s name can be found on Panel 5 of the Arras Memorial. Located in the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery in the western part of the city of Arras, the Memorial commemorates the names of almost 35,000 British, New Zealand, and South African servicemen who, like Private Stonehouse, lost their lives in the Arras Sector between Spring 1916 and 7 August 1918 (excluding casualties of the Battle of Cambrai) and for whom there exists no known grave.

A year after the death of her husband Clara Stonehouse placed an epitaph in the ‘In Memoriam’ section of the ‘Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday, 21 March 1919;

‘In loving memory of Private H. Stonehouse, West Yorkshire Regiment, the beloved husband of Clara Stonehouse, 25 Roseberry Avenue, who fell in action March 21st 1918. People think that that we forgot them when they see us smile. But they little know the sorrow the smile hides all the while. —From his loving wife’…

As well as the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, in Scarborough Herbert’s name is commemorated on a gravestone in the town’s Manor Road Cemetery (Section L, Row 19, Grave 28), which also commemorates the name of his younger brother, Francis Richard Stonehouse. Born in Scarborough during 1893, Frank also served during the war, as a Private (Regimental Number 205713) in the Labour Corps. Gassed during 1917 he died prematurely at the age of 31, from the effects of mustard gas, at the family’s home at 74 Trafalgar Street West on Monday, 11 August 1924 (interred on 14 August).

Herbert’s father, Johnson Stonehouse passed away (also at 74 Trafalgar Street West) aged 78, on Sunday, 5 September 1937 (interred on 8 September); his mother, Sarah Stonehouse, also died in the house in Trafalgar Street West on Thursday, 26 April 1945 (interred 30 April), at the age of 82. Both of their names are also featured on the gravestone.

Despite extensive research the fate of Clara Stonehouse is not known. Whether she remarried or moved away from the town is uncertain, as her name does not appear in any of Scarborough’s post-war electoral rolls. One can only hope that she found happiness at some stage in her later life.

[1] Machine Gunner 1914-18; C E Crutchley (editor) Bailey Bros & Swinfen; Folkestone; 1975.

[2] The West Yorkshire Regiment in the Great War 1914-18; Volume 2 1917-18; Everard Wyrall; The Bodley Head Ltd. London.

[3] Johnson Stonehouse and Sarah Horner married at St Mary’s Parish Church on 17 April 1886. At the time of the 1901 Census they lived in Scarborough at 74 Trafalgar Street West, the family by this time consisting of Johnson, aged 40, employed as a ‘general labourer’ born Scarborough, Sarah, aged 38, born Scalby, Annie E, daughter (14), Herbert, son (12), Francis R son (7); all the children were born in Scarborough. (At the time the family was recorded as living with Johnson’s father, Samuel Stonehouse, a widower aged 74, occupation also listed as ‘general labourer’.)

[4] Clara’s 19-year-old brother, 241315 Private Harold William Nundy, was also killed in action.

Paul Allen

Lazenby, John W

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Name: John William Lazenby

Rank: Private

No CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

John is one of two Scarborough casualties of the Great War commemorated on the Oliver’s Mount Memorial with the surname of Lazenby, the second being John’s cousin: Private George Lazenby [also incorrectly recorded as ‘Lazemby’].

Born in Scarborough during 1890 John was the eldest son of Sarah and George Lazenby and he had been a pre-war Regular Army soldier and veteran of the retreat from Mons. Badly wounded by shrapnel whilst serving in Belgium with ‘B’ Squadron of the 18th (Queen Mary’s Own) Hussars during 26 November 1914, John was evacuated to England and eventually returned to his mother’s home in Scarborough at 35 Harcourt Avenue, where he died almost exactly a year later from the effects of his wounds on 26 November 1915.

Aged 26 at the time of his death, Lazenby was afforded a full military honours funeral but, despite this, his remains were interred in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery (Section O, Row 13, Grave 6) in a common, and unmarked grave. This, according to Scarborough Corporation does not allow him to qualify for a Commonwealth War Graves headstone to mark his final resting place, due to the grave belonging to all the people interred in the plot. It would appear that the final resting place of Private Lazenby will forever remain unmarked.

Apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, John William Lazenby’s name is commemorated on the ‘Rood Screen’ Memorial in St James’ Church, located in Seamer Road.

Paul Allen

Lazenby George A

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Name: George Arthur Lazenby

Rank: Private

Service No: 39215

Date of Death: 27/03/1918

Age: 19

Regiment/Service: King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 5th Bn

Panel Reference: Bay 7. Memorial: Arras Memorial

Additional Information: son of James and Alice Lazenby, of 54 Wykeham St, Scarborough.

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

There was once again thick fog on the 3rd day of Kaiserschlact. During the morning of that day, despite stiff opposition, the Germans crossed the Crozat Canal and, by the afternoon, were across the Somme near the town of Ham, thereby threatening III Corps’ line of communications. Two divisions of French infantry shortly arrived to assist the British in trying to hold the ‘grey avalanche’; nevertheless, despite valiant efforts, the so-called ‘Great Retreat’ continued.

Whilst the infantry were fighting their gallant rearguard action, during the afternoon of 23 March a ‘calm and cheerful’ Haig who, up until this time, had played little part in the course of the battle and had been unaware of the disaster which had befallen his command, visited Gough (the commander of Fifth Army) at his Headquarters at Villers-Bretonneux. He would later note in his diary;

‘I was surprised to learn that his troops are now far behind the Somme and the River Tortville. Men very tired after two days fighting and long march back. On the first day they had to wear gas masks all day which is very fatiguing, but I cannot make out why the Fifth Army has gone so far back without making some kind of a stand … ‘ [1]

Following his meeting with Gough, Haig, now fully aware of the magnitude of the disaster facing Fifth Army, returned to his Headquarters where he met with his French counterpart, Marshal Petain. The two leaders discussed the impending crisis, and Petain eventually suggested that General Fayolle (the commander of the French Reserve Army) take command of all troops between the Oise and Peronne, extending the French left boundary along the line of the Somme from opposite Peronne as far as Amiens, thus with the exception of the British VII Corps north of the Somme, the remnants of Gough’s Fifth Army would in effect be commanded by Fayolle. Haig readily agreed to the suggestion, totally aware of the critical need for reinforcements.

For the troops on the ground the day had been one long, miserable, footsore retreat to the Somme, so reminiscent of a similar retreat from Mons almost 4 years earlier. A machine gunner (Lieutenant Richard Gale) with 42nd Division would later describe it …

‘Dumps of kit and valises lay on the side of the road, disorganised transport and guns were moving to the rear, all intermingled with pathetic groups of refugees … Canteens had been abandoned and their stores of spirits rifled. This was a retreat with all the horrors of panic. There was, as far as we knew, nothing behind us and the Channel ports, save this wretched rabble seemed to have lost all cohesion and the will to fight … ‘

During the afternoon of 23 March, Ludendorff issued orders that were to change the German campaign entirely. Faced with a slow and costly advance in the north of the assault, the German General decided to concentrate all his effort in the south, where his men had already advanced some 40 miles into Allied territory. Thus, the German Fourteenth Army were ordered to head for St Pol, due west of Arras, whilst the Second Army was to advance straddling the River Somme towards Amiens. In addition, the Seventeenth Army was to head southwest to prevent the repair of the junction between the British and the French sectors. In effect Ludendorff was scattering his effort in the assumption that the British were already beaten and that the French would look after number one and try to hold onto their own lines. He was almost proven right.

Often referred to as ‘Sad Sunday’, 24 March 1918 (Palm Sunday) dawned for a change with only a ground mist, which soon disappeared. Nonetheless, in the south, the German advance continued virtually unhindered. General Maxse’s XVIII Corps (consisting of 20th and 30th Divisions, by this time part of the French Third Army) still retained a tenuous hold on the Somme to the north of Ham. However, from there, 2 German divisions had pushed forward to fall on the already much depleted 36th (Ulster) Division, destroying 2 more battalions of infantry in the process. Nevertheless, on a happier note, due south of Ham, at Villeselve at around 2pm that afternoon,150 cavalrymen of the British 6 Cavalry Brigade charged units of the German 5th Guard Division, killing and wounding around 88 of the enemy with their sabres and taking a further 107 prisoners at a cost of 73 casualties to themselves.

The situation was equally bleak on Third Army’s front to the north. Whilst the VI and XVII Corps on the left flank had stood virtually in their original positions, the right of V Corps had been driven back over 15 miles and had taken up positions in the High Wood area of the old Somme battlefield of 1916 and, during the afternoon General Headquarters had ordered Third Army to fall back even further, to the line of the Ancre [a tributary of the Somme].

On Tuesday, 26 March, the British abandoned the city of Albert. Long a symbol of the enduring British presence on the Somme, the city fell with barely a whisper. Whilst the men of the German 3rd Marine, and 51st Reserve Divisions were making their victorious way into the already shattered city to savour the delights of the numerous abandoned wine cellars, away in the town of Doullens a high level meeting between the British and French took place to discuss the sorry state of affairs. On the French side were Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and Generals Foch and Petain, whilst on the British side Haig, Lord Milner, and Sir Henry Wilson attended.

Trouble between the two factions erupted almost immediately when Petain compared the British withdrawal to the recent flight of the Italians at Caporetto. However, a semblance of order was eventually achieved and the meeting continued. The restless Foch, who could barely control his emotions, exclaimed ‘we must fight in front of Amiens, we must fight where we are now. As we have not been able to stop the Germans on the Somme, we must not now retire a single inch … ’ Fighting talk indeed. Haig was impressed by the General’s words, words he had in fact been anxiously waiting for anyone to say. Soon a scheme was hatched between the British and French whereby Haig took the previously unimaginable step of committing his forces to the control of the French General Foch.

Foch, in his new overall command role ordered that there be no further retirement, that all present positions must be maintained, Amiens must be defended to the last, there was to be no separation of French and British forces, and that the Fifth Army front should be reinforced. Reinforcements were indeed on their way at that moment. The 5th Division would soon arrive from Italy, and 4 Australian and New Zealand Divisions were to come from Second Army, whilst the French ordered 5 of their divisions southwards.

Amongst those hurrying south were the men of 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division. A Territorial Army formation, which at the start of Kaiserschlact had been holding the line some 7 miles north of Arras in the Acheville and Arleux sectors. The division began to make its journey southwards on 23 March and reached the town of Bucquoy by a series of night marches by 26 March. Attached to Fifth Army’s IV Corps, the division, consisting of the customary 3 brigades of infantry and supporting artillery and transport units, was tasked with providing a rearguard in the line at Bucquoy for the depleted British formations that were retreating through the old Somme battlefield.

By late evening of 26 March the division’s 187 Brigade, consisting of the 2nd/4th, and 5th Battalion’s of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, (the 2/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment were kept in reserve) took up a defensive flank in a labyrinth of old trenches in the Bucquoy-Puisieux line, on the extreme right of IV Corps facing an enemy-held position known as ‘Rossignol Wood’, from where the brigade came under heavy machine gun fire. Expecting an enemy attack at any moment the men of 2nd/4th and 5th KOYLI prepared themselves for a fight. Despite a feeling of impending danger the night passed quietly and without incident except for some sniping by the enemy; nevertheless, at around 9 am the following day large masses of enemy soldiers were spotted making preparations to attack their position

’The Officer Commanding (OC) ‘B’ Company reported them to be massing in a sunken road to his front. He asked urgently for bombs, but no bombs were available. The position was a network of old trenches up which the usual bombing parties might be expected to attack and, without bombs for countering the attacks, the defenders were at a great disadvantage. ‘B’ and ‘A’ Companies were attacked; the attacks were repeated throughout the day. Twice ‘B’ Company was driven out of the trenches, and twice it recovered them by counter-assault. Heavy casualties were inflicted on the attackers whenever they showed themselves in the open, but when they came bombing up the communication trenches there was no adequate means of opposing them … ’ [2]

Desperate fighting continued until around 4 pm when the West Yorkshiremen were shelled out of their positions by artillery and trench mortars, in addition to being bombed by aircraft and, despite a desperate attempt to hold on, the battered 2/4th was forced to retire having lost over 160 officers and men. Later that night the 4 companies (each consisting of many 18- and 19-year-old soldiers) of the 5th KOYLI moved into the line in readiness for a counter attack, which was to be mounted the following day.

The 5th KOYLI launched its assault before dawn (4.15 am) on 28 March, the attackers soon coming up against heavy fire from machine guns hidden in Rossignol Wood.

’Three of these, at least, were taken with a rush, but not before they had done fearful execution amongst the assaulting companies. Captain B A Beach saw about 25 men lying in the open and called on them to come on, but found that they were all dead men. Bombs had been issued in time for this advance and there were bombing fights all down the line. It was obvious that the companies had bumped into a strongly held outpost line … ’ [2]

Despite heavy losses the Battalion retook the Brigade’s old positions before daybreak and had just begun to consolidate their precarious hold on their old positions when the enemy launched a counter-attack their own, which fell on the Yorkshiremen with a vengeance. Outnumbered and virtually surrounded the beleaguered West Yorkshiremen managed to send a final message to battalion headquarters asking for more bombs and reinforcements, neither of which was received. A short while later the enemy launched another assault. One of the few survivors of the attack later recorded…

’It was not long before we saw the enemy in open order on the skyline to our left front, advancing in strength down the hill. The sun was in our eyes, making it hard to spot targets below the skyline. The enemy were well covered by machine guns, which harassed us greatly. Soon one gun was enfilading our straight line of trench making it untenable. 2/Lt. F.C. Lambert spotted this gun and with his Lewis gun he either silenced it or made it move. Our next trouble was from a [disabled] tank in front. The Germans were either in it or behind it, and we could not silence it. The position was becoming very unpleasant, we were suffering heavily too.

‘I made one or two journeys to get men from the higher end [of the trench]. On my way back from one of these journeys I noticed that the German machine gunners had crept closer, and I found that Lt. Lambert and the men around him were dead and their gun damaged. Shortly after I found that the men on my left were being driven back on me by a bombing party of the enemy; they were attempting to reply with their rifles. Some tried to leave the trench in an endeavour to extricate themselves, but they were immediately shot down. Bombing and machine gun fighting gradually died down. I found myself left with an officer and about four men, and discovered the enemy right in our rear to be advancing on us by way of the old communication trench; they were between us and Rossignol Wood. It was obvious that unless we moved quickly we should be hopelessly lost. We were already lost, but could not realise it … ’ [2]

[The unnamed author of the above account was eventually taken prisoner by men of the elite Prussian Guard, who he noted as ‘absolutely fresh, shaved, clean boots, with uniform and equipment in perfect condition. Their open fighting was excellent and outmatched ours, whose only experience had been in trench warfare’].

Spasmodic fighting continued throughout the remainder of that day. At around 5.30 pm5th Battalion’s CO, Lt Col Cyril Spencer Watson, set out with his sole remaining ‘D’ Company to try to reinforce his hard pressed front. By this time the KOYLI’s position was surrounded and Watson found his way solidly blocked by enemy troops. Deciding that there was no other sane option open to him other than to retire he ordered the company to fall back. Being the gentleman he reportedly was, Colonel Watson allowed his men to fall back whilst he remained behind in a communication trench to hold back the enemy for as long as he could, armed with little more than his service revolver. Inevitably, Watson was killed at some point during the withdrawal and his remains, like those of so many of his men, were never recovered. Lt Col Watson was subsequently awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross during May 1918 (‘Gazetted’ in the London Gazette of 8 May 1918).

Unbelievably, the remnants of the 2 battalions continued to hold their line until the welcome arrival of Australian troops during the evening of 28 March and, although their positions continued to be heavily bombarded by artillery, there were no further infantry attacks, with the surviving members of the 2/4th and 5th KOYLI finally being allowed to return to billets in the village of Authie during the first day of April.

Whilst in the relative comfort of Authie the customary post-battle calling of the 2 battalion’s rolls revealed the 2nd/4th KOYLI had lost over 180 men, the strength of the battalion being reduced to 7 officers and around 200 other ranks, whilst the 5th Battalion had lost 16 officers killed, wounded, and missing, and the ‘other ranks’ had lost 28 men killed, 80 wounded, and 268 missing in action. A number of these missing men were later found to have been taken prisoner but, nevertheless, many were never to be seen or heard of again; amongst these was 19-year-old 39125 Private George Arthur Lazenby.

Born in Scarborough at 54 Wykeham Street during 1899, George was the youngest son of Alice and James Lazenby, a labourer who worked for many years for Scarborough Council. [3]

One of a handful of Scarborough’s First World War casualties who died during the conflict leaving behind little or no personal information, the author has been unable to trace any information locally regarding Private Lazenby. Nevertheless, scraps of information indicate that he was conscripted at the age of 18 into the army at Scarborough during September 1917 and was originally been issued with the service number 82272, with which he initially trained and served in the north of England with 90th Training Reserve Battalion. Shortages of men at the front inevitably saw Lazenby being posted during February 1918 to an infantry training depot in France before being posted to the Western Front and the 5th KOYLI.

Officially recorded as having been killed in action during Wednesday, 27 March 1918, the remains of George Lazenby have never been recovered from the battlefield at Rossignol Wood; his name subsequently being commemorated in Bay 7 of the Memorial to the Missing at Arras. In Scarborough, George’s name is commemorated on the Oliver’s Mount Memorial (incorrectly spelt as ‘Lazemby’). Having lived all his life in Wykeham Street one would have imagined that Lazenby would have been a pupil of Gladstone Road School; however, his name is not commemorated on the School War Memorial. Neither can George’s name be found on any of Scarborough’s surviving church memorials. [4].

In addition to the Oliver’s Mount War Memorial, the missing George Arthur Lazenby is commemorated on two memorials in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery. The first (broken) gravestone is located in the cemetery’s Section O, Row 9, Grave 5, and also contains the names of George’s grandparents, Charles (who had died on 6 June 1900 at the age of 57) and Eliza Lazenby (who had passed away almost exactly a year later, on 7 July 1901, at the age of 65). The second memorial is located in Manor Road’s Section P, Row 11, Grave 5; this also marks the final resting place of George’s parents, Heslerton-born James Lazenby, who died ‘suddenly’ at his home at 54 Wykeham Street on Friday, 21 October 1927 at the age of 61, and Burniston-born Alice Lazenby who subsequently passed away at the age of 83 in the house at 54 Wykeham Street where her children were born and the family lived for over 50 years, during Thursday, 9 March 1950.

[1] The private papers of Douglas Haig 1914-19; Eyre & Spotiswoode; London; 1952.

[2] History of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the Great War 1914-1918; Wylly & Bond; 1929.

[3] At the time of the 1901 Census the Lazenby’s were still residing at 54 Wykeham Street, the family by this time consisting of James, 35, employed as a ‘navvy’, Alice, 35, Thomas Charles, 11, Mary Elizabeth, 8, and 2-years-old George Arthur. All were Scarborough born.

[4] George is one of two Scarborough casualties of the Great War commemorated on the Oliver’s Mount Memorial with the surname of Lazenby, the second being George’s cousin: 3768 Private John William Lazenby (also incorrectly recorded as ‘Lazemby’)

Paul Allen

Davison, Albert

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Name: Albert Davison

Rank: Private

Service No: 34486

Date of Death: 22/03/1918

Age: 27

Regiment/Service: Leicestershire Regiment 11th Bn.

Panel Reference: Bay 5. Memorial: Arras Memorial

Additional Information: son of Stephen and Patty Davison, of 27 Nelson St, Scarborough; husband of Eva May Davison, of 11 Victoria Rd, Scarborough.

 

Paul Allen writes:

Another of those killed during the second day of the ‘Kaiserschlacht’ was 27-year-old 34486 Private Albert Davison.

Born in Scarborough at 4 Bedford Street during 1891, Albert, popularly known as ‘Bert’, was the fourth of five children of Martha (‘Pattie’) and Stephen Davison, who was variously employed as a ‘coal porter, labourer’, and by the turn of the century as a ‘greengrocer’, the family living in Scarborough at 54 North Street. [1]

A pupil of Scarborough’s Central Board School between the ages of 4 – 13, Bert left the school during 1904 to work initially in the family greengrocery business, the family living by this time at 109 Prospect Road. By the outbreak of war, however, Bert was working in the grocery trade at Derby; nevertheless, Bert returned to Scarborough during 1916 to be married at Bar Congregational Church on Thursday, 14 December to Eva May Hall, the 26-year-old daughter of Eliza and shoemaker, George Hall. Bert Davison and his bride set up home with elder brother Fred and Frances Caroline Davison, at 108 Moorland Road (where Albert and Eva’s only son, also to be named Albert, would be born on 21 April 1918).

‘Called up’ for war service during June 1916, Davison was enlisted into the army at the Sherwood Foresters Depot in Derby on 21 May 1917 where, despite expressing a preference for service with the Royal Flying Corps, the 27-year-old was recruited into the Leicestershire Regiment. Bert served between 21 May and 25 September 1917 at Leicester’s Wigston Barracks with the Regiment’s 3rd (Reserve) Battalion until he was posted to the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Leicesters. Davison embarked for France at Folkestone on 25 September 1917. Arriving in France the following day, Davison duly joined his new battalion, which was serving on the Western Front with 110 Brigade of 21st Division. Bert remained with the 7th Leicesters until 8 February 1918, when he was posted to the 11th Leicesters.

One of 68 battalions of Pioneers which had been raised during 1915 to provide skilled labour for the newly formed Kitchener’s ‘New Army’ Divisions, by the time that Bert Davison joined the unit, the 11th Leicesters (dubbed the ‘Midland Pioneers’, and commanded by Lt Col Charles Turner) were stationed in France at Fremicourt from where the unit’s four companies were engaged in various work assignments at nearby Lagnicourt, including digging deep dugouts, the construction of a light railway, and scraping and cleaning of roads.

The battalion was still at Fremicourt on the opening day of the ‘Kaiserschlacht’. The battalion’s War Diary of 21 March reports:

‘12.10 am Received orders from Division to ‘Stand to’.

‘In the Vaulx –Morchies Line

‘Companies in position by 5 am ….

‘The enemy attacked heavily after an intense bombardment (which lasted from about 05.00 am) at 08.00 am and established themselves in position in front of the wire of the Vaulx-Morchies Line by the evening … ’[2]

Unfortunately, 11th Battalion’s War Diary records no further details of the action on 21 March except to report that at 5-30 pm Battalion Headquarters had, ‘Received message from Sgt. Barratt, acting Company Sergeant Major of ‘D’ Company, to the effect that all the officers of his company had become casualties and that he was in command of the company…Six officers and about 30 other ranks were sent up from H.Q. to reinforce ‘D’Company’…[2]

During the morning of Thursday, 22 March the surviving Midland Pioneers were ordered to retire to the so-called ‘Army Line’. The move was completed by mid-afternoon. Evidence suggests that during this operation only 1 man, possibly Bert Davison, was killed: ’Transport moved to Pioneer Camp, Logeast Wood, one man of the transport was killed by shellfire … ’ [2]

Like the relatives of all the casualties at this chaotic stage of the war, Eva Davison was initially informed that her husband had been reported as ‘missing in action’ and she lived for some time with the hope, like most of his relatives, that Bert had been taken prisoner. Whilst eagerly awaiting news of her husband, on Sunday, 21 April, Eva gave birth to a son, the happy occasion being marred some days later by the arrival of the official notification of Bert’s death. The tidings were included in an extensive casualty list, which appeared in the ‘Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday, 26 April 1918:

‘Private A. Davison killed in action

‘Official news has been received by his wife at 108 Moorland Road, that Private Albert Davison, Leicesters, has been killed in action, March 22nd. He went out last August, and was expected to come on leave this month. He was the son of Mr. Stephen Davison, 27 Nelson Street, and son-in-law of Mr George Hall, bootmaker. Private Davison was married and leaves one child, born on Sunday last. He was aged 28. There are three brothers serving. Private Davison was well-known in local football circles … ’

No further news of Private Davison was ever received. Eva, living by this time in Scarborough at 11 Victoria Road, eventually received a small widow’s pension and two medals (the British War and Victory Medals) in recompense for her lost husband and father of a son that he had never seen. Probably blown to bits on 22 March, no remains of a soldier, identifiable as those of Private Davison, have been found so, to the present day, Albert Davison remains ‘missing, believed killed in action’ on 22 March 1918.

During the post war years Bert Davison’s name was included in Bay 5 of Sir Edward Lutyens’s Arras Memorial. Located in the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery in the western part of the town of Arras, the memorial contains the names of almost 35,000 casualties of the British, New Zealand, and South African armed forces who, like Davison, lost their lives in the Arras Sector between the Spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918 (excluding the casualties of the Cambrai Offensive of 1917), and who have no known grave.

In Scarborough, as well as the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, Davison’s name is commemorated in St Mary’s Parish Church on the ‘Roll of Honour’ located on the north interior wall that lists 156 former members of the Parish who lost their lives during the ‘Great War of 1914-19’. Bert’s name can also be found on a memorial in the town’s Manor Road Cemetery (Section N, Row 13, Grave 34), which also bears the names of his mother, ‘Pattie’ Davison, who died in Scarborough Infirmary (69 Dean Road) on Sunday, 4 May 1914, at the age of 52, and father Stephen Davison, who had died at 6 Beechville Avenue on Thursday, 26 November 1942 at the age of 83.

Bert’s three brothers, Fred, Valentine, and Stephen Davison, also served in the army (Royal Engineers, Machine Gun Corps, and Yorkshire Regiment respectively), and all survived to return to Scarborough following their demobilisation in 1919. Eva Davison, and her son, Albert, resided with her parents at 11 Victoria Road until the mid 1930s when her name disappears from Scarborough’s Electoral Rolls. By the 1950s there were two Albert Davisons listed in the town’s ‘Street Directory’. One lived with wife Marjorie at 24 Murchison Street, whilst the second resided with wife Nora at 44 Candler Street.

[1] At the time of the 1901 Census the Davison family were residing in the house in North Street and consisted of Stephen (the eldest son of Rouse and Hannah Davison), aged 42 years, Martha, 39 years, Frederick, 16 years, employed as a ‘joiners apprentice’, Valentine, 15 years, employed as a ‘painters lad’, Amy aged 13, Albert aged 10, and Stephen aged 9. All were born in Scarborough except for Martha Davison, who was born in the Lincolnshire village of Glentworth.

[12] National Archives; WO /95/1601.

Paul Allen

Barraclough A

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Name: Alan Barraclough

Rank: Lance Corporal

Service No: 28388

Date of Death: 05/01/1918

Age: 30

Regiment/Service: Yorkshire Regiment 12th Bn.

Grave Reference: F. 3. Cemetery: St Leger British Cemetery

Additional Information: son of Mr and Mrs Seth Barraclough, of Scarborough; husband of Emily Mary Barraclough, of 8 Friar’s Entry, Scarborough.

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

Following the closing down of the ultimately disappointing ‘show’ at Cambrai (20 November – 7 December 1917), the people of the British Isles had very little to celebrate. With feelings running high due to the disastrous outcome of a battle which had started so well, and in the end had cost over 40,000 casualties for precious little gain, the so called ‘season of goodwill’ had found few well wishers amongst a people totally sickened and fed up with a war that had the appearance of having no end. The bad feelings circulating at this point in the conflict were encapsulated in an article entitled ‘New Year’s Eve in Scarboro’ which appeared in the Scarborough Mercury of Friday, 4 January 1918.

’Since the war broke out a steady lessening has come about in the time honoured custom of letting in the New Year in Scarborough. A similar experience is no doubt the lot of the other places throughout the country. These last two year ends have witnessed an almost total collapse of the pre-war observances. As a year ago, there were no bands last night to enliven the occasion, no carol singers, and indeed but the faintest echo of the scenes that used to be associated with the occasion.

‘By comparison the streets were deserted and there was hardly a trace of that exuberant display of animal spirits which used make Westborough and Newborough like a fair until past midnight…A few stayed out to herald the New Year, just keeping up the continuity with the past ‘till the boys come home’…

Whilst their kinfolk back home in ‘Blighty’ endured their winter of unrest in relative safety and comfort, in France and Belgium for the ordinary Tommies of the severely weakened British Expeditionary Force there had been the usual business of life and death amidst the depravations of trench life on the Western Front. Seven days after the ‘New Years Eve’ article above had appeared in the ‘Mercury’ the newspaper reported the death of yet another local soldier:

‘Ex licence holder killed’

‘The sad news has reached his wife of the death in action of Lance Corporal Alan Barraclough, Yorkshire Regiment, ‘Friar’s House’ Friar’s Entry, who only returned to France from leave as recently as three weeks ago. He formerly held the licence of the Elephant and Castle [located in Cross Street], which his wife continued to hold until recently, and two children are also left. His father, the late Mr. Seth Barraclough, who died a few weeks ago, held the licence of the Dolphin Hotel for some years’…

Born during 1887 in the West Riding of Yorkshire city of Huddersfield, 28388 Lance Corporal Alan Barraclough was the eldest son of Scarborough-born Cecilia, and Seth Barraclough. The Barracloughs arrived in Scarborough at the turn of the century from York where Seth had been employed by the North Eastern Railway Company, as a ‘stationary engine driver’. [1]

The family initially lived in the town at 44 Albion Street; however, by the following summer, the family was resident at the ‘Fleece Inn’, located at 11 St Thomas Street, for which Seth held the licence until 1911. The following year he moved to the ‘Dolphin Hotel’ a well known, and still (2006) open ‘bottom end’ watering hole, located at the bottom of Eastborough, where the 21-year-old Allan was employed by his father as a ‘barman’.

During 1913 Alan Barraclough married Scarborough-born (1890) Emily Mary Cape, the fourth daughter of Sarah Ann, and the late (died 1 October 1910) Thomas Postill Cape, a one time ‘ship’s painter, and house decorator’. Shortly after their marriage the Barraclough’s first child, Joseph Mickman, was born. At the outbreak of war in August 1914 the family were living at 6 Vine Street. By this time Allan was the licensee of the Elephant and Castle, located in Cross Street. However, during November 1915 he relinquished this position shortly after the birth of his second child, Irene Mary, to enlist into the Yorkshire Regiment at Scarborough’s Court House (in those days located in Castle Road; the site in 2006 is the car park at the top of St Thomas Street).

Shortly after his enlistment Barraclough was sent to the Yorkshire Regimental Depot located in the North Yorkshire market town of Richmond, where he was kitted out in the standard khaki uniform of the period and introduced to the pleasures of drill, physical training and the various other aspects of military routine which was the lot of the ‘shilling a day’ ‘Tommy Atkins’ of the Great War.

After a short period of training at Richmond, Allan was posted to Cannock Chase on Salisbury Plain where he joined the 12th (Service) Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. More commonly known as the ‘Teeside Pioneers’, the battalion was raised as a Pioneer Battalion during December 1914 in Middlesborough by the Mayor and Council of the city and, until, August 1916 had undergone specialised training on the outskirts of Middlesborough at Marton Hall, and at Newcastle. However, on 13 August the battalion headed southwards led by its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel H W Becher, and camped on Penkridge Bank, where the unit was employed in the construction of 4 new rifle ranges.

Although given basic infantry training, the men of a pioneer battalion were composed of a mixture of men adept with pick and shovel (such as miners and road workers) and artisans such as smiths, carpenters, joiners bricklayers, masons and tinsmiths, who were primarily responsible for the construction of trench works and other fortifications, in addition to the repair and maintenance of roads. One battalion of pioneers, usually consisting of around 1,000 officers and men, was allocated to each of the 60 or so divisions of infantry of the British Expeditionary Force serving on the Western Front and duly, at the end of September 1916, the Teeside Pioneers left Cannock Chase for Aldershot, where the unit was billeted in Badajos Barracks. Here the battalion was allocated as the Pioneer Battalion to the 40th Division.

Formed between September and December 1915, the 40th Division had originally been designated as a ‘Bantam’ (named after the small, hardy and highly aggressive fighting cock) formation, one of two New Army Divisions (the other being the 35th Division) which were formed following a request to the War Office from Birkenhead’s MP Alfred Bigland. Bigland instigated the formation of a battalion of infantry from under size men (those less than the regulation 5 feet 3 inches), many of whom had previously been rejected as unsuitable for war service. Within days over 3,000 men enlisted to form two battalions of infantry, designated as the 1st and 2nd Birkenhead Battalions, and which were integrated into the Cheshire Regiment. The idea of Bantam infantry mushroomed, and soon other towns throughout Britain began to recruit undersized soldiers, these men being formed into a number of battalions of infantry, which were consequently formed into the two Divisions.

However, by the end of 1916, the quality of the men enlisting into the Bantams waned from the magnificent men who had joined at the outset and, as a consequence, no more Bantams were  allowed to join the army, with the 35th and 40th Divisions losing their unique identity. By the time that Barraclough and the remainder of the Teesside Pioneers joined the formation it consisted of a mixture of regular- and bantam-sized soldiers.

Inspected by King George V at Laffan’s Plain on 25 May 1916, shortly afterwards the various units of 40th Division began to make preparations to proceed abroad. Having recently carried out musketry training at Pirbright, on 27 May the Teesside Pioneers received their marching orders, and on 1 June the battalion embarked in the SS France at Southampton, destined for the customary ‘unknown destination’, which was inevitably France and the Western Front.

Shortly after their arrival in France the Teesside Pioneer boarded trains which took them to the town of Rely, where they continued on foot to the nearby town of Fouquieres. Almost straight away the battalion’s ‘W’ and ‘Y’ Companies were detailed for work with the 15th Division, whilst Barraclough’s ‘Z’ Company, commanded by Major Wilkinson, found themselves attached to the 1st Division, where, working under the instructions of the Royal Engineers, the men had been set to work in the front line trenches building shelters, clearing fields of fire and digging fire steps. The had continued with this sort of work throughout the remainder of 1916, and worked in various sectors of the front as a consequence.

By September 1917 the Teesside Pioneers were employed in the repair of roads in the Fins area of northern France. During the middle of the month the battalion was subjected to a heavy gas and high explosives attack, which resulted in the unit losing 18 men. Badly affected by gas fumes during this bombardment, Barraclough had been out of action until the end of November, by which time the 40th Division had taken part in the abortive Cambrai Offensive. The story of the Division’s gallant efforts in the capture of Bourlon Wood has already been told [see ‘Byng’s Bombshell’] and although not so actively involved as the infantry during the affair, the Teesside Pioneers had nonetheless done sterling service during the operation, employed in the wiring of the newly captured enemy positions and the repair of the many shell-torn and vital roads in the area.

Barraclough rejoined his battalion early in December, by which time the unit had moved to the village of St Leger, where the Teesside Pioneers were employed in repairing the road between St Leger-Croisilles, and Fontaine Notre Dame. Winter had set in by this time, and their work was more often than not hampered by severe frosts, followed by a thaw, which in turn was followed by very wet weather. At the beginning of the New Year the Pioneers were repairing the rain-weakened parapet of the front line trenches close to St Leger, where, on Saturday, 5  January 1918, L Cpl Barraclough’s life was snuffed out almost instantly by a single sniper’s bullet.

The only fatality incurred by the Teeside Pioneers during the early part of January 1918, the remains of Alan Barraclough were conveyed to a burial ground near to St Leger which had been used by the various fighting units and Field Ambulances located there at the time. After the war it was named by the then Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission as ‘St Leger British Cemetery’. This Cemetery, located down a track to the north west of the village, now contains the graves of over 150 casualties of the Great War; Alan Barraclough’s grave is located in Grave 3 of Section F.

In addition to the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, as a former member of the congregation of Scarborough’s St Peters Roman Catholic Church, Alan Barraclough’s name was included on the church’s war memorial, a Portland stone, gothic-style crucifix which was originally been set on a 4-sided plinth of Irish limestone, sculpted by a York man named George Walter Milburn (considered one of the greatest sculptors of his era, much of Milburn’s work is to be found in York Minster, he is also responsible for the statues of Queen Victoria in York Art Gallery, William Etty outside the gallery, and that of George Leeman in Station Avenue, York). The St Peter’s memorial contains the names of 31 former members of the church who lost their lives during the First World War. The memorial was unveiled and dedicated by Dr Richard Lacy, the Bishop of Middlesborough, during the morning of Sunday, 26 July 1925.
(At the end of the Second World War the names of another 11 former members of St Peter’s, including one female (ATS Mary Sadler) were added to the memorial. It was built at a cost of £400; however, during 1985, the monument was rebuilt in black marble on its original base, at a cost of £2,400.

Alan’s name can also be found on two gravestones in Scarborough’s Dean Road and Manor Road Cemeteries. The first is located in Dean Road Cemetery (Section G, Row 4, Grave 22), which also commemorates his father, Seth Barraclough, who passed away at the age of 57 at 3 Alma Parade on Friday, 9 November 1917. Commemorated as ‘a flower transplanted’, the stone also bears the name of Alan’s youngest sister, York-born Annie Lake Barraclough, who died, also at 3 Alma Parade, at the age of 19 on 4 October 1920.

This memorial also includes the name of the Barracloughs’ youngest son, Joseph Gregory, also born at York, who passed away at the age of 35 during December 1925. Alan’s mother, Cecilia Barraclough, survived all her family and died ‘peacefully’ at 3 Alma Parade on Friday, 9 January 1948 at the age of 82. She was interred in the grave in Dean Road Cemetery during the morning of Tuesday, 13 January 1948 following a Requiem Mass, which had taken place at St Peters Church prior to the interment.

The second memorial containing Lance Corporal Barraclough’s name is located in the town’s Manor Road Cemetery (Section W, Row 3, Grave 2), and also bears the name of Alan’s only daughter, Irene Mary. Popularly known as ‘Rene’, she was the wife of Joshua Kramer until her death at the age of 25 on Wednesday, 25 July 1941. For many years after her Alan’s death Emily Mary Barraclough lived with her 2 children, Joseph Mickman and ‘Rene’, at 33 Friargate, a house they shared with Emily’s younger sister, Lizzie Pricilla Brackenbury (formerly Cape), who was also been a ‘war widow’. (Lizzie had been the wife of 940/DA Deck Hand Albert Victor Brackenbury, Royal Naval Reserve, who had died whilst serving in HM Trawler ‘Principal’, from the effects of Bronchopneumonia in the Rosyth Naval Hospital, at the age of 24, on 25 November 1918. Albert was subsequently interred in Scarborough’s Dean Road Cemetery; his grave is located in Section E, Row 27, Grave 33).

Lizzie Brackenbury passed away at the age of 69 on Tuesday, 3 April 1962, and was buried in the grave at Manor Road following a service at the Bethel Mission, located at the time in Sandside. Emily Mary had continued to live in the house in Friargate until her death exactly 54 years to the day after that of her beloved husband, on Wednesday, 5 January 1972, at the age of 82. The remains of Emily Barraclough were interred with those of her daughter and sister during the afternoon of Monday, 10 January 1972 following a service at the Bethel Mission in Sandside. The memorial to the devoted husband and wife also contains the inscription: ‘Re-united’.

[1] During the 1901 Census the Barraclough family resided with Cecilia’s parents, 69-years-old, Irish-born plasterer, Joseph, and Liverpool-born wife Bridget Mickman (aged 60). The family consisted of: Seth Barraclough, aged 60, born York (Long Moor), occupation: ‘Stationary Engine Driver’; Cecilia, 35, born Scarborough; Alan, 13 years, born Huddersfield; Joseph, 8 years. and Annie M, age 1 (both born at York).

Paul Allen

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