Nine men from Ibstock are known to have served in the 16th Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps during the Great War, nicked named the “Churchman's Battalion” because of it's association with the “Church Lad's Brigade” (CLB).

Early in September 1915 Lord Grenfell, Governor & Commandant of the CLB, had formally applied to the War Office for permission to raise a service battalion of past and present members of the CLB. After the War Office approved, the battalion was raised as the 16th KRRC at Denham, Buckinghamshire, with recruiting starting by 19th September 1914.

The Church Lad's Brigade had a strong following in Leicester City, and groups had been established in Ibstock, Hugglescote and elsewhere in the County before the war. Reginald Glover and Oliver Pratt, of the Hugglescote CLB, recall the excitement when on 4th August 1914 the annual CLB summer camp held at Ripon Yorkshire, where hundreds of Leicester Lads had gathered, was cut short with orders to immediately return home. There was much talk on the train journey back and rumours that the Army was to create a special battalion of which only CLB personnel would be enlisted. Many of these young lads, like Glover and Pratt, were impatient to volunteer and served in the Leicester's TF and “New Army” battalions, but others waited.

In the first rush of the recruits to the 16th KRRC on 19th September 1914 were a dozen or more men from Leicester, and four single men from Ibstock: Lester Green, aged 22 ; John William Henson, aged 19 ; (William) Percy Heath, aged 19 and Harry Butler Wright, aged 21. They were to become: Serj. C/213 Lester Green, Serj. C/225 John William Henson, Rfm. C/228 Percy Heath and Serj. C/360 Harry Butler Wright. Of these, only fragments of Harry Butler's service papers have survived, they show he attested on 19/9/1914 at Leicester and joined at Denham on 2 October 1914.

Lester Green had been born in Carlton, a few miles south of Ibstock, where the family had lived before moving to Ibstock in around 1900. Before the war, Lester had worked as an assistant in one of Ibstock's greengrocers, near to his family home in Leicester Road, Ibstock. Harry Wright had worked as a clerk in Ibstock's brickworks, and both Percy Heath and John Henson were amongst Ibstock's many colliers.

All four Ibstock men, and the others from Leicester, were with the 16th KRRC when, after a long period of training, they leave their Perham Down Camp to travel by train to Southampton for a night crossing to Le Havre in the cold and wet of 16th November 1915. A total contingent of 30 officers and 994 other ranks, 64 horses and mules, 19 vehicles and 9 bicycles.

From the Le Havre, the battalion moves first by train via Abbeville to Thienne on 19th November and then after a few days in Boesegham it marches on to Annezin by the 30th November. Various course and training continue while different parts of the battalion are giving some trench familiarisation in rotation. Others are attached to the 180th Tunnelling Company RE as working parties for mining activities. They move to St.Hilaire on the 12th December, where they remain until the 28th December. On the morning or the 19th ALL ranks are made to pass through a gas filled room as apart of their training as apart of a lecture on gas attacks. Snipers try out new “sniperscopes”, while others attend a maxim M.G. course. Christmas day 1915, passes without any special note in the 16th KRRC war dairy and 28th/29th December they move to billets in Bethune. The Battalion gets the bath house on New Year's day, but there is no clean kit available.

On 2nd January 1916, the first Sunday of the New Year, the battalion moves into the firing line for eight days in trenches near Bethune. Hardly have they taken up position when the enemy detonate 2 large mines. Rescuers dig feverishly to free those buried in the debris and the wounded are helped through the narrow communication trenches, while others prepare to repel any attempt by the enemy to occupy the crater. The battalion's position comes under an intense bombardment that lasts for hours. As the firing and shelling dies down, the damage has to be repaired. This work, together with digging out the buried men, goes for the next few days while the enemy continue to snipe, shell and machine gun. The battalion is relieved on the 10th January. Their losses for that first Sunday alone were 9 killed and 27 wounded, and four others perish before the relief, with yet more added to the wounded list. Among the dead is rifleman C/229 George Norris Waite Hotham of West Hartlepool, just one number on from Percy Heath of Ibstock.

This deadly tour of the trenches sets the pattern for the coming months of warfare. Interspersed with periods on relief when training, working parties and organised activity never really stops, there are the tours of trenches where shelling, sniping, trench mortar bombs, patrols and accidents take a steady toll of 16th KRRC officers and other ranks. In one of their last actions before moving from the Cuincy sector, 2 officers and 40 men mount a night raid on the German trenches on 1st July 1916. In a bitter reminder of the perils of such actions, the raiders are caught by enfilade machine gun fire. Five are killed outright, 11 are missing or wounded, 15 are wounded and brought in.

On the 8th July the battalion receives orders to move by train from Lillers to Saleux. Their total strength is 27 officers and 877 other ranks. A series of marches takes them to Bercodel-Bercourt by the 13th July and the battalion “stands to” at 3.25am on the morning of the 14th. Picks and shovels are drawn, extra SAA is issued at 220 rounds per man and each man is given two sand bags. The battalion marches to Fricourt at 10.30am. The men get tea and rest. They move forward to an assembly point in a valley west of Sabot, carry up ammo, bombs and water to the HLI And 1st Queens and after digging in, hand all picks and shovels to 9th HLI and 1st Queens. Orders are received for a Divisional attack on 15th July to take place on the enemy's switch line in front of Martinpuich with the 100th Infantry Brigade attacking on a 1,000 yard front, to be proceeded by an half hour artillery bombardment. Zero hour is 9.00 am. The assault is be carried out by the 9th HLI on the right and the 1st Queens on the left with the 16th KRRC in support and the 2nd Worcesters in reserve.

Much has been written about this attack and the 16th KRRC war diary itself covers five pages for the 15th July alone. Suffice to say by the end of a disastrous day the battalion was reduce to around half it's strength or less. By nightfall, remnants of “A” & “D“ company occupied a small corner of High Wood, and what remained of “B” & C” company were spread out between 1st Queens and 9th HLI. On the 16th July the Battalion is relieved and retires from High Wood. It's a wet night and their camp comes under fire from gas shells forcing then to put on gas helmets. They get some rest before on the 20th they move up toward High Wood again, coming under shell fire once more. After spending most of the day carry supplies up to High Wood whilst under fire, the Battalion move into High Wood in the early hours of the 21st to relieve the defending forces. Almost immediately they come under enemy attack. On what becomes a hot day, the enemy's snipers and machine guns are very active. Stretcher bearers carry away the wounded. That night the Battalion is relived and marches back to Bercodel-Bercourt through a heavy barrage of shells and tear shells and is established in a bivouac camp by 23rd July 1916.

Unlike other periods, there is no single clear casualty entry in the 16th KRRC war diary for the action at High wood. Even the strength return sent to HQ on 21th July may be misleading, as it's not clear if this includes the draft of 79 OR's that joined on the 18th. But this return shows the scale of loss, it is just 6 officers out of 27 and 214 other ranks out of 877. The war diary entry for the 24 July remarks upon the loss of NCOs which are reduced to just one sergeant and 7 corporals. Like so many other “New Army” battalions on the Somme, who were a year or more in the making, the 16th KRRC was decimated in a single day.

Amongst those killed in action on the 15th was Serj. C/213 Lester Green of Ibstock, and with no know grave he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Of those dozen and more men who volunteered in September and October of 1914 from Leicester, five were casualties on the same day:

Additionally, Rifleman C361 David Noel Wain, dies of wounds on 21/7/16.

After the disastrous casualties at High Wood the 16th KRRC receives new drafts, 79 other ranks on the 18th July, 318 other ranks on the 23rd July and by 7th August the Battalion's strength is recorded as 9 officers and 700 other ranks, and over the coming days more officers and NCOs join the battalion. Amongst the new drafts is Ernest David Overton of Ibstock.

Ernest, named after his father, had been born and brought up in Ibstock where the family had lived since about 1890. His service papers have not survived but judging by those with Army numbers close to his, Ernest Overton joined the KRRC around February 1916 either as a conscript or as someone who had attested under the Derby Scheme at the end of 1915, he was just nineteen. Ernest is likely to have served in the 5th Battalion, or part of the General Training Reserve, before being sent to France after as little as four or five months training. ( The first 16th KRRC casualty to appear with a number in the R/19XXX range is Arthur O. Couchman, KIA 20th July 1916. Rfn. R/19211 Richard Hopkin Aland attested 22 Nov 1915, is mobilised 18.2.16, joins in field on 17.7.16 and is wounded 20/21.7.16. Serj. R/19338 Albert Wingrove, MM, attested 12 Dec 1915, is mobilised on 22.2.16, embarks 13.7.16, joins 16th on 26.7.16 and is KIA 24th Sept. 1918).

Ernest joins the 16th KRRC on the Somme as it rebuilds and reorganises after the costly attack on “High Wood” on the 15th July 1916. The last eight days of July 1916 are spent in camp and the new drafts are training every day in the height of the summer heat. The men are allowed to bathe in the river Ancre. On 7th August at 4.0am the Battalion, 9 officers and 700 other ranks, march to Fricourt Wood. After food and rest, they relieve troops in Mametz Wood by 2.30pm. That evening Major Howard joins and takes command of the battalion. All companies move up the line on the 10th, they return to bivouacs at Bercodel-Bercourt on the 13th August . They move to Montauban Alley on the 19th August and on the night of 22nd/23rd are deployed in Orchard and Carlton Trench. Major Howard in the company of three other officers is up touring the line, they are hit by a stray shell. Major Howard is wounded, along with Capt. Coatsworth, Lt. Fradell is badly shaken but Capt. C.A. Thomas is killed. On the afternoon of the 24th August, the forward three companies, “A “ B” and “C” have assembled for an attack on the enemy's “Tea Trench”. Zero hour is 5.45pm and at zero puls one, the leading companies move out as close as possible to a barrage that is lifting at 25yards per minute. The objective is taken and the war dairy notes that:

The actual casualties were: killed 1 officer, 13 other ranks, wounded 2 officers and 72 other ranks, missing 39 other ranks.

After what must have been about just four weeks in France, and after his first offensive action, Ernest David Overton was to die of wounds on 25th August 1916, mostly likely sustained in the attack on “Tea Trench”. He is buried at XXX. B. 4. CATERPILLAR VALLEY CEMETERY, LONGUEVAL