Arthur Hammersley was a thirty year old married man with a family when he joined the Army in the spring of 1916, either as a conscript or as someone who had attested under the Derby Scheme in late 1915. Arthur had been born and raised in Bedworth, Warwickshire, some 20 miles south of Ibstock. As an adult he had worked as a miner and had married local girl Alice Richards in 1912, their first child, daughter Alice, was born in 1913. Arthur and family had then moved to Ibstock.

Arthur Hammersley's service papers have not survived, but he is one of a group of men from Leicestershire who were called up in May and June of 1916, some having previously attested in December 1915, and joined the North Staffordshire Regiment. Most of these men were initially posted to the 3rd Battalion at Wallsend. On completion of training they were posted to the 7th North Staffs, part of the 39th Brigade of the 13th Division, and sent to Mesopotamia.

Other men give us the time frame for Arthur Hammersley's deployment: Pte. 25584 John James Pears of Loughborough, attested on 10 Dec 1915, was called up on 31May 1916, is posted to 3rd North Staffs on 2.6.16, then posted to 7th on 14 Oct 1916, leaving Devonport on 15/10/16, arriving Busra 21/11/16 and joins in field 7 /12/16; Pte. 26728 Thomas Butters from Notts, attested 11 Dec 15, was posted to 3rd at Wallsend on 16.6.16, other dates are as Pte. Pears; Pte. 26235 Frederick Ford from Longton, Staffs, attested. 6.12.15, is called up on 13.6.16, posted 3rd at Wallsend on 15.6.16, posted to 7th and also embarks at Devonport 15/10/16, arrives Busra 22/11/16, joins at Amara on 7/12/16.

Arthur Hammersley is amongst the new drafts of men for the 7th North Staffs who arrived in Busra (Basra/Al Basrah) in late November 1916. For men who had never left the shores of Britain there would have been many new sights and sounds on the outward journey which took several weeks. From Devonport Plymouth to Port Said Egypt, through the Canel to Suez and on past Aden along the southern Arabic coast to the Persian Gulf to the straits of Ormuz and the mouth of the Shatt-el-Arab water way. Often transferring to smaller vessel to make the 80 mile journey inland to Busra taking about 7 hours. Troops would catch the first sight of the land of the “Garden of Eden”, beyond the date palm strip along the river banks was flat featureless desert. They'd pass Adaban with it's circular tanks and pipe lines of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the reason the Mesopotamian campaign had started in 1914, and finally to Basra itself.

After the stebacks of 1915 and the costly failure to relieve the besieged defenders of Kut earlier in 1916, no new offensive could be started until after the broiling summer heat. In October and November of 1916, Basra was a hive of activity and the port resembled a small piece of the London Thames, crowded with vessels: troops ships, hospital ships, cargo vessel, naval vessels and a flotilla of smaller transport craft. The new drafts moved up river to the Amara base within a couple of weeks, before being transported closer to the front line.

The offensive had opened on the night of the 13th December 1916 with a surprise march on the Shatt-el-Hai by the Cavary Division and both the 13th and 14th Divisions across a flat featureless desert, crossing nera Atab. Operations were held up as heavy rains turned the ground into a swamp. The Khadairi Bend was the first Turkish stronghold to fall, but only after a bitter struggle. The Hai Salient was the next objective.

The battle had begun in pouring rain on the 25TH of January. The Turks had met the British with determination and courage. Only in the last few days before they were finally eliminated entirely on the right bank of the Tigris was the morale of the Turks broken. By this time the campaign in Mesopotamia had become a slogging match. The British troops had been burnt out by the constant repetition of attacking a series of ditches in a wasteland of caked clay; newspaper reports of ‘burning to be up and at the Turks’ was empty rhetoric.

When the battle for the Hai Salient had started, the Turkish garrison had been estimated at about 3,700 men. The first attack on the 25TH of January had been directed at both banks of the Hai by the 39TH Brigade on the left and 40TH Brigade on the right. All had gone well at first and 1,800 yards of the Turkish front line had been captured. However, the Turks had eventually counter attacked with their customary zeal accompanied by heavy shell fire, and had driven the 39TH brigade back the way they had gone having suffered over a thousand casualties. Before falling back, the 7th North Staffs had found themselves attacked on three sides and had come under accurate minewerfer fire. The battalion lost all its own bombers either killed, or wounded. The 7th North Staffs had attacked with the 9th Worcesters, their history adds:

The following day the assault had been renewed by the Indian 14TH Division, on that occasion after twelve hours of bitter fighting the 82ND and 26TH Punjabis had succeeded in retaking the line, which had been lost, the previous day, the price had nonetheless been expensive. Of the 82ND Punjabi’s, 240 of the 500 men who had begun the assault were either killed or wounded. On the east bank the story had been much the same, nonetheless, by the end of January the whole Turkish front line system to a depth of 1,000 yards had been in British hands.

Amongst the 7th North Staffs many casualties was Arthur Hammersley of Ibstock, killed in action on 25/1/1917. Other casualties from Leicesterhsire were:

With no known grave, Arthur Hammersley is commemorated on the Basra War Memorial.