Burial of Named Gunners 20 April 2016

[MelPack]

CWGC announcement:

Two Royal Field Artillery gunners to be buried 100 years after they were killed

The burials of Gunners Joseph William Rowbottom and Albert William Venus, along with the unknown remains of four other soldiers of the Great War will take place at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Ieper Town Cemetery Extension, Ieper, Belgium on 20 April 2016 at 11:00 hours.

Both Gunners Rowbottom and Venus were killed in action on 24 May 1915.

Shoulder titles from North and East Riding Batteries, Royal Field Artillery were discovered with the remains. Research pinpointed the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade RFA to this area on 24 May 1915.

http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2016/4/two-royal-field-artillery-gunners-to-be-buried-100-years-after-they-were-killed.aspx

[Seadog]

Very good work to ID the two, what was the evidence for these Mel was it personal items or similar?

Regards

N

[tootrock]

Where and when were these remains discovered?

Martin

[jay dubaya]

The CWGC entry for the two men would suggest that they are already buried in the cemetery, is this correct?

[MelPack]

The CWGC entry for the two men would suggest that they are already buried in the cemetery, is this correct?

Jay

The data base is always amended in advance of the burials where there are named soldiers.

[MelPack]

Very good work to ID the two, what was the evidence for these Mel was it personal items or similar?

Regards

N

Norman

The IDs were the product of DNA testing. It has been a frustrating project because the range of potential candidates for the six sets of remains was so narrow and there was high expectation of more successful IDs.

The outcome of the project does demonstrate one of the shortcomings of DNA testing - namely the intercession of 'false paternity' on the Y line and mis-attibuted maternity through informal adoption on the mito line. Those intercessions can occur at any point in the familial chain which is not surprising given that it is not unusual to have to go back to a second cousin of a soldier i.e. the cousins of the soldier's grandparents in order to bring forward a familial line to a living donor who is DNA compatible.

The quest continues.

Mel

[chrislock]

The grave(s) was dug last week. Fascinating to watch a JCB digger being used as gently as a hand trowel. Such care and skill!

[Seadog]

_{Mel that is superb work and these identifications will never be easy but without this all six would be buried as "Known Unto God". Perhaps in time and with the expertise so obviously available the others will be named in due course. I take it that you have played an important role in this latest success so if you did then well done you!}

Lest We Forget

Image

https://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/26301646372/in/dateposted/

_Norman

[MelPack]

First news story of the burials published today in the Scarborough News:

Scarborough soldier to be buried a century after his death

The news the bodies of two Yorkshire soldiers and four others had been discovered buried side-by-side in a field on the outskirts of Ypres in Belgium was a bolt out of the blue for their families.

Subsequent DNA tests revealed the young men killed in the Great War included Gunners Joseph Rowbottom, from Scarborough, and Albert Venus, from Hull, and next week the pair will be laid to rest in a cemetery in Ypres over a century after they were killed, serving their country.

Among those who will travel out to honour the men is Kathleen Grantham, from Hessle, near Hull, whose great uncle was Gunner Venus.

“When I got the message to say that they had found Albert’s body I was absolutely amazed,” she said.

“I did not know where he had died and how he had died.”

“For me its very, very special,” she said of the discovery and the opportunity to pay her respects and mark the sacrifice of her relative and the other soliders - four of which still remain unidentified.

The burials of Gunner Rowbottom and Gunner Venus along with the remains of four other unknown soldiers will take place at Ieper Town Cemetery Extension, Ieper, Belgium. Both Gunners Rowbottom and Venus were killed in action on May 24 1915.

Shoulder titles from North and East Riding Batteries, Royal Field Artillery were discovered with the remains. Research pinpointed the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade to this area on May 24 1915.

The men were caught up in a fierce battle, known as the Battle of Bellwaarde Ridge.

Also among those travelling to Belgium will be retired Thorne Grammar School headteacher Tony Brookes whose research has helped ensure that Gunner Venus was accepted for commemoration by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Names of fallen soldiers are inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.

Gunner Venus grew up in Thorne, near Doncaster, before later moving to Hull and Canada and Mr Brookes was researching names on Thorne War Memorial and realised Gunner Venus was not known to the CWGC.

Remarkably his remains, together with those of the five other soldiers were discovered by chance in 2014.

Mr Brookes said: “As far as I understand it it was during building work on the outskirts of Ypres when they found the six bodies.

“I did not expect this outcome when I started researching Albert Venus; it is wonderful that he and Gunner Rowbottom will finally be buried in marked graves – a rightful tribute to two brave men who gave their lives for their country.

“Albert Venus was completely forgotten, he was a name on a war memorial and for some reason he had slipped through the net and he was not commemorated,” he added.

Mrs Grantham said she thought it was right all six will be buried together as they had been for over a century.

Read more: http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/news/local/scarborough-soldier-to-be-buried-a-century-after-his-death-1-7854659#ixzz45tx1ltTw

[MelPack]

And another:

Doncaster WW1 hero to be buried in Belgium 100 years after death in battle

A Doncaster World War One hero is to be finally laid to rest - more than 100 years after dying in battle.

Gunner Albert William Venus from Thorne was killed near Ypres in 1915 – but his contribution and sacrifice have never been properly commemorated.

But next week, the Doncaster soldier and a fellow Yorkshire serviceman, who died in the same firefight, will be laid to rest in Belgium with full military honours.

Gunner Venus and Corporal Joseph Rowbottom were killed in action in May 1915 and will finally be buried at a cemetery in the famed Belgian town which was at the centre of one of World War One's most bloody campaigns.

The ceremony is the culmination of years of detective work by amateur historian Tony Brookes who campaigned for Gunner Venus to be properly remembered after discovering his tale, almost by accident.

The former Thorne Grammar School headteacher said: "I did not expect this outcome when I started researching Albert Venus; it is wonderful that he and Gunner Rowbottom will finally buried in marked graves – a rightful tribute to two brave men who gave their lives for their country."

The burial comes exactly 101 years to the day the soldiers, part of the North Riding Batteries of the Royal Field Artillery, travelled by train from Newcastle to Southampton as part of the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade and crossing to Le Havre on 20 April 1915.

By 13 May 1915, the gun batteries were positioned at Potizje, outside Ypres.

In late May the men were caught up in a fierce battle, known as the Battle of Bellwaarde Ridge. At 7am on Whit Monday - 24 May 1915 - a shell hit one of the guns killing Corporal T. A. Carr and Gunners J. Clarke, G. Robinson, J. Rowbottom (all from Scarborough) and A. W. Venus.

Only two of the soldiers (Carr and Robinson) were commemorated by Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and had their names inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.

Another two (Clarke and Rowbottom) were accepted for commemoration in 2012, but their names were not immediately inscribed on the Menin Gate.

Details of the fifth gunner, Albert William Venus, from Finkle Street, Thorne, came to light when the retired head was researching names on Thorne War Memorial.

On realising that Gunner Venus was not known to CWGC, he amassed evidence of his death on active service and submitted a request that he be commemorated and in August 2014 the Commission agreed.

Then the remains of six soldiers were found buried side-by-side in a field on the outskirts of Ypres.

The Ministry of Defence conducted extensive DNA testing on the remains and was able to identify Gunners Rowbottom and Venus. The remains of the six soldiers will be buried at Ypres Town Cemetery; the four who have not been identified will have headstones marked ‘Known unto God’.

Mr Brookes will be attending the burial along with relatives of Albert Venus, some of whom gave DNA samples for matching.

The ceremony will take place at 11am.

Read more: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/doncaster-ww1-hero-to-be-buried-in-belgium-100-years-after-death-in-battle-1-7851036#ixzz45tz9TCBH

[stevem49]

The grave(s) was dug last week. Fascinating to watch a JCB digger being used as gently as a hand trowel. Such care and skill!

We Plant Ops are always gentle and skillful. I could pick an egg up with my backhoe.

Excellent that two have been named.

[MelPack]

I could pick an egg up with my backhoe.

Steve

I think that you may need to re-phrase that lest this thread ends up in Skindles.

[MelPack]

Below is a sequence of postings that sets out the background to the burials and the soldiers involved.

The six sets of remains were discovered in the spring of 2014 during cultivation in a field on the southside of the old Menin Road (now Zonnebeeksewegg).

Two graves were uncovered. One contained a single set of remains and the other, a short distance away, was a mass burial in a grave containing five sets of remains.

The Shoulder Titles that were recovered with each set of remains belonged to either the North Riding Battery or the East Riding Batteries of the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade Royal Field Artillery (TF) of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division which had been deployed to Flanders only days before 2nd Ypres erupted.

The 2nd Northumbrian Brigade suffered 12 fatalities during the Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge that commenced with a gas barrage in the early hours of Whitmonday before a concerted German assault that proved to be the last attempt to pierce the salient. The battle brought 2nd Ypres to a close.

[MelPack]

CWGC summary account of the Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge:

The Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge, 24 - 25 May 1915.

At 2.45am on 24 May (Whit Monday), a ferocious German artillery bombardment slammed down on British V Corps front. The clamour of shells, machine-guns and rifle fire was accompanied by a simultaneous discharge of chlorine gas on almost the entire length of the British line.

German infantry assaulted in its wake. Although the favourable wind had alerted the British trench garrison to the likelihood of a gas attack the proximity of the opposing trenches and speed of the enemy assault meant many defenders failed to don their respirators quickly enough and large numbers were overcome. But the British defence rallied and the attackers were repelled by smallarms fire – except in the north, where Mouse Trap Farm was immediately overrun, and in the south where (by 10am) German infantry broke into the British line north and south of Bellewaarde Lake. The centre of the line between these gaps held fast all day.

Heroic efforts were made to retrieve the situation at Mouse Trap Farm before it was decided, that evening, to withdraw to a more defensible line. The German break-in around Bellewaarde Lake prompted the commitment of Corps reserve troops – but their arrival took time and the depleted front line battalions had to wait until the early evening before the weakened 84th Brigade was able to attack and turn the enemy out of Witte Poort Farm. Following the belated arrival of 80th Brigade a joint night counter-attack was made after 11pm; this assault, in bright moonlight, was a disaster and both 84th and 80th Brigades suffered heavy casualties. In the early hours of the morning the battle quietened. The following day saw a reduction in shelling and no attempts by the Germans to renew the offensive.

http://www.cwgc.org/ypres/content.asp?menuid=35&submenuid=36&id=18&menuname=Bellewaarde%20Ridge&menu=subsub

[MelPack]

The mass grave containing the five sets of remains were found at this precise location that coincided absolutely with the co-ordinates recorded in the War Diary of the North Riding Battery of the Brigade:

Location marked with a yellow cross

Location marked with a yellow spot

Many thanks to Dave Croonaert for the above.

[MelPack]

These are the three key extracts from the War Diary of the North Riding Battery on 24th May 1915:

This entry describes the deaths of the No1 Gun crew:

7.00 am A shell, apparently about 4 inch HE burst in rear of No 1 gun, a second hit the gable of the farm and a third striking the right wheel of No 1 gun - kiled No 1037 Cpl T Carr, No 10115 Gnr J W Clarke, No1682 Gnr G Robinson, No 1308 Gr G Rowbottom and No1817 Gnr A W Venus and severely wounded No 391 Sgt G P Hill, also putting the gun effectively out of action

This entry describes the death of No 1676 Driver Robert Wilson at 8.30 am:

and this entry records the burial of the No 1 Gun crew at 23.30 and the co-ordinates

[MelPack]

Out of the 12 fatalities, hitherto, only five of the soldiers had known graves.

Remarkably, until recently, only three out of the seven missing were recorded by the CWGC, Three have recently been added - Driver Robert Corner Wilson being the latest in March:

 

leaving Gnr Wilson Anderton 1780 who is currently being processed by the IFTC project.

I will post a brief biographical sketch of the soldiers below starting with the two identified soldiers.

[MelPack]

Gunner Albert William Venus 1817

Albert Venus born in 1893 at Hull and had just turned 22 years of age when he was killed in action on the morning of 24th May 1915.

He was the seventh of a family of twelve children from his father’s second marriage. In spite of the number of children, the family appear to have been relatively prosperous by the contemporary standards of late Victorian society.

His father, Alfred, was a successful merchant transporting coal via the canal network from South Yorkshire to Humberside who by the 1890s owned his own barge.

Only a few years later, the fortunes of the family had changed for the worse. Albert’s mother, Frances, suffered a prolonged illness and the father was obliged to take up employment as a night watchman in a shipbuilding yard. By the time of the 1911 census, the mother had died the previous year and the eldest children were engaged in a variety of trades from dressmaking to domestic service and dock labouring to help sustain the family that still had two younger children of school age.

Albert made his own contribution to the family by signing up for a five year indentured apprenticeship with the trawler fleet of Kelsall Brothers & Beeching Ltd in January 1909. He did not, however, complete his apprenticeship but, instead, worked his passage to Canada where he remained for three years before returning to Hull.

Albert enlisted in the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade in December 1914 and joined the first line Hull Batteries to complete his training as a Gunner. Although he was killed in action with the Scarborough and Whitby North Riding Battery of the Brigade, as a ‘pool’ Gunner he remained badged with his shoulder titles as an East Riding Battery man.

One of Albert’s younger brothers, Herbert, was also killed in action on 31st May 1916 during the Battle of Jutland. Herbert died along with the entire complement of a crew of more than eight hundred men when the magazine of their ship, HMS Black Prince, was hit by a German shell that caused a catastrophic explosion.

[MelPack]

Gunner Joseph William Rowbottom 1308

Joseph was born in the small village of Wrawby two miles to the east of the North Lincolnshire town of Glandford Brigg on 4th October 1887. His father, Frederick, was employed as a labourer by the municipal Corporation before the family moved to Scarborough in the early 1900s where he became an insurance agent after running a grocery store.

Joseph was the eldest child of the family and had two younger sisters. Upon completion of his schooling, he eventually became a ‘dairyman’ trading on his own account. It was precisely this occupation that earned him the nickname of ‘Milky Joe’ according to the various references made to him in the local press following the announcement of his death.

By the same accounts, Joseph enjoyed a drink and was a regular, along with the comrades with whom he died, of the Londesborough Vaults, a popular drinking haunt in the town managed by the father of Gunner George Robinson.

Within three days of the outbreak of the war, Joseph reported for an army medical examination which he managed to pass in spite of his vision being described as ‘indifferent’ due to a defective left eye. He completed the formalities of attestation on 10th August and was formally ‘embodied’ in the North Riding Battery with the service number of 1308.

Little more than a month after enlisting in the Territorial Force, Joseph signed the Imperial Service Obligation volunteering for service overseas during what was described as the current ‘National Emergency’. This enabled him to become part of the first line Batteries of the Northumbrian Brigade ready for deployment in France and Flanders.

The death of Joseph on 24th May 1915 was not the only tragedy to befall the family. His youngest sister, Phyllis married in 1915 and eventually moved to Motherwell. Phyllis and her husband both died within hours of each other in the early hours of 5th February 1919 of the ‘Spanish Flu’. Their infant son and only child, Philip, succumbed little more than three weeks later to the same illness.

[MelPack]

Corporal Tom Adamthwaite Carr 1037 (No Known Grave)

At the age of 34 years, Corporal Tom Carr was the oldest soldier to be killed in action on 24th May 1915 with the North Riding Battery.

Tom was born on 4th January 1881 in the village of Scalby on the northern outskirts of Scarborough. He was the only child of Edward and Jane Carr who had settled in Scalby shortly after their marriage in 1877 when Edward took up an appointment as a Master Gardener.

Tom attended the local village school and upon completion of his own education was retained as a pupil teacher until December 1899. He subsequently moved to Lancashire both to complete his formal training as a secondary school teacher and to find employment. It was during this time that he enlisted as a part time soldier with the Lancashire Hussars Imperial Yeomanry.

Upon his return to Scalby some years later to look after his now ageing parents, Tom failed to secure employment as a teacher. Instead, he undertook a variety of jobs including working in a bookshop, an assistant in the Scarborough telephone exchange and even as the local enumerator for the 1911 census.

He enlisted in the North Riding Battery of the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade on 6th May 1912 and was appointed as a Lance Bombardier on 5th August 1914 followed by a further promotion as a temporary Corporal on 22nd January 1915.

With a fearsome moustache and standing at nearly six feet tall, Tom cut an imposing figure both within and out of uniform notwithstanding his evident ability to inspire respect and affection in others.

In a variation to the standard letter of condolence that Major C. H. Lemmon sent to the families of the men who had been killed with his Battery, a paragraph was added stating:
Your son’s services were particularly valuable to the battery, both as an excellent non-commissioned gun layer, but also as my pay clerk, and I miss him very much.

The same sentiment was echoed in an article published in the Scarborough News on 4th June 1915 that included an extract of a letter of sympathy from John Tickle, Tom’s former teacher:

Tom was known to me ever since he was a little fellow two years old. You know how I esteemed him and how intimate and pleasant were the relations between us. His name stands at the head of our roll of honour in school and there it will remain as long as the school lasts. His death was the death of a hero. He will be remembered with the bravest of the brave.

The article concluded with the statement that the extract ‘well expresses the feeling at Scalby in regard to one who was universally esteemed in the district in which he was well known.’

[MelPack]

Gunner James William Clarke 1015 (No Known Grave)

A Scarborough lad through and through, James had just turned 20 years of age when he was killed in action. He was born on 9^th May 1895, the last child and only son of three surviving children of John and Mary Clarke.

His father was a butcher by trade who died in 1902 at the age of 33 years leaving his family in a state of penury. Mary eked out a living by becoming a charwoman and all three children were obliged to find employment as soon as they had completed their basic education. James became an errand boy, his eldest sister, Agnes went into domestic service and Gertrude, two years his senior, became a shop assistant.

James enlisted in the North Riding Battery on 22^nd January 1912 by falsely declaring his age to be 17 years and 8 months when he was exactly one year younger. The Battery soon became a second home to him.

Following his death, James’s widowed mother received the following letter from Major Lemmon, his commanding officer:

‘It is my painful duty to inform you that your son Gunner James William Clarke was killed in action yesterday. He was one of ‘A’ gun detachment, which, about 7am was engaging German infantry with rapid fire. A hostile battery opened fire, and the third or fourth shell exploded on the right gun wheel. Your son was killed instantaneously. He was buried with his comrades the same night near the spot where he so bravely met a soldier’s death. The last spot has been noted and marked, and will be communicated to you later if you desire. His effects will be forwarded through the Record Office’

[MelPack]

Gunner George Robinson 1682 (No Known Grave)

Known by his nickname of ‘Algie’, Gunner George Robinson was the youngest of the soldiers killed with the North Riding Battery having ‘celebrated’ his eighteenth birthday just two days before his death.

Born on 22^nd May 1897 at Leeds, George was the only son of the family and the youngest of three children. His parents, John and Lucy, married in 1889 and took over the running of the White Stag pub in Leeds from John’s own father.

The family moved to Scarborough after the turn of the century and George’s father became the landlord of the Londesborough Vaults, a favourite drinking haunt of the Scarborough artillery men.

George’s mother died in 1909 and upon leaving school in 1911, he worked assisting his father in running the pub. The service papers of George have not survived but his service number indicates that he enlisted in the North Riding Battery in the first week of October 1914 and, in all probability, over-declared his age.

On the day he died and in the happenstance of war, George found himself in a place that he would not have normally been. In a letter written by Gunner Charles White to his parents and published in the Scarborough Mercury on 4^th June 1915, it was reported;

‘The Germans attacked and did not half shell our lot. The North Riding Battery suffered the worst of the lot! ‘A’ Gun Detachment, the one I was with in the battery, was absolutely ‘blown to bits’. One gun was brought out of action alright. I believe Batteries 1 and 2 had a gun apiece ‘outed’. Jack Brown had a providential escape, he was in ‘A’ gun detachment, and on the Sunday night he was sent to hospital with influenza. A fellow named Robinson, who lived at the Londesborough Vaults, was sent in his place and killed’.

[MelPack]

Driver Robert Corner Wilson 1676 (No Known Grave)

Driver Robert Wilson was born at Whitby in June 1892, the third child in family of six boys and three girls. His father, Samuel, was a grocer and dairyman and part of Whitby’s established community of small traders. Robert’s mother, Ada, died in 1909 at the age of 42 years when the three youngest of the family were only eight, four and two years old.

Robert was inseparable from his younger brother, Alfred, two years his junior. Upon leaving school, they both completed apprenticeships with their uncle’s firm to become skilled joiners; both were members of the local rowing club and played for Whitby FC and both enlisted in the North Riding Battery on 1^st October 1914 being allotted the sequential service numbers of 1676 and 1677 respectively.

Robert and Andrew completed their basic training at Scarborough before joining the full Battery mustered at Newcastle with rest of the Brigade and units of the 50^th (Northumbrian) Division. They were present during the German Naval bombardment of Scarborough on 16 December 1914.

In a letter to his father after the death of Robert, Andrew wrote:

‘By the time you receive this letter, you will have heard of the death of poor Bob …… Orders were given to get the guns, as they had been damaged and put out of action, and, while Bob’s team were bringing their gun out, he was struck by a piece of shell and killed. He died a sudden death doing his duty…………..

Bob was buried under Belgian soil. We planted a cross above him, with his name, number, and Brigade, also the wording ”Rest in Peace”.

After Robert’s death, Andrew continued to serve with the 2^nd Northumbrian Brigade and the 251^st Artillery Brigade into which it was re-organised. Unfortunately, he did not survive the war. He was captured on the Aisne in August 1918 but before he could be transported to a Prisoner of War Camp in Germany, he died of dysentery on 23^rd August 1918. He is buried in the Chauny Communal British Extension cemetery in Picardie.

Two other brothers of the family, Matthew and William, also served in the army during the war and survived. William was awarded the Military Medal whilst serving with the 5th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment.

[MelPack]

Gunner Wilson Anderton 1780 (No Known Grave)

Gunner Wilson Anderton was eighteen years old when he was killed in action on 24^th May 1915. He was born at Hull in August 1896, the second eldest of a family of seven children consisting of two boys and five girls.

Wilson’s father, after whom he was named, worked on the docks as a coal heaver refuelling steamship trawlers.

Upon leaving school in 1910, Wilson secured employment as a shop assistant in a ‘Gentlemen’s Outfitters’. He later worked in the lamp maintenance department of the British Gas Company that was the main supplier of municipal; street lighting in Hull before enlisting in the East Riding Batteries of the 2^nd Northumbrian Brigade in December 1914.

Little is known of the circumstances of the death of Gunner Anderton save for the fact that the other three fatalities on 24^th May 1915 with the 1/1^st East Riding Battery have known graves and are buried in the Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.

[MelPack]

THE OTHER FATALITIES OF THE 2^nd NORTHUMBRIAN BRIGADE RFA (TF)

With Known Graves

Sergeant George Payne Hill MiD 391 & Sergeant Frederick George Gandy 392

Sergeants Hill and Gandy were long serving members of the North Riding Battery. They had been enrolled in the East Yorkshire Artillery Volunteers before transferring into the newly created Territorial Force to become original members of the North Riding Battery of the Northumbrian Brigade in 1908 with each being allotted sequential service numbers. Both men resided in Whitby where they practised their highly skilled trades in stone masonry.

The two men were seriously wounded during the exchanges of artillery fire on 24^th May but were successfully evacuated from the battlefield. Sergeant Hill died of his wounds later that day at the No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station near Bailleul. Sergeant Gandy succumbed to his wounds the following day at the Bailleul Military Hospital.

Sergeant Hill was 30 years of age when he died leaving his widow, Margaret, and three young children between the ages of six and two years of age. Sergeant Gandy was also married with children. He left his widow, Susannah, and five children aged between fourteen and three years of age.

Both men are buried in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension Nord, close to the Franco-Belgian border.

Gunner Peter Gerard Spamer 1962

Gunner Spamer’s parents were Dutch migrants who originally settled in Sunderland where Peter was born in 1884. The family moved to Hull in the 1890s for the father to find work on the docks.

Gunner Spamer was killed in action on 24^th May with the 2/1^st East Riding Battery of the Brigade. At the time of his death, Peter had two young daughters aged five and two. His widow, Annie, gave birth on 7^th July to a baby son whom she named Peter Gerard in honour of the father that he would never see.

Fitter Corporal John Thomas Montgomery 1496

John was killed in action at the age of twenty seven years on 24^th May with the 1/1^st East Riding Battery. He came from a large Hull family that were employed in a variety of skilled trades involved with boat building and repairs. John married his fiancée, Dorothy Espiner, just six weeks before his Brigade was deployed to France and Flanders. She never re-married. John is buried in the Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.

Driver Thomas Marshall 1170

Thomas was born on 25 November 1893 at Hull and just 21 years of age when he was killed in action with the 1/1^st East Riding Battery. He was employed as a brewery worker and enlisted in the 2^nd Northumbrian Brigade in September 1913. Thomas is also buried in the Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.

Farrier Sergeant Tom Monday 769

Tom was born on 7 November 1876 at Hull and was the oldest of the fatalities suffered by the Brigade on 24^th May. He was a blacksmith by trade and enlisted with the East Riding Batteries on 21^st March 1910. He and his wife, Susannah, had nine children and only two of these had left school by the time of Tom’s death. A further baby son, Arthur, was born on 25^th August 1915, three months after his father had been killed. Tom is also buried in the Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.