Capt. J D H Radcliffe

[Guest Raymon]

Hi all ,

i'm looking for any information on Captain John Douglas Henderson Radcliffe

7ht kings royal rifle corps 41st brigade 14 division ,he was killed 30th july 1915 near hooghe and is listed on the menin gate memorial this is al the info i have on him,so everything is very welcome.

[Coldstreamer]

Hello

here he is in the london gazette

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...&selHonourType=

Ian

[Stebie9173]

London Gazette 12-2-1915

'The King's Royal Rifle Corps.

7th Battalion—

The undermentioned temporary Second Lieutenants to be temporary Lieutenants: —

Dated 29th October, 1914.

John D'. H. Radcliffe.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...&selHonourType=

LG 4-5-1915

The King's Royal Rifle Corps.

7th Battalion—

The undermentioned temporary Lieutenants to be temporary Captains: —

John D. H. Radcliffe. Dated 1st February, 1915.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...&selHonourType=

Steve.

[Stebie9173]

The Times 4-8-1915

KILLED IN ACTION

RADCLIFFE - On 30th July, in Flanders, JOHN DOUGLAS HENDERSON RADCLIFFE, Temporary Captain, 7th Battalion K.R.R. Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, elder son of Alex N. Radcliffe, and husband of Garildna Radcliffe, of 27 Cheyne walk, SW, aged 29.

Fuller obituary from same issue, page 9.

You might want to check out Balliol College Archives:

http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/history/memorials/

The photo archive has at least five photos of him:

http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/history/photo/index.asp

Steve.

[Guest Raymon]

Thanks you guys, for the information it helped me very well in my research.

the foto's of capt radcliffe are allready mailed to me from baliol college.

[Guest Raymon]

Does enyone know something about his private life as a solicitor and his married life?.

does enybode have pictures or foto's of the houses on under listed adresses?.

27 Cheyne walk, SW, chelsea

45, Kensington Square, London, W.8

thank you in advance

[Coldstreamer]

Hello

why not send a polite letter to the address and ask for a picture

if you explain why , and they have a digital camera, you could get a picture in a few days. So may people are interested in geneology and history you could get a result

"Who dares wins" - Derek Trotter not the SAS

Ian

[Guest Raymon]

Thanks Ian,

have followd up youre advice ,will post the result here, when they come in.

[stiletto_33853]

John Douglas Henderson Radcliffe.

John Douglas Henderson Radcliffe was the elder son of Alexander N. Radcliffe, of Bag Park, Widecombe, and a descendant of Samuel Reynolds, Fellow of Balliol in 1790 and uncle of Sir Joshua. He was born on August 9, 1885, and camee to Balliol from Eton in 1904. In appearance he was tall and massive, wearing old, comfortable clothes, with thick wavy hair and very fine and faithful brown eyes. His rooms in College, always carelessly uncomfortable, strewn with books abd tobacco pipes, soon became the meeting place of an ever widening circle.

Getting to know Douglas was a gradual discovery; he could be abrupt at first, with a satirical turn of humour which was kind of a disguise; but, as his fine qualities began to stand out one by one from the mists of familiar intercourse, Master, dons and undergraduates alike came to love him.

First, perhaps, they would be struck with his brains, and the industry with which he used them; next, with his good sense, modesty, and wisdom. As intimacy grew they were charmed with his gaiety and fun, his humour and his wit. When it came to heart-to-heart talks (such as only Oxford knows) the openess and candour of his mind would be revealed, hs idealism and his sense of duty. Lastly, when friendship was full-blown, came the discovery of his religion and his charity.

He had a special chivalry and tenderness towards the morally weak. Lame dogs naturally turned to him, and few know how much he did to help the ne'er-do-well and the dissolute. But Douglas was no puritan. No one could better enjoy the frolics of an Annandale dinner, or give freer rein to rollicking fun.

He rowed in the Eight and was Captain of the Boat Club, and a first rate coach who gave all his spare time to the river-but it was for Balliol's, rather than for rowing's sake. It would be hardly possible to exxagerate his devotion to Balliol. He felt himself bound to his College by every tie of gratitude and duty, and it gave him keen satisfaction when, in 1911, he became a Trustee of the (1904) Endowment Fund, and was thereby admitted to special intimacy with the College.

He took a first in Mods. in 1906 and a second in Greats in 1908, and in 1911 was elected a Fellow of All Souls. The atmosphere of All Souls suited him exactly. He delighted in the old-fashioned, dignified externals of life there, in the good fellowship - even in the little matters of ceremonious dining and old port wine, - for nobody ever loved a dinner with his friends, and a good talk, and plenty of laughter, more than he. It was at this period that a friend wrote of him as "one of the twentieth century saints, and at the same time full of bite."

Later he went to London and joined his father in business as a Solicitor. Again he worked untiringly, not only at his profession but at the larger aspects of the law. The broad bases of things always attracted him.

Determined to go into politics, he set about educating himself for the part by a colossal programme of reading, practice in speaking, and much thinking and discussion. To this end also he refused a safe seat on the L.C.C. in order to contest Deptford - unsuccessfully.

His marriage in 1913 to Miss Garlinda Bolitho was a crowning happiness. And then came the war. Douglas joined up immediately, and went out to France as a Captain in the 7th Battalion K.R.R.C. No one ever hated going more, or went more willingly. His qualities and training made his success as an officer certain, although the whole business of war was utterly distasteful to him. On 30th July, 1915, in the desperate fighting near Hooge, the Germans gained part of a trench held by his Company. Douglas met the situation with cool gallantry, and was killed. He had calculated his chances, and had felt it would be so.

Balliol College War Memorial Book, Volume II

Andy

[stiletto_33853]

Radcliffe

[DaveBrigg]

I have the medals of W J Smith, also 7th KRRC and killed on the same date and location. Very distant family, on my wife's side. I wonder if they knew each other? From memory, this was the scene of the first use of flamethowers by German forces, and there was a heavy loss of life among the KRRC. Stiletto is the man to add more, or a search for 'Hooge Crater'.

[Guest Raymon]

John Radcliffe was killed in action when the germans penetrated into the english trenches in hand to hand combat as far as i know.

the germans also used flame throwers in this fearsome fight but i cant say i they used them on the flanks our in the spearhead of the attack.

if anybody knows anything about the attack of the germans near hooghe on 30 july 1915 any info is very welcome.

[stiletto_33853]

Raymon,

What do you need to know, it is a piece of action that myself and a couple of others on this forum have studied a lot. The attack was made at the Hooge Crater on the 8th Rifle Brigade. The 8th Battalion The Rifle Brigades lines at the time were either side of the crater with a bombing party placed in the lines on either side of the crater. The initial flamethrower attack seems to be more to keep the heads down as most of the casualties were caused by German bombing parties.

If you go to the search engine and enter Hooge and flamethrower attack you will find a fair few posts on the subject.

Andy

[Guest Raymon]

Thanks Andy,

do you know if 7 KRRC was near hooghe at that time because Capt. Radcliffe supposedley was killed near Hooghe ( dont know the aeria overthere planning to visit that part of belgium next year ).

i found i site recentley of belgiums amateur archeologes

the diggers hierby the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dediggers/

rece\ntley they found krrc badges.

[stiletto_33853]

Ramon,

The 7th KRRC were right next to the 8th RB at Hooge and heavily involved in the fight.

Andy

[stiletto_33853]

krrc

[Guest Raymon]

In holland little is known about WW1, this is why research fromout the netherlands is difficluclt becuase it was a war far from their bed .

and yet the belgium border line is attached to holland and belgium was until 1831 i think a province of the netherlands.

so i appriciate every info about 7 krrc very much.

[stiletto_33853]

photographs of the area

[stiletto_33853]

a little further back

[Guest Raymon]

many many thank sofar Andy.

[stiletto_33853]

The New Chateau

[stiletto_33853]

Map, the 7th KRRC were over to the right G2-F1 area

[stiletto_33853]

The Track alongside Hooge Crater Cemetery runs partly along the site of the Old Bond Street Communication Trench

[stiletto_33853]

KRRC coming in from the right

[stiletto_33853]

From the Annals of The Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Volume 5, The Great War.

The 14th Division had been holding part of the Ypres Salient ever since the middle of June.

During most of that time there had been considerable bickering over the site of the village and the Chateau of Hooge. On July 17th a mine was successfully exploded under the enemy's front line, and the crater occupied by the 4th Middlesex (8th Brigade, 3rd Division).

Other attempts were made to capture a piece of the enemy's line on July 22nd, but without success. The area had become very "unhealthy", and was subjected to constant shelling.

To quote from the Official History

"Rumours of a German retaliation, by an attack along the Menin Road, were current on the 26th, but it did not take place until the morning of the 30th, and then against the Hooge sector, held by the 41st Brigade (Brigadier-General O.S.W. Nugent) of the 14th Division (Major-General V. Couper), which had taken over the sector a week before.

The 8th Rifle Brigade (Lieut.-Collonel R.C. Maclachlan) held the front at the Hooge crater, with the 7th K.R.R.C. (Lieut.-Colonel G.A.P. Rennie) on its right. The crater itself was untenable, owing to constant trench mortaring and strafing, and the trenches, dry but dilapidated beyond measure, run up to the lip on either side with no definite connection round the crater. The sector had an evil reputation for being subject to incessant sniping and bombing, besides trench mortaring and shell fire; but on the night of the 29/30th, when the two battalions took over from the very tired and worn 7th Rifle Brigade and the 8th K.R.R.C., there was ominous silence. No notice was taken by the enemy of the noise inseperable from a relief, and even a few bombs thrown by the new comers into the German trenches - in places only 15 feet away- provoked no reply. Half an hour before dawn the trench garrison stood to arms, and there was still complete quiet. The at 3.15a.m., with dramatic suddeness, came the carefully planned German stroke. The site of the stables of the Chateau was blown up whilst a sudden hissing sound was heard by the two companies of the 8th Rifle Brigade on either side of the crater, and a bright crimson glare over the crater turned the whole scene red. Jets of flame, as if from a line of powerful hoses, spraying fire instead of water, shot across the front trenches of The Rifle Brigade, and a thick black cloud formed. It was the first attack on the British with liquid fire. At the same time fire of every other kind was opened: trench mortar bombs and hand grenades deluged the front trenches, machine gun and shrapnel bullets swept the two communication trenches and about 300 yards of open ground between the front lines in Sanctuary and Zouave Woods; highe explosive shell rained on these woods, whilst the ramparts of Ypres and all exits from the town were bombarded anew.

The suprise was complete, and would probably have led to an entry even at the strongest part of the line. Most of the 8th Rifle Brigade in the front trenches were overwhelmed, the rest fell back gradually over the fire swept open ground to the support line.

The enemy did not follow, he at once set about consolidating the trenches he had secured, and trying to increase his gain by attacking the 7th K.R.R.C. in front, flank and rear. There was desperate trench fighting, in which parties again brought up flammenwerfer, but rapid fire was turned onto them at 20 yards range, and the attempt to use them broke down. In the end however, after several counter attacks, all but a small sector of the K.R.R.C. trenches were lost.

More to come

Andy