William John Blake

[lmcfaull]

I am researching my great grandfather William John Blake of the 11th Battalion the Rifle Brigade s/19790. He is "buried" in Ham British Cemetry at Muille-Villette in France after dying on the 20th March 1918 at the age of 29.

I visited the grave last week in France which inspired me to re -read some research I paid to be done by Great War Family Research. In the information provided it said that William went missing and was presumed dead and that his family were informed of this some time later.

I am a bit confused - when I went to the cemetery there were a very large number of graves for "unknown soldiers" perhaps with just their regiment so assumed that the body was unidentifiable but William actually had a named grave so I took this to mean his body was actually buried there. How can this be if he was just missing and his body never recovered??? or was his body found at a later date? or I am just not understanding how the grave system worked during the war.

Can anyone help or help with any more information about William???

Lisa

[eviltaxman]

Lisa,

Very often the diaries might state that a chap went "missing" or "missing presumed killed" - all depends on circumstances. Many men were there one moment then gone the next thanks to an artillery round landing in or near the trench. They are generally referred to a missing until different is known. It is therefore highly likely your Grandfather was killed/wounded during a battle or skirmish but the last people saw of him he was alive... only top be found a while later, thus the grave.

Hope that makes some sort of sense.

Les

[lmcfaull]

Thank you for your kind reply and that of course does make sense but the report I had done said that it was believed that William was killed in action sometime between 20 March and 1 April 1918 but it was not until 4 October 1918 after making enquiries including whether he was a prisoner of war that his wife was informed that he was officially assumed dead. I take that to mean that no body was ever recovered or presumably if it was it was after October which seems a long time after the time he went missing. That is where my confusion lies.

[stevem49]

It is possible that he was last seen during an attack but no one could confirm he was killed. He could therefore have been a POW. Killed and missing or missing from the roll at that time. He could have been buried by the Germans or his body lay out in No Mans Land for months. Once it was proved officially that he was not a POW, then he would be pronounced as killed in action. Men could be missing for a great length of time and to get POW lists the Army had to rely on the Red Cross. Obviously these took time to get from one side to the other.

Steve m

[MelPack]

Lisa

His service records are on Ancestry. As you say, missing in action between 20 March- 1 April 1918 - the date is indeterminate because the 11RB were one of the Battalions caught up in the maelstrom of the Spring Offensive.

Unfortunately, there are no details on the recovery of the remains. His body may not have been located unti the post war battlefield clearances.

Regards

Mel