Royal Dublin Fusiliers - Beaumont Hamel 13th November 1916

[depaor01]

Hi All:

The medal that started my obsession with WWI was a BWM given to me by an aunt whose daughter found it in a drawer in a flat she was clearing out. His details are in my signature below:

John Mayne 2629 Royal Dublin Fusiliers 10th Batt Killed In Action 13 November 1916

I visited his grave (twice) in Y Ravine Cemetery and am reasonably familiar with the battle he was in when he died (Battle of the Ancre) and the fact that 83 of the 10th bn were killed that day.

My questions are:

In "The Somme Day By Day Account" Chris McCarthy states that the RDF were "in support" of the Royal Naval Divisions. What exactly did being "in support" involve?

Secondly in the book the map is truncated so that the 190 Brigade (of which the RDF were part)position is not visible. Would the Dublin Fusiliers' position on the 13th have been south of the Ancre near Hamel?

I've never got the location of the fighting accurately enough to visit the spot. Anything that could shed some light on the action the Dublins were involved in on that day would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

[jay dubaya]

Dave,

there's a good account here.

Jon

[depaor01]

Perfect!

Thanks Jon,

Dave

[depaor01]

Inspired by other assistance I've received from fellow members I've roughly superimposed the map (courtesy of http://www.dublin-fusiliers.com onto Google Earth.

My Dubliner was somewhere near the crossroads nearby the modern-day Newfoundland Park Car Park.

My eight-year-old mystery is solved.

Thanks again.

Dave

[corisande]

Inspired by other assistance I've received from fellow members I've roughly superimposed the map (courtesy of http://www.dublin-fusiliers.com onto Google Earth.

My Dubliner was somewhere near the crossroads nearby the modern-day Newfoundland Park Car Park.

Dave

Out of interest apart from

"26299 Private John Mayne 10th Battalion. Born Dublin. Residence Manchester. Enlisted Dublin. Killed in action 13 Nov 1916."

Do you have any other notes on him?

By the way the link you have does not work, you have put an extra "(" into the underlying url, which needs to be removed.

[depaor01]

Dave

Out of interest apart from

"26299 Private John Mayne 10th Battalion. Born Dublin. Residence Manchester. Enlisted Dublin. Killed in action 13 Nov 1916."

Do you have any other notes on him?

By the way the link you have does not work, you have put an extra "(" into the underlying url, which needs to be removed.

Thanks for the info about the link. Now corrected.

None apart from his MIC record, his will (executed by his sister which I found in the Dublin National Archives) and his address (house now demolished) which was Royal Canal Bank in Dublin. His service records were burnt in WWII unfortunately.

Dare I ask... do you??

[corisande]

Dare I ask... do you??

Afraid that seems to be all I have. That is, as you probably gather, my web site, and presumably you have been through it, I certainly cannot find anything else, I was just asking to see if I could add to what I had.

[depaor01]

The penny subsequently dropped about your ownership of the site... !

It's a fantastic resource and I can visualise now exactly where the 10th bn were on the 13th. Hope you're OK with the reproduction of your map.

As an aside - had members the 10th bn anything in common - were they a "shopkeepers" or "bankers" battallion? I've seen recruiting posters for the 11th (Clerks, Farmers' Sons, Shop Assistants, Civil Servants and Business Men Generally) but never anything for the 10th.

Regards,

Dave

[corisande]

Best I can do with founding of 10th Battalion is this page on the web site

I started writing the site as my grandfather was in 10th at the Ancre. After he died, I found soms notes that he had written which include the attack at the Ancre. They are on this page, about half way done, and I have intertwined his notes with the historical data

http://www.grantonline.com/grant-family-in...81/CW-Grant.htm

I starting writing the Dublins web site as I was wanting to put sown the stuff I had on the 10th Battalion, and I sort of got carried away

Life is full of good intentions, I need to go over it all and re-edit to make it a bit more readable, but as you say, at least it is a resource.

[Guest]

Hello depaor01, my niece may have been in touch with you. Apparently, John Mayne, was a Great Uncle of mine, and my Father was named after him. My husband and I will be in France next year and would like to visit his gravesite (we will be nearby) Are you able to help me with the location of his grave within the cemetary please? Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Edited 1 December , 2018 by Guest

[depaor01]

No problem Sheila, and delighted to hear from you. Head into Newfoundland Park. At the stag sculpture,  head right across open ground and you will see Y ravine cemetery in the distance.  Entering the gates he lies in a double grave to the right halfway along opposite the boundary wall.

I've visited his grave twice and often wondered if it was ever visited by family before. Glad to hear of your trip.  It's a beautiful and poignant spot.

 

Dave