Chitterne: 2Lt John Wallis

[Gareth Davies]

2Lt John Buckeridge Wallis, 3rd/4th Bn The Wiltshire Regiment, died on 10 October 1918 and is buried in the Grangegorman Military Cemetery near Dublin. John Wallis is one of 7 men from Chitterne who are remembered on the village war memorial and one of 8 men from the village who died in the Great War.

John Buckeridge Wallis was born on 7 May 1892 into a farming family who lived at Chitterne St Mary Manor. John was one of ten children and the second son of Frederick Buckeridge Wallis and his wife. John was unmarried and left no heirs.

John Wallis was a Wiltshire Yeoman and his Regiment received their mobilization orders on 4 Aug and Squadrons formed up the following day in their Squadron drill halls in Chippenham, Warminster, Devizes and Swindon. Sergeant Wallis was in A Squadron which was commanded by Lord Alex Thynne. On 12 Aug they moved to Winchester to join the remainder of the 1st South Western Mounted Brigade commanded by Lord Shaftesbury. At Winchester they were billeted in the College, the first time this had happened since Oliver Cromwell had insisted on tying up his horses there. When asked by the Bursar where the Yeomanry would put their horses, Lt Awdry (an Wykehamist) replied “in the cloisters of course, to preserve history”.

In June 1916 Sergeant Wallis deployed to France, and the Sqn moved into positions north west of Bethune, a safe distance from the front but close enough to be able to hear the guns firing. In November 1916 the Wiltshire Yeomanry were reunited as a complete Regiment and they took on the role of XV Corps Cavalry Regiment. They moved to the area south west of Abbevile, a significant way from the front, where their main task was traffic control.

During the German withdrawal in 1917 the Wiltshire Yeomanry carried out their only cavalry action of the war. They were tasked to follow the Germans during their retreat and on the 19 March 1917, in driving snow and a biting cold wind and across ground of liquid mud, they moved close to Peronne. Halting overnight, they continued their move east at dawn on 20 March. In the vicinity of Gurlu Wood A Squadron came under fire and one soldier was killed instantly. This pattern of advance, skirmish and retreat repeated itself over the next week or so before the Regiment handed over responsibility for its area to the infantry. This was in effect the end of active operations by the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry as a mounted regiment as within days of the German withdrawal ending, trench warfare resumed. In a period of 11 days the Wiltshire Yeomanry had 2 men and 22 horses killed, and 14 men and 25 horses wounded.

In late July 1917 the Wiltshire Yeomanry were taken out of their mounted role and combined with the remnants of the 6th Bn the Wiltshire Regiment to form the 6th Wiltshire Yeomanry Battalion and Sergeant John Wallis moved with the Battalion to Rouen for training in this new role. Lord Alex Thynne, having moved from the Worcesters to the Wiltshires earlier in 1916, was the Commanding Officer. Once trained the regiment, or Bn as it was now, moved to the Ypres sector to join the Paschendale battle in October and November where it suffered heavy casualties. After a very brief rest it conducted a 3 day forced march down to the area of Cambrai to help try and fight off the successful German counter attack in late November 1917 and they remained in the Cambrai area until February 1918.

In March 1918 the 6th Wilts, who were in the Bapaume area, suffered significantly. The CO, Lord Thynne, was injured and his replacement, Major Charles Awdry, was killed 2 days later. They got Lord Thynne back as CO on 11 Apr but within the week he was dead. The Bn had lost over 500 men dead or injured during the German advance and in May the Bn was disbanded and most of the men went to the 2nd Bn the Wiltshire Regiment. Sergeant John Wallis didn’t go with them as on 28 May he was commissioned and sent to the 3rd/4th Bn who were stationed in Dublin.

On 10 Oct he boarded the RMS Leinster at Dun Laoghaire just south of Dublin in order to head home for a spot of leave. She left port just before 9am and headed out into the Irish Sea bound for Holyhead. She was carrying 771 passengers and crew, the majority of which were soldiers. About an hour into the journey a few people on deck saw a torpedo approaching the port (left) side of the ship fired from U Boat 123. It missed but soon afterwards another torpedo struck the port side and exploded, blowing a hole in the port side. The explosion traveled across the ship, also blowing a whole in the starboard side. In an attempt to return to port, the Leinster turned 180 degrees, until it faced the direction from which it had come. With speed reduced and slowly sinking, the ship had sustained few casualties. Lifeboats were being launched. At this point a torpedo struck the ship on the starboard side, practically blowing it to pieces. The Leinster sank soon afterwards bow first. 501 people died in the sinking. Together with 143 other soldiers he is buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, near Dublin.

[DaveKey]

Hi Gareth,

I notice you mentioned A Squadron being billeted in Winchester College. Do you possibly have any more information on this?

I ask as I was looking at The long Long Trail and they didn't mentioned A Squadron coming to Winchester and that the Coy that did was D as part of the 38th Division and that they didn't come to Winchester until later in 1915.

I'm sure this is my ignorance showing through again but I ask since I was also of the belief that there had been a yeomanry unit posted there before the start of hostilities in July, (unfortunately I don't have my notes to hand but will check tonight) and that men of the 28th division were billeted there in January 1915. So if you do have more detail on this billeting I would be very interested as I'm trying to work on a history of Winchester and it's surrounding camps as part of various Great War commemoration projects,

Thanks for the interesting post. Really appreciated.

Cheers

Dave

[Gareth Davies]

Dave

I think I got the info from J R Platt's Regimental History. I don't have a copy to hand to confirm that though. I iwll look through my notes tonight.

[Gareth Davies]

Dave

My notes, all taken from Platt's Regimental History, say:

Aug 14 - Winchester

Sep 14 - East Grinstead

Dec 14 - Forest Row

Jul 15 - Willingdon, Eastbourne

Dec 15 - RHQ and D Sqn & MG Sect to France

Apr 16 - B Sqn to France

May/Jun 16 - A Sqn to France

I don't have the book to hand so can't confirm it as my source, sorry.

[DaveKey]

Hi Gareth,

I found a memorial site which has the reference you made, but more importantly I managed to go through my notes and find the article I had been trying to recall from the Winchester College magazine The Wykehamist. For October 1914.

As you said this mentions the Wiltshire Yeomanry, and they had several photographs taken, but it also mentions territorial reservists of the Rifles using the classrooms and gymnasium from 5th August to the 10th, with some 500 men staying to sleep but returning to the nearby barracks for food etc. They were followed on the 10th until 22nd by the Yeomanry who not only slept but also ate in the College. In all the college estimated some 450-470 men in the college and mentions the number of Wykemists among the officers, including 3 Awdrys!

By November sick and wounded soldiers were being cared for in a wing of the Sanatorium by the Red Cross.

By January men from the infantry regiments of the forming 28th Division were billeted in the College when the camps at Hursley and Morn Hill were deemed uninhabitable (although the RE were left to battle on at Hursley!

So all in all a busy time for the College, thanks for making me check and correct myself!

Cheers

Dave

[Gareth Davies]

Thanks for confirming that Dave. And thanks for the Wykehamist magazine reference. When I finally get round to researching the Wilts Yeo in more detail that will be a useful source.

[Guest]

2Lt John Buckeridge Wallis was my grandfather’s younger brother(William Mark Wallis b 11/5/1891). As a child I had heard that he lost a brother in the Great War but he never gave us any details. Many thanks for this information.

[clk]

Hi Chris,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Your great uncle has some service papers at the National Archives. Unfortunately, the aren't available to download - click here. Not having seen that file, his RWY number of 422 can be used to estimate when he "joined up". Paul Nixon's website here suggests that the number would have been issued between May 1910 and April 1911. I think that date range can be narrowed down a bit, as there are some papers on Find My Past here that show a 428 Dodson attested on 27th January 1911.

 

John's medal roll records show that in addition to the standard British War Medal and Victory Medal entitlement, he was also awarded the rarer Territorial Force War Medal. In very broad terms that would seem to imply that he volunteered for overseas service (TF/Yeomanry men weren't obliged to go abroad until later in the war) by signing the Imperial Service Obligation before the end of September 1914, but didn't actually go over until after 1915 - otherwise he would have been awarded a 'Star' medal in preference. The overseas date is reflected in Gareth's post wrt 'A' Squadron

 

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2013 at 18:31, Gareth Davies said:

My notes, all taken from Platt's Regimental History, say:

Aug 14 - Winchester

Sep 14 - East Grinstead

Dec 14 - Forest Row

Jul 15 - Willingdon, Eastbourne

Dec 15 - RHQ and D Sqn & MG Sect to France

Apr 16 - B Sqn to France

May/Jun 16 - A Sqn to France

 

In addition to the places in the UK shown above, it seems that 1/1 RWY went from Willingdon Camp to Wrotham, Kent in October 1915 before arriving in billets in Lewes on 31st October1915 (ref War Diary).

 

As Gareth previously posted, John seems to have been commission to the Wiltshire Regiment wef 28th May 1918.

 

For what it's worth 2 of my great uncles (both awarded the TFWM) were also originally 'A' Squadron - one survived, one didn't.

 

Regards

Chris