12th Battery RGA from May 1915 onwards

[DarrenJ]

My ancestor - Gunner Patrick Mullen Number 43504 RGA 12th Heavy Battery survived the war. He entered Northern France May 1915 and mentioned Ypres. He enlisted in Birmingham saying he was from Birmingham but in fact he was from County Meath in Ireland.

I do know that he lifted the 60 pounder shells as he was a huge man of great strength.

My Grandfather heard him mention a place called 'Tronsville' when talking of his travels in the war and there is a cemetery there (Blangy-Tronsville) in which 3 men of the RGA are buried.

Any information on the whereabouts of this battery from May 1915 onwards would be of great help to me.

He did mention a Major Barrington from Limerick in Ireland which was one of the Barringtons associated with Barrington's Hospital in Limerick saying he was in charge of the battery and would have been up at a height trying to direct the shells to their target.

He also mentioned that a Frenchman of a high rank was in charge after Barrington. I don't know how to spell his name but it is pronounced 'Dee-ap-a-dee'.

This man had communication problems with the battery due to the language barrier but seemed to manage to fulfill his role better than Barrington who apparently hid a lot when in charge of the battery.

I am trying to compile as much information on this battery from May 1915 onwards.

I do know the battery first went overseas in May 1915 and the 'New' 12th Battery was formed afterwards. All the other 5 men in his battery were killed whilst around a fire and I did hear he was the only man left out of at least 2 groups of 6 men needed to fire the 60 pounder.

He was injured and sent home to Ireland and back again when his wound improved and then injured again by shrapnel entering his hip and sent on a train of wounded or dead men. Eventually he was sent back to England where he served as a postman for 6 months in the barracks and then back to Ireland in 1919.

Again any information on this Battery would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren

[KevinBattle]

Pals: Please refer to the other post by Darren here http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=204653&hl=

It's 12th Siege Battery, RGA and it might be from May 1915 for the War Diary....

and all, see here (Post #6 for DarrenJ - radlad's GFposted in on 31 May 1915!) http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=139490

[kevinrowlinson]

43504 Patrick Mullen first went out with 12th Heavy Battery on the 31st May 1915. It would not surprise me that he may have been injured, returned to the UK and went out again in 1917. He would of cause have been posted to a different battery from that date, but without his service records it would be extremely difficult to find what battery. If he was hospitalised, even in France, at any time the chances are he went to a different battery afterwards.

Kevin

3 unfortunate RGA gunners are buried at Blangy-Tronsville Communal Cemetery

[DarrenJ]

Thanks Kevrow for that.

Would you know any place where the 12 HB was stationed from May 1915 or could you perhaps recommend to me how I would research it (diaries etc and where I could look for them) - I'm sure they moved around and Patrick definitely spoke of Tronsville and Ypres.

Thanks.

Darren

[kevinrowlinson]

Darren,

You would be best to restrict yourself to one thread. Secondly to remember there is a difference between heavy (which you should be interested in) and siege batteries.

The war diaries for 12th Hvy Bty are available at the Nat. Archives at Kew. The reference you need is WO 95/219. They cover 1st May 1915 to 31st October 1916 and 1st Sept. 1917 to 31st October 1917. For the other times you would need the references for the different groups it was attached. If you ever get the opportunity to go then ask again and I am sure someone will post the relevant references needed for them.

12th Hvy Bty suffered fairly badly during the war. If you go to this site, http://www.hut-six.co.uk/cgi-bin/search1421.php , put "12th Heavy" in the "Ship or unit text" box and highlight Royal Garrison Artillery in the drop down tab under Regiment/Corps, the search will give you the men who died while with the battery. If you repeat it and also add "Belgian Battery Corner Cemetery" in the cemetery box you will see the result for one of the worst days during the war.

Kevin

[DarrenJ]

Thanks for that Kevin.

Yes they suffered badly and I heard that Patrick was often the only man left in the crew of 6 as he just loaded in the shell and stood back then. He was left all but deaf after the war from the blasts.

Number 10 on the list of dead was a T Clarke 43590 and I researched him a little to see if he was the same Clarke Paddy met over there that was a neighbor of his back home but it seems he was a different Clarke and the Clarke I'm looking for was probably an infantryman that Paddy met while wandering around the Battlefield after a shell hit and killed all the other men needed to fire the 60 pounder.

Major J F Barrington assumed command of 12 HB on 31 10 1915 and after him was J E F D'Apice who spoke French. This man's quarters were in a hut and he had a batman who made sure his tunic was spotless and who prepared his meals etc. This batman was also French and was called 'Ennui' - a French version of Henry I think. The men used to laugh at D'Apice calling for this batman as they always thought his name sounded like 'Honey'! One time when they were hungry one of the men stole bread and wine from D'Apice's tent and afterwards heard him calling 'Honey'... 'Honey' for the batman to come and perhaps explain the missing goods. I suppose it's well documented that the men made up their own names for places (Ypres - 'Wipers' etc) due to many of them simply not being able to speak another language. This D'Apice was called 'Dee-ap-a-dee' by the men which shows they were making up their own names phonetically for spoken use.

[DarrenJ]

I came across this site with information on John Edmund Francis D'Apice and pictures of him and I was wondering if people could tell me if this is the correct man. It does mention he was in the RGA.

http://www.bwm.org.au/site/John_dApice.asp

Here's more pictures

http://www.myheritage.com/photo-3000039_128930732_128930732/j-e-f-j-j-dapice