renny Posted 27 August , 2015 Share Posted 27 August , 2015 anybody know what happened to the Worcestershire regiment on the 14th Oct 1918? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 27 August , 2015 Share Posted 27 August , 2015 Hi A battalion might be good Stackes Vol 1 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VXa-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9&lpg=PR9&dq=Worcestershire+Regiment+in+the+Great+War+Vol+1+By+Capt+H.+FitzM.+Stacke&source=bl&ots=8HMVqYR5lo&sig=5joknx7AIY0SfpzdPGdgiW5vg-E&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HDG5VIHdNYPvUP_9g7gI&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Worcestershire%20Regiment%20in%20the%20Great%20War%20Vol%201%20By%20Capt%20H.%20FitzM.%20Stacke&f=false Vol 2 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oHa-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA638&lpg=PA638&dq=morris+7444+worcestershire+regiment&source=bl&ots=moeUQv9XvH&sig=jBbmvCJ9AoaRJohTIrqfPp5ofi8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VjC5VNHmEMyzUYq9hJAH&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=morris%207444%20worcestershire%20regiment&f=false Regards, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renny Posted 27 August , 2015 Author Share Posted 27 August , 2015 sadly I don't know which battalion. I'll have to do some more digging Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renny Posted 27 August , 2015 Author Share Posted 27 August , 2015 the chap I'm interested in is private Thomas Bentley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 27 August , 2015 Share Posted 27 August , 2015 Do you know DOB where he was from did he survive the war wifes name if married have you seen any records for him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renny Posted 27 August , 2015 Author Share Posted 27 August , 2015 no dob but I might be able to get that tomorrow. he was killed on 14th October along with nearly a dozen other Worcesters. lived in Worcester. married to Frances Annie Bentley. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin RussT Posted 27 August , 2015 Admin Share Posted 27 August , 2015 If you have a name (which you do), a date of death (which you do) and a regiment (which you do), then it is normally straightforward to determine with which Battalion the man died. You just go to the CWGC website (free to view) and enter those details. This tells you he died with the 4th Bn Worcestershire Regiment and his number was 46066.. The 4th Bn is confirmed in SDGW and his Soldier's Effects Register. His medal roll adds that he landed in France with the 1st Bn. You can now go ahead and look at the 4th Bn War Diary to explore what might have happened on or around his date of death Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 27 August , 2015 Share Posted 27 August , 2015 CWGC has his death date which might mean he was not killed in action so he may have died of wounds received earlier, If you look at the diary a few days before his death it may have some clues. It is unlikely that he will be mentioned by name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 27 August , 2015 Share Posted 27 August , 2015 edeghem was almost captured on 19 October 1914 by the 10th Hussars, who were forced to retire the same day. It then remained in German hands for four years. On 1 October 1918, the 9th (Scottish) Division captured the village, but could not hold the whole of it; it was finally cleared by the 29th Division on 14 October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 27 August , 2015 Share Posted 27 August , 2015 There's a casualty list at the back of the book I listed Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renny Posted 28 August , 2015 Author Share Posted 28 August , 2015 thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 Morning Let me put you out of your misery !! http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/163752/ Regards, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_Fielding Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 I can help! Private Thomas BENTLEY 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment 46066 Killed in action 14th October 1918 Thomas Bentley was born on the 16th of June 1887 at 24, Cambridge Street, Rugby, Warwickshire. He was the son of Thomas Bentley, an engine fitter, and Mary Jane Bentley. Thomas was the third child of the couple, their previous children being Annie born in 1884, Thomas in 1887, and Mary in 1886. By the time of the 1891 census, the family moved next door to 26 Cambridge Street, as their family grew, with Charles being born in 1890. By 1901 the Bentley family have moved a short distance to 22 Worcester Street, Rugby. His siblings have been joined by Frances born in 1894, Agnes in 1897, Cissie born in 1899, and Walter born in 1901. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Bentleys moved to Bewdley. Thomas Bentley senior changed his profession, and by 1912 he is the publican of The Old Mughouse at 12, Severnside North. The younger Thomas, now 25 years old, has an established trade as a hairdresser at 47 Load Street. Thomas junior married Francis Annie Tolley, the daughter of the late John Tolley, a coal merchant of Ribbesford, on the 23rd June 1913. Both father and son are still following these professions in 1916, which suggests that Thomas Bentley was conscripted into the army during these later years of the war. Like so many Bewdley men, he served in the 4th battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment, part of the 88th brigade of 29th division. This formation had seen extensive service in the Dardanelles and on the Somme, and was one of the finest fighting divisions in the BEF. Tragically Thomas Bentley was killed in the very last month of the Great War. This period was known as the Hundred Days – the period of advance after the battle of Amiens in August 1918, when the British army overturned the German advances of their March offensive, and began the pursuit that would result in the collapse of the German will to resist, and eventually the November Armistice. As part of the II Corps of 2nd Army, the 4th Worcesters were part of the advance from the town of Ypres where the British and German armies had contended for tiny pieces of territory at such great cost. Now the German armies were falling back, and on the 7th October 1918, the 4th Worcesters were moved up to the line near the village of Ledeghem. The trenches here were comparatively quiet, and after two days, the 88th brigade was relieved by the 87th brigade. By the 13th of October, the Allied armies all along the Western Front prepared for a renewal of their offensive, in very poor weather conditions. The 88th brigade were in the second line of the assault behind the 2nd Leinsters, with the 2nd Hampshires in reserve. The action they were preparing to fight would be known as the Battle of Courtrai. The assault opened at first light on the 14th October with an intense British barrage. Unfortunately with the smoke shells combining with autumn mist formed an intense fog. The troops began to lose their sense of direction, and units of the 88th brigade began to become confusingly mixed. They did, however, move effectively through the ruins of Ledeghem and surprised the German troops, capturing many machine guns and field guns. The advanced platoons reached the road from Barakken to Overheule. Here, the two battalions reorganized and consolidated, and the 2nd Hampshires moved through them to continue the advance, but were held up in the afternoon near Gulleghem. The 4th Worcesters spent the night in a support position north of the village of Moorseele. The next day saw the British armies advance to the outskirts of the major town of Courtrai, and the German armies fall back to the line of the river Lys. The action was typical of the period, with the British armies incurring heavy casualties, but liberating occupied Belgium and pushing the exhausted German army to the point of collapse. The fighting of the 14th October cost the 4th Worcestershires 120 casualties: 2 officers killed, 3 wounded; 83 other ranks wounded and 11 killed: one of the dead was Private Thomas Bentley. Thomas Bentley was buried in the cemetery in Ledeghem, in grave A. 19. His gravestone includes the inscription ‘death divides but memory ever clings’. Thomas Bentley is also recorded on the war memorial in Bewdley Institute, where he was a member.[ii] His widow Fanny moved to Worcester, where she was living in St. John’s in the early 1920s. . Thomas as born in 1861 in Stoke on Trent, and Mary Jane was born in 1860 in the Warwickshire village of Mancetter, near Atherstone. [ii] Bewdley Institute memorial plaque lists eight members of the Institute who died in the Great War: in addition to Thomas Bentley, it commemorates Thomas Coldrick, Herbert Coldrick, Arthur J Ewins, Charles Minton, John Aubrey Moore, and Frank Tolley. It also commemorates Pte. Reginald Heath of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who is not listed on the St. Annes’ Memorial. (See appendix). Brown (2003) suggests that 67 members of the Institute served in the Great War, with 8 fatalities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 Is the word Firm actually on the stone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_Fielding Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 Yes - motto of the Worcesters, on their cap badge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 Does it appear on all Worc. headstones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_Fielding Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 All the ones I have pictures of, yes, with slight variations in the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 28 August , 2015 Share Posted 28 August , 2015 Thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renny Posted 29 August , 2015 Author Share Posted 29 August , 2015 that's brilliant! Thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_Fielding Posted 31 August , 2015 Share Posted 31 August , 2015 Just out of interest what's your interest in Bentley Renny? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Garyflint Posted 6 July , 2016 Share Posted 6 July , 2016 Hi renny was asking for me private thomas bentley was my great grandad! Where did you find the info on him? Amazing stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_Fielding Posted 7 July , 2016 Share Posted 7 July , 2016 Hi Gary - really glad you found the info. useful. I spent ten years researching Bewdley casualties and have a book on 75 of them in manuscript but am sparring with illness to get it finished / published! I've been posting bits on my Facebook page (see signature below) and on my blog https://greatwarresearch.com/ . Do you have any pictures of Bentley? Best, Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjustice Posted 4 August , 2016 Share Posted 4 August , 2016 *bump* Great connection. Is Renny/Gary in contact, Simon? Cheers, SMJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_Fielding Posted 5 August , 2016 Share Posted 5 August , 2016 Not as yet but I might have missed it! Picture of Bentley would be outstanding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnphfrearson Posted 28 August , 2018 Share Posted 28 August , 2018 A reply to Simon_Fielding - I have just found your biography of Thomas Bentley who is also listed on the War Memorial Gates in Rugby where he was born and grew up. This was when doing a 'final' Google check for the biography that we will post on the centenary of his death on our 'Rugby Remembers' blog [ https://rugbyremembers.wordpress.com/ ]. You asked about a photograph, and there is one on a Family Tree posted on Ancestry.co.uk by another descendant relative of the family. I am probably not able to post it here, but have a downloaded copy if you cannot do so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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