Lt. Phillip Barnett, 4th Bn. Middlesex Regiment (Multiple Burials)

[laughton]

It was not 2nd Lt. Barnett that I was researching but the information regarding his burial may be of interest to others in the GWF.

His CWGC record is here:

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/190926/BARNETT,%20PHILLIP

Lt. Barnett first shows up at having been killed on the opening day of the Somme Offensive and was exhumed from 57d.X27.c.6.4, which places him approximately 1,200 yards east of Becourt, in a trench (see map at bottom).

I have made the GRRF and COG-BR binders for the Gordon Dump Cemetery and if interested you can find them in the shared MediaFire folder here with many others:

CWGC Binders of GRRFs, COG-BRs and Exhumation Reports

The direct feed to the initial listing for Lt. Barnett when he was first buried in Plot 5 Row K Grave 5 is here:

http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149705.JPG

What I saw that I thought might be of interest to GWF researchers were the number of other unidentified remains that appear to have been buried along with Lt. Barnett. One of them is listed on that same page in 5.K.10. It shows that Barnett was moved to 4.K.5 and the other to 4.K.10.

As I moved through the pages I started to see many more buried with Barnett and unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, the Sergeant in 4.K.5 was transferred to 5.K.5 and Barnett took his place. That I do not understand. However, the point here is that another four (4) were found with Barnett, all listed as being from the 4th Middlesex Regiment. You can see them here in 4.K.1 to 4.K.4:

http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149709.JPG

That is not the end of it, as I progressed further through the file I came across another Unknown Officer that was in Lt. Barnett's grave, buried in 9.D.7 and exhumed from 57d.X27.c.7.6:

http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149718.JPG

We already know that Barnett was found at 57d.X27.c.6.4 so how is this fellow in the same grave if he was exhumed at a different location, or is this another mass burial site (see note at bottom of post).

Not done yet, there are another two officers from the same unit in 7.D.8 and 7.D.9 that were in Barnett's grave:

http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149720.JPG

Note also the fellow in 7.D.4 (2nd Lt. Watson) came from the same map coordinates so he was in there as well. Go ahead another page and another Officer is in the party buried in 10.D.1:

http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149721.JPG

He was exhumed from 57d.X27.d.7.6 so now we have moved him from X26 to X27 - he gets around!

More here, now back at the original grid reference:

7.E.9: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149723.JPG

10.E.9: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149724.JPG

9.E.8 & 9.E.9: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149725.JPG

9.H.7 & 9.H.8: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149734.JPG

8.C.3 & 8.C.4: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149737.JPG

Probable on this one as well (spelling?) 7.I.3: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149741.JPG

7.K.1: http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149745.JPG

There may be others but I had best post this before I lose track! There has to be a story here about what happened to Lt. Barnett and why all these officers were found together (or in two different places). Was the HQ Dugout hit or was this a mass Officers' Grave? This all seems to be in the same area as the trench running from 57d.X27.c.4.5 to X27.d.2.5

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Also of note at this cemetery: a mass burial of 52: (I have not looked into the details)

http://archive.cloud.cwgc.org/archive/doc/doc2149714.JPG

[Phil Evans]

Messy, to say the least.

Barnett's B.103 has the following:

"Buried at apoint W of Montauban in "No Man's Land" in the angle formed by Empress Trench and our own new communication trench (map reference Montauban trench map sheet 26 D sq. Contour 110 exact

Buried in wire 40yds S. of road half mile NW of Fricourt two and a half miles E of Albert (sheet GRC 11537 4)"

The map below is the only one I could find online with Empress Trench marked up. The trenches are corrected to 02.06.1916, but I have no other info on it. It is on McMasters.

Unfortunately I do not have access to the war diaries, or any other officer's files.

Phil

[IPT]

Of the 4th Middlesex officers who are buried in IV K at Gordon Dump.

2nd Lt P Barnett, 4th Bn, 2/7/1916

2nd Lt A Branch, 4th Bn, 1/7/1916

Capt ORH Johnston, 4th Bn, 1/7/1916

Lt GLC Ridpath, 4th Bn, 1/7/1916

2nd Lt W J Wood, 4th Bn, 1/7/1916

On the grave registration report, Branch was originally recorded as IV L, but this has been crossed out and an unknown soldier in IV K has been amended to Branch.

No idea if this helps. I got lost about halfway through.