charley burrows 18th battalion y@l ACC

[charley95.]

my grandfather charley burrows who was in the ACC 18TH BATTALION Y@L was shipped to the balkans on 6/8/1915

according to his medal index card? I was told a story when i was a boy of him being lost in the Dardenelles and his mother

receiving the queens sympathy? Is there any way of finding out what sort of engagements his unit would have been

involoved in and any way of verifying if indeed his mother received any such notification. Also i have an embroidered

memento from france, was it common to be sent to two theatres of war as there is no mention on the medal index card

of going to france?

 

[sotonmate]

Welcome to the Forum !

Charley's Medal Rolls show two units served.

11th DCC equates to 11 Division's Cyclist Company. This Division left Liverpool on "Aquitania" and "Empress of Britain" on 30 Jun 1915, bound for the Dardanelles.

They landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on 6-7 Aug 1915, which ties in nicely with the date shown on Charley's Medal Card. They fought there until leaving on 19-20 Dec 1915. Arrived Egypt in Jan 1916. In Jul 1916 the Division moved to France and was based at Flesselles in the month prior to the start of the Battles of the Somme, where they fought in several of the battles. That explains the embroidered card from France !

At some point Charley moved into a unit called 18th CCB, it may have been an 18th Division unit but I am unfamiliar with CCB, maybe someone here knows about that.

It seems likely that he transferred between these units, maybe due to sickness or injury, I have no info on this as he doesn't seem to have a surviving service record.

Could I ask where you got Y&L from ? I have looked at the Battalions of both the Yorks and Lancs and the Cyclists but get no link !

[charley95.]

Hi,Sotonmate

Thankyou for your speedy and informative reply.

With regard to your query about the y@l connection, I have my grandfathers Transfer to Reserve certificate dated 7th feb 1919.

It states Charles Burrows regtl no.4946 private, enlisted 4th sept 1914 Transferred to reserve from XV111 ACC Y@Lancs.

place of rejoining in emergency Ripon, medical category 'A'

Dismayed to hear he appears to have no record of service, would these be the "burnt records" I have read about?

Also surprised he may have been involved in the somme campaign, it would appear he didn,t have an easy time of it

I only wish I could have known him a little better, but he died when I was a child and had quite a few health issues which my

grandmother attributed to his time in the war (apparently he was exposed to gas attack?)

On a lighter note I recall my grandparents had a large picture painted on glass of the Aquitania and Mauritania,I now know why!

 

[Stebie9173]

The latter unit would be 18th {XVIII} Corps Cyclist Battalion of the Army Cyclist Corps {ACC}. In other words the Cyclist unit attached to 18th Corps.

 

18th Corps served on the Western Front; it was a higher command level of the Army to Divisions but lower than Armies. In other words several Divisions would make up a Corps and several Corps made up an Army.

 

 

For most of 1917 and 1918 the 18th Corps belonged to Gough's Fifth Army:

 

• Third Battle of Ypres (from 31-7-1917): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Consisting of 39th Division and 51st (Highland) Division.)
• Third Battle of Ypres (from 16-8-1917): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Consisting of 11th (Northern) Division and 48th (South Midland) Division; 58th (2/1st London) Division added to XVIII Corps in September 1917.)
• Third Battle of Ypres (From October 1917): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Consisting of 9th (Scottish) Division and 18th (Eastern) Division; later changing to 58th (2/1st London) Division and 63rd (Royal Naval) Division in late October 1917.)

• Battle of the Somme 1918 (from 21-3-1918): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Conisting of 20th (Light) Division, 30th Division, 36th (Ulster) Division,  and 61st (2nd South Midland) Division; 3rd Cavalry Division added for later battles in March 1918)

 

 

On the Y&L link, it was not uncommon for men who enlisted in the early months of the war to begin training with an infantry battalion before being selected or volunteering for Cyclist scout duties and being co-opted into the Army Cyclist Corps at that point. This would mean no Y&L service would appear on a medal card (there being no overseas service with them), but would obviously be part of his overall service as noted on his discharge papers.

 

 

 

 

Steve.

[charley95.]

On 19 July 2016 at 23:56, Stebie9173 said:

The latter unit would be 18th {XVIII} Corps Cyclist Battalion of the Army Cyclist Corps {ACC}. In other words the Cyclist unit attached to 18th Corps.

 

18th Corps served on the Western Front; it was a higher command level of the Army to Divisions but lower than Armies. In other words several Divisions would make up a Corps and several Corps made up an Army.

 

 

For most of 1917 and 1918 the 18th Corps belonged to Gough's Fifth Army:

 

• Third Battle of Ypres (from 31-7-1917): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Consisting of 39th Division and 51st (Highland) Division.)
• Third Battle of Ypres (from 16-8-1917): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Consisting of 11th (Northern) Division and 48th (South Midland) Division; 58th (2/1st London) Division added to XVIII Corps in September 1917.)
• Third Battle of Ypres (From October 1917): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Consisting of 9th (Scottish) Division and 18th (Eastern) Division; later changing to 58th (2/1st London) Division and 63rd (Royal Naval) Division in late October 1917.)

• Battle of the Somme 1918 (from 21-3-1918): XVIII Corps (Maxse) (Conisting of 20th (Light) Division, 30th Division, 36th (Ulster) Division,  and 61st (2nd South Midland) Division; 3rd Cavalry Division added for later battles in March 1918)

 

 

On the Y&L link, it was not uncommon for men who enlisted in the early months of the war to begin training with an infantry battalion before being selected or volunteering for Cyclist scout duties and being co-opted into the Army Cyclist Corps at that point. This would mean no Y&L service would appear on a medal card (there being no overseas service with them), but would obviously be part of his overall service as noted on his discharge papers.

 

 

 

 

Steve.

 

[charley95.]

Hi stebie 9173,

Thankyou for your illuminating post, so in essence my grandfather was only in the y@lancs for

basic training prior to joining the cyclist division of the 11th northern division who were to take

part in the Suvla bay landings in the Balkans. He would then have been transferred to the cyclists

of the 18th Corps on the western front?

What sort of duties/role would the cyclists undertake?, you mentioned scouting! did they take part

in frontline duties

    Glenn.

[Chris_Baker]

You may find my short article (published by the London Gazette) to be of interest: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100720

[charley95.]

Hi Chris,

Once again thankyou to the members of the forum who continue to help me to try

to understand my grandfathers war! (and that of his pals)

Glenn.