bujin Posted 25 August , 2017 Share Posted 25 August , 2017 Hi all, I'm trying to find some information on the 259th Siege Battery of the RGA, particularly on/around 17th April 1917. My great-great-grandfather was killed in action while serving in that unit - wounded on 17th April and died on 18th. His name was William Bennett (112078) from Llandinam in Powys. I have some information about him, but I cannot nail down information on which battle he was killed in, or where exactly he was killed. I don't know a lot about military history or organisation and the RGA is quite confusing! Thanks, Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 25 August , 2017 Share Posted 25 August , 2017 Hi Gareth, Welcome to the forum. The war diary for 259 Siege Battery is available from the National Archives here. William has some surviving papers - Ancestry here. They say that he died in the care of 88 Field Ambulance. Their diary (National Archives here, Ancestry here) says that on the 12th April 1917 they moved to Arras and took over the Advanced Dressing Station in Rue St. Michel. The service papers show that William was originally buried in Maison Rouge Cemetery, before being reburied in his current resting place in Tilloy British Cemetery. Hopefully the good folk at British War Graves will be able to give you (free of charge) a good quality image of his headstone. There is advice on researching a soldier on the Long, Long Trail - here. Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bujin Posted 25 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 25 August , 2017 Thanks Chris! That's very helpful! I will check out those sources. Much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petwes Posted 25 August , 2017 Share Posted 25 August , 2017 Gareth Good luck with your research. If you check out the CWGC website you will find 259 SB suffered a number of casualties around the time your 2 G Grandfather was killed. I hope you find some information to help in the war diary Chris linked to above. However, although I don't have a copy, it looks like a fairly small file and is bundled with another battery so you might be disappointed with the contents. Normally if you wanted to research further I would have suggested looking at the Heavy Artillery Group diary which is the next higher organisational unit. It would be 65 HAG; the bad news is that the diary for April 1917 is missing from the National Archives collection. Before transfer to 65 HAG they were with 10 HAG until 12 April 1917 and that diary is available. Reference No. is WO95/300/3. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bujin Posted 25 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 25 August , 2017 Thanks, Peter. I bought and downloaded the info on the 259th from the National Archives only to find that it doesn't include the dates I'm interested in. It shows from January to March 1917, and then July onwards! Ah well... Thanks for the reference. I'll have a look and see if it has any useful info. Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petwes Posted 25 August , 2017 Share Posted 25 August , 2017 That's interesting. Looks like the battle of Arras is missing. Add to that the same period is missing for 65 HAG and when I checked the VI Corps Commander Heavy Artillery diary hasn't got those months either (VI Corps being the next level up as the HAG's were Corps rather than Divisional troops). In the past I've found a couple of other cases where all the relevant heavy artillery war diaries for a particular Corps downwards have gone AWOL for the same months. Conspiracy theories aside one popular view is that when the Official History was written blocks of diaries were pulled out of the archives by the historians and in some cases never found their way back in or were so misfiled they never saw the light of day again (do you remember that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark)! Hopefully I'm wrong and someone else can come up with some ideas on where you can look next. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 25 August , 2017 Share Posted 25 August , 2017 Hi, As an edit to my previous post, it appears that on April 15th, the ADS moved to Feuchy Chapel, and 'Br. P.' [Bearer Post ??] to Monchy Gunpit. Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petwes Posted 26 August , 2017 Share Posted 26 August , 2017 Gareth I forgot to mention it might be worth letting TNA know about the missing months. They sometimes update the catalogue to help future researchers. Who knows you might get your money back! ( I have in the past) Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bujin Posted 26 August , 2017 Author Share Posted 26 August , 2017 Thanks again. I will contact them to see if they can shed any light on the missing info! I just re-read the file I downloaded and the later dates are from a different unit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bujin Posted 17 October , 2017 Author Share Posted 17 October , 2017 (edited) I found this photo of William Bennett (R) and his brother Benjamin this weekend in a box of photos that my grandfather owned, and is now held by my mother. I'm slowing going through the process of digitising and cleaning up the old photos as best I can. Fascinating stuff. Ben was also KIA in France in July 1916. I don't know any more information about him yet. Edited 17 October , 2017 by bujin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 9 November , 2018 Share Posted 9 November , 2018 (edited) Gareth (Bujin), Can you PM me as William is also my Great Grandfather and I would like to share info about him and find out a little more about you and your family. Edited 9 November , 2018 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 11 November , 2019 Share Posted 11 November , 2019 (edited) my grandfather was also in 259th and died 19th April 1917 so very close to your great great grandad he was from Stockport and is buried in Beaurains I have just found out today Major Leonard Challinor Miller DSO was there commanding officer Leonard joined up in September 1914 as a Sapper in the Royal Naval Division and served as a Major in the Royal Garrison Artillery from 1915 to 1919. He trained and commanded the 259 in France and Belgium. Siege Battery (6’’ Howitzers) for three year and was awarded his DSO for there actions in April 1917 Edited 11 November , 2019 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rivalfish Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March On 11/11/2019 at 08:15, Guest said: my grandfather was also in 259th and died 19th April 1917 so very close to your great great grandad he was from Stockport and is buried in Beaurains I have just found out today Major Leonard Challinor Miller DSO was there commanding officer Leonard joined up in September 1914 as a Sapper in the Royal Naval Division and served as a Major in the Royal Garrison Artillery from 1915 to 1919. He trained and commanded the 259 in France and Belgium. Siege Battery (6’’ Howitzers) for three year and was awarded his DSO for there actions in April 1917 I doubt you will ever see this, but my great-grandfather was James McGregor Harper, and he was also in the 259th and died on that date. He was also from Stockport and is buried in Beaurains. Trying to delve into his service record so if we're talking about the same gentleman I would love to know more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 5 March Admin Share Posted 5 March No, they won’t see it. Guest means they are no longer a member of the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rivalfish Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March 18 minutes ago, Michelle Young said: No, they won’t see it. Guest means they are no longer a member of the forum. Michelle, Thanks for the heads up. That is a shame though. Probably a relation of mine, so would have been an interesting conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 5 March Share Posted 5 March 1 hour ago, rivalfish said: Probably a relation of mine, so would have been an interesting conversation. You never know - if the unknown person ever runs the search again, it will lead them straight to this post. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyrow1 Posted Thursday at 19:45 Share Posted Thursday at 19:45 On 05/03/2024 at 21:12, rivalfish said: I doubt you will ever see this, but my great-grandfather was James McGregor Harper, and he was also in the 259th and died on that date. He was also from Stockport and is buried in Beaurains. Trying to delve into his service record so if we're talking about the same gentleman I would love to know more. Hello @rivalfish yes James Harper was my Grandfather I did attend the 100th anniversary at Beaurains Cemetery hope you manage to see this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rivalfish Posted Thursday at 20:32 Share Posted Thursday at 20:32 37 minutes ago, Tonyrow1 said: Hello @rivalfish yes James Harper was my Grandfather I did attend the 100th anniversary at Beaurains Cemetery hope you manage to see this Tony, Hello! I have been checking in on this forum fairly frequently since I posted, so I am glad I caught the notification. I misstated in the post above my connection to James - he was my great-great Grandfather on my mother's side, not my G-Grandfather. If you go on my profile to the "About Me" that page or so is what I have been able to gleam of his service record over the past month or so. It's been a few weeks since I returned to my research so let me know what you have! Feel free to message me back privately or here. (Note: I am based in the US now so excuse any delay getting back due to time difference etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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