Unknown Officer: Royal Berkshire Regiment, Ovillers Military Cemetery 17.P.9

[laughton]

There is an UNKNOWN OFFICER of the Royal Berkshire Regiment in the Ovillers Military Cemetery in Plot 17 Row P Grave 9, who was found in a shell hole with Lance Corporal Arthur John Lambert #1470 of 1st/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment who was KIA on 14 August 1916.

 

Between the 12th and 18th of August the only UNKNOWN OFFICERS of the Regiment were the following:

 

surname	forename	death	rank	regiment	unit
ATTRIDE	RAYMOND GEORGE	14-08-16	Captain	Royal Berkshire Regiment	1st/4th Bn.
HARRISON	CECIL GEORGE BRADFORD	13-08-16	Second Lieutenant	Royal Berkshire Regiment	8th Bn.
BEASLEY	ALBERT WILLIAM	14-08-16	Second Lieutenant	Royal Berkshire Regiment	1st/4th Bn.
BISSLEY	WILLIAM HOWE	18-08-16	Second Lieutenant	Royal Berkshire Regiment	8th Bn.

 

Logic would suggest that the UNKNOWN OFFICER is either Captain Attride or Second Lieutenant Beasley. The 8th Battalion was at Baizieux Wood on the 13th and Mametz Wood on the 18th, both a considerable distance away from where the remains were located.

 

The war diary of the 1st/4th Battalion for 14 August 1916 (at Ovillers) refers to a REPORT ATTACHED, which may have additional information to identify the UNKNOWN OFFICER as Attride or Beasley. Would anyone have the war diary details that might contain that report? Was one of these Officers with Lance Corporal Lambert? Perhaps one of the them was known to have been killed in a different location? It appears that at 57d.R.34.c.8.9 they were just west of the trench "Tom's Cut".

 

If no additional information is available, it would not be possible to tell if it was the Captain or the Second Lieutenant.

 

[jay dubaya]

[jay dubaya]

Can't find anything of relevance in the 145th IB WD that would help

[laughton]

Thanks very much for the assistance. Unfortunately there was nothing to aid in the separation of the Captain and the Second Lieutenant. Perhaps someone has more information from a battalion history or other source, that may some day provide the answer. I note that was for the 13th and it does not seem to go along with the War Diary Entry for 13 August 1916. The CWGC lists the deaths as the 14th. The CWGC shows 0 deaths on the 13th, 53 on the 14th and 2 on the 15th.

 

To note, the Lieutenant listed at the bottom of the war diary page is listed on the CWGC as Second Lieutenant Patrick Gilbert Warwick O'Hara, killed on 14 August 1916. He was 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, attached to the 1st/4th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. He is also listed on the Thiepval Memorial, so we need to watch for someone from that regiment that was found in the same area as the Berks.

[Guest]

   There is one other source that might help. Officer long service files at Kew for missing officers often have reports from other men of that unit subsequently interviewed as to where and when last seen-and the circumstances.   Both Beasley and Attride have surviving officer files  which I will get out next time I am over at Kew, which may be Friday or certainly sometime next week.

 

 

Captain Raymond George ATTRIDE. Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment).

War Office: Officers' Services, First World War, personal files (alphabetical). Captain Raymond George ATTRIDE. Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment).

 

Held by:	The National Archives - War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies
Date:	1910 - 1919
Reference:	WO 374/2762
Subjects:	Armed Forces

 

 

 

2/Lieutenant Albert William BEASLEY. Princess Charlotte of Wales's (RoyalBerkshire Regiment).

War Office: Officers' Services, First World War, personal files (alphabetical). 2/Lieutenant AlbertWilliam BEASLEY. Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment).

 

Held by:	The National Archives - War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies
Date:	1908 - 1949
Reference:	WO 374/5046
Subjects:	Armed Forces (General Administration) | Army | Conflict | Operations, battles and campaigns

 

 

[dickaren]

8 hours ago, laughton said:

Thanks very much for the assistance. Unfortunately there was nothing to aid in the separation of the Captain and the Second Lieutenant. Perhaps someone has more information from a battalion history or other source, that may some day provide the answer. I note that was for the 13th and it does not seem to go along with the War Diary Entry for 13 August 1916. The CWGC lists the deaths as the 14th. The CWGC shows 0 deaths on the 13th, 53 on the 14th and 2 on the 15th.

 

To note, the Lieutenant listed at the bottom of the war diary page is listed on the CWGC as Second Lieutenant Patrick Gilbert Warwick O'Hara, killed on 14 August 1916. He was 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, attached to the 1st/4th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. He is also listed on the Thiepval Memorial, so we need to watch for someone from that regiment that was found in the same area as the Berks.

 

See The War Service of the 1/4 Royal Berkshire Regiment in the Great War by Charles Cruttwell (available to read on line). Mentions Attride (D company) being shot in the head in a shallow communication trench and also of death of Beasley (C company).

Regards O'Hara, would he be wearing Berks insignia or his East Surreys?

Richard

[laughton]

Fantastic information from all - thanks very much. The reports that he had chest and head wounds is important. There are a lot of SPECIAL EXHUMATION REPORTS and although I have not found this exact one, it may be there. A head wound would be reported. They date as early as 1920 and then to 1933.

 

I will also try to see if there is a way to find if Lambert was in C Coy or D Coy, as that would also be excellent information!

[laughton]

This is the link to t he online document:

 

The War Service of the 1/4 Royal Berkshire Regiment in the Great War by Charles Cruttwell

 

The death of Captain Attride is mention on page 84 (page 96 of the PDF):

Quote

Thus the three Companies went over most bravely, in face of almost certain failure. They had 250 yards of absolutely unfamiliar ground to cover. The rifle and machine-gun fire was intense, and terribly accurate. The Huns, having no shells directed at them, stood up in their trenches aiming deliberately at each man in the broken and thinning lines. Short rushes were made from shell-hole to shell-hole, each rush proving very costly in casualties. Few, if any, of the men got within 100 yards of the enemy. Captain Attride had been wounded in the body, and Captain Lewis in the thigh, and hardly an officer was left. It was evident that no bravery or determination on earth could turn failure into success. The men began, therefore, in accordance with orders to edge into a shallow communication trench only half finished, which the 5th Berks had started from their old line to 6th Avenue. It was a poor shelter, but offered a chance of safe return. Captain Lewis reached it with his orderly's help, and, though grievously wounded, was brought back. Captain Attride was shot through the head as he reached the very edge, and pitched forward dead. He had commanded D Company for nine months with the greatest tact and ability ; his many friends mourned the best of comrades.

 

On the following page there is an additional reference to him being in the communication trench and not a shell hole, however by 1921 could they distinguish a communication trench from a shell hole?

 

Quote

... the heads of the Huns disappeared, and the survivors made quickly for the communication trench. One of them, in entering, stepped on the body of an officer ; he turned him over, and saw that it was Captain Attride.

 

There is only casual mention of 2nd Lt. Beasley on the same page, and no reference to his location:

 

Quote

The casualties were naturally very heavy. Besides those officers already mentioned the killed were Lieut. O'Hara (ist East Surrey Regiment, attached), 2nd Lieut. Beasley (whose little son was presented with the M.M. which his father had won by the King when he visited Reading in March, 1918)

 

Appendix B shows that he was Serjeant A. W. Beasley #12 at the time of the award of his Military Medal.

 

There are a number of Special Exhumation Reports for this cemetery but I have not located one for this Officer. Looking back at the number sequence for these documents I can tell they were interspersed with both the GRRF and COG-BR documents. Just to make sure I did not miss any I went back and downloaded all the files in the number sequence 2457915 t0 2458875. No other exhumation reports appeared.

[thetrenchrat22]

Richard 

 

i sent an email to the CWGC about a special exhumation report, which was not in your binders for another cemetery & UBS 

 

i received a copy of it, a couple of days later.  Send them a email to see if they the report 

 

alan

[dickaren]

5 hours ago, laughton said:

This is the link to t he online document:

 

The War Service of the 1/4 Royal Berkshire Regiment in the Great War by Charles Cruttwell

 

The death of Captain Attride is mention on page 84 (page 96 of the PDF):

 

On the following page there is an additional reference to him being in the communication trench and not a shell hole, however by 1921 could they distinguish a communication trench from a shell hole?

 

 

There is only casual mention of 2nd Lt. Beasley on the same page, and no reference to his location:

 

 

Appendix B shows that he was Serjeant A. W. Beasley #12 at the time of the award of his Military Medal.

 

There are a number of Special Exhumation Reports for this cemetery but I have not located one for this Officer. Looking back at the number sequence for these documents I can tell they were interspersed with both the GRRF and COG-BR documents. Just to make sure I did not miss any I went back and downloaded all the files in the number sequence 2457915 t0 2458875. No other exhumation reports appeared.

 

Can any of the trench map experts locate the communication trench and if so is it close to the shell hole reference where bodies were found?

Would O'Hara be wearing East Surrey badges and therefore be eliminated as officer is identified as Royal Berks?

As an aside Lambert's brother William was killed a year earlier and is commemorated on the Menin Gate

Richard

[laughton]

It appears to me from the IWM trench map wo297_1517 (3A March 1917) that the area where they found the remains was at the end of the trench. That would make sense as it reports that it was not yet complete.

 

As I said previously, a SHELL HOLE versus a TRENCH could probably not be separated during the exhumation. Here is the image: (blue cross hairs at the location of remains)

 

[Guest]

I have looked at the officer files for both Attride and Beasley but they add nothing of note, save a glimmer if there is an exhumation report extant which might pick up one of the following details.

 

1)  ATTRIDE.    Was killed  leading his men forward. He was hit 3 times before he was killed. His file contains extracts from the @Reading Mercury@ of 7th October 1916 and 28th October 1916 to that effect.    The artilcles suggest that,as he was leading his men forward, then he fell in advance of the British front line at that date. (Would war diary and trench map help here?)  A communication trench seems unlikely.

 

2)  BEASLEY.

         Nothing on his death. His RAMC form shows,however, that we quite tall- 5'11 1/2, if that might help.

[laughton]

As I understand it, Captain Attride (D Coy) was in the half finished communication trench when one of the men stepped on him, turned him over, and made the identification. The trench map reference for the exhumation is more or less at the end of a trench.

 

If we knew that Beasley (C Coy) was placed in a shell hole, then we might have a case, if we also could link Lambert to C Coy.

 

I will take another look at the Ovillers COG-BR documents and see what others were found at or near 57d.R.34.c.8.9.

[laughton]

It appears that a great number of exhumations were from Sector 57d.X and about 3,500 yards to the southwest of where the RBR Officer was recovered. Those from 57d.R start to appear in Plot 13, when the Canadians also start to appear on the list. After that they move over one map to 57c in the Pys area.

 

The trench maps suggest the main trench there was MacDonald Trench on the obliterated road. I did not find any clues from anyone else exhumed from that area, however they could be in any number of other cemeteries in the Courcelette area.