Losses near Courcelette on July 25, 1916

[Ken S.]

Regimental History for Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 157 states that one Lt. d. Res. Seydel "personally" downed an aircraft with a machine gun on July 25, 1916. Any chances of identifying his victim?

 

Thanks,

Ken

 

 

[MikeMeech]

1 hour ago, Ken S. said:

Regimental History for Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 157 states that one Lt. d. Res. Seydel "personally" downed an aircraft with a machine gun on July 25, 1916. Any chances of identifying his victim?

 

Thanks,

Ken

 

 

Hi

 

TSTB II page 46 has BE2c 2744 of No. 7 Sqn. on Contact Patrol, left 4.55am, hit by ground mg fire and forced to land at COURCELETTE, crashing and wrecking aircraft,  pilot 2Lt E D Steytler KIA and observer 2Lt J G Robertson WIA. On 25 July 1916.  

 

Mike

[josquin]

More concerning the 7 Squadron aircrew:  2Lt Edward Dickinson Steytler (South Lancashire Regiment & RFC) who was born at Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa in November, 1895.  Kalk Bay, Cape Province, South Africa was his residence when he was commissioned.

                                                                  2Lt James Granville Robertson (CEF Canadian Mounted Rifles & RFC) who was born at Melbourne, Australia,

 on 12 April 1887, emigrated to Alberta, Canada in 1913, was repatriated in 1918, lived in the United States from 1920 through 1940s (possibly longer), and died at Wellington, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, on 30 November 1964.  Whilst living in the United States, Robertson was employed by the Boeing Aircraft Corporation, at Renton, Washington.

 

                                                                     Josquin

Edited 1 November , 2019 by josquin

[Ken S.]

On 31/10/2019 at 17:48, MikeMeech said:

Hi

 

TSTB II page 46 has BE2c 2744 of No. 7 Sqn. on Contact Patrol, left 4.55am, hit by ground mg fire and forced to land at COURCELETTE, crashing and wrecking aircraft,  pilot 2Lt E D Steytler KIA and observer 2Lt J G Robertson WIA. On 25 July 1916.  

 

Mike

 

Mike,

 

Thank you for that. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much information about the pilot. Here are a few other mentions of him that I can find:

 

https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/showthread.php?19689-100-Years-Ago-Today/page32

 

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1069469/document/5518972.PDF

 

and apparently a photo:

 

[Ken S.]

16 hours ago, josquin said:

More concerning the 7 Squadron aircrew:  2Lt Edward Dickinson Steytler (South Lancashire Regiment & RFC) who was born at Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa in November, 1895.  Kalk Bay, Cape Province, South Africa was his residence when he was commissioned.

                                                                  2Lt James Granville Robertson (CEF Canadian Mounted Rifles & RFC) who was born at Melbourne, Australia,

 on 12 April 1887, emigrated to Alberta, Canada in 1913, was repatriated in 1918, lived in the United States from 1920 through 1940s (possibly longer), and died at Wellington, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, on 30 November 1964.  Whilst living in the United States, Robertson was employed by the Boeing Aircraft Corporation, at Renton, Washington.

 

                                                                     Josquin

Josquin,

 

Thank you for the additional information. It appears that Robertson was involved in a shooting in 1909; after being found not guilty of "wounding with intent to murder" he was sentenced to five years penal servitude for "maliciously wounding" the victim. It's possible that he was the grandson of Sir Anthony Brownless. According to a 1902 newspaper his last remaining daughter, Mrs. J. D. Robertson, died leaving behind three young sons, Russell, Neville, and Granville. 

[josquin]

James Granville Robertson was the son of James Duncan Robertson and Frances Martha Anne (Brownless) Robertson.

Frances (1858-1897) was the daughter of Anthony Colling Brownless (1817-1897) and Anne Jane (Hamilton) Brownless, who were

married in 1852, at Donegal, Ireland.

 

Josquin

[Ken S.]

On 06/11/2019 at 06:02, josquin said:

James Granville Robertson was the son of James Duncan Robertson and Frances Martha Anne (Brownless) Robertson.

Frances (1858-1897) was the daughter of Anthony Colling Brownless (1817-1897) and Anne Jane (Hamilton) Brownless, who were

married in 1852, at Donegal, Ireland.

 

Josquin

Thank you for the additional info. 

 

Ken