The South Staffordshires at Mametz 01/07/1916.

[Tony Styles]

I’m doing some research on an acting Corporal Ernest Cash who posthumously received the Military Medal for rescuing an officer & one other under fire on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Can anyone tell me if there is any way I can find out who Ernest rescued that day…? There was no citation for his award, so is there any way or will it be recorded anywhere who he saved on that terrible day…?

[Chesterboy]

9 minutes ago, Tony Styles said:

I’m doing some research on an acting Corporal Ernest Cash who posthumously received the Military Medal for rescuing an officer & one other under fire on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Can anyone tell me if there is any way I can find out who Ernest rescued that day…? There was no citation for his award, so is there any way or will it be recorded anywhere who he saved on that terrible day…?

If you know his battalion, then it would be advisable to look at the battalion’s war diary

[PRC]

12 minutes ago, Tony Styles said:

I’m doing some research on an acting Corporal Ernest Cash who posthumously received the Military Medal for rescuing an officer & one other under fire on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Can anyone tell me if there is any way I can find out who Ernest rescued that day…?

Posthumous award is always a grey area - the man had to be alive at the time the process of awarding the medal commenced. The only exception was if the recommending authority had that intention but was delayed from doing so.  See

Have you checked out the 1st Battalion War Diary - it can be downloaded for free if you sign im.

Relevant entry in the National Archive catalogue is here:- https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352447

Cheers,
Peter

[Chesterboy]

42 minutes ago, Tony Styles said:

I’m doing some research on an acting Corporal Ernest Cash who posthumously received the Military Medal for rescuing an officer & one other under fire on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Can anyone tell me if there is any way I can find out who Ernest rescued that day…? There was no citation for his award, so is there any way or will it be recorded anywhere who he saved on that terrible day…?

Also it would be best to establish when the award of the MM, appears in the London Gazette.  
 

what information do you have already to state that he was awarded the MM on the 1st July 1916

[TEW]

He has a MM card which shows #9487 A/Cpl. 1/SS.

LG date 19/2/1917.

TEW

[kenf48]

 

There is some confusion as to the action which resulted in the award.  So more questions than answers I fear

The war diary lists the honours for the 1st July 1916 on the 5th July 1916.  A/Cpl 9487 is not mentioned.  Yet CWGC shows he was killed on the 1st July, it appears he was reburied in his present grave.

I can find no account as to what led to the award (not unusual) but two conflicting newspaper accounts:-

This from the Birmingham Daily post dated 7 July 1917 which dates the action to July 16th 1916 (when the Battalion was in action again) and shows he died of wounds, there is no list of awards for this action shown in the diary, although officer casualties are shown for both dates:-

 

But this account from the Walsall Observer again 7 July states it was for an action on the 1st July:-

 As an aside, and you may be aware of this, the brother mentioned in the second account was drowned in 1917 when his ship was lost 

Walsall Observer 3 November 1917

All images BNA from FMP

[PRC]

25 minutes ago, TEW said:

LG date 19/2/1917.

Perhaps @Ivor Anderson has already looked into how the MM awards in that London Gazette tie back to periods earned.

Otherwise believe there is a thread on the British Medals Forum looking to gather surviving MM citations.

Cheers,
Peter

[kenf48]

10 minutes ago, PRC said:

Perhaps @Ivor Anderson has already looked into how the MM awards in that London Gazette tie back to periods earned.

Otherwise believe there is a thread on the British Medals Forum looking to gather surviving MM citations.

I imagine awards for both the 1st and 16th July are in the same Gazette.  We could look at those listed in the diary on the 5th July to see if they appear in the same edition.  There will be citations for some of the awards but not the MM.

Incidentally it's perhaps a sad reflection I've looked at the diary until the end of August when the Battalion was again in action and I can tell you who won the three legged race in a sports day on 21st August 1916 (and who was2nd and 3rd), or that Sgt Flowers won the contest for ' wrestling on mules'  but we can't say for what action this gallant soldier was awarded the Military Medal.

[PRC]

1 minute ago, kenf48 said:

I imagine awards for both the 1st and 16th July are in the same Gazette.  We could look at those listed in the diary on the 5th July to see if they appear in the same edition.

I suspect the Gazette will cover a wider period too, but no harm in asking Corporal Cash was killed in action on the 1st July 1916, (source Soldiers Died in the Great War) - if that second newspaper report can be taken at face value it was at the "commencement of the Somme advance". Taken literally that would be in the first waves of the attack, leaving practically no leeway timewise for a rescue of anyone to have taken place on that date. However I suspect that may be journalistic licence.

One query about the War Diary though - does it list officers wounded \ died of wounds on the 1st July 1916, as presumably that has to be the list from which potential candidates for the officer will be drawn if the action rewarded took place on that day.

Cheers,
Peter

[Ivor Anderson]

His MM Index Card - TNA ref WO 372/23/88993 has no schedule number - note 'D' for deceased - the 'dead man's gazette'.

These awards to subsequently deceased men were gazetted late on 19 Feb 1917: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29953/supplement/1759

Edited 7 January , 2022 by Ivor Anderson

[kenf48]

Thank you Ivor, that's very interesting.

I wonder if the newspaper took 'died of wounds' from the Gazette heading, journalistic licence (or errors)may be at play. 

23 minutes ago, PRC said:

One query about the War Diary though - does it list officers wounded \ died of wounds on the 1st July 1916, as presumably that has to be the list from which potential candidates for the officer will be drawn if the action rewarded took place on that day.

Here is the list of officer casualties on the 1st July

The list of honours from the 1st

and for completeness the wounded officers on the 16th when the Battalion retreated under very heavy fire.  There were many more officers 'wounded'

 

[Ivor Anderson]

Thanks Ken, The 7th Division A&QMG war diary has a list of killed/wounded officers 1-5th July 1916, but no list of awards:

Edited 7 January , 2022 by Ivor Anderson

[Tony Styles]

Thank you for all your help & answers. I do have his medal card & the war diary. There’s a brief unwitting mention on the diary & I did read somewhere 2/3 years ago that he received the MM for saving an officer & one other soldier, I think rank & file soldier, but the mention didn’t say who these men were or even if they had survived. I know very few MM recipients had an accompanying citation & there were over 114,000 awarded. It may just be that in whatever form the information that the rescued were recorded on has not survived & has been lost to time. When things ease up I may just pay the regimental museum in Whittington another visit to double check on their surviving material. Thank you again to everyone who read my post… 

[Ivor Anderson]

The other MMs that were listed in the Bn. WD were listed in the LG on 10th August 1916: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29701/supplement/7886

Ernest's MM must have been for the 1st July as Bate & Williamson claim that the 17-02-1917 LG was a 'tidy up' gazette for the Somme (1 July - Dec 1916).

We know that Ernest died on 1st July 1916 (despite the typo in one newspaper account). A senior rank decision on his MM recommendation must have been delayed/questioned due to his death on the same day, but his act of gallantry must have been sufficiently worthy to justify it being eventually granted an award.

The involvement of an officer who was rescued and survived may have helped to ensure that his award was eventually granted. 

He may have been one of the list of 5 wounded in the 7th Div. A&QMG diary:

Edited 7 January , 2022 by Ivor Anderson

[Tony Styles]

Thank you Ivor that’s a big help I hadn’t thought of that… 

[PRC]

If you can find any newspaper refences to the five wounded, plus 2nd Lieutenant Warwick Hall who died of wounds, it might mention their rescue from the battlefield. I've been trying to identify their full names from the casualty lists in The Times, but have so far drawn a blank.

There are MiCs for a Reginald Lockyer Hibberdine, William Henry Ratcliffe, John Percival Lloyd and Eric Hindsley who were officers in the South Staffordshire Regiment.

No G.R. Holdsworth but there is a Godfrey Edward Holdsworth.

Cheers,
Peter

[Ivor Anderson]

It must have been successfully argued that there was an intention to recommend Ernest for a gallantry award prior to his death.

He may have been subsequently killed later that same day, or have died from wounds received during the rescue?

It is even possible that he was actually recommended for a DCM (or even a VC) and it was downgraded to an MM??

DCM citation to Sgt. J Imm 8765 in LG 27 July 1916: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29684/supplement/7449

Edited 7 January , 2022 by Ivor Anderson

[kenf48]

I have found a very comprehensive article in the Walsall Observer dated 19 August concerning notification of the death of CSM 8860 Bytheway.  This suggests the very neatly typed diary was completed some time after the described events. CWGC records his death as the 14th July.  

Not sure it takes us any further forward save to put the original list in context.