Jump to content
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

8th Btn Somerset light Inf


Chris Burton

Recommended Posts

The War Diary can currently be downloaded for free from the UK National Archive. You do need to sign in with your account, but if you don't have one, even that can be set up as part of placing your first order. Just click on "sign in" on any page of the National Archive catalogure and follow the instructions - no financial details are requested.

The relevant page of the 8th Battalion War Diary covering from August 1916 to April 1919 can be found here https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354088

The Battalion transferred to the 37th Division in July 1916 and were back on the Somme in time to take part in the Battle of the Ancre in November 1916.
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/37th-division/

Cheers,
Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI Peter tried that several times wont except any of my emails very annoying and I dont know why? Just tried again with my work one must be a glitch, if you can see the page for 19th Nov would stop me going  nuts ***!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 8th Battalion War Diary for November 1916 is all over the place - not just pages filed out of order but even the entries that have been typed on the pages. The typist has also used the blank template pages in portrait rather than landscape, so all in all a bit of a mess. I think these are the most helpful entries - starting with the final part of the 18th where it mentions where they went after being relieved to a bit on the 20th where it has then relieved in turn. The trench names mentioned will hopefully help with firming up the location. And of course the War Diary for the 7th South Staffs who relieved them on the 20th may also provide more details around location.

All the War Diaries including the Brigade one, will also be available via subscription to Ancestry.

1596119773_8thBattalionWarDiarycropfrompart18thto20thNovember1916sourcedNA.png.aa834411085853dd917c594845cb2fe8.png
Image courtesy The National Archive.

Cheers,
Peter

Edited by PRC
Typos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorted it thanks Peter all registered cant do it on phone though but basically the Casualties as i have found before were probably on the 18th attack on Pusieux trench have found on a couple of occasions now that deaths are listed a day later!

24 minutes ago, PRC said:

The 8th Battalion War Diary for November 1916 is all over the place - not just pages filed out of order but even the entries that have been typed on the pages. The typist has also used the blank template pages in portrait rather than landscape, so all in all a bit of a mess. I think these are the most helpful entries - starting with the final part of the 18th where it mentions where they went after being relieved to a bit on the 20th where it has then relieved in turn. The trench names mentioned will hopefully help with firming up the location. And of course the War Diary for the 7th South Staffs who relieved them on the 20th may also provide more details around location.

All the War Diaries including the Brigade one, will also be available via subscription to Ancestry.

1596119773_8thBattalionWarDiarycropfrompart18thto20thNovember1916sourcedNA.png.aa834411085853dd917c594845cb2fe8.png
Image courtesy The National Archive.

Cheers,
Peter

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers Peter thanks very much for your kind help...strange think is that 19th has loads of KIA for the SLI on the CWGC  but I strongly suspect these are deaths from the 18th, as no casualties reported for the 19th but plenty for the 18th.  I suspect my chap Thomas Richard Parker was killed on the 18th.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Chris Burton said:

I suspect my chap Thomas Richard Parker was killed on the 18th.

As you're no doubt aware has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/808197/thomas-richard-parker/

I suspect he was previously reported missing having failed to report for a roll call on the 19th. It's a not uncommon scenario, particularly when no-one can immediately account for his absense. He may well have gone into the system as missing 18th / 19th and you do occasionally get the date ranges showing up on CWGC. But all too often the clerical system needs an exact date but then chooses almost arbitraily. I have units that effectively ceased to exist during the figthing retreat in March 1918 - some have the deaths recorded as the 21st even thought the unit was still being rushed to the front and others are all on a date when the few remaining men were finally pulled out and sent to the rear to start the process of rebuilding.

My suspicion that his fate was initially unknown in part stems from a Casualty List that appeared in the London Daily News on the 13th February 1917. It will be on the British Newspaper Archive, FindMyPast and I believe Ancestry, all with the appropriate level of subscription - which I don't have :(

I think it's likely to say Previously reported Missing, Now Reported Killed.

70942936_FMPscreenshot171022.png.03a1ff7779cfdc92131ad8cc5e9ad4ad.png

Image courtesy FindMyPast.

Not seeing anything for him on the International Committee of the Red Cross website or indexed on FindMyPast as a British Red Cross query.
If you have access to Ancestry may be worth checking for his entry on the Register of Soldiers Effects to see how he was classified there - Killed in Action \ Presumed Dead, etc, etc.

I take it you've looked into Private 10046 H. Higgins who has a  Concentration Report showing that he was recovered post-war from an unmarked graves on the battlefield, (as opposed to ones moved to consolidate cemeteries to be maintained, which a number of them have). There are often unknown soldiers, some of the Somerset Light Infantry, recovered at the same time. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/264209/h-higgins/

Cheers,
Peter

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...