69 coy machine gun corps ww1

[dawnyowl]

Hello, I have a gt uncle John barrett simpson, born 1869 in lambeth.

Formerly South staffordshire regiment and moved to 5630  69 coy machine gun corps. He died in august 1916, mention in theirpval monument. 

Where was the machine gun corps around the beginning of August 1916.

 

[PRC]

The 69th Company Machine Gun Corps War Diary covering the period Fenruary 1916 to October 1917 can currently be downloaded for free from the 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 catalogue and follow the instructions - no financial details are required.

The relevant catalogue page for that war diary can be found here https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353263

69th Company were the Brigade Machine Gun Company for the 69th Brigade, itself part of the 23rd Division. http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/23rd-division/

Our parent site, the Long, Long Trail, show the Division involved in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14th July 1916) and the Battle of Pozieres (23rd July 1916 - 3rd September 1916).
The Wikipedia article, although written from the perspective of the Australian troops taking part, does says that on the day that John Barret Simpson died, the 7th August 1916, the Germans staged their last desperate counter-attack to retake Pozieres. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pozières

Hope that helps,
Peter

[dawnyowl]

Thank you I will look that up. I can't download from national archives. Apparently I downloaded to many things. 

When someone is mentioned at theirpval does it mean they died in that area.

[dawnyowl]

Thank you I will look that up. I can't download from national archives. Apparently I downloaded to many things. 

When someone is mentioned at theirpval does it mean they died in that area.

[PRC]

3 hours ago, dawnyowl said:

I can't download from national archives. Apparently I downloaded to many things.

There are rolling totals - daily \ monthly so at some point you should be able to download again. Until then if you have access to Ancestry you should be able to get to them there.

3 hours ago, dawnyowl said:

When someone is mentioned at theirpval does it mean they died in that area.

The CWGC's own description is "The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.

The dead of other Commonwealth countries, who died on the Somme and have no known graves, are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere."
https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/80800/thiepval-memorial/

So died somewhere on the Somme.

John was one of four men of 69th Company who died on this day - could be a coincidence but that sounds like a gun team. 35963 Private William Leslie Maunders and 15638 Private Edgar Wilson are also remembered on the Thiepval Memorial. Private 5587 William Baugh is buried at Contalmaison Chateau Cemetery, at that point a front line cemetery being used by fighting units. CWGC says "Contalmaison is a village about 6 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert and south of the main road from Albert to Bapaume. The Cemetery is on the northern side of the village." https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/66102/contalmaison-chateau-cemetery/
Soldiers Died in the Great War records him as Died of Wounds so it could be due to a separate incident.

Cheers,
Peter

Edited 3 June , 2023 by PRC
Typos and formatting

[dawnyowl]

Great , that's interesting.  

[dawnyowl]

I have been reading about the gun teams. Where did you find died of wounds.

[PRC]

15 minutes ago, dawnyowl said:

Where did you find died of wounds.

Sorry, extra gap slipped in there, now corrected. It was William Baugh who died of wounds and the source for that was Soldiers Died in the Great War.

Cheers,
Peter

[dawnyowl]

Oh thank you. I appreciate your hard work. A gun team is six. I wonder number he was. Only the 4 were killed I wonder if they were the ones who prepared and fired the gun.