Unknown Sergeant, Royal Field Artillery.

[andrew pugh]

Good Evening All

Could anybody advise me please. I was looking through a cemetery list for Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension and came across an unknown Sergeant of the Royal Field Artillery who is buried in grave 4.C.20. Next to him in grave 4.C.19 there is a named Gunner of the Royal Field Artillery. His name is Gunner 815266 George W Roome "D" Battery 88th Brigade. According to the CWGC his date of death is 21/04/1918. I find that strange because his unit were at a place called Locre in Belgium.

I looked at his records on line CWGC shows 21/04/1918. SDGW shows 21/04/1918. His Soldiers Effects and Medal Rolls show a date of death as 21/03/1918,Also looking at his Pension Records Cards and Ledgers also show his Date of death 21/04/1918. What do you think is the right date?

According to the War Diary his battery on the 21/03/1918 they were in the location of Doignies at 4-30 pm location 57c.P.2.a, very close to Lebucquiere I think there is a typing error for the date of death

Moving on to the Unknown Sergeant of the Field Artillery in the next grave. I suspected that he may have belonged to the same Battery and Brigade. I did a bit of research and came up with Sergeant 7801 Charles Duffus "D" Battery 88th Brigade who was killed on the 21/03/1918. In fact the only Sergeant killed that day. If the date is incorrect for Gunner Roome and it turns out to be 21/03/1918 then surely I have a case for the unknown Sergeant who I believe to be Sergean Duffus. Your thoughts and advise are most welcome.

Regards

Andy 

[David Porter]

Interesting research. The Derby Daily Telegraph of May 17, 1918 supports your theory of March 21, 1918 being the correct date of death.
No sign of anyone else killed the same day, but "buried at Ytres" is not quite right

Image courtesy Findmypast

[David Porter]

1 hour ago, andrew pugh said:

According to the War Diary his battery on the 21/03/1918 they were in the location of Doignies at 4-30 pm location 57c.P.2.a, very close to Lebucquiere

I think you need to double check this. 88th Brigade RFA were under the orders of 63rd Divisional Artillery at the time.
The 63rd A&Q diary gives their location on March 16, 1918 as Q.3.d.1.4. YTRES

In addition, 88th Brigade RFA lost 1 Officer and 8 ORs killed and 1 Officer and 21 ORs wounded by March 23, 1918



Frederick George Lough also died on March 21, 1918 with B/88 and is buried at Neuville-Bourjonval British Cemetery.
This puts the action further south than the burial of Roome and Duffus would indicate.
Certainly this is a more complicated picture than your double burial evidence suggests.

[andrew pugh]

Hi David

Thank you for replying with your information. Ytres is not far from Lebucquiere. The 88th Brigade (Field Artillery) war diary states the following;

01/03/1918 location Ytres

21/03/1918 4.45am

The enemy attacked accompanied by a bombardment of great violence. Our battery positions received attention with guns of all calibres.

12 noon

Bombardment still in progress

21/03/1918 4.30pm

Enemy reported holding Doignies. Batteries withdrawn to intermediate positions under cover of darkness. Locations "A"/88 57c.P.2.d  "B"/88 57c.P.2.a 

"C"/88 57c.P.2.a "D"/88 57c.P.2.d. Headquarters positioned at 57c.Q.3.d.14

22/03/1918

Enemy attacked again, under cover of darkness retired to Neuville Bourjonnval.

23/0/1918 1.00pm

Withdrew to positions covering the Green Line near Barastre.

All these locations mentioned are not far from the area of Lebucquiere. The only casualties I can find belonging to "D" battery 88th Brigade are listed below

Driver Booth H (Arras Mem), L/Bombardier Hall T J  (Arras Mem), Gunner Poole S (Arras Mem),  Gunner Thewless F (Arras Mem), Gunner Roome G W,(Lebucquiere), Sgt Duffus C  (Arras Mem).

Once again Thanks for your reply and information given. I said I would not do another one because of the situation at the CWGC, but how can you refuse when you come across one that might just stand a bit of a chance. I will gather more information and submit it.

Kind Regards

Andy

Andy