Alfred Henry Dillimore - Service Number 12113 - 1st Bn Norfolk Regiment

[Leanne80]

Looking for information on a relative. Many thanks

Date of Birth was 05/09/1895. Killed in action 9/Oct/1917

Edited 21 March by Leanne80

[PRC]

Quick response as now heading out the door. Has surviving service records, originally served with the 7th Battalion, going out to France with them when the unit deployed overseas.
FindMyPast has three Medical Admission Register entries for him from 1916 - one as "C. Dellimore" but will turn up if you just use the search criteria keyword Norfolk and Soldier Number 12113. I don't subscribe so can't check it out further.

From The Norfolk Regiment, volume 2, 1914-1918 by F L Petre

and on October 1st moved up, partly by bus, to the front line, where it relieved the 23rd division that night. It was now part of the 10th corp. The 1st Norfolk remained with the 15th brigade in divisional reserve just east of Dickebusch Lake. The weather was again wet, which rendered this low country most obnoxious. Movements had to be made largely by "duck boards" and shell holes and craters were often the watery graves of men who fell into their depths.

The front of the 5th Division has its right about 1,000 years short of Gheluvelt on the Menin road, its left at Polygon Wood. On October 5th, when the 15th brigade moved into front line, the Norfolk battalion found themselves facing the Polderhoek Chateau, with the 1st Cheshire on their left and the 16th Warwickshire on their right.

During the next two days they had several casualties from shell fire, and on the night of the 7th moved into support trenches in front of Inverness Copse. The German position at Polderhoek Chateau has been made into one of great strength, with numerous machine guns, and "pill boxes". It had been attacked on October 4th by the other 2 brigades of the 5th Division with partial success, but the final objective had not been reached, and some of the ground gained had subsequently been lost in the great counter-attacks launched by the enemy. The 13th brigade, which the 15th now relieved, had suffered heavily in the fighting, and both sides were recovering their breath after the struggle. The Diary of the 1st Norfolk about this time contains a good many complaints of the miserable weather, and the hard labour imposed on the men by constant fatigues for improving defences, making huts in the back areas, and bringing up supplies of all sorts. On the evening of the 8th orders were received for a renewal of the attack on the Polderhoek position in the morning of the 9th.

By 4 am the battalion had moved from the support trenches to the point of assembly, under the command of Major Lambton, who reports on the action. "C" company on the right and "A" on the left were to lead the advance, with "B" in close support, and "D" in reserve ready to make counter-attacks. The early morning was very dark, with heavy rain, and there had been great difficulty in finding the way the assembly point.

As the barrage lifted at 5.20 am, the 1st Norfolk and the 16th Warwickshire, leading the advance of the 15th brigade, went forward, the latter on the right. In the darkness and rain "A" and "C" companies of the Norfolk battalion inclined too much to the right and found themselves right in front of the Chateau, instead of to the left of it. They were falling back when the officer commanding threw in "B" to reinforce them. By this time the enemy had opened a terrific cross fire of machine guns on them and the British barrage had passed forwards, leaving them unprotected. The losses under these circumstances were very heavy, and no farther progress could be made all day. Farther to the left, two platoons had also lost direction and gone leftwards, which brought one of them, after an advance of about 400 yards, in front of the 1st Cheshire on their left, where they held on all day, isolated and out of touch with the rest on their right. To add to their difficulties the men had no hot food after they started for the assembly point in the very early morning.

At 9 pm the battalion was back reorganising in its original firing line, where they were relieved between 10 and 11 pm. The casualties during this unfortunate day were:

Officers killed:
Captain L W Clements, 2nd Lieutenants W D C Sharp, F Entwhistle and Coxens

Officers wounded:
Captain Dickinson, 2nd Lieutenants C B Smith, R P Scott and Livingston

Other ranks:
killed 38, wounded 144, missing 112

The failure of the attack is attributed, in Major Lambton's report, to the exhausted condition of the men and the terrible weather. Next day, when they were back in their old position, only one officer was left to reorganize the remains of the three leading companies. Many wounded had been lying out for a long time, and stragglers continued to come in in a ghastly condition during the 10th and 11th, on which latter date the battalion was back in Berthen reorganising and training in very bad billets.
 

Cheers,
Peter

[PRC]

4 hours ago, Leanne80 said:

Looking for information on a relative. Many thanks

Apologies - now back.

Welcome to the forum What sort of information are you after on your relative?

Hopefully you are aware that the vast majority of service records went up in flames in WW2, when German bombs hit the London Warehouse where they were stored. What survived, known collectively as the "burnt records", (National Archive series WO363), were diligently sorted through and as much as possible, often singed, water damaged and obscured in places by smut, of the service records were recreated. The paperwork for Alfred is one of those reassembled records, and so it is pot luck as to what has survived.

These can be viewed via the relevant level of subscription access to FindMyPast, Ancestry or Fold3. Thise sites all offer free trials, but you do need to remember to check the cancellation terms as they still require financial details to collect fees if you don't cancel after the trial. Alternatively if you live in the UK your local public library service may well subscribe to either Ancestry or FindMyPast - sometimes both.

Unfortunately I've not looked at his records since 2015, so other than my notes taken at the time I haven't the foggiest idea now many pagers were there and what aspects of his service were covered off. At the time I was only looking at them to help work out when someone else with a nearby service number might have enlisted.

The Medical Admission Registers referred to were kept by every medical establishment along the medical evacuation chain - from the Field Ambulances just behind the front line to the Hospitals in the UK. Postwar a 5% sample was retained for statistical analysis and it is that sample that eventually made its' way to the National Archive and from there on to FindMyPast who contracted to digitise them in return. So a snapshot in time not just for the cause of his admission but also his rank and for infantrymen quite often in the early years of the war his Company. Unless the pages relating to his disciplinary record have survived information as to Company almost never crops up in these records - and as you can see from the narrative about the 1st Battalion, knowing which Company he was with can provide more insight into the circumstances of his death.

His webpage on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, (CWGC), site doesn't have Company information either. It notes him as aged 22 when he died and "Husband of Matilda Dillimore, of 94, Columbia Buildings, Bethnal Green, London". Note that would have been her contact address from the mid-1920's, so the couple may never have lived there together. Alfred has no known grave and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1629967/alfred-henry-dillimore/

The GWGC site records 44 fatalities of the 1st Battalion on the 9th October 1917. Without going through each one it's difficult to know if it's likely all 44 related to the events of the day - some may have died of wounds received earlier. But a quick look at the first few matches shows men recovered from the battlefield post-war, often identified solely by their ID discs or scraps of paper found in what remained of their uniforms. The nearby locations often gave up unknown British Soldiers, but as it was impossible to say if they were Norfolks of died in the same attack - the area was much fought over - they now lie in a grave with an identity "known only to God".

The body of Private A.J. Dix for example was recovered from the battlefield in May 1919, the same area yielding two other known Norfolks and an unknown British soldier. To the best of my knowledge to this date the latter remains unidentified. Absolutely no reason to believe it's Alfred - but he might just lie beneath one of the headstones in the likes of Hooge Crater Cemetery where the bodies were moved to.

Image courtesy the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/457862/a-j-dix/

Hope that's of interest.

Cheers,
Peter

[Leanne80]

Hi Peter,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me - its hugely appreciated. 

The information you've provided is very useful. I've recently joined ancestry so I hope to discover more. 

Yes, the census shows Alfred, Matilda and a young child living at the london address together. 

Do you have an understanding of why he would have been in a Norfolk regiment and not based closer to home in London?x

[PRC]

2 hours ago, Leanne80 said:

Do you have an understanding of why he would have been in a Norfolk regiment and not based closer to home in London?

It's a bit of an oversimplification, but with Britain joining the Great War, the War Office had to rapidly expand just to get the British Expeditionary Force across the Channel and keep it in the field. That was the priority. The vast wave of recruits enthusiastic to serve was a surprise and one the system simply wasn't prepared for and hadn't the head room \ resource to systematically address in the opening weeks.

Taking a step back, a pre-war County Regiment like the Norfolks would typically consist of:-
Two Regular Army Battalions, (1st and 2nd), one stationed in the Empire and one in the UK. The one in the Empire would be at full strength, (just over 1,000 Officers and men) while because of recruiting difficulties it was quite common the home based one had only 500-600. Most of those serving in the ranks enlisted for 12 years, split between a period in the Colours, (i.e. in uniform, in barracks, subject to military discipline 24/7, receiving full pay, board and lodging, clothing and healthcare), and a period in the Reserves, (i.e. back in civvy street, subject to military discipline only while receiving refresher trainining, receiving half pay and access to healthcare, but liable to immediate recall in the event of a national emergency such as war). The pool of Reservists should be enough ideally to bring both Battalions up to full campaigning strength and provide the initial drafts of replacements.
A Special Reservist Battalion, (3rd). A recruit to the Special Reserve signed up for six years, the first six months of which he spent in the Colours and the rest in the Reserves. In peacetime the Battalion itself was little more than an administrative centre. But in wartime it was intended that this Battalion provide drafts to the 1st and 2nd Battalions once they had exhausted their drafts, provide a training facility for new recruits and an assessment and training centre for the recovered wounded and sick of the fighting Battalions.
Various Territorial Force Battalions, (Norfolk had the 4th, 5th and 6th). A recruit signed up for 4 years defence of the home islands and attended training one night a week and at least one week of the annual camp. For additional pay a Territorial Force recruit could also sign up for the Imperial Service Obligation, to help defend the territory of the Empire in times of war. In some cases there were enough TF men signed up to allow a TF Battalion to proceed overseas to take up garrison duty to free up a Regular Army Battalion to join the fighting.

With varying numbers of Battalions and a few major exceptions this situation was replicated across the country.

So when Alfred signed up to serve in the churchyard of St Pauls in August 1914, the situation was in a state of flux. How was this vast pools of recruits going to fit into the exisitng structure and how was the enthusiasm to be maintained. Many of the Special Reservist Battalions had swollen to over 2,000 strong, and their ability to perform any of their functions like preparing drafts, training new recruits and be part of the defence of the home islands were in danger of collapse, let alone housing and feeding the men serving with them. Meanwhile Regimental Depots were stuffed to the gills with men waiting for somewhere to go, while potential instructors, (time served old soldiers lured back with one year home service only contracts) and potential officers were left twiddling their thumbs.

The obvious solution was to create new Battalions to break the various tasks into more manageable chunks and produce the building blocks for new Divisions to feed into what was clearly becoming an industrial scale war on a global scale.

Unfortunately the best brains at the War Office were not necessarily applied to the task. Any assessment of the demographic of the UK would have realised that the young male population that made for the best recruiting material was primarily from urban thriving centres. The existing Regiments that covered the major urban centres of London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and the like desperately needed many additional battalions to absorb the large pool of recruits that had come forward. But the War Office had to sanction these and instead they looked to the senior infantry regiments first - and that seniority quite often harked back to a time when a large pool of agricultural labour provided plenty of recruits.

So the Norfolk Regiment got one of the new War time Service Battalions, (the 7th), while London based units were waiting.

A London recruit like Alfred had a choice. He could wait for permission to be granted for a new Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, the Middlesex or one of the other county regiment that London formed part of, or he could take a warrant to hop straight on the train and take himself off to one of the provincial Regiments that was struggling to get enough men together to fill out their new Battalion. The prospect of subsequently transferring back to a new Battalion of a local Regiment may also have been on their mind.

A quick look at men with nearby Norfolk Regimental service numbers shows.
12114 Alfred Millard. Son of Mrs. Jane Millard, of 87, Ponsonby Buildings, Edward St., Blackfriars, London. (Commonwalth War Graves Commission,  CWGC). Born Luton, Bedfordshire, enlisted London. (Soldiers Died in the Great War, SDGW).
12118 Charles Swain. Born Winchester, Hamphire, enlisted London, (SDGW)
12119 Harold Cecil Hardy. Subsequently Commissioned so had to apply for his Medals. Medal Index Card shows in 1923 he gave a contact address of 11 Grenfell Road, Notting Hill W11.
12120 Louis Taylor. Born Stockport, Cheshire, enlisted London. (SDGW).
12123 George William Blunt. Born and resident Northampton, enlisted London. (SDGW).

Whether they knew each other before they enlisted or just travelled up together on the train we shall probably never know. There would be a strong London element to all the War Service Battalions raised by the Norfolk Regiment, and indeed in my experience those of the other County Regiments that made up southen England,

Cheers,
Peter

[Pat Atkins]

Just to support Peter's excellent and comprehensive answer (which was very instructive, thanks @PRC), recruitment to non-London county regiments was common in peacetime London too (my grandfather attested in 1906 to the 2nd Bn, South Lancashire Regiment: he came from Holborn). While infantry regiments had designated recruiting areas, I believe London was open to all - I stand to be corrected on this, however - and in any case there was a clear tradition of Londoners serving with regiments from all over the country.