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Remembered Today:

Captain A E Geary MC Sherwood Forresters


toofatfortakeoff

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I am researching this Captain who was killed in action on the Scarpe. Although I have lots of info i have no pic. HE WAS STUDYING THEOLOGY AT kELHAM when he enlisted I can of course exchange info Ta V.M. Seanio

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Hi there

Had a search around, and finally found him on the CWGC site and Soldiers Died listed as GEAREY, Capt. Albert Edward, MC, 8th battalion, Died of Wounds 17/10/18, buried Fresnoy-le-Grand Communal Cemetery Extension. Is this the chap?

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A couple of ideas.

Cliff Housley, Regimental Historian, WFR HQ, Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell

NG9 5HA. Cliff has a large collection of photo's and may be able to help.

I would also try contacting Newark Library to see what local papers are available on microfilm (assuming that you are talking of the Kelham near Newark?) and probably whichever library is local to Barton-on-Humber. There is a reasonable chance, especially for an Officer, that a local paper carried an obituary and photograph.

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[Hi and thanks a lot for all your input-he is the "Gearey " listed although there are always arguements over his name. Is the Newark College Theological?I shall check this out His brothers were all soldiers and one at least was an Army Chaplian I have yet to look into them.

Cheers Sean

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Sean

Do you have a copy of the entry for him in Du Ruvigny's RoH (Vol II, Part V)?

GEAREY, Albert Edward MC, Capt., 8th (Territorial) Battn. The Sherwood Foresters. Youngest son of Edward Gearey, of Barton-on-Humber (late Sergeant Major West Yorkshire Regt.), by his wife Agnes Anne, daughter of the later James Wharton of Farnham, Surrey; b. Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire, 17 December 1892; educ. The Municipal College, Grimsby and The House of the Sacred Mission (Theological College), Kelham; was a student for the Priesthood; volunteered for active service, and joined the West Yorkshire Regt. in Dec. 1914; received a commission and was gazetted 2nd Lieut, 8th Sherwood Foresters 16 January 1916, and died near St. Quentin 17 October 1918, of wounds received in action north-east of St. Quentin the same day. Buried in Fresnoy-le-Grand Communal Extension Cemetery.

A brother officer wrote:".....Having led his men in a brilliant and successful counter-charge in which they were able to secure all their objectives, he and his company were entrenching, when, owing to a thick fog, a party of Germans, previously un-observed, commenced firing at close range. Capt. Gearey in the act of bringing in one of his wounded men, was shot by a Hun sniper."

He was awarded the Military Cross for gallant and distinguished conduct in the field on 20 April 1917. Unmarried.

Unfortunately, no picture with his entry.

Ed

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Ed thanks yes they were brothers he was also a chaplain lived in Exeter aftre the War

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  • 7 years later...

Jus ta nupdate of this I have the grave at Fresnoy he died in the same manner as another Bartonian-carrying a wounded comrade from the field and ironically they were buried in quite close proximity. Whether they were freinds before the war or not I dont know.

Also Dad was a pre-war soldier and deeply religious family-it looks like he became the Army Chaplain-another brother went to Exeter and became ordained there post war. (Navy)

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You probably already have this information but if not:

There are mentions of a Capt A E Geary in the book about the 8th Serwood Foresters in the Great War as follows:

Roll of honour - killed: October 17th 1918 (although no 'e' in the surname, it does seem like it's the same man)

On the MC Awards list in the book

1917 Souastre area: The Battalion front remained unchanged until early in February, when we extended Northwards to include the "Crawlboys Lane" area, then held by the 138th Brigade. They had been there over Christmas...... Reinforcement Officers who joined during the period were 2nd Lieuts. C. H. S. Stephenson, A. E. Geary, and J. E. Mitchell.

Around April 19th/20th 1917: It was clear that no attempt to capture Hill 65 would be possible until the whole of Riaumont village was in our hands, and instructions to this effect were given to Capt. A. Hacking, operations to secure which were carried out on the night after relief in conjunction with the 6th Battalion on our right. The advance took place quietly in pitch darkness. Several parties of the enemy were encountered, some being killed and one captured.

By midnight the Battalion's objective had been secured, and posts established in the Railway Cutting along the Company front. In this difficult and rather uncanny work of clearing and searching the houses and cellars of the village, Lieut. Geary, Sergt. Stokes and Corpl. Brett did splendid work, for which the first-named;who was the last Officer of the Battalion to be killed, a fortnight before Armistice;was awarded the Military Cross. Later in the night the enemy opened a sudden and very heavy bombardment, and parties were seen advancing down one of the streets, but were driven off with loss. We had no casualties during this operation.

November 15th (1917), we were relieved by the 5th Leicesters, and moved back once more to support in the St. Elie sector, with Battalion Headquarters and two Companies at Philosophe, and two Companies in trenches, one in support to each of the two Battalions holding the line. This was the beginning of the last phase of this trench warfare period..... Capt. A. Bedford also went to England for a rest at the beginning of November, and Capt. Geary then took command of C Company.

March 1918: Several other changes had recently taken place....Major Cursham had taken over C Company from Capt. Geary, and Capt. C. P. Elliott had succeeded Lieut. Day in command of B Company.

The last fight October 16th 1917: During the afternoon of October 16th, a reconnaissance was made by the Commanding Officer, Second-in-Command, and Company Commanders. During this operation, which was interrupted by a fierce bombardment of our lines, an old lady could be seen quietly moving her household effects on a wheelbarrow down that portion of the Vaux-Andigny Road running between our lines and the enemy's. Leaving our surplus stores, bivouacs and other paraphernalia at Jonnecourt Farm, we moved off about 10.30 p.m., Col. Currin having previously harangued us in no uncertain way, and in a manner truly characteristic. On reaching the outskirts of Bohain, we turned off to the right and proceeded by a track previously taped out by the Royal Engineers, so as to relieve the roads of traffic, and avoid going through the town. On reaching the quarry East of Bohain, just off the Bohain-Vaux-Andigny Road, we halted, and had an excellent issue of hot porridge, tea and rum;our cookers having gone up to that point beforehand. Pack mules and limbers with ammunition and other stores, were a little further behind, but near enough to be got forward quickly if required during the battle. On this occasion the ammunition supply was well arranged, thanks to the good work of "Bedder" and "Tommy" Tomlinson, who got pack mules forward in the attack with Lewis gun "drums" just at the right moment, to the accompaniment of some very expressive language on the part of the Transport men.

We moved on again between 2 and 3 a.m., and without difficulty reached and formed up on our jumping-off line, (p. 296) which had been previously taped out by the Brigade Major, Capt. Grinling, about 70 yards South of the Bohain-Vaux-Andigny Road. We had three Companies in the front line, A (Toyne, in the absence of Thomas on leave) on the right; B (Geary) in the centre; and C (Druce) on the left; whilst D (Warner), in support behind C Company, was in the vicinity of Vallée Hasard Farm. Battalion Headquarters and the Regimental Aid Post were at a house near the road. A and B Companies each had attached half a section of Royal Engineers from the 465th Field Company. Two Companies of the 5th Battalion were in rear, and the rest of that Battalion were more or less dug in under the woods on our right. The 6th Battalion were in reserve North-West of the road. All troops were in position by 3.45 a.m. on October 17th. Our actual forming up line was in the area of the 6th Division, who had been holding the front we were attacking; they withdrew fromthis line some time before "zero" so as to give us a free course. The frontage allotted to us was about 1,200 yards, each of the leading Companies thus having approximately 400 yards. This was a long space to cover, especially now that our numbers were so diminished that we had been forced to reduce platoons to three sections instead of four. Each of the leading Companies had three platoons in the front line, with sections in blobs, and one platoon in support, whilst D Company was formed in a rectangle with a platoon at each corner, and Company Headquarters in the centre, the three sections of each platoon being arranged in a kind of arrowhead.

Zero was 5.20 a.m. The barrage came down punctually, and we started forward to our last attack. There was a certain amount of mist which developed into a dense fog, and was doubtless intensified by our own (p. 297) smoke shells. A troop of our Cavalry in the vicinity of the Vaux-Andigny road put their gas masks on, and were last seen moving along the road in that "get-up." It is pretty safe to say that everyone was lost almost immediately, and as a consequence we wandered out of our course, a fact which was destined to give us much trouble. It was also impossible to judge the lifts of the barrage, so that there was great confusion, and things for a long while did not go at all well. On this occasion, too, compasses do not appear to have proved of great avail. C Company on the left kept going for some time alright, and got possession of some high ground after overcoming, under the excellent leadership of 2nd Lieut. Druce, some opposition from machine gun nests, though some of these were missed owing to the fog. Then they wandered off in an Easterly direction and got on to the 138th Brigade area on our left, and later, when the fog cleared, they found themselves nearly at Andigny-les-Fermes. B Company in the centre went on until they were held up by unbroken wire, and heavy machine gun fire from the Regnicourt Ridge, and from a clearing in the centre of the Battalion area. Their Commander, Capt. Geary, was killed by machine gun fire after leading his men with the greatest bravery. On many previous occasions he had done excellent work, and his loss was most keenly felt. A Company on the right soon lost touch with B, but got on until they reached a position near the railway track, in spite of having had a very nasty time and many casualties from the machine guns in the same clearing.

.....During the attack we captured something like 220 prisoners, and nearly 100 machine guns, besides inflicting many other casualties. Our own losses, too, were heavy;the heaviest in Officers that we had

experienced in the recent fighting. Besides Geary, we lost 2nd Lieuts. Plant and Jacques killed, and Lieuts. Toyne and Whitelegge, and 2nd Lieut. John H. Smith wounded, whilst in other ranks we lost 25 killed or died of wounds, and 54 wounded, including Sergts. Oldham, Sharrock and Wicks.

A brave man.

Michael

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Thanks that is great very elusive but I just have the sneaking feeling that I will find a photo of him one day. Getting in touch with Kelham tomorrow. Thanks a lot for this help I shall include it in his obituary on my blog-he was a very brave man who probably owed his lack of fear to his faith which he probably believed was carrying him through the war. His Dad fought early in the War, was severely wounded and came back to the Front (this is unsubstantiated-Parish magazine-another point to clear) as an army Chaplain! His brother Edward also an army chaplain!

BTW it is the same man they spelled incorrectly on many occasions-I am sure the correct spelling is with an E. :)

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I suppose you have been to Kew to see his records if they exist? I found this useful for other research, as there may be letters from his father i.e. using the title reverend etc

Also, the Sherwood Foresters museum in Chilwell. There might be officer group or company photos with him in. Finally, the local paper for where he lived. I found some photographs and write ups very useful.

Good luck.

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Thanks Albert Gearey MC was also a Sgt in the 5th West Yorkshires and looks like he was living at Wakefield at some point so this may be where he enlisted. A Defunct Exeter solicitor might hold a clue as his estate was printed in the London Gazette. He was a Temp Gent in a battalion of KOYLI prior to going to the 1/8th Notts & Derby-ironically I interviewed one of their number many years ago on a different mission-he had to relinquish his commission at some point and that was quickly given back it seems but he did transfer shortly after regardless-bad blood? So which regiment did he win his MC with? Perhaps he just wanted to end the War with 46 division which is what the Barton upon Humber men of the 5th Lincolns were in-he is buried close to a Barton man-the generally unreliable Barton parish magazine had them both killed carrying wounded to safety. Thanks for all the help!

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It looks like his MC was for the house clearing with the 8th Notts & Derby in April 1917 mentioned above.

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Great thanks Guys Had such trouble finding the original citation! Cloudy area with the regimental change.

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  • 6 months later...

Hello again I have found not one but two of our lad Albert Edward Gearey...I have photoshopped one of them the other is yet to be done-they turned up in a gigantic scrapbook of Barton o Humber men that Mrs Welch collected and did us a grea turn in doing so-the book had almost fallen to bits when it was rescued by local historian Brian Peeps-and you can't put value on that! For info which is often wayward, his actual spelling is Geary. (That at least is how his brother spelled it in legal docs re: Albert's estate.

oops sorry mods that came out a bit big...pls forgive me!

post-6619-0-24745800-1366020342_thumb.jp

post-6619-0-96018200-1366020859_thumb.jp

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The earlier one is taken when He was a staff sgt before he got his commission-it looks a little bit unlike the commissioned one-it is always possible the HDM or Lincs Times boobed-as they often did.

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  • 2 years later...
Guest JohnCC351

Good day to you! I guess I am addressing "toofatfortakeoff" or V.M. Seanio. . . ?

I have to acknowledge that you started this thread 11 years ago, and have had thousands of contacts, probably by now more than enough photographs of Captain AE (Bert) Geary!

However I just came across this Forum and your request for Photos, as I was search for informatioin about a fellow Kelham student - 2nd Lt. Wm. Curtis Bolton MC - a close friend of Capt Geary.

However in reading through letters, and studying the photographs I do have a number of photos of these two chums together, as well as Geary's pencil handwritten letter to my grandmother giving verbatim the details of his MC Citation & the award ceremony, and a letter from his mother, Agnes A. Geary, giving my grandmother the address of Bert's grave in Frenoy-le-Grand, St. Quentin.

I have just returned from Thiepval area, researching the activities of my Uncle Curtis, and his last hours on the morning of 01 July, 1916 as part of the advance of the 8th Yorks & Lancs.

I will be returning to the area in May, as well as expecting to attend some the Remembrance Centenary Celebrations (right word?) on 01 July.

Not sure if you are still interested in following up on this story, but I had intended to visit Frenoy-L-G to pay my respects at Capt Geary' grave.

I could send you an up-to-date photo if you would be interested.

For my part, I know that Curtis was 26 when he died on 01-07-1916, but I have no exact birthdate.

Perhaps among Bert's things there may be mention of a Birthday celebration, or a date?

Curtis' body was found on 08 July by H. Whitworth of Pontefract, who in a letter to my Grandmother, describes having buried the body near 'The Nab' in a "Listening Post which ran towards the enemy trenches." The Nab can be clearly seen in the Daily Mail Trench Maps of the time, as well as GPS Coordinates obtained using the Tool at

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2676663/Google-WWI-View-Explore-First-World-War-trenches-watch-Western-Front-evolve-Germans-Allies-forged-attacks.html

(select 'WW1 Trench Maps' and 'Map Series 57D.SE4 of 27 April 1916'.)

Unfortunately that phase of the Somme battles raged for 3 or 4 months, and apparently Curtis' remains were never recovered, and are among the thousands who were never given a proper burial, or final resting place. However he is listed on the pillars on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing.

For this reason, I am searching for anyone who might have a military map of the area locating the Listening Post where Curtis was buried.

I suppose that there is still a chance of locating the place where he is buried.

As I recently saw, the area where the 8th Y&L were based that morning has an old barbed-wire strand and 'Danger' notices warning the unwary to stay away.

During my recent visit I talked to a couple of hunter-farmers who told me that soldiers remains are still being turned up as well as unexploded shells (I saw 4 them for myself - presumably the infamous 'duds').

Although I now live in Switzerland, I will be in Wales at the end of March (for Rugby 6 Nations) and would be happy if we can meet.

Not sure if Forum rules permit my giving you my eMail address: inscribe(at)bluewin.ch - but I guess it would be the only practical way of exchanging phone numbers etc.

Hope that works.

Hope to hear from you and anyone else who can shed light on either Capt. Geary or Lt. Wm. Curtis Bolton via this excellent Forum.

Regards = John

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  • 2 weeks later...

John a meet up would be brilliant I am replete with some good photos of Gearys l.r.p. At Fresnoy. You can email me at barton.company@yahoo.co.uk for further info or inbox me here (sporadic but will keep an eye) cheers Sean

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