Tank Corps 'B' Bn - Pte Frederick William BAILEY MM

[Gary Samson]

A friend of mine in the Woodchurch Local History Society has recently discovered a relative, 76037 Pte Frederick William BAILEY, who served in 'B' Battalion of the Tank Corps. From the online MICs it appears he had a varied military career, serving in the Royal Fusiliers and then the Army Cyclist Corps before joining the Tank Corps. Somewhere along the line he earned himself a Military Medal. I'm planning to visit Kew on 9 December to follow up some of these loose threads but in the meantime any information on Frederick BAILEY would be enormously appreciated.

Gary

[Stebie9173]

His M.M. was with the Army Cyclist Corps:

London Gazette 11-10-1916

1269 Sjt. F. W. Bailey, A. Cyclist Corps.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...;selHonourType=

Not sure where the Sergeant comes from though!

Medal card of Bailey, Frederick W

Corps Regiment No Rank

1st Royal Fusiliers L/9204 Private

Army Cyclist Corps 1260 Private

Army Cyclist Corps 1269 Private

Tank Corps 76037 Private

Steve.

[Gary Samson]

His M.M. was with the Army Cyclist Corps:

London Gazette 11-10-1916

1269 Sjt. F. W. Bailey, A. Cyclist Corps.

Thanks ever so much for this, Steve. You obviously have a magic touch with the London Gazette search engine!

Gary

[Verrinder Ian]

Gary,

I was very interested to see your post about Fredrick William Bailey because I have been doing a lot of research relating to B Battalion, Tank Corps, in general, and the action of 23/11/17 in particular. You probably know that this was the action in which Bailey was killed.

The information I have on Bailey is a follows:

Born: Bethnal Green

Enlisted: Hounslow

Previously in the Royal Fusiliers: No 9204

Killed: 23/11/17 and listed on the Louverval Memorial to the Missing.

I believe that Sargent F.W. Bailey was a member of the crew of Tank B28 BLACK ARROW on 23/11/17. This is because I have seen a copy of a No.5 Company crew list (dated 10/11/17) and his surname appears in this crew (no initials though). As he is shown as killed in the action of 23/11/17 I believe that this is correct.

Tank B28 entered Fontaine at the head of No.6 Section and was commanded by 2/Lt J.O Evans. I strongly believe that Section Commander Lt. W.J.G Birnie was also on board but this is not substantiated. The whole crew apart from one man were listed as killed following the action. The other man was intrigingly listed as missing and as he is not shown as killed anywhere I believe that he was captured. His name was G. Hackney (No. 200304).

The Tank is well photographed and pictures of it are available on the forum: just enter "Fontaine" on the photographs section of the Western Front thread. It was photographed by the Germans and is shown next to a big house which still stands to this day. The thing that always puzzles me is that the tank does not looked damaged yet nearly all the crew died.

I would really like to know anything you have relating to Bailey, as it might help me flesh out the picture I'm building up of B Battalion. If you want any more details just let me know.

Regards,

Ian.

[Gary Samson]

Hi Ian,

I thought (actually, more hoped) I might get your interest having read elsewhere on the forum of your research into 'B' battalion. Enormous thanks for this. I'm not sure I'm going to be much help to you just at the moment. Frederick Bailey is a recent discovery, my friend inherited a family bible which contained a reference to his death. Currently, all we have is basic genealogical information on him (date of birth, 1891 and 1901 census entries, marriage, outline family tree), I imagine you probably already have much of this. If not, do let me know. Your strong suspicion that he was a member of the crew of B28 is extremely helpful indeed and gives us something to focus on for his later military service.

Thanks again, Ian.

Gary

[Verrinder Ian]

Gary,

I would certainly be interested to know more about Fredrick Bailey's family background. All I have at the moment is what is printed in the Soldiers Died book for the Tank Corps. I'd also like to know how he won his MM.

Regards,

Ian.

[keithhenrywright]

Hello, I have just joined this site having (at a whim) googled my great uncle Sjt (as it was in 1917) Fred William Bailey MM. I was astounded to see his name appear and then that he was the topic of a small chat on this forum some three years ago.

This year I went to Cambrai and with the help of a French author phisically retraced Will's (as he was known in the family) final hours from where he had his last brreakfast to where his tank, Black Arrow was knocked out at the upper end of the high street in Notre Dame Fontaine.

During that breakfast which amongst other things contained some tinned grouse sent from Blighty and a wee dram, Will asked Lt Brinnie how come he was so calm at a time like this? The Lt replied that the worst that could happen was that they would be killed!! Will was rather perplexed I believe. This was taken from the writings of another present trooper who survived the battle.

Will was apparrently a bit of a wag. At the end of his last leave before being killed his mother said she would be glad to see the back of him (in a friendly sort of way) so he went out the door and up the street backwards so she never saw his back again.

Although I am now the custodian of the MM (passed down by his sister, my grandmother as I was a soldier myself at the time) we do not have the citation unfortunately. All we have is a cutting from the Tottenham Herald briefly describing what he had done. Apparrently he went through the wire and brought in some wounded Toms after an attack under fire. He also organised the processimg of some German prisioners. If anyone has any further information about his MM I would really appreciate it.

I have a couple of photo's of him (one from service in Natal circa 1912) and some letters.

I would be happy to hear from anyone who has an interest in him.

[keithhenrywright]

Gary,

I was very interested to see your post about Fredrick William Bailey because I have been doing a lot of research relating to B Battalion, Tank Corps, in general, and the action of 23/11/17 in particular. You probably know that this was the action in which Bailey was killed.

The information I have on Bailey is a follows:

Born: Bethnal Green

Enlisted: Hounslow

Previously in the Royal Fusiliers: No 9204

Killed: 23/11/17 and listed on the Louverval Memorial to the Missing.

I believe that Sargent F.W. Bailey was a member of the crew of Tank B28 BLACK ARROW on 23/11/17. This is because I have seen a copy of a No.5 Company crew list (dated 10/11/17) and his surname appears in this crew (no initials though). As he is shown as killed in the action of 23/11/17 I believe that this is correct.

Tank B28 entered Fontaine at the head of No.6 Section and was commanded by 2/Lt J.O Evans. I strongly believe that Section Commander Lt. W.J.G Birnie was also on board but this is not substantiated. The whole crew apart from one man were listed as killed following the action. The other man was intrigingly listed as missing and as he is not shown as killed anywhere I believe that he was captured. His name was G. Hackney (No. 200304).

The Tank is well photographed and pictures of it are available on the forum: just enter "Fontaine" on the photographs section of the Western Front thread. It was photographed by the Germans and is shown next to a big house which still stands to this day. The thing that always puzzles me is that the tank does not looked damaged yet nearly all the crew died.

I would really like to know anything you have relating to Bailey, as it might help me flesh out the picture I'm building up of B Battalion. If you want any more details just let me know.

Regards,

Ian.

Ian, when I was with my French host, at the end of our visit he gave me a copy of a rare photo of Black Arrow taken in the afternoon probably an hour or two after being knocked out. Most of the photos of Black Arrow were taken some time after the event perhaps even a couple of weeks later. My photo shows various buildings and a telegraph pole still standing, whereas in the later photo's they were all either flattened or at least badly damaged.

We believe the tank may have been attacked from above as there was a small German field gun mounted at first floor level during the encounter which proved very effective along with the AA guns mounted on the back of trucks at the top end of the main street.

My host who is an authority on the whole battle and equipment believes that a relatively small HE projectile hit the tank and detonated inside. Within the confines of the tank this would have been devistating and probably caused a subsequent flashover which needless to say was terminal to those inside.

He also states that at the top (north east) end of the village (ND Fontaine) at the end of the war some Canadian Pioneer Corps dug up a mass grave containing a number of B Battalion troops. These where possible were later re-interned in a proper WW1 graveyard that I can show you if you want. Identification of individuals was not possible by this time but I like to think my uncle was amongst those re-interned.