Horace Topps

[Guest Hill 60]

SDGW:

13330 Rifleman Horace Topps

21st Bn KRRC

Born & Lived: Sutton, Surrey

Enlisted: Kingston-on-Thames

Killed in Action

Formerly: T/36473 RASC

[Guest Hill 60]

CWGC:

Name: TOPPS, HORACE

Initials: H

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Rifleman

Regiment: King's Royal Rifle Corps

Unit Text: 21st Bn.

Age: 24

Date of Death: 11/01/1918

Service No: 13330

Additional information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Topps, of Sutton, Surrey.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 2. Row A. Grave 4.

Cemetery: GIAVERA BRITISH CEMETERY, ARCADE

Country: Italy

Locality: unspecified

Location Information: The town of Giavera is in the Province of Treviso. It is 12 kilometres east of Montebelluna and 14 kilometres west of Conegliano on the main road between the two places. Giavera British Cemetery is 500 metres north-west of the town close to the church.

Historical Information: The Italians entered the war on the Allied side, declaring war on Austria, in May 1915. Commonwealth forces were at the Italian front between November 1917 and November 1918. On 4 December 1917, the X1th and XIVth Corps relieved the Italians on the Montello sector of the Piave front, with the French on their left. The Montello sector acted as a hinge to the whole Italian line, joining that portion facing north from Mount Tomba to Lake Garda with the defensive line of the River Piave covering Venice, which was held by the Third Italian Army. The Commonwealth troops on the sector were not involved in any large operations, but they carried out continuous patrol work across the River Piave, as well as much successful counter battery work. In January 1918, an additional sector of the defence on the right was taken over by the Commonwealth troops. Between December and March the Royal Flying Corps carried out a large number of successful raids on enemy aerodromes, railway junctions, and other objectives. In March 1918, the Commonwealth troops on the Montello sector were relieved. Three Divisions (7th, 48th and 23rd) took over the Asiago sector in the mountains north of Vicenza, and two Divisions (5th and 41st) were despatched to France. In October, the 7th and 23rd Divisions were withdrawn from the Asiago Plateau to take over the northern portion of the X1th Italian Corps front from Salletuol to Palazzon, on the River Piave. These Divisions took a prominent part in the Passage of the Piave (23 October-4 November 1918) during the final Battle of Vittorio-Veneto. On 4 November the Armistice came into effect, and active hostilities ceased. Men who died in defending the Piave from December 1917, to March, 1918, and those who fell on the west of the river during the Passage of the Piave, are buried in this cemetery. GIAVERA BRITISH CEMETERY contains 417 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. Within the cemetery stands the GIAVERA MEMORIAL, which commemorates more than 150 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in Italy in 1917 and 1918 and whose places of burial are unknown.

No. of Identified Casualties: 415

[Guest Pete Wood]

Horace Topps was the first man to be killed in 1918, from 21 KRRC. But he was the second batallion casualty at this new theatre.

I am probably reading the wrong page because, to me, the Long, Long Trail does not appear to show 21 KRRC going to Italy.....??

21st (Service) Battalion (Yeoman Rifles)

Formed in September 1915 from volunteers from the farming communities of Yorkshire, Northumberland and Durham,by the Northern Command. January 1916 : attached to 124th Brigade, 41st Division. 16 March 1918 : disbanded in France.

[Guest Pete Wood]

Horace Topps was born and lived in the Epsom district of Surrey; probably best known for horse racing.

The following probably show the marriage date of his father (and Uncle?), plus the births of his siblings (and cousins).

The name Topps is not that common in the south, and is more usually to be found much further north of the country.

Marriages Sep 1881

Topps John

Births Mar 1889

Topps Ann Elizabeth

Marriages Sep 1890

Topps George

Births Jun 1892

Topps Herbert George

Births Dec 1893

Topps Horace

Births Jun 1895

Topps Elizabeth Kate

Births Jun 1897

Topps Charles Edgar

Births Mar 1901

Topps Ethel May

Marriages Dec 1901

Topps Ernest Alfred

Births Jun 1903

Topps Agnes Louisa

Topps Helena Louisa