Capt E H Fforde

[Andy Shaw]

Were any of the Pals successful in bidding for the recent Trench maps on Ebay?

2216319443, 2216738963, 2216741848 and 2217930146

If so you may be interested in the man who owned them, Capt E H Fforde, Royal Irish Fusiliers. He joined the 1st Battalion on the 20th September 1914, subsequently transferred to the 7/8th battalion and was wounded in action on 11th August 1917 near Iberian Farm, although this wound cannot have been serious as he was back in charge of a carrying party for the action on the 17th of that month.

This picture was taken around August 1915, at ‘Little Chateau’ Acheux. HQ of the reserve battalion of the 10th Infantry Brigade.

The officer on his right is Leslie Charles Cameron Owen was born 14th May 1878, Brixton, London. At the outbreak of war he was working as an actor. He enlisted in the 17th Empire Battalion, Royal Fusiliers as a private on 9th September 1914, was promoted corporal and then Lance sergeant the next day finally ending up as sergeant on 31st December 1914. He was discharged from the Royal Fusiliers on receiving his commission in the Royal Irish Fusiliers as Temp 2nd Lieut. Promoted to Lieut March 1916, Captain in October 1917 and then Major in February 1919.

I have Major Owens medals and have been trying to trace his pre war occupation as an actor, but so far have drawn a blank; if any one can assist I would be grateful.

[kevin ley]

Andy,

My Gt. Grandfather was in the 1st Bn R.Ir. Fus and recently I went to PRO and obtained photographic copies of the photo you have plus all the other photos in the war diary folder (Aug-Sept 1915).

How did you manage to identify the people in the photo. There were some other team photos showing about 20 odd officers on the steps of the building.

Acheux makes sense to me now since the war diary recorded how in Dec 15 they had Xmas dinner at the Sucrerie in Acheux.

Many thanks for posting this.

My holy grail is to get a photo of the rank and file, even better with Gt Grandad but realise chances are slim if negligible.

Kevin.

[kevin ley]

P.S. Yes I have the book by A.R. Burrowes and also The History of the Royal Irish Fusilers published in 1972 which has a couple of photos in it.

Kevin.

[Andy Shaw]

Kevin,

A couple of year’s back I found this photo along with another annotated on the back with the names of the officers in the battalion diary at the NA. When I took them up to the desk to have them copied they insisted I wait while they found the photographic archivist. He seemed genurally surprised that the photos were still in the war diary as hardly any still exist. The actual diary was the basis for Burrows book and does contain further information that did not appear in print. I would be disappointed if the photographs are not still there but they may have been removed by the NA for safe keeping.

I keep in regular contact with the museum in Armagh who have several photographs taken by officers from the 1st Battalion unfortunately very few are named. The museum is publishing a book later this month based on the journal of Sergeant Hugh Wilson of the 1st Battalion which covers the first eight months of the war and will contain previously unpublished photos. I will look up the details and post later.

Best Regards

Andy

Andy

[kevin ley]

Great news. I shall look forward to this and will certainly buy the book when it comes out.

The photos at the NA are still in the War Diary. I have personal copies now of these. They show some team photos of the officers presumably also at the Little Chateau in Acheux. In three of the photos there are about twenty officers/men shown.

Are the photos at the Regimental Museum available to the public?

Kevin.

[Andy Shaw]

Here is the information sheet on the book; it is being launched at an evening event at the museum on September 15th to coincide with an exhibition covering the start of the war.

The museum privately published a book back in 1998 called 'Picnic to Purgatory' by Jonathan Maguire. This details the names of those soldiers of the Royal Irish Fusiliers known to have served in the BEF, along with source material such as where they were wounded, or if their name appeared in the press, relevant LG dates and if they were held as prisoners of war. I believe the museum still has some copies available.