Royal Fusiliers

[Yorts]

Hi,

Can anyone provide any information regarding the 10th Bn. the Royal Fusiliers? Does anyone have a copy of a battalion history or know where one is held? Specifically I'd like details of their activities after landing in France, leading up to and including their operations on the Ancre / Somme November 1916.

Thanks & Rgds,

Alex.

[Clive Harris]

Alex, the title "Stockbrokers" was given by the Lord Mayor of London though credit for suggesting the battalion be raised came from Henry Rawlingson himself in a letter to the Mayor. Within three days of late August 1914 1,600 men were recruited.

They were originally recruited from business staffs in the city but this subtitle appears to drop away by the time they reach France, they have a lovely Roll of Honour in a Brass Display case that can be found in St Michael's Church, Cornhill and this refers to them as the Stock Exchange Battalion, the original tatty Battalion Colours have disapeared from overhead within the last three months, one hopes they are being repaired. During the Great War they were to suffer 2,647 Casualties and L/Cpl Robertson was to earn the VC in April 1918.

They were initailly part of the highly successful 18 (Eastern) Division but left them whilst still on Salisbury Plain.

As part of the 37th (English) Division they landed in France in late July 1915 and saw thier first trenches while attached to the 8th RF near Frelingham. They remained in the line during the winter of 1915, notably at Ploegstreete, Armentiers and finaly in the Arras sector.

Prior to their operations on the Ancre they had arrived on the Somme on the 6 July,after which spent a brief spell at Ovillers around the 8 July, they releived the 12th Eastern Division who had just captured the remains of the village and on the 9 July they attacked towards Poziers fighting their way through the orchard sout-west of the village. They spent stints in trenches at Mametz, Bazentin le Petit, and High Wood before leaving the Somme briefly in late August 1916. By the 22 October they had arrived back on the Somme in readiness for the attack on Munich & Frankfurt Trenches.

Hope this is of help

Clive

www.frontlinelondon.com

[bmac]

There is no battalion history specific to the 10th RF. The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War by H C O'Neill covers the whole regiment.

[Chris]

Hi Alex.

It was with interest i read your post, because a great great uncle of mine, Capt Henry Hall, served with C Company 10th RF, before being wounded at Pozieres on 15th July 1916. I would agree with what Clive tells you apart from the date of the attack on Pozieres. They arrived at Bresle on the 6th July 1916, the next few days being engaged in duties around the La Boiselle / Ovilliers area such as burying parties. However on the 10th July C company supported the Rifle Brigade in an attack between La Boiselle and Pozieres. It was on the 15th July they took part in the attack on Pozieres when they reached the orchard area, suffering large casulties (11 officers and 238 OR in total )as they attacked across the fields that are between the Pozieres to Baliff Wood Road and the main Albert to Bapaume Road. See trench map 57D S.E.4 1/10 000 Edition 2B for a good idea of this area. The 16th to 19th July was spent on Usna Tara Hill , before they moved to Billets at Bresle on the 20th, where they stayed until 30th July, in this time taking in the 'Bresle Draft' of men who arrived from England via Etaples to bring the Battalion back up to strength. On the 30th they marched back to Albert and then on to Mametz as Clive says. It is here that they knowledge of thier movements cease because of Henry Halls injury forcing him back to the UK.

Good sources are the Battalion war Diary, a copy of which is at the Regimental Museum at the Tower of London (Tel: 0207048805610), i am sure they will be able to cover the later 1916 actions; or for a printed soldiers account of the July attacks look in Malcolm Browns Imperial War Museum Book of the Somme pages 127-9 and 135-6.

Regards

Chris

[Clive Harris]

Alex, Chris is entirely right with his date for the Poziers attack and I thank him for correcting me, there is no battalion history that I know of, I do have extracts from the war diary for this period, as well as the London connection I have always been intruiged by an "English" Division, its a self proclaimed title by the 37th on their memorial at Monchy.... Chris did your uncle work in the Stock Exchange prior to the war?

[Charles Fair]

This is an interesting bn, not least to me because my great uncle STK/822 Sgt. Humphrey Secretan was one of the original contingent. He worked for the Secretan insurance firm. Members of this bn were allocated service nos with the prefix STK.

The IWM has two useful sources:

1) typescript diary of Pte FC Shuter which covers the period until he was wounded in July 1916.

2) 'Extracts from the diary of Brig Gen Hon Robert White' gives a detailed daily account of the bn whilst it was under his command from Aug 14 until he was appointed to command of 184 Bde in 1916. Bobby White founded and raised the bn and was one of the Jameson Raiders from the Boer War

There are several items relating to the bn in the Tower, e.g. articles from the R Fusiliers chronicle.

'Tommy Goes To War' by Malcolm Brown has a few photos and accounts relating to this bn.

[Yorts]

Thanks for all your responses - I will endeavour to follow up as many of these leads as possible. My interest stems from STK/132 Pte. William John Jolly who was KiA with the Bn on the Ancre.

Best rgds,

Alex.

[Yorts]

Further to this thread, did the Battalion wear any insignia specific to the unit, or did they just have the standard RF capbadge and shoulder titles?

Rgsd,

Alex.

[Mike_H]

Alex

The 10th RF wore cloth patches on the sleeves in the 37th Division as part of the Division al scheme. These were a 2 1/2" x 1/2" strip of company colour worn horizontally above the divisional sign, a 2" x 2" yellow horseshoe, above a 1 3/4" diameter dark blue circle which was the battalion sign. They also wore a 1/2" high numeral 10 on the right collar only.

The company colours were A Coy - Red

B Coy - Dark blue

C Coy - Purple

D Coy - Dark green.

There is a photo in the IWM photo archive (Q1608) taken at St.Pol in November 1916 that shows the 10 and the company and battalion patches worn without the Div. sign. Similar shown in Q 5109 taken at Wagonlieu 9/4/17. I don't have a firm date when the Div. sign was added as a cloth badge but I am sure that it was in wear by late summer/autumn 1917. There may be some dispute as to the position of the strip of company colour as some battalions seem to have placed it between the Div. sign and battalion patch and some below the battalion patch.

Mike

[Yorts]

Thanks for that.

Rgds,

Alex.

[stu]

Hi,

Does anyone have a copy of the war diary for the 10th R.Fus for the period 9/7/16 to 11/7/16.

I'm also looking for photos of the original contingent,my man was Stk999.

The man I'm looking at was wounded during this period(GSW Face).

I have his medals and quite a large amount of original documentation(a lot of which is related to his time as an officer in the RE,but some is for the "Stockbrokers").I have an original leave pass and travelling instructions for Jan 1916 and Discharge certificate,also I have an original copy of the address made in 1974 by the Chairman of the OCA,this being their final meeting,the OCA was wound up on their 60th anniversary.

I can post these on the forum if anyone wants to see them,provided my wife or son shows me how to do it.

Thanks.

Stu.

[Retrac]

My Great uncle, Ernest Lionel Carter was, according to his medal card, a member of the 10th R Fus. His number was Stk 925. He went to France 31/7/15 which is the date recorded in O'Neill's History of the Fusiliers. The card records he was a Serjeant who was commissioned Lt on 29/5/18.

His CWGC memorial records that he was killed on 24/10/18 serving with the 13th R. Fus. and includes the fact that he had been awarded the MM at some time.

Was it usual to move to a different Bn when commissioned? I'm working through O'Neill to track his movements but any additional information would be gratefully received.