Great War Lives Lost

We died 100 years ago in the War to end all War
August 14, 2017

Wednesday 15 August 1917 We Lost 1,642

Thomas Crisp VC

The Smacks Nelson (Skipper Thomas Crisp age 41) and Ethel & Millie (Skipper Charles William Manning age 45) are engaged in fishing when they are attacked by gunfire from UC-63. The gear on Nelson are let go and the submarine’s fire is returned. The submarine’s fourth shot goes through the port bow just below the waterline, and the seventh shell strikes the skipper partially disemboweling him, and passes through the deck and out through the side of the ship. In spite of the terrible nature of his wound Skipper Crisp retains consciousness, and his first thought is to send off a message that he is being attacked and giving his position. He continues to command his ship until the ammunition is almost exhausted and the smack is sinking. He refuses to be moved into the small boat when the rest of the crew (including his son) are obliged to abandon the vessel as she sinks, his last request is that he might be thrown overboard. After Nelson is sunk, UC-63 turns its attention to Ethel & Millie which is soon hit and stopped, then sunk by gunfire her skipper and six ratings being lost. According to the younger Thomas Crisp, the crew are picked up by the submarine, and last seen lined up on the foredeck. No survivors are found, only a pigeon message picked up saying she was being attacked by a U-boat. It is suggested they were drowned when the U-boat submerged. For his action Skipper Crisp will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

British troops deliver a new attack against the enemy positions around Lens in which Canadians take Hill 70. On the northwest side of Lens the enemy’s positions are penetrated to a depth of 500 to 1,500 yards. The villages of Cite St Elizabeth, Cite St Emile, Cite St Laurent, the Bois Rase and the western half of BoisHugo are captured.

  • Captain Arthur Hilgrove Bibby (British Columbia Regiment) is killed in action at age 33. He is the son of the Reverend Isaac Bibby.
  • Two members of the Vancouver Police Department are killed together serving in the British Columbia Regiment. Sergeant Reginald Lemon is killed at age 24 while Private Ernest Scarlett is killed at age 38.  Both men are memorialized on the Vimy Memorial.
  • Corporal Frederick George Toogood (British Columbia Regiment) is killed at age 29. His brother was killed in November 1916.
  • Private Gildart Jackson Walker (British Columbia Regiment) is killed in action at age 36. He is the son of the late Reverend G C Walker.
  • Private Walter Cade (British Columbia Regiment) dies on service at age 26. His brother will be killed in August 1918.
  • Private Walter Theodore Slater (British Columbia Regiment) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend Henry Horrocks Slater Rector of Thornbaugh.
  • Private Robert Charles Houghton (Central Ontario Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in October 1918.
  • Private Albert Denslow (Central Ontario Regiment) is killed. His two brothers will also lose their lives in the Great War the first on Gallipoli serving with the Australian Infantry and the second in one week serving in the Somerset Light Infantry. Three brothers killed in the service of three countries.
  • Private Reginald Hubert Hamilton Daniel (Quebec Regiment) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of the Reverend Canon A W Daniel.
  • Private John MacKenzie Bow (Alberta Regiment) is killed in action at age 54. He was the 1886 Scottish one-mile bicycle champion and former President of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association.
  • Private Ralph Neill Bain (Alberta Regiment) is killed in action at age 27. His younger brother was killed in action in May 1916.
  • Gunner John Douglas Seller (Canadian Field Artillery) is killed at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend Johnson Seller.
  • Private Gordon Keith Beach (Nova Scotia Rifles) is killed at age 19. His brother will be killed in August 1918.
  • Private Charles David Fisher (Highlanders of Canada) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed in May 1915.

Today’s losses include:

  • One of three brothers killed in the service of three countries, Australia, Canada and The United Kingdom
  • A Victoria Cross winner
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • Two members of the Vancouver Police Department
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • The 1886 Scottish one mile bicycle champion and former President of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association
  • A battalion commander
  • A keen oarsman and winner of the ‘silver sculls’
  • A wind/half back for Aston Villa
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Victor Augustine Flower DSO (commanding 13th London Regiment) is killed at age 40. He is the son of the late ‘Sir’ William Flower.
  • Lieutenant Clive Goulding Moore (Royal Fusiliers attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed in action flying over the German lines at age 21. He was a keen oarsman, and while at Radley won several rowing trophies, including the “silver sculls”.
  • Lieutenant Holroyd Birkett-Barker (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed on Salonika at age 30. He is the son of Tom Birkett-Barker JP.
  • Flight Sub Lieutenant Maurice Nelson Baron (Royal Naval Air Service), the son of the Reverend Canon Charles William Baron-Suckling is also killed on this day, dying at age 18.
  • Sergeant Harry Meins (Gordon Highlanders) is killed at age 27. He is the adopted son of the Reverend H P Napier-Clarering.
  • Corporal Charles Sheffield (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 20. His brother was killed in September 1915.
  • Lance Corporal Thomas Frederick Woodcock (Leicestershire Regiment) dies of wounds. His brother was killed in May 1915.
  • Private George Cooper (Lincolnshire Regiment) is killed at age 27. His brother was wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and will die of those wounds in May 1920.
  • Gunner James Anderson (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 35. His brother was killed in April 1915.
  • Private Thomas Barber (Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry) is killed at age 30. He was a winger/half back for Aston Villa.
  • Private Luke Joseph Hartigan (Munster Fusiliers) is killed. His brother will be killed in November.
  • Rifleman Francis Killips (Irish Rifles) is killed at age 22. His brother was killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme.
  • Gunner Walter Scowcroft (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed in October.
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August 13, 2017

Tuesday 14 August 1917 We Lost 766

HMS Prize

HMS Prize (Lieutenant Commander William Edward Sanders VC DSO RNR) a topsail schooner commissioned by the Royal Navy as a Q-ship is again on patrol, this time with an escorting British submarine, D8, which remains submerged and only makes contact with Prize at night under cover of darkness. During the previous day Prize twice sights a German periscope, but the submarine does not surface. The commander of the submarine, UB48, having checked the Prize’s course and speed, waits until the moon rises and stalks her for a torpedo attack. At 01:30 this morning, the escorting British submarine sees Prize blow up in the Irish Sea and is unable to find any survivors among her crew of twenty-seven. The schooner had been captured from the Germans in 1914 in the English Channel and subsequently sold only to be hired in 1917.  It was originally the Else, and renamed on capture the ‘First Prize’.

The motor fishing yawl Jane S pulls in its nets which contain a mine which then explodes killing Skipper Andrew Henderson age 53 and his two sons Engine Driver Alexander Henderson age 27 and Boat Hand Andrew Henderson age 27. Two other crew men are killed including Second Hand Thomas Boyter age 55 as the Jane sinks. His son Private Alexander Boyter was killed by a shell burst in May of last year.

Two brothers are killed when SS Thames (Master John Gatenby Carling, age 51) goes missing. She departed Middlesbrough for Fecamp with a cargo of pig iron today and nothing more is heard of her and she is posted as missing/untraced on 21st November 1917. It is later discovered that she was sunk with all hands by gunnery from the German submarine UC-63.  Of her crew of twelve brothers Cook Arthur Brew Rosser is lost at age 24 as his brother Mate Benjamin is 26.

Lady Atkin the wife of Justice James Richard Atkin loses both her son and her brother on the same day at the crossing of the Steenbeck. Lieutenant Richard Walter Atkin (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 20 while Lieutenant Maurice Hemmant (Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 28.

Today’s losses include:

  • A Victoria Cross winner
  • A man killed with his two sons
  • A man whose son was killed earlier this year
  • Multiple brothers killed together
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • A woman who will lose her son and her brother together
  • The son and brother-in-law of a jurist
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • A footballer and hurler with the Taghmon GAA Club

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Stephen Gordon Harbord MC (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of the Reverend Harry Harbord.
  • Lieutenant William Buckworth (Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 40. His brother was killed in May 1915 on Gallipoli.
  • Second Lieutenant Thomas Robert Grosvenor (London Regiment) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of the Reverend Frederick L Grosvenor.
  • Lance Corporal William Robert Burnell (Rifle Brigade) is killed in action at age 35. He is the middle of three brothers who are killed in the war.
  • Private Michael Cooper MM (Irish Regiment) dies of wounds received in action. He is a keen hurler and football player with the Taghmon GAA Club and his brother was killed in May 1915.
  • Private Lawrence Barnes (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed. His brother will be killed in April next year.
  • Signaller Peter Mowat (British Columbia Regiment) is killed on Hill 70. His brother will die of wounds in October 1918.
  • Private Michael MM (Manitoba Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in August 1918.
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August 12, 2017

Monday 13 August 1917 We Lost 525

Cap badge of the Middlesex Regt

Today’s losses include:

  • The great grandson of a Baronet
  • A man related to the assassinated Airey Neave
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • Multiple families that will lose two son in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Edward Harold Lomax (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed in action at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend Edward Lomax.
  • Second Lieutenant Maurice Charles Thornton Bate (London Regiment) is killed at age 19. He is the son of the Vicar of Chittlehampton.
  • Corporal William James Hall (Suffolk) is killed at age 21. His half brother was killed last month.
  • Private Charles Baden Drury Powell (Middlesex Regiment) is killed on the Somme at age 26. His brother will be killed next July.
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August 11, 2017

Sunday 12 August 1917 We Lost 552

Elizabeth Mary West & Gladys

Eleven Gothas raid Southend and Margate killing 32 and injuring 46. Among the dead are Mrs. Elizabeth Mary West age 55 and her 13 year old daughter Gladys. They will be buried in the same grave. Ironically her three sons all are in the Army and all survive the war. Lieutenant Harold Spencer Kerby (Royal Naval Air Service) attacks hostile machines returning from the raid on England. One hostile machine is driven down by him to the water where it is observed to turn over.

Captain Arthur W Keen (Royal Flying Corps) observes three enemy two-seaters at which he dives when patrolling east of Oppy.  One of the German machines turns and flies towards his Nieuport so Captain Keen loops over the German aircraft and opens fire when diving down, and the right hand planes of the enemy aircraft fold back, after which it falls and crashes.

HMS Oracle (Lieutenant Commander A Grendon Tippet) rams and sinks a German submarine the day after she was damaged by a Q-ship.

Today’s losses include:

  • A mother and her daughter killed in Gotha raid
  • The son of a General
  • A Canadian journalist
  • Son of a Jurist
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • A man whose son will be killed in the Second World War
  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Claude William Treherne (Assistant Director of Medical Services Royal Army Medical Corps) dies of wounds received at Wytschaete on 31st July at Etaples at age 28. He is the son of Major General ‘Sir’ Francis Treherne KCMG.
  • Lieutenant ‘The Honorable’ James Logan (East African Intelligence Department) is killed in action.
  • Lieutenant Gilbert Thomas Richardson Pettigrew (Herefordshire Regiment attached Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed. He is a journalist on the staff of Winnipeg Telegram and Montreal Daily Mail.
  • Lieutenant Eric Wier Mason (South African Heavy Artillery) is killed in action at age 26. He is the son of Judge Mason, Pretoria, South Africa.
  • Lieutenant Christopher Godfrey Guy (Northamptonshire Regiment) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war at age 23. He is the only son of the Reverend Frederic Godfrey Guy Vicar of Manea.
  • Sergeant John Winship Bewick (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 35. His son with the same name will lose his life serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War.
  • Corporal Charles Gordon Stuart-Cox (Gloucestershire Regiment) is gassed to death one year after his brother was killed in action. They are sons of the Reverend Charles Edward Cox and dies at age 25.
  • Gunner Lewis Henry Burrowes (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 40. His two brothers were killed in the first 6 months of the war.
  • Gunner Joseph Edward Hickson (Royal Horse Artillery) is killed at age 21. His brother will be killed in December.
  • Private Robert George Shorter (Middlesex Regiment) is killed. His brothers have been already killed in the war.
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August 10, 2017

Saturday 11 August 1917 We Lost 739

Harold Ackroyd VC

A Q-ship damages the German submarine U-44 with gunfire (see the following day).

Heavy German forces counter-attack positions captured yesterday.

Brigadier General Ronald Campbell Maclachlan DSO, General Officer Commanding 112th Brigade, 37th Division is killed in action at age 45.  He is shot by a sniper about 07:00 while going around the trenches in the Oosttaverne sector.  He is the son of the Reverend A Campbell.  A brother was accidentally killed in 1908 during the Mohmand Expedition on the Northwest Frontier and another will be killed in March 1918.

Today’s losses include:

  • A Brigadier General
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • A man whose lost a brother on the Northwest Frontier in 1908 and another will be killed next year
  • A battalion commander
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace
  • A man whose had made his wife a widow for the second time in the Great War
  • A man whose son will be born next January
  • A Victoria Cross winner
  • A journalist
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • A Military Chaplain
  • A man whose fiancé will be killed later this year

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Alfred Brooke Alston (Northamptonshire Regiment commanding 10th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 40. He is the son of Surgeon Major William Evelyn Alston JP and he served in the South African War.
  • Major George Bernard Stratton (Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) is killed at Coxyde at age 40. His wife is the widow of Captain Percy Yarborough Harakness who was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and she will give birth to Major Stratton’s son in January of next year.
  • Captain Harold Ackroyd VC MC (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Royal Berkshire Regiment) is killed in action in Glencorse Wood, Ypres at age 40. Ten days earlier he performed deeds at Ypres that will win him the Victoria Cross.
  • Lieutenant Frederick John Munro (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed in action at age 33. He is a journalist, had received an MA at St Andrew’s University and is the son of the Reverend Robert Munro.
  • Lieutenant Harold Jackson Snowden (South Lancashire Regiment attached Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed in England. His brother was killed last March in Palestine.
  • Cadet Lionel Reginald Walker (Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed in Canada at age 18. He is the son of the Reverend Reginald Edmund Walker.
  • Chaplain Geoffrey Maynard Evans MC is killed in action at age 35.
  • Company Sergeant Major Ronald Jennings (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 29. His brother was killed in September 1916.
  • Corporal Walter Bulldeath (Rifle Brigade) is killed in action at age 29. His brother was killed in December 1914.
  • Gunner John Hamilton Nisbet (Royal Field Artillery) dies of wounds received in action at age 23. His intended wife will also be killed a few months later.
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August 9, 2017

Friday 10 August 1917 We Lost 1,185

Edward Unsworth Green

A British attack east of Ypres captures the village of Westhock and secures the entire Westhock Ridge while other troops establish themselves in Glencorse Wood.

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
  • The son of a member of the clergy
  • A grandson of two Baronets
  • A man whose cousin was killed accidentally in 1915

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Edward Unsworth Green MC (North Lancashire Regiment) is killed at age 37. He is the final of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.
  • Lieutenant Richard Evans (Sherwood Foresters) dies of wounds at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Arthur Evans.
  • Lieutenant Ronald Bayly Craven Kennedy (Dublin Fusiliers) dies of wounds at age 21. He is the grandson of both ‘Sir’ Charles Edard Bayley Kennedy 2nd Baronet and ‘Sir’ John Craven Carden 4th
  • Second Lieutenant Ernest Hartley Savory (West Surrey Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother was killed last February.
  • Rifleman Alfred Edward Bass (London Regiment) is killed at Glencorse Wood east of Ypres at age 29. His brother was killed in July 1916.
  • Private Frederick Cole (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 36. His brother will be killed in April 1918.
  • Private Maurice Townsend (Northamptonshire Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brother will be killed in April 1918.
  • Private Thomas Thomason (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 21. His brother will be killed in July 1918.
  • Private Ernest Want (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. His cousin was killed in July 1915 from accidental rifle discharge wounds.
  • Private John William Hicks (West Surrey Regiment) is killed at age 29. His brother will be killed next August.
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August 8, 2017

Thursday 9 August 1917 We Lost 740

Fourth Son Lost

The destroyer HMS Recruit (Lieutenant Hugh G Troup) is sunk by a mine in the North Sea. Fifty three members of the crew including Engineer Lieutenant Commander Maurice James Rogers Sharp DSO are killed.  Commander Sharp is 35 and the son of Engineer Rear Admiral W Sharp.

Today’s losses include:

  • The son of an Admiral
  • Multiple sons of Justices of the Peace
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • A man whose three brothers were killed together in October 1916

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant George McFarquahar Kelly-Lawson (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 20. He is the son of Dermot Owen Kelly-Lawson JP.
  • Second Lieutenant Hugh Braddish Billings (Royal Flying Corps) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war shortly after being shot down near Poelcappelle at age 20. He is the son of Hugh Braddish Billings JP.
  • Lance Corporal Hilary Thompson (Essex Regiment) is killed in action at age 25. His older brother was killed last February.
  • Corporal Thomas Brindley MM (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 24. His brother will be killed in December.
  • Private Edward Parker McGee (Northumberland Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 25. His three brothers were all killed on 12 October 1916.
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August 7, 2017

Wednesday 8 August 1917 We Lost 565

Chaplain 4th Class Frank Robert Harbord

 

Today’s losses include:

  • Multiple battalion commanders
  • A Military Chaplain
  • The son of a member of the clergy
  • The grandson of a member of the clergy

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Lieutenant Colonel George Herbert St Hill (Royal North Devon Hussars) is killed at age 52. He is the son of Reverend Canon Woodford St Hill and commanded the 6th Lincolnshire Regiment at the evacuation of Suvla Bay.
  • Lieutenant Gerald Arthur Hervey (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 36. He is the grandson of the Right Reverend Lord Arthur Charles Hervey.
  • Chaplain Frank Robert Harbord (attached 25th Division) dies on active service at age 49. He is the Vicar of Dunchurch.
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August 6, 2017

Tuesday 7 August 1917 We Lost 676

Edwin Harris Dunning

Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning DSC (Royal Naval Air Service) is killed at age 25 attempting to land his Sopwith Pup on a moving ship, five days after become the first pilot to perform this act.  He is the son of ‘Sir’ Edwin Harris Dunning.

Brigadier General Francis Earl Johnston CB, General Officer Commanding 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade, New Zealand Division is killed in action at age 45.  While visiting front line outposts in the early morning he is instantly killed when hit by a sniper’s bullet.  His brother was killed on the first day of the Battle of Somme serving in the Middlesex Regiment). They are sons of ‘Sir’ Charles John Johnston Kt Speaker of the New Zealand Legislative Council and have a brother-in-law Major Levin who died of wounds at the end of the Gallipoli campaign.

Today’s losses include:

  • A Brigadier General
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
  • A family that will lose four sons all serving in the Royal Artillery
  • The son of the Speaker of the New Zealand Legislative Council
  • A man who will lose a brother and a brother-in-law
  • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
  • The only lost son of a family that had eight sons serve

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain John Morgan Thorburn (Royal Fusiliers) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend William John Thorburn.
  • Captain Charles Humphrey Bayley (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed at age 37. He is the son of the Reverend C J Bayley.
  • Second Lieutenant Frank Ashton Lane (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action during an attack on Hooge. His brother in law will be killed in action in March 1918.
  • CQMS George Newell (Irish Rifles) is killed at ag e26 becoming the third brother who is killed in the war.
  • Lance Corporal Andrew Nathaniel Wadham Spens (Essex Regiment) dies at home at age 45. He is the son of the Archdeacon of Lahore.
  • Corporal Wheeler Alfred Victor Boulton (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 24. He is one of eight brothers who served.
  • Private Archibald Wright (Norfolk Regiment) is killed at age 24. His brother will die of wounds in October of next year.
  • Sapper William John Bloxsome (Royal Engineers) dies of illness on Salonika. His brother will be killed in action later this month.
  • Sergeant Charles Bourner (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 26. He is the last of four brothers who are killed over a four month period. All three men served in the Royal Artillery.
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August 5, 2017

Monday 6 August 1917 We Lost 643

The British line advances south-west and west from Lens.

Today’s losses include:

  • A New Zealand Rugby International
  • The son of a Justice of the Peace
  • The son of the 4th Earl of Minto
  • The son of an Admiral
  • A Wiltshire Constable
  • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

  • Captain Maurice George Trousdell (Army Service Corps) is killed at age 33. His brother was killed as a passenger on SS Falaba when she was sunk in March 1915.
  • Lieutenant Andrew Beaconsfield Ross (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Royal Irish Rifles) is killed in action at age 39. His is the son of James Ross JP.
  • Lieutenant ‘the Honorable’ Gavin William Esmond Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (Scots Guards) dies of wounds received at Steenbeck River, Langemarck at age 22. He is the youngest son of the 4th Earl and Coutess of Minto.
  • Second Lieutenant John James Fraser Shand (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed on Salonika at age 19. He is the son of Surgeon Rear Admiral J Shand. Lance
  • Corporal William Fleming (Scots Guards) dies of wounds received in action at age 21. His brother died of wounds in April of this year.
  • Private Reginald Humphrey Harrington (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds received at Messines at age 23. His older brother died of wounds as a prisoner of war in May of this year.
  • Private John Fitchett (Black Watch) dies of wounds at age 25. His brother was killed less than one month previously in the explosion of HMS Vanguard.
  • Private Walter Harold Cox (Wiltshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 27. He is a former police constable with the Wiltshire Constabulary and his brother died of wounds in September 1915.
  • Private Henry Hickmott (Royal Fusiliers) is killed at age 30. His brother was killed in September 1914.
  • Rifleman Charles Daniel James (New Zealand Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 26. He is a New Zealand Rugby league footballer for Nelson who earned 1 cap for his country.
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