Category Archives: Army

J.J. McKeever

Army, Graves, Other Regiments, Registered War Grave

Private J.J. McKeever,
T4/1244223, 4th Division Supply Unit,
Army Service Corps.

Division 14

 CIMG2158

J. J. McKeever was 50 years old and died on the 8th August 1915.  He was  the son of John and Jane McKeever.  Born at Waterside, Londonderry.

McKeever died in a tragic boating accident whilst based near Reading.  He and Driver J. Starkie were in a Canadian canoe on the Thames at Tilehurst when the canoe capsized and both soldiers were drowned.  Neither man could swim.  The Coroners verdict was that of “Accidental Drowning”.

During the war years there were many such accidents on the Thames, sometimes of army personelle and sometimes civilians and children.  Many drownings were accidental, some were deliberate acts of suicide.

Mrs Starkie attended the funeral and also Thomas Logue, the brother in law of McKeeveer.  A volley was fired and the “Last Post played”.  The grave of Private McKeever is marked by a CWGC war pattern headstone.  Driver Starkie  is also buried in the cemetery in Division 49.

Walter May

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Army, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Somme

Walter May
Lance Corporal 12760
6th Royal Berkshire Regiment

May Walter photo May W name

Walter May was the eldest son of Mr  Tom and Mrs Emma May of 3 Pitcroft Avenue, Reading.  The 1911census indicates that he was a Clerk Seedsman, probably at Suttons, his father and a younger brother also workedfor the same firm. Walter May had two sisters. He joined up on the 5th September 1914 and went to France on 25th July 1915.

The 6th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, with which Walter served, was part of the 18th Division and was amongst those few battalions which had some success on the first day of the battle of the Somme.  They were situated on the far right of the British line near the French and achieved their objective,  the taking of Montauban.  The battalion was also involved in a fateful attack on Delville Wood on the 19th July when many men were lost in a badly planned operation.  The Somme battle continued wearily with great loss of men on both sides through the summer and autumn of 1916.  The 6th battalion was involved in the actions which finally resulted in the eventual successful capture of most of the Thiepval ridge from the Germans.

Thiepval had been a first day objective of the Somme offensive.  The 18th Division was given the task of taking Thiepval and also the strong point known as the Schwaben Redoubt.  “On the Somme” by Colin Fox et al., gives an account of the involvement of the 6th Battalion.  The Division had three weeks  battle training prior to the attack which was set for 26th September.  The 6th Royal Berkshire Regiment was in the brigade reserve with the 8th Suffolks leading the attack with the 10th Essex Regiment.  There were three days of preliminary bombardment with zero hour at 12.35pm on the 26th September.  The initial attack on Thiepval was very successful with the Germans, according to the Official History, eager to surrender without a fight.

However, progress towards the Schwaben redoubt was much more difficult and the advanced came to a standstill at about 6.20pm.  The 6th Berks now provided carrying parties with the task of bringing food, water and ammunition to the front line troops.  The reserve was in trenches at Crucifix Corner and it was here at dusk that the Germans sent over a massive barrage.  On the 28th September there was a renewed attack on the Schwaben Redoubt, the 6th Berks. were again in the reserve, this time in Authuille Wood.  The attacking battalions sustained heavy casualties and the following morning the 6th Berks. were sent in to relieve the Suffolks.  They were heavily shelled all day, and many of the men were suffering from a lack of sleep.  Walter May would have experienced the spasmodic bombing attacks carried out by both sides and the heavy shelling , which in deteriorating weather, reduced the ground into a sea of mud.  By the 5th October the Redoubt was back in British hands.   On the 6th October the 6th Royal Berkshire were withdrawn from the line and moved into billets.

Walter May was one of the 14 men killed during this action, he died on the 5th October 1916.   Walter’s body was never found and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial pier and face 11D. He was 22 years old.

Cecil Rupert May

Army, Commemorated name/s, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Cecil Rupert May
Private 1st/4th Battalion
Royal Berkshire Regiment

May CR photo May CR grave

Cecil Rupert May is commemorated on his parents grave. He was the son of Frederick and Harriet May of 51, Market Place,  Reading.  It has not been possible to obtain information about Cecil Rupert May from Ancestry sources. He was killed in action on 16th May 1916.  Cecil May is buried in Hébuterne Military Cemetery, location I B 9.

The 1st/4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment were the first British Battalion to take over from the French.   In May, the 1st/4th’s took over “G” sector, an area of unfamiliar and difficult ground near Tourvent farm on the outskirts of Serre.  The ground was badly cut up with old trenches and shell holes and littered with bones from the fighting in June 1915.  The communications trench was 1½ miles long and in a very poor state.  Rations had to be brought up from Hébuterne.  The front line was itself a salient which projected towards the strong German defence system around Serre.  The line was defended with some difficulty using an arrangement of disconnected outposts.

At 12.30 a.m. on the morning of 16th May a raid took place.  The Germans had opened a violent bombardment on another sector around midnight on the left of the 48th Division.  The guns of the 48th division responded to a false SOS and the Germans, after registering on the division guns, then directed heavy fire at the batteries.  Across a frontage of 600 yards two platoons of the 1st/4th’s manned seven detached posts.

The bombardment lasted half an hour and was directed at the front and supervision lines.  At 1 a.m. the bombardment shifted to the support and reserve trenches with shells falling at a rate of a hundred per minute.  “B” company in their outposts were over powered and half a supporting platoon of “A” company were destroyed in the bombardment.  When the Germans finally made their attack the outposts were in such disarray that they managed to get in behind and attack the Berkshires from the rear.  The attack, continued by German infantry until 1.40a.m. along different parts of the salient, and the bombardment went on all night until it stopped at dawn.

Losses numbered 98, 18 killed and 29 missing, later most were reported as prisoners of war.  ‘B’ company lost half its fighting strength.  This was the first serious test for the 1st/4th’s and their endurance, discipline and fighting spirit were praised by the Divisional and Corps Commanders.  Cecil May was killed during this action.

Detail of this action are taken from the History of the Royal Berkshire Regiment by Petre and as written up in ‘The School,the Master,the Boys and the VC’ – the story behind the Alfred Sutton School War Memorial and the Great War 1914-1918.