Category Archives: Battlefield Areas

Herbert George Clarke

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Army, Dardanelles, Other Regiments

Hebert George Clarke
Private 17289
2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment.

Clark HG photo dbImage[1]

Herbert Clarke lived at 6 River Road Reading. He was  a member of the regular army as indicated by being a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. As such he was part of the initial British Expeditionary Force(BEF).

The Standard December 12th 1914 reports that Herbert was injured at 1st Ypres when the fourth finger of his left hand was blown off.  It was recorded  that his hand was bandaged by chums and that he had to tramp ten miles before being surgically treated.

In the spring of 1915 he landed at ‘V’ beach on the Gallipoli peninsular. His battalion were on board an old collier the ‘River Clyde’ and the landing did not go according to plan . The whole campaign was destined to fail with great loss of life  the Turks always had the upper hand and the high ground. Herbert was one of the lucky ones, he survived the ordeal of the landing.  He spent  at least three more months on the peninsular, although nothing particular is known of his experience whilst there, although we can guess that it was neither a pleasant or easy.  The heat was intolerable, sanitation appalling, the dead largely remained unburied, flies were every where and dysentery was endemic because clean fresh water was difficult to get.

Herbert was still in the Dardanelles when preparations were being made for the next ‘push’ due to start on the 6th August 1915.  The attack was to follow the celebration of first anniversary of the war, if celebration can be said to be the correct term as by now Britain had lost 76,000 men killed, 252,000 wounded and 55,000 missing a total of 383,000 men.  

Herbert lost his life on the opening day of the battle. He had no know grave and was commemorated upon the Helles memorial. The CWGC record bears no family details and it has been impossible to find any personal details. He is commemorated upon the Alfred Sutton School War Memorial.

Arthur Cyril Caudwell

Army, Other Regiments, Registered War Grave, Somme

Arthur Cyril Caudwell
Rifleman 6175
1st/16th Bn. London Regt. (Queens Westminster Rifles)

Division 55

Caudwell AC

Arthur C. Caudwell is commemorated on a large family headstone.  It is not clear exactly who his parents were and CWGC information has been difficult to trace. A search for “Caudwell” has consistently drawn a blank but a search for A. C. C. revealed that an Arthur Candwell was killed on 9th October 1916, there are no family details given and the soldier has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial to the Missing Pier and Face 13C. 

HIs military papers are available on Ancestry UK. He attested in November 1915 and was posted to France in April 1916. His brother Thomas, of 35. Bulmershe Road, Reading was given as his next of kin.

 The inscription on the family headstone states:
”Killed by a shell whilst guarding a trench October 10th 1916 Aged 36.
His body was buried by his comrades on the battlefield near Lesboeufs.” 

 At the time of Caudwell’s death the concluding battles of the Somme were taking place and the British lines had moved to a point a little way beyond Lesboeufs by October 10th 1916.  Lesboeufs had been captured on the 25th September by the British.  Earlier action on 15th September 1916 has seen the first tanks in action in the area west of Lesboeufs.  The Somme battle had concluded by 18th November 1916.

Although the body of Arthur Caudwell was buried on the battlefield and the grave was marked the continuous shelling in the period leading up to the end of the battle could have destroyed the grave.  In these circumstances identification after the war would have been impossible.   

More information was obtained from the Standard 28th October 1916 in the detailed “War Casualties” obituary column.  The article gave full details of how he died and confirmed that he was buried on the battlefield, the grave subsequently being lost.

 KILLED IN ACTION

CAUDWELL, Rfn. A.C., Queen’s Westminster Rifles.

“Mr Caudwell, who was an architect with Mr. Willets, builder, London, was an old Collegiate School boy.  His father for many years was with Messrs. Sutton and Sons, and his brother lives at 35, Bulmershe Road, Reading.

The Platoon Officer writes:- He was always bright and cheery, and is deeply missed by all his friends.  I myself, too, greatly regret the loss of such a reliable man.  We were in a trench where the shelling was pretty continuous, and “Caudie” as they all called him was on duty as a sentry in the early morning, while his friend Bunting sat next to him as the next for duty.  A shell burst on the parapet and buried all around with earth.  A piece penetrated his neck, and the force of the explosion knocked him right back into Bunting’s arms, leaving him unconscious.  Death was practically painless, as he never recovered consciousness.  Since he had to die I think he had all a man could desire; he fell at his post doing his duty to his country, and he died a painless death in the arms of his friend.  His friends buried him that night as soon as it was dark just behind the trench at great personal risk to themselves, as shelling and sniping were going on at the time.  One of them made a little wooden cross and marked it with his name and number, so that his grave might be identified.”

 

 

 

William Charles Bushell

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

William Charles Bushell
Lance Corporal
8th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

Bushell WC photo

William Bushell had attended Newtown Council School before going to the Wokingham Road Senior School.  His parents lived at 37, Amity Road and he was employed at the Reading Biscuit Factory until he enlisted on 5th September 1914.  His father, W. B. Bushell,  was a Private in the 4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.

 A letter to his mother was published in the Chronicle 10th September 1915.

“Just to let you know that I have got through my first bit of fighting.  We only had a short spell, going in on Tuesday and out on Thursday evening.  It is rather a curious sensation when the bullets begin to whiz about over your head, and shells burst all round, but it never affected me or the rest of the company.  No one was hit.  We were troubled a great deal with snipers who had dug themselves in during the night.  They started to try and pick us off.  We ‘shut’ two of them up, but two others we were unable to touch.  Aeroplanes were busy over our heads during the evening, and one plane had a hundred shells fired at it, but without result.  It kept cruising about for a good while and the airman never moved any faster when being shelled than before, which says something for our airman’s nerve.  Just before we got to our trenches we passed through the town of __________, and it was a sight I shall never forget.  If only our slackers at home could have seen it, if they had any backbone in them it would have made them enlist.  What used to be a fine church and big houses are reduced to heaps of bricks.  There was not a sound building in the whole place.  There was a lot of small wooden crosses with the names of heroes who had laid down their lives for their country.  The place we were billeted at before we went into the trenches was bombed last night, and two were killed and a few wounded. We expect to go in the trenches again in about three or four days.”

William was with the 8th Battalion on the opening day of the battle of Loos, 25th September 1915. In “Responding to the Call” by John Chapman et al a detailed account of the battle which started September 25th 1915 is given. Training and rehearsals for the battle by the 8th Battalion had included bomb throwing “with live bombs” and preparations were made for the discharge of chlorine gas which the British Army used for the first time, some six months after the Germans first gas attack.

The order to “stand to” had been given at 3.30am and fix bayonets at 6am.  Immediately a bombardment of the enemy trenches began and a release of gas and smoke.  In the copses of La Haie and Bois Carre, in front of the attacking 8th Royal Berkshires and the 10th Gloucesters, the Germans had set up machine guns which caused many casualties in the attack across No Man’s Land.  Eventually the 8th Battalion captured La Haie and had advanced 400 yards from their starting point.  In a second charge the third line, at Gun Trench, was reached by 8.00am and the advance was now 1,200 yards.  The final objective was to be Hulluch village but there was strong German resistance and eventually the 8th Battalion pulled back to form a line in Gun Trench.  By noon of the 26th September the 8th Battalion had had no food since the morning of the 25th and with no water in their bottles they were suffering from thirst.  A ration party sent out on the 27th September lost its way and the battalion was only finally relieved on September 28th.

William Bushell was killed in the action on the first day of the battle, ten days after his letter had been published in the paper.  He has no known grave although in “Responding to the Call” a biography states that a charm found on his body was sent to his parent by his platoon officer.  His name is commemorated on the Loos Memorial to the Missing, Panel 93. He was 20 years old.