Category Archives: Western Front

Sidney and William Lucas. C Lucas

Army, Arras, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Royal Berkshire Regiment, St. Laurence's Church, Ypres

Sidney Lucas
Private 10471 2nd Battalion “C” Company
Royal Scots Fusiliers

 William Lucas
Corporal 201709
5th Royal Berkshire Regiment

 Division 66
Extension

Lucas S photo Lucas W Photo Lucas C photo

Sidney and William Lucas, were the twin sons of  Henry and Jessie Lucas, of 48, Swansea Road,  Reading.  They are commemorated on the kerbs of a family grave. Jessie Lucas had borne eleven children. At the time of the 1911 census Henry is recorded as a waiter, other members of the family are working in various occupations within the printing industry. Older brothers Harry and Sidney are working as general labourers and Thomas in the Music Hall. William is not living at home. He was married to Elizabeth Lucas, of 7, Selwood Place, Slough. The 1901 census also names an older brother Charlie who could be the C.Lucas pictured above.

Sidney Lucas was killed in action at Festubert on 17th May 1915.  His body was never identified and he is recorded on the La Touret memorial to the Missing, panel 12 & 13.  He was aged 23.

William Lucas was killed in action on 27th April 1917. He is buried in the  Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery, Arras.  Location Plot V.  Row C.  Grave number 23.  He was 25.

C. Lucas Private
1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers

C. Lucas is pictured with Sidney Lucas, and his address given as 103, Great Knollys Street, Reading.  It is not clear whether they were brothers.

The Standard of January 9th 1915 gave pictures and information that Sidney Lucas had been wounded in the left hand and C. Lucas had been wounded in the forehead.

Greater detail about C. Lucas was given in the same paper of January 16th 1915 under the title “Left for Dead”.  Quoting C. Lucas the report gave detail of his wounding…“ a woollen head comforter lessened the force of the blow and saved my life”.   He had fallen unconscious and was given up for dead by comrades, who carried him to a dug out and covered him with straw.  In this condition he lay for 13 hours and then a chum tried to rouse him and shouted, “Now’s your chance”.  Lucas then commenced to stagger to an ambulance wagon, which he says was 3 miles distant, and reached without mishap.  He had been wounded on November 5th during the 1st Battle of Ypres.  After treatment at Boulogne he was sent to Norwich hospital and then home on sick leave.  He had been a Reservist and was employed at the Place Theatre as a stage hand before the war.

 

William Walter Love & Leonard Noble Love

Army, Commemorated name/s, Dardanelles, Graves, Other Regiments, St. Batholomew's Church, Ypres

William Walter Love M.M.
Sergeant -Major Royal Marine Light Infantry
Royal Naval Division

Leonard Noble Love
Corporal 52805
“B” Battery Royal Horse Artillery

Division 52

Love WW photo Love LN photo

William Walter Love and Leonard Noble Love are commemorated on the grave of their parents, Mary and William Robert Love and also on the St. Bartholomew’s Church memorial.   At the time of their deaths the Love family were living at 49, St. Bartholomew’s Rd. Reading.   The 1901 census indicates that Mr William R. Love, aged 39, was already a widower. William Love’s  widowed mother and sister were living with the family which comprised five children, four boys and one girl at 12, Mancherst Road. WilliamR Love was a carpenter and joiner by trade.

William Walter Love  was described in the 1911 census as a bicycle engineer. He was killed in action on Oct. 26th 1917 aged 23.  He was the third son of Mr. W.R. Love. He had served with the Royal Naval Division throughout the Gallipoli campaign. His death was reported in the Standard November 17th 1917.

The 26th October 1917 marked the beginning of the Second Battle of Passchendaele.  The German front line was hit with shell fire along its length for four days preceding the start of the battle.  Due to the naturally high water table and broken dykes the battlefield was largely a sea of mud.  The Royal Naval Division attacked on the left hand side of the Canadians who were attacking Bellevue Ridge, they gained some ground but with heavy losses.  It is probable that William Walter Love was amongst them.  Serjeant Major Love has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial Panel 1 and 162A.

It has not been possible to find the citation for his Military Medal.

Leonard Noble Love was the second son of Mr. Love.  Leonard served 6 years (8 years in one report) in the regular army. The 1911 census indicates that Leonard Noble Love was born in 1891 and was then aged 20. He was in Z Battery RHA. He was serving in Egypt,Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sudan.

Leonard Noble Love was mentioned in dispatches in Sir Charles Monroe’s Gallipoli dispatch.  A report in the Chronicle 2nd July 1915 was an extract from a letter sent to his father on 11th May 1915.

“I am writing this in a trench with the rain pouring down, hoping that it will soon cease, as it is not very comfortable.  We have been in action since 27th April.  Our troops are making progress in the right direction.  We had rather a big night attack on the 1st May, but things ended up alright in the finish.  Since then we have advanced.  We get very good rations, and plenty of them, which is a great thing, as one always feels better after a good meal.  I am glad to say that the rain did not last long this morning; the weather is perfect.  Things are rather quiet this morning , and have been so for the last two or three days.  There is the usual spasmodic burst of shrapnel and rifle fire.

“I have seen one of the most thrilling sights of my life -that was the bombardment of the forts by the Navy.  For about three days it was like a tremendous thunderstorm.  Buildings were changed into heaps of dust, big guns were dislodged from their mountings, and, to sum up the whole thing, the Turks were ‘none too happy.’   It is a great thing to see the way our infantry behave, and to see them charge is a great sight.

“ I got in rather a tight corner on the night of the 1st May but managed to scrape through all right.  While I am writing there is a howitzer battery engaging a turkish battery, and what I can see they are smashing it up.”

Unfortunately he was killed in action on January  6th 1916,  the day before the last of the army was finally evacuated from Gallipoli. (Chronicle July 21st 1916)  He also has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial Panel 21 and 22.

Mr. Love’s youngest son Lance Corporal Fred Love enlisted  with the Royal Berkshire Regiment served in France from March 1915.

 

Charles Love

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Army, Commemorated name/s, Loos, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Somme, St. Batholomew's Church

Charles Love
Sergeant 3435
2nd/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment

Division 59

Charles Love

Charles Love was the youngest son of Mr George  William and Ethel Ann Love of 223. London Rd.   In addition to being  commemorated on the Alfred Sutton Memorial he is also remembered on his parents grave in Division 59 of The Reading Cemetery. He came from a large family with his mother giving birth to twelve children, three  of whom had died. The family were involved in the  trades of decorating and plumbing and George Love ran his own business. Charles was stated in the 1911 census as a house furniture assistant.

The formation of the 2nd/4ths and their time in France until July 1916 can be found in the section relating to Leslie Beard.  Charles Love  joined the battalion in 1914 and would have been involved in the actions previously recorded. It is known that he was  an instructor and lecturer although there is no specific information about this role.  In the weeks leading up to his death Charles Love would have experienced the following events.

Immediately after the unsuccessful trench raid in which Leslie Beard was killed the battalion had to make ready for an attack which was due to take place on July 16th.  The attack was delayed for several days due to poor weather, several men were lost in the intervening period as they were shelled getting into and out of the trenches.  On the morning of the 19th July the British artillery began shelling the German lines to soften them up in readiness for the assault in the evening at 6p.m.  However, the Germans replied with shells of their own which did a great deal of damage in the crowded front line trenches and many men were lost.  Further difficulties were experienced when the men tried to leave the trenches at zero hour via two sally ports and found that the Germans already had machine guns trained on the openings and many men were wounded or killed.  Those who did get through eventually had to fall back because of lack of support and because the German wire was uncut and prevented any forward movement.  Other units which had been involved in the attack, including the Australians, were also unsuccessful.   After this action the battalion was relieved and was not in the front line again until the end of August.  Although all of September and the first half of October was spent in and out of the trenches the battalion history records that there was “little to note.”   On the night of the 14th – 15th October a successful raid was carried out on German trenches by five offices and sixty men.  The men had moved out under the protection of a barrage and two Bangalore torpedoes effectively cut the enemy wire.   They were able to collect a great deal of information and cause a number of casualties among the Germans with only four men injured and one missing.   The battalion then went into training for a month and on their return to the trenches found themselves in the Somme sector at Bouzincourt near Albert from the 19th November.  It was here on the 26th November that they experienced a particularly heavy day of shelling and Charles Love was killed.  Information as to his death comes from various sources including a report in the Reading Chronicle.  He was recorded as “killed in action whilst on patrol” and  “killed instantaneously by a shell”, in these circumstances it would be difficult to retrieve a body and would account for the fact that he has no known grave.  He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on Pier and Face 11D.  He was aged 21 at the time of his death