Category Archives: Somme

Cyril Wilson Cox

Army, Commemorated name/s, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Somme

Cyril Wilson Cox
Private 3148
1st/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment

 Division 66
Extension

Cox CW photo

Cyril Wilson Cox lived with his mother at 3. Prince of Wales Avenue, Reading. He had been born in Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire and was educated at Newbury Grammar School.  Before the war Cyril Cox worked for Messes. Nicholas Estate Agents, Station Road, Reading.  We are told that  his colleagues held him in high esteem. 

He enlisted on 4th October 1914 and was killed in action seventeen months later on 14th August 1916.  He is named on the kerbs of the family grave and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Pier and Face 11D, having no known grave. 

The following is a description from the official history of the action in which Cyril Cox lost his life:

 Around the time of his death his battalion was stationed near to the 5th battalion Royal Berkshire Regt., who on the night of the 12th August 1916 took the enemy by surprise and seized “Ridge Trench” on the crest of a hill which was part of the Thiepval ridge.   On the morning of the 13th August the 5th Battalion were relieved by the 4th Oxfords with the 1st/4th’s in support.  At 9.30p.m. the Oxfords gave notice that the Germans were trying to bomb them out of the trench.  Two platoons from the Berkshire battalion, numbers1 and 2, were sent forward to supply the Oxfords with bombs.  “D” company was put under the command of the Oxfords Colonel with a further supply of bombs.  The Oxfords were due to lead a counter attack but it was the 1st/4th’s who were eventually given the command to lead.  In a manner typical in the chaos of the war, a barrage planned for before the attack did not take place and later, without detailed orders, the Berkshire men tried to cross the 250 yards of open ground facing the Germans.  The Germans, relatively safe and protected in their trenches, were able to shoot unhindered on the advancing lines of men.  The image is one frequently painted during the Great War.  For the survivors of the attack, shelter was poor but fortunately a British aeroplane responded to signal flares and as a result British artillery opened up on the German trenches and the remaining Berkshire men were able to get to safety.  Losses for this flawed action were very high, 140 casualties from the ranks including 59 killed and missing.  Petre in his history of the regiment, comments in his account that, “Failure is often more heroic than success, and these loyal men fought and died with great honour”. 

 The Reading Standard 23rd September 1916 published an extract of a letter sent by a friend to his mother about his death. 

“ It is my sad duty to inform you that Cyril’s death occurred on the morning of August 14th when our company attacked.  Almost immediately he was wounded by a bullet which affected his spine and paralysed him from the waist downwards.  He lived about two hours and was able to have the wound dressed.  From the first I think he knew his end had come.  He passed away repeating his prayers.  Words fail to express what I feel about his death.  It seems hard that a life of such promise should have ended so suddenly, but his destiny as well as ours is in the best hands.”

Thomas Henry Cooper and Harold Walter Cooper

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Passchendaele, Somme

Thomas Henry Cooper
Private 55509 Devonshire Regiment
Labour Corps.

 Division 29

 CIMG2104  CIMG2099

Thomas Henry Cooper was the son of Thomas Henry and Jane Cooper, of 26, Milman Road, Reading.   He died on 23rd September 1917.  With his brother he is commemorated upon his parents grave in Reading Cemetery. Sadly the commemoration to Harold is now very unclear.

 Thomas Henry Cooper is buried at Rocquigny – Equancourt Road, British Cemetery, Manancourt, Somme.  Location Plot I. Row B. 23.  The area was occupied in April, 1917, as the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line.  The cemetery was begun in 1917, and used mainly by the 21st and 48th Casualty Clearing Stations, posted at Ytres.  The location of the grave would indicate that Thomas Cooper was one of the earliest casualties to be buried there.  The cemetery was lost at the beginning of the German Spring offensive in March 1918 but regained in September 1918.

 Harold Walter Cooper
Private 28160
1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry

Cooper HW photo  CIMG2100

Harold Walter Cooper was the younger brother of Thomas Henry Cooper.  He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, location Panel 41 -42 and 163A.  He died on 4th October 1917, aged 19.

 On this day the British surprised the Germans who had also planned an attack.  An advance was made along an eight mile front.  The Germans lost many man to the British artillery and many prisoners were taken.  However, in spite of the allied gains many men were lost, some in the mud that became increasingly deeper as the rains came down.  Harold Cooper was probably killed and his body lost during this action.  The rain continued to fall for days and days.  Haig was reluctant to withdraw and loose the precious gains, he urged his men to push ever onwards, Passchendaele was in sight.

The brothers are commemorated on the grave of their parents in the Reading cemetery.

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.”