Military History

Theatre of War	Medals	Commonwealth War Grave or Memorial
France and Flanders	British War & Victory Medals	Serre Road Cemetery No 2
Arrived in Theatre	Medal Citation (if app)	SWFHS Area Memorials
After 1 Jan 1916	~	Stretton on Fosse
Action, Battle or Other Reason Killed	Date and Place Enlisted	Other War Memorials
Battle of the Ancre	After 15 Nov 1915 at Stratford on Avon	~
Place of Death	Previous Regiments or Units
near Beaucourt	~

Circumstances Leading to Death (Normally from War Diary)           

Edward is listed as being killed in action on 14 Nov 1916. The battalion war diary for the day is transcribed below.

The below is taken from the British Empire website and is a potted history of all of the Royal Fusiliers Battalions who took part in the Battle of the Ancre including Edward's 23rd Battalion.

This important action, along with the other actions that had taken place since 1st July 1916, came under the all-embracing title Battle of The Somme. Royal Fusilier battalions in the Battle of the Ancre were the 4th 7th 10th (Stockbrokers) 13th 17th (Empire) 22nd (Kensington) 23rd (1st Sportsmen's) 24th (2nd Sportsmen's). The German defences were very strong in the area of Beaucourt-sur-Ancre and Beaumont Hamel and became the subject of a 2 day bombardment prior to the advance. The initial advance of the 2nd Division involved the 24th (2nd Sportsman's) Battalion. This was one of the units raised by the efforts of Mrs Cunliffe-Owen. They left the trenches at 5am on the 13th Nov, in a dense fog. The barrage was still firing, with British shells landing 20 yards ahead of them as they progressed. Some shells fell short causing casualties but the attack was a success and shell-shocked Germans surrendered readily.

On the left of the 24th Btn was the 2nd HLI supported by the 17th (Empire) Btn Royal Fusiliers, raised from ex-pats living in the Americas encouraged to join up by Sir Binden Blood. They linked up with the 2nd Ox & Bucks LI to progress beyond the third line of enemy trenches. Their advance had reduced their 4 companies to 180 men but they reached Munich Trench and hung on there until the next day. The 22nd (Kensington) Battalion and the 23rd (1st Sportsmen's) supported the left of the attack but the 22nd were not able to make progress until 15th Nov when they seized the Quadrilateral. The 4th Battalion reinforced them, suffering only 8 casualties and the position was relieved on the 16th Nov. The 23rd Btn supported other units on 14th Nov in the attack on Munich Trench.

The 7th Battalion was engaged immediately north of the Ancre on 13th Nov and were fired on from a strong redoubt on their left. The leading companies pulled back to a trench where men from other units had gathered. Captains Foster and Clarke took all these men forward and rushed a German trench. Casualties were suffered but they captured the trench and left a detail under Sergeant Bright to defend it against counter-attack. The rest of the men advanced to the Green Line which was held until 9pm on the 13th Nov. Bright's men worked hard all day and Private Hawkesley heroically lay on the parapet with a Lewis gun to deter the enemy. Meanwhile, D Coy of the 7th Btn under Captain Cyril Rattigan had been isolated and reduced to 50 men. They were pinned down in front of enemy wire and Rattigan was killed. They were brought back by Lt Downing using a mine shaft.

On 14th Nov the 13th Battalion moved off too eagerly and were casualties of their own barrage. They then came under fire from Beaucourt village. Captain Goddard joined the remnants of the 7th and 13th Btns to add to the attack on Beaucourt which had been the subject of a charge of a force under Lt-Col Bernard Freyberg VC. The crowning moment of the battle, however, was the capture of the redoubt by the 10th (Stockbrokers) Battalion who employed the services of a tank to intimidate the Germans so that they took 270 prisoners and rescued 60 British prisoners. The battle of the Ancre had lasted 4 days and ended in a great victory for the British against impregnable fortifications.