It took six days for the 59th Division to travel by train from their training areas in England to Southampton Docks. This mobilisation used 35 trains.
It took over 6 days to move the Division from Southampton to Boulogne.
Frederick Heeley was born in 1880 and was a colliery labourer (surface). He was married to Eva as recorded on the 1911 census.
Frederick enlisted in February 1915 and may have served with the 2/6th Battalion during the Easter Rising, but he certainly arrived in France with the 2/6th Battalion, 178th Brigade, 59th Division in February 1917.
Many thanks to Mike Orme we now know that Frederick transferred to the Labour Corps in October 1917. The Service record for 403699 William Huff narrows the date to close to the 8th October 1917. By that time Frederick would have been 37 years old and had served with the trenches for 6 months. It is highly likely that he was no longer medically fit for front line service.
He was eventually discharged in September 1919 due to sickness. His pension record card states that he suffered from rheumatism that was attributable to his Army service. After the War he lived at 1 John Street in Brampton. Frederick died in 1960.
Amongst the other men granted leave extensions were:-
203731 L/Cpl William Davey – 11th Battalion – from Nottingham. William attested in December 1915 and was mobilised in April 1917. He was posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion for training. William arrived in France in October 1917 and was posted to the 11th Battalion. William was discharged in February 1919 and died in March 1923. His widow – Mabel Elizabeth – was awarded a pension,
102925 L/Cpl Peter Copeland – 11th Battalion – actually served with the 2/6th Battalion after transferring from the KOSB in Spring 1918.
72184 Pte James Isles – 9th Battalion – James had previously served with the ASC and 17th Battalion (Welbeck Rangers).
24836 Pte William Kirkbridge – 15th Battalion.
120008 Pte Jonas Thornley – 8th Battalion.
61536 Pte Frederick Twigg – 9th Battalion.
Samuel was one of approximately 93 men who were transferred to the 10th Battalion Sherwood Foresters from the Royal Flying Corps [date currently unknown]. He was subsequently posted to 1/6th Battalion.
His Medal Index Card records that he served overseas with the Royal Flying Corps before his transfer.
Edward appears on a wounded and sick list [H.A.29805], which records that he was admitted to the 12 (St Louis USA) General Hospital in Rouen on the 2nd October 1918. It is most likely that he was wounded during the 46th North Midland Division attack o the Hindenburg Line – see here.
A very poignant letter from the mother of Herbert Henry Smith from Mansfield to the War Office and received on the 11 February 1918
“Dear Sir, I would thank you very much if you could kindly forward to me any belongings of my son, Pte HH Smith of the 1st Batt Sherwood Foresters……..he died through wounds received in action on his was way down to the main dressing station on November 20 1917”
The Infantry Records Department of No. 6 District (Lichfield) were not instructed to dispatch Hebert’s belongings to Sarah (his mother) until 15th March 1918 and she finally received them around 25th March.
Herbert is buried in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery and Commemorated on St Lawrence the Martyr Roll of Honour.
Sarah Jane Smith received a pension for the loss of her son.
Herbert was called up for Service on the 16th November 1916 and posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters two days later. Following training in Saltfleet he embarked for France on the 4th October 1917 and arrived at the 14th Infantry Base Depot. He was posted to the 1st Battalion and joined them ‘in the field’ on the 18th October.
At the time of his death the 1st Battalion were holding the front line trenches near to Bellevue and were being heavily shelled. During the month of November the 1st Battalion lost 2 Officers and 21 other ranks killed, 63 other ranks wounded.
Samuel’s Army Service Record services and it is recored that he was transferred to England on the 26th June 1918 and discharged later that year. This would date the list to June 1918.
This is a first for me…..having looked through 1000s of service records for men of the 1/6th and 2/6th Battalions, the Sherwood Foresters, this is the first record of a numbered reinforcement to the 2/6th Battalion.
203142 Private Cornelius William Sharp, a 28 year old lace maker from Nottingham attested in December 1915. He was mobilised in November 1916 and posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion in Louth.
After basic training he embarked for France on 19 July 1917 as part of the 7 Reinfocemt [sic] for the 2/6th Battalion.
Cornelius was posted missing in action on the 27th September 1917 following an attack on Passchendale Ridge – see here – he was one of 26 men missing that day.
He was the son of William and Louisa Sharp and the husband of Edith (née Foster) Hardy (formerly Sharp). In 1911 they lived at 5 Furlong Terrace Middle Furlong Road Meadows Nottingham. He was the father of Ida May Sharp.
*By ‘original’ I mean before Conscription started and they were issued with Territorial Force Regimental numbers
Joseph Hughes was a print works labourer from Birch Vale, near New Mills in Derbyshire. Joseph married Sarah and they had three girls; Dorothy (b 1907), Annie (b 1908) and Gertrude (b 1910). He enlisted in October 1914 and most likely arrived in France with the 2/6th Battalion in February 1917. He only served overseas with the 2/6th Battalion. According to the sick list (above) he suffered from slight myalgia (muscle aches and pains).
Joseph was later captured on the 4th December 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai and interned in Limburg POW Camp.
Joseph was discharged in May 1915 aged 32 and received a pension.
It is possible that Joseph attended the reunions of the 2/6th Battalion held in Bakewell during the 1930s. Joseph died in July 1963.
Percy Walker enlisted in July 1916 and was posted to the 1/6th Battalion in France in August 1916 according to his Medal Index Card. He would later serve with the 15th Battalion and was wounded (GW) with VI(I) [gunshot wound of back and spine (simple flesh contusions and wounds)] and IX(I) [gunshot wounds of lower extremities (simple flesh contusions and wounds)] – see ‘wounded and sick’ list above.
The undated ‘sick and wounded list’ ties in with the 7th-12th May 1917 record of the 31 Ambulance Train (above), which conveyed Percy Walker from Nesle to Rouen on the 12th-13th May 1917. Note: from April to June 1917 Nesle was the site of No. 21 Casualty Clearing Station.
At the time of his wounding the 15th Battalion were holding the front line and support trenches.
Percy was discharged in January 1918 aged 35 years and was awarded a Silver War Badge and a King’s Certificate of Discharge. He also received a pension.
In New Mills there is a spot known as ‘Tor Top’, and at yesterday’s meeting of the New Mills District Council a highly interesting letter was read from Brigadier-General Goodman, D.S.O., of the Sherwood Foresters, who wrote from France to the Chairman as follows:-
“I have obtained from the battlefield a notice-board of ‘Tor Top’, which I shall be glad to present to your Council if they care to have it.
” ‘Tor Top’ is known to a large part of the British Army, and is the highest point of a low ridge, 5,000 yards south-east of Ypres, in Belgium, on the southern side of the well-known ‘Sanctuary Wood’. The front line British trenches ran just east of the ridge after the second battle of Ypres, and in the summer of 1915 were held by the 6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters under my command.
The highest point was occupied by letter B Company and was named by the New Mills platoon ‘Tor Top’. Other names have vanished, but this has remained to the present time, and appears on the military maps.
“This Belgian ‘Tor Top’ has experienced several changes of fortune. In 1916 the enemy captured it, after an intense bombardment, from the Canadians, who later regained it by a gallant attack.
“By a coincidence on the 31st July 1917, in the third battle of Ypres, my Brigade attacked from the ‘Tor Top’ position, and captured the enemy’s trenches to a depth of 1,000 yards. In April of this year the ground had to be evacuated owing to the pressure of the enemy’s offensive farther south, and ‘Tor Top’ was not recovered until the 28th September last, when the second Army attacked with such success.
“The surrounding country presents a scene of desolation that defies description. The ground has been ploughed over many times by shells, and for miles, in a once wooded country, no sound tree is standing. Many isolated groves are scattered up and down, and many more have been obliterated. Along the ridge is what was once a fine series of tunnels constructed by Canadian engineers, and known as ‘Tor Top Tunnels’
“The notice board was used to mark the tunnels, and on it is the map reference of the position. It is a battle relic that would be interesting to the members of my old Battalion, and perhaps more particularly to New Mills.”
“The Chairman had written accepting the interesting battle relic, which with its history would be permanently preserved, and congratulating Brigadier-General Goodman on the part taken by him and the troops under his command in the attainment of the great victory.”
“The Council decided to convene a public meeting to consider a memorial to the two hundred soldiers who have fallen from this district.”
Preamble: On 1st September 1916 the 3/5th and 3/6th Battalions and the 3/7th and 3/8th Battalions merged into the 5th and 7th Reserve Battalions respectively. Along with the 3rd (Reserve) and 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalions (both based in Sunderland as part of the Tyne Garrison) they continued to train new recruits (mostly conscripts from mid-1916) and supply drafts to the Regular, Territorial and Service Battalions of the Notts & Derby Regiment based on the Western front.
Note: There was also the 21st Battalion, the 13th, 14th and 19th Training Reserve Battalions and the 51st and 52nd (Graduated) Battalions and 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion, but these do not feature in this blog.
Challenge: The regimental numbering system of the Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby) Regiment was (mostly) very logical and followed a sequential date-related pattern……but sometimes it requires a little research to determine when a particular series of regimental numbers were issued and why……..
This blog will describe the 204*** numbering system, in particular regimental numbers 204352 to 204877, which equates to ~525 men, who were mobilised between May 1917 and August 1918.
Why have I chosen to do this ? because I have medal pairs awarded to Alfred Sutton (204705) and Francis Garton (204877) and wish to put their own service history into the broader context of the Regiment.
It would appear that the Territorial Battalions of the Sherwood Foresters (i.e. 5th and 7th Reserve Battalions) continued to issue Regimental numbers from the ‘block series’ that was allocated to them during the renumbering of the Territorial Force in spring 1917.
For the 5th Battalion (including the 5th Reserve) this number series ran from 200001 to 240000, and for the 7th Battalion (including the 7th Reserve) from 265001 to 30500.
Even if new recruits were issued ‘regular’ regimental numbers at the Notts & Derby Depot (e.g. 85067), once they were posted to the 5th and 7th Reserve Battalions, they were re-numbered using the relevant ‘block series’.
The first man that I can link to this block of 525 men is Charles Ward, a boot worker from Stoney Middleton, who had previously served with the 6th Battalion. What is interesting is that he was issued with a ‘sequential’ Notts & Derby Regimental number (85067) at the Depot (on 28th April 1917), but was later re-issued with 204352 when he was posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion for training on 1st May 1917.
Following training with the 5th Reserve Battalion, Charles embarked for France on the 30th July 1917 and arrived at the 14th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples the following day. He was initially taken on the strength of “A” Company, 2/8th Battalion ‘for record purposes’, before being transferred to the 2/5th Battalion on the 29th January 1918. Charles was killed on the 21st March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.
The last man in the 204*** series who’s Service Record stills exists is George McGill from Ranbey Hall Farm near Retford in Nottinghamshire. George was originally posted to the 2/1 Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in March 1915, but was then compulsory transferred to the Notts & Derby Regiment in February 1918. He arrived in France on the 1st March 1918 and was posted to the 2/5th Battalion on the 20th March. He later served with the 16th, 15th and 2nd Battalions until his demobilisation in February 1919.
The service records for both Arthur and Francis no longer exist, but it is possible to piece together their service in the Great War using the Medal Rolls and the 204*** Regimental Numbering series (see above).
Using the compiled ‘204*** Medal Role’ and the London Regiment Medal Role, we now know that Alfred was mobilised and posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion around mid-July 1917 and following training he embarked for France in late March 1918. He was posted to the 2/6th Battalion to make up for the losses suffered during the German Spring Offensive on 21st March 1918. Alfred would have fought through the bitter engagements around Mount Kemmel, before the 2/6th Battalion were reduced to Cadre and he was eventually transferred to the 22nd London Regiment. Alfred was discharged in February 1919.
Using the compiled ‘204*** Medal Role’ and the London Regiment Medal Role, we now know that Francis was mobilised and posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion around early-February 1918 and following training he embarked for France in early March 1918. He was posted to the 16th Battalion and then to the 2/6th Battalion in April to make up for the losses suffered during the German Spring Offensive on 21st March 1918. Francis would also have fought through the bitter engagements around Mount Kemmel, before the 2/6th Battalion were reduced to Cadre and he was eventually transferred to the 24th London Regiment. Francis was discharged in May 1919.
Notes: The last man to appear on the Notts 8 Derby Medal Role (6 July 1921) is 204874 George Herbert McGill, but we do know that 204877 Francis Garton appears on the London Medal Roll. An online search of the Medal Rolls digitised by Ancestry would suggest that Francis Garton was the last man to receive a 204*** Regimental Number.
Thereafter the Notts & Derby Medal Role jumps to 205383 Tom Greenwood – a gap of 506 men. The 205*** series of numbers appear to have been issued to men that transferred to the 5th Reserve Battalion from other Regiments including the Lancashire Fusiliers and Manchester Regiment, but that is another story……….
Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War 