Young recruits of the 2/6th Battalion at Buxton, Winter 1914/5
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Category Archives: New Content
A nice little puzzle for a damp Thursday evening……….
What I do know:-
- A postcard of the Empire Hotel, which was the HQ of the 2/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters until they moved to Luton on 3rd Feb 1915.
- The postcard was posted from Epping on the 22nd Feb 1915.
- The 2/6th Sherwood’s were undergoing a course of entrenching in Epping from 8th to 24th Feb 1915.
Therefore the card mostly likely came from a man of the 2/6th Sherwood’s – agree ?
What I don’t know:-
- “Cecil House” is/was a old famous house on Wimbledon Common – but I can’t ID Lady Stanl(e)y
- The message suggests a reasonably well-off young lady – “several of my foals at Liverpool Street [station]”
- Any chance of an ID on Miss Thompson ?
Could there a link between Miss Thompson and an Officer of the 2/6th (or even other rank)?
But it’s not obvious to me at moment.
Unlikely to find an answer really, but I would like to know more about Cecil House and its occupants in 1914-15.
A break from the diary…….
I’ve managed to acquire three year books for the 2nd Volunteer Battalion and the 6th Battalion from 1907, 1908 and 1909.
A fascinating source on information to share……
These year books belonged to George Holmes from Whaley Bridge, who enlisted into the 2nd Volunteer Battalion in February 1883 and was given the Regimental number 1315 and served with “H” Company.
George Holmes in 1909
On this day a quick break from the diary….
Waterloo 18 June 1815-2015
Tyne Cot 1917-2015
1915 In Review
April to December 1915
- The 6th Battalion left Southampton with the North Midland Division on the 25th February 1915.
- The Battalion held the front line trenches 21 times between March and December 1915; including 1 major battle (the attack on Hohenzollern Redoubt).
- Two Officer were killed during these 9 months; 2/Lt Henry Severne in May and 2/Lt Lewis Dickinson in September.
- At least 10 Officers were also wounded during this time.
- According to the War Diary 81 men were killed in the 9 months between March and December.
- This does not include the 12 missing after the mine explosion on the 30th September; which was the biggest single loss of life to date.
- The 1st man to be killed was 1470 Allen Redfern of Buxton who was shot by a sniper on the 10th March 1915 and is buried in Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery.
- The last man to be killed was 3065 Joseph Brown, a miner from Grassmoor, who was last seen bombing in the German trench as the raiding party retired and was reported as missing on the 26th November. His body was never recovered or identified after the war and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.
- The War Diary records that 323 men were wounded during these 9 months; research suggests that this number is in fact much higher. Indeed the 139th Brigade War Diary records the following Casualties:-
August 1915 – 2014
Once again many thanks for visiting – July was a record with 3667 page views and 661 visitors – I am amazed at so much interest!
Some new content added this past month:-
- Added a page on ‘1917’ – Gommecourt Advance.
- Added a new page on ‘5th Battn’ – 1578 Percy Wildsmith.
- ‘Nominal Role’ – D Company (Bakewell).
- Added the names of 976 N.C.O.s and men that sailed to France in 1915 – see end of ‘1915’
- Updated the Officers pages.
- Revised the ‘Regimental Band’ page.
- Completely revised ‘Regimental Histories and Downloads’.
- Added a list of Officer Casualties to the ‘2/6th Battn’ page.
- A few new pictures added to ‘1860’s-1907′, ‘1908’ and ‘1909’.
Whats next:-
- Will start to work on ‘1916’ – Lost Cemeteries of Gommecourt (although I seem to have misplaced some of my old research)
- The ‘North Midland Division’
- ‘1917’ – Lens, Leiven & Fosse 3 etc.
AND FINALLY, still trying to identify these two Senior N.C.O.s
The man on the left is wearing the Egypt Medal (1882-1889) and The Khedive Star (1882 issue) – suggesting that he had previously served with the 2nd Battalion Derbyshire Regiment.
The man on the right is often seen with the Regimental Pet from c1908-1911.
Hunter and Scott Posts 1918
Not easy to write about this 4-day action. The September pages of the War Diary are missing!
Pieced bits and bobs together, but as usual I will continue to revise and edit over the next few weeks.
See here.
21st Battalion in 1917
Due to some recent interest in the 21st Battalion on the Great War Forum, I have spent a little time updating this page and adding some new content.
In particular, I have been trying to identify those men that were serving with the 21st Battalion on the 1st March 1917 at the time of the Territorial Force renumbering.
Whilst this list can never be comprehensive, it never-the-less provides an indication of the composition of the Battalion at that point in time.
See here.
As always, it’s still a work in progress.
Thank you for visiting
99 years ago the 6th Sherwood Foresters were about to hold the front line trenches, on their own, for the first time.
I thought it would be a good time to do some general ‘housekeeping’. Thank you all for visiting and either emailing me directly or posting comments – all gratefully accepted.
The site has nearly received up to 5000 views which is tremendous!
For many of the photos that I have uploaded (at least the pre-War Camps) I have the original postcards so please feel free to download them and use as you wish. If you want a higher resolution version then please email me.
I’m probably breaking some copyright laws by uploading images of the Medal Index Cards, Army Service Records and Officer’s Records – but I believe that these should belong to, and be shared by, the Nation.
I’ve been busy uploading content and some of the pages are still ‘work in progress’. I will add legends and review the text when I get the chance – so please forgive any mistakes.
cheers
Mike
New Content
Added detail to the following pages:-
1916_La Folie Farm
1916_The lost cemetery of Mont St Eloi
