A clerk from Derbyshire. Attested in November 1915 (Derby Scheme). Mobilised in March 1916 and posted to 3/6th and 1/6th Battalions. Later transferred with 100 men to the 17th Battalion in September 1916. Suffered shell shock in July 1917 and was discharged in November 1917.
Enlisted in October 1914 and served with 2/6th and 10th Battalions. Admitted to Hospital in January 1919 with a shell wound to the arm.
A brass moulder from Nottingham who enlisted in September 1914. Arrived in France in June 1915. Served with the 1/7th and 1/6th Battalions and suffered a GSW in the side – date unknown.
306314 Pte James Arthur Godber from Huthwaite. A reserve stretcher bearer who served in Ireland with the 2/8th and in France with 2/6th Battalions.
James Arthur Godber was 28 years old and married to Mary. They lived at 104 Blackwell Street and James was a miner at New Hucknall Colliery. He had served in Ireland with the 2/8th Battalion where he was wounded with four bullets that were never removed. He was still serving with the 2/8th (or 3/8th) Battalion at the time of the Territorial Force Renumbering in the Spring of 1917. James proceeded in France in the summer of 1917 and was posted to the 2/6th Battalion. He was killed during the Battle of Cambrai on 2nd December 1917.
Although the letter states that “it would comfort those at home to know that he had a decent burial in a British cemetery” his body was not recovered after the War and he is Commemorated on Cambrai Memorial at Louverval. Mary died before she could received a pension.
Enlisted December 1915; Served with overseas with the 2/6th and 2nd Battalions
Enlisted in May 1915 and was in the 28th Reinforcement to the 1/6th Battalion in January 1917. Later served with the 5th Battalion and the Army Service Corps.
Discharged due to sickness in April 1918 aged 34. Awarded a pension for “deafness and incontinence of wine”.
The 2/6th Battalion, the Sherwood Foresters
LA VACQUERIE 3.12.17:
4.25am: Battalion relieved by 2/6th Warwicks. Moved to VILLERS PLUICH.
10.0 am: Moved to MOLE TRENCH in L31.a.10.3 near RIBECOURT.
4.12.17 10.30 pm: Moved to trenches in Q4 at TRESCAULT.
TRESCAULT 5.12.17 to 8.12.17: Battalion in Reserve at Q4.
Men killed at this time were:-
242321 Pte Ernest Summers aged 20 and the Son of Stephen and Margaret Susannah Summers, of 13, Ward St., New Tupton, Chesterfield. Ernest was attached to the 178th Trench Mortar Battery. Three men from the 178 TMB were killed that day when they were constructing mortar positions at K17d.90.50.
242026 Pte Harry West, Husband of A. B. B. West, of 87, Wick Rd., Homerton, London. Harry was only of the ‘Londoners” who were posted to the 2/6th Battalion in September 1916.
They were originally buried in Flesquieres Chateau Cemetery at 24a.8.6., but their bodies were exhumed in 1930 and moved to Orival Wood British Cemetery.
9.12.17 6pm: Battalion moved up to FLESQUIERES.
10.12.17 1.30am: Relieved 2/5th Lincolns in front line K18.a&b
11.12.17 to 13.12.17: Battalion occupied front line in K18.a&b.
14.12.17 2am: Battalion relieved by 2/5 South Staffs.
During this trench duty the following men were killed:
242230 Pte Maurice Victor Cousins aged 19 and the son of Luke and Maria Cousins, of Coton, Cambridgeshire. Formerly of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, but only served overseas with the 2/6th Battalion.
240931 Pte Thomas Wherret who enlisted in October 1914 and was a shop lad from Matlock. He was a sniper and died at the 21st CCS. He was sniping when he was hit by a fragment of shell.
26963 Pte Walter Knowles aged 19 and the son of John and Mary Knowles, of River Hill Side, Matlock.
Enlisted in June 1916 and was one of the Londoners posted to the 2/6th Battalion in September 1916; made prisoner of War during the Battle of Cambria.
Walter enlisted in June 1916 and arrived in France with the 2/6th Battalion in February 1917. He was captured on the 1st December 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai when he was wounded in the arm and leg. He was interned in Dulman POW Camp and was demobilised in March 1919 and awarded a pension.
Walter died in May 1922.
Served with the 1/5th Battalion in France from 1916; wounded twice with “A” Company, the 10th Battalion.
Jack seated left with the three men that appear to belong to the Robin Hood Rifles.
Jack has a 4-digit Regimental number indicating that he arrived in France before the 1917 Territorial Force renumbering. He was still serving with the 1/5th Battalion at the time if renumbering. At some point he transferred to the 10th Battalion. Jack was later wounded in April 1918.
Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War 