Great War - Battle of Lys (from the book "Neath a Foreign Sky" by Paul Allen)
In Remembrance of:
- 2ND Lieutenant Harold D’Arcy Champney
- Sergeant Thomas Mennell
- Private Frank Mennell
- Gunner Christopher Archer
- Private John Hugh Varley Lamplugh
A sliver of water running through the Flanders plain, the River Lys rises near to the town of Aire-sur-la- Lys and meanders its way eastwards through the towns of Estaires, Amentieres, and Comines before it joins the much larger Schelde further to the east. Possessing a fairly high water table the land on either bank of the river possesses a high water table, or level of subsurface water, whereby any depression in the ground soon fills with water, the ground thereabouts had been notorious throughout the war with the soldiers for its clinging Flanders clay. Long considered unsuitable for the mounting of any offensive larger than a trench raid before mid April, the exceedingly dry spring of 1918 had nevertheless persuaded Ludendorff that an attack had indeed been possible.
Haig had long been of the mind that the Germans would at some point mount their next offensive in the area of the Lys, this notion had also been reinforced by British Intelligence which had received information pointing towards an attempt to ‘pinch out’ Vimy Ridge the operation to be coupled with an attack in the area of Neuve Chapelle.
The British Commander had discussed his misgivings with the French leader at a meeting at Abbeville on the 7TH of April. Convinced of the imminence of an attack in the north, Haig had also asked Foch for reinforcements for his northern First and Second Armies. Despite Haig’s forebodings Foch had considered the safety of Amiens as his paramount importance and had refused Haig’s request for French troops to relieve six tired British Divisions in the Ypres Sector out of hand. Shortly after this disappointing meeting, Haig had been informed by First Army’s Commanding Officer [General Sir Henry Horne] that all indications pointed towards an enemy attack being made in Flanders beginning sometime during the 9TH of April.
In British eyes Flanders had been the most sensitive front on the Western Front. The gateway to the Channel Ports of Calais, Boulogne, and Dunkirk, the inlets of the men materials and food so important to the survival of the B.E.F., without these the British effort was dead in the water. Ludendorf had been well aware of the importance of the Channel ports, he had been trying to tae them since 1914, and by 1918 had been little nearer than he had been at the outset. Determined to take the ports for god and all he had begun to formulate a plan of attack.
His original plan of operations in this area had been formulated at the end of 1917. Called ‘Operation Mars’ this should have begun in the wake of ‘Operation Michael’, this should have been followed by two ‘George’ operations, ‘George 1’, focussing on the taking of Armentieres, whilst ‘George 2’ had been centred near Ypres. However, soon after the end of ‘Michael’ the plans for these two operations, by then considered too taxing, had been modified into a single ‘Georgette Operation’, which would extend over a front of about twelve miles, from the La Bassee Canal northwards to just short of Armentieres, with, if all went well, complementary attacks to the north of Ypres.
Facing the British First and Second Armies in Flanders and Northern France at this time had been General Ferdinand Von Quast’s Sixth Army, totalling eighteen divisions of infantry. this formation, sitting plumb in the middle of the proposed area of attack, and had been given the task of attacking the British line between Armentieres and Givenchy, where it would smash the defences apart before advancing north westwards towards the vital road and rail junctions at Hazebrouck.
Four days after the start of the operation [scheduled to begin on the 9TH of April, Ludendorf’s 53RD Birthday], the German Fourth Army under General Sixt Von Armin would enter the battle to attack the British positions in the Ypres Salient and also seize the Messines Ridge.
By this time the elite storm troopers who had spearheaded the ‘Michael’ operation had been killed off, wounded, or made prisoner. In their place, the assault would be undertaken by hastily trained second echelon ‘trench’ divisions, as opposed to the previously elite ‘attack’ divisions.
For his attack Von Quast had placed eight divisions of infantry in the first assault wave, with six more in the second wave. Facing these the British had just four divisions in the line, the 34TH, 40TH, 2ND Portuguese, and the Territorial Force 55TH [West Lancashire], which had been defending a line between Armentieres and Bethune, a distance of around 27 Kilometres.
The offensive had been launched as planned on Monday the ninth of April. At 4-15am that day the customary intense German artillery ‘fire waltz’ had opened with a high concentration of gas and high explosive shells being fired into the British ‘back areas’ between the La Bassee Canal and the town of Frelinghein[some 3 miles north east of Armetieres]. Lasting for four hours this intense bombardment had been concentrated on the sector between Givenchy and Laventie which had been held by the Portuguese and 55TH Division.
At 8-45am the infantry had begun their advance. As on the 21ST of March the German assault had been covered in a shroud of thick fog, and unhindered by a British artillery response, the Germans had made good progress and had met little resistance. Soon the enemy had been amongst the positions of General Gomes da Costa’s 2ND Portuguese Division. Already a dispirited formation, due allegedly to the men not receiving any home leave, few Portuguese [disparagingly known as the ‘Pork and Beans’ by the British ‘Tommies’] had put up any resistance, and despite isolated instances, most had ran without firing a shot, losing 317 officers and 7000 men, mostly made prisoners of war, in the process.
Holding the line to the north, or left, of the unfortunate Portuguese troops had been the British 40TH Division. Commanded by Major General J. Ponsonby, this formation had been formed during September 1915 as a ‘Bantam’ Division, which had been composed of men under the statutory British military service height of five feet three inches. However by 1918 most of the original undersize soldiers of the formation had long gone, their places being taken by men of ‘ordinary’ size, the unit thus losing its unique identity as a Bantam outfit. Attached to 40TH Division had been the 12TH [Service] Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. This unit had been formed, unofficially, as a ‘Pals’ infantry Battalion in the city of Middlesbrough during January 1915, however shortly after its raising the 12TH had been designated as a Pioneer Battalion consisting of highly skilled men such as blacksmiths, masons, carpenters and fitters.
Initially trained in the comfort of Marton Hall, near Middlesbrough, the Battalion had soon become known as ‘The Tees-side Pioneers’ and had continued to train in the North of England until August 1915, when the unit had moved southwards to Cannock Chase, where the pioneers had helped to construct new rifle ranges at Penkstone Ridge Camp before being moved to Aldershot, the Battalion had joined the 40TH Division as Divisional Pioneers.
The Teeside Pioneers had eventually landed in France [with the remainder of 40TH Division], at Le Havre on the 2ND of June 1916, and had initially served in the Loos sector of Northern France, before moving further southwards in the autumn.
Two years of sterling service in various sectors of the Western Front had followed. By the beginning of April 1918 the Battalion had been working in the area of Lillers, however two later the Battalion had arrived in the area of the Lys, where Headquarters and ‘Y’ Company had been billeted in the hamlet of Bac St Maur, whilst ‘X’ Company had been in the Rue De Quesnoy, and ‘Z’ being at Sailly. Rested for two days the unit had shortly been engaged in the construction of a tramway and concrete pillboxes in these areas.
Inevitably, during the early hours of the ninth the Teesside Pioneers had been assailed by the heavy artillery bombardment heralding the start of the Lys Offensive. Shelled out of their billets, the Battalion’s three Companies had ‘stood to’ at six that morning with the remainder of 40TH Division to await whatever the Germans had had in store. They hadn’t long to wait;
‘It was not until 11.15 that order came from Divisional Headquarters for two companies to occupy a line of trenches in front of Bac St Maur from Sailly -sur-la- Lys to the Rue de Biache; a few minutes later the third company was directed to proceed to Fleurbaix and reinforce the garrison at that place. ‘By noon’, writes one who was this day present with the battalion, ‘we had hardly a gun left in action and the line had been forced back about two thousand five hundred yards, the Portuguese Division had collapsed, and the Germans were now well round our right flank. The line was holding well in front of Armentieres, although this town suffered from a heavy bombardment. Realising that we should have to retire at any rate to the other side of the Lys, orders were given to pack up tools and medical stores n such wagons as we had in the advanced positions, ad word was sent back to the transport lines at Croix-du-Bac to send up the necessary draught animals. Good work was put in by our Company Quartermaster Sergeants in the way of saving the equipment of their companies. Owing to the terrible barrage on the Armentieres—Estaires road, it was very difficult to move such transport as we had in the line; the enemy naturally kept the bridges over the Lys under fire, and we were only able to get one pair of horses over from the rear’…[1]
The Teesside Pioneers had eventually been on the verge of being surrounded and had forced to abandon their positions to make a fighting retreat across the Lys to take up positions near the Point de la Bourdrette, where they had fought off repeated attacks until about 4pm, when the remnants of the battalion had been forced to make another withdrawal, that time of around a thousand yards. At six that evening a Brigade from the 25TH Division had arrived to try to retake the hamlets of Croix-du Bac, Bac St Maur, and Sailly Sur Lys. The surviving Teessiders had taken part in this operation and had lost more of its men in the failed sortie.
By this time…’the whole division had suffered very heavily, particularly the machine gunners, and by the evening the enemy had advanced about three miles and had reached the Lys. The battalion obtained some rest that night in the line La Menegat-Point Mortier, and on the morning of the 10TH manned a line at Les Haies Basses’…[1].
Later that day the enemy had attacked the Teesside Pioneers again, the men being engaged with some ‘good duelling with the enemy’. However during this day every sergeant in the battalion’s ‘W’ Company had either been killed or wounded. Eventually, during the morning of the 11TH of April the tired and decimated battalion had been ordered to retire to a reserve position behind the village of Strazeele. Whilst in these positions the tattered remnants of the Teesside Pioneers had been paraded for the customary post battle calling of the Battalion’s roll, which had revealed that during the previous two days of fighting the battalion had lost three officers and twenty eight other ranks killed, four officers and one hundred and fifty four men wounded, one officer and eighteen other ranks wounded and missing, with a further two officers and one hundred and seventeen non commissioned officers and men unaccounted for A grand total of two hundred and ninety nine casualties.
Although initially reported as killed in action, the sole officer recorded as such had eventually been listed as missing, and wounded in action. He had been twenty years
old, Second Lieutenant Harold D’Arcy Champney. Born in Scarborough on the 29TH of April 1898, at ‘Ashburton Villa’, No.43 Valley Road, Harry had been the eldest son of Gertrude Blanche, and Frederick D’Arcy Champney, a retired Army Colonel [formerly the C.O. of the Territorial Force 1ST/4TH Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s [West Riding] Regiment. [2]
Educated from the age of eleven at Denstone College, a private boarding school located close to the village of Denstone, on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border, Champney had become a senior prefect and the school magazine ‘The Denstonian’ Editor before he had gone up to Balliol College Oxford, at the age of eighteen. At Oxford at the outbreak of war, Champney had already been a cadet in Balliol’s 6TH Officer Cadet Battalion, passing out of the unit as a Temporary Second Lieutenant in the Yorkshire Regiment during January 1917.
Eventually posted to the regiment’s Base Depot in France, Champney had been posted to the 12TH Battalion during March 1917, joining the unit at Bray where the battalion had been repairing roads, especially that between Clery and Bouchavesnes. Champney had spent the remainder of the spring and summer of 1917 in the Fins area of France. However, by the end of October the battalion had moved to the neighbourhood of Moislains, and during November to the Cambrai sector where the 40TH Division had taken part in the vicious fighting around Bourlon Wood. Although not involved in the actual fighting at the Wood, the Teesside Pioneers had nonetheless played an active part by being employed in the wiring in front of the newly captured positions, and the repair of the all-important roads, the lifelines of the fighting units.
Just before the Christmas of 1917 the battalion had moved to the area of St Leger where the Pioneers had been put to work repairing the road between St Leger-Croisilles, and Fontaine Notre Dame. The severe winter of 1918 had followed. Hampered by severe bad weather, the battalion had nonetheless been employed in the repair of the many caved in trench workings in the area.
Employed as infantry during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, the unit had manned for a time the British front line a few miles to the south of Arras, at Mercatel, Hamelincourt, and Blaireville. The Division had also later been involved in the heavy fighting around St Leger, Mory, Vrancourt, and Bapaume. During this period the Fortieth had gained two Victoria Crosses [2ND Lieutenant Ernest Beal 13TH Yorkshire Regiment, and Lance Corporal Arthur Cross, Machine Gun Corps]. At the end of Marc the worn out Division had been withdrawn from the line to refit and rest. Since the start of the offensive the formation had suffered over 2,800 casualties. Relieved on the 26TH of March, the Teesside Pioneers had consequently marched to Bienvillers-au Bois, where the unit had held part of the line running from the village windmill on the Bienvillers--Fonquevillers road to the Bienvillers—Heneschamp road.
Involved in the great British retreat of 1918, by the end of March the Teesside Pioneers had reached the area of Merville, where the battle worn 40TH Division had been inspected by the King on the 30TH of March. The following order had been issued soon afterwards:
‘His Majesty the King visited the Division today and was pleased to express to the Divisional Commander his great appreciation of the gallant behaviour and bearing of the 40TH Division in the recent operations. He was fully conversant with the work accomplished by the Division, and while offering his sincere congratulation thereon, deplored the losses, which have been incurred.
The Major General directs that the above be communicated to all ranks’…[1]
Soon after this brief interlude the 40TH division had been packing up its gear in preparation for the move to the area of Bac St Maur.
Inevitably involved in the withdrawal of the Teesside Pioneers from the Lys, Harry Champney had remained behind in command of a covering party at while the main body of the battalion had made good their escape. Wylly records his fate;
‘The first retirement of these two companies was covered by Second Lieutenant Champney and fifteen other ranks with a Lewis Gun, and t was largely due to the very skilful way in which this officer handled his party that the withdrawal was safely affected; Second Lieutenant Champney kept the gun in action himself until the enemy was within twenty yards, when he was killed himself’…[1]
Although believed to have been killed during this episode, Harry had in fact been wounded, albeit grievously. Taken prisoner by the Germans, Harry had been patched up as best as could be done in the circumstances in a French hospital before being and had eventually been shipped off, with hundreds of other British and Portuguese prisoners, in cattle trucks destined for P.O.W. camps in Germany.
Champney had eventually ended up in Langensalza P.O.W. Camp, in Prussian Saxony. Conditions there had been dire, poor food, and a lack of medical attention had sealed the fate of the young officer, Champney passing away from the effects of his wounds, and reportedly, Meningitis, on the 29TH of April 1918, coincidently his twenty first birthday.
Mr. and Mrs Champney had initially been told that their son had been killed in action during the fighting of the 11TH of April 1918. However, some time later they had been informed that he was a prisoner of war, and although wounded, had been safe in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. The good news had been reported in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 17TH of May 1918:
‘Prisoner after being reported killed - New has been received that Sec-Lieut. H.D. Champney, Yorkshire Regiment, son of Col. D’Arcy Champney, 43, Valley Road, Scarborough, who had been reported killed in action on the 11TH of April, is a prisoner of war in Germany and wounded. Lieut. Champney is within a few days of his 21st birthday, and he has seen 13 months service. Very circumstantial details of the young officers apparent death were in the first place furnished his parents, but a little over a week ago they got a telegram stating that he was a prisoner of war in Germany and wounded. The telegram did not spell the name correctly, but enquiries by the War Office has led to the establishment of the officers identity, though the authorities are still without any other information. His parents are now trying to get into communication with him’…
Sadly, a short while after the above information had appeared in the ‘Mercury’, the Champney’s had received word from the War Office telling them that Harry had died from the effects of his wounds on the date already mentioned.
Amongst two hundred and twenty five prisoners to die at Langensalza between 1915 and the Armistice, the remains of Harry Champney had originally been buried in one of the two cemeteries that had been attached to the camp. However, during 1922-3 it had been decided to concentrate all the 1,500 British and Commonwealth P.O.W. burials around Germany into one large Cemetery at the former Niederzwehren Prison Camp Cemetery, located some ten kilometres to the south of Kassel, Hessen. Harry’s final resting place is located in Section 2, Row C, Grave 7. [3]
In Scarborough apart form the Oliver’s Mount Memorial Lieutenant Champney’s name had been commemorated on the ‘Roll of Honour’ located on the north interior wall of St Mary’s Parish Church, and upon a gravestone in the town’s Manor Road Cemetery [Section PB, Border, Grave 75], which also commemorates his parents, Frederick D’arcy Champney who had passed away at his home at No.45 Valley Road at the age of eighty one years on the 1ST of November 1928. Born on the 6TH of October 1848 at Beverley, Frederick Champney had been educated at Brighton College and Exeter College Oxford, before going into the army. The Commanding Officer of the 4TH Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s between 1887 and 1893, he had subsequently retired to Scarborough to live in the house in Valley Road. Harry’s mother, Gertrude Blanche Champney, the mother of three sons and two daughters, had passed away at the age of sixty eight during Wednesday the 12TH of April 1938 [her remains had been interred in Manor Road Cemetery with those of her husband, during the afternoon of Thursday the 13TH of April 1938.
Amongst all the sergeants of ‘W’ Company of the Teesside Pioneers who had either been killed or wounded during the course of the day’s fighting of the 10TH of April had been twenty two years old; 20740 Sergeant Thomas Mennell.
Born at Bickley, North Yorkshire during 1896,Tom had been the youngest son of Mary Ann, and Richard Mennell, a farmer in the area. An original member of the Teesside Pioneers, Tom had enlisted into the unit at Scarborough during January 1915 and had served initially as a private until 1917 when he had bee promoted to Corporal and eventually sergeant at the beginning of 1918.
A former member of the choir of the Wesleyan Chapel at Langdale End, news of the former chorister had been included in the ‘Local News’ section of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 31ST of May 1918;
‘Langdale End, Wesleyan Chapel…The war has fallen heavily on the little chapel and much sympathy is felt by the congregation for those affected. Three members of the choir have paid the supreme sacrifice. The latest to fall is Sergt. T. Mennell. There are still four members of the choir serving. News has also been received that Private John Cook is reported missing’…
Killed in action near to Steenwerck, a village located some five kilometres to the south west of Armentieres, and a similar distance north east of Estaires, the remains of Tom Mennell had eventually been found by the Germans who had interred his body in a battlefield grave which had fortunately been located after the Armistice.
Mennell’s remains had subsequently been moved with those of many other ‘battlefield burials’ to the British Cemetery at Croix-du Bac [Cross of Wood], a hamlet located a short distance from Steenwerck, where they had been interred in the Cemetery’s Section 3, B, 1, alongside fellow Teesside Pioneers; twenty nine years old; 46152 Private Joseph Arthur Binks [3,B, 5], and 33 years old; 46129 Corporal Robert Herdman Robson [3,B, 6].
A memorial commemorating Thomas Mennell can be found in the yard of St Margaret’s Church in Harwood Dale, North Yorkshire. The memorial, which states that Tom had been killed in action on the 10TH of April 1918, also contains the name of elder brother John Mennell, who had passed away at the age of twenty-nine on the twenty eighth of March 1918. Nearby, another memorial commemorates his parents, Mary Ann Mennell who had died on the 26th of October 1908 at the age of fifty, and Richard Mennell, ‘late of Bickley’, who had passed away on the 21ST of April 1938 at the age of eighty-two. Also included on these memorials is an epitaph to the Mennell’s son who had died so very far from the lush pastures of home, which states. ‘He gave his life for others’.
During a recent [August 2006] visit to the isolated, yet beautifully situated Croix-du-Bac British Cemetery, the author had found Thomas Mennell’s pristine white Portland stone grave marker amongst those of five hundred and fifty three fellow British and Commonwealth casualties of the Great War who had lost their lives in the nearby killing fields. His marker also includes an inscription, which had probably been placed there [at a price] by his parents. It reads: ‘Their glory shall not be blotted out’…
[By the end of the Lys operations [29TH April] the Teesside Pioneers, along with many of the Battalions belonging to the 40TH Division, had lost so many men that the unit had been forced to disband on the 5TH of May 1918 to reform as a Battalion Training Staff composed of ten officers and fifty one other ranks. The unit’s ten surviving officers and three hundred and fifty one other ranks had been shipped off that same day to the Yorkshire Regiment’s Base Depot at Calais, where the remnants of the Teesside Pioneers had been distributed throughout the numerous battalions of the regiment serving in France and Flanders].
For many years the author had lived in the belief that Sergeant Thomas Mennell had been commemorated on a memorial in Scarborough’s St Thomas’s Church. Thinking that a person of the Wesleyan Methodist faith, and living at an isolated farm at Bickley should journey to Scarborough to attend the Fisherman’s church would be highly improbable, his name had seemingly been commemorated on the Church ‘Roll of Honour’. This memorial, now residing in St Mary’s Parish Church, does indeed include the name ‘T. Mennell’, however, extensive research has revealed this name to be incorrect. The memorial does in fact commemorate; 240263 Private Frank Mennell.
Born in Scarborough during 1898 at No.6 Henrietta Court, Frank had been the fourth of five children of Hannah Mary, and ‘painter’ Francis Mennell. A pupil of St Mary’s Parish School and Friarage Board School, at the age of thirteen Frank had left the establishment to become a ‘boots’ in Mr. Tom Laughton’s Pavilion Hotel, which in 1911 had been situated on the corner of Westborough [demolished during the 1970’s the site of the former hotel is now [2006] taken up by various units of retail businesses including ‘Summerfield’s supermarket’]. [4]
Although only aged sixteen by the outbreak of war, like many boys at this time Frank had already been a soldier in the Scarborough based Territorial Force 1ST/5TH Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment [Regimental Number 1600], and at that momentous beginning to the summer of 1914 had been enjoying the battalion’s annual camp in Wales. Rushed back to Scarborough shortly before the outbreak of hostilities, although underage for active service Frank had been amongst the members of the unit who had eagerly volunteered for service abroad. Soon, like the rest of his comrades Mennell had been exchanging his blank ammunition for live and had begun making his preparations for war, the battalion shortly to quit Scarborough for the north of England for a spell of training before finally embarking for active service during April 1915.
A veteran of the 5TH Battalion’s so called ‘Baptism of Fire’; Frank had emerged, unlike many of his comrades, from the Battle of St Julien [April 23-29 1915] without a scratch, and had served with the 5TH Battalion throughout the ensuing three years of war, serving in some of the severest fighting between 1916-17, including the Somme and Arras Offensives, and the Third Battle of Ypres.
Throughout the war the Fifth Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment had formed a third of the 150TH Infantry Brigade of the 50TH [1ST Northumbrian] Division, somewhere during his military service Frank had been transferred to the Brigade’s 1ST/4TH Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment [also belonging to 150TH Brigade], the unit he had been serving with by the beginning of April 1918.
On the 2ND of April the 1ST/4TH had arrived in Bethune. Since the 23RD of March the unit had been taking part in the great British retreat across the old Somme battlefield, incurring heavy casualties along the way. Indeed by the time that the unit ad arrived in the French town it had over three hundred officers and men, killed, wounded, and missing. Barely given chance to draw breath, on the eighth of April the men of 1ST/4TH had received orders [along with the remainder of 50TH Division] to move to the Lys, and by the eighth the battalion had arrived at Rue Montigny, to relieve the Portuguese troops who had been in positions in the area. However, the German advance of the following day had obviously cancelled these orders, the unit eventually taking over a section of the British line west of the Lys, at Sailly-sur-Lys.
At around 9 am on Wednesday the 10th of April large numbers of German infantry had fought their way through the left flank of the 1ST /5TH Battalion of the regiment and into a gap opened up by the withdrawal of 40TH Division. ‘Confused’ fighting had then taken place, whereby every man in 150TH Brigade had fought tooth and nail for his own salvation. All but surrounded the remains of the unit had been attacked by wave after wave of enemy infantry, but the Territorials had beaten off each assault with a ferocious barrage of rifle, and machine gun fire. Holding on to their positions by the tips of their fingertips, the men of 50th Division had eventually been forced to retire. The subsequent British official despatches record the part played by Frank Mennell and his fellow comrades of 50th Division during the Lys operations
‘Early in the morning of the 10TH of April the enemy launched heavy attacks covered by artillery fire about the river crossings at Lastrem and Estaires, and succeeded in reaching the left bank of both places: but in each case he was driven back again by determined counter-attacks by the 50TH Division.
The enemy continued to exercise great pressure at Estaires and fierce street fighting took place in which both sides lost heavily. Machine guns mounted by our troops in the upper rooms of houses, did great execution on his troops as they moved up to the attack, until the machine guns were knocked out by artillery fire. In the evening the German infantry once more forced their way into Estaires and, after a most gallant resistance, the 50TH Division withdrew at nightfall to a prepared position to the north and west of the town’…[5]
The Fourth and Fifth Battalions of the Yorkshire Regiment had remained in action throughout the 12TH of April, during this day the two units had been involved ‘in taking up new positions, inflicting casualties on the seemingly endless enemy, then falling back and repeating the process’. Finally withdrawn from the fighting during the night of the twelfth of April to La Motte-au Bois, the remnants of the two Battalion’s had eventually been marched to Le Parc, where the Fiftieth Division had been ordered to assemble. Whilst here the customary post battle roll call had revealed that between the 9TH and 12TH of April the 1ST /4TH had lost over three hundred and sixty officers and men, killed, wounded, and missing, whilst the 1ST/5TH had incurred around three hundred casualties.
Frank’s mother had received news of his death at the beginning of May 1918. ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 10TH of May had subsequently reported:
‘Killed after three years service - Mrs. Mennell, 6, Clarkson’s Buildings, Longwestgate, has received news of the death of her son, Lance Corporal F. Mennell, Yorks Regt., killed in action on April 10TH after nearly three years service in France. He was formerly employed by Messrs. Laughton’…[6]
No further information regarding the death of the twenty years old had ever come to light, and he had eventually been officially been recorded as killed in action on the 10TH of April 1918.
Like those of Sergeant Thomas Mennell, Frank’s remains had initially been interred in a battlefield grave close to where they had been found and at the end of the war they had been exhumed to be taken to Croix-du-Bac British Cemetery to be interred close to Sergeant Mennell’s final resting place, in the Cemetery’s Section 3, Row E, Grave 1.
Sadly Frank Mennell’s name is not included on the Oliver’s Mount Memorial. Although he had had relatives living in the town during the post war years, for some reason his name must never have been forwarded to Scarborough’s Council for inclusion on the town’s memorial. Although Frank’s name is included on the
St Thomas’s War Memorial [one of the smaller stone memorials located on the north interior wall of Scarborough’s St Mary Parish Church], it is, as already mentioned, featured with the wrong Christian name initial.
By 1911 Frank’s father’s name had disappeared from the town’s Street Directory. Enquiries at Scarborough’s Crematorium Office have failed to locate a place of burial in any of Scarborough three cemeteries belonging to Frank Mennell Senior. It must therefore be assumed that by this date he had left the town. Frank’s mother, Hannah Mary Mennell had remained in the town. By 1911 she and her children had been residing in the town at No.3 Barry’s Passage, in St Mary’s Street, however by the time of Frank’s death in France she had been residing in Clarkson’s Buildings, where she had remained until the mid-nineteen twenties, when here name also disappears from the ‘Electoral Rolls’. Hannah had eventually passed away at the age of seventy-four on Thursday the 21ST of January 1938, her remains being interred in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery on Friday the twenty third of January.
Mrs. Mennell’s unmarked grave [in Section V, Row21, Grave 49] is also the final resting place of Leonard Mennell, her second son. The husband of Jane ‘Jennie’ Mennell, and father of Leonard and Jean, he had died suddenly at the age of fifty-four at his home at No31 Trafalgar Road, on Monday the 2ND of December 1946. During the afternoon of Thursday the fifth of December his remains had been laid to rest with those of his beloved mother.
[1] The Green Howards in the war 1914-18; Colonel H.C. Wylly; Richmond; 1926.
[2] At the time of the 1901 Census the Champney’s had been living in Scarborough at No.45 Valley Road. The family had consisted of Frederick D’Arcy, 50 years old retired Army Colonel, born Beverley, Gertrude B., 30 years, born Rotherhyde, London, Harold D., 3years, Edward Acroyd, 2 years, and Harry A., 8 months old. All the children had been born in Scarborough.
[3] Neiderzwheren Cemetery is also the final resting place of; 755169 Gunner Christopher Archer. Born at Scarborough during 1881 Christopher had been the son of ???? and husband of Margaret Archer [formally Watson] of No.13 Hibernia Street, Scarborough. Attached to ‘C’ Battery of the 251ST Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, Archer had also been taken prisoner during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 and had unfortunately died from the effects of ‘Dropsy’ after the Armistice, on the 30TH of November 1918. Aged thirty-seven years at the time of his death, Christopher Archer’s grave is located in Section 6, Row K, Grave 4. Nearby, [Section 6, Row F, Grave 15] can be found a grave belonging to another of Scarborough’s ‘Great War’ casualties. Born at Easingwold during 1898; 241766 Private John Hugh Varley Lamplugh had been the son of Edward Henry, and Jane Emma Lamplugh of No.40 Gladstone Street, Scarborough and had been taken prisoner whilst serving with the Territorial Force 2ND/5TH Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment during the Spring Offensive of 1918. Wounded at the time of his capture, the twenty years old John Lamplugh had died from the effects of his wounds on the 6TH of May 1918 in Langensalza P.O.W. Camp.
[4] Frank Mennell and Hannah Mary Leonard had been married in Scarborough’s St Mary’s Parish Church on the 7TH of October 1884. At the time of the 1901 Census the family had been living in Scarborough at No.1 Piercy’s Yard in Longwestgate, and had consisted of Frank Mennell, 39 years of age, painter by trade, Hannah M., 38 years, John William, 15 years, shoemakers apprentice [John had died during 1909], Leonard, 9years, Jane Ann, 5 years, Frank, 3 years, and Charles Bruce, aged 3 months. All the family had been born at Scarborough.
[5] Once a Howard twice a citizen; Colonel W.J. Tovey M.B.E., and Major A.J. Podmore M.B.E.; Volunteer Press; 1995.
[6] Although recorded by the Scarborough Mercury as having the rank of Lance Corporal at the time of his death, the author has been unable to find any reference to Frank Mennell being of this rank. He is recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as being a Private in April 1918.