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Battle of Aisne ‘The blood of Heroes’ (from the book "Neath a Foreign Sky" by Paul Allen)

In Remembrance of;
- Private Edward Marshall Knox
- Corporal Antony Surtees Bredon
- Corporal Frederick William Dove
- Private Alfred Bloome
- Gunner Thomas Kelly
- Corporal Alfred Rayner
- Corporal William Coward

On Sunday the 25TH of August, whilst the men of Third Army had captured the battle worn heaps of bricks that had been the villages of Courcelette, Le Sars, and a blood soaked position known as the Butte de Warlencourt [the limit of the 1916 Somme Offensive], and had reached as far as Avesnes, a suburb of the city of Bapaume. To the south of Third Army, Rawlinson had issued orders to his Corps Commanders to the effect that they were to ‘give no rest’ to their reportedly withdrawing enemy. Duly the Fourth Army had continued its advance eastwards towards Peronne. Amongst the units that had gone forward that day had been the 58TH [1ST/2ND London] Division.

Attached to Third Corps, the Fifty Eighth Division [commanded by Major General F.W. Ramsay], a so called ‘Second Line’ Territorial Force formation consisting of the 173RD and 174TH Brigades, had arrived in France during January 1917 and had eventually fought with the Australians in the bloody fighting at Bullecourt during May that year. Veterans also of Third Ypres [July-October 1917], by March 1918 the 58TH Division had been in the southern most extremity of the British Expeditionary Force’s line on the Somme when the Germans had launched their fabled Spring Offensive. Isolated from their British comrades on the opening day of the offensive, the London’s had attached themselves to the French Army, and for the next two weeks of desperate fighting the unit had been under French command. Having survived this ordeal in stout heart, the 58TH had taken their place in the Allied Offensive which had begun on the 8TH of August 1918, the formation having taken during the following day, the Somme village of Chipilly.

By the night of the 24TH of August the 58TH Division had been deep in the old Somme battlefield which had seen so much bitter fighting during the summer of 1916, in an area some eight kilometres south east of Albert, near to the piles of bricks that had once been the village of Bray sur Somme. That night, the men already weary by their exertions of the day had taken up their assembly positions ready for the continuation of Fourth Army’s advance, which was to commence before dawn the following day. During the period before the start of the assault the men had been issued with rations whilst their officers had checked their compass bearings readying for the morrow. Then, with the exception of a few sentries and patrols, the huge mass of men had all taken what sleep they could until being roused a few minutes before Zero Hour. By which time…

‘The sky was clear and the moon bright at 2-30am [25TH] but half an hour later it became very cloudy and soon a dense fog came down in the Somme Valley. The excellent artillery barrage, however, served to guide the advance, which was carried out in extended lines. Only stragglers and deserters were encountered, as the enemy had withdrawn; so by 6-30am the Brigades had reached the objective, some two thousand yards from the enemy’s new front line, and were consolidating’…[1]

Having made no contact with the enemy, the 58TH Division had continued its advance. Spearheaded by the 2ND/4TH Battalion of the London Regiment [173RD Brigade] and a troop of the Northumberland Hussars together with a section of artillery and machine guns, the advance had got underway by 8-30am that day, however, by this time the fog had cleared and soon the troops had come under fire from ‘Carre Wood’ a dense clump of trees on a ridge to the west of ‘Billon Wood’, the 2ND/4TH [supported by men from 2ND/2NDLondon] had duly been ordered to attack the wood. A very fierce struggle for possession of this wood had then taken place; nevertheless, by the start of the afternoon, the Londoners had been in possession of most of Carre Wood. Later that afternoon the 2ND/2ND London [also belonging to 173RD Brigade], had been ordered to strike to the north of the wood, towards the Suzanne—Carnoy road, its [and 2ND/4TH’s] final objective.

‘Owing to the heat of the day, a Sunday, which had now become fine and sunny, and the fatigue of the men, the movement was not launched until 4-30pm. After hard fighting it met with considerable success; the two battalions reached a salient about half a mile from Maricourt, formed by two roads. But as Maricourt was strongly held, and Carnoy on the left flank was also still in enemy hands, no further progress could be made. A violent thunderstorm had arisen towards 8pm, and rain was now falling heavily and continued until 10pm, so that everybody was uncomfortable’…[1]

By the end of the 25TH the 2ND/2ND Londons had advanced about a thousand yards and had been positioned to the east of Carnoy astride the Fricourt-Maricourt road. Having captured Carre Wood and an intricate system of enemy trenches that day, the unit had lost just three men. [2]

In the early hours of Monday the 25TH, the 58TH Division had captured enemy positions astride the Peronne road, and had achieved all their objectives by 9-30 that morning. By the fall of night the formation had been positioned on the western outskirts of Maricourt, a village that the formation had been ordered to capture the following day [in conjunction with the Australian 3RD Division], along with a system of trenches located near Maricourt Wood [by the end of this day’s fighting the 2ND/2ND had incurred many casualties to enemy machine gun fire, including nine men killed].

Zero Hour had been fixed for 4-55am on Tuesday the 27TH, when the troops were to make their advance behind a creeping barrage. The Official History records;

‘The 58TH Division sent forward the 174TH and 173RD Brigades [Brigadier Generals A. Maxwell and C.E. Corkran], giving them as first objective the system of trenches, about fifteen hundred yards away, running from Fargny Mill past the eastern edge of Maricourt Wood. It had been arranged between the two Divisions that the 3RD Australian Division should attack Fargny Wood, actually just within the 58TH Division area; when later, the Australian Corps decided against this plan, no troops of the 58TH Division were immediately available to deal with the wood, and although the 174TH Brigade received fire from the northern edge and a small party occupied a trench facing it, evening had come before the wood could be cleared, a few prisoners being taken in it. Meanwhile the advance of the right of the Brigade had been held up some three hundred yards from the objective and the left wing, in error, halted in a trench short of its destination. These difficulties were overcome, and the objective was reached; then, however, the fire from the old German reserve line beyond was so strong that no further advance could be made. The 173RD Brigade had immediate success, and Maricourt village and wood were quickly captured’…[1]

As well as taking all their objectives the Londoners had also taken a good number of prisoners belonging to various battalions of the elite German 2ND Guards Division. Once again, however, during this day there had been many casualties to machine gun fire. Amongst the fifteen other ranks of the 2ND/2ND’Londons who had lost their lives had been thirty one years old; GS/92864 Private Edward Marshall Knox.

Attached to ‘B’ Company of the 2ND/2ND [City of London] Battalion [Royal Fusiliers] of the London Regiment ‘Ted’ had been born in the North Yorkshire village of Brompton during 1887 and had been the eldest son of Annie Elizabeth and labourer Gibson Knox, who had been residing in Scarborough at No.16 Park Road at the time of their son’s death. [3]

By the turn of the century the Knox family had been residing in the Gladstone Road area of Scarborough, at No.18 Fairfax Street. Aged fourteen years by 1901, by this time Ted had been a former pupil of the Junior and Senior Departments of the nearby Gladstone Road School, and despite his humble beginnings he had also gained a scholarship at South Cliff’s exclusive St Martins Grammar School, where he had been a student between 1898 and 1900.

After leaving St Martins Grammar School, Knox had been employed as a ‘solicitors clerk by Scarborough solicitors Tate, Cook, and Fowler, whose offices had been located at No.29 Westborough. However, by 1914 Ted had been working as a clerk in the South Woodford branch of the London Joint Stock Bank, where he had sat the examination for the Certificate of the Associated Institute of Bankers.

With his examinations successfully passed Knox had returned to Scarborough to live with his parents at No.16 Park Road, and work in the St Nicholas Street branch office of the London Joint Stock Bank until his enlistment into the army during September 1915. Initially a Private [Regimental Number G/12440] in ‘A’ Company of the locally raised 21ST [Yeoman Rifles] Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, after training at Duncombe Park at Helmsley and Aldershot, Knox and the remainder of the ‘Yeoman Rifles’ had landed in France on the 4TH of May 1916 to serve in the Ypres Sector of the Western Front until August 1916, when the Battalion had been drawn into the meat grinder of the Somme Offensive.

The Yeoman Rifles had eventually gone into action for the first time on the 15TH of September 1916 during the Battle of Flers/ Courcelette, a Somme battle which had seen the use of tanks for the first time in the war, and had cost the Yeomen Rifles almost four hundred casualties. Amongst the Battalion’s fifty six wounded; Knox had been severely injured in both thighs by a single snipers bullet. Evacuated to ‘Blighty’ for treatment at Leeds, Knox had been hospitalised until January 1917, when he had returned to Scarborough to recuperate.

Married during early 1916, Ted had been husband of Frances May Knox, the youngest daughter [born Scarborough 1888] of local ‘master butcher’ Edward Cockerill, of No2 Londesborough Road, the house where the Knox’s only child, Frances May, had been born on Sunday the 23RD of September 1917. Shortly after the opening of 1918 Ted Knox had been considered fit enough to return to France and had never seen his wife or daughter again.

Like all soldiers returning to the front after hospitalisation, Knox had been sent for training at one of the many Infantry training Depots located near Etaples, where he had undergone ‘intensive battle training’ in one of the many notorious ‘Bull rings’ that had been located amongst the sand dunes close to the French town. Whilst there Knox had found himself being transferred to the Territorial Force 2ND/2ND London’s, and towards the end of January 1918 he been included in a draft of replacements that had been despatched to the Battalion, which had been serving in the Arras Sector.

A veteran of two years of service on the Western Front, the news of Ted Knox’s death had reached his wife during Saturday the seventh of September 1918. Having already lost a brother to the war, one can barely begin to imagine the pain that Frances Knox had been forced to endure after she had received the fateful telegram. The news of Ted Knox’s demise had been included in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 13TH 1918;

‘Killed instantaneously - The sad news reached his wife, residing with her parents, Mr. and Mrs Cockerill, 2 Londesborough Road, on Saturday of the death in action of Pte. Edward Marshall Knox, London Regt, eldest son of Mr and Mrs G. Knox, 16 Park Road. Pte. Knox joined the K.R.R.C., in which he became a Corporal, from Scarborough, and was severely wounded in September 1916. A comrade writes that he was killed instantly on August 25TH by a piece of shrapnel when going over the top. He was formerly in the head office of the London Joint Stock Bank.

He was 31 years of age and leaves one child. Two brothers are serving, one, Corporal F.H. Knox, having been wounded. A brother in law was killed and another is serving’… [4]

By the time that the news of his death had reached Scarborough, the remains of Private Knox, and those of fourteen other men from the battalion who had also lost their lives on the 27TH of August, had been interred in hastily dug battlefield graves near to where they had fallen, which, during the post war years had been located by one of the many British Army burial units that had scoured the old Somme battlefield. The remains of the fifteen Londoners had been taken to a newly created burial ground known as ’Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery’, which is located some three kilometres to the north east of the rebuilt village of Bray sur Somme. This Cemetery now contains the graves of over 500 World War One casualties, Edward Marshall Knox’s can be found in Section 2, Row F, Grave 56, the soldier’s final resting place being flanked by those of fellow 2ND/2ND Londoner; 92915 Private Frederick Robert Agates, an eighteen years old who had died of wounds whilst serving with the battalion on the 26TH of August, and 2ND Lieutenant Arthur Lyon Tupman, a nineteen years old who had lost his life on the 22ND of August 1918, whilst serving with 80TH Squadron of the Royal Air Force [Graves 2/ F / 55, and 2/ F/ 57 respectively].

[According to ‘Soldiers died in the Great War’, between the 25TH and 27TH of August the 2ND/2ND Londons had lost 45 men killed or died of wounds].

In Scarborough, apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial Ted Knox’s name is commemorated amongst the seventy three former pupils [including V.A.D. nurses E.W. and M.M. McLaughlin], listed on the Gladstone Road School Roll of Honour, and on the badly eroded and neglected War Cross Memorial located outside St Martin’s Parish Church, which includes the names of forty former students of St Martins Grammar School who had also lost their lives whilst on active service between 1914 and 1918. In addition, Knox’s name can be found in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery [Section L/ Border/ Grave 17] on a gravestone which also contains the names of his mother, Annie Elizabeth Knox, who had died at the age of fifty seven on the 11TH of August 1923, John Edward, the son of Iris and Stanley Cockerill, who had been born [in Scarborough] on the 30TH of June 1943, who had passed away at the age of five, on the 25TH of February 1949. The memorial also contains the name of Ted’s father, Gibson Knox, who had died at the age of eighty four on the 1ST of July 1946. [5]

During the post war years Ted’s widow and daughter had continued to live in Scarborough with her parents at No.2 Londesborough Road. By the outbreak of the Second World War the house had been renamed ‘The Crest’ and Frances May Knox had been residing there with her father, Edward Cockerill, and daughter, along with an Ernest Cromack. However, by the beginning of the 1950’s only Frances May Junior had lived at the house, along with Eric Mason, who for many years had been the well known window dresser of Scarborough’s Rowntrees Departmental Store.

Transferred to General Sir Henry Horne’s First Army shortly after their exploits in the first phase of the August Offensive, by late August the Canadian Corps had been preparing to attack enemy positions in the so-called ‘Drocourt—Qeaunt Line’.

Located to the north of the River Scarpe, the First Army, allocated with the task of protecting the left flank of Third Army, had joined in with the Battle of the Scarpe on the 26TH of August, and during that day the Canadian Corps [consisting at this time of only the 2ND and 3RD Divisions along with the British 51ST Division] had mounted an assault on a four miles frontage between Neuville Vitasse and the Scarpe that had taken, albeit after severe fighting, heavily fortified positions on ‘Orange Hill and ‘Chapel Hill’, and had gone onwards to take the piles of bricks that had once been the village of Monchy le Preux.

The Canadian assault had begun in the darkness of the pre dawning of Tuesday the 26TH of August and at first had met little resistance, however, with the coming of daylight the Germans had been able to bring their numerous machine guns and artillery pieces into action to pour a fearful barrage into the ‘Canucks’ before they had reached their first objective, a line of trenches near to the tattered remnants of the village of Fampoux.

Amongst the units that had taken part in this initial stage of the operation had been the 7TH Brigade of Canadian 3RD Division. Along with eight tanks the Brigade’s Royal Canadian Regiment, and Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry [P.P.C.L.I.] had their advance at about 11am that day and had passed through the 8TH Brigade to press forward nearly one thousand yards before being stopped by the intense artillery and machine gun fire coming from three sides. Nevertheless, with all their tanks knocked out by this time, the 42ND [Royal Highlanders of Canada] Battalion had been sent forward on the right flank of the assault to clear the ground there, however, even before the Highlanders could draw level with the Royal Canadians, they had been met by a resolute enemy in a labyrinth of trenches to the south of Monchy, which had inevitably resulted in a fearful fire fight.

The battle had continued throughout the remainder of the day but no further forward movement had been possible due to the intense enemy fire. The Canadians had duly begun the task of consolidating their newly won positions, and to make sure of their security during that afternoon the 49TH [Edmonton Regiment] Battalion of infantry had been brought into the action.

Commanded by the thirty four years old Lieutenant Colonel Charles Yardley Weaver, the forty ninth, although supposedly held in ‘Brigade Reserve’, had acted as ammunition and supplies porters to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry throughout the day. Of these activities the Battalion’s ‘War Diary’ reports;

’Keeping in tough with P.P.C.L.I. at 800 yards distance. ‘B’ Company report trench mortar resistance on left flank—1-40pm enemy continues to shell consistently on left flank. From information received things are not progressing very well with P.P.C.L.I.. At 2-15pm Capt Davies returns and reports situation; ‘B’ and ‘C’ Companies have met with severe opposition from direction of Pelves. An artillery shoot is arranged and liaison officer is sent forward to Lt Mooney. 3-45pm; Colonel Weaver goes forward to make tour of front line. Lieut. Pope has been killed and Lieut. R.A. Walter takes command of ‘B’ Company. ‘C’ Company has been earmarked to give all assistance to No 2 Company P.P.C.L.I., ‘D’ Company supplies a party of 50 men to carry s.a.a. [small arms ammunition], bombs, and S.O.S. rockets to P.P.C.L.I.. Reported that enemy observed moving from Jigsaw Wood to vicinity of Hat and Kit trenches. 10pm word received 51ST Imperial Division have captured Mount Pleasant’…[6]

Throughout the following day the 49TH Battalion had continued to support the Princess Pats by carrying stretchers and bringing up the all precious ammunition and water. However, by 4-30 that afternoon the Battalion had been relieved by units of the Royal Canadian Regiment, the formation, minus the killed thirty six years old Lieutenant Frank Pope, plus two other officers and twenty wounded other ranks, had moved into rest at nearby ‘Musket Trench’.

Rest had been short lived for at 11pm that night the 49TH had received orders to take the village of Pelves the following day, ‘Zero Hour being fixed for 5am on Thursday the 28TH of August.

Colonel Weaver had allotted the task to his ‘D’ and ‘C’ Companies, and had duly ordered their commanding officers to attend a conference at battalion H.Q…’Taking their orders down themselves, all points are thoroughly discussed and it is decided to bomb down German trenches in a northern direction from left flank of P.P.C.L.I. with two platoons of ‘D’ Company subsequently making a frontal attack on Pelves’…

Duly, at 5am that morning the heavy artillery had begun to bombard the ruins of Pelves, shortly afterwards the 49TH Battalion had begun its advance, and despite reporting that the artillery had been ‘shooting short’, both companies had met ‘little resistance’ and had achieved all their objectives by 6-30am. Pushing onwards the two Companies of the 49TH [around five hundred officers and men] had found themselves in the enemy positions known as ‘Kit and Hat Trenches’, where, later that day, their situation had changed for the worse.

‘1030am. both front companies have reported that the enemy is pressing and that a further supply of bombs and s.a.a. are required, also heavy fighting reported on ‘C’ Company front. Lieut. Cluff has been killed’…

Severe fighting had continued throughout the remainder of the day, nevertheless, the battalion had endured their ordeal to report at 5-25pm…’our casualties have not been heavy and the success of the operation is assured’. Later that evening the formation had been relieved by units belonging to the Composite Motor Machine Gun Brigade, and by the morning of the 30TH of august the Battalion had been in billets at Arras, where the men had generally cleaned themselves up, fixed their clothing and equipment, and most importantly, rested. At some point in the day the unit had assembled for the customary post battle calling of the Battalion’s roll, which had revealed that throughout the whole operation the unit had lost two officers killed [Lieutenants Pope and Cluff] and three wounded, along with nine other ranks killed, together with fifty one others wounded. Amongst the nine ‘other ranks’ that had lost their lives had been the thirty years old; Corporal Antony Surtees Bredon.

Born in Scarborough on Sunday the 1ST of July 1888, at No.55 Aberdeen Walk, Antony had been the youngest son of Annie Isabella and medical practioner Alexander Bredon. [7]

Baptised at Scarborough’s St Mary’s Parish Church on the 22ND of July 1888, Anthony Bredon had duly entered formal education at the age of five when he had attended the privately owned ‘Wheater’s Grammar School’, which had been located in the town at No.33 Albemarle Crescent. A student at Wheater’s until the beginning of the autumn term of 1901, when the fourteen years old Bredon had ‘gone up’ to the exclusive Newick House, Private School, which had been located in Bath Road, Cheltenham.

A pupil of Newick House until the age of seventeen, Antony had returned to Scarborough during 1905 to work for a time as a clerk to local solicitor William Drawbridge [located at 74 Newborough], however, by 1910 he had migrated to Canada, where he had resided in Alberta, where he had resided and worked [as a clerk] in the Province’s capitol, Edmonton, where Bredon had enlisted into the locally raised 49TH [Edmonton Regiment] Infantry Battalion, on the 4TH of January 1915. Aged twenty six years and six months at the time, Bredon is described as having a height of five feet seven inches, a girth [when fully expanded] of thirty six inches, a fair complexion, brown eyes and hair, and a Church of England religious denomination.

Duly considered fit for overseas service, Bredon and the remainder of 49TH Battalion had trained in the vicinity of Edmonton until February 1915, when the unit had been posted for further training at the huge tented encampment known as Valcartier Camp. Located near to the city of Quebec, Valcartier had been the main assembly point and training base of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which at this stage of the war had been housing some thirty thousand troops. Whilst there Bredon and his comrades had learnt the numerous movements belonging to the art of military foot drill, and had inevitably taken part in numerous extensive and exhausting route marches in the country around Quebec. He had also learnt to handle the Canadian army’s standard infantry weapon the ‘Ross Rifle’, a rifle which had worked fine in the ideal conditions of the ranges of Valcartier Camp, that had proved unpopular and unreliable, that had ultimately fallen from grace in the mud and harsh conditions of Flanders.

By the beginning of June 1915 the 49TH Battalion had been considered fit for active service, on the fourth of the month the unit had embarked at Montreal in the transport S.S. Metagarma. Ten days later the Metagarma had crossed the Atlantic to arrive at Liverpool on the 14TH of June 1915. Duly transported to Kent and the Canadian Base Camp located at Shorncliffe, Bredon and his comrades had carried out further training there until the beginning of October. Quitting camp on the eighth of October, the following day the 49TH had embarked at Folkestone in the ‘S.S. Golden Eagle’ for its transportation to France.

Commanded at this time by former barrister Lieutenant Colonel William Antrobus Griesbach, the 49TH Battalion had landed at Boulogne that same day, and after a brief rest in a nearby rest camp the 49TH had entrained for Flanders and the Ypres Sector, where the battalion had initially been housed at Ostrohove Camp. However, on the 15TH of October the 49TH had moved to billets in the village of Piebrouch, prior to moving to the front line the following day. The Battalion had duly moved into the trench system at ‘English Farm’ during the morning of the sixteenth of October, two days later the battalion had suffered its first casualty, Lancashire born [Swinton 1891] 432544 Private George Edwin Hodson, who, although wounded by a sniper’s bullet, would survive the war.

The 49TH Battalion had remained in the Ypres Sector throughout the remainder of 1915, and had still been there by May 1916, when on the fifth of the month Bredon had been promoted to the rank of Corporal. By the beginning of June 1916 the Battalion had been stationed in trenches at Sanctuary Wood, near Ypres. Involved in the 3RD Canadian Division’s first offensive operation, the assault on the enemy positions on nearby Hill 62, and further south, Mount Sorrel, where the 49TH battalion had suffered over three hundred casualties between the 11TH and 13TH of June [during these operations the Canadian Corps as a whole, had suffered over eight thousand casualties].

By the 23RD of June the 49TH had been relieved in the line, the unit moving back to billets near Ypres, where that same day Bredon had been admitted into the 8TH Canadian Field Ambulance with a high temperature, back pain, and generally ‘feeling unwell’. Transferred to 3RD Canadian Division’s Rest Station that same day, Bredon had remained at the ‘Rest Station’ until the 30TH of June. Sent back to his unit, Bredon had duly journeyed to the Somme with the 49TH Battalion, and the remainder of the Canadian Corps, during late August 1916.

On the thirteenth of September the 49TH Battalion had marched through the shattered city of Albert, passing the church of Notre Dame Brebieres with its famous ‘leaning virgin’ statue, the Edmonton’s had marched onwards to bivouac in the pouring rain on ‘Tara Hill’. Whilst there Bredon had once again ‘gone sick’.

Complaining of acute pain in his lower back, Bredon had been transferred by train to Wimereux, where he had been admitted into the 8TH Stationary Hospital. For the next five months of his military career r Bredon had been a patient in a number of hospitals in France and England, and had therefore not been involved in the 49TH’s activities during the Battle of Courcelette, when on the 16TH of September 1916 the battalion had mounted an assault on a heavily defended German position known as ‘Zollen Graben’ which had resulted in the Battalion’s Corporal John Chipman Kerr, a former Nova Scotia lumberjack, being awarded with the Victoria Cross. Known as ‘Chip’ by his comrades, although wounded Kerr had lead a single-handed bombing attack on an enemy machine gun position which had not only knocked out the gun but had also netted over sixty prisoners. [8]

Bredon had also not taken part in the operations at Vimy Ridge during April-May 1917, neither had he seen service in the subsequent bloody fighting during Third Battle of Ypres where the battalion had lost many of its men to enemy machine gun fire during the battle for ‘Crest Farm’ which had taken place on the 20TH of October 1917. During that action the battalion had come under intense machine gun fire from a nearby position known as ‘Furst Farm’, which had caused many casualties that had been attacked single handed, and eventually overpowered by English born 437793 Private Cecil John Kinross, who had subsequently been awarded with the Victoria Cross for ‘Most conspicuous bravery in action during prolonged and severe operations’. [9]

Diagnosed as being afflicted with ‘Myalgia’, or muscle pain, whilst at Wimereaux, on the 20TH of September 1916 Bredon had shipped to ’Blighty’ where he had spent some time at the Canadian Casualty Assembly Centre [C.C.A.C.] at Folkestone before being sent for testing at London’s University College Hospital, where he had remained until the 25TH of November when he had been returned to the C.C.A.C. at Folkestone.

Three days later Bredon had been transferred to the Canadian Convalescent Hospital located at ‘Bear Wood’ near Workingham, Berkshire. Whilst there he had undergone an extensive programme of therapies, including massage, ‘electric treatment’, ‘Tallerman Baths’, and warm mineral baths, which had ‘effected a slight improvement’. Recommended for transfer to the Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital at Buxton, Derbyshire on the 17TH of November 1916, Bredon had continued with his various treatments until the 3RD of February 1917, when, after an additional course of ‘swimming therapy’ coupled with a regime of swimming exercises, he had been considered fit enough for transfer back to the C.C.A.C at Folkestone for physical training and eventually active duty.

Sent initially to the Canadian Convalescent Depot at Hastings, Bredon had shortly been posted for training to the Canadian Infantry Depot at Bramshott. Arriving at the Depot on the 16TH of June 1917 he had been attached to the 9TH Reserve Battalion, and had remained with this until the 15TH of October 1917, when he had once more been taken onto the strength of the 49TH Battalion. Duly sent to France, Bredon had had once again arrived at Boulogne, on the 9TH of November 1917. Posted to the Canadian Reinforcement Camp at Etaples, he had remained in training until the 9TH of November 1917 when he had returned to the 49TH battalion and the remainder of his war.

By Friday the 9TH of November 1917 the 49TH Battalion had been located in Flanders, at ‘Howe Camp’ near to the village of Watou, where the battalion had been resting and recuperating after its trial by fire at ‘Furst Farm’, where the unit had suffered over four hundred casualties to machine gun and artillery fire]. For the ninth of November the unit’s ’War Diarist had reported;

‘Syllabus of training carried out from 9-00am to 12-00 noon. Captain W. Taylor reported for duty and was posted to ‘C’ Company. 20 Other Ranks reported as reinforcements and were posted to respective companies’…[6]

Attached to Lieutenant Russell’s No.13 Platoon of Captain James McQueen’s ‘D’ Company, Bredon had remained in the Ypres Sector throughout the remainder of the bitter winter of 1917. However, by the dawning of 1918 the 49TH Battalion [and the remainder of the Canadian Corps] had been moved to northern France where they had taken over rain-saturated trenches in the Souchez Sector, where, on the 15TH of January, the Battalion’s War Diary reports;

’Raining heavily and trenches falling in. 90 pairs of gum boots brought up from Brigade, these are badly needed by both front line companies’…

Bredon had remained in these positions, alternating between duty in the front line and ‘resting’ in billets at ‘Souchez Huts’ until the beginning of May, when the 49TH had moved to the Arras Sector, where the battalion had remained until the whole of the Canadian Corps had begun to make its move towards the Amiens front early in August 1918.

Moving under the cover of secrecy and darkness the Edmontons had arrived in Fourth Army’s area at the beginning of August, and had been centred [with the remainder of 3RD Division] to the east of the city, near the junction of the Somme and Ancre rivers. On the first of August the battalion had been housed in makeshift shelters at ‘Hebecaust Wood’, however, by the third the unit had been ensconced in what the unit’s War Diary describes as ‘very dirty billets’ in the Picadean village of Sains-en-Amienois.

At midday on the 6TH of August the Bredon and the remainder of 49TH Battalion had left their billets at Amienois to march to their assembly point at Gentelles Wood, preparatory to the Canadian Corps advance due to take place during the early hours of the eighth.

[During the first day of the Battle of Amiens the 49TH battalion had been involved in the successful capture of ‘Cerfs Wood’, which had cost the battalion over sixty casualties, for the capture of some two hundred prisoners along with 20 machine guns and five artillery pieces].

By the twelfth of August the Battalion had taken part in the capture of the town of Parvillers, having lost by this time some 127 casualties. On the 16TH the Battalion had been relieved from the front line, the unit retiring to Hamon Wood where on the eighteenth of August Bredon and his comrades had been inspected by such ‘top brass’ as the French President M. Clemenceau, and the British Commander in Chief Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. That afternoon the men had been paid and given the afternoon off.

Following the closing down of the Amiens Offensive the Canadian Corps had been returned to the Arras Sector and First Army. On the 20TH of August the 49TH Battalion had entrained at Boves, and by the twenty third the unit had been in billets at Ivergny, a village located to the west of Arras.

Whilst the Canadians had been enjoying a spell of rest and playing games of baseball and football, behind the scenes preparations were being made for their next battle. On the fifteenth of August British Headquarters had given instructions to General Sir Henry Horne, the C.O. of First Army, to ‘make preparations at once with a view to being ready to take advantage of any withdrawal of the enemy by following him up and pressing him in the direction of Monchy le Preux, or, if conditions were favourable, by delivering an attack on Orange Hill and Monchy le Preux’…[1]

Two days later Horne had submitted his battle plans to General Headquarters, and on the 24TH G.H.Q. had issued the orders ordering the continuation of the Third Army guarded by the Fourth on its right and the First on its left. The role assigned to the First Army being the penetration of the Drocourt-Queant Line on its front, thence to swing south east to operate against the right of the enemy troops opposing Third Army.

The 26TH of August had been fixed as the start of the combined Third and First Army operation; however, the brunt of First Army’s effort was to be borne by only its right wing, the 2ND and 3RD Canadian Divisions, and British 51ST Division belonging to the Canadian Corps.

The 49TH Battalion had received its marching orders during the afternoon of the 25TH of August, whilst the unit had been stationed in the village of Anzin-st-Aubin. The Battalion’s Diary reports…

‘3pm… Orders received that battalion will move at 7-00pm to the assembly area…Arrangements made for as many men as possible to get baths before going in the line…7pm…Battalion moves to assembly area east of Arras under Captain S.J. Davies M.C., the C.O. having proceeded ahead to look over the line’…

Before daylight the following day the battle had commenced…’Barrage opens. Enemy retaliatory fire not heavy. The Colonel is at Brigade as liaison officer for the battalion. 7-00am Colonel returns from Brigade and advises Company Commanders to move at once’. By 8-40 the Battalion, consisting of twenty four officers and seven hundred and seventy six other ranks, had been assembled in its start position awaiting the order to begin its assault. At 9-40 orders had been received from Brigade Headquarters for the unit to move forward, by 10-05 all companies had been on the move…

The news of Antony Bredon’s death had never been reported in any of the crowded casualty lists that had appeared in the local press that summer. Nevertheless, on Friday the 13TH of September 1918 the following had been included in the ‘Births, Marriages, and Deaths’ column of that evening’s edition of ‘The Scarborough Mercury, along with the names of six other Scarborians that had lost their lives in the recent fighting;

‘Bredon. —On August 28TH. Killed in action, Anthony Bredon, Canadians, youngest son of the late Dr. Alexander Bredon; of Scarborough’…

By the time that the above had appeared in Scarborough’s press the 49TH Battalion had been back in billets near Arras and the remains of Corporal Bredon, along with those of Lieutenants Frank Pope, and Francis Nicholas Cluff, had been collected form their battlefield graves to be re-interred in a cemetery close to Tilloy les Mofflanies, a village located some three kilometres to the south east of Arras, close to the main [D60] road between Arras and Cambrai. Containing just forty graves this Cemetery, now known as ‘Gourock Trench Cemetery’ is one of the smaller burial grounds belonging to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is named after a trench that had been located close by during the war. To be found one kilometre to the north of Tilloy off a side road running between the village and the nearby commune of Blangy, Bredon’s final resting place is located in Section B, Grave 8.

No further information regarding the demise of one of the sons of Scarborough’s most prominent and popular physicians had ever been reported in town’s press. During the post war years Antony Bredon’s name had been commemorated on the St Mary’s Parish Church ‘Roll of Honour’ located on the north interior wall of the church. His name had also most probably been meant to have been recorded on the War Memorial of the town’s Christ’s Church which had for many years been located in Vernon Road. However, for some unknown reason this memorial bears the name of Antony’s elder brother, Alexander Shotten Bredon, who had survived the war.

With no relatives remaining in Scarborough Antony’s name had never been submitted to Scarborough’s town council for inclusion on the Oliver’s Mount Memorial during the post war years. However, during October 2003 the author had submitted the soldier’s name to the council for addition to the Memorial, duly, Antony Bredon’s name had duly appeared on the monument in time for the Armistice Day celebration that year. Bredon’s name can also be found in Scarborough’s Dean Road Cemetery at the foot of a magnificent Celtic cross memorial [which had been crafted by Scarborough’s master monumental sculptor Frederick Dove] located in Section C/ Border [Grave 1] that also commemorates the names of Antony’s mother.

Annie Isabella Bredon had been born at Sunderland, Durham, during 1864 and had been the daughter of Anthony and Isabella [formerly Shotten] Surtees. Annie had died in Scarborough at the age of forty six years on the17TH of December 1910. Interred in Dean Road Cemetery on the 20TH of December, no information regarding the demise or funeral of Mrs. Bredon had been included in any of Scarborough’s newspapers. However, five years later the news of Alexander Bredon’s death at the age of 66 years had been reported in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 9TH of April 1915;

‘The death took place early on Monday morning of Dr. A.M. Bredon, at his residence, [50] Aberdeen Walk. Deceased had been ailing for some time but had only been in bed about a fortnight. He was over sixty years of age and leaves a daughter and two- sons grown up-Mrs. Bredon having pre deceased him some years ago.
Deceased was formerly connected with the Medical Association at Scarborough, and afterwards he began practice on his own account. He was a brother in law of the late Sir Robert Hart, Inspector General of Customs in China. On Sir Robert Hart’s retirement he was succeeded in China by Sir Robert Edward Bredon, brother of Dr. Bredon. Dr Bredon was born at Porterdown, Ireland, and was a son of the late Alexander Bredon M.D’…

The funeral of Alexander Macaulay Bredon had taken place during the morning of Thursday the 8TH of April 1915. ‘The Mercury’ of April the 9TH had also reported;

‘The funeral took place at 8-30 on Thursday morning, at the Scarborough Cemetery. The early internment was really at his own wish. The body was enclosed in a polished oak coffin, with brass Gothic mountings, the breastplate bearing the instruction—‘Alexander Macaulay Bredon, born 14TH July 1849, died 5TH of April 1915’.

Several floral emblems were received, and the immediate mourners were: Miss Bredon [daughter], Lady Hart [sister], and Miss Bredon [sister].

The officiating clergy were the Vicar of Scarborough [the Reverend Cecil Cooper] and the Rev. W.L. Shepherd. Dr. Cuff and other were present. Messrs. J. Tonks and Sons carried out the funeral arrangements’…

Antony had obviously been missing from his father funeral due to war service, so too had Dr. Bredon’s eldest son Alexander Shotten Bredon. Born at Bootle during 1886, Alex had been a Lieutenant in the Queen’s Own [Royal West Kent Regiment] by 1915 and had been serving in Mesopotamia with the regiment’s 2ND Battalion at the time of his father’s demise. Eventually married to Phyllis Standen [the youngest daughter of the late Mrs. and Major J. D. Standen Royal Irish Fusiliers] at Christ’s Church, Bournemouth, during late 1918, unlike his younger brother Alex Bredon had survived the war, having attained the rank of Captain [Alex Bredon’s forthcoming ‘quiet wedding’ had been announced in the ‘Local News’ section of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 20TH of September 1918] by the Armistice.

Before, and during the early part of the Great War Antony’s sister [and widow], Mrs Margaret Sarah Mears had resided in Scarborough in Weaponess Valley Road in a house named ‘Ballytaggart’. By 1918 ‘Daisy’ had been living in the south of England at Witham, Essex, in a house named ‘Iolanda House’. Recorded as Antony’s next of kin, during 1922 she had received from the Canadian Government her brother’s medal entitlement, a 1915 Star, along with a Victory Medal, and British War Medal [the trio being popularly known at the time as ‘Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred’], whilst Alex had received a memorial plaque and scroll.

‘Daisy’ had eventually died at the age of sixty four years on Saturday the 1ST of May 1948, and is also commemorated on the memorial in Dean Road Cemetery. The monument also bears the inscription;

‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’…
[1 Corinthians / Ch. 15 / V.22].

The day after the death of Corporal Bredon [the 29TH of August] the steady, and often bloody, rolling back of the German line had continued. During the early hours of that day ‘on the Somme’ the Germans had quit the once heavily defended town of Ligny Thilloy, thus allowing Third Army’s New Zealand Division by 8-30am to enter, virtually without firing a shot, the shattered remnants of the city of Bapaume. Whilst this had been taking place the adjoining 62ND [2ND West Riding] Division belonging to 4TH Corps [of Third Army] had mounted an operation to capture a trench system in order to obtain a better jumping off line for an impending attack against the village of Vaulx Vraucourt. The attack had been carried out by the Division’s 185TH Brigade during the afternoon of the twenty ninth, and is described at unusual length in the Official History;

‘The trench attack of the 186TH Brigade was made by the 5/Duke of Wellington’s and is a good example of such an operation. The objective was a stretch of 1,300 yards of the old British line of 1917, consisting of front and support trenches about 250 yards apart, which ran roughly west and east at right angles to the line held by the battalion, so that the attack had to be made along them; they were roughly parallel to each other, but converged and joined at the eastern end of the objective. A smoke barrage was put down on the northern [left] side of the north trench to screen the operation from observation. A creeping barrage, extending to 300 yards on each side trenches, advanced at the rate of 100 yards in 4 minutes. One Company was employed, with another in close support and under the orders of the commander of the attacking company. The leaders were two bombing parties of 9 men each, one to work down each trench Keeping pace with the bombers, a Lewis Gun with 4 men worked along each side of each trench over the open [ground] to deal with enemy getting out of the trench, and to keep head low. About 150 yards in rear the remainder of the leading company followed, working as two platoons, one down each trench and dropping section posts on the way as flank guards. The support company provided four Lewis Gun teams moving across the open 100 yards in rear of the leading company, and about 50 yards north and south of each trench. The remainder of the support company followed with one platoon moving down each trench. The enemy at first up a stiff fight in the trenches, but the cross fire from Lewis Guns disorganised his bombers and enabled the attackers to use the bayonet, with which they proved superior. Enemy posts dotted about between the trenches were dealt with by the support company. By 6-30pm the whole objective had been taken. Casualties were slight. Of the enemy, 35 were killed and 93 taken prisoner. One trench mortar and 15 machine guns were captured’….

Amongst the ‘slight casualties’, the grievously wounded 235682 Corporal Frederick William Dove had been evacuated to the small seaport of Le Treport, where he had been admitted into the 16TH General Hospital. Injured by shrapnel which had penetrated his lef lung, Dove had subsequently undergone extensive surgery, nevertheless, despite the best efforts of the Royal Army Medical Corps surgeons, during Friday the 6TH of September 1918, four days after his twenty seventh birthday, the veteran soldier had finally succumbed to his injuries.

Born in Scarborough on Wednesday the 2ND of September 1891, at No.24 Dean Street [at one time known as Cemetery Road, now [2007] Dean Road], Fred had been the eldest son of Esther Elizabeth, and noted local monumental sculptor Frederick Dove. Educated at St Mary’s Parish School and eventually Scarborough’s Central Board School, during 1906 Fred’s father had paid the required two guineas per term for his son to attend the town’s Municipal School, where Fred had continued his education until the end of the summer term of 1909, when, at the age of fourteen, Fred had left formal education to become involved in the family’s ‘Memorial, Tomb, and Gravestone’ sculpting business, located in Dean Street.

Despite his work commitments Fred had found time to join the locally based Territorial Force 1ST/5TH Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment [Regimental Number 1402]. Serving in the elite machine gun section of the unit by the outbreak of war in August 1914, Dove had eventually gone abroad with the battalion in Flanders during April 1915 and had taken part in the 5TH Battalion’s so called ‘Baptism of Fire’ on the 23RD of April. Slightly wounded during the action [later named as the Battle of St Julien], that had killed and maimed many of his comrades, Dove had, nonetheless, remained with the unit to serve throughout the remainder of the dreadful Second Battle of Ypres, which had decimated the 5TH Battalion by almost two thirds by its end in late May 1915. [12]

Dove had continued to serve on the Western Front until June 1915 when he had once again been wounded. On that occasion Corporal Dove had been injured in the head by shrapnel, Subsequently evacuated to Blighty for treatment, Dove had remained in a hospital in Northampton until the beginning of 1916. Eventually returned to France he had inevitably been drawn into the fighting on the Somme during that frightful summer and winter of 1916. Wounded once more during September 1916, during the Battle of Martinpuich, Dove had once again been sent back to ‘Blighty to recover from his injuries. However, returned once more to France, on that occasion Fred Dove had seen himself being transferred from his beloved Fifth Yorkshires to the 2ND/4TH Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s [West Riding Regiment].

Attached to the 186TH [2ND/2ND West Riding] Brigade of the Territorial Force 62ND [West Riding] Division, Dove’s adopted Battalion had been formed at Huddersfield during 1914 and had crossed to France with the 62ND Division during January 1917 and had duly gone into the line for the first time in the Ancre Sector of the Somme on the 17TH of February, where Corporal Dove had joined the unit. Involved in the terrific slaughter around Bullecourt during April-May 1917, the 62ND Division had been so weakened during this fighting that the formation had not again been chosen suitable for action until November 1917, when the Division had taken part in the operations at Cambrai. It had been during these operations that the 62ND Division had taken part in the ferocious fighting on the 27TH of November for Bourlon Wood and village.

By the start of the German Spring Offensive of 1918, Dove and his comrades had been stationed in the Arras Sector, where the 62ND Division had held a section of Third Army’s line between Bucquoy and Puisieux. Subsequently involved in heavy fighting around Rossignol Wood, the division had been attacked on numerous occasions during the ferocious fighting that had taken place around this position. Nevertheless, despite these concentrated attacks the formation had held its line. The danger of an imminent German breakthrough had eventually subsided, and on the 2ND of April the 62ND had been relieved from the line to move into reserve near to the village of Authie.

During July 1918 the 62ND Division had been moved to the Marne Sector where the formation had been attached to the French Fifth Army. Involved in the on operations in the Ardre Valley that had eventually been named as the battle of Tardenois. Attached to the French 22ND Corps, on the 20TH of July the 62ND had taken part in operations on the right bank of the River Ardre, which after a hard day’s fighting had taken the village of Courmas. The following day Corporal Dove had taken part in a bitter struggle for possession of a wood close to the cross roads between Bouilly and Onrezy which had only resulted in heavy casualties amongst the various units of 62ND Division for precious little gain.

Bitter fighting had continued in this area for the next three days. On the 23RD the wood had been finally cleared of the enemy with the help of French forces, thus allowing the villages of Marfaux and Cuitron to be taken. The 62ND Division had remained in the Aisne Sector throughout the remainder of July. Still attached to the French Army at the beginning of August, five days later the 62ND Division had travelled northwards to be reunited with the Third Army. Attached to Fourth Corps the formation had been camped in the Arras Sector, where the formation had carried out various training programmes until mid August.

Having played little part in the opening stages of the Battle of Albert, on the 23RD of August the 62ND Division had received orders to move southwards to join Sixth Corps that night in order to relieve the British 3RD Division to the east of Courcelles le Comte the following day. These orders had subsequently been scrapped, the Division instead being ordered to relieve units belonging to 2ND Division positioned in the Ervillers Sector.

On the 25TH of August Sixth Corps [The Guards, 2ND, and 62ND Divisions] had begun its advance eastwards on a four kilometres front between Ervillers and Sapignies towards the village of Mory. After relieving the 2Nd Division, the 62ND had been given the task of capturing the village of Vaulx Vraucourt. Advancing beyond the Sensee Valley across the flat ridge between Mory and Vaulx Vraucourt, the Division’s 187TH, and Corporal Dove’s 186TH Brigades had come under heavy machine gun fire coming from the two villages, however, by 10-30am the two units had fought their way to within a mile and a half of their objective before the veritable hail of machine gun and artillery fire had finally forced a halt later in the afternoon. At around 5pm the Germans had laid on an intense artillery barrage that had saturated the 62ND Division’s positions with High Explosives and gas. The Germans had subsequently launched numerous heavy counter attacks, which, despite their intensity, had been beaten off. By the fall of night 6TH Corps had captured the village of Mory

On Monday the 26TH of August, the 62ND Division and the remainder of Sixth Corps had advanced their line about a kilometre. The following day had seen the 62ND Division send out patrols under the cover of ‘a very good barrage’ that had advanced the division’s line by about six or seven hundred yards, but in the end, according to the Official History, ‘had accomplished nothing’. Meanwhile the 1ST Guards Brigade Guards launch its ill-fated attack on St Leger Wood and ‘Bank’s Trench’ that had snuffed out the life of Scarborough’s Private Arthur Webster [see previous chapter].

A day of comparative quiet for Third Army, the 28TH of August had seen the Germans abandon ‘Banks Trench’. The 62ND Division, along with the Guards, had subsequently taken the position that had cost so many Guardsmen’s lives the previous day, without firing a shot. The two formations had eventually pushed on a further half of a mile that afternoon, the 62ND Division being concentrated near the village of Beunatre by nightfall, where Corporal Dove had spent his last few hours of life, before the 186TH Brigade had carried out its ‘good example’ of a trench attack the following day.

The Dove family had received word of their son’s wounding during Tuesday the 3RD of September. It had arrived in the customary manner with the telegraph boy, in one of the much despised buff coloured War Office envelope that had struck fear into the hearts of so many relatives of servicemen throughout the four years of war. Three days later, the very day that the soldier had died, Friday the 6TH of September’s edition of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ had reported;


‘Wounded a third time - Mr. F. Dove, sculptor, Dean Road, received intimation on Tuesday that his son, Corporal Fred William Dove, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, has been wounded in the back, a splinter of shell having penetrated the right lung. It is feared that he has been seriously wounded and he lies in hospital in France. This is the third time Corporal Dove has been wounded. He has been in the fighting forces almost since the outbreak of hostilities’…

Soon after the above had appeared in the local press, Mr and Mrs Dove had received a second buff envelope, sadly, on that occasion containing the news of Fred’s death. The tidings had, some may say, appropriately, appeared in ‘The Mercury’ of Friday the 13TH of September 1918;

‘Died from wounds - Corpl. F. W. Dove, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, Dean Road, who was reported seriously wounded last week has unfortunately died from the effects of a shell splinter penetrating his right lung. He had been previously wounded twice, and had served in the forces almost since the outbreak of war’…

To be found some twenty five kilometres to the north east of Dieppe, Le Treport had been the home of numerous hospitals during the Great War, and by 1918 the original burial ground attached to those establishments had been filled, and it had become necessary to use a new site which had, and still is, located at Mont Huon. Situated about one and a half kilometres to the south of Le Treport, on the side of the D940 road to Dieppe, Mont Huon Military Cemetery now houses the graves of over two thousand casualties of the war [along with seven from the Second World War] who had died of wounds at Le Treport between July 1916 and March 1919, when the various hospitals had closed. This had been the place where Corporal Dove’s remains had been interred shortly after his demise. His final resting place can be found in Section 8, Row E, Grave 7A.

In his hometown, apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, Fred Dove’s name is commemorated on the ‘Roll of Honour’ located on the north interior wall of St Mary’s Parish Church. Fred’s name can also be found on the large sandstone monument on the left hand side of the entrance leading into Scarborough’s Dean Road Cemetery. Officially numbered ‘C, Vault, 16’, this exquisitely carved memorial stands as testament to the often magnificent works of art that had been crafted during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by the sculptors of ‘The Scarborough Monumental Works’ of Mr. William Dove, Fred’s grandfather and the town’s finest and most prolific monumental mason of all time.

Containing some of the finest carvings in stone to be found in the Cemetery, The memorial had been a product of the hands and mind of Fred’s father, Frederick Dove, who, following his son’s death, had carved Fred’s name into the monument with all the skill of the true artisan, and although his son had been serving in the Duke of Wellington’s [West Riding] Regiment at the time of his death Fred Snr. had opted to include the emblem of Fred’s first unit, the Yorkshire Regiment, on the memorial. He had also carved;

‘In ever loving memory of Corpl. F.W. Dove aged 27, 1ST/5TH Yorks Regt. Died of wounds received in action Nr. Bapaume, Sept. 6, 1918.

And was buried at Mont Huon Cemetery Le Treport, France, after being wounded 4 times during 4 years of active service’…

The memorial also bears the names of Fred’s Scarborough born [1833] grandfather and founder of the Scarborough Monumental Works; William Dove, who had died at the age of 49 years, on the 22ND of June 1882, Ethel Mary the daughter of William and Jane Ann Dove, who had died at the age of five years on the 23RD of September 1869, and Jane Ann Dove [formally Metcalfe] the Scarborough born [1832] grandmother of Frederick William. She had passed away at the age of 90 years on the 27TH of November 1922.

Although barely discernable, the name of Fred’s uncle, William Dove Junior, the husband of Kate Dove, is also included on the memorial. Born in Scarborough during 1866, he had worked as a ‘joiner/contractor’ until his death at the age of forty-nine years at No.17 ‘Harleck Mount’, Dewsbury Road, Leeds, on Friday the 5TH of November 1915.

[The memorial also bears the name of Kate and William Dove’s 4 months old daughter, Mabel Evelyn, who had died at the family at No.55 Aberdeen Walk on the 16TH of September 1900].

Throughout the Great War Corporal Frederick William Dove’s parents had resided in Scarborough at No.2 Moorland Road. However, during the mid 1930’s Frederick and Esther Dove had moved to the newly built housing complex at Northstead, where the couple had resided for many years at No.5 Glenside, within a stones throw of some of Fred Dove’s finest creations. Born in Scarborough during 1857, Frederick had died at this house at the age of ninety years on Thursday the 20TH of November 1947, his remains being interred in the family vault in Dean Road Cemetery following a service at the nearby St Columba’s Church, during the afternoon of Monday the 24TH of November 1947. Fred Dove’s mother, Esther Elizabeth Dove [born in Scarborough during 1869], had continued to live in Glenside until the 1960’s with youngest son [born 1896] Lawrence Wrather, and daughter in law Grace Evelyn Dove. However, by the time of her death at the age of 93 years on Friday the 19TH of January 1962 Esther had been residing in a Scarborough Nursing Home. Esther’s remains had been interred in Dean Road Cemetery, in Section C, Row 1, Grave 22, also following a service of remembrance, during the afternoon of Tuesday the 28TH of January 1962, Sadly, Esther Dove’s final resting place appears [in 2007] to be unmarked.

On the same day that Corporal Dove had been wounded, further to the north and to the east of Arras, First Army’s Fourth Canadian Division had crossed the Sensee at 10am on the 29TH of August with little opposition to take the villages of Remy and Haucourt. For the men on the right flank of First Army, however, the day had been one of taking stock, repairing broken equipment, and waiting for orders to begin the assault on the formidable Drocourt-Queant Line.

Whilst First Army’s heavy artillery had begun cutting swathes into the deep forests of enemy barbed wire protecting the so called ‘D-Q Line’, the men of Major General MacDonnell’s Canadian First Division had made no forward movement on the twenty ninth. Amongst the units belonging to this Division had been the 2ND [Eastern Ontario Regiment] Battalion of Canadian Infantry. Attached to 1ST Brigade, the battalion had spent an uncomfortable previous night sheltering in shell holes, and whatever cover that could be found to the south of the recently captured [26TH of August] village of Wancourt. Like the remainder of 1ST Brigade [1ST [Ontario], 3RD[Toronto] and 4TH Battalions] the unit had been awaiting for the order to continue the advance. The formation’s War Diarist [and Commanding Officer] Major Lorne Tolbert McLaughlin had recorded that day;

‘Weather: Unsettled, occasional showers…Morning chiefly spent in making final preparations for the pending attack by 1ST Canadian Brigade of the enemy’s positions in the vicinity of Upton Wood…About 10am a warning order was received from Brigade ordering units of the Brigade to be prepared to move forward and go into action by 2-00pm. Later, however, a conference of Battalion Commanders assembled at Brigade H.Q. and the plan of assault altered. New plans were formed wherein the Brigade would continue to have the same objective but that it would be taken by a flanking movement instead of a frontal attack. Once the flanks of the enemy’s position were pushed in sufficiently the Battalions were to make a right wheel movement, thus bringing them into the same position as called for in the original plan of attack’…

Later that wet night the 2ND Battalion had fallen in to march forward to its assembly area to the east of the River Sensee. The formation had duly arrived at the prescribed position at around 2-30am on the thirtieth of August, the men settling down to grab what sleep they could despite the heavy enemy ‘whizz bang barrage’ that had been directed close to the Battalion’s position that had caused ‘a few casualties’.

Zero Hour had been set for 4-40am on the 30TH of August. The attack had duly been launched at the appointed hour supported by ‘a heavy and effective barrage from our guns’. By 6-00 the enemy’s trenches near Upton Wood had been in Canadian hands and the work of consolidation had begun…’This was very difficult owing to the barrage fire carried out by the enemy machine gunners in skilfully concealed positions. In spite of several determined counter attacks, all our newly captured positions were maintained. In this operation heavy casualties were inflicted upon the enemy and an estimate of 225 unwounded prisoners were taken besides a number of machineguns and 3 enemy 4.1’s [field guns]. Whilst leading his men with the utmost gallantry Lt. Col. L.T. McLaughlin, D.S.O. became a casualty by a machine gun bullet in left thigh. Notwithstanding this he continued, to direct the operations and not until the situation was well in hand did he consent to be carried from the field to the Dressing Station. Command of the Battalion was assumed by Major R. Vanderwater, D.S.O.. Our casualties during these operations on this day were; 2 officers killed, 9 officers wounded, and 175 [estimated] other ranks killed and wounded; weather fine’…

Amongst the Battalion’s dead had been twenty-one years old; 454635 Private Alfred Bloome. Born in Scarborough on the 14TH of April 1898, Alfred had been the youngest of three sons and a daughter of Kathleen and ‘builders labourer, Richard Bloome. [12]

Amongst the many Britons who had left the mother country during the pre war years in search of a better life in the Colonies, Bloome had migrated to Canada with sister Hettie and brother Ernest William during 1912, and whilst his elder siblings had elected to live and work in Toronto, the more adventurous Alfred had travelled southwards to reside in a small town on the banks of Lake Ontario known as Cobourg, where he had been employed as a labourer at the Crossen Car Manufacturing Company, a sprawling expanse of buildings within the town that had constructed passenger carriages for railroad companies such as the Credit Valley Railway, and the much larger Grand Trunk, and Canadian Pacific Railways.

Living in Cobourg at No.1116 King Street by 1915, Bloome had enlisted into the locally raised 59TH Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the town’s recruiting office on the 29TH of June that year. Having given a false date of birth, the 14TH of April 1897, Bloome is described in his service papers as being aged 18 years and three months, when in fact he had been aged just over seventeen years. Nonetheless, despite being officially under age for military, the youth had stood at a height of five feet seven inches with a chest measurement of thirty six and a half inches, and possessing a ‘medium complexion’, grey eyes, and brown hair, he had duly been considered fit for active service on the 5TH of July 1915.

Like all newly inducted recruits, Alfred Bloome [and the remainder of 59TH Battalion] had been sent for training at Valcartier Camp. Situated near to the Laurentian range of mountains and the Jacques Cartier River, the sprawling Valcartier Camp had been located some twenty five kilometres to the west of Quebec City and had begun life during August 1914 as part of the mobilisation of a Canadian Expeditionary Force upon the beginning of the Great War. The largest military camp on Canadian soil, by the time that Bloome had arrived Valcartier had been the home of over thirty two thousand troops and eight thousand horses. [14]

Inoculated against various diseases, and issued with a uniform and all the various items of military equipment belonging to the Canadian infantry soldier whilst at Valcartier, Bloome had also undergone a rigorous programme of physical and military training whilst at the camp, and had been instructed in the firing of the Ross Rifle, the Canadian infantryman’s standard weapon of war until it had jammed so many times in the mud of Flanders and France that it had been replaced by the standard, and much more reliable British infantryman’s .303 Short Magazine Lee Enfield.

Bloome had finished his basic training during November 1915, and had duly been placed in a draft of reinforcements that had arrived in England in time for Christmas that year, the men spending the festive season in the cold and damp hutments of Bustard Camp on Salisbury Plain.

Whilst at ‘Bastard Camp’ Bloome and the remainder of his draft had continued with their training for war, their day beginning with reveille at 6-30am, followed by a period of parade ground drill until breakfast at 8am. After an hour’s break, Bloome would take part in the morning’s parade, which would last until lunchtime at 12-30. The afternoon had been taken up with drill until the end of the day’s work at 4-30pm.

Considered fit for active service by the start of 1916, Bloome had been placed in a draft destined for France during March. Crossing the Channel from Folkestone Bloome had landed at Boulogne on the eighteenth, and after a short stay at the Canadian reinforcement camp at Etaples he had been amongst a group of men who had been sent to the 2ND [Eastern Ontario Regiment] Battalion of Canadian Infantry.

Commanded at this stage of the war by the forty six years old Lieutenant Colonel Albert Edward Swift, the 2ND Battalion, belonging to the 1ST Brigade of the 1ST Canadian Division, had been formed at Valcartier Camp during August/September 1914 and had been amongst the first Canadian units to arrive in France and Flanders. Veterans of the trench warfare in the Armetieres sector of Northern France during February 1915, the battalion had also been first gas attack of the war [22ND of April 1915] during the Battle of St Julien [April-May 1915], a part of the Second Battle of Ypres [during which the 2ND Battalion had suffered over four hundred casualties], the men of the unit had soldiered on in the trenches in Flanders field throughout the dreadful winter of 1915 into the beginning of 1916, by which time the surviving members of 2ND Battalion had been serving in waterlogged positions some eleven kilometres to the south of Ypres, near to the village of Dranoutre [now Dranouter], where, on Thursday the 23RD of March 1916, Private Bloome and thirty comrades had joined the unit.

Like all Canadian troops, Bloome and his comrades had remained in the trenches in Flanders until late 1916, when the ‘Canucks’ had, inevitably, been drawn into the Somme Offensive. Involved in the bloodbath of the Battle of Thiepval Ridge [26TH September] and the subsequent operations in the killing grounds of ‘Regina Trench’ [1 October –11 November 1916]. It had been whilst in this sector, during September 1916, that a member of the Battalion had won the first of the unit’s two Victoria Crosses. On that occasion the decoration had been awarded ‘for most conspicuous bravery’ to twenty four years old 72132 Sergeant Leo Clarke, who although wounded, and with all his men killed, had single-handedly beaten back a German counterattack, thereby ‘disposing’ of two German officers and eighteen men in the process.

[The son of Rossetta Caroline Nona, and Henry Trevelyan Clarke, Leo Clarke had subsequently died from the effects of wounds received in action on the 19TH of October 1916, his remains are interred in Etretat Churchyard located in the small French seaside town of Etretat].

[Following the Somme operations, Bloome and the remainder of 2ND Battalion had begun wearing a new emblem at the shoulder of their tunic sleeves. Known as the ‘Somme patch’, the badge had consisted of a two-inch square of red cloth [indicating the 1ST Division] that had been surmounted by a semi circle of green cloth [denoting1ST Brigade], the two points of the semi circle indicating Second Battalion.

Throughout the remainder of the war due to the red colour of this patch, and because it had been the senior of the four Canadian Divisions, the First Division had been known as ‘The old red patch’].

Held in reserve at the start of the operations at Vimy Ridge on Easter Monday, the 9TH of April 1917, the 2ND Battalion had been in positions on the southern portion of the ridge, to the south of the village of Thelus [pronounced ‘Telloo’], and west of Farbus. However, during the night of the ninth the battalion had relieved the 3RD Canadian Battalion [part of the initial assault force] at Farbus Woods and had remained in these positions on the eastern side of Vimy Ridge until the 12TH of April waiting for the German counter attack that had never materialised. During those five days the Battalion had suffered over one hundred casualties, mostly to enemy shellfire. Relieved on the 15TH of April, Bloome and his comrades had duly been moved into reserve six to the west of Vimy, to a place known as ‘Mont Eloy.

Involved in the subsequent capture of Fresnoy [a town located some10km south of Vimy Ridge] on the 3RD of May 1917, Bloome had been fortunate not to be amongst the over four hundred casualties that had been suffered by the 2ND Battalion during the ferocious and futile battle for the town that had been lost by the British just five days later.

During the summer of 1917 Bloome had been involved in the capture of one of those insignificant hummocks in the Northern French [and Belgium] landscape with such grandiose names as ‘Hill 60’ that had invariably cost the lives of hundreds and sometimes thousands of British lives for almost no reason or gain. The capture of Hill 70 had been one such operation. Located north of the French city of Lens ‘Hill 70’ standing at little more than seventy metres in height, had been considered of immense strategic value to the Allies. The attack on the hill had begun on the 15TH of August when units belonging to 2ND Brigade of the 1ST Canadian Division. Bitter fighting had ensued and during the following day the 2ND Battalion had been drawn into the slaughter. Despite heroic resistance by the Germans, and a heavy bombardment of mustard gas the Canadians had captured the whole of Hill 70 by the 17TH. However, the following day the enemy had launched no less that twenty one ferocious counter attacks on the hill, which the Canadians had beaten back, albeit at a great cost in lives. It had been during these desperate days that the 2ND Battalion had gained its second Victoria Cross.

The recipient on that occasion had been twenty three years old Major Okill Massey Learmonth. Born at Quebec on the 20TH of February 1894, Learmonth had been the only son of Martha and William Learmonth and had been awarded with the V.C. for ‘Most conspicuous bravery and exceptional devotion to duty’ whilst the battalion had been under attack on Hill 70, on the 19TH of August 1917. The Battalion’s temporary Commanding Officer at the time, Major Roscoe Vanderwater, had later reported this of unit’s extraordinary officer;

‘Major O.M. Learmonth has always shown a wonderful spirit. Absolutely fearless himself, he has also conducted himself that he has imbued those with whom he came into contact, with some of his own personality. When the barrage started he was continually with his men and officers encouraging them and making sure that no loophole was left through which the enemy could gain a foothold. When the attack was launched he was with his men supervising, and at times, throwing bombs when an emergency arose. He was wounded twice but still carried on. The third time his leg was broken so he lay in the trench and continued to encourage and give his commands. After the attack was repulsed he handed over to Lieut. Smith before being carried out’…

Amongst almost 140 casualties suffered by the 2ND Battalion on the 19TH of August, the officer had eventually been evacuated to the 7TH Casualty Clearing Station at Noeux-les Mines, where the grievously injured Learmonth [also a holder of the Military Cross] had died of wounds later that day. His grave is located in the Communal Cemetery at Noeux-les-Mines, a small town some six kilometres to the south of the city of Bethune, on the main road to Arras.

The blood soaked and sorely depleted 2ND Battalion had been relieved from the line during the evening of the 19TH of August. Two days later Bloome and his fellow survivors had been licking their wounds back in the area of Vimy Ridge, where they had remained until the unit had been drawn into its next, and most dreadful operation to date, the Third Battle of Ypres, better known as ‘Passchendaele’.

Not involved in the opening stages of the Battle; July- September 1917, the Canadian Corps had begun to move northwards to Flanders during mid October, on the 26TH of the month the 3RD and 4TH Canadian Divisions had gone into action for the first time in the most appalling of conditions during the so called ‘Second Battle of Passchendaele’. Over the next three days of unbridled bloodshed the two Canadian Divisions had floundered in the thick Flanders mud where they had suffered tremendous casualties. Two battalions in particular, the 46TH, and 47TH, both losing seventy five per cent of their men in fighting on the infamous ‘Bellevue Ridge’. Testament to the courage and tenacity displayed by the Canadians during this period is gleaned from the fact that no less than seven ‘Canucks’ had been awarded with the Victoria Cross.

On the 31ST of October, the totally worn out and exhausted 3RD and 4TH Canadian Divisions had been relieved by the 1ST and 2ND Divisions, including the 2ND Battalion. By then tagged with the nickname ‘The Iron Second’ the Battalion had arrived in the Ypres Sector on the 2ND of November, the unit moving through the entire battlefield before taking up their battle positions near Meetcheele, a village located just to the south west of the ruined village of Passchendaele on the 5TH of November. The following day the 2ND Battalion had launched an assault on the piles of bricks that had once been the village of Mosselmarkt. The Battalion’s War Diary reports;

‘Morning of the attack. 2ND Canadian Battalion was reported ‘all ready’ and in their positions in the assembly area at 3-30am. Zero Hour was set at 6-00am. About 3-50am the enemy commenced a heavy bombardment of the forward area, but owing to the troops being massed slightly forward of his barrage line, very few casualties resulted. Promptly at 6-00am our barrage opened and the attack launched. Very few seconds elapsed before the enemy opened a barrage on our back area and roads leading to the front line. Our first objective was taken by 6-15am and in a message from Lieut. MacDonald timed 7-35am, our 2nd objective had been reported taken. Unconfirmed reports were received at different times that the final objective had been taken but this was finally confirmed at by runner at 9-30am. Estimated casualties reported to Brigade-300’…[6]

Soon after they had captured their final objective, the men of 2ND Battalion had ‘consolidated’ their positions fully expecting the enemy to counter attack. This attack had never materialised and during the next two days the Battalion had remained at Mosselmarkt, where Bloome had assisted with the removal of the unit’s over two hundred wounded, and the burial of forty one dead comrades, a task that had often proved difficult due to a heavy enemy artillery bombardment of the Canadian’s positions.

Relieved during the 8TH of November, the 2ND Battalion had moved back to a rest camp at Wieltje, before entraining the following day at Ypres Station, the battalion being transported to ‘Query Camp’ located near the village of Brandhoek, where the men had received a welcoming bath along with clean clothing.

[On the 10TH of November the Canadian Corps had captured the blood soaked few bricks that had once been the peaceful village of Passchendaele. To attain this victory, an often-believed impossible task, the Canadians had suffered 15, 654 casualties in less than a month of fighting].

By the beginning of December 1917, Bloome and the remainder of the Canadian Corps had been back in the Souchez sector of Northern France, where the 2ND battalion had been billeted in the village of Petit Servins. However, on the third of the month the unit had gone into the front line for a spell of duty that had lasted until the 18TH of December, when the Battalion had gone back into their billets at Petit Servins. Shortly afterwards the unit had received orders to move to the area of Bethune, and the village of Camblain Chatelain, where Bloome and the remainder of the East Ontario’s had enjoyed the ’boisterous animal spirits, much merriment, occasional foolishness, and boundless laughter’ that had been experienced during the unit’s celebrations of the Christmas and New Year of 1917/18.

Private Bloome had remained ‘in training’ at Camblain Chatelain until mid January 1918, when his unit had been moved to the north west of Lens, the Battalion going into billets at Les Brebis. On the 22ND of January the battalion had gone into the front line in the St. Emile Sector, and for the next eight months of his life Bloome had rotated between the front in this vicinity and rest billets until the 2ND Battalion had been summoned to the Amiens Sector, like the remainder of the Canadian Corps, at the beginning of August 1918. By the fifth the unit had been located at Boves Wood. The following day the 2ND Battalion had gone into its assembly positions in nearby Gentelles Wood.

On the opening day of the Amiens offensive [8TH of August] Bloome had been involved in the 2ND Battalion’s attack on the village of Ignaucourt, the following day he had been amongst the assault troops that had stormed the villages of Beufort, and Rouvroy en Santarre. Involved in ‘stiff fighting throughout that day, Bloome had, nonetheless, seen the Canadians holding the two villages by the end of the day. Involved in the subsequent advance of the Canadian Corps during the ensuing days, by the 23RD of August the 2ND Battalion had been back in its original assembly point in Gentelles Wood.

The battalion had duly been sent back to First Army in the Arras Sector and by the 26TH of August Bloome and his comrades had been in the area of Tinques. However, during that same afternoon the East Ontario’s had moved to ‘Wailly Wood’, where the battalion had awaited orders ‘to move forward’.

The following day the battalion had received its marching orders and had duly tramped to the village of Beaurains. Fully expecting to go into action imminently, Lieut. Colonel McLaughlin had, nevertheless, duly received word from Brigade cancelling the move forward. However, later that afternoon he had received orders to move his unit forward to a position to the east [about a kilometre] of Neuville Vitasse, where further orders had been received telling of the indefinite postponement of the planned operation, the men had duly found what cover they could to spend a rather uncomfortable night. During the following day, Bloome and the remainder of 2ND Battalion had made their final preparations before the assault that had begun on the thirtieth of August.

Faceless now amongst the thousands upon thousands of casualties of the Great War, the cause of the demise of Private Alfred Bloome is not, perhaps thankfully, known. He may have been amongst the ‘few casualties’ who had been injured by enemy ‘Whizz Bang’ fire at 2-30am on the 31ST of August whilst the Battalion had been waiting to begin its advance in its assembly area before the attack on ‘Upton Wood’. He may also have been amongst the men who had been injured throughout the remainder of the day. It is, however, known that that same day the twenty years old had been evacuated to the 59TH Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, which had been located some fifteen miles to the north west of Arras in the village of Aubigny-en-Artois. It had been whilst there that the youngster had died from the effects of his wounds on Saturday the 31ST of August 1918.

At the time of her son’s demise, Kate Bloome had been residing in Scarborough at No.10 Globe Street, where the lone parent had been eking out a living by taking in other people’s washing. It had been whilst there she had received notification of Alfred’s death. In the local press the news of Private Bloom’s death had received barely a paragraph in the all too familiar ‘Scarboro Casualties’ list that had appeared in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 13TH of September 1918;

‘Canadian dies of wounds - Mrs. Bloom, 10 Globe Street, has received information that her son, Pte. A. Bloom, Canadians, has died at a Clearing Station through wounds received on the 31ST of August; he was 19 years of age. His brother, also in the Canadians, won the Military Medal a short time ago’…

Soon after his death, the remains of Alfred Bloome had been interred in a nearby burial ground that today is known as Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension. This Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintained cemetery is located just to the south of the village of Aubigny and contains the graves of over three thousand casualties of the ‘Great War’, the majority of whom had died of wounds in the various Casualty Clearing Stations that had been located at the village between March 1916 and the Armistice. Private Bloome’s final resting place is located in Section 4/ Row G/ Grave 67. The cemetery holds the graves of a number of men belonging to the 2ND Canadian Infantry Battalion. The majority of them had died during April-May 1917. However, close to the grave of Alfred Bloome can be found [Section 4/Row G/ Grave 33] the final resting place of twenty eight years old; 246009 Private Robert Henry Clifford Miller. Born at Ottawa on the 11TH of October 1890, Bob had been the son of Jennie and John Miller, and before the war had been employed as a printer Miller had also lost his life on the 31ST of August 1918. [15]

Alfred’s mother had continued to reside in Globe Street long enough to see her son’s name placed on Scarborough’s War Memorial; however, by the mid 1920’s her name disappears from the town’s ‘Electoral Rolls’. Her whereabouts after this period is not known. Sadly, apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, Alfred Bloome’s name is not included on any of the town’s surviving church or school war memorials. In Canada, Bloome’s name is commemorated on Page 370 of the First World War Book of Remembrance, located in the Tower of Peace Memorial at Ottawa.

Unlike his younger brother, Ernest William Bloome had survived the war. Living in Toronto, at No.101 Langley Avenue before the war, Ernest had enlisted into the 123RD Canadian Pioneer Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Toronto on the 2ND of December 1915. Issued with the Regimental Number 766332, Ernest had served on the Western Front with the ‘Royal Grenadiers’ as a ‘Sapper’ [The Engineer’s equivalent of the rank of Private] until May 1918, when the Battalion had been broken up. Despite extensive research the author has been unable to unearth any information regarding Ernest’s subsequent military career, nor the circumstances surrounding his award of the Military Medal.

Following the death of Private Alfred Bloome the 2ND [Eastern Ontario] Battalion of Canadian Infantry had continued with its war. Involved in the attack on the Drocourt-Queant Line on the 2ND of September, later in the month the battalion had suffered heavy losses during the subsequent operations at the Canal du Nord. A sizably reinforced 2ND Battalion had duly taken part in the remainder of the Allied advance to victory that had come to an end on the 11TH of November 1918. By the end of the war the East Ontario’s had been back where they had begun, in Flanders field, having suffered over three thousand casualties during its three and a half years service in the most terrifying war the world had thus far seen. During the post war years, the Commanding Officer of the 2ND Battalion [from December 1917 to its demobilisation in 1919], Lieutenant Colonel McLaughlin D.S.O. had had this to say regarding the sacrifice made by the unit’s fallen officers and men.

…’Nor can we fail to pay tribute to our devoted comrades who, in France and Belgium, consecrated that foreign soil with their blood. Dead, they yet live, for their memory will never fade and the glory of their deeds will live forever. The march, an eternal host, their deathless tread resounding down the ages of time, their echoes rolling through the centuries, unconfined by time or place; and so they continue to march so long as heaven and earth continue’…[16]

Attached to the First Army’s 48TH Brigade of the Royal Garrison Artillery, the 59TH Siege Battery had provided heavy artillery support to the Canadian Corps throughout the campaign of August 1918. Equipped with six massive 6-inch Howitzers capable of lobbing a three tons shell into enemy positions almost seven miles away, by Sunday the 1ST of September the Battery had been located to the east of Arras, near to the recently [26TH of August] captured village of Wancourt, where it had been busily preparing to take part in the Canadian Corps assault on the Droquant- Queant Line timed to begin the next day.

At some stage during the day the 59TH Siege Battery had come under attack from bomb carrying aircraft of the German Air Force, one of which had managed to score a direct hit on one of the formation’s newly dug Forward Observation Posts killing and wounded all of the post’s occupants. Amongst the casualties had been twenty-one years old; 311796 Signaller/Gunner Thomas Kelly.

Born in Scarborough at No.6 Valley Bridge Parade, on the 14TH of June 1897, Tom had been the second of five sons of Ellinor Mary and ‘master painter’ Richard Kelly. [17]

A pupil of the Central Board School between 1903 and 1910, before the war Kelly had also been a keen football player whose image had appeared on a regular basis in the local press amongst the victorious faces of one local football or another. At the age of thirteen Kelly had forsaken formal education to become involved in the family firm, which by 1910 had been based in Scarborough opposite the town’s General Post Office, at No.10 Aberdeen Walk, and over the ensuing few years had taken part in the decoration of many of Scarborough’s buildings and the more affluent houses located in the ‘healthier’ South Cliff district of the town.

Hard working, a member of the choir and football team of Falsgrave’s All saints Church, by 1913 Kelly [with elder brother Arthur], had also been a Gunner [Regimental Number 765326] in the Scarborough based [St John’s Road Barracks] North Riding Battery of the Territorial Force 2ND [Northumbrian] Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery [R.F.A.]. During the football season of that year Kelly had been a member of the formidable R.F.A. team that had spent most of the season at the top of Scarborough football’s Second Division. A photograph of the triumphant team had been included in the ‘Scarborough Pictorial’ of Wednesday the 22ND of October 1913 following the R.F.A.’s thrashing, by three goals to nil, of the Sherburn village team.

[Tipped to win Scarborough’s Hospital Cup trophy and the title of premier team in the town’s Second Division by the end of the football season of 1913, the R.F.A. had eventually been pipped to the post by the fearsome South Cliff Football Club, which had finally beaten the soldiers by 4 goals to 2. The loss of the title had been thought, at the time, to be due to the loss of the R.F.A.’s top goal scorer, Gunner William ‘Geordie’ White, who had recently joined the regular army, and would eventually lose his life, like Tom Kelly, whilst on active service during 1918].

Kelly had begun his war with the North Riding Battery soon after Britain had been placed on a war footing during the summer of 1914, when the Battery had left Scarborough for Newcastle, where the unit had been united with the remainder of the units that would eventually serve abroad with the Northumbrian Division. Tom had arrived in France with this formation during April 1915 and had remained on the ‘Western Front’ throughout the Second Battle of Ypres [22ND April- 25TH May] Kelly had remained in the firing line throughout the bitter winter of 1915. However, by February 1916 Tom had returned to Scarborough, where, on the eleventh of the month, the nineteen years old had been married by special licence to eighteen years old Louisa May Nicholson, the fifth of six daughters of ‘drain labourer’ Thomas and Hilda Nicholson, of No.1 Caledonia Street.

Kelly had returned to France to eventually take part in the Battle of the Somme, where during September 1916 he had been wounded during the terrible fighting at High Wood. Injured enough to be shipped back to ‘Blighty’, Kelly had remained recuperating in England until the Spring of 1917, when the soldier had been considered fit enough for active service.

Transferring to the ‘Ten mile snipers’ [the nickname of the Royal Garrison Artillery] during the winter of 1917, Tom Kelly had initially served on the Western Front with the 494TH Siege Battery, a unit that had been equipped with massive twelve inch howitzers capable of firing a huge 750 lb projectile into enemy positions over ten kilometres distant. Attached to the 14TH Garrison Artillery Brigade of the British Fourth Army, 494TH Battery had largely been attached to the Australian Corps, however, by the time that the battery had become involved in the Australian operations on the Somme in the summer of 1918, Kelly had been transferred north to the First Army, and the 59TH Siege Battery.

At the beginning of September 1918 the heavily pregnant ‘Louie’ Kelly had been residing in Scarborough at No.1 Caledonia Street, the home of her parents. It had been at this house, on Tuesday the tenth, that she had received news of Tom’s death. The tidings had duly been included in the lengthy casualty list that had appeared in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 13TH of September;

‘Killed by aeroplane bomb - Signaller T. Kelly, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kelly, Aberdeen Walk, was killed in action on September 1ST. He was married, and his widow was informed of the sad event in a letter from a comrade, who wrote: ‘I am particularly sorry, as your husband was personally well known to me and was very popular with the officers and men of this battery. Your husband was with me and the other signallers, and was just connecting up the line in a new battery position when an enemy aeroplane dropped a bomb amongst us. Your husband was hit in the neck by a piece of metal, and when I went to him he was quite dead’. The letter goes on to say that Signaller Kelly, and another man killed at the same time, were buried in a cemetery well behind the line, and the writer adds. ‘You have the consolation of knowing that he died at his post, the telephone receiver being actually in his hand at the time. He suffered no pain, as the whole thing was instantaneous. The Major wishes me to express his deep sympathy and that of the officers and men.’ Signaller Kelly was 21 years of age, and leaves a widow and one child [?]. He has been in the army nearly three years and was wounded at High Wood on September 1916, when in the R.F.A.. He was in Scarborough last January and both before and since had seen much hard fighting. A brother is serving and, like Signaller Kelly, has seen much of the war. Before joining up Signaller Kelly was employed in his father’s business of painter and decorator’…

The same newspaper had included an epitaph to the lost gunner in its ‘Births, Marriages, and Deaths’ column [albeit with an incorrect year number];

‘Kelly—Killed in action, September 1ST 1915. Signaller Thomas Kelly, R.G.A., husband of Louie Kelly, 1 Caledonia Street, and second son of Richard Kelly, 10 Aberdeen Walk, aged 21 years-- Another of the best gone’….

Although the letter by Louie Kelly from France had mentioned only one other man belonging to 59TH Battery had been killed during the 1ST of September 1918, the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission show that four men belonging to the unit, including Thomas Kelly, had died during that day. The remains of these four gunners had been taken to the village of Wancourt where they had been interred together in a small burial ground that had then been located in a former trench system known as ‘Tigris Lane’.

Now known as ‘Tigris Lane Cemetery, Kelly’s final resting place is located in the Pas de Calais Department of Northern France, near to Wancourt on the north east side of the road [the D37E] between the village and the neighbouring commune of Tilloy, which contains the graves of 110 casualties of the Great War. Tom’s grave is to be found in Section 1, Row D, Grave 15, alongside those of fellow 59TH Siege Battery Gunners; thirty two years old 28691 Lance Bombardier James Garbutt Watson [1.D.14], 182377 Gunner George Hendley [1. D.16], and forty years old 182354 Gunner Daniel Duncan [1.D. 17].

Shortly after the death of her husband, on Monday the 7TH of October 1918, Louie Kelly had given birth to the couple’s only child. Subsequently named as Edna Tomassine Kelly, the infant had tragically been taken ill during February 1919 and had shortly died at the age of five months. Amongst millions of people who had died throughout the world during the latter stages of the ‘Great War’ due to the ‘Spanish Flu’, Edna Kelly’s final resting place in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery [Section M, Grave 171] is not marked.

Apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, Tom Kelly’s name had been commemorated in Scarborough amongst those of thirty nine other members of the congregation of All Saints Church that had lost their lives during the war of 1914-1918. Consisting of a large brass tablet, this Union flag draped Memorial had been unveiled before a packed audience by Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Legard C.B.E., the commanding Officer of the local 5TH Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, during the evening of Wednesday the 27TH of July 1921. Sadly fifty years later the once grand All Saints Church had been demolished during the 1970’s to make way for a row of less than grand shops, the whereabouts of the church war memorial is not known.

Following the death of his son, Richard Kelly had continued to run the family business until his own death, ‘after a long illness’, during the early hours of Tuesday the 4TH of March 1930, at his home ‘The Allenby’, located in Scarborough’s Westborough. Born at Durham during 1857 Richard had nonetheless lived for the majority of his life in Scarborough. A member of the choir of St Mary’s Parish church during his youth, Kelly had become a bass singer of some repute having sung under several distinguished choirmasters. Also a bell ringer in his younger days, Kelly had toured Europe during the summer of 1879 with the ‘Scarborough Handbell Ringers’ a group of campanologists that had also included a young David Hunter, who would go on to become one of Yorkshire Cricket Club’s finest wicket keepers.

Richard Kelly’s funeral had taken place in Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery during the afternoon of Friday the 7TH of March 1930, following a service of remembrance at All Saints Church.

Ellinor Mary Kelly had survived her husband for over twenty years. Popularly known as ‘Ella’, Mrs. Kelly had been born in Scarborough during 1871, and had been the eldest daughter of Mary Jane, and Thomas Fidler, another ‘painter and decorator’ by trade. Ella Kelly had eventually passed away at the age of eighty two years during Tuesday the 8TH of September 1953 at her home at No.97 Tennyson Avenue. Her funeral had taken place during the afternoon of Friday the 11TH of September 1953, when her remains had been ‘re-united’ with those of her husband and infant son Leslie in the family grave located in ‘South Terrace, Border,Grave10’, of Scarborough’s Manor Road Cemetery.

Following the death of her daughter Louie Kelly had continued to live in Caledonia Street with her parent’s. However, on Saturday the 2ND of April 1921 she had remarried, to live for a couple of years in Scarborough at No.65 Rothebury Street with husband George Arthur Harrison, who by the mid 1920’s had been residing alone at this address. The whereabouts of Louie May Harrison following this period is not known. Louie’s name is not included in any of Scarborough Corporation’s burial records, and one can only hope that she had found peace at some stage of her life.

Unlike his younger brother, 40201 Bombardier Arthur Kelly had survived the war. Also married by special license, at All Saints Church on the 19TH of September 1917, to Lily, the youngest daughter of Elizabeth and Walter Cooper, Arthur had returned to Scarborough following his ‘demob’ during 1919 to live for many years with Lily at No.28 Livingstone Road. Arthur had died at the age of eighty six during March 1982. Richard Ernest Kelly had died in Scarborough during January 1965; he was aged sixty four years. Richard’s remains are interred in Scarborough’s Woodlands Cemetery [Section F. Border. Grave 81] with those of wife Doris Olga Waudby Kelly, who had passed away at the age of seventy seven years, during August 1976. The fate of the Kelly’s youngest son, Stanley, is not known.

Situated close to, and facing the Manor Road Cemetery boundary wall, the reverse side of the now neglected memorial commemorating the Kelly family also features an additional, smaller memorial bearing the name of their beloved son. This memorial also bears an inscription that is well worth a visit and a minute of contemplation in the light of today’s [2007] seemingly unfathomable troubles in Iraq;

‘In proud and sacred memory of Signaller Thomas Kelly, 454TH Siege Battery, R.G.A.
The second son of the above.
Killed in action in France on the 1ST of September 1918, aged 21 years.

‘The blood of heroes is the seed of freedom’…


During late August 1918 Scarborough had also lost;

236312 Corporal Alfred Rayner. Killed in action in France on the 29TH of August whilst serving with the 1ST/ 8TH Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment during the Allied advance to victory, Alf had been born in the Scarborough during 1897 and had been the son of Annie and William Charles Rayner, who had been living at No.24 Tindall Street at the time of his death. Formally a soldier in the local Territorial Force 1ST/5TH Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment [Regimental Number 1705], Rayner had enlisted into the battalion the day after war had broken out and had eventually gone to France with the unit during April 1915 to take part in the Battle of St. Julien. A veteran of over three years service on the Western Front, the twenty two years old former grocers assistant has no known grave, his name being commemorated on Panel 4 of the Vis-en- Artois Memorial to the Missing. In Scarborough, apart from the Oliver’s Mount Memorial, Corporal Rayner is commemorated in column five of the ‘Roll of Honour’ located on the north interior wall of St Mary’s Parish Church.

235693 Lance Sergeant William Coward. Born in Scarborough during 1893, Bill had been the eldest son of Henry and Annie Audrey Coward, who had been residing in Falsgrave, at No.3 Park Road at the time of their son’s demise. Formally employed at Scarborough by the North Eastern Railway Company, Coward had enlisted into the army [at Scarborough] during 1915 and had been wounded on three previous occasions before being fatally injured whilst serving in France during the 30TH of August with the 2ND/4TH Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Own [West Riding Regiment]. Aged twenty six years at the time of his death, the remains of Bill Coward are interred in Section 4, Row E, Grave 5 in Achiet-le Grand Communal Cemetery Extension, a cemetery located some 19 kilometres to the south of Arras.

[Alf Rayner’s death had been reported in the ‘Scarboro Casualties’ list in the ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 20TH of September 1918. Whilst Bill Coward had been reported ‘Died of wounds’ in the listing included in ‘The Mercury’ of Friday the 27TH of September 1918].

[1] The Official History of the War; Military Operations France and Belgium 1918; Volume 4; Edmonds; Macmillan; 1947.

[2] Privates Appleyard, Chennell, and Morris. From statistics in the archives of ‘Soldiers died in the Great War’; Naval and Military Press Ltd.

[3] At the time of the 1901 Census the Knox family had been residing in Scarborough at No.18 Fairfax Street and had consisted of Gibson Knox, 38 years, born in Scarborough, employed as a ‘council labourer’, Annie E., 35 years, born Ruston, North Yorkshire, Edward M., 14 years, employed as a ‘solicitors clerk’, Alfred, 12 years, Francis Harold, 6 years, all born at Brompton, and Edith S, 2 years of age, born Scarborough.

[4] Despite being badly wounded during the Third Battle of Ypres [October 1917], Ted’s youngest brother, Francis ‘Frank’ Harold Knox, a Bombardier [Corporal] with the Royal Field Artillery [Regimental Number 1674] had survived the war, as had younger brother Alfred, who had served throughout as a Rifleman [Regimental Number 45514] with The Rifle Brigade. Not so fortunate had been brother in law; 53617 Thomas Geldard Cockerill. Born in Scarborough during 1896 Thomas had been the youngest son of Phoebe and Edward Cockerill, and had lost his life at the age of twenty two whilst serving on the Somme with the 19TH [Service] Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry on the 22ND of April 1918. The husband of Isabel Frances Cockerill, of No.4 Murray Street, the remains of Thomas Cockerill had never been recovered form the Somme battlefield, and his name is commemorated amongst Panels 68 to 72 of the Pozieres Memorial, a Memorial to the Missing located close to the village of Pozieres, on the side of the main [D929] road between Albert and Pozieres which contains the names of over 14,000 casualties of the fighting during the German Spring Offensive on the Somme between March and April 1918 who possess no known graves.

[5] The inscription on this memorial reports that Knox may have held the rank of Corporal at the time of his death. Extensive enquiries by the author have failed to reveal whether this had been the case. The memorial also states that he had been killed in action on the 25TH of August 1918, the same date as that included in the Mercury of Friday the 13TH 1918. The family may have been told this had been the day that Ted had in fact died, however, once again enquiries have failed to substantiate this claim and I have therefore used the official date of his death that are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and ‘Soldiers died in the Great War’ in my text.

[6] Available on-line courtesy of the Library and Archives of Canada; ArchiviaNet.

[7] Irish born Doctor Bredon had brought his family to Scarborough shortly before Antony’s birth, having previously practised for a number of years in Lancashire, in the city of Liverpool, where his only daughter Margaret Sarah ‘Daisy’, and eldest son, Alexander Shotten Bredon had been born during 1884 and 1886 respectively.
[The spelling of Antony’s Christian name may seem incorrect, nevertheless, I have chosen to record his name in the spelling that Bredon had used at the time of his enlistment].

[8] Born at Fox River, Cumberland, Nova Scotia on January the 11TH 1887, ‘Chip’ Kerr had survived the war to re-enlist into the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, which he had also survived. A mountain in Jasper Park, British Columbia had been named after the war hero during 19151. He had died at the age of seventy six in 1963.

[9] Born at Oxbridge, Middlesex, on the 17TH of February 1895, Cecil Kinross had enlisted into the Canadian Army on the 21ST of October 1915, and had also survived the war to die from natural causes some forty years later.

[10] P 345; History of the Great War; Military operations France and Belgium 1918; Volume 4; Macmillan & Co. 1947.

[11] Incorrectly reported in the ‘Births, Marriages, and Deaths’ column of ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday the 11th of September as being born ‘a daughter’ to the Dove family. Baptised in St Mary’s Parish Church on the 18TH of October 1891 [the Baptismal register of St Mary’s Parish Church, held in Scarborough’s Reference Library, show Fred’s parents as being Frederick and Margaret A. Dove. The 1891 census of Scarborough also lists this woman [born at Helmsley] as the wife of Frederick Dove], by the time of the 1901 Census Fred and the remainder of the Dove family had been residing in Scarborough at No.17 Garfield Road, and had consisted of Frederick Dove, 43 years, monumental sculptor, Esther Elizabeth, 32 years, born Helmsley, Fred W. 9 years, and Laurence Wrather, 5 years [Frederick Dove and his two sons had been born at Scarborough].

[12] A photograph of the Fifth Battalion’ Machine gun section had originally appeared on the front page of ‘The Scarborough Pictorial’ of Wednesday the 28TH of April 1915. The same picture is reproduced on Page 142 of Mark Marsay’s book; ‘Baptism of fire’ [Great Northern Publishing 1999]. Mr. Marsay goes on [page 145] to incorrectly state that Corporal Dove [along with the section’s Scarborough born Corporal Joseph Vevers Cromack, and Lance Corporal Wilfred Swalwell] had survived the war.

[13] Variously recorded as having the surname of Bloom, Bloome, and Bloomer, during the night of the 1901 Census three years old Alfred had been lodging in the home of ‘deep-sea fisherman’ Thomas and Elizabeth Ware, at No.6 Thorne Terrace, in the city of Hull. Described as a ‘boarder’, Alfred had been residing at this address with his Filey born [1866] mother, Kate, and fourteen years old Scarborough born sister Hettie Bloomer, whilst brother Ernest William [born Kilham 1896] had been living in the family home at Hotham’s Yard, Hope Street, York, with father Richard Bloom [born Kilham 1864]. At the time of the 1901 Census the Bloom’s eldest son; Joseph [born at Kilham 1893], had been residing in Church Street, Kilham, with seventy years old widowed grandfather, John Bloom.

[14] In 2007 Valcartier Camp is still active and is known as ‘Canadian Forces Base Valcartier’ and is the home of the 5TH Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group. It is also the home of the Defence Research Establishment [which conducts military research for the Canadian Armed Forces], and is also a summer camp for the Eastern Region/ Province of Quebec branch of the Royal Canadian Army Cadets.

[15] Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension is also the final resting place of Canada’s most decorated soldier. Already a recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and Military Medal, during September 1918 410935 Private Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney had been awarded with the Victoria Cross ‘For most conspicuous bravery’ during operations on the Drocourt-Queant Line between the 1ST and 2ND of September.

[16] The author is indebted to Mr. Tom Arnott and his splendid series of articles contained in the ‘Hellfire Corner’ website regarding his grandfather Ira Kilbourne ‘Red’ Arnott, who had served as a Private in the 2ND Battalion between April 1917 and January 1918, that have shed so much invaluable light on the most remarkable of military units.

[17] Richard Kelly and Ellinor Mary Fidler had been married at Scarborough’s St. Mary’s Parish Church on the 18TH of October 1894. By the time of the 1901 Census the family had been residing in the town at No.103 North Marine Road, and had consisted of Richard Kelly, aged 43 years, born Durham, Ellinor, 30 years, Arthur, 5 years, Thomas, 3 years, and Richard Ernest, aged 3 months. Ellinor and all the children had been born at Scarborough. The Kelly’s fourth son had been born by 1903; however, Leslie Kelly had unfortunately died at the age of sixteen months on the 15TH of March that year. The fifth son, Stanley, had been born in Scarborough during 1909.