Family :

Education & Career :

Manufacturer, Knowle (1911).

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Battle of the Somme 1st July - 18th November 1916 is inevitably characterised by the appalling casualties (60,000) on the first day, July 1st 1916. Having failed to break through the German lines in force, and also failed to maximise opportunities where success was achieved, the battle became a series of attritional assaults on well defended defence in depth. The battle continued officially until 18th November 1916 costing almost 500,000 British casualties. German casualties were about the same, and French about 200,000. The Somme could not be counted a success in terms of ground gained or the cost, but it had a strategic impact as it marked the start of the decline of the German Army. Never again would it be as effective whilst the British Army, learning from its experience eventually grew stronger to become a war winning army. The German High Command recognised that it could never again fight another Somme, a view that advanced the decision to invoke unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to starve Britain of food and material, and in doing so accelerated the United States declaration of war thus guaranteeing the eventual outcome. 287 Brethren were killed on the Somme in 1916.

Detail :

HOSKINS, Edward Herbert, Lance Sergeant. The following extract describes the horror experienced by the 1st Somerset Light Infantry on the First Day of the Somme, and the action that took the life of Edward Hoskins. ?July 1st was fine and warm. After an intense bombardment a large mine was exploded under the Hawthorn Redoubt at 7.20 a.m. Fortunately the Battalion had very few casualties while waiting in the assembly trenches, and all ranks were in the highest spirits, eagerly looking forward to zero hour. At 7.30 a.m. the attack was launched. The 11th Brigade advanced in magnificent style, and the formations were accurately kept. The Battalion advanced on a one company frontage in four lines, each line in lines of sections. A and B were the leading companies with C and D in support. The advance started excellently, and the enemy barrage was not severe. Very soon, however, heavy rifle and machine gun fire was opened from both flanks. The 1st East Lancashires and the 1st Hampshires were unable to get beyond the enemy wire. The Battalion was forced to swing to its left, owing to the rise in the ground, which it should have crossed being swept by machine guns and quite impassable and found itself in the German trenches in the neighbourhood of the Quadrilateral. Elsewhere our men were back in the trenches from which they had started. Owing to the very heavy casualties and the small number of survivors from this action, it was extremely difficult to discover exactly what happened in the first few hours of the battle. Also the appearance of the ground had greatly altered owing to the prolonged and intense bombardment by our artillery; whole trenches had been blotted out, and it was a matter of the greatest difficulty for any individual to locate his exact position. Later in the night it was decided to evacuate the small portion of the German trenches that remained in our possession, and by dawn on July 2nd the British line on this part of the front was exactly the same as it had been before the attack. The Battalion's casualties were 26 officers and 438 other ranks?. It is very likely that almost all of these casuatlties were sustained within the first hour of the attack - by 08.30hrs. The battlefield visitor can today follow the route of the battalion from Mailly-Maillet and see the Redan Ridge objective. If you stand on the Redan Ridge and look down from the German positions you can clearly see the enormity of the task allocated to the Somersets, the Hampshires and the East Lancashires, and indeed the position of the Quadrilateral, now marked by the large Serre Road No 2 cemetery, is clearly visible. Sergeant Hoskins is buried on Redan Ridge in a cemetery that marks the position of NoMansLand. Redan Ridge was not captured until November 1916, only then could the many bodies of the men of the 4th Division who had lain in Nomansland since July be recovered and interred.

Masonic :

"Killed in action 1st July '16"

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley