Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

"The Battle of Loos (25 September to 18 October 1915) was the major battle on the Western Front in 1915, surpassing in every respect all that had gone before in terms of numbers of men and materiel committed to battle. The preliminary bombardment was the most violent to date and the battle was charaterised by the committment of Regular and Territorial battalions on a large scale, in which the Territorials performed just as well as the Regulars. As the battles on the Western Front in 1915 increased in size and violence, so the casualties increased in proportion: Neuve Chapelle 12,000, Aubers Ridge/Festubert 29,000 , Loos 60,000. 1916 was to take the casualty cost to another level. Loos was intended as a minor role in support of French efforts around Arras but circumstances reduced the French effort. It marked the first use of poison gas by the British. Once the initial assualt had failed the battle continued in a series of actions mostly focused on the northern sector around the tactically important Hohenzollern Redoubt."

Detail :

From Newcastle u lyme Staffordshire's Territorials and the Assault on the Hohenzollern Redoubt 13th October 1915 Over the Bridge of Death - 137th Brigade's Attack At 2.00 p.m., the leading battalions of 138th Brigade, 1/4th Leicesters and 1/5th Lincolns, began their assault on the West Face of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Private S. Orpe, looked up over the parapet of the trench to watch their attack go in: As we looked over, men could be seen running across. These were the Lincolnshires and Leicestershires, as they charged first. At the same time, the bombing parties, together with the first wave of assault infantry from the 1/5th North Staffords; A Company, (Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Guy Jukes Worthington) and B Company (Captain Reginald Johnson), scaled the trench ladders and climbed over the parapet. The men then moved through the pre-prepared gaps in the barbed wire in front of the trenches and out into No Man's Land, where the officers ordered the men to lie down. The lead companies were then organised into extended order under the cover provided by the smoke screen. At 2.05 p.m., the order to advance was given. One survivor recounted later how men of the battalion shouted Potters For Ever! as they scrambled up to begin the attack. The line then attempted to move forward in rushes. Private Harrison advanced with the first wave: A whistle blasted, and over the bridge of death we climbed and shouted. I got clear of our barbed wire and commenced to advance, rifle and bayonet fixed in one hand and spade in the other, under a terrific machine-gun fire, bullets whizzing past me in thousands. I got about one hundred yards and took a short rest; up again, but alas! a bullet hit my spade, glanced off and grazed the bone of my left eye slightly. It dazed me for about one minute, but I soon recovered myself, only to find that I was about thirty yards from the first German line. Now I had to make the best of my way back. I saw my left flank trench and made a dash for it, jumping clean into same, at which juncture I bandaged myself, still having the picture of the battlefield in my mind. As the North Staffords began to move forward, a hail of machine gun and rifle fire swept through the ranks. Captain Worthington was hit in the thigh and later found that the copy of the New Testament he was carrying in the left breast pocket of his tunic had a bullet pass through it lengthwise and was fortunate to suffer no further injury. Worthington picked himself up from the ground and continued to carry on forward, but could only see a handful of men from his company. The small group ran towards a communication trench and jumped over it, before again lying down on the other side. No other troops could be seen in the vicinity, so they raced forward to another trench and jumped down into it. This proved to be a communications trench that had been dug by 9th Division during their brief occupation of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Captain Worthington also found several men from the South and North Staffords bombing parties, who were engaged in the attack on Big Willie, with which the trench was connected. One witness described seeing Captain Johnson standing on the parapet of the trench, waving his cane shouting, Come on, B Company! to encourage his men as they struggled over. He was wounded a few moments later, but was not seen alive again. Lieutenant-Colonel John Knight also climbed out of the trench with his men to lead them into their first attack. He was last seen falling after being hit in his side by a bullet. The second wave; C Company, (Lieutenant (Acting Captain) C. R. Keary), and D Company, (Captain Harry Ridgway), followed the initial assault after a few moments. It was now Private Barlow's turn to climb from his trench: Up we scrambled, bullets whistling past our ears like hailstones. Off we started. The lad on my left dropped all in a heap without a murmur. About five more paces, the lad on my right dropped. Then they dropped all round me in twos and threes. I wondered when my turn would come, and what it would feel like when it did come. I had not long to wait. I had gone about 50 yards when bang: crack! Got it in the leg. Just throwing my arms up in the air - bang! - copped it again in the right upper arm. Down I go. Private A. Preston was a member of D Company: When our Company got over, the first thing that met our eyes was the chaps lying in front, some dead and others wounded. It took me all my time to keep in touch with them, as they were mowing us down so fast with machine guns. I was just thinking to myself what Frank asked me for, when a bullet struck me in the calf of my left leg. I lay down and rooted myself in for safety and got my puttees off. I dressed the wound with my field dressing, and then I crawled back to our trench, which was full of dead and wounded who had been fetched in. The advance of the second wave suffered the same fate as the first. The remnants of the two companies had reached no further than the communications trench. On assessing the situation and the state of the men after the harrowing ordeal of crossing to the position, the senior surviving officer, Major Charles Barke, decided that the 1/5th North Staffords would remain in the trench. Two companies of the 1/5th South Staffords, together with Nos. 3 and 4 Bombing Parties from the battalion, were located in a communications trench to the east of Big Willie. The two companies had orders to wait for the first line of the 1/5th North Staffords to reach their position before advancing forward with them. The commander of C Company was able to observe that the 1/5th North Stafford's advance had been checked, and his men remained in the trench. However, Captain William Millner , the officer commanding B Company, was unable to see the developing situation and therefore continued with his orders. The Company then climbed out from the trench and lay in front of it; 7 Platoon at the front, 6 and 8 Platoons in the second line, waiting for the 1/5th North Staffords to arrive and link up with them. As they moved through the gaps cut in the barbed wire into the open, several men were hit by enfilade machine-gun fire from the Redoubt, and the German artillery began to shell the trench. Having suffered heavy casualties in this exposed position, the survivors were compelled to scramble back into the communications trench. Among the casualties still lying out in the open was Captain Millner. Private Fred Proverbs climbed back over the parapet in an attempt to rescue Millner. A shell killed both men while Proverbs was dressing Millner's wounds. The second wave of the 1/5th South Staffords' attack, consisting of Battalion Headquarters, A Company and D Company, were positioned in the old British front line between Hulluch Alley and Border Alley. At 2.10 p.m., they attempted to cross over towards Big Willie to link up with the remainder of the battalion. A soldier from Walsall, Sergeant H. Smith, took part in this advance: Over the parapets we went, but no sooner did we show ourselves than we were subjected to heavy machine-gun fire. Men dropped left and right, but the others never faltered. After receiving a slight wound in the arm, I fell to one in the back. Comrades who witnessed the attack said they had never seen lads go into it better. None of the officers and only a handful of men from the two companies managed to reach their comrades in the forward trench, most of the survivors retiring back to the trenches from where the attack had begun. Captain Leslie Cozens , the officer commanding A Company, was severely wounded during this attempt to advance and died the following day.

Masonic :

Past Master
A masonic memorial service is recorded in the Staffordshire Advertiser 23rd March 1918. It was held at the Parish Church, Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday 10th March, in memory of Freemasons and lewises who had fallen from Northern division of the Province of Staffordshire. All the lodges from N. Staffordshire were represented with some 350 in attendance in full regalia (being worn by dispensation by the Provincial Grand Master - The Earl of Dartmouth).

A solemn part of the service came when the names of those who had laid down their lives for King and country, were read out by Reverend Granville Sharp.

"While they grieved for them, they rejoiced that the Masonic order was adorned with such splendid examples of courage and self sacrifice. They had set a noble example to their fellows, and any who were leading useless lives should try to bring their lives into more conformity with the high principles inculcated by the Masonic Order. And then the men they were honouring now would not have died in vain."

The last post was played by two buglers of the North Staffordshire Volunteer Regiment.

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