Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

22 April - 25 May 1915. On the 22nd April 1915 the Germans used poison gas at Ypres. This was the first 'official' use of gas and took the Allies by surprise. After initial success capitalising on the confusion and horror of this weapon, a heroic stand, initially by the Canadians and then supported by British and Indian Battalions, held the German advance. However it became clear that the Germans had achieved a tactical advantage and eventually the British were forced to retire to more a more defendable perimeter closer to Ypres. These positions were on the last ridges before Ypres and their loss would have resulted in the loss of the town and possibly open the Channel coast to German occupation with disastrous consequences for the re-supply of the BEF.

Detail :

De Ruvigny's "MUCHALL, GEORGE WILLIAM STEWART, 2nd Lieut., 2nd Battn. The King's Own Royal Lancaster Regt., s. of the late Colour-Sergt. William Angus Muchall, who served for 21 years in the 8th Battn. King's Liverpool Regt.; b. Orford Barracks, Warrington, 12 June, 1881; enlisted in the King's Own, 4 Jan. 1901, reached the rank of Colour-Sergt., and was serving with his Regt. in India when European War broke out in Aug. 1914. He came home with his regt., reaching England at Christmas; was given a commission as 2nd Lieut., in the 2nd King's own, 9 Jan. 1915; went to France, and was killed in action in the desperate fighting on the Frizenberg Ridge, near Ypres, 8 May 1915. Lieut. Muchall was three years Battn. Champion shot, and in 1909 he won the J.H. Steward Jewel for judging distance at Bisley, and was fourth in the grand aggregate. He m. at Scotforth Church, Lancaster, 6 Jan. 1906, Elizabeth (15, Cheltenham Road, Lancaster), dau. of William Jackson, of 15, Cheltenham Road, Lancaster, and had three children: William J., b. 18 Feb. 1907; George, b. 13 Aug. 1914; and Lilian M., b. 6 April, 1911."

Extract from The King's Own, The Story of a Royal Regiment, Volume III, 1914-1950, by Colonel J. M. Cowper. On the night of May 7 two men, Privates F. Kelly and T. Salthouse1 of 2/King's Own, crept out of their trench in search of a gate which they had seen in the daytime and thought would be useful in shoring up their trench. In the darkness they overshot their mark and almost reached a little wood from which came the sound of German voices. On their return they reported their adventure, but although this gave some sign of impending activity there was no indication that the Germans had massed near that point no less than three corps and their artillery, nor that the Fourth German Army was about to try and obliterate the 27th and 28th Divisions, both on the Frezenburg ridge. All the same, at 1 a.m., in view of the gathering forces of the enemy, 1/5 King's Own and 2/East Yorks were brought up into reserve trenches opposite Potijze Chateau, at right angles to the road. An hour before dawn a red rocket went up in the German lines and at 5.30 a.m. a tornado of high explosive was let loose on the British front. Shells were screaming overhead in hundreds and the men were literally drenched in shrapnel for four long hours. It was on the junction between the King's Own and 3/Monmouths that the full fury of the bombardment fell. Battalion headquarters was about five hundred yards behind the front line in dug-outs. It consisted of the C.O.2 and Adjutant3 and the Second-in-Command, Major H. K. Clough. With them were Second Lieutenants G. Muchall4 and G. P. M. Scudamore5 with three platoons of "C" Company in support. A hundred yards further back was ?B? Company, commanded by Captain T. B. Forward6. It was deployed on the left of the road with two platoons in front under Lieutenant A. D. Seddon, earmarked to support the Monmouths if required, and the other two a hundred yards behind them. All communications were broken and no news of any kind came back to battalion headquarters. A messenger was sent forward, bit as he did not return he could only be presumed killed. A wounded private soldier of the Monmouths came in to ?B? Company headquarters at about 6.30 a.m. ; he reported that his battalion had evacuated its trenches and had been practically wiped out. Although no retirement through the support line had been notified or seen, Forward stood his company to. An hour later three more wounded soldiers of the Monmouths came in and corroborated the first report, whereupon Colonel Martin ordered the support platoons of ?C? Company and the whole of "B" Company to occupy a defensive position athwart the road, pivoting on battalion headquarters, with ?B? Company on the right of the road and ?C? Company on the left. By eight o?clock this line was manned. It was in a ditch of interlinked derelict dug-outs which afforded no bullet-proof parapet but were behind the crest and afforded a certain amount of cover from view. By this time the front-line trenches had virtually ceased to exist ; the parapets were flat and machine guns were destroyed. Then the Germans lifted their fire from the front line on to the support trenches and attacked. There was no one left to oppose them and soon after the support line had been established the enemy appeared over the crest. He was some two hundred yards away and his strength was estimated at about a battalion. Some of them had approached to within a hundred yards when rapid fire was opened, and the enemy got down hurriedly and began to entrench. Yellow recognition screens were hoisted all along their line and were followed almost at once by heavy shrapnel fire and intermittent high explosive. The opposing lines were so close that it was difficult for the German artillery to range their guns, but even so casualties were serious, particularly on the right, where Seddon was soon the only officer left. A lull ensued. The frontal attack was momentarily checked and the enemy was making no effort to resume it. At the same time ammunition was running short and Seddon ordered two out of every three men to take cover, leaving one to observe and fire. At about 10.50 a.m. the enemy put down a heavy barrage, under cover of which he reinforced his front line which was now almost shoulder to shoulder. A high explosive shell scored a direct hit on battalion headquarters, killing the Colonel and severely wounding the Adjutant in the head. Muchall was killed and Scudamore dangerously wounded. By a miracle Clough escaped unhurt and assumed command. Weatherhead refused to leave him and continued to carry out the duties of Adjutant. A message was received to the effect that the support trenches were to be held at all costs and that reinforcements would be arriving shortly. Looking to the rear a line of troops could be seen advancing under heavy shell fire which appeared to halt them six hundred yards short of the battalion position. They were stopped, not by inability to go on, but by order, because the officer commanding 1/K.O.Y.L.I. had arrived wounded at brigade headquarters and reported that his trenches were untenable and that the Germans had got between him and the Monmouths. This caused the Brigadier to countermand the order to the East Yorks who were advancing on the right of the road. They were told not to go beyond G.H.Q. line, behind which 3/Monmouths and 2/King?s Own could if necessary retire. The message reached Major Clough in the form of a note from 3/Monmouths which said : ?Brigade order just received in the form of a message from O.C. East Yorks to Adjutant who is now with us. Retire on Potijze and hold on at all costs.? There was no means of confirming this. All communications were broken and no runner could have got through to St. Jean, where brigade headquarters was located. Moreover heavy rifle and machine-gun fire was opened against the battalion from both flanks and there appeared to be imminent danger of being cut off. Accordingly, a message was sent to Seddon instructing him to make the best of his way back to Potijze, avoiding the main road. ?B? Company was now in sore straits. Seddon had sent a message to battalion headquarters to say that he estimated he could hold on for half an hour at the most. He knew the message had been received, for Private Fegan had braved the barrage on the main road in both directions to deliver the message and return. The Germans, having enveloped his right flank, were enfilading the company and causing severe casualties. The extra expenditure of ammunition entailed in dealing with this threat to the rear made it imperative to draw on the reserve, and Privates Bates and G. H. Nelson went back to fetch some from the ruined dug-out. On the way back Nelson was wounded and had to be left, but Bates reached the position with ten bandoliers. On the left, when the men of ?C? Company rose from their trenches to withdraw, concentrated fire from all arms came down on them and a good percentage was killed before they had gone more than a few yards. When at last the battalion reached Potijze it was only forty strong. The final tragedy occurred a few yards from Potijze Ch?teau near the trenches of 5/King?s Own when the Adjutant was killed by shrapnel, having carried on with great heroism after his head wound. It over a quarter of an hour for the messenger to reach ?B? Company, and it was after 12.15 p.m. when about thirty of them made a dash for the rear. The same fate befell them as that of ?C? Company, and only Seddon and ten other covered two hundred yards before they came to a rise in the ground which was raked by machine-gun fire. Here they were forced into a ditch already full of dead and dying bodies. Two men made a dash for the ridge but they were killed at once, being literally riddled with machine-gun bullets. Looking back, the Germans could be seen clearing up the position which had just been vacated. At 12.35 Seddon and his eight remaining men were preparing to make dash for it when they were surprised by enemy troops coming over the ridge from their rear. Covered by rifles at point-blank range, they had no alternative but to surrender. There were few survivors to tell of the happenings in the front line. The medical officers and the stretcher-bearers returned again and again to try to bring in the wounded. Shells burst all over the ground across which these men were retiring. Corporal S. Hughes7 lost his life trying in vain to dig out Lieutenant L. H. Rawlinson8, who was completely buried with his machine-gun and its team. Men were continually compelled to stop and attempt to dig out their comrades from under the piles of earth thrown up by the shells. One man was unnoticed as a shell burst near him and knocked him out, though fortunately it did not bury him. When he came to his sense he found himself alone in an open space beyond which all was veiled in smoke, and he was lucky to be able to make his way back through the German line to rejoin the battalion the next day. From early morning all ranks of 1/5 King?s Own watched a continual stream of wounded men and stragglers passing to the rear. Soon after midday Major Clough passed with his forty survivors, whom he believed to be all that remained of the 2nd Battalion. A few minutes later the Colonel of the Monmouths arrived with a similar story. Now 1/5 King's Own was ordered to retake the 2nd Battalion trenches, while the East Yorks were allotted the task of regaining those of the Monmouths. The combined strength of the two battalions was only five hundred and fifty, but they were able to carry their advance more than a thousand yards beyond G.H.Q. line in spite of severe losses in advancing over ground already dominated by enemy artillery. Some men of 2/King's Own and 3/Monmouths attached themselves to the battalion and re-entered the battle; the Brigadier came up to Potijze in order to have closer control ; reinforcements came from 85th Brigade, but the enemy was firmly entrenched on Verlorenhoek ridge and nothing could dislodge him. Private S. Palin during one of these attacks carried a wounded officer into cover under heavy fire and in doing so he was severely wounded. A party of the 2nd Battalion succeeded in pressing forward rather in advance of the rest of the line, and here they clung on even after the only officer and all the N.C.Os. had been killed or wounded. Private L. C. Moir took over command and by his courage and example succeeded in holding the trench until nightfall. At about 8 p.m. and unsuccessful attack was made by 1/5 King?s Own to force back the enemy at the point of the bayonet. Private Moir was then ordered to retire and only a remnant of his section was still unwounded. The battalions of 83rd Brigade were so weak that they could hardly hold the shortened line. On a front of about half a mile between the railway and the Zonnebeke road 5/King?s Own could only muster twenty four men out of a total found by three battalions of two hundred and seventy-four. The support line was manned by a hundred and eighty-five men of two battalions ; out of the total in G.H.Q. line of three hundred and five men, 2/King?s Own found seventy-six and 1/5 King?s Own sixty-seven. That night all units of the Regiment in the line and it was at last possible to assess the damage. In the 2nd Battalion it was appalling. Eleven hundred strong at the beginning of May 8, by the end of that day it could only muster sixty-seven, and after all those had rejoined who had become detached in the fighting the casualties were eventually found to be fifteen officers and eight hundred and ninety-three other ranks on that day alone. The casualties suffered by the Regiment on that day were the worst in its history. 1 11359, Private Thomas Salthouse Tyne Cot Cemetery (III. D. 10.) 2 Lieutenant Colonel Aylmer Richard Sancton Martin (Commanding Officer) The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial 3 Captain George Ernest Weatherhead (Adjutant) Ypres Town Cemetery Extension (III. H. 11.) 4 Second Lieutenant George William Stuart Muchall The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial 5 Second Lieutenant George Prince Mountford Scudamore The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial 6 Captain Thomas Brittain Forwood The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial 7 10096, Lance Corporal Samuel Hughes The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial 8 Lieutenant Leonard Hugh Rawlinson The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial Ironically one of the two men who first became aware of the presence of the Germans, Private Thomas Salthouse, is one of only a handful whose graves were identified after the war. Over three hundred men of the 2/King?s Own died in the battle but only about 10 graves were identified (3%). Of the approximately one thousand King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment names on the Menin Gate one in three were from the 2nd Battalion, killed at Frezenburg on May 8th.

Masonic :

Treasurer

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