Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

21 March - 4 July 1918. The Battles of the Somme in 1918 were mostly concerned with stemming the German advance which started in March 1918 and which made considerable gains in the Somme/Arras sector. Utilising surplus troops which had become available following the surrender of Russia after the October Revolution, the Germans gambled on a massive campaign that could win the war in the west before the USA could bring its resources to bear. Initial gains were in places spectacular but eventually dogged resistance coupled with supply problems and sheer exhaustion closed down the battle. Other attacks were launched along the front to probe the Allied defences but the same pattern of initial gains followed by stalemate prevailed. British casualties were almost 345,000.

Detail :

WESTERFIELD WAR MEMORIAL SUFFOLK HARROW Vol 6 LIEUTENANT B. C. RANSOME Royal Army Service Corps West Acre 85 s-88* Aged 47 June 30th, 1918 Second son of the late Robert Charles Ransome, of Orwell Lodge, Ipswich, and of his wife, Elizabeth Ransome, nee Gibb, of Old Hall, Hethersett, Norwich. Studied Engineering at the works of Mirrlees Watson Co., Ltd., at Glasgow, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, U.S.A., before entering the business of Ransome, Sims and Jefferies, Ipswich. For this firm he visited Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and East Africa. Married, in 1899, Phyllis M. Packard, daughter of Edward Packard, High Steward of Ipswich, and leaves five sons and a daughter. Lieutenant Ransome was given a Commission in the Royal Defence Corps in April, 1916, and early in the following year he transferred to the Mechanical Transport Section of the Army Service Corps, going out to France in March of that year. The first part of his service was in connection with the building of large hospitals at Trouville. From there he went to Havre where he was attached to the 8 th Auxiliary Steam Co., with which he worked till June, 1918. He was then attacked by influenza and died from subsequent pneumonia on June 30th, 1918.

Gazetted 2nd Lieut. in the Royal Defence Corps 26th March 1916, transferred to the Army Service Corps in January 1917, served with the Expeditionary Force France from 5th March 1917. He died of lobar pneumonia, contracted whilst on active service, at 2nd General Hospital, Havre. His Commanding Officer wrote "At Trouville he had a very big job to do and did it very well, so much so as to receive the approval of my chief, Major General Boyce."

Probate was granted at Ipswich on 16th October 1918 in the amount of £21,450 11s 3d.

Masonic :

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
• Provincial Research : W.Bro. Rod Gibson (Suffolk)