Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

The Gallipoli Campaign was fought on the Gallipoli peninsula 25th April 1915 to 9th January 1916. in a failed attempt to defeat Turkey by seizing the Dardanelles and capturing Istanbul. Ill-conceived and planned, the initial effort by the Royal Navy failed to force passage through the Dardanelles by sea power alone. It was then realised that a land force was needed to support the project by suppressing the Turkish mobile artillery batteries. By the time all was ready the Turks were well aware and well prepared. Despite amazing heroics on the day of the landings only minor beachheads were achieved and over the succeeding 8 months little progress was made. Eventually the beachheads were evacuated in a series of successful ruses.

Despite Gallipoli rightly becoming a national source of pride to Australians and New Zealanders, far more British casualties were sustained, and these days the substantial French contribution is almost forgotten.

Detail :

Diary of Private Joseph McLean, Service No: 300080 8th Ardwicks - Manchester Battalion: "I was reported killed so you can guess how things were when I walked to the part of the line our company were holding. My own officer, Captain Herbert Rose, who was I believe 64 years of age could not believe his own eyes when he seen me and I thought he would never let go of my hand and wanted to know why I was sent back with bandages still on, and I explained to him. So he said he would report it but he did not report it because he went and reported at another place the next day. I never heard which place he reported at but I do know that he became a landowner out there six feet as is the custom it was in the same charge that I got my second present from Enva Pashas on Mr.Turk. It was Thursday June 3rd when we arrived back to the trenches after my first wound and was told I was just in time for a bayonet charge the next day, Friday, and Friday being a very unlucky day I thought my number was up this time. I was born on a Friday you know, and that put the wind up me more so. I could see there was no way out of it so I decided to make the best of it. So the first thing I did was to inspect my bayonet to see if it was sound and then gave it a good oiling, then turning mt attention to my old friend the rifle and did likewise with it. Then wondering what sort of a birthday I would have anyway I lay down after doing guard at midnight and remembering nothing more until I was raused the next morning, Friday June 4th 1915 by one of my chums. I felt sorry for him as he did not sleep a wink, and he had the wind up him fairly as he could not eat any breakfast and there were plenty more too I might tell you, but I could not see letting trifles like that upset me so much so I set too and had a very good breakfast but I was wondering at the time where I would be having breakfast the next morning."

3rd Battle of Krythia. On the 29th Division's right, the 42nd Division attacked with the four Manchester Regiment battalions of the 127th Brigade in the first wave with two battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers following the attacking waves. Here the attack opened well and within five minutes the Turkish first line had been captured. The whole of the division's objective was soon taken, except on the extreme left (next to the 29th Division) where the wire in front was uncut. For the first hour everything went well. The 127th Brigade advanced about 1000 yards and over 200 prisoners were taken. The Official History states that: 'the Turks were on the run'. Hunter-Weston now issued orders to consolidate the ground gained. The 42nd Division as far as was known was still in a good position, although the 127th Brigade commander, Brigadier- General Lee, had by now been mortally wounded in the throat by a shell and his successor, Lt.-Col. Heys had been killed outright4. It was unfortunate that at about 16.00 the Turkish reserves had came into action and soon after Hunter-Weston's order to consolidate, word reached corps HQ that the 127th Brigade was now being hard-pressed. From this point on the situation grew steadily worse. At 18.00 the Brigade was being attacked from three sides and the leading troops' withdrawal was eventually approved by Hunter-Weston. A company of the 1/6 Manchesters however was unable to comply and was practically wiped out. By nightfall the greater part of the ground captured during the attack had been given up. Of 16,000 officers and men engaged, the British had lost 4,500. Br.-Gen. Lee was subsequently evacuated to Malta where he died from haemorrhage due to the reopening of his wounds. He is buried in Pieta Military Cemetery. See Frank Davies & Graham Maddocks, Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War, 1914- 1918, (Leo Cooper, London, 1995) pp81-2.

Masonic :

Herbert is listed, in 1911, as a 44 year old Calico Printer resident in Cheadle. War service is recorded which is followed by "Killed in Action June 1915," in the contribution register.

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