Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Memorial: | Tyne Cot Memorial | Panel 63 to 65. | |
| 2. Book: | The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 | Pg.119 | |
| 3. Memorial: | The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour | 24D GQS | |
Awards & Titles: | Military Cross | ||
Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: 2/Royal Welsh Fusiliers |
2nd Battalion August 1914 : in Portland. 11 August 1914 : landed at Rouen as Lines of Communication troops. 22 August 1914 : attached to 19th Infantry Brigade, which was not allocated to a Division but was an independent command at this time. 12 October 1914 : transferred with Brigade to 6th Division. 31 May 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 27th Division. 19 August 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 2nd Division. 25 November 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 33rd Division. 6 February 1918 : transferred to 115th Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division. |
| Action : The Battles of Ypres 1917 (Third Ypres, or Passchendaele) |
31 July - 10 November 1917. By the summer of 1917 the British Army was able for the first time to fight on its chosen ground on its terms. Having secured the southern ridges of Ypres at Messines in June, the main attack started on 31st July 1917 accompanied by what seemed like incessant heavy rain, which coupled with the artillery barrages conspired to turn much of the battlefield into a bog. Initial failure prompted changes in the high command and a strategy evolved to take the ring of ridges running across the Ypres salient in a series of 'bite and hold' operations, finally culminating in the capture of the most easterly ridge on which sat the infamous village of Passchendaele. The Official History carries the footnote ?The clerk power to investigate the exact losses was not available? but estimates of British casualties range from the official figure of 244,000 to almost 400,000. Within five months the Germans pushed the British back to the starting line, which was where they had been since May 1915.
Detail :
Captain Ernest William COSTER served in the 2/Royal Welsh Fusiliers, a battalion containing several famous authors including Robert Graves, Frank Richards and Captain J C Dunn RAMC, who was attached as Medical Officer. In his account The War the Infantry Knew Dunn mentions Coster several times and gives this account of his death: At 11.45hrs D Coy (commanded by Coster) was forming up under some machine gun fire. Two platoons of B Coy arrived in time to advance with D at zero, noon. The only covering fire given was a few ineffectual smoke shells because it was still thought that there were parties of 98th Brigade in front, and there was no definite German position. Mann had just seen the other two platoons of B Coy away when he was shot through the throat and died almost instantly. Coster was shot through the head as his Company was entering a scraggy orchard enclosed by a scraggier hedge north of Jerk Farm; It is about 550yds eastwards of Black Watch Corner. The Australian Official History gives a particularly good account of the action near Jerk Farm. If you stand at Black Watch Corner the ground over which 2/Royal Welsh Fusiliers attacked and where Captain Coster met his fate, is clearly seen to the East.
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Athenaeum No. 1491 E.C. | London |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
5th April 1911 | 4th October 1911 | 1st November 1911 |
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