Trench Lincs 16th August 2026
- Aug 15
- 20 min read
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Good Morning,
Welcome to Trench Lincs once again and I hope you have all had a good week? And I hope to see many of you later this morning on Mike Credland’s annual memorial tour.
Last Monday, my wife and I drove down to Highclere Castle, the family home of the Earls of Carnarvon and the setting for the filming of Downton Abbey.
It truly is a beautiful building and setting, and today it is the home of the 8th Earl and his wife, the Countess of Carnarvon. It was the 8th Earls great-grandfather, the 5th Earl, who along with Howard Carter discovered and opened the Tomb of Tutankhamun and there is an exhibition of ancient Egyptian treasures to view within the castle.
My wife and I were great fans of Downton Abbey, which covered the affairs of the fictional Lord Grantham and his family from 1912 until the series end in 1930. I suspect that many of you will have watched the series and the three films, and when the Great War was covered, the writer, Sir Julian Fellowes covered many of the abiding themes of WWI.
One of the footmen who joined up was killed in action, the under butler, Thomas Barrow, received a deliberate wound in the hand to avoid further service at the front, Lord Grantham’s heir, Matthew Crawley, as befitting his class is commissioned and badly wounded, although he survives to produce a son in due course. Perhaps the saddest theme covered in this period is when the castle cook, Mrs Patmore, receives the news that her nephew has been shot at dawn for cowardice in the face of the enemy.
Her shame is beyond description, although the more understanding members of the cast realise the horrors of life at the front for the ‘poor bloody infantry’. The story unfolds into the 1920’s when the village forms a war memorial committee, and the committee decides to exclude the nephew’s name from the memorial, which is to be erected on land donated, of course, by Lord Grantham.
At the unveiling of the war memorial, Mrs Patmore is beside herself with grief and shame, when Lord Grantham guides her away to the churchyard, where he has had a special memorial plaque fitted to the wall to remember her nephew’s service, in an all’s well that ends well scene.
During the 14-18 war, Highclere Castle became a fully functioning hospital, complete with operating theatres paid for by the 5th Earls wife, Countess Almina, who was the illegitimate daughter of the banker Alfred de Rothschild. Although illegitimate, Almina was a great society favourite and when she married the 5th Earl, her father gave her a dowry of £500,000 (£30 Million today) which not only funded the hospital, but her husband’s great adventures in Egypt. The use of Highclere as a hospital was faithfully recreated in Downton Abbey and our visit this week, really brought it all home to us.
On display within the castle was a Great War Roll of Honour for all of the men who worked on the estate who served in WWI, but due to a strict no photography rule, I was not able to capture this wonderful document for you.
However, in the grounds of the castle there is a recently erected ‘The Airman’ statue carved wooden memorial which has been placed to remember the men lost in air accidents in the vicinity during WWII. I was quite amazed at just how many accidents had occurred in such a small area. The details are on the three tablets below.
Highclere Castle is a three-hour drive from Lincoln, but I really can recommend a visit.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS.
Next Meeting - Lincoln & North Lincolnshire Branch, WFA – Monday 28th September 2026 - Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm start - Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG.
Nick Shelley presents "Motorcycle dispatch riders in 1914".
Finally, the Lincoln WFA Annual Christmas Lunch will be held on Saturday 12th December at the White Hart Hotel - £25pp. A three-course meal excluding drinks.
21 out of 25 seats are already booked. Drop me a note without obligation at this stage, if you would like to attend this always excellent event.
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The next meeting of the Friends of the Lincoln Tank Group will be held on Thursday September 10th at the Royal Naval Association Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG at 7.30pm.
There is no speaker event in August.
Talk Title – ‘By His Majesty’s Command – The Military Cross’
Firstly – It is ordained that the Cross shall be designated “The Military Cross”.
The words are taken from a Royal Warrant dated 28th December 1914. Until then, other than the Victoria Cross (Britain’s highest award for gallantry and only awarded in exceptional circumstances), there had been no distinction available for junior officers and warrant officers who had demonstrated acts of bravery during the opening months of the First World War. But that was about to change and so came the much-needed Military Cross. By the end of the war more than 37,000 crosses had been awarded and behind each award there is a story to discover. Here, Peter Jacobs talks about the Military Cross during the First World War and the stories behind some of those awarded it.
The Speaker – Peter Jacobs
PETER JACOBS served in the Royal Air Force for thirty-seven years as an air defence navigator on the F4 Phantom and Tornado F3, after which he completed staff tours at HQ 11 Group, HQ Strike Command, the Ministry of Defence, and the RAF College Cranwell. He has written twenty-three books on military and aviation subjects, and as well as being a keen historian he has collected military medals for forty years.
Everyone welcome, especially new faces. You do not need to be a member of FoLT to attend meetings, but members of FoLT pay just £10 a year and receive £250 of membership benefits from Ancestry and the British Newspaper Archives. It is well worth joining.
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Next Event - Spalding & South Lincs Branch, WFA Thursday August 27th at 7.30pm.
Spalding & South Lincolnshire Branch WFA continues to meet at the Spalding Baptist Church, Swan Street, Spalding, PE11 1BT. Meetings continue to be held in the evenings of the fourth Thursday in the month, and doors open at 19.00 hours for a 19.30 hours start. Meetings are held in a pleasant main room of the Church and there is ample - unrestricted - on street parking in front of the building. Free refreshments are served at the end of the meeting. Finally, please note that, for security purposes the main double front doors are kept locked as we cannot monitor them from our meeting room, therefore, you may need to ring the doorbell located on the single door to the right of the main double doors in order to gain entry.
Nick Shelley presents a new talk, "Motorcycle Despatch Riders i 1914", based on the book "Two Wheels to War" published by Helion in 2017, researched and written by Nick and his brother Martin.
"In 1914 the Army had just begun to mechanize the work of despatch rider signallers. So when war was declared in August 1914, urgently and at high pace, hundreds of volunteer motorcyclists, many riding their own machines, were recruited to join the BEF in France. Against all odds, they not only helped to save the BEF during the Retreat from Mons, but also helped to prevent the fall of Paris in September. Furthermore, from October 1914 they played a part in keeping the BEF intact when the opposing armies dug in across Belgium and France to create the Western Front.
Nick Shelley's talk tells the story of those 1914 motorcycle despatch riders through the eyes of just one Signals Company - the motorcyclists, officers and men of the Signals Company attached to 5th Division.
The talk originated in Nick's partnership with his brother. Martin Shelley, deeply knowledgeable about early motoring and enthusiastic about vintage vehicles, decided to research the brothers Cecil and Alick Burney. They founded a motorcycle firm in 1912, and Martin knew they were among the very first to answer the Army's call for motorcyclists by bringing motorbikes they had designed and built to the service of the Army. Less than 3 weeks after enlisting they came under fire at Mons. Between the heatwave in France in August, and the harsh Christmas weather in Flanders, 400 motorcyclists followed the Burneys to France.
Nick and Martin's research identified the Burney brothers' exact contribution to this campaign, and found much evidence about the original 12 motorcyclists attached to 5th Division, their friends and families, and their colleagues in arms. His story about them is illustrated with original photographs and documents from many sources, including letters from the front.
Just as the motorcycle despatch riders were not trained soldiers, Nick Shelley is an amateur historian. He studied English literature at Cambridge and worked with offenders as a Probation Officer for many years. Later he retrained in civil law, and for a few years before retirement had a successful legal practice dealing in legal costs, making many court appearances, either as an advocate or as an expert witness. In his spare time he rode and tinkered with 1920's motorcycles and enjoyed researching the lives and achievements of early motoring pioneers, such as the despatch riders. The project was not only on paper - Nick and Martin built connections with many of the motorcyclists families, including six of their sons and daughters and other family members who shared first hand knowledge of these men."
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The East Midlands (Nottingham) WFA branch will hold their next speaker event on Friday 11th September 2026 at 7.30pm. The branch meets at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Street, Ruddington, NG11 6HA and all visitors will be made very welcome.
As per Lincoln and Spalding above, the speaker on this occasion is Nick Shelley speaking about
“Motorcycle Dispatch Riders in 1914.”
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The Leadenham Military History Group’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 25th August at 7.30pm at Leadenham village hall.
There will be a two part event on this night, starting with a continuation of the Biography series.
Tim Sisson will present a biography of the 47 year career of the un-killable soldier - Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC.
Following the presentation there will be the Leadenham Military History Annual Quiz.
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Another group who meet at the Royal Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln, LN6 7BG, is the Lincolnshire Aviation Society.
The next meeting of LAS will be held on Thursday 20th August 2026.
Dave Bentley will talk about – “Tornado Operations in Germany 1980’s/1990’s”
Everyone welcome especially new faces.
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The Peterborough Military History Group meets at the Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery in Priestgate, Peterborough, PE1 1LF, on the second Wednesday of every month, 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Everyone welcome, especially new faces.
September 9th Jerry Porter.
'Goodnight Darling, God Bless You.'
The talk tells the story of a mother (Jerry’s great grandmother) who lost a son.
Based on a wealth of primary source letters, photos and artefacts passed down in the family, it illustrates her life on the home front, two of her sons’ preparations for deployment overseas, the younger one’s brief service in the front line and his mother’s perhaps surprising reaction to the news that he has been killed in action. It also covers her own experience of coming under enemy attack, and her visits to France in the early 1920s to visit her son’s grave.
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Will you be in Belgium on August 22nd?
If you are, you will be welcome to attend the next event with the Friends of the Tank memorial Ypres Salient group. Here is the programme for the day.
On behalf of our Chairman and members of the FotTMYS I cordially invite you to our next Ceremony which will be held at:
The Brooding Soldier, Vancouver Corner, Brugseweg, 8920 Langemark, Belgium.
We will assemble at the Memorial at 1030hrs.
St. Julien Canadian 2ⁿᵈ Battle of Ypres Memorial (The Brooding Soldier)
The Ceremony will commence at 1100hrs.
Those wishing to dine please let me know as soon as possible in order that a table can be booked.
The afternoon Tour will be in connection with 'The Tunnelers'. We will be visiting the battlefield around Hill 60. Here we will take our Toast to the Fallen and Absent Friends.
If you require further details, please drop me a line and I will put you in touch with the Hon. Sec. David Williams.
You can also read the latest FOTYMYS newsletter by clicking here.
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Adrian Dowse writes in this week to say; ‘Thank you Jonathan for your excellent newsletter! [My pleasure – Ed]
I have just got back from Grandparent duties in Gloucestershire, where my Granddaughter attends a nursery at the Kingsway Estate, South Gloucester.
In the entrance to the nursery was a very large panoramic photograph of the National Shell Filling Factory No. 5 which after WWI was demolished. This site later became RAF Quedgley and is now a housing Estate.
I hope this may be of interest to you?’
It certainly is of interest. The way that the country’s economy, especially from 1915 under the then guidance of the Minister for Munitions, David Lloyd George, geared up to a state of Total War is a deep subject in its own right. It, of course, was only possible because of the tremendous input of British women, who answered the call in their thousands to man [Excuse the pun! – Ed] the munitions and engineering factories across the country.
In recent months here at TL, we have covered the stories of the tragic explosions at both Barnbow and Chilwell in which many young women lost their lives, but Quedgley is a new one for us to consider.
I did some on-line research and can point you in the direction of this piece of work that has been published. Please click on the link below.
gi199432.pdf Shell Filling factory No.5
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Staying with the theme of munitions and ordnance, let me stress once again, that if you are visiting the battlefields this summer, please do not touch or attempt to move anything that looks like unfired ordnance.
Just this last week or two has seen yet another incident in France when a farmer was topping grass and a shell detonated under the topper – see photo.
Which leads on to David Moore who writes; ‘I thought TL readers should watch this video. It highlights the reasons not to touch anything you find while walking the battlefields, no matter how tempting!
I have a friend that works on this clearance team, it’s always a reassurance when he’s underground with us and we find something….
A very informative video on the work of “les démineurs” teams in France and Flanders. The most shocking part is when he tells us that there’s about 6 or 700 years of work left according to figures estimating the munitions that are left over from the war!’
Click on this link, it is fascinating. I Detonate 400 kg of Explosives !!
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We have two UK based stories now dating to the 1939-45 conflict. First up is Melvin Dobbs who was walking through a park in Leamington Spa and writes; ‘You and other reporters over the recent past months have told the story of those brave Czech agents who assassinated SS General Heydrich, some of whom were based in Leamington Spa before the operation.
A few weeks ago I was walking through Jephson Park and spotted a memorial to those brave men.
It is a drinking fountain with the design of an open parachute, they of course were parachuted in!’
Well spotted yet again Melvin.
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From further north Richard Godson comments; ‘While touring the far north of Scotland last week I came upon the attached in a cemetery at Scourie, about 20 miles south, as the crow flies, of Cape Wrath. There was a sign on the cemetery gate giving notice of a single Commonwealth War Grave and this drew me in, and it didn't take long to find the final resting place of a young man of only 22 years who died early in the war.
The fact he was buried on land leads me to presume he did not actually die at sea, but perhaps in hospital from wounds inflicted while serving on HMS Pyramus.
I've looked up vessels of this name on Wikipedia which lists two. The first of which was built in 1810 and the other being a protected cruiser launched in 1897 and sold in 1920, all of which leaves me somewhat baffled. Perhaps you might be in a position to find out more?’
I was only too happy to help Richard and find out some more about Able Seaman Evander MacIver MacLeod.
Able Seaman MacLeod hailed from the village of Badcall just two miles from Scourie where he is buried. He lived there with his parents, Evander Snr. and his mother Dolina, and Evander Jnr. was a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
Mobilised on the outbreak of war in September 1939, Evander was stationed at HMS Pyramus, which was not a ship, but a shore based naval station at Kirkwall, Orkney.
In December 1939, young Evander died of illness or accident and his body was returned to his home for burial at Scourie.
As Richard mentioned, he is the only CWGC burial at Scourie, and so Richard’s visit was very timely as we continue here at Trench Lincs to remember as many men and women each week who gave their all for King and Country, especially those who lie in remote churchyards and possibly do not receive many visitors.
I wasn’t able to find a portrait photo of Evander MacLeod, but here is a snap of the village war memorial in Scourie.
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Closer to home, John Pritchard was recently in Leadenham and comments; ‘A week last Sunday Shirley and myself were in the company of Ray and Sandra Sellers at the Lincolnshire Folk Festival at Leadenham Manor House.
A wonderful day filled with folk music and rhymes with five different stages to visit, that had a musical act every half hour.
The programme for the day was very varied and entertaining for the large crowds of visitors, and there were also "Morris Dancers" apart from the large number of craft stalls that could be visited.
Ray and myself went to the parish church of St. Swithun, which is located in the grounds, and has wall memorials to the past residents of the manor, being the Beresford family and the present owners, the Reeve family.
The list of rectors is interesting; James Mallet who was executed by Henry VIII for protesting against the dissolution of the monasteries, John Dee who was a scientist and astrologer at the court of Elizabeth I, Thomas Hurst, being chaplain to Charles I during the civil war, and lastly, Victorian rector Bernard Smith, who was responsible for the decorations in the chancel.
The Great War memorial, "Roll of Honour" is above the side altar and has a fine coloured stained glass window above, and flags on each side and is really splendid.
This church is a really fine building with a nice interior, with the Rood screen being finely made and set before the main altar. It’s well worth a visit.’
Thank you John. In addition, here is my photo of the village memorial that stands in the churchyard after being moved from the village crossroads in the 1960’s.
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Moving south now to Peterborough, where I have been tipped off by Matt Colley, that David Gray of the Peterborough Military History Group has been instrumental in replacing a local war memorial.
You can read about the project by clicking here St Paul's Church War Memorial refurbished
Matt also kindly nipped out and took a couple of photos for us.
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Last Saturday I headed north up the A1 to just above Doncaster to attend the Yorkshire Wartime Show, a three-day event set in some 30 acres of farmland. I was accompanied by my son-in-law, Sean and his boys, Oliver and Samuel.
It’s amazing just who you bump into at these shows!
Mike Credland had a wonderful display of uniforms and weapons to show Oliver and Samuel.
The show was a spectacular event featuring over 500 military vehicles of all ages and eras. There was a 110-year old Ford Model T set up as a Belgian machine gun platform from the Great War, still running and taking part in the WWI re-enactment event alongside Kevin Jepson’s fabulous replica Whippet tank.
With tanks and armoured vehicles in the main arena all day, you were torn between standing watching the parades and re-enactments and visiting all of the static displays, trade stalls and of course, in this weather, the ice cream van!
Here is a small selection of the many photos I took.
Sir Winston was in attendance!
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On This Day – 16th August 1914.
The British Expeditionary Force Landing in France on 16th August 1914.
The arrival of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France during August 1914 marked one of the most important early movements of the First World War. Britain had declared war on Germany on 4th August, following Germany’s invasion of neutral Belgium. Within days, Britain began sending its professional army across the English Channel to support France and oppose the German advance. Although elements of the BEF had already reached France earlier in August, 16th August 1914 was a particularly significant day, with large numbers of British soldiers arriving at the French port of Le Havre. Photographs and eyewitness accounts from the day provide a vivid picture of the excitement surrounding the troops’ arrival.
The BEF was commanded by Field Marshal Sir John French. Unlike the enormous mass armies of France and Germany, Britain’s army was relatively small. The force sent to France consisted largely of highly trained professional soldiers, many of whom had previous experience of colonial campaigns. The National Army Museum describes the initial BEF as approximately 90,000 men, comprising four infantry divisions, later reinforced to six, together with a cavalry division. Its size was therefore modest compared with the armies it was about to fight, but its soldiers were considered exceptionally well trained and experienced.
The decision to send the BEF to France was closely connected with Britain’s wider strategic position in Europe. Britain had traditionally relied upon the Royal Navy and maintained a much smaller standing army than the continental powers. However, following increasing tensions with Germany before 1914, British and French military planners had developed arrangements for the deployment of British forces to the Continent in the event of a major European war. The German invasion of Belgium transformed these plans into reality. Britain regarded the violation of Belgian neutrality as a major threat to the European balance of power, while France was already fighting Germany along its eastern frontier. The BEF was therefore sent to cooperate with the French Army and help prevent the German armies from defeating France.
The journey across the Channel was an enormous logistical undertaking. Thousands of men, horses, guns, ammunition, equipment and supplies had to be transported from Britain to France while German naval forces posed a potential threat. The Royal Navy played a crucial role in protecting the crossings. British troops travelled from several ports and were sent to destinations including Boulogne and Le Havre. Le Havre, in particular, had been designated as the main British base in pre-war planning because of its port facilities and railway connections with northern France. From there, troops could be moved towards the concentration areas where the BEF would join the Allied armies.
On 16 August, soldiers arriving at Le Havre encountered a very different atmosphere from the one they had left behind in Britain. France was already at war, and the arrival of the British troops was greeted enthusiastically by local civilians. Imperial War Museums records eyewitness memories of British soldiers marching through Le Havre while French people waved, celebrated and attempted to collect buttons from their uniforms as souvenirs. The reception demonstrated the importance of the alliance between Britain and France at a moment when both countries faced the enormous threat of German military expansion.
The experience of the soldiers themselves varied. Some were excited by the prospect of fighting on the Continent, while others were anxious about entering a war whose scale and consequences were still unclear. Many had never previously travelled abroad. Imperial War Museums preserves the recollections of soldiers who remembered the crossing of the Channel and their first impressions of France. One soldier recalled travelling from Folkestone to Le Havre and discovering that the people he initially assumed were French were actually Englishmen. Such memories illustrate the mixture of uncertainty, excitement and unfamiliarity experienced by ordinary soldiers during the first days of the war.
After landing, the BEF did not immediately enter a major battle. Its troops had to be organised, supplied and moved into position. The strategic situation was changing rapidly. Germany had launched its attack through Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan, hoping to defeat France quickly before turning the full strength of the German Army against Russia. The German advance through Belgium brought the BEF into the path of the German First Army. The British were ordered towards a concentration area near Maubeuge, close to the Belgian frontier, where they would operate alongside the French Fifth Army.
The importance of the BEF’s arrival became apparent only a few days later. On 22nd August, British cavalry patrols warned of the approaching German forces, and the BEF took up defensive positions along the Mons-Condé Canal in Belgium. On 23rd August, the British fought the Germans at the Battle of Mons. Although heavily outnumbered, the British troops made effective use of their training and their rapid-firing Lee-Enfield rifles. German troops suffered significant casualties when they encountered concentrated British rifle fire. The battle demonstrated that the small professional British Army could be a formidable opponent, although it also revealed the enormous scale of the conflict into which Britain had entered.
The events of August 1914 therefore need to be understood as part of a rapidly unfolding military crisis rather than as an isolated landing. On 16th August, the soldiers arriving at Le Havre could not have known that within weeks the war would develop into a vast struggle across Belgium and northern France. They were entering a conflict that many people still expected to be short. Instead, the BEF would soon be involved in retreating from Mons, fighting at Le Cateau and helping to halt the German advance at the First Battle of the Marne.
The landing also represented the beginning of a transformation in the British Army. The original BEF was predominantly a professional force, but the huge losses suffered in 1914 meant that Britain would need to expand its army dramatically. Lord Kitchener had already appealed for volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of men would eventually join the new armies. The small force that crossed the Channel in August was therefore only the beginning of Britain’s much larger military commitment.
The significance of 16th August 1914 lies in what the arrival of these soldiers represented. They were not simply reinforcements landing at a French port; they were the first major embodiment of Britain’s decision to fight a continental war alongside France. The welcome they received at Le Havre contrasted sharply with the terrible battles that awaited them. Within days, these soldiers would be moving towards the Belgian frontier, and within a week they would be facing the German Army.
The BEF’s landing at Le Havre on 16th August was consequently an important moment in the opening chapter of the First World War. It demonstrated Britain’s commitment to the Allied cause, strengthened French resistance to the German offensive and placed Britain’s small professional army directly into the developing conflict on the Western Front. The men who arrived in France that day could not have imagined the scale or duration of the war ahead. Their arrival marked the beginning of a campaign that would ultimately consume the old professional British Army and lead to the creation of a vastly larger British military force. The events of August 1914 therefore stand as a crucial turning point: Britain had crossed the Channel, and the war had become a truly European struggle involving the British Army directly on the Western Front.
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Thanks to Chris Seager’s ongoing work, we finish as usual with a colourised photo from Colour by CJS.
This week it is one of our finest Great War poets who died far too young and in very tragic circumstances. His death from sepsis following a mosquito bite was identical to the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, mentioned earlier, although his death was also attributed to the Curse of King Tut!
“He was all that one would wish England’s noblest sons to be”.
Sub-Lieutenant Rupert Chawner Brooke.
Rupert was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, and became a brilliant academic success and was known as an acclaimed poet.
Rupert Brooke moved easily through the highest echelons of British cultural life and gained the admiration of many literary titans.
However, following a severe emotional and mental breakdown in 1912–1913, he spent a year travelling across North America and the South Seas, where he spent happy months in Tahiti, writing some of his finest pre-war poetry, before returning to England just before the outbreak of the war.
Rupert enlisted immediately war was declared and served with the Royal Navy’s Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division, where he saw action in the defence of Antwerp in October 1914.
The Royal Naval Division embarked for the Dardanelles in 1915 and Rupert was bitten by a mosquito while en-route to Gallipoli. The bite became infected and he died of blood poisoning on 23rd April.
Probably his most famous poem was The Soldier, written in 1914.
“If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.”
Rupert Brooke was 27 years old.
He lies in an isolated grave in a “corner of a foreign field” on the Greek Island of Skyros.
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In Memoriam the Lincolnshire Regiment 16th August.
1915
Lieutenant Leslie Gulliver Neighbour, 5th Battalion, aged 21. Buried in Watford Cemetery, UK.
8956 Sergeant Richard Mackman, 6th Battalion, aged 24. Buried in Alexandria Military and War Cemetery, Egypt.
11473 Private A Meadwell, 6th Battalion, aged 26. Buried in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
1442 Private Charles Henry Burrows, 5th Battalion, aged 19. Remembered on the Menin Gate, Belgium.
3239 Private Fred Weatherley, 5th Battalion. – Ditto. –
1916
Private George Frederick Smith, 7th Battalion, aged 21. Buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France.
1917
54 men of the Lincolnshire Regiment are recorded as having died on this day as the Third Battle of Ypres continued.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
With regard to Leslie Neighbour who is remembered above on this date in 1915:
Leslie Neighbour
Bank: The National Bank
Place of work: London Baker Street branch
Died: 16 August 1915
Leslie Gulliver Neighbour was born on 23 March 1894, the son of James Howell Neighbour, a clerk in a chancery judge's chambers, and his wife Elizabeth. In March 1911, just after his 17th birthday, Neighbour went to work for The National Bank.
During the First World War Neighbour left his job at the bank's London Baker Street branch to go on military service. By the following year he was a Second Lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was accidently killed in England on 16 August 1915. He was 21 years old.
Leslie Neighbour is commemorated on a bank war memorial at NatWest, 250 Bishopsgate office, London.
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Have you had reason to look at the CWGC database this week? You will have seen that it is currently hors de combat!, and therefore not working. Apparently there is a technical issue which seems to be taking a long time to rectify.
In the meantime, I should be pleased to hear from you with anything of topical interest.
Until next week,
All best wishes
Jonathan
© Jonathan D’Hooghe
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