Roll of Honour 4th November 1914

Killed in Action

1st Battalion: relieved from support trenches east of Festubert

·        6871 Private Jesse William WARD, 32, son of Ellen and the late William Ward of Berkhamstead [Hertfordshire]; husband of Edith Mary of Sunnyside, Buckland Common [Buckinghamshire]; he resided Marykate [Hertfordshire] (Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert)

Died of Wounds

1st Battalion

·        8088 Private Henry Walter BAKER, born Stanmore [Middlesex], resided Watford [Hertfordshire] (Bethune Town Cemetery)

·        8611 Lance Corporal William John REVELL, 25, C Company, husband of Winifred of Rock Cottage, Havenstreet [Isle of Wight], he was born Sawbridgeworth [Cambridgeshire] and resided Hammersmith [London] (Hammersmith Old Cemetery)

2nd Battalion

·        9998 Private Edward GARRARD or GARRAD, 19, son of Emma of 34 Oakington Road, Paddington [London] (Messines Ridge British Cemetery)

·        6117 Quartermaster Sergeant Percival Henry John MCGINN, 29, son of Sergeant Major and Katherine McGinn, born Shorncliffe [Kent], resided West Norwood [London] (Wimereux Communal Cemetery)

Taking Stock

Tuesday 3rd November 1914: Both our battalions in the field have had relatively uneventful days so we thought we would take stock of their positions. The 1st Battalion have been at rest behind the lines at Gorre but will be proceeding back to the front line near Festubert today. This part of the front seems a little quieter than the area around Ypres but the enemy can make sudden local attacks at any time and so the men in the front line must always be vigilant.

The 2nd Battalion is still in trenches south of the Menin Road facing the village of Zandvoorde which was lost on 30th October. They have been shelled today but there has been no further attack after the Germans’ unsuccessful attempts yesterday.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd

Roll of Honour 3rd November 1914

Died of Wounds

1st Battalion

·        8777 Private Arthur Francis LODGE, 25, son of E Lodge of 167 New Church Road, Camberwell [London] (Boulogne Eastern Cemetery)

2nd Bedfords' Revenge

Remains of the fir wood seen from the west

Monday 2nd November 1914: Once again today the Germans assembled in the fir wood in between Zandvoorde and the 2nd Bedfords’ position south of the Menin Road. The adjutant tells us that they attacked the Scots Guards but were enfiladed by the Bedfords and were driven back.[1]

A more dramatic account was given to us by Private Decimus Dilley from Clifton who was wounded in the action: “They attacked us in superior numbers. We waited coolly for their advance and let them get within 200 yards of us, and then we poured a rapid fire into them. We could not miss them and you should have seen them scatter. Orders came down the trenches to fix bayonets and charge. It was the mad hour of my life. Hundreds of dead Germans were lying on the field”.

Sources: X550/3/wd; Bedfordshire Times 20th November 1914

[1] Enfilading fire was when a unit was on the flank of another unit and, firing on it, was able to have its bullets travel all along the enemy line, doing significant damage.

Roll of Honour 2nd November 1914

Killed in Action

2nd Battalion: First Battle of Ypres - in front line trenches around Everzwijnhoek

·        7121 Private Harry WILLIMOTT, 32, husband of Evelyn Grace of 18 Keppel Street, King's Lynn [Norfolk], born Melton Constable [Norfolk] (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres)

Died of Wounds

1st Battalion

·        Lance Corporal Harry Stanley PARSONS, born Bloomsbury [London], resided Great Berkhamstead [Hertfordshire] (Bethune Town Cemetery)

2nd Battalion

·        10191 Private George SHARP, 22, son of Hannah E Plumb (ex Sharp) of Sacombe Pound [Hertfordshire], born High Cross [Hertfordshire], resided Little Munden [Hertfordshire] (Ypres Town Cemetery Extension)

2nd Bedfords Still Near Zandvoorde

Remains of the fir wood seen from the west

Sunday 1st November 1914: After the hard day they had yesterday All Saints Day has proved kinder to the 2nd Bedfords. The Germans massed in the fir wood in which so many of the battalion were captured yesterday. It looked as if an attack was imminent and everyone was tense with anticipation but, for whatever reason, no attack developed. It may be, as we speculated yesterday, that the Germans are as tired and depleted as our own men and, perhaps, the steady way our chaps fought yesterday has given them pause for thought.

Fortunately the battalion, reduced to only about four hundred men and four officers has been reinforced during the day. Three new officers have arrived along with ninety six other ranks. We hope we do not speak prematurely but the feeling is that a great crisis has, for the moment, passed.

So intense was the battle around Ypres yesterday that we were unable to speak with our contact with the 1st Battalion. It appears that they, too, had a hot time further south near Festubert. He told us this morning: “Sniping continued all day and we found that the Germans were sapping and mining towards us on three sides and only about twenty or forty yards away”.[1]

“We could see their snipers crawling all around us, pushing sandbags towards us in front of them to protect themselves. If we tried to have shots at them we got our heads blown off by other snipers. It was a pretty miserable state of affairs and demonstrated the effect of superiority of fire rather unpleasantly to us. We however had to grin and bear it and swore vengeance on them when darkness came. It practically meant that we were surrounded and could not move”.

“To crown it all, we knew that they were mining hard and expected to be blown sky high at any minute. Corporal Tearle was shot through the head in a gallant attempt to get a sniper”.[2]

Sources:X550/2/7;  X550/3/wd

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[1] Sapping was the practice of digging a trench forward from ones own front line and at right angles to it in order to be able to command no man’s land. Mining was frequent. Mine shafts would be dug towards and then under the enemy’s front line.  They would then be filled with explosives and detonated, obliterating the enemy’s trenches and men along with them.

[2] See today’s Roll of Honour

Roll of Honour 1st November 1914

Died of Wounds

1st Battalion

·        6914 Private Thomas Richard CLARKE, born and resided Saint Pancras [London] (Bethune Town Cemetery)

2nd Battalion

·        9329 Corporal Albert AGER, 25, A Company, son of Harry William and Emma Ager of Bedford; husband of Elizabeth Emily of 109 Tavistock Street, Bedford (Wimereux Communal Cemetery)

·        9256 Private John ANKER, born and resided Whittlesey [Cambridgeshire] (Longuenesse (Saint-Omer) Souvenir Cemetery)

·        9431 Private Arthur TAYLOR, 23, born Old Southgate [Middlesex], resided Barnet [Hertfordshire] (Longuenesse (Saint-Omer) Souvenir Cemetery)