Another Battalion Bows Out

Saturday 25 May 1918

The 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment was disbanded in January and the 6th Battalion was absorbed into the 1st/1st Battalion, Herfordshire Regiment three days ago. Today it has been announced that it is to be the turn of that extraordinarily successful unit, the 7th Battalion. The 2nd Battalion has been so reduced in strength by the gruelling retreat in March and then by the German attacks south-east of Ypres that the decision has been made for it to join the much larger 7th Battalion as part of 18th (Eastern) Division, though, naturally, the new battalion will be numbered as the 2nd. 

It is a measure of the casualties inflicted by this war that since 1916 the Bedfordshire Regiment has had seven battalions in the field but now only has four.

Lieutenant-Colonel R O Wynne [X550/1/81]

As with the 6th Battalion, a training cadre will continue to be known as the 7th Battalion and will be bust training Americans. This cadre will be commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R O Wynne DSO with Major J T Coe as adjutant. The company commanders are Captains J K Batten, F Everitt, S E Cline and R E Oakley MC. The Lewis Gun Officer is Second Lieutenant J Kerr, the Scout Officer Second Lieutenant W Ashton and the Signalling Officer is Second Lieutenant H Flavell(1). There are fifty other ranks. 

The cadre will leave at 6.30 tomorrow morning and head by train to Chipy-Valines andwill be billeted at Rogeant about six miles south-west of Abbeville. They will come under the aegis of 30th Division, from whence came the 2nd Battalion.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/8/1

(1) Joseph Keith Batten, from Peterborough, would die on 27th September serving with 4th Battalion, aged 26, he is buried at Moeuvres Communal Cemetery Extension; 

Still Fighting Fit

Lieutenant Holbrook [X550/1/81]

Monday 11th February 1918

8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment may no longer exist as a fighting formation but its men are still fighting fit. A small group, referred to as details, are attached to 16th Brigade Headquarters. Today there was a cross-country run for all units in the Brigade and the 8th Bedfords had five men home in the first six - Sergeant Vivian being the winner in a time of fourteen minutes. Meanwhile Second Lieutenant Oakley and ten other ranks were despatched to join 4th Battalion.

7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is at Salency east of Noyon. Today the reinforcements from the disbanded 8th Battalion arrived. One of them was Second Lieutenant Arthur Pratt who died of wounds this evening. He had the misfortune to be posted to C Company and shortly after entering a billet it received a direct hit by bombs from enemy aircraft. Nine other ranks were killed outright, two more have subsequently also died of wounds and six more are wounded.

2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is currently at Moyencourt, south-west of Ham. Lieutenant W J Holbrook has been struck off strength whilst on a six month tour of duty in England. Lieutenant W L Carpenter and six other ranks have joined from 8th Battalion. Today the Battalion was transferred from 89th Brigade to 90th Brigade, replacing 17th Battalion, Manchester Regiment which has transferred to 21st Brigade.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/8/1; X550/9/1

4th Battalion Receives Reinforcements from 8th Battalion

Lieutenant-Colonel Thorpe [X550/1/82]

Thursday 7th February 1918

Lieutenant Colonel E I de S Thorpe DSO has joined 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, in Italy as their commanding officer today. Meanwhile the disbandment of 8th Battalion got underway today as twelve officers and 299 other ranks marched from Lebucquière to Fremicourt whence buses took them to their new home - the 4th Battalion currently at Albuera Camp, Beaulencourt. The officers concerned are: Captain R B Knight; Captain N C F Nixon; Second Lieutenant R Bland; Second Lieutenant J W Bradfield; Second Lieutenant W H T Cottrill; Second Lieutenant R C Cowell; Second Lieutenant P W Everett DCM; Second Lieutenant H L Gudgeon; Second Lieutenant Hawkes MC; Second Lieutenant E Kinkead MC; Second Lieutenant Mallinson; Second Lieutenant Oakley and Second Lieutenant E C Webb(1)

Source: X550/2/5; X550/5/3; X550/9/1

(1) Captain Richard Brodnax Knight would die on 5th September and be buried at Saint-Sever Cemetery, Rouen; Captain Noel Charles Frederick Nixon would be killed on 24th March and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; Second Lieutenant Ernest Charles Webb would die on 17th February and be buried at Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt; 

Decorations from the Somme

Captain Oakley [X550/1/81]

Saturday 9th June 1917

Today the battle at Messines Ridge has gone quiet.  It is fair to say that strong German counter-attacks were expected ere now and their failure to materialise must owe much to the stunning success of the first attack.

The adjutant of 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, tells me that they are about to be relieved in the front line, the exchange taking place as soon as it is dark. They will then move back to Poperinghe. News has been received that the following awards had been made for gallantry on 12th October, 1916 in the unsuccessful and bloody attack on Gird Trench: Captain R E Oakley has received a Military Cross, 10016 Sergeant A Howard and 9578 Sergeant A Mason have both received Distinguished Conduct Medals.

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The Battalion’s total casualties for this most recent period in the trenches were: eleven other ranks killed; three other ranks died of wounds; two officers and sixty-six other ranks wounded; one other rank gassed and two other ranks suffering from shell shock.

Source: X550/3/WD

Training Goes On

Lieutenant L A L Fink [X550/1/81]

Wednesday 7th February 1917 from our correspondent in the field

As small attacks begin again on the Somme the rest of the army is still training ready for any big push to take place in the next month of two. 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, is at Monchiet, south-west of Arras. Today Captain R E Oakley proceeded to the Third Army School, to which most of the senior officers of the Battalion have now been. In his absence Lieutenant L L Fink has taken over command of C Company(1).

Source: X550/3/WD

(Lawrence Fink MC would die on 4th October 1917 - he is buried at Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery)

Le Touret

Lieutenant R E Oakley [X550/1/81]

Thursday 1st February 1917 from our correspondent in the field

The 1st Battalion adjutant remarked to me today that they, part of 5th Division, are now quite close to 6th Battalion, who are part of 37th Division. Last month 6th Battalion were at le Touret today it is 1st Battalion who are acting as brigade reserve. The adjutant commented: “Very cold weather and very cold billets for the men”.

2nd Battalion are still at Baurepaire, hard at work building a railway. We hear that Lieutenant R E Oakley has been granted the acting rank of Captain whilst he commands a company.

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

Changes in the Second Battalion

Second Lieutenant Pitts

Thursday 14th December 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Today your correspondent decided to leave Albert and catch a lift on a General Service lorry to go and visit the 2nd Battalion at Berles-au-Bois. On arrival he found that Second Lieutenant J P Pitts, who had been attending 3rd Army School, had returned and taken command of D Company. Second Lieutenant R E Oakley has taken over command of C Company from Second Lieutenant L A L Fink.

Second Lieutenant Oakley

Whist I was there a draft of ten other ranks arrived from base. They were all men who had served in France and Flanders earlier in the war with a number of different regiments, had been wounded and sent back to “Blighty” as the troops out here call home. Now recovered they have been posted to the 2nd Bedfords.

Source: X550/3/wd

Day One Hundred and Eight on the Somme

Lieutenant Hopkins

Monday 16th October 1916: From our Correspondent in the Field

8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, are still in the line east of Gueudecourt. They reported that in the clear skies which we have had for most of the day, aircraft have been very active, resulting in less hostile shelling during daylight. There was intense hostile shelling for half an hour commenced at 5.45 this evening, though, resulting in four dead and four wounded. Good news is that another German sniper has been shot down.

Second Lieutenant Oakley

The 2nd Battalion moved into Flers Trench today, near Le Sars where they are acting as reserve for 21st Brigade. Lieutenant R Hopkins has taken over command of B Company and Second Lieutenant R E Oakley of A Company. The strength of the Battalion in the trenches is that all four companies – A, B, C and D have just two officers and fifty men each. Headquarters comprises four officers and 107 men under the command of Major J W H T Douglas.

Major Douglas.

Today 6th Division took some gun pits near Lesboeufs whilst 39th Division fought off no fewer than three German attempts to retake the Schwaben Redoubt. This was a particularly fine performance by the division as the enemy were employing flame-throwers.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/9/1

Local Recruitment

Bromham Vicarage

Tuesday 11th August 1914: Mr Sidney Richard Quenby left Oakley yesterday to join the Force as a volunteer, Mr. Quenby was once attached to the Hertfordshire Yeomanry. He is a very fine horseman. Mr. Quenby will be much missed from the cricket field, and in fact from the village generally as he was very popular.

A number of doctors on the Bedfordshire panel have volunteered for active service and fourteen have left the county already. Other doctors in the county are acting loyally in the manner and are treating the insured persons on the panels of their colleagues.

Bromham is considerably affected by the war. In consequence of the horses being commandeered, grooms have been dismissed. Altogether Bromham has nine men in the Army and Navy: Captain Allen and Lieutenant Stobart in the Regular Army; Walter Mortimer, private in the regulars; Herbert Mortimer in the Navy; A. Swan, H. Robinson and J. Tysoe in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry; A. Waller Naval Reserve and Jack Browning, the vicar’s son, in the Canadian Volunteers*. Two others have volunteered since the war broke out. The friends of the Vicar (Canon Browning) are wondering how he is getting on in Switzerland, where he went to take a chaplaincy for August.

Sources: Bedfordshire Times 14th August 1914 and 21st August 1914

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* Captain John Francis Allen of 1st Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment died of wounds on 5th November 1914 aged 32. He was the son of W. H. Allen, who owned the Bedford engineering company and lived at Bromham House and he is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery. Company Sergeant Major Walter James Mortimer, MM, of 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment, died on 6th April 1918 as a prisoner-of-war, having been captured in 1917, and is buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery. Lieutenant William Stobart, Royal Flying Corps previously 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, was killed in a flying accident on 24th August 1916, aged 21 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge. Two more Mortimers were killed: Harry, of 12th King’s (Liverpool) Regiment on 20th November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial. Private William S. Mortimer of 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed on 27th July 1916 during operation in Delville Wood and is buried at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval.