Hello. I have just returned from a visit to my great great grandfathers grave in france. He was in the 2nd batallion of the rifle brigade and died on october 13th 1915. He is buried at Y farm cemetery, bois grenier, near armentieres. I have little or no knowledge of where he was when he died. Logic would dictate that he was on the artois front somewhere, possibly the battle of loos, although i can find no direct reference to the 2nd battalion rifles in the casualty list. My father says he died in the 1st somme battle, but geographically this doesnt make sense, although I know certain graves were moved into Y farm cemetery after the war. Is there anywhere I can go to find this out, short of buying the rifle brigade's ww1 history, which may or may not contain the information I need. For the record, his details are Rifleman J gorman (s/10892). Enlisted in liverpool. Thanks Roy Johnstone
Hi Roy and welcome ! How great that you were able to go and visit the grave ! .... can you give us a few more details ? where he came from etc ... and any other family stories you may have heard ! In Memory of Rifleman J GORMAN S/10892, 2nd Bn., Rifle Brigade who died on 13 October 1915 Remembered with honour Y FARM MILITARY CEMETERY, BOIS-GRENIER Annie
details are a bit sketchy. My nan was born in october 1915, and therefore never met her dad. she visited the grave in 1986. No photos or anything. Her mum remarried and as was the way, children of a 1st marriage were treated little better than servants, turning her into the hardened woman i knew as a child. I know he was born and enlisted in liverpool, but apart from his army number and the grave details I have posted, ive got little else to go on. Roy.
Sorry to leave you dangling Roy ! I was hoping maybe Andy ( our Rifle Brigade guru !! ) would be able to help you .... but maybe he hasn't seen your thread yet ! I'll take another look and see what I can see ! Annie
Hi Roy, Sorry for the delay, Annie did drop me a message but I have been a bit busy of late with various matters. I will dig out what I have for the 2nd RB for this time frame shortly for you. Andy
Roy, The 2nd RB had taken over the trenches from the Royal Irish Rifles on the night of the 10th and were relieved by the R.I.R. on the night of the 14th. It would seem that your grandfather was killed by a trench mortar and was the only fatality of that day with three others wounded by the same trench mortar. The war diary reads as follows:- "Enemy opened a heavy rifle fire during the early part of the evening + shelled our trenches with trench mortars & guns - our guns + machine guns replied - enemy operations were in the nature of a demonstration, the whole thing lasting about an hour. One man killed & 3 wounded by a trench mortar." Y Farm Cemetery would be appropriate for the area this all happened in and there are 30 2nd RB burials in this cemetery ranging from April 1915 to January 1916. I will try to locate the exact area the 2nd RB were at this time but the 2nd RB had not been down to the Somme by this time of the war so your fathers feeling of it being the 1st battle on the Somme is more family legend. Andy
Roy, Just had a look at the Regimental History which confirmed what I felt, in that there is no description of events after the subsidiary attacks made by the Rifle Brigade for the Battle of Loos other than the winter locations. "The cost to the Regiment of the actions subsidiary to the Battle of Loos was twenty-five officers and seven hundred and fifty other ranks. Each of the three battalions engaged conspicuously distinguished themselves. Loos does not figure among the battle hounours of The Rifle Brigade because none of the battalions happened to be engaged within the area prescribed by the Battle Honours Committee. Yet the three subsidiary attacks in which the Regiment played so gallant a part are all shown as part of the Battle of Loos. Winter locations, during the remainder of the year there was little if any change in the location of battalions. The 2nd, 10th, 11th & 12th Battalions remained in or behind the Armentieres area." If you would like the 2nd RB's diary send me a message with your e-mail address and I will mail them off to you, also a friend has the burial details for Y Farm so I will ask them if they could let me have the details of your grandfathers burial for you. Andy
Andy, cheers for all you have found out so far. I have sent a private message with my email address on it. Thanks again for all your work Roy
Hello Andy. I am a new member and came across this discussion, i know its a few years old but i too am looking for such details about a relative of mine in the 2nd Batt the Rifle Brigade. Do you think you might be able to help if i post more details. Many thanks and hopeful! Kes
Hello I have just joined this forum and am very interested in this thread. I have recently discovered that my great uncle was KIA on 6 March 1918 when with the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade. His details are: Pte S/34227 Henry Rice. He is buried in White House Cemetery, St Jean-Les Ypres, Belgium (Grave Ref: 11.F.12. He was the son of Eliza Rice, (my Great Grandmother), who lived at 8 Rosina Cottages, Homerton, London and had married Eliza Hawker in 1916. If anyone could shed any light on the Battalion history of around the date of Henry's death or the circumstances in which he died, I would be most grateful. Thank you John
