201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan
1/6th (Territorial Force) Battalion
South Staffordshire Regiment

1893 - 28th April 1918

Researched and written by Julie Thacker, Kaye Christian and Chris Graddon

PART ONE

Leonard’s immediate family

Solomon Morgan was Leonard’s grandfather on his father’s side. Born in 1826 in Pontesbury, Shropshire, the son of William and Mary Morgan, Solomon was baptised on 14th January 1827. He married his wife Martha Reynolds in the Atcham registration district (most likely in Pontesbury itself) in the second quarter of 1851.

Picture 4A

Picture 4B

Solomon and Martha continued to live in Pontesbury for some while. By the time of the 1861 census, the couple had 6 children, 4 sons and 2 daughters. Solomon was now working as a carpenter, the 1851 census having shown 24-year old Solomon working as a wheelwright. Solomon and Martha’s eldest son, William Fielding Morgan - the father of Private Leonard Wood Morgan - was born in 1852, and he was followed by brother Richard Morgan in 1853, sister Elizabeth Morgan in 1856, third son John Morgan in 1857, second daughter Harriett Morgan on 17th May 1859 and fourth son Alfred Morgan in 1860. Sadly, Alfred died very young, and was buried in Pontesbury on 31st July 1861, but a fifth son, Robert Morgan, was born in 1863. He was to be their last child, and by 1871 the family had moved 20 miles east from Pontesbury to Madeley, where William was working as a blacksmith, his brothers Richard and John as bricklaying labourers.

Ten years later, 1881, and the family have moved again, and are living in Boney Hay, on land behind the Ring of Bells public house. Much has changed in these last ten years: Martha is now a widow, and head of the family, Solomon having died in Chasetown on 18th January 1880; Martha buried her husband at St. Anne’s Church, Chasetown, on 22nd January 1880. The family had moved from Shropshire to find work in the Staffordshire coal mines, and Martha’s sons William, Richard, John and Robert were all now working as coal miners. William and John were married now, and had young families of their own, all living cheek by jowl in Boney Hay. Their brother Richard was lodging with John, John’s wife Sarah and their 2-year old son William Henry Morgan and 9-month old baby Albert. At the age of 20, John Morgan had married 19-year old Sarah Jane Maund at Gentleshaw Christ Church on 16th February 1878; Sarah’s father James Maund was a furnaceman, and John’s brother Richard was one of the witnesses.

Robert was living with his mother Martha and sister Harriett, who was working as a domestic servant. William was also married now and was living nearby with wife Eliza, 2-year old daughter Harriett and 3-month old baby Minnie.

In 1891, Martha is living in Spinney Lane, Burntwood. Robert - now 27, and working as a sewing machine agent - is the only family member still living at home. A year later he would marry Mary Ann Heath at St. Anne’s Church, Chasetown, on 21st November 1892. William is living with his family in Rugeley Road, and is now a farmer; Eliza’s father, 75-year old Isaac Wood is living with them; daughter Minnie is now 10 and the couple have three more children, Alice, Adelaide and Albert.

Another ten years on, 1901, Martha is 77 and living on her own in Boney Hay, which is where she died on 8th September 1907. She was buried 3 days later at St. Anne’s Church, Chasetown.

Leonard Wood Morgan’s parents

Leonard Wood Morgan was born in Chase Terrace, Staffordshire and spent his whole life there, apart from his military service overseas. He was just 25 years old when he died from the wounds he received in action.

Leonard was born in 1893, the youngest son of William Fielding Morgan, a Cab Proprietor and undertaker, and Eliza Caroline Wood. William and Eliza were married at Christ Church, Burntwood, on 17th November 1877. The couple had 8 children, of whom 6 were still living at the time of the 1911 Census, 4 daughters and 2 sons:

• Annie Morgan, who was born in 1881.

• Minnie Morgan, who was born in Chasetown in 1881 and married Arthur Morley Arnott at St. Anne’s Church on 10th August 1909.

• Alice Morgan, who was born in Chasetown on 9th September 1882 and married John Short at St. Anne’s Church on 2nd April 1912.

• Adelaide Morgan was born on 18 March 1884 and was working in domestic service for her sister Alice and her husband John Short, the local undertaker, at the time of the 1939 census;

• Albert Morgan was born on 11th January 1886

• Leonard Wood Morgan, born in 1893.

Leonard’s father, William, died on 25th April 1923, his mother Eliza in 1931.

Leonard Wood Morgan’s own family

On 6th January 1916, Leonard married Edith Emily Bloxham, the daughter of William Bloxham, a labourer, at St. Anne’s Church, Chasetown. At the time of the wedding, Leonard’s age was recorded as 22 and he was working as a chauffeur. Edith’s age was recorded as 20 but she was only 19, her date of birth being 14th July 1896. Her family lived in Chasetown. Leonard and Edith had a daughter, Irene Gillian Morgan, born on 11th June 1916.

Initially, all five of the army groups were made up of volunteers, including the famous Pals' Battalions. In the early stages of the war, so large were the numbers of men enlisting that, in some places, there were queues up to a mile long outside recruitment offices. There were enormous problems equipping and providing shelter for the new recruits but, nonetheless, almost 2.5 million men volunteered to join Kitchener's Army. By the beginning of 1916 - information having reached home about the true nature of the warfare - the queues had dwindled and Great Britain had to resort to conscription, like the other great powers involved in the war. Conscription also worked "in reverse", with skilled workers and craftsmen who had volunteered early in the war being drafted back, especially into the munitions industry where they were sorely needed.

When a recruit enlisted into the army, he was sent first to his Regimental Depot. There he received his kit, if he was lucky, and was then introduced to army discipline and training. Next, he was sent to the main training camps where he would join his battalion. In practice, the regiments often lacked the required stocks of equipment, so men frequently trained wearing their own clothes and shoes. To get round this problem, many regiments were issued with emergency blue uniforms, popularly known as Kitchener Blue.

The Army had difficulty supplying the new units with weapons, so most battalions had to drill with obsolete rifles or wooden replicas. The army's existing artillery was deployed either with the British Expeditionary Force in France or with forces serving in the outposts of the British Empire, so, at the start of the war, there was also an acute shortage of artillery in Britain that could be used for training the new recruits.

There was also a shortage of officers to train the new recruits so commanding officers were encouraged to promote men who showed leadership potential. The casualty rate among junior infantry officers was extremely high and, to meet demand as the war progressed, it became common for officers to be promoted from amongst the rank and file.

With the New Army not yet ready, the heavy losses suffered by the British Expeditionary Force forced Kitchener to deploy territorial units overseas. Territorial units were attached to regular army formations and sent into action. They were credited with playing a key role in halting the 1914 German offensive. The first complete territorial division to be deployed to a combat zone – the 46th (North Midland) Division – arrived in France in March 1915, with territorial divisions participating in offensive operations on the Western Front from June 1915.

The Territorial Force was doubled in size by creating a second line that mirrored the original “first-line” units. First-line units were denoted 1/1st, 1/2nd and 1/3rd, second-line units 2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd. The intention was that the second line units would take over responsibility for home defence and provide replacement drafts of men to the first line. Because it competed with the New Army for the country’s limited resources, the second line was poorly armed and badly equipped. In due course, a third line had to be raised as the second line units were also deployed overseas.

In July 1915 the 2nd North Midland Division became the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division, and its brigades were renumbered, the 2/1st Staffordshire Brigade becoming the 176th (2/1st Staffordshire) Brigade.

In September 1914, the 2/5th Battalion South Staffs was formed in Walsall and the 2/6th South Staffs in Wolverhampton. Both were home service (“second line”) units, part of the 2/1st Staffordshire Brigade, which in July 1915 became part of the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division. The 59th (2nd North Midland) Division was the second line counterpart to the 46th (North Midland) Division. These units of the ‘second line’ remained in the UK for some time. Along with other ‘second line’ divisions, they suffered greatly from a shortage of equipment of all sorts, and this inevitably affected their training.

By January 1915, the 2/5th and 2/6th South Staffs had been posted to the Luton area, and in July that year they moved on to St Albans where - alongside the 2/5th and 2/6th North Staffs - they became part of the 176th Infantry Brigade. In April 1916 the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division was hurriedly ordered to Ireland to assist in quelling the uprising that had broken out in Dublin and elsewhere. Severe fighting took place in the battle against the Irish nationalist forces and the 59th Division’s first battle casualties were incurred there. Once things had settled down, the units moved from Dublin to the Curragh Army Camp in County Kildare, 40 miles to the south west of Dublin. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom at this time, so service in Ireland was not considered to be service abroad.

The passing of the Military Service Act in early 1916 deemed all men to have agreed to serve overseas, which meant the 59th Division could now be sent to the Western Front.

In January 1917, the 65th (2nd Lowland) Division replaced the 59th Division in Ireland and the 59th returned to England; the end of that month saw them based at the village of Fovant in Wiltshire. Orders were received there saying they would depart for France shortly. Advanced parties left on 2 February 1917, which meant they missed an inspection by King George V that took place on 13 February. The units of the 59th Division began crossing the Channel on 17 February; the 2/5th and 2/6th South Staffs landed at Le Havre on 25th February and joined up with the other units at Méricourt-sur-Somme on 3 March 1917. Reports suggested that the 59th Division had not received sufficient training - because of the operations it had undertaken in Ireland - but it had no opportunity to enhance its training now as it was quickly thrown into the action south of the Somme, near Estrées. On 7th March 1917, the 2/5th South Staffs route marched 11 miles from Méricourt-sur-Somme to Foucaucourt-en-Santerre, where they billeted for the night, marching on the following day to Berny-en-Santerre where they relieved the 6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry in the support trenches at 5 p.m. Three days later the 2/5th South Staffs relieved the 6th Battalion North Staffs in the front line trenches; the men found them to be in a very bad state.

The 2/5th South Staffs remained on the Western Front for the remainder of the war but the fighting inevitably took its toll on battalion numbers, so much so that it was disbanded in France on 30 January 1918. The surviving men from the 2/5th were transferred to other units, many - like 201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan - to the 1/6th South Staffs. The 2/6th South Staffs was reduced to cadre strength on 9 May 1918 and transferred to the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division before being formally disbanded on 31 July 1918.

Two “third line” units, the 3/5th Battalion South Staffs and 3/6th Battalion South Staffs, were formed at the Walsall and Wolverhampton home bases in 1915. They were based in Catterick where, on 8th April 1916, they were renamed the 5th and 6th Reserve Battalions. Neither unit served abroad. The 5th Reserve Battalion absorbed the 6th Reserve Battalion on 1st September 1916, and the combined unit then spent various periods of the remainder of the war at Lincoln, Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea.

Conscription

The Allies were caught off guard by the rapid German advance in the first months of the war. That advance had been halted by December 1914, and trench warfare quickly became the norm. For much of the time, fighting on the Western Front became a stalemate, one that lasted 3 years. The stand-off between the opposing armies led to huge numbers of men being killed or wounded, on both sides, and enormous numbers of replacements had to be sent to the front to fill the gaps. At first, the number of men volunteering to join the Army was sufficient to to meet the shortfall but this could not be sustained indefinitely. In the autumn of 1915, Lord Derby headed a campaign which resulted in around 300,000 new “Derby Recruits”. This bought some time but it was not enough to meet the needs of the army and, in January 1916, the prime minister, Herbert Asquith had little choice but to introduce conscription for all single men aged between eighteen and forty.

Leonard Wood Morgan’s Military Career

Picture 11

The medal roll entry for 201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan states that he served first with the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, and was later transferred to the 1/6th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, most likely at the end of January 1918 when the 2/5th Battalion was disbanded and its soldiers moved to other units. This is supported by the entry for Leonard in the Register of Soldiers Effects which shows that he was transferred to the 1/6th South Staffs prior to his death on 28th April 1918.

Picture 12

Pictures 15A, 15B and 15C

It is reasonable to assume that 201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan was one of the Derby Recruits arriving at St. Albans in February 1916. Two months later, in late April 1916, the 2/5th Battalion South Staffs was posted to Ireland. After the Easter uprising had been suppressed, the 2/5th Battalion moved to the Curragh, in County Kildare, where they stayed for the remainder of 1916. They finally moved to the Western Front in France in late February 1917. It is probable that these movements describe Private Morgan’s experience during those months, though there is unlikely to be any documentary confirmation, even in the archive of the Staffordshire Regimental Museum.

In January 1916, the Military Service Act was given the royal assent, and this meant that soldiers in the Territorial Force were now liable for service overseas, provided they were deemed to be medically fit. At this time, Ireland was part of Great Britain so the Battalion’s time there, during and after the Easter rising, was not considered to be service in an overseas theatre of war.

In April 1916, the 59th Division (2nd North Midland) Division was sent to Dublin, part of the British Army forces sent to quell the Easter Rising in Ireland. The 2/5th and 2/6th Battalions of the North Staffordshire Regiment, and the 2/5th and 2/6th Battalions of the South Staffordshire Regiment were among those to go. They were units in the 176th (2/1st Staffordshire) Brigade, and it was in Ireland that the Brigade suffered its first casualties; they were inflicted by men from the Irish Volunteers.

The 2/5th and 2/6th Battalions South Staffordshire Regiment were involved in some of the fiercest fighting in Dublin and it is alleged that soldiers from the Regiment committed one of the worst atrocities against civilians during that week-long insurrection, specifically that 16 men and boys were shot or bayoneted to death by soldiers from the South Staffordshire Regiment in the infamous North King Street Massacre.

According to a statement issued later by General John Maxwell:

The casualties were very heavy during the fighting. The troops were continually fired at from the roofs and upper windows of the houses. With modern rifles, it is impossible to tell - by the sound - from which direction a shot has come. The rebels were moving from house to house. As the troops moved along the street, the rebels would escape out back doors and fire again at the troops from practically every house.

Five houses had to be searched and occupied. Always we found that the rebels tried to cloak themselves behind their women. When we began to search a house, they threw away their rifles and joined the women herding at the back, pretending they had been there all the time.

The rebels wore no uniform and the man who had been shooting at a soldier one moment might be walking quietly beside him at another. We tried hard to get the women and children to leave North King Street. They would not go; their sympathies were with the rebels.

The area had still not been cleared by the end of the week. Under Lieutenant Colonel Henry Taylor, the South Staffordshire Regiment advanced just 150 yards down North King Street in two days, losing 14 men dead and 32 wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Taylor took over the Bolton Street Technical School and deployed his men on the roof of the building. Sheltering behind improvised armoured cars, they were finally able to advance up North King Street, to enter and search the houses.

Brigadier-General William Lowe, the UK commander in Dublin, gave orders that no hesitation was to be shown in dealing with the rebels; that, by their actions, they had placed themselves outside the law, and that they were not to be made prisoners. However, it was the civilians on the street that suffered the consequences of this order. Infuriated by their losses, the South Staffs troops broke into homes on late Friday evening and early Saturday morning, where they shot or bayoneted civilian men whom they accused of being rebels.

Lieutenant Colonel Taylor told the court of inquiry: “no persons were attacked by the troops other than those who were assisting the rebels, or who had arms in their possession”, but the Coroner’s Court refused to accept that Colonel Taylor’s statement was accurate. The mothers and wives of those killed were invited to try to identify the soldiers responsible for the atrocities in a line-up at Straffan Barracks in County Kildare, but they were unable or reluctant to pick them out.

At the military court of inquiry, both sides accused each other of atrocities. British soldiers claimed the rebels fired dum-dum (expanding) bullets and used civilians as human shields. The rebels countered by claiming that surrendering volunteers were shot down in cold blood, and that civilian sympathisers were also killed. The presiding officer, Colonel Ernest Maconchy, investigated these claims and found that “the only marvel was that a great many innocent people were not killed. As a matter of fact, the troops had, at considerable risk to themselves, escorted civilians, women and children, out of North King Street to places of safety and looked after them”. Colonel Maconchy ruled that no specific soldier could be held responsible for the killings, and the Inquiry ultimately took no action against Colonel Taylor or his troops. The military inquest into the killings did find that the soldiers had killed civilians, but its findings were kept secret for fear that they “could be used for hostile propaganda”.

General John Grenfell Maxwell, Commander-in-Chief Ireland, stated:

“‘No doubt in the districts where fighting was fiercest, parties of men under the great provocation of being shot at from rear and front, seeing their comrades fall from the fire of snipers, burst into suspected houses and killed such male members as were found. It is perfectly possible that some were innocent, but they could have left their houses if they so wished and the number of such incidents that have been brought to notice is happily few. Under the circumstance the troops as a whole behaved with the greatest restraint.”

The results of the Court of Inquiry were buried and did not come to light until 2001. A private brief - prepared at the time for the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith - concluded that soldiers whose explicit orders were not to take prisoners, “took that to mean they could shoot anyone they suspected of being an active rebel”.

The killing of the civilians at North King Street was one of the worst acts committed by British forces in Ireland in the 20th century – on a par with the 1920 Croke Park shootings, just a mile or so to the north of North King Street, in which 14 spectators were gunned down at a football match. The incident is not well remembered today and surprisingly little propaganda was made out of it by the republican movement, even at the time. This may be because of the size of the casualty figures in the five days of fighting in Dublin: 447 people were killed and 2,585 wounded,. These included 252 civilians killed and 2,217 wounded. These numbers were vastly greater than those in any single incident in the Irish revolution and dwarfed the events on North King Street.

Further details regarding these events can be found in John Dorney’s book “The Civil War in Dublin: The Fight for the Irish Capital 1922-1924”, and on the website page “The North King Street Massacre, Dublin 1916”
https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/04/13/the-north-king-street-massacre-dublin-1916/#.VsnMw5yLQdU

It is perhaps understandable that there is no mention of the events in Ireland in the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary. As the Derby Recruits had arrived from Walsall, the concern in St. Albans in the first two months of 1916 had been for a zeppelin raid on the Eastern counties on 31st January, together with sightings of 3 zeppelins making their way from Cambridge to London, and 2 more at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. These brief notes are followed by a significant gap and the diary resumes at 6.35 a.m. on 25th February 1917 with 19 officers and 595 other ranks from B Company, C Company and D Company leaving Codford in Wiltshire for Southampton; they were followed, at 7.45 a.m. by 5 officers and 173 other ranks from A Company. At 11.30 p.m. the Battalion left Southampton bound for Le Havre aboard S.S. Queen Alexandra.

S.S. Queen Alexandra arrived at Le Havre docks at about 1 a.m. on 26th February 1917. The Battalion disembarked at about 8 o’clock that morning, proceeding from the docks to Number 5 Rest Camp. They left there at midday and at 3.30 p.m. boarded trains for Saleux, about 100 miles to the east, arriving there at about half past six the following morning. A 5-mile route march took them on to Saint-Fuscien, about 4 miles south of Amiens, where they billeted for the night; 4 officers and 88 other ranks rejoined the Battalion there. At 9 o’clock the next morning, 28th February, the men began a 13-mile route march to Fouilloy, carrying full kit, blanket and oil sheet; they all completed the march, arriving at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. They billeted there until 9 a.m. on 1st March when an 11-mile route march took them, via Le Hamel and Cerisy, to Mericourt-sur-Somme. They arrived at about 2 o’clock that afternoon and, again, none of the men fell out during the march. The Battalion remained in rest camps at Mericourt for 5 days. During this time they gained 5 officers and 12 other ranks from the 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade, while 6 officers and 49 other ranks departed to join the 151st Brigade in the front line trenches. The Battalion left Mericourt at 1 o’clock in the afternoon of 7th March, marching 6 miles to Foucaucourt-en-Santerre. The men arrived there at about 4 p.m. and billeted overnight before relieving the 6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, in the support trenches, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon of the next day, 8th March. After three days in the support trenches, they relieved the 6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment in the front line at 6 o’clock in the evening of 11th March; they found the trenches to be in a very bad state.

Charles Blanchard was born in East Barkwith in Lincolnshire. He was the 19 year old son of Thomas and Mary Blanchard who lived in Stainton by Langworth in Lincolnshire, where Charles’ father Thomas worked as a cowman on a farm.

James Hall was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He left a widow, Edith (born 31st July 1896) and the couple’s only son James Robert Buck Hall (born 14th August 1915). James had married Edith Buck in Newcastle upon Tyne in the second quarter of 1915. Sadly, their only son died nine months after his father, on 27th December 1917.

German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line (9th February to 20th March 1917)

In 1917, Germany adopted a more defence-minded strategy on the Western Front. The Allied forces had not managed to make a significant breakthrough in 1916 despite launching several offensives and incurring very heavy casualties. Repelling those Allied offensives had proved equally costly for the enemy. The German High Command therefore decided to adopt a more defence-minded strategy in 1917 and, between 9th February and 20th March, they withdrew east from the Somme area to a new system of fortified positions known as the Hindenburg Linehe. The Hindenburg Line was significantly shorter and it was better protected, with pillboxes and wide belts of barbed wire; it was therefore far easier for the Germans to defend. As they withdrew, the Germans destroyed buildings, wells and watercourses, roads and railways, which made it harder for the Allies to exploit the territory they were gaining.

In March, the French decided to advance along the River Aisne, convinced this would deliver a breakthrough that would turn the war in the Allies favour. Seeing the German army withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line, the British launched a diversionary attack at Arras; the size of the attack was designed to draw German troops away from the Aisne River, thereby assisting the French attack.

The men of the 2/5th South Staffs were allowed two days in the Foucaucourt rest camp before being ordered, at 8 p.m. on 18th March, to take up the position in the original front line trenches that was being vacated by the 2/6th North Staffs as they pursued the enemy, the German Army having fallen back from its previous positions.

{The 2/5th and 2/6th Battalions of the South Staffordshire Regiment and the 2/5th and 2/6th Battalions of the North Staffordshire Regiment were units in the 176th (2/1st Staffordshire) Brigade, part of the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division. When the German army began its strategic withdrawal east from the Somme area, the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division was among the formations that followed the enemy in cautious pursuit (March and April 1917). However, the lack of training began to be felt in this difficult tactical situation. Units of the 59th Division captured Jeancourt but then met a bloody repluse at Le Verguier. It was not until September 1917 that the 59th Division saw its first full-scale action, during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge.}

The 2/5th South Staffs spent the next three days in those former front line trenches before moving at 6.30 a.m. to relieve the 2/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) at Cizancourt. Three days later, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of 25th March, the Battalion moved one mile north to Briost, beside the Somme River. At 9 a.m. on 27th March, the Battalion moved again, this time to counter the German bridgehead at Brie, and there the men remained until 1st April. {On 24 March, German units had crossed the Somme River and created a small bridgehead; the following afternoon German forces crossed the Somme again, this time in force, at Éterpigny and Brie.}

On 2nd April, the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment marched two and a half miles east to Mons-en-Chaussée, spending the night there in tents before marching on to Vraignes-en-Vermandois where they spent three nights in billets. On 6th April they marched - via Hancourt - to Bernes, where they relieved the 2/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) and took over their posts.

Picture 20

Repulse at Le Verguier

On 10th April 1917, the Battalion took over the trenches at Le Verguier from the 2/5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment). They occupied them until 21st April and, during this period, the 2/5th South Staffs suffered a substantial number of casualties:

6th April: 200858 Private Joseph Sawney and 202305 Private Wilfred James Tyler were wounded in action;
9th April: 201866 Private Arthur Sentance was wounded in action;
11th April: 200344 Private Samuel Finch, 202891 Private Herbert Rhodes (see below) and 202883 Private Edgar Tetley were wounded in action;
12th April: 202163 Private H Hill and 202312 Lance Corporal J Willetts were wounded in action;
13th April: 202910 Private J Currie was wounded in action;

202891 Private Herbert Rhodes died from his wounds on 19th April. He was 31 years old and lived in the village of Lightcliffe, 3 miles east of Halifax in Yorkshire. Herbert was the son of George and Mary Rhodes. He had married Sarah Louisa Sutcliffe at St. John’s Church, Coley, on 15th August 1914. The couple had no children. Private Rhodes is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

On 16th April, Major John Horace Thursfield reported for duty with the 2/5th South Staffs; formerly with the 1/6th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, he took over the duties of Second in Command to Lieutenant Colonel J A Armstrong.

18th April: 202982 Private Samuel Henry Wildman was wounded in action;
19th April: 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Grinell Holden was wounded in action.

On 21st April, the Battalion took over the advanced line of trenches that had been partially dug by the 2/5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment.

21st April: 202146 Private Alfred John Greedus was killed in action. Alfred was the son of William Henry and Sarah Greedus of Walthamstow, London. He was 36 and worked as a printer’s machine minder, Alfred had married Jennie Buttery in Stepney in the third quarter of 1902. The couple lived in Walthamstow and had 7 children: Maud Rosa Greedus (born 5th January 1903), Ada Olive Greedus (born 21st July 1904), Alfred John Greedus (born 1st October 1905), Ernest Albert Greedus (born 2nd August 1907), Leonard Walter Greedus (born 10th July 1910), Rosalie Eva Greedus (born 2nd November 1913) and Horace James Greedus (born 5th August 1916). Private Greedus is buried in the Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.

2218 Staff Sergeant Harry Campin, 2196/202156 Private Frederick William Moore, 200690 Corporal Arthur Page, 200943 Sergeant Thomas Westwood and 3083/202773 Private Joseph Harold Yates were all killed in action on 22nd April, a day that also saw 202565 Private William Leonard Greenleaf and 202658 Private William Edward Wynn wounded in action. {Private Greenleaf was transferred to the 10th Battalion Essex Regiment and was killed in action on 23rd October 1918.

2218 Staff Sergeant Harry Campin enlisted at Camberwell in Surrey. He had been attached to the 2/5th South Staffordshire Regiment from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Harry was born in Greenwich in 1870, the son of Francis and Amelia Campin. Harry, who was a watchmaker, married Ethel Campbell on 18th November 1903 at St. Peter’s Church in Hammersmith, and the couple had one son, Harry Campin born on 2nd May 1905. Staff Sergeant Campin is buried in the Tincourt New British Cemetery.

2196/202156 Private Frederick William Moore was born in Smethwick in 1897/8, the eldest son of Albert W Moore and Ellen Matthews who had married in the third quarter of 1896. Albert was a tobacconist and the couple had 3 children, Frederick and his two younger brothers Albert Moore (born 1900/1) and Frank Moore (born 1902/3). Private Moore is buried in the Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.

200690 Corporal Arthur Page was 21 when he was killed in action. Arthur was born in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, and enlisted there. He was the son of Samuel Page and Mary Ann Matthews who had married in 1885 Samuel was a baker and the couple had 12 children of whom 10 were still living at the time of the 1911 census. Arthur, the third of their sons, had 4 brothers - John Thomas Page, Benjamin Page, James Page and Charles Frederick Page - and 5 sisters - Maud Page, Elsie Page, Daisy Florence Page, Annie Page and Gladys May Page. Corporal Page is buried in the Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.

200943 Sergeant Thomas Westwood was born in Rowley Regis in 1886/7and lived in Old Hill, Staffordshire. He was unmarried and before the war he had worked as a chain maker. Thomas enlisted in the early weeks of the war and is buried in the Tincourt New British Cemetery.

3083/202773 Private Joseph Harold Yates was born in Cannock in 1895, and enlisted there. The youngest of 5 children, he was the son of Joseph and Alice Yates who lived at 42 Newhall, Street, Cannock. At the time of the 1911 census, Joseph Harold Yates was working as a boot repairer. He had one sister Beatrice Yates (born 1884) and three brothers Ernest Yates (born 1886), Charles Edward Yates (born 1870) and Francis Lewis Yates (born 1893). Private Joseph Harold Yates is buried in the Tincourt New British Cemetery.

The 2/5th South Staffs War Diary records 201069 Private Isaiah Carter’s death as occurring on 25th April 1917 but this has since been corrected, it now being accepted that he was killed in action on 23rd April 1917.

201069 Private Isaiah Carter was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. His wife Alice Southall was born on 18th January 1887; the couple had married in Stourbridge in the second quarter of 1914, and lived in Blackheath. They had one daughter Gladys Carter, born 14th June 1915, but Isaiah also had an adopted daughter Alice Parkes - born 13th June 1906. Private Isaiah Carter was buried at the Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension. Isaiah’s name is also recorded on the St John The Baptist Church Cross, Halesowen.

On 24th April, the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment advanced one thousand yards on a front 200 yards wide.

20-year old 202782 Private Bartle Thomas Merry died in hospital from bronchitis on 24th April. He was the eldest son and second child of Thomas Merry and Emily Clifton Carter. He was born and lived in Brackley, Northamptonshire, with his elder sister Jane Emily Merry (born 30th September 1894) and younger brothers Ernest and Edward. Private Bartle Thomas Merry was buried in Etretat Churchyard Extension.

201096 Lance Corporal Ernest Russell Westbury was killed in action the next day, 25th April.

201096 Lance Corporal Ernest Russell Westbury was the son of William Henry Willis Westbury, a former butler, and his wife Mary Morgan who married in South Kensington on 18th March 1896. The couple had 5 children: twins Arthur William Westbury and Gladys Mary Westbury (born 27th March 1897), third child and second son Ernest Russel Westbury (born 1898), and younger daughters Ethel Westbury (born 10th January 1900) and Hilda Westbury (born 1st December 1902). At the time of the 1911 census the family was living in Littleworth, Hednesford, father William working as a domestic gardener. The family moved around - presumably because of William’s work; the twins were born in Catford, Kent, Ernest in Forest Hill, London, and his younger sisters in Ballantrae, Ayrshire. Ernest - who enlisted in Walsall - was buried at the Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.

On 27th April, the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment was relieved by the 2/5th North Staffs, and marched to Jeancourt. Three days later, they were relieved again – this time by the 2/4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment – and marched to Vraignes-en-Vermandois, where they went into Reserve. On 2nd May 1917, the Battalion was inspected by Major-General Cecil Francis Romer, the Commander of the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division.

202675 Private Joseph Simmonds died from the wounds he sustained on 17th June 1917. He was the son of George Simmons and Sarah Pearson who had married on 8th November 1886 at St. Paul’s Church, Bow Common. George had died on 9th December 1906, leaving Sarah as the head of the family, who lived at 11 Box Street, Bromley-by-Bow. Joseph was born on 10th October 1896. At the time of the 1911 census, he was working as a van boy and living at home with sisters Mary Ann Simmons (aged 23), Jane Simmons (aged 20) and Amelia Simmons (aged 5), and brothers William Simmons (aged 18), Robert Simmons (aged 15) and Charles Simmons (aged 12). Private Joseph Simmons was buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension.

A lieutenant was slightly wounded during the night of 22nd/23rd June as the Battalion relieved the 2/5th North Staffs in the front line of the 176th Infantry Brigade’s right subsector. Further casualties followed during the night of 25th/26th June when 200606 Lance Sergeant Ernest Tapper and 202690 Lance Corporal Robert Stanley Eskdale were killed by shrapnel.

200606 Lance Sergeant Ernest Tapper was born in Walsall in 1892, the son of Frederick Tapper and Christiana Westley. Ernest’s parents had married on 25th May 1885 at St. John’s Church, Walsall, and Frederick worked as a polisher in the buckle trade. He and Christiana (known as Amy) went on to have 12 children, of whom 11 were still living at the time of the 1911 census, when Ernest was working as a haulier. He was living at home then, at 31 Pool Street, Walsall, with siblings William Henry Tapper (aged 21), Ada Tapper (aged 16), Bertha Tapper (aged 15), Elsie Tapper (aged 13), Samuel Tapper (aged 10), Horace Tapper (aged 9) and Harry Tapper (aged 3). Elder siblings Amy Tapper (aged 25), Frederick Tapper (aged 23) and Clara Tapper (aged 22) had left the family home by 1911 to start their own families. Ernest enlisted in Walsall in September 1914 and served with the 2/5th South Staffs in Ireland before moving - with the rest of the Battalion - to the Western Front in France. Lance Sergeant Ernest Tapper was buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension. Ernest’s brother, William Henry Tapper, survived the war but was badly gassed fighting as a Sergeant in France with the South Staffs.

Born in 1897, 2022690 Lance Corporal Robert Stanley Eskdale was 20 years old when he was killed in action on 25th June 1917. It was a double tragedy for his family, his brother 5861 Private Norman Eskdale having been killed in action on 27th September 1915 at the Battle of Loos whilst serving with the 13th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers; Norman is remembered on the Loos Memorial. The two brothers were the sons of Robert Eskdale and Margaret Dodd of Winlaton, a village 6 miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne. Robert and Margaret married in Tynemouth in the third quarter of 1891 and had 6 children, 4 of whom were still living at home at the time of the 1911 census: Robert Stanley Eskdale (then aged 13), his elder brothers Frederick (born 22nd July 1893) and Norman (born 1895) and younger brother Cecil (born on 9th October 1899). Frederick Eskdale, the eldest of the four then living at home, served with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was discharged from the Army in 1917, having been blown up and buried by a shell in November 1917, a time when he was also badly gassed. Frederick was transferred to the Army Reserve because of these injuries and survived the war. Frederick moved to the United States in 1927 and died there, in New Jersey, on 4th July 1977. Robert and Margaret’s youngest son Cecil Eskdale moved to America in 1929, two years after Frederick. He became a US citizen in 1940, and lived in America until his death in New Jersey in 1976. The four brothers had an elder brother, John William Eskdale, who was born on 22nd June 1892, but he had died in Kent on 16th December 1909. Lance Corporal Robert Stanley Eskdale is buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension and is remembered on the Winlaton War Memorial.

Two privates were wounded in a Lewis gun accident during the night of 26th/27th June, and two other men from the Battalion were wounded as the month drew to an end.

During the night of 1st/2nd July, the Battalion was relieved by the 2/4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment in the 176th Infantry Brigade’s right subsector. On completion of the relief, at about 12.45 a.m. on 2nd July, the majority of the men marched back to Équancourt. Earlier, the Battalion had supplied a party of 2 officers and 22 other ranks to go on a reconnaissance mission in No Man’s Land. The party passed through the barbed wire near Boar Copse at 10.45 p.m. About two and a half hours later, the party’s leader, 2nd Lieutenant Leslie Lloyd Tyler, arrived at Battalion Headquarters and reported that he and his men had engaged an enemy patrol 30 to 40 strong, and that 2nd Lieutenant Allat Barber Thornalley and 10 other ranks were missing. The Battalion’s relief had been completed by that time so the 2/4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment was asked to supply a search party but this did not leave until 2.30 a.m. 2nd Lieutenant Tyler accompanied the search party but they did not reach the barbed wire until daybreak, the light then preventing them from proceeding any further. By then it had been ascertained that 5 other ranks from the original party had been wounded; 2nd Lieutenant Thornalley (2/5th South Staffs) and 4 other ranks were now officially missing. About 6 o’clock that morning, two regimental scouts volunteered to go back out and search for the missing men. They returned to the front line trench, went through the barbed wire and ventured out into No Man’s Land in broad daylight, in full view of the enemy from several directions. As well as one dead German soldier, they found that 2nd Lieutenant Thornalley and 3 other ranks had been killed in that earlier engagement; 202423 Private Richard Wilson had survived but he had sustained a serious gun shot wound in the leg. The two scouts, 202193 Lance Corporal Brian Duncan Shaw and 202090 Private Herbert John Madeley carried the wounded man in, frequently fired on as they did so, and for their courage they were both recommended for the Military Medal. Sadly, Private Herbert Madeley (2/6th South Staffs) was killed in action on 21st March 1918 but it would seem that Private Richard Wilson survived the war.

The four men who gave their lives that July night were:

202531 Private John William Broughton served with the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment until his death during the night of 1st/2nd July 1917. He was survived by his widow Emma Matilda Broughton of 7 Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow, and their three children Emma Elizabeth Broughton (born 25th July 1911), Josephine Lydia Broughton (born 29th August 1914) and Lilian Ethel Broughton (born 8th August 1916). John William Broughton and Emma Matilda Morrs had married at The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Walthamstow, on 18th June 1911. John William Broughton was born in Bow on 12th September 1889, the middle of 3 children born to John Thomas and Elizabeth Broughton; he had two sisters, Elizabeth, the eldest of the three children and Josephine, the youngest. John William Broughton worked in the tobacco trade, as did his father. Private Broughton is buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension.

31-year old 2nd Lieutenant Allatt Barber Thornalley, was the son of the late Mr. Abraham Thornalley (who was working as a domestic gardener at the time of the 1911 census but died a year later in 1912) and his wife Clara Fincham. The couple had married in Suffolk in the 4th quarter of 1879 and had gone on to have 7 children, of whom 6 were still living at the time of the 1911 census, when Allat Thornalley was 25, working as a provisions shop manager and no longer living at home. Allat’s 5 siblings were: Mary Thornalley (born 14th September 1880), Sarah Thornalley (born 29th October 1882), Harry Fincham Thornalley (born 18th December 1888, who served in Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War), Florence Clara Thornalley (born 28th May 1892) and Stanley Thornalley (born 1st August 1893). The family lived at 69, Mill Road, Bury St. Edmunds.  2nd Lieutenant Thornalley is buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension.

202820 Private Ralph Weatherell served with the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment until his death in action during the night of 1st/2nd July 1917. He was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, in 1886 and married Rose Annie Dolan in Darlington in the first quarter of 1912. The couple lived in Darlington and had 2 children, Clarence Weatherell (born 24th July 1913) and Molly Weatherell (born 9th December 191). Rosie’s sister, Margaret Dolan, suffered from epilepsy and Ralph and his wife cared for her as a member of their household prior to his enlistment. Private Weatherell is buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension. Rosie married John Joseph Casey in 1920 and the couple moved to Pennsylvania in the United States where Rose died in 1975.

25402 Private Francis Henry Wilkins served with the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment until his death in action during the night of 1st/2nd July 1917. Francis Wilkins was the son of Henry and Clara Wilkins who lived at 60 Rutter Street in Walsall. His father Henry worked as a compositor in a print works and his mother as a tailor’s finisher. Francis, who was born in Walsall on 8th October 1895, was 15 at the time of the 1911 census and had already begun working in the fancy leather trade. Henry Wilkins and Clara Morrall had married at St. Peter’s Church in Walsall on 19th November 1892 and had then gone on to have 9 children, but 6 died young and only 3 were still living at the time of the 1911 census. All three were living in the family home, Francis, his younger sister Florence Maud Wilkins (born 18th July 1898, who married William George Moreton in Walsall in 1918) and his younger brother Harry Wilkins (who was born in 1902 but sadly died at the age of 12 in 1915). Private Wilkins is buried in the Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension.

The 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment remained at Équancourt until 7th July when they marched 5 miles north west to Barastre. Two days later, Lieutenant Colonel James Herbert Porter was posted to the Battalion from the 2/6th North Staffs to take command while Lieutenant Colonel J A Armstrong was hospitalised.  A week later, Major John Horace Thursfield joined the Battalion, from the 2/6th South Staffs, as second in command. The 2/5th South Staffs paraded on 20th July and Brigadier-General Ryves Alexander Mark Currie presented 202193 Lance Corporal Brian Duncan Shaw and 202090 Private Herbert John Madeley with the ribbons for the Military Medal they had been awarded for their bravery during the evening of 1st/2nd July.

On 24th August 1917, the Battalion moved 8 miles by motor bus from Barastre to Le Sars and from there, by a 9-mile route march, to the village of Bouzincourt, where the men went into billets. They did not arrive until a quarter past four in the afternoon, having left Barastre at half past eight that morning. The Battalion now found itself back in the thick of the war about 3 miles north west of Albert.

Picture 24

Picture 25

Picture 26

END OF PART ONE

Reference, item and source

1A. Colourized version of the photograph of Leonard Wood Morgan published in the Walsall Pioneer newspaper on 11 May 1918 (Walsall Pioneer Newspaper Image 713) © Walsall Archives (Walsall Library)

1B. Original black and white version of the photograph of Leonard Wood Morgan published in the Walsall Pioneer newspaper on 11 May 1918 (Walsall Pioneer Newspaper Image 713) © Walsall Archives (Walsall Library)

2.     Photograph of the gravestone of Private Leonard Wood Morgan at Pernes British Cemetery, Pernes, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, France, grave reference II. A. 9 © Find a Grave website, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123048363/leonard-wood-morgan/photo

3A and 3B. Medals awarded to Leonard Wood Morgan (left - The Victory Medal, right - The British War Medal) © Photographs courtesy of Julie Thacker and family

4A. Record from the Shropshire Marriage Index showing the marriage of Solomon Morgan and Martha Reynolds in the second quarter of 1851 © Shropshire BMD website.

4B. Records from the  England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915, showing the marriage of Solomon Morgan and Martha Reynolds in the second quarter of 1851 © Ancestry

5. Territorial Force Recruitment Poster 1910 © National Army Museum https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1981-06-79-1

6. Portrait of Field-Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener © National Portrait Gallery

7. South Staffordshire Regiment Cap Badge c.1900 © National Army Museum image number 139020] https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1966-03-3-11

8. Troops of the 1/6th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment in a trench in Flanders in 1915 © Imperial War Museum, image 60505

9. Entry for Leonard Wood Morgan in the Walsall & District Roll of the Great War © copy of this book held in the Burntwood Family History Group Members Library

10. Photograph of the book cover of "The Roll of the Great War" © Burntwood Family History Group

11. The medal roll for 201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan © The National Archives (Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, WO329) and Ancestry

12. Entry for Private Leonard Wood Morgan in the Register of Soldier’s Effects © Ancestry

13. Report of Private Leonard Wood Morgan’s death in the 11th May 1918 edition of The Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle © Find My Past

14. Cover page extract from the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary © The National Archives and Find My Past

15A, 15B and 15C. Extracts from the 2/5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary showing the arrival of Derby Recruits from Walsall at St. Albans in January and February 1916 © The National Archives and Find My Past

16. The General Post Office in Sackville Street, the centre of the Easter Rising in 1916 © Imperial War Museum, image Q72567A

17. S.S. Queen Alexandra operating passenger excursions on the Clyde River in 1902 © the website dalmadam.com, page reference https://www.dalmadan.com/?p=4032

18. S.S. Queen Alexandra converted to a troop transport at La Bouille on the Seine in 1915 © the website dalmadam.com, page reference https://www.dalmadan.com/?p=4032

19. Entry for Sergeant Samuel Henry Davies that appears on page 15 of Walsall and District “The Roll of the Great War” © copy of this book held in the Burntwood Family History Group Members Library

20. Extract from the British 1:20000 trench maps 62SE Edition 2 and 62NE Edition 3A showing the region north of the Somme River © McMaster University WWI Trench Map and Aerial Photo Collection

21. Photograph of Major-General Cecil Francis Romer, the Commander of the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division © Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cecilromer.jpg

22. Photograph of Brigadier-General Sir George Frederick Gorringe, the Commander of the 47th (1/2nd London) Division © Imperial War Museum, image Q70423

23. Photograph, taken by Henry Armytage Sanders, showing an ambulance and mounted troops crossing the bridge over the river Selle in Barastre that had been built in just 13 hours by New Zealand engineers who had to construct it under shell fire © The National Library of New Zealand

24. Photograph of Albert in France, taken in 1918, showing the shattered Basilica of Our Lady of Brebières in the foreground © Wikipedia and The University of Victoria Libraries, Canada

25. Medal Card for 201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan © The National Archives and Ancestry

26. Commemoration certificate in memory of 201820 Private Leonard Wood Morgan © Commonwealth War Graves Commission