Search results for Arras.

Our April 2017 Newsletter

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  Wellington Quarry, Arras Welcome to the April Branch Newsletter, I hope that you are able to enjoy the sunnier weather that we have been having.  This month’s topical picture is of one of the exits from the Wellington Quarry in Arras, from which the attacking troops left the safety of the underground tunnels and advanced to the German lines a…


21 November 1917 : Pte George Wilson

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George worked on his father's dairy farm at Bank House, Steeton before the war.  He enlisted into the West Riding Territorials in January 1915 and was sent overseas to join the 62nd Division on the Western Front in February 1917. After taking part in the Battles of Arras and the Hindenburg Line, he was posted as missing during the Cambrai Off…


Lancashire North Despatch Issue 18: November 2016

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Lancashire North Branch Despatch Issue 18: November 2016 The frontispiece photo shows troops moving from their assembly trenches on 9th April 1917 to attack the German positions east of Arras and amongst them was the 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment.  On Page 2 is the story of their Commanding Officer Lieut. Col. Charles James Burke who cho…


The German Army in the Offensives of 1917: Arras, the Aisne and Champagne

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By Jack Sheldon Pen and Sword 2015, £25.00, 384pp, 55 ills, 13 maps, notes and refs, 2 appendices (including selective biographical notes, bibliog, index. ISBN: 9– 781–783–463–459 Review by David Filsell This volume of Jack Sheldon’s highly–detailed series of books on the German Army in the Great War follows his usual effective model – employing…


099: January 2014

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The Generals. John Terraine's 1982 Address to The Western Front Association

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 [This piece, a transcript of John Terraine's 1982 address, first appeared in Stand To! No. 7 Spring 1983 pp.4- 7] IMAGE (Photo: IWM Q9689) Haig and his Army Commanders at Cambrai, 11 November 1918. First and second rows, left to right: Plumer (Second Army), Byng (Third Army), Haig, Birdwood (Fifth Army), Rawlinson (Fourth Army), Horne (First A…


The Annual General Meeting Address delivered by Mr John Terraine at the AGM on 31 January 1987

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[This article first appeared in Stand To ! 20 Summer 1987] pp 7 - 8   First let me say a word of reassurance: it's only a few weeks ago that a number of you will have received a longish burst from me at the National Army Museum on Founder's Day. Don't worry - this time I shan't keep you long. I only want to say two things, really, about ourse…


6 December 1917: Pte Walter Catlow

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The son of Jonathan and Mary Catlow (née Naylor). At the 1881 Census, age 15, Walter lived at home with his seven siblings ages 19 to 3. All the older children, from 11 year old Clara to 25 year old Henry worked as cotton weavers in 1881. They lived at 35 Hollingreave Road, Burnley. By the 1901 Census, Mary, widowed when her husband died in Au…


8 December 1917: Pte John Sugden

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  His parents were William Sugden (linen draper) and Eleanor (née Booth)  The five children, two boys and three girls grew up together and were still living at home well into their twenties. With a successful business they moved from a terraced house on Bolton Road, Silsden, to a larger detached house at the other end of the road and finally …


A Battle too Far: Arras 1917

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By Don Farr Helion, £29.95, 352pp. 16 b/w and 12 col. Ills, 24 b/w maps, footnotes, bibliog, appendices, index. ISBN: 978–191–217–492–8 The fighting around Arras in the spring of 1917 – three battles of the Scarpe and two of Bullecourt – were not the choice of Sir Douglas Haig. They were forced upon him by the interference of British politician…


111: March 2018 Special Edition

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113: October 2018 Special Edition

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8 May 1917: Pte Arthur Chatterton

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Arthur was the son of Jabez, an agricultural labourer and Maria (née Brant) Chatteron. He was born into a family of boys: Arthur had four older brothers at the time of his birth. By the 1891 Census, although only 10 years and 9 months old, Arthur, like three of his older brothers, was working as a worsted spinner.  The family lived at 62 Brunsgil…


28 May 1917 : Robert Hilary Lockhart Whitelaw

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From Monkland, Nairn, the son of William and Gertrude Whitelaw, their home in 1901 was in Kensington. The Census that April reveals that his mother, then 33 years old, was at home with her four children William, Audrey, Robert and Geoffrey (then 9, 7, 6, 2). They had living with them no fewer than 11 servants: two nurses, three housemaids, a but…


30 May 1918 : Dvr. Francis Brunt

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Francis Brunt was a hairdresser in business on Trafalgar Street, Burnely. He lived with his young family at 58 Nairne Street, Burnley, Lancashire with his wife Amy who he had married in September 1914.  Francis enlisted in Blackburn on 28 April 1915. By this time he had two young children. After being held on home service duties, Francis emba…


20 June 1917: Cpl Harold Albert Bolton MM

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Harold Bolton's parents were Farris (a farmer of Irish origins and an MP in the Canadian House of Commons) and Elizabeth Jane 'Jenny' (née Stewart). The family lived in Pembina, Manitoba. Harold was one of eight children : five boys and three girls. Two of his siblings died in childhood. Two of his five brother, including Harold himself - were …


31 July 1917 : Inf. Sebastian Scheugenpflug

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He was a grocer. A recalled reservist in August 1914, he first saw action during the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914. He was a veteran of the Battles of Fromelles, the Somme and Arras through 1915 to 1917. He was killed in action by shrapnel to the head on 31st July 1917 – the opening day of the Third Battle of Ypres. Sebastian was …


25 January 1916: 2nd Lieut Charles Percival Mattey

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His parents were George Mattey (farmer) and Elizabeth Mattey (née Marden).   Age 2 at the 1891 Census, Charles, the 6th of six children, was living with his family, a governess and general domestic servant at Moor Farmhouse. Ten years later, age 12, in 1901, his father having died, George’s mother was running a boarding house. There were three l…


'Somme to Arras' by Andrew Lock

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Andrew Lock will be giving a talk he calls 'The Somme to Arras'.    IMAGE: image: Two sets of British soldiers on horseback pull field guns and limbers along a track from left to right through a bomb damaged wood on the Somme. (C) IWM ART 5883 


2 April 1917 : Captain Robert Alister Field MC

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His parents were Joseph (a hat manufacturer and employer) and Frances (née Ross)  He was educated at Rokeby School, Wimbledon and Dulwich College which he attended 1909-1912.  In 1901, age 6, Robert was at home (91 Worple Road, Wimbledon) with his family (parents, two sisters and 11 month old brother). Ten years later, in 1911, and now 16 yea…


5 April 1917: Lieut. Harry Boustead

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Fourth and youngest son of John Boustead and his wife Leila (née Money) of Briar Farm, Edenbridge, Kent.  At the 1901 the family lived at Westfield Parkside, Wimbledon with eight servants (nurse, cook, parlourmaid, housemaid, groom, kitchen maid and nursemaid, and above the stables a coachman and his wife).  Educated at Cromer Prep School, wh…


9 April 1917: Colin Stewart Calder

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Parents Ronald and Mary (née Stewart) both originally from Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland. Ronald was an assistant head teacher.  Colin was their third and youngest son. In 1901 Colin, age 6, lived with his parents, five older sisters (including twins Lilly and Alice) and two older brothers, John and Ronald. His oldest sister, 17 year old, was a …


20 April 1918: Lieut Juan Manuel Aldana

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He was the son of Abelardo Aldan of Porthcawl, South Wales, Consul of Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Ecaudor and Eliza (née Halladay). For many years the Consul based in Southampton.  Educated at Llandaff Cathedral School, Worcester; King’s School, Worcester where he rowed at 2 in the first four at King’s which in March, 1912, won three matches,…


20 May 1917 : Pte James Ewart

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His parents were John Ewes of 6 Romilly Road, Cardiff, a jeweller’s manager and Charlotte (née Ireland). James was one of four children. He was educated in Manchester and Wakefield. In 1901 the family lived at 92 Llanfair Road, Cardiff. In 1911, the family lived at 102 Llanfair Road and all three grown up children were working as clerks for …


Placing the Battle of Messines Ridge in context by Peter Simkins

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This is the Foreword to Ian Passingham's Pillars of Fire. The Battle of Messines Ridge June 1917 by Peter Simkins  For the British Dominion divisions serving on the Western Front under Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, 1917 was a year of transition and mixed fortunes. In the collective folk-memory of Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand the st…


18 June 1917 : Leonard Patrick Vernon M.C.

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Parents Captain William Henry Vernon (a retired army officer and businessman) and Ireland born Elizabeth (née Sweeney) Leonard was educated at Grove Park School, Wrexham At the 1911 Census, are 16, he was living at home (7 Fenton St, Rochdale) with four of his five brothers and a live in domestic servant. He was working as a bank clerk. Two s…


5 July 1918 : Brevet Lt Col William Bovet, Royal Engineers

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He was the second son and eldest child of five children of Frederick Bovet of London and Shanghai, China Merchant and Mary Love (née Haden).  Educated at Grosvenor School and University College School, Gower Street, London and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich,  Gazetted 25 July 1893, 1895 Bombay Sappers, Commander, Royal Engineers, Mekran Ope…


When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers’ Battalion in the Great War by Andrew Riddoch and John Kemp

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Haynes Publishing, Yeovil, £19.99 (price in 2011) 336pp, 87 ills, 3 appendices, bibliog, source notes, index. ISBN 978 1 84425 656 3  [This review first appeared in Stand To! No.90 December 2010/January 2011] Haynes Publishing - the extraordinary publisher of car maintenance manuals - Andrew Riddoch and John Kemp, football, the Great War - a s…


ONLINE ‘The German Army in 1917’ with Dr Tony Cowan

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This talk analyses German higher-level operational command in the First World War through a case study of the Allied spring 1917 offensive (the battle of Arras and Nivelle offensive) and how the German army defeated it.  Topics include the relationship between traditional principles, military organisation and personal factors; the increasing import…


Ep.292 – The 6th Div in the GW – Dr Peter Hodgkinson

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Historian, clinical psychologist and author Dr Peter Hodgkinson talks about his recent book A Complete Orchestra of War. This is a history of the 6th Division on the Western Front during the First World War. Your browser does not support the audio element. …


Nobody Of Any Importance: A Foot Soldier's Memoir Of World War One - Phil Sutcliffe

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Sam Sutcliffe grew up a poor boy in north London, enlisted at 16, fought on the front line at Gallipoli 1915, the Somme 1916, and Arras 1918 where he was taken prisoner. Somehow he stayed lucky, survived – and, in his seventies, he finally unleashed his remarkable near-total-recall memory and wrote it all down, childhood to demob.In this talk, his …


Dawn Commemoration of the Battle of Arras 2024

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Image: Lt John Brooke - This is photograph is Q 5113 from the collections of the IWM - Troops of the 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers waiting in Arras for the order to move up, 9 April 1917.  In the early hours of the morning of 9th April 1917, the Battle of Arras commenced with 24,000 British soldiers emerging from the protection of underground ch…