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On this day in 1917, Hubert (or Herbert) William Bane (1898-1917) died of wounds sustained in action on the Western Front. Hubert, a private in the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, was 19 when he lost his life at Mendinghem in the Battle of Passchendaele on October 8, 1917. He … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…October 8, 1917: Hubert dies on Western Front

On this day in 1917, William Henry Marshall (1893-1917) was killed in action in Belgium in the Great War. A lance-corporal in the 24th Infantry Battalion of the Australian Army, William was 24 when he died on October 4, 1917. He joined the battalion just a few days after his first cousin, … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…October 4, 1917: William killed in Belgium

On this day in 1917, Pte James Bristow (1892-1917) was killed in the Third Battle of Ypres in the Great War. James was a private in the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment when he lost his life on October 4, 1917 in the area of Hooge Crater, near Ypres. He was 25. He was … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…October 4, 1917: James killed in Third Battle of Ypres

On this day in 1918, Jim Scott (1893-1918) died of wounds sustained in action in the Great War. Jim, a corporal in the 1/4th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, lost his life on October 3, 1918 after taking part in an attack on the German Hindenburg Line. He was 24. His battalion – part … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…October 3, 1918: Jim dies after attack on Hindenburg Line

On this day in 1917, Stanley Cox (1893-1917) was killed in a shell attack in Belgium in the Great War. Stanley was 25 and a private in the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment when he lost his life on September 26, 1917. The Western Times, reporting his death ten days later, said he … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…September 26, 1917: Stanley killed in shell attack

This was the blackest day at war in the history of the Roberts and Arscott families, with four men connected to my parents’ families dying in the Battle of Loos. They were: James Sharland (1877-1915), a lance-corporal in the 8th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, who was 38 when he lost his … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…September 25,1915: Four killed in Battle of Loos

On this day in 1918, Henry ‘Harry’ Boundy (1877-1918) died from wounds in France. He was 41. Buried at Serre Road Cemetery No 2 on the Somme, he had been serving in the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. He is remembered on the Rackenford War Memorials. Harry’s nephew, … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…September 22,1918: Harry dies of wounds in France

On this day in 1916, Herbert George Peters (1891-1916) died after being shot in the stomach in France. When he left these shores in May 1912 to start a new life in Canada with his fiancée, Herbert could never have imagined returning to England three years later to fight in the Great War. On … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…September 20,1916: Herbert dies after being shot in France

On this day in 1918, Walter Kingdom (1898-1918) was killed after an attack on the German army’s last great stronghold on the Western Front – the formidable Hindenburg Line. Built in just five months during 1916 and early 1917, with the help of tens of thousands of prisoners of war, the 90-mile … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…September 20, 1918: Walter killed in attack on Hindenburg Line

On this day in 1916, Frederick George Mogford (1885-1916) died in hospital in France after receiving severe gunshot wounds to his back in fierce fighting in Ginchy. Frederick, a lance-sergeant in the 9th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, was 31. A gardener, he went to the Western Front on … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…September 19,1916: Frederick dies after being shot in the back in France