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Grave in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery of Second Lieutenant Harold Parry 17th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps killed in action 6th May 1917. Headstone bears inscription “Death is the Gate To the High Road of Life And Love is the Way (Harold Parry)” Born in 1896, Harold Parry was educated at Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Walsall winning the Queen’s Prize for History at his school and an Open History Scholarship at Exeter College, Oxford. Shortly before his 19th Birthday he wrote to his mother from Oxford that he was going to try and get into the Army. He succeeded and in 1916 was writing to his sister from France. He served on the Somme and moved with the Battalion to the Ypres Salient in November 1916. He was killed by shellfire in May 1917 on the Yser canal sector. One of the soldier poets who fell in the Great War, his poems include “Ode to Dusk” with its close: “Listen. I hear the trumpets of the angels wind Their call across the bordered infinite; And Dusk with all her panopy of falling light, Is gone to kneel, adoring, at the feet Which Mary Magdalen anointed, meet, With richest spikenard And fragrant costliest nard.” Son of David Ebenezer and Sarah Parry of Bloxwich near Walsall.
Grave in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery of Major the Honourable Clement Bertram Ogilvy Freeman- Mitford, “A” Squadron 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars, DSO, killed in action 13th May 1915. Headstone bears inscription “And so he passed over and all the trumpets sounded on the other side.” Son of the late Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Lord Redesdale and Clementine, Lady Redesdale (nee Lady P. Ogilvy) of Batsford Park Moreton-in-Mars: husband of Lady Helen Mitford of Hydecroft, Lowfield Heath, Crawley. Batsford Park was the home of Sir Algernon Freeman-Mitford born 1837. In 1874 he married Clementine a daughter of the 7th Earl of Airlie. In 1902 Sir Algernon was ennobled to Baron Redesdale of Redesdale, Northumberland. Clement Freeman-Mitford was the eldest of five sons all of whom were to take part in the Great War. Clement was born at 100 Cheyne Walk in London in 1876. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the Army in1899. He served in the 10th Hussars during the South African War 1899-1902 and later became Regimental Adjutant 1904-1907. In 1909 he married Lady Helen Ogilvy a daughter of the 8th Earl of Airlie. In 1912 Clement was promoted Major. At the beginning of the war he was put in command of “A” Company and was badly wounded at Zandvoorde on 21st October 1914 during the first battle of Ypres. He was awarded a DSO in February 1915 for services in connection with operations in the field. He was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres in temporary command of his regiment during the retirement on 13th May 1915 in the action described in the entry above for Captain Guy Bonham-Carter. As a tribute from his father the gates of the Vlamertinge Military Cemetery were donated by Baron Redesdale.
Grave in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery of Captain Francis Octavius Grenfell 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers, VC, killed in action 24th May 1915. Headstone bears inscription "Also to the memory of His twin brother Riversdale Born 1880. Son of Pascoe & Sofia Grenfell."
Francis Octavious Grenfell and Riversdale Nonus Grenfell were born on the 4th September 1880 the twin sons of Pascoe Du Pre Grenfell and his wife Sophia.
Francis Grenfell was commissioned in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in May 1901 but transferred to the 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers which was at Tidworth on the 4th August 1914. His brother Riversdale was not a Regular Soldier but was a member of the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry and wishing to go to France joined his brother in the 9th Lancers.
The Regiment landed at Boulogne on the 16th August 1914 as part of 2nd Cavalry Brigade, Cavalry Division, Captain Francis Grenfell commanding “B” Squadron.
On the 22nd August 1914 patrols of the 9th Lancers and the 4th Dragoon Guards sighted German patrols east of Mons, the battle for which began on the 23rd August. The 9th Lancers had been sent to Thulin some 10 miles south west of Mons and later to entrench south of the village against an expected attack by the Germans the next day. However on the 24th August the retreat from Mons began. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade was south of Audregnies, 3 miles south of Thulin and was ordered to charge the flank of the advancing German Army but “B” Squadron had to take shelter from German artillery first behind a house which was blown to pieces and later behind a railway embankment. South of the embankment was 119th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery commanded by Major G H Alexander which was under fire from 3 German batteries. Captain Grenfell offered his services and was then hit in the leg and hand by shrapnel and was bandaged. Major Alexander asked him if he could find an exit for the guns, which he did riding out through the German shell-fire. A way out was found but the only way to save the guns was to man-handle them out to some cover. Captain Grenfell called for volunteers and all of the Squadron ran forward, although it appeared to certain destruction, to slowly turn the guns and push them out by which time the enemy infantry was within 500 yards before the last gun was out of German shell range. By the evening he was overcome by his wounds and was transferred by way of Amiens and Rouen to England.
The BEF, having resisted repeated German attacks at Mons on the 23rd August was left exposed and from 0900 on the 24th August the retreat to the Marne began.
On the 1st/2nd October 1914 the BEF began its move North to Flanders and on the 8th October Captain Francis Grenfell left England to rejoin his Regiment which whilst still in 2nd Brigade was now in 1st Cavalry Division reconnoitering for 3rd Corps whose task was to get East of Armentieres and to link up with Smith-Dorrien’s 2nd Corps at La Bassee and Haig’s 1st Corps at Ypres.
On the 15th October Captain Grenfell took over “B” Squadron again and on the 19th October the 1st Battle of Ypres began. The 31st October was the critical day when the British line was broken at Gheluvelt and then restored. On the 30th October “B” Squadron had been detached to assist 4th Cavalry Brigade at Wytschaete on Messines Ridge, subsequently sent to old trenches east of Messines. By that stage the Cavalry troopers were fighting as infantry. Thwarted by the restoration of the line at Gheluvelt, the German commanders turned to the weakest part of the line, the Wytschaete – Messines ridge where the enemy had an advantage of almost 12 to 1, Wytschaete fell in the early hours of the 1st November with “B” Squadron reduced to 15 to 20 men and a machine gun, surrounded by the enemy when a shell pitched into the middle of the troops, Captain Grenfell being wounded again in the thigh. Luckily he was carried back and then taken by ambulance to Bailleul and back to Dublin for treatment.
On the 16th November 1914 the award of the Victoria Cross was Gazetted, the Citation recording “For gallantry in action against unbroken infantry at Audregnies, Belgium on 24th August 1914 and for gallant conduct in assisting to save the guns of 119th Battery Royal Field Artillery near Doubon the same day.”
On the 21st April 1915 he rejoined the 9th Lancers which were in billets at Meteren and on the afternoon of the 22nd April the Germans released chlorine gas from 6,000 cylinders along more than 4 miles of front from the Yperlee canal at Steenstraat eastwards to the Ypres-St.Julien-Poelcapalle road. The Regiment with the whole of the 1st Cavalry Division were sent up to support the French on the extreme left flank but the Regiment had no casualties and returned to Meteren after 2 days. On the 12th May the 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions relieved the 28th Infantry Division on a frontage from the Frezenberg Ridge to North of Hooge, the 2nd Brigade taking over the front line that evening.
At 3 a.m. on the 13th May began the heaviest German bombardment yet with parapets and trenches blown to pieces. Francis Grenfell’s cousin, Julian Grenfell a captain in the 1st Royal Dragoons was wounded in the trenches on the edge of the wood north of Hooge and died in hospital in Boulogne on the 26th May 1915 and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. The 9th Lancers were relieved at 1 a.m. on the 14th November gong back first to water-logged trenches in front of Ypres and later were withdrawn to Vlamertinghe, having lost 17 killed and 65 wounded, “B” Squadron 16 killed and 30 wounded including all troop leaders and sergeants.
The 9th Lancers moved up again on the 18th May being in support until the night of the 23rd when they took over the front line at Hooge, “B” Squadron holding the left section with 2 machine-guns and about 200 men from the Yorkshire Regiment. In th early hours of the 24th May the enemy released more gas than in any previous attack and four German divisions made a final attempt to push forward a line north of Bellewarde Ridge along the Menin Road. For over 4 hours the German artillery bombardment continued as their infantry onslaught began which continued all day until about 8 p.m. when the British 4th Division pulled back from Wieltje to newly dug trenches but this last German assault broke on the steadfastness of the British troops.
Only some 40 men from the 9th Lancers survived stumbling in the half light of the early hours of the25th May along the Menin road through the remains of Ypres and out towards Vlamertinghe, clothes caked with dirt, faces yellow from the poison gas, bringing with them the body of Captain Francis Grenfell who had been shot through the back when assisting in converting an old communication trench to a fire trench.
As well as the V.C., he was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1914 Star.
He was initially buried in Vlamerginghe Churchyard and at the same time was also buried Acting Sergeant Joseph William Hussey of whom it was said at the graveside “How happy old Hussey would have been to know that he died with Francis.” The cemetery did not become an official graveyard until 1915 and Sergeant Hussey was re-interred in Hop Store Cemetery (see entry for Hop Store Cemetery).
Clarke, John Willliam
John Clarke was born in 1880 in Lambeth and served first with the East Surrey Regiment including a period from 1900 to 1902 in South Africa (the Boer War).
War between Great Britain and Germany was declared on the 4th August 1914 and although a married man aged 34 years, on the 14th August 1914 he enlisted, expressing a wish to serve again with the East Surrey Regiment. His Regimental No. was 13 and he remained in England from the 14th August 1914 until the 1st June 1915 when he was sent to join the British Expeditionary Force landing in France on the 2nd June 1915 with the 7th (Service) Battalion of the East Surreys.
On the 17th/18th July 1915 he was one of eleven wounded during a tour of trench duty from the 16th to the 22nd July 1915 in trenches in the Le Touquet sector to the North of Armentieres in Northern France. Probably after treatment in a Casualty Clearing Station or Hospital in France he was on the 22nd July transferred back to England landing on the 23rd July. Private Clarke was treated for his wounds and by November 1915 was fit again and on the 24th November 1915 he was posted to the 1st Battalion the Border Regiment then serving in Gallipoli.
The Battalion was part of 87th Brigade, 29th Division and had landed on “X” Beach Helles on the Peninsula on the 25th April 1915. By the time Private Clarke reached the Battalion probably in December 1915 it was in winter quarters still in the Helles Bay area and on the 8th January 1916 the Battalion with the rest of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was evacuated from the Peninsula the Battalion going first to Mudros and then to Egypt.
The Battalion remained in Egypt, training, until the 12th March when it embarked on the transport ship Marilda for Marseilles. Having landed in France the Battalion travelled by train to Pont Remy 7 miles SE of Abbeville moving North later in the month to SE of Doullens, moving in April to the Acheux area holding the trenches in that sector.. The 29th Division remained in VIII Corps but this was now composed of two Regular Divisions, the 29th and the 4th, with the 31st Division of the New Armies and the 48th (South Midland) Territorial Division.
The next three months was essentially preparation for the major attack on the Somme. The Division’s sector ran south from above the sunken road between Auchonvillers (in British hands) and Beaumont-Hamel( held by the enemy) to a point near the German held village of Hamel.
The attack began at 7.30 a.m. on the 1st July 1916 the main objective being the village of Beaumont Hamel, an especially strong position containing huge quarries and excavations in which large numbers of the enemy could remain in absolute safety until the last moment. The main advance was preceded by the explosion of a mine under the Hawthorn redoubt but this was blown at 7.20 a.m. giving the enemy warning. The Battalion’s objective was Behucourt Redoubt and they were to follow the 2nd South Wales Borderers whose objective was the first two German lines, but they were wiped out by machine-gunfire in the British wire. The 1st Borders went over from the British support line but the British front line trench had been ranged by German machine-gunners the day before and the Battalion met heavy loss while crossing this trench and passing through gaps in the wire. The men magnificently steady formed up outside the wire to advance into No Man’s Land until only little groups of some half-dozen men sere left here and there and these finding no reinforcements in sight took cover in shell holes wherever they found them. By 8 a.m the advance had come to a halt and the assault had failed with 20 officers and 619 non-commissioned officers and men kiiled, wounded or missing.
On the 2nd July the remnants were withdrawn to Acheux and returned to the front line on the 22nd July just south of Beaumont-Hamel before entraining at Doullens on the 27th July 1916 for Proven, the rail centre behind the Ypres sector, with the rest of the 29th Division units.
The sector the Division took over ran from Wieltje (about a mile and a half north east of Ypres) to south of Railway Wood, which lies to the North of the Ypres – Gheluvelt road, a frontage of about a mile. The sector was in a state of disrepair, in places quite useless for protection against small-arm fire, with water and mud over ankle deep. The principal activity during the period in this sector was hard work mending the trenches and wiring. There were enormous difficulties. The ground was water-logged and a trench dug at night filled with water to within two feet of the surface in 6 hours. The solution was to use “A” shaped frames placed in the trench upside down and to make breastworks for protection above the ground-level. Duckboards were then laid over the cross pieces so water could drain away under these.
The Battalion as well manned the trenches but whilst there were no major attacks the Battalion did raid the German trenches securing in one raid 8 prisoners. Casualties occurred from German shelling, rifle and machine-gun fire and gas attacks.
On the 5th October 1916 the 29th Division handed over the line to the 55th Division and entrained for the Somme.
In the Battalion’s time in the Ypres sector from the 27th July to the 5th October 1916 there was a total of 25 casualties in this sector described by the Divisional Historian as “Ypres was for once a sleepy hollow.” The first casualties were on the 30th July when ten soldiers were killed in action, none of these has any known grave and all are commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the Missing.
In the remaining 2 months 12 soldiers were killed in action and 3 died of wounds attributable to service in this sector. On the 8th August 1916 Privates Arthur Allen, James Saunders and Herbert Wright were killed in action and all three are buried in White House Cemetery, St. Jean-les-Ypres, just over a mile NE of Ypres. They were almost certainly the casualties of a German phosgene gas attack. Next on the 23rd August 2nd Lieutenant Douglas Bowyer and Private Maurice Martin were killed in action and are also buried in White House Cemetery. Private John Clarke was the next casualty, being killed in action on the 31st August 1916 and he is buried in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Vlamertinghe being on the main road between Poperinghe and Ypres. On the 1st September Lance Corporal Isaac Johnstone was killed in action and he also is buried in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, on the 3rd September Acting Corporal Herbert Kemp was killed in action, followed on the 5th September by Private George Murray then on the 6th September Corporal Walter Cliff was killed and all three are buried in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery.
The first to die of his wounds was Private Joseph Tudge on the 10th August 1916 who is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery. He was followed by Private John Threader who died on the 28th August and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinghe and the last was Private George Armstrong who died on the 1st September 1916 and is also buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.
Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, Vlamertinghe, West Flanders. South West of the village, during the war just out of range of shell fire used both by Artillery units and Field Ambulances, records 1,609 U.K., 155 Can., 44 Aust., 3 S.A., 1 N.Z., 1 Guernsey and 7 German burials.
Grave in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery of No 6895 Acting Company Sergeant Major John Skinner 1st Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers VC DCM Croix de Guerre (France) killed in action 17th March 1918. Headstone bears inscription “Father in thy gracious keeping Leave we now thy servant sleeping.” Born Tain, Ross-shire, enlisted Hamilton, Lanark, residence Glasgow. Son of Walter Skinner, husband of Anne Skinner of 173 St Andrew’s Road Pollockshields, Glasgow. He joined the Army in 1900 at the age of 16, was wounded three times in the Boer War, and a further 6 times in the Great War, the last wound being fatal. An extract from the London Gazette dated 14th September 1917 records “For most conspicuous bravery and good leading. Whilst his company was attacking, machine gun fire opened on the left flank delaying the advance. Although CSM Skinner was wounded in the head he collected six men and with great courage and determination worked round the left flank of three blockhouses from which the machine gun fire was coming and succeeded in bombing and taking the first blockhouse single handed and then leading his six men towards the other two blockhouses he skilfully cleared them taking sixty prisoners, 3 machine-guns and 2 trench mortars. The dash and gallantry displayed by this warrant officer enabled the objective to be reached and consolidated.” John Skinner won his V.C. on the 16th August 1917. On the 16th August 1917 the 29th Division, the 1st Battalion being in the 87th Brigade in that Division, was attacking from the Pilkem area in the North-Easterly direction towards the German held village of Langemarck and Sergeant W H Grimaldston also of the 1st Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers won a VC. In seeking to reach the first objective, in the face of heavy fire from a blockhouse, although wounded, he reached the entrance and, by threats with a hand-grenade, he forced the garrison of 39 Germans with 6 machine-guns to surrender. John Skinner won his VC in the Battalion’s advance to the second objective. He was killed when he was shot between the eyes in the Passchendaele salient in 1918. A wounded man missing from patrol the night before was crying out in No Man’s Land, and CSM Skinner went over the top to bring him in. “Of all the most gallant men in the 29th, Skinner was among the bravest of the brave.” His body was brought to the grave at Vlamertinghe on a gun carriage drawn by a magnificent team of horses, in pouring rain, and thence carried and laid in the grave by six brother V.C.s, all of the 29th Division.
Grave in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery of No 12923 Private Edward Delargey 1/8 Royal Scots executed 6th September 1917 for desertion. Headstone bears inscription “He died that we might live, Gone but not forgotten.” Private Delargy was a young conscript being called up in 1916. On the 18th July 1916 he was sentenced to 112 days detention the offence being in the United Kingdom as he did not join the Battalion in France until January 1917. The Battalion was the Pioneer battalion in 51 (Highland) Division. In January the Battalion was engaged in construction work on the old Somme battlefields, building roads, tramways, dugouts and shelters, working at a sawmill and on wiring. For the last two weeks of January the Battalion was in rest and then in February moved to the Arras front where again the work was in building roads and repairing trenches; frost hampered the work but Private Delargy spent one week in a field ambulance! On 15 February shortly after his discharge he was given a pass to a village 2 miles away whereupon he disappeared remaining absent until 6 August when he was arrested some 10 miles from Arras. The Court Martial sentenced him to death and this was confirmed on the 24th August 1917 he being executed on the 6th September 1917 aged 19 years. He was the son of Mrs Winifred Delargy of 42 Mount Pleasant, Leslie, Fife.
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