Louvencourt Military Cemetery, Somme. SE of village. From July 1915 Field Ambulances were stationed at Louvencourt which was 6 miles behind the front line on 1st July 1916. Records 133 UK., 17 NZ., 1 Newfld & 76 German burials.

Grave in Louvencourt Military Cemetery of Captain Arthur Gilbert Rollaston 1\7th Worcesters, the first officer casualty when British units moved to the Somme.  Captain Rollaston died of wounds on 30th July 1915.

In June 1915 General Joffre was proposing two offensives against the German forces; from Champagne northwards and from the Artois plateau eastwards.  The offensive from Artois – as planned at the beginning of June – was to be the main operation and formed a sequel to the expected capture of Vimy ridge with a greatly re-enforced French 10th Army attacking eastwards from about Arras and Lens into and across the Douai plain.  The offensive from Champagne was to be delivered from about Reims northwards along the foothill of the Ardennes following the eastern border of the plain.

On the 4th June General Joffre sent a draft of his scheme to British G.H.Q. with the British being asked to assist in two ways;  by taking over 22 miles of the French line south of Arras from Chaulnes (33 miles south of Arras) across the Somme to Hebuterne (13 miles S.S.W. of Arras) in order to free for the offensive in Champagne the French Second Army the holding that sector of the line and also participating in the French 10th Army offensive by attacking either on its immediate left, north of Lens, or on  its right  across the Somme uplands south of Arras.

In principle Sir John French agreed to these proposals and the newly formed Third Army was to become responsible for the extended front, in fact of 13 miles rather than 22 miles, from Curlu on the Somme River to Hebuterne,

The first units into the trenches were on the 20th July 1915 1/5th Gloucesters, 1/8th Worcesters and 1/4th Oxford and Bucks. from the 48th (South Midland) Division  to hold the area  Fonquevillers to north of Serre.  On the 24th July 1915 1st Kings Own (Royal Lancasters) and 2nd Essex from the 4th Division, Serre to Beaumont-Hamel.  On the 30th July 1915 1/6th Seaforth Highlanders and 1/8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from 51st (Highland) Division, Thiepval to La Boisselle.  On the 2nd August 1915 1st Norfolks and 1st Bedfords from 5th Division,  Becourt to theSomme River. 

Grave in Louvencourt Military Cemetery of Lieutenant Roland Aubrey Leighton 1\7th Worcesters died on 23 December 1915 aged 19 after being hit the night before while commanding a party mending the barbed wire outside the trenches at Hebuterne, Somme. His fiancee Vera Brittain became a pacifist and wrote “Testament of Youth.” Son of Robert and Marie Connor Leighton. Postmaster of Merton College, Oxford (had won the Senior Open Classical Postmastership at Merton). 1/7th Worcesters were part of 144 Brigade of the 48th (South Midland) Division. They were among the first British troops to arrive in Picardy. The trenches which the 7th Worcesters entered for the first time on 22nd December 1915 had been left in bad condition by the previous Battalion. The trenches were north of John Copse and fronting to the German stronghold of Serre. Lieutenant Leighton’s platoon was to spend the night in the trench and while doing so were to repair the wire entanglements. Before taking the wiring party over, he went to inspect the place himself using a concealed path which led to No Man’s Land through a gap in a hedge because the communication trench was flooded. The trench had been flooded for some time and the use of the alternative path was known to the Germans who had trained a machine-gun on the gap and were accustomed to fire a few volleys whenever troops facing them showed signs of activity. At that time the moon was nearly full, the Germans were less than 100 yards away, Lieutenant Leighton was seen as he reached the gap and the usual volley was fired. He was hit in the stomach. One of his platoon saw this and ran to the signaller’s dug-out where the Company Commander Captain Adam had posted men to give covering fire to the wiring party. He had ordered his men to fire and divert the enemy’s aim from the wiring party but hearing the shout he left the dug-out and crossed the trench after Sergeant Day and found Lieutenant Leighton lying on his face unable to move his body or lower limbs but moving his arms and turning his face around to see who was coming. Captain Adam knelt beside him, got him to clasp his hands together round his neck and with the Sergeant’s help lifted him and carried him back under fire to the shelter of the trench. A bearer ran off for a stretcher and to act as guide to the doctor whilst another bearer began to apply first-aid. Captain Adam ran to the dug-out to telephone to the dressing station for the doctor who was there with the Colonel. He returned to where Lieutenant Leighton was lying and shortly the Doctor arrived with the other bearer and they got him out of the trench onto the stretcher and carried him to a point where there was some shelter from the hedge where the Doctor managed to inject morphia and staunch the bleeding. He was then carried to the dressing-station. When Colonel Harman and Doctor Sheridan received Captain Adam’s call they had telephoned at once to Louvencourt for the motor ambulance and it arrived at the dressing station before Doctor Sheridan had plugged up the wounds and applied a more careful dressing. Doctor Sheridan accompanied the ambulance to the hospital and he agreed with Colonel Barling that Lieutenant Leighton was too weak from internal shock to be operated upon before morning. The next morning a complicated abdominal operation was performed on him but the wound had caused so much internal mutilation that the doctors knew he was not likely to last longer than a few hours. The machine-gun bullet had injured amongst other things the base of the spine. He only came round from the operation sufficiently to receive “ in a state of mazy contentment “ Extreme Unction from the Jesuit Priest and he died at 11pm on the 23rd December. At the funeral on the following Sunday 26th December the chief mourners were Colonel Harman, Colonel Barling, Captain Sheridan and Captain Adam and Lieutenant Leighton’s Servant Private McHugh was also present. Men could not be spared from the trenches to form a firing party. The mourners were all impressed by the sudden breaking forth of the sun as they followed the coffin out of the church and along the road to the cemetery.

Grave in Louvencourt Military Cemetery of Brigadier-General Charles Bertie Prowse, CB., DSO., G.O.C. 11th Brigade 4th Division died of wounds 1st July 1916. On the 1st July 1916 the 11th Brigade attacked the German line just to the north of Beaumont Hamel, from Redan Redoubt to The Quadrilateral. The General was in the process of moving his HQ to the German front line trenches thinking it was cleared of all the Germans and was getting out of the British front line trench when he was shot in the back by a machine-gun in the Ridge Redoubt, which guns were the main cause of the failure of the 4th Division attacks in the northern sector. His wound proved serious and he died in a Casualty Clearing Station at Vauchelles; he was originally buried in Vauchelles Communal Cemetery Extension, about 1 mile from Louvencourt, which had been opened for Field Ambulances in July 1916 but his body with others from Vauchelles was brought into Louvencourt later.

Grave in Louvencourt Military Cemetery,Somme of Private Harry MacDonald 12/W Yorks. Executed 4 November 1916 for desertion. At the beginning of July 1916 whilst serving on the Somme Private MacDonald had been buried by the explosion of an enemy shell. There was brief treatment at Base and he was returned to his unit. At the end of August he was sentenced to field punishment No 2 for being absent. During the second week of September 1916 he reported sick but the doctor ordered medicine and duty and the Private returned to the trenches, However on 12 September 1916 whilst the battalion spent a fourth and very quiet day in the front line trenches at Hulluch (Loos sector) MacDonald slipped away and was not found until arrested at Boulogne. A lack of identifying badges coupled with a fictitious identity were regarded as indications of the soldiers intention not to return.

Grave in Louvencourt Military Cemetery, Somme of Rifleman Frederick M Barratt 7/KRRC. Executed 10 July 1917 for desertion. At his trial the 23 years old Rifleman Barratt a Regular Army soldier told the court he had soldiered with the original BEF and had been wounded and left unattended for 5 days. He became terrified when under fire. In March 1916 he had been sentenced to 3 years penal servitude for sleeping on his post. His trial for desertion took place on 21 June 1917 and he chose to be unrepresented.

Graves of French soldiers in Louvencourt Military Cemetery Somme . The French had a medical centre here in 1915 and handed the cemetery with 75 of their graves in it over to the British in August 1915.

London Cemetery and Extension, High Wood, Longueval, Somme. 3 miles N of Montauban, NW of Longueval opposite High Wood. London Cemetery is beyond the Memorial Arch and is a group of battlefield graves from 47th (London) Division who finally cleared High Wood on 15 Sept. 1916. Records 101 UK. Burials. The original cemetery was begun in September 1916 by the burial of 47 men “in a large shell hole” by 47th Division and later enlarged. The cemetery was further extended after the Armistice and is the 3rd largest on the Somme containing over 3330 graves of which more than 3100 are unknown.

Lonsdale Cemetery, Aveluy, Somme. 4 miles N of Albert, 1000 yards E of Authuile village. July 1st 1916 the 32nd Division including 1st Dorsets and 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion of the Border Regiment stormed the Leipzig Salient. Records 1,515 UK., 4 Aust.,2 French burials and 22 special memorials.

Grave in Lonsdale Cemetery of Sergeant James Yuill Turnbull, VC., of the 17th Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Commercials) killed in action 1st July 1916. “For conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when having with his party captured a post apparently of great importance to the enemy he was subjected to severe counter attacks which were continuous throughout the day. Although his party was wiped out and replaced several times during the day, Sergeant Turnbull never wavered in his determination to hold the post the loss of which would have been very serious. Almost single handed he maintained his position and displayed the highest degree of valour and skill in the performance of his duties. Later in the day this very gallant soldier was killed whilst bombing a counter -attack from the parados of our trench.” He joined the 17th Highland Light Infantry when they were formed in 1914 and was a Sergeant by the end of 1915.

Grave in Lonsdale Cemetery of Lance-Corporal Charles Joseph Clarke DCM., MM. 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment killed in action 1 July 1916 in the fighting around the Leipzig Redoubt.   Citation for the DCM in London Gazette 26th April 1917 records "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when the enemy raided our trenches.  He assisted his officer to build and hold a barricade and throughout behaved in a cool and gallant manner."

Grave in Lonsdale Cemetery of Captain Geoffrey Yates Heald of the 15th Lancashire Fusiliers (1st Salford Pals) who died aged 20 on the 1st July 1916.

Grave in Lonsdale Cemetery of Private Thomas Moore 8th Loyal North Lancashire died on the 6th August 1916 near Thiepval aged 16. His headstone bears the inscription “Our Lady of Albert Pray for Him.” He had been in France for several months before he was killed.

Luke Copse British Cemetery, Puiseux, Pas de Calais. 8 miles N of Albert. Casualties from attacks on Serre July 1st 1916, Beaucourt and Thiepval November 13th 1916. Records 72 UK burials.

Grave in Luke Copse British Cemetery of No 12/660 Lance Corporal Frank Gunstone 12th (Service)(Sheffield) Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment killed in action 1st July 1916 aged 25 years. Brother of William Gunstone (see next Entry). Born Blundelsands, Livepool. Enlisted Sheffield

Grave in Luke Copse British Cemetery of No 12/661 Private William Walter Gunstone 12th (Service)(Sheffield) Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment killed in action 1st July 1916 age 24 years. Headstone bears inscription “Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth. Rev.19.6”

Grave in Luke Copse British Cemetery of No 12/562 Company Sergeant Major William Henry Loxley 12th Service (Sheffield) Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment killed in action 1st July 1916 aged 40 years. Born St George’s Sheffield. Enlisted Sheffield.

Laventie Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, Pas de Calais. 6 miles SW of Armentieres, E of the village. Used from June 1916 to October 1918. Laventie was 2 miles behind the British front from 1914 to 1918 until the Battle of the Lys. Records 413 U.K., 4 Aust., and 3 German burials.

Grave in Laventie Military Cemetery of Major George Patrick Lindrea “B” Battery, 305th Brigade Royal Field Artillery killed in action 18th July 1916.

Grave in Laventie Military Cemetery of Lieutenant Ernest Martin “D” Battery 306th Brigade Royal Field Artillery killed in action 16th July 1916. Headstone bears inscription “Only a memory of a bygone day, and a sigh for a face unseen.”

For circumstances see entry for Gunner Davenport below

Grave in Laventie Military Cemetery of No 1210 Gunner William Ewart Davenport “D” Battery 306th Brigade oyal Field Artillery killed in action 18th July 1916 aged 18 years. Headstone bears inscription “R.I.P.” Gunner Davenport is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Harborough Magna near Rugby Warwickshire.

For circumstances see entry under Harborough Magna Village Memorial

Grave in Laventie Military Cemetery of No 684 Gunner Henry Carrodus Mellon “D” Battery, 306th Brigade Royal Field Artillery killed in action 18th July 1916 aged 20 years.

For circumstances see entry for Gunner Davenport above 

Grave in Laventie Military Cemetery of No 930 Gunner Thomas Henry Simms “D” Battery 306th Brigade Royal Field Artillery killed in action 18th July 1916 aged 18 years. Headstone bears inscription “Dearly loved by all at home.”

For circumstances see entry for Gunner Davenport above

Le Touret Cemetery, Richebourg l’Avoue, Pas de Calais, just over 4 miles NE of Bethune and under a mile East of Le Touret village.  Located at the east end of the Cemetery is Le Touret Memorial to the Missing.  The Cemetery was begun by the Indian Corps (and in particular by the 2nd Leicesters) in November 1914 and it was used continuously by Field Ambulances and fighting units until March 1918.  It passed into German hands in April 1918 and after its recapture a few further burials were made in September and October 1918.Records 899 U.K., 11 Can., 1 B.W.I. and 4 German burials.

Grave in Le Touret Military Cemetery of Major Basil Herbert Barrington-Kennett, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards and Royal Flying Corps.  Died 18th May 1915 aged 30 years. 

Son of Lieutenant Colonel Brackley Herbert and Mrs. Ellinor Frances Barrington-Kennett of 71 Onslow Gardens South Kensington London husband of Rhoda Violet Cecil Barrington-Kennett of Rememham Wraysbury Buckinghamshire.  His brothers Victor Annesley Barrington-Kennett of the Grenadier Guards and Royal Flying Corps died 13th March 1916 and Aubrey Hampden Barrington-Kennett 2nd Lieutenant Oxfordshire and Bucks. Light Infantry died 20th September 1914 aged 24 years also fell, Victor being buried in Miraumont Communal Cemetery and Aubrey in Vailly British Cemetery.

Basil Barrington-Kennett was one of the most prominent aviators in the British Army, he receiving the Royal Aero Club’s Aviators Certificate No. 43 out of 250 issued in 1911.  On the 14th February 1912 he set a record for flying in a closed loop of 249 miles in a  Nieuport monoplane. On the formation of the Military Wing Captain F H Sykes was given command and his adjutant was Lieutenant B H Barrington-Kennett who made a vow that the Royal Flying Corps should combine the smartness of the Guards with the efficiency of the Sappers.  On the outbreak of the war the Royal Flying Corps was mobilised and advance units were in France by the 18th August 1914 H.Q. Staff including under the overall command of Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, Lieutenant Barrington-Kennett as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General.  By the time of the retreat he was a Major offering sound advice to defend aerodrome parks from attack by German cavalry.  By 1915 the war was taking a huge toll and officers were being re-called to join their old regiments and Basil Barrington-Kennett returned to the Grenadier Guards, joining the 2nd Battalion on the 1st April 1915 in the Givenchy sector and on the 1st May recorded as commanding No. 3 Company.  Major Barrington-Kennett was killed during the course of the Battle of Festubert 15th-25th May 1915, the last of the three attacks on the German lines on Aubers Ridge in 1915.

The 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards was in the 4th Guards Brigade, 2nd Division and the 4th Brigade did not take part in the first phase of the Battle of Festubert but on the 16th May was moved up to an old line at Rue du Bois to support the 6th Brigade.  The 2nd Battalion was not called on to do anything on the 16th but remained behind the breastworks where it was subjected to heavy shelling.  On the 17th May the 4th Brigade was sent up into the front line having breakfast at 3.30 a.m. and then after standing by all the morning marched at 1 p.m. to Le Touret where orders sent the Battalion across open country with the Germans shelling all the roads leading to the trenches and raking with machine-gun fire the dykes and bridges but it was not until late in the afternoon that the 2nd Battalion began to move up into the front line.  Progress was necessarily slow, as after the heavy rain the ground was deep in mud, and the shell-holes were full of water while the area to be traversed was through a maze of old British and German trenches and it was dark before the Battalion reached the front line with the Irish Guards on their left.  The line was about 800 yards from the Eastern edge of Festubert. 

The 4th Brigade had been ordered too attack the German line at Cour l’Avoue (a farmhouse bristling with German machine guns) at 9.30 a.m. but owing to the mist and bad weather the attack was indefinitely postponed as the preliminary bombardment of the farmhouse could not be effected due to the bad light.  Later in the morning the enemy began to shell the troops in their shallow trenches.  Only No. 3 Company from the 2nd Battalion was actually to attack and the British bombardment of Cour l’Avoue farmhouse and the surrounding German held area began at about 4 p.m. and it seemed that nothing could live following that heavy shell-fire.  The advance was to be made by No. 3 Company in short quick rushes by platoons, but as the ground was very flat, with no possible cover from the German machine-guns, the men never had any real chance of reaching the German trenches.  The distance was about 600 yards and the ground was intersected with ditches full of water.  The first platoon was mown down before it had covered a hundred yards the second melted away before it reached even as far and the third shared the same fate.  The Irish Guards were also swept by the German machine-guns which covered the whole area of advance.  In the first rush of the Grenadiers Major Barrington Kennett was killed and 2nd Lieutenant the Hon. P Cary was hit soon afterwards.  2nd Lieutenant Charles Creed was mortally wounded and died of his wounds on the 2nd June 1915 and is buried in St. Sever Cemetery Rouen.  The Battalion’s Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel Wilfred Robert Abel Smith was struck by a bullet in the head as he watched the attack from behind a mound of earth with the support companies in the rear and is buried in Le Touret Military Cemetery.

Headstone bears inscription “Per Ardua ad Astra.”

Grave in Le Touret Military Cemetery of 2nd Lieutenant Hugh Cecil Marnham Royal Flying Corps.  Died 22nd August 1916 aged 20 years.

Serving with 10th Squadron (formerly of the Sussex Yeomanry), son of Herbert and Madeline Marnham of Frognal Rise Hampstead London, educated at Heath Mount School Hampstead and Mill Hill School.

In August 1916 the 10th Squadron was in II Brigade working with the Second Army in the Ypres area mainly engaged in photographing and reconnoitring the battle fronts in the area north of Armentieres and bombing enemy batteries.  It was based at Chocques north west of Bethune and flew BE2c aircraft, a single engined two seater Biplane used solely in a reconnaissance role.
 

 Headstone bears inscription “He lives He wakes Tis Death is dead not he.  Shelley.”

Longueval Road Cemetery, Somme.   South of Longueval on the road to Maricourt.  Cleared by 5th Division July 1916 finally retaken by 38th (Welsh) Division and Carabineers on August 28th 1918.  Records 182 UK., 22 Aust., 7 Can., 7 N.Z., 1 Newfld., 1 German burials and 3 special memorials.

Grave in Longueval Road Cemetery of No 4378 Private Stanley Callaghan 18th Battalion Australian Infantry (AIF) killed in action aged 22 15th November 1916.  Headstone bears inscription “Reader give thought to what great sacrifice your freedom bought.”  Son of James and Mary Callaghan Read Avenue Lithgow New South Wales.

Grave in Longueval Road Cemetery of No. 2061 Corporal William Cropper Broster D.C.M., M.M. “D” Company 1/6th Battalion (The Rifles) The Kings (Liverpool Regiment) T.F. died of wounds 26th September 1916 aged 24 years.

Son of Harriet Ellen Broster of Heswall, Birkenhead and the late William Broster.

The Battalion was formed at Liverpool on the 4th August 1914.  William Broster attested at Liverpool on the 31st August 1914.  The Battalion landed at Havre on the 25th February 1915.  Private Broster landed with his Battalion.  The Battalion was in 15th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division and was sent to Bailleul and then two companies moved to Ypres being attached to units of the Dorsetshire Regiment for training in trench warfare.  By the 10th March “D” Company had completed its period of attachment.  At that time the 5th Division held the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and many of the soldiers from the Battalion remembered the horrible nightmare of the early reliefs in the trenches east of Ypres when trench warfare was in its infancy. “At that period the trenches….were not continuous and had been dug just where the opposing forces had faced each other in their attempted outflanking movements to the northwards.  They were on each side filled with men shoulder to shoulder and it was possible from a spot along a hedge to the rear of International Trench to look down the two lines towards The Bluff and to see, on the one side, the long rows of German helmets and on the other the flat caps of the English.  International Trench was a front line position, a boggy and filthy earthwork with the Germans holding one half and the English the other with only a single sand-bag block between them.  The principal feature on the British front was the Bluff which rose steeply from the ground on the North side of the Ypres-Comines Canal, south west of Battle Wood, and completely dominated the sector.  It is on a ridge and was probably created out of spoil from the excavation of a cutting for the canal.  International Trench was one of three, the others being Impudence and Imperial Trenches, which crossed and re-crossed the Canal near The Bluff.  The canal was begun in 1864 but was never completed and never used for shipping and intersected the front line in this sector the Allies holding the north-western flank and the Germans the south-eastern.

About 2 p.m. on the 30th March 1915, 15th Infantry Brigade Headquarters reported that a  wounded man of the Royal Engineers lay out on the railway in the neighbourhood of Zillebeke Halt south west of Zillebeke village (then in ruins) and asked Lieut. Colonel Davison the C.O. of the 1/6th Kings Liverpool to try and get him in.  Eight riflemen – Slack, Weir, Caffle, Lancaster, Crafter, Phillips, Broster and Dodsworth – were sent off to bring the wounded sapper in.  They had hardly got out in the open when Crafter and Lancaster were wounded but with great resource and courage, Rifleman Broster assisted by Dodsworth succeeded in getting them in.  Riflemen Phillips, Caffle and Weir under heavy fire then reached the sapper and rescued him, bringing him safely back, Rifleman Philips showing especial initiative and coolness.”

For his part in this incident, William Broster was awarded the D.C.M., the citation in the London Gazette recording “For gallant conduct at Zillebeke on the 30th March 1915 in rescuing wounded comrades under heavy rifle and shell fire.”  Rifleman T Philips was also awarded the D.C.M. and his citation is in the same terms.  Rifleman Broster was promoted Lance Corporal in August 1915.

For a spell from November 1915 the Battalion formed part of 3rd Army Troops but on the 26th January 1916 the Battalion was transferred to 165th Brigade of the 55th Division, a Division composed of units which had had some war experience, and began to assemble near Abbeville in January 1916.  In April 1916 Lance Corporal Broster was wounded in the field.  On the 25th July 1916 the Division was relieved by the 11th Division and moved South to play its part in the battle of the Somme.

On the 25th September 1916 the 55th Division was to take part in the general attack along the whole front of the Fourth Army and the objective allotted to it was the Gird Trench and the Gird Support, principal German lines North East of Flers and West of Guedecourt.  The attack was to be carried out by the 165th Brigade, the 1st/7th on the right, the 1/6th in the centre and the 1/9th on the left with the 1/5th to form the reserve.  The jumping off line ran around the North/North East of Flers and the general line of advance was to the North East, the village of Guedecourt being the objective of the 21st Division attacking on the right of the 55th Division.  At 12,35 p.m. on the 25th September the first wave of the infantry left the trenches and advanced to the assault, closely following the creeping barrage.  The infantry kept closer to the barrage than ever before preferring to suffer some casualties from possible short shells from the British gunners rather than run the risk of allowing the barrage to get away from them and of being compelled to face the enemy’s uninterrupted machine gun and rifle fire.  The enemy was unable to bring his machine guns into action in time and the whole of the first objective, the sunken road from Guedecourt to Factory Corner, Gird and Gird Support trenches, were captured with few casualties.  The 1/6th King’s troops kept as close to the screen of fire as possible, the guns lifting 50 yards every minute.  The objectives allotted to the battalion were captured.  Many prisoners were captured including five German officers.  The battalion bombers ably assisted by the Royal Engineers did splendid service.  “There was one instance of indomitable pluck; Sergeant (sic) W C  Broster, who had already won the D.C.M. and M.M,  was hit in the stomach while advancing. But even in his great pain and agony, he would not give in.  Throwing off his equipment he continued to advance until he fell, dying subsequently of his wounds.”  The Battalion had 9 officers wounded, 15 other ranks killed, 110 wounded and 18 missing, William Broster being one of those killed in this attack.  Two of the officers died of their wounds, E Herschell and C H Buttery, and both are buried in Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt l’Abbe.

In addition to the awards for gallantry, Corporal William Broster was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.

Headstone bears inscription "He hath done what he could."

In April 1917 his personal effects were sent to his mother, Mrs. Harriett Broster, and these included his identity disc, letters, cigarette case and pipe, medal ribbons for his DCM and MM, his wrist watch and strap, a pocket watch in a case and a card case with photos.