Winsham at War
First World War   1914-1918

       THE ARMY

Somerset Light Infantry
A number of Winsham men joined the Somerset Light Infantry, or were already serving as territorials in that regiment. Towards the end of September 1914,  The Divisional General of the Wessex Division received a telegram saying that Lord Kitchener wanted to see him at the War Office next day.  
   ‘I went to the War Office and was taken into Lord Kitchener’s room and you can imagine I got a little bit of a shock when he said: ‘I want you to take your Division to India.  Will they go?’   You must remember that at that time the Imperial obligation did not apply to the Territorials. I said, ‘Well sir, I do not think that anybody has had much thought about it, but I am perfectly certain that if you want them to go to India they will go there right enough’.  He replied, ‘Very well, go back to your Division now, get hold of them tomorrow morning on Salisbury Plain, use your personal influence and tell them from me that I want them to go to India and that by going to India they will be performing a great Imperial duty.   I have to bring white troops back from India and I must replace them there by white troops from home’.
 The First Battalion went to France, but the 1st/4th. Territorial battalions went to India and ultimately Mesopotamia.  
 The 1/4th Somersets reached Bombay November 14th. 1914 and were moved up to Amritsar.    In Mesopotamia, British and Indian troops had been fighting the Turks under General Townshend.   They captured Kut-al Amarah in September 1915 and were under siege there from December 5th.  From Karachi, Somerset men sailed up the Tigris River in February 1916 in an attempt to relieve Kut but after a number of bloody actions, the British Forces surrendered to the Turks on April 29th. 1916.  Many men were killed in these actions or died of disease, some as POWs during the next two and a half years.  These battalions of the 'Somersets' remained in Mesopotamia for the rest of the war.

        Mesopotamia

Charles Garrett. Son of George Garrett of Purtington.  Pvte 240889 Somerset Light Infantry. Died July 22nd. 1916. Age 21 Buried Baghdad War Cemetery Iraq  No Picture available
John Spurdle. Son of George Spurdle of High St. Winsham. Pvte Somerset  Light Infantry Died January 2nd. 1919 age 32. Buried Peshawar.

 

        Gallipoli

The 12th Battalion (The West Somerset Yeomanry) moved to Gallipoli in October 1915 and fought in that disastrous and ill-advised campaign.  They were returned to Egypt in December 1915
Augustus Broom. Son of Albert Broom of Cricket St. Thomas and the late Ellen Broom. Pvte 1060 West Somerset Yeomanry. Died October 27th. 1915 age 23.  Buried Alexandra Military Cemetery Egypt.  `  

       The Palestine Campaign

The 1st/5th. Battalion also went to India,some of them serving in Mesopotamia but in May 1917 the Battalion were sent to Egypt to join the Expeditionary Force which had been in action against the Turks since their attempt to prize control of the Suez Canal from the British in 1915. After a decisive victory in January 1917, the British advanced into Palestine where  the 1/5th. Battalion joined the 75th. Division.  

Ernest Cottrell (Cotterell) Son of John and Sarah Cotterell of Chard, husband of Florence E. Cotterell of Lynvale House, Lynton, Devon.   Pvte 32160 1st/5th Btn. Somerset Light Infantry.  Died Tuesday November 13th. 1917  Buried Jerusalem Memorial Cemetery, Israel.  
On September 19th, 1918 a major offensive was launched against the Turks. and their armies were smashed in the ensuing Battle of Megiddo.   Two companies of the 1st/5th. under Major Watson were deployed in positions in No Man’s Land in front of the British lines.   They successfully captured Turkish advanced posts  
William Good Son of Mr and Mrs. George Good 
of Church St. Winsham. 
  Pvte 241593 1st/5th. Btn.Somerset Light Infantry 
Died September 19th 1918 
age 25  Buried Jerusalem 
Memorial Israel..

        The Salonika Expedition,October,1915

Greece asked the Allies for help with their treaty obligations to Serbia which was attacked by Bulgaria in October 1915.   The British and French sent a small force that began landing at the Greek port of Salonika at the end of that month.   By early 1916 the force had increased from  just the 10th Irish Division to the 10th,22nd,26th,27th and 28th. Divisions.
Walter Bridle  Bombardier 57819, "D" Bty. 101st Bde., Royal Field Artillery who died on Friday 25 August 1916, age 38. Husband of Emma Jane Bridle, of Chalkway, Winsham, Chard, Somerset. Buried in the Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery, Greece .

       The Western Front

       1914

The British Expeditionary Force  - six infantry divisions and one cavalry division moved to France in August 1914 and was virtually destroyed in the fighting between August and December of that year.     Winsham suffered its first casualty
Fred Hawker   Private 7699 1st. Btn Somerset Light Infantry died on Wednesday 26th. August 1914 age 26.   His name is inscribed on the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial Seine-et-Marne,France 

       1915

The Battle of Loos started on the 25th. September 1915 when, at 6.30am, Captain Edward Moss blew the whistle that signaled the advance of the 10th Battalion of the Gloucesters.  By the 13th October when the battle ended, 50,000 British soldiers were dead wounded or missing.   The final advance had been about 1500 yards and 309 men of the 10th Battalion Gloucester Regiment were dead including one young man from Winsham.  
John Perrott  Private 7699 1st. Btn Somerset Light Infantry died on Wednesday 26th. August 1914 age 26.   His name is inscribed on the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial Seine-et-Marne,France 

       1916

Albert Harold Fry 2nd Lt. “C” Company 1st/22nd Btn. London Regiment . Son of Francis James and Elizabeth Fry of Cricket St, Thomas. Died Monday 30th. October 1916 age 30.  Buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.

       1917

Frederick John Sylvester.Pvt 21596 6th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry,son of Mrs. Jane Sylvester of Winsham died 26.1 1917 age 32 buried Agny Military Cemetery,France

 

The Second Battle of Arras commenced on April 9th, 1917.
Louis(H.L) Loaring. Private 701125 2nd. Canadian Mounted Rifles (British Columbia Regiment) died Monday 9th. April 1917.   According to the family, Louis Loaring emigrated to Canada before the war and when he came back was unable to get leave to visit his family in Winsham before he was killed in action. 

 Archibald Forsey. Son of Thomas and Sarah Jane Forsey of Winsham.   Pvte, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Died April 23rd. 1917 age 29  Buried in La Chaudiere Military Cemetery Vimy Pas de Calais France.

Albert Russell. Pvte 26574 8th Batn, Somerset Light Infantry. Son of John and Mary Russell of Chaffcombe, Chard. Husband of Anne Eliza Loaring (formerly Russell) of Fore St. Winsham.  Died Saturday April 28th age 26.  Buried Arras Memorial, Bay4.

Walter (William) Brown . Lance Corporal 25948  7th Btn. Somerset Light Infantry. Husband of Beatrice Brown, of Lye Water, Crewkerne.  Died Tuesday August 14th 1917 age 32. Buried Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery, Leper (Ypres), West Vlanderen, Belgium

Sidney Butler Private 41836. 7th/8th Bn., Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who died on Thursday,23 August 1917, age 30. Son of Alfred and Mary Butler, of Winsham. Husband of Kate Butler, of Chalkway, Winsham. Buried at Harelbeke New British Cemetery, Harelbeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

 

       1918

Edwin Budge.Pvte 235004. Hampshire Regt.   Son of Alfred and Mary Elizabeth Budge of Broadenham, Winsham.  Died March 28th 1918,  age 32 .Buried Arras Memorial Pas de Calais France.

Percy Bridle.Private 265518. 1st/2nd Bn., Monmouthshire Regiment.
Son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Bridle, of High St., Winsham, Chard, Somerset. Died on Monday, 20 May 1918, age 27.  Buried in the Berlin South-Western Cemetery, Berlin, Germany.

Sidney Spurdle. Pvte 54299 Durham Light Infantry. Son of Mr. W. Spurdle of Hollowell’s Cottage, Cricket St. Thomas. Died October 5th. 1918.Buried Guizancourt Farm Cemetery, Gouy Aisne, Aisne, France.

 

'Lest we forget'

 

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