The Wartime Memories Project

- 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment during the Great War -


Great War> Allied Army
skip to content


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.



    Site Home

    Great War Home

    Search

    Add Stories & Photos

    Library

    Help & FAQs

 Features

    Allied Army

    Day by Day

    RFC & RAF

    Prisoners of War

    War at Sea

    Training for War

    The Battles

    Those Who Served

    Hospitals

    Civilian Service

    Women at War

    The War Effort

    Central Powers Army

    Central Powers Navy

    Imperial Air Service

    Library

    World War Two

 Submissions

    Add Stories & Photos

    Time Capsule

 Information

    Help & FAQs



    Glossary

    Our Facebook Page

    Volunteering

    News

    Events

    Contact us

    Great War Books

    About


Advertisements

World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment



    The 7th Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment was raised at Bedford in September 1914 for the duration of the war as a part of Kitchener's Second New Army. They joined 15th (Scottish) Divisionas divisional troops. On the 25th of February 1915 they transferred to 54th Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division. In 1916 they were in action on The Somme in The Battle of Albert capturing their objectives near Montauban, The Battle of Bazentin Ridge including the capture of Trones Wood, The Battle of Delville Wood, The Battle of Thiepval Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre Heights playing a part in the capture of the Schwaben Redoubt and Regina Trench and The Battle of the Ancre. In 1917 they took part in the Operations on the Ancre including Miraumont and the capture of Irles, the fought during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and in The Third Battle of the Scarpe before moving to Flanders. They were in action in The Battle of Pilkem Ridge, The Battle of Langemarck and The First and Second Battle of Passchendaele. The bulk of the battalion was transferred into the 2nd Battalion on the 25th of May 1918. A cadre of officers and NCO's were assigned to train American Units with 197th Brigade, 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, until the battalion was disbanded in July 1918, the remaining troops joining the 2nd Bedfords.

2nd Aug 1915 Inspection  location map

10th of September 1915 Sore Feet

12th of September 1915 Church and Baths

13th of September 1915 Working and Learning

15th of September 1915 Accidents

11th Jan 1916 Knee Deep in Mud

14th May 1916 Training Discussed

21st June 1916 Orders Issued

26th June 1916 Trench Raid

1st July 1916 Attack  location map

12th Aug 1917 Difficult Relief

1st Mar 1918 Recce

2nd Mar 1918 in Camp

3rd Mar 1918 Orders

4th Mar 1918 Working Parties

5th Mar 1918 Working Parties

6th Mar 1918 Working Parties

7th Mar 1918 Working Parties

8th Mar 1918 Working Parties

9th Mar 1918 Working Parties

10th Mar 1918 Sports

11th Mar 1918 Training

12th Mar 1918 Working Parties

13th Mar 1918 Training

18th Mar 1918 Reinforcements

20th Mar 1918 Orders

21st Mar 1918 In Defence

22nd Mar 1918 Bridge

23rd Mar 1918 Fighting Withdrawal

24th Mar 1918 Fighting Withdrawal

25th Mar 1918 Counter Attack

26th Mar 1918 Withdrawal

27th Mar 1918 Praise

30th Mar 1918 Move

31st Mar 1918 In Support

1st Apr 1918 Reliefs Complete

2nd Apr 1918 Attack Made

3rd Apr 1918 In Billets

3rd Apr 1918 Praise

4th Apr 1918 Shelling

5th Apr 1918 Shelling

25th May 1918 On the March

27th May 1918 Merger

If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.





Want to know more about 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment?


There are:5273 items tagged 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.


Those known to have served with

7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment

during the Great War 1914-1918.

  • Ansell Walter T.. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
  • Aspley Henry. L/Cpl. (d.8th Jan 1916)
  • Beedie Charles Peter. Pte. (d.15th August 1917)
  • Boddy William Edward. Pte. (d.17th Aug 1917)
  • Cooper . Sgt.
  • Dawbon George William. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
  • Howard Cedric Stewart. 2nd.Lt. (d.28th September 1916)
  • Ouldcarr . Sgt.
  • Page William George. Pte.
  • Willacy MM. Robert. Sgt. (d.13th March 1917)
  • Williams John Henry. Pte. (d.27th September 1916)
  • Worrall . Sgt.

All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment from other sources.


  • The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

  • 1st of September 2023 marks 24 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time.

Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



Looking for help with Family History Research?   

Please see Family History FAQ's

Please note: We are unable to provide individual research.

Can you help?

The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors.

If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.

If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.


Announcements

  • 28th March 2024

        Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263784 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit.

      Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted.





      We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates, add a comment or ask a question.

      If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.


      World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery
      Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.








  2nd.Lt. Cedric Stewart Howard 7th Btn. F Coy. Bedfordshire Regiment (d.28th September 1916)

Cedric Howard, born 4th March 1894 in Staffordshire, son of Albert and Helen Alice Howard of Bedford. The 1901 census shows the family living in Bedford and in 1911 he is an Auctioneers pupil. He attended Bedford Modern School.

He enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment and rose through the ranks to second Lieutenant with F Company, 7th Battalion. He was killed in action on 28 September 1916 aged 22 years during the attack on Thiepval and Schwaben Redoubt, he is buried in Mill Road Cemetery, Thiepval, Somme. He is remembered on the War Memorial All Saints Church, Bedford. A pupil of Bedford Modern School 1907-10, he is commemorated on the Schools War Memorial, which was unveiled in 1923 and in the Roll of Honour, published in The Eagle, December 1923. Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com

Caroline Hunt






  Pte. John Henry Williams 7th Btn. Bedfordshire Regiment (d.27th September 1916)

John Williams, son of Mrs. A C Gibbs, 19 Oliver Street, Ampthill, Bedfordshire was born and lived in Ampthill. He enlisted in Luton and served with 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment He was killed in action on 27th September 1916 in France aged 28 years. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He is remembered on both The War Memorial and The Alamada, St. Andrews Church, Ampthill. Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com

Caroline Hunt






  Pte. Walter T. Ansell 7th Btn Bedfordshire Regiment (d.1st July 1916)

Walter Ansell, born and living in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, with the 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. He was killed in action on 1st July 1916 in France and Flanders and is commemorated on Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He is remembered on both The War Memorial and The Alamada, St. Andrews Church, Ampthill.

Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com

Caroline Hunt






  Sgt. Robert Willacy MM. 7th Btn Bedfordshire Regiment (d.13th March 1917)

One of three brothers to enlist, Robert Willacy was the middle brother and married with 2 young children. Robert enlisted in Clitheroe, Lancashire but wasn't allocated to a local regiment. He was idolised by his younger brother who ran away to join up aged 15. His mother got him back twice but gave up at his third attempt. Both his brothers served in local Lancashire regiments and survived the war. A hundred years on Robert is still remembered by his family.

Graham






  Pte. William Edward Boddy 7th Btn Bedfordshire Regiment (d.17th Aug 1917)

I'm afraid my research into William Boddy's service hasn't brought me very much information. Apparently the WW2 bombs destroyed a lot of Military Service records and I suspect that my Great Grandfather's records were included. I do have a postcard with the Bedfordshire Regiment coat of arms stitched into the front. My GGrandfather had sent it to my Nana when she was very little. It's my understanding that if he was killed in August of 1917 it would likely have been the attack made by the 7th Bedfords at Ypres.

J Thackwray






  L/Cpl. Henry Aspley 7th Bat. Bedfordshire Regiment (d.8th Jan 1916)

Henry Aspley volunteered in September 1914, he was engaged on Coastal Defence duties for a time, and crossed to the Western Front in the following year. In this theatre of war he served as a bomb-thrower and fought in many fiercely contested battles including those at Ypres and Loos.

He gave his life for freedom of England whilst on night patrol in the Loos sector on January 8th 1916. He was entitled to the 1914 -1915 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.

Robert Curtis






  Pte. William George Page 7th Btn. Bedfordshire Regiment

My great uncle William Page survived the war, but was gassed. He belonged to the regiment known as 'The Shiny Seventh' along with most of the young men from the area. He was given compassionate leave in 1916 to attend the funeral of his five-year-old brother Hubert who had died of Diphtheria. There was an epidemic in Biggleswade, and almost every family in the town lost a child. I found William's name in an article from the Biggleswade Chronicle which reported the funeral. His father, also William Page, was a well-known local figure, a dairyman and milkman. He re-joined his regiment to find many had been killed during recent engagements.

Penelope Coles






Recomended Reading.

Available at discounted prices.









Links


    Suggest a link

















    The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.

    This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

    If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.


    Hosted by:

    The Wartime Memories Project Website

    is archived for preservation by the British Library





    Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
    - All Rights Reserved -

    We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.