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13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
The 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry was formed at Newcastle in September 1914 joined the 68th Brigade in 23rd Division, alongside the 13th Battalion. They moved to Aldershot, Hampshire in November, then to Willesborough, Kent in February 1915 and went on in May to Bramshott.
They proceeded to France landing at Boulogne on the 26th of August and concentrating near Tilques. On the 5th of September 23rd Division became attached to III Corps, moving to the Merris-Vieux Berquin area, for trench familiarisation under the guidance of the 20th (Light) and 27th Divisions.
They took over front line sector between Ferme Grande Flamengrie to the Armentieres-Wez Macquart road in their own right on the 14th. During the Battle of Loos CIII and CV Brigades RFA were in action attached to 8th Division. With 23rd Division holding the front at Bois Grenier, they were relieved from that sector at the end of January 1916 and Divisional HQ was established at Blaringhem with the units concentrated around Bruay for a period of rest.
On the 3rd of March they returned to the front line, taking over a sector between the Boyau de l'Ersatz and the Souchez River from the French 17th Division, with the Artillery taking over an exposed position between Carency and Bois de Bouvigny where it was subjected to heavy shelling.
In early March a Tunnelling Company was established and men with a background in mining were transferred from the ranks to the Royal Engineers.
In Mid April they returned to Bruay area for rest until mid May when they again took over the Souchez-Angres front, just before the German Attack on Vimy Ridge on the 21st. The brunt of the attack fell on 47th (London) Division, to the right of 23rd Division and the 23rd Divisional Artillery went into action in support of the 47th.
On the 1st of June the Artillery supported 2nd Division as they undertook operations to recover lost ground. On the 11th of June the 23rd Division Infantry moved to Bomy and the artillery to Chamblain Chatelain and Therouanne to begin intensive training for the Battles of the Somme.
They were in action in The Battle of Albert including the capture of Contalmaison, The Battles of Bazentin Ridge, Pozieres, Flers-Courcelette, Morval and The Battle of Le Transloy including the capture of Le Sars. In 1917 they fought in The Battle of Messines, The Battles of the Menin Road, Polygon Wood and the The First and Second Battles of Passchendaele.
In November 1917 the Division moved to Italy concentrating between Mantua and Marcaria before taking over the front line at the Montello on the 4th of December. In 1918 they were in action during the fighting on the Asiago Plateau
On the 14th of September 1918 the 13th DLI left 23rd Division and returned to France, joining 74th Brigade, 25th Division at St Riquier on 19 September 1918 and were in action in the Final Advance in Picardy.
20th Sep 1917 Attack Made by 13th DLI
21st Sep 1917 In Defence
3rd Jun 1918 Relief Complete
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have served with13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry during the Great War 1914-1918. - Allan F. C.. Lt.
- Appleton Jack K.. Pte. (d.8th Jun 1917)
- Bailey William Bainbridge. Pte.
- Bond MM. William Henry. Pte. (d.20th Sept 1917)
- Brown P. A.. Lt.
- Callum Joseph. A/Cpl.
- Calvert William. Sgt. (d.18th Jul 1916)
- Carden William George. Pte. (d.20th Sep 1917)
- Clark John Henry. Pte.
- Craddock MM, DCM. Harry. Sjt. (d.20th Sep 1917)
- Craddock DCM, MM. Harry. Sjt. (d.20th Sep 1917)
- Curry Thomas Andrew. Pte. (d.23rd April 1917)
- Dann James. Pte. (d.5th October 1918)
- Dodds Cecil Atkinson. 2nd Lt. (d.5th Oct 1918)
- Garbutt Thomas. Pte. (d.2nd June 1917)
- Golder W.. Lt.
- Greenwood DSC. MC. L. M.. Mjr.
- Hamilton Archibald Lindsay. 2nd Lt. (d.10th Jun 1917)
- Helliwell George. Pte. (d.17th Nov 1918)
- Howitt Thomas Alexander. Pte. (d.5th Oct 1918)
- Johnston Alfred. Pte. (d.18th July 1916)
- Jones George. Pte. (d.3rd Aug 1916)
- Kelly James. Pte. (d.7th July 1917)
- Martin Joseph. Pte.
- Milne Norman Ernest. Private (d.2nd June 1917)
- O'Rourke MM Constantine. Pte (d.2nd Feb 1917)
- Postle George. Pte. (d.4th November 1916)
- Powell MM. William. Sgt. (d.5th Oct 1918)
- Pratt J.. Pte.
- Sandall D.. Pte.
- Shearer Sidney James. Sgt. (d.3rd August 1916)
- Simblet William Albert. Pte. (d.6th October 1918)
- Simblet William Albert. Pte. (d.6th October 1918)
- Smith Wilfred Gordon. Pte. (d.17th July 1916)
- Sullivan John Arthur . Pte (d.18th Oct 1917)
- Thompson Alfred. Pte. (d.25th Oct 1918)
- Thompson William. Pte. (d.25th Oct 1918)
- Todd Steven. Pte. (d.8th June 1917)
- Warrender Francis. Pte. (d.12th June 1917)
- Welch Gilbert George. Pte. (d.13th October 1917)
- White MM. Robert Bransby. L/Sgt. (d.20th Sep 1917)
- Youens Frederick. 2nd Lt. (d.7th July 1917)
- Youens VC. Frederick. 2nd Lt. (d.7th Jul 1917)
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 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry from other sources.
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Pte. William Albert Simblet 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.6th October 1918) My great uncle William Simblet served with the 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry in WW1.
His Death Certificate says his name is Albert William Simblet and his headstone says A W Simblet. His actual name is William Albert Simblet.
I believe he may have been wounded on 5th of October 1918 attacking the Hindenburg line with the 25th Division and taken to No.20 Casualty Clearing Station where he died. I visited his grave in Doingt Cemetery, on 6th of October 2018 exactly 100 years to the day he died.
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Pte. George Helliwell 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.17th Nov 1918) George Helliwell is buried in Bradfield, near Sheffield. He died of wounds. His parents were William and Mary Hannah Helliwell of Mill Farm, Bradfield.
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Pte. Gilbert George Welch 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.13th October 1917) Gilbert Welch is buried in Godewaersvelde British Cemetery. He was 19 when he died.
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Pte. William Albert Simblet 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (d.6th October 1918) Albert Simblet served with 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.
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Pte. Joseph Martin 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry Joseph Martin served with the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.
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Pte. Francis Warrender 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.12th June 1917) Francis Warrender is my second great uncle on my fathers side that I've been uncovering information about.
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Pte. William George Carden 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.20th Sep 1917) My grandfather William Carden joined the army in 1914, he was a clerk and served in the Pay Corps in Lichfield. In May 1917 he was compulsorily transferred into the fighting forces, joining the Durham Light Infantry in Flanders on 30th of August 1917. He was killed in action on 20th of September1917 during the Battle of Menin Road, when his battalion were involved in trying to secure a hill nicknamed Tower Hamlets. A bit ironic since he came from Bermondsey. His family understood he had been killed by a shell, but given the number of casualties and the sheer mess of battle it is hard to be sure.
William was 28 when he died and left behind his wife, Charlotte, a son aged 4 and two daughters aged 2 and 10 months. My father remembered the telegram arriving to notify his mother of his father's death, he recalled clinging to her leg saying "don't cry Mummy, don't cry". William's remains were exhumed in 1921 and he is now buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres. I gather from the records that it took more than 2 years for my grandmother to get a war pension, she was a milliner but with three young children I'm not sure how she managed to earn enough to feed them. She returned to Ramsgate where she had family, her husbands father was still living and I think he helped.
This is a very unremarkable story but I suspect a very common one. So many men did not last long once they were sent out into the field of battle and so many children were raised without a father by a mother grieving for her husband. When I was 9 my parents took us to Belgium to see our grandfathers grave. Even then I remember being stunned by the acres of gravestones and the ages I read on the memorials of his fellow soldiers. When my own sons were 18, 21 and 22, Tyne Cot was still in my mind and I was so so grateful there was no war going on to so savagely claim and annihilate them.
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L/Sgt. Robert Bransby White MM. 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.20th Sep 1917) Robert White was awarded the Military Medal on 29th of July 1916. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
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Pte. William Thompson 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.25th Oct 1918) William Thompson was my great uncle, a miner from New Brancepeth, a County Durham pit village. He volunteered in 1915, coming out of what was a reserved occupation to fight for his country. He was killed in action aged 30 just a couple of weeks before the Armistice, and is buried in Landrecies British Cemetery. He left a wife and children. His widow remarried a couple of years later and moved away from the area, losing touch with William's family, so sadly we have no pictures or medals to remember him by. My daughter and I are piecing together his story for our family history project.
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Pte. Steven Todd 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.8th June 1917) Steven Todd was born 16 Jan 1887 in Wackerfield, Durham son of Southren John Todd and Mary Ann Stevens. He was one of 14 children. Steven was a miner when he enlisted into the DLI in 1916.
He died of wounds at 69 Field Ambulance on 8th of June 1917 during the Battle of Messines and is buried in the Hop Store Cemetery near the town of Poperinghe.
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2nd Lt. Archibald Lindsay Hamilton 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (d.10th Jun 1917) Archie Hamilton was my Great Uncle, the only brother of my Grandmother.
He was killed in WW1 on 10th of June 1917 and is buried near Ypres.
I recently learned that he left a widow known only as Mrs C Hamilton.
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Pte. James Dann 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (d.5th October 1918) Jim Dann was my great uncle, he was serving in France during WW1 and according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was engaged in fighting to capture Le Catelet and Gouy early in October 1918. Subsequent battles to capture Guizancourt Farm which lay on the German Masnieres-Beaurevoir line ensued in the first few days of October 1918. Jim was killed on 5th October during one of these battles.
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A/Cpl. Joseph Callum 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry Jospeh Callum first served in the 18th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, then later in the 13th Battalion.
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Pte. Alfred Thompson 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (d.25th Oct 1918) Alfred Thompson was the youngest of twelve children, his brother Thomas was my grandfather. Alfred was just 21 when he died of his wounds after the Battle of the Selle. He'd survived the Somme and Passcschendaele but, tragically, he died just two weeks before the end of the Great War.
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2nd Lt. Frederick Youens VC. 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.7th Jul 1917)  2nd Lt. Frederick Youens served with the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry during WW1 and died of wounds on the 7th July 1917 Aged 24. He is buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm) in Belgium He was the son of Vincent and Lizzie Youens, of Belgrave, 64, Desborough Park Rd., High Wycombe.
An extract from The London Gazette, dated 31st July, 1917, records the following-
For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. While out on patrol this officer was wounded and had to return to his trenches to have his wounds dressed. Shortly afterwards a report came in that the enemy were preparing to raid our trenches. 2nd Lt. Youens, regardless of his wound, immediately set out to rally the team of a Lewis gun, which had become disorganised owing to heavy shell fire. During this process an enemy's bomb fell on the Lewis gun position without exploding. 2nd Lt. Youens immediately picked it up and hurled it over the parapet. Shortly afterwards another bomb fell near the same place; again 2nd Lt. Youens picked it up with the intention of throwing it away, when it exploded in his hand, severely wounding him and also some of his men. There is little doubt that the prompt and gallant action of 2nd Lt. Youens saved several of his men's lives and that by his energy and resource the enemy's raid was completely repulsed. This gallant officer has since succumbed to his wounds.
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Pte. Alfred Johnston 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (d.18th July 1916) Alfred Johnston served with the 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, he died on 18th July 1916.
Born in Jarrow, on the 1911 census he is listed as Alfred Johnston age 34 Labourer in Paper Mill is lodging at the lodging house at 39/41/43 Albion Street, Jarrow. He lived and enlisted in Jarrow.
Alfred is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial and is commemorated on the Triptych in St. Paul's Church Jarrow.
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Pte. Thomas Alexander Howitt 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.5th Oct 1918) Thomas Alexander Howitt who died aged 20 was born in Jarrow in 1898. He lived and enlisted there. He was the son of Jane Howitt (nee Fairweather) of 49 Derby Street Jarrow and the late Robert Howitt. Thomas Alexander Howitt age 12 at School is with his parents Robert and Jane Howitt and brother at 11 Union Street, Jarrow on the 1911 census.
Thomas id buried in Guizancourt Farm Cemetery, Gouy and is commemorated on the Palmer Cenotaph (on plaque west face) Jarrow.
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2nd Lt. Cecil Atkinson Dodds 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.5th Oct 1918) Cecil Atkinson Dodds died aged 20. He was born and lived Jarrow. He was the son of George Robson and Margaret Dodds (nee Atkinson) of 19 Coquet Street Jarrow. On the 1911 census he is recorded as Cecil Atkinson Dodds, age 12, at School, living with his parents George Robson and Margaret Dodds and family at 10 Cuthbert Terrace, Jarrow
Cecil is buried in Beaurevoir British Cemetery. He is commemorated on the Monkton Memorial in Monkton Village, Jarrow and on the Triptych in St. Paul's Church, Jarrow.
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Pte John Arthur Sullivan 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.18th Oct 1917) I have only just discovered my great Uncle (Arthur John, but usually went by John), who was born in Chelsea, London c Dec 1893. He moved to 38 John St, South Moor, Stanley and was a miner.
He enlisted 11th Sep 1914 aged 20 years 10 months at Newcastle in the 3rd Reserves and embarked to France, posted to the 13th DLI 13th Apr 1916.
He was killed in action 18th Oct 1917 and is remembered at the Tyne Cot Memorial
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Pte. John Henry Clark 13th Btn. Durham Light Infantry J.H. Clark was my great-grandfather. He enlisted at the outbreak of war and went overseas with the battalion on August 25th 1915. He saw action throughout the war serving with a rifle platoon in C Company, and was discharged to the Class Z Reserve after the end of hostiliites. He was an early member of the British Legion and returned to his pre-war job as a miner -on August 26th 1936 he was killed by a fall of stone whilst working in Witton Colliery in County Durham.
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BENEATH HILL 60 tells the extraordinary true story of Oliver Woodward, the legendary Australian metal scientist. In 1916, Woodward faced the most difficult decision, ultimately having to separate from his new young love for the deadly carnage of the Western Front. On treacherous territory, behind the German enemy lines, Woodward and his secret platoon of Australian tunnelers face a suicidal battle to defend a leaking, tunnel system. A tunnel packed with enough high explosives to change the course of the War.
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The shell-ravaged landscape of Hill 60, some three miles south east of Ypres, conceals a labyrinth of tu nnels and underground workings. This book offers a guide to the memorials, cemeteries and museums at the site '
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'Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one - fire! Down goes the firing switch. At first, nothing. Then from deep down there comes a low rumble, and it as if the world is spliting apart...' On 7th June 1917, nineteen massive mines exploded beneath Messines Ridge near Ypres. The largest man-made explosion in history up until that point shattered the landscape and smashed open the German lines. Ten thousand German soldiers died. Two of the mines - at Hill 60 and the Caterpillar - were fired by men of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company, comprising miners and engineers rather than parade-ground soldiers. Drawing on the diaries of one of the key combatants, "Benealth Hill 60" tells the little-known, devastatingly brutal true story of this subterranean war waged beneath the Western Front - a stygian battle-ground where men drowned in viscous chalk, suffocated in the blue gray clay, choked on poisonous air or died in the darkness, caught up up in vicious hand-to-han
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