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1st Battalion, Essex Regiment
1st Battalion, The Essex Regiment was in Mauritius when war broke out in August 1914. As soon as a territorial unit arrived to take over the garrison, they departed for England, arriving
in December. On the 18th of January 1915 they moved to Banbury to join 88th Brigade, 29th Division.
They were training for France when orders arrived to prepare to depart for Gallipoli. They embarked from Avonmouth on the 21st of March sailing via Malta to Alexandria then on to Mudros in April. They landed at Cape Helles, Gallipoli on the 25 April 1915 and were involved in heavy fighting until the evacuation on the nights of the 7th and 8th of January 1916 when they returned to Egypt. In March they were sent to France, sailing to Marseilles and travelling by train to concentrate in the area east of Pont Remy by the end of March. In July they went into action in the Battles of the Somme. In 1917 they were in action in the The First, Second and Third Battle of the Scarpe during the Arras Offensive, then moved to Flanders and fought in the The Battle of Langemarck, The Battle of Broodseinde and The Battle of Poelcapelle. Before moving south for The Battle of Cambrai. On the
4 February 1918 they transferred to 112th Brigade, 37th Division and were in action the Somme in the Battles of the Lys and the Final Advance in Flanders. At the Armistice they were at Mouscron, north east of Tourcoing, where the Division remained throughout demobilization which was complete by June 1919.
Feb 1915 Training
Mar 1915 Training
12th Mar 1915 Inspection
17th Mar 1915 On the Move
24th Mar 1915 On the Move
26th Mar 1915 On the Move
28th Mar 1915 On the Move
29th Mar 1915 Accomodation
30th Mar 1915 Into Billets
31st Mar 1915 Training
1st Apr 1915 Orders Issued
2nd Apr 1915 Orders Issued
3rd Apr 1915 Preparations
6th Apr 1915 Inspection
7th Apr 1915 On the Move
9th Apr 1915 Embarkation
10th Apr 1915 Embarkation
19th Apr 1915 Orders
20th Apr 1915 Orders
21st Apr 1915 Conference
22nd Apr 1915 Preparations
23rd Apr 1915 Transports Sail
24th Apr 1915 At Sea
25th Apr 1915 Landing
27th Apr 1915 Holding the Line
28th Apr 1915 Ground Gained
6th May 1915 In Action
7th May 1915 In Action
5th Aug 1915 2nd Royal Fusiliers relieved by 1st Essex
6th Aug 1915 1st Essex and 88th Brigade go over top at Cape Helles The 1st Essex and 88th Brigade went over the top at Calle Helles, supported by the 86th Brigade including the 2nd Royal Fusilers. They were heavily repulsed and forced to retire.
6th Aug 1915 Attack Made
7th Aug 1915 Withdrawal
16th Aug 1915 Reliefs Completed
19th Aug 1915 Water Scarce
21st of October 1915 Into Trenches
4th Oct 1916 Reliefs
14th Apr 1917 Objective Gained
30th Jan 1918 Trench Work
16th Mar 1918 Reliefs Complete
22nd Mar 1918 Reliefs Complete
21st August 1918 Attack Made
7th Sep 1918 1st Essex at Avincourt Woods
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 with1st Battalion, Essex Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Addison Cecil Frederick. Pte. (d.22nd April 1917)
- Allaway Charles Thomas. Sgt. (d.2nd Nov 1917)
- Bailey DCM. Frank. Mjr.
- Baker Thomas. Pte. (d.23rd Aug 1917)
- Barnard Bertie. Cpl. (d.14th Apr 1917)
- Barnes John Edwin. Pte. (d.25th Apr 1915)
- Brabazon Terence Anthony Chaworth. Cpt. (d.3rd August 1916)
- Brignull Sidney. Pte. (d.14th April 1917)
- Burley Alec James. A/Cpl. (d.13th Dec 1915)
- Cooper James. Pte. (d.6th August 1915)
- Davison Soloman. Pte (d.8th Oct 1918)
- Day Harry. Pte. (d.12th October 1916)
- Duffy Owen John. Pte. (d.12th October 1916)
- Eagle Frederick James. Pte (d.23rd Apr 1917)
- Ellis Frederick. Sgt. (d.25th April 1915)
- Eva Laurie. Pte (d.1st July 1916)
- Few Charles. L/Cpl. (d.20th Nov 1915)
- Grune MID. Edward Sidney. Col.
- Hardy Dick. Pte. (d.14th April 1917)
- Hawes George Edward. Pte. (d.20th Nov 1917)
- Ives Harry Giles. Pte. (d.19th May 1917)
- King Oliver George. Sgt (d.14th of April 1917)
- Last Herbert John. Pte (d.13th June 1915)
- Lee Bertie Harold. Pte. (d.14th April 1917)
- Merry MM. Thomas. Sgt. (d.14th April 1917)
- Miller Joseph. Pte. (d.5th Dec 1915)
- Narvidge John William. Pte (d.14th Apr 1917)
- Naylor Tom Henry. Pte (d.30th Nov 1917)
- Parsons MM. Victor M.. Pte.
- Priest Edwin Louis. Pte.
- Reynolds Harry H.. (d.15th July 1916)
- Samwell Frederick James. Pte. (d.14th April 1917)
- Smith William James. Pte.
- Tull Henry. Pte. (d.24th May 1915)
- Tull Henry. Pte. (d.24th May 1915)
- Tull Henry. Pte. (d.25th May 1915)
- Turner Cecil Charles. Pte (d.14th April 1917)
- Wood Creighton Arthur Bell. 2nd Lt. (d.28th Jun 1915)
- Woodcock Herbert. Pte. (d.23rd August 1918)
- Young DCM, MofH. William. CSM.
- Young DCM. William. RSM.
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 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment from other sources.
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CSM. William Young DCM, MofH. 1st Btn. Essex Regiment William Young joined 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment in 1902. He held the DCM and French Medal of Honour, Silver with crossed swords, being awarded for his actions in France, "from 21st August to 4th November, 1918, when the battalion was almost continuously in action under heavy shell fire. His example and leadership had a very beneficent effect on the non-commissioned officers of the battalion." He retired after 18 years service in 1920 at the rank of RSM, re-enlisting to serve in WWII, he was involved in the Munich campaign of 1941 and may, and it is only a suggestion, may have been involved in the formation/training of the SAS (research ongoing). Apart from a newspaper obituary article and a family photograph of him in his uniform, little else is known at this time. We are still researching.
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Pte. Cecil Frederick Addison 1st Battalion Essex Regiment (d.22nd April 1917) Cecil Addison lost his life serving with the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment.
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Pte. James Cooper 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.6th August 1915) My granddad, James Cooper joined the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment in WW1. We know the whereabouts of the this battalion sent to Gallipoli.
For 10 years we have been looking for a picture and his personal story. There are so many Coopers. James was born in 1877 and went missing in Gallipoli on 6th of August 1915 leaving a wife and 5 children.
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Pte. Edwin Louis Priest 17th (1st Football) Battalion Middlesex Regiment  Edwin Priest attested on 12th of December 1915 as part of the Lord Derby scheme. He stated his willingness to serve for the duration of the war and was posted for duty on 11th of February 1916.
After training, he joined the 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment in France along with a draft of 69 other ranks. The Battalion was undergoing refit in a rest area of the Somme after having severe casualties at 2 actions on the Somme at Delville Wood and Guillemont.
After refit, the Battalion and Edwin carried out regular tours of duty in the Somme front line trenches throughout January, February, March and April 1917. This included forming regular working parties.
During April 1917 they also practiced for their forthcoming part in the Arras offensive. On 28th of April they made their attack, the objective being the capture of Oppy Wood and village. All went well early on. However, the battalions attacking either side of them were unable to keep up due to uncut wire and very strong German defences. This enabled the Germans to make strong counter attacks on both flanks of the 17th Middlesex. Despite determined efforts to resist this, it effectively resulted in most of the attacking Middlesex troops being surrounded and killed, wounded or captured.
The remnants of the Middlesex had to return to their original starting point. In this action the Middlesex suffered their highest single casualties of the war. The wounded who managed to get back were those injured early in the attack before the Germans had managed to surround them. Fortunately Edwin was wounded by shrapnel in the left arm early on. He helped assist another wounded man back.
Edwin was sent back to the Warrington Military Hospital in England and was eventually deemed fit on 23rd of June 1917. However, he was only fit for 2nd line duties, eg guarding lines of communication. He was posted to the 1st Garrison Battalion of the Essex Regiment and spent 18 months in Egypt and Palestine, catching measles there.
January and February 1919 was spent in Salonika, where he caught malaria. This invalided him back to England to the Belmont Road Hospital in Liverpool.
He was demobbed on 8th of April 1919.
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Sgt Oliver George King 1st Btn Essex Regiment (d.14th of April 1917) Sergeant Oliver King served with the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment in WW1. He died 14th of April 1917 and is remembered on the Arras Memorial Bay 7 France. Son of Fredrick W. and Mary E. King, of Great Tey St., Kelvedon, Essex.
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2nd Lt. Creighton Arthur Bell Wood 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.28th Jun 1915) Whilst in a bric a brac shop in Bombay, India some years ago, I came across the death penny for Creighton Wood. I thought that this was an inappropriate place for it to end up so I purchased it.
On my return home I did some research and found out that he was killed in Gallipoli on the 28th of June 1915.
I believe that his family had lived in India so this would explain it's presence there and that perhaps they had all then died and their house was cleared.
We as a family now remember him twice a year but feel quite sad that many more will be forgotten as time goes on.
I know nothing else about him and if there is anybody who can help with some information then please get in touch.
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Pte Soloman Davison 1st Battalion Essex Regiment (d.8th Oct 1918) Soloman Davison fought in the Theatre of War Western European Theatre. Formerly he served with the Suffolk Regiment.
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Pte. Owen John Duffy 1st Battalion Essex Regiment (d.12th October 1916) Owen Duffy was one of 88 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment killed at Guedecourt at the Battle of le Transloy along side the Newfoundland Regiment.
He has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.
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Sgt. Charles Thomas Allaway 5th Battalion, B Coy. Essex Regiment (d.2nd Nov 1917) On the back of a photo we have of Charles Allaway, taken in Tunis 1916 dressed as a sheik holding an elephant gun, it states that he died whilst guarding the gates of Jerusalem, written by his older sister, my great grandmother Mary Hughes.
He is buried at the Gaza Commonwealth Cemetery.
His son's birth certificate of 5th April 1916 lists him as Sergeant, ball bearer and tester. The photo states he was a Corporal.
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Harry H. Reynolds 1st Batallion Essex Regiment (d.15th July 1916) Harry Reynolds is my great grandfather and was married to Clara. His parents were Thomas and Maria Reynolds. He is buried at Mesnil Communal Cemetery Extension.
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Pte. Henry Tull 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.25th May 1915) Henry Tull was my great uncle
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Pte. Henry Tull 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.24th May 1915) My great uncle.
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Col. Edward Sidney Grune MID. 13th Btn. Middlesex Regiment Edward Sidney Grune was born in Putney in 1887 and baptised in Putney Church. He was educated at Lancing College and at 17, in defiance of his father, ran away and enlisted as a private soldier in a regiment that was about to leave for West Africa, the "White Man's Grave."
His maternal uncle, Maj. Hampden Chawner, was horrified and was instrumental in his obtaining a commission in the Bedfordsire and Hertfordshire Regiment in 1905. He joined the Battalion in Gibraltar where he met his future wife and married her in 1910. As he was only a subaltern and had no private income, this made life difficult. On its return to England the regiment was stationed at Colchester, where the young couple lived in a cottage in a cherry orchard.
Meeting up with his brother-in-law, Claude, home from Malaya and rubber planting, he was fired with the idea of joining him in this remote and little known country. Somehow he persuaded officialdom to allow him to leave the regiment without actually resigning and off he and his young wife went to an isolated life in the middle of vast Dutch owned rubber estates in the Kuala Lumpur district. A year later, in January 1914, a daughter was born to them.
It was only some months after the outbreak of war that news reached him and he immediately set about returning to his regiment. He reached Dover in October 1914, just in time to participate in the campaign in Salonica. Wounded in the ribs on 9 December 1914, he was eventually sent to Malta and from there on 1 March 1915 to Alexandria. After much badgering of HQ he was transferred to the 1st Essex Regiment and travelled by sea and rail to Ballincourt and Abbeville. He was in front line action when in 1918, owing to casualties amongst officers, he was transferred to the Northamptons and promoted colonel in the field. He remained with them until the end of the war and led the parade when the regiment received the freedom of the City of Northampton. At Ypres he was in the same trench as his cousin Meredith Chawner who was killed beside him. His other cousin, Alain, brother to Meredith, was also killed, a few days later.
According to Services of Military Officers: arranged alphabetically corrected to December 1920. Polstead, Suffolk: J.B. Hayward & Son: E.S.C. Grune commanded 13th Batallion, Middlesex Reg. 8 Aug. - 11 Sep. 1917 and 7th Bat. Northumberland Reg. 27 June 1918 France, Belgium 16 March - 11 Nov. 1918 Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Aegean islands Oc - Dec. 1915; wounded twice; despatches: London Gazette 8 July 1919
Order of the White Eagle 5th Class. (This is the military service class of this Serbian decoration instituted in 1883 - HT Dorling, Ribbons and Medals, Naval, Military, Air Force and Civil, London: Philip, new ed. 1960, p. 254.)
After the war he returned to the Beds and Herts and went with them to Ballyshannon in Ireland, on one occasion in 1922 sitting in a train with a man who had been sent to shoot him. When volunteers were asked for to go and police Palestine, he applied and spent two years on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. On rejoining the regiment, he spent two years in Aldershot before the batallion was ordered to Malta in 1926. After a little more than a year there was trouble in China and the battalion was sent to guard the coal mining area of Weiheiwei, which was a British concession. Two years later they were posted to India to Mhow, a station in the Central Provinces.
Although he was a first class soldier, he was not an ambitious man. Promotion was slow in the Bedfords, so his commanding officer recommended him for transfer to the Royal Welch Fusileers. He returned to England, to Tidworth, for six months, prior to a tour of three years in Gibraltar, during which his daughter got married. Next the battalion went to Hongkong. Here the sins of his youth found him out. Because he had given the wrong year of birth on enlistment, being still under age, he had to retire a year early and missed out on commanding his battalion.
He arrived back in England just when the RAF were selecting recently retired officers to train for administrative work in order to release men into the air. On 1 September 1939 he was commissioned as Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He had a useful and satisfying Second World War career as his organizing ability was used to the full. This included getting a new airfield started at Morpoth in Northumberland, organizing the balloon barrage around Glasgow and Edinburgh, coordinating the biggest hotels in Blackpool to form the No 1 Airmen's Convalescent Depot, and converting one of the Rothschild houses into part hospital and part training depot, particularly for Polish officers and apprentices smuggled out of Poland.
Just after the war he had a short spell with the Navy in the radar station at Haslemere. He worked briefly as an official of the High Court in what was then Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia before retiring to Sidmouth in Devon. He died in the Exeter Hospital on 6 July 1960, aged 72 years [Exeter First District, Col. 434].
Lt Grune, Beds Reg., 3rd Bat., promoted to Captain 13 June 1915 (London Gazette 12 June 1915)
Lt.Col apptd Squadron Leader (Acting Wing Commander 26 April 1939 (London Gazette 27 Oct., 39) WO 339/6884
After service in WWII he retired to Sidmouth
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L/Cpl. Charles Few 1st Battalion Essex Regimenr (d.20th Nov 1915) My great grandfather Charles Few, died on a ship on the 20th of November 1915 and was buried at sea. I believe he died of pneumonia but am not aware of how and why he was aboard the hospital ship. May He Rest in Peace.
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Cpl. Bertie Barnard 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.14th Apr 1917) Corporal Bertie Barnard, of the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment was aged 32 when he died. I am his grandson looking for his memorial in the UK.
Editor's note: Your grandfather is commemorated on the Attleborough War Memorial. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.
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Pte Frederick James Eagle 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.23rd Apr 1917) Frederick Eagle served with the 1st Btn, Essex Regiment.
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Pte. Harry Giles Ives 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.19th May 1917) Harry Ives served with 5 Platoon, X Coy. 1st Btn. Essex Regiment.
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Pte. William James Smith 1st Btn. Essex Regiment My great grandfather, William Smith was in the 1st Btn. Essex Regiment and was one of the first to arrive at Gallipoli on the 25th April 1915. Whilst he was away his wife gave birth to his child. He insisted that on her birth certificate she had one of her Christian names as Anzac. I do not know the reason for this but it must be due to events that happened to him while he was there. He was discharged on the 2nd July 1816.
Stories about him state that he was a very strict man with his children, but he did have ten children so probably had to keep order. My mother tells me that when she knew him as a small girl that she used to sit on his knee and that he was very kind to her. She remembers his long handlebar moustache.
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Pte. Frederick James Samwell 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (d.14th April 1917) Frederick Samwell was reported missing on 14th April 1917 during the Essex and Newfoundland's Regiments attack on Infantry Hill outside Monchy-le-Preux. His wife reportedly died from grief shortly after. He was 38 years old.
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Pte. Victor M. Parsons MM. 1st Btn. Essex Regiment "At Monchy-le-Preux on 14th of April 1917, when an attack had failed and the Germans were advancing on the village, he displayed the greatest gallantry as one of a small party hastily collected to oppose the hostile advance. This party maintained itself in the face of overwhelming odds, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, and completely checked him on this part of the line." London Gazette, 9th of July 1917.
After his Battalion was wiped out during a counter-attack, Victor Parsons, with a collection of eleven officers and men from the Newfoundland Regiment, proceeded to hold off a German advance until reinforcements arrived after eleven hours. For this action, he was awarded the Military Medal.
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Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
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A Major Soldier Ted Bailey
A Major Soldier is part journey of discovery for the author and part history of the 1st Essex Battalion in the First World War. Frank Bailey was typical of many veterans of the era in that he never spoke of his exploits, despite having a long army career predating the war and being awarded the DCM. The author, his grandson, only found out the full details of his military service after his death. The author reminisces about his memories of his Grandfather before detailing his research into his life and military career, a journey that ultimately uncovered a hitherto unknown brother who had died in the war. The book then moves on to the actions of the 1st Essex battalion in the war, focusing on Gallipoli, the Somme, and Cambrai.
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