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- 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards during the Great War -


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

1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards



5th Aug 1914 In France

26th Aug 1914 Regimental Dinner

7th Oct 1914 1st Grenadier Guards proceed overseas  1st Battalion Grenadier Guards land at Zebrugge, crossing from Southampton.

23rd Oct 1914 Under Fire

24th Oct 1914 Counter Attack

25th Oct 1914 A Little War News

1st Nov 1914 In the Line

30th Nov 1914 A Narrow Escape

30th Nov 1914 Admitted to Hospital

24th Dec 1914 Out of the Trenches

20th Feb 1915 Brutal Fighting Recalled

27th Apr 1915 Instruction

12th Jun 1915 Atrocities Recalled

3rd Aug 1915 All in the Pink

2nd Oct 1915 Demise of the Sniper

15th Oct 1915 1st Grenadiers into the Line

15th Oct 1915 Luck of the Devil

14th Dec 1915  Reliefs

10th Sep 1916 Reliefs  location map

16th Sep 1916 Attack Made

12th Oct 1917 Attack Made

17th Sep 1917 Prisoner Returns

5th Apr 1918 Relief

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





Want to know more about 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards?


There are:5252 items tagged 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards 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

1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards

during the Great War 1914-1918.

  • Barber VC Edward. Pte. (d.12th March 1915)
  • Bird H.. Lt. (d.12th Apr 1919)
  • Brain Thomas Henry. Sgt. (d.24 Sep 1916)
  • Collier William Edwin. Pte.
  • Cripps George Edward. L/Sgt (d.27th September 1918)
  • Dent George Nixon. Pte. (d.27th Sept 1918)
  • Dungate Walter John. Cpl. (d.24th Aug 1918)
  • Gaymer John Thomas. Pte.
  • Handford James George. Pte. (d.20th Dec 1916)
  • Hinton Edward Harold. Pte. (d.27th September 1918)
  • Liddle Samuel. Pte.
  • Merrilees Edward George. L/Cpl. (d.14th Sep 1916)
  • Patterson David.
  • Serjeant Joseph. Pte. (d.30th Mar 1918)
  • Shelley Ernest Bowen. Lt. (d.12th Sep 1918)
  • Smith Charles Henry. Pte. (d.22nd Nov 1917)
  • Steed George S.. Pte. (d.21st Oct 1918)
  • Trull Charles Henry. Pte. (d.17th Oct 1915)
  • Wood Albert Allan. L/Sgt. (d.26th Oct 1914)
  • Young William Martin. Pte. (d.27th September 1918)

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, Grenadier Guards from other sources.


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  Pte. William Martin Young 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.27th September 1918)

William Young died on the 27th of September 1918 and is buried in the Sanders Keep Military Cemetery in France. He was the son of Fanny and the late Edward Martin Young. Husband of Charlotte Fanny Young, and father of three children, Kathleen, William, and Jessie

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s flynn






  Pte. Edward Barber VC 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.12th March 1915)

Edward Barber was killed in action on the 12th of March 1915, aged 22 and is commemorated on The Le Touret Memorial in France. he was the son of William and Sarah Ann Barber, of Miswell Lane, Tring, Herts

An extract from The London Gazette, dated 19th April, 1915, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery on 12th March, 1915, at Neuve-Chapelle. He ran speedily in front of the grenade company to which he belonged, and threw bombs on the enemy with such effect that a very great number of them at once surrendered. When the grenade party reached Pte. Barber they found him quite alone and unsupported, with the enemy surrendering all about him."

s flynn






  Pte. Joseph Serjeant 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.30th Mar 1918)

Joseph Serjeant

Joseph Serjeant served with the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards

<p>His Grenadier Guards cap badge

<p>oseph Serjeant's medals

Chris Serjeant






   David Patterson 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards

David Patterson served in the 1914-18 War. I am unsure which person he his in the attached submitted photograph taken early in his career. After the war, he lived in Delgany Co Wicklow.







  Pte. George Nixon Dent 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.27th Sept 1918)

George Dent died aged 25 years at either the Battle of Cambrai or The Battle of Canal Du Nord. His wife had passed away 2 years previously, and with his death my Grandmother was left orphaned at the age of 5.







  Pte. William Edwin Collier 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards

William Collier was born in about 1876 in Bristol. He attested for Short Service in 1900 and served in the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in the Second Boer War. For his service there, he was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with the Cape Colony and South Africa 1902 clasps. In May 1903, he transferred to The 1st Class Army Reserve.

On 5th of August 1914, at London, he was mobilized into the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards. Per his Medal Rolls Index Card, Pte. Collier's qualifying date for the 1914 Star was 12th of November 1914, there was no notation that indicated qualification for Clasp and Roses, but serving in a line unit, it is very likely that Pte. Collier would have been under fire from German mobile artillery prior to the midnight 22nd November cut-off date. If so, he would have probably qualified for this distinction, but he may have never applied for this. In addition to the 1914 Star, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

According to records, Hewas discharged from the Grenadier Guards on 28th of May 1919, but he attested to the 53rd Company, Labour Corps the next day, 29th of May 1919. His service number in the Labour Corps was 695795. Pte. Collier was discharged from C Coy, Eastern Command Labour Centre on 29th of March 1920. Research sources included British Army Pension Records, UK Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949 (2nd Boer War), UK WW1 Medal Rolls Index Card, 1914-1920 and UK WW1 Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920. Lastly, it is highly possible that Pte. Collier would have participated in the unofficial 1914 Christmas Truce.

Clayton B. Austin






  Lt. H. Bird 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.12th Apr 1919)

Lieutenant Bird was attached to the 1st/5th King's African Rifles when he died on the 12th April 1919. He is buried in the Wajir Cemetery in Kenya.

S flynn






  Pte. Charles Henry Smith 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards (d.22nd Nov 1917)

Charles Henry Smith joined the Grenadier Guards at the age of 15, lying about his age. Apparently this was with the permission of his father. Harry as he was known was killed aged 16, weeks after the Battle of Loos. His name is on the Loos Memorial at Dud Cemetery and the Memorial in Ashby De La Zouch. The actual cause of his death is a bit of a mystery as according to the regimental diary his unit was behind the lines at the time of his death - but sporadic sniper fire was reported. He was a stretcher bearer at this time so could go some way to explaining what happened.

Nicola Smith






  L/Sgt. Albert Allan Wood 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.26th Oct 1914)

Albert Alan Wood was my uncle

Kay Smith






  Sgt. Thomas Henry Brain 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.24 Sep 1916)

Thomas Henry Brain was born in Gloucestershire in 1866 to Worthy James Brain and Sarah (Clissold). He was a cloth weaver before he joined the Grenadier Guards. He was 30 when he died in France of wounds and is buried in St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, Seine-Maritime.







  Pte. James George Handford 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.20th Dec 1916)

James Handford was my father's uncle, son of James and Sarah Handford of 19 Peel Street Derby. He was one of five children and was their only son. James worked at the Derby railway works as a spring maker's assistant, and in his spare time played football for a local team and enjoyed fishing. He volunteered in December 1915 aged 25, and, following in the footsteps of his great grandfather, joined the Grenadier Guards. He went to Caterham for training in January 1916 and was sent to France at the end of August the same year.

He died of wounds on 20th December 1916. There are no details in his service record of the nature of the injuries, but a friend of the family who was serving alongside him and saw him in the field hospital told the family that his spine was injured and it's thought that he would probably have been paralysed had he survived. His mother (my great grandmother) never got over his death and wore black from then on. My great grandfather who had been a devout church-goer and lay reader, completely lost his faith.

James' name appears on the large War Memorial near the railway station in Derby which commemorates railway staff who lost their lives. He is buried in Grove Town Cemetery near the French town of Meaulte. His sacrifice has never been forgotten by his family.

Alison Hiscock






  Pte. Samuel Liddle 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards

My grandfather, Samuel Liddle, was born 10/9/1889 and enlisted to the Grenadier Guards pre-war in 1907 on his 18th birthday. His peacetime service was spent with 2nd Bttn in 1907 at Aldershot, 1908 Wellington Barracks London, 1909 in Chelsea Barracks London and 1910 Wellington Barracks where he would have carried out Palace Duties.

In October 1914 he was recalled to The Colours where he went with 1st Bttn to France and was counted as one of the "Old Contemptibles" disembarking at Zeebrugge from the "Turcoman" at 6am on 7th Oct 1914.

He served with 1st Bttn Guards 20th Infantry Brigade under Maj Gen T. Capper at 1st Ypres from 20th - 28th October 1914.He returned to England in 1915 on leave then was sent back to France to join 4th Bttn and remained with them till the end of the war and was discharged in February 1919. On 1/5/1918 he suffered "Gas shell poisoning".

My Grandfather was just an average soldier, no hero as such but by the sheer fact that he served his King and Country in the most horrific conflict ever he is considered by his family as a hero. He was, according to his service history absent on several occasions often referred to as cowardice (maybe?)(wrongly in most peoples opinion considering the horror) due to drunkenness! He served the full term of the war and died in the 1950's as an indirect result of the gassing in 1918.

I am currently trying to research his campaigns and movements and have been sent some very interesting documents from my sister Lynne who still lives in the UK so will update as soon as I can.

Michael Donohue






  Pte. George S. Steed 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards (d.21st Oct 1918)

George S Steed is my father's uncle. He served overseas in the 1st Grenadier Guards. He came home with shrapnel wounds in the head. He died in Torquay later of his wounds on 21st october 1918 aged 25. He was then in the Grenadier Guards, 5th Battalion, 6th Coy and is remembered on two memorials in Torquay, Devon. One is in the public gardens in Torquay near the seafront and the other is on a Commonwealth War Grave Memorial in St Mary Churchyard. He was the son of William Steed and Emma Jane Steed. The local newspaper in Torquay did a feature on him a year or two ago in the paper. The family are very proud of him.

Rosalind Sparkes






  Pte. Charles Henry Trull 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards (d.17th Oct 1915)

Charles Tull was the first of my Great Grandfathers brothers killed in WW1, I will apply to the Grenadier Guards for his service record one day. The only information I have is his obituary which reads:

The first of the four sons of William and Margaret Trull to fall in action. He met his death on the western front on October 17th,, he was only 23 years of age, and had been in the army about 3 years.

Charles may have been killed in very early action at the Battle of Loos, he has no known grave but is commemorated on panels 5-7 of the Loos Memorial.

Jon Eeley






  L/Cpl. Edward George Merrilees 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards (d.14th Sep 1916)

L/Cpl Edward George Merrilees of the 1st Btn Grenadier Guards was born 18 July 1893 Died 14 September 1916 aged 23 he was killed in action on The Somme, France and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial

Sheila Andre






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