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2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment
2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment were in Bermuda when war broke out in August 1914 they returned to England via Halifax, Nova Scotialanding on the 3rd of October. They joined 25th Brigade, 8th Division at Hursley Park, Winchester. The proceeded to France landing at Le Havre on the
6th of November 1914 a much needed reinforcement to the BEF and remained on the Western Front throughout the war. In 1915 they were in action at The Battle of Neuve Chapelle, The Battle of Aubers and The action of Bois Grenier. In 1916 They were in action at the Battle of The Somme. In 1917 they fought in The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and then moved to Flanders and were in action in The Battle of Pilkem and The Battle of Langemarck. On the 4th of February 1918 they transferred to 62nd Brigade, 21st Division. They fought on The Somme then moved north and were in action during the Battles of the Lys, the Battle of the Aisne, The Somme, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy. At the Armistice the 21st Division were around Berlaimont, on the 12th they moved to Beaufort, then in mid December they moved west of Amiens and demobilisation began being completed by the 19th of May 1919.
19th Sep 1914 Divisional HQ Opens
2nd Oct 1914 Concentration
27th Oct 1914 Exercise
29th Oct 1914 Route March
30th Oct 1914 Concentration Complete
31st Oct 1914 Mud
4th Nov 1914 On the Move
5th Nov 1914 On the Move
6th Nov 1914 Delays
7th Nov 1914 Delays
8th Nov 1914 On the Move 
9th Nov 1914 Into Billets
13th Nov 1914 13th Londons on the March
30th Nov 1914 Admitted to Hospital
30th Dec 1914 Message
9th May 1915 The Battle of Aubers Ridge: The Northern pincer 2.30am: all units in the North report that they are in position, having assembled at night.
4.06am: sunrise and all very quiet on this front.
5.00am: British bombardment opens with field guns firing shrapnel at the German wire and howitzers firing High Explosive shells onto front line. Many reports are received that British 4.7-inch shells are falling short, and even on and behind the British front line (Later it is agreed that this is due to faulty ammunition, as well as excessive wear to gun barrels).
5.30am: British bombardment intensifies, field guns switch to HE and also fire at breastworks. Two guns of 104th Battery, XXII Brigade RFA had been brought up into the 24th Brigade front and they now opened fire at point blank range against the enemy breastworks; they blow several gaps, although one of the guns is inaccurate due to the unstable ground on which it is located. The lead battalions of the two assaulting Brigades of 8th Division (24th Brigade has 2/Northants and 2/East Lancashire in front; 25th Brigade has 2/Rifle Brigade, 1/Royal Irish Rifles and 1/13 London Regiment (Kensingtons)) move out into the narrow No Man's Land (in this area it is only 100-200 yards across). German bayonets can be seen behind their parapet.
5.40am: On the further advance the 2nd East Lancs are hit by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire by the time they had progressed thirty yards from their own trench; the 2nd Northants, coming up ten minutes later, were similarly hit, but a party got through one of the gaps blown by the field guns, and into the German front trench. The attack of 25th Brigade is much more successful: the wire on the left had been well-cut and the infantry poured through, crossing the almost-undamaged breastworks and into the German fire trenches. They moved onto the first objective (a bend
in the Fromelles road), and the Rifle Brigade bombers extended the trench system they occupied to 250 yards broad. On the blowing of the two mines at 5.40am, the lead companies of the Kensingtons rushed to occupy the
craters, moved forward to capture Delangre Farm, and then formed a defensive flank as ordered.
6.10am: Brig.Gen. Oxley (24th Brigade) orders the support battalion, 1st Notts & Derbys, to support the attack of the Lancashires, but they are also held up with high losses, at almost unbroken wire. The front and communication trenches are by now very crowded and chaotic; German shelling adds to confusion. By now, the fire across No Man's Land was so intense that forward movement was all but impossible. The support battalion of the 25th Brigade, the 2nd Lincolns, was ordered forward, to cross by the craters; they did so, despite losing many men on the way. Men of the Brigade were at this time seen to be retiring to their front line, having apparently received a shouted order. German prisoners, making their way to the British lines, were mistaken for a counterattack and there was a great deal of confusion. Brig.Gen Lowry Cole, CO 25th Brigade, was mortally wounded when standing on the British parapet in an attempt to restore order.
8.30am: the attack had established three small lodgements in the enemy positions, but they were not in contact with each other and were under tremendous pressure. Otherwise the attack had come to a standstill and all movement into or out of the trench system had become impossible. The men in the German positions were cut off.
8.45am and again at 11.45am: Haig orders Rawlinson (CO, IV Corps) to vigorously press home the attack.
1.30pm: A renewed attack with 2nd Queens of 22nd Brigade in support, did not take place as the troops were heavily shelled in the assembly areas and many casualties were suffered even before the original support lines had been reached. Major-General Gough (CO, 7th Division, whose 21st Brigade had now also been ordered forward by Haig) reported that after a personal reconnaissance he was certain that forward movement was at the present time impossible.
5.00pm: General Haig, hearing of the continued failure of the Southern attack and the hold-up after initial success of the Northern attack, orders a bayonet attack at dusk, 8.00pm.
2nd Battalion Queens (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
9th May 1915 The Battle of Aubers Ridge: Evening and Night 2nd Battalion Queens (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
6.00pm: such chaos in the trench system and on the roads and tracks leading to it that it becomes clear that fresh units will not be ready for the 8pm attack. Haig cancels the attack and rides to Indian Corps HQ at Lestrem, to meet with all Corps commanders to consider the next moves.
7.30pm: the meeting breaks up having decided to renew the attack next day, taking advantage of night to reorganise. Efforts were made throughout the evening to reinforce the small garrisons of the lodgements in the enemy trenches. 26 men of the 2/Northants, of which 10 were wounded, returned to the British front.
2.30am 10 May: the 200 or so surviving Rifle Brigade and Royal Irish Rifles were withdrawn from their position, all efforts to reinforce them having been repulsed.
3.00am 10 May: the last few Kensingtons also returned from their position; all British troops were now out of the German lines. Around this time, First Army HQ, having by now got a good picture of the losses, failures and general conditions, called a Commanders conference for 9.00am, to take place at I Corps HQ on the Locon road, some 1.5 miles from Bethune.
9.00am 10 May: the Army and Corps commanders and staffs in attendance learned that there was insufficient artillery ammunition to continue two attacks. (The Secretary of State for War, Kitchener, had also just ordered a considerable portion of existing stocks to be sent to the Dardanelles); for example there were only some 3,000 18-lbr rounds left, and some of that was way behind the firing positions. They also heard that the 4.7-inch ammunition that had caused problems on IV Corps front was too defective for further use and that the fuzes on 15-inch heavy rounds were also defective and the shells simply did not burst on hitting the wet ground. All further orders for renewing the attack were cancelled at 1.20pm; the views of the conference were transmitted to GHQ. 7th
Division was ordered to move from it's position north of Neuve Chapelle to the south of it, with a view to strengthening a future offensive there.
British casualties from the 9 May attacks continued to move through the Field Ambulances for at least three days after the attack.
More than 11,000 British casualties were sustained on 9 May 1915, the vast majority within yards of their own front-line trench. Mile for mile, Division for Division, this was one of the highest rates of loss during the entire war.
There is no memorial to the attack at Aubers Ridge.
7th Jan 1916 On the March
19th Jan 1916 Reorganisation
1st Jul 1916 In Action
1st Jul 1916 In Action
11th Jul 1916 Inspection
22nd Jul 1916 Reliefs
23rd Jul 1916 Holding the Line
24th Jul 1916 Reinforcements
25th Jul 1916 Reinforcements
26th Jul 1916 Reliefs
30th Jul 1916 Reliefs
31st Jul 1916 In the Fron Line
2nd Feb 1917 In the Trenches
3rd Feb 1917 Reliefs
13th Oct 1917 Reliefs
16th Nov 1917 On the Move
10th Apr 1918 Orders Issued
11th Apr 1918 Advance
16th Apr 1918 Orders
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 with2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Asher Cecil Frederick. Pte. (d.11th Apr 1917)
- Ayres Joseph Edward. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
- Baker William Henry. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Betts Ferguson Henry. Pte. (d.21st March 1918)
- Brown Ernest Charles Robert. Pte.
- Caney George. Sgt
- Caudwell Christopher John. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Child MM. William James. Sgt.
- Cotton Albert Edward. Pte. (d.17th Jul 1915)
- Coulson John. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
- Cunningham William. Pte. (d.21st Jun 1915)
- Dowse VC. John Hutton. Pte. (d.16th October 1916)
- Draper Frank. Pte. (d.11th Nov 1919)
- Drew Henry Thomas. Pte (d.14th March 1917)
- Evans Frank. Pte. (d.8th Jun 1915)
- Gate Albert Hilton . Pte.
- George Bertie. Pte. (d.5th May 1915)
- Hall Charles Fredrick. Pte. (d.8th Feb 1915)
- Hewitt John William. Pte.
- Hiley Frederick. Pte. (d.22nd Jul 1916)
- Hudson Ernest. Pte (d.22th August 1918)
- Isaac Joseph. Pte. (d.27th Feb 1917)
- Jones Walter William. Pte. (d.10th March 1915)
- Jordan Frederick John. Pte. (d.27th May 1918)
- Larkin Patrick. Pte. (d.17th Apr 1918)
- Lee John Herbert. Pte,
- Leese Isaac. Pte.
- Lewis Frank. Pte. (d.26th Sep 1917)
- McGeehan Matthew Patrick. Pte. (d.29th Dec 1914)
- Meredith Ernest. Pte. (d.4th Apr 1917)
- Moore Joseph. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
- Nelson Albert. Pte.
- Petchell Arthur. Pte. (d.10th Mar 1915)
- Pitcher John Willie. Pte. (d.9th May 1915 )
- Reid F. Pte.
- Tasker John Joseph. Pte. (d.31st July 1917)
- Tatam J. W.. Pte. (d.28th Aug 1918)
- Taylor Alfred Benjamin. L/Cpl.
- Watson Albert. Pte. (d.16th Aug 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 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment from other sources.
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Pte. J. W. Tatam 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.28th Aug 1918) J W Tatam was killed in action on the 28th of August 1918 and is buried in the A.I.F. Burial Ground, Somme, France.
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Pte. John Willie Pitcher 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.9th May 1915 ) My great-uncle John Pitcher served with the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment during WW1. He was 19 years old when he died and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing in Belgium. He was the son of William A. and Emma Pitcher of Belmont Mansions, Goldsmith Row, Hackney Road, London.
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Pte. Frank Evans 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.8th Jun 1915) Frank Evans died of wounds in hospital at Boulogne, France, aged 19.
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Pte. John Joseph Tasker 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (d.31st July 1917) It starts with the family tree and becomes a mystery to be uncovered. John Tasker was the brother of my great nan. He was born in Spalding of parents George Tasker and Rebecca Hare White. He had 4 sisters and one brother. His mother died quite young and the family was split up.
Lots of military records have been destroyed from the Blitz so they are a bit thin on the ground. I know that he is on the Roll of Honour at the Ayscoughfee War Memorial. He is also on the daily casualty lists.
His father collected his personal effects including his medals. I believe that he died at Passchendale, although I can't confirm this.
He has no known grave and his name is not on any commonwealth war memorial as yet. I hope this will be rectified soon.
102 years late but never too late to be remembered.
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Pte. Patrick Larkin 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.17th Apr 1918) Patrick Larkin was born in Bootle, Liverpool, but went to Halifax as a boy. He worked in a carpet mill before joining the army.
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Pte. John Hutton Dowse VC. 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (d.16th October 1916) John Dowse was my great great uncle, who I found out about while doing my family tree in 2016. He was killed at the Somme and is buried at Combles Communal Cemetery Extension which I visited in December 2017.
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Pte. Charles Fredrick Hall 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.8th Feb 1915) My great uncle Charles Hall enlisted before the start of the first world war and was sent to Bermuda. He returned to fight in Belgium and France during 1915 and was mortally wounded in February 1915, dying on the 8th February. He is buried at Rue Petillon Military Cemetery at Fleurbaix, France.
Uncle Charlie was buried under the wrong name and remained this way from 1915 until 2007, when after extensive research by my Brother Ronald and my Dad William, he was finally found and identified. This was a great relief for my Dad who always promised his Mum that he would find her brother. The War Graves Commission finally recognised the research done by my family and changed all records to reflect where he was and giving him a new grave stone.
We still honour him every year by wearing his medals and laying a wreath on the local memorial on the 11th November. We involve the families young children in this so that his memory remains.
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Pte. Walter William Jones 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.10th March 1915) Walter William Jones was born in Southwark in 1888. His family moved to West Ham in the early 1900s. All I know about him is from research and the bronze "Widow's Penny" given to me by my late father when he was 90 years old in 1996 and I was told that this was my grandfather. This was the first I had heard of him.
Walter William was in India in 1911 at the time of the Census with the 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, his service number was 641 at this time.
I am not sure where he was between 1911 and 1914 but by then he had joined the 2nd Battalion (service number 8383). I believe that the 2nd Battalion were in Bermuda in 1914. They left Bermuda in August 1914 for Halifax, Nova Scotia then on to England on 3rd October 1914, arriving in France - landing at Le Havre - on 6th November 1914. The 2nd Lincolns were attached to the 25th Brigade, 8th Division.
I presume he was a regular soldier by now as I have read that the 2nd Battalion were mainly regulars.
He was killed at the Battle of Neuve Chappelle on 10th March 1915. He has no known grave and is listed on the War Memorial at Le Touret Military Cemetery.
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Pte. John William Hewitt 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment John Hewitt was my paternal grandfather. He was born on 10th of September 1891 in County Cork, Ireland. He was the son of a professional soldier posted to Ireland to maintain order. His father died in June 1900 in Blomfonteine, South Africa during the Boer War. As a result of this, John with his siblings and mother were brought back to England.
I have no further information concerning his life before and during WW1. He returned to England and worked as a postman in Henley on Thames until his death in 1962.
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Pte. Frank Lewis 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.26th Sep 1917) Frank Lewis was a young man who was scared of thunder and lightning but wanted to serve his country. He served with 2nd and 5th Battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment.
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Pte. Ernest Charles Robert Brown 2nd Btn. Linconshire Regiment Ernest Brown first enlisted as a regular soldier in 1910 and in 1911 was serving with the Battalion in Victoria Barracks, Portsmouth. His service records were among those destroyed in the WW2 Blitz destruction of Army Records, so his details are not available.
His medal record cards indicate that he disembarked in France with the BEF on 5th of November 1914 and served with his Battalion in a number of actions until wounded in August 1915.
He sustained considerable damage to his right hand and arm and back, which effectively disabled him from his previous profession as a time-served carpenter, although he was able to work on small jobs at a home workshop. He was discharged as unfit for further military service on 28th February 1916. He was awarded a disability pension in 1921. He was awarded the War Medal, Victory Medal and the 1914 Star.
He died at home in Charlton, Kent on 17th April 1954, survived by his wife Lily and five adult children and his grandchildren.
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Pte. Frank Draper 1st Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment (d.11th Nov 1919) Frank Draper died after the war. He joined up on 13 August 1919 aged 17yrs and 255 days 5ft 3 and 108 Lbs (he was small. He was posted to 2nd Btn Lincolns 22 Feb 1915 and was wounded in Action 12 March 1915, returning to the UK for convalescence.
He returned to France on 6 July 2015 and joined 1st Btn Lincolns
He was again wounded in action on 18/05/16 and spent 8 days sick before re-joining his Unit.
He was Gassed on or around 15/16 July 1916 and was sent back to the UK on the HS St Denis on 29th July 1916.
He was discharged from Service on 29/09/2016 and attended medical boards reviewing his condition. 07/02/17, 16/08/17, 27/02/18 the last one being 22/01/19.
His pension Chelsea No 64594 for dated 22/Nov/1919 showed he died 11/11/19, 1 year after the end of WW1.
Frank is not on any memorial, but he also was a victim of WW1
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Pte. Albert Nelson 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment My great grandad, Albert Nelson from Hull, served with the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment and 41st Labour Corps, 717 Company.
He enlisted on 27th February 1917 aged 37 and embarked on 12th March at 1917 Folkestone. He disembarked on the 12th at Boulogne and saw action in France and Germany. He was demobilised at Coln on 5th March 1919.
Albert died in 1927 in Sculcoates, Hull, East Yorkshire.
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Pte. Albert Hilton Gate Westmoreland & Cumberland Yeomanry  My grandfather, Albert Gate didn't talk too much about his war. He was one of three stepbrothers from an estate on the Solway Forth in Cumberland. He was born on 28 March 1899 and on the outbreak of war joined up and, coming from a farm with horses, joined the mounted Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry.
At some stage he was dismounted and joined the 2nd Lincolns. The next part of the story I know was that he was in Dublin during the Easter uprising and was a sniper and at some time was on the roof of the Post Office doing his job.
He moved to France and I know he was gassed three times and shelled and injured three times. One of the times he was shelled in no-man's-land and was wounded in the arm by an exploding whizz-bang. The guy next to him was killed.
The last solid thing I know was he was transferred to what became the 3rd Battle of the Aisne positions and was one of the 30 survivors after the German attack. On page 302 of his book "Battle of the Somme" he has recorded this in the margin. He and his two stepbrothers all went to war, all were wounded and all survived. I met both of them with my grandfather at a family funeral in the 1970's.
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Pte. William Henry Baker 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (d.25th Sep 1915) My great uncle William Baker died in the action at Bois Grenier aged 17. He left a battlefield will with the name of W Baker as legatee, also in 2nd Battalion Lincs Regt. Probably his father.
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Pte. Bertie George 2nd Btn Lincolnshire Regiment (d.5th May 1915) Bertie George was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on 17 April 1892 to James Edward George and his wife Eliza Campbell, one of nine children. He enlisted as a private at Aldershot on 23 February 1909 and was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment.
He was in Bermuda with the 2nd Btn in 1914 and disembarked in France in November of that year. His service record states that he was killed in action on 5th of May 1915, but adds "Place not stated". He is one of the missing commemorated in the Ploegsteert Memorial, naming his mother as Mrs Eliza George of Row 46, Market Place, Great Yarmouth.
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Pte. Joseph Isaac 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (d.27th Feb 1917) My Great Grandfather Joseph Isaac served with the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment.
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Pte. Joseph Edward "Neddie" Ayres 6th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (d.1st July 1916) Neddie Ayres was my great-uncle and died on the first day of the Somme. He always wanted to be a soldier but didn't make the grade until volunteers were needed in WW1. He is buried in Blighty Valley Cemetery, near Aveluy in France.
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Pte. F Reid 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment Among our family's effects are medals awarded to Pte. F. Reid, Service no. 8430, 2/LINC:R, which I'm told means 2nd. Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment of the British Army. Who Pte. Reid was and how his medals came into our family is a total mystery. My research shows that 2/Linc. joined the 25th Brigade, 8th Div. on its posting to France from Bermuda around October 19th. 1916 and would have later fought at the Battle of St. Quentin.
My grandfather, Arnold Kemp, served with the AIF during WWI and was killed at the Battle of St. Quentin in September 1918. When I was quite young, my father gave me a signet ring bearing the initials 'FSR', which I'm now wondering might have belonged to Pte. F. Reid.
Any help with this mystery would be appreciated.
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L/Cpl. Alfred Benjamin Taylor 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment My Grandfather, Alfred Benjamin Taylor, was with the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, in Bermuda, at the outbreak of the First World War. He served throughout the war, being demobbed in 1919. He was wounded four times, the first being the most serious and life threatening, and he spent time being treated and convalescing in Bristol.
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