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13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade
13th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade was raised at Winchester in October 1914 as part of Kitchener's Third New Army and joined 21st Division as army troops. After training close to home they moved to Halton Park and spent the winter in billets in High Wycombe from November. In April they moved to Andover and transferred to 111th Brigade still with 37th Division. They proceeded to France on the 31st of July, landing at Boulogne and marched across France to going into the reserve for the British assault at Loos on the 26th of September suffering heavy casualties. In 1916 They were in action in the Battles of The Somme, including The Battle of Morval in which the Division captured Geudecourt. In 1917 they were in action during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the Arras offensive, the Third Battles of Ypres and The Cambrai Operations. In 1918 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 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.
Oct 1914 13th Battalion formed in The Rifle Brigade 13th (Service) Battalion The Rifle Brigade was formed at Winchester in October 1914 as part of Kitchener's Third Army and attached as Army Troops to 21st Division.
1st Nov 1914 On the Move
1st Apr 1915 Move
22nd July 1915 Advance Party
28th July 1915 On the Move
29th July 1915 On the Move
31st July 1915 13th Rifles proceed to France 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade land at Boulogne with 111th Brigade, 37th Division.
1st Aug 1915 On the Move
3rd Aug 1915 In Billets
4th Aug 1915 On the Move
5th Aug 1915 On the Move
8th Aug 1915 Training
1st July 1916 Smoke 
2nd July 1916 Reliefs
3rd July 1916 Shelling
4th July 1916 Reliefs
5th July 1916 Orders
1st Sep 1916 Orders
4th Sep 1916 Inspections
13th Sep 1916 Orders
16th Sep 1916 Orders Received
17th Sep 1916 Reliefs
8th Oct 1916 Orders
9th Oct 1916 Reliefs Completed
13th Nov 1916 On the March
14th Nov 1916 Attack Made
21st of December 1916 Ferme Cour d'Avoue Shelled
9th April 1917 37th Divison move up at Arras 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade with 37th Division were in reserve initially at the launch of the Battle of Arras. After initial success the 37th moved up through the lines to continue the attack. This was the area of the Brown Line and having reached here, the 37th Division was brought up through the other Divisions in order to carry the attack into Monchy.
This was supposed to have happened on the evening of 9 April, but a sudden turn in the weather made advancing much more difficult. It was so cold that men would freeze to death during the night. That evening the 37th continued the attack in the face of snow past Feuchy Chapel reaching an area known as Orange Hill to the south-east of Monchy
10th April 1917 Attack Made It was only on the night of 10 April that the 37th Division including 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade and its six supporting tanks were in a position to consider mounting an attack on Monchy. The attack was delivered with the 11th Brigade on the left facing Monchy and the 112th on their right advancing towards La Bergère crossroads (where you will see the Windmill CWGC Cemetery and turn left towards Monchy). Standing up on this hill by the monument you get an immediate understanding as to why the village was so important and why the Germans had spent such a long time fortifying it (The Newfoundland Caribou is erected on top of a German bunker).
The attack got off to a bad start. At 0500 hours on a freezing cold morning the infantry and tanks set off across the snow, but the artillery was late in getting into position and when they did eventually open their bombardment they began by shelling the advancing troops who had not been warned of any postponement. Amongst the numerous casualties of this friendly fire was one of the tanks.
By 0900 hours though, Monchy was in British hands. The Germans launched a number of counter-attacks but these were driven off.
The village remained in Allied hands until it was abandoned during the German Spring offensive of 1918. Monchy was finally retaken again by the Canadians on 26th of August 1918 over three days and at remarkably little cost in terms of casualties, General Allenby's 3rd Army had made remarkable gains.
10th Apr 1917 Attack Made
11th Apr 1917 Village Taken
12th Apr 1917 Reliefs
6th May 1917 In Action
1st Jun 1917 Relief
1st Sep 1917 Holding the Line
2nd Sep 1917 Relief
7th Sep 1917 Relief Complete
11th Sep 1917 Reliefs
14th Sep 1917 Reliefs
18th Sep 1917 Patrols
19th Sep 1917 Training
27th Sep 1917 Orders
21st August 1918 Attack Made
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, Rifle Brigade during the Great War 1914-1918. - Amos Thomas Harry. Rfmn.
- Ansell John George. Rflmn. (d.18th April 1917)
- Arnold MM Arthur James. Pte
- Bissmire Alfred. Rflmn.
- Blakey Thomas Muir. Rfmn. (d.10th Jul 1916)
- Bowhill Wilfred Thompson .
- Brackenbury Frederick. Pte.
- Bromwich Harry Edward. Rfmn. (d.30th Jul 1917)
- Brooks MSM William Joseph. Pte
- Burch Robert Henry.
- Butchers Ernest. Rflmn. (d.13th Aug 1918)
- Butzbach Arthur Stanley. L/Cpl. (d.5th Jun 1917)
- Carling Thomas. Rfmn. (d.1st July 1916)
- Clarke Harry. Rfmn. (d.31st May 1917)
- Cooke William Matthew. Sgt.
- Cozens Albert Edward. L/Cpl. (d.28th April 1917)
- Dean William John. Rfmn. (d.23rd Nov 2018)
- Douglas MM. Peter. Pte.
- Gildersleve Thomas. Rfmn. (d.14th Nov 1916)
- Hall James Benjamin. Sgt.
- Hoath Harry Gardner. Rflmn. (d.16th Jul 1916)
- Howell Robert. Rflmn. (d.1st Oct 1918)
- Hyslop William Joseph. Pte.
- Ingram Percival St.John. Rflmn. (d.23rd April 1917)
- Ingram Percy St John. Rfmn. (d.24th Apr 1917)
- Lee Stephen. Sgt. (d.28th April 1917)
- Musslewhite William John. Pte. (d.29th April 1917)
- Pitt John. Rflmn. (d.14th March 1916)
- Polden William James. Rflmn.
- Polden William James. Rfmn.
- Polden William James. Rfn
- Pollard Frank. Sgt. (d.23rd August 1918)
- Quilty MID Fredrick Richard. L/Sgt. (d.8th May 1918)
- Robinson William. Rfm. (d.10th Jan 1918)
- Smith Joseph John. Rflmn.
- Snape MM John. Cpl.
- Thorne Edward Albert. Pte.
- Thornley Joseph. Rfn. (d.11th April 1917)
- Trott Frank. Pte. (d.7th November 1918)
- Winnett William Arthur. Rfm. (d.11th Apr 1917)
- Winter William. Rfmn. (d.23rd April 1917)
- Wood MM. Leslie Milford. L/Cpl. (d.20th Jul 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
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Rflmn. Robert Howell 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.1st Oct 1918) Robert Howell was killed in action on the 1st of October 1918, aged 20. Buried in the Bancourt British Cemetery, France, he had been born in Bromley, Kent. Son of Robert & Susan Howell (nee Fuller), of 37, Star Lane, Canning Town, London. They had 14 children.
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Rfmn. William James Polden 16th (St Pancras) Btn. B Coy Rifle Brigade William Polden was conscripted into the army on either the 11th or 12th of July 1916. He trained with the 5th (Garrison) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, as part of the Medway Garrison based at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey and was then transferred to the 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade.
After going AWOL for a short time, he was then transferred again, this time to the 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade.
In November of 1917 William was evacuated to the General Hospital in Camiers, France via the 17th Casualty Clearing Station, with severe bronchitis.
The following year, in August 1918, William was announced as wounded in the daily Casualty Lists produced by the War Office (this was believed to have been by a mustard gas attack).
After surviving the war, William passed away in 1935, aged 54, due to respiratory problems, most likely a result of the damage caused by the bronchitis and exacerbated by the gas attack the following year.
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Rfmn. Harry Clarke 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.31st May 1917) Harry Clarke's mother and father were George and Betty Clarke.
He was married to Violet and they had a son aged 7.
Before the war Harry worked in a cotton mill in Rochdale.
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Rflmn. Ernest Butchers 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.13th Aug 1918) Ernest Butchers is my great uncle born March 1899 and died in August 1918, aged 19.
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Rfmn. William John Dean 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.23rd Nov 2018) William Dean was wounded on the 4th of November 1918 in an operation that started at 04.15am from Chissignes. It was a successful operation. William was wounded in action and unfortunately died from his wounds on 23rd ofNovember 2018 in hospital in London. He is buried in a cemetery in Paddington.
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Rflmn. William James Polden 5th Battalion Rifle Brigade William James Polden was my grandfather born in 1881.
He joined the Army on the 12th of July 1916 and after training with the 5th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, as part of the Thames Garrison based on the Isle of Sheppey, he was stationed in France at some stage between late 1916 or early 1917, serving initially overseas with with the 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade. During the course of the War William was transferred again, this time to the 16th Battalion, ending the War back with the 13th Battalion late in 1918. A major battle he was part of was the Third Battle of Ypres.
My late father informed me that William was mustard gassed during the war and as a result, died aged 54 from complications that had set in in later life.
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Wilfred Thompson Bowhill 13th Battalion Rifle Brigade My grandfather, Wilfred Bowhill was a stretcher bearer. He was wounded three times, once in the back of the neck, once in the chin and once through his leg. My grandfather didn't speak about the war but he did say that hearing men caught on barbed wire in the battlefield and being unable to help them was distressing. Apparently he was separated from his battalion after the armistice and found himself in a farm house, alone. There was a German soldier in the same predicament and they spent some time together. At the time they separated there was a decorative bow on the wall of the house that they halved. My uncle has a walking stick made from the half my grandfather took with him.
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Pte. William Joseph Hyslop 2nd Btn. Rifle Brigade William Hyslop served during World War 1 in The Rifle Brigade with the 2nd and 13th Battalions and with the 11th Kings Royal Rifle Corps from Nov 1914 till Feb 1919. At some time, he suffered from a gas attack, and in the last weeks of the war was captured. His details are part those records lost in 1942 due to enemy action.
Unable to find work on discharge, he volunteered to join the BEF intervention in Russia, to fight the Bolsheviks. This campaign ended in Sep 1919. He received a copy of Bolos & Barishynas, the doings of the Sadleir-Jackson Brigade. In his copy he has written details including 45th Batt Royal Fusiliers Reg. No.128992. No.1 Machine Gunner.
Several years later in civilian life, his health started to deteriorate as an effect of gassing. However, according to his family, his application for a pension was rejected on the grounds he could not prove the effect resulted from gas attacks in World War 1.
As his grandchild I can recall the agony suffered by the destruction of one lung and the slow decay of the other. He died in 1951.
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Sgt. William Matthew Cooke 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade  Billy Cooke enlisted into the Rifle Brigade aged 20 years of age, on 31st of August 1914. He was the son of Alfred and Ellen Caroline Cooke of 145 Latchmere Road, Battersea, London.
He fought in many of the major offensives, including Ypres, Somme and Arras etc. He quickly attained the rank of Cpl and was later promoted to Sjt in the field. After the Armistice was signed he came home for a short visit and had a photograph of himself taken in his uniform and signed it "Yours Ever.... Billy" on 15th of January 1919 he then returned to France and Belgium to "Clean the Trenches Up", sadly he contracted Influenza and was taken to the 55 Clearing Station at Charleroi and on 2nd of February 1919 he died, he was 24 years of age. He is buried at Charleroi Communal Cemetery and his family had inscribed at the base of his grave stone the words "Till we meet again".
A letter that Billy wrote along with a pressed poppy was discovered preserved in between the pages of a Brigade Book that the family had kept. The letter dated Friday 16th of June 1916 is faithfully copied below:
This day last year are full of memories for me
Dear Dad,
I received your usual weekly letter last night, I was beginning to wonder, when it was coming. I get to expect it more and more. I am so glad that you were cheered up by my letter and to note the cheerful tone of yours, that is the way old sport, don't give way, but keep smiling the good day that is coming is getting nearer and nearer. I thought Gran would be pleased with the cards. I saw them on a little shop out here and they put me so much in mind of Gran and her old occupation of darning socks that I couldn't resist buying them. I am glad to hear Bert is getting on ok. I have not heard from him again yet, I send him a card every other day and have written him two letters, so that it is his turn to write to me and I am anxiously looking forward to hearing from him. I hope he is transferred to the RGA but I expect it is one of the camp rumours that are always floating around. I am afraid there is not much news from this end. The weather is hardly what one would expect for the time of year, very raw and damp. We have got a decent size rat trap and put it outside the dugout door, we captured 65 in two days and a half. They had a glorious death. First of all we got them out of the trap into a sand bag then drowned them in the urine tub with plenty of Chloride of Lime added. The rats are in mourning round our way now I can tell you.
I have been collecting a few wild flowers from the old trenches round about which I enclose I hope Mum will like them, I will get some more specimens if I can. Many thanks for the trouble you have taken with regard to the bacca I will let you know when I receive it. I think I can manage it all myself unless a pale runs short and I oblige by selling him a tin cheap. I believe it is put up in 1/4lb tins. You see it will keep ok in the tins. Before we came up this time Johnny and I bought 1lb in 1/2oz packets between us and we are drawing near the end. I should think it would last about 1 month. I will let you know when to order the next lot. It is most extraordinarily cheap. I will send you a P.O. in the near future, say about 2 weeks, D.V. so don't get the wind up if you get a registered envelope.
Well Dad I can't think of much else so will wish you farewell.
Yours Billy
P.S. I can always sell a tin of Nougling. If I want to easy --- they jump at it. what!
Is Wakeling up yet.
Love to all
Billy was often spoken about by the family and deeply missed yet always remembered.
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Pte. Peter Douglas MM. 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade Peter Douglas was a comrade of William Beasley VC who was awarded the Military Medal for the same action at Bucquoy for taking a German position under extraordinary circumstances, he was awarded the Military Medal for his part in this action.
Peter was wounded in the leg, something he referred to as a bee sting. He never spoke about the details of the war and died aged 93.
A beautiful father to my Mother, Father in Law to my father, Grandfather to my Brother and I but sadly Alzheimer's robbed him of the joy of his twin Great Granddaughters that he would have loved dearly as the man he was.
Sadly I have been unable to find his service records and have only found this incredible history by research. He started active service in May 1915.
Rest his beautiful soul.
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Pte. William John Musslewhite 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.29th April 1917) William Musslewhite was 37 years old and a father of five small children when he was killed on 29th April 1917 in an attack on Greenland Hill in the Battle of Arras. He is remembered on the Arras Memorial.
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Rflmn. Alfred Bissmire 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade Alfred Bissmire served for two years and seven months in the 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade. He then enlisted into the 4th Btn. when the 13th was disbanded. This Btn. went to Quetta, Karachi, India. He returned after three years and was demobbed in 1922. He died in 1975 aged 81.
Alfred was born in Hoxton Old Town, London in 1894. His family had five sons in France during the war. One brother, Harry Bissmire, was killed during the Somme battle in 1916 serving with the 7th Essex Regiment.
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L/Cpl. Albert Edward Cozens 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.28th April 1917) Albert Cozens was my grandfather, he died of wounds received in the Battle of Arras. He was aged 29 and left a wife and three small sons.
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Sgt. Frank Pollard 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.23rd August 1918) Frank Pollard was a Christmas Day baby, born five months after his father's death in a train crash. He was looked after by his sister who was six years older than him as their mother had to go to work after her huband's death to support her four children. Frank was reported missing in action and the family never really knew what had happened to him. In fact, he was shot by a German sniper en route from Achiet le Petit to Achiet le Grand, part of the final push against the Germans.
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Pte. Edward Albert Thorne 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade Following the war, my grandfather Bert Thorne was secretary to the Old Comrades Association for the rest of his life, for which he was awarded an MBE. Memorabilia from that time is housed in a display cabinet in the regimental museum, Winchester and there is a plaque to his memory in the chapel.
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Rflmn. John George Ansell 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.18th April 1917) Jack Ansell was mortally injured in the assault of Monchy le Preux on Wednesday 11th April 1917. He was transferred from the battlefield to Etaples for treatment.
He was his mother's first child, just 19 years old. She received a message that he was badly injured and travelled to Dover to catch the first available ferry in order to see him. Sadly, the weather was too unfavourable and the ferry was delayed. When she did finally arrive at the field hospital in Etaples he was no longer alive in the ward, he had died on 18th of April. His mother had to identify his body lying outside covered in a tarpaulin, awaiting burial. His grave can now be found in the Etaples cemetery.
The brigade chaplain, Lieutenant Chamberlen's "Account of Arras", written in 1932, records the progress of the 13th Rifle Brigade from 9th to 15th April, during which only 40% of the battalion survived alive or uninjured. Using the trench maps one can trace the route taken by the battalion during this assault.
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Sgt. Stephen Lee 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.28th April 1917) Stephen Lee served with the 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade.
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Rflmn. Percival St.John Ingram 13th Battalion Rifle Brigade (d.23rd April 1917) Percy Ingram was born in Highbury, London on the 22nd of March 1896. he was killed in action in the Second Battle of Scarpe. he had formerly served as R/18782 of KRRC. he was no War Grave, only an inscription on the Arras Memorial in France and on the Southampton Cenotaph.
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Rfmn. Harry Edward Bromwich 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.30th Jul 1917) Harry Edward Bromwich was my great uncle; my grandfather's brother. They both fought in the war, and the story goes that they were both fighting in the Battles on the Somme in 1916. They were each in separate battalions and passed each other acknowledging each other as they passed with a wave of the hand. Sadly, that was the last time they saw each other as Harry was later killed. He is buried in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension in France.
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Rflmn. Harry Gardner Hoath 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.16th Jul 1916) Rifleman Harry Gardner Hoath received shell wounds to his leg on 11th July 1916; he later died from these wounds.
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