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

6th (Howe) Battalion, Royal Naval Division



6th Oct 1914 Under Fire

8th Oct 1914 Antwerp Evacuated  The City of Antwerp is evacuated as British and Belgian Forces struggle to hold back the besieging German forces as they closed in on the port:

"Private (sic) William Foster, of Old Fallow, Cannock, who has a remarkable record of assisting at the siege of Antwerp six weeks after enlistment, has a good story to tell of the gallant attempt of the Naval Brigade to check the advance of the Germans, after Antwerp had fallen. Foster, who belongs to the 2nd Naval Brigade, was a member of the Howe division (sic), and his trench was situated in the middle of a churchyard. They were in the trenches for two days and two nights, from Tuesday to Thursday. In the course of the fighting Foster says the bombardment was so terrific that some of the Britishers were driven out of their minds by it. The German artillery was very accurate, and deadly for the most part. When the Naval Brigade first took to the trenches, the German shells did not touch them, but soon one of the enemy aeroplanes appeared overhead, and within ten minutes the trenches were raked with a terrible fire. A great deal of difficulty was experiences because the Germans drove the Belgian refugees before them, and the Naval Brigade had to avoid shooting them, although the Germans continued to fire at the men in the trenches. Foster says that lack of artillery was responsible for the retirement of the British force. It was simply a case of rifles against hundreds of German guns. If they had killed two Germans to every one Englishman, there would have been plenty of the enemy left to march to Antwerp, so at last they had to retire. The retreat from Antwerp was full of peril and incident. The Naval Brigade had to pass between blazing tanks of petrol, over a river on a pontoon bridge. Foster says it was certainly not an orderly retreat, because they had to get out as fast as they could."

K.X/152 Ordinary Seaman William Foster - 6th (Howe) Battalion, Royal Naval Division published in The Lichfield Mercury on 23rd of October 1914

"On the 7th the Marine Brigade was withdrawn to the line of inner forts. The Marines defended this position until the conditions on which we could remain were no longer being fulfilled. A final decision was made on the 8th of October by Mr Winston Churchill (the First Lord) to retreat to the coast." Charles James Black, RMLI.

18th June 1916 Location Souchy II Sector.

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





Want to know more about 6th (Howe) Battalion, Royal Naval Division?


There are:2 items tagged 6th (Howe) Battalion, Royal Naval Division 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

6th (Howe) Battalion, Royal Naval Division

during the Great War 1914-1918.

  • Astles Edgar. AB.
  • Benson Jacob. Able Sea. (d.4th Jun 1915)
  • Charlton Louis. Able Sea. (d.29th Aug 1916)
  • Graham MiiD. Benjamin. Able Sea.
  • Gray MID Rupert. Sub Lt.
  • Hall John Davies. AB.
  • Henderson Nathan. Able Sea. (d.21st May 1917)
  • Lunt Edward. Able Sea. (d.26th Oct 1917)
  • Molyneux Joseph Handford. L/Sea. (d.13th November 1916)
  • Porthouse William. Able.Sea. (d.13th Nove 1916)
  • Shea Michael Joseph. Able Sea. (d.19th Nov 1916)
  • Shipley Robert. Ord.Sea. (d.2nd June 1915)
  • Slack Ernest. Able Sea.
  • Slater Harry.
  • Smith Horace. AB.
  • Thomson James. AB. (d.10th June 1915)

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 6th (Howe) Battalion, Royal Naval Division from other sources.


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  Able Sea. Ernest Slack 6th (Howe) Btn. Royal Naval Division

Ernest Slack was born on 21st July 1896, he enlisted on the 29th of May 1915 and was drafted to Howe Battalion M.E.F. Later, he was detached from Howe Battalion to Stavros whilst serving. On 9th of April 1918, he sustained a gunshot wound to his left wrist and was sent to 20th General Hospital in Dannes, Camiers He was demobilised 22nd of January 1919 at North Camp, Ripon.

Andrew Turner






   Harry Slater 6th (Howe) Battalion

Harry Slater was in the 6th. Howe Battalion, 2nd Royal Naval Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division Said he was at Lille and the Siege of Antwerp in Sept 1914. He was with 2nd Field Ambulance, RAMC on Lemnos then 3rd (RN) Field Ambulance, RAMC in France. From my grandfather's diary, the only parts we can decipher is as follows:
  • 1916 was on Lemnos supporting the end of the Gallipoli Campaign. At Mundros and Portanos.
  • 18 May 1916 sailed back to France on the Franconia
  • 23 May arrive Marseille at 2pm
  • 52 hours in cattle truck on railway to Channel Coast. 30 carriages and 10 cattle trucks. 30 in our truck.
  • 24 May through Rhone Valley, Valence at 5am, Lyon at 9am, Dijon, Les Laumes Alesia. Rainy and wet.
  • 25 May along the River Seine, bypass Paris and saw Eiffel Tower, Deauville and iron works, Juvisy, Versailles, St Germaine, 4.30pm Amiens and left train at 6.30pm at Pont Remy station.
  • 26 May-Wanel near Hallencourt Sleeping in haylofts and farmhouses. Hallencourt is where the 2nd Field Ambulance is. Dad in 3rd Field Ambulance at Wanel.
  • 16 June Marched via Pont Remy to Abbeville. Rail to Bruay via St Pol heading in the direction of the front.
  • 17 June Force-marched.
  • 18 June La Thieuboye near St. Pol. In a barn.
  • 24 June Battle obviously at Arras. Plenty of air activity.
  • 1 July Marched through Villers and St. Venant (Arras) Timberwork and preparation.
  • 9 July Walked to Haverskerque. Drunken Australians. Merville.
  • 21 July Loading at Nieppe Station.
  • 22 July Via Lillers by London bus to Busnes. Coal Mine Area.
  • 8 August March to trenches. Badly damaged village with church, brewery. Advance Dressing Station.
  • 11th August 1916, he wrote in his diary: I finished my birthday, 21st, up in the trenches. Being one of a party of night workers on a bearer post. The position would be some 100 yards from the enemys position and rifle and machine gun bullets were whistling overhead. We were working on top most of the time.
  • 15 August Marched back to Field Ambulance Base.

Very little written between 15 August and 18 September

  • 18 Sept Moved to nearby Bruay
  • 4 October Leave Bruay
  • 5 October arrive Parennes about noon
  • 21 Oct Cookery advanced dressing station.
  • 2 November Agincourt
  • 13 November reported Beamont Hamel in our hands.
  • His normal very full diary became very short in content for the August/December period but on 13 November he recorded: Bombardment at 5-40. Boys over. Go up to old first line. Bob Brand hit. Cpl Dunkley sniped. 1st near shave Sniper. 2nd near shave Shell.
  • 14 November he recorded: Shell hit bearer post. 3rd near shave.
    • Surgeon Forester killed
    • Surgeon Walker killed
    • Chap RB killed
    • Tommy Johnson killed
    • Scales killed
    • Cpl Ted Nelson killed
    • Harold Knight killed
    • Cheetham killed
    • RB Bearer killed
    • RB Patient killed
    • Albert Gill wounded
    • J Lamb wounded
    • Alf Nelson wounded
  • 18 November Leave in buses and stop at Beauval.
  • 19 November Hougencourt
  • 21 November March to Agincourt.
  • 22 November Then to Noulette.
  • 23 November To Lamotte.
  • 24 November Back to Noulette.

    Richard






  •   AB. Horace Smith 8th (Anson) Btn and 6th (Howe) Btn Royal Naval Division

    Horace Smith, born on the 19th of October 1897, enrolled in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the 24th of October and was posted to Anson Battalion, Royal Naval Division. He was sent to France on the 22nd of November 1916 and served with Howe Battalion until 6th of February 1918 when he rejoined Anson Battalion. He was hospitalised a number of times with scabies, gunshot wound to face and a scalded foot. He was reported missing on the 25th of March 1918 on the Western Front and later reported as a prisoner at Wahn Limburg. He was repatriated on the 22nd of November 1918 and demobilised on the 7th of February 1919.

    Mike






      AB. Edgar Astles 6th Howe Btn.

    Edgar Astles was in the Army Reserve on 30th of August 1916 and was posted to the RNVR on 6th of July 1917 and joined the 2nd Reserve Battalion at Blandford for training. The was posted to the Howe Battalion on 31st of December 1917. He was reported missing on 24th of March 1918 and then reported POW at Kriegagefangenenlager, Limburg Lahn 4th of June 1918. It was reported by Netherlands Legation in Brussels that he was a POW in hospital in Braine le Comte, Belgium on the 19th of July 1918 and was moved to Geflg Parchim 16th of August 1918. Edgar was repatriated on the 3rd of December 1918 via Dover and demobilised on the 10th of April 1919 at Prees Heath.

    Mal Astles






      AB. James Thomson Howe Battalion 63rd (Royal Naval) Division (d.10th June 1915)

    James Thomson was my Great Uncle. While researching family history, all that living relatives knew was that he had been killed at Gallipoli.

    Commonwealth War Graves Commission provided the information that we were looking for. He had joined up in 1914, from a seafaring family, but more men than ships so was remustered as a naval infantryman. It is not known if he served in Belgium in 1914, nor how he died. The Division took part in the Third Battle of Krithia but he died shortly after that, so he may have died of wounds. He is buried in Shaw Cemetery, Cape Helles, Gallipoli.

    Bill Cran






      Able Sea. Nathan Henderson Howe Battalion (d.21st May 1917)

    Nathan Henderson's service records show he was killed in action on the 21st of May 1917. The family were informed in 1919 that he was buried in a isolated grave 5 miles north east of Arras. Although his name is on the Arras War Memorial he has no known grave. No details of why he is on the Memorial as his grave was apparently found as above in 1919

    Garry Fraser






      Sub Lt. Rupert Gray MID Howe Btn. Royal Naval Division

    Rupert Gray was a CPO in the RN before joining the Royal Naval Division as an experienced old hand. He served in the Defence of Antwerp and Gallipoli with the Howe Battalion. During the Gallipoli campaign CPO Gray was MID in October 1915 during a fierce encounter at Worcester Barricade. He was commissioned in the field as a Sub lieutenant and returned to the UK for further training and leave. He rejoined the Howe and participated in the taking of Beaument Hamel on 13/14th November 1916. He was severely wounded and buried alive by an exploding shell. He survived but suffered from neurasthenia (shell shock) and was sent as a special case to Lord Knutsford's Red Cross Hospital in London. He then came to Templeton House Hospital before going on to several other convalescent hospitals, mainly at Silwood Park, Sunningdale and Martineau Hospital, Holyport. He was eventually discharged in August 1918 with traumatic neurasthenia.

    Rupert Gray served on HMS Medina during the Dehli Durbar Coronation in 1911 and received the medal and a RN Long Service Medal. No information is available as to his later years and how he was able to cope with his disability. His next of kin was given as Brother 'Thomas' Central Hotel, Wood Street, Northampton.

    Andrew Marsh






      Able Sea. Michael Joseph Shea 6th (Howe) Btn 63rd (Royal Naval )Division (d.19th Nov 1916)

    Michael Shea enlisted on the 19th of July 1915, aged 19, and a week later was attached to 5th Battalion, later he was detached from Howe Battalion to Stavros for duty while serving with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. At some point he was with the 7th Reserve Battalion at Blandford. Sometime late 1915 or early 1916 he was on HMT Lake Michigan on his way to Mudros:West, where he arrived on 10th of January 1916.

    He embarked on HMT Briton on 7th of May 1916 and disembarked at Marseille on 12th of May 1916. The next we know is that he was injured in fighting near the Ancre on 13th of November and died from his injuries on the 19th. He was treated at the 9th Casualty Clearing Station with a Shrapnel Wound.







      Able Sea. Benjamin Graham MiiD. Howe Btn. Royal Naval Division

    Benjamin Graham was my grandfather. He served with the Royal Naval Division and died in 1969 when I was twelve without talking about the war. All I knew was three pictures of sailors on the wall.

    Ben Graham, who was originally from Carlisle returned to England from working in Renfrew, Scotland, to join the Northumberland Fusiliers on 31st Aug 1914 but transferred a week later to RNVR Howe Battalion. Ben’s older brothers Robert and Thomas also joined Howe Battalion over the next six months and although I am not sure if Ben saw service on the western front beforehand, all the three brothers fought at Gallipoli where my Grandfather was “Mentioned in Despatches”. Both he and his brother Robert were invalided back to Blandford with dysentry but the third brother, Thomas was not so lucky as he was killed on the 6th June in the Dardanelles. Ben and Robert were both later sent to France but Robert died, I think, at Gravelle and was buried in Aubigny.

    Ben saw out the war from May 1916 with Anson Battalion and the 188, 189 and 190 Machine gun corps. After the war he returned to Scotland to marry my Grandmother. They also survived the depression and later Ben was an ARP in WW2. I remember he stood up every night for the National Anthem when the TV finished for the night. This research has shown me what a remarkable life the quiet little man led.

    <p>

    <p>

    Kenny Graham






      Able.Sea. William Porthouse Howe Btn. Royal Naval Division (d.13th Nove 1916)

    William Porthouse served in the Howe Battalion, Royal Naval Division, RNVR and died aged 20 on the 13th November 1916. He is remembered at the Jarrow Library and is buried in Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel.

    William was reported wounded and missing in action and was later confirmed as having died from his wounds and buried by the Rev. WR Dugdale 5th Army School of Instruction. Notification of his death was sent to his mother-in-law Mrs M Green 4 Milton Street Jarrow, so there may have been other tragedies within the family.

    William was born in Jarrow 1896, son of George D and Hannah M Porthouse nee Green of Jarrow. In the 1911 census the family is living at 42 South Street, Jarrow, father George (44) is a general labourer in the shipyard with his wife Hannah (40) of 15 years. They had 6 children, 5 of which survived. all are of school age with William (13) the eldest.

    Vin Mullen






      Able Sea. Edward Lunt Howe Bn (d.26th Oct 1917)

    Edward Lunt - Royal Naval Division

    Ted Lunt was born on 7th August, 1893, at Brookfield Farm in Fazakerley, which was in those days just on the outskirts of Liverpool. He was the youngest of seven surviving children and while his two older brothers became farmers and his four sisters all teachers, Ted was apprenticed at Harmood-Banner & Co Accountants in Liverpool itself.

    Not long after the outbreak of war, on 26th September, 1914, Ted enlisted in the Royal Naval Division and after his basic training at Crystal Palace he was drafted to 'C' Company, Howe Battalion. Now an Able Seaman, he went with the battalion to the Mediterranean and took part in a minor action at Kantara on the Suez Canal before landing at Gallipoli on 29th April, 1915. Not long afterwards, on 9th May, in the aftermath of the 2nd Battle of Krithia, Ted was shot in the shoulder and on 14th May he was evacuated from the peninsular. He got as far as Malta before evidently recovering sufficiently to be sent back, returning via Alexandria to rejoin Howe Battalion on 28th June. Many of his comrades had, in the meantime, been killed in the 3rd Battle of Krithia, in which the RND suffered heavy casualties.

    On 8th September, 1915, Ted wrote to his sister Agnes: "Here we are again, fed up with the monotony of existence & especially that of the grub. We sometimes get boiled rice instead of half our ration of jam & we sometimes get raisins and a few figs. Somebody mentioned flies, well it’s getting a little colder now so they are not so troublesome, but previously in the trenches if you stopped wagging your right hand for a moment the bread and jam in your left became covered with flies & while taking your hand to your mouth one or two of the blighters would get on the jam. I will leave out one or two gruesome details or I might turn you against jam for ever. ... Last time up in the trenches we held a kind of sap which was really an old communication trench leading into the Turks trench, our barricade was only forty yards off their trench, we were in it for four days. We only lost one man wounded by a piece of shell one night when a bombardment was on. One night the officer and I pulled down some sandbags, rolled over the parapet & starting at our barricade put coils of trench wire ten yards from the trench & down one side of it up to our main trench. One of the privileges of being leading seaman, the sooner Henderson comes back to his job the better. I was pleased, I don’t think, because last time but one I was in charge of four chaps putting barbed wire up for four hours between the support trench and the firing line. Luckily the ground that time was nearly all sheltered by the high parapet of the fire trench. Of course I don’t want mother to know I go in the trenches at all, you can tell her we are still busy digging trenches, which is true, because our chaps dig saps & trenches every time we go to the trenches..."

    Presumably, Henderson did not come back to his job, as Ted was confirmed as Leading Seaman on 28th September. Like many thousands of men at Gallipoli, he later suffered from disease (Hepatitis A, in his case, from contaminated food or water)- he had only just been discharged from hospital in January 1916 when the peninsular was evacuated. The RND was eventually sent to France, arriving in Marseilles in May 1916- but Ted had been sent home on extended leave in February and didn't rejoin his battalion until 6th June. Evidently, recuperation was protracted- indeed, the photo of him in khaki seems to show signs of jaundice in his face.

    Howe Battalion were sent to the Angres-Souchez sector, near Lens. On 9th September, 1916, Ted wrote: "The lighter Will sent is tres bon and I want another as I left it alight in my pocket and used up half of it. Also send some sulphur ointment as some of my friends are very scabby and have been using it for me. Its a lovely day, I am lying on the grass with a lovely valley stretched in front of me with woods and villages scattered along it. The villages near at hand look a little careworn, sometimes a family lives in a house with the house next door minus a gable end or with half its roof off. In one village live two old ladies of about seventy years of age, they keep an estaminet and sell weak beer to some of the boys, now and again the estaminet runs dry for a day or two. The place is surrounded by ruins and opposite the door stands the remains of the village church. Gee Whiz if the French and Belgians ever get into Germany there will be something doing, I don’t think their officers could control them, and I am sure British troops would sympathise with them. Dilapidated scenes are part of the landscape with us, but with the French they must signify more."

    On 13th November, 1916, the RND (now the 63rd Division) made an assault on the village of Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre, in what would prove to be the last phase of the Somme campaign. After vicious fighting, they captured the village- Ted, however, was again wounded, once more in the shoulder or upper arm. He was invalided to England and recuperated in the General Hospital in Manchester. Again, he recovered and was sent to the RND base at Blandford Camp in Dorset, where on 16th February, 1917, he reverted to Able Seaman at his own request- the reasons for this are unknown. On 14th March he was drafted to France, rejoining Howe Battalion on 28th April, in the aftermath of more heavy fighting at Gavrelle.

    On 26th October, 1917, the RND took part in the opening of the Second Battle of Passchendaele, their role being to make an attack on positions immediately to the northwest of Passcahendaele Ridge, in support of the Canadian Corps on the ridge itself. Being on low-lying ground below the ridge, with the flooded stream of the Paddebeek running across their front, conditions were truly appalling, swamp-like and in places simply impassible. Howe Battalion began in support, but were soon called upon to move through the Anson Battalion around Varlet Farm and press forward to try to cross the Paddebeek. Elements of C Company, including Ted, got through the German positions at bayonet point and succeeded in crossing the stream- at about 9am, a Canadian officer on the ridge spotted a party of about 15 men and one officer on the other side of the water. The Germans then counter-attacked and this little group were forced sideways into the Canadian sector, where some of them eventually found their way back to safety through Canadian lines. Ted, however, was not so lucky. He was shot dead and initially buried by or inside a pillbox. Today, he lies in Poelkapelle Cemetery, to the north-east of Ypres. He was my great-uncle.

    <p>Ted Lund - Army

    <p>Ted Lunt and army buddies

    Chris Fyles






      Ord.Sea. Robert Shipley Howe Battalion (d.2nd June 1915)

    Robert Shipley, 2nd Row (kneeling)

    My Great Uncle Robert Shipley, joined up 2nd Sept 1914 with the Northumberland Fusiliers but was transfered to the Howe Battalion, Royal Naval Division on the 11th September 1914.

    The Howe Battalion did their training at Blandford Camp and were sent as part of the Mediterranean Expedition Force, landing in the Galipolli Landings. He was injured by enemy fire during, I think the 2nd Battle of Kaithia on the 6th of May 1915 which resulted in him being shipped back to the England, where he died of his wounds at Hasslar Hospital, aged 25.

    His death certificate says: "Wounded being struck by enemy rifle bullet sustaining an injury to his spinal cord resulting in paralysis of the lower half of the body". He is buried at Wallsend Church Bank.

    Jan






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