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4th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
4th (Service) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment was based at Lichfield in August 1914 when war broke out. They moved at once to Jersey, remaining there until September 1916 when they moved Marske near Redcar. In June 1917 they moved to Canterbury and proceeded to France on the
10th of October 1917, landing at Le Havre and joining 7th Brigade, 25th Division.
They saw action in the Third battle of Ypres, during The Battle of Pilkem. In 1918 they were in action on The Somme and in the Battles of the Lys, sufferingheavy losses. On the 22nd of June they moved with the remnants of various battalions to form 25th Composite Brigade and transferred to 50th (Northumbrian) Division. On the 11th of July 1918 the battalion was reduced to cadre strength and transferred to 116th Brigade, 39th Division. On the 6th of November the 4th South Staffords were disbanded in France.
27th Nov 1917 Reliefs 
8th Jan 1918 Relief Complete
31st Jan 1918 Aircraft Active
4th Apr 1918 Relief Complete
8th Apr 1918 4th South Staffords under fire Taken from the 4th battalion South Staffords diary: At Ploegstreet Wood. - During the afternoon and evening the enemy artillery registered over the whole of the Battalion Area and back area.
10th of April 1918 Under Attack
10th Apr 1918 4th South Staffords withdraw to The Catacombes Taken form the 4th Battlion South Staffords diary: at Ploegstreet wood.
Enemy Attack opened at about 3.30am by heavy shelling of the back area with Gas shells. At 5:30am opened his barrage on the front and support lines, lasted about an hour, then lengthened to the reserve on about the line of grey farm. C. company in the front Line wiped out. Withdrew to Watchful Post owing to severity of shelling. Ordered to reoccupy position but was unable to do so. Battalion withdrew to the catacombs at 2pm. Ordered to reoccupy old positions and re-occupied at 5pm. Bosche attached at 7pm. Grey Farm garrision held, remainder of the battalion withdrew to hill 63 - position isolated - battalion withdrew to Neuve Eglise.
11th of April 1918 Quiet...and then...
15th of April 1918 A Quiet Day
26th of April 1918 Allied Counter-Attack
29th of April 1918 Under Fire Again
30th of April 1918 Reliefs and Attacks
20th of June 1918 Inspection by Brig-Gen
15th of July 1918 Cleaning Up
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Pte. Joseph Eke 4th (Extra Reserve) Btn. B Coy. South Staffordshire Regiment I recently purchased some WW1 training manuals at auction. Two were stamped 4th South Staffords Regiment, and the third had the handwritten details of Pte Joseph Eke, 9027 stating that his address at the time was The Grand Hotel, St Heliers, Jersey. (It's highly likely that all three manuals once belonged to Private Eke). This all ties in very nicely with the information contained in your website that the 4th South Staffs Regiment were based in Jersey at some point in the war.
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Pte. Alfred James White 4th Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment (d.27th March 1918) Alfred White enlisted in the 4th Special Reserve Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment.
He was my great uncle on my mother's side of the family. He died of wounds. Apparently someone who had served with Alfred visited his mother some time later reporting that Alfred was injured in the trenches trying to warn others. How true this is I cannot say.
His mother and sister later petitioned to have his name added to the Cannock War Memorial, as it was originally missed off.
He is thought to have been wounded at Bucquoy-Ablainzeville-Essarts-Adinfer Wood and is buried at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery.
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Sgt. Francis John Barker 4th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment Despite being 43 at the outbreak of war my grandfather, Jack Barker, insisted on doing his bit. He never saw active service but was involved with the training of the men. The picture shows him and his son, Edward. My grandfather was a master tailor and made this uniform for Edward, then aged 4.
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2nd Lt. Francis Davis DSO. 8th Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment Frank Davis enlisted in 1895 in the Coldstream Guards and was discharged as medically unfit in 1896. In August 1898 he enlisted with the South Staffordshire Regiment and was posted to Ireland, Gibraltar and then South Africa (Boer War). He was awarded the Queens South Africa medal, with clasps for South Africa 1901, Wittenbergen, Transvaal. He then moved between South Africa and India until he was discharged in 1911.
He joined the Army reserve South Staffs. Regt. at the start of WWI and was mobilized in August 1914. In September he was promoted to Sgt. Cook .
In July 1915 he was posted to France with the 8th Battalion. In 1916 he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme at Fricourt on the 3rd July. He was posted home then returned to France in September and posted to 7th Battalion. In June 1917 he was posted to Rhyll, 16th Cadet Battalion for Officer Training. In January 1918 he was commissioned 2nd Lt. in 4th Battalion South Staffs. In May 1918 he fought in the Battle of Aisne.
Extract from 25th Division book:
"2nd Lt. F. Davis 4th South Staffordshire Regt. on the 27th May 1918, in the woods south - west of Cormicy this officer showed great ability as a leader and gallant conduct of the very highest order when the flank of the battalion was completely in the air, with the enemy working round in great strength, he kept his men steady and by his coolness enabled an orderly withdrawal to be effected .
Shortly afterwards when the battalion was almost completely surrounded, he formed a rear guard with the remaining men of his company, and through his very skilful leadership, and by engaging his men at close quarters, enabled the rest of the battalion to withdraw through the bottle neck position, and he then succeeded in extricating his own men.
On the following day south of Prouilly he hung on to a very important tactical position with the utmost resolution though he lost the greater number of his men from heavy shell fire, he himself being wounded. Throughout these two days fighting, his personal disregard for danger was an example to everyone, and his skilful handling of his men saved the battalion on two occasions."
He was awarded the D.S.O.
and in July 1918 was promoted to Lieutenant, possibly with 7th battalion.
In November 1918 he was mentioned in dispatches for an action at Mons/ Maubeuge railway.
In 1919 Acting as Ships Adjutant, he was promoted to Temp. Captain.
Whee he was demobilized on the 11th of November 1919 he was granted the rank of Captain.
Frank served a total 21 years 57 days with the colours, plus 3 years in the reserve.
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Cpl. James Thompson 4th Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment (d.1918) My Uncle James Thompson was posted to the 4th South Staffs and was made a Lewis gunner. In the big German push of 1918 he was left to cover the retreat. Here stories differ. Whether he was wounded in the legs or not his pals left him in a shell hole with his gun and one pan and loose ammunition to recharge it. He was never found which grieved my dad. We have tried for years to find his story. My Uncle Jim was part of my granda's 1st marriage. My dad was part of the second.
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