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12th (East Anglia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
12th (East Anglian) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was raised at Bury St. Edmunds in July 1915, as a bantam battalion. In November 1915 they joined 121st Brigade, 40th Division. They proceeded to France on the 6th of June 1916, landing at Le Havre, the division concentrated near Lillers. They went into the front line near Loos and were later in action in The Battle of the Ancre on the Somme. In 1917 they saw action during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, The capture of Fifteen Ravine, Villers Plouich, Beaucamp and La Vacquerie abd The Cambrai Operations, including the capture of Bourlon Wood in November. In 1918 they fought in The Battle of St Quentin and The Battle of Bapaume on the Somme then the The Battle of Estaires and The Battle of Hazebrouck in Flanders, suffering heavy losses. On the 6th of May 1918 the 12th Suffolks were reduced to cadre strength and on the 16th of June transferred to 43rd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division and returned to England the following day. They were reconstituted by absorbing the 16th Suffolks and retruned to France on the 5th of July 1918, landing at Boulogne. The Division joined Second Army, seeing action at Ypres 1918 and in the final advance in Flanders
18th June 1916 Church Parade
6th July 1916 Artillery Active 
7th July 1916 Reliefs
29th July 1916 Reliefs
20th August 1916 Reliefs
27th August 1916 Relief of two companies.
28th August 1916 Relief Completed
1st September 1916 Reliefs
19th September 1916 Reliefs
27th September 1916 Reliefs
1st October 1916 Preliminary Operation Order.
3rd October 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order No. 24.
4th October 1916 Relief Orders
4th October 1916 120th Infantry Brigade O.O.32
5th October 1916 Reliefs
7th October 1916 Instructions
10th October 1916 Battalion Order
10th October 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order No. 28.
10th October 1916 Table of Reliefs
10th October 1916 Table of Reliefs
10th October 1916 Instructions
11th October 1916 Orders
11th October 1916 Orders Updated
11th October 1916 Trench Raid
12th Oct 1916 Reliefs
13th October 1916 Reliefs Complete
16th October 1916 Orders
16th October 1916 Order of Relief Table
19th October 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order 30
20th October 1916 121st Brigade Order No. 30. received.
21st October 1916 Orders
21st October 1916 Order of Relief Table
21st October 1916 Reliefs
22nd October 1916 Orders
25th October 1916 Transport
26th October 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order 32
26th October 1916 March Table
26th October 1916 Billetting Arrangements
28th October 1916 l2lst Infantry Brigade Order No.33.
28th October 1916 Billeting Arrangements
1st November 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order 34.
1st November 1916 March Table
3rd November 1916 Orders
3rd November 1916 121st Infantry Brigade HQ
3rd November 1916 Lorries
3rd November 1916 Instructions
11th November 1916 Brigade scheme
14th November 1916 Brigade scheme
15th November 1916 121st Brigade Order No.39.
16th November 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order No.40.
17th November 1916 March Table
17th November 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order 41 ( B.O.O.41 )
17th November 1916 March Table Issued with 121st Infantry Brigade Order 41 ( B.O.O.41 )
21st November 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order 44 ( B.O.O.44 )
21st November 1916 March Table B.O.O.44
22nd November 1916 Reference to Brigade Preparation Order of today
22nd November 1916 121st Infantry Brigade O.O.45. ( B.O.O.45. )
30th December 1916 121st Infantry Brigade Order 52
30th December 1916 March Table B.O.O.52
15th Mar 1917 Reliefs
3rd Jun 1917 Reliefs
27th Jun 1917 Reliefs
28th Jun 1917 12th Suffolks bring in a prisoner 12th Suffolks bring a German prisoner into the Liaison at Gonnelieu
30th Nov 1917 Congratulations
31st of March 1918 Relief Completed
1st Apr 1918 Reliefs Complete
2nd Apr 1918 Moves
3rd Apr 1918 Quiet
4th Apr 1918 Quiet
5th Apr 1918 Orders
6th Apr 1918 Reliefs Completed
7th Apr 1918 Reorganisation
9th Apr 1918 In Action
9th Apr 1918 In Action
9th Apr 1918 Line Held
10th Apr 1918 In Action
10th Apr 1918 Enemy Attacks
30th of April 1918 Reports
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 12th (East Anglia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment? There are:5308 items tagged 12th (East Anglia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment available in our Library
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 with12th (East Anglia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Atkins Moses. Pte.
- Brown William Henry. Pte. (d.16th June 1917)
- Brown William Henry. (d.16th June 1917)
- Cooper Harry. Pte. (d.14th April 1918)
- Dodd Charles Frederick. (d.10th Apr 1918)
- Fensome William. Pte (d.20th September 1916)
- Griffiths Arthur Ivor. 2nd Lt. (d.3rd Aug 1917)
- Griffiths John. Pte.
- Hanslow W. Pte. (d.19th Sep 1916)
- Holmes MM. Edgar Elijah. L/Cpl. (d.26th Sep 1917)
- King Thomas William. Pte.
- King Thomas William. Pte.
- King Thomas William. Pte.
- Knock Robert Edwin. Pte.
- Moyes Arthur William. Pte. (d.6th Jan 1918)
- Robinson Gerald W . Pte. (d.9th April 1917)
- Sillett David Arthur. Pte. (d.27th Apr 1918)
- Smith Arthur Henry. Pte
- Smith Cecil Springett. Cpl.
- Smith Sidney Charles. Pte.
- Thomas George. Pte. (d.12th April 1918)
- Willmott Harry. Pte.
- Wright Joseph Henry. Pte. (d.6th Jan 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 12th (East Anglia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment from other sources.
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Pte. Sidney Charles Smith 15th Btn. Suffolk Regiment Sidney Charles Smith was born at Darsham, Suffolk, son of Abraham Smith and Charlotte (Nee Hambling). He married Rose Ann Norman in 1904. He enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment on the 4th May, 1915. Served in France and was wounded three times. He was discharged on the 8th February, 1919. His name is on the Roll of Honour inside All Saints Church, Darsham. After the war Sidney learned the shoe trade under Messrs Ives at Halesworth under the government's rehabilitation scheme. He became a boot repairer. In 1923 he became the village Postman at Darsham. He served as the village Postman for the ext 34 years. He died at Darshamon the 11th May, 1960.
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Pte. David Arthur Sillett 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.27th Apr 1918) David Silett was taken prisoner during the offensive at Cambrai during November 1917 and transferred to a POW camp in Germany. He died on 27th of April 1918 of wounds received and is buried in Cologne South Cemetery.
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L/Cpl. Edgar Elijah "Edward" Holmes MM. 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.26th Sep 1917) Edward Holmes was born in 1896. He joined the 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment in Ipswich. On the 16th of January 1915 the Battalion arrived in France. At some point he was transferred to the 9th Battalion as he was in this Battalion when he was awarded his Military Medal in 1916 (the award was announced in the London Gazette on the 27th of October 1916), I haven't been able to find out what he did to be awarded the Medal.
He died of wounds on the 26th of September 1917, his name is on the Thiepval Memorial, I have visited Thiepval and seen his name.
According to the war diary of the time the 12th Battalion was in or near the town of Gonnelieu which is near Cambrai, in September 1917.
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Pte. Thomas William King 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment My wonderful father, Tommy King was less than 5ft tall and was in the Bantams, I think.
After suffering terrible injuries he was in the Labour Corps. Any help to find out more would be so kind, at 77 time is not on my side.
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Pte. Gerald W Robinson 13th (Kensington) Btn. London Regiment (d.9th April 1917) Private Gerald W Robinson, lived in Ampthill and enlisted in Southampton. Initially served with 12th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment (service no.23436) then with the 13th (County of London) Battalion, (Princess Louises Kensington Battalion), London Regiment (service no.493900). He was killed in action on 9th April 1917 in France and Flanders and is buried in London Cemetery, France. He is remembered on both The War Memorial and The Alamada, St. Andrews Church, Ampthill. Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com
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Pte. W Hanslow 12th (East Anglian) Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.19th Sep 1916) I purchased one of the Somme 100 brass poppies last year after spending 4 days on self-arranged Somme Battlefield tour. I was fortunate to receive the poppy with a card to say that the pin commemorates the life of Pte W Hanslow. He is commemorated at the Noeux-Les-Mines Communal Cemetery.
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William Henry Brown 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.16th June 1917) William Brown was my Great Great Uncle.
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Pte. Harry Cooper 12th Service Battalion Suffolk Regiment (d.14th April 1918) Harry Cooper was the son of Mr and Mrs Hartley Cooper of Wheathead Farm, Whitewell Bottom, Rossendale, Lancashire. He was employed as a butcher's assistant before the outbreak of WW1. The local paper (The Rossendale Free Press) reported that he died of severe gunshot wounds in Etaples, France where he is buried. Harry's death is recorded on the family grave stone in Lumb Baptist Churchyard Rossendale with the inscription "none knew him but to love him".
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Pte. George Thomas 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.12th April 1918) George Thomas was the youngest child of a family of 10 girls and 1 boy (George) from the cotton town of Blackburn in Lancashire. The family story was that George enlisted following pressures from other mill workers in 1917. He went to France and within a few weeks was in action in the last big German offensive, with the 12th Suffolks being engaged in bitter fighting around Nieppe on 11/4/1918. The unit then withdrew to La Creche and moved on to Strazelle where they dug in. George was killed on 12/4/1918 at the age of 19. The fighting flowed backwards and forwards and George was never recovered into a named grave and is now remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial. Sadly, his mother Edith never managed to travel to France to see that memorial.
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Pte. William Henry Brown 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.16th June 1917) William Brown was my great great uncle, brother to my great grandfather.
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2nd Lt. Arthur Ivor Griffiths 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment (d.3rd Aug 1917) Arthur Griffiths is buried in Fins New British Cemetery, Sorel-Le-Grand.
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Pte. Harry Willmott 9th Btn. Suffolk Regiment Harry Willmott enlisted on the 20th of March 1916 at Bury St. Edmunds at the age of 32. He was assigned to the 9th Suffolk Regiment who left Folkestone on September 7th 1916 for Etaples near Boulogne, in France, arriving September 8th. On September 19th he joined the 9th Battalion.
Harry was reported missing on the 21st of March 1918 whilst serving with the 12th battalion.
He was captured by Germans on 22nd of March 1918 and was held at Altdamm and Perchim, but was released on the 14th of Dec 1918.
He returned home to March.
His nephew Pte. Francis Willmott (1880) Cambridgeshire Regiment, gave his life June 28th 1915, and his name is remembered on a plaque at the March, Cambridgeshire memorial.
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Pte. Joseph Henry Wright 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment (d.6th Jan 1918) Joseph Henry Wright served with the Suffolk Regiment 12th Battalion and died on the 6th of January 1918.
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Pte. Thomas William King 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment Thamas William King was born in East London on March 25th 1894. He served with the Suffolk Bantams in WW1 and was very badly injured and treated on the Front Line.
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Pte Arthur Henry Smith 12th (Bantams) Suffolk Being short of stature Arthur, younger brother of my maternal grandfather, Cecil Springett Smith, joined the Suffolk Regiment as a "Bantam".
He remained in France after WW1 and married a local girl.
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Cpl. Cecil Springett Smith 12th (Bantams) Suffolk Regiment Cecil Smith was my maternal grandfather. I have no knowledge of his service history beyond that he was a corporal in the Suffolk Bantams. He had volunteered at the beginning of the war but was rejected as he was only 5ft 6".
He never talked about any combat but when, as a young child, I sat at his knee he told me tales of marching in France. My only real recollection of such tales was one around the fact that he smoked a pipe. Having grown up in the country and worked as a farmhand, thatcher and repairer of farm carts he had learned how to keep his pipe alight by placing a tightly folded green plant leaf, (such as a burdock or thistle) in the top of the bowl. This would keep the tobacco in the bowl and reduce the amount of air getting to it. When the order was given to "stand easy" he would pull the pipe out of his pocket, discard the leaf and give it a couple of hard puffs to get it going again. Apparently on one occasion they paused for a rest break on a route march and, seeing the smoke appear almost instantly the sergeant commented "you got that lit up quick corporal!"
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Pte. Thomas William King 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment Tommy King was my wonderful father who was born in Bermondsey (London's East End) on March 25th 1894. He was educated at Holy Trinity Church school and his mother, Elizabeth King (nee Carr), cleaned the church most of her adult life. His father, John James King, was a Hop Porter. Dad used to talk about Peak Freans, Oxo etc. who were based in the East End too. Dad worked at some time on the docks. He was also (after the war) a wood block floor layer with a firm called Hollis Brothers from London.
Because he was scarcely five feet tall I suspect that he was in the Bantams. Following a brief period of training dad was sent to France in about October 1916 and was posted to Loos. He was severely injured when a grenade went off in his hand causing severe damage to his back and side, and the loss of a finger. Following emergency first aid on the front line he was brought back to England and spent some time at the Red Cross Convalescent home at Newlands Corner,near Guildford. From there he went with other soldiers to Shoreham. When the military staff considered that he was fit enough again they put him to work in the Labour Corps.
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