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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. Herbert Bray
British Army 1/5th Btn. East Lancashire Regiment
from:Burnley, Lancs
(d.26th June 1915)
Herbert Bray died of wounds on the 26th of June 1915 aged 44 and is buried in the Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was the father of Allan Bray of 74, Milton St., Burnley
Pte. James Henry Bray
British Army 6th Battalion Manchester Regiment
from:Ardwick
I am looking for any pictoral history of my Great Granddad Pte. J.H. Bray, if anyone has any photos, my family would be extremly grateful.
Pte. John Henry Bray
British Army Army Service Corps
My sister Irene and I are looking for a photo of our Grandfather, or any information about him, as we have never seen him. The photographs that existed of him have long been lost. His name was J. H. Bray, we think the J. H. stood for John Henry. The reason we are asking is that we have found a medal that belonged to him. Printed on one side of the medal are the words "THE GREAT WAR OF CIVILISATION 1914 - 1919" and the other side is what seems to be an Angel. Round the edge of the medal are the words " M2 - 049076 PTE. J. H. BRAY A.S.C.". Thank you for taking time out to read this letter, and in anticipation Thank you for your help.
Pte. John Bray
British Army 9th Btn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers
from:Dublin
(d.16th Aug 1917)
John Bray was the son of John and Ann Bray, of 4, Grants Row, Dublin; and husband of Minnie Bray, of 30, Wentworth Place, Dublin. He served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers 9th Battalion and was killed in action in Flanders in August 1917, aged 25. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
John Edwin Bray
Royal Navy HMS Commonwealth
from:Tottenham, London
John Bray was the second brother to join the Royal Navy during World War 1. He served mainly on HMS Commonwealth. His elder brother, William, was the first to join just before the war. John and William's younger brother, Alfred, also joined up thinking he was going to sea but was put in the Royal Navy reserve and ended up in the trenches. All three brothers survived the war. Alfred was wounded at Pashendale and also lost toes due to frost bite. William the eldest brother unfortunately suffered a stab wound with a poisoned knife while ashore in Cape Town. He had to have his right arm amputated. As far as is known John Bray (nicknamed Jack) was unscathed.
Cpl. Stanley Albert Bray
British Army 2nd Garrison Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Radstock, Avon
(d.4th October 1918)
Corporal Bray was the Son of Elijah and Eliza Jane Bray, of 7, Cooperative Terrace, Haydon, Radstock, Avon.
He was 27 when he died and is buried in the Purandhar Cemetery in India, Plot D. Grave 34.
PO. Thomas Seth Bray
Royal Navy HMS Exeter
from:Camborne, Cornwall
(d.28th Feb 1942)
Seth Bray was a Petty Officer Stoker on HMS Exter when he lost his life.
L/Cpl. Thomas Garland Bray
British Army 10th Btn. South Wales Borderers
from:Abertillery
Private Victor George Thomas Bray
British Army 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
from:Leytonstone
(d.9th Apr 1917)
Victor Bray joined up a year earlier than he should have, he lied about his age to get into the army. When he tried to sign up he was told that he was too young, but to go round the block and when he came back he would be 18. He wrote his last letter home on 4th April 1917 just before the Battle of Arras, where he died on the first day of the battle. He is buried in Gourock Trench Cemetery, Tilloy-les-Mofflaines, Arras, France.
Sgt. Prior Wormsley "Spider" Braybrook MSM
British Army 153 Bty. Royal Garrison Artillery
from:Edmonton, London
Dvr. Roland Braybrook
British Army Royal Field Artillery
Roland Braybrook served as a driver and Shoesmith with the Army Ordnance Corps and Royal Field Artillery.
Patrick Philip William Braybrooke
British Army Royal Fusiliers
Patrick Philip William Braybrooke, F.R.S.L., enlisted on the 21st of Sep 1915 in the Royal Fusiliers and first disembarked 14 Nov 1915. He was discharged 4 Mar 1919 whilst serving with the R.A.M.C. due to sickness. Family memory suggests that during his service overseas he had been subject to gassing, and that this experience continued to have some destabilizing effect throughout his life. His younger brother, though, himself a Sandhurst-educated military officer, considered Patrick as his definition of a hero. He was, after all, a poet, unintended for warfare and wholly unprepared, but this was no deterrent in answering his country's call without hesitation. The opinion was captured in a tape-recorded memoir. Other opinions were less favourable. Three times married, Patrick showed little or no support, financial or otherwise, to the issue of those marriages. His son, Neville Braybrooke, a noted literary critic and author, was the child of Patrick's first marriage, to Lettice Bellairs, who with his mother was abandoned by his father when he was but a toddler. Later, as an adult, Neville was to receive a note, passed along during a lecture he was giving; the note said, "I am your father. Can we meet?" Similarly, Patrick's daughter from a subsequent marriage knew her father very little.
A talented author, Patrick Braybrooke later wrote a number of biographies and works which offer significant insights both into celebrities of the age and into the social history of his time. He was the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society of Letters, recommended, for one, by kinsman G.K.Chesterton whom he frequently visited at Top Meadow. Commentary on his literary career supercedes that of his military service. Perhaps this entry will serve to balance the scale a tad.
Pte. Samuel Braycotton
British Army 8th Btn. B Coy. South Staffordshire Regiment
from:Birchills, Walsall
(d.5th Jun 1918)
Samuel Braycotton was the 4th child of 7 born to Samuel Bray Cotton and Harriet Parker. He married Gertrude Sadler on 2nd of May 1905 at the Register Office in Walsall. They had 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls.
Samuel enlisted on 2nd of September 1914 when he was 28 years old. He was only in France for 68 days, believed to be in the Ypres area when he was admitted to hospital on 2nd of March 1916 from the No. 15 Casualty Clearing Station with bronchitis and discharged from the 9th Training Reserve on 7th of January 1918 because of class P sickness (chronic bronchitis). The family believed he was gassed while serving in France and he was later a patient in one of the 8 Exeter hospitals used during the war. He died from cancer or TB of the lungs. His wife received a pension of 27/6 per week and the children received a total of 17/6. Gertrude married again in 1919. (Needs must).
2nd Lt. Kevin Brayden
British Army 18th (London Irish Rifles) Battalion London Regiment
from:Dublin
(d.23rd Dec 1917)
Kevin Brayden was the son of W. H. Brayden, O.B.E., and Ethel Mary Brayden (nee Shiell), of 28, Adelaide Rd., Dublin. He served with the London Regiment 18th (London Irish Rifles) Battalion and was killed in action in Palestine in December 1917 aged 26. He is buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel.
Pte. Charles Brayne
British Army 9th Btn. Welsh Regiment
from:Ellesmere
(d.23rd Sep 1917)
Charlie Brayne was my great-uncle. He was the youngest of six brothers who went to fight in the Great War, and the only one of the brothers who did not survive. Two days after being injured on 21st of September 1917 during the battle of Menin Road Ridge, he died in a field hospital from those injuries. He is buried at the church in West Outer, just a few miles from Ypres.
Spr. John William Brayne
British Army 4th Seige Coy (Royal Monmouth) Royal Engineers
from:Ruyton XI Towns
(d.7th April 1916)
John Brayne (our Johnny) was my great great uncle. He died aged 22 of gunshot wounds at the trenches of St Eloi. He survived for a week before he died. I believe the trenches of St Eloi is where the Battle of the Craters was fought.
He left behind his father Thomas, mother Mary Anne and little sister Mary Elizabeth, my great great grandmother. He grew up on a small-holding in Ruyton XI Towns, Shropshire and was very good at drawing.
Pte. Herbert Brayshaw
British Army 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade
from:Bradford, Yorkshire
(d.5th Aug 1915)
Herbert Brayshaw is named on the War Memorial at Eccleshill, Bradford.
Pte. William Brayson
British Army 2nd Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers
(d.28th Apr 1915)
Gnr. Frank Brazendale
British Army Royal Field Artillery
from:Lymm
Frank Brazendale served with the Royal Field Artillery.
Private John Elliot Brazier
British Army 7th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry
from:6 Rough Lane, Broseley, Shropshire
(d.14th July 1916)
John died on the same day as his neighbour Thomas Henry Britton, their bodies were never recovered and they are both remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.
Pte. Norman Brazier
New Zealand Expeditionary Force C Company Canterbury Battalion
from:Kariori, Taihape, New Zealand
Norman Brazier was a farm laborer at Kariori, a remote settlement near Taihape, NZ at that time. He was a member of the Hunterville Mounted Rifles as a Territorial Soldier prior to the outbreak of war in 1915. His father, James Brazier lived at Cheltenham, near Feilding in the Manawatu Province. He later moved to the new village of Kimbolton and owned a 350 acre farm nearby, which remained the family seat until about 1980.
Norman enlisted to the NZEF at Trentham Camp on 22nd of October 1915 and sailed on the troop ship Maunganui on 8th of January 1916 bound for Egypt, where the NZEF were camped at Zeitoun, near Cairo. His unit saw action at Ismailia and Suez and then sent to the Dardenelles. Norman saw action throughout the Gallipoli Campaign and France over the next 5 years. He was wounded 3 times and sent to Walton and Codford General Field Hospitals in England, and returned to active duty on the front line. He later saw action in the Sinai campaign. Along with other troops the returned to NZ aboard the troop ship Ruapehu and discharged from the Army on 21st of March 1919.
After the war he worked as a laborer for the Mount Albert Borough Council, Auckland, NZ. He never married and lived in boarding houses prior to his death by drowning in Auckland Harbour in 1925. His War Pension Certificate was found on his body by the attending Police.
Pte. James Brazil
British Army 2nd Btn. Leinster Regiment
from:Dublin
(d.5th April 1916)
James Brazil was the son of July Brazil; and husband of Mary Brazil, of 3, Lower Rutland St., Dublin. He served with the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment 2nd Battalion and was killed in action in Flanders in April 1916. He is buried at Ration Farm (La Plus Douve) Cemetery Annexe in Belgium.
Lt. Alfred D. "Trott" Breach MC.
British Army 5th Btn. Royal Berkshre Regiment
from:Reading
My great uncle, Alfred Breach was awarded the Military Cross.
Pte. Charles Brealey
British Army 6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment North Staffo
from:Burton upon Trent
(d.13th Oct 1915)
Charles Brealey served with the 6th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment
Lt. Winifred Florence "Snuffy" Brealey
British Army Transport Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
from:Bovey Tracey, Devon
My grandmother, Winifred Florence Brealey, served as a single women in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in WWI. She was originally from Bovey Tracey in Devon, born 11 November 1895, 19 Southview Bovey Tracey, to parents John Brealey and Alice Maud Brealey, nee Bratcher.
She was in the transport division of Auxiliary Service Corps and finished her service as a Lieutenant. In 1918 my grandfather, Edgar Herbert Bristen Preston-Thomas, (originally from Weybridge) who served with NZ's Wellington Infantry Battalion and was in the Gallipoli campaigns, was in London. He had been discharged upon receiving a bullet wound to the hand and from suffering subsequent sickness. It was in London they meet each other and a romance blossomed despite the 16 year age gap. They used to travel around London in a motorbike and side car. After the war they married on 16 June 1919 and immigrated to NZ. On leaving for NZ at Plymouth, Winifred was pregnant and not expecting to give birth until they arrived in NZ some 6-8 weeks later. She went into labour and gave birth almost immediately on departure and their first daughter was born just off Drake Island still within the harbour.
Upon settling in NZ Winifred kept her A.S.C uniform in her wardrobe for many years and in WWII volunteered and assisted with soup kitchens and hosting soldiers to dinner for morale and hospitality services. She continued to be patriotic and serve people and lead them in times of need. I have searched the records section and have not been able to discover her name so maybe thinking her records are amongst those that are lost from WWII bombings of London. If anyone can guide me to further research opportunities it would be appreciated.
George Brearley
British Army 2nd Btn. Grenadier Guards
Former miner George Brearley was a regular soldier, with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards. He had landed in France on 13th August 1914 and after heavy fighting on 1st September a wounded comrade visited his brother to tell him that he had seen a shell burst, “blowing him to smithereens”.
As his family grieved, the reality was that George Brearley was alive, a prisoner of the Germans. Before they got to him he managed to scribble a note on a scrap of paper and placed it in a sealed bottle in the hope that someone would pass the message on to his family. “If this paper is found will you please write to this address – Mrs. Davis, Star Inn, Bulwell, Notts., England and tell them George is well.”
As unlikely as it sounds, the message was picked up a couple of weeks afterwards by a French civilian after the Germans had been forced to retreat from the area. Dutifully, he forwarded the message to Cissie Davis who had the covering letter translated by a French teacher at the Coventry Road School in Bulwell.
Despite this, George's family still doubted that he was alive and even when they received a postcard from him, it was thought that it was probably a forgery. However, the family was eventually convinced when they recognised him in a photograph of a working party in a German POW camp at Doeberitz, near Berlin. Somehow a newspaper published in Pennsylvania was sent to offices of the Dispatch. Staff there recognised George Brearley as the man, shovel in hand, digging a drainage ditch under the supervision of a German officer. Even then one family member did not believe that it was him.
The story of the sighting of him in the newspaper photograph is almost as unlikely as a message written in a bottle being discovered on a battlefield. It is true nevertheless. George Brearley returned to Hucknall after the Armistice more than four years later.
Sgt. Mjr. Breatwaite
British Army 11th Btn., A Coy Royal Irish Rifles
Lt. Adrian Henry Brecknell
South African Army
from:Bristol, England
Pte. William Breckon
British Army West Yorkshire Regiment
from:Wold House Farm, Farndale
(d.29th September 1918 )
William Breckon was the natural son of Alice Breckon of Duck House Farm. Alice suffered from mental health problems and was eventually committed to the North Riding Asylum at Clifton, York.
William was raised by his maternal aunt, Lydia Mary Duck nee Breckon, on Wold House Farm, Farndale. She was his legal guardian. He became a carpenter and wheelwright and volunteered on the 21st of August 1917. He was just 18. He was posted on the 8th of May to the Yorks Regiment, Army no 60208, and then transferred (comp.) to the Duke of Wellington's Own, 2/4th West Yorkshire Reg, Army no 35871 on 16th of September. He was posted missing and the killed in action or died of wounds shortly thereafter on 29th September 1918, just two months from the end of the war and only 19 years old.
William was killed on the 29th of September 1918 when 62nd (West Riding) Division were involved in heavy fighting to recapture the French village of Marcoing, which had been occupied by the Germans since March 1918.
At 5.20 am on the 27th September 1918, the 1st and 3rd Armies attacked with IV, VI, XVII and Canadian Corps on a 21 km front from Gouzeaucourt to Sauchy-Lestrée. The vital point of the attack was the Canal du Nord near Moeuvres. On the VI Corps front the Guards Division and 3rd Division crossed the canal in the face of strong machine gun fire. 62nd Division started their move forward at 8 am, following close behind the reserve brigade of 3rd Division. There was heavy fighting all day and by 8.30 pm 3rd Division had withdrawn and 62nd Division held a line just east of Ribacourt.
In the early hours of the 28th September 1918, attacks were resumed towards Marcoing and Masnieres. Fierce fighting continued all the day, and by 6 pm, Marcoing had been taken, together with the trenches on the east side of the St Quentin Canal.
On the 29th of September 1918, the attack was renewed with Masnires and Rumilly as the objectives. By noon, Masniares had been recaptured by the 62nd (West Riding) Division and cleared, but because of fierce opposition Rumilly was not taken that day.
William Breckon was buried at The British Cemetary Masnieres, Nord France one of 170 soldiers.
As s a postscript to this biography of William Breckon, it is perhaps worth mentioning the famous or infamous Incident at Marcoing, which took place the day before and at the same place that William Breckon died. It was September 28, 1918 and the fighting had been exceptionally heavy that day. Private Henry Tandey of the 5th Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), had been killing Germans throughout the day, but when a wounded enemy soldier limped into his gun sights, Tandey held his fire. The German was clearly wounded, and though Tandey took aim, he could not bring himself to shoot the wounded man. The wounded soldier nodded in gratitude and disappeared into the fog. The incident at the French village of Marcoing was over quickly, but one that the German soldier would never forget and that Henry Tandey wouldn't recall for some 20 years. During the fighting on that day the English private would single-handedly destroy a German machine gun nest, lead a bayonet charge on a far larger German force and, for his bravery, win the Victoria Cross. Private Henry Tandey was by anyone's account a true hero. That German soldier was Adolf Hitler!
L/Cpl. Fred Breed
British Army 1st Battalion Scottish Rifles
from:Morley, West Yorkshire
(d.23th Oct 1918)
Up to entering the Army Fred Breed was employed as a willeyer at Grove “Bantam” Mills. As a boy and youth he attended the Salvation Army Sunday School, and received prizes for regular attendance, and up to the time of joining H.M. Forces he was a member of the Morley Baptist Brotherhood. Alan Snowden has an ink well and pen and under it has an engraving “Fred died 23-Oct-1918”; this was one of his prizes.
Fred Breed joined up on the 6th April 1916, under the Conscription Act. His record suggests he enlisted in Pontefract and was originally assigned to the D.L.I number 26493; later he was transferred to the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 1st Battalion. Fred was conscripted but his younger brother, Willie had enlisted months earlier. Judging by Fred’s religious beliefs he may have been opposed to war, hence why he was conscripted.
Fred was deployed to France November 1916. In April 1917 he was wounded with a gunshot wound in the arm, and was brought to England to one of the military hospitals in the South. After recovery he was re-deployed back to the Western European front. There is conflicting information on Fred’s rank and cause of death, ancestry.co.uk, CWGC, and medal records suggest his rank was a Private and he died from wounds. The Scottish National War Memorial suggests his rank was Lance Corporal. The latter would be consistent as there is a ‘Roll of Honour’ newspaper article from The Morley Observer November 1918 that lists Fred as a Lance Corporal. All other information in the article is consistent, such as address 6 Gillroyd Place, mothers name Mrs. Eliza Breed, regiment 1st Scottish Rifles, date of death 23 Oct 1918.
Here is the text from the newspaper article:- "Lance-Corpl. Fred Breed. News has been received of the death in France, from pneumonia on October 23rd last, of Lance-Corpl. Fred Breed of the Scottish Rifles, aged 26 (?), son of Mrs. Eliza Breed, of 6, Gillroyd Place, Morley. A Church of England Chaplain, Mr. (Rev) J. G. Thornton, has written to Mrs. Breed as follows: “26-10-18 Dear Madam, - I write to offer my deepest sympathy with you in the death of your son, Lance-Corpl. Breed, 1st Scottish Rifles. He was admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia. All possible efforts were made to save his life and make him comfortable, but I regret to say that he passed away on the 23rd inst. I buried his body in the military cemetery here. His grave is marked with a cross and will be cared for. I feel sorry for you in your great bereavement. If out of this great war comes a new peace and brotherhood between the nations then your son will not have laid down his life in vain. May God help you to see this and strengthen you to bear bravely the great sacrifice you have made for your country. Yours in sympathy.” Lance-Corpl. Breed joined up on the 6th April 1916, and went out to France two years ago this month. He was wounded in April, 1917 (a gunshot wound in the arm), and was brought to England to one of the military hospitals in the south. Up to entering the Army he was employed as a willeyer at Grove “Bantam” Mills. As a boy and youth he attended the Salvation Army Sunday School, and received prizes for regular attendance, and up to the time of joining H.M. Forces he was a member of the Morley Baptist Brotherhood."
Rev J. G. Thornton was part of the Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) No. 18 and it is likely Fred died in a field hospital and the CCS used the cemeteries. Fred is buried at the Commonwealth War Grave Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt, Picardie, France.
It is not known if Fred had any children, he may have been married to Mavis. There is a photo of him with Mavis taken prior to his deployment. The photo was taken in Queen Street, Morley. Fred’s great great grandnephew, Danyal, visits the Morley War Memorial once a month.
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