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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. William "Darkie" Cole
British Army 2nd Btn. Manchester Regiment
from:Felixstowe,Suffolk
(d.15th July 1917)
William Cole was my grandfather and I visited Belgium to try and find his grave in the 1970's. He having been killed in July 1917 somewhere near Neuwport, Belgium. My wife and I spent many hours searching War Grave sites without success. We then spoke to two workman beside the small country lane who suggested a nearby church. It was their that we found his grave together with just a handful of others. We were surprised to find that he was in the Manchester Regt., having as far as I know, no historical connection. I am now searching for any record surviving of the actions taking place and any cause of death that can be found.
Pte. William James Cole
British Army 24th (2nd Sportsmans) Btn Royal Fusiliers
from:Torquay
William Cole was in the 2nd Sportsmans Battalion and was discharged after being wounded.
2Lt. William Norman Cole
British Army 7th Btn. East Lancashire Regiment
from:Kingswood, Gloucestershire
(d.5th Feb 1917)
Pte. Samuel Arthur Pateshall Colebatch
British Army 23rd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers
from:Bache Hill, Kimbolton, Leominister
(d.28th Sep 1918)
My great-uncle Samuel Colebatch died in WW1 and his name was given to my father as he was born shortly before Armistice Day. Any information about him or his regiment would be very welcome.
Csm. G. Coleby
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
Gunner Albert Coleman MID
British Army 14th Brigade, 88th Battery Royal Field Artillery
from:Kettering
Pte. Albert John Coleman MiD.
British Army 1st Btn. Royal Scots Fusiliers
from:Haggerston, Middlesex
Albert Coleman served with the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers from 1905 to 1915 and was wounded at the 1st Battle of Ypres on 5th of November 1914. He was transferred to the 1st Garrison Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1915 and served in India for the remainder of WW1.
Pte. Arthur Joseph Ethelbert Coleman
British Army 3rd Bn. London Regt
from:Fulham, Willesden, London
(d.16th Oct 1918)
My Great Grand Uncle served the 3rd Bn. London Regt (Royal Fusiliers). His Army records may have been destroyed during the bombing of the second world war as cannot find them.
He was injured and sent home to the UK and was put into the 318th Home Service Employment Coy. Labour. later he died as a result of his wounds on 16 October 1918. He was 31. He is buried in the Fulham Cemetery in London with other war dead. He left his wife Mary Ann. I cannot find out any more information which for me is very sad as these men sacrificed everything.
Pte. Christopher Coleman
British Army 7th Battalion Leinster Regiment
from:Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland
(d.3rd Sep 1916)
A Corkman dies on the Somme
The first week of September 1916 and the 16th Irish Division are engaged in the bloody advance across the Somme. At the village of Guillemont, men of the 7th Leinster Regiment, part of the Irish 16th Division, manage to pass through the shattered Guillemont village and secure and hold enemy trenches on the far side, but at terrible cost, losing some fifty percent of the soldiers engaged in the advance: but in the bizarre ethics of war, it was a victory.
Following the Leinsters ‘victorious’ advance, non-combatant labour battalions are sent into the killing fields to clear up the mess left by the fighting soldiers. They clear away abandoned trenching tools, wire cutters, discarded equipment and bits and pieces of dead soldiers. It is gruesome and arduous work.
Among their number is an Englishman, Private George Wiles of the Royal Engineers. As he scurries across the blood soaked ground he comes upon a great crater and at the edge of it, ‘as if resting after a long walk’ is the body of a well built soldier from one of the Irish regiments, the 7th Leinsters. The Englishman is struck by his noble posture, for the dead soldier was a big man, well over six foot. Even by modern standards he would have been taller than average, by the standards of 1914-18 he was a giant.
The Englishman goes to the body. He has seen many such dead, he is accustomed to the dead, over familiar with the dead, but he is touched by the sight of this particular dead Irishman. He takes his knife and cuts open the breast pockets of the fallen soldier. From the bloody and muddy mess he takes a letter sent to the fallen man from Ireland, from his wife in Queenstown, County Cork. He buries the fallen soldier. He takes from the ruins of a nearby church a piece of rubble from the destroyed structure. There are ancient crosses cut into the stone, five such crosses, and he marks the rough grave of the fallen Irishman with the broken stone of the church.
Later the same ground, cleared by the labour battalions, would again become a blood soaked battlefield, pounded by artillery and fought over by opposing armies. The rough, stone marked temporary grave of the Irishman would be lost. Forever lost and he thereafter would only be remembered by a name cut into the Somme memorial at Thiepval in Flanders.
In the lull of the battle, the Englishman, alone in his own trench, by candlelight, would write a powerful and moving letter to the grieving widow of the Irishman. He poured his heart into the letter using all the paper he had. Ten pages would he write, in fading pencil, telling her how he had found her dear husband and what he had done with his fallen body.
The dead Irishman was Christopher Coleman, Private Coleman of the 7th Leinster Regiment. He came from what was then Queenstown in County Cork. Before the war he had had been the manager of the Commodore Hotel in Queenstown. Perhaps he had been there in May 1915 when the little squares and streets of Queenstown became an open morgue for the broken and innocent civilian bodies brought ashore after the sinking by torpedo of the passenger ship the S.S. Lusitania, and perhaps, for we will never know, it is was that which caused him to volunteer for the Leinsters and to leave his family to fight in Flanders.
He was such a handsome man was Private Coleman. His dear wife had, with considerable talent, drawn his pencil portrait from which, even after all this time, you can still sense his great size and presence. The Englishman Wiles wrote of him that, ‘..I came across this fellow in a shell hole (a very large one) & passed him as I passed others that lay about & something struck me to go back and see him, as he lay there as if resting from along walk. His statue marked me very much indeed he looked so smart & of a lovely build…’
‘I hope, dear madam, you will forgive me of taking liberties with your dear husband’s body. But you can rest assured (I will give you my word of honour.) that he is buried & I buried him the best I could. Not so well as some but better than thousands.’
It is by any measure a touching act of an ordinary English soldier for a fallen Irishman, and it must have brought enormous comfort to the grieving widow. Indeed until she received the letter Mrs Coleman from Cobh had no idea what had become of her husband. She had been advised he was missing after the September battles.
But then only silence.
Desperate for news she, had travelled to Dover in the hope that he would be amongst the thousands of wounded, returning from the Somme into the network of military hospitals across the South of England. It was of no avail. With deepening fear she advertised for news of him in the Daily Herald. But their was no response. The English soldier’s letter confirmed her very worst fears. But it must also have been a source of great comfort and relief for she was so appreciative of the kind words of Private Wiles that she replied to him asking if he was in need of anything that she could send him to ease the discomfort of his life in the trenches.
After the war, or perhaps before it ended, the Coleman family left the Commodore Hotel and left Ireland altogether, emigrating to America, no doubt from a ship leaving from the quayside opposite their Cobh home. The ten page pencil written letter is now held by the surviving Coleman family. No one has ever traced George Wiles.
The broken stone crosses of the rubble that marked Christopher Coleman’s temporary grave on the Somme came from the shattered and destroyed Guillemont church, the church of St. Christopher .
Pioneer Duncan Reginald Coleman
British Army 234th Lt. Railway Coy. Royal Engineers
(d.11th November 1918)
Pioneer Coleman was born in Wardington, Oxfordshire. He was the son of George and Emily Coleman, 102 Dunsmore Terrace, Lawford Road, Rugby. Duncan Coleman died, aged 25, in 29 Casualty Clearing Station at Delsaux on 11th November 1918. He is buried in Delsaux Farm Cemetery, Beugny, Grave III.A.17.
Sgt. Ernest James Coleman
British Army 63rd Coy. Machine Gun Corps
from:Epsom
(d.28th Aprl 1917)
Born 27th of August 1898, Ernest lied about his age, leaving school at 16 to enlist in the Rifle Brigade. He was promoted to Corporal after 6 months before transferring to 63rd Coy Machine Gun Corps. He joined BEF in France in March 1916 and was present at Fricourt for the opening engagement of the Battle of the Somme. He was promoted to Sergeant in December 1916. Ernest fell to a sniper's bullet at Arras, on the 28th of April 1917 when he was still under 19 years of age. He has no known grave but his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial to the Missing at the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France. The diary which Ernest kept throughout 1916 is now kept by his great niece.
Pte. Frederick Philip Coleman
British Army 3rd Dragoon Guards
from:Birmingham
(d.2nd June 1915)
Rfmn. Henry Coleman
British Army 16th Btn. London Regiment
from:Peckham, London
(d.10th Sep 1916)
Harry Coleman was killed in action at the Battle of Ginchy. His name is on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, he was serving with 16th London Regiment, 56th Division, 169th Brigade. I have two photos of Harry.
Gnr. James Edward Thomas Coleman
British Army B Bty, 106th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
from:Dover
(d.25th August 1917)
During WW1 James Coleman served with the 106th Brigade, B Battery, Royal Field Artillery. He was killed in action aged 25 on 25th of August 1917 and is buried in Voormezeele, Belgium. We are currently searching for details.
L/Cpl. John Stanley Coleman
British Army 4th Battalion East Kent Regiment
from:Dover
John Stanley Coleman was my grandfather, who served in India where he met my grandmother, Sybil. She was a young Anglo-Indian widow with 4 children. He sent them on ahead of his army discharge to his family in Dover, and on his return they moved to the north of England where they married in 1921. There were 2 children of their marriage, one of which was my mother. John took a job as the local postman in a small town (Romiley) until he retired in 1954.
He served in the Home Guard in WW2. He had learned to knit in the army, and I remember he knitted socks and gloves for me and my cousins, never used a pattern also crocheted bedspreads! He liked a drink, and played the piano in the local pubs to earn extra money, and was considered as something of a character. He was also a keen gardener, growing vegetables in an allotment. Sybil pre-deceased him, and he died in 1977. Like many of his generation, he never discussed his war service, and while I wish I knew more about that part of his life, I have fond memories of a wonderful grandad.
Gnr. John Henry Coleman
British Army 150th Heavy Bty. Royal Garrison Artillery
from:Chiddingly
(d.16th November 1916)
Pte. Levi Coleman
British Army. 3rd Btn. Monmouthshire Regiment.
from:Breconshire
(d.29th December 1915)
Richard Coleman
British Army 7th Btn. South Lancashire Regiment
(d.10th June 1917)
Rfmn. Robert John Coleman
British Army 12th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles
from:Ballymoney, Co. Antrim
(d.1st Jul 1916)
Robert John Coleman served with 12th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, and was killed in action on the 1st of July 1916, aged 21 at the Battle of The Somme. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Pte. Samuel Coleman
British Army 7th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
from:Bangor, County Down
(d.27th April 1916)
Pte. Thomas G Coleman
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Gateshead
Thomas Coleman is buried in Tynecot Cemetery
Pte Thomas Coleman
British Army 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment
from:34, Canal Street, Tipton, Staffordshire, England
Walter Coleman
British Army 7th Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment
from:Weedon
Walter Coleman left for Gallipoli in 1915 but was shot in the neck early after landing. He was sent to Alexandria for treatment then back to the UK to recover. The bullet was never removed and moved around his neck and head for the rest of his life. He died in 1965. His eldest son was called Stafford, after his Regiment.
Cpl. Walter Henry Coleman
British Army 1st Btn. Norfolk Regiment
from:Saxlingham, Nethergate, Norfolk
Walter Coleman was admitted to hospital on 5th Oct 1918 suffering from yellow gas poisoning. He had been transferred from 11th Stationary Hospital in Rouen.
Pte. Arthur Robert Coles
British Army 12th/13th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Treforest, Wales
(d.8th Oct 1918)
Arthur Coles was my Grandmother's uncle. He was 19 when he fell, but I'm not sure how old he was when he enlisted, he was formerly 26590 Terr Res. 36098 Border Regt. I think he fell during the battle of Cambrai. He is buried in Naves Communal Cemetery extention.
Sgt. Bandmaster Cecil Frederick Gottlieb Coles
British Army 9th Btn. 1QVR London Regiment
from:London
(d.26th Apr 1918)
Pte. Ernest John Coles
Australian Imperial Forces 33rd Btn.
from:Blackboy Hill, Western Australia
(d.7th Jun 1917)
Ernest Coles was born in York, Western Australia and attended Mundigong State School, he worked as a farm hand at Blackboy Hill and enlisted aged 22. Ernest was killed in action during the attack on the first day of the Battle of Messines and has no known grave. His name is listed amongst the missing on the Menin Gate in Ypres.
Rfn George Edward Coles
British Army 9th Btn King's Royal Rifle Corps
from:6 Prospect Terrace Long Acre Birmingham
(d.25th Sept 1915)
Pte Henry "Harry" Coles
British Army 17th Btn Middlesex Regiment
(d.13th November 1916)
Henry Coles served with the 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment in WW1. He died 13th of November 1916.
2/Lt. Herbert Thorwald Coles
British Army Seaforth Highlanders
from:Colchester
Page 48 of 89
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