The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War

Pte. George Leonard Ingham British Army 19th Battalion, A Company, 3 Platoon Lancashire Fusiliers


Great War>


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.



    Site Home

    Great War Home

    Search

    Add Stories & Photos

    Library

    Help & FAQs

 Features

    Allied Army

    Day by Day

    RFC & RAF

    Prisoners of War

    War at Sea

    Training for War

    The Battles

    Those Who Served

    Hospitals

    Civilian Service

    Women at War

    The War Effort

    Central Powers Army

    Central Powers Navy

    Imperial Air Service

    Library

    World War Two

 Submissions

    Add Stories & Photos

    Time Capsule

 Information

    Help & FAQs



    Glossary

    Our Facebook Page

    Volunteering

    News

    Events

    Contact us

    Great War Books

    About


Advertisements

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

209627

Pte. George Leonard Ingham

British Army 19th Battalion, A Company, 3 Platoon Lancashire Fusiliers

from:Rochdale

(d.15th July 1916)

I knew that my Grandmother and Grandfather on my Mother's side had both lost a brother in WWI. Stupidly, I never asked any questions. Last Nov. 11, I decided to research them on the internet as I knew their names. My Grandmother's Brother was named George Ingham. I easily found him on the Commonwealth War Graves' site. After finding his details I input his info in Google and was taken to a page that showed his gravestone and a scan of a letter. The letter was put there by the niece of its recipient, Alf Plater. Alf was a friend and co-worker of George's in a small mill call Thornton's outside Rochdale.

The letter is dated July 8th, 1915, one week before George's death. It describes the 3rd Salfords' disastrous attack on the Leipzig Redoubt near Thiepval on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916. The Salfords were depth reserve for several other battalions in the first wave. When it came time for them to advance, the British front line and communications trenches were so clogged with wounded that the battalion had to advance over open ground to the British front line. Similar to the preceding Lonsdale battalion (11th Border) and the 1st Dorset battalion, the Salfords suffered crippling casualties form German machine guns firing in enfilade from a fortification call the Nordwerk. Of the battalion's 4 companies, only A, B and one half of C were sent 'over the top.' The other half of C and D company both remained under cover once it was realized that committing them would just add to the massacre.

From the battalion war diary: "In the meanwhile A, B and part of C Company had continued their advance from the front line trenches in waves of 30 or 40 men. The leading wave, led by Lt Huxley, got within 10 yards of the German trench but out of forty men only four remained and they could get no further."

"Capt Hibbert led the next wave and succeeded in getting into the German trench. He was followed by Lt Musker and 2nd Lt George with all the men that could be collected. These were the only three officers left with the two and a half companies that had advanced, the remaining officers having been killed or wounded."

"During these operations the battalion experienced 268 casualties, that’s to say 50% of its fighting strength, having 20 officers and 577 other ranks when going into action." Note that this 50% battalion casualty rate was incurred but just over one half of the battalion. Casualties in A, B and the part of C company that advanced were at a much higher rate. In George's A company, the CO Lt. Huxley was wounded at duty and all three platoon commanders were killed in action.

George's understated letter describing this catastrophe says:

'July 8th, 1916

Dear Alf

Excuse me being so long in writing to you. I am in the pink and best of spirits. Charles told me you had been inquiring about me so I thought I should write when I had the chance. Things have been pretty hot here lately. We went over the top last week and I shall never forget it. I lost a good many of my chums and it was heartbreaking to see some of the wounded men. There were many German helmets to be got but they would be in the way. We have quite sufficient to carry. The German bayonets are awful things one edge is like a razor and the other like a double saw. The sight of them makes you ratty. Well Alf I hope you don't have to come up. How many more have listed at Thorntons. I have nothing more to write about so I will close wishing you the best of luck.

George L. Ingham"

After July 1, the 3rd Salfords were reorganized into only 2 companies. They were next in the line on July 12 at Ovillers. Interestingly one of the neighbouring battalions was the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers, where JRR Tolkien was serving as the battalion signals officer. George's battalion had Tolkien's best friend, Lt. Geoffrey Bache Smith, as its Intelligence Officer. Smith would be killed weeks later, leaving Tolkien the only survivor of his school friends who joined the British army.

In the vicious close quarter warfare in the Ovillers trenches, George's combined company was heavily engaged, again losing two of three plat0on commanders killed and one wounded. George Ingham was mortally wounded, likely by a German sniper. Per the battalion war diary most of the casualties of this fighting were due to snipers. The fact that he was evacuated to the clearing station at Warloy Baillon in the rear supports this assumption as this clearing station focused on serious head and abdominal injuries. George Ingham died of his wounds July 15th, 1916 aged 19 years. He is buried in the Communal Cemetary Extensionn at Warloy Baillon.









Related Content:







Can you help us to add to our records?

The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?

If so please let us know.

Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"

We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.

Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




Celebrate your own Family History

Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.

This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.


Hosted by:

The Wartime Memories Project Website

is archived for preservation by the British Library





Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -

We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.