Site Home
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.
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
257091Maj Joseph Holroyd Ratton
British Army 163rd Siege Bty Royal Garrison Artillery
from:Cresswell Park, Blackheath
(d.2nd September 1917)
Major Joesph Ratton served with the 163rd Seige Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery in WW1. He died 2nd of September 1917 age 35 years.
Extract from "Stonyhurst College War Record. A Memorial of the part taken by Stonyhurst Men in The Great War.". Issued by the Authorities of Stonyhurst College, Printed by Bemrose & Sons Ltd, Derby, 1927. Page 245: Major Joseph Holroyd Ratton, Royal Garrison Artillery. In a little over two years Lieut-Col. Ratton, late I.M.S., was called upon to make the sacrifice of his two sons 2nd Lieut. W. H. Ratton (1901), Queen's T.F., who died on 9th of July 1915, and then of his elder son, Major Joseph Ratton, R.G.A.
Joseph Ratton was born in February, 1882, and came to Stonyhurst in 1893. His mother was a Holroyd, a great-granddaughter of the Hon. Sir George Sawley Holroyd, Kt., a Judge of the Court of King's Bench. Both his grandfathers were officers of the 3rd Madras Light Cavalry. His father, Lieut.-Col. Ratton, M.D., of Blackheath, late Indian Medical Service, served in the Abyssinian War, in 1868.
He was noted for his Catholic social activities, and was the author of several works on medical and exegetical subjects. In 1901, after leaving Stonyhurst, Joseph passed into the Royal Artillery through the Royal Military Academy. He was promoted Captain in July, 1914, and Major in July, 1916. The greater part of his service was spent in West Africa, during which he explored the hinterland of the Gold Coast and of the French Ivory Coast.
Early in 1914, he trekked alone from the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast to the source of the Niger, mapping a part of the country that had not till then been surveyed.
On the outbreak of war he was Intelligence Officer of the Gold Coast, and on the conclusion of the Togoland campaign, became Acting Military Governor of Togoland, at Lome, the capital. Later, he commanded a battery on the Cameroons Expedition, and assisted in the capture of Jaunde. On the completion of this expedition he was sent to France, where he commanded a siege battery at the battles of Vimy Ridge, Messines, and Ypres, and was killed at Ypres at his guns, in action, by a shell splinter in the heart.
That was the mode of death he always told his relatives that he would prefer, if he was to be killed, that is, instantaneously. He was killed on a Sunday, having been to Mass and Holy Communion that very morning.
His cousin spoke of " his manliness and nobleness of character "; there was always an " attractive personality and a sincerity that drew one almost instinctively to him." Another relative spoke of him as "one of the finest characters I have ever known, and his death a fitting end to a glorious life. I have often heard Joe say he would much rather die as he did than from an illness."
When he was killed, his batman, on hearing the news, cried like a child. All letters received by his father agreed in bearing witness to his popularity as a manly gentleman, most considerate to all in his company. The Captain of his Battery wrote: "September md, 1917. He was killed instantaneously at two o'clock this afternoon by a splinter at his old position, where he lost his late Captain and others." He added: "We are all sincerely and heartily grieved to lose such a fine C.O. and man as he was. He was most considerate to all, always insisted on sharing the work with us fairly, and was extremely popular. We hardly seem to be able to realise that he can no longer come in with his cheery smile and poke fun at us."
Joe Ratton's Grave at the Dickebusch Cemetery
Joe Ratton when serving in West Africa
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:
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.