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
226004Pte. Leonard Norton "Dick" Gammidge
British Army 15th (Civil Service Rifles) Btn. London Regiment
(d.25th Sept 1915)
Leonard Gammidge of the 15th London County Civil Service Rifles was killed at Loos, on the 25th of September 1915.Leonard Gammidge, better known by his family and friends as Dick, was at Haywardsfield from 1906-1910, and played for the School in the 2nd football team. After leaving Wycliffe he was articled to a London firm of land and estate agents, but joined the 15th Civil Service Rifles directly after the outbreak of war. This was one of the first of the Territorial Regiments to go to France, and Dick crossed with his battalion at the end of 1914. The Western Front in France and Flanders was not a health resort in 1915, nor, indeed, at any time, but during eight months' service the letters which Dick Gammidge wrote home were always cheery, with never a word of complaint.
He was killed in the advance of 25th of September 1915, during the fighting which resulted from the capture of Loos. Two battalions which were assaulting the German trenches needed a new supply of hand grenades. His own No. 6 plaÂtoon volunteered to do the work. It was necessary to carry the bombs to a zone 300 yards wide, swept by German rifle fire and machine guns, and out of the party of twenty-six men who started, only four had returned when night fell. Leonard Gammidge was one of the ten who were killed, but it is said that unless these bombs had reached the forward battalions for others came back to take them from those who fell - the position which the British had captured could never have been held. He was twenty-one years of age when he thus laid down his life for his comrades. (From 'Wycliffe in the War', 1923.)
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.