100 years since death of Togo on the battlefield
LAST weekend marked the anniversary of the death of Colonel Phillip Bent of the 9th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment at Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium – in an action that won him a posthumous Victoria Cross.
On the same day and in the same place, the Leicestershire Regiment also lost the much less well known Private Sydney “Togo” Bolesworth of Hinckley who was called by his officers, “the best soldier in the Leicestershire Regiment”.
Private Sydney Bolesworth was a well-known boxer before the First World War.
He had first practised the noble art in the ranks of the Leicestershire Regiment in India where he had served for six years, winning the all-India championship and then was making a name for himself in local boxing rings. His defeat of the renowned Billy Sherwood from Walsall at the Olympia Skating Rink in Mill Hill Road in May 1914 created fever pitch interest in Togo.
Therefore, his exploits in the army, were followed eagerly by the public in Hinckley and Leicester. As a mark of respect prayers were said for him by name at St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church on Sunday morning – his home parish.
His officers were confident that he could lead men, and on more than one occasion he was offered promotion only to reject it.
There was no doubting his bravery but a poor disciplinary record probably cost him gallantry medals beyond the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Croix de Guerre he was decorated with in August 1915.
Togo was a sniper and was sent out into No Man’s Land early on the morning of October 1 1917. He took a few shots at the enemy but was spotted and shot at in retaliation. His body was never found, although his death was witnessed at close quarters by a colleague who survived – Private Joseph Paul of Burbage.
We can visit the battlefield today – quiet fields, with cattle grazing.
It was here, in the mud of “No Man’s Land” in Flanders in 1917 that Togo failed to beat the final count.
For the Leicestershire Regiment to lose one of its youngest Lieutenant Colonels and the best soldier in the regiment at the same time was indeed a black day in its history.
“Finding Togo”, an exhibition on the Leicestershire Regiment’s best soldier is open to the public at Hinckley and District Museum, Saturdays and Sundays to the end of October, 10am to 3.30pm on Saturdays and 2pm to 4.30pm on Sundays – admission £1.