Action in the streets of Dublin
THROUGHOUT the centenary of the First World War, we have been remembering the soldiers from the Loughborough area who lost their lives while serving their country. Here, with the help of Marigold Cleeve and a small number of researchers from the Loughboro
Herbert Jones
Herbert Jones was born in Leicester in 1881, the son of Albert Alfred Jones and his wife Truelove (née Hartshorn) who were married in Leicester in 1868.
He was baptised on 27th February 1881 at the Church of St. John the Divine, Leicester. Herbert’s parents had sixteen children, nine of whom died young.
Herbert’s surviving brothers were Benjamin and William and his surviving sisters were Kate, Ellen, Florence and Evelyn.
In 1881 the Jones family was living at 1 Court A, Stamford Street, Leicester but by 1891 had moved to 26 Woodbine Avenue, Highfield Street, Leicester.
The family later moved to 8 Woodbine Avenue. Herbert’s father was a clicker in the shoe trade and his mother was a shoe machinist.
On 19th January 1898 Herbert, who was a shop assistant for Mr. Jackson in Gallowtree Gate, Leicester, attested to join the Leicestershire militia.
He joined the 3rd Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 6532 and completed 49 days of drill.
On 4th March 1898 he was transferred to the Northamptonshire Regiment as Private 5424. On 7th July 1898 he was posted to the 2nd Battalion; on 11th May 1899 was appointed a Lance Corporal (unpaid) and on 18th August 1899 a Lance Corporal (paid). Herbert’s promotion was revoked for misconduct, however, on 15th October 1899 and he was sent to the Regiment’s depot.
On 27th January 1900 Herbert was sent to join the 2nd Battalion which was fighting in the 2nd Boer War in the Orange Free State, South Africa. He took part in the Battle of Paardeberg from 8th-27th February 1900.
In October, November, and December 1900 the battalion was part of a column under Major General Douglas which operated in the south-west of the Transvaal. Early in 1901 the battalion was taken to the Central Transvaal, and along with the Wiltshire Regiment occupied posts on the line between Warm Baths and Pietersburg.
The battalion was employed chiefly in this district till the close of the campaign. Herbert was awarded the Queen’s South African medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State, and the Transvaal.
On 19th July 1902 Herbert was back in England at the Depot and on 5th June 1903 was transferred to the Army Reserve. He was subsequently employed from 1906 to 1910 as a Court Bailiff in Leicester.
In 1908 he married a widow Annie Elizabeth Allen (née Spencer) in Leicester and he and Annie set up home at 76 Gladstone Street, Loughborough, with Annie’s son Percy Spencer Allen. Between 1910 and 1914 Herbert held the stewardship of the Loughborough Club and was well known and highly respected in Loughborough.
At the outbreak of war he immediately answered the call to the colours and enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment in September 1914. After acting as Mess-Sergeant 2991 to the 5th Leicesters, he was transferred to the 2/5th Lincolnshire Regiment as Sergeant 260012.
Herbert’s First World War service record has not survived and his date of transfer is unknown. It is also not known if he went to Ireland in 1916 to take part in actions against the rebellion there until January 1917.
Herbert may have gone to France with the 2/5th Lincolns on 23rd February 1917. Alternatively he may have been among the batch of reinforcements which joined the battalion on 1st June 1917 or in one of a number of batches joining throughout August 1917.
On 23rd February 1917 the main body of the battalion entrained at Dinton, Wiltshire, for Southampton where they embarked on the SS Connaught for Le Havre.
Having arrived in France they entrained for Le Saleux and marched to Baconval. From Baconval they marched to Bayonvillers and from 1st to 6th March were in training there.
The battalion was then sent to repair the front line and communication trenches where conditions were so bad that it was necessary to dig men out of the mud. Further trench tours followed at Villers Carbonnel, EstréesMons, Beaumetz and Nobescourt Farm.
In early April the battalion moved to Templeux and Hargicourt and came under enemy fire.
Ordered to attack on 11th April they took part in a heavy engagement and 250 Ordinary Ranks were killed, wounded or missing. Between 19th and 23rd April the battalion was in Vraignes repairing the roads, or in training before being sent to work on the resistance line at Le Verguier. Further road work ensued at Jeancourt before the battalion moved to Cartigny and then Equancourt for training.
At the beginning of June the battalion provided more working parties for strengthening the trench lines at Beaucamp and then at Neuville in early July. From 11th July until the end of August the battalion was in training at Barastre and Hedauville.
On 31st August the battalion entrained at Albert for Proven and marched to Winnezeele via Briele. They remained in camp at Winnezeele and then at Hilhoek until 23rd September practising attack formations.
On the night of 23rd/24th September the battalion moved up from the assembly camp at Goldfish Chateau, just outside Ypres, to trenches south of Wieltje. On 26th September the Battle of Polygon Wood (a phase of the 3rd Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele) began.
Herbert was killed in action at this battle, aged 38. He was one of an estimated 350 Ordinary Rank casualties from the battalion. He was buried in Bridge House Cemetery, Langemark-Poelkapelle, Grave B. 10.
The Captain of Herbert’s company wrote to Mrs. Jones that her husband was hit by a shell and was, he believed, killed instantly, so that he could have suffered no pain.
He added: ‘I need hardly say we shall miss him particularly in this company.
“The whole company join with me in offering you our sincere sympathy in your sad bereavement’.
Herbert’s step-son Percy Spencer Jones, a trooper with the Leicestershire Yeomanry, was killed in action in the Battle of Frezenburg in May 1915.
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller was born in Loughborough in1894, the son of Henry Miller and his wife Harriett (née Powdrill) who were married in Loughborough in 1889.
Arthur had one brother Reginald and six sisters Doris, Eveline, Ethel, Elsie, Hilda and Ida. Two other brothers died under one year old. In 1901 Arthur’s father was a Griswold knitter and in 1911 a ribbon-maker.
In 1911 Arthur, aged 16, was a hosiery trimmer. In 1901 the Miller family lived at No. 61 Ashby Road, Loughborough, and by 1911 had moved to No. 54 in the same road. Arthur’s father was the conductor of the Borough Band and Arthur was also in the band as a player of a silver baritone horn.
Arthur enlisted at Loughborough on 3rd November 1914. At the time he was employed at Messrs. Clarke’s Dyeworks. He joined the 2/5th ( Territorial) Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 3496, later being renumbered as 241216.
The 2/5th Battalion had its HQ in Loughborough as part of the Lincoln and Leicester Brigade, North Midland Division and was mobilised in September 1914.
In January 1915 the battalion moved to Luton being billeted in private homes, in February and March they had a spell at Epping digging practice trenches. In July the battalion moved to the St Albans area, under canvas at Briton Camp for training and route marches.
In August 1915, the Brigade was retitled 177th Brigade, 59th Division (2nd North Midland) and in October they were moved back to billets in Harpenden.
Throughout 1915 some members of the 2/5th Leicesters also provided guards for the prisoner of war camp at Donington Hall. In January 1916 parties of officers were sent to France on tours of instruction in the trenches and in March, the long awaited orders to proceed overseas were received.
On Easter Monday, however, the rebellion in Ireland forced a rapid change of plans. The 177th Brigade was recalled from leave and ordered to move to Liverpool at midnight. The following day they sailed on the SS Ulster, a fast mailboat, escorted by a Royal Navy destroyer. Their first taste of action was not to be in the trenches of the Western Front, but in the streets of Dublin. By the end of the month the main uprising was over and the 2/5th Battalion supplied search parties for Ballsbridge and guarded railways, bridges and other key infrastructure.
On the 10th May they moved out of the city to tackle pockets of resistance in County Kerry, searching homes and making arrests.
In June word was received that the Battalion would be moving to France and training resumed with long route marches through Ireland. In August they marched 80 miles from Tralee to Fermoy Barracks, where they would remain until January 1917, engaged in live fire training in trench warfare. The return trip from Ireland was made aboard the SS Ulster and the battalion arrived at Fovant Camp in Wiltshire by train at 7pm on 6th January 1917. After embarkation leave they proceeded to France via Southampton, arriving at Le Havre on the 24th February 1917. They were sent to the Somme area where the enemy was retreating to the Hindenburg Line. They made their first attack on the villages of Hesbecourt and Hervilly on 31st of March 1917, capturing both villages and suffering a number of casualties.
On 1st April the battalion began constructing a line of cruciform posts and on the following day were shelled while doing so.
On 3rd and 4th April part of the battalion supported the 4th Leicesters in an attack on Fervaque Farm while the rest of the battalion built posts in Templeux. On 11th and 12th April the battalion moved to Hervilly and Hamelet to provide working parties and on 15th A and C Coys were in support for an attack on Villeret. On 17th April the battalion moved from Brosse Woods to Templeux and Hervilly and were in support again on the following day in an attack on a quarry north of Villeret. On 19th April the battalion moved to Hancourt for cleaning up, working parties and training. On the night of 27th/28th April Hancourt was bombarded by the enemy and the battalion moved to the front line at Le Vergier.
Trench tours continued until 15th May when the battalion marched back to Bois Bias training camp between Bouvincourt-enVermandois and Le Catelet.
Training took place until 25th May when they moved to Equancourt and went into the front and support lines at Villers Plouich. Here until 7th June more posts were constructed amid some heavy enemy bombardment. From 7th-16th June the battalion was in Brigade Reserve at Dessart Wood, after which the battalion returned to the front line at Villers Plouich and carried out cable digging and laying for the Royal Engineers.
Attack training took place at Equancourt from 22nd-30th June, after which the battalion went into support at Metz-en-Couture until 10th July. For the rest of July and the first three weeks of August the battalion was in training at Barastre camp.
On 22nd August the battalion moved via Senlis to a front one mile south-west of Le Sars for further training. On 31st August they entrained at Albert for Hazebrouck and marched to a training camp north of Winnezeele where they remained until 20th September.
By 23rd September the battalion was in the reserve trenches at St. Jean near Ypres, before taking over the front line at Hill 37, Hill 35 and Elmtree Corner.
On 26th September the battalion went into attack to capture all enemy positions on Hill 37 (part of the Battle of Polygon Wood, a phase in the 3rd Battle of Ypres or Passchedaele).An enemy counter-attack was subsequently beaten back.
At some point during September Arthur was wounded and sent to a Casualty Clearing Station at Dozinghem, north-west of Poperinghe.
On 27th September 1917 Arthur died of wounds, aged 23. He had been promoted to the rank of Lance Sergeant by the time he died.