Shelled buildings at Armentieres.
[Picture from - "Das Archiv zum 1. Weltkrieg ".].
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1st SEPTEMBER.
1328 Pte Watson John, Charles. Home at 35 Cecil St, Stockton on Tees. Born at Yarm, N Yorks,
place of birth and enlistment. Killed in action. Age 21. Buried at Strand Military Cemetery.
5th SEPTEMBER.
1362 L/Cpl Marston Herbert Hildred. From Yarm N Yorks. Killed in action. Age 24.
Buried at Strand Military Cemetery.
11th SEPTEMBER.
1631 Pte Thomas James, Henry. Age 20. Home at 38 Grange St, Brotton, N Yorks, place of birth. Enlisted at
Skelton in Cleveland, N Yorks. Died of wounds. Buried at Brotton Church Cemetery.
15th SEPTEMBER.
2201 Pte Pearson Ernest. Home at Great Ayton N Yorks, place of birth.
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Pte Ernest W Mellanby.
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Enlisted at Stokesley, N Yorks. Killed in action.
Ernest came from an old Great Ayton family. His Great Grandfather had been a handloom weaver there. His father Paul worked as a whinstone miner. His mother, Constance Dixon came from nearby Lackenby.
At the 1901 census they were living in Bridge Street, Ayton.
His mother died in 1910, when he was 17 and at the 1911 census he is recorded as a Horse Driver in Ayton Ironstone Mine.
The exact circumstances of his death are not known. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial.
19th SEPTEMBER.
1384 Pte Mellanby Ernest, William. Of "B" Company. Born and enlisted at Middlesbrough, N Yorks.
Killed in action. Age 21. Buried at La Chapelle D'Armentieres Communal Cemetery.
Machine Gun Section,
4th Yorks [TF] killed in action in front line
trenches at Armentieres, September 19th. Son of
the late Charles, also Elizabeth Mellanby, 16 Lester
Street, Middlesbrough.
He answered the call of duty,
And died bravely facing the foe.
Deeply mourned by mother, Fred, Henry and Harry.
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The Ploegsteert Memorial.
Situated in the Strand Military Cemetery, it commemorates over 11,000
Commonwealth servicemen who died in the area during the course of the War and have no known grave.
36 men of the 1/4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment are among them.
[Picture courtesy of - "WW1Cemeteries.com".].
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20th SEPTEMBER.
2682 Pte Leeks John, Robert. Home at - 1 Dixon St, Brotton, N Yorks. Enlisted at
Skelton in Cleveland, N Yorks. Died of wounds. Age 29. Etaples Military Cemetery. [Hospital Cemetery 27k South of
Boulogne.]
2Lt Beresford and 3 ORs proceeded on leave.
2nd Lt Girling and LCpl Pinkney went on a course of Bomb Throwing at Terdeghem and LCpl Stobbs [Instructor], with
4 ORs went to Asylum, Armentieres for similar training. [This had been the lunatic asylum and was at the start
of one of the communication trenches called Lunatic Lane.]
21st SEPTEMBER. London Gazette. 'Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire
Regiment). From a Reserve Battalion of this Regiment, David Philip Hirsch, to be Second Lieutenant.
On the 23rd April 1917 at Arras he would become the only 4th Yorks Bn man to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
25th SEPTEMBER. Three men were slightly wounded with an enemy "Whiz-bang" [Germany Artillery shell] during a
demonstration.
27th SEPTEMBER. The Battalion Headquarters were moved from Square Farm to Haystacks Farm.
28th SEPTEMBER. Captain Stead and Lt H N Constantine, who had been wounded, rejoined the unit from England.
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Etaples Military Cemetery.
Situated 27k South of Boulogne this area had 15 hospitals to cope with the thousands who were brought back by rail from
the Front.
The cemetery has over 11,000 burials of British servicemen,
including six 4th Yorks' men.
[Picture courtesy of - "WW1Cemeteries.com".].
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29th SEPTEMBER. A Bomb Sergeant proceeded to Divisional School to train a Brigade of "Kitchener's Army".
30th SEPTEMBER. A party of 9th Loyal N Lancs were attached for instruction in Trench duties.
1st OCTOBER. The Bn was relieved in the trenches by the 5th Yorks Bn and proceeded to the Asylum, Armentieres
in Brigade Reserve.
A draft of 51 men was received from England.
2nd OCTOBER. One man was wounded in a digging party.
[As the men said at the time - when they were not in the line fighting, they were in the line digging.]
4th OCTOBER. The Bn relieved the 5th Bn DLI in trenches 71,72 and 73.
6th OCTOBER.
2250 Pte Gowton Thomas. Born at Mansfield, Yorks and enlisted at Cliffe. Killed in action.
Buried at Chapelle D'Armentieres Old Military Cemetery.
1217 Pte Walker Thomas. Home at Thirsk N Yorks, place of birth. Enlisted at Skelton in Cleveland, N Yorks.
Killed in action. Buried at Chapelle D'Armentieres New Military Cemetery.
4 men were wounded.
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