Pte Charles Abdale.
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23rd MARCH. Seventeen 4th Yorks men were killed in action. The following 13 are
commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.
202929 Pte Abdale Charles. Home at - 72 Beaconsfield St, Darlington, town of Birth.
Age 30.
19974 Pte Brown John, Samuel. Home at S Bank N Yorks and enlisted at Middlesbrough.
202992 Pte Brown Sidney, F. Home at 22 Union Lane, Chesterton, Cambs and enlisted at
Cambridge. Age 25.
36350 Pte Charnock Harrison. Home at Thornton W Yorks. Born Denholme Yorks and
enlisted at Bradford. Ex 5242 Yorks and Lancs Regt.
33063 Pte Dickenson George. Home at Plungar Leics. Born Lawdham Notts. Enlisted at Melton
Mowbray. Ex Northumberland Fus.
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205323 Pte Doyle John, James. Home at Jarrow Durham, place of birth. Enlisted at Sunderland.
19100 Pte Freeman Cecil, Ephraim. Home at - 9 Forcett St, Cockerton, Darlington, Co Durham, town
of enlistment. Born at Denham, Suffolk. Age 20.
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Entrance to the Pozieres Memorial.
Situated 6k to the North East of Albert, the Memorial which
enclosed Pozieres British Cemetery commemorates over 14,000 men who died between 21 March and 7 August 1918
and have no known grave.
32 Men of the 4th Yorks Battalion are remembered here.
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A Northumberland Fusiliers Officer on the right and three 4th Yorks Officers.
[Photograph kindly contributed by John Sheen, author of Tyneside Irish, Durham Pals, & Wearside Battalion.]
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German Attack.
[Picture From - "Das Archiv zum 1. Weltkrieg ".].
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27083 Cpl Gomersall Fred. Born and enlisted at Cleckheaton.
21018 Pte Hook Stephen, Henry. Born Shirehill, Wolverhampton. Enlisted at Middlesbrough,
N Yorks.
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Capt Douglas Spurway.
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47328 Pte Mapes Joseph, William. Home at - Mexborough Yorks. Born at Wath, Yorks and enlisted
at Rotherham, Yorks. Ex Yorks and Lancs Regt.
200372 Pte Robinson Octavius. Home at Easingwold N Yorks. Enlisted at Northallerton,
N Yorks.
204207 Pte Scott Robert. Home at Ovingham on Tyne Northumberland. Born at Haydon Bridge and
enlisted at Hexham. Age 30.
Capt Douglas Spurway. Killed in action "by rifle and machine gun bullets". Student St Bartholomews Hospital. Age 22.
Son of Dr. John Spurway and Mrs Spurway, of 74, Brondesbury Rd, Kilburn, London. Born at Tring, Oxfordshire in 1895.
He was a medical student at St Bartholomews Hospital and also a member of the Officer Training Corps of London University before
hostilities. He first joined the 4th Yorks Battalion in July 1916.
The battalion fought a rearguard action all the way back until they reached the high ground near to Le Mesnil-Bruntel.
Here Captain Spurway and his men were ordered to hold the German advance while the other battalions got over the Somme river.
Captain Douglas Spurway was killed in this action on March 23rd 1918.
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Major Harold Brown.
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Major Harold Brown. Killed in action, aged 39. Born Bournemouth 4th Jan 1879. Home at Kingston Lodge, Leigh Woods, Bristol.
He went up to Jesus College, Cambridge where he gained his B.A. While there he enlisted in October 1898 as a Private in the Cambridge
University Rifle Volunteers and was commissioned on 21st March 1900.
He was promoted to Lt on the 13th June and to Captain on the 28th November of the same year, in which rank he served until his service
terminated on the 5th December 1902.
He obtained a teaching post at Filey, N Yorks and lived at Linkfield, 61 West Avenue.
When War was imminent he re-enlisted on the 14th June 1914 in the local unit of the Territorial Force, the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire
Regiment and went with them to France on the 18th April 1915.
On the 24th July 1915 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and promoted to Captain.
On the 6th August he was taken ill with appendicitis and repatriated to the UK, returning to duty abroad on the 4th November 1915.
With the 5th Yorks Battn he took part in the 1916 offensive on the Somme and for some action during this time was awarded the
Military Cross.
On the 16th September 1916, he suffered a gunshot wound to his right foot and damage to his ear from a shell.
He was returned again to hospital in the UK and returned to duty on the 23rd November 1916 with his hearing and right foot movement
impaired.
He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm on the 9th December 1916 and mentioned in Despatches on the 29th of the
same month.
He was again wounded on the 26th April 1917 by gunshots to his head and thigh and spent a month at No 8 Field Hospital, Rouen before
being sent back to hospital at Harrogate, N Yorks.
Once again he recovered and was sent back to France on the 15th August 1916. He served as Captain and Brevet Major with the 5th Yorks
Battn until the 30 December 1917, when he was promoted to Acting Major and appointed as Second in Command of the 4th Yorks Battn.
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He was killed in action on the 23rd March 1918 and, his body never having been recovered, is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.
A bronze statue of him was placed after the War at the Sledmere Memorial.
His father presented a house called the Hollies and its gardens [now an old people's home] to Leeds City Council in his Memory.
36189 Pte Brook George, Henry. Home at Thurscoe East, Yorks. Born Low Valley, Yorks and
enlisted at Barnsley. Killed in action. Buried at Pargny British Cemetery
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Pte Thomas Moore.
Photograph kindly contributed by Peter Hastie of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
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25152 Pte Hacon Albert. Born at Gt Yarmouth, Norfolk and enlisted at Middlesbrough, N Yorks.
Buried at Roisel Communal Cemetery Extension.
243423 Pte Walker William. Home at Old Hartlepool, Co Durham. Born at Bridgegate, Barnard Castle,
Enlisted at Richmond, N Yorks. Buried at Roisel Communal Cemetery Extension.
205344 Pte Moore Thomas. Home at 14 Abbey St, Gateshead upon Tyne, town of birth. Enlisted at
Newcastle upon Tyne. Died of wounds. Age 27. Prior to the War he worked for the North Eastern Railway Co as a loader at Forth Station,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is buried at Roye New British Cemetery.
16717 Pte Morgan John. Home at Anderson Row, Freehold, Leamside, Co Durham. Born and enlisted
at Fencehouses, Co Durham. Killed in action. Age 34. Buried at Bouvincourt Communal Cemetery.
24th MARCH. On the evening of the 22nd the 50th Division had been relieved by the 8th and saw little
fighting on this day.
The 150th Brigade, however, were placed at the disposal of the GOC 8th Div.
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Overrun British position at Roisel.
[Picture from - "Das Archiv zum 1. Weltkrieg ".].
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The Btn Diary briefly reported - "In the afternoon the Btn was ordered to report to the 24th Brigade for duty and
marched to Marchelpot where they spent the night."
The Btn had bivouacked at Belloy, but were in an exhausted condition. Nevertheless the Brigadier gave orders that they
should march back to reinforce 24th Infantry Brigade of 8 Div, on whose Front the enemy had already crossed the River
Somme.
With Lewis Gun limbers and water carts they marched via Estrees Deniecourt and Genermont to Marchelpot.
243624 Pte Beaver John, William. Born at Melton Mowbray. Killed in action. Commemorated on the
Pozieres Memorial.
21030 Pte Clay James. Home at - 6 Chester St, Cargofleet, Middlesbrough, N Yorks, place of
birth and enlistment. Died of wounds. Age 19. Buried at Rosieres British Cemetery.
240840 Cpl Fish Thomas. Home at - Holme on Spalding Moor, York. Enlisted at Market Weighton.
Killed in action. Age 24. Commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. Enlisted 1914.
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