336 replies to this topic

[Liz in Eastbourne]

I think Corporal Francis Wilson Skilbeck (C/12172) is the only other Yeoman Rifleman on your list, Andy.

Skilbeck’s military record does not appear to have survived and I cannot add much to Andy and Dave’s Tadcaster website entry. He’s also commemorated on the Acomb War Memorial, Acomb Methodist Church War Memorial, The King’s Book in York and  the York memorial website.

Much older than most riflemen at 39 when he was killed, he was a farmer at Springfield, The Green, Acomb, near York, son of a prosperous farmer at Bilton near Tadcaster (not to be confused with the Harrogate Bilton).  He was married, for the second time, to Alice; his first wife, Fannie Jane, had died in 1907, presumably in childbirth, along with their baby son.  As with many other Yeoman Riflemen killed at Flers, his date of death is given as 15/09/1916 by CWGC but 17/09/1916 by SDGW, for the reasons already given.

He was an early recruit so I would assume he was in the expected Company for his place of birth and residence, B, but he’s not on the 7 Platoon photo.  It would be wonderful to find the other platoon photographs from Aldershot, especially (for me) of B Company, because I would then have one of John Thomas Hardcastle, on whose account I started this thread – two years ago tomorrow, I’ve just realised.

Liz

[Liz in Eastbourne]

I left unfinished the task of listing the Yeoman Riflemen killed in their two actions on the Somme, Flers (15 Sept 1916) and Gird Ridge (5-10 October 1916).  Since my Somme visit I've visited another cemetery where there is a 21/KRRC Flers casualty, the huge Military Cemetery, Etaples, so I will mention him first.

Sergeant Frank Hildrick (C/12099) of A company died on 27 September 1916 of gun shot wounds received in the battle for Flers on 15 September, and I visited his grave at Etaples (XI. B. 10.) on a dismal rainy day (last Sunday) with two other GWF members. According to his record he was admitted to 21st Casualty Clearing Station on 16th September and then to 23rd General Hospital, Etaples.

Sgt Hildrick was the son of a stonemason in Bondgate, Helmsley, North Riding, an estate worker for Duncombe Park, and was therefore on the ‘Countess’ photograph (p. 4 of this thread).  He had been a draper’s assistant there in 1911 at the age of 16.  He was among the first to enlist with the Yeoman Rifles but did so at St Pancras, as he was according to his attestation form living at 46, Paternoster Row, London and working as a warehouseman.  A note by Michael E Hickes in his edition of GV Dennis’s A Kitchener Man’s Bit, based on his discussions with Dennis, states that
‘his fiancée was Miss Gladys Cooper, whose family had a shoe shop in Helmsley for decades; she never remarried.  Helmsley native, he worked in the drapery department of a large London store before enlisting.’

Hildrick was confirmed as Sergeant on the day the battalion went to France, 5 May 1916.  He had a clean conduct sheet (signed by Capt Philip Lloyd-Greame) and good health, and I have found nothing about him before Flers.  He was survived by his parents James and Eliza Fanny, his brother Hector and sisters Mary Annie Wilkinson and Dorothy Mary (unmarried in 1919).

EDIT Hildrick is commemorated on the Helmsley War Memorial, along with Rfn John Collier and their CO, the Earl of Feversham.

There are still several men in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery to record, as well as the long list on the Thiepval Memorial.

Liz

Edited by Liz in Eastbourne, 13 November 2012 - 06:42 PM.

[Edward1]

I have been researching a Yeoman Rifleman Percy Simons C/12681 who`s attestation was approved by Lt Col Feversham 2nd Dec 15 at Helmsley.  He DOW 5/10/16 He was awarded the Military Medal,London Gazette 8th Dec16.
His older brother Edgar was also a awarded the Military Medal with the 2nd Yorks LG, 19th March 18
Eddie

[Liz in Eastbourne]

Thanks for posting, Eddie.  I have done basic Ancestry research on Percy Simons (not posted, but I will include him in the list of Yeoman Riflemen on the Thiepval Memorial) and noted Edgar among his seven brothers, though not that he too had the MM.
Probably the only thing I could add apart from all the general information on this thread about the battalion is that Captain Philip Lloyd-Greame (officer commanding A Company, who signed his reprimand for overstaying his leave while at Helmsley in early 1916) is given a short biography on page 9.
Liz

[BarnsleyBorn]

Ernest Carroll Nicholson and Sidney Nicholson were my Great great Uncles.  Ernest lived to be 97, despite his experiences on the battlefield.  My youngest daughter has been to the Thiepval memorial and seen Sidney's commemoration there - a very moving experience.
I was absolutely thrilled to find the photographs on this forum of the Platoon and both of them individually - thank you so much for adding such precious records to our family history.

Deborah

[Liz in Eastbourne]

Hello, Deborah - it's very good to know that our efforts have been appreciated!  The platoon photo was generously contributed by Jim, aka Trooper 2406, and the individual enlarged portraits were done by Chris (CPGW) so it was a combined effort.  
Thank you for telling us more from the family. Was the website I referred to in my short account  yours?

Liz

[Liz in Eastbourne]

I haven't yet got round to finishing the account of the Somme cemeteries where I visited Yeoman Riflemen's graves in May. So here's the last one.

Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval is a concentration cemetery and the five riflemen of the 21st KRRC buried here, two from September, three from October 1916, must have been brought from other small cemeteries in the Flers area, or from the battlefields, after the war.

Killed in action at Flers 15th September 1916
Memorial sites give 17th September because of the bureaucratic practice of writing ‘15/17.9.1916’ where the circumstances of death were unclear. As previously noted, the death of any man who was killed in action must have been on 15th.  It is impossible to be certain what happened in most cases.  

Riflemen
C/12550  Jaques, Ralph Ref XXXI.E.9
Ralph Jaques (no 'c' before the 'q') was a farmer’s son from Crowle, Lincolnshire, aged 28 and working as a bottling manager in a brewery when he attested at Crowle on 21st November 1915.  

As would be expected of a Lincolnshire man, he was in D Company, stated on his (clean) conduct sheet, originally signed by RC Robinson (an officer who did not accompany the battalion to France, see my earlier account http://1914-1918.inv...25#entry1565049).  He had been in hospital in Aldershot from 18 February to 30 March 1915 with influenza, according to his record, but there is no evidence of any other problem before he was killed in action near Flers on 15th September.  

Both CWGC and SGDW give 17th Sept 1916 as his death date, as explained above. His mother and father, Jane and Walter, three brothers and two sisters survived him, and his sister, Mrs P. Farthing, asked for his disc in 1925: it had been found when his body was exhumed for reburial in this cemetery.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Crowle, recorded on the Roll of Honour and Lost Ancestors websites.

C/12162  Thompson, C F W  Ref XXI.E.5
Charles Frederick William Thompson was born in Easingwold in 1895, lived there (probably at his parents’ home in Long Street) and enlisted in York.  His parents were both from villages near Easingwold: George, District Road Surveyor, was born in Stillington, and Rose Ada (nee Batty), his wife, in Coxwold.  He was 21 when he died, and as he was recorded as a 16-year-old student in the 1911 census, and his service record does not appear to have survived, his occupation is unknown.  

Both CWGC and SDGW say he died on 17th September 1915, but again if as stated he was killed in action this must have been 15th September.
He is commemorated on the Easingwold War Memorial, along with Charles Kirbyson, C/12427, a haycutter who lived in High Street (Uppleby), Easingwold.  Kirbyson was in A Company, as Thompson is almost certain to have been too, and was killed in action at Gird Ridge, probably on 7th October (SDGW and CWGC give 10th – date discrepancies discussed previously). Kirbyson is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

There's also another Yeoman Rifleman on the Crowle memorial - I'll post separately about him.

Liz

[Liz in Eastbourne]

By the way...
John Johnson Cranidge C/12983
While researching Ralph Jaques, the man from Crowle, Lincolnshire buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery and commemorated on the Crowle War Memorial, I found that another Crowle man in D Company is recorded there, John Johnson Cranidge, C/12983, Co-op grocery assistant and inn-keeper’s son.  He served with the Yeoman Rifles until they were disbanded on 16th March 1918, despite being wounded in 1917, but was only a few days with the 12th Battalion when he died of wounds.  The German spring offensive meant that a number of 21/KRRC 'originals' had similarly disastrous short careers with their new battalions.

As always, it is only the battalion he was with at the time of his death that is recorded on SDGW and CWGC, which both say this was on 29th March; his record says he was wounded and missing 21st March-2nd April 1918.   The 12th battalion, which was in the 20th (Light) Division in Gough’s Fifth Army (thanks, Long, Long Trail website) was in action during those dates at St Quentin, at the Somme Crossings and at the battle of Rosieres; it appears that his body was never found and it was not certain at what point he went missing. His name is on the Pozieres Memorial.

In these cases it always seems unfair to me that the battalion the man trained with and served with for more than two years is not mentioned.

Liz

[Hett65]

Liz
Found the newspaper photographs of C/12603 Arthur Pratt of 31 Beaumont Terrace, Spennymoor, and C/12604 William Henry Close of 25 Clyde Terrace, Spennymoor in Durham Chronicle dated 19.5.1916.
John

Liz
For some reason I was unable to attach the photographs, I will contact you by pm.
John

[Liz in Eastbourne]

Thank you very much, John!
For anyone who's forgotten (!) we mentioned these two Spennymoor men about two years ago on this thread. http://1914-1918.inv...25#entry1501143
Close was killed at Flers and is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial; 'Tiger' Pratt was mentioned appreciatively for his bravery and efficiency by Anthony Eden in his book Another World.  He survived the war. (There were at least two other Pratts in the battalion, Alfred from Monkwearmouth, Co. Durham and Gordon from Selby, Yorkshire, who were not related as far as I know.  Both had been transferred to the 10th Bn by the time of their deaths in 1917.)




Liz

[Liz in Eastbourne]

John, what was the text with the newspaper photographs?  Was it just reporting that they had left for France?

Liz

[Hett65]

Liz
Unfortunately no text with the photographs, it was a block of four photographs of Spennymoor men serving, and their names and regiment were beneath each photograph.
John