Fred Everton

---

Fred Everton was born in 1895 in Langton-by-Wragby, one of eight children born to Richard and Rosina (Rose) Everton (previously Rosina Hickson). By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in West Barkwith but Fred, then 16, had left home and was living in Langton, working as a Waggoner on a farm. Rose is later recorded as living at Malt Killen Cottages, Goltho.

Fred joined the South Staffordshire Regiment in May 1916 but by the time of his death in April 1917 was with the Worcestershire Regiment. Prior to 1920 each regiment issued its own service numbers so when men transferred between regiments their service number changed as can be seen with Fred. Being transferred to other regiments was not uncommon during the war, for example a man might train with one regiment but upon arrival in France be sent to a different regiment, which was in desperate need of replacements.

On the 13th April 1917 Fred and the 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, as part of the Arras Offensive, moved into trenches just south of Monchy-le-Preux, to the south-east of Arras, relieving the 11th Middlesex Regiment. At 10am on the 14th, they spotted some 2000 German troops advancing towards them. Artillery was immediately called in and coupled with rifle and lewis gun fire, this shattered the attack and forced the enemy to retreat. The 4th battalion suffered casualties including 4 officers and 50 other ranks either killed or wounded. Special orders were issued congratulating the men of the battalion on the successful defence of their lines.

The next day the battalion were relieved and moved back to billets, until the 19th April when they took over some reserve trenches close to where the heavy artillery guns were sited. Due to this the area received a great deal of intermittent shelling on the 20th, resulting in 1 officer killed, 2 officers wounded, another officer with shell shock and 20 other ranks either wounded or killed.

On the 21st, shelling continued with one officer killed and 9 other ranks either wounded or killed. That night the battalion moved up to the front lines to relieve the 2nd Hants Regiment, taking another 13 casualties on the way up. The 22nd was spent make preparations for an attack the following day (The Second Battle of the Scarpe).

By 4am on the 23rd the battalion was formed up in the ‘jumping off’ trenches, then at 4.45 the barrage started, which was meant to fall a distance in front of the battalion trenches but instead fell all around them. The German artillery then also started firing at the battalion’s trenches. The battalion advanced under cover of the barrage, taking two trenches and capturing a machine gun and about 80 prisoners. By this stage there was considerable disorganisation due to the heavy losses the battalion had sustained amongst officers and NCOs. Efforts were made to consolidate the ground won, although these were hampered by enemy sniping. 

At 10am the German forces counter-attacked, but were beaten back, mainly be rifle and lewis gun fire. Intense shelling and sniping continued throughout the day. At 4pm another heavy counter attack was launched by the Germans. Part of the line was forced back but most held and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. At 5pm a third counter attack was launched but artillery was called in and the attack was completely broken up. At dusk an attempt was made to re-capture the part of the line that had been lost, but this was beaten back by heavy German resistance. Ammunition was now running short. Rations were brought up with two limbers and 10 horses being lost to shell fire.

Overnight the battalion were relieved by the Royal Fusiliers and pulled back. The battalion had 4 officers killed, 2 missing, 2 wounded and missing, and three wounded. Amongst the other ranks, there were 34 killed, 53 missing and 325 wounded. Fred Everton was amongst those who had been killed in the action.

Sadly, Fred’s younger brother (Ernest) also appears on the war memorial, as he was killed approximately six week later serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment.

Fred is also commemorated on the Langton by Wragby war memorial which is in the church of St Giles. It takes the form of a brass wall plaque with raised letters to be found on the North side of the nave, beneath a stained glass window.

John Green, son of William and Elizabeth Green, was born in Martin in 1891. His father was an agricultural labourer who in 1901 was working at a dairy farm in Claxby Pluckacre. John had a younger sister, Alice, who was born in Baumber and a younger brother, Arthur, born in Sudbrook. 

John Green joined the West Yorkshire Regiment in March 1916.

At that time the 2/5th Battalion were based on Salisbury Plain, before moving in June 1916 to Somerleyton near Lowestoft, and later in October 1916 to Bedford.  They were subsequently mobilised for war and landed at Le Havre in January 1917.

After a rough crossing to Le Havre during which many of the men were badly seasick, the next day they climbed on board a freight train for a twenty two hour journey to Frevant, where they disembarked into snow and sleet, before marching 5 miles to their billets. 

On the 23rd January the battalion moved to Couin to begin trench warfare training. Then on the 31st January they moved again, to Mailley Wood, where they were held in reserve, until moved into the front line on the 13th February. The section where they were stationed lacked the well developed trench systems present in other parts of the line and was really a series of shell holes located very close to the German lines. The German troops and artillery knew the area well and the battalion had a rough introduction, with seven men killed and eighteen wounded within the first twenty four hours.

The initiation into combat and trench warfare continued over the following weeks, with the men of the battalion struggling to come to terms with the very challenging environment in which they found themselves. Frequent casualties occurred during this period. After a brief period out of the front line, the battalion was back in the line occupying an old German position just to the north of Miraumont on the 26th February. When they patrolled forward they found that the enemy had left, retreating back to the Hindenburg Line.

On the 7th March the Battalion withdrew from the line to make preparations for their first proper operation, an attack on Achiet Le Petit. The attack was cancelled but training and exercises continued until the Battalion returned to the front line east of Croisilles, on the 3rd April, tasked with the initial reconnaissance for an attack on Bullecourt. 

The battalion were assigned a supporting role during the First Battle of Bullecourt. The battle went very badly overall, when the tanks meant to join the assault were delayed due to weather and the Australian division that the British forces were supporting, called off their assault but failed to inform the British troops. The West Yorkshire 2/7th and 2/8th Battalions patrolled forward in force at Zero Hour assuming the Australians were also advancing. They found the artillery barrage had failed to damage the German wire defences and they were beaten back by German gun-fire into a sunken road where they were then shelled to pieces by their own artillery. The West Yorkshire battalions lost 162 men. The men of the 2/5th watching from their own trenches had their first view of what the German machine guns could do to an attacking force.

Plans were made for another assault on Bullecourt. During this period the battalion was in rest and training in the villages of Sapignies and Behagnies. The second attack began on the 2nd May, this time with the 2/5th battalion having a leading role. At 6: 10 p.m. the Battalion left Behagnies and marched for three hours, before pausing for a hot meal, and then moving off again at 10: 30 p.m. to Longatte where they met their guides. An enemy barrage at 3: 30 a.m. caused some casualties amongst the 2/5th. 

Just before Zero Hour the Battalion moved up to the start line and at 3: 45 a.m. set out to Bullecourt. They crossed no man’s land quickly and found the wire well cut, before moving up the trench south of the Crucifix and capturing an officer and thirty-one men. The initial objectives were captured within minutes, seemingly lightly held. The battalion continued to press forward into the village as the resistance began to get stiffer. By 6:35 a.m. the fight had turned very nasty and, with casualties very heavy among the officers, the 2/5th began to lose control of the battle and stalled. 

The 2/5th took cover in the shell holes within the village, in order to hold onto what it had taken and wait for the flanking units to catch up and reinforcements to pass through them. As time went by the 2/5th found themselves in a worsening situation, with the planned support from the 2/6th and the Australian forces not arriving, and the enemy now moving their reserves forward. Counter-attacks began to come in from the east taking each post in turn. In the easternmost posts and those beyond the church there were no survivors but soon the enemy ran up against the rough line in the village where they were held by the battalion’s Lewis guns. However this line, short of bombs and rifle grenades, began to crumble under the attack and could not be held without reinforcement. The trench mortar unit that were meant to be supporting them had been put out of action and the British machine guns had all either been destroyed or pushed back out of the village. Tank support was also unable to reach them. The 2/5th were now totally isolated, out of bombs and at a severely decreased strength. They were forced to withdraw.

The battalion had lost 120 men killed, some 80-100 captured, and many others either missing or wounded. Overall they had lost 70% of their original strength. John Green had been wounded and died on the 6th May in a field hospital. He is buried at Hem-Lenglet Communal Cemetery, one of only nine war graves there.

Charles, born 1894, was one of a family of four children (three boys and one girl) all born in East Barkwith to Robert and Frances Horner. His mother, Frances, had herself been born in East Barkwith in 1861. His father, Robert, worked as a painter.

Charles, having enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment during January 1913 prior to the start of the war, was part of the British Expeditionary Force sent to France once hostilities began. When war was declared on the 4th August 1914, the 1st Battalion were stationed at Portsmouth as part of the 9th brigade of the 3rd Division.

On the 14th August they were mobilised for war and landed at Havre, before moving forward and taking part in the Battle of Mons on the 23rd August and the subsequent retreat the following day. Some of the fighting on the 24th August is described in Major-General C. R. Simpson’s book ‘The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment’:

“The 1st Lincolnshire arriving at the railway bridge at Frameries about 10 p.m. (23rd Aug), was ordered to take over the northern edge of Frameries from another battalion of the Brigade. It was pitch dark, and nothing was visible of the front. The companies (three) took over the lines held by the other battalion in turn and at once began improving them, with their entrenching implements as best they could. The orchard in which the Lincolnshire took up a position lay at the north-western extremity of Frameries. The position was by no means ideal, but possessed some good features, both for concealment and defence. Two sides of the orchard were held, at right angles facing north and west and a ditch along a paved road, in front of a factory built of brick. There were huge mounds of slag in front of us, as it was a mining district. 

A detached post in front of the line was held by Lieutenant Buller and a platoon. It was in close contact with the Germans. As soon as it was light the enemy opened with his artillery, probably about 4 a.m. The piquet came in, and one of them reported that Lieutenant Buller was hit. The shell-fire now became very heavy — shells bursting on the paved road and destroying the factory behind it. It became so hot in this ditch from the burning house that the men in it were withdrawn to the orchard. B Company held the side of the orchard at right angles to the front, and suffered many casualties from enfilade fire as the German attack progressed. The company, commanded by Captain Rose, "hung on with the greatest determination and pluck, and stuck it out to the end." {Lieut. -Colonel Smith.)

From the left of the orchard there was a steep slope downwards towards the north-west for a distance of some six hundred yards to a cornfield several acres in extent in which rows of wheat stooks had been left. Small groups of Germans of from six to eight men tried to advance by working from stook to stook ; but these gave no protection against the well-sustained and accurate fire of the Lincolnshire, and so terrible was the execution inflicted on the enemy that, unable to make headway, he abandoned the attempt. 

" It was undoubtedly the steady and accurate fire of the Lincolnshire which enabled them to maintain their position. The Germans seemed quite nonplussed. They no doubt expected to get close up to our position without serious loss and then rush it. The enemy also probably exaggerated the effect of the intense shell-fire, which our night-long preparations had seriously discounted. 

Whilst in action our machine-guns did great execution; but in such a cramped position it was inevitable that they should be quickly located and knocked out. They were fought to the last by Lieutenant Holmes, a most gallant and capable officer, whose death was a very serious loss to the battalion. Private Stroulger very gallantly drove his machine-gun limber close up to the position and took away some of the wounded. He was later awarded the D.C.M." {W.E.B. Smith.)” (MAJOR-GENERAL C. R. SIMPSON)

During the 23rd and 24th August, the 1st Lincolnshire casualties numbered four officers and one hundred and thirty other ranks, including Charles Horner who was killed during the action on the 24th. His brothers, Sidney and Leonard, both survived the war.

Barkwith had suffered its first loss during the opening month of the war. All those with loved ones and friends away fighting would have wondered whether more losses would occur, but at that stage there were still expectations that the war would be over by Christmas 1914 and the full horror of years of trench warfare had yet to unfold.

George, the son of Edward and Sophia Hubbard, was born in Hilborough, Norfolk in 1883, one of a large family. At the time of the 1911 census he was still living in Hilborough with his mother and working as a Game Keeper, but by 1916 was living in Barkwith.

George married Eva Wright, daughter of Robert and Sarah Jane Wright, in Wragby on the 17th May 1916. Eva and her parents were living in Wragby, where her father worked as a Railway Platelayer. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, show Eva living at Railway Cottage, Wragby.

George was enlisted in March 1916, joining the 1/6th Battalion Territorial Force, Durham Light Infantry. It is likely that having completed basic training he would have been with the battalion in September 1916 at The Battle of Flers–Courcelette on the Somme. Starting on the 15th September the battle lasted a week and included the first use of a tank in warfare. An initial design for an armoured vehicle running on tractor tracks had been created in 1915 by William Tritton and Lieutenant Walter Wilson, in a suite at The White Hart Hotel in Lincoln. The first model, called Little Willie and based on their initial design, was tested in 1915 but failed, leading to a hurried re-design, which following testing in Lincoln and then Hatfield would go into production (now known as the Mark 1 tank).

Later that month, the battalion was again in action at The Battle of Morval (25–28 September 1916), then in October at The Battle of the Transloy Ridges. The battalion spent their entire service in France with 151st Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.

In 1917 they fought at The First Battle of the Scarpe, The Capture of Wancourt Ridge, The Second Battle of the Scarpe and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. 

The following year, the division were unlucky enough to be in the way of all three of the major German offensives on the Somme, Lys and Aisne between March and May 1918. Across the three offensives, the division lost over 14,500 men.

On the 21st March 1918, at 04:35 the Germans commenced an intensive barrage on the British positions south west of St Quentin along a 40 mi (64 km) front. Trench mortars, chlorine gas, mustard gas, tear gas and smoke canisters were concentrated on the forward trenches, while heavy artillery bombarded rear areas to destroy artillery and supply lines. The Germans fired over 3,500,000 shells during five hours, in the biggest barrage of the war. The front line was badly damaged and communications with the rear were cut.

At 09:40 German infantry launched their assault with mixed results, but aided by thick mist and smoke, in places managed to penetrate deep behind the allied lines. Many outposts were surrounded but fought on. Over the next couple of days the Germans drove deeper into the British positions, causing chaos and necessitating retreat.

The 1/6th Battalion, having been held in reserve, were ordered to move up into the fight near Tincourt-Boucly. To the south of the village the battalion occupied a reserve system of partially dug trenches, and the following morning watched with interest a number of tanks moving up to counter-attack the enemy. During the afternoon shelling became heavier and concentrations of enemy infantry could be seen. The battalion were ordered to hold at all costs and towards dusk started to take serious casualties.

New orders were received later that evening, to withdraw to a ridge in front of Cardigny, then the next morning news arrived that the Fifth Army was withdrawing to west of the Somme, and the battalion were to carry out a rearguard action. They moved to occupied the village of Cardigny and soon found the enemy on the outskirts, targeting them with snipers and machine guns. The position could not be held and permission was granted to withdraw.

The battalion moved to the next line of defence on a ridge near Le Mesnil but after two hours orders came to cross the river at the Eterpigny footbridge. They tried moving across country to the bridge but couldn’t find a way through the marshes and undergrowth, so were forced to make for Le Mesnil village. Unbeknown to them the village was in enemy hands and they were ambushed. They were eventually able to fight their way over the bridge, but loss two officers and twenty men in the process.

George’s WW1 British war medal & Victory medal (pictured) were recently sold on ebay.

At some stage, mostly likely during the withdrawals, George was badly wounded and taken prisoner. He died of his wounds at a German field hospital in Denain and is buried along with other British prisoners of war in Denain Communal Cemetery.

He is commemorated on the Hilborough war memorial and also on the war memorial in Barkwith where he lived at the time of the war.

William Fred Lawe was born in Panton in 1881, the son of John and Sarah Lawe (nee Faulkner). His parents had married on the 31st January 1870 and lived in Grasby, then Howsham (near Brigg) before moving to Panton around 1880. William was one of several children born to John and Sarah. These included Emma circa 1870, Sarah circa 1873, Cecilia circa 1874, Arthur (who was ‘deformed’ according to census data) circa 1876, Frank circa 1877, Edith circa 1879 and William in 1881.

His father, John, a wheelwright from Little Cawthorpe, died of phthisis (tuberculosis) in Lincoln County Hospital on the 1st September 1883 at the age of 35, soon after William was born.

Following John’s death, the family moved to 91 Foundry Street, Horncastle. Sarah gave birth to another daughter, ‘Nellie Surgey Lawe’ in 1887. It is likely that Nellie’s father was Matthew Surgey, a shoemaker, who is recorded living with them on the 1891 census as a ‘lodger’.

In 1901 Sarah, Arthur and Nellie were still living in Horncastle, now at 2 Water Mill Lane. Sarah was working as a Charwoman, while Arthur was a tailor.

William Lawe served in the militia before becoming a professional soldier, joining up at Lincoln on the 30th November 1898 at the age of eighteen and serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment (service number 5208). At the time of enlisting he gave his profession as ‘baker’, although this isn’t a trade that is mentioned on any census records for him. 

His service records describe him as five foot four inches tall, one hundred and sixteen pounds, with a ‘fresh’ complexion, brown eyes, brown hair, a tattoo on his right forearm of a woman in tights, and another tattoo on his left forearm of a Claddagh symbol (clasped hands over a heart with a crown above).

William served at home for two years before being posted to India in 1900 and remaining there until 1907. After serving his contracted eight years, William was transferred to the army reserves in 1907.

 In 1911, William was living at 8 Southwell Lane, Horncastle, with his mother and younger half sister, Nellie. William was working as a bricklayer and Nellie as a dressmaker. 

William married Susannah Taylor (nee Wadsley) in 1913 at Sleaford. Suzannah had previously been married to George Taylor, a house painter in Horncastle, and had two children from this first marriage.   

When the war began in 1914, William as a reservist, was mobilised and went to France on the 30th August as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He was appointed as a Corporal but was promoted to Acting Sergeant at times during his service in the field. On the 7th January 1915 he was at Boulogne, then spent the next few months either in the field or at Rouen. In May, William contracted Bronchitis and was transferred by ship on the 27th May to England. At home, his wife Suzannah had just given birth to a baby daughter, born on the 21st May 1915 and called ‘Olive’.

Once home in England, William served as an Acting Sergeant (service number 33634) with the 1st Garrison Battalion, Kings Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry). The battalion remained in the UK where William died on the 3rd December 1916. He is buried at Maron-in-Cleveland (St. Cuthbert) Churchyard and is included on the Horncastle war memorial.

Herbert Overton was born on the 29th January 1899 in Faldingworth, the son of Edward and Hannah Overton. He was baptised in Faldingworth on the 26th February 1899 and a couple of years later the 1901 census shows the family living there, along with Herbert’s older sister, Annie who was 19 when Herbert was born.

By 1909 the family had moved to East Barkwith, with Edward Overton listed in the 1909 Kelly’s Directory as a Beer Retailer and Carrier. Two years later, at the time of the 1911 census, the family were still living in East Barkwith where Herbert attended school and was a member of the 1st East Barkwith Scout Troop. On the census, his father is listed as an Inn Keeper and Carter. It is likely that the ‘Inn’ was the Waggon and Horses in Torrington Lane.

The family moved away from East Barkwith on the 6th April 1912, and at the time of the war were living in the Lissington/Linwood area. According to the 1911 census, Edward and Hannah Overton had had six children, of whom three had died. Sadly, Herbert would have been the fourth.  

In January 1916, conscription was introduced for single men between the ages of 18 and 45, later being extended to include married men in June 1916. It is likely that Herbert was called up following his 18th birthday in January 1917, being enlisted in Lincoln and joining the Training Reserve for basic training. The introduction of conscription had led to the formation of the Training Reserve, rather than men joining the reserve battalion of their local regiment. Men of the Training Reserve when ready for active service, were posted to whichever regiment required reinforcements regardless of their home county, which in Herbert’s case resulted in him being assigned to the Royal Berkshire Regiment. 

At the start of March 1918, on a cold day with snow on the ground, the 2/4th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment moved up into position near St Quentin Wood, in Northern France. They spent the next few days working on the position’s defences. During this time the Battalion HQ was situated in Chateau Quarry in Enghien Redoubt. Once the defences had been prepared the battalion sent out regular night patrols, to locate enemy machine guns and outposts. During this time the battalion’s forward outposts were occasionally shelled.

On the 17th March, preparations were made for a raid on the enemy trenches. After dusk the route was prepared with tapes and following a preliminary 3 minute bombardment of the "point of entry" and the surrounding trenches at 9pm, the raiding party successfully entered the enemy trenches but found that part of the system to have been evacuated. The enemy retaliated with heavy and accurate artillery and machinegun fire on the battalion’s trenches. The following day the battalion were relieved and pulled back. 

On the 21st March, the battalion received orders at 5am to move forward. They set off at 6:30 and later that morning moved into position at a railway cutting between Vermand and Attilly. At 3pm that afternoon, two companies of the battalion counter-attacked the enemy in front of Ellis Redoubt, but encountered overwhelming numbers, and were compelled to withdraw under very heavy machinegun fire to the railway cutting, taking heavy casualties.

At 10.30am the following morning, undercover of a mist, the enemy put down a heavy barrage and then launched infantry attacks in great force. The battalion held their positions inflicting very heavy casualties on the enemy, until the order was received to withdraw to the line in front of Beauvois-en-Vermandois at 12.30pm. The battalion again sustained casualties during the fighting.

The following day, on the 23rd March at 5:30pm, the enemy made a determined onslaught with overwhelming forces, forcing the battalion to withdraw 600 yards. The trenches they then inhabited were only 18 inches deep, and at 6.30pm a terrific barrage was put down on this line, lasting 10 minutes. Following the barrage the battalion re-organised and then held out until midnight, when they received orders to move, first to Voyennes and then onto Languevoisin-Quiquery. 

Following an uneventful day on the 24th, the Battalion moved on the 25th March to take up a defensive position near the Voyennes road, forming a line on the railway and digging in. There was intense enemy machinegun and rifle fire but no infantry attack ensued. The battalion’s snipers found plenty of targets, and a number of the enemy were hit. Later, the enemy worked round their flanks, and the battalion’s position became untenable, forcing a withdrawal. A delaying action was fought, and the Battalion withdrew with slight losses.

On the 28th March, the Battalion were transported to Marcelcave where at midday they received orders to take part in a counter-attack upon Lamotte-en-Santerre. There was no artillery barrage, very little cover and the ground was swept with machinegun fire. As a result, progress could not be made beyond a certain point, and a withdrawal was subsequently ordered about 5pm. The losses in the ranks were heavy, but a high proportion of these were wounded. The following day was spend under heavy bombardment, but the resulting casualties were relatively light.

Herbert Overton died of his wounds, aged 19, on the 31st March. He is buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery, at Le Treport, which is a small seaport 25 kilometres north-east of Dieppe. During the First World War, Le Treport was an important hospital centre. Thus far, it has not been possible to establish when Herbert was wounded and evacuated back to hospital in Le Treport, but it seems likely that it occurred at some point during the heavy fighting between the 21-28th March.

Harry Prescott, son of John and Mary Jane Prescott, was the youngest of four brothers from East Barkwith, who all served. The eldest, Walter, in the Royal Engineers, William and John in the Lincolnshire Regiment and Harry in the Lancashire Fusiliers. His three brothers all survived the war although John (‘Jack’), had been wounded and was severely affected by shell shock; he never fully recovered and remained in the Barkwith area for the next sixty years or so until he died on August 7, 1982, aged 85 years.

In 1899 when Harry was only 2 years old, his father, John (54), an agricultural labourer in East Barkwith, died of Phthisis (a wasting disease, typically Consumption or Tuberculosis) leading finally to a cerebral haemorrhage. Both John and Mary Jane lived their whole lives in the Barkwith area. Mary Jane was eighteen years younger than her husband John, and lived in East Barkwith until she died in 1941. 

Harry was enlisted in February 1917 and served with 3/5th battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. The 3/5th Battalion was a "third line" Territorial Battalion which had been formed during the War, mainly as a reserve to supply the 1/5th and 2/5th battalions, already on active service. However, by the spring of 1917, the demand for troops was such that the whole Battalion moved to Belgium.

The battalion took part in The Battle of Pilckem Ridge, 31 July – 2 August 1917, which was the opening attack of the main part of the Third Battle of Ypres. The battle took place in the Ypres Salient area of the Western Front. The Allied attack had mixed results; a substantial amount of ground was captured and a large number of casualties inflicted on the German defenders, except on the tactically vital Gheluvelt plateau on the right flank.

The battalion was also present at The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, which was the third British general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres. The battle took place during 20–25 September 1917.

Following that, their next major engagement was The Battle of Poelcapelle which took place on 6-10 October 1917, and was to prove a nightmare for the men of the battalion. The difficulties began on the 8th October. The 197th and 198th Brigades (the 3/5th were part of the 197th Brigade) assembled in the vicinity of the Frezenberg Ridge at 6 p.m. and were subjected to very heavy shelling even as they assembled, suffering a number of casualties. Each brigade had only been allocated one track on which to move into position and these were already torn up by pack animals. As they moved along the tracks in the dark, the troops were subjected to constant shelling. Frequent stops had to be made to save those who had been blown off the tracks into the quagmire.

By 12:30 a.m. on the 9th October it was clear that the troops would not be in position on time unless they got a move on. The order went out – they were not to stop for any reason. The troops marched on desperately trying to ignore the screams of their fallen comrades who were drowning in the liquid mud. One and a half miles before the jump off point the tracks ended and the men struggled on through driving rain in knee deep mud. Despite all efforts they arrived late. In the case of 197 Brigade the head of the 3/5th Lancashire Fusiliers was at the start line, but the other three Lancashire Fusilier battalions were strung out, up to 800 yards in the rear. 

At first despite everything the attack appeared to be going to plan. By midday the remainder of the 197 Brigade had come forward and the 3/5th Lancashire Fusiliers had reached their final objective. A report sent at 11:50 declared the final objective captured and consolidation beginning. However over the next 24 hours the situation was to change dramatically. Two German counter attacks were driven off by the 3/5th during the morning. Worryingly there was no sign of 198th Brigade on the left.

The 198th Brigade had their own problems and were still some 2-300 yards behind even the first objective. At first their attack had gone well, clearing dugouts, capturing prisoners and leaving a general trail of carnage in their wake. However heavy casualties were sustained from machinegun and sniper fire cutting across their front from Bellevue Spur. In addition the exhausted men were simply unable to cross the swamp of the Ravebeek Valley where the mud was up to 6 feet deep.

Meanwhile on the 197th Brigade front, advanced patrols were sent forward to reconnoitre. These patrols from the 2/8th and 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers have the singular honour of being the first British troops to enter Passchendaele. However both battalions were in an exposed position with both flanks unsupported and subject to very heavy shelling. To their left no touch could be obtained with 198 Brigade, and on their right it appeared the Australians had retired too. The situation appeared desperate. The Australians had gone forward on time but because of the delays faced by 66th Division they could see no troops to their left. Facing powerful enfilade fire from Bellevue Spur they decided to retire just as 197 Brigade had reached their final objective. The absence of any left support and the sight of retiring Australians on their right created a sense of panic. With their officers either killed or wounded, the Lancashire Fusiliers pulled back to the first objective.

The morning of 10th October dawned bright and sunny with a brilliant blue sky. Royal Flying Corps contact patrols were sent up and gradually the position became clear. The attack was a complete disaster. The division as a whole had hardly moved at all from their start positions on 9th October though small groups of men were seen in isolated forward positions. Hundreds of wounded men were clustered around the two pillboxes that now form the entrance of Tyne Cot.

Having survived the initial attack, Henry Prescott died at some point on the 10th October and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. Overall the 197th brigade had sustained 1295 casualties, half the brigade strength.