Harold Brackenbury

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Harold Edward Brackenbury was born in 1895 in East Barkwith, the son of Elizah and Fanny Bachelor Brackenbury. Elizah and Fanny had seven children (one of which had died by the 1911 census), of whom three were living at home (in East Barkwith) in 1911. Elizah’s occupation is recorded as grocer and draper, and the children including Harold assisted in the business.

Enlisted in September 1916, records show Harold assigned to the Bedfordshire Regiment, but later serving with 2/5th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. The battalion had been based at Colchester since March 1916 and remained there until February 1917 when they were mobilised for war and sent to France.

As part of the 66th Division, they were assigned to the coastal sector in Flanders. Although the sector was relatively quiet compared to some other areas, it was not without its difficulties as the German artillery was very active, gas was much used and the sandy ground was a nightmare to dig defences in. During the summer, the division was held in reserve to support a breakthrough following the planned Operation Hush offensive along the coast, but this was delayed and then cancelled.

At the end of September, the division was relieved and moved south to the Ypres area, where it saw its first major action at the Battle of Poelcappelle, a phase during the Battle of Passchendaele. The 66th was to join the 49th (West Riding) Division for the fourth in a series of assaults designed to take the ridge at Passchendaele. This would enable the assault along the coast and the amphibious landings at Ostend to go ahead. However time was running out. Unless the ridge could be taken by mid-October the last high tide (vital for the amphibious landings) would be missed.

The weather deteriorated badly and on the 4th October the heavens opened and rain described as having a ‘tropical intensity’ fell. Field drains had already been destroyed by the fighting. Where there was once mud there now existed swamps.

Harold was killed in action on the 7th October, two days prior to the advance and main battle on the 9th October.  He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial at Zonnebeke, which bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known.

Harold’s younger brother Wilfred Henry Brackenbury, who served in the Lincolnshire Regiment during the war, survived, got married in 1924 and lived until 1974 (age 78).

Arthur Bradley was born in 1892 at Panton, the son of George Bradley and Mary Jane Wilkinson. His father George, born in 1859 at Ashby cum Fenby, had grown up in Langton while his mother Mary was from Saltfleetby. George and Mary had married on the 17th May 1880 in Ludborough. They are shown together in the picture, although it is not known which child they are with.

In 1901, the family were living at Ulceby cum Fordington. The census shows George and Mary with eight children at home, seven of them boys. Their oldest three children had by that time left home. Of those still at home, the eldest two boys, were, like George, working as farm labourers. Based on the children’s places of birth, it appears that the family were moving around, presumably going where there was work for George. Jesse the eldest child had been born in Grimoldby, the next in Alvingham, then Legbourne, then Walmsgate near Louth, then the next three children in Legbourne, followed by Arthur in Panton, the next in Haugham near Grantham, and the following two in Maidenwell near Louth. From this it can be concluded that the family were in Panton for a short period between 1890 and 1894.

By 1911, Arthur, then 19 years old, had left home and was boarding in Claxby near Alford, working as a waggoner on a farm. George and Mary were then living at Ulceby Cross with their youngest three children, another two boys having been born since the 1901 census, bringing the total to thirteen. George was working as a Roadman for the District Council. 

Arthur enlisted at Mablethorpe and served as a Private (service number 12922) with the 7th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. The battalion sailed from Folkstone on the 14th July 1915, landing the next day at Boulogne, with 29 officers and 932 other ranks. They were initially kept in reserve before moving into trenches at Reninghelst near Ypres on the 27th July, taking their first casualties the following day. 

After a few days out of the trenches at the start of August, they entered them again at Voormezeele on the 14th August.  The battalion took regular casualties until relived on the 26th August, but after a few days out of the line, they were back in the Voormezeele trenches on the 3rd September, again taking casualties until relieved on the 11th.

On the 19th the battalion again moved up and into the trenches, and over the next few days endured enemy bombardments, rifle grenades and trench mortars, until relived on the 27th. After only a couple of days away, they returned to the trenches yet again on the 30th September, remaining until the 5th October when they were relived and moved on the 6th to rest billets at Eecke.

After a period of training the battalion moved to relieve the 2nd Suffolks at Maple Copse. There, the battalion again endured enemy shelling, with aircraft sometimes helping to direct the shell fire, until they were relived and moved to a rest camp on the 30th October.

On the 10th November, the battalion relieved positions north of the Menin Road near Hooge. The trenches were in a very poor state and were flooded to knee deep after recent rains, so on the 11th drainage work had to be carried out. The enemy trench mortars were active all day. On that day (the 11th) Arthur was killed (and another three men wounded). He is buried at Menin Road South Military Cemetery, near Ypres. Both Arthur and his younger brother Joseph (who served with the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment and fell on the 2nd December 1917) are also listed on the Ulceby by Alford war memorial.

Edmund John Broughton Codd was born at Osgodby in July 1896, the son of Wilson and Sarah Jane Codd. His father Wilson worked as a farm labourer around the Osgodby area.

Edmund enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment in November 1915. The 2nd Battalion has been in France since November 1914 fighting in a number of actions, but on 18th November 1915 was moved into the divisional reserve to receive and train replacements. During this period of training the battalion was located in Sailly for four days before moving to billets in La Belle Hôtesse where they were based until the 9th January 1916.

From La Belle Hôtesse the battalion marched to Fleurbaix where they relieved the 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment in the trenches on the 14th January, remaining there for five days before returning to reserve billets in Sailly. The battalion remained in the area, alternating the manning of the trenches with the 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment until the end of March, during which time things were fairly quiet.

From there, the men marched to Albert where they again alternated between manning the trenches and pulling back to the reserve billets throughout April and May. While in the trenches during May, they were subjected to frequent shelling and experienced frequent casualties, as described in the battalion war diary:

19th May – Shelled with 77mm shells, two wounded

20th May – In trenches, quiet day

21st May – Heavily shelled with ‘oil cans’ – trench mortars and 5.9” guns, trench considerably damaged, 4 killed and 3 wounded

22nd May – In trenches

23rd May – Heavily shelled again, 1 killed, 2 wounded. Relieved and moved to reserve billets

On the 24th June, the Allied guns started bombarding the enemy positions. The bombardment would last for 6 days, until on the 30th the men started moving to the assembly trenches. This was the start of what was officially termed The Battle of Albert 1916, the opening two weeks of The First Battle of the Somme. As such it includes the first day of the Somme, the most costly day in British military history and one that has coloured our image of the First World War ever since. By the end of the day on the 1st July the battalion had lost many officers either killed or wounded, along with ‘other rank’ casualties of 26 killed, 303 wounded, 89 missing, 25 wounded and missing.

The battalion was pulled back and spent the summer again taking their turns either in the trenches or reserve billets. The war diary contains details of at least one night-time raid on the enemy trenches, during which desperate fighting ensued.

On the 16th October the men marched to the Citadel camp near Méaulte on the Somme. At daybreak on the 23rd the men took up assembly positions in trenches near Lesbœufs. Zero hour was to have been 11:30am but this was postponed until 2.30pm due to fog. At 2:30pm they attacked across no-man’s land in four lines towards the German positions, following the creeping barrage as closely as possible. Exposed to heavy rifle and machine gun fire only a small portion of men reached the enemy trenches. During the attack the battalion had again lost many officers (killed or wounded) along with other rank casualties of 129 wounded, 120 missing and 23 killed including Edmund John Codd.

Edmund is also commemorated on the Kirkby cum Osgodby war memorial along with his brother James Harry Codd (private 95727, 5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry), who died in hospital in Hull on the 6th July 1918, of lobar pneumonia, aged 18. James is buried in St Andrew Churchyard, Kirkby cum Osgodby.

Grice William Crawford was born in 1890 in East Barkwith. He was baptized at the church on the 21st May 1890.

Grice was the son of George and Sarah E Crawford who lived in the village at the time of the 1891 census. Three of their four children were born in East Barkwith.

George and Sarah had moved into the village sometime between 1881 and 1888. George was from the Boston area.

While in East Barkwith, his father George worked as a Signal Man for GNR (Great Northern Railway). 

After three children had been born, they moved to Bradford sometime between 1894 and 1901.

Grice enlisted at Bradford and served as a Gunner (service number 140923) with the Royal Horse Artillery. He was assigned to C Battery, 14th Brigade and died of wounds, aged 26 in France on the 14th April 1917.

He is buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Born on March 18th 1891, Robert was the son of Edmund Barry Denny and Emily Barclay Denny of Barkwith House, East Barkwith. His parents had both been born in Ireland but had moved to England and Robert and his siblings were born in Wragby. His father was a physician and JP for Lincolnshire, and they lived in a busy household, with his aunt and a number of domestic servants. Robert was one of six children. 

In 1913 at the age of 22, after a short spell as a medical student at The London Hospital, Robert travelled to Canada with his elder sister Iris (24), boarding the Teutonic on 20th May in Liverpool and sailing to Montreal. His occupation was listed as ‘farmer’, while Iris’s is a ‘domestic’.

However, on the 23rd September 1914, after Britain had entered war with Germany, he and his brother Maynard, enlisted with the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion. His occupation at time of enlistment was given as ‘labourer’. The 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) was formed from four companies of unrelated highland regiments. On the sea voyage to England the battalion was still dressed in four different styles, tartans and badges. 

The First Canadian Contingent sailed for England on October 3rd, 1914. The 16th Battalion was part of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. In December 1914, he and his brother were both offered commissions, which his brother accepted but he did not. The battalion subsequently sailed for France on 12th February, 1915, and disembarked at St. Nazaire three days later. Between February 17th and March 2nd each Canadian brigade was attached to a British division in front of Armentieres for indoctrination in trench warfare. The Canadian division then relieved the 2nd Border Regiment south of Fleurbais. In mid-April the Canadians relieved a French Division in front of Ypres. 

The 16th Battalion took part in the Second Battle of Ypres during April 1915. French defensive policy, in the event of an enemy attack, was for the front line troops to fall back and let the artillery deal with the attackers. British policy, reflected in Canadian orders, was to hold the trenches at all costs. Thus the Canadian’s first task was to develop forward defences. At 1600 hours on April 22nd French Colonial troops on their left came under heavy bombardment, followed an hour later by the first gas attack in the history of warfare. The line broke, exposing the Canadian flank and opening the way to Ypres. That night the 3rd Brigade partly restored the situation by counter-attacking with the 10th and 16th Battalions; though much further fighting, including a second attack with gas, lay ahead.

By the middle of May 1915, the battalion was just to the east of the town of Bethune, and took part in the Battle of Festubert, as part of a combined force of British, Canadian and Indian troops. 

The battle was preceded by a four day artillery bombardment with over 400 guns firing 100,000 shells, then on the night of the 15th May an attack was launched around the village of Festubert by two divisions of mostly Indian infantry. The attack initially made rapid progress, despite the failure of the preliminary bombardment to effectively destroy the German Sixth Army front line defences. Under attack, the Germans retreated to a line directly in front of the village.

On 18th May a further assault was launched upon the German lines, by Canadian troops including the 16th Battalion, but this was unsuccessful in the face of German artillery fire. Despite heavy rain some Allied troops were able to prepare trenches to consolidate the small gains made thus far.  During that same evening the German front line received a further injection of reserves. Further Allied attacks between 20-24 May resulted in the capture of Festubert village itself, a position then held until the German advance of spring 1918.

Robert was seriously wounded by a shell while on patrol at Festubert and died in hospital at Bethune on the 22nd May. 

He had been recommended for a commission a few days previously. One comrade wrote of him: “He was one of the most courageous of comrades and I have seen him perform several deeds worthy of recognition”: and another: ” He was wounded doing his duty as a soldier should, and evidences of his coolness and bravery under heavy fire were numerous. I once assisted him (at great personal risk to himself but very little to me) to bandage a wounded comrade. The King has lost a good soldier, and we a good pal." 

Ernest Everton was born in 1896 in Langton-by-Wragby, one of eight children born to Richard and Rosina (Rose) Everton (previously Rosina Hickson). At the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in West Barkwith and Ernest was employed as a farm labourer, as was his father Richard who had been born in Bardney. Rose is later recorded as living at Malt Killen Cottages, Goltho. 

Ernest joined the Lincolnshire Regiment in November 1915. The regiment had just sustained heavy losses in the Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt in France, and was being rebuilt with drafts from back home. 

On the 7th January 1916 the battalion embarked for Alexandria from Marseilles but after only a few days in Egypt they were ordered to return to France and on the 4th of February 1916 they embarked from Alexandria and returned to Marseilles.

On the 1st of July 1916 they took part in the diversionary attack at Gommecourt. 

In 1917 they were in action during the Operations on the Ancre, the Occupation of the Gommecourt defences, the attack on Rettemoy Graben and the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line.

By the 7th June the battalion were billeted in ruins near Lievin, France making preparations for an attack the following day. The 8th June is described in the battalion’s war diary as a perfect summer’s day. The afternoon was spent moving up to cellars in Cite’ De Riaumont adjoining the assembly trenches, with one officer being wounded when the enemy started shelling the starting zone. The men waited for zero hour with intense shelling impacting the ruins around them. 

At 8:30pm the order to advance was given and the war diary observes that B Company (to which Ernest belonged) “were a joy to behold as they went over in line”. B and D Companies scaled the slopes before them despite both having had heavy losses already, the captain of B Company was wounded in the arm by a piece of shell casing but continued to advance with the men. By the time the men of B and D Companies reached the first German trench, it was already being shelled by the enemy, and a temporary pause occurred until further waves of men arrived. 

The pause meant that the attackers hadn’t kept up with the allied barrage that they were advancing behind, and so the enemy had had time to get back in position to defend the second row of trenches once the barrage had passed over them. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued but the odds became overwhelming, and the British were forced to retreat. During the retreat another two B Company officers were killed, one by a second wound and the other by a shell burst. One B Company sergeant and his platoon were cut off by the enemy and fought on within the German lines for four hours before they were able to take an enemy post and fight their way back to rejoin the battalion.

Once back at a defendable position the remnants of B and D Companies held their line until the orders to withdraw to the assembly trenches were given. 

It’s not possible to say at what stage on the 8th, Ernest fell, whether it was during the heavy shelling prior to the advance, during the advance, in the vicious hand-to-hand fighting for the second line of trenches, or during the subsequent withdrawal. We also don’t know whether he was aware that his brother Fred (older by one year) had been killed just six weeks before, approximately twenty five km away at Monchy-le-Preux.