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Saltfleetby in the First World War

A training camp for soldiers preparing to go to the front was built at the sand dunes consisting of hundreds of wooden huts, a pillbox from that time can still be seen today.  The roll of honour in St Peter's church show the names of the men from our village who went to war in 1914-1918.

Be warned: there are some very sad and tragic stories here.

A postcard showing an officer's mess hut at a  First World War Army Training Camp.  On the back in handwriting in a period cursive writing style is: "March 1918 Officers’ Mess Saltfleet"

In 2003 local farmer Bert Richardson (1917-2011), who lived his whole life in the Sea View area of St Clement, shared his memories and knowledge of the camp that used to be there in the first world war. Bert said: "The camp at Rimac and Sea View was the largest (and healthiest) Army camp in England and the final training camp before the solders moved on to France. The solders then marched to Saltfleetby Station to catch a special troop train to take them to France. The camp was fully equipped with water and sewage."

Drive through Bert's farm entrance (Sea View farm) and you are driving on what Bert said was the original track to the camp, with Bulldog's (as he says "ugly stones!" - From Scunthorpe mines).
"The Y.M.C.A. formed part of every camp in the First World War and were responsible for the troop welfare, providing entertainment, cigarettes, chocolate etc."

The view from on top of the 'Lookout post' is today, mainly saltmarsh.  But Bert said it is now quite different from the vast Golden Sands that used to cover this area.

Bert Richardson at the old 'Lookout post' from the 1914-18 war, pictured in about 2003.  It's now almost filled with sand, but the bolts that held the gun in place on top can still be seen.

Going down Sea View Lane to the car park, you will see this Lookout Post high on the dunes to the left of you.

First World War Pillbox at Sea View

Thought to have been built in 1917, the concrete structure consists of three-bays facing north-east, with a holdfast for anti-aircraft gun on the roof. It is a rectangular concrete-faced pillbox with concrete lumps on roof to break up its outline. Bolts on the roof indicate an anit-aircraft gun mounting. Now sunken in sand bluff with embrasures below ground and only the top of the doorway showing. It faces north-east towards sea.

It would have been made in-situ by poured reinforced concrete to a  trapezoidal plan.

It is situated below the crest of the eastern slope of the sea bank at Sea Farm, Saltfleetby

First World War Pillbox at Sea View

The threat of invasion from German forces grew following the collapse of effective Russian opposition on the Eastern Front. Therefore these structures were constructed as part of an organised coastal defence system with a series of near identical pillboxes placed at 1000 yard intervals. Their design, with single machine gun embrasures to either side to produce flanking fire across the fronts of the neighbouring pillboxes, are similar to those developed on the Western front in 1917. The lack of front facing embrasures and use of sandbag shuttering was an attempt to make the structure shell-proof and able to resist naval bombardment.

The pillbox is thought to have been manned by soldiers of the 7th/8th (combined) Battalions, Sherwood Foresters.  It was reused during the second world war.

Map showing location of the First World War Lookout Pillbox, Saltfleetby

Life at Saltfleetby First World War Training Camp

​Around the country new army camps were built to house the troops who heeded Field Marshal Kitchener’s call for hundreds of thousands of volunteers.  Existing sites were not big enough to accommodate and train all the new recruits, so prefabricated huts were rapidly put up to quickly create temporary camps at suitable sites.  Saltlfeetby was a perfect location with large areas along the coastal sand dunes to host a camp, close to a railway station to transport the troops.  It’s hard to say the exact extent of it as little trace was left after it was dismantled after the war.  It would have been like a small town with hundreds of wooden huts and facilities for the men, stretching far along the coast.  There were jobs for local civilians such as working in the canteens. Casualties were taken to the military hospital at Brighowgate, Grimsby.  It seems to have been a base for various battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment, as well as The Sherwood Foresters and a large camp for the Army Service Corps, complete with shelter for over 70 horses. 

The following newspaper clippings from the time give an insight into life at the camp, some of the incidents that occurred there and soldiers who were stationed there.

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Click on any clipping or picture to enlarge it. Then click the cross or back button to return to this page.

A Theft at Saltfleetby Camp

The case of a soldier based at Saltfleetby Camp who was accused of stealing a letter containing monies on 30th September 1916, from a civilian working at the camp.  Lance Corporal Richards from Williamson Street, Lincoln was tried at Louth County police Court for the theft of a letter he was given to post by local civilian Thomas Richards (no relation) who worked in the camp canteen.

Absentee from 3/5th Lincolnshire Regiment remanded

Albert Edward Bowring was born in Nettleham, Lincoln in December 1893.  He joined the 3/4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment on 25th May 1915, age 21 whilst living in Williamson St, Lincoln, working as a moulder. After demobilisation at the end of the war he re-enlisted as a private in the regular army for a further 3 years in the Lincolnshire Regiment, being discharged in 1920 due to poor health. He married Florence Jackson in Lincoln in 1930 and died in 1939 age 45.

Accidental Deaths of Soldiers at Saltfleetby Camp

The Royal Engineers, known as the Sappers, a corps of the British Army,  providing military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces, which could include such tasks as building and repairing roads and bridges, laying and clearing mines, etc.

Two members of the Royal Engineering Corps (Sappers), 1st/3rd East Anglian Field Coy: Lance Corporal Cyril Finch (24) and Private James Kirk (18), drown whilst bathing at Saltfeet on 24th August 1916.

Cyril William Finch was born in Worcester in January 1892, the eldest son of Amelia and William John Finch, a chauffer.  Before the war he worked as a county council clerk, living with his parents and younger brothers Arthur and Percy.  He married Nellie Pugh from Sparkhill, Birmingham in February 1916, in Attleborough, Norfolk.  He was serving in the Royal Engineers (“Sappers”), 1st/3rd East Anglian Field Coy as a Lance Corporal, when he died trying to save fellow sapper, Private James Kirk, from drowning, on 24th August 1916.  He was buried with a military funeral at St Peter's Church, Powick, Worcestershire.

Birmingham Gazette, Thursday 31st August 1916 The death of Sapper Cyril William Finch.

James Kirk was born in Northampton in 1899, the eldest son of Ada (a boot machinist) and Thomas, a commercial clerk with a shoe manufacturer.  He grew up in Northampton with younger siblings Dennis, Kathleen and Lilian. Whilst serving as a private in the Royal Engineers, 1st/3rd East Anglian Field Coy, he got into difficulties bathing at Saltfleet and died on 24th August 1916, age 18 years.  He is buried in Northampton Billing Road Cemetery.

Fatal Shooting Accidents

The grave of Lance Corporal Lunn of the Lincolnshire Regiment at Bourne Cemetery, South Kesteven

George Robert Lunn was born in 1882 in the village of Dyke, Bourne, Lincolnshire to Elizabeth and John, a shepherd (later a traction engine driver), attending the village county primary school there. He lived in Bourne with his family: older brother John and younger sisters Hilda and Muriel. Before the war he worked as a mineral water packer at the factory on West Street (which closed in 1934).

In September 1917 he was awarded the military medal for his service in France serving with the 1/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. He died on 11th December 1917 age 35 after a shooting accident at Saltfleetby Camp.  He is buried at Bourne Cemetery, Lincolnshire.

A Soldier of the Lincolnshire Regiment

Soldier_killed_at_Saltfleet_edited.jpg

William Hancox was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire in 1894, son of Eliza (nee Riley) and Charles who worked at the Raleigh cycle factory as a mudguard maker. He grew up with his family in William Street, Beeston: brothers Thomas, Charles, Albert, Frederick, George and James and sisters Alice, Eliza and Margaret.  Along with several of his siblings he worked for a lace manufacturer as a lacehand before the war.  He enlisted as a private in the 5th Reserve Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) who, as well as supplying drafts to replace casualties in France, had the job of guarding a stretch of the East Coast against any invasion by the enemy, including at the lookout post which can still be seen at Sea View, Saltfleetby.  He died in hospital at Grimsby after an accident during training at Saltfleet on 30th May 1918, age 24. He is buried at Beeston Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.

William Hancox (1894-1918)

The grave of Private William Hancox, age 24 of the Sherwood Foresters, Beeston Cemetery

The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, Saturday 8th August 1914, Map of the European Theatre of War, including Saltfleet

The Tragic Suicide of Private William Bennett

Grimsby Daily Telegraph

Wednesday 28th November 1917, suicide of Pte. William Thomas Bennet at Saltfleetby Camp.

William Thomas Bennett was in born Buxton, Derbyshire in 1882, the son of Sarah Anne and Matthew Bennett, a joiner.  He grew up in Burbage, Chapel En Le Frith, with brothers Samuel, Peter, Edward, Hugh and John and sister Elizabeth.  Before the war he worked as a stonemason and travelled to Canada.  He enlisted at Bakewell and served as a private in the Lincolnshire Regiment 4th Battalion. He died on 25th November 1917 age 35, at Saltfleetby.  He is buried in Christ Church churchyard, Burbage, Derbyshire.

The grave of Private William Thomas Bennett of the Lincolnshire Regiment, 4th Battalion. Christ Church churchyard, Burbage, Derbyshire

William Thomas Bennett (1882-1917)

Soldier based a Saltfleetby Camp Killed in Action shortly after returning to the front

Percy William Grantham was born in 1893 in Lincoln, the youngest son of Samuel Roome Grantham (1857-1928), a cashier/secretary at a local ironworks, and mother Kezia Bessie Grantham (1860-1915), both from Lincoln.  He grew up at St Winifred’s, Cross O’Cliffe Hill, Bracebridge Heath with older brothers Harold (a bank clerk) and Leonard (a mechanical engineer). Whilst attending Lincoln Technical College he won prizes for science and art, earning a qualification in inorganic chemistry.  He went on to work as an insurance clerk in the Lincoln branch of the Royal Insurance Company. He enlisted as a private in June 1915, soon rising to the rank of Lieutenant with the 2/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. After injury in France he spent time based at Saltfleetby Camp.  Only 6 weeks after leaving the camp at Saltfleetby to return to the front in Belgium, he was killed in action by shell-fire on 26th September 1917, the same shell also killed his Captain.  He is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetry, Zonnebeke, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.  His name appears on war memorials in Lincoln: Bracebridge Heath, St Catherine’s and St Benedict’s Square in the city centre.

Central Lincoln War Memorial, St Benedict's Square, off the High Street, commemorates the residents of Lincoln who were killed or missing in World War I (970 servicemen and 1 civilian) and 271 from World War II

Tyne Cot Cemetery which is located in an area known as the Ypres Salient where Commonwealth, French, Belgian and German forces fought almost continuously throughout the First World War. There are now 11,961 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated there, including Lt. Percy Grantham from Lincoln.

Lincolnshire Echo, 6th October 1917 Reporting the death of Lt. Percy Grantham who was killed in action during Third Battle of Ypres, Belgium, just 6 weeks after leaving Saltfleetby Camp.

Sale of Camp Equipment after the War

After the war all camp huts and equipment were rapidly sold off, leaving little trace of the large, busy camp that used to be there. These adverts were placed in local newspapers hoping to attract builders, farmers, plumbers and others to come along to the sale and grab bargains from the dismantled camp.

It gives an idea of the size of the place and what used to be there: 250 timber buildings, army huts, comprising of officers quarters, sergeants messes, dining huts, cook houses, men's living huts (various sizes), portable ranges, boilers, galvanised iron tanks, heating apparatus, enamelled baths and lavatories, power plant and a large quantity  of piping.

The second advert of further equipment to be auctioned includes more sleeping huts and shelters for 72 horses which were part of the The Royal Army Service Corps (R.A.S.C.), the unit responsible for keeping the British Army supplied with provisions, who seemed to have had a sizable presence at Saltfleetby.

Grimsby Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 26th November 1919 Sale of the R.A.S.C. camp at Saltfleetby

Remembering the Local Men who Served in the First World War

The roll of honour that now hangs in St Peter's Church lists the local men who served in the first world war, 21 who made it home and 4 who died in action.  It covers the parish of St Peter's only and used to be displayed in the West End Chapel.  There was another roll of honour in the East End Chapel which is now lost.

Remembering the lives of some of the local young men who died in the 1914-1918 war

Arthur Walsham

Arthur Walsham, whose name appears on the Saltfleetby St Peter roll of honour, was born in Horncastle in 1888 the son of Joe Walsham, an agricultural labourer.  He grew up living with his grandparents James (a provision dealer) and Elizabeth Walsham in Ashby Puerorum, Horncastle where he worked as a farm boy from his early teens. When Arthur was 14 his father remarried and went on to have three daughters with new wife Charlotte Dodds. During the war he was a private with the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) 1st/8th Battalion.  He was sent to serve in France on 6th June 1915 and died on 14th August 1915, age 28.  His sole legatee was his aunt Jane Starmer (nee Walsham), his father’s eldest sister who lived at Ludborough. He was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal, 15 Star and British War Medal. His name appears on panel 41 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

Interior of the Ypres Menin Gate memorial in Belgium, listing the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known, including Arthur Walsham from Lincolnshire. The memorial was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick and opened on 24th July 1927.

William Townend

William Townend was born in North Cockerington in 1889 to mother Hannah from Owersby near Market Rasen, and father William, a farm labourer from Grainthorpe.  He grew up in Great Carlton with his younger brother George, working as a farm labourer since his early teens.  He was a private in the 12th Battalion Training Reserve, and died on 17th March 1917, at the age of 19.  He is buried at St John the Baptist churchyard, Great Carlton and his name appears on the Great Carlton Memorial Cross.

Photograph of Private William Townend (1889-1917)

North facing names on the Great Carlton Cross.

The original gravestone of Robert Arthur Massey in St. Margaret's, Withern

Arthur Massey

Robert Arthur Massey was born in Skendleby Lincolnshire in June 1889, the son of Annie Massey, nee Gunby (1864-1955) from Welton le Marsh, and Charles Henry Massey (1862-1924), a farmer from Bucknall.  He grew up in Withern, with older sister Fannie, older brother Charles and younger sister Gertrude Annie. The family later moved to Theddlethorpe St Helen.  In 1911 he was employed as a wagoner at The Grange Farm in Saltfleetby St Peter by farmer Charles Henry Taylor.  He enlisted on 1st March 1916 in Louth, serving as a Private in The Lincolnshire Regiment 11th Battalion. He died of pneumonia in Newcastle Hospital, Tyne and Wear, on 16th June 1916, age 26. He is buried in Withern St Margaret’s Churchyard, East Lindsey and his name appears on Withern War Memorial.

New gravestone of Private Robert Arthur Massey in St. Margaret's, Withern

George Ayscough

His father Thomas Ayscough (1830-1917) was from Saltfleetby St Peter where his family had been farmers for generations. Mother, Mary Ann, nee Donner (1844-1901) was born in Ulceby but she grew up in Saltfleetby St Peter where her father was a blacksmith. They ran a farm on Saltfleetby Road, Manby, where their son George was the youngest of 12 children. Born in Manby in 1887, he worked as a police constable with the Lincolnshire constabulary.

On 19th September 1914 he set sail from Liverpool on the steam ocean liner SS Ceramic headed for Sydney, Australia.  In New South Wales he worked as a station hand at Landgrove sheep station, Cootamundra.  He enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force on 30th January 1915, becoming a member of the 1st Infantry Battalion, 5th Reinforcements. 

On 25th June 1915 he was again onboard the ship, Ceramic, now requisitioned for the First Australian Imperial Force as the troopship HMAT (His Majesty's Australian Transport) Ceramic, number A40, taking men to fight in the Galipoli Peninsula of Turkey.  Serving as a Corporal, he took part in the major assaults of the Gallipoli campaign against the Turkish forces. During the Battle of Lone Pine on 6th August 1915 he was wounded in action by a gunshot to the head.  Taken on to the hospital ship Dunluce Castle, he died of his wounds on 11th August 1915 and immediately buried at sea, between ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Alexandria and Malta.  His name is Commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial (on panel 13) in Turkey, and on Panel 28 of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra Australia, where his name is projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory 5 times a years.  His name also appears on the roll of honour brass plaque in Manby St Mary’s Church.

Corporal George Ayscough (1887-1915)

SS Ceramic, built in Belfast 1913 for White Star Line, later HMAT Ceramic, troop carrier

Panel 13 of the Lone Pine Memorial, Turkey, containing the name of Corporel. G. Ayscough

The Commemorative Courtyard of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, where Corporel Asycough's name appears on bronze panel 28 in the roll of honour area.

Lone Pine Memorial at the site of the fiercest fighting overlooking the front line of 1915. It commemorates more than 4,900 Australian and New Zealand, and 1,167 Commonwealth servicemen who fought  during the  eight month campaign in Gallipoli, in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war.

The marble and alabaster plaque memorial  for Norman Jacques in St Peter's Church.  Originally in the East Chapel, erected by members of the Sunday School, where he taught. The work of Mr W. S. Harrison of Louth, unveiled in 1921 by Mrs Winter of Grimsby (an old scholar of the school).

A German Gunners Shelter at Warlencourt, painted in about 1917 by Irish war artist William Orpen (1878-1931)

Norman Jaques

Norman Jaques was born in Saltfleetby All Saints in 1896.  His parents were John William Jaques, an agricultural labourer who was born in Saltfleetby in 1865, from a large family who have farmed here for generations.  His mother Betsy was the daughter of William Leak, an agricultural labourer, and Mary a dressmaker, who lived on Back Street.

He served as a private in the Durham Light Infantry 1/6th Battalion, in 1916 stationed in the trenches of the Somme near Butte le Warlencourt, an ancient burial mound, north-east of Le Sars.  At the beginning of November 1916, heavy rain postponed their planned attack on the German Gird Trench.  Then on 5th November the order was given for infantry to advance. At zero hour they began crawling out of their trenches, plodding through the mud amid machine gun fire, attempting to overrun the enemy trenches. Facing counter attacks throughout the day, the remaining members of his battalion were driven back to the British trench by 12.20am (6th Nov). The attacking battalions suffered 967 casualties, and other losses increased the total to around 1,000, including 20 year old Norman from Saltfleetby.  He is buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery, his gravestone has the personal inscription “Forever with the Lord”.  At the time of his death his sister Martha Ellen, a school teacher, would have been 23, brothers Arthur 17, Walter 15, sisters Margaret 13 and Isabelle 10.  His father died in 1925 age 60, his mother Betsy died in 1947 at the age of 83.

Warlencourt British Cemetery in Pas de Calais, France. The cemetery was made late in 1919 when graves were brought in from small cemeteries and the battlefields of Warlencourt and Le Sars. It now contains 3,505 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War of which 1,823 of the burials are unidentified. The grave of Norman Jaques is at VIII. D. 23.

Names on the Lost East Saltfleetby Wesleyan Chapel Roll of Honour

Unveiled on Wednesday the 28th September 1921 by the Sunday School Superintendent , Mr H. Stubbs, Junior.  Beautifully engraved by Miss Dorothy Standaloft, one of the Sunday School teachers (soon to become a teacher at Saltfleetby Church of England School for 36 years).  Over the years and the sale of the Chapel, this Roll of Honour has been misplaced, but thanks to John Readman's work for The National Inventory of War Memorials, with the help of Charles Anderson, a record of the names it contained has been preserved. 

The men named on the East Saltfleetby Roll of Honour, who FOUGHT in The Great War:

Norman Jacques, Sidney Richardson, Archie Ingomells, Albert Stubbs, James Stubbs, Charles Stubbs; Tom Stubbs,

Tom Jacques, Bert Lyon, Robert Watson, Phillip Watson, Millo (?Milner) Lusby, Herbert Dobbs, Gilbert Adland,

Harry Chapman, Walter Chapman, Joe Keal, Harold Keal, Herbert Grantham, Ernest Luck, Carter Enderby,

Bert Holloway, Port Wilson, Morley Haywood, Charlie Barnett and Walter Horton.

Wounded in Action

The local men who survived the war and returned home, may also have suffered life-changing trauma and injury.

Nottingham Evening Post, Saturday 29th December 1917.  A list of local casualties includes Jack Vickers of Saltfleetby, Yeomanry, Wounded

Grimsby Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 17th March 1920. Inquest into the death of former soldier William Store Taylor of Grange Farm.

The Tragic Death of William Store Taylor

William Store Taylor was born in 1889 in Saltfleetby, the eldest son of William Robinson Taylor (1853-1928) and Ellen Eliza Taylor (1853-1923). He was baptised at St. Peter’s Church on 9th January 1890 by Rev. W. R. Watson. He grew up on his family’s farm, The Grange, with older sisters Edith and Constance and younger brothers Frederick and Robert.  He worked on the farm alongside his family, and friend Robert Arthur Massey.  

Standing 6ft 1.5 inches tall, he joined-up for duty on 29th November 1915, and served as a private in the Labour Corps Regiment, 465 Agricultural Company Battalion. He was first admitted to hospital in Rouen, France, suffering with trench foot (an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and insanitary conditions in the trenches).  Transferred to Manchester Western General, he spent 73 days in hospital due to this condition. He was back on active duty in October 1917, to the trenches in France.  Whilst serving with a machine gun on the front line in a field at Boulogne, he was blown-up and partially buried, suffering shell abrasion to his chest and wrist, for which he spent 100 days in hospital.

He was discharged from military service on 22nd March 1919, returning home to Grange Farm, Saltfleetby. In January 1920, age 30, he took his own life by ingesting poison, his body was discovered on the farm the following day by his brother.  The coroner gave a verdict that he was not responsible for what he did when he took the poison. He is buried in St John the Baptist churchyard Great Carlton.

Reunions and Memories

In later years the surviving veterans got together with old comrades and shared stories of their experiences in the war.

SS Mercian in the Mediteranian on 3rd November 1915

By Arthur James Wetherall Burgess (1879–1957) in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life

This painting depicts the shelling of troopship SS Mercian by German U-boat SM -U38 on 3rd November, 1915. The 6,000 ton steamer SS Mercian was requisitioned as a troopship and on 17th October 1915 she sailed from Southampton with 400 soldiers of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry on board, including grocer’s son, 16 year old Jack Vickers from Saltfleetby (though he told the army he was 19), and 20 year old farmer’s son Percy Epton from Marshchapel (later of Saltfleetby), bound for Salonika. She was attacked by the German submarine SM U-38 first with a torpedo and then shells as the ship was unescorted and unarmed, for an hour, before the attack was broken off. The badly damaged ship managed to reach the North African port of Oran, and the Yeomanry’s total casualties on the Mercian were 23 dead and 55 wounded.

Badge of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry

The Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt

The whole British division posted at The Hohenzollern Redoubt German stronghold in northern France, comprised of Territorial Regiments, comprising of units from Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire, North Staffordshire and Monmouthshire, supported by Royal Field Artillery and Royal Engineers.

The British and German trench lines were only 200 yards apart. On 13th October 1915 they were ordered to attack the German redoubt called "The Hump" an old mine slag heap which controlled the high ground, housing observation posts and machine guns, which their commanders said had to be taken “at all costs”. The 1/4th and 1/5th Lincolnshire Regiments were the first to go over the top, they were wiped out in less than half an hour.

Of those killed 90% of the 1/4th Lincolns and 97% of the 1/5th Lincolns have no known graves. The percentage of casualties were higher than in the battle of the "Somme".  Of the 850 Lincolnshire men who went over the top that morning, only 31 survived.  A similar number of Leicestershires set out with only 28 survivors. 

The attack failed, and resulted in 3,643 casualties, mostly in the first few minutes.

Records show that as these were regiments whose recruits were from the same towns and villages many brothers, fathers and sons, uncles and cousins all died together.

Hohenzollern Redoubt Memorial in Auchy-les-Mines, France. unveiled and dedicated in 2006

Badge of the Lincolnshire Regiment

Picture Credits

Officer's Mess: thanks to Wayne Cocroft FSA MCIfA, Senior Archaeological Investigator (Military/Industrial Heritage) with Historic England

Bert Richardson at SeaView: archived Saltfleetby site.: https://web.archive.org/web/20050904012504/http://www.saltfleetby.co.uk/home.htm

Pillbox by Mike Osborne for the Defence of Britain Project, 2002, //archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dob/ai_full_r.cfm?refno=5131

Location of First World War Pillbox map by Open Street Map https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

Grave of Lance-Corp Lunn from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93550894/george-robert-lunn

Soldier of Lincolnshire Regiment by Charles Simpson R.I. from book: History of Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-18, by Major General C.R. Simpson

Great Carlton Memorial by john Readman 2005 from War Memorials Online:  https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/208761 

Photo William Townend taken by John Readman 2003 on War memorials Online: https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/208761

Gravestone and photo of Private Bennett from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176005851/william-thomas-bennett

Grave and photo of Private Hancox from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120872422/william-hancox

Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial photo from Commonwealth War Graves Commission: https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/91800/ypres-menin-gate-memorial/

Gravestones of Private Massy from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76418724/robert-arthur-massey

Lincoln War Memorial by Arjan Vrieze, from Traces of War: https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/17697/War-Memorial-Lincoln.htm

Tyne Cot Cemetery from Commonwealth War Graves Commission: https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/53300/tyne-cot-cemetery/

Photograph of SS Ceramic by Samuel J. Hood in Australian National Maritime Museum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ceramic

Photo of George Ayscough from Virtual War Memorial Australia: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/307906

Panel 13 of Lone Pine memorial, Gallipoli: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56798525/george-ayscough

Australian War Memorial Commemorative Courtyard: https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/visitor-information/features

Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli: https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/78500/lone-pine-memorial/

German Gunners Shelter painting by William Orpen in Imperial War Museum https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-german-gunners-shelter-warlencourt-6126

Warlencourt British Cemetery from Commonwealth War Graves Commission:  https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2000079/warlencourt-british-cemetery/

Lincolnshire Regiment badge: National Army Museum: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/royal-lincolnshire-regiment

SS 'Mercian' painting by Arthur James Wetherall Burgess, in Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Lincoln:  https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/ss-mercian-80184

Hohenzollern Redoubt Memorial, Rutland Remembers: https://www.rutlandremembers.org/stories/hohenzollern-redoubt-114

Close-up of Hohenzollern Redoubt inscription: Derbyshire Territorials: https://derbyshireterritorials.uk/the-great-war-1914-1918/1915-2/loos/

Roll of Honour and Normal Jaques memorial are in St Peter's Church, Main Road, Saltfleetby.

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References

First World War pillbox, British Listed Buildings: https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101445091-first-world-war-pillbox-and-associated-second-world-war-anti-tank-cubes-sea-view-saltfleetby-saltfleetby

First World War Pillbox, Historic England: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1445091?section=official-list-entry

First World War: Camps, Historic England: historicengland.org.uk/research/current/discover-and-understand/military/the-first-world-war/first-world-war-home-front/what-we-already-know/land/camps/

interview with Bert Richardson by Sylvia Crossfield in 2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20050904012504/http://www.saltfleetby.co.uk/home.htm

List of names on the missing East Chapel Roll of honour: https://web.archive.org/web/20090325074659/http://www.saltfleetby.co.uk/we_will_remember_them.htm

Attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attacks_on_the_Butte_de_Warlencourt#

The Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt: The Royal Anglian & Royal Lincolnshire Regimental Association: http://www.thelincolnshireregiment.org/hohenzollern.shtml

Roll of Honour, Lincolnshire: http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Lincolnshire/Manby.html

Actions of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_the_Hohenzollern_Redoubt

The War Memorials Register: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials

The Nation Archives, Numerous Census Returns and other historic records, Newspaper clippings retrieved from newspapers.com,

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