Wednesday, 30 September 2015

North Staffs under attack

The 1/6th North Staffords including my Great Uncle's Benjamin and James Hollins as well as other ancestors such as JamesFisher and George Hollins had been in the Trenches since the 25th September. 

Benjamin Hollins


The weather conditions were wet and showery and the battalion had suffered eight casualties (all wounded) during this stint in the front line (trenches 33-35) during the on-going fighting following the initial assault at the Battle of Loos.

At 6.30pm on the 30th September 1915, 100 years ago today, the Germans attacked from an unexpected direction.

The battalion War Diary entry for the 30th Sept reads as follows

At 6.30pm the enemy exploded a mine just outside trench 35 right – Parapet for about 20 yards was knocked down – Crater about 25 yards diameter and 20 feet deep. Rapid fire was at once opened and enemy made no attempt to attack. The enemy at the same time heavily bombarded the wood at back, the battalion headquarters and support trenches. All telephone communication to batteries and Brigade was interrupted. Artillery support was obtained through 1/5th North Staffs Head Quarters. The enemy showed themselves a good deal over their parapet and it is believed that our rifle fire – bombing and shelling reply was very effective.
Casualties - 6 Killed, 14 Wounded, 1 Missing

The six causalities killed were

Pte. L. H. Bond - Grave Ref D3
Pte. W Smalley - Grave ref D2
Pte. R. Smith - Grave ref D2
Pte H. Davies (aged 26) - Grave Ref D3 - Husband of Nellie Davies, of 13, Tixall Rd., Littleworth, Stafford.
Cpl. Charles Edward Collins (aged 40) - Grave Ref D2 - Eldest son of the late Charles and Elizabeth Collins, of Forebridge. Staffs.
Pte. S Rowley - Grave Ref D3

All six are buried in the Blauwepoort Farm Cemetery in West-Vlaanderen, Belguim.


The missing solider is likely to have been Pte. Harold Young (aged 23) who was the son of Charles and Annie Young of 92, Dale St, Burton-on-Trent and who is commemorated on panel 55 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Sunday, 27 September 2015

Band of Brothers

On the 27th September 1915 Horace Hollins, my 2nd cousin twice removed, arrived in Boulogne, France with the 10th Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Horace was born in 1879 in Rugeley, Staffordshire to William and Sarah Ann Hollins (nee Wood). He had one older brother, William (born 1875) and two younger brothers, George (born 1886) and Charles (born 1884) as well as two sisters, Mary Ann (born 1877) and Harriet (born 1881). Both Mary Ann and Harriet were married, to Fred Williscroft and James Fisher respectively.

The family had a military background, Horace’s father; William had served in the army for 37 years as a colour sergeant and in the territorials and was well known in Rugeley as the local military band master. All his brothers and brothers in law played in the band and all had answered their country’s call out the outbreak of war.

Horace himself had previously been a solider with the Grenadier Guards, enlisting in 1900 and serving throughout the Boer War. Shortly after the outbreak of the Great War he re-joined his old regiment serving as an instructor in several depots before joining the Royal Welch Fusiliers as a Sergeant.

Horace had married Emily Leader (Born Rugeley 1882) in 1904 at St. Augustine’s church, Rugeley. They moved to Coventry shortly afterwards, where Horace joined the Coventry Military Band. They had two children Harold James (born 1906) and Mabel (born 1908). By 1911 Horace was working as an Iron Moulder and the family were living at 1 Francis St, Foleshill, Coventry.

His elder brother William had also moved to Coventry around the same time as Horace and was also working as an Iron Moulder (Motor parts) and was living with his wife Amy (nee Saunders) and his seven children (another son was born in 1912) at 11 Francis St, Coventry.

Saturday, 26 September 2015

The Big Push at last - The Battle of Loos

Tom Hollins, (my half cousin 3 times removed) had recently arrived in France with the 8th (service) Battalion, Royal West Kent (Queens own) Regiment.

The Division concentrated in the area between Etaples and St Pol on 4 September and a few days later marched across France into the reserve for the British assault at Loos.

Early on the 25th September the Divison had moved forward to Vermelles, where it spent the day anticipating what lay ahead for them in the big push, listening to the guns and watching wounded and prisoners coming down from the front. The battalion finally moved back to some trenches and came under shellfire for the rest of the day.

British Army advancing at Loos


The men went into action the next morning (the 26th September) with little water or food and very short of sleep. The plan for the attack was made to advance down a gentle slope to the Lens – La Bassee Road, beyond which it rose gradually towards the German trenches. The Bois Hugo was key to the situation as it flanked the approach. Unfortunately, the Germans had counter attacked Bois Hugo, dislodged the defenders and filled the wood with machine guns.

At 11am, on cessation of the bombardment, the brigade advanced with the 8th Royal West Kent on the left of the leading line. It had been exposed since daybreak to heavy artillery fire but had found enough shelter in the old German trenches to escape heavy casualties.

They advanced steadily under artillery and rifle fire, to which machine gun fire from the flank was added. They swept through the first trenches and at last reached the rearward wire only to find it practically intact.

The position was desperate. Despite gallant attempts to get through the wire, all most could do was to throw themselves on the ground and attempt to return the enemy’s fire. For some time they hung on despite heavy losses, but to no avail the rest of the attack had failed and the position was hopeless.

One by one almost every remaining officer was shot down and to hang on any longer could only involve further useless sacrifices. The last remnants of the battalion fell back as best they could over the long distance to the Lens – La Bassee road.

Of the 24 officers and 800 men who had gone into action only one officer (Lt. Tillie) and 250 men remained effective.

Tom’s brother, Albert was serving with the 8th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry and was also involved in the Battle of Loos. He too had only recently arrived in France and for these units of the new army this was to be their baptism of fire.

Albert Hollins


The Somerset Light Infantry 8th Battalion War Diary for the period covering the Battle of Loos reads as follows.

On the morning of the 25th we marched to Vermelles and deployed to go into action about  7pm on the 25th September. B and C companies went to the Hullach –Lens Road, held the road for the night of the 25th and on the morning of the 26th were counterattacked by the enemy and ordered to retire by the Brigade mayor at 1pm. They returned to 1st line trenches and held them until 8am 27th September when they marched to bivovac near Vermelles and joined A and D companies there.

A and D companies participated in the attack on Hill 70 the night of 25th -26th September and retired about 12 noon on the 26th when they went into support line in old German trenches and were joined on the morning of the 27th September by B and C Companies.

The casualties in the Battalion numbered 15 officers, 271 other ranks, 15 mules and one horse. The Battalion stayed in bivovac near Vermelles.

Their half cousin and my Great uncle, Benjamin Hollins, serving in the 1/6th North Staffordshire Regiment had been in the brigade reserve for most of September. On the 25th September the regiment moved back into trenches reliving the 1/5th South Staffordshire regiment in trenches 33-36.

The conditions were described as showery and they suffered 4 casualties, all wounded. They remained in the trenches in wet and showery weather for the next few days suffering 4 more wounded.

The British had suffered heavy losses for very little gain and following significant counter attacks the relative positions of the opposing forces largely remained unchanged following the battle of Loos.

Of the 10,000 troops who went over the top in the Battle of Loos some 8,000 casualties were recorded in the first four hours of the attack, with the British suffering some 58,000 casualties as the battle dragged on until the middle of October.

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Protecting the Humber

On Saturday the 11th September 1915, Frederick Charles Bush (my first cousin 3 times removed) received his first posting in the Royal Navy after his initial training at Pembroke II since enlisting earlier in the year on April 12th.

HMS St. George




Originally from Wimbledon, Surrey, Fred Bush, aged 18 1/2 years and 5Ft 2 1/2 inches was made a Stoker (2nd Class) on board HMS St. George (Waveney), which was a Destroyer Depot ship  – 1st class cruiser, (Edgar Class). HMS St. George was based at Immingham in North East Lincolnshire on the banks of the Humber Estuary about 6 miles north- west of Grimsby.

For most of the day the ships log recorded “hands were cleaning ship”. Immingham was used as a submarine base and HMS St. George formed part of the Humber guardship patrol for the base.

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Another Rugeley recruit arrives in France

100 years ago on the 10th September 1915  Albert Hollins  (my half cousin 3 times removed) arrived at Le Havre, France with the 8th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry.

The battalion had left Southampton on the 9th and arrived in the early morning of the 10th. They spent the rest of the day at rest camp before setting out for Watten, northern France.


Albert Hollins


Albert Hollins, was born in 1894 in Rugeley, Staffordshire, the youngest son of Thomas and Hannah Hollins (nee Wood) of Sandy Lane, Rugeley. He had an elder sister Mary Ann (born 1880) and two older brothers, William (born 1889) and Tom (born 1891).

In 1911, Albert was working as a grocery shop assistant, Tom was a clerk in the grocery trade, William on the other hand worked as a labourer producing iron and his father worked as a hewer in the coal mines.

Albert had enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry on the 1st September 1914 and prior to enlistment had been employed by Siemens.

His brother Tom was serving with the Royal West Kent Regiment and had arrived in France a few days before Albert on the 30th August