Northumberland Fusiliers

[mozza29]

Whilst you didn't request color, couldn't resist.
Regards,
Morrie

[salmynka]

ooo nice Morrie! 

[60041]

Whilst you didn't request color, couldn't resist.
Regards,
Morrie

Thank you very much for that it is really good, it really brings the picture to life. When I find the other picture of the two of them next to the ruined barn. I'll know who to send it to!

[Tessy]

Apologies for not replying sooner - somehow I was missing the emails notifying me that there were new posts on this thread. I'm going to have to put this up in several posts as I've exceeded the maximum allowed length for posts.

Ord - I'm only too happy to help. I'll see if I can blow up the photo so you can see the small chap at he back to the right of the photo so you can see him better. I'll have to dig out the photo again though, so it might take me a while.

Morrie, your colour looks great , really brings them to life.

And finally for the grandson of William Miller - yes I have found your grandfather Lt. William Miller.

Lt. W. Miller is listed thus:

Commissioned from the ranks 19.9.1916. Previously served as sergeant with Battalion from Nov. 1914. Evacuated to England wounded 31.3.1918.

Amazingly enough there is not one, but two accounts of him being wounded, one in an account of operations on 4th and 5th July 1917. It is an account by Captain W. Fawcus M.C.  The other mention is in an account of the defence of the Montauban Position by Lieut. E. O. Pretheroe, M.C. entitled "Backs to the Wall" This action occurred on March 25th 1918.

In the first account by Captain Fawcus it reads:

 (a) Disposition of "Z" Company: -

No 13 Platoon, consisting of four N.C.O.'s and twenty six men, under 2nd Lieut. W. Miller, was supplying its own covering party with L.G., and was wiring in front of a new strong point at f. 18c 6. 9. The post was held by a party of one sergeant and ten men of the Cavalry Division with one Hotchkiss gun.

(There is mention of other platoons but I'll skip over that to the action. Also note that at this point your grandfather was a 2nd Lieut. - it has to be him as there is no other W. Miller in the ranks. Also I'm spelling Gillemoint Farm the way it is spelled in the records. Tessy)

(b) Hostile activities : -

At about 1.20am., hostile artillery and trench mortars concentrated on Gillemont Farm Post, and at the same time hostile artillery placed a barrage on all communications. The bombardment lasted about fifteen minutes, when our artillery retaliated. About 10 minutes later Gillemont Farm Post was again bombarded and the hostile barrage crept back along Gillemont Farm C.T., and settled on "D" Post.

(c) Action taken by "Z" Company working parties.: -

No 13 Platoon. When the bombardment commenced, the wiring and covering parties immediately withdrew into the strong point, according to instructions, and manned the trenches. When the hostile barrage had lifted to the rear of the post, 2nd Lieut. Miller gave orders to his men to open fire into the smoke hanging to the south of Gillemont Farm Post, and about four hundred rounds were expended. The garrison of the post also opened rifle and Hotchkiss gun fire. With the approach of dawn, when the situation appeared normal, 2nd Lieut. Miller withdrew his men, and the garrison of the post also came in. 2nd Lieut. Miller and three other ranks were slightly wounded by shell splinters, but were able to walk back to camp, whence 2nd Lieut. Miller was sent to hospital.

The report goes on describing the actions of the other platoons those two days.

I'll post that in a few minutes.

[Tessy]

More on Lieut. W. Miller.

As for the other account he appears in - this was at their second attendance at the Somme. It reads for 5 chapters but your grandfather left the action towards the beginning.. Suffice to say this was a major action.


March 1918 was a month of anxiety. The long advertised attack by the enemy was pending. Defence measures in the Ypres Salient had been hastened; but the actual point of attack was not known beyond the few.

In Lieut. Pretheroe's account, it describes how both companies advanced on the village of Montauban. "Z" Company ( your grandfather's) on the left and "W" Company on the right. They advanced along the Albert Combles railway line until the ruins of Montauban appeared behind a few shattered trees. The village stands on a ridge and heavy enemy machine gun fire opened up from Bernafay Wood as they topped the ridge.

In front of the village, a few men of the Third Cavalry Brigade assisted by some tank crews armed with Lewis guns were fighting desperately to hold the position. All were very tired particularly the tank crews who had been compelled to burn their tanks two days previously to save them from capture. These men had been continuously engaged with the enemy for four days. "Z" Company's line lay in an westerly direction towards Mametz Wood.

A party of the enemy, about two Battalions strong,  were seen marching from Longueval to enter Mametz Wood, in full view of the 19th Battalion NF but there was no artillery in range and no machine or rifle fire could reach them. It was supposed the enemy intended to make a converging attack, southwards from Mametz Wood and westwards ffrom Trones Wood. Had this happened it would cut off the whole of the forces in this sector.

Throughout the afternoon and the evening of the 25th the enemy shelled the village of Montauban - and unfortunately one of the shells landed a direct hit on "Z" Company headquarters which was a portion of an old trench. Captain Fawcus was killed and 2nd Lieut. Miller was seriously wounded, along with 2nd Lieut. Smith M.M. The wounded had to be carried back to Maricourt.

And that must have been when your grandfather got his boat home.

The action went on until the 30th March. The 35th Division, of which the 19th Battalion were part, were thrown into a gap in the lines that had opened up after the fifth army was forced back. The 19th Battalion had a fighting strength of 420 men at the beginning of the fighting and on 30th March the strength was reduced to 180, so they took a lot of casualties in those few days. Out of the total of 240 casualties, over 20% were fatal.

However the part they took in the 2nd Battle of the Somme played a part in the defeat of the enemy 6 months later.

I hope this helps paint a picture for you, and if you find the name of the other man in the photo please let me know. I'll see if I can see him in any of the photos in the book.

One thing I'd like to add to this is that from the accounts in the history, the Fusiliers made rthe best of things and whenever they had the time or the energy they would play various games, from football to rugby to tug of war, they would arrange general sports days in the early days of the Battalion in Morpeth. And they arranged entertainments from the early days, with plays, concerts and revues, and were still having fun whenever they could in the later days of the war. Their spirit was the typical Northern mixture of hard workers mixed with humour and there are many instances of smart mouthed Privates giving lip to their superiors. And it might not be known but the 19th Battalion, NF, along with the massed troops, were presented to the King and Lord Kitchener on the Town Moor at Newcastle on 20th May 1915

[60041]

Thank you so much for your two very informative posts, you have told me more in ten minutes than my sister and I have discovered in ten years! I have tracked down a copy of the Historical record in a second-hand bookshop near here, unfortunately he wants £95 for it, and it is in very poor condition. Until I saw your original post, I was not even aware of the existence of the book.
The first reference to my grandfather being wounded must have been when he lost a finger on his left hand. He managed a few days at home after that, and it was while he was at home that he decided to take the ferry across the river at Berwick, and was presented with a white feather by a lady passenger! I remember my mother saying that the boatman threw the lady off the boat.
The second reference to his wounding  ties in with the little information we had, we had heard that it was near Mametz but had no further details, and this confirms that.
It is a great shame that he died without telling people about his experiences but, like most men who had been there, he never spoke about the war to anyone and his memories died with him.
I am extremely grateful for the time and effort you have taken over this, Thank you.

[Tessy]

I'm only too pleased to help. My copy of the book is falling to pieces too. It's been printed on very cheap paper but after all it is 90 years old. Did the boatman throw that woman bodily off the boat or did he wait until they reached land?

One other thing I'd like to mention in relation to men sent home for commission - my Dad, who sadly is no longer with us, used to say that he could remember his father telling him that when he was sent home for a commission in 1917, one of the things they had to do was ride a horse down the steps of a very grand building. My Dad saw a TV program about Sandhurst about ten years ago and they did very thing that there, but we don't know for certain where the men selected were sent for training for their commission. Do you have any idea where your grandfather was sent for his commission?

I don't think my grandfather told his children much about the war either and I never knew him unfortunately, so anything I know came from my Dad. This book is certainly a link to his experiences in the war and I'm more than happy to look up anything for anyone who is interested, not least because I have had mountains of help from the members of RootsChat in tracing my ancestors and I'd like to do the same for other people in their searches.

[60041]

. Did the boatman throw that woman bodily off the boat or did he wait until they reached land?

 Do you have any idea where your grandfather was sent for his commission?
 

I have always liked to think that she ended up in the water, she deserved to!
As for his commission, he was promoted "in the field" so I don't know if he returned home or not. I have heard from my mothers cousin today, and he said that my grandfather had just learnt that he was being transferred to the Coldstream Guards and promoted to captain on the day that he was wounded, also that following his injury the two strecher bearers who were taking him out were killed by another shell burst and my grandfather lay in a shell hole for two days before being rescued. It just amazes me what some people are capable of enduring; no-one had thought of post traumatic stress in those days.

[Murray64]

It has been so fascinating reading the posts on here about the Northumberland Fusilliers. I have recently found out my Great grandads brother died on 29th Aug 1916 during the battle of the Somme. He was in 19th Btn and buried at Bronfay Farm. I managed to print off the certificate with information on from the Commonwealth war graves commission but wondered if I could find out any more about where and how he died. His name was Paul Dixon Gibson ( P D Gibson)
thanks for any help or information
Tracey