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Left to right: John Craig (C, 1909-1912), Thomas Haughton (E, 1904-1908), James Hyde (E, 1908-1914) and Harold Williamson (E, 1910-1914).
Remembering The Somme
by
Chris Nathan
, School Archivist (G, 1954-1957)
out as planned and when 13 British Divisions
strode bravely across no man’s land, carrying
29kg of kit each, they were mown down by
a mixture of machine gun and artillery fire.
Within two hours 21,000 men had been killed
and 37,000 wounded.
The vast majority of these British Divisions
were volunteers, part of Kitchener’s ‘New
Armies’, many serving in ‘Pals’ Battalions
of men drawn from the same communities
and even streets. One such regiment from
Lancashire ‘The Accrington Pals’ lost 585 out
of 720 who had gone over the top.
By this time in the war St Edward’s School
had over 500 OSE, teachers and non-teaching
staff in uniform with an estimated 200
involved in the Somme offensive. On the
tragic first day five OSE were lost - Second
Lieutenant John Craig with the 11th Donegal
The 1st July 1916 saw the opening of what
became known as the Battle of the Somme.
At 7.30am, along a 20 mile front, British
Empire and allied soldiers went ‘over the
top’ in an attack aimed to break through the
German defences north of the River Somme.
There were several objectives for this
major offensive, including assisting the French
Army who had been pinned down for many
months at Verdun, by drawing away some
of the German forces facing them also to
break the stalemate on the Western Front,
outmanoeuvring the enemy and bringing a
quick end of the War.
A seven-day bombardment, including
1,500,000 shells, in the last week of June was
intended to obliterate the German defences
and completely demoralize their troops in
forward positions. Sadly this did not work
To read more about the School and the
Great War you might like to pre-order
Chris Nathan’s book
Members of a Very
Noble Friendship
(see page 12 for details).
& Fermanagh Battalion, Royal Inniskilling
Fusiliers - part of ‘The ‘Ulster Brigade who
covered themselves with Glory’, who died at
the Schwaben Redoubt; Lieutenant Thomas
Haughton 17th Durham Light Infantry – part
of the 31st Division (New Army), killed
at Shelter Wood; Second Lieutenant Eric
Hobbs, Special Reserve Battalion, Queen’s
Royal West Surrey Regiment – part of the
18th Division (New Army), killed in Albert;
Second Lieutenant James Hyde 1/5th
Nottingham & Derbyshire Regiment (The
Sherwood Foresters) - part of a Territorial
Division, killed at Gonnecourt; and Second
Lieutenant Harold Williamson, 6th Prince of
Wales’s North Staffordshire Regiment – part
of the 19th Division (New Army), killed near
Albert. The average age of these soldiers
was 21.
Before the end of the offensive in
November a further 16 OSE would be lost
and one more died a few days after the
offensive came to a halt, having achieved
very little.
A R C H I V E S