Tremendous photos. Do you know anything more about the large group of soldiers as they are from a mixture of units including Warwicks. Benjamin Bourne is on the Bham Roll of Honour. Service number - 1906. Killed 23 July 1916. He is mentioned in the Bham Weekly Post on September 30 1916 when his mother appealed for information and October 21 1916 when Pte E Andrews recalled how they had spent the night together in a night attack on German trenches but lost sight of him so he was presumed killed or captured (presumed killed as he is named on the Thiepval Memorial). Born Sparkbrook. Was in the 10th Warwicks. Age at death - 44. Parents were Thomas and Hannah Bourne of 149, Warwick Rd, Sparkhill.
Below an account of what happened at the time of his death....
The move came on July 19 to a different place – Becourt Wood and a bivouac in a field, which was reached in the early hours. They were heading into action as a list had already been drawn up of fifteen officers and the Colonel who would be involved. On the evening of July 20 the battalion moved to trenches in the north-west corner of Mametz Wood which were difficult to find in the dark. With 56 Brigade on the left of the Divisional front 57 Brigade on their right held a line running along the road between the northern exits of Bazentin le Petit village and the north-western corner of High Wood. The right of the Brigade was about half way between the two points. The trench line here was a ‘Z’ shape and of a temporary nature as it had not been in British hands for very long. The priority for all battalions was to dig themselves in more securely. Wyrall has written…..
“…the line just north of the village (Bazentin-le-Petit) appears to have been very sketchy for, being recently captured, no definite trench system had yet been dug and the troops held the line in holes, short lengths of trench, and wherever they could dig themselves in…..Everything was smashed beyond recognition. The whole area was a mass of shell craters, and it was difficult in the extreme to recognise trenches which had been battered hopelessly” (738).
On July 21 Second Lieutenant Rainbow reconnoitred routes from Mametz Wood to the front line where the rest of 57 Brigade were established. Wyrall again……
“Some idea of the difficult nature of the line taken over by the 56[SUP]th[/SUP] and 57[SUP]th[/SUP] Brigades may be gathered from the fact that the better part of the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] was spent in locating the front line correctly” (739).
On this and the following day working parties were found; on the latter day two companies were put at the disposal of the Pioneer battalion for the Division ‘digging a trench when our troops had gone forward to the attack for them to fall back into if they were unable to hold the German line’ (740). On the evening of the same day the battalion relieved the 10/Worcs in the line ‘due to unforeseen circumstances’. They were now due to ‘go over the top’ at 12.30 a.m. on July 23 as part of III Corps attack on the strong German line Switch Line behind High Wood. However, the battalion could only get into position at 1.05 a.m. by which time the barrage had lifted. Guides from the Worcesters had not known the way and heavy shelling was taking place. The battalion now went over the top but heavy machine gun fire forced them back to their original jumping off trench. They were ordered to hold on ‘at all costs’. Wyrall believes that the last minute ‘eleventh hour relief of the 10/Worcesters and the late knowledge of the presence of a German ‘intermediate line’ “had much to do with the failure of the attack” (741). At 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. flares lit up their position and heavy German shelling followed causing many casualties.
At 9.45 a.m. on July 23 Lieutenant Colonel Albert Henderson , aged 46, (742) was killed. In 1911 Henderson was living at Ashton House, Stretton-on-Fosse, Leicestershire on ‘private means’ with his wife, Gertrude, and five servants. He was Scottish born and in 1881 was a ten year old boarder at Highbury House school, at Hastings. There were over 100 other boarders in this school for ‘ young gentlemen’ (743). His older brother, Arthur, attended the same school.
Captain Dakeyne was urgently summoned from the transport lines where presumably the reserve ‘cadre’ were based. He arrived to take command at 1.15 p.m. During the day time was spent strengthening the position in the front line. That evening a patrol had been detailed to take a German strongpoint but the whole battalion was relieved before this could take place. Back at Becourt Wood the casualties were noted for July 23 as three officers killed, six wounded and nine other ranks killed, 81 wounded and 31 missing (744).
