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16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade
16th (St Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade was raised in the Borough of St. Pancras on the 2nd of April 1915 by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee. After initial training close to home, they moved to Paddockhurst. In August 1915 they joined 117th Brigade, 39th Division at Hursley Park. In November they moved to Aldershot for a brief spell then to Whitley for final training. They proceeded to France on the 8th of March 1916, landing at Le Havre, the division concentrating near Blaringhem. On the 30th June 1916 they were in action in an attack near Richebourg l'Avoue with the Sussex battalions suffered heavy casualties. They were in action during the Battles of the Somme, including, the fighting on the Ancre, The Battle of Thiepval Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre heights and the capture of Schwaben Reddoubt and Stuff Trench as well as The Battle of the Ancre. In 1917 they fought in The Battle of Pilkem Ridge, The Battle of Langemarck, The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, The Battle of Polygon Wood and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918 they were in action at The Battle of St Quentin, The actions at the Somme crossings, The Battle of Bapaume and The Battle of Rosieres before moving to Flanders. They took part n The fighting on Wytschaete Ridge, The First and Second Battle of Kemmel and The Battle of the Scherpenberg. The Division had suffered heavy losses and they were reduced to a cadre on the 16th of May and took on a role supervising courses of instruction for newly arrived American troops, beginning with units of the 77th American Division at Wolphus. On the 16th of August the St Pancras Rifles moved to Abancourt to join 197th Brigade, 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division and on the 20th of September took up duties on lines of Communication work.
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
9th February 1916 Call Ups
1st Mar 1916 Orders Received
2nd Mar 1916 Orders
7th Mar 1916 On the Move
8th Mar 1916 On the Move
9th Mar 1916 On the Move
10th Mar 1916 On the Move
13th Mar 1916 On the March
14th Mar 1916 On the March
15th Mar 1916 Orders
16th Mar 1916 Inspection
19th Mar 1916 Instruction 
20th Mar 1916 Instruction
21st Mar 1916 Instruction
22nd Mar 1916 Instruction
23rd Mar 1916 Quiet
24th Mar 1916 Instruction
25th Mar 1916 Instruction
26th Mar 1916 In Billets
28th Mar 1916 Trenches
29th Mar 1916 Relief Completed
30th Mar 1916 Reliefs
31st Mar 1916 Relief Completed
1st Apr 1916 Recce
2nd Apr 1916 Enemy Active
3rd Apr 1916 Shelling
4th Apr 1916 Misty
5th Apr 1916 Shelling
6th Apr 1916 Reorganisation
7th Apr 1916 Training
8th Apr 1916 Training
9th Apr 1916 Training
10th Apr 1916 Inspection
11th Apr 1916 Training
12th Apr 1916 Training
13th Apr 1916 Training
14th Apr 1916 Training
15th Apr 1916 Change of Command
16th Apr 1916 Reliefs
17th Apr 1916 Training
18th Apr 1916 Training
19th Apr 1916 Training
20th Apr 1916 Training
21st Apr 1916 Recce
22nd Apr 1916 Training
23rd Apr 1916 Reliefs
24th Apr 1916 Some Shelling
25th Apr 1916 Trench Work
26th Apr 1916 Trench Work
27th Apr 1916 Reliefs
28th Apr 1916 In Reserve
29th Apr 1916 In Reserve
30th Apr 1916 Working Parties
1st May 1916 Reliefs
3rd May 1916 Gas Alarm
5th May 1916 Reliefs
25th May 1916 Reliefs
3rd Jun 1916 Reliefs
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade? There are:5292 items tagged 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have served with16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade during the Great War 1914-1918. - Barnes Arthur John. Pte. (d.31st July 1917)
- Butt Lewis John Dalgliesh. 2nd Lieut (d.4th Jul 1916)
- Cove Harry. Rfmn. (d.3rd Sep 1916)
- Ferry Percival Alexander. Rflm. (d.31st Jul 1917)
- Hansen William Henry. Rflmn. (d.24th Jun 1917)
- Harris Bertram George. Rflmn.
- Johnson George Charles. L/Cpl. (d.3rd Sep 1916)
- Laflin Ernest Alfred. Pte. (d.3rd Sep 1916)
- Pereira Henry Miles. Pte. (d.5th June 1916)
- Polden William James. Rflmn.
- Polden William James. Rfmn.
- Pozzi Albert. Pte. (d.3rd September 1916)
- Ramsay Norman. 2nd Lt. (d.3rd Sep 1916)
- Reeks Frank. Rfn (d.4th Feb 1917)
- Smith Joseph John. Pte.
- Targett Frederick. Pte.
- Targett Frederick. Rfmn.
- Thornton John. Cpl.
- Turvey Herbert Charles. (d.7th Aug 1916)
- Welch Henry Thomas. Rflmn. (d.1st October 1916)
- Wright George. Rflmn. (d.31st Jul 1917)
All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please Add a Name to this List
Records of 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade from other sources.
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Herbert Charles Turvey 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.7th Aug 1916) My Grandfather, Herbert Charles Turvey, a very brave man died in these battles. We will never forget you Grandad Turvey.
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Rfmn. Frederick "Jerry" Targett 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade Frederick Targett served with the 16th Battalion, Rifle Brigade since 1915 to 1918 when the 39th Division was disbanded due to losses.
He then served in the Labour Corps.
He survived the war and was demobbed in 1919
receiving the 1914 - 1918 and Victory medals.
He was my maternal grandfather.
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L/Cpl. George Charles Johnson 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.3rd Sep 1916) George Johnson was my Great-grandfather, and am very proud of his service.
I now know he died at Ancre on the Somme after being in action for just 7 months. I had always heard the stories growing up and am now pleased to find where he now lays at rest with so many braves souls who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Lest we forget, for I never will nor my children.
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Rflmn. William Henry Hansen 16th Btn. D Coy. Rifle Brigade (d.24th Jun 1917) William Hansen was the son of Henry and Rose Hansen, husband of E. Hansen. He joined the 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade at some time during June/July 1915.
He landed with the Battalion at Le Havre on 8th of March 1916.
On June 24th 2017, the regiment relieved the 17th Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, in the right sector front line after being in right support. That same day he was one of 5 killed. Eight others were wounded.
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Pte. Arthur John Barnes 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion Rifle Brigade (d.31st July 1917) My great granddad, Arthur Barnes lived all his life in Battersea in the Nine Elms area married to his wife Eliza. He was a labourer and a rag & bone man before joining the 16th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade.
He fought in Belgium and died during the Battle of Pilckem Ridge on 31st of July 1917. He is buried in the New Irish Cemetery, St Julien, Ypres. I am trying to find out as much detail as I can.
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Cpl. John Thornton 16th (St. Pancras) Btn. Rifle Brigade John Thornton saw service in France in 1916. He was blinded by the discharge of a hand grenade, taken prisoner, and eventually returned to England through an exchange of war prisoners. He was subsequently trained at Blind Veterans UK (formerly, St. Dunstan's in Regent's Park) as a basket worker. (From newspaper excerpt from the 1930s/1940s.)
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Rfmn. William James Polden 16th (St Pancras) Btn. B Coy Rifle Brigade William Polden was conscripted into the army on either the 11th or 12th of July 1916. He trained with the 5th (Garrison) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, as part of the Medway Garrison based at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey and was then transferred to the 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade.
After going AWOL for a short time, he was then transferred again, this time to the 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, Rifle Brigade.
In November of 1917 William was evacuated to the General Hospital in Camiers, France via the 17th Casualty Clearing Station, with severe bronchitis.
The following year, in August 1918, William was announced as wounded in the daily Casualty Lists produced by the War Office (this was believed to have been by a mustard gas attack).
After surviving the war, William passed away in 1935, aged 54, due to respiratory problems, most likely a result of the damage caused by the bronchitis and exacerbated by the gas attack the following year.
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Pte. Joseph John Smith 16th (St Pancras) Battalion Rifle Brigade Joseph Smith served with the 16th Battalion, Rifle Brigade and spent time in a hospital in France.
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Rflmn. William James Polden 5th Battalion Rifle Brigade William James Polden was my grandfather born in 1881.
He joined the Army on the 12th of July 1916 and after training with the 5th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, as part of the Thames Garrison based on the Isle of Sheppey, he was stationed in France at some stage between late 1916 or early 1917, serving initially overseas with with the 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade. During the course of the War William was transferred again, this time to the 16th Battalion, ending the War back with the 13th Battalion late in 1918. A major battle he was part of was the Third Battle of Ypres.
My late father informed me that William was mustard gassed during the war and as a result, died aged 54 from complications that had set in in later life.
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Pte. Albert Pozzi 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.3rd September 1916) Albert died the same day as Frederick William Pozzi who is buried in Ancre Cemetery. Albert Pozzi is listed on the Theipval Memorial. Both are mentioned on a Pozzi family memorial in Edmonton Cemetery. They are linked to my family through Louis Pozzi born in France 1821, my gt gt gt grandad and father of Charles Pozzi b 1849, aka Wells who lived in Romford.
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Rflmn. George Wright 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.31st Jul 1917) George Wright was home on leave during 1916 or 17 where he met his son, my father, for the one and only time. He was slightly wounded in early 1917 and killed on the 1st day of Passchendaele (3rd Battle of Ypres), on 31st July 1917. He is named on the Menin Gate at Ypres.
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Rflmn. Bertram George Harris 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade Bert Harris was wounded in the left arm and discharged from the Army on 24th April 1917.
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Rflmn. Henry Thomas Welch 16th Btn (Prince Consort's Own) Rifle Bgde (d.1st October 1916) Henry Thomas Welch was my grandfather. I visited his grave and found it a very emotional time. I do not know any more but would very much like to.
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Pte. Henry Miles Pereira 16th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.5th June 1916)  Whilst researching my family tree and chatting to my mother who is aged 84 and nee Pereira, the question came as to why my uncle's middle name was Miles. Mum explained it was following the death of her uncle during the first world war.
Henry Miles Pereira's death in France on the 5th June 1916 was never really discussed by Mum's family she explained. I have since attempted to find out more; I have established very little if anything about his death in service, other than being shot in the thigh and this wound proving to be fatal; he was a "bomber" which I understand to be a hand grenade thrower during trench attacks. I would be very interested to find out more. He is buried at Beuvry in the Gorre British Cemetery.
I located his death plaque, medals, death scroll and more importantly letter from his CO to his mother, all on an auction web site. Sadly this was post-auction and I was unable to secure these family heirlooms. I hope they are proudly displayed in another distant relative's home.
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2nd Lt. Norman Ramsay 16th Battalion Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) (d.3rd Sep 1916)  Norman Ramsay 1869–1916
was the 12th child of pioneer Queensland grazier, politician and treasurer Robert Burnett Ramsay and his wife Margaret Cruickshank, Norman Ramsay was born in Queensland on 14 August 1869. Although the details are hazy, it seems that he first went to school in Queensland but was later sent to Glyngarth Preparatory School in England prior to going to Harrow in September 1884 for his secondary education. Like his elder brothers, he was a fine sportsman who excelled at almost every game he played, and was particularly good at football and cricket. By all accounts, he was also a crackshot with both rifle and shotgun, a fine polo player, a good tennis player, and a competent jockey.
In 1888, Norman returned from England to Queensland with his brother Douglas to work for their elder brothers Frank and Bob on the Darling Downs and around Winton. Another brother, Lauderdale, joined them in 1893. Their father, in partnership with the well-known Queensland pastoralist and politician Sir Arthur Hodgson, owned Eton Vale on the Darling Downs but had retired to England; and Frank and Bob, together with Sir Arthur’s son Edward, had bought Oondooroo Station near Winton in 1886.
In 1894, with a view to giving them a capital base, Robert Ramsay bought three 1/12 shares of Oondooroo from Frank and Bob for Lauderdale, Douglas and Norman. Thus was born the famous pastoral firm of Ramsay Bros. & Hodgson, which, some years after the premature death of Edward Hodgson in July 1896, grew to be one of the largest sheep producers in the world. Indeed, in response to a tenuous claim about an unnamed farmer in the USA, 'The Western Champion and General Advertiser' dated 9 October 1905 echoed the 'North Queensland Register' in saying that the Ramsay Bros. would, with a good season or two, “give the American a shaking for the title of biggest sheepfarmers in the worldâ€.
Details of Norman’s movements between 1888 and 1905 are not known. However, it’s known that, as Ramsay Bros. & Hodgson’s pastoral empire expanded, he was at different times manager or acting manager of Oondooroo, Elderslie, Charlotte Plains and Burleigh stations while his elder brothers Frank and Bob remained the prime movers in the Ramsay brothers’ business dealings. Often, Norman and his four brothers would fill in for each other when one or more of them went on holiday. Back then of course, a typical holiday entailed a trip to the home country, and would last at least six months.
Norman spent many years in and around Winton in far-west Queensland, and a couple of years on Bogunda Station at Prairie near Hughenden between 1905 and 1907. It’s clear from everything that has been written and said about him that, like his brothers, he was well liked and highly regarded. Even though he never married, he was affable and popular with women despite suffering for many years from neuralgia, a disorder of the trigeminal nerve that causes frequent and intense pain in the face. Unlike Frank and Bob who seemed to be comfortable in their own company, Norman appeared at times to hanker after the hustle and bustle of city life. To that end, he moved to Sydney in about 1907 and then, with his brother Douglas, moved back to England in 1910 to join their widowed father Robert, their elder brother Frank who had retired two years earlier, and their three surviving sisters, all of whom were living in or near Bekesbourne in Kent.
Norman was still in England when war broke out in 1914. Deeply patriotic to King and country, he enlisted into the British Army even though he was by then 45. At his age and with his wide-ranging experience of life and people management, he could reasonably have asked to be a commissioned officer immediately. Citing inexperience in military matters though, he signed on as a private in the Sportman’s Battalion in October 1914. In October 1915, he transferred to the 16th Battalion Rifle Brigade, part of the Prince Consort’s Own Rifle Regiment that had been formed in 1800 as an “experimental corps of riflemen to provide sharpshooters, scouts and skirmishersâ€, and was immediately promoted to 2nd.-lieutenant. With his considerable experience as a crackshot in Queensland, Norman was surely a perfect fit for such a regiment. After military training at a number of military camps in England including Hursley Park, Aldershot and Witley Camp, Norman sailed from England to Le Havre on 8 March 1916 en route to the battle front in France.
After a short time at Blaringhem, and alongside soldiers of the Royal Sussex Regiment, Norman and his fellow soldiers of the 16th. Rifle Brigade were reportedly involved in heavy fighting near Richbourg l'Avoue on 16 June 1916. A precursor to the Battle of the Somme, Richbourg was planned as a diversionary action but was actually so bloody that it should perhaps be regarded as the first of the officially designated battles of the Somme.
On 3 September, while reconnoitering German trenches from ‘no man’s land’ during one of the many other battles of the Somme, he was killed by the enemy. The details of exactly how he died or where he was at the time are not known. Sadly, he was one of many thousands of soldiers who died in the Somme but have no known grave. His name though lives on in numerous places including on memorials in Winton and Cambooya in Queensland, in St. Peter's Church in Bekesbourne in Kent, and at Thiepval in France
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Pte. Ernest Alfred Laflin 16th (Service) Battalion, C Coy. Rifle Brigade (d.3rd Sep 1916) Ernest Alfred Laflin was born in 1886, he married Elizabeth Annie King in 1908 in Richmond Surrey and in 1911 he gave his occupation as General Assistant on the census, he had one daughter Bessie at this time born in 1900 and had a son born about 1915, also called Ernest
Ernest joined the 16th (Service) Battalion Rifle Brigade, C Company as a Private and was killed on the 3rd of September 1916 aged 30 years and is burried in grave V.F.37 Ancre British Cemetary, at Beaumont Hamel. The records note he was the son of Edward and Sarah Laflin of Camden Town, husband of Elizabeth A Laflin (nee King) of 1a Glenwood Road Harringey.
This address was also the address of Elizabeth's sister Ada Mary Board and her husband John Henry Board. The two sisters lived together throughout the First World War.
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2nd Lieut Lewis John Dalgliesh Butt 16th (Service) Bn. The Rifle Brigade (d.4th Jul 1916) I would like more information on 2nd Lt Butt, who I am currently researching.
He was the son of The Revd. Canon G.H.Butt and I have letters he sent from the trenches to his wife Marian Ida Butt.
He joined the 16th (Service) Battalion, The Rifle Brigade (St Pancras)in late 1914/early 1915. He was promoted to 2nd Lieut on the 21st October 1915 and sent to France on 8th March 1916.
He met up with his brother Captain Harry A. Butt of the Gloucestershire Regt. in France in May 1916 as he was stationed nearby. Unfortunately Harry was killed a couple of weeks later on 8th June which Lewis probably never knew about. Lewis was killed on 4th July 1916 and is buried at Le Touret, Northern France not far from Harry's final resting place.
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