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12th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
12th (Service) Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers was formed at Newcastle in September 1914 as part Kitchener's Third New Army and joined 62th Brigade, 21st Division. The Division concentrated in the Tring area, training at Halton Park before winter necessitated a move into local billets in Tring, Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard, High Wycombe and Maidenhead. The artillery was at High Wycombe and Berkhamsted, RE at Chesham, and ASC at Dunstable. In May 1915 the infantry moved to huts at Halton Park, whilst the artillery moved to Aston Clinton with one brigade staying at Berkhamsted and the RE to Wendover. On the 9th of August they moved to Witley Camp. They proceeded to France during the first week of September and marched across France their first experience of action being in the British assault at Loos on 26th September 1915,suffering heavy casualties, just a few days after arriving in France. In 1916 They were in action in the Battles of The Somme, including The Battle of Morval in which the Division captured Geudecourt. In 1917 they were in action during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the Arras offensive. In August 1917 they joined with the 13th battalion to form the 12/13th Battalion.
Sep 1914 12th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers raised 12th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers was formed at Newcastle in September 1914 as part of K3, they joined 62nd Brigade, 21st Division.
Sep 1914 21st Division was established in September 1914, as part of Kitchener's Third New Army, K3. The units of the Division initially concentrated in the Tring area
In May 1915 the infantry moved to huts at Halton Park, the artillery went to Aston Clinton (One brigade staying at Berkhamsted) and the RE to Wendover. Rifles were received in late June 1915 and after firing their first course the infantry moved from 9 August to Witley Camp. Lord Kitchener inspected the Division on the march on 12 August.
Advanced parties embarked for France began on 2 September and the main body began to cross the Channel five days later. Units moved to assemble near Tilques, completing concentration on 13 September. The Division's first experience was truly appalling. Having been in France for only a few days, lengthy forced marches brought it into the reserve for the British assault at Loos. GHQ planning left it too far behind to be a useful reinforcement on the first day, but it was sent into action on 26 September, whereupon it suffered over 3,800 casualties for very little gain.
Sep 1915 12th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers proceed to France 12th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers proceed to France in September 1915.
19th Sep 1915 Exercise
14th of October 1915 Training
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
24th of October 1915 Reliefs
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
12th Jan 1916 Home Leave
9th February 1916 Call Ups
1st Mar 1916 Shelling
2nd Mar 1916 Reliefs
3rd Mar 1916 Bombardment 
4th Mar 1916 Shelling
5th Mar 1916 Sleet
6th Mar 1916 Observation Balloons
7th Mar 1916 Snow
8th Mar 1916 Aeroplanes Active
2nd Jul 1916 In Touch
3rd Jul 1916 In Action
2nd Jul 1917 Reliefs
10th Aug 1917 12th and 13th Battalions Northumberland Fusiliers amalgamate 12th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers amalgamate with 13th Bn, becoming 12/13th Battalion.
10th of April 1918 Into Battle
11th Apr 1918 Advance
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 12th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers? There are:5256 items tagged 12th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers 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 with12th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers during the Great War 1914-1918. - Burnham MM John Stainforth. L/Cpl (d.27 May 1918)
- Caney Robert. Pte. (d.27th September 1915 )
- Chamberlain Thomas Edward. Pte. (d.25th September 1915)
- Chambers Edward. Pte. (d.11th Jul 1916)
- Clark William. L/Cpl. (d.27th Sep 1915)
- Coles Arthur Robert. Pte. (d.8th Oct 1918)
- Coulson Andrew W. Cpl (d.21st Jun 1917)
- Dannatt Walter. L/Cpl. (d.12th Oct 1918)
- Davidson Alfred. Sgt. (d.27th Sep 1915)
- Deeming Frank Tetlow. Capt. (d.21st Mar 1918)
- Dix MC. Stephen Hamilton . Lt.Col. (d.4th October 1917)
- Docherty William. Sgt. (d.12th Jan 1916)
- Dunn Thomas. Sgt. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Emmott James Alfred. Pte. (d.27th Sep 1918)
- Forester Albert Turner. Sgt (d.16th Jun 1917)
- Forrest Robert Archibald. Pte. (d.25th Aug 1918)
- Gallagher John Joseph. Pte. (d.27th Apr 1918)
- Gater Charles. Sgt. (d.12th Jan 1916)
- Greene Thomas Henry. L/Cpl. (d.8th Sep 1918)
- Hall John. Pte. (d.16th July 1916)
- Hamilton Herbert Otho. Lt. (d.25th September 1915)
- Hare John. Pte. (d.27th Sep 1915)
- Herbert Frederick Charles. Pte. (d.18th Apr 1918)
- Jefferson DCM, MM and Bar John Drysdale. Sgt.
- Lavey Patrick. Pte (d.13th July 1916)
- Makin Harold. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Morray John Robinson. Pte. (d.4th Oct 1917)
- Murray Robert Edgar. Pte. (d.29th Nov 1914)
- Ogilvie David. Cpl
- Ord MM. Josiah. Sgt.
- Portlock William Alexander McDonald. L/Cpl. (d.27th Aug 1918)
- Rendall DCM Hector. Pte. (d.10th July 1916)
- Robson Thomas Henry. Pte. (d.29th May 1918)
- Robson Walter DeFrece. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Rudge Thomas. Pte. (d.27th Sep 1915)
- Sams George William. Pte (d.27th Sep 1918)
- Scorer Chas. Pte (d.8th Mar 1918)
- Scott Archibald. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Scott Frederick. Pte. (d.30th Sep 1918)
- Sutton Ernest. Pte (d.16th Jun 1917)
- Thompson Matthew Arnold. 2nd Lt. (d.21st Mar 1918)
- Turner MM. James Percival.
- Waight MC. Dennis Edward. Capt.
- Wall John Henry. Pte. (d.3rd July 1916)
- Willis James. Pte. (d.13th July 1916)
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 12th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers from other sources.
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Pte. Hector Rendall DCM 12th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (d.10th July 1916) Hector Rendall was awarded the DCM for his conspicuous gallantry on the 25th/26th September 1915, at Hill 70, when he remained at his machine gun all night under heavy and continuous fire doing excellent work after his comrades on either side of him had been killed. His coolness and bravery and devotion to duty were most marked. Citation from the London Gazette
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Pte. Thomas Rudge 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.27th Sep 1915) This photo is the only one my family have of my Great uncle Thomas Rudge and
his fellow soldiers, sadly we do not know which one is Thomas.
Thomas was killed at the battle of Loos and died aged just 21.
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Capt. Frank Tetlow Deeming 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.21st Mar 1918) My great Uncle Frank Deeming was my grandfather George's younger brother. These photos were left to me by my Aunt Dot, Frank's niece, some years ago, along with other family photos of the late 1800's of my great great grandparents William and Mary and great aunts Ada, May and Eva from their family home in Rochdale.
I never knew what I would find in my family search but found his military unit designation, the cemetery he is buried in and the fact that he was married, his wife's name was Gladys.
I still have not found out the location of his death or the circumstances other than the time that he died in France on 21st of March 1918 but will continue to search.
It has been a long time since I have been able to connect with family and hope to re-establish communications with distant cousins and family from long ago.
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Pte. Frederick Scott 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.30th Sep 1918) Frederick Scott was Irish. Whilst the 12h Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers were encamped at Tring, Herts, he sent a letter to his mother stating that he was expecting to be on the move. The letter was not dated, but was postmarked from Tring in December 1914. In it, Frederick thanked his mother for the two shirts she had sent him, but was apologetic that he could not get allowances for her. He did say in his latter that if anything should happen to him, then she would get his effects and pay. His mother, Mrs R Scott, lived at 45 Spencer Street, Belfast.
Accounts 4 at the War Office deemed under the Wills Act of 1837 that this letter constituted an informal will and thus released Frederick's effects to his mother. My research into the Army Pay Services during the Great War found that, as of January 1915, all dependents of soldiers, including wives, common-law partners, and parents who had relied on the support of their sons before enlistment, were deemed entitled to dependent allowances from the date of enlistment. Therefore, Mrs Scott would no doubt have received allowances backdated to the day of Frederick's enlistment. I am researching Irish soldiers' wills that are held in the National Archives of Ireland, Dublin.
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Pte. Thomas Edward Chamberlain 12th Battalion, Company D Northumberland Fusiliers (d.25th September 1915) Thomas Chamberlain is remembered on the Loos Memorial.
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L/Cpl. Thomas Henry Greene 12/13th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.8th Sep 1918) Thomas Greene is buried in the Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery in Northern France.
12 pounds 10 shillings and 10 pence was sent to his widow Mabel on the 3rd of December 1918 and she received 9 pounds and 10 shillings War Gratuity in 1919.
The 12/13th Northumberland Fusiliers War Diary show his Battalion on the 8th of September 1918-09-08 at 4am was moving to reinforce the Lincolnshire Regiments in the front line, it states there were 4 officers wounded but no details of other ranks.
In the Lincolnshire Regiment War Diary it gives more details about the heavy fighting that day and states 12th/13th Northumberland Fusiliers were ordered to maintain the spur in W23c at all costs.
Thomas's body was found at map ref. W23. which is between Heudicourt and Pezieres.
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Pte. Edward Chambers 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.11th Jul 1916) Edward Chambers was my great grandfather who never saw my mother. She was 3 months old when he was killed.
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Pte. James Alfred Emmott 12th/13th Batn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.27th Sep 1918) James Emmott was the son of Charles Emmott a famous rugby player who played for England and his County in the 1890's.
James was about 21 when he died. His brother Lawrence Emmott was also killed during the war on 1st of December 1917.
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Lt. Herbert Otho Hamilton 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.25th September 1915) Herbert Hamilton was the only son of Rev William Frederic Tucker Hamilton of Cromer.
Previously vicar of Christ Church Woking. His mother Maud died from post-natal depression after his birth. He was educated at Malvern and Trinity Cambridge. He married Muriel Wakley 6 months before his death on the first day of the Battle of Loos.
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Lt.Col. Stephen Hamilton Dix MC. 12th/13th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.4th October 1917) Stephen Dix was born on the 20th August 1879, son of Stephen and Annie Marina Dix, he was the husband of Ida Mary Dix and father of Michael Lewes Dix-Hamilton. He lived in Chudleigh, Devon. Initially he enlisted with the 2nd Battalion Leinster Fusiliers. He rose through the ranks, promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 14th February 1900 and by 1914 he was a Captain. On 25th June 1917 he was attached on commission to the 12th/13th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. On 4th October 1917 they took part in the Battle of Broodseinde (part of the third Ypres, Passchendaele Battle) as part of the 62nd Brigade of the 21st Division. He was killed in action age 39 years and is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery. A pupil of Bedford Modern School 1889-92, he is commemorated on the School War Memorial, which was unveiled in 1923 and in the Roll of Honour, published in The Eagle, December 1923. Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com.
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Capt. Dennis Edward "Daddy" Waight MC. 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers My father, Colonel Dennis Waight, fought in both WW1 and WW2 and went to France with the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers. He served as a Platoon and Coy Comander in the trenches until early 1918. During which he won the Military Cross.
He then became a Bristol Fighter Observer with 22nd Squadron RFC. He became an observer ace having downed 12 German aircraft.
He became a regular officer during his time with the Btn. and after the war left the RAF.
He rejoined the Fusiliers serving in India, Persia, Iraq and at Fenham Barracks in Newcastle, first as adjutant of the Northumberland Fusiliers and DLI depot and later as training major of a TA Btn.
At the outbreak of WW2 he joined a regular battalion at Bordon, Hants went to Palestine with it and served with it in the first battles in the Western Desert, Sidi Barrani as a company commander. He was promoted and joined Cheshire Regiment in Malta and served during the seige. On relief, he was promoted and ran a officers school in Haifa and returned to England to command a wt school near Guildford and then a wosb at St Albans and later near Brussels.
After the war ended he ran a prison for hard core Nazis at Harsewinkel, near Gutersloh as an officer of CCG.
Many felt he deserved greater recognition for his and the Cheshires performance in Malta. His father was a soldier, so was I and my son.
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L/Cpl. William Alexander McDonald Portlock 13th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.27th Aug 1918) William Portlock served with the 12th and 13th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers.
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Cpl David Ogilvie 12th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers David Ogilvie was my grandfather. He survived the war, but I never met him. He died in 1953, when he was 54. He joined the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1915, when he was 16, and was sent to France in early October 1915, just after the Battle of Loos. He served with the 12th Battalion NF at the Battle of the Somme and took part in the capture of Fricourt, of Mametz Wood and several other actions in that part of the line. He was promoted to corporal on 23 October 1916. Just before the Battle of Arras in April 1917, he was sent home with a very nasty case of trench foot. He was discharged on 12 October 1917, officially 21 years old, but actually 18. He later joined the RAF. After the war, he married my grandmother and settled in Lincolnshire, working as a policeman. Emotionally, he was broken by his experiences on the Western Front and, by all accounts, he was very difficult to live with. My grandmother left him in the 1940s and he moved to Liverpool, where he died.
I have always been a bit obsessed with my grandfather and would love to find out more about him.
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Pte. John Henry Wall 12th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (d.3rd July 1916) After Ypres and Neuve Chappelle John Wall was again wounded as St Eloi. He returned to the front to receive other wounds, and his last.
His widow received the following tribute from an officer of the regiment.: "Your husband, Private J Wall was killed on 3rd July in attack on a wood near Fricrort. He was the bravest man on the spot and did wonderful work. He volunteered to come with me and was wounded three times before he was killed.
When I tell you that he carried on after he was wounded and was at the front at each rush and the work he did was specially mentioned you will understand your husband died a hero indeed. Unfortunatly the D.C.M is not awarded after death or he would have had it.
He was the pride of his comrades and was carried back and was buried behind the line of fighting.In the great advance private J. Wall was caught in a dugout, tackled Germans one after the other and finally fell dead before them."
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Pte. Walter DeFrece Robson 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.25th Sep 1915) My Great Uncle, Walter De Frece Robson 11379, B Coy 12th Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed at Loos on 25th of September 1915
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James Percival Turner MM. 12th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers My uncle James Percival Turner was in 12th, Northumberland fusiliers and mentioned on P.185 of "The First Day on the Somme" book by Martin Middlebrook. He was awarded the Military medal and later the bar. He was a stretcher bearer.
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Pte. Robert Edgar Murray 1st Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.29th Nov 1914) Robert Edgar Murray, Private 9602, enlisted at Jarrow and served with the 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He died age 28 on the 29th November 1914 and is remembered at Palmer Cenotaph, St Paul's Church also on the Ypres(Menin Gate) Memorial. His medal card records the award of the 1914 Star, War and Victory Medals.
Robert was born in Cardiff 1886, son of Wilhelmina Murray of Jarrow. He was married to Gwenllian Tulloch (formerly Murray). In the 1911 census the family is living at 43 South Street, Jarrow. Wilhelmina(52) widow, is a paper hanger and had been married for 9 years with 4 children but only two survived. William Irving(28)single, a shipsplate rivetter, Robert Edgar(25) married, a shipyard labourer and his wife of 3 years Gwenllian(24), no children. There is also a married daughter Janet Temple Porteous(21) so the census totals do not agree. Janet has two children Henrietta(8) and William is 6 years old.
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Sgt. Thomas Dunn 12th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers (d.25th Sep 1915) Thomas Dunn who died aged 21 was born in and lived in Jarrow. He was the son of John William Dunn. On the 1911 census, Thomas Dunn, age 17, Labourer in Steelworks, is recorded as living with his widowed father John William Dunn and family at 86 Western Road, Jarrow .
He enlisted at Wallsend.
Thomas is remembered on the Loos Memorial and is commemorated on the Palmer Cenotaph (plaque on west face) Jarrow.
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Sgt. William Docherty 12th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers (d.12th Jan 1916) William Docherty died aged 34, he was born in Jarrow on 6th April 1882 (birth registered as Dockerty), the son of Helena Docherty (nee Mahoney) and the late Francis Docherty (real name Dougherty). His younger brother Frank Docherty was also one of the fallen. On the 1911 census he is recorded as William Docherty, age 29, Labourer in Iron Shipyard, living with his widowed mother Ellena Docherty and family at 57 Palmer Terrace, Willington Quay. He enlisted at Wallsend.
William is buried in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery Armentieres.
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Pte. Frederick Charles Herbert 12/13th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers (d.18th Apr 1918) Private Frederick Charles Herbert's home address is given as Barwell, Leicestershire and his date of death as the 18th April 1918.
From my search he appears to be:
66853 Pte Herbert, 12/13th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers.
He was probably killed during the Battle of Bethune, part of the Battle of Lys during the Last German Offensive in April 1918.
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