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12th (Bermondsey) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment
12th (Bermondsey) Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment was raised at Bermondsey on the 14th of May 1915 by the Mayor and Borough. After inital training close to home they moved to Witley in October to join 122nd Brigade, 41st Division. They moved to the Marlborough Lines at Aldershot in February 1916 for final training and proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre on the 2nd of May, the division concentrating between Hazebrouck and Bailleul. In 1916 they were in action at The Battle of Flers-Courcelette and The Battle of the Transloy Ridges on the Somme. In 1917 they fought during The Battle of Messines, The Battle of Pilkem Ridge, The Battle of the Menin Road and took part in the Operations on the Flanders coast. In November the Division was ordered to Italy, moving by train to Mantua. The Division took the front line near the River Piave, north west of Treviso. In February they were summoned back to France and departed from Campo San Piero, travelling by train to concentrate near Doullens and Mondicourt. They were in action during The Battle of St Quentin, The Battle of Bapaume and The Battle of Arras before moving to Flanders for The Battles of the Lys. They were in action during the Final Advance in Flanders, at Courtrai and Ooteghem. At the Armistice the advanced units were at Nederbrakel, Tenbosch and the River Dender. 41st Division was chosen to join the Army of Occupation, and on the 12th of January the Division took over the left section of the Cologne bridgehead. Demobilisation began in March 1919 and the Division was renamed the London Division.
1st May 1916 On the Move
5th May 1916 On the Move
8th May 1916 Concentration
9th May 1916 Orders
10th May 1916 Orders
11th May 1916 Preparations
12th May 1916 School of Instruction
13th May 1916 Postponement
14th May 1916 Trench Raid
15th May 1916 Instruction
17th May 1916 Gas Alert
18th May 1916 Orders 
31st May 1917 Relief Completed
12th June 1917 Fire to dumps at Lankhof Farm.
16th Jun 1917 Old Front Line 
12th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, in the old British front line, 16th June 1917 © IWM (Q 2821)
16th Feb 1918 On the March
1st August 1918 Operational Order No.15. Ref.
1st August 1918 Addenda to Operational Order No. 15.
1st August 1918 Reliefs
11th August 1918 Relief in trenches
12th October 1918 Quiet day. C.O.'s 122nd Brigade up in morning.
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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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 (Bermondsey) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Arney John. Pte. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Aucourt Charles Octave. Sjt. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Austin G. E.. Pte. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Bartlett Robert William. Pte.
- Charles Hilary. Pte. (d.22nd September 1917)
- Charles Hilary. Pte. (d.22nd September 1917)
- Collins Frederick Lewis. Pte. (d.4th September 1918)
- Ginn Alfred James. L/Cpl
- Godfrey Thomas. Pte. (d.9th Oct 1916)
- Goodwin Samuel George. Pte. (d.16th Jun 1917)
- Hammond James Charles. Pte. (d.15th August 1918)
- Hammond John Rowland. Pte. (d.5th Apr 1917)
- Hancock John Hocken. Pte.
- Holland William. Pte.
- Huxley MM.& Bar George. Pte.
- Jotcham William. L/Cpl. (d.25th March 1918)
- MacDonald Albert Edward. Pte. (d.29th July 1917)
- Mason George Henry. Pte.
- Mills DCM. Harry. Sgt.
- Morris John Marshall. Pte.
- Osborn MID. Frank Isaac. Sgt.
- Parr William George. Pte. (d.15th Oct 1918)
- Price William Henry. Pte. (d.1st October 1918)
- Samuels Sidney Gerald. Pte. (d.24th November 1918)
- Samuels Sidney Gerald. Pte. (d.24th November 1918)
- Shanks William Percy. Pte (d.15th September 1916)
- Wright Percy Clarence. Pte. (d.22nd Oct 1918)
- Wyatt Frederick A. Pte. (d.7th June 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 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment from other sources.
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Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
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L/Cpl Alfred James Ginn 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion East Surrey Regiment Alf Ginn attested for the East Surrey Regiment on the 5th of June 1915.
Dad was transferred to a Steel Construction Company, to construct Steel
AirShip Towers at Goonhilly Downs Air Station Cornwall, approx Sept/Oct 1917. He was possibly a member of a Machine Gun Section and was with 10th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters.
He then went back to France, possibly early 1918 With the 102nd Light Trench Mortar Battery.
He was gassed one night taking stores by mules to the Front Line.
Suffered with bad eyes all his Life. He lived to 92 Years.
He was lucky wounded in the Leg by a rifle bullet, and was sent back to UK With frostbit from the trenches. Then returning to France.
He was one of five brothers that served in France and all came home and lived long lives.
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Pte. William Henry Price 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion East Surrey Regiment (d.1st October 1918) William Price was born in 1899. He enlisted at Stratford East London. He was 19 years old when he was killed in action by machine gun fire. He is buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium.
I have no knowledge of his life before or during the war, his younger brother, my grandfather who served with the Merchant Navy in WW1, had no photos or mementos of William.
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Pte. George Henry Mason 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion East Surrey Regiment My paternal grandfather George Mason enlisted on 25th October 1915 and underwent training ready for deployment to France. It seems he was medically discharged in January 1916 just before the battalion travelled to France in May 1916 and so never saw active service. I'm proud of him for enlisting and undergoing his training I have been informed that he was keen to fight for his country. Sadly there is no record of him after the date of 1919 when my father was born and so sadly I do not know when he died. I am currently researching my paternal ancestry and especially military history as my father served in the Second World War and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his bravery.
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Pte. Frederick Lewis Collins 12th (Bermondsey) Btn East Surrey Regiment (d.4th September 1918) Private Frederick Lewis Collins, born in Gravenhurst, living in Ipswich and enlisted Bury St Edmunds. Served with the 12th Battalion East Surrey Regiment (service no. 23155), He was killed in action on 4th September 1918 in France and Flanders and is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium. He is remembered on both The War Memorial and The Alamada, St. Andrews Church, Ampthill. Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com
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Pte. John Rowland Hammond 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment (d.5th Apr 1917) On the night of 5th of April 1917 my great-grandfather, Private John Hammond, was in the cookhouse on the reserve line at Dikkebus, near Ypres. The line came under heavy fire between 8.45 and 10.15pm and during that bombardment the cookhouse took a direct hit, a shell exploding through the roof. He was killed instantly. He left behind a widow and three children, the oldest of whom was Amelia, my grandmother. She was nine years old when the family was informed. John had volunteered aged 39 in 1915, a few weeks later and he would have been exempt. He, along with many men from the 12th East Surreys, had survived The Somme, having fought at the terribly challenging battle of Flers-Courcelette, but sadly didn't make it home, like so many thousands of others.
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Pte. James Charles Hammond 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment (d.15th August 1918) My great grandfather, James Hammond, tried to enlist in 1914 but was refused. He was finally accepted on 3rd August 1915 and spent the war in France and Flanders. He was wounded on 17th July 1918 and died exactly a month later of his wounds.
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L/Cpl. William Jotcham 12th (Bermondsey) Btn. East Surrey Regiment (d.25th March 1918) William Jotcham came originally from Wotton-under-Edge. He was one of four brothers serving in WW1 - the others being Herbert, Fred and George. Only George was to survive.
William moved to London in his early 20s and married Agnes Croft. He lived at Caernarfon Road, Woodford Green and had one daughter (my mother Olive, born in 1914). He saw action in France and Belgium serving as a signaller.
He was involved in the Somme battles at Fricourt and Fleurs in 1916 and also Mametz Wood. He was also with his battalion in the Ypres Salient, but was sent back to Blighty to Aldershot Hospital suffering from cerebro spinal fever caught in the trenches. He recovered and returned to France but on 21st March a great German offensive opened and the 12th East Surrey Battalion moved from Halloy to Savoy Camp.
On 22nd March they moved towards the front line north east of Sapignies. Later that day they took up their places in the front line on the Baupaume-Vraucourt Road. They remained in the front line for three days, being continually shelled by the Germans and also undergoing aircraft fire. On the night of 24th March they had to dig new trenches but were attacked soon after dawn on 25th suffering severe losses. At this time William Jotcham was killed. He was reported missing in May after a six-week period.
It took more than a year before his parents were formally informed that the army authorities had concluded that he had died in action. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial for the Missing, Bay D.
His brother Herbert had already died of wounds in October 1917 - he was serving in the Royal Army Medical Crps (1/2 North Midland Field Ambulance) and suffered severe injuries when a bomb fell on the hospital where he was serving. Despite undergoing surgery he died within 24 hours, being buried in Fouquieres Churchyard Extension, France, Plot 2, Row D, Grave D1.
William and Hertbert's other brother, 2nd Lt. Fred Jotcham, served in the Royal Engineers, 4th Special Company. Wounded in 1915 he recovered and returned to active service only to die of subsequent wounds on 27th September 1918 - a terrible blow to his parents Frederick and Elizabeth Jotcham who had still not received formal confirmation of the death of William in March of the same year.
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Pte. John Hocken Hancock 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment My grandfather, Jack Hancock, served with the 12th Battalion East Surrey Regiment for one year. He was a Lewis gunner. He got an extra 2/6d in his pay packet for being a Lewis gunner. This was danger money as the gun was so heavy you found it hard to run fast when carrying it and so were a sitting target.
He was mustard gassed on 4th September 1918. I think this happened near Bois Quarante which is 11km from Ypres. He never returned to the battlefield. He died in 1985.
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Pte. Thomas Godfrey 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment (d.9th Oct 1916) Thomas Godfrey was my Grandfather. His last postcard came via France, it was addressed to my mother.
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Pte. Albert Edward MacDonald 12th Btn. East Surrey Rgt. (d.29th July 1917) Albert MacDonald was my great grandfather. Very little is known about him, as my grandmother never knew him. They lived in Leo Street, off the Old Kent Road. He married Emily Hamilton Butler, at St Judes Church in 1909.
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Pte. Percy Clarence Wright 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment (d.22nd Oct 1918) Percy Wright is the father of my common-law grandfather; from the little family tree research we've done, we've discovered that he and five others were killed that day from the same battalion (five privates and a captain) in the battle of Courtrai and Ooteghem (push to Ypres). They are buried at Harlebeke British Cemetery in West Flanders. He was 26 years old but there is no age on his headstone and indeed he and two other privates from the 12th killed the same day were re-buried at Harlebeke on 14th June 1920 for some unknown reason.
He had enlisted in December 1915 at Deptford, though the regiment was formed in Bermondsey in 1915. His son was four years old when Percy died. Family history recounts that his wife walked out upon hearing news of her husband's death and she was never seen again, leaving her sister to bring up my grandfather. However, we cannot find any record of their marriage, their residence in Croydon in 1910s nor of the birth of his wife.
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Pte. John Marshall Morris 12th Btns. East Surrey Regiment My grandfather John Morris was in the East Surrey Regiment during the First World War. He survived the war but died in 1947 by taking his own life, I wonder now if this could have been partly due to his wartime experiences.
I would like to know when he joined the army and his discharge date, where he served and when and if he was wounded. I have been on battlefield trips and may have been to places where he fought.
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Sgt. Harry Mills DCM. 12th Battalion East Surrey Regiment While clearing my father's estate, I came across a cardboard tube containing 3 papers confirming that Sgt. H. Mills of the 12th Btn, East Surrey Regiment was awarded the DCM on the 22nd November 1918.
One of the papers is the Army Orders, which states all awards given on the said date, the other piece of paper is a small 'certificate' the other is in French and states that this DCM was given by General Gaucher: "under difficult situations, with Soldier Sadler, surrounded an enemy group and captured 20 prisoners, 2 machine guns and an anti-tank gun to the N.E. of Ghelune on the 11th October 1918."
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Sgt. Frank Isaac Osborn MID. 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion East Surrey Regiment My father, Frank Osborn was Mentioned in Despatches for erecting a forward bombing post under fire. More than this I do not know as he was reticent to talk of the war. He was wounded twice, once being stabbed with a bayonet.
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Pte. Robert William Bartlett 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment My father Bob Bartlett served with the East Surrey Regiment 12th Battalion in WW1 from 7th December 1915 until 28th August 1917 for 1 year 284 days, After which he was invalided out. He was in Ploegsteert Wood.
He served with the Home Guard in WW2. I have his WW1 discharge papers and a certificate for the home guard WW2.
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Pte. Samuel George Goodwin 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment (d.16th Jun 1917) I believe Samuel Goodwin was part of the offensive at the Battle of Messines on the morning of 7th June 1917. I am trying to trace what happened to him as he died of wounds on 16th June and is buried at Lijssenthoek. I know this was the site of a military hospital and assume he was wounded on 7th or 8th June as the battalion moved back to the Old French Trench between the 8th and 12th June.
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Pte. George Huxley MM.& Bar 12th Btn East Surrey Regiment My Grandfather, George Huxley, born in Bromley, served in 12th E.Surrey Regt in France, I think, as a disaptch rider. He was awarded the Military Medal and received a bar to same, for Bravery in the Field. The family know little of his service or deeds.
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