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11th Battalion, Essex Regiment
11th Battalion, The Essex Regiment was raised at Warley in September 1914 as part of Kitchener's third new army, initally attached to 71st Brigade in 24th Division. They moved to Shoreham for training and then on to billets in Brighton in January 1915 returning to Shoreham in March and then moving to Blackdown in June 1915. They proceeded to France on the 30th of August 1915, landing at Boulogne. On the 11th of October 1915 the battalion transferred with 71st Brigade to 6th Division and then to 18th Brigade, in the same Division on the 27th October. In 1916 they were in action at Battle of Flers-Courcelette on The Somme, in The Battle of Morval and The Battle of Le Transloy. In 1917 they were in action at Hill 70 and at Cambrai. In 1918 they saw action in the Battle of St Quentin, The Battles of the Lys, The Advance in Flanders, Battles of the Hindenburg Line and The Pursuit to the Selle. After the Armistice, 6th Division were selected to join the occupation force and they moved into Germany in mid December, being based at Bruehl by Christmas 1918.
Jul 1915 Training Instruction
Jul 1915 Billets
21st Aug 1915 Orders
22nd August 1915 Divisional instructions
23rd August 1915 Trenches continued
24th August 1915 Attack from the trenches
25th August 1915 Instruction
26th August 1915 Filling in the trenches
27th August 1915 Stores returned
28th August 1915 Leaving for Southampton
29th August 1915 No church parade
30th August 1915 On the Move
31st Aug 1915 Route March
2nd September 1915 Estree & Estreelles
3rd September 1915 Heavy Rain
4th September 1915 More rain.
5th September 1915 Parade
6th September 1915 Meeting General Haking
7th September 1915 Divisional Field Day
8th September 1915 Captains visit.
9th September 1915 Advance Guard
10th September 1915 Outposts
11th September 1915 Attack on high ground
12th September 1915 Church parade
14th September 1915 Divisional Field Day
15th September 1915 Washing and Bathing
16th September 1915 Judging distance
17th September 1915 Orders
18th September 1915 Attack in St Omer
19th September 1915 Church parade
20th September 1915 Machine guns fired
21st September 1915 Leaving Estrelles
22nd September 1915 Petit Senlis
23rd September 1915 Bivouacked in an orchard
24th September 1915 Marched to Bethune
25th September 1915 Outline of Operations
27th September 1915 Returned to the trenches
28th of September 1915 Arrived by train
28th of September 1915 Midnight billets
28th of September 1915 Camp moved
28th of September 1915 Orders to entrain
29th of September 1915 Organise the Battalion
30th of September 1915 Organise the battalion
1st of October 1915 Organise the batallion
2nd of October 1915 Headed for Berguette
3rd of October 1915 Church Parade
4th of October 1915 Company arrangements
5th October 1915 Instruction
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
29th Oct 1915 Reliefs
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
19th Jan 1916 Relief Complete 
20th Jan 1916 Quiet
21st Jan 1916 Shelling
22nd Jan 1916 Patrol
23rd Jan 1916 Aircraft Active
23rd Jan 1916 Trench Raid
24th Jan 1916 Heavy Shelling
25th Jan 1916 Reliefs
26th Jan 1916 In Billets
27th Jan 1916 In Billets
28th Jan 1916 In Billets
29th Jan 1916 In Billets
30th Jan 1916 Reliefs
31st Jan 1916 Alert
9th February 1916 Call Ups
24th Dec 1916 Reliefs
1st January 1917 Reliefs
1st January 1917 In the trenches
9th January 1917 Artillery and Trench Mortars active
9th January 1917 Reliefs
17th January 1917 Reliefs
12th Oct 1918 Attack Made
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 with11th Battalion, Essex Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Balls George Alfred. Pte. (d.24th May 1916)
- Bard Leonard Reynolds. Pte. (d.26th Sep 1916)
- Barrett Henry Charles. Pte. (d.21st March 1918)
- Biswell Harry George. Pte (d.6th May 1916)
- Blake Reginald. Pte. (d.21st Apr 1917)
- Carbutt John Hudson. Pte. (d.17th Sept 1918)
- Cash Albert Leslie. Pte. (d.17th September 1918 )
- Cash Albert Leslie. Pte. (d.17th Sep 1918)
- Chalkley William John. Pte. (d.22nd Mar 1918)
- Coker Edmund Albert. Pte. (d.17th Oct 1916)
- Evans MM. Idris. L/Cpl. (d.9th Oct 1916)
- Flack George Alfred John. Pte. (d.15th Oct 1916)
- Flack Harry James. Pte. (d.5th December 1918)
- Game Herbert. A/Sgt. (d.15th Oct 1916)
- Goodenough John. Pte. (d.27th Dec 1916)
- Haisman William. Pte.
- Hall Thomas. 2Lt. (d.19th June 1918)
- Hall Tom Harry. Pte. (d.26th Sept 1915)
- Law Herbert Edgar. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
- Mansfield William James. L/Cpl. (d.21st Mar 1918)
- Marsh MM William. L/Cpl (d.12th Oct 1918)
- McEvoy John Patrick. Pte.
- Millsom Albert Victor. Pte
- Percival William Frederick. L/Cpl.
- Rainbow MM William. Pte. (d.24th Sep 1918)
- Sandford Sidney George. Pte. (d.4th May 1916)
- Snare Arthur Harold. Pte. (d.30th Apr 1916)
- Spring DSO, MID. Frederick Gordon. Brib-Gen.
- Stiff Arthur George. L/Cpl. (d.9th July 1918)
- Thompson Arthur Minke. Pte.
- Turvey Jesse Richard. Pte.
- Ward Ernest. Pte. (d.15th Oct 1916)
- Williams Horace Albert. (d.22nd Apr 1917)
- Wilson DCM, MM. William. Sgt.
- Wood Reuben. L/Cpl. (d.21st Mar 1918)
- Wright Alfred Frederick. Pte.
- Youngs William James. Pte. (d.15th Oct 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 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment from other sources.
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Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a
Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
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2Lt. Thomas Hall 18th Trench Mortar Battery (d.19th June 1918) Thomas Hall served with the 4th Essex Regiment and 11th Essex Regiment, he was serving with 18th Trench Mortar Battery when he lost his life, aged 19.
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Pte. Arthur Minke Thompson 11th Btn. Essex Regiment Arthur Thompson was taken prisoner, not wounded, on the 22nd of March 1918 at Morchein. Hew as interned at Parchim and despatched from Berlin on the 15th of July 1918.
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Pte. Jesse Richard Turvey 11th Btn. Essex Regiment When finding out more about my great uncle who died in the war and then I discovered his brother, my great granddad, Jesse Turvey who was in the 11th Essex Regiment He did make it home as he obviously had a son (my grandad). Unfortunately that's all I know at the moment.
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L/Cpl. Idris Evans MM. 11th Battalion Essex Regiment (d.9th Oct 1916) Idris Evans was my 2x Gt. uncle, I have only recently found him while researching family history. A lot of our family still live in and around Treorchy.
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Pte Albert Victor Millsom 13th Btn. Essex Regiment Albert Millsom served with the 13th and 11th Battalions, Essex Regiment.
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L/Cpl. William Frederick Percival 11th Btn. Essex Regiment William Percival was evacuated from Gallipoli with enteric fever.
He was subsequently downgraded to the Labour Corps 547678 and invalided out 20th of Sept 1919 as no longer fit for service he was then awarded a silver war badge.
William died from tuberculosis in 1929, his widow tried to obtain a widows pension but was told that William could have caught TB from anywhere therefore she was not entitled to a widows pension.
Isn't that appalling after putting your life on the line for your country, his widow had to bring up 4 children on her own with no help or assistance in abject poverty, something my mother never forgot.
RIP William.
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Pte. William John Chalkley 13th (West Ham) Btn. Essex Regiment (d.22nd Mar 1918)  William Chalkley was my great uncle. His existence was unknown until the clearance of my late grandfathers house when his death plaque was found.
William was born on 23rd November 1892 in Plaistow. His parents were Alfred Albert Chalkley & Emily (May)
On the 15th of January 1916, he enlisted at Canning Town in the Royal West Surrey Regiment as Private, No 7968.
After his training he was sent to France and transferred to the 13th (West Ham) Battalion, Essex Regiment as Private, No 33155, and was posted to A Company.
In 1917 he suffered with Trench Foot and was admitted to hospital on 26th Feb.
Later that year he was wounded and had leave to England.
The 13th Battalion ceased to exist on 10th of February 1918 when he and 5 Officers & 129 O.R's joined the 11th (Service) Battalion, Essex Regiment.
He died, shortly after, on 22nd of March 1918, in the Corps Line just North of Morchies, a small villiage North west of Bapaume. The Germans made a pincer attack around this area and his group were overwhelmed.
William John has no known grave, and is remembered on the Arras Memorial at Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery, Arras.
On the 25th of October 2014
His name was remembered by a reading at the Tower of London WW1 commemoration Sea of Blood Poppy display, at the 18:30 last post. He was
Number 88 on the roll call.
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Pte. Herbert Edgar Law 11th Battalion Essex Regiment (d.1st July 1916) Bertie Law was killed on the 1st of July 1916.
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L/Cpl. Arthur George Stiff 13th Battalion Essex Regiment (d.9th July 1918) Arthur Stiff was born at Capel St. Mary, Suffolk, 3rd child of Harry and Alice Stiff, one of nine. He left home for Walthamstow 1901 and worked as a flooring paviour.
Arthur married in 1897, Jane Agnes Gilson and had two children, Alice and William, 1909, 1911.
Arthur joined thee 13th Battalion, Essex Regiment and arrived France on the 17th of November 1915.
He became an Acting Corporal in 13th Battalion, and transferred to the 11th Battalion later in the war as Lance Corporal.
Arthur is remembered with honour after his death 9th of July 1918. at Nine Elms British Cemetery, Poperinge, Ypres. Awarded the 1915 Star, British War and Victory medals. His widow lived at 6 Albtion Road, Wood Street, Walthamstow, London.
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Pte. Edmund Albert Coker 11th Btn. Essex Regiment (d.17th Oct 1916) Edmund Coker, my great great Grandad on my Dad's side, died at 43 leaving a widow and 5 children. All entered the workhouse. I never knew his story and only just beginning to uncover it. I am very proud of him. Laid to rest in Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Northern France.
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Pte. Tom Harry Hall 11th Battalion Essex Regiment (d.26th Sept 1915) I know nothing much about Tom Hall, he was my mother's uncle. He was unmarried and was killed in France in 1915 and is buried there. His name appears on the honours board in Fotheringhay Church.
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Pte. Alfred Frederick Wright 11th Btn. B Company. Essex Regiment It has only been recently that I discovered my paternal grandfather, Alfred Wright fought on the Somme, was wounded, received medical attention and returned to the battlefield. He was one of the fortunate ones who survived the Battle but he died prematurely at the early age of fifty, his war wounds cited as the main reason for his early demise. On the centenary of the battle, I have registered this note in honour of his memory.
From your grateful grandson that you never got to meet.
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Pte. Harry James Flack 11th Btn. Essex Regiment (d.5th December 1918) Harry Flack was born in Windsor Castle, where his father was a gardener, and after his father's death moved to Navestock in Essex with his mother and younger brothers George and Bertie. He was employed as a butcher's boy. He followed his brother into the army. Nothing is known regarding his death (due to no paperwork having survived and nothing verbal being passed down). He died on 5th December 1918 (after the armistice) and we can only assume he either died from wounds or during the Spanish influenza epedemic. He is, we believe, buried in Selridge British Military Cemetery, Montay.
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Pte. George Alfred John Flack 11th Btn. Essex Regiment (d.15th Oct 1916) George Flack was born in Windsor Castle (where his father was a gardener). After the death of his father, the family moved to Navestock in Essex, where he became a house boy on a farm. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted in Romford, Essex. He was killed during the Somme offensive at the battle of Transloy, during one of the many attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt. His remains were never recovered and he is remembered with pride on the Thiepval memorial and by his descendants. His brother Harry (John) also died whilst serving in the same regiment on 5th December 1918, possibly from influenza, and is buried in Selridge British Cemetery, Montay, France.
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Sgt. William "Tug" Wilson DCM, MM. 11th Btn. Essex Regiment William Wilson was my grandfather. I have lots of photos of him in the army, also with a group of officers posing in France. I can send copies to you if you wish. He lost the sight of his left eye through shrapnel but it wasn't necessary to remove the eye until about 1966
He didn't talk much of the war at all, but from a cardboard citation signed by a Major C Ross, commanding the 6th Division, I discovered the Milltary Medal was following action on 24th of March 1917, north-east of Loos. From an internet research, the DCM was from action on 17th of September 1918 at St Quentin Wood, just 8 weeks from the end of the war and his 20th birthday on November 11th. I have WW1 pictures of him and other soldiers posing with medical eye patches, so I imagine he may have been in a field hospital on that day. As a family we visited both areas and the Hill 60 and 70 areas with him and my grandmother in 1968.
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Pte. John Patrick McEvoy 11th Battalion Essex Regiment My grandfather John McEvoy, was wounded when he was buried in a shellhole in Zonnebeke on 10th April 1918, 19 days after my mother's birth. He required at least two operations and over a year of hospital treatment but luckily survived. My mother was always told that he was never the same after the war, hardly surprising really. He then died in his early 40's so could probably be considered a casualty of war. My mother talked of him with great affection over 70 years after his death; he was a gentle, kind man and she often helped him in his work as a tailor.
Today my husband and I visited Polygon Wood Cemetery and found the graves of a few men from his battalion who died in the days immediately after he was wounded. I found it very moving to think that they may have known my grandfather. However awful his experience and however much it contributed to his early death, he surely had a better deal than those poor lads.
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L/Cpl. Reuben Wood 11th Btn Essex Regiment (d.21st Mar 1918) Reuben Wood served with the 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment, he is remembered on the Arras Memorial.
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A/Sgt. Herbert Game 11th Service Battalion Essex Regiment (d.15th Oct 1916) The son of Robert Game and Sarah Ann Willingham, Herbert Game was born on 26th Oct 1878 in Cockfield, Suffolk. He was part of a large family with many siblings. By the outbreak of the war he had married Alice Symons, the daughter of a coastguard officer, in Blackmore, Essex and had 3 children. In 1911 he and his family were living in Ongar Road, Brentwood. Although the exact date is not known, he volunteered to serve in the army as one of Kitchener’s K3 tranche of volunteers and served in the 11th Service Battalion Essex Regiment. He was killed on 15th October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme; at the time of his death he was an acting sergeant. His body was never found and his death is therefore commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.
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Brib-Gen. Frederick Gordon Spring DSO, MID. 11th Battalion Essex Regiment Frederick Spring had been commissioned into the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment in May 1898. During the First World War, he initially served with that regiment in the Gallipoli Campaign.
Between June 1916 and September 1918 he commanded the 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment, and led them in battles such as the Somme and Cambrai (1917). He subsequently commanded the 33rd Infantry Brigade during the last months of the war. Spring was Mentioned in Dispatches five times over the course of the war.
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L/Cpl. William James Mansfield 11th Btn. Essex Regiment (d.21st Mar 1918) William James Mansfield from Smith End in Barley, enlisted at West Ham in Essex. A Lance Corporal in the 11th Battalion The Essex Regiment, he was killed in action during the German final offensive at the Battle of St Quentin 21st March 1918 (British losses at this battle were 177,739. The Germans lost 348,300) He is buried in Vaux Hill Cemetery.
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