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17th Battalion, Rifle Brigade
| Want to know more about 17th Battalion, Rifle Brigade? There are:5235 items tagged 17th 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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The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
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Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a
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L/Cpl. John George Woodcock 17th Battalion Rifle Brigade My father, Jack Woodcock, joined the 17th Battalion, Rifle Brigade aged 19 in 1916.
He served in France and was wounded, at one time posted missing, believed killed. He managed to return to the line and was hospitalized in Plympton, Devon. He then returned to France.
At some time he learned to speak French and I was able to converse in French with him when I was learning the language at school, much to my mother's confusion! He also bought a violin and became quite an accomplished player, he was asked at one time to join an orchestra but did not follow it up.
He survived the war and was discharged on 1st September 1919. He later married, having two daughters, 16 years apart. He never discussed his experiences with either of us, any information we gleaned was from his younger sister, our aunt, who I believe was his confidant.
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Pte. Charles Henry Morrison 17th Battalion Rifle Brigade Charles Henry Morrison was my Grandfather, he died in 1921 and his name is on the monument at the East London Cemetery, he was a rifleman, enlisted from Poplar and Stepney men. He enlisted in WW1 but it is difficult to trace his movements as most ww1 papers got destroyed in the blitz. When Charles died in the Fulham Military Hopital he left a young widow and five young children, he was only 32. My Grandmother recieved ten shillings a week as a war widow, there was no income support back then, she was evicted from a flat in Limehouse and the family went from room to room, my mother Emma had no shoes to wear. She had a young brother also named Charles and he had been born an imbecile, my grandmother had no choice but to take him to a children's mental institution, the hospital was St Lawrence's at Caterham, he was only 5. There were to be no visitors for Charles as the family were desperately poor, imagine that child with no visitors until he died at the age of 24 from TB. He is buried in the unapt name of Happy Valley a golf course laid in the grounds of the hospital. I did trace Charles Junior and laid flowers on the mound where he is buried with dozens of other inmates, who died from TB. Charles therefore was a victim of the war as well as my grandfather. Charles Senior had another 2 sons who fought for Great Britain in WW2, both came home safe, but Uncle Tommy was blown up at Albert Docks while unloading food for London, and a further cousin Danny died at Dunkirk. I am 70 years of age but I never forget the courage and the sadness that arose from WW1 and WW2. I honour all the brave men that gave their lives for this country of ours.
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