217 (3rd Wessex) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

CCXVII (III Wessex) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery served as Divisional Artillery with the Wessex Division which was part of the Territorial Force. Just before war broke out in August 1914 the units of the Division gathered on Salisbury Plain for their annual summer camp and ordered arrived for precautionary measures to be taken. On the 3rd of August they broke camp and moved to take up defensive positions at the ports. The division was mobilised for full time war service on the 5th of August and by the 10th had returned to Salisbury Plain to prepare for service overseas. The Wessex Division was ordered to India to replace British and Indian regular army units who were to be deployed to the Western Front. They sailed from Southampton on the 19th of October, via Malta and Suez, arriving at Bombay on the 9th of November and remaining in India through out the conflict.

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Those known to have served with
217 (3rd Wessex) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
during the Great War 1914-1918.

Page William Henry . Drvr. (d.24th July 1918)
White John Frederick. Pte. (d.31st July 1917)

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245877

Drvr. William Henry Page 79th Bty. 217th Bde. Royal Field Artillery (d.24th July 1918)

Driver William Henry Page, nephew of Mrs. Smith, Saunders Piece, Ampthill, Bedfordshire; born in Poplar, London and enlisted in Ampthill. Served with the 79th Battery, 217th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (service no.70227).
He died on 24th July 1918 in France and Flanders age 24 years and is buried in Ste Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France. He is remembered on both The War Memorial and The Alamada, St. Andrews Church, Ampthill.
Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com
Caroline Hunt

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227082

Pte. John Frederick White 3rd Wessex Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps (d.31st July 1917)

My Uncle John White was born at 11 Woodlands Street, Kingston, Portsmouth. He was the eldest child of John Frederick White RN and Mary Ann White and brother to Grace Dye, my mother. John was better known as Jack to family and friends. He developed a passion for music and was talented in both piano and clarinet and took the later to war.
He enlisted into the Royal Army Medical Corps on the 19th of August 1915 in the 3rd Wessex Field Ambulance with the regimental number 2375. The Territorial force was sent to France in November 1914, during the war it was renumbered as the 217th Field Ambulance RAMC. He was a Stretcher bearer After some weeks at the 1st Territorial base at Rouen he was posted to the 4th Field Ambulance, 8th division in France on 4th of October 1916. On the 10th December 1916 he was posted to the 26th Field Ambulance also in the 8th Division. His regimental number was changed to 461550 early in 1917 when all territorial force soldiers were allotted new numbers.
Jack was killed in action at the battle of Pilckem. His mother, my grandmother, never forgot her son and remembered him every year up till her death in 1949 by placing a memorial in the Portsmouth Evening News. This is one of them.

Short was your life my darling son,
But peaceful be your rest.
Your mother misses you most of all
because she loved you best
When all alone I sit and think
I seem to hear you say,
keep up your heart dear mother.
we will meet again some day

In all those dark days John experienced he made time to send many postcards and presents to his family. Wish I could tell him how proud the family are.
Lynda Ibbotson

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Those known to have served with
217 (3rd Wessex) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
during the Great War 1914-1918.