- 47th Company, Machine Gun Corps during the Great War -
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About
47th Company, Machine Gun Corps
The 47th Machine Gun Company joined 16th (Irish) Division on the 28th of April 1916 they were in action on the Somme during the The Battle of Guillemont in which the Division captured the village and The Battle of Ginchy. In 1917 they fought at the The Battle of Messines and The Battle of Langemark, during the Third Battles of Ypres. In 1918 they were in action on the Somme 1918 suffering very heavy casualties. On the 18th of June 1918 the Division returned England and was reconstituted loosing almost all of its remaining Irish units at this point. The reformed Division returned to France on the 1st of August 1918 and fought in The Final Advance in Artois. They joined with the other Machine Gun Companies of the Division to form 16th MG Battalion on the 9th of March 1918.
24th Apr 1916 Orders Received
25th Apr 1916 On the Move
26th Apr 1916 On the Move
27th Apr 1916 On the Move
28th Apr 1916 On the Move
29th Apr 1916 On the Move
30th Apr 1916 Recce
1st May 1916 Instruction
2nd May 1916 HQ Moves
3rd May 1916 Reliefs
7th May 1916 Reliefs
8th May 1916 Reliefs
13th May 1916 Reliefs
16th May 1916 Reliefs
17th May 1916 Reliefs
21st May 1916 Reliefs
24th May 1916 Reliefs
1st Jun 1916 Emplacements
2nd Jun 1916 Emplacements
3rd Jun 1916 Night Firing
4th Jun 1916 Night Firing
5th Jun 1916 Working Party
6th Jun 1916 Heavy Shelling
7th Jun 1916 Working Parties
8th Jun 1916 Wet Weather
9th Jun 1916 Reliefs
15th Jun 1916 Quiet
16th Jun 1916 Reliefs
17th Jun 1916 Night Firing
18th Jun 1916 Night Firing
19th Jun 1916 Emplacements
20th Jun 1916 Heavy Shelling
21st Jun 1916 Emplacements
22nd Jun 1916 Working Parties
23rd Jun 1916 Bombardment
24th Jun 1916 Night Firing
25th Jun 1916 Heavy Shelling
26th Jun 1916 Raid
27th Jun 1916 Repairs
28th Jun 1916 Gas
29th Jun 1916 Night Firing
30th Jun 1916 Attack
24th Aug 1916 Reliefs Completed
7th Sep 1916 Line Consolidated
9th Sep 1916 In Action
6th Oct 1916 Enemy Machine Guns Active
5th of December 1916 Spranbroek Group Formed
1st Jan 1917 Artillery Active
2nd Jan 1917 Night Firing
3rd Jan 1917 Reliefs
4th Jan 1917 Artillery Active
5th Jan 1917 Artillery in Action
6th Jan 1917 Night Firing
7th Jan 1917 Bombardment
8th Jan 1917 Heavy Shelling
9th Jan 1917 Intermittent Shelling
10th Jan 1917 Shelling
11th Jan 1917 Night Firing
12th Jan 1917 Artillery Active
13th Jan 1917 Poor Conditions
14th Jan 1917 Frost
15th Jan 1917 Night Firing
16th Jan 1917 Night Firing
17th Jan 1917 Reliefs
18th Jan 1917 Night Firing
19th Jan 1917 Artillery Active
20th Jan 1917 Night Firing
21st Jan 1917 Accident
22nd Jan 1917 Artillery AIn Action
23rd Jan 1917 Night Firing
24th Jan 1917 Reliefs
25th Jan 1917 Night Firing
26th Jan 1917 Artillery Active
27th Jan 1917 Artillery Active
28th Jan 1917 Night Firing
29th Jan 1917 Shelling
30th Jan 1917 Artillery in Action
31st Jan 1917 Night Firing
30th Jan 1917 Posting
19th of February 1917 A Lively Day
1st Mar 1917 Trench Raid
2nd Mar 1917 Trench Raid
3rd Mar 1917 Trench Work
4th Mar 1917 Working Party
5th Mar 1917 Reliefs
1st Jun 1917 Cleaning up
2nd Jun 1917 Reliefs
3rd Jun 1917 Bombardment
3rd Jun 1917 Transfers
4th Jun 1917 Emplacements
5th Jun 1917 Preparations
6th Jun 1917 Preparations
7th Jun 1917 In Action
8th Jun 1917 Reliefs
9th Jun 1917 Reliefs
20th Nov 1917 Attack Made
24th Dec 1917 Reorganisation
21st Jan 1918 Course
5th Feb 1918 Course Ends
13th Feb 1918 Personnel
21st Feb 1918 ReorganisationIf you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
Want to know more about 47th Company, Machine Gun Corps?
There are:5331 items tagged 47th Company, Machine Gun Corps available in our Library
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47th Company, Machine Gun Corps
during the Great War 1914-1918.
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239016Mjr. Cyril Francis Larn MC, MID. 47th Battalion Machine Gun Corps
Major Cyril Larn was my father. Prior to joining up as a volunteer he worked as an accountant trainee with the Norwich Union. In 1914 he joined the Norfolk Regiment Cycle Corp, serving with time in Norfolk until his 18th birthday when he joined up as a private, presumably with the Norfolk Light Infantry. In 1915 he transferred to the Machine Gun Corp, was made a Lieutenant, and fought at Ypres and both Battles of the Somme. It was at the Second Battle, now a Major, Commanding Officer of the 47th Battalion, that he was awarded a Military Cross.Suffering from severe shell shock he was in and out of military hospitals, remaining in the Army as a senior Machine Gun Instructor at Grantham, until 1923, when he left the service. He married in 1924, to Pansy Vincent, from Berghapton, Norfolk, had two children, and started a cherry farm at a village called Aplington. He continued to have mental problems and was in and out of nursing homes and mental hospitals until June 1932 when he took his own life by hanging.
Because suicide was a crime at the time 'Against God and the Crown' my mother was refused permission to bury him in Alpington churchyard. In desperation she sought a meeting with the Bishop of Norwich and pleaded with him for permission. He refused whereupon she broke down and went down on her knees, sobbing. The Bishop eventually relented and said, "Alright Mrs Larn you have my permission to bury your husband in the churchyard but, the grave must be round the back where no one can see the grave, and I will not allow a headstone." The family got round the headstone by installing a marble kerb round the grave plot on which his name still shows, but no mention of his military rank or Military Cross for exceptional bravery. Thank God the world has moved on since then.
Richard Larn
218159Pte. Patrick Murphy 47th Btn. Machine Gun Corps (d.12th Sep 1918)
Patrick Murphy was executed for desertion 12/09/1918 and buried in Sandpits British Cemetery, Fouquereuil, France.Patrick Murphy, a private in the 47th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, was just minutes away from his appointment with a firing squad. It was the morning of 12th September 1918. World War I had only a couple of grim months left in it. Murphy, a Dublin native, had thus far avoided German bullets. He was not going to be so lucky with the British ones.
Murphy had been sentenced to death by a British army courts martial for desertion. The word “desertion†was afforded a broad definition during the war to end all wars. It didn’t necessarily mean that the accused had physically fled the place of battle. It could mean that a soldier had, for whatever reason, failed to take part in an operation. Not infrequently, soldiers did not refuse. They were simply unable to do much of anything because of fear, fatigue and shell shock, known more commonly these days as post-traumatic stress disorder. The war to end all wars had indeed been a particularly stressful and traumatic conflict. For countless soldiers on both sides there was nothing post about their trauma and stress. It was all too concurrent.
Murphy’s trauma that September morning can only be imagined. As dawn broke, his eyes were covered. The last sounds he heard were prayers from a chaplain, crisply delivered orders and a volley of rifle shots. Murphy was the last of 26 Irish soldiers, all volunteers, executed by the British army during the four years of war. Most were shot for desertion.
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