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2nd Lt. Ewart Gladstone Blackmore
British Army 1st Btn. Wiltshire Regiment
from:St. George, Bristol
Ewart Gladstone Blackmore was born on Saturday 21st May 1898 at 3, Northcote Road, St. George, Gloucestershire and was one of eleven children born to Frederick Charles and Augusta Susan Wesley Blackmore (nee Smith); he was christened on Wednesday 7th February 1900 at St. George The Martyr, St. George, Bristol.
Because of the need for junior officers in the Great War it was routine during war-time for men to be selected to attend Officer Cadet Units or Officer Cadet Schools. Ewart would have been compulsorily conscripted on or about his 18th birthday and would have trained as a recruit. He must have shown leadership potential enabling his commanding officer to put his name forward for officer selection. As a private soldier becoming an officer he would have been struck off the strength of his original unit and added to the officer strength of his new unit. There is no record of the unit that Ewart had originally served in before being selected for officer training. The London Gazette of 19th April 1918 listed Ewart as being appointed a Second-Lieutenant from an Officer Cadet Unit with effect from 27th March 1918 and joined up with the 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment (Territorial Force) on 3rd October 1918. He was subsequently seconded to the 6th Battalion Wiltshires for recruiting and reconstruction purposes following huge losses it had sustained during the fighting in France and Flanders where it was reduced to cadre strength.
On the 27th of September Ewart, along with 151 Other Ranks, left England to join the Battalion, eventually joining up with them on 3rd October 1918 at the Divisional Reception Camp near Villers-Guislain in time for the planned assault on the Beaurevoir Line; Battalion HQ was based at Kitchen Crater. Ewart and the Wiltshires pushed on and occupied part of the Hindenburg Line at Rancourt Farm with the 7th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment on the left, the 33rd Division on the right and the 6th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment in support. The 64th Infantry Brigade was holding the front line at Montecouvez Farm. The Wiltshires took up a position east of the farm for an attack on an enemy position in the Beaurevoir Line. The companies were to rendezvous on the eastern edge of the Rancourt Copse at 22.45 hrs. Owing to it being a very dark night and the amount of barbed wire to be passed through, the rendezvous was not completed until 23.30 hrs. The companies then moved off in column of route with increased distances via the tracks and roads and sunken roads. Due to the darkness and state of roads and other traffic the companies did not reach the predetermined point until 00.45 hrs. They were formed up as follows - Front Line - C Company on the right, D company on the left. Support Line - A Company on the right, B Company on the left.
On the 7th October Ewart was involved with the attack on the Beaurevoir Line following a heavy bombardment by the Allied artillery. The casualties taken by the 1st Wiltshires in the assault were 2 Officers and 11 Other Ranks killed; 3 Officers and 78 Other Ranks wounded and Other Ranks Missing 2. Captures comprised 81 enemy Other Ranks, one T.M.B. (Trench Mortar Battery) and two Machine Guns. On the 23rd October the Wiltshires prepared themselves for their night attack on Ovillers situated on the left of the Albert-Bapaume Road which was one of the front line villages held by the Germans, situated on a spur which gave it an excellent view over the British lines. On the opposite side of the valley stood La Boiselle, It was another equally heavily fortified village that commanded the north side of what was called 'Mash Valley'. This attack was a phase of the Battles of the German Hindenburg Line.
The Wiltshires succeeded in taking all of its objectives and held them until 6th Battalion, Leicestershire Regt and 62nd Infantry Brigade went through to capture further objectives. The Wiltshire Regiment casualties during the attack were
Officers Killed; 2nd Lieuts H R Palmer, H B Cooper. Other Ranks 23 Wounded Officers: Lieut.W.J.E Ross, 2nd Lieuts E.G. Blackmore and H. Aston.
Other Ranks 120. Missing Officers Nil. The Battalions War Diary states that Ewart suffered a gunshot wound to the left eye and after first receiving attention at the Regimental Aid Post and then the Advanced Dressing Station, the was sent to the 34 Casualty Clearing Station at Grevillers on the 24th October. A day later he was admitted to the officers surgical ward at No.3 General Hospital at Le Treport roughly 20 miles north east of Dieppe.
Ewarts case was clearly more serious than the CCS could attend to so was sent to No.3 General Hospital at le Treport. He was evacuated to England on 5th November aboard the Hospital Ship Carisbrook Castle. She had previously been used as a troop ship in the Boer War and regularly sailed in the Cape mail service for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Line during peacetime. The Carisbrook Castle would have docked at Southampton with being Ewart transported by train to Bristol Temple Meads Station before being transferred to the 2nd Southern Area Military Hospital (the Bristol Royal Infirmary) for rehabilitation. Before he was discharged the Armistice was signed by the warring factions so Ewart was never to see active service again.
