252432 Pte. Hiram Ashford Southgate DCM.British Army 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment from:Chelmondiston (d.30th March 1916 ) Hiram Southgate was born 23rd November 1889 at Onehouse, the son of Laban & Charlotte Curl (nee Woollard,) and later moved with the family to Chelmondiston.
The London Gazette Supplement 2894 of 15th of March 1916 records Hiram Ashford Southgate being awarded the DCM "For conspicuous gallantry. He had volunteered for a raiding party and during the retirement, when his Lieutenant was in barbed wire and badly wounded, he turned back under hot fire and dragged him to a place of safety".
I found that Holbrook High School had chosen Hiram as one of their selection from the Suffolk Regiment and described the way he had met his death:
Private Hiram Ashford Southgate DCM.
"During the night of 28th/29th of March 1916, the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment moved into the trenches at St Eloi. Fierce fighting was taking place there and the 2nd Battalion moved into the trenches under heavy shellfire. In the morning the Battalion realised that part of a trench to the right of the Battalion was still held by the Germans. Bombers, led by Lieutenant H P Gardham, tried to clear this part of the trench. However, after 20 yards they came up against a barricade that the Germans had constructed to defend their position. Heavy German machine gun fire meant that they could not get past that point. Private Southgate attempted to climb the barricade but was cut to pieces the moment he dropped down the other side".
In the "History of the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, 1914-1927", Hiram A Southgate's death is described slightly differently.
"28th of March 1916 Captain G C Stubbs assumed command of the battalion. On reaching the trenches the situation was found to be obscure and complicated. Some of the craters had been occupied by the Battalion and dawn 29 March revealed the unhealthy fact that part of the trench on the right edge of the battalion sector was still held by the Germans. Early the next afternoon our bombers, under Lieut H P Gardham, endeavoured to clear this portion of the trench, but after making about 20 yards of ground, came up against a barricade which the enemy had erected. Heavy machine-gun fire foiled all attempts to get beyond this point. The leading bayonet man, Pte H A Southgate, recently decorated with the D.C.M. for gallantry at the Bluff, was killed 30th of March 1916 trying to cross the barricade."
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