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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Cpl John Charles Atkins
British Army 5th Divisional Signals Company Royal Engineers
from:London
My grandfather, 2nd Corporal Jack Atkins, was a Londoner, a career soldier and an "Old Contemptible"; he was born in the City of London although his family subsequently moved to Lambeth. He served for seven years in the infantry before transferring to 5 Signals Company in 1913. The Company provided communications for 5 Divisional HQ and for each of the three infantry brigades of the division.
In August 1914 the Division left Carlow in Ireland to join the BEF in France, and Jack experienced the rigours of the Retreat from Mons. Next came the hard-fought Battle of Le Cateau on 26th August, the engagement which famously saved the BEF and fatally slowed the German advance into France. Jack is believed to have been part of the HQ Section Signallers based at the village of Reumont, and during the morning was sent to lay a cable between 5 Div HQ and the 19th Brigade to their north. The unit War Diary says "Sgt Holmes and his cable det. were detailed to lay a cable line to the 19th Brigade, but were evidently captured by the Germans for his party (men, horses and wagon) has not been heard of since. The cable line was last seen running through a line of German infantry."
He spent the rest of the war as a POW in Germany and then, in 1918, Holland to which neutral country he was repatriated as suffering from "barbed-wire fever". On his return to Britain at the end of the war he learned that two of his three younger brothers had been killed in May 1915 (coincidentally both on the same day - 26th - although one, Herbert, was at Gallipoli with 2nd Royal Fusiliers and the other, William, in France with 1/23rd London Regiment).
Jack reenlisted and served with the Royal Signals as it became until the end of his enlistment in 1927 by which time he was a Quartermaster Sergeant. He settled in Brighton with his wife and young family, returning briefly to the Colours in the next war as a Company Sergeant Major. A quiet man, he never spoke of his brothers or of the Great War except to say that they'd been kept very hungry in captivity. He died in Brighton in 1955, just two weeks after the death of his wife.
Able Seaman John Atkins
Royal Navy H.M.S. Good Hope.
(d.1 Nov 1914)
John Atkins served in H.M.S. Good Hope. Remembered at . WW1
Boy Artificer Leonard Claude Atkins
Royal Navy H.M.S. Indus.
(d.3 Mar 1916)
Leonard Atkins served in H.M.S. Indus. Remembered at . WW1
Sister May Atkins
Red Cross Red Gables Hospital, Bletchingly, Surrey.
May Atkins served as a sister at Red Gables Hospital in Bletchingly, Surrey.
Pte. Moses Atkins
British Army 12th Btn. Suffolk Regiment
from:Oldham, Greater Manchester
Sapper Percy Thomas Atkins
British Army Royal Engineers
from:London
The youngest of four brothers who served in the war, Percy Thomas Atkins was only 17 when he arrived in France in June 1915 as a Royal Engineers sapper - I don't know much about him or his service, but he must have misled the recruiting board to get overseas at that age! Of Percy's three brothers two were pre-War regular soldiers and one a Territorial so perhaps he just thought he didn't want to be left out? Unlike Herbert and William, who were killed, and John, who was made POW, Percy survived the war; he went on to have a family, and lived in Barnet.
Spr. Percy Thomas Chater Atkins
British Army 1st Field Squadron Royal Engineers
from:Clapham, London
In 1914, Percy Atkins was 16 and the youngest brother of two Regular Army soldiers and a Territorial. He enlisted in the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Engineers and was in the trenches aged just 17. At some point in the war he transferred to 123rd Field Company, Royal Engineers, with whom he finished his service.
He was hospitalised at least twice in the war, and in fact, was in the 2nd General Hospital with pleurisy when the guns fell silent on 11th of November 1918. By then, his eldest brother had been a POW for four years in Germany and his other two brothers had been killed in action (on the same day, though a thousand miles apart). In later life he lived in Barnet.
Boy 1st Class Robert Reginald Atkins
Royal Navy H.M.S. Pembroke
(d.21 Apr 1918)
Robert Atkins served in H.M.S. Pembroke Remembered at . WW1
Pte. T. Atkins
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
Engineman Thomas Edwin Atkins
Royal Naval Reserve H.M. Drifter Fair Isle
(d.5 Mar 1919)
Thomas Atkins served in H.M. Drifter Fair Isle Remembered at . WW1
Petty Officer Tom Atkins
Royal Navy H.M.S. Bee.
(d.1 Apr 1921)
Tom Atkins served in H.M.S. Bee. Remembered at . WW1
L/Sgt. William Frederick Atkins
British Army (TF) D Coy 1/23rd London Regiment
(d.26th May 1915)
William Atkins was from Lambeth and was working as an off licence porter when in February 1912 he joined his local Territorial unit, D Coy 1/23rd (County of London) Bn London Regiment. He was 17 years old when he joined up, and 20 when he was killed in action on 26th May 1915.
Two of William's brothers were pre-War Regular Army soldiers: John (Cpl 2307347 John Charles Atkins) was with 5th Divisional Signals Coy, RE, and was taken POW at the battle of Le Cateau on 23rd August 1914; Herbert(Pte 14413 Herbert Ernest King Atkins) was with 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers and was part of the invasion force which landed at X Beach at Gallipoli on 25th April.
In August 1914 the Londons were mobilised while on summer camp at Salisbury Plain, and they disembarked from SS Copenhagen in France on 16th March 1915, entering the trenches on 11th April. As part of 142nd Brigade, 47th (2nd London) Division, they took part in the frontal attack on the German 56th Infantry regimentat trenches just north of Givenchy on 25th May in concert with their sister Territorial battalions from the Brigade (20th, 22nd and 24th Bns).
Attacking at 6.30pm William and his D Coy comrades charged and took the German front and support lines, and subsequently the battalion held them against counterattack and heavy enfilade shelling and machinegun fire until the few survivors were relieved at 3pm the next day by 20th Londons. William, along with at least 200 of his comrades, was killed in this action; 304 more soldiers of 23rd Londons were wounded.
On the same day but many hundreds of miles away in Gallipoli, William's 23-year-old brother was also killed, shot dead by a sniper while negotiating a flooded trench.
L/Sgt. William Frederick Atkins
British Army 1/23rd Battalion, D Coy. London Regiment
from:Battersea
(d.26th May 1915)
William was an off-licence porter and as a Territorial soldier was on manoeuvres at the outbreak of War; he arrived in France in March 1915, serving in the trenches there until the Battle of Givenchy in May that year. In the evening of 25th May his Battalion attacked just north of the hamlet of Givenchy, going over the top with the bayonet, and took and held the German front line. By the time the few survivors of the 23rd Londons were relieved the next afternoon William had been killed in action, probably by either shellfire or machine gun fire.
He was 20 years old, and died on the same day as his brother Pte 14413 Herbert E K Atkins 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers who was killed at Gallipoli. William is commemorated on the memorial to the missing at Le Touret in France, having - like his brother - no known grave.
Gnr. William John Atkins
British Army 190th Brigade, C Coy. Royal Field Artillery
from:Hersham, Surrey
(d.27th March 1918)
William Atkins was born on 21st April 1892 in Broad Lane, Hersham, Surrey the son of William John (General Labourer) and Emma [Adams] Atkins. William lived and grew up in 21, Arch Road, Hersham with his parents, brothers and sisters: Wm John (Labourer) and Emma Atkins, children - Wm John aged 8, Rose Amelia, Bertha Jane, Elizabeth May and Arthur Henry as listed on the 1901 census and in 1911 he has work as a gardener while continuing to live at home. William John (Sewerman) and Emma Atkins, children- William John aged 19 [gardener - domestic], Elizabeth May, Arthur Henry, Mabel Emma and George Edward.
William enlisted in London and, served in Italy and France and the CWGC data states that he left behind his parents, William John and Emma Atkins, of Arch Rd., Hersham, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. His is one of 117 names being researched because they are on the St Peter's Hersham Roll of Honour.
Able Seaman Atkinson
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Drake Btn. Royal Naval Division
(d.4 Feb 1917)
Atkinson served in Drake Btn. Royal Naval Division Remembered at . WW1
Stoker 2nd Class Atkinson
Royal Navy H.M.S. Botha.
(d.21 Mar 1918)
Atkinson served in H.M.S. Botha. Remembered at . WW1
Able Seaman Atkinson
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve H.M.S. Egmont
(d.8 Aug 1918)
Atkinson served in H.M.S. Egmont Remembered at . WW1
Officers Cook 1st Class Atkinson
Mercantile Marine Reserve H.M.S. Ramsey.
(d.8 Aug 1915)
Atkinson served in H.M.S. Ramsey. Remembered at . WW1
Able Seaman Atkinson
Royal Navy H.M.S. Sprightly.
(d.23 Oct 1918)
Atkinson served in H.M.S. Sprightly. Remembered at . WW1
Able Seaman Atkinson
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Hood Btn. Royal Naval Division
(d.13 Nov 1916)
Atkinson served in Hood Btn. Royal Naval Division Remembered at . WW1
Able Seaman Atkinson
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Hood Btn. Royal Naval Division
(d.17 Feb 1917)
Atkinson served in Hood Btn. Royal Naval Division Remembered at . WW1
Private Atkinson
Royal Marine Light Infantry
(d.28 Sep 1914)
Atkinson served in Remembered at . WW1
L/Cpl. A. Atkinson
British Army 1st Btn. West Yorkshire Regiment
(d.2nd Mar 1915)
L/Cpl A. Atkinson served with the West Yorkshire Regiment 1st Battalion. He was executed for desertion on 2nd March 1915 aged 24 and is buried in Chapelle-d'Armentieres Old Military Cemetery in La Chapelle-d'Armentieres, France.
Able Seaman Albert Wilfred Atkinson
Royal Navy H.M.S. Queen Mary.
(d.31 May 1916)
Albert Atkinson served in H.M.S. Queen Mary. Remembered at . WW1
Pte. Alexander Young Atkinson
Canadian Army 1st Btn, A Coy. Canadian Infantry (Western Ontario Regiment)
(d.5th Jun 1916)
Alexander Young Atkinson was born Dublin, the son of Mrs. Mary J. Atkinson, of 60, Lower Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland, and Mr. F. R. Atkinson. He served with the Canadian Infantry (Western Ontario Regiment) 1st Battalion and died in Belgium aged 20 in June 1916. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Able Seaman Alfred George Atkinson
Royal Navy H.M.S. Hawke.
(d.15 Oct 1914)
Alfred Atkinson served in H.M.S. Hawke. Remembered at . WW1
Private Alfred William Atkinson
Royal Marine Light Infantry H.M.S. Laurentic.
(d.25 Jan 1917)
Alfred Atkinson served in H.M.S. Laurentic. Remembered at . WW1
Pte. Arthur Atkinson
British Army 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Bingley, Yorkshire
(d.21st Oct 1918)
Arthur Atkinson was my grandad, I am researching his life.
Spr. Arthur James Atkinson
British Army 518 Field Company Royal Engineers
from:Battersea, London
Arthur James Atkinson served with 518 Field Company, Royal Engineers
Private Arthur Percy Atkinson
4th Btn. Royal Marine Light Infantry
(d.23 Apr 1918)
Arthur Atkinson served in 4th Btn. Royal Marine Light Infantry Remembered at . WW1
Page 79 of 90
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