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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. John W. Kirkbride
British Army 10th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment
from:Starbeck
(d.2nd April 1916)
John Kirkbride was my Great Uncle. I believe he received a gunshot wound in 1915, and was repatriated back to the UK, where he sadly died in 1916. His grave is in Grove Road Cemetery, Harrogate.
Pte. John William Kirkbride
British Army 10th Btn. West Yorkshire Regiment
(d.10th Apr 1916)
My beloved great-uncle John Kirkbride, who died 10th April 1916, aged 23.
L/Cpl. Herbert Kirkby
British Army 2nd Battalion Rifles Brigade
from:Portsmouth
(d.31st Mar 1918)
Herbert was mobilised in August 1914, aged 21 years, and was immediatly drafted to the Western Front, where he took part in the fighting at Mons. He also served through the Battles of Ypres, St. Eloi, Loos, the Somme and Cambrai, and was twice wounded. He fell in action in March 1918 during the Allied Retreat, and lies in Pozieres Cemetary with over 600 colleagues from the Rifles.
He was entitled to the Mons Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals, and his relatives were in receipt of the King's Scroll. "Whilst we remember, the sacrifice is not in vain"
James Serginson Kirkby
British Army 1/5th Btn. King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment
(d.3rd May 1915)
James Kirkby was born and enlisted in Carnforth. He died on 3 May 1915 whilst serving with the 5th King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment.
The Lancaster Observer of the 14th of May 1915 reported on page 5: "Kirkby J S Sergeant 5th Battalion King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment killed in action 3 May, 1915. Secretary of Carnforth F C, and Carnforth Cricket Club and a member of the church choir and Choral Society. First Non-Commissioned Officer in Carnforth to be killed."
Extract from the Battalion War Diary: 3rd May 1915 Frezenberg, Heavily shelled. C Coy in the morning sent to support Rifle Brigade. Lost heavily from shell fire and got held up. Proceeded on left on road. B Coy attached to East Yorks and York & Lancs in afternoon. Proceeded on right of road via Zonnebecke. Got close to trenches laid down and waited for dark. After dark ordered to dugouts as trenches were to be evacuated.
Lancaster Observer of the 14 May 1915 also reported "Private Tom Ryan writing to Mrs Watson of North Road, Carnforth, states that Sgt James Kirby had been killed and his brother Sgt H H Kirby wounded in the head. He also said that Private J Watson, Mrs Watson's husband had again been wounded in the right hand after being wounded in the head on Apr 13; he had only just returned to the firing line.
In a letter to Sgt Kirby's sister at 93 Market Street, Sgt W Simpson, whose home is at Crag Bank confirmed that Sgt Kirby had been killed; he had carried Jim back and buried him in the corner of a small churchyard.
A letter had been received from Sgt Kirby that, on the Sunday before he was killed they were to come out of the trenches and not going in again. Several interesting letters had been received from Sgt Kirby and published in the Observer. He was a prominent footballer and had figured prominently at half back for Lancaster, Carnforth and the Warton elevens. Writing from Ypres to Kirby's sister, Captain Evans said: " . . . . Sgt Kirby was killed whilst assisting in an advance by the Rifle Brigade who were in sore need of help. At the moment of his death he had been treating a wounded comrade; he had been hit in the neck by a shell and had died instantaneously. Colonel Lord Richard Cavendish has asked me to express his deepest sympathy. I cannot express to you any words which measure our sorrow at the loss of a true comrade, hero and friend. We laid him to rest in a soldiers grave in Verlorenbock; the Colonel said a service. It must be some consolation to you that he gave his life to save you all at home from the horrors of this sorrowing land.""
Pte Joseph Kirkby
British Army 2nd/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers
from:Bury
(d.24th April 1918)
Cpl. Bernard Kirkham
2/4th Btn
from:17, Farrell St., Warnington.
(d.1st Nov 1917)
Bernard Kirkham was my Mother's Uncle, I would love to hear from anyone who has any information about him.
Pte. Joseph Kirkham MM
British Army 8 Bn TC 5 Tank Bde Tank Corps
from:Runcorn, Cheshire
Private Joseph Kirkham was my grandfather and throughout my life I was aware of a large picture frame hanging in his home. It contained a small piece of paper with the following text "I have read with great pleasure the report of your Commanding Officer on your energy and good work against the enemy near Morcourt on 8th August 1918. This reflects credit on yourself and the whole Tank Corps".
Granddad died in 1958 when I was still in primary school and never spoke of his experiences in the war.
When grandma downsized in the late 1970s she asked if I would like to have this and of course I accepted and I always wondered what Graddad had done that merited such praise. In those days, before the internet, and being a busy working mum I didn't know where to go to find anything out about it.
A couple of years ago a friend suggested contacting the Tank Museum at Bovington and to my surprise they passed on the citation report from the commanding officer himself.
The citation reads "For devotion to duty during the operation of 8 August 1918 against MORCOURT. Private Kirkham rendered invaluable assistance when his tank was ditched. By his energy in assisting to dig out the tank, when the unditching gear was ineffective, it was able to proceed with the action. Later he kept his guns continuously working and was greatly responsible for demoralising the enemy. Throughout he displayed courage and spared himself in no way".
It is signed by LtCol J Bingham, cmdg 8 Bn TC and with a recommendation for an immediate award of the MM.
It goes without saying that granddad was a hero to me even before my discovery but my task now is to find out more about his military history and to see if he ever collected his award, which I suspect he didn't.
Pte. Albert Kirkland
Royal Navy Royal Marines Light Infantry (Plymouth Div.)
A/Sgt. Frederick Kirkland
British Army 13th Btn. Middlesex Regiment
from:Bow, London
(d.27th Jul 1917)
Pte. Hugh John Kirkland
British Army 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers
Gnr. J. Kirkland
British Army 173rd Brigade, C Bty Royal Field Artillery
(d.25th March 1918)
Gunner Kirkland was aged 30 when he died. He is buried in St Sever City Extension, France, Grave P.VI.F.12A. He was the son of Robert and Helen Kirkland, 10 Riverbank Street, Newmilns, Aryshire.
Pte. William Ernest Kirkland
British Army att. 1st/23rd Bn. London Regiment East Surrey Regiment
from:Tean, Staffs
(d.2nd Sep 1918)
William Kirkland was the husband of Annie E. Kirkland who lived near the Post Office, in the High Street, Tean.
Pte William Stanley Kirkman
British Army 26th (3rd Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Bury, Lancashire
(d.29th April 1917)
L/Cpl. Alexander A Kirkpatrick
British Army 11th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
(d.1st July 1916)
Alexander Kirkpatrick served with the 11th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 36th Ulster Division and was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Pte. John Simpon Kirkpatrick
Australian Imperial Force 3rd Field Ambulance
from:Australia
(d.19th May 1915)
John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a stretcher bearer whose brief life ended early in the Gallipoli campaign, is better known today as 'the man with the donkey'. One of the AIF's most well-known figures, Simpson was, like many of his comrades, an Englishman. Born on 6 July 1892 at Shields in County Durham, he joined the merchant marine at the age of 17 and began a life of wandering that eventually led him to Australia.
Simpson tried his hand at all manner of jobs. He carried a swag, worked as a cane cutter, a ship's hand and a coalminer, experiencing life in many parts of Australia. However distant from his mother and sister, Simpson made sure that they received a generous percentage of whatever pay he was able to earn. On 25 August 1914, shortly after the First World War began, he enlisted in the AIF and began training at Blackboy Hill camp near Perth. His motivation for enlisting, it appears, had more to do with the prospect of returning to England than with any particular desire to be a soldier.
Like many who shared his reason for joining, Simpson was disappointed when the first Australian soldiers bound for the war were disembarked for training in Egypt. Having been posted to the 3rd Field Ambulance, he was among those who landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Though a stretcher bearer, Simpson decided his task could be better accomplished using a donkey to carry his wounded charges.
Just three weeks after the landing, Simpson was killed by a Turkish bullet during one of his morning journeys up Monash Valley to retrieve wounded men. Widely believed to have already achieved a measure of fame during his brief time at the front, it now appears more likely that the Simpson legend only grew after his death. Peter Cochrane, in his 1992 book Simpson and the donkey, outlines the way in which Simpson's story was used for a range of propaganda and political purposes, particularly as manpower crises threatened to undermine the AIF's fighting ability during the war.
Cochrane, having demonstrated the extent to which embellishment and sometimes outright falsehoods have served to obscure the real Simpson, described a man who was as flawed as any other, but whose bravery is not disputed. He remains, nevertheless, one of the most famous of the men who served at Anzac. His fame is all the more interesting for the fact that, unlike other celebrated figures from the campaign, such as Jacka, Simpson was a non-combatant. In the intervening decades there have been calls for Simpson to be awarded a retrospective Victoria Cross and, although he won no medals at Gallipoli, Simpson is commemorated in paintings and with a prominent bronze sculpture at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. A bronze of him with his donkey stands in the shopping centre of his home town of South Shields.
Pte. Samuel Kirkpatrick
British Army 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment
(d.26th September 1914)
I have a spoon marked 9017 WEL which likely belonged to Samuel Kirkpatrick of the 2nd Welsh Regiment.
Bertie "Nugget" Kirkum
British Army 13th Btn. London Regiment
Granddad, Bertie Kirkum, did not speak about the war, apart from one story about when he was wounded. He showed us the scars on his arm where a bullet had entered one arm, came out the other side and lodged in his other arm. I have often wondered how this happened, but can only assume that it was on the Somme and with the German machine gunners firing across the line of advance rather than directly straight at the oncoming troops. Therefore with his rifle in hand, left on the barrel and right on the trigger, he was hit. He never did tell us anything else, understandably.
Pte. John Kirkup
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Shieldfield
John Kirkup was discharged in 1915 due to Deafness
Mjr. P. Kirkup MC.
Army 8th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
Cpl. Andrew Kirkwood
British Army 9th Battalion Gordon Highlanders
from:Lanarkshire, Scotland
(d.11 Nov 1918)
Andrew Kirkwood was my great great uncle. He enlisted on 17th March, 1915, age 31 years and six months. He died in France on the last day of the war from Influenza. He left behind his wife and six children ages: 14, 13, 11, 8, 6 and 4 years old. His wife received 33 pounds, three shillings and sixpence from the British Army. Two of his brothers-in-law were killed in action at Flanders.
Pte. David Cowan Kirkwood
British Army 2nd Btn. Black Watch
from:Colchester
David Kirkwood earned the Wauchope Medal issued by Col Wauchope of the Black Watch to men who had served with distinction or noted gallantry.
Lt. Frederick James Kirkwood MM.
Australian Imperial Forces 23rd Battalion
from:Melbourne, Vic.
Frederick Kirkwood was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field on 3rd of April 1917. On 20th of May 1918 Fred was wounded in the thigh and invalided to England. By 30th of September 1918 he had been discharged from hospital, he proceeded to France and rejoined his battalion on 6th of October. On 29th of November (age 28 yrs) he was admitted to 6th Field Ambulance and transferred to 53rd Casualty Station suffering with influenza and broncho pneumonia. On 2nd of December 1918 his nearest of kin were advised he was dangerously ill with broncho pneumonia and on 9th Dec he was in 8th General Hospital at Rouen, France. On 13th Dec he was sent from France to London aboard the hospital ship Aberdonian with severe influenza and the following day he was admitted to 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth with severe influenza. By 18th Dec 1918 his condition at Wandsworth, England, was improving. He recovered and on 7th Feb 1919 he sailed aboard HMT Lancashire to Australia and his employment with Forces terminated on 15th May 1919.
Pte. George Mitchell Kirkwood
British Army C Coy.12th Btn. Highland Light Infantry
from:Midlothian Scotland
(d.25th Sept 1915)
Pte. Matthew Kirkwood
British Army 14th (London Scottish) Battalion, G Coy. London Regiment
from:Parsons Green, London
(d.25th Jan 1915)
Matthew Kirkwood was a former resident of Nitshill. He was born in 1878 in Neilston to Allan and Margaret Kirkwood who have a longstanding connection to Nitshill through ownership of Wardhill Farm and also the Arden Lime Works. Mr Allan has made a substantial contribution to the life of Nitshill and is a well-respected businessman. Matthew left Nitshill to live and work in Parsons Green, London.
At the outbreak of war and the initial call to arms he visited a recruitment meeting in London. He was signed up to serve in the 1st 14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish).
He leaves behind his parents and two sisters Jane and Frances. Allan Kirkwood made a financial contribution to the Nitshill fund to provide a token gift to those soldiers from Nitshill who received a decoration or commendation during the war years. Matthew is remembered with honour at Le Touret Memorial.
Pte. Charles H. Kirman
British Army 7th Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment
from:Furstow, Lincolnshire
(d.23rd Sep 1917)
Charles Kirman served with the Lincolnshire Regiment 7th Battalion.He was executed for desertion on23rd September 1917 and is buried in Ste. Catherine British Cemetery, Ste. Catherine, France.
Charles had served nine years in the Army then left to take a job in civvy street. He got married and started a family. When war was declared, Kirman was recalled to the Army. He fought at, and was injured in, battles at Mons and the Somme. Pte Kirman went AWOL (absent without leave) in November 1916, to visit his wife and children. Branded a coward when he surrendered to Military Police a couple of days later, he was court-martialled. At the age of 32 he was sentenced to death and in September 1917 he was shot at dawn1. His family believed he had been suffering from shell-shock, and his descendants campaigned to clear his name. Over 87 years later, the villagers and councillors finally reached an agreement with each other, that his name should be included, and fund-raising for a suitable memorial began.
Fulstow Village Hall had been built in honour of the three men and two women of Fulstow who had been killed in WWII, but it held no reference to the WWI casualties. In November 2005 a polished green granite commemorative plaque to all Ć¢ā‚¬ā€¯ including Pte Charles Kirman, was finally unveiled at Fulstow Village Hall. There were enough funds left over for an identical plaque to be installed at St Lawrence's Church, where a service took place on Armistice Sunday 2005, the first in living memory. The village of Furstow in Lincolnshire did not have a war memorial for the seven local men who died during World War I until 2005. The delay of 87 years was caused by disagreements over the inclusion of Private Charles Kirman. During the war he was injured several times and sent home to recuperate but in September 1917 felt he could not take any more and went absent without leave. After two days he handed himself in to the military police and was court martialled and shot at dawn. Villagers decided not to put up a memorial following the war, after some local objection over Pte Kirman's inclusion. "There would have been somebody in the village who disagreed with it, so the rest of the families said 'if you're not having him, then you're not having our boys, because they all went to school together and worked together'."
Burgher J. F. Kirsten
South African Forces Rustenburg Commando Mounted Commandos
(d.15th November 1914)
Burgher Kirsten is buried in the Syferkuil Farm Burial Ground, Brits, North West, South Africa
Pte. Arthur Edgar Kirton
British Army D Coy. 6th Btn. Leicestershire Regiment
from:South Carlton, Lincolnshire
My Grandfather, Arthur Kirton, of the 6th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, was badly wounded and subsequently captured on the morning of the 21st of March 1918 at Epehy, the very morning of the beginning of the German Spring Offensive of 1918. A search of the ICRC records revealed that he was at Soltau POW Camp when the ICRC visited the camp in August of 1918 and the records show that at that time he was still suffering with his shoulder as a result of his severe wounds.
My Grandfather lived until 1986 dying at the age of 87.
Pte. James Kirton
British Army 2nd Btn. Welsh Regiment
from:Gateshead
(d.8th November 1917)
Pte. Jas. Kirton
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Newcastle
Sgt. Robert Spence Kirton
British Army 23rd Btn.(Tyneside Scottish) Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Newcastle on Tyne
(d.1st July 1916)
Page 19 of 24
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