LOOKING BACK: Remembering the Weymouth men who died in the Battle of the Somme

The town lost six men out of the total 57,470 British casualties on the first day of the devastating battle, among them John Dobson, 36-years-old of 65 Southview Road, who is pictured here.

After that dreadful first day, there was a delay for two weeks as the British Army reorganised, but then the attack was relaunched and was to continue for the next 4 months through pouring rain and cloying mud until 18th November, during the course of which a further 420,000 men died for an advance of just 7 miles. Amongst those dead were 35 Weymouth men.

We have started to list the men here and will continue next week: James Apsey. Private, Machine Gun Corps. Died 16th September; Cecil Arnold. Company Serjeant Major, 1st Rifle Brigade. Died 19th Herbert Musgrove Brown. Gunner, Royal Field Artillery. Died 6th November, aged 24. Lived 12, Dorset Place. Lost a brother; F. C. Brown. Lance Corporal, Royal Army Medical Corps. Died 17th September, aged 21. Lived 12, Dorset Place. Lost a brother; Ernest Edward Chipp. Private, Royal Army Medical Corps. Died 25th October, aged 21. Lived 24, Argyle Place; T. D. Cox. Rifleman, 17th London Reg. Died 1st October; Percival J. Crouch. Corporal, 8th Devonshire Reg. Died 14th July, aged 32; William James Crumplin. Private 5th Dorsetshire Reg. Die 26th September, aged 25; Arthur Devenish. Major, Royal Field Artillery. Died 5th October, aged 44. Had fought in the Boer War; Frederick E. Edwards. Private, 8th Gloucestershire Reg. Died 18th November; Edward Fooks. 2nd Lieut. Royal Field Artillery. Died 31st October, aged 29. Lived 37, St Thomas Street; Henry Gibbs. Lance Corporal, 1st Wiltshire Reg. Died 8th July, aged 29; Samuel Colin Gilchrist. Serjeant, 1st Dorsetshire Reg. Died 18th November, aged 23. Lived 7, Gloucester Row. Before the war, his father had sent him to the continent to learn the hotel trade, and he spoke German and French fluently. He had been a choirister at St Paul’s church; William Eddowes Green. Lieut, 3rd Dorsetshire Reg. Died 6th July; E. Frederick Groves. Private, 5th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 26th September, aged 22. Lived 50, High Street; Harry E. Hillier. Private, 5th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 3rd August, aged 22. Lived 6, Westville Cottages, Had 6 brothers serving in the war; Frederick Arthur Holland. Sapper, Royal Engineers. Died 21st November, aged 32. Lived 26, Hope Street. Educated at Holy Trinity School, served in the ‘Boy’s Brigade’, and was a well-known footballer for Radipole; William John Hooper. Private, 5th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 26th September; William Charles Houlton. Private, 2nd Wiltshire Reg. Died 8th August, aged 26; shot through the head by a sniper after capturing a German trench. Worked as a groom at Lord Bath’s stables at Longleat, and had previously lived at 5, Victoria Street; Alma Victor Martin. Private, 7th The Queen’s (Royal West Surreys). Died 18th November, aged 29. Lived 36, Cassiobury Road; Charles Mendenhall. Private, 1st Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Died 4th September, aged 43; Reginald Harold Mitchell. Serjeant, 2nd Wiltshire Reg. Died 8th July, aged 24. Lived 5, Frederick Place; A. H. T. Northover. Private, 6th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 4th September; William Digby Oswald. Lieut. Colonel, 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte’s of Wales). Died 16th July, aged 36. Lived ‘St Winning’, Wellington House, Weymouth, and was a keen yachtsman. Joined the army 1899; served in the Boer War where he was awarded the D.S.O, mentioned in despatches and wounded. Wounded twice in the retreat from Mons in 1914; died 1916 after being wounded in the chest; Fred Palmer. Private, 6th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 8th August, aged 22; killed in action by a shell. Lived 27, High West Street. A shoemaker by trade. He sang in Holy Trinity Church, played the organ at Holy Trinity Mission, and was in the Holy Trinity Church lad’s Brigade, for whom he played football. An enthusiastic athlete, he ran for St Paul’s Harriers; W. A. L. W. Pearce. Private, 1st/4th Berkshire Reg. Died 27th August; George Rixton. Sapper, Royal Engineers. Died 16th September, aged 32; Frank E. H. Rudman. Private, 1st/5th Gloucestershire Reg. Died 21st July, aged 22; John (Jack) Walter Scriven. Private, 6th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 6th November, aged 19. Lived ‘Ashton House’, Great George Street. A baker and confectioner; John G. Trolove Sharpley. Private, 12th Middlesex Reg. Died 26th September, aged 21. Employed at Lloyd’s Bank, Weymouth; Harold S. Shettler. Private, 6th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 23rd August, aged 19; Benjamin Robert Symes. Private, 7th South Lancashire Reg. Died 5th July; Thomas Arthur Trask. Private, 6th Somerset Light Infantry. Died 16th September; Alec Francis Warren. Private, 2nd/7th Middlesex Reg. Died 15th September, aged 28 and Ernest White. Private, 6th Dorsetshire Reg. Died 6th August, aged 26. Lived 5, Prince of Wales Road. A brother also died in the war.