|
The Middlesex Regiment, "The Duke of Cambridge's Own", was
an infantry regiment. It served with distinction in the Great War, sending
46 regular and territorial battalions to various fronts.
This website is concerned with the 1st Battalion in the Great War,
their actions and the associated
maps.
Most of the text on this site is taken directly from the Regimental History
of the Middlesex Regiment with only very minor changes (all marked in
red). No date is given in either volume of this history but the Foreword
was written in 1926, at least 7 years after the armistice. The language
used, the attitudes to officers and "other ranks" etc. all belong
to a bygone era, but in the narrative, between descriptions of routine
life in and out of the trenches, are some chilling passages. The intention
all along has been to extract from the Regimental History, all that concerns
the 1st Battalion. Although other equally interesting Battlions are mentioned,
my wish is to provide a picture at battalion level of what happened to
one set of soldiers in the Great War.
|
Like so many people with an interest in the Great War in general,
I had relatives who served. My Grandfather was lucky to survive,
arriving in France on 14th September 1914 with the 1st Middlesex
and surviving in the army until 1920, dying fairly peacefully in
1961. So many received one
of these letters, but luckily he was only captured when with
the 2nd Middlesex on the
Aisne, 1918.
One of the "Old Contemptibles", L10103
Corporal Albinus (Albert) Edward Allen was Mentioned in Despatches
three times, always for staying behind with the wounded. He fought
with 1st Middlesex at Loos, the Somme and Passendale and with 2nd
Middlesex during the German 1918 Spring Offensives, names now part
of a deep collective memory. This web page is intended to help keep
that memory alive.
Also in memory of Arthur
Worby of the "Queens", Royal West Surrey Regiment.
Arthur was Albert's brother-in-law who died of the Spanish 'flu
on 16th November 1918 just 5 days after the Armistice. Another
of Albert's brothers-in-law, Thomas
Woodley, 1/4th Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, died 15th
June 1918 during the Battle of Asiago. They are both remembered
on the Stockwell
War Memorial, Arthur is also on the Screen Wall in Lambeth
Cemetery, Tooting.
Albert is also remembered on Les
Amis du Bois des Buttes
|
Howard Anderson. December 1999-2023.
Technical details on the preparation of this
site
|