BORN: 1896 Magor, Monmouthshire, Wales.
UNIT: 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards.
DIED: of wounds on 25 Sep 1916 Abbevile, France, aged 20.
BURIED: at Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, France. Grave I. C. 12.
LOCAL CONNECTIONS: Skeviot Farm, Magor and Mead Farm, Llandevenny.
Early Life
Raymond Walker was born in 1896 in Magor, Monmouthshire, Wales. He was baptised in St. Mary’s church, Magor on 20 Dec 1896. Raymond was one of nine children of Aaron WALKER, a farm bailiff, and his wife Emily (WEST). Aaron and Emily had married in 1877 in New Radnor, Radnorshire. The family moved to Magor about 10 years before Raymond was born.
Raymond spent his early childhood at Skeviog [Skeviot] Farm, Magor, but by 1911 he had moved to Mead Farm in the village of Llandevenny, Monmouthshire. Aged 14, he lived there with his parents, his younger brother Gilbert Allan (6) and a domestic servant (13). His brothers Edwin and Frank both enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery by 1909. However, Frank had been discharged (see below).
Raymond and WW1
Raymond joined the Grenadier Guards. Service records for Guards’ Regiments were treated differently and can only be accessed by application to the MoD. So we do not know when precisely Raymond enlisted. However, his service number tells us that he joined up before the war, between 25 Jan 1913 and 02 Jan 1914. We also know that he arrived in France on 04 Jan 1915.
Death and Burial
Raymond died of his wounds on 25 Sep 1916. He was buried in the Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension. Abbeville was the site of British Base Hospitals and British Red Cross stations. It seems likely therefore that he was wounded sometime before 25 Sep and transferred to the hospitals at Abbeville. This is about 50 miles west of the Somme front line near Ginchy, where his regiment was fighting in the weeks before his death.
We cannot be certain but is likely that Raymond was injured in part of the ‘big push’ of 13-16 Sep 1916. Here is how events played out:
'We won 2-0'
At the end of August 1916, Raymond’s regiment were encamped near Bertrancourt, away from the front line. Their days were filled with route marches, training, and visits from senior officers. He would have watched (or performed in) concerts put on by Companies or listened to the band of the Irish Guards. The officers played a football match against their servants, ‘and won, the result two goals to nil’.
'Swarming with flies'
In the last week of Aug they travelled eastwards by train, truck and on foot towards the front lines. They arrived in Meaulte, south of Albert on a hot 25 Aug to find their billets ‘dirty and swarming with flies’. September saw the weather break and the arrival of heavy rains. Rumours of a big push began to spread through the battalion. Raymond and his comrades were moved forward towards the front line, and camped in bivouacs. Parties were sent to dig trenches, clear trenches in Bernafay wood, and repair roads. The nearby front line was heavily shelled, but nothing hit his camp. Then the word came. There was to be no move to the front line for Raymond this time. So the regiment returned to billets at Meaulte on 4 Sep.
'Move at short notice'
Over the next week Raymond’s commanding officers received an unnerving cycle of orders to prepare to move at four hours notice, which were then cancelled. Then on 10 Sep they marched out of Meaulte to Carnoy. They spent a very cold night there as the bivoacs did not arrive until 10 PM. The men had no great coats and huddled under their waterproof sheets for warmth.
‘…our trenches were much knocked about’
Rumours spread through the ranks that the big attack was to be on 15 Sep and ‘that we shall be in it’. An officers’ conference on 11 Sep confirmed their suspicions. The following day, Raymond and comrades marched via Bernafay Wood, through Trones Wood and Guillemont to the north-eastern outskirts of Ginchy. They came under constant shell fire as they trudged forward. One man was killed and 8 were wounded. We cannot be sure, but Raymond may well have been one of the wounded. The battalion stayed in the line at Ginchy where they were shelled all day on 13 Sep and their ‘trenches were much knocked about.’
'...all rather shaken'
Parties were sent forward to attack a German trench north of the nearby orchard, but they were lit by a bright moon and shot at the whole time. More enemy shelling followed the following day and in typical English understatement the officers reported that the men were ‘all rather shaken’. They were relieved that night (14 Sep) and retired to sleep in shell holes behind Ginchy. Rum rations were issued on another bitterly cold night.
'we lost a good many men'
The following morning the Raymond’s battalion moved forward again towards Ginchy, advancing through German shell fire, ‘losing extraordinarily few men, considering the intensity of the fire’. Twenty minutes later they were in Ginchy where they were bombarded once more. Even though the shellfire was not centred on them ‘they lost a good many men.’
The Grenadiers pushed on through the town but the Division on their right failed to advance, leaving their flank unprotected. German fire from the right was devastating and the Grenadiers ‘lost the bulk of our casualties during this period’. The battle raged as a furious exchange of bombs (grenades) took place until the British ran out. They were forced to retreat until Captain Harcourt-Vernon led a bayonet charge over the top and drove back the German bombers. There were constant surges of German soldiers entering the British trenches, but they were repeatedly repelled.
'the pick of the British Army'
As darkness fell, both sides held their positions and withheld fire, trying to entice each other to attack. The diary entry for 16 Sep makes grim reading: ‘…we were heavily shelled for most of the day from the front and direct enfilade from the left. We were shot at continuously from our right rear…”.
Having successfully driven the Germans out of the orchard, the Grenadiers were relieved on 17 Sep at 2.00 am. They returned to Bernafay Wood where they were met by a hot meal and congratulatory messages from their Generals for their bravery.
Where was Raymond wounded?
Raymond’s battalion remained near Bernafay Wood until it went into attack on 25 Sep 1916. This is the day that Raymond died in Abbeville, 50 miles away. It seems likely therefore that Raymond was wounded that sometime during the battle at Ginchy between 13-17 Sep 1916. He would have passed through a casualty clearing station to a hospital in Abbeville. Raymond was one of more than 100 casualties during these 4 days.
His Burial - 'I Have Fought A Good Fight'
Raymond was buried in the Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, grave number I.C.12. His mother Emily requested that his headstone included the inscription ‘I Have Fought A Good Fight. I Have Kept The Faith’. However, this does not appear on his headstone (see image below).
For much of the First World War, Abbeville was headquarters of the Commonwealth lines of communication and No.3 BRCS, No.5 and No.2 Stationary Hospitals were stationed there variously from October 1914 to January 1920. The Extension contains 1,754 First World War burials and 348 from the Second.
Medals and Pension
Raymond was posthumously awarded ‘the full set’ of 3 campaign medals. The 1914-15 Star, British War, and the Victory medals were nicknamed Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. These were characters in a 1920’s Daily Mirror comic strip that coincided with the issue of the 3 medals. The 1914-15 Star was only awarded to those who served in any theatre of war outside the UK between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915. As a recipient of this medal Edward would automatically qualify for the British War and Victory medals.
The Register of Soldier’s Effects shows that his mother Emily was his sole legatee, and she was sent £18 13s 4d on 19 Feb 1917, followed by a War Gratuity of £12 on 30 Sep 1919.
What happened to his family?
Parents
His father Aaron died in 1932 at West End, Magor. In 1939 his widowed and incapacitated mother Emily lived with her married son Gilbert Allan WALKER and family in West End Magor. They were just several doors away from the FORD family, whose son had also been killed in the Grenadier Guards.
Siblings
Laura WALKER probably married Albert Henry ANTHONY in 1903. They moved to Gordon Street, Newport.
Charles WALKER b. c1880 Staunton on Arrow, Herefordshire. Nothing more found about him yet.
Rev. Henry WALKER married Beatrice Mabel REES in 1910. He was a Calvinistic Methodist Minister in Dolau, Radnorshire in 1911. They returned to Wales and lived in Granville Avenue, Cardiff.
John WALKER moved to Coventry and lived with his younger brother Frank in 1911. Nothing more found yet.
Kate WALKER married Edward ECCLESFIELD in Newport in 1910. They moved to Stockton on Tees, Durham and later to Sussex. Kate died there in 1969.
Edwin WALKER enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery before the war. He married Eva Mary CROCKER in 1913 in Hale, Surrey. He returned safely and went on to work at the Experimental Station in Porton, Wiltshire, where he rose up the ranks.
Frank WALKER also joined the Army before WW1. He enlisted on 09 Jul 1909 in Newport and joined the RFA as Gunner 37373. In 1910 Frank had a brush with the law in Ireland that meant he left the Army on 03 Dec 1910. (Please Contact me if you want more details). He was aged 20 at the time. He then went to live with his brother in Coventry in 1911. It seems Frank returned to live with his parents by 1921. He may have moved back to Coventry after this.
Gilbert Allan WALKER married Olive Iris SAUNDERS. They moved from West End, to Glen View, Magor. He died there in 1978.
Contact me if you want more detail about the sources used or any help finding your ancestors’ stories, military or otherwise.
Links
Shaun Mcguire’s website: http://www.shaunmcguire.co.uk/
