Lance Corporal Raymond Easter Lowestoft Killed in Action 1916

The edition of the Norwich Mercury dated Saturday September 22 1917 included this picture along with the caption Lance-Corpl. Raymond V. Easter, reported missing July 3rd, 1916, now officially reported killed. His home was at 62, Crown Street, Lowestoft.

 

EASTER, R

Rank:………………………….Lance Corporal

Service No:………………..9232

Date of Death:…………..03/07/1916

Age:…………………………..20

Regiment:…………………Suffolk Regiment, 7th Bn.

Grave Reference:…….VI. M. 6.

Cemetery:…………………OVILLERS MILITARY CEMETERY

Additional Information:

Son of Albert and Elizabeth Easter, of 27, Church Rd., Lowestoft.

CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/545742/EASTER,%20R

 

Soldiers Died in the Great War records that Lance Corporal Raymond Victor Easter was Killed in Action on the 3rd July 1916 whilst serving in France & Flanders with the 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. He was born and enlisted Lowestoft. No place of residence is shown.

 

The Medal Index Card for Private 9232 Raymond V Easter, Suffolk Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/6/146585

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D3434221

 

His Service Records do not appear to have survived the incendiary attack during the Blitz on the Warehouse where all the Army service records were stored.

 

No match on Picture Norfolk, the County image Archive.

 

No obvious Soldiers Will or Civil Probate for this man.

 

 

1895/96 Birth……..

 

The birth of a Raymond Victor Easter was registered with the Civil Authorities in the District of Mutford of Suffolk in the January to March Quarter, (Q1), of 1896. Then, as now, you had 42 days after the event to register the birth without facing a fine – so a child registered at the start of January could have been born as early as mid-November the previous year. Mutford District included the town of Lowestoft.

 

Indeed the baptism of a Reginald Victor Easter, son of Albert Edward and Elizabeth Ann Easter took place in Lowestoft on the 17th December 1895.

www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NXMQ-Y28

 

The most likely marriage of his parents was that of an Albert Edward Easter to an Elizabeth Ann Kempthorn in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1890.

 

1901 Census of England and Wales

 

The 5 year old Raymond V. Easter, born Lowestoft, was recorded living at 14 Stevens Street, Lowestoft. This was the household of his parents, Albert, (aged 32, Fireman on Steamboat, born “Hadiscoe”, Norfolk) and Elizabeth, (aged 32, born Lowestoft). As well as Raymond their other children are:-

Ellen E…………aged 12……born Lowestoft

Robert E……….aged 9……...born Lowestoft

Albert G?............aged 7……..born Lowestoft

Charles G?..........aged 1……..born Lowestoft

 

1911 Census of England and Wales

 

The Easter family were now living at 26 Clemence Street, Lowestoft. Parents Albert, (42, Shipbuilding Engineers Labourer, born Haddiscoe, “Suffolk”) and Elizabeth, (42), have been married for 20 years and have had, according to Albert, 5 children, all then still alive. Elizabeth originally stated 6, with all 6 stated to still be alive, but this has been crossed through and amended to 5 for both in red pen. There are a number of other amendments on the census return that have been made in red pen, possibly in a different hand, to the entries originally given by Albert. I suspect this was a census verifier doing a sample check and concentrating on anomalies. The question actually asks how many children the marriage had produced, not how many children they were individually the parent of – and when you look at the six children who make up the household, things perhaps become a little clearer. They were:-

Ellen Kempthorn………aged 22…Food Processing Factory Hand..born Lowestoft

Robert Edward Easter….aged 19…Blacksmiths Striker, Plateworks

Albert George Easter…..aged 17…Unemployed Shipworks Labourer

Raymond Victor Easter..aged 15…Grocers Errand Boy

Charles Glinco Easter….aged 11…Schoolboy

Gladys Irene Easter…….aged 7….Schoolgirl

 

Until September 1911 the quarterly index published by the General Registrars Office did not show information about the mothers maiden name. A check of the General Registrars Office Index of Birth for England and Wales 1911 – 1983 shows no likely additional children of Albert and Elizabeth.

 

 

On the day…………………………………….

 

As part of the commemoration of the Outbreak of the Great War, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have added a number of original documents to their website. One of these on their webpage for Raymond is a Concentration report. These reports detail the move of his remains to their current resting place.

 

It would appear his body was recovered from a battlefield grave at some point – his grave had been marked as an unknown Suffolk, Machine Gun Section, but from an item found with the body they were able to identify it as Lance Corporal Easter. He was found at map reference 57d.X.7.d. Nearby was another single grave containing five bodies that it also proved possible to identify. There is a possibility that they were therefore buried by the Germans. They were reburied at Orvilliers by November 1920 when a copy of the report was received at the Records Office.

 

OVILLERS MILITARY CEMETERY

 

Location Information

Ovillers is a village about 5 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert off the D929 road to Bapaume.

 

History Information

On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the 8th Division attacked Ovillers and the 34th Division La Boisselle. The villages were not captured, but ground was won between them and to the south of La Boisselle. On 4 July, the 19th (Western) Division cleared La Boisselle and on 7 July the 12th (Eastern) and 25th Divisions gained part of Ovillers, the village being cleared by the 48th (South Midland) Division on 17 July.

 

Ovillers Military Cemetery was begun before the capture of Ovillers, as a battle cemetery behind a dressing station. It was used until March 1917, by which time it contained 143 graves, about half the present Plot I. The cemetery was increased after the Armistice when Commonwealth and French graves where brought in, mainly from the battlefields of Pozieres, Ovillers, La Boisselle and Contalmaison, and from the following two cemeteries:- MASH VALLEY CEMETERY, OVILLERS-LA BOISSELLE, was about 200 metres North of Ovillers Military Cemetery. It was named from one of two valleys (Mash and Sausage) which run from South-West to North-East on either side of La Boisselle. It contained the graves of 76 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in July-September 1916. RED DRAGON CEMETERY, OVILLERS-LA BOISSELLE, was midway between Ovillers and La Boisselle. It was made by the 16th and 17th Royal Welch Fusiliers, and named from their badge. It contained the graves of 25 soldiers who fell in August 1918, all of whom belonged to the 38th (Welsh) Division, and all but three to the Royal Welch Fusiliers. There are now 3,440 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 2,480 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 24 casualties believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 35 casualties, buried in Mash Valley Cemetery, whose graves were destroyed in later fighting. The cemetery also contains 120 French war graves.

CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/60800/ovillers-mili...

 

(I believe the events described below actually occurred on the 3rd)

 

Ordered to continue the attack on Ovillers, 35th and 37th Brigades went in at 3.15am on 2 July (just before this, Divisional HQ received information that a British attack on their left, by X Corps against Thiepval, was cancelled). Unlike the troops of 8th Division who had to cross a wide no man's land in the bright morning sun, the 12th Division attack, at night, adopted sensible tactics of advancing across no man's land while the artillery bombarded the enemy and rushed the last few yards when it lifted. The first wave of the attack met with mixed success: for example the 9th Essex came under heavy shellfire before it had reached even the British front line; it was difficult to keep direction in the deep shellholes; yet the 5th Berkshire and 7th Suffolk crossed, finding the enemy wire was well cut, and took at least two lines of German trenches before becoming bogged in intense bombing fights in the trenches

(Source not known)

 

2nd July 1916

 

The Division attacked on a two-brigade front, the 35th on the right with the 5th Royal Berkshire and 7th Suffolk Regiments in the front line, the 9th Essex in support, and the 7th Norfolk in reserve; the 37th Brigade on the left with the 6th Queen's and 6th Royal West Kent Regiments in front, the 6th Buffs in support, and the 7th East Surrey in reserve. The 36th Infantry Brigade held the extreme left of the front line and was in divisional reserve. At 3 a.m. or soon after, the attacking troops left the trenches, crept across No Man's Land, and at 8.15 a.m., when the artillery fire lifted, rushed the German front line.

 

The 5th Royal Berkshire (Willan) suffered hardly any casualties whilst crossing, and made good direction, being materially assisted thereto by the Sunken Road leading straight to Ovillers. Going was good until near the German front line where the large shell holes, made by our bombardment, caused some congestion. The wire had been almost completely destroyed and formed no obstacle to the advance.

 

The leading "waves" passed over the first line the and through the second to the third, them nearly to the ruins of the western houses of village. Here they became involved in a heavy bombing and with the failure of further supplies to reach them, the bombers were overwhelmed and practically the whole of the two leading companies became casualties. A report said that during this confused state of fighting an officer gave the order to retire, and the rumour spread that it was a German in British uniform, but whoever he was he received short shrift, and did not live long enough to issue further orders. The 7th Suffolk (Major Henty) met with very little resistance in the front line, and, after overcoming a determined opposition in the second, passed to the third. This was strongly held, and the majority of the casualties in the battalion occurred here owing, in a great measure, to the fact that the 6th Queen's on its left had not got so far forward, thus permitting the enemy to attack on that flank.

 

The 9th Essex (Lewes) had considerable difficulty in getting up into our front line, heavily shelled as it was by the German artillery, and the Royal Berkshire and Suffolk Regiments had disappeared in the darkness before the Essex companies began to cross “No Man’s Land”, by this time swept by machine gun fire from both flanks. Considerable casualties were sustained, and the waves of the attack becoming series of small parties not strong enough to material assistance to forward formations. The 35th Brigade attack broke down, and the remnants of the battalions were driven out of the German lines. A party of two officers and about 100 men, however, dug itself in on the Sunken Road, some sixty yards from the German position, and on until dark, when it was withdrawn.

 

“C” Company of the 9th Essex left our trenches from a portion facing south-east. This caused a loss of direction, and the company, taking with it the rear platoon of " B " Company, crossed the Mash Valley and struck the German line north-west of La Boisselle. Having carried the front and support lines without difficulty, they proceeded through the village of La Boiselle and came in touch with the 19th Division, attacking from the opposite direction. Some 200 Germans surrendered to this company, which was under the command of Lieutenant E. H. Kennifick, who, with Second Lieutenant Karn and Company Sergt.-Major J, ColIins, distinguished themselves in the fighting. This loss of direction of "C" Company, mainly due to the orientation of the departure trench, the darkness, and the fact of not having had sufficient time to get acquainted with the surroundings, though leading to a success on another front, was a misfortune for its own brigade, which was compelled to give ground owing to lack of support.

 

The 6th Queen's (Warden), on the right of the 37th Brigade attack, only gained the front line in one place. Elsewhere the battalion was held up by uncut wire and machine gun fire from Mash Valley.

 

The “A” and "C" Companies, Royal West Kent (Owen) gaining the first line, consolidating, when the Germans fired a red rocket, bringing heavy artillery fire on this line. Nevertheless, “B” and “D” companies, pushing through, captured the second the line, when the enemy again fired a red rocket, this time bursting into two flares, and attracting artillery fire on to that line.

 

Shortly after our original bombardment had lifted, the enemy opened with intense machine gun fire from the Leipzig salient (apparently the same position from which the 8th Division attack had been brought to, standstill on the 1st inst.), sweeping down all supporting waves not already across “No Man's Land”, and thereby making it impossible to reach the leading battalions, as carrying parties with bombs and material for consolidation were shot. There was also very heavy shelling on our trenches.

 

“A” and "C" Companies of the 6th Buffs (Cope) in support of the Royal West Kent, suffered heavily in crossing to the German trenches, and none of them reached the advanced West Kent position. This position wag strongly counter-attacked and only a few survivors came back to the first line. The casualties were very heavy, and the want of grenades, which could not be got forward, forced the remnants now in the first line to give way and fall back on our own trenches about 5.30 a.m. The Royal West Kent Battalion lost in this action 19 officers and 575 other ranks.

 

The capture of the position had failed, and the failure was undoubtedly affected by the flanking machine gun fire, which was unmolested and raked the excessive distance between the opposing front lines over which supports had to cross. Also by the attack being carried in the dark by troops who were hurried into the fight without being well acquainted with the terrain, leading to loss of cohesion; the artillery bombard- destroying the wire and trenches, yet failing to reach the deep dugouts, which remained unharmed; by the recent storms making shell holes and trenches in places almost impassable.

 

The casualties in the two Brigades, 35th and 36th amounted to 97 officers and 2277 other ranks.

 

On the 4th July the 19th Division made further progress in la Boisselle, thus affording the 35th Brigade machine gunners some effective shooting at the retiring Germans. On the left, a direct hit, on this day, on one of our trench mortar ammunition stores caused and which formed a crater 80 feet by 15 feet. Fortunately there were no serious casualties. Meanwhile the units were mostly employed in clearing the trenches and getting back the dead and wounded. The 7th East Surrey brought in 250 in two days, many of them belonging to the 8th Division. Search parties were out all night, and it is impossible to speak too highly of the work done by the Royal Army Medical Corps and the bearers.

 

The 69th Field Company, Royal Engineers, under Second Lieutenant Kelan, the 5th Northamptonshire (Captain Cathcart), and a party of the 8th Royal Fusiliers dug a new trench from our right to join up with the 19th Division in La Boisselle. The 12th Divisional Artillery now came into action relieving that of the 8th, and it was only natural that the troops were glad to have their own artillery covering them again.

 

The following order of the day was received from the IIIrd Corps : " As the 12th Division is leaving the IIIrd Corps, the Corps Commander wishes to thank all ranks and to express his appreciation of the gallantry and dash shown in the attack on Ovillers. He is also grateful for the very efficient support, which the Division rendered to their comrades of the 19th Division, who were fighting in La Boisselle. The Commander-in-Chief desires Sir William Pulteney to convey his congratulations to General Scott and the brigadiers of the 12th Division, and all ranks should be informed of his satisfaction."

 

The total casualties of the Division from 1st to 8th July inclusive were officers 189, other ranks 4,576.

** Extracted from the original book:-

THE HISTORY OF THE 12th (EASTERN) DIVISION IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1918.

Edited by MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ARTHUR B. SCOTT, K.C.B., D.S.0.

Compiled by P. MIDDLETON BRUMWELL,

Published THE NAVAL & MILITARY PRESS

www.bastonfamily.co.uk/historical/12thDivisionJuly1916Som...

 

On July 3rd the battalion, under the command of Major GH Henty, took part in the frontal attack on Ovillers. In this operation the 12th Div. attacked on a two brigade front, the 35th on the right, with the 5th Berkshire (right) and 7th Suffolk (left) in the front line. The 37th Brigade was on the left. The battalion attacked in 8 successive waves, the leading ones starting ten minutes before zero hour, which had been fixed for 3.15 am. The first 4 waves penetrated as far as the enemy's third line, some of them getting into the village itself; but owing to the darkness the succeeding waves lost touch, enabling the Germans to surge in and cut them off. At the 3rd line of resistance, after very severe fighting, the attack was brought to a standstill, the battalion losing very heavily. All the company commanders were killed, Major Henty and Lts Bowen, Taylor and Hood being the only officers to come through untouched. Casualties amounted to 470 of all ranks. On record with CWGC there are 159 of the 7th Battalion killed that day, mostly either buried in Ovillers Cemetery or named on the Thiepval Memorial.

www.exning-remembers.info/hobbs ernest.html

 

(Mildly photoshopped to reduce impact of damage to the original image)

Done