No.15908, Private, Arthur GRAVES
Aged 26
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Arthur Graves was born in 1894 in Stetchworth (Newmarket Q3-1894 3B:481), son of Matthew and Mary Ann GRAVES (née HOLMES),
1901 census...Aged 6, he was at Cross Green, Dullingham with his father Matthew GRAVES [44] engine driver on farm, born Bluntisham; his mother Mary Ann [41] born Somersham; brothers Albert [20] domestic gardener, born Somersham, John William [15] stable lad, born Somersham, Charles [13], born Somersham and George Albert [2] born Stetchworth, and sisters Helen [11] born Somersham and Minnie [8] born Stetchworth. 1911 census...Aged 16, houseboy, still at Cross Green with his parents, brothers Charles and George Albert and sisters Minnie and Annie Elizabeth [9] born Dullingham. Two of Mary's eleven children had died. The pension card has the family still at Cross Green His younger brother, George, died in France in 1918 see here |
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He enlisted in Newmarket. The worst day in British military history, 60,000 casualties, around 20,000 of them dead. The 11th Suffolks were part of 34th Division, as yet untried in battle, in the front of the attack opposite La Boiselle. At 7.28 a mine containing 60,000 lbs of ammonal was blown, creating a crater (Lochnagar crater) 55 feet deep and 220 feet across. 2 minutes later the attack began, the 11 Suffolks following the 10th Lincolns advancing on a line through the centre of Bailiff Wood. The Germans however were in great strength in La Boiselle and as the Suffolks advanced they immediately came under heavy machine gun fire. The lines of men were quickly reduced to groups of 3 and four and by 8 am the battle was decided. Hundreds lay wounded, a pitiful few had managed to reach the German wire. Occasionally a man rose and tried to get forward, only to fall again. Even those few who did reach the parapet were quickly despatched by flame throwers. Of all the battalions in the battle of Albert, the 11th Suffolks fared worst, with very nearly 700 casualties (a battalion is nominally just over 1,000 men). The 11th Suffolk suffered 188 killed on the 1st July, 147 of them have no known grave. |
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