7784, Private, John SAMUELS
Aged 25
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Believed to be:
John Thomas SAMUELS, born in Wrexham, Denbighshire in Q2-1887 [Wrexham 11b:274] albeit this does not conform with his given age on enlistment. Not able to positively identify his family. His Army documents record his next of kin as father John SAMUELS, living at 18 Union Street, Glasgow in 1906 with his younger brother Frederick. Private John SAMUELS, born Wrexham, was serving with the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment in Aden in the 1911 census. He was the grandson of Eliza SAMUEL (Newmarket Journal 24th October 1914) a widowed midwife (born Wrexham) living at 12 Granby Street, Newmarket. This was his address given on enlistment in 1906. John had enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds. (In "Soldiers Died" his residence is Blackford, Surrey ?) On enlistment into the 3rd Battalion Suffolk Regiment (No.7248) on 24th July 1906, he gave his place of birth as Wrexham, residence 12 Granby Street Newmarket, and his age as 18 years 6 months. He was single, 5 feet 4.25 inches (163.2 cm)tall, weighing 122 lbs (55.5 kg) and 31" (78.4 cm) chest. On 13th September 1906 he was transferred to the Lincolnshire Regiment. |
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He was very early in France, arriving only 8 days after war was declared. In August 1914 the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment were stationed in Portsmouth
as part of 9th Brigade, 3rd Division. They landed at Le Havre on 14 August 1914. The Lincolns formed part of the reserve on the first day of the battle of
Mons and manned the barricades through which the forward regiments (4th Royal Fusiliers and 1st Northumberland) retired through, holding a rearguard,
fighting street by street, as the British army retreated from Mons back towards the reserve positions. The German advance was eventually halted at the Battle of
the Marne and on 9 September the German armies began a retreat ordered by the German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke. Moltke feared an Allied breakthrough,
plagued by poor communication from his lines at the Marne. The retreating armies were pursued by the French and British, although the pace of the Allied
advance was slow - a mere 12 miles in one day. By 14th September, they were at Vailly on the River Aisne, north and slightly east of Paris and near Soissons. Their object was to cross the River Aisne which flows roughly east-west. They got across, but were then forced back to where they started - but then they crossed again and consolidated their position. The unit was by now so disorganised because it had lost so many officers and so tired that it came out of the line for a month to rest. 50 men were killed on 14th September and about another 120 wounded. Very few of the bodies were recovered and identified and most of the men are commemorated on the memorial at La Ferte sous Jouarre which is about 30 miles to the south. The German armies ceased their withdrawal where the First and Second Armies dug in, preparing trenches that were to last for several years. The British losses in this period exceeded 12,500 No. 5 C.C.S was stationed in Braine immediately it was captured on 12th September, so presumably this was where John died. As can be seen by the photograph below, the exact whereabouts of John's grave has been lost. He and some of his chums share headstones which simply state "known to be buried in this cemetery". |
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