ypres

Claude McCaul Alson born 29th September 1892 Allahabad, Bengal, India. The middle child, and only son of Charles Ross Alston [b.1863 d.1937] and Frances Car Alston nee Howard [b.1864 d.1949]. His father is a Barrister. The 1911 census records him living at a lodging house in Hampstead, Lonon. His occupation is recorded as being in the Army but he is further described as “Coasting”. Was he on leave as an Officer Cadet before being commissioned? According to De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, Claude was educated at Carterhouse School and joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers as 2nd Lt on 4th September 1912 and promoted to Lieutenant on 27th October 1914. An unofficial regimental history records that he was killed on the 25th October but all other sources show the 27th. This was possibly while in support of the Northumberland Fusiliers during the first battle of Ypres. His entry in the National Probate Calendar records that his estate of £95 was left to his father.

Just a note really, 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment is spelt Welch not Welsh, this may have been changed after the 1st Word War though!!

It can't be changed now. The French spelling of a Flemish place name is always adopted and never the Flemish one. French maps must have been used. Gheluvelt is Geluveld in Flemish.

rmatt11 Hi, thank you for your comment. You are right, the name of the regiment was changed after the First World War, in 1921. We have kept the spelling of regiments etc. contemporaneous for consistency, hence it is still Welsh here.

John William Harford Nicholl was the son of Lieutenant Colonel John Iltyd Dillwyn Nicholl MBE (Imperial Yeomanry) (Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan from 1899) and Eleanor Dorothy Nicholl (nee Harford) of Merthyr Mawr, Bridgend, Glamorgan. He was the third of 5 children, with a brother, Robert, b. 1894, and three sisters Gladys, Olive and Rachel. He was Commissioned from Gentleman Cadet into the Rifle Brigade on 22nd January 1913. He was seconded to 3rd Battalion Welsh Regiment as a Second Lieutenant on 14th August 1914 [LG 1 Sep 1914]. The 3rd Battalion Welsh Regiment was the Depot and a 'holding' unit. With 1st Battalion in India, it is likely that 2Lt Nicholl volunteered for the 2nd Battalion almost immediately on his secondment being confirmed. The photograph shows him in full Welsh Regiment service dress, so taken at some time in the 77 days that he served with the Regiment, but certainly in the brief period when he was still in England before going over to France. The 2nd Battalion had actually landed at Le Havre (complete with their goat 'Taffy', the Regimental mascot) as part of 3rd Brigade in 1st Division on 13th August 1914. Gheluvelt was the most desperate of battles, arguably the last effort against the BEF of the 1914 War of Movement; victory offered the German Army a breakthrough to Paris and the decisive victory required by the Schlieffen Plan. The 2nd Welsh fought there alongside 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Wales.//

Hi, I just came across this photo of John William Hardford Nicholl and couldn't get over the resemblance he has with my great Grandfather John Nicholl!. That's my Mothers Fathers Father, and my Grandfathers name is William James Nicholl and his older brothers were John Nicholl then Robert Nicholl, Robert died in the war aged 19 in 1944. My great Grandfather John Nicholl is from Ballymena (N.Ireland) where the surname Nicholl seems to be quite common. Although it states that John William Hardford Nicholl was born in Swansea (and around the same time as my great Grandfather) I wouldn't be surprised if we are distantly related!, but I find this very interesting and I would like to say thank you for posting this information on here. Yours sincerely, Sarah Nicholl.

Commissioned into the Territorial Infantry (unattached) on 29th August 1912, Charles Alexander Kenneth Anderson is appointed to the Cambridge University, Senior Division, Officer Training Corps, as an unattached Territorial Army Officer, with effect 16th January 1913, [London Gazette of 7 Feb 13].

His commemoration on the Menin Gate is at Panel 51 and 53.

There is a photograph of him in his Glengarry at www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=108256...

1st Royal Scots Fusiliers were in 9th Infantry Brigade. On 12th November 1914 the Brigade Headquarters was shelled by German artillery and the Brigade Commander, Brigadier Frederick Charles Shaw, was badly wounded.//

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/