Battle of the Somme's first day claimed 20 South Cumbrian lives

Research has uncovered 20 names but there will be others where families did not provide addresses to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We have listed them by the community they were most associated with.

AMBLESIDE

Lt Reginald Squarey MacIver, aged 24, served with the 2nd Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers and is buried at Sucrerie Military Cemetery, Colincamps.

He was the son of David and Edith Eleanor MacIver, of Wanlass How, Ambleside.

ASKAM

Pte William Calvert, No. 13851, served with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment. He is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. Pte Calvert, aged 32, was the son of Thomas Calvert of 116 Crossley Street, Askam, and was a pre-war steelworker at Workington.

BARROW

Second Lt Arthur Furneaux Dalgaims Anderson was attached to the 1st Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. The 22-year-old had been born in Australia and is buried at Beaumont-Hamel British Cemetery. He was the son of Mr A. W. H and Florence E. Anderson, of 12 Park Avenue, Barrow.

Pte William Lister, No. 12/1659, served with the 14th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The 36-year-old was the son of Mrs Elizabeth Graham, of 14 Lumley Street, Barrow.

Second Lt Charlie Drinnan Roberton served with the 4th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers and is buried at Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps. The 23-year-ild was the son of Mrs J. R. Roberton, of 31 Elgin Terrace, Dowanhill, Glasgow and the late Mr C. G. Roberton, OBE, of Barrow.

Second Lt Robert Meres Stainton served with the 10th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. The 22-year-old is named on the Thiepval Memorial. He was the only son of Walton and Annie Alice Stainton, of Hill Crest, 37 Mount Pleasant, Barrow.

Company Quartermaster Sgt Jesse Taylor, No. 18734, served with the 12th Company of the Machine Gun Corps. The 29-year-old was a winner of the Military Medal for bravery and is buried in Bertrancourt Military Cemetery. He was born in Barrow and was the husband of Jennie Taylor of 96 Kent Street, Barrow.

Pte Joseph Witherow, No. 19201, served with the 11th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The 22-year-old was the son of Margaret Jane Sheffield (formerly Witherow) of 41 Duncan Street, Barrow and William Sheffield (stepfather).

Second Lt John Wilfred Wood served with the 4th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment and is buried at Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boisselle. The 25-year-old was the son of Robert and Isabel Wood, of 125 Hindpool Road, Barrow.

BOOTLE

Lance/Cpl Isaac Collis, No. 16437, served with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment. He is buried in Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuille Wood and was the son of William and Annie Collis, of Thornleigh, Bootle.

BOWNESS

Sgt Ernest Marshall, No. 13432, served with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The 33-year-old was the son of James and Priscilla Marshall, of 32 Necropolis Road, Bradford and the husband of Mary Marshall, of St Martin’s Square, Bowness. BROUGHTON

Pte Wilfred Ashcroft, No. 18062, served with the 1st Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The 41-year-old was the son of James and Mary Agnes Ashcroft and the husband of Maggie Ashcroft, of the Square, Broughton.

DALTON

Sgt Albert Metcalfe, No. 19879, served with the 8th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment is buried at the Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille. His parents lived at Skelgate, Dalton and he worked at the Griffin Hotel, Leeds.

SEASCALE

Sgt Matthew Hudson Mossop, No. 1027, served with the 15th West Yorkshire (Prince of Wales’s Own) Regiment and was the holder of the Military Medal for bravery. The 26-year-old is buried at Serre Road Cemetery No. 1. He was the son of Isaac Mossop, of Seascale and the late Ann Mossop.

ULVERSTON

Lance/Cpl Frank Porter, No. 18683, served with the 1st Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. He is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The 26-year-old was the son of Jane Porter, of 26 Clarence Street, Ulverston.

Pte Harry Atkinson, No. 25923, served with the 8th Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. He was the son of William and Mary Ellen Atkinson, of Whinfell Terrace, Tebay and the husband of Beatrice Alice Atkinson, of the Rectory, Ulverston.

WINDERMERE

Pte Leonard Close, No. 13462, served with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment and is buried at the Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille. The 24-year-old was the son of John and Susannah Close, of 42 Oak Street, Windermere.

Lance/Cpl William Gibson, No. 13454, served with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The 26-year-old was the son of William and Ellen Gibson, of 2 Alexandra Road, Windermere.

Pte John Hayes, No. S/13246, served with the 2nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders and is named on Special Memorial C3 in the Gordon Cemetery, Mametz. The 18-year-old was the son of Moses and Alice Mary Hayes. He was born in Windermere.

Pte John Helme Mallinson, No. 13431, served with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment and is buried at Aveluy Communal Cemetery Extension. The 23-year-old was the son of Edward and Ann Emma Mallinson, of Oakland Cottage, Windermere.

Dalton soldier 'mown down like corn' on Somme

Albert Metcalfe AN emotional letter described how Dalton soldier Albert Metcalfe was among men of the 8th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment who were “mown down like corn” by German machine-gun bullets.

The sergeant’s parents lived at 33 Skelgate but he had been living in Leeds as a worker at the Griffin Hotel.

He was a pre-war territorial soldier and enlisted for overseas service on September 5 in 1914. The Barrow News of Saturday July 22 in 1916 carried a description of the first day of the Battle of the Somme from Sgt F. Crowson.

He noted: “It is about your son Albert, my chum. “It was on the first of July we attacked the German trenches, as I dare say both of you will have read by now.

“We all went over like one man but got caught in the machine-gun fire and were mown down like corn.

“Albert and all his comrades are reported missing or dead.

“I was the only sergeant to return to our lines out of 11. There is little hope that he may be only wounded.

“I tell you not to build too much hope on it. “When we left, we exchanged addresses, so that if any one of us survived the battle we could write to their wives, mothers or fathers.

“You have got my deepest sympathy as bereaved parents for a soldier son.

“I, his bosom chum, feel just full up to the brim whilst writing these few lines to console your mind. Your son did all he could for his King and country.”

The Dalton soldier is buried at Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille.

Silver watch helped stop a bullet

LUCK finally ran out on July 1 for Robert Meres Stainton from Barrow. His pocket book and silver watch had stopped a bullet a few months earlier but the 22-year old was killed on the Somme when his company was among the first to go “over the top”.

The second lieutenant was the only son of Walton and Annie Alice Stainton, of Hill Crest, Mount Pleasant, Barrow. He has no known grave and is named on the Thiepval Memorial. The young officer served with the 10th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment.

An article in the Barrow News on July 15 noted that his parents had received a letter from Lt-Col Ridgway.

The battalion commanding officer said: “His death is a great loss to me, as he was an officer who
Robert Meres Stainton showed great promise of doing good work in the times that are coming.

“His company was one of the first over the parapet on the memorable occasion and I feel sure that he was one of the first to get over.

“He was buried on the field of battle along with other men of his company.”

The officer’s near-death experience had come on New Year’s Eve in 1915. His wrist watch was broken so he borrowed a silver pocket watch from one of his men to use on trench duty. He put it with a pocket-book containing a few French notes inside the left chest pocket of his tunic.

The article noted: “All went well during the day but in the evening on returning with his captain, when walking down the long trench towards the reserve billet to sleep for the night, he suddenly felt a blow in the left breast, which seemed to fall with the force of a sledge hammer.

“Beyond being hit, however, he felt no pain, and the reason was plain when he took from his pocket book and the watch. Embedded in the former was a bullet.

“It had pierced practically through the book, its course being finally stayed by coming in contact with the case of the watch with a force which badly indented it.”

He was a former pupil at Barrow’s Municipal Secondary School for boys and Nottingham College. He had applied to be commissioned as an officer at the start of the war but couldn’t wait for officialdom and signed up as a private soldier with the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and rose through the ranks.

He was first in France in August 1915.

The Barrow school’s magazine the Barrovian noted: “Bob Stainton was looked upon as one of the bravest of the brave.

“He often took work which brought him into the greatest peril to save his men and he seems to have been a shining example of the fearless officer associated with our great British regiments.”

Barrow officer killed leading his men into battle

Charlie Drinnan Robertson BARROW Second-Lieutenant Charlie Drinnan Roberton was a Lancashire Fusilier, aged just 23, when he was killed leading his men on July 1 in 1916. He is buried close to where he fell at the Euston Road Cemetery at Colincamps.

The officer was the son of Mrs J. R. Roberton, of Elgin Terrace, Dowanhill, Glasgow and the late CG Roberton OBE, of Barrow.

In the 1911 census, the officer’s family was living at Cavendish Park, Barrow. His father was a submarine designer at the shipyard and an inventor with three patents to his name for improvements to internal combustion engines.

He was a former pupil at the Municipal Secondary School for Boys in Barrow and at the Clifton Bank public school in St Andrews.

The Barrow school’s magazine noted: “The Somme Battle had just commenced when we heard that Charlie Roberton had fallen leading his men against the enemy.”

During sixth form studies at Barrow, he was the Fell Essay Prizeman and was captain of the cricket team.

The Barrovian magazine noted: “High-minded and honourable, he was the type of our English manhood which in these days has so gloriously upheld British traditions.”

The History of the Lancashire Fusiliers 1914-1918 notes: “Between 8 and 8.30am on July 1 the battalion advanced in artillery formation on a frontage of 250 yards with 200 yards between companies.

“On crossing the Mailly-Sucrerie road, it heard from wounded men that the attack of the 11th Infantry Brigade had been completely successful and that the German front line had been occupied.

“But soon afterwards, the sound of German rifle and machine-gun fire began to be heard, and it was evident that no “walk over” was in store.

“The Roman road running north-west from Beaumont Hamel was reached at 9am. “Up till then no casualties had been incurred. “But a few minutes later the first serious barrage was met, and thereafter casualties became frequent.”

Candle for Askam life lost on the Somme

A CANDLE will be lit at 6.30pm today, July 1, to mark the life of Askam soldier William Calvert, who was among those to die on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The simple ceremony, arranged by members of Askam and Ireleth History Group will be at the village war memorial.
William Calvert

Pte Calvert fought with the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment, No. 13851, and was killed in action at the village of Authuille. He has no known grave and is named on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme.

His battalion was in the 97th brigade of the 32nd Divison. Pte Calvert’s medal index card shows that he arrived in France on November 23 in 1915.

The Barrow Guardian of July 22 in 1916 noted: “Mr Thomas Calvert, 116 Crossley Street, Askam, has received official word of the death of his youngest son, Pte William Calvert, aged 32 years, who was in the Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment and was killed in action in France on July 1.

“Living at Workington when the war broke out, he joined the Lonsdale Battalion in September 1914 and went to France last November.

“He was a single man and was engaged at the Moss Bay Works, Workington.”

The Barrow News of July 22 added that he was the younger son of William Thomas Calvert and the late Mrs Calvert. He was also the brother of Annie E. Calvert, of 116 Crossley Street, Askam.

It noted: “After training at Carlisle and Prees Heath, Salop, Pte Calvert went out last November to France.

“He was looking forward to getting a short leave to come home, just before he was killed. A fine soldier, he did his duty to his King and Country.

“Much sympathy has been expressed to his father and sister.”

Pte Calvert is named on the Askam war memorial and on the memorial plaque in St Peter’s Church, Ireleth. The steelworker had signed up in Workington on October 12 in 1914. He would have been in D Company of the Lonsdales and trained at Blackhall racecourse at Carlisle.

On May 8 in 1915 he would have been moved to Prees Heath Camp in Shropshire and was under canvas at Wensleydale, Yorkshire on June 22 in 1915. From August 5 to 11 he was at Strensall for musketry practice and then at Salisbury Plain.