North Somerset Yeomanry - Roll of Honour of Officers of the North Somerset Yeomanry Who Died in the Great War

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Roll of Honour of Officers of the North Somerset Yeomanry

Who Died in the Great War

Formation and Early History
The Regiment was formed on the 2nd June 1798 as the Frome Troop of Cavalry as a local militia unit, but was disbanded in 1802. In June 1803 in response to the growing threat of invasion during the Napoleonic Wars it was again formed, as the Frome Selwood Troop of Volunteer Cavalry, which was retitled in 1804 to the Frome and East Mendip Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry. In 1814 the regiment was renamed the North Somerset Yeomanry. The Regiment in continued in service after the Napoleonic War but was disbanded in 1873. The Regiment was re-raised in 1900 due to the string of defeats during the Second Boer War in December 1899. The British Government had realized that there was a requirement for more troops to reinforce the Regular Army in South Africa. A Royal Warrant was issued on 24th December 1899, to allow volunteer forces to serve in South Africa, requesting Yeomanry Regiments to provide each up to 115 men in Company strength units, to be attached to the Imperial Yeomanry (IY), equipped and deployed as mounted infantry. The 48th (North Somerset) Company was formed for deployment to the 7th Battalion, IY, in 1900. The mounted infantry experiment was considered a success and the existing Yeomanry Regiments and Companies were converted to IY in 1901, the 48th (North Somerset) Company becoming the North Somerset Imperial Yeomanry in August 1901. The title 'Imperial' was dropped in 1908 when the Yeomanry were transferred to the Territorial Force (TF) and the Regiment was retitled as the North Somerset Yeomanry.

The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, which brought the Territorial Force (TF) into being, established the TF as a Home Defence force for service during wartime, and members could not be compelled to serve outside the UK. However, on the outbreak of war on 4th August 1914, many members volunteered for overseas Imperial Service. Therefore, in August and September of 1914, TF units were split into the 1st Line unit (liable for overseas service) and the 2nd Line unit (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. Later, a 3rd Line unit was formed to act as a depot and reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line units whilst in the Home and Coastal Defence role.

During the Great War the North Somerset Yeomanry was organised into three separate units as described below.

Regimental Details of the North Somerset Yeomanry

(As Published in the Army List of August 1918)

North Somerset Yeomanry Army List 1918

Those Officers of the North Somerset Yeomanry

Who Died in the Great War

No	Date Died	Surname	Forenames	Rank	Decs	Age	Cause	Country	Location	Cemetery/Memorial	Notes
Died in 1914
1	17th November	DAVEY	John Stanley	Lt	-	33	KIA	Belgium	Ypres	Ypres Town Cemetery (E.2.20)	-
2	17th November	LIEBERT	Frederick Alexander Charles	Capt	-	32	KIA	Belgium	Ypres	Ypres Town Cemetery (E.2.21)	-
Died in 1915
3	11th February	GIBBS	Eustace Lyle	Capt	-	29	KIA	Belgium	Ypres	Ypres Town Cemetery (E.2.18)	-
4	13th May	ENGLISH	Robert Ernest	Capt	-	31	KIA	Belgium	Bellewaarde, east of Ypres	Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 5)	-
Died in 1917
5	5th April	GASKELL	Joseph	Lt	-	52	DOI	UK	Colchester	Colchester Cemetery (R.15.87)	-
6	9th April	HILL	Arthur Moberley	2Lt	-	22	KIA	France	East of Arras	Arras Memorial (Bay 1)	(1)
7	1st September	BIGGS	John Geoffrey	Lt	MC*	29	DOW	France	No 2 Stationary Hospital, Abbeville	Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extn (III.C.19)	(2)
Died in 1918
8	22nd March	STEWART	William Norman	Lt Col	DSO, TD	44	KIA	France	South west of St Quentin	Pozieres Memorial (Panel 6)	(3)
9	27th March	BELLOT	Bryson	Lt	-	24	DOI	France	No 2 Stationary Hospital, Abbeville	Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extn (I.G.28)	(4)
10	31st March	JENKINS	Kenneth Gordon	Lt	MiD	31	DOW	France	CCS at Doullens	Doullens Community Cemetery Extn (VI.A.14)	(5)
11	31st May	BROOKING	Hugh Cyril Arthur	Capt	-	31	DOI	UK	Military Hospital at Purfleet	Frome (St John The Baptist) Church (South Wall)	(6)
Died in 1919
12	27th January	JACKSON-BARSTOW	John Eric	Capt	-	23	KWF	UK	Aeroplane crash near Caterham	Weston-super-Mare Cemetery (2451)	(7)
Notes: 1. HILL was attached to 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry. 2. BIGGS was seconded to 53rd Company Machine Gun Corps and was wounded at ? 3. STEWART commanded 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment. 4. BELLOT was admitted to No 2 Stationary Hospital at Abbeville on 19th February 1918 for intestinal investigations, where he died on 27th March 1918. 5. JENKINS was attached to the Tank Corps and wounded at ? 6. BROOKING was attached to a unit of the Labour Corps based at the Manor Road Camp, West Ham, at the time of his death. He died of blood poisoning. 7. JACKSON-BARSTOW was seconded to the RFC and then the RAF. He was flying towards Kenley Aerodrome during a heavy snow storm and on trying to land he crashed in Marden Park, east of Caterham.

Those Officers of other Regiments Attached to the North Somerset Yeomanry Who Died in the Great War
No	Date Died	Surname	Forenames	Rank	Decs	Age	Causee	Countrty	Location/Sector	Cemetery/Memorial	Notes
1	26th February 1918	MAIN	Eric Arthur	2Lt	-	24	DOI	France	CCS at Marchelepoy, Near Roye	Roye New British Cemetery (II.E.6)	()
Notes: 1. MAIN was detached from 6th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry. He was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station on 13th February 1918. He was buried in a temporary British Cemetery at Marchelepot and was reburied at Roye in September 1920.

Regimental History and Battle Honours of the Great War

A detailed history of the North Somerset Yeomanry can be viewed here.

During the Great War the North Somerset Yeomanry was organised into three separate units:

1/1st North Somerset Yeomanry

The 1st Line of the Regiment mobilised at Bath in August 1914 as part of the 1st South Western Mounted Brigade. In October 1914 the Regiment moved to Sussex with the Brigade, but left it shortly afterwards deploying to France on 3rd November 1914 and joined the 6th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division on 13th November, replacing the 10th Hussars who moved to the newly formed 8th Cavalry Brigade. Trench warfare meant there was little scope for cavalry operations. Nevertheless, in 1915 the Brigade and Division took part in the Second Battle of Ypres (Battle of Frezenberg Ridge, 11–13 May) and the Battle of Loos (26–28 September). In 1916 the Division saw no notable actions, but in 1917 the Division saw action in the Battle of Arras (First Battle of the Scarpe, 9–12 April). The Regiment left 6th Cavalry Brigade on 10th March 1918. Originally it was earmarked to become a Cyclist unit, then it was to form a Machine Gun Battalion with the Leicestershire Yeomanry. The German Spring Offensive of 1918 forestalled this plan, and the Regiment was remounted and returned to the Cavalry Corps. From April 1918 the Regiment was split up with a squadron being transferred to each Regiment in 6th Cavalry Brigade (3rd Dragoon Guards, 1st Dragoons and 10th Hussars).

2/1st North Somerset Yeomanry

The 2nd Line unit was formed at Bath in September 1914 and in January 1915 it joined 2/1st South Western Mounted Brigade. In May 1915 it was stationed in the Calne, Wilts, area before moving in September 1915 to the Canterbury area and then to the Colchester area in March 1916. On 31st March 1916, the remaining Mounted Brigades were ordered to be numbered in a single sequence, the Brigade became the 15th Mounted Brigade and joined 4th Mounted Division.

In July 1916, the Regiment was converted to a Cyclist Unit in 6th Cyclist Brigade, 2nd Cyclist Division (4th Mounted Division redesignated). In November 1916 the 2nd Cyclist Division was broken up and the unit was merged with the 2/1st Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry to form 10th (Wiltshire and North Somerset) Yeomanry Cyclist Regiment in 4th Cyclist Brigade, based in the Ipswich area. In March 1917 it resumed its original identity as 2/1st North Somerset Yeomanry, still in 4th Cyclist Brigade, at Ipswich. In July 1917 it was at Wivenhoe and moved in November1917 to Walton-on-the-Naze. Early in 1918, the unit moved to Ireland with 4th Cyclist Brigade and was stationed at Dublin, where it remained to the end of the war.

3/1st North Somerset Yeomanry

The 3rd Line unit was formed at Bath in April 1915 and in the summer of 1915 it was affiliated to a Reserve Cavalry Regiment at Tidworth. In the summer of 1916 it was affiliated to the 11th Reserve Cavalry Regiment, also at Tidworth. Early in 1917 it was absorbed into the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment at Tidworth.

Battle Honours of the Great War

The sheer scale of the Great War led to a previously unheard of number of Honours being awarded and it was simply impractical to emblazon every one of them on the Regimental Colour. In September 1922 it was ordered that Regiments should select up to 10 Honours to be emblazoned on their Regimental Colours along with previous awards, up to a total of 24. This led to a storm of protest, since many Regiments would have had to remove prvious Honours. The order was therefore amended the following December, to allow each Regiment to select up to 10 Honours to be emblazoned on its King's/Queen's Colour, Honours from other conflicts continuing to be displayed on the Regimental Colour. Honours in bold are emblazoned on the Regimental Colours.

Ypres 1914 -15, Frezenberg, Loos, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Beaurevoir, Cambrai 1918, Persuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914 - 18

The Debt Of Honour Register

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was established by Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission), and pays tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two World Wars. It is a non-profit-making organisation founded by Sir Fabian Ware.

The CWGC's principles are:

Each of the dead should be commemorated by name on the headstone or memorial.
Headstones and memorials should be permanent.
Headstones should be uniform.
There should be no distinction made of account of military or civil rank, race or creed.

Since its inception, the Commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots, erecting headstones over graves and, in instances where the remains are missing, inscribing the names of the dead on permanent memorials. Over one million casualties are now commemorated at military and civil sites in some 150 countries.

Together with the tasks of structural and horticultural maintenance, the CWGC is charged with keeping records of the 1.75 million Commonwealth war dead. At each cemetery and memorial you will find a register showing the service details and, in some cases, family details, of the men and women buried or commemorated there. Much of the Commission’s day-to-day work is concerned with maintaining the integrity of the casualty database, the electronic version of the records, which can be accessed via the Debt of Honour Register (DoHR).

In December 2020, the Commission reviewed their policy on amendments to the Casualty Database. One of the outcomes of the review was that they would no longer add Honours and Awards to the database where there is no entitlement to post-nominal letters. Therefore the recording of "Mentioned in Despatches", for instance, would no longer be carried out. Listed in the table below are names, where applicable, of any officers awarded "Mentioned in Despatches" which will not be recorded in the Casualty Database.

Some apparent inaccuracies in the records of Officers of the Glamorgan Yeomanry may have been found in the DoHR. The Webmaster will investigate and report these errors to the CWGC as the project/website is progressed.

Below is a brief summary of apparent inaccuracies discovered so far and action taken or planned to take.

Name	Apparent Inaccuracy	Date Reported to CWGC	Agreed by CWGC
BROOKING, Capt Hugh Cyril Arthur	Attached to a unit of the Labour Corps at death. (WO 374/9419)
JENKINS, Lt Kenneth Gordon	Attached to a unit of the Tank Corps at death. (WO 374/37363)