1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers

[pammyw]

A friend and I are researching the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers. Does anyone have any photo's, letters, diaries, newspaper cuttings, anything which will give a more personal view rather than the official histories.
many thanks
Pam

[Craclyn]

Sorry I don't have any papers that would be of use to you, but I do have a great uncle who served in the 1/7th and was killed on the Somme in September 1916. His name was Edmund Webb, so if you come across any information about him in your research I would be interested to hear about it.

[cavvytri]

My half cousin was in the 7th NF, he was killed on 14th November 1916 aged 20. His name was John Thomas Embleton.

[mmm45]

http://www.4thbnnf.com/40_170409_170414_1stscarpe.html

I know the above site is for 1/4th However 1/7th were never far away so through the site above you should get a feel for the areas they served in 1/7th get a lot of mentions in text

Ady

[pammyw]

Cavvytri and Craclyn I have sent you a P.M.
Pam

[Silverfox2306]

Hello

Ten years ago I posted on this page regarding my Great Uncle, Pte William Carr 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers. I am trying to find more photographs of him if at all possible. I do have one which I believe to be from a newspaper announcing him being KIA.

If anyone has any photographs or any further information in addition to what I already have, I would be very grateful.

This is what I currently have about William.

William Carr was born in Newham Northumberland in 1895. Son of John and Helen Carr. Williams father John was a shepherd on Ellingham Home Farm, Chathill in Northumberland. William enlisted with the Northumberland Fusiliers 1/7th Battalion (3 co) at Wooler, Northumberland. He was killed in action on the 16th of June 1915, he was only 20 years old. His name appears on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium and on a plaque in Chillingham Church, Northumberland alongside his elder brother Thomas Carr. A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE WAR HISTORY OF THE 7th NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS. 1915-1918. (extract taken from; "War History of The Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers") by Captain Francis Buckley The 7th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers served in France and Flanders for nearly three years with their original brigade, the 149th Infantry Brigade of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, and afterwards for the last nine months of the war they served in France with the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, to whom they were attached as Pioneer Battalion. With the 149th Infantry Brigade they landed in France on the 21st April, 1915, and without any preliminary war experience, without time even to get the atmosphere of the front, they were thrust into the second battle of Ypres, to counter-attack on two successive days an enemy greatly superior in numbers, overwhelmingly superior in artillery, and elated with the success of a devilish gas attack. Under the circumstances it was a massacre by the German artillery and machine-guns rather than a man to man fight. But that gallant advance into the unknown horrors of modern war, did several things. It laid the foundation of battalion tradition, and it gave the British line, tottering and almost broken, a breathing space in which to consolidate and re-form. A staff officer of the Regular Army writes: "No stouter hearts ever existed than those of the original Division, and I shall never forget my comrades from Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. the attack of the 149th Infantry Brigade on St. Julien on the 25th and 26th April, 1915, was one of the finest feats of arms I have ever seen." After this violent baptism into war, during one of its worst and most critical phases, the lot of the battalion, or rather its survivors, was by no means a bed of roses. They were back again in the Salient almost as soon as the mud was cleaned off their equipment; and on and off for four weeks they held trenches of the worst description between Wieltje and Hooge. At the latter place, on the 16th June, 1915, they supported an attack in the second battle of Bellewarde, a very trying and expensive experience. The day private William Carr was Killed. .......... Postscript to this information .......... William was actually in support trenches at Soave wood near Hooge when they were shelled by German artillery.