Private Thomas James Price, 12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment

Uphill: Church of St Nicholas (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/20551864236

16734 Private Thomas James Price of the 12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was killed in action on the 3rd September 1916, aged 20. Private Price was also a bellringer at Uphill (Somerset) and a member of the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers (BWDACR).

The 12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment:

The 12th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (Bristol’s Own) was formed at Bristol on the 30th August 1914 [1]. From June 1915, they formed part of 95th Infantry Brigade in the 32nd Division. The battalion arrived in France in November 1915, but on the 26th December, the 95th Brigade was transferred to the 5th Division, in exchange for the 14th Infantry Brigade [2]. This led to a thorough restructure of the 5th Division [3]. Three New Army battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment from the 95th Brigade (the 14th, 15th and 16th) were moved to the other brigades in the Division. In exchange, the 12th Gloucesters were joined in the 95th Brigade by three Regular Army units, the 1st Battalions of the East Surrey Regiment, the Devonshire Regiment, and the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.

The process of the integration of the 95th Brigade into the 5th Division was described in The Fifth Division in the Great War (1921) [4]:

At the beginning of December the 95th Infantry Brigade of the New Army, which was destined to take the place of the 14th Brigade in the Division, arrived from home; this new Brigade, consisting of the 14th, 15th, and 16th Battalions Royal Warwickshire Regiment (being the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Birmingham Battalions of that Regiment), and the 12th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment, was split up among the three Brigades of the Division. The troops were sent up for training in the trenches, first by Platoons and Companies attached to the regular Battalions holding the line, and, later, as complete Battalions holding sectors of the front under the guidance of Officers of the old Battalions. For new troops, fresh out from home, their ordeal was a severe one owing to the physical conditions prevailing, but they acquitted themselves well. The fighting conditions were fairly quiet, although the 16th Warwicks were particularly unfortunate in this respect ; on their first tour in the trenches as a Battalion, which coincided with Christmas Day, they were subjected to a heavy shelling by 5’9 Howitzers, which caused a number of casualties, whilst on another occasion, very shortly afterwards, a mine was exploded under their trenches, from which they suffered somewhat severely; the gallantry they displayed on both occasions augured well for the future.

The 5th Division spent most of February 1915 in the Somme sector. Following the German attack on Verdun, however, they were ordered to relieve the French around the city of Arras [5].  In March 1916, the 5th Division moved to the Arras sector, taking over a section of the front north-east of the city of Arras, between Saint-Laurent-Blangy and the “Labyrinth” just north of Roclincourt. The history of the 5th Division notes how exposed they were in this position [6]:

To the South of Arras the line bent back Westwards, so that the town and our positions lay in a salient, which was overlooked from the North by the Vimy Ridge, and from the South by the high ground at Beaurains.

The 5th Division seem to have enjoyed their stay in the Arras sector, but on the 3rd July 1916 they moved to the area around Cauroy prior to their involvement in the Somme Offensive [7]. On the 14th July, the Division would start the three-day march southwards.

The 5th Division’s first role on the Somme was to reinforce the 7th Division in the line between High Wood and Longueval, with the 95th Brigade going into position near the latter village on the 19th July 1916. Throughout the latter part of July, the Division took part in attacks on High Wood, Longueval and Delville Wood [8]:

On the night of the 1st to 2nd August the exhausted Division was relieved by the 17th Division, and withdrew to the “Citadel” on the Bray-Fricourt road.

The Division then moved back to the area around Abbéville for a brief period of rest and training.

The 5th Division would head back to the Somme front on the 24th August 1916. On the 3rd September, they would attack the area around Falfemont Farm, part of the action of the Somme Offensive that became known as the Battle of Guillemont.

Guillemont, Ginchy, Morval, and Combles. Detail from Trench Map 57C.SW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 3A; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 3 September 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465188 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The Battle of Guillemont was one of several attacks intended to capture German positions in preparation for a much larger attack on the Somme front. This would eventually get underway on the 15th September 1916 as the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. Following that action, the 5th Division (including the 12th Gloucesters) would be involved in the capture of Morval on the 25th and 26th September 1916.

Angle Wood and Falfemont Farm. Detail from Trench Map 62C.NW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 3A; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 3 September 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465287 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

There is a full account of the 5th Division’s involvement in the Battle of Guillemont in the divisional history [9]:

During the night of 26th August the Division relieved the 35th (Bantam) Division on the Eastern slopes of the Maltz Horn Ridge, Divisional Head-Quarters being in dug-outs near Billon Farm. The front was held by two Brigades, 15th on the right and 95th on the left, the 13th Brigade being in reserve. On our immediate right were the French, who held the high ground East of Maurepas, and whose line joined with ours near Angle Wood; on our left was the 20th (Light) Division, holding a line half-way between Trones Wood and Guillemont, the point of junction between the Divisions being the small plantation known “Arrowhead Copse.”

The Divisional position covered the whole of the Eastern slope of the ridge on which stood Maltz Horn Farm, the advanced posts on the right being in the valley which runs from Maurepas to Combles. Opposite the right Brigade front rose the end of the spur on which Leuze and Bouleaux woods are situated, and which ran North-East diagonally across the front of the Division; at the South- West point of this spur was situated the famous “Falfemont Farm.”

On taking over, the situation was comparatively quiet, the battle having temporarily died down in this area, although our positions, especially in the valley near Angle Wood, were subjected to a good deal of shelling.

On 3rd September the Division attacked. Owing to the commanding position of Falfemont Farm it was decided that this place should be attacked some hours before the main battle, as, until it had been captured, the French would be unable to advance along the valley towards Combles. The French had undertaken the Artillery bombardment and barrage on this point.

At 9 a.m. the 13th Brigade attacked, the K.O.S.B. [2nd King’s Own Scottish Borderers] on the right being directed on the Farm, and the 14th Warwicks on the trenches between the Farm and Wedge Wood. The Infantry left their trenches and advanced towards the square enclosure of the Farm. Not a shell was falling, however, on that point, and the Germans were able to bring up numerous machine-guns from their deep dug-outs, and pour a murderous fire into the advancing line. Under this terrific deluge the attacking columns melted away, further advance against the undisturbed aim of the enemy’s Gunners being a sheer impossibility. It subsequently transpired that the guns detailed for the barrage had been switched to meet a German counter-attack farther South, although we had no notification of this at the time. The remaining two Battalions of the 13th Brigade were then moved up, and preparations made to assault the Farm simultaneously with the main attack at 12.15 p.m.

At this hour the 95th Brigade, on the left, moved to the attack, while on their left the 20th Division, with the 47th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division attached, assaulted Guillemont. The advance went well. The 12th Gloucesters were on the right, and the [1st] D.C.L.I. on the left, and, keeping well up to the barrage, they carried all before them, and, two hours after zero, had gained their final objective, and had dug in along the line of the road from Ginchy to Maurepas, North of Wedge Wood. Their advance was magnificently executed, and, in spite of a withering machine-gun fire, the line never wavered for an instant; but both Battalions suffered considerable casualties, the losses of the Gloucesters being heavier on account of an almost enfilade machine-gun fire from Falfemont Farm. To their North, Guillemont, around which place the fight had ebbed and flowed for more than a month, was finally captured; as a village it no longer existed; in fact, except for the marking on the map, it would have been impossible to tell that that shell-pitted expanse of ground had ever been a peaceful agricultural hamlet. Not one brick remained.

While events had gone well on the left, the attack on Falfemont Farm did not progress so favourably. The 13th Brigade had suffered severely, and the [1st] Norfolks and the 16th Warwicks were sent up from the Divisional Reserve to reinforce them. During the night the 13th Brigade was withdrawn, and the 15th Brigade took over the right sector.

On 5th September the attack was resumed, and at 3.10 p.m. the 15th Brigade assaulted Falfemont Farm and the German line thence towards Wedge Wood. The Artillery preparation was terrific, but, in spite of this, as soon as the [1st] Norfolks approached the Farm the Germans could be seen mounting their machine-guns on the parapet. It was impossible to reach the Farm from the front over that open bullet-swept zone, but, whilst the garrison’s attention was concentrated on the frontal attack, the [1st] Bedfords and [1st] Cheshires reached the trench line to the North of it. Quickly realising the position, Captain Barnett of the [1st] Bedfords organised a bombing-party from men of the two Battalions, which had by now become mixed, and commenced bombing down the trenches towards the Farm. This attack was magnificently carried out, and gradually our troops worked their way, fighting from traverse to traverse, into the corner of the enclosure. Further, to assist in the flanking of the position, Colonel Onslow (O.C. Bedfords) led the remainder of the two Battalions up the slope towards “Lousy” Wood; in doing so he risked our own barrage, which was due to recommence for the further advance in a short time, but his action was most valuable, as from the new position all approaches to the Farm were covered, and no supports could reach it. The movement was observed, and the barrage adjusted in time. A fierce hand-to-hand fight was now raging around the Farm buildings and enclosure, and gradually the garrison was reduced, and the numerous machine-guns destroyed or captured. By 5 p.m. the whole of the Farm position was in our hands, and German shells commenced to rain upon it, to ensure its complete destruction.

While this struggle was going on, the 95th Brigade advanced from their position on the Ginchy-Maurepas road, the [1st] Devons and [1st] East Surreys leading the way; the [1st] Bedfords, [1st] Cheshires, and 16th Warwicks continued the line to the right, and, together, the attacking waves breasted the slope and disappeared into the dim recesses of “Lousy” Wood. Here opposition was encountered, but nothing could stop the advance, and by nightfall the whole of the Wood was in our hands, and the line of the final objective, the Ginchy-Combles road, was consolidated.

To our North the 16th (Irish) Division had assaulted Ginchy, but, meeting with a determined opposition, had failed to capture it, as also the Quadrilateral, a strong work between Ginchy and Leuze Wood. The left flank of the 5th Division was therefore very much “in the air,” and to cover it the [1st] D.C.L.I, and [12th] Gloucesters of the 95th Brigade formed a defensive line along the North-West edge of Leuze Wood, and thus secured the position.

The positions gained were held against all counterattacks, and the seal set on one of the finest exploits of the 5th Division during the War. In the attacks of 3rd and 5th September the 95th Brigade had advanced 3500 yards without a set-back of any kind, whilst the 13th and 15th Brigades had attacked and finally captured one of the strongest redoubts ever made by the engineering skill of the Germans.

The Quadrilateral would be attacked by the 6th Division on both the 13th and 15th September 1916, both times without success. On the second of these occasions, a bellringer from Portbury, Private George Bye of the 8th Bedfordshire Regiment, would be killed in action. The position was finally captured by the 6th Division on the 18 September.

Guillemont and Leuze Wood. Detail from Trench Map 57C.SW; Scale: 1:20000; Edition: 3A; Published: 1916; Trenches corrected to 3 September 1916: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465188 Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Prior to the Battle of Guillemont, the 12th Gloucesters had left Vergies (west of Amiens) on the 23rd August 1916, marching via Airaines and Bettencourt (Bettencourt-Rivière) to Longpré, where they entrained for Méricourt. On their arrival, they marched to a camp west of Dernancourt. On subsequent days they moved to a camp at Citadel F.22.a. and relieving the 17th Royal Scots (35th Division) in reserve trenches north-west of Carnoy (Silesia Trenches, A.9.b.) on the 26th August. They remained there until being relieved by the 1st Bedfords (15th Brigade) on the night of the 31st August, marching to rest camp at Bronfay Farm. From there they would march to the front line south of Guillemont for an attack towards Leuze Wood. The account given in the battalion War Diary (WO 95/1580/1) is brief [10]:

BRONFAY FARM. Sept 1. Resting in camp near BRONFAY FARM.
[Sept] 2. Do. Do. On evening of 2nd, Bn marched to trenches about T.25.c.4.3. to B.1.A.5.7. (Reference Trench Map – GUILLEMONT, 1/20,000) and relieved 1/E. SURREY REGT.

S. of GUILLEMONT. [Sept] 3. 12 Noon. Bn took part in general attack on German trenches carried out by XVIth and XVth Corps and the French. Final objective taken. 2nd Lt. L.C.H. VINCENT and 44 O.R. killed. CAPT. E.A. ROBINSON – 2nd Lt. S. REYNOLDS – 2nd Lt. E.L. HILLBORNE  – 2nd Lt. G.H. HALL – Lt. C. BARRINGTON – 2nd Lt. F.C. HOWARD and 225 O.R. wounded. 48 O.R. missing.
[Sept] 4. In captured German trenches. Lt. W.W. PARR (and 12 O.R.) rejoined. 1/DEVON REGT. moved up in front of Bn to 3rd objective and carried out attack, capturing German trenches in front of LEUZE WOOD.
[Sept] 5. In captured German trenches. 2 Coys moved up to 3rd objective. 1/DEVON REGT. captured German trench in LEUZE WOOD.
[Sept] 6. Do. Do. Bn was relieved on evening of 6th by LONDON REGT. [an unnamed battalion of the 56th (1/1st London) Division] and marched to camp at HAPPY VALLEY.

Map of trenches south of Guillemont in the War Diary of the 12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. Source: WO 95/1580/1, The National Archives, Kew. © Crown Copyright.

The War Diary does not contain a full account of the operation, but does include the transcript of a message sent to 5th Division from the Fourth Army commander:

Gloucesters 3/9/16
Following from General Rawlinson begins.
Please convey to 5th Division my congratulations and thanks on their success today against FALFEMONT FARM and LEUZE WOOD. They deserve great credit for the energy and vigour they have shown especially after the failure of their first attack at FALFEMONT.

Rawlinson wrote again to congratulate the 5th Division on the 30 September (Fourth Army No.359(C).) on its departure from Fourth Army, his message citing, “heavy fighting in DELVILLE WOOD and LONGUEVAL, the attack and capture of the FALFEMONT FARM line and LEUZE WOOD, and finally the storming of MORVAL,” describing them as “feats of arms seldom equalled in the annals of the British Army.”

They constitute a record of unvarying success which it has been the lot of few Divisions to attain, and the gallantry, valour, and endurance of all ranks have been wholly admirable.

Private Thomas James Price of the 12th Gloucesters (Bristol’s Own) was killed in action on the 3rd September, presumably one of the forty-four other ranks killed in the attack near Guillemont. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Thiepval: The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme; via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/49112266402

Thomas James Price:

Thomas James Price was born at Uphill in the fourth quarter of 1895, the son of James Price and Eliza Price (née Popham) [11]. At the time of the 1901 Census, Thomas J. Price was five years old and living with his parents and six-year-old older sister Elsie, one of several families living at Coast Guard Cottage, Uphill. At that time, James Price was thirty-eight years old and working as a gardener labourer, while Eliza Price was thirty-five. A decade later, the Price family were recorded living at No. 1, Coast Guard Cottage in Uphill. The 1911 Census states that Thomas J. Price was fifteen years old and working as a golf caddie. His sister Elsie was seventeen years old and working as a dressmaker. Of the older generation, James Price was forty-eight years old (1863) and now working as a limestone quarry man, while Eliza A. Price was forty-five. The 1911 Census also recorded that James and Eliza had had three children, one of whom had died.

Uphill: Old Church of St Nicholas (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/20390090830

Family Background:

James Price, Thomas’s father, was born at Uphill in the first quarter of 1863, the son of Thomas and Jane Price (née Hillman). At the time of the 1871 Census, James was eight years old and living with his parents and seven siblings at Uphill Street, Uphill. James’s father, Thomas Price, had been born at Pensford (Somerset), and by 1871 was thirty-three years old and working as a shoemaker. His mother, Jane Price, had been born at Temple Cloud (Somerset), and was thirty-one years old and working as a dressmaker. The eight children living with them at the time of the 1871 Census were: Elizabeth (aged 13), Charles John (11), Sarah Jane (9), James (8), William (7), Henry (5), Walter Isaac (3), and Mary Ann (1). Of the children, Elizabeth had been born at Bristol, all of the others at Uphill.

The Price family were still living at Uphill at the time of the following census, in 1881. At the date of the census, James Price was eighteen years old, although his profession or occupation was not recorded. Thomas Price was by then forty-three years old and still working as a shoemaker, while Jane Price was forty-one. Of the children, Elizabeth, Sarah Jane and Mary Ann were no longer resident, but the family had still grown. There were now ten children living with the family: Charles John (aged 21), James (18), William (17), Henry (15), Walter Isaac (13), Ellen (9), Alice (7), Rose (5), Lucy (3) and Arthur (1).

By the time of the 1891 Census, James Price was twenty-eight years old and working as a general labourer. The census recorded that he was lodging at Uphill with the family of Thomas and Elizabeth Pople.

James Price then married Eliza Ann Popham at Axbridge (registration district) in the second quarter of 1892. Eliza Ann Popham had been born at Lympsham (Somerset) in the third quarter of 1865, the daughter of James Popham and Ellen Popham (née Symmons). At the time of the 1871 Census, Eliza was five-years old and living with her parents at Lympsham, the eldest of three children. Eliza’s father, James Popham, had been born at East Brent, and in 1871 was twenty-eight years old and working as a carpenter. Her mother, Ellen Symmons, had been born at Burtle, and was also twenty-eight (James Popham had married Ellen Symmons at Bridgwater (registration district) in the second quarter of 1865). The 1871 Census return stated that Eliza had been born at East Brent, while her younger siblings Walter and Celenia (aged four and two respectively) had been born at nearby Lympsham.

At the time of the 1881 Census, Eliza Popham had left the family home; she was fifteen-years old and working as a general servant at No. 4, Sydenham Terrace, Weston-super-Mare, the household of Mr and Mrs Walter Gillett. By the time of the 1891 Census, Eliza was twenty-five years old and working as a housemaid domestic servant at Caledonia Place, Clifton (Barton Regis, Gloucestershire), the household of Donald McArthur, an iron merchant, and Eleanor H. McArthur.

James Price did not long survive his son; he died at Axbridge (registration district) in the fourth quarter of 1916, aged 53. Eliza Ann Price died at Weston-super-Mare (registration district) in the first quarter of 1948, aged 82.

Uphill: War Memorial (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/19957159763

Memorials:

As well as being named on the Thiepval Memorial, Private Price is commemorated in Somerset on the Uphill war memorial and on the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association memorial in Bath Abbey.

Another Uphill bellringer, Private Robert John Jarvis of the 2/7th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, died of wounds on the 24th March 1918, a casualty of the German Spring Offensive (Kaiserschlacht). He is also named on the memorials at Uphill and in Bath Abbey.

Uphill: War Memorial (Somerset); via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/20390033310

References:

[1] The Long, Long Trail, Gloucestershire Regiment: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/gloucestershire-regiment/

[2] The Long, Long Trail, 32nd Division: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/32nd-division/

[3] The Long, Long Trail, 5th Division: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/5th-division/

[4] A. H. Hussey and D. S. Inman, The Fifth Division in the Great War (London: Nisbet, 1921), pp. 90-91: https://archive.org/details/fifthdivisioning00huss/page/90

[5] Ibid., p. 96: https://archive.org/details/fifthdivisioning00huss/page/96

[6] Ibid., p 98: https://archive.org/details/fifthdivisioning00huss/page/98

[7] Ibid., pp. 105-106: https://archive.org/details/fifthdivisioning00huss/page/n155

[8] Ibid., p. 117: https://archive.org/details/fifthdivisioning00huss/page/116

[9] Ibid., pp 119-123: https://archive.org/details/fifthdivisioning00huss/page/n173

[10] WO 95/1580/1, 12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment War Diary, The National Archives, Kew.

[11] These sections are based on the genealogical records made available by Findmypast: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/