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Post by shred on Jun 7, 2016 19:48:26 GMT
IN MEMORY OF OUR MEMBERS WHO FOUGHT AND FELL IN THE GREAT WAR ROBERT BLACKSTOCK 1881-1916 CHARLES STANLEY JOHNSTON 1891 - 1916 WE OWE THEM SO MUCH
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Post by shred on Jun 7, 2016 19:54:38 GMT
We were asked to do some research on these men in April 2015.
ROBERT BLACKSTOCK (1881-1916)
Robert Blackstock was born 1881 in South Manchester, the second son of John and Amelia Blackstock, of 46 Mayfield Road, Whalley Range, Manchester. His siblings were Fanny, John, Mabel and Lillian. Robert was educated at Manchester Grammar School and then joined Messrs Myrtle, Burt and Co., Cooper Street, Manchester, where he was employed as a buyer.
A keen sportsman, Robert was a member of Agecroft Rowing Club, Sale Rugby Union Football Club and Sale Cricket Club. He was well-known among rowing men in the North and Midlands of England, having stroked the winning four crew on five occasions. He had also won the Best Boat Junior Sculling Race at the Chester Regatta in 1913. He was highly regarded in the Agecroft Rowing Club, which he had joined in 1905, holding the position of deputy captain in 1909, and captain in 1910-11.
In September 1914 he answered the call for volunteers to join the Armed Forces. He enlisted into the 20th (Service) Battalion (3rd Public Schools), The Royal Fusiliers, as Private 4503 Robert Blackstock. The 20th Royal Fusiliers was a battalion that would, in all likelihood, have appealed to Robert and many of his old school friends. On 17th September the 20th Royal Fusiliers left Manchester for training camps at Mansfield and then Salisbury Plain. Robert gained rapid promotion rising to the rank of Company Sergeant Major, serving in A Company.
On 14th November 1915, the 20th Royal Fusiliers disembarked at Calais and then made their way to Bethune in the North of France. On 27th November, the battalion transferred to 19th Infantry Brigade (33rd Division). After months of trench warfare, intermixed with training for the forthcoming Somme offensive, they entrained at Bethune on 10th July 1916 and travelled south to Longueau, a railway centre on the eastern outskirts of the city of Amiens. From here they marched to Poullainville, to the north of Amiens.
The Battle of the Somme had opened on 1st July 1916, however, the 20th Royal Fusiliers did not arrive on the battlefield until 15th July. They went into bivouacs in the recently captured Mametz Wood, where they spent the next three days moving to and from Mametz Wood and the village of Bazentin-le-Petit. At Bazentin they prepared for the assault on the fortified German positions in High Wood (Bois des Fourcaux), which lay due east of the village.
At 3.25am on 20th July, after a short artillery bombardment, the 1st Cameronians and 5th Scottish Rifles, with 20th Royal Fusiliers in support, rose from their trenches and made their way across no man’s land towards High Wood. Robert was the acting sergeant major for Captain Templar, who had this to say about him: “During the preliminary bombardment we lay side by side, and he chatted away quite unconcernedly under a perfect canopy of shrapnel. Then at the word ‘Go’ we went forward together, and he was invaluable in keeping the line, rallying stragglers and generally organising his immediate portion of the attack. It was fine to hear his voice ringing out and giving orders just as if we were on parade. Then we got to our objective and dug in, and he was among the first to go – a shell hit him and he died at once.”
The 20th Royal Fusiliers lost 16 officers and 353 other ranks, including 35 year old Company Sergeant Major 4503 Robert Blackstock, during the assault on High Wood on 20th July 1916. Robert is buried in Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery, Albert, France.
NOT FORGOTTEN
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Post by shred on Jun 10, 2016 17:28:14 GMT
CHARLES STANLEY JOHNSTON (1891-1916)Charles Stanley Johnston was born 1891 in Cheetham, Manchester, the eldest son of Frederick Stanley and Jane Elizabeth Johnston, of “Abertawe”, Park Road, Crumpsall, Manchester. His two brothers were Joshua and Frederick. Robert worked as a travelling salesman for Messrs J&N Philips, 35 Church Street, Manchester. On 31st August 1914 the Lord Mayor of Manchester appealed in the Guardian newspaper for clerks and warehousemen from the city’s commercial districts to form a Pals battalion. The appeal was designed to interest the city’s middle class. 2,000 enlistment tickets were printed and from noon on 31st August the tickets were available from a number of prominent businesses, including J&N Philips. The first of Manchester’s eight Pals battalions went through several names changes, originally called the Manchester Clerk’s and Warehousemen’s Battalion, then the 1st City Battalion, before becoming the 16th (Service) Battalion (1st City), The Manchester Regiment. Charles enlisted on 1st September, as Private 6263 Charles Stanley Johnston (later promoted to lance corporal) in A Company, Platoon II. The battalion originally trained at Heaton Park, Manchester, then moved to Belton Park in Grantham and Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. In November 1915, the 16th Manchesters disembarked at Boulogne and then made their way to France via Boulogne. Charles did not travel with the main battalion as he joined them in the field in early 1916. The 16th Manchesters served in the trenches around Maricourt in the Somme region. Maricourt was at the extreme southern end of the British sector of the Western Front. At 11pm on 5th May 1916, a short artillery bombardment burst on a sap that was held by A Company’s Lewis Gun team. Four men, including Lance Corporal 6263 Charles Stanley Johnston, were killed and a further six were wounded. The company commander, Captain Hubert Worthington, stated: “A short hour or two before the fatal bombardment I had a long talk with him and was suggesting to him and his men possible points of safety as if almost foreseeing this catastrophe. Strange to say he drew the first place for leave in his platoon and his Lewis Gun officer and myself had recommended him to the C.O. for a commission. His loss to the company is a great one. I was on my way to his post when the short sudden bombardment opened, and in one minute from its commencement he must have died without a moment’s pain. The survivor of his post has been recommended for some distinction.” Charles and his three comrades were originally buried in Maricourt Cemetery. After the war they were re-interred in Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery, Somme, France. NOT FORGOTTENThanks to prospectroad for doing the write up on these two men.
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