LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI
Private Percy Skelton
1 Bn Coldstream Guards
Taken, Not Given, Liam Sumption, L&DLHS
Pte
Percy Skelton
Coldstream Guards
Guinchy [sic]
Jan 25 1918 [sic]
First a word of explanation is necessary.
Soldiers Who Died in the Great War, Coldstream Guards volume,
does not differentiate between the battalions of the Coldstream. Also a
researcher seeking the War Diaries of the Foot Guard regiments needs to
check under their respective brigades. (1)
The Coldstream fielded four battalions in the 1914-18 War, one of which
was Pioneers.
The War Memorial inscription is wrong. Soldiers Who Died in the
Great War states that he was killed on 25 January 1915, i.e. three
years previously. (2)
He was born in Leatherhead and enlisted in London (Holmwood); his
regimental number being 12450.
The May 1915 issue of the Parish magazine (3) lists him as 'New Army'
and the September 1915 issue states that he had been missing since 25
January 1915, and was now presumed dead. (3)
Notes on sources
1. W095 Volume entitled 'Finding Aids' - Public Record Office, Richmond,
Kew.
2. Soldiers Who Died in the Great War (Coldstream Guards)- Imperial War
Museum, Lambeth.
3. May and September 1915 issues of the Parish magazine of St Mary and
St Nicholas, Leatherhead
Further research
Private
SKELTON, PERCY
Service Number 12450
Died 25/01/1915
1st Bn. Coldstream Guards
Commemorated at LE
TOURET MEMORIAL
Location: Pas de Calais, France
Cemetery/memorial reference: Panels 2 and 3.
He has no known grave.
1 Battalion Coldstream Guards' War Diary for 25 January
1915 (WO95/1263) states:
23rd January CAMBRIN: The
Battalion left CAMBRIN and went into the trenches at CUINCHY, relieving
the London Scottish – Trenches had not been completed. Communication
trenches bad and some Trenches full of water – heavy rain all night.
24th January CUINCHY: The Germans
shelled the position most of the day with their heavy guns – most of the
fire being directed on PONT FIXE. Impossible for working parties to
be utilized on improving the trenches.
Killed:- Other Ranks 1
Wounded:- Other Ranks 5
25th January CUINCHY: About 7am a German deserter came in and reported an
attack imminent.
The German attack commenced by the explosion of a mine in the trench held
by No 4 Coy under Capt Campbell.
The first line of trenches were consequently rushed by the Germans.
No 1 Coy on the embankment by the La Bassee Canal held its ground and No 2
Coy under Lt Vis[count] Acheson held on to the Keep and Brickstacks and
repelled the German attacks. The Scots Guards on our immediate right
shared a similar fate but were able to maintain a stand at the
Brickfields.
Reinforcements and London Scottish, Black Watch and Cameron Highlanders
were sent up and a counter attack was made but it was found impossible to
dislodge the Germans from the front trenches they had taken.
Killed: 2 Lieut CG Mills
Died of wounds: 2 Lieut JE Rogers
Wounded: 2 Lieut RM Wright, 2 Lieut EN Clifton, 2 Lieut TA
Tapp, 2 Lieut JS Coates
Missing: Capt CK Hutchison, Capt Honourable JP Campbell, 2nd Lieut G
Armstrong, 2nd Lieut HN Clifton
Killed:- Other Ranks 19
Died of wounds:- Other Ranks 1
Wounded:- Other Ranks 54
Missing: Other Ranks 118 [of whom Percy Skelton was one]
The Western Front Association website carries a full
account of The Coldstream Guards and Irish Guards at
Cuinchy in later January 1915, from which these extracts give some
idea of the location and background:
Cuinchy is a village astride the
La Bassée Canal and is referred to by Robert Graves in his classic memoir
Goodbye to All That:
“Cuinchy bred rats. They came up
from the canal, fed on the plentiful corpses, and multiplied exceedingly.
While I stayed here with the Welsh, a new officer joined the company...
When he turned in that night, he heard a scuffling, shone his torch on the
bed, and found two rats on his blanket tussling for the possession of a
severed hand.”
The British sector was to
the east of Cuinchy: the front line ran 800 yards to the east of the
village. The line here formed a salient; from the canal it ran
towards the railway triangle, which was in German hands, and then back to
the main road.
In late January 1915 the British front line was occupied by the British
2nd Division, one of whose Brigades was the 4th (Guards) brigade, which
comprised 2/Grenadier Guards, 2/Coldstream Guards, 3/Coldstream Guards and
1/Irish Guards.
The Infamous Brickstacks The flat ground near Cuinchy was covered
by about thirty brick stacks, which were about 16 feet high, still
standing where they were made just prior to the war. They were a
formidable obstacle in an attack and equally useful as a shelter in
defence. Most were within German lines with others lying inside British
territory.
The German attack of 25 January
is described in some detail by Rudyard Kipling in The Irish Guards in
the Great War, Volume 1:
Their work was interrupted by
another “Kaiser-battle,” obediently planned to celebrate the All Highest’s
birthday. It began on the 25th January with a demonstration along the
whole flat front from Festubert to Vermelles.
… Owing to the mud, the
[Cuinchy] salient was lightly manned by half a battalion of the Scots
Guards and half a battalion of the Coldstream. Their trenches were wiped
out by the artillery attack and their line fell back, perhaps half a mile,
to a partially prepared position among the brick-fields and railway lines
between the Aire–La Bassée Canal and the La Bassée–Béthune road.
Here fighting continued with
reinforcements and counter-attacks knee deep in mud till the enemy were
checked and a none too stable defence made good between a mess of German
communication trenches and a keep or redoubt held by the British among the
huge brick-stacks by the railway.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 27 February 1915
Reported Missing — Mr.
Percy Skelton, member of the Leatherhead Fire Brigade, who joined the
Grenadier [sic] Guards at the outbreak of the war and has been in the
fighting line for some time in France, has been reported as missing.
Dorking and
Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 27 February 1915
MISSING
Mr. and Mrs. Skelton, of Holmwood, have received notification from the War
Office that their son, Pte. P. Skelton, who enlisted in the 1st Coldstream
Guards in September last, was missing at Cvinchey on January 25th. Pte.
Skelton was a member of the Leatherhead Fire Brigade.
Dorking
and Leatherhead Advertiser
13 March 1915
Pte P. Skelton, 1st Coldstream
Guards, now officially related missing.
He was last heard of at Guinchey [sic] on January 25th.
Pte. Skelton was a member of the Leatherhead Fire Brigade.
|
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Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 13 May 1916
THE WAR
Official information has now been received from the War Office that Pte
Percy Skelton, of the Coldstream Guards, who had hitherto been reported
missing, was killed in action on January 25th, 1915, at Cuinchy.
Pte Skelton joined the
Guards on September 12th, 1914, and went out to France in the
following January, being killed within twenty days of his landing.
Pte Skelton had been for
several years a valued member of the Leatherhead Fire Brigade, and was
well known in the town.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 1 July 1916
THE FIRE BRIGADE.
The Chief Officer reported that Pte. Percy Skelton (Coldstream Guards),
who was a member of the Fire Brigade, had been officially stated as
having been killed in action in France.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 30 December 1916
ROLL OF HONOUR. BRAVE SURREY MEN
FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT
MAY.
SKELTON, Pte. Percy, Coldstream Guards, killed in action, Jan. 25th, at
Cuinchy, of Leatherhead.
His life
Percy Skelton was born on 15 March 1883, in Ashtead, Surrey and was
baptised on 6 May 1883 at St Giles, Ashtead. The surname entered in the
register (entry no. 759) can easily be misread as Skilton.
His father was Daniel Skelton, born 1846, baptised 26 April 1846 at
Leatherhead. He was a Coachman, a son of George Skelton (1809-1871), an
Agricultural Labourer, from Leatherhead, Surrey, and Harriett
(1806-1880), from Compton or Godalming, Surrey. Both George and Harriett
are buried in Leatherhead Parish Churchyard.
His mother was Betsy or Betsey Harding, born about 1849,
Itchingfield, Sussex. She was a daughter of Jesse Harding.
They were married on 31 October 1874 at St Mary's, Fetcham, Surrey:
Daniel Skelton 28 Bachelor,
Coachman, resident Ashtead: Father - George Skelton, Labourer
Betsey Harding 25, Spinster, Servant, resident Fetcham: Father - Jesse
Harding, Labourer
A witness was Annie Maria Harding.
Percy's siblings were Annie R, Harriet E, Frank, Fanny
Maria.
He lived at:
1887 Electoral Register (father), 1891 Census: Hillfield
House/Hill Field Stables, Ashtead
1901 Census: 10 Poplar Road, Leatherhead
1911 Electoral Register: 10 Poplar Road, Leatherhead, paying 4s/week to
his father for a furnished first floor bedroom
1915 Electoral Register: Magazine Place, Leatherhead, paying 13s/week
for a furnished first floor bedroom to James Izzard, Magazine
Place
Percy was a member of the Leatherhead Fire Brigade. He was
one of 48 Surrey firemen who were killed in action during the Great War,
listed by the Firefighter’s Memorial Trust.
He was single when he died.
After the war
In the 1918 Electoral Register his parents are list as at "nr. Holmwood
Station", Holmwood, Surrey.
Percy's father Daniel's death was registered in December
1918 at Dorking. He was buried at St Mary's Holmwood on November 21
1918.
His mother Betsy was buried in St Mary Magdalene
Churchyard, South Holmwood on 27 July 1921. She had been living at 21
Marlborough Road, Wimbledon.
He is remembered by the Firefighters' Memorial Trust.
Percy Skelton is also remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of
Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Ladies War Shrine, Leatherhead
Parish Church
Leatherhead Company, Church Lads
Brigade Tryptich, All Saints Church
Surrey
in the Great War
Firefighters
Memorial Trust information on Surrey in the Great War
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a better photo of him, and of any recollections within his
family
last updated 11 Aug 20: 7 Dec 20