17010 PTE. E. M. JAMIESON. E.LANCS

 

Edward Monarch Jamieson was born in the 2nd quarter of 1890 at Dewhurst’s Row in Cuerden.  His father was Edward Jamieson (b. 1859 in Bamber Bridge), a locomotive engine driver.  His mother was Alice Orrell (b. 1850 in Brindle).  Edward and Alice had 5 children: Alice (b. 1885), Ellen (b. 1887, d. 1891), Elizabeth (b. 1889), then Edward, and finally Richard (b. 1893).  Alice herself died in 1909, and in 1911, Edward was living still at Dewhurst’s Row, with his sons Edward and Richard.  Both were working in the spinning mill, Edward as a piecer and Richard as a creeler.

 

Edward enlisted with the East Lancashire Regiment and was posted to 7 Battalion, with service number 17010.  7th (Service) Battalion was part of Kitchener’s New Army, formed at Preston on 4 September 1914, and it came under the command of  56th Brigade in the 19th (Western) Division.  The Battalion landed in France on 18 July 1915.  In 1915, the Division took part in action at Pietre, a supporting/diversionary action during the Battle of Loos.  During the Battle of the Somme, the Division was involved in the Battle of Albert (where they took La Boiselle), the attacks on High Wood, and the Battles of Pozières Ridge, the Ancre Heights and the Ancre.

 

In August and September, the Battalion had been in and out of the line at Ploegsteert Wood and for the last week of September was in reserve billets and training at Outtersteene.  In October, they moved to Doulieu then to Couin then Sailly Au Bois and then to Hébuterne on 13 October, where they returned to the trenches.  The War Diary for 15 October states simply: “In trenches.  1 killed, 1 died of wounds, 2 wounded (other ranks).”  Edward Jamieson was presumably the man who died of wounds – as he has a grave at Hébuterne Cemetery.  He was 26 years old.  The other man who died that day was Ernest James Kay from Burnley, also 26 years old.  He has no grave.

 

Edward’s belongings and cash to the value of just over £3 were returned to his father, but his father died in 1918.  A War Gratuity of £9 was divided among his remaining siblings: Richard, Alice (now Cheetham) and Elizabeth (now Woodcock).

 

Rank:  Private

Service No:  17010

Date of Death:  15/10/1916

Age:  26

Regiment/Service:  East Lancashire Regiment, 7th Bn.

Grave Reference:  I. B. 13.

Cemetery:  HEBUTERNE COMMUNAL CEMETERY

 

Richard Jamieson also served in the War.  He joined the Royal Field Artillery as a driver in December 1915, with service number 116011 and was later transferred to the Labour Corps with service number 670481.  He served in Egypt and Salonika.  He married Sarah Jane Parkinson in 1916 and they had a son, Frederick, and they lived in Brandiforth Street.  Richard died in 1958.