ELVIDGE+A.J.

Elvidge, Archibald John, Corporal, 36920, Royal Artillery Born Derby Enlisted Stockport, Cheshire Killed in action France & Flanders 3rd October 1915

CWGC: B Battery, 88th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery Aged 25 Son of George and Bertha Ellen Elvidge, of 11, Pear Tree Road, Derby Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 27

Archibald Elvidge was employed as a clerk in the Hotels Department of the Midland Railway at Manchester.

Derby Daily Express, 8th October 1915

Archibald Elvidge, known as ‘Chicken’ to his friends, trained as a journalist with the Derby Daily Express, and then moved to the Leicester Mail and had charge of the sporting department. He then moved to the sporting department of the Evening Times, London, before returning to the Derby Daily Express. He eventually tired of journalism, and joined the Midland Railway Company, working in the Hotels Department in Manchester. He joined up in August 1914, trained on Salisbury Plain, and proceeded to the front as a Bombardier. He was promoted to Corporal in France. He was killed when a German shell dropped amongst a party of eleven men and two officers, who were all ‘practically blown to pieces.’ ‘So terrible had been the explosion that it was impossible to distinguish the various bodies and they were all buried together.’

Using the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 CD-Rom and the CWGC website, two officers and seven men, all from B Battery, 88th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, were killed on the 3rd October 1915, and all of them still lie side by side in the Le Touret Military Cemetery. Their names are as follows:

Chance, Andrew Ferguson, Captain

Aged 32 Son of Frederick William and Mary Seton Chance, of Morton, Carlisle Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 29

Denyer, Ernest, Gunner, 94895 Born Chiddingfold, Surrey Enlisted Guildford, Surrey

Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 25

Floyd, Samuel, Gunner, 83554 Born Neath, Glam Enlisted Neath

Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 23

Gannon, James, Driver, 12357 Born Warrington, Lancs Enlisted Warrington

Aged 23 Son of James and E. A. Gannon, of 56, Plumpton Street, Warrington Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 26

Garside, Marcus Harold, Bombardier, 92175 Born Manchester, Lancs Enlisted Manchester

Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 24

Hebblethwaite, Abraham Rhodes, Second Lieutenant

Aged 21 Son of Rhodes and Louie Hebblethwaite, of Highthorne, Husthwaite, Yorks Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, II, H, 28