Thread: Private Andrew Fairweather

Hi,



Please, anyone with a subscription to Ancestry check to see if the service record exists for;



Private Andrew Fairweather

Regimental Number 31160

2nd Battallion, Royal Scots

who died aged 24 on the 9th of April 1917



Tilloy British Cemetery, Tilloy-Les-Mofflaines.



(Grandmothers cousin)



Thank-you.



SF

I have had a look on Ancestry, but no luck I'm afraid. There is only one Andrew Fairweather and he died 15.5.1917, and is buried at Brown's Copse, British Cemetery east of Arras.

Hi

i have found the record for andrew fairweather but i need your email address as it cant be copied so will send it to you if you let me have your email, i found this also below i dont know if you have this

Bernie

Fairweather

Name:Andrew FairweatherBirth Place:Kippen, Stirling Residence:Stirling Death Date:9 Apr 1917Enlistment Location:Kippen Rank:Private Regiment:Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) Battalion:2nd Battalion. Number:31160 Type of Casualty:Killed in action Theater of War:Aldershot

Hi Mrs Mop



Many thanks,



my email address :- EDITED - Please send via PM system



regards,



John.

Have you thought of trying to get a copy of the 'War Diary' of the regiment?



That may tell you if you look at the page he died (and a few days before) exactly what he was doing when he died.



In some cases (depending on the officer who wrote the page), names of officers and men who, performed a spicific task, were heroic or who were killed are sometimes mentioned.



I discovered how my Grand Uncle died by reading his unit's war diary.



The Regimental Museum will tell you were you can view a copy.

I think the National Archives has a copy of all of them. Other places would be the Imperial War Museum and the National Army Museum.



Hope it is of use.



Phil

Hi Photonphil,



Many thanks for your response. In the time since placing my post I have managed to obtain the following information (dare I say it, via another excellent web-site)



regards,



John.



I have also managed to get a photograph of Andrew's grave at Tilloy British Cemetery, Tilloy-Les-Mofflaines and a map of the area in which he was killed.



Fairweather, Andrew Private 31160 2nd Royal Scots Killed in action 09/04/1917 [Battle of Arras] Aged 24 Born in Kippen, Stirlingshire Enlisted: Stirling Son of Andrew and Janet Fairweather, of Boquham Kennels, Kippen, Stirlingshire Burried in Tilloy British Cemetery, Tilloy-Les-Mofflaines, Grave IV.A.7 Awarded British War Medal & Victory Medal. An account of Andrew Fairweathers final moments. The 2nd Royal Scots had moved to Magnicourt on the 18th of March 1917. They went through exercises such as rifle practice, wire cutting and bombing instruction. Their practice attack occurred at a place called Liencourt. On the 26th of March the 2nd Royals resumed training and then rested at Berlencourt. On the 30th they marched to Arras where they initially took up trench positions and then on the 7th of April they moved into the Nelson Caves located under the town of Arras. The plan of attack for the 9th of April 1917 [Easter Monday] was colour coded and was to start at 5:30 am after a 5 day artillery bombardment. By 6am the Black Line was to be captured and a halt of 1½ hours allowed for the next wave of troops to come up. When they arrived the Blue Line was to be attacked and was to be captured by 8:15 am. A 4 hour halt to consolidate and bring forward the next troops was then to be observed. The Brown Line was to be assaulted at 12:10 pm and was to be captured by 1:30 pm with a 2 hour halt thereafter. Finally the Green Line was to be assaulted and captured by 3:30pm. The 2nd Royals were part of the 3rd Division, 8th Brigade and they were located to the south east of Arras and were instructed to take the Brown Line near Tilloy-lez-Mofflaines following the Arras to Cambrai road. They fought on the right of the 7th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. Their objective was to move past Tilloy, then swing to the right in parallel with the Arras Cambrai Road and head towards the Brown Line, or the Feuchy Line, and capture Chapel Hill. The Royals moved off at 12 noon under a creeping barrage from a point about 1500 yards west of Tilloy-lez-Mofflaines. General Haig’s report 2 hours into the battle suggests that all was not well with the attack: At 7.30 a.m. the advance was resumed against the second objectives. Somewhat greater opposition was now encountered, and at the hour at which these objectives were timed to have been captured strong parties of the enemy were still holding out on the high ground north of Tilloy-lez-Moffiaines, known as Observation Ridge, and in Railway Triangle……The enemy`s determined resistance at Observation Ridge, however, had delayed the advance of our batteries in this area. The bombardment of the German third line on this front had consequently to be carried out at long range, with the result that the enemy`s wire was not well cut. For some days prior to the 9th April the weather had been fine, but on the morning of that day heavy showers had fallen, and in the evening the weather definitely broke. Thereafter for many days it continued stormy, with heavy falls of snow and squalls of wind and rain. These conditions imposed great hardships on our troops and greatly hampered operations. The heavy snow, in particular, interfered with reliefs, and rendered all movements of troops and guns slow and difficult. It would be hard to overestimate the importance of the resultant delay in bringing up our guns, at a time when the enemy had not yet been able to assemble his reserves, or to calculate the influence which a further period of fine weather might have had upon the course of the battle. The Royals moved off at 12 noon under a creeping barrage from a point about 1500 yards west of Tilloy-lez-Mofflaines. An extract from the war diary says: Battalion moved out of Nelson Cave to assemble position for the attack. The assaulting Brigade- the 76th Brigade – had carried its objective which was the first system of German trenches. Later it was reported that the 9th Brigade had also captured its objective which was the village of Tilloy-les-Mofflaines and the Harp. The 8th Brigade, with this Battalion [2nd Royal Scots] on the right and the 7th K.S.L.I. on the left in the front line, was allotted the task of passing through the 9th Brigade and capturing the Feuchy Line, which was called the Brown Line, an advance of about 3000 yards. The advance started most successfully and quite a number of prisoners were taken in the various trenches which were passed over, but when they had come up within about 600 yards of the Brown Line, the attacking troops were caught by heavy enfilade Machine Gun fire from Feuchy Chapel – a strong point to the north – and a further advance became impossible. This was due to the fact that the Brigade on our left had failed to take this point. Two Battalions of the 76th Brigade were also sent up but failed. (It is likely that Andrew was killed at this point) The 2nd Royal Scots Battalion diary from the 9th to the 13th of April records the following casualties: 2 Officers killed with 6 wounded; 35 Other Ranks killed with 174 wounded; 43 were missing.

John, I see you managed it already.

It is, ironically, quite satisfying to find the answer to how they died.

It brings us closer to them and brings them back to life, a real person with a story not just a name.



I'm building a military familytree too. To comemorate all of us daft enough to serve our country (not insinuating that doing it is daft).

My family has some daft ones, my Grandad enlisted in WW1 at 14/15yrs old.

Sent back from Egypt in 1915 and discharged. Re-enlisted when 18, just to top it off he rejoined in WW2 as well.

My other Grandad used a false name to join as he was under aged too, LDV in WW2 mad simply mad!



Phil



Lest we forget.

Hi Phil,



I also found two of my ancestors who were brothers, one was killed at Hooge, his body was never found and the other was gassed and died at home in 1919.



William Carr



William Carr was born in Newham Northumberland in 1895. Son of John and Helen Carr. Williams father John was a shepherd on Ellingham Home Farm, Chathill in Northumberland. William enlisted with the Northumberland Fusiliers 1/7th Battalion (3 co) at Wooler, Northumberland. He was killed in action on the 16th of June 1915, he was only 20 years old. His name appears on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium and on a plaque in Chillingham Church, Northumberland alongside his elder brother Thomas Carr. A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE WAR HISTORY OF THE 7th NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS. 1915-1918. (extract taken from; "War History of The Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers") by Captain Francis Buckley The 7th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers served in France and Flanders for nearly three years with their original brigade, the 149th Infantry Brigade of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, and afterwards for the last nine months of the war they served in France with the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, to whom they were attached as Pioneer Battalion. With the 149th Infantry Brigade they landed in France on the 21st April, 1915, and without any preliminary war experience, without time even to get the atmosphere of the front, they were thrust into the second battle of Ypres, to counter-attack on two successive days an enemy greatly superior in numbers, overwhelmingly superior in artillery, and elated with the success of a devilish gas attack. Under the circumstances it was a massacre by the German artillery and machine-guns rather than a man to man fight. But that gallant advance into the unknown horrors of modern war, did several things. It laid the foundation of battalion tradition, and it gave the British line, tottering and almost broken, a breathing space in which to consolidate and re-form. A staff officer of the Regular Army writes: "No stouter hearts ever existed than those of the original Division, and I shall never forget my comrades from Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. the attack of the 149th Infantry Brigade on St. Julien on the 25th and 26th April, 1915, was one of the finest feats of arms I have ever seen." After this violent baptism into war, during one of its worst and most critical phases, the lot of the battalion, or rather its survivors, was by no means a bed of roses. They were back again in the Salient almost as soon as the mud was cleaned off their equipment; and on and off for four weeks they held trenches of the worst description between Wieltje and Hooge. At the latter place, on the 16th June, 1915, they supported an attack in the second battle of Bellewarde, a very trying and expensive experience. The day private William Carr was Killed. .......... Postscript to this information .......... William was actually in support trenches at Soave wood near Hooge when they were shelled by German artillery.



His brother Thomas Carr



Thomas Carr was born in Newham Northumberland in 1890 and enlisted with the Northumberland Hussars (Yeomanry) Established in 1908, with their headquarters at Newcastle-on-Tyne. It is likely that Thomas was a member of C Squadron at Morpeth (detachments at Alnwick, Ashington, Rothbry, North Shields, Eglingham. Thomas was discharged from the army due to his wounds and was awarded the Silver War Badge, British and Victory Medals. He died on the 15th of February 1919.



Brave Northumberland!



regards,



John.