6th Battalion, Yorkshire Light Infantry Diary

[militarycross]

Greetings Friends
I've had in my collection for a long time the Victory Medal of Pte. Albert Richard Skeats [Skeates] 23467. I've been able to do a bit of research on this chap, learning that he landed in France August 12, 1915 and was KIA on August 31, 1915 during the Action of the Hooge. Buried in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

What I am curious about is what the Battalion was doing during those 19 days leading up to the 31st of August.

Thanks for the assistance.

[mike_vee]

Found this :

The war diary gives that a series of replacements to the battalion of 79, 51 and 50 other ranks joined them on 20th, 22nd and 27th August respectively. It is not known on which of these day Albert Skeates would have joined the 6th KOYLI. This battalion had just completed another tour of duty in the Ypres Salient and were at one of the many rest camps situated west of Ypres along the Vlamertinghe-Ypres road:

Rest Camp. On the 27th another draft of 50 men arrived making us overstrength. But there are so many employed outside the battalion that we are pleased to get them.


30/8/15: The night was very quiet, no casualties on the way up.

31/8/15: A certain number of ‘crumps’ landed in Railway Wood in the morning.

A ‘crump’ was a larger German shell of a higher trajectory and generally could be heard coming many seconds before its arrival. Experienced troops could which way to go to avoid the place where it was going to land. Newly arrived troops would have to learn this from such men.


There are no details of the casualties sustained by the 6th KOYLI within this diary entry save that of Sgt Bateson. However, details of such casualties were kept and it is known that the 6th KOYLI suffered 6 killed in action, 2 died of wounds and 18 wounded on 31/8/15. One of those six killed in action is listed as Pte Skeates. He had been in the trenches less than 48 hours.

So , it looks like he arrived in France on 12/08/1915 and at some point he joined the Battalion at a rest camp . He moved forward to the trenches on 29th/30th and was killed on the 31st.
NB: Some of his war graves documents originally had him listed as Private W. Skeates.

https://www.aldermastonhistory.uk/wp...-Skeates-A.pdf

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[militarycross]

Thank you so very much. This is beyond my expectations to get such details.

I had noted the W. Skeates, but never followed that thread on the docs. Will retrace my steps there. Thanks for that tip as well.

[militarycross]

Originally Posted by mike_vee

Found this :
https://www.aldermastonhistory.uk/wp...-Skeates-A.pdf

This is absolutely amazing that you've provided this material. What a wonderful way for a community to honour their lost sons. Thanks very much for pointing me in this direction.
phil

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by militarycross

I had noted the W. Skeates, but never followed that thread on the docs. Will retrace my steps there. Thanks for that tip as well.

On CWGC page :

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/fi...0/a-r-skeates/

Graves Registration document 1 - Listed as Pte.W

Graves Registration document 2 - Listed as Pte.A.R

Concentration document 1 - Initially Pte.W but crossed out and A.R hand written.
Concentration document 2 - Listed as Pte.W

Concentration document 3 - Listed as Pte.W

Headstone document 2 - Private A.R. Skeates.

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[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by militarycross

Buried in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

The British Legion organised a Battle Fields Pilgrimage in 1928 , members visited numerous sites including the cemeteries and brought home booklets of postcards.

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[Deejayuu]

Phil,
i was lucky to have been able to obtain a copy of `unceasing war, the 6th service battalion KOYLI` by Malcolm K Johnson from very limited run of 100 by Doncaster Museum Service back in 1999. The history uses the war diaries but the author has also done in depth research to add far more detail to the official account. Albert Skeates has an entry in the ROH within the book. 31/08/15-23467-Pte-Skeates A.R.-C coy- Killed-Railway Wood-transfered from 13 res cav- died due to enemy bombardment. There are a total of 21 fatalities for the 6th bn on the 31st August. 8 attributed to the parapet of H21 blown in by a whizz-bang, 12 attributed to enemy bombardment and 2 whilst on patrol in front of H20. There is a chapter covering the period 6 August to 4 October PM if you need anything looking up within the section.

Kind regards, Dave

Note
just done a check on Abebooks, 2 copies available. One listed at £10 the other at £110 ! https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-sear...first-edition/

[militarycross]

Originally Posted by Deejayuu

i was lucky to have been able to obtain a copy of `unceasing war, the 6th service battalion KOYLI` by Malcolm K Johnson from very limited run of 100 by Doncaster Museum Service back in 1999. The history uses the war diaries but the author has also done in depth research to add far more detail to the official account. Albert Skeates has an entry in the ROH within the book. 31/08/15-23467-Pte-Skeates A.R.-C coy- Killed-Railway Wood-transfered from 13 res cav- died due to enemy bombardment. There are a total of 21 fatalities for the 6th bn on the 31st August. 8 attributed to the parapet of H21 blown in by a whizz-bang, 12 attributed to enemy bombardment and 2 whilst on patrol in front of H20. There is a chapter covering the period 6 August to 4 October PM if you need anything looking up within the section.

Kind regards, Dave


Note
just done a check on Abebooks, 2 copies available. One listed at £10 the other at £110 ! https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-sear...first-edition/

Dave, This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much for taking time to look this up. The time period I would be most interested in is from when he arrived in the Field until his death. Thanks again. phil