Part 18

=BIGGS, GEORGE EDWARD=, Private, No. 26058, 14th Battn. (Royal Montreal Regt.), Canadian Expeditionary Force, 5th _s._ of the late Edward Biggs, of Rainham, Essex, by his wife, Eliza; _b._ Dagenham, co. Essex, 27 Jan. 1885; educ. Rainham; emigrated to Canada in 1910, and settled in Toronto. He enlisted immediately on the outbreak of the war in Aug. 1914, came over with the first Canadian Contingent, and after training during the winter on Salisbury Plain, left for France, 3 April, 1915. He was eighteen days in the trenches during the Battle of Hill 60, and was killed in action at Richebourg, 20 May, 1915, while acting as bomb thrower, and was buried near Festubert. He _m._ at Rainham, 17 Aug. 1907, Daisy Constance (Anglo Cottages, Purfleet, Essex), 2nd dau. of Frederick Allen; _s.p._

=BILLING, CHARLES GEORGE=, Capt., Royal Marine L.I., Chatham, attached to Deal Division, eldest _s._ of the late Rev. George Billing, M.A., sometime (1871–88) missionary under the S.P.G. at Ramnad, Madras and Calcutta, afterwards vicar of Sturry and Platt, by his wife, Caroline Flora (28 Bromley College, Bromley), dau. of the Rev. Joseph Gabbett, co. Limerick, Ireland; _b._ Ramnad, Madura District, Madras, 15 May, 1882; educ. King’s School, Canterbury, Dover College and Greenwich. He received his commission in the Royal Marines, 1 Jan. 1901, and was promoted Lieut., 1 Jan. 1902, and Capt., 1 Jan. 1912. Served on the China Station, 1903, West Indies, 1906, the Mediterranean, 1908, the Pacific, 1912, etc., and received pilot’s certificate in Flying Corps, Oct. 1913. He was appointed to the H.M.S. Doris, 1914, and was stationed near Ascension Island till April, 1915, when he came home. He left Plymouth for the Dardanelles, 10 May, 1915, and was killed in action, 13 June following; _unm._

=BILLING, SAMUEL ALFRED=, No. 2449, 16th Battn. (Queen’s Westminster Rifles) The London Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of George Timothy Billing, of 22, Ribblesvale Road, Hornsey, Inspector, Finsbury Borough Council; _b._ London, 16 Feb. 1896; educ. Stationers’ School, Crouch End, was an articled clerk to the Borough Accountant of Hornsey, but on the outbreak of war enlisted, 27 Aug. 1914, and was killed in action at Houplines, near Armentières, France, 27 Feb. 1915; _unm._ A comrade wrote: “His grave is here ... a mile from the firing line, a simple white cross with the simplest inscription, and the plaque bearing the regimental arms and the grand old Latin phrase, ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori.’”

=BILLINGTON, LESLIE CHARLES=, 2nd Lieut., 4th, attached 2nd, Battn. Lancashire Fusiliers, only _s._ of Charles Billington, of Heimath, Longport, co. Stafford, Metallurgist, by his wife, Annie Jane, dau. of George Richard Cockhead; _b._ Wolstanton, co. Stafford, 25 Dec. 1895; educ. Bishop’s Stortford College, and entered Manchester University as an engineering student in Oct. 1913. He was in camp with the University O.T.C. at the outbreak of war, and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the 4th Battn. of the Lancashire Fusiliers, 14 Oct. 1914. On going to the Front he was attached to the 2nd Battn., and was killed in action during the taking of German trenches at Pilken, near Ypres, 6–9 July, 1915; _unm._ Writing on Aug. 1, Major Bowes said: “I have been making enquiries from the N.C.Os. and men of his platoon, and from what I can gather he was leading a party of men up to the German trenches during the violent attack which lasted from July 6 to the 9th. His party was told off as bomb throwers. He fell on the parapet of the trenches and nothing was recovered from his body. One thing I can say and that is, he showed the greatest courage, and never flinched when he was told off for the dangerous job. It was a most ghastly time for us all, and during those three days and four nights we lost ten officers killed and eight wounded, including the Commanding Officer and Adjutant, and all the captains except one, and eighty-five men killed and 234 wounded and missing. The place where this fight took place is called Pilken, about three miles N. of Ypres. It was brought about this way. One of the German trenches was in such a position as to enfilade the front trench occupied by the Rifle Brigade. This regt. with the Somersets were told off to take this trench, which they did on the morning of 6 July. My battn. relieved these two regts. on the 6th (midnight) and occupied the captured German trench. We had orders to hold the trench at all costs. The Germans counter attacked on the morning of the 7th with heavy artillery and bomb throwers, but in spite of heavy odds against us we held that trench for three whole days, until we were relieved at midnight on the 9th by another brigade. The regt. covered itself with honour in those three days, and it was due to such fine young fellows as your boy that we were able to hold our own”; and a few days later Corpl. Brereton wrote: “We were holding some trenches captured from the Germans, and our platoon, which was ably commanded by your son, were in support to the firing line. We were subjected to a very heavy shell fire, and early on your son inspired confidence in his men by the way he assisted in digging several of our men out who had been buried with debris, thereby saving, I know, two men’s lives from suffocation, for which we all admired him. It is the most nerve-trying time you can get, to be under heavy shell fire, especially fresh out from England, but your son seemed to overcome it straight away, and turned out a brick, as it were. On the afternoon of the 7th we were ordered to reinforce the front line, and when we arrived there learned that our bomb throwers had retired from the advanced saphead temporarily, being short of bombs. The Germans had occupied it, so your son was ordered by Capt. Blencowe, who was in command (the Col. and several of our senior officers having got wounded), to retake the trench. I was the corpl. in charge of the section he selected to go with him. He led us up fearlessly, he himself yards in front of any of his men, and I saw him get up to the parapet and empty his revolver, then jump in the trench, and after the trench was retaken, he was most unfortunately hit with a shell, dying a brave soldier’s death, staunch and fearless to the end. His platoon greatly feel the loss of so gallant an officer, and offer you their most sincere sympathy in your sad loss.”

=BILNEY, EDWIN ARTHUR=, Private, No. 2975, 4th Battn. Suffolk Regt. (T.F.), eldest _s._ of A. Bilney, of Brandeston, Suffolk; was a Gardener; volunteered for foreign service after the outbreak of war; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; died in the Clearing Hospital, 17 May, 1915, of wounds received in action, aged 22.

=BILTON, JOSEPH=, Private, No. 6030, 3rd Battn. Coldstream Guards, _s._ of Septimus Bilton, of 73, Arundel Street, Holderness Road, Hull, formerly of the N.E.R. Coy., by his wife, Mary, dau. of Samuel Seague, Naval Pensioner; _b._ Hull, 1 Nov. 1887; educ. Fish Street Council School there; enlisted in 1903 and served for eleven years, then became Labour Master at the York Workhouse and held this position when called up on the outbreak of war; killed in action at Soupir, 16 Sept. 1914; _unm._ His brother, Septimus, enlisted after the outbreak of war and is now (1916) on active service.

=BINDLEY, HORACE=, Private, No. 15594, 1st Battn. The Middlessex Regt., _s._ of William Bindley, of 104, Ber Street, Norwich; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action, 1 Sept. 1915.

=BINGHAM, CHARLES HENRY=, Private, No. 9057, 2nd Battn. East Kent Regt. (The Buffs), _s._ of Henry Bingham of 1, Park Road, Beaver, near Ashford; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action 14 Feb. 1915.

=BINGHAM, CHARLES JEFFREY SLADE=, Private, No. 20745, 10th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 3rd _s._ of the late Richard Charles William Bingham, of Bingham’s Melcombe, co. Dorset, J.P., Lieut.-Col., Dorsetshire Regt., by his wife, Georgina (28a, Barons Court Road, West Kensington), dau. of William Stuckey Wood, of Charlton Musgrove, Wincanton, late Capt. 7th Dragoon Guards, and grandson of Col. Charles Bingham, Royal Artillery Dep. Adj.-Gen.; _b._ Bingham’s Melcombe, co. Dorset, 12 Dec. 1893, and was educ. at Clifton College, from which he went to Canada in 1910, and at the outbreak of the war joined the 10th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force. While in camp at Valcartier he contracted cerebro-spinal meningitis and was landed at Plymouth on 15 Oct. 1914, in a very serious condition, and taken to the 4th Southern Military Hospital, where he died on 6 Jan. 1915; _unm._ Four of his brothers are now (1916) on active service, Richard Charles Otho with the Ceylon Engineers in Ceylon; John Richard, 2nd Lieut., R.F.C., late H.A.C.; Humphrey Richard, Lieut., R.F.A. (awarded the Military Cross, in Jan. 1915); and William Philip, 2nd Lieut., R.F.C., all with the Expeditionary Force in France.

=BINGHAM, FRANK MILLER=, Capt., 5th K.O.R. Lancaster Regt., 2nd _s._ of the late John Joseph Bingham, M.D., by his wife, Kate Laura, dau. of John Yardley Robinson; _b._ Alfreton, co. Derby, 17 Sept. 1874; educ. St. Peter’s, York, and obtained medical degree of M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London. He joined the Territorials in 1909, being gazetted Lieut. 26 Nov. 1910, and was promoted Capt. 2 May, 1914. He took part in the fighting round Ypres in the early part of May, and had three days furlough to visit his wife and children, and was killed the day after returning to the Front while on reconnoitring work near Ypres, 22 May, 1915. He was buried in Sanctuary Wood. Capt. Bingham was a well-known practitioner in Lancaster, and formerly played cricket for Derbyshire County and Rugby football for Blackheath. He _m._ at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 12 Dec. 1900, Ruth Morley (Lindow Cottage, Lancaster), dau. of Alfred Evans Fletcher, late Chief Inspector of Albrali Works, and had three children: Thomas Fletcher, _b._ 8 July, 1902; Joan Fletcher, _b._ 15 July, 1905; and Jill Fletcher, _b._ 22 April, 1911.

=BINGLEY, JOHN WILLIAM=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., Ch. B. 9100), S.S. 105260, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 11 Sept. 1914.

=BINSTEED, GERALD CHARLES=, Major, 2nd Battn. “Pompadours” Essex Regt., only _s._ of the late Major Charles Henry Frederick Binsteed, 52nd Oxfordshire L.I. and 1st Madras Lancers, by his wife, Consuelo (Hanover Court, Hanover Square, W.), dau. of Gerald de Wilton, Surgeon-Major, Indian Medical Service; _b._ Cairo, 7 Aug. 1885; educ. Wellington College and Sandhurst; gazetted to the Essex Regt., 20 May, 1905, promoted Lieut., 6 March, 1910, and Capt., 15 Nov. 1914; served with the Mounted Infantry at Longmoor and Malta, and was Scouting Intelligence Officer at the Curragh. In May, 1914, he was appointed for Special Employment at the War Office, but after the outbreak of war, went to the Front with his Regt., was gazetted Major 18 March, and was killed in action at Le Gheer, 8 April, 1915; _unm._ Capt. Binsteed greatly distinguished himself by his gallantry in the field, and was twice mentioned in F.M. Sir John French’s Despatches [London Gazette, 4 and 10 Dec. 1914], and was one of the first officers to receive the Military Cross [London Gazette, 1 Jan. 1915]. At Wellington he represented his school at Bisley and was winner of the mile race, and at Sandhurst took the Sword of Honour and passed out first. He also won the Subalterns’ half mile at Malta and the Officers’ mile race in the All Ireland Military Athletic Meeting at the Curragh. Capt. Binsteed was an able linguist, and passed as an interpreter in French, Russian and Chinese, and was a member of the Geographical Society, China Society, and Asiatic Society, and a contributor to the China Year Book, “The Far Eastern Review,” etc.

=BIRCH, ARTHUR=, Leading Stoker, K. 9930, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in the action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.

=BIRCH, ARTHUR EDWARD=, Stoker, 1st Class, K. 7353, H.M.S. Pathfinder; lost when that ship was sunk by a mine, about 20 miles off the East Coast, 5 Sept. 1914.

=BIRCH, WILLIAM JOSEPH=, Private, R.M.L.I. (R.F.R., B. 1166), H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=BIRCH, WILLIAM ELRIC HAWTHORNE=, 2nd Lieut., Duke of Cornwall’s L.I., 2nd _s._ of Richard Birch, of London Bank Chambers, Newcastle, New South Wales; _b._ Hawthorne, Victoria, Australia, 29 March, 1886; educ. Geelong, Australia; gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the Duke of Cornwall’s L.I., 18 Sept. 1914, and was killed in action at Hooge, 31 July, 1915. He had previously held a commission in the Australian Imperial Forces, and his commanding officer wrote: “He is a very great loss to the battn., as his knowledge of sketching and surveying were invaluable. He was always cheery and brave, and was an excellent leader of men.” Lieut. Birch _m._ at Aldershot, 1 May, 1915, Mabel (35, Braidwood Road, Catford, S.E.), 3rd dau. of John Lewis, of Catford, S.E.; _s.p._

=BIRCHALL, ARTHUR PERCIVAL DEARMAN=, Lieut.-Col. Commanding 4th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force, and Capt. Royal Fusiliers, 2nd _s._ of the late J.... Dearman Birchall, of Bowden Hall, co. Gloucester, by his wife, Emily, dau. of John Towitt, of Harehills, Leeds; _b._ Bowden Hall, 7 March, 1877, and was educ. at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. He obtained a University Commission, being gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt.), 23 May, 1900, and was promoted Lieut. 11 April, 1902, Capt. 1 Oct. 1908, Major, and Lieut.-Col. 22 Sept. 1914. From 25 March, 1904, to 24 March, 1907, he was Adjutant of the Royal Fusiliers, and on 15 April, 1910, was seconded for service with the Royal Canadian Regiment, and later he was on the Instructional Staff, Western Canada. In Aug. 1914, he was invalided home from Canada, but recovered sufficiently to rejoin the 1st Canadian Contingent in Nov., and acted as Staff Capt. to the 1st Brigade. Always popular and a keen and most efficient officer he was appointed to the colonelcy of the 4th Canadians in February, and was killed in action in the attack on the Pilkem Ridge, near Ypres, 23 April, 1915; _unm._ Speaking of this action F.M. Sir John French said: “The Canadians had many casualties, but their gallantry and determination undoubtedly saved the situation. Their conduct has been magnificent throughout”; and the Official Report from the Canadian Record Officer at the Front was as follows: “The fighting continued without intermission all through the night, and to those who observed the indications that the attack was being pushed with ever-growing strength, it hardly seemed possible that the Canadians, fighting in positions so difficult to defend, and so little the subject of deliberate choice, could maintain their resistance for any long period. At 6 a.m. on Friday (April 23) it became apparent that the left was becoming more and more involved, and a powerful German attempt to outflank it developed rapidly. The consequences, if it had been broken or outflanked, need not be insisted upon. They were not merely local. It was therefore decided, formidable as the attempt undoubtedly was, to try and give relief by a counter-attack upon the first line of German trenches, now far, far advanced from those originally occupied by the French. This was carried out by the Ontario 1st and 4th Battns. of the 1st Brigade, under Brig.-Gen. Mercer, acting in combination with a British brigade. It is safe to say that the youngest private in the ranks, as he set his teeth for the advance, knew the task in front of him, and the youngest subaltern knew that all rested upon its success. It did not seem that any human being could live in the shower of shot and shell which began to play upon the advancing troops. They suffered terrible casualties. For a short time every other man seemed to fall, but the attack was pressed ever closer and closer. The 4th Canadian Battn. at one moment came under a particularly withering fire. For a moment--not more--it wavered. Its most gallant commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. Birchall, carrying, after an old fashion, a light cane, coolly and cheerfully rallied his men, and, at the very moment when his example had infected them, fell dead at the head of his battn. With a hoarse cry of anger they sprang forward (for, indeed, they loved him) as if to avenge his death. The astonishing attack which followed, pushed home in direct frontal fire made in broad daylight, by battns. whose names should live for ever in the memories of soldiers, was carried to the first line of German trenches. After a hand-to-hand struggle the last German who resisted was bayoneted, and the trench was won. The measure of this success may be taken when it is pointed out that this trench represented in the German advance the apex in the breach which the enemy had made in the original line of the Allies, and that it was 2½ miles south of that line. This charge, made by men who looked death indifferently in the face--for no man who took part in it could think that he was likely to live--saved, and that was much, the Canadian left. But it did more. Up to the point where the assailants conquered or died, it secured and maintained during the most critical moment of all the integrity of the Allied line. For the trench was not only taken, it was held thereafter against all comers, and in the teeth of every conceivable projectile, until the night of Sunday, the 25th, when all that remained of the war-broken, but victorious battns. was relieved by fresh troops.” Major R. Hayter, Brigade-Major, 1st Canadian Brigade wrote: “Your brother, Percy, fell on the 23rd, leading his battn. in the first Canadian counter-attack on the 23rd made by the French, British, and 1st and 4th Canadian battns., just east of the Ypres Canal. His battn. lost all its officers but four, and some 560 casualties other ranks, but they never wavered and got into the enemy’s line, saved the day, and prevented the enemy’s advance south along the east bank of the canal. We are still being desperately engaged, and I cannot write much, but I am sure you will be glad to hear that he has been recommended for the Victoria Cross. He was wounded, had his wound dressed, was wounded again, yet would go on, and fell, leading the charge which took the trenches.... I had a written message from him timed 4.20 p.m. acknowledging an order, and I hope some day to be able to give it to you. His loss has been the greatest blow the contingent could have had. Loved by all, and worshipped by his officers and men, we feel that it was his personal magnetism alone which kept his regt. together, and enabled them to hold what they had gained. All our deepest sympathies are with you and your family, but his end could not have been more glorious”; and the following tribute from an old friend appeared in “The Times” (29 April, 1915): “The claim to have been the most popular officer in the Army is a large one, and may be advanced in the name of many a candidate. But it is probable that all who in any true sense had made Birchall’s acquaintance will claim that no officer could have been more deeply, and probably none more widely, beloved and admired. At Eton, at Magdalen, and for fifteen years in the Army, he was for ever winning to himself friends by the simple but irresistible charm of his nature--by his manliness and sportsmanship, his humour and high spirits, his enthusiasm for his profession as in general for the better things of life. Joining the newly-formed 4th Battn. of the Royal Fusiliers during the South African War, as a university candidate, he became closely identified with its fortunes for some ten years; and he was largely responsible for raising it to the high level of the older battns. of that famous regt. Beloved alike by his brother officers and men, he was equally prominent as a leader in soldiering and in sport: in the field of manœuvre as in the football, the hockey, the hunting, but especially the cricket field he always played a fine sporting game. After ably fulfilling the second adjutancy of his battn., he received the singular distinction of being selected--one of two officers from the whole Army--to be attached to the Canadian Forces, according to a scheme for the mutual benefit of both services. In Canada, he inevitably won through to the same affectionate and admiring popularity as at home. His period of appointment was extended, he was appointed to the Staff, and was given an almost transcontinental district of supervision. The characteristic energy which he threw into this work in the unaccustomed climate caused a temporary breakdown in his health, and bitter was his grief, on returning to England, shortly before the outbreak of war, to find himself entirely forbidden on medical grounds to take for the present the share in active service for which he had keenly prepared and eminently fitted himself. To such advantage, however, did he make use of his time, even of sickness, that, in the intervals of being visited by a constant stream of devoted friends from two continents, he compiled the admirable little manual for the use of regimental officers in the present emergency training, which he entitled “Rapid Training of a Company for War” (Gale & Polden, Aldershot). This book rapidly attained a wide success, and was brought up to date in a second (and subsequent) edition, just as he himself, recently promoted Major, was appointed first a staff Captain in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and in immediate succession given command of the 4th Canadian Infantry a few days before it sailed for the front.” Col. Birchall resided at Saintbridge House, Gloucester. His brother, Capt. J. Dearman Birchall is (1916) serving with the Royal Gloucestershire’s Hussars Yeomanry.

=BIRD, CUTHBERT=, Private, No. 588, 13th Battn. Australian Imperial Force; volunteered on the outbreak of war; killed in action at the Dardanelles, 1 May, 1915.

=BIRD, EDWARD=, Private, No. 11984, 1st Battn. Coldstream Guards, _s._ of William Bird, of 14, Albert Terrace, Stafford; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders; was reported missing 25 Jan., 1915, and is now assumed to have been killed in action that day.

=BIRD, EDWARD=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., Ch. B. 9529). S.S. 106902, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.

=BIRD, FRANCIS CLIFFORD=, 2nd Lieut. 3rd Battn. King’s Shropshire L.I., elder _s._ of Francis Bird of Cotswold, Winchcombe, co. Gloucester, by his wife, Mary, dau. of the late Joseph Tibbits, of Warwick; _b._ Cotswold, Winchcombe, 21 June 1895; educ. King William’s College, Isle of Man, and Cheltenham College, where he was a member of the O.T.C. On the outbreak of war he volunteered, was gazetted 2nd Lieut., 15 Aug. 1914, went to the Front in Jan. and was killed in action near St. Eloi, 2 March, 1915. He was buried at Voorezelle; _unm._