16th Bn Highland Light Infantry

[chris basey]

'A good old Norfolk boy' John was originally RGA but found himself with the 16th HLI which, I believe, was the 2nd Glasgow. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial and any information about the action in which he may have been killed would be appreciated.

It seems that the 16th were, by that time, the Pioneer Bn to 32nd Division and I'm sure that there's an HLI expert who will be able to tell me more. Thanks.

[dycer]

Chris,

Unfortunately I cannot help directly but I've always enjoyed this quote from the history of the 8th Royal Scots(Pioneers to the 51st Highland Division) in the European War.

"The Pioneers are the handy men of the Division,and do everything,from building the G.O.C.'s fireplace to staunching the enemy attacks,or leading the Division "over the top"."

Can't think of a better epitaph

George

[Adam Harland]

Chris, the 16th HLI were the City of Glasgow regiment by title, but were linked to the Boys brigade of Glasgow ( as the 15th were Tramways, and the 17th were Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.), although it is sometimes refered to as the Glasgow Corporation Bttn.

They were engaged on the first day of the Somme against Thiepval and the Leipzig Salient, with the 16th losing 20 (of 24) Officers and 534 ORs ( 80% of the officers and more than 2/3rds of the men on that day. It might be noted that the sister Bttn got into the Leipzig redoubt, one of the few 'successes' on that part of the Somme on that day.

By the 26th July the Bttn was at Bethune, and the Bttn history states' From the date of arrival in this agreeable commune until the date of departure, the Bttn Diary of the 16th records only 11 fatal casualties - and a correspondingly low number of wounded' They were back in the Cambrin sector on 5/8/16.

Your man does not appear to be on the original embarkation list, but is listed among those who were killed as B/21505 Pte Ebbage J. He may have been an early replacement for the casualties from the first day of the Somme ( the Bttn history makes some play on the Cols disgust at getting 'Tommy' rather than 'Jock' replacements.

Hope that is of some help to you

Adam

[chris basey]

That's very helpful, Adam, thank you. It ties in with the fact that he was originally with the RGA. Any hope of finding the date of his transfer is something that will have to wait until I next go to PRO. Thanks again.