Richard Edgar Newsham

Richard Edgar Newsham, 2543 Private, 1st/4th Bn., King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt.) KIA, 15th June 1915.

Census records tell us that Richard Edgar Newsham was born at Kirkby in Furness in 1893, the son of Richard Thomas Newsham and Agnes. Agnes Newsham was widowed by the time the 1901 Census was taken and lived with her father, Abram Briggs, keeping house for him at Lane Head Farm, Kirkby. The 1911 Census shows the family George 19, Richard 17, Mary Agnes Stubbs 22, his married sister, with Agnes (46) as head, living at 13, Stafford Street, Dalton and Richard's occupation as "Iron-ore miner". The other occupant of the house being Lizzie Briggs, whose relationship to Agnes is listed as, "Servant", not niece. Richard enlisted in 1/4th King's Own at Ulverston early in the war. Where the Field Broughton connection is, I am afraid I do not know.

1/4th King's Own were part of the North Lancs Brigade, which became 154th Brigade when it joined the 51st (Highland) Division in April 1915, in which they remained until they rejoined the 55th. (West Lancs) Division, in January 1916.

The battalion landed in France in early May, 1915 and experienced an unpleasant introduction to the front line at Richebourg L'Avoue on the night of 24th/25th May.

On June 10th the Commanding Officer, Lt-Col W.F.A. Wadham became ill and his position was taken by Major (later Lt-Col) R. Thompson.

The Battalion was to experience its first major action on 15th June 1915, when IV Corps were to relieve pressure on the French with the Canadian Division, 7th Div. and 51st Div. by attacking the enemy at the junction of the two armies, near Festubert. This action was officially named the Second Battle of Festubert the first, more famous action, having taken place a month earlier - again in support of the French fighting the Battle of Artois.

1/4th Loyal North Lancs and 1/6 Cameronians were 154 Brigade's leading battalians at 5:58 pm when they went "over the top", the first time a Territorial Division had been used in this way. 1/4 KORLR and the Liverpool Irish were in support, there had been a 48 hour artillery barrage prior to the troops jumping off and a mine was blown, but there was no artillery support after the attack had started.

Almost at once telephone lines were cut and communication became very difficult, Lt Gardner and a group taken from two platoons of "A" Company 1/4 KORLR, established relay posts to transmit messages. The rest of "A" Coy later occupied a sap (L8) which provided cover for wounded men to pass in relative safety. British troops entered the German trench system but enemy soldiers had been sheltering in deep dugouts in the support line and began using grenades to bomb-out the attackers. The Loyals and Cameronians lost 30 officers between them and an advanced bomb store had been blown up, depriving the Tommies of the tools they needed for the bitter fighting. The King's Own "B", "C" and "D" Companies moved into fire, support and reserve trenches respectively. Reinforcements could not move across No Man's Land as the Germans covered it with a withering cross-fire. "B" Coy's Lt. G.B. Bigland, of Bigland Hall, Haverthwaite was killed in the fire trench.

At 8pm The King's Own and 1/8 Liverpools crawled forward in darkness in support of the attack's leaders. The Germans called out "Come on King's Own." and, "This way the Loyals." adding to the confusion already being experienced and causing more casualties.

"B" Company penetrated into the German positions where Captain W.G. Pearson was wounded by shrapnel. "D" Company was moved forward to support the Loyals and attempted to establish contact with the Grenadier Guards on their right. The King's Own received the order to retire between 10 and 11pm, with "D" Coy still attempting to get in touch with the Grenadiers, which did not happen until two hours later. An officer from the Loyals reported to Battalion HQ at around midnight, but could not give a clear picture of the situation at the Front. A German counter attack went in at 12:30am on the 16th, there was no opportunity to use artillery to break it up and no support was forthcoming on the right. The Battalion retired in good order, but Captain Pearson could not be found and became a prisoner-of-war. At 1:45 am the Battalion was ordered to re-form in the reserve trench, a Battalion from 152 Bde. moved into support and the Liverpool Irish manned the firing line.

1/4th King's Own were relieved and formed up at Le Touret at 10 am on the morning of the 16th of June.

I make no apologies for quoting Captain Crossley's words from the Battalion History (p.24), "The educational effect on the Battalion was profound, and the young soldier, who less than twelve months before had stepped out along Dalton Road, Barrow, or Market Street, Ulverston. etc., with the gay irresponsibility of Saturday night, and was now thrown into this cauldron of war, recognized its realities in a way he would never forget. He had seen death in battle at close quarters, and was to look at things in a different light thenceforward."

Despite the lack of success the gallantry of the troops was recognised by the Corps Commander, General Sir H. Rawlinson, in a Special Order issued by Brigadier-General G.L. Hibbert.

The King's Own losses were very severe, the War Diary records the 16th June casualties from the 14th and 15th:

Private Newsham was never found, he is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, Pas de Calais, France, panel 5.

There appears to be no mention of Richard in local press archives until the June 15th 1918 edition of the "Barrow News", when a notice was printed in the "Roll of Honour" column with a verse followed by, "Fondly remembered by his widowed mother, sisters and brothers, niece and nephews."