2nd Lieut John Handyside

• Age: 33
• From: Leith, Edinburgh
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• Died on Wednesday 18th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thistle Dump Cem, Longueval
  Panel Ref: E19

John Handyside was born on the 31^st January, 1883 in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of Adam Handyside and his wife Agnes (nee Spalding) who were married in 1869 in Leith.

The 1891 Census finds the family living at Montgomery Street, Edinburgh. His father Adam is shown as a Railway Clerk born in Midlothian in 1855, whilst his mother Agnes was born at Kirriemuir, Forfarshire in 1853. John is 8 years of age and a scholar, born at Leith as were his two siblings Annie b.1881 and Adam b.1886. 

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 10 Queens Park Avenue, South Leith, Edinburgh. His father Adam is aged 46, a Railway Clerk, whilst his mother Agnes is aged 48. John is aged 18 years of age and an art student, Annie aged 20 is a student, Adam is 15 and Agnes 7.  

He was educated at Royal High School of which he was Dux in 1899 and at the University of Edinburgh where he graduated with an M.A. in 1903. From there he went to Balliol College Oxford, where he achieved a First Class Honours B.A. in 1907 and was elected to a prize fellowship at St John's College, Oxford. He returned to the University of Edinburgh in 1907 and his teaching duties included advanced logic and Spinoza for the Honours class.

In 1911 he was appointed to a lectureship in Philosophy at Liverpool University, where he turned his attention to ethics and political philosophy.

In 1915 he enlisted and was commissioned Second Lieutenant and Gazetted to the 16th Battalion The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He was subsequently attached to the 18th Battalion, perhaps after its heavy losses of July 1916, but there is no mention of his arrival at the Battalion Headquarters in the War Diary at all. It is probable, however, this happened just before he was fatally wounded in action during fighting around Flers 18th October 1918.

The Battalion had been ordered to make an attack on the German position known as Gird Trench, near Flers, which had been unsuccessfully attacked five days earlier by the 89th Brigade.

The objectives of the 18th Battalion were in the centre of the 21st Brigade attack and included the capture and holding of a German strong point.

18^th Bn Diary

18^th October 1916

Attacked German trenches commencing 3.40 am. Relieved by 19^th Manchester Regt. Took up position in support Bn trenches W. of Goose Alley.

Graham Maddocks in his book Liverpool Pals gives an overview of the events of the day:

“At 3.40 am the whistles blew, and the Battalion left its assembly trenches, in three waves, approximately fifty yards apart, and began to cross No Man’s Land. Almost immediately, the German Barrage fell on the first wave and halted its advance, so that the second wave soon caught up with it. This was not a great problem at first, and the two combined waves were able to advance together for about 300 yards, whereupon they encountered the German Grid Trench system. On the right of the advance, it was found that the wire was largely intact, apart from a few gaps, and the Germans bombed and machine gunned these gaps, which prevented any further progress. Elsewhere along the trench, however, the wire was cut and there did not seem to be any serious opposition. Nevertheless, the men hesitated to jump down into the German trenches, and instead, began to filter back across to the safety of their own lines.

By this time the third wave had caught up, as had a fourth wave, which had been detailed to mop up any opposition once the trenches had fallen, and all four waves became intermingled which added to the confusion. No less than three attempts were made to try to get the men to go forward again, but each attempt became markedly less successful than its predecessor, and eventually the attack came to a standstill. Although the British assembly trenches had received the attention of the German guns, the attackers in No Mans Land had not come under any great intensity of fire up until this point.

However, once it became obvious to the Germans that the attack was disorganised and faltering, they began to fire into the massed men from the flanks. It was probably this that finally settled the issue and convinced the Pals that they could no longer gain the enemy trenches, and all four waves, now merged into one, began to retreat to their own lines. The whole attack had been an abysmal failure, and no ground had been gained at all”.               

During the course of the attack Second-Lieutenant Handyside was fatally wounded and died the same day at 15th Corps Dressing Station. He was aged thirty three at the time.

He now rests at Thistle Dump Cemetery, High Wood, near Longueval on the Somme. Perhaps because he was never officially on the strength of the 18th Battalion his headstone does not bear the Eagle and Child of the Pals Battalions, but the White Horse of Hanover worn by the Regular and some Territorial Battalions. His headstone bears the epitaph:

"THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD"

Thistle Dump Cemetery was begun in August 1916 and used as a front line cemetery until February 1917. It was later increased after the Armistice by the concentration of 56 graves from the Somme battlefields. There are now 196 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 59 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to four casualties known to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains seven German war graves. High Wood was fiercely fought over during the Battle of the Somme until cleared by 47th (London) Division on 15 September 1916. It was lost during the German advance of April 1918, but retaken the following August. 

His death was reported in the Dundee Courier on Monday 23 October 1916 as follows:

SCOTTISH OFFICER DIES OF WOUNDS

LECTURER IN LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY

Lieutenant John Handyside of the King's Liverpool Regiment, has died of wounds. Lieutenant Handyside was a graduate of Edinburgh and Oxford Universities. As a student he gained many academic honours including the Ferguson Scholarship and the Baxter Scholarship in Mental Philosophy. After acting as assistant to Professor Pringle Paterson, Edinburgh University, he was appointed lecturer in Philosophy in Liverpool University. His only brother Lieutenant Adam Handyside left for the front with a draught of the Black Watch in June 1915, and he is still there being attached to the munitions department of the Army Ordnance. The deceased officer was a nephew of Mr H. T. Templeton, "Courier" Office, Dundee.

Second Lieutenant John Handyside, King's Liverpool Regiment, who is announced to have died from wounds was formally Lecturer in Philosophy at the Liverpool University. Age 33 years, he was the elder son of the late Adam Handyside and Mrs Handyside, 5 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh. He had a distinguished University career. At Edinburgh he gained besides further distinctions, the Hamilton Fellowship and the Ferguson scholarship in Philosophy, open to graduates of the four Scottish Universities. At Oxford he gained the Jenkyns Exhibition and took a first class in Literae Humaniores. He was elected a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, in 1908.

On the same day his death was announced in the Liverpool Daily Post on Monday 23 October 1916 

LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY LECTURER 

Second Lieutenant John Handyside, King's Liverpool Regiment, who is announced to have died from wounds was formally Lecturer in Philosophy at the Liverpool University. Age 33 years, he was the elder son of the late Adam Handyside and Mrs Handyside, 5 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh. He had a distinguished University career. At Edinburgh he gained besides further distinctions, the Hamilton Fellowship and the Ferguson scholarship in Philosophy, open to graduates of the four Scottish Universities. At Oxford he gained the Jenkyns Exhibition and took a first class in Literae Humaniores. He was elected a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, in 1908. 

John is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 51 Left

Royal High School, Edinburgh

Liverpool University

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