Pte 35531 Patrick Joseph Russell

• Age: 22
• From: Braddan, Isle of Man
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Guillemont Rd Cem
  Panel Ref: III.M.4

Patrick Joseph Russell was born on 25th February 1894 in Richmond Hill, Braddan, southwest of Douglas, Isle of Man, the son of Patrick Russell and his wife Annie (née Canavan). Both his parents were born in Ireland, his father in County Down, and his mother in Leitrim. They married in 1886 in Kilkeel, on the coast of County Down, where their daughters Ellen Elizabeth and Mary were born.

By 1891 they had moved with their two daughters to the Isle of Man where John, Patrick, and Annie Winifred were born. The 1891 census shows the family in Richmond Hill, Braddan, where his father is a farm labourer.

Daughter Mary appears to have died in 1899 at the age of 10.

The 1901 finds the family at Bulrenny, Braddan, with four children. Ellen 13, John 10, Patrick 7, and Annie 5. His father is employed as a carter on a farm.  

On the 1911 Census Patrick is single and working for the Corlett family farm as a Horseman in Onchan. 

His parents, both 40, with daughter Annie 15, are at Ballacrutch(?) Cottage, Abbey Lands (or Abbeylands), Onchan, north of Douglas.  His father is now a farm cowman.

He enlisted in Douglas, Isle of Man and served with the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 35531. Based on his regimental number and the amount of the War Gratuity, Patrick likely enlisted around February 1915.

Patrick was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916, aged 22, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive. 

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

Patrick was buried close to where he fell with a number of other Pals and Unknown British Soldiers.  After the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred in Guillemont Road Cemetery, Somme, where he now rests.

Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30 July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8 August. On 18 August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3 September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29 August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, when it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries, including:-

HARDECOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY. The village of Hardecourt-au-Bois was captured by French troops on the 8th July 1916, and again by the 58th (London) and 12th (Eastern) Divisions on 28 August 1918. Five British Artillerymen were buried by their unit in the French Military Cemetery, in the middle of the village, in September 1916; and in 1918 the 12th Division buried in the same cemetery 14 men of the 9th Royal Fusiliers and two of the 7th Royal Sussex.

Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

His death was reported in the Mona's Herald on 23rd August 1916 (courtesy of Imuseum.Im) 

RUSSELL - Killed in action in France on 30th July, Private Patrick Russell, aged 22 years, second beloved son of Patrick and Annie Russell of Abbeylands, Onchan.  - ("His duty bravely done" - R.I.P.)

His Army pay went to his father Patrick.  The War Gratuity of £3 was disbursed to his father but returned and reissued in 1929 to his brother John, and sisters Annie Hotchkiss and Ellen Windsor. 

His mother was awarded a pension of 5/- a week from April 1917, at that time living in Rose Cottage, Abbeylands, on the outskirts of Douglas.  His parents later lived in Douglas at 6 Albany Street.

His mother died in 1922, and his father in 1926 aged 67.

Patrick is commemorated on the following Isle of Man memorials -

Onchan Parish War Memorial

The Douglas Memorial, Promenade, Douglas

The Manx National Memorial, St. John’s

And on the family gravestone in Douglas Borough Cemetery -

                Of Your Charity Pray for the Soul of 

                       ALSO PATRICK THEIR SON

KILLED IN FRANCE JULY 30TH 1916, AGED 22 YEARS

                                           R.I.P. 

We currently have no further information on Patrick Joseph Russell, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.