Pte 25551 Robert Nelson Boyde

Robert enlisted in Knowsley joining the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private No 25551.

He arrived in France on 07th November 1915, disembarking at Boulogne.

He was wounded at Bray on 27th January 1916. At some point, possibly after recuperating from his wounds, he was posted to the 20th Battalion K.L.R.

Robert died of wounds on the 10th September 1916, aged 20, during the Somme offensive. 

He now rests at Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension in France, where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“TO MEMORY EVER DEAR”

Corbie was about 20 kilometres behind the front when Commonwealth forces took over the line from Berles-au-Bois southward to the Somme in July 1915. The town immediately became a medical centre, with Nos 5 and 21 Casualty Clearing Stations based at La Neuville (the suburb across the Ancre) until October 1916 and April 1917 respectively. In November 1916 the front moved east, but the German advance in the Spring of 1918 came within 10 kilometres of the town and brought with it field ambulances of the 47th Division and the 12th Australian Field Ambulance. The communal cemetery was used for burials until May 1916, when the plot set aside was filled and the extension opened. The majority of the graves in the extension are of officers and men who died of wounds in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The remainder relate to the fighting of 1918. The communal cemetery contains 249 First World War burials, the extension 918. The extension was designed by Charles Holden.

The CWGC Graves Registration shows 2551 (sic) Boyd 22nd Bn. (perhaps having been posted to the 22nd (Reserve) Bn. whilst recuperating in the U.K.)

His death was reported in the Isle of Man Times on 27th September 1916: 

Private Robert Nelson Boyde.

A telegram was received last Friday by Mrs Boyde, Maple Cottage, Glen-road, Ballaugh, that her grandson, Robert Nelson Boyde, King's Liverpool Regiment, was killed in action on September 10th. He joined the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, when he was in his 18th year. He was wounded in the spring of this year, and returned to the Front only last month. He was a very promising young man. Mrs Boyde also has a son in the Navy.

Also in the Peel City Guardian on 30th September 1916:

Mrs Boyde, Maple Cottage, Ballaugh, has received the news that her son(sic), Pte. Robert Nelson Boyde, King's Liverpool Regt., was killed in action on Sept. 10th. He joined the Army in 1914, when he was in his 18th year. He was wounded last spring, and returned to the front in August.

A War Gratuity of £7 was awarded. 

Soldiers Effects to his sister Ethel.

A pension card has not been found. It appears that his mother had died, although no death record has been found.

His grandmother Christian Boyde died in 1923 at Maple Cottage, Ballaugh.

Robert is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Ballaugh Parish War Memorial

St Mary's Church in Ballaugh

Manx National Memorial.

The Ballaugh Memorial was unveiled in 1921. In November 1932 a well-attended remembrance service to Honour the town’s fallen was held at Ballaugh Parish Church.  Ex-soldiers assembled in the village square and marched to the church. Robert was one of the 18 men from Ballaugh lost in the war.