L/Cpl 17776 Gordon Whittingham Allan

• Age: 27
• From: Toxteth Park, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Gordon Whittingham Allan.  L/Cpl no 17776, No 3 Coy 19^th Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment 

Gordon was the son of Thomas Henry Allan and his second wife Jane (nee Whittingham). He was born in Toxteth Park, Liverpool in 1888. His father was from Liverpool, and his mother was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire.  They married in Whitchurch in 1884.  His father, Thomas had been widowed the previous year, he also had another son with his first wife, this was William Rosson, who died in September 1879, aged 3 months. Gordon had an elder sister, Elsie Whittingham, born on 28th of August 1887, also in Toxteth Park. He was baptised in St. Silas' Church, Toxteth Park, on 14th October 1888, his parents then living at 38 Merlin Street, and his father’s occupation listed as freight clerk. 

By 1891 the family have moved to Birkenhead, Cheshire, and are living at 6 Moss Grove, where Gordon lives until enlisting.  His father is a freight clerk, half brother Thomas, born Liverpool, is 10, Elsie is 3 and Gordon 2 years old. Also listed in the household is Annie Brady, aged 24, a general domestic servant.

All five family members are still at Moss Grove in 1901, as is the same domestic servant, Annie Brady. His father is still employed as a freight clerk, his mother is listed as Jennie, a not uncommon diminutive for Jane.  Half brother Thomas, 19, is a customs clerk, sister Elsie is 13 and Gordon is 12. 

In 1911 his father Thomas, 53, is an assistant freight manager for the White Star Line, his mother Jane is 57, his sister Elsie is 23, with no occupation listed, and Gordon is 22, a livestock shipping clerk.  Also in the household is a visitor,  Wilfred Cyril Carter, 25, employed at Insurance District Bank, Stockport. Also present is their domestic servant,Ruth Williams, aged 20, from Shrewsbury. Gordon’s elder half brother, Thomas, a forwarding agent in shipping, has moved out of the household and is now living at 19 Waring Avenue, Birkenhead, with his wife, Elizabeth (married 1908), and their son Thomas Holbery, aged 1.

Gordon was educated at Claughton Higher Grade School before working for The Universal Shipping and Forwarding Company in Liverpool. He was a keen footballer, supporting Tranmere Rovers and was a member of the YMCA Football Club. 

On September 02nd 1914 he was one of the early volunteers for the 3rd City Battalion, giving his age as 26 years, and his occupation as clerk.  He is described as being 5’ 7 and a half inches tall, weighing 115 lbs, 36" chest with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He gives as next of kin his father at 6 Moss Grove, and stated his religion as Baptist. He joined along with his half-brother, also Thomas Henry (Harry) Allan, who transferred to the Manchester Regiment on 11^th September and served in India. 

Formed on 07^th September 1914 the 19^th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 07^th November 1915.

In late March 1915 Gordon was best man at the wedding of his sister Elsie to Wilfred Cyril Carter, (who had been a visitor in the Allan household during the 1911 Census), in Prenton Congregational Church.  The local newspaper reported that the best man wore khaki, “thus giving a military air to the ceremony”.  (One of the bridesmaids was a Miss Bessie Jones.)

Before leaving he became engaged to Bess and they had a photograph taken and turned into a postcard which Gordon sent to his parents, with these words pencilled on the back;

“Had this taken when Bess was here.  What do you think of it.  Most people think it is pretty rotten.  Still keeping very fit, how are you both getting on?  Love to both Gordon”

Gordon's great neice Joy Allan still has it, she recalls : "My uncle, his nephew, remembered, as a very little boy, being taken for a ride on his motorbike and being very upset when Gordon left, not because he knew where or why he was going but because there would be no more rides for a time". 

According to his service record, Gordon was taken ill in the field with laryngitis on 17th February 1916. He was discharged to duty and rejoined on 01st March 1916. He was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 21st July 1916, just nine days before his death.

We believe, though have not had this confirmed, that Gordon was involved in a Bombing Section of 14 men against the enemy position at Guillemont on 30^th July.  This was led by Sergeant Albert John Edwards, the only survivor of the action, who was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field.  We know he was reported killed in action  at Guillemont on 30th July 1916 aged 27.

The battallion diary illustrates the difficulties faced by Gordon and his Pals: 

19^th Battalion Diary 30^th July 1916

MALTZ HORN FARM

BATTLE begun. ZERO hour 4:45 am. The Battalion reached its objective, but suffered heavy losses, and had to evacuate its position owing to no reinforcements.

Everard Wyrall gives details of the attack in his book The History of The King’s Regiment; 

"The 2nd Attack on Guillemont- 29th July 1916 the 89th Brigade the 20th King's were to attack on the right and the 19th on the left. During the evening of the 29th the night was dark and foggy when the Battalions moved off and the 19th with Lt Col G Rollo commanding, when passing the South east of the Briqueterie they were heavily shelled first with H E and then with a new kind of asphyxiating Gas shell which had curious results, at first it had no nasty effect but about 8 hrs later men began to fall sick with violent headaches and pains in the stomach. All ranks had to wear gas masks which in the darkness and mist made the going terribly difficult. It was indeed wonderful that they were able to reach their Assembly point at all. But they did and by 2.45 a.m. on the 30th July 1916 the Btn was assembled having suffered about 30 Casualties on the way up ready for the Zero hour at 4.45 a.m.

It is known that the two left Companies of the 19th under Capt. Dodd and Capt. Nicholson advanced in touch with the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on their left although they suffered many casualties from Machine gun Fire did not encounter many Germans and reached their final objective about the time allocated, beginning at once to dig in south of the orchard on the South east corner of Guillemont.  

On the left of the 19th the Scots Fusiliers most gallantly forced their way through Guillemont to the eastern side of the village but were soon overwhelmed by the enemy and few returned. 

At 8 a.m. finding that the village was not held the two left Companies of the 19th received no word from the rear or either flank believed themselves to be totally isolated so were forced to fall back and dig in, their position being untenable.

At midday the effective fighting strength of the 19th Btn was just 7 Officers and 43 other ranks" 

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30^th 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 55^th Division during the early hours of the 31^st July. 

Casualties in the 19^th Battalion were 11 Officers and 435 Other Ranks 

The events of 30^th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89^th 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.  

His death was reported in the Birkenhead News on 02nd September 1916, along with a photograph.  

"Mr.and Mrs.T.H.Allan, Moss Grove, Prenton,have recently received the offical communication of the death in action on July 30th of their youngest son, Lance-Corpl.Gordon Whittingham Allan, of the King's Liverpool Regiment. The young soldier, who was 27 years of age, was just on the eve of receiving his commission. Lance-Corpl.Allan joined his regiment at the beginning of the war, and had been at the front since last November. In pre-war days he was with the Universal Shipping and Forwarding Co., Fenwick-street, Liverpool. He was a keen member of the Y.M.C.A. Football Club,where he made many friends. He is an old boy of the Claughton Higher Grade School. Every sympathy is extended to Mr.and Mrs.Allan in their sad loss." 

Gordon was initially declared Missing on 30th July 1916.  Although his family were informed of his death a month later, an entry on his service record notes that it was not until August 1917 that his death was assumed for official purposes as having occurred on or since that date.

His body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as his name is now recorded on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. 

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.” There follow more than 72,000 names, among them is: Gordon Whittingham Allan.

His loved ones paid tribute in the Liverpool Echo on 30th and 31st August 1916: 

“July 30, killed in action, aged 27 years, Lance-Corporal Gordon Whittingham Allan (Liverpool Regiment), youngest and dearly-beloved son of Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Allan, 6, Moss Grove, Birkenhead.” 

“July 30, killed in action, Lance-Corporal Gordon Whittingham Allan. (Deeply mourned by his sorrowing fiancée Bessie.)” 

“July 30, killed in action, Lance-Corporal Gordon Whittingham Allan. (Deeply mourned by all at 1, Reedville, Birkenhead.”  (Elizabeth Hilda Jones, Gordon’s  fiancée aged 21, lived at this address with her family in 1911.) 

Gordon’s parents were so distraught at the loss of their beloved son that for a long time family members avoided talking about him in order to save them further distress.  This was probably the case in many thousands of homes across the country. 

Gordon earned his three medals. 

His father received Gordon’s Army effects totalling £5-18s-2d and a War Gratuity of £8-10s.  A pension card has not been found, suggesting that his parents did not apply for a pension, or that Gordon lived independently and had no dependents. 

The Birkenhead News reported on 16th June 1920 about the unveiling of a memorial at Prenton Congregational Church:

“On Sunday morning [13th June 1920] at the Prenton Congregational Church a memorial was unveiled to those who sacrificed their lives in the Great War. … Beneath the inscription were engraved the following names: Gordon Allan, Ernest Ashcroft, Wallace Smedley, Harold Swift, John Ross. The service…was solemn and impressive in character.”

His father wrote to Infantry Records in May 1921 enquiring about Gordon’s Memorial Plaque and Scroll, and was informed that, “as there are some tens of thousands of these memorials required, some time may elapse before they are all ready for issue”. 

His mother died on 22nd June 1933, and his father on 16th June 1938, both aged 81. (although the civil register lists Thomas’s age at death as 80). Probate records at his mother’s death show that she and his father continued to reside at 6 Moss Grove, Birkenhead.

His mother's death was reported in the Stockport Advertiser and Guardian on Friday 30th June 1933: 

DEATHS. 

ALLAN— On June 22, at her daughter's residence, 11 Flowery Field, Davenport, Stockport, JANE, beloved wife of Thomas H. ALLAN of 6 Moss Grove Prenton Birkenhead. 

On the 1939 England & Wales Register, his half brother, Thomas, was living in Birkenhead and employed as a road transport manager. His sister, Elsie, was living in Stockport. Thomas died on 1950, aged 68, and Elsie died in 1978, aged 90. 

Gordon is commemorated on the following memorials - 

Men of Birkenhead

St Stephen's Church, Prenton (as Allen)

The Prenton Memorial

Prenton United Reformed Church

Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 5 Additions (No.3 Co.) 

And on the family gravestone in Woodchurch Churchyard - 

   GORDON WHITTINGHAM, THEIR SON

MISSING AT GUILLEMONT 30TH JULY 1916

                      AGED 27 YEARS 

Gordon’s name is on the war memorial opposite St Stephen’s Church, Prenton and the one in Hamilton Square.  It is also on the memorial at Thiepval, which I visited in 2003, the first family member to do so.  Though I had the location of the names of his regiment, I was somewhat daunted by the size and height of the memorial, realising that his name may be some sixty feet above my head.  It was however, at almost exactly my eye level and the impact was astonishing.  By that time on my trip, I’d seen many thousands of white crosses and the 54,000 names at the Menin Gate, but to see the name of someone to whom I was related, even though I’d never met him and indeed had only been born some 34 years after his death, had a very powerful effect. 

Since then, Gordon’s great, great, great niece and nephew have seen his name on the memorial during school trips and most recently, my brother, Philip, who has Gordon as one of his names, was there.

Gordon’s parents also had his name inscribed on the family headstone in Woodchurch churchyard, where on 30^th July, 2016, my sister, niece and I placed one of the poppies from the Tower of London.  

Joy Allan

Grateful thanks go to Gordon's Great Niece Joy Allan for the biography of Gordon and for permission to use the photograph from the Postcard mentioned in the biography.

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