Pte 15902 Francis Albert Coles

The 1901 Census finds them at 1 Hatherley Street in Seacombe, Cheshire. At this time William is 38 and working as a foreman for a vitriol maker, i.e., sulphuric acid, Emily is 41, and their children are: Bertie aged 17 who is working as a tram guard as is his 14 year old brother Alfred. Gertrude is 12, Francis is 7, Percy is 7 and Edith is 4 months old.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 1, Lime Street, Liverpool (which was the Legs of Man pub). Their father, William, aged 49 is working as a hotel manager, his mother, Emily, aged 51 is at home with her children; – Alfred, aged 24, who is working as a joiners labourer, Francis, aged 16, is a railway clerk, Percy, aged 14, is a solicitors office boy and Edie, aged 10, is at school. The couple’s niece Annie Selfe aged 18 is living with them as is 36 year old Letitia Griffiths, a servant, born in County Cavan. William and Emily have been married for 31 years. They have had 8 children, only 5 of whom had survived.

Francis enlisted on the 31st August 1914 at St George's Hall in Liverpool, joining the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment and stated that he was aged 20 years and 30 days. He was described as being five feet nine and 7/8th inches tall, weighed 140lbs, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair and gave his religion as Wesleyan.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th 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. 

His service record shows the following:

05.12.14: Appointed unpaid Lance Corporal.

29.12.14: Appointed paid Lance Corporal.

04.09.15: Reverts to Private at own request.

07.11.15: Embarks for France with his battalion. 

Qualification: grenadier.

Not long after he arrived in France, in February 1916, his mother Emily died, at the age of 54.

01/02.07.16: Gunshot wound to head. Transferred to Field Ambulance.

03.07.16: Admitted to 21 Casualty Clearing Station.

04.07.16: Transferred to 10 General Hospital, Rouen.

11.07.16: Etaples.

11.07.16: Posted to 18th Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment.

12.07.16: Joined 18th Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment.

21.07.16: Transferred to 17th Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment.

30.07.16: Wounded to Field Ambulance.

30.07.16: Wounded and declared missing whilst serving in the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 15902. 

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. 

After the events of 30th July 1916 he was declared as wounded in the Liverpool Daily Post on 04th August 1916: 

Wounded. 

King’s (Liverpools) - Coles, 15902, F.A.(Liverpool); 

His father wrote a letter to the army dated 07th September 1916 from The Legs of Man Hotel, 1, Lime Street, Liverpool.

Dear Sir. I write this letter to you, hoping that you will excuse me for taking such liberty. But as a father of three sons who are fighting in France and one who was killed in South Africa, I am somewhat anxious about the safety of My son Francis Coles, No 15902, 1st. Liverpool Pals, 16th Platoon, 17 Batt., as I have received a letter, 3 weeks ago, from a friend of his at the front............. that he was in hospital suffering from wounds and loss of memory. I would be very thankful to you if you can supply me with any news of him, and whether I can entertain any hopes of him still being alive. I am yours, fraternally William. G. Coles.

Despite the enquiries to the War Office Francis was declared killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 21, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

Francis' body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

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.”

He earned his three medals, which his father William signed for.

William received Frank's outstanding Army pay and a War Gratuity of £8-10s, and was awarded a pension of 4/8d a week from May 1917.

In 1919 his father was still at the Legs of Man, with Alfred 31, Percy 22, and Edith, 18.  Gertrude, 29 and married, lived in Orrell Lane, Aintree.

Later that year his father managed the Philharmonic Hotel in Hope Street, but by 1920 had moved to Bournemouth, where he managed the Prince of Wales Hotel. He died in 1927, aged 63.

Pte. Bertie Coles served in South Africa with the 16th Lancers and died on 30th December 1902 at the Middleburg Station Hospital from a cerebral haemorrhage, the result of injuries sustained nine days previously. Military records give his age as 19, but he was in fact 18 years old. Bertie rests in Middleburg Old Cemetery, Eastern Cape.

Alfred attested in Liverpool in December 1915, and was mobilised in June 1916 in the Cheshire Regiment. A joiner's machinist, Alfred was classified B.2 due to a missing right index finger. He landed at Dunkirk in October 1916, and served in the Labour Corps and Royal Engineers.

Percy must have served in France but unfortunately no record of his service has been identified.