Pte 16350 John Forster Arrowsmith

• Age: 23
• From: Runcorn, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Danzig Alley Cem, Mametz
  Panel Ref: Mem.23

16350 Private John Forster ARROWSMITH, 18^th KLR.

Born in Runcorn on 03rd July 1892, John was the second of two children and the only son born to John Arrowsmith, a bookkeeper, and his wife Jessie (nee Forster), who married in Runcorn in 1888. In 1891 John, Jessie and their 1 year old daughter, Edith, lived at 23 Blantyre Street, Runcorn.

In 1896, John senior died.

In 1901 his widow, Jessie, lives with her daughter and 8 year old son, John Forster Arrowsmith, at the home of her mother, Mary Forster, at 5 Rawcliffe Street, Blackpool. Mary was originally from Durham. 

In 1911, Jessie, still a widow, lives with her son and her widowed mother at 63 Granville Road, Wavertree, when John is said to be a clerk with an Average Adjustor, ie in Marine Insurance, while her daughter, Edith, a certificated teacher, is shown as a boarder with 2 fellow female teachers at 8 Tunstall Street, New Silksworth, Sunderland. 

Prior to the war, John was working as a clerk for Messrs. McArthur, Clover & Stone, average adjusters of Exchange Buildings, Liverpool.  

John enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 02^nd September 1914 joining the 18th Battalion as Private 16350 and giving his age as 22 years 61 days, his birthplace as Runcorn and his occupation as clerk. He is described as being five feet eight inches tall, weighed 119lbs with fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair. He stated his religion as Church of England. He gave his next of kin as his sister, Edith Maud Arrowsmith of 40 Somerset Cottages, New Silksworth, Sunderland.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th 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 sailed to France on the SS Invicta arriving in Boulogne on the 7th November 1915.

John was killed in action on 1^st July 1916 whilst serving with No 1 company of his battalion, during the attack at Montauban. The Battalion diary gives an account of the days events. 

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks. 

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

He was originally buried at Vernon Street Cemetery at Carnoy but the location of his remains was lost probably through enemy shelling. He is now commemorated on the war memorial in Dantzig Alley British Cemetery, France.

The village of Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley (a German trench) and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by field ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground was lost during the great German advance in March 1918 but regained in August, and a few graves were added to the cemetery in August and September 1918. At the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by graves (almost all of 1916) brought in from the battlefields north and east of Mametz and from certain smaller burial grounds, including:-

VERNON STREET CEMETERY, CARNOY, in the valley between Carnoy and Maricourt, at a place called "Squeak Forward Position". 110 soldiers who died in July-October 1916 were buried here by the 21st Infantry Brigade and other units.

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery now contains 2,053 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 518 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 17 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 71 casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

On 11^th July, Tom W. Forster, presumably Jessie’s brother, wrote to Army Records from 12, Salisbury Road, Wavertree, asking for information about John “as we have received his watch from Private A. Gregory, Yorkshire Regiment  which was picked up when (John) was killed”.

Private Gregory also collected John's diary and returned it to the family. 

On 2^nd November 1916, John’s effects were sent to his sister Edith, via Messrs Nicholson & Martin, solicitors, Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1920 Edith received his memorial scroll and plaque at ‘White House’, Burdon, Sunderland. 

Having served in France from 07^th November 1915, John earned his three medals. He is commemorated on the war memorial in the Unitarian Church, Ullet Road, Sefton Park, Liverpool.

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