Photo: thought to have been taken in Ireland during initial training (Frank is 5th from left in the middle row).Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914 (following assassination of Franz Ferdinand on 28 June). Germany declared war on France on 3 August (and poured into Belgium). The British Foreign Secretary sent ultimatum to Germany demanding its withdrawal from neutral Belgium. Germany failed to withdraw and Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August.
On the outbreak of the First World War, it was decided to send Sir John French and four infantry division to Belgium. By October 1914 the BEF had seven infantry and three cavalry divisions in France and Belgium.
Note: In 1921, to make some sense for historical description of the continual and complex battles, the various actions were defined and named by the Battles Nomenclature Committee.
Where relevant, these have been highlighted appropriately and links provided to various websites.
1 comment:
I’ve been contacted by the grandson of Corporal Alec Fletcher (Reg no. 49758) who also served with the 38th Brigade RFA (and, like Frank, also had a 1914 star). He joined up in Birmingham in 1908. Alec was apparently based in Fermoy, Co Cork in early 1914 with the 38th Bde. Alec’s grandson wonders if the two men actually knew each other? I suppose it’s just possible that they did.
Frank originally joined the Kings Royal Rifle Corps on 2 January 1914 (and attested to the Regular Army KRR at Winchester on 20 April 1914) and transferred to the Royal Field Artillery on 1 July 1914. He was certainly in Ireland at the start of the war – he was a member of the 8th Brigade as part of the British Expeditionary Force and left Dublin North Wall on 17 August 1917 (I understand that the photograph included in the “Introduction” section of this blog was taken in Ireland during initial training).
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