On 31st May 1916 HMS Invincible was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Hood, in command of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, when sailing with the Grand Fleet they met the German Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. Engaging with the German battleships, SMS Derfflinger and SMS Lützow, she had already hit the Lützow so that the German ship was sinking, when one of the two enemy battleships fired a shell that hit Invincible directly in Q Turret Magazine. The shell penetrated the front the Q turret, blew off the roof and detonated the midships magazines in a huge explosion that blew debris four hundred feet into the air. The ship broke in half and sank in a matter of 10 or 15 seconds killing all but six of the crew.
Gregory Hicks was among the 1,026 men lost when HMS Invincible sank at Jutland. He is commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Not involved in the early actions of the Third Battle of Ypres the Anson Battalion was called forward in October to participate in the Second Battle of Passchendaele. The main attack at Passchendaele was to be carried out by four Canadian Divisions with the Royal Naval Division covering their left flank. The specific objective allocated to Anson Battalion was Varlet Farm, theoretically a fortified farmstead situated midway between Poelcapelle and Passchendaele, although sources say all that remained of the farm buildings at the time were a few bricks and the name.
The ground conditions over which Anson Battalion were due to attack were truly appalling. With the flooded Paddebeek stream running through the low-lying ground, the swamp-like mud was in places simply impassable and an already difficult attack was made considerably worse.
The attack began at 5.40am on 26th October as Anson Battalion followed the infantry barrage through the mud towards Varlet Farm. The defenders put up a stiff fight, causing the battalion a number of casualties, but by 7.20am it was reported that they had captured the strongpoint, along with fifty prisoners. Shortly afterwards the reserve troops, Howe Battalion, caught up with them and around 9.00am a decision was made to push on across the Paddebeek towards the German front line at Source Trench. Here they were met by heavy rifle and machine gun fire and after suffering heavy casualties, retreated back to Varlet Farm.
In the attack on Varlet Farm and Source Trench, Anson Battalion suffered 270 casualties. Among them was Robert Brown who was acting as a runner for his platoon commander. Initially recorded as missing, his death was confirmed to his family in November. Like many who died that day Robert has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

See "Crowle and Ealand Soldiers" for the whole story.

On 9th April 1917 the 1st Lincoln's were in reserve with the 62nd Brigade when the Second Battle of Arras began. Supporting 64th Brigade as they attacked the Hindenburg Line south of Heniel during the First Battle of the Scarpe, they received orders that evening for an attack the next morning on the German trenches "from a point about half-way between the Cojeul and Sensee Rivers to the Henin - Heninel road".
The outlook for the attack was not promising. The ground in front of the German trenches was protected by masses of barbed wire, covered by machine guns sited in concrete bunkers. When the artillery barrage failed to cut the wire it was even less so. As the Official History reports "Great, but useless, bravery was shown by these battalions in their attempts to get through". With very few passages through the wire, they were easy targets for the machine gunners. Many men tried to force their way under it, again only to be shot down as they emerged on the opposite side.
The next morning it all proved to be worthless as the Germans had evacuated their positions and the 1st Lincoln’s walked through the wire and into the Hindenburg Line. The following days, the 13th-14th April, they supplied carrying parties for the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers as the battle moved on further east along the Hindenburg Line. They were relieved on the night of 14th April for billets in Beaufort.
Altogether in the Battle of the Scarpe, the 1st Lincoln's lost 181 men, 171 of them in the futile attack of 11th April. Among them was John Clark. He is buried in Cojeul British Cemetery.

See "Crowle and Ealand Soldiers" for the whole story.

The Battle of Passchendaele had ended on the 10th of November but there were still actions in the area. Shortly after arriving in the trenches on 17th November the 2nd Lincoln's had to fight off an attack where they suffered several casualties, many of whom were "gassed". They were relieved on 19th November but moved back to Passchendaele on 1st December when they were detailed to lead an attack on the German trenches.
At 1.55am on 2nd of December, the 2nd Lincoln's advanced to the attack. They had hardly got out of the trench when they were spotted by the enemy and came under heavy machine-gun fire. In spite of this they continued to advance, although every officer of the three assaulting companies was a casualty before their own outpost line was reached. Finally the advance stopped in No-Man's Land about thirty yards from the German trenches and the survivors dug in. They were relived later in the day and moved back to camp at St. Jean.
The 2nd Lincoln's suffered heavy casualties in the attack through the Passchendaele mud. 18 men were killed, 72 wounded and 25 were missing, among them Alfred Holmes. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

See "Crowle and Ealand Soldiers" for the whole story.

Herbert was posted to France in March 1917, where he joined the 175th (Staffordshire) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. In July 1917 the Brigade was posted to Nieuport on the Belgian coast, in readiness for the expected follow-up operations to the Ypres offensive planned for that summer. It was hoped that if the offensive went well it could be supported by a seaborne assault.
Although the assault never happened the Brigade were still at Nieuport in September, providing harassing fire for the British raids and defensive fire when the British troops came under attack. They were of course a prime target for the German artillery and suffered regular casualties mostly from artillery shelling but also the occasional bombing raid from enemy aircraft. The brigade diary records that they fired 39 rounds at an enemy aircraft at 6.30am on 6th September.
On the evening of 12th September 1917 Herbert was on guard duty when the Brigade were again attacked by an enemy aircraft. One of the bombs dropped by the aeroplane landed close to where Herbert was stationed and he sustained serious injuries in the explosion. Never recovering consciousness Herbert Teanby died of his wounds the following day. He is buried at Zuydcoote Military Cemetery.

See "Crowle and Ealand Soldiers" for the whole story.

George enlisted with the Royal Garrison Artillery and was sent for his initial training to the RGA training depot in Dover. He obviously showed some aptitude for the task as within three weeks, 27th November 1915, he was promoted to Acting Corporal. He was still an Acting Corporal when posted to 47th Company, also at Dover, in February 1916 but had qualified as a Gunner when he was posted to serve with the newly formed 115th Siege Battery RGA on 20th March 1916. The Battery went out to France on 27th June 1916. George was further promoted to Acting Bombardier on 14th March 1917 and Commissioned Bombardier on 20th March 1917.
On 8th April 1918 the battery was near Albert when they were hit by a German mortar attack. George was seriously wounded in his left leg, suffering a compound fracture of both his tibia and fibula. He would have been treated initially at a Royal Army Medical Corps Field Ambulance before being admitted to No 16 (Field) Hospital, Beavais on 12th April 1918.
The injuries to his leg were such that George spent the next few months being treated at Beavais. By 31st July 1918 he was well enough to be sent back home and on 2nd August he reached Springtown & Woodside Red Cross Hospital, Glasgow where he was to spend the next few months of his recuperation.
His leg was slow to heal and unfortunately just as he had begun his recovery he developed pleuro-pneumonia. When he had recovered from this he was finally able to leave hospital along with a discharge from the army as "No Longer Fit For War Service" on 1st April 1919.
Given an invalid pension from the army for his impaired mobility George returned to Ealand where he managed to pick up work as a farm labourer. In early 1919 he contracted influenza and with his lungs weakened from the pneumonia on 6th April 1920, George Wainwright died at home. He is buried with his grandfather in Crowle Cemetery.

See "Crowle and Ealand Soldiers" for the whole story.