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  #1  
Old 16-05-2014, 01:41 PM
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Default Trooper James Leonard Brown.

This is Trooper James Leonard Brown, 1st Life Guards. From Radcliffe. Died of wounds 29th January 1916 aged 19.


Why do we have so many men in the Household Cavalry??? I think we have 9 on the absent voters list for Amble and Radcliffe, Total that served will be higher again.


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Old 16-05-2014, 07:03 PM
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One of 9 children according to the 1911 census, 7 still at home, all the males are miners including James aged 13, who is a driver underground. At 38 King Edward Street, Amble in 1911.
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Old 16-05-2014, 07:19 PM
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If I'm on the right family on the census and the age is correct, then he was seriously under age when he enlisted, as he was sent overseas in early 1915.
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Old 16-05-2014, 09:40 PM
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On the subject of Life Guards, looks like one of the WW2 Coquet Mouth dredger casualties served in the 1st life Guards in WW1 as well -Robert Forster English. [Who was also my G-Grandparents next door neighbour in Broomhill Street!]
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Old 26-04-2015, 09:50 AM
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Just had a message from a descendant of Charles Brown, a Radcliffe 'soldier miner' wounded 100 years ago today, that the two Browns on the Radcliffe Memorial and Charles were brothers.

Charles is on the (just 50% finished!) 1915 casualty page
James Leonard, (as above) on the 1916 page

and the entry for Henry I have corrected on the war memorial page to:

46261 Henry Glendinning Brown, 9th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, killed in action, 2nd November 1916. Son of Peter and J. Glendinning Brown, of 49, Dandsfield Place, Radcliffe, Morpeth. Commemorated on the Thiepval Memmorial, Somme, France. Born Ford, Northumberland, enlisted Amble. Formerly 13389, Northumberland Fusiliers.

We may eventually find a photo for Henry.

The 1911 census shows that there are two more brothers that are of service age in this family: Thomas and Robert. Who knows? perhaps they had five sons 'under the colours'?
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Old 26-04-2015, 09:58 AM
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Yesterday and today, 100 years ago, the local boys found themselves thrust into the fighting at Ypres. Over the next few days, news was filtering back to Radcliffe, Alnwick, Broomhill, Amble, etc., that many of the boys that had left England just a week ago were being killed and wounded. You can imagine the surprise and shock when the scale of events started to sink in back home.
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Old 26-04-2015, 10:42 AM
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Well that sent a shiver down my spine. An ordinary day and so much suffering to come. What a waste.
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Old 26-04-2015, 01:07 PM
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The amazing thing about it is that they managed to do what was asked of them; seal the breach in the line caused by the German gas attack; otherwise history might have been very different; The Ypres salient cut off, 10s of thousands of men captured and the Germans powering towards Paris once more.

Amble pitmen with rifles turning world history. The truth really is stranger than fiction.


Although there's quite a fuss about Gallipoli, it was always a secondary theatre; on the western front though in April 1915 we could have lost the war.
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  #9  
Old 26-04-2015, 02:20 PM
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Default Re: 1914 - 18

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coquet View Post
Yesterday and today, 100 years ago, the local boys found themselves thrust into the fighting at Ypres. Over the next few days, news was filtering back to Radcliffe, Alnwick, Broomhill, Amble, etc., that many of the boys that had left England just a week ago were being killed and wounded. You can imagine the surprise and shock when the scale of events started to sink in back home.
Today is the 100th anniversary of my Great Uncle James Dalby being killed in action. Sadness for my family, but so many tears were yet to be shed in the area for so many others. May they all now rest in peace.
I often wonder how his two brothers managed to fight on, in the same battalion, afterwards. Thankfully they both survived.
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Old 26-04-2015, 06:35 PM
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Quote:
Today is the 100th anniversary of my Great Uncle James Dalby being killed in action.
Lest we Forget.
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Old 27-05-2015, 01:58 PM
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James Leonard Brown, a coal miner from Dansfield Place, Radcliffe, enlisted into the 1st Life Guards at Amble on the 3rd November 1914. His declared aged was 19, height 5’9½”, of fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. The attesting & recruiting officer was T.L. McAndrews J.P., and the medical officer J.A. Loughridge M.B. James remained in the UK until 15th October 1915 on which date he sailed to join his regiment on active service in France; the regiment at this time operating as Machine gun units and with dismounted squadrons serving as infantry in the trenches. On the 14th January James is brought in off the battlefield and treated in the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station for rifle grenade wounds to both legs and his left hand. On the 16th he is moved by hospital barge to the 10th Stationary Hospital at St Omer, but despite the best efforts of the doctors he succumbs to his wounds on the 29th; he is buried the same day in Souvenir Cemetery St. Omer.

The service papers for Brown include two references, apparently to help him get into the Life Guards; one is on Amble Co-operative Society headed notepaper signed by Ed Foreman, dated Nov 1914:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I have known James L. Brown for about six years, from being quite a boy; he is a very steady young man, and in my opinion is a fit young man for the position he now seeks.
Yours very truly
Ed Foreman [signed]
Justice of the Peace for the County of Northumberland.


And the second one on Broomhill Collieries Limited notepaper [with a correction to show ‘Newburgh’], from the Undermanager, dated Nov 4th 1914:

This is to certify that J.L. Brown has been employed at the above colliery for 4 years and has always given every satisfaction. He is a steady regular workman, and knowing that he is desirous of joining the Life Guards, I can honestly recommend him to whom cares to employ him.
L C? Scott
Undermanager
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Old 27-05-2015, 02:24 PM
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Default Gravestone in 'B' section Amble West Cemetery.




That gravestone records a lot of death in a short few years.
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Old 27-05-2015, 02:27 PM
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..and from a descendant of this family:


"Peter and Jane Glendinning Brown of Amble had six sons, five of whom were "miner soldiers".

George Tait Brown, born 1880. Married. Rabbit Catcher. In the Home Guard on the Farm at Akeld, where the family was before they moved to Amble, when Charles was seven.

Private Henry Glendinning Brown, born 1883. Single. Coal Miner in Amble. Cyclists in France. Killed in action at the Somme, aged 28 years.

Private Thomas Hook Brown, born 1888. Single. Coal Miner in Amble. In the A.S.C.

Driver Robert Brown, born 1890. Single. Coal Miner in Amble. Transport. Wounded in the Dardanelles.

Private Charles Brown, born 1895. Single. Coal Miner in Amble. Northumberland Fusseliers. Wounded at Ypres.

Trooper James Leonard Brown, born 1897. Single. Coal Miner in Amble. King's Life Guards. Died of wounds in France, aged 19 years.
"
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  #14  
Old 27-05-2015, 02:28 PM
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Quote:
And the second one on Broomhill Collieries Limited notepaper [with a correction to show ‘Newburgh’], from the Undermanager, dated Nov 4th 1914:

So James Leonard Brown was a miner at Newburgh Colliery.
[Someone asked which colliery he might have worked at and I said 'probably Broomhill Colliery', but from his service papers it was actually Newburgh.]
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  #15  
Old 27-05-2015, 02:37 PM
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Well, we've come a long way with this one. Not just a mysterious "Brown" carved on the Radcliffe memorial anymore.
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  #16  
Old 06-06-2015, 04:34 PM
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Default 1st Life Guards. A Scout. Harry Payne Postcard, 'Tuck's Oilette.'

I'm processing a collection of military postcards for disposal (500!) and came across this one. Thought it would be an appropriate addition to this thread. Romanticised 'Scout' of the 1st Life Guards, painting probably intended to be France 1914. By the famous Harry Payne.

James Brown would have been a fully trained cavalryman before he left these shores, and I'm sure they had their horses with them behind the lines in 1915, but I'm also sure they never got many opportunities to use them as intended after 1914!



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  #17  
Old 07-05-2016, 04:45 PM
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Default Brown family Radcliffe

I have only just discovered your forum with details of my family.
You may be interested to see this newspaper photograph of the Brown family in 1915.
They were my great grandfather and great uncles. My grandmother was their eldest sister, Barbara.
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Old 08-05-2016, 09:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barbara View Post
I have only just discovered your forum with details of my family.
You may be interested to see this newspaper photograph of the Brown family in 1915.
They were my great grandfather and great uncles. My grandmother was their eldest sister, Barbara.
Very nice to see Barbara. I have most of the data from the contemporary newspapers on the district's WW1 casualties, but with a few periods missing, latter part of 1915 being one of them.
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Old 08-08-2016, 09:09 AM
Gill Tait Gill Tait is offline
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Default James Leonard brown

James Leonard Brown was my great uncle, his brother Thomas Hook Brown was my grandfather

I would love to get in contact with anyone that has more information on the family
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Old 08-08-2016, 09:16 AM
Gill Tait Gill Tait is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barbara View Post
I have only just discovered your forum with details of my family.
You may be interested to see this newspaper photograph of the Brown family in 1915.
They were my great grandfather and great uncles. My grandmother was their eldest sister, Barbara.
I have been trying to see the photograph from the newspaper that Barbara posted as it must be my great grandfather too! Unfortunately the quality is such that I cannot decipher it, is there any other way that it can be viewed, I have never seen a picture of my great grandfather
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