Bewdley Men on the Somme II

Lance Corporal George Reginald STYLES

16th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment 450

Killed in action Sunday 3rd September 1916

Lance Corporal Styles is one of the four Bewdley men to serve with the Birmingham ‘Pals’ battalions of the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

George Reginald Styles was born in Peterborough, Northamptonshire on the 18^th May 1893. He was the son of Bewdley–born George Henry Styles and Martha Ada Styles (formerly Shiers), who was from the Peterborough village of Eye Green. George Henry’s trade was a clothier, and the family lived at 9 Lincoln Road in the city. The couple’s daughter Winifred was born in 1894, but by 1901, the Styles family have returned to Bewdley, and live at 74 Load Street where George Henry is a fruiterer. The couple also have an infant son Herbert, born in 1901. In 1911, George is an apprentice golf equipment manufacturer, and the family home is now 6, Lower Park, Bewdley.

By the time of the outbreak of war in 1914, George Reginald Styles was working as a foreman in Simpsons Seed Merchants in Birmingham.^[i] He enlisted in Aston, and his low regimental number is evidence of his being a very early volunteer to the 16^th Battalion. His platoon is pictured in the ‘Birmingham Battalions Book of Honour’, where he is a private in 5^th platoon under Lieutenant Neville Yardley, part of ‘B’ Company commanded by Captain Grahame Deakin.

Styles served in the same unit as Lance-Corporal Charles Minton (see above), and was killed in action during hand to hand fighting for the seizure of the fortified farmhouse of Falfemont near Guillemont on or around the 3^rd September 1916.

On the evening of 31^st August 1916, 15^th Brigade relieved 13^th Brigade in the front line, occupying trenches dug by their comrades in the 15^th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. On the 1^st September, the 16^th Battalion dug assembly trenches in front of the German strong-point of Falfemont Farm in preparation for the imminent attack, designed to seize the spur of Somme countryside that overlooked the German held village of Combles, marked by the site of Leuze (or ‘Lousy’) Wood. In addition to this, on the evening of the 1^st September, the 16^th Battalion staged a reconnaissance by 2 patrols of 18 men, which succeeded in attracting machine gunfire, wounding the officer in command, Lt. J Hughes, and resulting in 2 men missing.

On the morning of the 2^nd September, a British artillery bombardment opened up in preparation for the attack. This attracted German retaliation, and in a day of continual artillery bombardment, the 16^th Royal Warwicks suffered 30 casualties, before being relieved in the evening by the 2^nd Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers. By 3am in the morning of the 3^rd September, they were back in support in Casement Trench.

After the attack on Falfemont Farm by the 14^th and 15^th Battalions of 13^th Brigade, (as described in the entry on JB Smith),  the 16^th Battalion were deployed on the evening of the 3^rd September, in close support by Angle Wood . On the 4^th, the 1^st Norfolks renewed the attack, suffering heavily from machine gun fire. A and D companies of the 16^th were ordered up to help the Norfolks, moving from shell hole to shell hole under heavy fire. As darkness fell the 16^th were digging in on the southeastern edge of the farm, digging trenches or ‘saps’ towards the German positions. On the morning of the 5^th September, these saps were used in the final assault on Falfemont Farm which fell after heavy hand to hand fighting. That night, the 16^th Royal Warwicks were relieved by troops from the 16^th (Irish) Division.^[i]

Given the intensity of the fighting, exact dates for the loss of specific soldiers are difficult to establish, with some sources giving a blanket date of the 3^rd September 1916 for casualties killed on the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th. Between 31^st August and 5^th September, the 16^th lost 61 men killed and 195 wounded.One of these was the 24-year-old George Reginald Styles, who was buried in Delville Wood Cemetery, grave XXV. K 7. he is also commemorated on his parent’s grave in Ribbesford churchyard. ^[ii]

^[i]  Carter pp. 207-8

^[i]  Kidderminster Shuttle 14th October 1916 page 8.

^[ii]  ‘In loving memory of / George Henry Styles / who died August 7th 1924 / Aged 54 / Resting In Peace / Also George Reginald / Son of the above / killed in the Great War / September 3rd 1916 Aged 23 / Greater love hath no man than this / Also Martha Ada wife of  / George Henry Styles / who fell asleep November 2nd 1935 / aged 67 / until the morning without clouds’. Henry and Martha Styles lived at Rose Villa, Wyre Hill, Bewdley in the mid-1920s.