My grandfather, James Burke, enlisted in Jan 1915 at the age of 38 into the 23rd Manchesters, Bantam Division.

At the start of the Great War in 1914, there was much talk that it would be soon over, but it became obvious that more time was needed, and a lot more men.
Under Lord Kitchener, the War Minister, a vast new army was raised from local communities, the idea being that men would be serving alongside their friends. This was so popular that mass enlistment followed. In total, eight battalions were raised in the Manchester area as part of the Manchester Regiment, soon to be known as the Manchester Pals.
The 23rd Battalion the 8th City Manchesters, became known as the "bantams", and served within the 35th Division, The Bantam Division. Men taken into the 23rd, had previously been rejected on the grounds of insufficient height. By Wednesday 25th November 1914, there were 1208 men of short stature who would form the 8th City Battalion. This was the Battalion that my grandfather belonged to.

The bantams take a rest from training at Morecambe.

Training continued at Morecambe until June 1915, when they transferred to Masham in Yorkshire to join other Bantam units of the 35th Division. In August, they went to Salisbury Plain and remained there until 29th January 1916, when they left for Southhampton for embarkation to France. However, the attempt to cross the Channel was foiled by mines, but the Bantams finally crossed on 30th January 1916, landing at Boulogne.

Battalion of the 23rd Manchester Regiment

Training, machine gun and trench instruction followed at Blondeques and Richebourg, until 24th feb. They arrived at front line trenches on March 7th 1916.
On Sat. 1st July 1916, the opening day of the battle of the Somme began. It was by far the largest casualty roll of any day in British Military history. A mass attack, following a week of concentrated artillery fire of some 80 infantry Battallions, resulted in 57,000 casualties, 19,240 of them fatal.

My grandfather took part in heavy fighting at Loos, St. Eloi, Albert and Vimy Ridge. Wounded on the Somme in July 1916, he was sent home, but on recovery he returned to France to further fighting at Amiens, Bapaume and Havrincourt. he was killed in action at Cambrai on Sept 27th 1918. Ironically, Cambrai was freed from german occupation in October, and the end of the war came in November 1918. He was 42 yrs old when he was killed.

Missing in Action

By Feb 1918, the 18th, 19th, and 23rd Manchesters were effectively disbanded, and James was transferred into the 23rd Lancashire Fusiliers. He fought at Havrincourt (Sept 12th 1918) before he lost his life at the battle of Pont de Nieppe. This was the fourth battle of Ypres-the last and most decisive battle of the war. The main attack was launched on 28th Sept, but the previous day (27th, and the day he was killed) the 23rds took part in a preliminary operation to make good the western bank of the Lys. At 5:45am, they advanced towards the river between the Bailleul-Armentieres road and the bend in the river at the Belgian frontier. the battallion reached it's objective, but it's position proved to be untenable owing to the heavy fire to which it was subjected.

On estimate, the Manchester and Salford area paid for the Great War with 22,000 men killed and a further 55,000 casualties.

The Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium

My Grandfather's name is on commemorative panel No. 4 in the Ploegsteert memorial in Berks cemetery extension

Local War memorial

This memorial, with his name on, is situated in the area where my grandfather lived

Memorial Plaque

This copper plaque was awarded to all those killed in the Great War, and this one is in my possession.

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