TO mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War, the Gazette & Herald has joined forces with the Rotary Club of Malton and Norton to remember the local people who died in the conflict.

With the help of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, Rotary member Colin Jennings has been able to list all of the 81 men and one woman on the memorial, who died in the Great War, onto the Rotary Club website. He has since been contacted by relatives inquiring about their ancestors from as far afield as Australia and the US.

His colleague, John Howard, has been trying to find out more about the history of these men and their experiences during the Great War, mainly by consulting the war diaries of the battalions they served with but also using historical records and information supplied by family members.

Over the coming months the Gazette & Herald will be publishing details available about those men to mark the 100th anniversary since their deaths.

Cpl Francis McDonald, was the first Malton man to be killed in the Great War on the September 15, 1914.

Francis McDonald

Remembered with Honour

La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, France

In Memory of

Corporal 56356, 55th Bty., Royal Field Artillery

who died on 15 September 1914

Not positively connected with a family living in Malton. A Frank McDonald is commemorated in St Michael’s Church.

55 Battery was deployed in the retreat from MONS, so he would probably be a regular soldier.

The 55th Battery was part of XXXVII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. The 37th Brigade was originally formed with 31st, 35th and 55th (Howitzer) Batteries, each equipped with 4.5" howitzers, and attached to 4th Infantry Division. In August 1914 it mobilised and was sent to the Continent with the British Expeditionary Force, where it saw service with 4th Division until February 1915 when it was assigned to IV Corps.

The basic organic unit of the Royal Artillery was, and is, the Battery.

When grouped together they formed brigades, in the same way that infantry battalions or cavalry regiments were grouped together in brigades. At the outbreak of World War I, a field artillery brigade of headquarters (4 officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (5 and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (4 and 154) had a total strength just under 800 men so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Artillery brigades were redesignated as regiments in 1938.

A subsection consisted of a single gun and limber drawn by six horses (with three drivers), eight gunners (riding on the limber or mounted on their own horses), and an ammunition wagon also drawn by six horses (with three drivers). Two subsections formed a Section and in a six gun battery these would be designated as Left, Centre and Right Sections. Maximum range of the 4.5 ins howitzer was just over 4 miles, 7,300 yds.

Anyone who is able to help with the project should phone Karen Darley at the Gazette on 01653 695600 or email karen.darley@gazetteherald.co.uk

For more information, visit rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=220