In Memory of

CHARLES DUNCAN GRAY

Private
27373
'C' Coy, 15th Bn., Highland Light Infantry
who died on
Monday, 2nd April 1917. Age 20.

Additional Information:

 

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Charles D Gray

 

 

View medals of Charles  Gray

 

15 HLI Memorial, Click to view

Son of James and Helen Gray, of Sunside, Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire.
James Gray d 7/4/1945 age 90, Helen Morrison d 14/1/1957 age 91
Interred Insch CY, Charles recorded on headstone

War & Victory Medals

CWGC records, previously buried at map ref : 62B.5.13.B.1.7

15 (Service) Batt (1st Glasgow) HLI
He was born at Kennethmont and enlisted in Aberdeen, killed in action.

Formerly 143793, Royal Field Artillery

Born at Sunside 30 June 1896

19/5/1916 Called up and reported next day, given pass home.
22/5/1916 Left for Glasgow, arrived Maryhill 6am
24/5/1916 At Coliseum
25/5/1916 Inoculated
28/6/1916 Paid 8/-
20/6/1916 Transferred to HLI Montrose
22/7/1916 Home for weekend
14/8/1916 Started musketry

1/9/1916 Embarkation leave commences
6/9/1916 Leave ends
21/9/1916 Shifted to Malling? (Perthshire)

27/9/1916 Left for front
28/9/16 Arrived Folkstone 6am, left for Boulogne arrived 2pm
29/9/1916 Came to Etaples

9/10/11916 Arrived Beuvry, (JG note, near Bethune)

10/10/1916 Shifted to Busnes (JG note, near Bethune), no further movement entries

 

 

Service Notes
15th HLI Glasgow Trams Pals Battalion.

Raised in Glasgow by Lord Provost and City from recruits from the Glasgow Tramways.
To Gailes, Ayrshire.
May 1915 to Prees Heath in 97th Bde, 32nd Div
June 1915 to Wenslydale.
1/7/1915 taken over by the War Office.
23/11/1915 landed at Boulogne, 97th Brigade, 32nd Division.
22/2/1918 became pioneer battalion for 32nd Division ending the War at Avesnelles, France.

 

The following is an extract from - An Epic of Glasgow, History of the 15th Battalion, The Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) by Thomas Chalmers and details the actions of Charles Gray's unit at Savy Wood on the day of his death. As one of the casualties of April 2nd he was originally buried in SAVY WOOD NORTH CEMETERY and later moved to SAVY BRITISH CEMETERY in 1920.


NEAR THE HINDENBURG LINE.
The 15th H.L.L, with the 14th Brigade, arrived in the Bois-de-Savy about 3 on the morning of April 2 to take up attack positions. The objectives were Holnon and Francilly-Selency, still nearer to St. Quentin on the oblique line of the drive north-east across the town's western approaches. The 1st Dorsets on the left had to seize Holnon. The 2nd Manchesters had to go direct at Francilly, "B" Company of the 15th H.L.I. in support, with orders to consolidate the eastern edge of Francilly. Two other companies of the 15th on the right, "C" and "D" Companies, were to capture the height which runs roughly east from the village. This high ground was to have been taken by the 96th Brigade which had failed. Two platoons of "A" Company were employed as R.E. working parties and a third platoon as Battalion reserve. At 4.55 a.m. the British artillery laid down a heavy barrage on the village which lasted five minutes. Then the 14th Brigade attacked. The stormers were violently assailed by machine gun fire along the entire front but they swept on purposefully and laid hold of the allotted positions, taking numerous prisoners. "D" Company of the H.L.I. captured three machine guns in a quarry. The 2nd Manchesters were fired at point blank by a battery of six German field guns situated on a slope some hundred yards to the east of Francilly which was in the hands of that Midland battalion.

The gunners decamped, however, under the fusilade of rifle and machine gun fire, abandoning their pieces, whereupon the Manchesters dug their line so as to command the battery position. The 15th H.L.I. had few casualties in the actual assault, but about 6.15 a.m. the Germans opened a severe bombardment, smashing shells into Francilly and battering the heights. On this wet and dreary morning "B" and "C" Companies were frenziedly digging to consolidate. The shelling went on all day but did not turn the companies from the construction of very fine trenches. They dug and dug with shell-bursts all around them, dug for dear life. But they suffered 40 casualties before they had prepared a position in which to resist counter-attack.

15 HLI Diary entry.
April 2. Bois-de-Savy. Attack and capture of Francilly.
Casualties for April : Officers, 2 killed, 3 wounded; other ranks, 42 killed, 124 wounded.

Commemorative Information

Cemetery: SAVY BRITISH CEMETERY, Aisne, France

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

I. I. 6.

Location:

Headstone of Charles Gray

Savy is a village 6.5 kilometres west of St Quentin. Savy British Cemetery is on the south-western outskirts of the village, on the west side of the road to Roupy.

Historical Information: Savy was taken by the 32nd Division on the 1st April 1917, after hard fighting, and Savy Wood on the 2nd. On the 21st March 1918 Savy and Roupy were successfully defended by the 30th Division, but the line was withdrawn after nightfall. The village and the wood were retaken on the 17th September 1918 by the 34th French Division, fighting on the right of the British IX Corps. Savy British Cemetery was made in 1919, and the graves from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the neighbourhood were concentrated into it. There are now over 850, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, more than half are unidentified. Memorials are erected in the cemetery to 68 soldiers (chiefly of the 19th King's Liverpools and the 17th Manchesters), buried by the Germans in their cemetery on the St. Quentin-Roupy road, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. The Cemetery covers an area of 2,555 square metres and is enclosed by a low rubble wall. The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves were removed to Savy British Cemetery:- DALLON GERMAN CEMETERY, North-West of the village of Dallon, containing the graves of 21 British soldiers who fell in March 1918. INNISKILLINGS CEMETERY, DALLON, on the South side of a small wood, North of the St. Quentin-Savy road. Here the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, in April 1917, buried 17 of their number, three other British soldiers and one French Interpreter. LANCASHIRE CEMETERY, on the East side of SAVY WOOD, made by the 16th Lancashire Fusiliers in April 1917, and containing the graves of 27 men of the 15th and 16th Lancashire Fusiliers and nine other British soldiers. ST. QUENTIN-ROUPY ROAD GERMAN CEMETERY, at L'Epine-de-Dallon, which contained the graves of 232 British soldiers who fell in March 1918. SAVY COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, made in April 1917 and containing 14 British graves. SAVY MILITARY CEMETERY, close to Savy Church. It was made in April and May 1917 by the 97th Brigade and other units, and it contained 39 British graves. SAVY WOOD NORTH CEMETERY, at the North-West corner of Savy Wood, by the railway line. It was made by the 32nd Division in April and May 1917, and it contained 44 British graves.