Second Lieutenant Byron was one of only two officers named on the Village Memorial to die for their country during the Great War. He was born in Hackney, (London) on 23rd November 1895 and had two older brothers who both served as Captains during the War. The son of ship owner John Byron and his wife Clara, the family had two homes. One was at ‘Wyefield’, The Knoll, Beckenham, Kent and the other, ‘Downlands’ in Ringmer. Clement was educated at Harrow for four and a half years and had been selected for Magdalen College, Oxford. There he was to join the Officer Training Corps, but then war broke out. As part of his obituary, the Oxford Magazine of 26th January 1917 was to say,

Downlands, Ringmer

’…Of good ability, diligent and very attractive, good too at music and games, he could hardly have failed to do well at Oxford.’ However, he became impatient at the delay in beginning his military training and decided not go to university after all.

Young Byron enlisted as a Private with the number 2217 on 8th September 1914 in the Honourable Artillery Company (H.A.C.). Part of the Territorial Force since 1908, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army, having been granted a Charter of Incorporation in 1537 by Henry VIII. Clement rapidly became a Corporal and thereafter was promoted again to Sergeant. It was to the Second Battalion that he was commissioned on 2nd October 1915 and then posted to ‘C’ Company. Special courses were undertaken in the use of the Lewis Gun and the art of throwing hand grenades accurately. The Battalion marched out of the Tower of London on 1st October the following year and sailed for France. The sailing was delayed a day owing to the suspected presence of an enemy submarine.

Once overseas they joined the 7th Division, which was then stationed near Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium and took their share of front line duties in that sector. By 15th November the entire Division was to spend five days marching to the already devastated area of the Somme battlefields around Beaumont Hamel. The main assault for the capture of this village had already finished by the time the 2nd H.A.C. arrived, but the consolidation of the area fell to them among others. As the ground locally had been churned up by hundreds of thousands of shells ever since 1st July 1916, the state of the trenches can scarcely be imagined.

Beaumont Hamel British Cemetery

Clement Byron's Grave

Despite the squalor, Byron’s sense of duty and humour never left him. As an officer he had to censor his men’s private letters yet had the ‘privilege’ of censoring his own correspondence. His honour never faltered and military details of the War were not divulged. All personal names are by initial letter only and places not identified at all. He belittled the hideous conditions in all his letters home. These letters, together with examples of his earlier writings, are embodied in a Memorial Book dedicated to his honour. In one dated 17th November 1916 he states, ‘I note with surprise that you have been reading in the paper that conditions at the front are ‘awful.’ I can assure you that that was probably written by some terrified fool who had fallen into a shell-hole and got his trousers wet.’ By 25th November he concedes that there were some [slight] difficulties and continues, ‘The roads and paths, which in the past or so had become very difficult to traverse owing to the adhesive condition of the mud have now improved in consequence of the mud being converted into a creamy liquid, which although obnoxious, does not impede progress to any great extent.’ Further on he remarks, ‘I have used one [towel] since we left England, but today have been obliged to indulge in a clean one, owing to the protective colouring which the first one has adopted, rendering it almost invisible when placed on the ground.’

Christmas 1916 was described as ‘unforgettable’ in the Regimental history, and they were not referring to any festivities. It was at this scene of destruction and desolation that on 10th January 1917 Clement John Byron was destined to die. He had just stepped out from his dugout when a shell burst at the entrance. It killed him and Private Frederick Scott from Leyton instantly, and wounded five others. 2/Lt Byron was due the British War & Victory Medals. The fact that he was an officer did not entitle him to any additional campaign medals. He is buried in the beautiful little British cemetery of Beaumont Hamel not far from where he fell. Today it is a perfect scene of peace and tranquillity, so utterly different from that experienced by our men who fought there back in those dark days.

Clifford Byron's Original Grave Marker

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The Lychgate of Ringmer Church

Clement’s death was felt most strongly by his family. When the time came for his temporary wooden cross to be replaced by a Portland gravestone, that wooden cross was reverently carried home to Ringmer. For years it was in the Churchyard but finally the cross was brought into the Church to protect it from the weather. It now reposes in a place of honour in the South or Springett Chapel. His proud parents had the Lychgate erected in memory of their beloved son and a bronze plate on the inward side reads, ‘To the Glory of God and in Memory of Clement John Byron 2nd Lieutenant H.A.C. killed in action in France 10th January A.D.1917 aged 21 years.’

The Company's principle task at that time of the War was in erecting barbed wire entanglements in front of our trenches. They were under repeated attack from the Germans as part of the Spring Offensive that had commenced on 9th April in Flanders. The Sappers were also working on our rear defences to reinforce the existing obstacles sufficient to withstand penetration by the enemy. We were being driven back daily and it was imperative to stem the tide with whatever means were at our disposal. A breakthrough here, even at this late date in the War, could have resulted in an overall German victory.

Yet another task assigned the Engineers was preparing the dischargers for a smoke barrage intended to precede an attack planned for 26th April. That foray was, as it happens, pre-empted by the Germans who launched their attack early on 25th April. They shelled our back areas severely, causing several casualties in the transport section of the Field Company. Three of the four sections, which had been working in the front line, were returning to billets when the barrage hit and they too had many dead and wounded. At about 9am the shelling slackened a little and the Engineers took up a defensive position on the right of the 11th Royal Scots in reserve in the Shepenberg Line. Here we see the Engineers in an infantry capacity.

The original cross marking John's Grave at El Alamein Military Cemetery

On 14th November they had a day to themselves to get their kit into order. It was, in Army parlance a dhobie day, with the added attraction of make and mend! Of course, during a War one is never off duty and certain military jobs had to be done. One such job was removing a large quantity of disarmed but still very explosive German anti-tank Tellermines to a safe area. The engineer assigned the task of driving the deadly cargo was sick and Ted volunteered to take his place behind the wheel despite his own injuries. The lorry struck an undetected mine beside the road and the whole load of mines went off in the resultant explosion. Driver John Leister and seven of his comrades in the sub-section who travelled on the lorry were killed. The remains of Ted and those others who could be identified were buried in El Alamein Military Cemetery.

The 1st day of July 1916 is one of the most poignant dates in the annals of the British Army. It was their blackest day - ever. At 07.20 the first of the infantry advanced. The Battle of the Somme had commenced. The initial attack was signalled by the detonation of some 40,600lb of high explosives at the German stronghold, known as Hawthorn Redoubt. Over an eighteen mile front 143 battalions pressed forward during the next few hours. By the end of that day well over 17,000 corpses littered the battlefield. A further 35,493 were wounded and a mere 585 were recorded as prisoners of war. All this for an overall gain of around three square miles in the southern sector. The onslaught in the remaining parts of the front failed on July 1st with the disastrous casualties mentioned.

During the following days our newspapers heralded the battle as a resounding success with few British casualties and massive gains. A motion film was quickly made and shown to packed houses, depicting the victorious British attacks. Books were written and illustrated to show what a glorious victory had been achieved in the ‘Great Push’. It was awhile before the casualty lists started to appear and the people began to wonder as to how great the victory really was. The ‘Battle of the Somme’ was to turn into a ghastly war of attrition and drag on for a further five months. The ‘Grim Reaper’ had many more young lives on both sides to claim yet before winter finally halted the slaughter that year. In that time there were almost a half million British casualties, over 100,000 being fatal.

On 6th June 1896 Thomas George, a bricklayer, and Emily Divall of The Green, Ringmer, became the proud parents of Reginald. He was christened on 1st July that year and, when the time came, enrolled at Ringmer School. He started there on 9th October 1899 and remained until 18th April 1910 when he commenced work at Horsted Place, Little Horsted. From 1908 to 1912 he was in Ringmer Scouts and became their first Patrol Leader before leaving the parish to take up a new appointment in Woburn Sands, Bedfordshire. It was whilst employed there as a footman/butler that he was recruited into the 16th London Regiment at their Westminster Headquarters. Its other name was the Queen’s Westminster Rifles (Q.W.R.) and Rifleman Reginald Divall, number 3251 (later changed to 550859), was posted to Number 6 platoon of ‘B’ Company. His address at the time is recorded as being in Pimlico and was probably the London home of his employer.

The third Division, which made up VII Corps was the 37th. It was situated over five miles to the north of the others and ordered not to attack on 1st July. It was to shell the German lines nearby, release smoke and generally attract attention away from the primary ‘diversion’!

For seven days a constant barrage of shells had been rained upon the German positions. This was intended to destroy his trenches, dugouts and above all else his barbed wire. Despite countless shells being fired, the wire largely remained uncut. Although the trenches were rendered untenable the deep dugouts where the garrison sheltered from the bombardment remained largely unaffected. As soon as the barrage lifted the defending force rose, like the phoenix, to defend their lines. We now come to the eve of the Somme battle itself.

The sands of time had started to run out for Reginald Divall who was destined never to celebrate his 21st birthday. Despite the title of his rank, Rifleman Divall was in fact a bomb thrower. He would have carried into action twenty Mills Bombs in addition to his rifle and other equipment. He would be a practised ‘bomber’ and able to throw the 1½lb hand grenade around forty yards.

The objective of the Queen’s Westminster’s had been a German stronghold known as the Quadrilateral. The struggle was intense and gradually the supply of grenades began to dwindle. German bombs found in the dugouts were thrown until they too were used up and the enemy started to force the few men still alive to retreat at around 09.20. Attempts to send in reserves from the British lines met with costly failure owing to the intensity of the German machine gun and artillery fire. Isolated groups of men clung on to the section of trench thus far captured for as long as their bombs and ammunition lasted. Some hung on all day but inevitably were overcome by sheer weight of numbers. From the moment the attack by the 46th Division in the north failed, the men of the 56th Division were doomed. They were isolated and cut off behind the Gommecourt salient and subject to the full fury of the German counter attacks. By 12.30 2nd Lieutenant J. Horne, the last surviving officer of ‘B’ Company issued the order to withdraw. He stayed behind to help cover the withdrawal of his men and died working a Lewis machine gun alone, the rest of the team being already dead or wounded. A message that the Quadrilateral was currently unoccupied (probably because the defenders were engaged in direct hand to hand combat with our men further along the trench system) was in any event received too late to act upon. By then, at around 4pm the few who remained alive had already been forced to retreat back to the German front lines.

Gommecourt British Cemetery No. 2

dapted from Valiant Hearts of Ringmer by Geoff Bridger: Ammonite Press, 1993