"Falling like rain...."
216 siege battery RGA personnel
Men, NCO's and officers of 216 Siege Battery RGA .Photo taken in Northern France Spring 1918.
click on photo to see larger version
The following list of men, officers and NCO's are those mentioned either in the diary or at the end of the diary as listed gun crews. The list clearly does not include every man who served in 216 Siege battery from 1916 to 1918 and is only intended to reflect the names of which my great uncle was familiar.
My thanks to Richard Flory for his invaluable help in identifying many of the men and their eventual fates.
The names of the personnel appear in the order that they appear in the text and a link will have been created to this page, the names have not been sorted alphabetically or by rank and where information about these men exists, it has been given.
Rank
 Name Details
Gnr. 73998
 Arthur Birch
(29/12/1916)
Born Brentwood Essex: Enlisted Warley Essex.
Died of wounds 12 April 1917



Bdr. 55642 Albert Edward Rowley (29/07/1917)
Enlisted Kidderminster.
Killed in action 28th July1917




W.Wheeler (13/06/1917)
Went back to England to be commissioned in another branch other than RGA.


Lieutenant
8194
 Lt.Murphy Lieutenant Christopher Trevor Elias Murphy.
Enlisted in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps on 12th January 1916 and entered RGA Officer Cadet School on 4th August 1916. Commissioned in the RGA on 1st November 1916. Died of wounds while serving with 216 Siege Battery on 8th May 1918 and buried in Etaples Military Cemetary.



Captain
 Cpt  Vivian Telfer
Pemberton		 Born 9th May 1894, one of twin sons of George and Isabella Taylor Pemberton. Attended Cheltenham College from May 1907 to July 1913. Attended Sidney College, Cambridge University from 1913 to 1914. Killed in action at Sancourt while serving with 216 Siege Battery 7th october 1918. His twin brother Alexander Lancaster Pemberton, was an acting Major in the Royal Artillery in WW1. His older brother Oswald, was killed in action at Festubert on 21st December 1914 while serving as a Captain in the 1st  bn. Royal Munster Fusiliers.


Lance
bombardier
106730		 Thomas Arthur Holmes
 Born Spondon, Derby
Enlisted Neston, Cheshire.
Died of wounds 24th April 1918 while serving with 216 Siege Battery.

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Lieutenant Lt.Ernest Arthur Fisher Enlisted in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps (Regimental number 2588)  on 4th January 1915. Commissioned in the RGA on 16th April 1915. Temporary Lieutenant, RGA on 1st July 1917.


Lieutenant Lt.Henry Kelsall Prescot Son of C.W.Prescot , Esquire Born 1898. educated at St.Edward's School from December 1913 to 1917. Lieutenant, RGA from 1917 to 1919. BA degree at Exeter College, Oxford in 1921. MA degree and D.Phil degree in 1930. Assistant Master, Winchester College and later Assistant Master, Eton College.



Major Major Audsley Ralph Carter Died of wounds on 28th August while attached to RAF 1 Wing. He was the son of Dr. and Mrs Godfrey Carter of Sheffield.



Major

 Major Hilary Ralph Hood Appointed as acting Major and Officer Commanding, 216 Siege Battery, RGA on 22nd December 1916.
Awarded the Military Cross in the London Gazette of 1st january 1918.
Awarded a Bar to the Military Cross in the London Gazette of 2nd April 1919.
Married Dorothy Alice Georgina Cavendish 28th August 1918.
Died 1960.




Sgt. 112480 Sgt. A. Rydings RGA Awarded Military Medal in the London Gazette of  16th July 1918.



Cpl. 76418
Cpl.Signaller James Coker		 Cpl.James Coker Signaller with 216 battery.
Born Shoreditch, east London 1885
Died Kent 1963
Called up in 1916. Captured whilst in forward OP during German advance of March 1918.
Released after Armistice.
The story goes that James along with other POWs were not given any transport home, so they walked across Germany to the coast where they signalled a patrolling British warship. Onboard the galley staff feeling sorry for them overfed them and made them ill.