Boyd, J (John)
Boyd, J (John)
Rifleman John Boyd was serving with the Royal Irish Rifles, 2nd Battalion. He had been a reservist and was called up at the beginning of the Great War. John was the eldest son of James Boyd of Nassau Street, Londonderry, and the husband of Isabella Evans (Boyd), of 97, Fountain Street, Londonderry. He also had three other brothers serving in the army.
John’s battalion mobilized in England during August 1914 and boarded trains to Southampton in two batches, sailing to France onboard SS Innisfallen[1] and SS Sarnia.[2] They landed on the 14th and immediately entrained and marched towards the front line until they arrived on the 23rd in trenches near the Belgium village of Harmignies.[3]
The battalion received their first casualties here while they defended, retreated, and attacked. The Orders[4] and fighting were chaotic as the Germans were winning in many areas. By the end of the month 280 men were either killed or wounded. The soldiers of the Royal Irish Rifles, 2nd Battalion were now exhausted. John was also wounded and was evacuated from the front line, while his comrades continued the battle.
Subsequently the battalion also took part in the Battles of Le Cateau,[5] Marne,[6] Aisne,[7] Messines[8] and the first Battle of Ypres.[9] His battalion suffered very heavily throughout. By October, the fighting strength of the battalion had been reduced to 140 men, from nearly 1000 when they landed.
Rifleman John Boyd re-joined the battalion in December after recovering from his wounds back in Ireland. The Irish Rifles were now in the Kemmel trenches near Locre[10] and the men were billeted there also. They would be in the front line for Christmas.
The 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles did not observe the “Christmas day Truce” of 1914. The conditions they were living in where vile and did not lead to any feelings of good will, or the need to contact the Germans. Nobody was killed over the festive period, though they did receive 5 wounded casualties.
The battalions time on the front line would remain quiet for the next several months, with low casualties and plenty of reinforcements. Nothing really happened until the 15th of April 1915 when the commanding officer, Major J.W. Alston,[11] was at the front line and observing the enemy through a periscope.
A German sniper spotted the scope and fired a single shot at it. The bullet missed but hit a sandbag, changed direction, and struck the C.O. just above his left ear. The Major slumped to the ground and did not speak or recover consciousness again and finally passed away at 5:15pm.
The Major was laid to rest during the 17th of April 1915 in Busch Church. He would not be replaced until June 1915, when Major E.M. Morris took command, just in time for a major assault on the Bellewaarde[12] area on the 16th of June. The battalion attacked bravely, but in this action lost over 300 men. Half their strength and by the 23rd of June the Major was promoted and soon left for another command.
Although their numbers were now depleted, the 2nd Battalion remained in the trenches near Hooge. Here on the 2nd of July, they experienced their first gas attack. Fortunately, they had only 9 casualties, with only 1 being fatal.
September found the battalion being reinforced, its strength now over 600 men again. They were now ready to attack again, this time at the Bellewaarde[13] lake area.
The men advanced forward after a bombardment, but were halted by uncut barbwire and machinegun fire, which was not affected by the artillery barrage. One machinegun team made it through, their fate was unknown. Around 388 men were now either dead missing or wounded. Rifleman John Boyd was wounded in the chest, neck and face in this action and was evacuated from the front line to a clearing station. Due to the seriousness of his wounds, he was sent to Edmonton Hospital in London.
When Rifleman John Boyd passed away there were no reports of casualties from his battalion. His body was returned home the next day and the burial was on the 9th of October 1915. He had full military honours.
He was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War and Victory Medals.
Date of Death: 06/10/1915
Service: Rifleman, Royal Irish Rifles, 2nd Battalion.
Service Number: 7141
Burial Location: Londonderry (or Derry), City Cemetery, GB. 1091.
[1] SS Innisfallen (SS Ennisfallen in war diary) was sunk of the east coast of Ireland on the 8th of June 1918. 11 men lost their lives.
[2] SS Sarnia was launched during July 1910, it collided with an auxiliary minesweeper, HMS Hythe in the Dardanelles; Hythe sank with the loss of 154 lives. On the 12th of September 1918, Sarnia was also sunk, but this time by German U-boat, SM-U65, in the Mediterranean; 55 crew lost their lives.
[3] Harmignies is around 5 miles southeast of Mons, in Belgium.
[4] A good example of the chaos was an order received on the 13th/14th September 2014. The battalion was ordered to move out at 2:30am, this was soon changed to 5am, then again to 7 or 8 am and finally at 4:30 am another order was received to move out at 5am.
[5] Battle of Le Cateau – Almost 8,000 French and British casualties.
[6] Battle of Marne – Almost 87,000 French and British casualties.
[7] Battle of Aisne – Almost 14,000 British casualties, French casualties unknown.
[8] Battle of Messines – This was a small battle within a battle. It is better known as the first Battle of Ypres which recorded around 270,000 casualties on both sides.
[9] Battle of Ypres, first – Around 270,000 casualties on both sides.
[10] Locre is now known as Loker and is located in Belgium, southwest of Ypres.
[11] Major (Lieutenant Colonel) Alston, James William, was the son of the late Robert Douglas Alston and Margaret Elizabeth Alston, husband of Daisy Adela Alston. He is now buried in Dickebusch New Military Cemetery.
[12] Later known as the “First Battle of Bellewaarde”, or “The Battle of Hooge”. Over 1000 men lost their lives in this 12-hour period.
[13] Bellewaarde is an area around 4 miles to the east of Ypres in Belgium.
