200867. Private John Reed Fenwick
1st./5th. (Territorial) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. Formerly 8570. Private, 1st./5th. (Territorial) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. Born 1896 in Burnopfield. Lived at 26 Busty Bank, Burnopfield, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Durham. Received a “Notice” from Sergt. Willis, Coldstream Gds. Enlisted/Attested Private at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 8th. December 1915. Unmarried and a Machinist by Trade, aged 19 years 11 months, 5’ 6 ½” tall, Church of England. Posted to 9th. Durham Light Infantry on 23.6.16. 68TH RECRUITING AREA. Killed in Action on Thursday 16th. August 1917, during the first day of The Battle of Langemarck, aged 21. Buried in Wancourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, Plot I, Row A, Grave 38. Son of Thomas Fenwick. John was entitled to The British War Medal and Victory Medal. A War Gratuity of £4 was paid to his mother Elizabeth A. Fenwick. 6 of John’s Comrades from the Battalion were also Killed in Action on this day.
One of them is buried in the Cemetery next to John:
200662. Private R. Bell
Killed in Action on Thursday 16th. August 1917, aged 23. Buried in Plot I, Row A, Grave 37.
John is also Commemorated on The Burnopfield War Memorial at the junction of New Road and Front Street, together with 132 other Parishioners of Burnopfield and district who also Fell during The Great War.
IN THANKFUL RECOGNITION OF
THE MEN WHO GAVE THEIR SERVICES
AND IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN
THE GREAT WAR.
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS,
THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR
HIS FRIENDS.
ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF
BURNOPFIELD AND DISTRICT
1914 - 1918
The ground upon which the cenotaph stands was give by the Watson family, of Burnopfield House, Burnopfield.
SERVICE DETAILS
Home From 24.6.16 To 5.10.16
B.E.F. From 6.10.16 To 16. 8. 17
The Battle of Langemarck (16 - 18 August 1917)
The exceptionally wet August weather turned parts of the Ypres Battlefield into a quagmire, frustrating Gough's hopes for a speedy resumption of the offensive. An action against the Gheluvelt Plateau was attempted on 10 August (with few positive gains), but the main attack, following further weather related postponements, could only be renewed on 16 August. Aspects of the ensuing fighting went very seriously wrong.
Impelled by the complex timetable underlying the great 'Flanders Offensive', Gough again launched a broad-front assault designed to advance Fifth Army's line at least as far as his original objectives set for the opening battle on 31 July. In the wake of a creeping barrage eight British Divisions attacked in atrocious conditions at 4.45am on Thursday 16 August on a frontage of roughly 12,000 yards. The pattern of fighting was disappointingly familiar: limited success in the north; costly failure in the centre and south; widespread heavy casualties. Notably in the centre and south the British bombardment failed to destroy the German batteries and field defences; devastating enemy shelling and relentless machine-gun fire from numerous surviving concrete pillboxes and fortified farms exacted a terrible toll on the attackers. The tragic failures of the 16th and 36th Divisions on the open slopes of the Zonnebeke spur, and the destruction of 56th Division within the confusion of blighted woods on the Gheluvelt Plateau, epitomised the desperate ordeals endured by the assaulting troops. Mid-morning saw all progress in the centre and south halted; subsequent well organised German counter-attacks forced British withdrawals.
By early evening exhausted remnants of units were back or near their start lines. The end of the day saw no breakthrough; an advance of around 1,500 yards was made in the north; virtually no progress elsewhere. British casualties were estimated at 15,000.
Barry Jenkins