855354. Gunner George Henry Merwood

1st./5th. Hampshire (Territorial) Howitzer Battery, Royal Field Artillery, Indian Expeditionary Force “D”. Born 1894 in Freshwater, Hampshire, Isle of Wight. Baptized on 17th. June 1894 in Freshwater. Enlisted in Freshwater. “Died” in Mesopotamia on Wednesday 12th. July 1916, aged 22. Buried in Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq, Plot XXI, Row E, Grave 29. Son of Frederick James Merwood, a Sub Postmaster by Trade, and Jane Merwood of Norton Green, Near Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. George had the following brothers and sisters: Stanley James, Reginald Charles, Frances Ann, Eva Rosa, and Elizabeth Jane.

George is Commemorated on The Freshwater War Memorial in the Churchyard of All Saints Church.

IN MEMORY OF

THOSE FROM THIS

PARISH WHO FELL

IN THE GREAT WAR

1914 - 1919

THEIR NAME

LIVETH FOR

EVERMORE

Jane paid 3s. 2d. For the following inscription to be carved on George‘s Headstone:

“REST IN PEACE”

The 1st./5th. Hampshire Howitzer Battery, Royal Field Artillery, was a Territorial unit, with many men from the Isle of Wight serving in its ranks. Around half of the Battery and three other Batteries from the Regular 10th. Field Brigade which served alongside them, would die during the fierce fighting in this Campaign. Over 100 years ago, the fateful events led to these Artillerymen being doomed to suffer some of the highest proportional losses of any Gunner unit during The Great War.

1st./5th. Hampshire Howitzer Battery landed at Basra on 23rd. March 1915 and joined 6th. Indian Division which had arrived in November 1914.

The 1915 Campaign in Mesopotamia is overshadowed by the Gallipoli Landings. After the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire joined the War on the side of Central Powers the British send a small Expeditionary Force, Indian Expeditionary Force “D”, which included the 1st./5th. Hampshire Howitzer Battery, to secure the oil refinery at Abadan, which was vital for the future supply of fuel oil for the Royal Navy. 

It fought in The Battle of Shaiba (April 1915) and took part in the advance towards Baghdad, including The Battle of Es Sinn, the capture of Kut (September 1915) and The Battle of Ctesiphon (November 1915). The Battery was captured by the Turks following the surrender of the British Garrison at Kut on 29 April 1916. The survivors of the siege were marched to imprisonment at Aleppo. Prisoners of War were cruelly treated by the Turks and around half of the British and Indian soldiers who fell into their hands died in Mesopotamia or during the forced march to Anatolia or due to the harsh conditions when imprisoned there.

Barry Jenkins