Arthur Rouse was born in Oxhill, near Kineton, on 10th October 1880. He was the youngest child of John and Emma Rouse, the 1881 census showing Arthur as being 5 months old and John as a ‘Carrier’. In 1891 the census shows Arthur still living in Oxhill, in a house on Main Road. Arthur was noted as being a Scholar and interestingly his older sister Elizabeth was recorded a Pupil School Teacher. By 1901 Arthur’s parents had died and he was living with his brothers Willoughby and Frederick in Main Road, Oxhill. Arthur was noted as being an Assistant School Master. On the 19th June 1907 Arthur married Mayden Wells and by the outbreak of war, seven years later, Arthur and Mayden were running the Horseshoe Inn in Church Street, Shipston.  By this time they had started a family as Arthur’s enlistment papers show that his eldest son John was born on the 27th November 1911 and his youngest, Frederick, was born on the 5th August 1915. As the war progressed the number of volunteers did not keep pace with the ever-growing requirements of the Army.  In June 1915, two months before the birth of Frederick, the Government passed the National Registration Act, which required all men between 15 and 65 to provide details of their trades and jobs.  The survey showed that there were 3.4 million men between the ages of 18 and 40 who were not in protected trades. In October 1915 Lord Derby introduced a scheme where men of military service age were able to either enlist, or attest with an obligation to join the service if called. The last day of this scheme was initially the 15th December 1915, but voluntary attestation was reopened in both January and February 1916. Men who had attested were provided with a grey armband with a red crown on it, which they could wear to show that they were waiting to be called up. It is under one of these schemes that Arthur was called up on the 4th December 1916.  Once called up Arthur was posted into the 4th Battalion of the Grenadier Guards on the 5th January 1917. On the 20th November 1917 the British started a major attack on the Hindenburg Line at Cambrai that involved all 476 of the Army’s tanks. The attack was a major success and in some areas an advance of nearly 5 miles was made. The attack did not, however, achieve all of its objectives and this led to the Germans being in a position to counterattack.  The British left flank in front of Bourlon Wood, where the Germans held very strong positions, was being held up and the Wood had to be taken. Over a series of days, and suffering increasingly heavy losses, the British threw men at the problem, including the 4th Battalion of the Grenadier Guards.    The war diary reports that they initially took up positions in a sunken road and were shelled heavily just getting into position on the 25th November.  Late in the evening they received an order that the following day they were to advance up to Bourlon Wood itself, where they suffered from heavy shelling and machine gun fire during their unsuccessful attack.  The Coldstream Guards relieved them on the 27th November. On the morning of the 30th the Guards heard the sound of a heavy bombardment from the East, and rumours were rife that the Germans had broken through the lines at Gonnelieu. Throughout the day plans were made for a counterattack, which would take place the following morning. The order of attack for the 4th Grenadiers was No. 3 Company on the left, No 2 on the right, No. 4 in support and No. 1 in reserve.  Zero hour was 6:30am and the advance commenced on time and almost immediately the Germans started to direct heavy machine gun fire onto the troops.  The advance required the troops to move forward to a British held trench 1500 yards in front of their starting position. No 3 Company, which included Arthur, passed over the trench and into Gonnelieu, with part of the Company pushing around the village to the north and enfilading the Germans as they retreated from the advance of No. 2 and No. 4 Companies. Whilst many casualties were inflicted on the Germans, this part of No 3 Company were all but wiped out.  At this point the rest of No 3 Company pushed on through the village to the eastern side. As they were trying to consolidate their position the Germans counterattacked and overwhelmed them. It was in this fighting that Arthur Rouse was killed.  His body was never found. He is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval and is remembered on the Shipston Town Memorial.

Mike Wells