Herr Gottlieb von Jagow c1915. Image courtesy Library of Congress.
German Foreign Minister, Herr Gottlieb von Jagow, resigns
The Imperial Board of Trade in Britain issues a regulation prohibiting an increase in the price of milk. A regulation is also issued regarding flour: all flour must contain between 72 and 78% milled wheat.
The Leader publishes the poem Fighting In France by Dryblower (Edwin Greenslade Murphy)
Will some kind person adopt a motherless baby girl?
Father killed in France?”
Are you list’ning, O, Heavyheart, childless and lone?
Are you reading this message aright?
Is your soul of souls touched by its pitiful tone.
Does it waken a conscience contrite?
Won’t somebody keep, won’t someone adopt
This wee helpless waif of the War,
This dear bud of Heaven on stony soil dropt.
This jetsam on somebody’s shore?
The story is simple, it’s carved on no cairn,
Yet each syllable rings with romance.
who’s going to care for a wee bonny bairn
Whose father died fighting in France?
There are marriage ties merely of parchment and ink
There are bosoms of animate clay;
There are aching hearts drifting for want of a link
To bind them for ever and aye.
There are mansions untrod by the feet of a child,
Uncheered by its sunshine and song:
There are natures ne’er yet by a baby beguiled
Into banishing rancour and wrong.
There are bosoms a-weary of silence and slight,
There are arms that are waiting a chance
To gather within them a poor orphaned mite
Whose father fell fighting in France.
Be sure that the babe of a father who died
For the land that had given him love,
Will thrill with a patriot’s ‘herited pride
Now the eagle gives way to the dove.
Be sure that the courage that coursed in his veins
In that land far away —o’er the wave,
Didn’t cease when his soul shuddered out of its chains
To be with the battle—gods brave,
Be sure that the child of a warrior who
Made one of that mighty Advance,
Will equal in loyalty, trusty and true.
Her sire who fell fighting in France.
Grow up, little girly, grow up and be glad,
Face the footpaths of Fate unafraid.
There may be no mummy, there may be no dad,
where your manners are moulded and made
No mother may hear and no mother may know
Your sweet baby prattle and play;
No father may guide, tho the years come and go.
The footsteps that falter and stray.
But you shall look back through the vista of time
With a patriot’s pride in your glance,
To the day of a sacrifice, great and sublime,
When your father fell fighting in France.
British soldiers on the Western Front advance north and south of the Ancre and reach the outskirts of Grandcourt, as General Sir Douglas Haig calls an end to the Battle of the Somme. The battle has lasted 141 days and resulted in more than 1,200,000 casualties: The British Army suffered 419,654 casualties, the French 204,253 and the Germans nearly 500,000. Haig claims the offensive is a victory, however the situation is more a stalemate: Allied forces have captured just 12 kilometres of land and failed to break the German defence. The battle was, however, successful in diverting German troops from the Battle of Verdun.
German troops evacuate Monastir in Serbia
British forces defeat German troops at Lupembe in German East Africa
The Leader reports that George William Lawson Cooper is now listed as having been killed in action. Private Cooper was last seen charging the Turks at Gallipoli. Personal
French troops on the Southern Somme attack; they take Vermandovillers and Berny, and surround Deniecourt, capturing many prisoners
British troops attack and occupy Mazar in northern Sinai; the Turks withdraw to El Arish
The first conscription ballot is held in New Zealand, following the passing of the Military Service Act on 1 August. Described by the New Zealand Truth as “the gamble in human life” and “an epoch making event in New Zealand’s history”, the ballot would result in 32,000 conscripts serving with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force alongside 72,000 volunteers.
British forces on the Western Front extend their line eastwards from Beaucourt and retreat to the east of the Butte de Warlencourt
French and German forces engage in heavy air fights near Amiens
Romanian troops continue their retreat on the Eastern Front; severe fighting continues south-east of Tolgyes, and in the valleys of Aluta and Jiu
Raymond Sylvester Lord was born in 1890 in Cargo, a son of Edward and Alice Lord. From 1898 to 1904 Raymond his older brother Claude attended school in Cumnock where their father Edward was a Senior Constable. Raymond later attended the Patrician Brothers School in Orange.
Raymond was working as a clerk in Wallerawang when he enlisted at Liverpool on 16 February 1915. He was 25 years old, and listed his father Edward Lord, of Parkes, as next of kin. He embarked from Sydney on HMAT Ceramic A40 on 25 June 1915 with the 18th Battalion.
The 18th Battalion trained in Egypt and landed at Anzac Cove on 22 August 1915. Private Raymond Lord was wounded in action on that day, hit by a sniper while he was in a lying position, with the bullet hitting his left hip and grazing his right hip. He was transferred to Mudros the same day, and then to Malta on 27 August 1915. On 13 September 1915 he was transferred to England on Hospital Ship (HS) Panama and admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth.
Private Lord recovered from his injuries and reported to his unit at Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt, on 13 January 1916. The 18th Battalion joined the British Expeditionary Force and embarked from Alexandria on 18 March 1916, disembarking at Marseilles on 25 March. On 24 June 1916, he was AWL for 35 hours and received 168 hours Field Punishment No 2.
The 18th Battalion took part in its first major battle at Pozieres between 25 July and 5 August 1916. Private Lord was wounded again on 4 August, with gunshot wounds to his left hand. He was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station on 5 August and then transferred by train to No 8 General Hospital, Rouen, on 6 August. On 24 August he marched into the Australian Divisional Base Depot at Etaples, France. The battalion returned to the Pozieres trenches for a second time in late August. After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2nd Division, including the 5th Brigade, moved south again in October.
On 7 November 1916 the 18th Battalion was stationed near Ribemont, a small town located in the French region of Picardie. The Battalion diary for 7 November states:
Trenches in fearful condition. Mud everywhere and knee keep in trenches. Men suffering badly from wet and cold…
Snipers were very active and shelling fairly heavy, particularly along Turk Lane and sunken road. Raining practically all day.
Private Raymond Lord died from multiple shell wounds received in action on 15 November 1916, aged 26 years, at the 4th Australian Field Ambulance, France. He was buried at Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban, France. His father later received his 1914-15 Star Medal, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
At the time of his death, Raymond’s brother, 395 Sergeant Claude Lord – 4th Infantry Battalion, was serving in Belgium with the Anzac Provost Police Corps. Raymond’s elder brother, 4700 Private Roy Lord – 18th Battalion, had enlisted on 1 January 1916 and was awarded the Military Medal for assisting in saving wounded men under heavy fire on 9 August 1918 near Rainecourt, France. Private Roy Lord survived the war and returned to Australia on 5 April 1919. Claude returned to Australia in December 1918.
Raymond Sylvester Lord is commemorated on the Cumnock Public School WWI Honour Board, the World War I Roll of Honour on the southern face of the Orange Cenotaph and on panel number 86 on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
In 1923 the Anzac Memorial Avenue of trees was planted along Bathurst Road to commemorate fallen WWI soldiers. A tree was planted in honour of “Pte RS Lord”; it was donated by Orange High School. Very few of the trees are still standing today.
British troops on the Somme capture Beaucourt-sur-Ancre and advance east of Butte de Warlencourt
Allied forces repulse German attacks at Ablaincourt and Pressoir on the Western Front
Romanian soldiers on the Eastern Front retreat south of Vulkan Pass, below Torzburg Pass, and engage in severe fighting in Prahova Valley, south of Predeal Pass
Allied forces on the Southern Front advance on Monastir
One time teacher at Mullion and Byng, Jack Barnes, is feeling homesick after a year at the front. He declares:
How I wish, more than I can ever tell, that I were back in dear sunny NSW, with my wife, and children in our dear little quiet home.
The Leader reminds readers of how to address mail for soldiers serving overseas. The Correct Address
The Battle of the Ancre begins on the Western Front. The Fifth British Army stages a surprise attack in the early morning fog, deploying the “creeping barrage” tactic with great success. The army captures the towns of Beaumont Hamel, Beaucourt, St Pierre Divion and the remainder of the Thiepval-Ginchy Road. Fighting continues until 18 November. British casualties number about 22,000; German about 45,000, including 7,000 prisoners. Battle of the Ancre footage
German troops on the Eastern Front advance south of Torzburg and Roter Turm Passes, capturing Candeshti and Bumbeshti
Serbian soldiers advance on Monastir on the Southern Front
German aircraft bomb Cairo in retaliation for the recent Allied attack on Beersheba; little damage is done
French troops on the Western Front recapture the remainder of Saillisel, while British forces repulse a German attack near Berny, north-east of Ablaincourt
Romanian troops on the Eastern Front retreat in the valleys of Aluta and Jiu, as severe fighting continues near Orsova on the Danube
Russian and Romanian troops fail on Cernavoda and retreat to Dunarea
French and Serbian troops capture Iven, 24 kms east of Monastir
Portuguese troops occupy Lulindi in German East Africa, as British troops defeat the Germans at Malangali
