Oswald Charles Blencowe  [1464]

KIA 7 Oct 1916

1890-1916

Father Nm: Rev Charles Edward Blencowe 1847: oldest known ancestor – Rev. Samuel Jackson Blencowe, 1754, Stisted Essex.

Mother Nm: Katherine Elizabeth Walcot born 1848 Kempsey, Worcestershire, died 1926 Marston St Lawrence.

K comments: Brother Lawrence Cave KIA and brothers Arthur John W. and   William James were wounded (gassed) in action. Sister Marjorie Edith S. was a Red Cross Nurse during the war.

Spouse Comments:

Children:

(Research): Records Marston St Lawrence Church* GR[B]Brackley June 1890 JD 1891 Census.

Educated at St Edward’s School  and Oxford University

Oxford, where he was Senior Prefect. He was in the school Cricket XI from 1904 to 1908 and Captain in 1907 and in 1908. He held the best batting average in 1907. He was in the Rugby XV of 1905 to 1907.

In 1907 Oswald won the Gold Medal of the National Service League for Section Commanders in the Rifle Club. After 1908 he became Head Boy of the Dragon School, Oxford and won the Boxing Cup in 1908.

Oswald, on leaving school in Oxford joined his brother, Lawrence Blencowe, at Orleton School, Scarborough as a school teacher.

1911 Census

Blencowe Oswald Charles Assistant Asst. School Master 1890 Marston St Lawrence, 21 St Bedes Dukes Drive Eastbourne Sussex

 

WW1

Blencowe Oswald Charles, 1890, Marston, 2^nd Lieutenant, PS/1283, 18^th Bn. Royal Fusiliers, 9^th & 6^th Bn. Ox. & Bucks Light Infantry

1915

• • May. Oswald enlisted in a Public Schools Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.
  • 14^th Nov. Landed in Boulogne France, Oswald served as Sergeant in the 18^th Bn. Royal Fusiliers in France for some months. They were attached to the 19^th Brigade, 33^rd Division and stationed at La Bassee during the winter.
  • November. Entrained and marched to billets at Tannay then onto Robeqc and then to Bethune where instructions for 1st trenches duty were received.
  • 21 November. Into trenches near Vermelles attached to other Regiments. Spells in trenches for the rest of the month billeting at Bethune.

    

     

  • December. Marched from Bethune To Le Quesnoy and then Le Platin to take up trenches in Givenchy Sector. Time at Essars then 29th Dec into trenches at Annequin.

1916

• January into trenches south of La Bassee on line approx as shown.
• In January 1916 he sent a letter home from the front a poignant reminder of the terrible and sad time the war inflicted on the soldiers.

 

• 26^th Feb. Transferred to GHQ Troops.
• 23^rd Mar. Returned to England for officer training.
• April- June. Completed approx 8 weeks of Officer training. In this period before taking up a Commission with the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Oswald also returned to Marston Hse on leave and these photos show the last time he was to be at home. Note he has a Sergeant uniform so had not yet been given his Officers uniform. He was commissioned and gazetted Second Lieutenant in the O.B.L.I. on 2nd June 1916 (London Gazette #29620, 12 June 1916, Page 5819)..

  

  

  

  

Alternate Timeline

Oswald took up his commission with the 9th Battalion Oxford and Bucks at their Cowley Barracks, Oxford, and was in late September early October 1916 attached to the 6th Battalion OBLI in France.

Note: We do not have a record of Oswald joining the 6th Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in France it was we know sometime after 2 June Commission and so we pick up the 6th Battalion war diary at the beginning of July 1916

• 29^th Jul. Relieved the 10^th South Wales Borderers in the trenches, opposite Serre, at K.29.C.7.7 to K.23.d,2 1/2.2 1/2 (Map Sheet 57d), the 10th K.R.R.C. on our left, and 6^th K.S.L.I. on our right.
• 1^st-5^th Aug. The Battalion remained in the same trenches, the days being generally quiet, but at night the enemy was active with trench mortars, and our artillery was also active. Casualties:
  On the 1st, 1 killed, 2 wounded; on the 2nd, 1 wounded; on the 3^rd, 1 officer and 3 men wounded, 2 men killed; on the 4^th, Captain J. E. Bryant killed, 4 men wounded.

  

• 2^nd-3^rd Sept. The attack on Guillemont.The 6^th Oxford and Bucks (the only battalion of the 60^th Brigade of any strength) being attached to the 59^th
  Brigade, casualties were heavy in this attack.
  In early October the Ox. & Bucks Light Infantry 6^th Bn. were located near Gueudecourt a small village in France, along with other Bn.s that made up the 60th Brigade. It was planned to attack along with the 12^th Rifle Brigade the German-held trench name Rainbow Trench. It seems that the 12^th were short of Officers so Oswald was attached to that Bn. to lead the attack. ¹

We resume with Oswald and his last days.

• 4^th Oct. Oswald is attached to the 12th Rifle Brigade on this day.
• 7^th Oct. Killed in Action in an attack on Rainbow Trench. 
  • In the Battle of Le Transloy Ridge, 7th October 1916, during the Somme Offensive, 12th Rifle Brigade was part of the first wave, its objective being Rainbow Trench and then on to Cloudy Trench, just north-east of Guedecourt. The attack started at 13.47 and all objectives were taken by 14.15, however, the 12th R.B. took heavy casualties as they reached the crest of the hill. About twenty yards from the German line, they met with heavy machine-gun fire and all five officers of the two leading companies went down; four were killed, the fifth severely wounded. Amongst the fatalities was Oswald Blencowe temporarily attached only 3 days previously from 6th Oxs. and Bucks. L.I.

 

An account of Oswald’s death was supplied by Peter Blencowe in October 2016.

2nd Lieut. Oswald Blencowe (Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry)
An eighth Old Dragon has laid down his life in the battle that has been raging on the Somme since July 1st. Oswald was killed on 7th October 1916 when temporarily attached to the Rifle Brigade.
It was the Brigade’s task to capture Rainbow and Cloudy Trenches, near Guedecourt. As soon as our barrage lifted the Riflemen (some of whom had been lying down in the open awaiting this moment) rose bravely to make the attack.  On reaching the crest of a hill about twenty yards from the German line they met with heavy machine-gun fire. All five officers of the two leading companies went down – four (including Oswald) were killed and a fifth severely wounded.It is of some small consolation that the reserve troops coming up behind them were able to take Rainbow Trench.
A brother officer recalls Oswald most fondly:
“In the line, he was of immense value to us, and in the most trying hours, when things were as bad as shells and foul weather could make them, he showed that rare kind of cheerfulness which does not offend nor depress by its artificiality. He set a high value on music and poetry. He sang well and was strongly heard in a dug-out – carols, songs, and choruses, old English songs, and Gilbert and Sullivan. One day he pulled out the books he always carried with him – Omar Khayyam, and two volumes of the hundred best poems and three of us lay awake reading aloud to one another…
He was hit by a shell in the head in front of his men about ten yards from the enemy’s line, but such details are needless and unsatisfying; we know what he was when alive and in what manner and with what spirit he must have died. The circumstantial details are useless trappings.” 
We are thankful for information from the Colonel, confirming Oswald was given a proper burial:
“He had been temporarily attached to this battalion and had only been with us for three days. He went into action alongside his battalion and was killed during a successful attack in which he was with the leading company. He was buried by our Chaplain near the place where he fell, between our and the old German line.”
The news of Oswald’s death did not reach his parents until October 13th, six days after the event.

Comments made by a Colleague from the website  Notes on some of the men of WW1’s
University and Public Schools Brigade (UPS)

A brother Oxs. and Bucks. officer added:

‘I am not writing in any official sense., but to express my admiration and appreciation for Blencowe. In the line he was of immense value to us and in the most trying hours, when things were as bad as shells and foul weather could make them, he showed that rare kind of cheerfulness which does not offend by its bumptiousness, nor depress by its artificiality. His spirits and efficiency were amazing. He set a high value on music and poetry. He sang well, and was strongly heard in the dug-out – carols, songs, choruses, old English songs, and Gilbert and Sullivan. One day we had returned from the trenches and gone back into a line of dug-outs. He pulled out the books he always carried with him, Omar Khayyam, and two volumes of the hundred best poems, and three of us lay awake, much longer than we could afford, reading aloud to one another. I know he was killed instantaneously. He was hit by a shell in the head when in front of his men, about ten yards from the enemy’s line.’

Reportedly Oswald’s burial was conducted by the 12th Rifle Brigade’s Chaplain near the place where he fell, between the British and old German line. The location, however, became lost and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial.

Sources

1. War Diary 12^th Battalion Rifle Brigade – Somme October 1916
2. http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/5366
3. Peter Blencowe nephew
4. OC Blencowe School Newsletter
5. Marston St Lawrence Photograph Album

Medals

Awarded 1914-15 Star and both British and Victory medals.

Commissioned as an Officer 1 June 1916 Also indicates although his commission is with the Oxford and Bucks he was on the role of the Royal Fusiliers ie on secondment.

Fathers address as next of Kin.

UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919

Name: Oswald Charles Blencowe, Death Date: 7^th Oct 1916, Rank: 2/Lieutenant (T)

Regiment: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Battalion: 6^th Battalion

Type of Casualty: Killed in action

Burial

Memorial Thiepval Memorial.

Panel Reference Pier and Face 10 A and 10 D.

From the Blencowe Book

He was a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry but was killed at Gueudecourt in France, aged twenty-six, on 7^th October 1916, when attached to the Rifle Brigade. A brother officer writes: ‘In the line, he was of immense value to us, and, in the most trying hours, when things were as bad as shells and foul weather could make them, he showed that rare kind of cheerfulness which does not offend nor depress by its artificiality. He set a high standard on music and poetry. He sang well and was often heard singing carols, songs and choruses, old English songs and Gilbert and Sullivan, ceaselessly in a dug-out. His name is carved on the Thiepval Memorial, along with 72,300 British and South African soldiers killed in the war, who have no known grave.

The two brothers, Lawrence and Oswald, are remembered on a memorial on the south wall of Marston Church, under which are these poignant words “They died for England. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in death they were not divided”.

And finally at Marston this beautiful memorial.

Photographs and Statement

Most of these Blencowe family photographs on the page were donated by Peter Blencowe and can be used if a license for re-use is granted. Apply to this editor for a license.

Note: In the case of non-commercial purposes the license is likely to be granted.  The dates and places of the specific Blencowe photographs are a work in progress and any dates places named are mostly best guesses that may be updated over time.

GALLERY

Note: there are 13 records that exist for this man that is not shown in the Gallery for copyright reasons.