William Arthur Blinko [4531]

1896-1961

Reasons for believing William Blinko misrepresented as William Blincoe, Private, 10260, 7118, 203717 Lancashire Fusiliers.

1. Lived in Rochdale and at the right age, The Medal Roll shows this man enlisted voluntarily with the 6^th Lancashire Fusiliers which was recruited at Rochdale.
2. Younger brother Joseph did enlist with Lancs. Fusiliers in 1916 (this is typical of families in this study ie one serves, more do and follow their sibling in a lot of cases in the local regiment of choice).
3. Blincoe is very often mistaken for Blinko in this part of the world (the famous Robert Blincoe is of this area).
4. Medal Card and Roll shows although a Territorial initially with the 6^th Bn. he was only sent overseas in 1915. This battalion became 1/6^th. Then he has a transfer to Serial Number 7118 with 2/5^th Lancs Fus. and finally 6 digit renumbering in Jan. 1917 to 5^th Lancs. Fus.

Father Nm: James Henry Joseph Blinko [3772] born Se Q 1862 Bermondsey mother Dakers died 1904 Rochdale D.Q.; Oldest known Ancestor – William Bates Blinko [1295] born 9.4.1789 Clerkenwell died 1856 St. Olave’s.

Mother Nm: Elizabeth Haworth [5944] 1867-1904.

Marriage Dt:1922 to Alice Butterworth, Rochdale 8e 54.

K comments: Brother Joseph served with 1/6^th Bn. Lancs Fusiliers, 22^nd Bn. Manchester Regt. and RDC before honourable discharge (wounds) in 1918.

Spouse comments:1. Alice Butterworth.

Children:

(Research):GR[B] Rochdale June 1896 GR[D] Rochdale Sept 1961.

Birth 9 Mar 1896

1939 Census

1901 Census 31 Bedford St Rochdale

1. James Blinko 38 Engine Driver
2. Elizabeth Blinko 34
3. Thomas Blinko 14
4. Annie Blinko 11
5. Mary Blinko 9
6. Ellen Blinko 7
7. Willam Blinko 5
8. Joseph Blinko 3
9. Martha J Blinko 1

1911 Census

1. Blinko Annie F 1890 21 Rochdale Lancashire
2. Blinko Ellen F 1894 17 Rochdale Lancashire
3. Blinko Joseph M 1898 13 Rochdale Lancashire
4. Blinko Mary F 1892 19 Rochdale Lancashire
5. Blinko Thomas M 1887 24 Rochdale Lancashire
6. Blinko William M 1896 15 Rochdale Lancashire. A Cotton Spinner in Mill.
7. Blinko Ben M 1902 9 Rochdale Lancashire

Lancashire Fusiliers

WW1

Blincoe William, Private, 10260, 7118, 203717, 1/6^th 2/5^th, 5^th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, 125^th Brigade, 42^nd Division.

1914

• A Territorial Soldier who initially had the serial number 10260 suggests enlistment in the last quarter of 1914 (from Ancestry 10230 enlisted in Lancashire Fusiliers 14 August 1914).
• 25th Sep. The 5th Bn Lancashire Regt landed in Egypt It’s likely William was still in England.

1915

• 1^st Jun. (The date of entry into war region 4A= Egypt ) The date of entry from the medal card is 1 Jun 1915 which means he was a reinforcement for the Lancashire Fusiliers of the 125^th Brigade 42^nd Division who had landed in early May. Note: There was already a Private Thomas Blincoe 8761, from Crumpsall Lancs. with the 1/6^th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers in Gallipoli. Thomas and William were not related closely.
• 4^th -6^th Jun. The Third Battle of Krithia.

  

  The Division was involved in notable attempts to break out of the Helles bridgehead to capture the dominating heights around the village of Krithia.²

• 7^th-9^th Aug. The Battle of Krithia Vineyard. After a bitter and pointless struggle during the following five days with heavy losses (4000 casualties), a trench dug across the centre of this worthless tract of scrub became the British front line. After this failure, the Helles front was shut down and no further attacks were made. Five months later, following repeated failures elsewhere, the whole Gallipoli Campaign ended in evacuation back to Egypt. ³
• 28^th Dec. The 125^th Brigade landed on Mudros and proceeded to Egypt.

1916

The 42^nd Division returned to Egypt in January 1916 with less than half the strength with which it had set out. It was stationed in Egypt for the next year, defending the Suez Canal and taking part in the Battle of Romani.

However, this year William is likely transferred to the 2/5^th Reserve Bn. Lancs Fusilier’s part of the 164^th Brigade, 55^th Div. on the Western Front. He is given the number 7118. For his movements, we can get clues from the service record and numbers (203817) of Gilbert Aldridge who was wounded in 1916 and then killed in 1917.

The 55^th Division was involved in this fighting in 1916;

• 4-6^th Sept. The Battle of Guillemont *
• 9^th Sept. The Battle of Ginchy *

There was a short period of rest at Ribemont from 12^th to 17^th September.

• 17-22^nd Sept. The Battle of Flers-Courcelette *
• 25-28^th Sept. The Battle of Morval *

Relieved by the 41^st Division on 28^th September, the Division withdrew to the area of Buire and Ribemont. Here, orders were received to move to Flanders. The 55^th Div. relieved the 29^th Div. in the Ypres Salient in October 1916. It was destined to remain in this area for almost a year. The first section of line that was occupied by the Division was Wieltje to Railway Wood.

1917

It’s likely at this point that William was given his 6-digit number 203717 as well as transferred to the 1/5^th Bn. part of 125^th Brigade, 42^nd (East Lancashire) Division.

After re-equipping and training for trench warfare in a ‘quiet sector’ with Fourth Army, 42^nd Division relieved the 15th (Scottish) Division in Fifth Army in the Ypres Sector at the end of August.

• 6^th Sept. The 125^th Brigade carried out an unsuccessful attack on strongly-held German pillboxes around Iberian, Borry, and Beck House Farms. The small amount of ground they took was given up the next day.

1918

During the German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael or the First Battles of the Somme 1918), the troops of the 42^nd Division took part in;

• 21^st -23^rd Aug. In the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, The 42^nd Div. participated in the Battle of Albert.
• 31^st Aug. – 3^rd Sept. The Second Battle of Bapaume during the fighting on the Somme.
• 27^th Sept. On the Hindenburg Line, the Battle of the Canal du Nord. The Official History records that the 125^th Brigade’s advance at 07.52 is on 27^th September ‘” was met by very heavy fire in front from machine guns which the barrage did not seem to have touched, and from Beauchamp on the right … It reached an intermediate objective about five hundred yards from the front line and towards noon a little beyond this, but there it had to remain”. However, IV Corps renewed the attack after dark:” The night was very dark and rainy, but the attack was a complete success; the enemy was surprised; very little opposition was encountered and many prisoners were taken. Under barrages moving a hundred yards in 5 minutes, the front lines of the 125^th and 127^th Brigades of the 42^nd Division … went forward in succession”.
• 28^th Sept. 42^nd Division resumed the attack in the afternoon, “when the 125^th and 126^th Brigades (the latter passing through the 127^th ), after some opposition, reached the top of Welsh Ridge, the objective of the division’.
• 17^th – 23^rd Oct. Third Army’s advance in Picardy culminated in the Battle of the Selle On 23^rd October the 42^nd Division was given the task of taking three successive objectives before the New Zealand Division passed through to continue the attack. 125^th Brigade led the attack with two battalions in front, but despite a defensive smoke barrage, they suffered considerably from enemy shelling during assembly. The defenders of Beaurain ‘made a stout resistance and there was hard fighting in the early stages of the attack, men on both sides being killed by the bayonet’.[10] The left of the 125^th Brigade reached its objective by 04.45, but the rest of the line did not do so until 08.00. The New Zealanders passed through and successfully reached their objectives.

The division was then withdrawn into the reserve and halted around Beauvois-en-Cambrésis from 24^th October until the advance was resumed on 3^rd November.

• 7^th Nov. The 42^nd Division was tasked to take the high ground west of Hautmont and if possible to capture the town. The division was held up by enfilade fire from the right, and the 126^th Brigade did no more than occupy some of the high ground. 125^th Brigade was therefore ordered to pass through it the next morning and advance to the objective. But the 126^th, ‘in an endeavour to atone for its slowness on the 7th’, pushed on and reached Hautmont before the 125^th could catch up. The 125^th was unable to cross the Sambre because the pontoons had not arrived, so it retraced its steps to its overnight billets near Pont sur Sambre and crossed there. The brigade then forced back the enemy rearguards, and after dark, its patrols went forward and cleared them off the high ground near Fort d’Hautmont, one of the outer forts of the Fortress of Maubeuge.
• 9^th Nov. The 125^th Bde. encountered no resistance in reaching its assigned objective, and by 10^th November the most forward troops were on the Maubeuge–Avesnes-sur-Helpe road. This was the end of the fighting because the Armistice with Germany came into the effect the following day.

In December the division moved into quarters in the Charleroi area and by mid-March 1919 most of its troops had gone home for demobilisation.

After the War.

1939 Census

Name: William A Blinko
Gender: Male
Marital status: Married
Birth Date: 9 Mar 1896
Residence Year: 1939
Address: 7
Residence Place: Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Occupation: Foreman Stoker Gas Works (Heavy Works)
Schedule Number: 114
Sub Schedule Number: 1
Enumeration District: NNIB
Registration district: 470/2.
Inferred Spouse: Alice Blinko
Household Members:
Name
William A Blinko
Alice Blinko
Sarah E Butterworth

Death 1961

Name: William Arthur Blinko
Death Date: 18 Sep 1961
Death Place: Rochdale
Probate Date: 1 Nov 1961
Probate Registry: Manchester, Chester, England

Sources

1. Until 1918 the 125th Brigade encompassed the 5th, 6th, and 7th Bn.’s Lancashire Fusiliers. Wikipedia.
2. The Long, Long Trail The British Army in the Great War, 1914-1918..
3. Wikipedia. 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade.

Medals

1914-15 Star, British and Victory medals.

After the War

Married 1922

1939 Census 7 Birkdale Road,Rdale , Rochdale C.B., Lancashire, England

Alice Blinko 09 Jan 1898 Female Bobbin Winder (Cotton) Married
William A Blinko 09 Mar 1896 Male Foreman Stoker Gas Works (Heavy Worker) Married
Sarah E Butterworth 05 Sep 1864 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Widowed

Death 1961 age 65 years

Rochdale Sept 1961.

Gallery

There are 3 records in the National Archives for this man. For copyright reasons, they cannot be re-published.