copwick.net

Second Lieutenant Philip Courtenay Duncan was killed in action during the Second Battle of Passchendaele on 30th October 1917 at the age of 26.

The Battle of Passchendaele took place near the city of Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium, between July and November 1917. British casualties are estimated at 300,000.

Philip was the only son of George Duncan and the brother of Edith Richardson. According to Monica Kemp, one of Edith’s daughters and Philip’s niece, prior to joining the Army he worked in a London bank. Hugh Richardson, Monica’s younger brother, believes that the bank was in the Regent Street/Oxford Circus vicinity. According to Hugh, Edith also worked in a bank, the National Provincial and Union, in Regent Street.

Based on Philip’s initial Regimental Number, he appears to have joined up in November or December 1916.¹ Hugh remembers his mother telling him that Philip was slightly older than the age group then being enlisted into the Services. (Since January 1916, when the Military Service Bill was introduced, British men were subject to compulsory conscription into the forces and were called up in groups based on various criteria. In 1916, 1.19 million men were enlisted into a force of nearly 4 million.) According to his mother, Philip was also in a reserved occupation and therefore under no obligation to join the Army. Thus we can assume that he joined voluntarily, and probably made considerable efforts to do so as it would likely have been difficult to leave a reserved occupation for any reason, even for military service.

After enlisting, Philip would have undergone training to be an officer somewhere in Britain before joining his regiment. It is possible that this was at No 15 Officer Training Battalion at Hare Hall, Romford, Essex.²

Within the family there has been some confusion about Philip’s regiment. Military records and his gravestone show that he was an officer in the 2nd/8th Battalion The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles). According to Monica and Hugh, however, their mother had always maintained that Philip was killed serving with The Artists Rifles (formally, 28th [County of London] Battalion, The London Regiment), despite the fact that his memorial card, which was presumably produced by his father, shows that he was a member of the “8th London” (The Post Office Rifles).

There appears to be a simple enough explanation for this minor, and entirely understandable, mix-up. The 2nd/28th Battalion (Artists Rifles) was, for much of the First World War, an officer training unit, with many officers posted to other regiments and corps throughout the Army on completion of their training. Philip’s regimental number certainly indicates that he joined the Army as a member of The Artists Rifles and this is confirmed in the War Record of the Artists Rifles.³ The initial number he was allocated was 9720 and, after the Territorial Force was re-numbered starting in January 1917, he was given the number 763721. The Artists Rifles were allocated numbers within the range 760001 to 780000.⁴

It is therefore likely that Philip was selected for officer training with The Artists Rifles and on completion of training or at some point thereafter was posted to 2nd/8th Londons, The Post Office Rifles, with whom he served until he was killed.

The Post Office Rifles was a Territorial Army regiment, formed in 1868 from volunteers. It has its origins in 1867 in the recruitment of 1,600 post office staff as special constables, in response to explosions in London and Manchester and disturbances elsewhere in the name of Irish independence. The regiment underwent several changes between its formation and the outbreak of the First World War. Although a link to the post office remained, by no means all of the soldiers that made up the regiment had themselves been employed by the post office. Early in the war the main part of the regiment was re-designated “The 1st/8th Battalion The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles)”. The battalion went to fight in France in March 1915.⁵

The 2nd/8th, Philip’s battalion, was formed in September 1914. The battalion remained in Britain until January 1917, when it crossed the Channel to join the fighting in France.⁶  Philip completed his training and was commissioned into the 8th Londons on 27 June 1917.⁷ He therefore joined the battalion in France or Belgium.⁸ According to Monica Kemp, her mother Edith said that Philip went overseas only a matter of weeks before he was killed.

Towards the end of August 1917, Philip’s battalion moved from France into Belgium. They took part in some minor fighting, and were bombarded by heavy artillery and gas shells, sustaining 100 casualties in the first four days alone. On the night of 19th-20th the battalion took part in an attack on Wurst Farm Ridge, a major offensive.

Despite heavy opposition, the battalion succeeded in taking all of its objectives, though at a cost of 103 killed and 144 wounded. The action involved many deeds of heroism that characterized the fighting spirit of the Post Office Rifles. One example being that of 2nd-Lieutenant Chancellor, who, shot through the lungs, continued to command his platoon until the last objective was taken. Then, when put on a stretcher, he crawled off, saying that he would be damned if he would leave his men, and remained with them.

2nd-Lieutenant Richardson, wounded in seven places, and 2nd-Lieutenant Mortimer, shot through the knees, also struggled on with their men until all objectives had been taken and consolidated. Sergeant Knight charged an enemy position and captured it single-handedly, showing no regard for his personal safety. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest medal for gallantry, for “most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty during the operation against the enemy positions”.

After the battle, the battalion went to a rear area at Landrethun for rest and training. A battalion sports and assault-at-arms competition was held during this time.

We do not know whether Philip fought in the Battle of Wurst Farm Ridge, or whether he joined later, during the short rest period at Landrethun. However, it is likely that he was with the battalion by 24th October, when they moved back into the front line, just to the north of the Wurst Farm area.

The following is an account of the action in which Philip died. It is taken from a history of the Post Office Rifles, written by one of the battalion commanders and published in 1919.⁹

On October 28th a sudden order was given to the Battalion to attack, in co-operation with one company of the 2/6th [Londons], on the night of October 29th-30th, in order to support the main attack by the Canadians on Passchendaele Ridge. On this occasion the state of the ground was even worse than on September 20th [the Battle of Wurst Farm Ridge]; there had been heavy rains in the meantime, and the duck-board tracks were some hundreds of yards short of the outpost line. The ground was almost unknown, and there was practically no time for reconnaissances. The men were guided on to the assembly line by carefully screened coloured lamps placed to show the boundaries of each company’s front.

The objectives were Moray House, Papa Farm, Hinton Farm, and Cameron House, strong points lying between Poelcapelle and Passchendaele. From aeroplane photos the ground to be traversed seemed like a vast morass of mud and slime, as indeed it turned out to be. But little progress could be made. Men sank to their armpits in mud, and provided easy targets for the enemy. No support was forthcoming on the right. In spite of that, progress was made in the course of the day to about 500 yards, and outposts established, which, however, were ordered to be evacuated at night, except Nobles’ Farm, which had been captured by the 2/6th on the left.

The casualties were very severe: five officers killed (Captains Wheeldon and Barnett, and 2nd-Lieutenants Duncan, McAllister, and Barnes) and five wounded (Lieutenant Shapley, and 2nd-Lieutenants Finch, Tinsley, Peacock, and Booth); and of other ranks, 34 killed, 173 missing (all believed to have been killed or drowned), and 42 wounded. To illustrate the state of the ground, four men tried for two hours with ropes to extricate a comrade, and failed. Though no objectives of this Battalion were taken, the main purpose of the attack was achieved, in that this lone Battalion, struggling against an even more implacable enemy than the Boches, drew so much artillery and machine-gun fire as to materially relieve the main attack on the Passchendaele Ridge.

Philip is buried at Poelcapelle British Military Cemetery, Langemark, Belgium. A photograph of his gravestone, and other details, appear on the War Graves Photographic Project website.¹⁰ Monica Kemp visited the grave in August 1996, 79 years after he was killed not far from the spot where he is buried. Her grandchildren, James and Jenny Christie and Anna Kemp, and her son, Richard Kemp, accompanied her.

The War Graves Commission record shows that Philip is buried in plot number XXXVIII.A.3 at Poelcapelle. It correctly lists him as the son of George H Duncan of 58 Claremont Rd, Highgate, London. But it also says he was the husband of Frances M Riley (formerly Duncan). According to Monica Kemp and Hugh Richardson, Philip was not married (although Hugh remembers his mother, Edith, telling him that Philip was engaged shortly before he went overseas). It is hardly surprising that there should be errors of this sort in the military burial records of a nation in which nearly 900,000 soldiers were killed between 1914 and 1918.

Philip’s memorial card shows that his mother’s name was Mary Frances Duncan. The card shows that she predeceased him, and Hugh confirms that she died when Edith was 13, and the children were brought up by their father.

There is a discrepancy over Philip’s age when he died. Hugh was told by his mother that Philip was 26, and this is also the age shown on the War Graves Commission records. However, for whatever reason, his memorial card puts him at 27.

Although not the closest family link, it is worth mentioning that Philip’s cousin’s great uncle, Brigadier General (later Major General) Clifford Coffin, won Britain’s highest gallantry medal, the Victoria Cross, while Commander of 25th Infantry Brigade on 31st July 1917 during the early stages of the Battle of Passchendaele.¹¹

Philip’s medal card¹², which survives at the National Archives at Kew, shows that he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He would not have received either before his death. His parents should have received a letter from King George V, a bronze plaque (nicknamed the “Death Penny”) and a scroll to commemorate his death.

Monica Kemp and Hugh Richardson both remember seeing or hearing of a letter sent to Philip’s parents in which his Commanding Officer wrote that Philip was a particular favourite among the other officers in the battalion and the soldiers that he commanded, making a great impression in the tragically short time he was with them.

Richard Kemp

2 January 2012

 

1. “Army Service Numbers 1881-1918”, website showing Artists Rifles regimental numbers.
   http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/01/28th-county-of-london-battalion-london.html [↩]
2. Based on the fact that this was the Artists Rifles’ officer training battalion, as shown on the Artists Rifles Association website.

   http://artistsriflesassociation.org/regiment-artists-rifles.htm. [↩]

3. Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of The Artists Rifles, Third Edition, London: Howlett and Sons, 1922, page 23. [↩]
4. See: “Army Service Numbers 1881-1918”
   http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/01/28th-county-of-london-battalion-london.html [↩]
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Rifles [↩]
6. “Army Service Numbers 1881-1918”. http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2008/08/8th-city-of-london-bn-london-regiment.html [↩]
7. Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of The Artists Rifles, Third Edition, London: Howlett and Sons, 1922, page 295. [↩]
8. His arrival in the battalion is referred to in the booklet “Post Office Rifles 8th Battalion City of London Regiment”, written by one of the battalion commanders, published 1919. [↩]
9. “Post Office Rifles 8th Battalion City of London Regiment”, written by one of the battalion commanders, published Gale & Polden, 1919. Reprinted by Naval and Military Press, ISBN 1901623513. [↩]
10. The War Graves Photographic Project, in association with The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website: http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=1244130. [↩]
11. List of VC winners, RE Museum website. http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccroyeng.htm [↩]
12. National Archives Catalogue Reference WO 372/6. [↩]