Johnson, Edward Wilson

BORN WARTER, YORKSHIRE, 1896. SON OF ANTHONY BANNISTER JOHNSON (1863-1933) & SARA ELLEN HODGSON, OF 18, PENDRILL STREET, BEVERLEY ROAD, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD ON 06/05/1917, AGED 21. HIS DEATH AND ADDRESS WERE REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 22/05/1917.

HIS NAME IS LISTED ON THE CLIFTON STREET SCHOOL ROLL OF HONOUR. HE IS BURIED AT ALBUERA CEMETERY, BAILLEUL-SIRE-BERTHOULT, PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION, READS, “DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI DEEPLY MOURNED”

Hull Pals Memorial Post. L/CPL EDWARD WILSON JOHNSON 14/203. Born in Warter, East Yorkshire in 1896 Edward was the second of five sons to Anthony and Sarah Johnson of 18 Pendrill Street, Hull. A Student when war broke out, he joined up on 18th January 1916, originally in the 14th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, before transferring to the 11th on his arrival in France. Edward was killed in action on 6th May 1917 and buried “near Bailleul, 4 miles NE of Arras” then exhumed after the Armistice and re-interred at Albuera Cemetery; he was 21 years old. In the days after the Oppy Wood attack Private Surfleet spent time in the trenches around Gavrelle Windmill. His story spells out the true horror of that time:
“What a bloody trench! It was blown in in several places and splashed with blood (and God knows what else) all over the place. I remember a similar smell in a slaughterhouse when I was a boy, but I doubt if I shall forget the sight of those dismembered, torn, shell-racked bodies which, pushed up on the parapet and parados out of the way until they could be buried, were covered with great, big, bloody awful blue-bottles. I felt physically sick. The sun was blazing down on this gruesome collection of flesh; over the top other decomposing bodies, fly infested and stinking, stewed in the heat.”

The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull.  All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.
The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences.During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon.The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
First name:
EDWARD WILSON
Regiment:
11th East Yorkshire Regiment B Company
Military Number:
14/203
Rank:
Lance Corporal
Date Died
06/05/1917
Place died:
Albuera Cemetery, Bailleul-Sire-Berthoult, Pas de Calais, France
Age:
21
18 , PENDRILL STREET, BEVERLEY ROAD, HULL, EAST YORKSHIRE, UK
Place Buried
62580 Bailleul-Sir-Berthoult, France