Special thanks to Norfolk Libraries
Private Robert Dewhurst
6th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment
Died of disease
Place of Birth: St. Thomas Parish, Blackburn, Lancashire
Date of Death: 3 May 1916 in Macedonia
Buried: Robert is remembered on Basra Memorial, Iraq
Awarded the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Private Robert Dewhurst.
According to the only surviving military record Robert was born in St. Thomas Parish, Blackburn, Lancashire.
He came to Teignmouth in 1914 as one of the soldiers billeted in the town.
Robert married Ethel Mary Hookway in 1915 whilst in Teignmouth.
Ethel Mary was born in Dawlish in 1885, she was the daughter of William and Mary Hookway. Her father was a carter employed by the town council. Her parents lived in Dawlish, in Teignmouth and by 1911 were living at 15 Coombe Road Shaldon.
East Lancashire Regiment
Cap Badge
Robert was serving with the 6th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, service no. 12297, and landed in Gallipoli with the regiment in July 1915, moving on from there in early 1916.
His wife was notified that he had died of disease on 3 May 1916 in Macedonia.
Robert is remembered on Basra Memorial, Iraq.
The Basra Memorial commemorates more than 40,500 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the operations in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and whose graves are not known.
The Seige of Kut
In December 1915, in Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq), a British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut was put under siege by the Turks. The already weakened defenders were soon starving and sickness became rife.
11 British Officers and 490 other ranks of the 6th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment joined the force sent to relieve the garrison.
A view across part of Kut. A bomb damaged minaret and a British Union Jack flying from a flagpole. © IWM (Art.IWM ART 2436)
The relief force was called the Tigris Corps, Robert's battalion were in the 39th Brigade of the 13th Division. They took part in the third attempt and also in the final attempt to relieve Kut.
Mounds of earth marking the graves of the British in Kut. Bluejackets of the Royal Navy stationed at Kut have collected empty shrapnel cases from the old trenches and placed one on all known spots where dead are buried. © IWM (Q 24534)
The Tigris Corps made several attempts between January and March 1916, to lift the siege of Kut al-Amara; all of which were unsuccessful.
The garrison surrended on the 29 April 1916 and 13,000 men were taken into captivity and marched away. A third died from disease, maltreatment and malnutrition.
"None of them fit to march five miles ... full of dysentery, beri-beri, scurvy, malaria and enteritis; they had no doctors, no medical stores and no transport.
The hot weather, just beginning, would have meant much sickness and many deaths, even among troops who were fit, well-cared for and well supplied.".
Geoffrey Elton, historian and war poet
(He saw the men being marched away)
This emaciated Indian soldier was photographed after he had been liberated during an exchange of prisoners. © IWM (Q 79446)
We know of seven local men who were at Kut, 3500 miles from home.
Six were in the Tigris Corps, the force sent to relieve the garrison:
Private Alfred Albert Vicary of Teignmouth, aged 16, died of wounds.
Private Robert Dewhurst of Teignmouth died of disease four days after the garrison surrendered.
Major Ernest Bird Barratt of Teignmouth was wounded in the battle, taken prisoner and died of his wounds.
Major Frederick William Birch of Shaldon died of wounds in the Battle of Hanna.
Private James Lambe of Shaldon, was believed to have been taken prisoner when the garrison surrrended and died later.
Private William Alfred Prowse of Teignmouth, was part of the Garrison force when Kut had been retaken in 1917, William died of heatstroke.
Lance Corporal Charles Francis Stephens of Teignmouth was part of the relief force. Charles survived WW1 but was killed in WW2 when Teignmouth was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe.
