Pte 21544 Conrad McLean Kandler

• Age: 23
• From: Palermo, Sicily
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Conrad McLean Kandler was born in Palermo, Sicily on 21^st November 1892.  His parents, Conrad Anton Kandler, born in Germany, and Mary McLean McRill, born in Barton upon Humber, married in St. Stephen’s Church, Kingston upon Hull, on the 28th June 1882. Before the marriage his father is listed in a 1878 Post Office directory living at 12 Hangrave Road, Junction Road, Upper Holloway.   

The 1881 census shows his father, aged 22, and a merchant’s clerk, boarding with Mary’s mother, a lodging house keeper in Argyle Street, Hull.  Conrad junior was an only child, or an only surviving child. It is not known when the couple left the country or how they came to settle in Sicily.

His father was a shipping agent in Palermo for many years, and is listed in Lloyd’s Register of Shipping in 1885 and 1905-06:  Conrad A. Kandler, 27 Via Giovanni Melo, Palermo.

By 1901 his mother and Conrad have moved to England and are living at 1 Barlow Street, Oldham, in the household of his uncle, John W. Crake, Wesleyan minister.  Also in the household is his son, John H. Crake, widowed.  Mary McLean Kandler, 46, married, is listed as sister-in-law, with her son Conrad, age 8. 

By 1904 his mother has moved to Liverpool (possibly when his uncle moved to Gloucester). Conrad is registered at Old Church Schools, Moorfields, Liverpool, in 1904.  His parent is listed as Maria, a housekeeper living on her own account, at 9 Manchester Street.  He would have been eleven years old and had previously been educated privately.

His father died before the 1911 census, probably overseas as there is no U.K. death record. 

In 1911 Conrad is living with his  widowed mother aged 59, at 93 Cavendish Street, Liverpool. He is 18, and is employed as a clerk in a general broker’s.  

His mother sadly took her own life the following year during a bout of depression; Mary McLean Kandler, aged 60, was buried in Toxteth Cemetery in June 1912, address given as 71 Eversley Street, Liverpool. 

Her death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on Wednesday 05 June 1912: 

Conrad enlisted in Liverpool on the 11^th September 1914. The original regimental number of 18145 is crossed out and replaced with 21544, No.2 Company, 19^th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 21 years and 320 days (which does not exactly match his birth date on his school record) and his occupation as clerk. He is described as being 5’ 5” tall, weighing 130 lbs, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and fair hair.  He has a scar on his left upper arm.  His chest is 35 and a half inches, with a range of expansion of 3 and a half inches.  He states he has lived out of his father’s home for at least three years continuously, and that he has previously been declared unfit for military or naval service on  account of his chest measurement.  He states his religion as Church of England, and his next of kin as his uncle, Rev. John W. Crake, 142 London Road, Wolton Hill, Gloucester. Later, the address of his aunt was added, Mrs. N. Harvey, The Poplars, Barnsley.

After training locally at Sefton Park and at Knowsley Hall, the battalion moved to Belton Park in Grantham, Lincolnshire.  Whilst there, on 2^nd July 1915, Conrad was confined to barracks for three days for urinating in the ranks.  After moving to Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain he was again confined to barracks, on 12^th October 1915, this time for seven days, for neglect of duty when room orderly. On 20^th October he received three days C.B. for having a dirty rifle on parade.

Conrad disembarked in France six weeks after the rest of his battalion, on 20^th December 1915, and joined the roll of reinforcements on 22^nd. From 30th Infantry Base Depot he was attached to No.2 Entrenching Battalion on the 07^th January 1916, and joined the 20^th Bn K.L.R. on the 04^th March 1916.  

In July 1916 the battalion is in the front line at Maricourt on the Somme.  

On 30^th July three Pals battalions are tasked with taking the village of Guillemont. The attack fails, and proves costly; nearly 500 men from the Pals battalions are lost on that day. 

Pte Conrad Kandler, 23 years old, was killed in action. 

The 20^th King’s Battalion Diary records:

“At 4.45am prompt the attack was launched. Unfortunately, a thick mist prevailed and it was impossible to see more than 10 yards ahead. This continued until about 6 o’clock when it lifted slightly, but it was still too hazy and impossible to see what was happening 100 yards ahead. This being so, it was not surprising to find that the attacking waves were experiencing great difficulty in maintaining connection.”

At 6am, Lt. RE Melly, No.1 Company, reported that his men had taken the German Maltz Horn trench.

At 6.30am, 2/Lt. CP Moore reported that he had 150 men, 4 Stokes Mortars and 2 Lewis Guns, but he was the only officer. He also said that due to the fog, both his “flanks were in the air” i.e. he was not in contact with neighbouring troops.

At 9.10am, Moore was still not in contact at his flanks, and now he had only 75 men, he had sent out 2 patrols and neither not returned. Later Moore established communication with the French on his right.

Around 10.00am, 2/Lt Musker reported that he had just over a company with him, but his left flank was suffering from German machine gun fire. Later he reported that he had over 30 casualties from the machine gun fire. His flanks were also “in the air”. No contact was made with this party until the remnants returned around 9.30pm, all runners sent were killed or missing. The War Diary states that this group had: ”held the ground won all day, and this permitted the consolidation of the ground won on the Maltz Horn ridge with little interference from the enemy”.

Relief for 20/Kings had been planned for 11.00pm, but it was 5.00am on the 31st July before it took place, ending a tragic day for the Liverpool Pals.

Casualties for 20^th Battalion were 16 Officers and 357 Other Ranks

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30^th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55^th Division during the early hours of the 31^st July.

The events of 30^th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89^th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

Conrad was listed as Killed in the Bristol Times on the 09th September 1916 and in the Gloucester Echo on 11^th September 1916: 

King’s Liverpool Regiment.  Kandler, Pte C.M., (Gloucester).

His body was not recovered, or was subsequently lost, as he has no known grave, and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial. 

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Probate was granted in January 1917, in Gloucester, to John Wilkinson Crake, retired Wesleyan minister, effects £35 4s 4d.  Conrad’s effects went to his uncle, Rev. John W. Crake, executors Mrs. Mary Crake and George F Baker, and aunt Helen Horne.  His uncle John Wilkinson Crake, 142 London Road, Gloucester, died in 1919, effects to Mary Crake, widow, and George F Baker, jeweller.  Conrad earned his three medals which his aunt Mary signed for.  

In 1920 when the Army requested details of Conrad’s living relatives, his aunt Mary Crake provided the information:  Conrad had no living parents, brothers or sisters, or grandparents. His only living relatives were two aunts: Mary Crake, 142 London Road, Gloucester, and Mrs. Horne, the Poplars, Barnsley(?).

Sadly, Conrad cannot be found on any memorial in the UK.

We currently have no further information on Conrad Mclean Kandler. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.