Capt Guy Ravenscroft

• Age: 34
• From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Tuesday 17th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Warlencourt Brit Cem
  Panel Ref: V.D.38

Captain Ravenscroft is not mentioned at all in Battalion War Diary entries for the early fighting on the Somme in July 1916, but it is presumed that he was with his Company at the time. He is mentioned, however, on 8th July, when he was ordered to lead No.3 Company into Trones Wood to take water to troops fighting there. Whilst handing over the water the Germans attacked and Ravenscroft and his men helped to man the trenches until the attack was repulsed.

Although official sources state that he met his death in action on 18th October 1916, on the Somme, it would appear that he was in fact killed the previous day, in the evening of the 17th October.

After several unsuccessful attempts to take the German position’s at Gird Trench near Flers, the 21st Brigade was ordered to make an attack in the early morning of 18th October. The 18th Battalion’s objectives were in the centre of the attack and included the capturing and holding of a German strong point. Ravenscroft was given the task of marking the attack positions with tape on what was a featureless landscape, with visibility severely hampered by driving rain.

The Battalion War Diary states that at 18.30 pm on October 17th, Ravenscroft and a NCO, left the front line trench to tape the start line for the first wave of attacking troops. At about 19.30pm, the Germans, presumably sensing the impending attack, sent up an SOS rocket calling for artillery fire. The subsequent bombardment fell on the British front line and communication trenches and Captain Ravenscroft was killed. He was aged thirty four. The NCO was 16984 Sergeant J S Orret.

The War Diary lists this bombardment the evening before the attack, as a contributory factor in the failure of the whole attack, so there can be no doubt that Guy Ravenscroft was killed on 17th October and that the official date given for his death is wrong. This view is fortified by information given in a letter by former 17122 Private W Gregory of the 18th Battalion, written in 1974. He recalls the night of 17th October 1916,and states, “Captain Ravenscroft and Sergeant Orret went out earlier in the night from my post to take white tapes for guidance to the German Lines. They were never seen again. “ Sergeant Orrets date of death is also shown, equally in error as 18th October 1916.

Captain Ravenscroft is buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery France in Plot V, Row D, Grave 38. His headstone has the private Inscription:

SON OF THE LATE JOSEPH AND C M RAVENSCROFT BIRKENHEAD CHESHIRE

‘UNTIL’.

Warlencourt Cemetery is entirely a concentration cemetery, begun late in 1919 when graves were brought in from small cemeteries and the battlefields of Warlencourt and Le Sars.  The Graves Registration form shows graves from “Le Sars 6/1, 6/2, Hexham Road, Seven Elms”.

Graves were brought in from the original cemeteries at Hexham Road (Le Sars), and Seven Elms (Flers), as well as over 3,000 British graves due to the fighting which took place around the Butte de Warlencourt from the autumn of 1916 to the spring of 1917, and again in the German advance and retreat of 1918.   The cemetery now contains 3,505 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War, 1,823 of which are unidentified.

After the war his widowed mother moved to 2 St Katherine’s Precinct, Gloucester Gate, Regents Park, London.

The family tomb is still in Birkenhead,at Flaybrick Cemetery and Captain Ravenscroft is also Commemorated there, with the inscription 

ALSO IN PROUD MEMORY OF GUY, THE BELOVED ELDER SON OF THE ABOVE JOSEPH RAVENSCROFT, AND

CAROLINE MARY HIS WIFE, KILLED IN ACTION LIGNY-THILLOY NR BAPAUME FRANCE OCTOBER 1916 BORN JULY 23 1882.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Courier on 25th October 1916

The death in action of Capt.Guy Ravenscroft, of the K.L.R.,will cause profound regret in Birkenhead, where he had resided all his life. When war broke out Capt.Ravenscroft joined up a company with his other brothers, and went to France with his battalion in 1915. Capt.Ravenscroft was an all-round athlete, and for several years played for the Birkenhead Park Rugby Football Club. He was a colleage of Capt. Herschell, whose death was reported recently. In athletics and as an amateur actor he was associated with Lieutenant H.J.M.Edgar, who fell at Suvla Bay, and Major A. Anderson, of the Liverpool Scottish,who has been reported missing since the battle of Hooge, 1915. These three young men presented fine physiques, and were typical out of door, breezy and sport loving Britishers. They has appeared together in several plays, both drama and comedy, produced by the Birkenhead Amateur Dramatic Society. The ranks of amateur actors in Birkenhead and Wirral will be sadly thinned by the loss of these three accomplished members.

Further reports contain more details of Guy's life prior to his enlistment:

Captain Guy Ravenscroft, King's (Liverpool Regiment) who, as previously announced, was killed in action on October 18th, was the eldest son of the late Mr Joseph Ravenscroft and Mrs Ravenscroft, Claughton, Birkenhead. He was educated at Mostyn House School, Parkgate and Clifton College. He was a member of the School Cadet Corps (attached to the Bristol Engineers) and was in the shooting eight, for whom he made the highest score in the annual competition for the Ashburton Shield at Bisley. He played rugby for Birkenhead Park and Cheshire County for several years and was a keen yachtsman, being a member of the Mersey Yacht Club. Captain Ravenscroft joined the King's (Liverpool Regiment) in September 1914 and went to France a year ago. Information has been received that he was killed instantaneously, fighting bravely, and leading his men. He was much beloved by his brother officers and his men.

A Family notice was placed:

RAVENSCROFT - in proud and ever loving memory of Guy Ravenscroft, Captain 18th Kings Liverpool Regiment, killed in action October 16th 1916 Ligny Thilloy, France, elder son of the late Joseph Ravenscroft and Mrs Ravenscroft, Claughton, Birkenhead. 

Following his death, Guy is shown as deceased in a record of shareholders in the Great Western Railway. 

Exchange Newsroom, Liverpool

Cotton Association, Liverpool

Birkenhead Park Football Club.

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