L/Cpl 15634 Allan Belk Rawland

• Age: 30
• From: Liscard, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 12th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Allan Belk Rawland was born in 1886 in Liscard, Cheshire, the youngest child of George Jennings Rawland and his wife Eleanor (née Belk). His parents, both born in Liverpool, married in St. Luke’s, Liverpool in 1868, George giving his occupation as chemist. They had ten children:  Frank and Mary, born in Liverpool, Agnes, William, Henry, Arthur and Sydney, born in Egremont, Gertrude (who died at age 1), Ida and Allan in Liscard.  He was baptised in St. Mary's Church, Liscard, on 13th June 1886.

In 1891 his father, with nine children, is living in Westminster Road, Liscard.  His father is a vinegar agent, his mother is not listed in the household. Allan is 5 years old, at school. Some time after the census his brother Frank went to Brazil and died there in 1897, aged 27.

The family is still at 16 Westminster Road in 1901, with seven children.  His father is a vinegar agent, Allan is 15.

In 1911 they are at the same address. His father, 70, is a vinegar/brewers representative, his mother is 66, Mary, 40, Agnes, 38, and Ida, 28, have no occupation.  William, 37, and Henry, 35, are clerks, and Allan, 25, is a clerk to a ships stores dealer.

Shortly afterwards, on 1st July 1911, Allan shipped as assistant purser on the ‘Empress of Britain’, a Canadian Pacific liner, returning on 22nd July. His name does not appear on any other crew lists.

Allan enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 31st August 1914, as Private 15634, No.3 Company, 17th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 28 years and 150 days, and his occupation as clerk. He is described as being 5’ 4 and a half inches tall, weighing 165 lbs, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and fair hair. He gives his religion as Church of England and his next of kin as his father George, at 16 Westminster Road. After training locally, then at Belton Park Camp in Lincolnshire, and at Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain, Allan left for France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 7th November 1916.  His service record survives and shows -

15/5/1916 to Field ambulance, sick, admitted with myalgia
24/5/1916 returned to duty
16/7/1916 appointed unpaid and same day appointed paid Lance Corporal
15/8/1916 to Field Ambulance, sick with deficient vision
18/8/1916 rejoined unit
31/8/1916 granted a Good Conduct Badge

Allan was declared Missing on 12th October, death later presumed for official purposes.

17^th Bn War Diary:  Battle of Transloy Ridge –                                               

11-10-16 - Gird Trench/Gird Support – Battalion in front line and support trenches. British bombardment of enemy front line system commenced about midday.  Hostile shelling was intermittent throughout the day.

12-10-16  - Our bombardment continued. Enemy reply weak.  2.5 p.m. Zero hour. Attack on German front line system commenced.  Enemy wire was found to be uncut and attack was unsuccessful.  Hostile machine gun fire was very heavy and caused many casualties. Battalion H.Q. and Support Trench were heavily shelled throughout afternoon and evening. […] During this action all communication had to be carried out by runners and carrier pigeons as all wires were being continually cut by enemy shelling.

Casualties: 5 officers killed,  5 officers wounded, 38 OR killed, about 225 OR wounded/missing etc.

Graham Maddocks, in “Liverpool Pals” p.140, adds: “As the whistle blew, the 17^th Battalion left its trenches to move forward.  […]  As soon as the attacking waves left their trenches the enemy artillery began to register on them, and at the same time, the defending infantry commenced a murderous rain of fire.  […]  Although their numbers had been depleted by the British bombardment, they were trained and experienced soldiers, well dug in on high ground, and for the most part, looking out on uncut wire.  As such, it was virtually impossible for them to miss the City Battalion men struggling to advance in the mud towards them.   The 17^th Battalion, on the left, was particularly badly hit, as its portion of No Man’s Land contained a slight rise in the ground, and as the troops emerged onto it they were silhouetted against the sky and became easy targets.  Those on the left of the attack, who managed to avoid the hail of bullets and make it to the German wire, then found that it was totally uncut, and thus trapped, they too became easy targets, to be picked off almost at the enemy’s will.  It was hardly surprising that, seeing the first waves being wiped out, some of the following waves turned back and made for their start lines. These lines were now packed with other waves of troops, however, and the fleeing men added to the congestion already there, and became easy prey for the German gunners.  There is some evidence also, to suggest that at this stage, the British trenches were also being hit by their own heavy artillery shells which were falling short.”

Allan's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, France. His name shows as Rawlands which is incorrect. We have contacted CWGC to see if his name can be amended at a future date in order to correctly identify him and preserve his memory.  

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.”

Soldiers Effects to his brother Rev. Sydney Rawland, Pension to mother Eleanor, 16 Westminster Road. 

His name appeared in the list of Missing in the Liverpool Post & Mercury on 16th November 1916. It is not known when his family were informed of his fate.

Allan earned his three medals, which his brother, Rev. Sydney Rawland signed for.

His father died, aged 76, six months after Allan’s death, in the June quarter of 1917 and his mother, aged 79, in Chorley in the December quarter of 1924.

Allan is also commemorated on the Wallasey War Memorial and St John’s C. of E. Church, Egremont.