1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
Lieut Francis Robert Dimond
- Age: 21
- From: County Longford
- Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
- K.I.A Tuesday 31st July 1917
- Commemorated at: Menin Gate Memorial
Panel Ref: Panel 4 & 6
Francis Robert (Bertie) was born on 19th November 1895 in Abbeyshrule, Drumanure, Co. Longford, the son of Francis Dimond and his wife Elisa (Lizzie) (nee Campbell) of Tully House, Lenamore, Edgworthstown, Co. Longford. They were married on the 02nd December 1879 at the Presbyterian Church, Corboy. He was the youngest of seven children and the only son.
He joined the OTC in 1914 and gained a commission in March 1915. He served in France with 17th Battalion of The Kings Liverpool Regiment from January 1916 until he was wounded by a grenade in May 1916. He returned to England was treated at Queen Alexandra's Military hospital at Millbank in London.
He returned to the front with the Battalion as a Second Lieutenant on 30th December 1916, when it was in the front line at Berles, France.
He was promoted to Lieutenant on 06th February 1917, but this was not published in the London Gazette until 02nd August 1917, two days after he was killed in action.
On 31st July 1917, the opening day of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), he was in command of ‘B’ Company of the Battalion, as it attacked the German line from Maple Copse. As the advance was made under heavy artillery fire and was, for a time, held up along its line of advance. Eventually advancing to a position to Clapham Junction, the Battalion then dug in to consolidate the ground taken, but came under very heavy fire from field guns, and 5.9” Howitzers. During this bombardment, Lieutenant Dimond was killed together with Second-Lieutenant Goldspink (A Coy) and thirty five other ranks.
On that day, the 89th Brigade was to follow up the attacks of the 21st and 90th Brigades and once their objectives had been taken, to go through them and secure a line of strong points on the German third line. The 89th Brigade line of attack was from the South West corner of Polygon Wood, to the Menin Road. The 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment was on the left of the attack, and the 20th to the right, with the 19th Battalion and the 2nd Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment, in Divisional Reserve.
The Battalion moved into assembly positions east of Maple Copse between 05.00 and 05.20am, they were heavily shelled and suffered many casualties. At 07.50 they began to advance with the 17th Battalion on the left, and the 20th on the right, the whole time under heavy shell fire. On reaching their position which was the Blue Line , troops of both the 21st and 90th Brigades were still pinned down and thus any attempt at further progress were futile.
Despite this they pushed on until their flank was just touching Clapham Junction. They then dug in and awaited the inevitable bombardment which hit them soon after. Despite this, they held onto the ground.
During the action and their time in the line the 17th Battalion lost three officers and 79 men killed or died of wounds and four officers and 198 men wounded. They were eventually relieved on the night of 3rd -4th August.Bertie was 21 years of age when he was killed.
His body was not recovered from the battlefield and his name is recorded on the Menin Gate in Ypres. Perhaps because his promotion to Lieutenant was only Gazetted after his death, ‘Officers Died in the Great War’, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission both list his rank as Second-Lieutenant.
The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Salient. In the case of United Kingdom casualties, only those prior 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. New Zealand casualties that died prior to 16 August 1917 are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.
The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927.
He is also commemorated on the Memorials at St John's Church, Edgeworth and the 1937 Reading Room at Trinity College Dublin.
His mother, died on 25th January 1932.
His father died on 08th March 1939.
Francis is commemorated on the family headstone:
Thanks go to Longford at War for their kind help and assistance.
We currently have no further information on Francis Robert Dimond, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
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