Biography of Private George Hallam (8348)
2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers Regiment
Formerly 1st Northumberland Fusiiers
Died 8th May 1915

Mother

• Name: Mary Dixon
• DOB: 1860
• Place Of Birth: Hetton Downs, Durhm, England
• Marriage: 1878 Houghton le Spring, Durham, England

• None found

Wife’s parents

• Father: Samuel Frisby Boor
• Mother: Charlotte Rouse

Newspaper Mentions

• North Star (Darlington) Saturday 19th June 1915
  MISSING
  NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS 2nd BATT
  Hallam, 8348, G.

Military Records

Medals

• The British Medal
• The Victory Medal
• The 14 Star

Memorials

• UK:
• Baston, Roll of Honour in St John the Baptist Church

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
• In memory of Private George Hallam, 8348, 2nd Bn., Northumberland fusiliers Regiment who died on 8 May 1915 Age 34
• Son of the late George Hallam; husband of Ethel Hallam, of Baston, Peterborough, Northants.
• Remembered with honour, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
• Panel 8 and 12

© Picture taken by South Lincolnshire War Memorials

 (Near Lens France)Military Service Timeline

• Allam / Hallam –

  Our first mystery is the spelling of he name Allam/Hallam. The birth registrations for George Allam Snr in Baston and all children, apart from Elizabeth were Allam.  George Allam Jnr enlisted in the Army for WW1 with the surname Hallam, the same spelling as on his marriage registration and all documents once he had moved to Lincolnshire.

   

  Army Service Pre War –

  Our second mystery is with regards to George’s military service. As with 60% of the WW1 full service records, we assume that George’s were destroyed in the warehouse fire in the London Blitz in WW2. This means we have to piece together George’s Military history from other surviving documents.

  The mystery starts with the Medal Rolls, we can see that George first served abroad with the 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers on the 13th August 1914, only days after the start of the war. As this was a first line, Regular Army, battalion it would be comprised of serving soldiers or those on the Army reserve list who has previously served.

  The WW1 roll of soldiers that died in the Great War tells us that George Hallam enlisted in Newcastle upon Tyne and was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers at the time of his death.

  George Hallam is thought to have enlisted into the Northumberland Fusiliers, in Newcastle around January 1902. His regimental number of 8348 points to this period.

  During this Boer War period the minimum period of service was 4 years with an addition 2 years if you enlisted before your 18th birthday. We suspect that George served the Minimum period of service as by 1908 he was back in Baston getting married and certainly working as farm labourer in 1911.

  On the outbreak of war George joined the 1st battalion Northumberland Fusiliers who at the time were stationed at Portsmouth  as part of the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division. The were mobilised for war on the 14th August and landed at Havre in France on 14th August.

  1st Battalion Diary-

  13th August 1914

  The Battalion left Cambridge Barracks Portsmouth by two special trains for Southampton and embarked on S.S. Norman with transport wagons the  horses being embarked on S.S. Italian Prince. Embarkation completed at 3.0pm and the first ship sailed for an unknown destination at 4.0pm. The 1st battalion Lincolnshire Regt and the Head quarters 9th Infantry Brigade were also on board. When we had been at sea about 1 hour it was given out that wee were destined for Havre which port we sighted before midnight.

  14th August 1914

  S.S. Norman was tied up at 3.0am and the Battalion disembarked at 5.0am leaving a platoon to unload the wagons marched to a tent camp about 5 1/2 miles N.N.E of Havre. This was a VERY HOT March and 82 men of the Battalion fell out owing to the intense heat. The tent camps were hardly ready for us.

  Leaving camp on the 16th August, over the next week, the Battalion would have gone via Rouen, Busigny, Landrecis, Noyelles and Longueville before their final march to the Mons-Conde canal. They started to fortify the houses and barricading the streets south of the canal.

  They saw their first action on the 23rd August as part of the Battle of Mons, retiring back to Frameries that afternoon. This was the first action in the retreat from Mons where the Battalion and the 1st Lincs fought a rear-guard in Frameries. This action on the 24th took the life of the first man from the Bourne area to be killed in the war, Serjeant Arthur Bates of the 1st Lincs. The pattern followed with retirement after retirement taking them to the Battle of Le Cateau, followed by the defence of the Marne and Aisne rivers before stopping the enemy short of Paris.

   Next the British Army were part of the Race for the Sea a continuing northward action with the two armies trying to out flank each other and eventually trying to stop the enemy reaching the channel ports. During this time the Battalion were involved in the Battles of La Bassee (Lens France)  and Messines, the First Battle of Ypres, Battle of Bellewarde all in Belgium.

   We have deliberately not covered the 1914 operations in any detail as at some point George changed battalion from the 1st to 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers, we have no records to find out when and why this was. It was usual for a badly wounded or sick man, after his convalescence, to then be returned to his Battalion or posted to a Battalion that was low on fighting strength of men.

  Checking the Battalion Diary Appendices (Killed, Wounded & Missing) for the 1st Battalion, we cannot see George Hallam listed however the following 2 appendices are missing:-
  November 1st Mont Kemmel – Appendix IX
  Nov 7-19th Hooge – Appendix XI
  It may be possible that if George was wounded and sent to hospital then one of these two gaps would be the most likely time for that to happen.

   As we don’t know exactly when George changed Battalions then we can only really look at his last days to tell a piece of his story with any certainty.

   The 2nd Battalion had been out in India at the commencement of the war and sailed home from Karachi, arriving in Plymouth on the 22nd December 1914, moving to Winchester to join the 84th Brigade of the 28th Division. They were mobilised for war and landed at Harve on the 18th January 1915 on the S.S. Australind.

   George’s story can be told from the Battalion Diary for May 1915:

   4th May 1915

  The Battalion reached the hutments just north of the Ypres to Vlamertinge Road early in the morning went into reserve.
     Casualties during the tour of duty from April 21 to May 4:
     Officers, 6 Wounded
     Other Ranks, 35 Killed, 149 Wounded, 17 missing
  Battalion ordered out at p.m. to support second Cheshire Regiment at Potijie. Remaind in GHQ line in support 

  5th May 1915

  Battalion still in support at Potijie

   6th May 1915

  Battalion relieved the first Battalion Welsh regiment in the trenches about midnight. These trenches were situated to the north of the village Wieltje, Belgium, about 3/4 of a mile, with the left of the battalion astride the St Julien Road and the right resting on the Fortuin Road.

   7th May

  The enemy made an attack on the trenches nearby the battalion which was repulsed. Our guns then took up the fire and shelled the enemy.
  2/Lieut H.S. Luke Killed, Sergts Taylor and Spaxman Killed
  Germans continue shelling the position all day.

   8th May

  At about 3.30 the enemy’s guns opened fire with high explosive and shrapnel which increased in volume about 7 am and continued all day, till the enemies infantry delivered their attack upon the right of the line held by the 84th infantry Brigade at about 3:30 pm.

   The line of trenches extended from the road St Julian to the Zonnebeke Road north of the Verlorenhoek which were held by the following units commencing on the right:-

      2nd Cheshire Regiment
      1st Bn Suffolk Regiment
      1st Monmouthshire Regiment
      2nd Bn Northumberland Fusiliers

  The line at the Cheshires was broken and the enemy got through to the rear and enveloped the Suffolk Regiment. The Monmouth’s fell back and made a counter attack which failed, and from information obtained the enemy outflanked the Northumberland D. C.  and B company. Number 1, 2 and 3 platoons, (A company) under second lieutenant W Watson Sergeant Lane and Hague head onto the trenches and foot gallantly. Their devotion to duty save the situation. These platoons were relieved at 4 am on the 9th by a detachment of the East Lancs Regiment.

  The following casualties occurred,
  Lieutenant-Colonel S H Enderby,  P of W
  Captain Rauld, P of W
  Lieut A B Cramsie M.G. Officer,  Killed
  Lieut J K Manger Scout Officer , Wounded and Missing

   F Company
  Captain A C Hart, Killed
  2/Lieut R Lord, Wounded
  2/Lieut W Watson, Wounded

   B Company
  Capt G K Molineaux, Missing
  2/Lieut W Taylor, Wounded, P of W

   C Company
  Lieut B E S Mahon, P of W
  Lieut B C Hardy, P of W

   D Company
  Lieut G P Legard, Killed
  2/Lieut K Shann, Killed
  2/Lieut R V Taylor, Slightly Wounded

   Attached
  2/Lieut E B A Cardew, 4th Devon Regiment, P of W

  NCOs and Men, Killed Wounded and Missing 422*
      Killed 12,
      Wounded 126,
      Missing 284

   9th May

  The diary reports that several officers rejoined the Transport Headquarters.
  The following draft arrived from 3rd Battalion
  2//Lieuts, C R Freeman, H E Hobbs, W G B Garrard + 248 Men
  The battalion was reformed. The Battalon now has a strength of 10 Officers and 454 NCOs and Men.
  Battalion in Billets near Poperinghe.

   It was in the action of the 8th that George Hallam was reported as missing later presumed dead.

   The casualty report of the War Office from 2nd June 1915 officially lists Pte G Hallam 8348, 2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers as missing .

Sources

• WW1 Soldier’s Records (www.ancestry.co.uk)
• British Newspaper Archive.
• Fold 3
• Find My Past
• Genealogist
• Forces War Records
• British Army Service Numbers
• War Gratuity Calculator
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• National Archives – Battalion War Diaries
• General Registry Office