The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals

Family group: Three: Private R. G. Carpenter, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, who was killed in action at Soupir during the Battle of the Aisne on 14-16 September 1914 1914 Star (16338 Pte. R. G. Carpenter. 2/G. Gds:); British War and Victory Medals (16338 Pte. R. G. Carpenter. G. Gds.); Memorial Plaque (Richard George Carpenter) nearly extremely fine Pair: Private S. Carpenter, 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, who died of disease at No. 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, France, on 16 February 1919 British War and Victory Medals (46253 Pte. S. Carpenter. Rif. Brig.); Memorial Plaque (Sydney Carpenter) nearly extremely fine (7) £300-£400 --- Richard George Carpenter was born in 1893 at Christchurch, Eastbourne, Sussex, and attested there for the Grenadier Guards on 25 March 1913. He served with No. 1 Company of the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914. After engaging the enemy at Mons on 23 August and again two days later at Landrecies during the retreat, his battalion halted at Villers Cotterets, where heavy fighting took place and two platoons were surrounded and killed at a cross-roads in a clearing known as Rond de la Reine, fighting to the last man. At the Battle of the Marne, the enemy was engaged at La Tretoire on 8 September, at a cost of 41 casualties, and the Marne was crossed at Charly the following day. Sir Frederick Ponsonby in his Regimental History notes the Grenadiers witnessed signs of the German retreat and much looting and vandalism in every village as they advanced. Having reached the Aisne, they crossed in heavy mist on the morning of 14 September, and the Grenadiers engaged the enemy in the woods at La Cour de Soupir Farm with No. 1 Company in the vanguard. It was here between 14 and 16 September that Private Carpenter was killed in action. A flavour of the fighting is provided by Ponsonby in his regimental history: ‘At Soupir the road ran uphill through a dense wood, and it was impossible to see very far ahead. Progress was necessarily very slow, and the advanced guard had orders to move with the utmost caution. No. 1 Company, under Major Hamilton, formed the vanguard, and half of No. 2 Company, under Captain Symes-Thompson, was sent as a flank guard to the left, where the ground rose steeply above the road, and the trees were very thick. About half-way the vanguard came into touch with the German outposts. At the same time they were joined by some men of our 5th Brigade, who had gone too far to their left, and in consequence had narrowly escaped being captured by the enemy. Two platoons of No. 1 and one platoon of No. 2 were sent off to the left, and, having got into touch with the cavalry on that flank, took up a position in the woods above Chavonne, where they remained for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, the leading men of the advanced guard, under Lieutenant Cunliffe, pushed on, and near La Cour de Soupir ran right into the enemy, who were in superior numbers. All the men were taken prisoners, and Lieutenant Cunliffe was wounded. Shells were now screaming through the trees with monotonous regularity, and the hail of bullets grew ever thicker as the advanced guard came up to La Cour de Soupir. It became evident that the Germans were not only in strength at the top of the hill, but were advancing across the open against our left flank, and at the same time trying to surround the advanced guard by working through the woods on the right flank. No. 3 Company, under Captain Gosselin, was sent off to the right with instructions to clear the enemy off some rising ground and protect the right flank. This it succeeded in doing, but found vastly superior numbers opposed to it, and could not make any farther progress. It was here that Lieutenant des Voeux was killed, being hit through both lungs by a chance shot in the wood. Urgent appeals from the firing line induced Major Jeffreys to send two platoons of No. 4 to help No. 1 Company, and one to the right for No. 3, while the remaining platoon, with the machine-guns, under Lieutenant the Hon. W. Cecil, was posted on the edge of a clearing in case those in front were driven back. The advanced guard had now done its part. It had ascertained where the enemy was posted, but if an advance was to be made, it was clear that it would have to be strengthened considerably. Colonel Feilding therefore sent the 3rd Coldstream up to the left of the road and the Irish Guards to the right. Pushing through the woods and picking up platoons of No. 1 and No. 2 Companies Grenadiers, these troops came up to the hard-pressed No. 1 Company on the open ground near La Cour de Soupir.’ (The Grenadier Guards in the Great War of 1914-1918 by Lieut.-Colonel The Right Hon. Sir Frederick Ponsonby refers) Having now firmly established themselves on the north bank of the river, the Grenadiers dug-in and were subject to heavy shelling and counter attacks for a further two days before being relieved at dawn on 17 September. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records a total of sixty five 2nd Grenadiers’ war dead for the period 14 to 16 September 1914. Thirty nine of these men - including Carpenter - do not have a precise date of death but are instead recorded simply as having died between 14 and 16 September. Sydney Carpenter, younger brother of the above, was born in 1900 at Eastbourne, Sussex and served during the Great War with the Rifle Brigade, initially with the 12th (Service) Battalion and subsequently with the 2nd Battalion. He died of disease at No. 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, France on 16 February 1919 and is buried in Halle Communal Cemetery, Belgium. Sydney and Richard Carpenter were sons of Richard and Laura Harriett Carpenter, of 9, Beach Rd., Eastbourne, Sussex.