We Tell Their Stories: Casualties from the Battle of Mons

As we near the anniversary of Britain’s first battle of the First World War, we share some casualty stories from the Battle of Mons.

We Tell Their Stories

The Battle of Mons

Image: Troops of the A Company, 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (7th Brigade, 3rd Division) resting in the Grand Place, Mons. Two of the Battalion would win Victoria Crosses in the battle to come (© IWM (Q 70071))

The Battle of Mons was the first major battle fought by the British Empire during the First World War.

The Men of the British Expeditionary Force’s (BEF) II Corps had reached the Belgian town of Mons by the evening of 22 August. The force, commanded by Field Marshal Sir John French, numbered around 75,000 professional soldiers with 300 artillery guns.

Opposing them was General Alexander Von Kluck’s 160,000-strong German First Army. The Germans were backed by 600 pieces of artillery.

The BEF had taken up defensive positions along the Mons-Condé Canal, which runs east-to-west through Mons, preparing for a major German attack the next morning.

The first shots were fired by the Middlesex Regiment at Obourg where a German cavalry unit was attempting to cross the canal bridge.

The early morning of the 23rd was cold and drizzly. With visibility low, the British were unsure of the size of the German force attacking them.

By 10.00 am, the weather cleared, bringing with it a hail of intense German artillery fire. It became apparent the British were up against a sizable German army.

Outnumbered around two to one, the BEF fought hard to hold their ground. The British soldiers were well-drilled, disciplined, and had a high level of rifle training. Their relentless fire inflicted heavy casualties on von Kluck’s First Army. 

Despite its tenacious defence, the intense weight of fire brought to bear by the Germans and their superior numbers was beginning to take their toll on the BEF. 

By 10.30 am, the first German soldiers had made it over the canal, forcing some British units to retreat. By mid-afternoon, First Army was beginning to cross the canal in force.

By nightfall, the battle was over. The BEF began a long, hard march to Paris.

Some 1,600 British soldiers had been killed. Field Marshal French commented on the high price paid by the BEF in his after-action report: “I deeply deplore the very serious losses which the British Forces have suffered in this great battle.”

This was a taste of the staggering losses both sides would experience.  By the end of the First World War, the British Empire had lost more than 880,000 men and women.

Battle of Mons Casualty Stories

Private John Parr

Image: The headstone of Private John Parr St Symphorien Military Cemetery, Belgium

Technically Private John Parr is not a casualty of the Battle of Mons, but as we’re discussing the British Empire’s first battle of the Great War, it seems appropriate to tell the story of its first combat casualty.

John Was born and raised in London. He joined the Middlesex Regiment in 1912, aged just 14. John must have been amongst the youngest servicemen in the British Army at this time.

He was still only a teenager when the First World War broke out in August 1914. With typical soldier’s irony, John was nicknamed “Old Parr” because of his youth by his comrades.

John was assigned to a bicycle reconnaissance unit. His job was to go ahead on the main force on scouting and intelligence-gathering missions, with close attention paid to discovering the Imperial German Army’s location and disposition.

By late August, The British Expeditionary Force was in France. John’s unit was taking up positions around Bettinges, a small village in the north.

While the circumstances of John’s death are debated by historians, the most widely accepted account is John was sent forward to locate a missing British unit. While scouting, he encountered a German patrol and was shot and killed by rifle fire.

John was killed on 21 August 1914, sadly the first British casualty to be killed in action on the Western Front.

John is buried at St Symphorien Military Cemetery, near Mons, Belgium. 

In a strange quirk of fate, John is buried across from Private George Edward Ellison. Killed in action at 09:30 am on November 11, 1918, George is considered the British Empire’s final combat casualty of the Great War.

Lieutenant Maurice James Dease VC

Image: Lieutenant Maurice James Dease VC (© IWM)

Maurice James Dease was born on Saturday 28 September 1889 in Coole, County Westmeath, Ireland, to parents Edmund Fitzlaurence Dease and Katherine Dease. 

Destined for a military career, Maurice was first educated at Stoneyhurst College before joining Wimbledon College’s Army Department. After Wimbledon, Maurice enrolled at the prestigious Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

At the time of the Battle of Mons, Maurice was serving as a Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.

At 04.00 am on Sunday 23 August, the 4th Battalion was called into action. A large body of German soldiers had been spotted in a small woodland nearby. 

A Company took up defensive positions near the railway bridge at Nimy, including its machine gun section commanded by Lieutenant Dease. Maurice set up his guns on the railway embankment to give them a good field of fire over the canal.

The first German attacks on the Nimy sector occured at around 08.00 am. 4th Battalion’s part of the line came under attack shortly after, driving off six German infantry battalions. Another German attack came an hour later, with the German infantry suffering heavy casualties as they advanced in close order.

The Germans fell back to their wooded start point but began to put in further attacks half an hour later. 

Pressure was mounting on A Company. Maurice was wounded in these skirmishes, being hit just below the knee. Despite their protestations, his fellow officers were unable to convince Maurice to seek treatment.

British casualties were beginning to grow. A Company’s commanding officer Captain Ashburner was wounded in the head. Maurice was hit another time while aiding his gunners, dragging a wounded soldier to safety while under heavy fire.

A platoon led by 2nd Lieutenant Joseph Mead was sent to reinforce the bridge. Soon after arriving, Lieutenant Mead suffered a severe head injury. However, he returned to the battle only to be shot once again in the head.

As the day went on, the machine gun crews were out of action. The weight of German fire was telling, and reinforcing and resupplying the guns was near impossible.

Maurice took over one of the guns himself. He was struck for a third time, this time wounded in the neck. It was now midday. 

Lieutenant Steele, one of Maurice’s fellow junior officers, advised Lieutenant Maurice Dease to lie still, but Maurice stood up to assess the situation. He was hit in the side and fell unconscious to the ground.

By this time the position was coming under accurate German artillery fire as more German cannons were bought into position. The battalion war diary reported:

“We suffered severely on the bridge over the canal by rifle and artillery fire. The machine guns had a particularly trying time. Practically all the detachment were doing great. Lieut. Dease the machine gun officer was killed or wounded. 

“Lieut. Dease and Pte Godley both displayed the most conspicuous bravery in working the guns, after they had been wounded. The guns having finally been disabled by artillery fire had to be abandoned."

Lieutenant Maurice James Dease was awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour at the Nimy Bridge, his citation stating:

"Though two or three times badly wounded he continued to control the fire of his machine guns at Mons on 23rd Aug., until all his men were shot. He died of his wounds." - The London Gazette, Monday the 16th of November 1914.

Maurice was not the only VC winner at the action at Nimy. Private Sidney Godley was awarded the VC similarly taking up the machine guns in the face of overwhelming fire, firing for two hours, before disengaging.

Sidney Godley was eventually captured by the advancing Germans and spent most of the war as a Prisoner of War. He escaped his camp in 1918 after the guards deserted their posts and fled to Denmark.

Our thanks to Micah Dominic Parsons for sharing Maurice’s story.

Private Sam Stephenson

Image: Private Sam Stephenson (https://ossett.net/WW1/Sam_Stephenson.html)

Private Sam Stephenson 7446, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) was the first casualty from the town of Ossett, West Yorkshire, England.

Sam, a fresh-faced, stocky miner by trade, enlisted in the British Army in 1903, at first spending three years in the Army Service and nine years with the First Class of the Army Reserve, where he was appointed to the West Riding Regiment.

Sam was posted to India in August 1904. In November 1905, he contracted cholera and returned home. He spent 25 days in Lichfield Hospital in February 1906 when the cholera returned.

On October 6 1906, 23-year-old Sam Stephenson married 23 year-old Lily Walker. The first of three children, daughter Hannah, was born in February 1903, followed by, son, Norman in September 1909 and another daughter, Ellen, in May 1913.

Private Stephenson then served the remainder of his first three years army service on the British mainland. 

He transferred to the Army Reserve until August 5 1914, when he was mobilised and on August 10 1914, he embarked for France with the 2nd Battalion, West Riding Regiment.

He died from wounds on August 24 1914, aged 31 years, at the Battle of Mons.

The Ossett Observer carried his obituary:

"Ossett Soldier Killed at Mons

"The death from wounds received in the Battle of Mons, of Private Sam Stephenson, a native of Ossett has been reported to his relatives by the War Office. The deceased soldier who was 31 years of age, was born at Ossett Common.

"He had joined the army at the end of the Boer War, and was eventually drafted out to Dum-Dum in India, where he had an attack of fever. When the present war broke out he was living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, having removed from Ossett about six years ago. Called up as a reservist, he went to the front with the 2nd Battalion, (Duke of Wellington's), West Riding Regiment.

"His death took place at Wasmes on August 24th. He leaves a widow and three children." 

Sam is buried at Hautrage Military Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium.

Thanks to regular contributor Anne-Marie Fawcett for sharing Sam’s story.

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