Edward William Riley 1/5 manchesters 201818

[sphinx]

Its clearly outside??

[charlie]

Sphinx,
You could be right but to my mind there is something odd about the photo. It's like the people do not "belong" to the background, some of the contours do not look natural and how the boots of the two that are seated cross is a bit strange. Perhaps I've got a vivid imagination

Charlie

[PhilipG]

An intriguing photograph.  On the right hand side we have two soldiers with pith helmets wearing temperate climate uniforms.   On the left hand side we see a tall soldier whose tunic lacks side pockets, which suggests khaki drill material, with Pte Riley in a chair wearing what could be khaki shorts.   As regards the background of the photograph, it appears at first sight to be located in the UK, but I have never been to Egypt.

Three of the soldiers are wearing lanyards, but not of a matching type.   Is this usual?

Initially, I thought a measure of soldiers' humour was intended to be displayed, but as nobody is smiling that cannot be the case.   (I have a photograph of my soldier father in WW1, taken in Egypt where he has partially exchanged his army uniform with that of a naval rating standing alongside.  He told me it was intended to be a joke!).

One thing that comes over is the good quality of the photograph, albeit confusing in content. PhilipG.

[Andrew Jackson]

With help from Cynthia Budd, I can provide some more information on Edward's army service. Edward enlisted into the Accrington Pals (18068, 11/East Lancashire) on 26 January 1915 only to be discharged four months later on the grounds of not being physically fit. His records to this point have survived and can be downloaded, e.g. from findmypast. He re-enlisted, into the Loyal North Lancs (21619), in July 1915 before being transferred to 5/Manchester (4784). Being in a territorial battalion, his number was changed as of 1 March 1917 (to 201818). The circumstances of his death are actually documented in the war diary of the 1/5th Battalion for 12 June 1918:

Protective patrols on the battalion front between 1.0am and 3.0am. A patrol consisting of Lt. WELLINGS, Cpl. RILEY and 6 men, left our lines at 11.0pm 11/6/18 and returned at 2.30am 12/6/18. Patrol moved NE from K21.d.3.2 towards HOME AVENUE and entered trench at approx. K21.d.6.6. Patrol got out of trench on north side and proceeded in diamond formation. Enemy M.G.s immediately opened fire and bombs were thrown at the patrol. When all was quiet again three men were found to be missing and Lt. Wellings, Cpl. Riley, and 3 men proceeded to look for them. Whilst so doing, Cpl. Riley was severely wounded. Several efforts were made to get Cpl. Riley back to our lines, all of which proved abortive, and he was eventually left in a shell hole pending a more favourable opportunity to get him in. At 10.30pm a fighting patrol (2/Lt. AYLWARD and 22 O.R.) went out in an endeavour to bring in Cpl. Riley, a thorough search was made, but without success.

[Alan Riley]

Truly amazing post....answers so many old questions......and he sounds so brave

Proud and sad....I'm old enough to have known him in his latter years, if he survived.

Thank you so much for the post.....

Does the K2 references and the trench reference mean anything in terms of actually finding the location?

I just wish my grandad knew this...he died years ago!

Thank you so very much

[charlie]

K21.d.3.2 and K21.d.6.6 are map references on map sheet 57dNE http://digitalarchive.mcmaster.ca/islandora/object/macrepo%3A70677/-/collection

I have marked the two map references and the direction the patrol took on the attached.

Charlie