Lance/Corporal Arthur Boys
20521 8th Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment
Born in Burnley 19th January 1897
Lived at 120 Accrington Road
Prisoner of War at Wancourt 28th March 1918

Please find attached information on my Great Uncle Arthur Boys as a prisoner of war

‘First in, last out’
Arthur Boys
Lance Corporal 20591
Arthur Boys was born 18th January 1897 at 344 Cog Lane, Burnley to Charles Arthur and Margaret Boys, the 4th of 11 children. He was the first of his brothers (Harold, Wilfred and John) to join up at the outbreak of the First World War, and referred to as ‘first in, last out’. He was 18 years old at the time, living at 120 Accrington Road.
He served in the 8th Kings Own Royal Lancaster’s and saw action throughout the war (http://www.kingsownmuseum.com/)

October 1914 Raised at Lancaster and moved to Coford on Salisbury Plain.
Trained at Boscombe near Bournemouth in Hampshire.
28 September 1915 Arrived in France at Havre Joined the 76th Brigade of the
25th Division
2 October 1915 Attached to the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade
2 March 1916 The Bluff (Battle of Loos)
3 April 1916 Action at St. Eloi Craters (Battle of Loos)
July to October 1916 Battle of the Somme
18 July 1916 The Somme: Battle of Delville Wood
16 August 1916 Attack near Talus Boise
18 August 1916 The Somme: Battle of Guillemont
13 November 1916 The Somme: Attack on Serre
9 April 1917 The Battle of Arras: The Battle of the Scarpe
9 April 1917 Attack near Tilloy
11 April 1917 Attack on Gurmappe
27 April 1917 Repulse of counter attack near Monchy le Preux
12 May 1917 Attack on Devils Trench
18 June 1917 Repulse of counter attack on Hook Trench
September and October 1917 Third Battle of Ypres
16 September 1917 3rd Battle of Ypres: Zonnebeke
26-28 September 1917 Attack on Polygon Wood
March 1918 Second Battle of the Somme
21 March 1918 The Battle of St. Quentin
24 March 1918 Repulse of Attack near Wancourt
28 March 1918 Repulse of further attack

Like many of his generation, he related little of his service experiences. The family knew of 5 facts.
• He fought at Arras.
• His cousin Herbert Boys (Private 21776) was also in the 8th KORL and was killed 18th-20th July 1916. He must have relayed the news to the family who knew that Herbert had been blown up by a shell.
• He watched his friend go over the top in an attack, only to be ordered to retreat. As he turned to return to the trench he saw him blown up by a shell.
• On 28th March 1918 he was near Wancourt. There were few of his group left. He asked his commanding officer what they should do next. There was no reply. The officer was dead with half of his face blown off. Arthur then told the remaining soldiers ‘every man for himself’. He was captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the war at Parchim POW Camp. He was finally repatriated probably at the start of 1919.
• On his return to England he visited Alice Ann Knowes, the fiancée of the friend he had seen killed.
On July 5th 1919 he married Alice Ann Knowles,
He found work as a coal miner, pushing the coal carts with his head. This was possibly at Clifton Colliery where his uncle Edward (Teddy) Boys had worked for many years. He later found work in a cotton mill.
At some point Arthur was sectioned for a time in Calderstones Hospital. This was possibly in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He was released into the care of his brother Richard Boys.
He died in 1980.

(courtesy of Catherine Rousseau-Jones)