A couple of months ago, while holidaying in the West Country, our good friends L & C visited the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Gloucestershire village of Westbury-on-Severn.
They came upon the Commonwealth War Grave of Private A. A. Trott of the 12th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Knowing my interest in the SLI they sent me a photo of the headstone.
Private Trott died on the 13th December 1918, aged 38, after World War One had ended. Did he die of wounds received during the war or was he a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic, perhaps a tragic accident befell him? I have been unable to find answers to those questions.
The words on his gravestone read “A DEAR HUSBAND AND FATHER NEVER FORGOTTEN BY HIS LOVED ONES”. Intriguingly the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records state that Private Trott was the “HUSBAND OF FLORENCE AMELIA ANN HALLETT (FORMERLY TROTT) OF YEOVIL SOMERSET”. Make of that what you will!
12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry.
The 12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry was formed from the West Somerset Yeomanry, a cavalry regiment, in February 1917 at Ismailia in Egypt. After the dismounted cavalrymen had retrained as infantryman the Battalion joined the 229th Brigade, part of the newly formed 74th Division. The Division campaigned in Palestine against the Turks until it was transferred to France in April 1918.
The Battalion’s first action in France was on the 18th August 1918 when it fought in Picardy before taking part in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line. It took part in the Final Advance in Artois during October and November.
The Battalion suffered its last battle casualties on the 22nd October when 2 men were killed and 20 wounded. Its total casualties during the War were 147 killed in action, 53 died of wounds, and 12 died.
Everard Wyrall chronicles the record of the 12th Battalion in its final months of service in his The Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919 (Methuen & Co., 1927). He concludes: “The 12th Somersets, who on the 11th November were on the road to Escalette when the Armistice was announced, marched on to Ollignies and took part in a peace celebration, the Burgomaster presenting the Battalion with a Belgian flag, which now rests in St. Mary’s Church Taunton. It was not, however, until the middle of June 1919 that the Somerset Yeoman were reduced to cadre strength and returned to England. The cadre reached Taunton on 21st June and received a great welcome from the townspeople as it marched through the streets behind the cadre of the 1st Battalion of the Regiment – a fitting close to a most wonderful period in the history of the Regiment.”
Commonwealth War Grave Commission website.
Edward Wyrall, The Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919 (Methuen & Co., 1927).
