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Yorkshire
Regiment War Graves, - The Arras Flying Services Memorial |
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The Arras Flying Services Memorial
(Photo : Richard Roberts, <richard@nosnailshere.co.uk>)
The ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL commemorates nearly 1,000 airmen of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who were killed on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave. The British Air Services originated in the use of balloons for purposes of reconnaissance. The balloon gave way to power-driven air machines and in 1911 an Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers was formed. In 1912 the Air Battalion was superseded by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) which was orgainsed into two branches; one military (army) and one naval. However, divergent priorities prompted the Royal Navy to form its own air arm, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) which was officially recognised in July 1914. Towards the end of the First World War, on 1 April 1918 both the RFC and the RNAS were merged to form the Royal Air Force.
The Arras Flying Services Memorial will be found in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, which is in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras.
Three of the names on this memorial are for men of the Yorkshire Regiment, who flew with the Royal Flying Corps. These men were;-
Lieutenant Ernest Charles Kemp (*). RFC, formerly 9th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Ernest Harry and Edith Marion Kemp, of 8, Arodene Rd., Brixton Hill, London. Killed 6 September 1916. Aged 24.
2nd Lieutenant James Leslie Roberton (*). 25th Squadron Royal Flying Corps, formerly 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of R. H. and Mary L. Roberton, of Stoke Golding Lodge, Nuneaton, Leicestershire. Killed 6 September 1916. Aged 21.
2nd Lieutenant William Spencer Fitz-Robert Saundby.
29th Squadron RFC, formerly the Yorkshire Regiment. Killed 17 November 1916.
Robert Coulson, in his biographies
of the Officers of the Yorkshire Regiment, provided the following information
on 2nd Lieutenant Saundby;-
"William Saundby, the son of Professor Robert Saundby, was born in Edgbaston
on April 2nd 1898.
He was commissioned into the Yorkshire Regiment in April of 1916 but spent
only a short time with the regiment before transferring to the Royal Flying
Corps on July 7th 1916.
Serving with No 29 Squadron, in November of 1916 2nd Lt Saundby flying a DH
2 collided with fellow squadron member Captain Sidney Cowan as they both dived
on the same enemy aircraft.
2nd Lt William Spencer Fitzrobert Saundby was killed in this incident on November
17th 1916 aged just 18.
He has no known grave and his name is remembered today on the Arras Flying
Services Memorial at the Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery in Arras."
(*) 2nd Lieutenant Roberton was the pilot of FE2b No
5238 of 25 Squadron, and Lieutenant Kemp was his observer. They were killed
whilst attacking an enemy aircraft.
(Information supplied by Richard Roberts, <richard@nosnailshere.co.uk>)
The
commemoration on the Arras Flying Services Memorial which includes the name
of Lieutenant Kemp.
The
commemoration on the Arras Flying Services Memorial which includes the names
of 2nd Lieutenants Roberton and Saundby.