2nd Lieutenant Arthur Frederick Taverner
1ST KING’S (SHROPSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY)
TO THE SOUTH-EAST OF GUEUDECOURT was a teenage officer who had just turned 19 on the Somme. The eldest of a rural clergyman’s four children, Arthur Taverner had been born in Leicester and raised in Rutland, in between Leicester and Peterborough. Educated at Oakham School, where he got his football and cricket colours, he also spent four years in the OTC. Having reached an age where he could get a commission in the army, Arthur did not return to school in autumn 1915, instead joining The King’s (Shropshire Light Infantry). After his training the young subaltern was sent to join his battalion at the front in the summer of 1916.
2nd Lieutenant Arthur Taverner. (Rutland Remembers)
Since the attack of 7th October the rain had been pitiless on Rawlinson’s front as well as Gough’s. The lines were full of under-strength battalions, and the mud was sticky, making it difficult even to walk. The area was dominated by craters filled with water, hundreds of them as far as the eye could see in some places. And worst of all was the sight of wounded men trying to drag themselves through the mud to safety. Evacuating injured men in these conditions was a nightmare, but orders for an immediate resumption on all the original objectives came with just a few days’ notice. Rawlinson wanted his men to take the objectives that they had missed as soon as was possible, though it was clear that time would be needed to move new troops into the line and bring up supplies.
Arthur Taverner’s was one of the battalions being moved up to take part in the renewed assault, now set for 12th October. Bolstered by a draft of men joining from the Derbyshire Yeomanry, The King’s marched up to Trônes Wood on 8th October before accepting more drafts and taking up their positions in support lines to the south-east of Gueudecourt.
The ruins of the village of Morval at the southern end of the battlefield. (Authors’ collection)
The rain finally stopped, which at least meant that the mud did not get any worse. Throughout the 9th Arthur and his charges were shelled heavily as they sat in it, causing twenty-five casualties. However, the counter-attack that they were tentatively expecting did not materialise. Nonetheless, their own attack was approaching. Moving anywhere in the muddy conditions was a trial, as was trying to dig assembly trenches, and The King’s were unfamiliar with their surroundings. On 10th October the battalion struggled in the boggy conditions to dig a new communication trench and spent some time erecting a memorial plaque to their friends killed nearby during an attack in mid-September. Hostile fire continued throughout the day. Twelve men were wounded on the evening of the attack, including Arthur. The 19 year old’s injuries were critical. Hit in the mouth, he had suffered a compound fracture to both his upper and lower jaw. He was taken to a casualty clearing station, but they could do nothing for him. Arthur Taverner died the following day. At home in Rutland, his father had a memorial plaque put up in his church by the pulpit and preached next to it for the next thirty years. His teenage son was laid to rest at Grove Town Cemetery, plot I.B.1.