Samuel Joseph Falls likeness

Samuel Joseph Falls cap badgePrivate Samuel Joseph Falls

1st Battalion Scots Guards
Service No: 11097

Samuel Joseph Falls grave

2050

3

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40
Click here for a frameable A4 print
Personal details

Family Information

Son of John and Margaret Keys Falls of the Blue Doors, Killymoon, Cookstown, Co.Tyrone. Samuel's older brother Private Robert Falls (7881) of the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (4th Division, 12th Brigade) was Killed in Action on the 26/08/1914 at the Battle of Le Cateau aged 29. The Battalion arrived at Le Havre on the 23/08/1914 and Robert fell 3 days later. He is NOT on the Coatbridge Memorial. Samuel's father died in 1900. From the 1901 Ireland Census - Address - 10 Killymoon Demense, Cookstown - Margaret Falls aged 40, Robert Falls aged 17, Samuel J Falls aged 12, Irwin Falls aged 10, Margaret Falls aged 6, George Falls aged 5, Isabella Falls aged 3, Teresa Falls aged 1 (see photos). From the 1911 Ireland Census - Address - 10 Killymoon Demense, Cookstown - Margaret Falls aged 48, Samuel Falls aged 21, Irwin Falls aged 20, Margaret Falls aged 16, George Falls aged 15, Isabella Falls aged 12, Theresa Falls aged 10. Samuel and Robert's Pension was awarded to their mother Margaret.

Born / Resided

Tempo, Co. Fermanagh / 26 North Square, Gartsherrie, Coatbridge.

Died

Killed in Action on the 27/09/1915 at the Hulloch area during the Battle of Loos

Enlisted

Glasgow originally 13/01/1908, Cookstown

Employed

Iron Worker with William Baird and Company, Gartsherrie. Previously a Labourer in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.

Age

26 / DOB - 11/08/1889

Buried / Remembered

Loos Memorial (Panel 8 and 9), Pas de Calais. France.

Cemetery / Memorial Information

The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay, from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the end of the war. On either side of the cemetery is a wall 15 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated. At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued, and between these courts are three semicircular walls or apses, two of which carry tablets, while on the centre apse is erected the Cross of Sacrifice.

Additional Information

The Battalion arrived in Le Havre on the 14/08/1914 and were part of the 2nd Guards Brigade, Guards Division. Samuel arrived in France on the 25/02/1915. Samuel was Killed in Action on the 3rd day of the Battle of Loos. Hulluch area : At 4.40pm, under cover of a thick smoke screen, 2nd Guards Brigade advanced to Chalk Pit Wood and the Chalk Pit. A further advance to the buildings at Puits 14 bis was halted by machine-gun fire from Bois Hugo. SEE PHOTOS x 6 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY SEPTEMBER 1915. Scottish Regiments lost a huge amount of brave men at Loos. The 1st Battalion Scots Guards lost 474, of which 14 officers. Here is a list of Infantry Battalions who lost more than 500 men at the Battle of Loos from 25/09/1915 to 16/10/1915 - 7th Cameron Highlanders 687, of which 19 Officers, 9th Black Watch 680, of which 20 Officers, 6th King’s Own Scottish Borderers 650, of which 20 Officers, 10th Highland Light Infantry 648, of which 20 Officers, 7th King’s Own Scottish Borderers 631, of which 20 Officers, 8th Devons 619, of which 19 Officers, 8th Royal West Kents 580, of which 24 Officers, 8th Buffs 558, of which 24 Officers, 12th Highland Light Infantry 553, of which 23 Officers, 8th Black Watch 511, of which 19 Officers, 5th North Staffordshire 505, of which 20 Officers, 8th Seaforth Highlanders 502, of which 23 Officers. Samuel was 1 of 99 men from the Coatbridge Memorial who fell during and from injuries from the Battle of Loos. Samuel enlisted in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Cookstown, Co. Tyrone on the 13/01/1908. He was a member of Loyal Orange Lodge 133, Coatbridge District 22 as was his brother Robert. See photos for Samuel's name on the embroidered fall which is held within the Lodge. Many thanks to the Lodge who provided the photo. The Lodge was founded on the 08/06/1906 by 11 Ulstermen hence the name The Loyal Sons of Ulster LOL 133. Samuel is also remembered on the Gartsherrie Works x 2 and in the St Augustine's Parish (book) Rolls of Honour and on the Cookstown War Memorial x 3 with his brother Robert (see photos for Poppy placed at Samuel's name). There's another Cookstown man on the Memorial, Samuel's friend Private William Whan (see Directory). The 2 men lived next to each other in Coatbridge, worked together, were in the same Orange Lodge, enlisted in the same Regiment together and they both fell together on the same day. Neither has a known grave. Able Seaman David McGowan lived at North Square as well, also an Iron Worker and was in the same Lodge as Samuel and William (see Directory for David's page). See photos for Newspaper clippings from the Mid Ulster Mail regarding Samuel, one inserted by his mother and for a photo of his brother Robert. See photos for Samuel's Medal Index Card, Samuel and his brother Robert's names on the Ireland Casualties of WW1, his name on the Loos Memorial, the Scots Guards Cap Badge, Samuel and his brother Robert on the St. Luran's Parish Church Roll of Honour, Derryloran, Cookstown, Samuel and his brothers Pension Records x 4, Samuel and his brother on the Derryloran Parish Church, Cookstown Roll of Honour (photo taken on the 11/11/2021), the 1901 Ireland Census, the 1911 Ireland Census, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2, his Service Record x 4, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Loos Memorial Panel List, Samuel and his brother Robert's Pension Records x 4, Robert's CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial Panel List, his name on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, his name on the Derryloran Parish Church Roll of Honour Panel List, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his Medal Index Card, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Cap Badge and the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers War Diary x 3 for August 1914. The Battle 26th August - The 4th Division fought in this action without its Mounted Troops, Heavy Battery, Divisional Ammunition Column, Field Companies Royal Engineers, Signals Company Royal Engineers, Field Ambulances Royal Army Medical Corps and Divisional Train, which were all still en route from England and the continuing “Retreat from Mons” which continued to 5 September.

Photos
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War Diaries

The battalion War Diary is available on the National Archives website.

Creative Commons License

We have made this information and the images available under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. This means you may reuse it for non-commercial purposes only and must attribute it to us using the following statement: © coatbridgeandthegreatwar.com

Comments
His older brother Robert also fell. He was in 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers and died on 26/08/1914
Wesley Wright, cookstown, 12/03/2019 4:20PM

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