Lance Corporal Adam Boyd

Lance Corporal Adam Boyd

6th (Service) Battalion Cameron Highlanders
Service No: S/11391

1569

3

0

70

Click here for a frameable A4 print

Personal details

Family Information

Son of William and Elizabeth Boyd. Adam's Will dated 08/07/1915 left everything to his younger brother Wallace Boyd c/o Richardson, 7 Adelaide St, Gourock. Private Wallace Boyd, 34th Battalion Machine Gun Corps (119060) was Killed in action on the 16/04/1918 aged 25. From the 1901 Census - Address - 9 Adelaide St, Inverkip, Gourock - William Boyd aged 38, Elizabeth Boyd aged 36, Adam Boyd aged 15, John Boyd aged 13, William Boyd aged 11, Wallace Boyd aged 8. Adam's brother Wallace's Pension was awarded to his wife Matilda of 7 Willisons Lane, Port Glasgow on the 09/11/1918. Their 2 sons are also listed.

Born / Resided

Greenock / 20 Baird St, Coatbridge.

Died

Killed in Action on the 09/10/1916 in the Village of Le Sars during the Battle of Transloy (part of the Battles of the Somme)

Enlisted

Coatbridge

Employed

Clyde Tube Works.

Age

29 Buried / Remembered

Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 15 B), Somme, France

Cemetery / Memorial Information

The memorial commemorates more than 72,000 men of British and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave, the majority of whom died during the Somme offensive of 1916. On the high ground overlooking the Somme River in France, where some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War took place, stands the Thiepval Memorial. Towering over 45 metres in height, it dominates the landscape for miles around. It is the largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing in the world. On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, 13 divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July.

Additional Information

ADDITIONAL FAMILY INFORMATION - Adam's brother Private Wallace Boyd, 34th Battalion Machine Gun Corps (119060) was the husband of Matilda Edgar McKimm Boyd (09/03/1896 - ), 2 John Wood St., Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire. He was employed in the Torpedo Factory. Brother of Adam, John and William. Wallace leaves a widow and two children, Wallace Boyd born 04/05/1916 and Thomas McKimm Boyd born 28/03/1918. He was formerly 46698 Royal Scots and was Killed in Action on the 16/04/1918 aged 25 and is buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, France. Grave Reference Sp. Mem. B. 2. (Wallace is NOT listed on the Memorial). Adam and the Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 10/07/1915 and were part of the 45th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division. They were involved in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 15th - 22nd September 1916 : This was a large-scale general renewal of the offensive after the weeks of attritional fighting for the third German system at Pozieres, High Wood, Delville Wood, Guillemont and Ginchy. It is historically noteworthy for being the first time that tanks were used in battle. Few in number, mechanically unreliable and as yet without proven tactics for their best use, the small numbers of tanks that actually went into action had an important positive effect. High Wood and Delville Wood were finally cleared and a deep advance was made to Flers and towards Combles. The Canadian Corps entered the Somme fighting for the first time. The 15th (Scottish) Division captured Martinpuich. Adam was Killed in Action in the Village of Le Sars during the Battle of Le Transloy (Battle of the Transloy Ridges), 1st - 18th of October 1916 (the Division were involved in the Battle from the 9th - 18th) : A period of fighting in terrible weather in which the heavy, clinging, chalky Somme mud and the freezing, flooded battlefield became as formidable an enemy as the Germans. The British gradually pressed forward, still fighting against numerous counterattacks, in an effort to have the front line on higher ground from which the offensive could be renewed in 1917. The 9th (Scottish) Division took part in attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt during this phase. SEE PHOTOS x 22 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY OCTOBER 1916. The War Diary for the 09/10/1916 states - "Considerable shelling on W side of village and cutting during the day and night. Casualties - 2 Other Ranks Killed, 8 Other Ranks Wounded, 2/Lt Begbie and 2 Other Ranks to Hospital". This phase was part of the Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first-ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. Adam is listed as PRIVATE on the Coatbridge Memorial. He is also remembered on the Stewarts and Lloyds Roll of Honour (see photos x 2). Both brothers are also remembered on the Gourock War Memorial x 2 (see photos). See photos for Adam's Medal Index Card, Newspaper clippings for Adam and the Boyd brothers x 4 (another photo of Adam, his brother Wallace listed and 3 In Memoriam poems left by Wallace's Widow and children and 2 sets of Aunt's and Uncle's) , Adam's name on the Thiepval Memorial, Adam's Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his CWGC Grave Registration, the Cameron Highlanders Cap Badge, Adam's Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2. Also see photos for Wallace's Medal Index Card, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 3, his Headstone Report x 3, his Reburial Form x 2, Wallace's Pension Records x 2, a photo of Wallace's Grave in Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension (it states "BELIEVED TO BE BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY"), Bailluel Communal Cemetery Extension and the Machine Gun Corps Cap Badge. Wallace's Grave inscription also reads "LORD THY WILL BE DONE". Finally, SEE PHOTOS x 12 FOR THE 15th (SCOTTISH) DIVISION BOOK 12/09/1916 - 09/10/1916 and the 15th (Scottish) Division Order of Battle x 13.

Photos

War Diaries

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

Creative Commons License

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