Frank Victor Horsman

Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church

Regiment: Rifle Brigade

Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Rifleman B/203099 (Formerly R/17043 King’s Royal Rifle Corps)

Parents: George and Lucy Horsman

Marital status: Single

Home address: 14 Rock Street, Thornbury, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Carpenter

Date of birth: 1895

Place of birth: Thornbury, Bristol

Date of death: 15/09/1916

Buried/Commemorated at: Guards' Cemetery (Ref. XII. J. 9.), Lesboeufs, France

Age: 21

Further information:

Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board

Frank Victor Horsman, known as Victor, was the youngest child of George Horsman, a general labourer. He had two sisters and two brothers. Before the war Victor worked as a carpenter for W.W. Pitcher and Sons in Thornbury

Victor enlisted in Bristol and served at first with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps (R/17043) but was transferred to the 9th Battalion, Rifle Brigade. In 1916, during the Somme Offensive, he fought on the first day of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, notable for the introduction of tanks. The attack was launched across a 12 km front on 15th September

Before the 9th Battalion, Rifle Brigade went into action their orders apparently included: ‘19. The word "retire" will NOT be used under any circumstances’ and ‘20. All ranks are to be warned that men returning from the firing line with so called “shell-shock" or slight scratches will be tried by court martial and severely dealt with’

Some of the events Victor took part in can be extracted from the War Diary of the 9th King’s Royal Rifle Corps who took part in the same battle. At about 6 a.m. 9th Rifle Brigade moved to York Alley, supported by 9th KRRC. Between 8.30 and 8.45 a.m. 9th KRRC continued to advance without stopping and passed through Gaptrench on the heels of 9th RB. During these movements the men were under attack by machine gun fire from the Lesboeufs area and by two German field guns firing towards Flers from a position on a sunken road. The 9th RB, already weakened, stopped advancing and formed a line more or less parallel with the German trench, known as Gird Trench. Captain Merewether intended to attack this trench under a covering barrage by 9th KRRC, at the appointed time according to the programme. By 9.30 a.m. 9th KRRC was organised in two lines behind 9th RB ready to advance behind them. The shelling by the KRRC guns did not appear to be successful but still 9th RB tried to advance. As soon as they got on the rising ground in front of them an enemy machine gun opened fire. All their remaining officers (approximately 16 including Captain Merewether) were killed, except one very junior officer and their attack failed. Seeing this, the Major in charge of 9th KRRC assumed command of the very small remainder of 9th RB. He estimated that the total number left of 9th KRRC and the small number of 9th RB was about 350 men. Victor was Killed in Action on this day

At the time of the Armistice, the cemetery that Victor now lies in consisted of only 40 graves, mainly those of officers and men of the 2nd Grenadier Guards who died in September 1916, but it was greatly increased when graves were brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries round Lesboeufs

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Thornbury Roots Website. Thornbury and District Museum Research Group. Forces War Records and the CWGC