Captain
Henry James COLES
Infantry
Died: 30th June 1917 - Age: 40

Commemorated:

1. Memorial:Arras Memorial, Faubourg d'Amiens
2. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.119
3. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour6B GQS
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) 

1/5th Battalion August 1914 : in Derby. Part of Notts. & Derby Brigade in the North Midland Division. Moved on mobilisation to Harpenden and went on in November 1914 to Braintree. 25 February 1915 : landed in France. 12 May 1915 : formation became the 139th Brigade in 46th (North Midland) Division

Action : France & Flanders 

France & Flanders covers all the dates and corresponding locations which are outside the official battle nomenclature dates on the Western Front. Therefore the actions in which these men died could be considered 'normal' trench duty - the daily attrition losses which were an everyday fact of duty on the Western Front.

Captain Henry James COLES 1/5 Sherwood Foresters Killed in action 30/6/17 : In 1904 he was commissioned 2nd Lieut. 1st Volunteer Battalion The Sherwood Foresters, then Lieutenant in 1906, and Captain 5th Battalion 1909. He was wounded at Little Kemmel, 17.5.1915: Killed in Action 30.6.1917 while serving with the 5th Battalion. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France. The 5th Battalion History states he died on 1 Jul 1917 which is undoubtedly correct as it was on that day that the 2nd Foresters attacked and COLES was killed leading B Coy forward in the early hours of the morning in a 46th Division attack just West of Lens. This attack was one of a series designed to keep the enemy under pressure and not allow them to transfer reserves North after the Battle of Messines and before the projected opening of 3rd Ypres (on 31/7/1917). Zero hour was set for 0247 hrs and the job of COLES and B Coy was to seize Alarm Trench and then push forward up Cotton and Amuler Trenches. The battle was fought in the dark in amongst the ruins of the pit villages that connect Lievin to Lens. B Coy lost direction soon after Zero and failed to keep in touch with the 2nd Foresters on their right (temporarily on loan from 6 Div to 139 Bde of 46 Div). COLES was killed as he went forward to redirect his 6th Platoon who were straying off course. The attack petered out in strengthening German counter attacks by 0630 hrs. By then, of the 278 Foresters who attacked, 162 including COLES had fallen bringing his 13 years service with the battalion to an end. In the same attack his Brother Mason Sergeant Major John KIRK of the same battalion also fell. Sources; John Cotterill

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : Tyrian No. 253 E.C.Derbyshire

Initiated
Passed
Raised
23rd November 1909
22nd March 1910
28th June 1910
 

Initiated into Tyrian Lodge on the same day His Grace the Duke of Devonshire of Chatsworth House joined the Lodge.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2017-05-12 14:43:23