Pte L Nash

 

Leonard Nash was born in 1895 at Woolhampton, the son of George and Mary Nash and they lived at 59 Mayridge Cottages, then in the parish of Sulhamstead. George Nash was a waggoner on the farm where Leonard also worked.

 

Leonard Nash enlisted in the first month of the War and served with the 6th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. The 6th Battalion was the second of the Berkshire’s Kitchener battalions and formed at Shorncliffe in 1914 when the number of volunteers quickly filled the ranks of the 5th Battalion leaving a large overspill.

 

They arrived in France on 25 July 1915 and began holding a trench opposite Mametz on 22 August where they started to take casualties. On 16 September they moved to La Boiselle where they were engaged in mining. 112 men working day and night in four six-hour shifts of 28 men each removed over 3000 bags of chalk a day. After Christmas in the Albert area 6th Battalion began training for the Somme offensive and the first day, 1 July 1916, saw their first major engagement. They were very close to the huge mine that was exploded under the German lines at Casino Point and some men were injured by flying debris. After the explosion Germans surrendered to the 6th in large numbers. The 18th Division, of which the 6th Battalion was a part, was one of the few to achieve all its objectives and the battalion advanced over one and a half miles that day. That night they waited in trenches at Montauban Alley for a counter-attack but none came.

 

Leonard Nash, in the machine gun section, was killed that day and having no known grave is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

 

Pte T Nash

 

Thomas Nash, like his father and brother lived and worked on Mayridge Farm. He was born at Tilehurst (his mother’s home) in 1890.

 

He served with 1st Bn The Royal Berkshire Regiment which was the one of the two pre-War Regular battalions based in the UK (at Aldershot) at the start of the War. The battalion went to France on 12 August 1914 and were at the Battle of Mons. Thomas Nash first arrived in France on 24 February 1915 so he must have been posted to the battalion as a battle casualty replacement.

 

After his arrival the battalion took part in attacks at The Keep and Richebourg before taking part in the Battle of Loos where, on 28 September they lost 288 men in one day and Lt Turner won a VC. They were involved at the Somme with a major action at Delville Wood on 27 July, losing a further 264 men. On 14 November they attacked in the area of Munich Trench with 211 casualties out of 435 who took part.  Further attacks in February and April 1917 saw the battalion left with only enough men to form two companies of 4 officers and 100 other ranks each and they were merged with the 23rd Royal Fusiliers as a composite battalion. At the end of an action at Oppy Wood on 3 May they were down to 2 officers (both wounded) and 94 ORs but restored to a full complement by the end of August were back in action at Cambrai in November. In February 1918 they received a further draft of 10 officers and 160 men from the recently disbanded 6th Battalion and when the German offensive began were forced to retreat suffering heavy casualties.

 

In September 1918 Tom Nash married Daisy Hazell, sister of Arthur Hazell, from North Street while home on leave and after a short honeymoon returned to active service in France. There he fell victim to the Spanish Influenza outbreak that had begun to affect the battalion in early July and died of pneumonia on 7 November, two months after his wedding and 4 days before the Armistice. He is buried in the Mont Huon Military Cemetery at Le Treport.