Stalbridge Remembers
BENJAMIN GALPIN
Private 29636
2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment
formerly Private 16109
Dorsetshire Regiment
Killed in action Thursday 21st March 1918
Aged 29
He has no known grave. His memorial is on Panel 64
THE POZIERES MEMORIAL, SOMME, FRANCE.
Son of Frederick and Ellen Galpin, The Common, Stalbridge.
Personal details:
Born in 1888, he was baptised Benjamin Albert on 1st April but all later reference to him is as Benjamin James. His father was an agricultural labourer and in 1901 the family lived on the Common with their widowed grandmother in a house on Cooks Lane. His parents were first cousins. He had two older brothers William and Frederick and an older sister Sarah. He attended Stalbridge School. He enlisted at Sturminster Newton in the Dorsetshire Regiment but the dates of his enlistment and of his transfer to the Wiltshire Regiment are not known. As he did not qualify for the 1914-15 Star he did not see service in a theatre of war before 1916.
Born in 1888, he was baptised Benjamin Albert on 1st April but all later reference to him is as Benjamin James. His father was an agricultural labourer and in 1901 the family lived on the Common with their widowed grandmother in a house on Cooks Lane. His parents were first cousins. He had two older brothers William and Frederick and an older sister Sarah. He attended Stalbridge School. He enlisted at Sturminster Newton in the Dorsetshire Regiment but the dates of his enlistment and of his transfer to the Wiltshire Regiment are not known. As he did not qualify for the 1914-15 Star he did not see service in a theatre of war before 1916.
Military details:
At the outbreak of war the 2nd battalion was in Gibraltar, and returned to England in September, moving to Lyndhurst to become attached to 21 Brigade in 7 Division. It landed in Belgium in October and in December 1915 transferred with the Brigade to 30 Division, remaining in France and Flanders thereafter.
By November 1917 the Germans believed that the British were exhausted by the four major efforts in 1917 (Arras, Messines, Passchendaele and Cambrai). By midFebruary 1918, the Germans had moved about 110 Divisions from the now collapsed Eastern front to the West. 50 of these faced the relatively short but recently extended British front. The German attack known as Operation Michael or Kaiserschlacht and subsequent fighting on the Somme started on 21st March with the major Battle of St Quentin during which Benjamin Galpin was killed.
At the outbreak of war the 2nd battalion was in Gibraltar, and returned to England in September, moving to Lyndhurst to become attached to 21 Brigade in 7 Division. It landed in Belgium in October and in December 1915 transferred with the Brigade to 30 Division, remaining in France and Flanders thereafter.
By November 1917 the Germans believed that the British were exhausted by the four major efforts in 1917 (Arras, Messines, Passchendaele and Cambrai). By midFebruary 1918, the Germans had moved about 110 Divisions from the now collapsed Eastern front to the West. 50 of these faced the relatively short but recently extended British front. The German attack known as Operation Michael or Kaiserschlacht and subsequent fighting on the Somme started on 21st March with the major Battle of St Quentin during which Benjamin Galpin was killed.
His name is on Panel 64, Pozieres Memorial
