Stalbridge Remembers
CLAUD DAVIDGE
Private 1078
1/lst Dorset Yeomanry (Queen’s Own)
Killed in action Saturday 26th February 1916
Aged 26
His grave No. G. 40 is in
ALEXANDRIA (CHATBY) MILITARY AND WAR MEMORIAL
CEMETERY, EGYPT
Son of John and Sarah Jane Davidge of Station Road, Stalbridge
Personal details:
Born in Stalbridge and baptised Claude on 1st December 1889. He left Stalbridge School in 1903 when 13 and became a groom at stables at Bryanston and later at Kingston Lacy. His father (bom 1853) was a railway platelayer and his mother a glovemaker. He had three older brothers George, Willie and Sidney, and two older twin sisters Nora and Nellie. Nora had two sons, one of whom, George (born in 1922) continued to live in the family home at No 6, Station Road. Claude enlisted at Sherborne, perhaps on the same day as William Wiles as their numbers are close together.
Born in Stalbridge and baptised Claude on 1st December 1889. He left Stalbridge School in 1903 when 13 and became a groom at stables at Bryanston and later at Kingston Lacy. His father (bom 1853) was a railway platelayer and his mother a glovemaker. He had three older brothers George, Willie and Sidney, and two older twin sisters Nora and Nellie. Nora had two sons, one of whom, George (born in 1922) continued to live in the family home at No 6, Station Road. Claude enlisted at Sherborne, perhaps on the same day as William Wiles as their numbers are close together.
Military details:
The l/lst formed in Sherborne in August 1914 as part of 1 South Western Mounted Brigade and transferred to 2 Midland Mounted Brigade. The Brigade landed at Gallipoli in August 1915 and then withdrew back to Egypt in January 1916 to join the Western Front Force stationed there to protect the Suez Canal from the threat posed by a large Ottoman force.
In February 1916 a large force of Senussi tribesmen, backed by Turkish and German Officers and with machine gun and artillery support, was located at Agagia near Sidi el Barani, about 45 miles east of the Egyptian/Libyan border. The Western Front Force staged an attack, and during this battle the retreating Senussi were charged by the Dorset Yeomanry with drawn swords across open ground. Despite enemy machine gun and rifle fire the 196 Dorset Yeomen drove the Senussi into headlong flight.
It was later reported that “this achievement, one of the very few successful cavalry charges during the First World War, is all the more remarkable for having been carried out by a territorial unit of part-time soldiers from the towns and villages of Dorset”. It took a heavy toll and 32 men died, with 26 wounded, and 85 of the horses killed or wounded.
Claud Davidge was killed in the charge with two other Stalbridge men, Sergeant Howard Brown and Private William Wiles.
The l/lst formed in Sherborne in August 1914 as part of 1 South Western Mounted Brigade and transferred to 2 Midland Mounted Brigade. The Brigade landed at Gallipoli in August 1915 and then withdrew back to Egypt in January 1916 to join the Western Front Force stationed there to protect the Suez Canal from the threat posed by a large Ottoman force.
In February 1916 a large force of Senussi tribesmen, backed by Turkish and German Officers and with machine gun and artillery support, was located at Agagia near Sidi el Barani, about 45 miles east of the Egyptian/Libyan border. The Western Front Force staged an attack, and during this battle the retreating Senussi were charged by the Dorset Yeomanry with drawn swords across open ground. Despite enemy machine gun and rifle fire the 196 Dorset Yeomen drove the Senussi into headlong flight.
It was later reported that “this achievement, one of the very few successful cavalry charges during the First World War, is all the more remarkable for having been carried out by a territorial unit of part-time soldiers from the towns and villages of Dorset”. It took a heavy toll and 32 men died, with 26 wounded, and 85 of the horses killed or wounded.
Claud Davidge was killed in the charge with two other Stalbridge men, Sergeant Howard Brown and Private William Wiles.