First Day of the Somme: British Columbia

Thiepval Memorial, France.(P. Ferguson image, August 2018)

The Darkest of Days

The Battle of the Somme lasted for 141 days ending 18 November 1916. During its time the British Army and associated units of the British Commonwealth, including Canada, suffered some 650,000 casualties…200,000 lost their lives.

It is, however, the first day…1 July 1916 that speaks with the loudest of voices…54,740 British Army casualties…19,240 killed. The Newfoundland Regiment was decimated at Beaumont-Hamel and though the Canadian Expeditionary Force did not take part in this the first day, there were those from British Columbia serving in British Army Regiments that lost their lives…1 July 1916.

Vancouver Island

Robert Alexander Rankine Campbell.(Canadian Virtual War Memorial image)

Second Lieutenant

Robert Alexander Rankine Campbell

B Company 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own)

Thiepval Memorial

Son of Robert Lewis and Alice Elizabeth Campbell, Bromley, Kent, England

Joined 10 November 1914

30th Battalion CEF (2nd B.C. Regiment) and later 15th Battalion CEF

Wounded and Missing La Boiselle

Age 23

University student (Toronto) 1914

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Captain

William Francis Henry Pelly

9th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

Officer commanding No. 3 Company

Thiepval Memorial

Husband of Rosa Theodora Pelly

Joined 17 September 19147th Battalion CEF (1st B.C. Regiment)

Age Unknown

Banker 1914 employed by Dominion Trust Company, Victoria

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Souper Memorial Stained Glass Window. St. Andrew’s Church, Cowichan Station, B.C. (Canadian Virtual War Memorial image)

Second Lieutenant

Noel Beaumont Souper

6th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

Thiepval Memorial

Memorial Stained Glass – St. Andrew’s Anglican, Cowichan Station, BC

Son of Reverend F.A. Souper, Grantchester Meadows, Cambridge, England

Husband of Rosalie Frances Souper nee Norie, London, England (married 1910)

Joined 23 September 1914

16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish)

Age 40

Home at Cowichan Bay

Rancher 1914

St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Cowichan Station, B.C. (P. Ferguson image, September 2018)

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Vancouver

Maurice Leslie Adamson.(Canadian Virtual War Memorial)

Second Lieutenant

Maurice Leslie Adamson

Royal Scots Fusiliers

Thiepval Memorial

Son of Sir Harvey Adamson KCSI and Lady Adamson of Kensington, London

Joined 23 September 1914

7th Battalion CEF (1st B.C. Regiment)

Age 23

Bank of Montreal Clerk 1914

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William Le Shana (Canadian Virtual War Memorial)

Private William Edward Le Shana

Royal Newfoundland Regiment

Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial

Son of William and Mabel Le Shana

Husband of Jeannette Le Shana Vancouver, BC

Joined 23 December 1914

Age 24

Clerk 1914

Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial, France. (P. Ferguson image, August 2018)

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