1600. Driver Albert Mumby-Croft

“B” Battery, 230th. Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (Territorial Force) and 2nd. Lincoln Battery, 2nd./1st. North Midland Brigade, 46th. (North Midland) Division, Royal Field Artillery. Born 1892 in Grimsby. Enlisted in Gillingham. Theatre of War first served in - France. Date of entry therein - 3.5.15. Died of Wounds on Monday 22nd. May 1916, aged 24, which were sustained during the German attack at Vimy Ridge which commenced on Sunday 21st. May. Buried in Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 1, Somme, France, Plot II, Row C, Grave 17. Son of William and Mary Ann Mumby-Croft of Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. Albert was the only serviceman with the surname Mumby-Croft to have been Killed during The Great War. Albert was entitled to The 1915 Star, The British War Medal and Victory Medal. A War Gratuity of £5 was paid to his Mother, Mary Anne Mumby-Croft.

The following extract is taken from:

“A Lack of Offensive Spirit?”

The 46th (North Midland) Division at

Gommecourt, 1st July 1916

By Alan MacDonald

Pages 99 & 100

Sunday, 21st May 1916

Third Army weather report: Very fine and warm

Rain: 0”, 83/85F

Another beautiful early summer’s morning and another heavy strafe by the German guns. At 0745 the first 5.9 in. shell fell near to B/230 Battery in front of Chateau de la Haye. Then another, until they were falling in a rapid and steady hail of fire in and around the Battery’s position. No. 2 gun pit was blown in but the damage to the gun was relatively light , the shield, sights and faze indicator being damaged. But this time the men were not so lucky. The Battery Commander, Capt. F W McAulay, a telephonist, 951 Cpl. C Carty, 1239 Sgt. G Broadstock and two gunners, 2089 Gnr. S H Pratt and 807 Gnr. A Smith and a driver, 1600 Drvr. A Mumby-Croft, were taking shelter in the telephone dugout. At about 0930 one of the last shells fired landed square in the dugout, collapsing it. McAulay, Carty and Pratt were killed. Mumby-Croft was mortally wounded, dying the following day at a C.C.S. in Doullens, and Broadstock and Smith were wounded. It was an unhappy start to Sunday.

THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE ON VIMY RIDGE (21 MAY 1916)

On 21 May the offensive began with a powerful bombardment lasting several hours which focused on a narrow section of the front, the Germans firing deep into the Allies' lines. In relative terms, the bombardment was one of the heaviest of the Great War with 70,000 shells fired in four hours. The Germans exploded a mine and then sent in their infantry which easily took the British front line, capturing numerous British soldiers in their shelters and "turning" the trenches on their makers. A British counter-attack on 23 May was nipped in the bud by German shelling and machine gun fire. Subsequently the British command decided to leave things as they stood, preferring to concentrate its energy on the forthcoming offensive in Somme.

Barry Jenkins