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                                 CORPORAL

                   JOSEPH HENRY LEIGHTON               

                                    157087

                             ROYAL ENGINEERS

This infomation has been aquired from his service records and various web sites, If any mistakes are noted please let me know and I will amend the page details.

 

joseph henry leighton

Born 1887
Cpl 157087
W/R 254991
 41088
his wife was winifred mary monica leighton nee blake living at ,19 bishop st mansfield
His mother was harriet or henretta sophie leighton.

His occupation was a railway goods clerk for the great central railway company.
and he was possibly working at marlebone station in  18/03/1916
joined up on 6/12/1915  assention
started on     17/4/1916
promoted to Corporal on 24/4/1917

Served with No9 Transportation stores coy/unit ,also the royal Engineers railway & canal troops

439 R.E

railway operating division


 

demobbed     3/3/1919
 

married 19/2/1916

 in 1925 he was living at moorland close, shegby nr Mansfield

                                    THE VICTORY MEDAL
The Victory Medal 1914-1919 was also authorised in 1919 and was awarded to all eligible personnel who served on the establishment of a unit in an operational theatre.

MEDAL INDEX CARD

SERVICE RECORD

 

                     CLICK ON THE IMAGE             

BELOW TO VIEW HIS FULL SERVICE HISTORY

 

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      ROYAL ENGINEERS

      RAILWAY DIVISION

        WW1 HISTORY

 

The contribution to the war effort, especially on the Western Front, of the designated Railway Construction Companies of the Royal Engineers is largely overlooked and/or not researched in most accounts of the conflict. Given the fact that the earliest troop movements gave rise to the phrase "war by timetable" and that the railway was the primary means of movement of men, munitions and supplies, the important if unglamorous role of this military function cannot be underestimated.

The RE railway construction and maintenance troops RE in 1914

In August 1914, there were only two Regular and three Special Reserve RE Railway Companies. Their establishments were as follows

Companies

Officers

Other ranks

8th Railway Company

3

106

10th Railway Company

3

106

Depot Company

2

4

Royal Anglesey (1 Company)

5

145

Royal Monmouth (2 Companyy)

10

290

Total

23

651

After the realisation that the war would not be over by Christmas, the British Army set in motion plans to expand upon the remaining rail network still in Allied hands in France and Flanders. The 8th Railway Companyy landed in France in August 1914 and the 10th and two Special Reserve Companies in November of that year. The third Special Reserve Company landed in February 1915. It was soon seen that these units would not suffice for probable requirements and the Director of Railway Transport was instructed to organise additional Railway Construction units. In October 1914, the Railway Executive Committee in England formed a Sub-Committee for Recruiting. Very large numbers of the employees of British railway companies were then volunteering for military service and the men for RE Railway units were selected from them. By the end of 1917, out of 180,000 enlistments from English railway companies, about 40,000 were serving in RE Railway units.

Training the RE troops

The HQ of the regular railway troops before the war was at Longmoor in Hampshire and the Special Reserve Companies came there annually for training using the specialised Woolmer Instructional Military Railway. During the war, Longmoor, and subsequently part of Bordon, became the centre for all RE railway and road personnel and at one time also for Inland Water Transport personnel. From the outbreak of the war until the armistice, nearly 1,700 officers and 66,000 other ranks were sent overseas from this centre.

The source of railway troops

Approximately half the officers for the new units were provided by the British railway companies on the recommendation of the Railway Executive Committee and the other half were mainly men from overseas who had been employed on colonial and foreign railways. Some of the Companies formed in 1915 drew upon a large contingent of local men, forming the kind of unit seen in the infantry as "Pal’s Battalions". However, as time wore on and with the major transport logistical re-structuring of 1917, the local flavour would become diluted as men were swapped around and experienced men from other army units were combed out to swell the ranks of the Railway Companies.

Railway construction

Once in France, the sappers would be assigned to a Construction Train, of which there were eight in operation in mid-1915. Each Construction Train would have a complement of up to two complete Railway Companies, with a Captain as officer commanding the train. This enabled the sappers to carry both themselves and all their necessary tools and equipment to and from wherever the next work was required. The Companies would pitch tents for accommodation, as required. Large-scale work would include the construction of the major stores and ammunition dump at Audruicq, ten miles from Calais. Here, and at numerous other locations such as the nearby major ammunition dump at Zeneghem Yard, there was great use of Chinese Labour and R.E. Labour Companies to prepare the ground, ready for the platelaying sappers.

Immense undertaking

As the various campaigns and battles unfolded, RE Railway Companies were engaged all over the British sector, joined by Dominion RE Railway Companies. Close examination of the period maps bear testimony to miles of what was to be temporary track that criss-crossed the area. Howitzer Spurs, Ambulance Train Sidings, Tank Enablements and bridges were all constructed, in addition to the constant maintenance and line doubling. Work in progress was always a potential target for enemy artillery and also there were the attentions of the German Air Force to contend with. Zeneghem Yard, for instance, was a natural target and sappers from RE Railway Companies are recorded as having to help extinguish serious fires resulting from air raids.

A primary objective was always to take standard gauge railways as close to the front as possible, to lessen the demands on light railway systems, horsed transport and manpower. For the sappers, work could mean toiling around the clock, especially where lines had been cut by shellfire. Inevitably there were casualties; analysis of the records shows that 173 men from Railway Companies lost their lives. From just the two Regular Companies in 1914, there would be a total of forty-five Companies engaged in Standard Gauge Railway Construction, including other theatres such as Egypt and Salonica, by the end of hostilities. Most of the men in the RE Railway Companies had enlisted for the duration of the war and were naturally keen to return home as soon as possible. However, there was still much line repair work to be done in order to restore the lines of communication now extending deeper into the areas formerly held by the Germans. The Railway Companies gradually began to be demobilised and by August 1919 the last Company had laid its last sleeper.

Railway Companies

Raised

Embarked

Theatre

War Diary

Date from

Date to

2nd (Monmouth)

Longmoor

11.11.14

F & F

WO 95/4052

11.14

5.19

3rd (Anglesey)

Longmoor

11.11.14

F & F

WO 95/4052

11.14

6.15

3rd (Monmouth)

Longmoor

11.11.14

F & F

WO 95/4052

11.14

5.19

8th

Longmoor

15.8.14

F & F

WO 95/4052

8.14

5.19

10th

Longmoor

28.11.14

F & F

WO 95/4052

10.14

8.19

109th

Longmoor

24.12.14

F & F

WO 95/4053

12.14

3.19

110th

Longmoor

15.2.15

F & F

WO 95/4053

2.15

4.19

111th

Longmoor

15.2.15

F & F

WO 95/4053

2.15

4.19

112th

Longmoor

15.2.15

F & F

WO 95/4053

11.14

5.19

113th

Longmoor

14.4.15

F & F

WO 95/4053

3.17

5.19

114th

Longmoor

1.5.15

F & F

WO 95/4054

1.16

1.19

115th

Longmoor

N/K

Egypt

WO 95/4410

12.15

12.17

       

WO 95/4718

1.18

3.19

116th

Longmoor

16.12.18

Egypt

WO 95/4410

2.16

2.18

     

Egypt

WO 95/4718

3.18

2.19

117th

Longmoor

24.8. & 5.9.15

Salonika

WO 95/4356

8.15

12.15

     

Salonika

WO 95/4931

8.15

3.19

118th

Longmoor

N/K

F & F

N/A

   

119th

Longmoor

30.5.16

F & F

WO 95/4054

6.16

3.19

120th

Longmoor

N/K

F & F

WO 95/4054

5.17

4.19

200th

N/K

N/K

N/K

WO 95/4931

2.17

4.17

259th

N/K

N/K

F & F

N/A

   

260th

Longmoor

3.2.17

F & F

WO 95/4054

2.17

6.19

261st

Longmoor

26.2.17

F & F

WO 95/4054

3.17

8.19

262nd

Longmoor

26.2.17

F & F

WO 95/4054

2.17

2.19

263rd

Longmoor

26.4.17

F & F

WO 95/4054

4.17

10.17

264th

Longmoor

13.5.17

F & F

WO 95/4054

4.17

11.18

265th

Longmoor

14.9.17

Egypt

WO 95/4410

9.17

2.18

     

Egypt

WO 95/4718

3.18

5.19

266th

Longmoor

14.9.17

Egypt

WO 95/4410

7.17

2.18

     

Egypt

WO 95/4718

3.18

11.19

267th

N/K

N/K

Salonika

WO 95/4931

5.17

2.19

268th

Longmoor

19.12.16

F & F

N/A

   

269th

Longmoor

17.1.17

F & F

WO 95/4055

3.18

12.18

270th

N/K

N/K

Egypt

WO 95/4932

11.15

4.19

271st

Longmoor

26.1.16

F & F

WO 95/4055

7.17

9.18

272nd

N/K

N/K

Egypt

WO 95/4718

12.17

3.19

273rd

Longmoor

7.9.16

Salonika

WO 95/4932

9.16

3.19

274th

Longmoor

23.10.16

Egypt

WO 95/4410

9.16

2.17

275th

Longmoor

21.8.16

F & F

WO 95/4055

8.17

7.19

276th

N/K

N/K

Egypt

N/A

   

277th

N/K

N/K

F & F

WO 95/4055

3.16

8.19

278th

Boulogne

N/A

F & F

WO 95/4055

3.16

7.19

279th

N/K

N/K

F & F

WO 95/4055

5.16

6.19

280th

N/K

N/K

F & F

N/A

   

281st

N/K

N/K

F & F

N/A

   

282nd

N/K

N/K

F & F

N/A

   

295th

N/K

N/K

F & F

WO 95/4055

7.17

5.19

296th

Boulogne

N/A

F & F

WO 95/4055

1.18

3.19

297th

N/K

N/K

F & F

N/A

   

298th

N/K

N/K

F & F

WO 95/4055

1.17

12.18

299th

N/K

N/K

F & F

WO 95/4718

1.18

7.18

 

 

 

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