Charles Gordon Boyd

Second Lieutenant Charles Gordon Boyd, 7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire) Regiment (Robin Hood Rifles), attached 9th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action on 3rd May 1917.He was killed whilst attacking Fontaine-Les-Croiselles with ‘D’ Company. Some details have emerged from the great nephew of Lance Corporal Herbert Golder Marsh, who said that “Lt Boyd “went down” early in the battle, well before dawn.” Lance Corporal Marsh was seen later, wounded himself, trying to find help to get Lieutenant Boyd back to his own lines. He was unsuccessful and was last seen going back down towards the German Trenches “to be with his officer”. Boyd's remains were not found until some six years later, in November 1923, when he was reburied in a nearby cemetery. He was Buried at Heninel-Croisilles Road Cemetery, France.

Herbert Golder Marsh was believed to have gone back to be with his Officer. Note that on the reburial record an unknown British Solider was found at same spot as Lt Boyd. Article published in the Nottingham Evening Post dated 23rd May 1917 :-“WOUNDED AND MISSING. “Lieut. C. G. Boyd. “Second-Lieut. C. G. Boyd, previously reported wounded, but now reported wounded and missing, was the son of Mr. Geo. H. Boyd, of Tavistock Drive, Mapperley Park, Nottingham. He was educated at the Wyggeston School, Leicester, and the Nottingham High School. At the latter he was captain of the school in 1911, and also captain of both the cricket and football teams. On leaving school he entered the Civil Service in London. In January, 1915, he joined one of the Public Schools Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, and after serving in the ranks both at home and on active service was granted a commission the Notts. and Derbyshire Regiment last August. He again proceeded to the front in October, and was attached to the Leicestershire Regiment. In a letter to his father, a brother officer writes that the stretcher bearers found Boyd lying out wounded, “but he refused to be brought in, making the stretcher bearers take in other fellows,” and that when they returned to the spot later, no trace of him could be found.” Above article is courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918.