Impression of Lieutenant Harold
Boyd by Jamie
see original image at http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/memorials/113-boyd-cousins.html
Sketch of marble grave at La Haute-Maison
see original image at http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/memorials/113-boyd-cousins.html
An English woman
and Irish woman,
That had no prior
connection -
Were to become
united in their loss,
And grief for
loss of their sons.
Lieutenant Boyd
and Private Cousins
Of the
Inniskillings Fusiliers -
An Irish Infantry
Regiment in France,
Called up at
fighting’s start.
The two were part
of the Inniskillings
Team to form an
outpost line,
About the Ferme
de la Grande Lodge -
That evening of 7
September,
In an encounter
of a sudden Uhlan force,
Bravely they
fought away.
Regrouped, they
believed no more enemy
Were close by,
when -
About 1,200
yards distant two batteries
Opened up fire, so
that
The
Innikillings undertook into the
attack -
A fierce fight
ensued.
Lieutenant Harold
Boyd, hit by shrapnel,
Fell unconscious
-
Along with him
Private 8490 Cousins fell.
Both were carried
away,
To a farmhouse,
Le Ferme Des Arceries
Lieutenant Boyd
and
Private Cousins died with 25 wounded men,
After the attack.
Mrs Constance
Boyd of Hertfordshire,
Wrote to Mrs Mary
Cousins
Of Lurgan, Ireland, at their shared loss -
To say how she
heard
From officers who
knew them - being
Sergeant Poots,
Colonel Wilding,
Colonel Wilcox,
Captain Yardley,
And Corporal
Williams - who all told
How their sons
Were both buried,
that same night,
By a farmhouse
-
In corner of a
field - a colonel, a captain,
Adjudant and a
doctor,
Were in attendance. Mrs Boyd went on
To tell Mrs
Cousins of visit,
By a family
friend, a clergyman, to see
The place was a
good
Plot - her
husband being quite unable
To make any
visit.
Knowing how Mrs
Cousins, shared
A desire to know
About her son,
that letter had told
Her of that
place.
In meeting the
commune’s Mayor,
The Clergyman
Visited the home
of the farmer
And his wife.
The grave was
seen well preserved,
In a dry space,
with
Planted
evergreens at each corner,
And fresh
flowers -
A Laurel
wreath lay on the mound.
Penciled on a
rough cross,
Put there by the
regiment, words stated
'Sacred to memory
To both
Lieutenant Boyd and Private
Cousins, A
company,
2nd
Inniskillings, both killed in action
September 7
1914.'
A French plaque
also rested there, to read
'A nox Courageaux
Freres d'armes
Anglaise des habitants
De la Haute
Maison.'
Mrs Boyd
explained of her intentions
To visit the
shared grave.
How that, until
they did so, wire netting
Covered the
ground.
A written
guarantee from the local Mayor
Promised the grave
Was theirs - to
be in care of the commune
For all of time.
A oak cross
had been commissioned with
Both their son’s
names -
This had been
placed on the grave - then
The clergyman
spoke,
Gathering a
collection of people about,
Reading quiet prayers
And dedicating
the ground - now that
The place was
protected,
Mrs Boyd said
they should give gratitude -
Compared to how
Other fallen, often had little cover or that
Families had no
idea,
Of where loved
ones finally lay - their plan
Being to go in
spring,
To place a marble
memorial to both her son
And Private James
Cousins.
Epilogue –
Battalion Diary
It is in that
small place 30 km from Paris
At Ferme
des Arceries,
La Haute-Maison where a private memorial
In marble, still stands.
For men on a September day of 1914
A clearer account
Told how on 7 September 89 ranks along
With a 2nd Lieutenant
Harold Alexander Boyd - in reinforcements
Of Inniskilling Battalion -
By evening's task to find enemy outposts -
Moved into a position.
About Le Grand Loge farm, when enemy fire
Came from a wood -
Close by – a twenty minute skirmish
Then ensued.
During this the two casualties occurred,
Which Corporal Foots
Noted in the task, to find village outpost.
On the right of a road
Stood a row of apple trees - to the left
Was open plain.
At 1200 yards were woods and shrubs
From which came
Sudden gun and rifle fire – in surprise
They returned
Shots, but had no shelter from shells,
Or own artillery.
The officers were trying to work out
Range to enemy -
By doing so, exposing their selves.
One such officer
Lieutenant Boyd, stood beside one
Ripe apple tree,
When a nearby shell struck him
With shrapnel,
To be killed instantly - and nearby
Private cousins
Was also hit – all night the unit stayed
Until morning,
Then the enemy retired – today those
Two men lay,
Not so far away at one field's edge,
Below white marble.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. The Lonely Grave - Mother's Pathetic Letter. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 6 Mar. p.7. Col.3. Available online at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447717/Daily-Telegraph-March-6-1915.html
[Accessed: 6 March 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 6 March 2015).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447717/Daily-Telegraph-March-6-1915.html
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