This is the story of three brothers from West Hartlepool - Private Thomas William Summersgill, Royal Garrison Artillery 504th Siege Battery, part of the 57th Garrison Artillery Brigade deployed supporting the Australian Corps in their great 1918 attack, [one of the plans for late summer 1918], attacking the German defences to try and win the war.

Sadly Gunner 176927 Summersgill died 17th October 1918, only 25 days before the end of the Great War. Doubly tragic for his parents who had doubtless bravely tried to get over the first anniversary of the death of another of their sons only just over a year previously, on the 14th October 1917, when Private Albert Summersgill, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, was killed on the battlefield at Ypres during the Scots Guards’ assaults on the German line at Passchendaele during the 3rd Battle of Ypres.

Perhaps they gained some solace that, for their bravery and steadfastness, this was later to become a Battle Honour for the Scots Guards and the brave men of the 1st Battalion. What must have been hard for them to bear was that the news had only just so recently come, in August 1918, that their other son, John Fall Summersgill, Private in the 4th Manchester Regiment, had been killed on the 8th of August 1918.

One who was probably no doubt well aware of the suffering that they had endured was my great grandfather, Private Joseph Summersgill, who joined up in 1915 with the 4th East Yorkshire Regiment. Sadly he suffered from severe bronchitis thanks, no doubt, to the atmosphere and conditions. He was declared unfit for war service in January 1917, and transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps, with whom he stayed until April 1919 when he was declared 30% disabled due to severe asthmatic suffering, and the beginnings of an alcohol problem for which he was treated. He was in receipt of a war service pension because of an inability to work and returned home to West Hartlepool on 1st May 1919.

I am still searching for family photos, but there were a further 6 siblings to come and in my immediate parents family there are 5 children, but I hope there will be some out there somewhere!

T.W. Summersgill is listed on the North Eastern Railway memorial at York. See Parish Notes

All three men are remembered at Hartlepool on H115.30, at Stranton on S139.03 and at West Hartlepool W111.54

The CWGC entry for Private A. Summersgill
The CWGC entry for Private J. Summersgill
The CWGC entry for Private T.W. Summersgill