A Great War Officer's Pals Battalion casualty pair to Second Lieutenant Arthur Edwin Merrett, 15th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment, - 2nd Portsmouth Pals Battalion, a pre-war teacher with Smitham Bottom Council School, Coulsden, he was shot through the heart and killed in the ”Mud Patch” near St. Eloi on 18 December 1916.
Pair: British War Medal and Victory Medal (2. LIEUT. A.E. MERRETT.), these in individual named card boxes transmission, complete with full length original ribbon.
Condition: Extremely Fine.
Arthur Edwin Merrett was the son of Ernest and Emma Merrett of “BelleVue”, Selbourne, Alton, Hampshire. He was a teacher with Smitham Bottom Council School, Coulsden, Surrey, at the time of his enlistment in September 1915. He enlisted into the 1/28th (County of London) Battalion (Artist’s Rifles – army number 5520) and did not see overseas service with this unit. Merrett was commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment on 5th September 1916 and was posted to the 15th Battalion in France.
The 15th (Service) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (2nd Portsmouth), a New Army unit raised in April 1915 which had been in France since May 1916. In September it had moved to the Somme sector.
On the 15th of September it was part of the attack on the village of Flers, which saw the use of tanks for the first time. Out of 18 officers and 557 other ranks, 8 officers and 97 men were killed or missing, while 3 officers and 197 other ranks had been wounded – over half of the battalion had become casualties. They remained on the Somme, before moving back to the Ypres salient in the middle of October 1916.
In the months leading up to Merrett’s death the battalion was manning trenches, carrying out patrols, work parties etc., or in reserve around Dickebusch, Ypres. On the 18th of December the battalion were in trenches to the east of St. Eloi, to the south of Ypres. The War Diary records how ‘trench mortars (are) more active on both sides’, and then simply states ‘2nd Lieut. A.E. Merrett was killed in the MUD PATCH’. This is thought to be an area to the south-west of St. Eloi.
Lt. Col. Harry Sanhard, commanding ‘18th Hants. Battn.’ wrote to the family on 20th December 1916:
‘I regret I have to inform you of the death of your son. He was shot through the heart while in a first line trench and killed immediately.
He had only been with the Battalion since the end of September but had always been one of those on whom his Company Commander could rely in any emergency.’
This was followed by another letter from Reverend F. Leolin Hilditch, Chaplain to the Forces, on 20th December 1916:
‘It is with great sorrow and sympathy that I write to convey to you the sad news of the death of your dear son, especially just at this season. However, I thought you would prefer to hear at once for delay only causes unnecessary heart-burning. Your son was killed while in the trenches by a bullet, which I fancy, hit the spine. He died within 2 minutes of being hit. So that death was practically instantaneous… This occurred on the 18th his body was brought some distance back and he now lies buried in a cemetery where I conducted the service this afternoon.
The grave will be carefully tended and the Battalion Pioneers are erecting a black wooden cross.’
After his death, Merrett’s family pursued an insurance claim with Surrey County Council, who had taken out an insurance policy on behalf of Arthur Merrett. As part of the process, the Council carried out an investigation into the circumstances of the family. He had helped to support a sister who lived with him in Coulsdon. His father, then living at 48, Ackenden Road, Alton, Hants, described himself as a retired builder who was struggling to keep within his means, especially with prices rising during the war.
In a letter home weeks before his death, he had tried to ensure the family were looked after in the event of his death. As well as discussing how his financial estate should be divided if he should die, he makes the request that his gold tie pin ‘given me by my friend Mrs. Bashett, should be given to her with any articles which my sister Elsie thinks Mrs. Bashett would value’. Arthur’s children's books were to be divided between his nephews and niece.
His family were eventually awarded £95 and 5 shillings.
Merrett was 26 and is interred in the Dickebusch New Military Cemetery, Belgium.
