Private Arthur James Allen
678759
Born 1892 at Poney House in Crewgreen, Wales
Emigrated to Toronto in 1913
Enlisted with the 169th Battalion
Killed in Action at Cite St Pierre, Lens France Aug 31, 1917
It was a calamity of cheerful faces, bursting with love and laughter, gathered together, as they did every day and every night around the family dinner table. They numbered eleven in total. Over time, sometimes there would be more mouths to feed and sometimes one or two or even a few would be away…however when they were all home even for the most benign of days it would early outpace the grandest of feasts most modern-day families enjoy. The noise, the clatter and clamour of cutlery digging into the bounty produced on their own farm…the Allen family farm situated in the ancient rural heartland of Wales…a property named Wigwig. As we revisit those happy days we can see how as the young boys and girls grew and approached adulthood, and one by one, chairs at their family table would start to sit empty. In some cases, it would be because a child was away at school, others due to their new job and in their family’s case several of the children left to start a new life in Canada.
The first chair to sit empty belonged to their youngest…Edmond Wallace Allen. In 1911, at the tender age of 16, he decided to emigrate to Canada, settling in Toronto. It is unclear if he stayed with family or friends of the family, however it is recorded that Edmond found a position working at the Eaton Company. One year later his sister Elsie would follow in his footsteps and joined him in Toronto. She travelled with her ‘special friend’ George Burgess and in 1912, found their own space in the city and married in Toronto one year later. It was in that year, 1913, where the third Allen child, Arthur, joined his siblings in their new adopted country.
In the summer of 1914, as the echoes of “War!” reverberated across the oceans, thousands of miles away, young Edmond heard the call and on September 22nd found himself pen in hand at Valcartier Quebec signing up to be a soldier. His journey as a soldier saw him serve with the Queen’s Own Rifles, 3rd Battalion where after training in Canada and England, by the spring of 1915 he was alongside his countrymen in the trenches of Flanders. The young man was quickly promoted and designated to act as a Lance Corporal within his unit. Edmunds’ older brother Percy Maurice Allen was the second Allen child to join up. Edmund only beat Percy by 6 days. On September 28th, 1914, Percy enlisted with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Despite being eager to serve, a severe bout of varicose veins kept him out of the overseas units for the first drafts of men to the fields. He was discharged due to this condition in May 1915 but was later called up and served in both Egypt and India in the later stages of the war. The third brother to serve was the eldest of the three…Arthur James Allen. He enlisted in the winter of 1916 with the Toronto-based 169th Battalion and later was transferred to the 116th Ontario County Battalion. Private Arthur Allen was unmarried and joined at the age of 24. He was a handsome, stout young lad and while his intention was to move to Manitoba and take up farming, the war interfered on his plans and saw him in khaki instead of coveralls.
One can surmise that as they completed their training in England and prepared their move to the front that each of the Allen brothers made a trip back to Wigwig Farm. One by one they would have returned to visit their parents and siblings. Visits would carry them to the ancient medieval town of Much Wenlock and they would cathedrals and town squares that would soon commemorate their losses. The empty chairs at the table would be occupied for just one last time. Thus, one by one they rejoined their units and proceeded to join the war.
Of the three serving brothers, Private Percy Maurice Allen was able to safely return home at the end of the war. He served in India and Egypt in the later years of the war. It was during this time that he brought home a story that he once met the formidable English poet Rudyard Kipling. Per his account, the poet and author had visited the hospital looking for his son, John. The details on this story probably need a bit more ironing out as John was killed in the Battle of Loos on Sept 27, 1915…and this happened to occur after Percy was discharged from the BEF and before he was sent to the Egypt and India offices in 1916 ands 1917. He was remiss in expecting some future historian to call him out for his little white lies.
The first black telegram to reach Wigwig Farm was for their eldest son, Private Arthur Allen. He was killed in action on Aug 31st, 1917. On this night, his unit was manning the front-line trenches in the area around Lens, France. This was the site of the great clash called the Battle of Hill 70. During this evening, Arthur, shovel in hand, was helping to dig a new length of trenches near Cite St. Pierre. The Canadians had just won the day on the fight against the Hun in the battle and needed to concentrate the gains. This required them to connect some of the forward trenches back to new Communications trenches and further back still with support line trenches. It was on the night right before their unit was being relieved when Allen and three of his battalion brethren were hit and killed by artillery fire. He is buried in Aix-Noulette Communal Cemetery near Lens.
The second telegram to arrive at Wigwig occurred just after the great push, on Aug 8th, 1918. The youngest of the three Allen soldiers, Lance Corporal Edmund Allen, fell while serving with the 3rd Battalion. He barely survived at Ypres in May of 1916 where a machine gun bullet grazed his forehead. From that incident to the final major battle of the war, Allen was able to make it through the war relatively unscathed. However, as Currie’s boys attacked the Germans en masse at the Battle of Amiens, Allen was hit directly in the forehead. He was killed instantly. He is buried at Wood Cemetery, Marcelcave, France.
Thank you for your service Percy. As for Arthur and Edmond…Remember them.