Corporal Henry Edward Wyer born in Caston, Attleboro, Norfolk on 8 October 1895. Son of Frederick and Violet Ellen (Wright) Wyer. A plasterer by trade. Brother of Dorothy May, Mabel Ellen (Holyoak), Basil James, Daisy Louisa, Hilda Maud and finally Martha Elizabeth Wyer. Henry in the Wyer household in both the 1901 and 1911 England and Wales Census.
Caston tower mill
Caston tower mill built for Edward Wyer in 1864. William Wright, a builder of Caston constructed the mill and millwright Robert Hambling of Dereham, installed the machinery. Jacob Banham employed as the bricklayer. William Wright ‘s young son John also worked on the project.
Edward Wyer’s father John Wyer, had previously been miller and baker at Caston, running the postmill later demolished by Edward to make way for the towermill built on the same site.
Enlistment of Private Henry Edward Wyer
Henry Edward Wyer 55307 enlisted 10 November 1914 in Toronto with the Queen’s Own Rifles, 19th Battalion. Henry stood 5′ 9″ tall, 140 pounds, with fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. Nineteen years one month of age.
At Toronto’s Exhibition Camp, the 19th Battalion assembled and conducted basic training from November 1914 to May 1915.
England
The 19th Battalion departed Toronto by train and embarked from Montreal on 13 May 1915 aboard RMS SCANDINAVIAN.
The battalion part of Canada’s Second Contingent of units for overseas service. With recent news of the torpedoing and sinking of the RMS LUSITANIA, Plymouth Sound reached where the unit later disembarked on 23 May 1915.
The battalion spent the rest of the spring and summer training at West Sandling in the region of Shorncliffe.
France
The 19th Battalion marched to Folkestone on 14 September 1915, where they embarked for France, later landing at Boulogne in the early morning of 15 September, the men made their way inland by train and foot toward the battlefield. With the arrival of 2nd Division on the continent, a new Canadian Corps formed, composed of the 1st and 2nd Divisions. Later in 1916, they would be joined by the 3rd and 4th Divisions.
The men of the 19th Battalion entered the trenches for the first time just east of Wulverghem in Belgium on 20-21 September. The next day casualties began trickling in, mainly owing to inexperience and carelessness.
In October, they moved into the lines at Vierstraat. There, in even muddier and more dangerous conditions, the battalion spent the next four and a half months, alternating tours of duty in the front lines with welcome periods in reserve positions.
Battle of St Eloi
The 19th Battalion saw action in the 2nd Division’s first major operation at the St Eloi craters in April 1916. The result a disaster. The Canadians had relieved an exhausted British division in a series of mine craters and then suffered a devastating German counter-attack before they could properly consolidate their positions.
The 19th Battalion entered the crater sector on 7–8 April as part of 4th Brigade’s relief of the battered 6th Brigade. Heavy fighting ensued from 9 to 11 April as the 19th participated in counter-attacks to dislodge the Germans from the craters.
Throughout the fighting, Canadian efforts hampered by inaccurate intelligence, which misidentified a number of the craters and also resulted in poorly coordinated attacks that failed to achieve their objectives. Officers and men floundered from one massive shell hole and crater to another, and frequently lost their way in the bewildering quagmire.
Private Henry Edward Wyer First Wound Stripe
Just prior to the end of the action, Private Henry Edward Wyer admitted to No 3 Canadian Field Ambulance, 11 April 1916, GSW scalp slight. On 17 April at North Midland Casualty Clearing Station, and later returned to duty on 28 April 1916.
The 19th Battalion’s ordeal in the crater sector finally came to an end on 12 April 1916 as it and other 4th Brigade units were relieved by 5th Brigade. Although they had failed to eject the Germans from the craters, Lt-Col McLaren and his men had acquitted themselves bravely in conditions that some veterans rated as among the worst that Canadians faced during the entire war. In the month of April, the 2nd Division suffered 1,953 casualties, 125 of which (including 29 fatalities) members of 19th Battalion. This a hard blow for McLaren and his men. Unfortunately, these numbers would be dwarfed by losses in future engagements.
Battle of Mount Sorrel
The next major Canadian battle occurred during June 1916 around Mount Sorrel, in the southeastern portion of the Ypres Salient. From 5 to 11 June the 19th Battalion held the lines near the Ypres-Comines railway, and although they were not involved in the worst of the fighting that month, their time in the trenches was difficult and deadly owing to the German artillery.
Second Wound Stripe Private Henry Edward Wyer
Private Henry Edward Wyer admitted to No 3 Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne 24 June 1916, GSW left elbow. To No 1 Convalescent Depot, 27 June and finally discharged to Base Depot on 14 July 1916, later returning to duty on 1 August 1916.
The 19th Battalion (and the rest of the Canadian Corps) did not participate in the infamous British offensive on 1 July 1916 at the Somme, and so were spared the slaughter that occurred on that day for so many battalions. The Canadians’ role in the Battle of the Somme would come later that year, when they would be thrown into some of the heaviest fighting.
Meanwhile, on 18 July a change of command occurred as Lt-Col McLaren departed the 19th Battalion for Canada to command a training brigade. Succeeding him as battalion commander was W R Turnbull, who had served as McLaren’s second-in-command in the 91st Regiment before the war.
First Daylight Trench Raid
On 29 July 1916, near the end of a marathon 16-day tour in the lines, four officers and 34 other ranks from 19th Battalion executed an audacious daylight trench raid. This the first such raid by the Canadians and possibly the first along the entire British front, for raiding up to that point had been carried out exclusively at night.
No Man’s Land
Making skilled use of the terrain in No Man’s Land, which afforded excellent cover in their sector, the raiders penetrated the German trenches just south of the Ypres-Comines Canal at 8:55 a.m. When over, they had killed or wounded an estimated 40 to 50 Germans, gathered intelligence on the enemy positions and garrison, and destroyed two machine-gun posts. In the process, the raiders incurred slight casualties, numbering between five and eight. By daring to raid at an unconventional time, the 19th Battalion contributed to the German view that Canadian troops were dangerously unpredictable.
Somme
On 24 August, the 19th Battalion began moving south to the battlefields of the Somme along with their comrades in the rest of the Canadian Corps. The battalion entered the lines on 10 September and prepared jumping-off positions for other units that would be in the leading wave of the 2nd Division’s attack at Courcelette, scheduled for 15 September. During the attack itself, the 19th Battalion would provide platoons to follow closely behind the assault troops, mop up any remaining German resistance, and consolidate captured positions. However, the Germans nearly disrupted the entire plan with an attack of their own just hours before the Canadian advance began. It took the determined efforts of troops from the 18th, 19th, and 20th Battalions to repulse the enemy assault parties.
The Battle of Flers-Courcelette
At 6:20 a.m. on 15 September, the artillery unleashed a deadly creeping barrage ahead of the attacking infantry. Four minutes later, the leading waves of the 4th Brigade went over the top, followed by platoons of the 19th Battalion. Between 7:04 and 8:40 a.m., the platoon commanders reported that they had reached their assigned objectives and were digging in to secure the morning’s gains. All day they worked under intense German shell fire, and around 5:00 p.m. troops of the 5th Brigade passed through their positions to continue the attack and capture what remained of the village of Courcelette.
In the early phases of this difficult day’s work, the men also observed the impact of some of the first tanks to go into action in the history of warfare. Although only two of the six tanks assigned to support the Canadians managed to advance far enough to engage and terrify the enemy, the 19th Battalion reported that the strange machines had played an important part in the attack’s success. However, the cost to the battalion for their part in this victory was high, with six officers and approximately 250 other ranks killed, wounded, or missing on 15 September. It was their first major offensive operation and one that survivors would not soon forget.
Regina Trench
But the 19th Battalion was not finished with the Somme yet. They were ordered into action again on 28 September northeast of Courcelette, where they managed to advance about a thousand yards before being forced by increasingly heavy machine-gun and artillery fire to dig in. After further patrol work, the exhausted battalion was pulled back into support positions on the night of 30 September/1 October; three nights later, they finally moved back into reserve.
In less than a month, from 10 September to 3 October, the battalion had suffered an estimated loss of 19 officers and 412 other ranks (killed, wounded, and missing)
Arras-Lens Front
The 19th Battalion and the rest of 2nd Division departed the Somme battlefront and marched to the Calonne sector, northwest of the infamous Vimy Ridge, where they entered the lines on 17 October. This sector was part of the Arras-Lens front, where the Canadian Corps would concentrate after its formations left the Somme in October and November. There, they would spend the rest of the autumn and winter reinforcing their depleted ranks, holding the line, patrolling, raiding, and training for their next task – the capture of Vimy Ridge itself.
However, on 27 October 1916, Private Wyer transferred to the 4th Canadian Machine Gun Company, ending his days with the 19th Battalion.
4th Canadian Machine Gun Company
4th Canadian Machine Gun Company organized in Belgium in December 1915 as the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade Machine
Gun Company. Initially commanded by Captain J Edwards and composed of machine gun sections of the 4th Brigade’s infantry battalions. Redesignated as 4th Canadian Machine Gun Company in July 1916. The 4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Canadian Machine Gun Companies detached from their respective infantry brigades in September 1917 and formed the 4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Companies of the 2nd Canadian Divisional Machine Gun Battalion.
Private Henry Edward Wyer appointed Lance Corporal on 8 December 1917. Lance Corporal Henry Edward Wyer granted 14 days leave and returned home to Caston, 12 January 1918. Rejoined his unit from leave on 26 January 1918.
2nd Battalion, Canadian Machine Gun Corps
4th Canadian Machine Gun Company later reorganized on 21 March 1918 to form the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Machine Gun Corps. Henry absorbed into 2nd Battalion, Canadian Machine Gun Corps on 29 June 1918, and Lance Corporal Henry Edward Wyer promoted Corporal in the field.
Last Hundred Days
Corporal Henry Edward Wyer sees an incredible amount of action in Canada’s Last Hundred Days of the Great War.
From the Battle of Amiens and onto the Drocourt-Quéant Line (the smashing of the Hindenburg Line), then the Battle of Canal du Nord, and ending the war in Mons, Corporal Henry Edward Wyer lucky to survive, let alone come through unscathed.
As select troops of the Canadian Corps, Corporal Henry Edward Wyer, along with the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions head to Cologne, and Bonn, respectively, for the Allied Occupation of Germany following the Armistice.
March to the Rhein
Corporal Henry Edward Wyer’s former unit, the 19th Canadian Infantry Battalion crossing the Rhein at Bonn on 13 December 1918.
Troisdorf, Germany
Corporal Henry Edward Wyer granted 14 days leave to UK, 28 December 1918, rejoining his unit later on 25 January 1919. Poor Henry, though happy to return to Caston, had missed his opportunity to be in several historic photographs.
We had photos taken of the Battalion Transport and one Company complete with Transport as per yesterdays arrangements. We did not get one of the Battery, but will try to get this done locally.
2nd Canadian Machine Gun Battalion War Diary 14 January 1919
‘E’ Canadian Anti-Aircraft Battery
Above and below, ‘E’ Canadian Anti-Aircraft Battery, No. 2 Company, 2nd Canadian Machine Gun Battalion, Troisdorf, Germany, 14 January 1919.
Above and below, transport complete of the 2nd Canadian Machine Gun Battalion.
Corporal Henry Edward Wyer’s participation in the Allied Occupation of Germany did not last long as the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions returned to Belgium and France. They had to wait for the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions to return to Canada before they could proceed to England and finally home.
Return to England and Canada
Corporal Henry Edward Wyer proceeded to England with his unit on 16 May 1919. Henry likely did not have time to return to Caston as he was discharged at No 2 District Depot, Toronto, on 25 May 1919. Edward had gained quite a bit of weight, now listed at 165 pounds.
Sanctuary Park Cemetery
Henry Edward Wyer died 12 July 1983 at age 87 and buried in Sanctuary Park Cemetery, Etobicoke, Toronto Municipality, Ontario, Canada. His wife Theodora would follow him five years later
WYER
In Loving Memory of
HENRY E. WYER
OCT 8, 1895 – JULY 12, 1983
BELOVED HUSBAND OF
THEODORA I. WYER
SEPT 10, 1906 – OCT 14, 1988
TOO WELL LOVED
TO EVER BE FORGOTTEN
The Valiant Hearts of Caston by Jane Horner
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