On Saturday of this week, July 1st, we commemorate the Battle of Beaumont Hamel. Briefly the Royal Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack during the first day of the Battle of the Somme. This battle was the regiment’s first major engagement, and during an assault that lasted approximately thirty minutes, the regiment was all but wiped out. One of these was Edward William Butler of Fogo.

Edward William Butler was the youngest son of John and Phoebe (Cheater Ludlow) Butler of Fogo and was born on the 17th of July, 1890. The family consisted of three other brothers and two sisters. Church records show that John and Phoebe were married in St. Andrew’s Church in Fogo on October 4th, 1880. (Incidentally John was thirty-four when he married but his wife was twenty-three and a widow at that time.) For the first several years they spent the winters, and perhaps longer, in Muddy Hole, now known as Fredericton. Early inhabitants of Muddy Hole (as they did to Gander Bay and Dog Bay) came from Fogo Island to use its resources during the winter season, such as the forest, unoccupied lands, abundant wildlife, as well as for fishing and birding. Most of them would return to Fogo Island during the spring for the summer fishery. John Butler may have spent several years there, as the first two of his sons, George and Thomas, were born there, and it seems that in one case, one of his children was over a year old when he was baptized in Fogo. There was no C of E church in Muddy Hole.

Butler signed up for war on the 28th of May, 1915, and was given the regimental number 1567. His attestation paper shows that he was twenty-three, that he was 120 pounds, and 5ft 3 in. His nearest relative was his mother, Phoebe, a widow, who would have been dependent on him. He gave his occupation as a fisherman, and that his wages were $35.00 a month. On June 11th, 1915, he signed a statement that eighty cents a day be deducted from his pay for his mother, Mrs. John Butler of Fogo, and that was to begin the next day, June 12th. One might easily assume that that might be her only source of income. His pay, it seems, was $1.10 per day. His father had died on the 11th of August, 1914, just a few days after hostilities had broken out in Europe, leading to World War I.

His statement of services is brief. It says that he embarked on the S.S. Calgarian for the United Kingdom on the 19th of June, 1915, and then embarked for the British Expedition Force on the 28th of March, 1916, and disembarked at Rouen, France two days later. The interim before embarking for the BEF would have been taken up with basic training, acclimatizing, and the like. He joined the battalion on the 15th of April, 1916, and the only other entry in his record of services is the cryptic “Killed in Action France, 1/7/16. (Beaumont Hamel).

On July 26th, 1916, Mrs. Phoebe Butler received the following telegraph from J.R. Bennett, Colonial Secretary:

Regret to inform you No. 1567, Private Edward W. Butler, has been reported killed in action July first.

Incidentally, such a telegraph would never be delivered to the recipient directly, but through a clergyman or sometimes a teacher.

When Pte. Butler died intestate in France his account showed that he had the sum of $26.50 and this amount was forwarded to his mother, Phoebe, on January 2nd, 1918. On April 2nd, 1918, Mrs. Butler received a cheque for $731.20, which was stated as ‘the refund of amount paid in continuous of her son’s allotment.’ It seems that this pension was provided only to mothers who were solely dependent on their sons. .On July 12th, 1920, Mrs. Butler acknowledged receiving her late son’s Army Book 64. On August 12th, 1921, she acknowledged receipt of the Memorial Plaque issued in respect of the services of her late son. On September 23, 1921, she received, again in respect of the services of her late son, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

It seems that Edward Butler may have had aunt in England., a Mrs. Chetah Alidge, with the address of Withycombe, Exmouth, Devon. I am not able to tell to whom the letter is addressed but this is the content of a letter she wrote, and is among the records of Private Edward Butler, #1567:

Sir, can you send me any news of Pte. E.W. Butler, 1567, NFLD Regiment. It is my nephew. I have received a letter with the envelope marked ‘dead’. I would be very glad if you could send … as soon as possible.

There is no record of a reply.

Edward William Butler rests at Y Ravine Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel, France.

I’ll end this piece with a stanza from Flanders Fields by John McCrae:

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch. Be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.