MORE FAMILY INFORMATION - From the 1891 Census - Address - 48 Whifflet St, Coatbridge - William Arnott aged 38 , Mary Arnott aged 34, Mary Sharp Arnott aged 14, David Arnott aged 13, Jane Pollock Arnott aged 10, Andrew Duncan Arnott aged 8, Cecilia Whyte Arnott aged 5, William Munro Arnott aged 4, Elizabeth Thomson Arnott aged 2, John Arnott aged 1, servant Mary Murray aged 18. SEE NEWSPAPER CLIPPING FROM THE COATBRIDGE LEADER 09/02/1918 REGARDING JOHN'S YOUNGER BROTHER THOMAS AND HIS HEROICS AT SEA - The 96th Company were part of the 32nd Division. John arrived in France on the 22/11/1915. John was formerly with the 13th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (841). The 96th Company and the 32nd Division fought at the Battle of the Ancre, 13th - 18th November 1916 : The Battle was now extended northwards across to the far side of the River Ancre. The British force attacked in fog and snow on the 13th November from the very same front lines from which the attack had failed so badly on the 1st July. Beaumont-Hamel was finally captured but Serre once again proved an objective too far. Considerable casualties were sustained before the battle was called off. This was the final part of the Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first-ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. SEE PHOTOS x 13 FOR THE 96th COMPANY WAR DIARY FROM SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 1916. Main grave photo donated by my friend in France Thierry Dericbourg and the additional grave photo (see photos) kindly donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. John is also remembered at the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery (see photos x 3). See photos for John's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clippings x 2, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, his previous Regiment the Northumberland Fusiliers Cap Badge, the Machine Gun Corps Cap Badge, John's Headstone Report x 2, the 32nd Division Order of Battle x 14 (the Division he was with when he died) and the Newspaper clipping from the Coatbridge Leader 09/02/1918 regarding John's younger brother Thomas and his heroics at sea.
