Name
Joseph Spicer
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/09/1916
34 years
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
14320
Royal Field Artillery
63rd Battery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BAGHDAD (NORTH GATE) WAR CEMETERY
XXI. P. 45.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
No Inscription
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock, All Saints Church Memorial, Radwell, Hertfordshire, Not on the Hitchin memorials
Pre War
Joseph was born in Hitchin/Baldock, Hertfordshire, (depends on document) in 1882, the son of Joseph and Annie Spicer. Baptised on 26th February 1882, in Baldock, Herts.
1891 Census records Joseph aged 9, at school, living with his parents and brother George 10, in Park Street, Baldock, Herts.
No records found for the 1901 census. It is believed Joseph was serving in the Army at that time.
In 1909 he married Alice Maude Carter, the marriage was registered in Hitchin, Herts.
The 1911 Military Census records Joseph aged 29, Married, serving as a Corporal with the 63rd Battery, Royal Field Artillery, in Meerut in India.
Wartime Service
On the outbreak of WW1, it is believed Joseph was serving with the British Army in India.
He landed in Mesopotamia (then part of the Ottoman Empire) on the 11th November 1914, with the 63rd Battery, Royal Field Artillery, as part of the British and Indian Force sent to protect the Arabian Oil Fields.
This was initially successful, but eventually the British and Indian Forces were out numbered by a larger Turkish Force, both sides suffering heavy casualties in the fighting. By December 1915 the British Forces under the command of Major-General Townsend retreated to Kut-al-Amarah on the banks of the River Tigris. The British and Indian Troops were then surrounded by a much larger Turkish Force. The British and Indian Troops held out for nearly five months, then on 29th April 1916, with no supplies Major-General Townsend surrendered his force of about 10,000 men to the 80,000 strong Turkish Army.
Some 4,000 of these troops would die on the March to Turkish Prison Camps or while in the Prison Camps.
Additional Information
Joseph was Mentioned in Dispatches. The recommendation was by Major-General Charles Townsend, for “Distinguished Service during the Defence of Kut-al-Amarah, 7th December 1915 to 29th April 1916”. The MID was published in the London Gazette on 17th October 1916.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson, Stuart Osborne
