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King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt)
Killed in Action
8th May 1915
Age 17
Commemorated Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Knowles Daniel Pte (Reg No: 17019 2nd Battalion The King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
Daniel Knowles was born in Crawshawbooth in 1898. He was the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Knowles of Scar Barn Farm, Crawshawbooth. Daniel was still living at this address in 1901 with his parents, brothers, William and Jonothan and sister Jane. The family later moved to Rising Bridge and were living at 654, Blackburn Road, Rising Bridge in 1913, when Daniel’s parents both died and were buried in Stonefold Churchyard. Daniel was the youngest soldier to be listed on the Stonefold War Memorial as he was only 17 years old when he killed in action at the Battle of Frezenberg, in Belgium on 8 May 1915. It is likely that Wilkinson Westwell was a friend of Daniel’s as he lived next door but one to the Knowles Family and Wilkinson’s regimental number is 17014, which is very close to Daniels so they would have enlisted together. It is particularly tragic that they were both killed on the same day.
"On the night of 7 May two men of the Battalion crept out of their trench in search of a gate which they had seen in the daytime and had thought it would be useful in shoring up their trench. In the darkness they overshot their mark and reached a little wood where they heard the sound of German voices.
They reported this on their return although there was no indication that the Germans had massed nearby no less than three Corps and their artillery to try and obliterate the British 28th Division of which the 2nd King's own were a part.
At 5.30 am a tornado of high explosive shells was let loose on the British front. By 8.30 am most of the trench parapets were flattened and the trenches destroyed. The Regimental History of the German 242nd Reserve Regiment stated, "The effects of the heavy artillery was devastating, one shell crater ran into another only a few desperate survivors defended themselves obstinately ".
Nevertheless, when the German infantry attacked at 8.30am (the brunt of the onslaught falling on the King's Own) they were driven off. Half an hour later another German attack failed but by this time most of the King's Own in the front line were killed or wounded. The Germans then fired another heavy barrage under cover of which they reinforced the troops in their front line and another attack at 10.00 am succeeded.
Heavy machine gun and rifle fire opened against the King's Own positions from both flanks and there was an imminent danger of being cut off. Orders for the evacuation of the front line back to the support trenches reached all the British troops though the King's own held out until the Germans were creeping round their rear. As they rose from their trenches to withdraw, concentrated fire came down upon them and many were killed before they had gone a few yards.
Only one officer and 40 men survived to reach the reserve trenches at Potijze. The losses to the Battalion were appalling. Eleven hundred strong at the beginning of the day, they could muster only 67 at the end. After those who had become detached during the fighting returned the casualties were 15 officers and 893 men". (From – Bill Turner’s Book).
Daniel Knowles's body was never found. His name is commemorated on Menin Gate, Memorial to the Missing, at Ypres, Belgium.
