14th October 1893 - 5th November 1916 (age 23)
Rifleman, Lance Corporal C/1029
6th Bn. King's Royal Rifle Corps
John and Annie Briggs brought up ten children in a house of four rooms
in Back Lane, Sowerby - next door to the Bell family (see Herbert
Bell, died 20th July 1916). John Briggs was a labourer at the iron
works, and his third son Arthur, worked as a boot riveter.
Arthur enlisted into the Church Lads Brigade battalion of the King's Royal
Rifle Corps going to France on 16th November 1915. The battalion was involved
in a number of engagements in the Somme including an attack at High Wood
on 15th July 1916 and a later attack on a German trench called Tea Trench
on 24th August when they achieved all objectives but with the loss of
124 other ranks. The Battle of the Somme ground to a halt in a sea of
mud in early November after four months of bitter struggle. A week before
it ended, the battalion was on the Ancre Heights and delivered a successful
attack on Hazy Trench with the loss of 163 other ranks and this included Arthur.
Arthur has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial panels 13A & 13B.
The Somme Memorial at Thiepval where Arthur Briggs is remembered.
The information on this page was compiled by Steve Billings.
Information about Arthur Briggs on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Information about Arthur Briggs on the War Graves Photographic Project website