Bernard William Chatfield

Personal Information
Date of Birth	not known 1897
Place of Birth	Burton on Trent, Manchester, England
Death	3 Sep 1916
Place of Death	Mouquet farm, Pozieres, France
Age at Enlistment	18 years, 4 months
Description	5'3½" (1.61m) tall, weight 129 lbs (58.5kg); dark complexion, brown eyes, black hair.
Occupation	farm hand
Religion	Church of England
Address	'Bridge Farm', Serpentine, Western Australia (Turner farm)
Next of Kin	Sister Miss Elsie Monica Chatfield
Military Information
Reg Number	2798
Date of Enlistment	5 Oct 1915
Rank	Lance Corporal
Unit/Formation	11th Battalion, 9th Reinforcement B Company, transferred to B Company 51st Battalion / 13th Brigade, 4th Division
Date of Embarkation	5 Oct 1915 - ?
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A20 Hororata
Fate	Missing in Action 3 Sep 1916 Mouquet Farm, later confirmed KIA
Monument	Serpentine
Medals	1914-15 Star British War Medal Victory Medal

Pre War

Permission to enroll was signed by Eliza Turner given that both parents were dead. Parents were Edmund John and Annie.

War Service

On arrival at Blackboy Hill camp, Bernard was allocated to the 9th reinforcement draft for the 11th Battalion.

At Tel-el-Kebir camp in Egypt Bernard was taken on strength by the 11th Battalion, and on 29 Feb 1916 he was one of the first to be transferred to the 51st Battalion at Serapuem.

Along with his battalion, he boarded HMT Ivernia in Alexandria on 5 Jun 1918 for Marseilles in France where they arrived on 12 Jun 1916.

The battalion was engaged in an attack on Mouquet Farm between 13th and 16th August, and given that on 18 Aug 1916 he was appointed Lance Corporal during the battalions reorganisation at Warloy, Bernard must have acquitted himself well.

At 6:30pm on 1 Sep 1917 B Company left BRICKFIELDS to lead the battalion forward to relieve the 47th Battalion and prepare for an attack on the enemy trenches. Relief was completed by 5am. Later, B & D Companies were to lead the attack on Mouquet Farm, and although the attack advanced to the farm and beyond, the defenders were able to use a very extensive underground system to emerge behind attacking troops and harass them with snipers and machine guns.

Support troops, finding themselves under attack from both flanks as well as the front were forced to withdraw, leaving the remnants of C and D Companies isolated in an old German trench.

Red Cross files note their inability to find anyone who can tell them how Chatfield was killed. A Court of Enquiry was held on 23 Apr 1917, and it resolved that Bernard had been Killed in Action on 3 Sep 1916.

Post War

Following confirmation of his death, sister Elsie was awarded a pension of 10/- per fortnight from 7 Dec 1916. Elsie (married name McIntyre) wrote to the Defence Department in June 1967 requesting Bernard's Anzac Medal. At the time she was living at 'Big Bend', Clunes, Victoria.

Notes

No grave having been identified for Bernard, he is recorded on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.