The battalion mobilised for war on 27 July 1915 and landed at Havre and engaged in various actions on the Western Front including:<\/p>\n
During 1916: The Battle of Albert, The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, The Battle of Delville Wood, The Battle of Thiepval Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre Heights, The Battle of the Ancre.<\/p>\n
During 1917: Operations on the Ancre, The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, The Third Battle of the Scarpe, The Battle of Pilckem Ridge, The Battle of Langemarck, First Battle of Passchendaele, and The Second Battle of Passchendaele.<\/p>\n
The battalion was in engaged in ferocious action at Cherisy between 3-5 May, after being withdrawn for ten days rest they returned to the line between Cherisy and Fontaine les Croisilles and again saw action to the end of May and Bruce was recorded as killed on 29 May 1917<\/p>\n
On 9th<\/sup> February 1918 they transferred to the 53rd Brigade of the 18th Division and saw actions including; The Battle of St Quentin, The Battle of the Avre, The actions of Villers-Brettoneux, The Battle of Amiens, The Battle of Albert, The Second Battle of Bapaume, The Battle of Epehy, The Battle of the St Quentin Canal, The Battle of the Selle, The Battle of the Sambre.<\/p>\n The battalion ended the war in at Le Cateau.<\/p>\n Bruce Malcolm Manktelow was killed in action in Flanders on 29 May 1917, when he was 26 years old and buried at Rookery British Cemetery, C. 24, Heninel.\u00a0 The village and commune are in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais, 10 kilometres south-east of Arras and 3 kilometres south of the straight main road from Arras to Cambrai. Heninel village was captured in a snowstorm on 12 April 1917 by the 56th (London) and 21st Division and the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, advancing from Heninel on the two following days, captured Wancourt Tower.<\/p>\n Rookery British Cemetery (named from a group of trenches) was made by the 18th and 50th Division Burial Officers in April-June 1917 and used until November 1917. Two further burials were made in August 1918.\u00a0 The Cemetery is 1.5 kilometres from Heninel village, 165 metres north-east of the road to Fontaine-les-Croisilles opposite Cuckoo Passage Cemetery. \u00a0Bruce’s page on Every Man Remembered can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Bruce Malcolm Manktelow was born on 7 February 1891, in Borstal, Kent to Eliza Ellen Manktelow (nee Chadwick), age 28, and William James Manktelow, a wheelwright age 32.\u00a0 His father had moved upon marriage to Yalding from Stepney where his family lived, possibly suggesting Huguenot heritage on his father’s side. His mother was from Spindon, Derbyshire.\u00a0 Between 1885 and 1893 they had five children.\u00a0 Four were born in Kent, their second son however was born in Rye, East Sussex.\u00a0 After his birth they moved back to Kent and were resident at 3 Primrose Cottages in Borstal by the 1901 census.\u00a0 The table below summarises his family:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bruce’s father died on 13 November, 1907, at the age of 49.\u00a0 His mother lived another eighteen years, dying in 1925.<\/p>\n The census also records his eldest brother Stanley James was born on November 7, 1886, in Ospringe, Kent and was an apprentice in the cycle trade. However, this may be an error as younger brother Frank is noted as an apprentice butcher.\u00a0 In 1908, aged 21 Stanley Manktelow enlisted in the Army Service Corps, (which was responsible for keeping the British Army supplied with all its provisions barring weaponry, military equipment and ammunition) his trade is shown as a butcher.\u00a0 Stanley Manktelow served from enlistment until the end of hostilities in the Army Service Corps.\u00a0 Stanley died in 1956 aged 69.<\/p>\n His other elder brother, Frank Manktelow who was born whilst the family lived in Rye, may have briefly joined the navy, although his service is unclear as the only surviving records refer to him aged about 16 having serviced on HMS Swiftsure \u00a0from 1 July to 12 December 1905. \u00a0In 1909 he was noted as a witness at his sister\u2019s wedding in Borstal. When Frank was 35 he married Louise Betsy Baggett on 9 Aug 1924 at St. Matthews Church. \u00a0At this time he still lived at 3 Primrose Cottages, however it had been renamed to its current address – 79 Borstal Street.\u00a0 Frank was recorded as a store house assistant when he married.\u00a0 They subsequently had two children: Audrey A. Manktelow and Colin S. Manktelow.\u00a0 Louise died in 1962 (registered in Chatham) but Frank lived to the age of 85, dying in the Sittingborne area in 1975.<\/p>\n Bruce\u2019s sister, Ada Priscilla was born in 1885, in Faversham, and was shown as a dressmaker in 1901. Ada married Walter William Wells, a builder from Dover, on 18 Oct 1909 in St. Matthew\u2019s Church, Borstal and subsequently moved to Dover and had a son by the time of the 1911 Census.<\/p>\n Bruce\u2019s younger brother William was born in 1893 and was recorded as an Assistant Grocer in the 1911 census.\u00a0 In 1915 he married Ellen Edith Rivers at St Nicholas church in Rochester.\u00a0 In June 1916 he joined the Royal Field Artillery and was recorded as living at 76 Castle Avenue, Rochester with his wife Ellen, son Vivian James and his mother. By the 1930s William and his family were living in Lambeth in South East London. William died in 1968 in the Tonbridge area aged 75.<\/p>\n The house Bruce grew up in, 3 Primrose Cottages survives and as noted above was re-named\/numbered between 1911 and 1924 as 79 Borstal Street which it still is in 2016:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n <\/p>\n Research:<\/strong><\/p>\n Andy Brittan, 2016<\/p>\n\n\n
\n The Family of Bruce Malcolm Manktelow<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Parents<\/strong><\/td>\n Born<\/strong><\/td>\n Died<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n William James\u00a0 Manktelow<\/td>\n 1858<\/td>\n 1907<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Eliza Ellen Manktelow<\/td>\n 1863<\/td>\n 1925<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Siblings<\/strong><\/td>\n Born<\/strong><\/td>\n Died<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Ada Priscilla Manktelow<\/td>\n 1885<\/td>\n 1972<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Stanley James Manktelow<\/td>\n 1887<\/td>\n 1956<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Frank William Manktelow<\/td>\n 1889<\/td>\n 1975<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Bruce Malcolm Manktelow<\/td>\n 1891<\/td>\n 29\/05\/1917<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n William J Manktelow<\/td>\n 1893<\/td>\n 1968<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n ![\"wp_20160925_18_14_14_pro\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/rochesterborstalfirstworldwar\/files\/2016\/11\/WP_20160925_18_14_14_Pro-300x169.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n \u00a0Sources:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Via Ancestry UK:<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Census records \u2013 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Births, Deaths & Marriage records<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919<\/p>\n \n Other:<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment websites<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Janet & Richards Genealogy (http:\/\/janetandrichardsgenealogy.co.uk)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Stephen Hannington, Out of the Shadows (2015)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n