ERIC HOOPER ROYCE
17 May 1895 - 19 May 1918
At School 1908 - 1914
Trooper 3609 1st Life Guards Household Cavalry
Eric was born in Eccles, Manchester and in 1901 was living at 4 Albert Road, Eccles with father Mark, a commercial traveller in the Drapery trade, mother Amelia, older brothers Howard and Reginald and a domestic servant. By 1911 the family had moved to 208 Plymouth Grove, Manchester and Eric aged 15 was a pupil at the School. He was a keen all round sportsman winning prizes in the swimming sports and being awarded caps for football and lacrosse.
In 1914, Eric was continuing his studies at School with a view to becoming ordained, however following the outbreak of war he enlisted in the 1st Life Guards on 14 November 1914. Eric was the first boy to enlist straight from School and was presented on the occasion, in November 1914, with field glasses by masters and boys. After training in London he was posted to France on 16 March 1916, disembarking at Rouen on 17 March. He then left for his Regiment on 18 March, arriving on the 20th amongst a draft of 26 other ranks. At this time the 1st Life Guards were in winter quarters in the Rumilly area, some 23 miles south east of Boulogne. Squadron training was carried out during March and April and in May the Battalion moved to Caours near Abbeville
for regimental and divisional training, returning to Rumilly at the end of the month. On 24 June the Battalion moved southwards arriving on the 26th at Bonnay, some 10 miles east of Amiens, where they were issued with three days iron rations for man and horse in the event of an advance. It was still the plan of the British Army at this time to follow up an infantry breakthrough with cavalry. Over the next ten days the Battalion stood to at various times but were not called into action. On 8 July
the Battalion moved to Corbie, 2 miles south of Bonnay, where they were placed at the disposal of 10th Corps, to provide parties to clear the battlefield. On 11 July 8 officers and 200 men were detailed to provide burial parties in Mash Valley, near La Boiselle, east of Albert. The Battalion remained in Corbie until the end of July, standing to in a state of readiness and also providing working parties. At the beginning of August the Battalion returned to its billets at Rumilly. In October the Battalion moved to winter quarters in Fressin, some 15 miles south of Rumilly and well behind the lines. They remained here until February when the 7th Cavalry Brigade moved to the St Josse area near Etaples for Squadron training, which continued through until the end of March.
In April the Battalion moved to the Arras region in support of the advances made during the Battle of Arras but again, after standing to in readiness, were not called upon. The Battalion again returned to the rear, to Dompierre-sur-Authie, 20 miles south east of Etaples. In May the Battalion moved to the Peronne area,arriving on the 19th at camp in the area between Buire and Tincourt, some 5
miles to the east of Peronne (bottom left hand corner of the map below). Each Squadron detailed three officers and 100 men to go into trenches to the east of Epehy, some 8 miles to the north east. At this time the Germans had made a tactical withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, to shorten their defences and the war diary reports a fairly quiet time, referring to the provision of wiring, digging and ration parties. During the period in the line the war diary reports sporadic shelling and machine gun fire but no fatal casualties, despite a number of patrols in no man's land to reconnoitre the enemy defences. They were relieved on 12 June, remaining in reserve until the end
of the month. In July the Battalion moved to the rear of the lines in the Bethune area, where musketry and bayonet training was carried out and sports held. They remained here until the end of October when they moved back to the area between Amiens and Albert, where from 19th to 23rd November they stood to prepared to move forward in the event of the 1st, 2nd and 5th Cavalry Divisions moving forward to their objectives. In December they again provided dismounted troopers for the trenches, the 7th Dismounted Brigade, north of St Quentin, which proved a quiet time, patrols being sent out into no man's land reporting the position clear and minimal enemy activity. Towards the end of the month the trenches received enemy artillery fire but little or no damage was done and only two casualties reported wounded. On 31 December the 7th Dismounted Brigade was relieved by the 8th Dismounted Brigade and went into Divisional Reserve at Vadancourt some 7 miles north west of St Quentin. The rest of the Regiment had moved to Domleger, some 13 miles east of Abbeville, on 23 December but at the beginning of February moved back to Trefcon, 10 miles west of St Quentin.
In early 1918 the decision was taken to convert the Life Guards Regiment into a Machine Gun Regiment and on 10 March 1918 the 1st Life Guards left the 3rd Cavalry Division to form the No. 1 (1st Life Guards) Battalion of the Guards Machine Gun Regiment moving to the base camp at Etaples for training. Here, as well as large infantry training camp, the British had established a
complex of nine major hospitals, the whole camp being comprised of huts and tents. Although the base was well behind the front lines, the fighting never being less than 50 miles away, it was subject to long range enemy aircraft attacks during late 1917 and 1918, the aircraft targeting the nearby Paris to Boulogne railway and the training camps. Vera Brittain, author of Testament of Youth, served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse
at No. 24 General Hospital, Etaples, from early August 1917 until the end of April 1918, and wrote of her experiences. She experienced over a month of night-time air raids which left her exhausted and "more frightened than I had ever been in my life"; however, she had left Etaples before the worst bombing raids of May, June and August. On 19 May 1918 the camp was hit by an enemy air raid, lasting from 10.30 p.m. to
1 .00 a.m. on the 20th. Shortly before midnight, bombs fell on the Life Guards' camp, killing 42 men and wounding 83. Eric was one of those Life Guards killed. Bombs also fell on the Hospitals causing casualties among the nursing staff and patients. The British Press made capital of this:
"During the recent fine weather our airman have made every use of the still air and the good visibility to attack and harass the enemy by bombing his camps, billets, rail-heads, batteries, dumps, roads and all points of military importance in the battle area and immediately behind. At the same time, the German airmen have also been making use of the favourable conditions by having recourse to their old trick of bombing hospitals." The Times, 24 May 1918
"There is one place in France, faraway from the battle area, where we have a large group of hospitals. The hospital tents there cover a great area of ground. The Germans are perfectly aware of the character of the place, and they selected it as the object of a bombing raid last year. They have again been attacking it, and the size of the tract of ground covered with hospital outfits and the entire absence of any concealment make it a mark which no airman could possibly miss. An airman blind or drunk could let bombs fall from any height in any wind and weather, and they must land somewhere amongst the attendants' quarters or in tents where the nursing sisters move among the rows of cots with their helpless occupants. On Sunday night the Germans attacked the place with all the ferocity of which they are capable.the scenes inside the tents were of the most piteous description, and the total casualties to patients, sisters, medical officers and attendants must have far exceeded those of any London air raid. The redeeming feature of the whole horrible affair was the magnificent behaviour of the hospital staff."
Although the newspapers vilified the Germans' actions in bombing hospitals, it is likely that the target was in fact the railway line and bridge over the Canche river near to Etaples camp. The German advance in March and April had endangered the railway network and reduced it down to a narrow strip of country through Abbeville and Boulogne. Consequently this was a prime target for the German Air Force and persistently attacked.
Tellingly, Vera Brittain wrote "The persistent German raiders had at last succeeded in their intention of smashing up the Etaples hospitals, which had so satisfactorily protected the railway line for three years without further trouble or expense to the military authorities." Food for thought.
Eric was buried with his fellow Life Guards fatalities in section LXVI Row C. Eric's grave is number 26.
