Pte. Ira P. Snelgrove 54th Battalion Aug.8 1918

Ira Thomas Pye Snelgrove 760169

Ira Thomas Pye Snelgrove was born in Lakefield, Ontario on March 09, 1878 to Isaac Snelgrove and Elizabeth Mary Pye .  Isaac was a carpenter by trade.  Records show that Ira served at least three years (1897-1900) in F Company in the 57^th Regiment of militia in Peterborough Ontario.  In 1911, Ira, then aged 33, was rooming in St. Thomas, Ontario and working as the manager of a newspaper.

 

On December 01, 1917, Snelgrove was living and in New Westminster, British Columbia where he enlisted in the 121^st Battalion ( Irish Fusiliers of Canada).  He listed his occupation as printing manager; he indicated that he was not married, and that he had previously served 5 years with the 57^th Peterboro regiment.  Ira was 4 months shy of his 38^th birthday.  He was 5’6” tall, had a fair complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair.  His religion was Methodist.   

Snelgrove remained in British Columbia for the next 8 months to train at Vernon Camp, and rose to the rank or Lance Corporal, before entraining for Halifax in early August.  He embarked that port aboard the SS Empress of Britain on August 14th and arrived safely in Liverpool, England ten days later.  Snelgrove and the 121st was stationed at the Canadian Forces base at Bramshott, where he quickly made another rise in rank to Corporal.

 

The 121^st never made it to the trenches as a unit, but rather its men were folded into the 16^th Canadian Reserve Battalion, in Chyngton camp, Sussex. England in January of 1917. After growing tired of another month training in England,  Snelgrove submitted a formal request to revert his rank from corporal to private in order to proceed to the front more quickly.  This tactic worked as the next day, on February 7th, he was assigned to the ranks of the 54^th Battalion (B.C. regiment).  The trip across the Channel to join the 54th at the front took 5 days, and Snelgrove would have joined his unit during a time when it was re-forming and training for the upcoming assault on Vimy Ridge in 2 months time.  

Little is recorded of the individual experiences of Ira Snelgrove during his time with the 54th Battalion while in France, though during his time with that unit he would have seen heavy action throughout 1917 in such major battles as Vimy Ridge (April), Lens-Hill 70 (August), and Passchendaele ( Oct).  The time and duration between such battles was also far from safe, as the mere tasks of manning the front and reserve lines accounted for daily casualties from enemy artillery, snipers, raids and machine guns.  Generally, Snelgrove could expect a routine of a week in the front lines, another week on the reserve trenches and a week off the line in the rest camps. 

By early August 1918, Snelgrove was on the march with the 54^th and moved into position for what would be known as the Battle of Amiens.  As the 54^th approached the front on the early hours of August 8^th, they were heavily shelled, in one instance a direct hit accounted for the deaths of fourteen men and another shortly after taking the lives of 12.  Regardless, the 54^th made it to their jump off point and joined the attack at around 1:30 in the afternoon.  They were the third wave in a continued series of attacks that had begun at 4:20 a.m.  Snelgrove and the 54th left their jumping off point and followed closely behind three tanks which had been assigned to the battalion.  Their objective was the German held village of Beaucort-en-Santerre and the woods beside it.  The tanks were almost immediately disabled and the remaining infantry was swept by machine gun fire as they advanced.  The woods gave the posed the most difficult, and were only won through a daring frontal charge.  The attack was brief but costly, the 54^th lost 38 men killed,   110 wounded, & 21 missing or captured.  Among those killed was Pte. Ira Snelgrove.  He was buried, close to where he fell, in an isolated grave along the Amiens-Roye Road, 5 ½ miles Southwest of Corbie.  After the Armistice his body was exhumed and placed in Moreiul Communal Cemetery at Plot 1 Row E Grave 5.  His name also appears on the Dummer Township Cenotaph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1911. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2007. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1911/index-e.html>. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels T-20326 to T-20460.

Canada. "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)." Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4930 - 35. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. MS 929, reels 1-245. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario

Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Department of Militia and Defence, Accounts and Pay Branch, Nominal Rolls and Paylists for the Volunter Militia, 1855-1914; Record Group Number: R180-100-9-E; Volume Number: 135.

War Graves Registry: Circumstances of Death Records. Record Group 150, 1992–1993/314, Boxes 145–238. Library and Archives Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.