| MEMORIAL
WINDOW IN St. MARY'S CHURCH, TIPPERARY. (NOTE: This page contains high resolution images which are slow to load. Please be patient. Thank you!) |
|
| Memorial to - Lieutenant-Colonel William Lyle | |
 First memorial panel of the East Window Memorial, St. Mary's Church, Tipperary Town. Photo © Copyright J. Mabbott,October 2001. |
 Second memorial panel of the East Window Memorial, St. Mary's Church, Tipperary Town. Photo © Copyright J. Mabbott,October 2001. |
The dedication reads: "In loving memory of Lt. Col. W. Lyle, Lancashire Fusiliers, killed at La Boiselle, 1st. July 1916." |
|
| Lieutenenant-Colonel William Lyle died at La
Boiselle in Northern France, on Saturday 1st. July 1916, the first day of The Battle of
The Somme, serving with the 2nd. (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion of The Northumberland
Fusiliers Regiment. At the date of his death, William Lyle was aged 40 and was married to
Edith M. Lyle of Springvale, Hythe - a small port on the South Coast of Kent, England. He
was the son of William Park Lyle, and a brother-in-law of Captain Robert Bell from
Tipperary, who also died on The Somme just 4 days later. During The Battle of The Somme,
the French and British Allies lost over 620,000 men and the Germans lost about 450,000. On
the first day alone, the British Army suffered 60,000 casualties, including over 20,000
dead, amongst whom was Lieutenant Colonel William Lyle, who was of the family who owned
the sugar manufacturers company of Tate & Lyle. William Lyle is buried in grave I. G. 1 of the Baupaume Post Military Cemetery in the Departement (County) of The Somme, near the town of Albert in Northern France. Lieutenant-Colonel Lyle was the Commanding Officer of "The Tyneside Scottish", and he died during their unsuccessful attack on La Boiselle on 1st. July 1916. The village of La Boiselle was finally taken from the German army on 7th. July. Over 400 Allied war dead are commemorated at the site known as Baupuaume Post Cemetery, which got its name because during the battle it was the Regimental First Aid Post. It is situated on the South side of what the Allied army called "Tara Hill" and South-West of one they dubbed "Usna Hill" (Uisneach). Both these names are those of prominent hills in the present Irish Republic's Province of Leinster. Historical researchers should note that, at various times, the Baupaume Cemetery was also referred to by those names. Many of the troops fighting on that part of the British Front Line at that time were Irish, including the Battalions of The Northumberland Fusiliers known as "The Tyneside Irish". |
|
