I had cycled the battlefields of Flanders many times since my first visit in 2009 and covered most of the Belgian and French fronts, the Somme region, Verdun, the Brittany/Normandy coastline and WW2 sites etc. I had also followed the earlier battles of Crecy and Agincourt.  However, I had never spent time in Arras to allow me to appreciate its importance and its beauty.

The opportunity for me to rent and explore at my leisure was too good a chance to miss.

 

This project began as a result of my research of the area around the village of Rivière where I am renting a house for a few months in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.

I had not realised before I arrived that the village was on the frontline and that the three Chateaux in the village had all been used as Army HQ's at some time or other.

 

During the First World War the French halted the German advance outside Arras, to the south east of which lay the small communes of Wailly/Ficheux/Blairville/Ransart and Rivière.

These villages are in an agricultural region, important to the advancing armies because of the produce that was essential to sustain such a large body of men and animals. It is also an area bordered by the undulating hills to the south, towards Amiens and Reims, and the flat coalfield and industrial lands to the north-east, of Lens and Lille, then onwards to the seaport of Calais and up into Belgium. The strategically important railway lines, necessary to transport all the men and supplies also ran through the region.

 

The village was occupied during both World Wars and evidence of this is all around, if you can spend the time looking. Indeed, I have shown walls covered in graffiti, to octogenarian inhabitants of the village that didn’t even realise it was there, so it’s not just the occasional visitor that misses it!

 

During late 1915 the British West Lancashire Division was reformed as -55th Division- and relieved the French 88th Division in trenches south of Arras - in the area Wailly to Bretencourt - in mid-February 1916. Some of the trenches ran from alongside my house to the front line area just below the village of Blairville which was occupied by the German 111th Infantry Division.

Trench warfare commenced, with many raids and minor operations to gain information on the German positions and occupy the enemy prior to the battle of the Somme in July.

On 16/17th April 1916, over two consecutive nights, a large scale raid was undertaken by the 1/8th (Irish) Battalion, the King's (Liverpool Regiment), the first of its kind by the Division, in which 2/Lt Edward  Felix  Baxter became the Division's first recipient of the Victoria Cross.

In this "relatively quiet" period before the Division moved into the Battle of the Somme, it nonetheless suffered casualties of 63 officers and 1047 men, killed wounded or missing.

 

Deeper reasearch introduced me to the story of Edward Felix Baxter, a recipient of our highest award for bravery, who was born in Stourbridge but moved to Liverpool where he married in 1906, he worked as Head of Commercial Training at Skerrys Business College and was a keen motorcycle racer, well known in the area, winning many races and a regular at Brooklands track and many hill climbing events. He also entered the 1910 TT on the Isle of Man.

He became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for the Liverpool Regiment in France, in April 1916, but on further investigation I realised he is 'forgotten or missing' when you delve deeper into the history of Liverpool VC'c or the Kings regiment. He has no memorial in Liverpool even though he had made it his home and did so much for his 'adopted' city and there is nothing to acknowledge his actions (nor that of any regiment) in the area of his death.

 

After locating the area of attack and walking the tracks and footpaths in the vicinity, I realised just how much detritus was still around and how clearly visible the old trench lines were in some places, quite rare today after 100 years of farming!

It also became apparent that there was little other evidence in the village of any British involvement in the area, so I decided to approach the Maire of Blairville to try and make a difference. Thus began my quest.

 

I have already met with local representatives (Maire of Blairville, local residents, President of Le Souvenir Français and Mr Andre Coilliot a local historian and friend), and have provisionally agreed on a position, style of monument and date for the ceremony (30/04/2016) and to assist in paying for and erecting a suitable monument.

I have approached local and national charities in the UK, Royal British Legion, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Western Front Association etc. with my ideas but unfortunately, due to legal restrictions, they cannot adopt my project. I am therefore seeking funding myself to assist Le Souvenir Français who have generously agreed to continue with the project.

 

Any donation would be very much appreciated.