Current Information:

The exact circumstances of the death of Edward Royce who was killed on 13th April, 1917, are not known but artillery men faced many dangers and during the course of the war nearly 50,000 of them were killed. Their gun batteries were targeted by the enemy’s guns which accounted for many of their casualties. Others were sent forward to act as ‘spotters’ which meant going forward to the front line and signalling back to the guns necessary changes in target and other vital information. Keeping the batteries supplied with ammunition was a dangerous task as the enemy guns would target the known supply routes, especially at night. Brigade Diaries rarely shine any light on casualties sustained, unless of course they were officers and even then information is sparse. 

Mesopotamia

When the Ottoman Empire allied itself to Germany in 1914, Britain found itself at war with Turkey, a conflict that was not only fought in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine but also in Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates which is now modern day Iraq. Britain had vital oil interests around Basra in the south and troops were sent there to protect them. During 1915 and 1916 British and Indian troops began pushing north with their eye on the prize of Baghdad which, after a series of victories and reverses, was finally captured in March 1917. But the Turks continued to strenuously defend their territory until the final end came in October, 1918 when they signed an armistice. But it was not the Turkish army that was the biggest danger faced by the British in Mesopotamia, but rather disease. Sickness was rife brought about by temperatures of nearly 50 Centigrade, poor sanitation and regular flooding all of which encouraged flies mosquitoes and rats. Obtaining clean water was always a big problem in the desert and consequently water-borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera claimed many victims. The situation was exacerbate by shockingly poor medical arrangements with sick and wounded men taking up to two weeks to get to a hospital.

55 Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery served in Gallipoli as part of 10th Division and then in Mesopotamia attached to the 13th Division. It landed in Basra in March 1917 and remained in Mesopotamia until the end of the war. Edward Royce was resident in France when war was declared where he joined the Foreign Legion in which he served for about one year, when he gained permission to join the British Army.