Arthur Henry Mires (1892-1915)

Post date: Sep 09, 2015 7:30:27 PM

Arthur was born in Wateringbury in early 1892 and at the time of the 1901 census he was living with 3 siblings (another came in 1902) and parents, Frederick, a garden labourer, and Elizabeth, in a 4 room cottage near the North Pole, Wateringbury. He and his brother Frederick Bernard (who served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an Able Seaman, London Z/3406) apparently did not attend Wateringbury School as they are not listed in the lists of former pupils serving during the war. At the time of the 1911 he was living at barracks at Bordon, Headley, Hampshire; strangely his place of birth is now said to be Malta, but this is probably a transposition error in the compilation of the list for the census.

Extract from Kent Messenger of 12th February 1916:

Pte. A. H. Mires (Wateringbury),

2nd Royal West Kent Regiment,

WHO HAS BEEN AWARDED THE 104

DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL.

9459 Pte. Arthur Henry Mires, as already reported in the “ Kent Messenger,” has been awarded the distinguished conduct medal “ for conspicuous gallantry at Kut-al-Amara (Mesopotamia) on 28th September,1915, when, with another private, he carried forward and worked his gun under a very heavy fire, with­in 300 yards of the enemy’s strong redoubt, thereby materially assisting in the capture of the work." Twenty-four years of age, he is the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Mires, who reside near the North Pole, Wateringbury. He joined the R.W.Kent Regiment in 1910, was sent to Ireland 1911, and drafted to India, in the same year, serving at Pesha­war, Cherat, and other parts. In 1913 he was sent to Nyzerabad School of Musketry, and received his second good conduct badge. He is a good soldier, very calm and quiet, with great determination and courage. Many congratulations have been received by his parents, but we understand a letter from him would be heartily welcomed. His only brother, Frederick Bernard Mires, aged 25, is serving in the Royal Naval Division.

[ the above photo of Arthur Mires is at the head of the KM piece].

During WWI 579 Victoria Crosses (V.C.s) were awarded (none to Wateringbury residents); 9,002 Distinguished Service Orders (D.S.O.) were awarded to officers- Henry Moore was awarded one; 37,104 Military Crosses (M.C.) to officers and warrant officers; 24,620 Distinguished Conduct Medals (D.C.M.) to other ranks- Arthur Jessup also won one; and 115,589 Military Medals (M.M.) to other ranks. (source The Western front Companion by Mark Adkin, page 519).

Captain C.T. Atkinson's "The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 1914-1919" (page 110):

Directly the town [Nasiriya] had been occupied [on 25th July 1915] the transfer of troops back to the Tigris line for the advance on Kut was begun. In that advance The Queens Own was represented only by the few men serving as machine gunners on the flotilla which co-operated with General Townsend's force. Some of these distinguished themselves in the Battle for Kut, and three, Corpl. Bax and Ptes. Mires and Pannett, earned the D.C.M. for bold and skilful handling of their weapons. But the 12th Brigade was left on the Euphrates and many months were to pass before the battalion saw the last of Nasiriyra. Early in August it received a welcome draft of 200 officers and men, volunteers from Territorial battalions in India. These included Lieut. Haslam and 41 men from the 4th R.W.K., and similar detachments from the 5th Battalion under Lieut. Marshall, and from the 5th Buffs and 2/4th and 2/6th Devons. Their arrival brought the [2nd] battalion's much depleted ranks up to a respectable strength again, and with the improvement in the climate that accompanied the advance of autumn the sick rate declined and a certain number of recovered sick and wounded rejoined. Brig.-Gen. McNab, who had joined the Brigade soon after the fall of Nasiriya, was invalided after about a month and replaced by Brig.-Gen. H.T. Brooking, till then in command at Bushire. Early in November the uneventful course of the battalion's doings was broken by a sudden order for two companies to proceed at once down river to Qurna for employment at Kut al Amara, from which place the Sixth Division had advanced on Baghdad. Nos II. and IV. Companies accordingly left Nasiriya on November 9th under Major Nelson. There was a general hope that the departure of this detachment was only the prelude to the move of the whole battalion to a more active theatre of operations, twice before it was noted had this happened, but this was not to be, and the end of 1915 found the headquarter wing still at Nasiyira, by which time Major Nelson's detachment was already in its fourth week as part of the closely invested garrison of Kut. A small reinforcement had been received on December 1st consisting of Major Woulfe-Flanagan, Captain Case Morris and 23 men, recovered sick and wounded, but otherwise December had proved quite uneventful.

2nd Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment had been stationed at Multan, Punjab (now Pakistan) at the outbreak of war. In January 1915 it embarked for Mesopotamia from Bombay arriving at Basra to join the 12th Indian Brigade. Kut fell to the Turks in April 1916.

Arthur died 2nd November 1915 (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial (panel 29) . His service number was L/9459. The Basra Memorial was moved in 1997 and is now located 32 kilometres along the road to Nasiriyah, in the middle of what was a major battleground during the first Gulf War.

Arthur was in the same battalion, the 2nd, as George Burrluck (in 1901 at Phoenix Cottages on Red Hill) who died in Turkish captivity after siege of Kut. The vicar in January 1917 still shows Arthur on his list of those serving marked as being a prisoner. His death in November 1915 was before the siege of Kut -started in December 1915 with British surrender in April 1916.

Arthur is also commemorated on the Teston War Memorial.