FROM QUARRY BANK MILL TO FRANCE :

THE MILITARY SERVICE OF ARTHUR TYLSTON GREG

21.8.1894      Born, son of Colonel Ernest W Greg CB VD, and Marian Greg, of Northcliffe Hall, Styal, Cheshire

9.1908            Rugby School. Featherweight Boxing Team

1913               Left Rugby

3.1913            Entered New College

8.1914            Commissioned as 2Lt 3^rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment (stationed at Birkenhead as part of the Mersey Defences until 12.1917). Served as bombing officer

9.1914            Posted to British Expeditionary Force

26.10.1914    Attached to 2^nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys)

1.1915            Attached to 1^st Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, 15^th Brigade, 5^th Division

8.5.1915         Severely wounded

11.1915          Promoted Captain, 3^rd Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment

9.1916            Attached to Royal Flying Corps

28.2.1917      Graded as Flying Officer (pilot)

4.1917            Posted to the British Expeditionary Force, attached to 55 Squadron, RFC

23.4.1917      Left at 3.50 pm as pilot of 55 Squadron Air-Co DH 4 bomber A7408.

Eight DH4 bombers of 55 Squadron were to join five Martinsyde Elephants of 27 Squadron for a bombing raid on an ammunition factory at Etreux and a sugar factory at Lechelle. An escort was provided by four Nieuport Scouts of 29 Squadron, which had taken off 15 minutes before.

Two of the DH4 bombers are believed to have force-landed before reaching the lines, presumably due to engine problems.

                        Twelve 112 lb bombs were dropped by the DH4 bombers on Etreux, before the formation flew on to Lechelle. Five Martinsydes and four DH4 bombers are reported to have attacked Lechelle, dropping a total of ten 112 lb and forty two 20 lb bombs.

                        The formation returned via St Quentin. 12 miles south of Boue the formation was attacked by between seven and nine German Albatros DIII scouts, which approached the formation from the north-west. It is believed that these aircraft were from Jastas 12 and 26, and one of the pilots was Herman Goering.

                        DH4 A2147 was the first bomber to be attacked. An Albatros closed to within 300 yards before diving away steeply. The crew of A2147 consisted of Lt IV Pyott, who had been awarded a Distinguished Service Order for destroying Zeppelin L36 over Hartlepool in 1916, and his observer, 2Lt A D Taylor. Taylor had fired at the Albatros as it approach, believed that he had hit it, and later claimed that it had dived away out of control. Pyott agreed with this, stating that the Albatros was red in colour. A2147 was then attacked by another Albatros, which dived underneath and then across the DH4. Gunfire from the Albatros wounded Taylor in the arm, and sufficiently damaged the DH4 that Pyott only just managed to get it back to the aerodrome before being forced to land.

Meanwhile, 2Lt F L Oliver, an observer in another DH4, was struggling to get his Lewis machine gun to work : It had jammed after firing two shots. An Albatros closed with the defenceless bomber and opened fire, hitting Oliver in the foot and smashing his Lewis gun. 

In A7410, piloted by Lt T Webb, the observer was having more luck. Air Mechanic 1^st Class W Bond fired two bursts at a pursuing Albatros, and then saw it spin down in a nose-dive over Edgehill. However, the engine of A7410 had been hit, and the aircraft began to lose height. Webb struggled to keep the DH4 airborne as it crossed the lines, and crash-landed at Buire.

                        DH4 A7410 was also attacked, crash-landing at Ervillers inside the British Lines. Captain Greg had been fatally wounded. The observer, 21451 Air Mechanic First Class Robert William Robson was badly wounded. Robson died in hospital on 18 May 1917.

It is unclear which German pilots were responsible for shooting down the bombers, due to the confusion during the air battle. Untz Jorke and Vfz Grigo, both of Jasta 12, were credited with the destruction of one DH4 each.

One of the 27 Squadron Martinsyde Elephants was claimed as shot down. This was 7501 attacked by Offz Rudolf Weckbrodt, of Jasta 26, south-west of Itancourt. Weckbrodt shot away the rudder of the Martinsyde and wounded the pilot, Lt M H Coote, in the leg. Coote managed to fly back to base. Weckbrodt believed that he had attacked a DH4, and this was what he was credited with.

Two of the escorting Nieuport scouts from 29 Squadron were lost. These were both forced to land in the British Lines at Rochmecourt at 4:45 pm. One of the pilots, Lt WPT Watts in B1520 was wounded. 2Lt JD Atkinson, in B1516, was uninjured. German artillery destroyed the aircraft before they could be recovered.

Arthur Tylston Greg was buried at Jussy Communal Cemetery, Aisne, France.

21451 Air Mechanic 1^st Class Robert William Robson, was the son of Isabella and the late Mark Robson, of Ridley Mill Farm, Stocksfield, Northumberland. He is buried in the Boisguillaume Communal Cemetery Extension, Seine-Maritime, France.

Greg’s brother, 2Lt Robert Philips Greg, was also killed in the war:

10.2.1899      Born

9.1912            Rugby School

1917               Left Rugby

Commissioned as 2Lt in 4^th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, Territorial Force

29.4.1918      Wounded in action at Kemmel in Belgium. Serving on attachment to 11 (Service) Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, 75^th Brigade, 25^th Division.

3.5.1918         Died of wounds. Buried Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

                        Greg’s other brother was Alexander Carlton Greg :

24.4.1901      Born

5.1915            Rugby School

1919               Left Rugby

1922               BA Trinity College, Cambridge

                        Greg’s father :

1862               Born, second son of Edward Hyde Greg DL JP

1888               Married Marion, eldest daughter of John Kynaston Gross, Bolton MP and Under Secretary of State for India in 1885. Three sons, two daughters.

1910               Commanding Officer, 7^th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment

1915               Commanding Officer, third line Welsh Division, Territorial Force

1916               Commanding Officer, 4^th (Reserve) Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment

1918               CB

1919               Relinquished command of 4^th (Reserve) Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment

Notes              Mentioned in despatches twice for service in Great War.

                        Volunteer Decoration

                        JP for Lancashire and Cheshire

                        FRGS

                        Educated Rugby School (1876)

                        Clubs : Travellers, Union (Manchester)

Greg’s temporary grave marker is on display at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal,

Cheshire