Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An exceptional Battle of Guillemont 1916 immediate D.S.O. group of five awarded to Major W. H. L. Barnett, Bedfordshire Regiment, late Roberts Horse: the calibre of Barnett’s gallantry on the Somme may be gleaned from the fact he was a Lieutenant (Acting Captain) at the time of winning his decoration - and by the fact he received the second of his Great War tally of five wounds on the same occasion

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamels; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg (2334 Serjt., Robert’s Horse), single initial ‘W.’; British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Major); Coronation 1911, edge nicks, otherwise very fine and better (5) £1800-2200

D.S.O. London Gazette 14 November 1916:
‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. He led his company with the greatest courage and determination. Later he led his company on the assault after suffering nine hours under barrage fire. His gallantry and initiative greatly assisted the success of the operations.’

Mention in despatches London Gazette 4 January 1917.

William Harold Louis Barnett was born in October 1875 and was educated at Wellington College ‘and in Switzerland to learn French.’ He subsequently enlisted in Roberts Horse on the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa, rose to the rank of Sergeant and was awarded the above described Queen’s South Africa Medal and clasps (official records refer).

On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Barnett enlisted in the 2nd King Edward’s Horse but was commissioned into the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in February 1915 and went out to France in April of the same year, where he was attached to the 1st Battalion, thereby qualifying for the 1914-15 Star. During that period, according to a statement of services he forwarded to the War Office in June 1917, ‘I was wounded slightly, remaining at duty, at the end of June 1915 and in August 1916. Of these slight wounds ... the hearing of both ears is slightly affected.’ Judging by the barrage he survived for several hours in the combined attack on Longuieval on the Somme on 26 July 1916, it was a miracle he could hear anything at all. Having advanced with his company up a valley that was ‘full of gas’ - and where ‘gas shells were still falling thickly’ - Barnett and his men found themselves without cover and at the mercy of a vicious enemy barrage:

‘At zero hour the Norfolks attacked; on the left machine-gun fire absolutely held up their advance. Captain Barnett’s company of the Bedfords, coming forward, found the trench full of Norfolks; there was no room, and shelter had to be hurriedly dug under a terrific shell fire. The second company, coming forward shortly afterwards to keep up with the barrage after capture of the second objective, found itself in a similar predicament. Trench mortars were ordered to deal with the machine-gun posts, but before they could be got into position the ammunition, guns and most of the crew were buried by shell fire. Eventually, when it became clear that no advance was possible here, Captain Barnett was given orders to move back the remnants of the two companies to the old German second line, where there was some shelter. Even here the shelling was bad. Private Ashby (the Officer’s Mess cook), when asked later how he fared, said “There was no room in the dug out, it was full of wounded, so I just waited for death in the open for five long hours.” There were several cases of men going temporarily mad under the strain that day ...’ (The Story of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, 1988, refers).

But it was for his great gallantry in the battle of Guillemont in September 1916 that Barnett was awarded his immediate D.S.O. Assigned to the attack on Falfemont Farm on the 3rd-4th, the Bedfordshires captured “Wedge Wood” ‘after hand-to-hand fighting at high loss’, and, because of the close proximity of the enemy positions, yet further loss to our own supporting barrage. In the end, however, largely as a result of Barnett’s daring leadership in the afternoon of the 4th, ‘German resistance suddenly collapsed. Three officers and 128 men of the 164th Regiment came streaming through our line with their hands up.’ He was, however, wounded by a gunshot ‘through the lobe of the right ear and neck’, and was evacuated to England.

On returning to France at the end of the year, Barnett joined the 4th Battalion as newly promoted Captain, and remained actively employed until being severely wounded by an H.E. shell on 7 February 1917. He was evacuated to England with a fractured skull and multiple wounds to his right arm, but managed to write to the War Office that June to see whether he was entitled to a wound gratuity.

Subsequently employed as a Railway Transport Officer in Italy from December 1917 until May 1918, Barnett was commended by the Commodore Commanding, British Adriatic Force, for organising the rapid passage of important naval stores through Bari. But on rejoining the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshires in France in late May 1918, he was yet again severely wounded during the fightng that became known as the “The Defence of Nieppe Forest”.

The gallant and much shot-about Barnett was placed on the Retired List in September 1919, on account of ill-health caused by wounds, and granted the rank of Major. And he died at Ingatestone, Essex in 1936, as a result of ‘a clot to the heart caused by the head wounds he received at the Front’.