Pte 24636 Philip Joseph O'Brien

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

24636 Private Philip O’BRIEN, 18^th Battalion, KLR.

Philip Joseph was born in Liverpool on 04th April 1895 and was baptised on 14^th April in St Oswald’s Roman Catholic Church, Liverpool. He was the son of James O’Brien, and his wife  Mary Jane (nee D'Arcy) who were married as O’Brian on the 16^th January 1893 also at St Oswald’s Church, James was of 49 Rock Mount, father Martin, whilst Mary was of 109 Ullet Road, father Philip.

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 29, Rock Mount North, West Derby, Liverpool. His father, James, is aged 37, born in Ireland in 1864 is a warehouse porter, his mother Mary is aged 34, born 1867 in Liverpool and has no occupation listed. They have five children living in the household at the time of the Census; James aged 7, born 1894, Philip aged 5, Martin aged 4, born 1897, Francis aged 2, born 1899 and Kathleen born 1900. Their children were all born in Liverpool.  

Philip was educated at St Oswald's Roman Catholic Primary School, Old Swan.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 8 Marlborough Grove, Birkenhead, Cheshire. His father James, is aged 47, and is still employed as a warehouse porter, his mother Mary is aged 44 and has no occupation listed. They have been married for eighteen years and have had eleven children of which three had died. Those present in the household are shown as; James aged 17, is a café waiter, Philip aged 15, is a tramway’s point boy, Martin aged 14, Francis aged 12, Kathleen aged 10, Agnes aged 8, Sarah aged 6 are all at school and Lawrence is aged 4, he was  born in 1907.   

Philip enlisted in Liverpool on 08th January 1915 joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 24636. He had previously been employed as a shed assistant at the Smithdown Road Wavertree Depot, of Liverpool Corporation Tramways.

From the 23^rd September 1914 the Battalion was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Philip embarked for France with his Battalion on 07th November 1915.

He was killed in action on 01^st July 1916, aged 21, during the attack at Montauban.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter wrote in the conclusion of his account of the day’s action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.   

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

Philip's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Philip was remembered by his family on the first anniversary of his death in the Liverpool Daily Post on 02^nd July 1917: