A CAMPAIGN for a memorial to mark a corner of a foreign field that is forever Essex has been launched.

Ted Bailey, whose grandfather Frank Bailey served with 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment throughout the First World War, is calling for a memorial to be erected to mark the unit’s service during a key battle.

On July 1, 1916, some 1,000 soldiers from 1st Essex went over the top at Beaumont Hamel, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Within hours, 69 men were dead and 155 wounded as the attack was broken up by the hail of machine gun fire coming from the German trenches.

The sacrifice of Essex soldiers on that day has long been overshadowed by controversy over the failure to synchronise their attack with the neighbouring Newfoundland Regiment, which had 255 men killed and 386 wounded from its original strength of 800 men.

The battlefield has been preserved and stands as a memorial to Canadian troops, with no mention of Essex soldiers’ involvement in the failed attack.

At the time Frank Bailey, who grew up in Copford, was serving as regimental sergeant major for 1st Essex.

Ted Bailey, who has written a book called A Major Service about his relative, said: “As part of the research, I toured all the battlefields where the regiment fought and, at Beaumont Hamel, I noticed there was nothing about Essex soldiers.

“The Canadians have got this fantastic memorial park with their native trees planted and a visitor centre. It is right that their loss is commemorated, but you would never know Essex soldiers fought there.

“I spoke to a volunteer and all he could say was 1st Essex didn’t get out of their trenches to support the Newfoundlanders.

“But they did. They followed their orders precisely and paid a hard price for it.

“I think this is scandalous and feel it vital that 1st Essex are rightfully remembered, before memories fade.”

Mr Bailey, who lives in Epsom, has written to the mayor of Beaumont Hamel, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Essex Regiment Association to raise the idea of putting up a memorial.

“All I want is a little plaque somewhere to say the Essex Regiment was here and they fought and died bravely for their country,” he said.

“I’m just starting my campaign and I want people to get in touch to show support and see how we can take it forward.

“There must be people who lost relatives fighting at Beaumont Hamel – although it would be grandparents at least by now – and want their sacrifice marked.”

Mr Bailey said recent events at Fromelles, where the bodies of 250 soldiers who were killed during the same battle and found in a mass grave have been reburied with full military honours, had “focused my determination” for a memorial to 1st Essex.

The unit suffered heavy casualties through the Somme offensive, which lasted into the autumn of 1916 without achieving the decisive break in the German lines it was intended to deliver Mr Bailey said: “The whole attack was a complete cock-up, which was typical of how the British Army was led at the time.

“I’ve stood in the trenches where my grandfather must have stood encouraging the troops under his command to attack and to think of what they all went through is overwhelming.”

On the Thiepval Memorial, which lists 72,090 British and Commonwealth men who died in the Somme and who have no known grave, there are the names of 949 members of the Essex Regiment.

Frank Bailey joined the Army in 1901 and fought in the Boer War, First World War and the Irish War of Independence, as well as serving in India and Germany.

Mr Bailey said: “He had an incredible career and must have had both terrifying and wonderful experiences as a soldier.

“In the First World War, he was at the first day of Gallipoli, the Somme, Cambrai and Arras. To serve in four campaigns of that scale, the odds of him coming through alive are amazing.

“He never spoke about it, but then it wasn’t the way for people of his generation to talk about their experiences then.”

Frank Bailey left the Army in 1937 with the rank of major, before being briefly called up during the Second World War and retired within months after turning 60.

He died in 1956, aged 73.

To support Ted Bailey’s campaign, contact him on 0208 397 4139 or info@tedbailey.co.uk