Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 94th Company, Service no. 27567
Son of Josiah Prince and Sarah Bickerdike, Leeds Road, Kippax
Killed in action 1st July 1916, aged 25
Story
Lance Corporal Prince was born in Kippax on 7th June 1891, and worked as a banksman at Ledston Luck Colliery. He enlisted in Otley, and was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after being in France only 3 months. He took part in the attack on Serre, the Pals battalions attached at this point took very heavy losses. His brother Henry also enlisted, and survived the war, although he was wounded.
Lance Corporal Thomas Edward Cox, who was married to Thomas Prince’s sister Ruth, wrote a letter to his father-in-law Josiah Prince, explaining that Thomas had been killed in action, although the circumstances of his death were unknown. Thomas was buried at Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps, Somme, France (below):
Machine gun tactics
There are many instances where a single well-placed and protected machine-gun cut great swathes in attacking infantry. Nowhere was this demonstrated with more devastating effect than against the British army’s attack on the Somme on 1 July 1916 and against the German attack at Arras on 28 March 1918. Multiple machine guns, with interlocking fields of fire, were an incredibly destructive defensive weapon.
Kippax Roll of Honour 