Grimsby Chums

When the call came from Lord Kitchener for volunteers, the headmaster of Wintringham Grammar School in Grimsby decided to raise a 250-strong company of former pupils which would be based at the armoury of the school's Officer Training Corps.

On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, the Grimsby Chums were in the first wave attacking the fortified village of La Boisselle, just south of the Albert–Bapaume road.

Here many were trapped for the rest of the day, harassed by both German and British artillery.

The only officer to make it was 2nd Lieutenant Harold P. Hendin who led five men to the German reserve trench (the third trench in the front-line system) and, gathering stragglers as the day progressed, he held off a series of German counter-attacks before having to retire.

In total the Grimsby Chums suffered 502 casualties on 1 July; 15 officers and 487 other ranks.