- See Archibald Palmer’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Archibald Palmer? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: A. Palmer
Born: July 1891, Cardiff
Date of Death: 27 September 1915
Age at death: 24
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Welsh Guards
Unit, Ship, etc: 1st Battalion
Enlisted: Cardiff
Rank: Private (Service No: 1290)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1915 Star)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed in Action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of Henry W T and Alice M Palmer, 70 Carlisle Street, Splott, Cardiff
Residence:
Home Department: Board of Trade – Labour Department (Wales Division)
Civilian Rank:
Cemetery or Memorial: Loos Memorial (Panel 10); Board of Trade War Memorial; Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour;
Biography:
Archibald Palmer was born in about July 1891 in Cardiff, Wales. His father was Henry Thomas Walter Palmer (1864-1921) and his mother was Alice Martha Felton (1858-1928). He was baptised at St Margaret’s Church, Roath, Glamorgan, Wales on 14 September 1891.
Archibald was one of five children. He had two sisters – Alice Martha Palmer (1888-?) and Mary Elizabeth Palmer (1897-?) and two brothers William Henry Palmer (1887-?) and Walter Thomas Palmer (1894-1971).
In the 1901 census, the Palmer family are living at 70 Carlisle Street, Roath. His father, Henry is working as a house painter and Archibald is aged 9 years old. Ten years later the Palmer family are still living at the same address. By this time, Archibald is aged 19 and studying science.
After leaving school we know that he joined the Board of Trade working in the Labour Department in a local labour exchange.
Archibald attested to serve as a Private with the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards who are Wales’s main infantry regiment and with a long standing military history. According to his military service number he first attested to serve in the military in around April or May 1915.
Archibald first served overseas in France from 17 August 1915 with his battalion. The battalion served as part of the 3rd Guards Brigade on the Western Front.
Archibald was killed in action aged 24 on 27 September 1915 only a little over a month after first arriving in France. He died during the first day of military action in which the Welsh Guards at the Battle of Loos. At the time, in 1915, this the largest British offensive which began in the coal mining area around the village of Loos. It was the first time that Kitchener’s “New Army” of volunteers fought in action. The Welsh Guards were tasked with taking German held positions at Hill 70. The Battle of Loos is also notorious for the first use of poison chlorine gas by the British on the battlefield. By the time the battle ending in October, the British had suffered around 60,000 casualties but they did succeed in capturing the ruined village of Loos.
At 4pm on 27 September 1915, the 1st Battalion, came under heavy artillery fire as it marched along the Vermelles-Loos Road. The Battalion suffered many casualties but continued on to the front line. At 6pm, they attacked Hill 70. Sadly, the Battalion suffered heavy casualties as a result of the machine guns placed on the summit. Its most probable that Archibald died during this particular military engagement of in the bombardment beforehand.
Archibald has no known grave. Instead he is one of over 20,000 men remembered on the Loos Memorial which forms the sides and back of the Dud Corner Cemetery located at Loos-en-Gohelle village in France.
Back in the UK, Archibald is remembered locally on the Ystradgynlais War Memorial and by two Civil Service War Memorials – the Board of Trade War Memorial and the Memorial to the Staff of the Ministry of Labour.
Board of Trade War Memorial 