Battery Quartermaster Sergeant Samuel Pye and a colleague, 1916 (c)

Photograph, World War One (1914-1918), 1915 (c).

A veteran of the 1st Essex Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers and the City of London Imperial Volunteers, Pye had fought in the Boer War (1899-1902), but left the Army in 1908. He re-enlisted in May 1915 and served and with the 59th Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery (TF).

The 59th was a second line Territorial formation raised in January 1915. After training it served in Ireland during the Easter Rising (1916) and deployed to the Western Front in the spring of 1917. It went on to fight at the Third Battle of Ypres (1917) and Battle of Cambrai (1917) and during the German Spring Offensive (1918).

From a collection of items associated with BQMS Samuel James Pye, 1900 (c)-1919.