David's Story.
David was born in 1895, to parents Samuel and Alice. By 1901 the family were living at 36 Carnforth Street, Birkenhead. By then he had two sisters, Mary Ellen and Joyce and three brothers, William, Samuel Edward and Robert. David was educated at The Woodlands School in BirkenheadThe family had moved to 17, Clarendon Street, Birkenhead. David, now 16 years old, was a driver for a Builder & Contractor. He also had two more sisters, Lillian May and Ada.
In October 1914, two months into the First World War, David enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in the Dardanelles from the 8th September 1915. After a short period he was transferred to the South Wales Borderers, returning to the UK, before being posted to France from 5th March 1916 to the 2nd Battalion.
In early April 1916 David with his Battalion were billeted at Englebelmer on the Somme. By the 6th April David’s unit had moved into the trenches around Mary Redan, south of Beaumont Hamel. The unit war diary for that day describes that in the evening the Germans opened a heavy bombardment consisting of “minenwerfen and HE (high explosive) and shrapnel – the whole sector held by the Battn. came under fire”. This barrage then lifted to the support and communication trenches allowing a party of Germans to enter the front line. This attack was repelled by late evening. It was during the action that day that Private David Hughes was killed.
Information by Chris