FLUX Leonard Taylor

Leonard attended Worcester Royal Grammar School from 1907 to 1910. At the time of his death the family were living in Blanquettes Avenue, Worcester. Leonard joined the 2nd Battalion on 14th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. On 1st November the front line of the Battalion was heavily shelled throughout the day. The British artillery grew heavier during the afternoon until 3.30pm when the British guns ceased firing and the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment advanced through the mud to attack the enemy lines. It was a lengthy struggle through the morass with the laden soldiers sinking up to their knees in mud, often losing boots and putties as they struggled with great difficulty to release each foot from the mud. Slowly they waded up the slight slope but as they reached the crest, which hid the enemy from view, they were met by a storm of bullets from German machine-gunners. Under such conditions casualties were high and those who survived sought shelter in water-logged shell holes until darkness fell and allowed them to wade back to the British lines. Second Lieutenant Flux was the only officer to die during the attack.

Source for additional information: In Dedication to a Future World by Mark Rogers, 1999.

A photograph of Second Lieutenant L.T. Flux of Worcester can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 11th November 1916, available at Worcestershire Archives.

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
1911 Census
Leonard Flux, aged 16, noted as a Warehouse Clerk, living as a boarder at 2 January Street, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester
The Flux family were resident at 158 Ombersley Road, Worcester: Albert Ernest (father), commercial traveller, drapery: mother, 2 brothers and 1 servant.

Leonard Flux was born in Chorlton, Manchester. The family had moved to Worcester by 1897. He enlisted as a Private in Royal Fusiliers, Service No. 2666. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant into the Worcestershire Regiment on the 23rd January 1915, and sent to France on the 9th September 1916.

The Battle of the Somme opened on the 1st July 1916. The 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was engaged in action in the vicinity of Lesboeufs (about 7 kilometres south of Bapaume) towards the end of October 1916 (the taking of Boriska and Dewdrop Trenches). The Regimental War Diaries may specifically identify where Leonard Flux was killed.

Leonard Flux has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Thiepval Memorial.