IMMANUEL

Adam was an incomer as he was born and started life at 31 Vernon Street in Darwen. 

He was baptised at St Peter’s Church on the 2nd June by the Rev Robbs. 

His Mum and Dad were Mary and William and he was the 4th of eight siblings, 

Elizabeth, Sarah Anne, Catherine, Thomas, William, Joseph and John. 

He was called after his grandfather Adam Slater. 

 

During 1898 when Adam was two his Dad who was a mechanic got a job in the Star Paper Mill so the family moved to Feniscowles. 

They lived at 11 Laurel Bank Terrace, on Moulden Brow. and the children went to Feniscowles School which is now the church hall. Adam left school on the 1st May 1908 at the age of 13 and started as a paper makers assistant at the Star Paper mill. 

With an ever growing family they moved to 24 Bank Street at Cherry Tree. It is now Hillcrest Road and the site of his home became an old peoples home and more recently a new housing estate. 

  

When he turned 18, he went down to Canterbury Street and joined the part time territorial army, the 4th East Lancs. Regiment. 

When war was declared in August 1914 they became full time. The regiment did their basic training at Chesham Fold Camp near Bury and after this they sailed on 10 September 1914 from Southampton for Egypt where they landed at Alexandria on the 25th. The voyage on a troop ship was not without incident and several times they were attacked by submarines. 
 In fact the cap badge of the East Lancs. Regt. is a Sphinx and it was in the middle east that the regiment seen most of the actions they took part in. 

  

In February 1915 Adam took part in the action that repulsed a Turkish attack on the Suez Canal. 

  

May, saw Adam embarked at Alexandria with the rest of the battalion and set sail for Gallipoli where on the 9th May they landed at Cape Helles. 

 

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The 4th East Lancs. were now lining up to take part of an assault with the objective of taking the village of Krithia which was protected by five lines of Turkish trenches. 

On the morning of the 4th  June a bombardment of the enemy lines started using army guns and also from warships sailing close to the shore. This went on until noon when the signal to advance was given and the first wave of British troop went into action.   

They quickly reached the first of the Turkish trenches where they found the Turkish troops either dead, wounded or badly dazed by the bombardment. But they did not give up without a fight and shovels were swapped for bayonets to finally take the trench. The second wave swept through and set about taking the second Turkish trench line which was a further 500 yards behind the first.  

   

They also achieved this objective as they were supported for the first time by naval armoured cars fitted with Maxim Machine guns.   

By the end of the day the centre of the line had been taken right back to the Turkish fifth line of trenches but not as far as the village of Krithia. 

The next day the Turks had regrouped and counter attached and vicious fighting, a lot of it hand to hand, ensued for the rest of the day.  At first the British had to give way on two of the formerly Turkish trenches but they were able to retake them by nightfall. 

  

It was during this fighting that Adam was wounded and also contracted dysentery and despite being evacuated back to Cairo he died on the 5th June 1915  

We now know that the cure for dysentery is simply clean water. 

He is buried in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery along with 2,055 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War.