PLUCKLEY - Kent Fallen

WAITE J.T
Lieutenant Joseph THORP-WAITE. 5 th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Died
Friday 21 st January 1916 aged 45 years. Son of Doctor and Mrs Ellen Waite. Husband of Hilda
Mary Waite of Breeze Hill, Bowdon, Altrincham, Cheshire. Son-in-Law of Mr Smith of Swinford
Old Manor, Ashford, Kent. Buried in the Amara War Cemetery, Amara, Iraq. Grave reference
XIX.C.2. The Buffs regimental history (Col Moody) gives the circumstances of Joseph’s death. He
was badly wounded in action and died the same day. Captain A.G.A Adam (a Wye College man)
was also killed in the same battle.
Before the outbreak of war Joseph was the practising Pluckley Medical Doctor. He had spent
many years in the West of Africa with his family before coming to Pluckley. Upon enlisting into the
Buffs Joseph became the unit Medical Officer. It is not known how he came to serve in the Buffs
(an infantry unit) and not the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). He was mature in age to be
serving in the infantry as a junior officer.
The Hanna Defile is a narrow strip of dry land between the River Tigris and the Great Suwaikiya
Marshes. The mouth of the Hanna Lines lies upstream of the Wadi, some 8 miles towards Kut-al-
Amara. It was the rainy season days were hot, foggy and humid and nights were below freezing.
On the 20 th January the Turkish defences at Hanna came under heavy British artillery
bombardment. After the bombardment the infantry moved forward to attack. The 21 st was a busy
time for the 5 th Buffs in the frontline. The Turks rose out of their trenches and literally cut the
attacking British infantry down. Very few British soldiers reached their objective. On the 22 nd
January a truce was arranged and both sides recovered their killed and wounded from the
battlefield. British losses in this action amounted to 2,700 men.
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