Sergeant J Stewart was a patient
at Beechland House, Newick. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:
Sgt J. Stewart
D. Battery 84th Brigade
R F A
Gassed 18th Feb 1917
He shares this page with Company
Sergeant Major John A C Wilson of the Royal Garrison Artillery, 43009 Private Herbert Richard Barnes of the 13th Essex Regiment and 43262 Private Robert Vinton of the 10th West Yorkshire Regiment.
The 84th Brigade, RFA was a New
Army brigade formed in October 1914 which went on to serve with the 18th (Eastern) Division.
After training in the UK it arrived in France in July 1915, moving into
the Fricourt-Carnoy sector on the Somme.
At the beginning of 1917 a new
type of artillery unit was created, the Army Brigade RFA. Most of these were formed by withdrawing an artillery brigade from
each division and the 84th Brigade was selected from the 18th Division, assuming its new role on 22 Feb 1917. These brigades were available for attachment to any division, corps or army needing reinforcement in artillery, and
by the end of the war the 84th Army Brigade RFA had served with twenty two different divisions, taking part in the Battles
of Vimy Ridge, Messines, Flanders 1917, the March 1918 retreat and the counter-offensive that August.
Sources and Acknowledgements
