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Captain Noel Burgess MICHELL
11th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) Date of birth: 24th December 1885 Date of death: 22nd March 1918 Killed in action aged 32 Commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial Panel 19 to 21
Noel Burgess Michell was born at Steyning in Sussex on the 24th of December 1885 the second son of George Burgess Michell, a wine and spirits merchant, and Edith Rosina (nee Edghill) Michell of 11 Sackville Gardens, Hove in Sussex. He was christened at Steyning on the 4th of April 1886. He was educated at Malvern College from September 1899 to July 1904 where he was in School House and was appointed as a House Prefect. He was a House Scholar, a member of the House Football XI, and was a School Prefect. He was admitted as a Major Scholar to Trinity College Cambridge on the 26th of June 1905, where he won the College Classics Prize in 1906 and achieved a BA First Class Tripos in 1908. He was an assistant master at Lancing College from 1911 to 1913. While he was at the school he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Officer Training Corps on the 26th of June 1912 and ceased to serve with them on the 28th of February 1914. He achieved Certificate A while he was with the Corps. He went on to work as an assistant master at Bedales School, where he taught classics and modern languages, from January to July 1914. On the outbreak of war he enlisted as a Private in a Public Schools Battalion. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 13th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) on the 19th of September 1914 and transferred to the 14th (Reserve) Battalion on the 7th of July 1915. He transferred to the 11th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers on the 2nd of December 1915 with seniority in rank from the 19th of September 1914 and went to France in 1915. In a letter dated the 8th of December 1915, he wrote the following to his colleagues at Bedales: - “This part of the line … is not one of the worst, except as far as mining goes. … Mining and counter-mining are perpetually going on, with the result that you never know when you and your men will be heaved up aloft or buried in the debris of an explosion. … Of course if you know where a mine is going off, you try not to be there, since, like hot-tempered teachers, they are apt to explode when you least expect them.” He gives a graphic account of the mud in the trenches which “in our sector of the line are habitually knee deep in mud”. Even more he hates the rats, “of which unpleasant animals there are hundreds”. He is convinced that the British army is better fed and more supplied with ammunition than “the brutal Boche” and also has much more spirit, “joking and laughing all the time … from a profound lightness of heart, a sort of blessed cheeriness, which combined with their d.…d doggedness … will certainly win the war.” He was promoted to Captain on the 20th of November 1916 and was mentioned in despatches on the 13th of November 1916, which was announced in the London Gazette of the 4th of January 1917. On the night of the 7/8th of May 1917 the battalion was engaged in digging communication trenches from Heninel to the front line at Cherisy following a major attack there three days earlier. During this operation Noel Michell was hit by shrapnel and was evacuated to 32 Casualty Clearing Station. His father received the following telegram dated the 12th of May 1917: - "Regret to inform you Capt. N.B. Michell 11/Royal Fusiliers was wounded May eighth (sic) - will send any further news." On the 19th of May he was loaded on board 20 Hospital Train and taken to Camiers. His father received a further dated the 22nd of May 1917: - "Regret to inform you Capt. N.B. Michell 11 Royal Fusiliers admitted 20 General Hospital Camiers May twenty ninth. Severe gunshot wound head. Will send any further news." He was evacuated from Calais on the 22nd of May 1917 on board the SS "Princess Elizabeth" and he landed at Dover later the same day. On the 23rd of May he arrived at the Temporary Hospital, Exeter. On the 15th of August 1917 a Medical Board sat at the Kitchener Hospital, Brighton which reported: - "This officer was struck by a fragment of shell on top of head. Skull was exposed but not fractured. Wound is entirely healed now. He has slight deafness in left ear and complains of some tinnitus in left ear at times. This case has improved in last two weeks." He was granted a period of leave from the 16th of August 1917 and was posted to the 5th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Fusiliers at Dover on the 7th of September. A Medical Board which sat at the Military Hospital Dover on the 24th of September 1917 passed him as "fit for general service". On the 18th of October 1917 he wrote to the War Office saying that he was still suffering from severe tinnitus of the left ear and a slight impairment of hearing. He received orders to return to the front on the 30th of October 1917 and embarked for France on the 22nd of November, rejoining his battalion in the field on the 27th of November 1917. On the 2nd of March 1918 he went on Course "A" for company commanders and returned to his battalion on the 12th of March. On the 21st of March 1918 the Germans began their spring offensive, Operation "Michael". At this time the 11th Battalion Royal Fusiliers was in positions at Caillouel and described the opening bombardment on their front line as "the worst ever experienced." At 8am they were ordered to Tombelle Wood and by noon they had been transported there by lorry. At 1pm they were ordered to counterattack and retake the line between Montescourt and Ly Fontaine where the Germans attack was well advanced and needed checking. In concert with the a battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment they advanced, crossed the Crozat Canal meeting little resistance and by 7pm they were consolidating. Their work was stopped by fresh orders which ordered them to move to cover the rearguard on the 14th Division on their northern flank and then to withdraw across the canal to the village of Jussy, which they did, arriving at their new position after midnight. Having been fed they realised that the canal at Jussy made a sharp bend to the west leaving the town in a small salient surrounded on three sides. At daylight the German attack began using field guns and mortars as well as enfilade fire from machine guns. Repeated attempts were made by the enemy to cross the canal and despite a determined resistance, they made a foothold on the west bank of the canal. A fierce battle took place on the towpath but with the assistance of the Northamptons the Germans were forced back across the canal. The Royal Fusiliers managed to maintain their line until nightfall at heavy cost. His father received the following telegram dated the 7th of April 1918: - "Deeply regret Capt. N.B. Michell Royal Fusiliers killed in action March twenty second. Army Council express sympathy." His father applied for his medals in October 1921. He is commemorated on the war memorial at Bedales School and on the memorials at Trinity College Cambridge and at Malvern College. He is also commemorated in the Hove Roll of Honour.

Master