110th Anniversary Edition — July 1, 2026
On the morning of July 1st, 1916, more than 57,000 British and Dominion soldiers became casualties along the Somme front; the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army.
At a village called Beaumont-Hamel, the First Battalion of the Newfoundland Regiment was sent forward into open ground with the wire still standing and the machine guns already aimed. 710 men out of 801 became casualties in approximately thirty minutes.
In this episode, we follow two brothers from that regiment: Harry and Alfred Hynes of Glenwood, Newfoundland, through enlistment, the crossing, and the field itself.
Harry was listed missing on July 1st, 1916. He was twenty-one years old.
Alfred survived Beaumont-Hamel, recovered, and returned to the line three times, wounded each time, carrying a piece of German shrapnel that surgeons never removed.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, July 1st is Memorial Day. This episode is why.
Sources
Primary Sources
Service file, Private Harry Raymond Hynes, No. 1621, First Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment — including attestation paper, conduct sheet, casualty form, and correspondence from the Colonial Secretary’s office. Library and Archives Canada / The Rooms, Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Service file, Corporal Alfred Lacey Hynes, No. 1463, First Battalion, Newfoundland Regiment — including attestation paper, medical history, casualty forms (Army Form B.103), Medical Report on a Soldier Boarded (Army Form B.179A), conduct sheet, and discharge documentation. Library and Archives Canada / The Rooms, Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador.
CWGC commemoration certificate, Private Harry Raymond Hynes — Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Newfoundland Postal Telegraphs forms — missing and wounded notifications to Esau Hynes, July 1916. From both brothers’ service files.
Memorial Plaque receipt — signed by Esau Hynes, Norris Arm, 1921. Harry Hynes service file.
Secondary Sources
Nicholson, G.W.L. The Fighting Newfoundlander: A History of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Government of Newfoundland, 1964. — Official regimental history. Primary reference for the Newfoundland Regiment’s order of battle, engagement details at Beaumont-Hamel, Monchy-le-Preux, and Cambrai, and the regiment’s broader wartime record.
Cook, Tim. At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1914–1916. Vol. 1. Viking, 2007. — Essential context for the Western Front in 1916, the Somme offensive, and the experience of soldiers in the line.
Cook, Tim. Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917–1918. Vol. 2. Viking, 2008. — Context for Cambrai and the later war period.
Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum. “Beaumont-Hamel — July 1, 1916.” — Unit-level account of the engagement, including battalion war diary figures.
Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum. “Arras 1917 (Monchy-le-Preux).” — Account of the April 1917 engagement and casualties.
Veterans Affairs Canada. “The Newfoundland Regiment and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel.” — Casualty figures and regimental overview.
The Rooms, Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador. “The First Five Hundred.” — Enlistment, early training, and the Blue Puttees.
Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador. “Beaumont Hamel: July 1, 1916.” — Tactical overview, German 119th Reserve Regiment defensive preparations, Hawthorn Ridge mine.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial — memorial record and panel inscriptions. cwgc.org.
A Note on Sources
No quotes are attributed to Harry or Alfred Hynes beyond what appears in the documentary record. All narration draws on verified primary documents or established secondary scholarship. Outstanding items — including the verbatim text of the Colonial Secretary’s correspondence — are drawn directly from the brothers’ service files and read into the episode as archival inserts.
