Private Frank Stevens, 6th Bn The Buffs

In February 1918 Chailey Parish Magazine notes Stevens, Pte F, 6th Buffs.  Three months later, in May, it notes that he has been wounded and then, in July, that he has been invalided.  This information then appears regularly every month up to and including the final published roll call in July 1919. 

F Stevens is possibly Frank Stevens who appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as a two year old, born in Lindfield but living at North Common, Chailey.  The household comprised Trayton Farley (head, aged 63, a district council roadman), his wife Celia (aged 61), his son Francie Thomas (aged 19, an ordinary farm labourer) and two grandchildren: Gennette Sandalls (aged 14, working as a “nurse girl”) and Frank Stevens.  There was also a boarder at the house: Thomas Farrant, a widower and retired farmer aged 75, and a visitor: Violet Ethel Wyatt aged 25, a general servant. 

Michael of the Great War Forum writes: 

The only F Stevens that was discharged with an SWB from the Buffs was Fred Whiting Stevens. He had enlisted in Jan 1918 and was discharged with sickness in June 1919 not having gone overseas. I believe that men had to claim these badges so Frank may have been discharged but not applied for his badge.

G/18321 Private William Thomas Martin, 1/5th East Kent Regt

Chailey Parish Magazine notes in its January 1918 edition that Private W T Martin is serving with the 1/5th Buffs (East Kent Regiment).  This information is then repeated up to and including the final published roll in July 1919. 

He probably enlisted under The Derby Scheme and is almost certainly the same G/18321 Private W T Martin whose medal index card at The National Archives shows him serving with the 5th East Kent Regiment.  

William had been schooled at Newick and at some point he sent a photo of himself to John Oldaker, the headmaster of Newick School who had made it a point to contact all old boys and make notes about what they were doing and where they were serving.  His notes for William Martin state: 

[Pupil] 1894-1901.  Enlisted August 30th 1916, East Kent Regt, Buffs, 3rd Batt. Afterwards to 5th Battn.  Went to India March 1917. To Mesopotamia.

William's employers, H & W R Fuller, had actually applied for his exemption from military service, as reported by the Sussex Agricultural Express on the 26th May 1916. They were unsuccessful.

My thanks to Simon Stevens for the information and photograph from John Oldaker's album, and to Ancestry for the medal index card image.

618329 Pioneer William Henry Tingley, Royal Engineers

William Henry Tingley was born in 1899, his birth registered in the March quarter of that year. He appears on the 1901 census as the only son of William Henry and Jane Tingley. The family was living at No 1, Reedens Cottage, Newick and comprised: William senior (head, aged 26, a coachman), his wife Jane (aged 29) and their four children: Mabel Jane Tingley (aged seven), Annie Amelia Tingley (aged five), Margaret Elizabeth Tingley (aged three) and William (aged one).

William's Record of Service Paper (Army Form B2513) exists as a burnt document at the National Archives in London and from this we are able to tell that he enlisted with The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) on 12th June 1918. He gave his address as Reedens Cottage, Newick, his age as 18 years and eight months (which in turn places his date of birth around November 1899) and his occupation as agricultural labourer. He enlisted at Brighton and this was approved the following day at Chichester. He was given the number 26245 and posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. It was noted that he was five feet, five inches tall, had brown hair and eyes and a fresh complexion. He was vaccinated on the 18th, 24th and 28th June and appears to have remained with The Buffs for the remainder of that year.

On 14th March 1919 he was “compulsorily and permanently transferred” to the 1st Battalion and remained with them until August when he was transferred again, this time to the 6th Royal West Regiment and the Eastern Divisional Signalling Company. He was given a new number: 38561 but retained the rank of private. He was granted fourteen days’ leave between 29th August and 13th September 1919 and was transferred again on 12th January 1920, to the Royal Engineers where he became 618329 Pioneer W H Tingley. It is unclear when he was finally demobbed but he gave his home address on demob as Bank Cottage, Westmester, Ditchling, Sussex.

Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

G/25996 Pte Victor Ashford, The Buffs

On his service papers dated 25th May 1918, Victor Ashford’s home address is given as Colonels Bank, Chailey.  Geographically speaking, I believe that Colonels Bank was in Newick rather than Chailey, but as the service record states Chailey, I am including Victor’s First World War service here.  Brothers Frederick and George Smith, also remembered on this site, lived at Colonels Bank too, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s site noting this as being in Chailey.

Victor was called up for service at the age of 18 years and 11 months and posted to the 3rd Buffs; number G/25996 (although his preferred regiment was noted as The Royal Engineers). He was five feet eight and a half inches tall, a farm labourer who gave his next of kin as his father, James Ashford. 

Victor remained in England for just over four months before being sent to France with on 28th September 1918.  He joined the 10th Battalion in the Field on 5th October 1918 and remained with it until 5th December when he was admitted to the 51st Casualty Clearing Station with bronchitis.  He was moved to the 53rd General Hospital at Boulogne two days later and then, on 17th January 1919, returned to England from Wimereux aboard the Hospital Ship Jan Breydel. The following day he was admitted to the 1st Western General Hospital in Liverpool where he remained until 21st February when he was granted leave to return home until the 3rd March.

On 27th November that year, medically classified as B2, Victor was demobilised and awarded a final pension of five shillings and sixpence a week for one year.

Arthur Ridger - shot in the face

Londoner Arthur Charles Ridger was 16 years old when he attested with the East Kent Regiment in September 1914. The following July he was in France and only a few weeks later sustained a gunshot wound to his face. That was as long as his war in France lasted, but he was then in and out of hospitals until his discharge from the army in June 1916.

Arthur certainly spent time at Hickwells in Chailey and it was whilst he was there, at around Easter 1916, that he met Nurse Edith Oliver and left his mark in her album.

Arthur Ridger's WW1 service record survives. Read it NOW with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

G/18963 Private Charles Buckwell, 6th East Kent Regt

Charles Buckwell is one of Chailey's forgotten men. He was born in Chailey village and killed in action 89 years ago today. He is not however commemorated on Chailey's war memorial and I have often wondered whether the fact that he was illegitimate had anything to do with this. This is his story.

Charles was born around May 1880 and features on the 1881 census of England and Wales as a ten month old infant living at Buckwells Cottage, South Street, Chailey. The head of the family is noted as his grandfather, Charles Buckwell, a 53 year old agricultural labourer and his two daughters: Elizabeth Buckwell (aged 23) and Caroline Buckwell (aged 21). Both the daughters are noted as being single and both working as general domestic servants. Elizabeth Buckwell though, was also Charles’ mother.

On the 1891 census, ten year old Charles appears living alone with his grandfather at South Street, Chailey. He is recorded as being a scholar.

By the time the 1901 census was taken, Charles (aged 20), was boarding with his mother and her husband and family. Elizabeth Ann Buckwell had married John Weller in 1883, their marriage being recorded in the September quarter of the Lewes register for that year. Charles is recorded as “carter on farm” and, besides his mother and step-father, shared the family home with the Weller children: George Weller (aged 15, working as a carter’s mate on a farm), John Weller (aged 13, also working as a carter’s mate on a farm), James C Weller (aged 11) and Ellen Weller (aged eight).

Having lived in Chailey for the first twenty years of his life, Charles Buckwell must have moved out of the village at some point after the 1901 census was taken. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he was living in and enlisted at Hastings in Sussex. He joined the 6th Buffs (East Kent Regiment), probably under The Derby Scheme, and became G/18963 Private Charles Buckwell.
Without further information at this time it is difficult to say when he went to France but he was killed in action there on 11th July 1917.

Charles Buckwell has no known grave and is commemorated on bay two of the Arras Memorial in France. He does not feature in Chailey’s Parish Magazine and is not commemorated on the village war memorial even though he was a native of Chailey and certainly spent his childhood and adolescent years there.

Charles Buckwell’s half-brothers George Weller, John Weller and James Charles Weller all served their King and Country during the First World War.

My thanks to Janet Graves for the photo of Charles Buckwell's name on the Hastings war memorial.