Harry Wood, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

Harry Wood was born in Chailey in 1893, his birth registered at Lewes in the September quarter of that year.  He appears on the 1901 census with his three brothers: Edward Wood (aged 15), George Wood (aged 14) and Charles Joseph Wood (aged 11).  His parents were Edward Wood (aged 45 on the 1901 census but 30 on the one taken ten years earlier) and Mary Wood (aged 29 in 1891).  Mary does not appear at the family home address, (a farm in Chailey – unclear on the census), but Edward Wood is still noted as being married rather than a widower. 

Chailey Parish Magazine notes in October 1914 that Harry Wood is serving his King and Country and, twelve months later, notes that he is a private soldier with the 2nd King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in England.  The following month it reports that he is now a lance-corporal and serving with the 1st KOYLI in France.  By the following April it reports that he is in Salonika. 

Harry Wood appears to have served throughout the war, his name appearing for the last time in the magazine’s final roll call published in July 1919. 

In October 1914 the 1st KOYLI was en route from Singapore and did not arrive at Southampton until 9th November.  On 16th January 1915 the battalion landed at Havre as part of the 83rd Brigade in 28th Division.  It sailed from Marseilles for Salonika on 26th October 1915, arriving there on 7th December 1915. On 20th June1918 it left the 28th Division for France and was attached to the 151st Brigade in the 50th Division from 16th July 1918. 

Harry's brothers Charles and George also served their King and Country during the First World War.  Like Harry, Charles Wood also served with The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and was killed in action whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion in October 1914.  It seems likely that both Harry and Charles were regular soldiers before the outbreak of war (although the KOYLI number listed above would not appear to be that of a pre-war regular soldier) and their brother George was also a career serviceman having joined the Royal Navy in 1904.

Three Cornford Brothers Go to War

The title of this post is taken from a privately published history of the same name which was recently sent to me by Stan Cornford. Stan's father Tom Cornford and his uncles Trayton Cornford and John Henry Cornford all served during the First World War.

Trayton and Tom both appear to have joined the Lancers at Roeheath, Chailey in September 1914, both men subsequently transferring to the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Trayton was killed near Serre on the Somme in November 1916 but Tom later transferred to the 1/10th Manchesters, winning the Military Medal in 1918. Tragically, he died in 1933 when his son was only three years old. He is buried in St Peter's churchyard, Chailey.

John Henry Cornford, the third brother, was a pre-war regular artilleryman who served time in India and appears to have served right through the Great War only to die in England in 1920. He is buried at Deepcut in Surrey. So three brothers, three premature deaths, and all are now commemorated on the Chailey 1914-1918 website.

My grateful thanks to Stan for some fascinating correspondence and Cornford family information. Incidentally, none of the brothers was mentioned in Reverend Jellicoe's monthly roll call of local serving men. Although Tom had been born at Chailey and his brothers at Plumpton, the family had probably moved out of the area a good while before the First World War began.