69438 Private Edward Wells, 9th Royal Fusiliers

Edward Wells gets no mention at all in Chailey’s Parish Magazine.  According to Soldiers Died in The Great War, however, he was born in Croydon, resident in Chailey and enlisted at Brighton.  He was killed in action on 5th April 1918 whilst serving with the 9th (City of London) Royal Fusiliers.  His rank was that of private and his number, 69438.  He had previously served with the 99th Training Battalion where he had been given the number TR/10/41302. 

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he is commemorated on panels 19 to 21 of the Pozieres memorial in France.  It also notes that he was the brother of Mrs Daisy Lockwood of 18 Thesiger Road, Penge, London. 

From this latter information it is possible to identify him on the 1901 census.  At the time it was taken he was living in Croydon, Surrey, with his family.  The household comprised: Charles E Wells (head, aged 42, working as a house painter), Emily Wells (wife, aged 40), Violet Wells (aged 17), Daisy Wells (aged 15), Edward (aged 13), Bertie Wells (aged 11), Frederick Wells (aged seven), Dolly Wells (aged 5) and David Wells (aged four).  Charles was born in Brighton, his wife in Eastbourne but all of the children had been born in Croydon.

G/17915 Pte Albert Thompsett, 12th Royal Sussex Regiment

Albert Henry Thompsett was born at Haywards Heath, Sussex in 1898, his birth registered at Cuckfield in the June quarter of that year. He appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as a two year old infant living at Petlands Gardens, Haywards Heath with his family. The household in 1901 comprised his father, Albert Thompsett, aged 26 and working as a labourer; his mother, Kate Henrietta Thompsett (aged 22) and his baby sister, Lilian Bessie Thompsett (aged one).

Albert almost certainly joined up under age. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he enlisted at Haywards Heath and he first appears in Chailey’s Parish Magazine in January 1916 where it is noted that he is serving with the 2/4th Royal Sussex Regiment in England. His medal index card (below, courtesy of Ancestry) notes his 4th Battalion number which dates to November 1915

In October 1916, the parish magazine reports that Albert Thompsett is now a lance corporal serving with the 12th Royal Sussex in France but in April 1918 he is noted as missing. This information is then repeated monthly up to and including the final published roll call in July 1919. According to the Commonwealth War Graves’ Commission’s Debt of Honour register, G/17915 Lance Corporal Albert Thompsett died on Wednesday 3rd April 1918 whilst serving with the 11th Royal Sussex Regiment. His body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

I am still not aware of Albert's connection with Chailey. He is commemorated on both Chailey’s war memorial and the roll of honour inside All Saints Church, Plumpton Green, and the 1911 census notes that the family was living at Station Road, Plumpton Green. I am grateful to J Allfey for sending me the photo which appears on this blog and which shows Albert, his mother and, possibly, his grandmother, seated.

G/5793 Pte Ernest Arthur Malins, 6th Royal West Kent Regiment

G/5793 Lance-Corporal Ernest Malins was a convalescent patient at Hickwells in July 1915. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album, dated 12th July 1915, accompanies a pencil drawing of The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent cap badge and reads:

With best wishes
Lc Cp Malins
5793 Royal West Kent
3rd Batt.
H Comp
Upper Barracks Chatham

Ernest Arthur Malins was born at Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, around January 1881. He appears on the 1881 census as a three month old infant living in Kingston with his family. The household comprised: Thomas Andrew Malins (head, married, aged 35, working as a coach painter), his wife Elizabeth Ann Malins (aged 32) and their six children: Evelina Rebecca Malins (aged ten), Alice Maud Malins (aged eight), Thomas Edward Malins (aged six), Albert Andrew Malins (aged four), Annie Laura (aged two) and Ernest.

By the time the 1891 census was taken, Evelina and Alice had moved away from the family home in Bittoms Lane, Kingston, but there were three other children: Edgar Morris Malins (aged eight), Archibald D Malins (aged four) and Sidney Howard W Malins (aged one). Thomas Malins is recorded on the 1891 census as a coach builder. Also noted on the same page of the 1891 census is the household headed by Robert Porter Malins (Thomas Andrew’s younger brother). He was married, aged 39 and working as a wheelwright. He and his wife, Georgina (also aged 39), had five children living with them: Emily Frances Malins (aged 17), John George Malins (aged 15), Jessie May Malins (aged 11), Maggie Elizabeth Malins (aged six) and William Andrew Malins (aged one). At least four Malins children also died in infancy - Nellie Malins in 1883, Frederick Herbert Malins and Thomas Charles Malins in 1891 and Richard Henry W Malins in 1896. All four children were under one year old and all were almost certainly children or grandchildren of Thomas and Robert.

I have been unable to find Ernest on the 1901 census but his parents were living at 75 Bridge Street West, Battersea, south London. The household had shrunk somewhat. Thomas is noted as a coach painter and writer and besides his wife there are just two children living with them: Warren A D Malins (aged 14, working as a railway clerk) and Sidney. Warren appears on the 1891 census as Archibald D Malins although his birth was registered (in the September quarter of 1886) as Warren Archibald D Malins.

Ernest married Harriet Hayward in 1909, their marriage registered in the December quarter of that year in the district of Wandsworth. On 22nd February 1915, he attested with the Royal West Kent Regiment at Kingston, with his brother Sidney (who appears to have attested under the name of Howard W Malins). The surviving recruitment registers for Kingston note that Ernest was 33 years and one month old, was five feet six and three eighths of an inch tall and weighed 152 pounds. His occupation is recorded as grocer’s assistant and his home address noted as 53 Rye Hill Road, Peckham, south east London. His brother Howard (aged 25 years and ten months) is recorded as being slightly taller than Ernest at five feet eight and three quarter inches, and two pounds heavier. He was occupied as a motor brush maker and living at 35 Trott Street, Battersea.

The following month, Ernest and Howard’s cousin William (aged 24) also attested at Kingston (on the 26th), joining the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He was five feet, four and a half inches tall and weighed 110 pounds. Under “distinctive marks”, tattoos are noted.

There appears to be some discrepancy about Ernest’s age. According to the 1881 census, taken on the night of 3rd April 1881, Ernest was three months old. This places his date of birth to January 1881 and would have made him 34 years and one month old in February 1915, not 33 years as noted in the recruitment register. There is a similar discrepancy regarding William Malin’s age, aged one in 1891 according to the census but only just aged 24 in March 1915 (according to the recruitment register for Kingston).

It is unclear which battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment Ernest was posted to after he attested but he would probably have been in hospital prior to his time at Hickwells as it was still a convalescent home in July 1915. He must have recovered sufficiently however because he was posted to the 6th Royal West Kent Regiment (part of the 37th Brigade in the 12th Division) and was killed in action whilst serving with this battalion on 2nd July 1916. The 6th RWK, had spent the morning clearing trenches of dead and wounded and in the afternoon had been ordered to take over the support trenches. In the afternoon, during the relief, 2nd Lieutenant Hoyland and 28 other ranks were wounded and four men – including Ernest Malins - were killed. At nine o’clock in the evening the men were ordered back to their former position south of Ovillers. The following day the battalion lost a further 375 men killed, wounded or missing in an attack and counter attack the following day.

Ernest Malins’s body was never found and he is commemorated on pier and face 11C of The Thiepval Memorial on The Somme. Howard and William Malins both appear to have survived. Soldiers Died in The Great War gives Ernest's number as G/5793 although he omits this in Nurse Oliver's album. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission incorrectly states his number as G/15793.

The photo below shows Ernest (left) and his brother Sidney Howard Williams Malins at home in England with their parents. My thanks to Sam for sending this.

Somewhat drunken medal index card courtesy of Ancestry; name detail at Thiepval courtesy of Garth McGowen.

SD/3427 Lance Corporal Albert Plummer, 13th Royal Sussex Regt

Albert Plummer was a baby of four months old when the 1881 census was taken. His father, Charles Plummer (29) was an agricultural labourer living at 2 Adams Cottages, South Street, Chailey with his 28 year old wife Caroline Elizabeth Plummer (nee Martin) and their six children. Charles had been born in Fletching, Sussex and his wife in Wivelsfield (also in Sussex). It is possible that the family had also lived in Wivelsfield earlier because the two older children, Clement (aged nine) and Charles William (aged seven) had also been born there.

Albert appears on the 1891 census, living with his family at South Street, Chailey. The family comprised Charles Plummer (now noted as 37 years old and an agricultural labourer), his 36 year old wife Caroline and their eight children: Clement Martin Plummer (aged 19, an agricultural labourer), Ebenezer Plummer (aged 14), Emily Plummer (aged 12), Albert Plummer (aged ten), Owen Plummer (aged eight), Alexander Plummer (aged five), Annie Plummer (aged three) and Laura Plummer (aged five months). Another son, 17 year old Charles William Plummer, was working as a cow lad and domestic servant for Thomas Farrant at Weavel’s Den, Chailey.

Ten years later, most of the family is still living at South Street (although some of the ages do not tally with the information given on the previous census return and there are some name variations). The family comprised Charles Plummer (aged 49 and now working as carter on a farm), his wife Caroline (whose age is given as 57) and seven children: [Charles] William Plummer (a 27 year old farm labourer), Albert Plummer (a 20 year old gardener), Owen Plummer (an eighteen year old brickyards labourer), Annie Plummer (aged 12), Laura N Plummer (aged 11), Dora Louisa Plummer (aged six) and Kate Elizabeth Plummer (aged three). Clement Martin Plummer, oldest of the Plummer children, was married with two children, living at 45 Church Street, Brighton and working as brewer’s labourer. Ebenezer Plummer had moved out of the family home and was living at 77 South Common with his wife Edith Mary (nee Jenner) and her 88 year old grandfather John Jenner. Fifteen year old Alexander was still in Chailey but not at South Street. He was working as a page at The Hooke, Chailey.

Chailey Parish Magazine first mentions Albert serving his King and Country in November 1915 when it notes him as a Private with the Royal Sussex Regiment in England. According to Soldiers Died in The Great War, Albert enlisted at Eastbourne. He was given the number SD/3427 with the 13th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. The SD part of Albert Plummer’s number refers to South Downs. The 11th, 12th and 13th Royal Sussex Regiment were also known as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd South Downs; Pals-type battalions which in time would find themselves assigned to a division (the 39th), with other Pals’ battalions. Chailey Parish Magazine first records Albert’s connection with the 13th Royal Sussex in December 1915, noting that he was in England.

By July 1916 it reported that he was in France and that same month, on Friday 14th July, The East Sussex News also reported that he was missing in France. Soldiers Died and The Commonwealth War Graves’ Commission’s (CWGC) Roll of Honour show that Lance-Corporal Albert Plummer died of wounds on 2nd July 1916. He is buried in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery Souchez. Albert's name is recorded on Chailey’s war memorial and on the wooden panel inside St Peter’s Church. His name is also recorded on the stone tablet inside St Mary The Virgin Church, Westham, Sussex. The CWGC roll of honour notes that Albert Plummer was the son of the late Charles and Caroline Plummer (although they were still alive when he was reported missing) and the husband of Esther Plummer of 3 Andros Close, Chailey. Two of Albert’s brothers, Alexander Plummer and Owen Plummer, were also killed during the First World War; all three brothers being commemorated together on Chailey’s war memorial.

Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

For the Fallen

I was checking in-bound links to the Chailey 1914-1918 website and noticed a couple from the For the Fallen website, a site which commemorates "those British and Commonwealth service personnel who laid down their lives for their countries". I think it's a nice idea and so I'm happy to give the site a plug here and also add another link on the main website.

Soldiers Died in The Great War is now accessible on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk. Alternatively, buy a copy from the Naval and Military Press and conduct your own detailed searches, a facility not currently available via Ancestry. I bought my copy a few years ago now and I've found it invaluable. See N&MP link below.

"It grieves me to have to tell you..."

A little over eighty eight years ago, Captain Magnus Rainier Robertson MC, Officer Commanding A Company of the 9th Essex Regiment, sat down to write a letter of condolence to the father of one of the men in his company. It wouln't have been the first such letter he wrote and it undoubtedly wouldn't have been the last. Nevertheless, nearly a century later, his words to Pte Pooley's father are still touching and I am grateful to the dead soldier's great nephew, Richard Pooley, for contacting me and for allowing me to use the letter on my website. This treasured family heirloom adds another tiny piece to the Chailey 1914-1918 jigsaw and I transcribe it here in full:

BEF
12-5-18

Dear Mr Pooley

It grieves me to have to tell you that your son was killed on the 4th inst (No 34091 Pte POOLEY J).

It will be some consolation to know that he suffered no pain, for he died instantaneously, being killed by a trench mortar shell. He had been my Coy Clerk for about 5 months and always did his work conscienciously and I shall feel his loss very much both from being fond of him and also for the work he did for me.

He will be buried reverently by a chaplain and I will let you know where he rests as soon as I can. I wish I could say anything to comfort you but I know your loss is too great. I am sending you his effects. In great sympathy

Yours sincerely, M R Robertson, Capt
O.C. A Coy, 9th Essex
Pte Pooley is buried in Mailley Wood Cemetery. A little over three months later, Captain Robertson was also killed in action.

Hospital Way author KiA - Robert Mearns Hobbs

6850 Private Robert Mearns Hobbs of the 1/5th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was not from Chailey but he was a patient at Beechlands and left two entries in Nurse Oliver’s album. One is a drawing in crayons which depicts a blind girl standing against a rock on the shoreline. It is signed “RM Hobbs, 5th S.R. With Good Wishes”. The second entry is a poem entitled The Hospital Way (below).

Robert Mearns Hobbs was born in Maryhill, Glasgow at 6.15am on the 13th August 1895. He was the son of John and Ann Hobbs (nee Mearns) of 7 Campbell St, Maryhill, Glasgow (see below, coutresy of ScotlandsPeople).

The 1901 Scottish census shows Robert (aged 5), his brother David (aged 7) and infant brother John (aged 1) living at 186 Church Street, Maryhill, Glasgow. His father is recorded as a 34-year-old policeman, born in England; his mother his noted as a 30-year-old native of Huntly, Aberdeenshire. All three children were born in Glasgow. It must have had a tough job for John Hobbs working the streets of Glasgow; bad enough to be a policeman, let alone an English one in Maryhill.

Robert was a Territorial Force soldier who had enlisted in Glasgow before the war and was serving with the 1/5th Cameronians. He arrived in France with the battalion on 5th November 1914 and remained with it certainly until 5th October 1917 when he wrote his will. His medal index card (reproduced above) shows his entitlement to the 1914 Star as well as the British War and Victory Medals.

Rifleman Hobbs was probably wounded in one of the Somme battles in 1916 but obviously recovered sufficiently to be posted back to his battalion. When the Territorial Force was renumbered in February 1917 he was given a new number: 200362. This number falls within the block of numbers (200001-240000) allocated to the 5th Scottish Rifles.

I am guessing that Robert Hobbs wrote his will in England just prior to being sent abroad again and at some point shortly thereafter he was posted to A Company of the 1st Scottish Rifles. It was whilst serving with this regular battalion (in the 19th Brigade of the 33rd Infantry Division) that he was killed in action on 28th November 1917. He is buried in White House Farm Cemetery, Ypres grave ref: II D 3.

In November 1917 the battalion was in the line in the Warneton (Messines) sector. It left by bus for Ypres on the 14th and then marched to Menin Road area. A temporary camp was established there but due to heavy shelling, the battalion moved to a new camp in the Potijze area.

On the 24th, the battalion moved into the Passchendaele sector where enemy shelling was reported as heavy around Crest Farm and Passchendaele. On the 27th, a wet day, the battalion diarist reported that shelling was again heavy and the ground bad. The battalion was relieved by the 2nd Royal Welch Fusiliers and went back to support. Three companies were at Hamburg Trench and one at Abraham Heights.

On the 28th, the enemy shelled Hamburg Trench early in the morning and this was presumably when Robert was killed. He was one of three 1st Cameronians men killed on this day. The following day the battalion was relieved by the 16th King’s Royal Rifle Corps and went back to camp at St Jean.

White House Farm is located north east of Ypres. The Commonwealth War Graves’ Commission’s website has this to say about it:

White House Cemetery was begun in March 1915 and used until April 1918 by units holding this part of the line. It was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields around Ypres (now Ieper) and from a number of small burial grounds in the area. There are now 1,163 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 323 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 16 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 28 casualties who were buried in other cemeteries but whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery also contains eight Second World War burials, all dating from May 1940. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Robert Hobbs’ last resting place is a peaceful plot situated towards the rear of the cemetery. Two artillerymen lie next to him. The words on his tombstone read:

200362 PRIVATE
R M HOBBS
THE CAMERONIANS (SCO RIF)
28TH NOVEMBER 1917 AGE 22

NEARER MY GOD TO THEE

Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

Remembering Arthur Turner - KiA 89 years ago today

According to the 1901 census, seven year Arthur Turner was born at Ringmer, Sussex although Soldiers Died In The Great War (SD) notes his place of birth as Little Horsted, Sussex. At the time the census was taken, Arthur was living with his parents Henry (46) and Elizabeth (46) at South Street, Chailey. Henry had been born in Ringmer and was working as a farm labourer. Elizabeth had been born at Fletching.

Arthur enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment at Lewes, Sussex and was given the number G/21022. Chailey Parish Magazine first mentions him in June 1917, recording him as Turner, Pte A, 3rd Royal Sussex. These details then appear every month up to and including September 1917. In December 1917 he appears in the magazine’s Roll of Honour as: Pte A Turner, 8th Royal Sussex Pioneers, killed in action, Nov 26th 1917 in France.

SD and The Commonwealth War Graves’ Commission’s Roll of Honour (CWGC) note Arthur’s date of death as 27th November 1917, SD stating that he died of wounds. CWGC notes that at the time of his death he was serving with D Company, 8th Royal Sussex and that he was 24 years old. CWGC also notes that he was the son of Henry and Elizabeth Turner of White Lodge, Roeheath, Chailey, Lewes.

The 8th Royal Sussex Battalion was a New Army battalion formed at Chichester in September 1914. It was a pioneer battalion attached to the 54th Brigade in the 18th Division.
The 18th Divisional history has nothing to say about the actual date on which Arthur Turner was killed but it describes the misery of the division’s position in some detail. November 1917 saw it holding fast at Houthulst Forest north of Ypres, “a flat, low-lying 600 acres of broken stumps and wreckage , a swamp with many a deep and treacherous hole to trap the unwary walker and let him in up to the neck… It was mud that stank: when the rain ceased the nostrils had to accept a faded musty smell that hung in the air five miles behind the line – a smell that told of desolation and decay, of gas shells, of dead men.”

Arthur Turner, commemorated on Chailey’s war memorial, is buried at Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Poperinghe. The inscription on his grave stone reads: THE LORD KNOWETH THEM / THAT ARE HIS.

Another dawn, another death - Albert Padgham

Ninety years ago today, Albert Padgham lost his life. This is his story.

Albert Edward Padgham was born in Fletching, Sussex around 1897 (Soldiers Died gives Chailey as his place of birth). He appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as a three year old living at Wharf Cottage, Fletching with his family. The family comprised John Padgham (head, aged 40, a native of Fletching working as an agricultural labourer), his wife Mary Padgham (aged 39, a native of Lindfield) and their five children: Louisa Padgham (aged 13), Florence Padgham (aged nine), Alice Padgham (aged five), Albert and William Padgham (aged one). The census return, contrary to the information on Soldiers Died, notes that all of the children had been born in Fletching.

Soldiers Died in The Great War states that he enlisted at Brighton and at the time of his death (as a result of wounds received in action) on 24th August 1916 he was L/10419 Private Albert Edward Padgham of the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment. The Commonwealth War Graves’ Debt of Honour Register confirms the regimental details, his age (19) and date of death. It also adds that he was the son of John and Mary Padgham of Chailey, Sussex. He is buried in Puchevillers British Cemetery on the Somme, grave reference: III.E.8.

Chailey Parish Magazine first mentions Albert in October 1914, noting that he is serving his King and Country. His army number, with the prefix "L", suggests that he was a regular soldier and he may have enlisted shortly before or around August 1914. In October 1915 the parish magazine notes that he is a private soldier serving with the 3rd Royal Sussex Regiment in England and in May 1916 adds the additional information that he has been wounded. In September 1916 his name was added to the parish magazine’s roll of honour.

The likely sequence of events is that Albert Padgham transferred to the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment from the reserve 3rd battalion and was then wounded on the Western Front where he subsequently died. It is unclear whether the wounds mentioned in the parish magazine in May 1916 are those from which he ultimately succumbed.

Albert’s brother William Padgham also served his King and Country during the First World War. The undated photograph above shows Albert seated with an unknown pal. My thanks to David Gordon for sharing the two military photos with me. Albert's grave courtesy of Bob Pike.

Dark days for Chailey - Magnus Rainier Robertson

Staff and patients, Brook House, Chailey circa 1917

August would turn out to be the worst month of the year for the people of Chailey Parish. Eight local men lost their lives this month and a further four men nursed at Hickwells and Beechlands hospitals were also killed. On this day, 88 years ago, Captain Magnus Rainier Robertson MC lost his life in the service of his King and Country. This is his story.

Magnus Rainier Robertson was born at Chailey on 26th August 1887. He was the son of Magnus Laurence Robertson (1840 - 1890) and Mary Robertson (1846 - 1933) and had two sisters, Eliza (1883 – 1903) and Maud (1885 – 1896).

Magnus’ father had been butler to John McQueen, the former owner of Brook House, Chailey. All the Robertsons save Magnus (who was born at Chailey), and including Magnus’s father Magnus Laurence Robertson, had come from Shetland with McQueen in around 1886-7, when McQueen fell heir to Brook House. Magnus senior was McQueen’s butler. He died at Lewes in 1890.   In the 1891 census, the occupants of Brook House were: McQueen (51); Mary Robertson (45), widow, his housekeeper, and her three children, Eliza (7), Maud (5), Magnus (3), William Robertson, (54), married, butler;  Jessie Robertson (54), unmarried, a retired domestic servant; plus 4 other servants.  Mary, nee Langridge, had been born at Chailey but had been in Shetland in 1881, as a housekeeper (probably to John McQueen).  It seems likely that she had gone from Chailey with McQueen when he went to Shetland from Chailey.

John McQueen’s parents were Lieut-General James McQueen and Eliza, daughter of Rear-Admiral J S Rainier, who owned Brook House, hence Magnus’s middle name.  Magnus, John McQueen's private secretary, had been left Brook House by John McQueen when he died in 1911.  

Magnus Robertson attested with the Royal Sussex Regiment on 4th September 1914. On his attestation papers (Army Form B. 111 - Short service – One year with the Colours), the “One year” has been crossed out and replaced with “three years”. Robertson attested that he had lived away from his father’s house for three years at “various places” and that his trade or calling was “Gentleman”. His attestation was witnessed by Captain Charles Hext Cotesworth of the 21st Lancers. Charles Hext and his father, W G Cotesworth, the JP who certified Robertson’s attestation, would have known him well. Like the Robertson family, the Cotesworths were also a wealthy local family, living nearby in Chailey at Roeheath. Later, Charles Hext’s sister, Margaret Cotesworth, the Commandant of Sussex 54 Voluntary Aid Detachment, would play a key role in running two hospitals in the village.

Magnus Rainier Robertson is described on Army Form B. 111 as being 27 years old, five feet, eight and a half inches tall and weighing twelve stone two pounds. His hair and eyes are described as brown.

Local Chailey doctor, W S Orton, examined Magnus on the 4th September at Charles Cotesworth’s Roeheath home, considering him fit for the Army. This was approved the following day in Brighton.

Magnus was given the number 2825 and posted to The Royal Sussex Regiment Depot. Four days later he was posted to the 8th Royal Sussex and found himself in number 7 platoon, B Company. The 8th Royal Sussex was a K2 pioneer battalion formed at Chichester in September 1914. It would spend the entire war with the 18th (Eastern) Division but Roberston’s tenure with it would be a brief one.

On 10th September 1914, Magnus was appointed lance-corporal but it wasn’t long before he was looking for a role more fitting of his status as a Gentleman. By November he had already applied for a temporary commission in the regular army for the period of the war. He stated on the application form that he could ride, (although noted that he wasn’t a good horseman), and that his preferred unit was the 12th Essex Regiment. The application was witnessed by JP Robert Campion Blencowe (another of Chailey’s landed gentry) on 27th November and Robertson’s good standard of education was attested to by his old headmaster at Seaford Boys’ School. Colonel H G Sutton of the 8th Royal Sussex (which was by now stationed at Colchester, Essex), approved the application on 2nd December 1914. Sixteen days later, 2825 Lance-Corporal Magnus Rainier Robertson was discharged to commission.

It is uncertain why Magnus Robertson’s stated preference was for the 12th Essex Regiment. The battalion had been formed at Harwich on 26th October 1914 and was originally a service battalion in the 106th Brigade in the original 35th Division. In April 1915 however, it became a 2nd reserve battalion and was ultimately absorbed, in September 1916, in the Training Reserve Battalions of the 6th Reserve Brigade at Harwich.

In October 1914, Chailey’s vicar, The Reverend Jellicoe, published his first list of men connected to Chailey who were serving their King and Country. Magnus Robertson appears in that first list and subsequent lists published at monthly intervals throughout the war. In March 1915 he appears for the first time under the category Officer, and in October 1915 as “Robertson, 2nd Lieut M.R. 12th Essex”. Compiled as it was from local hearsay, Reverend Jellicoe’s list should not be regarded as a reliable source of information and the battalions noted are not always correct. However, in the absence of other official papers from Magnus’s file at the National Archive in London, this does seem to point to clear evidence that he was successful in getting posted to the 12th battalion.

Essex Regiment Museum records (ER4658) provide the next reference to Magnus. On 13th July 1916, by now a lieutenant, he embarked for France. On the 19th, he joined the 2nd battalion (4th Division) at Mailly Maillet. It seems reasonable to assume that having been turned into a reserve battalion, either Robertson or the higher authorities, decided that he should not spend more time than was necessary in England and that either he, or they, sought his transfer out of the 12th Essex.

Burrows reports that ten officers and 97 other ranks, joined the battalion on the 18th July but there is no mention of an officer joining on the following day, and no mention at all of Magnus Robertson in the volume that covers the 2nd Battalion.

Between August 13th and 29th inclusive, Magnus was appointed Acting Captain and put in charge of one of one of the 2nd Essex companies (Supplement to The London Gazette, 6th November 1916, page 10730). He reverted to the rank of lieutenant on 30th August but between 10th and 23rd October 1916 was back to Acting Captain (Essex Regiment Museum, ER4658).

On the 23rd October 1916, the 4th and 8th Divisions were involved in an assault on German lines east of Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt. According to Burrows, a heavy mist caused a postponement from 11.30am until 2.30pm and when the troops did go over they were met by heavy machine gun fire. By 9pm, with no gains made, the 2nd Essex were back in their trenches. The battalion suffered 255 casualties and Robertson was one of them. The same day, a telegram was sent to his mother in Chailey, advising her that he had been wounded.

At Magnus’s Medical Board hearing held on 4th November 1916, it was recorded that he had been “wounded by shell fragments near Les Boeufs. One fragment passed from back to front of the upper part of the right arm internal to the bone and was removed from under the skin of the front of the arm. Three other fragments caused wounds in the buttocks, and the officer thinks that these have also been removed.”

On 24th October, Robertson was admitted to the 20th General Hospital at Camiers with, according to a second telegram to his mother, “gunshot wounds right arm and buttocks slight” and on 1st November he was being put on board a hospital ship at Calais, en route for England. He arrived at Dover the same day. Three days later, as mentioned above, the Medical Board convened at The Research Hospital, Cambridge did not expect him to be fit for General Service for four months.

On 22nd December 1916, Magnus wrote to the War office from Brook House, asking for orders to be a re-examined by a Medical Board, “as my leave expires on 3rd Jan 1917”. The subsequent Medical Board held at the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton found that the wound to his arm was soundly healed, although the wound to his buttocks was still causing some discharge. On the 21st February 1917, and by now with the 3rd Essex Regiment at Felixstowe, another Medical Board found that this time, Robertson had recovered and was fit for General Service; his wounds classified as “slight, not permanent”.

Magnus travelled overseas again and at some point transferred to the 11th Essex Regiment. On 24th May 1917, he was promoted to Captain (Supplement to The London Gazette, 9th October 1917, page 10386) although the Sussex Express clearly did not know this when they published an article of local Chailey interest on 22nd June 1917:

OFFICERS’ NEW CONVALESCENT HOME AT CHAILEY
A new convalescent hospital known as Brook House, Chailey, the residence of Lieut M R Robertson, was opened last week for the accommodation of wounded officers attached to the Flying Corps. The commandant is Miss Blencowe of Bineham, Chailey and the Matron, Miss Jackson, a lady of wide experience. The work in connection with the establishment is purely voluntary and many local ladies have offered their services. Brook House lies in ideal grounds, is embowered in trees and can accommodate between 25 and 30 officers.”

Magnus Robertson was still nominally with the 2nd Battalion but attached to the 11th and it was while he was with this battalion that he was wounded for the second time, winning a Military Cross in the same action. In a trench raid on June 28th 1917 in which his fellow officer, Lieut F B Wearne, won the Victoria Cross, Magnus sustained gunshot wounds to his left leg and face. The raid, intended to take prisoners, obtain identification and destroy dug-outs as well as divert attention from the 46th Division to the right, involved three officers and 80 other ranks as well as one officer and 20 other ranks of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company. Although adjudged successful, the raid cost the battalion three officers and 45 other ranks, killed wounded and missing. The Australians lost one killed and 13 wounded.

Later, on 17th September, The Supplement to The London Gazette (page 9583) announced Magnus Robertson’s award of the Military Cross:

T./Lt Magnus Rainier Robertson, Essex R. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when commanding the centre and most important party of a raid. He went from post to post, encouraging his men, and, although wounded in two places, most ably appreciating and dealing with a very varying situation. He brought up reinforcements at a critical moment , and frustrated all counter-attacks, finally seeing all his wounded safely away and returning with the rear party under heavy rifle fire and machine-gun fire. He set a magnificent example of gallantry and disregard of danger throughout the operation.

Magnus was again admitted to the 20th General Hospital at Camiers and shortly afterwards, sent to the Officers’ Military Hospital in Devonport, England. There, on 10th July, a Medical Board reported that his cheek wound had healed but the wound to his thigh was still discharging. “The right cheek was struck by a piece of shrapnel splinter causing a simple flesh wound. A MG bullet ploughed the fleshy part of outer [unclear] of left thigh. No injury to bone or important tissues.”

Remarkably, just one day after he had been wounded, The East Sussex News carried a report which must have reached Mary Robertson in Chailey at least two days before the official War Office telegram. The article ran:

LOCAL OFFICER WOUNDED
Lieut M R Robertson, Essex Regiment, whose residence, Brook House, was recently opened as a Convalescent Hospital for Wounded Officers, has been wounded in action in France for the second time.

Frances Blencowe, (sister of Robert Campion Blencowe, JP) wrote to the authorities on Magnus’s behalf later that month. An influential member of the Chailey community in her own right, for the past three years she had been nursing with Sussex 54 VAD at Hickwells and Beechland House hospitals and had also spent time at Netley Military Hospital near Southampton, and in Serbia. Now she was the Commandant of the new hospital for RFC officers which, thanks to Mary and Magnus Robertson’s generosity, had been set up at their home, Brook House.

Would it be possible, she wrote to her friend Sir Francis Davies, for you to say a good word and to enable the owner of this house to have his Convalescence here? We are a Convalescent Hospital and it would be so nice for his old mother to have him here and he would be a great help here. He is a most conscientious person and would take no forbidden liberties. His MB [Medical Board] is at Devonport and he himself is at Bigandon Hospital, Buckfastleigh, South Devon.

For his part, Sir Francis seemed at a loss what to do. A note scribbled in Robertson’s file and dated 26th July 1917 reads: “Sir Francis Davies would be very grateful if you would tell him what he may say in reply.” When that reply duly came it cannot have failed to disappoint Frances Blencowe and Mary Robertson. “The officer is a patient in a Convalescent Hospital” the note reads testily. “We deal with medical boards and are not concerned with transfer from one hospital to another.” Robertson remained in south Devon.

On 9th August 1917, a medical board held at the hospital recommended three weeks’ leave and did not think Robertson would be fit for General Service for a further three months. Nevertheless, before that time had elapsed, Robertson, now back with the 3rd Essex at Felixstowe, was again appearing before a board (on 10th October) which this time passed him fit.

On 9th November 1917, according to Robertson’s Casualty Form Active Service (CFAS), he proceeded to France. On 30th November 1917, a Lieutenant Robertson is mentioned in the Burrows volume that deals with the service battalions, as being involved in a skirmish in which the 11th Essex blocked a German attack. On 14th December 1917 he was posted to the 9th Battalion.

On 24th February 1918, Robertson was given two weeks’ leave and in April he gets more mentions in Burrows, this time in relation to the 9th Essex being heavily attacked and ‘A’ Company under Captain Robertson having “a most trying day” which saw the men fire 15,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. The 9th Essex was struggling to maintain a position known as The Quarry and Lieutenant Mussett recorded his memories of that time in Burrows:

“The Quarry portion of the line was occupied by ‘A’ Company, whose headquarters consisted of two white bell tents, nestling in The Quarry, and in them Captain Robertson and the M.O. carried on their duties. Visiting ‘A’s’ section of the line, to the left and slightly forward of ‘C’s’ in the small hours, I shall always remember dear old Robby seated in his tent, during a lull in the night’s gunfire, engaged in writing by a candle’s glimmering ray, with an old wooden box against the tent pole as writing table, with conscientious thoroughness writing some returns himself, whilst others were taking the opportunity of a much needed rest.”

On 22nd August 1918, the 9th Essex went over the top at Morlancourt. The battalion took its first two objectives but sustained heavy casualties. Six officers were killed and 120 other ranks killed, wounded and missing. Magnus Rainier Robertson was one of the officer fatalities. Burrows (page 116) describes the action as follows:

“Immediately after crossing the Bray-Meaulte Road, the Battalion ran into much trouble and heavy machine gun fire. The sun was up, the mist had cleared and the 9th Essex were below the high ground around Becordel. “D Company (Wheeler), on the left, entered their objective and “B” in the centre, gained a culvert, but “A”, on the right, were caught in a level field of stubble devoid of protection. No further advance was possible and the troops endeavoured to make what cover they could with their entrenching tools. Captain Robertson was hit again and again while his runner, Private Small, made valiant efforts to find cover for him. Here, Lieut Bailey was also killed. It was a most trying day, the men being hit one after another.”

On 24th September 1918, Messrs Cox and Co’s Shipping Agency Ltd, forwarded a small package of Captain Robertson’s personal effects to Chailey by registered post. The following year, probate of his Will was granted. He left an estate valued at £44,789 10s and 7d.

Captain Robertson was buried in Sandpit British Cemetery, Meaulte and on 31st October 1918, the War Office wrote to his mother to inform her of this. His body was later disinterred and re-buried at Meaulte Triangle Cemetery (now known as Meaulte Military Cemetery). His grave was later given the reference G.15. His family had the additional words JESU MERCY / CHAILEY, SUSSEX carved on his headstone

Magnus Robertson’s death brought to an end this particular branch of the family. His mother, who had seen all three of her children die, passed away in 1933.

On May 12th 2005, Captain Robertson’s British War Medal was sold at auction in London for £110.

With thanks to Iain Galbraith for the background on the Robertson and McQueen relationship which is expressed in Iain's words in paragraphs three and four.

16880 Pte Joseph French, 9th Essex Regiment

16880 Private Joseph French was probably a patient at Beechlands in 1916 when he left his mark in Nurse Oliver’s album. His entry comprises a pencil drawing of the Essex Regiment badge and the following text (which has been over-written in later years in black ink):

Pte J French No 16880
3rd Essex Reg
Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex

He shares this page with an entry from 2605 Corporal John Dicks of the 9th Essex Regiment and a group photo of convalescent soldiers. Thanks to Clive Manning, we can date his wound quite accurately as he appears in a list of wounded soldiers published in the Times newspaper on 24th June 1916.

I have been unable to locate either Joseph’s birth registration details or his entry on the 1901 census. He does however appear on the census returns for 1881 and 1891.

He was born in 1881 and was the son of Joseph and Polly French of London. He appears on the 1881 census as a three week old baby, living with his family at Bishopsgate, London. Joseph is recorded on the census as James. The other family members comprised Joseph (head, married, aged 24, a carman born in Bishopsgate), his wife Mary Ann (aged 23, also born in Bishopsgate) and their three children: Mary Ann (aged five, born in Lever Street), Rose (aged two, born in Spitalfields) and Joseph (or James), born in the City of London.

By the time the 1891 census was taken, the family was living at number 2, Artillery Street, Whitechapel, London. The household comprised: Joseph French (head, married, aged 33, working as an ostler), his wife Mary Ann French (also aged 33 and working as a charwoman) and five children: Mary Ann (aged 15, working as a book folder), Rose French (aged 12), Joseph (aged ten), George (aged eight) and Harriet Emily (aged three). The parents and their five children are all recorded as having been born in Bishopsgate, London.

Joseph’s enlistment date is unclear but his medal index card shows that he arrived in Gallipoli on 2nd September 1915. The 1st Essex had already been there since 25th April 1915 and would leave on 8th January 1916, so Joseph French must have arrived with a draft. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album either pre-dates his Gallipoli posting (which seems most likely as there is no mention of Gallipoli in it) or comes as result of sickness or a wound sustained there.

At some point in time Joseph must have been posted to the 9th Essex Regiment because it was whilst serving with this battalion that he was killed in action eighty nine years ago today on 3rd August 1917. He was 36 years old and was one of four 9th Essex Other Rank fatalities that day, the other three men dying of wounds. The battalion was at Monchy Le Preux during July and August of that year and on the 2nd August, the Germans had attacked Hook Trench, the fighting continuing through the following day. There is no mention in the divisional history of casualties amongst the 9th Essex on the day but Joseph French and three others paid the ultimate price.

Joseph is buried in Monchy British Cemetery, grave reference: I.F.37. The inscription on his gravestone reads: “THY WILL BE DONE”.

Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

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.

G/2658 Pte George Cheeseman, Royal Fusiliers

George Cheeseman appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as a six year old living with his family at South Street, Chailey. The household comprised Julian Cheeseman (head, a 36 year old Chailey-born farmer), his wife Mary Jane Cheeseman (also aged 36, born in Glyndebourne) and their four children: Julian Cheeseman (aged 11), Flora Cheeseman (aged nine), George, and Laura Cheeseman (aged one). All four children had been born in Chailey.

There were also at least two other children. The 1891 census notes five year old Catherine Annie Cheesman [sic] and her three year old sister, Mabel Ellen Cheesman [sic]. Mabel Ellen appears on the 1901 census working as a general domestic servant at the home of William Parks in Chailey Village but I have been unable to trace her older sister. George’s brother Julian is recorded on the 1901 census as being blind but there is no mention of this disability on the 1891 census.

Soldiers Died in The Great War tells us that George Cheeseman enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers in Hounslow, Middlesex and gave his place of residence as Brighton. He was given the number G/2658 and posted to the 2nd Battalion.

Chailey Parish Magazine first mentions him in October 1915, noting that he is serving in the Dardanelles but in actual fact he had already been dead for at least three months by the time this information appeared. He was killed in action on 28th June 1915 aged 21. His body was never identified and he is commemorated on panel 8 of the Helles Memorial. Chailey Parish Magazine records him as missing in its January – April 1916 issues but includes him in its roll of honour published in May 1916. The magazine states that Cheeseman died of wounds and gives his date of death (incorrectly) as 14th June 1915. In November 1916 the parish magazine adds that George Cheeseman was Mentioned in Despatches whilst in Egypt.

The Commonwealth War Graves’ Commission adds the additional information that he was the son of Mary J Harding (formerly Cheeseman), of 1 Aberdeen Road, Brighton, and the late Julian Cheeseman.

Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.