Lt Lionel Henry Yorke Pownall, 1st Royal West Kent Regiment

The period 27th February - 20th March was a good one for Chailey Parish. When the war ended in 1918, parishioners would notice that in fact it was the single longest stretch throughout the war years without a fatality. That run though, came to an end on March 21st, for it was on this day in 1915 that 19 year old Lieutenant Lionel Henry Yorke Pownall of the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment was killed by a German sniper near Ypres.

Lionel Henry Yorke Pownall was born on 23rd August 1895.  He was the youngest child of Henry Harrison and Blanch Pownall and he appears on the 1901 census, living with his parents and siblings at Ades, Chailey.  Today, Ades still stands but has been divided into a number of individual flats.  At the time Lionel was living there though, it was a sizeable estate comprising the main house, Hickwells house on the opposite side of Cinder Hill and acres of rolling Sussex countryside. 

Henry Harrison Pownall had bought the estate in 1899 after its previous owner, James Croft Ingram had been declared bankrupt as the result of some unwise investments by his business partner.  Henry practiced the law and in 1901 he was a successful 47 year old barrister living at Ades with his wife Blanch (aged 46) and their children Kathleen (12), John (10), Percy (8) and Lionel (5).  Henry had been born in Bloomsbury, London, his wife in Richmond, Surrey.  With the exception of Lionel who was born in Reigate, Surrey, all the other children had been born in Kensington, London.

Henry also employed a sizeable contingent of domestics.  Appearing on the 1901 census are Katherine Murdock (governess, aged 42), Margaret Towan (cook, aged 27), Emma Daniels (house maid, aged 42), Jane Popple (house maid, aged 22), Laura Turner (house maid, aged 24), Constance Hobden (kitchen maid, aged 21), Agnes Hobden (Maid, aged 15), Eva Kempton (trade unknown, aged 46), Frederick Game (butler, aged 34), Jane Game (his wife, aged 30), Evelyn Game (daughter of Frederick and Jane, age 6), George Wheeler (footman, aged 23), James Izzard (groom, aged 22) and Albert Leeson, (groom, aged 21).

One year older than Lionel, the butler’s daughter had, like Lionel’s brothers and sister, been born in Kensington.  Her father and mother were from Essex and Devon respectively and the only obvious connection with Kensington is through the Pownall family.  It seems probable that Frederick Game had worked for Henry Harrison Pownall prior to the family’s move to Chailey in 1899 and that Henry had lived in the Kensington area before moving to the Reigate area, probably before 1894.

It seems likely that Lionel spent the majority of his childhood at Ades but by the time the First World War was declared, the family had moved to Petersfield, Hampshire. 
Henry Harrison Pownall JP, Barrister at Law, had died suddenly after a short illness on 26th June 1913.  Two days later The Times reported his death, noting that he was 52 years old, the elder son of the late John Fish Pownall, resident at 63 Russell Square.  The funeral would be held at Chailey Parish Church at 2.45pm on the 30th.

Five months later, on the 8th November (repeated on the 15th), The Times ran an advert advertising the sale of the Ades Estate:

SALES BY AUCTION.  MR JOSEPH STOWER by direction of the Executors of H H Pownall, Esq, deceased. SUSSEX, in the picturesque Parish of Chailey, six and a half miles from Lewes and within about a mile of Newick and Chailey Station on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.  A charmingly situated FREEHOLD RESIDENTIAL ESTATE known as “ADES”, including a commodious MANSION IN FINELY TIMBERED PARK. Ornamental lake, and beautiful gardens and grounds. Extensive home farm premises, model dairy, TWO SUPERIOR COTTAGE RESIDENCES, TWO FARMS, SMALL HOLDINGS and COTTAGES. PRODUCTIVE PASTURE, ARABLE and WOODLANDS comprising altogether about 567 ACRES in practically a ring fence surrounded by good roads. To be sold by AUCTION by JOSEPH STOWER in association with Messrs POWELL and Co at the Auction Mart in London on Wednesday 25th November 1913 at 2pm.

On the 26th November 1913, a further advertisement was placed in The Times, this time giving notice of the sale of contents from the Ades estate:

SALES BY AUCTION. HENRY HARRISON POWNALL, Esq, deceased. “ADES”, Chailey, Sussex – The remaining portion of the valuable FURNITURE, inlaid ebony wardrobe, mahogany, birch and other bed room suites, range of Spanish mahogany bookcases, billiard table by Burroughes and Watts and accessories, coin cabinet, collection of 2,500 coins and medals, silver and electro plate, oil paintings, engravings, and Arundel Society Prints, rare old books, five carriages, harness and many miscellaneous effects.
 

MESSRS BRACKETT and SONS will SELL the foregoing by public AUCTION, upon the premises on Wednesday and Thursday, December 3 and 4, 1913 at 12 o’clock each day. Catalogues ready. Auctioneers, offices: Tunbridge Wells and 34 Craven Street, WC.

The estate was sold for the princely sum of £24,500 (about £1.5 million in 2006) as reported in The Times on 29th November 1913.
 

The Times does not give details of who bought the estate but the next information I have is that it was sold in June 1914 to Joseph Wright.  It would be Joseph who would later loan Hickwells House to the ladies of Sussex 54 VAD so that they could operate a convalescent hospital there. 
 

But back to Lionel Pownall.  According to his obituary published later in The Bond of Sacrifice, he was educated at Rottingdean School, Clifton College and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.  At Clifton, where he studied from 1909 to 1913, he was in the rugby XI and at Sandhurst in the 2nd XI.

He was gazetted to the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) on 15th August 1914 and, according to his Army Form B. 103 Casualty Form Active Service (CFAS), embarked for France on 13th September 1914, arriving there the same day.  On 23rd September he joined the 1st Battalion in the Field.
 

Although the war was less than two months old, by the time Lionel joined his battalion, it had already been involved in heavy fighting at Mons, Le Cateau, The Aisne and Missy.  Approximate casualties for the first two months of the war were nine officers killed, two wounded and taken prisoner and four wounded.  Amongst Other Ranks, the total casualties were closer to 400 with well over a quarter of these sustained in the trenches at Missy.
 

On 2nd October, the battalion was relieved, but towards the end of October was back in the front line north-east of Neuve Chapelle.  By the 24th, The Queen’s Own held a line between the La Bassee and Largies Roads and was under constant shell, machine gun and rifle fire.  On the 26th, the enemy attacked, D Company on the right of the battalion’s line, taking the main force of the attack.  The Queen’s Own remained firm, firing steadily into the advancing enemy and bayoneting the few Germans who reached their wire.  During the action, Captain Beeman and Second Lieutenant J M Harding were killed and Captain Keenlyside mortally wounded.  Second Lieutenant Pownall sustained a wound to his left elbow and moved to the rear to be treated.  Over 50 other ranks were also killed or wounded in the action.
 

On the 28th October, Pownall was at Boulogne, boarding the hospital ship St Patrick.  The following day he arrived back in England, disembarking at Southampton.  According to his CFAS, Pownall “re-joined battalion” on 30th October.  This must be incorrect as he was already in England by this time.  It is possible however, that he reported to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion at Chatham before travelling the following day, to Queen Alexandra’s in Cosham London.  There, it was found that Pownall was “suffering from a wound of the left elbow by a shell fragment which struck the point of the elbow removing the skin and periosteum.  Wound clean and healing.”  The Board estimated that he would be fit for general service in two weeks.

Lionel Pownall does not appear to have gone immediately back to Chailey, if at all.  On 2nd November, a letter from the War Office asking him to complete some paperwork, was sent to him at 20 Charles Street.   Six days later, the War Office wrote again, this time to the officer commanding the 3rd Battalion at Chatham.  It stated simply that Pownall had returned to the UK and been granted sick leave by a Medical Board from 31st October to 14th November and that  “This officer will be dealt with by the War Office, until he is reported fit for general service, for service at home, or fit for light duty at home, and you will be notified when he is next examined by a medical board.”

 

That medical board was duly held on 14th November, Lionel being advised of it four days earlier.  The board duly recorded the details:  2nd Lieutenant L H Y Pownall, aged 19 and three months; disability: wound (splinter shell).  This time the Board reported that “He is suffering from stiffness and pain in the left elbow, sub-acute periostitis [inflammation of the membrane around the elbow bone] of the olecranon [elbow] and some effusion of fluid into the joint”.  They estimated that he would not be fit for General Service for a further two months.

 

On 7th January 1915, Lionel wrote to the Secretary at the War Office advising him that his leave was up on 9th January and asking when and where he was to attend his next board.  His leave was extended until 13th January, the date of the next medical board at Alexandra Hospital which, this time, found that “he has now recovered from his injury”.
 

Lionel Pownall rejoined his battalion on 16th February 1915 which, three days later, moved to Vlamertinghe.  On 20th February, the battalion took over trenches in front of Zillebeke, the war diary recording that the trenches were closer together than the Wulverghem sector where they had been previously, and the Prussians facing them, more aggressive.  On 22nd February, four officers and 18 other ranks were killed by enemy mortar fire and the battalion withdrew to the support line.  Casualties for January and February are reported in the war diary as 46 killed and 64 wounded.
 

The battalion remained in the Ypres area in March, moving to the Zillebeke sector on 1st March 1915 and then to Vlamertinghe on the 10th.  On the 14th, according to the war diary, 2nd Lieutenant L S White was accidentally killed whilst preparing jam tin bombs and on the same day, the battalion supported an attack on some lost trenches.  Two days later, the battalion again moved to trenches about two miles south of Ypres before returning to the trenches on the 20th.  The following day, Lionel Pownall was killed by a sniper.  He was buried in the field, according to his CFAS, east of the lunatic asylum on the Ypres-Poperinghe road.

 

Before burial, the possessions he was carrying were removed and later returned to his mother in Petersfield.  These were a letter case containing 138 francs,  a small pocket book, glasses, wrist watch, pipe, a purse containing 10s 6d 30 cents,  a cigarette holder,  a whistle, a book – The Happy Warrior, a diary, a cigarette case, a tobacco pouch, letters and a pipe lighter.

On March 26th, The East Sussex News carried a report of Lionel Pownall’s death:
 

SECOND LIEUTENANT L H Y POWNALL KILLED

Second Lieutenant Lionel Henry Yorke Pownall, Royal West Kent Regiment, who is unofficially reported to have been killed in action, was the youngest son of the late Mr H H Pownall of Ades, Chailey and Mrs Pownall, Dunannie, Petersfield.  He obtained his commission in the 1st Battalion of The Royal West Kent Regiment on August 15th last year.  The deceased was only 19 years of age.

 

In actual fact, at the time of his death Lionel Pownall was a lieutenant rather than second lieutenant.  On 15th April, the Supplement to The London Gazette (page 3697) recorded promotions for a number of officers.  Amongst them it was noted that “L H Y Pownall (since killed in action)” was to be promoted from Second Lieutenant to temporary Lieutenant.  The promotion was dated 15th November.  Later, on 9th August, a further Supplement to the London Gazette (page 7867) recorded, “The promotion to the rank of Lieutenant of Second Lieutenant L. H. Y. Pownall is antedated to the 11th January 1915.”
 

An obituary also appeared in Wisden's 1916 Almanack:
 

LIEUT. LIONEL HENRY YORKE POWNALL (1st Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment) was killed in action on March 21, aged 19. He was in the Clifton College Eleven of 1913, when he scored 57 runs with an average of 6.33.
 

On 1st June 1915, the Principal Probate Registry recorded that Lieutenant L H Y Pownall “died intestate, a bachelor without father.  Grantee: Blanche Pownall, widow, the natural and lawful mother and only next of kin of the said intestate.  Gross value £139 16s 9d.”

 

The Ades mansion, which still exists but which has long since been converted into flats, has an unhappy connection with the First World War. Gerald Sclater Ingram who had also lived at the mansion before the Pownall family bought the estate, had been killed on the Western Front in October 1914. He too is commemorated on Chailey's war memorials.

 

Acknowledgements

 

A number of individuals on the Great War forum (www.1914-1918.net) have assisted with the research into Lionel Pownall.  Thanks go to stephenb for the obituary and photo of Lionel Pownall as it appeared in the Illustrated London News, to Hambo for the obituary that appeared in The Bond of Sacrifice, to Dick Flory for information on Pownall’s time at Clifton College and to Dave Gough, Jonathan Saunders and WestKent78 for information about The Queen’s Own.  Aurel Sercu of Belgium and Colin Roberts of the Shetland Isles both took several photos of Lionel Pownall’s last resting place at Bedford House Cemetery.  Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

Len Gordon - Twice wounded

Leonard Preston Gordon was the eldest son of Alfred Preston Gordon and Mary Gordon (nee Goldsmith) who were married in 1883.  He was born at Newhaven, Sussex in 1885, his birth registered in the Lewes district in the June quarter of that year. 

The 1891 census shows the family living at 45 Elphick Road, Newhaven.  It comprised Alfred (head, aged 26, working as a grocer’s assistant), his wife Mary (aged 28) and the couple’s three children: Leonard (aged five), Hilda May Gordon (aged two, born in Newhaven and recorded as Hilda M) and Albert Victor Gordon (aged one, born in Newhaven and recorded as Albert V). 

Ten years later, the 1901 census reveals that the family has grown considerably.  Mary (aged 39) is recorded as the head of the family which was living at 34 St John Street, Lewes.  Leonard, aged 15, is recorded as an assistant postmaster and then come Hilda, aged 12; Albert aged 11; Laura Gordon aged 10, born in Newhaven (her birth registered in 1891 as Gertrude Laura Gordon); Harold Arthur Gordon aged eight (born in Newhaven, recorded as Harrold); Percy Alfred Gordon, aged six (born in Newhaven, recorded as Percy); Harry William Gordon, aged four, (born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and recorded as Harry) and Cecil Redvers Gordon, aged one (born in Lewes and recorded as Cecil).  The children’s father is noted on a separate census return for 4 Queen’s Terrace, Marylebone where he is recorded as 32 years old and still working as a grocer’s assistant.  

There were also other children. David Roland Gordon, born in 1895 (his birth registered in the Lewes district in the September quarter of that year), does not feature on the Lewes census return and I have been unable to locate him.  Three more sons were also born post 1901: Valentine Gordon, known as Val, Champion Gordon, known as Champy, and Wilfred. 

Chailey Parish Magazine first mentions Private L P Gordon in September 1916, noting that he is serving with the Seaforth Highlanders in France. It seems likely that he enlisted in the summer of 1915 and by January 1916 he had finished his training.   

According to Len’s grandson David, the reason that Len opted for a Scottish regiment was that Emily Chatfield, his fiancée, was very fond of Scotland and had urged him to join a Scottish regiment. She had worked as a servant for a well to do family in Cuckfield, (the Reed family who lived at Tower House, in London Road) and every year they would go to Scotland for the grouse shooting, taking the servants with them.  It was Emily’s exposure to Scotland that would later decide Len’s choice of regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders. 

Len was sent to Fort George near Inverness for basic training and according to his daughter Muriel, it soon tuned out that this was a very different Scotland from the country that Emily had talked about.  Len’s daughter recalls, “the army training was tough and they were turned into killing machines. The Scots were well known for their fighting skills and dad had a rude awakening.” 

After his training was over, Len returned to Sussex on a few days’ leave and married Emily at Lewes registry office on 6^th January 1916.  They enjoyed an all too brief honeymoon at Emily’s sister’s house in Barcombe and then Len departed for the Western Front. 

In January 1917, Chailey Parish Magazine notes that Len has been wounded. Many years after the war, he would tell his family how it happened.  The section he was in was in front line trenches and when night fell, he and another man – Jock McCloud – were ordered to go back and collect rations.  Whilst carrying out this order, German artillery opened up and in the pitch dark, the two men dived towards what they thought was a shell hole.  Unfortunately however, it was not a shell hole but a lump of rock and both men were injured as a result of hitting the rock and from shrapnel from the German shells.  Nevertheless, Len Gordon remembered that the iodine applied to his wounds by medics shortly afterwards was a lot more painful than the shrapnel. 

Returning to England he was in hospitals at King’s Heath (Birmingham) and Clarendon House Kineton where he was visited by Emily. Clarendon House was an auxiliary hospital operated by Warwickshire VADs 3, 8 and 23.  It was opened on 18th November 1914 and was later attached to the 1st Southern General Hospital.  A photo of Len, taken later in the war and reproduced here on the Chailey 1914-1918 blog, clearly shows Len with two wound stripes on his lower left arm.  His daughter, (the young girl sitting on Emily Gordon’s lap), does not recall him being wounded twice, but does remember that the main wound was in his leg; a persistent, slow healing wound which required an operation and flesh grafts to build the  leg up again.  He also had a piece of shrapnel in his foot that the doctors couldn't remove as it was embedded in the small bones. His daughter remembers that every now and again, the shrapnel would re-surface.   

Surviving postcards note that Len was certainly in hospital in July and August 1917.  The first, postmarked 6^th July, is addressed to Pvt I.Gordon, 2nd Seaforths, 1st Southern Gen Hospital, G6 Ward, Maryhall Section, Kings Heath, Birmingham.  The second is postmarked 21^st August and was addressed to him at Clarendon House. 

Len Gordon was discharged from hospital in late 1917 and posted to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.  He spent the rest of the war in Ireland; a place he had little fondness for.  He would later tell his daughter that in France at least, you knew where the Germans were but in Ireland you never knew where the bullets were coming from. 

The National Archives’ medal index card for Leonard Gordon fills in a little more information.  He is first recorded as S/10884 Private Leonard P Gordon of the Seaforth Highlanders and latterly as S/41050 Private Leonard P Gordon of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.  It seems probable that after he was wounded with the Seaforths he was posted to the 3rd Battalion and transferred from there to the A&S Highlanders. 

The photograph reproduced above was originally published in the Sussex County Herald dated 16th March 1918 and was one of six individual photos of Leonard and five of his brothers who were serving their King and Country.  The photo of him shows him in civilian dress and may have been taken before the war.  His five brothers all appear in army uniform.  They were: 38821 Gunner Harold Arthur Gordon, Royal Garrison Artillery; 2894 Private Percy Alfred Gordon, Sussex Yeomanry; 5/3239 Private Harry William Gordon, 5^th Royal Sussex Regiment; G/21752 Alfred Victor Gordon, Royal Sussex Regiment and 19027 Private David Roland Gordon, 8th King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. 

In the same edition of the Sussex County Herald, the paper reported on the six brothers (some of this article now unfortunately lost) and in particular on Private David Gordon (below) who had been killed in action in June 1916.  I reproduce the majority of that article here. 

NOBLE SACRIFICE - GAVE LIFE TO SUCCOUR WOUNDED GERMAN 

No finer deed of heroism can be recorded than that which culminated in the death of Private D Gordon, King's Own Royal Lancashire [sic - it should read LANCASTER] Regiment, one of the six soldier sons of Mr and Mrs Alfred Gordon of Friars Walk, Lewes. On June 16 of last year this gallant young soldier left the safety of his trench to go to the assistance of a German soldier who was making his way, with difficulty, towards our lines. The danger attending the action was not unknown to the lad, for snipers were very busy and his own officer had tried to dissuade him from leaving the trench. Nevertheless with a cheery smile he rushed forward, and that was the last seen of him by his companions. 

As night drew on and he did not return it was thought that he might have taken shelter in a shell hole, intending to crawl back after dark - some of his comrades crawled over the parapet and searched about in the darkness in the hope of finding him, but to no purpose. There were many bodies lying on the field - for there had been a stiff fight earlier in the day - bu Private Gordon could not be found and he was in consequence posted as missing. 

The parents of the gallant young soldier have this week received an official communication intimating that the Records Office is now regretfully constrained to conclude that he was killed on June 16, the date, by a pathetic coincidence being the 21st birthday of the soldier. With the official intimation was sent the usual message of condolence from the King and Queen.

Private D Gordon who was working at Tunbridge Wells when the war broke out, had been in France since the early days of hostilities and had been twice wounded. He had only just returned to France after a period of convalescence in England when he made his noble sacrifice. 

A Patriotic Family 

Mr and Mrs Gordon have reason to be proud of their children. Of eight sons, six voluntarily enlisted at the beginning of the war. Five of them survive and are stationed in various parts of the world. The seventh son has just attained the age of 18, and, having received his calling up papers, will shortly proceed to the Colours, while the eighth, who is only sixteen years of age is employed in the telegraph office at the Lewes Railway Station and is therefore in Government employ. One of the daughters of Mr and Mrs Gordon is engaged in war work at Lewes and thus are nine members of this Lewes family doing their "bit" in the country's service.  

Photographs of the six soldier sons of Mr Gordon are given on our pictures page…

 

Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that 19027 Private David Gordon was serving with the 8th Battalion at the time of his death and that he was born in Lewes and enlisted in London. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives the additional information that his middle name was Roland, that he was serving with D Company of the 8th KORL Regiment and that he was the son of Son of Alfred Preston Gordon and Mary Gordon, of 23, Friar's Walk, Lewes, Sussex. He is commemorated on Bay 2 of the Arras Memorial in France.

 

Len Gordon was probably demobbed in early 1919 and returned to Chailey. He appears to be the only one of the six serving brothers to have had connections with the parish.  Chailey resident Reg Philpott remembers that he used to live next to the post office at North Common, Chailey with Emily and that would tie in with his designation as “assistant postmaster” on the 1901 census.  Reg Philpott also remembers that Len had a French Poilu’s helmet hanging up in his house and this is confirmed by his grandson who recalls that the French helmet was hung next to his own Tommy’s tin hat.

Len Gordon died in 1948 and is buried at St Mary’s Church, North Common, Chailey.

Probably taken in 1917 or 1918, the photo at the top of this post shows Len with his wife and young daughter. He wears the uniform of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and two wound stripes can clearly be seen on his left forearm.

My grateful thanks to David Gordon for the photos and much background information on the Gordon brothers and family.

R/4188 Rfm William Lansdowne, 13th KRRC

R/4188 Rifleman William Alfred Lansdowne is not mentioned in Chailey’s parish magazine even though he was killed in action on 26th February 1916. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he was born in Holborn, Middlesex, enlisted at Cockspur Street (Middlesex) and was living in Chailey, Sussex. He was the son of Victor and Emma Lansdowne and was killed in action whilst serving with the 13th King’s Royal Rifle Corps. On the day on which he was killed the battalion was in trenches at Bailleulval. The diarist wrote:

"Enemy quiet. Nothing to report. The hard frost continues and the snow is still thick on the ground. The health of the battalion is quite good."

The Chailey connection appears to have been through his wife May who, on his service records, is shown as living at The Girls Heritage, Chailey, Sussex. This was in 1919 though and certainly, in May 1916, May Lansdowne was living at 46 Millman Street, Guildford. William's surviving service papers in WO 363 show that at the time of his enlistment he was still working as a waiter.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (apart from spelling his name incorrectly as Landsdowne) adds the additional information that he was serving with D Company and was the husband of May Lansdowne (nee West), of 46, Millman St., Guilford St., Holborn, London. He appears on the 1911 census as a 17-year-old waiter working at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, 81 Piccadilly, London. He is the only William Alfred Lansdowne on the 1911 census and so this must be him. This would mean that he would have been around 22 years old when he was killed.

William's regimental number dates to 11th September 1914. A few months later he married May West at Holborn, their marriage registered in the first quarter of 1915. A daughter, Vera May Lansdowne, was born in the fourth quarter of 1915. It seems unlikely that Vera ever saw her father as he was already overseas by the time she was born.

William is buried at De Cusine Ravine British Cemetery at Basseux, France; grave reference: G6. He is not commemorated on Chailey’s war memorial but may be remembered on a KRRC memorial and/or one located in the City of London.

PO/1261 Pte Harry Gates, RMLI

PO/1261 (S) Harry Gates of the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion, The Royal Naval Division, Royal Marine Light Infantry, was killed in action ninety years ago this month. He was the son of William and Sarah Gates of The Green, Chailey, and the husband of Elsie Gates of Mascall’s Farm, North Common, Chailey. William appears on the 1891 census as a boot maker and living at the family home on Chailey Green are his wife Sarah, Harry (aged one) and an older brother, Montague John Gates aged eight (born at Lewes). Montague would also serve during the First World War.

Harry appears on the 1901 census as an eleven year old still living in Chailey village with his parents although by this time, Montague had already left home.

In January 1916, Harry makes his first appearance Chailey’s Parish Magazine as Gates, Pte H, RMLI and in October 1916, the additional information, “France” is also added. In April 1917 however, the magazine added Gates’ name to its Roll of Honour, listing the information as: Pte H Gates, RMLI, killed in action, Feb 19th 1917.

Harry was 27 years old when he died. He has no known grave and is commemorated on pier and face 1A of the Thiepval Memorial in France (above).

G/18866 Pte Richard Roffe, 7th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

Richard Roffe: another of Chailey's forgotten men.

Just over 90 years ago, on February 5th 1917, Private Richard Roffe of The East Kent Regiment was killed in action. He was not a native of Chailey, (he was born in Wittering, Sussex) but according to Soldiers Died in The Great War, he was resident in the village and enlisted at Wansford, Northants.

In its January 1916 issue Chailey Parish Magazine records him within the roll call of local serving men, noting, "Roffe, R". That is the only mention he receives but nevertheless enough, surely, to have warranted the inclusion of his name on the parish war memorial.

Richard Roffe possibly enlisted under the Derby Scheme in late 1915. He was certainly young. At the time of his death he was still four months short of his twentieth birthday.

Walter Leonard Nixon

On this day, 1st February, in the year 1893, my grandfather, Walter Leonard Nixon was born. In many respects he kindled my interest in the First World War. A gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery, wounded and gassed for his King and country, my memories of him are of an old man, huddling by the fire to keep warm; rolling his cigarettes. I never spoke to him about his Great War experiences but his death in 1980, and my regret at not having not got to know him better than I should have done, triggered in me a desire to learn more. And so today, 27 years later, and with many years of First World War research and knowledge under my belt, I pay tribute to Walter Leonard Nixon, one of five serving Nixon brothers, but above all, my grandfather.

L7566 Jack Chatfield, Royal Navy

Today marks another first: the first photograph of one of Chailey's mariners.
 

The man on the right is Jack Chatfield, an officer's steward who served aboard HMS Cochrane and later HMS Amphitrite during WW1 before being invalided out of the service in 1919. Jack was one of four Chailey brothers who served his country during WW1, all four of them surviving.

 

This is Jack's story:

Jack Chatfield was born on 16th July 1896.  His surviving Naval papers give his place of birth as Lewes although the 1901 census states Newick.  When the census was taken he was living at The Rough, Newick with his family.  The household comprised Alfred Chatfield (aged 42, head of the family, born at Fletching and working as a domestic gardener), his wife Mary Chatfield (aged 42, born in Newick) and their six children: Mabel Chatfield (aged 14, born Fletching), Emily Chatfield (aged 13, born Fletching), Harry Chatfield (aged ten, born Uckfield), Frank Chatfield (aged eight, born Fletching), Jack (aged four, recorded as John) and Thomas Chatfield (aged two, born Newick).

There were other children as well.  The 1891 census shows the family living at Church Street, Uckfield.  Alfred Chatfield (aged eight, born at Fletching) and Alice Mary Chatfield (aged six, born at Fletching) had obviously left the family home by the time the 1901 census was taken.  Harry Chatfield is recorded as “infant Chatfield aged under one month”.

Jack joined the Royal Navy at Portsmouth on 25th October 1915.  He was five feet eight and a half inches tall, had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.  It was noted that he had a scar on the back of his left wrist.  He gave his occupation as gardener and was sent to HMS Victory I (a Portsmouth base).  His rating was officer’s steward and his service number was L7566.  His rank and the fact that he had joined the Navy was reported by Chailey Parish Magazine the following month.

In July 1916, the parish magazine reported that Jack had joined HMS Argonaut although there is no mention of this on his naval papers.  HMS Argonaut (a 16 gun cruiser belonging to the Diadem class and launched at Govan in 1898) eventually became a training ship for stokers and was based at Portsmouth and I think it likely that he spent some time on this ship although his record simply states HMS Victory I (Portsmouth)

Between 14th October 1916 and 25th November 1917 Jack Chatfield was serving aboard HMS Cochrane.  This was a large armoured cruiser of the Warrior Class.  The ship was built at Govan by Fairfield, launched on 20th May 1905 and completed in February 1907. She joined the 5th Squadron at the Nore in 1907 and transferred to the 2nd Cruiser squadron in 1909. In 1911 - 1912 her duties were to escort the Royal Yacht Medina. On the outbreak of World war One she joined the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow and took part in the battle of Jutland. In 1917 she was stationed in North America and the West Indies and then to Archangel in May 1918 until September the same year. On her return she ran aground in the Mersey on the 14th November 1918 and was a total loss. She was finally demolished by June 1919. 

In November 1917, Jack spent a further five months at Portsmouth (HMS Victory I) and then, between 9th April 1918 and 31st March 1919, served aboard HMS Amphitrite. He was finally invalided out of the Royal Navy on 1st April 1919.

Throughout his war service his character was noted as “very good”, with his ability ranging from “moderate” to “satisfactory”.

Jack Chatfield joined the Royal Navy on the same day as Alfred Beard.  Presumably the two men were friends and decided to enlist together.  Six digits separate their service numbers.

Three of Jack’s brothers – Frank Chatfield, Harry Chatfield and Thomas Chatfield - also served their King and Country during the First World War.

I am grateful to David Gordon for sending me this photograph of his relative which I am delighted to add to the growing gallery of Chailey's First World War servicemen and women.

Triptych, St Peter's Church, Chailey

My thanks to Mike Antonof Sussex for the splendid photo of the 1914-1918 triptych inside St Peter's Church, Chailey.

Fifty names appear on the triptych, one more than on the memorial outside on the village green. The additional name inside St Peter's is that of Lt Sigurd Harold Macculloch. The triptych was originally unveiled in 1918 whilst the war was still raging and I am at a loss to understand why Harold Macculloch's name was omitted when the war memorial was erected in 1920.

Silent Heroes - Percy Galloway

Percival Albert Galloway was born at Lydd, Kent in 1885, one of nine children of Albert and Agnes Galloway.

By the time the First World War was declared, he was close to 30 years old, working as a butcher, married and with two children of his own. Nevertheless, he did what thousands of other men were doing and enlisted in the army to serve his King and Country. He attested with the Royal Field Artillery at Bordon, Hampshire on 5th August 1915, giving his address as 1 Chalton Street, Steyning, Sussex.

He was given army number 90415, the rank of gunner and posted to the 23rd Divisional Artillery Column (DAC). His surviving papers record that he was at home until 28th August 1915 and then in France between 29th August 1915 and 7th November 1917.

On 29th September 1915 he was appointed acting bombardier and promoted to full bombardier on 11th November. On 7th February he was promoted corporal. On 10th June 1916 he was posted to No 1 section of the Divisional Artillery Column and on 25th January 1917 appointed acting sergeant. He was confirmed as full sergeant on 10th March 1917.

On 5th May 1917 he was appointed section rough rider and later that year (on 8th November) moved to Italy where he would remain until 27th January 1919. On 10th February his record notes that he ceased to draw additional pay as section rough rider on appointment to acting battery sergeant major. The following day the appointment was confirmed and he assumed duties in his new role.

By 28th May however, he had reverted to the rank of sergeant on the posting of Battery Sergeant Major Parker. He was granted leave between 7th and 21st June and on 13th June a third child, Cecil Alfred Galloway, was born at Chailey. He re-joined his unit in Italy on the 21st June and remained in Italy until 5th January 1919 when he was again granted two weeks’ home leave. He remained in England after his period of leave was up and was discharged on 27th March 1919.

On 21st August 1920 he received the British War Medal at his home address of Appletree Cottage, North Common, Chailey. A year later, in September 1921, he received his Victory Medal at his new address: Elm Cottage, Morris Road, Lewes.

That's all I know of this man; an ordinary man like so many others but one who willingly left his family and his lifestyle behind when his country called him.

 

My thanks to Percy's niece, Lesley Busby, for sending me the photographs of Percy in later life. Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

Chain Blogging

Here's a thing, chain blogging. Unlike some of the more sinister e-mail chains that threaten that all your plants will die unless you forward the wretched mail to fifteen people called Bob within the next half an hour, chain blogging or blog-tagging is a way of you getting to know me and me passing the buck on to five more unsuspecting bloggers. So here goes.

1. I've lived in India since September 2003.
2. I'm originally not from Chailey or Sussex at all. Chelmsford in Essex was where I was born and brought up but Bangalore is my home now.
3. I was born four years before England won the world cup and I'm hoping that I'll see another world cup victory for England before I die (I wonder what odds I'd get on that).
4. I am married and have an eighteenth month old daughter who was born in India.
5. As well as WW1, my other interests include family history and also learning more about SEO, a truly fascinating topic.

So that's me. Thank you Debbie at DVH Design for tagging me and here are my five blogger nominees:

Deepak Shenoy - The Unknown Indian
Matt Cutts - Google Guru
Sue Light - The Happy Hospital
Rand Fishkin - seomoz blog
Dear Miss Griffis

Wounded soldiers at Beechlands

One of several images of wounded soldiers (this group at Beechlands) which I have posted on a separate PHOTOGRAPHS page on this blog.

Beechland House photographs

I've added a new page of wounded soldiers at Beechland House and Hickwells which brings together images from elsewhere on this blog. I'll be adding to it in due course.

I've also been busy on a separate enterprise - my family history. The story so far is told at www.freewebs.com/whellams

Who are these Chailey nurses?

Does anybody recognise any of the faces in this line up of Chailey's VAD nurses? Please contact me if you do.

My roll-call of Sussex 54 VAD personnel is certainly incomplete and the information I have on some members is sketchy. Again, any assistance in filling in the considerable gaps would be appreciated.

Spts/5368 Pte John Ellis, 11th Royal Fusiliers

I am delighted to have been sent a photograph of 5368 Private John Ellis of the 11th Royal Fusiliers who was killed in action on 10th August 1917 in one of the many actions that would later be classified as "3rd Ypres".

John Ellis was born at Fletching, Sussex and this is his story.

Soldiers Died in the Great War gives his place of birth as "Chelwood Gate" and his birth was registered at Lewes in the September quarter of 1884.  He appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as an 18 year old farm labourer living with his family at Fletching.  The household in 1901 comprised: Henry Ellis (head, aged 55, born at Nutley and working as a farm labourer), Mary A Ellis (wife, aged 44, born at Lindfield) and their children: Searles Ellis (a 22 year old soldier born at Maresfield), John Ellis and William Ellis aged 15 (born in Chailey and also working as a farm labourer).

The family appears to have lived at Chailey for some time and are noted on the 1891 census living at South Street in the village.  By the time the First World War was declared however, I think the family had moved away from Chailey.  John is not mentioned in the parish magazine (although his brother William is). 

 

In 1907, John married Florence Eveling Welch. Their union was registered in the Uckfield District in the third quarter of 1907. Their son Jack was born in 1908, followed by daughter Florrie was in 1911, and baby Eveling (date unknown).

 

John's number belongs to the series issued by the Sportsmen's Battalions (the 23rd and 24th Battalions, Royal Fusiliers, and the 30th (Reserve) Battalion which was a reserve battalion for the 23rd and 24th). It dates to June 1916 and so presumably he initially joined one of these battalions - probably the 30th - and was subsequently posted to the 11th Battalion.

John Ellis was killed in action on 10th August 1917 when the 18th Division attacked towards Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse during what would later be designated the Third Battle of Ypres or the Battle of Passchendaele.  The following passages are taken from the History of the 18th Division:

“One almost smiles now to recall the programme set the 18th Division on that 10th August.  Gains that needed weeks were expected to be gathered in a few hours.

“If we turn to Glencorse Wood and the 54^th Brigade we see that the [7th] Bedfords were asked to take defences in front of the wood, and then to fight their way through it and up to the edge of Nonne Boschen Wood beyond.  That meant crossing a morass littered with derelict, semi-submerged tanks – in one of which a German sniper had been caught the previous day – and dealing with a row of pill-boxes, ten of them, standing up at the south west corner of the wood. The Bedfords, with the Fusiliers on their right, formed up near the Hooge-Menin Road.  The two battalions stretched across a front of about 750 yards.

“At 4.35am the assaulting companies went over the top unobserved by the enemy.  Never have the Bedfords shown finer dash… at 5.13am a message was received at 54th Brigade Headquarters that the Bedfords were on their final objective.”

 

The 11th Royal Fusiliers however, were “in difficulties”.

“Portions of the two attacking companies reached the objective, but a gap of 300 yards divided the battalion from the Bedfords further north.  The right reached Fitzclarence Farm but could not get in touch with the 55th Brigade.  By 6am all the Fusiliers’ officers had fallen.

“Preceded by parties bombing up Jargon Trench and other trenches between the two woods, the Germans launched a counter attack from Inverness Copse.  Their machine-guns forced the Fusiliers back, and, under orders from the 54th Brigade, the battalion took a line on the ridge in front of Clapham Junction.  The idea was that they should join up with the 55th Brigade then consolidating Green Jacket Ride.  Reinforced by a company of the 12th Middlesex Regiment, the Fusiliers held this line until relieved.”

Five DCMs were awarded to 11th Royal Fusiliers’ NCOs that day for their skill in “shepherding officerless companies and rallying waverers to new and amazing resistance to the weight of the outnumbering Germans.”

Between 31st July and 10th August, the 18th Division lost 244 men killed, 1,106 wounded and 176 missing.  Soldiers Died in The Great War (SDGW) records that 103 Other Ranks from the 11th Royal Fusiliers died this day, to say nothing of those who would die of wounds later.  Officers Died in The Great War records that ten officers from the battalion also fell that day. John's entry on the British war and Victory Medal roll notes "D P 10-8-17" or "Death Presumed" so he was obviously posted as missing initially.

John Ellis is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.  SDGW states that he enlisted at Uckfield and was living at Piltdown, while The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives the additional information that he was the son of the late Henry Ellis and the husband of Florence Eveling Ellis, of 2, Stone Croft Cottages, Piltdown, Uckfield, Sussex.

 

 

The photos on this page are courtesy of John Ellis's granddaughter Sonia and show John in uniform; also his wife Florence Eveling Ellis and their three children, from left, Florrie, Eveling and Jack.

 

As well as being commemorated in Belgium, John's name also appears on the war memorial at Fletching.

Albert Padgham and William Padgham

I am thrilled to have been sent photographs of Albert Padgham and William Padgham in their army uniforms. The two brothers were amongst the youngest of Chailey's men to serve their King and Country.

Albert was in khaki probably just before war was declared and would have been seventeen or eighteen years old (it's possible that he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on his eighteenth birthday). His brother William who was a couple of years younger than Albert, appears to have joined the army in late 1916 and served with the Royal Field Artillery.

Albert (pictured left), died of wounds in 1916 at the age of 19 and is buried in France. His brother William, survived. Today their young faces staring out of sepia tinted photographs recall the sacrifice of their generation.

I am delighted to be able to add Albert's and William's faces to the growing visual roll-call of Chailey's men and women and I am indebted to David Gordon, grandson of another Chailey veteran, Leonard Preston Gordon, for sending me these images and allowing me to reproduce these.

Accidentally Killed in Iraq

Alan Herbert Mainwaring West lost his life on this day eighty nine years ago. He was serving with the 36th Sikhs in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) when he was accidentally killed by a bomb explosion. He was 21 years old and was buried in Amara cemetery, Iraq.

Alan's older brother Ralph West also served his King and Country and their mother, Ada West, was an active member of Sussex 54 VAD. A photo of her with Sussex 54 VAD appears on the website.

19027 Pte David Gordon, King's Own - Killed on His 21st Birthday

Leonard Preston Gordon mentioned in Chailey's Parish Magazine (see previous post) was one of six serving brothers during the First World War. The Sussex County Herald published photos of the men in May 1918 and also the following article about Private D Gordon. I reproduce the article here in full.

NOBLE SACRIFICE - GAVE LIFE TO SUCCOUR WOUNDED GERMAN

No finer deed of heroism can be recorded than that which culminated in the death of Private D Gordon, King's Own Royal Lancashire [sic] Regiment, one of the six soldier sons of Mr and Mrs Alfred Gordon of Friars Walk, Lewes. On June 16 of last year this gallant young soldier left the safety of his trench to go to the assistance of a German soldier who was making his way, with dificulty, towards our lines. The danger attending the action was not unknown to the lad, for snipers were very busy and his own officer had tried to dissuade him from leaving the trench. Nevertheless with a cheery smile he rushed forward, and that was the last seen of him by his companions.

As night drew on and he did not return it was thought that he might have taken shelter in a shell hole, intending to crawl back after dark - some of his comrades crawled over the parapet and searched about in the darkness in the hope of finding him, but to no purpose. There were many bodies lying on the field - for there had been a stiff fight earlier in the day - bu Private Gordon could not be found and he was in consequence posted as missing.

The parents of the gallant young soldier have this week received an official communication intimating that the Records Office is now regretfully constrained to conclude that he was killed on June 16, the date, by a pathetic coincidence being the 21st birthday of the soldier. With the official intimation was sent the usual message of condolence from the King and Queen.

Private D Gordon who was working at Tunbridge Wells when the war broke out, had been in France since the early days of hostilities and had been twice wounded. He had only just returned to France after a period of convalescence in England when he made his noble sacrifice.

A Patriotic Family

Mr and Mrs Gordon have reason to be proud of their children. Of eight sons, six voluntarily enlisted at the beginning of the war. Five of them survive and are stationed in various parts of the world. The seventh son has just attained the age of 18, and, having received his calling up papers, will shortly proceed to the Colours, while the eighth, who is only sixteen years of age is employed in the telegraph office at the Lewes Railway Station and is therefore in Government employ. One of the daughters of Mr and Mrs Gordon is engaged in war work at Lewes and thus are nine members of this Lewes family doing their "bit" in the country's service.

Photographs of the six soldier sons of Mr Gordon are given on our pictures page.

The remainder of the article has been destroyed and lost. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that 19027 Private David Gordon was serving with the 8th Battalion at the time of his death and that he was born in Lewes and enisted in London. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives the additional information that his middle name was Roland, that he was serving with D Company of the 8th KORL Regiment and that he was the son of Son of Alfred Preston Gordon and Mary Gordon, of 23, Friar's Walk, Lewes, Sussex. He is commemorated on Bay 2 of the Arras Memorial in France.

Leonard Preston Gordon

One of six sons to serve during the First World War, Leonard Preston Gordon appears to be the only brother with Chailey connections. Certainly, he is the only one mentioned in Chailey's parish magazine where he is recorded simply as L P Gordon.


The photograph to the right, which was almost certainly taken before the First World War, was published in the Sussex County Herald in 1918. This, and individual photographs of his five serving brothers, accompanied an article about Pte David Gordon, a brother who was killed whilst attempting to rescue a German soldier from No-Man's Land. Happily, Len Gordon and his other four brothers all survived the Great War.



I am grateful to Len Gordon's grandson David Gordon, for contacting me with the additional information printed here.

Chailey 1914-1918 - One Year Old

Chailey 1914-1918 is one year old today. It was one of my resolutions in 2006 to publish the story of Chailey's Great War on-line and I made it with, I think, about an hour and a half to spare. In the intervening twelve months the website has been updated many times and will continue to be so.

I have been fortunate that a number of relatives have come forward with additional information that has enabled me to update biographies and, in a number of cases, add photographs of the participants. Having researched Chailey during the Great War for the past twenty five years, finally putting a face to a name, or identifying a previously unknown individual from a faded sepia photograph is particularly gratifying.

2007, the ninetieth anniversary of the Battles of Arras and Passchendaele, may well see the last of Britain's First World War veterans fading away. Nevertheless, the "war they called Great" still exercises a powerful hold on people. It's popularity as a research topic seems to increase with every week and will presumably reach a crescendo with the centenary commemorations in 2014, 2015 etc.

My own grandfather and his four brothers served during the Great War, as did a maternal great grandfather and numerous distantly related great uncles. The very least we can do is to acknowledge their sacrifices.

A very happy New Year to you all.

Chailey National School 1899

The photo above shows pupils from Group 5, Chailey National School in 1899. Enlarged details of the image are included on a new page for Chailey National School.

Please contact me if you recognise any of the children in this photo.

Christmas 2006

Numerous Christmas cards sent by British troops during the First World War years express two main themes: on the one hand, triumph over their enemies in battles fought during the previous months and years; on the other, victory in the coming year. Keeping spirits up was important, both for the soldiers of all sides and for their anxious relatives back home. For many though, Christmas would be etched with worry and for others, the pain of wounds or the grief of recent loss.

Four men with Chailey connections lost their lives during December.

Ernest Whitcomb of the Labour Corps and formerly of the Middlesex Regiment had died in December 1918, almost a month after hostilities had ceased. Gunner George Emery of the Royal Horse Artillery had died of wounds in England on 15th December 1915 and Private Frank Peacock of the Grenadier Guards and Lieutenant Harold Macculloch of the Seaforth Highlanders had both died five days later on 20th December 1915. For their immediate families, Christmas must always have been a time of sadness rather than celebration.

Other men would always remember Christmas as a time when wounds gave them a reprieve from the miseries of trench warfare. Private W H Baddock of the 3rd Grenadier Guards and Private Edward Burnage of the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment were both wounded on Christmas Eve 1915 - Baddock by a rifle grenade at Neuve Chappelle and Burnage possibly also by a rifle grenade at Givenchy. Both men would end up at Hickwells, Chailey; a world away from the horrors of the Western Front.


Happy Christmas 2006 - Remember those who gave so much.

Ernest Whitcomb - "Frost bites in both feet"

Eighty eight years ago today, on 10th December 1918, Ernest Whitcomb died in Macedonia. He was not from Chailey but as 6271 Private Ernest Whitcomb, he had been a convalescent patient at Hickwells in early 1915. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:

Pte E Whitcomb
1st Middlesex Regt

Frost Bites in both feet on the
14th Feb at Armentieres

Reg No 6271

He shares this page with entries from SR/1921 Private James William Salmon of the 4th Royal Fusiliers, 2229 Trooper Alfred Rock of the Royal Horse Guards, 22002 Private D Jones of the Army Service Corps and 6155 Private Frank Chivers Dixon of the 1st Wiltshire Regiment.

I have often wondered if Ernest Whitcomb is one of the men pictured above. The man seated second left and the man seated far right appear on a number of photos and I have a hunch, although it won't be proven, that they were amongst the first 12 patients to be admitted.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Debt of Honour Register notes that he was 38 years old at the time of his death on 10th December 1918 and that he was son of J Whitcomb and the husband of S Whitcomb of Solander Street, St George in the East, London. Despite this information however, he has proven to be very difficult to track down on census returns. He should appear on the returns for 1881, 1891 and 1901 but I am not convinced that I have found him on any.

On the 1891 census, a ten year old Ernest Whitcombe, born in St George in The East, is recorded as a scholar at the St George’s in the East Industrial School at Plashet Grove, East Ham, London. The school was opened in 1851 on a 16 acre site at the east of Green lane. It was intended to accommodate 150 boys, 120 girls and 80 infants. The building was demolished in the 1980s.

I believe that Ernest may have been the son of Fred and Annie Whitcomb. Frederick John Whitcomb was born in 1861 in Bermondsey and his wife Annie (who was possibly born as Mary Ann Ince) was born in St George in The East around 1865. The couple appear on the 1891 census living at 105 Cornwall Street, St George in The East with their five children. Their names and ages are recorded as follows: Fred Whitcombe (aged seven), Mary Whitcombe (aged six), Sam Whitcombe (aged four), John Whitcombe (aged two) and Emma H Whitcombe (aged one month). Fred’s occupation is given as general labourer.

By the time the 1901 census was taken the family was still living at St George in the East but had moved to 57 Spencer Street. Frederick, still working as a labourer, is recorded as John; his wife his recorded as Anne and her age given as 39 (she was recorded as being 27 on the 1891 census). Their offspring are all still noted as living at the family home (Mary is recorded as Mary Anne) and there is a fifth child: Charles Whitcombe (aged two). Frederick/John’s mother Jane Whitcombe is the final person noted at the Whitcombe household. She is recorded as a 60 year old widow born in Greenwich. On both census returns, St George in the East is given as the place of birth for all of the Whitcombe children.

According to his medal index card (below), Ernest arrived in France on 3rd February 1915. He notes that he served with the 1st Battalion which formed part of the regular 6th Division. Judging by his Middlesex Regiment number, he originally enlisted in May 1900. Terms of enlistment were generally seven years with colours and five years on the reserve. This would have meant that Ernest would, under normal circumstances, have been discharged from the army in May 1912. That he was not suggest either that he extended his period of engagement or, more likely, that he enlisted for section D Army Reserve which would have given him four more paid years on the reserve when his first period of reserve service ended. Either way, he had certainly not been discharged from the regiment when Britain went to war on 4th August 1914.

Contemporary reports describe the awful conditions in which men found themselves in that first winter on the Western Front. The war diary for the 1st Middlesex describes how the battalion left billets west of Armentieres on 2nd January 1915, and entered the trenches which were “very bad, full of mud and water up to the men’s knees in many places. Raining all day.”

Between the 4th and 7th January, the war diary entries simply read: “still in trenches. Weather terrible - mud and water terrible.” By the 8th the weather was “slightly better” and the men were “Working all day to try and keep the trenches standing. Rain causes dug-outs to fall in and parapets to disappear. Fascines and sandbags all sink into mud.”

By 9th January it was raining hard again and because the trenches were in such an appalling state it was decided to start a breastwork to the rear of their present line. On the 18th, with the breastwork still being constructed, the 1st Middlesex was relieved by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders but were back in the line five days later. On the day that Whitcomb records he reported sick, there are no casualties mentioned but one can well imagine that many soldiers must have reported sick during this time.

Ernest would have spent time in hospital in England before being sent to Chailey to recuperate. Photos from Nurse Oliver’s album and Nurse Blencowe’s album at the time show men with bandaged feet in slippers and it is possible that Ernest Whitcomb is one of these men.

It would appear that after he recovered, Ernest transferred to the 5th (Reserve) Middlesex Regiment and subsequently to the Labour Corps where he was given the number 587639.

As mentioned previously, Ernest died on 10th December 1918 and is buried at Mikra British Cemetery in Kalamaria, Greece; grave/memorial reference 894. According to The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the British Cemetery at Mikra was “opened in April 1917 and remained in use until 1920. The cemetery was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from a number of burial grounds in the area.”

Ernest’s medal index card at The National Archives indicates that his 1915 Star and British War and Victory Medals were returned by Mr F Whitcomb on 18th March 1923. They were re-issued to Ernest’s widow four days later but again returned as “gone away” on the 28th March. I am assuming that F Whitcomb is John Frederick Whitcomb and that, probably at the time of his enlistment in the army, he was Ernest’s next of kin. The medals would have been returned however because – and again this is an assumption – by the time Ernest was killed he had married and his wife was now his next of kin. Unfortunately there is no record of him on Soldiers Died in The Great War.

As with many of the soldiers commemorated on this site, further research is necessary to provide additional jigsaw pieces to the puzzle.

"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.