Frederick William Grantham

I've been sent a link to the on-line version of Volume 2 of Harrow Memorials of The Great War which contains "the Names of the second hundred old Harrovians who fell in the War from March 31st 1915 to September 11th 1915." Captain Frederick William Grantham is mentioned in this volume and I am attaching the relevant pages. My thanks to Dave Grantham in New Zealand. for the link.

Albert Henry Thompsett

I've updated Albert Thompsett's page, thanks again to a relative contacting me. I had been unsure of the family's connection with Chailey Parish but by 1911 they had moved to Station Road, Plumpton (although they referred to it as Compt Hill).

Albert is commemorated locally on the Chailey War Memorial and at Plumpton Green, and also on the Pozieres memorial on the Somme.

Convalescents - Chailey Heritage 1918

I've been sent the link to the picture above which I presume, although I don't know for certain, was taken at Chailey Heritage. Does anybody recognise the buildings or, for that matter, any of the people pictured?

The only identified person so far is Horace Wilfred Dexter, wounded on 12th April 1918, who sits third from left on the front row.

My thanks to David Dexter for the photograph. Click on it for a larger version.

Which Mitchell is Albert Mitchell?

From the main Chailey 1914-1918 site:

"There are a two Albert Mitchell / Hussars possibilities noted at The National Archives: 6561 (later 45282) Private Albert Mitchell and 8214 Private Albert Mitchell and further research is necessary to positively identify him."

At the time of writing this, I hadn't seen the medal cards for the two men. Now that I have done so, I am a little closer, but only on the supposition that Albert joined the army as a young man. I'll explain.

Army service numbers can provide enormous clues in helping determine when a man joined a particular regiment. I've studied these in depth and I have a separate army service numbers website.

We know that Albert was born in 188o. 6561 could have been issued to a 4th Hussars man at some point between 1902 and 1906 or in September/October 1910 by which time the numbering system for cavalry of the line had changed. Up until December 1906, cavalry regiments numbered individually by regiment; after that date they numbered by corps.

8214 can only have been issued when this corps re-numbering had taken place, and the number itself dates to January 1912. Albert would have been close to 32 years old at this time and I think it unlikely, albeit not beyond the realms of possibility, that he would have enlisted for a regular terms of enlistment which would have taken him up to the age of nearly 40 (assuming a 7&5 term of enlistment).

In the absence of more concrete evidence therefore, I'm going with the deduction that Albert was number 6561 and that he enlisted probably in 1902 or 1903 when he was 22 or 23 years old. If he is that man, he arrived in France on 27th August 1914.

G/7968 Pt John Gadd, 9th Royal Sussex

I don't have a lot of information on G/7968 Pte John Gadd. His army service number suggests that he joined the Sussex Regiment as a war-time enlistment, probably around the beginning of October 1915. His medal index card appears to confirm this as he received the British War and Victory Medals only and therefore must have arrived overseas on or after 1st Jannuary 1916.  The medal roll for these medals confirms that he served with the 9th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.

John Gadd survived the war.

1st July 1916

Remembering today, all those who laid down their lives on the opening day of the Great Push, 1st July 1916. Frederick Samuel Cottingham of South Common, Chailey was one of those men.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Chailey's Somme - 1916

Remembering today, the men of Sussex who laid down their lives in a diversionary attack at Richebourg L'Avoue on the Somme on the 30th June 1916.

The three South Down battalions took part in the attack by the 39th Division and by the end of the day had sustained over a thousand casualties, roughly one third of their combined strength. I have written about this on the Chailey 1914-1918 website in a chapter I called, Chailey's Somme.

Sydney Arthur Brooks, brother of William Jared Brooks of Newick, was killed on this day and Albert Plummer of South Common, Chailey was severely wounded. He would die of his wounds on 2nd July.

The 30th June 1916 was, as some have said, the day that Sussex died, and 93 years on, almost to the hour that the men of Sussex rose from their trenches and walked into well-directed German machine-gun fire, I remember them.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Thomas Pateman, 4th (Queen's Own) Hussars

Thomas and Alfred Pateman. both serving with the 4th (Queen's Own) Hussars, arrived in France on 15th August 1914. I think it likely that Thomas Pateman, six years older than Alfred, joined the 4th Hussars in 1900. His number - 4582 - dates either to early 1900 or to around July 1909. In 1900, he would have been about 21 years old and it seems more likely that he would have joined up as a young man in his twenties rather than as a thirty year old. You can read more about army service numbers between 1881 and 1918 on another of my blogs. 

Both Alfred and Thomas survived the First World War, Thomas ending the war as a decorated Sergeant Major who had been Mentioned in Dispatches (MiD) and awarded the Military Medal. The "Em" and "Emblem" references in his medal index card above, refer to his MiD. The medal index card is Crown Copyright, downloaded from the Ancestry.co.uk website.

On the 13th January 2021, Thomas Pateman's medals, above, with an estimate of between £500 and £600 were sold at auction by Dix Noonan Webb for £2,400.

Alf Pateman - when did he join up?

Alfred Pateman was born in Chailey in 1889 and he was certainly in uniform before the start of the First World War. His medal index card at the National Archives indicates that he was overseas with the 4th Hussars as early as 15th August 1914; an Old Contemptible although he appears not to have claimed the bar to his 1914 Star - the "clasp and roses" so often mentioned on medal index cards of the First World War. But when did Alf enlist?

Alf Pateman's service record does not appear to have survived, but his medal index card gives his 4th Hussars number as 5506. Prior to 1907 all the line cavalry regiments numbered by regiment and so the 4th Hussars had its own series of numbers. Post Army Order 289 of December 1906 however, line cavalry were to be numbered by corps. So one number series for the Corps of Dragoons, one series for the Corps of Hussars and one series for the Corps of Lancers. I've dealt with this topic on a separate post on my Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 blog which looked at Queen's and King's Regulations for the Army. Click the link to read that post.

So the number 5506 was issued twice. Once to a 4th Hussars man when numbering was by individual regiment, and then again when numbering was by line cavalry corps. In the first case, 5506 would have been issued in about 1901 and so we can rule that date out for Alf Pateman as he would only have been about 13 years old. That means he must have joined the 4th Hussars after Army Order 289 had been published, and the number 5506 can only have been issued in the second half of April 1910. So that's when Alf joined his regiment. Fortunately, as his MIC (above) shows, the guesswork has been taken out of the equation regarding the date he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.

The medal index card is Crown Copyright, downloaded from the Ancestry.co.uk website.

Royal Sussex Regiment - Army Service Numbers

There are several men on my Chailey 1914-1918 site who saw service during the First World War with the Royal Sussex Regiment. Although, Essex-born myself, I have a keen interest in the Royal Sussex Regiment and have recently posted a number of articles on my Army Service Numbers blog about numbering in the various Royal Sussex Regiment battalions. I'll be adding to this series or articles in due course, but in the meantime here are the links to the published posts:

Royal Sussex Regiment - Army Service Numbers

Regular and Special Reserve:

1st and 2nd Battalions (from 1881)
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion (1908-1914)

Territorial Force:

4th Battalion (Territorial Force)
5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion (Territorial Force)
6th (Cyclist) Battalion (Territorial Force)

Initial complement of the South Down battalions (to August 1916):

11th Battalion (1st South Down)
12th Battalion (2nd South Down)
13th Battalion (3rd South Down)
14th (Reserve) Battalion

Service battalions:

Sussex Regiment service battalions August 1914 - August 1916

D-Day 6th June 1944

Remembering all those who took part in Operation Overlord this day, 65 years ago. Remembering their steadfastness, their courage and their endurance and remembering in particular, those who gave their lives in the battle for the liberation of Europe.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

WW1 photographic archive

There's probably no Chailey 1914-1918 connection here but this is worth flagging up for anybody with a WW1 interest.

Yesterday's The Independent carried an article about a collection of photographic plates dating from 1915 and 1916 and depicting Allied - mostly British - troops in France. The Independent published some photographs in the paper; close to 300 have been published on the paper's website. Here's the link:

Gardin-Zanardi WW1 archive

There may of course be Chailey men amongst the subjects but regardless of that, the archive makes fascinating and compulsive viewing.

The photograph of the patriotic British Tommy tattoed with the Royal Family is one of the photos contained in the archive.

Chailey 1914-1918 Bookshop

I've added another page to the website with a few recommended research titles. Well at least I had done until the site chose to play up and deleted everything. I'm now in the process of re-building the page.

As I mention on the Chailey 1914-1918 bookshop page, clicking on any of the Naval & Military Press links and then subsequently making a purchase, sees a commission wending its slow way to me. All such commissions help fund the site.

Research-wise I've had nothing to add in the last few weeks and have been concentrating more on the Army Service Numbers blog and army service numbers research in general.

Chailey War Memorial 1920

My thanks to Jim Type for sending me the photo above which was taken during the unveiling ceremony of Chailey's war memorial in October 1920. There was obviously a series of photos taken at the time and later reproduced as postcards. Number 12 is here (originally on eBay by the looks of things - see bottom right corner) and number 9 is on the War Memorial and Remembrance page of the Chailey 1914-1918 website. I'd love to see other photos from the series if anybody has any they could scan and send me.

Ivan Duffield

Thanks to information received from a distant relative, I've updated the page for Ivan Duffield who was not a Chailey man by birth but was possibly teaching in the parish when he was called up in 1916.

Ivan initially served with the 6th Middlesex Regiment but later transferred to the RAF and was apparently still serving as a flying officer in Baghdad in 1922.

Rainald Parker and Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe

Thanks to correspondence received, I've updated the pages for Rainald Parker and Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe.

Rainald Parker originally joined the 25th London Regiment but saw service overseas with the Royal Army Service Corps.

The Reverend Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe must have seemed like a pillar of strength to the Chailey community during World War 1 and he was certainly a diligent chronicler of Chailey parishioners' service overseas. I had known that he was born in Bangalore but knew very little of his family background. Now, thanks to correspondence with a relative in New Zealand, I have been able to fill in a few gaps.

Coincidentally, I currently live in Bangalore and it may be that there will be further information locked away in mouldering ledgers in St Mark's Church, Bangalore where Thomas Jellicoe's parents were married in 1859 and where Thomas himself may have been christened.

Gloucestershire Regiment soldiers

I've just posted some army service numbers and corresponding joining dates for the regular battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment on my Army Service Numbers blog. That provides me with a good enough excuse to draw attention to a couple of Gloucestershire Regiment soldiers on my Chailey 1914-1918 website, and also to draw attention to the Soldiers of Gloucestershire website.

Reginald Pimble and William Fryer Washbourne both served with the Gloucestershire Regiment (Reginald with the 1st Battalion and William with the 1/5th Battalion) and both spent time at Hickwells and Beechlands recovering from wounds. The two men are easily located on the Soldiers of Gloucestershire database which contains details of over 40,000 WW1 Gloucestershire regiment men; a very handy resource indeed.

Chailey Heritage during WW1

Chailey Heritage's role during WW1 has always been beyond the scope of my research project. (I have researched Hickwells and Beechlands VAD hospitals but never Chailey Heritage). I do however, have some notes on Chailey Heritage during WW1 and today, quite out of the blue, I received this undated photograph of the "interior of the Princess Louise Military Wards, Heritage Colony, Chailey."

The following from my notes and transcripts of contemporary newspaper articles:

Friday June 11th 1915 [East Sussex News]
[Report that the Haywards Heath Band, accompanied by a number of the bandsmen of the 2/9th Manchester Battalion, visited the Heritage, North Common on Saturday, to play for the wounded soldiers and crippled boys there.]

March 14th 1916 - Page 7 [Mid-Sussex Times]

The Heritage Schools Chailey
EDUCATIVE CONVALESCENCE FOR WOUNDED MILITARY MEN
Among the war problems which are becoming increasingly pertinent, is that of the industrial position of the wounded soldier after the war. As it is obvious that a solution cannot be left until the fighting is over, an experiment in educative convalescence for our gallant, but maimed, lads has been originated at the Heritage Craft Schools for Crippled Children at Chailey, which are carried on in connection with The Guild of Brave Poor Things. Here are situated the Princess Louise Military Wards for wounded men, and the effort on behalf of their inmates has proved to have an enormous value. It has brought out the unique opportunity of testing the men in the use of new limbs and unaccustomed artificial apparatus in the workshops side by side with crippled boys similarly afflicted. The suggestiveness of the Scheme bears the hall mark of genius as well as novelty, but unquestionably the men learn much, unconsciously, from the attitude of the boys.

I have other photos of Chailey Heritage during WW1 tucked away somewhere and in due course I'll scan these and post them here.

My thanks to Jim Type for a) remembering me and b) sending me the photo that I've used on this page. Jim's relatives, Albert Heasman, Frederick Heasman and Gilbert Heasman, and Henry Downing all have pages on the main Chailey 1914-1918 website.

British Army WW1 Records

The War Graves Photographic Project

I thought I'd give a plug to The War Graves Photographic Project for no other reason than I think it's an excellent initiative. I am a volunteer for the project and have taken photographs at Kirkee in India. Sadly, I don't travel very much and so this has been my only contribution so far - and that, some years ago now - but the project has volunteers located across the globe, and a photographic archive of over 1.1 million names.

My great uncle, John Frederick Nixon, killed in action in October 1918 and commemorated at Vis-en-Artois is one of those names, as is Ernest Whitcomb who was a frostbite patient at Hickwells in 1915. He transferred to the Labour Corps and died on 10th December 1918 in what is now Kalamaria, Greece. He is buried in the Mikra British Cemetery.

British Army WW1 Records

Chailey School - Cricket Team 1934

Following on from recent posts concerning Newick School cricket team circa 1907 and the Chailey School cricket team in 1938, here are some of Chailey's boys in 1934.

Back row, left to right:
Peter Douch, Harry English, Unknown, Ray Campbell, Russel Munnings, Unknown, Dennis Kimmins, David English

Front row:
Stan Hales, Unknown, Harold Williams, John Tompkins

On 15th November 1943, Russel Charles Munnings was one of 114 ratings killed when the ship on which he was serving - HMS Dulverton - was attacked by German planes five miles of the coast of the Greek Island of Kos. Three officers were also killed. The ship was badly damaged and was scuttled by HMS Belvoir. Russel Munnings is not commemorated on the Chailey War Memorial on the village green. His entry in the Commonwealth War Graves register notes that he was the son of Charles Aldous Munnings and Dorothy Kathleen Munnings of Horsted Keynes, Sussex.

My thanks again to David Gordon for sending me this photograph.

Chailey School - Cricket Team 1938

This post has tenuous connections with Chailey during World War One, but I write it in the hope that it will be of interest to people with a connection to Chailey (and it also follows on nicely from the Newick cricket team post the other day).

The photo of Chailey School cricket team in 1938 was sent to me a while back by David Gordon. First World War Chailey serviceman Len Gordon was the father of Richard Gordon mentioned below.

Back row, left to right:
Harold Williams (Willie), Richard Gordon, Cecil Muddle, Ray Campbell, Les Green, Roland Gingell, David Munnings

Front row:
Stan Hales, Ivor Short, Dennis Kimmins, Peter Douch, John Tomkin

I also have a photograph of the Chailey school cricket team in 1934 and I'll post that in due course too. My thanks to David Gordon.

John Oldaker's boys

Once in while, completely out of the blue, I am privileged to receive significant additional information concerning the men on the Chailey 1914-1918 site. The photograph I have posted here, certainly falls into this category.

Pictured here are John Oldaker, headmaster of Newick School, and the school cricket team. The photograph was taken in 1909. William Jared Brooks (Will Brooks) is seated second from left and it is his granddaughter who has sent me the photograph.

The photograph on its own is quite a find, but thankfully Will Brooks also wrote the names on the reverse. So, from the back row, reading from left to right: Charlie Hodges, Fred Smith, John Oldaker, Edgar Richards, Unknown. Seated: ? Martin, Will Brooks, Percy Elphick, Jim Reynolds, Sydney Smith, Alf Fuller.

George Brooks, known as Proey, is the boy in the front row.

The boy recorded as "Unknown" is probably the headmaster's son, John Oldaker, and I think that the boy seated to Will Brooks's right is probably Horace Raymond Martin. If it's not him, it would be his brother, John Sidney Martin. Click on the links to see photos of both the brothers in their army uniform during WW1.

Sydney Smith was killed at Gallipoli on 19th August 1915 and Fred Smith was killed at Loos on 26th September the same year. SD/1637 Private Charlie Hodges of the 12th Royal Sussex Regiment was killed at the Boars Head on 30th June 1916.

My sincere thanks to Sally Tinkler for sending me this photograph and additional information about her grandfather, and also to Simon Stevens for his inputs regarding John Oldaker and the boys who later died in the service of their King and Country.

A Chailey medal index card

Click on the image above to see the detail more clearly. This is a good example of a medal index card (MIC) with additional detail on the reverse. In my experience of looking at these, officers generally have an address written on the reverse, as do men who, for whatever reason, had a problem with the original issue of their medals.

In this case, George Arthur Kemp's medals were returned; the reason for their return - and it looks as though they were received back on 25th September 1923 - is contained within 1743 King's Regulations. For 1912, these read:

1743. Medals which, at the end of 10 years, still remain unclaimed, will be sent to the India Office (if granted for Indian service), or to the deputy director of ordnance stores, Royal Dockyard (Medal Branch), Woolwich (if granted for other service) to be broken up.

I'm guessing that this particular paragraph had been amended by 1923.

New medals were issued on 8th October 1923 and sent to George at Rock House, Colonel's Bank, Chailey.

The reference number under the column headed "Roll" and the page reference next to that, refer to the original medal rolls which are currently housed at the National Archives but which - one hopes - will be available on line in due course.

It is worth noting that had it not been for the efforts of the Western Front Association (WFA), the First World War medal cards - the majority of which have now been scanned by Ancestry.co.uk - would have been destroyed.

The image of George Kemp's MIC reproduced here, is Crown Copyright.

Did your ancestor serve overseas during WW1? Find his medal index card on-line. Click here!

The Horns Lodge, South Street, Chailey

George & Ina Stevens, Horns Lodge, Chailey (undated)

There's some interesting information about old Chailey buried in the website for The Horns Lodge Freehouse in South Street. I'm sorry to say that I've never had the opportunity to sample any of the ale there but I was very interested to read about the history of Horns Lodge.

In the list of past publicans, George Arthur Kemp and Mr and Mr George Frederick Stevens are mentioned. George Kemp is certainly a familiar name to me and he appears on the Chailey 1914-1918 website. In 1901 he was a 19 year old gardener living at Horns Lodge and his father, also George Kemp, was the 57 year old "beer house keeper." I presume that it is George Kemp the elder and not his son (who would go on to serve with the RGA during WW1) who is the George Arthur Kemp noted on the Horns Lodge history page.

After George Kemp gave up the tenancy on the pub, it passed to Mr and Mrs Lewry (an unfamiliar name to me) and then to Mr and Mr Stevens. I have two men by the name of G Stevens on the website and I wonder whether George Frederick Stevens (who appears to have been known as Fred) is one of these men. In any event, clicking through a few links on the Horns Lodge page to this man reveals the photo that I have used on this post, and also a partial narrative written by Fred's son, Harry Stevens. George and Ina Stevens (nee Leppard) took over the Horns Lodge in 1946 and there are a few interesting (for me) snippets in Harry Stevens's narrative which I highlight below.

"Dad sold tins and tins of SP Snuff and one character who indulged, was Tommy Tasker. Tommy was a retired roadman and had been gassed in the First World War and I suppose he thought that “snuffing” was a good substitute for smoking. Bill Snelling the son of Arthur who owned the donkey in the stable (more about that later) was also gassed during the First World War, and he kept Tommy company!"

Tommy Tasker is not a familiar name to me, but Bill Snelling is William Snelling who served with the 5th Sussex Regiment during WW1.

"The next door cottage was occupied by a Mr. Smith the cobbler. Next door to Mr & Mrs Smith, lived Mr & Mrs Taylor. They were a nice old couple and Mrs Taylor sometimes helped Mum out with some of the housework. Mrs Taylor was the village “Midwife” I say that in loose terms, as she was not qualified, but her knowledge came from experience over many years of village life. She was also the person who laid you out, if you were unfortunate enough to “Pop your Clogs.” Her husband was a retired roadman, who had kept the verges of the lanes and roads tidy and clipped all around the village. Next door to the Taylors was the stable where I kept my motorbike, although this wasn't the only occupant. Arrangements had been made to house the donkey belonging to old Arthur Snelling. Arthur was the retired landlord of the Five Bells, which was the next pub down the road towards North Chailey. Arthur had a little trap that was also kept at the rear of our pub, and that was his means of transport around the village. Sometime later a Donkey Derby was organised in the village fete, and “our” Donkey was called “Horns Lodge Beauty.” I think it was one of the first Derbys of this kind that had ever been organised."

Mr Taylor was Charlie Taylor and there are photos of him and his wife also buried in the Horns Lodge website. I am assuming - and this might be a wild guess - that he is the Corporal C W Taylor mentioned on my site.



Is this Corporal C W Taylor AVC?

I've dropped Harry Stevens a line, via the Horns Lodge webmaster, but in the meantime I'd appreciate any further information on these individuals.

Does your WW1 ancestor have a surviving service record? Check on-line. Click here!

Charles Frampton - "exceptionally good physique"

As intimated the other week, I have updated Charles Frampton's page on the Chailey 1914-1918 site. Charles was not originally a local man, he was borne in Wimborne, Dorset, but his family appears to have settled in Chailey when Charles was a boy.

Charles joined the ASC in November 1914 and it was at this time that his "exceptionally good physique" was recorded. At just five feet one and a half inches tall, he was under height for the army, a factor though which does not appear to have affected his attestation. He served with the ASC throughout the war and was discharged from the army in December 1918.

Charles lived at Bevernbridge Cottages, South Chailey and I was trying - unsuccessfully on Google - to find a photo of the cottages earlier today. In 1891, they fell under Lewes parish boundaries although today they are in South Chailey. I also wondered, given that Charles's father and a lodger in 1891 worked as brick-makers, whether the cottages were originally specifically earmarked for workers at the local Chailey brickworks.

In 2007 I see, one of the cottages - which I'm guessing is a typical Victorian two-up, two-down affair - sold for around two hundred thousand pounds. Cheap for Chailey generally I suspect, but a fortune compared to what it would have cost to buy in 1891.

Read Charles Frampton's partial service record on-line. Click here!

Joseph Miller

Margaret and Clara Miller were just three years old and one year old when their father, Joseph Charles Miller died of wounds in September 1917. Joseph, who was born in Lewes, was really a Wivelsfield man - he appears on three memorials in that village - but he is also commemorated on Chailey's parish memorial on Chailey Green.

 

Charles Harrald - three times wounded

Charles Edward Harrald was a patient at Beechlands in Newick in 1917. He joined up with the 21st Northumberland Fusiliers and was then wounded three times: a gunshot wound to his head on 2nd July 1916, a shrapnel wound to his back on 25th September 1916, and finally a gunshot wound to his left foot on 2nd April 1917.

It was this last wound which caused him to be acquainted with Nurse Edith Oliver and Chailey and which, in time would see him discharged from the army. I've just updated his record on the main site having discovered a few of his papers in the WO 364 pension series at the National Archives.

Read Charles Harrald's partial service record on-line. Click here!

Like William Pointing, whom I wrote about yesterday, Charles's final wound was received at Arras - again, possibly fortuitously for him - before the main offensive began.

William Richard Pointing - wounded at Arras

William Richard Pointing of the 6th Buffs (East Kent Regiment) was wounded twice - on the Somme in 1916 and at Arras in 1917 - and then taken prisoner in November 1917. Although his Arras wound - shrapnel in his hand - rendered his left little finger useless, it quite possibly saved his life as well. On April 9th 1917, while he was in an Arras hospital, British, Canadian and French troops attacked the German positions. British casualties during the battle would ultimately amount to close to 160,000 men.

William's partial service record survives in the WO 364 series at the National Archives in Kew, London and I have quoted from this in the revised biography I have written for him on the main Chailey 1914-1918 site.

Read William Pointing's partial service record on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

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.

Gassed in the trenches - 21st March 1918

I referred yesterday, to an interview I'd conducted with Harold Shephard of the 1/5th Leicestershire Regiment, and his doctor's opinion (in the 1980s) about the after-effects of gassing, as it affected Harold.

Today, coincidentally, I came across various medical reports relating to 277632 Lance Corporal Joseph Dykes of the 2/7th Manchester Regiment, who was gassed at Peronne, France on 21st March 1918, the day the German Army launched its offensive against the British. Joseph had worked as a bricklayer in Bunbury, Cheshire before joining up.

I quote from various papers below:

Army Form Z.22
Statement as to Disability

Date: March 1919

Give diagnosis and particulars of each disability claimed or discovered: "Breathlessness and tachycardia"
The present condition thereof: [unclear] tachycardia. Breathlessness on exertion. No murmur detected."

Army Form B179A

Medical Report on a soldier Boarded [ie, who has appeared before a Medical Board] prior to discharge or transfer to [various classes] of the Reserve.

[Transfered to the Reserve on 18/02/1919. Previously awarded pension of 8 shillings and threepence per week for 26 weeks.]

Report dated 8th July 1919.

"No documentary evidence but man states that he was gassed in the trenches and taken prisoner by the Germans, sent to a German Military Hospital; from here sent to work in Germany. Repatriated 22/11/18 had two months leave, sent to rejoin his regiment at Tiley [?] where he was demobilized."

Present condition: "There is no organic disease of the heart present in this case."

Discharge as permanently unfit: "No."

Opinion of the Medical Board: "Gas poisoning and [unclear]. Complains of cough, expectoration and shortness of breath. Chest movement good ... OF and OR good. Percussion note normal. No adventitious sounds heard in chest. Heart not enlarged, maximum impulse in normal position... no cardiac murmurs heard..."

How long is the present degree of disablement likely to last: "twelve months."

What is the degree of disablement?: "Less than twenty per cent."

You can read Joseph Dykes's service record on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

In fairness to those medical professionals sitting on Boards, many of the cases they were dealing with must have been unknown quantities. And yet, by 1919, one assumes that gas cases had been presenting since 1915 (albeit the type of gas used was different in 1915), and men gassed in that year would still have been suffering the effects of that gassing four years later.

I have rarely seen reports from Medical Boards where pensions continued for many years. Obviously many did of course, and it may be that later awards have been weeded out of files. Nevertheless, it is also true to say that many men received pensions which were well below what they should have been and which, after a few months or years, were often stopped altogether. The one glaring Chailey-related exception I can think of is Charles Sabourin, who was a patient at Hickwells in 1915 and who was severely wounded on 23rd August 1914. Papers in his files (and he has papers in both the WO 363 and WO 364 series) show that he was receiving a pension certainly as late as 1952. Nevertheless, that pension amounted to under nine shillings a week which would not have gone very far in 1952. Then again, Medical Boards were hardly in a position to refute his claims - he'd had his right leg amputated high at the thigh.

Read Charles Sabourin's partial service record on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Frank Richards, in Old Soldiers Never Die, has some nice comments about Army Pensions towards the end of his memoir which I quote from below. Frank was a regular soldier who had joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1901, subsequently serving eight years with the colours, seven of these in India and Burma. He rejoined his old battalion in 1914 and served throughout the war, winning the DCM and MM in the process. Demobbed in December 1918 he applied for a Medical Board in August 1921, primarily because he was suffering from haemorrhoids but also rheumatism.

Frank Richards takes up the story:

"I had to go to Newport for my Board and I met a man from my village who was going there for the same purpose. He informed me that he had not served in the War but had been guarding a railway bridge about seven miles from his home and one night while on sentry it had rained and he had got wet. Some days later he had been admitted to hospital where he had spent a week with rheumatism. I sympathized with him and said it was marvellous how he looked so well after what he had been through.

"The doctors who examined me as good as told me that if I didn't agree to have an operation I would not be granted a disability pension... A few weeks later I was notified that the Medical Board had found that I was suffering with haemorrhoids and rheumatism and that the haemorrhoids had been aggravated by my War service: for which I had been awarded a disability pension of eight shillings a week for sixty-five weeks. Before this time expired I would be notified to appear in front of a Medical Board for a further examination. No disability could be awarded for my rheumatism which in their opinion had not been caused or aggravated by War service. If I wished to appeal I could do so.

"I knew it was useless to appeal. I have never been in hospital with rheumatism and the War had now been over two years and nine months. I also knew that Medical Boards went by what hospital service a man had entered on his medical history sheet and not by his front-line service. If a man had only done four weeks' service in England and had been admitted to hospital for a few days he would have a better chance of being awarded a disability pension than a man who had done four years in the firing line and whose medical history sheet was clean...

"I met the man who had got wet guarding the bridge and he informed me that he had been awarded a disability pension of twelve shillings a week for sixty-five weeks and had also been recommended for massage treatment."

Frank had an operation for his haemorrhoids and appeared before another Medical Board where he was "... notified that I had been awarded a final weekly allowance of seven and sixpence for seventy weeks, and the award could not be extended beyond this period."

So much for the "land fit for heroes."

I found the image on this post on a flickr album. It shows Amercian troops in 1917, learning how to use their gas masks.

Chailey's patients

One of the frustrating aspects of trying to research the stories of the men who found themselves at Hickwells and Beechlands is that their entries in Nurse Oliver's autograph album often did not include their army service numbers. Additionally some men just gave an initial rather than a name, or were given only the briefest of mentions in newspaper reports of the time. This means that trying to trace the histories of men like Rifleman F Head, and Drummer Davis (or Gunner Davis for that matter) is a virtually impossible task. I've included their names on the Patients' roll-call because it is feasible, I suppose, that at some future point in time, somebody will send me an e-mail that reads, "My great great uncle was 12345 Rifleman Frank Head and he always spoke about how much he enjoyed being a hospital patient in Chailey..." Well, I live in hope.

Nevertheless, I have spent more time over the past few days, checking names again against medal index cards and service records in the WO 363 and WO 364 series and have identified three more patient service records - those for John Dicks, Ernest Fairbrother and Charles Harrald (or Harrold) - as well as more of Chailey's men. I'll update their pages in due course.

George Pointing

George Pointing and his brother William Pointing both have surviving papers at the National Archives and so I've updated George's page on the Chailey 1914-1918 site for now.



George was a 19 year old shop assistant working for Sainsbury's in the City of London when he joined the Sussex Yeomanry in 1915. He received a bullet in his left knee in March 1918 which finished his war and left him in hospitals in England for six months. Nevertheless, by 1920, doctors found that he had "recovered" and he was awarded a gratuity of five pounds with "no grounds for further awards".



The service papers in the WO 363 and WO 364 series are full of reports similar to those in George's file and you wonder how many men endured years of pain and discomfort and received no further recompense from their country. I recall interviewing First World War veterans over sixty years after the conflict had ended and the majority of these men were still discomforted by wounds incurred in on the Western Front.



Harold Shephard, of the 1/5th Leicesters was one of those men I interviewed. He'd joined the 5th Leicesters a couple of years before the war and saw service with the battalion until invalided out. In his eighties when I met him, he told me how in recent years he'd been in and out of hospital with breathing problems and how he had explained to the doctor that he thought it was as a result of being gassed on the Somme in 1916. "Oh, you don't want to worry about that my lad" the doctor told him, "that's more than sixty years ago."



"That may be so" replied Harold (who always gave the impression of somebody not to be trifled with), "but, I've got it, and you ain't."

You can read the full transcript of my interview with Harold Shephard on my World War 1 Veterans blog. Here's the link.


FIFTH LEICESTERSHIRE. A Record of the 1/5th Battalion the Leicestershire Regiment, TF, during the War 1914-1919







I'd be interested to know whether Harold Shephard gets a mention in the book above. Perhaps I should click on the link and buy it. This is what the Naval & Military Press say about it:



"This battalion history is based essentially on the War Diary supplemented by contributions from various battalion members. It is a far more detailed one than that of the 1/4th. The battalion, which had its HQ in Loughborough, was also in the Lincoln and Leicester Brigade of the 46th (N Midland) Division. It arrived in France on 28 February 1915 and the first few months were spent in the Armentieres sector and the Salient before moving south to the Loos battlefield. During the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, which decimated the 1/4th, the battalion was fortunately in reserve; it was a day that caused 46th Division the highest number of casualties of any day of the war - 3,583.

"There is plenty of meat in this history, detailed accounts of actions and events in and out of the trenches, names of officers and other ranks, list of honours and awards - but again no index. There was a moment of excitement when the division was was ordered to Egypt and began to move at the end of December 1915. The battalion (with 1/4th Battalion) embarked at Marseille on 21 January 1916 in the Cunarder Andania, described as a ‘floating palace,’ only to be told the next morning to disembark; the powers that be had changed their minds and the division went back to the trenches. In the fighting at the approaches to the St Quentin Canal, 2Lt J.C Barrett won the VC for gallantry during the battalion attack on Pontruet on 24 September 1918. By the end of the war the battalion had suffered 440 dead of whom 25 were officers. A good history!"

G/1974 Pte Cecil Edward Matthews, 8th Royal Sussex Regt

Chailey Parish Magazine notes in October 1914 that Cecil Matthews is serving his King and Country.  In October 1915 it adds: Matthews, L-Corpl C, 8th Royal Sussex, France.  

In April 1916, the parish magazine notes that Cecil has been invalided and in November 1916 that he has been discharged.  This information is then repeated up to and including March 1917 after which there are no further references to this man.

Surviving papers in WO 364 record that Cecil attested with the Royal Sussex Regiment at Lewes on the 4th September 1914 and was subsequently given the regimental number G/1974. He served overseas between 24th July 1915 and 11th February 1916 and was discharged on 11th September 1916 as no longer physically fit for war service. His entry on the silver war badge roll confirms he was discharged as a result of wounds.

The 1901 census for England and Wales also lists a five year old Cecil E Matthews in Chailey village who is noted as the grandson of the head of the household, Janus C Smith.  The household comprised Janus C Smith (head, married, aged 36, working as a gardener), his wife Mary Ann Smith (aged 53) and three children: William C Smith (aged 21, also working as a gardener), Kate L Smith (aged 16) and Edith B Smith (aged 13).  Frank, aged eight, and born in Charlton, Kent, is noted as a nephew.  The household is completed by Cecil aged five and recorded as a grandson.

 

Again, this may be the same man who served with the 8^th Royal Sussex Regiment and if it is, two other members of the 1901 household – William C Smith and Frank Peacock – also served during the First World War.

Medal index card courtesy of Ancestry.

William Lansdowne: one handkerchief, one penny coin, one notebook...

When William Lansdowne sailed for France with the 13th King's Royal Rifle Corps in July 1915, his wife May was four months pregnant. When he was killed in action in February 1916, the baby daughter he'd never seen (except perhaps in a photograph) was under two months old.

The month after he was killed, May Lansdowne received a pathetic bundle containing her husband's effects. This contained, "...one soft helmet, one mouth organ, eleven postcards, one handkerchief, one penny coin, one notebook, one gospel, one tin box and two photos." Reading his service record even now, over ninety years after he was killed, is extremely poignant.

May Lansdowne had connections with Chailey Girls Heritage, probably working there as a servant, and it appears to be her connection with Chailey Heritage which links William, a Londoner, to Chailey.

William does not receive any mention in Chailey Parish Magazine but Soldiers Died in the Great War notes that his place of residence was Chailey at the time he enlisted, and I am pleased to be able to acknowledge, in a tiny way, his sacrifice via this blog and my Chailey 1914-1918 website.

Read William Lansdowne's service record with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Chailey's Men - updates

I've added additional information to the pages for Ivor Grantham, George Hilton, Thomas Homewood, George Kemp and Wilfred Lockyer. I've also found service records for John William Harmer and William Alfred Lansdowne and I'll be updating their pages shortly.

John Harmer was a long serving Territorial who joined Sussex RGA in 1911 and went on to win the Military Medal.

William Lansdowne was a Londoner who was working as a waiter when he joined the King's Royal Rifles Corps. His wife was working at the Girls' Heritage in Chailey which explains his conection with the parish, although he is not mentioned in Chailey Parish Magazine. He was killed in action in 1916 leaving a three month old daughter.

Read John Harmer's and William Lansdowne's WW1 service records with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Charles John Frampton - ASC

I've updated a number of records on the Chailey 1914-1918 site including that of Charles John Frampton of the Army Service Corps. He is simply recorded as C Frampton in the Chailey Parish Magazine but a logical process of deduction has revealed not only his full name, but also the fact that he has a surviving service record in the WO 363 series. I've not added that information yet but there is a nice letter in his file from Chailey inn-keeper Sidney Best (who would also go on to join the ASC) confirming that Charles was capable of controlling a pair of horses. I'll update his record fully in due course.

Read Charles Frampton's WW1 service record with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Arthur Ridger - shot in the face

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

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

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

George Saunders

I've added a little more information about George Saunders. Having spent a considerable amount of time researching army service numbers between 1881 and 1918, I can say with reasonable certainty that George joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on about 29th December 1905.

I had previously guessed that he joined in 1906 and that he was probably a Reservist at the time Britain war with Germany in 1914. However, the man who was given the number after George - L/8390 - joined on 29th December 1905 for 9 years with the Colours and 3 on the Reserve; so too did other men enlisting with The Royal Sussex Regiment at this time.

So it think, in the absence of a surviving service record, that it is reasonable to assume that George also joined up for 9&3 and that therefore he had a little under five months left to serve with the Colours when Britain went to war on 4th August 1914. Eight days later, he was shouldering a rifle in France and preparing to meet the might of the German Army.

George was killed in action on 17th August 1916 and is commemorated on the memorial at Thiepval. His brother, Henry Alfred Saunders, was killed in action seven weeks later on 7th October 1916. He too is commemorated on the Thiepval War Memorial on the Somme. Both brothers are commemorated on Chailey's war memorial.

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Chailey's men amended

I've amended the pages for Chailey men Harold Campbell, Frank Chatfield, William Day, Alfred Cottingham and Alfred Cottington.

Harold Campbell lost his arm whilst serving with the Welsh Guards, but came home to Chailey and somewho still managed to milk his cow.

Frank Chatfield served with the Middlesex Regiment and the Labour Corps and he's one of the few men for whom I have a photograph.

Alfred Cottingham was a regular soldier with the Coldstream Guards and arrived in France nine days after war was declared. He later served with the Army Cyclist Corps.

Alfred Cottington remains a bit of an enigma. The Cottington and Cottingham families though, were certainly related. It's possible that he and Alfred Cottingham are one and the same.

William Day attested in 1916 and then served with the Norfolk Regiment.

Read their stories on Chailey 1914-1918.

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Tingley - Chailey

I've updated the pages for William George Tingley DCM, Croix de Guerre, his brother Benjamin Tingley (RFA), their cousin William Henry Tingley (latterly Royal Engineers) and another William Henry Tingley who was probably the first William Henry Tingley's father. That's a lot of Tingleys for one morning and I hope I've got it right. Watch this space!

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Edward Manville

Thanks to correspondence received from Edward Manville's great niece, I have updated his page on my site. Edward was one of fourteen children. Two of his brothers were career soldiers and one of these, Henry Manville, died of wounds in 1914.

Fresh images - home page and Chailey's men

I've uploaded fresh images on some of the main landing pages of Chailey 1914-1918.

On the Chailey 1914-1918 home page, courtesy of Seaford Museum, is a great Southdowns recruiting poster from 1914. I don't know if anybody has ever researched the effectiveness of different types of recruiting practices during WW1 but this one, I suppose, would probably fall into the scaremongering category. Others would be labelled "guilt" - the "What did you so in the Great War, Daddy" type posters; then you'd have those appealing to the patriotic spirit; blackmail in the form of white feathers or lion and unicorn buttons dropped into pockets; many, many inducements which, all combined, saw that Kitchener well exceeded his call for a hundred thousand men. A number of Chailey's men served with Southdowns battalions. I wonder if any of them joined up as a result of the Chichester poster (reproduced here).

On a lighter note, I've also added some comic images to the pages for Chailey's men. Here they are:

Chailey's Men A-D
Chailey's Men E-L
Chailey's Men M-R
Chailey's Men S-Y

Find Southdowns army service numbers and army service records on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

230970 Private Alfred R Braysher, 21st Dorset Yeomanry

Chailey Parish Magazine notes a Private A R Braysher serving with the Dorset Yeomanry in England in April 1916.  Nearly two years later, in January 1918, that information is updated to note that Driver A R Braysher is serving with the 21st Dorset Yeomanry. 

This latter information is clearly incorrect.  There was no 21st Dorset Yeomanry but rather a 2/1st which was formed at Sherborne in September 1914.  In October 1915, the 2/1st Dorset Yeomanry was stationed at Lewes which is possibly where A R Braysher got to know of them.  The unit though, never went overseas and was broken up in 1916 to become a cyclist unit. 

A R Braysher served throughout the war and gets a final mention in the August 1919 edition of the Chailey Parish Magazine.  The National Archive lists him as 230970 Private A R Braysher of the 2/1st Dorset Yeomanry. 

An Alfred Braysher is recorded on the 1891 census of England and Wales as a two year old pauper inmate at the Lewes Union workhouse.  His place of birth is recorded as Lewes but there are two other Brayshers listed who were born at Chailey – Sarah Ann Braysher (aged 27, single, working as a char woman) and Edith Braysher (aged six).  

It seems likely that the two children were Sarah’s.  Alfred appears on the 1901 census as the 12 year old step son of 58 year old Alfred Trasly (the surname is difficult to read on the census so this may be an inaccurate spelling).  Alfred is noted as being blind and no occupation is recorded for him.  His wife is Sarah (aged 39), presumably the Sarah Ann of 1891.  Alfred’s surname is spelt Brayzer.  The family was living at 2 Edward Street, Lewes.  There is no mention of Edith who would have been 16 or so and presumably at work elsewhere.

Richard Snelling - Royal Fusiliers regular

I've updated Richard Snelling's page on the Chailey 1914-1918 website. Richard was born in Reigate but was living in Chailey when Britain declared war on Germany in 1914. He enlisted as a regular soldier with the Royal Fusiliers and served throughout the First World War, latterly moving with the regiment to India and Iraq.

Richard's service record does not appear to have survived, but his medal index card carries a good deal of information and there would doubtless be additional information to be gleaned from the medal rolls.

Harold Parkinson - Bronchial Billy

I've updated the page for Harold Parkinson who was another patient at Beechlands. He almost certainly appears in a photo (above) that is pasted next to his entry but as there is no indication of where he is in that photograph, I am unable to put a face to the name.

Harold was a Londoner and served with the Post Office Rifles (8th London Regiment). Read more about the 8th Londons and the army service numbers issued to them, on my army service numbers blog.

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George Thomas Bourne Grounds

Chailey man, George Thomas Bourne Grounds and his sisters Marina Edith Bourne Grounds and Unis Reta Bourne Grounds, all did their bit for King and Country during the First World War. Marina and Unis nursed at the local Chailey VAD detachment while George, a long-serving Territorial (and pre 1908 volunteer) served with the East Kent Mounted Yeomanry and later, the 10th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). He never went overseas but nevertheless he still "did his bit".

George's service record survives in the WO 363 series at the National Archives and I've now fully written up his service history.

View George Grounds's service record on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Charles Sabourin - updated

Charles Sabourin is one of those rarities - as I discovered late on Friday - who has surviving papers in both the WO 363 and WO 364 series at the National Archives. I already had copies of his badly burned and water damaged papers from the WO 363 series but was surprised to see that I'd missed pension records in the WO 364 series.

Charles, a serving militia man with the 3rd East Surreys, joined the Regular East Surrey Regiment in November 1900, saw service in the Boer War, spent five years in India and was then recalled as a reservist when the First World War was declared. Severely wounded on 23rd August 1914 - the first real day of fighting involving British troops - he was captured by the Germans, had his right leg amputated as a result of a shrapnel wound, and was repatriated as a Prisoner of War in February 1915. He then spent many months at Hickwells and, I think, Beechland House. As his pension records reveal, Charles continued to receive an army pension certainly up until 1952, by which time he would have been seventy years old.

View Charles Sabourin's pension record on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Charles's WW1 service with the East Surrey Regiment was brief to say the least. The two-volume title below, covers the history of the regiment from 1914 through to 1919, a period which saw the regiment sustain 6,750 casualties and win eight VCs.

In August 1914 the East Surreys comprised two Regular (1st and 2nd), one Reserve (3rd), one Extra Reserve (4th) and two Territorial battalions (5th and 6th); the Regimental Depot was at Kingston-on-Thames. As the war went on further battalions were added: eight so-called ‘Service’ battalions (7th to 14th) in Kitchener’s New Armies and a second and a third line battalion for each of the Territorial battalions for a total of eighteen battalions of which only nine saw active service overseas, and it is their war record which is the subject of this history.

George Seaney Hicks

I've updated the page for George Seaney Hicks who was a patient at Hickwells and Beechland House. Thankfully, 47 pages of his service record survive in the WO 363 series at the National Archives and so I have a far fuller picture of him and his war service. Remarkably, having attested with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, he ended up serving in at least five battalions of The Bedfordshire Regiment, went overseas three times, was wounded twice and gassed once. He also found time to get married exactly one year before the war ended. All this and a stay in Nurse Oliver's company as well. That's him sitting far left, his hand resting on his leg. The photograph was taken in June or July 1916 whilst George was at Beechlands.

Read George Hicks's service record on-line with a FREE 14 day trial to Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

When did Chailey's patients enlist?

Using information from my army service numbers database, I've been able to update the records for more patients. It's a laborious process but a necessary one. I have updated enlistment/joining date information for Joseph French, John Gale, John Griffiths, Charles Harrald and William Haydon.

The photo above shows convalescent soldiers at Beechlands, circa June 1916.

For more information on British army service numbers and the dates on which these were issued to British soldiers, check my Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 blog.

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More patient updates

I've updated the records for William H Baddock (addition of first name), Thomas George Clarke (correction of regiment), James Cowley (home address noted on medal index card), John Dicks (information concerning the Essex regiment) and Martin Donnelly (correction of battalion). All of these men were patients at Hickwells and Beechland House. Further updates will follow in due course.

Find your ancestor's WW1 army service number or service record with a FREE 14 day trial of Ancestry.co.uk - Click here!

Soldier patients updated

I've updated the pages for Ernest Whitcomb, William Thomas Wallace, Robert Vinton and Joseph Spruce. All four men were patients at Hickwells or Beechlands and all except Robert Vinton were career soldiers who had enlisted before the First World War broke out. Robert Vinton attested under the Derby Scheme and may well have been in a category which exempted him form being immediately called upon. Certainly his number indicates that he probably didn't joined the West Yorkshire Regiment until 1917. Nevertheless he was still with them long enough to be wounded and to be discharged as a result of these wounds.

The 1911 Census

The 1911 census for England - the majority of it at least - has today been published on line. Most of the men and women mentioned on my Chailey 1914-1918 site will be on the 1911 census somewhere but it's going to take me a month of Sundays to update all the pages - and it's time (and a subscription to find-my-past) that I don't currently have. If anybody can add any 1911 census details for any of the individuals on the site, I'll be pleased to update the relevant pages.

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