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.