Selwyn Henry Frederick Hayes appealed on 8 March 1916 against the decision of the Teddington Local Military Service Tribunal to refuse him an exemption from conscription on the grounds of his conscientious objection to the undertaking of combatant services. His appeal documentation should have been destroyed in the 1920s but by an administrative oversight the records of the Middlesex Tribunals survived and are now held by the National Archives. All the records of the Middlesex Tribunals are available online and can be downloaded free of charge.

A mandatory National Register of able bodied men had been announced in the middle of 1915. By the end of that year, the supply of volunteers who had initially responded in a wave of patriotism to the call to arms embodied on Lord Kitchener’s iconic poster, had dried up as the catastrophic realities of modern warfare became grimly evident. Accordingly, in 1916 the government was reluctantly forced to introduce Conscription. Until this point the British had been proud of the fact that, unlike their continental neighbours (France and Germany), their force was entirely formed of volunteers. Conscription was initially limited under the terms of the first Military Service Act, which came into force in March 1916, to unmarried men aged between 18 and 41. However, shortly afterwards, in May 1916, conscription was extended to include married men by the Second Military Service Act.

The legislation provided that the Tribunals could hear appeals for exemption on set grounds including: infirmity or ill-health; employment in work (military or otherwise) of national interest; being trained or educated in work in the national interest; if serious hardship would ensue as a result of conscription and (most controversially) conscientious objections to the undertaking of combative service.

In practice, the Tribunals were seldom sympathetic to conscientious objectors or “conchies” as they were known and who were viewed by the majority of the population simply as cowards. The No-Conscription Fellowship (“NCF”) had been founded in 1914 by the socialist Fenner Brockway. By the time the first Military Service Bill was introduced the NCF had 10,000 members including such prominent figures as philosopher Betrand Russell. The number of registered conscientious objectors rose to 16,000 over the course of the war. Of these 7,000 ultimately did serve in the army in a host of non-combatant roles particularly as stretcher bearers. A further 3,000 did work of national importance e.g. on farms or worked with the (Quaker) Friends’ Ambulance Service in France. The remaining 6,000 initially preferred prison to service although many subsequently accepted roles in workcamps. The hard core who resisted even that final scheme are known as “Absolutists”. Those who were imprisoned were treated extremely harshly with 41 being illegally sent to France where they were subjected, first to a court martial and, subsequently, to Field Punishment Number One i.e. being tied to a wagon wheel.70 conscientious objectors died in prison and the stigma remained after the war. Conscientious objectors could not vote for five years.

Selwyn Henry Frederick Hayes describes himself as an “auditor” on his appeal documentation. At the time of his appeal he was a thirty year old unmarried man living at 25 Bushey Park Road, Hampton Wick. He had been born in the third quarter of 1885 in Basingstoke where he was baptised on 13 August 1885. By the time of the 1891 Census he had moved with his parents Johnny and Edith Hayes and siblings to 1a Priory Grove, Vauxhall. Ten years later, the family had made the move to Teddington where they lived at 1 Shalford Cottage, Teddington. Selwyn, now aged 15, was a Railway Clerk like his father, John H F Hayes (44). Selwyn was the eldest of five children. He had one sister, Mabel F B Hayes (14) and three brothers: Fred S Hayes (12); Cecil B J Hayes (9) and Percy R Hayes (7). By 1911 his father had presumably died as his mother Edith (56) is listed as head of the household at 30 Coleshill Road, Teddington. The family now comprised Selwyn; his mother; Mabel (aged 23 and working as a telephonist); his brother Fred (now 22 and employed as a Railway Clerk); Cecil (20 and working as a joiner’s apprentice) and Percy (18 and employed as a Railway Messenger).

The family appear to be members of the upwardly mobile working class. Selwyn’s Employment Records at the London & South West Railway Company survive. He joined as a junior clerk in the audit office in November 1899, aged 14, apparently on the recommendation of a Colonel Campbell. Initially he was paid £30 per annum. However, he rose through the ranks receiving regular pay increases and a promotion (in 1903) to Clerk. By 1914 he was earning £110 per annum. He had also passed an accounts course at the LSE in 1910/11 and he now met the property qualification for the electoral roll as he is included on the voting list in 1913 for Teddington. He was listed as a lodger with 2 rooms on the second floor of his mother’s house at 30 Coleshill Road for which he paid 15 shillings rent a week. His career was progressing well; and then his record reports (in red) his summary dismissal on 27th November 1915 for misconduct. The nature of that misconduct is not specified. However, it is tempting to speculate it might have been connected to his refusal to “attest” in the National Register his willingness to fight.

His original application for an exemption made on 24 February 1916 (the “Feast of Saint Matthias”) suggests a well educated, thoughtful and principled young man. His grounds for applying for an exemption, rooted in religious and social idealism, were:

“I believe in the sanctity of human life and the brotherhood of man, therefore I will never be involved in organised mechanical murder. I deny the right of any man or government to say “that you shall bear arms “; and therefore, from deep spiritual convictions, I refuse to bear arms; nor can I help or assist, in any way whatsoever, the prosecution of war. All war is wrong. For this reason I cannot undertake alternative service, whatever may be the penalty. War denies the brotherhood of man; war is the negation of Christianity. It appeals to brute force and stifles the nobler and gentler passions of man: it is a relapse to barbarism, and is contrary to the Will of God. Conscription takes away I liberty of person II freedom of conscience III freedom of speech. My principles and religious convictions are unalterable and I am prepared to suffer all the consequences of my action and belief.”

Predictably, his application was refused by Local Tribunal on 6 March 1916 on the ground that he was not a member of any particular Religious Denomination but was a member of the NCF. Selwyn appealed unsuccessfully on 8 March to the County of Middlesex Appeal Tribunal at the Guildhall against the decision of the Local Tribunal. His grounds of appeal are interesting both for the extent of the bias he alleges was shown by the members of the Local Tribunal at his hearing and for the manner in which he alleges the hearing was conducted. He claims that the decision “went against the weight of the evidence produced to the Tribunal.” He adds that although the Chairman and other members were satisfied as to the genuineness of his claims there was “no effort made by the tribunal to carry out the provisions of the Military Service Act”. Further, he alleges bias on the part of several members of the tribunal who were “pronounced conscriptionists” and who “ made no attempt ……..to act in a judicial capacity”. The questions to which he was subjected were, he complains, “irrelevant, and absurd”. His Appeal was refused on 29 March 1916 and his application dated 1 April 1916 to appeal to the Central Tribunal also failed.

The records of the NCF, now held by the Working Class Movement Library in Manchester, reveal that Selwyn was a Quaker attending the Friends Meeting House in Kingston. After his Appeal to the Central Tribunal against conscription failed, he was classified as a Class A Conscientious Objector. He was ordered to serve in the Non-Combative Corps at Hounslow. His refusal to serve resulted in his arrest and remand on bail at Teddington Police Court until 17 April 1916. He was tried at Feltham Police Court, fined and handed over to serve at Hounslow Barracks. He continued to refuse to serve. A Court Martial followed on 28 April 1916 at which the army imposed a sentence of six months’ hard labour on Selwyn. He served one hundred and twelve days of his sentence at Wandsworth Military Prison. The treatment of Conscientious Objectors in prison was notoriously harsh. They were held in solitary confinement and subjected to a punitive regime by warders who despised their refusal to fight. Selwyn was released from Wandsworth on 28th August 1917, under the Home Office Scheme, to a work camp at Dartmoor. Here the regime was slightly more humane and conscientious objectors were allowed to roam over the Moor after their work was complete. The Absolutists refused even to make this accommodation with the authorities and, in fact, after two months Selwyn did elect to return to serve at Pentonville Civil Prison on 5 November 1917.

Unfortunately, at this point Selwyn Henry Frederick Hayes disappears from the official records and so it is impossible to determine what happened next. He was visited by the Society of Quakers who visited Conscientious Objectors in prison. It may be that the records of the prison visitors or of the Kingston Meeting house 9both of which are held at the Library of the Religious Society of Friends in Euston may be bale to shed some light on his post war life. However, the Probate Records do note he died on 4 August 1962 at St John’s Hospital Junction, Andover, Hampshire and that he left an estate worth £872 8 s 1d to his widowed sister.

2nd Lieutenant Henry Peter Allanson of the 1st Battalion (attached to the 2nd Battalion) of the Suffolk Regiment died on 20 July 1916. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

He was the son of Mrs Mary Frances Allanson, a widow. At the time of the 1911 Census he was single and gave his occupation as a merchant’s clerk. He was the youngest of three children having an older brother, Francis Allanson, born in 1884 and an older sister, Bertha Emily Allanson, born in 1886. All the children had been born in Hampton Wick. The family moved to Park View (6 Church Grove), Hampton Wick, in 1890. In the 1891 Census his father, Henry Allanson, who was born in Trinity Square, London was described as being aged 46 years and a Commercial Clerk.

According to the Probate Register at the time of his father’s death on 19 November 1898, the family had moved to Gables, Upper Teddington Road, Hampton Wick. His widow, now aged about 45, was left comfortably off as her husband bequeathed her an estate worth a considerable £7900 18s 10d. Accordingly, by the time of the 1901 Census the family occupied an eight room property at 6 Lansdowne Terrace (41 Lower Teddington Road), Hampton Wick, together with one domestic servant. An on-line memoir (at wikitree.com) of a convent school friend of his sister, called Pauline Herminegild Heywood (known as Gilda) (1883-1977), tells the tale of a forbidden and thwarted love affair in 1906 & 1907 between Gilda and a Chinese diplomat (Tsung Kien Tseng), studying at Cambridge, with many illicit meetings of the lovers in Hampton Wick and its environs whilst Gilda was staying with Bertha (known as Gussie) at the Allanson home.

Both Henry Peter Allanson and his older brother, Francis, attended the prestigious Catholic Public School, Ampleforth College in distant Yorkshire. Francis joined the school in 1894 and his brother followed four years later and he is listed in the school’s 1901 census entries as Peter Allanson. The obituary in the school magazine says that Henry Peter Allanson left the school in April 1904 and became a merchant’s clerk in the city. It comments on his “quiet, unassuming manner and thoughtfulness for others” which made him “generally and deservedly popular”. The photograph printed facing the obituary gives the impression of a rather mournful young man, with eyes which suggest, perhaps, he was weary of war.

According to his obituary in the 1918 edition of the Ampleforth magazine, he joined the Artists’ Rifles shortly after the outbreak of war and was sent to France in December 1914. His Medal Roll at the National Archives gives the exact date as 29 December 1914 and states that he fought with 28 London Regiment as Private 2015. Having served at Bailleul for three months, the obituary states he trained at the Artists’ Rifles Officers Cadet School at Blendicques near St Omer receiving a commission in the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment on 25 May 1915 (Source for date : Medal Roll). It is possible to watch a short film called “The Making of an Officer” on the Imperial War Museum site which shows the training for officers at the school in early 1915. The Artists’ Rifles was originally formed from ex public school boys with experience of Officer’s Training Corps and so was deemed a suitable source of potential officers to replace those lost from the regular Army in the early months of the war.

Allanson fought at the Battle of Loos which started on 29 September 1915. In October 1915 his Division was ordered to attack the formidable Hohenzollern Redoubt, a heavily defended fort situated on elevated ground held by the German troops. During this engagement he was wounded. After a period in hospital and a spell of convalescence thereafter, he was attached to the 2nd Battalion of his Regiment.

He remained with the 2nd Battalion until he was reported “missing” during an attack on Longueval Village and Delville Wood in July 1916. The Battle of Delville Wood formed a key part of the Battle of the Somme. This is remembered primarily as the first major action undertaken in World War 1 by South African troops who were given the task of closing off a salient formed by a dense wood East of the village of Longueval. Initially successful, the action quickly descended into a bloodbath: the South African troops trapped in the woods were massacred in a series of strong German counterattacks. By the time Allanson’s Battalion managed to fight its way into the wood on 20 July to relieve the colonial forces, only a handful of the South Africans were left. The once dense wood had been reduced to a few stumps referred to thereafter as “Devil” Wood. The action is commemorated by the Monument to South African Troops at the site.

The grant of probate of his estate, worth the curiously precise figure of £565 4s 1d, was finally granted to his mother on 28 May 1918. It had been delayed because of the circumstances of his death “on or since 20 July 1916”. It gives his home address as Ryecroft (16 Seymour Road), Hampton Wick, which had become the family home sometime in 1912/13.

Henry Peter Allanson is also commemorated on the Online WW1 Memorial for Teddington.

His older brother, Francis, who enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company outlived his brother surviving the war and is included in the “survivors” section of this on-line memorial.

Useful links

Ampleforth and the War

Private Harry Bates was born at 7 Park Cottages, Walpole Road, Teddington on 8 July 1893 the youngest son of John and Mary Amelia Bates. Just days before his 23rd birthday, he was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. He has no known grave so his death is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Information on Banstead War Memorial on-line
website tells us that Harry was baptised at St Peter & St Paul Church, Teddington on 13 August 1893. His father, John Bates, is described as a farrier/blacksmith. Harry had two older brothers, George and Albert, and one sister called Caroline (Kit). In 1901 the family lived at 6 Cranmer Rd, Teddington. His father had his own blacksmith business employing his eldest son George (19). Kit (16) was employed as a draper’s assistant. Albert (13) and Harry (7) were still at school.

According to family records contained on the Banstead War Memorial site (where Private Harry Bates is also commemorated), Kit remembered pushing Harry in his pram in 1894 in Richmond Park for the celebrations of the birth of Prince Edward. Apparently his father bought a goat for five shillings and Harry’s brothers built a carriage for the goat to pull. Kit’s husband who was an illustrator for Fulham and Arsenal Football Clubs drew pictures of young Harry which appeared on programmes for the clubs and which can be viewed on the website for the Banstead War Memorial.

The family had moved to 100 Stanley Gardens Road, Teddington by 1911 when the next Census was completed. Harry’s older brother, Albert, was now working in the family business as a blacksmith. Harry was employed as a fishmonger’s assistant. George and Kit had left home.

According to family records, Harry’s sister, Kit, married Will Tree, a house painter in 1909 and had a daughter, Violet in 1911. Harry lived with his sister and brother-in-law and so moved with them when the family relocated to Banstead. Harry became apprenticed to a local carpenter and joiner, Alec Rogers , and stayed in Banstead with Kit at least until Christmas 1914.

Thereafter, either the end of his apprenticeship or the arrival of Kit’s second daughter, Dorothy, prompted Harry to moved back to this area. Aged 21, on 22 March 1915, Harry enlisted at Kingston and joined the 2nd Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment (G5193). At the date of his enlistment he gave his address as 71 High Street Hampton Wick where his elder brother, Albert, was living. We know from his enlistment records that he had a slight frame with a 34” chest weighing 111lbs and was only 5’ 1¾” tall! The Banstead War Memorial site has a picture of Harry supplied by members of the family which is reproduced on this site with their kind permission.

After training, Harry was sent to France on 13 July 1915 in time to fight at the Battle of Loos in the summer of 1915 which he survived. He was not, however, fortunate enough to survive his next major engagement: the Battle of the Somme which claimed his life on the very first day.

His niece, Violet, remembered “standing on my bed while Mum helped me to get dressed….saying, “Poor Uncle Harry is dead”, with tears pouring down her cheeks. He was so young.” He was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal which are held by his family.

As well as his entry on the Thiepval Memorial, Private Bates is also commemorated on the Banstead War Memorial, on the wooden panels in the Memorial Chapel in All Saints, Banstead and in the All Saints’ Book of Men Who Served Overseas in the War 1914-1918.

Private Henry George Besant (19898) of the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards died aged 32 on 21 September 1917. Given the date of his death and the location of his memorial, he was, presumably, a casualty of the Third Battle of Ypres (more commonly known as the Battle of Passchendaele) which was waged between July and November 1917 for control of the ridges to the South and East of the city of Ypres.

He was born in April 1885 and baptised on the nineteenth day of that month at St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick. His parents were Louisa Maria and Henry Charles Besant. The family lived in various properties along the High Street. In 1891 they lived on Gravel Pit Hill at 6 Gravel Pit Cottages (75 High Street). Louisa (29) and her three children Louise (7), Henry (6) and Hedley (7 months) had all been born in Hampton Wick, whereas her husband, a railway signalman, had moved to the area from Hinton Martell, Dorset.

The family continued to grow. Although the eldest child, Louise had moved out by 1901, two further children had been born, William and Alice. By the time of the 1911 Census, the family was complete and all the four children who remained at home, now 3 Chestnut Place (72 High Street), were working. Henry George now twenty five years old was an unmarried lighterman. His brothers, Hedley John Besant and William Albert Besant, were employed as a general labourer and building clerk respectively. His younger sister, Alice Anne Besant was also a clerk for a printer.

He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Lieutenant Edward Almachilde Bianchi was born in Fulham on 19 October 1892. His father, the impressively named Cecilio Scolastico Carravagi Bianchi, was born in 1858 in Como, Italy and died in Surrey on 4 March 1907. His mother, Angelino Arrigoni, shared an Italian name (and presumably an Italian heritage) but had been born in London in 1865 at Hatton Garden, the centre of the London Italian community. By the time of the 1911 Census his mother, a widow, lived at Glenmore, Upper Teddington Road, Hampton Wick (now part of Woffington Close) and described herself as Mrs Cecil (the anglicised version of Cecilio) or as (the even more anglicised version) “Jessie Mary” Bianchi.

The birthplaces of the various Bianchi siblings demonstrate considerable social mobility. The family’s oldest child, Rebecca Helen Mckenzie (nee Bianchi), was born in Central London in Marylebone in about 1885. A son, named Cecil Clemente Bianchi after his father, swiftly followed on 23 May 1886 by which time the family had moved to the relatively genteel East End suburb of Hackney. A further daughter, Margherita Aida Bianchi arrived next, in early 1888 and then, finally, Edward Almachilde was born in Fulham before the family moved even further south-west to Hampton Wick.

Lieutenant Bianchi was educated initially at St Paul’s Convent, Hampton Wick. From 19 January 1903 until 5 June 1908, he attended Tiffin Boys’ School, which was then located on the Fairfield, Kingston. According to his obituary in the Surrey Comet dated 3 April 1918, his death “caused much regret in his wide circle of friends in Hampton Wick and Teddington”. Known to his friend as “Mac”, he had apparently demonstrated much skill in amateur theatricals and on the concert platform locally.

Towards the end of 1915 (sometime between October and December), possibly in October 1915 in Teddington, Edward Almachilde married Violet Alice Tough. Although Violet had been born in Clapham in about 1892, according to the 1901 Census, by the date of that Census and at the time of her marriage she was living with her parents, Athur Thomas Tough (a lighterman) and Emily Elizabeth Tough, at Grantully in Manor Road, Teddington.

The couple had a son, Douglas Edward Bianchi, who was born on 18 May 1916 and registered in the district of Brentford. Given the respective dates of their marriage and of the birth, it is possible that the impending arrival of their son may have hastened the wedding date. The grant of probate, dated 4 September 1918, of an estate worth £387 2s 7d to the widow, Violet Alice Bianchi gives the marital address as 65 Haslemere Avenue, West Ealing, Middlesex so the couple had obviously moved out of the area following their marriage. Violet remained in the area after the death of her husband. Her death was registered in Richmond in March 1968.

According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s site, he was a Lieutenant in the 2nd/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he died, aged 25, on 21 March 1918. There is a reference in the London Gazette dated 29 November 1915 to his appointment as a 2nd Lieutenant on 25 November 1915. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet, he had enlisted in the London Scottish Regiment in 1914, being transferred to the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry after his commission. There is a medal card for him (WO372/2/133049) at the National Archives which states that he arrived in France on 25 May 1916, shortly after the birth of his son. At the time of his death, he was attached to a Trench Mortar Battery.

He has no known grave and so his death is recorded on Panels 50 & 51 of the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme. He is also commemorated on the Great War Memorial at Tiffin Boys’ School and on the Teddington War Memorial and has an entry on the Online WW1 Memorial for Teddington. We would like to thank the archivist of Tiffin Boys School for the information he provided on Lieutenant Bianchi.

Private Thomas Blunden (G/6268) of the 17th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was killed in action on 11 May 1918 in France/Flanders. His place of residence was Hampton Wick and he enlisted in Teddington (Source: UK Soldiers Died In Great War). He is buried in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery at Souchez in the department of Pas du Calais.

Thomas Blunden was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in the first quarter of 1888. He was baptised on 10 October 1888 at St Paul’s, Kingston Hill. In the parish records his parents are named as William (a slater) and Jane Blunden who lived at 39 Hudsons Road, Kingston-upon- Thames. Interestingly, Private Blunden’s full baptismal name is given in the parish records as Thomas Blandford Blunden. Clearly Private Blunden was named after his paternal uncle (Blandford Thomas Blunden) who had been baptised in Norbiton on 1 October 1854. His uncle had in turn been named after his own mother (Private Blunden’s grandmother), Ann Blunden, (nee Ann Blandford). Private Blunden’s father had been born in Kingston in 1845 after Private Blunden’s grandparents had moved to the town in 1840 from Mortlake.

By 1891 Private Blunden’s family were living in the Canbury District of Kingston-upon-Thames in Canbury Park Road. At this date the family comprised: William (45), a slater, and his wife Jane (43), a laundress, together with their seven children and two grandchildren. The children were: May (21), a laundress; Jane (20), also a laundress; Martha (13; William (11); Alice (9); Florence (3) and Thomas (3). The grandchildren were Margaret (9) and Annie (7 weeks). Both May and Jane are described as single so it is unclear whether the grandchildren were their offspring or the children of their siblings. Given the age of Margaret it would appear that she, at least, was the offspring of an older sibling.

Ten years later the family had moved to 5 Canbury Place, Kingston. Only Martha, Margaret (now described as a daughter), Thomas and Florence (now described as a niece) remained at home with William and Jane Blunden. William was still working as a slater and the older girls, Martha and Margaret, were working as laundresses.

Recorded as a Hampton Wick resident when he enlisted, Thomas Blunden had moved to Hampton Wick by 1911. At the time of the Census he was living, aged 24, at 2 Stamford Cottages (off the High Street) together with his wife, Lily, who was a year older than Thomas; his two children Thomas William (apparently 13 months old) and an, as yet, unnamed one month old baby daughter. Also in occupation was his 65 year old father, William Blunden, still described as a slater. Thomas Blunden’s occupation is given as a general labourer.

According to his Service Medal Roll at the National Archives, Thomas Blunden was sent to France with the Royal Fusiliers on 6 March 1915 where his battalion was immediately plunged into the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.

Private Blunden had experienced an extremely eventful war. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 6 July 1918, he enlisted into the Royal Fusiliers at the very outset of the war on 4 September 1914, just one month after the declaration of war. At his time, he was living at 4 Miles’ Cottages, High Street, Hampton Wick and was employed by the Ham River Grit Company.

According to his obituary, he was wounded and gassed at Hill 60 in May 1915. After recovery in England, he was sent to the Dardanelles where he was slightly wounded and suffered from frost bite.

His Medal Roll records that he served in the Gallipoli campaign from 11 August 1915 until 9 December 1915 when troops began to be evacuated from this theatre of war. This ill-fated campaign was intended to undermine Germany by knocking the Ottoman Turks, Germany’s ally, out of the war. The Allies hoped that a successful campaign in this area would help their weakest partner, Russia, and would also encourage the unaligned Balkan states to join the allies.

The initial allied invasions on 25 April 1915 were unsuccessful and so additional forces (including Private Blunden’s battalion) were despatched in August 1915. Unfortunately, the Ottoman forces continued to repel each successive attack with extremely heavy casualties being suffered by both sides. The Regimental Official Great War History of the Royal Fusiliers comments of the Dardanelles that: “one of the terrible characteristics of the whole of this campaign was the impression of always advancing at great cost and never changing position”. By the end of November 1915 the weather had become extremely hostile. On 26 November 1915 heavy rain and the resultant flash flood cost many lives in his battalion. Subsequently, the peninsular became intensely cold with blizzard conditions. Private Blunden may have been a victim of these adverse conditions as he appears to have been evacuated on 9 December just before the evacuation of his battalion which took place on 2 January 1916. The campaign was clearly failing and was receiving adverse publicity from the allied press both in England and the colonies and so ultimately at the end of 1915 the War Cabinet decided to abandon the campaign and withdraw from the Dardanelles.

His obituary states that he enjoyed a period of recuperation in England which, from Private Blunden’s Service Medal Roll, would appear to have been from 9 December 1915 (the date he left the Dardanelles) until 24 February 1916 when he returned to the Western Front. After 24 February 1916, he returned to France where he remained until 22 July 1916 when, according to his obituary, he was wounded for a third time at the Battles of the Somme. His battalion was involved in fierce fighting at Delville Wood on 20 July 1916. This was a German position apparently captured numerous times without ceasing to be the scene of very bitter fighting according to the regimental history.

Private Blunden must have been well enough to return to the Front by 18 October 1916. He remained in France for a further seventeen months until his death on 11 May 1918, serving most of that time in the 20th Battalion only moving to the 17th Battalion just nine days before he died.

His commanding officer, writing to his widow, stated that “he was one of the best men for everything”. His cheery manner and adaptability were praised by his NCO. Sadly he left a widow and three children.

Major Jonathan Maxwell Bruce was a member of the Rosslyn Park Rugby Club which was based in the Old Deer Park in Richmond. Stephen Cooper for his excellent book (entitled The Final Whistle: The Great War in Fifteen Players), has researched the lives of the 108 Rosslyn Park Rugby Club Members who were casualties in the Great War. Thanks to his research we have some details of Major Bruce’s educational and service career, largely culled from De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour for Officers killed in the Great War and Major Bruce’s obituary. The obituary and Roll of Honour both include a photograph of Major Bruce resplendent in dress uniform and with a splendid twirled moustache.

Jonathan Maxwell Bruce was born on 22 June 1873 at Dhurmsala (sometimes spelt Dharmsala), Bengal, India where he was duly baptised on 10 August 1873. He was the eldest son of Richard Isaac Bruce, CIE, and his wife, both of “Quetta”, Teddington. The name of their residence is perhaps explained by the fact that his father had been a distinguished Indian Civil Servant serving as Commissioner for the Punjab. Quetta was at this time part of British India. His father had been commended on several occasions for distinguished frontier service. His mother’s name is given as Eliza Mary on the record of his baptism but as Lilla in his obituary. Both parents appear to have been of Anglo Irish descent. His mother is said to be the daughter of the Reverend John B Webb, Rector of Dunderrow, County Cork whilst on his father’s side he was the grandson of the Bruces of Milltown Castle, County Cork whose genealogy we are assured “is given in Burke’s Landed Gentry”.

Major Bruce was educated at Haileybury School from 1887 until 1889. Haileybury was a Public School with strong connections to the Empire. It had, in fact, been founded by the East India Company. Not surprisingly, therefore, after school and Sandhurst, Jonathan Bruce enrolled in the Indian Army. He received his first commission on 16 January 1895, becoming a Lieutenant the following year. He served in campaigns on the North West Frontier from 1897 until 1898 where he won the Malakand Bunna Medal and two clasps. He was subsequently promoted to Captain on 16 January 1904 and finally to Major exactly nine years later.

Meanwhile, Captain Bruce had, on 14 September 1905, married Mabel Walrond (Walbroud?) Trengrouse at St Mary’s and St Alban’s Church, Teddington. The bride, at twenty five years of age, was seven years younger than the groom. She was the third daughter of Henry Trengouse of Chesfield, Teddington who described himself as a “merchant” in the record of the marriage. In Major Bruce’s obituary his father-in-law is referred to more grandly as “Henry Trengrouse of Hampton Wick, JP”. The couple had presumably met when the Captain was visiting his retired parents in Teddington.

The Bruce family’s entries for the 1911 Census reveal that his Regiment was apparently based at The Haven, Ringwould, Dover in April of that year, although the Major does give his address there as c/o R J Bruce Esq, Quetta, Teddington which suggests that the posting might have been temporary. By this time, Major Bruce was 37 years old and had become a father to two daughters, Mary Aileen Bruce and Barbara Maxwell Bruce, who had both been born in Hampton Wick. His obituary gives their respective dates of birth as 5 May 1908 and 11 March 1910. At some point (perhaps prior to 1908) the family had taken up occupation of Kenilworth (13 Seymour Road), a substantial house, which his widow continued to occupy after his death (at least up to 1926) according to her entries in the local telephone directory.

Major Bruce was a very keen sportsman. According to his obituary, he was good at polo and other games, including, presumably Rugby, given his membership of the Rosslyn Rugby Club which was then based, conveniently, at the Old Deer Park in Richmond. He was a clubbable chap: being also a member of the East India United Service Club, St James Square, London.

When war was declared, Major Bruce’s Regiment (the 107th Indian Pioneers) as part of Britain’s tiny, but highly trained professional Regular army, was mobilised and sent to France where shortly afterwards on 24 November 1914, aged 41, he died at Festubert in “the desperate fighting which took place on that day between Ypres and Bethune”. His Regiment had been involved in the end of what came to be known as the First Battle of Ypres.

On 23/24 November 1914 Indian troops were engaged in a number of small attacks (described in George Morton Jack’s book The Indian Army on the Western Front) intended to recapture stretches of the frontline taken by the German infantry. The Indian troops fought heroically with a VC being awarded in that engagement for conspicuous gallantry to Naik Darwan Singh. By the dawn of 24 November 1914 the land had been recaptured at a cost of the lives of 1,150 Indian soldiers. Major Bruce must have been one of the casualties of that action. His grave is in the Bethune Town Cemetery and bears the following moving appeal:

“For you, young heroes who gave your lives for generations yet unborn may we, your careless descendants, never forget your sacrifice.”

Oddly, although Major Bruce died at the very beginning of the War, his wife did not get Probate of his Estate settled until almost six years afterwards on 28 May 1920 perhaps because the amount involved was relatively small. His effects were worth only a surprisingly paltry £113 9s 4d. His wife was the daughter of a major Hampton Wick landowner, Henry Trengrouse, so it is possible that she was independently wealthy under the terms of a marriage settlement, which allowed her to remain as a widow, never remarrying, at her house in Seymour Road for many years.

Major Bruce is also commemorated on the war memorials at St Mark’s Church, Teddington and St Michael’s Church, Fulwell and has an entry in the Online WW1 Memorial for Teddington.

Second Lieutenant Cecil Bernard Cooper of “A” Battery, 38th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was killed in Belgium on 9 August 1917.

According to the records of his old school, Tiffin Boys, he was born on 8 November 1889. He was the son of Thomas Charles Cooper and Florence Louisa Cooper (nee Knowles). He was the younger brother of Captain Gerald Charles Mead Cooper. The family moved from Peckham (their home at the time of the 1891 Census) to Kingston by 1901.

Both he and his elder brother, Gerald Charles Mead Cooper attended Tiffins Boys School. He was a pupil from 11 November 1897 until ?July 1902. At the date he entered the school his parents’ address is given as Camborne, Richmond Park Road, Kingston, although the family subsequently moved to Twickenham Park. At the date of his death in 1917 the family apparently were living at Elmhurst, Twickenham Park so his parents must have moved to Hampton Wick after this date.

His Medal Record and his obituary in The Surrey Comet both state that Cecil Bernard Cooper originally went to France/Belgium at the outbreak of war on 15 September 1914 as a Voluntary Driver (BRX 4211) for Hector Munro’s Ambulance Corps. This was an all-volunteer unit founded in summer 1914 by Dr Hector Munro (a rather colourful character: a noted socialist; vegetarian and nudist who ran a clinic in London). It used a convoy of motor ambulances donated by the British Red Cross to transport wounded men from the front line between Nieuport and Dixmunde to the hospitals at Furnes. Famous members of the Corps included Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker who attracted considerable press interest when they established a forward dressing station in the ruins of a house at Pervyse near the frontline at Ypres.

His obituary states that whilst he was working with the Red Cross in Belgium he was offered a commission in the Cavalry which he refused. This is supported by an entry in the London Gazette dated 31 October 1914 which reported his temporary appointment as a Cavalry 2nd Lieutenant. Shortly afterwards, on 10 November 1914, the same publication reported the cancellation of such appointment.

According to his obituary, Cecil Cooper returned to England in the Spring of 1915 and obtained a commission with the Royal Field Artillery. This report accords with his service record (WO339/12308) at the National Archives, which records that 2nd Lt Cecil Bernard Cooper served in the Royal Field Artillery from 1915 until his death.

Having completed his training in England he was sent to France early in 1916 according to his obituary, where he was killed in action. The exact date is currently unclear. The date given for his death in the notice of Probate is 9 August 1917 whereas his obituary gives 8 August.

By the date that his medals were sent to his family the Coopers were living at Kingswood, Glamorgan Rd, Hampton Wick which is why he and his older brother, Captain Gerald Charles Mead Cooper, were both commemorated on the Hampton Wick Memorial.

Second Lieutenant Cecil Bernard Cooper is buried in Brandhoek New Military Cemetery in Belgium. He is also commemorated on the First World War Memorial at Tiffin Boys School and we would like to thank the school archivist for providing information on him.

Captain Gerald Charles Mead Cooper of the Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers died on 21 November 1918 at Crowborough of septic pneumonia following Spanish influenza.

He was born in Camberwell on 27 July 1888. He was baptised on 22 October 1888 at St Georges, Camberwell. His parents were Thomas C Cooper and Florence L Cooper who were aged 31 and 28 at the time of the 1891 Census when Thomas described his occupation as “commercial traveller”.

By 1901 the family had moved to Kingston. Gerald, now 12, had two younger brothers: Cecil (11) and Vivian (6). Both parents were employed in their own millinery business but they could afford to employ a servant. The family were still living in Kingston by the time of the 1911 Census: at Camborne, Richmond Road with the same servant still in service. Their father, a “hat material merchant”, employed all his sons in his business. On the day of the actual Census return, the younger son was absent, his entry being crossed through.

Gerald, like his younger brother Cecil, was a pupil of Tiffin Boys School from 11 November 1897 until July 1902. By 1897 when he joined the school the family had already moved to their home in Richmond Road, Kingston. We have a lot of information on his extensive education from his lengthy obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 30 November 1918.After he left Tiffins he was educated at Surrey House, Margate and thereafter at the Knaben Institute, Aarburg, Switzerland and in Paris.

Captain Cooper was particularly sporty. According to his obituary he was a keen swimmer; a cricketer; footballer and tennis player. He had been the Secretary for many years of the Latchmere Lawn Tennis Club and a playing member of the Clapham Rovers Football Club.

Having completed his education, he joined his father’s business in 1906 when he was 18. He was the manager of his father’s premises in the City of London, possibly at 76 Stamford Street SE (the business address given for his father in his brother’s obituary in 1917)until war broke out in 1914. He must have been reasonably successful as he became a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers and a Freeman of the City of London. He served in the City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) from 1910-1914 and so on the outbreak of war applied for a commission.

Concerned that a delay in his application for a commission might mean he missed out on the fighting he decided, like his younger brother Cecil to join the Hector Munro Ambulance Corps presumably as a volunteer ambulance driver, like his brother. This all volunteer unit was founded in summer 1914 by Dr Hector Munro. An interesting figure- Dr Munro was a noted socialist; vegetarian and nudist who ran a clinic in London. The Corps ran a fleet of ambulances donated by the wealthy for the Red Cross ferrying the wounded from the Front line in Belgium and France. Captain Cooper is said in his obituary to have taken “an active part in the great work that the Corps performed in Belgium”.

We are told in his obituary that early in 1915 Captain Cooper again sought a commission and that he was eventually appointed a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers. At the time he was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant, which was reported in the London Gazette on 23 November 1915, his address was given as a resident of Hampton Wick. Having undergone “the usual training” he was sent to France where, as might be expected of an engineer, his principal work consisted of works of construction including bridge building and railway extensions.

In November 1917 at the Battle of Cambrai, according to his obituary, he narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner of war. He lost all his kit but his Company got back to Allied lines without suffering many casualties. Subsequently he was promoted to a full Lieutenant and afterwards to the rank of Captain.

Shortly before the Battle of Cambrai, as an entry in the Return of Marriages Contracted in France between British Officers and Foreign Women reveals, whilst he was on service in France, Gerald married a seventeen year old French girl, Marie Antoinette Fejard, twelve years his junior. A record of the marriage, duly certified by the Acting Mayor of Amiens on 18 January 1918 and legally signed on 26 August 1918, gives tantalising details of the marriage ceremony which occurred at 11 o’clock on 17 November 1917 at the local maison commune at Amiens.

In the marriage record, Gerald is described as a British Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, ordinarily a “manufacturer” resident in London. Before the wedding the groom had certified that he was of British nationality, unmarried and didn’t need parental consent to marry. The bride however was a minor. She had been born on 5 March 1900 at Digoin in the district of Macon (Saone & Loire). Ordinarily, she resided with her parents at Persan (Seine & Oise). Her father was Jean R Fejard, a factory worker, and her mother, Pauline Rety. Her parents gave their consent for the marriage. Presumably because of the war she had moved to 30 Boulevard Pasteur in Amiens where the couple must have met.

The witnesses included one of Gerald’s fellow officers, Lieutenant William Hodgsen (Royal Engineers) (28) from Liverpool and three Frenchmen: Jean Pellisson (23) usually a dealer in Cognac in Bordeaux but, for the duration, adjutant at the Temporary Hospital No 5 at Amiens; Edmund Elue (49) a merchant ordinarily resident in Amiens and Maurice Hecart (31) another Amiens merchant but serving as a soldier. It’s very difficult to infer much from the witnesses’ identities, but , perhaps, Gerald met Marie at Jean Pellisson’s hospital?

Captain Cooper remained in France until July 1918 when he was invalided home suffering from neurasthenia (shell shock). On his discharge he was given light duties in England and sent to Crowborough where he was given command of the 7th Company Royal Engineers. While on service at Crowborough, Captain Cooper sadly contracted Spanish Influenza. Devoted to his work he remained on duty for seven days before taking to his bed by which time, The Surrey Comet, comments “septic pneumonia had supervened and after four days’ great suffering, very patiently and bravely borne, he passed peacefully way”.

His death was registered at Uckfield in Sussex in December 1918 and he was buried at East Sheen & Richmond Cemeteries. The grant of probate dated 31st January 1920 states that Acting Captain Gerald Charles Mead Cooper (RE) of Kingswood, (now 9) Glamorgan Road, Hampton Wick died on 21 November 1918 at Ferndale, Croham Rd, Crowborough. He left his estate worth £144 16s 6d to his widow, Marie Antoinette Cooper. The grieving widow may not have been too devastated by her loss. Shortly after the probate was finalised, she married her second husband, Alfred Harry Case, on 20 March 1920 at St Mary’s, Fulham She had advanced socially and described her father’s occupation on her marriage certificate as “gentleman” an odd description for a factory worker! Her second marriage appears to have been successful lasting until the death of her husband in 1976. Marie Antoinette finally died in Hammersmith in 1991.

The Cooper family lost two sons in the First World War both of whom are commemorated on the Hampton Wick Memorial as well as on the Great War Memorial in Tiffin Boys School. In addition, their remaining son, Vivian, was gassed at the Battle of Loos, according to Captain Cooper’s obituary, and invalided out of the army. We would like to thank the archivist of Tiffin Boys School for additional information on Captain Cooper.

This name is too common to identify through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

Private Walter Frank Dawn (1989) of the 1st/23rd Battalion of The London Regiment died on 25 May 1915 near Festubert. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry (“CWGC”) states that he was the son of Richard and Florence Dawn of Richmond (and he is also commemorated on the Richmond War Memorial). His connection to Hampton Wick is explained by the CWGC entry. His wife, Florence Mabel Dawn, was a native of Hampton Wick. His entry on the Richmond War Memorial website states that he was born in Richmond and enlisted in Clapham. It also gives his Battalion as 47th London Division. His entry in U.K. Soldiers who died in the Great War confirms that he enlisted at Clapham Junction and gives his residence as Hampton Wick.

He had only entered the French theatre of war on 14 March 1915 according to a note on his Medal Roll at the National Archives. Private Dawn only lasted nine weeks after landing in France. His arrival coincided with the first chlorine gas attack used at the Second Battle of Ypres by the Germans on 22nd March 1915 with devastating effect. It is possible, therefore, that Private Dawn was an early casualty of chemical warfare.

According to the parish records of St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, Private Dawn was born on 4 March 1885 and subsequently baptised at the church on 7 June 1885. His baptismal name is actually recorded as Frank Walter Thomas Dawn so presumably at a later date the first two names became reversed. His parents are named as Richard and Elizabeth Dawn and their place of residence is given as No 3 St (illegible) Cottages, Kesforth Rd, Richmond. His father was employed as a plasterer. Six years later the family were recorded in the Census as living with eight children at 3 St Johns Cottages, Viaduct Rd, Richmond. By 1901 the family had moved to 27 Evelyn Rd, Richmond and had two more children.

Shortly afterwards, sometime between July and September 1903, at the age of about eighteen, Walter married Florence Mabel an older lady aged about twenty four originating from Bermuda. The marriage was registered in Richmond. Shortly afterwards, in the second quarter of 1904 (sometime between April and June) the couple had a son, Sidney Frank Dawn, whose birth was registered in Richmond. A daughter, Florence Jane Ada Dawn, who was also born in Richmond, followed in about 1907.Thereafter, the marriage appears to have failed: by 1911 Walter, now aged 26, had returned to the family home. He was living with his mother at 4 Jocelyn Rd, Richmond and working as a labourer at the sewerage works. Meanwhile, his wife, Florence Mabel Dawn, now aged 32, was living at 121 Livingston Rd, Battersea with their three children. The youngest, Reginald Cyril Dawn (2) is described on the Census entry as having been born in Battersea which suggests that the breakup had occurred by 1909. Although married, Florence states she is “head of the household” on the Census which suggests they were, indeed, separated.Under the “occupation” column she states she has none but “has an allowance from husband” who is stated to be “away”. All four of them were living in a one room household.

Private Dawn is also commemorated not only on the War Memorial in Richmond, where he grew up; but also according to the Imperial War Museum, in the Roll of Honour at St Mary Magdalene Church Richmond, where he was baptised (IWM WMR-12510) and also in St Mary’s Church, Battersea where his estranged wife was living (IWM 18125-430852).

Private Herbert Denby (G18567) of the 7th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment enlisted at the Hampton Hill recruiting office whilst a resident of Hampton Wick, according to a family genealogical site.

He died on 14 February 1917. He has no known grave but his death is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial.

According to another family genealogical site (showing the Freshwater Family Tree), Herbert Denby was born around 1877 in East Molesey which would explain how he met his wife (see below).His mother according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet, still lived in East Molsey at the date of his death.

Herbert Denby’s Service Record survived the World War 2 bomb on the Army Records which destroyed the majority of WW1 service records. Accordingly, we learn from his enlistment papers that, when he enlisted at Hounslow on 17 November 1915, he was a labourer 38 years (and 271 days’ old) who was 5’7¾” tall with a chest measurement (when expanded) of 35”. He was married to Sarah Ellen Denby (nee Turner) who he had married on 25 February 1905 at East Molesey and with whom he lived at 52 Park Road, Hampton Wick. They had two children a son, Herbert Edward born on 29 December 1905 and a daughter, Rosina Maud Annie born on 15 February 1908. Both children had been born in Kingston. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 14 April 1917, Private Denby had worked for 9 years as a storekeeper at Wimbledon Station works when he volunteered to enlist under the Derby scheme on 17 November 1915.

His service record shows that he was originally mobilised with the rank of Fusilier to the Royal Fusiliers Depot on 15 June 1916. He then underwent training being posted, as a Private, on 16 June 1916 to the 16th Battalion then the 22nd Battalion from 1 September 1916. Finally he was sent to France as part of the BEF on 4th October 1916 when he was transferred from the Royal Fusiliers (26th Battalion) to the Royal West Kent Regiment as part of the reinforcements following the catastrophic losses on the Somme.

After his wife was notified of his death, she received his personal effects of which she duly acknowledged receipt. A Separation Allowance (interim pension) of 21 shillings a week was paid to her from his death until 9 September 1917. Thereafter, she received a widow’s pension for her and her two children of 22 shillings per week.

Private Francis Cecil Dewey (736176) of the 1st Battalion of the London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) died on 30 December 1917. He has no known grave but his death is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

His Service Record reveals that he enlisted at St George’s Hall in Liverpool on 14 January 1916. He was an unmarried Lay Preacher living at ?19 Barlow Lane, Kirkdale, Liverpool. At the time of his enlistment he was 26. He was 5’5” tall with a 35” chest and weighed 132lbs and appears to have slight varicose veins. He initially joined the 28th Lancashire Regiment as part of the Army Reserve. On 30 October 1916 following the losses on the Somme he was mobilised to a regular unit and then sent to France on 20 March 1917.

He was connected to Hampton Wick because his father, George Dewey, lived at The Ivy House Cottage, Hampton Court at least from the date of Private Dewey’s enlistment. There is also a note in his Service Record, dated 27 May 1918, that his personal effects are to be sent to that address. Private Dewey must have died without leaving any form of will as his Record also includes a statement completed by his father on 12 September 1919 setting out details of all his living relatives. By this time his father, however, had moved from Hampton Wick to live with his eldest son George Albert Dewey (37) at Hillbrow, Wablaton, Emsworth. Private Dewey was survived in addition by two other brothers, Alfred Dewy (35) and Herbert Guy Dewey (33) as well as by a half-sister, Fanny Orton (45) who lived at [?] Gardens, Abberley Hall, Great Witley, Worcester.

He was born in Chichester. According to his family tree published on Ancestry.com his parents were George Dewey (1848-1936) and Mary Jane Sendall (1856-1919). According to the details published with the family tree, he had moved by 1891 to Horsham but returned to Chichester by 1901.

Rifleman Albert Frederick Dibden (47510) of the 11th Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps died on 15 June 1918. (Source: UK Soldiers Died in the Great War (“UK Soldiers”). He is buried at Sucrerie Cemetery in Ablain-St- Nazaire.

According to UK Soldiers, he was born in Ditton, Surrey. He enlisted in Hounslow and gave his place of residence as Teddington.

Rifleman Dibden is confusingly referred to by a series of slightly differing sets of first names. His birth was registered at Kingston sometime between July and September 1899 some months after his parents’ marriage was registered there. On his birth certificate he was named Albert Edwin F Dibden. The Edwin does not appear either on his Medal Roll or his UK Soldiers entry which suggests that he tended to use just Albert as his Christian name.

By the time of the 1901 Census, he is referred to as merely Frederick Dibden. His father, Gilbert Dibden a twenty seven year old labourer had moved to Tolworth with his wife, the nineteen year old Rose; his mother-in-law, Emily Butler and his one year old son. The family appears to have moved at regular intervals. The entries on the 1911 Census reveal that Gilbert (now describing himself as a gardener) and Rose had produced five children with varying birth places: Frederick (Thames Ditton); May (Surbiton); Ernest (Long Ditton); Willie (Thames Ditton) and Leslie (Kingston).

Unusually, three of the Dibden children, including Albert Edwin Frederick, Cecilia May Rose and Herbert Leslie, were christened at the parish of St John, Kingston on April 13th 1910. At the time the family were living at 17 Mile (?Mill) Street Kingston. It’s not clear why Albert was christened at the unusually late age of eleven or why two of his siblings were not christened at the same time. Shortly afterwards Albert started his working life as a newsboy for a newsagents which was his occupation given in his 1911 Census entry.

Private Henry John Doe (10851) of the 1st Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment died on 20 July 1916. He is buried at the Serre Rd No2 Cemetery.

Private Henry John Doe was apparently killed during the East Surrey’s attempts to attack and hold the strategic Mametz Wood during the Battle of the Somme. The unit war diary describes a desperate action carried out under very high explosive and gas shelling to capture a wood consisting, as the war diary says, “chiefly of bushes about breast high …and some rather knocked about trees”.

His birthplace is given in UK Soldiers Died in the Great War as Kingston and his residence as Hampton Wick. Henry Doe volunteered initially for the 4th Battalion of the East Surrey Territorial Army in April 1913. According to his Burnt Service Record which was damaged in a bombing raid in the Second World War and is now held by the National Archives, he passed his medical for the Territorials on 5 May 1913, having good vision and physical development and a chest measurement of 33½”. At the time he enlisted, he was employed by his uncle, George Walter Doe of 2 Hesley Cottages, High Street, Hampton Wick, as a milk carrier.

On 21 January 1914, now aged 18 and 295 days, he applied to join the East Surrey Regiment as a Regular Soldier. By the time he was accepted on 6 April 1914, he was 18 years and 364 days old (presumably he was born on 7 April 1895). He was 5’7¾” tall and weighed 116lbs. He embarked for France on 26 October 1914 where he served for twenty-one months before being killed at the Somme. His personal effects were despatched to Mrs Sarah Ann Doe (nee Sarah Ann(e) Wooley) who was married to his uncle, George Walter Doe, at 2 Hesley Cottages. Her moving acknowledgment of receipt for his personal effects couched in the following terms forms part of his Burnt Service Record:

“Dear Sirs

With sadness & thanks we acknowledge receipt of small parcel sent on behalf of our dear Boy. We do & I shall miss him very much – a good lad to help. We have no other. He has given his life for King & Country & we are proud of him.

God Bless Him.

Mrs S. A Doe
2 Hesley Cottages
Hampton Wick”

It seems likely that the writer of the letter was, in fact, his adoptive rather than his “natural” mother. Henry John Doe’s actual mother would appear to have been (rather confusingly) another Sarah Ann Doe, the sister of George Walter Doe, who had been born in Kingston sometime between April and June 1868 (source: Register of Birth, Death & Marriages). Sarah Ann Doe is recorded in the 1871 and 1881 Censuses as living in Kingston with her parents John and Mary Doe, her older brother, George Walter, and younger brother, Charles. By the time of the 1891 Census, the family (with the exception of her father who had died) were all living in Bittoms Lane, Kingston. Sarah Ann was 23 years of age and working as a housemaid. Her older brother, George Walter Doe, at 25 was employed as a porter. Henry makes his first appearance in the 1901 Census as a six year old. He is named as “Harry” and described, rather implausibly, as the six year old “son” of the head of the household, Mary Doe, who was by this time 69 and had been widowed by this date for at least ten years. It seems much more likely that he was, in fact Sarah Ann Doe’s son.

George Walter Doe was not living with the rest of the Doe family at the date of the 1901 Census. Instead he is recorded in that Census as living and working as a gardener in Shepperton where he had married Sarah Anne Woolley (Annie) on 6th October 1900. Shortly afterwards, in the third quarter of 1901, the Register of Marriages records that Sarah Ann Doe married William Makim in Kingston. At some point between the 1901 Census and that of 1911 Henry Doe moved to 2 Hesley Cottages, Hampton Wick. He lived there with his Uncle George Walker Doe and his uncle’s wife, Sarah Ann(e) Doe, and their two daughters, Lena and Olive, who had been born in 1903 and 1905 in Shepperton. It would appear that he was effectively adopted by his uncle and aunt.

This accords with the anecdotal evidence of a relative who reports that his grandmother, Olive Doe, had “an adopted brother who was killed in the First World War”. It also accords with information in his Service Record contained in a Declaration (now burnt and in part illegible) given by his uncle, George Walter Doe, on 14 March 1921. The Declaration lists all of Henry Doe’s blood relatives and was probably required because he died intestate. Oddly, on the form his father is named as William Makim and his mother as Sarah Ann Makim who lived at 11 Youngs Buildings in Kingston. Although John William Makim is listed as Henry Doe’s father, it would seem more likely that he was his step father as the form also includes a half-brother, John William Makim, aged 19 at the date of the Declaration born after the marriage so presumably a child of both William and Sarah Ann Makim. If Makim was Henry Doe’s father then John William Makim would be Henry Doe’s full brother and also William Makim might have been expected to have signed the Declaration rather than George Walter Doe (Henry’s Uncle). Clearly Henry Doe himself regarded George Walter Doe and Annie Doe and their family as his true family: he nominated them as his next of kin on his Attestation papers when he enlisted.

Henry John Doe remains fondly remembered by his family and we are indebted to Steve Thomas, his great nephew, for the school photograph which includes Henry John Doe’s adoptive sister. Steve’s mother arranged for Henry John Doe’s name to be read out at the Tower of London roll call on 14 September 2014.

Serjeant James Bennett Elmer (812) of the 2nd Company of the 4th Battalion of the Guards Machine Gun Regiment died of his wounds on 6 December 1917. He was buried at the Abbeville Communal Cemetery No2 on the Somme.

His entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War reveals that he was born in Sheffield and enlisted at Preston, Lancashire, initially into the Scots Guards under service number 8653 subsequently transferring to the Machine Gun Regiment.

He was born sometime between April and June 1894 when his birth was registered at Sheffield. He was, therefore, six at the time of the 1901 Census and living in Sheffield with his parents Bennett Elmer (51), from whom he inherited his distinctive middle name, and Agnes Elmer (50). Also living at home were his three older siblings; Mary Agnes (19); William George (14) and Beatrice (11). All four siblings were living together at 83 Petrie Street, Sheffield when the next Census was completed in 1911. The parents have disappeared. The eldest acted as housekeeper with the three younger children employed (in order of age) as a steel worker, silver burnisher and (in the case of James) as a general labourer.

It is perhaps puzzling that the death of a machine gunner from Sheffield is commemorated on a war memorial in distant Hampton Wick. However, Serjeant Elmer’s inclusion is, perhaps, explained by an enigmatic entry in Kingston’s Marriage Register for the period April until June 1915 from which it appears that a James B Elmer married a certain Elizabeth J R Tandy. The couple had a son, Edward James Bennett Elmer, who was born in 1916.

The birth of Elizabeth Jessie Rose Tandy was registered at Kingston twenty two years earlier. In 1901 when the Census was completed she was living at 6 School Lane, Hampton Wick, aged 8 with her mother, Alice Tandy (35) and her six siblings born in rapid succession: Ella (12); Edwin (10); Ada (7); Robert (5); Francis (4) and Alice (2). By this time the family must have been living for at least 7 years in Hampton Wick as the four younger children had been born in the village unlike Elizabeth and her older siblings who were Kingston born. Like many of her contemporaries, Elizabeth moved out of her family home to go into service. The 1911 Census records her as working as a servant for the Denniford family at Cotehele , 17 Oxford Road, Teddington. We shall never know the circumstances of her meeting with Serjeant Elmer but, with thanks to Serjeant Elmer’s Granddaughter, we know that, after his death, she remarried and emigrated to Australia with her new husband and Serjeant Elmer’s half-siblings. Their son, Edward, remained in the care of Elizabeth’s family in Hampton Wick and did not go with her. The reasons for that are unclear.

We know also from his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 15 December 1917, in which he is referred to as “Sergt Instructor JB Elmer”, that Serjeant Elmer died as a result of wounds received in the head at the Battle of Cambrai on 27 November 1917. His obituary gives his address as Rose Cottage, Seymour Rd, Hampton Wick and says that his father-in-law, Mr Tandy, was employed as the caretaker of the Girls’ and Infants’ School in Hampton Wick.

According to a family story handed down to his Great- Great-Nephew, Serjeant Elmer was responsible for a modification to his machine gun which earned him a small bonus to his pay.

In addition to the Memorial at Hampton Wick Serjeant Elmer is also commemorated on the Memorial on the altar at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Marie in his native Sheffield, according to the Imperial War Museum’s records: IWM (WMR 27498-683588).

Private Frank Stannard Fry (325028) of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment died on 2 September 1917. He is buried at the Dozingham Military Cemetery.

Frank Stannard Fry’s birth was registered in the second quarter of 1881 according to the Register of Birth Marriages and Deaths. At the time of the 1891 Census he was aged 10 and living with his parents Walter Fry (39), whose occupation is listed as Builder and Registrar of Births & Deaths, and Emma Maria Fry (nee Tickell) aged 37 at 95 High Street, Hampton Wick. His father must have registered a large number of his own family’s arrivals as, besides Frank Stannard, there were a further six children crammed into the house. These comprised: Walter Henry Fry (18), occupation carpenter; Frederick Christopher Fry (16), a dentist’s assistant; Amelia Kate Fry (14), scholar; Jessie Lucy Fry (7); Florence Dora Fry (3); Stanley Theodore Fry (1). All the children had been born in Hampton Wick.

By the time of the 1901 Census, his father, Walter Fry, had died. His mother, Emma Maria Fry, a widow, is described as the head of a household at 2 Victoria Cottages (aka 95 High Street), Hampton Wick. The eldest son, Walter Henry,is now described as a carpenter/joiner working in his own business. Frederick is employed as a grocer. Frank Stannard is employed (possibly by his brother?) as a carpenter. The only other children living at the house are Jessie, Florence and Stanley. By this time, Amelia had moved out of the family home and is recorded on the 1901 Census as working as a ladies maid to the Witt family at Lansdowne House, Anlaby Road Teddington.

By the time of the next Census in 1911, Frank Stannard, described as an unmarried house decorator, was still living with the family in the same property (although it was now known by the slightly grander title of 2 Victoria Villas, High Street, Hampton Wick). It was getting less cramped though as another member of the family, Frederick Christopher, had moved out. He was living with his wife of 8 years, Edith Eleanor Fry, at 104 King’s Road, Kingston and still working as a Grocer’s assistant. Amelia Kate had married on 13 June 1906 at St John the Baptist a civil servant from East Molesey, James Henry Arnold, and moved to Sheffield with him.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 12 September 1917, Private Frank Stannard Fry was an old boy of the Hampton Wick Endowed School. He had sung in the choir of the Parish Church in Hampton Wick for 28 years as bass soloist and was described as a “well built man of fine physique” who apparently was “much esteemed by all who knew him”.

Private Frank Stannard Fry’s Burnt Service record survived the Blitz and is kept at the National Archives. From the Attestation Form he completed on 10 December 1915 when he volunteered at Teddington, aged 34 and 9 months, to join the Reserves, we learn that he married Ada Minnie Howell, spinster, on 29 September 1912 at Hampton Wick. The couple had one daughter, Kathleen Maud, born on 4 January 19[?] and were living at 20 Field Lane, Teddington. He was still employed as a house decorator. He was 5’9” tall with a chest measurement of 39” (when expanded). He joined the Army Reserve (the 1st (Reserve) Garrison Battalion) immediately on 11 December 1915. Following a Medical conducted at Hounslow on 23 May 1916, by which time he appears to have lost three inches in height and an inch off his chest, he was passed as fit to join the Regular army, in spite of an intriguing comment by an officer rendered almost illegible through bomb damage, which appears to state: “This man is useless”. This could perhaps be due to an old injury to his left ankle referred to on his medical form.

On 3 June 1916 he joined the Suffolk Regiment moving between the 64th Battalion and the 14th Battalion on 1 January 1917. He left for France from Folkestone on 14 June 1917. Shortly afterwards, on 6 July 1917, he was transferred to the 1/8th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment with a new service number. He was a stretcher bearer and whilst on duty, according to his obituary, was “dangerously wounded in the thigh, arm and knee on 28 August 1917”. An operation was apparently necessary but nonetheless he died of his wounds on 2 September 1917 with notification being sent the following day to his regiment from the 4th Casualty Clearing Centre.

In a letter to his widow the Chaplain of the clearing station sought to comfort her by writing:

“The doctors and nurses assure me that he was too ill to feel much pain. All that skill, care and attention could do was done for him. He gave no message, but the very seriously wounded men hardly ever do. I prayed with him before his death, and he prayed for you and all he loved. His thoughts were full of you and all he loved up to the very end.”

His wife acknowledged receipt of the following personal effects sent to her on 11 February 1918: letters; photos; pipe; religious book; 2 wallets; purse; metal- big base- steel mirrors in base; tobacco pouch; leather belt; 1 frame note (defaced) and souvenirs.

Ada had moved to the Royal Paddocks, Hampton Wick by the time she received her husband’s effects in January 1918. To support herself and her daughter she was awarded a pension of 18 shillings and nine pence a week with effect from 11 March 1918. She was still living at this address on 8 July 1921 when she formally acknowledged receipt of her husband’s medals.

Private Stanley Theodore Fry (682519) of the 22nd (County of London) Battalion (The Queens) of the London Regiment died aged 26 on 8 October 1916. He is buried at the Warlencourt British Cemetery. Having been reported missing in September 1916, his mother was only, according to the obituary of his older brother Private Stannard Fry in the Surrey Comet dated 12 September 1917, notified in the summer of 1917 officially that Stanley had been presumed dead (nine months after his death).

He enlisted at Hampton Hill, giving his place of residence as Hampton Wick and initially joined the 5th Royal Fusiliers (under service number 5270).

He was born in the first quarter of 1890 (Source: Register of Birth, death & Marriages) and duly baptised on 23 February 1890 at St John the Baptist, Hampton Wick. His parents were Walter and Emma Maria Fry. He was Frank Stannard Fry’s younger brother and the youngest (fourth) son of the family. By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 2 Victoria Villas (95 High Street), Hampton Wick, with the rest of the Fry clan which had been living there for many years. He was working, like his brother, as a decorator. Like his older brother, Walter, he had also been involved with the Parish Church for many years.

Private Stanley Fry died on 8 October 1916 following an attack at Warlencourt on the strategic prehistoric burial mound on the side of the Albert to Bapaume Road known as the Butte. He presumably died of his wounds as The Surrey Comet originally reported on 4 November 1916 that he had been wounded but stated that “no official information is obtainable either as to the nature of his wounds or whether he is in hospital in France or in this country.”

Pioneer Alfred Percy Fullick of the Royal Engineers was killed in action in France on 30 June 1916 during a night attack immediately before the beginning of the Battle of the Somme which started on the following day. The day he died was the final day of a five day bombardment by 1,500 British guns in which 1.5 million shells had been fired at the German lines to little effect.

He came from a well known local family. A long time resident of Hampton Wick, Derek Shail, recalled in his reminiscences (a copy of which is held at Hampton Wick library) how his maternal grandfather,“Tom” Fullick, a fireman in Hampton Wick, had received the Royal Humane Society medal for saving a woman from drowning and another member of the family, William Fullick, is listed in High Street Traders as having a tobacconist’s shop at 56 High Street in 1899.

More information can be found on Alfred Fullick here, a page from the website of Ted Croucher, a relative. His parents were Alfred Thomas Fullick, a boatbuilder, (1874-1959) and Eliza Fullick (nee Wright) (1871-1944). He apparently started his life in Hampton Wick, being christened at St John the Baptist on 27 October 1895. Subsequently, he migrated across the Thames to Kingston. At the time of the 1901 Census, he is listed as living at 60 Acre Road, Kingston with his Wright family relations, including his grandparents, uncles and aunt. His parents oddly lived a few houses away at 44 Acre Rd. Perhaps his parents simply did not have room for him as they had eight children. Ten years later Alfred Fullick was a boot maker living with his parents and four brothers (Arthur Thomas; Fred Charles; Albert Edward and William Cecil) and one sister, Fifi Louise, in five rooms at 39 East Rd, Kingston.

According to his entry in UK Soldiers who died in the Great War, Alfred Fullick enlisted as a Fusilier (24011) in the 3rd Battalion Special Brigade of the Corps of Royal Engineers at Hampton Hill. By this time his parents had moved back to Hampton Wick and were living at 96 High Street. Alfred gave his place of residence on enlistment as Hampton Wick. He subsequently became a Pioneer (128213) in the Corps of Royal Engineers. Unfortunately, Alfred was killed aged just 21 on 30 June 1916, possibly of gas wounds. He is buried in the Berkshire Cemetery Extension at Hainault in Belgium.

His obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 8 July 1916 gives his occupation as a shoemaker and states that he was the eldest son of Alfred Thomas Fullick who was employed as a foreman of Burgoine’s Boatyard. According to the obituary, his parents lived at 31 High St, Hampton Wick (presumably having moved from 96 High St, Hampton Wick). He had attended the Endowed School in Hampton Wick (as well as, according to his second obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 2 September 1916, the Richmond Road (Kingston) Council School). He was apparently a keen swimmer being a member of the Kingston Institute Swimming Club where he had won many prizes. According to his obituary his father had set him up as a shoemaker at their home in about 1913 and he had “established a nice little trade” by the time he was called up.

He volunteered for the army in December 1915 under the Derby Scheme and was called up in February 1916 originally joining the Fusiliers . He was transferred to the Royal Engineers in April with whom he was serving when he was killed. He was buried at Ploegstoert where a cross was erected to his memory.

He was survived by a younger brother Arthur Thomas Fullick. Apparently, he had two brothers also serving in France: Alfred, attached to the Black Watch who had been in France since the beginning of the war, and Arthur who had joined the Wimbledon Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery in September 1915.

Private Arthur Gibbons has been identified through two obituaries contained in The Surrey Comet dated 14 & 21 September 1918. Unfortunately, the reports do not agree on the identity of the regiment in which he served. Whilst the earlier one states that he was serving in the “A.S.C., M.T.” , the later one gives his regiment as “Marine Artillery, attached to No 5 Howitzer Gun.” Presumably, the later report corrected the earlier erroneous one or possibly Private Gibbons transferred from the ASC to the Artillery.

Both reports agree that he was killed in France on 31 August 1918 from wounds whilst acting as a dispatch rider.

His connection with Hampton Wick is apparently via his wife who at the time of his death had been living in apartments belonging to Mrs Cooper at 31 Park Road, Hampton Wick for two years.

Private Gibbons had been born in Woking where by August 1918 his parents were living at the Lodge of the Beechcroft Military Hospital.

In 1917 he had been presented with the Medaille Militaire by the French Government and his obituary adds that his commanding officer when he had been home on leave had presented him with a watch “for successfully carrying out his duties as despatch rider”.

Private Ernest Frank Goodall (67993) enlisted at Staines into the 11th Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He died, aged just 20, near the end of the war on 22 August 1918.

We know that he was born sometime between April and June 1899. His place of birth is said to have been Teddington. He was the son of Frank and Margaret Ann Goodall of Home Park, Hampton Court. He was twelve at the time of the 1911 Census and living in Home Park where his father was employed as a gardener by the Board of Works.

In a family of at least seven children, he was the eldest son. His five sisters who are listed on the 1911 Census were: Victoria Margaret (13); Dorothy Alexandra (10); Lilian Rose (7); Gladys Irene (5) and Edith Mary (10 months). In addition, we know that he had a younger brother, Thomas, born on 6 February 1912. By 1918, his parents were living in 1 Farm Cottages, Home Park, Hampton Wick.

Before enlisting at the age of 18, according to his obituaries dated 7 & 14 September 1918 in The Surrey Comet, he was the youngest member of the Gardens Staff at Hampton Court Palace by whom his death was “deeply regretted”. In his obituaries he is described as “an exceptionally clever and studious youth”. His Commanding Officer called him “one of his best men and a splendid soldier”. He was killed whilst carrying despatches and had been attached to the headquarters staff of his Battalion.

Private Goodall is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium. His last place of residence is given as Hampton Court and, as a resident of Home Park, he is commemorated also on the War Memorial in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court and on the Ministry of Works War Memorial in the Treasury Building in Whitehall.

We’re most grateful to Private Goodall’s nephew, Brian Goodall, for additional information about his family.

Private Henry Albert Goodright (25281) of the 11th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment died on 24 March 1917 according to the records of the CWGC (although his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 28 April 1917 gives his date of death as 29 March 1917). He is buried at Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery, Arras. According to his entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War, he enlisted in Kingston.

Henry Albert Goodright was born in Surbiton between January and March 1889 (Source: Register of Birth, Death & Marriages). He first appears in the 1891 Census living at 6 Brighton Road, Surbiton with his parents, John (39) and Frances Goodright (38). He shared his home also with six elder siblings. These comprised: William J (15), garden boy; Louie Elizabeth (14), domestic servant; George R (10); Walter E (8); Lily S (6) and Laura Phoebe (4). The five younger children had been born in Surbiton. The older two were born in Long Ditton which was also the birthplace of their father. Henry Albert Goodright was the youngest son of the family.

By 1901, the residents at the family home had altered slightly. William, George, Walter and Lily are not included in the Census return. However, two younger children have appeared: Rose Frances and Daisy Isabel. Family members were continuing to move out as they grew older. In the 1911 Census only six members remained at the family residence at 3 Chelsea Villas, Portsmouth Road, Surbiton. His father worked as an engine driver at Surbiton Pumping station. Henry Albert still unmarried at 22 was an assistant at a Boot shop. Laura Phoebe (26) worked at home whilst her younger sisters, Rose Frances (19) and Daisy Isabel (17) both worked as book binders. We know of the nine children who survived. However, the 1911 Census revealed that by that date in 36 years of marriage the couple had produced ten children, one of whom had died.

The Mormon survey of marriages (English Select Marriages) reveals that Henry Albert Goodright married Rosetta Court at St Mark’s, Surbiton on 28 November 1915. They moved to Hampton Wick after their marriage as Private Goodright was living at 10 Park Road, Hampton Wick when he volunteered in March 1916 according to his obituary. Before enlisting he had been employed for two years by Messrs W Hart & Son, boot manufacturers of Thames St, Kingston. He was wounded in the neck in August 1916 possibly at the Battle of the Somme. Having recovered from his wound he returned to France in December 1916 where he was killed in March 1917 in the build up to the Spring Offensive known as the Battle of Arras.

His widow had, according to the obituary in The Surrey Comet, four brothers serving in the army. One of Private Goodright’s officers tried to comfort his grieving widow by an assurance in his letter of condolence that :“His end was very sudden..he could not have felt much pain.” The officer said he mourned his loss, not only as a good soldier but as a comrade and assured her that he gave his life for a great cause.

It would appear that Albert Gurney could be, in fact, Private Alfred Gurney (14104) of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment whose entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War states was born in Hampton Wick and was killed in action on 13 February 1915 in France.

There is an Albert Gurney born in Hampton Wick in about 1893 listed in the 1901 Census. He lived at 78 Acre Road Kingston with his parents Alfred, a paperhanger, and Mary Ann Gurney (who had also been born in Hampton Wick) and their other children Prince Alfred (2) and Mary Rose (3 months). An entry in the 1911 Census for an eighteen year old Alfred Gurney from Kingston at the Aldershot barracks of the 4th Royal Fusiliers suggests that perhaps Albert/Alfred was a member of the regular army. He may have enlisted because as the 1911 Census reveals his mother had recently re-married and moved to 23 Ovington St, Chelsea taking her younger children, Prince Alfred (12) and Mary Rose (10) to join her husband, George H Conrady, as stepchildren. Perhaps Albert changed his name to his father’s name Alfred?

Driver Henry George Hackman (136560) enlisted in the Corps of Royal Engineers and was sent to the Middle East where he died on 28th June 1916 and was buried at the Basra War Cemetery in Iraq. He left a widow with three children under ten.

Henry Hackman was born in Hampton Wick in the first three months of 1881 (Source: Register of Births). We can trace his life through his entries in the Censuses between 1891 and 1911. In 1891 he was living at 67 High Street, Hampton Wick with his parents Harry Hackman (36), a decorator, and Emma (31) who had been born in Hampton Wick. Ten years later he was still living with his parents on the High Street. By 1911 he had moved to Betteridge Stables, Lower Teddington Road. We learn that in about 1905 he had married his wife, Rebecca who was about five years older than him. They had three children (all born in Hampton Wick in rapid succession). They had first a daughter Kitty in 1906; then a son born in 1907 and, finally, another daughter, Dorothy, in 1908. His occupation, according to the 1911 Census, was as a carman. The whole family of five were crammed into two rooms in the Lower Teddington Road.

His Burnt Service Record held at the National Archives furnishes further details. By the time he enlisted at Kingston on 25 October 1915, the family had moved to 5 Downs Cottages, School Lane, Hampton Wick. As a carman by trade, his application to join the Royal Engineers as a driver was approved. Although his wife’s name is given as Rebecca in the 1911 Census, she is referred to as Kitty Hackman in the details of his next of kin given when he enlisted. Her maiden name was Kitty Pyle and she was a spinster when they married on Christmas Eve 1904 at Kingston Register Office. They had three children in successive years: Kitty Emma (named after her mother and grandmother) on 30 March 1906; Harry James (named after his grandfather) on 9 May 1907 and, finally, Dorothy May on 5 May 1908. From his medical, we learn he was 5’¾” tall with a chest measurement of 35” and weighed 123lbs with a distinguishing scar on the small of his back.

His service commenced on 25 October 1915. His service record suggests that he found military life during training somewhat irksome. He was subject to two minor charges during his training at Aldershot. On 22 March 1916 he was punished with 2 days’ confinement to barracks (CB) for the heinous offence of not being shaven by the 8.30am parade and on 1 April 1916 with 1 day’s CB for falling in three minutes late for a 6.00am general parade.

He embarked for Iraq as part of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force on 8 May 1916. Initially successful, by 29 April 1916 the British and colonial forces under General Townsend had been forced to surrender the city of Kut after a long siege with allied troops suffering starvation and terrible conditions for many months. Driver Hackman was presumably part of the effort to improve the supply infrastructure in Mesopotamia. Shortly after his arrival, Driver Hackman’s wife received a notice that he was missing. She continued to receive a Separation Allowance paid to a soldier’s dependant until she was awarded on 9 January 1917 a widow’s pension of 23 shillings a week for herself and her three children with effect from 8 January 1917.

Pioneer William Claude Burton-Haynes (128212) of M Coy of the 3rd Special Battalion of the Royal Engineers died on 23 October 1916. He is buried at Dranoutre Military Cemetery.

He was the eldest son of Elizabeth Burton-Haynes of 23 Cedars Road and the late William Burton-Haynes. According to the genealogical research of his ancestor, Kathryn Lewis, his birth was registered in Eastbourne district in December 1896. However, the 1901 Census reveals that by the time William was four years of age the family had moved to 3 Lancaster Villas, Kingston Road, Hampton Wick. The family had moved to 17 Warwick Road by the time of the 1911 Census when William (now aged 14) is recorded as working as an “Office Boy (Engineers)”.

Pioneer William Claude Burton- Haynes (his name is apparently misspelt as “Burton-
Haines” on the Memorial) was, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated [ ] 1916 the eldest son of Mrs Burton-Haynes, well known in the area for her work at the Baptist mission, of Inverin, Cedars Road, Hampton Wick. Pioneer Burton-Haynes was unfortunately a victim of “friendly fire”- having been accidentally shot through the head by a child whilst Burton-Haynes was in his billet in Belgium.

It has not been possible to identify with certainty Thomas Johnson through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

However, we know that a number of Johnsons lived locally.

A Mr Johnson was the Showroom Manager of the Hampton Court Gas Co for twenty six years. In 1937 he lived at 1 The Terrace, Hampton Wick.

Various traders with the surname can be identified. A John Johnson had a tearooms at 6 Bridge Approach between 1901 and 1903 and again between 1908 and 1913. A Mrs E Johnson had a confectioner’s shop at 11 High Street in 1916. By 1917 she had moved (possibly because she had been bereaved if she was Thomas’s widow?). A Frederick Johnson had tea rooms at another location (this time 25 High Street) in 1937.

Thomas was, possibly, related to these traders.

Captain Harry Hesketh Kay Robinson of the 5th Battalion (attached to 16th Battalion) of the Rifle Brigade died, aged 26, on 26 March 1918. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. He was the son of Edward Kay Robinson and Florence Theresa Robinson of Warham, Hampton Wick (now 8 Glamorgan Road).

According to the 1901 Census, Harry who was nine at the time (which accords with his date of birth given as 26 February 1892 in his obituary in the 1 June 1918 edition of his school magazine The Gresham) had been born in India. He lived in the parish of Warham St Mary in Norfolk with his father (then aged 43); his mother (34); older brother Julian P Robinson (12) and baby Warham (10 months), together with three servants.

According to his obituary contained in his old school magazine referred to above, Harry entered Gresham’s School in Holt, Norfolk in May 1902 leaving in December 1909. After he left school, he became a rubber planter in Malaya joining the Malay Volunteers.

His father, Edward Kay Robinson, was a journalist and helped to popularise natural history studies. He founded the British Empire Naturalists’ Association in 1905 and, as an editor at Lahore of the Civil and Military Gazette, had encouraged Rudyard Kipling in his early years. The Robinson family appears to have relocated to Hampton Wick between 1911 and 1913. They must have renamed their home at 8 Glamorgan Road, Hampton Wick, as “Warham” after the village in Norfolk in which they had previously lived and after which they had had named one of their children.

Captain Harry Hesketh Kay Robinson returned to England in January 1917 joining the army on 26 March 1917 with a commission. He joined a Cadet Battalion at Lichfield from which he was “gazetted to the Rifle Brigade”. He was sent to the France in September 1917 but was killed in action on 26 March 1918 near Frise, a village on the Somme.

He rose quickly to the rank of Captain and, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 13 April 1918, his Colonel and brother officers testified to his “fine work and personal qualities”. Captain Kay Robinson was killed within 5 days of the commencement of the final German Spring Offensive. At the time of his death his Battalion was holding a broken trench enfiladed by a German machine gun being fired at from all directions all day long.

According to his obituary,Captain Robinson’s elder brother, Julian, had served through both campaigns in Africa and was the author of a book on the campaign in German West Africa entitled “With Botha’s Army”.

Private Leonard Benjamin Charles Kemball (42585) of the 4th Battalion of the Prince of Wales (North Staffordshire Regiment) died of his wounds on 28 September 1918 aged just 19 and is buried at the Belgian Battery Corner Cemetery. The Cemetery was largely used for burials from a dressing station in a nearby cottage so perhaps Private Kemball was treated there.

He was born on 29 May 1899 in Godalming, Surrey and baptised at St Peter & St Paul Church, Godalming on 28 July 1899 according to the Surrey Baptism Records. However, his place of residence by the time of his enlistment at Hampton Hill was Hampton Wick, according to his record in UK Soldiers Who Died in the Great War.

At the time of the 1911 Census he was living, aged 11, at Avonhurst, 21 Ditton Rd, Surbiton. His parents were the splendidly named Benjamin Branford Kemball (47) and Alice Maud Mary Kemball (also 47). He had four older sisters: Gwendoline (19); Beatrice (18); Dora and Nona (both aged 15). He studied at Kingston Grammar School from 1912 until 1913 and so he is also commemorated on their War Memorial. Kingston Grammar School’s records state that his parents lived at 10 Stanton Road, Wimbledon.

However, by the date of his death, according to his obituary in the Surrey Comet dated 23 October 1918, his parents lived at Beechcroft,11 Station Road, Hampton Wick. His obituary states that he joined the Wandsworth Battalion of the Voluntary Training Corps at the age of 16. He attested when aged 17 and subsequently served in the North Staffordshire Regiment in France in March 1918 just before his nineteenth birthday.

He must have worked at the Prudential Insurance Company in Holborn at some stage after leaving school, because according to the records of the Imperial War Museum he is included on its War Memorial located on the inner courtyard of its former headquarters (WMR -2097).

Lance Corporal Harry Kidwell (10151) of the third Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment died on 9 July 1916 aged 20 years. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Harry Kidwell’s Burnt Service records are held at the National Archives (having suffered some damage in an air raid during the Second World War). From them we learn that Harry enlisted in the Army Reserve of the East Surrey Regiment on 26th March 1912(?13) at the age of 17 years and 5 months. He had been born in Kingston where he was employed as a carman. Although passed as fit for service, he appears to have been a fairly puny fellow: weighing 112 lbs; only 5’ 3¼” tall and with a 32½” chest. He had grey eyes and auburn hair and had a distinctive brown patch over his left shoulder.

Having been accepted into the Reserves, he then applied to join the Regular Army on 9 December 1913. At this time the standing army was tiny and references as to an applicant’s good character were required before a recruit could be accepted. One of his referees, J Kidwell (clearly a relative) of 11 Hudsons Rd, Kingston, described him as sober and honest and “a willing lad” and said he was self-employed. His father, William Kidwell, of 3 Mill Street, Kingston, described as a “Dealer”, was another referee.

After joining the Regular Army, he trained at the Depot of The “Prince of Wales Volunteers” South Lancashire Regiment where following two months’ service, his Company Commander described him as “a very good recruit, very clean & smart, wants promotion”. He duly received his promotion to Lance Corporal on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of war. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 30 December 1916, he was sent to France in February 1915. Originally posted “missing” when killed in action on 8 July 1916 (the same day as Private Henry Pellett-another Hampton Wick casualty of the Somme commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial), his death was only formally confirmed in November 1916 and even then The Surrey Comet managed to get his parents’ address wrong necessitating a correction notice in the following edition..

His service record ends on 19 October 1921 with a receipt for his medals duly signed by his father, William Kidwell, whose address is given as 63 High Street, Hampton Wick. His father is listed in the 1926 Kelly’s Directory as running a Fishmonger’s shop at that address. His sister, Ada Kidwell (14) appears in the court pages of The Surrey Comet dated 9 October 1918. She was charged with stealing a cheque worth 2d and attempting to defraud her employer of £5.

Lieutenant Dudley William Lamb of the London Regiment died on 22 March 1918. He has no known grave and so is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He was a casualty of the second day of the final German offensive launched in Spring 1918.

He was the eldest son of William Comley Lamb, the Company Secretary of the Hampton Court Gas Co, who had been born in c1863 in Kingston and Louisa Elizabeth Lamb born in 1866 also in Kingston. He had two younger brothers, Maurice Comley Lamb (born 1896) and Geoffrey Holland Lamb (born 1897). All the children were born in Hampton Wick. The family lived from 1895 until 1930 in Cedar House (2 Sandy Lane) Hampton Wick close to the gas works where Mr Lamb was employed. His father was listed in Kelly’s Directory of Middlesex as a member in 1914 of the Hampton Wick Urban District Council from which he retired in 1917.

He attended Kingston Grammar School (“KGS”) from 1907 until 1908 where he is also commemorated on their War Memorial and where he was described as being of “high character” and he “did good work”. He obviously enjoyed his time at KGS attending the annual dinner of Old Kingstonians in the Sun Hotel at Kingston on 10 December 1910. At the time of the 1911 Census, he was aged 18 and working as a clerk to the Board of Guardians.

According to anecdotal comments apparently given to KGS by a family member, he joined as a Private in the 14th Reserve Battalion of the London Rifles (3745) possibly in 1914. A supplement to the London Gazette dated 5 January 1916 reported the granting of a commission to Private Dudley William Lamb whereby he was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant on 31 December 1915. Then according to the family record, he transferred temporarily to the Royal Flying Corps from 21 February 1917 until 31 July 1917 when he was transferred back to the 8th Battalion of the London Regiment.

According to a Missing Notice in The Surrey Comet dated 10 April 1918,he was reported missing sometime between 22 and 23 March 1918. The War Office eventually decided in 1919 that he had died on 22 March 1918 and as he had been paid in advance until 31st March it then demanded £5 and 5 shillings should be repaid. The family was, not unsurprisingly, upset about this callous treatment. Although he had not written a will, he left a sizeable estate for a twenty-five year old worth Eight Hundred and Thirty Two pounds, fourteen shillings and threepence!

His younger brother, Lance Corporal Maurice Comley Lamb, aged 21, of the Honourable Artillery Company who was also an old boy of Kingston Grammar School and a prominent hockey player had already been severely wounded in France. According to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 25 May 1917, both of his legs and his left hand were injured by a bomb in 1917. He was sent home to England to recover in a hospital in Aldershot.

Private William Frank Littleproud (G13446) of the 11th Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) died of his wounds on 7 October 1916. He is buried at the Etaples Military Cemetery.

Littleproud was a local family. An earlier William Littleproud was the proprietor of The Grove Tap beerhouse (now Navigator House) at 60 High Street in 1878). I would like to thank Howard Slatter for the use of the results of his genealogical research.

William Frank Littleproud was born in 1886 in Hampton Wick where he was baptised on 4 April 1886 at St John the Baptist Church. His parents were George William Littleproud (1863-1926) and Hannah Maria Cox (1865-1928). At the time of the 1891 Census, William lived on Gravel Pit Hill at 4 Gravel Pit Cottages (71 High Street), Hampton Wick. Ten years later he is recorded as living nearby on the High Street, working as a stable boy. His father was a groom (although, by the time of the 1911 Census, he had become a “Motor Bus Washer”).

By 1911, William’s parents were living with his maternal grandparents, James and Susan Cox, at 67 High Street. However, William himself was by then living at 7 School House Lane, Teddington. He had married Alice Edwin on 10 May 1905 at St John the Baptist Church. By 1911, they had four children: Florence (5); Willie (4); Wellie (2) and Sidney (6 months). By that time, William was employed as a lamp lighter for the Hampton Court Gas Works

Subsequently, William and Alice moved out of the Hampton Wick/Teddington area, as according to his entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War, he gave his place of residence as Addlestone when he enlisted. In 1919 his wife is registered on the electoral rolls of New Haw, near Addlestone as living at 10 King’s Road. He was, therefore, commemorated on three local war memorials: the war memorial at All Saints Parish Church, Church Road, Addlestone; the war memorial at All Saints Parish Church, Woodham Lane, New Haw and on the memorial gates at Addlestone’s Victory Park, Chertsey Road, Addlestone.

We are very grateful for Jim Knight’s kind assistance with supplying details of Private Littleproud’s association with the Addlestone area and also for his clarification on his inclusion on the various local memorials.

Able-seaman Jack Arthur Marriott (LZ526/7) of the 3rd Reserve Battalion of the Royal Naval Division died on 3 December 1917 from “disease” according to the UK Royal Naval & Royal Marine War Graves Roll (the “RN Roll”). He had joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The date of death given in the notice of his death in The Surrey Comet dated 2 January 1918 is, however, 31 December 1917 which is probably correct (rather than 3 December).

The RN Roll gives his date of birth as 4 November 1897. His parents were living in Laburnam Villas (19 Lower Teddington Road) at the date of his birth and the baptismal records of St John the Baptist record that he was baptised at the church on 11 December 1897. However, by the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his parents, Alfred Herbert Marriott (aged 48) and Mary Lillian (or Lily as she is described at his baptism) Marriott (aged 52) at Fresno, Stanwell Rd, Ashford , Middlesex. The household included his paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Mary Marriott (an impressive 88 years old) as well as his two older sisters, Joan Audrey (18) and Rance Cordelia (16) and older brother Herbert Owen (15) and, of course, Jack Arthur (then aged 13).

By 1917 the Marriott family had returned to Hampton Wick as the notification of his death was sent, according to the RN Roll, to his father at Westgate (20 Glamorgan Road), Hampton Wick which the Marriott family had occupied since 1915.

According to the notice of his death in The Surrey Comet dated 2 January 1918 Able Seaman died at home at Westgate, 20 Glamorgan Road on 31 (not 3) December 1917

He was buried at St James Churchyard in Hampton Hill on 5 January 1918 according to the Church’s Register of Burials now kept at the London Metropolitan Archives.

Serjeant Walter Henry Martin served in the 138th Squadron of the RAF. He died on 6 November 1918 as an airman in training and is buried in Chingford Mount Cemetery, Essex, home of his squadron.

Walter was the son of Mrs Hickman of Wick Road, South Teddington, and the husband of Edith L Hickman (later Edith L Stripp) of 32 Addison Road, Teddington. His service number was 114640.

He died in training days before the Armistice and his Squadron never entered active service.

Private Thomas Arthur Matravers (G/39293) of the 2nd Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) was killed at Bullecourt on 11 May 1917 (possibly on 13 May 1917) during the Battle of Arras which took place between 9 April 1917 and 16 May 1917. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

According to his details in UK Soldiers Who Died in the Great War, he was born in Hampton Wick and a resident of Hampton Wick when he enlisted in Guildford. He was baptised at St John the Baptist, Hampton Wick on 29 July 1888 according to the Parish Registers held by the London Metropolitan Archive. His parents were John and Eliza Matravers.

His father John is recorded in the 1881 Census as living, aged 21, with his parents (confusingly named John and Elizabeth) and his seven younger siblings and three others at a (presumably packed) house at 7 School Lane, Hampton Wick.

By the time of the 1911 census, Thomas (recorded as “Tom”), now aged 22, was living with his parents at 76 High Street, Hampton Wick, together with his sister, Alice, aged 14. His profession is given as “Laundry Workhouse Foreman”. By the time of his death, in 1917, the family had moved to 84 High Street, Hampton Wick.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 30 June 1917, Thomas was an old boy of the Hampton Wick Endowed School. He had lived with his parents and younger sister, Alice, at 76 High St, Hampton Wick at least until 1911. However, by the time of his death in 1917 his parents had moved to 84 High St, Hampton Wick. He was his parent’s only son. By 1916, when he enlisted, he had moved to Guildford where he worked as an engineer at the Alexandra Laundry. He was sent to France in March 1917 where he was killed three months later, according to his obituary, “whilst capturing a strong German position”. He was described by his Commanding Officer as “always a cheerful and willing worker”. His date of death is given by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as 11 May 1917 which differs slightly from the date given in his obituary in The Surrey Comet of 13 May 1917.

Private Henry Pellett (16884) of the 8th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) died of his wounds, aged 21, on 8 July 1916. His entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website states that he was the son of Mr and Mrs Harry Pellett of Norfolk Cottage, 76 Park Road (oddly, since 1924, 86 Park Road), Hampton Wick. He is buried at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt L’Abbe.

According to his entry in UK Soldiers Died in the Great War, although he was born in Chiswick, by the time of his enlistment in Hounslow he gave his place of residence as Hampton Wick. His service record does not survive but his Medal Roll at the National Archive gives his date of embarkation as 29 December 1915.

Henry was one of nine children. His parents, Harry Pellett (a labourer born in 1864 in Piddinghoe in West Sussex) and Annie, nee Adams, (four years younger) had married at St John the Baptist on 19 May 1888 and thereafter regularly produced a host of child duly baptised at the parish church. A daughter, Anna Louisa, was their first born in 1889. She was followed by Edward James in 1891; Frank (baptised 25 December 1892); Harry (baptised 28 July 1895); Lucy in 1897; George William (baptised 30 October 1898); Charles P (baptised 27 January 1901); Bessie Francis (baptised 25 September 1904) and finally Lilian Dorothy in 1908. At the time of the 1911 Census Henry’s parents lived with him and his five younger siblings at Norfolk Cottage. His father’s occupation is given as roadman whilst Henry is described as a general labourer. His older brothers, Edward and Frank, lived with their mother’s sister at the nearby Park Cottage, 78 Park Road (since 1924, 88 Park Road) where his parents had been living at the time of their marriage. His older sister, Anna Louisa, had married the wonderfully named Francis Frederick Theophilus Weeks, the son of a black and white artist on 10 April 1909. Edward James Pellett subsequently married Florence Kate Morris at St Peter’s, Norbiton, on 5 September 1915.

The Pellett clan remained a local family up until the 1940s. From 1918, Edward Pellett, presumably Henry’s brother, lived in Bushy Park at 2 Royal Paddocks and, from 1927, in Home Park at 3 Farm Cottages. Another of his brothers, Charlie Pellett, was a road sweeper in Hampton Wick in the 1940s (according to Derek Shail’s reminiscence file in Hampton Wick library).

Frequently in the chaos of the battlefield on the Somme it was not possible to accurately report whether a soldier had been killed or taken prisoner. Private Henry Pellett (apparently known as “Riley”), the third Hampton Wick casualty of the Somme, was such a case. The Surrey Comet on 22 July 1916 reported that his parents had heard a rumour that he had been killed- a rumour which was tragically confirmed by his Colonel and duly reported in the next edition of The Surrey Comet on 29 July 1916.

His obituary has information which conflicts will his biographical details contained in his entry in UK Soldiers Died in the Great War. According to his obituary, Henry was born in Hampton Wick (rather than as stated in UK Soldiers, in Chiswick) which accords with his baptismal record. He worked as a general labourer before enlisting in September 1915 with the Royal Fusiliers. According to his obituary,he was wounded in the first stage of the Battle of the Somme, dying of his wounds on 8 July 1916.

Lieutenant Kenneth Restall of the 12th Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own Middlesex Regiment died on the 26 September 1916 aged 20. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

He was the eldest son of Walter Tapley Restall O.B.E and Mrs Edith Jennie Restall of Rothesay (14 Sandy Lane), Hampton Wick. His father, according to the 1911 Census, was born in Kensington in c1859 and was a civil servant working as the “Chief Examiner in the Exchequer and Audit Department” (the predecessor to the National Audit Office) and “Private Secretary to the Comptroller and Auditor General”. His mother was born c1867 in Hornsey. He had two younger brothers, Frank Percy Restall born a year later than Kenneth and like him in Stoke Newington/Hackney, and Walter Lawrence Restall born in 1904 by which time the family had already moved to Hampton Wick. The family lived in 14 Sandy Lane from 1903 until 1926.

In the 1911 Census all the boys are described as students. According to the Archives at Kingston Grammar School, Kenneth Restall attended the school from 1906 until 1912 and he is commemorated on their War Memorial. From various articles he wrote in the old school magazine in 1907 and 1908 it is clear he was a keen entomologist catching butterflies on holiday in Sussex and locally in Richmond Park and Oxshott Woods and helped establish a Natural History Society at the school. He was also an actor, playing the part of Xanthias in a school production of Aristophanes’s “The Frogs”. He also won a Shakespeare Prize at the 1912 Prize Day. After he left Kingston Grammar, he remained in contact with the school as a member of the Old Kingstonian Hockey Club.

His Obituary, published in The Times on October 6th 1916 states he was then educated at the City and Guilds of London Technical Institute, Finsbury where he studied Mechanical Engineering and the Royal School of Mines, South Kensington where he was a student and member of the London University O.T.C. at the outbreak of the war. Like most of his comrades in the Hockey Club he enlisted at the beginning of the war but he spent the war fighting in France not playing hockey in India. Having enlisted initially in the Bucks Hussars in November 1914, he was almost immediately commissioned in the Middlesex Regiment. He had gone to the front in July 1915 and served continuously until his death in September 1916.He died taking part as acting adjutant in an attack on Thiepval on 26 September 1916 during which two Privates (Edwards & Ryder) were awarded VCs. The Times quotes his commanding officer who said:

“I looked upon him as a very high-souled young man: straight as a die, gallant as God made any man, and a very keen and efficient officer. Always willing, always ready for any work – pleasant or unpleasant – very capable and clever, he was full of promise as a gentleman and an officer … He had already done well on one occasion – a raid in June – and I was hoping to recommend his name for the general’s notice after this action, as I felt absolutely assured he would have given me occasion to do, had he not been killed almost at the outset of the action. He was acting as adjutant at the time.”

Lieutenant Restall’s service record does appear to have been reasonably distinguished. His is mentioned several times in the various University of London OTC Memorial Books. His entry in the Roll of the Fallen merely states that he fell at Thiepval. However, there are also two references, in the London OTC Roll of War Service and list of Honours & Distinctions, to him being mentioned in despatches (more specifically General Haig’s despatches on 13 November 1916).

Whilst he was a pupil at Kingston Grammar School he became a friend of R. C. Sherriff. Sherriff was another Hampton Wick pupil at KGS. He survived the Great War to acquire fame and fortune in the 1920s as a playwright particularly as the author of the hugely successful anti-war play Journey’s End which drew on his experiences as an officer in the trenches. Sherriff commented on the death of two of his school friends, George Webb and Restall, in a letter dated 12 December 1916 to his father, Herbert Hankin Sherriff:

“I am very sorry to hear that Dick Webb and Restall have been killed –they were 2 of my earliest school friends and friends I kept right up till and after the outbreak of war. I knew Webb since I first went to the Grammar School when I was seven (?) years old and Restall about a year after.”

Whilst in the trenches, Lieutenant Restall wrote to a friend that “I’ve struck some good books since I’ve been here [including] [Jerome K] Jerome’s ‘They and I’”. This comment is quoted in the commentary, The Works of Jerome K Jerome.

By 1920, when his son’s medals were sent to him, Mr Restall appears to have moved, perhaps temporarily, to 26 Seaward Avenue, West Seabourne, Bournmouth according to the notes on his son’s Medal Card at the National Archives.

Private Cecil Howard Sivers (36183) of the 12th (Service) (Bristol) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was born in Hampton Wick in June 1899. His parents, Robert John Sivers (also born in Hampton Wick) and Ethel Amelia Sivers (who had been born in neighbouring Kingston) had married in 1898. Cecil had a younger brother, Leonard Maurice Sivers, who was born in 1905.

Cecil Siver’s grandfather, Robert Sivers born in Isleworth in 1818, had moved to Hampton Wick from Kingston in the early 1870s with his Hampton Wick born wife. Originally a lighterman (bargeowner), he became a property developer particularly of land around Park Road. The family were reasonably wealthy. Cecil’s father, Robert John Sivers, was brought up in Park End Lodge (90 Park Road), just across the road from the Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club (founded 1863) where he played cricket for Hampton Wick from 1886. Cecil’s father was described as a “Gentleman” throughout his life.

In the 1901 Census, Cecil’s father is recorded as “living on own means”. The family lived in Newlyn (70 Cedars Road), Hampton Wick. By the time of the 1911 Census, Cecil’s father is again recorded as being of private means but the family now lived in Park Cottage (27 Lower Teddington Road), Hampton Wick, which, despite its modest sounding name, had nine rooms. They employed one servant, the splendidly named Fanny Thickbroom. Cecil attended Kingston Grammar School from 1907 until 1912 and is also commemorated on its Roll of Honour.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 2 October 1918, Cecil finished his education at King’s College School (“KCS”), Wimbledon which he attended for just one year before starting work as a clerk in the Regent Street branch of Parr’s Bank. He enlisted at Staines in May 1917. After initial training he was sent to France at Easter of the following year to reinforce his regiment.

He died on 23 August 1918, aged just 19. The following comment about Private Sivers from one of his officers was quoted in the KCS school magazine:

“His cheerfulness and fearless way in which he carried out his duty were a great help to me and a fine example to his comrades. He was a brave boy and you may be glad to know that, as far as I could gather from his speech or his actions, he was not troubled by fear.”

We would like to thank King’s College School, Wimbledon for supplying this information.

Private Cecil Sivers is buried at the Queen’s Cemetery at Bucquoy. According to the Grant of Probate made on 14 March 191⁹, he left an estate worth £126 8s 11d to his father, Robert John Sivers, who was still described as being “of independent means”.

Private Frederick Skelton (40345) of the 4th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment died on 29 May 1917 aged 36. He has no known grave and so is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Frederick was born on 1 April 1879 [possibly 1880?] in Stoke D’Abernon, (Oxshott) Surrey and baptised at the Parish Church of St Mary’s on 23rd May 1880 according to the Church records held at the Surrey Record Centre. The 1891 census reveals that Frederick (then aged 11) came from a large family. His parents, William and Louisa Skelton, had seven children living with them in Stoke Abernon: Davis (19); William J (17); Frederick (11); Henry E (5); twins Annie E and Arthur J (3); and baby Emily (4 months). By the time of the next Census, in 1901, when Frederick was aged 21, the family home had lost Davis (who had presumably moved out) and Annie.

Shortly afterwards Frederick left home, marrying Amy Celia Hammond from Wimbledon on 24 April 1905. By the time of the 1911 Census he was 31, employed as a gardener and living at 1 Stamford Cottages (located off the High Street) at Hampton Wick with his wife and two daughters, Nellie Gertrude Celia (aged 4) and Violet Lilian May (aged 1). By the time of his death, the family, which now included a third child, was living at 1 Hesley Cottages, Hampton Wick, where his widow, Amy, continued to reside until 1935.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 14 July 1917, before enlisting he had been employed by Mr Howard of Oldwick Dairy and was a member of the fire brigade, presumably in Hampton Wick.

According to his records in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War, Frederick enlisted in Staines. His obituary says that he joined the army on June 12 1916 training at Whitfield Camp, near Kearnsley and went to France in October 1916 towards the end of the Battle of the Somme. He must have originally joined the East Kent Regiment, as this is mentioned on his Medal Card, and then subsequently have transferred to the Worcestershire Regiment.

According to his obituary, at the time of Private Skelton’s death his mother was still living in Oxshott at the Clock House. His youngest brother was being treated in a hospital in France and a brother-in-law was seriously wounded in a Stockport hospital. Another brother-in-law was serving as a petty officer in the Royal Navy.

Private Ernest George Smith (11883) of the 7th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was killed in action in Mesopotamia on 10 February 1917. He is buried in the Amara War Cemetery in Al Amarah, Mysan, Iraq.

According to his entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War, he enlisted in Westminster. His CGWC entry for his grave at the Amara War Cemetery states that he was twenty five years old; the son of Mr W Smith and Mrs J Smith of 9 St John’s Road, Hampton Wick, Kingston-upon-Thames and that his birthplace was Hampton Court.

At the time of the 1901 Census his mother, Jane, had already been widowed. All of the family, except Ernest, were living in a Mews property in Hampton Court. Mrs Jane Smith who was born in Little Shelford in Cambridgeshire is described as living on her own ?proceeds. Only Eleanor, 15, was employed, as an apprentice dressmaker. It is unclear why Ernest was absent. Ernest’s father, William Smith, does appear on the family’s previous Census entry in 1891. At fifty five years of age he was twenty six years older than his wife. His occupation is given as a groom/domestic coachman and he came from Berkshire. The family had already taken up residence in 5 Terrace Mews where they appear to have remained after his death which must have occurred some time after the conception of his youngest daughter, c1894. Although the family lived within the parish of Hampton Wick, at least two of the children, Eleanor and Cecile, were baptised at Christ Church, Surbiton Hill in 1885 and 1887 respectively rather than in the parish church of St John the Baptist in Hampton Wick.

The entries in the 1911 Census reveal that Ernest Smith was one of five children living at that date with his widowed mother, now aged 49, in a five room property at Elgin Cottage, Hampton Court which was within the parish of Hampton Wick. All the children had been born in Hampton Court. In 1911 the family comprised: his mother, Jane; eldest sister, Eleanor Emily Smith (25), a dressmaker working on her own account from home; middle sister, Cecile Alice Smith (23), also a dressmaker but working for a draper; older bother, Frederick William Smith (21), a carpenter who also fought in the Great War but survived (see survivors); Ernest George Smith himself (19) but oddly with no occupation listed; and his younger sister, Edith Laura Smith (17), employed as a clerk in the Post Office. By 1913, the family had moved to a nearby property, Hope Cottage, Hampton Court.

Nothing is known about Private Smith’s service career. However, the 7th Battalion served at Galliopoli between July 1915 and January 1916 before being evacuated to Egypt as a result of heavy losses. Subsequently, in April of the same year, the Battalion was involved in a doomed but costly attempt to relieve the city of Kut in Mesopotamia. In spite of their efforts the city fell to the Turkish forces with a surrender of some 13,000 British soldiers. Many of the captured British troops died in captivity as a result of the conditions in which they were kept. Further details of the actions in which the Battalion engaged can be found at www.glosters.org.uk/textonly.

Private Smith must have died in the course of the counter offensive launched by the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force led by Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude in December 1916 to recapture Kut. Conditions in Mesopotamia were horrific with many casualties arising from diseases such as smallpox, typhus and malaria. The city of Kut was recaptured on 24 February 1917 two weeks after Private Smith’s death.

Ernest’s older brother, Frederick William Smith, had been a member of the Territorial Army since 4 April 1908 and so was immediately called up at the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. However, he survived the war having been discharged on the expiration of his service term on 11 May 1916. Details of his war service can be found in Survivors.

Two of Private Smith’s unmarried sisters remained as long term residents of Hampton Wick. The 1957 Register of Electors records both Cecile Alice Smith and Edith Laura Smith as being resident at 9 St John’s Road, Hampton Wick. Cecile’s death aged ninety four was registered in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames on 5 August 1987.

Private Thomas Henry Tansley (353448) of the 1st Battalion of the London Regiment died on 7 June 1917 aged 20. He is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial and on a family grave in Kingston Cemetery.

His family lived in Inverin, 23 Cedars Road, Hampton Wick from 1907 until 1914. The house would have been rather crowded: at the time of the 1911 Census Thomas lived there with his father, Thomas Henry Tansley (born in c1856 in Weston, Staffordshire); his mother, Kate Elizabeth Tansley (born in c1864 in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire); his brother; three sisters and a widowed boarder and his two grown up sons. His father describes himself as a Grocer’s Assistant working at a grocer’s store which was also an ironmongers and wine and spirit store! His parents had been married for 18 years by 1911 and had five children in rapid succession aged between 16 and 10 in 1911. All the children were born in Stone, Staffordshire which suggests that the family moved South sometime after 1901.

The Tansleys were a Hampton Wick family long after the First World War. His father, David Tansley occupied 5 Vicarage Road from 1912 until 1930. Constance and Margaret Tansley (his younger and older sisters) moved into their father’s property in 1930 and then occupied the newly built 22 Vicarage Road from 1934 until 1982.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 23 June 1917, Private Thomas Henry Tansley was the second son of David Tansley. He was an old boy of the Hampton Wick Endowed School and was also a member of the Choir at the Parish Church. He had volunteered in March 1915 enlisting with the East Surreys Regiment being subsequently transferred to the London Regiment. He was sent to France in September 1916 and wounded in the left shoulder and right leg in the following month during the Battle of the Somme. He recovered and was sent to France again at Easter 1917 where he was killed on 7 June 1917 during a night raid.

According to Private Tansley’s obituary, one of his brothers had served in the army for eight months but had been discharged by 1917 on medical grounds.

The Hampton Wick Roll of Honour helps to identify him as Gunner Harry Taylor (L/5140) of D Battery of the 21st Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery who died on 5 July 1917.

He was the third son of William Taylor of Caxton House, 47 High St, Hampton Wick. Gunner Taylor was the husband of Mary Taylor, of 40 Hampden Road, Norbiton and they had 2 children. His grave is at Fosse No.10 Communal Cemetery Extension, Sains-En-Gohelle, France. He is also commemorated on the War Memorial in St Peter’s Church, Norbiton.

Before enlisting in May 1915, he had enjoyed a rather colourful life according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 25 July 1917. He had been employed by a Mr Tom Dann, bookmaker and was a “well known in the Midlands as a ten stone boxer”. After enlisting, he was sent to France in November 1916 where on 5 July 1917 he was killed ,along with 11 of his comrades, by a single enemy shell.

Gunner Harry Taylor was described in a letter from his Commanding Officer, Major Buxton Smith, as “an excellent gunner, always cheery, a very hard worker and a great favourite with the men”. When he was buried in France about 30 wreaths were sent by his own and various other batteries.

Gunner Harry Taylor’s obituary relates that his father had 3 other sons in the army. William Taylor, a private in the Warwickshire Regiment, had already been missing for 12 months at the time that Harry Taylor’s obituary appeared in The Surrey Comet and was presumed dead (although he is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial or on the casualty lists of the CWGC – so perhaps he subsequently reappeared?). Charles Taylor, a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, had been serving since the outbreak of the war in 1914 as he was a reservist. Corporal James Taylor had also been serving since 1914 as he too was a reservist. He had originally served in the Worcesters but by July 1917 was deployed in the Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers.

References to various Taylor family members in Hampton Wick abound some of whom may be related to Gunner Harry Taylor. An obituary of local magnate and dignitary A. W. Bullen states that he took over the role of parish surveyor in 1914 as a P. Taylor (the previous incumbent) was away at the front during the Great War. A William Taylor (possibly Gunner Taylor’s father or brother) had various businesses in Hampton Wick including a draper’s shop in 1910 at 57 High Street and a furniture dealership in 1914 at 47 High Street. Ada Taylor, was landlady of the Rose and Crown Public House during the war years (from 1915 until 1919). By 1920, a Charles George Taylor (again possibly his brother) was a fruiterer at 81 High Street. Henry Taylor, a retired boot maker, lived at 26 High Street and was said to be a semi-recluse.

Leading Stoker Thomas Daniel Towers (K/3464) of the Royal Navy died on 31 May 1916. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

According to his service record in the Records of the Admiralty Naval Forces, Royal Marines & Coastguards (ADM 188/873/3464) at the National Archives, Leading Stoker Daniel Towers was born on 29 September 1887 in Kingston. His family home, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated [ ] 1916 was at 51 Park Rd, Hampton Wick.

The British Navy had numerical superiority in the First World War. By 1916 the German Navy had 16 dreadnoughts compared to the Royal Navy’s 28. In theory, Britannia ruled the waves. The Germans had therefore relied on mines and U-boats to sink shipping and used occasional raids on the north east coast of Britain to coax smaller numbers of ships out to face German ships. In February 1916 the German Admiral, Reinhard Scheer, persuaded the Kaiser to adopt a scheme to trap the British Fleet. He hoped to inflict devastating losses on the British Navy thus destroying the British command of the seas and ending the British naval blockade of Germany.

Fortunately, the Admiralty could read German “secret” signals. Accordingly, on 31 May 1916 151 British warships met 99 German ships between Norway and the Jutland coast of Denmark. At about 15.45, six battlecruisers (Scheer’s intended targets) made contact with their German counterparts who promptly turned to draw the British ships into the range of Scheer’s battleships. Beatty, the Admiral commanding the British battlecruiser squadron, was prepared to do this in order to locate the main German Fleet to draw it back towards the British Fleet under the command of Admiral Jellicoe.

However, disaster befell the British battlecruisers which were hit repeatedly by accurate shelling by the Germans. Towers’ ship, HMS Queen Mary, was sunk by shell fire followed by catastrophic magazine explosions. According to an eyewitness, Commander Georg von Hase, the First Gunnery Officer on the German battlecruiser Derfflinger:

“… she met her doom at 16.26. A vivid flame shot up from her forepart; then came an explosion forward, followed by a much heavier explosion amidships. Immediately afterwards, she blew up with a terrific explosion, the masts collapsing inwards and the smoke hiding everything.”

Beatty famously commented: ”There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today!_” He was correct. To speed up the supply of shells from the stores below, the Royal Navy had adopted the habit of leaving the metal doors of its turrets open. They even left shells and volatile cordite propellant in silk bags beneath the turrets. This was disastrous because if the turret was hit the explosion started a flash fire which then went straight through the open doors to the magazine thus blowing up the entire ship. The Germans had narrowly avoided a disaster at the earlier Battle of Dogger Bank and had learnt to keep their turret doors closed by this time.

HMS Queen Mary sank with the loss of 57 officers and 1,209 men (including Leading Stoker Thomas Daniel Towers). Only 2 officers and 5 men survived from HM Queen Mary’s crew of 1213. The Battle of Jutland lasted just twelve hours. The Kaiser declared the battle a triumph. Superficially, he was correct. The German fleet had sunk three British battlecruisers, three cruisers and eight destroyers. The British had only claimed one old German battleship, a battlecruiser and nine small ships. Moreover, two thirds of the 8,645 dead were British sailors. However, in fact the German High Seas Fleet was significantly weakened by the encounter. Whilst the British Fleet was ready for action within 24 hours, the German Fleet was put out of action for four months. British supremacy of the seas was maintained.

Leading Stoker Thomas Daniel Towers was a professional sailor, having enlisted originally in the Royal Marines in 1906. He had transferred in 1908 to the Royal Navy joining the crew of the battlecruiser, HMS Queen Mary, when she was first commissioned. He had already taken part in the first Naval skirmish of the War at Heligoland Bight in August 1914 before going down with his ship at Jutland.

His choice of the navy is curious as he came from a military family. His father, Sergeant Daniel Towers, served in the East Surrey Regiment and his two younger brothers also served in the army.

Private Albert Wheeler of the Northamptonshire Regiment was killed on the very first day of the Battle of Passchendaele on 31 July 1917 (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres).

The Allied assault was launched in the early hours of that day. The aim of the campaign was to try to capture the German submarine bases in Belgium thereby alleviating Allied shipping losses. Sir Douglas Haig hoped to build on Allied successes in June 1917 resulting from the massive explosions at the Messines Ridge before the threatened Russian withdrawal would allow the Germans to deploy reinforcements from the Eastern Front.

Born in Reading, his parents must subsequently have moved to Kingston as he attended New Town Board School, Reading and then St Luke’s School, Kingston. Afterwards he was employed by Messrs Tough and Henderson, Blackfriars, for whom his father had also worked for some years as a lighterman.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 15 September 1917, he lived at 20 High St, Hampton Wick and initially joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at the beginning of the war. However, he was subsequently transferred to the Northamptonshire Regiment.

His obituary states that he had been “through much of the chief fighting” and was wounded once but had only been granted one period of leave in January 1916.

He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres.

Lance Corporal Alfred William White (35409) died on 23 August 1918, aged 31 (according to the records of the CWGC). However, the date given for his death in his 2 obituaries in The Surrey Comet, dated 21 September and 12 October 1918, was 22 August 1918. He was a member of the 7th Battalion of the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment).

He was the son of Alfred and Harriett White of 2 High Street, Hampton Wick. The family business was a greengrocers which was maintained by members of the White family from 1910 until the 1970s. Some long-standing residents of Hampton Wick may even remember Henry George White, known as Harry “Smiler” White, who seems to have been Alfred’s youngest brother.

Alfred, like his father, was a fruiterer (greengrocer) by occupation and according to his 12 October obituary, he had worked for Mr J King of Berrylands, Surbiton Hill, as an assistant for 11 years prior to enlisting. Aside from Harry, he had another younger brother, Frederick Robert White who also worked in the family business. Frederick and Harry were aged respectively 21 years and 4 years at the time of the 1911 census. Only Harry was born in Hampton Wick. The family had moved around, Alfred having been born in Mortlake (where his mother originated) and his brother Frederick having been born in the City of London. The family lived with an elderly maternal uncle, Frederick Saunders, aged 80 in 1911.

According to his 21 September 1918 obituary, Lance Corporal White was “one of the most popular of the many Hampton Wick men who have joined the colours” and he had “many friends in the district”. His other obituary also states he had made many friends in Berrylands. He was a member of the Kingston Ramblers Cycling Club but was unmarried and still lived with his parents (obituary dated 21 September 1918 in The Surrey Comet).

Although he initially enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment in May 1916, he was subsequently transferred to the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment).

In June 1918 Alfred White had been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). His 21 September 1918 obituary quotes the citation for his DCM as follows:
“ For conspicuous gallantry and devotion during an enemy attack. He did excellent work as company runner and twice led platoons, which had got lost in the fog, to their correct positions. He twice went back for reinforcements under heavy machine-gun fire. He continuously showed cheerfulness and courage.”

According to a report dated 18 May 1918 in The Surrey Comet largely about his younger brother Frederick’s heroism, Lance Corporal White had already been recommended for a Military Medal “for getting up supplies under fire in France”. His brother, Frederick, who was serving in the Mercantile Marine was similarly brave being awarded in November 1918 a Gold Medal for saving the life of another sailor when their ship was torpedoed on April 22 1918 in the Mediterranean.

The details of his demise are given in his second obituary in the Surrey Comet dated 12 October 1918. It would appear that Lance Corporal White was killed by a shell. He had been acting as a runner for a Captain Evans who had also been killed. Shortly afterwards he had been buried in a cemetery west of Bercourt chateau near Albert.

According to the earlier obituary published in The Surrey Comet on 21 September 1918, the news was conveyed to his parents about three weeks later by a soldier living at Plaistow who forwarded to them his wallet containing his personal effects including his pay book, photographs and other private papers he had found near a casualty clearing station. Another soldier, Private Wyatt, who lived in Wick Road, Hampton Wick, told Lance Corporal White’s parents he had assisted at their son’s funeral.

His officer’s, Lieutenant J.G. Merrison fulsome praise of him is quoted at length in the second obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 12 October 1918. He says:
“The Battalion will miss him: he was really one of the very best. I knew him for a long time and I also know what Capt Filby thought of him. As for winning the D.C.M., he won it many times over.”

His grave is in Becourt Military Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt in France.

Reginald Colin Winterbourne was the eldest brother of Allan John and Percy G Winterbourne who both enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company, both also dying in 1917. His father, Colin John Winterbourne had a long established grocery business at 12 High Street and 14 High Street, Hampton Wick.

Conscription was introduced in 1916. His father applied for a conditional exemption for Reginald. Initially, it appears form the records of the Tribunal (MH47/97/38) held by the National Archives that he was granted various temporary exemptions from March 1916. Early in 1917, he applied for a further exemption for his son. The Tribunal’s decision was initially adjourned in February pending a medical examination. When Reginald was passed fit (Category A), his father made a further application for an exemption for his son on the grounds that his services were “indispensable”; the business was “necessary and important for food distribution”; his son was “of delicate constitution” and that his two other sons and all other assistants of military age were serving in the forces. In fact, by the date of the application (22 May 1917) his youngest son, Percy, was already dead.

The decision of the Local Tribunal (held in Hampton Wick and presumably formed from the ranks of the local business community) was sympathetic to the Winterbournes apparently because the father was in ill-health. They appear also to have been swayed by the fact that Colin Winterbourne had already lost his eldest son (in fact his youngest son) in action and his second son had been injured in action. They stress that Reginald was now his only (underlined) son left to assist him. Accordingly, the Local Tribunal granted Reginald a temporary exemption for two months from 5 June 1917 on the grounds that serious hardship would ensue if he were called up “owing to his exceptional business obligations”.

However, the Military Authorities were less easily swayed by emotion. They immediately appealed against the decision of the Local Tribunal. The Military Representative argued that it was in the national interest that Reginald should fight. He was single, fit and of military age (aged 23). The Military Representative demolished the suggestion that he was essential to the business as he was not the owner of the business but merely an assistant to his father “who is the owner and is himself actively employed besides having 3 or 4 quite capable assistants over military age”. Accordingly, the grant of the exemption certificate was overturned with a concession that he would not be called up until 4 August 1917.

In the Christmas 1917 edition of his old school, Hampton’s, magazine there is a reference in the Obituary Notice for his brother, Allan, to the fact that the only surviving Winterbourne brother, Reginald, was serving in the Queen’s Westminsters. Reginald survived the war and served in his father’s shop until it was sold to the Co-Op in 1925.

Sergeant George Glenmore Sheppard (1369) of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment survived the Great War.

Born in Hampton Wick he enlisted, aged 24, at Bromley on 6 September 1914, only a month after the declaration of war. His height was just 5’4” and he weighed 138lbs.

He served at home (presumably receiving initial training) from his enlistment until he was sent to France on 30th August 1915. On his embarkation leave on 3 August 1915 he married Minnie Florence Sheppard (nee Davey) whose various addresses include 17 Fairfax Road, Hampton Wick. Interestingly, immediately prior to his wedding, on 28 July 1915, he was reprimanded for improper conduct in the Barrack Room!

The London Gazette records that he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal on 17 June 1918. At this time he was referred to as being from Hampton Wick.

We are endebted to the excellent website Janet and Richards Genealogy for this information.

Private Allan John Winterbourne (5551) of the 2nd Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company (“HAC”) died, aged 21, on 9 October 1917. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

He was the youngest of the three sons of Colin John Winterbourne who had a long established grocery business at 12 High Street and 14 High Street, Hampton Wick. Already established at the premises in 1893, by 1905 it was described in an advert as a “High Class Grocer”. The grocery business continued to operate in Hampton Wick as Winterbourne Stores in the 1920s until it was taken over by the Co-Op in 1925.

In the 1901 Census Allan John Winterbourne is said to be four years old having been born in Hampton Wick in about 1896. His father moved to the area as he was born elsewhere in 1864, but Allan’s mother, Helen Elizabeth Winterbourne (nee Hill), had been born in Hampton Wick in 1868. Allan had an older brother, Reginald, born in about 1894 who, by the time of the 1911 Census, was listed as a Grocer’s Apprentice.

Allan attended Hampton Grammar School. Following his studies there, according to his obituaries in The Surrey Comet dated 17 November & 12 January 1918 (in which he is referred to as “Allen”), he trained for 2 years at Pitman’s School , Southampton Row, London. Subsequently he joined London & South-Western Bank at Westminster.

We are indebted to the detailed discussions about his war service in the online Great War Forum generated by a question posed by a History teacher at Allan’s old school, Hampton School, and to the report in the December 1917 edition of The Lion (Hampton’s school magazine) from which it appears that Allan John Winterbourne, having enlisted in September 1915 at Armoury House, was admitted to the HAC on 24 November 1915 when he gave his place of residence as Hampton Wick. Allan John was sent overseas, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet, in September 1916 and “took part in much fighting” presumably on the Somme. This information conflicts slightly with the records of the HAC which state that Allan Winterbourne joined up in May 1915 and was sent to France in October 1916. The version set out in the obituaries is probably more accurate as the HAC’s version relies on record cards submitted by relatives at a later date in 1919.

His older brother, Reginald, also an old pupil of Hampton School, survived the war to take over his father’s grocery business to which he had been apprenticed before the war.

Private Percy George Winterbourne (3641) of the 1st Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company (“HAC”) died on 8 February 1917 (eight months before his younger brother Allan John Winterbourne). He was buried at 41 Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel.

His father had the high class grocers on the High Street and his sons, Percy and Allan, in 1917. Only his eldest son, Reginald, lived to take over the business.

Again, we are endebted to the discussion generated by a teacher at his old school, Hampton School, on the on-line Great War Forum for further details of Percy’s service career. Like his brother, he enlisted at Armoury House giving Hampton Wick as his place of residence. According to the records of the HAC, he enlisted in May 1915 as a Private in the 2nd Battalion (at that date the Reserve Battalion) only being transferred to the No 2 Company of the 1st Battalion when he was sent to France. He was one of 17 men killed in his Battalion on 8 February 1917.

Percy Winterbourne’s obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 24 March 1917 states that after he left Hampton School he had worked in the Mayor’s Court at the Guildhall in the City of London. He is described in his obituary as “a dear and promising lad..a great favourite with all at the Guildhall”. He voluntarily enlisted and was sent to France in July 1916 when the Battle of the Somme had just commenced. After his death, on 28 February 1917, a memorial service was held at St John the Baptist for Percy. It was described as “of a simple but impressive character” attended by a representative of the Lord Mayor’s Court. His younger brother, Allen Winterbourne who died on 9 October 1917 at Passchendaele, is also commemorated on Hampton Wick’s War Memorial.

Frederick Peake Sexton appealed on 8 March 1916 against the decision of the Hampton Wick Local Military Service Tribunal to refuse him an exemption from conscription on the grounds of (inter alia) his conscientious objection to the undertaking of combatant services. His appeal documentation should have been destroyed in the 1920s but by an administrative oversight the records of the Middlesex Tribunals survived and are now held by the National Archives. All the records of the Middlesex Tribunals are available online and can be downloaded free of charge.

A mandatory National Register of able bodied men had been announced in the middle of 1915. By the end of that year, the supply of volunteers who had initially responded in a wave of patriotism to the call to arms embodied on Lord Kitchener’s iconic poster, had dried up as the catastrophic realities of modern warfare became grimly evident. Accordingly, in 1916 the government was reluctantly forced to introduce conscription. Until this point the British had been proud of the fact that, unlike their continental neighbours (France and Germany), their force was entirely formed of volunteers. Conscription was initially limited under the terms of the first Military Service Act, which came into force in March 1916, to unmarried men aged between 18 and 41. However, shortly afterwards, in May 1916, conscription was extended to include married men by the Second Military Service Act.

The legislation provided that the Tribunals could hear appeals for exemption on set grounds including: infirmity or ill-health; employment in work (military or otherwise) of national interest; being trained or educated in work in the national interest; if serious hardship would ensue as a result of conscription and (most controversially) conscientious objections to the undertaking of combative service.

In practice, the Tribunals were seldom sympathetic to conscientious objectors or “conchies” as they were known and who were viewed by the majority of the population simply as cowards. The stigma attached to conscientious objectors continued after the end of the war and they could not vote for five years.

Frederick Peake Sexton described himself as an “Electrical Engineer & Contractor…Lecturer & Consultant” on his appeal documentation. At the time of his appeal he was a thirty three year old, unmarried man, living with his family at Warwick Lodge (now Wickham House), 2 Upper Teddington Road, Hampton Wick.

He had been born on 18 September 1882 in Lambeth. His father, Frederick Maurice Sexton (born in Hammersmith in 1859) was a civil servant working as an Examiner in HM Patent Office (a job which, perhaps, suggests both a scientific bent and an interest in the scientific innovations rapidly occurring at that time). His mother was Fanny Kezia Sexton (nee Ball) who had been born in Southport. Frederick was the oldest of the couple’s four children. Four years after his birth, his sister, Edith Fanny Sexton, arrived. Tragically she died three years later, shortly before his surviving sister, Frances Hilda Sexton, was born in 1890. The 1890s were a time of many domestic moves for the Sexton family as it grew more numerous (and presumably) more prosperous. By the time of Frances’s birth, the family had moved to Honor Oak , Peckham. Subsequently, the family’s residence is listed in the 1891 Census as 6 Burton Gardens, Greenwich. By 1895 the family had moved on to Blackheath where his younger brother, Walter George Sexton, was born in that year. By 1901, the family had made the move to Hampton Wick. The Census of that year records that they were living at Hollydale, Vicarage Road. Finally, by 1911 the family had moved to the extensive ten roomed Warwick Lodge and had a live-in domestic servant. Frederick (now 28) is described as a Consulting Electrical Engineer with his own business. The family were presumably quite enlightened as his sister, Frances Hilda Sexton, now aged 20 is listed as a “student”.

Frederick attended The Royal College of Science (a constituent college of Imperial College) as a student from 1902 until 1905 and graduated as an Associate in Physics (which was equivalent to a degree at that time). His career as outlined in the appeal documentation suggests that he had received an extensive scientific training. He remained at The Royal College from 1905 until 1906 working as a Demonstrator in Physics. He then moved to Woolwich Polytechnic (now University of Greenwich) where he lectured in Experimental Physics from 1906-1907. Moving closer to home, from 1907-1908 he undertook Research Work at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (which had only been opened five years before and was operating on a tiny budget under its founder Sir Richard Glazebrook). The following year saw yet another move: this time as Lecturer in Mathematics & Electricity at the Central Technical School for Cornwall in Truro (a prestigious establishment set up by a millionaire Cornish philanthropist who also established the Whitechapel Gallery, the Mary Ward Centre and the LSE). Frederick’s tenure in Truro was typically brief, lasting only from 1909 until 1910. Indeed, it is difficult to know what the series of impressive, if short-lasting, posts reveals about Frederick. One could infer that he was deeply ambitious and keen to amass as wide a range of experience as possible or perhaps he was overly ambitious or just not very good. Perhaps he was employed on a series of short term contracts. In any event, by 1911 he had decided to set up an Electrical Engineering Contractor’s business in Kingston operating out of 48, London Road and trading as “Thames Electrical Co”. His father provided the Capital and it would appear that as at the date of the Appeal in 1916 the business had yet to generate a substantial profit. Frederick supplemented his business income by working as a Lecturer in Mathematics & Electrical Engineering at Battersea Polytechnic (now Surrey University) from 1912.

Whatever the financial status of his business, by 1916 it is clear that Frederick was making professional progress. He was an Associate of the Royal College of Science and an Associate Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (the “IEE” now the IET) (of which he remained a member until his death in 1955). His career after the First World War appears to have been solidly successful. He may not have made a fortune out of his patent application in 1919 for a card game relating to cars but he made a useful contribution to a discussion on starters in the IEE Journal 1922 and published two technical books on Electrical Wiring including Electrical Installation Work [Definitions and Formulae for Students] which ran for many editions in the 1930s but strangely as yet without a reader review on Amazon! He married Dorothy Emma Osborne, a fellow resident of Hampton Wick, at St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick on 7 July 1918. The couple appear to have moved to Teddington in 1925 and thereafter lived in a variety of addresses in Surbiton and Kingston. During the Second World War, according to the records of the Imperial College Masonic Lodge, of which he was a member, he trained Electrical Engineering Units of the Royal Army Service Corps and Radio Units of the Royal Navy, R.A.F. and W.A.A.F. His activities in the Second World War might tend to suggest that his conscientious objections to the First were not as deeply rooted as he argued they were! At the time of his death on 2 November 1955 he was living at 182, Elgar Avenue, Surbiton, Surrey.

His original application for an exemption on 19 February 1916 was made on several grounds including that of “an absolute conscientious and religious objection to every form of military service”. In reality the whole tenure of his case suggests that this was far from the real reason for his refusing to fight. He weakens his argument for conscientious objection by mentioning as a ground the financial hardship he would suffer in the event of his being called up: he complains it would be “necessary for me to close up my business” endangering the whole of his capital and a considerable amount of borrowed money thereby losing five years’ work. He also claims to already be carrying out work of National Importance as a wholesale supplier and contractor to various companies including The Sopwith Aviation Co engaged in war work (such work not being entirely consistent with someone who found war morally repugnant!). More convincingly, he argues that he is already working at the National Polytechnic acting “in the place of an enlisted man” and carrying on the work of two fellow contractors who were respectively serving in the Navy and in a Munitions Factory.

Oddly, his application does appear to have been initially successful at a local level (perhaps because of his father’s connections with the Board in Hampton Wick) with an exemption from combatant service being granted. This decision was swiftly overturned and Frederick duly appealed on 8th March 1916 against the withdrawal of the exemption. It is clear from the Chairman’s statement of the decision dated 10th March 1916 that the Local Tribunal was not convinced of the genuineness of his objection. In his Appeal Frederick claimed that he had based his claim originally purely on his conscientious objection but “was persuaded by friends to put in other claim as a 2nd string.” The Local Tribunal considered that the fact that he was prepared to accept work for firms who were supplying materials to kill the Germans without troubling his conscience tended to suggest that his conscientious objection “was not well founded and that it was more a question of money”. Accordingly, the Appeal decision made on 27th March 1916 gave a one month temporary exemption from that date but removed the exemption from combatant service originally granted.

At this point Frederick obviously deemed it expedient to drop his conscientious objection in favour of an application based on the other grounds which were more likely to succeed. Accordingly, on 22 June 1916 he lodged a fresh application for an exemption on the grounds that as the only “scientifically qualified Electrical Engineer in private practice in the area” he was doing work supplying materials to various firms /institutions doing war work; that if he were exempted he would probably work for NPL; and that if he were called up he would suffer serious hardship as his business would have to be closed down. This Application was also dismissed on 3 July 1916. Frederick tried to appeal to the Central Tribunal on 5 July 1916 on the grounds that the Tribunal had not fairly considered his arguments or sufficiently valued his undoubted talents. Frederick’s claims come across as rather desperate and one’s sympathies tend to lie with the Tribunal who had not been sympathetic to Frederick’s claims that he had been unable to sell the business after six weeks (perhaps because it was only now after five years starting to make a profit?). He seemed surprised that the Tribunal didn’t take seriously his ”virtual offer of employment from NPL” and were swayed (possibly correctly) by the fact that he was not supporting any member of his family and were unimpressed by his impressive list of numerous (short term ) academic posts. Not surprisingly, he was not granted further leave to appeal. However, his final statement reveals he had only been passed fit for garrison service and the fact that he appears to have been resident in Hampton Wick when the Banns were called for his marriage in July 1918 tend to suggest that Frederick managed to avoid service in France at the Front.

Bandsman Harry Horace of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers died at Gallipoli on 30 November 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

The Hayes family lived at Clennon (now 10), St John’s Rd, Hampton Wick. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 15 January 1916, Harry had served in the army as a bandsman in India for three years before the war.

According to his obituary, Harry came from a military family. His father,Ernest Nethercoat Hayes, had been a Sergeant Instructor in the Royal Fusiliers before becoming a park constable at Hampton Court Palace. In the First World War his father rejoined his old regiment and was promoted to the rank of Captain. His older brother, Sergeant William Henry Hayes, also served in the same regiment as his father and Harry. Harry’s obituary reports that his elder brother had also been killed in France. Like Harry, his brother, Sergeant WH Hayes, has no known grave being commemorated merely on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.

Harry’s regiment had been one of the first to land at Gallipoli as part of an ill conceived mission to remove Germany’s Ally, Turkey, from the war. Harry died in November from exposure before the Allied troops were evacuated from the peninsular in January 1916.

It has not been possible to identify William James Dawes through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and we have no other information about him at present.

It has not been possible to identify with certainty Frank Hayes through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. However, the name Hayes is local and so, Frank may be related to Harry Horace Hayes.

We know from Harry Horace Hayes’ obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 15 January 1916 that his elder brother, Sergeant William Henry Hayes (L8322), of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers had been killed in France on 26 September 1915 but the name recorded on the Hampton Wick Memorial (“Frank”) does not appear to fit the initials given for Harry Horace’s brother (“WH”.) Sergeant Hayes has no known grave but is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate.

Hayes is a common Hampton Wick surname with many family groupings. At the time of the 1901 Census, Herbert Hayes (aged 24) was living at 1 Victoria Cottages, off the High Street and working at the brass foundry. By the time of the next census he was living with his wife, Alice Mary Hayes (28). They had married in 1907 but had no children by 1911. They were living with Alice’s parents (the Stamfords).

Another Hayes family group centred on Denis Hayes, the School Attendance Officer. In 1901 he was living aged 69 at 3 Cedars Villas, Cedars Road with his wife Johanna Hayes (60) and their two sons, George (22), a Pattern Making Engineer and Alfred (20) a Fishing Rod Maker. Silas Hayes a labourer, born in Gloucestershire, is also listed in the 1901 Census as living in Bridge St. There are also two Hayes marriages recorded at St John the Baptist’s relating to different branches of the Hayes family which occurred in 1865 and 1876 respectively.

By 1927 Edward Hayes is listed as the proprietor of a shop at 41 High Street. He could perhaps, be related to Frank and/or Horace Hayes.

Frederick William Smith was the older brother of Private Ernest George Smith who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial. More details of the Smith family are given under his entry.

Corporal Frederick William Smith (1276) joined the 8th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment at Hounslow as part of the Territorial Army on 4 April 1908 having already enlisted in some form of Voluntary Battalion at the Hampton Hill Drill Hall on 6 November 1906. For five years after 1908 he attended a camp every summer for two weeks as part of his training for the Territorial Army. As a member of the Territorial Army he was immediately called up on 5 August 1914 at the outbreak of the war with the rank of Private. He was promoted to the rank of Lance-Corporal and transferred to the Signal Corp of the Royal Engineers on 11 November 1914 with a subsequent promotion to the rank of Corporal on 26 December 1914.

Corporal Smith’s Burnt Service Record survived the Second World War bombing of the Army’s records store. From his service record it appears that he was 5’8” tall with brown hair and grey eyes. He had been born on 6 November 1889 in Hampton Court. At the time of his enlistment in the Territorial Army he was unmarried and employed as a carpenter by Mr Griffin of Elgin Cottage, Hampton Wick. His next of kin was his mother, J Smith of Hope Cottage, Hampton Court. Her address is also given as Elgin Cottage, Hampton Wick (the address of his employer).

Initially Corporal Smith served at home until 14 January 1915 when he was sent abroad as part of the Expeditionary Force apparently to France. His Service Record states that he was sent to France. However, it is not clear that he served on the Western Front for long after his arrival on 15 January 1915. There is a note on his records that seems to say that he embarked at Marseilles on 24 October 1915 and disembarked at Alexandria on 31 October 1915. Under the terms of his enlistment he could apparently volunteer for one year terms. On 5 March 1916 he notified the Army that he wished to decline to be re-engaged for the period of the war. He was due for a discharge from service on 3 April 1916 and so embarked for England on the “Trafford Hall” on the 8 April 1916 arriving back in England on 22 April 1916. His discharge from service was approved on 4th May 1916 and he was officially discharged from service on 11 May 1916. His address is given as 12 London Road, Hampton.

Arthur Thomas Fullick was the younger brother of Alfred Percy Fullick who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial. Arthur was born in 1896 and also joined the army.

He enlisted on 29 September 1915 at Wimbledon. His burnt Service Record is kept at the National Archives. By this date the family home was 3 High Street Hampton Wick which was the address given for both Arthur and his father Alfred whom he nominated as his next of kin. Ironworker Arthur joined the 190th (Wimbledon) Brigade of the Royal Engineers. However, at some point he transferred to the Royal Field Artillery. He was discharged from the army on 17 July 1917 with good character. He appears to have suffered a gun shot wound to his right forearm, receiving a war pension of 13s 9d per week for an initial period of twenty two weeks to be reviewed thereafter. By the date of his discharge the Fullick family had moved to 96 High Street Hampton Wick.

A number of members of the Hampton Wick/Teddington Goodright family served in the Great War. They may be related to Henry Albert Goodright who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial.

The Burnt Service Records of three of the Goodright family survive and are held at the National Archives. The Records suggest that Arthur and Edward may have been unsuited to military life. They both enlisted at the end of March 1915 into the Royal Fusiliers but both were summarily discharged at Dover less than a month later as being unlikely to become effective soldiers.

Thomas also enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers before the war in April 1914. In August 1915 he suffered a wound to his left hand resulting in the loss of several of his fingers. Following his accident, he was transferred to the Labour Corps and not discharged from the army until the end of March 1919.

Francis Allanson was the elder brother of Henry Peter Allanson who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial and the son of Mrs Mary Frances Allanson.

Like his brother and sister, he was born in Hampton Wick. The family moved to Park View (6 Church Grove), Hampton Wick, in 1890. In the 1891 Census his father, Henry Allanson, who was born in Trinity Square, London was described as being 46 years old and a Commercial Clerk.

According to the Probate Register at the time of his father’s death on 19 November 1898, the family had moved to Gables, Upper Teddington Road, Hampton Wick. His widow, now aged about 45, was left comfortably off as her husband bequeathed her an estate worth a considerable £7900 18s 10d. Accordingly, by the time of the 1901 Census the family occupied an eight room property at 6 Lansdowne Terrace (41 Lower Teddington Road), Hampton Wick, together with one domestic servant.

Like his younger brother, Henry Peter Allanson, Francis attended the prestigious Catholic Public School, Ampleforth College in distant Yorkshire. Francis joined the school in 1894 and his brother followed four years later.

His Medal Card reveals an interesting service career. Having enlisted early as a Private (2327) in the Honourable Artillery Company, he was sent to France on 24 January 1915. He must have been ill or wounded as he subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps as a Private (209478) although he ultimately moved to the Royal Air Force sometime after 1 April 1918 as a cadet being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on 3 August 1918.

Francis Allanson died, aged 50, at Steyne House, Steyne Road, Newhaven, Sussex on 14 June 1932. Under his will he left his personal effects worth £1,024 4s 11d to his spinster sister, Bertha Emily Allanson. His grave bears a headstone reminiscent of the simple CGWC memorials with the Latin for peace inscribed on it.

Sergeant Leonard Charles Hale served during the Great War with the Royal Fusiliers was wounded twice but survived the conflict being honourably discharged from the army in 1917.

According to his grandson, Trevor Collins, he was a long standing resident of Hampton Wick. He worked for Twickenham Borough Council after the Great War. He had lived in Old Bridge Street when young but occupied with his family (his wife, Gertrude, daughter Constance (known as Connie) and son, Leonard) for many years a flat over the old Hampton Wick Public Library on the High Street where his wife was employed as the caretaker. Apparently, he was “devastated” when he was discharged as the army “was his life”.

Corporal William Abbott (250771) of the Railway Transport Establishment of the Royal Engineers died on 22 April 1918. He is buried at Haringhe (Bandaghem) Military Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the husband of B Abbott of 226 Kingston Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. He was an old soldier having served in the Sudan Campaign (1898-1899) and the South African Wars (1899-1902).

According to the biographical information on his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was born about 1874 and married Bridget Mary Quinn in Dublin on 8 May 1895. They had three children: Mary Eileen born in 1903; William Matthew born in 1904 and Eileen Aileen born in 1907. William Abbott worked as a furniture porter.

According to replies given on the Great War Forum website to an enquiry about his war service raised by his grandson, William Abbott had been born in St Clements, Suffolk, but enlisted in Hampton Wick initially joining the Army Service Corps (under Service No 158969) and reaching the rank of Acting Corporal before transferring to the Railway Transport Establishment (changing to Service No 250771). At some point thereafter his Service number changed again (to WR/355232) which may indicate he changed units.

Corporal Abbott died of his wounds on 22 April 1918 at the 62nd Casualty Clearing Station a victim of the last great German Spring Offensive, perhaps as a result of enemy shelling of the railway he was working on.

The name of the cemetery in which Corporal Abbott is buried is an example of slightly grim Tommy humour. Bandaghem was one of three Casualty Clearing Stations around Ypres given an ironic nickname relating to the treatment the Tommies received (i.e. the medical staff “bandaged em” and then sent the wounded back to the Front).

Gunner Joseph Thomas Gully (74526) of the 9th Battery of the Royal Horse & Field Artillery was killed in action at Villiers Cotterette, France on 1 September 1914. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC) entry refers to him as the son of Mrs Gully of Bell Cottage, 51 Wick Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

His birth was registered as Thomas Joseph Gully in the last quarter of 1893 and so he first appears in the 1901 Census entry for 15 Fairfax Cottages, Wick Road. Although his CWGC entry refers to him as Joseph T Gully, the 1901 Census entry refers to him by his second name, Thomas. He is living with his parents, Thomas, a carpenter, and Annie, together with his siblings: James (12); Elsie May (10); Mary (6); Lionel (3) and Kathleen (1).

At the time of the 1911 Census he was still living, aged 17, with his widowed mother, Annie (now 45) at 51 Wick Road, Hampton Wick. He had inherited his father’s trade and was working as a carpenter. Two older siblings, James (now 22), a grocer’s assistant, and Elsie (now 20), and two younger siblings, Kathleen (now 11) and Jack Wilson (a baby aged less than a month), also still resided in the family home.

According to his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, his parents’ full names were Thomas Moffat Gully and Anne Gully (nee Dinan) and he had been employed as a carpenter with Messrs. Merredew of London Road, Kingston upon Thames before he enlisted. He originally served as a Private with the Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to the 41st Brigade of the British Expeditionary Force but had been transferred as a Gunner to the Royal Field Artillery.

He is listed on both the Teddington War Memorial and the war memorial in St Mark’s, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Private Arthur Frederick Noakes of the 13th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers died on 5 May 1918. He is buried at Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) entry refers to him as the son of Albert John and Elizabeth Noakes of 238 Kingston Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

The Noakes family was a long established Hampton Wick family with members born in the village from at least 1814. However, Arthur Frederick Noakes appears to have been born on the other side of the River Thames in Kingston on 29 October 1898 where he was duly baptised the following month on 29 October 1898 at St Peter’s, Norbiton. In 1901 the family lived at 14 Hudson Road, Kingston. His father, Albert John (32), was a Painter and Paper Hanger. His mother, Emily Elizabeth (32), came from Sussex. The family comprised four children living at home: Albert E (10); Ellen G (8); Arthur Frederick (2) and Percy R (1). All the children had been born in Kingston as had their father (although as births in Hampton Wick were recorded as being in Kingston this does not necessarily rule out a village connection).

By the time of the 1911 Census, the Noakes family had moved to 3 Deacon Road, Kingston. The eldest child, Albert had moved out of the house (or possibly died as the Census reveals that of the couple’s ten children born alive two had died). The Noakes had the following family members (plus two boarders) living in their presumably crowded six room property: the parents; Ellen Gertrude (18), working as a bookbinder; Arthur Frederick (12); Percy Reginald (11); William John (8); Elsie May (5); Winifred Amy (3) and Rose Caroline (1).

Private Noakes’ entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War states that he enlisted in Kingston and was originally enrolled as a Private (11552) in the East Surrey Regiment. He must have subsequently been transferred to the 13th Battalion of the London Regiment (L/17157). He died of his wounds on 5 May 1918 aged only 19 at the 56th Casualty Clearing Station in France.

His parents must have moved from Deacon Road sometime between 1911 and 1918 when his parents’ address in the notice of his death in The Surrey Comet dated 15 May 1918 is given as “Kingston Road”, Hampton Wick, the address also given for them on his CWGC Entry. However, other than a historic family connection to the village the connection may have been too tenuous for him to be commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial.

Private Noakes is listed on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Lance Corporal Reginald Henry Shipley (470458) of the 12th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (The Rangers) died of his wounds on 25 April 1918 (although his entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War gives his date of death as 24 April). He is buried at St Pierre Cemetery, Amiens. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the only son of Henry William and Susan Shipley of 9 The Terrace, Hampton Wick (on the site of what is now Kingston Bridge House, opposite the Hampton Wick War Memorial).

Reginald Shipley was born in Hackney, his parents having been married on 23 September 1893 at St John’s, Bethnal Green. His father was aged 21 and employed as a brewer’s servant. Reginald was born sometime in 1895 and by 1901 the family was living at 29?Brick Road, Hackney. Ten years later the family were still living in Hackney but had moved to 10 Banbury Road, South Hackney. Reginald was working as a junior clerk and now had a younger sister, Dorothy May Shipley, aged 7. From his Medal Roll at the National Archives it would appear that Reginald Shipley served from 6 February 1917 until 24 April 1918.

It is not clear when the family moved to the area but his parents remained in Hampton Wick at least until the 1940s. Susana (otherwise Susan) Shipley of 9 The Terrace, Hampton Wick, died on 7 March 1940. Administration of her estate was granted to her husband, Henry William Shipley, retired laundryman. Henry William Shipley apparently died in the North Surrey area in March 1952.

2nd Lieutenant Leslie Woodhouse Cubitt Ireland of the 12th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment died on 12 February 1917. He is buried at the Guards Cemetery, Combles. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) entry refers to him as a “native of Hampton Wick” as he had been born in the village on 21 March 1897. His name appears only to have been hyphenated after his death, being used in this form in his CWGC entry and also in his obituary in De Ruvigny (a record of officers killed in the Great War).

At the time of his birth the Cubitt Ireland family lived at Clevelands, (now 12 Station Road) (subsequently demolished and re-built as a care home for the elderly). His father, Henry Cubitt Ireland, was a solicitor. He was baptised on 20 April 1897 at St Mary’s, Teddington. By the time of the 1901 Census the household comprised his father, Henry (40), his mother, Lucy Eveline Ireland (nee Simpson), Leslie and his sister, Beryl (6).

Sometime after 1901, the family left Hampton Wick so that when Leslie Woodhouse Cubitt Ireland joined Kingston Grammar School (KGS) on 15 September 1904 he did so as a boarder having previously been privately tutored. He remained a boarder at KGS until he left the school on 31 July 1911. He is commemorated on the School’s Memorial. In 1911 his parents’ address is given as 109 Biddulph Mansions, Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale.

His academic progress at the school appears to have been rather shaky especially given his obituary in De Ruvigny which describes him as being a “scholar” at KGS. He dropped from first position on admission to fifth by the time of his departure and the only remark upon his record card held by the school is a dismissive comment – “rather weak”! However, he appears to have made a greater mark on the sporting field, winning the Under 13 Long Jump in 1907 with a jump of 12 feet 11 inches and a commendable second place in the following year when he was beaten by R C Sherriff, author of Journey’s End and resident of Hampton Wick. He also took part, according to a report in the November 1910 edition of the school magazine, in a rather amusing race described thus: “In this “rag “ race each donkey blindfold[ed], carried a rider who by making use of his biped’s ears had to steer a course among various obstacles to the winning post. Amid much laughter Strong steered Ireland to victory.”

After KGS, Ireland moved to King’s School, Rochester, where he studied until December 1913. His obituary in De Ruvigny again describes him as having been a “scholar” of the school, although the school has not been able to find any specific mention of Ireland holding a scholarship. He did, however, join as a founding member, the newly formed Officers Training Corps (OTC) in November 1911, qualifying as a 1st Class Shot in 1913. As at KGS, Ireland was more notable at King’s for his sporting than his academic success. He was a member of the Football 2nd XI and played in matches against Maidstone School on 2 October 1912 and against HMS Worcester on 6 November 1912. He did pass his Lower Certificate Examination before leaving King’s in December 1913. The Lent Term edition of the school magazine, The Roffensian, in 1914 lists him as an Old Boy and gives his address as 109 Bidduph Mansions, Elgin Avenue, London.

Having left King’s he started training as an actuary with Phoenix Assurance Company. As soon as he reached the age of eighteen he joined the 2nd Public Schools Battalion of the 19th Royal Fusiliers on 21 April 1915. Details of his service career are given both in De Ruvigny and his obituary in The Roffensian. He trained at Epsom, Mansfield, Salisbury and Oxford before being sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force on 10 January 1916. After serving in France for five months he was sent to a Cadet Training School emerging first as a Sergeant and subsequently being commissioned in October 1916 into the Manchester Regiment pending transfer. According to his CWGC entry, he had passed the examination for a permanent commission into the Indian Army. On 15 December 1916 he joined his regiment at the Front. Two months later he was killed in action. His Colonel is quoted in Ireland’s obituary in the Lent issue of 1917 of The Roffensian:

“We feel his loss not only as an excellent officer, but as a friend. He was killed in action during a bad and anxious time and bore himself all through it as a courageous gentleman.”

Ireland is commemorated on King’s Great War Memorial in the Lady Chapel of Rochester Cathedral and also on the memorial board for the Great War in the entrance to the School Hall. His name is read out together with those of the 67 other Old Boys of the School who died in the Great War at King’s Annual Service of Remembrance held at Rochester Cathedral on or near Armistice Day.

By the time of his death his parents were living at 182 Belsize Road, Hampstead. This is probably why Ireland was not included on the Hampton Wick Memorial.

Private Albert Edward Apps (8664) of the 6th Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) died on 3 December 1916. He is buried at the Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) entry refers to him as the son of Albert and Lucy Apps of 42 Park Road, Hampton Wick.

According to his baptismal records at St Paul’s, Kingston Hill, Albert Edward Bernard Apps was born on 17 September 1883. His parents lived at 3 Edith Terrace Elm Road, Norbiton. His father, also Albert, was significantly younger than his mother. The 1901 Census reveals a fourteen year age gap: the age of Albert senior is given as 39 whereas that of his wife, Lucy, is recorded as 53. The entries of the preceding 1891 Census are also revealing. The then thirty year old Albert senior, a carman, is listed as the father of three older sons, all born in Wiltshire and ranging in age from twenty-one to sixteen who must in reality (given the small age difference between them and Albert senior) have been his stepsons. It seems that Albert Edward (7) was the first of his parents’ joint children who by 1891 included: Nellie (6); Effie (5); Lucy (4) and Charles (1). All of these children were born in Kingston-upon-Thames.

By 1901 the Apps had added a final child, Selina (7) to their family. Albert Edward was living with his parents and younger brother, Charles (10), and sister Selina at 159 Elm Road, Kingston- Upon- Thames. His father was still working as a carman and Albert Edward was employed as a checker at the parcels office.

Albert Edward Apps joined the regular army enlisting with the Royal West Surrey Regiment aged twenty two on 10 October 1905. At the time he enlisted he was slight: 5’3” tall, weighing 116lbs and with a 32” chest. During his seven year career with the regular army he saw service first in England (serving in Guildford, Shoncliffe and then Colchester between October 1905 and September 1906) and then all over the Empire including: India (Salkot; Barian; Sialkhat; and Agra from March 1904 until December 1908); Aden (December 1908 until February 1910); Gibraltar (February 1910 until January 1912) and finally Bermuda (January 1912 until January 1913).

In spite of his many foreign postings, Albert Edward Apps’s service career was not remotely distinguished. After five years service as a clerk he was not deemed eligible for an increase in pay – probably as a result of his terrible service record. During his service in India on 16 May 1907 he was charged with urinating in his washing bowl in his tent and sentenced to 168 hours detention. A year later whilst serving in Agra, he was confined to barracks for 8 days for disobeying regimental orders. Thereafter he was punished no less than seven times for drunkenness. On his discharge from duty in January 1913 his character/conduct was dismissed as “indifferent” no doubt as a result of his apparent habitual drunkenness. On 16 January 1913 Private Apps, aged 29 years and 3 months and with a chest now expanded to 35”, was transferred to the Reserve and returned home to his parents at 159 Elm Road, Kingston-upon-Thames.

However, upon declaration of war on 4 August 1914 all reservists were called up. As a member of the Reserve Private Apps was immediately mobilised on 23 September 1914. Unfortunately his Service Record was badly damaged in an enemy bombing raid in the Second World War and so is difficult to read. However, it appears that Private Apps was not initially sent to France. He was eventually sent there on 24 March 1915 presumably to replace losses the Regiment had suffered at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle earlier that month. Private Apps was wounded shortly afterwards at Festubert on 16 May 1915 with a gunshot wound to his left knee received in the field. He was transferred to England for treatment three days later. Having recovered he was punished on 14 October 1915 with 28 days’ detention for overstaying his pass and then sent back to the Base Depot at Etaples in France on 13 December 1915. He was returned to the frontline on 30 December 1915. Thereafter, his medical record tells of a series of minor, if unpleasant, conditions: two attacks of scabies on 20 February and 17 November 1916 and two outbreaks of boils on 23 November and 25 November 1916. Finally, on 3 December 1916 he succumbed to Bronchio Pneumonia a sad end to a long (if undistinguished) service career lasting over ten years.

Private Apps’s own connection to Hampton Wick is peripheral. His effects were sent to his parents at Elm Road in March 1917 and his parents still appear to have been living there in 1920 when they acknowledged receipt of his medals. Therefore, the CWGC reference to Hampton Wick must be by reference to their address some time after 1920.

Private James Baker (G/32194) of the 17th Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), transferred (64854) to 109th Coy of the Labour Corps, died on 18 November 1917. He is buried at Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) entry refers to him as the son of James and Bertha Baker of Hampton Wick.

James Reuben Baker was born towards the end of 1875 and baptised on 7 November 1875 at St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick. His father’s occupation at that date was a porter. By 1881 he was living, aged 5, with his parents, James and Bertha, together with his two sisters, Ellen Florence (7) and Emily (3), in Old Bridge Street. Ten years later the Baker family living at 18 Old Bridge Street consisted of his parents, who had been born in Horsell and Chertsey respectively, James himself, working aged 15 as a hairdresser’s assistant, George (10) and Alice (7). Ellen and Emily had moved out of the family home. James Baker senior was employed as a railway porter. Although James junior had lived in Hampton Wick until his late teens, by 1901 he had moved across the Thames to work as a Hotel Valet at the Southampton Hotel in Surbiton.

James Baker junior continued working in hotels and, ten years later, was living at Taggs Hotel, Taggs Island, Hampton Court where he was employed as a hotel cellarman. Taggs Hotel had been built by a local boatbuilder, Thomas Taggs, when he was granted a lease of the island in the 1850s. It had, in its heyday (in the 1850s and 1860s) been extremely sumptuous with a fashionable clientele. However by 1911 it was in a pretty dilapidated condition. The lease of the island was sold in 1912 to the famous impresario, Fred Karno, discoverer of Charlie Chaplin. He immediately demolished the existing hotel and replaced it in 1913 with the magnificent Karsino Hotel, a local landmark until its demolition in 1971. It is unknown whether James Baker was remployed at the Karsino after the demolition of Taggs Hotel.

It is unclear why Private Baker was not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial given his long connection with Hampton Wick and the reference in his CWGC entry to his parents being from the village.

2nd Lieutenant William Berry of the Army Service Corps died on 4 July 1917. He is buried at Norwich Cemetery, Norfolk. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as being the son of James and Eliza Berry, and the husband of Theresa Maria Berry, of 22 Church Grove, Hampton Wick.

William Berry was born towards the middle of 1883 in Southend, Essex. The 1891 Census reveals that by that date he was living with his parents at Bridge House, Prittlewell, Southend, Essex, with his older brothers James (13), Henry (10), and George (11) and his younger brother, Alfred (6). His father had been apprenticed as a plumber but by 1891 had become an ironmonger. The family must have been reasonably prosperous because by 1911, William at 27 had become a barrister and his older brother George was a civil engineer, both middle-class professions. Both William and George were still living at Prittlewell with their widowed father.

William Berry’s connection with Hampton Wick appears to have been tenuous and to have arisen via his wife, a relatively local girl. He married Theresa Mary Scott on 2 July 1915 at Farnham, Surrey. Theresa had been born on 15 September 1892 in Sunbury but had been living in Worthing at the time of the 1911 Census. She lived in the area until her death in 1946 in Isleworth.

It would appear from William Berry’s entry in UK Soldiers Died in the Great War that he was involved in Divisional Training at the time of his death on 4 July 1917 at Blofield, Norfolk.

Gunner Edwin George Bourne (815097) of D Battery of the 58th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery died of his wounds on 23 August 1918. He is buried at Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as being the son of Anthony and Isabella Bourne of 33 Wick Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. His entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War states that he was in the Territorial Force and had enlisted in Teddington.

Edwin George Bourne was born on 20 December 1890. The baptismal records of St Mary’s, Teddington, reveal that he was duly baptised with five of his siblings on 22 April 1892. Edwin George is included in the 1891 Census as a three month old baby. By the time of the 1911 Census, he was living with his parents, Anthony (a 57 year old sub-postmaster) and Isabella at 31 Wick Road, Hampton Wick. He was employed like his elder sister, Florence Louise (29), and younger sister, Emily (15), in the family business. The family had four other children who had moved out of the family home by 1911. Although the family was resident in Teddington by 1890, Florence had been born in Berkshire. Isabella originally came from Frome in Somerset and Anthony was born in Baker Street – so presumably the Bournes had moved as a result of their post office career.

He is commemorated on the war memorial in St Mark’s, Teddington and has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington..

Private Herbert James Boyer (682579) of the 22nd Battalion of the London Regiment died of his wounds on 3 September 1918. He is buried at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt L’Abbe. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of James and Sarah Boyer of 45 Wick Road, Hampton Wick.

Herbert Boyer was born in Sunninghall, Berkshire with his birth being registered in the second quarter of 1887 in Windsor, Berkshire. Shortly afterwards the family must have moved to Hampton Wick as by 1901 they appear in the Census entry for 2 Clay Villas, Wick Road, Hampton Wick. The 1901 Census records Herbert Boyer as still living at the same address with his parents and siblings, Florence (25) and Alice (21) (both locally born, in Kingston and Twickenham respectively, and working as dressmakers) and Fred (19) (born like Herbert in Sunninghall), together with his two cousins Florence (17) and Kate (12). His father’s occupation was an engine driver on the railway. By the next Census in 1911 they had moved to 45 Wick Road. His father, now 61, had retired and is described as a pensioned LSWR Engine Driver. Herbert’s occupation is given in the 1911 Census as a painter and paper hanger. His sister Florence Ellen (whose age is oddly given as 29) was still at home working as a dressmaker. Two of his siblings (Alice and Fred) had moved out of the family home by this date.

His entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War states that he enlisted in Teddington and had formerly been in the 5th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (G/25502).

Private George Henry Colesell (L/13104) of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) died on 5 June 1915 at Gallipoli, Canakkale, Turkey. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of George and Annie Colesell of 28 High Street, Hampton Wick (subsequently demolished to form the car park of the rebuilt Swan Public House).

Private Colesell was born in January 1890 in Kingston. His father was a bricklayer and he had one brother born in Twickenham and another born in Islington. The Census returns in 1891 and 1901 document the family’s move from Kingston to Springfield Road, Teddington. By 1911 Private Colesell was 22 and in India, having enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusilers.

His entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War reports that he enlisted in Hounslow and entered the theatre of war on 25 April 1915 being killed in action less than six weeks later. It is unclear why he was not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial.

Private Thomas John Elliman (18939) of 7th Battalion of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) was killed in action on 29 September 1917. He is buried at Nine Elms British Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the husband of Florence E Elliman of 37 School House Lane, which was then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

Thomas Elliman’s was born in Teddington on 24 October 1877. According to the his biographical details in his entry in the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was baptised on 18 November 1877 at Christ Church, Teddington. Census entries, in 1891 and 1901, show Private Elliman and his family living at 2 Collinson Cottages, Victory Road, Teddington with his father John Elliman, a wine merchant’s porter. In the 1911 Census Private Elliman is recorded as living, aged 33, with his widowed mother, Sarah Ann (61), and his younger siblings: Arthur Samuel (28), a labourer, and Laura Eliza (25), a domestic servant. Thomas was employed as a sewage farm labourer. The Elliman family was living at 37 School House Lane.

According to his entry on the Online War Memorial for Teddington, he was employed by Teddington Urban District Council and he married Florence Ellen Duke in 1913. After their marriage Thomas and his wife lived at 37 Schoolhouse Lane, according to the CWGC entry.

He is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Lieutenant Kenward Wallace Elmslie of the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards (Special Reserve) was killed in action on 4 November 1914. He has no known grave but is commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Mr and Mrs Kenward Wallace Elmslie of May Place, Broom Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick.

The family may have been a long established military family. It had at least one ancestor with a military record as there are a number of references in Indian periodicals to a previous member of the family, with exactly the same name, being arraigned in Calcutta as an ensign (junior officer) in 1834 on a charge of conduct unbecoming a gentleman, then court martialled at Cawnpore on 9 February 1839 and finally dying (aged 30) at Neemuch in 1842.

Thanks to the detailed research conducted by Lloyd’s Underwriter, John Hamblin, into all the casualties commemorated on the War Memorial at Lloyds of London and available as an on-line record as Lloyd’s Remembrance and thanks also to the Archives of both Cheltenham College and King’s College, Cambridge, we have a wealth of detail on the life and career of Lieutenant Kenward Wallace Elmslie. He was born on 31 May 1887 in Twickenham, the second son of Kenward Wallace Elmslie, an insurance adjuster, and Annie Maude (nee Funnell) Elmslie. The Elmslie family moved to May Place, Broom Road, Hampton Wick. Both his older brother, William Gray Elmslie, and his younger brother, Gordon Forbes Elmslie, also served in the Great War. Both survived the conflict and are commemorated as “survivors” on this website.

Kenward Wallace Elmslie was educated first in Hurst Court Ore, near Hastings, and then, from September 1901 until July 1906 at Cheltenham College. Whilst at Cheltenham College he won the Ladies’ Prize in his final year at school and also served as a College Prefect. His name is included on the brass memorial in the College Chapel to the 675 Old Cheltonians who died in the Great War. During the War, the Principal of Cheltenham College wrote to the families of all former pupils who died in the conflict to express his condolences and also to request a photograph for a Memorial Album. Cheltenham College has kindly allowed a copy of Lieutenant Elmslie’s photograph to be included as part of his entry on this website.

According to John J. Withers in A Register of Admissions to King’s College Cambridge 1797-1925 (second edition 1929), Kenward Wallace Elmslie was admitted to King’s College, Cambridge, on 8 October 1906 where he studied Law, obtaining a 3rd Class in Law Tripos Part 1 in 1908 and graduating with a BA in 1909 and an LLB in 1911. After graduating, he qualified as a barrister, joining the Inner Temple and was an Associate Member of Lloyds.

At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at May Place with his parents, his older sister, Gladys Maude (27), who had been born in Willesden, and his younger brother, Gordon (21), who was also working in the insurance industry as a Clerk and insurance adjuster. Gordon, like Kenward, had been born in Twickenham so the family can only have moved to May Place some time after 1891.

He was commissioned as a Probationary 2nd Lieutentant in the 4th Dragoon Guards (Special Reserve) on 12 May 1909. Subsequently, his commission was confirmed on 21 December 1909 and he was promoted to Lieutenant on 12 May 1914. As a member of the Reserve he was mobilised shortly after the outbreak of war and sent to France on 16 September 1914 where he was placed in charge of a machine gun detachment.

On 30 October 1914 the 4th Dragoons were ordered to support the 1st Cavalry Brigade’s attempts to hold Messines. Having suffered a massive shelling by the enemy during the night of 3 November 1914, they were forced to withdraw to Wulverghem. The Germans, who had been reinforced, managed to break through the British line at Wulverghem. The Dragoons tried to recapture the lost position but came under shelling from German howitzers and an intense wave of German infantry attacks. Elmslie was killed by a burst of shrapnel. Sergeant George William Woodland who took over command of the machine section from him was subsequently recommended for a Victoria Cross for his actions that day (although actually awarded a DCM).

The family was notified of his death by telegram on 7 November 1914 and received letters from his fellow officers setting out the circumstances of his death, including one dated 13 December 1914 to Elmslie’s mother from Major HS Sewell who wrote:

“On the morning of November 3rd the Regiment were holding… just west of Messines..one of the first shells burst over the gun your son was with, he was mortally wounded and died soon afterwards… your son was buried where he fell.”

Lieutenant Kenward Wallace Elmslie is commemorated on a number of war memorials: at the Inner Temple; in the Memorial Chapel at King’s College, Cambridge, and at Lloyds of London, as well as in the College Chapel at Cheltenham and on the Menin Gate. Although not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial, his name is included on the war memorial in St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick as well as on Teddington War Memorial and the memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Private Richard Charles Hyatt (53515) of the Manchester Regiment died on 24 September 1918. He is buried at Le Cateau Military Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Alfred Richard and Annie Hyatt (nee Ayling) of 34 Bushy Park Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick. We are grateful for his relative, Simon Hoare for telling us about him.

According to the biographical details in his entry in the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was born about December 1898 in Teddington. He enlisted in Hampton whilst living at his parents. He died at the end of September 1918 as the Allies were finally pushing back the German forces.

He is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry in the Online WW1 War memorial for Teddington.

Private Horace Christian Faraker (75144) of A Coy of the 29th (Vancouver) Battalion of the Canadian infantry died aged 32 on 6 April 1916. He is buried at Ridge Wood Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Mr and Mrs W E Faraker of 34 Cedars Road, Hampton Wick, and a native of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

His Canadian Attestation Paper survives and reveals that he enlisted on 5 March 1915. According to his Attestation Paper, he had been born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, on 6 April 1884 and so at the time he enlisted he was 30 years and eleven months of age. He was unmarried and so named his mother, Mrs W A Faraker of Claumont, Albany Park, Kingston-upon-Thames, as his next of kin. He was a marble worker by occupation. He was 5’6” tall with a chest measurement of 40 inches. His complexion is described as fair and he had grey eyes. He gave his religious denomination as Church of England. He had already served in the local militia or reserves.

Private Faraker had emigrated to Canada from Kingston. The Faraker family had originally lived in Hertfordshire. In 1891 the family comprised William E Faraker (38) who is described as a manufacturer, his wife Emma (39) and their four children: Thomas W (8); Horace (6); Grace B (5) and Guy (1). The three eldest children had been born in Broxbourne whilst the youngest in Haddisdon. The family was clearly quite prosperous and could afford to employ two sisters, Eliza and Alice Player, as a nurse and a cook respectively. By 1901 the family had moved to Kingston following the death of Horace’s father. Horace was living, now aged 16, at 12 Albany Park, Kingston with his widowed mother (now 45). Horace was still at school. The family continued to be relatively prosperous with his mother still employing Eliza Player as a domestic servant.

By the time of the next Census in 1911, however, Horace and his older brother, Thomas, had left the family home. His mother was living at Claremont in Albany Park Road, Kingston, with her daughter Grace (25), who was working as a short hand typist, and her youngest son Guy Addison (21), an auctioneer’s clerk. The fact that his mother could still afford to employ Eliza Player suggests that the family’s fortunes had not completely sunk. However, the occupations of her youngest children (and more especially the fact that her daughter was clearly employed outside the home albeit in the increasingly respectable profession of a shorthand typist) hint at slightly reduced circumstances.

Horace Faraker had not just left the family home though. He had, in fact, emigrated to another country: Canada. Fortunately it is possible to track his movements using the records of the shipping lines he used to travel to and from Canada and also the wealth of information contained in the Canadian Census returns. From the Canadian Passenger Lists we can see that he left Liverpool on the Ionian arriving at Quebec aged 18 on 11 June 1902 with his older brother, Thomas, aged 20 who was a clerk. The two young men were travelling to Winnipeg. They were presumably seeking to change their occupations to take advantage of the massive expansion of agriculture and other industries in Canada as the UK Passenger Lists for the voyage give their occupations as merely labourers. In fact, the 1906 Census for Manitoba, Saskatchewan & Alberta reveals that the two Faraker siblings settled at Portage la Prairie in the Province of Manitoba where they were both working for a farmer, H W Tuckwell, and his wife Kate.

In 1902 the greatest influx of immigrants in Canada’s history was just beginning. This immigration reached a peak in 1912 and 1913 just before the outbreak of the Great War. From 1902 until the outbreak of the Great War 2.85 million immigrants arrived in Canada. Of these immigrants almost half (1.18 million) were of British origin. The Canadian Government were actively encouraging immigrants from Britain to come to Canada to exploit the opportunities which had opened up following the late 1890s Gold rush and the construction of the first Continental railway in 1885. In 1903 the Canadian Government even established an emigration office in Trafalgar House, Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London’s West End to encourage emigration to Canada.

The Canadian Parliament didn’t vote to enter the war in August 1914. The country’s foreign policy was controlled by Britain. When the British ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Belgium expired on 4 August 1914 Canada was automatically drawn into the conflict. The outbreak of War was greeted with patriotic fervour by most Canadians, particularly those of British descent. 33,000 recruits immediately volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the first contingent of recruits sailed to Europe on 3 October 1914. By the time Private Faraker volunteered in late spring 1915 the Canadian Expeditionary Force was expanding to become an army 150,000 strong. The Canadian government pledged on 1 January 1916 to increase this to half a million (at a time when the population of Canada was only 8 million). Canadian troops were supplied with defective Canadian made Ross rifles which jammed and were poorly led by men perceived to be cronies of those in the Canadian Government.

As news of casualties reached home, recruiting levels dropped off in spite of an aggressive campaign of persuasion by the Government. The Canadian Government was forced to introduce conscription in January 1918, a move extremely unpopular with French Canadians who were increasingly unsupportive of what they saw as a British imperial war. By the end of the war Canada had lost 66,000 men and suffered 172,000 wounded. Canada had won itself nation status with a seat at the Peace Treaty and membership in its own right at the League of Nations.

The Circumstances of Casualty Form of the Canadian CEF record that Private Faraker was killed in action at St Eloi on 6 April 1916. At the Battle of St Eloi the Second Division of the CEF received its baptism of fire in the first major engagement for the Canadian troops. In a battlefield of water filled mine craters Private Faraker was one of the 1,373 casualties suffered by the Canadians in 13 days of confused attacks and counterattacks on 6 bomb craters.

Although Private Faraker died in April 1916, it would appear that his affairs were not finally sorted out until 1923 with Probate of his estate (with effects worth some £835 4s 2d) being granted to his younger brother, Guy Addision Faraker, an estate agent, on 18 October 1923. Private Faraker’s mother, Emma, had died on 6 June 1923. She had at some point after 1915 moved to 34 Cedars Road, Hampton Wick. She left a considerable estate worth £2777 11s 9d and perhaps in the administration of her estate some assets belonging to her son, Horace, emerged.

Guy Addision Faraker, Horace’s brother, enlisted into the 9th Battalion of the London Regiment on 22 September 1914 at 56 Davies Street, London. His Medal Roll at the National Archive states that he was discharged on 2 July 1915 (possibly on medical grounds). He remained a local resident for many years and is listed in the telephone book for the Molesey Exchange as living in Anlaby Road, Teddington, in 1930.

Although not listed on the Hampton Wick Memorial, Private Horace Faraker is commemorated on the Gladstone War Memorial, Westbourne, Manitoba, Canada.

Private Arthur Sidney Hollands (145193) of the 87th Battalion of the Canadian infantry died aged 22 on 23 November 1916. He is buried at Contay British Cemetery, Contay. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Mr and Mrs Hollands of Hampton Wick.

His Canadian Attestation Paper survives and reveals that he enlisted, under the same service number, originally into the 77th Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 14 September 1915. According to his Attestation Paper, he had been born in Kingston on 14 June 1894 and so at the time he enlisted he was 21 years and three months of age. He was unmarried and so named his mother, Mrs Jane Hollands of 226 Kingston Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick, as his next of kin. He was a farmer by occupation. He was only 5’3” tall but had a chest measurement of 38¼”. His complexion is described as fair and he had blue eyes and light brown hair. He was a Methodist.

Private Hollands had emigrated to Canada from Kingston. At the time of the 1901 Census he was living, aged 6, at 21 Somerset Road, Norbiton, with his widowed mother Jane Hollands (35) and older sister Louisa Hollands (14), both of whom had been born in Steeple Bumpstead, Essex, and both of whom were employed as general domestic servants. The family also included a younger brother, Alfred Hollands (4), who like Arthur had been born in Kingston. Presumably sometime after 1887 the Hollands family had moved from Essex to Kingston. By the time of the next Census in 1911 Arthur had left the family home. His widowed mother was living at 3 Spring Cottages, Fairfield Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, working as charwoman with her servant daughter Louisa (24) and Ena Holland (5), said to be her daughter but possibly her granddaughter.

Arthur Hollands had not just left the family home though. He had, in fact, emigrated to another country: Canada. Fortunately it is possible to track his movements using the records of the shipping lines he used to travel to and from Canada and also the wealth of information contained in the Canadian Census returns. From the UK Passenger Lists we can see that he left Liverpool on 20 April 1911 travelling as a third class passenger on the Dominion, a White Star Line ship. He sailed with a farmer and his wife, George and Edith Hollands (presumably paternal relatives), and their children, Albert (13), Lily (11) and Ada (7) (presumably his cousins). The Canadian Passenger Lists record their arrival at Montreal on 3 May 1911. The Canadian List contains detailed information for immigration purposes including that the family intended to settle in Canada. The three men (George, Arthur and Albert) intended to find agricultural work (plentiful at the time in Canada) in which George and Arthur already had experience (Arthur as a blacksmith/farmhand). The entire family was literate and their religion is listed as Baptist.

Shortly after arriving in Canada, Arthur separated from the family group. One month later on 6 June 1911 he is recorded in the 1911 Census of Canada (Ontario Province) as living with a farmer called Walter H Scott and his German born wife, Maud, at Rawdon Township. The family employed Arthur to work as a labourer on their farm as well as a nine year old girl, Mildred, to work as a domestic. It is possible that Arthur may have found his employment so rapidly through religious connections as both his employers and Mildred are described as Methodists. Interestingly Arthur’s nationality is stated already to be Canadian even though he has just arrived in the country.

According to US immigration records, almost three years later as a nineteen year old farm labourer Arthur crossed from Montreal to Hoboken in the US in February 1914. The purpose of his trip appears to have been to catch a ship from the US to cross the Atlantic in order to visit his mother who was now residing at 3 Wick Road, Hampton Wick. The visit must have been of short duration because the record of Returning Canadians reveals that he had already returned to St Johns, Newfoundland on the Vessel, Victoria, by 12 March 1914.

Fifteen months after the Declaration of War, Arthur volunteered to join the Canadian Expeditionary. On 23 November 1916 Private Hollands died of his wounds at No 9 Casualty Clearing Station, having, according to his entry in the Canadian War Grave Registers (Circumstances of Casualty 1914-1918), received a shrapnel wound to his scalp.

Lance Corporal Gordon Mostyn Robinson (47787) of the Royal Canadian Regiment died aged 32 on 8 October 1916. He is buried at Regina Trench Cemetery, Courcelette (about 5½ miles North East of Albert). He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Mark and Louisa Robinson of Struan, Fasset Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, and a “native” of Hampton Wick (which should mean he was born in the village).

His Canadian Attestation Paper survives and reveals that he enlisted on 23 August 1915 in Halifax, under the service number 7762, originally into the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. According to his Attestation Paper, he had been born in Hampton Wick on 29 June 1884 and so at the time he enlisted he was 31 years of age. He was unmarried and so named his mother, Mrs Mark Robinson, as his next of kin. His occupation was said to be as a clerk. He was 5’10½” tall with a small chest measurement of 31” (34½” inches when expanded). His complexion is described as fair and he had blue eyes and light brown hair. His religion was Church of England.

Gordon Mostyn Robinson had emigrated to Canada from Kingston. At the time of the 1891 Census he was living, aged 6, at 54 Fasset Road, Canbury, Kingston-upon-Thames with his parents, Mark Heaton Robinson (47), a mechanical engineer, and Emma Louisa Robinson (44), together with his six older sisters (Eleanor (24); Mabel Beatrice (21); Edith (20); Evelyn Marion (15); Alice Caroline (14) and Margaret Louisa Kathleen (8)) as well as two younger brothers (Douglas Gwyn (4) and Eric Watney (2)). The family had obviously lived in Hampton Wick from at least 1866 until 1877 as the five oldest girls were all born in the village.

By the time Margaret was born in 1883 the family had moved to Teddington where Gordon was also born (in spite of his claim in his Attestation Paper to originate from Hampton Wick). His younger brothers were born in Kingston and (oddly) Hastings respectively. Although Gordon may not actually have been born in Hampton Wick (unlike his older brothers and sisters), the family obviously felt some affinity for the village and Gordon was baptised at St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick, on 24 July 1884 when the family’s abode was given as Teddington.

Although the Robinson household as listed in the 1891 Census appears to have been huge, in fact, some of the couple’s children were not actually included in this Census Entry. We know from their 1911 Census entries that the couple had, in fact, produced sixteen children, all of whom were still living at that date. A number of the older children are missing from the 1891 Census (although alive at this date): Edward Mark (born in 1866); Frances Amelia (born in 1872) and Theresa Henrietta (born 1873). They were all born in Hampton Wick. In addition, we know of Lionel Inglis (born in 1877 in Kingston); Gerald Heaton (born 1879 in Teddington); Herbert W (born 1880 in Teddington) and Lewis Denham (born 1881 in Teddington).

The reason why some of the older boys may have been “missing” becomes clearer in the light of the 1901 Census when Gordon Mostyn Robinson and his two younger brothers, Douglas and Eric, were absent from the family home because they were boarders at Abbotsholme School in Doveridge, Derbyshire, a small school run by the Reddie family. It is likely that whilst the eldest three may have already left home, the other boys may have been absent from the family home because they had also been sent away to school.

Lance Corporal Robinson’s father, Mark Heaton Robinson, led an extremely interesting life. He was born in Sheerness in Kent on 29 March 1844. However, by 1851 he was living in Crown Crescent, Twickenham (a prosperous middle class area near the Crown Inn in Marble Hill), with his parents, Edward Robinson (57), an officer in the Royal Navy, and Amelia (40) who was from Richmond.

By the time of the 1861 Census Lance Corporal Robinson’s father was boarding at Church House College School in Merton, a small school of about thirty five pupils. The Merton Historical Society published a fascinating paper (Bulletin 172) on the school in December 2009. The school had been founded in July 1849 by the French born Adolphe de Chastelain opposite the church of St Mary in Merton. The building was Tudor in origin but had been remodelled in the Georgian period. It was a substantial building with 40 rooms and had been used until 1845 as a workhouse for the poor of Bermondsey. Mr de Chastelain and his English wife established a school which appears to have specialised in languages. He employed a Classical Tutor, a Professor of German and a Professor of French to teach boys ranging in age from 6 to 17 as well as female staff to teach girl pupils. The original proprietor died in 1857 with the sublease being taken on by Revd George Elliott who perhaps continued the school.

By 1861, when Mark Heaton Robinson was a pupil, the school was being run by the original proprietor’s son, (Alfred) George de Chastelain, and his widowed mother. Mark Heaton Robinson’s time at the school may have overlapped with Robert Williams Buchanan (1841-1901), an important Victorian literary figure now largely remembered for his criticism of D G Rossetti’s poetry but interesting in the context of Hampton Wick in connection with his reminiscences of his school there: the food was apparently so meagre that he was reduced to eating snails from the garden to stave off hunger!

We know a little of Mark Heaton Robinson’s subsequent life because of his proposal form for membership of the Institute of Civil Engineers dated 21 March 1893 which sets out in detail his career. From this we learn that from 1861 until 1874 (when he was living in the village), he was employed in the administrative strand of the Admiralty. On 27 July 1864 he married Emma Louisa Webb in St Mathias in Richmond. Both parties were minors and both were from solidly middleclass stock. Mark Heaton Robinson’s father is described as a commander in the Royal Navy and Emma’s father, Valentine Baker Webb, was a surgeon. By 1871 Mark Heaton Robinson (27) and his wife Emma (24) were living in Hampton Wick in a house in the Lower Teddington Road with four children who had all been born in the village: Eleanor (4); Edward (3) Mabel (1) and Edith (3 months).

From 1874 until 1880 Mark Heaton Watson was the Manager of Watney’s brewery in Pimilico. In fact he must have remained at the brewery a little longer as in the 1881 Census, when the family were living at Emberfield, Broom Road, Teddington, he still gives his occupation as manager of a brewery. At any rate, at some point in 1881 he joined Mr P ?William as a partner in the firm of Williams & Robinson (engineers and steam launch builders). Before joining the partnership he seems to have already established a private workshop for the manufacture of a boat disembarking apparatus which he designed and which was exclusively used by the Royal Navy. Subsequently he invented and patented various compressed air systems and improvements to the engines used in single handling steam ships. In March 1888 he was proposed and accepted as a member of the Institute of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians (which had only been incorporated five years earlier). At this date he gives his address on his application as Fassett Road, Surbiton.

By 1893 when Mark Heaton Robinson was nominated to join the Institute of Civil Engineers, his partner had died and so he was the chief managing director and chairman of Williams & Robinson Ltd. He had designed and superintended the construction of various small vessels built by the firm and various works on land. He appears to have been operating out of Ferry Works, Thames Ditton, which perhaps explains his move to the other side of the Thames. In spite of having such a huge family, he appears to have lived to a reasonably prosperous old age. He died on 2 February 1923. He was still living at Struan, Fassett Road, Kingston-upon-Thames and left a reasonable estate worth £453 5s 7d to his widow and son, Lionel Inglis Robinson.

With such a large family and with the example of his entrepreneurial father, it is perhaps not surprising that Lance Corporal Robinson decided to emigrate to Canada to seek his fortune. He does not appear in the UK Census for 1911 as he had, according to the records contained in the Canadian Passenger Lists, left Liverpool on the Megantic arriving at Quebec on 22 May 1910.

The Canadian Government was actively encouraging immigrants to come from Britain at this time. It had established an emigration office in 1903 in Trafalgar House, Trafalgar Square, London, to encourage emigration to Canada. Immigration to Canada was about to peak in 1912 and 1913. We learn from his immigration record that at 25 he was able to read and write, intended to permanently remain in Canada and had visited Canada previously. Although he gave his occupation as a clerk (which was his occupation when he attested), he states that he intended to take up farming and that he had studied farming as a pupil. His ultimate destination was given as Woodstock, Ontario (although he actually enlisted in Halifax).

A year after the Declaration of War, Gordon volunteered to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The Canadian Parliament didn’t vote to enter the war in August 1914. As the country’s foreign policy was controlled by Britain when the British ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Belgium expired on 4 August 1914 Canada was automatically drawn into the European war. The outbreak of war was greeted with patriotic fervour in Canada with 33,000 volunteers immediately joining up.

By the time Lance Corporal Robinson volunteered the Canadian Expeditionary Force had already expanded to a force of 150,000 men. However, the supply of volunteers was starting to dry up as news of Canadian casualties was reported. Casualties were probably increased by the use of defective Canadian made Ross rifles and the deployment of cronies of the government to command the forces. By the end of the war Canada had lost 66,000 men and suffered 172,000 wounded at a time when the total population was only 8 million. Canada had won itself nation status with a seat at the Peace Treaty and membership in its own right at the League of Nations.

On 8 October 1916 Lance Corporal Robinson, according to his entry in the Canadian War Grave Registers (Circumstances of Casualty 1914-1918), was killed in action. At first for official purposes he was presumed to have died but later was actually reported as killed in action. His position at the time of his casualty was North of Courcelette. Probate of his estate was only belatedly granted to his older brother, Lionel Inglis Robinson, an engineer like their father, on 4 May 1938.

Corporal Leslie Frederick Russell (412420) of the 26th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (New Brunswick Regiment) died on 9 April 1917. He is buried at Ecoivres Military Cemetery, Mount St Eloi. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Annie Russell of 1 Lindum Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick, and a native of Wimbledon (which means he was born there).

Corporal Russell must have emigrated to Canada before the outbreak of the Great War. Immigration to Canada reached a peak in 1912 and 1913 just before the outbreak of hostilities. From 1902 until the outbreak of the Great War 2.85 million immigrants arrived in Canada. Of these immigrants almost half (1.18 million) were of British origin. The Canadian Government was actively encouraging immigrants from Britain to come to Canada to exploit the opportunities which had opened up following the late 1890s Gold rush and the construction of the first Continental railway in 1885. In 1903 the Canadian Government even established an emigration office in Trafalgar House, Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London’s West End to encourage emigration to Canada.

The Canadian Parliament didn’t vote to enter the war in August 1914. The country’s foreign policy was controlled by Britain. When the British ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Belgium expired on 4 August 1914 Canada was automatically drawn into the conflict. The Outbreak of War was greeted with patriotic fervour by most Canadians, particularly those of British descent. 33,000 recruits immediately volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the first contingent of recruits sailed to Europe on 3 October 1914.

By late spring 1915, when Corporal Russell enlisted, the Canadian Expeditionary Force was expanding to become an army 150,000 strong. The Canadian Government pledged on 1 January 1916 to increase this to half a million (at a time when the population of Canada was only 8 million). Canadian troops were supplied with defective Canadian made Ross rifles which jammed and poorly led by men perceived to be cronies of those in the Canadian Government. As news of casualties reached home, recruiting levels dropped off in spite of an aggressive campaign of persuasion by the Government. The Canadian Government were forced to introduce conscription in January 1918, a move extremely unpopular with French Canadians who were increasingly unsupportive of what they saw as a British imperial war. By the end of the war Canada had lost 66,000 men and suffered 172,000 wounded. Canada had won itself nation status with a seat at the Peace Treaty and membership in its own right at the League of Nations.

According to his Canadian Attestation Paper, Corporal Russell was born in Londonderry on 14 November 1896. However, it has proved impossible to find any reference to him in either United Kingdom or Canadian Censuses. His birthplace is not consistent with the statement in the CWGC records that he was a “native” of Wimbledon (which usually means that a soldier was born in a location). At some point prior to his enlistment at Cobourg, Ontario on 19 February 1915 Leslie Russell emigrated to Canada. However, it has proved impossible to find his name on any passenger list for the voyage to Canada to ascertain the date of his emigration.

His occupation on his Attestation Paper is given as a farmer. He was unmarried and gave his next of kin as his mother, Mrs Ann Russell of 84 Medway Road, Gillingham, England. At 5’9½” tall he had a 38½” chest; hazel eyes; black hair and a distinctive scar on the inside of his right hand. He was a Wesleyian Methodist. Prior to enlisting he had served in the militia, presumably in Canada. He originally served as a Private in the 89th Battalion of the Canadian infantry moving subsequently, upon his promotion to Corporal, to the 26th Battalion.

His entry in the Circumstances of Casualty Form for the Canada, War Graves Registers states that he died of his wounds at the No 4 Canadian Field Ambulance on 9 April 1917 and was buried 5½ miles west of Arras. The No 4 Canadian Field Ambulance was at Vimy Ridge.

The date and location of his death suggest that Corporal Russell fell in the first day of fighting of the Battle of Vimy Ridge which commenced on 9 April 1917. The Canadian troops were the main Allied combatants of this action. They had been given the objective of taking control of a German held high ground. The Canadians captured most of the ridge on the first day of the action. Their success was attributed to a mixture of technical and tactical innovation. This was the first action in which all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together and became a symbol of Canadian nationalistic symbol of achievement.

After the War one hundred hectares of the battleground was preserved as the Canadian National Vimy Memorial as a memorial for Canadian war dead. Every 9 April Canada commemorates Vimy Ridge Day in the same way as Australia and New Zealand commemorate the Battle of Gallipoli on Anzac Day. The date is regarded as the day when Canada established its right to national status.

Private Percy Thomason (TF/292647) of the 21st Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge Own (Middlesex) Regiment was killed in action on 9 April 1918. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of the late Mr and Mrs George Thomason of Hounslow and the husband of Grace Beatrice Thomason of “Warham”, Glamorgan Road, Hampton Wick (now 8 Glamorgan Road).

Percy Thomason (31) married Grace Beatrice Norreys (31) of Warham, Glamorgan Road, Hampton Wick, at St John the Baptist’s Church, Hampton Wick, on 9 November 1912. The bride’s father was a deceased tea planter, George Norreys. Percy was a journalist of Albermarle Villa, Staines Road, Hounslow, and the son of another journalist, George James Thomason (deceased). His entry in UK Soldiers Died in the Great War gives his place of birth and residence as Hounslow. He enlisted at Ravenscourt Park in Middlesex.

His address is given in the Grant of Probate granted on 1 March 1920 as 334 Hanworth Road, Hounslow. Probate of an estate valued at £1296 1s 8d was granted to his brother, Guy Thomason, a journalist, and to Edward Kay Robinson, author and father of Harry Kay Hesketh Robinson, one of the Great War casualties commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial.

Private Thomason’s widow, Grace, seems to have moved back into 8 Glamorgan Road with the Robinson family after the death of her husband. When Edward Kay Robinson died, the property passed to his wife and, when she died in 1933, the property transferred to Private Thomason’s widow, Grace, suggesting that she must have been related to the Robinson family. She remained in occupation until 1961.

Rifleman C W Townsend (R/14115) of the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps died of his wounds on 11 December 1915. He is buried at the Chocques Military Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the nephew of the Charlotte E Phillips of 25 Lindum Road, Hampton Wick which was then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

According to the biographical information listed on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, Rifleman Townsend was born about September 1892 in South Teddington. As his mother died whilst he was still a child, his aunt, Charlotte Phillips, raised him. He was an old boy of the Hampton Wick Endowed School.

He is commemorated on the Teddington Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Lieutenant Walter John Mowbray Watson of the 249 Company of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) (formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment) died on 22 August 1917 at Sanctuary Wood. He is buried at the Valley Cottages Cemetery Memorial Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm). He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) entry refers to him as the son of Blanche Mary Watson (nee Branston) of The Shieling (Gaelic for Shed), 4 Station Road, Hampton Wick and the late John Mowbray Watson of Edinburgh. It is slightly odd that the CWGC site refers to this property as his mother only occupied it from 1927 until 1929.

Lieutenant Watson’s father, born in Edinburgh in October 1867, was a pupil at Fettes College which he left in August 1887 to attend Trinity College Cambridge. His occupation was a colliery owner and coal exporter but he must have been also a prominent member of Edinburgh society as he served as the Royal Danish Vice-Consul at Granton. After his father’s death in Edinburgh on 5 December 1905, Lieutenant Watson’s mother must have moved south to England. Before her marriage, his mother lived at The Grange, Winthorpe, Newark. She was the daughter of Joseph Gilstrap Branston.

Lieutenant Watson was born on 23 May 1893 in Edinburgh where, like his father, he attended Fettes College joining School House in 1906. Whilst at Fettes he joined the Cadet Corps. He left Fettes in July 1911, according to the school records, to join the Mexican Eagle Oil Co in Mexico. According to his obituary in De Ruvigny (the record of officers killed in the Great War), he returned to England from Mexico at the outbreak of war.

After a period of training at Oxford OTC (based in Balliol College) he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Prince of Wales (North Staffordshire) Regiment in February 1915 serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 10 March 1916. According to Fettes School Roll of Honour, he was wounded during the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916 and subsequently transferred to the Machine Gun Corps later the same year.

The letters of condolence quoted at length in De Ruvigny must have been of some comfort to his family being excessively fulsome in their praise of him and his conduct. His Commanding Officer wrote of him:

“His death is an irreparable loss to the company; his gallantry and devotion to duty were reflected in his section which could always be relied on to do well and by whom he was always universally loved. I can’t tell you how we all miss him.”

He was also fondly remembered by his men, as his section sergeant recalled:

“The men perfectly adored him: in fact the whole company adored him, and would do anything for him. He attended to his section better than any officer I have known; they were his first thought, and he made them the best section in the company. . . for myself I feel I have lost my best friend.”

Even his batman, the personal servant who would have known him best, was fulsome in his praise, describing him thus:

“He was the best of masters and the best friend I have ever had since I joined the army. He was a man who always thought of his boys’ safety and comfort first. He was a gentleman and a finer officer never left Belton Park!”

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Newark cemetery, his mother’s home town and also on the extremely impressive war memorial contained in the grounds of his old school, Fettes College.

Private Sidney Wilson (8648) of the 2nd Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment died on 3 May 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Mr and Mrs T Wilson of 15 School House Lane, Wick Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

The on-line site Surrey Roll of Honour states that he is commemorated on the Richmond War Memorial. He was killed in action near Ypres. He was born according to his entry on the online WW1 war memorial for Teddington at Trumpington, Cambridgshire but enlisted in Kingston.

Sidney Wilson was born in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, in April 1887. His father, Thomas Wilson, a farm labourer, had been born in the same village in 1854. Thomas Wilson married Rebecca Hart from Norwich in 1883. It is possible to track the family’s movements from their Census entries. Shortly after their marriage, the couple moved to Kingston where their eldest child, Fred, was born sometime in 1885. The family briefly returned home to Trumpington for the birth of Sidney. Thereafter, the family appear to have remained in the Kingston/Hampton Wick area. In 1891 the Wilson family (comprising Sydney’s parents aged 35 and 26 years; Sidney himself (5); George (4); Maria (2) and Fanny (2 months)) was living at 13 Canbury Place. Oddly, there is no mention at this date of their eldest child Fred who is first mentioned in the next Census entry for the family in 1901.

By 1901 the family were living on the High Street in Hampton Wick next to an Upholsterers shop. From the birth places of the two youngest children it would appear that the Wilson family had moved to the village by 1899. Thomas’s occupation is now given as a general labourer and the eldest child, Fred (16), appears for the first time. The couple had nine children living with them: Fred; Sydney (15), working as a shop boy for the post; George (14), with the same occupation as Sydney; Daisy (12); Fanny (11); Tom (9); Rose (6); Henry (2) and Mary (1).

The Wilson family was living in Hampton Wick again by the time of the next Census in 1911 at 3 Beaumont Cottages, Park Road. The couple had produced two more children, Charles (8) and Richard (2). The birthplaces of these youngest children are given as Kingston which suggests that the family must have returned to Kingston sometime between 1901 and 1903 where they lived at least until 1909.

Sidney Wilson was not living with his family in 1911 because he had enlisted into the regular army on 22 November 1905. He had also now generally adopted a slightly different spelling for his first name using “Sydney” rather than “Sidney”. He joined the East Surrey Regiment aged 18 years and 8 months having already served in the militia. His Burnt Service Record survives and reveals that he was 5’6” inches tall, weighed 123lbs and had a 34” chest. He had grey eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. He was single with no children so his next of kin were given as his parents who were living at 13 Fairfield Place, Kingston at this date.

His Military History Sheet reveals that he served at home from 22 November 1905 until 16 September 1908. He was posted initially in Kingston until 5 March 1906 and thereafter in Jersey until 15 September 1908. Subsequently, he was posted to India from 17 September 1908 until 18 November 1914 serving in various garrisons at Lucknow (8 October 1908-September 1910); Thaystinigo (September 1910-20 February 1911); Shivebo (21 February 1911-December 1911); Bhamo (December 1911-6 May 1912); Shwebo (10 May 1912-September 1914); Jhansi (15 September 1914-12 November 1914).

Whilst Private Wilson was serving in Jersey he suffered a moderately severe attack of eczema which was apparently treated with a dilution of arsenic! He suffered more serious illnesses in India. Towards the end of August 1909 he suffered malaria and thereafter three attacks of increasingly severe appendicitis. In Thrysmigo at the end of 1910 he suffered for 18 days, with his symptoms improving after 48 hours having been treated with castor oil, salines and fomentations. Within six months, by 1 May 1911, the acute symptoms of appendicitis had returned to be treated with salines, fomentations to the abdomen and opium. As the symptoms (not surprisingly) returned within a month on 1 June 1911 it would appear that his appendix was finally removed satisfactorily and he was allowed one month off to recuperate and a further month of light duties. After this he was only troubled by an outbreak of boils towards the end of May 1913.

He was obviously reasonably healthy after 1913 as we can see from his record that he was punished on 27 May 1914 for disregarding Standing Orders by galloping on a pony on a public road. During his long service in India he passed a course of instruction for mounted infantry and a swimming test at Bhamo on 24 April 1912. However, he was not promoted from the rank of Private during his nine years of service.

He returned home from India in November 1914 before being sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force on 19 January 1915 (thus qualifying for the 1914/15 Star in addition to the usual British War and Victory Medals). By the time the medals were despatched to them in 1920, Private Wilson’s parents had moved to 15 School House Lane, Wick Road, Hampton Wick along with four of his brothers (James Fred (35); George (33); Charlie (15) and Richard (10)). Two of his sisters Rosy (21) and Fanny (25) still lived in Kingston in the Fairfield area.

He is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Private Eddie Goddard of the Gordon Highlanders (Scout Section) who lived at 16 Warwick Road was wounded in the face by shrapnel on 7 May 1917 and was treated in the No 3 Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne.

According to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 30 May 1917, he was an old boy of Elmhurst School, Kingston and was “well known in local sport” being a keen hockey player at school and a member of the Hampton Wick Cricket Club and Teddington Hockey Club. Before moving to Hampton Wick the family appeared to have lived at 17 High St, Kingston. Private Goddard had joined up in September 1914 leaving the London and South Western Bank Ltd (Fenchurch branch) having previously been employed at their Twickenham branch.

He had originally enlisted into the Dragoon Guards but later was transferred into the Gordon Highlanders. He had relinquished the rank of corporal and the safer position of quartermaster for the role of Battalion scout at the Front. Private Goddard was sent to France in January 1917. He received his wound leading his Battalion to their position.

Private W F Turner (aged 20) of the Middlesex Regiment, eldest son of E W Turner of 3 Lower Teddington Road was, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 2 June 1917, in hospital in Egypt suffering from bullet wounds. One bullet had entered his shoulder and passed half way down his back and the other had pierced his left thigh.

Private R Williams, a married manager at Mr George Webb’s fishmongers and poulterers at 10 High Street, Hampton Wick, joined the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) on 29 December 1916 and, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 23 May 1917, was wounded in France on 12 May 1917 and was being treated in a Leeds Hospital.

The Surrey Comet on [ ]1916 reported the award of a Military Medal (“MM”) to Private Herbert Davies of Hampton Wick. His MM was awarded for gallantry under fire on 1 July 1916, the very first day of the Battle of the Somme.

According to a subsequent report in The Surrey Comet dated 27 April 1918, Private Herbert Davies then in the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry having been transferred from his original regiment, had been wounded in France two weeks before. He had been shot in the neck and was at the date of the newspaper report recovering in a hospital in Bath where he was reported to be doing well.

He had only just returned to France when he was injured. He had previously been at home with his parents Mr Joseph Ruben Davies and Mrs Elizabeth Davies of 42 Park Road, Hampton Wick (now 44 Park Road, Hampton Wick) where he had been recovering from trench fever.

The family had lived in the Park Road property since 1909. At the time of the 1911 Census the family comprised: Private Davies’s parents; his elder brother Joseph William Davies (17), a furniture assistant; an older sister Elizabeth Davies (16); Herbert (15), an errand boy, and his younger sister Florence Davies (12) who was still at school. All the children had been born in Hampton Wick so the family had lived in the village since at least 1894. His parents had both been born in Kingston Upon Thames. They had been married 19 years in 1911- having lost two of their children. His parents may have moved to Hampton Wick shortly after their marriage.

Private Davies’ older brother, Joseph William Davies, was, according to the report in The Surrey Comet, serving in the Army Service Corps at the time Private Davies was wounded.

Bombardier Herbert Holman of 19 Warwick Rd, Hampton Wick, was included in the casualty lists of the wounded contained in The Surrey Comet on [ ] 1916 for the Battle of the Somme.

His father William E Holman who had worked for 30 years for Platt’s Stores in various branches in the area including Hounslow, Brentford and Kingston died aged 51 in September 1918 after a long and painful illness. The Holman family was large, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 14 September 1918. It must have numbered at least six children as the report refers to three sons being in the army and another employed in the Dockyard at Portsmouth whilst two daughters were “engaged in Government service” (although the exact nature of their service is unspecified).

The Holman family only moved into 19 Warwick Road in 1913 but his widow continued to occupy it until 1939. Mrs Holman was appointed as the token woman on the Hampton Wick Food Committee in 1917 but had resigned by 23 January 1918 perhaps to nurse her husband through his illness. However, she was subsequently reappointed to the Hampton Wick Food Committee in early November 1918, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 6 November 1918.

Alfred Fullick, one of the brothers of Pioneer Percy Fullick who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial, was, according to The Surrey Comet’s obituary of him dated 8 July 1916, serving in France attached to the Black Watch at the time of his brother’s death on 30 June 1916. He had been in France since the start of the conflict so may have been a regular soldier.

Trooper Frederick Vyse Campion of the Household Battalion (formerly Royal Horse Guards) was killed in action on 12 October 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Trooper Frederick Vyse Campion was included in the second memorial service of 1917 held to commemorate the Parish’s casualties at St John the Baptist Church, Hampton Wick, on 14 November 1917. The report of the service in The Surrey Comet dated 17 November 1917 reports that all of the four deceased were former choristers: three at St Johns, the other in Kingston. Of the four men commemorated at the service it is likely that it was Private Albert Wheeler, who grew up in Kingston, who was the chorister there.

His father, Frederick Campion, was the landlord of the Railway Inn opposite Hampton Wick Station from 1908-1914. At the time of the 1911 Census the Campion family comprised Frederick Senior (43) who had been born in Marylebone and Joy Mary Campion (40) from Southall and their seven children. The eldest daughter, Mary Joy Campion (15) had been born in Kingston. Thereafter, sometime between 1896 and 1895 the family moved to Hammersmith- the birthplace of the next five children: Frederick Vyse Campion (14); Winifred Ethel Campion (12); Henry Walter Vyse Campion (10); Florence Edith Campion (9) and Edward George James Vyse Campion (6). Only their youngest child, Arthur James Vyse Campion (7 months) was born in Hampton Wick. Frederick Vyse Campion must have sung in the church choir at some point whilst the family lived in the village.

Sadly, although he was included in the church memorial service, he is not commemorated either on the Hampton Wick War Memorial or on the war memorial in St John the Baptist as by the time the names were collected for the memorials the Campion family had long moved away from the village.

There is a reference in the London Gazette dated 13 September 1945 to the award of a Military Medal to a Trooper Arthur James Vyse Campion (7903708) of the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars Royal Armoured Corps (Hampton). This must have been Trooper Campion’s youngest brother who in 1945 would have been 34. Perhaps the family moved to Hampton at some point after World War 1.

Lance Corporal Maurice Comley Lamb of the Honourable Artillery Company (“HAC”), was wounded by a bomb in May 1917 and, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 19 May 1917, afterwards recovered in a hospital in Aldershot.

Born on 30 October 1896, he was the middle of the three sons of William Comley Lamb and Louisa Elizabeth Lamb of Cedar House, 2 Sandy Lane, Hampton Wick. Lance Corporal Lamb was the younger brother of Lieutenant Dudley William Lamb who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial.

He came from a prominent Hampton Wick family. His father was the Company Secretary of the Hampton Court Gas Company and a member of the Hampton Wick Urban District Council throughout the War. Lance Corporal Maurice Comley Lamb attended Huntington House School in Teddington until September 1909 when, like his elder brother, he joined Kingston Grammar School where he was described as “good at games” but his work record was not good!

After he left school on 29 July 1912, he worked in his father’s office at the Hampton Court Gas Company.

His Burnt Service record (WO363) survives at the National Records Office. From which we can see that he voluntarily attested on 3 January 1916 at Armoury House, the Headquarters of the HAC. At this date he was 20 years and two months old, just over 5 feet and 6 inches tall and of “good” physical development. He immediately joined the 3rd Battalion of the HAC training in England until 1 October 1916. During this period he qualified as a first class shot on 3 July 1916 with 110 points at Pirbright. He also suffered a mild spell of laryngitis at the end of January 1916.

He was sent to France on 2 October 1916 where he was promoted to Lance Corporal in April 1917 shortly before being wounded in action firstly on 3 May 1917 and then subsequently by a bomb which injured his legs, forearm and hand on 7 May 1917. He was treated first at Casualty Clearing Station 49 and subsequently at No 7 Canadian General Hospital at Etaples on 7 May 1917 before being transferred to England on 11 May 1917.

He must have been sufficiently recovered by 1 September 1917 to be posted to the Infantry Records Office at the Depot. He was finally demobilised on 23 September 1919 as “surplus to Military requirements (having suffered impairment since entry into the Service)”. His character is described as “very good”. His gunshot wounds to leg and hands were evaluated in 1919 as a 20% disability and so he was awarded a disability pension of 8 shillings a week to be reviewed after a year.

According to The Surrey Comet, he had been a prominent hockey player- his hockey career post war may well have been ended by the wounds he received in France in 1917.

However, he survived his injuries and, according to his school, was living in Thames Ditton in 1929. His death was registered in Kingston in 1969.

We are grateful for Kingston Grammar School for supplying information on Lance Corporal Lamb from their archives.

Private William Taylor of the Warwickshire Regiment was one of four sons of Mr William Taylor of Caxton House,47 High St, Hampton Wick who, according to the obituary of Gunner Harry Taylor in The Surrey Comet dated 25 July 1917, were serving in the army at the date of Harry’s death. Gunner Harry Taylor is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial

Private William Taylor had been missing for twelve months by July 1917 and so had been, according to The Surrey Comet, presumed dead. However, he is not listed on the CWGC site nor on the Hampton Wick War Memorial so, perhaps, he survived the war?

Gunner Charles Taylor was, according to the obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 25 July 1917 of his brother, Gunner Harry Taylor (one of the casualties commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial), one of the four sons of Mr William Taylor of Caxton House, 47 High St, Hampton Wick, who were serving in the army in 1917.

Gunner Charles Taylor of the Royal Field Artillery was a reservist and so had been serving in the army since the beginning of the war.

Corporal James Taylor, originally of the Worcestershire Regiment but subsequently transferred to the Royal Engineers (Tunnelling Corps), was one of the four sons of Mr William Taylor of Caxton House, 47 High St, Hampton Wick who, according to the obituary of Gunner Harry Taylor (one of the men commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial) in The Surrey Comet dated 25 July 1917, were serving in France in 1917.

Corporal James Taylor had been serving since the beginning of the war. He had been transferred to the tunnelling company of the Royal Engineers which had played an important role in capturing the Messines Ridge in 1917.

According to the obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 25 July 1917 of Private Thomas Henry Tansley, one of the men commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial, he had another (unnamed) brother who had served in the army for eight months before June 1917 who had been medically discharged.

The Tansley family comprised at the time of the 1911 Census: his father, David (55); his mother, Kate Elizabeth (47); his brother, James (16); Thomas Henry (13) and his three sisters (Margaret Winifred; Elsie Kate and Constance Emily who were 15; 11 & 10 respectively). They lived at 23 Cedars Rd, Hampton Wick from 1907 until 1914 moving thereafter to 5 Vicarage Rd, Hampton Wick. However, the family must have moved to Hampton Wick some time after 1901 as all the family’s children (the youngest of whom was born in 1901) came from Stone in Staffordshire.

As on the 1911 Census the family stated they had had only 5 children, the brother referred to in Private Tansley’s obituary as being medically discharged must have been his older brother, James Tansley.

Private Lewis White of the machine gun section of the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), the middle brother of the Lance Corporal Alfred White DCM who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial, had a close brush with death in October 1917, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 27 October 1917.

Private Lewis sent a letter to his parents, Mr & Mrs White, who had a greengrocer’s at 2, High St, Hampton Wick which was a very long established family business from 1910 until the 1970s. He described in his letter his near escape. While his team was working their gun in a shell hole, a shell fell among the team, several of whom were killed. Private White apparently had his clothing blown into rags, but fortunately was uninjured.

Flight Officer W.H. Evans R.N. who had been the organist and choirmaster at St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick’s Parish Church, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 11 July 1917, obtained his Royal Aero Club’s pilot certificate in the summer of 1917. He had only just come out of hospital having suffered an accident whilst flying.

2nd Lieutenant R Wade of the Royal West Kent Regiment was, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 25 July 1917, invalided home from Flanders in 1916 suffering from severe heart trouble.

Lieutenant Wade lived at Trethewy, 7 Glamorgan Rd, Hampton Wick with his mother, Mabel Frederica Wade, who remained at the property until 1923. At the date of the 1911 Census his then 56 year old widowed mother who had been born in High Roding in Essex, was living at the property with four of her five children including Ralph Wade. The Census form includes the following children as residents: Stephen Dallas Allan Wade (29), an actor born in Stainforth, Yorkshire; Charles Reginald Bligh Wade (27), a journalist; Arthur Wade (23), an office assistant for an East India Merchant and Ralph Wade (21) who was an insurance clerk. The three younger boys were all stated to have been born in South Molton, Devon and all the sons living at the property were unmarried.

Lieutenant Wade’s father, Rev Stephen Wade, had been the vicar at Weare Gifford in Devon from 1891 until 1904 and originally came from Boscastle in Cornwall. He was buried in the Churchyard in Weare Gifford where he was ultimately to be joined by his widow when she died in 1929 and their second son, Charles Reginald Bligh Wade on his death in 1937.

The eldest son of the family, Stephen Dallas Allan Wade (but known just as “Allan Wade”), was a prominent actor and producer. Thanks to his obituary in The Times dated 15 July 1955, we know a lot about his career. Educated at Blundell’s School, then known as Tiverton Grammar School, the alma mater of RD Blackmore, famous Teddington resident and author of Lorna Doone, in 1904 he joined FR Benson’s Company. Benson was a prominent actor and founder of a school of acting. Then from 1906 until 1915 he acted as Granville Barker’s secretarial assistant and play reader. Granville Barker was a major figure of Edwardian and inter-war British theatre. He was a playwright on controversial often banned subjects, The Voysey Inheritance being his most famous work, as well as the producer of many of George Bernard Shaw’s new works.

Allan Wade continued to act and described himself as an “actor” in the 1911 Census but, increasingly, he moved onto direction, producing 14 plays for the Incorporated Stage Society, which put on new plays, including RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End in 1928 although no direct link between Wade and his fellow Hampton Wick resident, Sherriff, has been established.

Allan Wade was one of the 4 founders of the Phoenix Society in 1919 which was an off-shoot of the Incorporated Stage Society devoted to Elizabethan, Jacobean & Restoration drama. He also translated plays by Giraudoux and Cocteau into English. Allan Wade is most famous today as the editor of WB Yeats’ works. He was a friend of the poet, compiling a bibliography of his works and publishing the standard collection of his letters. In his spare time he collected the “fugitive” works of his favourite living authors, Yeats, Henry James, Joseph Conrad and Max Beerbohm- hunting out their anonymous pieces in periodicals. At the time of his death in 1955 he was in the process of collecting and editing the letters of Oscar Wilde.

2nd Lt Ralph Wade appears to have been the youngest son of the family. According to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 5 May 1915 he had originally enlisted in the Artist’s Rifles just after the outbreak of the war. He then obtained a commission in the Royal West Kent (Queen’s Own) Regiment. By May 1915 he was stationed in Chatham with his regiment when he had a motorcycle accident.

According to The Surrey Comet’s 1917 article, following his initial injuries received in 1916 he had suffered a “somewhat serious relapse” in July 1917 accompanied by a nervous breakdown and was by 25 July 1917 undergoing treatment “at the hands of specialists in a Military Nerve Hospital in London” where his progress was said to be “satisfactory”. It appears that Lt Wade was suffering from shell shock now known as post traumatic shock disorder.

By February 1918 Lt Wade had recovered sufficiently, according to a report dated 23 February 1918 in The Surrey Comet, to get married at St Peter’s, Norbiton to Doris Stella ?Burrows of Ramsgate whom he might have met whilst he was stationed in Kent or perhaps at the nearby military hospital in Norbiton. His older brother, Lt Arthur Wade of the Somerset Light infantry, was his best man.

Captain John Charles Ashford Caunter of the Welsh Regiment attached to the Royal Flying Corps was killed on 28 October 1917 during the Third battle of Ypres commonly known as Passchendaele. He is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial.

According to research carried out by Bob Sherneld and published on the roll of honour pages of the “old ashburton” website, Captain Caunter had been born and baptised in Radyr, Glamorganshire in 1897. He was the only son of Brigadier General James Eales Caunter C.B., C.B.E who had been born in India in 1859 and Kate Caunter, born in Alnwick, Northumberland in 1866. Captain Caunter’s grandfather had lived in Ashburton. Captain Caunter had two older sisters both born in Bermuda: Grace in 1891 and Catherine in 1892.

The 1901 Census records the family living at 6 Terrace, Frimley, York Town, Surrey and Captain Caunter’s father serving as a Major with the Lancashire Regiment. At some point after this (but before 1914, when the family’s address appears to have been given as 26 Nicholas St, Chester) the family must have moved to Hampton Wick
as, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 1 December 1917, he had formerly lived in Hampton Wick and played for the Hampton Wick Cricket Club of which he was “one of the best all round members”. Captain Caunter had, according to the report, been educated at Gate House School, Kingston before moving onto Malvern College.

Captain Caunter attended Malvern College from 1912 until 1914 where he was described as “a boy of more than average merit, a promising bowler and a good shot”. He left the school earlier than he had intended due to the outbreak of the War in order to attend Sandhurst. He then joined the 1st Battalion of his father’s old Regiment-the Welch (old spelling)- as a 2nd Lieutenant on 23 December 1914.

We have extensive details of Captain Caunter’s military career from his Service Record (WO 339/3550) held by the National Archhives which Bob Sherneld has studied and listed in the “old ashburton” website.

In January 1915 the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Regiment (part of the 28th Division)was sent to the Western Front. However 2nd Lieutenant Caunter did not join his Regiment in France but, instead appears to have remained in England where he was promoted to Lieutenant,(with the promotion published in the London Gazette on 23 June 1915). He rejoined his Regiment on 8 October 1915. A week later the 28th Division embarked at Marseilles on HMT Shropshire for Alexandria. After a few weeks in Egypt, the 28th Division embarked again on 21 November 1915 on HMT Manitou for Salonica arriving four days later.

There was initially very little action for the 28th Division at Salonica as they had arrived too late to assist the Greek army. There was some action at Lake Dorian but thereafter only the occasional air raid. The first few months of 1916 were largely spent digging trenches and preparing defences but by the summer of 1916 the British troops, reinforced by Russian, Serbian and Italian forces began to see more action.

On 26 November 1916 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (“RFC”). He travelled on the HMT Kingstonian from Salonica to Alexandria arriving on 29 November 1916. The purpose of his journey was to attend the No 3 School of Aeronautics at Aboukir which he joined on 3 December 1916 being attached to the 20th Reserve Squadron of the RFC.

After three months’ training, he embarked at Alexandria on 16 March 1917 bound for England. His Service Record does not, apparently, state when he was posted to France. However, there are medical records which show him being admitted to hospitals in France during March, April, May and October 1917 so he must have been sent to France shortly after his arrival in England. He apparently served with both the 60th and also the 56th Squadrons. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet, he had already demonstrated considerable ability as a pilot and promise of greater things to come, when he was shot down over Passchendaele on 28 October 1917. At the date of his death his parents are recorded as living at Elm Bank, St Mary Church, Devon.

We are most grateful to the Malvernian Society for the information on Captain Caunter’s school career and also for his photograph.

Private Edward William Kemp of the East Surrey Regiment, the eldest son of Mr Edward and Mrs Ann Kemp of 38 Wick Rd, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick, died, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 28 April 1917, from his wounds on 9 March 1917 having been admitted to hospital seven days earlier. Wick Road was at this date within the postal district of Hampton Wick. He is buried in Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension.

According to the report, he had enlisted into the 2/6th East Surrey Regiment (Territorial) soon after the outbreak of the war in October 1914, but was transferred in November 1916 to another battalion of the same regiment. He was sent to France in the last week of November 1916. An old boy of St Mark’s School, Teddington,he had been a member of the St Mark’s, Teddington, church choir and troop leader of the 1st South Teddington Scouts. Before enlisting he had been employed by Messrs Ide & Son, Fife Rd, Kingston. His brother was serving in India.

He is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial at St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Private Aubrey T Chapple of the Army Service Corps (“ASC”) Motor Transport died in a military hospital in Fulham on 3 May 1917 after a few days’ illness. According to the records of his old school, he died from “spotted fever” or infective meningitis. He is buried at Weybridge Cemetery.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 19 May 1917, he was the eldest surviving son of Mr JT Chapple of Hampton Wick. According to the records of his old school, he was born on 18 September 1882. He was educated at Bedford Grammar School (Mr Dasent’s House) from 1895 until 1900, he was a keen rower, both at school where he was in the School eight and afterwards as a prominent member of Kingston Rowing Club (“KRC”). He rowed at Henley in the eights crews most years between 1906 & 1913 only missing 1911, as well as in the fours in 1909, 1912 & 1913. He was also Captain of the KRC in 1912 and 1913 and, before that, its Secretary. According to his school records, he was born in Kingston.

His father is recorded as having lived at 6 Cedars Road, Hampton Wick from 1901 until his death. Neither Private Chapple nor his father, John Torrington Chapple, were at the house at the date of the 1911 Census. Only his younger brother, Harold Torrington Chapple (25) who was a metallurgist was present with a visitor, Rose Duplock and her two children. Harold had been born around 1886 in Surbiton.

Private Chapple was a solicitor by profession becoming a partner in his father’s firm in 1908.

When he attested in August 1915 at Somerset House under the Derby Scheme he gave Hampton Wick as place of residence. Called up in September 1916, he joined the ASC for which he drove a lorry. His illness apparently “occasioned deep grief to his family and large circle of friends”. According to his school records he died from “spotted fever” (infective meningitis).He was buried in Weybridge in a family plot alongside his older brother (John Torrington Chapple 1881-7) and mother (1850-1897) with full military honours: the coffin was covered in a Union Jack being and conveyed from the hospital in Fulham to Waterloo Station on the lorry to which he had been attached as a driver and from Weybridge Station to the cemetery it was carried on a gun carriage.

He is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial or the Teddington War memorial. However, as his father (John Torrington Chapple (1852-1917)) died very shortly after Private Chapple in June 1917 there was probably no member of the family left in Hampton Wick to ensure that he was commemorated on the war memorial. We are most grateful to Bedford School for supplying information on Private Chapple and his photograph.

Lance Sergeant Manning of the Royal Fusiliers was, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 8 July 1916, wounded in the Battle of the Somme. He was shot in the leg and by the date of the report was already back in England in the Highland Military Hospital in Liverpool. He was the only son of Mrs Manning of the Council Offices, Hampton Wick. He is not listed in the Commonwealth War Graves Register so, presumably, survived the War.

Private William Douglas Jones of the 9th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment died on 26 September 1915 during the Battle of Loos, only 25 or so days after arriving in France.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 5 May 1917, Private Jones, who was 28, had been born in Hook in about 1887. He lived in 31, Schoolhouse Lane, then in the postal area of Hampton Wick, with his wife, Agnes Dorothy Jones, and their four children. According to his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he had married his wife in 1908 and in 1911 he was working as a carman for building contractors, Pearces Cottages, in Ditton Hill, Surbiton.

Before enlisting on 7 May 1915 he had been employed for some years at the Hampton Court Gas Works. He was sent to France at the very end of August 1915 and within 25 days of arriving was killed in his very first engagement. The exact date of his death is disputed. His obituary gives his date of death as 25 September 1915 whereas his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry gives his date of death as the next day, 26 September 1915. He was initially declared missing in action with his death only being presumed in May 1917.

He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. He is also commemorated both on the war memorial at St Mark’s Church and at Teddington War Memorial and he has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington. One of his friends reported to his family that after Private Jones was initially wounded he was carried back to a first aid tent by two friends but unfortunately all three were subsequently killed when the tent was shelled.

Robert Belchamber, and his brother, Louis Belchamber, are both referred to as being “ in khaki”, i.e. serving in the army, in a report dated 5 February 1918 in The Surrey Comet of their sister’s, Lillie Louise Belchamber’s wedding on 2 February 1918 to Mr William John Chamberlin at St John the Baptist Church, Hampton Wick.

The Parish Church was apparently crowded with “all classes of parishioners” as it was a marriage of two members of “very old Hampton Wick families”. The bride was the eldest daughter of Mr Robert J Belchamber, sub-postmaster and confectioner of 16, High Street, Hampton Wick and the groom was the only son of Mr and Mrs George Chamberlin of Thurlaston,19 Cedar’s Rd, Hampton Wick. The Vicar, Rev AC Kestin, was assisted by Rev AG Ingram, Chaplain at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court as the bridegroom had been a chorister there for many years.

The Belchamber family lived in the sub-post office at 16, High Street, Hampton Wick. At the date of the 1911 Census the family was headed by Mr Robert J Belchamber (53) a widower who had been born in Vauxhall. He describes himself as a baker and confectioner (rather than sub-postmaster). Mr Belchamber had five children including three daughters who were all employed in the business and two sons who were still at school. All the children had been born in Hampton Wick except the eldest, Lillie, who had been born in Teddington. The children are listed as Lillie Louise (21); D (daughter (17); HM (daughter 15) and Robert (13) and Louis (10). The family also had four employees who lived on the premises.

The Chamberlin family lived at Thurlaston, 19 Cedars Road which had been named after the birthplace of Mrs Chamberlin in Leicestershire. At the date of the 1911 Census three generations of the family were living together. The Head of the family was George Charles Chamberlin (48)whose occupation as assistant to the Custodian of Pictures employed by the Board of Works suggests that he was employed at Hampton Court Palace. His wife ? Greta (possibly Meta) was 50 and from Leicestershire. The family had two daughters Greta/Meta (22) a typist for a ?Lift Manufacturer and Olive (20),a teacher and a son William (17) a clerk for the same company as his eldest sister. Also living at 19 Cedars Road were George (Senior) (72), George Charles’s father, who was still working as a carpenter and his second wife (George Charles’s step-mother) (73). The entire family other than the Head of the household’s wife and step-mother (both born in Leicestershire) had been born in Hampton Wick.

Robert Belchamber, and his brother, Louis Belchamber, are both referred to as being “ in khaki”, i.e. serving in the army, in a report dated 5 February 1918 in The Surrey Comet of their sister’s, Lillie Louise Belchamber’s, wedding on 2 February 1918 to Mr William John Chamberlin at St John the Baptist Church, Hampton Wick.

The Parish Church was apparently crowded with “all classes of parishioners” as it was a marriage of two members of “very old Hampton Wick families”. The bride was the eldest daughter of Mr Robert J Belchamber, sub-postmaster and confectioner of High Street, Hampton Wick and the groom was the only son of Mr and Mrs George Chamberlin of Thurlaston,19 Cedar’s Rd, Hampton Wick. The Vicar, Rev AC Kestin, was assisted by Rev AG Ingram, Chaplain at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court as the bridegroom had been a chorister there for many years.

The Belchamber family lived in the sub-post office at 16, High Street, Hampton Wick. At the date of the 1911 Census the family was headed by Mr Robert J Belchamber (53) a widower who had been born in Vauxhall. He describes himself as a baker and confectioner (rather than sub-postmaster). Mr Belchamber had five children including three daughters who were all employed in the business and two sons who were still at school. All the children had been born in Hampton Wick except the eldest, Lillie, who had been born in Teddington. The children are listed as Lillie Louise (21); D (daughter (17); HM (daughter 15) and Robert (13) and Louis (10). The family also had four employees who lived on the premises.

Private S T Abnett of the 4th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment died of wounds received in action on April 24 1917. He is buried at the Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery.

The third son of Mr & Mrs Abnett of Hampton Court, he was born in 1897 and an old boy of the Hampton Wick Endowed School. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 9 June 1917, he was “an enthusiastic member of the Hampton branch of the Church Lads’ Brigade in which he won a silver cup and many medals.” Before enlisting in October 1915, he had been employed at the Hampton Court Post Office and subsequently by the Hampton Court Gas Company.

He was sent to France on 28 March 1917 and had not been there a month when he was fatally wounded.

His eldest brother, Sergeant RH Abnett, also of the Middlesex Regiment, had already been killed in action on 16 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. His younger brother was, according to Private Abnett’s obituary, serving in the Royal Navy. His brother has an entry on the “Others who fell” section of this website.

Sergeant Richard Henry Abnett of the Middlesex Regiment died on 16 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme (although his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 11 November 1916 records the date of his death as 19 September 1916). He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

He was the eldest son of Mr & Mrs Abnett of the Cloisters, Hampton Court. Subsequently, by the time of the death of his younger brother, Private Sidney T Abnett, in 1917 his mother, Ellen Abnett, had moved to 7 Royal Mews, The Green, Hampton Court. Ellen was living in the grace and favour apartment as she was the widow of Thomas Robert Abnett who had been the Keeper of the Queen’s Swans from 1893 until his death. Thomas Abnett presumably died between November 1916 and 24 April 1917 when the obituary of Sergeant Abnett’s younger brother refers to her as a widow. He was the eldest brother of Private Sidney T Abnett of the Middlesex Regiment who died on April 24 1917 and also of at least one other younger brother who at the time of Private Abnett’s death was serving in the Royal Navy.

According to his obituary, Sergeant Richard Abnett had worked, in an unspecified capacity during his youth for Mr Hicks-Beach at Cranham House, Hampton. He had been a member of the Hampton Company of the Church Lads’ Brigade for more than seven years and held the rank of staff-sergeant, twice winning the annual silver cup for long service in the brigade. Prior to enlisting at the outbreak of war in September 1914 he had been an agent for the Pearl Assurance Company.

In February 1915 he was sent first to Gibraltar and subsequently to Egypt where he was promoted to sergeant.

Sergeant Abnett’s brother, Private ST Abnett, also has an entry on the “Others who fell” section of this online memorial.

Sergeant A.E Payne of the Machine Gun Company, Canadian Contingent, was killed in action in France on 5 October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial.

Born in Shoreditch , Middlesex, on 26 March 1890 he was the second son of Mr S & Mrs Edith Ann Payne of 56, Bushy Park Rd, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick. Sergeant Payne was an old boy of Hampton Wick Endowed School and after leaving school had been employed at the Army & Navy Stores, London for about two years, according to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 11 November 1916. Subsequently, he served for a period on H.M.S Britannia.

He emigrated to Canada in 1909 where he joined the City of Winnipeg Police. On 20 May 1915 he enlisted in the 43rd Cameron Highlanders of Canada and afterwards came to England with his regiment. From his Canadian Attestation Papers we have a physical description of him. He was tall (almost six foot) with a 44 inch chest. He had fair hair and grey eyes. He was sent to France in February 1916. After taking part in the Battle of the Somme in Ypres he was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to the Machine Gun Company of his regiment.

His Company Commander wrote the following to Sergeant Payne’s parents:
“I have worked with Sergeant Payne when he was a Private, and from that time until he was promoted Sergeant he was a man whom I could trust implicitly. Once instructions were given him one need not bother about the work being done. He was killed instantly at his post of duty by his officer’s side. In closing I would convey to you the deepest sympathy of the entire company officers and men.”

According to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 4 August 1917, his parents were subsequently, in summer 1917, presented at an investiture at Aldershot with the Military Medal which their son had been posthumously awarded for bravery in the field.

Sergeant Payne’s father was, according to the obituary, himself a retired former police constable of the T Division in which he had served for 9 years at Teddington. In retirement he had, since 1904, been employed as the gatekeeper at the East Front entrance of Hampton Court Palace. Sergeant Payne had two other brothers serving in the army: one in France, the other in India.

Sergeant Payne is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He is also commemorated in the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance and on a plaque formerly in the Winnipeg Police Academy and now moved to the Winnipeg Police Museum, commemorating Winnipeg’s police officers who lost their lives in World War 1. He also has an entry in the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Sergeant Landsell of the Army Service Corps wrote a letter home to Hampton Wick which was reported in The Surrey Comet on 26 September 1917 about his service in the Middle Eastern campaigns.

He was, according to the report, a member of the Choir of the Parish Church. He said that he had stayed in many small villages before “going to the business end of the outing”. He had been sent originally to Salonica but was at the date of the letter in Egypt visiting the pyramids. The climate was not to Sergeant Landsell’s liking. He comments that during most of the day he is “bathed in perspiration” and adds that he would “give something for a look at the Thames”.

We learn more about his service history from another report in The Surrey Comet dated 9 March 1918. From the report we learn that Sergeant Landsell (whose initials are now given as AV which don’t fit the name Percy cited in the earlier report) must have enlisted in the army in about September 1915. He wrote an account of his travels to his former teacher at the Hampton Wick Endowed School, Mr W.H. Thau. He was at the date of his letter serving in Palestine where he had been involved in several “scraps” as well as undertaking some sightseeing trips to the sites of the Holy Land including the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives and the Via Dolorosa. He explained that the troops were only allowed to visit Jerusalem with special passes and were not allowed to inspect the interior of any sacred building.

Captain the Honourable WJM Watson-Armstrong of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers married Miss Zaida Cecile Drummond-Wolff on 7 October 1917 at St John the Baptist’s Church, Hampton Wick in what the report in The Surrey Comet dated 31 October 1917 described as a “fashionable wedding”.

Captain Watson-Armstrong born on 18 October 1892 at Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland was the heir presumptive to the Cragside and Rothbury Castle estates acquired by the Tyneside arms manufacturer and industrialist Lord Armstrong. He had been educated at Eton College (1906-11) and thereafter (1911-14) at Trinity College, Cambridge. On 26 February 1913 (whilst still a student at Cambridge) he became a 2nd Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers which was a territorial regiment based at Alnwick Castle of which the Duke of Northumberland was the Honorary Colonel.

In April 1915 his Battalion, according to a report dated 7 May 1915 in the Morpeth Herald, after many months of training in the North-East, was finally sent to France to try to stem the German attack in Ypres. Watson-Armstrong, now a full Lieutenant, was amongst the many casualties suffered by his Territorial Battalion at the Battle of St Julien at the end of April. Severely wounded it may have been at this point that he was Mentioned in Despatches. The losses of the Battalion were so great that the local paper, the Morpeth Herald, had to appeal for more volunteers to replace the second line troops which had immediately been despatched to France to fill the gaps.

A supplement to the London Gazette dated 16 October 1916 reports his promotion to Captain with effect from 7 October 1916 -although he was given precedence from 15 August 1915 meaning he would be superior to Captains promoted before him.

Zaida Cecile Drummond Wolff born on 27 October 1896 was the daughter of Cecil Drummond Wolff of Caplanne Buliere, Pau, France, who was living in 1917 in The Thatched Cottage, Hampton Wick. Miss Drummond Wolff’s grandfather had been an ambassador in Madrid.

Before their wedding, according to the Surrey Comet’s report dated 31 October 1917, the bride had been nursing at Percy House, Isleworth Hospital. This may have been where the couple was introduced after Watson-Armstrong was injured in France. The Isleworth Hospital (now the West Middlesex) adjoined Syon House (the seat of the Duke of Northumberland who Watson-Armstrong would probably have known given he was the Colonel of his regiment and another prominent landowner in the North-East). In fact, there was an auxiliary hospital in the stables of Syon House which was staffed by VAD nurses to treat convalescent patients.

After the war, Captain Watson-Armstrong stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for Berwick-on-Tweed in the 1918 General Election. The couple had just one son, William Henry Cecil John Robin Watson-Armstrong, in 1919. Captain Watson-Armstrong moved to Canada where he lived for twenty years and served as the Canadian Consul-General to Siam. Upon his father’s death in 1941 he became 2nd Baron Armstrong and inherited the family estates and returned to the country post-war. The couple had a long marriage and a portrait of them in their robes for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 is held by the National Portrait Gallery. Captain Watson-Armstrong died in 1972 and his wife six years later. The title and estates were inherited on his death by their son who transferred Cragside to the National Trust in lieu of death duties but when he died in 1987 without male issue of the blood the title became extinct again.

Saddler QM Sergeant FJ Sapeworth of the Royal Field Artillery featured in an article in The Surrey Comet on 13 January 1917 to demonstrate the desperate need for men to serve in the army.

According to the report, Sergeant Sapeworth of Hampton Wick was an ex-soldier who had served in the Boer War. He had ben discharged from the army with a pension in 1908 and at the outbreak of war was employed by the Hampton Court Gas Company. He re-enlisted in 1914 and served with a battery in France for eighteen months before being sent home on sick leave. By January 1917, he was stationed in Yorkshire on home service. He also had two sons serving with the Canadian forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Stroud Jerome was born in Alverstoke, Gosport, Hampshire on 28 April 1849.

Thomas Stroud Jerome ISO, FSI had a distinguished career as a surveyor on the staff of the Royal Engineer Services reaching the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 1 April 1907 (source- The London Gazette 16 June 1908) in the Royal Engineer Services with the grand sounding title of Chief Inspector of Works a position from which he retired just prior to the outbreak of the War on 29 April 1914 (source- London Gazette 19 May 1914). He had been responsible for designing the magnificent Military Headquarters Building at Aldershot, the foundation stone of which had been laid by the Duke of Connaught on 28 March 1894. Although, this Grade II listed building is no longer in use by the army, a street in the redevelopment has been named after Colonel Jerome to maintain the link with the architect of the HQ building.

Colonel Jerome was apparently already a resident of Hampton Wick with his two granddaughters by 1901. By the outbreak of war he was living at Olaves, 18 Glamorgan Road, Hampton Wick. According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 14 April 1917, when war broke out he returned to service but died on 1 April 1917. According to the report of his funeral, Lieutenant Colonel Jerome had been working at the War Office under General Rock where he had been mentioned in despatches for his valuable services.

Colonel Jerome was buried on 7 April 1917 in Kingston cemetery. His family remained residents of the house in Glamorgan Road until 1956 with his granddaughters living locally until their deaths in the nineteen eighties.

Sergeant James Gully of the Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps (The Tanks) of 37 Wick Road, at this period located within the postal district of Hampton Wick, was, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 2 June 1917, awarded a bar in 1917 to his Military Medal (“MM”) which he had won at Ypres.

It was awarded for good service with a tank in which he was the first driver during the attack at Bullecourt on 3 May 1917. In addition to the bar to his MM, he was awarded a parchment recording his act with his name embellished in gold together with the name of the service to which he was attached and a sketch of a tank. the certificate also bore the following message from “an officer of high rank”:

“ I have read with interest the reports of your commanding officer on your soldierly conduct on 3rd May 1917 at Bullencourt. This reflects well on yourself and the good name of the Heavy Branch.”

Prior to enlisting in January 1915, Sergeant Gully had been a grocer in Wick Road. The death of his brother who was killed early in the war while serving in the Royal Field Artillery encouraged Sergeant James Gully to enlist so that he could, in his own words, “ have a smack at the Germans”. His brother Joseph Thomas Gully has an entry within the “Others who fell” section of this Online War Memorial

Sergeant Gully’s mother also lived in Wick Road, but at number 51. His elder brother, Gunner Joseph Thomas Gully, has an entry on this on-line memorial under “Others who fell”.

Major Gordon Cecil Kennard of the Royal Engineers was a former resident of Hampton Wick who had lived in the village for 24 years. He had been born at the Thatched Cottage on Sandy Lane and was, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 16 January 1918, awarded a Military Cross. His mother and sister were living in Houston but his eldest sister had died just before Christmas 1917. They had all been members of the Skiff Club.

In the previous year, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 13 January 1917, Major Kenanrd had already been mentioned in despatches.

Lieutenant Arthur Wade was serving in the Somerset Light Infantry at the date of the wedding of his brother, Lt Ralph Wade (who is also included in the “survivors” section of this on-line memorial)in February 1918, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 23 February 1918.

Lieutenant Wade lived at Trethewy, 7 Glamorgan Rd, Hampton Wick with his mother, Mabel Frederica Wade, who remained at the property until 1923. At the date of the 1911 Census his then 56 year old widowed mother who had been born in High Roding in Essex, was living at the property with four of her five children including Arthur Wade. The Census form includes the following children as residents: Stephen Dallas Allan Wade (29), an actor born in Stainforth, Yorkshire; Charles Reginald Bligh Wade (27), a journalist; Arthur Wade (23), an office assistant for an East India Merchant and Ralph Wade (21) who was an insurance clerk. The three younger boys were all stated to have been born in South Molton, Devon and all the sons living at the property were unmarried.

Lieutenant Wade’s father, Rev Stephen Wade, had been the vicar at Weare Gifford in Devon from 1891 until 1904 and originally came from Boscastle in Cornwall. He was buried in the Churchyard in Weare Gifford where he was ultimately to be joined by his widow when she died in 1929 and their second son, Charles Reginald Bligh Wade on his death in 1937.

The eldest son of the family, Stephen Dallas Allan Wade (but known just as “Allan Wade”), was a prominent actor and producer. Thanks to his obituary in The Times dated 15 July 1955, we know a lot about his career. Educated at Blundell’s School, then known as Tiverton Grammar School, the alma mater of RD Blackmore, famous Teddington resident and author of Lorna Doone, in 1904 he joined FR Benson’s Company. Benson was a prominent actor and founder of a school of acting. Then
from 1906 until 1915 he acted as Granville Barker’s secretarial assistant and play reader. Granville Barker was a major figure of Edwardian and inter-war British theatre. He was a playwright on controversial often banned subjects, The Voysey Inheritance being his most famous work, as well as the producer of many of George Bernard Shaw’s new works.

Allan Wade continued to act and described himself as an “actor” in the 1911 Census but, increasingly, he moved onto direction, producing 14 plays for the Incorporated Stage Society, which put on new plays, including RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End in 1928 although no direct link between Wade and his fellow Hampton Wick resident, Sherriff, has been established.

Allan Wade was one of the 4 founders of the Phoenix Society in 1919 which was an off-shoot of the Incorporated Stage Society devoted to Elizabethan, Jacobean & Restoration drama. He also translated plays by Giraudoux and Cocteau into English. Allan Wade is most famous today as the editor of WB Yeats’ works. He was a friend of the poet, compiling a bibliography of his works and publishing the standard collection of his letters. In his spare time he collected the “fugitive” works of his favourite living authors, Yeats, Henry James, Joseph Conrad and Max Beerbohm- hunting out their anonymous pieces in periodicals. At the time of his death in 1955 he was in the process of collecting and editing the letters of Oscar Wilde.

Before the war Lieutenant Arthur Wade worked as a clerk for an East India Merchant, nothing has been discovered about his postwar career.

Company Sergeant Major Fairey of the 10th Royal Fusiliers (formerly of the East Surrey Regiment) was awarded a Military Medal in 1918 for gallantry and devotion to duty during severe fighting in France, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 5 October 1918.

Company Sergeant Major Fairey was the eldest son of a Mr Joseph Henry Fairey who from at least 1885 until 1915 had a watch making business at various sites on High Street, Hampton Wick. At the date of the 1911 Census Joseph Henry Fairey was still employed (aged 80) as a watch and clock maker. He lived at 20 High Street, Hampton Wick with his wife, Elizabeth Fairey (70) and daughter Elizabeth Janet Fairey (26). His daughter worked as a bookmaker at a dairy. The couple had been married for 37 years and had produced 4 children-all of whom had survived. Joseph Fairey had been born in St George’s, East London and his wife in Islington, but their daughter was born in Hampton Wick which means that the couple must have lived in the village at least since 1885.

The earlier Censuses tell us more about the family and their movements. In 1881 the family were living in 14 Fairfax Cottages, Wick Road. The move must have been fairly recent as the birthplace of both their children was Shoreditch:4 year old Henry W born about 1876, and their daughter, Francis aged 2 who must have been born about 1889. By the time of the next Census in 1891 the Fairey family was living at 15 High St, Hampton Wick. Henry had started work as a Grocer’s assistant and his sister, Francis, had already left home perhaps to make way for the two younger children. Joseph B (9) had been born in South Teddington, possibly at the Wick Road property, so the family must only have moved onto the High Street (and “proper” Hampton Wick) some time after 1882 but before the birth of their youngest child, Elizabeth (6) who had been born in about 1885 in Hampton Wick.

In 1901 the Census gives their address on the High Street as “Watchmaker’s Shop”. Henry had moved out of the family home and the younger children were now both working: Joseph, 19, was working as a farrier in South Teddington and his sister, Elizabeth (16) for their father.

It would appear that both Fairey sons became blacksmiths. In 1911 Henry William Fairey (35) was living at 9 High Street, Hampton Wick with his wife Agnes Helen (also 35) and their two children, Agnes Nellie (9) and Cyril Henry (1) both of whom had been born in Kingston on Thames. Henry William was working as a General Smith. Meanwhile, his brother, Joseph BJ Fairey, was living at 95 Richmond Park Road, Kingston with his wife Kate (31) and their three children : Benjamin (5); Thomas (2) and Reginald (1). Joseph was working as a shoeing smith.

It is not clear when Company Sergeant Major Fairey enlisted, as his service record does not survive. It is possible to piece together something of his rather complicated service history from his Medal Rolls. He appears to have originally enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment with service number 240852 reaching the rank of Warrant Officer Class II by 30 May 1918. Between 31 May 1918 and 25 October 1918 he was transferred to the Royal Fusiliers at the same rank but under service number 279336. Thereafter, he was transferred again to the 3rd City of London Battalion (Royal Fusiliers) keeping the same service number. Finally, when the war was over he re-enlisted on 2 November 1920 for a further year in the East Surrey Regiment under service number 6134810. By 1920 his family, which still consisted of his wife, Agnes, and their two children, had moved out of Hampton Wick to 8 Chesnut Rd, Kingston. In addition to his Military Medal, Company Sergeant Major Fairey was also entitled to the Silver War Badge which suggests he was at some point discharged honourably having been wounded.

Company Sergeant Major Fairey survived his post war service with the East Surreys and lived at least until 1939 when he appears on the pre-war register in Kingston with his wife Agnes. His occupation is given as a heavy blacksmith so, presumably, he was still working aged 63.

Private John Dowson Brooks of the Army Service Corps was killed in an accident whilst on active service in France on 13 February 1918. He is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

Born around September 1878 at Brentford, Middlesex, he was the son of the eponymous, John Dowson Brooks (1850-1933), and Mary Ann Brooks (nee Hughes 1852-1900). Prior to enlisting on 3 May 1915, he had been employed for the previous 10 years as the coachman, and then chauffeur. of Dr P Langdon-Down JP who ran Normansfield Hospital and who lived at Dixland, Kingston Road. Private Brooks lived nearby with his wife, Florence Christine Brooks (nee Fletcher) and son at 12 Lindum Road, (off Wick Road) which was then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. He is described in his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 2 March 1918 as “of an amiable and cheerful disposition”, “much respected” and “so well known” in South Teddington and Hampton Wick.

Within a week of his enlistment he was drafted to France as a motor transport diver as part of the 8th Division Supply Column. No details of the accident are given in the report of his death.

He is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and in the war memorial in St Mark’s, Teddington and we are grateful for the biographical details of Private Brooks from his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Joseph William Davies, the elder brother of Private Herbert Davies who is also included on the “survivors” section of this Online memorial, was serving in the Army Service Corps in 1918 according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 27 April 1918 of injuries received by Private Herbert Davies.

The Davies family had lived at 42 Park Road, Hampton Wick since 1909. At the time of the 1911 Census the family comprised: Joseph Davies’s parents; Joseph William Davies (17), a furniture assistant; his sister Elizabeth Davies (16); a younger brother, Herbert (15), an errand boy and his younger sister Florence Davies (12) who was still at school. All the children had been born in Hampton Wick so the family had lived in the village at least since 1894. His parents had both been born in Kingston upon Thames. They had been married 19 years in 1911- having lost two of their children. They may have moved to Hampton Wick shortly after their marriage.

Private Clement Ernest Slatter of the Royal Fusiliers was killed by gas poisoning in France on 5 April 1918. According to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 25 May 1918, his body was found in No Man’s Land a month later on 4 May by a patrol party of the 1st Essex. He was the elder son of Mr William Joseph & Mrs Ada Mercy Slatter of 62 Wick Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick. He is buried at Gommecourt British Cemetery No 2.

An old boy of St Mark’s School, Teddington, he was also a member of St Mark’s Church Lads’ Brigade. After he left school he worked as an electrician for the firm of Charles Mackintosh and Co. He volunteered under the Derby Scheme in November 1915. His younger brother, Private Sydney Claud Slatter, was serving at the date of Private Clement Slatter’s death, in the Army Service Corps (Motor Transport) in England.

He is commemorated on Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

He is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but is listed on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s, Teddington and has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

2nd Lieutenant PA Symmons of the Tanks Corps was awarded the Military Cross in the summer of 1918, according to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 3 August 1918 which prints the official citation for its award. He was the son of Mr J Symmons of Lincoln Lodge, Sandy Lane, Hampton Wick. His father was a prominent member of the Hampton Wick Urban District Council.

The grounds for awarding the decoration are stated to be the following:

“His Tank was being heavily fired upon by enemy machine guns, the position of which could not be located. By exposing himself fearlessly to the enemy’s fire he was able to locate and put out of action four enemy machine guns. He then located the position of an enemy ?battery which was firing on his Tank, and advancing on it silenced the battery and blew up an ammunition dump. He set a splendid example of determination and coolness to his men.”

He attended St Paul’s Convent School in Hampton Wick and then, from 1908 until the end of 1911, Kingston Grammar School (“KGS”). After leaving KGS with a modest pass in Cambridge Prelims he apparently was sent by his father, a retired merchant, to France to learn the language. We are very grateful to the archivist at KGS for supplying these details of his school career.

.

According to the report in The Surrey Comet dated 25 May 1918, Sergeant Firmston of the Royal Fusiliers was originally reported wounded and missing between 11 and 13 April. He had enlisted in the army in November 1914 shortly after the outbreak of war. Before enlisting he had been employed as a gardener, firstly by Mr Pullman of St Helen’s, Hampton Wick and thereafter at Staines.

The Surrey Comet outlines his service career. In 1915 he served in the Dardanelles campaign during which he apparently almost froze to death. During the evacuation from the Gallipoli Peninsular he was wounded by shrapnel in several places.

After Gallipoli he served in France on the Western Front where he endured many hardships. The Surrey Comet reports that “he almost died of exhaustion on one occasion, being found just in time.” He was shot through the knee at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 and was sent home for treatment at a hospital in Manchester. When he had recovered he was sent back to France in March 1918 just in time to be killed during the last great German offensive.

A subsequent report in The Surrey Comet dated 8 June 1918 quoted extensively from a letter received by Sergeant Firmston’s mother from 2nd Lieutenant Pearson who was with Sergeant Firmston at the time he was wounded. He explains that her son was his Acting Company Sergeant Major and that they were “heavily pressed”. Apparently there was a deep stream behind them so that when Sergeant Firmston was hit by the machine gun he fell back into the water. Lieutenant Pearson climbed into the stream and ordered two men to help him lift him as he was a dead weight so that it took all three of them to lift him out of the stream.

Roderick M J Greig of the 2nd Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company was killed in action on 3 May 1917 at Bullecourt, France. He is described as the son of John & Charlotte Grieg on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission (“CWGC”) entry. He is buried at Tilloy British Cemetery.

He was born around 1882 in Dartford Kent, according to his CWGC entry. His attestation form records that he enlisted in Kingston on 25 September 1916. He was unmarried and his occupation was stated to be a coal merchant. His address on the form is a little illegible but could be either 28 Knights Park, Kingston or possibly 28 Kingston Park. His Casualty Form B103 reveals that he embarked for France from Southampton on 24 December 1916 arriving on Christmas Day. He was originally declared “missing” but was officially presumed dead on 8 May 1918.

According to a report dated 8 May 1918 in The Surrey Comet, a memorial service was held at the Baptist Mission Church in Hampton Wick on the anniversary of his death in May 1918. At the service a tablet of white marble to his memory was unveiled at the Church by his family. Private Greig had been a keen worker in connection with the Kingston (Union street) Baptist Church and its Hampton Wick mission for almost twenty years. He had been the secretary and the organist at the Hampton Wick Mission before he enlisted. Apparently he also had been interested in the social and athletic side of the work making a wide circle of friends from his role as secretary of the Kingston Adult School Social Club. He had also been a special constable.

Private Jack Belcham of the Royal Marines attracted considerable press coverage as a result of his participation in the daring raid on Zeebrugge on 22 April 1918 not least because prior to enlisting he had been employed in the printing department of The Surrey Comet.

The Belcham family lived at 2 Cecilia Cottages, 39 Park Road, Hampton Wick from 1909 until 1930. At the date of the 1911 Census the family comprised Private Belcham’s parents, George (46) employed by a brewer and Sarah (49), who had been married for 20 years and their three children: George Edward (13); John (presumably known as “Jack”) (11) and Dorothy Beatrice (8). All the children, as well as their father, had been born in Hampton Wick.

One article in The Surrey Comet dated 1 May 1918 entitled “A Zeebrugge Hero” explained that Private Belcham, the second son of Mr and Mrs Belcham of 39, Park Road, Hampton Wick had experienced a miraculous escape. A piece of shrapnel had struck him in the groin but was prevented from entering his body by the cigarette case which had been given to him by his sister. Apparently two pieces of shrapnel had passed through the lid of the case, which was in his trouser pocket, but had failed to penetrate further.

He was, however, subjected to a heavy blow with the butt end of a German’s rifle to his left arm which had paralysed it. His doctors were optimistic that electric massage of the arm would restore its use within a few weeks and he was on hospital leave.

A subsequent article in The Surrey Comet dated 14 September 1918 entitled “Young Zeebrugge Hero Honoured” covered the presentation of a replacement cigarette case to Private Belcham at the printing works of Messrs Knapp, Drewett & Sons Ltd, Kingston. Private Belcham had been serving his apprenticeship at this firm when he joined the Marines on 2 August 1916. The article repeated the circumstances of how the case had saved Private Belcham from injury and reported that the injuries to his arm suffered from the German rifle butt had healed.

The presentation was made by Mr JA Drewett in the presence of a large crowd of the printing staff. Mr Drewett made a speech expressing the firm’s pride that one of their staff had been able to volunteer for a service such as the Zeebrugge raid and congratulated him and his family on his lucky escape. As a memento they gave him a silver replacement cigarette case inscribed with “Presented to Pte JC Belcham RMLI by the firm and staff of Kanpp, Drewett & Sons, Ltd, Kingston-on Thames, in honour of being one of the heroes of Zeebrugge. 1918”. The case contained what Mr Drewett described as “a bit of paper” which would purchase something to fill the case and which further testified to their good wishes for the future.Private Belcham was heartily cheered and made a brief speech.

Jack Belcham had originally tried to enlist in the East Surrey Regiment in August 1915 claiming to be 19 when he was, in fact at least 3 or 4 years younger and only 5 feet 4 inches. He was discharged after three weeks when his real age was revealed. Undeterred he appears to have joined up the following year. This time, on 28 August 1916, he enlisted into the Royal Marines Light Infantry Chatham Division. It is not clear whether the date of birth he gave on enlistment, 11 August 1899, is correct. He may have made himself a year older to be able to enlist- which seems likely given his age given in the 1911 Census.

Lance Corporal John Robert Port Mew of the Middlesex Regiment left Kingston Grammar School on 1 June 1918 and shortly afterwards joined the Middlesex Regiment.

He was born on 5 June 1900 His father, Mr John T Mew, was the Headmaster of the Hampton Wick Endowed School for Boys and had served as Hampton Wick’s Food Controller in 1917. Lance Corporal Mew had attended his father’s school until September 1914 when he moved to Kingston Grammar School (“KGS”), having won the Hampton Wick Scholarship. He had passed the Cambridge Junior examinations in 1916 and appears to have got a place at University College, London. Nonetheless, the comments on his academic abilities are rather damning: “of average ability, he entered rather late”. He had been a Prefect and a senior sergeant as well as rowing in a four in 1917 and in the hockey team.

We are most grateful to the archivist at KGS for supplying us with a copy of Lance Corporal Mew’s school record.

Lance Corporal Geoffrey Holland Lamb was the youngest of the three sons of William Comley Lamb, the Company Secretary of the Hampton Court Gas Co. The family lived from 1895 until 1930 in Cedar House, 2 Sandy Lane, Hampton Wick. His two older brothers are both included in this on-line memorial. His eldest brother Lieutenant Dudley William Lamb (1893-1918) who was killed in action is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial, whereas his middle brother, Lance Corporal Maurice Comley Lamb (1896-1969), although seriously wounded by a bomb in May 1917, survived the war like his brother, Lance Corporal Geoffrey Holland Lamb and so also has an entry within this “Survivors” Section.

Geoffrey Holland Lamb, like his two older brothers, was born in Hampton Wick. His birthdate was 9 February 1897. His father was a prominent member of the local community serving on Hampton Wick Urban District Council during the busy war years. Like his older brother, Maurice Comley Lamb, Geoffrey Holland Lamb attended Huntingdon House School until 16 September 1909 when he joined Kingston Grammar School (“KGS”) where his academic record appears to have been reasonable. His work is described as “fair” and he passed Cambridge Prelims in 1912; the Junior exams in July 1914 and the Senior exams in July 1915 just before leaving the school on 24 July 1915. His character is described as “fair” and, like his older brother Maurice, he was also a keen hockey player, winning hockey colours in 1913, 1914 and 1915. We are grateful to the archivist at KGS for supplying information on Geoffrey Holland Lamb’s school career.

After leaving school in July 1915, like his brother, Maurice, he joined his father in the office at the Hampton Court Gas Co. Subsequently, like his brother Maurice, he enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company also becoming a Lance Corporal. Nothing further is known about Geoffrey Holland Lamb after his army service ended.

John Hope Fawcett of Walnut Tree House, Lower Teddington Road, Hampton Wick served as a Major during World War One in the Indian Army [and according to the December 1918 issue of the Kingstonian Magazine was awarded a Frontier Medal for his service in India].

John Hope Fawcett was born on 27 June 1892. At the time of his baptism on 6 October 1893 at St Luke’s, Chelsea, his parents were living at 31 Beaufort St. His older sister, Ellen, was christened at the same time aged 5. His father is described as an engineer at the time of their baptism.

By 1901 the family had moved to Richmond, although as their younger son, Henry, who was then 5 had been born in Chiswick, they can only have moved to Richmond sometime after 1896. By 1901 his father had become an architect, or more specifically, an embankment engineer. John Hope attended Richmond County School and then, from May 1903 until 13 May 1910, Kingston Grammar School (“KGS”). He was a sporty boy, being described in his school records as an “exceptional hockey player”. A Prefect, he was also the Captain of Games. However, he did not shine academically. He does not appear to have sat any exams and he is described as “intellectually very inadequate- Languages especially weak”. Oddly for a sportsman he is called “v shy and nervous”. After leaving school he joined his father’s office- his father being an architect.

We are very grateful to KGS for information on his school career.

The 1911 Census entry for the family at Walnut Tree House, Lower Teddington Road, Hampton Wick, which they had occupied since 1904, does give some further information on the family pre-war. In 1911 his parents, Mark and Julia were both 50 and they had been married for 25 years. Both came from Lincolnshire. His father had been born in the city of Lincoln itself. The couple had lost one child and at the date of the Census only four of their remaining five children were at home: their two older daughters, Edith Mary (24) and Helen (22) who both give their occupations as “mother’s help”; John Hope (18) who gives his as “constructional carpenter” and the youngest named daughter, Dorothy (9). All the children had been born in Chelsea except the youngest daughter whose birthplace was Richmond.

The couple must have started their married life in 1886 in Chelsea and then moved to Richmond,via Chiswick,by 1901 and subsequently arrived in Hampton Wick in 1904 shortly after John Hope joined KGS. Mark Fawcett’s older brother, ? Fawcett (58), a Yacht Builder, was living with the family in Walnut Tree House in 1911.

Major Fawcett’s Medal Card states that he initially enlisted in the 1/6 East Surrey Regiment as a Private with service number 2630. His entry on the WW1 Service Medal Rolls provide that his Medals, including his 1915 Star for service in 1915, were to be issued by the Government of India as he had been discharged from the East Surreys to a commission in the Indian Reserve of Officers on 19 May 1915.

The 1939 Register, compiled just before the outbreak of the next war, reveals that at some point after the First World War he married his wife, Barbara whose date of birth was 13 June 1900. The couple had moved into the Regent Square Hotel, St Pancras where they were awaiting Major Fawcett’s recall to arms.

A report in The Surrey Comet dated 16 December 1916 concerns the divorce petition by Arthur Stanley Collins, who, at the date of the case, was a Bandsman in the Army. He was seeking a divorce from his wife, Dorcas Collins, on the grounds that whilst he was working as a gardener for Dr Fearn at Home Park, Hampton Wick she had an affair with Mr Fearn’s chauffeur, their lodger. The divorce was granted and nothing further is known about Arthur Collins’s military career.

According to the obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 15 January 1916 of his son Bandsman Harry Horace Hayes of the Royal Fusiliers, his father, Ernest Nethercoat Hayes formerly a Sergeant instructor with the Royal Fusiliers had re-enlisted with his former regiment. On retirement before he war he had been working as a park constable in Hampton Court. In the 1920s he is described as Captain Hayes so must have been commissioned during his war service.

Private George Francis (Frank) Phillips of the London Regiment died of his wounds on 7 October 1918 at University War Hospital, Southampton. He was the third son of Major and Mrs Phillips of Longfield, 35 Broom Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. He is buried in Teddington Cemetery.

According to his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was born about 1899 in Southsea, Hampshire. His parents were John Henley Shawe Phillips and Charlotte Marie Phillips (nee Taylor). He enlisted at Whitehall whilst living in Teddington joining first the 21st London Regiment as a Private (37431) but was subsequently transferred to the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) (76893) but was posted to 3rd London Regiment at the time he was killed.

He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

His older brother, 2nd Lieut John Harold Montague Phillips, killed on 25 January 1916 also has an entry on this Online War Memorial in the section “Others Who Fell” and on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Both Private George Francis Phillips and 2nd Lieutenant John Harold Montague Phillips are commemorated on a plaque erected in St Paul’s Church, High Street, Culham, Oxfordshire (IWMM 60044) by their father. As his father is referred to as being “of Culham” on the plaque, it would appear that his father had an ancestral link to the village.

His eldest brother, Lieutenant A.H.R Phillips, served in the Army Service Corps. He announced his engagement in The Surrey comet on 3 July 1918 and appears to have survived the war and so has an entry in the “survivors” section of this Online War Memorial.

2nd Lieutenant John Harold Montague Phillips of the 4th (London) Field Company Royal Engineers died in France on 25 January 1916 from wounds received two days before. He is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery.

According to his entry in the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was born early in 1896 in Hammersmith.

He was the second son of Major John Henley Shawe Phillips and Mrs Charlotte Marie Phillips(nee Taylor). At the time of the 1901 Census the family were living at 33 Bridge Avenue, Hammersmith. By the next Census in 1911 they had moved to the River House, St Peters Road, St Margarets , Isleworth and subsequently at the time of 2nd Lieutenant JHP Phillips’ death in 1916 the family’s home was at Longfield, 35 Broom Road, then in the postal area of Hampton Wick.

According to Lt Phillips’ obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 5 February 1916, he had been educated in Malden College. Thereafter from 1913 until 1914 he attended the Camborne Mining School(“CMS”) in Cornwall (according to his entry on the war memorial erected by the CMS) . He had originally enlisted as a Private in the Honourable Artillery Company but subsequently obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers and soon afterwards saw service at the Front. He had returned home on leave in August 1915.

His younger brother, Private George F Phillips died on 12 October 1918, and also has an entry on this Online War Memorial in the “Others who fell” section.

His older brother , Lieutenant AHR Phillips, was serving in the Army Service Corps and announced his engagement in The Surrey Comet on 3 July 1918 and appears to have survived the war so has an entry in the “survivors” section of this website.

Although 2nd Lieutenant John Harold Montague Phillips is not included on the Hampton Wick War Memorial, he is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and on the Camborne Mining School War Memorial at St Martin & St Meriodoc Church, Cornwall. He is also commemorated with his brother on a plaque in St Pauls Church , High Street, Culham, Oxfordshire (IWMM 60044 incorrectly has Oxford). The memorial plaque refers to both sons and to their father as Major John Henley Shand Phillips of Culham House, his father, appears to have family connections with Culham in Oxfordshire.

2nd Lieutenant JHM Phillips also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

According to a report in The Surrey Comet dated 24 June 1916, Leading Seaman Philip L Gunn, son of ex-Chief Petty Officer P J Gunn RN of 209 Kingston Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick, was presented at a special parade at the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham by the Commander-in-Chief with the Distinguished Service Medal, for gallantry in the campaign in Mesopotamia.

Seaman Gunn who had been serving in the East with HMS Clio, took part in the advance up the River Tigris and was attached to General Townsend’s force for several months. The Clio steamed up the river from Kurna to Amara where the shallow waters prevented further progress so he was placed in charge of a steam launch crewed with Indian soldiers to transport two horse boats containing 4.7 guns up the river at the same pace as the land forces. In addition to this, when not actually fighting he had to return in the launch to their previous camp to transport the pontoon bridges by which the army was to cross the river.

When Kut-al-amara was first taken and the fighting was extremely fierce, the horse boats holding the 4.7 guns which had been useful to the troops now became a target for the enemy shelling as they were anchored in mid-stream and attached by ropes to each bank. The guns had to be saved at all costs.

Shells were firing all round the horse boats and “much too close to be comfortable”. Apparently one shell came within 2 feet of the magazine of one of the guns. Something had to be done and done promptly.

Leading Seaman Gunn steamed up to the guns, cut away their moorings and towed them to a place of safety. During this operation his steam launch was only hit once, the shot doing very little damage and causing no casualties.

Leading Seaman Gunn advanced with the troops as far as Azizieh, 30 miles from Baghdad but suffered a bout of malaria and was recalled to his ship before the British retreat to Kut-el- Amara. He recovered in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Before this action he had taken part in the defence of the Suez Canal where his ship, HMS Clio, had been engaged in fighting for a week.

At the date of the report in The Surrey Comet (24 June 1916), Leading Seaman Gunn had recently been home on leave but had returned to duty and the presentation of his medal.

Wheeler Walter Edward Johnson died on 29 September 1918 at the Middlesex County Asylum at Tooting. He was buried with full military honours at Teddington Cemetery.

According to his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was born in Loughton Essex , the son of John and Emily Johnson. By 1891 the family had moved to 1 Maud Villas, Church Road, Teddington but had relocated to Hampton Wick by 1901 when they were living at Eating House, Old Bridge Street. The Johnson family had moved again to 6, High Street, Hampton Wick by 1911 and by 1918 they lived at 25, High Street.

According to his various obituaries in The Surrey Comet dated 5 October 1918 & 9 October 1918, before enlisting he had been employed by the Lyceum Theatre as a stage manager and had been employed for about 13 years as a manager of Walter Melville’s touring companies. He returned from Australia, where he was touring with the Horace Golding Company, in 1916 to voluntarily enlist in the Machine Guns Corps (Cavalry) Royal Field Artillery at Scotton Camp on 17 August 1916.

He served in France for a year and 170 days before “being seized with brain disorder”, presumably shell shock (PTSD). According to his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was discharged on 2 February 1918 as suffering from dementia “no longer physically fit for war service”. His obituary states that he was invalided to England, admitted to the asylum in Tooting where he died on 29 October 1918 of unspecified causes.

Although buried with full military honours, Wheeler Johnson was not commemorated on either the Hampton Wick or Teddington War Memorials perhaps because of the nature of his death. He does an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Gunner Arthur William Berry of the Royal Garrison Artillery (Siege Battery) was killed by a bomb on 25 September 1918. He is buried at Bertincourt Chateau British Cemetery.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 19 October 1918, he was a prominent and well known member of the Hampton Court Palace Gardens staff. He had charge of many of the beds and borders for which the gardens are famous. He is described as being “of a genial and kindly disposition”.

His battery was hit whilst it was being moved into a new position. The bomb which killed Gunner Berry also killed 18 other men. Gunner Berry lived at 49, Hurst Lane, East Molesey where he left a widow, Jane Berry, and “several little children”.

Gunner Berry is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick war Memorial because he lived outside the village but is included on this Online War Memorial as he worked within the Parish of Hampton Wick which includes the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.

According to the obituary of Bandsman Harry Horace Hayes, in The Surrey Comet dated 15 January 1916, his father Ernest Nethercoat Hayes, formerly a Sergeant Instructor with the Royal Fusiliers, had rejoined his old regiment by that date.

Before the War Ernest Nethercoat Hayes, who lived at 10, St John’s Road, Hampton Wick, had been employed as a Park Constable at Hampton Court Palace. He must have been commissioned during the War as in the 1920s he is described as Captain Hayes. He lost two sons in the War, Bandsman Horace Hayes commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial and William Henry Hayes who may have been commemorated on the War Memorial under the name “Frank” Hayes.

Private Herbert Henry Sadler of the 1st/24th Battalion of the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment was killed in action on 2 September 1918. His is buried at Fins New British Cemetery.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 23 November 1918, he was the eldest son of the late Mr Herbert Edwin and Mrs Annie Sadler of 13 Lindum Road, then in the postal area of Hampton Wick. He had attended St Mark’s School, Teddington before joining his father’s employer, the Hampton Court Gas Company. According to his entry in the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he married Elsie Freda Whittingham at St Mary’s Church , Teddington on 26 December 1914.

He volunteered on 27 October 1915, joining the Ordnance Corps on 27 October 1915 (presumably under Service Number G/78948 which is also recorded on his CGWC entry). According to his obituary, after three months’ training, he was sent to Rouen. He was transferred to the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment in 1917.

He left behind a widow and infant son who lived at 16, High Street, Teddington but oddly he was not commemorated on any war memorial in Teddington. He is, however, commemorated on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Lieutenant Albert Henley Robert Phillips of the Army Service Corps was the eldest son of Major and Mrs Phillips of Longfield, 35 Broom Road, Hampton Wick, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick. He announced his engagement in The Surrey Comet on 3 July 1918 and survived the war.

Lieutenant Phillips had three younger brothers. His first brother, 2nd Lieutenant John Harold Montague Phillips, who served with the 4th (London) Field Company Royal Engineers died in France on 25 January 1916. His second brother, Private George Francis Phillips, who served with the London Regiment dated of his wounds on 7 October 1918 at University War Hospital, Southhampton. Both have entries on the “Others who Fell” section of this Online War Memorial as well as entries on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington and are commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial. Another brother, RA Phillips, is mentioned in The Surrey Comet report dated 4 October 1919 of his father’s funeral. RA Phillips was, presumably, too young to have fought. Their father, Major John Henley Shawe Phillips, also served in the first world war and also has an entry in the “Others who fell” section of this Online War Memorial.

Lieutenant Albert Henley Robert Phillips was born in Hastings on 8 July 1894. During the War he served in the Army Service Corps as a Lieutenant. He married Muriel Gertrude Blake at St Anne’s Church, Kew on 4 June 1919. Nothing further is known about him until his death which occurred on 25 February 1981 in Southampton.

According to a casualty list contained in The Surrey Comet dated 2 November 1918, an O Haycock (15807) serving with the East Surrey Regiment who came from Hampton Wick had been wounded. Nothing further is known of this soldier or his connection to Hampton Wick.

According to the obituary of his brother Captain Gerald Charles Mead Cooper in The Surrey Comet dated 30 November 1918, Vivian Cooper was gassed at the Battle of Loos in 1915 and invalided out of the army.

His two brothers are commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial. 2nd Lieutenant Cecil Bernard Cooper was killed in France on 9 August 1917 and Captain Gerald Charles Mead Cooper was died on 21 November 1918 at Crowborough from pneumonia as a result of suffering influenza.

His parents were Thomas C Cooper and Florence L Cooper who moved to Kingston sometime before 1901. They had a millinery business in Kingston. In 1911 they were living at Camborne, Richmond Road, Kingston, although subsequently they moved to Elmhurst, Twickenham Park. By 1918 when Captain Cooper died the family appear to have taken up residence at 9 Glamorgan Road, Hampton Wick.

Nothing further is known about the army service of Vivian Cooper or his career post war.

Major John Henley Shawe Phillips of the Royal Engineers died at his home, Longfield, Broom Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick, on 28 September 1919. He is buried in Teddington Cemetery next to the grave of his youngest son Private George Francis Phillips (who also has an entry within the “Others who fell” section of this Online War Memorial) who died at University War Hospital Southampton in 1918.

Major Phillips was the father of four sons, three of whom served in the War. In addition to Private George Francis Phillips, the family also lost their second son, 2nd Lieutenant John Harold Montague Phillips, in 1916. Their eldest son, Lieutenant AHR Phillips of the Army Service Corps, another son, Mr RA Phillips, and a daughter survived the war.

Clearly connected with the Phillips family of Culham , near Henley, Major Phillips erected a memorial plaque in the local church to the memory of his two sons. His wife, Charlotte Marie Phillips (nee Taylor) came from Bow. Major Phillips was a qualified engineer, an associate of the Institute of Civil Engineering. The family had moved form Hammersmith, where they were based in 1901, to Isleworth by 1911 and finally by 1916 to Broom Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick. The family must have been reasonably well off. Major Phillips had inherited the considerable sum of ten thousand pounds from an uncle in 1899.

According to his obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 4 October 1919, Major Phillips had enjoyed a long career of “meritorious service” and had commanded the Royal Engineers stationed at Gravesend. He had been one of the earliest members of the Electrical Engineering Corps of the Royal Engineers and had served with it throughout the Boer War. He had also been mentioned several times in despatches during the First World War.

He was buried with military honours. His coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was borne to Teddington Cemetery on a gun carriage, attended by outriders of the Royal Army Service Corps. An escort of 50 men of the East Surrey Regiment under 2nd Lieutenant Adcock was present and six NCOs acted as bearers. The service was conducted by the Vicar of Hampton Wick, AC Kestin, and the firing of three volleys preceded the Last Post which was sounded by East Surrey buglers.

According to the 1918 edition of The Kingstonian, 2nd Lieutenant Frank Percy Restall served in the Royal Garrison Artillery and survived the war. He was the younger brother of Lieutenant Kenneth Restall who is commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial.

He was the second son of Walter Tapley Restall OBE and Mrs Edith Jennie Restall of Rothesay, 14 Sandy Lane, Hampton Wick. His father had been born in Kensington c1859. He was a Civil Servant working as the Chief Examiner in the Exchequer and Audit Department and was a Private Secretary to the Comptroller and Auditor General in 1911. By 1913 his father appears to have been working for the War Office. Frank Percy Restall’s mother had been born in Hornsey in about 1867.

Frank’s older brother’s birthplace in 1896 was Stoke Newington where Frank himself was born shortly afterwards on 17 December 1897. In 1903 the family moved to 14 Sandy Lane, Hampton Wick, where, the following year, Frank’s younger brother, Walter Lawrence Restall, joined the family.

Both Frank and his older brother attended Kingston Grammar School (“KGS”) from 1906 and we are grateful to KGS for supplying information on Frank Percy Restall’s school career. Frank had previously attended the Convent School in Hampton Wick. Frank appears to have enjoyed a successful academic career, winning some form of scholarship in 1908 entitling him to a partial remission of fees. He passed the Cambridge Prelims in July 1910 with a distinction in French and the Cambridge Junior exams in July 1911. In 1912 he achieved 2nd Class Honours in the Junior exams and third class honours in the Cambridge Seniors in 1913. In that year he won a Senior Foundation Scholarship to St Paul’s. He left KGS on 29 July 1913 to take up his scholarship at St Paul’s, joining that school in the Autumn term. He is described by KGS as being of “good character and work”.

After leaving St Paul’s in July 1916 he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery with a commission. His older brother, Lieutenant Kenneth Restall, was killed in action on 26 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. However, fortunately his younger brother, Walter Lawrence Restall, was too young to fight in the war.

From 1918-1920 Frank trained at the Central School of Arts and Crafts as an artist. He joined the publicity department of the London Passenger Transport Board (“LPTB”) in 1920 where he produced an iconic series of posters for London Tramways. He remained at the LPTB until 1926 when he left to become the Head of Typography and General Design Department of the Oxford University Press. In 1934 he became the Head of the Printing Department of Heriot-Watt College (now University) in Edinburgh, a post which he held until he retired in 1964. After his retirement,he was awarded an Honorary M Litt from Herriot Watt in 1970. He appears to have been an expert on Edward Johnstone, the mentor of Eric Gill. We are most grateful to St Paul’s School for supplying this information on Frank Percy Restall’s post war career.

Frank Restall died on 21 March 1972 and is buried in Stoke Newington Cemetery. Interestingly, in retirement he appears to have returned to the area of London in which he was born. His gravestone is, appropriately for an expert in printing, notable for its exceptional typography and uses the unusual Goudy font.

William Gray Elmslie was the older brother of Kenward Wallace Elmslie, who was commemorated on the war memorial in St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick and who has an entry on the “Others who fell” section of this online war memorial. William Gray Elmslie served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the war and survived. His younger brother, Gordon Forbes Elmslie, also served in the war and survived. He also has an entry in the “survivors” section of this online war memorial.

William Gray Elmslie was born on 24 December 1885. His parents were Kenward Wallace Elmslie, an insurance adjuster, and Annie Maud Elmslie. The family had originally lived in Willesden where his sister, Glayds Maude was born in 1884 and then Twickenham where his younger brothers, Kenward Wallace and Gordon were born in 1887 and 1890 respectively. By 1911 they had moved to May Place, Broom Road, which at that date was within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

Like his brothers, William Gray Elmslie attended Cheltenham College. He was at the school from September 1899 until summer 1905 and made his mark there. He was a College Prefect and also in the first Rugby XV. After Cheltenham he went on to study at Pembroke College, Cambridge where he was President of the Union in 1908.His academic career in Cambridge was slightly less glittering. Having originally intended to study Classics he switched to Law securing a 2nd in Part 1 of the Tripos and a 3rd in his Finals.

After he graduated, he qualified as a barrister and then emigrated to Edmonton, Canada. During the war he served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

After the war he lived in Colorado Springs, USA. In World War 2 he enlisted in the American Field Service (the “AFS”) and drove ambulances in the Middle East. The AFS had been founded by A Piatt Andrew, a former director of the US Mint and Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard, who had sailed to France in December 1914 to drive an ambulance in Paris for an organisation set up by the American Hospital in Paris. He re-organised the service from April 1915 to provide an ambulance service nearer the Frontline as a separate organisation. When the US entered the war, in 1917, this organisation changed its name to the AFS and at the end of the year it was formally absorbed into the US army. The AFS was reactivated as a volunteer ambulance force after the start of the war in 1939 with its first units sailing out of New York in March 1940. William Gray Elmslie was living in Washington D.C. when he enlisted into the AFS at an unspecified date in World War 2.

At some point he married Constance Pulitzer (1888-1938) who was the daughter of Joseph Pulitzer, millionaire US Newspaper Owner and founder of the Pulitzer Prize. They had three children: Vivien, Cynthia and Kenward Elmslie. His son, Kenward Elmslie, was a well known editor and publisher of the New York School of writers and artists. A poet himself, he also collaborated with composers on operas and musicals. William Gray Elmslie died on 17 May 1956 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy, Bronx, Bronx City, New York in the Pulitzer family plot. We are most grateful to Cheltenham College for supplying details of both William Gray Elmslie’s school record and his subsequent career.

Captain Gordon Forbes Elmslie was the youngest brother of Kenward Wallace Elmslie, who was commemorated on the war memorial in St John the Baptist’s, Hampton Wick and who has an entry in the “Others who fell” section of this online war memorial. Gordon Forbes Elmslie served with the East Surrey Regiment during the war and immediately afterwards. His oldest brother, William Gray Elmslie, also served in the war and survived. He also has an entry in the “survivors” section of this online war memorial.

Gordon Forbes Elmslie was born on 19 July 1889. His parents were Wallace Kenward Elmslie, an insurance adjuster, and Annie Maud Elmslie. The family had originally lived in Willesden where his sister, Gladys Maude, was born in 1884. Afterwards the Elmslies moved to Twickenham where Gordon’s two older brothers, William Gray and Kenward Elmslie were born in 1885 and 1887 respectively. By 1911 the family had moved again to May Place, Broom Road, which at that time was in the postal district of Hampton Wick.

Like his brothers, Gordon Forbes Elmslie, attended Cheltenham College where he enjoyed a glittering career. Whilst a pupil of the school, during the period from May 1904 until July 1908 he rowed in the College boat in 1907-8 and was in the Rugby XV in 1907. He also won the Ladies Prize in 1908 and was a College Prefect.

After Cheltenham he went onto Jesus College, Cambridge where he had an equally illustrious career, winning a Half-blue for Hurdles in 1909-10.

During the war and immediately afterwards he served in the East Surrey Regiment rising to the rank of Captain. he saw service in Mesopotamia in 1915; in Aden in 1917; in Egypt in 1918 and in the Afghan War in 1919.

After the war he maintained a close connection with his old school- serving as Joint Honorary Secretary of the Cheltonian Society from 1922 until 1945 and as a member of the College Council from 1930 until 1940. He died in Walton on the Hill on 1 April 1955.

Private Harold Leslie Stephens of the 6th Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry died of his wounds on 8 February 1916 at the National Hospital, London. He was buried with full military honours at Teddington Cemetery on 12 February 1916. Before the war he had lived with his parents at 55 Bushy Park Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

According to his entry on the Online WW1 War memorial for Teddington, he was born on 11 July 1897 at Teddington. His parents were Joe Crocker Stephens and Florence Ada Caroline Stephens (nee Rogers).

According to the report of his funeral in The Surrey Comet dated 19 February 1916, he had three surviving siblings, known to the family as Marjorie, Geoff and Tods. Private Stephens had been a member of the Choir of St Mark’s, Teddington and a Sergeant in the Church Lads’ Brigade. He was one of the 1,000 boys who enlisted on the outbreak of war. Prior to the war he had, presumably, been employed by Messrs Cowey’s Engineering Company, Kew, who sent a floral tribute to his funeral. He joined up in August 1914 just one month after his seventeenth birthday. He was sent to France on 21 May 1915 and three months later was in the bomber’s section. He fought at the Battles of Hooge and Loos but was shot in the head on 21 November 1915 near Ypres. He spent a month in hospital at Etaples where his parents visited him and was then transferred to the National Hospital in London where he died aged only 18.

His parents received a letter of condolence from Sergeant Harris of his Battalion in which he commented on Private Stephens’ “wonderful cheerfulness”. Apparently Private Stephens “encouraged us, and where the outlook was black his optimism helped to revive our waning spirits”.

Private Stephens had a full military funeral the first part of which was conducted at St Mark’s Church, opposite his family’s house. The coffin, covered with a Union Jack, was placed on a gun carriage provided by Kingston Barracks, and then preceded by a cross bearer and the Church Choir proceeded to Teddington Cemetery. Several members of the Church Lads’ Brigade and two nurses from the National Hospital were also in the procession. At the cemetery the committal passages were read by the former curate at St Mark’s who had founded the branch of the Church Lads’ Brigade there. Three volleys were fired by the firing party which had also been provided by Kingston Barracks and the last post sounded by a bugler.

He is commemorated on the Teddington War Memorial and on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Lance Corporal AE Martin of the 138th Company of the Machine Guns Corps (Infantry) was killed in action on 5 May 1917. He was the son of Robert Martin of Richmond Road, Kingston and Hampton Wick. He is buried at Noeux-les- Mines Communal Cemetery.

He is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial as his connection with the village was via his father who had predeceased him.

His obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 19 May 1917 contains some biographical information on Lance Corporal Martin. He was born in about 1887 and educated at Tiffin Boys School. According to his obituary, he lived for many years in Latchmere Road with his parents Robert and Alice Martin. After he left school he was employed by a City firm who sent him to Cairo for a few years. When he returned from Egypt he went into business with his brother in Manchester. He married Edith Constance Fisher of New Malden and the couple had a daughter.

He enlisted in the Queen Victoria Rifles under the Derby Scheme but was subsequently transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and was sent to France in February 1916. According to a friend of Lance Corporal Martin, he had just been sent behind the line for an aircraft gun course and it was while he was taking part in firing at an aeroplane that two German shells burst close to him. He was mortally wounded and died the next day without regaining consciousness.

His Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Saunders, commented : “When he joined the company he generously insisted on giving up his lance stripe in order that he might not take undue precedence before men with greater war experience. But even so I had marked him out for early promotion. His death leaves a big gap in the section.” His wife must have remarried because on his Commonwealth War Graves entry she is referred to as Edith Constance Montague (formerly Martin) of “Gulval”, Westbury Rd, New Malden, Surrey.

Lance Corporal Martin is commemorated on the war memorial at Tiffins Boys’ School.

Private William Aldred Bowering of the 29th Divn Train of the Army Service Corps died on 3 August 1915. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. His father, William Bowering, lived at 36 Bushy Park, Road until 1912 and thereafter at 18, Wick Road, both of which were then within the postal district of Hampton Wick.

According to his entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War, Private William Aldred Bowering was the son of William and Lily Agnes Bowering (nee Watkins)and had been born about October 1896 in Hampton Wick. He died in Egypt of wounds received in the Gallipoli campaign. He had been a resident of Hampton wick at the time he enlisted in Bulford.

His grandfather, the eponymous, William Aldred Bowering, a coach painter, had married Mathilda Griffiths on 12 March 1874, the daughter of James Griffiths, a licensed victualler from Battersea. The couple had a child, William (Private Bowering’s father) who was baptised at St Anne’s, Wandsworth, on April 1875. At this point Private Bowering’s grandfather is still described as a coach painter. However, by 1891 William Aldred Bowering (Private Bowering’s grandfather) must have gone into the bar trade (perhaps taking over the business of his wife’s father) as the grant of probate to his wife, Mathilda Bowering, of 23 May 1891 describes him as a licensed victualler and pig keeper late of The Ship Inn, Waterside, Wandsworth. He must have been successful because the estate, which was left entirely to his wife, was worth £1,965 and 11 shillings- a considerable sum in 1891.

Private Bowering’s father married his mother Lily Agnes Watkins in the last quarter of 1895 in Islington. Lily Watkins had been born in Kings Cross in about 1877. The family must have briefly lived in Hampton Wick shortly after his parents were married as Private Bowering was, apparently, born in Hampton Wick in late 1896. His birth was registered in Kingston in the last quarter of that year.

By the time of the 1901 Census, his parents were living at the family pub in Waterman’s Drive, Wandsworth. His father, aged 26, is described as a licensed victualler. At this point in addition to William and his wife, then aged 24, the family comprised William Aldred, then 4: his brother, James, aged 2 and another brother Albert Edward aged just 2 months. All of the children other than Private Bowering had been born in Wandsworth which suggests that the family moved back home to Wandsworth some time between 1897 and 1899. Perhaps this was when his father had inherited the pub.

Ten years later the family had lost the pub. His parents and siblings were living at 38 Bushey Park Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. His father is now described as a carpenter and joiner and he is described as a “worker” i.e. was in the employment of someone else not working on his own account. The family had expanded the couple had had six children although one had died. The child who died must have been Albert Edward Bowering who had just been a baby of 2 months at the time of the previous Census. However, only 4 children are listed on the 1911 Census as living with the Bowering family: James (12); Vera Ethel (6); Bertha Adelaide (4) and Ernest (2). Private Bowering who would only have been about 15 is not included and it has not been possible to trace where he was living at this point. The two younger children were born in Teddington whereas Vera was born in Wandsworth so presumably the move to Teddington dates to around 1906.

By the time Private Bowering enlisted either in 1914 or early 1915 in Bulford he gave his place of residence as Hampton Wick, so perhaps, he had moved back into the family home. He took part in the Gallipoli campaign was wounded and then evacuated to Egypt where he died of his wounds. Mystery surrounds what happened to his body at this point. He does not have a grave but is merely commemorated on the Helles Memorial. From a note left on the Records of his Effects it would appear that the Army required repayment of the sum of £9 7s 1d on 5 November 1915 from his parents which had been overpaid to Private Bowering.

Private Bowering is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but is included on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church and on the Teddington War Memorial (as “Bowring”). He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

2nd Lieutenant Thomas Walter Grafton Grattan of the Royal Garrison Artillery 12th Siege Battery died on 24 January 1919 of pneumonia following influenza at the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton. He is buried at Kingston on Thames Cemetery.

According to the record of his baptism on 23 August 1879, he was born on 8 July 1879 and his father was a bookseller who lived on King’s Road, Kingston on Thames. By 1881 the family comprised: Walter Grafton Grattan (24), a bookseller born in Highbury; his wife, Mary (25) born in Cambridge; Thaomas Walter (1) born in Norbiton and his sister, Mary (1 month) also born in Norbiton.They lived at Dabendon, King’s Road, Kingston on Tahmes His obituary in The Surrey Comet dated 29 January 1919 states that he was the eldest son of Councillor and Mrs WG Grattan of Lisdhu, Park Road, Kingston Hill.

He was commemorated on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church but his connection with the area has yet to be established.

An old boy of Tiffins, he served in the Yeomanry in the Boer War originally as a Private but reaching the temporary rank of Lieutenant, according to the London Gazette dated 11 March 1902, with effect from 14 February 1902. After that war he joined the South African Civil Service. He must have married in South Africa, as his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the son of Walter and Mary Grafton-Grattan and the husband of Violet A Grafton-Grattan of 129 Ivy Rd, Norwood, Johannesburg, South Africa. His obituary suggests he and his wife had a child aged seven.

On the outbreak of war, according to his obituary, Grafton Grattan tried to re-enlist but was repeatedly turned down. Eventually in 1917 he managed to enlist in the South African forces as a Private. He was sent to England where after initial training he entered Cadet School for officers. He was granted a commission early in 1918 and was finally sent to France in February 1918, according to his Medal Roll, in time to face the German Spring Offensive launched in March. During the intense fighting of the initial offensive he was wounded by shell fire. In fact, he was the only survivor of his battery: the remainder of his battery were either killed or captured.

After he had recovered in hospital he was declared medically unfit for further overseas service and was posted to a reserve unit at Shoreham in July 1918 where he trained new recruits. It was at Shoreham that he contracted influenza which developed into pneumonia. Within a week of his admission to hospital he was dead.

He was buried with full military honours. 2nd Lieutenant Grafton Grattan is commemorated on the Kingston War Memorial and in the war memorials in St Paul’s, Kingston Hill and in St Mark’s, Teddington as well as the Tiffin Boys’ School War Memorial. He is also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Gunner Cecil Cox Newberry of the Royal Garrison Artillery died on 1 September 1916 in Iraq and he is buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery. He is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but appears to have been commemorated on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, South Teddington as Cecil Newbury.

It would appear that the military records of his service, like the entry on the war memorial in St Mark’s, were originally under the name “Newbury”. His Medal Roll Card was only corrected in 1920 when his medals were returned for correction. His connection with Hampton Wick has yet to be established but his middle name of “Cox” may be the key given that the Cox family were long established in the village. Gunner Cecil Cox Newbery may have been a relative of Sydney Cox who lived at 14 Holmesdale Road at this period.

According to his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry he was 26 when he died so must have been born about 1890. The birth of a Cecil Cox Newberry was registered in the third quarter of 1890 in Taunton. He was baptised at Crewkene Church, Somerset on 31 July 1892. His parents’ names are given as Samuel and Rose Ellen Newberry and their place of residence is given as London. His father’s occupation is given as a Railway Guard which may be why the family had moved to London from Somerset perhaps returning to their original home to have their child christened.

No further details of Gunner Newberry’s military service have yet been discovered other than his date of entry into service which is given on his Medal Roll as 10 March 1915 and that he saw action on the Eastern rather than the Western Front.

Private George Oliver Thorogood of the 12th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment died from disease on 16 January 1917 in France and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery. He was the son of Joseph and Caroline Mary Thorogood (nee Betambeau) of Munster Road, then within the postal district of Hampton Wick. He is not commemorated on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but is listed on the war memorial in St Mark’s, Church albeit with his name incorrectly entered as “Thoroughgood”.

He was baptised on 25 July 1888 at St Saviour’s Church, Ruskin Park, Lambeth together with his younger sister, Rose Jane. Interestingly, his surname caused confusion even at this stage, as his parents are given as Joseph and Caroline Mary “Thoroughgood” of 16 Hardess Street.

By 1891 the Thorogood family, comprising Joseph (31), a carman, Caroline (30) and their four children were living next door at 17 Hardess Street, Brixton. Their children were: Eliza C (7); Joseph E (6); George Oliver(5) and Rose Jane (2). All their children, other than the youngest daughter, had been born in the East End: Joseph in Mile End and George in Old Ford. Clearly the family had moved to Brixton before the birth of Rose, so by the early summer of 1888 at the latest.

The family had moved to 11 Hinton Road, Herne Hill by the time of the next Census in 1901. Joseph and Caroline now had 8 children living with them: Elizabeth (17) born in Aldgate; Joseph E (16) working as a telegraph messenger; George Oliver (13); Rose Jane (12); Abraham (7); William Alfred (10); Henry Frederick Charles (5) and Arthur John (3). All the younger children from Rose onwards had been born in Lambeth which suggests that the family had remained in the area since about 1888.

It is not possible to state with absolute certainty when Private George Oliver Thorogood was born although it seems likely to have been on 29 July 1887. The age given for him in the 1891 Census of 5 years suggests a birthdate of around 1886, whilst his age in the 1901 Census of 13 years, produces a birthdate of about 1888. There was a George Oliver Thorogood who was born between these dates, on 29 July 1887 at Bow. However, this date of birth conflicts with Private Thorogood’s entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (“CWGC”) register. His CWGC entry gives his age as 33 at his death in January 1917 which would mean he had been born around 1883/4. It seems most probable that it is the CGWC record which is incorrect as it seems highly unlikely his parents would have under recorded his age by four years thereby delaying his departure from school and entry onto the labour market.

The connection with the South Teddington area was established when his parents, Joseph and Caroline Mary Thorogood, moved to 111 Munster Road, Teddington in 1911. This remained their home right up until their respective deaths in June 1925 and 3 January 1940. Private Thorogood’s siblings, William Alfred, Henry Frederick Charles and Arthur John all also settled in the Teddington area. His youngest brother, Arthur, only died in Teddington in July 1950.

George Oliver Thorogood married Florence Kate White on 14 November 1914 in Kingston on Thames. Her parents, according to the record of her baptism at St Peter’s, West Molesey on 11 March 1888 were William and Esther White and her father is described as a labourer. George and Florence had a son, Frederick George Thorogood, in 1915.

Private Thorogood’s entry in Soldiers died in the Great War states that he was living in West Molesey when he enlisted in Kingston. Certainly his CWGC entry provides that his widow was living in West Molesey at the time he was buried. After his death, his wife remarried in about September 1919 to Frederick Barton.

According to the History of the 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment in which he served, Private Thorogood’s death was due to nephritis a type of kidney disease. The Battalion History discussing conditions in “the hard winter of 1916 and 1917” states:

“Though casualties from shell and rifle fire had been very heavy in the St Eloi sector, much sickness was occasioned by the conditions, resulting in wastage of manpower. So far there had been three fatalities from sickness: Privates T Thorogood, G Thorogood and W Hoadley having succumbed to trench fever, nephritis and pneumonia respectively.”

Nothing further is known about his war service.

In addition to his commemoration on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Private Thorogood is also commemorated on the Men of Molesey War Memorial in East Molesey (WMR 23205). He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Able Seaman Charles Thomas Minnett of HMS Raglan lost his life on 20 January 1918 when the ship he was serving on was attacked by the Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim (formerly SMS Goeben), the cruiser Midilli (formerly SMS Breslau) and 4 destroyers, and sunk with the loss of 127 lives. He is buried at the Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Cape Helles, Gallipoli.

According to his file in the Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services (ADM 188/725/39163) held by the National Archives, Able Seaman Charles Thomas Minnett was born in Kingston on 5 May 1897 and entered service in 1915. His next of kin was his mother , Florence Ellen Elliman, of 37 School House Lane, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. She had obviously re-married at some point after the death of Able Seaman Minnett’s father as at the time of the 1911 Census she was living in Kingston with her husband, Henry C Minnett, a grocer shopkeeper, and their seven children.

His service record reveals that he volunteered for the Royal Navy on 18 May 1915. He was only 5 feet 4 1/2 inches tall with a 34 inch chest; brown hair; grey eyes and fair complexion. He served on HMS Pembroke for 2 weeks from 18 May 1915 until 2 June 1915 and thereafter on HMS Raglan. He was promoted to the rank of Able Seaman on 4 October 1917.

HMS Raglan was designed by Harland & Wolff shipbuilders in 1914 to use 4 14 inch gun turrets originally destined for the Greek ship Salamis but which Charles M Schwab of Bethlem Steel offered to Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, when he was unable to deliver them to the German shipbuilders because of the British Naval Blockade.

Originally named R Lee on 1 December 1914 in honour of the US General the ship had to be hastily renamed as a result of US neutrality. It was renamed HMS M3 at the end of May 1915 and thereafter became HMS Raglan on 23 June 1915.

Able Seaman Minnett joined the ship when it was newly commissioned and sent to the Dardanelles in June 1915. It remained in the Eastern Mediterranean operating out of Imbros.

On 20 January 1918 it was attacked by the Turkish battlecruiser, Yavuz Sultan Selim (formerly SMS Goeben) , the cruiser Middli (formerly SMS Breslau) and 4 destroyers. HMS Raglan went down with a loss of 127 lives, including Able Seaman Charles Thomas Minnett.

Able Seaman Charles Thomas Minnett is commemorated (albeit with an incorrect entry)on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington as “Charles Minnitt” and on the Teddington War Memorial again with an incorrect entry as “Minett, CT Pte”. He also has an entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington.

Lieutenant Geoffrey Hall MC of the 9th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers died on 20 November 1917 during the first day of the Battle of Cambrai. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial. He was the son of Dr Edgar Atheling Hall and Mrs Ada Margaret Hall of Seacombe, Adelaide Road, Surbiton. He appears to the Geoffrey Hall commemorated on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church although, so far, it has not yet proved possible to discover his connection with the area.

He was baptised at St Mark’s Church, Surbiton on 27 October 1897. The record of his baptism gives his date of birth as 28 September 1897 and names his parents as Edgar Atheling and Ada Mary Hall. His father’s profession is given as “physician”.

Interestingly, given his middle name which sounds like a reference to Kingston’s Saxon heritage, Lieutenant Hall’s father is revealed to be of Australian origin in his 1901 Census entry. Edgar Atheling (54) describes himself as a “medical man”. His much younger wife, Ada Mary (34), came from Leamington, Warwickshire and was presumably a second wife given the couple had a 21 year old son, Edgar Atheling, a bank clerk born in Surbiton as well as Geoffrey (3).

Lieutenant Hall attended Aldwick Place School, Aldwick near Bognor where he is recorded as being in residence, aged 13, at the time of the 1911 Census. Thereafter, he was a pupil at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon from May 1913 until Summer 1915 as a “Day Boy” from he age of 15.

Having left school, he obtained a commission in the Royal Fusiliers. The 9th Battalion was reasonably local. It was originally raised in Hounslow in 1915. he died on 20 November 1917 during the first day of the Battle of Cambrai whilst leading his men to the attack. The Battle of Cambrai involved an attack on the heavily defended Hindenberg Line using tanks rather than a preliminary artillery bombardment. Initially successful, the 9th Battalion suffered very heavy losses including Lieutenant Hall.

On 9 January 1918 he posthumously received an MC for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an earlier action, presumably during the Battle of Passchendaele. The citation reads:

“He was left in charge of a few posts in the front line after it had been cleared for our artillery bombardment. The front line was heavily shelled throughout the day and the sentry posts several times buried. With great skill, however, he altered the disposition of our posts, thereby greatly reducing the number of casualties, and although himself buried earlier in the day, gallantly stuck to his post and maintained the morale of his men by his cheerfulness and complete disregard of danger.”

Probate was granted of his estate on 9 April 1918 which gives his home address at the date of his death as 6 Claremont Gardens so the link to South Teddington remains mysterious.

He is also commemorated on the Surbiton War Memorial and the war memorials in St Mark’s and St Andrew’s Churches in Surbiton and has an entry on the Kingston Online War Memorial.

Private Edgar Minnett of 44 High Street, Hampton Wick, served with the Army Service Corps (MT Depot).

Born in March 1890 (Find a grave) in Kingston upon Thames, he was the son of John and Clara. The family lived at 58 Park Road, Kingston Hill in 1901. His father (37), whose name is given as “Minett”, had been born in Chessington and worked as a stonemason. His mother (36) had been born in Sutton. All the children were born in Kingston and included: James (12); Edgar (11); Hilda (6) and Walter (2).

He married Rose Scott at a registry office on 4 October 1910 and by the time of the 1911 Census the couple had moved to Woking where they were living at 4 Bunday Villa, Bunday Road with their daughter, Betty, aged 3 months who had been born on 9 January 1911 in Woking. Edgar was still spelling his name as Minett and was working as a motor engineer.

His Attestation Form survives(in which his name is given as “Minnett”) and provides some information on his service career. By the time he attested on 12 November 1915, he was 25, living at 44 High Street, Hampton Wick and working as a motor mechanic. He was 5 feet 6 1/2 inches tall with a chest of 38 inches. He joined at Grove Park on 12 November 1915 and remained in England until 26 November.

Posted to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, he embarked at Southampton on 27 November 1915, disembarking the next day at Le Havre, he must have travelled overland to Italy arriving in Rome on 10 December 1915. Having served for almost two months in the British Headquarters in Rome, he was despatched to Brindisi on 3 February 1916 where he was posted to the British Mission with the Royal Serbian Army at Brindisi on 21 March 1916. His service with the Mission was extremely short ending after just nine days on 30 March 1915 when he was sent home to Britain, presumably for treatment. No details are given of the circumstances or nature of his injuries on the Casualty Form but his service record states that he was discharged as being “no longer physically fit for war service” on 29 May 1916. According to his Casualty Form he was discharged at Catterick.

Private Minnett’s injuries must have been extensive and, presumably, were responsible for his early death on 3 May 1925 at the Middlesex County Sanatorium, Harefield, Hillingdon. According to the Probate Notice, his permanent address at the time of his death was still 44 High Street, Hampton Wick and his estate went to his widow, Rose. He was buried in Kingston Cemetery. It is not clear whether he was related to Charles Thomas Minnett who was commemorated on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington and who has an entry on the “Others who served section” of this Online War Memorial.

Private Edgar Minnett of 44 High Street, Hampton Wick, served with the Army Service Corps (MT Depot).

Born in March 1890 (Find a grave) in Kingston upon Thames, he was the son of John and Clara. The family lived at 58 Park Road, Kingston Hill in 1901. His father (37), whose name is given as “Minett”, had been born in Chessington and worked as a stonemason. His mother (36) had been born in Sutton. All the children were born in Kingston and included: James (12); Edgar (11); Hilda (6) and Walter (2).

He married Rose Scott at a registry office on 4 October 1910 and by the time of the 1911 Census the couple had moved to Woking where they were living at 4 Bunday Villa, Bunday Road with their daughter, Betty, aged 3 months who had been born on 9 January 1911 in Woking. Edgar was still spelling his name as Minett and was working as a motor engineer.

His Attestation Form survives(in which his name is given as “Minnett”) and provides some information on his service career. By the time he attested on 12 November 1915, he was 25, living at 44 High Street, Hampton Wick and working as a motor mechanic. He was 5 feet 6 1/2 inches tall with a chest of 38 inches. He joined at Grove Park on 12 November 1915 and remained in England until 26 November.

Posted to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, he embarked at Southampton on 27 November 1915, disembarking the next day at Le Havre, he must have travelled overland to Italy arriving in Rome on 10 December 1915. Having served for almost two months in the British Headquarters in Rome, he was despatched to Brindisi on 3 February 1916 where he was posted to the British Mission with the Royal Serbian Army at Brindisi on 21 March 1916. His service with the Mission was extremely short ending after just nine days on 30 March 1915 when he was sent home to Britain, presumably for treatment. No details are given of the circumstances or nature of his injuries on the Casualty Form but his service record states that he was discharged as being “no longer physically fit for war service” on 29 May 1916. According to his Casualty Form he was discharged at Catterick.

Private Minnett’s injuries must have been extensive and, presumably, were responsible for his early death on 3 May 1925 at the Middlesex County Sanatorium, Harefield, Hillingdon. According to the Probate Notice, his permanent address at the time of his death was still 44 High Street, Hampton Wick and his estate went to his widow, Rose. He was buried in Kingston Cemetery. It is not clear whether he was related to Charles Thomas Minnett who was commemorated on the war memorial in St Mark’s Church, Teddington and who has an entry on the “Others who served section” of this Online War Memorial.