The Somme Remembered – 17th July 1916

Ernest Emanuel Polack source unknown

Londsdale Cemetery, Authuille, is the final resting place of Lieutenant Ernest Emanuel Polack, who was aged 23 when he was killed.

Who was Ernest?

Ernest was born on the 25th of February 1893, in Clifton, the youngest son of  Joseph Polack and his wife Sophia nee Isaac.  Joseph was the headmaster of Jewish Boarding House at Clifton College. .

1901 saw the family  living at 1 Percival Road, where Joseph was listed as Headmaster and Jewish Minister with his wife and two sons – Albert I and Ernest E, both 8 years old.  Also listed at that address was George W Palmer a Schoolmaster and numerous students.

Ten years later life is carrying on for the family.  Joseph is still Headmaster, but now his eldest son Benjamin James, aged 20 is home, as are Albert Isaac and Ernest Emanuel both aged 18 – could they be twins? Also in the house are Reginald Charles Fawdry, Joseph’s assistant, John William Searle, butler plus other servants, followed on by numerous students.  The 1911 also tells that Joseph and Sophia had been married 24 years with Sophia giving birth to four children With only three children living to be included in the census – little did she know what would happen in five years time.

Ernest was educated at Clifton followed by St John’s College, Cambridge, where he earned a scholarship in Semitic languages. He was a frequent speaker at the Union and was elected a member of the committee.  Both at Clifton and Cambridge he was a member of the OTC (officer training corps).

His military life continued when he was commissioned in August of 1914 in the 4th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment.  By April the following year he was with his regiment on the Western Front, stationed at Ploegsteert Wood.

Just before the Battle of the Somme began, Ernest wrote a letter to his parents which tells that he feels that when the Advance will begin on the 1st of July, he realises he may not survive the days ahead and carries morphia in case of injury as the prospect of pain is somewhat abhorrent to him, but the thought of death does not worry him. He goes on to tell that he is held in reserve at Hebuterne (known to the soldiers as About Turn) and it all goes well he and his men would not be needed until the next night and will then be resisting an attack somewhere near Beaumont-Hamel.  Further reading gives details of who was to receive his Shakespeare books, who was to receive his Dickens and that his aunts and uncles should also receive some of his effects, with one request going to Great Ormond Street Hospital where one of his friends died……‘To you – Mother and Father – I owe all.   The thought of you two – and of my brothers – will inspire me to the end.   I often wish Albert was with me and I miss him dreadfully.   Good-bye!   “If we shall meet again, why then we’ll smile.   If not – why then this parting was well made” (Julius Caesar).   Your loving son, Ernest.   (I will ask Mr Ramsay (our Chaplain) to send you this if I fall.)‘  The letter and one other wrote by Ernest have been published in a book by Laurence Weaver – ‘War Letters of Fallen Englishmen’

The battalion were not called forward as expected, they were infact sent for training.  On the morning of the 16th of July the order was given to move forward into Ovillers and took the German lines.  Over the next two days the fighting continued and advanced to just north of the village.  It was during this fighting that Ernest and fellow officer Lt. A D Anderson were killed.

Lt Ernest Emanuel Polack was recovered from the battlefield – according to sources was either during the spring of the following year after the German withdrawal or after the Armistice when those who had died for their country were brought in from the surrounding battlefields.

The medal card for Ernest tells, his date from which he was eligible for various medals, his date of death with the word ‘died’ before the date. His regiment, ranks and his father’s address. While, monies due from the War Office to Ernest were sent to Cox and Co. via transfer 509.  Cox and Co., seem to have been mentioned in a great number of entries in the Register of Soldiers’ Effects which are available from Ancestry pay per view.

Ernest is remembered in The Cross of Sacrifice – Officers who died in the Service of British, Indian and East African Regiments and Corps 1914 – 1919 compiled by S D and D B Jarvis.

2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Polak of the 9th Worcestershire Regiment, Ernest’s elder brother, was killed in action in Mesopotamia on the 9th of April 1916 aged 26.

Albert, the surviving child of Joseph and Sophia Polack followed his father into education.

The Somme Remembered – 16th July 1916

George Robert Trace, son of James and Maria Trace of Cornwall.

South African Badge via Wikipedia

George served in the 3rd Reg. South African Infantry, as Private 2655. George, aged 27, was killed in action 100 years ago and is remembered along with many on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

The Soldier’s Effects entries for George tells that his his sole executor was a man named William Bawden.

George’s mother is mentioned on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website in the following ‘Son of Mrs Maria Trace, of 

Thiepval Memorial

Pellor Road, Breage, Helston, Cornwall’.

The Somme Remembered – 15th July 1916

Charles Baldwin Cooper was born around 1875 in north Leeds.  He was the son of Charles and Harriet Cooper who in 1881 were living at 42 Nippet Terr (sic), Leeds.

Charles died of wounds on this day 100 years ago.

Charles served in the South African Infantry as Corporal 1341.  The South African Infantry Corps was the largest combat corps within the South African Army, originating as the Infantry Branch of the Union Defence Forces in 1913.  In 1915 the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force was established, being made up of 12 battalions and the Cape Corps, comprising of Coloured Volunteers – these units were disbanded in 1919.

He had previously served in the Jameson Raid, South African Campaign and in German South West Africa.

He married Janet and her address according to the CWGC was Newlands, Cape Province.

The Register of Soldiers’ Effects has two entries – cross reference to each other, that tell the

Thiepval Memorial

monies owed to Charles were paid to the High Commission Union of South Africa fr dispersal in South Africa.  There are other entries for South African soldiers on the same page and all have the same entry – ‘for dispersal in South Africa’.

Charles is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial with over 72000 other casualties whose final resting place is known only unto their god.

The Somme Remembered – 14th July 1916

Cecil Cuthbert Thompson is the second man with a Wakefield connection to be mentioned in this series of 31 Days 31 Casualties – The Somme Remembered.

Cecil was born in 1890, the son of Samuel and Fanny Thompson , who in 1901 lived at Paragon Terrace, Monk Bretton.  Cecil, at this time, was the eldest of three children. Samuel worked as an Agent for the Prudential Assurance Company.

Ten years later in 1911, Samuel was an Assistant Superintendent with an Assurance Company.  Cecil, the eldest of three children, was a scholastic student, like his sister Constance Priscilla, who was two years his junior – home for the family was 156 Hough Lane, Wombwell, Yorkshire.

Cecil attended Barnsley Grammar School, then University College Reading.  Following University he was appointed a master at Handsworth Grammar School, Birmingham and in late 1914 was admitted as a member of the Royal Geographical Society.

Cecil Cuthbert Thompson via Reading Connections

While at university Cecil became a sergeant in the Reading University OTC, later being gazetted as a second lieutenant, by the December 1914 he became a lieutenant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

Cecil’s regiment had been involved in the Battle of Ypres. At the battle of Festubert in 1915 he was wounded, resulting in his return to England, during which time he married Mary Ward during late summer in the Oxford area.

The 2nd battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which Cecil was part of, had been initially held in reserve for events which would take place on the 1st of July, but after approximately 90 minutes, when the leading waves of the 96th brigade had been mowed down by machine-gun fire, the 2nd btn moved forward and also suffered badly.  The 2nd spent a few days out of the line to rest, write letters and prepare themselves for what was to come.

Ovillers CWGC cemetery via CWGC

On the 9th of July the 2nd went forward and during the next four days were involved in attacks to the west of the village of Warloy, with the hope of gaining ground and holding against the enemy.

On the 14th of July the 2nd Inniskilling Fusiliers retired to Bouzincourt after 267 men and officers had received injuries.  Cecil was one of those officers and he now rests in Ovillers Military Cemetery near Albert along with over 3000 other casualties of war.

Probate for Cecil was on 10 November 1916, where Mary was left £316 9s 3d.

By now Mary was living at 18 Monmouth Road, Bayswater, London

Cecil’s younger brother Arthur Henry Thompson, who served as Private 12/1363 in the York and Lancaster Regiment. He was reported missing on the 1st of July 1916 aged 22, and subsequently

Thiepval Memorial via CWGC

presumed dead. He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing along with many others whose final resting place is known only unto their God.

Arthur, born in Wakefield, worked as a bank clerk and gave his address as West View, Outwood, Wakefield. He enlisted on the 8th of March 1915 in Sheffield, later serving in the Mediterranean, disembarking in Alexandria in January 1916 followed by France in March of 1916.  As Arthur’s service records have survived, one sheet gives his parents and siblings name along with the family’s address, which is now given as Oaklea, Westville Road, Barnsley. This page being declared to be true by the local vicar.  The following page of Arthur’s service record has the Outwood address crossed through to be replaced by the Oaklea address.

 In September 1917 Arthur’s effects were sent to his father at the Outwood address. In total he served 1 years 116 days.

Can you imagine how the family must have felt, losing a son and brother-in-law on the 1st of July and 14 days later losing a son and a husband.  Not only would they have had to cope with the death of two young men in as many weeks, they would have to contend with War Office paperwork that would continue for years.

 Jane Ainsworth has recently published a book ‘The Great Sacrifice – The Old Boys of Barnsley Holgate Grammar School in the First World War‘ published by Helion & Co.  The book is also available from Amazon

The Somme Remembered – 13th July 1916

Frederick Fish had been born to Arthur and Elizabeth Fish on 4th April 1890, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.  He had been baptised on 25th May in the same year. Frederick was 10 years old in 1901 when the census enumerator recorded that the family lived on Princes Street, Ware.  Arthur told he was employed as a malt maker, his eldest son, William also worked in the malt kilns – there were nine children who had their names recorded with their parents on that day  in 1901.

Ten years later, Frederick, the third child to Arthur and Elizabeth, is the eldest child living with his parents and five siblings.  Elizabeth, had given birth to 12 children in her 27 year marriage to Arthur and had to suffer the death of two. Frederick, like his father and brother, William, also worked in the malt kilns. Home for the family of eight was a six roomed house – 4 Elm Grove, Bishop Stortford.

Royal West Kent headstone logo

Frederick enlisted in Hertford, joining the Royal West Kent’s, and rose to become a Corporal with the serial number GS/2404.  His medal card tells that he entered France on the 26th July 1915.

He must have been home on leave during the early summer of 1916 as he married Ellen Edwards in the June ¼ of 1916 before being sent to the Somme region of France.

Serre Road Cemetery No. 2 via CWGC

Again, back to Frederick’s medal card, as well as notification of three medals, it is written that on the 13 July 1916 ‘Death assumed’. He rests in Serre Road Cemeterty No 2, plot XXIX J3 along with many of his comrades.

So soon after taking her wedding vows and seeing Frederick go back to his regiment, the new Mrs Ellen Fish, was in receipt of monies due from the War Office to her husband, which was paid in two installments.

Frederick’s younger brother, Leonard born on 24th November 1893, also served during the war, he served as a K/17956, Stoker 1st Class in the Royal Navy.  He was 5′ 8¾” tall with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. After joining the Navy in 1913, Leonard served on The Pembroke II; King Edward vII; Vivid II; Royal Oak and back to the Pembroke.  HMS Pembroke Drill Hall on the night of 3rd September 1917.

Bombing of 3 September 1917 via Wikipedia

Throughout its life, the Drill Hall has been used as a temporary overflow dormitory when the barrack accommodation blocks were full. In September 1917 the problem of housing the men had been further exacerbated by two unanticipated events: Firstly, the men who had been earmarked to join the battleship HMS Vanguard (1909) had been forced to remain at the barracks, after she had been sunk at Scapa Flow in July 1917. Secondly, an outbreak of ‘spotted fever’ (epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis) in the barracks meant that the sleeping accommodation had to be increased in an effort to avoid further infection. It was the necessity of using the Drill Hall, at this time that precipitated the saddest episode in the history of this building. On Monday 3 September 1917, the Drill Hall was therefore being used as an overflow dormitory for around 900 naval ratings (either sleeping or resting upon their hammocks) when, at about 11.00pm, it suffered two hits from bombs dropped by German Gotha aeroplanes. One of the first of the First World War ‘moonlight raids’, it resulted in the loss of some 130 lives.

At 9.30 pm, 5 Gotha G.V Bombers left Gontrode in Belgium. Since the greatest loss of the bombers was during the daylight raids, a decision made to carry out a night-time attack. One of the bombers encountered engine problems and had to return to their air-base but the remaining four carried on and passed over Eastchurch (on the Isle of Sheppey) at around 11pm where they followed the River Medway towards Chatham. As this was the first night-time raid, the Medway Towns were unprepared and the whole of Chatham was illuminated with none of the anti-aircraft guns prepared for attacks.

A practice alert had been carried out earlier in the day within the town, and when the planes were finally spotted and an alert sounded, many people ignored the warning believing it to be another practice drill. 46 bombs were dropped over Gillingham and Chatham causing much damage. The drill hall suffered a direct hit. The bomb shattered the glass roof, sending dangerous shards of glass flying through the drill hall before exploding when they hit the floor. The clock upon the drill hall tower stopped at 11.12, giving the exact time the bomb exploded. The men asleep or resting inside had little chance of survival, those that were not injured from the explosion were cut to pieces by the falling pieces of glass from the roof.

Ordinary seaman Frederick W. Turpin arrived at the drill hall to offer assistance, he later recorded the scene in his notebook: “It was a gruesome task. Everywhere we found bodies in a terribly mutilated condition. Some with arms and legs missing and some headless. The gathering up of dismembered limbs turned one sick. It was a terrible affair and the old sailors, who had been in several battles, said they would rather be in ten Jutlands or Heliogolands than go through another raid such as this.”

The rescuers spent 17 hours searching through the rubble for their fellow seamen, many using their bare hands to dig through the rubble. Officers and men carried the dead bodies of comrades into buildings which had been transformed into a mortuary and the seriously wounded cases into motor ambulances which sped to the local hospital.

Mr E. Cronk, who also attended to offer assistance, stated later: “The raider dropped two bombs; one in the middle of the drill shed and one near the wall of the parade round just where the sailors were sleeping. I shall never forget that night – the lights fading and the clock stopping -we of the rescue party picking out bodies, and parts of bodies, from among glass and debris and placing them in bags, fetching out bodies in hammocks and laying them on a tarpaulin on the parade ground (you could not identify them). I carried one sailor to the sick bay who was riddled with shrapnel and had no clothes left on him. In the morning, to show that the officials could tell who was who, they had a general Pipe asking all the sailors of different messes if they could identify any of the lost; it was impossible in most cases. It was one of the most terrible nights I have ever known, the crying and the moaning of dying men who had ten minutes before been fast asleep”

Mr Gideon Gardiner described the scene of the temporary morgue within the gymnasium: “Some had never woken up; apparently the shock appeared to have stopped their hearts. They were stretched out, white, gaunt, drawn faces, with eyes nearly bolting out of their heads. Others were greatly cut up, mangled, bleeding and some were blown limb from limb”

The sailors who survived with injuries were treated on site by medics and the sick bay staff, however many of the injuries were too serious and later died at the hospital. It is estimated 90 men died whilst in their hammocks and another 40 or so seriously injured, they were not expected to live. The official total of dead after the raid was 98 however with the seriously ill in hospital, the total number rose to around 136 dead.

Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham via CWGC

The funeral took place on Thursday 6 September with the procession consisting of 18 lorries draped with the Union Jack and each carrying 6 coffins. These 98 men were buried at Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham with another 25 men being interred elsewhere and later burials taking place once the ratings had been identified. All the men were buried with full military honours and were followed by a procession of marching soldiers and sailors with thousands of people lining the streets.

Leonard, was one of those 98 men buried with full military honours in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham.

Frederick & Leonard Fish

The Somme Remembered – 12th July 1916

Willie Archer Houseman served in the King’s Own (Liverpool) Regiment after enlisting in Liverpool.  Willie served as Private 24484 and Died of Wounds on the 12th of July.

In the 1901 census Willie, born in Halifax, was the youngest son of Frederick and Mary Houseman.  Frederick Houseman worked as a grocer’s manager – home was 40 Woodside Road, Halifax.  Ten years later in 1911, Willie, was the only child, of two born to Mary, that was living at home. Frederick was employed as the General Manager of a Co-operative Society and home was 50 Cowley Road, Walton, Liverpool.

Willie, as we know, died of wounds received during the hostilities.  He was eligible for the Victory and British Medals, which would have been sent to his brother  – his brother, Charles Frederick House, according the one record, was the person to whom all monies would have been sent.  The Probate entry for Willie gives details of his regiment, date and place of death along with two people who would receive a share of his £147 1s 8d, they were his brother Charles, who was now working as a civil servant and a lady named Sarah Jane Houseman, who was a widow – but whose?  It appears that Willie’s mother died and in 1908 Frederick Houseman married Sarah Jane in Halifax before he moved to Liverpool and declared he had and Sarah had been married 2 years on the 1911 census form.

Abbeville Communal Cemetery via CWGC

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry for Willie tells that he rests in Abbeville Communal Cemetery, where he rests along with over 790 other identified casualties. According to the CWGC  ‘Abbeville was headquarters of the Commonwealth lines of communication and No.3 BRCS, No.5 and No.2 Stationary Hospitals were stationed there variously from October 1914 to January 1920. The communal cemetery was used for burials from November 1914 to September 1916, the earliest being made among the French military graves. The extension was begun in September 1916’.

The Somme Remembered – 10th July 1916

War does not care what race, creed or colour you are. Or, whether you are the son of a miner from small mining community, living in a 2 up and 2 down. Or, the son of a Knight of the Realm, having access to more than one home.  In one of my other blogs I have remembered Prince Maurice Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria who was killed in action in 1915 – showing that War makes all men equal.

Within this blog, 31 days, 31 casualties – The Somme Remembered, I have tried to include men from all walks of life, from various parts of the country and from a cross-section of regiments. Today’s soldier comes from a privileged background!

Acton Park via Friends of Acton Park

Foster Hugh Egerton Cunliffe was born on 17th August 1875, the son of Sir Robert Alfred Cunliffe, 5th Bt. and Eleanor Sophia nee Leigh (married in Congleton Reg. Dist. Sept 1/4 1869).

Foster and his family were living at 37 Loundes Street, London in 1881.   Robert was described his occupation as Bart., M.P., J.P., Dep. Lieut. Lt. Col. Militia, and his place of birth as India.  At that time Foster was one of two children to Robert and Eleanor.

Foster attended Eton College followed by Oxford, being proficient at cricket, crichinfo Wisdens Cricketers’ Almanack reads:

‘………As a batsman he had a fine, free style, and h excelled as a left-handed medium-pace bowler, having a good lenght and sending down a difficult ball that came with his arm.  He was in the Eton XI in 1893 and 1894, and in his four Public School matches obtained 35 wickets for 10.17 runs each; he took  11.74 v. Winchester in 1893 and 13 for p4 v. Harrow in 1894.  At Oxford he obtained his Blue as a Freshman and in 1898, his last year in the XI, he was captain. In his four games against Cambridge he scored 99 runs in five completed innings and took 26 wickets for 22.88 runs each.  Against Surrey, at Oxford in 1896, he obtained eight wickets in an innings for 26 runs.  In 1897, when he began to appear for Middlesex, he was chosen for the Gentleman at Lord’s, and took three wickets in each innings of the Players.  In 1895, he became a member of M.C.C., serving on the committee from 1903 until 1906.  He was a Fellow of All Soul’s, Oxford, and a distinguished military historian.

He graduated from New College, Oxford with a M.A., and lectured on Military History at Oxford University.  Foster wrote a book entitled ‘The History of the Boer War, which has been digitised.

By the 1901 census, we know that Foster has graduated from Oxford and living with quite a few, mainly single men and a female servants at **************, Bethnal Green.  He is 25 years and ‘living on his own means’.  The head of the household is Bernard R Wilson, a Clerk in Holy Orders.

Ten years later Foster is one of six living in a 16 roomed house – he is the first listed on the page and classes himself as a boarder, along with Carlisle James Scott Spedding, 58, living on Private MeTans; Francis Dyson Yeatman, 21, visitor and an Undergraduate at Cambridge along with servants – John Beeton Whitcheal, 41, Butler, Clara, his wife and the house cook, and their nine year old son, John Dawson Whitcheal. The entry for Foster seems to be in a different hand to the other entries, even so it is Mr Spedding that signs the document and more than likely completes the entries for himself and the rest of the household at 78 Oxford Terrace, London W.

In the Electoral Registers for 1915 have both Foster and Carlisle James Scott Spedding still living in rooms at 78 Oxford Terrace – Foster has the ‘back room second floor, furnished’, while Carlisle has the ‘Front room third floor furnished.  Mr N Middleton of the same address is given as the Landlord or the person to whom the rent was paid. While Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart., lived at no. 78, his friends and family could have telephoned him on Paddington 6397.

Foster’s headstone source not known

1914 came and war was declared and by July of 1915 Foster was in France, serving as a Major in the 13th Btn. Rifle Brigade.  His medal card, as well as, informing about the medals awarded to Foster and their references, there are details of his Nominal Roll and on the reverse side are details of his brother – Sir Neville Cunliffe Bt., 25 St James Court, Buckingham Gate, SW1.

Major, Sir Foster Hugh Egerton Cunliffe was Killed in Action on this day 100 years ago and rests in Bapaume Post Military Cemetery, Albert with 409 other casualties, but of those only 229 are identified.  He is also remembered in the cloisters of Eton College, where a rectangular tablet with indented corners has the following memorial in gold lettering ‘ In memorial F H E Cunliffe Baronetti Sexti de Acton viri amicis percari perjucundi qui apud Etonam et Oxoniam pilae artibus insignis in scholis annalium rei militaris diligens disipulus et doctor sociis coll anim adscriptus postea imles factus fideliter pro patria mortem oppetit XIII Die Julii MDCCCCXVI’

The Probate entry for Foster reads:

Cunliffe sir Foster Hugh Egerton of Acton Park Denbighshire baronet major 13th battalion Rifle Brigade died 10 July 1916 in France in action Probate London 6 February to the honourable Charles Henry Lyell major R.G.A. Henry Bucknall Betterton and Noel Middleton barristers-at-law and dame Cecile Victoria Cunliffe widow.  Effects £135883 7s 1d’.

The Register of Soldiers’ Effects tells that over £120 was due to Foster, this would have more than likely been included in the Probate money paid to Charles, Henry, Noel and Cecile.

Fosters service records are available to purchase from the National Archives at Kew.

The Somme Remembered – 9th July 191619

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has our 9th of July casualty listed as L C Brodribb,

L C Brodribb was Killed in Action on this day 100 years ago.  L C, born in 1896, was the son of Thomas James Brodribb and his wife Alma Margaret nee Leaman, who had married in 1894.

The 1901 census brings L C to life – the family entry for 4 Seymour Vs Rd, has Thomas J Brodribb, Alma M, Leslie C and Hilda M.  So L C  is Leslie, to find what the ‘C’  stands for another document is needed and that document is the census for 1911.

1911 census oops!

In 1911 the family is living at 47 Downend Road, Horfield, Bristol. Thomas James signs the form in a good clear hand, but he has not been so careful when completing the information needed to complete the printed columns. Thomas, however, has included the full names of all the family – L C is Leslie Claude Brodribb! The occupations of Thomas James is Commercial Traveller in Mechanical Rubber Goods and Leslie Claude is a Commercial Clerk –  does Leslie work in the same company as his father?

Leslie Claude enlisted in Bristol, joining the 1/4th City of Bristol (TF) Battalion, of the Gloucestershire Regiment, with the service number 1254.  Leslie became a Lance Corporal and later was promoted to Sergeant.  He entered France on the last day of March 1915.

Sucrerie Military Cemetery, via CWGC

Leslie rests in Sucrerie Military Cemetery, Colincamps,  some 16 km north of Albert, with 883 other identified and 216 unidentified casualties.

One more document tells how much money was owed to Leslie for his service to King and Country – money that was in the end paid to his father in two payments.  The document has been transcribed as Leslie David Brodrick, so without a service number this document would have been a little harder to come across..

The Somme Remembered –  8th July 1916

Thiepval Memorial via CWGC

George Fox was killed in action on this day 100 years ago and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, which in the last few days has been the focus of a memorial service and vigil to commemorate the Battle of the Somme’s centenary.

Who was George Fox?

George was the son of David and Mary Ann Fox and according to the census of 1891 was born in Yorkshire. Home in this census was West Street, Altofts, near Pontefract.  In the house was mum, Mary Ann and three siblings.  Ten years later, the family, including dad David, are at 5 Helena Street, Snydale – George now has seven siblings, ranging in ages from 23 to 8 months. His father, David, works as a coal miner, hewer aged 49.

St Andrew’s Church

George on 7 February 1906 in St Andrew’s Church, Wakefield married Maria Farrar – a Wakefield girl.  The couple at the time of their marriage both gave 58 Bailey’s Buildings as their address.  The 1911 census tells that George and Maria at the time had two children and George’s sister, Lily aged 19, was living with them.  Home for the extended family was 6 Halford Yard, Ingwell Street, Wakefield. George, like his father and brothers, was employed as a miner.

The hostilities began.  George enlisted in Wakefield, joining the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 1/4th Battalion and becoming Private 201431.  There is a document that gives another service number – 3820, this document, tells that George was presumed dead between the 1 – 8th July, while other documents give the date of his death as the 8th – either way. he was 36 years of age.

Maria, his wife was eligible to receive all monies due to George from the War Office, which she received in two installments.

The Somme Remembered – 7th July 1916

The 7th of July would be a day the Moth family would not forget in a long time.

Albert Victor Moth, was the son of Shadrach Moth and his wife Sarah nee Cook.  He was born in Manchester.  By 1911 he was one of 8 surviving children living at 50 Bosworth Street, Openshaw, Manchester – a six roomed house where 10 lived.  His father worked as an iron founder at the local waggon works and 12 year old Albert attended school.

Albert enlisted in Manchester, joining the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment – Private 3571.

The Service Record for Albert survives and one page tells that he was wounded in action on the 4th July and transferred to 76 Field Ambulance.  Warloy-Baillon during the early part of 1916 had become a popular billeting area, with the hospital there at the time specialising in abdominal and chest cases.  By the summer of that year the 76th Field Ambulance was in the village – some said that the 76th should have been run as a base hospital and not by Field Ambulances.  On 2nd July, the situation at the hospital was said t be chaotic, with ‘too many wounded unable to be evacuated’, lying outside the tents.  The 76th FA was taken over by the 92nd Field Ambulance, the original medical officers slowed their working pace, their commanding officers being overwhelmed with paperwork.  The 92nd marched out on the 5th July leaving everything in disarray and dirty.

Albert’s headstone via FindaGrave

Albert died of wounds on the 7th July 1906 aged 17.  He rests in Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension with over 1300 other identified casualties including 18 German casualties and two Second World War casualties.