Over the last 9 months I’ve been working on a more concentrated effort to track down the graves or memorials of the individuals that died in the Great War that are named on the village war memorial. As stated in the original blog post (https://horsebacksapper.co.uk/?p=798) about the “Men of Hartshorne” there is a really good document that has the details of each individual that is named and also background information.
Of all of the men named there are 3 which currently that I can’t get to, 1 in Kenya and 2 in Turkey but I am looking at possibilities to get the Graves photographed by people in those locations.
In addition there is one other that I have not visited as it is a bit further away from my current location and I’ll need to try and link them with some more activities or battlefield visits. I will get them but not just yet!
The other thing that I will try and do is also give an indication of what battles they may have been killed in. Now there is no guarantee that this will be an accurate assumption of the point at which they died, the reason for this is that some of these soldiers are buried in cemeteries that will have been located next to field hospitals, clearing stations or aid posts or they are in cemeteries that are amalgamation of smaller burial sites. So these are assumptions and educated guesses. If anyone has more accurate details then please let me know so that I can update the information.
Private John Warden Allen, 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
Died of Wounds on 26th May 1916 and is buried in Nairobi South Cemetery.
I’ll try and get one of the Royal Engineers based in Kenya to visit the grave and take a photograph of John’s headstone.
Private William Edward Benbow of the 1st/5th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
Died of wounds on 1 August 1915. Buried in Lijssentoek Military Cemetery.
Lijssentoek Military Cemetry is a large cemetery located near Poperinghe, this area had 4 large casualty clearing stations. it is likely that William was injured on the front at Ypres and then evacuated back to one of the Medical clearing stations/ field hospitals.
Sapper Thomas Baldwin, 254th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers (originally with the Lincolnshire regiment)
Killed in Action on the 22nd October 1917, buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery.
As a Sapper with a tunnelling Company I’ll do some investigation to try and find what may have happened at the time of Thomas’s death, it may be possible to identify from the unit War Diaries the what was going on.
Private John Bennett, 1st/4th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment
Died of Wounds 4 October 1918. Buried in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez
This cemetery is north west of Arras and not far from the Vimy Ridge Memorial. it’s really well laid out and really worth the visit. I’d be interested to know what happened to John and it may well be something that I come back to look at further down the line.
Private John (Jack) Eaton, 6th Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
Died of Wounds 28th Jun 1918, Buried in Neuf-Brisach Communal Cemetery Extension.
The cemetery is located to the south of Strasbourg and the military extension contains the graves of 35 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War, all of whom died in 1918 as prisoners of war. Unfortunately I currently don’t have the details of when John was captured or the details of his wounds.
Private John William Gilbert, 8th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment
Died of Wounds 31st July 1917, buried in Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Ypres.
The Third battle of Ypres started on the 31st July and in particular the Battle of Pilckem Ridge started on that day. the 8th Battalion were part of the units taking part in the battles and it is likely that Jack sustained his injuries in these battles.
Corporal Albert Booth, 1st/5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment
Killed in Action 8 June 1917. Commemorated on the Arras memorial
Private James Blood, 10th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
Killed in Action 4 March 1917, Commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.
Sapper Frederick Brazier, 180th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers.
Died of Wounds 30 March 1919, Buried in Hartshorne (St Peters) Churchyard, Derbyshire.
Sapper Fred Brazier was transfered to the Royal Engineers from the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment due to his civilian experience working in the coal mines at Swadlincote. In March 1918 he and the others of 180th Tunnelling company found themselves on the surface fighting as infantry trying to stop the German offensive. During those battles the Germans used Gas and Fred wasn’t quick enough to get his mask on and as a result he was badly effected by the gas.
As a result he was treated but evacuate back to England for treatment. he was eventually invalided out of the Army in late 1918 and returned home to Hartshorne. He did try and return to work in the mines but continued to have difficulty with breathing, eventually he succumbed to the damage to his lungs and died in March 19, a year after being Gassed. As his death was attributed to injuries from service he is buried with a Military Headstone.
Private Richard Buxton, 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.
Killed in Action 22 March 1918, Commemorated on the Arras Memorial.
Apologies for the poor image but with the weather and the angle that I had for taking the photo it is a poor effort, the next time I’m down there I’ll go in and take a better photo.
Guardsman Willie Canner, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.
Died of Wounds 1st October 1916, Buried in Bac du Sud British Cemetery, Bailleulval.
This is a small but interesting cemetery and there are several Grenadier Guards buried here, along with several Royal Engineers. It is one of those locations that makes me want to investigate further what was happening in this area at the time that Willie lost his life.
Private Walter Carver, 9th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
Killed in Action 10 August 1915, Comemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey
This is one of the sites that I’ve not been to and I’ve not been able to find an image of the Tablet that would have Walter’s name shown. I’ll try and contact a Battlefield study that is visiting Gallipoli and ask if they can get a photo of the tablet showing his name.
Gunner Geoffrey Gotheridge, 2nd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
Died of Wounds 30th October 1918, Buried in Premont British Cemetery.
This cemetery is located south of the 1914 Battlefield of La Cateau, however the soldiers in this cemetery are from the offensive that helped to end the war in 1918, this was known as the last 100 days and the “Pursuit to Mons”.
Corporal James Hallam, 15th Battalion Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment.
Killed in Action 28 March 1918, buried in Assevillers New British Cemetery.
Able Seaman Frederick Hyde, HMS Lord Nelson, Royal Navy
Died 25th April 1915, Buried in V Beach Cemetery, Turkey
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56202722/frederick-thomas_mott-hyde
I haven’t been to Gallipoli but the there is a lot of information about the landings that happened on the 25th April. It appears that a detachment of sailors from HMS Lord Nelson provided the crews for the small boats that landed the infantry onto V Beach, throughout the morning. At some point Frederick was killed, but not before his bravery was noticed and he was Mentioned in Dispatches. I will definately look to do a blog post on the actions that Fred Hyde was involved in on the 25th April 1915.
Private Samuel Hyde, 9th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment
Died of Wounds 3rd October 1916, Buried in Bourlogne Eastern Cemetery
Boulogne-sur-Mer is a large Channel port and was one of the main ports used by the British and Empire Troops. The town also had a large military hospital to deal with the wounded as well as prepapre those to be returned to England.
It is very likely that Samuel was wounded, treated at a forward aid station or field hospital and was then moved back to Boulogne to the main hospital or to be returned to hospitals in Britian but unfortunately succumbed to his wounds.
Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, one of the town cemeteries and is a large civil cemetery, split in two by a road. Unusually, the headstones are laid flat in this cemetery due to nature of the sandy soil.
At the moment this is one of the French Cemeterys that I still have to visit.
Private Tom Hyde, 10th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment
Killed in Action, 14th February 1916. Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
Lance Sergeant Thomas King, 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards.
Killed in Action 25th September 1916. Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial
Private Tom James, 2nd/6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment
Killed in Action 17th April 1918, Commemorated on Ploegsteert Memorial
Not the best photograph, but Tom’s name is at the top of the centre list. At the time of Tom’s death the Battle of Lys was occurring, this was part of the German spring Offensive, Operation Georgette.
Private Frank Masters, 1st Battalion Warwickshire Regiment
Died of Infection at Ypres, 25th April 1915, Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
Unfortunately the photo that I took of Frank’s name on the memorial was too poor to add to the blog and a recent visit to Ypres unfortunately I couldn’t get another photo due to the memorial being currently being renovated. As soon at the work is complete I’ll get back to Ypres and get the image to add to this post.
Private Thomas Meakin, 10th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
Died 18th September 1918, Buried Gauche Wood Cemetery, Villers-Guislain
As you look beyond the cemetery you can see the Memorial to the Indian Cavalry in the distance, which is located between Villers-Guislain and the village of Epehy.
This is a small cemetery located away from the village, Thomas was with a unit that was taking part in the Last 100 Days offensive. Villers-Guislain is located North East of the village of Epehy
Private Joseph Herbert Pegg, 6th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
Killed in Action 6th November 1918, buried Roisin Communal Cemetery
While this is a civilian cemetery it does have this single line of military graves, many of the men her are from the Lincolnshire Regiment, it’s hard to think that Joseph and his comrades died 5 days before the Germans surrendered and about 30 miles from the point where the war would end for the British, back at Mons.
Private George Roome, 11th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
Killed in Action 16th September 1917, Commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial
George died during the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele.
WO1 Albert Sabine, Royal Engineers
Albert seems to be an interesting character, the issue is that his death isn’t until 1935 and it isn’t clear what occurred with Albert that resulted in his addition onto the village war memorial as a Great War death. More research is needed into his background.
Gunner William Smith, 19th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
Killed in Action 12th September 1917, Buried in Canada Farm Cemetery, Ypres.
Private Samuel Staley, 6th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
Died of Wounds 22 August 1917, Buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
As stated for Private William Benbow, the Lijssenthoek Cemetery is located next to a number of Casualty Clearing Stations and it is highly likely that Samuel was injured during the Third Battle of Ypres and then evacuated back through the casualty system back to one of the Clearing stations or hospitals in the area of Lijssenthoek.
Gunner James Harrold Twells, 113th Siege Battery, Royal garrison Artillery
Killed in Action 28 September 1918, Buried in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery
Lance Corporal Sydney Walker, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment
Killed in action 14th July 1916. Buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval.
Lance Corporal John Walton, 1st Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment
Killed in Action 1 September 1916, Commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.
Private Bailey Webster, 9th battalion South Staffordshire Regiment
Killed in Action 13 February 1916, Buried in Ration Farm Military Cemetery, La Chapelle-D’Armentieres
Sergeant Albert Webster, 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment
Died of Wounds 7 February 1921, Buried in Hartshorne (St Peters) Churchyard, Derbyshire.
Albert is buried in the village church cemetery and died 3 years after the war, it would be interesting to find out what the wounds were that he died of, there will be the need to do a bit more investigation on this. Albert served in the same Battalion as my wife’s grandfather who was gassed in March 1918 and suffered with breathing issues for the rest of his life, a question could be was Albert gassed at the same time? So more research needed on this one.
Private Percy Winfield, 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment
Died of Wounds 19th July 1916, Buried in Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbe
Heilly Station Cemetery is interesting as the vast majority of the graves are double or triple burials, most of whom are from the summer of 1916, which suggests that this was near or next to a field Hospital. This is supported by the fact that is it quite a distance back from the front lines of mid to late 1916.
Addition
The following soldier is not a Man of Hartshorne but his connection to the village is that he was the brother of Mr JT Alsop of the Scaddaws, Hartshorne.:
Private Samuel Alsop, 13th Company Machine Gun Corps.
Killed in Action 13th September 1916, Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
