Private E Willetts DCM

39334 Private E Willetts DCM
9th Battalion the Welsh Regiment
Died of wounds 11 July 1916
Age 25

Son of Mrs. E. Willetts, of Church St., Kingham, Oxford.

Buried at Warloy-Baillon cemetery extension.

Private Herbert Edward Chard

G/37633 Private Herbert Edward Chard
1st Battalion the Middlesex Regiment
Killed in action 8 August 1918
Son of Ada Chard, of 29, Prospect Rd., Child's Hill, Cricklewood, London.

Private Chard is buried at Vormezeele near Ypres. He was an employee of Hampstead Borough Council in London.

Lance Corporal James Ridgers

L/6621 Lance Corporal James Ridgers
Ist Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment
Killed in action 24 October 1914

Lance Corporal Ridgers is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

Private George Oberhoffer

6149 Private George Henry Joseph Oberhoffer
18th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
Died of wounds 18 February 1916
Buried at Bethune Military Cemetery

Private Oberhoffer was a member of the 18th (Public Schools) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He is commemorated on the war memorial at Uppingham in Leicestershire – where there is a large public school.

He was born and lived in York and enlisted at Epsom.

He attended Ampleforth School (c.1894) so could perhaps have been teaching at Uppingham 20 years later.

Private Ernest Edward Clarke

L/12834 Private Ernest Edward Clarke
4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
Killed in action 23 August 1914
Buried at St Symphorien Military Cemetery

Private Clarke was killed at the Battle of Mons and was one of the first casualties of the First World War. The BEF lost its first man only two days previously.

The battalion had landed in France on 13 August.

There is a photo of A company 4th Royal Fusiliers taken in Mons on 22 August (left) - hours before they moved up to Nimy on the banks of the Mons-Conde canal. Clarke may even be in this photo.

Lieutenant M Dease and Private SF Godley from the battalion both won the VC on 23 August.

Private Albert Tatner

266886 Private Albert Tatner
10th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
Age 39
Killed in action 20 September 1917
Buried at Ypres Reservoir Cemetery

Husband of Rose Amy Tatner, of 298, Wilmot St., Bethnal Green, London. Native of Dartford, Kent.

Albert Tatner was an employee of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton brewers.

His age and the fact he was serving with a New Army battalion that was raised in Newcastle seems to indicate he had been conscripted.

Presumably he was killed during the Battle of Menin Road, which began on 20 September 1917.

Private AW Harrison

7648 Private AW Harrison
5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales’)
Age 18
Killed in action, 1 September 1914

Son of Charles and Ethel Harrison, of 2, Laburnum Terrace, Batheaston, Bath.

Private Harrison is buried at Verberie military cemetery.

He was killed during the so-called affair of Nery and is buried with others who fell in that battle.

These include 5 men of 'L' Battery, RHA who were never identified. Some 12 of the 17 men of the 2nd and 5th Dragoon Guards, who fell at Nery, are also buried here.

Private Frederick Wilson

17174 Private Frederick Wilson
Royal Army Medical Corps
Age 36
Killed in action 14 September 1914

Son of Charles Wilson; husband of Maud Boyd (formerly Wilson), of 13, Henley Rd., Chester. Born at Chester.

Buried at Vailly British Cemetery.

On 12 September 1914 3rd Division crossed the river Marne at Vailly.

Second Lieutenant Richard Nugent

Second Lieutenant Richard Nugent
Scots Guards
Age 30
Killed in action 18 December 1914

Son of the late Hon. Richard Nugent, of Stacumny, Celbridge, Co. Kildare; grandson of the 9th Earl of Westmeath.

He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial.

Nugent was killed with many others on an attack on German positions in December 1914. Fatally wounded he was taken into the German front line trench and treated, but subsequently died.

Following the attack an offer by the German troops to allow the Scots Guards to collect the bodies of those killed in the attack sparked a Christmas truce.

At the age of 30 he must have been rather old for a second lieutenant, especially in a regular army battalion.

Corporal T Cossey

22226 Corporal T Cossey
32nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers
Killed in action 16 September 1916

Husband of Mrs. C. Cossey, of 62, Fisher St., Canning Town, London.

He is buried at Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt.

The 32nd (East Ham) Battalion Royal Fusiliers was raised in Autumn 1915 at the initiative of the Mayor of East Ham.

It sailed for Belgium on 5 May 1916 and was at Ypres until August, when it was transferred to the Somme region.

On 15 September it was involved in the battle of Flers-Courcelette.

Corporal Cossey’s name appears on the Smithfield war memorial.

Corporal Benjamin Bradnum

3186 Corporal Benjamin Bradnum
11th Battalion Middlesex Regiment
Age 23
Killed in action 23 October 1915

Son of Benjamin Barber Bradnum and Susannah E. Bradnum, of 99, Maurice Avenue, Noel Park, Wood Green. London.

Corporal Bradnum is buried at Lillers Communal Cemetery.

Rifleman Alfred Agass

465025 Rifleman Alfred Agass
2/11th Battalion London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles)
Died 18 September 1917
Commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres.

Alfred Agass was probably killed during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, during the Third Battle of Ypres, and is commemorated on the Smithfield Meat Market war memorial.

The Finsbury Rifles memorial is on Roseberry Avenue and Rifleman Agass is also commemorated on the Walthamstow War Memorial, where he lived.

He was born in Bethnal Green.

Private JG Delderfield

20027 Private JG Delderfield
2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment
Serving with 142 Company Labour Corps

Died on 26 August 1918

Son of James and Mary Ann Delderfield, of Berkhamsted; husband of Elizabeth Delderfield, of 13, Middle Rd., Berkhamsted, Hertforshire.

Private Delderfield is buried at Puchevillers British Cemetery.

He is commemorated on the Liverpool Street Station War Memorial and was presumably a railwayman working on the East Coast Line.

Lieutenant George Walker Wildman

Lieutenant George Walker Wildman
Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Age 37
Died 19 April 1917
Buried at Pulham St Mary, Norfolk

RNAS Pulham (later RAF Pulham) was a Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) airship station.

Lieutenant Wildman is listing as having been killed in an accident in the UK.

He is commemorated at St Botolph’s church, London, where he is listed as a parishioner, and is also listed as the husband of AM Wildman, 60 Berlin Road, Catford, London SE6.

George Wildman worked as an Assistant Examiner at the Patent Office (Board of Trade).

His service records list him as Temporary Lieutenant from 17 March 1917, when posted to ‘HMS President add’l for RNAS for hydrogen duties.’

On 25 March he attended a Disciplinary Course at Crystal Palace and on 16 April he was posted to HMS President for Hydrogen Section, Admiralty, for Hydrogen duties.

He was killed on 19 April as a result of an explosion of silicol gas plant at Pulham, Norfolk.

His grave is no longer easily visible in the church yard. There are several CWGC headstones (including other members of the RNVR) in the area north of the church, but it is possible that the headstone was inscribed by his family, rather than the CWGC, and that the text is no longer legible.

Wildman is also commemorated on the Patent Office Memorial 1914-1918, now hanging in Concept House, Newport.

The 1901 census of Newlands, Bromley Road, Catford SE6 lists George Wildman as living with his parents:

George Wildman, Head, Age 49, Occupation Manager Straw Hat Factory, Born Toddington, Bedfordshire

Martha E Wildman, Wife, Age 49, Born Rotherhithe, London

George W Wildman, Son, Age 21, Occupation Assistant Civil Officer Admiralty Victualling Store, Born Rotherhithe, London

Mabel A Craven, Servant, Age 23, Born Rotherhithe, London

Private Frederick Goldstein

281362 Private Frederick Goldstein
2/4th Battalion London Regiment (City of London, Royal Fusiliers)
Killed in action 19 May 1917
Commemorated on the Arras Memorial

Frederick Goldstein’s name appears on the war memorial at Christ Church, Spitalfields, London E1.

The battalion was formed in September 1914 and served at Gallipoli, before moving to France in April 1916.

Lance Corporal Robert Montier

G/33783 Lance Corporal Robert Montier
8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment
Age 19
Died 19 May 1917
Commemorated on the Arras Memorial

Son of Mrs. Florence Montier, of 5, Fairhazel Gardens, South Hampstead, London.

Private Charles Pitchfork

2120 Private Charles Pitchfork
17th Battalion London Regiment
Age 19
Died 2 December 1916
Buried at Railway Dugouts cemetery, Ypres

Son of Charles and Martha Elizabeth Pitchfork, of 35, Pell Street, St. George Street, London.

Despite his rural-sounding name, Private Pitchfork was a Londoner who joined the 17th Battalion London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles).

He worked for Hanbury Truman brewers, possibly at the Grey Eagle Brewery on Brick Lane.

The Poplar and Stepney Rifles arrived in France in March 1915 and was engaged in the battle of Loos.

Drill Hall for the unit was at Tredegar Road, Bow, London. The building is long gone, though.

Private Thomas Lamont

15416 Private Thomas Lamont
11th Battalion the Border Regiment
Age 42
Killed in action, 1 July 1916
Buried at Londsdale Cemetery, Authuille

The 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion of the Border Regiment was one of the units that attacked on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916.

Private Alfred Ell

19838 Private Alfred Ell
1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment
Age 33
Killed in Action 24 October 1918
Buried at Romeries, France.

Son of George Ell, of London; husband of Lilian Daisy Ell, of 151, Offord Rd., Barnsbury, London.

Private Ell was killed during the actions prior to the Battle of the Sambre, just three weeks before the war ended.

On 23 October, the 1st Middlesex attacked the village of Forest near Le Cateau. Zero hour for the attack was 2am and at 2.45am a message was received by Battalion Headquarters from Captain Tate, commanding 'B' Company. This said: 'On outskirts of Forest. Everything going splendidly. Enemy retiring. Very few casualties.

At 4am on the 24th the advance was continued. The 1st Middlesex was on the left of the line and ran into lethal machine gun fire.

At 6.50am Captain Francis Broad MC reported that the enemy's machine-gun fire was extremely heavy, but he believed that, although he could not get touch, some of the Battalion were ahead of him, though the enemy also was in front.

At 7.25am he reported that he had 'D' Company with 'C' Company – a total of just 50 men.

At around 9.15am the battalion reorganised. There were just 90 other ranks present, with Captain Tate in command.

During the two days' fighting Captain Broad, Lieutenant ACT Kroenig-Ryan and 2/Lieutenant RE Holland were killed. Lieutenant AAT Harris was fatally wounded. 2/Lieutenant CE Cade was missing.

Captain Broad was 23 and from Watford.

2/Lieutenant Holland was 22 and from Mitcham in Surrey.

Lieutenant Kroenig-Ryan was 24, the son of a vicar from Braintree in Essex and a graduate of Cambridge University. He had a wife, Mabel, and lived at Alameda House, Vange, Pitsea, Essex. He had originally served with 8th Battalion the Middlesex Regiment.

Private William Gianone

5379 Private William Gianone
1/19 Battalion London Regiment
Age unknown
Died 29 September 1916
Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial

1/19 Battalion London Regiment (St Pancras) was headquartered in 1914 at 76 High Street Camden Town.

In mid-September the Battalion was engaged in the battle of the Somme and lost around half of its number at High Wood. Included in these was the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Hamilton MC, killed on 15 September as the wood was finally taken by the British.

Hamilton was 32 years old and was attached to 1/19 Londons from The Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. He lived at 42 Eaton Square, Belgravia and is buried at Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz.

The battalion was again in action from 1-4 October at Le Transloy and William Gianone was probably killed in the preliminary stages of this - probably somewhere near Eaucourt L'Abbaye.

Major Charles Herbert Fair DSO appears to have been in command of the battalion in late September 1916. He had been educated at Marlborough College, Wiltshire and at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he had gained first class honours in classics and been captain of the college rugby XV.

Fair was a schoolmaster at Haileybury College, Hertfordshire and had been posted to the 1/19th London Regiment in 1ate October 1915.

On 5 November 1916 he noted in a letter he noted that he was now the longest serving officer with the battalion – it had suffered over 100 per cent turnover in 12 months.

Rifleman Arthur Dunn

R/9123 Rifleman Arthur Dunn
3rd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps
Age 18
Died 24 July 1915
Son of William and Mary Ann Dunn, of 30, New Inn Lane, Hanford, Stoke-on-Trent.
Buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

3 KRRC were engaged at Ypres in April and May 1915 and sustained heavy casualties there. It is possible Rifleman Dunn was wounded around this time and later died at one of the base hospitals in Boulogne. The battalion was in the front line at the beginning of the battle, which lasted for 24 days (19 April to 13 May). It also saw the Germans using poison gas for the first time. Some 542 members of the battalion were killed, wounded or reported missing during the battle.

On 24 May 3 KRRC were engaged in a night attack near the Menin Road, taking casualties of three officers and 65 other ranks – possibly including Rifleman Dunn.