Thursday 24 December 2009

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.

Tuesday 22 December 2009

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.

Monday 21 December 2009

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.

Friday 11 December 2009

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.

Thursday 10 December 2009

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.

Monday 7 December 2009

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.

Saturday 5 December 2009

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.

Thursday 3 December 2009

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

Wednesday 2 December 2009

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.

Tuesday 1 December 2009

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.