Private John Walker, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1877-1951)

John Walker was born in Broadway in 1877, the son of Melville Walker, a tailor, and Jane Walker (née Knight). John was educated in the village at Broadway National School (St Michael’s National School) whilst William ‘Billy’ Timms was headmaster. After leaving school, John went to work as a groom for Francis Davis Millet at Russell House and later Lady Northwick in nearby Blockley.

John married Rose Louisa Hyatt in Great Wolford, Warwickshire on 5th May 1900, and the couple moved to Erdington, Birmingham, where John worked as a groom for John and Fanny Yates at Glenthorne, Kingsbury Road. Their daughter, Ethel May Walker, was born in Selly Oak on 17th April 1902.

After four years in Birmingham, John and Rose moved back to Broadway. John furthered his love of horses and worked for the North Cotswold Hunt under Sir John Hume Campbell and later Mr Beale. John was also employed for a time at Kite’s Nest as groom for Mr Swallow.

In 1914, a couple of months before his 38th birthday and shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, John joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He enlisted in Stratford-upon-Avon on 14th December 1914. At the time John was living and working as a coachman at Prior’s Manse. John served with the 10th Battalion Royal Warwicks for three years and later after the end of the war, was a founding member of the Broadway branch of the British Legion.

John was a lifelong member of Broadway Congregational Church of which he was a Deacon. One of his interests was local history and he was known locally as having a remarkable knowledge of Broadway and the surrounding area.

John’s wife Rose, died aged 54, in 1931, and she is buried in St Eadburgha’s churchyard. John died on 18th October 1951. A tribute to John’s memory was paid by Rev. A. Wakelin at his funeral (which was also officiated by Rev E.J. Price with Mrs McLean at the organ). Rev. Wakelin said:

I have known him for more than 18 years and insofar as it was possible to sum up a man in a phrase I would describe him as as decidedly friendly. His forte lay in meeting individuals and in giving many little services which other people are apt to neglect.

One of his delights in later years was that of visiting old, and neglected people and giving them help when needed and many will remember his diligence in waiting at the church door in all kinds of weather and making strangers feel welcome at the service.

The mourners at his funeral included; Mr and Mrs A.E. Collins (sister and brother-in-law), Mr and MrsJ. Turner (sister and brother-in-law), Mrs E. Knight and Mrs Fairfax (cousins), Mrs Fuller, Mrs Taplin and Mr Austin Knight (cousin). John was buried in the churchyard at St Eadburgha’s Church, there were no flowers at his request. The bearers were L. Keyte, F. Dowdeswell and T. Wilkes.

Broadway Remembers
18 October 2021

Remembered Today: Pte 34604 William R. Billey, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment

William Robert Billey was born in Broadway in 1897, the son of Albert William and Lilian Billey. At the age of 18, William enlisted with the Worcestershire Regiment in Ebbw Vale whilst working for the Great Western Railway. He served with the 2nd Battalion of the Worcesters and was posted to the Western Front on 2nd December 1915. William was killed in action, aged 19, on 21st May 1917, in the Actions of Croisilles south-east of Arras.

Pte William Billey is buried in Croisilles British Cemetery and is commemorated on the Broadway War Memorial.

William Robert Billey
(1897-1917)
©Evesham Journal

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

Fundraiser for the Worcester Regiment at Symonds’ Picturehouse, Broadway

On 6th May 1915, a fundraiser was held in Broadway at the Symonds’ Picturehouse to raise money for the Worcestershire Regiment. Half of the money raised was used to buy cigarettes to send to the Worcester Regiment in France.

Wounded in Action: Private 14959 Reginald Duncan Folkes, Worcestershire Regiment

Amongst the audience was Private Reginald Folkes who was on sick leave after being wounded in the Battle of Neuve Chappelle. Private Folkes was one of the first men of Broadway to join up to fight following the outbreak of the First World War arriving in France in 1915 with the 3rd Battalion Worcester Regiment. After being wounded in March 1915, and a period of convalescence at home in Broadway, Reginald returned to active duty with the 4th Battalion Worcester Regiment by the end of May 1915. Describing the Battle of Neuve Chappelle, Private Folkes said:

When they had reached the German trenches, they found, to their chagrin, that all the barbed wire was still intact, our artillery not having touched their front just there. That was the time that the men fell fast, but the Worcesters were not done with.

At the end of the war Reginald Folkes returned to Broadway. He married Alice Taylor in Stroud in 1920 and died,aged 64,in 1956.

Other Broadway Men Serving with the Worcesters

Other Broadway men fighting with the Worcesters included Privates Gordon Russell, Leonard F. Green¹, Edgar Turner, Arthur Berry. Another Broadway man, Private Malcolm John Denton<sup2, had also been wounded having been shot through the jaw. He was an old reservist having served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment before enlisting with the 8th Battalion Worcester Regiment after the outbreak of the WW1.

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

Notes:
1. Private Leonard Frank Green, Corporal 240841, 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (1896-1917). Len enlisted in September 1914 and was killed in action at during the Battle of Passchedaele and is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial and the Broadway War Memorial.
2. Private Malcolm John Denton was born c1879 in Drayton, Berkshire. He married Rosina Collins in Broadway in 1902.

 

 

Remembering General Sir Andrew Skeen, KCB, KCIE, CMG (1873-1935)

On the wall inside St Michael and All Angels Church, Church Street, Broadway is a wooden memorial plaque in remembrance of General Sir Andrew Skeen, KCB, KCIE, CMG, who died, aged 61, in Broadway in 1935. General Sir Andrew Skeen was one of Britain’s most experienced frontier warfare officers.

Andrew was born in Meerut, India, on 20th January 1873, the fifth son of Scottish parents, Deputy Surgeon-General William and Janet Keane Skeen. He was educated and Aberdeen Grammar School and first commissioned on 5th December 1891 to the British Indian Army. In 1897 he served on the North West Front with the Malakand Force and was lated posted to China (in 1900) during the Boxer Rebellion before being posted to Somaliland from 1901 to 1904.

On 22nd December 1905 he married Margaret Jane Farquharson in Bombay, India.

Following the outbreak of the First World War he served in Gallipoli as staff officer to General Sir William Birdwood, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. In 1915 he was mentioned in dispatches for reinforcing Anzac Cove in full view of the enemy prior to the Battle of Sari Bair. For his service at Gallipoli he was awarded the CMG and the French Croix de Guerre. Andrew’s brother, Major Oliver St John Skeen DSO, whilst serving with the 62nd Punjabis was killed in action, aged 41, in Mesopotamia on 21st January 1916 and he is buried in Amara War Cemetery, Iraq. At the time of his death, Oliver’s wife, Mabel, was living in Cheltenham.

Andrew went on to be Director of Military Operations at the Indian Army Headquarters in 1916 and in 1917 was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, Indian Army.

He was promoted to Major General in 1918 and, during the 3rd Afghan War in 1919, he commanded the 3rd Indian Infantry Brigade and the Kohat Kurram Force. During the subsequent revolt in Waziristan (1919-1920) he successfully led the Tochi and Derajat Columns. Andrew served as commander of the Kohat District from 1921 to 1922 and of the Peshawar District from 1922 to 1923. He was promoted to Lieutenant-General then appointed Commander of Southern Command (1923-1924) before serving as Chief of the General Staff, Indian Army from 1924 to 1928.

Due to poor health he retired in 1929 and his book, published in 1932, entitled Passing it on: short talks on tribal fighting on the North-West Frontier of India was issued to all officers’ and sergeants’ messes in India and remains a classic on the subject to this day.

Andrew Skeen and his wife, Margaret Jane (née Farquharson), lived at Trinafour in Broadway. He died, aged 61 on 18th February 1935. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in London and his ashes were scattered in Scotland. Lady Margaret Jane Skeen died in 1965.

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

 

Sources:
Ancestry.co.uk
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
National Army Museum

 

 

 

 

A Cheery Letter Home with News from France

Corporal William Horne, Royal Field Artillery (1889-1953)

William Horne was born in Broadway in 1889 when his parents, Francis and Elizabeth Horne were living in Bell Yard just off the High Street (Main Street) in the village. By 1901 he had moved with his widowed mother and younger brother, Percy, to the Silk Mill thatched cottages along the Snowshill Road. William later found work locally as a Railway Platelayer and at the time of the 1911 Census he had married Agnes Maud Turner (from Snowshill) and had one daughter, Eva, who was a week old.

William’s Cheery Letter Home with News from France

William enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War. Whilst in France he wrote the following letter home to Agnes in June 1916:

Just a few lines to let you know that I am still in the land of the living. How is Tom getting on? I wonder if he can speak French yet? I can manage it all right till it comes to the words and then I have finished. I expect David² has had a few tongue twisters by now. I was in a house one day, and a mate of mine came in and wanted some bread. In the phrase book it is ‘Ler Pang’ and would you believe it for the life of him he could not mouth it, but he said ‘Japan’ and it did just as well, for he got the bread. We are going on very well: get a few Taubes¹ over now and then, but we soon get over small troubles like that. We just wait till one gets over us, and then make a noise like an anti-aircraft gun and its soon out of the way.

Last Autumn we were bothered a bit by mice; now it’s cats. Mother sent me a nice cake yesterday, and they must have got wind of it, for after I had been asleep half an hour something woke me up I saw two cats dragging the cake box towards the door. As luck would have it I had put the remains of the cake in my haversack, and only left a biscuit in the cake box. I just spoke, and they went out to try the next villa, we have now got a nice little place to live in; it’s not what you would call a palace, but it’s all right. It was all right anyway until last night some of us played a game on our next door neighbours. For a roof we had a wagon sheet, and after our game was up they let us get in bed and put the light out, and then cut the sheet just over where one chap was sleeping, and poured half a pail of water over his face. We all went into spasms laughing. He jumped up but could not find any matches. He knows a good bit of English and he didn’t slip it out, for he’s got a pretty good flow of language at any time.

It’s nice out here now. I mean the weather of course. I was up at a ‘certain place’ the other night, and got into conversation with two infantry chaps. One asked the other what he enlisted for, and he replied twelve years. The other said ‘Lucky chap; I’m in for the duration of the war!’ So he evidently did not think it was going to be a short one.

I must now draw to a conclusion or I shall be too late for the pictures.

William returned home to Broadway at the end of the war and died, aged 63 in 1953. At the time of his death he was living at 1 Mill Avenue in the village.

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

Notes:

1. A taube was a German monoplane aircraft.
2. David Francis Horne (1875-1935), William’s older brother.

Corporal Nelson George Thacker, 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (1915-1994)

From the Evesham Journal 21 March 1942

I recently saw on Facebook an image taken from the Evesham Journal of British prisoners of war in Stalag VIII-B (Stalag 344) Lamsdorf, Germany, in the 1942 (see image). Amongst the prisoners in the photo was Corporal Nelson George Thacker from Evesham (back row 3rd from left). The post piqued my interest as I have researched some of the men from the area that have served in either the First or Second World War so I decided to see what I could discover about Corporal Thacker.

Nelson George Thacker (1915-1994)

Known as George, he was born in Evesham on 28th September 1915. His parents, Percy John Thacker and mother, Sarah Jane (née Hampton), had married in Evesham late in 1914. His mother was from Bengeworth in Evesham and worked at the local jam factory. His father was a journeyman baker and the family lived at 4 Mill Street, Evesham. George had a younger brother, Frederick born in 1917 who died, aged 7, in 1924. His mother gave birth to a third son, Douglas, in 1927 but he also did not survive infancy.

George was named after his father’s brother Nelson Thacker (1892-1915). Just before George was born his Uncle Nelson had embarked for France having enlisted as a Private with the 1st Battalion Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). Less than two months’ later, whilst fighting on the Western Front Private Nelson Thacker was killed in action on 13th October 1915, and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial and the Evesham War Memorial.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, George enlisted with the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment and in 1942, whilst in France, was captured by the German Army. The Evesham Journal reported on 21st March 1942 that George was a Prisoner of War in Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf.

Around 210 men from the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment are known to have been imprisoned in Stalag VIII-B at some point during the war. The stalag was the largest German Army prisoner of war camp in the Third Reich with thousands of prisoners, mostly Russian but with a smaller camp of some 16,000 prisoners from Britain, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa. The camp was located in the north east near Oppeln on the River Oder in Silesia near what was then the German Polish border. At the end of 1943 Lamsdorf was designated Stalag 344 and a sub-camp at Teschen, some 125 km to the south east, became the new Stalag VIII-B.

Stalag 383, Hohenfels, Germany

According to the Worcestershire Regiment’s records Lt/Cpl 1873046 Thacker was imprisoned in Stalag 383 as PoW 15320. Fellow serving soldiers from his battalion; Corporals H.H. Taylor, D.E. Williams, R.P. Evans and Sergeants C. Sargerson and R.W. Seager are recorded as being PoWs in the camp at the same time as George.

It was not unusual for prisoners to be transferred between camps. Private Les Foskett who served with The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, had been a prisoner at Stalag VIII-B in 1941 and was transferred to Stalag 383 a few months later so it is likely that George and a number of others were transferred between the two camps at some stage and that he may not have been in Stalag VIII-B for long. Click here for Les Foskett’s story.

Stalag 383 was located in Bavaria between Nuremburg and Regensberg in Germany. Until late 1942, the prisoners in the camp endured conditions what have been described by another PoW as bad but once the Swiss Red Cross became involved, and Red Cross clothing and food parcels supplemented PoW camp rations, the lives the PoWs improved and the camp was described as “far less depressing than Lamsdorf”. A Swedish delegate who visited the camp on the occasion of the centenary of the YMCA in July 1944 stated that he had seen “no better camp in Germany” (see extracts from the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, 1939-1945 for prisoners’ descriptions of the camp). The PoWs were released from Stalag 383 in early May 1945 by the American Army.

After his release, George returned home to Evesham. Following his discharge from the army in he started working as a Postman with Evesham Post Office in 1946 and he later joined the Evesham Town Silver Band. He married Gertrude Cynthia Padfield, known as Cynthia (of Burford Road, Evesham), at St Lawrence Church, in 1947. George died in 1994 and his wife, Cynthia, died aged 87, on 26th January 2012 and is buried in Waterside Cemetery, Evesham. Before her death Cynthia lived on Isbourne Crescent, Evesham.

If anyone has any information about George Thacker that could be added to this article then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

 

Sources:
http://www.ancestry.co.uk
Evesham Journal
The Diary of Alan Forster, POW 3921, Stalag VIIIB (October 1944 — May 1945) by Bill Forster
http://www.worcestershireregiment.com

 

Remembrance Day Service Sunday 11th November 2018

Broadway Remembers: Broadway Falls Silent to Remember the War Dead and Mark 100 Years since the Armistice

100 years after the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918, when the guns fell silent on the Western Front bringing an end to the First World War, a Service of Remembrance and 2 minutes’ silence was held at the War Memorial on the village green in Broadway, Worcestershire. This was followed by a service in St Michael and All Angels’ Church to remember all the lives sacrificed in the service of our country and those traumatised and injured in conflict.

Broadway Remembers today, in this centenary year, the following 48 men who died in the First World War and are commemorated on Broadway’s war memorial:

BARNETT, Private  9562 George, 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
BAYLISS,  Private 25249 James Josiah, Worcestershire Regiment transferred to 287004 Labour Corps
BILLEY, Private 34604 William Robert, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire  Regiment
BISHOP, Private  203259 William, 10th Battalion Worcestershire  Regiment
BOX,  Private M/320163 William Arthur, Royal Army Service Corps
CLARKE, Private 15372 Albert Henry, 11th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
CLARKE, Private 30483 Bertram, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
COLLINS, Private 16263 Archibald William (Archie), 10th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment
CRUMP, Yeoman of Signals 220097 William George, Royal Navy
CULL,  Private 47558 John Sydney (Jack),  15th Squadron Royal Machine Gun Corps
DAFFURN,  Driver 17552 Thomas, “B”  Battery 98th Brigade (XVI Corps HQ) Royal Field  Artillery
EARP, Sergeant 88389 John William, “C” Battery 84th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
EDWARDS, Pioneer 37053 Henry Harold (Harry), 3rd  Divisional Signal Company Royal  Engineers
EMMS, Private 32962 Ebenezer Evelyn, Royal  Berkshire  Regiment & 424th Agricultural Company Labour Corps
FIGGITT, Private 10503 Wilford Charles,  2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire  Regiment
FLOWER, Lt. Col. Oswald Swift,  13th  Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers
FOLKES, Guardsman 23203 Alfred, King’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards
FOLKES, Private 2414 Francis Alfred (Frank), Queen’s  Own Worcestershire Hussars  (Worcester Yeomanry)
GAME, Lt. Hubert John, Royal Field Artillery and Royal Flying Corps
GARDNER, Private M2/153742 William, Royal Army Service Corps
GODDARD, Private 37889 Arthur Harold, 1st/5th  Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
GREEN, Corporal 240841 Leonard Frank,  1st/8th Battalion  Worcestershire Regiment
HAINES, Rifleman 4632 Cecil  Frank, 1st/12th Battalion London Regiment (The Rangers)
HAINES, Private 15024 Gerald, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
HENSLEY, Private M2/148096 George, 284th  Company Army Service Corps
HILL, Private 9574 Reginald Bertram, 1st  Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
HILSON, Private 12240 Joseph, 1st  Battalion  Gloucestershire Regiment
INGLES, Private TF/241275 Francis Henry,  7th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent  Regiment)
JACKSON, Private 241170 Charles, 7th  Battalion Worcestershire  Regiment
JORDAN, Private 202406 Walter, 1st  Battalion  Worcestershire Regiment
KEYTE, Private 27819 Charles Hubert, 3rd  Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
LAYTON, Private 22994 Alfred, 9th  Battalion Worcestershire  Regiment
PAINTER, Private M2/033139 Sidney John, 5th  Divisional Supply Column Army Service Corps
PARKER, Private 17070 Ernest Harold, 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
PARKER, Private 2444 William John,  Warwickshire  Yeomanry
PERRY, Sergeant SE/17110 John, Royal Army Veterinary Corps
RASTALL, Private 241810 Frank, 1st/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
RUSSELL, Private 9570 Joe Edgar, 9th  Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
SANDEL, Lance Corporal 3674 George, 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
SCRIVENS, Private 21387 Wilfred George, 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
STANLEY, Private 42530 Alec Silvester, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
STANLEY, Gunner 59030 Charles Robert, ‘B’ Battery 86th Royal Field Artillery
TALBOT, 2nd Lt. Stanley Alfred, North Staffordshire Regiment
TANDY, Private 10754 Wilfred George, 9th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
TEBBY, Private 29004 Walter John, 14th Battalion Welsh Regiment
TUSTIN, Lance Corporal 36116 Jack, 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
VINCENT, Guardsman 27767 Ernest Edward, 1st  Battalion Grenadier Guards
WALE, Lance Corporal 30871 Edmund  Joseph, 8th Battalion Royal  Berkshire Regiment

Today we also remember the following 24 men of Broadway who died in the First World War who are not commemorated on the war memorial:

ANNESLEY CMG, DSO, Lieutenant James Howard Aldolphus, 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers)
BATCHELOR, Private 9569 George Walter Raymond, 15th Entrenching Battalion, late 11th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
COOK MM, Second Corporal 86297, 254th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers
CUNNINGTON, Corporal 7931 Charles Camberlain, 2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment
DALE, Ernest Stocks, Corporal 17842, 1/7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
DALE, John S, Company Sergeant Major 13784, 8th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment
GABB, William Harold, Private 5767, 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards
GANDERTON, Thomas Henry. Private 17267, 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
GRIMMITT, John William, Gunner 246724, ‘C’ Battery, 275th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
HANDY, George Thomas, Private 29206, 9th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
HANDY, Reginald
HANDY, Richard Keyte, Private 19218, 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
HARTWELL, Arthur James, Private 240100, 8th Battalion East Surrey Regiment
HINTON, Gerald Charles, Private 307582, 2/7th Royal Warwickshire Regiment formerly 3645 Warwickshire Yeomanry
HUXLEY, Albert, Lance Corporal 241169, 2/8th Worcestershire Regiment
JONES, William
MATTHEWS, William Henry, Private 8859, 3rd Garrison Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
PERKINS, George Thomas, Private 14453, 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
SADLER, Ernest Charles, Guardsman, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards
SMITH, William Thomas, Private 290802, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment
SPIERS, Walter Edward, Private 19365, 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
TOMES, James
TURNER, Lamber, Private 41726, 2/4th Battalion Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment, formerly 145506 Labour Corps
WALKER, Henry Austin, Private 20806, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards

The names of 21 men were added at to the memorial at the end of the Second World War:

CLARKE, Robert Warner, Able Seaman PJX321879, Royal Navy(H.M. Submarine P311)
CLARKE, Sydney Clarke, Lance Corporal 11416496, 7th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment
COOK, Robert Leonard, Lance Corporal 2618869, 5th Battalion Grenadier Guards
CROSS, Brian, Leading Aircraftman 1440292, Royal Volunteer Reserve
CROSS, Frederick, Private 5249458, 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
COTTERELL, Maurice Charles, Sergeant Pilot 562657, 90 Squadron Royal Air Force
COTTERELL, Peter Samuel, Sergeant/Air Gunner, 158 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
HANDY, Frederick, Driver T70973, Royal Army Service Corps
HARRISON, Kenneth John, Ordinary Seaman CJX319054, Royal Navy (HMS Arethusa)
INGLES, Horace George, Private 5253093, 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
INGLES, Thomas Raymond, Able Seaman DJX368713, Royal Navy (HMS Kite)
INVINE, Cyril John, Aircraftman 1st Class 1206953, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
JAMES, Sydney James, Flight Sergeant/Wireless Operator/AirGunner 1583124, 61 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
JESSOP (JESSUP), Alexander Anthony, Sergeant/Observer 911895, 51 Squadron, Royal Air Force
NEWBURY, James Victor, Ordinary Seaman DJX392157, Royal Navy (HMS Escapade)
OWEN, Edward Milman, Ordinary Seaman PJX226068, Royal Navy (HMS Kashmir)
PEMBERTON, David Alwyne, Squadron Leader/Pilot 33036, 1 Squadron, Royal Air Force
POOLE, James Henry, Leading Aircraftman, Royal Air Force
PROCTOR, Edgar William, Flight Sergeant/Air Gunner 1313237 44 Squadron, Royal Air Force
TARRANT, Frederick George, Private 14773225, 1st Battalion East Lancashire
WOODGER, Clifford John, Sergeant 421411, 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Royal Amoured Corps

In the late 1950s a bronze plaque was added to the foot of the memorial commemorating:

HENSLEY, Kenneth Andrew, Second Lieutenant, Royal Warwickshire attached North Rhodesia Regiment.

We will remember them.

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

 

 

 

 

Remembering: Cousins Ben and Fred Standring, Arthur and Iltyd Prichard who died in the First World War

Inside St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Church Street, Broadway, hanging on the wall to the right of the altar is a small brass plaque which reads:

In Loving Memory
OF
BEN STANDRING,
FRED STANDRING,
ARTHUR ILTYD PRICHARD,
AND
OWEN PRICHARD,
NEPHEWS OF CHARLES T. STANDRING,
SURGEON OF THIS PARISH.
KILLED IN THE GREAT WAR.

As these men are not commemorated on the war memorial on the green in the village, and were not resident in Broadway when they enlisted and served in the First World War, I did not include them in my book, Broadway Remembers. However, I feel that these men should not go unmentioned as they were close relatives of Broadway’s doctor, Charles Turner Standring who served the village for many years.

Dr Charles Turner Standring (1865-1924)

Charles Standring was born in Lewisham, Kent, in 1865, the sixth son of John and Elizabeth Emma Standring. Charles was educated at Blackheath School and King’s College London. He studied medicine and took the diploma of Licence of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA) in 1891. After serving as a house surgeon at Shrewsbury Hospital and as a doctor’s assistant in various parts of the country, Charles, his wife, Caroline Matilda (nee Clayton), and daughter, Dorothy, settled in Broadway.

Charles was an active member of the community and was known as the ‘sporting doctor’: he founded Broadway Golf Club and was Honorary Secretary of the Club for 26 years. Broadway Golf Club was initially sited where Broadway Cricket Club is today on Snowshill Road before Charles initiated its relocation. The Club eventually settled on its current site in 1911 at the top of the hill above Broadway. Charles was also an active member of Broadway Tennis Club and Broadway Cricket Club (he was a team member of J.M. Barrie’s ‘Allahakbarries’ who played in cricket matches in Broadway in the late 1890s). Charles also founded Broadway Football Club and Broadway Hockey Club. He lived with his wife and daughter at The Laurels (now Broome House), Church Street, Broadway, where Charles practised until his death on 8th November 1924, aged 59.

Four of Charles’s nephews died in the First World War and are remember on the brass plaque in St Michael’s church:

 

2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Arthur (Ben) Standring, 2nd The Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1886-1914)

Ben Standring was born in 1886 in Oporto, Portugal, the only son of wine merchant Arthur Hamilton (Charles’s oldest brother) and Ellen Standring. He was educated at the Oporto British School and Charterhouse (Bodeites) in Surrey (from 1900 to 1904). Ben initially enlisted in 1909 with the 28th London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) becoming a Corporal and then a Sergeant. Following the outbreak of the war, Ben proceeded to join the Expeditionary Force in France on 26th October 1914. At the time of his enlistment his parents were living at Heath Bank, Blackheath Rise, Lewisham in Kent.

Shortly after the Artists’ Rifles arrived in France they became an Officers’ Training Corps and in November 1914, Ben received his commission in The Royal Warwickshire Regiment which he joined at the front. He was wounded in action at Rouges Banes on 19th December 1914 and died the same day.

Ben is buried in Sailly-Sur-La-Lys churchyard in the Pas du Calais, France and is commemorated on the 1914-1918 Roll of Honour in St Mary Magdalene Church, Chiswick, Middlesex (the church is now closed).

 

Lieutenant Frederick John (Fred) Standring, 8th Royal Scots attached 57 Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)(1897-1918)

Fred Standring was the youngest son of book publisher Walter John (Charles’s brother) and Jane (aka Jean) Hackney Standring. He was born in Willesden, Middlesex in 1897 and at the time of his enlistment his widowed mother was living at 4 Coates Place, Edinburgh. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Scots on 29th November 1916 and later promoted to Lieutenant.

Fred was killed in action on 6th September 1918, aged 21. Fred is buried in Sun Quarry Cemetery, Cherisy in the Pas de Calais and is commemorated on the St John, Uxbridge Moor war memorial which is now located in St Andrew’s Church, Hillingdon Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex.

 

Private 3888 Arthur Iltyd Prichard, 1/15th London Regiment, Own Civil Service Rifles (1880-1916)

Eldest son of solicitor Illtyd Moline and Ellen Adelaide Prichard of 34 Blessington Road, Lee, Kent, Arthur was born in Lee on 22nd October 1880. His mother was the younger sister of Charles Standring. His brother was Lieutenant Edward Owen (see below). Arthur was educated at Felsted School, Essex, where he was a Classical Scholar where he obtained a Mathematics Scholarship to Queen’s College, Cambridge University. After leaving Cambridge in 1902 he entered the Civil Service and passed the Indian Civil Service exams before being appointed to His Majesty’s Office of Works in 1904 and later appointed Private Secretary to the First Commissioner of Works.

Arthur joined the Civil Service Rifles on 30th May 1915 and served with B Company of the 1/15th London Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles) with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders. In May 1916, the battalion were in the Zouave Valley near Souchez. The entry for the 21st May states:

At 2.00am ‘B’ Company counter-attacked the Germans, very heavy rifle and machine gun fire was opened by the enemy, supported by a strong artillery barrage. We got into, and secured Granby Street. Relieved midnight 22nd to 23rd. Casualties, 2 officers and 90 other ranks. 

Aged 35, Arthur was one of the men killed in action on 21st May 1916. According to De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour he was serving as a Corporal at the time of his death and was buried 100 years from the German trenches at Vimy Ridge. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial in the Pas de Calais.

 

Lieutenant Edward Owen Prichard, 21st Australian Infantry (1885-1917)

Younger brother of Arthur Iltyd Prichard (above), Edward, known as Owen was born on 15th August 1885 in Lee. He was educated at Lindisfarne College and Felsted School. After leaving school he worked for the Cycle Trade Publishing Company and emigrated to Australia as a farmer. On 4th May 1915 enlisted in Melbourne, Victoria. At the time he was living at 824 Malvern Road, Armadale, Victoria, with Miss Moline, a family relative, and was employed as an orchard supervisor.

Owen had previously served as 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Queen Volunteer West Kent Regiment for 2 years. He enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on 1st June 1915 and subsequently promoted to Lieutenant. After a period of training on 3rd July 1916, he embarked on HMAT (His Majesty’s Australian Transport) Ayrshire A33 from Melbourne. He arrived in Plymouth on 2nd September 1916 where he underwent further training before embarking for France and Flanders. On 16th October he marched to Re-enforcement Camp in Etaples and was posted to the 21st Battalion on 18th October. Owen was promoted to Lieutenant on 11th December and was killed in action, aged 33, at Grevilliers, Bapaume, on 13th March 1917 where he is buried in Grevilliers British Cemetery.

 

We will remember them.

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

 

 

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (military records & births, marriages and death records)
Australian Service Records
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
FindMyPast
The British Medical Journal

 

 

 

 

 

Broadway Men appear before Military Tribunals in Evesham

During the First World War, the passing of the Military Service Act in January 1916 enforced compulsory military service. As a result, single men and widowers without children aged 18-41 years were now liable to serve in the Army as long as they were not in a reserved occupation. The Act was extended in May of that year to cover both single and married men and in 1918 was extended to include men up to 51 years of age.

As a result of compulsory conscription, a series of Military Service Tribunals were established to hear applications and appeals for exemption from those with reasons not to serve in the Army. For men in Broadway, the Tribunals were held in Evesham.

The reasons for seeking exemption needed to fall in one of seven categories; employment or educational studies that were of greater national importance, domestic circumstances, conscientious objection and medical reasons.

William Joseph Keyte (1884-1974)

In 1917, following compulsory conscription, William Joseph Keyte of Broadway, who was 33 years of age and working as a jobbing builder and decorator, finally passed his army medical with a Grade 3C. William had previously been rejected by the Army on three occasions.  He was now considered fit for service but only for clerical duties. Represented by Mr J.W. Roberts, William appealed his conscription on the basis that he would have to close his business if he enlisted as he had already lost one of his men to the war.

William appeared before Lieutenant Shelmerdine (who served with the RFC during WW1) at a Tribunal in Evesham. William stated during his appeal that there were a number of C3 single men in Broadway who did not have their own businesses who had not been called up and that he was married with three young children to support. William’s cousin, Harold Keyte, also a jobbing builder employed by many of the farms in Broadway, had passed Grade 1 fitness, however, he had received total exemption. William went on to explain that his cousin, Harold, would in spite of his employment be unable to support William’s family in his absence.

The Tribunal granted William full exemption from service during the war. His younger brother Charles Hubert Keyte, had served with the 3rd Battalion, Worcetershire Regiment, and was killed in action in France on 22nd August 1916 and is commemorated on the Broadway War Memorial.

William Stephens (b. 1886)

Aged 31, William Stephens of New Cottages, Leamington Road, Broadway, had been granted exemption on November 29th 1916. At the time he was working as a rabbit catcher for Mr Jackson in Broadway. His certificate of exemption was reviewed in 1917 at the request of the local National Service Representative as he was known to be no longer engaged in the same occupation. At his Tribunal, William stated that he was still catching rabbits and that he could get plenty of work on the land in and around Broadway. William who was single had passed Grade 2 at his medical. William lost his appeal and his exemption from service was withdrawn.

It is not known where or with which regiment William served. William was the son of Thomas and Louisa Stephens of Buckland.

 

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing

Last weekend I visited Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing outside Passchendaele near Zonnebeke in Belgium. Tyne Cot is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world for any war and commemorates nearly 12,000 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War and the Memorial another 35,000 men. The scale of the site is overwhelming and like other Commonwealth War Grave Commission sites the grounds are beautifully maintained, and at the time of my visit rows of ‘Remembrance’ red floribunda roses planted in front of the wall of panels and amongst some of the headstones were in full bloom.

In the Visitor Centre on the approach to the Cemetery, a recorded voice reads out the names of each of the servicemen listed as ‘missing in action’ and there was a display of medals, letters and photographs of some of the men. Amongst the men commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing is Leonard Frank Green, son of Harold Joseph and Mary Ann Green, High Street, Broadway. Corporal Leonard Green of the 1st/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was killed in action, aged 20, on 27th August 1917.

 

 

Debbie Williamson
Broadway Remembers
August 2017