Category Archives: Sussex

Coldstream Guards, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Guardsman, Hertfordshire, history, illness, photography, story, Sussex, war

Guardsman Sydney Proctor

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Guardsman Sydney Proctor

Sydney Francis Proctor was born in the autumn of 1886 in the Hertfordshire town of Bushey. The middle of three children, his parents were George and Annie Proctor. George was a stationary engine driver, and Sydney found work at a local iron foundry – possibly working alongside his father – when he left school.

This was not to be Sydney’s long term career, however, as, by the time of the 1911 census, he had moved to West Sussex and settled in Cuckfield, near Haywards Heath. By this time he was working as a gardener, and was employed at the nearby Borde Hill estate.

It is likely that Sydney had made the move to Sussex a few years earlier, as the same document confirms that he was married to a London-born woman called Florence, who was five years his senior. The couple would go on to have a daughter, Frances, who was born in December 1912.

Sydney’s wartime service is a little sketchy. He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards in November 1914, and was assigned to the 4th Battalion. While full details of his service are not available, Guardsman Proctor certainly served overseas, and may have seen some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict, at Loos, Ypres and the Somme.

Guardsman Proctor survived the conflict, but paid a price. In October 1918, he was medically discharged from military service, as he was suffering from aortic regurgitation – a heart complaint. He returned home to Sussex, but this respite was not to be for long. Sydney passed away on 17th July 1919, at the age of 32 years old.

Sydney Francis Proctor was laid to rest in the cemetery of his adopted home town, Cuckfield.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, Lincolnshire, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private Harry Etherton

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Private Harry Etherton

Harry Etherton was born in Ansty, near Cuckfield, West Sussex on 3rd April 1872. The oldest of five children, his parents were Edwin and Louisa Etherton. Edwin was an agricultural labourer, and this was work in which his son followed his father.

On 29th April 1899, Harry married Annie Eliza Pennifold, a labourer’s daughter who was also from Ansty. The couple set up home in Cuckfield, and went on to have five children. Harry was, by this point, working as a road labourer for the local council, and this was a job he was to continue doing until the outbreak of the war.

Harry enlisted in 1915, joining the Royal Sussex Regiment as part of the National Reserve. As Private Etherton, he was then transferred across to the Labour Corps, and was assigned to the 409th Labour Coy. which was based at the Infantry Depot in Lincoln.

It was while Private Etherton was here, in the spring of 1918, that he contracted meningitis, and was admitted to the Northern General Hospital in the city. Sadly, he was to succumb to the disease, passing away on 30th June 1918, at the age of 46 years old.

Harry Etherton’s body was brought back to West Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in Cuckfield Cemetery, not far from where his widow and children still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Private George Bennett

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Private George Bennett

George Ernest Bennett was born in 1895 in Cuckfield, West Sussex, the oldest of four children to Alfred and Annie Bennett. Much of his early life is a mystery – within eighteen months, his parents had moved to Kent, leaving George with his widowed paternal grandmother.

By the time of the 1911 census, both Alfred and Annie were dead, along with their only daughter. George’s two younger brothers were in a poor school back in Sussex, while George was living with one of his father’s sisters and her family, and working as an errand boy.

By the time war broke out, it seems that George had plans for an army career. He had certainly enlisted by September 1914, and joined the 1st/4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. This was a primarily territorial force, and Private Bennett initially received his training on the East Sussex coast.

Full details of George’s military service aren’t available, but what is clear is that he was admitted to the Military Hospital in Newhaven in the spring of 1915, and this is where he died on 19th March. The cause of his passing is not known, but he was just 20 years old.

Brought back to Cuckfield, where his father’s family still lived, George Ernest Bennett was laid to rest in the village’s cemetery, within sight of Holy Trinity Church.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private Frank Bates

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Private Frank Bates

Frank Bates was born on 29th June 1893, in Cuckfield, West Sussex and was the fourth of five children. His parents were tailor William Bates and his wife, Sarah.

Tragedy was to be a constant companion to the Bates family. Frank’s older brother, William, died in November 1907 after a protracted illness, at the tender age of just 19 years old. Four years later, his younger sister, Maggie, also passed away after an illness. She was just 21 years of age.

When he left school, Frank went into the service of the Messel family, who owned the Nyman’s estate close to where Frank and his family lived. When war was declared, however, he was keen to play his part, enlisting soon after hostilities were announced in August 1914.

Private Bates joined the 4th (Home Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and was sent to Newhaven for training. It was while he was here that he fell ill, and, having caught a chill, he returned to Cuckfield to recuperate. Sadly, his condition worsened, and he passed away at his family home on 31st January 1915. He was just 21 years old.

Frank Bates was laid to rest in Cuckfield cemetery, resting not far from his siblings.

Tragedy was to strike one more time for William and Sarah. Frank’s older brother Jack served as a Private in the 2nd/4th Battalion of the London Regiment. In the spring of 1918, he was caught up in that year’s Battles of the Somme, including fighting at St Quentin and Avre.

In May 1918, Private Bates was officially reported as missing, but it was later confirmed that he had died of injuries sustained in the fighting. He passed away on 16th April 1918, at the age of 29 years old.

Jack was laid to rest at the Chauny Communal Cemetery in Picardie, France, and is also commemorated in Cuckfield Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, Surrey, Sussex, unknown, war

Lieutenant Harry Street

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Lieutenant Harry Street

Henry Street – known as Harry – was born on 22nd April 1875 in Oxted, Surrey and was one of thirteen children to Jacob and Emma. Jacob was an agricultural labourer, and this is work Harry initially went into when he left school.

However, it seems that Harry was after more of a career, and looks to have enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery by 1895. His trail goes cold for a while, and it can be assumed that he served abroad, although exact details of his career are lost to time.

By 1906, Harry was back in England, and, on 15th October he married Janette Street at St Peter’s Church in Tandridge, Surrey. The marriage record confirms that Harry was a soldier, while his new wife was the daughter of a labourer. Janette was three years Harry’s junior, and there does not seem to be any close family connection, in spite of their shared surname.

Again, information on Harry’s life at this point is sparse. When war was declared, he was either still serving with the Royal Field Artillery, or was called back in to duty. By December 1914, he had been promoted to Lieutenant: this was to be a rank he would continue to hold until the end of the conflict. He certainly served abroad, and was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medals, in addition to the Victory and British Medals. He was also given the French Medaille Militaire, although reasons for this award are lost to time.

Lieutenant Street survived the war, and by the autumn of 1919, he was living at Bright Farm in Cuckfield, West Sussex. It was here, too, that he passed away, through causes unknown. He died on 5th October 1919, at the age of 44 years old.

Harry Street was laid to rest in Cuckfield Cemetery, in the shadow of the village’s Holy Trinity Church.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, Norfolk, photography, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Captain Edward Wakeford

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Captain Edward Wakeford

Edward Francis Wakeford was born in Rottingdean, near Brighton, Sussex, in February 1881. He was the younger of two children to curate William Wakeford and his wife, Eliza.

The family home was always a busy one; the 1881 census records one visitor, four boarders and a servant. Ten years later, confirms one boarder and two servants.

By 1901, William had taken up a post in St Peter’s Church, Henfield. This seems to have been a step up: helping look after the family and a visitor were four servants – a gardener, a cook, a housemaid and a kitchenmaid.

In March 1907, Edward married Annie West Thornton; she was the daughter of a well-to-do family – the census records show that her father, William West Thornton, lived by private means, while Annie was sent to Surrey to attend a boarding school.

Edward and Annie couple set up home on the Sussex coast, and, when William passed away in 1912, were soon also living by private means. They went on to have three children: two girls, Olive and Iris, and a boy, who they named William after both of their fathers.

War was coming to Europe by this point. While full details of Edwards military service are not available, he appears to have given a commission in the Royal Sussex Regiment. Initially serving as a Lieutenant, but October 1914, he was promoted to Captain.

Edward was assigned to the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, and served in East Anglia. It seems that he fell ill while there, and was admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich Military Hospital, suffering with appendicitis. Sadly the condition proved too much, and Captain Wakeford passed away following the operation. He died on 23rd February 1915, not long after his 34th birthday.

Edward Francis Wakeford’s body was brought back to Sussex. He was laid to rest in Henfield Cemetery, not far from the church where his father had served for so long.

Captain Edward Wakeford
(from findagrave.com)

The now widowed Annie wed again, marrying Reverend John Gurney in October 1917. Tragedy was to strike again, though, when she passed away just a year later, on 20th October 1918. She was laid to rest Henfield Cemetery, in the plot next to her late husband, Edward.

John Gurney went on to live a full live. He never married again, and settled in Buxted, near Uckfield. He passed away in November 1956, at the age of 76 years old. He was also laid to rest in Henfield Cemetery, where he was buried in the same plot as Annie.

Edward and Annie’s children also went on to have full lives, despite the early loss of their parents.

Olive never married, and passed away in Nottingham in 1986, aged 78 years old.

Iris married in Liverpool in 1934, and went on to have two children. When the marriage failed in the 1940s, she got wed again in 1949. She passed away in Cheltenham in 1965, at the age of 54.

William got married in 1940, at which point he was serving as a Lieutenant in the 1st King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. He saw action in Italy towards the end of the war, and was awarded a Military Cross for his service. When peace came to Europe again, he and his wife settled into a normal life, before emigrating to Australia. William passed away in May 1967, at the age of 54 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, Sussex, war

Gunner William Reeves

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Gunner William Reeves

William Reeves was born in the summer of 1896, one of eleven children to James and Ruth Reeves. James was a house painter from Henfield in West Sussex, and it was there that he and Ruth raised their growing family.

When war came to Europe, William was keen to play his part. He enlisted as a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, and, by October 1915, was in France.

Little information survives about Gunner Reeves’ military service, but by the time he was demobbed, he had earned the Victory and British Medals, the 1915 Star and the Silver War Badge. The latter award was given to those servicemen who had been honourably discharged from service due to wounds or sickness.

William returned to Sussex, but to a quieter home, James having passed away in the spring of 1916. William was also suffering with his health. He had contracted tuberculosis while in the army, and this is the condition to which he finally succumbed. He passed away on 16th December 1919, aged just 23 years old.

William Reeves was laid to rest in Henfield Cemetery, within walking distance of his family home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Stoker, story, Sussex, war

Stoker 1st Class William Banfield

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Stoker 1st Class William Banfield

William Banfield was born on 7th November 1890, in Henfield, near Horsham, West Sussex. He was the second youngest of seven children to George and Ellen Benfield. George was a carpenter, and this was a trade his two sons – William and his older brother, George – were initially both to follow as well.

William had a longing for the sea, however, and, on 11th June 1909, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall, had brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

Stoker Banfield was based out of HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, but, over the eventual decade of his service, he spent no more than seven months ashore. Instead, he served on a total of nine ships. This included the battleship HMS Exmouth where, during the eighteen months he spent on board, he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class, and also spent 14 days in the brig, for reasons undisclosed.

On 27th September 1915, William was assigned to HMS Princess Royal. He served aboard for nearly three and a half years, patrolling the North Sea, coming under fire during the Battle of Jutland, and providing support during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight.

Towards the end of January, Stoker 1st Class Benfield fell ill, and was admitted to the Edinburgh City Hospital. Suffering from encephalitis, sadly the condition proved too much for his system to bear and he passed away at the hospital on 31st January 1919. He was 28 years of age.

William Banfield was brought back to Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Henfield.

William’s older brother, George, was also to fall victim to the First World War. He had enlisted in the Royal Navy three years before his younger sibling, and also served as a Stoker 2nd Class (subsequently being promoted to Stoker 1st Class in 1907).

George was also based out of HMS Victory, and, in April 1911, was stood down to the Royal Naval Reserve, having completed an initial five years’ service.

When war broke out, George was called back into service, and was assigned to HMS Good Hope, travelling from English shores to Nova Scotia, before heading to South America and into the Pacific.

Caught up in the Battle of Coronel on 1st November 1914, the Good Hope was sunk by the German cruiser SMS Scharnhost. All souls on board – all 926 of them – were lost; this included Stoker 1st Class George Banfield. He was only 27 years of age.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, Sussex, war

Gunner James Wing

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Gunner James Wing

James Joseph Wing was born in Tonbridge, Kent, in the summer of 1876 and was the oldest of six children to Henry and Frances Wing. Henry was a labourer, but when he finished school, James found work as an errand boy for the post office.

This was not a long-term career, however, and by the time of the 1901 census, when James was 25, he was labouring for the railway. His mother had died in 1897, and Henry remarried, to a woman called Frances Stapley.

In the spring of 1902, James also married, to Sussex-born Mary Ann Goacher. The couple wed in Steyning, near Worthing, but settled in Henfield. James seemed to be picking up work where he could – the census of 1911 recorded him as a coal porter, but by the time he enlisted, in June 1916, he gave his trade as a gardener.

James joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner, and was initially assigned to the No. 1 Depot in Newhaven. Full details of his service are unclear, but he transferred to No. 2 Depot in Gosport, Hampshire, in the summer of 1918.

Gunner Wing had only been in Gosport for a couple of months, when he was admitted to the 5th Southern General Hospital in nearby Fratton. At 12:15pm on 4th December 1918, he passed away, a post mortem revealing he had succumbed to a cerebral tumour. He was 42 years of age.

James Joseph Wing was brought back to Sussex for burial. He was buried in the cemetery in his adopted home town of Henfield.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, injury, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, photography, Rifleman, story, Sussex, war

Rifleman Bert Burridge

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Rifleman Bert Burridge

Bert Burridge was born in the spring of 1893, one of nine children to Charles and Elizabeth. Charles was a journeyman shoemaker from Crediton in Devon, and this is where Bert was born. By the time of the 1901 census, however, the family had moved south to Newton Abbot.

When Bert left school, he found work as a carriage cleaner for the railways; he soon moved out, and boarded with a family in Kingsbridge, in the south of the county.

War was coming to England’s shores, however, and Bert was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the 4th Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps as a Rifleman on 16th January 1912. His service records show that he stood 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, and weighed 121lbs (55kg). He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes, dark brown hair, and a tattoo on right wrist of two crossed hands.

When war broke out, Rifleman Burridge was sent to France and was caught up in the fighting early on. After three months at the front, during the winter of 1914, he contracted frostbite, and was medically evacuated back to England. He was admitted to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton, but died of injuries on 9th February 1915. He was just 22 years of age.

Bert Burridge’s body was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Wolborough, on the outskirts of Newton Abbot.

Bert’s headstone also includes a commemoration to his older brother, Frank. Seven years older than Bert, he had enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment as a Bugler when quite young. He passed away in the autumn of 1906, aged just 20, but further details are unclear.