Category Archives: King’s Shropshire Light Infantry

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, injury, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, Middlesex, photography, Royal Horse Artillery, Somerset, South Africa, story, war

Captain Francis Leach

Leave a comment
Captain Francis Leach

Francis James Leach was born on 27th June 1878 in the Somerset village of Martock. He was the middle of four children to John and Louisa Leach. John was a solicitor who was 17 years older than Louisa, who was his second wife, and by whom he had had two children. The 1881 census found the family living in a house called The Lawn on Church Street, supported by five servants: a nurse, an under-nurse, a cook, a housemaid and a footman.

The next census return, taken in 1891, recorded the family having moved to Seaton in Devon. Louisa was living at 7 West Cliff Terrace with five of the children and a domestic servant. John, however, is not noted on the document, although Louisa is still recorded as married, which would suggest that he had not passed away.

A later newspaper report helps build a picture of Francis’ life growing up:

…Leach was educated at Allhallows School, Honiton, was a thorough sportsman in every sense of the word, a good shot, a keen rider to hounds, a polo player, and cricketer.

[Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 7th May 1915]

When he finished his schooling, Francis felt drawn to an army career, and the newspaper confirmed his progress:

He served through the Boer War with the R Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, and was present at the relief of Kimberley and at the actions at Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Zand River, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Diamond Hill and Wittebergen, and was awarded the Queen’s medal with six clasps and the King’s Medal with two. He was given his commission in the Shropshire Light Infantry in 1901, attained the rank of Captain last August and was appointed Adjutant of his Battalion February 2nd, 1914.

[Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 7th May 1915]

The 1911 census found Francis back with his mother. She was now living in the village of Hawkchurch, near Axminster, living in a 9-roomed house called The Vineyard. Louisa also had her daughter and two servants – a cook and a housemaid – supporting her. The census return also confirmed that Louisa was a widow, John having died some rears previously. Francis’ visit may have been a fleeting one, as his fiancée, Doris Maunsell-Smyth, was also visiting in preparation for a wedding.

Francis and Doris exchanged vows on 29th July 1911, the wedding taking place in Christ Church, Paddington, Middlesex. Their marriage certificate confirmed that the groom was an army officer, while the bride’s father, George Maunsell-Smyth, was noted simply as a gentleman.

When war broke out in the summer of 1914, Captain Leach and his unit was called up to play their part. Full details of his service have been lost to time, but he was sent to the the Western Front by December that year. Over the coming months, the battalion was involved in the Battle of Eloi and the Second Battle of Ypres.

The funeral of Captain Francis Leach of the 2nd Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry, as taken place in the village churchyard amid every token of respect and sympathy. The officer died at Boulogne of wounds received in action in Flanders.

[Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 7th May 1915]

Captain Leach died of his injuries on 26th April 1915. He was 36 years of age.

Interestingly, despite a decree that the conflict’s fallen would be buried overseas if that was where they died, it seems that Captain Leach’s family were able to circumvent that ruling. Whether that was because he died in a hospital ship in Boulogne’s harbour is unclear, but had he died in the town itself, he should have been laid to rest in France.

Either way, the body of Francis James Leach was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church, Hawkchurch, not far from where his mother still lived.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, Lieutenant, London, Major, Malta, Pembrokeshire, photography, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Major Richard Jordan

Leave a comment
Major Richard Jordan

Richard Avary Arthur Young Jordan was born on 24th May 1866 in Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland. His father, Richard Jordan, died a week after his son’s birth, leaving his mother, Annabella, to raise him.

The 1871 census records mother and son living in Woolwich, London, with Annabella’s widowed mother, Grace. They were obviously a well-connected family, with Grace living as an annuitant, or pensioner, one son a Surgeon Major in the army and another as a Colonel in a different regiment. Annabella herself was recorded as a landowner, and the family had support with a cook and housemaid living in.

Surrounded by army servicemen as he was, it is no surprise that a military career called to Richard. He enlisted on 10th November 1886, joining the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry as a Lieutenant. Assigned to the 1st Battalion, his service records confirm that he had attended Burney’s Gosport School – a military academy – and was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall.

Richard was sent to Egypt just before Christmas that year, and over the next five years, he served both there and in Malta. On 11th May 1889 he attained the rank of Captain and, in December 1891 he was sent further afield, to Hong Kong.

After three years in the Far East, returned to Britain, and spent the majority of 1895 back on home soil. His travels were not at an end, however, and by the end of the year, Captain Jordan found himself in India. He spent three-and-a-half years in the sub continent, returning to the UK in May 1899.

At this point, details of Richard’s life get a little sketchy. He seems to have settled in Pembroke Dock, South Wales, and, on 18th April 1904, he married Ella Mary Caroline Grove. She was eight years his junior, and the daughter of a late Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. The couple married at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London.

Richard’s trail goes gold again, for a couple of years. He retired from the army on 8th August 1906, after nearly twenty years’ service. By the time of the 1911 census, he and Ella had set up home in Heywood House, on the outskirts of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, with two servants – Beatrice and Edith – as two live-in staff.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Richard seemed to keen to play his part once again. He enlisted again in August 1915, and was assigned the rank of Major in his former regiment. While it is not possible to determine Major Jordan’s complete service at this time, he definitely arrived in France the following month. If he remained in France, it is likely that he saw fighting at the Somme in 1916, Cambrai in 1917 and at Lys and on the Hindenburg Line in 1918.

Again, Major Jordan’s post-war life remains tantalisingly elusive. By the summer of 1920, he and Ella were living at Holcombe Lodge in Bathampton, on the outskirts of Bath. It was here on 14th June, that Richard passed away. He was 54 years of age.

Despite all his travelling, it seems that Ella was comfortable living in Bathampton, and this is where she laid her late husband to rest. Richard Avary Arthur Young Jordan was buried in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in the village.

The widowed Ella married again, to Captain Clare Garsia, on 9th October 1921. She remained in Bathampton, and lived to the age of 77, passing away on 13th August 1951. She was laid to rest in the same plot as her late husband.

When Captain Garsia died the following year, he was also buried in St Nicholas’ Churchyard, in a neighbouring plot to his beloved Ella.