Tag Archives: Sussex

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

Private Richard Hollingdale

Leave a comment
Private Richard Hollingdale

Richard Hollingdale was born at the start of 1887, and was one of nine children to Richard and Elizabeth. Richard Sr was a farm labourer from Lancing, but his namesake son was born in the Sussex village of Washington.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Findon, a village to the north of Worthing. Attached to Muntham Farm, they lived in New Barn, a workers’ cottage on the estate. Richard Jr and his brothers all helped out on the farm and, according to the next census return, Richard Sr, now 75 years of age, was a labourer, while the three sons still living at home – William, Richard Jr and Charles – were all waggoners.

When war consumed Europe in the summer of 1914, Richard Jr stepped up to serve his country. Sadly, full details of his service have been lost to time, but it is clear from what remains that he joined up early in the conflict, and certainly no later than October 1914.

Private Hollingdale was attached to the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and in the spring of 1915 his unit moved to the Ramillies Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire. Richard had only been there for a couple of weeks, when he fell ill. He was admitted to the local Isolation Hospital with scarlet fever, and the condition was to prove fatal. He passed away on 23rd March 1915, at the age of 28 years old.

The body of Richard Hollingdale was taken back to Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in St John the Baptist Churchyard, Findon.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, injury, London, photography, Sergeant, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant George Constable

Leave a comment
Serjeant George Constable

George Constable was born in the summer of 1893 in Findon, West Sussex. His parents were Albert and Ruth Constable, and they had seven children: Ruth Jr, Thomas, Albert Jr, William, George, Arthur and Rachel.

There is little concrete information about George’s early life. The 1901 census found the Constable family living at 2 Mill Cottages in Findon, with George’s oldest brother, Thomas, helping his father’s gardening work.

When war came to Europe, George and his older brothers stepped up to play their part. Thomas joined the Dorsetshire Regiment and worked his way to the rank of Lance Corporal. His time in service was to be tragically brief, however. He was killed in France on 26th October 1914, aged 27 years old. He is commemorated on both the Le Touret Memorial, and on the headstone to the family ploy in St John the Baptist Churchyard, Findon.

George also joined the Dorsetshire Regiment and, like his brother, was assigned to the 1st Battalion. During his short time with the regiment – he enlisted no later than October 1914 – he rose through the ranks, and, by the spring of 1915, had been promoted to Serjeant.

Sent to France, George was wounded in April 1915, and medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was admitted to the 1st London General Hospital, but his injuries were to prove too severe. He passed away on 5th April 1915 aged just 21.

Albert and Ruth had lost two of their sons to the conflict within six months. While Thomas’ body lay in France, George was brought back to Sussex for burial.

George Constable was buried in the family plot in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church, Findon.

William Constable was assigned to the Royal Sussex Regiment when he enlisted. He too rose through the ranks, and would take on the role of Serjeant, like his younger brother. His unit, the 2nd Battalion, fought at Loos in the autumn of 1915, and this is where William would be killed. He died on 25th September 1915, aged just 23 years old.

Serjeant Constable is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, while Albert and Ruth, having now lost three sons within a year, added his name to the family headstone.

Albert Constable Jr, was also involved in the conflict. Along with George and Thomas, he had joined the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, but unlike his brothers, he survived the horrors of the Western Front.

By the last months of the war, Lance Corporal Constable was caught on in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line, and, tragically, he too was killed. Albert passed away on 15th September 1918, at the age of 29 years old. He was buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany.

By this point, the face of the family headstone was already full with commemorations to his three brothers, Albert is remembered in lettering around the edge of the grave marker.

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

Private Wilfred Bridger

Leave a comment
Private Wilfred Bridger

Wilfred Percival Bridger was born on 20th January 1885, the middle of three children to William and Emma. William was a groom from Albourne in Sussex, but, after a spell in Newmarket, the family had settled in Findon near Worthing.

William passed away just two years after Wilfred’s birth, and Emma remarried. The 1891 census found her and her new husband, George Lish, living with William and his siblings in a house on Findon Street.

When he completed his schooling, William found work as a shepherd: the next census return, taken in 1901, found the extended family living at 1 Brazil Cottages, next to the Black Horse Inn in Findon Village. George and Emma now had three children of their own, and Emma’s widowed mother, Martha, completed the household.

Shepherding was not a permanent career option for Wilfred and, on 28th April 1902, he enlisted in the army. He gave his occupation as groom, and his medical report confirmed he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and 120lbs (54.4kg) in weight. He was noted as having brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

The Royal Sussex Regiment would definitely provide Private Bridger with the globe-trotting adventures that he may have wished for. After two years on home soil, his unit – the 2nd Battalion – moved to Malta, where he would spend close to twelve months. In May 1905 he moved to Crete, and from there to India in January 1907.

By the start of 1910 Wilfred had returned to Britain, and he was stood down to reserve status when his contract came to an end that April. He returned to Sussex, and the family home. 1 Brazil Cottages was crowded by this point, with Wilfred sharing the five-roomed house with his mother, stepfather, half-brother, niece. There were also two lodgers, widowed farm labourer Alfred Newman and his son, William.

Things were to change for Wilfred, however. In September 1911 he married Florence Herrington, a carter’s daughter from Henfield, Sussex. When the couple wed, she was working as a servant in a boarding house in Ambrose Place, Worthing. The young couple set up home in Nepcote, near Findon, and went on to have four children – William, Albert, Henry and Lilian.

When war broke out, Wilfred was called upon to play his part again. He re-joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on 31st August 1914, but when his medical was carried out the following March, he was found to have tuberculosis, and deemed not fit for service. After further tests, Private Bridger was medically discharged on 28th May 1915.

At this point, Wilfred’s trail goes cold. He returned to Findon and, it seems this is where he passed away on 13th September 1918. He was 33 years of age.

Wilfred Percival Bridger was laid to rest in the quiet surroundings of Findon’s St John the Baptist Churchyard.

Private Wilfred Bridger
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, East Surrey Regiment, Great War, history, injury, Lincolnshire, photography, Private, story, Sussex, war

Private Charles Pratt

Leave a comment
Private Charles Pratt

Charles Pratt was born in the West Sussex village of Findon in the autumn of 1899. The oldest of five children – all boys – his parents were farm labourer Charles and his wife, Emily.

Charles Jr was still a schoolboy at the time of the 1911 census. The family were living in the five-roomed cottage called Sheepcombe by now: farm labourer Charles Sr, Emily, Charles Jr, his three younger siblings (youngest boy Albert being born in 1915), and Emily’s brother, farm horseman Daniel Hollingdale.

When war was declared, the oldest Pratt boy was still just fourteen years of age, and too young to enlist. As the fighting raged across the continent, it seems likely that he was disappointed to miss out on the adventure. Full details of his army service have been lost to time but records suggest that he joined up no later than April 1918.

Private Pratt was attached to the 9th (Service) Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. He was certainly sent to France, and may have been caught up in the Battles of the Somme in 1918. He fought at Cambrai, and this is where he would be injured. Charles’ wounds were bad enough for him to be medically evacuated to Britain, and he was admitted to the 4th Northern General Hospital in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, for treatment.

Sadly, the soldier would succumb to his injuries. He passed away on 27th October 1918, at the age of just 19 years old.

Charles Pratt was taken back to Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church in Findon, walking distance from his family home.

Charles’ was a family plot: he would be reunited with his parents when the passed away: Charles Sr in 1953 and Emily in 1958.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Stoker 1st Class Thomas Ellis

Leave a comment
Stoker 1st Class Thomas Ellis

Thomas Ellis was born in 1896 in St Leonard’s, Sussex. The third of twelve children, his parents were George and Ellen Ellis. George was a general labourer, but when he finished his schooling, Thomas found work as a golf caddy. The 1911 census recorded the Ellis family living in four rooms at 7 Caves Road to the east of the town centre.

There is little additional information about Thomas, sadly. He joined the Royal Navy when war broke out, and was working as a Stoker 1st Class by the closing months of the conflict. He passed away, through causes unknown, on 7th July 1918, at the age of just 23 years old.

Thomas Ellis was laid to rest in the naval section of the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham – HMS Pembroke – at which he was based.

Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Essex, Great War, history, Kent, killed in action, Middlesex, photography, Royal Navy, story, Sussex, war

Boy 1st Class Bernard Smyth

Leave a comment
Boy 1st Class Bernard Smyth

Bernard Arthur de Plumley Smyth was born in Erith, Kent, on 16th September 1897. The second of four children – all of them boys – his parents were Reginald and Emily Smyth.

Bernard’s early life was a delicate one, and he spent at least some time at Great Ormond’s Street Hospital in Camden, London. His weakened health was such that he was baptised at the hospital’s local church – St George the Martyr – on 11th February 1900.

It is intriguing to see Reginald Smyth’s life develop over the years. His son’s baptism record gives his line of work as labourer, but by the following year’s census, he had moved the family to Ifield, West Sussex, where he was noted as living on his own means. Moving forward another decade, and the family had moved again, settling in a 9-roomed villa in Burgess Hill. Reginald was now listed as being a nurseryman and the family of six were sharing their home with boarder Horatio Jacoby, who was living by private means.

Bernard was still a schoolboy at this point. His health had seeming recovered over the years, and he was ready to make his mark on the world. On 6th March 1913, he enlisted as a Boy 2nd Class in the Royal Navy. His service records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.59m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Boy Smyth was initially sent to HMS Ganges, the shore-based establishment in Suffolk, for his training. He remined there for six months, and was promoted to Boy 1st Class for his work.

On 26th September 1913, Bernard was given his first posting, on board the cruiser HMS Grafton. He remained on board for nine months, before returning to shore – this time to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent – for the summer.

In August 1914, war was declared and by the end of that month, Boy 1st Class Smyth was given his second assignment, aboard the battleship HMS Formidable. She was a key vessel in the Channel Fleet, her role part of a convoy patrolling the seas of the southern coast of Britain.

Early on the morning of 1st January 1915, while off the Dorset coast, the battleship was torpedoed by a German submarine. Other ships in her convoy came to her aid, but it would prove fruitless. After a couple of hours – and another torpedo strike – she sank, taking more than 540 officer and crew – including Boy 1st Class Smyth – were lost. He was just 17 years of age.

We regret to record that a former scholar of the London Road Council Schools, Burgess Hill, lost his life through the disaster which came to HMS Formidable on January 1st. This was Bernard Arthur de Plumley Smith, the second son of Mr and Mrs Smyth, of Edward cottage, Brook Road, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, late of Elgin Villa, Crescent Road, Burgess Hill. He was 17 years of age, and a first-class boy on board the ship. He bore the reputation of being smart, steady ad industrious, and was well known in Burgess Hill…

[Mid Sussex Times: Tuesday 12th January 1915]

Bernard Arthur de Plumley Smith was laid to rest in a communal grave in Lyme Regis Cemetery, in the hills above the Dorset town where he had been brought ashore following his ship’s sinking.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Pioneer, Royal Engineers, story, Sussex, war

Pioneer Wilfred Ansfield

Leave a comment
Pioneer Wilfred Ansfield

Wilfred Clarence Ansfield was born in the spring of 1899, and was the youngest of eleven children to Frederick and Frances Ashfield. Frederick was an innkeeper from West Tarring in Sussex, and the family were living in the public house he ran – possible the Vine Brewery on the Hight Street.

Frederick died at the start of 1904, and by the time of the next census, taken seven years later, Frances had moved the family to Salvington. They settled at 1 Beaconsfield Terrace, with six of the Ansfield children sharing the home with their mother. Three of Wilfred’s brothers were employed as gardeners – possibly at one of the many nurseries in the area – while he was still at school.

When war came to Europe, Wilfred was keen to serve his King and Country. Full service details have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Engineers and, as a Pioneer, was assigned to the 3rd Provisional Company (later renamed the 642nd (London) Field Company). This was a territorial force, and it is unlikely that Wilfred saw any action overseas.

The only other document that can definitely connected to Pioneer Ansfield is the record of who his pension was assigned to. This confirmed Frances’ name and address, but also gives the cause of her son’s death, noted as ‘acute paralysis’. This could have been as a result of a tetanus infection, but nothing remains to confirm either way. Wilfred died on 25th June 1916: he was just 17 years of age.

Wilfred Clarence Ansfield was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in West Tarring, He was buried alongside Frederick, father and son reunited after twelve years.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Fusiliers, story, Sussex, war

Lance Corporal Frank Page

Leave a comment
Lance Corporal Frank Page

Frank Arthur Page was born early in 1891, and was one of seven children – and the youngest son – to Matthew and Emily Page. Matthew was a bricklayer’s labourer from Lancing in Sussex, while Emily had been born in Norfolk. It was in the village of Steyning, however, that the couple raised their family.

By the time of the 1901 census, Matthew had been invalided out of work. The family had moved to a small cottage in Lancing by this point, and Frank’s older brothers were working to bring in some money for the family.

The next census return, taken in 1911, found Matthew and Emily living Frank and his older brother Sydney at 2 Ivy Cottages in Lancing. Both of the Page siblings were working as market gardeners by this point, bringing in some money to help support the family.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Frank stepped up to serve his King and Country. Full details of his military service are lost in the mists of time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers, and was attached to the 26th (Service) Battalion (Bankers).

Frank’s unit served in both France and Italy, although, without his documents, it isn’t possible to determine where, and for how long, he served. During his time in the army, however, he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, underlining a level of dedication on his part.

Matthew passed away in the spring of 1917, and it appears that Frank was demobbed at some point after the Armistice. By the autumn of 1919, he was back in Sussex, living with his now widowed mother. His time in the army seems to have impacted on Frank’s health by this point, and he died ‘from disease’ on 24th October 1919. He was 28 years of age.

Frank Arthur Page was laid to rest in the graveyard of St James the Lesser Church in Lancing, not far from where his father had been buried.

Able Seaman, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, story, Sussex, war

Able Seaman Russell Engleback

Leave a comment
Able Seaman Russell Engleback

The life of Russell Engleback seems destined to remain lost in the mists of time and the only concrete information for him relate to his military service.

Ordinary Seaman Engleback joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Service on 3rd July 1914, just weeks before the declaration of war. His records confirm his date of birth – 11th August 1896 – and his occupation, which was a printer. He was 5ft 5ins (1.64m) tall, and had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

Russell was sent to HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – for training, before being assigned to the battleship HMS Commonwealth in October. He remained on board for the next two years, rising to the rank of Able Seaman during this time.

Able Seaman Engleback returned to HMS Victory in August 1916, but may have moved to another naval base, HMS Pembroke in Chatham soon afterwards. Certainly he was at the Kent dockyard when he fell ill in November, as he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital around this time.

Russell was suffering from nephritis – kidney disease – by this point, and it was a condition that was to ultimately kill him. He passed away on 23rd November 1916, while still admitted in hospital: he was just 20 years of age.

Russell Engleback was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the Chatham dockyard. His pension records give Fred and Amelia Tiffin – Russell’s Sussex-based mother and stepfather – as his next-of-kin.

Canada, Canadian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Company Sergeant Major, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, injury, photography, Private, Sergeant, Somerset, story, Sussex, war

Company Serjeant Major Robert Pollard

Leave a comment
Company Serjeant Major Robert Pollard

Robert Edwin Dawe Pollard was born on 8th April 1894 in Bath, Somerset. The youngest of three children, his parents were Joseph and Elizabeth Pollard. Joseph was a gardener from Banwell, but it seems that Robert had his sights on bigger and better things.

At some point Robert emigrated to Canada, and, by the time war was declared in Europe, he was working as an insurance clerk in Winnipeg. He felt a duty to serve his country, however, and on 2nd August 1915, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Private Pollard’s service records confirm he was 5ft 6ins (1.69m) tall, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. He was also noted as being a Presbyterian.

Robert’s commitment to the cause is underlined by his rise through the ranks. Attached to to the 8th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (also known as the 90th Winnipeg Rifles), he arrived in France on 27th February 1916.

The 8th Battalion was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, and, on the 1st June 1916, he was wounded in his left arm. Admitted to a hospital in Camiers, he was moved to Etaples, before returning to his unit before the month was out.

For good or for bad, this was just before the Battle of the Somme and, over the next few months, Private Pollard fought bravely and hard. Moving from the Somme, his unit fought at Passchendaele and Ypres. On 1st October 1916, Robert was promoted to Corporal, and made Sergeant just three months later.

In April 1917, Robert was admitted to hospital again, this time with an infected foot. Within six weeks he was back with his unit, though, and on 7th November 1917, he was promoted to Company Serjeant Major. He was obviously good at what he did, and this was recognised. On 28th December 1917, he was mentioned in despatches, and the following June he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

As the war entered its closing months, Company Serjeant Major Pollard, still led from the front. He returned to Britain at the end of November 1918, and was attached to the 18th Reserve Battalion in Seaford, Sussex ahead of being demobbed.

It was here that Robert contracted influenza. Whether at his family’s request is unclear, but he was admitted to Bath War Hospital for treatment but, after everything that he had been through, it was a combination of the flu and toxaemia, or blood poisoning, that was to prove his undoing. Company Serjeant Major Pollard died on 23rd December 1918, aged just 24 years old. His mother, Elizabeth was by his side.

Robert Edwin Dawe Pollard was laid to rest Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his family lived. His headstone recognises the Military Medal he was posthumously awarded.

Company Serjeant Major Robert Pollard
(from findagrave.com)