A TRIBUTE TO THE MEN OF WHO DIED IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

CONTENTS

Page 1 Foreword

Page 2 The Parish of Winsley in 1914

Page 3 First World War Medals

Page 4 Private Francis Stewart Angell

Page 5 Gunner Albert Augustus Angell

Page 5 Winsley Methodist Church Memorial

Page 6 Lieutenant Denys Brinckman

Page 7 Captain Charles Alfred Brooks

Page 9 Private Thomas Balfour Gornall

Page 10 Private Walter Hazell

Page 11 Private Reginald Clifford Hobbs

Page 12 Private Alexander Leslie

Page 13 Private Edgar Wyndam Lintern

Page 14 Gunner Albert Victor Mizen

Page 15 Lieutenant Roger Poore

Page 16 Private Edgar Charles Summers

Page 18 Private Frank Oliver Summers

Page 19 Private Leonard Percy Watson

Page 20 Private Robert Wilcox

Inside Back Cover: Winsley Social Club Honours Board

FOREWORD

As part of the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1, it was agreed that we should try to bring back to life, so to speak, the men from Winsley who fought and died in that war. This booklet represents the combined efforts of John Baxter who lives in Bradford on Avon and attends St. Nicholas Church and Linda Brooks who lives in Winsley.

Our first port of call was the Winsley Memorial where, every November, we gather to honour the memory of those who died in all wars. Having started to investigate these special men who specifically died in World War 1, it was discovered that there were other memorials in the village. There is one in the Methodist Church which added a new name to our quest, whilst in the Social Club there is an Honours Board that commemorates all those who went to war from the village but had the fortune to survive it. Thus our investigations were extended beyond the 13 whose names are etched in stone.

Jonathan Falconer’s book Names in Stone: Forgotten Warriors of Bradford-on-Avon and District 1914-18, published in 2010, provided some additional facts to those that we had discovered and he was able to provide a couple of the few photographs that exist of these men for which we thank him. Even with his painstaking research he was stumped when it came to researching Private Robert Wilcox who is missing from his book, but we believe we have found the right details for him. In one specific case, Alexander Leslie, we have been unable to find the link with Winsley or even confirm his birth place, as this is a common name. We might have been helped had there been some attestation papers (the papers completed when an individual started his military service|) but sadly many of those for the Great War were burnt beyond what was thought to be any hope of recognition in an archive fire in the Second World War. However with the wonders of modern technology, gradually some of these burnt remains are being slowly deciphered but not yet for Alexander.

We have the advantage that the 1911 census is now available to add to Jonathan’s research. Some war diaries are also available at Kew and these have proved a valuable piece of evidence in pinpointing the locations where these brave men lost their lives whilst the internet generally has filled in gaps where they previously existed. Some, it will be noted, died within days of the start of the war whilst some survived until a short time before the Armistice was signed. Two from the same Summers’ family died in separate locations whilst there were instances like the Angells where two brothers left and only one returned. Even in this case we understand that the surviving brother did not live for many years after the war and that he may have died from his wartime injuries. The effects of this war therefore touched so many lives even after its conclusion in 1918.

John Baxter & Linda Brooks January to August 2014 THE PARISH OF WINSLEY IN 1914

At the start of the Great War the village of Winsley comprised little more than the small area around the Seven Stars and St. Nicholas Church. This area is little changed.

To transport oneself back, one would necessarily have to start in the middle of the night when there is little traffic noise. Start next to the Village School (now the Social Club), by the (happily-surviving) fingerpost sign to , pass the brewhouse and the pub on one’s left and the forge on the right, then after the bend in the road the Methodist Chapel on your right. Turn right at the crossroads with Murhill and you enter what was the main and only street. Pass Wheatsheaf House (then a shop seen in the picture below to the right), the post office, the reading room (now alas a car-park used by the Social Club), then St. Nicholas on the left, across the main road, right at the top of the hill where the War Memorial now stands and down the lane with its delightful cottages towards the Manor. Turn right at the entrance to the Manor where the Village Hall now stands (said to have been a memorial to the Fallen of Winsley) and the Bowling Green (dating from the turn of the century) and you return to your starting place. Along the Bradford Road and down the lane opposite the Bowling Green were some new large houses. seems to have been as populous as Winsley and is also little changed today. Others lived in and the hamlets of Ashley and Haugh. Along the hillsides of Murhill and Conkwell were strawberry gardens.

It would require a social historian to portray the feel of Winsley in those days. Was there a pervading smell of horse dung, or the bakery, or tannery? Was there a fug from the forges? Certainly it must have been a place humming with life, a community serving the rural economy. In the 1800s, quarrying in Murhill had been a thriving, noisy and sometimes unsafe enterprise but the 1911 census has as many farm workers and gardeners as masons. Some residents would have gone into Bath, more for shopping than for work, perhaps by train from Halt, opened in 1906 or by horse and carriage, or even (and who was the first to have one in our village?) by motor-car. The census records 718 people in around 150 households. Of these, 85 people were in the Sanatorium which had been founded 11 years before on the site of the old Murhill Quarries and which later became the Winsley Chest Hospital (dealing primarily with tuberculosis cases) and more recently still the Avon Park Care Centre. The Social Club’s roll of honour lists 112 current, or former, residents who answered their country’s call - what a number! Of these at least 13 died either during the Great War or shortly afterwards.

We may not be a ‘thankful village’ in that all those who served returned, but we may be thankful at the example shown both by the Glorious Dead and by those who survived.

Robin Davies July 2014

FIRST WORLD WAR MEDALS

All those listed in this booklet would have been awarded the appropriate First World War medals, in recognition of their active service.

The 1914 Star was awarded to those who served in France or Belgium between 5 August 1914 and 22 November 1914 inclusive. A narrow horizontal bronze clasp sewn onto the ribbon, bearing the dates '5th AUG. - 22nd NOV. 1914' shows that the recipient had actually served under enemy fire. Those who had served at sea or in other theatres of war between these dates were not awarded this medal.

The 1914-15 Star was very similar in design to the 1914 Star; it was awarded to all who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915, except those with the 1914 Star or certain other specified medals.

The British War Medal was awarded to those who either entered a theatre of war or were on service overseas between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918 inclusive. This was later extended to services in Russia, Siberia and some other areas in 1919 and 1920. A number of clasps were awarded for particular campaigns or battles but these were only worn on miniatures, not on the medal

The Allied Victory Medal. Each of the allies issued their own victory medal with a similar design, similar equivalent wording and identical ribbon. On the British medal the front depicts a winged classical figure representing victory.

PRIVATE FRANCIS STEWART ANGELL

Winsley War Memorial and Winsley Methodist Church Memorial

52252 Private Francis Stewart Angell 4th Bn, Worcestershire Regiment died on 29 September 1918, aged 19. His name is recorded on panel 75-77 at the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebecke, West Flanders in Belgium.

On the day of his death the battalion was based a few hundred yards north west of the Belgian hamlet of Keolenberg. Francis was one of over 170 (from a battalion strength of 570) killed over three days of fierce battle in very wet conditions and with precious little food because of supply problems. He was posted as one of the 19 missing on 29 September; thus he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial as, like so many of his compatriots, he has no known grave. On that morning, the 4th Battalion, soaked to the skin and stiff with the cold, advanced through the front line and pushed onto the attack. The village of Rossignol Cabaret was taken and the leading platoons advanced up the ridge towards Keolenberg. The ridge was strongly held and the Worcestershires met with further determined resistance from the German troops. Heavy fighting ensued but precious little ground was gained and by 4.00pm the attack had ground to a halt. An artillery bombardment was called down at 7.00pm but this failed to break the deadlock and the German defences held their positions. Francis would probably have been killed in the initial advance towards Rossignol Cabaret where the Worcestershires were subjected to withering fire as they advanced. Sadly his body was never recovered and he is one of many whose last resting place is unknown commemorated at Tyne Cot.

Advance of the 4th Battalion (27th-30th September 1918)

Francis was born in 1899 and in the 1901 census was living at 2 Chapel Row, Winsley. He was the son of Frederick James Angell (born in 1866 in Studley on the outskirts of Trowbridge) and Sarah Jane Angell (born 1867 in Winsley) who had a family of at least 7, with 5 boys, the eldest of whom, Albert Augustus served and survived the war (see below).

His mother had died in 1909 aged just 42. At the time of the 1911 census, Francis lived with his father at The Rank, Winsley with his sister Ivy taking over the housekeeping. Francis was a scholar in Bradford on Avon along with his youngest brother, aged 9. He enlisted in Devizes in 1917 aged 18.

GUNNER ALBERT AUGUSTUS ANGELL Winsley Methodist Church Memorial but Returned Home

Albert, eldest brother of Francis, was born in 1887 in Bradford on Avon and is shown in the 1891 census living with his parents in Winsley where his father’s occupation is a road labourer. In the 1901 Census Albert was 13 and shown as a Mason’s labourer. By the 1911 Census he was living with his family at The Rank, Winsley and was a Domestic Gardener.

He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery as a Private/Gunner and served his country from 1.2.1915 (aged 28) to the end of the war. However he died in September 1920 and it is thought that he died as a direct result of wounds that he had suffered whilst fighting.

WINSLEY METHODIST CHURCH MEMORIAL

To the glory of God who gave us the victory and for the heroism of our Sunday School boys who sacrificed their lives in the Great War 1914-1919

Albert Angell Frank Angell Charlie Brooks Walter Hazell Victor Mizen Charlie Summers Frank Summers

LIEUTENANT DENYS BRINCKMAN Winsley War Memorial

Lieutenant Denys Brinckman, 1st Bn, 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers was born on 15 March 1896 in Ribbesford, Worcs and killed in action 10 June 1915, aged 19. He is buried in the British Military Cemetery, Vlamertinge, near Ypres, Belgium in grave II.A.8

Denys died during the Second Battle of Ypres which was the only major battle launched by the Germans in 1915 and marked by the first use of chlorine gas by the Germans. This battle resulted in the death of over 59,000 British soldiers, many of whom suffered from the lasting effects of the gas with eyesight and respiratory problems. By the end of May this offensive was deemed a failure by the Germans, despite such huge losses inflicted on the British as they were unable to advance and take Ypres. They continued however to bombard Ypres and it will have been during part of that continued offensive that Denys would have been killed.

His father, Captain Rowland Brinckman married Anna Alexander Cairnes and they had 4 children, one of whom died as a baby. Denys and his older brother, Rowland Egerton Brinckman, were living in Llandudno with their mother in 1901. By 1910 the family was based at Murhill House, Limpley Stoke when their mother died aged 44. The next year the 2 brothers were boarders at the prestigious, private Kings School in Bruton which still exists to this day. The 1911 Census shows Rowland senior living at Murhill House along with his daughter Christine, 3, and three servants, indicating a fairly well to do family. He remained at Murhill House until his death in 1948.

Rowland Brinckman had also served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers as a Major and served in the Sudan and with the 2nd Battalion in the Boer War in South Africa. Rowland wrote a history of the 89th (Princess Victoria’s) Regiment of Foot which was the predecessor to the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Denys followed his father into the same regiment and gained his commission to 2nd Lieutenant on 1 October 1914 and was quickly promoted to Lieutenant just two months later on 14 December. He is thus one of the two youngest (alongside Francis Angell) on the Winsley memorial.

His name is shown on the Brinckman Family grave in St Nicholas Church, Winsley. CAPTAIN CHARLES ALFRED BROOKS Winsley War Memorial & Winsley Methodist Church Memorial

Captain Charles Alfred Brooks, formerly of the Regiment was attached to the 67th squadron Royal Flying Corps and then to No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps. He was killed in action near Gaza, 8 July 1917, aged 29.

He was born in Turleigh on 11 December 1888 and before coming of age at 21 had already spent four years at sea as a merchant seaman. On the outbreak of War in 1914, he was granted a special reserve commission in the Wiltshire Regiment. He joined the 2nd Battalion, fighting at Neuve Chapelle between 11th and 13th of March 1915 and received a gunshot wound to his left leg. Whilst convalescing he decided to join the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), then in its infancy and on 11th September 1915 received his Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate, number 1947. His training was undertaken at the Military School in Ruislip, Middlesex on a Maurice Farman biplane.

His picture here shows his Wiltshire Regiment badge on his lapel with the Royal Flying Corps badge below it.

He returned to France where on 1 March 1916 he was again wounded when his aircraft crashed. The RFC’s role at this time was reconnaissance reporting back to battalions as to positions that could be subjected to sustained bombardment. After a posting to Egypt where he joined the flying school at Aboukir as an instructor, he joined No 67 (Australian) Squadron. This squadron provided essential air support to the British and dominion armies’ advance into Palestine in 1917.

On 8 July 1917, whilst on patrol in a Martinsyde G100 scout single engine, twin winged aeroplane, he was attacked by two German Scout Rumpler aircraft near Gaza. One of these piloted by Vizfeldwebel Willi Kern and Oberleutnant Hurt Jancke dived at Brooks who spun away to avoid the attack and, as he did so, the wings of his aircraft were seen to fold up and the tail to fall off. The German aviator Oberleutnant Gerhardt Felmy who was also involved in the dogfight but had concentrated on Brook’s fellow aviator, T. Taylor (who was forced to land and captured), sent a letter two days later to his squadron to say that Captain Brooks had been buried with full Military honours. This seeming incongruity where those who were intent on killing each other would honour the death of their opponents was characteristic of the chivalry of rival aviators; this was a dangerous enough profession as it was with many accidents resulting in death that did not involve dogfights.

The Martinsyde G100 was nicknamed the “Elephant” by aviators as it was ungainly and clumsy when in a dogfight. It gave little protection to Charles and as there was no rear gunner on board could not defend its tail. If any firing was to be done, a gun was mounted on the top wing just above the pilot’s head who would have to stand up in the cockpit to fire it – hardly conducive to maintaining control of the plane. It was therefore easy meat for the German Rumplers which had good speed and manoeuvrability and a rapid rate of climb and a two-seater.

Gerhard Felmy survived the First World War and died in 1955. His brother Hellmuth and who was commander of Fliegerabteilung 300 in Gaza went on to become a general in Hitler’s Luftwaffe- he was convicted of war crimes at Nuremburg in 1945 and imprisoned.

Sadly the site of Charles’ grave was never recorded or subsequently identified during Felmy’s lifetime and he is therefore commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial to the missing on Panel 44, as well as on a special German memorial to British aviators in Beersheba which is shown left. He is also commemorated in Australia as one of their war dead.

Charles was the third child and second son of George and Alice Brooks. In the 1891 census he is living in Rose Cottage, Turleigh. George Brooks was a local masonry contractor and employer. By 1901 the family had moved to No. 12 Turleigh where Charles is shown as a scholar. By the 1911 census, the family had moved to Hillside in Winsley although Charles is not shown as living at home given his merchant seaman status. His parents are living at Windene, Winsley at the time of his death. His name is also shown on the Brooks Family grave, St Nicholas Church, Winsley. PRIVATE THOMAS BALFOUR GORNALL Winsley War Memorial

37510 Private Thomas Balfour Gornall, 4th Bn 3rd Worcestershire Regiment died of his wounds in France on 1st June 1917, aged 29. He is buried in the Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, Pas de Calais, France in grave reference IV.M.51

Many of those buried in the Duisans Cemetery were involved in the Battle of Messines between the Wulverghem – Messines and Wulverghem – Wytschaete roads in Belgium. The map shows in red the objective of the Worcestershires and the green line to where they eventually advanced. Preparations had been made for this battle for some time, including a series of underground mines (shown in yellow along the front line) which had been placed without either the Germans or even many of the Worcestershires knowing about them. However, all the other preparations were in full sight of the German positions on the hill to the north of Messines village. The battalion diaries do not record any attacks on 1st June – indeed it was not until after Thomas’ death on the 2nd June that the initial attack along Nutmeg Avenue took place. Thus it has to be surmised that Thomas was wounded either from German shelling from the Messines ridge or sniper fire whilst still in the trenches that are shown linking the mine emplacements.

Thomas was the second son and third child of Thomas and Annie Gornall and was born in 1888 in Calne, where he was brought up until at least 1901.

Thomas Balfour Gornall married Agnes Louisa Pedley in 1910 in St. Neots Huntingdonshire and lived in Dane Bottom, Winsley, where his son James was born in 1911 (he would have been 6 when his father died). Thomas was a gardener just like his father, Thomas, who by 1911 had moved to 6 Ivy Terrace, Bradford on Avon.

Thomas enlisted at Trowbridge. PRIVATE WALTER HAZELL Winsley Methodist Church Memorial

Walter Hazell appears on the Winsley Methodist Church memorial and attended that Church’s Sunday School. Walter was born in Westwood in 1891 and in 1901 was living in Upper Westwood where his father was a farmer. Walter is commemorated in St Mary’s Church, Westwood and the Westwood village cemetery. However in 1911 the whole family is living at Church Farm, Winsley. Parents Alfred and Sarah are farmer and dairy worker respectively, and 6 of the 7 of the children living at home are working on the farm.

Walter was attached to D Company 2nd/8th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment (No. 260336) having enlisted in Bradford on Avon. This battalion was originally for home defence duties but because of increasing allied casualties was soon shipped across to the Western Front.

He died on 21st August 1917 aged 26 and is buried at Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery in Grave V1II.E.10. Having been billeted firstly at Linzeux in France D Company was moved up near to Ypres at Uhlan Farm. On 17th August the battalion relieved the 10th Royal Irish Rifles (RIR) in the support trenches and later that night did the same for the 9th RIR. Over the next few days and nights they were subjected to constant bombardment but managed on the 20th to advance a short distance. D Company was then in turn relieved by the Bucks and Camerons and they pulled back to Ypres North Camp. During the afternoon of the 21st they were subjected to an hourly bombardment from a High Velocity gun and Walter was killed and six other men wounded. PRIVATE REGINALD CLIFFORD HOBBS Winsley War Memorial

8744 Private Reginald Clifford Hobbs, who enlisted at Trowbridge at the start of the war and was assigned to D Company, 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment was born in 1890 in Westwood, Bradford on Avon and died early in the war on 24 October 1914, aged 24. The regiment had only arrived in Flanders two weeks previously on 7th October.

On this date the Wiltshire Regiment was counter attacked just before daybreak by a massive German offensive at Becelaere – this village is located on the map shown on page 4, under the reference to Francis Angell, to the north of Koelenberg. On 24th October a massive German force attacked the Wiltshires – initially they were forced back with heavy losses but, after about two hours, counter attacked and broke through the British lines. A great number of the 2nd Wiltshires were killed, wounded or captured that day including Reginald. However his last resting place has never been found and his name is recorded on panel 53 at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.

Reginald was the eldest of 3 children of George (born 1863 in Trowbridge) and Elizabeth Hobbs (born 1867 in Easterton near Devizes). In the 1901 census, the family of five were living in 6 Cottles Hill, Turleigh and George Hobbs is shown as a Cowman.

Reginald Hobbs was a general labourer, aged 20, in the 1911 census. At that time all the family were living in Elbow (probably Elbow Cottage) in Murhill. His father was now described as a Farm Labourer and his brother Cecil, aged 19, was a Mason’s Labourer. His sister Hilda, aged 16 had no occupation listed. PRIVATE ALEXANDER LESLIE Winsley War Memorial

2160 Private Alexander Leslie, 1st/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment was born in Edinburgh on 21 May 1895 and died in India 15 June 1915, aged 20. He is buried in the Delhi War Cemetery in Delhi, India in grave 8 A 3 with the stone shown in the photograph right

.

The 1st/4th Battalion was part of the Territorials and was sent to India to provide internal security duties and to release regular battalions serving overseas to return for service on the Western Front. Alexander’s regiment went on to fight the Turks in Palestine in 1917. Alexander did not die in combat but of pneumonia at Delhi hospital.

Alexander was the son of Alexander Leslie and Jane Leslie, of Red Lodge, Bodicote, Banbury, Oxfordshire. In the 1901 and the 1911 census the family were living in Llanfair Ruthin in Wales, Alexander senior is a gardener and in 1911 Alex was an Apprentice Ironmonger.

According to the records in Kew, in 1914 Alexander was living in Bradford on Avon and he enlisted in Winsley. It could be that at this time he had relatives or a friend living within the village, or he worshipped here, hence his name appearing on the village war memorial.

PRIVATE EDGAR WYNDAM LINTERN Winsley War Memorial

15317 Private Edgar Wyndam Lintern of the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers was born in 1883 in Turleigh and died of his wounds in France on 5 July 1916 aged 33. Edgar is buried in Grave A23 in the St. Pol Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais. Prior to moving to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers he joined the Wiltshire Regiment (No. 13644).

Having then transferred to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, he had already seen action at Scimitar Hill in Gallipoli where he arrived with his regiment on 9th August 1915. They then moved to Egypt on 1st January 1916 and then on to France a short while after.

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers faced the Hawthorn Ridge (circled in red) at Beaumont Hamel in the Somme and went “over the top” on 1 July 1916 – over 57,000 soldiers were killed or wounded on that fateful day. It is probable that Edgar was one of these and subsequently died from his injuries. The peaceful nature of Beaumont Hamel today with its rolling sweetcorn laden fields belies the horror of this particular day when men were quite literally scythed down by the cross fire of German machine guns.

Edgar was the second son of David and Theresa Lintern. He was one of nine children and in the 1901 census he and his brother, Alfred, were both shown as mason’s labourers and living in Stoke Bridge which is in the middle of Murhill.

The 1911 census shows that he was living at Canal Cottage, Limpley Stoke with his father David, who worked for the Great Western Railway as a Canal Labourer, along with his mother and three brothers. In this census he is now shown just as a general labourer as is his elder brother, and his 2 younger brothers are grooms. GUNNER ALBERT VICTOR MIZEN Winsley War Memorial & Winsley Methodist Church Memorial

170223 Gunner Albert Victor Mizen was in the 228th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery (part of the Royal Artillery). He was born in 1899 in Bradford on Avon, and was killed in action in France on 4th April 1918 aged 19. He is buried in grave C.10 at Boves West Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France which is fairly close to Amiens. Siege batteries were in charge of the large howitzers; the 228th first went across to France on 14 January 1917.

These large howitzers were set back from the front line and their purpose was both to pound the front line trenches of the German positions and also to try and silence the larger guns of the enemy. The box in front of the howitzer was known as a dirt box which was constructed to act as a counterweight to the force of the blast and keep the gun in position.

By the time of his death, just a few months before cessation of hostilities, the 228th was based close to Amiens.

Albert (who preferred to use the name Victor) was the son of William and Maria Mizen both born in 1858 in Bradford on Avon. William was a freestone quarryman and in 1891 Maria was a cloth worker. By 1911, William and Maria were living at Manor Cottages, Winsley. William was now a gardener. Albert was married to Florence Edith Hallett, of Old Cottages, Winsley in 1910 – they had a son Wilfred born in 1910 who was just 8 when his father was killed in action. They had another son Reginald born in 1911 and daughter, Hilda born in 1913.

Albert was a committee man of the Winsley Parish Reading Room and excelled at billiards, rings and cards. Before joining the army he was prominent in collecting subscriptions for the village tobacco fund that was used to send tobacco and cigarettes to men at the Front.

In 1911 the family were living at Turleigh. Albert was an employee of the Spencer Moulton rubber company and for several years was the captain of the local football club. His sporting prowess did not stop there as he also played for his works team and in cricket he was one time vice-captain and a fair bowler – thus his death deprived many organisations of a fine sportsman and family man. LIEUTENANT ROGER POORE Winsley War Memorial

Roger Poore was attached to A Battery 48th Brigade Royal Field Artillery (part of the Royal Artillery) was born on 27 June 1886 in Lyndhurst, Hants. He died on 19th July 1915, aged 29. He and is buried in Duhallow Advance Dressing Station Cemetery, which is close to Ypres in Belgium in plot V1.C.12. This cemetery was not started until 1917 and men were brought here from isolated but identified plots from the surrounding area.

In 1901 Roger was boarding as a schoolboy in Greenwich as a prelude to following in his father’s footsteps that same year in the Royal Navy as a 14 year old midshipman on an armoured cruiser, the Good Hope. By 1907 he was an Acting Sub Lieutenant on a twin screw battleship, the New Zealand. He was forced to retire in 1907 because of a migraine condition that affected his eyesight at sea.

In February 1908 he set sail for Colombo, Ceylon on the Rohilla and had a spell as a rubber planter in Ceylon and Perak from where he returned in September 1912. With war beckoning, he obtained a commission with the Royal Field Artillery in November 1914 at the start of the war.

Roger was killed when on an advance scouting party in the first battle of the Somme. His name is also recorded on a plaque in Salisbury Cathedral.

He was the only son of Admiral Sir Richard Poore, Bt., KCB, CVO (Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, 1911-1917) a British subject who was Canadian by birth and Ida Margaret Poore, born in Dublin and thus heir to the baronetcy. He was also cousin to the Duchess of Hamilton but it was his cousin Edward who inherited after Sir Richard died in 1930 in Vevey, Switzerland.

At the time of Roger’s death the family were living at Winsley Corner

PRIVATE EDGAR CHARLES SUMMERS Winsley War Memorial & Winsley Methodist War Memorial

16190 Private Edgar Charles Summers, 1st Bn Royal Hampshire Regiment was born in Murhill in February 1885 and killed in action in France on the 23rd October 1916, aged 31. His name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial shown here on the Somme, France on pier and face 7C and 7B. This impressive memorial records the names of over 72,000 whose bodies lie in an unknown grave in that region of France.

Edgar was the third son of John and Patience Summers of Murhill and brother to Frank, who also died in action just before the end of hostilities, and Walter. In 1901 aged 16 he was living in Murhill with his parents and working as a railway porter.

Edgar’s initial attestation papers survive and these show a Short Service Commission dated 26 August 1914 in Bristol where he initially joined the Royal Regiment of Artillery as number 43623. At the time he gave his occupation as general labourer. However his time in that Regiment was not without its problems as he was a discharged from it for “misconduct” on 18 March 1915 following three separate incidents in the preceding three months. In the process he lost all pensionable rights for those seven month’s service. Having been discharged one wonders why he then re-enlisted and was able to do so but there were apparently instances where officers were cashiered and then became subject to conscription in 1916. His subsequent attestation papers to enable a posting in the Royal Hampshires are not to be found at Kew and presumably were destroyed in the disastrous fire in World War 2 when millions of personal records were lost.

On the 22nd October the 1st Battalion Royal Hampshires relieved the 1st Light Infantry in the front line at the Somme, midway between Morval and Lesboeufs ready for the battle of Le Transoy. On the map of this area shown above, they were part of the 11th Brigade with French troops to their right. The 1st Hampshires War diary survives and makes salutary reading concerning the stalemate that pervaded the war in the trenches. “After a fine clear night, the day broke very misty and zero hour was postponed from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm. The brigade was disposed with the HAMPSHIRES in the front line and the Rifle Brigade in support on the right and the DUBLINS in the front line and the WARWICKS in support. We were in close touch with the FRENCH on our right. Our guns both Field and Heavy were falling short most of the morning. At 2.30 our intense barrage opened and the infantry commenced their advance. We had ‘C’ Company on the right and ‘A’ Company on the left in the leading wave, ‘D’ Company in support and ‘B’ Company in reserve. Immediately the assault commenced very heavy machine gun and rifle fire was directed on us and the right flank was scarcely able to advance at all as the FRENCH who were also attacking failed at the outset. The right flank, although suffering heavy casualties managed to get into the first GERMAN trench where they remained for a few hours but eventually had to retire owing to a want of ammunition. Eventually the whole line had to retire to its normal position and the situation became normal once more. The DUBLINS on our left were successful in taking a strong position at the GUN PITS.”

That counter attack from the Germans came from the Boritska Trench and clearly decimated the Regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Armitage, the Commanding Officer reported that 9 had been killed (whose bodies were recovered for burial), 77 were posted as missing and a further 139 wounded. Within that 77 was our man Edgar but his body was never recovered. The very matter of fact way in which it was reported in the diary that “the situation became normal once more” was indicative of the entrenched positions that most regiments found themselves in, attacking and counter attacking but more often than not, having to “retire” or retreat back to the very positions from whence they had made the counter attack, having lost a goodly proportion of the regimental strength.made theThe very matter of fact way

Edgar will probably have fallen somewhere within the area ringed in orange. Boritska Trench under the 2nd Bavarian Regiment is just to the right of the circle. The high speed Eurostar train line to Paris now passes over this very spot and when it was being constructed thousands of tons of ammunition were unearthed and had to be destroyed including still smouldering gas bombs and a number of bits of bodies were also discovered and reburied in the nearest available cemeteries. Periodically it has been possible to identify an unearthed body or bodies and if you visit Thiepval memorial you will notice that some of the names of the fallen have been removed once a final resting place has been provided.

Edgar’s name is also shown on the Summers Family grave in St Nicholas Church, Winsley.

PRIVATE FRANK OLIVER SUMMERS Winsley War Memorial & Winsley Methodist Church War Memorial

G14900 Private Frank Oliver Summers of the 6th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) was born in Murhill in 1890 and was Edgar’s younger brother, He died of wounds in France on 28th August 1918, aged 28 just a few days before the cease fire was announced.

He is buried in Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, a small village in the Somme, France near Amiens. Before joining The Buffs he was in the Durham Light Infantry with a regimental number of 302848.

It is likely that Frank was wounded in the heavy fighting offensive at the final Battle of Amiens when, with Canadian, Australian and French armies, they started to push back the Germans in the period before capitulation just two weeks later.

His name is also shown on the Summers Family grave at St Nicholas Church, Winsley and he was the youngest son of John and Patience Ann Summers of Murhill.

On the 1911 census Frank, then aged 21 was still living at the Murhill family home and his profession was shown as Wooden Boxmaker like his father. The poignant inscription at the foot of his headstone shown here in the shadows is He was a father’s pride and a mother’s joy.

The family will no doubt have been devastated that two of their sons had died serving their country but even more so that their eldest son had no known grave where they could pay their last respects.

In Bradford on Avon and surrounding villages there were 11 other instances of brothers in arms where neither returned home.

PRIVATE LEONARD PERCY WATSON Winsley War Memorial

22733 Private Leonard Percy Watson, Wiltshire Regiment was born in Trowbridge in 1893, and died of his wounds on 7th August 1916, aged 23. He is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France in plot 1X.C.17.

The Wiltshire Regiment was involved around this date in attacks near to Thiepval and Pozieres and Leonard will almost certainly have been wounded in one of these battles.

It has been surmised that he may have been injured in the gas attack on the Wiltshires’ position in the trenches at Beaumont Hamel on either 26th or 28th July and was evacuated to a hospital at Etaples where he died a few days later. This would explain his known grave where the inscription reads: Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

Leonard was the son of Alice and Alfred Watson who had nine children, of whom eight had survived to 1911. Alfred who was born in Melksham in 1862 was a cattleman at Hulbert Farm, Middle Hill, Box in 1901.

In the 1911 census, Leonard was living with his parents, two brothers and three sisters in the family home at Dane Bottom in Winsley. Both father Alfred and son Leonard are listed as Farm Labourers.

At the time of Leonard’s death, the family were living at Hartley, Winsley.

PRIVATE ROBERT WILCOX Winsley War Memorial

8051 Private Robert Wilcox of the 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment was born in Westwood, and was killed in action very early in the war in France on 26th September 1914.

His name is recorded on La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-et-Marne, France. The 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre on 13 August 1914 on the Braemar Castle and immediately marched to the front as part of the British Expeditionary Force. It is likely that Robert was killed in the Battle of Picardy which ran for a few short days from 22 September to 26 September. Like the other 3,500 commemorated on this memorial, he has no known grave.

Robert was born in 1886 in Lea Green, Westwood and was the sixth of eight children born to Thomas and Mary Wilcox, both born in 1854 in Bradford on Avon. Thomas was a stone quarryman working in the mines at Westwood at the time of the 1891 census with Robert shown as a scholar aged 5. By 1901 he was living at 45 Shop Road in Wingfield (then known as Winkfield with Rowley) with his eldest brother George. George was shown as Head of the family as his father, Thomas, had died by that date. Robert was by then a mason’s labourer, aged 15.

By 1911, aged 25 he had already enlisted in the 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment and was based at their Pembroke Barracks. Robert’s older brother Albert was living in Murhill as a roadman for Wiltshire County Council in 1911.

Mabel Sartain, who was his sweetheart whom he wished to marry, was named as beneficiary in a letter from Robert. Mabel was born in Winsley but was working in Bath as a servant in 1901 and 1911. Her family remained in either Winsley or Murhill and her father died in Winsley in 1951. Mabel herself married at the end of 1918. WINSLEY SOCIAL CLUB HONOURS BOARD

In the course of the research for this booklet, a memorial was also discovered in the Winsley Social Club situated in the old Winsley school. This, as mentioned in the previous section on Winsley in 1914, is unusual in that it commemorates all those who were called up including those who were fortunate to return. Those who died are shown with an eight petalled flower although it is incomplete in that respect, as Pt Angell FS and Capt Brooks are shown but do not have a flower alongside their name, whilst Lt Brinckmann is missing completely.

It therefore provides an opportunity over the next four years of commemoration to discover a little about the service to their country of those who survived. This may result in a similar style booklet when we come to the conclusion of the commemorations in 2018. We will therefore again be seeking information from surviving relatives over time whilst delving through war diaries, regimental histories and census information. What is already clear from the board is the number of families where more than one son was called up.