9571 CSM Alfred Prendergast, 15th Bn, Cheshire Regt

9571 Company Sergeant major Alfred Prendergast of the 15th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, was killed in action on the 20th August 1917. He was born in Birmingham, was living in Manchester and enlisted at Hyde, Cheshire. At the time of his death he was 28 years old. The Commonwealth War Graves |Commission notes that he was the husband of Annie Frayne (formerly Prendergast), of Royal Court Hotel, Queen Square, Liverpool. He is buried in Unicorn Cemetery, Vend'huile.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

22114 Pte George Slattery, 10th Bn, Cheshire Regt

22114 Pte George Slattery of the 10th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, was killed in action on the 1st June 1916. He is buried in Ecoivres Military Cemetery at Mont St Eloi.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

25268 Pte Joseph Welbourn, 15th Bn, Cheshire Regt

25268 Private Joseph Welbourn of the 15th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, was killed in action on the 19th April 1917. He is buried in the Roisel Communal Cemetery in France.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

10539 Pte Timothy Lowe, 1st Bn, Cheshire Regt

10539 Private Timothy Lowe of the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, died of wounds on the 5th April 1915. He was born in Cosley, Staffordshire and enlisted at Northwick in Cheshire. His number indicates that he enlisted as a career soldier with the Cheshire regiment around May or June 1914, and his medal index card records that he arrived overseas on the 26th October 1914. He was thus an Old Contemptible, qualifying for the 1914 Star and clasp. His service record has not survived.

Timothy Lowe is buried in Berlin's South-Western Cemetery, indicating that he almost certainly died in captivity in one of the many prison camps operating in Germany during the First World war. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states:

"In 1922-23 it was decided that the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who had died all over Germany should be brought together into four permanent cemeteries. Berlin South-Western was one of those chosen and in 1924-25, graves were brought into the cemetery from 146 burial grounds in eastern Germany. There are now 1,176 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in the Commonwealth plot at Berlin South-Western Cemetery. The total includes special memorials to a number of casualties buried in other cemeteries in Germany whose graves could not be found."

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

9228 Pte Frederick Handforth, 2nd Bn, Cheshire Regt

Day three of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle: 12th March 1915. On this day in 1915, the British Army lost 1050 officers and men, and 9228 Pte Frederick Handforth of the 2nd Battalion, Cheshire Regiment was one of these casualties.

According to Soldiers Died in The Great War, Frederick was born in the parish of St Michael's in Macclesfield and enlisted at Macclesfield. He was a Special Reservist who had joined the 3rd Battalion, Cheshire Regiment in February 1912. Pages from his service record survive in WO 363 and the following information is taken from this.

Frederick was 17 years and two months old when he joined the Special Reserve. He indicated on his attestation paper that he was a serving member of the 7th (Territorial Force) Battalion (he had joined the battalion the previous month). He was five feet, four and a quarter inches tall, had grey eyes and dark brown hair.

Having joined the Special Reserve, Frederick Handforth immediately commenced training and completed this in June 1912 (four months). The following year he completed one month's musketry training. He was present at the annual training camps in 1913 and 1914.

Frederick sailed for France on the 7th October 1914 and remained overseas until the 8th January 1915. He was back in England between the 9th January and the 5th March, returning to France the following day. Had he stayed in England for one week longer, there might have been an entirely different outcome to his military career.

Frederick was twenty years old when he died. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he was the son of Elizabeth Belfield (formerly Handforth) of 28 George Street West, Macclesfield, and the late Ralph Handforth. He is buried in Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery in Belgium.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

290511 Sgt William Ikin, 1/7th Bn, Cheshire Rgt

290511 Sergeant William Ikin of the 1/7th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment died on the 19th October 1917.

William's original number - 2324 - indicates that he first joined the 1/7th Cheshires in September 1914. His medal index card shows that he arrived overseas (in the Balkans) on 8th August 1915, and he died in Palestine. He is buried in Deir el Belah War Cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission reports as follows:

"On 28 February 1917, the cavalry of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force entered Khan Yunus, midway between the Egyptian border and Deir el Belah causing the Turks to withdraw to Gaza and Beersheba. The railway was pushed forward to Deir el Belah, which became the railhead in April 1917, and an aerodrome and camps were established there. The cemetery was begun towards the end of March and remained in use until March 1919. Most of the burials were made either from field ambulances from March to June 1917, or from the 53rd, 54th, 66th and 74th Casualty Clearing Stations, and the 69th General Hospital, from April 1917 until the Armistice with Turkey. A number of graves, the majority of which were originally at Khan Yunus, were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice. The cemetery contains 724 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. There are also ten war graves of other nationalities."

William was born at Over in Cheshire, was living at Winsford and enlisted at Macclesfield.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

65482 Pte John Frederick Irwin, 15th Bn, Cheshire Regiment

Twenty year old 65482 Pte John Frederick Irwin of the 15th Cheshire Regiment died of wounds on this day, 18th July, in 1918. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that he had previously served with the Cheshire Yeomanry (number 210465).

He is buried in Esquelbecq Military Cemetery and is commemorated fully on John Hartley's excellent Stockport 1914-1918 website.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (BMD, MIC)
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
More Than A Name - Stockport 1914-1918