11916 Rfm Lewis Valentine Pearson, 2nd Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps

Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that 137 officers and men died a hundred years ago today, on the 10th January 1915. Nearly a third of this total - forty three men - were men who were serving with the King's Royal Rifle Corps and only six of these men have known graves. These men - three officers and 40 non-commissioned officers and men - who died a century ago today are remembered with pride here today:

King's Royal Rifle Corps

4785 Rifleman Henry Alcock, 2nd Bn.
Y/1263 Rifleman Leon Harry Alcock, 2nd Bn.
2378 Rifleman Charles Edward Allen, 2nd Bn.
Second Lieutenant James Fairfax Amphlett Morton, 6th Bn. attd. 2nd Bn.
11608 Rifleman Edward Anderson, 1st Bn.
R/5753 Rifleman William Bainbridge, 2nd Bn.
Y/40 Rifleman George Barrett, 2nd Bn.
10526 Rifleman Percy Harvey Bell, 1st Bn.
10363 Rifleman Albert George Biddle, 2nd Bn.
Y/657 Rifleman Charles Henry Bradbeer, 2nd Bn.
9921 Rifleman Frank D'Arcy Brennan, 4th Bn.
8535 Corporal Frederick E. Burton, 4th Bn.
R/5827 Rifleman Joseph Caizergues, 2nd Bn.
11978 Rifleman Oliver William Chapman, 2nd Bn.
A/3226 Rifleman Tom Clark, 2nd Bn.
5900 Rifleman Benjamin Clayton, 2nd Bn.
5830 Rifleman John William Collinson, 2nd Bn.
R/5752 Rifleman Austen Joseph Damen, 2nd Bn.
Y/1281 Corporal Charles Eckoff, 2nd Bn.
Y/299 Rifleman Thomas Edmondson, 2nd Bn.
7345 Rifleman Britton Gill, 2nd Bn.
11272 Rifleman George Samuel Gray, 1st Bn.
8246 Rifleman Frank Handford, 3rd Bn.
6952 Rifleman Albert Harris, 2nd Bn.
9862 Lance Corporal James Harrow, 4th Bn.
5/4908 Rifleman George William Hayden, 2nd Bn.
A/2184 Rifleman Alfred Houghton, 2nd Bn.
Lieutenant Malcolm Eyton Lawrence, 6th Bn. attd. 2nd Bn.
R/5954 Rifleman John Henry Mackenzie, 2nd Bn.
7638 Rifleman Harry Mullett, 2nd Bn.
Captain Francis Campbell Norbury, 6th Bn. attd. 1st Bn.
R/5851 Rifleman John George Owens, 2nd Bn.
11916 Rifleman Lewis Valentine Pearson, 2nd Bn.
A/2819 Rifleman James Perks, 2nd Bn.
R/5798 Rifleman Lloyd Owen Lloyd Price, 2nd Bn.
Y/1087 Rifleman William Randall, 2nd Bn.
8728 Rifleman Harry Sutton, 4th Bn.
R/843 Rifleman Francis Gideon Taylor, 2nd Bn.
5907 Rifleman Walter Thompson, "B" Coy. 2nd Bn.
11782 Rifleman Henry William Turner, 2nd Bn
5940 Rifleman Hubert Alfred Turvey, 2nd Bn.
5555 Rifleman George Walton, 2nd Bn.
11996 Rifleman George Winnall, 2nd Bn.

The majority of these men were killed during an attack by the 2nd Battalion which was holding trenches in the Cuinchy sector. The battalion war diary notes, "Casualties among NCOs and men extremely difficult to estimate. Put down at approximately 20 killed and 40 wounded." In fact, 32 NCOs and men died that day and I'm going to look at just one of these men, Rifleman Lewis Valentine Pearson, who was born in my home town of Chelmsford.

Lewis Pearson, born on the 14th February 1888, was working as a fruiterer's assistant when he enlisted with the KRRC at Winchester on the 19th August 1914. He was just over five feet, four inches tall with a fair complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. A small scar at the base of his left forefinger was identified by the meticulous doctor who examined him.

Lewis's surviving attestation papers do not indicate that he had prior military service and yet after a little over three months' at the depot in Winchester (or 102 days to be precise), he was posted as part of a draft to the 2nd Battalion, arriving in France on the 29th November 1914. He died as a result of wounds received in action. Lewis's papers indicate that his next of kin were his parents, Edmund Fewell Pearson and Katherine Pearson of Railway Cottage, Southminster, Essex.

Lewis Pearson is commemorated along with over 13,400 other men, on the Le Touret Memorial in France (pictured above, courtesy of the Remembrance Trails website). For further information on the men and their regimental numbers, see my KRRC post on my Army Service Numbers blog.

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

2577 Rfm Stephen Dade, 2nd Bn, KRRC

2577 Rifleman Stephen Dade of the 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, died on the 10th December 1914. He almost certainly died as a prisoner of war as he is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery in Germany. His medal index card notes that he arrived in France on the 13th August 1914 whilst soldiers Died in the Great War records that he was born in Wakefield and enlisted at Leeds. If he was a regular soldier, his number indicates that he joined the KRRC in January 1900. He is almost certainly the same Stephen Dade whose birth was registered in the March quarter of 1886 which, in turn, suggests that he joined the KRRC as a boy soldier.


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

10721 Rfm William Piper, 1st Bn, KRRC

10721 Rifleman William Piper of the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action on the 5th October 1914. William was the ward of Mrs F Francis of 23 Buckingham Street, Brighton. He joined the KRRC in August 1912 and he arrived in France on the 13th August 1914. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the La Ferte sous Jouarre Memorial 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

193 Rfm William Owen 2nd Bn, KRRC

193 Rifleman William Owen of the 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, died on the 17th September 1914. He was killed in action and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the La Ferte sous Jouarre Memorial in France.

Wiliam was born in Peckham and living in Brixton when he enlisted. He was overseas by the 13th August 1914 and his number either dates to a regular enlistment in April 1897 or to enlistment in the 5th (Special Reserve) or 6th (Extra Reserve) Battalion in early August 1914. Either way, William would certainly have had prior military service under his belt to have been sent to France so soon after war was declared.

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

12785 Rfm Samuel W Powley, 8th Bn, KRRC

12785 Rifleman Samuel William Powley of the 8th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, died of wounds on the 1st September 1916. He was born and lived in Sevenoaks in Kent, and he enlisted at Tonbridge. At the time of his death he was 19 years old, the son of Mrs S A Powley of 21 Bushes Road, St John's Hill, Sevenoaks. He is buried in Heilly Station Cemetery at Mericourt L'Abbe.

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

C/9887 Rfm Ralph S Butt, 20th Bn, KRRC

C/9887 Rifleman Ralph Stanley Butt of the 20th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action on the 19th June 1917. He was born in Frome, Somerset and enlisted there in January 1916. He was the son of Mrs Louisa R Butt of 4 Bell Lane, Frome, and was 24 years old when he died. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial 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

L/10382 Pte Timothy Peskett, 1st Bn, Royal West Kent Regt

L/10382 Private Timothy Peskett of the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, died of wounds on the 24th March 1915. His entry in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour reads:

PESKETT, TIMOTHY, Private No. 10382 1st Battn, Royal West Kent Regiment, s[on] of George Peskett of 12 Queen Street, East Greenwich, S.E. Served with the Expeditionary Force in France; died of wounds 24th March 1915.

Pages from Timothy Peskett's service record also survive and the following information is taken from this.

Timothy enlisted with the Royal West Kent Regiment's Special Reserve at Woolwich on the 14th January 1914. He declared his age as 17 years and 126 days and gave his trade as "labourer in cable works" and his place of birth as Cork. He was given the number 8946.

Timothy's time with the 3rd Royal West Kent Regiment was short-lived however and on the 15th June 1914 he decided that life in the army suited him and signed on at Maidstone as a career soldier with the regular battalions. He was now 17 years and 272 days old.

Timothy's next of kin was recorded as his father - George Cornelius - and mother - Hannah Peskett. An older brother - George Patrick - and two younger brothers - Michael Frederick and Patrick William - are also recorded. In fact, Timothy had other siblings as well. Frederick and William Peskett would have been about ten years and seven years old in 1914. Two sisters, Eileen and Theresa - would have been about three years and one year old respectively. After his death, Timothy's mother would give birth to two more children: a girl, Mary, in 1916 and a son who she would name Timothy, in about 1918.

At the time of his enlistment in the special reserve, Timothy was described as five feet, three and a half inches tall, weighing 98 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. His religion is recorded as "Church of England".

Having attested with the regular army, Timothy remained at the Royal West Kent Regimental depot until the 8th July 1914 when he was posted to the 1st Battalion. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion on the 19th August 1914 - presumably because he was still under eighteen years old - and remained with the battalion until the 6th December that year. He was posted to the 1st Battalion the same day and sailed for France on the 7th.

Timothy Peskett died of wounds at the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station in Belgium and on the 2nd May 1919, Hannah Peskett wrote to the military authorities asking where her son was buried. She received a reply on the 9th May informing her that he was buried in Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery.

Hannah Peskett lost two other sons in the years to follow. Nineteen year old Michael Peskett, a rifleman with the King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action on the 28th August 1918. He is buried in Sucrerie Cemetery at Ablain-St Nazaire. Twenty-seven year old George Patrick Peskett, who had won the Military Medal, and who had served with the Royal West Kent Regiment since 1911, died in England on the 13th March 1919. He is buried in Greenwich Cemetery. Michael and Timothy Peskett are both commemorated in Ireland's World War 1 Casualty Roll (above).

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

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, Ireland Roll of Honour)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

2nd Lt Fritz Portmore Crawhall, 6th Bn, KRRC

Today, 10th March, marks the 95th anniversary of the opening of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. The British and Indian armies sustained over 11,000 casualties and gained two kilometres of French mud before the campaign was officially abandoned on the 13th March. Read more about The Battle of Neuve Chapelle HERE.

One thousand, one hundred and thirty British soldiers lost their lives on this, the opening day of the battle. Nineteen year old 2nd Lieutenant Fritz Portmore Crawhall, the son of the Reverend E L Crawhall, Vicar of Herriard, Basingstoke was one of the officer casualties on this day. He lost his life whilst serving with the 6th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Like so many, he has no known grave and is commemorated instead on the Le Touret Memorial in France.

Second Lieutenant Crawhall's commission was gazetted in the 21st August issue of the London Gazette. SEE HERE. He also appears in the wordily titled, "Roll of the sons and daughters of the Anglican Church clergy throughout the world and of the naval and military chaplains of the same who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918". He is listed as, "Crawhall, 2d. Lt. Fritz Partmore [sic], K.R.R.C, Rev. Edmund Isaac Laroche Crawhall, Vicar of Ganton."

After the war, Fritz's father - presumably - paid for an entry in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour which reads as follows:

CRAWHALL, FRITZ PORTMORE
2nd Lieut, 6th King's Royal Rifle Corps; y[ounge]r s[on] of the Rev Edmund Isaac Laroche Crawhall, vicar of Herriard, co[unty] Hants, and later of Granton, co[unty] York, by his wife Isabella Duncan, dau[ghter] of Captain James Grant RN; b[orn] Ryde, Isle of Wight, 15 Aug 1895; educ "Cordwalles", Maidenhead and Winchester College (scholar) and received his commission in the 6th King's Royal Rifle Corps, 15 Aug 1914. After the action at Neuve Chapelle on 10 March 1915 he was officially reported "missing" but his Capt stated that he saw him fall dead in a German trench. He was captain of the College VI at Winchester 1912-13 and 1913-14, and open classical postmaster of Merton College, Oxford.

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
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

R/37932 Rfm Thomas Kent, 11th Bn, KRRC

R/37932 Rifleman Thomas Henry Alfred Kent of the 11th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps died - probably as a result of sickness or disease - on the 5th March 1918. He was a Londoner, born in Hackney and living in Clapton, when he enlisted at Stratford in 1917. He is buried in Valenciennes (St Roch) Communal Cemetery.

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

Sources:

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

B/203684 Rfm William C D Scurr, 7th Bn, Rifle Brigade

B/203684 Rifleman William Scurr of the 7th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, died in England on the 20th February 1917. He was born in Mile End, London and enlisted at Poplar. He had previously served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

William Scurr is buried in the City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

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

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War

R/10582 Rfm Charles George Eaton, 8th Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps

R/10582 Rifleman Charles George Eaton of the 8th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps was killed in action on the 6th October 1915. He was 37 years old and the son of Charles and Sarah Eaton of Ernest Villa, 20 Westcliff Park Drive, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

Charles's number indicates that he joined the KRRC around the 8th of February 1915. He possibly joined the 15th (Reserve) Battalion at Sheerness originally, later being posted to the 8th Battalion. His medal index card indicates that he arrived in France on 23rd August 1915.

Charles Eaton was born in Prittlewell, Essex and enlisted at Southend-on-Sea. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres.

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

46898 Rfm Alfred Charles Wilkins, 13th Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps

46898 Rifleman Alfred Charles Wilkins of the 13th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps was killed in action on 13th September 1914. Alfred was born in my home town of Chelmsford in Essex but he was living in Hornsey Middlesex at the time of his enlistment. He enlisted at Harringay.

Alfred has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial in France. Chelmsford is one of those UK towns which, for some unaccountable reason, did not see fit to publicly commemorate its war dead by name. The war memorial at the Civic Centre in the west of the town does not list any of the fallen from either war.

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

A/200762 Rfm Henry Leonard Payton, 18th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps

A/200762 Rifleman Henry Leonard Payton of the 18th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, was one of 101 Other Rank KRRC servicemen to die on this day, 31st July, in 1917. He was killed in action.

Henry was born in late 1885 or early 1886, his birth registered in the March quarter of 1886 at Sudbury in Suffolk. The 1891 census records him, aged 5, living in Glemsford, Suffolk. The family address is the board school at Tye Green where his father, William H Payton (aged 35) was an elementary school teacher. Also in the household were Henry's mother, Mary A Payton (aged 34) and his siblings: Alice M M Payton (aged 10), Emily Payton (aged nine) and Culmer George Payton (aged four). William is recorded as having been born in Abingdon, Berkshire and his wife in Crayford, Kent. Alice and Emily were born in Erith (Kent) but the two boys have Glemsford recorded as their place of birth.

Ten years later, when the 1901 census was taken, the family was still at the board school in Glemsford, Alice noted as a student in a training college.

Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that Henry was born in Sudbury, Suffolk and enlisted at Leyton, Essex (now Greater London). It also notes that he had previously served with the Rifle Brigade (number S/20187) and with the 112th Training Reserve Battalion (number TR/13/38300). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission adds no additional information other than that he is commemorated on panel 51 or 53 of the Menin Gate at Ypres.

Henry Payton's Rifle Brigade number dates to June 1916 and his KRRC number falls within the six figure A/ prefix series of numbers allocated to men who joined from the Training Reserve.

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

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (BMD, MIC, 1891 and 1901 census)
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Menin Gate photo by Tim Bekaert, taken from Wikimedia Commons