WW1 Memorial
World War 1 Memorial
This page is a tribute to our relatives who were killed serving in the armed forces during the 1914 - 1918 war.
Leslie George BAMFORD
Rifleman First Surrey Rifles
Died 12 Sep 1916 age 19.
Leslie Bamford is a cousin in the William Stent line in the Hooper family tree. He was born in 1897 in West Ham, and volunteered to serve in the army early in 1915, joining the 21st London Regiment (1st Surrey Rifles). He went to France on 15th March 1915 and saw action in the Somme region. He was killed in action at Becourt where his battalion was under heavy artillery fire for four days between 11th and 14th September. He is buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, and remembered in the family grave in West Ham.
A curious mystery is that years later in 1925 his mother Elizabeth applied for probate as his executor. There was a will, probably an army form filled out in France before the battle, but the 9 years delay is a mystery. Perhaps some hitherto unknown possessions had come to light.
Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval
Maurice Stanley BUDDEN
Gunner 4553, 1st/5th Hants Howitzer Battery, Royal Field Artillery
Died between April and December 1916, age 22.
Maurice Budden was a cousin of our Granny, Ada Mary Harris. He was born in 1894 in Wellow on the Isle of Wight and worked as a dairyman. He joined the Royal Field Artillery in September 1914 and took part in the Mesopotamia campaign. He went through the siege of Kut-El-Amara which took place for 5 months ending on 29 April 1916. The garrison was comprised of British and Indian soldiers and when the garrison surrendered they were close to dying of starvation. This was a major disaster for the Allied forces. 13,000 men were taken prisoner, and a third of them were to die in captivity. The men who were already in poor condition after the siege, were marched hundreds of miles to Aleppo in direct sunlight and hundreds died on the way. Maurice was one of them. This episode is an almost forgotten chapter in WW1 history.
Maurice's family were aware of the terrible conditions during the siege through newspaper reports, and they wrote several times to the War Office asking for news of him. But nothing more was heard of Maurice until three years later in 1919, when a repatriated POW informed the authorities that Maurice had died three years earlier in 1916 aged 22 on the march from Baghdad.
He is commemorated in the Basra memorial and in Wellow baptist church.
You can read a much more detailed account of the 1st/5th Hants Howitzer Battery in Mesopotamia in an article written for the Isle of Wight Family History Society by Tony Ewen. The article follows another soldier George Perkins who served with Maurice Budden. Just click the link below.
Albert Henry DUGAY
Rifleman Queen's Westminster Rifles
Died 21st September 1918 age 20.
Our cousin Albert Dugay was born in 1898 in Camberwell where he lived with his parents and younger sister. His father David worked for a flour miller. Albert was 16 when the war started but he joined up as soon as he was old enough. He became a Lewis gunner, and was posted missing on 21st September 1918. The Red Cross searched for him among prisoners of war, to no avail. His body was eventually found in early 1919 and he was buried in Meath cemetery near Villers-Guislain, in the Somme region. One of the smallest battlefield cemeteries with 126 graves.
Edward George DUGAY
Private 14th Battalion Welsh Regiment
Died 31st October 1918 age 21.
Our cousin Edward Dugay was born in 1897 in Steep, Hampshire. His father Henry was in the Royal Engineers, and moved to Swansea to work as a blacksmith in a colliery. When Edward left school he started work as a coal miner, and was called up into the Welsh Regiment in April 1918. He was a small lad, just over 5ft tall. He was sent to France on 19th September 1918, and was killed in action about six weeks later near Croix. He is commemorated on Vis-En-Artois memorial.
William Robert DUGAY
Sergeant 3rd Battalion Australian Infantry
Died 26th August 1915 age 35.
William was the illegitimate son of Sarah Ann Dugay, the sister of our Great Grandmother Kate Dugay. He was born in Basingstoke in 1880. His mother Sarah (always known as Annie) married William Wood and emigrated to Australia in 1883 leaving her three year old son William in the care of the workhouse. In 1896 when he was 16 he joined the Royal Navy and served with them until 1910. He then emigrated to Australia to be reunited with his mother and family. On 1st September 1914 he enlisted in the Australian army. He served in Gallipoli and was wounded in the head by shrapnel around 12th August 1916. He died about two weeks later in hospital in Cairo.
Thomas Herbert FALDER
Chief Yeoman of Signals HMS Princess Irene
Died 27th May 1915 age 37.
We have only a very loose connection with Thomas Falder, via Ivy Osborne, Uncle Fred's wife. Thomas Falder was the first husband of Ivy's mother. He was killed in an incident which was very widely reported at the time. Thomas was in the Royal Navy serving on HMS Princess Irene, which was a fairly new ocean liner requisitioned by the navy and converted into a mine laying vessel.
In May 1915, Princess Irene was moored in Saltpan Reach, on the Medway Estuary in Kent between Port Victoria and Sheerness, being loaded with mines in preparation for deployment on a mine-laying mission. At 11:14 on 27 May, Princess Irene exploded and disintegrated. A column of flame 300 feet high was followed a few seconds later by another of similar height and a pall of smoke hung over the spot where Princess Irene had been. Wreckage was flung up to 20 miles away. Two barges lying alongside her were also destroyed. A total of 352 people were killed, including 273 crew, and 76 dockyard workers who were on board Princess Irene.
A Court of Inquiry was held and evidence was given that priming of the mines was being carried out hurriedly and by untrained personnel. A faulty primer was blamed for the explosion.
Thomas Falder is commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial.
Louis Sylvester HALL
Lieutenant 490th Field Company Royal Engineers
Died 27 May 1918 age 26.
Louis Hall was a civil engineer who married Minnie Harris early in 1918. Minnie was the daughter of Alfred Harris, our Granny's Uncle. Our Granny probably knew Minnie very well because she lived opposite in Barnes Road, Fratton for many years. She probably went to the wedding when Minnie married Louis Hall in the spring of 1918. Louis was posted to France in April 1918, and was killed five weeks later during the battle of the Aisne and Marne. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Soissons memorial in France. His wife Minnie gave birth to a son in January 1919, who was also named Louis Sylvester.
Edward Thomas Richard HENDERSON
Private 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers
Died 8th October 1916 age 20.
Edward was our cousin descended from Henry Hooper and Clarissa Dobson. He was living in Maida Hill, west London with his parents working as an errand boy when he joined the Royal Fusiliers in 1916. He was killed in the Somme region later the same year. He is buried in the Guard's Cemetery, Les Boeufs, France.
William (Joe) HUGGETT
Private Royal Fusiliers
Died 27th July 1916 age 30.
William Huggett has a rather tenuous link to us. His brother Alf Huggett worked on Uncle Bill's farm. Alf was married to our Auntie Flo's sister. So William is more of an in-law than an actual relative. He was born in Croydon in 1886 and worked as a bottler in a brewery. He was killed on the Somme and his body was never found. He is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.
Ernest Henry HUNT
Private Royal Army Service Corps
Died 17th November 1915 age 28.
Ernest Hunt is a grandson of Richard Hooper and Martha Hancock. He was born in Poplar in 1886, and was a butcher by trade. He served with the RASC in Gallipoli and died there of Peritonitis. He is buried in Hill 10 Cemetery, Turkey.
Charles Gilbert LAWES
Lieutenant Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Died 27th October 1916 age 24.
Charles Lawes is a cousin related to us through Ann Lawes, the mother of Kate Dugay. Charles was born in Aldershot and worked for his father in his cycle and motor business. In August 1914 he enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders, and in October he gained a commission in the Army Service Corps, motor transport division. After spending time in France he requested a transfer to a combat regiment, and joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.
Thomas William MANKTELOW
Company Sergeant Major Queens Westminster Rifles
Died 24th August 1918 age 22.
Thomas Manktelow is our cousin descended from Henry Hooper and Clarissa Dobson. He was born in Islington in 1895 and worked as a librarian. He joined the Queens Westminster Rifles in 1914 and served in France and by 1918 he was a Company Sergeant Major at the age of 22. He was killed near Bray, north of the river Somme. He was later awarded a posthumous Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous gallantry. His Company commander wrote to his expectant widow to say he was buried at Bronfay Farm, but damage from enemy air action in 1940 destroyed the official pertinent service records in London. His name was placed on the monument at Vis en Artois as “no known grave”.
After 90 years, at the instigation of his son, Bill Manktelow, searches on the ground confirmed his burial at Bronfay Farm Cemetery. and a headstone was erected.
Picture courtesy of Jane Manktelow-Hutchings, his granddaughter.
Ernest Woodthorpe MEINERS
Corporal Durham Light Infantry
Died 7th June 1917 age 21.
Ernest Meiners is our cousin descended from the Isle of Wight Harris family. He was born in West Ham in 1896, and worked as a clerk in central London. He signed up with the 9th battalion Essex regiment six months before war broke out. He remained in England for over two years, and was then transferred to the DLI in August 1916 and promoted to corporal. Perhaps he felt he should be fighting rather than being stuck in an office.. He was killed on the first day of the battle of Messine and his body was never found. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial, Ypres, Belgium. Every night at 8 pm the traffic is stopped at the Menin Gate while members of the local Fire Brigade sound the Last Post in the roadway under the Memorial's arches.
Charles Edward OSBORNE
Private Royal West Surrey Regiment
Died 1st July 1916 age 16..
Charles Osborne was a nephew of our Grandfather Thomas Herbert Osborne. He was born in St. Pancras in 1900. He died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He is our youngest WW1 casualty, and yet another whose body was never found. Commemorated on Thiepval Memorial.
Harold Rodolph STENT
2nd Lt Royal Air Force
Died 20th July 1918 age 29.
Harold was our cousin in the Stent line of the family born in Worthing in 1888. His father Rodolph was a cab proprietor and businessman, and Harold worked for his father as manager of an ice skating rink. He joined the Royal Sussex Yeomanry in 1916, and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. He spent several months in training squadrons before being sent to France in April 1918. We don't know whether he was a pilot or an observer, but he died in the trenches while on attachment to the Duke of Wellington's regiment. There is a poignant episode in his file where his mother Eleanor visited his grave in France and was told by a local French doctor that he had had some valuable effects which had been removed from his body when it was exhumed from his original burial site, before removal to the cemetery at Marfaux . The effects were never found, even after exhaustive enquiries by the French authorities. His mother made it clear to the War Office that she believed he had been robbed after his death.
Charles Ernest WAGHORN
Private Royal Fusiliers
Died 15th April 1918 age 19.
Charles Waghorn is our cousin descended from the Russells, born in Kemsing, Kent in 1899. He was called up in 1917, and joined the Royal Fusiliers. He was killed near Pozieres, France and commemorated on the Pozieres memorial.
