Albert Henry Trower

Albert Henry Trower

1898-1916

Albert Henry Trower was born in the autumn of 1898 and baptised on Christmas Day at St Barnabas Church in Sutton. Albert was the eldest of three sons born to Henry Trower and Sarah Addis. Henry and Sarah were married at the end of 1897 in the Epsom area. Their second son, Henry Foster was born in 1901 and also baptised at St Barnabas Sutton as was their third son, Ernest Edward, born in 1905.

On all these records and the 1901 and 1911 census the family were living at 14 Queen’s Road, Sutton and Albert’s father Henry was listed as a painter and decorator. In 1914 the family moved to 10 Victoria Road, Sutton which is where they were living when Albert died.

Albert joined the 7^th Battalion of the West Surrey Regiment. It is not known exactly when he volunteered but he was certainly under age. Men were not allowed to join up until they were 18 and were not permitted to fight overseas until they were 19. However this rule was commonly flouted and as long as the man looked old enough, the age he gave was accepted.

The 7^th (Service) Battalion was formed at Guildford in September 1914 and was made up of volunteers who came forward as a result of General Kitchener’s appeal in August 1914 for 100,000 men to volunteer. They joined the 55th Brigade of the 18th Division and by May 1915 were training on Salisbury Plain. In July 1915 the battalion was mobilised for war and went to France.

After arrival in Boulogne they were taken immediately to the Western Front where they manned the front line, in rotation with other regiments, for the next nine months.

By April 1916 the battalion were at the village of Suzanne on the River Somme. Nothing was happening at the end of April apart from the routine exchange of fire. The Battle of Verdun was raging further to the south-west but this part of the line was quiet. At this time the officer who habitually wrote the war diary was on leave and his replacement did not go into great detail. The war diary records work ongoing to maintain trenches and mentions the accidental drowning of a soldier in the river while working on a water pipe. It is unclear how Albert died but his death is recorded on April 29^th and he is buried at the cemetery at Carisy-Gailly along with another man from the West Surreys killed on the same day. He was aged 17 years and 7 months.

Albert’s parents lived in Sutton until their deaths and both of his brothers married but had no children. He does not appear on any war memorial in the area.

In Memory of

Private A H Trower

1919, 7th Bn., The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) who died on 29 April 1916 Age 17

Son of Henry Albert and Sarah Kate Trower, of 10, Victoria Rd., Sutton, Surrey.

Remembered with Honour

Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery

Acknowledgments

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.longlongtrail.co.uk

www.forces-war-records.co.uk

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Edmund David Cook

 1893-1916

Edmund David Cook is my first cousin twice removed. His father Joseph was the younger brother of my great grandfather John.

Edmund was born on 10 April 1893 at Pontllanfraith in Monmouthshire. His parents were Joseph and Lydia Cook. Joseph and Lydia had married at the end of 1891 in Pontllanfraith. Edmund was the eldest of their eleven children, of whom eight have been identified so far. The next baby to survive was Frederick born in 1899.

When the 1901 census was taken, the family were living at Railway Terrace, Tredegar Junction, Pontllanfraith. Joseph was a coal miner as were his father and brothers. A week or two after the census night, the family welcomed Elvert Leslie (always known as Leslie) then a baby girl Brenda Augusta just over a year later. She was followed by Cyril Kenneth in 1905, Rachel Muriel in 1906, Jack Byron in 1907 and finally Desmond Ellion at the end of 1911.

In 1911, the family were living at 6 Station Road Pontllanfraith, which may well have been the same house as ten years previously, as the road was renamed. Also living with Joseph and Lydia in 1911 were Lydia’s sister Rachel and brother David. In 1912, Joseph and Rachel had a son Joseph Augustus.

Edmund’s memorial gives his battalion as the 2nd which means he was a regular soldier in the South Wales Borderers before World War 1. I have no record of the date he joined but if he was already serving in 1914, he would have been on the other side of the world when war was declared. In August 1914, the 2nd battalion were stationed at Tientsin in northern China and at the end of September were sent to Shandong to fight with the Japanese against German positions at Tsingtao. On December 4th they left China to return to England. In January they went to Rugby and joined the 87th Brigade of the 29th Division leaving for Gallipoli via Egypt in April. Assuming Edmund was with them, he would have been part of the battles in Gallipoli and evacuated with everyone else in January 1916. They went to Egypt and from there orders were received in February to embark for France where the division arrived in Marseilles on March 15^th.

On April 3^rd, they went into the trenches in the front line. The trench which they were allocated, known as The Mary Redan, had been badly damaged by previous bombardment. The following days were recorded in detail in the war diary;

“The 4^th and 5^th April were without incident but on 6^th April at about 9.0 pm, a very heavy bombardment was opened by the enemy. This bombardment was concentrated on the right half of ‘C’ Company commanded by Capt F.S. Blake, on communication trenches leading up to it and on the portion of trench further north from which the front of ‘C’ Company’s trench could be enfilladed. The bombardment lasted until 10.30 pm when it ceased as suddenly as it had begun. It is not an exaggeration to say that the bursting of shells was so frequent that the communication trench from Bn H.Q towards the front line was lit up continuously. The trench held by the right half of ‘C’ Company was demolished…” He goes on to say that the force of bombs on either side of the trench closed it completely and men were crushed between the walls. In that hour and a half, 5 officers and 78 other ranks were killed. One of these was Edmund Cook. He, with his fellow soldiers, had only been in the front line for three days and they are buried together at Mesnil Ridge Cemetery. In the row containing Edmund’s grave are six others from the same regiment with nine more in the row behind, all killed on the same day. In all twenty seven men from the South Wales Borderers are buried here.

Back home, Edmund’s family grew with the birth of another son to his father Joseph and aunt Rachel in 1919. He was named Edmund David. Lydia died in 1938 and Joseph married Rachel in 1942. This meant that he had children by his wife and his sister-in-law and his eldest and youngest children were both called Edmund David.

Private EDMUND DAVID COOK 
24970, 2nd Bn., South Wales Borderers
who died age 23 on 06 April 1916
Son of Joseph and Lydia Cook, of 24, Newbridge Rd, Pontllanfraith, Newport, Mon.
Remembered with honour
MESNIL RIDGE CEMETERY, MESNIL-MARTINSART

 

Acknowledgements

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.longlongtrail.co.uk for the day to day commentary.

The Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh at Brecon. www.royalwelsh.org.uk

My brother, Bob Price (pictured above) for photos of Edmund's Grave taken on his visit to France and Belgium in 2014.

Arthur John Reeves

Arthur John Reeves

1890-1916

Arthur John Reeves is a cousin on the very edge of my mother’s side of the family. My 5x great grandfather, William Jenner was Arthur’s great grandfather.

Arthur and his sister Ellen were the only children of Alfred Reeves and Mary Etherington who were married in 1887 in Sussex. 

Ellen was born in 1889 in Cowfield and Arthur just a year later at the beginning of 1890 in Warnham.

When the 1891 census was taken, the family were living at Warnham Mill which is now on the outskirts of Horsham. Alfred was an agricultural labourer. Four year later, when Arthur was five, his mother died followed three years later by his father. In 1901, eleven year old Arthur was boarding with George and Mary Luff and their family at Oakhurst Farm at Kirdford. He does not appear to be related to the Luffs. Ellen was with her uncle Eli Etherington and family at Goose Farm in Warnham. Arthur was still with the Luffs in 1911 and working as a farm labourer. 

Arthur joined the Royal Sussex Regiment in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Army. Lord Kitchener had appealed to the young men of the country to join up and fight and by mid-September, 478,893 had responded. The 9^th Service Battalion was formed at Chichester and this is where Arthur joined. They came under the command of the 73^rd Brigade in the 24^th Division. The early days of the 24^th Division were spent in improvised billets in the Sussex area. It is known that they were at Portslade in December and they moved to Shoreham in April 1915. In June they went to Aldershot for final training. Lord Kitchener inspected the division at Chobham on the 19 August and King George V inspected the next day. 

This from the war diary of the 9^th Battalion Royal Sussex regiment; ‘During the week following the 21^st August 1915 the regiment was ordered to proceed over-seas. On Aug 31^st the regiment left Woking for Southampton in three parties an embarked on the S.S. “La Marguerite” disembarking at Le Havre on the morning of the 1^st September 1915 and marching to Camp No5 Havre.’

They spent the following three weeks training with weapons and preparing for combat, including testing their smoke helmets which were to protect them from gas attacks. They also practised boarding and alighting from buses so that this could be done with the utmost efficiency. It was noted that ‘the average time for boarding was 35 seconds.’

The battalion went into action in the front line on September 25^th and in early October were based at Proven near Ypres. They spent the final week of October in front line trenches where weather conditions were appalling with continual rain. The trenches became waterlogged and badly constructed so that the sides collapsed without warning. There was little shelter and the enemy were shelling on and off. They continued to rotate four days in the trenches and four days in camp throughout November while December was mostly spent at Houlle in training.

At the beginning of January the battalion moved by train to St Quintin and then to Poperinghe. The end of the month saw them back in the trenches at Ploegsteert Wood. On February 2^nd, the diary records that the men had the use of the baths at Poperinghe and they received tins of sausages and peppermints from the Sussex Soldiers Cigarettes and Comfort’s Fund back at home. The battalion were in the front line trenches at Ypres from February 12^th -15^th, the 13^th being a day in which many casualties occurred including a platoon who were buried alive following a mine attack. Three days behind the lines followed then back in the trenches on the 18^th. 

The 21^st was reported to be a quiet day with fine weather, so it seems unlikely that Arthur Reeves died from an attack on that day. As he has no grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, he was presumably one of the 90,000 never found or identified and he did not die in hospital. He was just one of the “other ranks” just listed by numbers in the reports. Whatever happened February 21^st is the day recorded for his death.

His war gratuity of £8 paid to Ellen on 3 Oct 1919. What happened to Ellen is difficult to trace as there are many ladies with the same name, so whether she married and had a family is unknown.

In Memory of

Private A D REEVES

L/10519, 9th Bn., Royal Sussex Regiment

who died age 26

on 21 February 1916

Brother of Miss Ellen Mary Reeves, of 226, Portland Rd., South Norwood, London.

Remembered with honour

YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL

Acknowledgements

West Sussex Record Office for the extracts from the 9th Bttn War Diary

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.longlongtrail.co.uk/ for the day to day commentary.

Bob Price for photos of The Menin Gate and the Memorial Book