Leonard Gordon Marthews
Lieutenant, South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd Battalion
(Note: Soldiers Died has Marthews's rank as 2nd Lieutenant; he was appointed Lieutenant on 19 January 1918 - London Gazette, 6 August 1918 says "since died of wounds")
Died of wounds (prisoner of war in German hands) on 20 April 1918, aged 19
CWGC: "Son of Walter L. and Alice Marthews, of 4, Bolingbroke Grove, Wandsworth Common, London. Native of Clapham, London."
Remembered at Cologne Southern Cemetery, Koln (Cologne), Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
National Archives Officers' Army Service records
Leonard Gordon Marthews died of wounds at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen). He gone missing on 22 March 1918 and nothing more was known of his fate, until May 1918, when Lieutenant Arthur Watson, a repatriated prisoner of war, recounted exactly what had happened to him.
In the meantime, they tried everything they could to find out what had become of their eldest son. They asked Walter's sister, Mrs. R. Kelly, to help. On 7 April she wrote asking Earl Derby, the Minister of War, to look into the matter. "They [the parents] are distracted," she wrote from Aintree in Liverpool , "and they beg me to assist. I am quite helpless but would like to assist in relieving their anxiety. The young fellow was sent up here to Crosby after leaving Sandhurst with distinction and [has] been in France over a year."
The Ministry replied with advice that if their son had been taken prisoner the Marthews should expect either a postcard provided by the German authorities or a telegram from the Red Cross. In the meantime, enquiries were being made thorugh the Netherlands Legation. If any news emerged it would be communicated to Mr Marthews immediately.
By 26 May it was clear that Marthews was dead. The Marthews received a letter: "The Military Secretary presents his compliments to Mr. Marthews and deeply regrets to inform him that a copy of a telegram sent by Sir H. Townley, British Minister at the Hague on 17th May, 1918, has been forwarded to the War Office, in which it is stated that British officers transferring from Germany report Second Lieutenant Marthews, Loyal North Lancashires, died of wounds in Reiff Museum, Aachen."
The statement Lieutenant Arthur Watson gave in Carmarthen a few weeks later (on 19 June) was described Marthews' wounds. "His wounds were on the left shoulder and left arm and a very serious one in the right thigh - the latter being broken. All her caused by machine gun bullets. The latter wound was septic and he burst an artery in the right thigh before he died." Although Watson couldn't remember the exact day of Marthews' death, he had at the time possession of Marthews' personal diary and noticed that he had died on his father's birthday.
The death certificate sent through by the Germans gave more details. Marthews had died at 9.15pm, the cause of death being heart failure following on a shattered thigh and severe haemorrhage. Matthews was captured at Monchy, in the Pas de Calais, on 24 March. This small village was captured by Commonwealth forces in April 1917 but was retaken by the Germans in March 1918. 558 British servicemen are buried in the cemetery, along with 23 Canadians.
Marthews was buried at Ehrenfriedhof, his body evidently having been moved to Cologne.
There appears to have been a gap of two days between Marthews disappearance in battle and his capture by the Germans.
Notes
- As a boy Marthews attended Clapham Grammar School, transferring to Emanuel School when he was 12.
- He was born on 19 August 1898.
- His father Leonard had a long service medal (18 years) - he had served with the 16th Territorial London Regiment.
- Marthews was nearly 6 feet tall (half inch off)
- 153 pounds - nearly 11 stone.
- The family lived at 30 Edgeley Road, Clapham.
Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Leonard Gordon Marthews was 12 and living at 30 Edgeley Road, Clapham with his parents, brother and sister. His father, Walter Leonard Marthews, 40, was a dentist, born in west London; his mother, Alice Esther Marthews, 40, was born in south-west London. The children, Leonard Gordon, Eric Walter, 8, and Hilda Alice, 1, were all born in Clapham. Mary Fanny Wrightman, Alice's 43-year-old single sister, was visiting. The family occupied seven rooms.
Probated will
5 October 1920 £153 4s. 11d. to his father, Leonard Gordon Marthews
Baptism
11 June 1899, Holy Trinity Church, Clapham