Gosfield War Memorial

Remembering the men of Gosfield who died in Two World Wars

Other local war memorials

Braintree & Bocking    Panfield    Cressing    Black Notley    Finchingfield

Greenstead Green    Great Bardfield   

1914-1918

BARNARD, ERNEST. Private 40146. 10th Bn. Essex Regiment. 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division.  Died 05/04/1918.  Aged 31. Born Gosfield 1887. ABBEVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION.  Son of George Barnard, of Crossfield, Essex.

Father a horseman on farm, Sisters Minnie & Beatrice dressmakers for retail shop and Ernest himself a domestic gardener in 1911.

Died of wounds in hospital at Abbeville. Effects paid to father George £6/5/10d war gratuity £9.

Mr G. Barnard, 3 Martins Road, Halstead.

BUGG, HENRY. Private. 19369. 13th Bn. Essex Regiment (The West Ham Pals), 6th Brigade in 2nd Division. Died 28/04/1917. Aged 23. Born Belchamp Otten 1895. Father a shepherd in 1901, a horseman on farm in 1911.  Son of Holden and Hannah Bugg, of 134, Tidings Hill, Halstead, Essex.  ARRAS MEMORIAL 

On Gosfield War Memorial in Church he is noted as having died 20th January 1918. In 'Soldiers Died in the Great War (Essex Regiment)' he is listed as having died 1917.  A Henry George Arthur Bugg was employed as a stable boy at 'The Grange, Gosfield, 1911, where his father was a horseman on farm.

****

CORNELL, HERBERT WILLIAM.  Private. 26933. Essex Regiment. 11th Bn. Attchd  1/4th Suffolks.  Date of Death: 18/08/1916.  Age: 30. THIEPVAL MEMORIAL.  Son of William and Alice Emily Cornell, of Church Rd., Great Bardfield, Essex.

Born Great Waltham 1886 father a domestic gardener.   Two other brothers also served, Albert Henry and Frederick Charles.

Also on Great Bardfield Memorial. What was his connection to Gosfield?

****

French, Charles Ernest

Born Maldon 1885 to William and Charlotte French.  Father a horseman on farm, Charles aged 15 a farm labourer, lived Pear Tree cottages next to Pear Tree Farm 1901. No census trace 1911.

Church memorial has Charles Ernest French, Essex Regiment 2nd October 1918.

No such name found under Essex Regiment, not listed anywhere under Essex Regiment.

HARROD, GEORGE FRED, Private. 21022. 2nd Bn. Suffolk Regiment. 76th Brigade, 3rd Division. Died 09/10/1918. Aged 22. FLESQUIERES HILL BRITISH CEMETERY. Son of Frederick Harrod, of White Ash Green, Halstead, Essex. Native of Gosfield, Halstead.

Born Sible Hedingham 1896 only child of Frederick and Emily Harrod, father a horseman on farm and in 1911 aged 14 George was a 'house boy.'

“Until the day dawns.”    Mr F. Harrod, White Ash Green, Halstead, Essex.

Died of wounds. Effects to Mother Emily £53/13/4d war gratuity £14/10/-

Attack on ‘Seranvillers’ to support 9th Brigade, part of ‘Rumilly Support.’

5 officers wounded, 10 OR killed, 104 wounded. Relieved by guards.

****

JARMAN, FRANK EDWARD. Private. 20476.  10th (R. East Kent and West Kent Yeomanry) Bn.  The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).  Died 20/09/1918.  Aged 33.                        

LA CHAPELETTE BRITISH AND INDIAN CEMETERY, PERONNE.  Son of Edward and Mary Jarman, of Hall Lodge, Gosfield, Halstead; husband of Alice Jarman, of 19, New St., Halstead, Essex.

Died of wounds. Effects to widow Alice £12/17/10d War gratuity £10. Plus £0/15/4d.

10th (Royal East Kent and West Kent Yeomanry) Battalion

Formed at Sollum in Egypt on 1 February 1917 from two dismounted Yeomanry Regiments.

February 1917 : came under command of 230th Brigade, 74th Division. Moved to France.  Long, Long Trail

War Diary: Fighting around Faustine Quarry.  Many men wounded or killed in action many others taken of strength through sickness this month.

PERRY, ALFRED. Private, 8334. 2nd Bn. Essex Regiment. 12th Brigade, 4th Division.   Died 26/08/1914. Aged 32. ESNES COMMUNAL CEMETERY. Son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Perry, of Home Farm, Fenn's Rd., Bocking, Essex.

"A day of remembrance

 Sad to recall

 The loss of a dear one

 Loved by us all"

It appears Alfred was born in Wethersfield to William and Hannah Perry, he was one of nine children.  Father William and all brothers worked as agricultural labourers.  By 1911 Alfred was in the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment at that time stationed in India.  When war broke out in 1914 Alfred, like other reservists, would have rejoined the Essex Regiment.  With the 1st Battalion still in India they joined the 2nd Battalion.

The 4th Division was the last to join the BEF in France meeting up with the rest of the army as it withdrew from Mons. They met at Le Cateau and on the 26th of August a defensive battle was fought against overwhelming odds.  Based on the left bank the 4th Division held difficult ground until midday when the position broke and the withdrawal continued.  During this fighting continued sporadically and Alfred and several others fell and were buried at Esnes.

PYE, FREDERICK. Private 19454. 1st Bn  Essex Regiment, 88th Brigade, 29th Division.

Died 20/11/1916.  Aged 21. CARNOY MILITARY CEMETERY.  Son of Jacob and Julia Pye, of Gosfield, Halstead, Essex. Father a groom in 1901, a Coachman in 1911.  By then Frederick was employed as a 'Card Cutter' in the mill.  Parents had 13 children, three of whom died early.

“This heart

 All evil shed away

 A pulse in the eternal mind

 No less”

Entered war 1st December 1915 in Egypt.

Died of wounds No. 15 CMDS. Effects to father Jacob £6/8/7d. War gratuity £6.

War Diary: On the 17th the battalion moved to Trones Wood and was employed on carrying supplies to front line. 10 Casualties in this work, I suspect Frederick one of these.

Smithy

SMITH, BERTIE CHARLES Private 251326  1st/5th Bn. Essex Regiment, 161st Brigade, 54th (Eastern) Division. Died 01/06/1917 KANTARA WAR MEMORIAL CEMETERY.  Son of Mrs. Ada Maud Smith, of The Street, Gosfield, Halstead, Essex.

“Gone but not forgotten”

Born Wakes Colne 1895 to James Harry Smith and wife Ada Maud (nee Stebbing), father a Blacksmith/farrier based in Stanway, Colchester. After 1911 it appears parents moved to Gosfield.

Enlisted Colchester possibly February 1916, given number 4225. 

Died No 2 Australia Station Hospital, Egypt, 1st June 1917 from disease.

Effects paid to Mother Ada, sole leg £7/11/3d war gratuity £5/10/-

****

Brother Frank Stanley Smith.  Enlisted at 18 in 1911. He was an Act Sgt Toolsmith, RAOC Ord, Mobile w/shop (Heavy) No.3, which makes sense if he grew up around his father, the village Blacksmith.  Unfortunately, he died of latent tuberculosis, in 1930. (Info from Susan Catanzaro)

1939 - 1945

TURNER, PETER JOHN, Ordinary Signalman C/JX 172980. H.M.S. Pembroke IV. Royal Navy.  Died 08/08/1940  Aged 19. CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL.  Son of John Wilfred and Isabel Mary Turner, of Gosfield, Essex.

Born Southend 1921.

HMS Pembroke IV - accounting base at Chatham between 1919 and 1920.

Enemy air attack on vessel, SS Empire Crusader.

TURNER, Peter J, Ordinary Signalman, C/JX 172980, Empire Crusader, steamship, (President III, O/P), 8 August 1940, killed

Empire Crusader; 1.042 tons; 224x33 ft; Built in 1925 as the LEANDER, for the Neptun Line, Bremen. On the 9th November 1939, she was captured by HMS IRIS off Vigo, Spain. In 1940 she was renamed EMPIRE CRUSADER and requisioned as MOWT and managed by Constantine SS Co. On the 8th August 1940, she was bombed and sunk off Isle of Wight. Jan Lettens.  http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?4653

On 7 August 1940, Empire Crusader departed from Southend, Essex as a member of Convoy CW 9, bound for the Yarmouth Roads. The next day, in the third aerial attack on the convoy, she was bombed by Junkers Ju 87s of Fliegerkorps VIII, StG 1, off St Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight. Her cargo of coal was set on fire and the crew abandoned ship. Of her crew of nine, plus six DEMS gunners, four were killed. The ship capsized and sank at 50°25′52″N 1°42′16″W. Her Chief Engineer, James Cowper, was awarded an MBE, and Acting Able Seaman William Robson was commended, for their part in rescuing the ship's Second Mate. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Leander_(1925)

50/60 Sqdn Assoc

KETLEY, LEONARD ARTHUR. Sergeant (Air Gunner)  1331427. 50 Sqdn.  Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.  Died 02/03/1943. Aged 20. ROTTERDAM (CROOSWIJK) GENERAL CEMETERY.  Son of Sidney and Mary Victoria Marguerite Ketley, of Gosfield, Essex.

Born 1923 in Wincanton, Somerset, his father Sidney died 1933.

Lancaster III ED423 VN-N was on a trip to Berlin with Leonard employed as Bomb aimer.  Leaving Skellingthorpe at 19:05 March 1st one of 302 aircraft (156 Lancasters, 86 Halifaxs, 60 Stirlings) headed for Berlin. Having bombed the city from a height of between 12 and 18,000 feet the bombers made their way home via Netherlands. 

No. 50 Squadron Royal Air Force In World War Two

Lancaster B. Mk. III ED423 VN-N was attacked by night fighters after bombing and on the return

leg. As it did not appear to have been set on fire, the fighter attacked again (Standard practice) and

the Lancaster was seen to dive steeply into the ground with none of the crew baling out. The aircraft

crashed at Ridderkerk, South Holland at 00.44hrs on the 2nd March 1943. In his book “Countdown

to freedom”, Willem Ridder tells that the crews remains were buried in Crooswijk Cemetery,

Rotterdam, near the entrance. Thousands of Dutch citizens came to pay their respects for these

airmen which bothered the occupying Germans immensely; they promptly exhumed the remains

and had them re-interred in a dark corner of the Cemetery. Apparently this somewhat callous act

attracted even more sympathetic visitors. The author’s sister ‘adopted’ the grave of Edward Gray

and tended for it until the CWGC took over maintenance, a touching and probably typical gesture.

Full casualty list was as follows:

Pilot 655982 Sgt. David THOMAS RAFVR age 25, buried in Plot L.L., Row 1, Grave 27

FE 575832 Sgt. Clifford Howard LEWIS RAF age only 19, at L.L. Row 1, Joint Grave 28

Nav/BA 1391377 Sgt. Edward James GRAY RAFVR, Joint Grave 28

AG 131427 Sgt. Leonard Arthur KETLEY RAFVR age 20, Plot L.L. Row 2, Grave 29

AG 404108 Sgt. Rupert Sutton WHITTCOMBE RNZAF, age 23, Plot L.L. Row 2 Grave 31

AG 1175887 Sgt. John HUGHES RAFVR age 20, Row 2 Grave 30

AG 1140185 Sgt. Robert Emmerson STOCKBURN RAFVR, age 32, Plot L.L. Row 1 Grave 26.

Grave picture.  

Loss chart with crew members

Ketley, L A. Sergeant. 1943-03-01. 50 Sqd. Lancaster III. ED423. VN-N. Skellingthorpe. 19:05. Berlin. Crashed. Ridderkerk Holland. Killed. Crooswijk Cemetery   

Dutch report of the Lancaster's crash.

International Bomber Command  More details on Leonard at this excellent site.

****

HOWARD-LOWE, DAVID WILLOUGHBY, Lieutenant 258629. 3rd Bn. Welsh Guards. 1st Guards Infantry Brigade. 78th Infantry Division.  Died Thursday 8th June 1944. Aged 22.  BOLSENA WAR CEMETERY.  Son of Capt. Edward Arthur Howard-Lowe (formerly Indian Army) and Frances Cecile Howard-Lowe, of Snape, Suffolk; husband of D. W. Howard-Lowe.

"CAPT. DEREK THIRKELL-WHITE WAS KILLED IN LAROS

 14TH NOVEMBER 1943 AGE 26 UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN"

Born Bridport, Wiltshire 1921. Lived in Snape, Suffolk, family line based in Gosfield Hall. 

During May 1944 the Welsh Guards were rushed forward from Monte Cassino and came into action at the small town of Acre.  Here the Germans had not left and much heavy fighting ensued and heavy casualties resulted.  It is possible this is where the Lieutenant received his wounds from which he later died.  His half brother Captain Derek Thirkell-White of the Suffolk Regiment fell while leading his men in action in Greece. 

Hon Joshua Wood

WILLIAMS, ALBERT EDWARD Guardsman.  2722670. 3rd Bn. Irish Guards (Infantry), 32nd Guards Brigade. Guards Armoured Division. Died 03/08/1944. Aged 29. HOTTOT-LES-BAGUES WAR CEMETERY.  Son of William and Maud Amy Williams, of Gosfield, Essex.

Son of William & Maud Amy Williams, father an army pensioner deceased by time son died. Sister Dora and brother Bill.